LifeSaver

So me and Fuzz didn't always see eye-to-eye when we were growing up...

But he sure helped me out this month. Thank God he's smarter than I am.

Thanks for the help this month Fuzz. We're almost done. ;)

One Softball Game...

1..... Home run by yours truly
4..... RBIs by Patrick, on a grand slam
3..... Delays in the game, caused by swirls of dust
30... Drop in temperature for the night
10... Minutes before the game started that the temperature fell
3..... Balls hit to me at shortstop
7..... Balls hit to my old position, second base
1..... Opposing players sent to the hospital
532.. Times Tom apologized to the guy for beaning him in the head as he tried to advance to third.
10... Estimated over/under on how many stitches he was gonna get at the hospital
1..... Loss for the night, by a final score of 12-10

Forever New

How long is something new for?

The old Lazer 103 here in Milwaukee (102.9) made a format change (well, not a real big format change, so don't even get me started on that ) to 102.9 the HOG, back in August of '05.

They have a tag-line that still states, "the new 102.9... the HOG!". So just how long does the format stay new? When KISS-FM came online here in Milwaukee, they used the "new" tag for well over a year.

Ummmm... if you listen to the radio, you do so on a frequent basis. I don't know of very many people that listen to radio in the house, but radio still has a very captive audience in the car. And while you may pop in a CD on your way to work, chances are, you don't go more than a few days without turning on a radio station.

So after six months, if you don't know that a radio station has changed it's format/name - or if you haven't heard about the brand new radio station in town - then perhaps you just aren't paying enough attention. Especially in a market like Milwaukee, there's only a small number of choices to listen to on the radio. We get it already.... you've changed your format. But by calling it new for a whole year or more gets kind of ridiculous.

After a year, I don't say I still have a 'new' car, or a new job after a year. Three months maybe. Tops.

And maybe if the 'new' format didn't suck so much, you'd have better things to advertise about your station.

Half A Dream

I'm gonna be a Sausage!!!!!

Some day, before I die, I want to race in the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage Race at Miller Park. But for now, I'll have to settle for a practice run.

The Italian Sausage and Bratwurst are going to be at the 30th Anniversary Party, and I get to be one of them! I'm not sure who I'm racing against, but I plan on whuppin' some ass.

And with this practice run, look out world if I ever get the chance at Miller Park!!

D' Oh!

Fuzz is gonna kill me.

They want more. So we're gonna add a handful ( well, it's more than a handful, but I'm trying to not scare Fuzz ) of pictures.

But they like what they saw otherwise. **wipes sweat off forehead**

And on a semi-related work note: I went out and played catch with Eric on my lunch hour yesterday. It's even nicer today. Anybody wanna play catch?

Safety Tips

Almost a whole week away from my bitches....

Sorry 'bout that. But it's been a busy week, so without further ado, Know What I Mean has an edition of Safety Tips. And before you fire up your complaints in email form that I'm mailing it in for this post... well... you're half right. Some of the Safety Tips will be expanded in future posts, but lets get everyone up to speed before I start expounding my wisdom again.

• The 'movie' is done. Well, done in the sense that the owners are going to take a look at it today or tomorrow and make suggestions. One owner has seen it, and hasn't said much - which to me is a good thing, cuz otherwise he would have already told me to make a bunch of changes. We've got it clocking in at a whopping 13 minutes and 57 seconds.
• From one beast of a project to another. Now, before the party, I've got to make a DVD with sponsorship recognition. That's the easy part. The hard part is actually getting ahold of the sponsors to get an acceptable logo from them. They'll give away money or merchandise like there's no tomorrow, but getting them to send over a logo via email is like pulling teeth.
• Did some landscape management on Friday. Hacked up the course pretty good. Bob, Will, Nort and I went out and hit the links on what was a gorgeous Friday afternoon. We did the Island Course over at Silver Spring CC, and I had a great time. My first time out for the season, and I'm pretty happy with how I played. My first tee shot was a rocket out of the tee box - more straight that any tee shot I've EVER hit in my life. Let's just say that it's not a good sign when the first shot of the year is that good... because it can only go down hill from there. But like I said, I thought I did okay, and even got a pitcher of beer out of Nort on the island hole.
• The Brewers scored seven runs on Tuesday and came up short, and last night, scored four in both the seventh and eighth innings... and still came up short again. The loss drops the Crew to 7-7 for the season, which is one better than the f*ckin Yankees at this point.
• Oh yeah, the Yankees have a 170 MILLION extra dollars in their payroll than the Brewers do.
• The media is finally coming off of Brett Favre's nutz, and coming out and saying he needs to make a decision on next year already. I've said it before - enough is enough already - make up your damn mind Brett. We're not gonna win the Superbowl next year. But if you still have the desire, please do come back, we'd love to have you. If not, it's been a helluva ride.
• And then there's Ted Thompson. Thompson might be the only guy on the planet that could walk into a strip joint with 1000 one dollar bills, and not give a single dollar out to one of the 'dancers'. We haven't even made a splash in free agency, despite having more money available than anyone. The few guys that are left, we aren't offering enough money for them to sign, despite having the cap space. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.
• Apparently, I'm a trend setter, and ahead of the curve. The mumps are now at an 'outbreak' stage here in Milwaukee. I had the mumps back in November, and I didn't get any press coverage. I'm kinda salty about that.
• The WhiteHouse revolving job carousel keeps on trucking today. Scott McCllean, Bush's press secretary resigned today. He'll stay on the job until a new press secretary is announced. These press conferences the next few weeks could be entertaining. McCllean always had that look on his face like he despised the guys in the media room with him. You could almost see every time someone asked a question, a little thought bubble would rise over his head with; "You mutha fuc....... I already answered that, why you gotta bring up old shit for?"....... and then he'd remember what his job title was, and calmly answer the question. Now after all the shit he's been through with Bush, he knows there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and might actually enjoy the press conferences now.
• I'll leave you with this interesting picture for the day..... on the left is a normal person standing next to a flag stick on a golf course.... on the right is Will standing next to a flag stick on a golf course. Anyone notice the difference? Click on 'em for a larger image.

