Manny Acta got Served!!!

I attended last nights depressing Nationals game. Shawn Hill once again demonstrated that he is not up to pitch right now, but that was not what prompted me to write this entry. Dimitri Young, Dukes, and Lopez play were crazy lazy. Lo Duca left because of light headedness. One fan claimed Lo Duca puked in left field, I missed that and cannot confirm. Forgive me while I question his feeling like crap, its not nice, but after watching the pathetic display on the field the whole thing stinks. What prompted me to write this were the words of a young baseball fan sitting behind me, the kid could not have been more than 5 or 6 years old. His words were a reply to Hill (a righty pitcher) walking (intentionally) a lefty hitter early in the game with 2 outs, and men on second and third.

"He has no home runs!"

Those words were true - the hitter had no home runs. I am not going to question the whole, walking a lefty to get a righty stuff, but the Nats were already in the hole 6 runs at that point. We were certainly not fighting to take the lead given the score. The words brought a rare smile to my face, and those around us, in a game that was complete torture. I would rather watch KKK-Clint ignore anyone of color in his stupid little give-aways than watch the Nats dog it like they did last night. What stuck with me is that such a young fan could be so right in calling out the Nats and Manny Acta. That kid should be dreaming of catching foul balls, and a Nats comeback, not accepting the reality of his team. How can we let this happen!? Its painful to watch and I blame the entire Nats organization for destroying that little boys evening. Even if he did have fun, he should not be forced to face the harsh reality - the Nats suck.

The Nats could have at least dive and run - make some of those little effort plays that sometimes make all the difference, but they didn't. They strained, struggled, possibily even puked but forgot the most important thing of all - their job, which incase any Nats are reading is to play ball. We remind them every night right before the game, so 'PLAY BALL' Nationals, win lose, just play ball already. The DL excuse is getting pathetic, this is your team, your season, and your crappy record. Frank Robinson never would have let you get this bad.

That's right, this is pay back for pissing on our hall of fame manager - Frank Robinson. Frank would have made sure that if nothing else guys made the effort. I like what you can do when the Nats are winning, Manny, but REAL managers bring their team through these situations with class and respect for the game. The Angels pulled their best hitter because they saw the same thing a little boy did - a bunch of pansies in baseball uniforms.

BRING BACK FRANK!

Healthy-er Living? Hey they make a pill for that!

After 18 or so years I have quit smoking. At least I think I quit. Once something gets a hold of you, like smoking, when can you say you actually quit? In a year, two, when I die? Screw it, at some point I am going to have a smoke, you know it, I know it, even Philip Morris knows it. The real question is will said future smoke send me back to where I was just a few weeks ago - sucking on camel lights like I could get a new pair of lungs with enough camel cash. And the answer is no, N-O, I am done with smoking. Because it was killing me? Nope. Because it was killing others around me? Nope, some of them I was doing a favor. I figured out there were three reasons I smoked:

1. Chemical dependency - gotta get that fix!
2. I love it - its cool and you meet the craziest people.
3. I get bored.


One and two speak for themselves. Smoking is addictive as hell and after a while dictates how you plan your day. Going to work? Got enough smokes to make until lunch when you can get more? No, better get up earlier to get some. Going out to the bar? Got enough to share with the social smokers? Better get 2 packs. It may not seem like much, but over 18 years that is a lot of wasted energy, good bye great American novel. But I loved it, smoking is very social. I cannot tell you how many people I have interacted with over a smoke in the past 18 years. Whether its some flight attendant at an airport or some drunk meat head at a bar, smoking leads to some great stories. I loved watching drunks light cigarettes backwards, I let them do it every time, just for my own petty amusement. So how does someone who is addicted and loves smoking quit? Oddly enough, with more drugs!

Thanks to Chantix, which was developed when some folks making anti-depressants found one that made people smoke less. In case you flunked bio, in your body are receptors which account for things such as pleasure. Nicotine receptors are 'happy' when you smoke and your brain gets so into that pleasure it goes 'ape shit' when you don't smoke. Chantix blocks that pleasant release from the receptors. No more twitching or freaking out, since your brain can forget rather quickly about the receptors pleasure inducing release. Say goodbye to that sensation that makes you want run through people to get off a plane so you can get your sweet, tasty fix you need so badly. Without that fix every smoke feels broken, like they left something out at the factory. I found myself staring at my first smoke on the drug wondering what happened!? No literally staring! No fix intensifies the taste, or makes you aware of it, which is not good without the receptors two cents. Oh and forget about chain smoking, without the fix and with the taste and that heaviness you suddenly notice, ugh. Hold up - its not a miracle cure, no fix makes it easier, a lot easier, damn its pretty easy on this stuff - but still leaves you with the psychological impact of long term smoking, or more simply put - the nasty habit.

Anytime I finished a task, or had trouble starting something I could always use a the tobacco flavored treat to jump start my productivity. Like a dog that won't sit when you tell him, but will be your bitch for a biscuit, I'll do a lot for a smoke. Smoking kept me going, or at least so I thought. Once I started on the drug I thought quitting would be a cake walk, but even with bad taste I still got the urge to smoke. Especially on the weekends. Then I realized it, I was bored. I went out to smoke - on commercials, while my wife played video games I did not like, after surviving a walk with our dog, after diner. Basically anytime something was 'finished' or anytime 'I lost interest'. That realization freaked me out, but more importantly pissed me off. You see I pride myself on discipline and a strong work ethic. When I was slapped in the face with the fact that I was killing time, killing myself, I quickly realized how lame my smoking had become. I always complain that I do not have time to relax and do all the things I want to do, that life is sometimes about half-assing things because no one has enough time. Now there is some truth to that, but faced with the fact that I was wasting time, a lot of time, ignoring important things so I could smoke, made me feel dumb and mad.

So I finished my last pack and said thats it, no more. It was not easy, but it was not hard either. With the drug there was no constant droning in my head telling me something is not right. The thought pops in my head, a smoke would be nice, and that voice is quickly squashed by, go for a run, take out the trash, pick up a book. The longer I go without, the quieter that voice gets. At the same time I am constantly confronted with how dumb I have been. The other night I walked the dog, went for a run, did the dishes, took out the trash and made lunch for the next day. When I was finished it was 8:30pm. When I smoked I was lucky to be starting the walk by 7:45, and likely to skip either making a lunch or doing the dishes, and finished by 9:30pm. As if I needed another reminder about time wasted!

Oh and work? Well I used to think not smoking would hurt my productivity because of those bargains I made with my self about finishing a task and then having a smoke. Well guess what. I spend more time surfing blogs these days and still get more done. On top of that, I tend to get tasks done with fewer bugs. I think that at the end of a task I was already halfway out the door with a smoke and losing focus. I also used to be out smoking and remember forgeting some piece or step in what I just finished. Now, things just get done, at a nice constant, easy, relaxing, pace. Man was I wrong.

I am getting older and maybe my body is backing me up, with the pipes clearing my body seems more eager to tackle the tasks, or may be its the brain - without being preoccupied with smoking my brain is thinking how to get everything done before a game starts, or maybe its the anti-depressent and I am happier. I think was still pretty happy before, so its not the drug. I do think the cloud of crap over my brain and body is a huge part of my renewed productivity and feeling good about myself. Fortunately I found not smoking can be pretty addictive.

P.S. I really dislike that last sentence which reads like a preachy after school special. You know, where a prententous ass gives the moral, but the whole thing drives the message over the top to the point where its so unbelieveable you have no porblem saying that 'won't be me' and lighting up a smoke before the credits are over. You know like the character gives his friend, an olympic swimmer, cancer from second hand smoke and crushes his dreams. It turns out the friend does not have health insurance so he has to die at home with his mom caring for him Then the smoker goes to an ivy league college and becomes a lawyer who then takes on the tobacco company and wins. After that he gets an award and tells his sad story to the public and begs for forgiveness, when out of no where the mother of his friend comes up and cries and hugs him.

I can also see it in a sitcom ending with a crappy music montage over the some eighties song that does not quite fit like Journey's Oh Cherrie, or Poison's Every Rose Has its Thorn, where some dude wins the lottery the same day he finds out he has lung cancer. Then some frail looking judgemental chic is walking in slow motion and gives a sad helpless look and the guy hands her the ticket because he is dying anyway.

Or even worse another played episode of Scrubs where J.D. is distraught over the whole smoking situation for like 25 minutes and then gets distracted by Elliot's tight ass (or is it the roundness) or a fast-talking tongue lashing by Dr. Cox. It would be set to the music of some new Indy band. Of course that Indy band won't be cool anymore because they are discovered and have made it, big time, and their fans only liked them because they were 'undergound'.

I guess sometimes we just know how to blind ourselves to the truth that is right in front of us. Oh god I sound like a jack ass, the only thing separating me from an evangelist is an audience, mirrors, and properly placed 'Praise Jesus' remarks.

Shit, I need a smoke.

Maybe I should submit this as a testamonial to Chantix?

Hulk Smash

Yeah I am a little late on the review, so what. In any case I have some thoughts about the movie, but first a little background. I am a comic book nerd, while other boys put their money into mouse, gel, izods, nu metal, and bad rap I was buying comics. While boys worked part time jobs to get that rusted out fire bird or that lifted truck I was washing dishes, up to my arm pits in old chowder, so I could turn around and dump that money on comic books. While other boys tried figure out how to convince the girls to pay attention to them I was searching for the last issue of the Longshot limited series because he wore leather and threw knives, which is friggin' cool (besides we all just ended up beating off, at least I got something out of it). I sat and gazed longingly at the Todd McFarlain drawn issue where Wolverine fights the Hulk, again. I remember the first issue where the gray Hulk clapped his hands to create a shock wave. Yes there was a gray Hulk, in fact that came before he turned green. That I know these little things should tell you something - I went into the Hulk with expectations. Fortunately those expectations were met.

The Hulk had enough subtle comic references and twists of the old TV show to make me wonder if I was actually dreaming. When they name dropped the creator of the super soldier serum on us I was all whoa! When Tim Roth got his first dose and was running around like Captain America (the first successful recipient of the super soldier serum) I was drooling. When Mr Blue turned out to be Dr Stern (he later becomes the villian the Leader) I nearly ruined my shorts, even if Stern was a janitor in the comics and not a scientist. The only nod I did not like was Dr Sampson - Betties boyfriend, who in the comics becomes Doc Sampson via Gamma radiation and gets his power from his hair. Sorta like a super powered Fraser. If that's not gay enough he later becomes Banner's therapist. Sampson I could live without. By the time Stark showed up at the end I needed a smoke. This is exactly the kind of super hero movie marvel should have been making from the start. Need government involvement - call Shield. Going to New York? You just may see Spiderman and Daredevil. The fact that everything is happening in the same place is a small, but key component.

All of these little things will serve a purpose, they will set up the Avengers movie - which includes both Iron Man and the Hulk, among others. Look at Spider-man, now imagine him running into the Hulk, pretty awesome huh? No?! Well screw you, why don't you ask those hoyty toyty dipshits what movie you should like, or that robot Kurt Loder (I am convinced he is a robot made by MTV). Go see No Country for Old Men, and pay $10 to see some unfinished shit. Sorry skipping the ending of the movie is not cool or hip, its lazy and dumb. Its saying I am so cool I am not even going to let you see how this ends. Please, I cannot turn in half finished websites and call it innovative anymore than a surgeon can do half a surgery. Film makers, bunch of pussies. Anyway, where was I, oh right the Avengers. All this set up of the Avengers is just an extension of what JJ Abrahams started with Lost. He showed we could all be led around by our noses to websites and sneak peaks. He showed that if you make something people actually like they will stick with it. In the end his gone-on-too-long-pretty-people-only-series opened the door for the awesomeness we have today with Iron Man and the Hulk.

Thanks JJ, your show sucks, but you proved to the studios that its better to make superhero movies for those that read the comics, not the tools that beat us up as kids.

Jim Bowden is George Costanza

No big surprise that I have not blogged about the Nats lately. Really do we need my take on the suck factor or who to fire first? Ok I guess we do. After a sweep of the Mariners I am not going to talk about how this is the beginning of better times, but I will give the Nats their due - they sucked less than the Mariners. Really, the Nats got lucky. Casto in to pinch hit?! Excuse me while I check the Deadliest Catch marathon, maybe the fisherman taught a crab how to smoke cigarettes. Actually I watched his at bat or should say watched to see if they walked him, which typically is all you can hope for with Casto's numbers. Casto gave us a great Father's Day, though, his 2 run homer (his first), went off the right field upright into fair territory. Despite boos from the fans the umps conferenced and decided the run stands. Casto's father would later trade two hats for the ball, not bad, not bad at all. So what though, the Nats still suck, and there really is not much to look forward to.

Zimmerman maybe done for the season, and even if he isn't, he is not the kind of hitter who can be productive without some protection in the line up, as we have seen in the past. Milledge and Dukes are not stepping up enough to do much to help. Sure, they can find ways to hit, but not ways to help the team win. Oh, and don't get me started on the pitching - even if they are trying. Bottom line, its a mess out there, and when things get messy where do you go? You go up, because the problem is across the whole team. Do you goto the hitting coach? Maybe, but looking at the hitting last year and this year its hard to wrap your head around what might be going on with the Nats bats. Even if our hitting coach is focusing on the wrong things, with our nucleus on the DL and things still sucking on the grand scale, my eyes turn to GM Jim Bowden.

Jim Bowden should be fired, he blew it in the previous years and put the team in this position. I know - he is building our farm system and we have good prospects. There was nothing masterful in what he has done with the farm system that another GM could not accomplish. Good prospects do not change the fact that he has blown most of our decent trade opportunities. Soriano? Come on, under what circumstances was he going to stay past the season. More importantly if he stayed do you see him playing his heart out for this team while Jim Bowden attempts to do the job he was paid? Sorry folks, Soriano was a missed opportunity, I would have traded those hits and wins back then for some depth today.

Cordero was the second missed opportunity. Yeah he played well, but what do we need a closer for anyway? We ain't contenders, we have holes in our lineup you can drive the Old Town Trolley through, and look at him now - fat and injured. Now we are stuck with him. But what about the farm system? What about it?! Casto, Nieves, Boone? They are OK and have some nice heroics - but really very little to offer in this time of suckiness other than a few bright spots in a bad record. Long story short, Bowden has done nothing to help the Nationals weather the current storm. Bowden missed the opportunities he was given, probably because he went to the Costanza school of professional productivity and took too many naps under his desk.

Sorry folks, DC paid for the stadium, so the Lerners have the money (would have more if there was a name on the stadium too), if Jim Bowden cannot get them to spend some of it or even if he cannot figure out how to spend it, the man is the most worthless piece of the entire Nationals organization. Why should we shell out over priced tickets to see a minor league team play exhibition games with the NL? Because Jim Bowden wants to build the farm system, thats why. Sssshhh, Jimmy is napping and cannot be bothered to deal with the suckage.

Maybe screech should go on a hunger strike until Bowden gets fired. Someone name one thing Jim Bowden has done for this team that some other average GM could not have accomplished?

My Indy Review

Well, I did not hate it. Did I like it? Tough question, I liked the nostalgic trip down memory lane with glimpses of the character I enjoyed in the first three films, but overall the film fits in its numerical position as the weakest of the four. I understand the campy serial roots, which imply unbelievable is part of the game, but the unbelievable we get does not fit with the character. For starters Indy hates the Nazi's (who doesn't), but feels torn with the whole Communist / civil rights stuff. Come on - Indy is not that complicated - unless its archeology and the unknown. Indy is the guy who always brings a gun to every fight and thinks rules just do not apply to him. The Indy I know would shoot any prairie dog for trying to look cute. Where was the romance? No not that, I am sssooo into you now that I know you carried our bastard child Indy - that I hate you because I like you romance. Oh and hello - where was the big ass-kicking throw down? Older and wiser but free of bruises and blood?! Did they blow their budget on CGI rodents, ants, monkeys and not save money for a bottle of schmirnoff so they could tempt some Eastern European tough guy to smack Indy around for a while? Yes it had all the pieces it needed to be great, its just many of the pieces did not fit Indiana Jones.

The movie needed Nazis or at the very least bad guys that embody evil, better to criogenically freeze Indy and thaw him in the 2000's to take down the Bush empire than to pick on the Reds. At least put them in context, have them rescue a russian from some camp or something. The movie needed fun romantic tension between Ravenwood and Jones, how about Indy walks out on her while she is pregnant or something. How sexist is it to turn the drinking, punching, machine gun toting Ravenwood into a friggin' soccer mom? If she can no longer act anymore they should have gotten someone else to play the part. Oh and John Hurt? Hello - super star actor plays a bumbling idiot, you could have gotten the brother from Everyone Loves Raymond to play that part, not Hurt.

Still, I had fun, the Area 51 action sequence was a great throw back. Take out the monkeys, the prairie dogs, the refrigerator, and all Lucas dialogue and it would have been much better. The film just never delivered the right laughs, or any kind of suspense. It felt, well, neutered. Oh yeah - for all that crap with the switch blade Shia should have stabbed someone or thrown the darn thing at someone.

Looking forward to the next Indy movie - Indiana Jones and The Search for the Golden Dentures.