Thoughts on New York

Over the weekend, I went up to New York. The reason for the trip was to visit Yankee Stadium, and take it off of my list of MLB ballparks, which I can happily say that such was mission accomplished. Otherwise, the rest of the trip was more or less a whirlwind of cabs, trains, booze, chicken fingers and cash flying out of windows.

I guess it could be said that I had a pretty New York experience, and I have no regrets about anything. I look back at the weekend fondly, and naturally I’m writing about it now, which says something too.

As for Yankee Stadium, I’ll get more in depth of what I thought about the place as a whole when I write about it for my ballparks page, but when my friend and I had planned the dates out for this trip, we didn’t even think for a second about the fact that this was the start of Derek Jeter’s final homestand. Not that either of us are remotely close to being Yankee fans, I have to admit that is something cool about having been there for a little bit of what people are perceiving as somewhat historic. Needless to say, tickets were pricey and the crowds were massive, for what essentially were games between two non-contenders, and I thought the vaunted Yankee Stadium was pretty okay, overall.

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Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Thursday

So, this picture kind of sums up my personal Dragon*Con Thursday night experience.  Once the bourbon started to flow, it literally was like an hour before I hit the deck in a well, regrettable fashion.  I know this thanks to the timestamps on the photographs of the night, several of them that I have absolutely no recollection of being taken.

I am apparently a very affectionate drunk with an affinity for attempting Blue Steel.

A little bit of backstory however: about 45 minutes after I had unloaded all of my personal effects and finally settled into my hotel room, I came to the realization that my messenger bag was nowhere to be found.  Said messenger bag contained my camera, my iPad, and one of those long-forgotten devices known as a netbook in it.  Close to roughly $1,200 of electronics in it.

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Things Dwyane Wade won’t be able to buy anymore

Not long ago, I wrote about how opt-out clauses are kind of killing professional sport, and a whole bunch or rambling about how at the root of all opt-out clauses, is more greed. In every instance I mentioned, the people who opted out of millions of dollars ultimately signed contracts worth even more money, displaying what I feel are truly disgusting rich-getting-richer scenarios.

Ultimately, what I failed to say when I wrote that, was that I would love to see an instance where a guy opts out of his contract, only for it to backfire and blow up in his face, and they’re unable to better the numbers in which they opted out of. Because that would be just dessert for someone getting greedy, and being rudely awakened when the number crunchers and bean counters of sports franchises realize the favor they’ve been granted, and the money they don’t have to spend to acquire their talents.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait that long after making my post for it to actually come to fruition.

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I can’t stop watching this

Source: Normally, I’m not that big on the “content” that comes from Deadspin, much less any other Gawker website, but I’ll be the very first to admit that they most certainly caught lightning in a bottle with this gem. The gif of the Phillies fans from a night ago is one thing, but the folks at Deadspin put together a truly epic video complete with accentuating slow-mo and music that is definitely worth giving them a click and a view to see.

Long story short, Monday’s Braves vs. Phillies game started off as more or less a snoozer, aside from the Braves’ Ervin Santana striking out eleven Phillies players. But in the 8th inning, someone turned the Game Genie on, and then the Braves and Phillies combined for four home runs, with the score going from 2-1 to 5-1, and then 6-5 after the Phillies got done with their turn at bat. Needless to say, it appeared to be turning into one of those disheartening losses for the Braves where they let the hapless Phillies off the hook.

Fortunately, because the Phillies are the Phillies, and they’re so good at fucking things up, they well, fucked things up. So with just three outs to get in the top of the 9th to secure the win, they naturally load the bases, and set things up for the Braves’ Dan Uggla.

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Zelda fights aren’t as epic in real life

Long story short: girl has argument with live-in boyfriend, girl calls ex-husband for consoling. Ex-husband arrives to house, confrontation with boyfriend erupts. Boyfriend happens to be a Link-cosplaying nerd, runs to Lost Woods bedroom to grab Master Sword replica to defend himself with. Husband is stabbed and slashed a few times by very real-bladed sword, but gets in some offense himself by breaking a pot over boyfriend’s head, before authorities arrive.

Imagine the arrogant, shit-eating grin on my face while I was reading this. Some days it’s really difficult for me to find something to write about, but occasionally there’s a story like this that just makes writing so fun.

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When video games effortlessly mimic reality

I was having a conversation the other day about how the WWE’s minor league federation, NXT was either by coincidence or strategy, placed on Thursday nights.  Thursday nights are when TNA wrestling, the WWE’s main “competition” airs, and has been the norm for I don’t know, a year or two?

The joke is now that TNA is screwed, because they’re going to get outclassed and outdrawn by NXT, which is pretty much the equivalent of a Ford Mustang getting smoked by a Toyota Corolla, or Outback Steakhouse getting murdered by a Taco Bell in profit margins, or any other instance of something thought to be of moderate quality, getting owned by something thought to be of inferior quality.

I’m not entirely sure how that segued into talking about old video games, but at least I got to take my shot in at TNA in the process; seriously, this is going to be like the late 90’s when one hour of Sunday Night Heat started outdrawing three hours WCW Monday Nitro.

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Caption says it all

It’s no secret that when it comes to college sports, I have a team in Virginia Tech, no matter how disappointing they are in football, no matter how mediocre they are in basketball, and no matter how much of a non-factor they are in baseball. However, I have another team that I favor pretty often: whomever is playing against Duke.

Last night, North Carolina defeated Duke, which the fact of that alone is pleasing, but the visuals that accompanied the discovery of such news were absolutely abhorring. After the clock wound down, the people of the Dean Dome stormed the court.

The University of North Carolina stormed the court after defeating Duke in men’s basketball.

Now I believe that there is a lot of importance in the act of storming the court (especially when it’s after defeating Duke), but in addition to the importance of doing it, there’s as much meaning behind in when storming the court isn’t done.

UNC is one of the few basketball programs in the country that should absolutely never storm the court upon defeating Duke. They’re supposed to be Duke’s greatest rivals; equal, if not better, having a superior educational program and students and alumni of a higher class.

Doing it might have seemed cool and like a great idea at the time, but it’s probably going to have some petty, obnoxious (and very much white) repercussions. Articles (again) about opponents storming the court on Duke by the Duke studentpubs, and heaven have mercy on all UNC fans if Duke wins the rematch on March 8 in Durham, because retribution will be insufferable and cringeworthy when Duke fans storm their own court in defeat of Carolina.

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