the lukewarm blog

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Toronto: Where People Meet

Amazing - just as the Tigers soundly defeat the hated Yankees again (heck, the Tigers swallowed the Yanks whole, is what they did!) in the ALCS, the Red Sox buy themselves a manager: another hated rival's manager, that is! One who has spent considerable amounts of time in a sleazy town where I've spent (considerably less - but still) some time too - a town that is fast-growing in terms of ''C.R.'' (crime rate and city rats really) with such a constant influx of ''talent'' coming in from at least three different fronts: its suburbs (Barrie and Mississauga, both fine little breeding grounds for small-time crooks, rabble and rodents alike) as well as other Canadian provinces and then there is full-throttle immigration, of course!  TOE-RON-TOE - now say it right, American slimeballs!

Toronto (not Tonto's native town) was apparently baptized by the Native Aboriginal peoples: just like ''Canada'' is supposed to be the aboriginal word for ''village'' or something (never mind the time-honored evidence that I have had for decades now that the true origin of that bastard country's name came from a sign left behind by Portuguese navigators who were appalled by the harshness of the winters there and simply wrote that ''nesta terra'' (on this land) ''nem cana dà!'' (not even common grass grows!) yet, somehow, now, lo many centuries later, ''Canada'' has become a ''mosaic'' that welcomes many cultures, many races, the whole world's supply of refugees, rejects and other remnants in an highly unlikely and definitely uneasy side-by-sidedness that never really made any sense at all and hardly makes up for the weak birth rate throughout the frigid land there...!)  Still, immigrants keep on flocking - if only a drop at a time... Great going, Canada...!

And why not - since Toronto is reputed to mean ''where people meet'' - eh?  All of these elements can meet there on a regular basis and a shootout to end all shootouts can ensue - it won't be their mayor who will give a hoot, really: that crooked old coot! But all that is another sordid and intricately-complicated, clearly) sad story - not at all what we were aiming to talk about here, at first...

Rather, let's go back to SPORTS: and the Tigers - and the Yankees, their favorite dinner! LMBO

The Tigers! Who would have picked them to demolish the Yanks two years in a row - and make it even more lopsided the second go-round?  HA - A-Rod, Jerker and the rest of them Damn Yankees NEVER HAD A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL...!!!  And then who was it that bit the dust again - the proverbial losers from TEXAS?  These Rangers guys will NEVER achieve their purported to be potential, now will they? (Just like their namesakes in the NHL, eh - but that's another story!) But who will even care about any of this, in the coming months, as winter comes, planets align themselves, wars upon wars take over the headline news and the ''Boys of Summer,''  for their part, just go into hibernation, suspended animation à-la-Captain-America (or is it à-la-Yvon-of-the-Yukon?) or pure and simple common fandom forgetfulness... Huh? After all, if it wasn't your team winning, the common fanboy simply tends to forget all-together who won, who lost, who even made it to the ''great'' World Series - the year before, much moreso the year before that or five years ago! (Not ME! I'm better than that! I remember! Selectively, sure, but I sure do remember! But this isn't about me here... duh! So, let's move on...)

Further more forgetful for all: the Cards - those losers that hail from St-Louis and play either baseball or football; nobody knows anymore, nobody cares - lost to the Giants in game 7 of the NLCS. It was a joy to behold, personally, though: since them Cards were one of the last two opponents thoroughly dominated by the Boston Red Sox, one of those last two times the Sox made it to the World Series - and took it all!  It wasn't even a CONTEST!  Once you retain the faculty to remember, you can enjoy such things, you see? You enjoy them with added perspective - extra gusto! But, again, who gives a damn about all this, now? It's all ancient history - in the public's wandering eye!  And all the teams involved are only as good as their most recent game played - and lost, in all cases involved too!  The Cardinals are just pale crimson shadows of their former selves: if you think further back, to the 1940s and 1950s  - or something...!  But then that's even more ancient history everyone forgot...!

