Originally Posted 05/14/2010 

The Raptor listened to Sportcenter this morning to catch the results of the Cleveland Cavs versus Boston Celtics matchup which was held at Boston Garden.  The Cavaliers, with the NBA's best record during 2010 are led by Lebron James...

Lebron is also known as King James and his stats are amazing.  He can't be more than 25 years old but he has been league MVP the past two years and he is a superb athlete and truly deserves to win a championship. The Cavs were motivated to win this thing in 2010 as the whole world wants LeBron to dump Cleveland and play for the New York Knicks?...the worst team in the Eastern Confernece.  Cavs management even brought in Shaquille O'Neil to bolster the middle. 

The Boston Celtics on the other hand are a team...they have been an NBA franchise since the get-go and are legendary.  The Raptor has been a Celtics fan since the early 60's...way back then they had charisma.  Their coach was a gent named Arnod "Red" Auerbach.  Their roster included NBA greats such as Bob Cousey, Bill Russell, KC Jones, Sam Jones, John Havlicheck and Bailey Howell. at one stretch the team won NBA Championships 11 times over a 13 year span from 1957 to 1969.

During the Larry Bird years...one of the most beloved players ever to wear a Celtic uniform the team won championships in 1981, 1984 and 1986.  It was during those years that Bird along with Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish battled NBA Super Stars like Magic Johnson in thrilling contests which held The Raptor's attention with authority!

Unfortunately...the championships dried up and the interest faded.  Prior to the 2008 season, a 22 year drought existed and Celtic faithful were left with those what if type dreams.  The whole era seemed to be identified with the tragic death of Len Bias, a fabulous collegiate ballplayer who was drafted #1 by the Celtics and promptly partied himself to death.

The Celtics fought back with capable play by new roster additions such as Paul Pierce, Rahjon Rondo and Kevin Garnett.  Garnett, who had been stalled in NBA hell over at the Minnesota Timberwolves camp ignited the team into solidarity and the Celtics went on to win the 2008 crown.

Fast forward to 2010...the Cavs and The Celtics waded through preliminary heats to set up an epic matchup.  Unfortunately, it all came crashing down this week.  After trading spit decisions during the first four contests, the Celtics totally humiliated the Cavs in Cleveland on Tuesday as Lebron played one of the worst games of his career.  Last nights contest was equally distressing as Lebron tried valiantly to hold things together.  Scoring an impressive triple double was not enough and the Celtics prevailed.

Its a weird feeling...The Raptor was pulling for the Cavs even though the Celtics are my team.  I really wanted to see LeBron bring home the championship to a city that needs a lift.  Browns, Indians, Cavs...its been a tough 50 years...

Originally Posted 03/29/2010 

The Raptor has now spent the past two weekends playing golf at WWGC after a layoff of about 4 months.  It has been great fun to get out and soak up the fresh air while chatting it up with friends and making new friends in the process.

As a result of this early start to the golf season...the other tasks have been negligenced.  Right from the get go the most compelling thread has to be how decimated everyone's NCAA bracket pool has become.  With only Duke surviving the beat down on Number 1 seeds, the tournament has become somewhat of a "so what" event.  However, with West Virginia surviving into the Final Four, there are a number of local fans that will tune into to Saturday's game to root for the Mountaineers.

The Raptor can't even guess who is going to win this thing, The remaining teams include Duke, Michigan Sate, Butler and the previously mentioned WVU, so I guess I will pull for the Big 10 and cheer on the Spartans.

Also in the news is this ongoing "scandal" which is about to envelope the Pope and is creating a lot of controversy.  In a nutshell, there were some priests who performed heinous acts of pedophilia years ago that were not disciplined by the Pope before he was the Pope.  This is laughable since The Raptor is pretty sure this Pope couldn't discipline he way out of a paper bag let alone deal with complex issues such as defrocking a pedophile.  The irony here is the fact that in other sections of this site, The Raptor tends to build content which is contrary to the Catholics and Christians of this world.  The Raptor is saddened by news reports such as this since there are real problems to be considered and this should be one of them...perhaps if a few of these bozos were defrocked in a more vicious manner some of this crap would cease...but, how is it that The Catholic Bishops can get so radical in their condemnation of elected officials who support a woman's right to choose but can't protect the living members of their church?

Finally, The Raptor is wondering which right wing jackass (Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity etc.) is going to come out swinging on President Obama's recent overnight trip to Afghanistan to provide some encouragement to our troops while delivering some tough talk to Hamid Kharzai.  For sure the talking heads will register disgust that Obama has some how politicized the war to curry favor with the American People.  Mark my words.

