all I ever wanted

thecubsfan is on vacation from his paying gig. thecubsfan has actually been on vacation since Tuesday, but hasn’t bothered telling anyone, because he’d knew it’d take a few days for anyone to notice. This is thecubsfan’s longest true vacation from his paying gig since he started having one, so thecubsfan believes it ought to expand … Continue reading “all I ever wanted”

thecubsfan is on vacation from his paying gig. thecubsfan has actually been on vacation since Tuesday, but hasn’t bothered telling anyone, because he’d knew it’d take a few days for anyone to notice. This is thecubsfan’s longest true vacation from his paying gig since he started having one, so thecubsfan believes it ought to expand to his non paying gigs as well or at least thecubsfan should have no obligation to update things during this break.

thecubsfan thought the third person bit was funny yesterday, but thecubsfan allows for bad decisions after nine hours of driving. thecubsfan also allows that I-80 can be an excruciatingly boring stretch of road for no less than three states.

thecubsfan planned a gimmick to fill space, but only truly got the idea after being on vacation, and the work required for the gimmick seems counter to the idea of the no obligation concept. thecubsfan feels sure his ideas might work, but thecubsfan thought the same of the super j tournament.

thecubsfan pledges to think deeply about this during the Cubs game tomorrow, and maybe act on the thinking.

(thecubsfan promises to respond to mail/comments/etc tommorow)

juvi rocking the mic

Edit: Our, not your. Sorry Juvi! How about that, huh? How about that? What about those – what about the Mexican! Look at us, gringos, you always – yea, you always look at us and degrade us, you know. You always degrade us. Even our own president degrade us, you know? But, you know, we’re … Continue reading “juvi rocking the mic”

Edit: Our, not your. Sorry Juvi!

How about that, huh? How about that?

What about those – what about the Mexican! Look at us, gringos, you always – yea, you always look at us and degrade us, you know. You always degrade us. Even our own president degrade us, you know? But, you know, we’re not just about the dirty stuff, you know, we’re not just about washing toliet, we’re not just about crossing the river.

[Nicho: EXCUSE ME!]

We also have a – what is that, bro?

[Nicho: The Mexican Limo, 2005!]

Mexican limo! You see.

We are Mexicans! C’mon! Laugh about us!

You know, this is the beginning, this our statement, now things are going to change. We are tired to be working for you – now you gringos are going to be working for us! YEA! YEA!

We going take over SmackDown! We going take over American! We going take over the cruiserweight division, because we are not Mexicans – c’mon! – we are MEXICOOLS! MEXICOOLS!

Any angle based on Juvi getting limited amounts of mic time is impossible to hate. Everyone seemed hyped beyond belief, but Nicho was particularlly enjoying himself. I need to wait and see before I fall in love with this, though.

Something’s gotta be changing, though, because they’ve overloaded one side.

Faces
(Rey, but only theoritically)
London (champion; can’t have a complete match on SD! unless he’s losing)
Nunzio
Scotty
Funaki
Shannon

Heels
Juvi
Chavo
Super Crazy
Nicho
Kidman
Akio
Spike (hurt?)

Actually, that is 7 to 5, but the top guys on the rudo side are far higer than everyone but London. So maybe it’s just a perception thing.

it’s not really an island

A while back, Mike asked me if I’d be his alternate Modest Mouse second ticket buyer, because – actually, I don’t remember. I’m not sure if he had someone was not sure if they could go, or he just wanted to be assured he wouldn’t go alone, or what. I said yes and forget about … Continue reading “it’s not really an island”

A while back, Mike asked me if I’d be his alternate Modest Mouse second ticket buyer, because – actually, I don’t remember. I’m not sure if he had someone was not sure if they could go, or he just wanted to be assured he wouldn’t go alone, or what. I said yes and forget about it two minutes later. This is an essential key in dealing with me; if you do not see me mark down that I’m doing something on a certain date, you’ve got a 30% chance of me remembering. Sorry.

