Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy. Well that is the Cobra Kai mantra but that is not what we did last Friday night in our biggest game of the season against the Swim N Fun. The stage was set for a big showdown for second place and a clear path to the championship game. The Kai were primed and ready…..but we did not follow through for some reason on the field. I think everyone was gearing up for Neil’s big blowout birthday and the obligatory pie in the face at gators.

Swim N Fun jumped out to an early lead and they never looked back. Not much to write about from the game as once the Swimmers jumped out to their lead it appeared the Kai could not match their intensity level. The Swim knew they were playing one of the most elite teams in the league and they were not about to let that opportunity slip by.

“I wanted this game so bad, I was going to give everything I had and then some” Said the Swami after the game. Well, the Swami did that as he provided some pop for the team offensively and even smacked an in the park home run to try and spark a Cobra Kai rally. Well, unfortunately the team did not respond.

Most of us know the legendary packers Coach Vince Lombardi's famous quote: "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing".

While he always put that kind of emphasis on winning, most of us don't know that he also said: "If you can't accept losing, you can't win." While we all like to win much more than we like to lose, in order to play and be a part of something greater, we have to be willing to take the risk that we might lose. It has to be accepted that losing is a natural a part of participating and of winning.

Well, the beauty of the Cobra Kai spirit is that we get to live again to fight another day. And that day comes this Friday as we take on our mini-rivals the Goonies. The team will use this loss as a learning tool and grow from it and we will have our chance for revenge in the playoffs.

“There were things said after the game that were tried to use to motivate the team, but when it’s all said and done were a family and the family that plays softball together stays together” Thus, the team will move on from Friday’s nights loss and become stronger together” Said Capt. Tucci after the game.

Well, the team certainly kept their championship pace at Gators as the Kai downed a record breaking 47 pitchers in celebration of Capt. Tucci’ 30th Birthday. Oil Can Spragues even successfully used a 300 lb lineman to sneak up on the Old Man Tucci and to complete the Pie in the Face tradition. Good Times.

I will see You under the Friday Night Lights!

Attention Cobra Kai members!!! Is anyone interested in joining a baseball fantasy salary league? If you are go to the website posted and join up. http://www.tomzsports.com/ It is fun and challenging and $25. It is a good way to keep up with your favorite players and teams. A guy I work with runs the site and it is a blast.

Good ol' Pumpkin Head said he'd move to Costa Rica if the health care bill passed..........well i'll pay for his ticket! bye bye

Funny thing is guess what kind of health care they have? Universal/nationalized health care!

A brand new edition of Kluge Chronicles has been posted for your reading pleasure.

I didn't realize how bad the New Jersey Nets are. The Nets are currently 7-63 and are on pace for the worst record in NBA history. That is pathetic!!!!! It sucks to be them and their fans. As Juan said in a previous post. FUCK THOSE GUYS!!!!!

The great Colin Cowherd started a Superheros vs Supervillians bracket on ESPN.Com slated to start Monday.

Check out the brackets and let us know what you think.




CLICK HERE


AquaMan is a 5th Seed? Silver Surfer made the Tourney???? Bizzarro Koko is in it???

I am totally confused man......I need Koko to go Joe Lunardi on us.

I think the Brackets are set up for a Batman Victory.

My Vote is For the Flash!

Superheroes -- Krypton
Round 1 Super 16 Incredible 8 Fantastic 4

1. Superman
8. Thor


4. Green Lantern
vs
5. Aquaman


3. Wolverine
vs
6. Spawn

2. Spider-Man
vs
7. Flash

Superheroes -- Gotham
Round 1 Super 16 Incredible 8 Fantastic 4

1. Batman
vs
8. Robin

4. The Hulk
vs
5. Silver Surfer

3. Wonder Woman
vs
6. Daredevil

2. Captain America
vs
7. Iron Man

Supervillains -- Metropolis
Round 1 Super 16 Incredible 8 Fantastic 4

1. Lex Luthor
vs
8. Punisher


4. Red Skull
vs
5. Catwoman

3. The Riddler
vs
6. Sabretooth


2. Dr. Octopus
vs
7. Bizarro

Supervillains -- Marvel
Round 1 Super 16 Incredible 8 Fantastic 4

1. The Joker
vs
8. General Zod

4. The Penguin
vs
5. Venom

3. Green Goblin
vs
6. Two-Face

2. Dr. Doom
vs
7. Brainiac

The suits at ESPN and Nike must be happy that according to them the MLS and their union have worked out a deal to avoid a Strike.

