Archive for February, 2007

I’m not the kind of guy who wants to tell anyone what to do with their body, but… well, I think it’s weird to get a picture of someone permanently inked to your skin when that person doesn’t know or like you. That’s just me.

Anyway, SI.com has a gallery up right now if the most insane tattoos that their readers have. All of them were sort of jaw-dropping since they’re, you know, sports tattoos, but a few stood out. I didn’t believe this one was real:

As punishment, he should actually have to.

But it is. I don’t know if the statement on the man’s head is actually true, but it is a real tattoo. A radio station gave him Laker playoff tickets to do it. The same guy, on the same radio station, has also been tasered by Game, had mace squirted into his eye, and eaten worms. Shaq should probably sue this guy. I mean, I wouldn’t care if someone started a rumor that I did a guy, but I’d be highly offended if it was that guy.

Among the other highlights: the Bears with with Buddy Ryan’s signature inked into his back, the guy with a portrait of Mike Tyson with the words “TEAM TYSON FOR LIFE” under it, and two older soccer fans with tattoos on their hairy chests. Those two, I actually sort of respect, because I have no doubt that those gentlemen would kill (and have killed) to defend the honor of their teams.

I didn’t see it, I’m sorry to say, but from what I can gather, yesterday’s Carling Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea was kind of a humdinger. First, John Terry nearly fucking died. He was kicked in the head as he dove at a header off a corner kick… maybe “almost died” is an overstatement, but he swallowed his tongue and needed oxygen on the field. I’d mention the stretcher, but you get a stretcher ride in soccer if someone gives you a wet willy.

It’s not only bad news for Terry, as he’s battled injury problems all year long (edit: Terry seems to be okay, and will likely play the next game)… but it’s bad news for soccer, because now everytime someone takes a dive, they’re going to demand the oxygen and a neck brace, or no one’s going to buy it.

There was also a bit of a fight. Observe:

I guess that qualifies as a fight. Toure hits the guy, followed by the briefest of pauses as both men think to themselves, “Holy fuck, we’re fighting… so we really wanna do this?” And it continues from there, with some very serious pushing, jostling, and calling each other “bloody wankers.”

Chelsea won, I’m sorry to say. Two Drogba goals did it for them.

The Chargers filled four positions yesterday. First, at head coach, they brought in Norv Turner (whose position is, I believe, listed inaccurately at Wikipedia). As defensive coordinator, they brought in Ted Cottrell. As linebackers coach, they brought in Ron Rivera. And in a completely unexpected move, the Chargers hired a Mexican day laborer name Pablo to kick me in the pancreas seventeen times a day. I’m looking forward to it.

I don’t know what to tell you here… it’s Norv Turner. Norv is like Ann, George Michael’s girlfriend on Arrested Development. There’s no reason to ever remember or think of him, until someone brings him up and you go, “Him?”

Anyway, I’m trying to be optimistic about things. Maybe, you know… maybe Troy Aikman’s right, and Norv will be a fantastic head coach. Maybe he’s not a loser, through and through. Maybe Norv has some kind of an inner winner that none of us know about. I’ve come up with three reasons for optimism:

• Unlike Marty Schottenheimer, Norv doesn’t have a reputation for sucking balls in the playoffs. Of course, that’s because he hasn’t had a chance to build such a reputation. He’s only been a head coach for one playoff game (which he did lose). But the fact remains, Norv does not have a reputation as a playoff loser. Just regular season.

• Norv has never taken over a good team before. In his two previous head coaching stints, he took over a Redskins team that went 4-12 the year before. With the Raiders, he took over for a Bill Callahan team that… well, they were coached by Bill Callahan. Maybe he’s got a special gift for taking over good teams, but is terrible at taking over bad teams. Plausible.

• I did enjoy the time he spent with the Chargers as their offensive coordinator… and I think both Phil Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson will benefit from his being there. Honestly. As long as they don’t want a “winning record.”

That’s all I could come up with. I honestly am trying to keep an open mind about this. I didn’t want Marty to be fired, and I didn’t want Norv to be hired (and yes, I’m on a first-name basis with both of them), but it’s not like I have any say in the matter. My search for reasons for optimism will continue.

