Sports

Mike Goes To The Bears Game and Makes Some Friends And Then Graphically Describes Hatred.

Posted in Sports on December 1st, 2008 by Mike Fotis – 2 Comments

Happy Monday. I trust you all had a decent, if not very good, holiday.

1. Fuck you, Bears.  I went to the game last night, and while I will freely admit that the Vikings played very well, The Bears’ inability to catch balls down field when they were wide open also probably played a role in the game’s outcome.

Anyway, onto the fun stuff.

The Miller High Life guy sang the National Anthem. It was terrible, but it felt really American in a completely gross, marketed way.

The commercial break contests were great fun! The keg race was awesome.

Last year, as some of you might know, a few of us got into a verbal tussle with a group of hillbilly-ish Vikings fans, in particular a mother daughter duo who shared beer and cigarettes. It got more than a little heated and I’m pretty sure that most of us felt a little bit of guilt about things that were said.

Well guess who sat in front of us again this year? Apologies (kind of. More of a truce) were had and things went pretty well with mom and daughter. There was no more hatred to be spewed. There was no point in looking back. We would just ignore each other. Which worked until the end of the game, when the daughter was too drunk to remember the terms of our agreement and made fun of us in the most adorably inept way.

The fellas sitting behind us were tons of fun to shoot the shit with. They knew the game, and harbored no fantasies that they were part of the team.  And aside from the creepiness factor, there was a certain charm to the weird guy who every four or five plays, would leave his seat a few rows in front of us and come and  talk to me.  “Talk” isn’t the right word.  He more just stated facts at me, like “The Vikings have lost 4 super bowls” or, “My wife…she’s sitting right there…is a Vikings fan. But not me. I like the Bears…and Packers…And the Vikings are okay. Do you like stuff?”

Really, the only people that annoyed me were this alcoholic middle aged couple.  After a Bear’s cheap shot, the middle aged man, whose real shame is not that he’s an alcoholic, but that he feeds his beast with Mike’s Hard Lemonade, turned to us and screamed, “You know that was bullshit! You know it! Bullshit! You guys are dirty!”  He wanted us to apologize for the hit, but we stood by our argument that we were not on the Bear’s coaching staff and under no obligation to apologize, an argument which he rejected.  Thank God, the ensuing  MHL’s  that he downed dampened his fervor.

As for his wife, what is the best way to describe her? Maybe as the person in your office that nobody likes because she’s snarky and is in no way a decent human being to those around her?  Here’s why I say that, after being accused of orchestrating the late hit on Gus Ferrotte, we did everything in our power to ignore this couple.  They were just annoying, and were hoping to take the problems in their marriage and transfer them onto us for an evening.  Fine. People do that all the time. Whatever. The thing is, she kept trying to goad us into fights, at one point staring us down and screaming, “I know the rules of football!” , clearly hoping that one of us would scream back, “No you don’t! Girls don’t know nothin! No get out of this stadium and make us a pie!” at which point her limp dick husband would remember that at one point in his life he loved (at least liked) his wife and would defend her honor.
We didn’t take the bait and she never got to see her husband let her down.  You think I’m being a dick, but she truly, truly sucked.

Anyway, the moral of the story is this: A good time was had by all.

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Previews Recap and Goodbye Kerry Wood.

Posted in Plugs, Sports on November 17th, 2008 by Mike Fotis – 4 Comments

Happy Monday!

1. Preview week at the BNW is over. Well, that’s not entirely true. There’s one more left on Thursday, the day before opening, but the truth is by the time that preview goes up, 99% of the show is complete. So in a way, I hesitate to even call it a preview mainly because the chance of failure and misery is so very slim. Let’s refer to it as the “almost opening”.

As for this weekend, I wasn’t surprised by the audience reaction to my stuff as I was reminded yet again, that my humor is an acquired taste and one that doesn’t necessarily resonate with…people.  As for the show on the whole however,  I was caught off guard by what the audience liked and didn’t like. Normally, I have a pretty good gauge for that stuff, but for this run my “audience-tron 550″ was a little off.  So, stuff I thought was pretty solid is probably gone and stuff i wasn’t sure about hit HUGE.  After doing this for a while, it was kind of nice to be surprised.*

Each preview was met with wild enthusiasm and I’m pretty sure a statue is being erected for Lauren Anderson, who in her comic brilliance, essentially put the crowd into a comedy coma**(***), with everything she did. I would come to this show is all I’m saying.

