I dislike ESPN

ABC carried the ESPN coverage of todays Rangers / Bruins game and once again, ESPN showed me why I dislike them.

ESPN has always been a bunch of New York "homers". They speak highly of teams from New York (Giants, Rangers, Yankees, Nets, etc...) and ignore the achievements of teams from almost any other city. They particularly dislike teams from Boston (Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, etc...).

They admitted that they lied about the deflated football accusation with the Patriots, they dismissed the Red Sox during their 2004 World Series run and as far as they are concerned, the Rangers are the team that will win the Stanley Cup come June.

I really enjoyed watching the Bruins beat Rangers 4-2. It didn't shut the ESPN guys up but they had to grudgingly talk about how good the Bruins actually are.

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The Astros / Red Sox game was also played at 1:00 today so I had to do the switching back and forth thing.

The game ended in a 4-4 tie so the Red Sox remain undefeated in spring training play which means they are in first place in the grapefruit league.

I'm still thinking about placing that bet but I need to do it soon before the odds-makers lower the odds.

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We have two cats. One of them is afraid of everything and tends to stay by herself until it's time to go to bed. Then she crawls into bed and curls up to sleep. The other one is an outgoing little shit that needs constant attention.

She starts out by crawling up on my right side, between my hip and the table I have next to me.

Then, after a few minutes, she makes here way to the spot between my legs on the other side of my computer:

And finally, after feeling like maybe I'm ignoring her and not paying any attention to her, she digs her way between my left leg and the back of the couch, forcing me towards the outside of the couch. She'll push on my leg until I start petting her.

Have I mentioned that I am not a cat person? I don't really like cats. I don't dislike them but no one in my family has even heard me say, "Hey, you know what I think? I think we should get a cat."

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In case you don't believe me when I say I'm old, here is proof that the federal government says I'm old:

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I'm pretty sure I have two Gold Rush's on the DVR, one of which is 3 hours long. That should get me through the evening.

You might enjoy these links:

• It's like a bad Saturday Night Live skit.



• I'll have to remember this.



• Australian: What doesn't try to kill ya, scares the shit out of you and causes you to have an accident which will probably kill ya.



• In case you were wondering what Trump or Biden looked like with a mullet, wonder no more.



• No thanks. I'll stick with vanilla.



• If you read this article, you should make note of the fact that he never once said "women" when asked who would be topless.

ESPN has the game tonight

I hate when ESPN has the game. It's four hours of Vasgersian and Rodriguez trying to get into Mendoza's pants while Mendoza tells stories and analyzes each play like she played at the MLB level.

Fortunately ESPN got the message from the viewing public and stopped insisting that the games start at 8:30 ET and now they start 7:05 ET.

Cashner pitched pretty good yesterday, proving that he's got the stuff. He got a standing ovation from the normally jaded crowd at Fenway so I'm not alone in my assessment.

Sale is pitching tonight and based on his last two outings, I'm thinking that whatever was bothering him is gone.

I have a good feeling about tonights game. I'm feeling a sweep of the Yankees coming on. And if they don't win, I'm still happy because they won 3 out of 4.

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Enjoy these links while I cringe at the talking heads on ESPN:

• Based on the pictures, they look like they would be a fun group to ride around with.



• It's the old, "I forgot I was eating" defense.



• Those Wyomians are no fun at all.



• I'm not entirely sure what this headline means but it's from Australia so I'm posting it.



• Either they are very tiny glasses or her liver is made of concrete.



• This is actually a very New Hampshire kind of thing.

Late game this evening

Because the arrogant network, ESPN, is carrying tonights game, it won't be on until 8:00. But even then, that's not when the game will start

That's when the full-of-themselves-talking-heads on ESPN will regale us with their wisdom, wit and quips about their long-gone careers as players/coaches.

Then, once the blabbering ex-jocks-turned-talking-heads run out of verbs, nouns, "errs", grunts and unrelated stories, ESPN will run a dozen commercials and promos before finally getting to the first pitch.

When they finally go to the ballpark, some chick who is trying to impress me with her baseball knowledge will call the game alongside of yet another ex-jock and some professional talking-head who is trying his best to get into her pants by fawning over everything she says.

ESPN can kiss my rosy red ass. I hate those guys. MaybeI'll put the game on with the sound off and listen to the radio.

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While I watch America Funniest Home Videos, you can click on these:

• I'm not sure why the word "penis" appears in the story five times.



