This is a funny one, and it’s 100% true. I’m a big guy, and I have been told on a number of occasions that I “look like” Tony Siragusa aka “The Goose” who was a superbowl champ from the Baltimore Ravens.
I’m not Italian, I’m actually Jewish and (yes) I do have a “similar” build to that of The Goose, barrel-chested if you will. Yes, I did play football in HS, but nothing organized since my fraternity days at the University of MD.
But I tell you that it happens every month.. Somebody asks me if I’ve ever been told this, and how I look “Just Like” Tony Siragusa. I would start to answer and I always end up telling THIS Story (True Story, really).
So a few years back I was visiting my parents who live in Maryland, and we drove into Baltimore’s Little Italy section for dinner, my mom was raving about the veal, and my dad was of course saying that the service was great.
I’m not sure what the name of the restaurant, thats almost not important. I walked in a few steps after my parents, and I hear the Maitre’D that it “was going to be about a 45 minute to 1 hour wait” for a table. My mom was dissapointed, and said “wow, thats a long time, you guys must be busy.” It was Saturday night, the place was packed.
I walk up and put my arm around my mom and said kinda loudly ”hey Ma, whats goin on here” .. in somewhat of a joking manner… and I tell you that what happened next was hysterical. I overheard a busboy saying to the manager “hey boss, that’s him, thats the goose! It’s the goose!”
The manager popped out in front of the Maitre’D and literally pushed him aside and said in a hushed voice “Oh hey, just give me a minute and we’ll get you taken care of..” I replied “sure thing man” and he ran away and started barking orders to the wait staff and that busyboy. They literally scrambled around, tore down a serving station on the side of the dining area, assembled a large table and set it up in about 1 minute flat. Amazing!
I watched all this and held in my laughs, all while my mom was asking me “what’s happening here, what did you do?” .. I could only hush my mother so much, but she understood I was playing something and went along with it.
A few minutes later we were all sat down, literally in front of a bunch of other people, and were served with a smile.
Now, I think it took them a while to realize, as people kept peering out from the kitchen and staring at me and my parents.. that it wasn’t the goose, that I was NOT Tony Siragusa, but we stayed and enjoyed an amazing Italian dinner.
I didn’t sign any autographs or anything, so I can only assume they figured it out. Must be good to be the goose. Heeeyyyy Tony!
The inside joke is… I’m not Italian, but I play one on TV.
It seems like every time I turn on SportsCenter or another sports commentary show on TV, there’s commentary on Tim Tebow..JPG "518px-Tim_Tebow_(Broncos)")
If you’re alive and breathing in the early days of January, you’re going to be bombarded with commercials using the word RESOLUTION every 10 seconds. Yes, this bullshit is going to be on the radio, TV, internet, and everywhere else.
Seriously, if you need to lose weight or quit smoking, do you need to do this any MORE after you just spent the holidays binging on fatty foods, or was it the overindulgence of the season itself? If you need to do ____, then stop yapping about it with friends and just get to it. Stop BSing everyone with your “resolutions” that won’t mean anything come February.
Were you in the corner of the room at the NYE party feeling sad or lonely? Think the only reason why you’re sitting there (drunk and single) is because you’re too fat, dressed funny, or broke? Nope, while that might have contributed to your status, its really your lack of motivation and ability to just make some decisions about your life and stick with it. Once you have this part down, everything else just falls into place. Seriously.
After going through this past Christmas and holiday gift-giving, (mostly for the kids of course), I have wrapped, unwrapped, and added batteries to more toys than I can count.
While 90% of the toys I help my kids “open” this past week were basically put inside these plastic fortresses, there were two exceptions.. and I guess it’s no coincidence that they came from the same company – Marvel. Awesome toys done right!
I read something in the news recently that made me think, and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to comment on the topic. The article I read was about field trips (no, not the road trip with your college buddies), I’m talking about when your junior high or high school takes a class trip for history or social studies – THAT kind of field trip.
I was reading a 
Taking a realistic approach to this debate, I think its only fair to mention that I’ve gotten a few speeding tickets, and it’s been an expensive proposition. Whether you take part of your day to roll the dice with a court appearance, pay a ticket clinic or lawyer to fight your case, or you just pay the fine… ITS EXPENSIVE NO MATTER HOW YOU SLICE IT.
