Thursday, December 28, 2006

Battling Blogs

Some interesting back and forth between three local blogs (http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/, http://albanyeye.blogspot.com/, and http://mohawkvalley.wordpress.com/) recently. They are yipping and snipping at each other and claiming that they are stealing each others' posts. Albany eye is the best of the lot and has some stuff worth stealing. The other two have got to be kidding. This one http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/ has an entry today with the headline Rapestry. I know it's about music, but the headline is priceless. Of course any blog entry that starts with "Interesting Regis and Kelly Show this morning," should be blown up anyway. Interesting; yeah, if you're dead. Does anybody ever really watch crap like that?

Having said that, the post entitled "Walking Dead" on the above site is terrific. An inside look at local TV News. Sorry, I don't usually use Oxymorons. Local TV and news should never appear in the same sentence. In 30 minutes you get about 7 minutes of commercials, 2-3 minutes of banter and "Happy Talk", another 2 minutes or so of teasers and bumpers and other transitions, 2-3 minutes of sports and 3-4 minutes of the weathercaster stating and restating the forecast and playing with all the graphics. That leaves maybe 10 or 11 minutes for news. If it's the 11 pm, at least 5 minutes is the same stuff you heard at 6 pm, 5 pm and 5:30 pm. Give me radio and the newspapers any day.

Jints need to clean house

I don't always agree with Brian Etkin, but he is dead on with his column today. The Jints should get rid of their coaching staff and hire the best new coaches and new GM available, not someone from within the organization. Recent drafts have been weak and that became evident this year when their was little depth to replace injured starters and nobody willing to admit that Eli Manning was a bad choice and needs to be replaced at quarterback. Read his column by clicking on the link below.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=548282&category=ETTKIN&BCCode=&newsdate=12/28/2006

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Ooops

Shoulda checked the Blog before asking about Sparky. Found him. He's right here.
So, about the Jints; Ole Beady Eyes had to blame somebody. The play calling has been horrific the past few weeks, but you can't blame Hufnagel for saddling the team with an out of touch coach and a quarterback who can't throw and is slower than you after half a dozen Mimosas.

Big Unit-I'm wit chew. Send the big geek back to the desert and bring up a coupla the youngsters from Columbus.

Clemens back in a Red Sox uni? The boys at Kelsey's ain't gonna like that. Remember how they ran him out of The Hub the last time? I think he stays in Houston, or ends up back in The Bronx.

When you empty the kegerator, meet me at The Nail.
Stu

Trow da bum out!

This is a little over the top, but I kinda like holding our elected leaders' feet to the fire now and then. It keeps them honest; well on their toes, anyway.

http://imprisonbush.com/index.php

Enough of the political commentary for now. Back to what's important. Has anybody seen Sparky lately? It's been days since he's posted anything and I haven't spoken to him since he heard about that breakfast special at the Farmer Boy Diner on Christmas. He called me babbling about eggs and bacon and all the FREE Mimosas you could carry. I'll check in later. I'm going to see if he is still there.

too little, too late

Yo, Stu
See where Tom Put-A-Nail-In-My-Coughlin is putting the blame on Hufnagel, and letting Gilbride call the plays. Hey, whatever happened to QBs calling the plays? Ole Tom probably would have been good at rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Tommy boy.
Can't wait for the Yankees to jettison The Big Unit. Just looking at him makes my eyes hurt. Can't they make him pitch with a paper bag on his head? That was one deal that was destined to go bad from the beginning. Let him go back and ugly-up Arizona and drift off into the sunset with the rest of the bluehairs.
Heard Roger Clemens was looking for rental property in Chestnut Hill for the months of August, Sept. and Oct. Any truth to those rumors?
Whoa, all this work is making me build a powerful thirst. Good thing the cave came equipped with a keg-er-ator.
Spark-man

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Local Media review

Wow, I thought Sparky was cranky. I like the site below, but I think the author forgot to get enough bran for breakfast today. Or maybe he is a Giants' fan who sat through that "game" Sunday. His posts are entertaining, however.

http://albanyeye.blogspot.com/

Monday, December 25, 2006

Pain and Suffering

Okay, why does the Jints coaching staff still have a job? The team self-destructed at an entirely new level yesterday. Head butts, wrestling takedowns, and a totally inept offense doomed the team almost from the start.

