FilteringCraig

You know, I gave up on this baseball season before the All-Star break, but for some reason I can’t stop watching.

I knew that Fausto Carmona was going to lose the game tonight. Jen will even vouch for the fact that I said that David Ortiz would in fact hit a game winning home run to end the misery.

Knowing that it is going to happen doesn’t really help quell the f-bombs forming at the tip of my tongue. I know that the season is over, but do you really have to demoralize all the players left as well as any and all the fans who are still willing to watch the team on TV?

And do you want to know why I knew that the game was over?

Carmona put two runners on base. He got one guy to pop out and then Eric Wedge held a conference at the mound before Big Papi stepped to the plate. And what did I see?

Andy Marte, age 22, Victor Martinez, age 27, Hector Luna, age 26, Jhonny Peralta, age 24, and Kelly Shoppach, age 26 meeting in the middle of the diamond to talk strategy with manager Eric Wedge and new rookie closer Fausto Carmona, age 22.

These players might end up being ok, if they can ever pick their self-confidence out of the geological fault that they have been tossed into by Mark Shapiro and Cleveland Indians ownership.

From a pure business standpoint, I understand the dumping of salaries and players who can bring something of value back in trade. At the same time, you just can’t deplete the roster to the point that you give your team a setback, and I fear that this is exactly what is happening to all these young players who put together such an impressive year last season.

Again, I understand what it means to not be in contention and trying to make the best of a bad situation. You must operate with an eye toward the future. At the same time, to some extent, the future is now with a lot of these young players, and you don’t want to ruin their careers by putting them in a position where they don’t have nearly enough tools to succeed.

Big Papi’s 3-run, game winning, walk off, heart stomper of a homerun leads me to believe that maybe Mark Shapiro and Cleveland Indians management went a little too far with this concept of rebuilding and looking to next year.

The Company Line is recording at home this summer. I got some work done last night. Check out the rough cut of one of our newer songs. I think it is leaps and bounds ahead of where we were on our demo.

It is called Heart Attack

This rough track is all me. The rest of the boys will lay down their parts this week. I recorded two guitar tracks and three vocal tracks.

The Company Line - Heart Attack (Right Click to Save As)

And leave a comment if you check it out.

Dittoheston complained last week, and as a result, she had the honors this week. Visit and pay tribute to her site.

Leave a comment here or there if you decide to participate and feel free to send the linky loving back to either or both sites.

1. Toilet paper end over or under?

Over. I think that having it over makes it easier to pull, especially if the roll is tight in the holder. Think about it. If the dispenser’s position is above you when you are seated, it might be easier to do under so as to pull effectively while not breaking the paper before you are able to pull the proper length. Every dispenser I have ever had was well below shoulder level while seated. So over definitely makes the most sense.

2. Joe Simpson or Kevin Federline?

Two skeezy guys, for sure. Both of them rely on others for their fame and/or money. I have to go with Joe Simpson. It may be incestuous, but that’s two relative hotties, vs. one who has probably seen her best days go by.

3. Margaritas or Mojitos?

Margaritas give me heart burn. Mojitos it is.

4. Yoga or Pilates?

Never done either one. I will say pilates because it is a more interesting word.

5. Sweet Valley High or Choose Your Own Adventure?

Choose your own adventure. I used to read those books from beginning to end after I got bored with doing the books the “right way.” You know why? It is a book and it CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

6. 1980’s Canadian Superstar Conrad Bain, or 1980’s Canadian Superstar Alan Thicke?

Thanks so much. Now Deezo is going to post 700 Alan Thicke facts on my website. Still, you have to go with Growing Pains. Alan Thicke.

7. Mad Cow Disease or Bird Flu?

Mad cow because it produced funnier videos up to this point.

8. Celebrity Ex-Con Robert Downey Jr., or Celebrity Ex-Con Martha Stewart?

Robert Downey Jr. in a landslide. Sure he gets kicked around a little bit, but I respect his work a hell of a lot more than the wares that Martha supplies to K-Mart.

9. Pennsyltucky or Kentuckiana?

Hmmm… Kentuckiana is a new one for me. I have heard of Cincitucky, but never Kentuckiana. I will say Kentuckiana.

10. PepperJack or Horseradish Cheddar?

Pepperjack is the bestest cheese on earth for Cheese and Crackers. It is way way more gooder than Horseradish Cheddar.

I knew it was going to be an uphill battle this year with the Cleveland Browns. Hell, every year is an uphill battle in the NFL.

But this year, was the first time in a long time that I thought the Browns had really made some improvements to the team. And it all started with the signing of LeCharles Bentley, a Pro Bowl center from the New Orleans Saints. He was expected to anchor a new and improved cast of characters on the offensive line.

And now, on basically the first day of practice, Bentley goes down for the season after tearing his patellar tendon in his knee.