1) I was working a late shift and I took the highway home from work, and the evening commute was moving fast, not too many cars on the road. I’m driving a very modified Ford Mustang, with performance intake, exhaust, etc.. (my car was a fast one). I’m going around 65 mph down the highway, and I get a flash from the headlights of the car coming up behind me. This car was coming hard and fast, so I moved out of the way, into the lane to the right.
There’s one caveat here that think makes sense to mention here, that MOST miami-dade cops aren’t paying much attention to speeders, and unless you rudely pass a cop or do something obviously stupid in front of one on the road, you’re good driving down here in Miami. You almost have to cut and flip off a Miami Cops to get pulled over, so there’s a balance here. If you are driving near my house in Pinecrest, FL, you completely have to watch your speed (they don’t play down here in this SW corner of Miami).
Back to the point here, I’m happy that a cop gets ticketing (and hopefully embarrassed) by another person in law enforcement. It’s common knowledge that “the blue wall” or “blue line” exists, and that cops look out for each other. This really means that cops who are breaking the laws and abusing their positions – their actions are almost always overlooked as a standard; you just don’t bust another cop, do you?
Now, when we talk about these “things” someone will invariably say “hey, hindsight is 20/20…” but that’s all based on the notion that one can’t go back and make a change to make the outcome different. Mentioning the “hindsight” is our way of commiserating with others, letting them know we’ve made mistakes too… not to worry about it. But that’s not really a solution though, it still leaves the bad aftertaste.
easily available, and they’re inexpensive! For a moment, lets all pay attention to the blades alone. You make a small investment into the razor and your shave kit, but it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to refill your kit with fresh blades. Compared to buying a box of the latest Gillette Mach 99 cartridges – that cost about $45 for 5, and unless you are blind, the savings are written on the wall in BIG letters. I spent about $70 total on my shaving kit (I could have spent less), and now I’m set forever!
Knowing what I know now, it makes me think that disposable razors with multiple blades is a whole lotta marketing and hype, and a real ripoff to the consumer. We keep getting hammered with fantastic ads about the “latest and greatest” razors and shaving technology… blah blah blah! All BS! How many blades now? What? A NEW KIND of LUBRICATING STRIP THINGY? No more Tug-and-Pull? WOW! It’s all bs.. we should be smart enough to recognize it for what it really is. The old school way is cheaper and better!
So what do we do now? Well, while the industry is still sitting here with it’s thumbs up there asses, consumers are getting more frustrated, and the music industry should be enough of an example of what happens when consumers get annoyed. Anyone remember Napster? I sure do! The latest incarnation of that for movies is BitTorrent – another way to share and download just about anything, including movies.
While the movie industry hates this, they should realize that consumers don’t want to be lied to or price gouged either. If there is no easy option, most of these former paying customers will do what they can do to watch their movies, using BitTorrent and/or other options available. Keep in Mind… technology is in our hands! We know how to burn DVDs and play them on our home entertainment systems. 
Wonder if these companies will get the message… was losing a million customers a loud enough message?
What was Steve Jobs Real Impact on Technology and Innovation?
The iPad – This had no more technology and processing power than the early tablets. The amount of memory wasn’t any different, so what was the big deal here? WELL… It was easy to use, and it looked alot cooler. It was lighter and less clunky, and here’s the kicker… because of great marketing and all of the small things done to make it “user friendly” .. it was adapted by a broader base of consumers who wanted a bigger version of their already popular and easy-to-use iPhone or iPod. That’s it, there’s the genius right there in a nutshell.
Steve Jobs took failed concepts and products and made them better, he fixed obvious problems and solved common issues which kept these failed products from being accepted and adopted by the masses. He did much of this by banking on his own thoughts and ideas on how things should really work. He did this without the use of focus groups, which many of his competitors rely on heavily to make decisions on everyday products.
So thanks Steve Jobs, even if you didn’t invent or create some of the core concepts for products you sold worldwide…but you did do what you did in a BIG way, and in a way, we all benefited from that innovation. I know my friend Ian is happy with his Motorola Atrix 4G phone that runs on an Android OS. In a roundabout way, I think we have Steve Jobs (in part) to thank for that.