Play it again, Sox! September 30, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Sports, baseball.Tags: Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Sports
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Okay, so I butchered a line from a classic movie. Like I give a shit.
After a three-hour rain delay, the wonderfully scrappy ChiSox defeated the Detroit Tigers. My DH is from Detroit, and is a Cubs fan. Guess who he was rooting for? Yep. Now guess who danced around the room cheering when she checked the score online after my meeting last night – oh, yeah, that was me. Kudos to the team: short-rest pitchers, some veteran goodness, and rookie Alexei Ramirez’s grand slam pulled this out in style. And, there’s nothing like some celebratory man-love:

Gimme a hug...
I gotta say though, the Twinkies want this almost as much as we do, so tonight’s game will be hard fought. I’m wearing my black and white today in support!
Bailing out September 29, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Football, Ranting, Sports, baseball.Tags: Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Football, Good Bad Ugly and Funny, Green Bay Packers, Michigan Football, Ranting, Sports
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I’m really tired of taking care of everyone else’s problems. Is it my fault that you got into a mortgage that you couldn’t pay? No! Is it my fault that the banks and other financial institutions were stupid and willing to give money out to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back? No! It’s almost like they were trying to be those asinine cash advance places that pop up in every freaking strip mall…their best bet was for people to be late with payment so they could charge a gazillion dollars in fees/penalties/interest…and then be bailed out by the government. It isn’t okay. I work at a steady job, pay my bills on time, and take care of my debts (the best I can – remember, only one income at this time), and I’m tired of paying for everyone else at the same time!! Damn it! Where’s MY fucking bailout??
The University of Michigan football team beat upsetembarrassed Wisconsin. At home. In front of a crowd that was booing them for three of the four quarters. Those guys came back from a 19-point deficit and a whole lot of mistakes to win, if only by a missed two-point effort from the Badgers. Oh, I almost forgot – the Badgers were highly ranked. I think Mitch Albom is right, for now, you’ll never know what Michigan football team will be on the field…but you should know that I’ll be rooting for them. Go Blue!
Upsets ran rampant this weekend in both college football. Too bad I wasn’t able to watch any games, and I can’t watch MNF tonight either. This is getting ridiculous. Important to me – Florida LOST. USC LOST. Georgia LOST to Alabama (or, conversely, The Tide rolled all over the Bulldogs), and we have already discussed the Wolverine victory over the Badgers.
The Saints won (yay!).
The Packers lost (boo!).
The Cowboys lost to the Redskins (whoa).
I have to address the ongoing comparison between Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Yes, this weekend, Brett threw for a career-high six touchdowns. Awesome. Also this weekend, Aaron had a tough time and got hurt. Not so good. But let’s think back a mere week and see where Brett was hobbled with an ankle injury and the Yets lost – no, got smeared – by the Chargers, and everyone was wondering if he should’ve really just left it hung up. Last week, Aaron was being lauded. This week, everyone’s making that face and saying “I told you so” to Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy. What the fuck ever. This week, the Yets defeated who? Oh, the CARDINALS. Whoop de freaking do. The Packers lost to Tampa Bay, inclusive of a kicker that my heart goes right out to. It’s not that I want to lose, and I don’t want to minimize everyone else’s gains, but seriously. Can we have a LITTLE objectivity??
The Chicago White Sox have forced the Tigers to make up a game. I think that might piss them off enough that they may want to try and knock my team out of the running. That game is set to start soon – provided it isn’t raining in Chicago.
Hockey’s back on, and the Red Wings aren’t doing too bad. I’m almost afraid to type that for fear of jinxing the whole damn season.
Anyway…
Good: Weekends with friends – good times and good laughs.
Bad: This damned bulging disc is making my arm hurt again and I hate that home therapy contraption!!
Ugly: I’m tired and cranky! There is a scratch all the way down the side of my car. I didn’t do it and it pisses me off.
Funny: Seen on a sign yesterday – “Pregnancy Exop” – for the weekend. Is that pregnancy after surgery or just expo spelled wrong out in plain sight? People are stupid creatures.
How we doin’? September 26, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Sports, baseball.Tags: Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Sports
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Even Nick says WTF?
Not so good. I get to have a big WTF moment for my ChiSox. Seriously? You can’t pull even one out? Man, now we gotta work it, just to make sure we’re in the freaking playoffs. Damn that Hottie Joe Mauer and the Twinkies anyway.
