Robbery

So my house in Philly was robbed last night. I'm in Brooklyn, so I don't totally know how it looks. Based on what my parents told me, all the bad guys took was my Mom's jewelry. And ripped through all our drawers looking for more. Our house wasn't destroyed. They didn't take any electronics. Sounds like they left some cash that was out in the open. Doesn't make total sense, but it is what it is. We have to be thankful it wasn't worse.

I live in a nice neighborhood at home. It's not super nice/extravagant/rich, it's fine. My parents were gone, my dad downtown and my mom running errands. My neighbors saw a large black man walking up to our driveway, but didn't think anything of it.

Needless to say, when my mom told me I was furious. Mainly because I could of been home working from home. The 60 miles away Pat said I would of beat him senseless. The reality is I would of been scared out of my mind, ran somewhere and called the cops. It's scary. It changes the sanctity of your home, which is supposed to be a safe place. I lived there for 15 some years and then winter/summers after that. Terrible.

It really gets me thinking about the sad state of our country. I've talked about it before and don't need to elaborate again, but we just live in an unbalanced country, where there are the have and the have-nots. The have's live in Leave it to Beaver land, and think they're safe and work hard to get by. The have-nots do whatever it takes to get by, including stealing from the haves (and from each other.) It's a sad country we live in. We choose to ignore the problems and focus more on what happened with American Idol or weather Weiner sent a picture of his Weiner or not. We ignore how we've failed the city and the 10% unemployment rate. I'm not innocent either.

I don't know, this post is more for my personal therapy than anything else. It's a sad sad world we live in.

Making Sense of the Flyers

I'm really behind in posting anything. Sorry I'm not sorry?

The Flyers were my first favorite team. Before the Sox. My room at home has Flyers posters, wallpaper, bedsheets, pillow cases, blankets, etc. So the team is sort of like my first love. You always come back to your first. Or something like that, right? Love isn't real, right?

So anyway, this week the Flyers seriously risked my fandom with their trades. If you're not a fan or under a rock, they traded two cornerstones of the franchise, Jeff Carter and the captain Mike Richards. Both 26 years old, entering their prime. While the Flyers were terrible in 2006, they were promoting Richards and Carter as the future. Now they're the present. They both signed long term deals (11+) because they wanted to play here. Together. They didn't take so much money that the team would be crippled financially, they wanted to win in Philadelphia.

The Flyers have an overflow at the forward/center position. Richie and Carts are the most tradable of them. The Flyers have a glaring weakness at goalie - I wrote about this several times. It's like a curse. We went through 3 goalies in one series - none replaced due to injury. So they wanted to sign Bryzgalov. So they needed to make the cap room.

I can't really wrap my head around it until I see it in person. I don't know anything about these players we picked up - I've lost touch a bit with everything around the league since the lockout - baseball replaced it. Anyway, so I have no idea about these players we got. I know about the players we gave away. Not okay.

I believe in loyalty. In life. In sports. In everything. Richie and Carts committed to the Flyers. The fans committed to believing in the Flyers goal that the future was coming with Richards and Carter. So I think everyone feels betrayed by the Flyers. Everyone who bought a $200 jersey. Everyone who watched all 82 games every year for the past several years.

I think I/the fans somewhat get blinded by what's best for franchises because of our affections for the players. The office management are more cutthroat and know what is best. I would rather drown with the ship personally. I don't have the balls to pull the trigger like that. That's why I don't work in sports.

I couldn't believe it. I don't want to believe it. I had a rough Thursday. I wanted to give up on the Flyers. I've sobered up a bit from that stance, and believe the Flyers know what they're doing. At least I'd like to believe they know what they're doing. Time will tell. We got the goalie we desperately needed, I just don't know if the price was worth it.

The Big Man

Took me a few days to gather my thoughts on this, plus I wasn't around a computer to write. Sorry I'm late to the party.

Obviously I'm a Bruce fan. But when people talk about Bruce, it's not just him. It's the band. And who is the soul of the band? The Big Man, without a doubt.

Something that makes E Street classic is the saxophone. You don't see it in many rock bands. You don't see it much in "mainstream" because it's associated with a different genre. Yet Bruce took a chance with it and it worked beautifully. Think about every hook of every song. It relies on Clarence's sound, working harmoniously with Bruce's chords and moans. It was the noise.

What's great about Clarence was his larger-than-life stature. He was massive. He seemed mysterious. There was something special about how he was presented. The story of lore of how they met was a large black man walked into a Jersey bar on a stormy night and played his saxophone with a young rocker trying to make it. The rest as they say, is history.

