Okay, so I post a Dukes Of Hazzard thing, figuring it’s an easy way to get comments, and I get one (sorta) reply. But my off the top of head rant (after which the Cubs have lost every game) gets a blizzard of comments. I dunno.
Though I guess it’s all ruined by turning into a meeting of the Mets Fan Club.
It seems like I’m not doing as much with the site of late. There are reasons. These are some.
– I got NCAA 2006 and have been playing it quite a bit. I haven’t gotten an NCAA game before. It’s okay. Race for a Heisman will get better in future years, but needed to be better in version one than what I’m getting. Hold no hope for the Madden (or other EA) comparable being more than a dumbed down Dynasty/Career mode.
– Part of it’s because I’m working in bursts on web scripts to make my life easier and add features, but I’m kinda learning quite a bit as I go which makes it crazy. There’s a lot of points when I’m at a loss at exactly how to get the computer to do what I want it to do, and the only real way I can figure it out is by stepping away from the computer for a while. And most of those times, I just end up doing something else.
– I got a lot of little ideas of stuff to post, feel like they need to be more developed and more provable to be on this page, and don’t have the time or energy to do it.
This happens a lot. Inside my head, in idle moments, my brain examines and challenges the one thought or one paragraph I think might be intersting, repeating, fine tuning, and generally driving me crazy until I’m able to forget it or I just write it out.
I find myself caught between the personal notebook of half-baked ideas and useless information this site is and should be, and a semi-professional credible place I aspire to. I know the latter is a bad idea for something called thecubsfan.com, but I’m always doubting if this is good enough.
Former wins out. Idea dump time; watch me write the one paragraph I had in mind, and then find a thousand words to go with it.
Because it’s being portrayed as a shoot bit, everyone’s comparing Matt Hardy to Brian Pillman, right? And the first thing they say after that is “Matt Hardy’s no Brian Pillman!”
At last check, the great Brian Pillman “I Quit, Bookerman” angle resulted in little significant business for WCW, ECW or WWF. Brian Pillman didn’t become any more of a star; Brian Pillman lived his gimmick, crashed his car ruining the biggest chance of his career, and ended up dead too soon.
Yea, Matt Hardy is no Brian Pillman. Thank God, wouldn’t want him to be.
(And now comes the negative mail)
I don’t think Matt’s going to draw at all; maybe for ROH, but unless they get the DVDs turned out before the bloom completely comes off, it won’t mean a thing. (I figure they were booing him not because they think this is all disingenuous, but because a guy who’s not going to be around long and isn’t Lyger beat a cornerstone. Blame Gabe.) His match with Edge at SummerSlam will be treated like a midcard match and mean exactly that. There’s a decent shot he may end up right where he left off on the B-Shows (though I obviously wouldn’t have any problem with that), so long term, this is probably just a blip.
I think Pillman is incorrectly credited as an innovator when his real skill was manipulation. The shoot/work stuff would’ve taken place regardless – I don’t think the Kliq looked to him before doing the bit in MSG – and the Anything Can Happen atmosphere was much more a byproduct of the two Monday Night Shows. Where Pillman shined is convincing everyone how important and how valuable he was; even though he was likely on the downside of his peak before the injury (certainly physically, debatable in other areas), he worked a huge contract out of making everyone believe he was crazy. There’s plenty of people who are genuinely insane who couldn’t do something like that, but Pillman made people believe he was without limits.
Healthy Pillman was/is a better worker than Matt, but I chalk that to the WWE system. Midcarders aren’t going to be complete wrestlers who can consistently work 10-15-20 minute matches, because they’ll get maybe 5 chances to do it once a year, and only have a chance to do it in house style. It’s only going to be the guys who get boosted early and take to it who become well rounded, and that’s not Matt’s (or Edge’s) path.
I’m partial here and it’s skewing my take, I know. I enjoyed B-Show Matt and V1 Matt, didn’t need internet message boards to tell me he was hilariously off (“raindrop downfall” took care of that), and appreciated his effort in less than meaningful situations. I’ve always been very partial to guys who appear to be putting in more than they’ve got a chance to get out, and Matt’s in that group.
For me, it doesn’t have to be Pillman for it to be worthwhile; give me someone I actually already care about and I’ll be wiling to suspend disbelief. I realize I’m probably in a very small minority on this whole issue, but I thought I should say something.
Lesson learned from the cuts: There’s such thing as tenured status in the WWE, and there’s nothing more valuable. Undercards who went to WCW or ECW aren’t ever achieving it. If you’re a good WWE employee who was around during peak days, you’ll have it when you need it.
Unless you’re a chick. They need to just save their money.
The squeeze play is vastly underrated and completely underused in close and late situations. The only people who seem to run it are the Cardinals (maybe the White Sox?), and their ability to do it was the difference tonight. Which sucks.
I hate it when my threads are hijacked and 90% of the replies completely miss my point.
