Phillies World Series Parade - Now With Video!

Monday, December 15, 2008

It took a while. I had to buy a new Firewire cable and download some updated drivers and try three different video editing programs before realizing that the new driver update allowed me to use Windows Movie Maker just fine. But I've got it now.

Below you will see video clips from the Phillies World Series parade. You can see my previous post on the parade here. The actual parade was recorded by Stef while the clip inside Lincoln Financial Field was taken by me.

While waiting for the parade to come by some fans started decorating the trees with beer bottles and cans. A competition broke out between groups on both sides of the street.



The parade finally starts to come by, lead by the Philadelphia media riding a double-decker tour bus.



Finally, the 2008 World Champion Phillies drive by...



Here is the video from inside Lincoln Financial Field...


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The Battle of Favorite Quarterbacks

I write this post wearing my Donovan McNabb jersey, but yesterday I was wearing my Matt Schaub jersey. While it should be no secret that this blog is the home of the Matt Schaub Fan Club, you should also know that I have always been a Kerry Collins fan.

Yesterday the two faced off for the second time this year and Schaub's Texans knocked off the best team in the NFL, the Titans to even their season series at one game a piece.

Why am I a Kerry Collins fan?


Duh.

McNabb has a chance to extend the playoff dreams for the Eagles tonight.

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Phanatic Claus

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The World Series trophy was on display and Phillies fans flocked Citizens Bank Park to wait in line to see it Saturday. Phanatic Claus also was on hand. Stef and I met up with Sarah down at the park. Kelly was there as well!

Below are pictures from the festive Citizens Bank Park.

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2008 Brian's Run - It Was Cold!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Last weekend my dad participated in Brian's Run, an annual event in West Chester. It was pretty cold but Stef and I headed down and met up with my mom and sister to cheer my dad on.

The race was supposed to be a 5k but the volunteers who set up the markers for the path messed up and it ended up being about half of that, much to the chagrin of many of the runners. For the people who came out to watch though, we were much appreciative of the error.

The Penn State Nittany Lion made an appearance as well, though it was likely an alternate mascot from one of the nearby branches of the university nearby. He was a little chubbier and didn't exactly hide the zipper well in the front, nor did he ruffle his ears once. Oh well, so it was a poor man's Nittany Lion.

Below are the pictures I took.



You can see the photos individually here on my Picasa account.

EDIT: The Picasa slideshow and album are now updated with pictures from my mom and sister. Thanks!

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YouTube in Widescreen

I post a lot of videos I find on YouTube here, usually without much commentary. I share them because I find them interesting, funny, strange or just because they are some kind of fad that is going around. Sometimes I wonder how many people actually watch those videos and how many people stop by, see that there is a video (or a bunch of videos) and just skip over them. In the new year I am going to make it a resolution to provide more thought and conversation in a post, rather than just throw up a stupid video.

YouTube recently made some format changes to their service and are upgrading the way people watch videos on their site. What changes did they make? Wide screen viewing and high definition.



At first the wide screen option was cool, but all of the older videos already on the server broadcast in their original format, with the black bars along the side. Couldn't YouTube find a way to let these videos play in their original format? Or allow the video uploader an option to allow it to be played without the black bars? For instance, check out any of my videos and you will see there are black bars on the sides. I can't do anything about it. They are there for good. I have yet to upload video from the World Series parade as I haven't been able to get it on the computer. Whenever I do get it on the computer I plan to upload segments to YouTube which is when I will know if the uploading process gives me any options. Has anybody out there uploaded anything since the improvements were made? Please inform me!

Perhaps somebody will upload Strong Bad E-mail a Hundred, seeing as it was made for wide screen.

"If you lived here you'd have less non-broken bones and way more crushed spirits."

One more clip for you fans of Mario Paint...and Linkin Park.


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40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Thursday, December 11, 2008

This YouTube video was sent to me by my sister this morning. I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did.

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Chicago Documentary: Part III

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I just realized I never posted the third installment in the Chicago documentary from last week. Here you go.


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Big Game Romo Costs me a Football Pool

Monday, December 08, 2008

Entering tonight's Monday Night game between Tampa Bay and Carolina I sit a mere four points out of first place. If Tony Romo had been a capable quarterback yesterday I would have been sitting in first place all by myself, and a Carolina victory tonight would have clinched an outright victory for me.

Instead I sit in third place (technically fourth as there is a tie for first going into tonight) with my highest point total of the year with 109 points. Incidentally it is also higher than any week my dad had this season.

Check back tomorrow for my official football pool update!

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Full Dumpster

Friday, December 05, 2008

My landlord has been throwing away pieces of cubuicle walls over the course of the past couple weeks. Every Friday he throws away a couple pieces at a time, depending on how full our dumpster is already.

Today he decided to just say heck with it and tossed the remaining pieces of the walls, regardless of how full the dumpster was. Dumpster abuse ensued...








I am patiently waiting for the garbage truck to come by today. My camcorder is ready to go.

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The Nominees Are...

Thursday, December 04, 2008

No, not those nomninees. The VGA Advisory Councils finalists for the best Wii game of 2008.



