The Nuts

During our last trip to Las Vegas my dad, Jeff, and I found ourselves gambling at the Frontier. I heard they had a mechanical bull and I wanted to ride it. As usual, when we got there I headed over to get my players card. While I was filling out my form I noticed that if you earned enough points you got to spin a big wheel and win a prize. I was expecting the prizes to be your usual boring prizes: glassware, t-shirts, hats, etc...and for the most part I was right. There was one prize that caught mine and Jeff's eye though. It was a ceramic salt and pepper shaker set in the shape of two acorns sitting on a leaf. In other words it was a set of nuts! I knew that by the end of this trip we would own them. The three of us immediately went to work on building points. A couple of hundred dollars later we had accumulated the points needed. The only problem now was in order to win the nuts we had to spin the wheel and have it stop on a particular spot. I guess now is a good time to mention that somehow during this whole process the people working behind the players club counter got wind of what we were doing and they were getting a kick out of it. Now the moment of truth. I went up and gave the wheel a spin and it seemed like it was never going to stop. You could actually feel the excitement in the air. When it finally slowed down I began to realize that it was not going to make it to the spot we needed and all of our hopes and dreams were going to come crashing down. It finally stopped and my prediction was right it was a couple of spots away from the one we needed. Everyone (including the employees) let out a moan of disappointment. Then it occured to me how much blood, sweat and money (mostly money) we had given to win the nuts and I knew right then and there that I would not be denied. So I ever so casually reached out and gave the wheel a little nudge and stopped it on the space we needed. Remember when I said the employees knew of our plight? Well this is where it comes in handy. After I gave the wheel the nudge and we started cheering they laughed and went along with it. Today those very nuts can be seen proudly displayed in mine or Jeff's house depending on who has custody at the time. Every time we play we are required to bring them and the winner gets to take them home.

Game 6 Recap

We actually looked really good this week. We had a couple players back and that gave us some options on the field. We jumped out to an early lead and held it until the sixth inning. Mental mistakes cost us some runs again and we gave up a huge inning. We definitely played well enough to beat this team. Our bats were alive again which is a good sign but we still had too many strikeouts. We put a lot of pressure on their defense early and capitalized on their mistakes. We had a great opportunity to put the game away with the bases loaded and only one out but we couldn't manage to put the ball in play. I think even though we lost we showed that we can hang with these other teams and if we stop giving up that one big inning we will win these games. Here are my stats for this week:

1 -3/ 1 Run/ 2 Reach on Error/ 3 RBI/ 1 SAC Fly

My batting average took a small hit and is now at an even .400 but I am very happy with my day. I was very productive with three RBIs and took advantage of their errors. My one attempt to steal on a 3-1 count was thwarted when the batter took the pitch for ball four.

As for my side bet with Mike....I came up an additional 3.5 points. Mike hit a double which earned him a few points but strikeouts really hurt him. I think his double was the spark he needed to get him going. Once he starts hitting our sidebets will really start getting interesting and maybe we can expand it to include defense. Until then I will rest comfortably with my 8.5 point lead (he paid up for five of his points last week).

Game 5 Recap

Well, our game against the Sox didn't go as planned. As a matter of fact we got demolished. Our record is now 0-5. I am not too worried yet because I still think once we get all of our players back from injuries we will be a very competitive team. We are getting a couple back this week so maybe we will be able to actually start the game with more than only nine players. The one good thing that came out of this game was the side bets I had with Michael. We got plus or minus points for certain offensive stats and at the end of the game I was up 6 points and a free lunch. Add that to the previous 5.5 points I already had from other prop bets and I am up 11.5 points and a lunch. I'm sure he will catch up soon enough but I like to gloat while I can. Here are my stats for Game 5:

1-3/1 hit /1 Reach on error

My season batting average is now down to .418. Time to pick up the pace. My goal this week will be to raise my average, have at least one stolen base, earn more points from Mike, and get another lunch out of him. Wish me luck.

MV Legends Game 5

This week we play the SoCal Sox at 9:00 at Sunnymead Park. We still have quite a few guys on the DL but those of us that are healthy plan to come out and give the Sox a run for thier money. I have never seen a team so plagued with injuries as this one is. It seems like we lose at least one player per game. Fortunately it's not too late into the season to turn things around. I fully expect this to be a very competitive team once we get healthy. Let's hope we get healthy soon.

I Made it to the Big Leagues!

My brother created a player to my likeness on his Xbox game. I guess this is as close as I am going to get to the big leagues.

ThinWhitey Poker Tourney

This past Saturday I decided to host a little no-limit hold 'em tournament. I hadn't hosted one since my poker league had ended so I thought that it was time. I decided to try and round up the guys from the league. Since my poker table seats eight comfortably I didn't want to invite too many people. I ended up with six confirmations. Mike would have been there but he already had plans (how's that fake tan working out). I had decided that since there were only six of us we would only pay to second place. Jeff wanted to put a twist on things so in addition to the buy-in everyone had to bring a predetermined number of lotto tickets. These would serve as a bounty. If you knocked someone out of the tourney you got to keep the lotto tickets that they brought. This way even if you didn't make it to the money you still had a chance of walking away with something. This also meant that the first person to get knocked out is the only person to definitely go home empty handed. I mean shame on them for going out first, right? So, here is how everyone finished.

1. - Rick
2. - Fernando
3. - Jeff
4. - Steve
5. - Gene
6. - Me

As you can see I didn't do as well as I had planned. To my defense this was a very loose table so all of my attempts to steal the blinds were thwarted and I never had any decent cards to play. It was just one of those nights. I was pretty happy with the way I played with what I was given though and at least I made it past the first break. I was impressed with Jeff who went out on the bubble and only had a minor meltdown. I congratulate Rick and Fernando on their wins. Fernando had never even played hold 'em before. If you are playing against him and there is a six or a flush draw on the board you might as well fold. I have never seen anyone dealt so many flushes. The good news is I think we found a new addition to the league in him. People keep asking when I am going to start the league up again so I think I had better start getting it ready.

You gotta love my lucky shirt & big hair

Taking 5th place is serious business

Steve counting the chips

Jeff minutes before the mini meltdown

Fernando's first hold 'em experience (notice the Legends hat)

Rick goes all in during heads up play

Rick shows the bullets & takes down the pot

Fernando begs Steve for another flush

Fernando moves all in

Rick ponders a call

Our tournament champion

DX can't wait to play in his first tourney

The Russell Meltdown

Across the street from my work is a golf course with a driving range. Every now and then Jeff will come out and we will hit some balls on my lunch break. It never fails that half way (if that) into our buckets we start challenging each other to hit certain targets. One of our favorites is a huge cypress tree that is 100 to 150 yards out. What makes these wagers interesting is the fact that neither of us are very good with the clubs. Therefore, it does not matter if it hits the tree on a bounce or off of the boundary fence. So far I have hit the tree the most but today I couldn’t control my slice. No matter what I did I would miss within inches as it curled away from my target. Jeff on the other hand managed to nail one shot dead center. Once we finished our bucket we moved over to the putting green where I quickly went from being one down to three up (even with Jeff heckling me as I tried to putt). One thing you have to understand is I don’t do these challenges for the money. The enjoyment I get is watching Jeff go on tilt and fling his putter across the green. We even have a name for this outburst. We call it the Russell Meltdown although this term usually applies when Jeff is flinging his poker chips at Mike after losing a big pot.

MV Legends Baseball

Game 4

vs. San Jacinto Orioles

When: 10:00am

Location: The Oaks @ Soboba

Go to http://www.mvlegends.com/ for directions.

MV Legends Stats

Here are my stats for 4/6/08.

0 for 3/1 run/1 hpb/1 K

.455 Season Avg.

MV Legends Stats

Here are my stats for 3/30/08.

3 for 5/2 runs/1 stolen base/1 K

.625 Season Avg.