Thank Goodness when the NBA and NFL are on strike in 2011 we will at least still have the MLS.

Of Course they will be playing next year without the failed experiment of David Beckham since he tore his ACL while playing overseas on loan for the MLS.

Johnny says...Let's sweep us some legs tonight! NO MERCY!

AAHHH! Too . . . much . . . bullshit!!

Brain . . . can't . . . function . . .

MUST RESPOND, MUST RESPOND!!!

To Keith:

First of all, the Goat told me you sounded really pissed off in your response but I told him, naww that's just the nature of the Dojo. But then I read it and it did sound a little like you were taking it personally or something. I hope that's not the truth. And if it is, STOP IT YOU PUSSY!! Don't you do that man! Don't you start getting all weird on us. If you want weird, I'll give you weird. I'll make you cuddle up and watch Boat Trip with me. Swami you're invited too, since it's your favorite movie now. But I call middle cushion, you pole smokers.

Now, I didn't think I had to quote sources about how well baseball has been doing in the past 10 years. I thought it was pretty obvious. But here's an article from a couple of years ago on just how well baseball is doing financially: http://www.bnet.com/2403-13502_23-210671.html

I'm not going to defend that anymore because it's irrefutable and anyone saying anything different is just plain wrong. There might be highs and lows in different parks but as a whole baseball is doing more than fine.

And notice that not one of you had anything to say about my franchise point. If baseball franchises are doing so horribly, then why no movement? Why no bankruptcies. In other leagues, teams that are struggling move or fold faster than the rate of Rich's blood alcohol content at a party. If owners were doing so poorly, you would see teams pack it up and move to greener pastures. You think the Pirates are losing money all this time? FUUUUUCK NOOOO!!! You know who is losing money? The Rays, you know why? Because they're putting an honest effort in trying to win, that's why. And it's resulted in an American League pennant. It's not their fault that their fans suck big donkey dick and gave them no support last year. You gonna blame the Yankees for that too? The Yankees, Sox, and Cubs are the only games the Rays always sell out. Don't blame the big market teams because certain markets' fans are shit.

And no Keith you didn't say the Yankees were the devil, you just said this,
"Well, Check out what the Evil Empire is doing to baseball and I am very curious to hear the Dojo's support for or against it."

No that doesn't paint the Yankees in a negative light at all. You didn’t use a pic of Darth Vader with a NY emblem to make a point (which I absolutely love anyway). No, none of this is about the how Yankees are bad. Go sell your passive aggressiveness somewhere else. I'm not buying. This is all about the Yankees. How come this never comes up when the Yankees are not champions? Only when they win the World Series, suddenly everything in baseball is unfair. Things aren't balanced.

You know, you fucking Palin lovers are all hypocrites. What happened to CAPITALISM! The Yankees are the epitome of your beloved economic system. But when it's not you, not your team, suddenly Socialism looks pretty good doesn't it?

The truth is I would be in favor of a cap in baseball if I actually thought it would help the game. And they installed a minimum as well. But has it helped in basketball? The NBA has teams actually admitting they are not playing to win a championship. When the cap becomes a team goal for the year, there is a major problem.

The NFL almost has it right, but the rookie salaries are out of control and as soon as there is a taste of an uncapped year, everyone wants more. Then there are all the unappeasable people that just complain about too much parody in the league and long for the super powered teams.

As for ratings, I never said anything about the World Series. I did not claim the World Series alone had record ratings. But lets analyze them anyway.

