The WNBA

How is this league still around? I noticed today it was eating up some perfectly decent airtime for no apparent reason. I watched for about 30 minutes and was intrigued by how carefully the shots are angled so as not to show the crowd, or lack thereof. No one watches this sport, why is it on TV. Arena football has a bigger following! Don't get me wrong, I don't want to say they shouldn't be allowed to play, but do we have to pretend it's a major professional sport? I think most people just don't want to see women do these kinds of things. I don't know why people don't want to see women play golf, or basketball or whatever but that appears to be the case. Maybe it's that female athletes seem to lack some femininity or some crap. Anyway, get this crap off TV so we can have more MMA and football.

Little League World Series

Today I was trying to nap and turned on the Little League World Series. I do not like baseball so this was perfect for my nap. I ended up watching since they were in the 8th inning, little leaguers only play six innings, and Warner Robbins Georgia was tied with Japan 2-2. The Georgia team had just retired Japan's offense. Their lead off hitter blasted a 230 ft home run to win the game.

As is typical the winners began to celebrate and the losers began to cry. After a few moments of celebration the winning team turned and saw their dejected counterparts. As a team, with no prompting from any adults, they walked over and began hugging and consoling the team that had tried so hard but come up one run short. That is sportsmanship. Play hard, play fair, and win like a champion. So rare these days is the gracious winner; too often we see the stupid end zone dance, or the trash talking boxer, or some other stupid athlete who doesn't understand how fortunate and gifted he/she is.

If you ever saw Barry Sander score a touchdown, and there were a few, you got to see some class every time. When he scored, he walked over and handed the ball to the referee and ran to the sideline. Class act!

Barack Obama

I thought this guy was smarter than this:

Asked whether he would move U.S. troops out of Iraq to better fight terrorism elsewhere, he brought up Afghanistan and said, "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there."

So, we just hunt and kill civilians? What a turd! This guy was all about a new perspective and fresh hope until he dropped in the polls, now he is just railing against the typical crap and saying stupid crap as quoted above.

Where is the ACLU

I was reading this article the other day and couldn't help but ask, where is the ACLU? These poor firefighters were MADE to participate in a gay pride parade. What a ridiculous double standard since they would never be allowed to participate in something like an Easter or Christmas parade. You can read their actual complaints here. This is not equality and goes beyond ridiculous. For the record, I also don't think people should have been telling the firefighters they were going to hell for being in the parade. The lewd, obnoxious behavior by the attendees seems pretty typical to me. No wonder we have kids begging their parents to get transgendered these days, look what we expose them to.

The Music I Miss

The guys weren't always classy but at least the could play and sing well.

"Dangerous" Dogs and their stupid owners

One of the neighbors behind me now has her son's pit bull. A few weeks ago, the dog broke through a fence and entered the yard of the neighbor beside me while her young children were playing in the yard. The dog did not move, just stood there. No sniffing, no tail wagging nothing. The dog owner's mother said "Just throw her over the fence." Forget it. Let me say I do not think pit bulls are the only breed that is not a good social animal, there are several. I singled them out since there is one near me right now. I will not call out specific breeds but will say it's pretty obvious when some guy/girl is walking a dog that is made to look intimidating with either a spiked collar or some other paraphernalia that shows his/her dog is a compensation for something lacking in the owner's life. Anyway, I keep reading all this CRAP about how some of these breeds are misunderstood. I disagree. I do believe some of these animals are kind and make good pets, but after debating one of their advocates on a message board they are truly blinded by their loyalty and simply like to argue.
I posed a question to a female pit bull owner "Does any dog have any propensity for aggression?" Her answer was "No, all dogs are the same it depends on how you raise them." I then asked "So, a hunting dog has no greater ability to hunt than a working breed?" She said "That's correct." This is obviously crap since a 10 week old weimaraner will instinctively "point" at bird scent or a downed animal whereas a working dog, say a german shepard, will not stop and instead approach whatever makes it curious. Some dogs will solve their issues by running away or compliance, others solve their problem by biting. Now here is the big difference. A Cocker Spaniel, and most herding dogs, is likely to nip to play or resolve issues it's an instinct. The difference is the size of the animal and strength to weight ratio. Also the dog's natural instinct once adrenaline sets in, please observe the following article:

What is gameness?