So, does that mean that Browns fans should just start looking forward to next season, even before this one begins? I guess it depends on what the Browns do in response to losing Bentley, but you can’t possibly think that they can replace him.

Why do Browns fans remain fans? What rewards are there?

But I will still be there watching every game this season. Maybe they can still improve upon their 6-win season from last year. Maybe this team will give me something, ANYTHING to get excited about, but it just became a hell of a lot less likely with the injury to LeCharles Bentley today.

Let’s just put this in perspective. Not that I would ever wish injury on any player for any team in the NFL, but think of it this way.

Ben Roethlisberger smashes his entire body including his head into a car from a motorcycle and doesn’t appear to be much worse for the wear. The Browns’ Bentley steps the wrong way and his season is done.

Welcome to Cleveland Sports.

This guy posts a Youtube video of a video game glitch that allowed the CPU player to leap the height of the Green Monster to catch a fly ball.

Digg users enjoyed the article. Except for the ones who are pissed at the use of the term CPU to describe a computer controlled opponent with artificial intelligence.

So then mayhem ensues. Geek computer guys vs. Geek gamers who have always referred to the artificial intelligence in games as “the CPU player.”

I don’t know which side of the fence that I am supposed to be on, but the comments on the story are hilarious. Keep in mind that when a comment isn’t popular it gets “Digged down” and you might have to click “show comment.”

The Cleveland Browns are currently working to get out of their deal with Channel 19 WOIO in Cleveland. The deal was in place so that WOIO could broadcast the Cleveland Browns’ pre-season football games. The problems started when WOIO aired a news story featuring a 9-1-1 call placed by Nancy Fisher on July 9th after discovering her 6-year-old daughter had drowned in a creek on the family’s property. Fisher is the sister of Browns owner Randy Lerner and he was understandably upset with the network for a 9-1-1 call that was more sensationalist than necessary.

Lerner said “I just don’t know how you do business with people who do that to you.”

Under the circumstances, I can’t really disagree. The story of the drowning death of a 6-year-old with connections to the Cleveland Browns is certainly newsworthy, but the gut-wrenching 9-1-1 call is probably not necessary except to titillate and shock viewers.

The two sides appear to be prepared to battle it out in court. It seems like all pretty straight forward stuff. Then I read the most recent opinion piece by Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Sam Fulwood III, titled “Treating the rich just like the poor.” In his article Fulwood takes this situation and turns it into a story of courageous journalism and the public’s right to know.

Really? Is that the issue here?

Fulwood says, ” Airing the audio was perfectly defensible, and similarly dramatic stuff gets on the air every day.”

While I can’t disagree that similarly dramatic “stuff” gets on the air every day, I am left wondering if that is the way it should be? Hearing the horror of a person after discovering that their daughter has drowned is not an important part of the story. But don’t get me wrong. I am not naïve as to what TV news has become. We all realize that TV news is a big ratings game with their ever-increasing Doppler numbers, and their increased broadcast of shocking news. Here is the difference. Understanding what the game is about and accepting these newscasts as “the way it should be” are two very different things.

Fulwood’s article continues in another direction as he explores some hypotheticals.

” What if the person who called 9-1-1 was an ignorant-sounding person from some poor Cleveland neighborhood, instead of an affluent person from a suburban estate?”

OK, that’s an easy one. The “ignorant-sounding person from some poor Cleveland neighborhood” probably wouldn’t have any leverage like the Browns TV deal to try and punish the channel for unnecessarily dragging a family’s emotions through the grinder of their television ratings battle.

So what?

Just because Randy Lerner is a powerful guy and can exert his power when he feels he isn’t treated properly, means nothing to this situation from a philosophical standpoint. Just because this happens to poor people all the time doesn’t make it right. True, that Lerner has more opportunity for recourse, but what does that matter to the idea of whether the call should have been played or not?

Fulwood doesn’t seem to think that the call needed to be played except that if it happens to poor people then Randy Lerner should have to take it too. Since when do two wrongs make a right?

Fulwood raises another hypothetical, “Or what if the dispatcher hadn’t handled the call properly?”

Another easy answer. That is a completely different case. The story now deals with a public service (911) not working properly. That is news under a completely different heading. Reporting that there might or might not be problems with dispatchers working emergency phone lines is definitely under the guidelines of news that the community should know about. It is a far cry from what we are talking about here with Lerner’s situation.

The rest of Fulwood’s argument seems to center around the idea that one person shouldn’t dictate to a news department what is considered news. I agree with that notion whole-heartedly, but here we have a situation where every channel (I think) reported the news, but only one channel took it to the offensive level to Lerner by playing the audio to try and titillate their audience.

Yes it is news. Report on it all you want. When you cross that line into a family’s private anguish, they deserve the right to speak up. In our society rich people from the suburbs, especially those owning the Cleveland Browns, have more opportunity to do that. Is that a surprise?

