I purchased the Rose Bowl game from last year on DVD the other day. I'm watching it right now. I just wanted to mention a few things.
- I forgot how good that game was. I mean, I remember loving every minute of it, but it's gotten better after a year has passed.
- The only two players that started on offense in the Rose Bowl last year that are still starting for our team right now are Matt Leinart and Fred Matua. Everyone else starting now did not start in that game. Don't you just love having young guys around?
- Keith Jackson is finally getting old. Perhaps too old to call games like he used to. On a particular Michigan posession Will Poole snuck into the backfield to sack John Navarre. Jackson called it as a batted pass at the line of scrimmage even though the ball obviously never left Navarre's trembling hand. On the ensuing Trojan drive, Reggie Bush made a brutal cut downfield and fought for a few more yards before he was tackled. Again, Jackson missed the call saying Bush fumbled and then recovered the ball. And, a moment ago, there was a lull in the conversation when Jackson blurted out, "That Allen Iverson sure is having his share of injuries this year isn't he?" I feel bad writing all this considering Jackson's voice is the one I associate most directly with college football. I guess everyone's prime passes at some point.
- So far, with 1:23 to go in the first half the zebras have missed a few key calls. A good catch by Jason Avant of Michigan was negated by the refs, who said it was incomplete resulting in a fourth down and eventual punt. And then, a drive or two later Lofa Tatupu stripped the ball out of Chris Perry's grasp before he hit the ground, but the refs ruled him down. It's easy to watch the game on DVD a year later and catch all the mistakes, but those were some key mistakes by the refs. I hope the game in Miami is called well this year.
I can't wait to watch the Orange Bowl this year. If you're in or around Los Angeles, by all means come over to our apartment to watch the game. It's going to be an amazing game.
FIGHT ON TROJANS!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Thursday, December 16, 2004
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=ratto_ray&id=1947648
see, ray ratto agrees with me. they just need to fire this bum!
see, ray ratto agrees with me. they just need to fire this bum!
Rooting for the worst team in the NFL is a lesson in patience for me. I got my hopes up when Dennis Erickson went to interview for the Ole Miss job, but they were smart enough not to take that baggage. So, we Niners are still stuck with him. And now, it seems like he's just sticking around to collect his $7.5 million. The ownership won't fire him because they are cheap bastards and don't want to buy out his contract. I love the 49ers, but they are cursed with the stingiest ownership in sports this side of Sterling of the Clippers. Of course, the team is being run by a UCLA alumnus, so what can I expect?
At least the Kings are doing well.
At least the Kings are doing well.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
So it's been 11 months since I've posted on this thing. Ii'm surprised they didn't just cancel my account.
...anyways...since I'm always broke, I decided to get another second job. I am valet for a special events company called Z Valet. They do mostly special events. I've been working at the Esquire House (which is actually Keyshawn Johnson's house, but Esquire Magazine is renting it from him while he plays football in Dallas) for the last two nights. It's in this gated community up in Beverly Hills.
I haven't driven any REALLY nice cars yet, but there's been a few Jaguars and Mercedes SLKs. The managers get to park the nicest cars most of the time. They call them "VIPs" and therefore, only the managers may park their cars. But I was most surprised about the Lincoln Navigators. They drive really well and have the turning radius of a regular car, which i was not expecting at all.
There's some things about valet work that I never would have anticipated though. Most notably are the rivalries, politics, and power struggles. First of all, there is a hierarchy in the valet world. At the top are the latinos, followed by whites and blacks, then come the asians, and lastly are the armenians and guys of mideastern decent. This heirarchy is determined by the latino guys because they profession (if you can deem it a profession) is dominated by them. So far I've been playing the Swiss in this game of valet world domination. I try to stay as neutral as possible. So far everyone likes me and I hope to keep it that way.
