Hokies lose, nothing new

OK I should have gone on the record before the season started just so I would not be accused of “after the fact” accusations. So it’s not too late to set the record straight about the 2009 Virginia Tech football season, so here goes.

First off before the season started I made the prediction that the following would happen. Keep in mind I will still try my hardest to hope I am wrong and still pull against my own odds, but the reality is I know VT all too well.

My prediction is the Hokies finish the football season 9-3 in 2009 at best. I foresee (foresaw) the following losses; Alabama, Georgia Tech and NC State. A not so distant prediction includes a loss to UNC. This means I feel the Hokies could lose up to four games.

Why I choose those teams as losses:

Alabama: Tech never wins the big game when it matters. Our road record against Top 20 teams is horrible and will continue to stay that way. A game in the Georgia Dome is more or less a home game for Alabama, so do the math Alabama home game equals SEC home game; you don’t win many games on the road to SEC teams

Georgia Tech: We are playing this game in Atlanta. We should never have beaten them last year and this year they will earn their revenge. Unfortunately by this game I don’t see Tyrod healthy. He is way to injury prone to last an entire season. Mobile QB’s never last full seasons. Although GT is a running team they will use the pass to burn us when it matters.

NC State: In all fairness I’m only 50/50 on this game. I think we would most likely lose this game if it were at NC State. The fact we are playing in Blacksburg gives us that 50% chance of winning. Tom O’Brian knows us and it’s just a matter of time before he gets that program going again. Look for VT to get out coached. Side note: I’m picking NC State to win the Atlantic (even after their loss to South Carolina)

UNC: This again is a tossup and not really factored into my losses for 2009. I’ll throw a few stats out there. Law of averages, we have beaten UNC year after year, our time is coming. Butch Davis is turning this program around and he gave us problems when he coached at Miami. The biggest factor, like the NC State game, we play them in Blacksburg. That and it’s a Thursday night game so I’ll give us more of a 65% chance but this could be a tossup.

Keys to the Hokies lack of success for 2009:

1. Tyrod Taylor not staying healthy. Way to injury prone, he’ll never make it 12 games unfortunately.
2. Bryan Stinespring who is a complete waste and never evolves. His play calling single handedly contributes to 90% of our losses. Our offense has been terrible since the days of Michael Vick. Stinespring has no clue what he’s doing. How much longer will Frank stay loyal to this guy? Motto for this season, More of the same.
http://firebryanstinespring.blogspot.com/
3. Key injuries to role players. This always happens to us at the worse time, I don’t see it changing. Oh wait we did already lose Daren Evans.
4. Relying on our Defense to continue to win games for us. You can’t do this year in and year out and make it over the hump. Yes, it will win us games but at some point your offense has to produce, IT WON’T!

Post Alabama Loss outlook:

Now that VT has lost to Alabama this is a few things we have to look forward too.

-Hoping each week that we win just so we can make it to the ACC Championship. Make note that the ACC Championship game will be very poorly attended as is every year.

-If we do find some way to win the ACC and ACC Championship we get an appearance in the Orange Bowl for the third straight year. Let’s see after games against Kansas and Cincinnati in the past two Orange Bowls don’t look for any better matchup to come our way. So let’s say we do win the ACC we can look forward to an opponent like Rutgers, Cincinnati, WVU or maybe South Florida. Or maybe if we are real lucky we get the loser of the SEC championship and then get killed.

Let’s be real no one will watch the Orange Bowl and honestly Tech fans will be even less this year if we do make it. Cincinnati actually had more fans than a historically well traveled Virginia Tech team. As a diehard Hokie I can tell you first hand I won’t be at the Orange Bowl no matter what happens. Why? For what? ACC tie-in to the Orange Bowl is terrible, it has to change, if the Orange Bowl wants to draw any intrigue.

So at this point I can look forward to cheering on the Hokies for yet another mediocre season with some unintriguing math-up either late December or early January. Oh well we should have a shot at the national championship on about four or five years.

GO HOKIES!!

Polo shirt with workout shorts guy?

Something that has always baffled me because I think it just looks odd. Let me preface this by saying this is only a guy issue and girls it really makes no difference. Wearing a polo shirt with dress shorts or cargo shorts not a problem. Heck I even do that. No, the problem I have is guys wearing polo shirts or just shirts with a collar but then following it up with basketball shorts or just your everyday workout shorts. Let me give you a few examples of this fashion debacle.

