FilteringCraig

There is a graphics file that is being linked around the web on political sites involving George W. Bush’s effect on the U.S. National Debt. It is quite a shocking graphic, but it can be very misleading because it doesn’t take any other economic factors into account like GDP, inflation or anything else for that matter.

This is the graphic that people are looking at.

Now, I took the data set from that website and looked up Nominal GDP for the corresponding years. When you go ahead and take the US National Debt as a percentage of the Nominal GDP (which is not adjusted for inflation, etc either) it gives you a more clear picture of what has happened relative to the economy.

Keep in mind, I am not an economics expert of any kind. Hell, I am not even giving an opinion on Bush’s performance in terms of the U.S. National Debt, but I thought that if people were going to really look at the issue, they ought to be armed with something a little more meaningful than a raw number that hasn’t been adjusted for any of the economics that are also occurring at the same time that the nation is incurring a national debt.

This is the Cleveland Sports Curse weblog, so why not go ahead and tempt fate by posting the newest SI cover which is sure to officially end the Tribe’s season as soon as it hits the shelves tomorrow, September 28th.

Click here for Sports Illustrated and their stupid, jinxing asses.

With those extra 52 seconds in place, the Steelers rallied to tie the game 20-20 on Ben Roethlisberger’s 4-yard TD pass to Hines Ward with 1:21 remaining.

But that was enough time for Brady to lead the Patriots into position for Adam Vinatieri, the league’s best clutch kicker, to make a 43-yard field goal with one second remaining to beat the Steelers 23-20 at Heinz Field.

While it is unfortunate that the clock was wrong, I don’t think you can say that Tom Brady and company wouldn’t have won the game anyway. The mistake happened with enough time left in the fourth quarter that it probably doesn’t change anything. A couple plays, timeouts might have occurred differently had the clock been set properly. This changes the whole course of the game, so it isn’t really fair to say, “Would the Pats have been able to drive and score with only 29 seconds as opposed to the 1:21?”

Just subtracting those 52 seconds after the fact as if the constant monitoring of the clock doesn’t effect every play thereafter is a logical flaw, I think. If the clock had been set properly, it is possible that the Pats wouldn’t have had enough time to score, but it is also possible that they would have had the same amount of time. If one play can take 52 seconds off, then over the course of a quarter those 52 seconds, or some fraction thereof, could have been saved.

We will never know, of course, but I wouldn’t dwell on it too much if I was a Steelers fan. There is plenty of football left to be played this season and short of a disaster, it is a two team race in the AFC North between the dreaded Steelers and a revamped Cincy team.

When your team is in a re-building mode and the roster has turned over by at least 50-60% from the previous season, and then when you hang with a Superbowl contender for 4 quarters, it is strangely rewarding. I would have preferred that the Browns won the game yesterday, obviously, but when they are 13.5 point dogs going into it, you can’t really jump up and down screaming when they lose 13-6.

The offense, despite the lack of scoring, showed an ability to move the ball against a pretty highly touted defense. Droughns had 76 yards rushing on 22 carries, which translates into a better than average day. Trent Dilfer was 22-29 for 208 yards and showed the ability to put together a ball-control drive that eats up some clock and saves the defense.

The defense also did a decent job, despite allowing Manning to take 7:30 off the third quarter clock with their first drive after halftime. That drive resulted in a Mike Vanderjagt field goal, which you can’t complain too much about. The one big complaint that I have on defense is that the Browns didn’t get to Manning once. No sacks. Maybe that was part of the plan in keeping plenty of people in the secondary, but it would have been nice to see the lineman get in there a couple of times.

Finally, and this is where I am really frustrated, the Browns had another huge difference-making play called back because of penalty. Dennis Northcutt had a 70-something yard return that was called back for a block in the back call on Frisman Jackson. While I think the call was really unwarranted, you can’t give the officials that much leeway to smash you with penalties on big plays. Jackson came in mostly from the side and then pulled short of hitting the guy, but he fell down anyway and out came the flags erasing a serious momentum-shifter.