Absolute Kill-Joys

The national governing body that rules over high school football has banned the fumblerooski for the 2006 season and beyond.

The fumblerooski for the non-football geeks, is where the quarterback takes the snap, and immediately sets the ball on the ground. All the players go in one direction, while one player, generally an offensive guard, picks up the ball and runs with it.

It is a high risk play, but if run executed properly, can gain significant yardage, and is a hell of a lot of fun to run/watch.

This has nothing to do with safety concerns, yet they've banned the play. The article says it's a burden for the officials when the play is run.

WHAT?

Basically, it's a fumble, but on purpose. Why and how can this play be illegal? Some people just have nothing better to do, than find things they don't like - and in this case, it's ridiculous.

One Of The Greatest Ideas EVAR!!!

Game six, 1986 World Series - otherwise known as the Buckner game.

What an awesome idea, taking the audio from the TV broadcast, and remaking the game in RBI baseball for the NES.

Horkin' sweet.

Warning! Stolen Post!

Editors note:
This post is stolen from Will. I would assume that anyone that reads my drivel would read his... but you know what they say when you assume.....

----------------------------------------------------------------

Tickets to the hockey skills competition...... $10

Popcorn, hot dog, soda at the game..... $47.50

Taking a picture of a friend wearing a paper helmet that makes him look like a retard.....



Priceless.

Had To Happen Sometime

So the beloved BrewCrew lost today to the Diamondbacks. Before today, in the entire history of Major League Baseball, only one other team has been 5-0, and has trailed in all five games. Only the 1901 Detroit Tigers have pulled that off before the 06Brewers.

Who the fuck looked that one up?

Also, the only pitcher in MLB history to have a save for his team in the first four games is Derrick Turnbow of the Brewers.

Again, who the fuck looked that one up?

And lastly, I beg of the Brewers brain trust to not just limit these uni's to Sunday home games. Bring 'em back full time!!

Construction Destruction

8:59 Punch in

9:01 Check voicemail. Plu-eeze let last night have run smoothly...

9:02 Nutz. A CD drive has eaten a disc. A check with the powers that be tells me that I should take care of this first thing for the day.

9:10 After discovering a member has brought us a large pan full of fudge, a cup of coffee, and a check of the email, I wander next door to pick up the PC.

9:20 Walk back across the lot to the office with three people that have decided to come and gaffle some fudge from us.

9:30 Screwdriver in hand - let's get crackin!

9:35 Well, we haven't gotten very far before we hit our first snag. This is the first of three phone calls I have to take regarding the anniversary party coming up. I was just getting excited about taking something apart too.....

10:05 Computer apart, CD drive out of it's slot..........

10:06 "Warning! Drive contains NO parts to be serviced by user. If drive needs service, please take to authorized service center for repairs." C'mon son - if you don't want me taking this thing apart, you gotta bring a better warning that that. If you don't want me to take a screwdriver to this apparatus, you best be putting a picture of someone like Nort getting electrocuted on the cover. Or better yet, just say, "If you open this device, you will die." Anything less than that, and this baby is coming apart! Co-workers wonder why I've chuckled under my breath.

10:19 Whew. They sure put this thing together well. Them are some tiny-ass screws.

10:22 Looks like a confetti factory has exploded inside the CD drive. The drive didn't eat so much of the disc but it mowed down the label on top of the disk.

10:23 Shake out the shredded label.

10:31 Even after immense shaking and use of an air-duster, there's still tiny pieces of label making their way out of the drive. The label was white on one side, and reflective metallic on the other. The little 'glitter' pieces that are making their way out onto the desk and floor are causing it to look like there was a stripper convention by my desk.

10:32 Or, so I've heard that strippers use glitter.

