Monday Random Thoughts
1. Let’s start this week with the big announcement in the world of random thoughts. Starting today we are going to be posting random thoughts in a blog style on our website. What does this mean? It means that from now on people won’t have to wait 24 hours in-between each batch of random thoughts. Thank the freaking lord right! The website will be updated continually through as we think of new crap to write about. I’ll still send out an email each morning like I always do, but the people who don’t want to wait won’t have to anymore. It’s just another step towards us taking over ESPN.com as the world’s most popular website.
2. Okay, this is the last piece of official Stoolie business for the day. I know I already asked everybody to take a survey for Casino Montreal, but I’m asking again. I can’t stress enough how great these guys have been to us over the past few years and I want to repay their support They’re trying to figure out what makes typical guys like us tick and what makes us like one casino over another. The survey is simple and takes a maximum of 10 minutes. It’s a great way to kill some time at work and earn major Stoolie points in the process. We’ve had about 100 people fill the thing out and we need to have 500 people to make it scientifically viable and all that other crap. So please take a few minutes and do this for us. Thanks.
3. I’m a man. I’ll admit when I’m wrong. I’m shocked that Villanova didn’t cover vs. BC. I still haven’t decided whether Villanova shot so poorly because of BC’s defense or just because they were having an off night. I’m thinking it was more a function of big domes and depth perception problems and all that other good stuff. Regardless, the Wildcats were lucky to escape with a win. And the only reason they were able to survive is because BC played like crap too. The Superfans had a billion unforced turnovers and couldn’t hit a free throw if their life depended on it. Both teams had their C games. And clearly that travel call on Williams at the end of the game was just a brutal call. The thing that sucks if you’re BC is you’d like to have gone down swinging and get beat when you played your best game kind of like in the ACC championship Game. This clearly wasn’t the case here and that always hurts.
4. Las Vegas Review - NFL players Joey Porter and Steven Jackson were seen in Las Vegas partying at OPM (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Saturday. Jackson's entourage included a mohawked male with two gal pals wearing dog collars and thigh-high patent leather boots, with one holding the leash and a riding crop and the other in tow. I don’t see what the big deal about this is? That’s always how my crew rolls.
5. Eva Longoria told Allure Magazine that she would consider having a child out of wedlock with her boyfriend, NBA star Tony Parker -- but he wouldn't.
"I would," the 31-year-old "Desperate Housewives" actress says in an interview but Tony won't. ... He's only been with one other person in his life."
Alert! Alert! Alert! Tony Parker has only been with one other person in his life!!! Come on, Eva I expected more out of you than that! You know the entire Spurs locker room is getting a good chuckle out of that one. I’m actually surprised that Tony had the balls to say he’s only slept with one other chick when Eva asked him that question. I mean isn’t that an obvious lie. Anything less than 20 would have raised my eyebrows. I guess this just goes to show that even beautiful women can be naive as hell.
6. Guess what Wednesday is? If you said the Tournament of Champions in Trivia you’d be right. And yes El Presidente qualified. Bring it on bitches!
7. This picture of American Idol star Kelly Pickler is floating around the internet. I’m not sure it’s really her, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is. Regardless, she's going to have to dress a lot sluttier than that to get my vote.
8. I haven’t had a chance to weigh in on Adam Vinatieri signing with the Colts. Listening to Sports talk radio as I was driving around doing my paper route you would have thought that it was Tom Brady who signed with the enemy. First of all, let me reiterate what everybody has pretty much been saying about Vinatieri. I’ll always love him and cheer for him whenever he comes back to New England. It doesn’t matter that he signed with the Pats biggest rival. Nothing can ever take away from all that he did here. But at the same time I really could care less that he’s gone. Sure in an ideal world I would have loved for him to retire a Patriot, but I wouldn’t have paid one penny extra to keep him here. As great as Vinatieri is he is still just a kicker. I’m sure there are tons of guys who would have made at least 2 out of the 3 major kicks in Vinatieri’s career. The snow bowl kick was the one exception. But the thing that separates Vinatieri from everybody else is that he got opportunities that no other kicker has ever gotten. I mean other than Scott Norwood, how many Superbowls’ have come down to a last second field goal? And Vinatieri’s two superbowl kicks were in domes. You should nail those kicks. Let’s not forget that he missed two against Carolina and missed a big one against Denver as well. I’m not saying he wasn’t great because he was and he’ll go down as the greatest clutch kicker of all time. But kickers don’t win superbowls. They just don’t. As long as we get an average kicker we’ll be fine. But for anybody who thinks this is a crushing blow doesn’t know football.
9. By now I’m sure everybody has seen the highlights of the Gonzaga vs. UCLA. And more importantly I’m sure everybody has seen the highlights of Gonzaga superstar Adam Morrison crying like a little baby at the end of the game. I’ve watched a ton of sports in my life and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. Sure, guys cry all the time after they lose a big game, but they usually can hold it together until the final buzzer. I was racking my brain all day trying to think of another example of a guy crying before a game was over and I couldn’t do it. Unless of course you count the Little League World Series where the kids start crying before they’re done with warm-ups. I couldn’t help but wonder what his teammates were thinking when they had to inbound the ball with 2 seconds left in the game and their player of the year candidate was in the corner bawling. Not exactly Jimmy Chitwood esc. As a side note, did people see Gonzaga huddle up after the game at mid court and then clap to the fans as they walked out of the court? What the hell was that all about? That’s the type of shit you pull when you lose a triple OT game on a last second shot. You don’t walk off the court clapping to the fans after one of the greatest choke jobs in the history of the tournament.
10. There was an article in the Boston Herald about how parents are fighting to try and reinstate recess in schools across MA. Apparently “Nationwide, 40 percent of elementary schools have either eliminated recess or are considering shortening students’ free time on the playground, according to the National Parent Teacher Association, which is partnering with the Cartoon Network for the “Rescuing Recess” campaign.
I have a couple thoughts about this. First of all, you need recess in school. How else do you separate the dorks from the cool kids? The law of the playground is what sets the entire social structure of earth in motion. Therefore, the “rescuing recess” campaign is almost as important to this country as the war on terrorism. Having said that I’m not sure we want the Cartoon Network leading the charge. I mean how can you take anything the Cartoon Network says seriously?
11. George Mason is in the Final Four. I just can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. This has to be the greatest Cinderella story in my lifetime. And I think only a fool would say they have no chance to win the whole thing. After all they’ve already beaten Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn and none of them were flukish in the least bit. They flat out deserved to beat all these teams. As great a story as this is how do you feel if you’re Hofstra? The Flying Dutchman didn’t get invited to the tournament despite beating George Mason twice at the end of the season. My guess is that the success of George Mason will change the way the committee selects the field of 64 for the next decade. This is the ultimate statement that mid majors not only belong in the tournament but can go toe to toe with the big boys. It’s a great story. As a side note, El Presidente has incorrectly predicted the winner of the last 93 tournament games. It’s an unprecedented losing streak. And for the first time since I've been alive I have no teams left in the Final Four. I'm disgusted with myself.