Wearing a collared polo shirt on the treadmill guy. I mean I’ve seen this hideous act way too much. I think it’s most prominent when you go to some place like a hotel and you just know what’s coming. Some guy that forgot his plain old workout shirt decides to throw his nice knit polo shirt on with some basketball looking shorts then hop on the treadmill and go to town like no one notices. Trust me people are noticing this they just aren’t telling you.

Playing a game of pick-up basketball while wearing a collared shirt guy. These guys are just standouts bottom line. Usually there are two things you are telling everyone else on the court. One, I can’t play basketball but I sure would like to try! And two you’re saying please all you big ballers out here, laugh and make fun of me, please. FYI don’t expect anyone to pick you up if they are short one player.

Wearing a collared shirt with mesh shorts while cleaning around the house on Saturday guy. I think my dad may be guilty of this from time to time but not sure. First of all its way too hot more than likely to be sporting the collared shirt anyway let alone trying to do manual labor. Honestly this is probably one of the safest places to pull off this hideous look but keep in mind you do have neighbors that have little else to do than sit around and watch other people do work while they sit on their front porch or couch and talk about “what the neighbor is doing”.

I think I’m only writing about this today because on my way home some guy was in his front yard stacking wood while pulling off the collared shirt with bball shorts look. I guess that finally caused me to write about it. But yeah, this thing has kind of baffled me for years. And finally with most issues I bring to anyone's attention I like to present some sort of solution. In this case I guess for the sake of procreation, guys, can you think twice before doing this? I don’t know, I got nothing it’s Friday what’s there to really complain about?

A few things about facebook

Some pet peeves about facebook.

So here is the deal. It can be handy in many ways. I did start using it a lot to help organize things like flag football and sports activities. And I will admit it has actually worked. I’m really blogging today to sort of talk about my pet peeves with some things people do with facebook.

Passive aggressive postings: I love when someone (usually women I have to admit) will put up a random post about a great time they had with someone last night. Or they will leave these little “hints” about how happy they are with someone. How about publicly posting to their friend’s walls these subtle hints about this person they met. Of course it’s all one big grand scheme to make someone jealous or ask for attention. Unlike about 90% of the rest of the world, me personally I could give a “flying can of worms” (trying to keep the expressions clean here). If anyone knows me they know how apathetic I am about ANY drama. So for those people out there that try these approaches let it be known that there are people like me out there who absolutely do no care (all joking aside). Look you may think your relationship saga is just so great but that’s because you are in it. An overwhelming majority of people on the outside of your relationship DO NO CARE! So you and shmoopey go do whatever it is you do with each other and stop using us as your audience that you somehow think cares about your relationship drama.

Posting your phone number to someone’s wall: Gotta love this one. I think people do this for nothing more than attention. Oh this is also a passive way of trying to get some random guy or girl to call you. Look just be blunt with it and not only post your number publically but also attach the message (I’m desperate for attention and please someone call me) Look people this is not a good way to have a guy or girl call and ask you out. Just email the person privately if you want someone to have your number. Or heck it’s in your information section if people need it right?

Relationship status: Oh now this is a big one here. First of all if you are not married what is so important about this? And why is it so detrimental in your relationship if you as the guy don’t want this kind of stuff posted? There should only be two options in my opinion Married or single. That’s it, this way we can avoid all the drama that comes with changing this status back and forth. Look relationships are not worked out on websites. OH and FYI, people like me could care less what past relationship “people” who were in my life, are doing. There is a reason we call people ex’s they are a thing of the past.

Top five lists: I won’t really get into this but it’s just stupid. Please stop this. Yeah I did like one when it first came out but I’m sorry this song is played out.

Becoming a “fan of”: Please how many of these things can people join? I mean just use the about me section of your profile to talk about what you like and don’t like.

Pictures or references to beer/alcohol: I cannot begin to express how much this drives me nuts. I don’t care that people drink fine do whatever you like, that’s not by point here. But seriously people how many pictures of you and your friends playing beer pong, smiling about the cool alcoholic beverage you have in your hand or showing how proud you are of the drinking photos by putting some caption at the bottom complimenting the remarkable drinking skills that was photographed? I mean maybe I am way off here but I’ve just never saw the glamour behind drinking photos. Good luck, maybe I’m just old school.

