Also, the Phillies play at 1pm!! Today could be the greatest day ever. I'm watching the games over at my brother Scott's. I was there last night too, we watched Penn State (Nikki, my sister-in-law, graduated from Penn State and is a fan for life), but they got romped by Notre Dame. I played with my neice, Meghan, and my nephew Danny. Danny did his "E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!" chant. He's 3, so it comes out like "E-L-G EAGLES!!!" It's the cutest thing.

Some people watch the preseason games. I could care less. I'm a huge Phillies fan right now. One time during preseason, they both played at like 7 o'clock one Thursday night, and I didn't turn on the Eagles, not even once, until the Phillies were over. They could make the playoffs, and in baseball, anything can happen after that. A lot of World Series winners have been Wild Card teams. Boston '04 was one... So anything can happen. But baseball will be in the background today. It's f@#%@ing football season!!!

I went golfing with my Dad yesterday. I was out until around 1:30 am on Friday. I was completely bombed. My Dad told me to meet him at their house at 8 am. But instead, plans changed a bit. My Dad tried to call me and I didn't answer. So he came over at 7:55! I woke up right away, got dressed, got some stuff together, brushed my teeth, put the stupid dog in her crate, and met my Dad outside. At this point, I realized how hung over I was. Oh man, golf was not going to be fun today. I had a monster headache for the first 7-8 holes. I wasn't even functional until the 5th or 6th hole, and by the end of the round, I tried to think back to the beginning of the round, and it seemed like a lifetime ago. Being just the two of us, the starter tried to pair us up with this couple, but they didn't want to because they were there celebrating their anniversary or something. God bless 'em. So we got paired with these two guys, probably mid to late 50s. Friendly guys. Of course, you're supposed to be friendly to the people you get paired with, it's a friendly game. Not being functional, I was like "Hi.". I didn't say much other than cracking a joke, like about a bunker that they both got stuck in, saying "You could spend a lifetime in there." It was a brutal, brutal bunker with steep sides. The one guy almost had to go out sideways.

After an advil that my Dad had, a cheeseburger after nine, and a f2#%@ing sh@#%load of water, I felt much better. I was back to myself :P At this point, I explained that I was out celebrating the night before because I got a new job, and was probably still wasted when I started the round! They understood :) One of them actually offered me work since he found out I was a programmer! I gave him my info so we should be in touch.

I had this shot on "the humpback hole" at Paxon Hollow. I drove way left and couldn't get to the green, so I chipped out to the edge of the fairway, around 140 yards away. I took out my 7 iron, knowing it was the exact club I needed. I hit it, and it was beautiful. It bounced, and again, and rolled up and settled right behind the cup, 2 feet away. The two guys I was with cheered and clapped, I took a bow. It was awesome.

The funniest thing about this story, though, is that I scored better on the front nine than I did on the back. And by 9 whole strokes! The back is harder, but still... I was totally out of it for the front nine, shooting a 44! I thank water and food for my miraculous front nine.

We went to the Phillies game yesterday. They got romped by the Devil Rays. Our seats were in Section 104, Row 10. If you watch a replay of the game, a dude on the other team hit a home run to the exact same seat I was sitting in. Only, it was a little higher. It hit my f@#$@#ing finger!! Which I said to everyone about 10 times really loud. But, the dude behind me got it and immediately threw it back. I almost had it. Damnit! It's incredible when a baseball is coming right at you at like 3129 miles per hour and you're WASTED. I watched it and was like "That's outta here..." Then I'm like "Wait a second, I'm in right field... and it's coming right at me!!" So I stood up, put my hand out, and the sheer speed of the ball probably made me pull it down a little, due to the fear of having a broken hand or some other crap like that. Before Aaron Rowand made his courageous, nose destroying catch, he got hit by a pitch on the back of his hand. They showed it on TV and it was nasty. A huge black and blue mark. I didn't want that. I don't think that popped in my head then though. All that popped in my head was "That's moving pretty fast."