• "Damn, my phone died. Now I'm gonna have to pee on it."



• I'm pretty sure you aren't gonna get a date if you do this.



• Maybe there will be fewer fights now.



• Key story in this story: "Officers stopped McCoy who told them he was urinating when his pants fell down and he was startled by a groundhog which caused him to expose his genitals to the victim."



• Only in Florida.

More hot and sticky

The weather dweebs have once again told us that it's summer in New England and that means it's hot and humid.

In six months, they'll be reminding us that it's winter in New England and they'll be issuing those "It's gonna snow!" warnings.

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The Red Sox beat the Yankees 3-0 last night, taking two of the three games in this series.

Crawford threw a hell of a game. He faced 23 batters over seven innings, striking out four while walking zero. He gave up four hits and zero runs.

While Crawford was doing his thing, Devers and Rafaela did theirs. Devers hit two home runs and Rafaela hit one home run.

Meanwhile, the clowns from ESPN (the game was not on NESN) kept saying things like, "Judge is up next so the Yankees have a chance!" or "Soto is up next so the Yankees have a chance!" or "The Yankees pitchers are doing great so the Yankees have a chance!"

They are the biggest group of "Yankee homers" and no one can stand listening to them blather on about the Yankees. I would rather listen to YES network coverage of a game than listen to the ESPN clowns. Unlike the ESPN clowns, the YES guys don't perform oral sex on Judge during the broadcast.

They are off today while they head back to Boston. Tomorrow they start a three game series against the Athletics.

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In todays episode of "I Get The Best SPAM!", we have a scammer that is building a botnet and want's me to particiapte...

In the above screen capture of an email from "FED3X", you will see that I hovered over one of the links and it revealed itself to be a .JAR file. I expanded the hover box so you can read it better.

A .JAR file is a java repository that contains executable java code. That code could be anything but it's more than likely a small, simple bit of code that downloads a much more complex bit of code that gives control of my computer to what is known as a botnet. That is a network of compromised computers that can be used to do the bidding of whoever controls them. Maybe they will be turned into bitcoin miners, maybe they will become spam generators, maybe they will be used to overwhelm and shut down some government or corporate computer system.

Who knows what they will do but whatever it is, they won't be doing it with my machine.

Do yourself, and everyone else, a favor and look carefully at every email you receive. Do not click on links, including the "unsubscribe" link. Under no circumstance should you ever reply to those emails.

Do what I do: Mark them as spam/junk and go about your day without a care in the world.

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I'm going to find some bad television to entertain me this evening.

While I do that, you can visit these links:

• And this, my friends, is the perfect example of a Darwin Award winner.



• Why does shit like this always happen in China.



• In case you were wondering, yes, our society is filled with crazy people.



• You would think the name of the place, "Death Valley", would be enough of a warning...



• Key phrase in this story: "Passed out, pistachio nuts everywhere..."

They split the series

The Red Sox made the jerks from ESPN look like idiots last night when they beat up on the New York Aaron Judges.

I know I like to say that I hate the guys from FOX but I really hate the way ESPN fawns all over the Yankees, particularly Judge and Stanton.

At one point last night, during the middle of a Red Sox at-bat, they cut away from the game (okay, they left a small little tiny bit of a window in the corner of the screen showing the game) to show a 10 minute interview of Judge.

Another time they again minimized the game to show Alex Rodriguez interviewing Roger Clemens, who are two people I don't give a shit about.

I just want to watch the freakin' game!

Tonight's game against the Rays is thankfully on NESN so I don't have to listen to the boobs on either FOX or ESPN.

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There is another new variant of the 'rona and, once again, "experts" are concerned.

You know what? Wash your hands, use a sanitizer and don't go kissing any strangers. Other than that, live your life and avoid the paranoia.

I'm getting sick and tired of all the paranoia.

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Here are today's links:

• I'm sure they are lining up for this.



• I'm thinking Steve "I'm an arrogant prick!" Bannon isn't going to like the outcome of this trial.



• Every day? I gotta pick up my game.



• We haven't had one of these in a long time: Drunk on a Lawnmower.



• Only in Florida.



• These are the luckiest people on the planet.

I have a debris-free yard

After yesterday's little blast of wind, my entire yard was covered in leaves, pine needles and pine cones. I figured it would be a good day to hook the bagger up to the lawn tractor and take care of business.

I had to stop and empty the bags every few minutes but now that it's done, it doesn't look terrible. I still don't have a nice grass-covered lawn but at least it's not crap-covered either.

