I wrote a blog post some time ago called Thirty Perfect Rounds about three perfect fights between "Irish" Mickey Ward and Arturo "Thunder" Gatti.
Find it if you want to know the context of what I'm going to tell you next.
Arturo "Thunder" Gatti was found dead yesterday in Brazil. HE was an amazing fighter, a rock hard chin, a thunderous punch, gritty and mean! He was everything you wanted in a boxer. From reports I've read he was also a great guy outside of the ring.
Boxing is on its way to becoming obsolete while MMA takes its place. It is a shame in a lot of ways as there aren't many fighters like Gatti in any sport.
Rest In Peace Thunder.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Mad Dog Meltdown
I know this isn't going to make a lot of sense to you regular readers who don't have Sirius but stick with me for a minute. It was a compelling story anyway. Usually on the way to work I listen to Mike and Mike on ESPN radio however due to a tremendous amount of commercials I've started switching to other channels in the morning to see what else is out there. It is Sirius after all and there are over one hundred channels to pick from.
You would think it would be set on the NFL channel all the time, sometimes you would be right too! But I'm just browsing around in the mornings now and seeing what is on. So I come across Mad Dog Radio yesterday morning. The morning host is railing against his boss, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, a former New York sports radio legend apparently. I knew he had jumped to satellite radio and they made him a manager of some sort and power to program his this whole channel.
First he is very New York, I find him hard to listen to. He cares about who pitched in the fourth inning of the 1952 World Series and all kinds of minutia like that. He is gold on baseball history but to me, I don't care. My main sport I follow is football. Everyone who knows me knows that. Stick with me, it will make sense in a few. Russo wants his hosts to know and care about golden age movies, to know things like the entire Gone With The Wind cast, to be able to break down a game that happened over fifty years ago, and he gets angry if you don't.
So as I'm listening yesterday morning the morning host plays a clip from the previous afternoon during Mad Dog's show. Russo ripped his entire staff that he hired...for five hours then fired his update man and friend for over twenty five years! He ripped every host, producer, and assorted staff. Keep in mind he is the man in charge of the channel and hired every individual that works on that channel.
As I'm listening it becomes apparent that Mad Dog got some bad numbers about how his channel ranks. His internet numbers are way down he has a "greatest baseball team of all time" tournament on his site. People go and vote on who they believe is the greatest team of all time. Now that could get me off on a baseball rant and about how it just isn't as relevant as it used to be anymore, NFL is king, and a few other sports that beat baseball on a regular basis in my viewing hours but this is about the drama, baseball isn't the subject.
The morning host was angry. He ripped into Russo for the length of his show! Then the next show came on, The B Team and THEY ripped Russo for four hours! Then finally Russo's show came on and he responded. He not only didn't back off of his comments but enforced them! Callers called in and defended the hosts and pretty much told him how unprofessional he was!
The general mood was Russo was an idiot who cared about things that just aren't relevant in today's radio listening environment. Seems that one day last week Mad Dog went stroke by stroke with commentary over his golf game, now if that isn't compelling radio I don't know what is! A trucker called in and told him he wanted to drive off of a cliff, that's how bad it was.
I was able to form the opinion that if this was the first time I was going to listen to Mad Dog's show it would likely be the last. Mad Dog seems stuck in the past and unable to become up to date on anything that is relevant in today's world, not only that but he doesn't even care to give his listening audience outside of statistical baseball fanatics anything to listen to.
If you would top that with his unprofessional attitude towards his people, who he should be defending and not throwing under the bus and firing at will then you have a channel that I am kind of hoping fails and is replaced with sports talk that I want to listen to.
Hire Dan Patrick, let him program the channel! Now THAT would be entertainment! He stays abreast on everything that is relevant today, stories I want to know more about, and pop culture. I love the Dan Patrick show, the only problem is that Sirius doesn't run it live for some stupid reason so I have to catch the delayed show in the afternoon.
That's the story of the past two days at Mad Dog Radio and why for the first and likely last time I'll be glued to that channel.
You would think it would be set on the NFL channel all the time, sometimes you would be right too! But I'm just browsing around in the mornings now and seeing what is on. So I come across Mad Dog Radio yesterday morning. The morning host is railing against his boss, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, a former New York sports radio legend apparently. I knew he had jumped to satellite radio and they made him a manager of some sort and power to program his this whole channel.
