Francona Wants Out... I'm Not Begging Him To Stay

Sun Times -- If the White Sox have designs on making Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona their successor to Ozzie Guillen, one important door has been opened.

Francona has had enough of his eroding Boston experience, a ­major-league source said, and will ask the club not to exercise the option on his contract.

“He has had his fill of the whole thing,’’ the source told the Sun-Times.

Francona, who guided the Red Sox to two World Series championships, decided it was time to cut ties before the Red Sox’ September collapse came to its horrifying conclusion Wednesday night. His contract has options worth $4.25 million for 2012 and $4.5 for 2013, more than double what Guillen was paid this season.

Francona, 52, would have options, of course, including possibly the Cubs or Cardinals. And whether he is the top guy on Sox general manager Ken Williams’ and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s wish list is not known.

E! Runs Mean Girls 2 as A "Movie We Love"

So E! from time to time shows movies with the banner "Movies We Love" as a move to try and boost ratings. Novel idea, cause who doesnt love watching a 2 and a half hour movie stretched out over 5 hours converted to PG-13. From my memory I know they have shown Knocked Up and Titanic, two classics no doubt. I flip on the TV tonight and I saw the "Movies We Love" in the corner so I stop to see what movie it is and its Mean Girls 2. Who the fuck knew there was a Mean Girls 2? Seriously like what the hell is going on. First off its an outrage that Mean Girls didnt win an Oscar for Best Film, cinematic gold, one for the ages. All the over used movie clichés can be used. I mean Lohan in her prime. Rachael McAdams easily top 5 sexiest woman alive. Put Amanda Seyfried on the map and now shes in like every movie made. For god sakes Gretchen Weiners is a 10 plus her dad invented fucking Toaster Strudels. The fact that made a sequel is insulting. This has me so fired up. Obv MG2 is your typical straight to DVD piece of shit, with a no name cast and they throw one character from the original just so they can keep the name. Take a guess the one character they used... Tim Fuckin Meadows. Tim Meadows in the past 30 years has done 28 years of SNL, Mean Girls, and Mean Girls 2. Seriously E! clean your shit up. I dont wana see garbage movies and have you tell me its a classic. Mean Girls was so fetch.

NESN Showing Beauty and The Beast During Rain Delay...

Ever See AGon and Ernie from George Lopez In The Same Room?

 

Ive said it a million times before and no one seems to agree with me... Adrien Gonzalez when hes not a potential MVP canidate he is playing a very under rated supporting role on a very bad TV show starring a terrible actor/tv host/person.

Happy 70th Anniversary to Ted Williams .406 AVG

ESPN.com It took several conversations before the most cerebral hitter of his generation, Tony Gwynn, finally asked the most cerebral hitter of any generation, Ted Williams, about his famous 1941 season. "Ted looked at me and said, 'If I knew that hitting .400 would have been so damn important, I would have done it more often,''' Gwynn said. "I just laughed. But the more I thought about that, he probably could have hit .400 again if he had wanted.''
He probably could have, but he didn't, and no one else has hit .400 since Williams batted .406 in 1941. Since then, only four players have hit as high as .380 -- Williams .388 in 1957, Rod Carew .388 in 1977, George Brett .390 in 1980 and Gwynn .394 in 1994, a year in which he played 110 games when the season was canceled due to a player's strike. It seems highly unlikely, if not impossible, that anyone will hit .400 anytime soon for a variety of reasons, the first one being this: There is nobody in baseball history like Ted Williams.
"Best hitter I ever faced,'' Bob Feller said. "And I never saw anyone hit like he did in 1941.''
Williams had batted .344 in 1940 at age 21, but he suffered a wrist injury in spring training of 1941, missed some games and didn't really hit like Ted Williams in April. But in May, he went 44-for-101, with 22 walks and only three strikeouts. He got to .404 on May 25, never dropped below .393 the rest of the season and peaked at .436 on June 6. After July 25, his average never dropped below .400. When he got to the final day of the season, a doubleheader at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Williams was hitting .3996, which rounded off to .400. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin gave Williams the option to play that day. Williams said if he couldn't hit .400 from the beginning to the end of a season, he didn't deserve it.
"I asked him about that final day,'' Gwynn said, "and he said, 'Hell yeah was I going to play.'''
Williams went 4-for-5 in the first game, the Red Sox overcame an 11-3 deficit to beat the A's, 12-11, and Williams raised his average to .404. He insisted on playing the second game, and he went 2-for-3 to finish the season at .406. In the doubleheader, with all the pressure of .400, he went 6-for-8. He was the first player to hit .400 since Bill Terry in 1930, and the first American Leaguer since Harry Heilmann in 1923. Williams hit 37 home runs that year, drove in 120 runs, drew 147 walks and struck out 27 times. His .553 on-base percentage was a major league record until Barry Bonds broke it in 2002 (.582). Williams' OPS was also an incredible 1.287.
"He told me that he didn't think it was that big a deal hitting .400,'' Gwynn said. "It had been done a few years earlier. He figured that someone else would do it. He wasn't that impressed by it.''
Seventy years later, it is more impressive since no one has really come close to hitting .400, and Williams hit .406 with great power and production. The wait has enhanced his legacy.

Get It Away From Me

WORCESTER — Frank and Louie is a cat who was born with two faces, so he has two names. Does that mean he has 18 lives?

It almost seems so now that he has earned a spot as the longest lived Janus cat in the new edition of the Guinness World Records (Guinness has dropped the word “book” from the name in this digital age).

The cat's owner is a Worcester woman named Marty, who asked that her last name not be used to shield her identity and her unusual pet from curiosity seekers. She has owned Frank and Louie since a local breeder brought him into Tufts Veterinary Clinic to be euthanized when he was a day old.

Marty was a veterinary nurse at Tufts at the time and offered to take him home.

The prognosis, however, was not good. Janus cats, named after the Roman god with two faces, are extremely rare and seldom live more than a few days after being born. Often they die within hours. But under Marty's dedicated care Frank and Louie flourished. He turned 12 years old on Sept. 8.

Frank and Louie has two mouths, two noses and two normal eyes with one larger non-functioning eye in the center.

“That was the first eye to open up when he was two days old so I had a little Cyclops for a while,” Marty said. That's not an endearing image, and, as often happens with animals and even people who are not exactly like everyone else, Frank and Louie often draws a shocked reaction from onlookers. But that first impression quickly fades.

“He's just so affectionate and sweet he usually wins people over,” Marty said.

The cat has two faces, but only one head and brain, so the faces react in unison and not as separate entities. Also, two faces doesn't mean two cans of cat food every morning. The cat's right side — or Frank's side — is connected to an esophagus while Louie's isn't, so Frank eats for two.

Is Your Son Gay? -- Theres an App For That

Gadgetbox -- Now on sale on the Android Market: an app that asks — and purports to answer — "Is my son gay?" On the app page, here's the pitch: "You're questioning yourself? 20 questions to know more about your son. After this test you'll have the proven answer to a question you might have since maybe a long time."

• Before he was born, did you wish for a girl?
• Has he ever been in a fight?
• Does he read the sports page in the newspaper?
• Is his best friend a girl?
• Does he like team sports?
• Is he modest?
• Is he a fan of divas (Madonna, Britney Spears)?
• Does he spend a long time in the bathroom?
• Does he piercings in his tongue, nose or ears?
• Do you wonder about your son's sexual orientation?
• Are you divorced?
• Does he like musical comedies?
• Has he ever introduced you to a girlfriend?
• Is his father a very authoritarian person?
• Within your family, is the father absent at all?
• During his childhood, was he timid or discreet?
• Does he have a complicated relationship with his father?
• Does he take a long time to do his hair?

Apple To Announce New iPhone October 4

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Apple confirmed Tuesday that it will hold a press event on Oct. 4 at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. Expected to be the star attraction: The long-awaited iPhone 5.
It's been 15 months since Apple's iPhone 4 went on sale, making this lag between new models the longest since the iPhone debuted in 2007.
As always, the next-generation iPhone has been the subject of intense speculation. Almost daily, blogs and news agencies offer up new tidbits based on supposed leaks from hardware component makers or iPhone case designers to glean any information about what the next device could look like.

Cant Believe Its Come To This

Unbelievable sitting here on the eve of game number 1hundredandfucking62 Red Sox fans stil have a regular season MUST win and any discussions of playoffs has a big fat IF. On name value alone you have to feel good with Lester pitching tommorrow, but with the way this month has gone to quote Kevin Garnett "Anythings Possibleeeee." Lester has never lost to the Orioles, but then again you could argue a W for the O's tommorrow and it validates there season. Biggest game for the Orioles since Cal Ripken Jr. suited up. Even IF (theres that word again) the Sox do pull it off I'm almost positive the Yankees dont do us any favors and the Rays pull it out too. I would say im about 95% sure there will be a play in game Thursday. So is you work on Thursday, Id start planting the idea to your boss that your getting sick tommorrow. Maybe a little fake cough, sneezing all over your desk, hell  make some disturbing noises from the bathroom whatever you gotta do. That being said I think Lackey pitches the best game in a Sox uniform in by far his biggest oppurtunity. It wont be pretty but he will hold down the hatches enough to let the offense do its thing and send us limping into the playoffs.

PS: I think Green Day wrote this song years ahead of schedule and it was written for the 2011 Red Sox and their fans.

Hey Winklevoss Twins... How Do Those Nuts Taste?

This new ad for pistachios starring the poor Winklevoss Twins is so pathetic. Wah we came up with an idea but werent smart enough to do it ourselves. Poor us we only got 64 million and Zuckerberg tricked us. We are only so good at rowing because we jerk eachother off everyday.  Even the Dean at Harvard couldnt stand these guys.Love that in an average month for Zuckerberg they unveil a new Facebook layout. Meanwhile this nut commercial is a career building move for the Twinkletoe twins. Hopefully the people at Wonderful Pistachios didnt lie about the value of the company or the big bad twins will hit #1 on their speed dial and get their lawyers on the phone.

Self Checkouts Prove How Stupid People Are

MANCHESTER, Conn. (AP) -- When Keith Wearne goes grocery shopping, checking out with a cashier is worth the few extra moments, rather than risking that a self-serve machine might go awry and delay him even more.
Most shoppers side with Wearne, studies show. And with that in mind, some grocery store chains nationwide are bagging the do-it-yourself option, once considered the wave of the future, in the name of customer service.
"It's just more interactive," Wearne said during a recent shopping trip at Manchester's Big Y Foods. "You get someone who says hello; you get a person to talk to if there's a problem."
Big Y Foods, which has 61 locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts, recently became one of the latest to announce it was phasing out the self-serve lanes. Some other regional chains and major players, including some Albertsons locations, have also reduced their unstaffed lanes and added more clerks to traditional lanes.
Market studies cited by the Arlington, Va.-based Food Marketing Institute found only 16 percent of supermarket transactions in 2010 were done at self-checkout lanes in stores that provided the option. That's down from a high of 22 percent three years ago.
Overall, people reported being much more satisfied with their supermarket experience when they used traditional cashier-staffed lanes.
Supermarket chains started introducing self-serve lanes about 10 years ago, touting them as an easy way for shoppers to scan their own items' bar codes, pay, bag their bounty and head out on their way. Retailers also anticipated a labor savings, potentially reducing the number of cashier shifts as they encouraged shoppers to do it themselves.
The reality, though, was mixed. Some shoppers loved them and were quick converts, while other reactions ranged from disinterest to outright hatred -- much of it shared on blogs or in Facebook groups.
An internal study by Big Y found delays in its self-service lines caused by customer confusion over coupons, payments and other problems; intentional and accidental theft, including misidentifying produce and baked goods as less-expensive varieties; and other problems that helped guide its decision to bag the self-serve lanes.