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The A's won last night, keeping themselves alive to play again today. The Astros lead the series 2-1 but the A's don't plan on rolling over. As I type this, they are in the sixth inning and the score is 7-4 in favor of the Astros so it's not really looking to good...

There is, however, an upside: Listening to Don Orsillo call a game has been the highlight of my evenings. The man is a great announcer and letting him go was the biggest mistake NESN has ever made.

As for the Rays and Yankees, the Rays won last night as well and they lead the series 2-1. As much as I dislike the Rays, I would like to see them beat the New York Aaron Judges because I'm sick and tired of ESPN fawning all over them. Even when they lose, ESPN continues to write headlines that make you think they are the only team in existence.

Maybe I should just stop reading ESPN....

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So a bunch of tiny-dick yabbos decided they were going to kidnap the governor of Michigan and put her on trial for treason.

Do you know what the beauty of our country is? It's the fact that no elected official is given the job for life. They are all given the office for a few years at most. We call it "the vote" and if you don't like one of your elected officials, you can vote against them when their term of office is up. If enough people feel the same as you, that person will lose and be out of office.

It's quite simple, really. No need for guns, sham trials or "storming the castle". Just go to the polls and cast your vote.

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I'm going to watch some more baseball and eat some dinner.

You can do whatever you want. If that includes clicking on links, here are some to click on:

• For the record, Nancy Pelosi is a jerk.



• Sex-Mad Duck would be a fantastic name for a 1960's suburban garage band.



• Penile Zipper and The Ring Injuries would also be a fantastic name for a 1990's urban garage band.



• Key statement in this story: "Because I chose to not."



• I know toner is expensive but this seems a bit extreme.

I'm developing a dislike for ESPN

What is it with MLB allowing ESPN to dictate the start times of baseball games? They seem to think that having the game on at 8:30 is a good idea when every other game not carried by ESPN is on at either 1:00 or 7:00.

Hey MLB! You want to know why fewer and fewer people are watching baseball? It's because of crap like that.

In my opinion, baseball should be played during the day or in the evening, not at night.

Anyone that is up until 10:30/11:00 at night isn't interested in watching baseball. They are usually in a bar trying to hook up with someone.

Idiots,,,

•

So while I spend my evening trying to stay awake late enough to watch some baseball, you should click on these:

• I'm not seeing a down side here.



• Who is watching the watchers?



• It's the most Canadian robbery?



• Turns out the bug tosser wasn't trying to ruin peoples day. It was ART!



• Attention friends: I like you and all but when it comes to this, you're on your own.

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads.

I hope you managed to get a nap in.

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I've come to the conclusion that ESPN likes to screw with me. Several times a year, ESPN takes a Red Sox game and when they do, they move the game start time back an hour. That means that this evening, the game will start at 8:00 pm and probably go until 11:30 pm and, as we all know, 11:30 pm is waaaaay past my bedtime.

I think ESPN does this just to screw with me because about 15 years ago, I was in their broadcast studio down in Connecticut and I might have mentioned, just in passing, that I remembered when Bill Rasmussen was at WWLP and maybe, just maybe, I might have said that he struck me as first class a$$hole.

You would think they'd be over it by now....

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We here at The DailyNews© World Headquarters are beginning the preparations for the upcoming college year. That means we are once again looking for the best deals on dormitory "stuff".

As any parent of a college student will tell you, they need lots of "stuff" when they go to school. Everything from sheets for the bed to a small television. They need power strips, extension cords, tool kits, duct tape, etc... and things you didn't think of.

The things you didn't think of are the things that are going to cost you a lot of money.

Here's what is going to happen: You will move your child into their room and, as they are setting everything up, you will discover that you forgot double-faced tape to stick the posters to the wall. That's when you will say, "I bet they have that over at the school store!" and you will run over there to get some.

And that, my friends, is when you will pay $10.00 for a $2.00 roll of double-faced tape because if there is one thing that every school store in the world is good at, it's price gouging.

For you parents that are going to be taking your first child off to college come August, trust me when I tell you this: Before you arrive at the school, take a drive through the nearest town and find the closest WalMart. You will be a lot better off if you make a list of the things you "forgot" as you go along and then make a quick WalMart run just before you leave for home.

Your wallet will thank me.

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Here are some links you can click on:

• Key phrase in this story: "...misjudgement regarding the woman’s anatomy..."



• No one ever said she was smart.



