The Draft

Let me paint you a picture. What if you were a fan of a football team who went from being the best to being the worst in just one season. Heartbroken, you witnessed countless players succumb to injury while an egotistical jackass ruined the team chemistry from within. Hopes of back-to-back Super Bowl appearances were crushed as you watched helplessly from home as your football heroes fell into the realm of mediocrity. After the cursed season was finally over, the coaching staff you trust signs a couple of players who look like they will fit well with the team, and your hopes start to rise again. Despite criticism about not signing the flashy or "big" names, you know that certain needs were addressed, and that all your team needs now is a good draft to translate into success. You wait anxiously to see if your beloved team will be able to get at least ONE of the two players they have targeted as top prospects.

Now imagine they get both.

Isn't it beautiful? It's almost as if you can feel the warm light of a winning season already beginning to poke its way through the dark clouds of a bad 2005 season. Like Bob Ross from "The Joy of Painting", I have to just stand back for a bit and admire the fantastic brushstrokes of head coach Andy Reid and GM Tom Heckert's draft masterpiece.

If you're confused, I apologize for getting ahead of myself. Going into Saturday's NFL draft, I knew (and prayed) that the Eagles would address one of two concerns: a pass rushing/run clogging defensive tackle, or a large and talented offensive lineman. In the first round, Brodrick Bunkley (arguably the best DT in the draft) was still available at pick #14 and the birds got him. Then early on in the second round, the Eagles traded up and got Winston Justice, a nasty OT from USC with a lot of size and upside. The Eagles wanted at least one of these two players, and by the grace of God himself they got both. So to say I'm happy is a giant understatement.

Would you believe people still say that Reid drafts poorly? The Eagles also traded up to get an absolute stud LB/DE who was easily the best division I-AA player in the country, recording over 23 sacks his senior year. They also drafted a nice OG and two talented WR whose stocks dropped for unknown reasons. Add another solid DT and LB and . . . oh God, I'm sorry, I have to go clean up.

Was I surprised by how well the draft went? In some ways I was. I've always had faith in the Eagles franchise, and I'm quick to defend the coaching staff for any player decisions they make because they've always been the right moves. But I never expected them to do so well in the draft, and I don't think they expected it either.

Like the Eagles, my hopes are flying high, and all I can do now is wait for the Eagles to once again march down the road to victory.

E - A - G - L - E - S , EAGLES!!!!

Downshift

The last few weeks have really been a whirlwind, as you can tell from my last post, but I've finally reached a bit of a lull in the action and I'm pretty thankful for it. Keeping busy is great, especially when I look back at all the time I wasted last year, and I hope that I can keep being sociable while learning and getting things accomplished. At the same time, everything has been moving a little too fast for me and I need a minute to 'catch my breath'.

Last weekend I did the whole fishing thing on the first day of trout season. Jay and all those Birdsboro boys are real pros at that shit, and my skills paled in comparison. Trout fishing is way different than what I've been used to, since you try to cast a tiny, light weight hook with a little food on it upstream of a trout (that you usually have to spot), and maneuver it so it drifts right in front of the target. Needless to say, it's a hard thing to do and I was fairly unsuccessful at it (in a "didn't catch any" sort of way). But it was fun getting outside for a day and hiking out in the wild with a bunch of good guys to hang with, so I have no complaints. In fact, I'll probably try to go again with them in the next week or so.

Aside from classes, all that's happen since the fishing excursion has involved the family. My uncle Keith, his family, and my Grandma came down for Easter. I've gone to see a few more of my brothers' baseball games (gotta support the 'boys), and actually I met Mike's girlfriend which was kind of funny. And then today I met my sister at some pasta place in the city for lunch: she had a fieldtrip for her major to Philadelphia and went to eat after they did what they needed to do. Her and her hot friend didn't get to hang around for long (the group had to head back to Lockhaven right after eating) but it was still something to kill the boredom.

So what lays ahead of me? Not much right now. School work is essentially done for a couple of days, and I don't have any major plans for this weekend like I have for the last few. I foresee some "hanging around", sprinkled with a little "sleeping in late" in my future. Maybe I'll call around to see what everyone is up to, or maybe I'll just say "fuck it."

Two Weeks

A lot has happened since my last entry. A combination of forgetfulness and business has prevented me from taking some time to get on here, but today is my "easy" day of classes. That's right, I'm back at school baby!!!!

. . . Actually, I'm not THAT excited about it but it is a big step. I'm officially half way done my college career and only have a little over two years of fake work before I graduate and attempt to make a healthy living with real work. Now that I've been taking classes for over a week I have a good idea of how this term is going to shape up, but now I'm getting ahead of myself. I really do have a lot to get to, so enough with the bull shit.

Around the time of my last entry I was already moving into my new house. New might be an overstatement, since it's pretty old, but that's not to say it doesn't kick ass. I got my own room on the third floor of a giant house in Philadelphia, right on Larchwood street. If your not familiar with the 4400 block, it's just west of the UPenn campus. To sum it up as short as I can, the house is big, the property is welcome, the neighborhood is incredible (no bums or crack houses around, it's like the fuckin' Cosby's here), and the BBQ is on full blast. Aside from becoming master of the BBQ (which I built btw) and taking on the role of handyman, I've been settling down in my new room. I'm really happy with my setup and only need some sort of couch or futton to call it quits. Jay is down the hall and we get our own bathroom. A small fridge in another room stocked with soda and I'd be willing to call it a slice of heaven. The long walk to classes is really the only downside, but considering we're paying half of what we would living on campus and that we walk through Penn's campus to get to Drexel, it's a small price to pay for what we get here.

This term should be pretty good. All my classes are Chemistry geared (that's right, I'm out of the TDEC program for engineers thank GOD), and I have a good feeling on how I'll perform. Yet again, thermodynamics is leading the way in toughness, essentially taking up two courses, but the organic chem class is pretty cake and the lab is ridiculously easy considering what I've done my last two co-ops. What I'm really saying is that I have no excuse to not do better this term/year, so I guess we'll just wait and see.

With all this going on, you'd think I haven't done anything else worth mentioning, but you'd be wrong. On the 7th we had our first Atlantic City trip and it was awesome. Me, Jay and Keyur all went to the Borgata and took a seat at the $1/$2 NL game. It was cool because me and Jay actually got sat next to each other, so I didn't feel as intimidated. Honestly, I think me and Jay were the best two players at the table. I bought in for 160 and grinded out for a few hours to get to over 360, never really making any mistakes (actually, I don't think I really lost more than three pots over a 2 hour period).