Requesting friends that you know you still won’t talk too even when you add them: Alright I’ll admit this is kind of borderline here. I don’t want to piss too many people off especially those that have added me and never once talked to me. My point is this. If you see someone that you barely talked to when you knew them and you never talk to them now and probably will still not talk too even after you request to add them…Well do you see where I’m going with this? Don’t ask me why but I’ve never once added a single person to my facebook friends. No real reason I just have tendencies I guess. I mean if you want to add me as a friend no problem just think a little about how much you will talk to me if at all before you do it, that’s really all. Just don’t use facebook as a popularity contest, trust me we don’t feel any more proud of you for having “facebook friends”.

Look all in all facebook is probably a good thing. I use it but probably not anywhere near as much as most people. I just have issues with a few things here and there. I know me blogging about it won’t probably change anything but when does writing a blog change anything? These are just some of my few observations about facebook antics that kind of bother me. What say you?

Yeah I'm sick of it

A few hours ago I actually had someone comment on how great it is that we are getting all this rain. Unbelievable! I mean seriously this is like day 12 or something of straight rain. I honestly don't think I have felt this depressed in a long time. Really how do people in Seattle do this? I mean I can honestly say I see the attitude of all the people around me changing, for the worst. How can anyone at this point still say it's so great that we are getting all this rain? No joke I wanted to bite the woman's head off that said that. Lucky for me I can keep my cool but man was that close.

To any weather geek out there, what the heck is going on? Is it like some stupid cloud is just sitting over the east coast with nothing else to do? As much as I love the east coast this is really getting to the point of utter annoyance. I’m actually contemplating what it would be like to live out west. I mean why not, look how laid back those people are. Less rain means more exercise, better attitudes, happier lifestyle and all that jazz.

So for the sake of depression please STOP THE RAIN!!

What a TIME for baseball

Well as many of my friends that even care to read this blog probably already know, I’m an Oakland Athletics fan. No, I’m not from California, no I haven’t been to Oakland before and no I’m not a band wagon fan. As a kid I loved the A’s mainly because of Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley etc. I was never a big fan of their color scheme but hey I care more about the team than some color scheme. So since those earlier times in my life as a kid I stuck with the A’s and I still support them to this day.

So to get more into my point since this is the opening week for yet another baseball season I have to do a little bit of complaining here. Last night ESPN did something they almost never do. They broadcast an Oakland A’s game. Not only that but they started the game at 9:00 pm eastern time. Yes, indeed a 9:00 start time for a west coast game. Now before you say wow that’s late, keep this in mind. For the rest of the season all west coast games come on at 10:05 eastern every night! So as you can imagine I was more than excited that I had somewhat of a watchable game that didn’t go off after 1:00 a.m.

Before you think I’m done with this whole baseball time slot issue think again. I have to get my beef in while the beef is good. Baseball does the worst scheduling of games you could ever imagine. How the heck Bud Selig has not figured this mystery out is beyond me. Who the heck starts a baseball game at 7:00 west coast time which is 10:00 east coast? Heck I’ll go a step further who starts a game on the east coast at 7:00 which ends sometime around 10:00? No one on the entire east coast can stay awake for a 10:00 start time of baseball games and even remotely expect to make it to work/school the next day and actually function. Look I’m sorry west coast homers, but what the heck is the problem with starting a game at like 6:00 or 6:30 your time? Not only can you watch it but we east coasters can at least have a chance to watch your games too. Monday night football figured it out, 8:30 start times are not a bad thing!

Baseball playoff time scheduling dilemma is at its best. OK so how many people have watched baseball playoffs? Probably not many if you’ve seen how good old Bud handles this one. First round games are a best of five series, ok good I agree (NBA take the hint, this is a good thing). However first round playoff games are played (and I don’t make this stuff up) at 1:00/2:00 in the afternoon on like Tuesday and Wednesdays! Yeah WTF I have no clue. I remember watching Oakland and the Twins a few years ago play first round games while I’m sitting at work trying not to see the score so I could go home and watch it on the DVR. The best however is the World Series. Take a guess at what time these games start… Yep try like 9:27 p.m. EST on like a Monday night! Who the heck is going to stay up for that crap? And to top all this off teams play a 162 game season, 8 teams total make the playoffs (which I really like, again hint, hint NBA and NHL) but then your lucky if you see one playoff game given the whacky time schedules. Bud, you’re doing a train wreck of a job at this stuff, you are killing me.