• I pray to God no one ever has to write a headline like this one about me.

Last place...

With last nights win over the Mets, the Red Sox were once again tied in with the Yankees in last place in the ALEast. At 4:30 this afternoon, the Yankees beat the Roayls and took a half a game lead on the Red Sox.

The Red Sox really need a win tonight to get out of last place.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how it goes, tonight's game is a bullpen game. Bernardino will be the "opener" and if he can go two or three innings, the Red Sox stand a chance. First pitch is at 7:10.

Also, the game is on ESPN and I think I've made it clear over the last several years how I feel about ESPN.

I hate ESPN...

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I have all the necessary equipment to teach myself how to weld.

I've always wanted to learn how to weld and through various means, I have acquired a small wire welder, a welding hood, gloves, a chipping hammer and small wire-wheels. The welder is capable of MIG (gas) and flux-core (gasless) but since I don't have a gas bottle, I'll be using flux-core wire. That means a lot of slag, hence the chipping hammer

I need to find some steel to test with and I think I have just the stuff in my garage.

My goal is to see if I can do this without burning down my neighborhood or going blind from looking directly at the arc.

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My buddy Tommy is on his annual pilgrimage to his homeland of Greece and all I keep seeing in the news is that Greece is on fire.

I haven't heard anything from him so hopefully his little town isn't anywhere near the fires. He's on the island of Corfu and from what I can tell, they are okay for now.

Update

I heard from Tommy's wife:

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It's Taco Sunday followed by baseball.

Here are some links that you might want to check out.

• Key line in this story that I agree with: "I don't like it, man. I don't like it. I've seen that play too many times the past two years."



• These assholes are going to start world war three.



• Only in Florida.



• Ladies, sometimes it's best to just leave him be.



• Bear Hunting and the Gallbladder Prostitutes would be a fantastic name for a 1960s western starring James Garner and Jack Elam.



• I can only imagine the amount of flabby, saggy, wrinkled skin you would see on this thing...

Excellent win last night

The Red Sox beat the Yankees 8-4 last night and it was a great game to watch.

Criswell started the game and he pitched pretty well. He faced 17 batters through 4 innings, giving up 2 runs and striking out 6 before Cora felt it was time to take him out. The rest of the bullpen stepped up and continued pitching a great game.

Tonights game is on ESPN and it turns out I was wrong yesterday. Rodriguez is on both FOX and ESPN which means I might have to put up with his bullshit tonight.

Maybe I'll turn the sound off on the TV and put on the WEEI audio stream on my laptop. That way I can watch the game and not have to listen to the ESPN guys fawning all over the Yankees

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In the world of golf, I spent this afternoon watching the Meijer Classic and it was an excellent match to watch. Lexi Thompson, Lilia Vu and Grace Kim ended up in 3-way playoff which Vu managed to win when she dropped a birdie on hole three.

I wish I could play golf like those women do because the big difference between mens golf and womens golf is the drive distances. Men can hit the ball a ton but the women rely more on their short game - the irons, wedges and putters.

I'm not good with my driver but if I could improve my short game, I might actually start playing well enough to keep score.

Who am I kidding. If I started keeping score, it would only remind me of how bad I play.

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Time for some dinner and then some baseball.

Enjoy these links:

• Oh good. First we got pandemics, then asteroids, then global warming and now this.



• We are screwed. Our choices are Goofy Joe or Donny the Bumbler.



• I'm beginning to think that there are Martians and they are pranking us.



• Attention people of Martha's Vineyard: Your long nightmare is finally over.



• Oh Canada.



• Only in Walmart.

They got some payback

The Red Sox trounced the Yankees last night by beating them 11-0.

Let me type that score for you again: Eleven to Nothing

That means the Red Sox are once again in first place and the worst that can happen this evening is they end the series tied for first. Well, that and the fact that ESPN is carrying the game and those announcers suck more than the FOX announcers do.

Alex Rodriguez and Matt Vasgersian will spend the entire broadcast trying to get into Jessica Mendoza's pants by laughing out loud at her bad jokes and commenting on everything she says, even when she is wrong.

Then Rodriguez will climb into the stands and point out all the celebrities that are near him, like his current girlfriend or wife or whatever, while tossing the baseball around with some outfielder who really doesn't want to have anything to do with him but is probably being paid a lot of money by ESPN to be nice to him.

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Time for a quick check on the blog statistics.

