Holy Tuesday

There was a gospel choir performing in the lobby of my work today for a special Thanksgiving charity drive. Actually, like 4 different gospel choirs. The first group was a group of little kids playing the violin and they were f#cking terrible. An older group followed that up and melted faces and then a younger group came on and rocked the stage too. That put me in a good mood. I proceeded to go listen to Sister Act music and Kirk Franklin and God's Property.

*It also made me say, holy crap, how'd I forget this video of Paula Deen getting nailed in the face with a frozen ham yesterday!?!? Random food drive, people passing hams, and some guy f#cking chucked a frozen ham across the room and it nailed her in the face. Everybody instantly got super pissed at said person and Paula walked out of the room, hands to face, shocked that some jerk got giddy and threw a ham.

*Some of the good crap I found today should make me suggest you go to With Leather for everything and stop reading my dumb stuff here but I'll also give you the option to click below and see it here.

"House" is, from what I hear, a good show on Fox and Hugh Laurie is sorta cool. That said, I've never watched it. But I've seen enough previews to know that Omar Epps looks just like Mike Tomlin and it needs to be acknowledged in some way. They look identical. Everyone says it. Tomlin probably played Epps in "Love & Basketball" and Epps probably coached the Steelers to a Super Bowl Victory...they are the same person. But never admit it...

"House", show that I'll never ever see, finally agreed. Take a look.

*Another gem from WL, this one is creepy. Parents dream for their kids to be good at sports or music or whatever. Whoever is parenting this kid is clearly shoving steroids into his butt and giving him HGH. This kid, named Nyrel Sevilla (I know wtf?), is 6-years old and destroys people left and right. Other kids aren't even MOVING on the field and he's running full speed to kill. Getting into the discussion about should 6-year olds even be playing full-contact football is another question for another day. Watch the video.

*Lil Wayne makes good music. But he's in jail. And although this isn't his music, it involves him and a nice up and coming band that's very critically acclaimed. All it takes is someone to remix the two and turn it into a song. In this case, we get "Fireman on the Ground" from MOKB.

*Lastly, before I forget, supposedly someone punched Jimmy Clausen in the face over the weekend after his team of losers lost to UConn. Apparently Clausen was leaving a restaurant when someone sucker-punched him in the face. I imagine they told him he sucks, his coach has a FUPA, and he looks like an ostrich, but in reality it was probably something else at play here. Something else like God disguising himself as a human and punching Clausen's face to punish Notre Dame for letting Barack Obama speak at Notre for their spring graduation ceremony. It was one of God's big FU's. I imagine God punched Clausen then stood over his body and looked at Clausen's female friend and gave her the big ole Degeneration X 'Suck It' sign.

Ed Freeman's Story

I received a random e-mail today that instantly screamed "junk mail". It was a forwarded e-mail like the kind you get all the time. Most you read, most you delete. Some people believe that they'll find true love if they forward said e-mail to 5 friends, some believe they'll be cursed forever if they don't. I don't.

Usually I read them. Then I delete them.

Today, I followed the same protocol of reading it, pre-programmed to delete at the end. Instead, I did something strange. I re-read it. Then I went to google, then I went to wikipedia, then I came here.

Here's the gist of the story, in all its forwarded e-mail slang glory:

"It's November 14, 1965. Your 19 years old. Your American battalion has come under intense enemy fire in the la Drang Valley in Vietnam. The firefight is so incredibly overbearing that HQ has ordered all medical and rescue choppers to avoid Landing Zone X-Ray. Too many more casualties would happen. No one is coming for you. You've given up hope. You are surrounded by an overpowering enemy. Your fellow soldiers are dead and too wounded to fight. You come to grips with the fact your family is 12,000 miles away, around the world, and you will never see them again. These will be your last moments on earth...

All of a sudden, you hear a sound overhead and see an unmarked Huey flying in. No armor, no weapons, just a helicopter. Is this death? Is this death coming to take you away? No its Ed Freeman. Its United States Army helicopter pilot Ed Freeman, the very man who dropped you off, coming back to save you. His helo is unarmed and not fit for battle but he lands his chopper in between you and the bullets. You get loaded up and fly out of the gun fight realizing that he just saved your life. Ed Freeman returns you to base and heads back to X-Ray to pick up more of the wounded. He does it again and again. In fact, he'd do it a total of 13 more times."