Then came the hand of all hands: I, John Tegan, got dealt Pocket AA, got it all in against a guy with KK, and LOST when he hit his trips on the flop. A pot that was over $700 went sliding to a player other than me and I was crushed. But I rebought, told myself I just had to grind it all back, and eventually did. Not only did I win a $360 pot later on against the same player when I had trip Kings and he had two pair, but I would then continue winning and eventually cash out +$250 profit on the night. It was a lot of fun, got to hang with some good people, and get out of my element for the night.

Other things have been happening too. We met up with some old buddies at Brownies last Thursday for billiards and socializing, I saw my brothers opening-season game where they won and Mike pitched two innings for 4Ks and just one hit (no ER either), and just now I returned from an inaugural trip to Dave and Busters to celebrate Mr. John Wesley Buffington III's birthday.

Lot's of good things have been happening, and there is no end in site. Should be an interesting year.

Freedom

Last Friday was my last day of work, and the official beginning of my "spring break". It's not a glamorous break, but a necessary one before classes start up again.

Now that coop is over, I can look back and definitely say that it was a great experience. The people I worked with were really nice and friendly, and the company was a good one to work for. In fact, I already talked to my boss Dave about coming back there for my next coop, and it looks like a very very good possibility. In all honesty, I could really see myself working there after I graduate.

Having said that, it is definitely nice to have a week off without having to work or go to class. Saturday I took my brothers to see where I'll be living in the city, and then we met up with my Mom to go eat a cheesesteak at Sonny's. After I took them to Jersey for baseball practice, I went out to Rowan to hang with Mike and Ray. We drove around for a bit and Mike bought some CD's. After rooting for the Flyers and watching them own the Senators, we chilled at Joe's room. We even got the good 'ol N64 up and running, at which point I regulated (granted, my opponents happened to be blazed, but who cares about the details).

Jay and his dad swung by on Sunday, and we both were able to get most or all of our furniture over into our new house. It was a pain in the ass since some of the shit was heavy and awkward, AND we had to go up two flights on a spiral staircase, but we got a lot of work out of the way which was definitely a good thing.

Last night was my Dad's birthday, and we went to Outback for dinner. feel like I'm in enemy territory there from working at Lonestar all that time, but I put myIt's funny because I still differences aside for a steak. I got the Prime Rib and it was banging, and my dad treated himself to a porterhouse, which looked really good. By the way, if someone could let me know what two pieces of meat make up a T-bone, I'd really appreciate it. I know the one part is the NY strip, but what's the other part? It was one of those stupid things I couldn't remember, which REALLY bothered me.

So what's the rest of my break looking like? Well, I'm hoping to get my carpet, computer desk and curtain rod out of the way by tomorrow, and start getting some of my other shit over there. Another NJ trip will probably happen, as long as the Rowan guys have some free time. I'm still trying to contact the elusive Dana, but we'll see if that happens. Basically, I got no plans, but any time off is good time off.

Tuesday is the Worst

I hate this day. Honestly, I'll take a Monday over a Tuesday anytime. I guess it's because my brain understands that a weekend MUST end at some point, so complaining and striving against Monday's are futile. In some way, I look at Monday as the start to a fresh week. If the weekend was boring, if you're in need of money, or if something just didn't go the way you planned, Monday can be (even if you don't want to admit it) welcome.

Tuesday can go suck a fuck. Tuesday is the day I start looking ahead to the weekend, and when you've got a day and a half of work under you're belt and you're not even half way to the promised land of 4 o'clock Friday.... well, I'm sure you understand. Think of it this way too. When a holiday draws near, there's a good chance Monday cancels out for vacation. You never have a Tuesday off, not ever. Time goes slower on Tuesday, and you know it's true.

I have a lot to look forward to, which is making today even harder to get through. Friday is my last day of work here, which I'm honestly not really looking forward to. Of course I want to go back to school, get into the city, and move into my new digs (all reasons why I'm looking ahead gleefully), but I do like this job and the money that comes with it. I found out that, unlike most coops in the past, I won't have to give a thirty minute presentation to the head bosses here on what I've done the last six months. I really was hoping to get out of it, not because I haven't done anything (cuz I've done a lot), but because I hate giving presentations to a group that will probably grill me on absolutely every detail (which 'Woody' would have definitely done).

The best part of it all though is probably the fact that I don't start classes till the 3rd, which means I have 9 days to relax and settle into my new house before the drudgery of classes commences. Granted, I think that Dana might be the only person who shares the same time for "spring break", but whatever, I just want to have some well earned and rare vacation time.

We'll see if anything good happens. I'm not going to lie, a break is going to be nice no matter what, but if I can't find anything to do (I'm talking to you Rowan and Drexel friends), then "nice" is about all I'm going to reach, and who wants to settle for nice? This past weekend, I went to the city w/ Kent and Keyur for the 3rd best burger in America, hung out a few times, and went out to Reading to hang with Jay for a bit. Not too bad, but there's room for improvement.

I guess only time will tell how this break is going to unfold, and considering it's Tuesday, time is something that's not in short supply.

P.S. I assume you are thanking me thoroughly for the hilarious picture, to which I say "You're welcome." When you search for a picture to translate your anguish on a Tuesday and come across that, how can you not share?

Lots of Balls

At the moment, I'm watching 'Nova play Arizona for a spot in the sweet 16. March madness is without a doubt the only basketball I enjoy watching (the NBA just isn't fun to watch anymore), and I'm sure that everyone is following their brackets closely. There have also been some other things happening in the wide world of sports though, with a few topics I wanted to touch on.

First is the Eagles. It's been about a week since free agency started, and I have to say that I'm very encouraged by the moves our team has been making. Lot's of people, including myself, were disappointed to see that LeCharles Bentley, the pro-Bowl center from NO, went to Cleveland, but it's hard to blame the Eagles when the city that he grew up and went to school in makes him the highest paid center in NFL history. The Eagles have been very active though, despite the complaints you might hear from some idiot fans. We picked up possibly the best DE on the market, adding needed depth and ability to our front four. We picked up a highly talented TE who was under-utilized in Cincinnati, which opens the possibility for the Eagles to run many more two TE sets with Schobel and LJ Smith (in my opinion, this signing might turn out to have the biggest impact on the team). We got a receiver who isn't top of the line, but will most likely be an improvement to the slot position currently held by Greg Lewis. We can finally move Dhani back to weak side LB (where he fucking belongs) after acquiring Shawn Barber. Plus, we signed Jeff Garcia, an incredible upgrade in the backup QB position.

