Test Yourself on Your 2008 Knowledge

Doughboy is old fat and tired and hanging out watching of all things the frickin' Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year's Eve. Ticking the seconds left in this god awful year of 2008...

If you think you're smart and you have oodles of time on your hand (like I do on NY's Eve), give this a try:

2008 New York Times Questions

Peace out and let's bring on 2009!

Hey Taxi - McDougal & Bleeker!!

A few weeks ago a friend and I escaped to the City to see a small concert by an A list band. After trying to be cool (with no real success), we decided to call it a night at about 11:30 on a Monday night. That's when he whistled only like a grandpa could with both fingers in his mouth at a taxi that had stopped just in front of the hotel. He grabbed me by the coat and we hopped in the taxi. He yelled to the driver in his East Hartford accent "McDougal & Bleeker".

I stopped and looked at him and said, ok - we're back by 12:15 at the latest. He smiled and said "sure". We landed near McDougal & Bleeker and hit a slice of pie and then tried to find a club that was hopping on a cold December Monday night in the Village. Any club would do. (Well not any). We were about to go into a bar when I asked the bouncer whether it was hopping or not. He gave me my ID back and said "man, there ain't shit happening here. You want action you have to go to the Black Pussycat". I looked at my friend and he was two steps in front of me headed back down the street. On some weird quest we were to find Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows who lives in Washington Square.

We head in and I settle nicely in a booth enjoying what I think is the last beer of the evening at nearly midnight. My buddy disappears and comes running in and tells me I have to check this out..It's a karaoke lounge and it's packed. Ok, I am NOT a karaoke singer at all. I was blown away at the professional singers that were taking the stage. My friend tried to convince me to embarrass myself, but no can do. We sat there awestruck and waiting for Adam to show up, but he never came. Who are these people that sing and where do they come from. We sat there just in amazement and watching. When the DJ announced that they were only open until 3am, we realized our age and the fact that we needed to find our beds on a Monday night....

I'll save the other details, but just know that there was passing out in a return taxi that left us in the lower east side far from our hotel, walking through the NYC Housing Department's finest projects in the middle of the night and a few other acts that neither of us will ever talk about.

And we never found Adam :(

Best of Worst of 2008

So here it is, doughboy style the best of and worst of 2008

Let's start with the good...
Barack Obama - history was made no matter what you think of the man, it's so impressive that in 40 years our country has evolved from a place where we had race riots to electing our first African American president. I wasn't sure if I'd ever see it in my lifetime.

Hillary Clinton not winning the nomination - no need to expand. Just thank god!

Tina Fey- between 30 Rock and her amazing impression of Governor Palin, 2008 was a great year for Tina

Michael Phelps - 8 GOLD MEDALS!! And a Michigan Wolverine to boot. Congrats Michael. How many of us didn't find ourselves screaming at the television rooting for him in the final relay!!?!?!

Cold Play - (yes, I know the joke from the 40 Year Old Virgin, but this band just kicks ass) - Viva La Vida was well worth the wait.

Did It Really Happen?
Gas Prices - Nearly $4.00 and now nearly $1.5o!?!? WTF?

The Michigan Wolverine Football Season- 3-9?!? Are you kidding me?

People We Will Miss
Bernie Mac
George Carlin
Jeff Healey
Jim McKay
Tim Russert

Great Quotes

• "I can see Russia from my house!" - Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Pallin on SNL - September 13, 2008
• "Barack, he's talking down to black people. I want to cut his balls off."- Jessie Jackson on mike off camera - Fox News July 6, 2008
• "It's not based upon any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number." - Treasury Department spokeswomen on picking $700 billion for initial bailout, Forbes September 23, 2008
• "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination" - Michael Phelps on winning 8 gold medals

The Bad
The delay of the Harry Potter movie - the Half Blood Prince until 2009 - why!?!? Stupid movie execs

The writers strike - we suffered and suffered for 14 weeks while the writers tried to adapt their compensation to the new world economy. Foreshadowing we should have seen coming...


Entourage - what happened to Vinnie and the boys? Johnny Drama you used to do us good. No more "VICTORY!?!" Help us out here man. We need a laugh. Our man club has fallen.

Joe the Plumber - are you serious? Dumb ass award winner of the year. Caught here too with Ohio State Buckeyes gear.

WalMart Chaos - Christmas bargains that good?!!? People crushing a person to death in their way to get savings?? Need a gut check on reality here for those that are capable of such a shameful act.

Facebook - are you serious? "Doughboy is going to the bathroom". Get a life. (Ok, same could be said about blogging) Doughboy is spending time blogging.

Sarah Palin - imagine electing Ron Burgundy President. Oh yeah he was never a mayor. Great pick John McCain. Cost you the election...

