Yikes

Dan brought this one to my attention via Deadspin. Generally women are described as the fairer sex, but wow, they were mixing it up like the men here. When I first saw the red uniforms I figured it must be the Utes because they are the only school that we have legitimate bad blood with. The Lobos I wouldn't have suspected. It seems clear to me that #15 was not having a great day.

This one is for Dan Nelson

Last night the Yankees won the World Series. My good friend Dan Nelson is the biggest Yankee fan I know. He was quite pleased. First thing this morning I thought of this clip.



Six games.

Down Here It's Our Time...Our Time.

HEYYYYYYY YOU GUYS! Halloween has come and gone. I had a good time handing out candy, dressing up, and partying down.

Quinn and I got candy to hand out to our trick or treaters. I was in charge of working the door, and was underwhelmed by the costumes that were worn. There was a cute bumble bee, and I gave her two pieces of candy. Some of the kids and parents got grabby and took handfuls.

Chunk, Mikey, Brand, and Data

My friends and I dressed up as the Goonies. I was Brand. I rocked the gray sweats with blue shorts over the top. I also had the red bandanna. I really didn't take many pictures. Most people didn't know who I was until I explained it.

Major props to Meg, Adri, Mandy, Ashley, and all the others who hosted a fun party.

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween. It is and has always been one of my favorite days of the year. My plan for Halloween is coming together nicely.

I wanted to post one of my favorite clips. I have this advice for you...don't sleep on Tyrone.



Enjoy!

The Sports Guy in DC

Who is Bill Simmons? He is my favorite sports writer, and either my favorite or second favorite author in general. (I'm a huge Chuck Klosterman fan). Bill writes for ESPN.com and does an awesome Podcast called the B.S. Report. I first heard about the Sports Guy from B-Rock. He told me about this guy who compared the NFL season to Top Gun. B-Rock sent me the link, and I've been hooked ever since. I have read basically everything he has written for ESPN, his first book,  listened to virtually every podcast, and pretty much consumed any media he has been a part of since 2003. I even mentioned him in a Priesthood meeting I was teaching last month.

When I heard a few weeks back that he would not only be be in Washington D.C. for a book signing but that he'd be doing it  a block from my office, well lets just say I was Jordan at a UVSC dance excited.

As Brian introduced Bill Simmons to me (B-Rock my plan was to get you a book but they said one per customer), I have made it a point to introduce him to other friends. JJ in particular is as big of a fan as I am. We knew that we would definitely be there for the midnight signing. I had my last GMAT class last night and JJ picked me up. We knew that there would be a meet and greet and then we could get the book signed. We got there and found out the meet and greet had filled up, so JJ was kind enough to drive me back to my house so I could put my Kobe gear on. You may not know that although Bill respects Kobe's abilities, he hates the Lakers and Kobe. It's to be a expected...he loves the Celtics.

There was not a lot of heterogeneity in this crowd. Nope it was almost entirely white guys ages 18-30. JJ and I fit right in. Somehow we ended up relatively close to what we thought was the front of the line.

You can't really tell from this picture, but the line goes all the way down the block. 

The powers that be were strict about the books not going on sale until midnight, so we had to wait outside for an hour before the line even began to move. There was some worry that there might not be enough books, and I must say that for a moment I was a little nervous. As we were waiting in line a woman approached me and said, I have this blog and I want to understand why people would line at midnight to meet this guy. She said I heard Bill hates Kobe, and here you are. I explained to her that although Bill and I are diametrically opposed on many sports issues ( I love the Angels, Lakers, Karl Malone, and college football, he loves the Celtics, Red Sox, and despises Karl) he sees the game from my prospective, that of a fan. And I told her that the way I wanted him to personalize my book would be indicative of that. I took my picture with her and now I'll be on some random blog as Peter - Lakers fan.

 

We called this guy Tweed Jacket. He shut the party down.

We were however favored with a bit of entertainment as it appeared that a group of High Schoolers were staying in the hotel across the street. They made all sorts of suggestive gestures, and looked to be having a great time. On young lady seemed like she was intent on giving our group a show. Needless to say, she was pretty surprised when the man in the tweed jacket showed up in her room and shut it down. He came down stairs, looked in the windows and told the kids to shut their drapes. He got a standing ovation from the line and even took a bow. Another young man was in a window and decided to moon us (pretty predictable) and a police officer shined his flash light on the window. The kid was terrified, we laughed.

It's really him, the Sports Guy himself. 

Little by little, the line moved and we got inside the ESPN ZONE. For the last few days I had been thinking about what I wanted Bill to write in my book. I wanted it to be something funny, and and a dig at Bill's views on the teams I root for. If this had been two weeks ago it would obviously have been about the Angels beating the Sox, but since the Angels didn't end up in the World Series, it didn't seem to have the same punch. I threw around some ideas with Jordan and JJ. But none of them seemed perfect.

JJ on the other hand came up with something simple and brilliant. "Tom Brady Fumbled" which anyone who is a Raider's fan will understand.

 

Finally I was able to purchase my copy of the book, and knew that I was only minutes a way from meeting one of my favorite writers. Even before I knew he was coming to town I wondered to myself what I would say to Bill if I ever met him. I love the podcasts he does about the Real World Road Rules challenge. They are among my favorites. Book in hand I actually started to get nervous. My chest was pounding. It was bizarre. JJ said he felt the same way too.

