Heads Will Roll

So we find ourselves here yet again.

Another season of New York Metropolitans baseball has come to an end. This year instead of waiting until September to blow a huge lead and break my heart, they decided it would be better to go for more of a slow bleed strategy.

The season started with so much promise. A new stadium, a lineup full of all-stars. One of the best pitchers in the game at the front of the rotaton. One of the best pitchers in the game at the back of the bull pen. A manager who wasn't Willie Randolph.

I ignored the warning signs. Shrugged off any doubts that the roster was thin behind the stars. I didn't care that the back half of the rotation consisted of question marks and crossed fingers.

I was ready for an amazin' Mets season.

I used the #1 overall pick in my fantasy baseball league to take David Wright. This would be the year that he put it all together and proved that he was more than just hype and thick eyebrows.

Then it all started to crumble. Star player after star player went down with what was initially considered minor injuries, only to find out later that what was ailing them was something far more severe than originally diagnosed. It happened once and we thought it was odd. It happened twice and we thought it was coincidence. Then we realized with the 3rd and 4th key players went down with major injury, that like V says, there are no coincidences. This Mets team was snake bitten. The black cloud that has perpetually hung over this team for the last three years had not moved, we just didn't see it at first.

The 2006 playoffs, Endy Chavez's game saving catch seem like they happened in another lifetime. These Mets, the Mets of the last three seasons, are simply and utterly incapable of winning.

I am far less upset this year than I have been in the past. I stopped paying attention in the middle of the Summer. If that makes me a bad fan so be it. I think it makes me a realist. There was a series with the Phillies, we were down by like 7 games at the time, and I thought to myself, if we can just sweep, if only we can sweep...Then we turned around and got swept. Season Over.

To continue the "V for Vendetta" theme, good guys wind, bad guys lose, and as always, England prevails.

Except in this case it goes more like...Other team wins, Mets lose, and as always, the Mets fail.

Ok, so having said all of that, where do we go from here. How do we even begin to start to fix this.

I think that a few things absolutely have to happen.

The first of which, like the video above, is Heads Need to Roll.

Omar Minaya is not a good GM. Period. He is inept, he is a bumbling, stumbling train wreck.

He was handed Johan Santana on a silver platter, it was not a stroke of Managerial Genius.

Omar Minaya needs to be fired. Assistant GM John Ricco needs to be made the GM.

Jerry Manuel needs to be fired. Sorry Jerry, I think you are a nice guy. I think that you do, for the most part a good job. But the lack of discipline, the general laziness that this team played with all year, even when they were still in it, has to fall on you. Sorry Gangsta, ya gotta go.

Howard Johnson can stay as hitting coach. Dan Warthen I guess is good enough to remain the pitching coach. There is only so much you can do when you are handed Oliver Perez and told to make him your #3 starter, refer to the statements regarding Omar Minaya above.

As far as player moves go, this team needs to be built on pitching and defense. I don't care about home run totals. A healthy David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and Jeff Francouer for the season will improve the offense.

We need either a Left Fielder or a First Basemen. I would be thrilled with Matt Holliday, I would die if we could find a way to bring in Prince Fielder. But aside from those two, give me some players who play hard, and can hit and run a bit and I will be happy. Luis Castillo needs to go. Find a way to move him, pay him if you have to. I don't care. We need an Orlando Hudson type.

The money needs to be spent on pitching. We need some guns, both in the rotation and the bullpen.

We need a solid, legitimate #2 starter. John Lackey fits that mold. We need pitchers. We need power arms that are relatively young and can solidify this rotation.

We need a team that can limit the damage, keep the ball in our huge park and throw deep in games. I have always like Jon Garland. Give me a John Lackey, John Garland, and maybe like a Doug Davis type to match up with what we currently have:

Santana
Lackey
Garland
Pelfrey
Maine
Perez
Parnell
Niese
etc..

This season has been a vast, immesurable disappointment. We need to wipe this entire slate clean, we need a fresh start. March 2010 needs to feel like we are starting over completely fresh. I hate you New York Mets. Don't make me regret not throwing in the towel and becoming a full-time Twins fan. I am still here. Don't make me rethink my choice.

Still an Inconvenient Truth

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=1

My Terrible Sports Weekend

Brockport blows a lead with 10 seconds remaining to Montclair State to lose home coming. Awesome

Penn State gets embarasses on national TV to the same team that knocked them out of the National Title hunt last year. Mega Awesome.

Tampa Bay gets 86 yards of total offense and doesn't record a first down until mid way through the 3rd quarter (luckily my Bucs fandom is coming to an end). Mega-ly Awesome.

I lose in two fantasy football leagues. Way Mega-ly Awesome.

and I go from winning in the fantasy baseball championship, to losing in my fantasy baseball championship. Luckily it is a two week championship so I still have time.

The weekend wasn't a complete bust however.

We Are...Penn State

Due to the the nations overwhelming need to watch East Carolina v. North Carolina last week, we are now entering week four of the College Football season and I have yet to watch my guys.

Luckily for this guy, not only do I get to watch my guys, but I get to watch them in Primetime after a day of College Gameday broadcast from State College.

And on top of all of that, we are playing Iowa, who until last year I never had a reason to hate. Then, they ruined (Roo-EEE-nd) my perfect season last year. Ruined my chance to be embaressed in the National Championship game instead of just the Rose Bowl.

Now Iowa, you have been added to the list of teams that I hate. Say "Hi" to Michigan, Ohio State and Minnesota for me.

We Are

Penn State

Test Ethics

Your 2009 New York Mets

http://bases.nbcsports.com/

The ghost ship that is the New York Mets continues to drift aimlessly around the National League, its crew having all but abandoned it, a lamentable calm having descended over its decks.

No more honest words have ever been spoken. I stopped watching months ago. Clean-house, top to bottom. Omar, you had your chance to prove that you are capable of doing this, your clearly not.

There is more to putting together a championship club than the big-splash trade/free-agent.

Beltran, good move
Santana, good move...

No doubt about it. It's the little things, the smaller pieces that make up a roster where he continually falls on his face.

Clean house

EDI 603- Ethics for Assessment

Personal Code of Ethics for Assessment

1. Accommodating Students with Disabilities: assessment modifications/ accommodations

In order to present an effective inclusive classroom, I as the instructor will have to craft assessments that touch on all forms of intelligences while at the same time being fair for all students. So often we hear the phrase: “Inclusion can work, when it’s done right”… It’s done right when time and care are taken to ensure that all students are being offered an opportunity to succeed and display their true intelligence.

2. To interpret students’ performance on one assessment by considering the results from other assessments (pg.92)

If I were to be judged to be worthy for qualification into the Teacher Education Program at SUNY Brockport based on my performance on a test that I took on my worst day, I would be washing dishes for a living (although, having said that, who would have known that a 2-year old could create so many dishes). Everyone has a bad day and there are times where it is necessary to consider a students’ track record when considering their score on an assessment.

3. To interpret a students’ performance as a way of evaluating his attainment of learning targets rather than as a weapon for punishing or controlling students’ behavior (pg.92)

Using the fear of passing an assessment as a form of motivation plays on a dangerous double edged sword. Getting students motivated to pay attention, or to study by inspiring fear may be effective at times, with certain students. However, that effectiveness is often overshadowed by the anxiety that it will inspire in students who we are looking to teach, not scare.

4. To score student responses accurately (pg. 90)

This is basically self-explanatory. If we are going to give assessments, no matter the form, we owe it to ourselves and our students to score their responses correctly. This can range from using an answer key for multiple choice questions to applying a rubric to short answer or essay responses.

5. To take my students culture, upbringing, family history and environment into account when creating and administering an assessment

There is more to education than simply teaching tests, gaining knowledge and passing standardized assessments. To Teach is to know both ourselves and those who we are trying to influence. We cannot do this if we do not know who our students are, what they can bring to the proverbial table from their own lives and how what they have experienced through the lens of their lives has shaped who and what they are. If we teach only to get people from point A to point B as quickly and cheaply as possibly, we fall flat on our faces in terms of solving the very real, and very tragic problems that face our education system and our students. We are teachers. We do what we are.

More Star Wars Humor

Save the Insurance Executives

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing

Circles

We’re caught in these Cycles
We’re caught in these Circles

How do we break these Cycles
How do we break these Circles

A Circle looks so complete
It looks so perfect

No beginning, no end
No end, no beginning

But if it has no beginning,
No one remembers how we got here

But if there is no end,
How do we stop what we started

We stand on This side
Or we stand on That side

They do this and We do That
They do That and We do This

We are spinning out of control
Caught in these Cycles, these Circles

Babies are having Babies
Babies are shooting Babies

10 years from now
She will be 12

The End of an Era

In November of 2007, Nick Warner moved into my basement.

I was at the lowest point on my life. I could have easily sunk into the blackness that was threatening to crush the life out of me. The weight of my life had come crashing down around my head, and a four-month old, blue eyed baby was the only thing keeping me from drowning.

Nick moved in, and our house which easily could have been my tomb, became a place of laughter, love and happiness.

Nick brings laughter and joy to every place he travels. For two years he has called my house, his home and I am better for it.

Nick's reasons for leaving are some of the best that I can think of. He leaves with smiles and hugs.

Our house will be a little quieter, a little less joyful, and a little less organized without him.

Thank you brother for holding me up when I thought I could not make it.

I will always be indebted to you, and you will always have a home at 159 South Avenue.

Love you Nick

Peter's Other Family

Best Served Cold

I hate you Iowa. White out Saturday. More to come in the next few days.

What I Learned This Weekend...

I learned that Buffalo Bills fans, as a group, are the most dedicated people on the planet. Period.


They love their team more than I have ever loved anything. It was a life experience spending eight hours in a parking lot surrounded by people who love a thing so much they simply cannot find enough ways to display it.

Take the above picture for example. He is literally wearing a Bills hat, Bills sunglasses, Bills jersey, Bills t-shirt under his jersey, and I didn't check his underwear but I am going to assume they were Bills.

What I took away from the game is that to be that blindly in love with a thing, while wonderful for the person blindly in love, looks really stupid from the outside looking in.

I reminded my Bills fan brothers, as we were walking back to the car following the stomping of my Buccaneers at the hands of said Bills, that Emerson said: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of simple minds"

They responded, simultaneously..."Fuck Emerson, Go Bills"





Never stop believing Buffalo. Never.

My Addiction

One thing has always bothered me about people who smoke. With other addictions, be it alcohol, sex, or sugar-free gummy worms, there is a tangible benefit. With smoking, the only benefit is a chemical reaction in the brain.

I have an addiction, and like smoking there is no real benefit. And like smoking, I know that at the end of the day my addiction is going to lead me to a miserable ending.

My addiction is College Football. And I need help.

I know, beyond any shard of doubt, that I will be upset in January. Like smoking, I know the end is going to be real, real bad.

But I can't help but put that filtered poison in my body, every Saturday. And Thursday, Friday and every other day that the NCAA has co-opted.

Somehow, and this scares me about the power of my brain, I am able to suspend disbelief from September-December. I am able to ignore the future pain and anguish I am going to put myself through by forcing myself to witness another round of BCS B.S.

I know that no matter how well Penn State does this year, and I believe they have as good a chance as any team in the country at going undefeated this year, there will be no happy ending.

Without a playoff, I true, Division I-AA style playoff, I will go through the same heartache this January as I did last year, and they year before that, and the year before that...

The problem is, I still watch the damn games. Viewer-ship is up. People are tuning in, and I am adding to that problem. As long as people are filling stadiums, and turning on ESPN for 18 hours every Saturday (guilty), nothing is going to change.

And that is why I have a problem. I hate the thing I love. I hate what it is going to do to me, but I still shoot it into my veins, every Saturday, religiously.

I feel for you Two-Pack-a-Day guy.

Catering to the Village Idiot

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You Lie

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How You Like Me Now?

Un-Real

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I officially hate Max Baucus.

I can only hope that what Keith mentions at the end of this video is the truth.

I somehow cannot muster the faith in the Democratic party to believe that they could be smart enough to pull this off, but maybe just maybe they put together the worst bill in the history of the universe so that they could get what they wanted from the push-back. Not panicing yet.

Why I Love Joe

Here is an exchange from Joe's press conference this week where what I can only assume is a fairly new reporter asked him how he feels about his 5th ranked team as compared to other top ranked teams that he has had in the 6,000 years that he has been coaching:

I imagine you don't pay attention to rankings too much, national rankings, but being No. 5 in the country do you ever compare your team's development to other teams?

Paterno: No, don't get me into that. I don't know what we are, for crying out loud. Geez, that's the same thing -- hey, I honest to God, are we No. 5 is that what you're telling me?

Yes.

Paterno: I don't know that we're No. 5. You guys don't seem to understand, I don't pay -- I don't read anything about us. I get the paper. I go to the bathroom. I take the paper in there and I scan it. I look at it. The first thing I do is look at who died. All right. Second thing I look at are headliners, something that says Paterno is the greatest, I read it. (Laughter) If it says I'm a bum, I don't even look at it.

This is why I love Joe.



Seriously, I love Joe.

The Best Things Come From NYC

Jay-Z - New Music - More Music Videos

Really?

These are the people that we are giving a voice to? These are the people that we are welcoming to the bargaining table?

Really?

Really!?!

Nothing Changes

"By virtue of saturation tactics used, radical, reactionary propaganda is producing an impact even on large numbers of people who, themselves, are in no sense extremists or sympathetic to extremists views. When day after day they hear distortions of fact and sinister charges against persons or groups, often emanating from organizations with conspicuously respectable sounding names, it is no wonder that the result is: Confusion on some important public issues; stimulation of latent prejudices; creation of suspicion, fear and mistrust in relation not only to their representatives in government, but even in relation to their neighbors."

The Idaho Statesman newspaper

1964, on the Bircher movement.

History repeating itself.

This Is What We Are Fighting Against

These people are so far out in Right Field, they cannot tell down from up or up from down. They are not sure what they are protesting about and what they support.

You hypocritic morons, you are holding protests (A Government insured RIGHT!) on PUBLIC LAND.

So the Right complains that the agenda is being forced down their throats. The Left complains that Obama and the Senate are being too nice to the Right and NOT shoving legislation down their throats...cause we won, and elections matter.

I say Obama takes the Half-Blood Prince's advice and shove a Bezoar down their throats, or Health Care.

They are going to hate him no matter what he does, so do what is best for all of us and don't worry about what these marginalized morons are going to shout about.

It is all thinly veiled racism anyways.

Bucs lose

Here are the highlights (lowlights) from Sunday's game with the Cowboys



Two bad field goals and two broken coverages and the rest is history.

I am ok with this team rebuilding this year. I am ok with the fact that we are not going to be real good.

But why in the hell, if we are going to be crap anyways are we not starting either one of our young, talented quarterbacks?

In the NFL, you are either in Super Bowl contention, or rebuilding. We are not in Super Bowl contention this year, so lets rebuild, but lets do it right.

We are going no where with Byron Leftwich. Where you goin'? No where..

September 11th

If you know me, you know I have very, very mixed emotions about September 11th, 2001

Whatever I feel about why, how, who and what took place that day, or what was done in its aftermath, I simply cannot deny that for the people of NYC, the people who lost family members, loved ones, co-workers and friends, the people who looked out the windows of their offices, their homes or their schools and saw what the rest of us watched on tv or listened to on the radio, for those people, the why, how, who and what are insignificant.

It happened.

Burning Man

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/the-truth-about-burning-m_b_279464.html

This has always fascinated me.

Keith Nails It

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I still cannot believe how unbelievably awful this was.

Obama's Speech

The Full Speech

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Rachel Maddow's Reaction

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I will say honestly that I did not watch the whole thing last night.

I am afraid that there is still too much Corporate, Special Interest influence over what is taking place here. But he did do exactly what I hoped he would, which is address the American people.

As a side note, I cannot believe the disrespectful, distasteful behavior the the Republican Congress people. That sort of behavior would have gotten Dennis Kucinch thrown in a Gulag had he done something like to to W.

How is it that these people do not realize that they are no longer in the crazy ass townhall meetings. They were shouting and catcalling at the President of the United States of America. Seriously?

Adding...

The Idiot congressman that yelled at the President last night is a Colonel in the Army Reserves, he can and should be court martialed for what he did last night. His oppenent for his seat has raised over $100,000 since last night. Good job dick

9

Just because Summer is over, does not mean that The Summer of the Movie© is over.

I am looking forward to this as much as I have any movie this summer.

College Football Kick Off

So we are one week into the college football season and we don't know a whole hell of a lot more than we did a week ago.

A few things we do know are:

Oklahoma can probably kiss a National Championship goodbye. An upset of Texas in the Red River Shootout is probably the only chance that they have.

FLORIDA IS THE GREATEST FOOTBALL TEAM EVER. Or so ESPN would have me believe. I will reserve judgement.

That noise you hear in the distance is the Notre Dame hype machine getting warmed up. That other noise you heard was me puking.

The Big Ten sucks. But don't sleep on Penn State going undefeated. And I really, really hate Tyrell Prior.

Syracuse still sucks. Sorry Greggy.

And as a new season kicks off, lets for a minute revisit how it was I felt about the BCS, BS back in January.


So any of you who know me know that I think that the current system for deciding a national champion in college football is a complete joke. Everything about it is a joke, and every excuse that is bandied about in defense of it is a joke. The B.C.S is a result of greedy universities, greedy conferences, and lazy alumni. Period. It is about money and laziness.

Any argument that is presented to defend what we currently are force fed is a paper tiger that is easily debunked. Period.

I find myself becoming very depressed this time of year, every year. Now scientists have proven that January is the most depressing month of the year, and specifically January 22nd is the most depressing day of the year in America.(I didn't make that up). So my depression could be a combination of that fact, coupled with a fairly severe case of seasonal depression, which is then mixed in with the realization that I just wasted five months of my life spending every Saturday glued to the TV from 11am to 12am.

The problem is, by next September I will have forgotten how awful I feel right now.

Don't get me wrong, last nights Ohio State-Texas game was fun to watch, as was Utah over Alabama, hell I even enjoyed the Rose Bowl where my lions were beaten pretty soundly it was still fun to watch. The problem is, there is no satisfying finish.

The commercials that have been running on Fox, ad nauseum would have you believe that Thursday's match up of Oklahoma and Florida was a clear-cut case of 1 v. 2 and that the outcome would settle the matter once and for all. Their ads portray this game as if it were written in the 12th book of the Bible that on January 8th 2009 Florida, national powerhouse, led by Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow would march into this game opposed by Oklahoma, the best team in the country, led by current Heisman winner Sam Bradford. The outcome of this match up of titans would leave no doubt in any one's mind who the best team in the country is. Or so we are to believe.

What this takes is an inhuman ability to suspend disbelief. And hobbits once roamed the world dropping jewelry into volcanoes and a magic lion saved four siblings from an ice queen.

What all this hype, and the ESPN bullshit machine are not telling you is this, Texas beat Oklahoma by 20 points on a neutral field.

Florida lost to Ole Miss at home.

Thursday nights game has been spun since the teams were announced, and will continue being spun well into the weekend as the National Championship game. ESPN, Fox, and every dickhead with a microphone in between will try to convince the moronic masses that this game has decided something.

To me, all it has decided is that this system is broken, and I am god damned depressed about it.

Texas beat Oklahoma by 20 points. Texas beat Ohio State, Ohio State lost to Penn State, at home, Penn State lost soundly to USC, USC lost to Oregon State, Oregon State got blasted by Penn State, Utah went undefeated and beat the snot out of Alabama who was the Number One team in the country for a large portion of the season, Florida beat Alabama, Florida lost to Ole Miss, Ole Miss beat Texas Tech, Texas Tech beat Texas on the last play of the game, Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, and TEXAS BEAT OKLAHOMA BY 20 POINTS ON A NEUTRAL FIELD.

Did you follow all of that, cause I did that off the top of my head and am proud of it (as sad as it is that I know all of that, and have to think about what Avi's birthday is).

Point being, this system sucks. You want to keep your Bowls because they are nostalgic, keep them.

Let the four major bowls be the first round of an 8 team playoff.

Oklahoma-Texas Tech

Florida-Utah

Texas-Penn State

Alabama-USC

These games are played on New Years Eve and New Years day.

Round 2 is played this week, call the games whatever you want.

Then you get Oklahoma-USC, and Florida-Texas

Utah gets a legit shot at a championship, something that would never happen under our current system. Keep the smaller bowls, they are irrelavant now anyways, all the teams that don't make the final 8 play in their games and get their money.

I hate that I feel this crappy about something that I love so much.

Why I Haven't Lost My Head

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn

With all these injuries, with everything that has happened to the Mets this season, I just have let it slide off my shoulders.

I was at a family picnic yesterday, and thought to myself at one point, good god it's great that I don't care what the baseball scores are right now.

It's Just Stupid

The last 30 seconds make the video.

The point is, when we allow these idiotic notions into the debate, such as "Should the President of the United States of America be allowed to speak to the nations children?", we give these stupid, stupid people equal footing.

American's Are Idiots

Gus Porter, American Legend with Thomas Haden Church from Thomas Haden Church

The Punch

How do I stay awake for the vast majority of this game and then not stay awake for what could clearly be defined as the best part?

As inappropriate as Blount's actions were, the Boise State player had absolutely no business yelling in his face, which is what led to him getting snuck in is damned jaw.

Rule of thumb for future reference, if you sneak away with a win from a top 25 opponent who struggled getting used to a new offensive system, and the tailback from that team set a school record for touchdowns the previous year, and he just got back from Florida where he was mourning a death in the family, and he is clearly upset, you don't yell stuff in his face after the game, especially when he is bigger than you, even if you are a defensive end and he is a tail back.

Unless of course, you want to get snuck in your damned jaw. Good work my friend, good work.

Class Post

I am using this blog for my class and I will be posting class assignments here along with my normal Mets, Penn State, Politics, Fantasy Sports content.

For those who are reading this for the first time, I am Terry Gilmore. I am in my second year of my Masters program at SUNY Brockport. I am going to be a secondary social studies teacher, hopefully in the near future.

I currently work at Dr. Freddie Thomas H.S. in the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection program. My job is losely defined as helping students graduate. I love my job.

My life primarily revolves around Aviendha Shea, who turned 2 on July 23rd.

This About Sums it Up

I sat around with a few other people the other day discussing out disappointment with Obama. I voted for him for Health Care Reform, to get us out of Both Wars, to do away with Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, to fix the enviornment, and to undo the ills of No Child Left Behind.

So far, he has come up short on a lot of this. I understand that we are 8 months into a four year term.

But right now, at this moment, we have to fix the Health Care Industry and end the strangle hold the Insurance Mafia has on the American population.

So about two weeks ago we are standing around talking and we all agreed that we need to see the Obama that inspired us all during the campaign. The one to took every obsticle that they threw at him and sidestepped it with a calm, coolness that emminated from the TV.

He needs to do a dramatic, national public address, the kind you see in movies, where Michael Douglass as the American President stands infront of the nation as days "I am the President of the United States".

And it apprears that he is planning on doing just that.

As Tony told Rockey at the end of #4: "You gotta punch, and punch 'till you cant punch no more"

Lord Helmet

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

I love that this thing is getting so much traction.

The Mets suck.

Dark Helmet

Look, I am all for David protecting his noodle. The dude took a 96 mile an hour fastball off his Cranium, protect that thing.

That being said, when I saw this last night, I almost fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.

The Mets are a mess. My fantasy teams are a mess.

Penn State football starts, thank everything that matters.

Welcome Back, Terry

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This is literally the beginning of the end of the world.

Do these scientist dickheads ever watch movies.

Welcome back to The Head, Ter.

I promise to get back at this a bit more, busy ass summer.