A Bizarre, Yet Somehow Fitting, End... and a New Enemy

I began writing this blog entry on April 28th. But it is only now - with almost a full week having passed - that I have been able to wrap myself around the events of the evening of April 27th...

As the Four Seasons once sang - "Oh what a night..."

The season for the enigma that was Team Orange basketball is over. I find myself contemplating how much energy I should invest in sharing the lurid details of my hoops team's playoff ouster (basically, writing a story that very few people would care about at all) - as last night's events were so bizarre that I feel like I HAVE to share them.

We entered the playoffs as the 9-seed, out of 14. This was a product of us blowing more games this season that we should have won than I can count - but I digress... Last night we played the 8-seed, a team with one upper-level scorer and one serviceable big man. Team Yellow's best player is fairly decent. Apparently, he was a walk-on at St. Joe's - but I have never been impressed by such things. He is a very good shooter, but one that despises contact. He is also a cheap-shot artist and a complete jackhole. Earlier this season, he threw a ball in our point guard Jimmy's (one of the classiest, if not THE classiest player I have ever taken the court with) face for no reason other than Jimmy playing tough defense. Thursday night would be no different, in fact, he took even more liberties than in our regular season meeting.

Fast-forward to overtime (during regulation this scumbag would throw two very cheap elbows and an intentional head-butt). I scored the first four points of overtime (which felt really, REALLY good). Then, all hell broke loose. Team Yellow Scumbag #1 decides he doesn't like being double-teamed, and decides to throw a vicious elbow to the head of my teammate Jeff. The referees (yes, there were two) did not see this as a problem. Team Yellow Scumbag takes off down the floor with the ball in an attempt to score. Before I can foul him (I hadn't seen this particular elbow) Jeff races after him down the floor and delivers a SWEET cross-body taken right from the book of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. An intentional foul is called. This was bad. Bad quickly turned into something far, far worse when an unnamed teammate (let's call him "Rob Y.") leaps onto the floor (he was at that time not in the game) to find out what exactly the referee(s) might have been thinking. Two technical fouls and an ejection later, our 4-point lead was now a 4-point deficit.

I am not sure what I am more disappointed in. Our season ending, "Rob Y." for not being smarter about his protest, or my not getting my hands on the Team Yellow Scumbag other than a couple of hard fouls. I am disappointed in the loss. I had my best game of the season by far. But I am glad that some of my guys finally showed some anger and some chutzpah (heart!) and rallied around one another against this guy. Even some of our most nice/passive guys were upset. One even went so far as to not move his knee out of the way of the falling Team Yellow Scumbag after the Jeff cross-body, making sure he got a double-whammy on the way down. That is how much of a jackhole this guy was, our nicest guys wanted to hurt him. I am not all that disappointed in Rob either. After hearing about the dirtiness of the elbow, I know that he was beside himself afetr witnessing it. I liken it to reactions by players and coaches who would go into veritble spasms after watching Bill Laimbeer get away with cheap shots. You see something so blatant and dirty, you will often lose control. I do wish that I saw the elbow that caused the fracas. If I had, Jeff would not have had a chance to throw the cross-body, as I would have clotheslined the hell out of this chach as he went up for the shot. After the game, I was restrained by both referees and a teammate as I told the Team Yellow Scumbag this: "pray I do not see you on the street. If I do, I WILL f#$% you up. I will f#$% you up bad". Truth is, I probably wouldn't attack him on the street. However, I do have the motivation necessary to put a team in again for next season. This season has been so frustrating, both my play personally and that of my team, that I was on the fence as far as doing this anymore. But, the Team Yellow Scumbag has re-lit the fire in my ample belly. My team will be back, albeit with some personnel changes. In fact, I cannot wait to play this chach again. It will be the longest 40 minutes of his life. Guaranteed.

[Currently Listening - The Transplants - "Sad But True"]

Hooping, Swimming, Scooting

I always hate it when I see a large gap in days between my blog posts. Probably best I didn't get the interview at Rob's company for the Online Editor position...

The last week-and-a-half has been all kinds of hectic and nutty. I did not believe that my workplace could get anymore tense and lunacy-filled, but I was wrong. The company I work for has 9 full-time and 1 part-time office staff. To say that ownership/employee relations where I work are strained would be putting it most mildly. An example - after a disagreement on Thursday between my boss and the Sales Mgr. (a friend) - the Owner came in on Friday afternoon and abruptly sent the entire office staff home without explanation. Some of us assumed we were about to be fired. Others that perhaps the company had been sold. The truth - the owner caleld in a locksmith to change the office door locks of the Sales Mgr. - in case he was planning to leave over the weekend. I just "celebrated" my 1-year employment anniversary in my current job. Out of 10 total office positions - 4 have been turned over in the past year (5, if you count my position). 3 more are actively looking for other opportunities (including the Owners' cousin). The Owner, while a savvy businessman, needs a lot of work when it comes to employee relations - again, this is putting things most mildly). All of this serves to make me wonder how much different my life would be if I wasn't so proud a few years back when Mrs. Walsh offered to help get me in the door at Aetna. Add this to the list of idiotic decisions in the life and times of Vinnie B.