Lot's of people are mad that we didn't go out and pay high money for a top-of-the-line receiver, but the market was flooded by too many #2 receivers who want to be paid like #1's. If you look around the league, you can see teams overpaying players on the market more than probably any other year. The cap was increased, and so far many teams have been acting like when a kid goes out and blows the extra cash he got for Christmas. The Eagles have never been a team that spends money just because they have it, and that's something that all the good teams do. It's still early though, and some high end receivers and players have yet to hit the market. Considering we still have the NFL draft in our sights, I'd say the Eagles have supplemented themselves very well so far.

While I'm encouraged by the Eagles, another Philadelphia team is starting to worry me. The Flyers started the year incredibly strong, but then entered the Olympic break losing too many games, and since coming back from Italy they've looked pretty bad. In Philly sports tradition, injuries are killing us, but sometimes you can only take that excuse so far. If you had asked me two months ago how I felt about the Flyers chances on getting to the Cup, I woulda said they were REALLY good. Right now, I just don't know. There is plenty of time to get back to winning games and go into the playoffs looking the way we did at the beginning of the season, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was getting worried. I guess all that I can do is cross my fingers and say "we'll see."

I was going to talk about Barry Bonds and the "new" allegations, but fuck it. The guy broke the law. Regardless of what rules were or weren't in place at the time, anyone with half a brain knows that people who took steroids were cheating. At this point, baseball has turned an eye for too long to suddenly ask them to do something about one player, especially when you consider that steroids was an epidemic with many players in the league. The point is that I don't want this guy to get any more praise or break any more records. Hank Aaron and Babe ruth need to stay #1 and #2 on the all-time Home Run list, enough said.

Yes, I can't help it, I have to close out with TO. If you didn't hear already, he signed with the Dallas Cowturds, probably our most hated enemy. I'm pretty pumped about it actually. The best offer he and his agent could muster was 3 years, $25 million. I applaud them, cuz boy, they really showed us. You go from receiving passes from the best QB in the NFC with a long term contract, throw a hissy fit, and now go to a team with an aged and fragile Drew Bledsoe for less money and less years then you had before. The only thing that would make this dream complete, other than us beating Dallas both times in the upcoming regular season, will be when I see my boy Brian Dawkins lay out TO as he tries to go across the middle.

That's a dream that has a great chance of coming true.

P.S. Villanova won

Rapid Fire

Yeah it's been awhile since my last entry so what, you wanna fight about it? What can I say, updating my blog totally slipped my mind this week, even though I told myself multiple times to get on here and do it. I do have some stuff I want to talk about, but first I'm going to speed through what happened since my last entry. Let's see if I can get it all in with one breathe...

Friday went to dinner with my mom, had crab encrusted fillet and was second best steak I ever had, then went to liquor store to buy Sam Adams for Mike's birthday at Rowan, wound up inviting Kristen because she was bored and I knew Dana would be there, showed up and Mike was already drunk, whatever still a good time we left at midnight and grabbed some burgers, woke up Saturday to play pool, we sucked balls since we don't play anymore, went home and discovered all my friends were busy/not around, so I called Kristen again, went into Philly, she got some Greek food and we walked to where I'll be living, real nice neighborhood I was really encouraged about moving in, Sunday nothing happened for awhile, then we had corned beef and i went to meet up w/ Kent and Rach (she's on break and was here till wednesday), had worst waitress ever, only happens when Rach is there aparently, work monday, same waitress that night, hung out for a bit, sick on tuesday i felt like shit and work was slow so i didnt care too much, came back on wednesday feeling a little better but still not great, hung out that night with kent, glad he's back i was bored as hell last week, played some WoW and that brings metotoday.....

*takes deep breath*

Didn't think I'd make it there for a second.

One thing that retarded my boredom for awhile last week and the week before was this personality type test. Jay sent it to me at work and I checked it out, and I have to say it was really accurate for both of us (scary almost I can say for myself). Basically, follow the link to take the test. It's only yes or no questions and it takes maybe five minutes, but there is a catch: you have to tell the truth. It sounds stupid, but I've already seen one or two people take the test and putting down answers that were totally NOT them. Don't put down what you think the "right" answer is, because there is no correct answer. If you don't care about the path traveled and only care about the goal, then put that, or if you make decisions based on emotion rather than logic, put that too. If you aren't truthful with the test, then your personality won't match the test result.

Once you submit and get your type, go back to the main site and find out what those four capitalized letters mean. I was INTJ in case you were wondering.

I still want to talk about the Eagles and free agency, my thoughts on the Flyers, and Barry Bonds, but I'll just put that all together in a sports-oriented entry.

Under the Cap

I'm waiting for nine samples to run right now, which takes about two hours, so I got a little free time to get on here and give an update:

Everyone keeps asking me about Kent (I'm starting to think my family likes him better than they do me), so I'll let everyone know that the little girl is fine. Ok, that was harsh, he still is in a lot of pain. From what I hear, his lung hasn't collapsed any further, so with some rest and time he should be back to normal. What does suck is that he's decided to stay at home in Lanc till probably Sunday, so this whole week I've been sitting at home doing nothing, bored out of my mind. He says he'll probably be ready to go back to work on Monday, so he'll be home before then. Get better Bedpan Bitzer, I'm looking forward to your return.

With nothing going this week, I'm hoping the weekend will save me. I talked to Cuba yesterday and he said "people are invited" for Friday out at Rowan. I'm going to try to do a little campaigning with people I know to make sure that the gathering is not a bust, and plan on going out that way that night. It will be easy too since I think I'm going out to eat in Jersey after work (don't get too excited, it's just my Mom, she wants to take me out for my birthday last week). I'll plan on leaving work a little early, beating the traffic to Audubon, then picking up some Spaten for Mike on my way to Glassboro. Hopefully the good times will indeed roll.

I was relieved to hear that the NFL owners manned up last night and signed a new agreement with the players before the all-or-nothing 8pm deadline. From what I read on ESPN, revenue sharing between the owners was the big sticking point, as an increased cap would mean that the more profitable teams would have to help out the struggling or small market ones. To my disappointment, Jeffrey Lurie was one of the five big guns who was holding out along with owners like Jerry Jones of Dallas and owners from Washington and New England. The problem was that the low income teams wanted the top five teams to contribute revenue from non-ticket sales, like income from exclusive radio rights and parking that those teams take in.

I don't really think many people understood the severity and seriousness of what could have happened yesterday. Had an agreement not been reached, the most well run, successful and popular sport in America would have had an uncapped 2007 season and a likely lockout by players the following year. The NFL hasn't had a lockout since before my time, and at that time, the league was eventually saved by the installment of a salary cap. ESPN was on top of the story, but most news agencies paid little attention to the issue and it didn't seem like many people fully comprehended what might have been.

