Monthly Archives: August 2010

August 31, 2010

Cahill’s a Contender, But It’s Felix’s Cy Young To Lose

By chappy81

I was all fired up to write a Cahill for the AL Cy Young Award last night, but sadly he got shelled for 8 runs by the Yankees. His ERA ended up ballooning from 2.43 to 2.82 dropping him from second to third in ERA. He held the lead in WHIP with an amazing 0.99, but that ballooned to 1.07 after last night, and now he’s now second behind Cliff Lee in that department. He was going to need to lead those key categories if he was going to have any chance in winning a Cy Young. Cahill missed April with an injury, so he had some ground to make up in innings pitched to be considered. Since he doesn’t strike out a lot of guys he needed to keep that ERA and WHIP down to get any Cy Young votes. He’s about as dominating a ground ball pitcher as you can be, but voters value K’s A LOT, so falling out of the lead of those two major categories might have pushed him out of the Cy talks. Until last night, he’d lasted five or more innings, and given up seven or fewer hits in all 23 of his starts. That was broken up yesterday, but the streak was still good enough for an Oakland record, which is surprising thinking of all the pitching greats that have donned the green and gold over the years. I ended up posting Stealing First Base last night, because I was rattled by this rare ugly start for our 22 year old sensation. If he’d shut down the Yankees, there would be more optimism in his Cy Young candidacy. At this moment, I can’t really put him at the top, so I’d probably drop him down to the second tier where I have CC, Bucholtz, and Wilson. He’s got a month left to get a new streak of zeros going, but the way Felix has been firing on all cylinders he’s the man to dethrone now.

If it was decided today, I’d would crown King Felix with the AL Cy Young. He’s been phenomenal after a so-so May. If he played for any team but Seattle, he’d at least have 15 wins. If he was on the Yankees he’d probably have as many wins if not more than CC’s 18. A 10-10 record isn’t anything to write home about, but I care a lot more about the pure pitching numbers, and the 24 year old is having another great season. He’s lost a number of games where his team only scored one run for him or in some cases was completely shut out. Nothing surprising coming out of Seattle since they own the lowest total amount of runs scored in all of baseball. They can’t even score as much as Pittsburgh! Just checking out his game log, it tells the story of his lack of run support. Quality start after quality start, and nothing in the win column to show for it. Over his last 15 starts he’s pitched at least 6.2 innings, and has given up only three runs three times, and two or less runs in the other twelve starts. He’s currently second in K’s (192), second in ERA (2.47), third in WHIP (1.11), leads in IP (204.1), and is holding hitters to a .225 BA (sixth best in the AL). I’ve found myself feeling sorry for the guy. Every time he goes out there he gets the least run support of any of the candidates, and the Seattle crowd knows it, giving him standing ovations even when he leaves the game behind on the scoreboard, because they know they are watching a great pitcher that gave them everything he had. Maybe I’m picking him because I thought he deserved it last year or because he’s on one of my fantasy teams. If it weren’t for Greinke’s freakish year that made Felix an afterthought when the award was handed out, he could be going for back to back awards. Even Greinke got better run support in his Cy Young season last year than Felix has had these past two seasons. I know the award isn’t given out based on a two year period, but consistency can be taken into considered in a year that the award could go either way. Kind of like when Kobe and Barkley won their MVP awards in the NBA. Kobe wasn’t the overly obvious choice for the award, but sometimes you have to reward someone that is at the top for an extended period of time. Same went for Barkley, they might have been tired of giving it to Jordan,  so they threw in a change up and gave it to the big man who finished runner up a few times. If Felix keeps doing what he’s been doing, he should win the award! Now that I’ve said all that, I bet Felix gets blown up by the Angels tonight…

15 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

August 30, 2010

Stealing First Base

By chappy81

This happened a couple days ago, and if you haven’t seen this Gary Robinson ejection, it’s worth a watch. It was probably the most controlled out of control ejection, I’ve ever seen. He started off with the ol’ cover home with dirt, which was when I thought he had lost it. He started heading to first, and as soon as he pulled first base out of the ground, I was hoping for him to bust out his best Phillip Wellman impression. Going nuts is highly underrated these days. Sure you get ridicule, but you are remembered! It didn’t end up being one of the greatest blow ups of all time, but did have an unusual ending. I wonder if that base will end up on ebay?

