i hate the indianapolis colts

2006-01-19T18:28:00.000-05:00

I found the below commentary in today's issue of the Baltimore Sun from Dan Rodricks. Here it is:

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Colts' Curse converts comeback to calamity
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Dan Rodricks

January 19, 2006

I became a believer on Sunday, when, on live television, that tall, talented and goofy-looking quarterback from Pittsburgh saved the day for his team by tackling the small, fast guy from Indianapolis whose wife had stabbed him in the knee the day before.

And then, a few minutes later, there was that awful field goal attempt that had more shank in it than all the osso buco in Little Italy.

What more proof do you need?

What we have here -- rather, what they have in Indianapolis -- is the Curse of the Colts. That city is doomed as a football town.

The people there might be nice, God-fearing, patriotic, Jeff Gordon-lovin' people -- but they never should have made a deal with the devil to hijack Baltimore's original National Football League team in the middle of that March night in 1984.

They never should have added insult to injury by keeping the name, the colors and the logo of Baltimore's beloved team. They never should have tried to appropriate our brilliant legends, our colorful history. They never should have sold those commemorative Indiana license plates with Johnny Unitas' number on them!

They had a chance to leave the Colts' name, colors and legacy in Baltimore -- until we could get a team of our own again -- but they didn't.

They rubbed it in our faces.

They are cursed.

There's no other explanation for the Indianapolis Colts' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in that NFL playoff game Sunday.

Did you see what happened?

First of all, the Colts were losing. In fact, they were down at one point, 21-3.

This team was supposed to roll over everybody, to be the first undefeated NFL team since 1972. Despite having failed in so many attempts -- seven trips to the playoffs since leaving Baltimore (ouch!) -- this was supposed to be the Colts' year to go to the Super Bowl.

But we get to last Sunday afternoon, and it's late in the game, and they're losing, 21-18, and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has just been sacked again. People are leaving the stadium.

Eighty seconds left, and the Steelers have the ball just a couple of yards from the Colts' end zone.

What happens? The Steelers' running back Jerome Bettis, who hadn't fumbled all season, pops the pig. The ball flies into the air and ends up in the hands of the Colts' Nick Harper, whose wife, police said, had been charged with stabbing him in the right knee the day before.

Minus the wound, maybe Harper runs 95 miraculous yards for the winning touchdown, and the Colts advance to the next game of the playoffs.

But that kind of thing doesn't happen to an accursed team.

What happens is, the Steelers' big quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, dives and reaches for Harper's ankle, and Harper goes down.

Still, the Colts manage to get close enough for a game-tying field goal attempt by the talented kicker, Mike Vanderjagt.

Vanderjagt could have sent the game into overtime.

But that kind of thing doesn't happen to an accursed team.

Instead, Vanderjagt blows it. His kick was so bad you needed a wide-screen TV to view it.

When Robert Irsay, an ornery and unreasonable man, owned the Colts and pulled them out of Baltimore, where they had been rooted for a couple of generations, he caused a disturbance in the universe. As long as people related to Irsay own the team, and they do, the team will never get to the Super Bowl.

This is supernatural stuff, folks. But I believe. It comes out of the same netherworld that gave the Boston Red Sox the Curse of the Bambino, except what gave the Colts' curse life was more malevolent and, therefore, it's probably going to last longer. (And the Curse of the Bambino lasted 86 years!)

Even David Letterman, a son of Indiana, sees it. Monday, in his nightly banter on CBS's Late Show, Letterman reminded his national television audience of the Colts' dark odyssey to the Hoosier state.

"Before the Colts moved to Indianapolis, our chances of getting to the Super Bowl were really nonexistent because we had no team. ... You had to have a team to get to the Super Bowl.

"So now we get the team. This weasel steals the Colts out of Baltimore. ... Just packed them up in the middle of the night and then sneaked them out under the cover of darkness. Johnny Unitas and the old Baltimore Colts -- they are all gone, and now the Indianapolis Colts. And Indiana has long been known as the home of colts. Anyway, it's ... Next to Kentucky, our grass is nearly as blue. But none of this makes any difference. So now they finally get a team. They get a program.

"I'm so dumb. I make the mistake of getting excited. ... I'm not saying I actually went out and got dip and chips. You couldn't prove that I did. But it was the closest thing to a football party I will ever have in my life. Really. The big screen, everything, we're ready to go.

"And then nothing happens."

Actually, something did happen, Dave baby. A curse happened.

"The curse of Johnny U is alive and well in Indianapolis," said a note posted on a sports thread on The Indianapolis Star Web site. "The Colts will never win it all, until the name 'Colts' and the horseshoe logo are returned to Baltimore where they belong. You would think they would understand that the football gods will never ever let them win it all."

To which another note-poster replied: "Amen."

You can read the actual article here.

2006-01-17T23:09:00.000-05:00

This is for all those "hoosiers" that talked smack to Ravens fans after the Ravens lost to the Colts in Baltimore back on 9/11/05. The Ravens may suck, but, oh I almost forgot, we won a SUPER BOWL!!! And we won without a fancy team that every dumbass in the USA was rooting for!!

Not to mention, we have a Vince Lombardi trophy that the BALTIMORE COLTS won on this very day in 1971 - that was one thing Irsay couldn't get his filthy hands on back in 1984.

(you know, I do feel a little guilty posting this picture, but I'm a bad man - I can't help it)

2006-01-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

Ain't that a thing of beauty? I swear, I hate the Steelers, but I don't think I laughed so hard as when Vanderjagt missed that kick. Another great season completely flushed down the toilet for Indy!

Boy, for all the crap that came out of Vanderjagt's mouth over the years (and I know you Indy Dolts fans know what I'm talking about), football karma sure smacked him good this time!

Want to know why you missed, Vanderjagt? Here in Charm City, we all know why.

Can you say HOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKK!!!!?

2005-10-04T23:02:00.000-04:00

Wow, I really should edit this blog more often.

Oh what has changed. I have a new job. It pays well, I do it better than I did my previous job, but it is still nowhere near where I need to be. I can't beat the commute, though - I have a very short walk to work. I can't really talk about my job any more than that right now. I guess I have to get fired before I can explain it more here, plus I just don't want to bring it home with me (even though I have to).

I still hate the Indianapolis Colts, that hasn't changed. Trust me, it's my nightmare coming true with the Indy Colts on top of the NFL right now (plus, with my Ravens as crappy as they are right now). The only consolation is that teams tend to fizzle out by the end of the year if they start out hot. Please let the curse on the Colts live! I'm praying for it!