These are the mistakes that this team can’t yet overcome. In order to overcome that mistake, you need to drive 80 yards and score a touchdown, and against an Indy defense that is improved over last year, that wasn’t going to happen.

So, the Browns go into their bye week at 1-2 which is better than the 0-3 that I said was possible after the Cincy loss in week 1. The Browns come back with two pretty winnable games with the Bears coming to Cleveland Browns Stadium and then traveling to Baltimore to take on the sputtering Ravens.

I am not usually ever going to be satisfied with mediocre results, but in the case of the Browns and where they were after the Butch Davis debacle, I am quite pleased to see some progress. They still don’t have all the talent that they need, but with some effective game planning and defensive scheming by this coaching staff, they can take medium levels of talent and do more with it. I am still thinking that 6 wins would be a huge victory for this team, so we will see what happens in weeks 5 and 6 coming out of their bye week with two of the more winnable games on the schedule.

This animated GIF seems to indicate that Jay-Z is beating up a woman.

Word has it that this could have been Jay playing around with a friend of his from a long time ago and not a big deal.

Either way, it is an entertaining GIF file.

How many times have you heard this conversation or some close variant?

“S’up?”

“Did you play high school football?”

“Yeah, me too.”

“What do you bench?”

“Pussy.”

Every single year, in the Daily Free Press at Boston University, I read some story about how football needs to be back after they cancelled the program my freshman year of college. Then there are a bunch of cliches spewed about how there is nothing more American than college, mom’s apple pie, football, and especially college football. While that may be true at a real football school like Ohio State, Florida State, USC or even (gasp) arch rival in everything but football, Boston College, it didn’t appear to be true at Boston U for the one season that football was there.

I saw a very different side of college football.

I lived in West Campus at Boston U and those are three tower-sized dorms which overlook the football field and the old athletic complex. On saturdays we would be awakened by the marching band and the 10’s of fans who piled into the grandstands. That’s right. The 10’s of “rabid” football fans. (I think one guy consistently even painted his face. WHOOOOO!)

Anyway, to say that the program was popular would be a bold-faced lie.

Secondly, it was division I-AA. That isn’t exactly major college football. Which brings me to the real reason that I don’t think Boston U needs football back at the school.

Football players are assholes. They were I-AA, yet they acted like they were future draft picks in the NFL. They used to cut in front of everyone in the dining halls and at the student union. They used to talk too loudly and generally carry themselves like they were the greatest thing to walk the earth. I will admit that I am not even close to a tough guy. Why didn’t I say something to the assholes cutting in line all the time? They were bigger than I was. But despite their physical superiority to me, they hadn’t won a game all season and they weren’t even playing in a division that gets TELEVISED.

Do they think that the rest of the student body and I are unaware of this fact as they are walking all over everyone around them?

So, what would the positive aspects of college football be at Boston U? BU football would give students a football game to go to on Saturday. It would also give the school band another venue to play bad marching covers of popular songs.

And the negatives? Boston U would be wasting scholarships to a pretty good school in order to compete on a second tier of America’s favorite sport. They would have a bunch of Division I-AA cro-magnon dummies treating everyone in the school like shit even though they aren’t very good at what they think should give them recognition in the first place.

So, not that my vote counts as an alumnus, but I vote no. Boston U doesn’t need Football back on campus.

I didn’t give a damn about it when I was there, and I certainly didn’t miss those A-Holes with their overly entitled attitudes when they were deposed from their positions as mediocre athletes.

I have never been claustrophobic, as far as I can tell. I have had two closed MRI’s in my life and they didn’t freak me out in the slightest. As a kid, we used to play hide and seek and hiding in tight places never bothered me. But this weekend, in the van shuttle that was taking wedding guests from the reception back to the hotel, I almost lost my mind in a moment of claustrophobic tension, which almost sent me reeling.