First he is very New York, I find him hard to listen to. He cares about who pitched in the fourth inning of the 1952 World Series and all kinds of minutia like that. He is gold on baseball history but to me, I don't care. My main sport I follow is football. Everyone who knows me knows that. Stick with me, it will make sense in a few. Russo wants his hosts to know and care about golden age movies, to know things like the entire Gone With The Wind cast, to be able to break down a game that happened over fifty years ago, and he gets angry if you don't.
So as I'm listening yesterday morning the morning host plays a clip from the previous afternoon during Mad Dog's show. Russo ripped his entire staff that he hired...for five hours then fired his update man and friend for over twenty five years! He ripped every host, producer, and assorted staff. Keep in mind he is the man in charge of the channel and hired every individual that works on that channel.
As I'm listening it becomes apparent that Mad Dog got some bad numbers about how his channel ranks. His internet numbers are way down he has a "greatest baseball team of all time" tournament on his site. People go and vote on who they believe is the greatest team of all time. Now that could get me off on a baseball rant and about how it just isn't as relevant as it used to be anymore, NFL is king, and a few other sports that beat baseball on a regular basis in my viewing hours but this is about the drama, baseball isn't the subject.
The morning host was angry. He ripped into Russo for the length of his show! Then the next show came on, The B Team and THEY ripped Russo for four hours! Then finally Russo's show came on and he responded. He not only didn't back off of his comments but enforced them! Callers called in and defended the hosts and pretty much told him how unprofessional he was!
The general mood was Russo was an idiot who cared about things that just aren't relevant in today's radio listening environment. Seems that one day last week Mad Dog went stroke by stroke with commentary over his golf game, now if that isn't compelling radio I don't know what is! A trucker called in and told him he wanted to drive off of a cliff, that's how bad it was.
I was able to form the opinion that if this was the first time I was going to listen to Mad Dog's show it would likely be the last. Mad Dog seems stuck in the past and unable to become up to date on anything that is relevant in today's world, not only that but he doesn't even care to give his listening audience outside of statistical baseball fanatics anything to listen to.
If you would top that with his unprofessional attitude towards his people, who he should be defending and not throwing under the bus and firing at will then you have a channel that I am kind of hoping fails and is replaced with sports talk that I want to listen to.
Hire Dan Patrick, let him program the channel! Now THAT would be entertainment! He stays abreast on everything that is relevant today, stories I want to know more about, and pop culture. I love the Dan Patrick show, the only problem is that Sirius doesn't run it live for some stupid reason so I have to catch the delayed show in the afternoon.
That's the story of the past two days at Mad Dog Radio and why for the first and likely last time I'll be glued to that channel.
Friday, July 10, 2009
One More Week!
Then next Friday I'll have my first full paycheck in seven weeks! It's true! Next week is week seven of the screwed up remnants of the strike. I'm very glad I went and found a second job for three weeks now.
It really kept my bills up to date! Some guys at work didn't and are really struggling now. I just wanted to make sure everything was taken care of and was willing to take on extra work to do it. No big deal at all. It wasn't torture but I really didn't like working the weekends. I did it though and now I'm glad I did.
I should be getting my final check from there in the next day or two! Woohoooo!
Rehearsal has gone well. I'm really not able to do much right now except bring The Things to rehearsal so they can practice and paint respectively. Next week I can actually get to work and start with the lights. I'll be busy then but just not a lot to do until then.
It really kept my bills up to date! Some guys at work didn't and are really struggling now. I just wanted to make sure everything was taken care of and was willing to take on extra work to do it. No big deal at all. It wasn't torture but I really didn't like working the weekends. I did it though and now I'm glad I did.
I should be getting my final check from there in the next day or two! Woohoooo!
Rehearsal has gone well. I'm really not able to do much right now except bring The Things to rehearsal so they can practice and paint respectively. Next week I can actually get to work and start with the lights. I'll be busy then but just not a lot to do until then.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Yesterday's Memories
I had to actually stop myself from calling my dad's number in my phone yesterday. In the past we'd talk about Deadliest Catch the night before. He got to love the show. I went into the room where I could get some good phone reception and then I stopped and remembered.