Other than that it was a great time! We had beer, and we had these neighbors at our tailgate party who had Jack Daniels and some rum. They gave me some rum, like a fifth of a red plastic cup of it. DMart had his sister there and his sister's friend... of course, they were at our neighbor's the whole time, drinking heavily, since they were almost, but not quite yet, 21. It was a mess, but it didn't detract from my good time. JY, SG and I were tossing the football around, doing spectacular one handed catches. Not to show off, but I didn't want to put my beer down :)

Then we went to McFadden's after the game. I sorta know a bartender there, she was my mortgage agent when I was looking at houses. I got a free beer from her. [General bar events and chats with girls... etc].

Good times. We're all going to Dorney Park soon too, so that should be fun.

I'm heading out to watch the Phillies today, so real quick I decided to put up a filter on the news. It's like being a proud father, you just want everyone to see your kid hit home runs. I just want to be able to have everyone search for news. You can always find quality stuff when you enter "drinking" (or "beer") into the "Text" search. I know it doesn't make sense to have a filter AND have the categories listed on the left, but I literally have to go get ready for this game and buy some beer to bring along, which of course means I have to hit up WaWa, get money, and buy smokes and something to keep me occupied while the Phillies are getting slaughtered by whoever they play today. They're the only sport right now in Philly, so when they suck, your whole summer sucks.

I'll be putting one up for pictures and downloads soon. Pictures especially needs some help. Plus, there's a major bug on the page that I notice every time I go there, like 3 times a week, and I haven't devoted any time to fixing it yet. Plus, I'll be adding more cool filter types so you can say "List news that has comments". Or like, "List news with comments between 5/1/2006 and 6/17/2006... 0 results returned!!" Oh well.

I didn't. But here's how it went down. Aaron Rowand plays center field for the Phillies. Top of the first inning, bases loaded, 2 outs. A long drive deep to center field. Rowand's going back, back, back. HE CAUGHT THE BALL!! Meanwhile, my brother's downstairs watching it, and starts going ballistic. "HE CAUGHT IT, HOLY SH@# HE F@#$@!ING CAUGHT IT!!! JASE, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS F@#%@ING CATCH!!!" So I go running downstairs and catch it in slow motion. All I can say to describe it is "Splat". They cut back to the live action. Rowand is on his knees, leaning over, and blood is POURING out of his nose. Literally. It didn't look as horrible in slow motion as it did when they showed the live replay. That's why I use the word "Splat". It was like he was an insect and Citizens Bank Park was a car going 70 on I-95. There are these metal bars that go across the fence area in center field, he caught one directly on the bridge of his nose. It was ugly. He had complained when he was traded here that the bars are dangerous. The field crew was scheduled to pad them over TODAY! Horrible luck. You can see them in the picture, the silver part of the fence. A guy on WIP talking to Angelo Cataldi put it best. He said that he had no regard for his own wellbeing in order to improve the wellbeing of his team. Isn't that just what we want in Philly?! He described how he was in FULL STRIDE when he hit that fence. This was a bases loaded jam with two outs, afterall. If he hadn't gone all out into the fence, it was guaranteed a bases clearing triple. Phillies end up winning 2-0 after it was cut short when the skies opened up after the top of the 5th. Today Rowand lies in a hospital bed. Another article I read said, and you can imagine the severity of the injury, that Rowand "destroyed" his nose. Destroyed. Ouch. He'll have reconstructive surgery today. And what was I doing while Rowand was risking life and limb? Watching video game movies of course! It's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), where all the video game makers and hardware makers (Sony, Nintendo, etc) show all their coolest sh@%. Let me say, there's some pretty f@%^@ing cool s@#% out there! I watched a few hours of game movies last night on GameSpot. Picture courtesy of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The 700 Level has video and some better pictures.

Disappointing night overall. On the Flyers' end, one player spoiled the game. On the Eagles, it was a bunch of people, including one head coach.

The Flyers were looking good. Peter Forsberg had an excellent game, scoring two goals. Everyone played well. I look in awe at the performance of most of our defensemen... Joni Pitkanen, Kim Johnsson, even sometimes Mike Rathje and Derien Hatcher. Desjardins is always a solid D-man. The one left is the guy the Flyers have to get rid of. Chris Therien. He made two big mistakes that led to goals, and at least one other mistake that almost led to a goal. He singlehandedly cost the Flyers the game. I don't care what they tell you, it was Therien's fault. He stinks.