Singing "Happy Birthday" in Public is Against The Law

Cracked - If you ever had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's, you probably have endless fond memories: the cardboard pizza, the shitty, half-broken arcade games and soda served in the tiniest paper thimbles ever created. OK, maybe it kind of sucked in retrospect. But it could have been worse. For example, your parents could get a subpoena to appear in court for being part of a public performance of "Happy Birthday to You," which as it turns out is totally illegal.
It's copyrighted. Usually that would only affect people who are singing it while attempting to make a profit (the lady your dad hired to jump out of your birthday cake, for instance). However, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) requested that the Girl Scouts pay royalties for "Happy Birthday to You," and other songs they'd been singing around the campfire without a single stripper, or paying customer in attendance.
Presumably thinking that this was a prank by the girls from the camp across the lake, the Girl Scouts consulted an attorney who found that the law applied to any "public performance." Going by the strict letter of the law, you have to pay anytime you sing the song "where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered."
The first version of the popular birthday song, titled "Good Morning to All," was composed way back in 1868 by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill, before the Summy Company copyrighted it in 1935, together with the now-famous lyrics. Today, that copyright belongs to Time Warner, meaning that any restaurant or movie that wants to use the song where everyone can hear it must pay the company royalties.
You can still sing it legally in the privacy of your own home, and you will probably get away with singing it out in the open, provided that you're not on a reality TV show. Of course, if you're anything like most small business owners, you'll just pay up because you don't want to face Time Warner in court. Enough of them pay royalties that the song garners a cool $2 million dollars a year in royalties.
Or if you want to be extra safe, you can do what many restaurant chains do and just invent your own special version of the lyrics, assuming you don't mind looking and sounding like a stupid asshole.

Its So Beautiful

No Words Needed.

I Want Mark Buehrle on The Red Sox... And I Want It Immediately

CHICAGO -- Mark Buehrle makes his 31st and final start of the 2011 season on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, needing 1 2/3 innings to reach at least 200 innings pitched, at least 30 starts made and double-digit wins for the 11th straight season.
It's the longest such active streak in the Majors. But if that Buehrle streak continues on in 2012 and beyond, it might not be with the White Sox. Buehrle will be experiencing free agency for the first time, as his four-year, $56-million deal comes to a close, and isn't sure what to expect.

Man Steals Beer With Inhaler

CLOVER, SC - A California man is facing charges after police say he used an inhaler to steal beer from two men before using his head to break the windshield of a police cruiser.
According to a Clover Police report, officers were called to a Kangaroo Express early Tuesday morning to the report of an armed robbery. Officers spoke to two men who said they were walking along the sidewalk after buying beer and were approached by a man who pointed what appeared to be a silver pistol at them and demanded their beer. The report indicates that the armed man threatened to kill them if they didn't hand over the alcohol. The man, later identified as 23-year-old Ashton Graham of California, then ran away from the scene with a case of Keystone Ice and a case of Budweiser beer. Officers called the York County Sheriff's Office to ask for assistance from the department's K-9 unit to track Graham. Investigators followed a trail of beer cans and empty cartons as the K-9 unit tracked Graham. 911 dispatchers notified officers that employees from a nearby business had called and said that a male covered in blood was on their property and "acting very strange." Employees told officers that the man was "very intoxicated and told them that he had been assaulted by three black males," the Clover Police report states. When employees told Graham they were calling police, he reportedly "got up off the sidewalk, fell down and dropped a Budweiser beer out of his pocket and got back up." That's when ran out into the field behind the company, employees told police. K-9 units were able to track Graham to the woods behind the building and he was placed into custody. Police say when he was being led to the patrol car, he became extremely agitated and very combative with officers. According to the York County Sheriff's report, Graham stared at deputies and screamed "What the [expletive] are you looking at?" Graham reportedly continued to swear at the deputies as they patted him down to check for weapons. A deputy located what appeared to be a cap to an asthma inhaler in Graham's pocket. When the deputy asked Graham if he had an inhaler and he replied, "Yes, I have fucking asthma."
Graham then allegedly reared his head backwards and slammed it into the patrol car's back windshield, shattering the window.

Science Proves Kids Like Sugar... Really?