2. Kerry Wood is no longer a Cub. Most people will look back at his career and see it as something of a tragedy. Hall of Fame talent, that got wrung through the injury grindhouse. And there certainly is that angle. There’s no denying it. But he will always be one of my favorite Cubs, because he never complained about his lot, kept the game in perspective and frankly turned himself into one hell of a closer.

I was always impressed by him.  Good luck!

*I believe firmly in the show over the individual and kind of hate myself for starting off this paragraph talking about myself, but what are you gonna do?  Sometimes, all the editing in the world still yields narcissism, despite best intentions. Give me a break.

**You might think I’m trying to garner favor with this, but let me assure you, if there’s one person who I know for sure doesn’t read this blog, it’s Lauren.

(***)Everyone in this show deserves a statue. Whew. Dodged a bullet! By lying.****

****Just kidding.

Mike

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Fuck You, Cubs

Posted in Sports, Uncategorized on October 6th, 2008 by Mike Fotis – 1 Comment

Happy Monday.

1. The Cubs were swept in the first round of the MLB playoffs. In other words, they choked. They managed something like 6 runs for the entire series. I can’t even put into words how I feel right now. I know I can’t wtch anymore baseball for the year. It just hurts too much. I feel like I got dumped ad ever saw it coming. I expected to go on several more dates with this girl. In fact, I thought she might be the one. But then, out of nowhere, she calls, says it’s over and changes her number and address, just to be sure that the break off is complete and final.

Fucking Cubs. And don’t give me any of that “loveable losers” bullshit. That’s a cute moniker for non fans.

2. In brighter news, I’m in Missouri visiting my nephew! Woo hoo! He’s the best.  I drove through the entirety of Iowa to get here.  It’s literally a 300+ mile straight shot. Additionally about every 50 miles or so, public radio would start over and I’d be forced to listen to Prarie  Home…again. Over and over. it was awful.

Byee!

Mike

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Creature Feature Starts Tonight! (and other stuff)

Posted in Oleo, Plugs, Sports on October 2nd, 2008 by Mike Fotis – 7 Comments

Happy Thursday!

1. Holy crap! The creepiest improv show in the Twin Cities starts tonight! 10pm! BNW! But wait, did you know this show is a double bill, also featuring the talents of Survivors Of The Undead Plague? And wait, did you know that I’m playing with the Survivors throughout the run of Creature Feature? Holy smokes! Hope to see you there.

2. In order to mentally prepare for tonight’s show, I’ll be watching the Cubs in game 2 of the NLDS. If you watched last night (Anyone?) you fully understand how watching a Cubs game is great prep for horror comedy. Come on Zambrano! We need you, you crazy crazy motherfucker.

3. I’m watching the final season of The Wire and I am an emotional wreck. So much death. So little-but poignant when it happens-redemption. So much newsroom/street/cop drama. I’m just going to say it, The Wire is my favorite show ever.  What’s your favorite show? Let’s argue!

Mike

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Sorry guys.

Posted in Sports on October 1st, 2008 by Mike Fotis – Be the first to comment

Happy Wednesday.

1. I’m sorry Twins fans, I truly am. This may sound hollow coming from this die hard Cubber, but you have to remember, I grew up in hard core White Sox territory.  Seeing them succeed brings me right back to the days of being harassed because my favorite team wasn’t graced with the presence of baseball immortality, like Frank Thomas and Jack (blackjack) McDowell.  God, those days really shaped the miserable bastard I am today.

2. Hey! Nothing says, economic security like a bailout know one wants, huh? I was having trouble grasping how something so large could affect me. I mean, 700 billion dollars? That’s like 700 billion McDonald’s cheeseburgers, you know?

Luckily, my car broke down last night. I’m sure when I get the bill the reality of my financial situation in relation to the Country’s will become much clearer. Man, I’m hoping I’m crying wolf and my car needs nothing more than a hug.

3. Finally….GO CUBS! GO CUBS! GO CUBS!

4. Can anyone drive me to a bar that will be playing the game?

Mike

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