The problem is that when you argue something like ratings or movie gross, you MUST take into account time periods. The ratings from 1980 are way higher than 2010. NO SHIT! Of course they are, that's not something to put into an argument. There were 3 networks, no cable TV, no Internet. People's entertainment dollar is spread so thin these days anything above a 10 rating is a great success.

The fact is that over 20 million people watched game 4 and 6 last year. Not just a little bump up from '08, it was a lot up. It was also the most watched WS since '04. And that was the Red Sox.

"I got no more use for dis guy."
-Joe Pecci


To Regs:
Sometimes when I hear you respond on here it takes me back to the famous line from Kevin Spacey in Superman Returns . . . "WRROOOONNGG!!!" And by the way, Jack is a life-long Yankees fan. Just a tidbit of info.

Please find where I ever said that the Yankees payroll does not give them a competitive advantage. Please, please, find it. It seems that the only way you guys can argue with me is to shove words down my throat like you're making Foie gras. (Learned that one watching Gordon Ramsey, he rules!)

I said the contrary, "What spending more does is give you a chance to win championships every year."

I think that pretty much says that yes the Yanks do have an advantage. But that's suppose to be a bad thing right? An unfair thing. We'll how did this advantage come to be? I guess all the money is shit down from the money fairy every year and they just happen to be Yankee fans so OOOOHHH well, fuck everyone else.

The Yanks have this advantage because of the greatest owner in sports history. No one had a TV deal before Steinbrenner thought of it. It was his innovation and he took the Yankees to heights that no one could ever imagine in terms of value. Everything that organization has, it has earned fair and square using your oh-so-precious capitalism.

And by the way it started as a TV deal. They now own the network. It's just one more thing they do better than everyone else. And stop living in a vacuum Regs, EVERYTHING is more expensive in New York. So if it's more expensive to put on a broadcast, that's more cost to the Yankees overhead. Your actually now making points FOR the Yankees. They have to pay more property taxes, more to the concessions, more for insurance; the list goes on and on.

You guys think your taking shots at the Yankees when you cite how much money they spend? I look at it as how amazing their organization is. My team makes more money and spends more money than any of yours. Ha ha, Yankees Win, thaaaaaaaaaa Yankees Win.

Regs then you actually said, "Take any profession in the World and give one company 4-5 times more money than a competitor and see who turns out a better product."

Did you really say that in this economic time where I don't know how many fortune 500 companies took a sharp nosedive into the abyss because their business practices sucked deep dish yak dick?

Look at Vizio, a little start up flat screen company that is now taking major pieces of the pie away from the big boys. Why? Great product. Put out a great product and people should come, money should come. Unless you’re Tampa Bay I guess. If that city loses its team they have no one to blame but themselves.

And talk about delusional Regs, stop looking up data while watching Glen Beck and his crazy chalkboard. The Yankees attendance last year was 3.7 million. 2nd in the MLB by fewer than 100,000 to the Dodgers. The Brewers took in over 3 mil last year. That's fucking great! Why are you disparaging them? They are doing a good job bringing in fans. They are doing good job putting a watchable product on the field. Weird that you would call them "lowly." Especially when they are now considered a playoff contender. Perhaps pride in one's own team is the source of the problem here.

I'm done wit dis guy!
-Joe Pecci

To Swami:
I feel for you man, I really do. I have no idea what it would be like to love baseball as much as I do and be a Pirates fan. No sarcasm intended. It must be rough. But then again you have 6 superbowls as a Steelers fan, so go fuck yourself.

Don’t say “maybe” the Pirates have had bad management. Don’t say “maybe” that’s led to their ineptness. Own it! They have fucked the fans over again and again and again and again for over 20 years. Why can the Rays after being purchased by the current owners 4 years ago put a World Series team on the field and a storied franchise like the Pirates have been in the cellar all this time? Why do the Marlins have 2 titles and the only treasure the Pirates have found lately is gelt. (Gelt is that gold coin wrapped chocolate they give to kids at Hanukkah, for all you gentiles out there.)

