The Office Retires

Tonight marks the end of The Office, a show that’s been in my life for 9 years.  I’ve seen every single episode and watch reruns instead of the 11PM news.  I don’t want to get all sappy about a tv show, but this one will be missed.  Here are some youtube clips of the best parts...

 

Jim vs. Dwight

 

Michael vs. Toby

 

The ‘nard Dawg

 

Michael Scott

 

Kevin

 

TWSS

 

And the number one…Jim as Dwight.  Followed by Dwight as Jim...uhhh little comment...Identify theft is not a joke

HI R U UP

 

So it’s been a few months since I’ve posted on here, and to be honest, it’s been a few months since I even checked on anything around here, but here I am.

Here’s a recap of what’s happened since I last posted about bowl game betting:

I had a bachelor party in Nashville, I was married at the Horseshoe, the Buckeyes were upset by a much better Shocker team in the Elite 8, I went to a bachelor party in Vegas, the Tribe is playing a lot better than last year (TIED IN FIRST PLACE FOR A FEW HOURS IN MAY YUP) and the Nats struggled out the gate but seem to be getting back to their road to the NLCS vs the Reds ways.

Anyway, the reason I am back is because work is slow (I’m finally good enough to get things done instead of waiting for my co-workers to be free to ask them how to do things) and college football is right around the corner.  Actually not, but spring ball is over and I have a few thoughts.  Also, uni things have been blowing up, with college teams re-branding their whole sports programs and the NFL teams getting some new digs…AND there are two HORRIBLE MLB teams that I have been betting against and parlaying with some really good NBA teams (EL HEAT) that have been making me money, sometimes.

I figure I should post a little here and there so that’s what I’ll try to do, until I get slammed at work again.  I’m still on twitter ( @jamiedupler ) if you really care what I think about when I’m sitting in my cube in downtown Columbus.  I’ll try to post a little here and a little there until August when the highlight of my sporting year kicks back up again.  Peace

Loss in the Family

 

 

As some of you know, there has been a reason I haven’t updated this thing for a few weeks.  My father passed away last week after battling liver cancer ten years ago and then lymphoma for the past year.  He came down with pneumonia and as the chemo from lymphoma took out his already-depressed immune system, he couldn’t fight it anymore.

 

Without getting into everything, he was my best friend and there will be always a hole in my heart.  He was 65 but lived the hell out of those 65 years.  He isn’t sick nor fighting anymore, and is with my mom on the beach with his headphones on, so I am ok with that.  The hardest part is when I reach for the phone to text or call him about some sports thing or to send him a picture of my daughter and knowing he isn’t going to pick up.  Also, as I enjoy the moments of my daughter as she grows up, he won’t be there and she is too young to remember how much he truly loved her and how he tried to spend as much time as he could with her.  I am sad about the times we won’t have at the Clippers or at the ‘Shoe or talking ball, but what kills me is for my daughter to not have that time with her grandpa as she gets older.

 

The support has been great, at times overwhelming as I have to explain what happened to him and how I feel over and over, but if the biggest problem is that too many people care about him and me and my family, then I think I am going to be ok.  He touched so many people and had an effect on just about anyone who ever met him, and that’s all you can ask for.  I will miss him forever, but he couldn’t do the things he loved to do this past month (drink beer, hang with Ella, go to Ohio State games, coach) so he is so much better now.  He will always be here with me and my family.

 

Anyway, I took some time off work so I am catching up with that, and will try to update this thing as much as I can.  For the near future, I may just put up my picks and if I have time, post why and the reaction, but at this point I’m still in the bottom half and will pretty much take the teams I want to win in the games I want to watch.

 

If you read this and have sent me a text or call or came to the service, I can’t thank you enough.  Everyone has been so great and I can’t explain how much it means to have great friends, family and support.  I love you dad.  Tell mom I said hi.

Muck Fodell

Art Modell died yesterday morning at age 87 at Johns Hopkins of natural causes.  All day there was a debate on his legacy, and how he made the got the wheels moving for the NFL to turn into a giant with his TV deal making abilities or something in the 60s.  Congrats.  He also was an owner of teams that won 2 NFL Championships.  Congrats again, Art.  He also moved the Browns to Baltimore after the 1995 season and left Cleveland without a professional football team for 3 years.  Your father might have been the greatest dad ever, but once he hit your mom, he is a scumbag forever.  That’s how I feel about Art.

