Summing up last night

(posted by email)

 

Good morning, my loyal minions.

 

What a night last night. Two games, two ass-kickings in what I figured would be closer games.

 

Sunday's game will be a good game though. Memphis and Texas should be a hell of a matchup.

 

There were a lot more Memphis fans there than I'd expected to see, but UT fans outnumbered them at least 10-1.

 

It'll be a fun afternoon. Tons of it.

 

Now I'm off to go get a shower before the Astros game.

 

(P.S. Don't forget to watch Twitter and Utterz for updates)

A blast from the past

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've my brother has taken with the world.

This week I dug into the archives and found a good one of Bear:

I got the ball! I got the ball!

This one was taken Feb. 15, 2006 by my brother. If I remember right, he wanted me to throw the ball to Bear and he wanted to get pictures. He was about a year and a half old then if my math is correct.

A few housekeeping things for the rest of the week

If you haven't yet heard, I'm leaving tomorrow and will be out of town all weekend at the NCAA South Regional in Houston.

Updating this place will be sporadic at best. There should be a few scheduled posts that go up, but nothing more.

Where the real action will be is on my Twitter and Utterz pages.

I'll text occasional updates to Twitter and I'll try to send a few cell phone pictures and call in to Utterz when I get a chance to.

I'd post the images straight to Blogger from my phone, but last time I did that the response text that Blogger sent me killed my phone.

Blasphemy can be funny!

Let me introduce y'all to my Twitter friend TweetJeebus.

Just look at this exchange I had last night (in chronological order):

TweetJeebus Arrived at the resort in Herzliya, but they have totally hosed our reservations. No room at the inn. It all seems so familiar. 21 minutes ago from web

fatelvis04 @TweetJeebus Maybe you'll get some "wise men" to give you free stuff! 17 minutes ago from twhirl in reply to TweetJeebus

TweetJeebus @fatelvis04 Mom is still upset over the gold, frankincense and myrrh. "All that way and forgot the diapers! And they call themselves wise?" 4 minutes ago from web in reply to fatelvis04

I'm probably laughing myself straight to hell for this...

So the field is set ...

... for the NCAA Division I Basketball South Regional in Houston.

It'll be Memphis, Texas, Stanford, and Michigan State.

If you haven't heard, I've got tickets to the regional just six rows off of the court.

So, here are my predictions:

Friday:

6:27 PM CDT tip: (3) Stanford vs. (2) Texas - Texas.

Approx. 8:57 CDT tip: (5) Michigan St. vs. (1) Memphis - Memphis

Sunday:

Time TBD: (2) Texas vs. (1) Memphis - Texas

You might wonder why I pick Texas. For the record I am NOT a Longhorns fan so it's not a homer pick. With the regional being in Houston, it might as well be a home game for the 'Horns. That's a huge advantage in the NCAA's.

Video worth watching

Port Arthur native Kevin Everett, the Buffalo Bills player that broke his neck during week one of the NFL season and is now walking again, did an interview with a local TV station.

Watch it.

Sleepy time

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Hey, leave us alone!

I wish I'd shown this angle when I did this post instead of the one I chose, but hindsight is 50/50.

My take on the whole mess between the hockey team and Jefferson County

Simply put, you can't blame this mess solely one side.

Jefferson County is to blame because they county don't seem to be terribly willing to accept the fact that they're going to lose money on Ford Park no matter what they do. That's just the nature of maintaining a venue like that. Places like that are like parks. You don't have them to make money, you have them to improve quality of life for the area's residents and the economic impact that a facility like that generates.

But it is my belief that the team shares a lot of blame too. If they were really enthusiastic about being back after this year, they would have picked up the option written into the lease (PDF) in section 3.b (page 4 of the PDF) by September 30th. They didn't.

The team argues that the lease terms allow for them to have another season under the same terms, pointing to the "Force Majeure" clause in the contract (Section 17, pages 20 and 21 of the PDF) which they believe applies because of the 2005-06 season's cancellation due to Hurricane Rita.

What the team fails to mention when pointing to that clause of the contract is the settlement reached between them and the county after Rita. The agreement that basically gave the team two years rent-free. It's been everybody's understanding that the two rent-free seasons compensated them for the lost season and that another season would not be owed.

In fact, the team has never said anything about being owed a fifth season before last week when they sent out that email I posted.

I requested a copy of the settlement (as well as a few other documents) from the team so I could see whether they were truly owed another season or not.

I received no reply to that email.

