New Year, New T-Shirts

The other day I clicked on the ad on this blog (possibly a violation of my Terms of Service agreement) and was led to an hilarious t-shirt store. It got me thinking about shirts that would be appropriate for several Poopheads to wear in 2010:

TON:


Courtney Friel:


Me:


Freedo:


Nails:


VW:


Master Bates:


Amber:


Mrs. Poop:


The Concierge:


Anonymous hot girlfriend wife of anonymous Poophead (look down if you think I'm talking about you)


Me:


Juice:


And a shirt so fantastic, so digusting and so offensive I couldn't even put its picture on this blog: click here if you dare.

Note: if you didn't get a t-shirt dedicated to you make it your New Year's resolution to have more personality in 2010.

Game of the Decade

Ten years from now when we do decade recaps again I have a feeling the Outback Bowl from the first day of this decade will still be talked about.
It featured one of the craziest finishes ever where each team seemed a lock to win until:
Northwestern scores to cut the lead to 35-27 --- and the extra point is blocked.

Auburn recovers the ensuing onside kick --- and fumbles on the next play.

Auburn sacks Northwestern QB Mike Kafka on 4th down --- and gets called for a 15-yard face mask.

Northwestern scores on the next play and gets a 2-point conversion to tie it.

Auburn fumbles the kickoff and gives it back to Northwestern with a minute to play.

Northwestern drives to the 27-yard line --- and misses the field goal as time expires.

Auburn kicks a field goal on their possession in the first OT then sacks Kafka who fumbles, Auburn recovers, rushes the the field --- and the replay shows Kafka was down.

On 3rd and 24 Kafka hits a 10-yard completion to set up a 37-yard field goal --- and the kicker misses again --- but an Auburn player rolls over his leg for a penalty and a first down.

Northwestern drives to the 5 and on 4th down sets up for a field goal --- but the kicker was hurt on the previous penalty and a backup comes on --- but instead of trusting the backup Northwestern tries a fake field --- and gets stopped on the 2.

Auburn finally wins, at least the fourth time they thought they had it wrapped up. Amazing ending, everything that could possibly happen did.

And Northwestern QB Mike Kafka ends the day completing 47 of 78 passes for 532 yards, 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. A performance that can only be described as Kafka-esque.

Everything is Amazing and Nobody's Happy

An amazing routine by Juice's favorite comedian Louis CK on Conan from earlier in 2009. It's a perfect, and hysterical look at what is going on in our world.


And maybe in 2010 we can think of this and laugh instead of complaining when our internet goes down, or our high-definition TVs don't work or our Chardonnay is not chilled to our liking.

We all have it pretty good and I think it would serve us well to remember that a little more this year.

Happy New Year

I was driving earlier when the snow was really coming down and the roads hadn't really been plowed yet. I thought to myself "wow, this is pretty bad, maybe I shouldn't drive through this."
When I left to come home a couple hours later the sun was shining all the snow that had previously made my path dangerous was gone and there was nothing but clear road ahead.

Isn't that a microcosm for life? There will be storms, they will seem difficult if not impossible when you're going through them, but when you get to the other side you will realize a) that didn't last very long and b) it wasn't so bad and c) the road ahead of you is wide open.

To me that sounds like a good resolution for the New Year: don't let anything get in the way of where you want to go.

"Here's to the New Year. May she be a damned sight better than the old one and may we all be home before she's over."

Best wishes to all my Poopheads for a happy and healthy 2010.

Syracuse 80 Seton Hall 73

My trip to the Rock to see #5 Syracuse play Seton Hall was a success, because Syracuse won as most Poopheads predicted, but we’ll get to the game later, first I’ll describe the other events of the evening.

Trying to meet up with Nails in Newark, a city neither of us has been to very often, was actually pretty easy. What did people do before cell phones? How did you ever meet up with someone at a ballpark or arena? Maybe part of the reason I didn’t see him was that he was completely bundled up so that the only things showing were his eyes. He was dressed for an Antarctic expedition when all we were doing was walking two blocks.

When we got inside we noticed some people taking pictures next to the Seton Hall Butt Pirate mascot. But one of the picture takers happened to be 7-foot-2. It’s about that time I realized it was Luther Wright. I guess we should have talked to him or at least shouted words of encouragement, but I was trying to get a picture which he ruined by continually stepping out of the shot. Not sure why Nails didn’t offer any words of encouragement, I mean the poor guy has been to hell and back.



We actually had pretty decent seats, row 12 behind the basket. I don’t think it was actually the 12th row since there were some temporary seats and we were a little too close to the middle of the section – and therefore obstructed by the basket at times, but for $25 tickets, they were really excellent.



