More cranial noise...

Just some things that have been rattling around the inside of my skull...

• Chuck Lorre Productions, which is responsible for both Two and a Half Men and the Big Bang Theory, makes not only the funniest shows on TV, but he's also got the best sense of humor I've seen since Doug Adams died and Robert Aspirin sobered up. The vanity cards at the end of those shows are priceless. Fortunately, all are available on the web: http://www.chucklorre.com/


• Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay's full name is Jason Raymond Bay, which makes him Jay Ray Bay...


• At some point soon I will be creating a group on Facebook called "I have more than 50 friends on Facebook and not 1 that I went to high school with"


• While the show itself looks like crap, Jennifer Esposito from Samantha Who? is hot. Not too bad for a hockey player's daughter.


• I've started a search for Kenny Ames


• Just added some angel fish to the tank. I forgot why it is that I like cichlids so much, because they're both smarter and have more personality than live-bearers like platties and guppies.


• If you are watching Survivor: Gabon, you cannot be rooting against Matty. He's an underdog with a target on his back, but he's a really likable guy who does not quit.

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Love watching the general response to Obama's election as President. Right-wingers are screaming that this guy is the anti-Christ, here to institute a socialist government that will run this country to ruin, while the left-wingers are dancing in the streets, convinced that he will bring about the Utopian society where no one needs money and we're all free to love and do as we please.

I think both are going to be proven wrong. What he definitely does seem to be about is change. Yeah, I know, that was about as easy a read as you'll get, but I really think that the man's plan involves changing the way things are done in this country and I don't think that's an entirely bad idea. We do need someone to take a fresh look at the way this country operates because, quite frankly, the empire that the bureaucrats have built in Washington, DC stifles change.

Now, there's always the chance that I'm dead wrong about this and that Obama's plan is merely to be the socialist redistributor of wealth. If that is, in fact, the case. So what? The man was elected on the strength of a swing vote that was decidedly anti-Republican. All people need to remember is that we re-elect Congress every two years. If Obama turns into the right-wing's worst case scenario, then his party will lose its majority in Congress in the midterm elections and he'll be forced to compromise on things just like Clinton did. As I recall, the last 6 years of the Clinton presidency were some pretty good times.

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Now, for a personal notice.

It's been 6 months since I gave my notice at Fidelity. And, for 6 months, I haven't publicly skewered the worthless, duplicitous pieces of shit responsible for making the working conditions there miserable. And, in a move that seems totally out of character for me, I don't believe that I will.

I'm sure that those of you who know me well are stunned about this as it is totally of character for me. And before you think I've been medicated or that I'm posting from the seclusion of a lightly padded room with no sharp objects nearby, just know this: living well is the best revenge.

I have a great job at a small, but growing, company where we focus on results, not the process. I am no longer at a company which will be laying off hundred, nay, thousands of employees over the next few months. I don't have to make sure that I kiss the right ass to keep my name off a list. So, for now, I'll keep them out of the limelight.

Except for you Dausch. Fuck you.

Easy on the"poor me"s

First, I'm going to begin by saying congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies, who defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4 games to 1 in the World Series and are Major League Baseball's 2008 champions. They outplayed the Rays and outlasted the rain and proved that age and treachery do beat youth, innocence, and a bad haircut.

That said, don't count me among those who feel the slightest amount of pity for Philadelphia's "long-suffering" fans who had to endure a 25-year wait between championships, because I don't want to hear it.

If you take a look at the major-league sports franchises in the “big four” sports (football, baseball, hockey, and basketball), you’ll see that there are 114 teams spread out across 40 metropolitan areas within the United States (I'm omitting Canada for a reason). Those metropolitan areas would be: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York-New Jersey, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco Bay area, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Washington, DC.

Out of those 40 cities, 17 have won a championship in the last 10 years (this includes Philadelphia's World Series title this week). Here's how they break out:

Championship cities in the last 10 years:

Metro Area	Championships
Baltimore	1
Boston	6
Charlotte	1
Chicago	1
Dallas	1
Denver	2
Detroit	3
Indianapolis	1
Los Angeles	5
Miami	2
New York-New Jersey	5
Philadelphia	1
Phoenix	1
Pittsburgh	1
San Antonio	4
St. Louis	2
Tampa Bay	2

Of course, if we look back further, let's say the last 25 years, the list gets considerably longer. Now the cities where a championship was celebrated grows from 17 to 25 and now includes: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco Bay area, Washington, DC.

Which means that the following cities have NOT won any sort of a championship in the last 25 years: Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Jacksonville, Memphis, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle.

The problem with that list is that we have a lot of cities which are either new to the whole major league sports scene (Columbus, Memphis, OKC to name a few) or have only one team (or both). So, let's remove the cities that only one team calls home and those whose teams have been in existence for less than 20 years, we see list become a lot smaller. Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle.

Hmm, that really draws a stark map of sporting futility, doesn't it.

