Polish Popgun pops off

Oh my. Popgun Gradkowski feels slighted. According to an interview on Sirius radio, Gradkowski, while discussing his time in Tampa after the 2006 season and the free agent aquisition of Jeff Garcia before the start of the 2007 campaign.
His comments were, "it was like I wasn't even there, after being a starter for 11 games, I felt like an afterthought."

AFTERTHOUGHT????????? You bitched you didn't get a chance to prove yourself and you feel slighted that the Bucs brought in a Pro Bowl QB to replace you. Enjoy your 1 year in St. Louis, you're next stop is arena league. You were given 11 games in '06 and came in in replacement in '07 for one game, you couldn't even manage that game against the Redskins.

Perhaps when you don't make the Rams squad, you could manage a few pop warner squads for the upcoming season. However, I hope you make the Rams squad and after Marc (IR) Bulger and Trent (human Concussion) Green go down to injury around week 8, the good football fans of St Louis will be treated to some of the worst quarterbacking ever seen in their history.

Chris Simms-
This is tough for me because I like Chris Simms. I really felt that Chris Simms might have a future in the NFL with another franchise other than the Bucs, but his recent behavior is really on the verge of destroying his career. Simms decided that he was going to skip the mandatory workouts and is now on the cusp of being fined by the Bucs front office. If Simms doesn't report to training camp, Simms will lose over a million dollars and will be put on the failed to report list, all the while remaining Bucs property through this entire NFL season. Was Chris not watching the scenerio the Bucs took with Jake Plummer?
Chris, you've got NFL talent, lose the sports agent you have which is destroying your career. If you don't get your shit together, and soon, you'll lose any career you might have had in the NFL and will become nothing more than an answer to a trivia question.

Jasmine gains control

6 weeks ago, we made an addition to our household, Jasmine, the Bengal feline who was posted on Craigslist for adoption. We welcomed her with open arms but learned that she had undergone alot of stress during her 3 years.

Well, Jazz has taken off in our house. Our 11 pound kitty is flying all over the homestead, room to room. She has discovered the fuzzy cushy balls which belonged to Orph, and loves to play fetch. In fact, it's not so much fetch anymore, more like mandatory, you throw the ball, I'll bring it back somewhere near you but you better throw the ball again. Hours on end this cat will retrieve the ball over and over and over.

After we adopted her, she would hide in the guest bedroom for days, only coming out during the evening hours, now however, she's made herself known as an alarm clock for a morning feeding at 5am.

We are very happy that she's come around and is becoming so secure in her environment that she jumps onto the couch and lays on her back with her belly fully exposed. She is now in and out of our bed at night, and I'm sure it won't be long until she is sleeping with us on a nightly basis.

Sick Sick Sick, future Springer guest

I was watching television this evening and came across this story from Hickory, North Carolina. Evidently, some male, (I can't use the term-man) bagged up 4 kittens in a tied off potato sack and then decided to drive through a busy local intersection and toss the bag out of the window. A witness watched several cars run over the bag and once the onlooker saw the bag moving, she realized there was something living in the bag. There was a surviving kitten in the bag of four, the others were run over.

What is happening to our society? One half of our society seems to want to be on Judge Judy or Jerry Springer and the other half wants to be on the next reality show. Massive foreclosures on houses are resulting in massive influxes of animals to shelters, but this display of animal cruelty should be prosecuted the fullest letter of the law. If I were governor, people which killed harmless animals such as dogs and cats would face much harsher penalties. This is a moral issue.
I hope the folks in Hickory, North Carolina can find this piece of human debris which committed this heinous act. Hopefully justice can be served.




http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/16/dnt.kittens.in.road.wsoc

Aspen open for business!

Got a couple grand laying around? Wanna quick getaway for the weekend? Well, Aspen Colorado is re-opening their ski resort June 13th. Why it's June, how can this be?

Well, while I was trying to determine my carbon footprint here on Earth, I came across this story about Aspen re-opening this coming weekend. They are re-opening because they still have over 3 feet of snow on the mountain after record snowfall this past season.

While the media global warming lapdogs have been watching thermometers in the Northeast more closely than the oil price, showing kids playing in fire hydrants, explaining all the signs of heat stroke, hey! CNN! it's summer, it supposed to be hot. But nary a comment about all the snow or sking in June in Colorado. Maybe Al Gore can fly in this weekend and catch a little late season snowboarding.