In that same email I requested a copy of the notice to vacate and any correspondence indicating that negotiations had been terminated or that they would not be allowed to play in Ford Arena. I requested these both because not only were they not contained in the documents released by the team, but the county denies ever doing any of those. Of course, I didn't receive those either.

The claim that all negotiations were terminated has already come out to be false, as a new offer was submitted to the county today by the team.

The fact that the team is unwilling to generate these documents leads me to think that none of these claims are true.

I don't appreciate being lied to by anybody, much less by people who I'm giving money to.

With that being said, I'll buy playoff tickets. Part of me thinks I shouldn't even do that, but I've been rooting for these guys all year and it'd be tough to not see them through to the playoffs. But I will not buy the $357 package that would lock up my current seat for the entirety of the playoffs.

Nope, I'll be buying the cheapest full-playoffs package, which runs $187.

After that, I won't give the team another cent IF they do happen to come back. I just refuse to give money to people that lie to me.

Of course, if the team decided after reading this to generate the requested documents, I might change my mind.

But I doubt it.

I would blog, but ...

... I just don't feel up to it.

Yea, it seems like I've come down with something.

Regular blogging will resume in the next couple of days.

So I wasn't the only one who smelled a rat with the team's actions

Apparently the team's beat writer for the local paper did too.

Give it a read. It's well-written and... uh... very blunt.

After reviewing the evidence before me...

...and seeing the county's response to what the team has said I don't know what to think.

(Links to documents released by the team can be found at the bottom of this page)

With that in mind, I've sent an email to the team requesting information which I believe will clear up a lot of the questions I have.

Sheesh it's tough to want to see all the information and make up your own damn mind. Why can't I just be a sheep and believe what I'm told by people? It has to be a lot easier on the brain.

I missed the announcement, but still

(Hat-tip: Deadspin)

ESPN is bringing back BattleBots!

For the uninitiated, BattleBots is a competition of remote-controlled robots fighting each other in a tournament.

Kick Ass!

Stretching out

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

Since baseball season's almost here, I've got one from my group of baseball picutres:

Astros Catcher Brad Ausmus stretches out in the outfield before Opening Day on April 3, 2006.

Kern's own son is (possibly) worse than the terrorists?

(Hat-tips: Mana Drama and Wonkette)

Jenny posted yesterday morning about Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern's comments that homosexuality is "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam" on Mama Drama.

It was the first I'd heard of the story from the state that sucks so much that it keeps Texas from falling into the Gulf.

You can catch a video that has a lot of the audio from the speech here.

Never mind the ignorance of this lady's comments. I'm not even going to waste my time with talking about those.

In the same post about the death threats on Wonkette (which I need to add to the blogroll), there's a link to a piece from Queerty that one of Kern's sons might be gay.

Man, that'd be a bitch if that came out to be true.

But isn't that how these things go? Someone who says something like that seems to always have something like this laying in their history just waiting to be found.

I mean, this isn't exactly another Spitzer, but sheesh.

UPDATE: I asked this on Twitter but got no response, so I'll ask here. If gays are worse than terrorists, are bisexuals half as bad as terrorists?

Jefferson County's shit hits the fan?

Got this email from the Wildcatters:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  QUINCY BIRD
PHONE:  (409) 951-5504
qbird@wildcattershockey.com

WILDCATTERS INSTRUCTED TO VACATE FORD ARENA

BEAUMONT, TX-- The Texas Wildcatters were told Wednesday afternoon by Jefferson County to vacate their offices and players' facilities in Ford Arena within 30 days from the completion of the 2008 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs. The County has indicated it would refuse to honor the terms of the Wildcatters license agreement permitting play for five full hockey seasons.

More of the email after the jump:

It is unfortunately now clear, that despite the Wildcatters' good faith efforts since October 29, 2007 to have an honest dialogue with county officials concerning hockey in Southeast Texas, that all negotiations have been terminated by the County as of March 12, 2008.

During the course of negotiations to retain hockey in Southeast Texas, the Wildcatters at all times believed the County would live up to the license agreement signed by the County and currently in effect and that clearly provides for five full hockey seasons.

While the Wildcatters originally initiated discussions with the County this past fall, the Wildcatters, on February 4, 2008, made a comprehensive proposal to the County which also included the addition of a second major professional sports team (MISL) which would have added another 15 dates to the arena's calendar.  In addition to the current Wildcatters total of 36 dates, this would have brought the total number of sports dates to 52 plus playoffs, accounting for nearly 80% of the current building usage.

In that proposal the Wildcatters also offered to make a very significant investment of $1M-$5M in the building.  That offer was ignored.