Force of habit I guess. I wasn't thinking. I know his phones are turned off but I haven't erased him out of my contact list. I doubt if I will. In six months those phone numbers will probably belong to someone else, that's fine. The world doesn't stop living because someone has died.
I might actually reach for my phone again soon, I'm impulsive like that sometimes. If you see me do it, let me, I'll catch myself before I dial.
Force of habit I guess. I wasn't thinking. I know his phones are turned off but I haven't erased him out of my contact list. I doubt if I will. In six months those phone numbers will probably belong to someone else, that's fine. The world doesn't stop living because someone has died.
I might actually reach for my phone again soon, I'm impulsive like that sometimes. If you see me do it, let me, I'll catch myself before I dial.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Set Phasers To Fail
How do you alienate a large(r) audience than you already have? Well in the past they have questionable programming changes. You lose focus on what made you a success to start with and lose your niche. You start airing wrestling for instance.
Then if that wasn't a big enough kick in the crotch you change the spelling of the name of your channel for no apparent reason other than to make sure the fanboys never watch again.
Scifi is now Syfy, I'm not joking. I wanted to gouge out my eyes with a spork when I read this. I had come to grips with Scifi losing its way and becoming the bad movie with a big CGI monster channel. They did away with Stargate: Atlantis despite good ratings. Destination Truth was ok but every single show ended the same way! They didn't find ANYTHING!!!! Cha$e, Estate of Panic, and Scare Tactics were their experiment into reality TV....eh. Not really that exciting to me. Yes Warehouse 13 looks mildly interesting. I never got into Eureka. Loved the Stargate franchise. Battlestar...well depends on who you ask about that show. I didn't get into it, a lot of people did. That was some serious and gritty scifi though and a perfect example of what the channel was capable of when they were focused!
They insist on getting bad newer movies instead of classic scifi movies that made the genre a genre to start with! They run dreck over and over again while they should be focusing on what made scifi popular to begin with and start from there!
While I love me some Ghost Hunters and GHI is interesting enough for me to watch I believe they can add more original programming that is scifi based. There is so much potential for this network and it is now in flailing mode...a few steps from fail mode.
I believe this rebranding is just going to usher in more non scifi product I have no desire to consume ala ECW wrestling. Before long it will be TBS light. You want a channel that your audience will take seriously? Take a Star Wars geek, give him some programming choices, a modest budget, and some freedom and you'll have some ratings!
I'm so mad I can't see straight but thankfully there are plenty of choices online for me to get my scifi fix! Bones! I needs some Alpha Centari Scotch, bring Scotty along, that Vulcan can't handle his drink!
Then if that wasn't a big enough kick in the crotch you change the spelling of the name of your channel for no apparent reason other than to make sure the fanboys never watch again.
Scifi is now Syfy, I'm not joking. I wanted to gouge out my eyes with a spork when I read this. I had come to grips with Scifi losing its way and becoming the bad movie with a big CGI monster channel. They did away with Stargate: Atlantis despite good ratings. Destination Truth was ok but every single show ended the same way! They didn't find ANYTHING!!!! Cha$e, Estate of Panic, and Scare Tactics were their experiment into reality TV....eh. Not really that exciting to me. Yes Warehouse 13 looks mildly interesting. I never got into Eureka. Loved the Stargate franchise. Battlestar...well depends on who you ask about that show. I didn't get into it, a lot of people did. That was some serious and gritty scifi though and a perfect example of what the channel was capable of when they were focused!
They insist on getting bad newer movies instead of classic scifi movies that made the genre a genre to start with! They run dreck over and over again while they should be focusing on what made scifi popular to begin with and start from there!
While I love me some Ghost Hunters and GHI is interesting enough for me to watch I believe they can add more original programming that is scifi based. There is so much potential for this network and it is now in flailing mode...a few steps from fail mode.
I believe this rebranding is just going to usher in more non scifi product I have no desire to consume ala ECW wrestling. Before long it will be TBS light. You want a channel that your audience will take seriously? Take a Star Wars geek, give him some programming choices, a modest budget, and some freedom and you'll have some ratings!
I'm so mad I can't see straight but thankfully there are plenty of choices online for me to get my scifi fix! Bones! I needs some Alpha Centari Scotch, bring Scotty along, that Vulcan can't handle his drink!
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Nothing Interesting
Nothing really other than a couple of very interesting things. Skate and I have decided to put my soap theory to the test soon. We will do about five different soaps and see if soap is really soap. The Date is concerned it might ruin the washing machine. I contend there isn't a lot to ruin as long as the water drains it is good. The soap certainly won't hurt the big metal basket that holds the clothes.
The Date's project made a big leap yesterday when the articles started coming in. She found another really good writer who will write on every issue! They came from Tulsa where they did a regular weekly feature! This is a big addition and will make a splash!
The feedback just on her idea has been 110% positive thus far. Everyone has embraced the idea and the concept behind the idea. Five Eighty will be in print very soon! Something really cool will start happening this weekend as well;) Stay tuned for that!
She got her first cover picture yesterday and has started to edit it into the very first issue! She has been very nervous about the project. It is understandable to deal with anxiety on a project this big. She is risking a lot but I think when we are in a position to look back on this she will realize that the benefits have far outweighed the risk involved. This is just something I believe people will look forward to, something they will enjoy reading, something that will bring a lot of people with common interests together!
The Date's project made a big leap yesterday when the articles started coming in. She found another really good writer who will write on every issue! They came from Tulsa where they did a regular weekly feature! This is a big addition and will make a splash!
The feedback just on her idea has been 110% positive thus far. Everyone has embraced the idea and the concept behind the idea. Five Eighty will be in print very soon! Something really cool will start happening this weekend as well;) Stay tuned for that!
She got her first cover picture yesterday and has started to edit it into the very first issue! She has been very nervous about the project. It is understandable to deal with anxiety on a project this big. She is risking a lot but I think when we are in a position to look back on this she will realize that the benefits have far outweighed the risk involved. This is just something I believe people will look forward to, something they will enjoy reading, something that will bring a lot of people with common interests together!
Monday, July 06, 2009
Soap Is Soap!
Ok so if you have been in this scenario then you are NOT alone! You find that you are out of laundry soap....you have forgotten to go to the store to get some, you find yourself having to go to work in the morning and might be a little (or a lot bit tipsy) and have decided to play it safe and stay in.
What do you do?
1. Wash your clothes in water only?
2. Wash your clothes in shampoo and/or dish soap?
3. Throw some scotch in the laundry with your clothes and hope you don't get pulled over in the morning.
That's right ladies and gentlemen! YOU THROW IN SOME SOAP, any soap will do! Soap is soap! It cleans what you want it to clean! If you have dirty hair can you use dish soap? Absolutely!!!!
If you have dirty skin can you use laundry soap?!?! YES! Why not? It cleans, gets the spots out, and leaves you feeling summery/lemony fresh on top of all that!
Don't believe me, try it! So in summary, soap is soap, it cleans, cleanses, freshens, and will do just as well on your hair, skin, or clothes.
Your clothes go on your SKIN!!!! Anyone want to care to dispute that?!
Didn't think so! So what works for one should work for all. And that concludes my presentation for the day. Do you want to know what I'm going to try next?! Next time I've got something fairly white that needs to be washed, I'm going to throw some Colgate on there and see how white it gets my clothes!
What do you do?
1. Wash your clothes in water only?
2. Wash your clothes in shampoo and/or dish soap?
3. Throw some scotch in the laundry with your clothes and hope you don't get pulled over in the morning.
That's right ladies and gentlemen! YOU THROW IN SOME SOAP, any soap will do! Soap is soap! It cleans what you want it to clean! If you have dirty hair can you use dish soap? Absolutely!!!!
If you have dirty skin can you use laundry soap?!?! YES! Why not? It cleans, gets the spots out, and leaves you feeling summery/lemony fresh on top of all that!
Don't believe me, try it! So in summary, soap is soap, it cleans, cleanses, freshens, and will do just as well on your hair, skin, or clothes.
Your clothes go on your SKIN!!!! Anyone want to care to dispute that?!
Didn't think so! So what works for one should work for all. And that concludes my presentation for the day. Do you want to know what I'm going to try next?! Next time I've got something fairly white that needs to be washed, I'm going to throw some Colgate on there and see how white it gets my clothes!
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