I have to imagine that Super Smash Brothers Brawl will be the slam dunk choice for the best Wii game of 2008. WiiFit should be recognized for its innovation though.

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Chicago Documentary: Part II



First they compare themselves to the likes of Bach and Beethoven, now they praise their superiority to Leonard Bernstein! I love it. Such a bold statement but such a true statement if you think about it.

What Terry Kath could do with the guitar amazes me as a guy who has never played guitar personally. It makes me wonder, as I am one of the few video gamers in the world who has never played Guitar Hero (except for that one time in Toronto in the arcade...before it was ever thought of for a home video game), are there any Chicago songs on any of the Guitar Hero games (or Rock Band)?

Check back tomorrow for Part III!

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Prop 8 The Musical


Neil Patrick Harris is the man.

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Chicago Documentary: Part I

Wednesday, December 03, 2008



Chicago is my heaviest influence when it comes to music. It is the first real band I started to listen too and became a fan of. Perhaps it is because I play trombone and James Pankow's style is one I wanted to mold myself after.

I love how in the beginning we are given the thought that if Bach were alive at the time that Chicago is the band he'd be playing in and Beethoven would be writing music for them. Bold statements for sure seeing as Bach and Beethoven are among the highest musical intellectuals ever. They were never quite the Beatles or Rolling Stones but Chicago is in that upper tier as well.

I am not as much of a fan of the 1980's Chicago, or the post Terry Kath era, but I could still listen to this band any day of the week and twice on Sunday...or perhaps Saturday...in the park.

I think it was the fourth of July.

Part two will be up tomorrow so check back!

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Gloves

I did something stupid this morning.

I went outside in 24 degree weather and scraped ice off of Stef's car...without gloves.

I had two perfectly good pairs of gloves inside in my coat, which was also conveniently hanging up in the closet as I was outside in a sweatshirt. Yeah, my hands were cold.

It inspired me to write today's post at What Should You Do Today?

Note to Self: Gloves are good...and warm.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! May you share the day with family and friends and great food around a ping pong table eating toast, popcorn, jelly beans and ice cream sundaes.



Or perhaps you prefer turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. To each their own!

Oh, and go Eagles!

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Best Buy Black Friday Ad

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

If you want to check out the Black Friday deals and start planning what you will buy me a couple days before the ad hits the newsstands, then go here.

My guess is the 80GB Playstation 3 package with a game and Casino Royale on Blu-ray for $399 will be a tough item to come by. A 60 GB Xbox 260 comes with four games for $299. There is a Samsung Blu-ray player for $199, for a $100 savings. Is that a good deal? I don't know.

My Logitech Harmony universal remote is only $59.99 though.

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Football Pool Update

My point total went up this week and the winner's point total this week went down, but I still fell 20 points short. Thank you very much Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos! Of course for one of the few times this year I picked against the Houston Texans and for some reason kept some faith that the Philadelphia Eagles would somehow rebound from a demoralizing loss under the coaching of Andy Reid. Those games cost me 35 points.


Of course, why I would pick the Kansas City Chiefs is beyond me at this point.

When all was said and done, my dad increased his lead over me and to pour salt on the wound he won the football pool by picking the New Orleans Saints last night.

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What Cheers Me Up?

Monday, November 24, 2008

The Eagles are a mess. Thankfully there is a plethora of YouTube videos to cheer me up and help me not care about the soap opera that is the Philadelphia Eagles.



When listening to 610 WIP earlier they came back from their commercial break with the audio clip of Harry Kalas making the final call as a way of saying who cares about the Eagles? The Phillies are the medicine for Philadelphia sports fans. Who'd a thunk it?

P.S. These videos will never EVER get old.

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Love Ya Joe Paterno

I never once said Joe Paterno should go. Did you?

Watch his speech from Friday night, a night before Penn State throttled Michigan State to win its third Big Ten title, second in four years, and secure a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl.



Maybe Andy Reid should watch this...

Reports are saying that Paterno had successful hip replacement surgery yesterday. I expect to see him on the sideline for the bowl game. It would be a great sight to see.

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Saved by Zero Kills

Friday, November 21, 2008

Good morning everybody! It is snowing here in Souderton. How about where you are?

Are you as sick of those "Saved by Zero" Toyota commercials as many others are? I admit I do not hate the commercials as much as some of you may but I found the following video pretty humorous.



If you have never seen The Ring, you should.

HT: BagofNothing

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What Should You Do Today?

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Visit my new blog of course!

As mentioned earlier today, I am now running a new blog titled What Should You Do? It is hosted by Today.com (see my previous post for information on setting up your own blog on the service). The premise of the blog is to give the reader something to do every day. I may suggest a movie to go rent, a website to visit, a recipe to try out, or an idea for something to in or around your home or at work!

Something new will be put up every day (that's the plan at least) so stop by and check it out daily! Feel free to leave a comment over there as well, but don't forget about this blog either. This blog is my baby!


What Should You Do Today?

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Is Mario a Commie?

Visit this website.

Now watch this video.



What an eye opener this is for me.

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Announcing a New Blog

I am excited to announce to you a new blog that I am authoring. It will make it's official debut this afternoon once I get everything set up! The title of the blog is What Should You Do Today and it is hosted by Today.com. While the site is up right now I will share with you the link later today. I want to at least set up the initial posts and get a decent theme up and running before sharing it with everyone.