The County's only response to this comprehensive proposal was to propose a rent of $10,000 per game – triple what is clearly identified in the license agreement – followed by a later offer of $4,000 per game.  These delays and the ensuing breach of the license agreement caused the Wildcatters to miss several extended ECHL deadlines and cost the Wildcatters the opportunity to retain an ECHL team for the 2008-09 season.

The County encouraged the Wildcatters to pursue other playing options and the organization immediately began negotiations with the Central Hockey League.  The Wildcatters arranged for the purchase of a CHL franchise to bring to Jefferson County.  The CHL has seven Texas-based teams and offers the opportunities for tremendous geographic rivalries due to the relative proximities of many of the teams in relation to Southeast Texas.

On February 28, 2008, the County withdrew its offer for the $4,000 per game rent, and it has become clear that the County was not negotiating in good faith to keep professional hockey in Southeast Texas.  

In response to several misleading and inaccurate reports concerning details of the Texas Wildcatters' lease status at Ford Park, the team is releasing all information, letters and documents in its possession pertaining to discussions with County officials in order to clarify the record.

As part of this, it is the Wildcatters' understanding that the County has indicated, in connection with discussions with various third parties, that the County is awaiting a response from the Wildcatters to the County's offer for hockey at Ford Arena in 2008-09.  There is in fact no offer from the County for the team to respond to.  The County officials have informed the Wildcatters their lease is null and void after completion of the 2008 Playoffs.

The Wildcatters have been told they may not play at Ford Park next season, costing the arena its primary tenant as well as a proposed new sports tenant and potential significant capital contribution.

The Wildcatters will continue to pursue all options to keep professional hockey in Southeast Texas for the 2008-09 season. 
Materials pertaining to the County discussions with the Wildcatters are currently available for the media at the Wildcatters' offices and will be posted for the public on the team website, www.wildcattershockey.com by 10 p.m. Thursday, March 13, 2008.

The Texas Wildcatters are the proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the NHL and the AHL’s Houston Aeros.

It's done gotten ugly, yo. And it's about to get much worse.

Needless to say, nobody on Commissioner's Court will be getting my vote when re-election time comes around in (I think) two years.

Carr goes to New York

Despite what I expected, David Carr has been picked up by the Giants:

Eli Manning and the New York Giants have a new backup quarterback.

David Carr signed Wednesday in a move that gives the Super Bowl champions an experienced backup who like Manning was a No. 1 pick overall.

Terms were not immediately available.

"I have a lot of calluses,'' Carr said. "I'm like an old carpenter I've been through it. If you let that stuff affect you, you're not going to be able to do your job. One of the reasons I'm excited about coming here is they protect the quarterback well and they have playmakers on the outside.''

Don't worry David, I'm sure you'll suck there too.

"Client 9" was a stinker in bedA guest column by Kristen

(Another fine mediocre pretty damn lame JRT parody)

Hi, I'm Kristen, and I serviced the now famous "client 9."

"	The true crime here is not that he hired me, but that the experience was so horrendous!	"

Yes, that's right. I'm a call girl. And I'm not ashamed. Why should I be? The money's great and I enjoy the sex and the traveling.

Well, I usually enjoy the sex.

Just not with him.

The media reports say that the encounter lasted a few hours, but it was truthfully only about a minute.

It was TERRIBLE!

Worst client I've ever had.

The true crime here is not that he hired me, but that the experience was so horrendous!

I mean, I've serviced a lot of famous and/or powerful people in the past with my job and it hasn't bothered me a bit. If a list of the people I've serviced in the past were to ever come out then you'd probably see a fourth of our government resign in disgrace.

You know, all the guys up in DC here, away from their families and wives, they get lonely and/or horny.

I don't see anything wrong with it. After all, it's my body and I should be able to do what I want with it!

Kristen, a former employee of the Emperors Club VIP call-girl service, is currently seeking employment with another service. Don't bother trying to contact her, she'll contact you.

O NOES! TEH SPYDER ATTAKS!

Gotta love I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER:

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

If you didn't notice, the shuttle launched last night very early this morning.

Here's wishing them a safe trip and return home.

I could have lived without seeing this:

From the Onion News Network, one of the few things more sickening than eating eight hot dogs in a span of four minutes:

Anonymous Philanthropist Donates 200 Human Kidneys To Hospital

I'm no Kobayashi, but...

...I have won a hot dog eating contest.

When I walked into the hockey game, a couple of the guys from the front office tried to recruit me to enter the contest, which they planned on holding during the first intermission.

When I was told that the winner got an Anton Khudobin stick signed by the entire team I decided to give it a try. After all, I couldn't be more humiliated than that time I did sumo hockey, right?