 

I am biased because I grew up a Browns fan and went to their games with my dad, who grew up a Browns fan and watched them in-person win NFL Championships in the 50s and 60s.  I was at the last game in 1995, crying after I got my seat taken by a security guy, after the Bengals had to turn away from the Dawg Pound once they crossed the 50 due to the stands being thrown onto the field and fireworks being let off in the bathrooms.  I didn’t have an NFL team from 1996-1998 when I was in middle school.  Art Modell took the Browns and made them purple and black in a city that once had their team stolen and taken to Indy.  The Ravens then drafted about 10 HOFers (with Ozzie’s help) and won a Super Bowl in 4 years, a game the Browns have never been to.  When Lebron James left Cleveland, some say he was the most hated athlete in Cleveland history.  He was, except for Art Modell.

 

I do have to admit there are some factors that would calm my hatred for that man.  Maybe if Browns made it to the playoffs more than one time since they came back in 1999.  Maybe if the Ravens didn’t draft guys who will end up in Canton and if they didn’t win a Super Bowl 4 years after they moved.

 

But guess what?  All of that did happen, and I will forever hate Art Modell.  I am not happy he died.  It brings back a lot of pain and anger.  But I’m not going to look at him as a good owner.  He was broke, moved to Baltimore, got a new stadium, won a Super Bowl in 2000 and had to sell the team in 2004 because he was broke again. 

 

You can come at me with, “you’re just a Browns fan, get over it.”  You’re right, I am a Browns fan, and no, I will never get over it.  He moved the Browns out of Cleveland.  I am glad he will not be alive when he gets inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the ceremony will be less than favorable.  I am sorry for his family for their loss, but don’t expect me to “get over it.”  He took my team because of greed and mistakes.  Muck Fodell for eternity.

Walking the Plank

Last night I proposed to my girlfriend of 4 years and the mother of my daughter.  She said yes.  The plan to propose totally blew up but I ended up toughing through it and got it done.

How we roll, from last fall

The plan was to have our daughter take the gift box to her has she pulled up after work.  I told her to text me when she was on her way, however her phone was in her purse, and after a few minutes with no response, I checked out the window.  Car in the driveway, car empty, door opening.  I was sitting in the living room with the gift box out in the open, so I jumped up, got the box and ran into our room and put the box under our covers.  She also has two boys from a previous marriage that live with us for half the week.  The plan was to have her and my baby girl walk in with the box and the boys and I would all be there.  Since she was walking into the house, I wasn't ready, the babe was playing with a toy and the boys were downstairs killing zombies on Call of Duty.  I yelled that she was home as I ran into our room.  I returned and had to have a secret meeting with the boys, after trying to get the baby into the room, but she was then face-deep in Tiff's purse.  I said screw it, walked out with the boys with the box and proposed.  Not nice and tidy, but got the job done, kind of like LSU's offense last year, you know, before they played in the championship game.

Ok, so it's a major life step, and after the proposal, my sister came over to watch the babe as we went to dinner at Cap City.  Between tweeting and facebooking it (most 2012 thing ever) and when the dinner ended, my phone was basically dead due to all the alerts from all my friends.  Apparently every one checks facebook and twitter every second of every day, not just high school girls.  It was great, and it was time for this to get done.  She's already been through the traditional wedding and I don't really care, so we are just going to have a reception/party-type deal after a bachelor party, presumably sometime in the summer.  I'm really happy, she loved the ring, and everyone has been great.  Nothing to do with sports, but just thought I would share a little personal story.

10 year high school anniversary

10 years later, 10 beers in

Over the weekend, I had my 10 year UAHS reunion at the Bogey Inn.  It was really fun and just like high school, I talked to my homeboys I haven't seen for awhile and didn't really talk to anyone I wasn't friends with.  My homies met at my place before (we had power!) (!) and it was close to where the bus was to take us to the Bogey.  We took the last one and had the entire bus to ourselves. 