So much for that rant, I'll go back to determining my carbon footprint so I can save the world. I think I'm a 10 1/2.

Chris Simms finally talking

Various Tampa Bay media outlets are reporting this morning that Chris Simms feels as if he's being held hostage. Well, he made 7 million in the past 2 seasons, for that kind of money, someone kidnap me.

Of course it's been long rumored that Chris Simms was Rich McKay's boy and Gruden was never completely sold on him. Simm's did come on in 05 when Brian Griese went down with a knee injury and led the Bucs to a division title and a one and done in the playoffs. (Shepperd still caught that ball, but that's another story) When Griese was released by the Bucs, Simms became the starter for the ill fated 2006 fiasco, I mean season. Chris ruptured his spleen in the fourth game of the season against Carolina and hasn't played since. Up until the Carolina game, Simms was playing poorly, 7 ints and only one touchdown and throughout his career has had a problem with balls being deflected at the line of scrimmage. I believe this problem to be caused by his slow throwing motion.

I've liked Chris Simms. I thought he had potential to be a starting caliber quarterback in the NFL, just not with the Bucs. He's better suited for a more vertical passing attack. He has a tremendous deep ball, but struggles on the checkdowns and passes to backs. And though I've never met him, I'd say he seems to be quite personable, seemingly always flashing his 'Aw Shucks smile.

I do believe he will be playing in another venue this upcoming season, but I don't look for him to be released until the second or third week of training camp. The Bucs have him under contract and after investing 7 million in salary over the past 2 seasons, will wait to make sure Jeff Garcia doesn't holdout or that someone doesn't go down with an injury. The St. Pete Times article this morning quoted Simms as saying the Bucs received 2-3 offers for a trade during April's draft, so there is some interest. My choices would be Oakland, Chicago, Minnesota, and possible Green Bay or Buffalo. A NFL team will have injuries at the quarterback position and will be looking to add depth. And then, the Bucs can close another chapter in the drama which has been this offseason.

Polish Popgun Poised for Takeoff

It appears after all that there was an NFL franchise in need of a undeceive, easily overwhelmed quarterback with no arm to create a deep threat. That franchise would be no other than the Bucs nemesis in the late 1990's, the former "Greatest Show on Turf", the St Louis Ewes. My, how the mighty have fallen in the arched city.

After doling out an outrageous amount of money for Marc Bulger at the start of last season, then see him injured again during the regular season, Ewes management decided to shore up the QB position by signing, Trent "Glass Jaw" Green. Are you kidding me? This guy has been a walking concussion for Kansas City and Miami for the past 3 years, and a team signs him to be the #2 man, knowing at anytime Bulger might (and most likely, WILL) go down with injury again.

So this week, in a very bold move, the Ewes stepped up to the plate and signed the formidable Bruce Gradkowski off waivers. Bruce will have to compete with the college flop, Brock Berlin as the 3rd string QB, which I think he can achieve simply on the fact he's got more experience than Berlin. Then again, who knows.

I'm sure that many cold,frosty adult beverages were hoisted this week in sports bars all over the St Louis region, rejoicing the fact that Gradkowski was coming to town. And given the track record of the health of the two QB's infront of him, if he makes the team, Ewes fans could be in for a real treat this season when Grads hits the field. It's something special to watch. He'll win your heart in preseason and rip it out in the regular season.

The Rams ripped the hearts out of Bucs fans in 1999 with the Bert Emanuel "non catch" at the end of that hard fought contest. I just believe this is karma, a former Buc coming to St Louis to break their hearts. I can only hope.

Jerramy Stevens and the end of the world

It's been interesting to see how much controversy has been created by the Bucs re-signing Stevens at the TE position. A Seattle paper came out last year with reports about alleged rape allegations while he was in college, with no criminal charges filed. But this week the Slant Pete Times and the Gruden hating 620WDAE, which happens to be the flagship station of the Bucs, has come down hard on the ownership by re-signing Stevens.

These stories which are being reported now aren't anything new. Where was the outrage last year? No where. Stevens has a 2 game suspension for his DUI conviction. He played an entire season in Tampa last year and was the second leading receiver for TD's. Are we not to believe that he's changed his life or has retribution for what he's done in the past even after listening to his response to the media?

Is this what society has become? We pass judgement on a you tube video, or text messages? Society these days loves to build up people who aren't stars, see any reality show, but just so quick to tear down those which have achieved any sort of success. It's sort of a sickness which I find disturbing.