But the guys next to me didn’t think so. Two older Seton Hall fans (I think they were the only two who remember Frank “Pep” Saul when the old-timer was recognized not once, but twice during the game) were constantly complaining about the fans in front of them standing. It began with the regular Syracuse tradition of standing and clapping until the first basket of each half. Then it continued, even after that so they called over an usher who told them the student section (which was in front of us) is allowed to stand during the games and everyone else stands because the people in front of them are standing. But they didn't let it die with that, when the cute girl in front of them put up her arms during a free throw, the old guy freaked out started yelling at her, her brother and father stepped in. I tried to calm him by telling him it was only a free throw. He said it was bad enough she was standing the entire game, but she exasperated (yes he said exasperated) the situation by holding up her arms so he couldn't even see the scoreboard monitor.

But he wasn't the only one behaving boorishly in our section. After a controversial intentional foul was called on Seton Hall Nails screamed "that's fuckin bullshit!" That caused the 8-year-old seated in front of us and his father to turn around and stare in bewilderment at Nails. When I alerted Nails to his breach of arena etiquette he said "that's not his seat, get him out of here!"

Nails was happy to have in our section a few cute girls who must have been students on break who call the Northern New Jersey area home. One of them a few rows up had scissored a simple t-shirt to convert it into a sexy off-the-shoulder look. As far as basketball game attire goes I think she achieved her desired level of sluttiness.

There was a game going on as well, and SU won, 80-73. One downside to attending games is I feel overstimulated and I don't think I pay attention as thoroughly as I do at home. This is the main reason I keep score at baseball games, to sharpen my focus on the action.

But here's what I do know: Seton Hall's Jeremy Hazell is a gunner. In each of the last two games he has taken 31 shots and leads the Big East with a conference play scoring average of 39.5. Even though his efficiency is low, Hazell pretty much single-handedly kept the Hall in this game when no one else could make a bucket. He also has huge ears.



As for Syracuse, it probably was their worst performance of the season. Defense wasn't great and Seton Hall got a ton of offensive rebounds, 23 according to the box score.

SU turned the ball over way too much -- 20 times -- half of those by Rautins and Triche and most of them on ill-advised high-risk passes. Triche and Jardine have combined to be a great duo to replace Jonny Flynn precisely because of the smart passing and low turnover total. That's something they need to get back to.

Rick Jackson didn't have a good game. After Onuaku exposed weakness in Seton Hall's interior D in the first half, SU stopped going insde.

Seton Hall did a good job sticking on Rautins and preventing him from getting open 3s.

Wesley Johnson was awesome, he does everything a team needs to win, in this one he grabbed 19 rebounds.

Kris Joseph also had a great second half, scoring on some big runouts and hitting 8 of 9 from the line despite being only a 64% shooter coming in.

The one thing that stood out most for me was SU's aggressiveness late in the game with the lead. In the past I have killed Boeheim for telling his team to sit on the ball with small leads and too much time on the clock. I've always advocated waiting until 15 seconds remained on the shot clock to start looking for a good shot. Several times SU jacked up quick shots and it almost proved to be to their detriment, but good free throw shooting down the stretch sealed the deal.

This was a game of runs (Seton Hall 27-9 in the first half which SU answered with a 14-2 before the half, then Seton Hall had a mini 6-0 run from a tie game, and SU scored the next 15 to put the game away) which made it fun for both sides. But more fun for the Orange, since we won.

My Favorite Soups

1. Grandma's Chicken Soup
This has been and will always be number one on my list. An impossible to duplicate combination of Grandma's love and her secret ingredient. Though I recently learned she used a small pot and made only half a batch. Still the best soup I've ever tasted.

2. Shaw Dining Hall's Beef Barley
You might be surprised to find a Uinversity's dining hall's soup on this list but if you've ever warmed your belly with it on a cold Syracuse day, you'd understand. But you have to get there before Josh because he had a bad habit of filling up a ladle then spilling the liquid out the side, giving himself a delicious stewy portion while leaving behind a watery mess.

3. Golden's Mushroom Barley
Fitting to the delicatessen's name this soup has a golden color not often found in mushroom barley soups. The thick cut mushrooms and thick consistency of the soup make this the better choice than its chicken noodle. But the chicken noodle does have the better menu description. It is listed as "Therapeutic Chicken Noodle (It Couldn't Hurt)". Because of that clever description I often refer to things with no downside as being like Golden's Chicken Soup.

4. Mem's Turkey Noodle
This new contender entered my list only recently thanks to a delicious batch whipped up using the carcass from the Christmas turkey. What made the most recent effort so good was the combination of cold temperatures (both outside and inside Mem and Poppy's house), the use of a very meaty carcass (not just bare bones) and Mem's decision not to skim the fat off the top (though not healthy Mem knows I like a fatty soup). A couple of caveats here: don't serve it too hot (poor Poppy almost burned his tongue) and don't give toddlers the liquid, just the carrots, noodles and meat ("spilled soup on mine bib mommy").

