Category Archives: Sports

Sporting events, teams, and hobbies

Losing a bet might get your name changed?

March 10, 2014 hugolycious

This is a good one. Figured I’d share to make you laugh a little and to remind you that you should never make silly bets when drunk!

A Dunedin man has changed his name to the longest legally allowed, after apparently losing a bet five years ago.

The 22-year-old man from Normanby is now legally known as ‘Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Newname Combined With Frostnova’ – just one character shy of Department of Internal Affairs’ (DIA) 100 character limit.

A message on an online body building forum, written by someone describing themselves as a friend of the man, said the name change was the result of a lost poker bet and the man realised his drunken consequences only when his passport expired.

DIA Births Deaths and Marriages spokesman Michael Mead said the change of name was registered in March 2010.

The name met the requirements of naming rules and the applicant paid the fee and completed the form correctly, he said.

Mr Frostnova could change his name again any time by completing the form correctly and paying the $127 fee, Mr Mead said. The process takes around eight days.

Under Birth Deaths and Marriages rules, new names must consist of one surname, and one or more other names, unless religious, philosophical beliefs or cultural traditions require the applicant to have only one name – in which case the applicant is required to provide a letter of explanation.

Names may not be accepted if they cause offence to a reasonable person, are unreasonably long, or without adequate justification include or resemble an official title or rank.

In 2008, Family Court Judge Rob Murfitt publicly criticised some parents’ choice of names, after he ordered that a girl named Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii be taken into court custody so she could change her name.

Names can also not include numbers or symbols.

Rejected names in recent years include Majesty, King, Knight, Princess, Justice, Anal, V8, 89, Mafia No Fear, Lucifer, full stop and *.

In 2007, a New Zealand couple tried to name their child 4Real Superman but were turned down because it contained a digit.

They settled instead for just Superman and continued to call the child 4Real unofficially.

Credit to New Zealand Herald – Click here – to see article.

Food, General, Sports

Superbowl Fun Facts…

January 31, 2014 hugolycious

Big money
Just how much money can a Super Bowl bring to an area? Try $150 million! That includes all the money spent by fans, sponsors, media and other visitors in the Indianapolis area last year. Cha-ching!

Are you ready for some … food?
Make sure you pick up some extra bleu cheese dressing to dip the 1.23 billion chicken wings fans will be eating on Sunday. That actually adds up to more than 100 million pounds of chicken wings.

Hey buddy, can you spare a job?
In the past 20 years, 17 Super Bowls have been won by the team that hails from the city with the lower unemployment rate.

Healthy lifestyle? Vegetables at a Super Bowl party? That’s right! In fact, the healthy treat is the top food eaten in homes during Super Bowl. Of course, we all know they taste better when someone brings some dip.

Stay home
When it comes to watching the Super Bowl, nine out of 10 watchers are going to be at a home — either their house or someone else’s. That’s a lot of Super Bowl parties.

Make it delivery Some people have to work on Super Bowl Sunday, including the Domino’s Pizza delivery guys. The company estimates that it will deliver 11 million pieces of pizza to hungry viewers.

Worth the gamble?
Betting on the Super Bowl? You bet! Nearly one-third of U.S. adults are likely to bet on the big game with men outnumbering women who decide to put some cash on the line. But be warned: 92% of those surveyed said they’ve actually lost money gambling on the Super Bowl in the past.

I dip, you dip, we dip
Dips are a favorite among Super Bowl snackers with 32% saying they plan on eating some form of the snack. Whether it’s spinich dip for veggies or cheese dip for chips, it’s not a true Super Bowl without the dip.

Where to go?
What would you give up to actually go to the Super Bowl? A vacation would be skipped by 23 percent of those surveyed, followed by an important work responsibility (21%), the wedding of a close friend or family member (20%), the funeral of a loved one (19%) and the birth of a child (15%).

Chomping on chips It takes lots of spuds to make the 11.2 million pounds of potato chips that fans will be munching on in front of the television during the big game. But all those chips come with a price. Those many bags of chips will account for 27 billion calories and 1.8 billion grams of fat. Those grams of fat all up, too — it’s equal to four million pounds of fat nationally. Maybe the veggies aren’t a bad idea.