The Eagles. Oh boy, the Eagles. In my last post, I said Donovan was the key to the Eagles. If he plays good, the team does well, and also true on the reverse side. However, when he makes stupid mistakes, he can turn the other team's misfortunes into fortunes. He played well for about 56 minutes tonight. Not extremely well, but well enough to score 20 points, and the defense played well enough to only allow 7. Then things changed. Andy Reid makes stupid play calls, like when we're in the lead with 3 minutes left, to go long on a pass play. Reggie Brown, the aspiring rookie, misses a few HUGE passes, which would have meant that Akers wouldn't have had to try a 60 yard field goal attempt with a semi-100% hamstring and the unpredictable winds of Lincoln Financial Field. Donovan still tries to run a shovel pass even though he could hear the inside linebacker yell "Watch the shovel!!" We should have turned all of our field goals into touchdowns, and put this game out of reach for the Cowgirls by the start of the 4th quarter. That's not what went down though.

It sucks when two of your teams lose in the same night. But what's worse is not when the team plays bad, but when you can pinpoint one awful performance that might have cost the game.

The Flyers play the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Eagles play the DallasSUCKS Cowboys. Should be a night to remember.

Quick comments on both teams. I love watching the Flyers. Peter Forsberg (or, as I call him, just "Pete") is incredible. He makes plays and I yell out "HOLY F@#%#@" or "J@ES#@ F#@%@# CH5#@%@!!" or just simply "WOAH!" All of this year's Flyers are exciting to watch because of the new rules, and having won the last 6 games makes it pretty cool too. Let's get "Flyer'ed Up!!". The Fly-guys will make a good showing this season. Go FLYERS!!

The Eagles are pretty bad this year. Donovan's hurt, but he insists on not using it as an excuse. I say, fine, I won't say you're hurt, just that you stink!! Make passes! Don't make stupid plays (like, faking a spike with no timeouts left, only to have the receiver that you want to pass to not be on the same page as you... pretty stupid...), and complete your passes!! Don't throw them at the f#@%#@$@#!ing ground!! Brunell of the Redskins looks unbelievable right now, especially compared to Donovan. They have to keep the defense off the field longer so they are rested, instead of going three and out for the first half of the game. Right now I'm not expecting good, but if they do good, then I'll be happy. The defense hasn't been getting pressure on the QB, so that's something to look out for as well. We're the F#@%!@$!#ing EAGLES, we should kick everyone's ass... but, right now, things just aren't going our way! Of course, T.O. won't be a factor tonight (either having him or not having him... T.O. was never a factor... now that we stink, and we've had T.O. all season, you look at something else that might be THE factor. And that's #5).

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!

Friday, sitting only 2 feet away from me, in front of me but sorta facing me, was a man known only as "Jon Jon Da Maniac". How did I know? Because he couldn't keep quiet! He was rambling on with some guys, some guys who he says is his target audience, that being African American males. He did some jokes from his show. They were pretty funny. What was really funny is that this dude said stuff on a train full of a very diverse group of people that I wouldn't even say if I were guaranTEED that there was no one around for 10 MILES. I saw him getting on the train where I get on the train, 11th and Market. I took notice because he had stuffed monkeys with him. Yes, stuffed ones where the arms velcro together, so you can hang them on stuff. After being on the train for a few minutes, all three of them found their way hanging around his neck! He had blonde hair, spiked backwards. He was wearing pants with a Mickey Mouse pattern repeated over them, and a purple tanktop. His assistant had his suit, a beautiful purple double breasted suit. I didn't catch the manufacturer, sorry.

Later, his original audience left, so I was the only one he could talk to. He was telling me about his past agents. One Alicia Keys' brother. And how he'd signed on with Drew Rosenhaus. Yes, Drew Rosenhaus. He mentioned how he backed Terrell Owens. How he performed in the Super Bowl last year, saying "If someone fights through an injury to play in a game" blah blah blah. He then told me of his plans in Philadelphia.

