I Called In Sick Today

[mrdannyg 274]

the clock is not a big deal. I was just saying it would be nice.the big deal is FIFA's arrogance and stonewalling. the head of FIFA referees said he is "very pleased" with the standard of officiating in this World Cup. I don't think he knows what the world pleased means. Their response to the bad calls yesterday? A mandate that stadiums dont show controversial replays. FIFA makes the NCAA look cuddly and responsive to concerns. That's pretty amazing.

To be fair, most sports will not show controversial replays in-game.

[Roll the Bones 74]

Rando, just so you know for the phone call:A positive diagnosis test for thiamine deficiency can be ascertained by measuring the activity of the enzyme transketolase in erythrocytes (Erythrocyte Transketolase Activation Assay). Thiamine, as well as its phosphate derivatives, can also be detected directly in whole blood, tissues, foods, animal feed and pharmaceutical preparations following the conversion of thiamine to fluorescent thiochrome derivatives (Thiochrome Assay) and separation by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).[47][48][49] In recent reports, a number of Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) techniques and in-capillary enzyme reaction methods have emerged as potential alternative techniques for the determination and monitoring of thiamine in samples.[50]So there definitely is a blood test for it...the person you talked to on the phone lied. Although I'm sure she thought she was telling the truth...more realistically, she was lied to by someone who was lied to by someone who actually knew that there is a test, but also knows that it's not a test that vets would typically do, so they think they can get away with saying there is no test at all (though you may want to verify this with your vet). Also, note that thiamine levels should be detectable in the food itself, so there's no reason why it should have been low. It's not like they have to guess how much is in there based on the ingredients.Just making sure you know the facts, or at least know them as well as I do, which is not that well at all, but enough to know if someone is feeding you too much bullshit.

Well, IAM's just called back finally after I made a follow up call to them today. The lady pretty much admitted they hadn't done anything or even called my vet or the animal hospital. She was prying to find out how much I actually knew about it and what she was dealing with being from their "legal dept". I stayed calm and explained the situation and how upset I was. I told her that I had given all this information so that they could notify vets and hospitals and add warning signs but apparetntly they didn't really care which is why they sold death food instead of health food. She gave me the "there is no test" bullshit and how it was an unforseen circumstance and they love pets, yadda yadda.The I said, "No test, NO TEST???" and started reading the above to her... Dead silence.The I calmly told her the lab that I could send the blood work to, one of the few in the country that does it. I said, "well obviously from the silence you knew this and are surprised. I told you I wasn't some crank that calls every company over a recall. I gave you the vet and the hospital name but you chose to ignore me. I asked if she wanted the credit card reciepts from all the food I bought."She asked if I had retained legal counsel.I told her that I understood their view that a cat doesn't have any "value" since they kill them on a regular basis, but that I didn't plan on filing a class action suit. I mean what's a couple hundred going to do? I told her that I had an extensive network online and that she might not understand it but I am "pretty popular on the internet" (hahahahahah) and a major plan to launch websites, facebook, myspace and a twitter campaign called IAM's killed my cat and didn't want to be sued by THEM. I thought I could reach millions in a week and have connections to Ellen and a nice video of Stanley fetching she would love to air. Soooooo, I plan on having the proof in advance unless THEY convince me in some way not to proceed. Thisi s a last ditch effort to get some answers. She promised to call back very soon.

[JoeyJoJo 18]

Edit: I'm not wasting my 7,000th post to belittle strat.2nd edit: I didn't know Futurama made a return.3rd edit: Everyone should just bookmark this post and I'll make all future posts right here.

I almost made it 90 minutes without forgetting that I'm not supposed to post anymore.

[CaneBrain 95]

To be fair, most sports will not show controversial replays in-game.

They won't? Thats not my experience. I see it at NFL games all the time. NBA as well.

[JoeyJoJo 18]

They won't? Thats not my experience. I see it at NFL games all the time. NBA as well.

I know that baseball has that rule and I thought the NBA too (based on personal experience), but maybe that's at the discretion of the arenas.

[Tiltinagain 973]

She asked if I had retained legal counsel.She promised to call back very soon.

This is because they are going to offer a settlement which would be much more complicatedif you had retained a lawyer.

They won't? Thats not my experience. I see it at NFL games all the time. NBA as well.

Exactly. It is quite rate that they DON'T replay controversial plays over and over during games.

[Tiltinagain 973]

I don't know why you're so sure that any major rule changes would both make the game "better" and increase popularity. The game isn't going to get much more popular. The only time these "issues" come up is every four years when the American media has to cover the World Cup. It's not a problem the rest of the time when everyone else in the world is enjoying UEFA cup and Serie A and Premier League, since almost no one in America is watching. Why do you think that rule changes that people who hardly watch the sport will increase the betterment of the game? What is the best sport? I don't have any idea. It's really not even a question I've heard come up. The concept of the "Best sport in world" is fucking absurd to me. But when you have the most played and most watched sports major tournament that only occurs every four years, then you begin to get some idea about why it's one of the best tournaments in sports. I don't know what your criteria for "best sport" are, but I really don't give a shit either, because it's a question that doesn't have an answer.If you've been reading the other stuff I posted, you'll see that I'm open to adding replay or other officials to shore up the obvious missed calls. I don't know what the best way to do it would be, but it certainly doesn't involve adding a clock that counts down and stops during fouls and injuries and whenever else you (the royal you) think it should.

I never said I was "so sure" major changes would make the game better and increase popularity...or didn't intend to...what I was saying is that I believe the reasons listed are why it's NOT more popular HERE. I agree that, except for every 4 years, nobody here really gives a damn (in the grand scheme of things)...which was more of my point.I didn't call any sport the "best" sport. Say what you will but many consider, have written and talked about how soccer is the "best sport in the world" as well as being the most popular. I also agree with you here that there is no "best" sport. Just different choices for different people.And, IMO, the only reason it's the "most watched sports major tournament", assuming that's true, is because it is only every 4 years and it goes on forever it seems. See NFL, Super Bowl. Soccer could only hope to have a one day audience like they have every year.

[CaneBrain 95]

I know that baseball has that rule and I thought the NBA too (based on personal experience), but maybe that's at the discretion of the arenas.

What a surprise that baseball has a turd rule like that. I would not be surprised either if David Stern has tried to enforce this on the NBA. Mark Cuban used to do this all the time...I see it the most at Dolphins games.....big shock that the NFL is once again awesome.

[timwakefield 68]

I know that baseball has that rule and I thought the NBA too (based on personal experience), but maybe that's at the discretion of the arenas.

During the finals this year they were definitely showing controversial replays (after fouls), and fans in Boston and LA booed as expected. I'm interested in the talk about the WC and the horrendous officiating, so I'm gonna go back and read it.

[speedz99 145]

All you jackasses that want a countdown clock in soccer are...well...jackasses. You think diving is bad as it is now? What about when your team is down in the last 20 minutes and you can stop the clock with an injury? How many dives and embellishments will occur then?

Wait...how is that different from the game now? When someone goes down the ref stops his clock and adds time at the end, right? Isn't that the same exact thing as a big clock being stopped, except everyone could know what's going on?Not that I care. I think the clock thing is a very minor issue. To the point of being a waste of everyone's...time. Sorry, I had no way around that.

(sorry got pulled away like 3 times during this post, so I know it does not flow very good)

I thought it flowed fine up until the above. Good story.

You know, every's so high and mighty about that issue. You go down to Georgia and try picking cotton all day in under the hot southern sun. I give you a week, two weeks tops, before you're putting together a crew of people and sailing over to Africa.

Heh.

The argument that soccer is the best sport because it's the most popular in the world is like saying rice is the best food because it's themost popular in the world.

I enjoyed this.

the head of FIFA referees said he is "very pleased" with the standard of officiating in this World Cup.

Ew.

Brag post: Just found out that I got a First Class degree. That's like a 4.0, the best grade you can get. I am a straight up balla.

Congrats.

Congratulations. Now all you have to do is kick back and let the job offers come rolling in.

Heh.

The I said, "No test, NO TEST???" and started reading the above to her... Dead silence.The I calmly told her the lab that I could send the blood work to, one of the few in the country that does it. I said, "well obviously from the silence you knew this and are surprised. I told you I wasn't some crank that calls every company over a recall. I gave you the vet and the hospital name but you chose to ignore me. I asked if she wanted the credit card reciepts from all the food I bought."She asked if I had retained legal counsel.I told her that I understood their view that a cat doesn't have any "value" since they kill them on a regular basis, but that I didn't plan on filing a class action suit. I mean what's a couple hundred going to do? I told her that I had an extensive network online and that she might not understand it but I am "pretty popular on the internet" (hahahahahah) and a major plan to launch websites, facebook, myspace and a twitter campaign called IAM's killed my cat and didn't want to be sued by THEM. I thought I could reach millions in a week and have connections to Ellen and a nice video of Stanley fetching she would love to air. Soooooo, I plan on having the proof in advance unless THEY convince me in some way not to proceed. Thisi s a last ditch effort to get some answers. She promised to call back very soon.

Nice work.

[speedz99 145]

Oh, and I guess I should say something myself instead of just giving out ribbons to the posts that I found interesting or amusing.I saw Chris Berman naked today.

[Tactical Bear 3]

Congratulations. Now all you have to do is kick back and let the job offers come rolling in.Edit: I'm not wasting my 7,000th post to belittle strat.2nd edit: I didn't know Futurama made a return.3rd edit: Everyone should just bookmark this post and I'll make all future posts right here.

This is probably one my my 250 favorite posts in this thread. I like thinking about things like that. "God, that would be so hard to figure out. I mean, it would take, like, 2 years to just read them all. Well, I could probably trim that down by ignoring people that I'm pretty sure won't show up in the top 250 all that often, but still... man. Then there's going to be, like, a clear top tier, and then 500 posts hanging out in the second tier, and how am I going to decide between 235 and 265? That's a pretty fine-toothed comb (of judgment)." Thank God, unlike Joey, I have no ambition to actually do anything.

also, JJJ, are you as: UTTERLY FLIPPIN ECSTATIC as I am over the return of Futurama? I really liked the first two episodes.edit moved the: colonedit2: colons

I remember, once, that you said you only use proper grammar -- capitalization, etc. -- when you're responding to one of my posts. I further remember intending to respond, but, for whatever reason, not doing it. I felt weirdly guilty about it at the time, and still do if I happen to think about it, which is more often than you might think. I am glad to have that off my chest. Also: colons!

To be fair, most sports will not show controversial replays in-game.

For whatever reason, I saw MrDannyG pop in out of nowhere and I clicked "read this post" in a moment of extreme curiosity and weakness.God. Dammit.

[speedz99 145]

I saw Chris Berman naked today.

I'll tell the story instead of waiting for someone to ask me to do so.I went to a Brown University fundraiser for the athletics department today...a golf tourney at an amazing private club in RI, easily the nicest course I've ever played. When I walked into the locker room I looked around at the beautiful lockers, bar, and bathroom, and found myself scanning for Porterhouse and his shoe shine station. The food was great, the people were stuffy as hell, and the greens were unbelievably fast. My buddy that invited me (his family helped sponsor the whole thing) had told me Berman was going to be there, but I didn't really expect to see the guy, plus I didn't care all that much...I don't know, he's just a guy that gets paid a lot to yell about sports. We were on the 8th tee, when from the next fairway over we hear a familiar voice yelling at his ball, repeatedly begging it to get in the hole. It was Boomer, and the AD came over to introduce him to my buddy and our other playing partners (the water polo coach and some girl that works in the AD's office). I, of course, went over as well and introduced myself.AD: "This is X, he's our water polo coach. This is Y, he played water polo for us and his family sponsored this event. This is Z, she's a writer for the department. This is..."Speedz: "Speedz99, I'm not affiliated with the university but I know this guy and like free golf at clubs I could never afford to play at."Berman: "Ah."Everyone: "..."Berman: "So how's the water polo team looking for next year?"Oh, and then I saw him changing in the locker room. No, I didn't look closely. I assume he's got a cock and some balls, but I can't say for sure.Edit: I may have said "school", not "university".

[mrdannyg 274]

For whatever reason, I saw MrDannyG pop in out of nowhere and I clicked "read this post" in a moment of extreme curiosity and weakness.God. Dammit.

Sorry. Thanks for the capital letters though. They made me feel: important.

[Tactical Bear 3]

First place, bitches. I still think the Tigers are a little worse than the Twins, but if you'd told me before the year that the Tigers would have a 40% chance of winning the division after 75 games, I would have kissed you right between the cheeks.

It was Boomer, and the AD came over to introduce him to my buddy and our other playing partners (the water polo coach and some girl that works in the AD's office). I, of course, went over as well and introduced myself.AD: "This is X, he's our water polo coach. This is Y, he played water polo for us and his family sponsored this event. This is Z, she's a writer for the department. This is..."Speedz: "Speedz99, I'm not affiliated with the university but I know this guy and like free golf at clubs I could never afford to play at."Berman: "Ah."Everyone: "..."Berman: "So how's the water polo team looking for next year?"

Man, such a lost opportunity. You probably could have just mentioned Deadspin or dropped one of my all time favorite catchphrases, then seem something like

Also, no way I'm making the same mistake twice, MrDannyG.

[speedz99 145]

Man, such a lost opportunity. You probably could have just mentioned Deadspin or dropped one of my all time favorite catchphrases, then seem something like

My buddy's family paid a grand for me to play a round of golf, it probably would have been uncouth to try to create an opportunity to make a contextually proper reference to stuff like that.

[Tactical Bear 3]

My buddy's family paid a grand for me to play a round of golf, it probably would have been uncouth to try to create an opportunity to make a contextually proper reference to stuff like that.

Some people would argue you had an ethical obligation.

[speedz99 145]

Some people would argue you had an ethical obligation.

You know, I'm not going to claim that I didn't consider doing something of the sort. In the end, I guess I was more hesitant of being cliche than of being rude. You've got to think that he's heard it all at this point, many times over. Plus, as mentioned previously, I didn't care all that much.

[LongLiveYorke 38]

They're filming episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm outside of my New York apartment, apparently.

[strategy 4]

there's some meta-humor here

[LongLiveYorke 38]

I just typed this while coding, looked at it for a second, and started laughing. I got weird looks from my colleagues:std::string gUnit;It makes sense in context.

[SlapStick 0]

All you jackasses that want a countdown clock in soccer are...well...jackasses. You think diving is bad as it is now? What about when your team is down in the last 20 minutes and you can stop the clock with an injury? How many dives and embellishments will occur then?

Wait...how is that different from the game now? When someone goes down the ref stops his clock and adds time at the end, right? Isn't that the same exact thing as a big clock being stopped, except everyone could know what's going on?

If you make it a stop clock why would someone dive to waste time? There will be no more rolling around on the floor to waste time. And then we don't have to trust some official to put up the time. In the Germany England match there was 1 minute of added time at half time. You are supposed to receive around a minute per goal and they gave one minute. Spain Swiss match there was a rather suspicious 5 minutes added onto the last half while Spain tried to claw back a goal.Fifa recently held a meeting on video technology and not only did they vote against it, they made it so it cannot be introduced in the next 10 years or so. It stinks of corruption. Juventus got relegated 3 years ago because of match fixing. There's claims every year. All the pundits and most of the public in Europe are calling for the rules to be changed, it doesn't make any sense to not change them.While I'm here, Speedz, the team you should support is Arsenal.They haven't won anything in a 6 years, they are the only big club with a salary cap, they rarely buy any big name players.Any person will agree that they play the most attractive football in the EPL, they are also in the champions league so you can watch them play Barcelona etc. They pass their way through teams and produce great games. The managers first name is Arsene. If thats not enough for you Arsene Wenger bought Thierry Henry for less than 2 million and turned him from a talented but flawed winger into a lethal striker. He did the same with Anelka but bought him for less than a million and sold him for 23 million 2 years later. He has a huge youth system. In one of the cups he only plays his kids, 15-18 year olds, they made the semi finals last year competing against proper EPL teams.Because he brings in so much young talent the opposition have started to call him a paedophile. They sing to the tune of Another Brick in the wall "HEY WENGER! LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!"He also has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a master's degree in Economics and can speak 6-7 languages.Heres the last game they played. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGwqZAOM4x8

[CaneBrain 95]

Didn't Arsenal pony up a lot of cash for Arshavin? I feel like they spend more than enough.They do play fun soccer though. Lots of scores like 5-3.

[Theraflu 1,035]

If you make it a stop clock why would someone dive to waste time? There will be no more rolling around on the floor to waste time. And then we don't have to trust some official to put up the time. In the Germany England match there was 1 minute of added time at half time. You are supposed to receive around a minute per goal and they gave one minute. Spain Swiss match there was a rather suspicious 5 minutes added onto the last half while Spain tried to claw back a goal.Fifa recently held a meeting on video technology and not only did they vote against it, they made it so it cannot be introduced in the next 10 years or so. It stinks of corruption. Juventus got relegated 3 years ago because of match fixing. There's claims every year. All the pundits and most of the public in Europe are calling for the rules to be changed, it doesn't make any sense to not change them.

There aren't any set rules for adding injury time, at least according to the Laws of the game. It's mostly a common sense/personal preference thing which can lead to some questions about why/how much has been added. Having the 4th official show approximately how much will be added is about the only thing they do to reduce suspicion. I agree it can be shady, but most officials don't actually stop their watch. Some will wear two, one for the running time and one that they stop for injuries/goals, others keep a mental tally of what they'll be adding at the end.I don't watch much Euro-league soccer, unfortunately, so I don't have a good idea of how everything is done over there, but I just want to say that I don't agree with or even know about most FIFA decisions. They do seem to have their head up their ass most of the time, and most of my opinions come from being a referee for the last dozen years, albeit mostly on the youth level. We do discuss the few rule changes FIFA makes every year, but it's never anything substantial, and most of it is stuff you'll never see come into play. One of the terms in the rulebook is "spirit of the game," and that everything that happens on the pitch is supposed to be within that positive spirit and flow. That's where I assume their major objections to replay and referee changes come from, that it would negatively affect how the game flows. I agree that something is going to have to be done, and its disappointing if they've basically sealed off discussion of replay/extra officials for the next two or three Cups.On a negative note, I seem to have blown out my knee to some extent at my game last night. In 15 years of soccer I've never suffered any knee injuries, and it finally happened last night. It might just be hyperextended, or a bad MCL/PCL strain, but I can't put any weight on it at all. There isn't/wasn't much swelling, and there's only one spot that's sore to the touch. I generally avoid doctors unless I really need to go, and I'm not sure where this falls on the scale. I'm on vacation this week, so I don't really need to be anywhere or do anything important, but I will be missing two softball games and an indoor soccer game at the minimum. Also, my plans for WC soccer and pong with lots of beer for this morning/afternoon have been semi-ruined.

[JoeyJoJo 18]

What a surprise that baseball has a turd rule like that.

Negotiated by the umpires' union.

I saw Chris Berman naked today.

I'll tell the story instead of waiting for someone to ask me to do so.

I was definitely going to ask you about it. Had it quoted and everything.