Anyway, this reunion got me to thinking, not about how much have changed since high school.  Since I am a completely different person, big changes 10 years out are assumed.  But it got me thinking (aloud to myself in the shower) about how much has changed in just 5 years since our last reunion at BOMA (Bar for Modern Art) which isn't there anymore.

July 2007, I had just graduated college in March after 4+ years, had not started going to school to become a teacher and was landscaping for my day job.  I still had both my parents, I was living at the Quarry with Hale and was dating Alissa.  Ohio State had just come off their best season with a devastating loss to Florida in the championship, a basketball loss to Florida, in the championship, and the Indians were in the midst of a season that took them to a 3-1 lead in the ALCS with game 5 at home and CC on the mound.  The Cavs had just lost in the finals to the Spurs after taking out the Pistons and the Clippers were still playing at the Coop.  My sister was at OU and I was still driving my '02 Jeep Cherokee.  Oh and I had just been suspended from coaching JV football at UA for being in a picture during sibs weekend at OU with a high school senior who was also there to see his sib (my sister's roommate).

Here's the spark notes from those next 5 years:
My mother passed away in December of '07, I moved from the Quarry to Dublin, to Cambridge road in UA, then to my dad's, then with Trapp, then with Tiffany at the condo, then into a house on Zollinger and now at our house on Kentwell.  That's 7 different places I called home.  I coached Hastings Middle School football for 2 years and Hilliard Bradley JV baseball for 3.  I was off-and-on at Ashland and Columbus State and ended up getting a real desk job (temp) at Ohio State HR last year after being a sub teacher all over Columbus from '08-'11.  I then took a job 3 weeks ago at STRS (temp-to-hire) and have quit coaching (for the time being).

I met Tiffany in the fall of '08 and we now live together in UA with her two sons (10 and 8) and our daughter, Ella, who was born in Nov. 2010.  A few of my friends have gotten married and most of them live with their girlfriends.

Ohio State won 4 B1G championships, beat Michigan 4/5 years and had the 2010 season erased, along with the firing/resigning/retiring of Tressel.  Urban is the OSU coach and there is a playoff starting in 2014.  Lebron never made is back to the Finals with the Cavs and left, the Indians and Browns have sucked and the Clippers moved into a ballpark of the year and won back-to-back titles.  The Buckeyes returned to the Final Four this past March.

Twitter was invented and myspace died.  Facebook blew up and now is really really lame.  Oh and I stopped buying shoes/hats.

I am 290 and am struggling with eating right/working out/weight issues.

Anyway, there was a whole lot of change in the last 5 years of my life (age 23-28) and I doubt there will be that much change in such a short period.

When you look back at the '90s or '80s, you think that decade is pretty much the same, but it's crazy to think about how much has changed in just half a decade.

Over the weekend...

It's been real Boston.  Off to the
south side of Chitown

This guy will spend the rest of his life in jail.

I attended the Twins-Reds game on Satuday with one of my college buddies, his college buddy and my homey from high school and OSU.

This guy was traded from the Sawx to the Sawx.

This guy hit a walk-off for the Fightin' Phillies and made some money.

UCLA offered Snoop Dogg's soon-to-be sophomore son a scholarship.  I hope they hire Master P's son a coaching position and get Faith Evans a board of director's spot.  There is nothing better than 1990s rap.  No doubt DMX could coach Cover 1.

That Queen City

Looks like on Saturday I am headed down to the GABP to catch the 'legs and Twinkies duke it out in an interleague tilt.  First pitch: 4:10.  I am staying with Heider (with Hale to join after he gets off of work at 2PM on a Saturday, sounds like a bunch of terrorism to me) and with two days before the ball game, he came through and got us tickets, which I turned into a picture.  Here is wehre we will be "sitting" even though the plan is to get in early to capture a Sean Casey bobblehead (the only requirement to receiving free tickets) and head to the bar in left field.  Anyway, here are our tickets:



And no, my year and a half old daughter did not write that for me.  It's hard to write with a mouse, aholes.

Stay tuned...

Hello...I don't know who will see this because, of course, if I don't check it every other day week month, then I don't know why anyone else would, but I think I may be done with my tumblr page and head back here for more personal stuff...more uniforms and NCAA football betting posts...so stay tuned loyal healthy scratch readers...for now I will leave you with this



Not too bad Maryland, not too bad...