He wants to open two bars. One being "Jon Jon's Purple" and the other "Jon Jon's Pink". Forgive me if I get these wrong, but the purple one will be a sports bar, and the pink one will be a "Gentlemen's Club". I could tell he liked those colors just by the fact that his suit is purple and he had on a purple tanktop. Plus nice black leather sandals. The dude's got style ;) As we were getting off the train, he told me of his extra plans for "Pink". He wants to make it the only non-smoking gentlemen's club in Philadelphia. I had forgotten to mention the fact that Philadelphia is currently trying to get smoking forbidden in all public places. I scoffed at this, saying something like "Aww man!!" To which he said "I can't have smoking in my bars, I have cancer." That would give you a different perspective on life, I guess. I also added that I don't mind not smoking in a bar. I can head outside if I need one. As we headed off the train, he gave me two of his business cards.

His card has recommendations from people like Master P, the Casino Review, and Angelo Cataldi of WIP, where he was voted "#1 Maniac". Aaliyah has a quote on the front of the card. And it has his e-mail address. He told me to email him, and tell him where I met him, and he'd do something for me, like send me an autograph. I thought that was nice.

I have never heard of him until Friday. He apparently was on BET and WIP that week. I don't even think I get BET, and I don't have any opportunity to listen to the radio since I would only listen in my car, and I don't drive that much now. I have yet to convince myself, he could be a BS artist or just hitting it big. I don't want to look stupid like "There's no one called Jon Jon Da Maniac!" but, I met him. He may not be famous, Drew Rosenhaus may not be his agent, he might have never met anyone that he told me he met, and who knows if he's opening bars. You never meet people like that. He's a crazy character and I wish him the best :)

Jeff told me this as I got in yesterday. There was agony and pain running through my body. Marc Jackson made the Sixers the most entertaining team in all of the NBA last year, and I am proud to say I watched nearly every game. But let's look at the overall formula of last year's Sixers.

Allen Iverson is the best player ever. I've said this before in the beginning weeks of this, the revised version of my website. The way he slips between defenders, or shakes a defender off by faking a move to the basket then just draining a fade-away jumper. He makes the most incredible drives to the basket, turns on a dime, and finishes with the most unbelievable shot you'll ever see, then does it again the next possession.

Andre Iguodala can slam with the best of them. I covered him way back when also. Towards the middle of the season, all the way to the end, the CN8 announcer (Marc Zumoff?) would get giddy like a school girl when "the other AI" got the ball and half of a court all to himself. He'd say stuff like "HERE WE GOOOOOO!!!!!!" and "WATCH THIS!!!!" That announcer is another part to the excitement of the team. He does a great job.

Kyle Korver, of "K squared = 3" fame. He would get a pass and before you knew it, it was down from 3 point land. Many games were won because of a shot from Korver in the very late stages of the game. Allen referred to him as "Sniper". Also, his defensive abilities, his hustling, like diving all over the place, sacrificing the body for the team, just a very exciting player to watch.

Samuel Dalembert was the big man. Blocking shots, hammering down slams, dribbling sometimes like a little man. He's gonna be great this year.

Then there's Marc Jackson. A solid player, not particularly great, but didn't make a lot of mistakes, had a heck of an 18 foot jumper, and a bigger heart than anyone. Jeff and I would literally laugh our asses off sometimes when watching Marc! He would get into a rebound battle under the basket, then you would hear Marc. He just screams. It helps him. He'd scream, jump a few times, then get the ball and put it back up and in. He always had a smile on his face except after he just slammed it home or put a rebound back in, then he looked like he was going to rip someone's arms off. My favorite was when he was guarding Shaq. Shaq did his normal, very illegal, using a smaller player as a launch pad routine. This time it happened to be Marc Jackson. Well, Jeff and I are watching, when all the sudden you hear, from the underbelly of Shaq, "HOLY SH%T!!!!". Like, really loud. I still laugh about it.

All of these things combined for the most exciting Sixers I've ever watched. It'll still be exciting this year, everyone listed above, with the exception of Marc, is coming back for this season, plus we have a new coach, Maurice Cheeks, and every player seems to like him more than Jim O'Brien, so that's a bonus.

So, goodbye Marc. Jeff and I will make it a point to catch some of your NJ Nets games next year.