The madness has not been ending upon my departure from the office. As many of you know, I do paperwork at night for a Landscaping contractor. With the onset of the busy season, I have been putting in another 3 hours per night (at least) from the home office. I have been pretty zapped. I usually handle the rush pretty well, but there have been a few nights where I just didn't have any juice.

Speaking of a lack of juice, my hoops team begins the playoffs tonight at 9pm. I haven't picked up a ball (or done anything else even remotely athletic) since our last game three weeks ago when we lost to a team of 4 guys. I believe I am over that loss - but it is yet another example of how truly far I have fallen as a player of late. Not sure what to expect out of myself tonight, or my team. All I know is that we are playing a beatable team - and I would very much like to play (and beat) our ex-teammates some time in this season's playoffs.

I have to say that The Man Zachary has been amazing me so much of late. First off, he has finally figured out crawling - and how to grab things and pull himself to a standing position. He has gotten to be a very fast crawler in a very short amount of time. Over the weekend, he figured out what he is supposed to do with his little baby basketball and hoop. We were sitting there playing (which usually has him biting the little orange spheres that are supposed to eb basketballs) and he suddenly took the ball, pressed it against the backboard and dropped it through the hoop. 10 out of 11 times! I startled him with how excited I was. The Man's stat line for first hoops game: 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 fouls for drooling, and a couple of dives onto the floor for loose balls. He is awesome already! Lastly, we took Zachary to his first swim "lesson" at the Y last night. I wasn't scheduled to attend but was very happy that things worked out so I could go. He LOVED the water. He began splashing immediately - and even made paddling motions with his hands when we were pulling him through the water. Very, VERY cool.

[Currently Listening: Third World - "Reggae Ambassador"]

Iran, Nukes, Gas Prices and Ice Cream

"For every human problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong." - H.L. Mencken

The world is again poised on the brink of international conflict. Should push come to shove (and there is no reason to believe that it will not), this brouhaha has the potential to change our lives in more ways than one. Certain mouthpieces representing Big Oil worldwide are already using the potential conflict as the excuse du jour for why gas prices are skyrocketing again: http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/18/markets/oil.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes.

If I am reading the explanation correctly for why the price at the pump has gone up over 20%, Big Oil is putting the screws to the American people (again) because there MIGHT be a shortage of oil SHOULD the tension over Iran's nuclear program escalate. This raking of the people (again) over the coals reeks of the same b.s. excuse-making that was forced down our throats in 2005 when another POTENTIAL problem (Hurricane Rita - which had the potential to damage the refinery-rich area of Galveston, TX) was used as an excuse to drive gas prices up to $3.40 per gallon. Rita never did effect production in Galveston - and Big Oil was proud to report record profits for 2005 - at our expense.

Now, don't get me wrong... The Iran situation is downright scary (as anyone who reads the article by clicking the above-shared link can attest). Not only is Iran announcing that it is a nuclear power, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on record for publicly threatening to attack Israel with any nuclear weaponry it develops! It is here that the H.L. Mencken quote at the top of this entry comes into play.

Everyone seemingly has an "easy" solution for how to handle the situation. Some say we should attack Iran - since we have already established the precedent with our "war" in Iraq. Should we NOT engage Iran it would be slightly funny and very ironic that we would attack and invade one country that did not have any WMDs and made no claims of having said weapons - while sitting idly by and allowing that country's next-door neighbor to not only develop said weapons, but to allow it to wave them in the face of our biggest ally in the region! Attacking Iran may serve to stabilize the world's security - but it would come at great cost to our economy. If the price at the pump is warp-speeding upwards due to a potential conflict and shortage - what would happen once an actual conflict erupts? Others say that we need to sit this one out and let Israel handle Iran on its own. Militarily, I have no doubt that Israel could handle the Iranians. However, it would give all of the anti-Israeli elements in the Middle East what they have been looking for - another excuse to carry on their intifadahs. We would have to deal with the same instability in the region - with the added drama of potentially losing one of our biggest allies (I will not get into the USA's responsibility to Israel for the role our government played in making Israel actually happen, at least not right now).

