how quickly things change

Who would have thought that by the end of this week I would be talking about not being a Bucks fan anymore? I was all encouraged, excited and hopeful on what the angry little bald guy would bring to the table. I said only one thing could make me turn on the Bucks in an instant. I should have said one and a half things...

Kelvin Sampson is likely to be signed as an assistant coach

I'm going to give as basic as a background story on this as possibly. Mainly because I don't feel like digging up an thesaurus to find out a different way to say I hate this piece of crap.

1.Kelvin Sampson most recently was the coach at the University of Indiana.
2.Kelvin Sampson had recruited Eric Gordon AFTER GORDON HAD VERBALLY COMMITTED TO MY BELOVED ILLINOIS by sneaky, voyeuristic, illegal tactics most of which included a cell phone.
3.The NCAA finally had enough dirt to address Sampson at which point Indiana decided to show him the door right before the tournament.
4.With all this drama, Indiana is likely to lose scholarships and possibly post season tournament time, Gordon has decided to declare for the draft.
5.It's been projected that the Bucks would take Gordon with their top ten draft pick.
6.Sampson's hiring probably will make that even more of a possibility.

I can't say enough how much I hate these two. I spent an entire evening in Champaign, IL screaming my lungs out and booing every time Gordon got the ball. The thing is, all the boos and all the hate effected him, a bit. Even if I thought Gordon was ready for the NBA and didn't hate him, I don't think he's a good fit on the Bucks. Granted, I wasn't happy when they drafted Yi last year, but it hasn't been 100% proven as a good pick yet.

The boyfriend has already contacted his season ticket rep and told him the second Eric Gordon is drafted by the Bucks we're canceling our season tickets and disputing any charges the Bucks have already posted to The Boyfriend's credit card. Our ticket rep's response? He's from Rockford, IL and knows exactly how we feel so he can't blame us if that happens.

I shouldn't be getting upset before any of this happens. I don't agree with Sampson's hiring but I'm more forgiving of that, I guess, than I would be if they draft Gordon. It's not like Sampson is in charge. And it's not illegal to call players anymore, but I still just don't like the guy. Let's just say, come draft day, there's a point guard in Utah whose team I would be happy to root for all season long, more than I already do.

donde esta el guzano??

Does this guy look familiar? For the past two years I watched this dude mimic a brick wall. PK's...he would stop them. Thinking about winning at the HDC...not if el Guzano could help it. I had been hyping him the entire 2007 season saying Timmy Howard better watch his step. For the first part of the EPL season had had been rumored to go to Arsenal and I wasn't surprised. I figured it was due time for my boy to show his stuff on an international stage. Then came January and he almost sealed the deal. It would have been a great opportunity for him at Aston Villa. He went to England to finalize the deal, and the large transfer fee, but it just wasn't meant to be. Stupid work permit got in his way. Oh well, he knew the interest was there and I was beyond certain he wouldn't be around in August when I make my way out to LA for the final Superclasico of the season.

Then the 2008 season started and, well, he's not exactly looking like a guy who is ready to move onto the biggest stage of his career. With his 2.00 GAA, which statistically puts him as the third worst goalkeeper in the league behind Toronto's Greg Sutton and LA's Steve Cronin, he's looking pretty pathetic. Is this his sophomore slump a year late? Are his bags already packed for what, supposibly, lies ahead this summer? I'm not sure what it is but he quite literally doesn't look like he's involved with these games at all. I didn't catch much of the Chivas/Dallas game this past weekend but I saw all of the misery that was the Crew/Chivas game two weekends ago. He looked lost. He looked like he had forgotten everything that was involved with being a goalkeeper. He just didn't look like he was into the game at all. Sure it's still early in the season, but you've got to wonder where his head is at? He knew, well before the preseason started, that he was coming back to Chivas. Him coming back to Chivas had nothing to do with his talent or ability, he just couldn't get his work permit this time around. Now it's like all of his confidence has been taken from him.

