It's September and that means football is in full swing. This weekend (Thursday is part of the weekend, right?) kicks off the NFL season and I predict that this will be the Detroit Lions' year! Come January, I may have to recant this statement but I think they're going to be good, provided Matty Stafford proves more resilient than a piece of wet toilet paper, Ndamukong Suh doesn't get tossed from games for his shenanigans (warranted or not), and their near geriatric kicker doesn't bonk. If all these factors are non-factors, and all the stars align, we could have them in the playoffs. I'm not hoping for Super Bowl, because that just seems arrogant, but if they go, all the better.
College football started last week and the story was more about the uniforms than the games. Granted there were only a couple of games that weren't cupcake teams against top 10 (Thank you LSU for providing a very good game), but it was either the weather or the unis that everyone was talking about. Monsoon conditions in South Bend and Ann Arbor (plus that blasted lightning--as Brent Musburger stated when the fans start booing after the second weather delay, you're sitting on metal seats. If you want to stay there during lightning strikes, please do so at your own risk), crazy hot weather in the Horseshoe and crazy bad uniforms in GA and MD.
Georgia's wouldn't have been too bad but someone at Nike thought it'd be great to change up the helmets (I blame Nike because I can't believe a Bulldog would want to change an iconic helmet design). But the University of Maryland called the UGA design and raised by a whole heckuva lot of fashion chutzpah. They caught a lot of flack for the design (blamed on Kevin Plank, co-founder of Under Armour) which went from the helmet all the way down to the cleats. If you haven't seen this fashion emergency, count yourself lucky. Well, now it's coming out that it wasn't even an original idea. Apparently they stole, or "borrowed" the design from a roller derby team in Baltimore. Nice. They have since shown the previews of the unis to be worn by Notre Dame and Michigan for their upcoming night time showdown at the Big House. Can we please make it stop? I'm tired of having epileptic seizures looking at your failed attempts at fashion awesomeness. Next they're going to be taking the wings of the Michigan helmets and that will require someone to be hanged from their toenails.
Now let's play some football!
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Monday, September 13, 2010
Are you ready for some MNF?
First weekend of NFL football down and I am one unhappy camper. If you don't live under a rock, you've seen the many replays of Calvin Johnson making the touchdown catch that should have won the game for my beleaguered Lions, but he didn't "complete the process" thus it was overturned. What?!? Yeah, that's what I thought. To be completely honest, I thought the Lions were going to lose by that point anyway. My husband, who is usually less optimistic than I am, was saying, "Hey they have like a minute and a half left. It could happen." All the while I was thinking, no way. Matty Stafford out since before the half, Shawn Hill not doing anything with the ball, and a minute and a half left with the Bears up by five points. Then Megatron comes up with that crazy catch and I'm screaming at the television. My husband demanding an apology for doubting and then the overturned call. (Hubby then said, well, maybe you don't need to apologize after all.) I say BS on that. If that rule was applied for most of the catches in the endzone, half the touchdowns would be overturned. I say it's a stupid rule and needs to be fixed. Props to Jim Schwartz for taking the high road and not hating on the refs, but I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut about it if it were me. Just sayin. If everyone and their brother is saying use some common sense with this rule, maybe the refs should be using some common sense. He obviously caught that ball, feet, knee, butt down in the endzone, ball didn't jostle at all and he uses it to get to his feet, dislodging the ball. Was that part of the "process"? I think not. Detroit would have no luck if they didn't have bad luck.
The Saints won over the Vikings. Was it pretty? No, but we'll take it. Of course, having Brad Childress start whining after the game was over about Shiancoe being "mauled" by Vilma during the interception is just par for the course. The first time they won, it was because the Saints were "playing dirty." This time it's because the defense "mauled" the receivers. Why can't he just say they played better than we did and there you go? Sour grapes.
Was anyone else noticing that Brett Favre just doesn't look like he wants to be playing? To me it looks like he doesn't want to play, even before they were losing. He just didn't look like he used to. If you don't love playing, why come back?
The Steelers beat the Falcons and I say, good job Dennis Dixon. He caught a lot of crap for being the back-up's back-up. But the kid did okay. They came away with a win right? 'Nuff said.