There's also a lot of shit-talking that goes on. Apparently Raul had said that Mikey and Peter were "wannabe managers" because they only get to manage at the Glendale Galleria as opposed to managing at the special events parties. Now, I'm not sure why Raul is saying this, because as far is I can tell he was parking cars with the peon valets just like me. He is no manager, so I'm assuming he has some deep-seeded resentment towards Mikey and Peter. Mikey spent the rest of the night saying that fighting Raul would be a waste of his time, and that he'd rather go toe-to-toe with Oscar de la Hoya "for 15 rounds", who happened to be the host of the party last night. Later in the night, Peter peeled out in one of the cars on his way back to the house from the lot where we were parking the cars. So Raul radioed the managers up at the house and told on him, but said to tell Peter that the security guards at the front gate heard it and radioed it in instead of Raul. It's petty rivalries of that nature that keep valet work exciting I guess. Peter went home after that because he "would rather go home, than go to jail" because he was having trouble not punching Raul in the face. He said he'd settle it away from work, because he's a professional.
There's a few more quick things I want to mention:
- Women are THE worst tippers hands down.
- Just because they are rich or drive a nice car doesn't mean they tip well. The best tip I got last night was from a heavyset hispanic man driving a Honda Accord with a baby seat in the back of his car.
- I'm starting to know what kind of person owns a car just by listening to the music that's playing on the stereo.
- Saabs are the weirdest cars ever. The ignition is next to the parking brake in the middle console, and if it's a stick-shift you can't remove the key without putting the car in reverse. These stupid cars have caused me more than my fair share of embarrassment the last few nights. You feel stupid when you can't even find the keys to turn the vehicle off.
- I've already been asked to do a special small party tonight at the esquire house. Usually there are about 20 valet parkers, tonight there's going to be five of us.
Anyways, that's the newest thing going on right now. Who knows, maybe I'll update this thing on a more normal basis...but I make no promises.
...anyways...since I'm always broke, I decided to get another second job. I am valet for a special events company called Z Valet. They do mostly special events. I've been working at the Esquire House (which is actually Keyshawn Johnson's house, but Esquire Magazine is renting it from him while he plays football in Dallas) for the last two nights. It's in this gated community up in Beverly Hills.
I haven't driven any REALLY nice cars yet, but there's been a few Jaguars and Mercedes SLKs. The managers get to park the nicest cars most of the time. They call them "VIPs" and therefore, only the managers may park their cars. But I was most surprised about the Lincoln Navigators. They drive really well and have the turning radius of a regular car, which i was not expecting at all.
There's some things about valet work that I never would have anticipated though. Most notably are the rivalries, politics, and power struggles. First of all, there is a hierarchy in the valet world. At the top are the latinos, followed by whites and blacks, then come the asians, and lastly are the armenians and guys of mideastern decent. This heirarchy is determined by the latino guys because they profession (if you can deem it a profession) is dominated by them. So far I've been playing the Swiss in this game of valet world domination. I try to stay as neutral as possible. So far everyone likes me and I hope to keep it that way.
There's also a lot of shit-talking that goes on. Apparently Raul had said that Mikey and Peter were "wannabe managers" because they only get to manage at the Glendale Galleria as opposed to managing at the special events parties. Now, I'm not sure why Raul is saying this, because as far is I can tell he was parking cars with the peon valets just like me. He is no manager, so I'm assuming he has some deep-seeded resentment towards Mikey and Peter. Mikey spent the rest of the night saying that fighting Raul would be a waste of his time, and that he'd rather go toe-to-toe with Oscar de la Hoya "for 15 rounds", who happened to be the host of the party last night. Later in the night, Peter peeled out in one of the cars on his way back to the house from the lot where we were parking the cars. So Raul radioed the managers up at the house and told on him, but said to tell Peter that the security guards at the front gate heard it and radioed it in instead of Raul. It's petty rivalries of that nature that keep valet work exciting I guess. Peter went home after that because he "would rather go home, than go to jail" because he was having trouble not punching Raul in the face. He said he'd settle it away from work, because he's a professional.
There's a few more quick things I want to mention:
- Women are THE worst tippers hands down.
- Just because they are rich or drive a nice car doesn't mean they tip well. The best tip I got last night was from a heavyset hispanic man driving a Honda Accord with a baby seat in the back of his car.
- I'm starting to know what kind of person owns a car just by listening to the music that's playing on the stereo.
- Saabs are the weirdest cars ever. The ignition is next to the parking brake in the middle console, and if it's a stick-shift you can't remove the key without putting the car in reverse. These stupid cars have caused me more than my fair share of embarrassment the last few nights. You feel stupid when you can't even find the keys to turn the vehicle off.
