Tag Archives: YA blog

Farmer in the Dell? More like “Farmer in Hell.” Farmer eaten by his own hogs?? OMG!

Humor Post #78 from the world’s Crankiest Curmudgeon’s Middle School Blog (and probably the awesomest YA blog too) –

I can get pretty negative at times. Okay, very negative. But every so often I read stuff that makes me glad I’m alive. Or at least I’m alive and not having the awful luck some people seem to have. But today’s news goes way beyond that. Thank you, Lord, for not letting this happen to me. A farmer went to feed his hogs somewhere in Oregon. When he didn’t show up after a while, people went to look for him. All they found in the hog pen were his dentures!!

You can read about it here.

I know there’ll be jokes all over the internet like the animals going “hog wild” or the hogs were no doubt making a preemptive strike, but hey, I eat bacon and I know I have hog farmers to thank for getting it to me. So I feel bad for that guy and his family.

Nothin’ else to say. Have a good day, everyone, and let people around you know you appreciate them. You never know what’s around the next bend.

From your reformed (for today, at least) grouch,
The Dude with the ‘Tude,
Dr. Crankenfuss

These stupid quotes will make you feel like you’re a genius!

Humor Post #75 from the world’s Crankiest Curmudgeon’s Middle School Blog (and probably the awesomest YA blog too) –

Crankenfuss is CRANKY, people. He can’t think o’ nuttin’ to complain about today. What the heck is the world coming to? Well, actually I could, but I don’t wanna. I think I’ll be positive for a change. So today I’m giving you 10 of the dumbest things anybody has ever said. I found these all over the web and I made sure I found every one of them at least twice. That’s the best I can do to find out if they’re true. I could try to contact everyone quoted, but some of them are dead, the others don’t know me, and I’m pretty sure nobody’s going to write back to some twit who’s asking them, “Are you as stupid as this quote makes you look?” and say, “Oh yeah, I said that. I’m as dumb as a rock who gets F’s in rock school.”

And even if these quotes (and the people who said them) are pretty pathetic, at least you can say, “Hey, my life ain’t so bad.” At least I’m not as dumb as this knuckle-dragger.”

So here they are in no particular order, ten really dumb quotes:
1) “We’re going to turn this team around 360 degrees.” (Jason Kidd when he was first drafted out of college to the NBA)
2) “The streets are safe in Philadelphia. It’s only the people who make them unsafe.” (Frank Rizzo, the dumb mayor of Philadelphia a long time ago)
3) “Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.” (Brooke Shields, actress)
4) “Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.” (Marion Barry, another dumb mayor, but this time of Washington, D.C.)
5) “I’m keeping an eye out for those Americans.” (Osama bin Laden. Actually, I just made that one up. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.)
6) “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” (President George W. Bush, talking about education)
7) “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” (Joe Theismann, former star NFL quarterback, but he was no Norman Einstein)
8) “I’ve been up and down so many times that I feel as if I’m in a revolving door.” (Cher, famous singer and actress)
9) “I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.” (former Vice-president Dan Quayle. There’s lots of dumb quotes on the web by him. Some of them gotta be true, wouldn’t you think?)
10) “I wished the buck did stop here. I could use a few.” (Dr. Crankenfuss, world renowned sage. Okay, I admit I stole this one, but I really did make up #6.)

That’s it for today, oh posse of mine.
Till later, it’s your Dude with the ‘Tude,
Dr. Crankenfuss

Baseball Managers Fake It Almost As Much As Pro Wrestlers

Humor Post #73 from the world’s Crankiest Curmudgeon’s Middle School Blog (and probably the awesomest YA blog too) –

I was watching ESPN’s Sports Center the other night and they had this great video collection of baseball managers blowing up at umpires. There were a lot of red-faced conniptions going on, but some took it way farther than that. Kicking dirt on the umps, throwing bats, tearing bases out of the ground, you name it, they were doing it. There’s this guy Wally Backman on some Georgia team who is famous on YouTube for having a mouth dirtier than a bus station bathroom. I’d put the link here but I don’t want to get in trouble with any parents who might be reading this. They could sic the cops on me for corrupting minors or something.

Anyway, near the end of this ESPN show — and I have to say it was pretty hilarious —  Crankenfuss had a brainstorm. Mightier than a hurricane, you can be sure. Here it is. I’m almost positive the managers are mostly acting!! You know, like pro wrestlers. Now I know a lot of people think wrestling is real, but there are a lot of people out there who claim Elvis sings to them at night. Live!! Folks, the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. Anyway, even the wrestlers admit they’re faking it, at least some of them. Oh, I don’t doubt they get hurt. (Getting belted in the head by a chair would cause a little discomfort, don’t ya think?) It’s obvious they’re super tough. It’s just that they know who’s going to win ahead of time. I mean if someone stomped on your neck with all his weight, I think they’d have to peel your neck off the mat. But those guys get that done to them all the time and they don’t die. They always seem to keep on fighting.

