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OSJ

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Everything posted by OSJ

  1. I've got Hughes in the pool of not making it through 2021 without something horrible happening. I wonder who he got to ghostwrite that thing for him. Miletich has been a horrible sleazeball for such a long time that I see him being able to continue to get away with it. This was the same twat who only a few months ago was explaining how he would turn his metal cup inside out and sharpen the edges so that anyone who kicked him either accidentally or on purpose in the groin would instantly shred their leg. What a charming human being. Why are we even a bit surprised when a guy whose job is beating the fuck out of other human beings turns out to be a bit of a wanker? I suspect that there are a lot more Matt Hughes / Colby Covington / Conor McGregor guys in MMA than there are Khabibs or Cowboy Cerrones (both of whom have impressed me as being really decent guys).
  2. That's one hell of a shirt. Steve "Dr. Death" Williams would be proud!
  3. Really hard to compare anything to Smith's initial run on Conan. I thought it so good at the time that I had issues 1-10 bound in a hardcover volume (which I wish I still had), it showed up at Comic-Con some thirty years ago and the dealer who had it was asking a ridiculous amount of money for it. Not too ridiculous as apparently it sold... Trouble was that Smith set the bar so high with his initial run that not only could he not match what he'd done, even John Freakin' Buscema couldn't compare. When you've set the bar so high that John Buscema can't hit it, you're in pretty rarefied air. Never really got into Omega, but Gerber's Howard the Duck and Defenders I rank among the all-time classics, great, great stuff.
  4. The mentions of Kingdom Come and Starman demonstrate just how good comics can be. I'd add Sandman Mystery Theatre to the mix and call it good. I don't think that I've ever been as excited about a new issue of something coming in as I was about Starman, and that includes time as a kid on Tuesdays and Thursdays haunting the drugstore until the pharmacist put out the new comics.
  5. Biggio is going to play the entire infield by himself? Even his dad couldn't do that.
  6. Aubrey is just the gift that keeps on giving, isn't he?
  7. You know, I always wondered why that song wasn't a major country hit for someone.
  8. My young friend, I grew up watching Hank Aaron play, as a little kid in Seattle who hated the Yankees and Dodgers with every fiber of my being, there was no greater hero than Hammerin' Hank Aaron, surrounded by the rest of the Holy Trinity (Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock) in the line-up he was a joy to watch at the plate and in the field. There was no aspect of the game that he didn't do well and in his quiet classy way, do better than everyone else. Yeah, Willie Mays was flashier, the ferocious Frank Robinson perhaps a more terrifying figure on the basepaths, but when all was said and done if you needed a timely hit or a mammoth home-run, Hank Aaron was the guy that you wanted at bat. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Aaron twice, a finer example of the word "class" does not walk the face of the Earth. He leaves the world a poorer place for his absence and a much richer place for his having been here. RIP Hammer.
  9. "These guys all have bigger arms than I do, I'll just stand here quietly in my fancy robe with long sleeves."
  10. This one really deserves a new thread. Most of y'all are too young to remember Hank Aaron as a player, I'm not. As a kid in the 1960s (born 1957), all of my contemporaries wanted to grow up to be Mickey Mantle, not me, despite his being black and me being white, there was no question but that I wanted to grow up to be Hank Aaron. As a life long Braves fan, I collected the cards of the Holy Trinity of Aaron, Mathews, and Adcock and read the sports page daily for news of my heroes. No, the Braves always seemed over-shadowed by the Dodgers or even that one year that Gil Hodges worked magic with the Mets, but I stubbornly remained a loyal Braves booster. I guess you really had to be there in order to understand what the trio meant to baseball, playing in the small market of Milwaukee and rising to challenge the New York juggernaut in the World Series the year I was born. The Braves never made it back to the Fall Classic when I was a kid, but I just knew in my heart that NEXT YEAR, as long as Hank was in the line-up there was a chance. That was the thing about Hank Aaron, he made you believe that no matter how heavily the deck was stacked against you, with hard work and a never-say-die attitude you could rise above any kind of adversity and silence the critics by excelling in ways that were simply inarguable. Y'all can have your Mantles, Ruths, etc., fine players all; but give me the man who you could always count on to drive in a run when needed and would always make the smart play in right field. I watched much of Aaron's career and all of Barry Bonds and I'm damned if I could tell you who was better. Certainly the two most formidable hitters that I've ever seen. What's often lost in the conversation about Aaron is leaving aside the titanic home-run totals, he was simply a monstrous hitter with a record for total bases that still stands over forty years after he left the game. His RBI total may well stand forever, if not as the all-time record, certainly as the benchmark for consistent, effective production. The game is about creating runs, whether it be getting on base, driving in the runner or scoring them yourself through effective hitting and smart baserunning, other than Frank Robinson, I don't think that anyone has ever been as good at all the varied ways to create runs as Hank Aaron. Greatest player ever? That's always a tough one, in the discussion, no question about it. RIP Hammer, ya done us all proud.
