Dedicated to Ryan Haldeman…

Read it, don’t read it, I don’t care…just needed to get some things off my chest.

In no particular order of chronology or importance…

Not on the clock.  When I feel down, I either workout, play piano, or blog.  I don’t feel like going to the gym this late on a Saturday afternoon, I have no piano, so I guess I am blogging.  This rant is written for my late friend, Ryan Haldeman, front and center in my thoughts.  I will explain that later in the rant.  Meanwhile, let’s turn and burn.  I am just going to write…forgive me if it lacks a certain snap that some of my other rants have.  Let’s just do this.

1)       They ended up calling the NYC Marathon off.  I had said in this blog previously that I thought they should go ahead with it.  But, after seeing further pictures of damage and hearing various stories of the extensive damage, I back off that opinion and think this was a good call.  It would have brought a positive energy to the area, but I am sure that people trying to fix their business or residence from flood damage have no interest in having streets blocked off for a bunch of runners.

2)      David Ortiz agrees to a 2-year deal with the Red Sox.  He is Last of the Mohicans in a way of the last championship team, and now that hot head Bobby Valentine is out of the way, I like keeping him.  What he lacks in pop these days in his bat can be subbed for a locker room presence that will be needed to escape another disastrous season.

3)      NBA predictions.  Let’s just break down the teams into a couple tiers.  Sorry if I forget anyone on a tier-I am off today.  Let’s say that we group the teams that have all of the components to run the table.  I have Miami, Boston and Chicago in the Eastern Conference, and OKC, Lakers, Clippers, and San Antonio in the Western Conference.  Then, we can make a “dangerous” tier, teams that have MOST of the components, but don’t look like the full boat on paper.  These teams would be the Knicks, Denver, Brooklyn, Minnesota, Denver, Dallas, and Indiana.  Let’s have one team on the fun/ VERY unknown tier-Houston. The Fillerbuster will go with the Lakers over the Clippers, Boston over Miami, and Boston over the Lakers in the finals.  I LOVE the Sullinger and Melo draft picks and the Jason Terry and Courtney Lee pick ups.  Take THAT, Ray Allen.

4)      Hey, Colorado lost its football game today.  The good news is that they ONLY allowed 48 points this week.  They must have really been concentrating on defense, because the bad news is they didn’t score at all.

5)      Virginia football WON today.  They used a mix for the starting QB, acknowledging that when you have a previous Bama recruit come to Charlottesville for some odd reason, USE him.  Phillip Sims BETTER be the starting QB at some point.

6)      Josh Hamilton, one of the most talented players in MLB, got a 1 year/ $13.3 million offer from the Rangers yesterday.  Yeah.  Something tells me he is looking at his age, his stats, and Alex Rodriguez’s and Albert Pujols’s pay stubs and saying…whatever, Texas.

7)      Steve Nash is already hurt.  It is not a season threatening injury, but it DOES provide the first signal that the guy is getting pretty darn old.  I still think he has a solid season.  What I would be worried about is their depth, not their starting lineup.

8)       The NHL officially cancelled one of the most fun sporting events over the last decade in the Winter Classic.  I also hear that “secret” talks are being held this weekend.  Do you want me to touch on the fact that the Winter Classic was cancelled and its ramifications, or should I wonder how talks are secret if we know about them?

9)      I hear the Cubs are interested in the Angels Dan Haren.  Didn’t the Royals just grab Santana from the Angels?  What the hell are the Angels doing over there?  Is this what we call a “HOW many years did we ink Pujols for” depression?

10)   Dez Bryant asked and got permission to stay out past midnight the other night.  He went to a nightclub and hung out with some other Dallas athletes.  I find it SO hilarious we know the comings and goings of one of the best head cases in sports.  We should do the same thing for Metta World Peace.  Nah.  No, we shouldn’t.  Let him just…be.

