The Big game is in town

I had a meeting this afternoon in Downtown Detroit, and I figured since I was going to be down there anyways, I should check out the Super Bowl hoopla.

I walked down to the the Ren Cen where all the media is, and just gawk at all the craziness. As I make my way towards the Ren Cen, I see "The Bus" Jerome Bettis of the Steelers walking to a car and getting in. I grabbed my camera, but I was to slow, so I have a picture of him sitting in the car, but I don't think you can see him.

Trust me, "The Bus" is in the backseat

When I got to the front door, I saw Mike of Drew and Mike on WRIF, I used to be an intern for his show, so I said he, and schmoozed with him for a minute. I made my way inside and found the famed radio row. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't wander around and watch the broadcasts, but I guess it makes sense, it would be tough to do a radio show with hundreds of people milling around.

I started walking around the building, and I saw a crowd of people, I went to see what was going on, and I saw Dan Patrick doing his radio show, interviewing Lions great Barry "The Quitter" Sanders. I hung around and watched the interview. After Barry was done Chad Johnson took his seat and did an interview. It was kinda cool to see all these players not in uniforms and pads.

Barry talking about how tough it was to never reach the Super Bowl

Finally the Lingerie Bowl bus drove past me, I had to take and post a picture, Dennis Rodman is front and center

It was pretty cool, but for the first time in a long time I was wishing that I stuck to trying to be on the radio , it would have been amazing to take part in all the craziness that is going on town.

Please don't let it be froma chick flick

I was going somewhere yesterday with Nat and she put on a CD, and when the song came on I knew it was from some movie. I could picture the scene, there was a montage, some slow motion dancing.

I couldn't figure out what movie it was from, and I sat there hoping it wasn't a chick flick that was so ingrained in me.

After a few minutes of driving it hit, Old School !! I was so relieved. It was towards the end of the movie,. when they are taking the tests. The music played when Will Farrell was doing the floor exercise which would explain the dancing in my head.

0-2

Another Sunday another loss.

We played the game shorthanded missing 2 maybe 3 of our starting 5, and our opponents took advantage. I played the entire game, and for teh most played a solid game. On defense we played a zone, and I was told to play down low, on a wing. Things got prety physical down there, I was much shorter then teh guy who was usually standing there, but I fought hard, and didn't let him get to many rebounds. All in all our zone wasn't that solid, and we gave up a lot of easy baskets. It's tough to play a good zone if you don't practice as a team, because y ou have to rely so much on your teamates, and if you don't know the tendencies of your teammates.

I started off the game by making two of my first three shots. Unfortunately, I went ice-cold from the floor for the rest of the game. I did play a lot more aggressive then I did last week, and was able to play my game. I drove the lane, drawing the double team, and was able to kick it out to an open teammate for an easy basket.

I felt much more comfortable today then I did in game 1, and hopefully will continue to improve my game, and help lead Schon Packaging to our first win next Sunday.

Two Super Bowl tickets

I don't have 2 Super Bowl tickets. But if I did who woud I take.

This was the question that Nat posed to me this evening. I told her, I would, of course, ask her first. But I would hope that she said no, and I could go with a friend.

Nat was taken aback and a little shocked at my answer. I told her that I would rather go with someone who is a big fan and has dreamed of going to the game since he was little. Sure it would be cool for us to go to teh game, but it would probably mean a lot more to my friend. I tried to equate it to something that she would love, and I would think was cool, but never really cared much for. I failed at example giving.

Who would you take, a significant other or a friend?

Terrible Ones

Who said that kids start being "terrible" at their twos? I say it starts at whatever age Jonah is now. (About 16 months)

I love Jonah, and he is really cute, most of the time he is the greatest kid in the world. Lately he's started to attack Nat and me. He likes to hit, bite and kick us. It's tough to discipline a kid at this age. He thinks "no" is the funniest word in the dictionary, and if we raise our voice, it just makes him laugh harder. Then he's all cute and we start to smirk and turn away.

Sometimes we will try and put him on a chair by himself for a few minutes until he escapes, but I don't know that he puts one and one together just yet. When he bites we get him a cold chew toy, in case he's teething, but sometimes he just needs to bite me. He will come up to me laughing, with his mouth wide open.

We don't hear any complaints from Rochel, who runs the day care we send him too So at least he doesn't attack other kids, just us. I assume that this is just a crazy stage and kids will kids,

when is 2 goals worth 3?