That being said, the most obnoxious football fans in the USA are Pittsburgh Steeler fans. They are hands down the worst. Yeah, I know that they're the Ravens' division rivals, but the Steeler fans at my workplace act like total jackasses. When the Steelers started out hot, they did nothing but talk smack to all of the other fans (Ravens, Jets, Redskins, etc) about how the Steelers were going to win the next 7 Super Bowls. Then, as soon as the Pats beat the Steelers, they whined about the Steelers would never win another game this season. Steeler fans are to the NFL what Yankee fans are to baseball, to their fans their respective sports revolve around their team. Thank God for a salary cap in the NFL (actually, without a salary cap, that would mean that the Steelers would suck and the Redskins would dominate the NFL - and it would also mean that the Indy Colts could face contraction thanks to their tiny revenue stream - I'm already salivating at the prospect!)

So with football as a living hell right now, I am looking for other distractions. Like politics. Oh, nevermind, I am sick of everyone's political opinions too. Conservative/liberal, they're all annoying and they all want to tell you what to do. And they all think they're right.

So could looking for a new car be my distraction? Possibly, although I've sworn that I won't think about a new car until after the new year. So, I'm torn. My dream car is a Mini Cooper S (which I can afford), but it is awful small for the price. I could get a Honda Element, but the gas mileage sucks. I could get a new Volkswagen Jetta TDI (diesel mileage is great), but it's in massive high demand, and that means accepting a horrible price. Or I could get a Toyota Prius, but I'm still not sure about hybrids.

2004-10-27T17:17:00.000-04:00

So I'm two years removed from college. I graduated cum laude with a B.A. history major. I'm doing absolutely nothing with my degree right now. I work a job that doesn't nearly pay what I need it to pay. I am going to grad school in two years, but two years seems too far away right now. What's a poor boy like me to do in the meantime, other than consume large quantities of alcohol and antidepressants?

Obsess about sports.

Sure, I mean, look at it. Sports is the last sanctuary for a guy who has had it with the rest of the world. Everything seems as if it's out of control, but when you turn on the TV to watch football, you realize where you are in life. Every movement you make has repercussions in the fantasy world of sports, where just one adjustment in your routine can mean utter failure for your team on the football field on Sunday. For example:

My Sundays are currently set into a specific routine, designed to complement the performance of the Baltimore Ravens in the best way I can. It could be referred to as superstition. Every Sunday (if the Ravens are playing at 1pm) I leave my house to watch the game at my uncle's house in Westminster. I drive up Rt. 15 and get on MD Rt. 140 in Emmitsburg heading east. There's a better and more direct way to my uncle's house than that route, but I must drive the 140 route. When I pass through Taneytown, I make sure to stop at McDonald's to get something small, like a coffee and/or double cheesburger. It doesn't matter whether I am hungry or not, I
must stop. I then continue driving east on 140 until I reach Westminster where my uncle lives. During the drive I tune in to Ravens Radio on WQSR 102.7 FM. Keep in mind that I am wearing a Ravens jersey on Sunday, usually the white away jersey of Ray Lewis. However, I bring both that jersey and my home purple Jamal Lewis jersey, so in case the Ravens happen to be wearing their home purple jerseys that day I can change into the purple jersey to match what the players are wearing. This routine only works if the Ravens are playing at 1pm on Sunday. If they play any other time, such as Sunday night or Monday night, I usually try to reverse my Sunday routine so I can do exactly the opposite of what I do on Sunday.

If I thought clicking my heels twice after a touchdown and running around the house three times clockwise at halftime would assure a Baltimore Ravens victory, I would do it.

Recently I have become enamored with baseball, particularly the Red Sox in the World Series about to break their curse. It helps that I hate the overinflated egos of the New York Yankees and their belligerent fans. Anyway, I have found that when I watch the Red Sox up to bat, they win. However, when I watch the Red Sox pitching, they seem to perform poorly. So throughout the ALCS and the World Series I have been turning the channel when the opposing team gets up to bat. Weird, but in my superstitious head it works.

Worrying about sports can become a full-time duty, and superstition makes it a full-time job. Any Red Sox fan would be proud of that attitude.

2004-10-17T22:58:00.000-04:00

I got into an argument with a friend on Friday about the New England Patriots. I told him that I can't stand them, and that I'm sick of them winning all their damn games. He argued that I should like them because of what a great team they are, how great they work together, how great the coaching is, and how they've been able to do this in the salary-cap era. Well, I guess we'll agree to disagree, but the only good reason I could give him at the time as to why I hate the Patriots is because I hate a constant winner. I hate dynasties. I was hoping the salary cap would cure that.

After watching the Redskins take on the Bears in Chicago today, I finally came up with the best reason yet why I hate the Pats. During the game they would pan to the crowd to show all the fans. Of course it's mostly Bears fans, and maybe some Redskins fans. But the thing that caught my eye was the retard wearing a big Patriots jacket. That Patriots fan, that guy who shows up to all of the games around the league wearing his impertinent stupid Patriots crap, who shows up to games that the Patriots aren't even playing, that's the reason why I can't stand the New England Patriots. I went to two different NFL training camps this year (Ravens and Redskins), and at both training camps I saw Tom Brady jerseys. These people deserve to be smacked! Except for the fans in New England (as much as they have suffered through the years before 2001 with the Pats), every other Pats-wearing nimrod around the area is, as far as I am concerned, a bandwagon fan, a fan who only likes a winner, a fan who is not dedicated to any team unless they are winning.

It was sort of the same way back in January 2001 in Frederick, MD. Frederick is definitely a Redskins town, but when the Ravens started plowing through the playoffs on their way to the Super Bowl, all of a sudden everyone in Frederick started wearing purple. Their precious Redskins sucked, so they saw a winner 30 miles up Interstate 95 and started rooting for the Ravens. It got so bad 98 Rock Baltimore came out with a commercial that went something like, "We've been Ravens fans for 5 years, not 2 weeks." Very on-point.

Anyway, my point was about the Patriots and some of their pseudo-fans around the nation. Where were those idiots when the Patriots were bottom feeders in the NFL? Where was that Patriots dumbass in Chicago when the Bears absolutely obliterated the Patriots in Super Bowl XX? That is my point. I have all the love in the world for real Patriots fans that have stuck by their team through all that (especially when it seems the Red Sox can't get past the hated Yankees, I hate 'em too), but the bandwagon fans make me want to see the Patriots get their asses whupped. I was hoping the Seahawks would have been able to do it, but alas it was not to be. I have only one last thing to say to bandwagon Pats fans around the USA...

J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2004-10-11T17:18:00.000-04:00

YES!!!!!!