This shows one week's worth of activity:

Looks like Firefox is the dominate browser and Windows is still the dominate operating system. I'm very glad to see that neither "Edge" nor Internet Explorer is represented. That means all of my readers are intelligent people.

I'm still trying to figure out where the "Unix" users come from. That's a pretty expensive operating system usually used by businesses. Normal people don't use Unix.

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Since ESPN is carrying the game, it won't start until 8:00. That means I probably won't be awake long enough to watch more than a few innings.

While I do that, you can enjoy these:

• Topless woman driving an excavator.



• Third graders? This slimeball was going after third graders?



• Japan: They're not like were you're from.



• Today I learned the Scots have a different name for everything.

Another OT win

The Bruins managed to hold the Flames to a 3-3 tie in regulation. Then, with about 10 seconds left in the 5 minute OT period, McAvoy pu tone into the net, giving the Bruins a 4-3 win.

Man, this is a fun team to watch.

They are on their way home today and will take on the Sabres tomorrow at 7:00.

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The Red Sox tied the Astros 4-4 this afternoon. The game was not carried by NESN or streamed by WEEI but it was streamed by KBME Sports Radio out of Houston.

Let me tell you, those guys are what are known as "homers". The home team can do nothing wrong and the visiting team sucks. But what matters is unlike WEEI, they actually streamed the game and I was able to listen to the play-by-play.

Bleier was the starting pitcher and did pretty damned well. I wish I could have seen him pitch.

Tomorrow's game against the Phillies is at noon and it looks like ESPN is carrying it. That means I'll be able to watch Houck make his first start of the spring but it also means I'll have to watch ESPN.

I'm not a fan of ESPN.

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This picture was taken one or two minutes before one of the most famous photographs ever taken:

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No hockey and no baseball this evening so I have to find some bad television to entertain me. It just might be a youtube kind of evening

While I figure out what to watch, you can check these out:

• Everyone should know about these young ladies.



• Pee Bubbles and the Anal Catapult would be a fantastic name for a 1970s comedy/horror film.



• So "Juanita" is a guy?



• We, as a society, are too quick to panic.



• Any time I see a story about a clam, all I can think of is one of my favorite comic strips.



• So they stole his big chunk of metal and gave it to a museum...

ESPN sucks

I've made it clear over the years that I think ESPN sucks. By extension, I think their parent company, Disney, also sucks.

And in order to make me think they suck even more, they have decided to pull all of their programming from my cable provider.

This is what I see when I tune to ESPN:

They all suck.

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Jimmy Buffett died.

I know all of his songs and I know the lyrics to most of them. I occasionally get one verse from the song A Pirate Looks At Forty stuck in my head:

I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast.
Never meant to last, never meant to last.

Another song that pops into my brain periodically, usually when I'm doing something I don't want to be doing, is The Great Filling Station Holdup:

And now I wish I was somewhere other than here.
Down in some honky-tonk, sippin' on a beer.
Yes I wish I was somewhere other than here.
Cause that great fillin' station holdup
Cost me two good years.

As a young man, I spent many hours with Danny Grandmont, Joe Croteau and Jack Dempsey (not the boxer) at Jack's house, drinking massive amounts of beer and listening to Jimmy Buffet & Billy Joel albums. I loved that music.

So now Jimmy is gone but I still have his albums so I'll be able to listen to him anytime I want.

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Yes, the Red Sox lost last night.

Actually, they got their ass kicked. Badly.

The Royals beat the Red Sox 13-2. That's what I mean by badly.

I'm thinking that $10.00 bet I made back in March is $10.00 wasted.

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I'm going to watch tonight's baseball game.

You can visit these if you want:

• Beer: Is there anything it can't do...



• Key line in this story: "internet sleuths"...



• Man, they got world records for everything.



• This sounds like a terrible idea.



• Oh Canada.



• Religion: I'm pretty sure we can do without it.

If Brissett gets injured, expect to see Edelman as QB

The Patriots won today but not without suffering a loss.

Jimmy Garoppolo and a Dolphins player named Alonso both went down hard on Garoppolo's right shoulder. At first it looked to me like he might have broken his collar bone.

Hopefully Garoppolo has two more games in him because Brissett did okay but not great. As a matter of fact, the game was on the line during the last minute of play but the Dolphins couldn't pull it off.

So now that the Patriots are 2-0, Roger Goodell is probably throwing himself a little hissy fit. I picture him siting in the corner of his office with his knees pulled up against his chest, rocking back and forth and saying, "This is all Brady's fault!"