So that is exactly what Randy Lerner did. He felt that the news department did something to him by playing the call. He has the right and means to speak out about it and not do business with them.

So we are still left with a question. WOIO didn’t show any bravery by playing the call, and it didn’t enhance any single viewer’s ability to be informed, so how is it defensible?

Our local grocery store, Giant Eagle, might have the stupidest name in the history of commerce. Whoever thought to name their store Giant Eagle is a silly, silly bastard.

BUT, they do have a really cool benefit for their rewards card. They also own some gas stations and as you rack up all the cash buying wheat Boboli crusts and shredded mozzerella, you start to earn a cheaper price per gallon at their gas station. I have spent tons of cash at the grocery store, and I had it to the point that it was finally worth driving the extra 5 miles out of my way to fill up at the Giant Eagle gas station. The gas was basically free.

In this day and age when the price of gasoline is out of control, this was about the most amazing sight I had seen in a long time. And I am sure that the display on the gas pump is all a part of making this feel rewarding enough to get people to participate.

Check it out. These are not photoshopped.

Less than one cent per gallon for gasoline

After all the gas was pumped, it rounded up to only 2 cents to fill my whole tank.

It’s time for some more either/or on Friday. The rules are simple. Select one or the other. No substitutions. Can’t say neither. Explain why you choose what you choose. Link back here or leave it in my comments. That is all.

1. Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?

Despite his recent successes, I am going to choose Bill Gates. He isn’t the innovator. He isn’t responsible for Pixar. He didn’t create my iPod. But, he is about to be retired and take on a grandfatherly persona, I think. That appeals to me for whatever reason.

2. Newspapers or Magazines?

Magazines. Newspapers are over now that I can read my news on the Internet. What’s left? I wait for all the magazines like Wired, Alternative Press, Rolling Stone, Spin, etc to arrive.

3. Urkel or Screech?

This is a difficult one. Urkel and Screech both disappeared off the face of the earth after their TV shows, but only Urkel was on in prime time. Say what you want, but prime time TV is much more gooder than whenever Saved by the Bell was on.

4. Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson?

Despite the fact that it is everyone else’s least favorite of the series, Die Hard 2 is still my favorite. Bruce Willis it is.

5. The Godfather or Goodfellas?

Goodfellas is a classic even though nobody remembers how bad the end of the movie gets with all the cocaine and prison and stuff. Still, I am taking The Godfather all day and night over the memorable lines in Goodfellas.

6. Hamburgers or Hot Dogs?

If this were a question about baseball only, then I would have to say Hot Dogs, but in any other non-baseball context, I have to take burgers over hot dogs every single time.

7. The letter Z or the letter Q?

I have to take the letter Z because I don’t want to always have the letter U following me around.

8. Isiah Thomas or Marge Schott?

The worst GM in the history of the world, or the owner on record saying Hitler did some good things? I guess I take Isiah Thomas because at least he was a good basketball player at one point.

9. Video Games or Movies?

Movies. As much as I love playing video games, I don’t know what I would do without two-hour escapes via directors, actors and writers.

10. Thanksgiving or Fourth of July?

I love the food on the Fourth of July better, but due to the fact that it is usually 110 degrees on the fourth, I am going to have to take Thanksgiving. Turkey is overrated, but there is football on and it isn’t sweltering, at least where I live.

I need a passport for the honeymoon. Unfortunately, my old passport expired. Fortunately, I still have it and I scanned the picture of a much younger, svelter, 15 year-old FilteringCraig. I look like I am going to kill someone in this photo. The wide-eyed psycho look.

Instructables is a site where people post step-by-step instructions for a bunch of DIY projects. I started reading the site, and it can really chew up a lot of time. Here were some of the things that I found interesting.

(If there was one complaint that I have about the site it is that it should be edited for easy grammar and spelling issues. I know that I am sloppy sometimes, but the misuse of there, their and to, too really gets annoying when it happens three times in a row in the same sentence.)

• This guy gives step-by-step instructions on how to solve a Sudoku puzzle. His way, while efficient, really makes it seem less like fun, and more like an assignment. Way to ruin it dude.
• You can create your own shower spa to get the proper configuration of water spraying in your shower. I am not sure what this will do for resale value on your home, but it would be nice.
• How to make torches and breathe fire. I don’t think I will be trying this one. Although it would be fun on halloween to terrify trick-or-treaters.
• Also some practical stuff like how to change the oil in your car. I wouldn’t know if these instructions are right or wrong, because I go to Jiffy Lube. I also have never changed a tire, so you can keep laughing at me all you want.
• Pimped out Megaphone helmet. Who needs one, right? Sounds like the perfect thing to walk around in at Browns games.
• Finally, if you don’t know what to do with that old tire, I have the idea for you. Why not make sandals? That’s right, you won’t feel like you are moving the car with your feet like the flinstones when you have your very own Goodyear Sandals.