With an agreement now inked, we can look forward to the pushed-back free agency period to finally start tomorrow morning. I personally can't wait to see what the Eagles do. The new deal has increased the cap for all teams by 7.5 million, and the Eagles were one of the few teams actually under the cap anyway. Add the roll over cap room from last year, the additional 7.5, and whatever money would have gone to that bum TO that now comes back to the team...... it's looking like things will turn around very quickly for the Birds.

Jolly Roger at Half Mast

For the past week, Kent had been complaining about his neck and chest. I figured his neck was probably from playing Warcraft ever waking hour outside of work, but the random chest pain seemed a little odd. He said it was a sharp pain, right around his heart area, and that it would suddenly hurt like a bitch and then go away. I'm not sure if it's related, but shit hit the fan yesterday.

I hadn't done much this weekend. I took care of some stuff at home on Saturday, helping my Dad with our felled tree in the back yard and picking up furniture from the city for when I move back for school. Both Friday and Saturday night, I just went to Kents and did the usual hanging out. On Sunday, I went to Jersey to eat dinner with my brothers where my Mom works. That's when I got the call.

Brett called my cellphone, and told me to find out what hospital Kent was in because Rachel was freaking out. "What?" Rachel was on the phone with Kent when he told her he had to hang up and call 911, and since then no one had been able to get in contact with him. As he's telling me this I almost can't believe it. I'm sure Rachel was going nuts, and Brett would do something but he's in Maryland. Being that most people Kent knows are either out of state or 2 hours away, I'm the only one who can actually do anything.

But I'm in Jersey at the time, at a restaurant no less, so I have no idea where to even begin. So of course I call my Dad because, as Kent would say later, papa T is "like a super hero, making sure people are ok and aren't cold and shit." So my Dad called the police station in that area and found out that Kent had called 911, that police had stopped by, and that an ambulance had taken him to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital about two miles from his house.

After that, it was like an episode of speed racer. I dropped my brothers off at home, and broke most driving laws in both the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. My Dad met me in the emergency ward of the hospital, and there was Kent in room four. He was awake and said that his whole chest and neck suddenly hurt so bad that he couldn't "man it out" any more. He looked up his symptoms on WebMD and of course they were very similar to a heart attack, which I'm sure freaked Kent out further.

As it turns out, nothing was wrong with his heart, but X-rays would show something wrong in his lungs. Apparently, 10% of his left lung collapsed for no reason at all, which I didn't know could actually happen to people. Doctors said that it wasn't inhibiting his ability to get oxygen, and that if he wanted to he would be OK to go home for the night. They gave him some pain killers and told him to come back in the morning. The part of the lung that collapsed could re-inflate by itself, but if it deflated any more, they would probably have to go in and do it themselves.

I talked to him today around lunch, and I guess he's gonna be fine. His lung hadn't really changed since yesterday, and he's going back with his Dad to Lancaster to rest until Wednesday, when he's supposed to come back for more tests. He has to take it easy for a few weeks (something that shouldn't be too hard for Kent since physical activity isn't exactly a mainstay in his life lol), but he should be able to go back to work on Thursday.

So that was the last 24 hours for me. Does the word "interesting" comes to mind? It looks like Kent should recover, so that's all you can ask for.

Currently, I'm taking a poll to see what new name we will call Kent to bust his balls. The names "10%", "Lungs" and "Bronchial Bitzer" have been thrown around, and I'm also evaluating using "Bedpan" from time to time. If you have any good suggestions, please let me know.

Woke Up the Same

It's been a few days since I posted on here, but I've been pretty busy and really tired. I find it fairly frustrating that I get so tired in the morning when I was a morning person in HS. Looking back though, I just had a strict schedule where, even on the weekends, I was in bed by 12 the latest, and even then, it did take me awhile to get really energized in school (I think that after 3rd period I was good to go). Lately, I've been close to falling asleep at my desk in the morning and its incredibly annoying to me. I always jolt myself awake, go grab some tea or other caffeinated drink, and tell myself I'm acting like an ass in the workplace. Maybe I'm just getting to old for this late night shit.

Speaking of which, I stealthily turned 21 yesterday. No big deal. No....... really. You know what it was like? Have you ever known someone who was about to be thrust on stage, and everyone is calmly encouraging them and congratulating them before the big moment, but in the back of everyone's mind, they are all waiting anxiously to see what the person does on stage? It was kind of like that. It's no secret that I don't "partake", so I think a good deal of people were quietly waiting to see what would happen when I hit the 'of age' mark.

What can I say, drinking = not me.

It really wasn't that incredible. The fact is that even if I did drink, my birthday was right in the middle of the work week, where I have to wake up at 6am, and on top of that, all my close friends are underage and spread from Reading to Glassboro. Tuesday was dinner at my Dad's, and then yesterday I drove from work straight to Jersey to eat with my Mom. That's really all that happened. Both promised to take me out to get furniture for my room as a present, which is fine with me because (at the moment) I only have a dresser and a few minor pieces for my room. My dad also gave me a 1922 silver dollar that my Grandpi gave to him, so that was really cool. Nana sent me a check, grandma guaranteed hers was on the way, and I got a phonecall from all my Uncles. Not a typical 21st birthday, but a good family one for sure.

And no, I didn't drink for the day, and I still don't plan on it, so BACK THE FUCK OFF!!!!

Just kidding. Like usual, I just don't care. I'm just happy I can go to a casino, bring $1's to a strip club, pick up some beer for friends, or sit at a bar and not have to worry or get caught, so that's always cool.

I'm going to try and do is talk to Ray and get something to happen for Mike's birthday, which is coming up in a week.

Oh yea, and the Flyers are back. Nice.

Reconnaissance

This weekend was an interesting blend of achievement and cancellation. I had been hoping throughout the week that something might go down back home, since Joe and Dana both turned 21 last week, with mine on the horizon. Unfortunately nothing happened though as Joe told me on Thursday that the outlook was bad; Dana got sick last week and was going to just do family stuff at home, and Joe was probably going to go to a bar which would exclude Ray and Mike. It really wasn't a big deal, and it's not like it was heavily pinning my hopes on, but since "events" out in Jersey seem to be quite rare, this weekend seemed like a good spot for shit to go down.

Saturday is when things fell into place. We had talked to JWB3 and Eric about coming to check out the house in Philly so we could get money issues out of the way and get a real good look at the place. For those of you who don't know, the great house experiment of Drexel failed (as Jay and I predicted it might), and bad blood now resides between the duo of Eric and Kyle and the rest of the house. After there was a blow up where fists were practically thrown, it was clear that said duo would not be returning at the end of the lease. Jay and I had to find a place to live anyway, so we stepped into the fray. We worked out a real nice agreement with Kyle and Eric on the whats/whens/and hows, and John and Kaitlin seem more than willing to fill in the rent vacancy with people they already know.