While Today.com will pay me $1 for each daily 100 word post I can make even more depending on how many people visit the site. So if you want to help me out you can visit the new blog on a daily basis, or add the new site to your RSS reader of choice. But why should you stop by the new blog?

Let me share what is in the About page from the new blog (at least it is right now);

The premise of the blog is simple. Each day will offer some advice on one thing to do each day. It could be anything for you to do, such as a recipe to try out, a tip to get organized, a tv show to watch, a movie to rent, a website to visit, a sports team to root for, and so on.


Does that make sense? I hope so.

Stay tuned later today for the official launch of the new blog! I will share a link here. Oh and don't think that this site will be abandoned. This will still be my primary blog for sharing thoughts on the usual mixed variety of topics. Thanks for reading!

If you are interested in setting up an account with Today.com, click here to use me as your referral. You can blog about anything you want so it is worth checking out! I don't know exactly how much money I will actually make form this but I'll report back at some point to keep you posted on my thoughts!

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Unsubscribing from Obama's Campaign

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

When I first started to pay attention to the presidential campaign closely I decided that Barack Obama was my ideal candidate. So I signed up to be on his e-mail list throughout the campaign. While most of the e-mails I received wee just attempts to get donation money form me there were many that I looked forward to reading. The ones I cared about usually came a day after (or sometimes the same night) the most recent attacks on Obama and his character were made by rival candidates.

I forgot about the e-mails but today received one asking me to share my campaign experience. Personally that is what I have done here already so this e-mail is a waste of time for me. I decided to unsubscribe from the mailing list today, seeing that I no longer care about the e-mails in general. My candidate won and anything I want to know I can find out from ABC News or CNN at my leisure. When un-subscribing there was a box to leave a comment as to why I decided to do so. I don't think anybody ever reads that information, but I filled it out anyway. Here is what I said;
The time has come for a change in my e-mail box. Four months of successful e-mail campaigns has proven it worked, but it is time for me to take control of my inbox once again and cut the political propaganda!

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2008 Football Pool Leaves Me in the Dust

Monday, November 17, 2008

I don't know what my problem is this year with the football pool but I continue to perform to new personal record low levels of mediocrity. We have essentially finished ten weeks of football pools and I have yet to win once, let alone make it to a Monday Night game that meant anything to me. Heck, I am usually out of it by Sunday night.

My lack of winning results may make you think that I do not care about the football pool, as I have typically won at least once at this point and am usually more competitive than I have been. My most successful football pool though did not come until December 10th last year (I was the first to have a perfect pool) I will say that I have not exactly been in football mode from the start of the season, thanks in large part to the wonderful Phillies season I was so engrossed in. In fact once the Phillies clinched their World Series championship I thought it would take me some time to get into the football mode again. Meanwhile Penn State was running the table so I switched immediately to college football mode, bypassing the NFL completely. Then this happened and now I realize I need to focus on my football pools a little more than I have been.

It's not that I haven't cared about my football pools. In fact most of the time I thought I was making some good picks. There were a couple weeks that I felt totally unsure about any of my picks, but I attribute that to my lack of knowledge on how the NFL was panning out. While the Phillies and Penn State were having their respective magical seasons I did not care to read or research anything NFL related. Pro football was somewhat of an after thought so I based my decisions not on what had happened in 2008, but what I thought would happen in 2008.

Once Tom Brady went out I put no faith in the Patriots. When I did I got burned.

I failed to believe in the Tennessee Titans, even with my favorite Nittany Lions quarterback leading the team to an undefeated run without Vince Young, who was supposed to be the main guy.

I picked the Houston Texans more than I should have because of my fandom for fellow West Chester East alum Matt Schaub. I picked them when I was unaware he wasn't playing.

As I do every year I put too much stock in the Philadelphia Eagles, although this week a tie neither hurts nor helps, except for the fact that I put 14 points on them.

So after eleven weeks where do I stand? Fifteenth place out of a possible sixteen. I am a daunting 208 points out of first place heading in to tonight's game between the Bills and the Browns. To make matters worse, I am 131 points behind my dad which will ensure I hear about my poor performance every time I see him. Joy.

This year I started to use an Excel file to track my performance. It has been painful but it is a good illustration to view my results against the winner from week to week. Take a look;
You can click the image for a better view but if you can't read the legend, the graph's lines tell the story pretty well. The blue line tracks my point totals. The green line tracks the winner's point total from week to week. The black line is the possible points in each week, and the red line tracks the difference between my picks and the winner's picks. For example, in week one I earned 81 points and the winner that week earned 102 points. The red line shows that I was 21 points short of winning, or as the Eagles and Bengals like to do, a tie.

As you can tell, week seven killed me. I made my picks for who would win the games, but I forgot to assign confidence points. I can't even use the Phillies as an excuse because they were sitting around waiting to see who they would play in the World Series at that point. Ugh.

Other than week seven though I seem to follow the general trends as the winner from week to week. I seem to be falling off the past couple weeks though. If winning the overall pool is out of the question then I must set my goals to win as many individual weeks as possible. I'll be sure to update my progress on the blog each week until the end of the season.