How can the offensive coaching staff still be working in football after this team, with all the "playmakers" on offense and no plan and no consistency? They score on their first possession on a long pass to Plaxico and don't even try to throw to him again until the third quarter. I know the quarterback can't throw very well, but at least #17 can go up and get the ball if it is close.

Shockey had just an awful day, but come on; why would your first pass to him all day be seven yards behind the line of scrimmage? The offense failed to execute yesterday, except on the first drive, but the play calling is the worst I've ever seen. They have no plan.

This team gets worse every week. How long can management sit around and watch. The coaching staff won't be back next year, but can even a new staff do anything with the worst quarterback in the league? How could they think this guy was going to be the quarterback to take them to the top? He is the slowest athlete on two feet, can't throw, is not a leader and makes more mistakes now than when he was a rooking. This mistake is along the line of the, "Gee I think Scott Bruner is better than Phil Sims," fiasco.

Merry Christmas.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Trash Cash

Here we go again. More state government money is being spent to fund high school sports programs. A note in the column below says that State Senator Bill Larkin is giving about $95,000 to two separate high school athletic programs to buy equipment they couldn't get through the budgeting process. That ain't right. These guys will buy votes any way they can. High school sports are certainly worthy of community and government support, but if the local district won't fund a program, why should these clowns be able to put the bite on tax payers from the rest of the state?

http://www.newyorksportswriters.org/blog/index.shtml

National champ

Congratulations to Shen graduate Ashley Moore on winning a National Championship in soccer as a freshman at North Carolina. See below.

http://www.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/cs-w-soccer-body.html#00

Good NFL site

I like this site and Peter Schrager nails it on the head with his assessment of Eli Manning.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/powerRankings?FSO1&ATT=HMA

Everyone who is anyone around the NFL and in the media still publicly says that Manning will be a good quarterback in this league. That may well be true; but WHEN??? The two QB's the Jints coulda had, but traded all their draft choices for the next 25 years to avoid drafting, are playing well and winning. Eli still looks like a fawn and is losing more games than he helps Big Blue win. And oh the help in the secondary those draft choices coulda supplied, eh?

And remember, Eli wanted to come to NY. He said no way Jose to San Diego. Think he might be regretting that decision if they lose this week and put the final nail in the Cough(l)in?
Stu

Shorts too tight?

Hey Sparky; whoa boy, what's in your coffee today?
Yeah, how 'bout those 'troons? If you play a professional basketball game and almost nobody comes, are you in Denver? Let it snow.......there!

I know it's warm, but no more baseball jabber for awhile, okay? How 'bout some hockey. Wait the college bowl season is not over yet so it's still exhibition season in the NHL and the colleges are taking a few days off for the Holidays, so no hockey to talk about today. See ya.
Stu

A little about a lot

Hey, Stu.
I see some rummy is getting down on my man Dice-K (not to be confused wth Ice-T or Jay-Z). Seems to me, a while back, some Son of the Rising Sun named Suzuki wound up in Seattle and everyone said he hadn't hit against major league pitching, but that boy ain't doing too bad.
Wow, I forgot the Spitroons even existed. Someone is really paying attention to how many points they're scoring? You watching monster truck shows in your spare time, too, bubba? Bless Jim Coyne's little heart for bringing another half-baked minor league sport back to the area. Maybe he can bring back indoor lacrosse, too.
Hey, I need some investors. I want to start an ABA franchise in Saratoga. Call it the Stallions, the cheerleaders would be the Stud Muffins, everyone will drink Studs Suds and we'll have Jockey Night, where both teams can't play anyone over 5-foot-1.
It must be Thursday, because I'm-Everywhere-You-Turn Wyland had Schott on again. If I had a gun, I'da Schott myself. I'd rather listen to someone scraping their fingernails across a chalkboard. Can't wait until Wyland adds another hour to his show because the conversation is just do damn riveting already! Pretty soon he's going to run out of newspaper shills and will have to come up with a real interview.
Sliding back into the cave. Not really sure if there's anyone else in here with me. Keep hearing voices, but they could just be in my head, if you get my drift

Where's mine?

Okay, just about everybody in the state got something from the outgoing Governor, the phony Assembly leader or the possibly soon to be indicted Senate Majority Leader, so where's mine? I could use a few bucks to support a business venture, as soon as I think of one. These guys hand out taxpayers' money like crazy. How about $500 soes I can treat my friends to a night out at Katie O's, the Rusty Nail and Ravenswood. Come on, who's gonna miss it?