We got there around 2 and didn't leave the city till about 8. Even though it's west of Penn's campus, the bike ride to Drexel isn't bad and the neighborhood is really nice. Surprisingly nice actually. The house itself is a three story, 6 bedroom place, with everything including washer/drier. There is even a small backyard with grass and a wooden deck which means that BBQ's will happen frequently (that sounds ridiculous to be excited about, but if you're not from the city you have no idea how rare that is). The house is a little old, but so is every one in the area. It's still nice the way it is, but if you wanted to improve it, all the place needs is a little paint and minimal effort. What's great is that Jay and I will basically get the entire third floor, which includes a bathroom, for about $500 a month each after utilities. After checking out the place, my mind immediately started to brainstorm on how I want my room set up, and I'm really looking forward to moving in. We also paid Eric and Kyle for the security deposit (which we get back), the rent for May, and our share of the part-time rent for March.

After that was done, I grabbed a Western pizza from Ed's and we hooked up with D-Money and Jeremy at their place. I hadn't seen them in awhile, and we basically just chilled and shot the shit. We brought up the future AC casino trip that's in the works, plans for trout fishing on the weekends, and a possible camping trip down on the coast (possibly NC).

Once we got back and Jay left, I went over to Kent's to hang out for the rest of the night, and basically dorked it out the rest of the night. By the way, it's incredibly easy to lose track of time when on your computer. Sunday was a bit of the same, hanging at Kent's just to kill time.

Today at work should be real busy, but starting tomorrow I will be getting treated to infinite meals to celebrate my birthday. I might be testing the water to see what people are up to this week, but if you want to do something feel free to let me know.

And a baba booey to you all.

Ordinarily Amazing

This week has been pretty boring and uneventful. This weekend should be a little better, since on top of my regular routine I'll be checking out the house I'll be moving into before school, going to KOP and hopefully seeing people from back home. All that fun, however, isn't till tomorrow night, so I still have a little while longer to trudge on ahead. At this point, I'm running on autopilot, hoping that the hours fly by like minutes so I can get to the promised land called "weekend".

My computer is basically back to normal now. I still haven't copied my music from the iPod back onto my computer, and I lost all the pictures of friends I had, but DeadAim is up and running ( I gave Triton a chance and hated it ) and I've made huge strides in personalizing my computer to the way I want. Basically, all I need to do for that is get pictures and sounds on there that make my computer "mine". It's a little anal and definitely unnecessary, but it's how I likes it. My screensaver has always been a montage of hand picked photos, and I'm pretty happy with the new batch. I found an amazing pic of my girl, Marilyn Monroe, probably the best one I've ever found, and it reflects the strength of my new lineup. Going on a search of MM really reminded me how absolutely drop-dead gorgeous she was. She's easily one of, if not the most, beautiful women in any lifetime.

Also, I think I got a lot of latent junk that had been hanging in my brain out last week in my multiple blog tirades, so I'm kinda out of stuff to talk about currently.

One thing I find incredible is this story that Jay uncovered and sent to me today at work. After I read it, and the contract, I was really blown away. It's amazing to me that people like this asshole actually exist and are able to carry on that kind of shit. I really recommend that if you can handle some graphic sexual explanations and can stomach the writings of a complete prick, then click on the above link and prepare to have your mind blown.

Fall of the Machines

For anyone like myself who relies strongly on their computer for social networking and survival in the face of boredom, there are two words that can instantly make a person feel overcome with dread and fear: reformatting Windows.

This weekend was pretty much dominated by my computer woes. It all started on Friday, when a commute absent of traffic and a pleasant day ofwork got me suspicious that I was in for a nice karma kick (remember in Seinfeld when Jerry said his life always breaks even, well I'm the same way). After getting sat in Felicia's section at Ruby Tuesday's later that night, I knew I was doomed.

I have to tip my hat to fate; having my computer die as retribution for good times really didn't cross my mind and I was taken completely by surprise. What happened was I tried to download a helpful UI for Warcraft and was actually playing for a bit before I decided to take a break and restart my computer so the installation could take effect. As Windows tried to shut down, my screen turned black and then the "physical memory dump" window popped up. I figured I would just wait for it to finish, restart my computer, and remove what I figured to be a corrupt UI. But the memory dump never started, and after about five minutes of watching nothing happen, I perhaps sealed my fate and held down the power button for a manual shutdown.

Whether one of the UI's corrupted my files, the installment went terribly wrong, or a manual restart messed up my computer, I'll never know. When I tried to restart to assess the damage, my computer couldn't even load Windows in safe mode. After shooting some pool and getting advice from Jay on Saturday, I transported my dead computer to Kent's to try and repair. That failed, as did reinstalling Windows components. So with no options left to me, I was forced to wipe my harddrive and reformat.

If you've never had the pleasure of reformatting, I highly recommend you fuck your computer up one day just to give it a go. All things considered, the process went relatively fast. Over a span of "just" six hours, I was able to do the following:
- update all my drivers (video, sound, etc) since reformatting leaves you with the absolute basic
- download and install over fifty Windows updates
- reinstall Service pack 2 (long as hell)
- download Mozilla, AIM, Symantec and MSOffice from online
- reinstall Warcraft (4 discs, 6 gigs) and the subsequent 7 patches
***I probably restarted my computer a grand total of 17 times***

Sunday, I went to Jersey to make sure my Mom's computer was working fine and to install the RAM I took out of my computer into my sister's computer (one man's junk is another person's upgrade).

Since I didn't even play well during my Saturday pool session, the only real highlight of the weekend was eating this little Italian place my Mom works at on Haddon Ave. in Collingswood. The brick oven looked like it could turn out a mean pizza or calzone, and the bread was incredible enough to back up those expectations, but I went with the Lobster Ravioli and did not regret it. Plus, I got a few pretzel-filled chocolates from this candy shoppe across the street. It's like a solid chocolate with a pretzel in the middle, and the lady covers them with a wide array of toppings. I got 3 with mini Reeces Peices and 1 with mini Snow Caps. Fucking good.

Comfort Level

One thing that I've enjoyed about my current job is that, unlike my last co-op, there is a stronger and more dominant social force in the office. Last year, it was me and three other lab rats cut off from the rest of the staff. This group is younger and more interactive, and there's a larger number of people to come in contact with. With higher volumes of conversation, however, comes increased levels of frustration: disagreements happen more frequently here as compared to Chester Water, but that comes with the territory.

