All Killer No Filler

A friend of mine who will remain unnamed recently told me about a hilarious video on youtube of Florida Panthers radio personality Randy Moller calling goals. He does so with much enthusiasm and some great references to movies, TV shows, and music of all genres. Come with me if you want to live......

Check out part one here and part two here.

Thanks Mike Mckenzie.....fuck.

(Inter) Pol Results

Well the voting on the poll last week was pretty lame, only 5 people decided to weigh in and all 5 predicted a Pens - Wings Final for Lord Stans Mug, looks like all 5 of you were correct and are in the midst of enjoying a 2008 Cup final repeat.

I am now going to make a conscious effort to post at least once a week, usually on weekends. The 3 Dusters have been living up to their billing the last month or so, being a real trio of Dusty McCranks. We will now try our best to bring you 250 or so words of joy every week so your boring, mundane, useless and overall pathetic lives may be a little more bearable, because who wouldn't want to live vicariously through a guy who just ate 4 hot dogs, 3 helpings of nachos and cheese, a box of popcorn, bag of peanuts, 4 cokes and a large vanilla/chocolate swirl cone at the jays game today?

The Stanley Cup Finals (Finally). Oh and Predictions

It's been a long NHL season. Too long in fact. And now it's down to the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings.
This series will take about a month to finish if it goes to seven games because of multiple days off between games six and seven.
But after that, the writers of this blog (well two of them at least), can focus their entire attention on the Major Leagues of Beisbol.
Now, I've heard some grumbling from Teebs that I screwed him on some points for our predictions thing we've been doing.
Let me say this, that was not my intention. I apologize. But in case you forgot, we're awarding 3 points for a series with the correctly picked winner and number of games. We're also handing out 2 points for the correct winner of a series, even if you didn't pick the correct number of games.
So, having explained all that, here are the standings through three rounds of The 3 Dusters Playoff Predictions:


Goody: 28 Pts


Teebs: 23 Pts


Nabber: 13 Pts


Just brutal on my end, but sometimes that happens when you go against the grain and make bold, gutsy picks. I'm right on some of those earlier picks, and I look like a genius.
Anyway...


Penguins over Red Wings in 7


I'm out for now, but look for my next post, which will explain why I think despite the losing streak (which is 9 and counting) the Blue Jays...excuse me, Black Jays...can still make the playoffs.
Out.

Teebs here, I'm having a really tough time with this series. One day I like the Pens, the next I'm with the Wings. Today, I'm wingin' it.

Red Wings over Penguins in 7

I'm comin in late on this one fellas, I've been slackin' bigtime, with my long days working for the town and intense workouts (by intense workouts I mean liftin a couple weights and running 6 laps of the 200m track at the gym). My prediction from the get go was going to be Pens over Wings in 7, although I just watched Fleury let in a softy to make it 3-1 in the 3rd for the Wings in game 2.....

I'll stick to my guns and go Pens in 7. - Goody

Black Jays

Just like their black uniforms, the Toronto Blue (Black) Jays have arrived in the dark ages. I came home from work today to check the scores in the MLB, hoping to see my beloved Blue Jays snap their losing streak of 8 games...holy fuck...I still haven't seen a single highlight of the game that took place against the Orioles today but the boxscore was enough for me. What the hell is going on with this team?

All week its been about not cashing runners in scoring position. Well, that wasn't a problem today. When you hang 10 runs on the opposition, it's tough not to win the ballgame. But, when your bullpen implodes and gives up 9 earned, you shouldn't win any game.

Nabber and I talked about this 9 game skid for a while today and we agreed that no true contending team loses 9 in a row....it just doesn't happen. It pretty much can't happen if you're thinking playoffs.

A few things I'd like to see which I think could turn the tide with this team.

1) Shorten the leash on the pitching staff a bit, especially the starters. Cito is famous for leaving guys in way too long, hoping to boost their confidence by allowing them to work their way out of their own jams. Sometimes it's a little much. Cecil gets left in about 5 hitters too long against the Red Sox and gives up 4 bombs in an inning. That's brutal. Oh ya... what's with all the Casey Janssen butt-licking? I keep hearing how he's really going to give the rotation a huge boost now that he's back. Uh, I guess. He did have a couple great starts 3 fucking years ago.

2) Get Wells out of the 4 hole. I love Vernon, but he's not a 4 hitter. The problem is I don't know where to put him, I recall him having some success as a leadoff hitter, but Scutaro is doing the job. Maybe swap Rios and Wells with Lind and Rolen. Ideally, trade for a power hitter to stick in the clean up spot and put Wells at 3 in the order. If you don't like that idea, well, suck it, then you can go check out Wells' numbers when he was hitting in front of Delgado in '03 and Glaus in '06.

3) I don't really have a third suggestion, I haven't really even given this much thought. However, one thing I'd really love to see is an off the field issue. The fans and media need to stop pointing the finger at management when things go bad, and also when things go well. It's the players who account for about 99.9% of the outcome, win or lose, 100% of the time. No more praising Cito for being the best manager of all time. I feel like Cito is still somehow winning ballgames for the Jays even though they've lost a million in a row now. Give Ricciardi a break too. I'm pretty sure people were talking about how he's really built this team from the bottom up, got away from trying to spend to get a winning club and that its all starting to pay off. Now they're losing and people want him outta here. Great.

Got tickets last night for the game on Sunday against the BoSox...Let's not make it 12 L's in a row...maybe I'll bring a brown paper bag. Go Jays!

ESPN2 Karate

Two Fridays ago, I was in a Buffalo hotel room waiting for my girlfriend Andrea to get back from school. She has class on Friday night and Saturday morning so I occasionally go up with her.

On this particular evening, I was delighted by what I find whilst flipping channels.

If you've ever seen those cheerleading competitions or bodybuilding things on TSN, you'll know what I'm talking about.

What I witnessed was completely ridiculous.

It was an event that featured all age groups.

It was karate.

But not a mano a mano or girl on girl action type of thing.

The athletes(?) were on stage all alone practising their karate moves.

I'll let you get a mental image of that right now...
Got it? okay.

The best part of this was that there were 8-year olds all the way up to people in their 30's. And all doing the same thing, too.

They're kicking the air, punching nothing, and screaming all the while.

Now, while I was a few beers deep at this point, I thought it was funny enough to make a mental note of. It could be a blog post!

It could be the first post in about 3.5 months too!

Now, let's get back to the program here...One of the other things I noticed is how serious the commentators and the "fans", or audience was.

How is the audience not cracking up at this spectacle?

I wish I had my computer when I was watching this so I could have done a rundown of what was happening, but at one point one announcer praised little 11-year old Johnny's scorpion kick.
I'm serious.

The last thought I had on all of this was that if I were participating, I would not want this to be televised.

NHL Playoff Predictions - Round 3

Here are the standings after the 2nd round of the playoffs
(I am strug-a-lingggg)

Goody: 24 pts

Teebs: 19 pts

Nabber: 11 pts

Once again I'm taking the initiative to get things started before the games actually begin. Personally, I think Goody and Teebs should be disqualified for making their picks late.

Anyway, here we go with my 3rd round NHL Playoff Predictions.

Penguins over Hurricanes in 7

Blackhawks over Red Wings in 7

Teebs here...Nabber continues to screw me after each round on the points for some reason. Apparently I get 3 points for picking the penguins in 7 (3 points) and the Red Wings (2 points). Great math. I'll personally edit the standings yet again andddd here are my picks...