Lastly here are my (very few) suggestions to improve baseball scheduling. Start games no later than 9:30 p.m. EST. Never start playoff games before 5:00 p.m. EST on a weekday (weekends do whatever). Broadcast more than just Yankees vs. Red Sox games or Yankees against anyone games. Oh and before you continue to take advantage of the loop whole, not broadcasting Yankees games includes not broadcasting them on Fox on weekends, ESPN (anytime), Comcast, MLB channel just to include a few. They have the YES network, use it. Oh wait they do it’s just ESPN, FOX and Comcast think it’s a good ideas to simulcast the Yankees on all their networks in case one of them forgets to put the Yankees on. That way they are covered. Just get some fair and balance. Finally cut the season short so that it ends on July 31st and by August 1st the playoffs can begin. This gives you an entire month to wrap up the playoffs and gear up for football. Honestly who cares about baseball after college football and NFL start? I’ve got no interest. I mean really if you have USC vs. Ohio State as an example and they are on at 8:00 primetime, who the heck is tuning into to some Saturday night baseball game? Oh and of course first pitch is at like 9:37 p.m. or something like that. I mean really? Am I totally off on this?

Ray Ray!

J. Lovelace

I was going through some files on old disks and came across something that I had to post on here. This is Jonathan's favorite basketball player of all time. It's Ray Ray!

Just a few irritations on this rainy Sunday

So I noticed today, like everyday things were just sort of bugging me. Not to the point that I felt like saying or doing anything about it. Nope I was just simply observing the everyday irritations of the world and people in general.

I’m sitting in church today and there were about three things I just could not stop thinking about. This is usually the norm for me too. I find it hard to concentrate at church, but I’m not writing about that today. No, today it started with the smell of bad breath. This is nothing new either. I think just about every Sunday someone I’m sitting around has terrible breath. I mean laugh about it, but it’s true. And this is that, dried up haven’t had a drink of water in your mouth for like hours, kind of bad breath. Not to mention the fact that it sits around you and just hovers like a cloud of fog on Afton Mountain. Why in world can’t people just pick up the toothbrush before they come to church? Heck mouthwash at least. I mean really is it that hard?

My next irritation had to do with smell again. What is the deal with people coming to church smelling like that plate of eggs and bacon they just finished shoving down their mouth? I mean what are these people doing, putting on their entire outfit, to include their coat mind you, and then cooking up their big old Sunday morning breakfast? It’s as bad as those people that burn firewood in their house and then go out in public and think no one can smell that! Seriously though, can people just cook breakfast either before they shower or at least leave your coat off while you’re fixing it? Or do like about 90% of society and cover it up with cologne or something.

Thirdly, and this one hits on my hatred for self-centered people. If you’re sitting in a pew and you have your coat and purse sitting beside of you taking up the amount of space that one or two more people could be sitting in, MOVE IT!! I mean really people we have men, women and children half the time looking for a seat but can’t because those self-centered idiots have to have their precious coats and purses and whatever else they can carry with them, nestled up beside of them on the pew. Oh but it gets better, if you attempt to ask them to move down or scoot their stuff down to make room, it’s like they look at you with this, “Did you just ask me to donate you my kidney?” face. Yeah idiot I did, move your crap so I/we can sit down.

Finally I think I know why I’m in just one of those irritable modes today. It’s only been raining for about three or four days straight. But hey “We need the rain”. This rolls right into my last irritating event for the day. So I’m trying to make my way through a parking lot and of course it’s raining and it’s nasty out. As I try to make my way through these various parking lots and across roads I am once again driven to almost insanity at the unselfishness of the people around me. Why is it when people are in their nice warm and dry cars, do they insist on not yielding to pedestrians who are visible wet, cold and desperately looking for the quickest routes to get inside or at least under cover to avoid rain? Do you really have to be somewhere so important and in such a short period of time that you can’t wait two extra seconds for some sorry sap to cross in front of you so they can enjoy that same dry feeling your getting from being inside your car? Seriously why are people so selfish?

Enough with the Chocolate already, I get it!

So just about everyone in the world with the exception of maybe some person in like Indochina and me prefers chocolate over vanilla. Let me make it clear that I do like chocolate so no I’m not chocolate hating here. I’m just so tired of chocolate dominating the entire flavor market for everything.

Has anyone ever tried vanilla milk? I absolutely love that stuff, when you can find it. And when you do find it you have to stock up because it’s either only out for a limited time or going out of stock to never be replenished. Why is that?