But speaking of birds, if you think of the Cardinals, you have to think of the Orioles as well! The lamentable O's who got to believe what their skipper, that old Damn Yankee himself, Buck Showalter was telling them: you know, all that hogwash about being a contender on par with the Yanks, Rays and Red Sox, the team they hated the most for some reason...? Must have been a side-effect of his days as a Yankee... The O's got into the post-season, somehow - in place of those Rays and Red Sox, superior clubs though that they are and always will be - and then they promptly fizzled before the damn Yankee mystique.  How convenient was THAT! The Rays wouldn't have just keeled over dead like that - and you can be damn sure the Red Sox wouldn't have either! The O's remind me (if your fanboy mentality will allow a switch to another sport now) of the Isles of the 90s - they looked so hot in the first couple of rounds of the playoffs one year, surprising everyone by playing way beyond expectations from their very own management, coaching staff and fanbase, ousting the then-champion Pitt Pens in the process...!  And then what happened: they meet a bunch of losers with a CH on their chests (and it sure doesn't stand for champions - let me confirm you that!) and the inept Isles promptly shift back to being ''the old Islanders'' - and they lose. And who was the best player on the Isles team at that time? A French-Canadian time forgot - Pierre Something! Now, how convenient was THAT...?!?

The Islanders are also in the news lately, incidentally - as they are reporting a move from Long Island to... Brooklyn, of all places. The morons! They cannot be called islanders anymore, then! They should call themselves what they really are now (or what most laymen out there think they are, when they think of hockey, the NHL and anything that isn't figure skating on ice!) and that is... brawlers! The Brooklyn Brawlers! So what - they would have to pay a tribute and a portion of the profits to that no-name wrestler and (mostly) his employer (the accursed VKM, of Titan, so-called sports, not the moon of Saturn now - although it would be so nice to expedite him and a 1001 other creeps just like him -or worse- to that moon, so we never again have to suffer their presence amongst us ever again! Wait - did I just type 1001 creeps - only 1001? Make that 1, 000, 001 creeps! Heck, 1, 000,000,001 - and I know exactly who that last creepier-than-creepy one in there is supposed to be! Can you hear me, Gourrrrrrrrgennnnnnn? BANG - ZOOM - to the moon; SATURN's MOON! Ahh - it felt good to get all that out of my system just now... But, ultimately, what does any of it matter, hmm? So, sorry for the sidetrack, folks!) And so... Where were we? Ah yes! Brooklyn - of all infested places! Worse than Toronto: that is for damn sure! But let's NOT go back THERE now...

Let's go back to Red Sox Nation instead, now...
Bobby V had to go - so much had been clear from day one, practically.  A Boston manager who would go to New York every week-end in order to appear on some cable TV crappy show there, expressing his opinion on whatever subject related to baseball: now wasn't THAT a situation highly unordinary, unacceptable and even totally, like, repugnant! Plus, it is a conflict of interest! He could have slipped vital insider information from the Boston locker-room onto enemy territory; and he most probably did, throughout the damnable 2012 season, a lamentable campaign as it turned out to be for the Red Sox...
So it is high time to say it: out with Bobby V!  However, with so many guys being interviewed for the prestigious position, it is quite a surprise to see who was chosen in the end to replace him...

And in choosing John Farrell, the Boston Red Sox are forced to give up talent as compensation - talent that goes straight to their northern-most divisional enemy, those other damn birds, in TORONTO!  It wasn't bad enough that they were already reinforcing themselves as of late, after another dismal season of their own (they did finish last, right? Or was it Boston? None of that matters right now - I told you that! The fact is, though, that the Jays have been bettering themselves with unthinkable trades, for them especially; although trades prove nothing, really. Players have to gel as a team afterwards; and that doesn't always happen: just look at the Lakers! Bwah-ha-ha! Still... the potential is there.With proper guidance, it can be attained. And the Jays sought the right manager all right, even going out and daringly rehiring their dream manager from the past; sort of à-la-damnable-Yankees, sort of...) and on top of that the Red Sox now have to compensate them with ''future prospects'' in order to attenuate the circumstances that saw the Sox sign Toronto's manager as Boston's manager for 2013...!