That's the basic story surrounding Ed "Too Tall" Freeman. An Army helo pilot, when Ed heard that his fellow soldiers were surrounded by closing-in enemy, Freeman volunteered to fly into the unlandable zone and bring his boys out. He did it 14 times, saving roughly 30 mens' lives in the process.

The end of the email talks about how this story has rarely been heard before. It also talks about Ed Freeman's recent passing at the age of 80.

Look, Freeman died August 20th, 2008. I received this email November 23rd, 2009, saying "Freeman passed away a few days ago". It's a typical forwarded e-mail but then again its not. Who cares when Freeman died? 5 days ago, 5 months ago, 5 years ago...It's an incredible story that always should be told.

I never heard about Freeman dying in August 2008 because I was ignorant. I heard about Michael Jackson dying but that's because he was treated like Jesus. Ed Freeman? He was just another guy.

Just another guy from Neely, Mississippi, who laid on his death bed while a man came up to him and said, "You don't know me, but I was one of those people you hauled out of X-Ray. Thanks for my life."

Just another guy who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001. A guy who saved 30 men from certain death because he flew his helicopter into a hellish firefight to try and save them.

I'm sure now you understand why I didn't delete this e-mail right away. Ed Freeman was a giant. Someone larger than life that was responsible for saving 30 lives in the middle of a deadly Vietnam War battle. I never heard about his passing and never even heard about his story. I didn't even know "We Were Soldiers" starring Mel Gibson was based around that specific fight.

You can call me ignorant but I've tried to right my wrong by doing this. Whether Ed Freeman died yesterday or forever ago, his story needs to be told. His courage, his selflessness, his heart saved the lives of 30 men. Men who otherwise never should have lived their lives.

Rest in Peace Ed Freeman. The world needs more people like you.

God Bless our Troops and their families. Everything they do should be supported, no matter whether you agree with the fight or not. They are out there, doing what they are told, risking their lives, because they dedicated themselves to their duty. Their word is what they gave, and their word is what they will uphold. They need the love and support that they deserve and it is our duty to give it to them.

Thank you to Ed Freeman and the countless others who have served our wonderful country since its inception. Our debt to you goes beyond words.


For more on Ed Freeman, visit Wikipedia.

Also, in anticipation of one of my favorite yearly events, here is an older video from one of the greatest things that the WWE does, their annual "Tribute to the Troops" show. Honoring vets like Ed Freeman and our current troops is the least we can do. The WWE leaves for their trip on November 30th and the show will air sometime before Christmas on NBC.

Watch it and remember the countless individuals who serve our country in our Armed Forces.
God Bless.

Monday Dump...

I don't know what frickin rock I've been living under...I just found out LeBron James is planning on changing his number out of respect for Michael Jordan. I remember James urging all players in the league to not wear the number and for the league to retire it but apparently he made the decision almost two weeks ago to get rid of 23 and begin wearing number 6.

Good move by LBJ. I like wear this kid's head is at. Too bad for him it's in Cleveland.

*Also, I just remembered what rock I was living under. It's the large rock I forced upon my body to keep all the Twilight bullshit away from me. It's the rock I tried to crush myself with so I wouldn't have to hear about a bunch of small girls reliving their Harry Potter obsession, this time now that they are horny and like vampires. Unfortunately, I'm still here and unfortunately Wesley Snipes hasn't killed anyone from Twilight yet.

*Once I removed that rock from my sternum, I found this exciting video of the player I can't figure out whether I like or hate. It's a ridiculous shot and one Phil Jackson probably would have punched him in the nuts for if Phil actually were still alive. Regardless, Kobe Bryant is a very good basketball player.

*Floyd Mayweather's people are meeting with Manny Pacquiao's people today to begin discussing a 2010 mega-bout between the two. Please God, I will never ask for you to kill Jay Cutler again if you make this fight happen. It could be boxing's highest grossing, most publicized fight of all-time. And hopefully Mayweather's face will get knocked off.