Gameness in APBT's is a canine virtue that is most akin to the human virtue of unflagging courage. It is determination to master any situation and never back down out of fear. It was developed in pit bulls by many generations of selective breeding. It is what allows a pit bull to keeping fighting non-stop for two or more hours, in spite of broken bones, torn muscles, blood loss, dehydration, and exhaustion. But it is also valued by APBT owners who would never think of fighting their dogs. It is manifested in the can-do attitude of pit bulls toward any type of challenge, whether agility competitions, climbing up trees, or protecting their family against an armed attacker, etc. Generally speaking, a game dog is an emotionally stable, easy-going dog, especially good with kids. Gameness should not be confused with aggressiveness. There are plenty of aggressive dogs that are not game, and there are game pit bulls who are not aggressive toward other types of dogs. Aggressiveness will propel a dog into a fight but will only sustain him for the first few minutes. Gameness on the other hand will not necessarily make a dog fight-happy, but if the dog has no other choice but to fight, a game dog will fight until it wins or dies trying, and will keep going as long as necessary. Gameness is an inner quality of pit bulls. There is no way you can tell by looking at a pit bull whether it is deeply game or not the only test--and for many years the main criterion for selecting a dog for breeding purpose--is actually fighting the dog to see how it stands up to other dogs that have likewise already proven their gameness in the pit. Dogs that are emotionally unstable, or that fear-bite human beings are generally not game. If you want a nice pit, you're generally better off getting one that has been game-bred. These dogs represent the truest exemplars of all the best qualities in the breed.

This was taken from here. Some would argue this is just an irresponsible breeder, I would say at least the person is honest and disclosing some traits of the animal. Back to my statement about the cocker nipping, when a cocker spaniel bites you it doesn't matter. At worst you will get four stitches, if one of these large strong working dogs bites you, you may need a prosthesis. That is of course if you survive at all. One of the sites I came across had a link to dog attacks by non-pit bulls. In the interest of fair reporting click here. The title is little misleading since it says :

The Dog Attacks You Won't Hear About...
Because They Did Not Involve Bulldogs.

She meant Pit Bulls, and you do hear about them as these were all from regular news sources just like they would be if it had been a pit bull. Finally, I would like to end with one more exchange from the Pit Bull owner/defender from earlier.
Captain Dude: "What about the Staffordshire Terrier, is it just as gentle as the pit?"

Ignorant defender:"No, that dog is a bully."

Captain Dude:"Thank you for proving my point that you are blindly loyal without looking at the facts."

These dogs come from the same ancestry and when dog fighting was banned in the United States, the fighting strain was labeled "The American Pit Bull Terrier" while the show strain of the SAME BREED was labeled "The American Staffordshire Terrier."

My Amazing Baby Boy!

Last Night (Mark Schultz Live)

Last night I went to see the Tennessee Smokies play the Montgomery Biscuits. I felt I would bring two moments from last night to the rest of the world. Moment one is pictured above, running bases with your zipper down is no way to beat the heat. Moment two was the concert after the show.

Mark Schultz is awesome!

Hear the truth!

I stole this from Mike's blog. If you don't agree go ask a communist country member why they all want to come live here.

Free Online Games!

Game of the Week

Baseball It is bottom of the ninth; rally your team to win the game with only 3 outs left

Play this free game now!!

Global Warming/Whining

This was in the "Perspectives" section of the Sunday paper; I felt it deserved being spread around, check it out. I have to say that I don't mid the idea of conservation, but we need to quit trying to vilify others and not be led by all these ridiculous hypocrite celebrities. Their goal is only to bash certain government figures and promote their own fame. If their goal were truly reform they would lead by example.

Jessica Davis has something to say about global warming and carbon footprints

Jessica Davis, Jess.Davis@alumni.duke.edu
Sunday, July 22, 2007

Tempting as it was to hear Jane Goodall execute a series of chimpanzee calls on the miserable failure dubbed “Live Earth,” I was preoccupied with offsetting the quarter million tons of carbon emissions created by the aging musicians and pot-smoking tree-huggers by leaving the television off. Our own beloved Al Gore, who boasts a carbon footprint 20 times the size of the average Tennessean, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, hosted the event.

Though Gore was armed with an almost cultish seven-point pledge he expected the world to recite and obey to combat global doom, the only planetary catastrophe that night appeared to be the ratings. Many hypocritical celebrities joined him in Godzilla-sized footprints and in offering tips to save the world from this “crisis.” As a fellow citizen of the world, I offer a few of my own, as space constraints will allow:

* The brilliant sage Sheryl Crow imparted a tiny nugget of wisdom on her blog:

“I propose a limitation be put on how many sqares [sic] of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit.” I suggest we heed her advice and lobby the federal government to pass and enforce such a law. Even better, in lieu of producing more toilet paper, I suggest Americans use a handy copy of the Bill of Rights. Clearly, it has passed its prime in this new era of forced conservation trumping individual rights.

* Cameron Diaz lauded the idea of showering together to conserve water. I propose Diaz head up the new Shower with the Homeless state program in California. Not only would water be conserved, but celebrities can feel good about sticking another Band-Aid on the homeless problem (like brand-new shopping carts).