Of course they could do better with a $200 million payroll. But they don’t have that. They didn’t earn that. The Yankees didn’t just acquire their wealth. They’ve earned it with 100 years of winning. 100 years of baseball legends, 27 titles and 40 pennants, an innovative owner that had ideas like none before him . . . .

Come on Republicans, THE YANKEES ARE THE TEAM FOR YOU!!!!!

To Everyone:
Kiss my Hebrew pinstriped ass! Let’s Go Yankees!

An astonishingly new edition of "Blaze Is Burning," has been posted for your reading pleasure.

We recently discussed the possibility of 2011 coming and us having the NFL and NBA ripped from our lives over economic disputes.

Well, Check out what the Evil Empire is doing to baseball and I am very curious to hear the Dojo's support for or against it.

Tom Verducci writes yesterday in SI that Bud Selig and Major League baseball have a committee together considering "Floating Re-alignment" in which teams could change divisions from year to year based on geography, payroll, and get this........Their plans to contend or Not! That is not a typo....Teams could change divisions based upon their plans to Actually compete or just fold up camp at the beginning of the year.

Why You Ask? Here is an example:

For instance the Cleveland Indians could change from the AL Central to play in the AL East where they would not be competing for a playoff spot because they are in rebuilding mode and have a reduced payroll. This way they can accept failure right out of the gate because we all know the AL east is owned by the Yankees and the Red Sox. However, by trading divisions with a team like the Tampa Bay Rays it gives the Rays an actual shot at competing in the AL Central and the Indians benefit because they get 18 lucrative home games with the Yankees and Red Sox instead of only 8 where they actually have a shot at selling some tickets.

Hmmmmm.......Let's see wonder what teams like the Royals, Pirates, and Nationals think about this. In theory it is actually interesting but what kind of message does that send to Royals or Pirates fans every year. I always thought the great thing about Spring Training is Spring brings eternal Hope and every team has a shot at the beginning of the year? Now teams can simply fold up shop at the get go and just collect paydays from the Yankees and Red Sox and the Rich will get richer since all the bad teams will jump to the AL East and the Yanks and Sox will have absolutely no competition at all except with each other.

Another thing out of MLB yesterday had Nomah Garciaparra signing a 1 day contract with the Red Sox so he could retire in a Sox uni. Isn't this the same guy that begged out of Boston in 2004 right before they actually won something???? I don't get it....maybe Spragues can shed some light on this.

So there has been a growing trend in our country that has been driving me crazy. It seems that it is more important for people to be a part of the first of something than it is to do what is best. I have been noticing this quite a bit in the last 2 years, but last night put me over the edge.

The big buzz was surrounding Kathryn Bigelow and her being the first woman director to receive a "best picture" Oscar, for her movie "The Hurt Locker". The only problem was......the movie sucked and the middle was so boring, I kept falling asleep. I'm all for woman's rights, just make them earn it. Giving out an award to her based on her gender cheapens the accomplishment. James Cameron changed the way movies are going to be made in the future and had the highest grossing movie of all time, but he didn't win?!

I feel very strongly that the same thing happened 2 years ago when Obama won the presidency. Everybody wanted so bad to be a part of electing the first black president, they forgot to check his qualifications. Putting a 1 term junior Senator in charge of getting us out of a recession, in retrospect, seems silly. Now that the dust has settled and we are not any closer to getting out of this recession and he has done absolutely nothing to help out the middle class, even some of the most hard core Dems are questioning their choice of candidate. When you look at the voting patterns, African Americans came out in droves in support of Obama. Most of them were first time voters (Blacks traditionally have the lowest voter turnout, amongst the races). They weren't voting for him because of his policies. They were voting for him because he was black.

There are many other examples of this, but you get the idea. It makes me think that we have gotten to the point where what you do doesn't matter, only who or what you are. I realize for years that certain races, genders, or orientations were shut out of certain things because of discrimination. That doesn't make it right to reward undeserving people to make up for it. Hopefully, at some point, we will throw out all of the preconceived notions and just select the right person. The person who is the most qualified. Until then, I'm afraid we will continue to harbor animosity and cease to develop as a society.

http://natebloch.com/

It’s a great Night for Softball, So let’s Play Two!