Holy guacamole
What goes well with chips? Guacamole! That would explain the 8 million pounds of avocados football fans will be mashing up to dip their chips in.

It’s a dog’s life
Hot diggity dog! That’s what fans said in 2009 when 55,200 hot dogs were served at the stadium in Tampa Bay when it hosted Super Bowl XLIII. But there’s no word on which condiments fans preferred.

Take out
It’s not just the pizza delivery guys who will be ringing doorbells. It turns out that roughly 48 million Americans will order takeout or delivery food from a restaurant instead of cooking up grub at home.

Turn on the TV
You won’t be alone if you’re watching the Super Bowl on TV. Of the 10 most-watched programs in U.S. television history, nine of them are Super Bowls. In fact, last year’s Super Bowl tops the list with a whopping 111.3 million viewers. The rematch of the Giants and Patriots claimed the top spot from the previous year’s Super Bowl between the Packers and Steelers that brought in 111 million.

Keep it poppin’
It’s going to take a big microwave to pop up the 3.8 million pounds of popcorn fans will be munching on. Let’s hope your house doesn’t smell like burnt popcorn the next day.

Snack attack
Unfortunately, all those snacks add up. The average fan will consume 1200 calories and 50 grams of fat from snacks. And yes, that’s just snacks and not meals on the big day.

Beer sales
All that food needs to be washed down with something. Will you be picking up one of the 51.7 million cases of beer sold to quench Super Bowl fans?

Not your normal fare
Some fans will be including some not-so-normal football fare for their Super Bowl spread, including apple slices, macaroni and cheese, and Chinese food on the list of what they’re serving.

Pretzels
The salty Super Bowl treat will be served up in enough homes and bars to equal 4.3 million pounds consumed by fans.

Grilling time
Get your jacket and scarf ready because Super Bowl Sunday is the most popular grilling day of winter with 62% of owners firing up the grill — even if it means they have to shovel a path to get to it.

It’s getting nutty
Football fans are nuts for nuts. Whether it’s peanuts, cashews, pistachios or any other nuts, 2.5 million pounds of the salty snack will make its way to our snack tables.

Tortilla Chips
It’s not just potatoes that get the chip love. Tortilla chips also get some respect at the Super Bowl snack table with 8.2 million pounds of them consumed by fans.

Gluttony
No matter how much we eat, it’s going to be quite a feast. In fact, the Super Bowl is the second highest day of food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving.

A day later
Don’t worry if you feel a little sick after your gluttonous partying. Antacids sales are expected to increase 20% on the day after Super Bowl. So at least you can commiserate with others.

Sports, Stories

Dedicated to Boston…

April 16, 2013 hugolycious 1 Comment

“It’s sad that our children will never feel the safety we felt when we were kids” – Tom Brokow

This quote resonated in my mind last night when I was watching the news about the tragedy in Boston. It’s such a simple but true statement. We can’t take our children to a sporting event, a parade, a show, or any public event without having fear of something tragic happening. It’s so sad that we live in one of the most powerful countries in the world and yet we are powerless to the evil around us.

Those of you that know me have heard me joke around about wanting to move back to Sydney, Australia where my family and I had the opportunity to live for 2 years. I seriously would move back there in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. Not so much for me, but for my family. I am not saying that Sydney has no faults or is free of terror, but life there reminded me more of what it was like here when I was a kid. The safety I felt as a kid still resonates there and life is calmer and you get the sense of peace. It’s possible that the reason for this may be the fact that Australia’s total population is equal to the population of the state of Florida and terrorists have no interest in doing small damage to non-westerners. Nonetheless, peace and safety are still present there, not to mention the fact that it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

I’m still a New Yorker at heart and always will be. I am resilient and I don’t want to give in to the evil terrorists and crazy people who perform these senseless crimes. I stand besides Boston today and feel their pain, pray for their victims and hope for recovery. Yesterday was a harsh reminder of 911 for me as well as many other NYers.