Pens over Canes in 7

Red Wings over Blackhawks in 6

Goody's Picks

Pens over Canes in 7

Red Wings over Blackhawks in 7

Reality Check

Hello old friends, all 4 of you loyal followers may have noticed my absence from the blogosphere for the last week or so but alas, I am back. I wish I had some great excuse as to why I haven’t titillated your minds for sometime, but I don’t. I recently started my summer job working for the Town of Whitby, as far as summer jobs go it’s pretty ideal, the yard where we meet in the morning is 5 minutes from my house and I work 7:30-4:00 Mon-Fri, so there is no travel and the days aren’t particularly long (although my Grandpa seems to insist on telling me an 8 hour day is only a “half day”, Maybe days were longer in the 50’s and 60’s?) .


The job is great, it requires minimal physical labour and a Tim Horton’s is rarely void of TOW trucks at any point of the day. So let’s look at this again; minimal physical activity, home by 4:05, long breaks, and the fact that there are about 25 summer students in the parks department that one can socialize with throughout the summer...you would think I would be very happy and have nothing to complain about? Well it is half true, the job is amazing, however, I have realized how little I am ready to join the real world.


I recently finished my 4th year of University and was looking forward to working all summer and making some good coin (did I mention the pay is great too?). I had myself convinced working would be great and much better than being in school...I was wrong. You know what’s better than long breaks and good pay? Sleeping in to 1:30 and going to get Johnny Burger with a poutine for lunch, followed by skipping class and a night of beer and double rum n cokes at the bar...then of course sleeping in to 1:30 yet again.



I don’t know how people do this every day for the rest of their lives, many working longer hours with further commutes than me, it seems almost unfeasible. I curse the sound of my alarm at 7:00am every morning, and do everything short of a rain dance in hopes of a downpour that will end my day early, I try and make it to the gym after work but some days I can’t help but sit my ass on the couch, and my bedtime has gone from somewhere around 3 or 4 in the morning to 10:30pm. I know that like it or not my time will come to join the monotonous world of commutes, shirts and ties, laptops, and a nasty case of carpal tunnel syndrome, but until that day I will continue to despise working and complain to anyone who is willing to listen.

(Near) Perfection

Recently, one of our few loyal followers suggested that we all tell everyone about our greatest sports moment. Teebs touched on his a little while ago. As DC Lords, Jon and I used to laugh about never knowing or hearing what my at-bat music was. 

He said that because I hit after him, he never noticed it because either he was too pumped because he got a hit, or too pissed off because he made an out. 

But enough nostalgia...Oh. Wait, I'm about to tell you about my greatest sports moment. 

(never mind)

The date was July 13, 2000. I know that because I'm looking at the baseball.

I was 17 years old, and still mainly a starting pitcher. When I look back on it, 17 should have been just the beginning. I had been pitching for about seven or eight years, but I still had a lot of years left, right?

Wrong.

Just two years later, I felt something in my shoulder, and I was basically done. Now, I wasn't going anywhere special. Let's make that clear right now, but I thought I would pitch in senior baseball somewhere down the line.

Anyway, on that July afternoon in the year 2000 (before the humans are dead) I was pitching for the Port Hope Ontarios. I believe that was midget age. Port Hope also had a minor midget team, which was rare. And today we were playing those guys. 

They were guys we all knew, and basically were just a year younger than I was.

The game wasn't close. I don't remember how we scored the runs, but we got 14 of them.

Around the third or fourth inning I suddenly realized I had a no-hitter going.

As a pitcher, you always know you have one going , but it might take you until you get around to the top of the order to really realize it. 

"Hey! hmm, I've got a no-no going here."

To be honest, I don't remember the last out, but I remember that I walked only one guy. 

Shouldn't have walked him, either. Damn.

If you're still wondering, yes, I did in fact throw a no-hitter. 

And it was a fantastic feeling. 

One walk and six strikeouts in total. And a 14-0 win.

Thanks for comin' out minor midgets.

Weekly Poll Results

This blog is fuckin hurrrrrrrrrtinggg. Figured I'd come on and drop the results of our weekly worthless poll. Beer won by about as much as the Blue Jays won over the Halos last night. Therefore, everyone should drink beer and watch the Jays as much as possible from now on.