Today, he TXT me, checking if I wanted to go to the show on Tuesday. Sadly, I could no longer, because Sunday I agreed to, uh, drive 9 hours thru some of the most boring parts of this fine country. (It made sense at time and in the right context – though I haven’t found that context quit yet.) It’s not completely my fault; it was supposed to be a Wednesday trip, but reservations were erroneously made for a Tuesday trip, so that’s day it’s going to be. Still feel bad about not living up to my duty as alternative ticket buyer (though Mike had already told me he was ditching me for work today, so how bad should I feel?), and plus I wouldn’t mind seeing Modest Mouse.

Anyway, I’m killing time and reading the Trib, wondering if Corgan paid for any insane advertisements today, when I read a story about the new nature park on the land which used to be Meigs Field (now just known as Northerly Island, despite not being one), as well as the new (and supposedly temporary) amphitheatre. Sounds like a interesting place to check out – if end up going to the city really early on Saturday and feel like going way out of my way, I might see it. I was also wondering if there were any concerts there I might want to see, and there sure was: Modest Mouse on Tuesday.

If you’re looking for me at the lucha show on Saturday, I’ll be the one with his head in my heads.

Speaking off, this Cubs game. UGH. I don’t know what’s wrong with Carlos these last three starts, but something is most definitely wrong.

2005, Day 13

So, I was completely wrong. Tiger Mask beat Minoru. Gedo beat Kanemoto. And Tiger Mask won it all over Gedo, becoming two time champion. Kanemoto and Benoit have also done it twice, and Lyger’s done it three times. Tiger Mask becomes the first person to do a couple of things, if I’ve got my facts … Continue reading “2005, Day 13”

So, I was completely wrong.

Tiger Mask beat Minoru. Gedo beat Kanemoto. And Tiger Mask won it all over Gedo, becoming two time champion. Kanemoto and Benoit have also done it twice, and Lyger’s done it three times.

Tiger Mask becomes the first person to do a couple of things, if I’ve got my facts right:

– first to win consecutive Super J tournaments
– first to win the Super J tournament while IGWP Jr. Champion

The downside is it feels like a down year, and that feeling will be brought up when those accomplishments are mentioned.

I guess there are worse ideas. Like Gedo winning the whole thing. In my mind, this leads to Tiger Mask fairly saying he’s the greatest Junior in the world, and an outsider with a claim on that title challenging him. I doubt that’s where they’re going, but I wonder who’d fit that.

(Link to the table may be moving in the near future.)

2005, Day 12

I don’t completely forget to finish this, but I’ve been a little out of it this morning. I did call the finish: Gedo beat Tiger Mask. Tournament bracket is Gedo faces Kanemoto while Tiger Mask faces Minoru. Gotta figure Kanemoto and Minoru in the finals, and Kanemoto winning it all.

I don’t completely forget to finish this, but I’ve been a little out of it this morning.

I did call the finish: Gedo beat Tiger Mask. Tournament bracket is Gedo faces Kanemoto while Tiger Mask faces Minoru.

Gotta figure Kanemoto and Minoru in the finals, and Kanemoto winning it all.

woo! woo! woo! woo!

My iPod’s battery is showing up empty. There’s not even a sliver, and I need to nurse 37 more minutes of this thing. Not looking good. And it’s making choosing songs harder; if I’ve got one song left in it, I’m not going to waste it on Shirley Manson singing about cutting. (Sorry Feely) Clip … Continue reading “woo! woo! woo! woo!”

My iPod’s battery is showing up empty. There’s not even a sliver, and I need to nurse 37 more minutes of this thing. Not looking good. And it’s making choosing songs harder; if I’ve got one song left in it, I’m not going to waste it on Shirley Manson singing about cutting. (Sorry Feely)

Clip N’ Save: Impact Players in NCAA 2006. I don’t know if I like everyone having three impact guys.

It’s really good I save a link for someone who’s not reading this page. Jim’s having a hard idea grasping the Race for a Heisman award.