I believe that there is only so much our government and law enforcement can do to restore order. I believe that they do everything within their means to protect us. But I strongly believe that the problem we have in the world is the way we educate and bring up our children. The only way to restore peace is to teach our children to breakdown barriers between nations and religions. Teach them to love by demonstrating love to them each and every day. This must be a world effort and it most likely is a pipe dream but I do continue to have hope that one day the world can achieve that feat.

Lastly, one thing that I notice when tragedy occurs is the how quickly the world responds to help. Everyone forgets about the barriers between nations, the color of your skin, and the religion you follow. People rise and help each other and turn into heroes. Even weeks and months later, you’ll still see people displaying loving acts as simple as giving up a parking space for someone, or lending a helping hand to someone in need. If we could only harness that power and perform these acts everyday we would make this world a better place in an instant. So thank you to all the folks that acted yesterday to help the victims of Boston. I hope that you continue to be heroes every day.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the families…

Sports

Are you ready for your Fantasy Baseball draft?

March 12, 2013 hugolycious

If you play fantasy baseball, you know the feeling.

It’s draft day, and you’re giddy. Yes, its spring, so you’re automatically happier. There is something special about this day.

Today you could be just like the KC Royals (the owner that makes all the wrong decisions) or have as much chance as the NY Yankees (the owner that doesn’t even need the money, but simply flaunts it). On this day, there is promise. You’ve done your homework, you have a pretty good idea how the first round is going to play out, and you’re going to kick some ass.

It’s your year!

I’ve been in a league now since 2002. The league is with the same guys (give or take a few new teams that come and go) and we have had the same format. It’s a 5×5 Rotisserie mixed league. I’ve won the league twice and have cashed a few times but it’s not about the prize money. Of course it helps keep you interested, but with us it’s mostly about bragging rights. Who has the best system for drafting?, who is the best manager throughout the season?, who makes the best trades?, who picks up the best players from the waiver wire? etc.

The best part of our league is the draft. We rent out a section of a bar in lower Manhattan and we all come with our laptops, iPads, Cheat Sheets, and highlighters prepared to draft our teams. We have some nice food prepared for us, we have the NCAA Tourney games on the big screens (as we usually do our draft purposely around March Madness because we can’t get enough sports….) and of course the open bar for 5 hours. We even get a draft board that we have set up on the wall to keep visual track of our draft.

The first couple of rounds of the draft go fairly smooth, then it becomes a little chaotic. The screaming and yelling if you take to long to make a pick, the mocking of course is also a big part of the fun. Everyone else’s picks are terrible in your eyes. The worst part of drafting is when you have your eye on a certain player and the guy that drafts before you in the order takes him on the round you wanted him. Wow does that hurt! And it seem to happen so often. The later rounds are critical and are usually the toughest to draft. This is where your homework pays off the most. If you know about that sleeper, or if you got the inside scoop on some last-minute news it could payoff big here.

In the end you look over your team and proudly brag about how good you drafted which starts some early chatter that turns into side bets with other team owners on who will have a better team this year.

Then we all look forward to opening day which not only starts the season off but usually coincides with nice weather, golf rounds, pools opening, and all other outdoor activities we’ve been patiently waiting for.

My draft is on March 22nd this year. Can’t wait!

General, Sports

Millionaires, Billionaires…Trillions?

March 5, 2013 hugolycious

Last night I heard this news:
Joe Flacco (QB Baltimore Ravens) signed his new contract Monday worth $120.6 million over six years. He will receive a $29 million signing bonus, $52 million in guaranteed money and $51 million over the first two years of the deal.

It got me thinking about how many millionaires there are and then how many billionaires there are in the world. I also learned the other day that Mark Zuckerberg lost about 3 Billion of his total net worth this year (according to Forbes). This “Loss” leaves him a mere 13.3 Billion this year. Crazy right?

So I did some research to see how many Billionaires there are in the world, let’s drop the millionaires out of the equation to make this a little simpler. There are currently 1426 Billionaires in the world that have a combined net worth of 5.4 Trillion Dollars.

How much is a Trillion Dollars? Well, it’s easy to say that but do you really know how much money that is? Let me try to explain that with some more research I did on the subject.

