Tag: baseball
Speaking of trying to make money…
You know, I’m intersted in trying to sell domain names now. I don’t mean as a registrar but as a domain name re-seller. I don’t know if it will pay off in the end but seeing I just secured something rather cheaply and think it could get more on the market, I’ll keep gambling at this game for a while.
That is, unless I never sell the two domains that I am trying to sell to begin with.
Hitting a new low for the D-Rays
I’m laughing my ass off over something I disovered while talking to my buddy Keith….
I wrote a post over at Boltsmag a few months ago calling the Devil Rays the worst pro sports team around. If you do a search on Google for “Worst professional sports franchise” and click on “I’m feeling lucky” — my post comes up as the result.
I don’t know if I should rejoice or feel shame. The Rays suck… And as a TB resident, I’ve helped let the world know the Rays suck. So much as for civic pride.
To vBB or not to vBB, that is the question
I have an odd Dilema with Baseball Boards. I have a very limited number of posters and lack of reputation under the current name. The lack of posting is hurting just as much as the lack of members is hurting.
That being said, I’m still playing with the idea of what could improve things and improve member additions to the site.
The site merger is all but nixed — too much uncertainty and too much negative outlook. Too little control. What I am toying with to bide the time, however,is to have vBulletin put onto the site instead of phpBB. VBulletin gives a better look to the forums and mroe functionality. PHPBB is open source, hackable… Extra spamable.
I need to ask around if I should make the switch… Its just a thought right now – and it will set me back 90 bucks at least.
Boarding pass
John F – former Administrative Community Manager – FanHome.com
John F – former Administrator – The MLB Forum
John F – Administrator – Baseball Boards
John F – Administrator – The MLB Forum?
TMLBForum has had a whirlwind couple of weeks – a negative whirlwind at that. The owner threw a hissy fit and took all of his sites off line. His posters are on another site, he’s caused a great deal of damage…
And oen of my firends who post there and talks to the guy suggested that i take over the ship when the site is live again.
I have reservations becasue I want Baseball Boards to be a success. I have a few of my own people who I am loyal to who I want to agree with me on anythign that goes down.
I also think taking over that site with such a negative vibe will mean more work. Those who don’t know me will not trust me. Those who know the site and what happened will not trust the site to remain there for them. You can NOT be professional and take something so personal that you close the buisness down in a hissy fit, and then expect people to come back. People will come back after technical problems, people will come back after downtime, but people don’t want to come back whent he site no longer seems to give a damn about the fact they are valuable members.
The good and the bad of the day
The bad today was, of course, finding my sites hacked — baseballboards.net and forum.boltsmag.com. I wasted a ton of the day fixing those things as best I could.
The GOOD? While I was fixing those pages, a road crew showed up at my place and tore out most of the broken slab of the gutter which I didn’t expect until next maybe weeks from now. The sad part about this is that, even with the concrete taken up, there is no clear reason why the gutter had been buckling as it was. That and the fact we won’t have things completed until days from now – if that soon at all.
Oh, more bad news — I’m sick 🙁 Oh well….
Where's John?
What is this? A yearly rite?
Last year I had an excuse for being AFB (Away From Blog) as I was feeling like shit and recovering from surgery. This year? Computer hardware problems and a slow delievery of replacement parts.
So, not only do I lack updates at Der Stonegauge but also on der Boltsmag, der Baseball Boards, Chantilly Lace Gifts and the like. It’s a real pain in the ass because I need to do work and I can’t ACCESS my work. All of that information is locked away quaintly on my hard drive while other hardware makes my computer un-usable.
Damn you, IBM-Compatible PC’s!!!
Happy Holidays, anyway. I have been keeping busy by walking here and there, doing housework, and more which I can talk about later in entries on the blog.
Baseball invite
Wanna talk about the ALCS? The NLCS?
We’ve got an open thread on game five of the ALCS going on at Baseball Boards…..
More to the Discord….
Ken Caminiti is dead.
O, Discordia….
It was bad enough waking up Wednesday to see the news that my favorite comedian — the king of Comedy for that matter — Rodney Dangerfield had passed away… But these two deaths are just further blows to my system. Reeve was my hero growing up (as Superman) and Caminiti was a player I admired until I found out about his steroid use and what not….
All three fo these men will be missed…. SOme for their fame and visions of hope, some for their humanity, and others to serve as a warning to professional athletes.
O, Discordia indeed.
Never forget.