Originally Posted 03/14/2010 

The Raptor is excited for the first time in a long time about a pending change with Big Time College Football...A Raptor Fav...the news?...The Big Ten (a group of 11 college sports programs which includes Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan Sate, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Purdue) is considering incorporating another sports program into it's roster to provide balance and other amenities and make for increased fan interest.

The principal motivation could very well be to create conference championship games in the next generation of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in order to REALLY make for interesting match ups and further the capability of the Big 10 to compete against other college programs such as Florida, Texas, Alabama and USC.  Notice that The Raptor didn't say "college football programs" but that's what its all about.

Over the past 5 to 10 years The Big 10 has been able to field some strong football teams and make a play for the BCS Championship Game.  Consider these past results...

There have been obvious trends but it is apparent that teams like Florida, Texas and Oklahoma have dominated as of late...but...Ohio State has played in the game 3 out of the past 8 contests and has won one of those games against a tough Miami team in 2002 and that's probably due to letting Maurice Clarette play when he should have been in jail.  Unfortunately during their past two visits, Ohio State has been totally and severely whipped by obviously stronger opponents.

The Raptor can distinctly remember the crass comments made by supra jerk Woody Page on ESPN's "Around The Horn" a couple of years ago when Penn State was lurching towards a possible National Championship Game after besting Ohio State at home only to loose a heartbreaker to Iowa the following week.  Page thanked the Football Gods that Penn State lost...thereby insuring the contest between Florida and Oklahoma.  This demonstrates a bias against well coached, well disciplined teams by sportswriters like Page in favor of athletic programs who "hire" the best teams in order to provide the most compelling contest.  Forget about the student athlete...their only concern is the point spread.

Enter Notre Dame...

The Fightin' Irish are considered a prime candidate to become the next college athletic program to become part of the Big 10.  It makes sense but there is buzz from the alumni base that it's not necessarily a done deal.  Consider what a this Notre Dame alumni said recently in an email exchange with The Raptor...

"Assuming the BCS doesn't change the current rules, I really could not think of a worse move than to join the Big Whatever. As far as making money, the only sport that really matters is football and ND has their own deal with NBC which puts them in a far better position then they would ever be in if they were to join a conference. Losing the NBC contract does not appear to be likely as it was just renewed for an extended period of time for at least the 3rd time that I can recall. Even with ND having a few bad seasons over the last 15 years, people still love them or hate them and the ratings are very good. If fact, almost every one of their away games (ie not on NBC) are also on national TV. As far as the other sports, they are already in the Big East which is very strong in every sport and widely regarded as the strongest conference this year in Hoops. I stand by my comment that ND can play anybody they want because they are independent. Over the past 10 years, ND has played the best teams in the BIG 10 nearly ever year( ie Mich, MSU., Pur., OSU, and PSU). No they have not played Wisc. or Iowa but they also don't have to play NW, Ill. IND.,or Minn. every year. Instead of playing the same teams every year, they have been able to schedule teams like USC, LSU, Tenn, Fla. St., Neb., Texas A&M, Geo. Tech and are able to schedule teams like Oklahoma, ASU, USC and WSU in the future. It gives the fans and the recruits a national audience as opposed to a regional one."

Also consider that the Big 10 tendered an offer to Notre Dame way back in 1999 to join the Big 10 and the Irish turned it down.  Money talks and bullshit walks and its the attitude of the alumni that they would rather see their football program sink in a pool of mediocrity while acting as an independent as opposed to belonging to a conference.  It's time to be pragmatic here...

As long as athletic programs continue to award scholarships (see recent news reports about the Oregon Football Program) to street thugs who may very well not be able to spell their own name, quality institutions like Notre Dame, Ohio Sate and Penn State will be hard pressed to compete for the National Championship.

The Raptor has come out in favor of Notre Dame joining the Big 10.  While the money is good in the present deal, it's possible that NBC could change their segmentation strategy in the future.  If the Irish keep fielding mediocre teams, the fans who are still paying attention will dwindle. Patton said it best..."All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball player, the toughest boxer. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time"

It's possible The Raptor could be wrong but it makes sense for Notre Dame to join the Big 10.  What are the options?...Pitt?...come on Notre Dame get on board and lets "Bring It On!"

Originally Posted 02/12/2010 

There never seems to be enough time in the day for important matters and lately with weather issues and other responsibilities, it has been difficult if not impossible to keep browsers of this site up to date on what is on The Raptor's plate.