Really though, are we tired yet of forking over tax dollars for sports venues for The City yet? In the past few years taxpayers, including those of us living north of the Tappan Zee, have helped build minor league baseball stadiums in Staten Island and Queens. We are going to be on the hook for hundreds of millions to help build new ballparks for the Yankees in the Bronx and the Mets in Queens. Yesterday the state approved spending $4 Billion on a massive project in Brooklyn that will include an arena for the NJ (soon to be Brooklyn) Nets. At least $200 million tax dollars will be spent on that project. That leaves Manhattan out in the cold. Could a Curling venue or natatorium for mid-town be holding up that Moynihan Train Station deal. Why do we put up with these slime balls in state government?

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Ethics and Conflict

This is a case of stating the obvious.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=546374&category=STATE&BCCode=&newsdate=12/20/2006

Sparky sighting

OK, Stu. I've climbed out of the cave, but like the groundhog, I'm seeing my shadow and won't be out for long.
Don't get me started on the Yank-mes signing some second-rate son of the Rising Sun to try to keep up with THE Boston Red Sox, thank you very much. Daisuke Matsuzaka has already dropped the puck at a Bruins game, that's how important he's going to be. The only way Comeon Iwanna Igawa can get into Madison Square Garden is if he buys a ticket for the Westminster Dog Show, and even than, he won't win best in breed.

Alert the Denver police. Allan Iverson and Carmelo Anthony in the same strip joints. Yes, officer, I did drop that match into the can of gas, but I didn't think anything was going to happen.

After two years at the top, don't be surprised to see State of the Union football take a big drop back into mediocrity next season. Don Audinoleone had better be beating the scrub bushes in Florida to bring in more athletes like Doug Davis and Vito Pellerito. I hear Pete Brown lit up a victory cigar after the Dutchmen beat Hobart. What was he smoking after the RPI game?

I was going to expound on the state of Divison I women's basketball in the Capital District, but if a bad team loses and no one is watching, is it really a loss?


Hey, Stu, got to jump back into the cave. Tell Santa to put a quarterback under Don Audinoleone's tree.

Futbaw Rules

Day five. Sparky, you there yet? If he doesn't show up soon, I may have to send Ondrayuh to look for him.
Okay, I've cooled down over the latest Jints fiasco. Have they fired turn-your-head-and-Coughlin yet? If big blew (as in blew too many leads) makes the playoffs at 8-8 and wins a game, will we see the same coaching staff in Albany next July? I hope not.

I think I'm turning Japanese- The Yankees finally signed a compatriot for Matsui. he looks like a bargain, too compared to the guy the Rose Hose signed. I'll bet our Japanese pitcher ends up with a better record that your Japanese pitcher.

Local Yocal - I know that's not the way to spell yocal, but go with it. Anybody heard anything lately on the stadium for YouAlbany? It is truly an embarrassment that this area, a top 60 media market, Capital of the Empire State and home to almost 750 thousand peoples, has no decent stadium for football, soccer, concerts, drum and bugel corps competitions, etc. Instead of pushing for a convention center that's not needed, why don't the local politicians renovate and enlarge the convention center at the Empire State Plaza and put the money left over into building a decent stadium that will seat about 15 thousand. Sports fans in this area love football! YouAlbany has scholarships, a great coach who's likeness will probably end up on Mount Rushmore one day, and the kind of academic diversity that can attract good football players. Build it and they will come! Just be careful that RPI doesn't beat you to the punch with their East Campus Athletic Village http://www.rpiathletics.com/ and its 5,000 seat stadium. If they get that built by 2010, Troy will host lots of sectional, regional and state championship soccer, lacrosse and football contests and other events.

Still local: Union and RPI Hockey could meet again at the TD Bank North, South, East West, Vermont college hockey tournament in Burlington next weekend. The two teams play a home-and-home series back in the Capital Region January 12-13. The teams played a 3-3 tie October 28 in the Governor's Cup at Pepsi Arena, now the Times Union Center (TUC). They could also meet in the ECAC playoffs in March. I don't mind it. Local rivalries are great. Six or seven meetings in a 35-40 game season, as could happen with RPI-Union, may be a bit much, but I see nothing wrong with them playing say, three or even four times a year.

I agree with YouAlbany basketball coach Will Brown in calling for two games between Albany and Siena each season. I think the local fans would love it. How many other match-ups will put more than 11,000 peoples in The TUC.