Ironically enough, both managers return to where they came from - whatsisname who is coming back to Toronto and John Farrell, who used to be in Boston in another capacity, is in fact returning to the Red Sox organisation - and everyone hopes it is the return of the king here!  Despite the fact that Farrell bears considerably more than a passing resemblance to namesake John Cleese of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame: and that isn't a good sign at all, if you ask moi...  First we lose Theo to the Lost Cause in Chicago (kudos to Epstein though, for daring to take on two curses in his general-managerial lifetime...!) then we get stuck with Booby V... And now - it would be a jokester?!? One who's spoiled by all that Toronto gregariousness, polluted air and bad food included!

Let's all try to find comfort and positiveness in the official report now, Red Sox Nation...!
Take it away, Jimmy...!

Reports: Red Sox to hire Jays manager John Farrell to replace Bobby Valentine   

BOSTON - The Red Sox reportedly have reached an agreement to bring Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell to Boston to replace Bobby Valentine.
Red Sox spokeswoman Pam Kenn said early Sunday the team had no announcement to make. Comcast SportsNet New England reported that the deal was agreed to.
Boston had been talking to the Blue Jays about compensation for Farrell, who had one year remaining in his Toronto contract. He was 154-170 in two seasons with the Blue Jays following four years as Boston's pitching coach.
The Red Sox fired Valentine the day after finishing in last place in the AL East with a 69-93 record that was the franchise's worst since 1965.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Double T - vs - 666


  • Browsing indiscriminatively as we were, the other day, as we do once in a blue moon and twice on a gray one, and we stumbled across (not upon - thus, no credit should ever be given to StumbleUpon, herein; just pointing that out for whomever's interested to know...) this God-Awful headline right here:

    Tim Tebow to honor God during the 666th ‘Monday Night Football’ game

    Like, YEAH... SO WHAT?
    This was, of course, another one courtesy of them folks over at     -  ugh!

    Commenters, immediately following the so-called ''article'' there, with such dismissals as ''The media: making something out of nothing since the dawn of time.'' (that came courtesy of one Jennilynn A.  - my, thank you, Jennilynn A. for dropping your two cents' worth there and nailing the nail right on its crooked head in the process! Smart chick!)

    Said so-called ''article'' had come from the versatile quill of a certain '''' - he (or she?) who contributes to and hails from the nether regions of that Shutdown Corner over there...!  Let's not go there...!

    Alas, perhaps we have no other choice but to step on its outer limits for a second - in the twilight hours (if no zoning is done, per say, here) as the mere fringe delimitations here are begging for a tiny bit of clarification now - lest we use, outright, one of our favorite verbs here and now: ''illuminating''...?  (No relation to the Illuminati - fear not!)

    For this ''shutdown corner'' there harkens back to all of those tall tales dispensers of old: with the specialized twist that it adheres only to the wild wild world of sports! As trivial as we have come to find such a wilderness (man-fabricated as it is) one must admit that, sometimes, it will still find some insidious way to captivate us or simply attract our attention (however fleeting that will be, too) for all sorts of reasons - and that alone, in this day and age of short-attention spans spreading fast and furiously all across the globe, is an achievement of sorts.

    ''MJD'' was right to spend an hour or so ''investigating'' this (very) trivial bit of ''news'' - as it combined all the following elements -sports event, marquee match-up (sort of) and Monday night tradition along with esoterism, prophecy and the Great Unknown - which is kind of rare, indeed.

    However, ''MJD'' was wrong in going about his ''coverage'' the way he did: totally sarcastically, without a shadow of awe or respect, with complete disdain for the true message ''Double T'' there, Tim Tebow, was delivering in his world-famous (for fifteen seconds, maybe) tweet about this particular edition of Monday Night Football (as seen below...)