With the upcoming nuptials of the DonJuan Digler the Cobra Kai had the distinct privilege to continue their winning streak and look to inch closer to 1st place by going for a sweep Friday Night. The Kai were coming off one of their best offensive outbursts in team history and were looking to pick up right where they left off.

The Kai wasted no time when facing their first victim of the night Los Sparks. We jumped out to an early lead and once the bats got moving they caught fire once again. The Swami himself the Big E was not taking prisoners on this night and wanted to let Red Bug Lake know the Cobra Kai are for real and a force to reckon with.

“I noticed the Sharks were eyeing us up and could sense a feeling of trepidation when they saw the team we assembled this year, and I just wanted to give them a taste of things to come and let them know were not backing down nor conceding anything to them” said the Swami after a two game beat down he laid on the league stats books. In the first game the Swami was en feugo with his sidewinder assassin style swing that mercilessly attacked the Right Center field combo leading to an in-the park homerun, a triple, and blast over the Right Center Field Wall that still has not landed. “I told the Swami to lay it on the line tonight and let’s let the rest of the league know what the Cobra Kai are about, and that is exactly what he did” Capt. Tucci remarked to reporters after the game.

Roundhouse Reger was also back in clean-up after a one game hiatus and he didn’t disappoint with his power backing up the Swami and knocking one over the fence himself. The Los Sparks were pretty much done after 2 innings of our bats scorching them until the game was called in the 5th.

This brought us up against another top tier team in the league that was supposed to be another test for us as we squared off against Tetra Tech in the second game of the night. The Techies were feeling confident and were quite chatty with their trash talk and were eager to show they are the force to be reckoned with this year not the Cobra Kai.

However, that would not be the case as the Kai were somehow even more dialed in for the second game then the first. Capt. Tucci and his team of roving bandits in the outfield were not going to budge even an inch for the Techies and the Captain had the play of the night as he dove twelve feet in the air to back a beautiful sliding catch in the outfield to put an end to a tetra tech rally in the 3rd. Johnny Blaze and Brett Favre patrolled the infield and were also eating up everything hit their way.

Koko was wearing his telepathic underoos this past Friday night and was predicting everything his second baseman was going to say and Koko also knew he was going to have to dig out some hard throws from his SS to complete a couple key Double plays and that is exactly what he did. “ I just knew there was a double play coming before the hitter even stepped into the box as I was having visions all night, but was not sure they would come true because I saw Sully ripping two fierce line drive singles and until that came to fruition I was not sure If I was hallucinating or seeing the future” Koko said after the game.

Sully’s back plate mate Figs was also in full force staring down any potential Tech base thief’s and even gunning one down and letting them know not to try next time. The Kai’s defense was in full "wax on and wax off" effect and only allowed the Techies 2 runs off a an early home run blast that proved to be the only runs we would allow all night to the frustrated techie bats.

The only question left was if the Donjuan Digler would end the night after our double header as the league leader in OBP% and enter into matrimony as the league leader as his bride asked him to do. DonJuan had a solid night but was robbed on two at-bats as the Techies crafty pitcher was tossing some nasty curve balls. However, on the opposite field the 2nd place hitter went 1-3 sliding into a tie with Donjuan for league leader in On Base %. Thus, DonJuans bride gets her wish as she gets set to marry RedBug Lakes league leader this Weekend as the Kai’s have a much deserved by to attend the wedding.

Needless to say the Kai celebrated their Sweep in style at Gators as the Big Daddy Gutierrez was in town and the team was serenaded with our team song………”Baby Got Bat” by newly minted team singer Spencer. The Kai have off this Friday but look to get back to their winning ways and inch one step closer to our showdown with the Sharks for league dominance next Friday with a match-up with Kai wannabees the Goonies.

See You in Two Weeks under the Friday Night Lights!