Comments on websites

Almost every major website now has a comments section where you can make comments on the article or post that you just read. It's really getting on my nerves. Why? Because all it does is highlight how immature and stupid we are as a society. It's all drivel. That's what discussion boards are full, I don't need a discussion board for every ESPN article. And I'm not saying that everyone is stupid, there are a ton of smart people out there. Plenty of smart people are reading these articles (I am afterall ;)), but they aren't the ones commenting. I think in the hundreds of comments I've read over the years, maybe one or two have added to the conversation positively. Most of the time its just people pointing out to the whole Internet how stupid they are, trying to cause an argument or putting down the author. Mostly, it's just idiocracy. If you read comments on CNN, you know exactly why the economy is bad. No one commenting on CNN has any idea about what they've just read. None of the people commenting on the article are intelligent enough to read, comprehend and come up with their own opinions about the article. And none of the commenters have the educational background to know what parts of the article are media fluff and scare tactics. So, I know that the big sites can't moderate every comment, there are just too many comments coming in to filter it. My suggestion is to just cut it out. We don't need it. Some of you are thinking, if the comments bother Phil so much, why doesn't he just stop reading them? Well, he can't. It's like a train wreck. It's like I read an article and I just have to browse over a couple to see what people are saying about it. And it always surprises me how incomprehensible they become with each passing day. So anyway, that's what I hate about the Internet lately, comments on web articles. Vent complete.

Can fantasy hockey save the NHL?

Those of you who know me may be shocked to learn that I have a fantasy hockey team. Because I'm not really a hockey fan, at all. I know next to nothing about hockey actually. However, 3 years ago I played and won a Yahoo! public league. So, I'm playing in a Yahoo! public league again, I just like to feel like a winner every once in a while and I enjoy beating up on Canadians and yankees. So, fantasy football has not only helped out the NFL, it's changed NFL broadcasting to be more fantasy focused. It gave people a reason to start caring about baseball again after the steroids scandal. It's given basketball new life after no one could relate to any of the players in the 90s and given people a reason to follow the NBA again.
So, can fantasy hockey 1) bring fans back to hockey after the horrible season long strike and subsequent difficulty in getting TV deals to broadcast games by adding fantasy broadcastability, 2) add new fans that are following teams and players because of their fantasy team and therefore may buy the occasional ticket to a game or watch a game on TV, and 3) create an Internet following in order to generate revenue from online ad sales.
The answer, I think, is no. There are two main reasons and one minor reason. The first main one is that no one's name is pronounceable. I have a team and I can pronounce maybe 3 players out of 18 on the team. Because of that, it's difficult to feel attached to any of your players. In fact, I know Roberto Lungo is on my team and Chris Mason is on my team. I have the number one player in the league and I don't even know his name. Evan? Anyway. Thats an issue and it's probably not fixable unless you give everyone nicknames or make all star players change their name (which would be for their own good anyway, might help them earn a few extra promotional dollars). Another major issue that also may be unsolvable is the lack of stats. Out of the 20-25 players who get significant playing time each game, only half of those or less are going to put up a decent amount of goals, assists, or shots on goal. So, the other categories are Power Play Points and Penalty Minutes. Not much, so they have this contrived +/- category. If you are on the ice when your team scores, you get +1, if you are on the ice with the oppostion scores its -1 point for you. Ok, that's fine, that way defenders can earn stats of some kind other than penalty minutes, I get that. But we are stat hungry fans lately and unless they can contrive a couple more things, I don't see it taking off.
The other minor thing is something that the GMs recently met about and that's fighting. I know it sells tickets and that its an integral part of the game. But I also think that it takes away from the integrity of the sport as well. What if after a hard pass interference play in the NFL, the players could just fight it out and the penalty is that both players have to stand on the sidelines for 5 minutes and the teams play down a man during that time? You wouldn't take football as seriously, would you? I just think that it takes away from the sport aspect of it and adds a street and barbaric aspect and keeps it from gaining mass spectator appeal. We simply can't relate as fans to being able to fight as part of your job or sport. In the long run, I don't think you can rely on only a portion of your sport to be popular and maintain growth and fandom, i.e wrecks in racing, fighting in hockey, etc. You need for people to be intrigued by the sport itself. So, maybe you need to tweak some rules to make the sport as a whole entertaining and leave the fighting to boxers.
So, there, I provided no answers, but concluded that fantasy hockey alone can't save the NHL and the obstacles that stand in the way of hockey becoming a major sport may be unsolvable.

Super Bowl Preview

Time once again for me to try my hand at predicting the Super Bowl. Since my playoff picks were not too accurate this year, I need to try and redeem myself here.

Underdog factor
This year, both teams have a little bit of it actually as not many people expected either of these teams to be in it. However, you'd have to say that the Cardinals play that role best. They've never been in the Super Bowl and they've been the underdog according to Vegas every week throughout the playoffs. They haven't gotten any respect from any one in the media until the NFC Championship game. I think they have a slight "something to prove" edge here and it should carry them throughout the 1st half.