Oh here’s one. Why do I have to go to Dairy Queen and look up at the ice cream and blizzard flavors and see about 98% of all flavors in some form or fashion having chocolate in them? Wait let me make a small correction, you will find “For a limited time” Cotton Candy Blizzards or the pumpkin or candy apple flavor. Forgive me if I’m leaving something out, I don’t think I’ve been to a DQ in over a year. Partly because I’m not really a fast food guy and mostly because I’m so sick of only having forty- thousand blizzard flavors all of which have some form of chocolate in them. What is this obsession with chocolate in our country?

Applebee’s I have to give you a little bit of love here. Two words, The Blondie! You want to talk about a dessert? That blows away any chocolate dessert I’ve seen on that menu. So for now I say thank you Applebee’s and do say for now because it’s only a matter of time before it will be taken out completely and probably replaced by some German chocolate cake or who knows what.

Notice I said 98% earlier. That 2% is not all reserved for my vanilla brethren either. Butterscotch usually makes an appearance every now and then. I have to give it to butterscotch though it’s not bad but I usually only eat it in protest to chocolate and well of course if vanilla isn’t available.

So here’s my thing. Chocolate, alright I got it. I’m only asking that instead of a 98% chocolate domination in this world that we just up the distribution to like say 20% or maybe even as high as 30% vanilla/non-chocolate flavors. Vanilla is to me what chocolate is to the rest of the world. Someone out there throw me a freaking bone here!

Virginia Governor to Sign Smoking Ban Bill

Thank God! Yeah it's not 100% yet but just about. And no it won't take effect until December 1, 2009 but it's so close to reality I can almost not smell it. I can't thank the Governor enough for finally doing something about this issue. Smoking has been one of the most annoying issues I think this country let alone our state has faced. Why has it been so difficult for the state of Virginia to figure out second hand smoke is not enjoyable? I care 0% about how much it may offend anyone that reads my stupid little rant here on my “weenie” little blog. I hate smoking, always have always will. Don’t give me this BS about how farmers profit from it, or how it will put them out of business. Just because someone is profitable with something that is clearly a health risk and in no way benefits an individual, doesn’t make it right. If we want to use that analogy then I guess banning illegal drugs puts the “poor” growers and dealers out of business too.

Look the bottom line is people who don’t smoke don’t enjoy inhaling second hand smoke. And what kills me is how people that do smoke are completely oblivious to how non-smokers are so opposed to it. Oh and the best is when you go to a bar or restaurant and someone asks me if you mind them smoking. My answer is always YES! I mean why am I going to lie? Ask an honest question you’ll get an honest answer.

The only real benefit I guess from smoking is population control. I guess if your dumb enough to do it then by all means kill yourself off slowly while the rest of society watches. We need a little more room in the world anyway it can get a little crowded at times. I will make one exception though, if you want to smoke maybe we can design some island in the middle of BFE and let everyone live there in smokers paradise.

I got nothing to say...

I’m pretty sure I know why I have very little to say lately. When football season ends it’s like the world goes silent for six or seven months. Let’s be honest the NBA is more or less a joke, college basketball gets a lot more exciting come March Madness, hockey (or in my case the Red Wings) is rarely on TV. anymore, baseball doesn’t even start until April and finally NASCAR…need I say more.

See here is the problem with just about every sport except football. It’s hard to appreciate sports that last practically all year long, have more than 50% of teams in their respective leagues make the playoffs, and then have no real significant offseason. I mean take NASCAR for example. They take maybe three months off then start the season back up. The NBA goes from late October to June. As much as I hate the football offseason, I have to admit it really makes you care so much more when it’s here.

So ABC/ESPN honestly you can stop trying to hype up things like a Suns vs. Mavericks games on a Sunday afternoon as a big attraction. Also NASCAR qualifying rounds is nothing to televise, it’s a waste of public airwaves. I will give it to golf, at least they know the first three rounds of any PGA Major is pretty much anticlimactic and just really get deep into the coverage on the final day. I’ll at least give them that. Oh and BTW putting on some random bowling match on a Saturday afternoon…you would probably get better ratings by just replaying some NFL game from the past season.

Other than that…I really got nothing.

What's with the no glasses thing?

