FACE THE FLAG AND SHUT UP!

OK, its been way too long since I put anything up here. Since St. Patrick's Day to be exact. In my defense, I have an adorable son whom I have been enjoying thoroughly. It has been amazing to watch him grow over the past 14 months (that have gone by way too fast) into a wonderful toddler that I can't get enough of.

Moving on to my topic of discussion, I have a request for America's youth: Stop being a bunch of jackasses! You may be wondering to what I am referring. Let me explain: tonight my wife, son and I went to a local high school football game. When it came time for the national anthem I was carrying two hotdogs, a bottle of water, a Mountain Dew, popcorn and my son. I put all of the food on the ground, shifted my son to my left arm, removed my hat and placed it over my heart, turned and faced the flag and remained silent while the band played. Instead of thinking about my nations pride I instantly became royally pissed off at the number of idiot teens and preteens around me that were nowhere near as incumbered as I and did less to honor our nation. Now I don't expect people to sing along, in fact I prefer they don't, but I know that if I had failed to do what was proper during that time, several members of my family, even though they weren't present, would have killed me! Even a couple of dead ones would have risen from their holy graves and dragged their zombie bodies to find and beat me. Its a simple thing to do that takes so little of your time and is far more important than any of the crappy gossip you can Tweet or Facebook post about later. One thing I truly loved about VMI when I was there was that when some civilian failed to do this simple task when the flags where being brought down at the end of the day any officer nearby would immediately lay into them. It was beautiful!

Bottom line, when its time to honor America, FACE THE FLAG, PUT YOUR HAND OVER YOUR HEART AND SHUT THE F*#K UP!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all!

Apart from drinking, parades, drinking, Celtic festivals, drinking, Irish music and drinking, here are a couple pf movies one should watch on or around this wonderful holiday:

• Darby O'Gill and the Little People- this is an absolute classic film and it was Sean Connery's first before he ever became James Bond. Its a fun little movie about an old Irishman who catches and eventually befriends the Leprechaun King. Enjoy it with your kids
  
• Boondock Saints- Do not watch this with your kids! Personally, I enjoy watching two Irish immigrants who start picking off mobsters. However, it is strictly for adults. Not much really to do with being Irish, but if you like action movies this is a good one for this time of year.
• Boondock Saints: All Saints Day- The sequel to Boondock Saints. A little campier than the original, but its still got good action and mayhem to enjoy.
• The Quiet Man- A must for John Wayne fans. No, he doesn't ride horses or get into gunfights, but its still very good. A man moves back home to Ireland after the death of his mother and begins to lead an Irish lifestyle. He is a little unaware of the proper customs, but Maureen O'Hara is there as a love interest to help him out. Throw in the drunken bar fight and this movie is Irish to the bone.

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Saint Patrick's Day! I'll be raising a pint and doing an Irish Car Bomb right along with ya'll.

For a Friend

A friend of mine has been having a really tough time lately. With all that I've got going on I can't be there for him as much as I'd like to be. In the hopes of raising in spirits just a little, here is an old Scottish blessing:

May the best you've ever seen,
be the worst you'll ever see.
May the mouse ne'er leave your pantry
Wi' a teardrop on its e'e.
May your lum keep blithely reeki'n,
till you're old enough to dee.
And may you always be as happy
as I wish you now to be.

Pass these words on to whoever you may know that needs them.

NFL and MLB

This is the time of year where I have no sports to watch on TV. Football season is over and baseball won't officially start until April. I realize that basketball is still going and NASCAR is about to start back up, but those are sports I just don't care that much about. Both baseball and football are sports I look forward to watching greatly. And when the two overlap in October there is always something good on. I'm a bit odd when it comes to my favorite teams though.

As you can see by previous posts, I am a San Francisco 49ers fan. I've been a fan since I was a kid. The days of Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice were the high point of franchise history and that's what got me hooked. I was thrilled to see them reach the playoffs this year for the first time in a long time. Despite not making it to the Super Bowl, the Niners played an epic playoff game against the New Orleans Saints.

As for baseball, I love the Tampa Bay Rays. I've only been a fan for a few years, but once I pick a team I stay dedicated to it. I chose the Rays because the first major league game I ever saw was the Rays beat the Red Sux (yes I spelled that correctly) at Tropicana Field. Ever since I have been a loyal follower.

Opening Day can't get here soon enough. To all you other fans of the boys of summer, hang in there. If you like the boys of fall, enjoy a hotdog and a cold beer at the ballpark and get comfortable, its a long wait,

Epic Battle

We find our hero, Saint George, in a heated battle with a fearsome dragon. The unholy terror has knocked him to the ground and pounced upon the brave knight.

His trusty remote control close by but somehow out of reach, George must resort to using his own teeth (all two of them) to fend off his attacker.


How will our hero survive? Stay tuned and find out.

The Pro Bowl

The 2012 NFL Pro Bowl is being played right now. Personally, I'm rooting for the NFC. Although, it doesn't really matter since this game has no bearing on either the regular season, the playoffs or the Super Bowl. I like that. This is a time where the NFL's best players get together and play a low key game for the fans. Oh, and they get to play it in Hawaii. How cool is that!? Now, I am a big time 49ers fan and wanted nothing more than to see a big win last week, but its nice to have a game that you can just sit back and enjoy without ever having to care about what the final score will be. And a cold beer to enjoy along with it doesn't hurt either. :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Katy & George

A Rough Loss and a Great Wife

So the 49ers lost their bid for the Superbowl. It was a rough game in which there were a number of mistakes that ended up costing the 49ers the win. Needless to say as a die hard fan I was upset. i can be a bit of a sore loser with these things, but I handled myself pretty well. I was able to focus on the positive side of things: last season the 49ers went 6-10 and hadn't seen the playoffs sine '02. This year, our new coach took us to 13-3, past the highly favored New Orleans Saints and to the NFC Championship game. All in all a big step forward for the San Francisco 49ers.

And after all was said and done, I have a wonderful wife who did nothing more than tell me she was sorry my team lost and hand me a cold beer. I can't ask for more than that.

A Bagpipe Joke

This is a joke that only bagpipers can truly appreciate, but its still funny so enjoy.

A man walks into a bar with an octopus in a fish bowl under his arm. He sets the bowl down on the bar. The bartender asks "Whats the deal with the octopus?". The man answers " This octopus can play any instrument in the world". "Bull" the bartender says. The man says "No really. I'll bet you a top shelf drink its true". The bartender says "Fine". He looks over at the band setting up. He yells to a guy with a guitar " Hey c'mere". The guitarist walks over to the bar and the man taps on the fish bowl. The octopus crawls up out of the bowl, takes the guitar and strums out a tune. The bartender is amazed. "OK, double or nothing" he says. The man agrees. The bartender motions for a guy holding a trumpet to come over to the bar. "Lets see him play that without any lips" he says. The man taps on the bowl again. The octopus rolls his eyes, climbs up out of the bowl again and starts playing the trumpet, clear as day. The bartender is almost ready to pay up when a man with a set of bagpipes enters the bar. "OK" the bartender says, "if he can play those, you drink free all night long". The man with the bagpipes walks over to the bar. All excited, the octopus climbs out of the bowl as fast as he can. He grabs the bagpipes and starts flipping them around and twisting them every which way but there is no music coming out. The bartender says "Aha, see he can't play that instrument". The octopus says "Play it? Hell, if I can get the pajamas off this thing I'm gonna f*#k it!"

Wordless Wednesday

My turn to post cute pictures of mommy and baby.

A Great Coach

In any sport, there are a number of factors necessary to achieve victory. Talented players are a must, but there is no way to make those players work well together to become champions without effective leadership. A coach that truly cares more about his players than his win/loss percentage makes all the difference in the world. Jim Harbaugh is one of those coaches. He has taken a team with enormous talent that hasn't seen the playoffs in nearly a decade to within one game of the Superbowl. He turned a quarterback that despite being the 1st overall draft pick in 2005 wasn't considered to be a quality player by not only many fans but experts as well, into the kind of team leader that San Francisco has been famous for in the past.

If there is any doubt that this matters, under this new coach a play made thirty years ago known in football history as "The Catch" was nearly replicated against a tough opponent and is already being referred to by the Faithful as "The Grab". This play gave the 49ers the lead with only seconds to spare in the 4th quarter. It was so emotional for the player who scored, Vernon Davis, that he left the field in tears. This was how coach Harbaugh responded

Tell me this isn't a man who cares about his players