“So I get deals from only three schools?”
“Yea.”
“Well, at least I’ll get to do some in season recruiting to help next year.”
“Uh, no, you’re just a player. You’re not the coach.”
“Huh. Do I get to pick my schedule?”
“No.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!”

If the only person who I play on-line is reading this, are you getting NCAA this year? I think I am, though I still don’t have a school to play with. Since I still can only run in that game (which I can only pass in Madden right now, how weird), I think I might be able to survive with NIU and Garrett Wolfe. Well, until the first time I get killed by a Big 12 school.

Oh heck no, Galang isn’t being played. I’ll play Only, but only because it sounds like so much old man rock.

woo
woo
woo
woo
woo
woo
woo
woo
woo
woo
woo

Have they done that match? I should know that, or look it up or something. Granted both guys are shot enough that it’ll probably be better if we just imagine the match they could have, but such is life. Reminds me:

The whole show database (and the title history by association) is on, uh, temporarily hiatus. Basically, I hate the way the I’ll be able to use the data for searching, and want to do it the orignally planned way – except I don’t know if I love that way to do the much more complicated code to do it, and I’m still not sure anyone besides me and the WWE archival department cares about these things, and at least those suckers are getting paid for it. (Which means I really ought to be doing it for lucha, huh huh huh.)

If I posted the trackback links, would anyone actually use them? Of course, the spammers already do and I’d probably delete any trackbacks while getting rid of the bad stuff. Really gone gung ho about trying to block trackback and referrer spam, two things that’ll never show up on the website, but goop up other stuff I like to see. Random message board threads linking to things here make it all worthwhile.

After dropping it for a while, I’m in season 19 of Madden. I will finish before NCAA comes out, or die. Or maybe just die.

You know, somewhere along the line, the point of this post was to get back to suplexmasta

Reading the first 300 or so Uncannys was alright, but as soon as they split into UXM and X-Men, every issue would be part of a four-issue arc, started in UXM and resolved in X-Men.

Totally. Agonizingly. I’ve heard there are places on the internet where you can download comics in large numbers, and some are nice to enough to sort the comics so you don’t have those holes between books. That would seem much more pleasurable to read.

(I do not know any of these places.)

Anyway, once, when I was in search for random things to kill time, I was reading comic books, and sticking with the X-Men just because it’s what I knew – I only learn what television teaches me, and it was alright. But as (had even more time to kill) and was recommended elsewhere, books where crossovers were rare and characters weren’t as many, it occurred to me that the X-Men, as nice as some the characters are, the comics probably wouldn’t be anything big at all if the characters weren’t so remarkable.

Silvertide is getting on my nerves. I can’t believe this is still going. No Skindred either. I really need to turn off alphabetical order on these playlists. And now the buttons are getting funky because the battery is so drained. So am I, actually. I have no idea why it’s 80 degrees in here on a 70 degree day, but I probably should’ve closed the blinds.

Close the blinds? Close this and go home.

2005, Day 11

I updated the table quite a bit earlier, but to go over what happened one last time: A: Jado OFF Seventh place. A: Hirooki Goto [6] beat Stampede Kid [6] Kid only lasted 7:57, far short of a half hour draw. Goto end up finishing third, having beat the others at 6. Stampede falls to … Continue reading “2005, Day 11”

I updated the table quite a bit earlier, but to go over what happened one last time:

A: Jado OFF
Seventh place.

A: Hirooki Goto [6] beat Stampede Kid [6]
Kid only lasted 7:57, far short of a half hour draw. Goto end up finishing third, having beat the others at 6. Stampede falls to fifth. Way to choke and prove me right.

A: Minoru [8] beat El Samurai [6]
Minoru started out weak but came out late in the tournament. He ends up with the #1 Seed from Block A, having beat the other 8 point finisher. Samurai finishes fourth.

