Articles from January 2011

It’s Super Bowl week—which for many men is the most important gambling day of the year. The one question on gamblers’ minds everywhere is not who will win the game, but which team will cover the spread?

This is a particularly hard year to bet on the Super Bowl because both teams seem to be evenly matched and the spread is small, with the Green Bay Packers favored by just 2 ½ points over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If you’re struggling with who to bet on this coming Sunday then you’ve come to the right place.  I’m having a hard time picking this game myself, so I’ve decided to consult with my wife, Mrs. Sacks, and perhaps with her female intuition she can accurately predict which team will cover.  I sat down with my better half recently and asked her to break down the game like only she can.

Johnny Sacks: What are your initial thoughts about Pittsburgh?

Mrs. Sacks: I’ve been to Pittsburgh a few times and I don’t like it. It tries to be like Philadelphia but it’s not nearly as good.   I also hate that their fans wave those stupid towels and I don’t like that “Black and Yellow” song.

Johnny Sacks: I hate that song too.  I believe you are referring to the Terrible Towel.

Mrs. Sacks: Yes. Those things.  They’re stupid.

Johhny Sacks: How about Green Bay?  What do you think about them? (more…)

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPER BOWL XLVI DRINKING GAME (GIANTS VS. PATRIOTS)

With the New York Jets exit in the AFC Championship game, I am once again left without a rooting interest in the biggest football game of the year.  For fans of my team and the other 29 teams that are not in the Super Bowl, we need to a find a way to make the game interesting.

There are two ways to make the Super Bowl interesting if your favorite team isn’t playing:

1.       You could gamble on the game (The BetUs Super Bowl odds have the Packers favored by 2 ½ by the way). Gambling can make just about any game exciting…

2.        …or you can drink heavily.  If gambling isn’t your thing, then you should try the second annual Living with Balls Super Bowl Drinking Game.

I’ve created a game that you can play with either beer or shots—or you can combine the two.  It’s up to you! (Though the shots one could potentially get dangerous)

Disclaimer: This drinking game is not for the casual drinker.  Proceed with caution. Living with Balls is not responsible if you get violently ill from playing this game.  Feel free to adjust the rules to your tolerance or just quit playing when you’re good and drunk.

What you’ll need: You’ll need lots of a beer and a bottle of any type of hard liquor (if you decide to play with shots). Here are the rules… (more…)

I write these words moments after my beloved New York Jets came up just short of the Super Bowl for the second straight year. I am legitimately depressed right now. After just staring into space for the past 30 minutes, wondering what went wrong and going through all the “what if” scenarios of this game, I decided to vent my frustrations by writing this blog post.

Throughout the game, my emotions went on a wild roller coaster ride. I went from despair (Jets trail 24-0 in 2nd quarter), to hope (Jets cut the lead to 24-10), to excitement (Jets have 1st and goal, trailing 24-10), to frustration (Jets get stuffed at the goal line thanks to retarded play-calling), to unbridled enthusiasm (Jets get safety and TD to make it 24-19) to devastation (Steelers run out the clock to win the game).

It was a crazy ride that left me mentally exhausted—and I’m certainly not alone. Millions of football fans across the country experienced these same swings of emotion today. No matter what the sport, die-hard fans have these strong feelings for their team throughout the year. Few things in life can conjure up such uninhibited emotions like sports can.

And this begs the question? Why do we care so much? Why are sports fans like myself so passionate about it? Think about how silly it really is… (more…)

Remember back around 2003 or so when Nextel’s Direct Connect was the hip thing to have in cell phones?  It seemed like you weren’t cool if your phone wasn’t making that obnoxious bleep every five minutes.  There was just something about that walkie-talkie feature that made you feel important.   I got on the bandwagon myself and loved it.