Jen and I were at the reception and made our way out front to the van which was headed back to the hotel. As some of the first people to arrive at the van, we eventually got in and made our way to the back of the five rows that sat about four people across.

Slowly but surely, other guests started arriving at the van looking for a shuttle back to the hotel.

Slowly but surely, the van started to crowd in as people started contemplating sitting people on laps in order to get more people back to the hotel.

Slowly but surely, it got hotter and mustier in the back of the van. The smell of sweat, alcohol and used automobile filled my nose.

Then, finally the doors shut and any slight drafts of fresh air that were coming in through the open door, were gone. I am starting to feel feverish.

I mention that I need a window or some AC. My friend Jon reaches to open the window, but instead grabs a little plastic cover which protects the end or a seat-belt, and breaks it. There is still no air, but now the laughter of the guests over the seat belt cover is deafening.

I mention a little more desperately that we need a window open or some AC.

The driver slowly walks around the back of the van with his cane. Earth worms have traversed flooded driveways faster than this guy got to the driver’s door.

He starts the van and through all the commotion of about twenty people talking and laughing misunderstands and thinks that the van wants heat.

I become just a little more desperate and Jen can tell that I am inches away from losing my mind.

Finally, with seconds to spare in my fight against whatever it was that took over, the air kicked on and rushed through the back of the van like a tidal wave of water over an inferno.

And I was fine.

I don’t know what came over me that night. Like I said, I have never been claustrophobic as far as I know. Having that little window into the world of someone with claustrophobia, I know that I hope that feeling never comes over me ever again.

Sometimes, people say cringe-worthy things. Sometimes, these cringe-worthy things will negate the entire viewpoint of a speaker, because it identifies them as mildly retarded. Sometimes these statements will negate anything you have to say ever again for the rest of time. It just depends on the level of cringe you induce. This is a list of things that you should never say to me in any conversation. Ever. You will lose an argument or me as your audience, by default. At minimum, you will get yourself ignored. You might give me no choice, and I might have to smash you unmercifully.

Here are the lines that are at the top of the list for me.

“It’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

First and foremost, this isn’t funny. It might have been funny the absolute first time someone said it. Not now. The fact that you are rhyming your response and failing your attempt at comedy will sink you. By saying something like this, you are not only ruining any point that you might have had, but you are erasing any legitimacy by piggybacking on someone else’s joke.

“…because it isn’t a sprint. It is a marathon.”

This comes from the files of sports cliches. This statement is done. It has been over for a while. Plus, maybe it isn’t a marathon. Maybe it is a series of sprints with some time in between? Maybe it is a new kind of race or game that nobody understands, like BASEketball or the Triple-Jump.

“You know, men are from Mars and women are from Venus.”

No, I don’t know. I didn’t read that stupid assed book. I really wish you hadn’t read it either, because then I wouldn’t have to listen to your smug tone that screams, “I read this book and now I feel like I have thoughts of my own for the very first time.” Shut up and express your own thoughts. I am sorry you misunderstood that day of class, but books are tools, they shouldn’t create them.

“We didn’t even elect him.”

This is the silliest of the anti-Bush chants. First of all, it is retarded, because the rules of the game have been pretty clear, that we have an electoral college, for a long time. On top of that, have you been paying attention for the last 4+ years? Your material is over 4 years old and there are plenty of things that are CURRENT, which can provide ammunition against George W. Bush. Update your cache of lines, dummy. If your line refers to the history book then it needs updating.

“I really need to cut down on my ‘Honey-Do’ list.”

This was in a commercial for Home Depot or Sears or some such thing. It was meant to be cute, because Honey-do is not a fruit, but it SOUNDS like the fruit. Get it? You know, so the whole thing is cute, AND funny. Except, wait, it isn’t funny. It doesn’t work in the commercial. It certainly doesn’t work a year or so after the commercial. How would you feel if I ran around without the slightest bit of irony, saying “Where’s the beef?” The lifespan on these things gets shorter and shorter folks. Let them die.

