The George Webber Murder Story

As many may know about at this point WABC radio host George Webber was found murdered in his Brooklyn apartment. Pretty tragic story, but it gets worse. It wasn't the opinions of Webber that led some irate listener killing him but rather some of Webber's own doing. The person that killed Webber was sixteen year old John Katehis. The details that led to how Webber and Katehis came to meet bring to light what I feel is the true story behind this brutal killing.
Webber met Katehis on the popular web page Craigslist.com. Webber exchanged emails with the teen after the teen responded to an ad left on craigslist looking for a sexual partner and this eventually led to the two scheduling a meeting at Webber's Brooklyn apartment. During this meeting the drugged up teen stabbed Webber to death. Many see it as insensitive to place any blame on a dead person for the events that led to his death but in this case I do place some blame on Webber for the events that took place.
I would call craigslist the wild wild west of the internet. By that I mean that it is completely unmonitored and very dangerous if not used in a careful manner. I have used craigslist before for buying and selling tickets and make sure to meet people in very public places where the chances of something going wrong are much lower. I would never have someone show up at my house for any kind of transaction let alone any kind of sexual encounter.
What kind of people do you think you are going to have showing up at your home when you place ads for sexual partners on an unmonitored web page? Creeps is the obvious answer to that question. That was exactly what Webber had showing up at his house a freak. This teen's myspace page had pictures of him with knives up to his neck and other gruesome poses.
People need to be more responsible when using the internet and this story is really an example of this fact. For some reason I can not understand people see posting and interacting through the internet as something safe. Maybe it is due to the fact that people still see it as just a screen and not an actual gateway to the rest of the world. So please, surf safely.

boston.com Article about Rooting for the Home Team

So my brother sent me this article today and it had to do with fans who root for their home teams. This is the type of article that some people are going to love and others are going to hate. It makes some fair points, regardless of whether or not you agree with what is being said.
In brief what the article says is that being a fair weather fan and changing your favorite teams based on the season is more reasonable from the fan perspective than staying loyal to a home town team. Over time you are rooting for an entirely different group of players with your ticket money going to different owners. The bottom line is the article is that why bother going through the disappointment of losing season when you can always be rooting for a contender?
My brother told me before I read this article that it will probably "grind my gears" and he was absolutely correct. A large part of being a fan is sticking with a team through both the good years and the not so good years. I know how illogical this may sound to a non-fan, the idea of a person keeping an allegiance to something that they owe nothing and changes its members from year to year. All I can say is that you will never fully understand being a fan until you are one yourself.
It says something about a fan when you can stick with a team through the coarse of a lifespan. When a team finally wins it is so much better after watching years of frustration. I can say this with certainty after watching the Giants win the 08 Super Bowl. I watched them during the days of Dave Brown and go to see them improve to the height of Super Bowl champions. I didn't switch to a better team at the beginning of each and every season, there is something wrong to me about even thinking about quitting on one of your teams.
This is the first article that I saw that went about defending the fair weather fan and I have to admit it did do a very good job defending a very difficult position. I get what this author is saying but as much as it makes sense I will never follow this path of logic.

NHL playoffs around the corner East edition

1.	* Boston		100
2.	* Washington		96
3.	* New Jersey		95
4.	Philadelphia		84
5.	Pittsburgh		84
6.	NY Rangers		82
7.	Montreal		81
8.	Carolina		81
9.	Florida		80

With just about 10 games left in the regular season the playoff races in both the east and the west are heating up. The east is the more interesting race for me to watch and not only because I am more accustomed to eastern hockey but because the race is tighter and there is much more that is left undecided at this point in the season. The players in the eastern conference are far more marketable than some of the western conference players, something that the NHL is in desperate need of right now. Ovetchkin, Crosby, and Malkin are all great players who the league can use to increase their popularity.
Many of the teams in the east playoff picture are getting hot at just the right time of the season. New Jersey just got their starting goalie Brodeur back in time for the playoff push and Parise does not seem to stop scoring. Just when everyone thought that the Penguins were out of the playoff scene they put together the type of run that I knew they were capable of. If their goal tending can stay tough then this is a team that can make it back to the Stanley Cup Finals. A third team that is starting to click at the right time of the year are the Rangers. They have a new coach who is now getting much more effort out of his players, one of the premier goaltenders in the league, and the return of Sean Avery who ads some much needed heart to the team.
Like I said the east is a very open conference and I can see any one of these teams advancing to the finals with the exception of Montreal, Carolina, or Florida. For ratings purposes the best possible match up in the eastern conference finals would be the Capitals taking on the Penguins. This rivalry has been heating up throughout the season even going as far as Crosby and Ovetchkin jawing at each other near the end of a recent game. The fans of these two teams do not like each other and would be a match up for the ages.