Oh, and in case you didn't see it, for a 6 foot tall, 250 pound guy, LeGarrette Blount can jump.

•

Speaking of sports, the Red Sox will play the Yankees at 8:00 tonight. This is because the boneheads at ESPN think people want to watch baseball games at 8:00 at night.

Someone needs to tell ESPN that no one wants to watch baseball at 8:00 at night.

Fortunately, the Red Sox are going into this game with a three game lead over both the Blue Jays and a two and a half game lead over the Orioles. It was a three game lead over both but the Orioles won this afternoon and grabbed that extra half game.

I'm hoping that when I wake up tomorrow morning I find out that the Red Sox are three games ahead of the Orioles and four games ahead of the Blue Jays.

That would be great.

•

Apple is developing a new strategy for their next iPhone:

•

I'm going to watch a few innings of baseball.

While I do that, you should enjoy these links:

• If this guy turns out to be one of those recently-arrived "refugees" from the middle-east, people are gonna be pissed.



• Only in Florida.



• Attention everyone - I have an announcement to make:
  People are stupid.
  That is all.

Barack Obama needs to shut up

I blame Barack Obama and his faithful minions, Clinton, Pelosi, Reid, etc... for the Trump presidency. The reason the voters decided to vote for someone as insane as Donald Trump is because Obama pushed his special agendas on us and treated most of us like morons.

Now Obama has decided that he needs to continue pushing his agenda on us and I think it's going to result in more voters leaning towards Trump.

His recent speeches about the Trump presidency fly in the face of the tradition of the past president not discussing the current president's work.

When Obama was president, he repeatedly said, "I blame the previous administration for [insert problem du' jour here]!" yet Bush never once said a word about it. When he gave a speech, he never criticized or even mentioned Obama. When an interviewer asked him a direct question about Obama, he pointedly said that he wasn't going to talk about the president.

Obama needs to shut up and fade away like every other president before him or the people of this nation will turn against him and his agenda with even more insanity like, oh I don't know, maybe a second term for Trump.

Unfortunately, the democrats are probably going to run Elizabeth Warren in 2020 and that will also result in a second term for Trump.

Warren is a close-minded bigot who has no idea what it's like for most of us. She habitually insults & belittles people, thinks blacks are incapable of taking care of themselves, self-identifies as American Indian and assumes that if a person is white, they had privileges that allowed them to become a productive member of our society.

Remember when Clinton called half the nation "deplorable"? Yea, well Warren recently called every cop and prosecutor in the nation a racist. How do you think that's gonna play out come election time? Warren also claims that blacks are not capable of getting a state issued ID card. She says that if you are required to show ID at the polls, blacks will be excluded because they don't know how to get an ID.

I have been voting since 1976 and so far every vote I've cast has been for the lesser of two evils. Just once before I die, I'd like to find a candidate that I was happy to vote for.

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The Patriots played today and in typical New England fashion, they bet the Texans. The final score was 27-20.

Brady looked good, as did Gronkowski. The offensive line held it's own against a strong Texan defense and gave Brady the time he needed to move the ball.

Now if the Red Sox can figure out how to beat the Astros, it will be a good day for us Massachusetts sports fans.

Of course, I won't know if the Red Sox won until tomorrow morning because once again those assholes at ESPN are carrying the game. That means it doesn't start until around 8:30 tonight and during the game, there will be much long-winded "chatting up" of Jessica Mendoza by Vasgersian and Rodriquez as they both try to verbally mate with her.

Those two need to stop trying to get into her pants. It's a bad look for ESPN and baseball in general.

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You can click on these while I figure out how to stay awake to watch an inning or two of baseball:

• Key phrase in this story: "He previously announced his candidacy for president in 2015."



• Key line in this story: "Run, Fat Ass!"



• Proof that in some cases, entire families are kinda nuts.



• The British know what to do when they visit Florida.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Week.

I lied

Yesterday I said I was going to spend my evening watching hockey. Turns out I lied.

The Bruins / Capitals game was not on any television or cable station. Instead, it was streamed on something called ESPN+

I don't have ESPN+. I will never have ESPN+. I can't stand ESPN regular so it's pretty safe bet I can't stand ESPN+.

Anytime ESPN carries a Red Sox game, a Patriots game or a Bruins game, I cringe because I can't stand the announcers. I hate the fact they start every game at 8:15 at night. I hate the fact that they have a commercial stoppage every 10 minutes and I hate the fact they have cameras pointed at the announcers instead of the field of play.