Now the Baltimore Ravens can rightfully take their place as the kings of Maryland by having beaten the Redskins last night! The game doesn't really matter to Redskins fans (all they care about is beating the Cowboys), but for Baltimore football fans it's nothing short of glorious to play and destroy the Washington Redskins. How else could you explain all the Ravens fans that managed to show up at Fedex Field? I swear, there was a hell of a lot of purple in the ol' Redskins stadium last night. I hope Dan Snyder noticed all those loyal Baltimore fans coming down to his stadium to root against him. He gives Ravens fans, the Ravens organization, and the city of Baltimore no respect, and well I do believe we simply returned the favor by crushing his beloved overpaid Redskins in front of a national audience Sunday night.

The Ravens, specifically our offense, were looking absolutely abysmal up until the third quarter when Ed Reed knocked the ball loose from Mark Brunell's hand to force the fumble and run it back for a touchdown. A lot of observers watching the game believe that was the turning point for the Ravens to take over the game. I beg to differ. Maybe nobody noticed, but I think the turning point was Suzy Kolber's interview with an injured Lavar Arrington on the Redskins sideline. At the time the score was 10-0 Redskins, and they had the ball. Arrington, all smiles, looks out at the field and talks about how the game is going great for the Redskins defense
and how it looks like they're going to pitch a shutout. He says that one with a little snicker. The football gods apparently didn't agree with Lavar Arrington's comment, because not two plays later Brunell coughs up the ball to Ed Reed, who runs it back for a touchdown. That comment doomed the Redskins to a horrible performance against a rejuvenated Ravens team. If I was a Redskins fan, I would never want Lavar Arrington to open his smarmy big mouth again.

Still, the win is not quite as satisfying as it could be. The fact is that Kyle Boller looks like a steaming pile of dog poo on the field, we have no receivers to speak of, and Jamal Lewis will be out for two weeks after the bye next week. Of course the national media is busy blasting Jamal Lewis for his conviction, and perpetuating the perception around the league that the Ravens are a bunch of criminals. We have a lot of work to do with our offense. Wait a minute, we've had a lot of work to do with our offense for years now.

As a Ravens fan, I am tired of the criticism leveled against my team by the rest of the NFL. Almost like the WWE, I think the NFL is split between the teams everyone loves and the teams everyone hates. Everyone loves the New England Patriots, the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Indianapolis Colts offense. Who does everyone hate?
The Oakland Raiders, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Baltimore Ravens. When the Pats won the Super Bowl back in 2002, it was the "cinderella story" of the underappreciated Patriots. When the Ravens won the Super Bowl a year earlier, it was the "Baltimore bullies" who didn't deserve to win the Super Bowl. Guess what? We won, fair and square. We deserved it plenty. The city of Baltimore deserved it plenty.

Anyway, I went off on a rant there. Us against the world. Familiar concept. One last thought: doesn't Brian Billick sometimes remind you of Donald Rumsfeld in the difference between what he says is happening and what is actually happening?

2004-10-07T01:03:00.000-04:00

Here is the special girl in my life - my cat Emmie. She loves hiding under my old Seattle Seahawks blanket (I was a Seahawks fan between the Baltimore Colts and Ravens), so I guess that means she's a Seahawks fan.

2004-10-05T23:07:00.000-04:00

Yeah, it was pretty ugly.

I went over to my uncle's house to watch the Ravens get thoroughly trounced by the Chiefs on Monday night on HDTV. In front of a national audience, I got to watch my team lay a huge turd right on the field. What is it about the Chiefs that makes the Ravens crumble? Actually, what is it about October that makes the Ravens think, "Hmm, we were playing too well in September, so let's just play like crap for the month of October."? Jamal Lewis' plea bargaining doesn't help much, especially for us Ravens fans as we sit and wait to find out how the rest of our season will end up. And once again, all those fair-weather football fans can come back out of the woodwork and start calling the Ravens "criminals" again. How does our defense give up that many yards to one running back (Priest Holmes)? Well, to his credit, he used to be a Raven, and he certainly got used to running against our defense during practices. That is still no excuse. Well, on a sour note, we Ravens fans can now look forward to another night game Sunday against the Redskins for bragging rights in the "Battle of the Beltways." The Redskins, just like the Chiefs last night, are reeling from three losses in a row, and just like the Chiefs, they will want to prove something against the Ravens to a national audience. I'll tell ya, being a Ravens fan is one of the toughest jobs in the world, not only because our emotions are on a constant roller-coaster but also because everyone else in the country gets such great pleasure at watching our team fail.

2004-10-01T17:36:00.000-04:00

Funny parody of En Vogue by fellow Indy Colts haters!

Did I forget to mention that THE CURSE OF THE IRSAYS LIVES!!?

2004-10-01T17:07:00.000-04:00

John Mayer sucks. I wish someone would admit that he sucks. I have to listen to his crap every day at work, and he makes my day just that more tedious. He writes these terrible songs about "sea of blankets" and other pseudo-romantic trash, and girls are swooning over him. He's not even that good-looking (but I'm not exactly the pick of the litter, either). I heard he dated Heidi Klum at one time. How does an idiot like that end up with a beautiful woman like her? Well, I also heard that now she's living with Seal, so it might just be her.

I don't really like celebrity culture, but I'm listening to a bad top-40 radio station at work. So all I hear is bad pop music and stupid celebrity news. John Mayer may suck, but the worst one on this station is Nickelback. If you sit down and listen to the lyrics, they are pretty gross. I mean, how do you explain "I like your pants around your ankles?" Is that not disgusting? How about "Let's make love one last time in the shower?" Are you getting the message? Please Nickelback, I do NOT want to be invited into your bedroom. And I'm sure the girls you're singing about
LOVE those lyrics, too. Not to mention the fact that their music is some of the most boring, trite corporate rock we've seen this decade. Look, Creed's music may have been boring, too, but at least they had some kind of message. Silly, yes, but it was a message. Nickelback is doing nothing
but stinking up the radio with their foul music. Somebody light a match!

Oh, but the top-40 station is not the worst of all. Oh, no, that station is just a taste of hell. The worst station, and I will proudly admit this, is WFRE, our local country station. OK, some country music is good stuff. Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, bluegrass music, well those are just classics that cannot be touched. Oh, but this is not what you hear on this abomination of a radio station. What you hear is Tim McGraw, Toby Keith (the jingoist redneck that he is), Brooks & Dunn, etc. Pop country must have been written by Satan, because this music clings in your brain. It's like stepping on a piece of already-chewed gum, and you can't get it off your shoe no matter how hard you try. The lyrics, while not perverted like Nickelback, are just plain retarded. Sappy is the best way to describe country love songs, and most pop country songs are about love. And when it's not about love, it's about blind patriotism. Toby Keith has
probably never set foot outside the USA, and he probably shouldn't with the trash he's written. "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way?" Well, plenty of people have already said what I would have to say about his music. "Nauseating love songs and Republican stormtrooper anthems" is a perfect description of WFRE.