 I made the Sports Guy laugh with my request.

 And then it was my turn. And I was up on the dias and Bill is talking to me. And its his voice, the same voice I hear on the Pod Cast. I introduced myself, told him I loved his column and pod casts. And don't let anyone tell you to stop doing them. And was a big fan. I was legitimately grateful that he writes, because I really enjoy enjoy reading his work. He doesn't have to write but he does. He thanked me and asked what I wanted in the book.

I had though about something to the effect of "Last night was not your fault...not your fault." A reference to the Angels losing in the ALCS and Good Will Hunting a movie both Bill and I enjoy. I thought about making him write down that Karl Malone was in fact one of the greatest of all time. And my back up was "Sweep the leg". But none of those were really speaking to me. And then it sort of started to formulate, JJ and I worked it out, and EUREKA...I found it. I knew it was perfect. The only real question was, would he write it. Here's what Bill wrote on his blog.

If you come to one of the signings, I'm happy to write whatever you want in the book as long as it's not completely obscene and won't get me fired. Please make sure you have one relatively short sentence in mind so that we can keep the line moving.

I told Bill the situation and prefaced it by saying, I totally understand if you don't feel comfortable writing it. He sort of looked it me like, "What could this guy have in mind?" I told him and he laughed. He signed it. JJ took the pictures and that was that. I was pumped.

 JJ has not and will not ever forgive the Patriots for the "Snow Game" or the Tuck Rule. And now he has it in writing...Tom Brady fumbled.

You may at this point be wondering what exactly I asked him to write. As a Lakers fan and an unabashed Kobe apologist, I knew I wanted something where Bill would admit that Kobe was awesome and there was no way around it. Forthose of you who love the Lakers, love Kobe, and love to show it to the haters that doubted, I asked Bill for a special personalization.

 

Yes, I went there. Any NBA fan will understand this reference. I thought it was brilliant and JJ agreed. Even Bill laughed when I asked him.

JJ and I said hi to Bill's friend Joe House and pled the case of Karl Malone, and then headed home the victors. JJ and I agreed that it was totally worth it, even though it was 2:00 AM by this time and we'd be going to work in just a few hours.

 In summary:

Dinner at McDonald's...$7.00

Shirley Temple at the ESPN Zone...$4.50

The Book of Basketball...$26.00

Meeting one of my favorite writers with my best friend...priceless.

He's Got My Vote

This is my nephew Will and his dad Marc. I had a lot of fun spending time with both of them last month. My sister Jennifer took this picture and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to put it up on Pete Chat.

Love that kid. We think he is going to be a lefty like his Aunt Chrissi, so if he plays QB he'll be just like Steve Young. Good job by you Will.

Getting Over Heartbreak and How I Learned to Love Again + Monday Haiku

I'm in love...at least I think I am. After my ex girlfriend Mandy Moore (click on that for my thoughts on Mandy) decided to marry that bum Ryan Adams, I found myself out on the open market for a celebrity girlfriend. Seeing that I hadn't had much success with Mandy who is a brunette, I decided to go a little younger, a little hotter, and a whole lot blonder and am pleased to announce my new celebrity crush... the lovely Taylor Swift.


My sister Jennifer called me one day and told me that Mandy was married. I told her that was nothing to joke about and she should be more sensitive about that sort of thing. I must admit that Taylor wasn't the only girl I considered for my number one celebrity crush. The amazing Rachel Bilson, and Blue Crush's own Kate Bosworth. But after careful consideration Taylor it is.

Her now infamous award acceptance, showed that she had great grace and that Kanye is an idiot.Now my celebrity crush isn't the only reason I'm blogging about Taylor, no it is her hit song that has got me thinking.




Surely you have heard this song as it is almost constantly played on the radio and the video is played on MTV as often as they play videos. Basically the video which you can watch above is about this supposedly smart but nerdy girl being in love with her neighbor who thinks of her as just friends and instead chooses to go out with the hot girl who is mean and in no way understands him. Eventually it becomes too much, Taylor loses her overly large glasses and professes her undying love at the prom only to have the guy have the exact same feelings. FIN.

I'm pretty sure that Taylor wrote this song which is pretty impressive considering it is a really good pop song. I just have a problem thinking that Taylor Swift has a tough time getting guys to notice her. It made me wonder, are there a lot of people out there with crushes, even people who have it all together and think that the object of their affection just isn't noticing.

I am trying to get my head around this, but I'm finding it difficult. I'm not really in school anymore (I'm taking a GMAT Prep Class) so the closest I have to a large group social situation is my singles ward. It got me thinking are there many many people in the ward who have feelings, mutually shared feelings and there are meaningful relationship to be had, and the only thing stopping this from happening is the individuals inability to communicate those feelings?  Especially people who look like and are as talented as Taylor Swift. What if this was true. What if the person you did have a crush on felt the exact same way about you. has this ever happened? Are there hot people just sitting around crushing on each other but not doing anything about it? I have no idea.

Anyway, Taylor is my new celebrity crush, and if you think someone belongs to you, then go ahead and tell them because at least according to Taylor they are probably feeling the exact same way.

Doubtful.

Monday Haiku

Angels must not lose
Football in rain makes me live
Reassurance helps