I like it that people consider our manager “bat shit crazy“. Man, do I love that term! It’s fitting for dear Ozzie, I think, but I think crazy is the way he’s gotta be. It just wouldn’t be the same if he weren’t. It also wouldn’t be the same if Cubs’ fans didn’t look down their noses at us Sox fans, if the Cell were in a “better” part of town, or if there were any way that we wouldn’t have to battle our way into the playoffs. Not everything can be easy, right?
Anyway, now we’ve gotta do well – yes, well – in a series against the Indians. The good thing about playing the Indians? I would enjoy seeing the following:

A little bit of Ryan...

...a little bit of Brad...

...and a whole lot of us winning.
Customer service September 24, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Ranting.Tags: Ranting, Stupid people
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There’s a reason I don’t have superpowers. It has to be because I’d use them against the fucking idiots that I have to deal with on a semi-regular basis. I kid you not, I could have gone through the phone at the consultant for a client. What did he do, you ask? He said, and I quote,
If I were doing your job, that’s how I would approach it.
Oh, no fucking way did he just say that to me, I thought. I bit my tongue, literally, to keep from replying. If there’s one thing that I cannot handle well, it’s people insinuating that I don’t know what I’m doing. After my silence sunk into his fat, stupid head, he had the nerve to say “Do you understand that?”. Oh, yeah, I understand. I understand that you are a complete asshole and a motherfucker that deserves to be spanked with my work product. Do not fuck with me. I can make your life miserable, man, and it’s all legal to do. I didn’t say that. I think it would have been worse if the client themselves weren’t super-nice. How did they get latched in with this guy? Instead, I came up with the best I could muster: “Oh, I understand, I’m just making notes.”
Customer service, baby. I should win an award for that one.
Well, duh September 24, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Ranting, Sports, Uncategorized.Tags: Baseball, Football, Good Bad Ugly and Funny, Green Bay Packers, Michael Silver, Ranting, Sports
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It seems as if this morning was full of “duh” moments. First thing on my way in to work, the incredibly brilliant traffic reporter tells me that my route is blocked from an accident, so take a different route. Really? I check out MSN.com, and there’s a headline stating that Clay Aiken has come out of the closet. Wow. I cannot be the only one that sees this as a forehead-smacking moment. Who didn’t know this already? He was probably trying to canoodle with Ryan Seacrest (his success is questionable) backstage at American Idol. In the same vein, Lindsay Lohan (one of my favorite rant targets) says that she and Samantha Ronson have been together “a long time”. A revelation? Not so much. Even better, in that story, there was a link to an article on how big of an asshat Joe Francis (of Girls Gone Wild fame) is. Fortunately, the writer didn’t seem to be wowed by this – maybe she was just confirming suspicions and letting everyone else know.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming:
Good: Chocolate-flavored coffee. Fun weekends coming up. I doubled checked on that five pounds, and it’s still gone.
Bad: I just realized that, because of the weekend plans, I will be nowhere near a television for my armchair QB habits. I might have withdrawals. The ChiSox lost to Hottie Joe Mauer and the Twins last night, drawing our lead to a mere 1.5 games. Eek! Al Harris (Packers CB) might be out all season because of a ruptured spleen. That just sounds bad; can’t imagine how it feels.
Ugly: My initial response to question #14 of Hottie Sports Writer Michael Silver’s 32 Questions: Bite your fucking tongue, sweetheart. I’m fucking sick of this damned team and their damned new stadium anyway, and I sure as hell don’t want Jim Irsay getting any other bright ideas. I hope that other people around here are saying “We dropped $720M for this?”.
Funny: Anything that says “squee!”. That word just cracks me up.
The highs and lows September 22, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Football, Sports, baseball.Tags: Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Football, Good Bad Ugly and Funny, Green Bay Packers, Joe Mauer, Sports
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It’s odd what being a sports fan does to a person. I get all happy when one team loses (because I don’t like them), but all sad when another team loses (because I do like them). It’s a terrible karmatic position to be in, but it’s what a sports fan’s gotta do.
Yes, I made up “karmatic”, but you totally get what I mean.
The Colts lost in the last few seconds to the Jaguars. Halle-freaking-lujah! I thought fo’ sho’ that Jacksonville was going to choke after that last ditch effort by the Dolts – I mean, Clots – no! Colts. Ah, but the Shaguars pulled out a field goal at the 5 second mark. Scobee’s attempt looked like it was going to go wide right, but it somehow pulled back in between the uprights and there was nothing that the home team could do. This morning on my way into work, I think I heard every excuse: the roof wasn’t open on the stadium, there were missed/bad calls from the refs, and there were missed tackles. It’s still too expensive to talk about the interceptions thrown by Horseface Manning.