Oh, and another thing. Why is it that no matter where you go, you can always pick up a country station loud and clear? Rock and hip-hop stations are tough to pick up away from major cities, but that country station just beams right in no matter where you are.

Ooo, a Live song is on. Don't make fun of me, I like this song.

2004-09-30T20:26:00.000-04:00

Washington Grays?

Great article!

"It's a shame that the NFL didn't make the Colts leave the jersey, the name and all their records in Baltimore, which the league got right some years later when it told the Browns all such things belonged to Cleveland."

Thank you, Michael Wilbon! (even though the article isn't really about the Baltimore Colts) He's convinced me that the DC team should be named "Grays."

2004-09-30T20:22:00.000-04:00

I almost forgot. My home town of Baltimore has a distinct sports connection with the city of Montreal. That connection is the CFL Montreal Allouettes.

It was in the second year of Baltimore's CFL team (Colts, then Stallions when the NFL blocked us from using Colts) when the Browns announced they were relocating to Baltimore. Of course this meant the end of the CFL in Baltimore, and what a success the CFL in Baltimore was! Not only did Baltimore go to the Grey Cup (the highest award in the CFL) game both years, they actually won the Grey Cup their second (and last) year! Baltimore still holds the distinction as the only American city to have won the Grey Cup. After having won the Grey Cup, that team, knowing that the CFL was done in Baltimore, packed up its bags (nobody was watching in
Baltimore, they were too excited about getting the NFL back) and moved to Montreal.

There were many other American teams that entered the CFL in 1994, but none had the success and the popularity that the Baltimore CFL team enjoyed. It was for this reason that the Baltimore franchise was spared contraction when the CFL decided that the experiment with American teams was a failure and closed all of the remaining American teams. So Montreal got its old Allouettes back in the form of the old Baltimore CFL Colts (I can't call them Stallions, what Baltimore fans wanted was the Colts name). I went to one of their games (against B.C. Lions) in 1994, and it was a blast! Back then they were simply called the Baltimore CFL Club (because the Indy Colts and the NFL had successfully blocked Baltimore from using the Colts moniker). The stadium announcers at Memorial Stadium would introduce the team as "your Baltimore CFL...", and the crowd would scream with a resounding "COLTS!!" At least the NFL couldn't stop the fans from yelling COLTS. And we were not disappointed. I don't remember the score, but I
remember that we beat the Lions pretty bad.

But, what Baltimore wanted, and needed, was the NFL. I know people today in the Baltimore region who refuse to support the Ravens simply because they drove the CFL club out of Baltimore. I think this line of thinking is misguided. The CFL Colts were not the NFL Baltimore Colts, and they could never be. They couldn't even be the NFL! I understand that the Allouettes
haven't done too bad in Montreal. They remain one of the most successful CFL franchises, both on and off the field. If I end up attending grad school in Canada I will happily root for the Montreal Allouettes. But I have not forgotten where they came from.

2004-09-30T20:12:00.000-04:00

I'm not much of a baseball fan (the Orioles are my team, I guess, since I'm from Baltimore). However, living in the DC metropolitan area, I have been hearing plenty of news lately regarding the Expos moving from Montreal to Washington DC. Since then I have been following this whole relocation thing a lot. I must say that I disagree with a lot of my fellow Baltimore sports fans when they protest a baseball team coming to DC, no matter how much I dislike DC. These fans are simply hypocrites, in my opinion. I remember, and I hope they remember, how angry we were when Baltimore was denied an expansion NFL team in 1994. Remember how Jack Kent Cooke and the Washington Redskins complained that a team in Baltimore would cut into their revenue, and how hard they worked to keep an NFL team from coming to Baltimore? Remember how the Redskins were trying to build a stadium in Anne Arundel County, just south of Baltimore, and how that stadium would have effectively killed the drive to bring the NFL back to Baltimore? Remember all that, Baltimore sports fans? Keep all that in mind when you look at DC's drive to bring baseball back to the nation's capital. No matter how much a team in DC is supposed to cut into the Orioles' revenues, it is simply unfair for Baltimore sports fans to try to stop them. Washington, of all the cities vying for baseball, is the city that most
deserves a baseball team.

That being said, relocation is painful (Baltimore NFL fans know all about that), and the relocation of the Montreal Expos has me particularly choked up. Montreal is one of the greatest cities in North America, in my opinion. Having visited Montreal many times, I must admit that Montreal is indeed one of the most dynamic and culturally diverse cities I have ever seen. The climate is beautiful (I am sick of hot, humid mid-Atlantic summers) and the people are even more beautiful. Did you know that Montreal is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world, besides Paris? Paris is disgusting, but Montreal is amazing. Nothing would please me more than a permanent move to Montreal.

I cannot help but be sad at the loss of Montreal baseball. Montrealers deserve better than what has been dished to them by Major League Baseball. And the worst part of the relocation is the knowledge that baseball will NEVER return to Montreal. Montrealers know this. People may want to compare this feeling in Montreal to the Browns leaving for Baltimore from Cleveland, but they would be wrong to do this. Cleveland fans, as dedicated as they are, and no matter how much they suffered for the loss of their Browns, knew that they would be receiving a new NFL team that would be called the Browns. They knew before the last truck left for Baltimore that the Cleveland Browns would be playing again within three years, with a brand-new stadium paid for by the NFL, and that all of their colors, records, etc would remain in Cleveland. The NFL absolutely appeased the city of Cleveland. Cleveland suffered for three years. Three years!
Baltimore suffered for thirteen years without the NFL, and the NFL gave NO assurances when the Colts left in 1984 that Baltimore would ever reenter the NFL (besides the fact that Indianapolis is making money from the colors, team name, and history they stole from Baltimore). And Washington has suffered without baseball for 33 years! (Even though that is about to come to an end.) Montreal has been treated poorly by baseball, maybe because Montreal is in Canada and Canada is not the USA. Montreal will never have its Expos back, and any tradition they may have once had with baseball will now be relegated to history.

If the lawsuits from Montreal interests are enough to keep the Expos in Montreal, I sincerely hope that Montrealers will embrace the Expos once again, as they did before the 1994 strike. I will wear my Expos hat proudly (I do have an Expos hat, even though it looks terrible on me). If
the Expos open up the 2005 season in DC (and they probably will), I hope to see President John Kerry throw out the first pitch. I'll still be wearing my Expos hat, though. Not out of spite to DC for stealing the Expos from Montreal. This has been known for years that the Expos were in trouble and looking for a new home. The players, financially, will be more secure in DC. This team will be more secure in DC. DC deserves baseball. But Montreal deserves recognition as a great city. I'll be wearing that Expos hat to remind everyone in DC of the glorious past of this franchise in Montreal, and hope for a bright future for this franchise in Washington.