I went to a Wings game tonight at the Joe for the first time in probably 10 years. (I've been 25 for 2 days and I've been to a Pistons and a Wings game, getting old rocks)

It was an unusual game. Both teams scored 2 goals, but the Predators won 3-2. Sounds odd don't it? The Wings were so confident going into the game they actually spotted the Preds a one goal lead.

OK. here's what really happened. This was a makeup game from earlier in teh season when Jiri Fischer, a wings defenseman, collapsed on the ice and nearly died. They cancelled the game but before that happened that Preds scored a goal.

They decided to reschedule the game, play a full 3 periods but allow them to keep their goal. This is really dumb in my humble opinion. In baseball if a game is postponed due to rain they restart the game. If they wanted to let Nashville keep their goal then they should have continued play tonight with the game clock on the time when Fischer went down. That would have sucked for me cuz I only would have seen 2 and half periods of hockey, but that's life.

Reflections

Happy birthday to me. I've had agreat birthday so far, played ball in the morning, had a lunch with my family at my parents house, now I'm wathcing basketball/football, and I will cap of teh day by going to the Pistons game.

I'm now a quater of a century old, many of my friends are older then me, which makes me feel young. That being said, I'm still 25 years old.

I wonder what an 18 year old me would say if he met the 25 year old me. First of all he would be surprised that I married Natalie Martinez, who was a good friend of Young Shauli. Also I believe that he would be surprised I'm not a sports radio personality. (I went to broadcasting school back in the day)

Overall though, I believe that he would be happy with how I turned out. I'm very happily married, with the one child. I'm the V.P. of midwest operations for a company that I believe will one day soon be a major Media Sales company. I made a promise to myself when I was around 18 that I would play basketball untill I can't play anymore. A promise that he's glad I've kept.

Sure, 18 year old me is pretty dissapointed that I've ruined the Adonis like body he sculpted for me, due to my crazy love of food. But he's thrilled that I've kept up my obsession with Madden video games.

If I got to hang out with myself 7 years younger, I think we would have a good time, and he'd be happy with how I took on the next level of my life, finishing what he started.

Bnai Brith Basketball

For the first time since I was in Israel for the year "('99-00) I played organized basketball. I was asked to join Schon Packaging.

I was named the teams starting point guard, I did a decent job of bringing the ball up and passing it to a wing to break up a zone. But we had some problems, this was my first game with this team, I didn't really know who can do what, and where they like to be on the court. Additionally, there were only about 3 possessions that I was in the game for, where the ball was touched by more than 3 people before a shot was taken. Despite being a bigger team, we got out rebounded and outphysicaled (Is that a word) by the purple team.

Ideally, I wouldn't play the point, I like to play on the wing, where I have more freedom. But for now the team needs me to play the point, so that's where I am.

For me, I look at this game a preseason or exhibition game. I know what I have to do next week for the team to win. I must be more aggressive. I think I took 3 shots, and got to the free throw line 2 times ( I hit 2-4). I need to drive to basket, create my own shot, crash the board and play physical on D.

I don't know the final score, but I do know that we were down 8, and the purple team went a big run scoring like 16 points in a row, and we got blown out. Hopefully next sunday I will be able to write about a win.

I may wear my jeans low but....

I'm no plumber. That became clearer then ever this morning. After making scallop potatos, I put the potato peels through the disposal as I am want to do after peeling potatoes. I felt water arising from under my feet. and pour out of the cabinet under the sink.

Turns out the sink disposal that, together with a friend, I installed just a few months ago had issues. The PVC pipe that connected the disposal to the wall came out of place. When I opened the cabinet door, there were bits of peel everywhere, it was pretty nasty. I had to clean out the cabinet, toss out stuff that was under there.

Then I reconnected the pipes together, tried it out, and walla, it worked. Maybe I have a future in plumbing after all.

Oh, and I wear my jeans low cuz I hate belts

Happy Anniversary

Happy first Anniversary to me and my blog. One year ago today I took that plunge, after feeling family peer pressure and starting chronicling my life and thoughts, and hopefully entertaining millions of my fans.

Life has changed drastically for me since I started out, I've left the Pizza shop. moved (temporarily) to the 'burgh, started a new job and seen my child grow older. But some things have stayed eerily the same. The first day that I posted I didn't get dressed until 7:00 pm, and just the other day, I didn't get dressed until 8:00 pm. Ahh the benefits of having your office and home be so close to each other.........