    This tweet was actually the sole reason why (and inspiration for) ''MJD'' there penned a short (extremely short) so-called ''article'' on this apparent meaningful convergence of having perhaps the first NFL player (in a long, looooooong time) totally and completely open about his Christianity playing in a game that, it just so happens. will be the 666th of a long-standing American tradition.

    ''MJD'' immediately dismisses this by stating, within his first five lines, that ''it seems ridiculous to point out a connection between the number 666 and the backup quarterback who gives all the glory to God and Jesus wherever he goes'' - gee, why, ''MJD''...?   Why would it be so ''ridiculous'' as you say, when the two basic elements there (the mark of the beast and a devout Christian) are very intricately connected, in fact...  Besides, as far as the ''long standing American tradition'' aspect goes, the mark of the beast has been written all over all manners of American traditions since even before 1776...!  So never mind this latest presence of it, on this rather insignificant ''matchup'' (as you wrote) in the NFL here...  The most telling thing about it is that it involved a team from New York and them Texans: did you get this part, MJD?  Noooooo, of course not, too busy and happy that you were having fun at Tebow's expense... Get it, now: the mark of the beast match-up did not involve beastly teams such as the Bears, the Lions, the Eagles, the Seahawks or even the poor hapless (and thus sacrificial) Bengals. The Bible has enough imagery as it is: in order to safely deliver the message here, and truly drive it all the way home, to all the numbskulls that populate America, the match-up bearing the ominous number ''666'' involved only representatives of the most vile of all prototypical ''Ugly Americans'' there could be:  New Yorkers and Texans.  Take that, MJD, and stuff it in your pipe!

    (Especially if you're a girl...?  À bon entendeur - salut!)

    Now back to the match-up... (Wow; this blog post is already twice longer than the execrable so-called ''article'' that inspired it, which was, of course, at least ten times longer than the mere ''tweet'' that had inspired *it*  in the first place...!  Hey - no big deal there: anyone can top the mere 144 character-limitation Twitter imposes!)

    ''MJD'' there (keep projecting some sort of ''MaryJaneDesdemona'' each time I type ''MJD'' - sheesh!) dares to push the sarcasm further through a bogus analysis of what the 666th game itself will be: citing the records of both teams involved (Houston Texans came in undefeated, 4-0, while the New York Jets were playing .500 ball, at 2-2.  The fact that Tebow played for the Jets at the time (he moved on shortly thereafter; or, rather, they moved him - the ungrateful bastards!  Hey, it's New York; what else can you expect?) made ''MJD'' imply that they were ''GOD's team'' in this match-up; making the Texans horned devils of the Antichrist by default? Now THAT was truly ridiculous!)

    ''MJD'' verses pseudo-philosophico-theologico for a second (lest it is only bottom-of-the-barrel shrink crap, really) when he (or she, again) ponders deeper things concerning the life a Christian such as Tim Tebow, bashing Tebow some more as he (we definitely will presume ''MJD'' to be a ''he'' henceforth!) imagines that ''every minute of his life must pit Tim Tebow against Satan - no?''  MJD then renounces delving any deeper into such questions, leaving it up to ''religious scholars'' (he actually precised) and
    ''possibly'' one Merril Hoge...  Wow, MJD knows who Merril Hoge is...?!?  He may even recall which teams Hoge played for, back in the day, too? (Steelers - and Bears.)  Quite obviously, MJD went much further than just checking the numbers that will follow shortly (...) but we wouldn't expect MJD to know about this team though...  ;-)

    ''MJD'' had loads of fun likening the Jets and Texans to living to the status of a metaphorical ''God vs Satan'' match-up, although ''666'' specifically designated the beast, which is the Antichrist, no one else. ''MJD'' can't be blamed for not knowing that and being all confused, from that point on...  At that point, in the original so-called ''article'' that is, Yahoo felt obliged to sneak in another one of them infamous ''related content'' - in this case, it was this other denigrating piece titled Jets not ready for Tebow time.  Ugh. Tim must have appreciated - as he does all the attention the media gives him over his faith. The only way a bounced-around, underperformer like him would have gotten any more coverage would have been if he had turned out gay, HIV-positive or both - right?  In this day and age, having faith and being ''out of the norm'' in any other way is equated as one and the same thing.