The Eagles. Wow. So trading McNabb isn't looking so good right now is it? Kevin Kolb is knocked out with a concussion (hope he's okay, by the way) and now they have Michael Vick. I'll be the first to say that I used to hate Michael Vick. When he played on the Falcons, I thought he was way too cocky, and way too full of himself. Now I think he's been dealt a pretty rough hand, not that I'm excusing the whole dog fighting thing, but it's not like he was accused of killing a person (Ray Lewis), did drugs (Jamal Brown, Ricky Williams--though that's a whole other story), beat his wife, etc. He did not a bad job yesterday. I say, let him play, see what happens and then make a decision on who starts.
And then there's the Cardinals. I'm pretty sure that about halfway through the game against the Rams, someone in their organization was speed dialing Kurt Warner and begging him to come back. They won in the end, but it wasn't pretty, and it was against the Rams. I foresee many problems ahead for them. I'm sure Matt Leinart was laughing in Houston.
Tonight it's the Jets against the Ravens. Who will win? Who knows? I like John Harbaugh, and Joe Flacco. But I really liked the Jets after the Hard Knocks show. So toss up on favorites here. Should be a good game.
Football is in full swing. Bring it!!!
The Saints won over the Vikings. Was it pretty? No, but we'll take it. Of course, having Brad Childress start whining after the game was over about Shiancoe being "mauled" by Vilma during the interception is just par for the course. The first time they won, it was because the Saints were "playing dirty." This time it's because the defense "mauled" the receivers. Why can't he just say they played better than we did and there you go? Sour grapes.
Was anyone else noticing that Brett Favre just doesn't look like he wants to be playing? To me it looks like he doesn't want to play, even before they were losing. He just didn't look like he used to. If you don't love playing, why come back?
The Steelers beat the Falcons and I say, good job Dennis Dixon. He caught a lot of crap for being the back-up's back-up. But the kid did okay. They came away with a win right? 'Nuff said.
The Eagles. Wow. So trading McNabb isn't looking so good right now is it? Kevin Kolb is knocked out with a concussion (hope he's okay, by the way) and now they have Michael Vick. I'll be the first to say that I used to hate Michael Vick. When he played on the Falcons, I thought he was way too cocky, and way too full of himself. Now I think he's been dealt a pretty rough hand, not that I'm excusing the whole dog fighting thing, but it's not like he was accused of killing a person (Ray Lewis), did drugs (Jamal Brown, Ricky Williams--though that's a whole other story), beat his wife, etc. He did not a bad job yesterday. I say, let him play, see what happens and then make a decision on who starts.
And then there's the Cardinals. I'm pretty sure that about halfway through the game against the Rams, someone in their organization was speed dialing Kurt Warner and begging him to come back. They won in the end, but it wasn't pretty, and it was against the Rams. I foresee many problems ahead for them. I'm sure Matt Leinart was laughing in Houston.
Tonight it's the Jets against the Ravens. Who will win? Who knows? I like John Harbaugh, and Joe Flacco. But I really liked the Jets after the Hard Knocks show. So toss up on favorites here. Should be a good game.
Football is in full swing. Bring it!!!
Monday, August 09, 2010
It's that time of year!!!
Football is back! Say it with me people, WOOHOO!!! This was the annual NFL Hall of Fame weekend with the induction ceremony and football game. I skipped watching the induction ceremony because after watching Michael Irvin's speech (over and over and over again) I just couldn't handle watching more grown men cry. Sorry. I know these are great players/coaches, but other than Dick LeBeau (who incidentally, had one of the best and shortest induction speeches) I don't need to see the speeches. I can google it and see it later. That being said, the game was typical of the Hall of Fame weekend in that the starters played for maybe a series, if that, and we got to see a whole bunch of boys that probably won't be playing in the NFL again. Well, at least they got on television for a play or two.
Training camp is upon us and I can't wait to see the Jets on Hard Knocks which airs on HBO in two days. I love that series and am so glad they decided to follow around teams that aren't the Cowboys. To be fair, they haven't followed the Cowboys in a few years and that's perfectly alright with me. What would be great would be if they could just hit every team on a yearly rotating basis. Last year was the Bengals. This year is the Jets. Maybe next year the Saints? That would be awesome, but doubt that would happen. We can hope right?
