connoisseur series500

I was busy all day and I come back to check the threads and WOW! What stories! I particularly liked Dan's about the yellowjackets. Imagine waking up to see all those dead bodies all around. And the one about the big spider in Hong Kong. That reminds me.... I stayed in a house for 6-8 months outside of Bangkok in the suburbs before actually moving into the city. This house like many in Thailand is raised on sticks to avoid the annual floods. I used to hang out under the house, which would be the equivalent of a big patio with the house above you. My bathroom was a bathhouse with the latrine something you were to squat on and flush by tossing bowls of water into it. The water was frigging cold every morning as there was no hot water at all. I remember that I would come back in the evenings half-drunk from the partying and I would stumble into this bathhouse with bugs flying about in the air attracted by the lights. The air was always sticky and humid. I remember encountering a big spider in the bathhouse. It looked huge to me and I think it must have been some large species of wolf spider or something. Anyway, it scared the piss out of me. I would walk up to that damned bathhouse and open the door with a broom handle or something in order to check it out befor going in for my shower. A shower consisted of tossing bowls of water (same procedure as the flush) from water accumulated in a big recepticle. I don't remember the details as to how I got rid of that spider, but it made my life miserable. Incidentally, being the "scorpion expert" that I am, I was never able to find a scorpion in Thailand. The floods make it uninhabitable for them in Bangkok, though I've been told that you can find them in the jungles of Southern Thailand. I remember vacationing in Cancun and I had no problem finding scorpions there. They were all over. Stories of snakes to follow.

No Pats fan really liked Bledsoe anyway ... so how can he be overrated? Good point. But the media seems to throw themselves all over this guy. He's a good person and impressed a lot of people with his character when he was benched in favor of Tom Brady. I think the media just likes him.

Jazz singer, John Hendricks is also from Toledo. Still performs here as well.

Don't know where the ideas for these threads pop up, but it suddenly occurred to me that I've had quite a few strange encounters with exotic animals over the years. Much of this is probably due to that fact that I've spent 22 years of my life in Tropical Third World countries. I'll start off with bug bites. As a kid, I would walk into wasp nests constantly. There was a lot of "bush" around where I lived and I explored quite a bit. I would work my way through a small bush where a nest was housed then I would soon be overwhelmed by an angry horde of wasps. I remember another time when I felt the sharp sting from a wasp on the side of my neck. In anger, I pushed my shoulder against my neck for an excruciating 30 seconds as I crushed the insect in a death grip. That probably wasn't very smart as the thing was able to continue stinging me for some time. As a kid in Jamaica, I would also run over scorpions. I was stung at least two different times. The second time barely affected me as I had developed some immunities. We had those ugly things crawling on the walls of our house, or hiding in shoes in the closet. Neither of my sisters were stung. I just asked for it, I guess. I remember looking for them by lifting up boxes in the garage. Underneath those boxes I would invariably find a couple of them as they would scramble off to find another shelter. We would take the mop handle and crush them as the insect would vainly try to sting the mop handle with his tail. We had ugly centipedes too. I don't recall being stung by any, but my wife had a bad incident in Thailand. She was walking in sandals and this huge centipede buried its fangs into her toe. You could see the fang holes in her poor toe. The hospital prescribed some antibiotics, but her toe remained black for a few months afterwards. Horrible creatures. They find shelter amongst the construction debris created by the myriad of constructions projects--both active and abandoned in the city. I've had encounters with dangerous snakes but have never been bitten. I'll tell that story later. I've also had no horrible encounters with spiders. There's a dangerous spider that hangs out in banana trees, but I didn't mess around those trees, so I was fine. Scorpions were all around the sugar cane fields. Let's hear your stories...

Yes, but didn't that pad up Marino's stats as a result? BTW, we should start a thread about overrated quarterbacks. That would be fun. I suppose you might add John Elway to that list, though I'm not sure you would given that you say he belongs in the HOF; but one guy I might nominate would be Drew Bledsoe. As a lifelong Patriot fan, he let us down so often in his career that I have to view him as not quite living up to all the praises. Name some others, folks. This would be fun. Overrated quarterbacks, or quarterbacks who didn't quite live up the hype.

Yes, Shrdlu, Tetley is available here in the States, but I have to go to certain supermarkets which stock it. In addition, the company markets two types: "classic blend" and "British blend" I like them both. Lots of Red Rose around here, but I find the Canadian version to be superior (of course!) I could live on it, but Tetley is my favorite. I've also got the English habit of adding milk to my tea. Makes everything such a fritter! I'm fussy about my tea like most Brits. Have to warm up the cup or pot first, etc. What a pain I am with this habit! BTW, Regarding American cheese: I find buying white American cheese in a deli is not too bad as a diversion to Chedder or Colby or whatever. I do eat it sometimes.