Like Tim, it's the harder way...I’ve spent about a week now talking about Tim Hardaway at the FanHouse, and on Deadspin. He said he hates guys who are down with the dong, and I really put a lot of time and effort into slamming him for it. I got carried away. If you missed any of it, here’s the “Tim Hardaway is an Asshole” anthology, in chronological order.

Tim Hardaway Did Not Spend Valentine’s Day With a Dude
Hardaway Apologizes; Amaechi Appreciates the Honesty
Tim Hardaway Loves to Stay at the YMCA
Tim Hardaway Has Been To a Gay Bar
The Maloof Brothers Wouldn’t Employ a Homophobe
Because This Had To End With Tim Hardaway Being Nude On YouTube
Tim Hardaway’s Gay-Friendly Car Wash

And then I read the second leg of his apology, and I started to feel a little bit bad about it. His second stab at saying he was sorry was much better, and seemed much more sincere. And after a weekend of hearing Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith say Hardaway’s a good guy (though, clearly, Kenny has much left to understand about the gay issue), I should give him another chance. It is possible for someone to say they hate gay people, and still, deep down, be a good guy.

Here was Timmy’s second apology:

“I don’t hate gay people,” Hardaway said. “I’m a goodhearted person. I interact with people all the time. … I respect people. For me to say ‘hate’ was a bad word, and I didn’t mean to use it.”

I buy that. And that should have been the first thing I thought, “Tim Hardaway doesn’t really hate gay people, he just got a little carried away when trying to express that he’s uncomfortable around gay people (which, you know, isn’t good, either… but doesn’t make him a terrible person).” But that wasn’t my reaction, my reaction was, “Let’s go write about what an asshole this guy is.”

I shouldn’t have done that. At least, I probably shouldn’t have done so much of it. Sorry, Tim.

Tim Hardaway is homophobic, Tim Hardaway is ignorant, and Reggie Miller was right when he suggested that Tim Hardaway probably needs some therapy. But I don’t believe he’s got a hateful heart … I don’t think Tim Hardaway sits at home and thinks, “These damn gay people are ruining the world, and I’m going to get them.” I think he’s just never been exposed to a lot of homosexuals, he’s confused and threatened by it, and he threw the word “hate” out there because he didn’t know how else to say it.

I think the NBA is justified in cutting him loose from NBA Cares, I think BaldGuyz is perfectly justified in firing him as an endorser, and I do still believe that Tim Hardaway, at his Grand Luxe Auto Hand Car Wash & Detailing Center should provide every gay customer with a free hand job.

Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day, that one special day of the year where you’re required to spend hundreds of dollars on your lady in the hopes that you’ll buy the right things and she’ll let you bone her.

And for those of you who can’t think about what to do for your lady, I’d like to revisit this advice from Delonte West, as told to Page 2′s Louise K. Cornetta:

So Jim Jones pumping and then from there, wind blowing through the hair, boom, we get straight to the point — we eat afterwards because I don’t want to kiss no onions. I don’t want to kiss you tasting like onions and steak and mushrooms and everything …

Yeah, we’re going to my yacht. We’ll pull up at the docks and got a guy waiting for us, open our door up and we walk down a lit-up dock and onto the yacht, where we have dinner set up on the boat and we just cruise out on the water. Sit down and have some dinner, some shrimps and steaks, keep it nice and breezy. Pop some bottles, some Moet Rose. The red Moet, we ain’t popping no Kristal, it tastes like urination. We ain’t popping no Kris, that’s $500 a bottle. It ain’t that serious …

OK, so from there, we’re doing a midnight skinny-dipping jump. Alright? From there, hopefully she’s got money because I hope Jaws gets her, boom, make sure she got me in the will, bank, I’m good. Oh well, shark got her! Jaws got her …

One more thing: When we’re on the yacht eating, we’re going to have some Popeyes chicken. That’s for dinner. It’s to let her know, put a mental image on her mind, first and foremost, if you ain’t from the hood, you don’t like Popeyes chicken. Everyone there loves Popeyes chicken and the biscuits — phew. But that’s just getting it on her mind, saying, you know, ‘Yeah, I can wine and dine you, but I’m a little rough around the edges and I’m keeping it real with you. I can be romantic, but this is real, we’re going to eat some chicken tonight. Chicken and biscuits.