    But let's not go there either.

    ''MJD'' admitted it bluntly next: had it been left up to him, he would have never had the imagination required to ''ponder the relevance'' of this being a 666th occurrence - heck, he would have not have even known about ''the involvement'' (as he phrased it) of the number 666 in Monday night's eventually most lopsided game...!  Hmm... Can't you count, MJD?  Are you lacking perspective, too? This ABC tradition (now passed on to ESPN) being as long-running as it has been, didn't you remember the hoopla over the 500th game...? Or it completely blew by you?  Were you even BORN, back then?  The question begs to be asked...  Furthermore, since this ABC/ESPN telecast has been so long-running, it even beat Bonanza's record, did you have any inkling whatsoever that they might be approaching such a number, by now...?  I mean, from 1970 to 2005, alone... On ESPN since then... The ''involvement'' of one outspoken Christian in the actual game was not even necessary or significant: the fact that such a telecast, which has led countless to bet on NFL games' outcomes and ruined their lives, reaches this pinnacle in the years following the all-important year 2000 should have sufficed...

    Next, ''MJD'' becomes extremely selective and rambles a bit about how ''this subject would have held more interest'' for him.  Two thing, out of all other possibilities, are mentioned: whether Tebow ''was likely to participate in the actual game much at all'' or, and this takes the cake, ''if the sum of the numbers worn by the Texans defensive starters added up to 666.''  Gee, really - the defensive starters? And the numbers they wear, not their age?  Why defensive players, at all, MJD?  Is your view of the devil such that it is, to you, but a poor creature, on the defense all the time, being accused left and right of all the ills of the world, doomed to defend itself against unrelenting attacks and onslaughts, since time immemorial...?  Because that is what this appears to be implying here...!  And that, ladies, pseudo-ladies, bogus ladies, unladies, anti-ladies and germs all-around, that simply is not the devil I know...! 

    Again, we are trying to get into the head of ''MJD'' here - and view things as his flawed eyes see them!  It was *he* that purported that this ''Tebow-666 matchup'' pretty much equaled a ''Team God versus Team Satan (Texan?) battle on the gridiron'' here...!

    ''MJD'' picked the defensive starters because, when he wasted time (as I am, penning this) summing the offensive numbers worn by the offense, it didn't add up to something close to 666.  Plus, Tebow plays against these guys, being a replacement quarterback and all... Flawed logic, once again, but it played well into ''MJD''s hands, as the sum of those parts yielded a 669. ''Very close'' as he admitted, but no cigar.  However, ''MJD'' extrapolated, just for fun, that if DESTINY rolled its oftentimes DEVILISH hand, the Texans' Shaun Cody might not be amongst the starters, as he was listed as ''probable'' heading into game time. Cody's number is 95 and his possible replacement (Earl Mitchell) wears number 92, ''thus lowering the (total) count by three and putting us right at 666'' as MDJ was all too happy to conclude. At this point ''MJD'' concludes in complete derision with these two lines: ''at which point everyone's television would immediately burst into flame. Enjoy the game tonight. Hopefully ESPN can get the Pope in the booth to help break things down.''
    Sooooooo funny, MJD...

    As another commenter suggested, in regards to this approach to ''journalism'' here; ''I think he's compensating for something, hmmm?''  Sure looks that way...

    The funniest thing of all is that, with ESPN now into the mix, as ABC is the one network with seniority that allowed it to get it but recorded much of that much-vaunted longevity in broadcasting, they might be have been off by one in this entire count...!  For the much-vaunted, usually reliable (when outside jerks don't ''sabotagedit'' the data there) Wikipedia states that ''As of October 8, 2012, the Monday Night Football franchise had aired a total of 667 games.''