Tried something similar last year to correct things, but I was unable to do it. If I remember correctly, one problem was that I had no idea what the old email address was! I cannot delete it when I don't know the address. The paypal techies tried to help me via email, but I just found the whole affair a good exercise in raising my blood pressure. Life is too short to enter the paypal labyrinth. I prefer to be happy and healthy.

I incline towards Mnytime on this one. I've always found John Elway, although athletically gifted and a great competitor to be not quite as great as others on the list. He's a gambler like Favre but doesn't have Favre's genius for the game.

He did, Chris. Take a look

Don't mean to imply that Marino did not have the QB brain, but what I mean is the ability to improvise once the play breaks down and still keep your cool and make the best of the busted situation.

Impressive Mny. Any possibility however that "D" is neglected in pick up games? Doesn't that kinda take a bit of work, and players aren't likely to do that sort of thing when having fun? BTW, I am not a basketball fan, and I don't know the players in question here. I am just bringing up a point.

Montana and Unitas are one and two in terms of votes at this stage, and that's probably exactly as it should be. I acknowledge some of Mnytime's excellent points and his general acumen in this area. To me, Marino was just a throwing machine. Definitely a great quarterback. I guess I prefer Montana's and Unitas intangibles. The Quarterback brain if you will. Favre's got it too.

He was also a winner. That alone should rank him high. Had a great crew to work with though. Brett Favre makes my top 3 or 4 as well. He's an amazing quarterback with a killer instinct. I would definitely rate him above, say John Elway or Dan Marino. His one weakness is a tendency to gamble, but that's also part of his greatness as well. He's the greatest quarterback still active, though I could have included Kurt Warner in the poll as well. No slouch he!

I'll order it too.

Yeah, Montana was my pick. He was a winner and to me had the greatest quarterback smarts I've ever seen in a player. Mnytime's comments are interesting and are noted. He makes some excellent points. I cannot, however, agree with Dan Marino over Montana. Oops forgot Fouts. Yeah, he's better than Tarkenton. Graham, Baugh and Tittle were before my time. Yes, Starr was a weak addition to the list. No one voting for Favre?

Vote now for the greatest NFL quarterback. I've voted already and will reveal my selection later. Vote!

Forgot about the tea. Having been brought up British, I drink lots of tea on a daily basis. The brand I like here is Tetley. Twinings is too costly if you guzzle by the gallon like I do. Red Rose is a distant second. Another option is for me to drive up to Windsor, Canada (1 hour away) and load up on Ridgeway or other brands.

It's American beer that is really pathetic. Even the cheese is better than that!

Yet another reason to turn off the sound while watching football on TV

I agree if he had devoted his whole time to football he had HOF talent. But he didn't and based on what he did accomplish, it was not warranting of HOF induction is all I am saying. Yes, you can't rank him as a great on talent and potential. The accomplishments have to be there!

Obviously, I would rate Campbell higher, but then these are just opinions.

Great to see you back, AB!

I have a soft spot for Barry Sanders too, but Mnytime's comment about him not being used in short yardage situations is damning. Barry had the best moves of any running back I have ever seen; and he would have blitzed Emmit's record, but I have to agree that you can't vote for a guy who was not used for short yardage. No one wants to nominate Eric Dickerson?

I voted for Earl. Jim Brown was a bit before my time, though I am aware of the praises for him. Earl Campbell was the greatest running back that I have ever seen. He didn't have the longest career; certainly not like Emmit or Payton, but for the years he was in the league he was totally dominating. I saw Payton in a lot of average games; he never changed games to the extent that Campbell did. The one game that stands out in my memory was a Thanksgiving Day battle between the Oilers and the Cowboys. At the time, the Cowboys were a dominant team--Doomsday Defence and all that. The Oilers were up and coming but hadn't yet hit their stride as a team to watch. The Cowboys scored, but Earl Campbell just ran through them, over them, and changed the momentum of the game. Can't remember the number of yards, but all the yards were built as he ran over people. It was one of the most dominating performances I have ever witnessed. Can't argue with the Jim Brown votes. He is said to be the greatest NFL back ever. I just never saw him in his prime. Earl was everything. I'm just sorry to hear how he's been hobbled since. One poster gave mention to Jerome Bettis, and I must say that I cannot recall any other big back who was as effective once he broke into the secondary. Bettis had both the moves and the speed and the strength once he got back there. That's what made him so dangerous. Don't know if the Bus has any more gas left in the tank. We'll see.

I probably left out everybody, but vote for the running back you felt was the greatest. You can name others not mentioned if you feel they were as good. I've voted, but I'll give my explanations later. Have fun.