Time for a diet update. As many of you know, this past weekend was a feast weekend. As anyone who has been paying attention to my blog knows, the weekends have not been very good for my diet. However, I minimized the damage overall this weekend by being VERY disciplined during the day - eating healthy breakfasts and lunches. Dinners were large and evil, but oh-so-good. The dinners were not the only diet-killing intake of the weekend, however. There have been multiple runs over the weekend for...ice cream. I fully blame my wife for this. I was never much of an ice cream guy - at least not since I was a kid. However, in the last year or so (since the onset of my wife's pregnancy with The Man Zachary), we've become a serious ice cream household. For the first month of the diet we were very strong. However, the last few weeks have shown some cracks in the family dieting armor. This is somewhat disappointing since I have made so much progress of late. I have come to control my love affair with beer. I have overcome (for the most part) the pull on my soul from fast food. However, ice cream has become my arch-nemesis. But it is possible to love one's arch-nemesis so? Like Batman vs. The Joker, Mel Gibson vs. the Jews, South Park vs. the Scientologists, the Red Sox vs. the Yankees, T.O. vs. McNabb and the Muslims vs. Everyone Else - I have a a steel-cage match-worthy adversary. One can only hope I have the strength to overcome this new enemy that attacks me with such delicate sweetness. Pray for me.

Currently Listening: [Murder City Devils - "Johnny Thunders"]

The Weekend, Immigration and the Shuttle Bus to Hell

I went to bed last night (and woke up this morning) feeling bloated and unattractive. Not only did I fall of the diet wagon this weekend, it backed up and ran my love-handled butt over for good measure. Plus, I think my soul is in danger.

The diet-breaking started Friday afternoon when my boss extended a temporary peace offering by bringing in sandwiches for everyone. I got a "Capistrami", an unholy creation consisting of huge heaping amounts of pastrami, cole slaw and Russian dressing. If eating meat on Fridays during lent is a sin, then I am driving the shuttle bus to hell. Holy bad-for-me sandwich, Batman! As soon as I ate half of it, I knew it was mistake. But, in typical Vince B fashion I did not let that stop me! Ugh. Saturday was slightly better on the diet front. Was out at the Lancaster outlets with the missus, and I limited myself to only one meal - at Fuddrucker's. Had some finger snacks at night, but the weigh-in Sunday was positive. I hadn't damaged myself much. Then came Sunday. Weakness was compounded by even more weakness. The early part of the day wasn't too bad, some pizza and a salad at the mall. The evening, however, was a caloric nightmare. Big dinner at Rino's, with a completely unnecessary (and heavy) appetizer choice and then a well-why-not-we-already-screwed-up-this-much run to Maggie Moo's. The setback at this morning's weigh-in was significant. Oh well. Back on the wagon...

I have an issue on the homefront that will require a lot of attention on my part from here on out. It seems that our one cat - Macgillicutty (Big Mac) - has developed a taste for electrical wires. He has managed to chew through both the adapter wire for our video baby monitor - and the wire that powers the actual camera. I have caught him chewing on my computer speaker wires, and he has taken to chewing my XBox wires - even when I am sitting there playing. I thought it was bad when he and the other cat (Chachie) would tag-team to unroll the paper towels onto the floor every-other-day, but this latest development has already proven to be most expensive (video baby monitors are NOT cheap!). So, tonight I will be on the hunt for something called "bitter apple spray" that is supposed to deter this behavior. If the spray is unsuccessful, then my fat orange-and-white friend might be bordering on homelessness.

I have been pretty captivated by the current story du jour - the attempted legislation to tighten immigration laws and the protests that have followed. I am torn on the subject, but only slightly. You can say that I am very much on the side of the Latino protesters on this one. For me to be anything else would be akin to pure hypocrisy. You see, my father was (is?) an illegal alien. He came here from Italy when he was 18, and for better or worse, he has been here ever since. I guess this eliminates me from the "objective observer" category...

First of all, I am all-for the improvement of the security of our borders. However, the immigration bills that were proposed completely smack of racism. Why the push for a fortified border with Mexico when it would be just as easy for an Al Qaeda operative to slip into our country from Canada? Are we going to fortify that border as well? I am glad that the Latinos have taken to the streets en masse. God bless them. Why should they be singled-out and attacked by our government when all they seek is the same thing most of our forefathers (and mothers) came to this country for? How are we going to deny these people a chance at a better life? The promise of a chance at a better life for immigrants is what BUILT this country (after the early immigrants stole it from the Native Americans, of course). I keep seeing these yokels in the south crying about lost jobs and such, and it makes me sick.