*Movie Trailers are always an awesome experience (unless they are for New Moon) and here are a few goodies that are getting out there for the upcoming year:

"The Lovely Bones" - Can't remember if I posted this before, but even if I did, seeing how much weight Peter Jackson has lost is absolutely worth it. He looks RIDICULOUSLY skinny and actually normal. And his vision for this movie is quite incredible.

"Nine" - No f'ing clue what this is about or if I'd ever see it. But Daniel-Day Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson in a movie trailer needs to be seen.

"Crazy Heart" - Jeff Bridges will win an Oscar. For this or for the Coen Brothers remake of "True Grit". Bridges is a phenomenal actor and he makes this 'Crazy Heart' flick worth checking out. It's like 'The Wrestler' meets 'Talladega Nights' meets 'Walk The Line' meets I have no f'ing clue.

"Season of the Witch" - Dumb name. And it stars Nicolas Cage. But also Ron Perlman. And Ron Perlman stars in one of the best shows on television, "Sons of Anarchy". So sure, why the hell not put it here?

Hockey. Again...it's awesome.

I saw this last night but the TV was on mute so I had no idea what the hell was going on. All I saw was Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer standing at the glass watching a bunch of people fight. I was watching to see anyone random was gonna get punched in the face on accident. I had no idea that there was a hockey stick in there as well. Shit really could have gotten crazy.

In review, Scott Niedermayer was being a good guy and trying to give his stick to someone in the stands after the game. As usually happens, some obnoxious prick tries to intercept the intended receipient and steal their prized new gift. More often than not, people boo the crap out of the scumbag and he concedes and gives the intended receipient their gift. In this case, a fight broke out. Wives/girlfriends were involved and Niedermayer sort of backed away slowly like what the fuck? The best part was the entire stadium was blacked out except for the spotlight on Niedermayer and as he stood there, the whole stadium realized he just started a riot. If this had been Ron Artest on skates, he would have scaled the glass and taken his skate off and started slashing people's throats in half. That would have made Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays for sure.

Either way, when a sports player gives someone something specific, don't try and steal it from the intended receipient. It makes you a huge prickface and then violence sometimes breaks out.

It is fun to watch though....

Friday

Is for ferns. I wish Zach Galifianakis made a 'Between Two Ferns' every day but a man can't possibly be that funny consistently can he??

Here's a new 'Between Two Ferns' with Andy Richter and a special guest. Listen closely in the beginning as Zach informs Andy that the show is starting.

*Also, as a bonus, here's one with Jon Hamm from Mad Men. I've never seen this one and I think it's one of the better ones he's done.

New York.

People always ask me, why the hell are you a New York Yankees fan? They guess front-runner or that I'm a prick or that I'm just stupid. They are all wrong. I kindly explain and hope things will lighten up.

When I was 9 or 10, I started going to New York to experience the city that is unlike any other on earth. My dad works in NYC and he would take me to the Big Apple for weekend getaways. We'd crash at a Manhattan hotel, walk through Times Square, and go see Yankees games. He had incredible seats in the first row behind the 'Y' in 'New York Yankees'. It was a sports boy's dream.

New York is a monster of a place. It is indescribable until you experience it first hand. From the lights of Times Square, to the deli's and cozy Italian restaurants, to Frank Sinatra; New York is the most unique city on earth.

Spending time with your father, boy to man, experiencing life in New York, is a timeless moment. Walking the storied streets, striding side-to-side with your father, learning about life; New York bonds you and you cherish it forever. Life becomes exciting. It becomes everything you dream of.

I last went to New York City in 2006 with my dad and my roommate and best friend. Saying my roommate fell in love with the city might be an overstatement but he definitely isn't a hater. Not anymore. It's not possible once you go there. Unless you are from Jersey or Philly...that's another story.

Either way, the city reaches out for you.

The big dreams, the big stage, the big streets, the big lights, it grabs you. It's inspiring and you can't help but get into it.

My return to New York was extremely special for me back in 2006. The time before that, the last time I'd been to NYC, it was late August. Of 2001. I still have my ticket stub from when I stood on top of the World Trade Center Towers. I looked over the sprawling layout of marvelous city. I stared in awe and took in everything I could. I went up there every time I went to New York. Two weeks after I got home, two planes were flown into those buildings and they forever disappeared and forever changed our world.

September 11th, for all I'd come to know and love about New York, ripped me in half. I didn't live there, but I felt like somebody killed my family in my front yard. I ached, I cried, I raged. I missed it.