2004-08-08T23:20:00.000-04:00

The Ravens didn't earn these, but the Vince Lombardi trophy exudes an aura that just sucks you in. Imagine being in front of 3 of them!

2004-08-08T23:05:00.000-04:00

Well, I have had just about enough NFL this weekend that I can take. That's not true, but I did visit 2 different training camps this weekend. Friday night I went to Baltimore Ravens training camp in Westminster, MD, and Saturday I spent the day in Ashburn, VA at Washington Redskins training camp. I am spent from the experience! My Redskins fan friend went with me to Ravens training camp last year, so I agreed to go with him to see the Redskins this year.

I must say that after going to Redskins training camp, I have realized that most Redskins fans are some of the coolest and nicest fans I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Not to say that I won't like the Ravens, but I know my team has a few more shitty fans, on average, than the Redskins. Baltimore football fans, including myself, have been raised to hate the Redskins because of DC, but Redskins fans don't feel the same way. Most actually like the Ravens a lot. The only team they really hate is the Cowboys, whose fans really suck anyway. I had to put up with a lot of these morons growing up. It's gonna be hard, but I'm going to have to start rooting for the Redskins (except when they play the Ravens). My mother is going to kill me!

Well, I must give props to Redskins fans across the country. Your team's owner may be a greedy bastard (as if you guys didn't know that already), but you guys are awesome. Stay faithful, and HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!

2004-07-25T14:46:00.000-04:00

See that sports fans? Did you notice (it's a little blurry) that the winning team there is BALTIMORE? THE CURSE OF THE IRSAYS LIVES!!!

2004-07-25T14:11:00.000-04:00

The football season is about to start, and in honor of the new NFL season I went out last night and bought ESPN NFL 2K5 (yes, it has Terrell Owens on the cover, that filthy bastard, but that's another story). While searching for teams to play against (me being the Ravens) I noticed that the Colts' facemasks had changed. They were blue last year, but now they are grey. As silly as it sounds, that was one thing I could use to differentiate between the Indy Dolts and the Baltimore Colts, the grey facemask. I have a mini-helmet of the Baltimore Colts' Super Bowl V win (signed by kicker Jim O'Brien who scored the final field goal that put Baltimore over the edge against the Cowboys), and by God, that facemask is grey. So now Indianapolis has stolen yet another part of my Baltimore Colts memories.

Anyway, I confirmed all this by looking at their website. While I was looking at the website, I noticed an article about their growing fan base. A link to the article is here. Something about how they've sold 41,000 season tickets, an achievement for the Indy Colts, and they're looking at a goal of 43,000 season tickets to be sold. Good for them. Then I remembered something about the Baltimore Ravens. I remembered that the Ravens placed all their single-game tickets out for sale on Friday. Those single-game tickets for the 8 home games the Ravens play sold out in 11 minutes (a link to the article is here)! 11 minutes! Even with the best offense in the league, Indianapolis still could never pony up the fan base that the Ravens have in Baltimore! Yeah, I can definitely see that the Irsays made a smart financial decision to move the team to Indianapolis (sarcasm).

I felt better after I read those articles. Living well is the best revenge.

2004-07-22T22:43:00.000-04:00

I have been complaining about the conspiracy theories flying around about Israel and how the Mossad (Israeli intelligence service) is infiltrating places around the world. I have always dismissed this as garbage. Today I stand corrected (sort of):

Abu Ghraib general says she met Israeli in Iraq

New Zealand jails Israeli "spies"

I only trust legitimate news agencies for my news (however opinionated they may be), but these stories are really too much to ignore. Looks like there's a lot more to the Israeli-New Zealand relationship than we know. I mean, what the hell does Israel need from New Zealand? And why in God's name are Israeli interrogators operating in Iraq?

I refuse to be sucked into conspiracy theories, so I will wait to see what comes out of all this. You know, back in 1924 a group of guys in Germany ran with a conspiracy theory and almost destroyed an entire people before they themselves were destroyed in 1945.

2004-07-22T22:35:00.000-04:00

always funny - spelling errors

2004-07-22T07:36:00.000-04:00

Alright, I tried posting a picture last night, but it didn't work. Let's see if I can do it this time:

Hopefully it worked. If not, I've got a lot of blank space!

2004-07-20T22:18:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to get more regular, but I know it won't last. Even Metamucil won't take care of this!

Anyway, I was just taking a shower when I started thinking about some of the web sites I've been visiting. I've been spending a lot of time the past couple of weeks on the Beastie Boys website and forum. I actually was only signing up to get on the Beastie Boys' mailing list (I hear there's a US tour in store TBA in August), but I ended up on their forum. This latest album of theirs (To The Five Boroughs) is pretty political in nature, and I was in for a good political discussion, so I started posting to their message boards. In case you go looking for it, my name is zx3geek on that forum. I have to say that I have been pretty frazzled by that whole experience. There are a lot of extremely intelligent people on that site, don't get me wrong, but the conspiracy theorists abound. And they pass off obvious hatred as anti-war information. Such as accusing Israel of terrorism in Iraq, and accusing Israel of 9/11. Sorry, I don't buy that crap. Good thing people were on there to dispute their "facts."

But what bothered me the most was, in fact, the blatant hatred and ignorance of certain people on the site. Somebody registered onto the site to spread pro-Bush, pro-right-wing-Christian propaganda (knowing full well that the site was decidedly left-wing), and this guy definitely stirred up a hornet's nest. I want to say that I consider myself to be Christian, that my faith in Jesus Christ is an important part of my life, but that I do not impose my beliefs on anyone, nor do I spread hateful and ignorant statements. Well, obviously there are people who do not share my beliefs, there are people who have no belief system or faith in any higher power, and many of these people are on this forum. Some of these people completely blasted this guy for his beliefs ( understandable, his statements were condescending and IMO, unChristian), but then proceeded to blast anyone who had any faith in any higher power at all. I felt compelled to defend my faith, and while I did receive support when I did, some of the hardcore atheists (sorry, that's what I believe they were) belittled me for my faith. Their total lack of understanding for anyone's beliefs (calling people with faith "stupid") made me extremely angry. As far as I am concerned, atheist extremism is just as hateful and ignorant as religious extremism. After reading some of these posts, I couldn't help it but shake every time I logged on. However, they have a right to their beliefs, and I have a right not to read what they have to say.