My goals for the final six weeks;
  1. Win at least one week
  2. Make three Monday Night games worth caring about
  3. Break 1,200 points for the season - 520 points over six weeks (roughly 87 points a week)
  4. Finish in 13th place or above - Currently sit 65 points out of 13th
  5. Cut Dad's lead to 85 - I will have to gain an average of 7.7 points per week on him

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The Story of Ms. Pac-Man

This is the latest episode from Play Value. If you sit tight with it long enough you will learn how Ms. Pac-Man came to be.



If you ask me, Ms. Pac-Man is one of the best games of all time. I played it all the time on the old Atari 2600, and have played it numerous times on an arcade machine and on a computer in college, often times getting the best of Jackie in some of our epic Ms. Pac-Man battles.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

This is a brilliant video, except for the stupid text messages.



HT: The 700 Level

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Too Early For This

No joke, I just saw this commercial on TV...



Ugh. It is too early for these kinds of commercials!

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Some People Need a Life

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Ok, I admit it. I can proudly beat the original Super Mario Brothers in under six minutes. I believe I can beat Super Mario World in under fifteen. But this person takes the prize, beating Super Mario in ten minutes and 58 seconds.



Apparently this is a tool assisted emulated game play, which explains some of the near impossible stunts being pulled.

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November 7

Friday, November 07, 2008



Today is November 7, the 312th day of the year. You can read all about it right here. On this date in 1922 trumpeter Al Hirt was born. On this date in 1957 Christopher Knight was born. Who is Christopher Knight? He is the guy who played Peter Brady on The Brady Bunch of course!



Today is also the birthday of General David Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command. A Japanese man by the name of Hiroshi Yamauchi also shares this birthday. You may not know a thing about Yamauchi but I will guarantee that he has touched your life in one way or another. He was president of Nintendo from 1949 to 2002, transforming the card making company into a multi billion dollar video game leader. Today he is the current richest man in Japan.

In his honor I will share with you my Nintendo ages on this, my 27th birthday (That is right, it is my birthday today - leave me best wishes in the comments section fool!);

Brain Age 2 says I am 35.

WiiFit says I am 31.

Screw you Nintendo! I am going to go play some Playstation 2 now...

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Wrapping Up with The Launching Pad

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

"My prediction is Phillies over Rays in the World Series for this year in not so classic fashion."
- Me, on The Launching Pad on October 9, 2008

That winning prediction won me a $50 gift card to Distant Replays. As you know I was performing the role of guest blogger at The Launching Pad during the Phillies' playoff run. Imagine my guilt free pleasure of blogging about my Phillies en route to a World Series championship on an Atlanta Braves blog. All kidding aside it was fun and I thank JB for the opportunity. I truly feel my blog benefited from the guest posts on his site and I hope to continue the working relationship in the future.

As the season is now over I left one final post to sum up the emotions of a world championship season. It went up today. Be sure to check it out by clicking here.

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My Voting Experience

I waited to vote until Stef came home from work. Because I was home for the large majority of the day I decided to soak in as much election day coverage I could on all the available outlets. When finished taking care of some errands and waiting for some responses from certain people I was watching CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News on TV and refreshing the websites for those networks as well as Politico and ABC News and random newspapers. I will give more specific thoughts and my grades for the election coverage from the media outlets I paid the most attention to later on, possibly this afternoon or tomorrow, but for now let me tell you about my voting experience.

Living in Souderton is vastly different than living in Philadelphia or even West Chester. I heard about long voting lines all day and about problems with voting machines all across the country all day long. Naturally I was curious if my line was going to be much longer than usual.

This is the line I waited in to vote.

It wasn't. I waited for approximately five minutes from the time I entered the line for my voting ticket to the moment I entered a voting machine. Heck, I waited in line longer just last Thursday at Modell's for a Phillies World Championship shirt (about an hour)!

This is the line I waited in at Modell's for a Phillies t-shirt last Thursday. It wrapped along the walls of the store.

In fact, the election line may have been the third longest line I waited in in the past week! Don't forget about the day America was given a free taco...

The line at Taco Bell, for a free taco, was longer than my election line.

When all was said and done I spent about thirty seconds behind my machine's curtain so I could overlook all of the candidates. My voting machine was easy to read and use, so I had no complaints there either.

When the night was over, Montgomery County went to Barack Obama with 60% of the vote. My hometown of West Chester and Chester County went to Obama as well with 54% of the vote. Philadelphia sent 83% of their vote to Obama and Centre County (Penn State) went to Obama with 55%. Allegheny County went to Obama with 57%.

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Witnessing History

Say what you want, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. In a landslide victory through the electoral college (closer in the popular vote), Obama became the nation's first African-American to be voted to the office, providing joy to millions in this country not just for democrats but for anyone who believes in this country the way I do.


I have had enough of the race issues and sincerely hope that this is the final step this country needs to overcome that great divide. To me the color of your skin never mattered and until last night I never imagined the same mentality was held by the country as a whole. Finally the hopes and dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. have taken one more step towards equality in this country, and I could not be more proud to have been a part of it all.