One item that continues to burn is the awfulness that is the Republican Party.  Consider the GOP's next candidate from hell, Sara Palin.  Governor Palin was in the news recently after her successful address to the annual Tea Party Convention which was held this past weekend. 

Palin, who continues, along with other Republican dofuses such as Rush Limbaugh to be the gift that keeps on giving...for The Raptor...is seen here lounging on a Bear which she apparently shot in the wilds of Alaska

Going back to last weekend, Governor Palin is hot for the Presidency and as such will say or do anything to appeal to her base...whom ever it happens to be at that moment.  So when called upon to address our Nations voting block of malcontents, she needed to keep several key issues on her mind.  Lacking a brain, she elected to write them on her right palm and so now we know that Governor Palin is all excited about Energy, Tax Cuts and Lifting The American Spirit.  The coolest thing to note here is how Governor Palin first wrote "Budget Cut"...then wrote "Lift American Spirit"...then went back and crossed out "Budget" and wrote in "Tax"...what happened here Sara?...no white out available?

If this is all it takes to get mindless sheep to vote for you maybe I should take a crack at it.  What could I write on my hand?  Probably something like...Childhood Obesity, Drug Addiction and Criminalizing the XBox.

Another major player in the present Republican Strategy for 2012 game is Newt Gingrich.  Gingrich is the ultimate GOP role model.  He's white, older, fat and has a big obnoxious mouth as is evidenced by the photo...

It not to difficult to imagine what Gingrich is saying here...probably something like..."Hey Obama...your fly is open!"

Gingrich was recently seen on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and decided to come out and criticize President Obama's administration for reading the Underwear Bomber his rights rather than interrogate the poor bastard in order to gain some valuable intel on his Al-Quiada overlords.  The event is best summed up by Sam Stein of The Huffington Post...

"Newt Gingrich tried on Wednesday to brush off the glaring gaffe he made this week on "The Daily Show" when he insisted that the Bush administration was right to read shoe bomber Richard Reid his Miranda rights because he was an American citizen.

But in doing so, the former GOP House Speaker only dug his hole deeper.

In a post on his Twitter page, Gingrich explained that when he made the Reid comment to the "Daily Show"'s Jon Stewart his reference was actually to Jose Padilla. Reid, after all, is a British citizen -- Padilla is American.

But Gingrich wasn't done there. In a dig at the Obama White House, he added to the tail end of his tweet: "Treating terrorists like criminals wrong no matter who is Pres."

That's a standard GOP talking point, and yet when President Bush moved the Padilla case from a military setting to the criminal system, it was Gingrich who came to his defense despite conservative howls of protest, a Democratic source points out.

Appearing on Fox News in November 2005, the former speaker said the following when asked whether it was "a loss" for the Bush White House to have tried Padilla in civilian courts after holding him for three-and-a-half years as an enemy combatant:

"Well, I think if they believe they have enough evidence to convict him, going through the process of convicting him and holding him, I suspect, maybe for the rest of his life without parole would not be -- would hardly be seen as a loss," Gingrich said.

The former speaker went on to note that Bush was "wrestling with what are the real ground rules for dealing with people who are clearly outside of normal warfare" -- suggesting, implicitly, that a criminal setting was appropriate for Padilla because it was the most effective at the time. "[W]e don't have a good set of rules," he declared.

But that is a mirror of the Obama administration's current argument -- the one that Gingrich criticized on Twitter.

The Raptor can sympathize with Gingrich.  I am fat too and a lot of times, I say things which are inappropriate.  The difference is that I am not an elected official charge with managing the affairs of this Country!  Gingrich has stated he has not ruled out a possible run at the White House.  Another gift that keeps on giving...

Originally Posted 01/18/2010 

The Raptor would like to mention that last Wednesday, on my post which is reviewable below...I suggested that certain members of the Republican Party would have their balls in a bunch over the disaster in Haiti.  Little did The Raptor realize that the voice of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, would jump on the band wagon and perhaps get his tittie in a twister in the process...you see...Limbaugh pictured in a familiar pose behind bars...stated that real Americans should NOT donate funds to Haitian disaster relief since it would improve President Obama's position with "light skinned and dark skinned African Americans"...Way to go Rush...you are the gift that keeps on giving!

Originally Posted 01/13/2010 

It’s a new day and there are a fresh set of stories migrating into our homes as we sip the morning Red Bull...First, and obviously the most compelling is the devastating earthquake which has struck the nation of Haiti.  The quake, measuring about 7.5 on the Richter Scale has apparently leveled the capital city of Port Au Prince.  The quake occurred about one hour before darkness yesterday so those individuals unlucky enough to be in one of the shanties which predominate the region have now been crushed between concrete slabs for over 12 hours in total darkness.

As their only recourse is to pray to a tone deaf God, they can enjoy their life forces ebbing away all the while knowing that soon...they will be in heaven.  This is another example for the Dave Heintziel's of the world (see The God Page for additional background on Mr. Heintzel) to reinforce the theme that God...and Jesus...love us.  Yes...they love us soooo much that they periodically have to engineer catastrophes such as this earthquake in order to test faith and bring common enemies together to save the residual zombies that will be sitting on a stoop in their own excrement waiting for the help that will come their way from...

...the U.S. Taxpayers.  Can you imagine the thorn sticking in the craw of such limp dicks as Mitch McConnel, John Kyl, John Ensign, and John Boehner as they prepare to offer their condolences and prayers for the Haitians all the while wailing and gnashing their teeth over the government aid which will flow to Haiti..

While it's taboo to help poor island nations such as Haiti and Cameroon out of the squalor they exist in, it's admirable to ravage a nation like Afghanistan to win the War on Terror.

Speaking of the other news of the day...The Raptor's old friend, Sara Palin has been in the news again.  She has just come down from cloud nine after the successful release of her book..."Going Rouge", only to realize that normal individuals such as Mark Halperin and John Heilman can write too.  And write they did with their just released book..."Game Change", which seems to deal with 2008 as it pertained to the Presidential election.

The most compelling stories to come from this book involve Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV) stating that Barack Obama was desirous since he was a light skinned African-American who did not possess the "negro dialect".  Also, that Bill and Hillary Clinton are awful (Clinton organized a transition team before the primaries we over) and that Governor Palin could not disseminate the reasoning behind a North and South Korea.  Palin also has been clashing with McCain/Palin campaign staffer Steve Schmidt as of late.  Schmidt came out on 60 Minutes to reveal how Governor Palin was having difficulty prepping for her debate with Senator Joe Biden and had a unconscious tick which caused her to refer to him as "O'Biden".  She also went into a "blue funk' and became squeamish. This is hilarious...What a dolt!  And she wanted to be our latex salesman!

The Raptor is dismayed to learn that NBC has messed up the late night talk show scene...again!  It was just about 15 years ago that Carson retired and Jay Leno and David Letterman came out swinging to determine who would host the iconic "Tonight Show".  Now the combatants will be Leno and Conan O'Brien.  News to follow for sure but the gist of the story is that O'Brien has been asked to step aside to allow Leno to host a on half hour show preceding his show.  For this he is feeling unappreciated.  This is all moot for The Raptor since I am usually asleep by 10PM.

On the local scene, the region has seen almost 4 feet of snow fall since January 1st and the piles are impressive!  Fortunately The Raptor has a 8 HP snow blower with electric start capability and as a result the driveway is in excellent shape.  The Raptor enjoyed the shootout between Green Bay and Arizona this past weekend and can safely say that The Taliban don't know what their missing.  If they could figure out a way to take their difference to the athletic field, the world would be a better place.

This weekend the matchups include: The Cardinals versus The Saints (Sat - 4:30) and The Ravens at The Colts (8:15).  Meanwhile on Sunday The Cowboys will be visiting The Vikings for a 1PM contest while the Jets will go cross country to test the mettle of The Chargers in a 5:00 game.

Predicting the outcome can be tricky but here goes...The AFC Championship game will pit the Chargers and The Colts while the NFC Championship will feature The Cowboys and The Cardinals.  Meanwhile the Super Bowl will see The Cowboys up against The Colts with The Colts winning the big Tamale.

Originally Posted 01/07/2010 

It’s safe to state that everyone has a morning routine and The Raptor is no exception.  Aside from the traditional procedures which involve personal hygiene, The Raptor also likes to pick up a morning cup of coffee as well as some munch able sandwich or sweet roll.

Many of you out there might say to yourself…”how silly…he could just as easily brew a cup of coffee at home and save a lot of money” If you are thinking that…forget about it…saving money is not the operative issue here.  It’s trying to learn more about what is happening in the trailer park regions of the world.

You see…most of the attendants who work at places like McDonald’s or Burger King and make minimum wage either live in a trailer, a shanty or a converted lean-to which they have attached to a culvert.

In addition, if you’re the kind of sped that likes to save money by brewing up a mug of coffee at home, your probably also the kind of personage that will drive to Country Fair, park at the gas pump, walk into the store, use a frequent flyer credit card to purchase the 5 cent off gas card and walk back out to the car to pump the gas.  Consider this Mr. Thrift…at 5 cents a gallon you have just saved $.75 cents by filling up a car that has a 15 gallon tank.  If your car gets 20 miles to the gallon and you drive 10,000 miles per year, you will save a whopping $25.00 over the course of the year while spending almost 6 hours of your life walking to the store and back to the car while inconveniencing the other patrons who are there trying to get a cup of f***ing coffee!

Anyhow, back to the story…The Raptor’s morning coffee routine is variable in that I have identified 3 or 4 places en route to work where I can pick up a coffee and a sweet roll.  The current prime spots are Tim Horton’s (cool jerks like to refer to it as Timmy Hoes), Burger King (cool designation unavailable) and McDonald’s (Mickey Dees).  In a pinch The Raptor will stop at the previously mentioned Country Fair but as a rule despises getting out of the car for fear of having to get behind the previously mentions gas saver jerk or the half asleep on-the-way-to high school smoking skank.  Also available is the Kwick Fill which is the most poorly designed coffee emporium ever conceived by man but is desirable since there is NEVER anyone buying anything at that store…not sure how they stay in business.

The three prime locations feature differing desirable delectables.  At Tim Horton’s, The Raptor likes to pick up a large coffee and a cinnamon roll lathered with frosting (price - $2.56).  At Burger King, I go with the large coffee coupled with the croisssandwich with sausage and cheese (no egg please) (price - $4.22).  Finally, At McDonald’s The Raptor goes with the large coffee with a sausage McMuffin with no egg (price $3.59).

All was well with the world until Wednesday January 6^th, 2010 when The Raptor elected to try McDonald’s for the morning routine.  The Raptor was filled with tremendous trepidation regarding this visit.  You see…McDonald’s have just opened their new store at 26^th and Zuck which was directly across from the old store on the South side of the roadway.  McDonald’s had performed this relocation for the simple reason that breakfast has become extremely important to the corporate bottom line and the owners felt they could maximize revenue by getting the traffic which was entering the city as opposed to the traffic which was leaving the city.  Oh how wrong this whole exercise has become.

For starters, the entrance to the parking lot is extremely tight and two cars (or trucks) attempting to cross in the apron of the drive could potentially run into each other.  Second, due to the busy intersection, there are instances where 5 or 6 vehicles could be stuck in queue waiting to exit the drive.  Third, this backlog of exiting vehicles shuts down the capability of patrons attempting to place an order since they can not get to the operator.  Fourth, the order station has a robotic first responded who asks a preprogrammed question such as “Welcome to McDonald’s…would you like to order Mocha?”  Immediately after that occurs and you are so disorientated, an actual attendant comes over the speaker to take your order.  In the three times The Raptor has tried to pick up a coffee, the operator has had tremendous difficulty getting the order correct.

However, this most recent visit was the worst one yet.  Amazingly, there was very little traffic at the store as it was about 6:45.  Unfortunately, there was something wrong inside the store and The Raptor couldn’t figure out if it was a leak in the roof or an ice machine but everyone was stumbling around the store.  The attendant, who was a vacant appearing blonde woman approximately 20 years of age was confused about the order process but, come on…how tough can it be to punch up a coffee and a Sausage McMuffin?  After finally getting the order straight, The Raptor was now stunned to learn that the price of the order had shot up to $4.11!  That was a 14percent increase!  The rest of the experience involved getting back on to 26^th Street which was near impossible due to snowy conditions coupled with slow moving traffic.

The Raptor was forced to travel east to the Country Fair at Zuck…drive through the parking lot and get onto Zuck…then turn left or west to head to work…needless to say, The Raptor will not be heading to McDonald’s any time soon.  Sorry Ronald!...it’s time to find a new vendor for the morning routine.

Originally Posted 12/12/09                 

The Raptor has been mulling over yesterday's developments in this Tiger Woods melodrama.  For most of the day, The Raptor recalled the post which placed blame for Tiger's demise on his wife's shoulders - it was the "she made me do it" defense.  This theory was further defined by a story or "fable" which demonstrated the prevailing attitudes and postures of many of our nations fairer sex.

The Raptor would like to reiterate here that I've seen it all before and this concept I am trying to explore is as a result of meeting up with way too many of the superficial type of spouse who has adopted a persecution complex over marriage.

It is dead wrong to advocate adultery.  It's bad, there is no doubt in my mind.  

So in fairness to Tiger Woods and his request for privacy, I am extracting yesterday's post in hopes of contributing a positive gesture.  As a result, The Raptor will formulate other threads later this weekend and submit them for your approval