To my lovely blog, It's been a fun year, may we both stay online for many years to come :)

Disgusting

I can not believe that a film depicting the human side of suicide bombers could win a Golden Globe. I'm not the most sensitive guy in the world, but this makes me sick.

Why don't we give all bombers prizes, to encourage them in their actions. I wonder if the September 11 guys made a a good documentary, would the Globes give them an award? Maybe even an Oscar. It's one thing if they were given a prize in their own sick and twisted world, but to reward them in an American Award show is wrong.

Shame on whoever decides these things. (Is it wrong to wish irony on the voters, maybe they get blown up by suicide bombers?)

Blonde Joke

I heard a great blonde joke, but don't feel like rewriting it, so just click here

No one's perfect

Darko Milicic finally got some minutes before the game was decided, in the second quarter. Before you continue know this about me, I'm a Darko guy. I think he should get some minutes because at some point we have to see what he can do. The Piston's are running away with the top record and a few decent minutes a game for the boy won't hurt the team.

Anyway I was telling coach Flip through the TV to put Darko in the game, and lo-and behold he listened. Darko came in, and to put it simply sucked. on three out of four defensive plays, his guy had an easy basket and he didn't really contribute on offense.

Someone who has been perfect up till know also had a tough night as Tom Brady finally lost a playoff game. He threw a huge interception, with his team down a few points, at the goal line, he threw a bad pick to and his team never recovered.

I guess he had to lose eventually, I mentioned to a friend, we'll call him Steve, earlier in the day, that should the Pats win the Super Bowl Brady may as well retire because what else would he have to prove? I guess snow that discussion is moot.

commercials that bother me

I don't like most commercials, which is odd since the profession I wanted was with an ad agency creating commercials. Although I don't like listening to FM music, and I did train at Specs Howard to be a DJ, But I digress. I'm watching the Pistons game and I see dumb commercial after dumb commercial.

The worst ones have to be from PSP. The one that I think is plain dumb is where some guy has a PSP and then he throws it to someone, he catches and tosses it away. The next guy throws it away, and this goes on for most of the commercial. The message that I get is, this is garbage and everyone throws it to the nearest possible person.

(As I type I see one of the few good commercials, The lady at work installed a webcam and her fat husband stood in front of it in his boxers as her co-workers looked on)

Back to PSP, their other commercials are terrible as well. One sewer rat is listening to cheese, and his rat buddy talks to him. Then comes the genius tag line "PSP, it's like cheese you can listen to" WTF does that mean??

Dominoes commercial are dumb, the guy holding the toy mic acting like he's at at some award show. Thanking people, for ordering a pizza.

The guy who meets his buddies at a football, he has his face painted like a little girl, instead of just the team colors like his friends. If you see the scoreboard, the guy shows up late in the game. Face Painters in general are rabid fans, and don't show up halfway through the game.

I hate (OK, annoyed by might be closer to teh truth) Jared from subway. No reason, he just bugs me.

There are a lot more but I'll leave them for your comments.

Tag

My lovely wife tagged me in the 4 game so here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Counsellor at Beth Yehuda Day Camp
2. Grunt at Light Supply
3. Pizza boy at Jerusalem Pizza
4. Regional Manager InSight Media - Impressive rise to the top huh?

Four places I've lived:
1. Southfield, MI
2. White Oak, PA (2 time once for school once for work)
3. NYC / Washington Heights/ Spanish Harlem (College)
4. Oak Park, MI (Current home)

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Pizza (really this shoudl take up teh top 5)
2. Burgers
3. Dogs
4. Steak

Four books I would read over and over:
I don't really read books over and over again but if I did
1. The king by Dick Bruna
2. The Godfather
3. The Bad Boys - Almost got tossed from YBY for that one
4. A time to kill
When I was youngerit would definitley be a Matt Christopher book - he was the best

Four movies I would see over and over:
A shame I have to limit it to 4
1. Road Trip
2. Anchorman
3. Dodgeball
4. American 1
Wedding crashers would have made the list, except I've only seen it once

Four places I've been on vacation:

1. Yellowstone Natonal Park - Saw a bear
2. St Louis, MO - saw Beer factory
3. Amsterdam - Saw Beer factory
4. Israel - Drank beer

Four places I would rather be:

1. In bed
2. a movie theatre
3. a sporting event
4. ok...Israel

Four TV shows I watch
is this question on a daily basis or just in general?
Daily
1. Sportscenter - what better was can you start your morning?
2. Drew Carey Show - its funnier in reruns then it was when it was new
3. Room Raiders - so stupid it's funny
4. Simpsons - do I need to say anything?
Weekly
1. Family Guy - Funniest show on TV bar none
2. War at Home -
3. Joey - Did this show get cancelld yet?
4. How I met your mother - funny, but I wonder how long thsi series can last
Yes I know I watch to much TV, deal with it

Four websites I visit daily

1. ESPN - my homepage
2. my blog - I include under this title all the other blogs I read daily
3. Free Press - Cheaper then having it delivered, and not as much of a mess
4. CNN.com

I guess that me in 4's I now tag:
BStrong
MissAmerica
O's fan (you can use the comment section)
The Loop -The Boston Zacks on Israelwannabe have been tagged.
While I'm at it, I'm also tagging Mark Cuban_ - Claims he's a man of teh people lets see him do this.
And finally Ben Roethlisberger Steelers QB, lets see if he does this during a playoff run

Final thoughts on the Lions

Another season down the tubes for the Lions. I lost a bet on the season with Nat's step father, whop would have a better record between the Lions and the Rams. Of course when the bet was made neither of us expecting our teams to battle it out for a better draft pick.

The Ram's won their final game, while the Lions couldn't beat the Steelers. Is there any hope for the future with these Lions? I doubt it. I fully expect them to suck next year. Jim Caple on ESPN page 2 has developed a Misery Index for all NFL teams.

Somehow the Lions don't lead the NFL but do hold a high position at 4.

"This is the sort of thing that happens to the Lions -- lineman Erik Andolsek was killed by a drunk driver while mowing his lawn.

That's real tragedy, as was Mike Utley being paralyzed, Chuck Hughes dying of a heart attack during a game, and head coach Don McCafferty dying of a heart attack before a season. But the fact that Detroit has won only one playoff game since 1957 is mostly due to a lot of bad quarterbacks ("And Ty Detmer is picked off again!"), inept management and terrible coaching (here's a hint: the next time you're in sudden death overtime and you win the toss -- take the ball). No wonder Barry Sanders abruptly retired rather than keep losing with the Lions. That was in 1999 and reflected good timing on Sanders' part -- the Lions went from 2000 to 2004 without winning a road game."


What an amzingly depressing team history

Karma

A few weeks ago when Nat was away I went to a bar with some friends. As we walked out of the bar I noticed a cell phone lying on the floor. I picked the phone and gave it to the barkeeper. I hoped that if I was in the same situation i would hope that someone would give my phone to the bartender.

( Fast forward to yesterday)

I went to the Post Office and I needed to check something on my Palm Pilot. When I got home I realized that it wasn't in my pocket. I looked all over the house, and couldn't find it. I ran back (OK I drove) to the post office, and asked the teller if anyone had found it. She said no, and neither had any other of the girls behind the counter.

I was really annoyed with myself, this was a graduation gift for my mom, and it had a lot of info that I needed. My only hope was that whoever found would be as a good a person as I was.

Late in the afternoon, Natalie received a call from her stepfather, Greg, he said that he received a call from a girl in Southfield who found a Palm in post office. He took her name and number, and forwarded it along to me.

I called the woman who found it she was thrilled that she got through to me, she had lost hers once and nobody returned it. She also refused the small gratitude of thanks that I offered her. She said she was just happy that she found it, and not someone who would pocket it.

I guess what goes around comes around.

College Football National Championship Game

Let me start out by saying that I couldn't care less about college football. I've watched one other college game, and that was the Michigan bowl game, and I only watched that because a friend came over and watched it on my TV. That beings said I did watch tonight big game USC vs. Texas.

In the first half I think we saw what teh Lions would get if they drafted Matt Leinart. Nothing spectacular, his passes looked like they were wounded ducks. In the second half we saw what Leinart would like if he was drafted by any other franchise. crisp passes, 14-16 with a TD.

(If you missed the game, and taped it in hopes of watching it later, stop reading)

USC was up by 12 with about 6:30 minutes to go in the game. The commentators said the game was over because USC coach was a defensive genius. How wrong they were. Texas blew through teh D without breaking a sweat I believe, and scored a TD. USC gets teh ball back with a few minutes to go. Leinart, who as I mentioned was having a great second half moves the ball down the field, until he reverts into Joey Harrington and throws a screen pass short, setting up 4th and about a yard and a half at his own 40.