A: Koji Kanemoto [8] beat Masahito Kakihara [4]
If Koji had lost, it would’ve created a freaky five way tie for second, so there was no way he was losing. Kinda surprised they had this one after the 6 vs 6 matchup. Kanemoto lost to Minoru on the 13th, and so he’ll meet the first place finisher in Block A. Kakihara finishes 6th, thanks to one of his two wins coming over Jado.

Block B lacks some drama. The card still lists Black Tiger facing Jushin Liger, and Wataru Inoue facing Katsushi Takemura, but I don’t recall people missing matches for injury and coming back later in the tour. Inoue’s injury was clarified as involving his head by those who know better than I, and it’s unlikely he’d get past it in two days.

If we presume the two forfeits, that’ll leave the standings like so:

1) Gedo: 8, plus a match vs Tiger Mask
2) Tiger Mask: 8, plus a match vs Gedo
3) Jushin Liger: 8
4) Wataru Inoue: 6
5) Black Tiger: 4
6) Katsushi Takemura: 4
7) Akiya Anzawa: 2

This makes it look like there’s something on the line. However, Liger lost to Gedo (06/15) and to Tiger Mask (05/22), so he loses on a tie breaker. They’re just battling for seeding. You’d kind of expect Gedo to win here, to give us two CTU/tecnico matchups and the Tiger Mask/Minoru match in particular.

History probably won’t be kind to having Gedo in the semifinals; I can imagine the junior fan in 2010 making a list of fifty names who would’ve been better then him, and probably be right. I don’t think it’s what they had in mind when things started, but it became the easiest solution once Tiger and Inoue went down.

Of course, if they just had Liger beat Gedo the other day, he’d be Block B winner, and Gedo and Tiger Mask would be wrestling for the last spot and that probably would be more dramatic. Hmm.

If, somehow, Inoue is able to wrestle, the matches become meaningful. Inoue’s done the opposite of Liger and beaten both men, so he can get by one on a tiebreaker. A win over Takemura would get him to 8 and he’d get in as the second seed, as long as there’s not a Gedo/Tiger Mask draw.

I can’t believe there’s going to be no draws. One of a few things which feels missing in this tournament.

I wouldn’t believe if you told me before hand that Black Tiger and Takemura would end up with the same amount of points. Actually, I probably would just ask who got hurt and how bad.

2005, Day 10

The last day of mixed group play. A: El Samurai b Stampede Kid CALLED IT. One right. A: Masahito Kakihara b Jado With the win, it’s theoritically possible for Kakihara to tie a whole lot of people at 6. It’s probably not a realistic outcome, but it’s enough to give him motivation tommorow. B: Akiya … Continue reading “2005, Day 10”

The last day of mixed group play.

A: El Samurai b Stampede Kid

CALLED IT. One right.

A: Masahito Kakihara b Jado

With the win, it’s theoritically possible for Kakihara to tie a whole lot of people at 6. It’s probably not a realistic outcome, but it’s enough to give him motivation tommorow.

B: Akiya Anzawa FW Wataru Inoue

Huh. The story seems to be Inoue was hurt during Italy tour (the break in the middle of this tour), and reaggravated it yesterday. Like with Black Tiger, there’s no offical indication that he’s out for the the rest of the tour, and they haven’t taken their matches off the schedule, so far. This throws a monkey wrench in Block B, but we might as wait till tomorrow to deal with it, since today is all Block A.

These are the Block A matches remaining
Minoru vs El Samurai
Stampede Kid vs Hirooki Goto
Masahito Kakihara vs Koji Kanemoto

Three matches, three possible point splits (including draws) per match, so that’s 27 ways this could turn out.

In 14 out of the 27 scenarios, there’s one guy in first and one in second, or two guys tied for a first (where a tiebreaker would determine the winner.) 13 times, there’s 3 or more in the top 2.

Selected scenarios:

The 4 guys at 8 have the same 70% chance of making it in. With a win, they’re either in, or it goes down to tie breakers. If you do not win, you need as many of the other top 4 to do as bad or worse than you did, and hope the multi-way tie breaks your way.