One thing I must point out though about the HBO series. On the initial playing of an episode, which is at 10 pm, they don't censor anything, but if it plays during the day, they bleep out certain curse words. Really? It's freakin HBO! That's the whole point of it!!! If you don't like swearing, don't watch the cable channel. For crying out loud, it's bad enough to censor some words out (and I don't mean dropping the f-bomb on network television) on basic cable, but it's a premium
channel. What's up with that? Hopefully they don't do that this year.
I have high hopes this year for the Saints and even higher hopes for the Lions. The Saints are already hearing the talk about how they can't possibly repeat a Super Bowl appearance, let alone a win, and I'm all about them telling them what they can't do. After all, they weren't supposed to beat the Cardinals and they weren't supposed to beat the Vikings and they sure as hell weren't supposed to beat the Colts, so keep on telling the Saints what they aren't supposed to do just so they can shove it down your throats. And the Lions? Well, they've become the whipping boys of the NFL. I don't negate the fact that they have the record of worst losing season ever, but they're a new team with a coach who seems to know what he's doing and a young quarterback that's already had a trial by fire and came out not too bad. This year's draft was looking pretty good and it's the NFC North which hasn't exactly been coming up roses the last couple of seasons, the Vikings excluded. I say, go Matty and go Lions! I hope they shock the crap out of all the haters.
Training camp - WOOHOO at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.
Training camp is upon us and I can't wait to see the Jets on Hard Knocks which airs on HBO in two days. I love that series and am so glad they decided to follow around teams that aren't the Cowboys. To be fair, they haven't followed the Cowboys in a few years and that's perfectly alright with me. What would be great would be if they could just hit every team on a yearly rotating basis. Last year was the Bengals. This year is the Jets. Maybe next year the Saints? That would be awesome, but doubt that would happen. We can hope right?
One thing I must point out though about the HBO series. On the initial playing of an episode, which is at 10 pm, they don't censor anything, but if it plays during the day, they bleep out certain curse words. Really? It's freakin HBO! That's the whole point of it!!! If you don't like swearing, don't watch the cable channel. For crying out loud, it's bad enough to censor some words out (and I don't mean dropping the f-bomb on network television) on basic cable, but it's a premium
channel. What's up with that? Hopefully they don't do that this year.
I have high hopes this year for the Saints and even higher hopes for the Lions. The Saints are already hearing the talk about how they can't possibly repeat a Super Bowl appearance, let alone a win, and I'm all about them telling them what they can't do. After all, they weren't supposed to beat the Cardinals and they weren't supposed to beat the Vikings and they sure as hell weren't supposed to beat the Colts, so keep on telling the Saints what they aren't supposed to do just so they can shove it down your throats. And the Lions? Well, they've become the whipping boys of the NFL. I don't negate the fact that they have the record of worst losing season ever, but they're a new team with a coach who seems to know what he's doing and a young quarterback that's already had a trial by fire and came out not too bad. This year's draft was looking pretty good and it's the NFC North which hasn't exactly been coming up roses the last couple of seasons, the Vikings excluded. I say, go Matty and go Lions! I hope they shock the crap out of all the haters.
Training camp - WOOHOO at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Random Thoughts Update
I just read a bunch of articles regarding the Facebook brouhaha with the security settings and another about a couple of guys who built software to hack Android phones which was disseminated at the annual Hacker conference. I'm not sure which disturbs me more, the fact that people build this stuff just to see if it works, or that there's a conference where all these types of people can go to network, no pun intended. I mean, sure, the Android hacker guys said they built it to get the company to fix the system and so said the Facebook hacking dude, but really? Did you really do it to get the establishment to fix this stuff, or just for some fame and glory because now your names are all over the place? Just wondering.