I’ve said my piece and I’m sticking to it…
9-11-01… Never forget. And never forget how you’re fears have been manipulated.
We miss you Dennis “trane” Gomes
Get back to basics, get back to "Baseball Boards"
Not that it’s important, but I thought up a tag line for the floundering Baseballboards.net…
The site certainly hasn’t done enough to warrant me pushing it very hard in the future but at the same time, ther eis some passion from certain members that give the site a chance. I just certainly need some other impassioned souls to take part in this in order to make it work.
Trying to stay busy
It’s tough trying to keep myself busy these days – I’m failing mor often than I’m not.
I did alittle housekeeping on Boltsmag — nothing to write home about. I’ve been pinning about bbb.net and starting to think it was a mistake – that the market is indeed over-saturated and there are too many who are loyal to one forum and not willing to think about how loyal that forum is to them.
Between that and still chronically playing Vice City, I haven’t been up to much. There’s not much more absurdity I can take from the government before I become an apathetic citizen like so many Americans.
It's getting ugly here
Dear god, I hate all the empty space that is showing up on The Stonegauge lately… It’s not like I’m spread thin on he Internet or anything, it’s just that I haven’t wanted to rant about anything that I could rant about. I mean, really, how many times have I already stated what a sham Iraq was? Or how incompetent / dirty the Bush administration comes off? It’s like shooting fish in a barrel to be honest with you.
I have been parlaying a lot of time toward my new online endeavor along with trying to help out the search engine placement for Rocheleau Cabinetry… Building an online community is tough but with the amount of downtime i have, it should be no problem. There is a problem however and that is trying to bring in people who already have message board communities and cliques of their own that they don’t want to abandon. I’m not much one for spamming but I am on for recruitment of smart people.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s cloudy and rainy here in Florida. I don’t think it’s anything close to what people up north have dealt with lately but it’s miserable. You can’t believe how humid it is to boot. That makes it even worse.
Speaking of weather, how come it’s so friggin’ impossible to find the Tropical Update on Weather.com? It’s only a glut of people who need to know what’s brewing out in the tropics that could lead to potential hazards. Not like that’s important… :rolleyes
How is Chuck LaMar still Tampa Bay GM?
| Would someone care to explain to me how this assclown still has a job?
Charles M. LaMar the worst General Manager in Baseball and one of the worst in pro sports in general, has not been held accountable for years upon years of sub-mediocre play by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. How many times do people have to point out LaMar needs to be held accountable? John Romano did it years ago. David Egbert has done it several times and in different places. Of course, I have done it more than once, on here. In the Times and elsewhere. And of course, even the message boards get into it — I mean you can even find stuff on FanHome quite easily…. over, and over, and over again. And what do Rays fans get? They get LaMar for another two years thanks to him refurbishing the team with a new set of mediocre players. What’s even worse? The assclown even blames himself for the team being abysmal. It’s like he’s mocking those who don’t like him or how he’s run this team. “Yup, I’m to blame but there is absolutely shit you can do. Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!” |
 |
I have followed Tampa Bay’s quest for a baseball team, I have had high hopes when the team came together and how LaMar was doing at the beginning…. but year after year, mistake after mistake – LaMar wore me down, he’s ruined my love for baseball by being the idiot who has been in charge of architecture of the league’s 30th franchise. He’s made me lose the pride I have in this area with a mockery of players that are also-rans, has-beens or never-will-be’s… And of course, when he does find a diamond in the rough – the player is assured to be traded for more questionables.
Yes, you can tell me that this is baseball and there is no such thing as a sure thing in this game… but after 8 years of LaMar at the helm of the Rays, 8 years of blunders, 8 years of mistakes, 8 years of zero accountability – it’s time to pull the plug and end this farce once and for all.
Fire LaMar. Fire LaMar now and declare this season over – as it has been since Opening Day for the Devil Rays.
HitfortheCycle.org — worthy cause and Worthless Rays
Paythe Rays is what Charlie Hamilton had to sum up his experience at Tropicana Field. Hamilton happens to be biking to every single major league ballpark to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute…
So instead of donating tickets or being treated special — the Rays made it impossible for him to get tickets, gave him a run around and shitty service to boot. And people ask me why I hate this team? :rolleyes
If you’re a baseball fan, Hamilton’s cause is a notable one. Make sure you check out his page and his schedule and route map and perchance help him along on his quest… or better yet — join him for a day at the ballpark.
LaMar's Contract extended and a friends take on MY take….