  11. Think you pretty much have this one nailed. If Poirier makes it through the first round he torments McGregor for the rest of the fight taking a UD. On the other hand, if McGregor lands some punches in Rd 1, we don't get to see Rd 2.
  12. Thanks! I had the fun experience of kidney shut-down several years ago when the doc changed my blood pressure medicine. The poisons built up quickly and I didn't realize that anything was wrong until I suddenly couldn't read. I could see characters on the page and knew that they were supposed to mean something, but it just appeared to be random gibberish*, that's when I knew it was time to get to the hospital. Some heavy-duty diuretics and I was good to go (no pun intended), but what a bizarre experience, especially when you consider what I do for a living (writing/editing) . *Since I wasn't reading Bruce Mitchell or Wade Keller, this was a tip that there was something very wrong.
  13. Thanks, bro! I don't think that there's anything scarier than feeling something in your body is completely out of whack (like the ability to breathe) and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Then topping it off by finding that the "sound medical advice" that you've lived by for five decades is totally wrong. Going from approximately four liters of fluids to one or less per twenty-four hours is going to be quite the adjustment. I keep reflexively go to pick up my can of seltzer water that isn't there (first major adjustment), making a half a pot of coffee in the morning will be the next challenge. The usual has been making a full pot of which Kathy has one cup and I drink the rest is changing to the half pot which means one cup for her and two for me. Ah, getting old is fun... I suppose it beats hell out of the alternative. ?
  14. BTW: For those of you who may have wondered about my silence the last three days, I was busy having fluid drained out of my lungs and otherwise enjoying a stay in the hospital. Just as a general tip, if you are getting winded walking from the bedroom to the kitchen, that's probably a sign that you need medical attention sooner rather than later. As I discovered, "toughing it out" does not work, at 1PM I was getting winded easily, by 3PM I was having trouble breathing just as a result of rolling over in bed, yeah, that was a pretty good indicator to call 911. As it so happens, one more day on my own would have been fatal... As it is, I am now as fit as a fiddle with the oddest medical advice that I've ever received. You know how we get that "eight glasses of water per day" stuff drummed into us from grade-school on? Apparently that's just so much bullshit and what led to my crises. Apparently anything over a liter per day is unnecessary and can be downright dangerous. In three days I dropped twelve pounds, all of it excess fluid, some of which was in places that you don't want fluid of any kind, like my lungs for example... So no more full pot of coffee followed by a six-pack of seltzer water over the course of the day...
  15. Just back from a hospital stay... Sorry for your loss, bro. When a loved one passes it is tough on those of us still here, but we can take some small solace in knowing that they no longer hurt or suffer. I truly believe that somehow, somewhere our spirits go on, freed of the pains and nuisances of our physical beings.
  16. There are dozens of anti-depressents, mate. Sometimes it requires a combo of meds to do the trick. With mine I still wind up going to some pretty dark places, but that's bound up with the creativity side of things and as long as I can find my way back, it's all good. My doctor (who is wonderful) has said that the main thing to watch for is not the dark places, he totally gets that, but has said watch for any behavioral changes like eating or sleeping habits. Once in awhile I get useful info from him, most of the time he just wants to bs about boxing and MMA. ?
  17. I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that all of these shelter cats (which implies abandoned strays) look like they eat pretty damn well. This guy looks to be between the size of Seven and Jackpot, and I know why they are huge, Seven loves people food, especially Church's Chicken and he'll eat a whole thigh by himself. Jackpot feigns disinterest, but if left alone with a drumstick, the meat mysteriously disappears. Now here's a funny thing, none of our cats (except Jorkens who was born in Seattle) show any interest in seafood. Now I'm no scientist, (where's Naimark when you need him), but logic would indicate that these New Mexico cats going back many generations have never been exposed to seafood, thus it's just not in their DNA to get all excited about shrimp, salmon, cod, turbot, tuna, etc. We used to get the really tiny shrimp as a treat for the gang in Seattle and I'm tellin ya, Capt Nemo and Dr Nikola would rip through a pound of that shit in nothing flat. Only thing that makes sense is that these high desert guys (going back many generations) have just never been exposed to seafood and thus never developed the innate craving for it that our sea-level gang had.