In a word, wrestlers E–X–A–G–G–E–R–A–T–E everything. They exaggerate their moves, their pain, their anger, their meanness toward each other. If they did’t, how could they go to the same locker room after a brutal match and not kill each other back there?

The Crank is getting off topic again. Too much chocolate or ADHD, one or the other. Back to baseball managers and their E–X–A–G–G–E–R–A–T–I–O–N–S. How come it’s only baseball bosses who go nuts like that? I watch tons of sports. I never see a football coach throw a football at a referee’s or get up his face, spit flying out of this mouth. Or how about basketball coaches. They wear zillion dollar suits, at least in the pros, and act very professionally. If they say something nasty and the ref hears it, they get hit with a technical foul and the other team gets free throws. In other words, their team GETS HURT when they act up. NOT IN BASEBALL. Nothing happens to the team at all when the manager throws a hissy fit.

Warning alert: New Crankenfuss brainstorm. It probably all starts with the fact that baseball managers dress up in baseball uniforms. How stupid is that? Do basketball coaches dress in shorts and sneakers? Football coaches in helmets and pads? Gimme a break! The managers are already playing make-believe so they just take it all the way. Now I admit I could be wrong about this, amazing as that sounds. I’ll admit it when you show me another sport where the managers/coaches do the same type stuff as often as those baseball guys.

Until then Dr. Crankenfuss thinks there’s something very fishy about those whacked out managers. Maybe there should be some kind of acting award for those performances.

Just sayin’.

From Your Dude with the ‘Tude,
The Doctor

You want better Olympic events? Let’s start with tug-of-war, then move on to hip hop dancing.

Humor Post #72 from the world’s Crankiest Curmudgeon’s Middle School Blog (and probably the awesomest YA blog too) –

Just a few thoughts today on what I think should replace some of the silly sports in the Olympics that few of us care about. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just have a look at my post from a few days back. In no particular order, here are some new events that I am POSITIVE would bring scads of new viewers to Olympic broadcasts.

1) Tug-of-war. We’ll start with an oldie-but-goodie. Tug-of-war actually used to be an Olympic sport like 100 years ago. Well, Crankenfuss says, “Bring that baby back.” While most people can’t tell you anything about how to score synchronized swimming technique, everyone knows how to figure out who wins tug-of-war. The guys who drag their opponents over that line as the losers are wimpering and crying for their mamas. Men’s, women’s, hey, why not the under 2’s. Man, that would be sweet.

2) Dog tricks. Hey, while most everyone who competes in dressage, which is also known as “horse ballet” — editorial comment: GAG!! — is no doubt rich, even a poor guy can train a dog. The dog trick competition would make the Olympics truly democratic. Yes, the border collies would probably have an advantage, but I’ve seen them at rescue places so it’s not like they wouldn’t be available. Everyone loves Letterman’s stupid pet trick pieces so I’m sure it would be the same in the Olympics. And we could throw in dog frisbee too.

3) The world’s funniest videos. That show has been on since like Roman times and I still laugh at it all the time. And those are just the American ones. You don’t think they couldn’t come up with some funny ones from, say, Japan. I’ve seen some of their game shows; those guys are whacked. All you need is an IPhone or a Droid and you’re set and you can get them all over the world.

4) Olympic Wipeout. Always a tv winner in my book. People falling into mud baths and getting fish thrown at them (or spaghetti) or getting jiggled to death by some death machine. What’s not to like?

5) Okay, some of the ones above might be frowned upon by a few of you. But who can really disagree with the next one: DANCESPORT. Yeah, you heard me right: DANCING. Look who keeps winning on Dancing with the Stars — ex pro athletes. They certainly think it’s cool to dance. And the Winter Olympics already has ice skating and — get ready for this — ICE DANCING! Oh, so it’s okay to dance on ice, but not on a floor. Gimme a break. I don’t care how many categories they have. They could have waltz and quickstep for the old people and hip hop and crunk for the young dudes like yours truly. C’mon, if they have BMX cycling in the Olympics now, how much longer can they keep out salsa or hip hop? Huge ratings, here we come.