5. Outback’s Potato Soup
Outback is known for its steaks, its Bloomin Onions but not its soup. That should change. This delicious creamy soup comes with melted cheese, bacon and chives on top .

6. Panera Bread Baked Potato Soup in a bread bowl
The soup itself isn’t quite as good as Outback’s and it doesn’t have the bacon or cheese. But what puts it on this list is the bread bowl. The sourdough bread has a nice hard, crusty outside, and a delectable fresh inside made even better when it’s soggy from the soup. But beware because sometimes they don’t scoop out enough of the inside and you hardly get any soup, just a doughy bowl to eat.

7. The Manor’s lobster bisque
I haven’t been there in a long time but I still remember the lobster bisque, which had real chunks of lobster meat. Most Manor-goers forgo any kind of appetizer or pre-main course food in an effort to save room for lobster tails. But I was always shrewd enough to start with a bowl of bisque before diving into the seafood smorgasbord.

8. New England Clam Chowder in a bread bowl at the Big E
Now this one is a little tricky because as you can imagine, the state fair for all the New England states has more than one purveyor of the region’s favorite soup. I don’t recall the particular one I had, I just know that bread bowl wasn’t that great, but the soup was delicious.

9. Mrs. Poop’s Minestrone
A relatively new addition to our menu but another nice one for a cold day. It’s a very hearty soup with a lot of beans and other vegetables. Only problem, if you plan to have more than one bowl you really need a pre-emptive beano or you will be gassy all day.

10. Mama Poop’s Chicken Soup
An all-time favorite. 10th place is not high enough for the soup I basically grew up. I think this is the soup that made this entire list possible but I place it 10th maybe because I’ve had it so many times it no longer seems special to me.

Song of the Week

"Don't Let It Go To Your Head" - Brand Nubian

Good advice for the new year.
May we all have many achievements that could inflate our egos -- but don't.

Syracuse vs. Seton Hall Predictions

Tonight #5 Syracuse (12-0) plays Seton Hall (9-2) at the Prudential Center in Newark. Nails and I are going, and rooting for different teams. Syracuse is favored by 2 1/2 points. What will happen?

A Career at the TSA Doesn't Look So Bad Right Now

Richard Reid attempted to blow up a plane in 2001 with a bomb in his shoe. He became known as the "shoe bomber" and since then airline passengers have been forced to take off their shoes while going through security.

On Christmas Day Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a plane with a bomb in his underpants.



TSA workers may soon be saying "let me see that thong" to female passengers.

DVRs Are Not the Enemy

I have always said "you can't stand in the way of progress," particularly when it comes to technology. Over the years entertainment companies have tried to fight advancements they thought would kill their revenue streams.
Two examples come to mind: single-track music purchasing (downloading) and the DVR.
The companies that realize these trends are coming eventually get out in front and take over (like Apple) the ones that don't fall behind.
But as iTunes reenergized music, the DVR isn't killing TV, it's helping it.

Here's why:
-46% of people still watching commercials, even during recorded programs, according to Nielsen
-DVRs allow people to watch more than one show at once, and allow people to watch shows that are on when they are not home, or doing some other activity
-For the average prime-time network show, DVR viewers (Nielsen only counts those viewed within three days) add 10% to ratings, as much as 20% for some programs
-A surprising number of DVR users still watch shows live as they air

Some other cool DVR stats:
-33% of households have a DVR, up 5% from last year
-Fox gets the biggest boost from DVRs of the four networks
-"House" is the top show as far as DVR ratings, "The Office" and "Heroes" also get big boosts in ratings from DVR users
-Only 6 - 8% of non-DVR users flip during commericials

Part of the reason "The Jay Leno Show" is getting disappointing ratings on NBC at 10 pm is because people aren't DVRing the show very much, because the humor is topical and it's on every night

Note: Nielsen now measures ratings based on who is watching the commercials, not the actual show

How Was This Not the Biggest Story in the Country?

I recently heard a story that I could not believe I missed when it came out a few months ago. Maybe I just missed it, but someone exposed to as much news as I am probably should have heard this one, unless the liberal media covered it up.

The White House released its visitor logs for the first 6 months of the Obama Presidency. The names William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright were both on the list. Ok, annoying, but no huge deal. But wait, there's more. The White House says it's not the William Ayers or Jeremiah Wright you are thinking of. The people who visited the White House are different people with the same names.

No I am not making this up.
It was reported by ABC News, the Washington Post, the New York Times and even the White House's own website.


The Obama Administration has promised to be the most transparent administration ever. Now, I expect all administrations to lie, to cover stuff up (and no this is nowhere near as bad as lying about a reason to go to war) but it is insulting to the American people to feed us this blatant lie and expect us to buy it. I can't imagine even the most ardent liberal Poophead buying this "same name, different person" story.

As we learned with Watergate, it's not the infraction that kills you, it's the cover-up, I guess that's unless you have the entire news media rooting for your success.