Parkersburg South Patriot's End of the Season

Although they battled furiously against the Bridgeport High School Indians, the South Patriots came up short in their football playoff game. The scoreboard which showed Parkersburg South 35 Bridgeport 42 doesn't do the game justice. It was a nail-biter from start to finish! The Patriots were first to get on the board, having shut-down the Indian offense in its first drive and taking over after the punt. They drove the ball even opting to risk a 4th down conversion, which paid off and got us on the board. Unfortunately, the Indians came alive and were able to get a touchdown up on us, and despite a late rally by the Patriots, there simply wasn't enough time left on the clock to make it happen. Going into the 2:00 left in the game mark, it looked like we were headed for an overtime session, but the Indians punched through the line a couple more times and with around 37 seconds remaining got one more TD on the board to break the 35-35 gridlock. The Patriots were unable to bounce back, and the final buzzer sounded, ending the playoff hopes and the season. But, the Patriots have much to be proud of for this football season. They had a great run and have the admiration of us all! Fantastic Job guys! You've made us proud! As always... LET'S GOOOOO PATRIOTS!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Broad spectrum of topics

So I started this long, in-depth analysis of the "Final Rule" submitted by the Federal Reserve System and the Department of the Treasury providing policy and regs related to the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act.) I was up to page 30-ish of the document which appears to be like 121 pages long and I've already created my own commentary that's just scrolling off the page, and suddenly it hits me. WTF!?! Why are you bothering!? The Act was crap, it was enacted in a shady fashion, it's been argued, beaten, commented upon, ignored, revised, and now this "final rule" gives us the regs for how to get it done. In short, this is just furtherance of crap. I immediately deleted my diatribe on the finer points of the most recent document. Look folks, we're beatin' this dead horse... and keep giving it new life, somehow. I'm not suggesting ignore it, but it seems the regs are here to stay at least for a while, until someone or something else comes along which renders it impotent or we just find a loophole to work around. I read Shamus comment in which he says he's sorry for the mushroom cloud picture and inciting a panic, but honestly I think we all know he wasn't suggesting that the end is nigh. He went on to cover I. Nelson Rose's comments which I think are spot on. Life will go on for poker and we who play her. However, the economy of the thing will suffer. What I mean to say is that the harder it becomes to "move" money about online for poker purposes, some folks simply won't bother. And a lot of those folks are fish and so you are going to continue to find yourself engaged in tougher and tougher games online. I'm not looking to deposit any time soon, if ever, since I have a comfortable sum online that I play with now. (I'd like it to get bigger, but I don't want it to rely on me depositing money to get there.) But with less new money flowing into the poker community, the skillset of those you will encounter is only going to improve. Only the strong will survive and the weak will not bother with a redeposit if they have to put too much work into it. So, I think Shamus has it right in this respect. The poker boom online owes much of its success to the ease with which you could get money online. There will be an impact, I'm certain, but I have no idea to what degree.

Anyway, I'd like to tell you I've been playing lotsa poker, but that'd be a lie. I did excavate and pour a concrete driveway extension to accommodate a third vehicle in the cheer_dad clan. Recall the yellow volkswagen now sitting out front in the belong of my daughter, Whitney. Two days of back-breaking work and chilly weather now behind me. The muscle aches and pains still bear witness to the feat though.

I'm tired, and now reviewing the log file from my phone it looks like I may have been called by the school (shudder.) Very likely in response to an email that I sent to my daughter's Geometry teacher, telling her that I think some changes are in order in her teaching approach. Okay, maybe I was a little more diplomatic than that. I can do that when I write. Not so much when cornered on the phone or in person. Diplomacy can then take the backseat... an argument will shortly ensue. But we shall see... and I shall blog.

Oh and don't forget... tonight we travel to Bridgeport, WV where the South Patriot Football Juggernaut faces off against Bridgeport High School in the first of our playoff games. Keep those fingers crossed! Let's GOOOOOOO Patriots!!!

Later all, it's just that kinda day.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Bug Pix!

As promised... here's some shots of my baby girl's car. It's a peppy little thing! Yes, it's a standard. Yes, she whined some about that fact but in my firm "dad-voice" I piped her down! I told her to trust me, I'd have her driving a stick shift in no time. Sorry the pictures aren't better, but hey it was raining outside at the time. I'll work with her this weekend, and get that clutch foot/leg in shape real quick.


She's got herself worked up for nothing as most of you already know. We were all a little skiddish when we had to learn to drive one ourselves, but now much like riding a bike, even after a number of years we never forget how it's done. I made her feel a little bit better when I told her that her mother "stalled" in it twice yesterday... once while trying to show off to the Wolfe Clan. That one was priceless.

Anyway, I wanted to get these posted up for the world to see. I know this pales by comparison to the major things going on in our world today, but this is a pretty big deal to us in our little corner of the 'burbs.

And ya gotta admit... it's kinda cute isn't it!!!

Later all, and South plays football again tonight. Let's GOOOOOO Patriots!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Sick day rambling

I took the day off from work today, and NO it wasn't because I had a hangover or anything! I'm actually sick. I slept in, lounged around, thought about taking a drill to my head, prayed for death, etc... It's a sinus infection, just like I get every year, several times a year, and makes me hate life. So, I'm drugged up. I did manage to drag myself out long enough to go get the kids from school, and as much as I don't really want to I will likely go to the South football game tonight. Gotta be the supportive parent and all.

I logged on last night after the Eagles and played some cards, as I'd already decided I wasn't going to work feeling like total shit and figuring no one else wanted to have their system polluted with my germs. I should have stayed off of Bodog though. : ( I ended up dropping like $27 last night, due in part to a rash of crappy cards... and one big hand pocket Kings that got spanked by a "set miner" with pocket 6's who called my over-the-top reraise preflop. That one stung a little, and was probably the reason I played on "trying to get it back." I never did... I even sat stupidly and played short-handed and just continued to give another couple bucks away, until I finally just got tired and called it a night.

Today however, I had an hour to kill before picking up the kids, so I dove back in there, like an idiot. But things went a little better. : ) I fired up 3 tables of $25 NLHE. Folded and folded some more for a while, and played only position and some weak holdings. Things turned around big time for me, when I called with K-10s from late position. The flop came out K-8-8. The first guy to bet, bet the pot. I debated but called, thinking it might just be a move, and I should see what happens. The turn was another King. Yes, I'm aware that there was still the possibility of him having pocket 8's, other than the fact that he bet 'em. This time he bet weak... so I popped it, he repopped and the all-in was there for all to watch. When the river brought a 10, I barely saw it, and couldn't figure why we weren't splitting the pot, until I looked again. Nice catch on my part. It sucked for him, because I had sucked out on him in a way. He had been holding Big Slick and had me dominated at the flop, tied on the turn and then I sucked out. Tough break... sorry dude, it'd been happening to me last night. It was just your turn. Another few loose callers on the other tables, put some change in the pot and brought it my way too. When I cashed out at 2:30pm 1 hour and around 160 hands after I'd started, I had an extra $31.50. So I bounced back from last night's loss... and also put the Bodog account back over the $250 mark. Yes, I know my small time poker antics are boring you, but it's a big internet, go elsewhere if you don't like it.

The rest of the weekend is relatively planned out. Bowling for Cole at 10am and at the same time Whitney has cheer practice. I believe Big Red is heading along with her mom and a bunch of blue haired ladies on a bus to the Amish Country... (i think my wallet just shuddered.) Tomorrow night is the Yanok's game at 7:30. I'll likely be anxious to play, but also likely to be fairly well drugged up, and complementing with whiskey for the full effect. Okay, maybe not... I'm due for a decent finish at that game, this year... so don't put any chips in the middle that you don't want to end up in my stack. Is that clear?