My vote for Obama was not about the dreams of King though. Rather it was about who I felt had a better grasp for the economy and how to handle it. It was about who was better equipped to handle health care. It was about who had a better grasp for America's voice on the war in Iraq. It was about who ran a better campaign. McCain fell short i all of those areas to me, and fell apart at the seams with his campaign. Credit McCain for a classy concession speech. I know it was tough for him to stand up there in front of a crowd that was less than expected (they actually asked the people inside to move outside to fill in empty space) and accept defeat. He may not be my ideal candidate but he is of course an American hero. Unfortunately McCain's military history was not up for election. You can point out all of the places McCain went wrong (and there are many) but instead let us all put our party preferences aside and unite together to restore this country's economy and standing in the world.

Obama is just the right man to do it. Watch.

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I Voted

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Here is the semi-blurry camera phone image to prove it!

Tonight we find out who the next President of the United States will be for the next four years. Enjoy the election coverage tonight!

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Some People Shouldn't Vote

In browsing the different political new coverage from web sites such as CNN, ABC News, and Fox News it astounds me how stupid some people are. In all seriousness, ignorant people should not vote. Nothing could be more supportive of my statement than one commenter on a page on Fox News, asking which candidate will win [link];
Comment by Barbara

Mcain Palin here. I don’t want a Muslim president. Has everyone forgot 9 11

Wow. What else needs to be said about some people?

Barack Obama is NOT Muslim. Even if he was, that would not be a valid reason for not voting for him. Base your vote on economic policies and political beliefs, not on religion!


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Election Day


I don't know what will be in store for today as far as blogging, but I'm going to start this open thread for Election Day just in case. I plan on watching election day coverage on all of the major news sources and Fox News today so if anything catches my eye I will be updating this post throughout the day.

As for the candidates you probably know that I will be voting for Barack Obama, representing the Democratic party, over the Republican candidate John McCain. While I feel there are a number of reasons that the Obama-Biden ticket is the smarter choice over the McCain-Palin ticket I urge you to get out sometime today and vote for whichever candidate best represents your ideals.

It is painfully obvious that the Obama campaign has run a much cleaner and respectful campaign than the McCain campaign but if you need one more reason to vote for Obama, here it is.

Asked last night in a taped interview during ESPN's Monday Night Football what he would change in sports, Obama declared he would have a playoff in college football to determine the national champion. Perhaps that is a safe answer to try and get some undecided voters from Pennsylvania (Penn State is #3 in BCS after Texas Tech jumped them) and Florida (#4 in the BCS from the almighty SEC). From ESPN [link];
I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. You know, I am fed up with these computer rankings, and this and that and the other. Get eight teams. The top eight teams right at the end. You've got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.

I have been in favor of a playoff system of some sort, although I would have 16 teams in my ideal playoff but that is another story for another time.

Get out and vote today and prepare to watch election coverage all night long. Caitlin posted the election coverage starting times on Me on TV yesterday, so be sure to check that out as well.


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The Simpsons Will Never Die

Monday, November 03, 2008


America's longest running sitcom, The Simpsons, has signed the cast for three more years.


From Yahoo! TV (via TV Guide) [link];

"The cast is signed for three more years, so I would now say it's about a 90 percent chance we'll come back for at least one of those three," Al Jean, the show's executive producer, said. "I actually think it's better than a 50 percent chance we'll do three more years of this at least."


You know me. I am all for more Simpsons. I do not watch it as regularly as I used to but I did watch the latest Treehouse of Horror episode. I loved the Great Pumpkin parody, being an avid fan of Peanuts as well. Overall though I felt it was lacking. No Kodos and Kang? Sure, they danced, but I like when they have actual roles. One of my favorites was before the 1996 election where they point out to the Springfield citizens that in a two party political system that they had to vote for one of them, much to the chagrin of Ross Perot.

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McCain Supporter Charged With Stealing Obama Signs

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [link];

A McCain campaign volunteer in Blair County has been charged with one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property for allegedly plucking 40 Obama signs from public areas and placing them in the back of his sport utility vehicle.

Logan Township police yesterday charged Michael G. Jennings, 39, after finding the signs in his vehicle at the county's Republican Committee headquarters. Officers were tipped off by a Democratic committeeman.

Mr. Jennings told police "that he did indeed take the signs from the roadways, but it was in an attempt to prove a point to the Democratic Party for them stealing McCain/Palin elections signs," according to a police affidavit.

Apparently Mike the Sign Stealer didn't have a dog to mark his spot so stealing the signs was the next best thing!


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Matt Schaub Out One Month


The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Matt Schaub, quarterback for the 1998 Ches-Mont Champion West Chester East High School Vikings (also the NFL's Houston Texans) is out for a month with a torn MCL.

Ironically, the injury came against the Vikings of the NFL.

Elsewhere in the NFL involving personal favorite players, my favorite Penn State quaterback, Kerry Collins, has lead his Tennessee Titans to an 8-0 record. To get to 8-0 he had to defeat my favorite fullback, Shippensburg's own John Kuhn of the Green Bay Packers. Kuhn had one rush and one reception for a total of four yards.

