Entries from September 2007 ↓

Whether the rule is a good one or not is not the question. It's a matter of being able to ever play a team again and say "We played fair" and expect to be believed. They have a definition of what the rule is (whether it is an arbitrary definition or not, that's what it is), something about our cameraman being on the Jets sidelines or something? Clear enough that Bellichick knew it, and broke it.

Once upon a time, when I was down in Baltimore, I crossed paths with someone in a bar and Boston was brought up. "Celtics," he said, "Greatest basketball dynasty of all time."

I was on a plane once, in New York, during a Red Sox / Yankees series. Guy sitting in the same row as me, a New Yorker, told me, "You know, I think there should be a rule that whenever that guy you've got, Pedro Martinez, whenever he's pitching, the other team should just be able to say you know what, you win. We're taking the night off."

As of right now, when people speak of the Patriots, it will be to say "Aren't they the ones that got caught cheating?"

That's what pissed me off. Bellichick is bringing us wins, absolutely, but as of right now he also brought an insane amount of bad press. We're not even getting into the whole sleeping with another man's wife thing, either. I'd prefer to have a football team I'm proud to watch on a Sunday night, and be able to go into work on Monday saying "Good game", rather than justify that "No, I don't think they cheated this time, but I honestly can't say."

Oh come on. How could they ever consider watching the other team cheating? This has nothing to do with integrity. This was a stupid rule that was unenforceable. Every team is watching the other teams signals and there shouldn't be a rule against it. How can you reliably detect and prevent watching or recording the other team?

I can't stand cheaters. I can't I can't. He was cheating and he knew it. "My interpretation of the rule" my foot. That makes him a smug cheater. If you know where the rules are, and you risk stepping over them, you are basically saying "I don't have faith in my team to win within the boundaries of the game." Nice coach.

Here's my problem – now every game we've ever won, every game we ever will win, somebody will be able to say "Yes, but you're cheaters." And they'll be right. Just because we got caught once (twice, even!) what are we gonna say, "Oh,yeah,we promise, we weren't cheating this time?" You've lost all integrity. You'll never be able to look an opponent in the eye and say that you played a fair game, and expect to be believed. That includes our SuperBowl wins.

"They all do it," you'll say. "Why do coaches cover their lips when they give calls?" Maybe that's true. Maybe every team does what they can to get an advantage. But as of right now, all those other teams are working within the rules, and you can't prove otherwise. Belichick was so arrogant about his chances that he flaunted the rule multiple times.

Personally I'd fire the guy. Demonstrate to the league and to all the fans that you don't do cheaters. Get back some integrity. The only problem with that plan is that some other team, one of the ones right now who is screaming "He's a cheater!" would be right there in line to say "He needs a job? Call him!"

There's a complete cloud over this weekend's game now. I wonder if it will last all season? It's a shame.

Oh come on, you guys should at least both mention that you work for Mobicious! 🙂 Astro-turfing is never cool, and you always get caught. Of course you think it's awesome if you work in the marketing department :).

I tried it and it is awesome

Chris Benoit's diary shows just how seriously depressed he was, ever since the death of his friend Eddie Guerrero. He even says things like "I'll see you soon", suggesting that he was considering suicide previous to the night where he took his own life and those of his family.

It also appears as evidence for his growing dementia, as he comments about starting to forget things. His rapidly increasing paranoia was seen and commented on by many people. The example shown includes how he would never take the same route to the airport twice for fear he was being followed.

As with so much other evidence it does not justify or excuse what he did. But for those of us that cannot accept that he was a monster, it makes things a little easier to come to terms with. I'm going to keep reporting news like this whenever I find it.

AWESOME! if u get th chance, go to the deleted scenes and hit blades of glory song!
(main part of song)
sail across the sky, on the blades of glory, set the fire to the eye, on th blades of glory, todays the first chapter of our, mythic story!… oh yeah n its chazz n jimmy singin. (hot fuzz was awsome 2!)

Mobicious just launched a new ringtone maker. Totally free… you don't even need an account. They'll take your music upload, you select a 20 second clip, and they message it to your phone.

People, stop paying for ringtones!

Apple has a new feature for the iPhone. See a song on iTunes that you like? Click and turn it into a ringtone! The only problem is that you have to pay 99 cents for the song, and then another 99 cents for the privilege of making it a ringtone. Who is the ad wizard who thought that one up? Or was that one for the "We'll give it a shot and see how many people actually do it before the bad press gets too overwhelming" pile?

Naturally this has started up a flurry of "How to get free ringtones for your iPhone" articles, which in turn has spawned articles for "Get free ringtones even if you don't have an iPhone."

Over a year ago I simply got a phone that actually supports MP3 ringtones (a Motorola v360, to be specific). And then it was a simple matter of getting them on the phone. Easy easy. My ringtone is Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day…") as sung by David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd. The uber-cool thing is that my 5 and 3 yr olds can now both sing that song, referring to it as the song that Daddy's phone sings.

I suggested that my 5yr old sing it for her new kindergarten teacher, but then it dawned on me that her teacher would probably have no idea what she was hearing.

What season is the show in now? I don't even know.  I remember watching the first season, liking the premise, and then just sort of drifting away from it.  Like many shows, once it goes too much into the sob story and the crying, I get turned off.  You want to work for it and show some determination, then you'll have my respect.  But don't go crying about how hard it is, you're the one who got yourself into the situation in the first place.

In case you didn't see every single commercial, there's a twist thing time around.  We start with the Blue team (led by Bob), and the Red team (led by Kim) in a demanding physical challenge.  Both trainers are out in the desert (having parachuted there), and it's a simple footrace – be the first to touch one of them, and you're the team captain.  Then you have to pick your team.  This event could have been better, there were really no surprises.  When one last woman (Amber?) was still way behind, all the other contestants went out to cheer her across the finish line.  That was kind of cool, but at the same time I was like "You already quit.  Leave." 

There's 18 people, however, and each team only gets 6.  That means that 6 are leaving right off the bat.  Except, they're not.  Jillian, trainer from past years, is back in secret to lead this "Black" team without anyone's knowledge, including the other trainers.  In a week or so she's going to take her team back into the main game and shake things up a bit.  Neat idea.

Now, and I think this is a standard thing they do, all the contestants are led into a room full of junk food for a brainwashing lecture on how bad it is.  The trainers go from table to table talking about all the disgusting aspects of the food before ultimately dumping it on the floor.  What I would have love to see here is a freakout by the trainers, rather than a lecture.  Or even better, a freakout by the contestants.  Just go nuts and trash the place.  Don't just toss it on the floor, throw it up in the air and scream while you're doing it.  Show that food who's boss.

At this stage of the show, with 18 people, it's too hard to track them all by name.  So let's do the trainers.  Bob is my favorite, because you really do believe that he wants you to do well and that he'll be disappointed in you if you don't do your best.  What more can you ask?  It was great to see him standing right there with the team during weigh-in (apparently a new thing on the show?) and cheering them on.  A nice reminder that the trainers are part of the game, not really producers like, say, the host.

Kim doesn't do much for me.  She even said it in her own bio when she said "I'm not the new kid anymore" or something like that.  The problem is, yes, she is.  She's still got that "Come on, do it for me" sort of attitude that just wouldn't do it for me.

Jillian's style, I don't love.  I mean, I like it in a sort of "training montage at the end of a Rocky movie" way, but not as a motivational tactic for 400lb people.  In her bio she says that her motivational tactic is, and I quote, "Beatings beatings beatings beatings, and then more beatings."  Nah, not for me thanks.  I understand why *I* need to get in shape, but what I need to understand is why *you* have earned the right to beat on me.  As I said above, I really believe that Bob is personally invested in the contestants.  With somebody like Jillian I think she's mostly in it for herself.

Anyway, that's the first week, they end up kicking off Amber, the one who walked across the first finish line.  The captain of that team, the one who picked her, even acknowledges how pissed off he is that he could have selected someone that would try a little harder.

Good show, I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.