Sunday, I'm on tap to take care of patches on our QA region at work. I may be able to take care of it all from here at the house, through VPN. At least I better be. I'd hate to hafta get out of my fuzzy slippers for this.

I also came across this article http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10856197?nclick_check=1 which talks about Henry Orenstein who invented the hole-card cam for poker on television. He will be "enshrined" in the poker hall-of-fame on November 9th, during the recommencement of the Main Event Final Table. Congratulations to him. That sir... was a stroke of genius!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Let's GOOOO Patriots!

A picture is worth a thousand words...



But sometimes you know, video just does it even better... click the image or the link to visit the Football Frenzy Report from WTAP.com:

http://www.wtap.com/footballfrenzy/headlines/30829044.html#

The Parkersburg South Patriots dominated Parkersburg High Big Reds throughout the game last night and really made the Patriot fans on hand to witness the action VERY PROUD! Final score was South 33 PHS 14!!! The power of the South running game proved too much for PHS along with the ability of the South defense to subdue PHS's ability to effectively move the ball. It should be said that after the half the Big Red's did put together an impressive passing game, that threatened to turn things around. But in the end the deficit and the clock were just too much to overcome. Congratulations on a fantastic, and well-deserved victory!

Regards,

cheer_dad

PHS vs South Tonight

The cross town rivalry football matchup of Parkersburg High School and Parkersburg South High School is tonight! The PHS Big Reds (3-3) play host at Stadium Field to the PSHS Patriots (4-2.) As is always the case excitement is high for this game. Throughout the state of West Virginia this is known as one of the hottest rivalries around. My wife (Big Red) graduated from PHS, while I graduated from PSHS, we live on South Side and our daughter CHEERS for PSHS, so you do the math (and it ain't friggin' geometry) we'll be cheering the Patriots on to night. We leave very shortly so this will have to settle for a post.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Sigh...

I went out first at the Yanok game last night. No love... On the flip side of failure, I was making some good reads, and made moves that I was proud of. Laying down pocket Queens when I knew I was beat... sometimes there is a sense of Nirvana even in defeat. Unfortunately the maniacs do still give me some trouble. If you can't legitimately put them on a hand, unless you're looking at the nuts every time, there's little room for error. I was crippled by Jerry when I hit top pair on the flop from the BB. He called from out of position with a 3-5 and straighted on the river. I would be more critical... BUT there's a lesson here that tells me that in order to really be successful and drag big pots, you've got to blind-side your opposition sometimes. Play the hands that they never see coming. They will tend to make more money than will the big pocket pairs, including the elusive Aces! I didn't play like a NIT, last night, but I just couldn't get it together. I took myself out with an ill-times bluff against Jeff, who had unfortunately hit 2nd pair. No harm, no foul. I headed home and fired up Bodog, played two SNG's and cashed (low) in both of them, but still a few bucks is a few bucks.

South won the football game last night, absolutely creaming Washington High 45-0, and the second half was with out 2nd string playing. Great Job Patriots! It's great to put another one in the "W" column especially for Homecoming. Congrats!

We're headed over to the Rempel's "Fiesta" very shortly. We'll see many of you here very shortly.

Regards,

cheer_dad

It really must be the RED hair...

Recall that 2 weeks ago, Julie won one of the drawings at the Eagles for $400-ish and simultaneously had her "tip" called for another $100. Then the following week she sits down at one of the machines, slipped in $20 and cashed out for $1,000! Well continuing in the tradition and not to be outdone, my wife "Big Red" hits the "winner-take-all" drawing for $1,400!!! Of course it was too much not to be celebrated, so the beer flowed and this morning... well going to work was simply out of the question for me! I slept it off.

So anyway, I'm convinced it is really the RED hair. Go RED SNAPPERS! Great, we'll have them both to contend with it Yanok's card game tonight. You just can't go against that much luck. Teresa and I will not be there for Game #1, since we will be at the South football game. But we'll get there when we can. The time grows near... it's time to leave.

See you all later... and Go Patriots!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad