You Can't Cage A Russian

Okay, the in-game soccer fight I stole from Yahoo! yesterday does not compare to the post-game antics following the Russia-Poland match in Europe's biggest soccer tournament. Check out the Running Ruski at 0:27 mark. He out ran the entire police force of Poland, but eventually tripped over the curb. This link does not state anything more than that the two governing soccer leagues of Europe need to do something, and also states this game between Mother Russia and Bastard Poland was a melting pot for disaster.

Yesterday, June 12, was the 22nd anniversary of Russia Day. That is the day that Russia broke from the Soviet Union. The independence from the Soviet Union ties was official in 1992, and the "independence" day was dubbed "Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation. In 1998, Russian President Boris "No, I am completely sober, comrade" Yeltsin declared publically to rename it Russia Day. This made annual merchant stores sales ads completely more legible as to no longer having to write "Come to Bamburger's Annual Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation Sale!" or "Daewhat? Daewoo! Come on down to your only car dealership in Russia as we celebrate the Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation!"

Times are much simpler now. Do you know that this soccer game ended in a tie? So, that's at least 90 minutes down the drain and you possibly went to jail.

So, now that I have regained my international audience, please, click the Great Jim Duba Intercontinental Fantasy Football Championship Challenge link at the top of the blog!

Besides Russia, as my number 2 country readers wise, good luck to your team. To fuel the fire, I leave you with a riddle:

How did the Germans invade Poland?

They walked in backwards and waved goodbye to the Polish people

Most Epic Sports Fight

First, please click here.

Reading the comments at the bottom of the video, somebody said it looked like Double Dragon fighting.

I always wondered why when soccer players fight, they use their weak upper body muscles for vengeance when their legs are ultimate weapons. The best overall athletes on a soccer team are definitely the goaltenders, but he knows better than to engage in the fight. Having a soccer team without a goalie is like having a pitch with only one wicket...am I right or am I right? No seriously, am I right?

I just read the rules and play of cricket and almost hung myself.

Kindergarten, Hockey?, and Other stuff...

So yesterday Rocco graduated from Kindergarten and Kim and I attended his ceremony. In case you do not know, kindergarten is NOT mandatory in Pennsylvania. In fact, kids do not have to legally attend school until they are 8 years old. That would mean our son would not really have to show up to school until 2nd grade. Who would do that to a child, I do not know. But the way some of the parents acted I would say they were not in school until they were 8.

It will always boggle my mind how adults still need to be talked to like kids sometimes. In our larger group meetings, the speaker almost always has to wait for people to shut up so they can talk. Really? We are professionals. If you know me well enough, you my find that use of the word "professionals" as hypocritical, but when I am in a meeting and somebody is giving their time, I am professional enough (and courteous, respectful, and attentive) enough to make that person feel like I at least care about what they are saying. Yesterday, I saw what happened when you have a room full of adults gathered in a non-professional setting.

The ceremony took place in a large auditorium at our local high school. The kids sat on the floor and sang from there or stood up occassionally. They had some dance routines that I was glad to see Rocco engulfed in. He only spent a couple weeks in this school after we moved, so I really do not think the graduation was anything more to him than another day of activities. To me, that is what kindergarten was anyway. The fact that a graduation is held like every four years is kind of ridiculous to me. One thing I like I felt a little reflective on was that the MC said this was the class of 2024. Wow. Putting that into perspective, that is going to be so far off from now I cannot even imagine. I cannot imagine being 44 years old and watching Rocco walk up to get his diploma.

I do not think graduating from public/mandatory schools is a big deal accomplishment wise. Do not get me wrong, it is a real milestone though in a child/young adult's life that I can still vividly remember my own. Two weeks after I graduated, I was heading up to the summer camp version of Boot Camp at the US Coast Guard Academy and the directions my life took from there shaped who I am today. What is a kindergartener going to do two weeks from now? Odds are, Rocco will be lounging by the pool, playing with toys, maybe tricking us into a couple extra snacks. I guess for the state of PA, when your kid does something he does not have to do, it is a nice thing. A big deal, well, I just do not know. I did get proud of him because of who he is as a kid. I gave him a big hug and he was really happy when he finally saw us in the crowd. But he is supposed to finish kindergarten. Just like 8th grade and eventually high school.

Something happened in the last several years where everything a kid does has to be rewarded with a medal or a parade of smoke up their ass. I do not understand. When he does bad, we tell him, when he does what he is supposed to, we tell him. When he does what he is supposed to extraordinarily well, we say we are proud of him and show our excitement.

The way some of these parents reacted yesterday, yelling out their kids name AFTER the warning by the MC when the show started, parents standing in the aisles after being told not to, and then the parents proceeding to act like uncivilized loons was beyond my understanding. It was more of a party for the parents and the way they acted made me a little sick to my stomach.

Overall, I enjoyed watching my boy do his little dances, sing his songs, and smile when we got to sign him out for the year and walk back to the car with him. I saw some of his football and baseball teammates who said high to me and got their pictures with Rocco. Maybe I will be a looned parent in 4 years for the 4th grade graduation, but I highly doubt that. The school class size will grow from 300+ in Kindergarten to maybe 2,000 kids by then. Which means maybe 1,700 kids are still sitting at home not even accustomed to school settings and even learning. THAT is a scary thought.

In other news...

• How many more NFL players will get DUIs before the season starts? Justin Blackmon, who does not even have his first contract yet, received his second. David Diehl of the champion New York Giants just got pulled in. Not to mention the several other players in the offseason (I think we are up to 4 or 5 in the past two weeks alone) who do not understand. I guess it is better to read about them getting arrested than read that they are dead or seriously injured or that somebody else is. Mike Vick did disgusting things that resulted in several heinous acts towards animals, but these people put innocent people in danger. Dante Stallworth killed a man. If he did not hit that one single man and stop, who knows where he would have ended up and who might have been left in his wake. Every single time you drink and step behind the wheel, you put you, your family, your property, somebody else's property, somebody else's health, and somebody else's family in danger. It is the most selfish and arrogant of acts. Get it together, NFL players. People cheer for you because they put their hopes on you to win a championship and make their money spent well worth it. They don't need you endangering them.
 

 
• The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup by beating the New Jersey Devils 4 games to 2. I did not see the game, but read a few recaps. Sounds like the Devils may have gotten a bit of a raw deal from some first period penalties, but like I said I did not see the game so I cannot comment more than that. I talked to our resident hockey fan in our office who was torn who to root for. Probably similar to the Giants/Patriots super bowl rematch I went through. However, as a Philadelphian, I can say that a disturbing trend is ending. For at least the past two years, the word champions in the NHL, MLB, and NFL have stepped over Philadelphia teams to get there. First, the Yankees (in the World Series), San Francisco Giants, and St Louis Cardinals all beat the Phillies. Next, the Chicago Blackhawks (in the Stanley Cup) and the Boston Bruins beat the Flyers. In the NFL, last year the Packers stole a win from the Eagles in their romp to the Superbowl followed by the New York Giants narrowly beating out the Eagles in the regular season to go on their yet again another historic Super Bowl win. The New Jersey Devils beat the heavily favored Flyers, but lost in the end. Good I am glad. I like suprise teams going all the way so that is cool. I do not care enough to be upset that players the Flyers HAD are now champs. Good for them. Maybe the trend of beating the Philadelphia teams are over even in the NBA, the Sixers lost to the Celtics who looked like they had a chance against the Heat. Unfortunately for the horrible sounding Celtics fans, their team, being too old and injured, could not finish the season the way every fan hopes their team would.

• While I am not the great basketball fan, I do not see why you would NOT want to see Lebron James and the Heat win the championship. If you are a true basketball fan, you want that. You want there to be that villain who you want to see get popped next year. Short term, it is great to see the other young, likeable star from Oklahoma City take on the evil James, and I am sure people will tune in to see the biggest NBA team vs the best small market NBA team. That is good for the league in the short term, but long term is this: The Heat, with their evil leader James' prediction of unlimited championships, could be like the NWO of the NBA, and the Thunder are the first faction of NBA'ers to try and knock them off. Yeah, those stumblers from Dallas did it last year, but a first year of those players together making it to the finals was good enough. The fact they returned is even better. They are like a more hateable Lakers.

That's all for now. I was driving up to work today and passed by the Lincoln Financial Field, home of your Philadelphia Eagles, and I thought about my next longform article where I compare and see when I changed from loving professional wrestling to football. Don't worry, I will try to make it entertaining.

First Ever "The Great Jim Duba Intercontinental Fantasy Football Championship"

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UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM!

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Attention international readers! Now that I have had a growing audience on each continent, I have decided to test my fantasy football prowess against the world's finest! Truth be told, I have struggled mightily the past two years, winning only one of 4 leagues, but I have a good feeling about this.

The Olympics is nothing compared to the international fervor I look to instill here at this heralded blog.

I am specifically seeking somebody brave enough to reach out to me at thegreatjimduba@yahoo.com to send me your information so we can get started this summer (or winter for you Southern Hemispherians). I would love to have somebody from all continents. Aside from myself, in this case the league commissioner representing the world, I am looking for somebody from the United States, Canada, Brazil/Argentina/Other South American Countries, Russia, Latvia, Ukraine, England, Spain, Australia, Egypt, Indonesia...you get the point. Don't worry about drafting, either. I will make it an automatic draft, so you can guarentee yourself at least a couple stars on your team.

The lineup will be as follows:

1 Quarterback

2 Wide Receivers

2 Running Backs

1 Tight End

1 Flex WR/RB/TE

1 Kicker

1 Defense/Special Teams

5 bench spots

However many different countries I can get to represent themselves will dictate the number of teams. It could 10. It could be 20. Who knows. I will set a limit at 24 total teams and reduce the number of bench spots, because at that point you will be grasping at straws for your roster.

Scoring is simple - six points for a touchdown of any kind (If you are fortunate enough to have a Brad Johnson moment where your quarterback throws a pass deflected to himself to score a touchdown you will earn 12 points, plus yards), incremental yardage points, and bonus points for long plays.

Again, that email to get started is thegreatjimduba@yahoo.com. Do not worry, I will absolutely not create any spam for you and you can play completely anonymous. There is no entry fee and no prize money, just international recognition.

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UPDATE!

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Team USA has been set - Dave Bell is Team Captain.

I am looking to fill as many team spots as I can. I will not reveal your name if you play, but rather you will be designated as "Team [Country Name]". Remember, this is a once in this year shot at glory.

Music Genre Review: Southern Metal - Let's get dirty!

I afford myself very little. However, one thing I do not ever mind spending my money or time on is discovering new music for myself. I like to go to iTunes and look up a certain band and then see what else it recommends. Through this process I have come to find bands that were in the mainstream and then find the bands that could be like a dime a dozen, but just so happen to be the band I stumbled upon.

As such, I have grown to love southern metal music. Wikipedia has no definition for it, but you would know it if you heard it. Some would call it trash, others call it sludge metal, but I like to label it southern metal. I do not know how to break it down to a style, but you would know it if you heard it. I notice there tends to be a lot of changes in the tempo of the song, with random singing/screaming. Last night, while scouring iTunes, I looked up some bands, and found the list of recommendations. So, below is a quick hit of the southern metal bands' music I own and my quick hit evaluations of them.

Pantera

Probably really the first group from this type that I knew of. The thing is, a lot of their songs could be considered thrash metal, but their later albums, which I enjoy more, tend to go to the southern metal category. A couple songs here and there, mostly "Cowboys from Hell" and "Cemetery Gates" are earlier songs with that hint of the south. I think towards the end of the band's run, Phil Anselmo tried to force his southern metal hand as the songs on The Great Southern Trendkill and Reinventing the Steel sound more like what I would define as southern metal. Phil Anselmo I believe is heavily influential in this category and quite prominent.

Sign of the Southern Cross

One of the new bands I found last night, but I was only able to find one album of theirs from I think 2009. I thought it was Phil Anselmo, but the guy singing could totally be a replacement/stand in for Pantera's front man. He sings just like him it is eary. Fans of Pantera would who have grown up would like them. It almost sounds to me much like the later albums of Pantera - not as good as the Great Southern Trendkill but better than Reinventing the Steel. Thirteen songs for 5 bucks is a pretty good deal, in my opinion.

Superjoint Ritual

Fronted by Phil Anselmo, this is a band whose music sounds like he tried to shove all the sounds into various songs that Pantera would not allow. Some songs are really good, others are just slow drudges. The good is good, but the bad I skip quite frequently. They are just okay.

Down

The last Phil Anselmo fronted band that I know of. He has some other band called Arson Anthem, but I have not heard any of their stuff. Anywho, Down is a great band for a guy who left a better band. This does not happen often. Yet, some of their songs I have in my regular rotation for the past 10 years. Stone the Crow, Losing All, Flambeaux, The Man That Follows Hell, and one of my recent favorites Stained Glass Cross. In all his songs, he is hard to understand, and I can only imagine he is singing about southern things.

Hellyeah

Cheesy name for a band? Perhaps, but their first album it fit. Second album not so much. Their song You Wouldn't Know is not southern sounding, but their other songs are. The singer has some southern twang. Their second album is more southerny, but also done in a much cheesier manner. Good at points, good for a random play of all my songs on the iPod. They could have done so much more, but again for a "side project," it is more good than bad, but only like 55%-45%

Southern Flame

Another new addition to my white trash iPod. I think they are fantastic, but the way the music was recorded makes it very hard to fully enjoy what they tried to present. It was very fresh in my opinion and not more of the same like Hellyeah is. The problem with how it was recorded is that if I put their songs in a shuffle with other songs, I have to make the songs of Southern Flame louder. I hate doing this and tend to just skip past them so I do not get surprised when a properly recorded/engineered song comes on and blow my ears out. It is a shame because this could be more noticed of an album (Whiskey Metal). I only found one album of theirs, but there was 18 songs. Yeah, one is a drum solo, which really shows the weakness in which it was recorded. I understand if it was the band's first album and times were tough, but with my 8 dollars in your pocket, maybe invest in a tape recorder or something. I guess I ended up knocking this band, whereas in actuality I think they are really good. If I listen to just their songs, I really enjoy them. In a mix with others, it is frustrating.

Texas Hippie Coalition

I don't know what the Hell these guys are, but they just wanted a band with the abbreviation THC. Their first album Pride of Texas is pretty good for an underground heavy metal band. It sounds like a mix of Black Label Society and Pantera. Their lyrics I could compare to how a rapper writes lyrics - you know, I'm the best and here's why (most of the reasons are just because he rocks). Simple lyrics, but the music is good. An example - the song Pissed off and Mad About It. Think there is anything complicated about that? Nope. My favorite song of theirs is this one, plus the song River Bottom. Their second album, Rollin', sounds more like a sellout type of album. The first album was kind of refreshing, but they go downhill from there. I recommend the first, but not the second. However, the second album is recorded better, but the quality of the first one is still okay (not as frustrating as Southern Flame's music). The only thing the second album is good for is a crisper version of Pissed off and Mad About.

The Union Underground

A one and done band, and they are probably most notable for having the them song for WWF's Monday Night Raw for a couple years. I think the song was called "Across the Nation." The only album of theirs is called an Education in Rebellion, and they also have a live album, but it is pretty much all the songs from their album plus the Raw song. Oh well. What they made was great. I love them. Bitter Man, Drivel, Friend Song, Revolution Man, South Texas Deathride - all good songs with that hint of southernness. I highly recommend them. The worst part of them is there is no more music!

Pride & Glory

A Zakk Wylde side project, they have one or two songs I like. Zakk has more of southern rock ballads than metal songs on this album. Good if your a fan of his, but that's about it. I can take occassional slow songs, but not an album mostly fully of them that sounds like what a country singer who wants to be a badass would sound like, whereas Zakk can do it naturally.

SoIL

Stupid way to spell their name, I know. However, this is probably one of my favorite bands ever - until the lead singer left. Ryan McCombs, who later went on to Drowning Pool, is one of the most perfect singers. Their first three albums - Throttle Junkies, Scars, and Redefine - should be in your collection if you like hard rock bordering on metal. This guy is one of my favorite front man and actually had me interested in the stupid band Drowning Pool for a little while. He sings their song that says, "This is for the soldiers!" that Brad Lidge from the Phillies used to come out to. Soil is a great band, but with their new singer are just another hard rock band, but better than most.