'”Hey Remember That?”: The IM Warn

Ah, yes.  Remember the days before Facebook, when everyone would chat thru AOL Instant Messenger and nothing else.  Chat rooms were a thing that middle school kids would do on a saturday night to find out weird things on the Internet.  Instant messaging random people and try to “cyber”, which sadly, is still around today.  The term “a/s/l pic?” became a popular way to either meet some stranger and/or creep the hell out of them.  Then came the WARN button.  If you clicked on it, it would add 20% of a warning rate to a person’s screen name.  The funny part about the warn button itself, is that it is the only idea that I can think of what a company would institute for its customers to not use their product.  It’s like if every Playstation came with a soccer ball.  However, with the all-but-certain death to AOLIM, the warn button revolutionized how people would interact with each other. 

Recently, cyber bullying has become a recent topic of discussion, yet interacting with each other online has been here for an even longer time.  Since people use Facebook chat, G-Chat, Skype, and everything else between, the number of bullied kids has increased because THERE IS NO WARN BUTTON ON FACEBOOK.  Something easily attainable with a few friends and some time to ambush them with IM’s.  If you warned someone enough, they would be forced offline for at least a couple of hours or at most a whole day.  Meaning that AOL is the only Internet company to address cyber bullying before society knew it would turn into a suicidal pandemic.  This is something that Marc Zuckerberg and other CEO’s that have user-chat platforms have not addressed, but only come out and denounce.  I say, actions, speak louder than words (er, IM’s).    Bring back the warn button and cut cyber bullying out of the equation!

What Team will Tom Brady end his career with?

I was at work today and I thought of something as I was listening to the Rich Eisen podcast on the iPod.  There are a ton of great football players, nay, athletes that start their careers with one team and end with a team that seems like it should not have even been part of his career.  Let’s go down the list and see who makes the cut:

The recent obvious one: Brett Favre

Doesn’t exactly seem like he played over 200 games in a packers uniform.  It’s the team he won a Super Bowl in, it’s the team that he owned for all of the 90’s and most of the 2000’s.  When you said “Packers QB”, there was only Favre.  Everyone else was a “Who?”.

The “Oh Yeah, I forgot” guy: Joe Montana

If I remember correctly he made the passing portion of “The Catch” to Dwight Clark that is so famous in the NFL and he is most known for passing to the greatest wide receiver the game will ever see.  Which brings us to the next guy.

The "Al Davis Crush” Seattle Seahawks?  Really?: Jerry Rice

Didn’t even realize Jerry Rice was traded to Seattle until I looked it up.  I thought he ended it in San Francisco.  But apparently did one of those things where he signed a contract with the 49ers for a day and then retired so he could retire a 49er.  I mean, come on!  Can’t anyone stay with one team forever.

The guy who might go crazy without Football: Junior Seau

I’ll be honest.  When Junior Seau drove his car over a cliff on a beach, I thought of one thing: he needs to come back to football.  Seau must be on so many painkillers and probably hates his family that he just wants a ring and will do anything for it.  Most definitely the reason he came to New England.  I fear for the life of Junior Seau.

The “Just Retire and Don’t Ruin Your Legacy” guy: Michael Jordan

I know that the title in this could be something to relate to all of these guys, but Jordan is the only one on this list that is still considered to be the great of his time.  Kobe is slowly approaching Jordan like status and will most likely pass him if he keeps playing up to his game. 

The “You’ve Got to be Shitting Me” guy: Johnny Unitas

Yeah, Johnny Unitas, the guy who is considered the king of the gridiron played for the San Deigo Chargers.  He looks like he should be selling hair cream in this picture, but he is also on this list. 

Now, I could go on for a long time.  I could mention Nomar, but he was traded.  I should mention Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, and maybe a couple of more players from the NBA who left small markets/traded to win big while getting paid.  Baseball players hardly ever stay in the same city.  The first big free agent from the 1974 era was Catfish Hunter who left the Oakland A’s to play for the Yankees for a little over $2M.  Baseball never looked back after 1974.  Most players are considered legendary if they stay with the team they grew with and never considered.  Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are going to end in pinstripes.  I never really considered this such a task, but maybe the days of the athlete that plays on one team and stays on one team are long gone.

The reason I ask this question because there are a couple of athletes that are always going to be on a plaque or behind a frame in a Boston sports bar.  The best players; that influenced those teams and left their mark without looking for more from another team, one more year to try and win a championship or whatever they thought would be out there.  Of course I’m talking about:

The Great White Hope:

Teddy Ballgame:

So if Tom Brady is as good a QB as anyone that ever walked onto the field?  Where does he end his career?   Most signs point to someplace not in New England.  Let’s hope Al Davis doesn’t stay alive for Brady’s contract to end.

*I researched Bobby Orr and didn’t realize he ended his career with the Blackhawks.  Still the best hockey player, if not, certainly the best defenseman, by a long shot.

Integrating Powerpoint into Blogger

Okay, so I bought Office 10 a while ago. Yeah I know, I'm cool now. And they send out emails to their buyers about what you can do with Office 10 products like Powerpoint, Word, Excel. I get an email saying that I can integrate my Powerpoint presentations onto my blog. I just need to follow certain directions and then figure out what to make a powerpoint of. This could make argumentative blogs a lot more fun than just me typing like this, like I'm some sort of neanderthal. So I just need some feedback about what I should or could argue about on this. I have some things written down.....okay, so I don't. I have no idea what I could argue over, but I just need to remember something I think of arguing over while I work because I usually daydream while standing over the copier or sitting on break. But some ideas from my readers, that's you Kathleen and Edelson, would certainly help.