My Brave Little Friend

Well...the best little guy in the world, Jimmy, died yesterday afternoon.

Like his nemesis Toby before him, Jimmy died of having been alive about as long as a furry little hamster can be. Hamsters are funny little creatures. They have the most energy of anything I've ever seen when they're young, but as if a microcosm of human beings, the older they get, the fatter and lazier they get.

The thing I'll always remember about Jimmy, is his enthusiasm, and his curiosity at life around him. That, and his relationship with his hamster wheel was like a crack addict and...well, crack.

He was very much the baby his whole life, who's way of figuring out anything was to chew on it. He was especially fond of remote control buttons, and paper products; chiefly napkins and toilet paper.

He would get up out of his hole to play at any time he detected activity, no matter how tired he was, and would stay anxiously by the door all night long for a shot to get out for a little while I got ready for work or school.

He once had a great adventure in Cheryls apartment, where he roamed free for an entire afternoon/evening, before we ruined his fun and found him clear across the apartment behind the tv exploring. Scared the hell out of us though.

He went by Jim, Mr. Jimmy, Jimenez, Jimmy-fer, Jimmy-bean, and many others of a less savory nature, most of which were my favorite little "pet" names. Pun intended.

I'll miss both of my little late night companions now. They were great fun, but nature must take its course, and so too must we.

Goodbye Mr. Jimmy :(

9/04 - 11/06

Power plays. A good thing? no?

I am fed up watching this team play like a bunch of clueless idiots.

They want to share the puck, but they don't want to communicate?

They want to be playmakers, but no one wants to just throw the damn thing at the net.

SEE FRIDAYS GAME AGAINST THE KINGS you unbelievable morons. Ask Boucher, just ask him. Throw the damned thing over there.

But hell, that wasn't even the problem last night. Just getting the puck over your own blue line seems to be a troubling concept doesn't it?

If the power play last night resembled anything even close to h-o-c-k-e-y then it was looking like a shutout for Marty.

Instead you give up TWO SHORT HANDED GOALS IN ONE PERIOD.

That's incredible. Two short handed goals in one period.

You think the Ducks would do that guys? do you?

They're busy blowing people out of the water 6-0.

Fix it Tippet. Fix it now, or this thing is going in the toilet real fast....

Tuesday Night Fun. Mavs win 107-80

I just got back from the game a little while ago.

Fun 2nd half tonight in the arena. Let me just say this, humble Billy beats me down so hard. I wish he would just shut up. I really do.

The threes from the corners are great. I usually hate 3 pointers, but they seem to earn them tonight with the ball movement.

What in the hell was Damp doing tonight?

Why does Diop take the ball back up like it's very fragile and he's afraid?

The BEST THING tonight was listening to the people around me. On several occasions I heard people saying "When are they going to put Devin Harris back in?" "We need Harris back, this sucks..."etc, etc..... Nice to hear the kid getting some recognition.

I find myself more and more wanting him to have the ball because I feel like things are just more in control that way.

Happiness is attending a Mavs blow out. also, the Dancers are hot.

Maybe the 2nd best thing about tonight was watching Avery Johnson. On TV you can't watch him pace and rant and wave his arms like a mad-man and go totally crazy for all 48 minutes. He's so entertaining. The players on the bench must have a lot of fun. I worry about his health long term though. The man is going to give himself a heart attack.

Well...I don't know what to say about the Stars.

So, I'll let someone else do it.

Read this

http://blog.dallasstars.com/archives/2006/11/stars_scoring.html

that about sums it up.

Please someone wake Eric Lindros up. He looks like a moron out there.

Ben Who?

I think it's pretty funny when the new and improved Chicago Bulls team comes to town to play a 2-4 Mavs team without Josh Howard and the big story coming away from the game is that the Mavs are like 7-0 now when Damp has a double double.

You shouln't be getting pounded by Ericka Dampier when you have Big Ben Wallace in there should you?

111 points for the Mavs. I thought Ben was very critical of coaches not pushing the Defensive game plan? hmmm?

Early on, looks like Mr. Wallace might have made a mistake. But we'll see. The pistons don't figure to be a lot better, but the Bulls need for their youth to make some strides in consistency if they want to compete in April.