But whatever. Had to try, tried.
The secondary reason I write for OO right now is so I have ample opportunity to giggle at recent Quooteables sidebar on the main page, nearly a year old and never ever to be updated. I mean, it’s funny when the hilariously out of date stuff isn’t mine.
As usual, I’m screwing around 3 hours before the deadline for OO’s picks, with zero words written and desire to write zero more. As a way to entertain me, which is currently the only point of my text, I was thinking of writing my reasoning in rhyming couplets or maybe limericks. I opted out of it when I realized it would require more thought for something I’ve never gotten a slice of feedback on and figure no one reads, (AND I wanted to leave the bad rhyming to the professionals.)
Imagine my surprise when I read the preview, and notice Matt Hocking did his picks in rhyme, among other methods. Creepy. Another person did it haiku, too. Good thing I got apathetic, or that’d been really awkward.
I’m calling “writing pick in English, translating to Spanish, translating back to English” for next month.
By the way, I ended up entertaining me (and likely only me) with the Hassan/Undertaker analysis. That was fun.
Not as much fun is how I now realize I’ve dropped the same speech on Christian two months in a row. And I forget to do the extras: the Heat match will be Frankie Kazarian versus Scotty, I bet. I have a Three Match Rule, but if I broke it and told you my opinion about him now, it’d be “I have a long list of guys who were let go who I like better and probable are as good or better marketable than him”.
The other thing is Rick and I make exactly the same point about the Rey/Eddie stip, and then go completely opposite on the better SummerSlam Batista opponent: Batista vs Hassan.
This is another thing I’m probably a 180 on from the rest of the world, and probably wrong too, but, I want to be more into hockey. Not hardcore – knowing everyone and their minor leaguers and their moms – but have a rooting interest and a team.
Bill Wirtz and the rest of his family are free to run their business however they want, because it’s their money. The way they’ve run it, I’m opposed to it and probably wouldn’t want to be a Blackhawks fan if they put all the games on free TV tomorrow and played ten straight years of awesome hockey. I’m just done with them. And while the Wolves are a nice novelty and I root for them to outdraw the Hawks at every chance, they’re still a minor league team who exist on the exterior of the media; following them would mean being that hardcore fan I’m not interested in being.
I’m looking to adopt an NHL team. Or they could adopt me, whatever. I just want a team I can root for and enjoy.
I remember, not long ago, some fan “filed for free agency” from his old baseball team, sent letters to all the major league teams asking them to recruit him, and complained about those who didn’t bend over backwards for a nutcase.
This is not that situation. I certainly wouldn’t mind free stuff by any NHL team who happens to somehow stumble upon this page, but I’m not deciding this based on the neatest thing I can swindle. I want a team I like, and then I’ll go buy the stuff myself.
These are the abilities I’m looking for in a team
– must play an exciting style; I don’t want a boring trap game or whatever, I want something I can be impressed with on the surface, without having to appreciate the intricate of doing things that are borderline illegal but on the right side of the border or whatever. It doesn’t even matter if they’re fundamentally good, because I don’t really don’t know enough about fundamentals to appreciate them if they had them anyway
– a top team isn’t necessary, but being a good team is. Extra points for a team on the way up where I’d be getting a good seat on the bandwagon.
– identifiable player I can root for. Again, it doesn’t even have to be the top player on the team, but someone who’s cool and likeable, won’t make me feel stupid for buying their jersey, and might provide a highlight or two a game. I think I’m biased against goalies.
– my own ability to see the team on television at least once a month. If I’m just getting 30 seconds on Sportscenter and scanning the local paper’s sports section to follow, it doesn’t really feel like I’m a fan of an actual team. This is really hard to determine until they get the TV deal settled, but I think this works against Canada teams
– minor stuff like “good color combination for a jersey, team is not named ‘Blue Jackets’, frequency of handing the Blackhawks their lunch” can help the decision, too. There’s probably other good stuff I’m neglecting.
So. Ideas? Suggestions?
It’s going to be upper 90s all weekend.
A friend has been trying to talk me into going to Lollapalooza – they’re holding it in Chicago, in Grant Park, for the two people who don’t know but need me to tell them – since the NBA was in the regular season (too bad there’s no off season this year.) At the time, he wasn’t sure if he had enough people for tickets bought by his group, and while they figured it out later, he was trying to get me to go. Every since I realized what the heat was gonna be like, I’m so glad I passed.
It’s a pretty nice lineup for something that was thrown together like a month ago, with a lot of nice scheduling so things I like aren’t on at the same time. (Not perfect – though I think I’d be at the Digable Planets show and be enjoying the emptiness.) I may enjoy an illegal recording of many of the performances, if such a thing becomes possible
But it’s going to be horrible conditions. It’s been hot the last few days, it’ll be bad on Saturday and there’s a Heat Emergency warning out for Sunday. According to the Tribune story (but conflicting with what they have on the lollapalooza website), they’re not letting people bring in outside drinks, which seems unreasonable given the conditions and the ticket price. I was trying to convince my friend to at least bring an umbrella, because any shade in the park will quickly be occupied.