That was the loss I was happy about. Now, the one I was sad about. The Packers lost to a better Dallas. There’s no bones about it, the Cowboys D-line was just too much for the Packers’ offense. Aaron Rodgers is still my hero – he’s still doing pretty well in the face of all the crap that gets tossed at him, including five sacks yesterday. I imagine this week will hold a lot of tape review and a lot of repetitious drills to get that nasty taste out of their mouths.
Other football stuffs – both the Pats and the Saints lost. At least the Saints lost to a decent team (the Broncos) and the score was close, even if the level of play was not. The Pats, however, should be ashamed for the way the entire team played yesterday. You just got spanked by almost the worst team in the league at home. Yikes. I want to look for pictures of Hottie Tom Brady from yesterday, but I’m sure he’s just shaking his head in anger, disappointment, and disbelief…sorta like the rest of us.
Let’s see: The Cubs clinched their division. The White Sox have to win over the Twins in Minneapolis to give themselves some breathing room. A sweep would clinch, I think, but if the sweep doesn’t happen, we’ve got to face the Indians to get that division title. I heart Joe Mauer, but I hope the Twins fall mightily to my ChiSox.

Sorry, gorgeous, but I want your team to lose.
Non-sports stuff:
The client visit with Really Fucking Annoying Chick wasn’t too bad, really. We managed to keep her out of the conversation most of the time, so there was very little one-upping and self-righteousness that we had to deal with. The client was awesome and really accomodating to us, and two of the three of us were very appreciative. I’ll bet you can guess which two.
Let’s wrap this up:
Good: The Colts lost. If I watch the ChiSox games, I get to see Hottie Joe Mauer. I lost five pounds!
Bad: I’ve moved my desk at work for “flow” purposes, I guess, and my new across-the-aisle neighbor is more than a little odd. She seems nice enough, but I’m going to have to figure out how to end conversations gracefully with her. Staring blankly seems sort of rude.
Ugly: We are still hanging on with one income in my house. A recent change of luck might be a good sign, but I’m so jaded on this now, I’m unable to think positively without the darkness nagging at me. That’s ugly.
Funny: I was reading Michael Silver’s article on Al Davis today, and I could not help but think of the Emperor from Star Wars, and this was before I saw the picture. After seeing the picture, I heard the theme music for the Empire in my head and I couldn’t help but laugh. I think I’m beyond twisted, but see for yourself:


Ahoy Potential Victims! Prepare to be boarded! September 17, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Sports, Uncategorized.Tags: Baseball, Football, Good Bad Ugly and Funny, Green Bay Packers, Michigan Football, Sports
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I haven’t been able to get on here in forever, it seems. I’ve had some great times in these last few days, and some sad ones. I’ll try to keep this concise.
I love it when friends come to visit. I had the best time this long weekend with my pals – and I hated for it to end. It’s so true that friends are the family that one chooses for themselves. I have chosen well with these. Love you guys! By the way, SD, if you ever see this, you are quite possibly the greatest “sistah” ever! You’re wicked good.
Gotta talk some sports:
A-Rod is still leading the Packers on to victory, even after the team freaking blows a lead to the Lie-Downs! Since you already know that I’m a Maize & Blue girl, you should also know that I heart Charles Woodson. The man played with a broken toe and kicked ass. Sigh. Football fan love is a wonderful thing. Go Pack Go!
Matt Cassell is doing very well at leading the Patriots in Hottie Tom Brady’s absence. Nah, Matt Cassell’s not super hot IMO, but I think he’s doing well. It should also be noted that the Patriots’ leadership crew has made some wise adjustments to keep their team going at a winning pace.
The ChiSox are still in first, and I have been watching the BoSox and Rays bounce the lead back and forth lately. The aforementioned “sistah” loves her some BoSox…but she lets me love my Sox and I let her love her Sox, all in peace. That is, until it comes down to something serious.
I have to say that I feel bad for Vince Young. It cannot be easy to come into professional football and not be as good as you thought you were. It’s disappointing that he’s not learning how to roll with it yet, and I wonder if he will, or if he’ll just quit. I hope he toughens that skin – there are people ready to boo you wherever you go, whether you’re a pro athlete or not.
For the last few:
Good: The visit with my friends. ChiSox still leading the division. Short weeks at work.