I like too many crap teams that I don't need to follow a crap goalkeeper around his entire career so I'm giving him one more game to save himself. He needs to deliver a clean sheet during the Superclasico this weekend or else it's over for Brad and me. I hate to be that way but I have plenty of things to consider, like my fantasy team. Thankfully with the fantasy game on ESPN they don't really take away points when your goalkeeper gives up ridiculously easy goals that they should have saved and would have saved a few months ago, otherwise my team would be sitting in the basement. It's time for some tough love for Brad. You've got to pull yourself together!

This is one of the many reasons I'm looking forward to the first Superclasico of the season!

he's a jose imposter, sneet!

Jose really owes a ton to that little Puppet on Setanta. Sure, this video would have gotten a little bit of attention as there are big name guys hanging out with kids. That's a cute enough concept. But in all the blogs I've read, the only reason this is of note to anyone is because Jose is in it. The real Jose. How many people can go unemployed for an entire year and wind up being more popular than when he had a job. Only Jose.

For this reason, I think Jose needs to make a guest appearance on "I'm on Setanta Sports". Yep, I said. He needs to make that a reality. Or at least call in. Or at least tell people he's fantastic in interviews. He needs to do something to show that he's aware of the show. People, worldwide, would go nutso for it! I can't even think straight just thinking of him doing something like that. I can't think of any clever ideas of how to get him on the show, but that's not my job. The Setanta folks need to get on that.

My other issue with this clip...where is Ameobi like?

tony, tony, tony has done it again

Word on the street has Tony Stewart leaving Gibbs after this season, which would be a season earlier than his contract lets him. Of all the things Tony has done in his career I think this would have to garner the most "huhs?" Not only because he's leaving a proven winner in Gibbs, but because he is rumored to be going to Hass/CNC racing. I bet you can't name who is currently driving for them without googling it? There's my point.

First, Tony Stewart is getting the best Toyota equipment out there. I don't think it's any coincidence that both of his teammates have won races this season and all three of them are sitting at the top of the Championship table. They're getting awesome equipment. The only direction I see Toyota going is up, despite the protests from all the ignorant fans of NASCAR. Why would you leave that? To come fourth in Chevy's hierarchy? This is how is looks at Chevy: 1.Junior 2.Junior's teammates 3.RCR 4. Tony. I don't care how good you think Tony is or how much money he might bring to the table, it wouldn't be any comparison to what the spotlite that the Hendricks boys bring to the table. So he's leaving a proven team who is definitely getting the best equipment the manufacturer has to offer to go to an unproven team with not the highest equipment for what? To own a piece of the pie? To have some kind of connection to Hendrick (CNC is a Hendrick satellite team)? For a challenge? That last reason would be the only one I would buy because if he's just looking to go back to Chevy he's dumber than I thought.

Plus, would Home Depot go with him? This has been the first season Home Depot has ever let anyone else take primary sponsorship of his car for a race? Are they fazing themselves out? With the economy are their priorities some place else? I'm not a fan of multiple sponsors so if Tony had to find another sponsor I'm sure he'd wind up with two or three primary sponsors which I personally think is stupid.

One of the articles I linked said the fact that teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are doing so well and winning races have nothing to do with it. I can't believe that's totally the case. Tony's been the big dog at Gibbs for so long that I can't imagine it's easy handing over the title to a 22 yr old. Kyle and Denny are fantastic young drivers who have every ability to carry the reins of JGR without breaking a sweat. Maybe it's better to leave and be replaced than to stay and be replaced.