The AP report for the game says the Mavs dominated the Bulls. And their coach said "it felt like they were toying with us a bit."

But I see it like this, if the Bulls make all their foul shots like the Mavs did, it's a tie game.

Hardly dominating.

3 in a row for the Mavericks. Good news indeed. But they need to do better than beating crappy free throw shooting teams by 12 at home in November.


FINALLY a hockey game tonight. We'll be in a Suite for tonights game. Parading around with the rich folks in our jerseys looking all out of place.

It's going to be fun :-D

When it rains....

I've tried and tried to hold back. To not say what I want to say. To not give in to the hate and the fear. (That leads to the Dark side)

But friends, the hate and the fear is all we have left. Especially the fear. The Mavs are 0-4. Worst start ever. And they're in Phoenix tonight. Not really the place you want to be on the road on the second half of a back to back, looking for your FIRST WIN IN 149 days. Not good at all.

Look for 0-5 tonight for sure. Then let's see....

Portland, Memphis, Memphis, Charlotte and Washington....two back to backs in there by the way. Could they possible start 0-10? You bet they can. And you watch how far it goes before Cuban starts making some noice. He might do it today. He might do something crazy just to shock this time into any kind of change. Fire Avery? I hope not. Make a deal with Stack and Diop? Harris?

Will Josh be back in time for it to make a difference? can they claw their way back into the top 8 before Christmas? I doubt it.

Mark my words. Xmas day, the Mavs are not in a playoff spot. Valentines day maybe? well....maybe.

Oh and the Stars have slipped from 1st place to 6th. With 2 losses? The Western conference is tough in both of these leagues. It's going to be a looong cold winter if this keeps up.

When does Desperado season start? Maybe they'll be good.

Doom and gloom in the metroplex.

Hagman my Hero

Nik Hagman has looked great this year so far. He's faster, he's more involved with the play when he's on the forecheck, and he seems much more confident with the puck on his stick than last year. He's working well with Antii, and has even seen some time in special teams a little here and there.

Which prompted me to ask, why the sudden change?


I have found the source of Mr. Hagmans power.

I know his secret.
.
.
.
.
.

It's his new wife.

Rabbit Season....?

It's definitely not Duck season.

Ducks win again, even after blowin ga 2 goal lead twice to the struggling Blues. (How much you want to bet the Blues take it out on the Stars on Wed night?)

The Stars beat the Ducks in their first and only meeting this season. And yet the Ducks are a far superior team. The consistency they have shown already through 12 games is outstanding, and the Selanne line hasn't even really started dominating yet like it can.

The Stars, meanwhile have absolutely looked like they were skating in mud the last 4 games. True, they won 3 of those, but against better teams coming up soon, that isn't going to fly.

The Ducks have the Rangers, Coyotes, and Penguins coming up AT HOME, and can easily extend to 12-0-3 giving them 27 points out of a possible 30.

They rank 4th in the league in goals allowed, and 5th on the power play.

If that doesn't scare Stars fans on Halloween I don't know what will. Unless you want to remember that crappy Red Wings game on Friday.

Yuck.

We're having fun here, no?

Lee Corso....you've been had. Again.

Why is merkin humor so funny?

top of the merkin to you.

good merkin.

get in touch with your merkininity

look it up in the merktionary.

I think I left my merkin over at your place


Either way....the P1's who pull this off EVERY week are so awesome. To put that much time and effort into a "1310 The Ticket" bit, shows real dedication, and not just a little bit of stupidity.

More good what?

(That's what she said?)

These 3...maybe shouldn't stand all in a row like that.

Arkansas Razorbacks. (thanks to Drbio for pointing this crap out)

Stars 4 - Ducks 3 (SO)

Why does Barnaby feel the need to always fight with people who's arms are about 6 inches longer than his arms? Not to mention he's giving them about 60 pounds too. Dumbass.....

Stars win though. Again. 5-0.

I'm tired. So let's say this....this was a good win when you've played 3 games in 4 nights. They should not have given up a two goal lead, but they looked dead tired from last night and so I won't complain about winning a game.

