Thuggin' & Buggin' - Suited & Booted

Since I last talked to you studs and studettes, I get to talk about a trip to the mean streets of Charleston, as well as some other happenings. Charleston is our state capital for those in a coma and that seems to be most of the country. Most of the country doesn’t even know we’re a state, so if you got that far, you’re better than most. And if you know that Charleston is our capital, you’re really the man. No, we’re not part of Virginia. Sure, we’re hicks and there’s nothing here, but still. Again, for today’s lesson to refresh your minds, Charleston is our biggest “city” with 53,000 people. That’s just brutal.

Anyways, I ride down to Charleston with my boy Posey. He had to sign papers for his new car in Charleston and wanted someone to go with, so I was up for the time. Road trips rule anyways, even if they aren’t huge ones like to Hotlanta. I go to bed at 5:00 the night before and wake up at 9:10 or so to leave at 9:45. Four hours of sleep, so I’m good to go. I really wanted to go just to shop and eat, so it was fine with me. On the trip, we had some good stories dealing with fantasy basketball (what my life revolves around), fantasy football, Poker, work, and whatever else was going down in the mean streets of Shinnston. Posey is a year older than me and went to my high school for those who might not know him. He’s now living in Maryland, but comes in town a few days a week, mainly to play Poker. He’s also a vital part of the EDDFL (E-Town Diaper Dandies Fantasy League; NBA) as a fantasy veteran of our league.

When we get to the car lot in Charleston, I meet his fiancee’s parents and they seemed like good people to me. Her Dad goes back home (they live about 20 minutes away from where we went) so he can watch Posey’s dog (this dog barks more than any dog in the history of dogs). So, it was me, Pose, Scherri (Posey’s girl), and Scherri’s Mom. We go to Fazoli’s to eat. I’ve heard of the place, but should have never went. It’s a fast food Italian joint. Yes, you read that right. Those two words should never go together. I’ll try anything usually once, so I figured I’d see what the hype was about. Posey couldn’t even eat his he hated it so bad. Mine wasn’t THAT awful, but I’m used to some good Italian food up here. I guess we’re spoiled. I got a platter of lasagna (was good), spaghetti (not that great), and fettuccini (pretty bad) as well as a salad (this was real good) and some breadsticks (good too). Overall, it’s not my kind of place, but I got full enough, so it’s good times. And props to Scherri’s Mom for buying me lunch. I hate when people buy me lunch as I feel like a bum, but I gotta respect that one. This woman didn’t even know me, yet still bought my lunch. Not too shabby at all. This is Reason #574 why people down South (even if it’s not that far down you can tell a difference) aren’t punks like people up here.

Then we go to the mall to hang for a while. Posey was ready to have a heart attack when he found out they had a Starbucks there. So he hit that one up. I’m not a coffee guy at all usually, but tried a drink of some Carmel Frap or something he got. I'll take your word on the name of that thing Aly, since you're the #1 Starbucks customer in the world. Ugh, it was disgusting. I must be missing out on the Starbucks craze. Like $6 for a cup of this junk. Maybe I’ll get something one day that I’ll like, who knows. I wanted to go to the mall for a store called Steve and Barry’s. It’s a college sports store that specializes in selling clothes for CRAZY cheap. I got two hoodies at $7.95 a piece (one of Ohio U because it was written in green and I liked that and the other was an All-American football hoodie). I also got a Notre Dame varsity jacket for $7.95. Are you kidding me at these prices? You guys need to hit this up if you already haven’t. Then I got a new teacher bag for like $5.95 and it’s perfect for what I need as a carry pack. I gotta have somewhere to carry my fantasy NBA information or my GameCube while I’m working hard this fall. Like I have actual teaching stuff to carry, yeah right.

Steve & Barry’s University Sportswear: http://steveandbarrys.com/flash.html



I get home around 4:30 and immediately take a nap. I wanted to wake back up at 7:00, just in time for the Yankees game against the A’s on ESPN. I got to see Esteban Loaiza’s Yanks debut, which wasn’t pretty. He’ll get it going though, but the main thing is that we played well to comeback in his sake. We were down 6-4 in the Bottom of the 9th and pulled a video game EPIC ending with Sheffield cracking a 2-run blast to send it to extra innings. Then in the Bottom of the 11th, we do it again. This time, A-Rod saves the day and wins in dramatic fashion with a homer to send the A’s back to their locker room crying. Also, Boston got beat too, but it doesn’t matter as they probably won’t even make the Wild Card, let alone win the American League East. As Stephen A Smith would say, “It’s ovaahhhhh!” Today, we were on yet again, this time for an afternoon game against those same pesky A’s. We had injury prone Kevin Brown get his 9th win of the season with only one loss to go with that. Also, Grandpa Olerud went 3-3, as he’s doing an awesome job filling in for Parasite Giambi. Let’s hope this keeps up. Our weekend series begins tomorrow against the Blue Jays in what will go down to be a 4-game series, ending Monday. After that, we begin a 9-game road trip.

My internet partner in crime will be at the beach this week, starting tonight. Cork is rolling to Myrtle Beach, so I’ll have to hold things tight here in West Virginia without him. I’m sure he won’t miss a thing though. He’s bummed about missing our fantasy football draft on Sunday, but at least he’ll still have a team, as he’s got his players ranked through Yahoo to automatically select. Speaking of the football league, I’m getting jacked up for this one. We have 14 guys in the league this year and our draft is Sunday night at 8:00. It should be competitive as always. I’m in two NFL leagues this year, so I should have all kinds of football action in the works. Rumor has it that ManDingo is starting a college football fantasy league somehow. Details to come soon, but that can’t be a bad league if he’s running it. My fantasy magazine this year is Fantasy Football Pro Forecast with Priest Holmes on the cover. Fantasy mags are getting pricey nowadays, but they’re worth it. Mine was $8.



Cork loaded me up with CDs like mad today. We go in streaks. One week, I’ll go crazy and burn a lot and the next he’ll catch up and vice versa. What gets added to the collection today? I’ll tell ya. A lot of these aren’t even out in stores yet, so not too bad of a deal at all getting early copies. I'll end today's post with what Cork added to the growing list. They include:

50/50 Twin: Grown Man Style (I love this one just for the album name alone; came out August 3rd in stores)

Boot Camp Clik: The Chosen Few (2002)

Crime Mob: Crime Mob (Self-titled album featuring the single out now, Knuck If You Buck with Lil Scrappy; came out Aug 3rd)

Jim Jones: Ambitions Of A Gangsta (Member of The Diplomats)

Luniz: Lunatik Muzik (Oakland based rappers featuring Yukmouth; buddies with Dru Down)

Mobb Deep: Amerikaz Nightmare (Queensbridge rappers who have been in the game for a while; comes out Aug 24th)

Shyne: Godfather Buried Alive (NY rapper recently out of jail; comes out Aug 10th)

Young Buck: Straight Outta Ca$hville (Member of G-Unit; comes out Aug 24th)