Are you ready for some football?

I know some of you aren't big into football, or sports in general for that matter. For me, football has always been my one TRUE addiction. I'm a die hard Steelers fan. After the Super Bowl, for me this weekend is the one thing that helps me pass the summertime; the NFL Draft. I'm not going to go thru all the picks, just my thoughts on some of the ones over the first 2 rounds from Saturday.

Round 1

Pick 1. Jake Long to Miami. Everyone knew about this Wednesday.

Pick 2. Chris Long to St. Louis. Selfishly I kinda hoped that he had dropped to Oakland simply because thats where his father had made his name (Howie Long is his dad in case anyone didn't know). But I think the Rams made a good decision.

Pick 4. Darren McFadden to Oakland. Crazy Al strikes again. Honestly I think that McFadden is over hyped. What I had seen of him in college, he didn't really look like a great running back. I think that he will fit right with last years first pick JaMarcus Russell as being over paid, under achievers. But what do I know, I drive a semi for a living.

Pick 14. Chris Williams to Chicago. From what I can tell, it's a decent pick. He is going to fill one of many holes the Bears have. Hopefully they get a QB in the second round for him to protect.(On a quick side note, while waiting for the pick, ESPN showed the key addition and key loss to the team. Key loss: Bernard Berrian. Key addition: Marty Booker. Yikes. Sorry Bears fans but yikes.)

Pick 18. Joe Flacco to Baltimore. Wow. All I had heard all week was that he was a second round pick. They gave up their 1st round, a 3rd and a 5th to move up to get him. With the rest of the trades they made during the day they have more picks in day 2 of the draft. But still, I think that they could of waited to take him.

Pick 22. Felix Jones to Dallas. I mention this pick for a couple reasons. First reason, When they went to make the announcement of the pick, all the fans in the Radio City Music Hall in NYC booed. Second reason. It's the pick right before the Steelers. I actually think that he might be a good fit for the Cowboys.
The Steelers are on the clock.

Pick 23. As I stopped what I was doing and sat there with batted breath, I looked to see what holes there were and to see who was out there. The pick is in. Rashard Mendenhall from Illinois. First thought was great. Someone to take the pressure off Willie Parker a little bit to help out in the running game. Then I started looking into how they drafted over the past 20+ years. The last time they took a running back in the first round was 1989. And from what little I can remember of him, he didn't last too long with the team.

The first round ended without much other interest for me. Other then there were no wide receivers taken at all. But looking at the ones coming out in the draft it was no real surprise.

Round 2

Pick 13. Matt Forte to Chicago. What the hell!?! Now granted they do need help at running back, a more pressing need is at quarter back. There were 2 quality guys still there waiting to be picked. But instead, they decide to go with someone who went to a school that is known more for their baseball team then their football team. Maybe he will prove everyone wrong. But I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what the front office of the Bears are smoking.

Pick 22. Limas Sweed to Pittsburgh. Who? Huh? Is this some sort of a joke? Yes they need a wide receiver. But couldn't they have found someone else. What I saw of him, he's not that exciting of a receiver. Damnit!!!

Pick 25. Brian Brohm to Green Bay. Ummmm, quick question. Don't the Packers ALREADY have the quarterback that is taking over for the retired Farve in Aaron Rodgers? I understand getting a backup, but I would of thought that they would of filled that spot with signing one thru free agency.

Overall, the first 2 rounds of the draft were interesting to say the least. Alot of trades, alot of head scratching, and alot of cursing and muttering trying to figure out what the front offices of teams were doing.

Some thoughts on day 2 of the draft.

Bears- They have 9 total picks in rounds 3-7. Hopefully they can fill some of their glaring holes they need to fill.

Raiders- to me its always interesting to see what Crazy Al does during the draft.

NY Giants- Super Bowl Champs. With every new champ, there are players that leave for more money. Which in turn leaves open spots that need to be filled more often thru the draft then thru free agency. I wonder if they can do it.

Steelers- If they can find a good receiver offensive lineman and a defensive back they should be set when the season starts.

I'm off to watch more of the draft and to see how much more cursing I can do at the tv.

The Odd, The Strange, and The Damnit!!

One of my first runs this morning was to go pick up some items out at a place on Route 116 towards Spring Bay. So I figured that I would take a different route then I usually do and go thru downtown Peoria. As I passed by the Ameren office, I happen to see a man walking a bull dog down the street. That seemed to me a little odd to see a dog in downtown Peoria that wasn't running lose. Not more then 5 minutes later I saw something that just boggled my mind. I saw a woman standing outside of her car, I'm guessing dropping her husband, boyfriend, some man that she knew off at work. But what really caught my eye was the fact that she was holding onto a leash. At the end of the leash was a pot-bellied pig. Did I see that? I had to take a quick double take. Now granted I almost ran off the road trying to look at it again. But it was a little piggy. Damn strange pet owners.
Now after spending the rest of the day chuckling to myself after seeing the pig, I'm finally home. As soon as I open the cardoor I can hear my loving dog whining ready to go out and the dumb ass neighbor blaring the radio yelling at the tv playing some sort of racing game (I would call the kid other choice names, but I don't want to insult some of the nicest people in the world). But anyway, as I walk to the house I feel something hit the top of my head. I look down trying to figure out what it was. As I take my hand and run it over the part of my head that was hit, I feel something wet. When I pull my hand back I see what it was. A damn bird shit on me as it was flying over. Not just on the shoulder, but ontop of my fucking head. Son of a bitch! I'm standing there cursing this little flying bundle of shit wishing I had my paintball gun. Either that or a Red Bull to return the favor.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!!!!

Most of us felt it. I'm sure all of us talked about it. They say that animals know that they are coming before we do. And as much as I love my dog, if I could of have found something to throw at her at 4:35 this morning I would have. Now I know that's mean to say about a member of the family, but rarely does she freaks out THAT early in the morning. I'm sure most of you have read about some of her antics here. She's running up and down the hallway from our bedroom to the living room whining and crying like she just saw a squirrel sitting on the couch. Cursing under my breath, I yell at her and tell her to get in the bedroom. No sooner does she get her tail in the door I shut it so she'll calm down. That's when the fun started. After falling back asleep, or at least feeling like it, the earthquake hit. I thought it was just the dog jumping onto the bed. But then I heard the ceiling fan shaking and the house rattling. Now being half asleep, bed shaking (not in a good way either) and a freaked out 35 lb shaking mess of a dog bouncing around on the bed, I somewhat realized what was going on. I hear my loving girlfriend groggily ask "Are we having an earthquake?" I vaguely looking at the clock out of one eye muttering "I think so". After the shaking stops, we're both laying there in bed trying to get back to sleep, the alarm goes off at 5:10. I here her quietly say "I'm never getting back to sleep." My only response "It's gonna be a LONG day."

And it was.

Later in the morning, when the sun finally decided to make somewhat of an appearance, I was conversing back and forth with the girlfriend. I didn't hear from her for about 25 min and thought that she must have gotten busy. I finally get a response from her.

GF-"We just had another earthquake!"

Me-"Sweet! I was driving and didn't feel it"

Her-"It was about 10 min ago...the place was shaking...craziness!"

Me-"Cool...the end of the world is coming"

Her-"No...just the new madrid offshoot acting up"

Me-"You tell your story I'm gonna tell mine"

Her-no response

Guess she didn't find the comment as amusing as I did.

BEER FEST!!!

I was going to blog about the past weekends beer fest. But after spending the past 2 nights reformatting my computer and trying to get everything put back onto it, this is how I feel right about now.

Damn you Jared!!!

(A little about myself before I start in on the blog. I drive for a local trucking company. For 8 hours a day I take items for a large company from point A to point B. Needless to say I have time while waiting at places to let my mind wonder. I hope you enjoy some of the random thoughts I have during a normal day.)

I, like alot of Americans, love watching tv. It allows me to forget about a bad day, brings me joy when I'm sad, and sometimes aggravates me to no end. But as of late, every time I see a certain commercial it drives me up a wall. Not really because of what the commercial is saying or trying to get me to buy. It's far worse. It's because of the "jingle" that they use to draw attention to it. What commercial am I talking about? The "five dollar foot long" Subway commercials.
I really don't blame Jared. It's not his fault. Honestly, I think that it's great that he could lose all that weight just from eating there. But damn, couldn't Subway make more commercials with him and less bad songs? I'm sure that everyone's seen them. They get stuck in your head as soon as they end. And if you are lucky enough not to see one, well here you go.



(NOTE: I did not put the commercial on youtube, I am just linking it from there.)

Monday to Friday the alarm goes off at 5:10am. Time to get up and go to work. Usually while I'm getting ready for work I will have some sort of tune running thru my mind. But for the past three days, when I get up all I have running thru my head is "Five, Five Dollar, Five Dollar Foot Long." What a way to start a day! Hopefully tomorrow, since it's Saturday, I can start my day with a better tune.