New York had grabbed me and was never going to let me go. There was no point to fight it. We were meant to be.

You can ask me who my favorite sports teams are and who I cheer for the most. I'll always answer New York Yankees first. Then I'll follow with the Miami Hurricanes, the Chicago Bears, the Blackhawks/Bulls, Sox, Cubs. I've been to more Yankees games than Sox/Cubs games combined.

When the Yankees won championship 27 last night, I know people around the USA groaned. They cursed, they talked about buying championships, etc, etc. I'm ok with that, no matter how much it pisses me off. More of NYC to myself. New York needed that. They got close in 2001 after 9/11 but fell short. It tore our hearts open a little bit more.

New York needed to heal. The Yankees always had the ability to do that.

At 9 years old, my life changed for the better. I was introduced to New York and Yankee baseball.

Last night, at 24, my life continued to get better and better. Things felt right again.

New York is a part of my heart. Because of that, the Yankees became a part of my soul.

I'm incredibly grateful for that. Congratulations Yankees. Let's Hear It For New York.

You Sh!t Here With Me

Yesterday I posted two hilarious videos...of Ellen Degeneres. I know, that's a weird sentence to type. But all due credit to her, they were funny videos.

Today, I post another instant favorite/classic. Creed is a weird band. I have a weird enjoyment of their music despite the fact they are sort of awful. Their lyrics are ridiculous and Scott Stapp is a human douchecan. That said, most truthful people will admit to bobbing their head once or twice to a Creed song in their life. If you say you haven't you are surely a liar.

Making fun of Creed, no matter how much you like them or dislike them, is always fun though. And this video does it perfectly. Listen to a real Creed song first. Then watch this video and laugh.

You Sh!t Here With Me.

Oh My God.

I can't believe I'm posting a second video from Ellen Degeneres. But this sh*t is funny. And laughs my friends, help make life exciting and happy.

ENJOY A MONTAGE!!!

(and please ignore the retarded youtube comments that accompany this video)

Ellen Degeneres Prank

Ok. Ellen Degeneres. Some people can stand her, others can't. I'll admit, I've laughed at a few things she has done over the years. She is a very personable and was great as that retarded fish in Finding Nemo.

I was shown the below video by a friend of mine and I immediately thought it was awesome.

Last week, Ellen pulled Halloween pranks on all of her guests. Poor Taylor Swift, fresh off her swastika incident and Kanye's violation, was her best victim by far.

Ellen sent Taylor Swift into a fake dressing room where she was hiding and scared the living shit out of Swift. It is absolutely hilarious and kudos to Swift for her awesome response. I would have gotten a fiery trident and stabbed Degeneres through her heart.

Also, kudos to Ellen for the ridiculous Oprah Magazine costume. By far, my favorite Halloween costume of the year. I can't stop laughing at it.

Well done by Ellen all around. Yes, I just said that.

Christopher Walken/Lady Gaga

Anything Christopher Walken does is amazing. When he receives a script, he removes all the punctuation in that script, and places his own punctuation wherever the hell he wants. Awesome.

What happens when Christopher Walken receives the lyrics to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face"??

Well, thankfully, you can click here to find out.

Brandon Spikes Is Human Sh*t

Big surprise, Brandon Spikes, the classless, dirty player that he is, tried to gouge out one of his opponent's eyes during the University of Florida's game against Georgia this past weekend.

Even less of a surprise was Urban Meyer's punishment for Spikes. Suspension for one half of football as Florida plays Vanderbilt. Ohhhh, big punishment, one half. Against Vanderbilt.

Urban Meyer is the equivalent of possum turds stuck under my shoes so it doesn't surprise me his punishment is less than worthy for one of his star scumbags. I hate the University of Florida more than America hates Osama bin Laden but that's another story for another day.

Listen to Mike Golic agree with me and develop your own putrid hate for Brandon Spikes and the classless asshole that is Urban Meyer.

PETA Is Gonna Be Pissed

Manu Ginobili is gonna get f*cking killed. PETA has already scrambled their snipers to kill him because he hurt one of God's creatures. What the hell am I talking about??

Just watch this clip...

See?? PETA is coming for you Manu. You killed an animal.