So many hours out in the sun. People who go are going to be completely drained, and ten pounds lighter.
Since I’m not doing the concert, and I’m passing on the lucha show, I’ve been thinking about going to the NWA Midwest show. I figured out it’s only a half hour away, and most of the trip is one I make regularly, but I don’t know most of the undercard people and I’m not sure I’ll get motivated enough to, you know, leave the house on a day I’m not being paid to.
I think people might know this? Or not? Or am I supposed to say? I dunno. It’s your reward for making it this far.
Fate, and Joe being way too willing to see Indiana Indy Wrestling, will cause the first three person meeting of thecubsfan.com-type people at IWA-MS’ TPI shows in September. Scott there, Joe’s coming in, and I should be there at least one day if I don’t screw around.
Which means, if we all die in a bomb or something, the site goes to Tanvir. (Sorry Albert.)
1. You have to give SOME credit to LaRussa, for stressing the fundamentals.
2. Would Minnesota make you go Wild? :-P
3. Many hours of sun. People who will be completely drained, and a bottle of water is $10. DID THEY NOT LEARN ANYTHING FROM WOODSTOCK 99????????
I couldn’t agree more about the Hardy/Pillman comparisons. I mean, yeah, Pillman legit fooled more people, but all he got out of it was a good raise. Matt Hardy not only took back employment at a company that initially didn’t want to employ him, but created a push for himself that’s bigger than he was ever going to be given after being all-but-permanently slotted as an underneath guy.
Even if the vindictive booking kicks in after the feud runs it course, he still got his job back, he still got a raise, and he still manipulated a situation to where he was a focal point positioned above the rest of the show who got to run around saying Fuck WWE on their own TV show. Considering that the WCW invasion and ECW PPV buildup clearly show that dissing the WWF in any way, shape, or form is the ABSOLUTE LAST THING that Vince and Kevin Dunn think should ever happen on their television, that’s a semi-significant coup in and of itself.
Matt Hardy > you.
The hard thing with recommending a hockey team is that I haven’t seen anyone play for a year because of the lockout, and now there are going to be so many buyouts and free agents and trades it’s hard to know what teams are going to look like.
That being said, the Wild is one team you can rub out, since they play the trap. The NHL is shifting to a system that focuses on playing teams in your division and conference a lot more, and teams in the other conference a lot less, so if you want to see Chicago lose a lot, you’d have to cheer for a team in the west.
How about cheering for Pittsburgh? Ok, granted they’re one of the worst teams in the league and in danger of being moved, but you could get in on the ground floor of Sidney Crosby, who could be the next big thing! Plus you’d be best friends with Justin! Plus Mario!
If the Atlanta Thrashers resign restricted free agents Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk you’d be cheering for a team with two of the most exciting young stars in the sport.
Other than that, I’ll have to get back to you in a month when all the transactions have shaken down.
I’m sitting here wearing my EC F’N W tee shirt as I ponder the state of American Wrestling. And I believe it’s quite the wasteland. There’s nothing that excites me right now – other than oh, Muhammad Hassan and the Iron Sheik. And that’s quite sad.
Also, I never watch Smackdown due to work. But I do have the tenure here to succeed as the future owner of TCF.com. Sadly, I will not be going to Indiana ever – unless someone else pays the ticket.
Can’t wait for the Warrior DVD to come out either. Because that faggot Indian always gave me a hardon.
Wait a week to decide. Right now the NHL is basically a fantasy draft.
(Unless you’re Detroit or Toronto, in which case it’s a case of creative accounting and WWE-style bloodletting. Starting next Saturday, the wackiest week in sports history begins.)
And, yeah, if I was a Chicagoan I’d have bailed on the Hawks too. They’re an embarrasment, and no one wanted to see Crosby go there. I’d say more, but it runs up against my NDC.
Admittedly, the Red Wings were in similarily pathetic straits in the early 80s and turned into one of the model pro sports franchises (without the benefit of a new arena, to boot), but they always seemed to have had a bit more of a connection with the city than the Hawks. Or maybe it’s the pizza, who knows.
Anyway, my bet for bandwagon-jumping would be Atlanta (ownership willing to spend to the cap limit, The Big Two, the slightly morbid human interest story, my pick for rookie of the year in Lehtonen – yes, over Syd). For sheer romance there’s always the Habs, but cheering for them can get downright depressing at times and I probably speak from personal bias due to haven seen a dozen games at Centre Rotating Sponsorship.
Or you could join me on the Kings bandwagon. God knows there’s room… and they have potential to turn into a powerhouse really quickly once all the prospects realise their potenital.
Or just jump on the Pens bandwagon like everyone else.
ps The Rick should fuck off.