Twice in this game USC went for it on 4th down, the first time they didn't get it (Leinart sneak) and the second time they gave to LenDale White, who blew through the middle and scored a TD.

USC decided to go for it this time, which I thought right away was a dumb call. Texas has just over 2 minutes, if you punt teh ball, they will have to go the length of teh field. But the 'genius coach" Carrol didn't listen to me, and he went for it. I understand why he went for it. if they get teh first down teh game is over.

His play calling though was horrible. In the USC backfield you have two Heisman trophy winners (Leinart and Reggie Bush) you have to let them win teh game for you. Instead Bush was on the sideline and Leinart handed the ball of to LenDale Wit who went nowhere. Texas takes teh ball, moves down the field and scored the winning TD with 19 seconds to go.

How can you not have Reggie Bush in the game at this moment. He is spectacular because nobody can bring him down. If you want to say he has Barry Sanders problems, and can't be trusted in short yardage because he likes to dance around instead of going straight, utilize him in a different manner, even as a decoy.

Everybody in the stadium had to know who was getting the ball, they were lined up in a bunch formation, so Texas could crowd the Line of scrimmage. I would suggest have both backs in the game and have Leinart toss a screen to Bush and odds are he will gain you the yardage needed to secure a win.

I still think he should have just punted, and taught his guys how to tackle

This is a good reason Israel shouldn't give up any more land, hopefully they have learned their lesson Gaza spirals into lawlessness.

The game

I had a pretty good feeling going in to the game that the Lions weren't going to win the game, but I was determined to have fun, wave my "Fire Millen" and cheer for the boys in Honolulu Blue and silver,

Our seats were pretty good, we were in the end zone where the Lions scored all their TD's, front row of the middle section. This made my sign waving easy, and not annoying to the people behind me, cause I just draped it over the railing.

I got to scream early as the Lions jumped out to a 14-7 lead. I heard some snide remarks behind me about how the Lions suck. I was tempted to turn around and let them know that if the Lions hold on and win, the Steelers would miss the playoffs. I value my life and good looks to much to have actually said it, but as they say, it's the thought that counts.

The second half wasn't as much fun for me, the Lions collapsed the Steelers came back and won the game big, and it suddenly felt really cold. I put a sweatshirt on over my Lions shirt, not cause I was embarrassed by the Lions, but I was ice cold. Had they been winning, I would think the weather would have seemed warmer, the sun burning brighter.

All in all it was a lot of fun, it was the first time I had gone to root for the Lions away from Detroit, I once went to Red Wing - Devil game in The Meadowlands but I think most of the fans there were Wings fan, so it was like a home game. Here there were like 10 people who admitted to be Lions fans.

Thanks Gershon and Brian, great time

Pittsburgh

After a great Hanukahpalooza/New Years party at the Zwickers, I had to get up by 5:30 to drive to Pittsburgh and make it on time for the Lions Steelers game in Pittsburgh. I know what you might be thinking, why would I go to Pittsburgh to watch the miserable Lions play?

About an hour and a half into my drive I realized that I had no cash, and no way of getting any. This was a problem because I had some toll booths to go through. I stopped at a gas station, and as I walked back to my car, a guy asked me if I was on my way to the football game, and if I was from Michigan. (I know that sounds random, but I was wearing a Lions Shirt and cap, so it wasn't so odd.)

I told him that I was , and he said that he too was on his way to the game. I figured this was my best shot at some cash. So i looked at the guy and said" This may sound crazy, but I have no cash, and need to pay the tolls, any way I could borrow 10 bucks, and I'll get it back to you at the game? " He thought for a minute and told me that he didnt think of that either, and he too had cash.

So I got to the Toll Booth with no cash. I asked the toll booth guy if he took credit cards, he didn't ( I knew that one before before I asked, but somehow it made feel like less of a loser at least I had some form of money) I told him I didnt have anything, no money or check, So he gave me an IOU ticket, which bought me 5 days to pay the $6.70.

A mile later I came to another Toll Booth for 1.50, and I informed the guy that I was penniless, and he decided that it was easier for him to just pay the toll, and trust that I'll return his money then fill out the ticket. So he gave me an envelope with his name and ID number.

I'll write about the Lions game tomorrow, I'm to tired, and I hate long posts