FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Did anyone else see the story yesterday regarding the Patriots cheerleader who was dismissed from the squad? I may be the only person on Fannation that sometimes glances over to the right hand side of the page and looks at those other blogs' headlines. You know, the space the Mods could use to promote well-written blogs by actual Fannation members that is instead used to promote blogs on other websites? (Hello? Anybody listening?) Yeah, well, yesterday that headline jumped out at me enough that I had to click on it. It seems the young Patriots cheerleader was canned for pictures that showed up on Facebook, of her and some friends writing graffiti on a passed-out guy. The Patriots fired her - not because of the incident in general - but because some of the graffiti on the guy was anti-semitic in nature. She claims she didn't even know of those other symbols when posing for the pictures, but still not a smart move on her part putting them on Facebook in general. Anyway, I'm not going to go into it too much, but I'm just wondering if we have another Danielle Gamba on our hands here. Something maybe to watch out for - the "Caitlin Davis is Hot!" group on Fannation in 2009 maybe? We'll see. (That's her - next pic)

Just a week past the end of the World Series, and the Hot Stove League is already warming up. The winter meetings begin on December 8 in Las Vegas this year, and there are a lot of premium names on the board. CC Sabathia, Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira and Francisco Rodriguez will all be shopping for new deals and that could make for a very interesting baseball offseason. Which pitcher will get grossly overpaid then underperform next year? It always happens. I am interested also in how the global financial crisis will affect players salaries, if at all.  We have heard that Bud Selig and the MLB owners have given "Zero Chance" on selling the Cubs to Mark Cuban. So no Mark Cuban coming in to save the day for you Cubs fan. You will have to develop your farm system and spend money wisely like everyone else. You don't get to be the Yankees of the National League. Sucks for you.

Last Saturday I had some free time, so I ended up watching the college football game on ABC, Texas Tech vs. Texas. The week before, by chance, I had also seen the Penn State vs Ohio State game. Maybe the Gods are conspiring to give me exposure to college football and perhaps change my opinion of it, I don't know. But they were both really good close games that I enjoyed watching. The clock-stoppage rules in College football are weird to me though. It seems like they just give the offensive team too much of an advanatage. Then again, maybe since I usually watch NFL games, the NFL clock rules give the defense too much of an advantage. Either way, it makes it almost like a different game. That and those crazy harsh marks that are so far apart. What is up with those? Its like the rules of college football conspire to make kicking field goals even more difficult. As Texas Tech was marching down the field last week, (taking their time between first downs) they got the ball just inside the 30. Now in the NFL, this is almost for sure Field goal range. My NFL mind starting thinking, "Oh, they've got to kick the field goal" but then I thought - no way, from that far out the odds are against it. They threw the ball and scored a touchdown anyway, but it made me wonder. Also, watching them do the kick off from the 7 ½ yard line because the crowd kept running on the field was hilarious.

I'm a big believer in bottled beer. Of course, like anybody, I would prefer my beer draft, from my kegerator, which is still in the works. Since this is not yet an option for me, I almost entirely go with bottles, and pretty much never with cans. Did you know that beer keeps longer in brown bottles than in green or clear bottles? This is never a problem for me, because the beer is usually drunken within a short time of being purchased. Apparently though, sunlight or fluorescent lighting causes oxidation faster inside green or clear bottles. So if your beer is not in a brown bottle, and you are not going to drink it right away, be sure to keep your beer in a dark place until you're ready to drink it. Canned beers just always seem to me to have a different taste though. I can't explain it, it's just not right. Whether you drink canned or bottled beer, I think the taste of beer is always improved by first pouring it into a glass. The wife and I like to keep mugs chilled in the freezer. Makes the beer nice and cold. Being in a glass, your nose is able to enjoy the aroma of the hops and all those good things that make beer taste so distinctive. Glass is also just more enjoyable to drink out of than metal.

For those of you who do drink canned beer, I found this little trick to help you disguise from those around you that you are partaking in another. It goes like this: First, use your fingernail to gently pull up on the tab. Just a little so you don't get the dreaded "pssst" sound. You just want the tab to be ready to pull. Next, take a dish towel (these should be abundant if you are married. If you are not married, use your sweatshirt or some other kind of thick material. Use the towel to cover the mouth of the can. Next, pull the tab ever so gently, so the air inside the can seeps out without a lot of noise. Keep pulling gently so that the mouth doesn't pop open, so much as pry open. They also offer this: "Next, place your old empty beer can in the garbage can, but be sure to bury it under some the already existing garbage, so your lady doesn't see it in the garbage and tally up how many you drank. Man, is that a buzzkill." I don't know why, but I've never seen that as such personally. I like seeing how many soldiers I've downed. It sometimes can be a good thing, because I know when to start switching to water. (I always keep Costco water bottles - 30 for $3.99 - on hand for such times)

Speaking of switching to water, I was in GNC the other day. GNC is just kind of fun sometimes. I don't believe a lot of what they sell will do for you what it promises, but I certainly am religious about taking my daily vitamin packet and there does seem to be a difference for me when I run out and don't take them. Anyway, they had these "Chasers" things that are for preventing hangovers. Hangovers are not a problem for me, unless I go way over my self-imposed 8 beer limit. The wife on the other hand, usually can almost keep up with me beer for beer, and weighs about half of what I do. So she gets ‘em, and always reminds me the day after that she will never do that again. (I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that) So anyway I took a look at them for her. The directions for the things were just comical. Take two before you start drinking with 8 ounces of water. Take 2 more after every 2 or 3 drinks, again with 8 ounces of water. After you finish drinking, take 2 more with 8 more ounces of water. Priceless! So what exactly do these pills do? Drink one more bottle of water, and you will not have to worry about hangovers, pills or not.

This blog may have wandered a bit from its original premise, and I apologize for that. I have a cold right now, and I'm on cold medicine. Its hard to focus. My ears are stuffed up. I'm pretty aware that today is Friday though. Tommorrow it is supposed to rain here, making yardwork again impossible. So therefore I will probably end up watching college football again. I've got to keep pressing the Mrs. On the Kegerator thing. She's going to break soon, I can feel it. The baseball portion seems a little out of place, but I just wonder how many teams can afford to break the bank, if the banks are already broken. And the cheerleader thing? You didn't think that was going to escape my attention did you? Have a good weekend everybody. Cold medicine is good. I'll get to the redhead special when I have a little more energy.