Did you see that move that kid put on in the first shootout round? Holy crap! and then Marty saved it...double holy crap!!

Also, I predict Sharks win on Tuesday, 4-2. Not cheery I know, but it's time.

Go Stars.

Sports of all Sorts.....

Maybe we'll never know what the heck happened with Cory Lidle today, but how weird is that? Heck of a way to go, but as I understand it, small planes are allowed to fly that low on the east side of Manhattan and get away with it on a regular basis. Maybe something broke on the plane? Maybe he ran out of fuel? R.I.P, man. He'll most definitely be remembered for the thing he probably wouldn't want to...

But how weird was it when we were all at work opening our browsers and you see "Plane crashes into NYC building." Weird coincidence? As it turns out, yeah it was. Pretty freaky when I first saw it though, got a little feeling in my stomach that wasn't so good there for a second....


And now.... Football.

Cowboys lose in Phili. Let me just say, Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha. But seriously, you people who are calling for Tony Romo are idiots. Bledsoe is a much better option. Putting Romo in, is giving up on the season. Plain and simple. Coach Parcells "The New Jersey con man" coaches every season for the now. He has no interest in building something for 4 years down the road. It wasn't Bledsoes fault. It was his freaking O-line, and the lack of the shotgun and max protect, letting those hungry Phili line-backers break through there and rape him.

Funny Stuff though. I just hate Cowboy fans who can only rag on the quarter back and ignore the fact that their beloved Roy Williams blew coverage twice, and pretty much single handedly gave up 14 points. Idiots....Go Eagles.

Hockey???

So far... the Ducks and the Sharks are undefeated, and the Kings are of to a good start. This doesn;t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The good news is, if the Stars would like to keep pace with them, they have a lovely 4 game road trip all against division teams, and they can do it then. Still, I see a rough winter ahead for the Stars. Look for them to be 3rd in the division, and 6th or 7th in the conference through January before they push ahead, kind of like last year.....I hope they push hard anyway....

TV....

I don't watch a lot of shows....but the ones I do watch I am very happy thisthis fall. The Office is greatness, Earl is funny. ER is ok I guess.... Studio 60 is the best new show since....The Office I guess. But already there is news that Studio 60 is under performing.... PLEASE WATCH IT. Preferably with a Nielsen ratings box attached to your tv. It's so great, but like Sports Night, it's probably doomed to 2 seasons, or less given the volatile nature of tv execs these days. Heroes is also intriguing, though a little strange.

Maybe one of the most underrated shows though is not on network tv...watch "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central, 10:30pm CST. It's greatness.

Can't wait for 24 and Scrubs in January though....

And Lo! Marty did thrust his killer two line pass upon them...

And the one called Sydor did shelfeth thine puck above Jose Theodores now slumping shoulder.

And it was good. Stars win 3-2.












Alright Alright, it wasn't biblical proportions or anything; but for this team to have to go up to the evil thin air and the evil pepsi can where the Avs gutted them last year, and open the season on the road with an overtime win on a breakaway goal (is this sentence long enough for you yet?) was pretty much the greatest thing I've seen since game 2 of the NBA Finals, which was the last time one of my favorite teams made my sports pants dance.

Take a breath now.

And now, Brads simplistic game breakdown:

Period 1: awful, too many penatlies, and they gave up an entire games worth of shots on goal.

Period 2: Slightly less awful. No one scored. Marty was great.

Period 3: The Stars took some kind of crazy brain steroids and came out a completely different team, and matched Colorados performance i nthe 1st.

Overtime: Penalty kill, home run pass, breakaway, ball-game.

As if I weren't already as excited as a girl could be about hockey season starting....

Another Hockey Blog????

The Stars Give Brenden Morrow the 'C'

Or did the take it away from Mike Modano?

When I first heard this today I said, "Ok, no big deal. Modano probably wants to help out and he's ok with it."

(Actually my first though was, "damn, now I have to get my jersey changed with a 'c' instead of the 'a')

But then I heard General Manager Doug Armstrong on the radio today, and he basically said that Mike might have his feelings bent out of shape a little bit, but this is the way it is. What? I'm sorry, I love Brenden Morrow...

I mean I really love him.