I have decided to avoid this particular forum for a while. I feel bad not being able to communicate with a lot of the intelligent people in the forum, but a few bad apples DO spoil the whole bunch sometimes. This problem really is endemic with message boards across the Internet. I'm not really sure why I continue to subscribe to these boards, other than as an exercise in masochism.

2004-07-18T21:57:00.000-04:00

I need to start updating this thing every once in a while!

Well, there's a lot to talk about (as always), but I am feeling pretty crappy. I'm getting one of those second-time-around hangovers. I drank a lot last night (drinking White Russians all night), and I woke up with a typical hangover. About midway through the day it seemed to go away. Now I feel like I'm starting to get sick. My eyes seem to be burning in the back of my eye sockets, and my throat hurts bad. I know I was yelling a lot last night, but this, I think, is different. Maybe I'm dehydrated.

2004-05-20T23:37:00.000-04:00

I guess this blog is starting to become the "weekly" blog rather than the semi-daily blog I envisioned. But no matter. I thought I'd tackle that issue first.

I was driving to Roy Rogers today for some greasy fried chicken when I started thinking about world affairs. I know, big surprise, me thinking about world affairs. But I was really thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And I was really thinking that the best chance for peace to occur, the closest the two sides ever got to actually making real peace, took place right where I live four years ago.

Well, I don't actually live at Camp David (but I do live in the town right near it). But I remember how busy it was that summer here in Thurmont. There were tons of people from all over the world, crawling all over town. I wasn't here for the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel, but my neighbors remembered it pretty clearly, so this was nothing to them. The international press corps had set up shop right at the old elementary school in town. So the field across the street from the school (near the ballfields) became protest central.

Most of them were protesting against the whole peace process. I vividly remember one particular anti-peace protester (I can't think of a better term) screaming about how her family had just built a home in the West Bank (she had an American accent), described how impenetrable her bomb shelter was, and explained how nobody, Israeli or Palestinian, would be forcing her from "her" land. I mean she was screaming. All I saw was pure hatred in her eyes, nothing else. I didn't like her. She was with a group of Orthodox Jews protesting against the peace process, and how their views were being ignored. Fair enough. I ended up talking with a group of secular Jews from local Jewish summer camps who were there to support the process. They sat together singing songs while the Orthodox Jews taunted them. I felt comfortable talking to them, they seemed reasonable. But in the end, all of the protesting was only to capture the lens of the cameras from the elementary school. I guess that's what protesting is all about. Other than the cameras, the only people watching were the armada of various police units lined up at the Senior Citizens center. The locals weren't watching.

In fact, the only thing that bothered the locals was an incident in which then-President Clinton asked the elementary school to take down the American flag, for fear of violating Israeli and Palestinian sensibilities. Boy, that set off the locals, who never cared much for Clinton anyway. The town of Thurmont, which was planning on removing the lines of flags set up for the 4th of July anyway, instead kept them up to annoy Clinton. Local right-wingers (probably associated with the same idiots who have a billboard off the highway which states GET US OUT OF THE UN) showed up with their own placards, telling Clinton to get out of the USA if he didn't like the flag. Imagine if a President had tried to do the same thing two years later.

It wasn't just about the show here. There was hope. There was a sense that history, and world peace, could be made. When the two sides broke off so abruptly, I had a real sense of impending doom. The press, the protesters, everybody left as quickly as they had come in. I knew Clinton had to feel the same way I was feeling. Who would know that only a few months later Ariel Sharon would walk through a Palestinian neighborhood on his way to the Western Wall, setting off the latest and longest cycle of bloodshed and horror Palestinians call the Second Intifada.

I talk to people today about the issue and they simply say there is no hope, there will never be peace until one side or the other is wiped off the face of the earth. But in that summer I had hope. I still have hope, buried underneath the ashes of Israeli buses and Palestinian homes somewhere. How was I to know that the raw hatred in that American West Bank settler's eyes would prevail over the forces of reason, humanity, and justice? That woman still scares me, even today.

2004-05-11T20:33:00.000-04:00

I guess it's been a while since I last wrote in my wonderful blog. What has happened since I last wrote? I took the foreign service exam, I quit my part-time job to restart projects I had abandoned, and I put the air conditioners in the apartment. Pretty eventful, huh?

I did finish the book Against All Enemies and my reaction? 80% was informative and insightful, and 20% was a rant on the Bush administration. Not to say that I don't agree with his points, but the Bush bashing takes attention away from what he has to say. But overall a very good book.

I will have to say I feel lost. Not so much me personally, but my country in general. I feel we're careening down the path to destruction, and there's no turning back. Yes, I saw the Abu Ghraib pictures. I can't explain enough how angry I was that this happened. Yes, this is a part of war, but isn't the war in Iraq called "Operation Iraqi FREEDOM?" Don't give me that crap about how the terrorists are doing worse, because that's what terrorists are. They are evil, they are despicable, and they do horrible things. We are America. We are the great instrument of freedom around the world (at least that's what we were taught since we were kids). We are not supposed to commit these kinds of atrocities. We are stooping to the level of the terrorists, and when we do that, we are just as hideous and wretched as the terrorists. People say we shouldn't obsess over this, that the media is taking this out of proportion, that the military has already done its investigation, etc. So? Part of a fully functional democracy is knowing what is going on and not being kept in the dark. I don't care if it's already been taken care of, we need a dialogue in America about the war in its entirety. We need to bring all of this out in the open.

I guess what I'm trying to say is we need someone to look up to. We need someone to show us direction. And it's not gonna be Bush, so it's gonna have to be Kerry.

Please, Kerry, do something! Don't kiss our ass, lead us, dammit! Half the nation is waiting on you!

2004-04-14T22:14:00.000-04:00

I'm back, bitches!

Well, I'm not back for long. Just wanted to say that I have finally joined the 21st century and now have broadband internet. I feel like I've discovered a whole new world. A world I'm still figuring out, but a new world nonetheless. Plus, I don't have to worry about getting kicked off the internet anymore because I haven't responded lately.

No politics today, although watching Bush's press conference with Sharon has me pissed. I guess I'll get to that later. Just want to say that the new NFL schedule is up and ready, and KC is playing Baltimore at home in Baltimore on a Monday night. I guess I have to figure out how cold it gets in Indianapolis in December, 'cause I might be taking a trip up to Indy to see the Ravens take on the Colts Dec. 19. Chris McCalister is gonna shut Marvin Harrison DOWN!

Is it too early to talk smack?