My take on the World Baseball Clasic

It is not generating that much press right now but the WBC is in full swing right now. For people who do not know the WBC is similar to soccer's world cup but for baseball teams across the world. This is a sixteen team tournament with several major league baseball players playing for their home nations during the tournament. The US suffered a loss to the Puerto Rican team but came back with their ninth inning walk off victory over Puerto Rico in a rematch last night.
When US lost their first pool game to Puerto Rico they lost so due to the mercy rule. The game ended after seven innings where the US trailed by a score of 11-1. The US then entered a game against the Netherlands where the loser would be eliminated from competition. This win gave the US a rematch with PR. Three outs away from elimination the US came through to win a nail biter over Puerto Rico.
The next game the US plays is against Venezuela and the game does not matter much because both teams will enter the semi finals along with Korea and the winner of Japan/Cuba.
People have been discussing what can be done to make the WBC more attractive to fans. My answer is simple; nothing. When I say nothing I am not saying that the event is entertaining and must watch TV but, it is as good as it can get. This really is the most feasible time of year to hold the tournament, right before the start of the regular season where all the players are missing is some time with their respective teams. There is no way the MLB would allow an extended all star break like the NHL does during the Olympics. The league makes far too much money and the teams are far too greedy than to allow this type of extended break. Having the tournament after the world series would also never work because fans have been watching since April and have had enough of the game for the year and the players are exhausted after playing almost every day for over 162 games for playoff teams.
Take it or leave it the WBC is what it is and this is as good as it is going to get.

Resourceful Times

So yea, we are in a recession right now. In case you have been in a coma for over a year I just wanted to fill you in on that fact. People are turning to more and more drastic measures as this crisis gets worse and worse. I read an article today about one lady who is doing things like cutting her lotion bottles in half when they are almost empty so that she can scrape the last molecule of lotion out of the bottom of the container. I have not reached the point where I am resorting to these type of measures but I have to say it is not all bad that some people are resorting to doing things like this.
I am not saying that these hard economic times are good times but the change in behavior of some people is a good thing. In America I feel people had gotten a bit too complacent in thinking that we can live however we want and can continue to succeed. The time has come where people are coming to the sometimes painful realization that we are going to have to change the way we have been living.
Economists are saying that some of these money saving behaviors that people are turning towards will be used even after the recession has come to its end. This I feel is a great thing. Some Americans are finally getting the idea that we are going to have to become more resourceful if we want to stay competitive as a world power.

Obama on the youth of the country

One of the reasons that I voted for Obama had to do with the faith he had in the younger generation to do well and once again make America a competitive force in the world. I feel that he realizes the fact that our schools in some cases have not properly prepared or motivated kids to become successful people once they reach the 'real world'. I may not agree with all of his views on how we should go about modifying the school system but his vision is something that I can not argue with.
One thing that Obama plans on doing is developing a system where the 'better teachers' are better compensated based on their teaching skills. I know that he wants to include parent input in the process of selecting which teachers receive the bonuses, a step that I feel is in the right direction. If the compensation system is based solely on test scores then one teacher may be compensated better just based on the fact that her students may be naturally good test takers. With input from the parents in the compensation system a better picture of the teacher is painted and compensation can be adjusted accordingly.