NPR - Ask a child if they like sweets and the answer is almost universally a resounding "Yes!" It's no surprise to most parents that kids love candy, cookies, sweetened drinks, and some kids have even been known to add sugar to a bowl of Frosted Flakes. But don't blame the kids, say researchers: It's biology.

Scientific evidence shows that children not only have a stronger preference for sugar than adults – but that sweet-tooth is hardwired from Day One.

"We know that the newborn can detect sweet and will actually prefer sweeter solutions to less sweet ones. The basic biology of the child is that they don't have to learn to like sweet or salt. It's there from before birth," explains Julie Mennella of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Unlike adults, who often find overly sugary things unpleasant, Mennella says kids are actually living in different sensory worlds than adults when it comes to basic tastes.

"They prefer much more intense sweetness and saltiness than the adult, and it doesn't decrease until late adolescence. And we have some evidence they may be more sensitive to bitter taste," Mennella says.

A reason for this may be that a preference for sweet, caloric substances during rapid growth may have given children as an evolutionary advantage when calories were scarce. That notion is supported by the fact that sugar doesn't just taste good to children -– it actually makes them feel good, too.

Man Dies In A Van Down By The River

 

STURTEVANT - A person has been pronounced dead after they were discovered outside a van that was found partially in water in Sturtevant on Monday morning.

A Racine County Sheriff's dispatcher told Newsradio 620 WTMJ that the body and vehicle were found just off a frontage road near the corner of Highway C and Highway 20 in Sturtevant at about 6:20 a.m. Monday morning.

TODAY'S TMJ4's Diane Pathieu reports that the driver drove from Dousman to Racine County. The man was going down the frontage road went through a road closed sign and into a ditch full of water in a large construction area. According to Pathieu, his van was then submerged, then he got out of the van, had a heart attack and died. He reportedly was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Deputies don't know how long the man may have been in the flooded area, but the road was clearly marked and blocked with barricades.

Hollister Has A Line of "Skinny" Sweatpants

I never understood skinny jeans. I need my pants a little baggy, let the boys breathe, make sure blood is flowing ya know. Now I see Hollister is selling “Skinny” sweats. This has to be in response to Biebs saying he rocks chicks jeans on the reg. Hollister is probably thinking “That Justin Bieber likes crushing his sack by wearing his girlfriends jeans that she outgrew… maybe guys like girls clothes?” And not every guy has the swag of Bieber to just say “Yeah I wear girls clothes, so what.” and stil get laid, so lets come up with a guys line of girls clothes for guys. So guys if you want suffocate your balls while your catching some sleep and you dont wana wear your girls Victoria Secret Pink sweats rock the Hollister Co. Skinny sweats… Skinny Fit All The Way Down…(On other dudes)

ICEBERG... Oh Its Just The Sox

Ok Ive remained pretty calm this September as the Red Sox decided to sail through the last few weeks and get ready for October. While the members of the media and other fans put on their life belts and head for the lifeboats, I ordered another drink and put on my freshest outfit. Well my feet are getting wet and all the boats are almost dropped and out of here. The Sox are sinking and sinking fast. I Think the Sox could use Kate Winslet at this point (You see that swing with the axe to save Jack?) It was always part of the misery of "The Curse" that Fenway opened when the Titanic sank, well in the spirit of the Sox failures E! is taunting us by running Titanic 24/7. The comparisons are endless. The Sox are being chased by the Rays of course, a sea animal. The lights are about to go out and all the other teams and their fans will row their life boats into the playoffs and all that will be left of Red Sox Nation will be thousands of fans frozen and shocked at the devestation that just happened.

Go Crazy Buffalo

What do they put in the water up in Buffalo? I'm going to temporarily ignore the game and deal with a pressing issue. What is with Bills fans? I threw up every time they showed the crowd. I'm worried. Is there some sort of nuclear waste dump infecting people? Everyone looked like they went down Niagra Falls in a barrel and hit every rock on the way down. Can we trade Buffalo to Canada for some hockey pucks? So drink some Labatt Blue enjoy the win and for one night you can feel like a winning, sexy, New Englander.
P.S. I googled Buffalo Bills fan and there were pretty much no results.