If History has taught us anything it is that ANYTHING can and will happen. Throughout the thrones of time we have had ruling empires that on the surface appeared to be un-beatable and would control the world forever.
However, the basic human greed starts to take over and erodes these ruling empires allowing a new “Hero’ to emerge out of nowhere to win the battle. The story is the same whether it is written in Greek Myth, Luke Skywalker emerging as the Hero, or the Boston Red Sox overcoming years of futility to finally slay the evil beast and fulfill their destiny. The only hiccup in this life tale is there is a patient fan base on the Northside of Chicago eagerly awaiting their hero to arrive.
Rome fell because Roman Senators were selfish and self-absorbed, determined to hoard the huge wealth of the empire and determined to promote empire to enhance their wealth even further. The common people lost all power and were lucky if they had enough to eat. Sounds a little like America and the fall of our Economy? The Roman Empire fell because it was bankrupted by its leaders.
Either way, the story of the rise and fall of heroes and empires is a similar message about a hero’s journey to overcome the dark side and the hero symbolizes our ability to control the irrational savage within us. Our computers, I-phones, crackberries, and other machines are not enough. We have to rely on our true intuition, our true being……discovering “The Force.”
“The Fates lead him who will: Him who won’t they drag”
Ok, Sorry about that I was getting a little bit off topic and I blame it on my third cup of coffee…..but I digress. My point being today this theme has never been more prevalent than in the world of sports. The Yankees with all their greed and money could not buy a trip to the world series. They could not overcome a band of mis-fits from Texas aptly named Rangers or saviors. The San Francisco Giants vs the Texas Rangers is underdog vs underdog. The Giants didn’t even make the playoffs until the last day of the season and because of the pure and intoxicating will of human strength they look UNSTOPPABLE!
This is a great example of the most powerful force on this planet IS the human spirit. The Giants payroll is one of the lowest in the NL and they are full of castaways and no-names that right now look like the greatest team ever assembled. Well, quite the contrary they are just peaking at the right time and the momentum of their high is carrying them to new levels. Have you noticed when they score they score in huge bunches……..because momentum is stronger than any $100 Million third baseman could ever be.
Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
Butler a tiny underdog from Indiana played in the national championship for basketball. Boise State for all the heated arguments look like they just might be headed to the National Championship in College Football this year. Boise State????? When Americas most talented players get the choice between Southern California, Sunny Florida, or any other beautiful campus in the South why would they ever choose Idaho??? Do you know anyone that has ever been to Idaho? Have you ever met someone from Idaho? Do you know anything about Idaho other than they make great potatoes?
Ok….so what is my point? My Point being that the Cobra Kai are the real hero’s of Red Bug Lake. We have perserved through many ups and downs together and yet our “Core” has remained true to the game and to each other. The team has learned so much about the game and about each other. When we are playing up to our potential we are the deadliest team in Central Florida. However, when we don’t have the power of the Team concept and human will driving us we have seen the evils that can take us down.
Well, Tonight we face another of many crossroads together. We face an aging empire that has dominated Red Bug Lake and the Cobra Kai for one season too many. There are many chinks in the Sharks armor and the damn has many leaks. I believe now is the time for the Cobra Kai to rise up and Strike with fury and show not only the Sharks but Red Bug Lake just exactly whom we are . The Sharks are too old, too slow, and too arrogant to see this coming. So, Let’s go out there as a team and Strike First, Strike Hard, and Have No Mercy!!!!!!!!
See You Under the Friday Night Lights!!!!!
Standings
Flix66.com
I Want That!
Dojo Subscription
Posts
All Comments
Next Game
'10 Sumr Champs
Featured Trailer
So it finally comes out for a fact that bad baseball teams make money. And not just a little money either.
In the latest Real Sports, Bryant Gumbel investigated the financial aspects of the new Marlins stadium in Miami. Turns out that the Marlins made a profit in 2008 and 2009. They actually cleared $50 million in profit in '09, but still asked for way more in public funds which they never have to pay back.
I do not begrudge the Marlins for pulling a fast one over the moron politicians in Miami. They scammed their asses. They never opened their books and called the city's bluff on not approving the new stadium. The Marlins knew that the city of Miami is struggling heavily and they took full advantage of the situation. A pretty ruthless business decision, especially when they will not even pay back any of the public funds they receive. But that's the deal the city made with them, right or wrong.