Let’s measure a Trillion in numbers
1,000 = one thousand
1,000,000 = one million
1,000,000,000 = one billion
1,000,000,000,000 = one trillion

Let’s Measure a Trillion in Time
If you count backward, then:
1 million seconds = 12 days ago
1 billion seconds = 31 years ago
1 trillion seconds = 30,000 B.C. (1 Trillion seconds is longer than ALL of recorded history)

Let’s Measure a Trillion in Height
If you stack a trillion-worth of $1000 bills together, then:
1 million dollars = 4 inches high
1 billion dollars = 364 feet high
1 trillion dollars = 63 miles high (give or take a foot or two)
Note that this is a STACK, not laid end-to-end.
Also, if you stack one trillion one-dollar bills it would reach 68,000 miles in space!

How Much Is A Trillion Dollars?
If you spent $1 million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born until now, you would only have spent about three-quarters of a trillion.

If you laid one trillion one-dollar bills end to end, it would make a chain from the earth to the moon 200 times. One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, four years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills.

If a person’s salary is $40,000 per year it would take:
25 years to earn $1 Million
25 Thousand years to earn $1 Billion,
25 Million years to earn $1 Trillion

The budget for the entire state of New York is $124 Billion. With just 1 Trillion dollars you could run 8 states the size of NY. The population of California is 34 Million. One Trillion people would equal 29,500 Californias.

One Trillion dollars today would allow you to buy Coca Cola, Apple, IBM, Bank of America, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Motorola, AT&T, as well as Exxon Mobil and still have enough left over to live comfortably on just the interest from the billions left over…not to mention the profits these companies generate.

With one Trillion dollars, you could buy 50 aircraft carriers such as the USS Ronald Reagan and outfit each of them with 45 of the newest fighter jets (the F-22 Raptor) and pay for the crews to run them.

One Trillion barrels of oil would fuel the ENTIRE WORLD for almost 35 years!

So, are you getting the idea now of how much money this is? So think about this concept now. If the 1426 Billionaires joined forces and literally used ALL their money minus say $1 Billion each to keep for themselves, they would be able to do so much good in the world and still have plenty of money left with that 1 billion to not only live comfortably but accommodate their families to live comfortably forever!

It’s probably not right for me to imply that these folks should share their wealth, especially with people who didn’t earn the right to have it. Let’s face it, most of these people earned their money by working for it somehow. I also don’t want to blemish the fact that most of these folks do give away a considerable amount of money to charities and good causes.

I’ll close today by saying that if I ever join the ranks of Billionaire status. I promise that I will launch a campaign with the other members of the elite billionaires club to try to pitch my idea.

Oh, and now we can say “Poor” Joe Flacco is not even a consideration with his measly 100 million dollar contract….

Sports

March Madness

February 24, 2013 hugolycious

Leonardo Aranda takes a gander at who has won in each round since 1985, by ranking, with a color-coded bracket that resembles a stacked area chart.

It’s college basketball time again and friends and co-workers gather around the water cooler to talk top seeds and Cinderellas. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy watching the NCAA tourney. I’m not into the NBA as much anymore because the sport has turned into a commodity. It’s all about the money. The NCAA also is very much about money but the kids that play are truer to the game and not so much about the money. So there is still heart in the game and it makes for interesting and exciting matchups.

Plus, there is less predictability. Contrary to the chart above, there are certain teams that sometimes make a run for it and successfully beat teams that they really had no business beating. I think this simply illustrates the power of the mind. Those successes come from those teams that totally commit to themselves and their desire to achieve greatness. It happens only once every couple of years, but when it does it brings a ton of excitement to the tournament.

I’ll be filling out my bracket(s) again this year and I can tell you that one of my brackets will have some big upsets predicted in the hopes that we have another “Cinderella” team in the making. It makes watching the event much more interesting and you find yourself rooting for that cinderella hard. I hope that this year will be one of those years!

A couple of my early predictions for potential Cinderella greatness – South Dakota State and Montana! (Subject to change as we get closer to the tourney)

Enjoy the tourney and good luck!

Hugolycious