2 Week Layoff
The advantage here is almost always to defense. Which is a big reason why defenses play such a crucial role in championship games. Offenses often get out of sync and nothing like a week off and a few thousand interviews to get QBs and their WRs out of rhythm. Plus, as much as I often think playoff experience is overrated, the Steelers have been to the Super Bowl and know how to prepare despite the media distractions. Advantage Steelers.


Quarterback Play
How well your quarterback plays makes a big difference in the web and flow of a game like this, that is dramatically slower than a normal football game and is a game that can really play with your head. Both quarterbacks are good leaders and both have been to the Super Bowl before and won it. I think the Steelers though have an advantage here though because I feel like they can pressure Warner more than the Cards can pressure Roethlisberger and make Warner make mistakes. Advantage Steelers.

Those are my 3 keys to the game, and the team that does the best at each of them will be the winner. I think the 1st half will be low scoring with the Cardinals taking a slight advantage into the locker room, probably 14-10 or maybe 10-7. I feel like the Steelers make their move in the 3rd quarter and don't look back although I expect the Cardinals to keep up for a little while.
Final Score: 34-24. And take the over 46.5.
Troy Polamalu is your MVP.

NFL Playoff Picks

Since 2001 when I missed just 1 game, I've been trying to pick the winners of every NFL playoff game prior to the playoffs starting. Just picking the winners straight up, not against the spread. My career record is really good, but still, I'd like to go undefeated one year. Without further ado, here goes:

Wild card games:
Colts over Chargers. Tough one to pick as I like to pick hot teams coming into the playoffs and both of these teams qualify. But LT and Gates are both banged up slightly and Indianapolis is the better team despite having to travel across the country.

Ravens over Dolphins. The toughest opening round game to pick for me. Joe Flacco on the road or Chad Pennington at home. I do think it will be a low scoring game with lots of defense. The Dolphins showed me something last week by taking it to the Jets in a must win game, but I think the Raven defense will be too much for them and the Ravens do just enough to win.

Falcons over Cardinals. The Falcons are hot right now and the Cardinals are cold. They can't even sell the game out to lift the blackout. If this game were on the East Coast, it would be a blowout (in favor of whoever were playing the Cardinals) but at home I think they keep it close. I hate picking rookie QBs in the playoffs, but here, I just don't see the Cardinals finding a way to win.

Eagles over Vikings . This game will be decided by turnovers. Both teams were impressive in the final week of the season, but you have to look at more than just that. With Westbrook healthy and the defense causing more takeaways the last couple weeks, I like the Eagles to win. But if the Vikes hang onto the ball and the Eagles make some mistakes, then it wouldn't surprise me to see Minnesota pull this one out.

Division Round:
Titans over Ravens - This should be a great game to watch. Overall, I think the Titans just have too much talent overall and I don't think Joe Flacco has two playoff upsets in him, not yet. He needs some more experience because we start picking him to lead a team deep into the playoffs. The Titan defense will be ready for this game.

Colts over Steelers - Home Field advantage is a big help here and will help make an exciting game and the Steelers are playing great football right now. However, Indianapolis is the hotter team right now, will have the momentum coming off their Wild Card win and have the playoff experience to make a run.

Panthers over Falcons - Again, on the road, I'm not sure Carolina pulls out the win, but they play very well at home and experience will be the key here.

Giants over Eagles - I just don't the Eagles having enough to stop the Giants. They are a team that want to return the Super Bowl very badly and have played with that intensity all season. Even with the Plaxico distraction, they should get through this game handily.

Conference Championships
Titans over Colts - I think. Another tough game for me to decide. I like the Colts playoff experience, and they should be able to slow down the Titans running game, still, I'm just not sure they have enough defensively to win the game. Should be a shootout.

Panthers over Giants - In a major upset, the Panthers go up to New York and surprise the Giants by 1) catching them off guard and 2) simply wanting it more. Without the deep threat of Plaxico, the Carolina D can hunker down and slow down the New York offense. Should be one of the better playoff games though.


Super Bowl.
Titans over Panthers - How about this AFC over NFC. I'ver considered the Colts making it here, the Titans, and the Steelers. All three would ruin the Panthers day again and once again send them home from a Super Bowl without the Lombardi trophy. I just think the AFC is better this year and will win whichever team makes it here.