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

August 29, 2010

Upgrading The Man Cave

By mceezy

The football season is upon us, though it looks like someone forgot to tell the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since the Raiders aren’t in last place yet, I’m pretty excited for the season right now. Chappy and I did some shopping online for some essentials to enhance our Sunday afternoons, and here’s some exciting products that will help you cheer on your team….

Wildon Home Foxton Bar

I’ve produced and seen some pretty impressive spreads at Super Bowl parties and such, but always felt like a dining table didn’t quite suffice. Sure, the food looks nice and all, but you still had to get your beers from the fridge. You know what I always felt was missing? A BAR. I just assumed one would have to own a house that had one, but that is not the case! Apparently you can purchase a stand alone bar, at a pretty decent cost. This one was the best one I found, but there are surprisingly a good handful of options for right around $500. This one, and others, can be found at http://www.diningroomsdirect.com/

Wincraft Keg-a-Que

I’ll admit, this caught my eye because I thought it was a keg. It turns out it’s a portable BBQ, but that might even be better! At least I’d probably be likely to use it more. Most people already have a grill for home use, but what about tailgating AT the game? I had a pretty trusty portable bbq for years, but it was red and black. How am I supposed to feel good about myself using that in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum when the Chiefs, Cardinals, or 49ers are in town? Well, here’s the solution. These steel, keg-shaped portable grills come in propane and charcoal models, and are available in all teams at http://www.nflshop.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=2415724&ab=Tailgating_BSpot_Grilling_072210

Panasonic 3D Active Shutter Eyewear

The ESPN 3D era is here, and I’ve got to believe Monday Night Football is going to be the centerpiece of their offerings. There’s been good (Avatar) and bad (Alice in Wonderland) in terms of 3D thus far, but I don’t see ESPN bothering with this if they weren’t going to make football games amazing. Let’s hope they have cameras in the end zone seats so those Lambeau Leaps will come right into your living room. I’m also looking forward to coaches’ gatorade showers and those wire cams figure to play a key role. Granted, you’re going to need a new TV and cable box, but start with the glasses, because you can at least rock them in public in the meantime. These badass shades can be found at http://www.rcwilley.com/Electronics/TV-Video/Video-Accessories/TY-EW3D10U/2361744/Panasonic-3D-Active-Shutter-Eyewear-View.jsp

Tailgate/Ping Pong/Beer Pong Table

They call this a tailgate table on the site, but it’s pretty much essential in my book for any mancave. Besides being easy to store, it has a plethora of other uses. Whether you’re playing beer pong in the mancave because your team is behind by 28, and you no longer care about the game, or you’re tailgating right before the game with the Wincraft Keg-A-Que it will be perfect for any football sunday. Apparently you can also turn this into a ping pong table, but looking at the dimensions, I’m not so sure you’d want to play doubles. This is already making me want to get a beer pong game going right now… I wish it didn’t take a week to get here! Check it out here http://www.csnstores.com/Tailgate-Toss-TPN-D-122-TAI1440.html

GAME FACE

I’m far from the most intimidating guy in the world, and sometimes random Charger friends end up stopping by to rain on the Raiders party, which hasn’t been that hard recently. This year I’m going to be prepared for them with my game face! Just to make sure the new people don’t think us Raiders fans are soft. This new look will surely garner some respect. I’m not sure I can hang wearing vinyl for three hours, but sometimes it takes that kind of dedication from a fan.  http://www.csnstores.com/Franklin-Sports-6991F22-FKS1289.html

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Random, Sports

August 27, 2010

2010 Fantasy Football Mock Draft

By dyslecix

Before each season we try rep our fantasy knowledge, err, get in a little pre-league draft practice reps with the mock  before we take on the real thing. It’s slowly becoming a tradition here at DW for every sport and every season. Since there’s only five of us, we have to draft for multiple teams, but we try to make each pick based on how we’d want the first three rounds to go for a given team. Some of the picks make more sense than others, but just like real drafts, some people throw out the ADP rankings and go with their gut/guy! If you get nothing out of this, we hope you at least enjoy the team names, and the sh** we talk on some of the players!

ROUND ONE

#1 Huge Fake TD’s – Chris Johnson

Not sure there’s much to say here.  2500 total yards last year, over 2,000 on the ground.  Made Big Fat Lendale White’s 15 TD’s from the previous year expendable.  One of the fastest guys in the NFL.  And in tandem with VY, the Titan backfield is ridiculous with the variety of spread plays they can run.  Everyone has CJ and his golden grill #1, and so do I.  But my grill has diamonds.