I have more ideas, but no more time right now. Gotta go, never be slow, make some dough, maybe buy a chateau, make the big show, that be me, yo. That would be
Your Dude with the ‘Tude,
Dr. Crankenfuss
Peace out. Word. And whatever else works.

Do you want your country to be world’s Olympic champion? Then learn how to row, shoot, and judo chop.

Humor Post #71 from the world’s Crankiest Curmudgeon’s Middle School Blog (and probably the awesomest YA blog too) –

As I was saying… uh, yeah, it was about all those puddle-headed Olympic sports we have to suffer through in the next two weeks. First, let it not be said that Crankenfuss doesn’t appreciate the Olympics. Hey, any day with sports on a channel (here it’s NBC… obviously) all day long is better than a day filled with knuckle-dragging game shows where the audience is screaming, “Ask for a vowel, Ricky!” or “A $5,000,000 price is right for that new electric race car! Tell Drew that!”

But a whole bunch of these Olympic sports don’t exactly capture my full attention, ya know. And why is that? Cause I don’t pay any attention to them the rest of the year either. Just today I checked to see what’s on NBC for the day. Here you go: Starting at 10:00 AM, it’s… ya ready for this? Maybe you better sit down in case you get a bit woozy with anticipation.
Swimming,
Beach Volleyball,
Volleyball,
Water Polo,
Rowing,
Canoeing.
Hmm, let’s see. Swimming’s great, but after that I’m not exactly wetting my undies with excitement. Beach volleyball is cool, I admit, and anybody’s gotta appreciate — well, guys at least — a bunch of babes in skimpy little two piece bathing suits cavorting around in the sand? What’s not to like? But hey, c’mon, don’t you think that’s exactly the reason the Olympic guys added beach volleyball? I mean, how popular a sport is it? Uh, outside California and Florida (and Hawaii?), probably not very. But girls going wild in bikinis? “Hoo boy, the Olympics are right there, baby! Gonna sell a lot of beer and car ads with stuff like that, aren’t we?” the GIC’s (Guys in Charge) crow to each other as they high-five each other.

And not to be to big a party pooper on volleyball — well, okay, somebody’s gotta say it — the thing gets kinda gets boring after the first two hours or so. About 80% of the points go like this: 1) someone stops the incoming shot (sometimes with a great diving save) and bops it to guy/girl #2. Then #2 sets up #3 with a high, soft lob. And then of course, #3 spikes the @#$%^&@# out of the ball and the whole thing repeats itself. That’s it. Over and over and over for forever, it seems. I only need a couple games before I actually consider going outside and getting some exercise of my own.

Water polo? Where do I go to play that around here? Yeah, you got that right. Not a great number of youth teams to choose between, that’s for sure. How did this sport become Olympic worthy?

And finally for my day’s entertainment, we have rowing and canoeing. Oh, joy! Lemme see, which would I rather watch: basketball or rowing? Not a very tough decision. And how about this? In basketball, there are — count ’em — two gold medals, one for the men, one for the women. And for rowing/kayaking/canoeing, how many do you think they have? 5, 10, even 15? Wrong, wrong, and wrong. There are 30 events in those “sports.”

30???

So the Olympics are telling me if your country has the best women’s and men’s basketball teams in the world — and notice that I put women first. Hey, I’m a modern kind of dude — you can earn two gold medals. But if you really want to bring home the bacon, get everyone in your country rowing or kayaking or canoeing starting say at age two and you can have a great start at winning the whole Olympics. At last count, I believe 30 beats 2.

In fact, for a complete picture, here’s a page from Wikipedia, my always favorite source of info on the net, that shows how many medals come for ever sport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_events
Study this page like I did and I think you’ll agree that here’s what you do to win the Olympics, baby!
You encourage everyone in your country to get good at one of these events:
rowing/kayaking/canoeing (30 events),
Judo (14 events),
and Shooting (15 events).
That’s 59 events in all, 177 medals in all (gold, silver, bronze). Hey, you have a great chance to be #1 in the whole wide world! Heck, even countries like Andorra and Luxembourg would have a fightin’ chance with a national program like the one I’m proposing. And while those rowing things might not be that attractive to every kid, especially the four or five year olds, ooh, judo and shooting… why, that’ll get most all the little guy dudes into trying to be Olympic champs.

And all thanks to Crankenfuss, your country can be #1 in the world!

Why haven’t our Presidential candidates talked about this? Just one more reason Dr. Crankenfuss should be a senior advisor to all sorts of people who want to succeed.

And to think all this comes to you for free.
What a great world we live in.

From Your Dude with the ‘Tude,
Dr. Crankenfuss