My favorite quitter, Sarah Palin, has recently said that the governor of Arizona has more "cojones" than our president does. Wow. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, why do otherwise intelligent, mostly highly educated people, listen to anything this woman has to say, or worse, say that she represents the people and their opinions? I know that I'm part of the people and she sure doesn't represent my opinions. Look people, she was in office only part of the time before she quit so she could get paid. She, in my opinion, single-handedly tanked Sen. McCain's presidential campaign (because I may have voted for him, if not for her) and seems to use any excuse to get her name and face out there so she can continue to milk her 15 minutes of fame. When I look at her, all I see is a "For Sale to the Highest Bidder" sign plastered all over her face. I'm not saying that President Obama has been able to do everything he promised while in office so far, but realistically, how many presidents have? I say he's trying and he got dealt a pretty crappy card to start out with anyway. Regardless, to have the right wing conservatives blaming him for everything from the state of the economy (which was already going down the tubes before he was elected) to the oil spill in the Gulf to the immigration issues is just irresponsible. It's hard to take someone seriously that only points a finger instead of offering real solutions and I don't really consider letting the highest earners in the country keep all their crazy tax cuts a solution.
On a lighter note, True Blood roles on. SPOILER ALERT (for anyone that hasn't watched the series so far, don't read on): So now we find out that Sookie doesn't have a blood type. What? Yeah, after her lost love, Bill, drains her "accidentally" after being on the verge of death, Alcide (yummy!) and Tara rush her to the hospital where they try to give her a transfusion which just goes all wrong when her body rejects the blood they try to give her. Yeah. It's starting to get just a bit weird. Meanwhile, after feeding on her blood, Tara, being the take-no-crap-from-anyone type of gal she is (which I love about her character), kicks Bill out on the road in the middle of the day and amazingly, he doesn't burst into flames. Go figure. Plus the whole semi-dream sequence of Sookie's with the dancing people around the pond that gives some kind of crazy good elixir from it's waters. Having these weird people telling Sookie to not let Bill take her "light" and then finding out that the Queen of Louisiana vampires has been stalking Sookie for some nefarious reason, plus the King of Mississippi taking out the magistar, well, it's becoming extremely convoluted. Okay, I like the show and haven't read most of the books, but this is starting to just get to be too much. I did like that they spent a little time with Sam and his dysfunctional family. He made a very cute pit bull. And you know it's not the end of his biological parents trying to use his bro Tommy as their dog fighting meal ticket. Just saying.
We saw Despicable Me this weekend. It was cute, predictable, but cute. The little one, Agnes, just stole the show with her big eyes and cute little one-liners. It would have been much better if the women behind us didn't feel the need to insert their opinions and commentary throughout the entire movie. "Aww"-everytime they showed Agnes. "He's still floating"-when they showed a minion. "Can you believe that?" "Oh my God!" All of these nifty tidbits at full volume. If you can't shut up for an hour and a half, don't go to the movies. Wait until it comes out on DVD. I didn't pay a bunch of money to hear your voice. Rant over. Thank you.
I'm up for a phone upgrade and I'm seriously thinking about that HTC Evo but having a hard time thinking of parting with $200 for a phone. That's the new phone pricing too, not even full price for it. Crazy. My current phone is fine for talking and texting, but I can't do anything else on it and would like to be able to access FB and some websites I can't access at my work (on lunch hour and breaks of course). Is it worth it to get a fancy phone now or wait until they're cheaper, which will undoubtedly happen eventually. Guess we'll see.
My favorite quitter, Sarah Palin, has recently said that the governor of Arizona has more "cojones" than our president does. Wow. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, why do otherwise intelligent, mostly highly educated people, listen to anything this woman has to say, or worse, say that she represents the people and their opinions? I know that I'm part of the people and she sure doesn't represent my opinions. Look people, she was in office only part of the time before she quit so she could get paid. She, in my opinion, single-handedly tanked Sen. McCain's presidential campaign (because I may have voted for him, if not for her) and seems to use any excuse to get her name and face out there so she can continue to milk her 15 minutes of fame. When I look at her, all I see is a "For Sale to the Highest Bidder" sign plastered all over her face. I'm not saying that President Obama has been able to do everything he promised while in office so far, but realistically, how many presidents have? I say he's trying and he got dealt a pretty crappy card to start out with anyway. Regardless, to have the right wing conservatives blaming him for everything from the state of the economy (which was already going down the tubes before he was elected) to the oil spill in the Gulf to the immigration issues is just irresponsible. It's hard to take someone seriously that only points a finger instead of offering real solutions and I don't really consider letting the highest earners in the country keep all their crazy tax cuts a solution.