Samurai should be in for certain with a win. There could be a three way tie at 8 if Stampede and Kanemoto also win, but he’s beat them both. In that case, Kanemoto would have the head to head win over Stampede.

If Minoru, Kanemoto and Stampede win, we’ve got a three way tie for first, with all players 1-1 versus each other.

Goto and Kakihara have the same 2 chances to move on: Minoru and Samurai does not end in a tie, Goto wins, and Kakihara wins. Pretty simple for underdogs. The winner of Minoru/Samurai would be first, and everyone besides Jado would be second.

My guess:
Kanemoto beats Kakihara
Stampede DRAW Hirooki Goto
Minoru beats Samurai

Kanemoto and Minoru advance.

2005, Day 9

A: Jado b Hirooki Goto Well, that’s a bit of a surprise but I didn’t really think Goto was going to the next round, and I think that probably clinches it. Both these guys top out at 6, and it’s going to take at least 7 to move on. A: Stampede Kid b Masahito Kakihara … Continue reading “2005, Day 9”

A: Jado b Hirooki Goto

Well, that’s a bit of a surprise but I didn’t really think Goto was going to the next round, and I think that probably clinches it. Both these guys top out at 6, and it’s going to take at least 7 to move on.

A: Stampede Kid b Masahito Kakihara

That’s also a little bit of an upset, but really bodes well for Stampede. He’s the only one in the block who can get to 10, he’d have to lose out to not move on, and he’s got winnable matches versus Goto and Samurai remaining. I didn’t have him pegged as a guy who’d get to round two, and I’m still not sure he won’t blow it yet.

Kakihara is in the same boat as Goto and Jado. That’s great, because we’re finally starting to form some definition with Block A – just two days away from being done.

B: Gedo b Jushin Liger

OH! I screwed myself with this one, didn’t I? “There’s no way Gedo is getting another point” x 40 probably clinched it.

I think I can solve this block, with two assumptions
– the text next to the blocks say ties will be determined by head to head matches. Let’s assume that’s actually what they do.
– Black Tiger isn’t wrestling on the 18th.

That leaves this set of the contenders

Gedo: 8 points, vs Tiger Mask (06/18) [W vs Liger, L vs Inoue]
Liger: 8 points, but no matches [L vs Gedo, W vs Inoue, L vs Tiger]
Tiger: 8 points, vs Gedo (06/18) [W vs Liger, L vs Inoue]
Inoue: 6 points, vs Anzawa (06/16) and Takemura (06/18) [W vs Gedo, L vs Liger, W vs Tiger]

Inoue should win both of those matches, which will give him 10 points. The last spot comes down to Gedo and Tiger Mask, so you have the last day drama. (Which wouldn’t happen if Liger did beat Gedo, because Black Tiger’s not wrestling.)

If Inoue only got two points, he’d be ahead of Gedo or Tiger at 8, but not Liger. It devolves into many three way ties. Let’s hope that’s not how it goes.

06/16 Matches
A: Stampede Kid vs El Samurai

If Stampede wins, he’s got 8 points and a commanding lead. If Samurai wins, there’s a four way tie for first, all between people who have one more match left. Which way sounds like block A to you?

In fact, let’s break that out

Kanemoto: 6 points, vs Kakihara
Minoru: 6 points, vs El Samurai
Samurai: 6 points, vs Minoru
Stampede Kid: 6 points, vs Goto

Minoru and Samurai would really be screwing themselves with a draw – and yet, we haven’t had one this whole tournament. You don’t want that looming over you.

If this is the right scenario, I’m going with my hunch of Stampede Kid not moving on. Goto gets a nice big win to end it his tournament, and Stampede still has six points. Kanemoto gets enough out of his match with Kakihara (a draw will work) to move on, and Minoru beats Samurai so we have another heel in the final.

A: Masahito Kakihara vs Jado

The meaningless match you get at this point of the league.

B: Wataru Inoue vs Akiya Anzawa

Don’t trip!