10:40 All major pieces seem to be out. I'm beginning to realize that all of that label 'dust' isn't ever going to come out. But the moving parts seem to be clear to move, and there's no major breakage that I can see.

10:48 Went back together faster than it came apart. That's not normal for things I dismantle. But I don't have any screws left over, so I'm not sure what I missed.

11:13 All back together in the tower ( I only bent ONE plastic snap to get it in - woo hoo! ), and IT WORKS!!! It read a disc and everything! Of course, I used a disc with NO label on it - but we're still one step ahead of where we were this morning.

11:22 PC is back next door, and victory is claimed - despite putting me a couple hours behind schedule for the day. I'm thinking no matter what happens the rest of the day, it's a successful day. From here, I look forward to looking at more pictures of people working out in the 80's.

The True Sign You've Made It

About damn time.

How To Make Me Insane

Take thirteen jumps at a conference meet. Over the course of the thirteen jumps, make two heights on your third/last attempt.

I know they weren't doing it on purpose, but they drove me crazy last night at the meet. Two of the girls did well with the jumps, and were clearing on first attempts, but they're girls, so their minds were all over the place, so that was fun trying to keep them in a good frame of mind.

The third girl finally bent the pole in practice yesterday, so this was her first meet like this. She started to put it together at the end, and I was very proud of her for that, cuz she didn't look so good in warmups.

She tied the school record ( which she already shares with three other girls ), and after this last meet, I fully expect her to break the record at the new meet.

Just so long as she doesn't take thirteen jumps to do it. I don't know that I can take that kinda stress all spring long.

Nervous Nelly

Conference Indoor meet tonight beyotches!!

I'm not even jumping, and I've been nervous since about 11am. I never get nervous when I have to compete... but as a coach, before the meet, I can't stand it.

And we had an absolutly GREAT practice yesterday. Which, if you know my history, that doesn't bode well for this afternoon.

*GULP*

Holy Moses

Okay, so I know Chuck isn't the head honcho anymore, but the NRA is coming to town.

The NRA. To a uber-liberal town. In one of two states in the union that doesn't have a conceal carry law.

I don't really have anything else to say about this....

Except I'm all for the right to bare arms.




I'm terrible. Like I need a reason to post a picture of her.

Dear Mr. Reynolds...

Harold Reynolds, a baseball analyst for ESPN ( and usually a pretty astute one at that ), has picked the Milwaukee Brewers to win the NL Central.

I'll repeat myself for those of you that fell out of your chair laughing, or are rubbing your eyes to make sure you read that right.

He picked them to win the division at years end.

Nevermind that there's the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros ( the last two NL reps in the World Series ), and even the pesky Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs aren't supposed to be a major factor in the division, but they seem to mess with the Brewers at the worst possible times for the BrewCrew.

Hey now, I hope I'm wrong for mocking Mr. Reynolds. An automatic playoff berth would be fantastic. But we've got hardly anybody except for our 35 year old catcher, who's got playoff experience, let alone ever been in a playoff race.

But hell, that's why sports are great. Every year, hope springs eternal. And so far, after one game, Mr. Reynolds is right. Lets hope it stays that way.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

The Brewers looked pretty solid in the regular season debut against the Pirates. It's too bad it will never last in the long run though. Despite all the talk, there's no way to keep Weeks, Fielder, Hardy, Clark, Sheets, and Turnbow together for more than a year or two. So it's going to be disheartening to get attatched to a team, that if left intact for a few years, could compete for a wild-card spot.

But they were fun to watch today. It seemed like I was the only one from the company that DIDN'T go to opening day.

And making the sports day a little better as well tonight - Florida is making UCLA their bitch on the basketball court. Not that I care all that much for Florida, I'm just not much of a UCLA fan.

Then there's the Yankees and A's. For at least one inning, I thought we'd get the sports trifecta today, as the Yankees looked like absolute shit in the first inning. So I watched some more basketball, only to turn back later to find the Yankees up 7-1.

Fuck the Yankees.

Two out of three ain't bad today.

"This is gonna SUCK!"

The Hitmen had our first mini-camp of the season on Sunday, and while I was looking forward to the practice, I knew the weather wouldn't make it much fun. So in the car ride down there, Willy and I are talking about movies, when he blurts out - "This is gonna SUCK!".... and I knew exactly what he meant.

I love playing football in the rain. I HATE practicing in the rain. And rain it did. We made it through over half the practice before the downpour started. And just to f*ck with us, Mother Nature had it pour on us for a good fifteen minutes before any lightning came around.

But despite the shower, and the cold - it was a good workout. There were alot of new faces around, including six of us that want the quarterback job. One thing I found out after this practice is that I now throw better in the rain than I used to. All that work on the mechanics might have helped, but we use a slightly smaller ball, and that made alot of difference.

Well, at least after the first throw it made a difference. The first one went slightly end-over-end. But AFTER that, it got better.

One more mini-camp next weekend. MAYBE it'll stop raining by then.