Metro Area	Last Title	Mantle of Futility
Buffalo	1965	4 straight Super Bowl losses
Cleveland	1964	how many losing seasons since?
Milwaukee	1971
New Orleans	-	zero winning seasons in first 19 years
San Diego	-
Seattle	1979	only franchise to actually win a championship left town

Looking at it this way, it kind of makes that whole "haven't won a championships in 25 years" thing seem a little silly, doesn't it?

General update

I've been ranting about politics for a while now so I thought that I'd use this time to talk about some other, non-political things.

I'm going to start by sharing an update on the status of my fantasy football team. We stink.

After 7 weeks, I've compiled a wretched 2-5 record and I'm averaging less than 110 points a week, which ain't all that good. A healthy part of the problem has been the status of the players I drafted. In general, I think that my strategy (focus on receivers who have lots of catches and rookie running backs) was sound, but that my execution could use serious improvement.

Anyway, here's the status of the guys I drafted:

Still with the squad:
Round 1: Braylon Edwards, WR, CLE
Round 3: Jason Witten, TE, DAL
Round 4: Wes Welker, WR, NWE
Round 5: Matt Forte, RB, CHI
Round 7: San Diego Defense
Round 8: Jonathan Stewart, RB, CAR
Round 11: Jake Delhomme, QB, CAR

Traded:
Round 2: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR, CIN (traded for Amani Toomer and Randy McMichael, both of whom have been subsequently cut. Ironically, Housh has been subsequently traded)
Round 9: Felix Jones, RB, DAL (traded with Jackson and Fasano for Lee Evans and Eli Manning)
Round 10: Vincent Jackson, WR, SDG
Round 13: Anthony Fasano, TE, MIA

Cut:
Round 6: Marc Bulger, QB, STL
Round 12: Davone Bess, WR, MIA
Round 14: Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, NYG
Round 15: Kevin Jones, RB, CHI
Round 16: Phil Dawson, K, CLE

I replaced Dawson with Gostkowski. I replaced Bulger with O'Sullivan and then cut him. I dropped Bess, Bradshaw, and Jones, and have worked through several WRs and RBs, including Steve Smith (from the Giants, not the Panthers), Reggie Brown, Koren Robinson, Duece McAllister, and Ricky Williams.

Now, what have I learned from all of this? Next time, I shouldn't simply go with WRs who rake in passes because situations can change and without proper research, it can blow up in your face. Had I known that the Bengals gutted their offensive line, I might have been able to avoid selecting Houshmanzadeh that high because a WR is only as good as the QB throwing to him and Palmer hasn't had the time in the pocket to make the throws.

Also, when it comes to any player whose job it is to catch the ball, see how often they get the ball thrown to them. Something I heard about a week before my draft was that while TO is Tony Romo's deep connection, his favorite receiver is still Jason Witten. That was all I needed to hear to bump Witten on my board.

What I also learned was that you should really think twice before picking a QB higher than the 8th round. Yeah, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady put up gaudy stats, but when your league gives you 1 point per 25 passing yards and 1 point per 10 receiving yards (plus a point per reception), receivers offer better value in the higher rounds.

And, lastly, never draft a defense/special teams unit before the 12th round. Unless you're going after the Chicago Bears, there isn't any significant difference between the #2 ranked defense and the #12 ranked defense so don't waste the draft pick.

I guess those are things to think about next year.

Another thing on my mind is music. I was digging through a stack of old backup CDs and I came across a CD with a bunch of MP3s on it. On of them, was a track from Tribe of Judah called "Left for Dead" that my buddy Joe hooked me up with. Tribe of Judah is Gary Cherone's post Van Halen project. The track isn't bad at all. Thanks again, Joe!

And of course, we have the Red Sox. The dirt dawgs made a season out of it by not only beating the Angels (who only posted the best record in baseball this year) in the Division round playoffs, but took the Rays to Game 7 of the ALCS after being down 3 games 1 and trailing by 7 runs going into the bottom of the 7th inning of game 5. Kudos to them because I really had moments this year when I doubted their ability to make the playoffs, let alone win a game or a series. They really surprised me and I'm very happy to have enjoyed the season as much as I did.

I'm also looking forward to seeing how things transpire this offseason. The Sox have some very hard decisions to make regarding two guys who've appeared in 5 American League Championship Serieses with the Sox, namely Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek. They need to add depth to their bench as well as a quality right-handed bat to the bench. There's also the starting pitching which is very much in flux right now as well. It's going to be a very interesting November in Red Sox nation.

My last thought before I close this post is this: the most anticipated (at least, most talked about) album of the decade is actually due to be released next month. Yes, Guns N Roses' "Chinese Democracy" actually has a release date, November 25th. I'll wait until I hear something from it before I even consider buying it because the idea of GNR without Slash, Duff, or Matt is almost as bad as Boston without Brad Delp.