“(fill in the deity) created it that way for a reason.”

I won’t get into a debate with you on religion, but don’t tell me that thoroughly modern things like buildings, pens, roads, paper, computers, printers etc, were created by some Gahd in such a way for a reason. Also don’t tell me that he helped you win a sporting event, or get a new job, or find a girl. If and when you lose the job, girl, or big game, please curse him as well.

“What would you expect? (S)he is a lawyer!”

Ahh, let’s just paint everyone into the same corner. Lawyers have to be argumentative people who are experts on the law, right? They can’t possibly be any other way, can they? Stop it. Some lawyers do contracts for a living. Some chase ambulances. Some work in big corporations. Some are really stupid and don’t have as good a comprehension of the law as some other common non-law-school-graduated citizens. Don’t take away someone’s personality by plastering them with the late-night monologue punchline characteristics that should have become deceased with Johnny Carson.

“The only guarantees are death and taxes.”

This one may be true, but lets look at the point of saying something like this. Are you trying to be funny or is this being used to enlighten people? That’s what I thought. You are trying to be funny. Have you ever seen George Carlin do standup? Those old tapes of him in the 70’s doing airport humor are really funny. Have you seen an HBO special from him lately? How were those airport jokes? He didn’t tell those jokes, you say? He had all new material? New observations, and completely new takes on more current issues? It’s called originality, stupid. Look into it.

That is all I was able to think of for now.

Do you have any that just make you want to push someone down a flight of stairs?

This weekend, I went to Cape Cod for my friend Chris’ wedding. I drove. 22 hours of driving will give you plenty of time to listen to things. Here are some quick reviews of things that kept me sane and/or annoyed me while driving all that way.

HERE IS THE COOL STUFF

Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One

This album is good. It is grandiose in spots, punk in others. I don’t really always know what the hell Claudio is singing about, but I do know that it has that pop-punk feel with none of the sugar coating of bands like A Simple Plan, or Good Charlotte. I think I would say that it has an accessible complexity which really makes it a unique offering.

David Cross - Shut Up You F***ing Baby

Despite the amount of politics that show up on this album, David Cross is just funny. He offends lots of people, I am sure, but funny is funny. He is like a Bill Hicks, or a George Carlin except with a bit more silliness. If you like sarcasm, then this is the disc for you.

Opie and Anthony - XM Satellite Radio

O&A are totally addictive and I can’t get enough. Unfortunately Lil Jimmy Norton is out in “La La Land” shooting a sitcom for HBO. Regardless, this show is uncensored, hilarious and all the things that Howard Stern used to be before he got old, comfortable, and bitter.

HERE IS THE BAD STUFF

Frank Caliendo - Make the Voices Stop

Caliendo is known for his John Madden impression, as well as his impressions of Al Pacino, Jim Rome and others. This might be a great thing for a sketch comedy show like MadTV, but it sucks when listening to a CD of his standup. He drops in and out of Madden as a way to create some kind of cohesiveness to his show, but too frequently, I didn’t feel like his impressions were all that good, or the material was tired. I have no desire to hear his idea of what Robin Williams would sound like doing every part in a movie. Al Pacino’s “hidden track” on the end was obnoxious and boring. Frank Caliendo has his place, and it isn’t on a CD of his live show. Blech. This guy is like a verbal version of Gallagher. Hack.

Make the Voices Stop

Rich Vos - I’m Killing Here!

They always make fun of Vos on the O&A show and he can occasionally be entertaining, but it is usually when you are laughing at him. Unfortunately when they call him a hack or tell him that he isn’t funny on the show, they must be referring to his standup CD’s. This one is almost unlistenable. Vos is at his best when he is screwing up and getting obliterated by fellow stand-up comedians on the Opie and Anthony show.

I’m Killing Here!