Roenick's the man. But we got Peter Forsberg (again). I wish Roenick the greatest success in the future, to a degree. I just don't want his team to beat our team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He's a class act and he's hilarious. And a good all around guy. You can read up more on the Flyers here, here, there's a piece here, here, here, a web search here and any other website in Philadelphia. It's big news.

For this whole week, the El will be under construction, being shut down from 40th to 69th street, for all intensive purposes. Today was my first day experiencing this ordeal. Let me tell you, it sucks. Take a look at this picture for a rough estimate of what's going on.

The optimal route would go right down Market Street. As you can see by the blue line, it doesn't do this, even after going halfway to Delaware first. This is due to the fact that, indeed, the El is under construction, rendering most of Market Street inaccessible. But the mystery of the new route is that first mile or so. I would assume this is also due to the fact that the shortcut to Chestnut (the road the El Shuttle, the blue line, takes before it turns to meet Market street), goes down Market Street as well, and you're only able to turn off at the first elevated station. So, the first mile may be necessary, however long it is. This first mile is the detour for everyone else going down Market, of course, or so it seems, as it was backed up immensely, and took 10-15 minutes of bumper-to-bumper hell to get through it.

Ok, the way back is fine. You travel the scenic route, up Walnut. It's slow but direct.

On the way in today, there was no mile long detour. This time, we were in one of those double buses with the flexy thing in the middle. That was different. Anyway, departure time 7:58 AM at the end of my street, walked into my office at 8:57 AM (approximate). Not a bad way in.

There's like a thousand cops on the 13th street side of the Convention center. Apparently there's a protest or two today. I might have to go for a walk. I can see all the cops from my window, but that's all I can see. Unless there's a donut convention... I kid! There are also a few helicopters flying overhead. Start the revolution! Actually, it's just a skateboarder gathering and the people against bio weapons. Personally I love bio weapons. Just grab a slab of meat and chuck it at someone, you'll see what I mean. And skateboarding? Please, as if Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding video games aren't more fun than the real thing.

Read about the protests here.

[Update] Around 2:30 PM, the 13th street side of the convention center has cleared, but there are still random sirens and a helicopter or two floating around out there.

[Update] All is quiet on the Philly frontier. However, there was one casualty. An officer died of a heart attack on his way to assist in a scuffle between protesters and police. Rest in peace :( That sucks bigtime.

'80s rapper Tone Loc, of "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" fame, plays his first area show in years June 24 at Reeds Blue Bell (Rt. 202 & Rt. 73) . Loc is also an actor and appeared in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine." Doors open at 7 p.m. $10 cover

[from Philadelphia Daily News]

I will be at the Phillies / Diamondbacks game today at 1:35. It's a business person's special. Perfect timing that summer decided to roll in here in Philadelphia. It'll be going up to 92 today, which Arizoners scoff at, but I know an Arizoner who grew up in Philly, and he said he'd much rather have the humidity-less heat of Arizona than the can't-breath heat of Philly. Of all things brutal, this is the brutalest (word?).

Our A/C went on yesterday for the first time. At the game today, I'll be consuming liquids the whole time. I might miss half of the game due to bathroom breaks. I have my camera with me so I'll be sure to get pictures of phenomena as they occur.

[Update] I just got my ticket from my coworker. I'll be in Section 145! That's homerun territory!

But I work in the city

In Philly, you will not be able to smoke in bars or restaurants. Bars have 2 years to comply, and there will be exemptions for private clubs and stuff like that, but everyone else has to comply by the beginning of next year.

Thankfully, I live and party in the suburbs :) Well, I wonder if Conshohocken will be doing anything similar, although, it really doesn't matter that much, the Great American Pub already is 1/4 non-smoking. Everybody is in the non smoking room, so to be hip, you can't smoke (a little different from High School and typical peer pressure). I'm glad they are outlawing it. Whenever I get a slight urge to smoke in a bar, I just do it. There's no thinking, by the time I think I might want a cigarette, it's in my mouth and lit. So, having everything non-smoking will help me a bit. But again, the ban is only in the city for now, and not even now since bars, again, have 2 years to comply.

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