Coincidentally enough, this news all came out around the same time people started speculating about my boy Martin Truex Jr's future. The boy has talent. That's undeniable. He did the right thing with sticking with DEI for the 2008 season. It showed that he's just not Junior's boy and that he was willing to take on the challenge of being the number one driver on a team. Unfortunately, his team wasn't willing to meet him half way. They're still giving him crap equipment and it just seems like business as usual at DEI. You can't blame the boy for wanting to look elsewhere. He did his time and didn't abandon the team that gave him his start in racing, but he deserves better. Rumors have him going to RCR as the fourth car. Considering RCR is currently the number one car in the Sprint Cup table, I can't see that as a bad thing. All three teams made it into the chase last season and they're just quality up and down. What I would like to see, though, is for Martin to jump on board a team who looks like they're going down to a two car team....that's right. I would be besides myself if Martin went to Gibbs. What a fleet of young talent they would have. As I've already stated, I'm a fan of Toyota and think highly of what they're doing. For Martin to get involved with that would be amazing. Whatever Martin does, though, it's only going to be for the better of his career because I don't really think he can go down with the options that will be available to him. Unless he joins that CNC/Hass racing team.;)

Silly Season starts earlier and earlier each season!

In "that's a bummer" news, Kyle Busch isn't going to run the truck race this week. It makes sense because the truck race and the Nationwide/Sprint races are in two different states. I think that's quite unfortunate because I was kind of really looking forward to seeing Kyle contend for all three titles. The thing is, I don't think him not showing up to a race is going to take him out of contention. We'll see. I don't know when I became such a fan of Kyle, but I've certainly come around on him. It seems like he's been getting on my nerves for years now but he's only 22! I think that's the reason I'm so high on him. He is STILL so young and he has so much experience already and is just now coming into the peak of his career. It's going to be incredible to watch his career because I think he's going to be a major force.

Talladega this weekend! I'm excited! Who would have thought a week off would cause so much commotion?

top 10 American footballers on facebook

I don't know how we all got through life, minding their own business, before facebook came around. People apparently managed, but I'm glad I'm not a part of that time. So I'm going to go ahead a steal a page from epltalk and list my top ten American soccer players. It was going to be a list of only MLS player, but pretty much every MLS players under 24 has a page and I didn't really feel like going through all of those. :)

The pages are valid as most of them passed the "are they friends with Sacha" test. If you're not friends with Sacha you may be one of the few in this world.

BTW, you have to be logged in to see the search results. Don't have a facebook? Get out of my face with that crazy talk!

1. Jozy Altidore - This is like major proof of how non-celebrity soccer players are. How many athletes who are on the cover of a major video game have a regular ol facebook page?
2. Freddy Adu - Good thing he has this or else we all might have thought he had fallen off the face of the planet.
3. Michael Bradley - Baby Brads making an appearance with a U of I network. Who would have thought? I didn't even think homeboy finished high school.
4. Sacha Kljestan - Mr. Popularity of the U-23 set.
5. Benny Feilhaber - If he doesn't make major career changes over the summer he will fall off this list. Just like Bob, if you're not getting major time with your club you're dunzo!
6. Steve Cherundolo - Cherundolo is kind of one of those guys who are just there. But he did go to a World Cup so he does deserve to be on this list.
7. Maurice Edu - Don't even TRY friending our boy Mo here. Facebook won't let you. It says "this user has too many friends". I tried... twice. Hey facebook, don't hate on the Rookie of the Year. Mo should be a bit higher on the list only because he broke facebook.
8. Heath Pearce - Creepiest picture EVER!
9. Chris Rolfe - I had to represent with the Chicago Fire love.
10. Jonathan Bornstein - Jonny B is quality. He even went to one of his facebook groups and was like "holla Jonny B in the house". That's precious!

Those are just some personal faves of mine. Feel free to spend an afternoon at work stalking discovering some pages of your own. I couldn't imagine having all the random friends they do. Can you imagine all the stupid application request they receive? I have one person on my friends list who is constantly sending me that crap and it drives me crazy getting those e-mails on the blackberry all day long. Unless it's an application that will get me a date with Carlos, I pass!

welcome to Milwaukee!

Oh thank you Jesus! I don't need to know anything else about this man except that he puts idiots in their place. We have plenty of idiots who need to be put in their place...and that place doesn't include Milwaukee. I'm riding high on the Bucks decisions as of late. When Larry Harris was fired in March I didn't really think of it. I wasn't like, "ooh great, now we'll really get someone in here to turn things around." I just thought the Senator would hire some other idiot who would sign a player like Dan Gadzuric to a 6-yr insane amount of money contract.