* In order to conserve more water, “Live Earth” should have had the attendees at the Johannesburg concert bottle up the record snow that fell there the previous week, to which they attributed their low turnout. While I am suggesting these ideas at the peak of their irony, why not have them store the water in the thousands of plastic cups that the London concertgoers left behind across the stadium despite exhortations to deposit them in recycling bins?

* Presidential hopeful John “I’m a man!” Edwards could simply use 10 percent of what he pays for a haircut to purchase carbon offsets for the entire country of China for the next decade.

* Since energy conservation will render the world dimmer as the completely dark opening of Madonna’s act on “Live Earth” demonstrated (too bad it didn’t stay that way), crime will undoubtedly increase. Let’s put these new prisoners to work planting trees as “carbon offsets” for the rest of us. We should expect an array of convicts to come from Americans who defiantly refused to use one square.

Gore assumed exhibiting such a barn-door effort to raise awareness must lend truth to his argument of pending calamity. Never mind questioning the validity of attributing the slight rise in temperature to mankind and presenting the infinitesimal fluctuation as an imminent global destroyer, though scientists have found now that the sun’s current sunspot cycle is also heating up several other planets in our system that harbor no known SUVs. I guess, in science, general consensus equates truth — right, Galileo?

Jessica Davis has a B.A. in political science with a minor in military history. Her e-mail address is Jess.Davis@alumni.duke.edu .

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

Movie Review (The Good Sheperd)

I rented this last night at one of those new $1 per night DVD rental things they have in grocery stores now. This may be the best idea ever, I wish I had thought of it.

Anyway, this movie is about the CIA and how it came about. Specifically, they spend a lot of time teaching that these men (and women now) are truly patriots. These people will do anything that they believe is in the greater good of our country as a whole. This concept is particularly hard to grasp for most people. There is a belief out there that if people can all sit down with a cup of coffee almost anything can be worked out via negotiations and chit-chat. This is a ridiculous way to view the world and is simply no true. That said I am not condoning every action that any espionage agency takes, I just understand their intent. Back to the movie, these patriots sacrifice their bodies, lives, and families for what they believe is the greater good of The United States. The entire movie is acted out very well and has some definite Hollywood heavyweights that each deliver perfectly on-screen.

The bad news was the direction and screenplay. The time line of the film jumps too many times and does not remain sequential. If you miss one of the hard to read little notations at the bottom of the screen you will be confused quickly. It's also hard because Matt Damon just can't play a 40 something father with a 20 something child he simply looks too young. The only thing they did was change his glasses to make him look older. This was not successful but also no one's fault, he's just too pretty. There is also a scene at the very beginning and at the very that are intricately connected and I am not sure most people would understand what happened since they were sooooo far apart. De Niro tried hard but I think this movie could have had much more punch with some congruity on the time line and a little better light in some scenes. Perhaps some of the "personal" weaknesses of the main character did not make much sense to me either. Some of the indiscretions by Matt Damon were also odd and the reactions of his wife were weird since she had the same issues but whatever.

This movie is good but could have been great, go check it out

Movie Review (Live Free or Die Hard)

So John McClane comes back for on more (final?) round. We haven't seen Mr. McClane since 1995 but he hasn't changed much, he's still the baddest guy on the block. This movie is everything a Die Hard fan wants to see. Great pace with good actors combined with mass mayhem requiring a hero. Beyond that there is one particular scene where the camerwaork is phenomenal. In the beginning there is a shot that follows a "bad guy" as he jumps of a ten story roof and traverses some fire escapes down the side of the building in "urban ninja" style. The camera starts above him and swivels down underneath throughout one continuous shot, amazing work!

Now, for the negatives. I really had to dig for these but there were just a few things I though could have been done better. First the "hacker/hacking" scenes were mixed with actual screen shots and typical Hollywood auto cad drawings. The real thing would have looked fine. There were also a couple of scenes, one with McClane and several with the kid from the iCrapple commercials, where the lines they delivered didn't seem to have the intended affect or punch they needed. I'll have to watch the movie again but if I had to blame it on anything it would probably be either the score (music) or perhaps ambient noise in the scene drowning out the vocal inflection. I know it wasn't the actors as they were great during most of the film. Lastly, the same guy in the scene with the incredible camera work earlier was the victim of sub-par camera work in his final scene. His demise was also a touch anti-climatic for me.

John McClane is asked at one point why he does his job since all it ever got him was disowned by his kids, broke and divorced. He looks at the iCrapple kid and sums up today's society perfectly saying "No one else will do it."

This film is great, go check it out!

The Captain Gets Spotted

Yesterday after church I headed over to Wal-Mart to grab some much needed items. As we shopped we decided to eat at the Blimpie located in the store. To make life easier I decided I would take all of our items to the car while Mrs. Dude took all the babies in and got them settled at a table. As I walked out the front door of Wal-Mart with my shopping cart I turned and headed for my car when I heard a young man yelling out of his car:

"Sir!" I ignored this as I didn't think some 17 yr old would be talking to me.

