Thursday Random Thoughts
1. There is only reader email today because I had trivia last night (disappointing Stoolie turnout I might add) and I was interviewing sales candidates all day long. But since I feel bad when people write into us and I don’t publish it I’m sitting up late night answering all the reader email. Even the mean stuff. Somebody get El Presidente a violin and a box of Kleenex stat.
2. By the way tonight is Bubble Hockey Night at Sports Depot. I’ll be there with bells on. Hopefully some other Stoolies can make it. In other official Stoolie business our biggest party of the year is Saturday Night February 11th. This is the legendary (1st annual) Cover Model of the Year Party. This is when we will crown this year’s cover model of the year. The winner gets a 2 thousand dollar travel voucher from Miller Lite. The party starts at 9pm at Game On. I don’t care whether you’ve never come to a Stoolie event in your life and you’re allergic to pretty girls we need people for this thing. We need to put asses in the seats and flex our muscle. I know the Ligers will be there. Will you?
3. I think these guys read Boston Sports Review
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=322041&page=1&pp=20
Reader Email
Email #1
Yesterday you responded to somebody who said that the Hobbit was first a Goonie by saying “True. But that was so long ago that I don’t
think Goonies the second I see him. He was also Rudy goddamnit. That Hobbit is all heart; even if he's 5 foot nothing, 100 and nothin.
When's the Stool going to start coming out weekly? I'll bet with a little work and fewer tears over the Patriots, you could get a subscription service going. I'd be willing to pay for more Boston-pride oriented witticisms.
Think about it,
JKS from the West End.
Well if these freaking sales guys that I haven’t hired yet would step it up a notch than maybe we could go weekly.
Email #2
It was a tough loss for the Patriots but their fans have to accept that they lost to a better overall team. The Patriots have the better coach, better quarterback, and better defensive line, but overall (rushing offense, passing offense, run defense, pass defense, special teams) the Broncos were better than this Patriots team. They pressured Brady all night, won the field position battle, converted key 3rd downs, and limited the Patriots running game. And they have one of the top 3 or 4 home field advantages in the NFL.
Yes, the call on Samuel was bad but like you've said that's not why New England lost. But they also didn't just hand the ball to Denver five times. Denver took it away on every turnover except Brown's fumbled punt return (which was actually a great effort on his part trying to field the ball from 30 yards away). The Patriots have made a living of getting big turnovers and calls to turn playoff games around- it's exactly how they won their 1st Super Bowl- and this time it finally happened to them. They were one of the top eight teams in the NFL this year that happened to lose Saturday night to one of the top four.
Will
p.s. - Peyton Manning is a jackass. The refs should have called that sack a safety and Polamalu's INT correctly, which would have made that game a blowout. Huge choke.
Will you’ve always watched a different game than everybody else and you continue to make no sense. I can’t even believe I’m wasting my time responding to this nonsense. The Patriots dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The team that does that wins 99% of the time. The punter caused one fumble by sheer luck unless you think he purposelessly had his head down and knew Hobbs would spin into him and put the football into his helmet. The ball was coming out on the Faulk fumble before anybody hit him. Brady was under pressure but he’s always under pressure and he still gets the job done. He didn’t play up to his standards. If you really think the better team won on Sunday then you have no clue.
Email #3
Hey prez just wanna comment on the RC made about Simmons on 1-18. Listen I'm a fan of both of your works, and have been reading both publications for the past 2 years. Now not to criticize you, but please get over this guy. It is clear you want his spot and to be honest with you you're not better then him if anything I would put him a little higher only because he writes more and has a broader range of topics, and to be honest with you, you guys have a very similar sound and quick wit. All I'm saying is get over your jealousy of his own success and continue to put all that extra effort into getting BS to be bigger and better things
Loyal reader, ryan
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Ryan W Carpenter
First of all, you indirectly paid me a huge compliment here. I’ve never compared my ability as a writer or any of our writers to Simmons. I think he’s ultra talented. If you think we’re only slightly behind him than we’re doing pretty damn good. But that really has nothing to do with it. This is a guy who has built his career on making fun of other people and throws a tizzy when somebody says something bad about him. I think Simmons is a fraud just like Alex Rodriguez is a fraud. Am I jealous of Arod because I bash him? The only reason you get pissed when I bash Simmons is because you don’t want to believe that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. That’s fine. I don’t care, but I’m telling you this right now that Simmons isn’t the guy you think he is. Do whatever you want with that information.