When he brought John Hammond in from Detroit I was slightly impressed. Herb Kohl said he wasn't going to hire from within and he didn't. Good job. Way to not disappoint. Then Hammond mentioned the coaches that he wanted to bring in and I really got anxious. Most of the names mentioned were no-nonsense, defense minded coaches. Yep, I said it DEFENSE!!! To a Milwaukee fan you may as well be speaking Chinese because we have long forgotten the concept of defense.

Today, Scott Skiles was brought in. A man who doesn't take any crap from anyone. There's a thread on real GM with quotes from all the players who don't like him. Good. This team needs an asshole to lead them. There are very few players I like on the Bucks. Of course Andrew Bogut is one of those guys because he kept the pouting to a minimum this season and really understands the concept of team basketball. Yi, I can't write him off just yet. Ramon Sessions showed well in garbage games at the end of the season. That's about it. The rest of the starters can go jump off a cliff and Scott Skiles will be the one telling them what cliff they can jump off of. I almost want Mo Williams (I hate him the most) to stick around just so I can watch him try to battle with Skiles all season. I don't mind if Redd sticks around, but he's going to get an attitude adjustment as well. All these lazy ass, wanna be elite players are going to have to check themselves and it's going to be great. Okay, maybe my head is a little large with ideas and hope, but it's definitely not going to be business as usual.

I understand he may not be the long term answer given his track record with teams and that he may not lead us to the promise land (second round of the playoffs??) but he's a large step in the right direction of changing the attitude of this team. They need to start playing like they belong in the NBA.

A personal benefit to this hire, I don't see Skiles drafting Eric Gordon. As an Illini fan (another losing team), drafting Eric Gordon would be like closing all the Qdoba's down. You better be ready for some hell to pay. But yeah, I don't see Skiles drafting some small, mentally weak 12 yr old. I hate that kid and I'm glad he's not coming here! Phew!

What a wonderful day today. The sun was shining. I hit golf balls for the first time this season. I won tickets to sit 4 rows behind the plate of the STL/MKE game tomorrow. More importantly that game is a day game so I get to partake in one of my favorite past times, drinking during the day. And hope was born in the form a bald headed angry white man.

god bless mother nature, she's a single woman too!

Originally I had wanted this blog to kind of be my journey into the EPL world. I didn't lose interest in the EPL world, but I started a job where I worked Saturday morning and therefore couldn't sit at the bar all morning watching EPL games. Kind of took all the fun away from it. Besides, now following the EPL isn't really fun, it's depressing. Relegation is fun when you know you can get yourself out of the bottom three. Fulham has officially been lumped with Derby as the sure bids for relegation and it's just not something I can think about without getting all verklempt.

David James doesn't really put perspective on the whole relegation thing, he just reminds us how sucky it is. Thanks, that's what the boys need to read Monday morning as reality is setting in.

Anyways, I'm going to use this blog more as a venting spot for all my sports thoughts. There are a lot of them, believe it or not. I've been using my personal journal for that but I figure they deserve a better subject to read about: me. So Let me give you a heads up on what I'll be going off about in the coming weeks(I'm trying to keep my goals low and hope I can keep this going for at least a couple weeks): The Bucks rebuilding, the lack of Chicago Fire offense and Carlos Bocanegra sightings(just not when he gets in a game for once, just all sightings...I'm a bit of a fan.)

I think there is only one thing that can really give you a great idea of the direction this blog is headed and it's this video:



I remember Boxing Day of this year, listening to Jesse Marsch make fun of Ante Razov's "Extra" TV spot where he was looking for a wife. I'm glad this came out now instead of before that conversation because it could have turned ugly. heh.

My ringtone this week has been "It's Raining Men". I can't think of anymore appropriate of a song.

I'll be back with more later, hopefully.