The great thing about Direct Connect was that it made phone calls so informal.  Direct Connect was the easy way to contact someone before texting was.  Prior to direct connect, if you wanted to tell someone something quick, it involved making a phone call and often getting into a longer conversation than you wanted.  But with Direct Connect, you could just tell someone something instantaneously and be done with it—which is probably the reason I liked it so much.  I’m not much of a conversationalist.

It was like your own little fraternity.  You felt like you had a special bond to anyone else who had one.  “Hey you have a Nextel! Me too! What’s your two-way number!?”  I didn’t even have to like the person. I just wanted someone else to two-way. (more…)

Thought you’ve been through a bad break-up?  Did you get cheated on the worst way imaginable?  Well it couldn’t have possibly been worse than the scenario you’re about to hear.  I heard this when listening to “War of the Roses,” which is a radio segment on 103.5 KTU in New York.  In “War of the Roses,” the DJ calls up a suspected cheater offering free red roses.  When the cheater sends it to the person he/ she is having an affair with, they are busted red-handed live on the radio.  I’ve listened to “War of the Roses” for many years but this one takes the cake.  Take a listen.

Let me hear your thoughts in the comment section…

Is it a coincidence that this ad is posted right below a picture of Rex Ryan? Not bloodly likely. Rex is a jolly fan man but he’s all business this week. I hear he told the Mrs. to wear thermal socks until the playoffs are done. No distractions. Unfortunately, the Jets only hope this weekend is if Rex eats all the grit out of Wes Welker and Danny Woodhead.

Also, it’s nice to see that Mark Sanchez has been elevated to the status of Blake Lively and Natalie Portman. (see the Hot Topics). Why isn’t Tom Brady up there? Oh yeah. “Tom Brady’s an asshole. Fuck Tom Brady”

(Click on the image to view a larger picture)

A hot topic around this time of year is New Year’s resolutions. Everyone wants a fresh start and plans on improving their lives in some way, shape or form with the coming of new year.   It’s usually a lofty goal that is abandoned once the calendar turns to February.

Typically, people will vow to lose weight, advance their career or perhaps fall in love.  These are often tough goals to meet because they require hard work, perseverance and even a little bit of luck.   Most people lack the resolve to achieve these goals.

I say why set ourselves up for failure? We need to lower our standards. Why not set some new year’s resolutions you can actually meet? With that in mind, I’ve come up with a list of ten new year’s resolutions that I am confident I can keep.

1. I will put off going to the gym and limit my exercise to being intimate with my wife and playing Nintendo Wii.

2. I will blow off church every Sunday during football season so I can properly set my fantasy football lineup. (more…)

Back in September, Don Valdez, Deuce McGee and I got together and did a podcast with predictions for the 2010 NFL Season.  Well the regular season is now over and its time to take a look at how we did.  The results weren’t pretty.  Let’s take a look…

[TABLE=9]

As you can see, Deuce McGee did the best of the three, picking three out of eight division winners and selecting seven of 12 playoff teams.   He also accurately picked the Falcons to finish ahead of the Saints.   Not too shabby. (more…)

My wife and I recently returned from a vacation in Jamaica during the holiday break.  I noticed an interesting trend while we were there…

Everywhere we went we were greeted with a “Yeah Mon!” and every time we said thank you, the response was always “No problem Mon!”  The resort staff also played Bob Marley songs ad nauseam and there were even bongs sold in the gift shop.

Six months earlier, my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Hawaii.   We were greeted everywhere with an “Aloha” and bid farewell with a “Mahalo.”  Street peddlers would throw the “hang loose” sign at anyone with sunburned skin at the International Marketplace in an effort to get them to buy a souvenir.   Musicians at restaurants would pick up their ukulele and serenade the guests in Waikiki with Iz’s “Over the Rainbow” on repeat.

Basically every stereotype that we knew of in these two cultures seemed to be out in full force for all the tourists to see. This got me wondering and I posed this question to my wife on both trips:

Is this really how these cultures speak and act or do they just do this to entertain the tourists? (more…)