"Brokeback Mountain" has been a hotbed of conversation, not only here, but throughout the pop-culture world. Everyone's been talking about it, so it's not surprising to me that it eventually came up here. The men have been put on the spot to go see the movie, and when some of us said that we had absolutely no desire to see it, the accusations flew and words like "afraid" and "homophobic" started to fly. Luckily (for me), my evasion skills are covert level, because unless I want to get involved, I'm a fairly quite person (people who know me won't believe that LoL). But given the atmosphere created by a blog, I felt this would be a good place to address the topic.

The question is: "Why don't you go see that movie, people say it's a great film . . . what are you, homophobic?"

If you want the politically correct answer, I don't want to see this movie because it degrades and slanders the institution of family. I've read plenty on how Ang Lee has used his director skills to show a sharp contrast between the happy life and comfort that the cowboys feel when with eachother (the open fields, running water, sunshine), and the dark and dreary, often depressing and suffocating world of heterosexual family burden. Like or dislike the movie, this contrast is obvious. Now I can't speak for Lee, so whether he did this to create a foil for homosexuality to show how it can be a beautiful and fulfilling life, or whether he did this to show how family life isn't all it's cracked up to be, I can't say. But the message is clear. Family, home, parental responsibility, loyalty, love: all these are called into question by the film and shown in a hateful light, and because of that, whatever love story he is trying to show is tainted to me and unappealing.

If you want the real, more dominant answer, here it is uncensored:

The world has gotten into this mindset that tolerance and blind, unquestioning acceptance are the same thing. Gay people exist, and they should be allowed to exist, and anyone who tries to take away their rights or slanders them or alienates them is wrong. But just because you tolerate something doesn't mean you have to agree with it. To me, as a straight man, homosexuality is . . . let's say "weird". Every fiber of my being tells me that it is: philosophically, religiously, logically, spiritually, genetically. Every pool of information and insight available to me tells me its unnatural. I'm not saying anyone is going to burn in hell, I'm not saying to deport them, I really don't care what they do but it does make me uncomfortable. But for people to stand up and point a finger at you, or anyone for that matter, because watching two guys kiss eachother grosses them out is ridiculous and unfair. Gay people have a right to be with eachother, so don't I have a right to not want to watch? Isn't that what America is supposed to be about, respecting people? If it was my choice, every hand gun in America would be off the streets, but I recognize the rights of Americans to have them and only hope that we do more as a society to make gun ownership safer. Is that wrong of me to think guns are bad when I tolerate their existence?

Let me draw a very crude but strong parallel, and please don't be offended if you fall into this category. If Ang Lee made a movie about the passionate struggle for romance of two morbidly obese cowboys, who fell in love, and used visually powerful scenes of fat people naked and making love, you'd be grossed out (if you want to say you wouldn't be, then I think you should search the internet and try to stomach some of the weird fetish stuff that I'm sure exists out there), and on top of that he makes thin or physically fit people look like hateful, taunting pricks who do nothing but work out and choke the life out of those who don't exercise.

Now that, again, is a movie I wouldn't want to see. Fat people obviously have every right to fall in love and be happy. Hell, a love scene like that, while strange and unsettling to me, would logically be more natural then a homosexual one. Ask yourself a simple question: do you think this movie would be as popular if Ang Lee had used unattractive and perhaps overweight actors?

So yes, watching two men make out grosses me out, and two men finding love isn't an interesting topic to me, and a crucifixion of heterosexual love and family values doesn't seem like my cup of tea. Look up the word "homophobic" sometime and tell me if I'm infringing on anyone's rights by saying this, or if I'm making preconceived judgments about others and shutting the door on them.

You know, Spanish speaking people existed before America found out from the Latin music craze, and gay people were always there, even before you watched an episode of "Will and Grace". This cultural fad will pass, and ten years from now you won't even remember or care about who went to go see "Brokeback" and who didn't.

If you want to sit and preach acceptance, make sure you're not the one to preach to first.

The Money Tree Burns

Today at lunch, Ralph started hypothesizing about what he would do with his share if we won the lottery. What he's referring to is the Powerball tickets that I chipped in for with a couple of others here at work in the hopes of a miracle (I think the pay out went over the $300 million mark, not sure though).

With greenbacks on the brain, my mind naturally started down the path of tangents. Suddenly, I found myself worrying about this upcoming school year and the financial burdens that come with it. I guess it's not a surprise: I'm fairly certain that I start to sweat this stuff right around this time every year. How can I help it? My taxes aren't done. My FAFSA isn't complete. The return to classes is around the corner, and with it comes a sizeable bill from Drexel and estimated city living costs for the next year. I've already determined, for piece of mind and wallet, that I want to get an extra loan this year to help defer some of those financial requirements, but I've yet to apply for one. Obviously, extra loans suck, but so does having absolutely no money in the bank. I've always been one who prefers to have a cash reserve for the "just in case" scenario, and I was able to avoid those extra loans last year and figure that I'm due.

At this point though, it's just troubling to me. All of this had been churning in my head for a good month or so, but today all of it decided to push its way to the front of my mind.

I need to get thinking about something else, and not WoW either

. . . .

Jay was reminded of an old Troy McClure phrase by an article in CNN on shark attacks dropping worldwide. Naturally, he instantly thought of "Man vs. Nature, the Road to Victory" and felt the need to let me in on the joke. That got me reminiscing about Phil Hartman, one of my all time favorite comedians. What was unique, to me, about Phil was that there wasn't a whole lot out there regarding his standup routine. Despite that, I still consider him one of the best. He could impersonate anybody he wanted, and his material was limitless. He could make even the worst SNL sketch funny merely by his presence. And it's that presence that I think is what really puts him with rare company. He was definitely one of those guys that you wanted to like and wanted to laugh with. You can't write that kind of stuff, it's really just a result of character. He played a lot of characters, but the role of Phil Hartman was the best.

Oh yeah, one other thing. A couple of birthdays are coming up, one of which is mine on the first. Dana mentioned that hers is near the end of the month, and so is Joe De Playa's, and that a gathering of individuals in the pursuit of celebratory activities might happen. I'm down for a trip to Jersey if there is one, so people need to let me know. I'll probably inquire just to be safe.

Normally, one would say the "BIG" twenty first, but considering that I haven't had a drink in . . . let's see, oh yeah, never, and that I don't plan on having any in the future, it doesn't seem as big a deal to me as it does to my friends. I am looking forward to two things though: One, I'll be able to go to a casino, something which will hopefully happen by the end of March (Jay will also be 21 by then). The other is the fact that I will officially be considered 100% adult. No more closed doors, no more unavailable bar stools; all of that goes away the second you're 21. I'm sure that, when everyone catches up, a strip club trip will happen, it's unavoidable (although I doubt I'd be one to actually want to avoid that).