From Paul who runs Witty Librarian…
Just saw this on the Trib’s web site. John, go ahead, I’ll cover my ears
now…**space provided for John F. to scream a scream of the damned so loud it
would shatter the world**
….sigh
Nooooooooooo!!!!!
BASTARDS!!!!!
**additional space provided for John F. to issue a string of profanities that
would impress the hell out of the U.S. Navy**
Motherfucking cocksucking Devil Ray snotty bastards… Christ almighty in a handbasket, these goofy pieces of shit don’t understand crap when it comes to how to hold fuck-ups accountable and they deserve to rot there lice infested carcases in hell for all fucking eternity!!!!
Whew, okay are you done?
Not yet, Paul. Soon. :smile
**additional space provided for John F. to express how he really feels about
the most incompetant baseball general manager in human history, even worse
than the numbnuts who mismanaged the Cubs during the 60s and 70s and 80s and early 90s**
(due to content of this post and overall repetition of ranting about the worst GM in baseball — Charles M. “Chuckles” “Chucky”, “Chuckles the Clown”, “Worthless”, “Lamer” LaMar — over the years, this potion of my rant is kept out :smile )
Finished?
For now, Paul, yeah… Mostly because you said that no more space was allowed due to the FCC cracking down on salty language :smile
Even the fans are in Spring Training — in understanding baseball
Keith: Rain?
Keith: First fucking baseball game of the year, and it has to Rain in Florida?
Keith: bah! A Pox on the state of greyhairs!
John F.: rain?
John F.: are you serious?
John F.: it’s sunny here
John F.: was it yesterday? It was sunny THEN too
Keith: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/scoreboard ESPN has all games in a rain delay
Keith: Or, they are testing their “R” key out
John F.: R stands for RUNS
John F.: LMAO
Keith: (blush)
Keith: fuck
* Keith goes back to bed
Long Overdue Sports Roundup
Well, I have totally avoided the subject of sports for the most part — I don’t mean certain sports topics because I know I have left a couple of sports entries the past month but I haven’t written much of anything with concern of los deportes since October 2003 with the Marlins winning the World Series, and there is always a vast allotment of things to talk about with regards to Pro Sports that I have passed over for the sake of just being a lazy ass….
So let me get cracking with regards to sports and my sports world here in Tampa Bay. Where shall I begin?
I made a post in October regarding the Bucs vs. Indianapolis Colts and expect the Bucs to get a win and my friend Bill’s new born niece to get a “birthday present”. I never, however, posted the fact that Los Buccaneeros de Tampa Bay went ahead and blew the game. That game and the utter let down by both the offense and the defense basically summed up the Bucs season from that point on — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The once dominating Tampa Bay defense turned into a shell of itself. The over-hyped Jon Gruden offense was a disaster area, committing penalty after penalty in order to kill drives and kill chances of victory. Former University of Florida offensive lineman Kenyatta Walker was horrendous with regards to committing infractions at the worst times….
And this was just the start of things.
Jon Gruden and Keyshawn Johnson clashed and Jon Gruden deactivated Keyshawn at midway through the season. This caused a great deal of conflict in the Buccaneers front office, along with other problems that weren’t known to the average Buc fan. Rich McKay, Buccaneer General Manager and son of it’s first head coach, Jim McKay, ended up leaving the team because of conflicts with Gruden. Some people might have sided with Jon Gruden and his “Just win, baby” style that he picked up from Al Davis while he coached with the Raiders, but I’m someone who believes that McKay was the more-valuable between the two. McKay built the Buccaneer team that went on to win the Super Bowl in 2003. He helped turn the Buc franchise around from perennial losers to the winning franchise it has been the last 6 years.
But now he’s been shown the door…
He wasn’t very fond of some of the low-quality personnel that Jon Gruden was after — low quality when it comes to moral standards and length-of-rap-sheets and I am one that agrees on that. I guess it’s the fact that I saw Tony Dungy – a high quality person and a moral leader – come into the Bucs, change them into winners on field, and expect players to perform on field and be respectable off it as Dungy did. When players got into trouble while Dungy was head coach, it would mean that you would soon be shown the door if your infraction was big enough. I’m not talking about missing team meetings, I’m talking about crimes that players get away with so often in society.
The Bucs finished 7 and nine, there worst finish since 1998. Looking at 2004 with Gruden and Ray Allen, newly hired GM from the Raiders, in charge…. i don’t hold optimism toward the team for one reason or another. Maybe it’s parity alone that spoils my optimism for the club or perhaps it is the “Just win” attitude? The mystique is gone for the time being… When it returns for me is anyone’s guess.
Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Lightning seem on a rebound as of late after falling into the gutter through November and December. After a white-hot start, the team fizzled through the next 24 games and only now dseem to be turning the corner back towards winning – and even now, that isn’t certain. Looking at the problems the Bolts have faced, I have been somewhere in the middle with regards to firing John Tortorella or just making a trade to shake up the roster and bring in some new blood. I personally believe that a new player – an upper echelon type of guy, could have helped the team get back to winning but hindsight is 20-20… it also might have led to destroying the chemistry of the team…
Pete Rose is all over the news because he finally came out and admitted he bet on Baseball. It’s an awkward situation because Rose took the hoopla away from the Hall of Fame ballotting that happened this week and also hasn’t won over any traditionalists in baseball. The sympathizers (like myself) think Pete should be in the hall regardless… The traditionalists think the lifetime ban should stay in place because now there is proof Rose committed the cardinal sin of Baseball by betting on games…
Only time will tell if Pete gets his just due and gets enshrined in the hall.
Traditionless
I was flipping through the cable channels this evening and came across ESPNews, which was reporting a trade between the New York Knicks in the NBA and another team. I started thinking about the Knicks name, which is short for Knickerbockers, and how classy/traditional the name is in a sense that it just seems totally old school…
It then occured to me that any or every NBA player has to ask themselves what the hell a Knickerbocker is. They also probably wonder why the team is keeping such a lame name…
Welcome to the NBA.
You look at the other professional sport leagues and not only are names with non-modern/urban undertones in existence, but there are traditions stacked upon traditions in each league. The NHL has the hat trick — which leads to caps thrown onto the ice. Major League Baseball has the 7th Inning Stretch. The NFL has the coin flip, gatorade dousings and individual traditions (as do MLB and teh NHL) such as the Lambeau Leap and the Thanksgiving Day games involving the Cowboys and the Lions….
What does the NBA have?
The NBA has rapists, drug abusers, teenagers who skipped College for the money and shoe deals with Nike. The NBA has arrogance and individualism. The NBA tries to be one big highlight reel of slam dunks….
And people wonder why I don’t follow the sport?
While fans in Detroit are tossing Octopi onto the ice at Joe Louis Arena to celebrate a Red WIngs goal, and while Yankee fans are dancing to Rock and Roll Part Two (the Hey song) or YMCA between innings, NBA fans have mascots doing basketball tricks and players bitching at each other and making threats. While the Buccaneers have their pirate ship firing after a touchdown (a relatively new tradition), the NBA has gimmick slam dunks that everyone tries to imitate.
Michael Jordan is not the norm of the NBA — he’s just the most imitated player.
Common Sense is not that common
I’m guessing that very few people who read this know who I am, so please allow me to introduce myself: My name is Keith (no, really) and I live in Calgary, AB. I’m Canadian, eh? No doot aboot it. I work as a field tech, which means I travel. A lot.
I’ve seen a lot of odd things in my travels. But an incident that occured two weeks ago takes the cake. In the parking lot of the store I was working at, a man chased a hat that blew off his head, underneath a moving semi, with predictable results.
Just like that, a life snuffed out, all for a baseball cap. I didnt see the incident itself, but everything after. The failed attempt at life support, and the shocked reaction of everyone around.
Seriously, what causes a man to run under a moving truck?
The scary part? It was submitted to the darwinawards.com website, and REJECTED because it is too common an occurance.
Man is a dumb, dumb, dumb animal…
The Greater Pastime
Old poem… don’t really have an entry due tot he torture of the give and take….
Baseball… The greater Passtime…
The grass is green,
and newly cut,
on a bright and glorious day.
The stands are full with people cheering,
who came out, to watch them play
The pitcher, the catcher, the rightfielder,
The man at shortstop and second base,
These and the others are called upon,
To boost the home team’s play.
They go through the innings,
And at the end: haven’t both teams won?
For to play the game of baseball,
is the most glourious thing to be won.
© 1992 John P. Fontana
Thoughts….
I’m thinking too much right now….
About my pager and the conversation I had today with Michelle who gave me props for the story I made mention of on here yesterday….
About Melanie’s new journal online – Which I recommend.
About the fact the Marlins just whooped the Cubs…
About how Mike was pissed when he found out I got him a 100+ dollar birthday gift last month (even though his Birthday was in August) and how he started nagging me for what I wanted for my birthday….
