SB Nation User Blog: micdog2001

Vote For A's relievers!

micdog2001 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:22:03 -0000

Vote For A's relievers!

Andrew Bailey is up for Best Rookie and Michael Wuertz is up for best set-up man. They are the only A's up for any of the votes.

DLD 10/28/09 - Nintendo continued + a few other links

micdog2001 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:05:31 -0000

I was suprised at the amount of comments about video games in the last DLD (it's been 5 days and no one else has posted one?) and I only talked about the NES. I really wanted to go on to some of the other Nintendo systems, I guess if no one minds I will keep going. And for the people who are tired of video games I have a couple other links to provide.

I also wanted to congratulate myself on passing 3000 comments. Yay.

First the non-video game links.

Andre Agassi did crystal meth in the late 90's

He tested positve for the drug but claimed that he accidently drank my his assistants spiked soda and the ATP believed him.

Former Celtics star Antoine Walker is broke

Honestly I don't feel sorry for him. Sure he built his Mom a house, with a full size basketball court and 10 bathrooms. Who needs 10 bathrooms? Sure he gave money to friends but he also bought

Two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer. Often, the vehicles were tricked out with custom paint jobs, rims, and sound systems at considerable added expense. He also collected top-line watches — Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers."

He might have been generous but he was also stupid.

America's safest cities (according to forbes)

FAA revokes licenses of wayward Northwest pilots

I wasted a lot of time on a laptop and lost track of time but this is ridiculous.

And now to my main topic. The second video game console released by Nintendo was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System or SNES. Released in late 1991 the new system was just as popular as the NES. The graphics were better, the controller was better, and you didn't have to blow into the cartridge to make the game work. I believe this was the time the console wars began between Nintendo and Sega. You were either a Mario fan or a Sonic the Hedgehog fan. Mario was definitly the winner, back then and now. The dial on my love for video games was turned to 11 with this system. Here are my favorite SNES games.

Actraiser
Breath Of Fire (you could become a dragon!)
Chrono Trigger (huge RPG)
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Cybernator
Donkey Kong Country (awesome graphics for its time) {I won't bother with the SNES sequels, same games new characters)
F-Zero (practically invented the "futuristic racing" sub-genre of video gaming)
Final Fight
Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Winning Run (name inspired by 1995 ALDS between Seattle and New York)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (one of the greats)
Mega Man X
NBA Jam - Tournament Edition ( I didn't own the original)
Star Fox (it used the Super FX chip, oohh-ahhh)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (This was the verison I owned)
Super Mario Kart (not as fast as F-Zero but this had items and battle mode)
Super Mario RPG (the last Mario game for the SNES)
Super Mario World
Super Metroid (this was a classic, one of the best SNES games)
Super Punch Out!! (way better than the original IMHO)
TMNT : Turtles in Time
TMNT : Tournament Fighters (Street Fighter rip-off but it had the turtles!)
Uniracers

There are a few popular games that I didn't list because I didn't really play them. I'm sure someone will bring them up. I have 6 games on the list that start with "Super", the title of the system made naming game sequels easy. In all I counted 71 games for the SNES that started with "Super". My top 5 SNES games would have to be. (mostly based on how much I played them)

Legend of Zelda:A Link to the Past
Super Metroid
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
F-Zero
Mega Man X

It was tough to make that list. I'm not sure if I wouldn't change a few names or switch them around. What's your top 5?

Anyways, I better get back to work before I get fired.

Braves: Tim Hudson discuss multi year deal

micdog2001 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:06:37 -0000

Braves: Tim Hudson discuss multi year deal

Looks like Hudson will not become a free agent.

McGwire to Join St. Louis Cardinals as hitting Coach

micdog2001 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:22:23 -0000

I saw Tony La Russa's press conference on MLB Network this morning and he is coming back as the manager of the Cardinals next season. But the bigger news is that he is going to have Mark McGwire be the hitting coach.

MLB.com article

McGwire did not attend the press conference but the media had a lot of questions about him. I wonder if this will be a distraction for the Cardinals? Maybe only in the begining of Spring Training. I also wonder if Holliday had anything to do with this or if this makes St. Louis a more interesting choice for Holliday to sign a multi-year deal with? LaRussa has always been a big supporter and fan of McGwire so it's unlikley Holliday had anything to do with it.