I figured I'd probably eat about three and say I'm done.

So I go down there and see the competition. I'm the smallest of the three guys. Right about then I'm thinking "there's no way I'm winning this thing."

We come out and as we're just about to start we get a curveball thrown at us by bringing out the team's equipment manager to participate.

Then we got the rules... as many as you can eat in three minutes.

I started out kind of slow, but as I got going I picked up the pace, noticing that water did help a lot in getting the bread to go down. I finished the three minutes tied with another guy for first with four five and 3/4 dogs eaten.

So we go to a one-minute overtime. I'm thinking "Oh fuck, not more!"

When they start us up, I picked up one and the other guy got one in each hand and started. I figured I was screwed right then. But right about the time I finished the first one, I saw he was about halfway through his two so I knew I still had a chance. I picked up my pace a little on the second dog and finished it with a few seconds left just about the same time the other guy did.

I quickly grabbed a third hot dog and took a bite right before the horn went off, squeezing out the contest by that one bite and taking home the stick and bragging rights.

I must have looked pretty rough during the second period, as one of the ladies near me almost flagged down the team doc to take a look at me, but I was fine.

Well, besides feeling like I needed a nap.

(Corrected because now that I think about it I ate one more than I said I did the first round)

You mean the Democrats want to simplify something?

After the clusterfuck (just look at Jim Thompson's Twitter log from the night) that was the caucus part of the so-called "Texas Two-Step" on Tuesday, the Dems want to get rid of it:

Responding to pressure, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party on Friday called for simplifying the state party's confusing primary-caucus system after long lines and chaos plagued many local caucuses on election night.

Chairman Boyd Richie joined other key party party leaders in calling for changes to the hybrid system, nicknamed the "Texas two-step."

[...]

Acknowledging some of the problems, Richie said in a news release: "I believe changes in party rules should be made (in order to) welcome newcomers to our Party and encourage them to stay involved by making their participation as meaningful and convenient as possible."

Nice to see that they want to simplify it.

My guess is that it'll turn into what it is for the Republicans, more or less just an election of delegates to the county or senate district conventions.

Type your summary here

I had been thinking about going to the Republican precinct convention out of sheer curiosity but family events didn't allow me to. I mean, who in their right mind would pass up a trip to Outback?

Who knows, maybe I'll make it in 2010.

Petey's idea of relaxing

Welcome to Friday Photo, a new feature where I share photos that I've taken with the world.

I'm just trying to be cute!

Supposedly ...

... they've fixed the bug with scheduled posts where they didn't generate permalinks.

If this posts ends up having one, then they have! (UPDATE: Yes they have!)

Live-ish blog: Election night observations from Texas

First off, McCain's clinched thanks to us!

Here's some other observations:

• The voting/caucus site near my house (a school where three precincts are voting) had a full parking lot, cars parked all along the streets, and businesses around there had full parking lots too. People were still out looking for spots at 7:30.
• Oddity: Coryell County's Democratic results with 100% in. 2,434 for Clinton, 2,434 for Obama. 49% each.
• Reports are that the caucuses have been organized chaos. Caucuses that normally had two or three people had two or three hundred people showing up.
• Not election news, but the Wildcatters won tonight 3-1. Makes me happy!
• Yes Hillary's leading the counts now, but the urban counties are slow to count and they're leaning towards Obama.
• Amen, Reverend! Obama seems a lot like a very dynamic preacher when he's giving a speech.
• Brooks and Dunn's "Only in America" at the Obama rally in San Antonio. Didn't expect to hear that.
• I CAN HAS MAJIK BOARD? Seriously, I love that huge, interactive touch screen thing CNN has. That's just so fucking sweet. Like an iPod Touch on crack.

I'm gonna hang it up for the night here, but I might post some more stuff on my Twitter page later.

A different take on Obama

From Hillary's rally here today:

Saying that the toys were "not good for much but everybody wanted one," [former Texas state senator Carl] Parker called Senator Barack Obama the 'hula-hoop' of politics.

"If we make the mistake of picking that fella, the fad will be over by November," Parker said.

(Link)

I don't think he likes Obama all that much...

I couldn't find the exact quote, but I'm still putting this one up as a quote of the day.

The end is nigh!

To the election craziness, that is.

Tomorrow's election day, which means no more of this:

or this:

on my TV.

I was planning on going to the caucus tomorrow night (Texas has both primaries and caucuses) but it's my grandmother's birthday and my cousin is doing a dinner for us. Family's more important, so I'm going to the dinner.

I'll just be glad that all the commercials and phone calls will be gone.