Dislike for a home player

As most of you know I am a huge sports fan. Whether it be the Rangers, Yankees or Giants I am one who is devoted to his teams. I try to watch every game I can for all of my teams and for the most part I support all of my teams players. I say for the most part because there is one player in particular who I will never root for or respect as a person. Even the guys who are known across the league as not so great people I still find myself able to root for them (people like Plaxico Burress and Sean Avery). One person I will never root for is Alex Rodriguez.
An athlete who I have never been able to bring myself around to fully root for is Eli Manning. I have great respect and amazement for what he did two years ago in the Giants run to the Super Bowl. I know that the Giants could have never made this run without him and still to this day do not understand what happened and how he transformed for that four game playoff run.
At times I am frustrated by Eli and the way he plays. He doesn't do it as much any more but it used to drive me crazy when he would throw off his back foot into an opposition's hands. In more recent times what ticks me off about Eli's performance is the fact that he can not play in windy environments. He overcame some of his problems in the cold but he still has yet to understand how to throw in the wind. I am not saying this is an easy thing to do but, as an NFL QB this is something he should be able to learn.
You can see I am frustrated with certain aspects of Eli's game but with A Rod it is a different kind of frustration. There are multiple parts of my frustration with A Rod, it is not one thing that he does but rather a combination of the way he plays and his off the field behavior. The first reason, and biggest reason, why I can't stand the guy is because he does not and will never know how to play in the clutch. Whenever he is up in a key spot and the Yankees need him to get on base he either strikes out or grounds into a double play.
A second thing thing that really ticks me off about A Rod is that he is not a very genuine or loyal person. There are many examples I could turn to to prove this point but the most obvious one is that if he was playing in the WBC this year he would be playing for the Dominican Republic. There are several problems I have with this and the first is that just a few short years ago A Rod played for team USA in the first WBC. Make up your mind already! You were born and raised in this country I feel you should play for the US but I understand if you choose to play for your parent's home nation.
This shows the phonyness that goes into A Rod. He does not know who or what he is. I really could never picture not liking one of my home players as much as I dislike Alex Roidriguez.

Rihanna and Chris Brown

So as most people probably know about at this point in time there has been some troubles in the relationship between Rihanna and Chris Brown. Rihanna and Brown were not seen at the Grammy's and over time the story broke that Brown allegedly assaulted her and then threatened her life. Rihanna had to be taken to a medical center to deal with the injuries that Brown inflicted upon her. This is always very disturbing to see this kind of violence and abuse of women but almost as frusturating to me is the fact that Rihanna is even considering taking back Chris Brown.
How do you think Rihanna's father feels about the fact that his daughter is considering going back into the relationship that left his daughter beaten? I can not speak for her father but if I were her father I would be absolutely livid. There is almost nothing worse than seeing your own daughter being taken advantage of and beaten by a man and after having to go through this you see your own flesh and blood willingly taking the person back.
I understand that there have been studies done about people in abusive relationships and how they feel that they are responsible for what is happening to them and the fact that they usually end up back together with the abusive partner or in a separate abusive relationship. Even though the studies have been done I can still not fully grasp this mindset. If I take this mindset for fact then Rhianna is in trouble because of the fact that she can't comprehend the damage that Chris Brown is capable of and what he may do in the future.

Deputies say man stuffed cat inside 'bong'

The economic news is pretty depressing right now to put it mildly. The dow dropped bellow 7,000 on Monday for the first time since 1997. When it comes to times like this it is not a great idea to forget that the situation is taking place right now but turning to a different kind of story can be a good thing from time to time. That is why I found this story where a man was arrested for putting his cat inside of a bong to mellow him out.
This man had made a bong out of a plastic box and some garden hose (I posted a picture of the bong that was used on the right side of this article). He then continued to put his cat inside of the box while using the bong. Acea Schomaker claims that his cat was hyper and to calm down the six month old kitten he made use of his homemade bong. What is it with people who feel that drugs have the same effect on animals as they do on human beings. The same is true in the recent chimp story where the chimp owner gave the chimp Xanax to calm the animal down.
This story made me consider other kind of situations like where people get drunk at a party and decide to give beer to the dogs. If you go on youtube and type in dogs drinking beer you can find countless videos of the dogs being fed booze. I would never give my dog or cat any kind of alcohol because honestly I am unsure of what it could do to them.