On a side note, I am working on starting up a new blog which will house all of my sports related posts, with the working name of Nitanydelphia. Stay tuned for more as it becomes available.

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Election Day Eve Phone Calls


So as you know, tomorrow is Election Day. I encourage everybody to vote for your candidate of choice. Seeing as tomorrow is the big day for the United States, I have been getting phone calls all day today.

It started when President Clinton gave me a call. Not an hour later I got a call from his wife, Hillary. Just to make sure I got the message Kal Penn phoned in. This was followed by a call from a phone caller from the Barack Obama campaign in my area. After hanging up the phone with this gentleman a lady knocked on my door looking for Stef. I wished her a good afternoon and later the phone rang once again. This time it was Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell.

Of course the majority of these calls were automated messages, but I wish Rendell had actualy called so I could talk to him about the Phillies...

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Changing of the Seasons


Well folks, you may notice some changes here visually. Seeing as the blog's tagline has been "Blogging until a championship" the fact that the Phillies have won the World Series brought many questions to me from a few people.

"What are you going to do?"

"Will your blog be dead?"

"Will you keep blogging anyway?"

The fix, to me anyway, is simple. I just switch the color scheme and the header image to support my other sports passion, Penn State football.

Penn State has three games remaining in the regular season and are coming off a bye week. It was a bad time for a bye week as everybody else performed well. Texas Tech takes the weekend with a victory at home over top ranked Texas, thus jumping Penn State in the poorly manufactured and error rampant BCS rankings. Penn State is currently sitting in a favorable third spot in the rankings with Alabama at number one and Texas Tech at number two.

The Phillies did their job. Now the pressure is on you Penn State!



WE ARE! PENN STATE!

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2008 World Series Highlight Video

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Phillies World Championship Parade

Sunday, November 02, 2008

On the final day of October the city of Philadelphia held the largest Halloween parade known to man. The Philadelphia Phillies were honored by the city and thanks by over two million fans for winning the 2008 World Series, the franchise's second World Series title and the first major championship in the city since the 1983 76ers brought home the NBA title. Sure, the Philadelphia Soul had a small parade and rally of their own back in the summer but there was no comparing that celebration with the one for the Phillies.

Stef and I heeded to the advice of the city and took public transportation down to Broad and Pattison. While we faced no problems getting down, getting home was quite the opposite. But the story of the day was the Phillies as we put the final pieces of the 2008 story line on the table and watched our champions in th best parade ever. I was also able to share the memory wih my good friend Mike. Mike and I became friends during the end of the 1993 baseball season and bonded through the NL champion Phillies of Dykstra, Kruk and Daulton. Having shared many abysmal Philadelphia sports memories together as well as a number of other sporting events in the stands together this parade was what we had been waiting for, well, forever!

Below is a slideshow of the photos we both took during the parade (by me) and during the brief ceremony held in Lincoln Financial Field (by Stef) before we headed home and the ceremony switched to Citizens Bank Park.



I am having trouble transferring the video we took to the computer but will share that with you as soon as possible. You can see all of the photos from the day by clicking here.

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Mayor Nutter Quaotable

Thursday, October 30, 2008

"You can be joyous. You can't be a jackass."

That goes to you trouble making Phillies fans! Mayor Nutter is mad as Hell! Better Recognize! That statement was made at the press conference at Citizens Bank Park today in which all of the details for the championship parade were laid out. He was warning fans to have fun but do not be stupid. Last night the city arrested 76 people. Honestly speaking, in a celebration that must have had over a million people in the streets last night I think that is pretty good.

Tomorrow, a parade twenty-five years in the making. I'll be there. Will you?

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YES US CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008 PHILLIES WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!

Where to start?

No joke. I have just tried typing out an appropriate sentence six different times, six different ways and had to delete every one because I do not feel it does justice to the sheer pride I am filled with right now in my baseball team. Overcoming some odds and defying the naysayers, the Phillies have won the World Series!

The Phillies. Seriously. The Philadelphia Phillies have won the World Championship! THE PHILLIES ARE WORLD CHAMPS!

When game five was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning Monday night there were many Phillies supporters who grew a little nervous. With the Phillies leading the World Series 3-1, all eyes were on clinching as soon as possible and not having to return to Tampa for any more games until spring training. What if the Rays had won last night? What if the Phillies then lost game six? Who would pitch game seven? The beauty now is that all of those fears and questions are long forgotten. None of it matters.

Resuming game five where we last left off the Phillies stepped to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ace Cole Hamels was due up but naturally he was out of the game for good. Pinch hitting for Hamels was Geoff Jenkins. All post season the Phillies' bench players and unsung heroes have stepped up in big situations. Carlos Ruiz, Matt Stairs, Eric Bruntlett, Joe Blanton, and now Geoff Jenkins. Jenkins got everything jumping when he hit a double into the gap in right field. Watching the excitement and happiness on Jenkins' face was priceless. Jimmy Rollins then put down the sacrifice bunt to move Jenkins to third. If not for last night's shortened game situation Rollins would probably be swinging. Jenkins then scored when Werth hit a bloop single that was just missed by Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura. Perhaps the Baseball Gods were watching over us last night.