AIG Parties with Bailout Money - next time invite us all baby, we paid for it!

Wall Street Meltdown - Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch. Amazing to think we woke up one morning and they were all gone. Gone.

There it is...my best stab at these cheesy year in reviews...Peace and doughboy wishes you a propserous and healthy 2009!

"So What if A Guy Threw His Shoe At Me?!?!"

If you missed this newsworthy event today, it's worth watching...

The President had a shoe thrown at him. Ok, in the grand scheme of things it's probably not a big deal. But pay careful attention to the details of this video. Watch it first:



Did you notice the following:

• the homey hand shake the President gives at first
• the President's cat like reflexes. He makes eye contact with the shoe thrower and actually ducks and misses. Watch it over and over. He actually moves nimbly and dodges a shoe at point blank range
  
• the thrower reloads and goes for it again. If you were going to throw 2 shoes, wouldn't you have had them both in your hand? Why risk not being able to get the second shoe off. This topic will most likely be the subject of as many blogs as the third shooter from the grassy knoll
• On the second throw, the prime minister NON CHALANTLY tries to reach and front to protect Bush
• Why does it take the men behind them SO LONG to get out of that door to protect the President? Seems like a set from Saturday Night Live? Does the wall actually move when they open the door?
• The post commentary by Bush is the best! Does he actually refer to someone flipping another person off? Looks like his hair is so out of control from the flying shoe.

This could have been old W:




Priceless....

Our Hero Forever

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to say goodbye in person to my grandpa, one of the few heroes in my life. As I was leaving I told him that I’d be home for Christmas in a few weeks and was planning on bringing the family to see him. He didn’t say anything. I started to tear up. He grabbed my arm and told me that it was going to be okay.

I spent a lot of time that weekend in his house looking at pictures of him in the army and growing up. I realized that Grandpa was like a book. A wealth of knowledge and wisdom stored throughout his pages. You just had to open his book, turn his pages and sit in a comfortable spot and read him and he would tell you a tale. A story. A legend.

Grandpa was a man raised on the farm outside of town, served four years in the army during WWII. In which he fought under Patton in North Africa, Italy and liberated concentration camps in defeated Nazi Germany. He came home with the $50 the army gave him and married Rhea, had four children who in turn had 9 grandchildren who in turn will soon to have 18 great grandchildren. He earned his living as a carpenter at Besser and enjoyed his work.

But that’s “who” he was and not “what” he was. He was an amazing man. A man that was so patient, kind, understanding and loving. A man that always had great things to say no matter what. A smile on his face. A gentle touch holding his hand. Just sitting quietly and enjoying his company. A man that took so much pride in his garden season after season. A baker that made amazing things with his hands.

He was a man that when I asked him two weeks ago if he would have changed anything in his life, he paused and said he wouldn’t have done anything different and that he had lived a great life.

When you stop to think about it, Grandpa lived the dream life. So many accomplishments. A legacy of an amazing family. He was able to do what so few people do in their lives – live the full circle of life. To pass away without tremendous pain, surrounded by his love ones in the house that he built with his own hands. A simple but amazing life. We all could only hope for so much.

I’m sad today because the world will not be the same without my grandpa. It will be a markedly lesser place. Looking around today and last night, I see so many smiles and know that we are celebrating his wonderful life.

Grandpa – you are our hero and always will be.

The Messed Up BCS

So, they think that they have it right? #1 and #2 are set to play each other. But are they? Who's to say that #1 Florida with a lost to Old Miss is any better than #8 Penn State to a loss with Iowa? And Texas with it's only loss to #7 Texas Tech is left out of the picture? Oh that's because they didn't play in the conference championship game that had Baylor beat Texas Tech they would have gone to play Missouri and in that case we would have had our annual Stoops wine fest. When will they get it? THIS DOESN'T WORK! It's the college football sports writers full employment act. Aim to ESPN.com or any other sports site and you will see thousands of postings of why this is the best thing ever. So we can hear them talk to each other. That's it. Every year one team gets screwed or two teams. And every year the pundits say - "well I guess it works!". Are you kidding me?

It's funny too because basic economics would tell you that there is a ton more money to be made with a playoff system. Look at March Madness. The model of efficiency in sports. Whether it's a team playoff (which would be acceptable to most people because they aren't typically more than 4 teams that have a legitimate beef to get to the title game) or an 8 team playoff (with 6 conference champs and 2 at large bids). It's time has come. To end the best game in all of America through 12 weeks with a round of computer, sportswriters and coaches mental masturbation is just plain wrong.

I received the following email from my cousin this morning. While I don't want to be insensitive to the losses occurring in World War II at all, I think it makes the point very well.

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II
US Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented "France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.