I will never ever get tired of reading that, and I will never stop believing that it is solid dating advice. Oh, and just to justify the use of the trim tag…

Mmhmm.

Hey guys. My name’s Socks. I’m normally not the letter-writing type. I’m really not. I just want to keep to myself and go about my days with no one bothering me. I don’t need any attention or any special favors, like Flip Murray’s turtle does. But I had to write this letter. It might be the last letter I ever get to write. I hope I have the strength to finish it.

God, am I starving. I haven’t eaten in a month and a half. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can barely move, and soon, my organs are going to start to fail. The situation is bleak. It is hopeless in here. I feel like Anne Frank, writing letters from her attic.

I’m so so hungry. I don’t need any T-Bonz, or Pup-Peroni, or Milk-Bones, nothing like that. I don’t even need Alpo or something out of a 99-cent, 50-pound bag of dog food. I’ll take anything. I tried to eat my own paw once. Oh, I’m so hungry. It hurts so bad.

How did I get like this? You’d have to ask… that guy who owns me. I don’t know his name. We’ve never actually met. I see him walking around sometimes, but that’s it. I don’t know that he knows my name, either. When I see him, I show him my exposed ribs, lay on the ground and wail in pain, and all he does is go, “QB, represent!” and keep walking. I wish I knew what that meant.

I mean, he acts like he likes me. It’s just that there’s something sort of wrong with him. Most people see a dog as skinny as me and think, “That dog should probably eat something.” Not this guy. He sees me and thinks, “That dog should probably I WISH I WORKED AT BEST BUY twinkies are delicious and I wonder what they’re made of I WILL RIP YOUR FACE OFF we play the Clippers tonight and Maggette is an easy check YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT, TAKE IT OFF, GIRL.” Something I like that. I don’t know.

It’s just like there’s something missing upstairs. He’s not mean to me, he just doesn’t understand certain things. For example, when I stop whining after one of his friends blows weed smoke in my face, it doesn’t mean I’m happy and content. It means that because I weigh 41 pounds, I get really high, really quickly, and my face doesn’t move anymore. Really, guys, I’m not “higher than a giraffe’s ass and feelin’ no pain.” I’m still in a lot of pain, I just happen to be hallucinating, too.

Really, all I know about the guy is that he drives a big Escalade, he likes to do nude push-ups, and everyone else in the neighborhood is terrified of him.

But I’m not… I think he’s probably a nice guy, except for the not-feeding-me thing. And I swear, I’d love him forever if he just fed me… you know, it doesn’t even have to be every day. Just two or three times a week. Please, God. Please let that man feed me. I’d give anything for just one bite of my owner’s favorite meal, Cristal and Slim Jims.

And I’ve heard the stories that he tried to feed me, but the American Bulldog stole all the food. That’s not true. It is true that the bulldog has eaten and I haven’t, but the bulldog doesn’t get fed either. Right now, he’s in the back, eating Rick Adelman. He kills people and eats them, and he never shares. He’s killed a lot of people… two mailmen, a handful of girl scouts (he did give me a few Thin Mints), a Jehovah’s witness, a cop, a few naked girls covered in glitter, and Bison Dele. Bison Dele was huge. The bulldog ate him for like a month.

The animal control people are my only hope right now. If I whale and cry for long enough, sometimes, the neighbors notice, and they’ll call them. I don’t want to go back to dog prison, but at least they’ll get me some food.

Stay strong, everyone. And if you have a steak, treasure it. Treasure that thing like it’s made of gold. God bless.

– Socks

Melts in your mouth, but not in your hand.

I know ESPN’s excited about the coming out of John Amaechi, but I think their new “All headlines should be gay in nature” policy goes a little too far.

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