On a lighter note, True Blood roles on. SPOILER ALERT (for anyone that hasn't watched the series so far, don't read on): So now we find out that Sookie doesn't have a blood type. What? Yeah, after her lost love, Bill, drains her "accidentally" after being on the verge of death, Alcide (yummy!) and Tara rush her to the hospital where they try to give her a transfusion which just goes all wrong when her body rejects the blood they try to give her. Yeah. It's starting to get just a bit weird. Meanwhile, after feeding on her blood, Tara, being the take-no-crap-from-anyone type of gal she is (which I love about her character), kicks Bill out on the road in the middle of the day and amazingly, he doesn't burst into flames. Go figure. Plus the whole semi-dream sequence of Sookie's with the dancing people around the pond that gives some kind of crazy good elixir from it's waters. Having these weird people telling Sookie to not let Bill take her "light" and then finding out that the Queen of Louisiana vampires has been stalking Sookie for some nefarious reason, plus the King of Mississippi taking out the magistar, well, it's becoming extremely convoluted. Okay, I like the show and haven't read most of the books, but this is starting to just get to be too much. I did like that they spent a little time with Sam and his dysfunctional family. He made a very cute pit bull. And you know it's not the end of his biological parents trying to use his bro Tommy as their dog fighting meal ticket. Just saying.
We saw Despicable Me this weekend. It was cute, predictable, but cute. The little one, Agnes, just stole the show with her big eyes and cute little one-liners. It would have been much better if the women behind us didn't feel the need to insert their opinions and commentary throughout the entire movie. "Aww"-everytime they showed Agnes. "He's still floating"-when they showed a minion. "Can you believe that?" "Oh my God!" All of these nifty tidbits at full volume. If you can't shut up for an hour and a half, don't go to the movies. Wait until it comes out on DVD. I didn't pay a bunch of money to hear your voice. Rant over. Thank you.
I'm up for a phone upgrade and I'm seriously thinking about that HTC Evo but having a hard time thinking of parting with $200 for a phone. That's the new phone pricing too, not even full price for it. Crazy. My current phone is fine for talking and texting, but I can't do anything else on it and would like to be able to access FB and some websites I can't access at my work (on lunch hour and breaks of course). Is it worth it to get a fancy phone now or wait until they're cheaper, which will undoubtedly happen eventually. Guess we'll see.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Television Updates
I have a new television crush and his name is Joe Manganiello. He plays Alcide on True Blood and he's truly HAWT! If you doubt this statement check out his entry on IMDb. There's a photo of him shirtless from the True Blood show and I'm seriously considering making it my computer wallpaper...and maybe wallpaper in my house. That boy is fine. I will tune in just to see him (hopefully shirtless). That being said, I'm having issues with the whole True Blood show as it's becoming a bit over the top with the storyline. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a certain amount of cheese in a television show, but it's starting to become a bit tired. Maybe the next episode will be better. We can hope right?
I have found a new favorite show on the Travel Channel as well. Bert the Conqueror is hilarious. Basically, he travels around the country trying all kinds of stuff like jumping off the Stratosphere hotel in Vegas, catfish grabblin' (yeah I had to look that up too), and competing at the Slush Cup in New Hampshire. I guess I really just liked the Cedar Point episode as I had spent many a summer growing up in Michigan looking forward to trips to "America's Roller Coast." I haven't been back in way too long, but Bert made it look way fun. It should be noted that this episode must have been shot either early in the season or very late in the season as Cedar Point in the summer is crazy busy. You could easily wait in line for over 2 hours for a popular roller coaster. And this was over a decade ago (wow, that doesn't make me sound old, does it?). The next episode is in Florida (my new home state) and it looks like he hits Busch Gardens and the Redneck Yacht Club in Port Charlotte, which isn't too far from where I live. No, I did not make that name up. They have a place up there called the Redneck Yacht Club. It advertises itself as Florida's largest "mudding track." And any place that makes it a point to have "mud holes" has to have "Redneck" in it's title. I believe it's a federal requirement or something. Just sayin'.