  18. Sad to report that bassist Tim Bogert passed away yesterday. A founding member of Vanilla Fudge and Cactus he really lit it up in the super group Beck, Bogert & Appice. While it seems to be customary to automatically declare Cream to be the best power trio ever, B,B & A certainly make it an interesting discussion as while Ginger Baker is clearly the greatest drummer who has ever lived, Carmine Appice isn't exactly chopped liver, Clapton wishes he was the virtuoso that Jeff Beck is; and Tim Bogert edges Jack Bruce as a bass player, but it's when you compare them as vocalists, Bogert just blows him away...
  19. Impossible! Eric Clapton says that all flu and COVID vaccines are filled with water, the massive amount of money being collected is being used to resurrect Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce so that Eric can assume his normal spot of being third in a field of three for the CREAM reunion tour to commence...
  20. Dennis actually came along a bit too late, ten years earlier and he'd have been thumping guys like John Lowe, Eric Bristow and Barry Twomlow. As it was it was like the American baseball situation of Jimmie Foxx and Babe Ruth (with Ruth taking the Phil Taylor role), just because Foxx would always come in second to Babe Ruth didn't mean that Jimmie wasn't a hell of a ballplayer, his #2 to Ruth in lifetime home runs stood the test of time for nearly forty years, that ain't nothing. Dennis Priestly is one of the finest players that I've ever seen, unfortunately the money for the #2 guy was shit (comparatively speaking), and he just wasn't going to beat The Power on a regular basis. Poor Dennis, just horrible timing. I used to love playing the Desert Classic in Vegas every year until your countrymen* fucked the thing up by insisting that anyone that was a ranked county player or above would be seeded, which usually meant a first round bye. Totally eliminated the luck aspects of the draw, just as changing the game from 301 dbl in dbl out to 501 open on dbl out screwed things up. Here's the deal, in 301 I still have a chance against a top ten in the world player, if they miss the double in and I don't, I have a chance to shoot a free round at the out before they have a shot at it. It's just possible that I could win. In 501 the superior player will always win, it's just too long a game for the weaker player to sustain the advantage. The whole seeding business just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I found it to be total cowardice on the part of the international players to make the argument that people come to see them play. No, people come to play darts, the number of pure spectators not related to or friends with someone playing can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. The seeding business means that no matter what, I'm guaranteed to have to face a top 100 in the world level player in my flight. Under the previous (fair version), draw meant just that... Luck of the draw, it only happened for once, but I drew a hilariously weak flight wherein I was clearly the superior player out of the dozen in our flight. I coasted to an easy win and just like that I'm in the money, (got knocked out immediately, but $150 is still $150, had I won that first match after qualifying I could have done no worse than $300). With this seeding business, it practically guarantees that I have no reason to play as I'm certain to be facing a superior player no matter what. *Wasn't just the Brits, it was pretty all non-North American players having a tantrum because of the way the draw worked the preceding year, some of these internationally ranked chaps had to face each other with the result being that several guys who thought they were going to coast into the money rounds instead got to sit down or spend their time fetching drinks for the chaps that beat them.
  21. Fan? Hell, I was a top-fifty in the US player in my prime. Also, wearing a lab coat with "Dr. Dart" in huge silver letters on the back and screaming "Turn out the lights!" when hitting the out made me one of the most hated heels in the sport. Yes, I watched professional wrestling and learned well. I think that the highest I was ranked was 38 or 37, right about then was when they changed to accomodate the real pros, you got moved up on the rankings just for showing up at a major tournament which I think is just so much bullshit. It favors the people who do nothing but play tournaments and shits all over the players like me who are the backbone of the sport. No, I'm not going to win a tournament where Paul Lim, Peter Wright, Van Gerwen, Wade, Lewis, etc. are playing, as a matter of fact I will avoid a big tournament like that (maybe play in the blind draw doubles just for fun), back in the day my policy was if we could drive to it in one day I'll go for it if one of my buddies is going, and I'll pay for the gas. (I don't drive so I depend on friends for transportation and have no problem picking up the tab for petrol.) What I won't do is pay for a plane ticket to attend a tournament where I can see that there are ten or more players who are easily better than I am participating, that just doesn't make financial sense.
  22. Good. Michael is one hell of a darts player, but what a nasty little prick. I'll admit that I'm partial to "Snakebite" Peter Wright! I hope Raymond van Barneveld's comeback goes well, darts is a better sport with Barney in the mix.
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