See House of Cards Tonight

I'm not asking.

Scarlet & Grey Cafe. 10:00 PM. Don't make me hunt you down in the streets like the dogs you are.

Truer words were never spoken...

From the Akron Beacon Journal's Patrick McManamon:

The Troy Smith talk also has started. ``Should the Browns draft Smith? How can they not take Smith? Smith has to be the pick.'' Smith may indeed be the pick -- and consider the comments and pressure the Houston Texans now face given they did not take Vince Young. Really, though, the Browns don't need Smith. They probably need a guy like Joe Thomas, the 6-foot-8 offensive tackle from Wisconsin, more than they need Smith. They probably could stand to trade their pick down and take a few linemen. They probably don't need more skill players who languish because they need someone to block for them. They need to stop being the Arizona Cardinals of the Midwest; the Cardinals are loaded with skill players, but they don't win because they can't block anybody. The Browns need to start building from the inside out for a change. And that holds true perhaps even at the expense of not taking Troy Smith.

link

Thank you.

Back on Stage...

House of Cards is getting back on stage, after a quite lengthy absence (at least two months) of shows. We have been working to finish our CD, and it is almost done. In advance of that, we wanted to get out and play in front of some people again before we launch the CD with a CD release show sometime in January.

This Friday night (12/15/06), we'll be playing at Scarlet and Grey Cafe in an opening slot for some other local bands. Show starts at 10:00. Hope to see some of you there!

Possible 2006 Browns Highlight Video Titles

For this exercise, simply fill in the following blank:

"The 2006 Cleveland Browns: _________________________"

Have at it!

The 2006 Cleveland Browns:

• Please Remove Your Dick From Our Collective Ass


• The Big Suck: Shop Vacs Ain't Got Nothin' On Us!


• What? You Mean There Were Sixteen Games??


• How to Make January Tee Times in October


• Maybe Tim Couch Had the Right Idea


• Hope You Filled Your Lamactil Prescription!


• Fuck You, Cleveland Fans


• An Exercise in Learning When to Start Other Teams' Running Backs on Your Fantasy Team

I'm sure more will come to me.

Random Notes...

Some random thoughts on a Thursday:

• Looks like Derek Anderson is going to get the start tonight for the Browns against Pittsburgh. Seeing as how Kansas City didn't blitz at all while he was leading the Browns back, I suspect his play will be significantly less awesome tonight. That said, with Polamalu, Ward, and Wilson out as well as Parker wearing down a bit from his increased work load, I give the Browns a puncher's chance. The nice thing about this "rematch" being so close to the last loss to the Steelers is that the Browns players all sound pissed and hungry. The only silver lining about Anderson starting is that the Steelers don't have any film on him. And that's about it.


• It has taken me some time (because I'm generally a lazy punk), but I will soon have some pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Miami. I realize that I don't think I ever even mentioned it here (*gasp* the humanity!). It was restful and relaxing, and our room was great. I'll get there, eventually.


• House of Cards may or may not be playing a show next Friday night (12/15) at the Scarlet & Gray Cafe. It would be an opening slot, but it would give us a chance to play out again in advance of our new CD, which we will be selling the fuck out of come the new year. Also, keep your calendars clear for Saturday, January 27th. We will most likely be at the Newport again as part of their frequent local showcases. The plan is to have a CD release show/party sometime between the beginning of the year and that show. Stay tuned. Don't forget that you can hear some clips of our new (and still unfinished and unmastered) tracks at our website.

That's all for now. Go Browns!

Reflections from a wild football weekend

Two things this fine (and frigid) Monday morning:

1) Yesterday was probably the 3rd best experience I've ever had at a Browns game in person:



Down 28-14 in the fourth quarter with their backup QB in and seemingly no answer for Trent Green and Tony Gonzalez (since they elected basically NOT to cover him most of the game), the Browns won. In overtime. And my boy Jon and I watched it from the lower Dog Pound. Simply awesome.

Oh, and for reference:
#1 would be the win over Atlanta in 2002 to get the Browns into the playoffs, and
#2 would be the win over (reigning Super Bowl champ) Baltimore in 2001 to the tune of a thumping.



2) Michigan got JOBBED.

You may remember that I was not in favor of a rematch, because I thought there were too many arguments against it. That was when I was pretty sure USC was going to run the table and that Arkansas would be a one-loss team beating Florida in the SEC championship.

I would have been OK with USC going to the title game, seeing as how they'd played two top 10 teams back to back and had beat them both pretty handily.

But FUCK FLORIDA. Seriously. More specifically, FUCK URBAN MEYER. Lloyd took the relative high road; this ass clown Meyer has been lobbying and running his mouth for the last month while his team has been *barely* beating the likes of a crappy Florida State team and a South Carolina team who basically beat themselves on Florida's home field. He whined about how tough their schedule was, how Michigan had their shot, and blah blah blah.

Granted, I'm sure the very fair-minded Mr. Meyer would feel exactly the same if it was HIS team that also had only one loss, and that loss had been to the now-favored-by-7.5-to-win-a-championship #1 team on its home field only by 3 points (for reference, Vegas would consider a "pick em" game to be a three-point home favorite, whereas giving one team 7.5 on a neutral field means they think the game is going to be a beat-down). I'm sure if the roles were reversed, Urban would have NOOOO problem conceding. I'm sure.

In conclusion, FUCK FLORIDA. FUCK URBAN MEYER. AND FUCK THE BCS. I never thought I'd say this, but I hope OSU beats the ever loving fuck out of Florida in the title game. And I say this as a Michigan fan living in Columbus tired of hearing about OSU football for abour 340 days out of the year.

[edit]
In regard to Tressel's decision not to vote, I think it was a no-win situation for him. If he votes for either team at #2, there are possible problems for each:

If he votes Florida #2....
He gets slammed for not wanting to play his arch-rival again after narrowly beating them once at home, and it gets brought up and beaten to death every year until both he and Lloyd Carr leave their respective institutions.

If he votes Michigan #2....
Florida still ends up #2 in the BCS and has extra motivation/fodder to beat the Buckeyes. Plus, he gets slammed in the national media for the entire month leading up to the game as being biased and a homer for the Big Ten, making him no better than Meyer.

In the end, it was a no-win situation for him, and I think he chose the path of least resistance and bashing. I wouldn't envy that decision, and I don't think any coaches who blasted him would want to have to make the same decision. All of that said, I think it sets a bad precedent for any coach not wanting to vote. The Coaches' Poll should come out with a clearly stated rule indicating when it's OK to abstain from voting (and the only cases I can think of are ones such as this where your vote directly affects who you will be playing in a bowl game--in this case, a bowl game of the greatest significance).

Strangest thing...

So, I rented and am watching "Grandma's Boy" the other night, and in between laughs I find myself wondering:

How is it that my boy Steve so effortlessly played J.P., the video game genius who yearns to be a robot, without so much as telling any of his friends?

Don't believe me? Anyone who knows Steve: look at the following. I defy you to tell me that's not him.