    Hence, Tim Tebow, the modern-day crusader of the Christian Faith and One True God, might not have been involved in the 666th game at all, after all - it might have been the 667th, in fact? 
    For all his good will, and great faith, Tim might not know how to count?
    And Yahoo yellow-or-green journalists might not know how to check their facts!

    And so there goes all the fun that ''MJD'' had there - all down the toilet! Where it belongs...

    ONE THING IS FOR DAMN SURE HERE: *I* WILL NOT WASTE A SECOND MORE TO GO BACK INTO THE ARCHIVES AND COUNT HOW MANY GAMES THERE WERE TELECAST BEFORE THE TEXANS-JETS ''MATCHUP''...!!! 

    Who gives a damn... I know I don't! My faith is based on other occurrences, that have nothing to do with the sum of the spar parts needed to put together two non-contending, non-significant ''football'' teams - and the term ''football'' here is so loosely used, as this crap is NOT ''football'' as we know it! The real football is the one that is played in Europe and all over the rest of the world: and the nitwit Americans call that ''soccer''... Poor suckers! 

    But that is another story...

    How about ending this as painfully as possible with another series of hits, insults and injuries inflicted upon man by other men of that woeful gridiron...?  That ranks pretty high on the list of things that I am quite lukewarm about!  Have a look - if still possible when *you* stumble across *this* blog right here: 





    Okay, if that wasn't possible - how about more comments?  Because there are quite priceless ones thrown in there, at times: aside from the ''this was a complete waste of time'' garbage ones, that is...

     Like David W. who commented ''If Jesus were around today, do you think he'd be tweeting: "Gonna go out today and multiply me some loaves! And some fishes too!"?
    Pride is a sin. One of the deadly ones, actually.''

    Or a certain Yahoo (user) going by the name Call them out who decried these proceedings, also, by invoking the Good Book... "“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners [and the end zone and Twitter], that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." ~ Matthew 6:5

    A certain Theodore (not José, I hope...) wondered about another player on that gridiron: ''Why doesn't Andrew Luck wear lucky number 7? That would be cool with his name and the horseshoe on the helmet.''

    Thanatos was just mean when he worded the vile hypothesis that ''since the Jets couldn't pull off a miracle at the end, does that mean Tebow failed and Satan won?''  You wish, Reaper...

    Back on the subject of PURE DUMB LUCK, perhaps, an umpteenth Kevin inquired about the effectiveness of a rabbit's foot...? For, as he surmised (and so would we all) ''it wasn't lucky for the rabbit was it???''

    Finally, user ACACIA72 had a brief moment of wonder in re: ''a monkey's paw?'' before simply telling everyone in the NFL to ''shut up and play''...

    ACACIA72  And me?  All I want to comment further on this is...

    GOD Doesn't Care about American ''football'' 
    - the real FOOTBALL, sure, but certainly not the NFL...!


    Luminous Has Spoken!  Er... Blogged! 
    +++



    More Yahoo fluff - anyone?
    Maybe I'll blog about these, too - but don't hold your breath!



 

Watch Videos:

  1. THE CHEMICALS BETWEEN US (Bush)
  2. THE HAUNTING - FEATURING SIMONE SIMONS (Kamelot)
  3. NOBODY'S HERO (Rush)
  4. HOLD ON MY HEART (Genesis)
  5. HEADLINE NEWS (Weird Al Yankovic)
  6. GUMP (Weird Al Yankovic)
  7. AMISH PARADISE (Weird Al Yankovic)
  8. FAT (Weird Al Yankovic)
  9. I LOST ON JEOPARDY (Weird Al Yankovic)
  10. I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY (Kylie Minogue)
Video Codes by VideoCodeZone.Com



Visitor Map
Create your own visitor map!