I don't give two shits about what the announcers are saying or doing. Keep the cameras pointed at the game, you morons.

So much to my chagrin, I did not get to see the Bruins win last night.

They are still in second place in the wildcard but they lost Marchand and Blidh to injuries last night. As of right now, it looks like neither one will be available for tomorrow's game.

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Goofy Joe is pushing Intel and other US computer chip makers to ramp up production.

You are too late Joe. You should have asked them to do that a year ago when you first took office. The shortage of chips is probably the single largest factor in the shortages of non-food items. Without computer chips to run the automation of all types of production, production slows to a crawl.

When production drops, you get shortages. With shortages, you get inflation.

With shortages and inflation you get stock markets that get jittery and drop value rapidly.

When stock mrkets drop, retirement accounts drop.

When my retirement account drops, I get pissed and I vote accordingly.

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I'm tired so I'm going to end this tirade and leave you with these links:

• "🎶So now I'm praying for the end of time.🎵"
  "🎵To hurry up and arrive.🎶"
  I guess he's done waiting for the end of time.



• He was pretty damned funny.



• Key phrase in this story: "I would rather them than pigeons."



• I don't ever want to be this old.



• This is by far the best Sopranos take I've ever seen.

One down, two to go

Man, these hinges are in bad shape.

This is what they look like before I do my thing:

Soak in white vinegar for 24 hours to get rid of most of the rust, use a wire wheel to remove all old paint and remaining rust, spray paint with some nice gloss black rustoleum and you get this:

Yes, I'm fully aware that within a year or two they will probably begin rusting again. I'll deal with it when it happens.

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This is how Trump has gotten away with everything in his life: Delay until it goes away.

I kind of hope the courts tell him,

"Donny, you were asked to return any classified documents and you denied you had any.

You were then told to return all of the classified documents the government knew you had and you said you had declassified them.

Then you were informed that you were in possession of top secret documents and you were ordered to return them immediately but again, you said you declassified them even though you knew you couldn't.

Finally, you were informed, through your attorneys, that the DoJ was going to serve a search warrant and seize all classified documents. You basically dared them to do so.

The court thinks you've had more than enough time and opportunity to clear this matter up.

My answer is: 'No. Get your fat ass into court on the scheduled date or face arrest for failure to appear'."

I doubt it will happen but I surely would like to see it.

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I watched two minutes of the Home Run Derby last night before I realized that anything, including a root canal, would be more entertaining than listening to the voices of the ESPN talking heads.

Instead, I watched a movie I've seen at least four times in the last two year, Guardians of the Galaxy.

Anything was better than ESPN.

Tonight at 8:00 is the All Star Game and that is on FOX. I took a look at the FOX Sports announcement and discovered that they have no less than eight talking heads covering the game.

They are:

Alex Rodriguez
David Ortiz
Derek Jeter
Joe Davis
John Smoltz
Kevin Burkhardt
Ken Rosenthal
Tom Verducci

Can anyone explain to me why they need eight people to talk about a baseball game?

My plan is to watch as much of the game as I can but if they end up with the camera facing the booth showing two guys talking about how they would have thrown a different pitch instead of showing me the baseball game, I'm going to find an old movie to entertain me.

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Chicken kabobs and rice will be our repast this evening.

While we enjoy that, you can enjoy these:

• Huge Heat-Emitting Blob would be a fantastic name for a 1980's Meatloaf cover band.



• How come every single picture of BigFoot, the Loch Ness monster or a UFO is always blurry?



• Some people are buried, some have their ashes spread at a special location. Others just hang out at the dead letter office.



• We don't pay cops enough.



• Oh Canada.



• Australia: They don't understand hockey...

Still undefeated.

The Red Sox beat up on those poor defenseless Yankees this afternoon, beating them 11-7. And they did it without most of their actual MLB team.

The Red Sox traveled to the Yankees facility with only two of their MLB guys - Nick Pivetta and Reese McGuire. The rest of the team were all AAA, AA and "offered a minor league contract with an invitation to camp" guys.

According to my youngest:

I'm not certain that the Yankees suck because normally they are a pretty good team but they did kinda look bad today. They basically got beat by the Worcester Red Sox.

The Red Sox play the Blue Jays tomorrow at 1:00.

In other baseball news, the World Baseball Classic started and I haven't watched any of it because the games are on at either 5:00am or 10:00pm.