My kids have me hooked on the America's Got Talent. Awesome that they give these people opportunities to shine on national television and maybe get their own show in Vegas. What I don't like is the sob stories. For example, the two sisters that have cystic fibrosis. Sad? Yes, but I don't think they were better than the homeless veteran choir, or the poor little girl they said "wasn't ready" with her voice and yet they're going on in the competition. Bet they get tons of votes too just for sympathy even if they're not the best talent. Guess that's callous, but really, it's a talent competition not a saddest story competition. If it were, they'd probably win. Oh well.
Okay, so that's the update for now. More to come in random ramblings!!! :)
I have found a new favorite show on the Travel Channel as well. Bert the Conqueror is hilarious. Basically, he travels around the country trying all kinds of stuff like jumping off the Stratosphere hotel in Vegas, catfish grabblin' (yeah I had to look that up too), and competing at the Slush Cup in New Hampshire. I guess I really just liked the Cedar Point episode as I had spent many a summer growing up in Michigan looking forward to trips to "America's Roller Coast." I haven't been back in way too long, but Bert made it look way fun. It should be noted that this episode must have been shot either early in the season or very late in the season as Cedar Point in the summer is crazy busy. You could easily wait in line for over 2 hours for a popular roller coaster. And this was over a decade ago (wow, that doesn't make me sound old, does it?). The next episode is in Florida (my new home state) and it looks like he hits Busch Gardens and the Redneck Yacht Club in Port Charlotte, which isn't too far from where I live. No, I did not make that name up. They have a place up there called the Redneck Yacht Club. It advertises itself as Florida's largest "mudding track." And any place that makes it a point to have "mud holes" has to have "Redneck" in it's title. I believe it's a federal requirement or something. Just sayin'.
My kids have me hooked on the America's Got Talent. Awesome that they give these people opportunities to shine on national television and maybe get their own show in Vegas. What I don't like is the sob stories. For example, the two sisters that have cystic fibrosis. Sad? Yes, but I don't think they were better than the homeless veteran choir, or the poor little girl they said "wasn't ready" with her voice and yet they're going on in the competition. Bet they get tons of votes too just for sympathy even if they're not the best talent. Guess that's callous, but really, it's a talent competition not a saddest story competition. If it were, they'd probably win. Oh well.
Okay, so that's the update for now. More to come in random ramblings!!! :)
Monday, June 14, 2010
Little Darlings
So I've been reading about Abby Sunderland, you know, the 16-year-old that tried to sail around the world by herself, boat broke and she had to be rescued. I originally thought, well, I wouldn't let my kid try it, but more power to her if her parents really believed she could do it. Well, the bill has come due and the family is saying they can't pay it and shouldn't have to. Really? I'm sure the taxpayers of Australia are super happy about that. I understand that sometimes s*!% happens, but if you put yourself out there in that situation against all advice to the contrary, that's your fault. I mean, they told the girl not to sail when she did because it would put her in the Indian Ocean in the winter (yes, it's winter in the southern hemisphere. Some people aren't getting that.) when the weather is roughest. Yet, she did it. It didn't work out, she had to be rescued and now you have to pay. That's the way the world works.
The dad is saying that they're broke and they can't pay the $300K it cost to rescue their kid. The mom said, "What price would you put on a child's life?" Well, apparently it's $300K. "We're not wealthy people." What I would like to know is where did the sailing yacht, yes I said yacht, come from and where did the money come from to fund her trip? I can't imagine it's cheap to stock a boat with supplies for roughly a year. Not only that, but she plans on taking another trip around the world. Why? She's not going to beat the record and it's not like she had a good outcome the first time around. Again, shouldn't you plan for every possible outcome? If my kid was going around the world by herself, I'd be coming up with some serious contingency plans, expecting the worst to happen and being prepared.
