I HATE UNC
Posted by:
Michael on
Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:38 pm
HATE!
Go ACC! (Unless I hate you!)
Posted by:
Michael on
Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:27 pm
Good luck to all the teams in the ACC!
That's one of the biggest lies in life. Right up there with "It'll only take a minute," "This won't hurt at all," and "We're from the government. You can trust us."
Please. Good luck to all the teams in the ACC?
You're full of crap if you say that. Either you're a pathological liar, or you're not a real sports fan.
No. Be quiet. Listen. I'm not finished yet. Hear me out while I ramble for a while:
We spend all year cheering for our team (or teams, if you're THAT guy). We pick and choose our rivals when we can, and our rivals pick us the rest of the time. Sure, we spend time trying to sound benevolent.
"I want them to win," some of us insist, "as long as they're not playing us."
That's a lie, too, but we're not here to talk about that one right now. We're here to talk about the big one, the one about how somehow all bets are off come tournament time. How, despite the fact that you cheer against your rivals with every ounce of your being during the regular season, you somehow find it in your heart to pull for the good of the conference in the Big Dance.
We're Americans. Since when have we ever thought of the good of anyone but ourselves? We wire money to Nigerian princes because certain tech-savvy members of African royalty promise us wealth, not because we're feeling magnanimous and our spam filters took a vacation. We'd sell out our own mothers if we thought it'd get us a free upsize on a value meal at McDonald's.
We want our team to win. Always. And we want the other team to lose. Every time.
I'm an N.C. State fan. The only human beings to intentionally inflict more pain on themselves, year in and year out, are Cubs fans. Think they ever say "I sure hope those boys from the South Side win the AL Central this year -- for the good of the city." Doubtful.
Like my kindred spirits in Chicago, I have devoted a lot of time and energy into hating my rivals. Rage fueled by years of jealousy and ineptitude, no doubt, but hey, that's OK in sports.
I text my mother when Carolina loses. I relish the opportunity. I talk trash to my co-workers when ECU loses. But we're talking about the big-boy conferences, so I'll leave them out of this discussion. I love seeing Duke get beat. I wish unspeakable things upon Maryland players, coaches and fans. I consider those three universities my own little Axis of Evil. The rest of the ACC flies under the radar till they beat my team; then, I hate them, too. And with the way the Pack has played in recent years, there's plenty of hate to go around.
So why would I suddenly call all bets off when the brackets are announced? I'm an N.C. State fan, not an ACC fan. Of course I pick favorites when league games are going on. I like seeing Wake win because they're not a big rival. I don't mind seeing Georgia Tech pull one out because we usually beat them. I have nothing against Virginia because they're typically harmless. But what about the teams that seem to inflict pain on my boys annually? Well, you see, I root for the building to collapse when Carolina plays Maryland. Or Duke. Any combination of the three, really.
So you want to cheer for your conference during the NCAA tournament? Fine. Good idea, as a matter of fact. But that can't include your rivals. Ever. That's not what sports are all about. There's a certain hierarchy, a hierarchy that omits your rivals altogether, and tournament time is no exception.
Carolina fans, you can't wish Duke good luck just because they're in the tourney, and gosh darn it, you're just that open-minded. Duke fans? Ditto. If you do, you aren't a real fan. Oh, and Carolina fans? Still listening? We're gonna be back one day, and we don't want your wishes of good luck when we are. We're rivals. Hope for us to lose.
I guarantee a real State fan will return the favor. Conference loyalties be darned. This is college basketball. There's no room for compassion. No room for truces. No room for rational thought. We still have to work with fans and alumni from those other schools, and to hear them brag is intolerable.
May the better team win. Unless they're Duke. Or Maryland. Or especially Carolina.
Go Binghamton. Go Cal. Go Radford. For the next week, at least.
Jeep: new bumper, winch, tow hooks -- oh my!
Posted by:
Michael on
Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:46 pm
As promised (threatened?), I've turned the site into a blog.
About a week ago, I finally started installing all of the cool new stuff I got for my Jeep. I got leather seat covers from the wife for a birthday/wedding gift. They went on back in August and are awesome.
I got a big ol' tub of Herculiner brand bed-liner for Christmas, and I plan to rip the carpet out of the Jeep this spring in favor of the bed-liner. Why? Because the top will not be on the Jeep much this summer, and I need something that is water-proof and easy to clean. Plus it looks cool.
So those two little modifications are the book-ends (for now). In between are the following: a new set of bumpers (to replace the old new set of bumpers that I got a little more than a year ago), a CB radio (The '70s called, they want their technology back!), a pair of tow hooks for the front bumper and a winch.
The front bumper came in the mail bare metal -- no paint. In one of my first manly acts, I hit it with a coat of primer and several coats of Rustoleum; then, I installed it myself. I moved my fog lamps to their new homes, bolted down a winch plate and bolted on the two tow hooks (rated at 10,000 pounds each -- hurray!).
I also yanked the rear bumper off in favor of my new bumper. But that's when my manliness hit its first road-block. I was going to need some help with that new bumper. So I stuck it back in the garage and pulled out the winch. I stared at the wiring instructions for about 10 minutes, then I remembered the conversation I had with one of my students who said he'd be happy to help me put it on. I called him up, and together we got the winch installed in about 2-3 hours (including several breaks and plenty of confused looks at the inadequate instructions).
The next day, I took the Jeep to a local shop and got them to put the rear bumper on. I didn't have time to mess with it anymore.
The CB went on the next day when I went home to visit my folks. My father and I worked on it for a while and got it about right.
The first trip off-road for the Jeep was in the pasture (my mom has horses). One of my friends (who also has a Jeep) and I went through the "holler" (hollow?) and navigated our way through a few unassuming hills and a cluster of pine trees. The horses were amused and curious.
We didn't do anything extreme, but it was a ton of fun. Plus, I got to test the winch.
No, I didn't get stuck. We found a pine tree in the woods that looked pretty smug. We figured that tree had had it too good for too long. So we pulled out Chris's ironically named tree saver strap, wrapped it around the tree, spooled the winch out about 25 feet and wound it back in. We were like two little kids with a new toy: It was nothing spectacular, but it sure felt special.
Blog
Posted by:
Michael on
Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:44 pm
You know what.
You guys suck. I'm talking to the people who used to come here and don't anymore. If you're reading this, you don't suck quite so hard as the people who aren't reading this.
But that's OK. I don't need you.
I'm going to just turn this whole site into a blog. If you want to come read along, fine.
Having said all that, I don't really have anything to blog about today.
Stay tuned for a less whiny message later. And if you do happen to stumble upon this site by accident, go play some games or something. And upload some photos. My site isn't blocked by any of your work filters yet, so stick it to your company firewall and play games and look at photos at work or school.
Take advantage.
New games galore
Posted by:
Michael on
Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:59 pm
I'm going to be adding new games to the site almost daily for a long time. I have several hundred on my computer that need to be uploaded, but it's a pretty time-consuming process when you're on dial-up.
Meanwhile, play them all and let me know if there are any bugs. There may be.
If you have any games that you'd like to see put on the site, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Also, tell your friends to come. The more, the merrier.