You get the idea though: freedom. Real freedom too. Not the kind we got when we moved up into highschool, and not the kind we looked forward to in college. This is the last step people, the only obstacle left in our way before that final "freedom", the one that comes from sweet release. And I don't plan on spiritual ascension any time soon.

Gunked Up in White

Not that white stuff. Snow, you sick pervert.

It finally happened folks. As you already know, Old Man Winter decided that all the seasonably warm weather we've been having this year should come to an end. Like any decrepit old fart, watching us young folks enjoy our merry little lives was a too much for him to stomach. And like any cunning and calculating adversary, he waited till we all felt quiet sure that this winter was incredibly gracious, that the good times would continue on into the upcoming Spring; basically, he waited till our hopes were high and our pants dropped to sodomize us all with his Icy Rod of Hell.

It started coming down on Saturday and carried into mid Sunday. Not one to let weather deter me from going out, I went to Kent's palace that day. Late that night, with the Warcraft realm down for maintainence, a 1 am food run was in order. By that point, snow was falling fast, but it was melting on the pavement. In a three hour period, however, it formed a thick sheet of gayety on the roads, and I crawled at 25 mph on my drive home at 4 am. My area got about 14 inches of the cold white bullshit when it was all said and done.

My dad got stuck in NH, so "man of the house" responsibilities fell on my lap come Sunday. Electricity went out in our area for a couple of hours, so I had to wake up early and get the kerosene heater going when our heat shut off. Later, I got a fantastic upper-body workout by shoveling the walk and driveway, and attempting to transform the newly made snow heaps on our property back into drivable cars (my shoulders are still sore).

This morning was the icing on the cake (so to speak). Despite making it out of my house on time, I still got to work an hour late. Why? Because the IQ of people drops 100 pts. when they are driving in adverse conditions. There was an accident on the Blue Rt., then there was a congestion nightmare on the ramp for my turnpike exit, which alone took 45 minutes to drive 0.1 miles.

I blame myself for being so naive. Winter always gets the last laugh.
________________________________________________

No pool happened this weekend, due to you-know-who. I did get my character on Warcraft to level up to 55. Considering that the cap on level is 60 in the game, that's fucking good. Kent is up to 50 with his druid, and I'm thinking of taking a break from the leveling to get my blacksmithing up sick. I'd like to see if I can get high enough to start making weapons as a source of income and, eventually, make my own weapon for my warrior. We'll see though.

Global Revelation

In between experiments, recording data, and socializing at work, I check this thing called the "inter-net", mostly to see what doings are transpiring. Look at my Drexel mail, swing over to some random learning at Wikipedia, then perhaps lighten my mood with an Egyptian dancing gorilla.

I always check the news though. Every day. CNN International mostly, if I don't local stuff, for that I frequent CBS 3. Why international? Well, our internet is through a server in Germany, since Degussa (the company whose teat our company feeds off of) is based there. So when I search for CNN on day one of my work experience here, the international CNN came up.

There is some dangerous and depressing bullshit going on there ladies and gentlemen. You think shit is bad here? You think Katrina investigations and Austrian governators and Grammy night winners are big news? If you do, here's some easy to follow advice: pull your thumb out of your ass and start caring, or shove your head up there as well and pretend it will all blow over.

With all the decapitations, bombings, diplomat kidnappings, terrorist activities, nuclear defiance, insurgencies, escaped masterminds, Hamas leadership and cartoon-driven hysteria going on in the world, I've been driven to a very important and mind blowing conclusion:

Fuck 'em. Yeah, that's it. Screw it all. No one likes us. No one wants our help. No one wants to lend a helping hand. Oh yeah, let's just go ahead and take the next step that most of the populace here and abroad is pushing for, and just become totally isolationist. Why not? It's not like the world needs our help with anything. It's not like WWIII would have happened two times over by now without our "intervention". What was I thinking all these years? I'm ashamed of myself. All the tsunami aid, giving more money towards AIDS prevention in Africa than any other country, trying to stop absolute anarchy in the Middle East and abroad . . . all of it, not our business.

What fools we've been. Germany had it right the third time around. Cut yourself off and try to get involved as little as possible with important but dangerous issues. That's the way. Sign me up. Send our boys home and lets just ride this storm out. Good luck Europe with the bullshit, we promise not to interfere like we did in WWI and WWII ever again.

If you can't detect the sarcasm dripping from this post, then I see you actually got your head up there, well done.


On a side note, while I originally wrote it off to perhaps a Google search of family names, it's pretty evident to me now that someone, who we'll call M. Tegan . . . . wait, that's too obvious, let's go with Michael T., has been checking this blog out almost daily from work. I must write about interesting stuff, because the only other reason for a parent to check their kids blog would be to get dirt on them. Luckily for me, and despite my candor and sometimes outrageous honesty, I actually don't do anything inappropriate or illegal, so I guess I'm in the clear.

But as long as that's not the case, read on pops.

February Funk

Timing is probably one of the most important things you can master. I feel I have an above average mastery of timing. Granted, sometimes my actions or statements have been called into question (one such example being the Ashley debacle, in which timing should have been set to 'never'), but who hasn't? Lately, the timing around my perfect little world has seemed somewhat off. For some reason, it just doesn't seem like people are choosing the right times for things, it's kinda hard to explain, but in my mind I just continually find myself muttering "well that could have waited" or "it's about time".

Oh well, I guess I'll have to deal with it. One minor example of this was lunch today at work. For some reason, the company whipping boy decided that 10:50 was a great time to go pick up our orders. Instead of the usual social atmosphere of fellow co-workers at noon, I was delighted to enjoy the awkward silence of eating a cheesesteak a full half hour early. Nothing like boring conversation between two people to really liven up the work day.

Speaking of cheesesteak, I really miss a good wiz. It's a cultural phenomenon that has completely grown on me. For quite some time, I've been unable to ignore the voice in my head that tells me that a steak covered in anything but wiz is unworthy. There's a very good chance that I'll give in to my desires soon and guide myself by the light of William Penn to the focus of my mind. Mmmmmm . . . . I can taste it already.

With the exception of ball-numbing cold, there's not a whole lot to talk about so far this week. Kent place fairly well in a tournament he played on Monday. He got halfway through the final table before running into some tough luck, but he still managed to collect some decent winnings upwards of $500. The best part is he did all this while playing WoW at the same time. I'd look over, and he'd go from killing orcs to raising pocket Kings, then taking a gryphon to Ironforge to check the Auction House, then back to collecting a pot. It was somewhat impressive and quite hilarious, since he was able to do both with more than moderate success. I told him he'd have to dual-play more often, since it was his best tournament showing in some weeks.