I'm obviously very partisan here. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is the best show I've ever seen. I was lucky to see them four times. It angers me that I didn't see them more times with the core intact. The thing is I could have. I heavily considered it several times, but if it wasn't the money/distance/friends, it never came to fruition. Even in those four shows, including one with my father, it was a gift to see them. I have every show in bootleg (along with 100+ others) and enjoy every one.

It's sad because I knew it was coming. I know this sounds morbid, but it's real: everyone passes. It was going to happen. I didn't have the luxury of knowing Big Man in his youth. I only knew him from when he was 60+. He couldn't move well. He was out of breath after every time he did Jungleland. He couldn't stand the whole show. It's hell getting old, and it's sad to see that his time has come. It reminds you to take advantage of all the time that you have here on this Earth.

When I try to pick my favorite song involving The Big Man? Everyone points to Jungleland. I would argue it's The Promised Land. Thunder Road is also another beautiful option. I could also change favorite songs every day. Right now it's that, because you know it's coming in Jungleland, but it's somewhat forgotten in some of the other songs. You forget that they happened until you really think about it. People go nuts when Big Man plays a solo on Bruce's songs. Or when he sings ANYTHING. He gets bigger ovations than Bruce. He was the key crutch of the band. He was Santa Claus in Santa Claus in Coming to Town. What more needs to be said.

It's possible that I've listened to every Bruce song since Saturday night. I've tried imagining a song without him. Would Bruce have been so successful? So catchy? I don't know. I believe so, but you never know. Bruce's songs were still intact, still focused on the American Dream of making it on your own, being your own man, finding your Jersey Girl, etc. The message would have stayed the same, but who knows where it would of ended up without the Big Man in the picture. Yet he was. So it doesn't matter to waste time on it.

It was a blessing. It has touched so many lives and emotions. And now we carry on. It's great that we live in a YouTube / MP3 / DVD era, where they can truly live on for as long as Google's servers can hold them. I love that I could watch almost any show from the past 10 years online. And I could download even more of them. (I just looked, I have 114 bootlegs albums. One day I'm going to count how many times I've listened to Born to Run. I'm going to guess over 200. Does anyone think I'm cool?)

What I can't wait for is the next tour Bruce goes on. You know it's coming. How does it work? How will it start? What happens when the piano starts on Jungleland? Who is the heir apparent? I pray it's Clarence's nephew, who came out a few times on tour and covered well. I'm excited to see how it plays out, and see what's next for E Street. Next for me: I'm going to read Big Man's book. It's probably not great, but I'll eat up every word. I've been trying to read every article and tribute online in the past few days. I won't get enough. It's really not fair, but that's just me being selfish.

The world was never the same when the Big Man joined the band.

Lebron Lost

Quick post.

First thing - I was wrong. I thought the Heat were going to pull it off.

I also think I'm in the minority that wanted to see the Heat win. Why? Because it keeps the drama going into next season, they would have the target on their back and would have to back it up. Now? They're just everyone's punching bag.

Given we don't know if we'll have a season next year, I'm going to assume we do. What is the better storyline going into the season: The Mavs coming back to win 2 in a row or the Heat coming back to win 2 in a row? It would be the Heat. Nobody really cares about the Mavs.

What else is interesting about this? The way it's perceived. It's not "The Mavs Won." It's "The Heat Lost." Great example of how the media gives it's spin, and that's how everyone interprets/sees it.

Did the Heat lose more than the Mavs won? In my mind, yes. I watched more Heat games this year than almost any other team. They ran the worst offense. Everyone was afraid to shoot. Would always opt for the next pass. I've never seen more shot clock violations from a pro team in one year, from a team with two of the top 3 players in the league. It blows my mind.

The fall will come on Lebron. Is it fair? Most likely. He brought it on himself 10 years ago when he was on the cover of SI. So it's on him and he came up short. Winners embrace the moment, and if they're going to fail, they go down swinging. Lebron went down without even trying. He just gave up. Maybe it's a learning experience. Maybe it's not. However I hope they use this offseason to learn to trust each other's shots, instead of opting to pass to someone else.

Let me put it this way, with 2 minutes left, nobody on that team should be shooting the ball except for Wade and Lebron. Ideally running real plays, not "run to the paint hope for a foul." While on the topic of fouls - MAKE A DAMN FREE THROW. If the Heat made 10 more free throws (of a missed 15+) - would of been an entire different game. I understand missing a few here and there, but that makes or breaks a game, and it's free, so make it count.