So I’m not quite sure I understand this phenomenon that people with glasses have against taking their picture with them on. I first want to state I have nothing wrong with people wearing glasses, heck I use to wear glasses when I was a kid. Not to mention (which I am mentioning so I don’t understand that saying) my entire family at one point in their life wore glasses. I just want to make that clear before I have someone claim I hate people with glasses. See here is the thing if you or someone you know wears glasses and I mean all the time for everything, why when it’s time for a picture do you take them off? Now I understand maybe you don’t like how you look in glasses but to wear them all the time day in and day out to then take them off for two quick seconds for a picture interests me. I mean you wear glasses, people see you in them all day every day, and so what’s the purpose of taking them off for a picture? If anything people are less likely to remember or recognize you with them off.

Hey I’ve got no real point here, nor am I criticizing anyone that decides to remove their glasses for a picture. I’m just simply interested to know why people do this. I mean if my dad took his glasses off for a picture I don’t know that I’d recognize him. No offense dad.

An idea for grocery stores

It is so frustrating to walk into a grocery store and not have a clue where to find something. You end up looking around and around and usually just waste nothing but time. It would be nice if there was someone to just ask but good luck with that. I think all employees work at the cash register so unless you’re prepared to wait in line just ask where something like fortune cookies (seriously try find those things in a grocery store) are, you might be screwed. Oh but wait here is an idea, ask one of the guys/gals that’s stocking items they might know right? Nope you’ll just get, “I don’t know I just stock, may want to try asking someone else”. Isn’t that funny if you stock items wouldn’t you think that these people would at least know where things are located? Or they may do you one better. They will tell you to go ask some other person in like the meat section. Unless you’re looking for a meat product, once again good luck, they have no clue either.

So in keeping with tradition I’d like to present a simple solution to this problem. I propose that grocery stores design a touch screen type machine that has the entire store inventory listed by name, location, cost, quantity in stock etc. To give you a better visual I’m talking about something similar to the touch screen machine at the self check-out counter. Or maybe some of you have been to a gas station called Sheetz . The touch screens they use there are exactly what I’m talking about.

The one stipulation is that these machines must be located at the front of let’s say every other isle. And there must be nice big signs hanging from the ceiling and so forth to bring attention to these machines so customers know where exactly to find them. I don’t want one of the set-ups like Wal-mart or Target where they claim to have bar code scanner around the store for price checks, but good luck finding those things. I think they hide those somewhere in the baby clothes section or over in home and gardening.

Should I try patenting this idea?

Simple solution to steroids in sports

For starters this is the one topic in sports I absolutely cannot for one second tolerate. When I hear one mention of steroids and sports I go just about nuts. This is another reason for my annoyance of Dan Patrick and my appreciation that he finally left ESPN. However I’m not here to write about that or am I here to contradict myself and talk about steroids. I am writing to give a simple solution so here goes.

Try this as an idea. Mandate that every professional sports team be assigned a professional “pharmacist” or “doctor” if you will to live, travel and be a part of every team. Sort of like the team doctor or strength and conditioning coach. This person’s sole responsibility for the team he/she is assigned to is being the subject matter and formally trained purchaser, distributer and educator of all legal drugs and supplements to those players that need or want them. So to dumb this down, some player we will call Mark McGwire wants to take some supplement that he just saw in a magazine. Well instead of him purchasing or ordering this drug he goes to the team “pharmacist/doctor” and tells them what he wants and how much of it he wants. Then it’s up to this designated individual to go out with the players own money and buy this supplement for him. Now keep in mind this designated person would be earning a salary from that team/league so he would be a full time employee and would also be available during the offseason.

So using this solution not only ensures the players are getting legal supplements but also holds the respective league liable in the event that a player comes up hot on a random drug test. Unless of course some idiot player comes up hot for something he decides to buy on his own without going through the middle man.

Did I leave something out here? Does anyone think this might be a simple solution to an ongoing long term problem? I mean we are talking about hiring one person per professional team, paying him a salary and in return he/she educates the team, keeps players out of trouble and holds the respective leagues responsible for any illegal drug use.

Yep, it is that time once again (unfortunatly)

There is nothing I enjoy not doing more than not watching American Idol. I have to say this is one of my all time most hated shows that I don’t even watch. I’ve resided to the fact that it probably will not and is not going away for quite some time. So my only hope is that eventually it will become so overplayed that somehow it will get moved to some off the wall timeslot or another channel that gets buried amongst the unwatched. Sort of like the Sci-Fi channel for me.