2004-04-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter, everyone. At least everyone who is Christian. Screw it, everyone deserves to have a happy day, whether they are Christian or not, and whether today is Easter or not. We just got home after a wonderful day with my parents and family, and I had a few beers, so life should be good. Only problem is, my parents live on the other side of the mountains where I live. So, we had to drive all these curvy roads down the mountain back to our place, and as a result I have a pretty major headache. One that won’t go away, probably until tomorrow. My motion sickness is kinda like that.

I’m now about halfway through the book Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke. Well, I have to say that Richard Clarke is a pretty intelligent guy. Contrary to what has been said, he is not thumping for the Democrats. So far he has a lot of criticism to go around, and that criticism is not directed at any particular president. Sounds to me like he is criticizing bureaucracy in general for thwarting America’s war on terrorism (the phrase was actually coined during the Clinton administration, according to Clarke). Every president he discusses, especially Clinton, seems genuinely concerned about foreign terrorism, but what keeps anything from going forward in nabbing terrorists is the bureaucracy. Clarke, in my opinion, singles out the Pentagon and the FBI in his criticism of bureaucracy. The pre-9/11 Pentagon did not see fighting terrorism as a worthwhile endeavor for troops trained to fight national armies, and the FBI just didn’t seem to recognize that terrorists could be hiding in America. At least that’s what I’ve gotten so far. There had been plans to nab bin Laden in the ‘90’s, plans approved by Clinton, but plans that were scuttled by the Pentagon. Also, countries such as Saudi Arabia, obsessed with saving its own ass from an oppressed population under the absolute monarchy, tried to hide a lot of what they knew about terrorists in order to preserve the relative order of the region.

My political commentary is done. I just keep thinking that what I have to say will come back to haunt me if I pass the Foreign Service Exam. I do not want to be considered an activist. I tried that before when I went to the protest against the IMF/World Bank meetings 4 years ago in D.C. I really wonder if half the people knew what they were protesting against. To be quite honest, I didn’t know either. That is why I swore that I would never get involved in a protest like that unless I felt strongly that I needed to. I got some good photos of riot police, and of course Michael Moore (who I really liked until the Iraq war and his performance at the 2003 Oscars, which in my opinion was in horrible taste). But most of what I saw was people tooting their own horns about whatever they felt like complaining about at the time. I felt, well, stupid. Most of who showed up, I think, were professional protesters, especially the so-called anarchists who simply try to start fights with police for no good reason. I have nothing against protesting, protesting is a right for all Americans and it keeps us healthy as a nation. But fashionable protesting is unhealthy.

Which is why the American Humane Society (without the massive list of celebrities) has done much more for abused and mistreated animals than PETA (the gathering place of celebrity protesting) ever will. Funding urban animal shelters saves more animals than throwing red paint on someone wearing a fur coat.

Of course that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

I am done for tonight, I think. I need to numb myself on television and maybe video games before I pass out for the start of yet another wonderful week in the working world. I started to wonder why this all sounds disjointed, but then I realized that this is a weblog. I’m not writing a book here. So if you’re confused, deal with it. That’s what the people at Southwest Airlines said to us when we flew down to Florida last month. Actually, I think it was more like, “And if there is anything we can do to make your flight more comfortable, keep it to yourself.”

2004-04-09T02:03:00.000-04:00

It’s been a couple of days (and a night of writer’s block) since I wrote last. You just kind of get to a point where you just don’t like what you’ve written, that you’re afraid that you are terrible. Maybe that’s what makes a great writer. A great writer is able to overcome that fear and simply write without thinking of the consequences. Jack Kerouac was able to do just that, I mean, his stuff is really disjointed. Not that it’s bad (although that’s arguable to a few people).

Well, I just got the book Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke, the terrorism expert who worked with the Clinton and Bush administrations. Basically, I was bored, and I couldn’t think of anything else to read (although I did see a pretty cool autobiographical work by Baltimore Colts Hall of Famer John Mackey at Borders when I bought this book). Plus, everybody’s raising a big storm over his testimony to the 9/11 Commission, and Condi Rice calling him out on network television. At this point I simply want to see what all the hoopla is about.

Okay, I thought it might be a good idea for me to say what’s on my mind before I get involved in the book, what my thoughts are about Richard Clarke before I start seriously reading. That way I can revisit my thoughts once I’m done to see whether I am still thinking the way I was before I started reading. So here goes: right now I think the entire 9/11 Commission is a big witch hunt. It’s pointless to point fingers at people (no pun intended) for events very few people could have predicted. If something civil comes out of this, such as how to coordinate between agencies better to make sure a catastrophe like this does not happen again, then more power to the Commission. But if this Commission is around simply to point fingers, to give people someone else to blame besides bin Laden, then they should simply pack up and go home. Richard Clarke is giving Democrats the perfect opportunity to discredit Bush and make him look soft on terrorism. He also gives Democrats the ability to show how involved a Democratic president was in protecting the nation while a Republican president sat by and did nothing while the warning signs were flashing like crazy. “Your country failed you. I failed you.” I think that’s what he said. Look, hindsight is 20/20. Of course we can sit here now and say, “we should have done this” or “we should have done that.” The fact of the matter is that terrorism is a real threat to America right now. Let’s focus on the “now”. No amount of complaining is going to bring those brave firefighters back from the ashes of Ground Zero.

What I am interested in reading, though, is Clarke’s claims that Bush attempted to pin 9/11 on Saddam Hussein. Personally, I never once thought Saddam had anything to do with 9/11, even directly after the attacks. Of course my thoughts on this have been vindicated by history. Let me also state that…

Oh hell. I’m rambling again. I guess the whole point of what I just said is: I’m eager to find out what, if anything, he has to say. I will report as I go along (and I know all of you are just squirming in your seats waiting to find out what Cuyler has to say about the world). On a personal note, I tried to find the first Prodigy album (called the Prodigy Experience) at Best Buy today, but I had no luck in finding it. I then proceeded to drown my sorrow in a mocha peppermint frappucino from Starbucks and a giant burrito from Chipotle. I swear, those burritos are freakin’ awesome. I’m not much of a Taco Hell fan, especially the toxic waste dump they call a restaurant where I live. I mean, every day that place looks like a bomb went off inside. Lettuce, cheese, salsa, dirt, and used napkins coat the floor, and it’s still in better shape than the ceiling, which drips directly on customers at the soda machine during a downpour. Hey, come to think of it, that’s a perfect way to encourage people to eat healthier. Maybe if fast food restaurants were all staffed by incompetent teenagers who tossed random shit on the floor and threw lettuce at each other, people would think twice about eating fast food. I’m really surprised the FDA or these crazy health groups haven’t pushed this already. Instead of fast-food taxes, they should encourage McDonald’s employees to gargle straight from the milkshake machine right at lunchtime.