My husband seems to think she broke the boat on purpose. I'm starting to agree. Why so cynical, you ask? Well, to be honest, who had heard about this girl and her voyage before she became lost at sea? Her dad has been shopping a reality show since she left and her whole family, all 7 almost 8 kids of them, seem to want to cash in on this notoriety. Is anyone else thinking this is sounding familiar? (Jon & Kate Plus 8, the Duggars, Balloon Boy, and the list goes on) Her brother is planning a motorcycle trip from the top of the world to the bottom (paraphrasing that) since he's already sailed around the world on his own, and she wants to sail around the world again. Again, who's funding this? Plus she's writing a book. Of course she's writing a book. They all write books. I'm sure it will recount her harrowing ordeal in the Indian Ocean and dramatic rescue. I suggest the Australian government get with the U.S. government and freeze their assets until they can pay off the tab. If they want to leave the country, no. Pay the tab first. Kids can't leave either since it's their fault they're in the mess they're in. Harsh? Maybe, but I can't drum up a lot of sympathy for people pulling the "poor me" card when they knew what they were getting into in the first place and didn't plan ahead. You're broke? Maybe you shouldn't be letting your minor kid get themselves into trouble. If they're under eighteen, you're responsible for all their crap, including bills.
One poster suggested requiring a bond if they want to do something like this and I agree. An insurance policy of sorts. You pay for this policy to go around the world, or whatever floats your boat (no pun intended), if you make it back without incident, cool. You're out x-amount of money. If they have to come rescue your ass, it's covered. Why not? You have to have insurance for everything else under the sun, why not this? It may curb these daredevils desire to put themselves, and others, in harms way. Just sayin.
No more "reality" shows, please!!! at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.
The dad is saying that they're broke and they can't pay the $300K it cost to rescue their kid. The mom said, "What price would you put on a child's life?" Well, apparently it's $300K. "We're not wealthy people." What I would like to know is where did the sailing yacht, yes I said yacht, come from and where did the money come from to fund her trip? I can't imagine it's cheap to stock a boat with supplies for roughly a year. Not only that, but she plans on taking another trip around the world. Why? She's not going to beat the record and it's not like she had a good outcome the first time around. Again, shouldn't you plan for every possible outcome? If my kid was going around the world by herself, I'd be coming up with some serious contingency plans, expecting the worst to happen and being prepared.
My husband seems to think she broke the boat on purpose. I'm starting to agree. Why so cynical, you ask? Well, to be honest, who had heard about this girl and her voyage before she became lost at sea? Her dad has been shopping a reality show since she left and her whole family, all 7 almost 8 kids of them, seem to want to cash in on this notoriety. Is anyone else thinking this is sounding familiar? (Jon & Kate Plus 8, the Duggars, Balloon Boy, and the list goes on) Her brother is planning a motorcycle trip from the top of the world to the bottom (paraphrasing that) since he's already sailed around the world on his own, and she wants to sail around the world again. Again, who's funding this? Plus she's writing a book. Of course she's writing a book. They all write books. I'm sure it will recount her harrowing ordeal in the Indian Ocean and dramatic rescue. I suggest the Australian government get with the U.S. government and freeze their assets until they can pay off the tab. If they want to leave the country, no. Pay the tab first. Kids can't leave either since it's their fault they're in the mess they're in. Harsh? Maybe, but I can't drum up a lot of sympathy for people pulling the "poor me" card when they knew what they were getting into in the first place and didn't plan ahead. You're broke? Maybe you shouldn't be letting your minor kid get themselves into trouble. If they're under eighteen, you're responsible for all their crap, including bills.
One poster suggested requiring a bond if they want to do something like this and I agree. An insurance policy of sorts. You pay for this policy to go around the world, or whatever floats your boat (no pun intended), if you make it back without incident, cool. You're out x-amount of money. If they have to come rescue your ass, it's covered. Why not? You have to have insurance for everything else under the sun, why not this? It may curb these daredevils desire to put themselves, and others, in harms way. Just sayin.
No more "reality" shows, please!!! at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.
Friday, June 11, 2010
GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!