The A's will be in St. Louis June 18th - 20th in 2010 but they will not host the Cardinals in Oakland.

Rob Neyer Blogged about McGwire

ESPN article with video

Buster Olney has a suggestion for Mark but it's insider only

Poll

Will McGwire succed as a hitting coach in the major leagues?

Yes

17 votes

No

26 votes

He will only coach until LaRussa retires

15 votes

A's hitting coach 2012!

7 votes

He will be a manager some day

3 votes

68 votes | Poll has closed

DLD 10/23/09 - Video Games - Nintendo

micdog2001 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:49:29 -0000

The success of the my last DLD on movies (450+ comments, wa-hoo!) inspired me to do another theme. While I heard a vote for a food themed DLD, I will leave that to someone with more knowledge. Movies is one of my top forms of entertainment. My list would probably go

A's Baseball/Baseball in general
Movies
TV (football, basketball, and hockey would fall into this category for me because I don't attend these events in person or read about them online)
Going Online (AN, facebook, Yahoo, webcomics, youtube, video game sites, etc.)
Video Games (used to be #1 until I fell in love with Baseball and then my wife)
Sports (as in playing them "in real life", used to be higher but it requires getting people together at the same time and place which is difficult with full time jobs, kids, etc)
Books (sadly a distant 6th. What can I say, I'm a child of technology. I will admit to reading magazines and the occasional newspaper in the bathroom)

Wow, I guess there is a reason I am overweight. I probably should get out more . . . but nevermind that.

For this DLD (obviously, if you read the title) I wanted to go with a Video Game theme. Now, I'm not an expert and I only own Nintendo products but I love video games overall. I played my fair share of Xbox and Xbox 360 games but I have barely touched Playstation products (oddly enough since they were the leader in video games for a while) or Sega consoles. Anything pre-NES (the orginal Nintendo Entertainment System) I am not too familar with, although I did play a lot of MineStorm and Armor Attack on my cousin's Vectrex.

At first I was going to include all video games companies but after taking 45 minutes on the NES links I have decided to stick to Nintendo only. I will say that Halo and Halo 2 for the XBOX are awesome games and Gears of War is great for the Xbox 360. I like a good Sonic the Hedgehog game as well (they are on the Nintendo system now that Sega doesn't make consoles but his old games are the best).

My first romance with video games was with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

The first system I ever owned. I have lots of great memories of playing this system. I have actually owned 3 seperate NES consoles (what it the pural of NES? NESs?). My first was stolen when our house was robbed in the early 90's, my second I sold in a garage sale in the mid 90's so I could buy the Super Nintendo (SNES), and the 3rd was a used one that I bought a few years ago to complete my collection of owning all the Nintendo systems. The NES is well known for it's design flaws that caused errors in loading the game. I remember the debate on wether blowing on your catridge or in your system would make the problems worse. My cousin would stick extra catridges in the system to make it work.

My favorite games for the NES were

Super Mario Bros.
Duck Hunt (it used the awesome NES Zapper)
BattleToads (the heros were name Zitz, Rash and Pimple)
Bionic Commando
Blades of Steel (Hockey game with player fights)
Bubble Bobble
Chiller (gruesome for it's time)
Contra
Double Dragon II
Double Dribble (mostly for it's Slam Dunk cut scenes)
Excite Bike (you could design your own race!)
Gumshoe (this game was hard)
Gunsmoke
Jackal
Kid Icarus
The Legend of Zelda
Life Force (the first game I ever beat)
Mega Man 2
Metroid
Punch Out!
Ninja Gaiden
Paperboy
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3

Wow that list was long. I tried to keep it short but I just had to mention these games. It would be difficult for me to rank these in order but I would say the top 5 for me would be SMB3, MM2, Contra, Jackel, and SMB.

That took so long that decided to stop with just the NES for now. I might make seperate DLDs for some of the following; Gameboy, SNES, N64, Gamecube, DS, and the Wii. I guess that will depend on how much people are actually interested in the topic. I also found this image while searching for a picture of the NES. It is NES game cartridge that was made into a clock.