Also, Jay revealed that he's looking to spend whatever vacation time we have this year more wisely than last year by camping somewhere in the southerly direction, probably N.C. It's obviously way to early to say anything is concrete, but I'm definitely up for taking a few days off for some outdoor activities. As long as the weather cooperates more than it did during our Freshmen trip to Virginia, it should be a pretty good time.

Big Time

Well, Super Bowl XL is over, and what a way to end an already abysmal post-season. After squandering what was headlined by many as possibly of the greatest post-seasons in NFL history, the Big Game ended with about as much excitement, or lack thereof, as the rest. Big Ben looked terrible (although it's hard to get on the guy who carried the Steelers through the first three games of the playoffs), andPittsburg was outplayed pretty much the entire first half. However dropped passes, constant penalties and clock management that would have Andy Reid cringe helped keep Seattle at bay. Halftime came with a surprising Pittsburg four point lead.

In the second half, a few missed opportunities and a trick play would lead to the Steelers effectively winning the game before the end of the third quarter. Despite my hatred for Steelers fans and my raging jealousy as an Eagles fan, it was hard for me to find fault with the players, coaches or game plan of Pittsburg, so I'm glad they were able to win one for the Bus. So here's to you Pittsburg, for finding a way to win the game long before it's end and yet doing it quite unconvincingly.

Despite the obvious lack of luster on the field, the social gathering surrounding the game was fairly entertaining. The King of Men and I trekked to the land of Jersey and the home of the DelVecchio clan. While the absence of Joey, Dana G and Mrs. C was sorely missed, there was plenty of good people and conversation to go around. All the good old boys were there, and so were a few of the guys from Rowan. The Jackson family made a grand appearance and Mr. D was his usual ghetto-fly self. Daniel and her friends were there too, which provided some much needed eye candy for what could have been an extreme sausage fest. Give my "Return to Greatness Award" to your sister Ray for getting back on par and looking incredibly good.

On another perhaps more interesting note, Jay and Kent were both featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. You can imagine my shock when I came down Sunday morning to find it as the feature article on the front page of the Sunday paper. Don't get too excited though, the writer wasn't exactly flattering.

Honestly, I consider Jay lucky that he didn't tell the interviewer anything incriminating about himself, because he came off squeaky clean compared to Kent. When I heard about the interview initially, I was skeptical; after all, it's not as if I thought that they were going to glorify poker playing college players. What is unfair though is that Kent spent a good two hours talking to the guy about responsibility and control, and not getting out of hand with gambling, essentially the very same messages the article was trying to communicate. Rather than use his views on responsibility, however, they decided to use his worst statements and paint him as the punch line for the audience: a young kid whose grades and lifestyle suffer from his profitable but questionable poker choice.

I don't think I'll be giving any interviews on the seedy life surrounding billiards any time soon.

Speaking of billiards, I was practically clairvoyant on Saturday. My appologies to Kent and Jay, who for a time had to sit back and watch as I won a string of two turn games. According to my sources, Eli is interested in a three team deal that would see Miami getting a first rounder and prospects, Detroit getting Abdulah Alaman, and Eli coming to Pheonixville on a future Saturday to shoot the shit and shoot some pool. Sounds good to me.

We're on an Island

Donovan McNabb, number 5, Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback. If you’ve been under a rock for the last few days, or if you simply tune out your brain whenever you start to hear conversation about Philly sports, then you might not have heard the latest interview on ESPN with our man ‘5’.

I’ll give you a few moments to catch up and read the interview by Michael Smith.

Now that you’re caught up, I’ll pose this simple question to you. What the hell are people so mad at McNabb for this interview? If you can make me understand this then you’re smarter than me.

We all know the story with what happened during this season. Now Donovan is a quite leader. He leads by example, in the locker room and on the field. Rather than lower himself to the level of TO and cause an even bigger distraction to the team, he sucked it up and tried to focus on the task at hand, winning games. When no one from the locker room stood up for him, and others showed support for TO, he sucked it up. When team “leaders”, and I use this term loosely, went in front of the camera and said that TO wasn't hurting the team, he kept his eye on the prize.

With all the theatrics, injuries, and failure going on around him, Donovan did his job and tried his best in the face of adversity to right a sinking ship. So now, when the season is over and training camp still in the future, Donovan finally comes out and says what, I believe, most of the fans wanted to hear . . . his opinion.

He doesn’t take any blame off himself, he doesn’t throw any team members under the bus and he doesn’t even put all the blame on the man responsible for starting all this bullshit. He answers questions straight, and to be frank, says almost nothing that isn’t true about what happened in the locker room this year.

Teammates failing to stand up for him is a fact. Players failing to step up and say if they have a problem with the situation is a fact. Owens never approaching Donovan for help or for answers is a fact. Team disunity is a fact.

So after people complained about Donovan for always giving the “corporate” answer, now we're going to lynch him for telling the truth. Many people think he should have just kept his mouth shut and let this last year die, but when is it his turn? TO can do any press conference he wants, and Trotter can have his weekly show on WIP and give support for Owens. Isn’t it fair to let him have a turn? I think so. Give the man credit; he at least did it at the right time. He’s not doing it in the middle of the season, and he’s not doing it just before camp starts. If he wanted to speak out, now was the time, and he stepped up right on cue.

With all my support I’m showing, I admit that his race comments were off the mark. Terrell didn’t purposely choose Brett Favre for the color of his skin. In fact, the interviewer picked Brett Favre because of something said earlier in the week by my least favorite retired WR, Michael Irving. In this aspect of the interview, Donovan is wrong.

For some reason, I feel like I’m on an island on this issue. Practically everyone is calling for the head of Donovan, both in Philadelphia and around the sports nation. It’s almost laughable to me what people claim they wanted from Donovan. Confronting people if he hears whispers behind backs, fighting head on with Terrell, using the media to lash back, being emotional and pigheaded . . . . . is this really what you wanted?

Wait, I get it. It’s not that Donavan is wrong, it’s just that I’m not as informed as others. I don’t have the insight. I don’t know the truth. Donovan McNabb isn’t black, he’s not even human. He’s one of the crab-people! Yes, that must be it. They all know his master plan to make money and slowly infect the human race with his hatchlings, so one day the crab-people can one day reclaim their rightful place in the world.

Oh never mind, I forgot. People are idiots, assholes, or both. That’s a more logical explanation.

I stand behind a guy who carries himself honorably. I’ve been lead on teams by people who don’t speak up with words or confront in anger, and don’t feel that aggressive leadership is the only way. I respect people who are honest at the right time, in the right way. I want the guy who will lead me in battle, and then laugh with me in the foxhole.

Donovan, I’m a bigger fan now than I ever was.