Archive for 8 February 2008

Roger Clemens’ Wife Took HGH?

By on February 8, 2008

According to reports, now Roger Clemens’ wife Debbie is caught up in the HGH and steroid scandal with Brian McNamee. Apparently, she wanted to juice up for some pics in Sports Illustrated. I couldn’t possibly have cared less about this whole story until just now. Now I find it funny and interesting. I am also considering some HGH to help make my summer running program easier. I wonder how many miles I could rack up on my Nike + system if I had some chemical enhancement?

Anyway, check out the alleged pics for which she was juicing. Also, it is a good thing that baseball is a sport played with a cap. Roger Clemens’ stupid flat top stinks on ice.


(Welcome visitors from The Big Lead. I LOVE that site.)

This entry is filed under Sports.

Caught in the Apple Waiting Game

By on February 8, 2008

For those of you who don’t know, I am a musician and a computer geek. I have been building computers and playing with them and doing all kinds of other stuff with them since I was about 14 or 15 years old, in my basement, attempting to pass the time when I couldn’t play sports after my first of two knee surgeries. I am a PC guy at heart, just because that is where I started. Technically, I guess I started with an Apple IIe sometime in the 80′s, but I hardly think that counts. That was when monitors were monochrome, printers had ribbons, and mice were the furry rodents running in the shadows of the basement. Today, we have a very different landscape, which I don’t need to really say in a post on the Internet. But I digress…

I am ready for a new computer. I want a snazzy piece of equipment that I can use to do all my silly hobbies. I want something that I can use to update this website. I want something that I can use to record my band’s music. I want something to do minor photo editing. I want to edit vids for Youtube that might feature the band playing music or just goofing around. On top of that, I want convenience, portability and elegant design. I want a computer that I can be proud to own and will also do absolutely everything that I want it to do.

Cue the trumpets. The big winner is the MacBook Pro.

I was thinking the 15.4 inch screen with Boot Camp so that I can dual-boot it to run Mac OS and Windows XP simultaneously. I am going to use Logic Pro Studio for music production instead of the clunky ProTools LE that I am using today. I will try out all the Mac programs for photo editing, web page design, and if I am feeling froggy, possibly even try to edit a font or something equally Mac-like.One problem though.

When do you buy a MacBook Pro? I thought I was being smart. I waited until after MacWorld where Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Air. (Did you know that it fits inside of an envelope?) He made no announcements about the MacBook Pro at Apple’s biggest event of the year. So, I should be good to go, right?

Wrong.

The Apple rumor mill is INTENSE. It never stops. Will Apple update the iPhone? Will the iPod line get a “refresh?” How about the new features on the MacBook Air? Will any of those make their way to a mid-term refresh of the MacBook Pro? It is enough to make a man insane.

Look. Here is the bottom line. I want to spend a lot of money on a new computer. I am making a monumental jump from PC to Mac in order to spend more money than I have on any computer since 1997 when I bought individual components and a server-sized case to build a beast of a PC with two video cards before ANYONE had two video cards, and a CD burner that cost $400 because the technology was so brand spanking new. I want to spend this money and get started computing in a new age. Help me out Apple. Let me know that it is ok to buy. Don’t leave me hanging onto the words of a bunch of Mac Fanboys who run unsanctioned rumor sites in order to make the biggest computing decision that I have ever made ever.

Tell me that you are going to make an announcement at the end of February, or on February 10th, or whenever the hell you are going to make an announcement. I need you to make this easier for me. I realize it could throw off sales of your products for a week or two, but I don’t really care. All I care about is my purchasing decision and not having to bow to the pressures of your announcement timings and rumor mills any longer. You are making this very difficult on me and I don’t appreciate it as I listen to Justin Long and his thinly veiled Bill Gates bashing.

This entry is filed under Blog, Technology. | 1 Comment

Welcome to February Sports News

By on February 8, 2008

After the Super Bowl and before March Madness or pitchers and catchers report, there is nothing to talk about in sports. I give you exhibit A. This snapshot was taken from ESPN.com’s front page today.

That’s right. A piece about the Olympics that is six months away. Not only that, but it is a canned piece that you know ESPN was sitting on so they could fill their pages with something (ANYTHING) during this down period in sports.I am not biting on this one. I will not read about Chinese athletes and their plight to participate in the most boring part of sports the world has to offer. I will not read about it six full months before this boring exhibition takes place.

This should be viewed as an opportunity. Someone needs to take this time and fill it up. The NHL or NBA need to think about putting together a mid-season mini playoff or something. The UFC needs to put in a two or three week tournament putting all their belts on the line in their varying weight classes. A sport like golf, tennis, or even badminton needs to step up and create some kind of interesting multi-week event to capitalize on all the bored eyes sitting out there that are fiending for some decent sports action to follow.

Let’s have a summit. I want David Stern, Gary Bettman, Bud Selig, Don King, Mark Cuban, Dana White and Vince McMahon to sit down and hash this thing out. I need something to be done about this now.

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Sargeant Winslow Wants a New Deal

By on February 8, 2008

Kellen Winslow had an amazing season, amassing over 1000 yards in receiving. Now he wants to get some of that “new” money, as he called it in an interview on Sirius radio this week. Winslow is one of the most talented tight ends in the league, to be sure, but based on Winslow’s history, this should be very interesting. Winslow has done tons of damage to his body in his career, but the most damage stemmed from his off-field escapades on a crotch rocket that he crashed over a curb in a parking lot and into some bushes. As a result, Winslow plays with tons of pain. He is unable to practice a lot of weeks. He saves it all up and leaves it all out on the field on Sunday. The sad thing is that Winslow probably won’t ever be able to play the game of football pain free ever again.

And that is where the difficulty comes in. While the Browns love their superstar tight end, there is definitely a business risk posed by allocating any more money from the salary cap to a player who battles through so many injuries during the season. They have to sit by every off-season as Winslow gets more and more surgeries to clean things up in that knee. They have to sit there and hope that Winslow will be able to recover one more time to lay it all out again on the field.

Due to the fact that Winslow’s motorcycle accident was off the field and apparently in opposition to some clauses in his contract, the Browns renegotiated him after he had the accident. They had payed him all kinds of bonuses in signing his original deal and rather than asking for money back, they gave him a deal that was more heavily weighted to incentives. Now, apparently, that kind of a deal isn’t good enough for a tight end who has had two solid seasons in a row.

I don’t totally disagree. I am sure there is a happy medium somewhere. Winslow probably deserves a bit more guaranteed money with his health issues. He really does risk a ton every time he steps onto the field and he should be compensated for that. At the same time, it is a huge business risk for the Browns because Winslow has so many miles on that body of his. So, if Winslow is looking to be the highest paid tight end in the league, he can keep dreaming. At the same time, he should be able to get a few more guaranteed dollars out of the Browns in return for the huge risks he takes in getting on the field week in and week out.

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