What this does prove is that all the crying and whining from the so-called "small-market teams," is complete and utter nonsense. There's a good reason that the only Major League team to move cities in our lifetimes was located in Montreal. The Royals, Pirates, Brewers, Rays, Marlins, etc. They all make money. The Marlins had the weakest attendance in the entire league and they walked away with $50 million last year. Not to mention the luxury tax money they receive from teams like the Yankees. Baseball is a local game and the local TV money, which many teams now own a part of due to Steinbrenner's innovation, is a gold mine for franchises. The Tampa Bay Rays may be in the cellar when attendance is counted, but they are in the upper echelon in TV ratings and revenue.
So what happened to that $50 million in profit the Marlins made? A large chunk of it goes back into the team right? Wrong it goes into the owners pockets, because it's a business first, a baseball team second. And that's the business model 90% of the owners in the MLB follow. The Marlins will say that the profit goes to pay off outstanding debt. Right, I believe them don't you? Why wouldn't you believe a business who intentionally bleeds dry the city they represent in one of the worst economic times in history and offer absolutely nothing in return.
I'm done with the "Yankees spend too much money," garbage. That argument is now off the table with this news surfacing. If the Marlins made $50 million with the worst attendance, what did the Brewers make with 2.7 million in attendance? Why don't the Royals relocate, how do the Pirates get one of the most beautiful ballparks in the country and then give their fans a minor league team to watch 81 games a year?
Keep complaining about the Yankees, keep bitching about how they make a ton of money and put a large chunk of it back into the product for the next year. It's exactly what the owners of your teams want you to do. It enables them to put out an inferior product year after year after year and when the fans get mad . . . "Pay no attention to that man behind the desk, it's the great and powerful Yankees that ruin baseball,". . . You see, that's much easier than dealing with reality.
You can argue ad nauseum whether baseball needs a salary cap or not. That's fine, but before any notion or inkling of installing a cap, there should be a huge push for a salary floor. That is what will "fix," baseball. That is what will force these owners to give their customers a respectable product to come out and watch. Because unlike the fans, the thrill of victory is not something valued by these owners. And until a salary floor is implemented, you better hope teams like the Yankees and Phillies keep their M.O. intact, because contrary to popular opinion it's carrying the MLB, not ruining it.
This Video Gets a Thumbs Up!
Don't make the FAU guy angry . . You wouldn't like him when he's angry.
Posted by KokoWhat up Kai guys? I was about to announce my much anticipated return from the DL to the legen...wait for it...dary Cobra Kais Softball Team & Red Bug Field would be this Friday night, but I have to delay my return one more week as I was given an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I instead will be heading to the St Stimes Forum to watch my
take on the hated 
and these douchebags. 
Last weekend the Sunday night football game between the 49ers and the Eagles beat out the Giants/Braves playoff game in the television ratings.
There's no denying the NFL is a perfect media machine. The NFL promotes their sport like no other, attaching their moniker to anything with or without a pulse. And since the games are only once a week and have the added caveats of gambling and fantasy football, even the weakest contests are crowbarred onto fans' radars.
But is football the greatest game? Many will give you a definitive "yes," before you can even finish that question. However, after further review, the ruling on the field does not stand, baseball is the greatest game . . . FIRST DOWN!!
Now of course the triumphs of baseball and football can be argued until Favre decides to retire or baseball installs full instant replay. I'm going to skip over all the usual suspects like "football has more action," or "the hardest thing to do is hit a baseball," no one can ever describe the subtleties between the two better than the late, great George Carlin. There is one true practical reason why baseball stands alone over all team sports . . . the inability to impose will.
What do fans talk about right before a rematch between a great team and the team they shouldn't have lost to their last time around? "Oh this time, they're gonna kill 'em," "No way they get pushed around again," "It's gonna be a massacre." And usually this can be a factor in sports like basketball, football, or hockey. A pissed off team with superior strength and speed in these sports can use emotions to impose their will over a lesser opponent. Defenses can hit harder, forwards can rebound more aggressively, and a hockey line can decide to plow their opponents into plexiglass for 60 minutes.
In baseball though, all that bravado loses its heft. The only thing an angry baseball team can work their frustrations out on is the baseball itself. In fact, 9 out of 10 times the team that's more emotional is also the team that loses. Pumping Eminem or 'Lil Wayne in your head right before game time isn't going to help with a Cliff Lee knuckle-curve.
Baseball makes its players face off with their greatest opponent on a nightly basis . . . themselves. If golf were a true team sport, it would be baseball. Concentration is king on the diamond. Lose track of the situation on the base path and an inning can go from busting out a possible 4 or 5 runs to leaving the field with nada. No amount of pent-up revenge can help a batter lay a perfectly placed bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd, or a pitcher paint the outside corner of the strike zone on a 3-2 count. The nature of the game is a restrictor plate on just how angry or pumped up a team can get. Pure skill will always rise to the top.
Sure you can say a batter is going to get mad and swing for the fences, but if they’re a home run hitter that was the intention anyway. Who could tell when Gary Sheffield was angry or not? It's just the way he hit. Pitchers pitch with the same amount of intensity that helps them throw strikes every time out. Any more or less can take them off their game completely. How many times have you seen a pitcher come on to the mound in a big situation and throw 95 mph to everywhere but the strike zone?
Baseball remains the greatest sport because the game is impervious to the persuasions of its illogical participants. On any given day in team sports the worst team can beat the best one. However only in baseball, the "want," to beat that team counts for nothing.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Hey brothas. I am going to Wednesday's game instead of Thursday's game. It's a 1:30pm game so leaving around 10am to go. Any of you guys want to go? $55 for the tickets.
Is this a line-up of Johnny's Ex-Girlfriends or Strippers??
Not much commentary needed here but this is a photo of mug shots from a recent sting at Playmates Strip Club in Cocoa Beach. I think Neil wanted to take us there one time........I think saying we dodged a bullet on that one is an understatement. Is the lighting in these clubs that dark???
Click the Wayne Brady & Mike tyson video link at the bottom of the video viewer. Not sure why the link is bringing up Will Ferrell but that is funny shit also.
On my latest trip back to New York last week, my brother and I decided to find out once and for all what is the very best pizza NY has to offer.We called it the Pizza Challenge. I was going to make up T-Shirts that said "Pizza Challenge 2010," as we went from spot to spot tasting the best pizza in NY.
But then we decided our vacation would go smoother if we were not mugged on every block. So we performed the challenge incognito.
We strategized and decided to hit 4 spots:
1. Lombardi's
2. Ray's
3. Famous Rays
4. Fat Sals
The first 3 are touted as the highest rated pizza by Zagat and other types of city guides.
If you're wondering, "what about Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge," I've been there and it has no place in this contest. I don't know what kind of pizza they call that, but it's NOT New York pizza. The place is a tourist trap. Their ingredients are very fresh and the pizza does not taste bad, but it's more like some kind of fancy shmancy type of pie. Plus the line you have to wait on to get into that place makes it a complete waste of time.
Now on to the challenge.
In New York, there are around 50 pizza joints using some variant of the name "Rays." For the most part they are independent of each other and try to suck in tourist with the famous name.
They're are 2 that started it all.
Rays
The first is Rays on 27 Prince Street on the northern edge of Little Italy. This is the place that was started in 1959 by made man Ralph Cuomo of the Lucchese crime family. Rays was a front for heroine trafficking, but Cuomo claimed to always keep the drug business separate from the pizza business. Today Rays' day to day operations are still run by the Cuomo family.
The Pizza - It's good, really good. The cheese is crazy fresh and stretches forever as you take a bite. Just a tiny bit of oil drops off a slice, a perfect slice has zero oil dripping off of it, but this is still a very good pizza. The sauce is above average but nothing spectacular. Crust has a good consistency and they have a wide variety of fresh toppings, but the real champion of this slice is the cheese.