#2 Just Win, Maybe – Adrian Peterson

I haven’t finished higher than 10th place since 2002, coincidentally the last time the Raiders were good hence the team name. I get “rewarded” with one of the top draft picks every year, and it never helps probably because the snaking draft order system, which is the gayest thing in the world if you ask me. I guess AP is going to be solid this year especially with Favre losing his number one receiver, so he should be getting more carries and probably even be involved more in the passing game too! It’s a shame on my team he’s more likely to get hurt all my first rounder picks do…

#3 Richmond Rapists – MJD

So, this is an easy pick. The back up to this pick is obviously Ray Rice, however I would only think about taking him in a keeper league situation. MJD is a TD machine and great building block for my draft in the later rounds.

#4 Bloodfart – Frank Gore

The 49’ers are getting better, so the Bloodfarts will get better as well.  Alex Smith has continued to improve (when healthy), the addition of Michael Crabtree at WR and the blossoming of Vernon Davis at TE will only help make the run respectable.  Frank Gore runs like his teachers are chasing him, and that’s definitely a good thing for fantasy owners.  He still feels he has a lot to give, and a lot to prove.

#5 Scott Pilgrim vs. Your Mom – Aaron Rodgers

Let me start by saying I suck at fantasy football.  Now that I got the waiver out of the way, let me explain why I selected Aaron Rodgers so high in the mock draft.  Did you not see last season?  Yes, I totally just explained my reasoning with a question, and that makes me totally awesome.

#6 Washing Headskins – Ray Rice

Great to see a player like this fall! When I saw I was drafting six, I was going to pull the trigger on Aaron Rodgers, but having Rice fall to me instead is a great consolation price. Hard to make the sixth position a great draft spot, but this certainly helps. Continue reading

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Mock Drafts, Sports

August 26, 2010

This Was Actually Fun????

By mceezy

I love my vintage sports games, there’s no denying that. NHL 94 is STILL fun and the mere presence of Brass Bonanza will keep me going back for years to come. Tecmo Bowl also plays well nearly 20 years later and any football game as far back as 10 Yard Fight can be appreciated. But how in the wide world of sports could Bulls Vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs ever have been fun?? I won’t lie, I played the hell out of that game, but seriously, this looks atrocious. I know the main thing it had going for it was actual NBA rosters, but there’s nothing memorable about this game whatsoever. I know some players had signature moves, but all that comes to mind is Derrick Coleman throwing it off the backboard to himself and Tom Chambers taking off from the free throw line and throwing down a two hand jam. Oh and I remember the All-Star games being held in San Mateo, CA, which was pretty cool for a NorCal kid. After I watched the video below though, I really am left with no clue how this game ever entertained me…..

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in video games

August 26, 2010

Employer Nails Maid

By mceezy

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan maid returned from her job in Saudi Arabia with 24 nails inside her body — the result of torture by the family who employed her, according to a doctor and a government official.

L.G. Ariyawathi’s body is riddled with needles and nails, which are scheduled to be removed Friday, a doctor confirmed.

Ariyawathi, 49, returned to Sri Lanka on Saturday from Saudi Arabia and was hospitalized the next day with severe pain at a facility about 100 miles away from capital, Colombo, according to media reports.

She told a local newspaper that her employers tortured her with the nails as punishment.

I’m pretty sure when you take a job as a housekeeper in Saudi Arabia, you can probably throw out your OSHA handbook. I wouldn’t expect the working conditions to be ideal, but being impaled with 24 nails seems a bit extreme. Click here for the full story, if nothing else, to see the x-ray pictures.

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in News

August 26, 2010

Taking A Look At The MLB Waiver Period

By chappy81

With Manny being put on Waivers last night, it made me curious exactly how the waiver process works. I mean, even Casey Blake doesn’t understand what’s going on after hearing the news he was put on waivers. Now that we have the blog, it’s given me an extra reason to find out what is going on with this seeming second trade deadline. The waiver period doesn’t really end there, but that’s when teams have to declare their playoff eligible players. So, just like I broke down the Super 2 rule that keeps some teams from calling up their top prospects. Now, I will loosely use Manny as an example of how this waiver crap works…

It all starts with the Dodgers deciding to place Manny on waivers. This means they control three things that happen at the end of a 48 hour period or a kind of0 silent auction so to speak. One note, it’s not actually 48 hours sometimes. For some reason it only counts business days, so if they held off putting Manny on waivers until Thursday or Friday his waiver period would last through the weekend until Monday or Tuesday. By doing it yesterday, the Dodgers insured that the period will end before this week is over.

So who can claim Manny? Basically any team can throw their name into the claim hat, but there is a priority list, and it starts with the worst team in the National League, because Manny is in the NL. If the Pirates decided to throw in a waiver claim in for Manny, they’d have the top priority. The team with the best record in the AL (Yankees/Rays) would have the lowest priority if multiple teams were putting in claims on Manny. Also, the best team in the NL would have a better shot than the worst team in the AL. Still with me?

Ok, so let’s say a team claims him. The Dodgers now can choose three different outcomes. They can pull the player back, and keep him on their roster. They can negotiate a trade with the team that put the claim in (Two business days to work out a deal from the time the claim goes through). They can also let the player go without compensation to the new team like the Blue Jays did letting Alex Rios go to the White Sox last season, and let the new team assume all of his remaining contract. We saw Johnny Damon weep like he just realized his beard was gone, and denied a return to the Red Sox was a prime example. It will be Manny’s choice if he goes anywhere, which in a likely scenario, the team that put the player on waivers is usually stuck with that player they put on waivers, and just have to hope for some compensation picks, which isn’t a terrible 2nd place prize if your stuck with said players contract.

Another interesting thing I found was how much strategy there is in the waiver process. Just because a team claimed someone doesn’t necessarily mean they REALLY wanted them. Sometimes a team will claim a player just because they want to block that player from going to a rival or someone they are chasing in the standings. It’s why I think the Red Sox put in a claim for Damon and might for Manny. They would rather have these guys deny a trade to play for them, and block the Yankees and Rays from improving. Who knows, they might even be happy that Damon stayed put! This factor made me realize that the July 31st deadline is way more important than the August 31st deadline, because teams are heavily restricted with who they can negotiate with. The problem though, is what if a team claims one of the players without a no trade clause to block someone else from getting them, and they just get screwed with a someones recycled pile heap? I guess that’s just the risk you have to take as a GM sometimes…

11 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Sports

August 25, 2010

2010 Optimistic Raiders Preview

By chappy81

WARNING A BOLD PREDICTION IS IN PROGRESS! The Raiders will make it to the AFC Championship game in 2010. No, I’m not delusional like Al Davis, but this prediction comes because of fate and history. I’m happy to let you know that my fate, is to become a billionaire, and the Raiders fate this year, is to make it to the AFC Championship game. The Raiders are the team of the decades, and one reason they took to this name was because of their success at the beginning of each decade. The Raiders have made it to the AFC Championship game every year that ended in a zero since 1960. It means nothing what I predict or what the shortcomings of the team are, it’s just destiny. Continue reading

14 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

August 24, 2010

Farewell Foyle

By mceezy

In case you haven’t been following espn 8, the ocho, you may have missed that NBA legend Adonal Foyle has retired from the league he made his bitch for 13 years. Foyle spent the majority of his career patrolling the paint for the Golden State Warriors, before moving on to Orlando for a season plus, and then 3 minutes in Memphis – sounds like a song title right? Though he did usurp about $58 million from the Warriors over the greater part of a decade, Foyle managed to secure the top spot in Blocked Shots in his tenure as a W. The Oracle Arena staff commemerated this occasion by blasting Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.” But Foyle surpassed such greats as Bol, Parish, and Barry Carroll. He was a man among legends. But perhaps his most crowning moment was this, a shot that “isn’t as bad as it looked.” Sorry Adonal, you may have been one of the smartest men to ever play in the NBA, but you tossed up one of the worst shots ever!

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

August 23, 2010

The Dream Vs. The Admiral

By mceezy

Don’t ask me how this one started. The last thing I remember is going to Youtube and this video was on the front page. It’s crazy watching two slender, agile 7-footers doing battle with quickness and athleticism. This clip will surely have you saying, “they just don’t make em like they used to.” Anyway, in this clip, it appears that Hakeem Olajuwon feels a little slighted watching David Robinson hoist the MVP trophy. That postseason, over 22 games en route to a second consecutive NBA Championship, The Dream averaged a ridiculous 33 pts, 10 reb, 4.5 asts per game. I never would’ve classified Olajuwon as underrated, but looking back, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves. Michael Jordan is regarded as the best player in the history of the game, but who won the title both years he was away? Hakeem was at the top of his game, and he didn’t need Semmi to get there.

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Sports

August 23, 2010

Ghost Riding With Firemen and White Boys

By chappy81

I’ve always maintained that this first clip was the best Ghost Ride clip of all time. What inspired them to ghost ride the Volvo you ask? Moving the A’s from Oakland to Freemont!! I guess I dubbed it as the best ghost ride of all time partly because of the set up, and I agreed with it fully at the time. Plus, does anyone NOT feel like Ghost Ridin when they hear Mistah FAB? Today Dyslecix threw in a new challenger to the ring. These firemen didn’t have a set up, but they really didn’t need one. It was cool they could use 10 guys in the strut. I saw a couple solid C-walks, and some “dougie” moves thrown in there. I don’t think it was quite enough to beat out the A’s fans, but let us know which one you found more entertaining in the poll below.

VS.

If you have any other submissions, please let us know! doinworkstaff@gmail.com

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Comedy, Music, Random

August 22, 2010

Run and Tell That….. Homeboy

By mceezy

Alright, I didn’t really get into the Antoine Dodson video clip when it first surfaced. Sure, some dude in the projects provides unintentional humor by his homosexual swag…. seen it before. Though I was a big fan of the quote, “hide ya husbands cuz they rapin everybody out here,” it didn’t do much else for me. But then THIS smash hit single hit the airwaves. I went from Antoine Dodson hater to thinking I’m probably gonna cop his album!

1 Comment   |  tags: , | posted in Comedy

August 20, 2010

Brett Favre, The Indecision

By chappy81

Our favorite sports DJ is at it again. DJ Steve Porter already brought us the Press Hop, and we posted Press Hop II here. Now it appears he has made his splash into the Favre controversies. Not much to analyze in it, but one thing is for sure, I hope he keeps doing it! Oh and in case you were wondering he doesn’t ONLY do sports. He makes mixes with funny infomercial re-mixes too!

10 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Sports

August 19, 2010

Fight Club, Rugby, Football or Something Like That…

By chappy81

Yesterday and today in the e-mail chain, we started trying to figure out what was up with this fight/sports league which is a combo of rugby, football, and hockey. I’d call it an adult version of smear the queer with a couple of actual rules other than beat the guy with the ball. We ended up having more questions than answers since we weren’t sure exactly what was going on, but couldn’t take our eyes off it. Plenty of unintentional comedy in the first quarter above, and the other three quarters are availabe on youtube if your interested…

It might be the manliest sport I’ve ever seen with fights breaking out for what seems to be no reason, and they stop just as quickly. Plenty of cheap shots after plays and when the action is seemingly nonexistant. It’s funny that the play just keeps on going while guys are fighting. The league was formed in Italy, and looks loosly based off Rugby rules. I guess there’s some ancient Roman game called Harpastum that it’s supposed to mimick… I guess I see the ties to the old game using those Roman numerals on their backs. I doubt players were equipped with MMA gloves back in ancient times. I guess the point of all this fighting is that if you knock someone the fuck out, they aren’t allowed to bring in a sub for the KO’d player. I’m not sure they have a players union, but it’s going to be impossible to protect these guys from getting hurt numerous concussions.

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comedy, Sports

August 18, 2010

Comcast Still F***in Up!

By mceezy

It’s no secret I’m a Comcast hater. My first dip into the blogging world was a blog called  “Things That Suck…..Like Comcast.”  The best part about moving earlier this year was that I was leaving Comcast territory, so that meant I got to CANCEL my Comcast service for the first time since I started paying my own bills. They’ve been the thorn in my side for years, and I was able to cut ties finally. I still remember when I called to cancel and they asked me if I’d, “thought about simply transferring my Comcast service to my new place of residence?” to which I responded with a resounding F*** NO HAHAHA!!! I’ve never looked back since.

But today I got this e-mail and I couldn’t help but shake my head. Comcast has done it again. Forget the fact that I’m not a customer, nor was I ever valued, but have a read. It’s one thing to send out an e-mail in error, but the e-mail said We’ve increased your downloaded speeds, which turned out to be not true.

Dear Valued Comcast Customer,

We value your business.

You may have read an email from us in the last several days about a change to your Internet service. The subject line would have read:

Great News: We’ve Increased Your Download Speeds

The email was sent to you in error and we apologize for any inconvenience. Please disregard that email.

If there is any change to your service in the future, we will send you a separate email.

As always, we’ll continue to work hard to bring you the best online experience.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Comcast Customer Care Team

4 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Comedy