Email #4
I agree with you about Steelers fans. They’re obnoxious. They (in
general) have very little understanding of the game, they show up in detestable droves to away games, they’re extremely loud in their misinformed opinions, they have an unfortunate sense of entitlement, and they feel that clothing with the team logo on it can be worn as formal attire. Feel free to disagree, but to an outside observer they are the exact football equivalent of the equally obnoxious fan bases of both the Yankees and Red Sox. But for someone who is a part of those fan bases, I bet it’s a lot of fun to have such a large group of people share that singular passion.
Eric
Oh, I think Steeler fans are pretty knowledgeable. And I think they are way more loyal and diehard than Yankee fans that just show up come playoff time. But they are definitely obnoxious.
Email #5
El Presidente,
After listening to your/stoolies comments for the last two days, I must admit the refs were just an extra log thrown on the fire. When Brady throws a crucial pick, Adam misses a FG and Faulk/Brown fumble you know it’s just not going to be your day. It’s rather funny too because if you think back to the pre-Belichick/Brady era to the Grogan/Eason eras and you would have killed for an AFC East title, NY Jet season sweep and the chance to play at Mile High and advance. So the Prez keeps the Stoolies off the ledge and talks us down again. Plus, I refuse to argue with anyone that takes such a hard line on his Mac N’ Cheese and toiletry regime! Looking forward you all can see that no grass grows under the feet of Billy B. as he has promoted Dean Pees to his D-Coordinator. No doubt we will be back next year and we won’t have 45 different starters during the year (damn, no excuses – sorry it slipped). Is it too early to start talking Sox? Do we have a center fielder and a shortstop yet or what?
Andrew J. Bergeron
There is literally nothing to do until March Madness. It sucks.
Email #6
I never considered Bill "Pseudo" Simmons to be a sports reporter or journalist on any professional level, which is what made him unique and led to his popularity for those of us who enjoyed his seminal work from his Boston.com days. Once he made his jump to legitimacy I think many of us seemed confused as to where his loyalty belonged, but it was like having one of your own make it so we went along and assumed he was now a columnist and not just some Red Sox cap wearing recent college grade who understood HTML. Not since Good Will Hunting made Ben and Matt had a local boy done good in such a cool job. It was like Tommy getting made while Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway waited for the confirmation call. However, I think this whole Isaiah Thomas thing is a "Shine Box Moment". Simmons seems to be pandering for acceptance worse than Carson Daly on crack. As much as I can't stand Borges and Shaughnessy's asinine columns anymore I still respect them for not backing down from their opinions and showing up in the locker room the next day, as Shaughnessy did with Carl Everett. That takes stones. Simmons seems to be dealing with criticism very poorly for a guy who is really nothing more than a sports critic himself, because I thought a columnist was suppose to have an opinion and stick by it which is exactly what Simmons seems to not be doing. So Simmons? Is Isaiah gonna make you get your "Shine Box"? I hope not.
- Matty V.
I’ll say this about Simmons. If I didn’t have personal dealings with him I’d probably still love him and maybe that’s unfair. But it’s tough to really still like someone when you realize they aren’t who you thought they were. People can say a lot of stuff about me, but I don’t think anybody who has met me would say I’m any different in person than I am in what I write. Just ask the Ligers.
Email #7
Czar David,
OK, you love Kraft Mac N Cheese. Understandable, it's good times. I like it, you like it, its communist not to like it (see for example: Mikhail Bonski doesn't like it).
But is it too much to ask to just try Annie's once? Once? I am not trying to push it on you, I just honestly want to know what you think of it. Surely scenic Abington has a Trader Joe's or similar place you can purchase said product.
Can you try it and report back? If you hate it, I'll write you a comprehensive movie review of "Two For The Money" for free, and waive my exorbitant freelance fee. ~ Ratty
I can’t try it. I just can’t. What’s next? I stop using Right Guard deodorant? I switch from Dove Soap? I stop buying Wonder bread? No more Wise potato chips? It’s just one of those things where if I’m wrong I don’t want to be right.
Email #8
Yo El,
Regarding my statements on Manning yesterday, I swear to god I never read your fake Peyton interview. I just read it and goddamn it that's frickin creepy. I said the exact same things in my RT that you did in your interview. It really looks like plagerism, but I can assure you it's not. The only time I ever plagerised was during my 4 years of high school, and my subsequent 4 years at college. My apologies for creating the illusion that I was stealing your material, because I really wasn't.
ED FROM EASTON (now living in Stoughton)
Yesterday I bumped into Ben Cherington (GM of the Red Sox) and Ed From Easton (Stoolie) and I was infinitly more exicted to talk to Ed. Ed’s a hall of famer in my book.