Is it almost 2am? Time to snuggle up with my favorite person in the world Kelly (and my favorite cat in the world Emmie). By the way, happy Good Friday. Let’s hope it’s a good Friday around the world, although I’m not holding out much hope.

2004-04-07T01:39:00.000-04:00

I guess I’m getting the hang of this whole blog thing now. Plus, it’s kind of nice being forced to write. Journals were always a pain in the ass anyway. I got my good friend Emmie sittin’ next to me (Emmie is my cat), life is good.

I started feeling a little nostalgic tonight. Really, a 26-year old has no business feeling nostalgic, but I was a history major, so give me a break. I’m working by myself at work, so I brought in some old music of mine (the Prodigy in particular), and it just reminded me of how I was when I was a teenager. After I graduated high school in 1996, I moved down closer to Baltimore with my dad. I proceeded to spend the next four months doing absolutely nothing except clubbing. I was a silly raver kid, I know, but I never did get into the whole drug thing (which I still thank God for every day). I went simply for the music (I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s all true!). Anyway, I would go out around 10pm, stay up all night dancing, and come home around 6am. I would get up from bed around 2pm every day. I was a complete waste of life during that summer. Met a lot of different people, wore a lot of big pants, that sort of thing. Started smoking during that summer too (I’ve now been smoke-free for almost 2 years). Tried to hook up with a lot of girls. “Tried” is the key word here, folks. But all in all, I had a good time.

My days of constant clubbing came to a screeching halt one day in January or February of 1997. I took a high school friend of mine to Club Paradox in Baltimore for an event called Sunday Mass. This event occurred during the day on a Sunday, that’s why it was named the way it was. We were in the club for no longer than 45 minutes when cops completely bum-rushed the event. I mean, they were in full SWAT gear running, and I mean running, into the DJ booth yelling for them to shut the music down. RAID!! I swear, the sound of drugs and baggies hitting the floor was deafening. Well, everyone was escorted out of the building, and we were told to go home. There must have been hundreds of cops outside (I later found out it was a coordinated drug bust between Baltimore city police, Maryland state police, and military police due to the large numbers of military personnel frequenting these types of establishments). The weenie that I am, I just kinda stopped going. It just wasn’t the same anymore. The next summer, which I spent in Europe, I went to Loveparade in Berlin, and I also made it to the Ministry of Sound in London (which wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, let me tell you), but it just never had the same appeal for me as those Baltimore raves.

Now that I think about it, clubs also started losing their appeal when a male DJ whose music I enjoyed made me the object of his affection (sorry, I’m 100% straight). Not that there’s anything wrong with homosexuality (I’ve had plenty of gay friends before, but they always knew I was straight), but the whole situation seriously made me ill. I guess his “gay-dar” wasn’t working too well.

The last time I saw the club was last July. I took my mother, my brother Nick, and my friend Steve down to M&T Bank Stadium for Ravens Fan Day (my mother and I are Ravens fans, but Nick’s a Jets fan and Steve’s a Redskins fan). As we were trying to find a parking spot at the stadium, wouldn’t you know it, the old club Paradox was sitting right there in front of me! I mean, the stadium parking was right across the street from the club. Keep in mind that when I was clubbing in 1996 there was no stadium there, except for Camden Yards in the distance. It was just warehouses and crappy neighborhoods. The warehouses are gone, the crappy neighborhoods aren’t, and club Paradox still sits there as a reminder of my youth. I’m sure they’ll tear it down in a few years to add more parking for the stadium, but in the meantime I know it’s there.

Side note: Can’t say the same for the old Hammerjacks club in Baltimore. We were lucky enough to see the Misfits there before they leveled it to make room for the Ravens stadium.

I think I’ve written enough for tonight. Maybe something else will catch my eye in the morning. By the way, I’m going with Steve this summer to Ashburn, VA for Redskins training camp. I figure since he suffered through watching the Ravens work out, I should reciprocate and suffer through watching the Redskins work out. I know my mom will be pissed off with me (she hates the Redskins almost as much as she hates the Colts), but I still want to get Joe Gibbs’ autograph. HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!

“Yeah, well, that’s just like, your opinion, man.” – the Dude, The Big Lebowski

2004-04-06T13:09:00.000-04:00

It’s a beautiful day at the Laundromat, a beautiful day at the Laundromat, won’t you be my neighbor? Laundromats remind you just how poor you really are. All of my neighbors in my apartment building have washers and dryers, but Kelly and I were either 1) too poor or 2) too lazy to actually go out and buy them, so here I am. Besides, Kelly does her laundry at her parents. I will admit that Laundromat dryers are kinder to my clothes than home dryers. I have lost many a nice shirt to shrinkage in home dryers, but these big dryers have not yet failed me. So, here I am with a $2400 laptop, writing away at a Laundromat because I’m too poor to buy a washer and dryer. Isn’t it ironic?

Kelly should be meeting me here soon, and after I’m done with my clothes I get to go to work. I work in the CDROM department for a major outsourcing company (no, not that kind of outsourcing, just document/print management for major companies). They used to call us “business communication services,” but now we’re just “outsourcing.” I thought companies went from basic titles to more complex titles as the ‘90’s wore on, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, I’ve been working here for about 5 years now, and I am sick to death of my job. It did help me get through college, but I graduated with a B.A. in history. Now I’m working IT, and I’m simply not that technical of a person. I will be taking the Foreign Service Exam in a few weeks, so that should help make me feel better in the short term. But I failed the exam when I took it last year, so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t fail again this year. In the meantime, I’ll be doing more crappy computer work for a company that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about its employees.

I guess I should blame George W. Bush for my problems, since everyone else writing blogs seems to be blaming Bush for all the minute problems in their lives. That actually might make a good T-shirt, now that I think about it. “BUSH KILLS PUPPIES.” Think about how much money I could make. Blaming Bush might actually lift me out of poverty!

2004-04-06T00:23:00.000-04:00

Workers of the world, unite! Stop the war now!

2004-04-05T22:33:00.000-04:00

Should I welcome you to my new blog or should you welcome me to the world of blogging? Anyway, if you're reading this for the first time you're probably expecting this to be an NFL team-hating blog. Well, although the title of my blog may be misleading, you're wrong.
I've been thinking of names for a blog or some kind of journal for a while, and while I was doing this I was thinking what best describes me. I'll tell ya, people are sick to death of me going on and on about hating the Colts during the football season, and seeing as this marks the 20-year anniversary of the Colts leaving Baltimore (my home town) for Indianapolis, I thought "what the hell."
What I really created this blog to do is create an avenue for me to complain about whatever is going on, either in the world or in my life. But then again, how much should you complain when you can hear your downstairs neighbors bangin' away like monkeys in the zoo as you write this post?