There's more, but I'm done for now.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Day four and it's lonely

Day four and still no sign of Sparky. He is not at Spankys and there is no sign of him at local watering holes BL's, Katie O's and the Rusty Nail. I'm beginning to think he may be lost in an avalanche somewhere.

Speaking of avalanches, how about the avalanche of babble about the Knicks brawl the other night. Hey, this is the NHL after all, right? Allowing fights in the NHL helps keep the sticks down and lets these healthy young men vent some of that aggression in an acceptable manner. Let 'em drop the gloves and go one-on-one; third man in gets tossed.

On the local front, did you see that Union College runningback Tom Arcidiacono led Team USA to a 28-7 win over a team of Mexican College All-stars in the 10th annual Aztec Bowl in Mexico. Arcidiacono had 59 yards rushing, including an 18-yard touchdown run, to lead the team of U.S. Division III all-stars to their ninth win in the series. That reminds me that I wanted to rant again about d3football.com (www.d3football.com).

This website, and its sister site d3hoops.com, do a great job of covering small college football and basketball. They work hard and provide a lot of coverage for teams and players that would not receive significant national recognition otherwise. My one beef is that they seem to have a lack of respect for Division III football in upstate New York. Now if an upstate team could get past the NCAA semi-finals that might change. However, national championships is not the only measure of the overall strength of the region. With teams like St. John Fisher (NCAA semi-finalist in 2006), RPI (semi-finalist in 2003), Ithaca (quarter-finalist in 2003), Hobart (first-round winner in 2004), doing well in post-season play against teams outside the region, and the strength of the football upstate overall, I think these teams are a bit underappreciated by d3football.com. Pat Coleman, the hard-working professional behind the site, disagrees. He says Rowan is the best team in the region over the past decade and if the upstate teams can't get by Rowan they are not going to be recognized as among the national elite. SJF smoked Rowan last month in the playoffs before losing to eventual national champ Mount Union, so we will see how the upstate teams are treated on the site next fall.



Monday, December 18, 2006

Ramblin' man

Day three; no Sparky. Don't send out the search team yet, I'll check Spanky's in North Myrtle Beach to make sure he's not there sucking down burgers and beer.

Topic One - The Jints; oh where do we begin? How about with the firing of that beady-eyed nut-job of a head coach? He runs around the sidelines, Nero-like, waving his arms during games while his team commits stupid penalties, fails to capitalize on opportunities and tackles like the French Army fights; which is infrequently and badly!

Topic two - College Football Bowl games. That's enough on that subject.

Topic three - The NFL Network - Robber Barons, Organized Crime and the New York State Legislature have nothing on these guys. Does anyone else think that they are being just a bit piggish by demanding that cable systems place them on their standard package at something like $0.75 a month per subscriber? Wouldn't it make more sense to put the NFL network on the sports tier like the cable guys (no, not Larry and friends) want to do? It's not like the NFL is the most popular sport in the world. Wouldn't they fall after Football (soccer) and auto racing? Let the sports and futbaw junkies pay the equivalent of a pint of Smithwicks a month for all the futbaw games and chatter that they could possibly endure.

Peace; out.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Still no sign of Sparky. Don't know where he is.
How' bout those Giants. Coaching geniuses guiding this team. Inside a minute to go; no timeouts; down 14 points and they are still throwing 4 yard passes over the middle. O-line is now made up of hot dog vendors from the upper deck, but Eli still appears to have no clue.

The two guys the Giants coulda had ahead of the slowest thing on earth outside of the three-toed sloth are winning games for their teams while the Giants still hope that Eli can "manage" a game (meaning manage not to lose it). Maybe some of those draft choices they gave up for Eli coulda been playing in the secondary for this Giants team.

Gotta win the last two to make the playoffs. Then what? Can Eli "manage' a game in the post-season? remember Carolina last year?

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Welcome

Welcome to this completely ridiculous and irrelevant blog. I'm Stu. I expect that Sparky will join me here soon, but who knows. neither of us is especially lucid or reliable most days.

Stop back frequently, listen to our daily rants and then join the discussion.I'll compose most of my posts in the font (Times), but will sometimes post in webdings ((like this)), when feeling especially incoherent or paranoid. Sparky will post in another font, probably courrier,because of his love of the print medium and inability to spell trebuchet.

We hope that this blog will gain some readers in the coming months. Spread the word.
Piece and love.

Stu