- I've already been asked to do a special small party tonight at the esquire house. Usually there are about 20 valet parkers, tonight there's going to be five of us.
Anyways, that's the newest thing going on right now. Who knows, maybe I'll update this thing on a more normal basis...but I make no promises.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
i like how i always say i'm gonna update this thing and then i don't. it's fitting really. usually it takes someone to mention it to me before i remember. this time it was eric.
i guess i should start by retelling stories from new orleans, since that was the most recent exciting thing that's happened lately. so i'm just gonna write down stuff as it comes to mind.
- first of all, brian and i drove all the way to the big easy from los angeles. reanna was in the car, but we didn't really let her drive. we'd switch off driving after every two tanks of gas (roughly 500 miles). it took FOREVER. and texas is HUGE. it's 850 miles from one side to the other. when we entered the state, the sun was just coming up (near el paso). it set a little after we passed san antonio. it was still another 180 miles to eric's house just outside of houston, plus another 150 or so to get out of texas and into louisiana. no offense to anyone from el paso, but it is a hole. i would hate to live there. but west texas isn't that exciting either...lots of desert and rocks basically. eastern texas is a lot better if you ask me. anyways, we left LA around 8pm on dec 29th and got to eric's house near houston at around 9pm the next day. mind you, we never stopped any longer than it took to fill up the gas tank. we spent the night at eric's house and then left the next morning w/ him and his cousin courtney. of course after all that driving we got to the hotel, but we couldn't check in cuz d-bo hadn't gotten there yet and the reservations were in his name. so naturally, brian, eric and i played football in the hotel parking lot until he showed up w/ his friends (mexico, shawn, and kristen...later followed by romeo and jessica). all cool people.
man, there's a lot to cover
- so we basically went to bourbon street every night we were there except for the night of the sugar bowl. whenever we went down there, someone in our group would be wearing sc gear which led to many almost-altercations between us and surly lsu fans. our days normally consisted of waking up around 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon at which point we'd watch whichever football game might be on, play hotel hallway football or real football, drink, and eat till around midnight. that'd be the time when we'd go out. after much drinking and trash talking on bourbon street we'd come home around 4 or 5 in the morning and start the cycle all over again the next afternoon. does it get any better than that. i think we only saw the sun for maybe a total of 4 hours all week. good times. i've got more to say, but i'll save that for another time...
who knows when that will be.
i guess i should start by retelling stories from new orleans, since that was the most recent exciting thing that's happened lately. so i'm just gonna write down stuff as it comes to mind.
- first of all, brian and i drove all the way to the big easy from los angeles. reanna was in the car, but we didn't really let her drive. we'd switch off driving after every two tanks of gas (roughly 500 miles). it took FOREVER. and texas is HUGE. it's 850 miles from one side to the other. when we entered the state, the sun was just coming up (near el paso). it set a little after we passed san antonio. it was still another 180 miles to eric's house just outside of houston, plus another 150 or so to get out of texas and into louisiana. no offense to anyone from el paso, but it is a hole. i would hate to live there. but west texas isn't that exciting either...lots of desert and rocks basically. eastern texas is a lot better if you ask me. anyways, we left LA around 8pm on dec 29th and got to eric's house near houston at around 9pm the next day. mind you, we never stopped any longer than it took to fill up the gas tank. we spent the night at eric's house and then left the next morning w/ him and his cousin courtney. of course after all that driving we got to the hotel, but we couldn't check in cuz d-bo hadn't gotten there yet and the reservations were in his name. so naturally, brian, eric and i played football in the hotel parking lot until he showed up w/ his friends (mexico, shawn, and kristen...later followed by romeo and jessica). all cool people.
man, there's a lot to cover
- so we basically went to bourbon street every night we were there except for the night of the sugar bowl. whenever we went down there, someone in our group would be wearing sc gear which led to many almost-altercations between us and surly lsu fans. our days normally consisted of waking up around 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon at which point we'd watch whichever football game might be on, play hotel hallway football or real football, drink, and eat till around midnight. that'd be the time when we'd go out. after much drinking and trash talking on bourbon street we'd come home around 4 or 5 in the morning and start the cycle all over again the next afternoon. does it get any better than that. i think we only saw the sun for maybe a total of 4 hours all week. good times. i've got more to say, but i'll save that for another time...
who knows when that will be.
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