"Excuse me, Sir!" Now I looked as I had noticed the car was following me.

I turned and saw an old Honda Accord with four teenagers in it, two boys in the front and two girls in the back.

"Sir, (what's her name) in the backseat just said that you are a fine looking man; I just wanted to let you know she said that."

"Thank you very much." I replied "I had nothing to do with it."

"You're really hot!" comes from one of the girls in the backseat.

"Thanks, you're cute too." This answer seemed to thrill her and got some whispering and giggling from the backseat.

For a moment I started to think that my 36 year old self might actually still be somewhat cool. As I pondered this, I realized I was heading towards my 8 seater family SUV with three car seats in the middle row. Additionally, I looked in the cart I was pushing at all the diapers, wipes, and school supplies for a housing project. I am definitely not cool, funny story anyway though. Matthew Mconahey (intentional misspelling) is a fine looking man.

Movie Review (Transformers)

Transformers needs no introduction to people of my generation, we waited so long for this to happen. This movie was pretty disappointing for the Captain. The movie tries to play to children but goes for the weak and easy bathroom humor and throws cussing in when it doesn't need to be there. Hollywood really muffed this one, it could have been spectacular. The story is great, special effects are mind blowing, camera work was out of this world, and the cast was great. The actors did their jobs well, unfortunately delivering garbage dialog at times. I guess someone thought it was funny, but no one in my theater was laughing at the crude car peeing on a human type humor. The movie seemed to do a terrible job of tight-roping trying to be for the 30 year olds that grew up with these toys, and the cartoon, and the 13 yr olds of today. I hope when they start filming the sequels they will ditch the garbage jokes and humor and pick a demographic, there was enormous potential that went unrealized.
I should have gone to see Die Hard.

Movie Review (Facing the Giants)

I encouraged folks to see this over a year ago and finally watched it myself. This movie is the tale of a Christian coach who is really having tough times at home and at work. As most believers know, life doesn't become magically easier just because you accept Christ and can in fact sometimes be very hard. The coach hasn't had a winning season, and also cannot have children that he so desperately wants with his wife. At his wit's end he turns to the scripture and is inspired to live his life for the glory of God whether his life be good or bad, including football. He inspires his team to join him, and his wife. God begins to bless them immeasurably. The story is great, and the people at Sherwood Baptist did a credible job with no "actors" using members of their congregation. Now for the bad news, I felt at time as if the characters spoke in a very "churchy" manner. Just talk normal people, your actions will convey your meaning better than trying to sound overly pious or caring. The only other negative I would give it is that everthing turned up roses for the coach. Sometimes faith and believing means God says no or wait, not just having all you rprayers answered the way you expected.

Movie Review (Man of the Year)

Man of the Year is about a talk show host who decides to run for President of the United States. This storyline had enormous potential and a stellar cast but really failed to deliver. First, the main character is supposed to be an Independent who dislikes both parties, but is CLEARLY a Democrat in everything he says and represents. I know, Hollywood big shock and I can let that one slide. The worst thing to me about the movie was the audio track. I think the director's tried to film a lot of ambient sound and everything sounds like a shouting match. Too much white noise in every scene really stole all the thunder from some well played scenes by Robin Williams. The frantic pace of some conversations and visuals also caused many seemingly funny moments to fall flat. This movie sucks!

My buddy likes swimming

E-mail me for the video.

Live Earth (Pros and Cons)

I am sitting at home watching Live Earth. I would say it's pretty mediocre, in both talent and content. So whether or not you think global warming is real some of the ideas are fine anyway. But really, doesn't everyone already know to swap out their light bulbs and recycle? I use CFL bulbs and recycle plenty of stuff and I am not even a liberal. <--- that's funny. Are we once again at a place where some people are crying for change and it's the conservatives that are doing the crap anyway? So let's say everyone starts pitching in, here are the issues I have.
E85 ethanol or CornGas currently costs about $2.50 per gallon here in TN. Vehicles that can burn this fuel lose a ton of fuel economy when they use it. So now are we just pillaging another resource, can we grow enough corn to run all these vehicles. If so can we make it cheap enough to offset the loss of fuel economy?
Solar Power is something I really want to do on my house. Why does this crap cost so much? Really it's a few sheets of film, glass and some batteries yet to convert my home could cost $30,000. I can pay for a lot of electricity before that's worthwhile and I don't have that kind of money to help out the planet.
The last question I have is about these modern day hippies that bitch at the government about guns, global warming, or (insert crap here). How many of these people have unarmed security and came in a vehicle that wasn't a giant limo or hummer? How efficient are their homes, and do they have more house than they need? Hey superstars let me see you live it, then I might be interested in what you say with your 8th grade education.