Ryan Madson took the mound in relief of Hamels and started off well, getting the first out with a strike out, but Rocco Baldelli momentarily silenced the frenzied crowd with a home run to left field. No worries. J.C. Romero came in to finish off the inning after Madson recorded the second out. Then the play of the game happened.

With Jason Bartlett at second base after a sacrifice bunt Iwamura stepped to the plate. Iwamura got a good hit off of Romero and Chase Utley saved it from going in to the outfield, scoring a sure run. Utley faked a throw to first base, where he had no play, and Bartlett took the bait. Utley then threw home to Ruiz who made an easy tag out to save the potential go-ahead run and end the inning tied at four.

At the bottom of the seventh inning Pat Burrell got his final at-bat of the post season, and possibly his last as a Phillies player. Burrell did not have a very memorable World Series at the plate, but in his final at bat he recorded his first hit. A lead-off double that was just short of a home run to the deepest area of the park. Eric Bruntlett came in to pinch run for Burrell and take over duties in left field in the late innings. Shane Victorino grounded out in the next at bat but was able to move Bruntlett to third base. Pedro Feliz then stepped up and had the hit of the night. Feliz hit a grounder up the middle and in to center field, scoring Bruntlett. From there it was business as usual.

Romero pitched a great eighth inning. Carl Crawford started with a single but B.J. Upton grounded into a double play. Carlos Pena then lined out to left field. The Phillies didn't do anything in the bottom of the eighth but the damage was already done. Up 4-3 the Phillies were about to bring in the best closer in baseball in 2008. Brad "Lights Out" Lidge. This one is for Philadelphia.

Evan Longoria popped to second.

Dioner Navarro singled to right. Fernando Perez came in to pinch run and stole second base. A base hit ties the game.

Ben Zobrist lines out to right field, filing to advance the runner.

Then, this...



Fittingly enough Lidge finished the job with a perfect strike out.


Cole Hamels is your World Series MVP, Jamie Moyer stole the rubber from the mound, and Harry Kalas finally got to call a World Series clinching moment. The Philadelphia Phillies are the World Champions!!!

I will have much more on this for a week I am sure because it is just sinking in that I have witnessed a world championship.



As Shane Victorino says on his blog today, "I guess the curse is gone. William Penn is happy, now."

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Worlds Are Colliding! (Updated)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008


This is a unique time for me as a sports fan. If you know me you know that I put Penn State football on a pedestal by themselves above all other loyalties. That is true of course but throughout most of my life my other major loyalty has rarely crossed paths this late in the season with Joe Paterno's team. That other loyalty is the Phillies.

The Phillies and Penn State football are the two teams I can talk about year round with anybody and the two teams I would schedule my day around. Here we are almost in to November and my worlds are still colliding. At times I have felt that I have not given enough love to Penn State, having an outstanding season, as the Phillies are looking to end a long championship drought. While the Phillies are one (half) game away from clinching the World Series, Penn State is well on their way to completing a championship season of their own. I may not be going crazy like George would have, but it is very exciting right now.

So in this post I share my much overdue love for the Nittany Lions with you. Even though the Phillies have been given much exposure on this blog (rightfully so), I feel the need to share with you my equally high optimism about Penn State.

Penn State is the best team in the Big Ten and with three games left in the regular season are playing for a chance to play for the National Championship. Last weekend they traveled to Ohio State, where they had not won since joining the Big Ten conference in 1993. In fact they had failed to score double digits there since joining. A week after stopping a nine game losing streak to the Michigan Wolverines, the Nittany Lions ended the horrid streak at the Horseshoe with a 13-7 victory.

If ever there was praise for the Penn State coaching staff, headed by Joe Paterno, it should be spilling their way now as Pat Devlin was more than ready, and more than capable, to step in for an injured Daryll Clark to lead the Nittany Lions to the game winning touchdown. The drive came after hot shot quarterback recruit freshman Terrelle Pryor (the top rated Pennsylvania recruit who had PSU stringing along his rear end for months before shunning them for the Buckeyes and who has since renounced his PA roots) tried to do something a little extra to get on Sportscenter on a third and short. Pryor decided to try and scamper to the outside of a pile for a possible huge gain instead of picking up a sure first down in the fourth quarter. Instead the ball was popped out of his hands and Penn State recovered.

Later Pryor, with thirty seconds left in the game, hurled a ball over 50 yards to the end zone for a game tying touchdown, only to have it intercepted. Afterward Pryor could not handle the fact that he had blown the game to the school he shunned and showed his true self by being unwilling to lift his head to be a good sport and congratulate Penn State players on a well played game. Instead Pryor cried.


And now Penn state sits at the third slot in the infamous BCS rankings, behind Texas and Alabama. It remains to be seen if Ohio State's abysmal performances in the past two BCS Title games hinders voters should either Texas or Alabama stumble, which many believe will happen to at least one of them. Penn State still has to take care of their own business, starting next weekend at Iowa, and then at home against Indiana and Michigan State. This PSU team should not lose any of the remaining games. Iowa may be tough for a while but Indiana has not beaten Penn State since PSU joined the Big Ten and PSU has never lost to Michigan State at home.

So if Penn State does what I expect them to do who would I rather play in the BCS Title game? I'll take my chances against any team out there, but I just do not want to see Alabama in there. It is not that I am scared of them, but I just do not like Nick Saban.

When I see those Nobama bumper stickers, this is what I think of. No Bama!

So Penn State, I am following you and your success week by week, rest assured. Even though the Phillies have dominated this blog, I guarantee you will get your due.

UPDATE: I wrote this post before receiving this week's issue of Sports Illustrated in the mail. Coincidently, here is the cover for this week...


Phillies AND Penn state? Favorite issue ever!

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One Last Post


Now that I have spread the love to Penn State and Matt Schaub, the time has come to re-focus my energy on the Phillies. This will be my last post of the day.

Tonight could be a night to remember for the rest of my life. My favorite baseball team is close to winning a World Series. Game five will resume tonight at 8:37pm, picking up where we last left off, at the start of the bottom of the sixth inning. Cole Hamels is due up but will be taken out of the game in place of a pinch hitter. I don't know who will pitch for the Phillies in the top of the seventh, but if they can score a run or two in the bottom of the sixth then I would expect to see J.C. Romero or Ryan Madson or a combination of the two.


I feel cautiously optimistic about tonight. I do believe the Phillies will come out hitting and retake control of the game. Any momentum Tampa Bay may have picked up as the game was suspended was halted at the same time. The Phillies bullpen has performed better than the Rays bullpen in this World Series. The Phillies have yet to lose a playoff game at home this year. They want to finish it off at home in front of their fans.

Let's do it tonight guys. Get the pots and pans ready. Leave the cowbell at the door. Maybe I'll break out the trombone.

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Matt Schaub Update

I just thought I would mention Matt Schaub as well. How about this line against Cincinnati this past weekend?

24/28, 280 yards, 3 touchdowns, zero interceptions


Yeah. That's some good quarterbacking yo. That would be a three game winning streak for the Texans as well.

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Philadelphia Still PWNS Atlanta

The Phillies dominated Atlanta this season, although the Braves did end the season series with a two game winning streak, but the city of Brotherly Love dominates Hotlanta in other areas as well. The most recent examples both come from this week in sports.

Exhibit A: Philadelphia Eagles defeat Atlanta Falcons 27-14 on Sunday.


Exhibit B: Philadelphia Flyers defeat Atlanta Thrashers 7-0 last night.


Chew on that Atlanta. The Sixers also clinched a playoff spot last season in Atlanta. Maybe Temple should schedule Georgia Tech while we're hot, eh?

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sNOw Game Tonight!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Howard Eskin is reporting that game five of the World Series will be pushed back to tomorrow night. No game tonight folks! Instead, catch up on your DVR's!


But hey, at least we get free tacos today, right?

UPDATE: Here is the press release from Major League Baseball; [link]
PHILADELPHIA - Game Five of the 2008 World Series will not resume tonight due to inclement weather. Game Five is now tentatively scheduled to resume on Wednesday evening at 8:37 p.m. (ET), weather permitting. Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig said: "While obviously we want to finish Game Five as soon as possible, the forecast for today does not allow for us to continue the game this evening. We are closely monitoring tomorrow's forecast and will continue to monitor the weather on an hourly basis. We will advise fans as soon as we are able to make any final decisions with respect to tomorrow's schedule."

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World Series Game Five Viewing Photos

Stef and I met up with the Deisslers and went to Chickie's and Pete's to watch the fifth game of the World Series. Well, that is to say we saw the first half of the game, but that's another story. The atmosphere was great and we were able to get a table with prime seating. When the game was officially suspended though everybody started to leave quickly.


The line to get in.



Deissler was fired up!



Stef got her face painted!



My view for the night. Here is the first pitch.



The premature ending to the night.


Stay tuned for more later though whenever the game does resume and, as I expect, the Series is clinched.

The problem is it is snowing today and it does not seem that game five will be resuming tonight. Who knows. Below is a photo taken today!


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Bud Selig is an Idiot

If the commissioner of major league baseball, Bud Selig, was the least bit competent, last night's debacle of a decision to suspend the game when he did would never have happened.

I'm not talking about everything that went down in the decision to suspend game five of the World Series in the middle of the sixth inning and trying to convince people it was in the best interest of the players (when they had already played in that rain for two innings and should have finished the sixth inning if that was going to be the call). I'm going back to the All Star game. No, not this year. The one in Milwaukee, the tied All Star game. If not for Selig's decision to implement home field advantage to the winning league in the All Star game last night's game would have taken place in Tropicana Field, in a dome no less.

The National League would have had home field advantage this year as it used to alternate between the leagues each year.

Bud Selig: American Idiot


The weather in the Philadelphia area looks to be pretty bad all day. I even saw snow this morning. Who knows when the game will resume, tied at two in the bottom of the sixth inning. Nobody can be happy about this on either side. When the game does resume the Phillies will be trying to finish off the Rays and clinch their second World Series title in franchise history. A win would also set off a fantastic celebration in Philadelphia for the rest of the week.

Let's get this game in and clinch it at home!

Heck, I have waited this long for a championship right? What's one more day?

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