But if Mike Modano's game suffers in the least bit this season, if any hard feelings develop, if any locker room problems start to seep out onto the ice, I am going to personally hunt down Doug Armstrong and give him a piece of my mind.

Geez this should be a happy day..... I dont know. This makes me uneasy. I know Army and Tipp are concerned about the future...but I'm concerned about wed in Colorado, and the first 5 games of the season on the road.

Just be cool Mike. It's all good. You're still the best player on the team.

T.O.O.O.O.O......

I hate hate hate the Dallas Cowboys.

I hate hate hate hate Terrell Owens.

But I was extremely fascinated by the complete and utter circus that took place yesterday for 6 and a half hours before he came out and clearly looked like a man who was perfectly fine.

All the media did, was take the "facts" from the leaked police report. When I stop and think about it, they didn't even sensationalize it that much....

Reason against T.O. attempting suicide....

1. Why the hell would he?
2. He was catching footballs 17 hours later
3. They let him out of the hospital very fast for someone who swallowed 35 pills.
4. He looked fine, alert, healthy, and in good spirits at the press conference.

Reasons why its plausible he could've tried to....

1. The police report. The police have no reason to lie, right?
2. Numerous health care professionals have stated on every radio show in America that it's completely possible to be given the charcoal and the drugs that soak up the toxins, and then be perfectly fine very soon after.
3. His publicist is obviously lying, and calling the DPD liars.
4. In all the years of football players...or any athletes, taking pain medication, no one else in history of sports has had this kind of bad reaction to various "supplements" and pain killers before?

It's so unclear what really happened. One thing is for sure...ok 2 things... #1. He looks fine. and #2. I hope this totally ruins every single Dallas Cowboys concentration, and they lose to the lowly lowly Titans.

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p.s. The Stars looked PATHETIC last night. That's all you can really say about that.

Dirk joins the Jet, stays long term

Associated Press Posted: 27 minutes ago

DALLAS (AP) - Dirk Nowitzki is staying with the Dallas Mavericks at least through the 2010-11 National Basketball Association season.

A week before opening training camp, the Mavs made sure their superstar forward remains under contract for the next five seasons with a lucrative extension Tuesday.

Nowitzki, 28, already was signed for the upcoming season and had a $16 million-plus option for 2007-08 under the maximum contract he signed in 2001. The new deal guarantees that season, plus three more. He'll turn 33 the summer his new contract expires.

Terms of the deal were not released, but with basic raises the extension is likely worth around $60 million.
"We are glad to keep Dirk in the Mavericks family for many more years," team owner Mark Cuban said. "His contribution to our success on and off the court has been immeasurable."

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Awesomeness. With all the things he said about "not liking the way the franchise is being run," he had some of us wondering. Of course now I wonder if he's just set himself up for the inevitable showdown with Cuban, or if Cuban promised to behave himself a bit....

hmmmm......

Microsoft Word humor....

LOL!!!

Seriously though....the Sooners need to have a group unbunching of their panties.....

Hockey night in Canada....I mean Dallas.

Yes we put on our jerseys. We made that drive down 35. And there was hockey..... and it was good.

Was it crappy hockey? Yeah kind of.

Was it a little quiet in there, on a monday night pre season game? Of course it was.

But it was greatness, anyway.

It was just so nice to be back among the hockey faithful. And the people there last night were uber-faithful. We saw Barnes, Turco, Zubov, Miettinen, and other signing autographs before hand... again. Always very gracious with their time, those Stars are. The countdown to the season has begun.

I have absolutely no idea if they're going to be any good. Some of those kids look reaaally shaky out there with the puck. Power play and penalty kill was putrid tonight against the Avalanche. Last night they were great.

Also, thanks to the sturminator of Bob and Dan of 1310 The Ticket fame, for linking to my blog this morning on his.

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Lowest scoring MNF game ever???? Good thing I was at the hockey game. However, go JAGS!!!! Suck it Steelers.

That is all.

We lost a friend this morning

Goodbye Mr. Toby.....











The best thing I can say about Toby is that he was a wonderful friend. He did nothing but give to us. Hamsters may not be able to convey the loyalty of a dog, but I know that he knew us, and that he understood the relationship to some extent.