The 2010 FIFA World Cup competition has started in South Africa today. This is one of the most highly anticipated events of the year (unless you live in the U.S.). I'm trying to get hyped up for this, but I'm having a hard time. I live in the land of football, not futbol. Yes, I know we are an arrogant group, us Americans, that everyone else in the world calls it futbol and we call it soccer. Why we have a sport named football when the ball touches anyone's foot less than 1% of the game, I'll never know, but I digress.
For some reason the United States has not embraced soccer/futbol in the same way as all the rest of the world. We're trying though. We can actually recognize a few players on our own national team now and more and more kids are playing the sport. Baby steps. Maybe it's due to the latter that I'm making more of an effort to watch. My youngest likes soccer even if, bless her heart, she's not that good at it. Hey, it gets her out of the house and she gets to make new friends. I'm all for that. However, I did not grow up watching this sport. We had the standard sports: football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, tennis and even golf. Yes, we had golf as a high school sport that you could letter in. That being said, I don't have any background on the rules, what's acceptable and what's not. The little bit of professional soccer I have seen seems like a bunch of guys running way too much on a field that's way too big and becoming major drama queens anytime anyone comes within ten feet of their person. Well, that and having seen Bend it like Beckham a number of times.
Not saying these guys aren't athletes. Au contraire, mon frere. These guys are running back and forth on a futbol field the size of a football field. Everyone got that. That's a whole heckuva lot of running. I saw some article saying that the refs can expect to run some crazy amount over the course of a game like 12 miles or some such number. That's just the refs! That's about 12 miles too many for me. Well, you never see a fat soccer/futbol player now do you? So the media is trying to get us uneducated Americans into the World Cup by having stories about the players and whatnot. They even had a thing on msnbc about the 50 stars of the World Cup with the picture, name, age and a little blurb about each player. Know what surprised me the most about this? The majority of this 50 are around 27-34. Much older than I would have thought. I figured these guys would have to be in their early 20s to handle that kind of stress on the body. Crazy.
So all this leads up to the match tomorrow between England and the U.S. Should be interesting. I'm hoping they don't smear our boys all over the pitch (yeah, I said pitch). Taking bets on if the UK runs out of beer before the end of the match. And if we do happen to win this, major bragging rights which as an obnoxious American, I'm all about. :)
Good luck boys! at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.
For some reason the United States has not embraced soccer/futbol in the same way as all the rest of the world. We're trying though. We can actually recognize a few players on our own national team now and more and more kids are playing the sport. Baby steps. Maybe it's due to the latter that I'm making more of an effort to watch. My youngest likes soccer even if, bless her heart, she's not that good at it. Hey, it gets her out of the house and she gets to make new friends. I'm all for that. However, I did not grow up watching this sport. We had the standard sports: football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, tennis and even golf. Yes, we had golf as a high school sport that you could letter in. That being said, I don't have any background on the rules, what's acceptable and what's not. The little bit of professional soccer I have seen seems like a bunch of guys running way too much on a field that's way too big and becoming major drama queens anytime anyone comes within ten feet of their person. Well, that and having seen Bend it like Beckham a number of times.
Not saying these guys aren't athletes. Au contraire, mon frere. These guys are running back and forth on a futbol field the size of a football field. Everyone got that. That's a whole heckuva lot of running. I saw some article saying that the refs can expect to run some crazy amount over the course of a game like 12 miles or some such number. That's just the refs! That's about 12 miles too many for me. Well, you never see a fat soccer/futbol player now do you? So the media is trying to get us uneducated Americans into the World Cup by having stories about the players and whatnot. They even had a thing on msnbc about the 50 stars of the World Cup with the picture, name, age and a little blurb about each player. Know what surprised me the most about this? The majority of this 50 are around 27-34. Much older than I would have thought. I figured these guys would have to be in their early 20s to handle that kind of stress on the body. Crazy.
So all this leads up to the match tomorrow between England and the U.S. Should be interesting. I'm hoping they don't smear our boys all over the pitch (yeah, I said pitch). Taking bets on if the UK runs out of beer before the end of the match. And if we do happen to win this, major bragging rights which as an obnoxious American, I'm all about. :)
Good luck boys! at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.
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