11)   The Knicks beat the Heat.  Crown them.  Just kidding.  Let’s not put the cart in front of the horse.  ONE game people, post Sandy, Wade didn’t even want to play it because of the storm, he dedicated his game salary towards the relief effort, and there are 81 other games for the Knicks to show us their dysfunctional tendencies.  Be patient.

12)   Lindsey got Asian cuisine the other night.  Obviously, I had none due to my very limited tastes and exploration motivation, but I did have the fortune cookie.  I LOVED the line in it.  “If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.”  Yes.  I am easily entertained.

13)   They have ruled that Lindsey Vonn can’t race in the men’s slalom races.  Ok.  Dead end.  Can we call up Bode Miller and get him to come back and race?  Combine his partying and his ego, and we have a sexist disaster waiting to happen.

14)   Good luck to the Chinese 14 year old playing a tournament right now.  If he holds everyone off in the round and keeps his lead, he will be the first 14 year old to ever play the Masters next year.  Sounds fun.  Do it up, bro.

15)   The Lakers are 0-3.  PLEASE.  PLEASE.  Remember how the Heat started a couple years ago.  Yes, it is obvious that they are slower on defense than championship teams , but they are meshing some SERIOUS egos over there.  Let them mesh.  Plus, they have Metta World Peace on that team.  They ALWAYS have him to closely observe.

16)   I am attached to my television in about an hour or so.  Bama-LSU.  AT Death Valley.  Everyone smells an upset, and I admit that LSU is a pretty good football team.  That being said, I think they must be watching Alabama STATE’S game film.  The LSU defense is solid, but Bama is freaking solid.  Balanced type of solid.  LSU might succeed in keeping the score low, but I like Bama by 10 or so.  Give me 20-9 Bama.

17)   I wish I had money to just throw around.  Picture a Lamborghini.  Got the image?  Now put LSU Tiger stripes ALL over the car.  You could say that this is loyalty and showing team colors.  Some rich person down there did it.  I say you are crossing the line when ruining a perfectly good 200k car.

18)   Ok.  I admit it.  IF I had THAT much money, I would buy TWO Lamborghinis.  One would be my normal ride.  The one I painted the Steelers emblem on I would only drive on Sundays.

19)   We never saw THIS one coming, did we?  Rory McIlroy just signed with Nike allegedly.  This is big, people.  Tiger on the decline, Nike constantly fighting the heavyweights, and they get a FOREIGN golfer to ink with them?  Benjamins are Benjamins, and I assume he just wanted to piss on his newly found territory that he is slightly taking from Tiger.

20)   Get’em Tiger.  Win the Masters next year.  It is YOUR tournament.  Actually, just win SOMETHING, and THEN you and I will focus on the Masters.

21)   Brandt Snedeker missed getting a 59 in a round by inches.  I have no joke.  I just wanted to spell his name without Googling it, mention that he might not be a flash in the pan, and will now move on after two consecutive golf hooks, which is pushing it even for me.

22)   I LOVE Michael Smith’s “Numbers don’t lie” segment on ESPN.  You hear him throwing out all of these crazy stats while his cartoon hand is drawing things at a pace like Will Hunting solving math equations.  Check it out.  Pretty tight.

23)   I finished The Panther.  Mom, I Fed Ex’d it today.  As I predicted, it ended with a few twists and action galore after a suspenseful but mild middle of the book.  Read it if you just like easy to read, sarcastic, historical/ educational, storytelling.  Great stuff.  DeMille books with John Corey are the only books that I actually get a little sad when I am done the book.  That happened today.

24)   The Miami Marlins hired Mike Redmond as their new manager.  Good hire to a relatively unknown in the managerial world.  He was a minor league manager and now he gets a shot.  They went the same path as the Red Sox.  They tried the hot head big name, and when that didn’t work, they cut their losses and gambled on an up and comer.  If you DO recognize the name, then you remember the “nudity incident,” where he took batting practice naked to get the 2003 Marlins out of a slump.  They won the World Series after this.