He was a dare-devil of sorts. As much of a dare devil as a hamster could be. He was quite fond of "launching himself" off of whatever he could, into depths unknown. He was also quite the escape artist, and once got stuck in a couch for about 30 min. I still don't know how he did it.

My favorite Toby memory would have to be the infamous stapler incident. I asked Cheryl, "Where is that little stapler?" and she said "Oh it's next to Toby's cage." At which point we looked over in time to see Toby with his "rear end" abnormally and comically high in the air, and then he proceeded to urinate through the bars, and all over said stapler.

The comedic timing was genius.

He was a sucker for the rustling of a food bag, an apple, and especially peanuts and carrots, for which he would fight to the death. He would often try to cause us bodily harm in his quest for carrots. He once tried to dive head first into a glass of wine. lol.

He would stay up late with me while I did my homework and watch me, intently hoping it was time to play again. And when you jingled your keys, he would stand on his hind legs and ball his little fists and show you his teeth. It was cute and funny to the point of absurdity, of course he thought he was a great big grizzly bear.

He was as crabby and grumpy as he was funny. Which made him more funny.

He was my friend Toby. Some people say hamsters are stupid. That's fine. But I can't think of anything better that takes zero time to take care of, and puts a smile on your face every single day of the year, without exception.

He cost about 7$. Best 7$ we ever spent.

Toby died peacefully in his sleep, of old age.

Goodbye Toby












R.I.P Toby. 2004-2006

Sports Sport Sports......

What a wonderful sports weekend we just had.

First, my "exclusive" interview with Brendan Morrow (#10) of the Dallas Stars.














The Dallas Stars were at the Galleria in Dallas signing autographs, and I had the chance to ask Brendan Morrow about his future in Dallas:

BM: Hey man how're you?

Me: Good, what's up dude?

BM: (looks at Mike Modano and screaming girls 3 feet away from us)

"Not much"

(smiles)

BM: -signs jersey-

Me: You gonna be back in Dallas next year?

BM: Man, I hope so.

Me: Alright, thanks man

That's right people. You heard it here first. "I hope so." Thats outstanding journalism!!!!

All kidding aside, what a terribly nice guy. Also, Mike Modano is a rock star. Cheryl and I had the opportunity to meet Brendan Morrow, Marty Turco, Stu Barnes, Steve Ott, Antii Miettinen, Mike Smith, Dan Ellis, Jeff Halpern, and Ralph and Razor. Walked by Zubie and Lehtinen, but their lines were crazy long and we had to get to Morrow and Turco.

Ralph kind of big timed us. Razor at least made eye contact and let me thank him. Even though there was no one in their line!!! All of the Dallas Stars are classy individuals who were all very good sports, and the turnout was very good too.

Also, Cheryl won free pre-season tickets while we were there. 5 days, and the jersey goes on and the AAC is back open for business!!!

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Moving along....

Suck it Bevo OSU 24, Texas 7

As much as I've despised OSU over the years, I must admit I was elated on Saturday night watching that sorry excuse for a "good" defense try to stop those boys from marching down the field. UT gets way too much pub around here for me. I bet most of you people didn't even go to UT....

And come on, I wouldn't trust a guy named "Colt" to wash my car.

Also, greetings from UNT boys! How does it feel to only get 7 points like the Mean Green did in week 1. Suck it Bevo!!

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I could comment on the NFL....

Let's just say, that the Cowboys scared me when it looked like they were going to be good. And then let me say "Ha, Ha" and "Who would've though that Bledsoe would be a bigger story than T.O. Owens?"

Other than that.... the Chiefs game was terrible. The Eagles game was so so. The Redskin game was alright. The Manning bowl was pretty entertaining. The Chargers game was awful.

The Packers, the Bucs, and the Raiders all get shutout????? The Panthers might as well have been shutout, and the Detroit/Seattle game ends 9-6??? They might as well have been playing baseball. Between those 6 teams, that's....21 points!! AWFUL

The quality of football was not very good this week. Lot's of turnovers, and offenses trying to get used to the speed of the game. Look for improvement in week 2.