The Mexican/Latino immigrants have taken their place in a long line of ethnic groups that have come here and worked hard at jobs that those in what have passed for the indigenous population have mostly refused to do. The Chinese, the Irish, the Italians (and you cannot discount the African slavery days in any way, shape or form) have all come here to work at making a better life for themselves - and all have had to undergo harsh treatment and scorn at the hands of those who were here before them. Another part of the immigration reform bill(s) calls for illegal immigration to be prosecuted as a felony. A felony! Let's skip past the ludicrousness of trying to lock people up for coming here and working - and go right to the idiocy related to the oversight in how we would fund the prosecution and imprisonment of this criminal element that is SUCH a threat to our national security! The prisons in this country are already overwhelmed in terms of inmate populations. There aren't enough prosecutors to handle what would undoubtedly become a tidal wave-sized caseload. Since most of the illegal immigrants that would be prosecuted do not make a lot of money, there would be a need for scads more public defenders. Those who are crying out about the "drain" on the economy caused by the illegals can rant and rave knowing that the costs involved with "fixing" the problem through prosecution will not only be more expensive than the status quo - but it will be significantly more so.

[Currently Listening: Leftover Crack - "Burn Them Prisons"]

Catching Back Up

I am sitting here this afternoon feeling pretty good. Not because work has gotten any less nightmarish, mind you. My up-and-down first-season-together hoops team had its biggest win of the season last night, beating the much-younger and more athletic league defending champs by 3 - although we almost blew a 13-point lead with 3:30 left in the game. I only had 6 points, but it was the first game all season where I felt like I had my legs under me. We play again tonight, and I'm interested (dreading?) to see how I hold up - especially since we will only have 5 guys (maybe only 4!) tonight. Should be fun.

I weighed in this morning lighter than I have been in a long, long time. I'm down 16-17 pounds since March 1st. I'd be down a lot more if I was a bit more disciplined on the weekends, but woulds and coulds do not count for anything in this world.

I have had the very good fortune over the past handful of weeks to touch base with some good friends from my past. A few weeks ago my childhood babysitter Angela phoned me out of the blue. Late last week, thanks to MySpace, I was able to hear from two of my best friends from college, Nolan and then Antonio. Both are doing very well, although one is in a tougher spot than the other. Nolan has moved to Arizona. So, the Madden Superman to my Lex Luthor (Superman always wins, right?) from a few years back has chicken-ly moved three time zones away so as to not have to deal with my improved game. The only way we'll play again is online. I'm game. Antonio, on the other hand is in his third tour of duty in Iraq. Was happy to hear that his family is doing well, and that he is doing everything in his power to stay safe. I told him that regardless of my feelings concerning our government and our involvement in Iraq, that I am pulling for him and the rest of our people over there to take care of their business and to come home safe. While attending the wedding of good friend John Rambo over the weekend, I got to spend some catch-up time with old friend Dom C. It was very cool reminiscing with Dommer, and I am happy to report that he too is doing very well these days.

We had a poker night at my house (the first since late July) a few weeks back that was enlightening for a number of reasons. First, it is impossible to play poker without confidence. Second, it is impossible to have any confidence if you do not do something often enough to hone your abilities (the same lesson can be applied to what has happened to me in hoops). Third, if you do not drink enough to maintain an alcohol tolerance (mine was once legendary), then it is not a good idea to have myriad Captain and Diet Cokes from the onset of the session forward. I do not feel that I played badly that night. I won in the pre and post-tourney ring games. I was eliminated in 7th place from the 9-person tourney. I still haven't gotten over one particular hand that cost me what should have been a huge early chip lead.

I was in a heads-up pot against a very solid, tight player (let's call him Rob Y.). I was in late position with A-6 suited (diamonds), after limping in to see a flop of Ah, 6h, Jh. Rob checked, I bet big, he called. 4th street was a blank. I bet large again, and Rob re-raised all in. Prior to his re-raise, I was most certain that I had the best hand. This is where my lack of playing, and confidence, came into play. I went into the tank as I considered calling his all-in bet. The call would have represented most, if not all, of my remaining chips. I had Aces-up, and the only hands that I had to worry about were A,A, J,J or 6,6 or two suited hearts in the hole. Knowing how much of a rock Rob Y. is, I was pretty sure he had to have a high pocket pair. In my mind at the time I thought that maybe he had the J,J. So, I laid down my hand and showed my cards. He flipped over Q,Q (including the Queen of hearts). If I'd have called, I would have been ahead, but he had a LOT of outs. On one hand it looks like I made a disciplined lay-down, but my gut tells me it was a terrible lay-down for me. I ended up getting busted when another solid player (let's call him Danny E.) rivered a straight to knock me out. As I said earlier, my confidence has been lacking in a lot of things of late. I know that I am a better card player, and basketball player, than I have been showing. If I am going to continue to play either (or both), I am going to have to play and practice more often to keep myself sharp.

[Currently Listening: Bob Marley - "Small Axe"]