About Glimmer Train Publications and wondering if I am wasting my time waiting for them
About the truth, about the lies, about the silence, avoidance, dismmisal… The wall.
About how Bill just dropped me a lien from my old computer, set up in his apartment in Orlando. Unexpectedly but pleasant all the same.
About how it seems Bill already has the blaster worm. Damnit.
About “Peter’s Problem” — the fact it needs a title and the fact I need to get my ass in gear and finish writing that thing.
About the fact that there are other things I need to write that could lead to bigger things — vague, yes, but a previous post I made that is also vague is part of the explination…
About how I had no idea what to write today except song lyrics. I never heard One Headlight by the Wallflowers but I wanted to post the lyrics.
About ‘Round Here:
But the Girl on the car in the parking lot says, “Man you should try and take a shot
“Can’t you see my walls are crumbling?”
And she looks up at the building,
Says she’s thinkin’ of jumpin’
She says she’s tired of life,
She must be tired of somethin’!
‘Round here
She’s always on my mind
‘Round here (hey man)
I’ve got lots of time
‘Round here
We’re Never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
‘Round here we stay up very very very very late
….
Oh man, I said I’m under the gun ’round here….
And I can’t see nothing. Nothing. Around here….
That’s what I’m thinking about…..
First Name Last, Last Name First
I started realizing a dilemma that I’m going to be facing if I am in the writing realm… It’s actually something I noticed a long long time ago but didn’t think it would have any effect on me because I didn’t know where I was going with things with my life. The fact I am getting into writing and — possibly — going to make a name for myself through fiction and other writings causes one slight, teensie little problem.
My name.
You see, John Fontana is a really popular guy. I mean REALLY popular. Not only was he a bartender in New York (My grandfather — known as Giovanni Petra to his parents, I believe, from what my mom was telling me) and the guy I got my name from… He also is a Senior Editor at Network World Fusion and Linux World, a writer for Infoworld and CRM Daily… Not to mention a baseball coach as well as a thousand other things out there.
John’s a popular guy… Real popular. I mean, he even worked on “Bag of Bones” for Stephen King!
Of course, JP Fontana is a wacky Frenchman writer and that causes me some more grief but not as much as I could be having over it.
I need to make a habit out of calling myself John P. Fontana (or J.P. Fontana — I like that one)… I could see a future where some guy gets a call asking to pen an article for a fiction magazine and they were looking for me the entire time… Or me getting asked “When did you get into writing like that, John? I thought you dealt with only the tech stuff?
Crap Unadulterated
Hello my pretties… **laughs of pure evil ensue** 😈
So today was crap. Not just regular crap, but pure, unadulterated crap. The type of crap that will just keep you awake at night when you want to roll over and go to sleep. The kind of crap that will plague a long car trip between point A and point B, causing a 2 hour trip to span 4 hours due to time taken at rest stops in order to let the Crap have it’s way with you.
Yes, Crap rued the day.
Fanhome was giving all 1400+ users on the site a load of crap. The pages were slow, the loading was bothersome. I couldn’t find out if anyone was trying to fix the problem so I threw my hands up in disgust and left the site. The trade deadline in Baseball, which caused the huge influx of users today by the way, didn’t even have anything eventful happen with it! Worst trade deadline I can remember… Nothing happened!
While all this was going on (with FanHome) I ran into a girl on Yahoo messenger from Tarpon. She seemed really interested in having a relationship with someone – no I don’t mean just meeting someone and hooking up, I mean she put a note that she wanted something serious and a the M word on her page… The M word is taboo when you are just trying to meet a guy, Ladies. We all know that you want it in the end and (some of us) are happy to oblige but while you are searching for a man, don’t throw out the M word. I’ve met too many girls that wanted to get hitched lickety split and ended up regretting getting involved with the guy in question.
And for the record, I ended up mentioning I had a hearing impairment and I didn’t have another word spoken to me from said girl :-p .
*Sigh* No word from Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal, which I am happy with. Last thing I want to hear is that everything else needs to be brought down because they don’t like the ugly mug on the top of this page. Or the fact they don’t like how I talked to the media after they shit on me.
Crap. Total crap. Totally unadulterated crap! Oh the humanity!
So I’ll send out apologies to my friends for just being me, I’ll send out apologies to my online friends for doing the pity party thing lately, and I’ll send out apologies to you — the readers — for having to trek through my day of Crap