Bad: The Colts won (but they beat the ViQueens – I didn’t know what do about it). My friends had to go home (boo!). Michigan lost to Notre Lame – and it was ugly too, but I’ve got something else to put in that slot.
Ugly: So, as part of my job, I’m required to visit “customer” sites and check things out. Okay, no problem. Except this time, on Friday, I have to share the visit with the Really Fucking Annoying Chick from work. Did I mention it was THREE HOURS to the site? At least there will be someone else there, and he’s cool as hell (and sort of hot).
Funny: Friday is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and my pirate name is Captain Ethel Vane. Wicked bad. Avast me hearties, and be checkin’ out the official site for the merriment and mayhem: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/. Be sure to check out the pick up lines. One that would probably work is “Prepare to be boarded, me buxom beauty!” Arr!
Drive-by blogging September 9, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Football, Sports.Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Football, Good Bad Ugly and Funny, Green Bay Packers, Michigan Football, Sports, Tom Brady
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I have only a few minutes before I am dragged away to my “special” project. Oh, it’s special all right…Anyway, a quick amount of random craziness before I have to go:
Aaron Rodgers is my hero. I love him. And he’s even kinda cute in his ballcap. Not so much in a helmet. A-Rod led my Packers to a victory over the ViQueens last night in MNF. I am sad that I missed his Lambeau Leap – be assured that I will be finding that on YouTube tonight.
I also need to thank Atari Bigby for dashing the hopes of that purple and gold team…what a beautiful interception. It’s too bad that I missed the majority of the game. Stupid meetings anyway.
I am extremely pleased that the Colts lost. It hurts so for me to root for the Bears (because they still suck), but a girl’s gotta do, you know?
It sux for Hottie Tom Brady that his season is over. However, I can’t get over how some people are talking about this – it’s like he died, not tore an ACL. I think it will be okay folks. I’m hoping that Matt Cassell can step up and rock right along with the rest of the outstanding Patriots (sorta like Tom Brady did when Drew Bledsoe got hurt…hmm…).
Michigan won this weekend. Yes, it was over Miami of Ohio, but it’s still a win. We’ll take it. Hopefully our very young team gets into a good groove with a solid win over Notre Dame…well, we can hope.
Here we go:
Good: The Pack wins! The ChiSox are still in first!
Bad: Is there a particular reason that we couldn’t get some interns to do this special project? I’ve got some big fish to fry that are getting all stinky on my desk.
Ugly: I’m finding it hard to keep up with baseball now that football has started, and there’s no Hottie Matt Kata around. Sniff.
Funny: So I can’t go to YouTube from here (stupid firewall), but you should go and take a look at the mini-tantrum that Tavaris Jackson threw after he was intercepted at the end of last night’s game. He was pissed, and even better was the cut-over shot to Aaron Rodgers celebrating and going to get his helmet for one more round on the field!
Why have I not heard about this before today? September 5, 2008
Posted by gretchenarchangel in Ranting, Uncategorized.Tags: Ranting
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Do I live in a cave?? While it’s true that I don’t watch a lot of TV, I spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet. You would think that I would be highly informed about things that I care about. Perhaps if I’d watch different baseball games (or not surf during commercials), I’d have seen a spot or two for this, but no.
This evening, Friday, September 5, there will be a commercial-free, star-studded event on all three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC – not ESPN, BTN, and TFN, those are my major channels) that is to raise money and awareness for cancer. I’m a HUGEcancer awareness person – I walk in damn near every event in town, and am currently pretty high up in fund-raising for the breast cancer walk here in Indy…you would think that I would know about Stand Up for Cancer.
But I didn’t. A blurb headline on MSN.com caught my eye and I checked out the website. How many others don’t know about this and will be ultimately pissed off that their favorite Friday night show is not on. And of course, at the moment, the site appears to be having problems, so I can’t put the link on!! I’ll get it before I post this.
Aargh! I wonder what kind of promotion was done for this. Were there commercials that I just didn’t see? I fully admit that I’m not a big TV person, but I would have thought that an ad on just about any of the “popular” websites would have caught my attention. MSN, other than what I saw today, didn’t have one, and the color scheme used for SUTC is eye-catching, to say the least. They’ve got some major star power on this…and yet I didn’t see anything on Yahoo! or even on MySpace. Maybe it was advertised on Facebook – I don’t have one of those.
Well, now consider this an ad. Watch tv tonight, folks, and support cancer awareness and research. Listen to the stories (Jim Thome, I heart you!), and prepare to have your heartstrings tugged. 8pm, all three major networks.