Fried Foods and Riding a Bike

Recently, I had one of my theories broken. That theory was, if you fried it, I'd eat it. Lots of foods I'll eat fried, but not any other way. For example, pumpkin blossoms, zucchini, squash, etc. And until recently, I hadn't had a fried food I didn't like. That all changed when I bit into what I thought was a fried potato wedge that turned out to be fried pear wedges. That's right, fried pears. And they were not good. I can't really describe the taste, other than to say that it was chewy and thick. It didn't soften up nearly as much as other fried foods. Yuck. There goes that theory.
On the other hand, I proved another oldie but a goodie. I rode a bike for the first time in nearly 15 years and remarkably (despite feeling really weird when I first got on) I still did know how to ride. So things that you don't forget how to do, really is "like riding a bike." However, what I did forget about riding a bike were two things. One, how the gears worked. I never knew whether I wanted to downshift or upshift and I always seemed to go the wrong way with it. I guess this is one of the problems with always being lazy and driving an automatic. Two, how physically exhausting it is, especially over hilly terrain. Several times, I just had to get off the bike and walk it up the hill. We only rode for like 30 minutes, but I felt like I'd just toured France. And in hindsight, riding in jeans and a sweater were probably not the best ideas, but I did sweat off those 5 extra pounds I'd been wanting to lose.
I'm so glad we invented cars, riding a bike is too much work!

Vacation Day 5: Hollywood

Finally, the long awaited final vacation day post. Honestly, there wasn't too much to blog about on the last day. We drove into LA and I 'had the privilege' of driving on the 405 for the second time in my life and was reminded once again that LA traffic sucks. From what Jeni could see of it when her eyes were closed (out of fear, not sleep), she thought it was pretty bad too. We visited the Getty Center briefly and then did some window shopping on Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills. Then, walked down Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. Then, we cruised over to Burbank to attend the taping of a TV Show. We saw them film an episode of "The New Adventures of Old Christine." It was pretty cool to watch a show being filmed, much more interesting than I thought it would be and WB did a good job at trying to entertain the audience during all the downtime. We even got a free snack out of it. If you are going to be in Hollywood, check out www.tvtickets.com, you can get tickets for free and with the exception of game shows, there's no waiting in line for 4 hours and hoping to get in. Jeni was ecstatic that we actually sat beside Julia Louis-Dreyfus' son and his friend and she came over and talked to him at one point, so she was within a couple feet of it. Jeni just sat there speechless and staring, just like she did when Wanda Sikes came over a little while later. Overall, it was a pretty good time.
Day 6, we just cruised around San Diego that morning and then caught a flight back to South Carolina and while the vacation was fun and a good break, it sure is good to be back.
As with the other days, click on the picture below for more pictures from this day.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful day, enjoying one of my favorite holidays as it features the 3 F's prominently. Food, Football, and Family. I don't like how it's now the forgotten holiday with Christmas starting as soon as Halloween is over and leaving Thanksgiving as a prep day for Black Friday. I urge all you readers to stay strong and remember Thanksgiving, don't start celebrating Christmas until after.

Vacation: Day 4 Legoland

Day 4 was another long one. We spent the night in Carlsbad, CA so we'd be closer to Legoland and the Wild Animal Park. We started out in the Wild Animal Park since it opened earlier. My immediate thought upon getting there was that "oh no, this map was drawn my the same guy who did the San Diego Zoo map". An hour later, yes, it obviously was as we came across our first illogical section of the map and become completely turned around.
Around that time, we found out Tommy Bowden had been fired as my cell began going off like crazy, so I had to spend a few minutes texting and replying to some emails as the new era of Clemson football began.
Not much to say about the Wild Animal Park as we were basically Zoo'd out after being at the San Diego Zoo the day before. So, at lunch time, we headed over to LegoLand. I realized the night before that I'd wanted to go to LegoLand for probably 20 years. And whereas I hadn't lost any sleep over it, I was glad to finally be on the cusp of walking through those golden Lego gates.
Even though we were too old for almost half the rides, it was still pretty amazing. There were Lego's everywhere. Everything was made out of them. They had replicas of entire cities (Vegas, NYC, DC, etc) all made out of Lego with moving parts. The buildings in downtown NYC were 7-8 feet tall. The race cars on Daytona Motor Speedway raced around the track. There were life-size statues of people. All kinds of cool stuff, all in amazing detail. At the end of the faux factory tour that told about how they create Legos's, there was this giant room with Lego's of every size, shape and color. You could make whatever you wanted and then buy it, and as it turns out, there are a lot of lego's per ounce thankfully and I didn't gasp at the price too badly when they ran mine up.
Aside from all that fun, I got to have a torta to eat for the second straight day (one of the joys of being so close to Mexico).
I also came up with a new theory about restaurants. People like Jeni and I (and probably all my readers) need to stick to restaurants with just a first name in the title as opposed to someone's full name. For example, we walked away from the "Anthony James Grill" and had a great dinner at "Tommy's". Skip the "Rick Erwins" and "Sam Snead's" of the world and stick with the "Mac's Drive-In" and "Bucky's type of joint. You'll won't leave hungry and poor like you will at those other guys.
As before, below is a picture from that day, click on it for more.