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Yes, there is hockey tonight but I probably won't be able to watch it. It's not on television, it's being streamed on ESPN+.

I dislike ESPN but I hate ESPN+. They have the absolute worst announcers who know nothing about hockey.

I'll try the stream but I suspect that I'll end up watching some Gold Rush and falling asleep early. I can't imagine that ESPN is going to let me watch their stream for free.

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Jerome Powell needs to shut the hell up.

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We picked up the worlds biggest chicken pot pie at Costco the other day and today is the day we are cooking it. I suspect we will be eating leftover chicken pot pie for days to come.

While I do that, you can do these:

• Oh good. As if covid wasn't bad enough, now we're gonna have to deal with this.



• Key phrase in this story: "...the media’s advice to 'learn to code' may have been like investing in typewriters."



• If you were ever interested in what Russian propaganda (lies) looks like, have google translate this article to english. The best line in it is: "The explosion of American love for the Russian president was provoked, paradoxically, by his extremely tough stance towards Russia's enemies."



• This is probably the most New Jersey thing you will read today.



• Nothing I share with you is fake. It might be idiotic, insane and maybe humorous but never fake.



• Oh Canada.

Great win

Crochet pitched a great game and left the mound after 8⅔ innings with a 3-1 lead.

Chapman came in to pitch to the last batter in the 8th and then pitch the 9th. When he left the mound, the game was over and the Red Sox had beat the Judges 3-1, taking game 1 of the 3-game series.

The ESPN announcers were sad because they wanted Judge and his helpers to win.

As a matter of fact, the "ESPN sucking up to the Yankees and elevating Judge to godhood" got so bad last night that at one point, Eduardo "I got something in my throat. It might be Judge's penis" Perez said, "Judge is in scoring position whenever he has a bat in his hand."

Here's the reality:

Judge went up to bat 4 times last night, he got 2 hits, struck out once, flew out once and scored zero runs.

Bregman, a guy who is getting over either the flu or a cold, went up to bat 4 times last night, he got 2 hits, struck out once, walked once and drove in one run.

For the record, Bregman has the better line and he wasn't feeling all that great.

Tonight's game has Bello on the mound. First pitch is at 6:08.

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Speaking of baseball, it's time to revisit the giant-brain predictions from the beginning of the season.

Back on February 4^th, some outfit called "Baseball Prospectus" released the following 2025 regular season prediction:

As of October 1^st, these were the regular season standings:

I'll let you decide if the so-called experts were anywhere close to being accurate...

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Golf was played today and it was a bit chilly this morning.

In keeping with our normal procedures, we decided to meet at 10:00 this morning. I gotta tell you, I'm glad I brought my long sleeve shirt along with me because not only was it in the mid 50's, there was some pretty steady winds blowing which made it seem even colder.

We've decided that the next time we play, we're going to throw tradition to the wind and tee off at noon when hopefully it will be a bit warmer.

Of course, given that this is New England, it could be in the 90's next time we play...

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Here are some links:

• Only in Florida.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.



• He was a pretty good writer but he seems to have been elevated to demi-god status and I'm pretty sure he was no saint.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, turns out to be an asshole you have to keep working with.



• What the hell is "trauma bond"?

They won the series

Last night the Red Sox beat the Judges 11-7, winning the 3-game series.

I thought Dobbins did a great job on the mound but the star of the show has to be a toss-up between Abraham Toro and Carlos Narveaz.

They are back home tonight to start a 3-game series against the Rays.

Bello has the start and first pitch is at 7:10.

Also, WooHoo! Roman Anthony will be playing right field.

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Speaking of last nights baseball game, ESPN carried the game and it was, by far, the worst game coverage I've ever seen.

This is the last year ESPN is carrying baseball and I can't wait for it to finally end.

It will be nice to not have to listen to Eduardo Perez drone on & on about his lacluster baseball career or his worship of Aaron Judge.

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Pat, Willie and myself were suppossed to play golf today but the weather had different ideas. We probably could have played but the weather dweebs said "rain on and off" for the day and we all decided that playing golf in the rain was a bad idea.

We'll try again in a few days. Hopefully the weather treats us better.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows."



• Key line in this story: "You’re supposed to get your best players on the field..."



• Bobby "Worm Brain" Kennedy Junior has decided that we don't need a bunch of doctors evaluating vaccines.



• Florida Man.



• Apparently it is Mens Health Month in Hong Kong.