25)   This Notre Dame-Pittsburgh is pretty freaking exciting.  Notre Dame just scored and got a 2 point conversion in about 30 seconds to tie it with about 2 minutes left.

26)   You are reading a blog.  I am probably watching the Bama-LSU game.  Do you think that Jerry Sandusky is having as much fun as us in with the regular prison population?  What’s that?  Yeah.  Good point.  Maybe he IS having fun.  Sick freaking loon.

27)   Only college basketball junkies knew his name up to this point.  You will.  TRUST ME.  You might even know his name BEFORE he wins rookie of the year this year in the Association.  Damian Lillard is starting off strong in the young NBA season.  He is a Weber State grad.  Teams are already sad for passing on him at all.

28)   The Breeder’s Cup Classic is coming up in horse racing.  For years, I have neglected to look up why this race is so important.  I am assuming they don’t have to be 3 year olds, and I assume that there is a lot of money involved, but…ehhhh…nevermind.

29)   By the way.  If you read the Panther, you learn a hell of a lot about life in Arab nations, Sheiks, Al-Qaeda and its inner workings, the corrupt government, country etiquette, and a LOT about these (Predator Hellfires), which I didn’t know much about:

30)   In a year where there is no offensive runaway for Heisman, I would like to throw THIS red shirt freshman in the equation.  Johnny Football.  QB Johnny Manziel from Texas A&M.  Unless McCarron lights up LSU tonight, he has MY vote thus far.

31)   Finally.  We live in a very f^&*%@ up world.  I get that.  I live in Denver, in a place called Capitol Hill.  It is a safe, fun place for the most part.  Historic buildings, nice parks.  My place is the Pub On Penn.  It is four blocks from my house.  Most of the regulars live in the neighborhood walk home solo feeling safe.  I only go to the bar on weekends, as I am a shut in during the week.  I also walk home by myself frequently.  I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance a couple years ago a gent named Ryan Haldeman, a Pub regular that lit up your day.  We were his family, and there was not one ounce of bad blood between him and anyone else he came in contact with.  He cared more about you than what was wrong in his life.  We were different “types” of people, but I had weekend days when I would sit next to him for hours, and other times we might go on an “adventure” (usually meant going to another place three blocks away).  I have talked about my “walk out song” being Top Gun Anthem.  He would always come say goodbye when I played it, loved hearing it, and saluted me when I left the bar.  Anyway, he was one of the nicest, genuine people I have ever met.  Well, Ryan closed out and left at close Thursday night.  He walked ½ block from the bar and got stabbed to death.  Horrible weekend.  They have not caught the suspect, and whoever you are, suspect, you can go to hell.  You picked one of the really good, harmless guys to randomly act on in rage.  I am furious that our area is infiltrated again (two years ago, we had gang initiation bat beatings in the area).  I am also mad at Denver.  Kind of sad it took you 36 hours to get the story, and that was from help from the bar regs.  I could go on and on, but I just wanted to let you know why I am off.  I loved the upcoming weekend for a lot of reasons, but one of the primary ones was the chance that I would have the chance to sit next to Ryan at the Pub.  Life.  You suck.  Suspect.  You suck.  Ryan, I didn’t know you the best as I was just a weekend guy, but we had known each other a LOT of weekends, and I dedicate this blog to you, retire my walkout song for you, and officially have just started bawling writing these words.  I will miss you, bro.  Big time.

31a)  Lindsey and I had a date scheduled for Friday to go see her dad sing with the Colorado Symphony.  I am very educated in classical music, but found it depressingly ironic that 4 hours after I found out about Ryan, the main attraction was Gabriel Faure’s “Requiem.”

32)   That is obviously it, as I am out of the mood even if I hadn’t done any hooks.  Will I blog tomorrow?  No.  It is NOT a clown question.  Taking a day off, and I will talk to you Monday.  Peace.