For the Mavs - good win. Glad to see Dirk get it. That's really it though. This team will get one year older while the Thunder get one year wiser, and they will be the team to beat in the West next season should Russell Westbrook chill his ego. Even the Grizzlies can click and be a threat. Lakers are old. Mavs are going to be older. Spurs are on the downslide. Thunder are coming. Get ready.

NCAA is Moronic

Weird how a few hours after I posted my Weiner post he came out and admitted everything. He must of read my post.

Anyway, immediately following the outing of the Weiner, I learned that USC had been stripped of its 2004 BCS National Championship

I don't get the point of this. Stripping a school of it's title after 7 years. What difference does it really make if Reggie Bush got privileges that not everyone else got? It's also - we only know what Reggie Bush got, but you better believe other players received benefits. It ultimately does not affect their playing, so it shouldn't affect the outcome. It's not steroids. A car isn't the same.

In the early 2000s I loved USC. I still do (sometimes I wish I went there). But that team from that 5-6 year stretch was truly dominant. I had the benefit of seeing them live at Notre Dame (the infamous "push" game). I don't think we'll ever see a player like Reggie Bush. The way he made a highlight reel out of seemingly every run was fantastic. He was never going to be able to do that in the NFL because the league is bigger/stronger/faster.

By NCAA taking away the title, it makes the league look like a fraud. What's the point of playing these games if they're not going to honor the games? After every year we all complain about the BCS and weather it was legitimate or not and how at least 1 team got snubbed from the National Championship game. But now we can't go back to 2004 and see if the number 3 could of beat 2 (Auburn vs. Oklahoma)

This really does no good. In my mind, that USC team was the best we may ever see from an all-encompassing perspective. Taking it away doesn't change anything in public opinion. In 100 years (pending 2012/rapture) it will be talked about. Reggie Bush lost the Heisman from that year, but you cannot argue that there was truly a better player that year (or in the past couple years that were as dominate as him really)

I hope if the NCAA plans on coming down on this now, they do a FULL investigation of all teams. I truly believe every big time program is "corrupt". I have no proof, but we're hearing more and more of it. I put corrupt in quotations because I believe these students are being exploited for financial gain by the NCAA and the schools. They bring in the money, they old men benefit from it. Seems like total bullshit. Truth is : if the NCAA does investigate, then everyone is losing their title. So I would leave it alone. This is so irrelevant and makes the NCAA look like a joke. Just keep enjoying taking advantage of poor teenagers.

Weiner Massacre

I'm a little late on this post. I don't care. It's my blog and I'll do what I want.

Last week was really Weiner-mania. I never heard of this putz until last week, because I hate politics. You should too. This is absurd. This guy wants to be mayor of NYC? Good luck bro. I'm still voting for The Rent Is Too Damn High guy. Because I'm tired of paying my rent. Sucker eats half my salary. Anyway.

Someone somehow put a picture up of him naked on Twitter and sent it to some random girl. It was deleted. Twitter accidents happen. I made them for my clients. (Albeit mine were tweets about Star Wars, but..) So you delete it and move on. However this one didn't end. All last week Weiner was giving interviews to talk about it. The best line from all of it? "I can't confirm if that is a picture of me or not."

mmmmm, what?

Basically, he's confirming he has (or someone might) have pictures of Weiner's Weiner. Queue the Weiner's Weiner jokes. NY tabloids must of been having a field day.

What does this really say? Unfortunately, while technology is bringing out all these great new advances in knowledge and communication, it also allows our human nature (read: libido) to do whatever sounds good at the time. Alcohol usually helps influence these decisions. And that usually involves taking pictures and sending them out to people. Or making tapes.

Look at all the celebrities that have done it. Blake Lively the most recent idiot. Greg Oden's a personal favorite as a joke. Kardashian. Paris Hilton. Chris Brown. Brett Favre. Rihanna. I'm sure there are several more I'm not even aware of. I'm also sure that these are some of the few to "get caught." And then there are the "normal" everyday people. Who send it to whoever. And you hear about the 14 year old girl who commits suicide because pictures of her spread across the school (can't find the link, but a story very similar happened). Human nature has no control. Technology has more problems than solutions sometimes.

Me personally? I'm not participating in any of it. I'm not just saying that either because I'm blogging about it. I have good reasons (I wouldn't want to look at a picture of myself, why would someone girl?). It's not like I'm "too smart" for it. My life just doesn't go down that road. And I'm totally fine with it. Although it would be cool to be a celebrity and have tons of money, I'm over it. Life is good.

As far as the rest of these idiots, I don't expect it to stop anytime soon. And until there's pictures of January Jones or the T-Mobile girl? I'm just going to keep laughing at these stupid stories and these lame attempts to cover it up and act as though it's a fake.