Rating:
Cheese - 9.5
Sauce - 8.0
Crust - 8.0
Oil - 7.5
Toppings - 8.0
Total - 8.2
The Famous R
aysThe Famous Rays at 6th Avenue and 11th Street in Greenwich Village was started by Mario DiRienzo from Italy in the '70s. The reason the restaurant is named Famous Rays is because there were so many Marios back in his home town, they had to give a nickname to each them so you would know who you were talking about. His was Mario Ray.
The Pizza - At first glance it looks good. Lots of cheese, big slice, and extra melted cheese drizzled on the toppings. However it looks better than it tastes. Bonus points for almost no oil drip, but the cheese and the toppings tasted bland. The crust was too soft and drooped down even when folding the slice. Definitely not the worst pizza, and always better than any of the fast food pies. But NY has much steeper competition. Turns out the most famous part of Famous Rays is it's name.
Rating:
Cheese - 7.0
Sauce - 7.0
Crust - 6.5
Oil - 9.0
Toppings - 6.5
Total - 7.2
Fat Sals
Fat Sals Pizza 730 10th Ave, is not one of the iconic pizza joints in NY. We wanted to randomly pick out an underdog to throw into the challenge because there are an unbelievable amount of small pizza places in NYC, we needed to have them represented as well. So on our way to The Daily Show, we saw this place and decided to stop in for our first slice of the trip. And I'm glad we did.The Pizza - This pizza is the quintessential NY slice. Huge slice of pizza. Easily 1.5 - 2 times the size of whatever your used to. Excellent cheese, although not quite as good as the first Rays, tastier sauce though and a crust that holds up even under its own size. Not to mention incredible toppings. I had peperoni and my brother had meatball. The peperoni was fresh but I thought the slices were cut a little to thin. However, they made up for it with the meatball. Huge thick slices of fresh meatball covered the slice. Not the usual paper thin meatball slices a lot of places will give you. Overall, Fat Sals was actually better than both of the iconic Rays Pizza.
Rating:
Cheese - 9.0
Sauce - 8.5
Crust - 9.0
Oil - 8.5
Toppings - 9.5
Total - 8.9
Lombardi's
First of all, great name right? It's like it was destined for it to be the official pizza of the Cobra Kai. But it had to be good, no it had to be great. Lombardi's claims it is the very first pizza place in NYC, originally opened as a grocery store in little Italy in 1897, the name was licenced for pizza in 1905. Started by Gennaro Lombardi then by his son John and now run by grandson Jerry and his childhood friend John Brescio, Lombardi's is also famous for the way they cook their pies . . . with coal ovens.The Pizza - At first bite, you say, "good," then you eat some more and you say, "different," before you know it, you've eaten 4 slices and it's the best pizza you've ever had in your life. Because it's so different than what you're used to, it does not blow you away the second you taste it, however you soon come to realize this is how all pizza should be.
The top photo in this post is a shot of a Lombardi's pie. As you can see it looks very different than the standard pizza pie. It's actually not that attractive. Looks more like something from Picasso's & Dali's Pizzeria. Don't let it bother you though, there's a very good reason it looks the way it does.
The coal oven gives the crust a perfect crisp on the outside while keeping the interior soft. The sauce is more like a sweet marinara than your standard tomato flavor. It's not overpowering though and they make sure to completely cover the crust. Nothing worse than a pizza with too little sauce.
Then we come to the creme dela creme, the cheese. This is what gives Lombardi's pizza it's unique look. The cheese is not shredded like you see on 99% of the pies. It's sliced and sliced fresh right off a new block of white mozzarella. Because slices of cheese are placed on the pie instead of shreds, it does not melt perfectly even. Don't let it throw you, the gain in taste is worth the loss in aesthetics. The mozzarella retains all its flavor because it's not sitting around shredded up in a bin. There really is zero competition for a slice of fresh mozzarella right off the block, and that's what you get with a Lombardi's pie.
You can't order slices but that's really not a problem as you'll find yourself wanting to order another pie even after you think you should be full. The slices do not weigh you down like most, they are light but still full of substance. Not a drip of oil comes off these slices and the meatball topping I had was as fresh as can be and perfectly seasoned.
Hands down the best pizza in New York, and probably anywhere else.
Rating:
Cheese - 10
Sauce - 9.5
Crust - 10
Oil - 10
Toppings - 9.5
Total - 9.8
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos