Vagary

The Climb

2009-06-30T10:31:00Z

Predator

2009-05-18T23:38:00Z

Separated at birth - San Diego Chargers 2009 draft pick running back Gartrell Johnson, and the Predator?

I Love Money

2009-03-28T00:46:00Z

And I quote,

""I'm soberly science...pellican stare...and I really appreciate Amish hair...buttress meat...he's smelling me...I'm Barry White in August."

The Next Amigo - Episode 2 (Alligator Bunkhouse)

2009-02-07T13:41:00Z

The Next Amigo is a groundbreaking softball reality show where one winner will receive a spot on the roster of a softball team in Kingston, New York.

In this episode, contestants are put through the grueling challenge of The Alligator Bunkhouse.

http://www.dereksnyder.net/amigo.html

Sproles TD

2009-01-18T19:19:00Z

Darren Sproles' playoff game winning touchdown in overtime against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Next Amigo - Episode 1 (Casting Special)

2009-01-12T03:23:00Z

The Next Amigo is a groundbreaking softball reality show where one winner will receive a spot on the roster of a softball team in Kingston, New York.

In this premier episode, Management interviews the contestants.

http://www.dereksnyder.net/amigo.html

Welcome to the Alligator Bunkhouse

2009-01-08T17:47:00Z

The Next Amigo host Shawn Lovelett walks us thru the show's intimidating obstacle course, The Alligator Bunkhouse.

Amy Brown

2009-01-01T05:33:00Z

Awesome.

The Next Amigo Online Store

2009-01-01T01:54:00Z

Come visit the exlusive online store for The Next Amigo. There is nowhere else to order all of your Next Amigo gear. From shirts to hats to bags to coasters. You'll find it at the link below.

http://www.cafepress.com/thenextamigo

Is Jay Cutler a Punk

2009-01-01T00:46:00Z

Seems like an easy answer to me.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/98033-is-jay-cutler-a-punk

"I don't know, you tell me."

A phrase that can be heard at a Jay Cutler press conference.

In between rolling his eyes and giving curt responses, the phrase "I don't know, you tell me," is a point at which you know the press conference is about to end.

Not because all the questions have been asked. Or all the answers have been given.

Because the subject is unwilling to respond in a civilized manner.

Jay Cutler has been described as spoiled, smug, a guy with the personality of a doorstop.

But the one description that is sticking the most is: Jay Cutler is a punk.

In a radio interview with Kevin Acee, Matt Wilhelm touched on this when he said, "He is a punk, I'm just not a huge fan of his. He and Tony Gonzalez are the biggest crybabies in the league."

Where does Wilhelm's animosity stem from? Much of it can be traced back to Christmas Eve 2007.

The Chargers were facing the Broncos and were about to defeat a Cutler-led team for the fourth straight time. Both teams were doing a lot of talking, but Cutler decided to take it one step further.

What did Cutler say?

"If I could, I would say them," Wilhelm said. "But they're unfit for...radio. They're something that probably only happens on the football field or when you're extremely, extremely angry at someone."

Yet Philip Rivers is widely thought responsible for the "trash talking." Why is this?

Partially this comes from Cutler's comments about Rivers. "I’m just not that big of a fan of the guy.” Cutler continued, “I don’t like how he carries himself. I don’t like some of the stuff he does on the field.”

But the main reason for this perception is that the cameras only captured Rivers responding to Cutler during that Christmas Eve game. Rivers can be seen saying "Atta, baby" as well as "The ball is over there" in Cutler's direction.

As Eric Allen pointed out on Colin Cowherd's radio program, what the audience saw at home doesn't tell the whole story.

"What people don't realize is there is lots of stuff going on on a football field," Allen said.

"People don't know, when I'm looking at film I see some things that happen after the play because I'm looking at the film, the team's copy. I'm not gonna say what part of the anatomy that Denver's quarterback was grabbing. But he was making some gestures that, uh, weren't PG TV."

Allen continued, "One of the things that Philip Rivers is is he's one of the guys. And when you have quarterbacks like that they're OK to stand by the defense. It's like, 'Hey, you know what, this is my football team if you are gonna talk I'm gonna give it right back to ya.' And that's how he's been and that how he'll continue to be."

One part of that Allen interview stands out—the phrase "one of the guys." Something Jay Cutler might know a little about.

Not with cameras catching him bad-mouthing his wide receivers on the field. (Hopefully the kids at home can't read lips.) Not with his bad mouthing of his defense in the press, calling out his star wide receiver in the offseason, all the while displaying a healthy dose of arrogance.

The same arrogance that led him to proclaim that there was no team with a better chance to reach the Super Bowl than the Broncos.

The same arrogance that led him to tell The Sporting News' Steve Greenberg, "I have a stronger arm than John, hands down. I'll bet on it against anybody's in the league. Brett Favre's got a cannon. But on game days, there's nobody in the league who's going to throw it harder than I am at all."

That's the type of thinking that displays why he is second in the NFL in interceptions. As Peter King commented, "sometimes he forces balls into coverage that are just plain bad decisions. Check out his second-quarter throw with three Panthers around his receiver. Pick."

So, while critics question Cutler's leadership skills, and others question his on-field decisions and demeanor, I think a good place to look is at his comments to the media and his post-game press conferences.

Between eye rolls and one-word answers you have a press conference where, after a total collapse to the Chargers, you can hear such unoriginal statements as, "We really can’t stop anybody," or, "We stopped ourselves. They didn't stop us once today."

A press conference where he was asked about the Chargers chances and replied with, “San Diego? No, I don’t think so. I think Indy’ll handle ‘em pretty good."

A press conference where once again he refuses to be gracious in defeat.

Where once again he can't help but throw teammates under the bus.

Where once again he belittles his opponents.

It begs the question, is Jay Cutler a punk?

I don't know. You tell me.

The Next Amigo - George Promo

2008-12-28T01:57:00Z

Obama Nations

2008-12-28T01:16:00Z

The Next Amigo - Birdman Promo

2008-12-19T01:14:00Z

The Next Amigo - Kevin Jones Promo

2008-12-06T01:08:00Z

The Next Amigo - Intro Promo

2008-12-02T00:31:00Z

The Next Amigo

2008-11-27T14:46:00Z

Coming soon...a softball reality show where the winner gets a spot on our 2009 roster.

Stay tuned!

TSO - Believe

2008-11-22T19:54:00Z

Trans-Siberian Orchestra performs Savatage's "Believe".

Peephole in a Barbed Wire Fence

2008-11-15T12:30:00Z

I'm not sure the origin of this tale, but as my grandfather used to say:

"Peephole in a Barbed Wire Fence"

The famous speaker who no one had heard of said:

Hear ye, hear ye!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hobos and Tramps,

Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow-legged ants

I stand before you to sit behind you

To tell you something I know nothing about:

Next Thursday, which is Good Friday

There'll be a Ladies Meeting strictly for men

Free Admission so pay at the door

Pull up a chair and sit on the floor

Now the show is over, but before I go,

Let me tell you a story I don't really know:

One bright day, in the middle of the night

Two dead boys got up to fight.

One was blind and the other couldn't see,

So they used a Mummy for a referee

Back to back; they faced each other;

Pulled out their swords and shot one another.

A deaf policeman heard the noise,

And came and killed the two dead boys.

If you don't believe this lie is true...

Ask the blind man; he saw it too!"

In It to Win It

2008-11-06T01:02:00Z

When we last saw our heroes they were dangling on a cardboard precipice, contemplating a litany of photos which involved risqué lobster dinners. Oh wait, wrong channel! Last time we took a look the attributes of playoff bound teams here in the City of Kingston softball league (Kingston, NY). We found that since a little more than half of teams qualify for the playoffs, teams simply have to be slightly above average offensively or defensively to be a playoff contender. We also discovered the obvious importance of run differential. But making the playoffs isn’t everything; one team each year will attain the highest reward – the prestige and gratification that comes with being called a champion. I’m sure you’re all teetering on the edge of your seats waiting to find out just what it takes to win the big one.

Conventional logic would say that the better team should win a playoff series, especially in a best-of-three format. However, the team with the better regular season record only won 54% of playoff series. What if we use our “run differential” findings from the previous article? Teams with the better regular season run differential advance at a 60% rate. The table below shows the win percentage for teams that were better in each respective category:

Category	Playoff Series Win %
More Runs For	67%
Less Runs Against	64%
Better Run Differential	60%
More Wins	54%

This info shows us that teams that are far above average on either offense or defense are more successful than teams with a balanced attack. The unbalanced teams likely overwhelm their more balanced opponents. In fact, 87% of teams who won a playoff series were at least 10% above the league average defensively. On average, teams who won a playoff series were 22% above average defensively. That’s a huge number. So in other words, if the league average was 11 runs per game, the average playoff winner only gave up 8.6 runs per game. And some winners were close to 50% above average defensively!

What playoff teams advance at the highest rate? Great offensive teams do well, but the teams that excel are the best defensive teams. If you, like Nigel McGuinness, are “in it to win it”, come armed with a top notch defense or else you may miss your shot at history.

The Birdman of the Hudson Valley

2008-11-01T05:22:00Z

On Halloween 2008, our team of investigators set out to find the Hudson Valley Birdman.

The following video was recovered while tracking the Birdman of the Hudson Valley.