Now that I told you what I like, I think It would be kind of cool for people to post their favorite forms on entertainment in order. Or if a lot of people liked the NES they could list their favorite games as well.

And finally, sort of Off Topic from the theme but it ties in

Poll

What do you think of Video Games?

They are for geeks and nerds

3 votes

I only like old video games, anything 3-D gives me motion sickness

9 votes

I enjoy playing them occasionaly

24 votes

I buy them for my kids but hardly play.

2 votes

They rot your brain, I would never play them or buy them for my kids

3 votes

I play once a week or so

21 votes

They are part of my daily routine.

26 votes

88 votes | Poll has closed

DLD - 10/02/09 - Twins Drama, Celeb Gossip, and Rotten Tomatoes

micdog2001 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:40:06 -0000

There is actually a decent amount of stuff to link today. A ton if you like links about celebrities gossipy stuff.

First some baseball.

The Twins are angry at a rookie for throwing at a batter . . . and he is on their team!

Young believed that Tigers pitcher Jeremy Bonderman (notes) hit him in retaliation for a 94-mph fastball Twins rookie reliever Jose Mijares (notes) threw behind Adam Everett (notes) the previous inning … because he was mad the Tigers were stealing bases when trailing by six runs.

I can see getting mad if a team was stealing bases while ahead by 6 runs, but I have never heard of a player getting mad for stealing while trailing.

This comes after a fan on the internet accuses the Twins' Joe Mauer stealing signs and tipping pitches.

One problem: The Twins say it’s a bunch of malarkey

I watched the fans video and could maybe see what he is talking about but I tend to agree with this

Kubel laughed at the implication that Mauer was tugging at his helmet as a means of subterfuge. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire denied it, saying with such obvious sign-stealing “somebody would get killed.”

Now to the Celeb gossip.

David Letterman admits to having sex with female staffers (ABC video)

He did it because a producer from 48 hours was trying to extort $2 million from him with evidence of the affairs.

Here is the AP story for those who don't want to watch a video

Jon Gosselin wants to stop having his kids on TV

That probably should have happened already. As soon as Jon and Kate started having marital problems they should have stopped filming.

Rio de Janeiro gets the 2016 Olympics. Chicago didn't even get past the first round.

Rottentomatoes picks a movie to best represent each state in the USA

My favortie picks:

Idaho - Napoleon Dynamite

Kanas - Wizard of Oz

Oklahoma - Oklahoma (natch)

Oregon - The Goonies

The saddest picks IMHO

New Jersey - Clerks

Utah - Broken Arrow (the Travolta/Slater movie, OK action movie but not that great overall)

Worst Reviewed Movies of All Time

#1 -

0% Rank

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)

Best Reviewed Movies of All Time

This list is jammed full of old movies. I think there were only 3 or 4 movies made after 1970 on this list and one of them was Toy Story 2 (huh?). Nowhere on the list is any of the LOTR movies, I'm not a super geek (OK that is up for debate) but at least one of them should have been in the top 100.

#1 -

100% Fresh Rank

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

I will admit, I have never even seen this movie.

A poll about movies would be ridiculous. But it would be interesting to know what everyones favorite movie is. I personally can't pick just one but my answer used to be Armagedon with Bruce Willis. I don't think that is true now but at one point it was.

Quickie DLD 9/14/09 Weird Body Art

micdog2001 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:42:49 -0000

I wanted a new DLD just so I could post a link to the world's first eyeball tattoo. Yikes, looks painful and STUPID!

I'm not sure which is worse, the eyeball tatto or an eyeball piercing!

The video in the link is not for the faint of heart.

Let's see if I can find anything a little less painful . . .

OK, less painful but almost as stupid. Butt Jewelry! and other strange places for piercings.

Enough of that, this came out Friday but I didn't read or post it (LB's DLD was doing just fine without it anyways).

Disney has it's own Expo called D23 and there they announced the release date of the next Pirates movie plus a bunch of other movies like The Lone Ranger with Johhny Depp as Tonto.

In keeping with the movie theme, here is a webcomic from xkcd.com.

via imgs.xkcd.com

Before I get back to work I have a confession to make . . . I got some of these links from twitter.com. I know, I'm sorry. Dump away AN.

Poll

Which weird body art is the worst? In terms of pain and worst looking?

Eyeball Tattoos

9 votes

Eyeball Piercings

11 votes

Eyelid Piercings

0 votes

Butt Jewelry

4 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed

UN-REC TIME Happy Birthday to Me DLD! September 8th, 2009

micdog2001 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:44:05 -0000

Isn't it kind of an AN tradtion to post a DLD on your birthday? Maybe it was just a few people fishing for birthday wishes? Well I got my pole out, lets see what happens? (TWHS)

I am 26 years old today, I was born September 8th, 1983. Lets take a look at September 8th, 1983 in history.

Notable September 8th Birthdays

The only person on that list that I know is David Arquette, not exactly a Superstar but he is more famous than I. I'm sure some of the AN smarties will have heard of some of the others.

Another list. More people, less details

1157 - Richard I, [Richard the Lion Hearted], King of England (1189-99)

1889 - Robert A Taft, (Sen-R-Ohio, Taft-Hartley Act)
1908 - Geoffrey Hodges, bomb disposal expert (seriously? famous for dispoing bombs? awesome, but famous?)
1925 - Peter Sellers, England, actor (not now Kato, Bobo, Pink Panther) (I LOVE THIS GUY! YES!)
1950 - Will Lee, rock guitarist (Late Show with David Letterman)
1966 - Peter Furler, Australia, christian musician (Newsboys) (Cool, my wife's favorite band)

1971 - Brooke Burke, American model                                                                                                                         1978 - Marco Sturm, Dingolfing GER, NHL forward (Sharks, Team Germany 1998)
1978 - Gil Meche, American baseball player
1979 - Pink, American singer
1981 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Bethlehem PA, actor (Randy-Home Improvement) (whoa, my wife had a crush on him when she was a teenager, weird)

I like that list a lot better. I guess I could delete the first link but whatever.

The September 8th Wikipedia page

Things that stood out to me

Events

1504 – Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.

1951 – Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.

1966 – The first Star Trek series premieres on NBC.

1968 – The Beatles perform their last live TV performance on the David Frost show. They perform their new hit Hey Jude.

1998 – Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run of the season off of Steve Trachsel (Chicago Cubs), breaking Roger Maris' long standing record of 61. (I went to the A's game that day for my birthday with my Uncle's family, I remember hearing about Mcgwire in the car on the way)

Today in baseball history

Lots of cool things happend in baseball on September 8th, including

1965 -- Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A's played all nine positions but had to leave after a ninth-inning collision with Ed Kirkpatrick of the Angels. The Angels won 5-3 in 13 innings.

The A's on September 8th since 1983.

The Oakland A's weren't very good in 1983 and they didn't play on the 8th. At least Rickey was there.

The first A's game played on my birthday while I was alive (1984) was a success.

Rickey stole 2 bags and Carney Lansford went 4-5 with a double and rbi.

We won't talk about what happend in1985 or 1987.

In 1988 the A's won 5-1.

Curt Young was good that day - 8IP, 1 ER, 7 K. And Eck got a 1 out save.

In 1990 Rickey saved the day with 2 HR

In 1991 it was a team effort for the win

Nice win in 92'

14 runs but no HR, Carney went 5-6.

Bill Gates gives the A's the win in 93'

In 1996 the first 9/8 extra innings game while I was alive ended in the A's favor, thanks to a Tony Batista HR in the 10th

In 1999 ' the rare Jason Giambi triple made an appearance and Olmedo Saenz hit a solo jack in the win

In 2001 Mark Mulder got his 18th win (and hit his old teammate Ben Grieve) and the offense exploded for 4 HRs and 10 runs

(quick side note, I'm watching game 1 of the 1974 WS on mlb network and Reggie Jackson was just interviewed. He talked about Finley's crazy stunts and commented on how he liked "Hot Pants day" because he got some phone numbers and dates that day!)

In 2002 Zito, Mecir, and Rincon shutout the Twins and Piatt and Tejada hit HRs

My last birthday win. In 2006 a Swisher grand slam and Frank Thomas 2 run HR help Dan Haren get a win despite giving up 10 hits and 4 runs in 5 IP

So on my B-Day since 1983 the A's have 11 wins and 11 losses (edited). Not that great but it could be worse. No games were played on September 8th in 83, 86, 94, and 07. Come on 09 squad, give me a birthday present!!

Dump away AN, let me know if a link doesn't work because it is getting late and I need to go to bed.

UPDATE - 09/09/09

I added up the wins and losses incorrectly yesterday. The A's were actually 11-11 on 9/8 since 1983 but with the win in 2009 the Athletics are now over .500 at 12-11. Fellow ANers Ice Cream, ZigFan31, and Santa Cruz Surfer rejoice!

Might as well add a new link since I'm updating.

Today is 09/09/09, last set of repeating, single-digit dates that we'll see for almost a century (until January 1, 2101).

Poll

Posting a DLD on your birthday is . . .

a good way to share with your fellow ANers and to learn more about each other

6 votes

a pathetic way to try and get people to wish you Happy Birthday

5 votes

fine because we need more DLDs

15 votes

kind of lame but whatever

2 votes

28 votes | Poll has closed

DLD 8/5/09 - All Yahoo! all the time

micdog2001 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:06:30 -0000

There isn't much point in adding links to an old DLD because most people won't read them. I don't really have great links but there are some interesting things to talk about on the Yahoo home page. Might as well keep the dump daily.

Tough Times at the Post Office

The Postal Service has assembled a list of nearly 700 offices that may be closed or consolidated. That's out of a total of 32,741 post offices across America. The list of possible closures has been sent to the independent Regulatory Commission for review, "and officials say more may be added."

There is a PDF file at the end of the article with a complete list.

The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium will offer $90 pizzas

Those enjoying a Cowboys game from a luxury suite at the new stadium will have to shell out $90 for pizza and $66 for a 12-pack of domestic beer, reports Steven Sipple of the Lincoln Journal World.

Continuing the feel good story linked yesterday by Rebuilding Season

Freed Journalists Back in the USA

"The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart-wrenching days of our lives," Ling said, her voice cracking.

That has to be an amazing feeling, being free in the US after being locked away in NK. Wow . . . just wow.

Paula Abdul Leaving 'American Idol'

Paula's negotiations with "Idol" producers reportedly came down to money. According to a previous report by Radar Online, the veteran reality judge was asking for $20 million to return to the show - "Idol" was reportedly willing to offer half of that amount.

turning down $10 million, wow . . . just wow. Kidding aside, I guess if the douche bag Ryan Seacrest is making $15 million maybe Paula has a "right" to be mad.

Don't get Prince Fielder angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

And Finally (for now), Yahoo slams the A's and Cust whilst praising Neftali Feliz

There are plenty of logical reasons to discount the 21-year-old's performance, of course. It was just two innings against the A's, one of the American League's least productive lineups. And one of the Ks was Jack Cust (notes). Everyone strikes him out.

Poll

I Always post a Poll. How many ANers have found AN since the Yahoo! deal? I guess the way to phrase it in a poll is "How did you discover Athletics Nation?"

Yahoo! search

4 votes

Google search

26 votes

A friend told me

13 votes

Through a different SB Nation blog

8 votes

Other (If you have time please provide answer in comments)

32 votes

83 votes | Poll has closed

Un Rec Time (don't miss the last link about stirups) Late DLD 8/4/09.

micdog2001 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:25:20 -0000

We need another DLD. Again, you aren't getting anything fancy from micdog2001. Just a few links.

100 Most Often ~~Mispelled~~ Misspelled Words in English

People like me could use the help and others will appreciate the attemp at learning to spell. I found this whilst looking up how to spell "misspell".

"Weird Al" Yankovic - CNR

Of the new songs "leaked" so far I think this is my favorite. Parody of The White Stripes.

This link is NSFW and NSFPWDLMGJAP (not safe for people who don't like male genitalia jokes and puppets)

!!! My Wena - BOWLING FOR SOUP !!!

Building DemolitionFail

I saw this on Failblog first, then yahoo posted it.

via imgs.xkcd.com

I tried to avoid the politically charged comic they posted next.

Poll

What do you think of the Bowling For Soup video?

Funny

3 votes

Offensive

1 votes

Neither

6 votes

TL;DW (Too Long;Didn't Watch)

8 votes

18 votes | Poll has closed