So the best thing that comes out of today is the fact that I’m one day down on the next four months or whatever it is from American Idol ending another season.

Someone call me when it's over!

Rain drives me nuts

Many of you that know me have probably heard me rant about how much I hate rain. Well as I sit here tonight and for about the third time in a week once again it’s raining. This is probably the one thing about the east coast I will always hate. I can handle the cold, not that I like it, I love fall weather, the summers could probably get a little warmer or at least warmer for a longer period of time but it comes down to this whole rain thing.

I absolutely without a doubt hate rain. I’ve lived here on the east coast my whole life and really you have no choice but to deal with it. Throughout my life I’ve had opportunities to live or travel for short stints to the west coast. Nothing beats warm weather every day and virtually no possibility of rain every single day. You wake up, the sun is up, there are no clouds in the sky and the chance of rain is about 0%. It’s absolutely incredible. And to beat it all this is the norm for about 365 days a year, give or take.

Why do I hate the rain? It comes down to sports. I can’t describe the frustration I get if football games are canceled, outdoor basketball courts are rendered useless, baseball games are canceled or lightning flashes so anything your doing outside has to stop. Oh there is a long list of a lot more activities too. How about going to a three and a half hour football game getting soaked, feeling miserable and sometimes even getting sick to death for a week just for being out there? Oh and you know what’s even better? Maybe you have a game or something scheduled for like a week from now, you’re all excited and can’t wait until that day gets here so you can go out and play some football or bball or whatever and guess what? It rains. You know what the answer is? Well guess we’ll just have to wait until next week. That’s always such welcoming news!

So a lot of people may say “Well just move out west”. Not that easy. Well jobs and family are obviously two really good reasons. For me however Virginia Tech probably has a whole heck of a lot to do with it. I have too much passion for my school and to take that away would probably kill me. Missing a home football game in Blacksburg would probably age me faster than I should. Just being able to stop in the 24060 whenever I want is a convenience I almost can't live without. I have too much pride and too much interest in Virginia Tech to just toss it away. I honestly think if it wasn’t for VT I’d probably have worked my way to a much more rain free area by now.

Stop with the “We need the rain” obsession. Something else I’ve vented about for years. All I’ve ever heard from every old head I know is this frustrating quote. Look we could get rain for a week straight, have two days of nice weather then someone would complain that we need more rain. Look people we don’t always need rain. Take a look a Las Vegas; they have 18 whole golf courses about every 500 feet. They’ve got sprinkler systems like you would not believe. They find a way to get water there and use it wastefully I might add. And remember this is a place that never gets rain. So before people start complaining about two or three days of no rain (which they always do) just think for a second about how they deal with it out west. Oh and don’t give me this BS about well if we have no rain everything will dry up yada, yada, yada. Have you ever heard of evolving? We are human beings, we find ways to evolve and develop methods to get what we need. Desalination is so expensive; we’ll never be able to do that. Yeah well guess what if we really were low on water we’d find some way of making it work. We have a whole Atlantic Ocean out there, I'm sure we could find some way of using it. People evolve!

Lastly I’m determined that the only people who complain about not having enough rain are those without a care in the word for sports and exercise. Yes, I’m being sarcastic but that’s how I feel. My compromise is this, because I’m about fairness and I’m not stupid we do need water to live. If it has to rain all the time (like it does) then why can’t it just rain in the extreme late hours of the night or early hours of the morning. Just get it out of the way while I’m not awake! So before anyone says “We could use some rain” or “We really need some rain” please make sure I don’t have a hard sharp object in my hand, lol.

Cheap window tint

Ok so there are some things in life you just don’t have a reason to cut corners. I am continually baffled by these idiots that for some reason decide to either tint their own car windows or have someone with no real experience do the work for them. Yeah it probably looks good for the first few weeks or months after the job is done. Then reality sets in and everything starts bubbling up and peeling off and really creating some discussing mess which I’m not really sure is fixable.

I’m not a window tinting kind of person but I do buy my cars with factor tint. It does wonders to save the interior and cuts down the heat a whole heck of a lot. So I’m not knocking window tint, nor am I knocking people who tint. I am however criticizing those people who cut corners, use the cheap materials and or have someone that knows nothing about tinting to do the job. Or worse, not knowing how to tint and then doing it yourself. Seriously though, why not just pay a little extra and have the job done right? To each their own I guess.