… and keep reaching for the stars.”
In honor of Casey Kasem’s last countdown, which aired this weekend.
To reference another Kasem outtake, here’s hoping you got Don on the phone, and that you receive all the pictures you could ever want.
2009/07/02
“Heads will roll, and corpses will swing from every lampost!”
Ladies and gentlemen, Brother Theodore:
2009/06/30
Oh, so THAT’s what caused the recession …
Was it reckless lending practices? The inability of American automobile manufacturers to keep pase with the reliability and efficiency of imports? A complete absence of regulation leading to the most oligarchal economic climate in over 80 years?
Not according to Oklahoma state representative Sally Kern, who blames our “greater national moral crisis,” including promotion of same-sex marriage and divorce, among other circumstances, for the state of the economy.
2009/06/26
Oregon: W. T. F.
Oregon Ducks unveil new uniforms
When I lived in Seattle and anything went wrong, we just blamed it on people from Eugene. (GoDucks.com photo)
Just stop. Please. For the love of God.
Four different helmets? None of them are yellow — which is merely one of the school’s two officially listed colors, but evidently in Eugene, that’s neither here nor there. One helmet is black, and another is “carbon,” which I thought was an element, not a color. Speaking of carbon, the person who designed these atrocities ought to be encased in carbonite.
“All told, Oregon will have 80 different combinations (jersey/pant/helmet) at their disposal.”
So we’re stuck looking at these abominations for seven seasons while they cycle through every possible combination.
If I were dictator of sports, this garbage wouldn’t happen.
2009/06/25
June 24
Late night with fragment-and-ellipsis …
.. Skipped the workout tonight. I allow myself one day off every week, and it almost always ends up being Wednesday. Overload of banana daiquiris and one of my favorite meals to prepare in the kitchen — beef-and-chorizo enchiladas — offers a handy excuse. Well worth the 90 minutes I spent putting it all together …
… Well-prepared chorizo is the sustenance of the gods. Banana daiquiris are their nectar …
… Bobby Cox won a Sports Illustrated poll asking MLB players which manager they would most like to play for. If they feel that strongly, maybe some of them would be willing to take a little less to play in Atlanta in future years? Oh, wait … it doesn’t work that way. Damn.
For all the Cox haters on Braves blogdom, know this … our team will never have a better manager. But I still wish he’d reconsider the wisdom of sending out two guys with sub-.660 OPS and sub-.300 OBP every … single … day … instead of giving them more chances to watch, learn settle down and improve …
The little guy is learning bladder control.
… On the positive side, Rupert walked outside of his own volition and relieved himself. But he also dropped off a few friends near the front door. Hard to stay rankled, though, when he licks your face from hairline to neckline …
… I think I’ve posted enough for one day. Starting to feel the writing mojo coming back a smidgen. I reckon the blog is serving its purpose … to give me an excuse to ponder and express whatever stumbles into my mind. Then training camp will come, and for blog purposes, I’ll be pulling a Mark Sanford, — albeit sans the other woman …
And speaking of Sanford …
2009/06/25
Why America needs professional journalism
"Irwin, professional journalism time now. Go back to the beach and finish the damn story!"
Some are radical bloggers; some are CPACers railing against what they perceive as liberal media (see video at 3:24); some are simply unaware of their surroundings. But what they share is a belief that our culture would be better served without newspapers and journalists who can devote their entire working lives to news gathering and analysis. From time to time, I’ll show why they’re wrong.
Reason No. 1 why America needs professional journalism:
Who else would have shown up at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta to greet South Carolina governor Mark Sanford to begin untangling a slipknot of lies?
Bravo to The State in Columbia, S.C. for its role in bringing the truth to light.
2009/06/24
U.S. 2, Spain 0 … What’s the parallel?
Jozy Altidore celebrates his first-half goal against Spain. (Soccernet.com)
It is a purely American trait to parallel soccer outcomes to historic results from other sports. Perhaps it is because the futbol afficionado can be condescending to the non-believer, yet at the same time wants to help him or her understand.
So here I go.
First of all, let’s stop the hyperbole.
This wasn’t like USA-USSR ice hockey in the 1980 Winter Olympics, which I reckon is the gold standard for American teams in international sport. These were all pros out there in Bloemfontein, and this was the Confederations Cup, not the World Cup. Not the biggest event on the schedule. It’s a poor parallel even in terms of the teams’ quality. Spain had more players who will be in the Champions or Europa Leagues this fall than the U.S. (22 to four), but Spain has the advantage of being, y’know, in Europe.
(To further specify: Let’s be conservative and say that MLS is on a par with, say, the Norwegian Premier League, which according to the telltale UEFA coefficient is the 19th-best first division in Europe. The league manages to send three of its teams to the Champions or Europa Leagues, and the country sends four clubs overall since one slot goes to the Norwegian Cup winners. So that little discrepancy is both revealing and misleading.
But that being said, the U.S. doesn’t have anyone of Fernando Torres‘ ilk. Now back to the blog.)
Competitively speaking, this wasn’t like Appalachian State over Michigan or Chaminade over Virginia. Whatever you think of the FIFA rankings — which have the Yanks 14th — the U.S. is decidedly among the world’s top 25 sides over the last decade. They’ve been to the last two World Cup Finals in that span (and five in succession dating back to 1990); they’re on track to make another Finals next year; they’ve dominated their chief rival, Mexico, which possesses some international cachet.
(However … Mexico is overrated by observers because it is terra de futbol and the U.S. is lamentably indifferent to the sport, save for pockets of fervor like mine, leading to the perception that we can’t be competitive because multitudes don’t care … even though there’s enough who do to ensure that our national team has more supporters than most sides in Europe and South America.)
If you’re looking for a parallel, it lies in the 1983 national championship between N.C. State and Houston.
Three reasons:
2009/06/24
Oh, wait … he’s no longer one of us!
I heard about the weekend special in the Argentine, but I hadn’t received the memo that South Carolina’s Republican governor, Mark Sanford, had switched teams …
(Bet you thought I meant “changing teams” as defined by Seinfeld!)
Rush Limbaugh might be the face of the Republican Party, but it’s Fox News who determines who belongs in it. A Freudian slip to follow an action that was somewhat of a Freudian slip in and of itself.
2009/06/20
June 19
The previous day, in fragment-and-ellipsis form:
… Two more puppies joined us — Oliver and Lulu, the newest members of the family that includes my sister-in-law (feels odd typing that, since I’ve only been married for six weeks and five days). They are a scosh rambunctious. They ganged up on our puppy, Rupert, who is one week younger than these interlopers and a pound or two smaller. Several times, Rupert seemed frightened enough to where he sought refuge at my feet, whereupon Oliver and Lulu would often join him, seeking the attention I gave Rupert. Lulu, in particular, seems of a high-maintenance demeanor, seeming to prove my belief that dogs have the same variety of personalities as humans. Some are nice. Some, well, are jerks. …
Sometimes instead of tackling each other, they turned this kind of aggression on poor Rupert.
… Lots of work in Photoshop today. It’d be amazing what I could do if I actually decided to get real, actual professional training in graphic design …
… Pizza for dinner. I felt spectacularly lazy and offered to concoct something in the kitchen, but deep down preferred to let someone else do the cooking. Besides, we’re barbecuing on Saturday and I was enjoying lingering on the couch, watching the Braves slaughter the Red Sox in a game that should have been more decisive than the 8-2 final. Only a blown opportunity in the top of the first — already ahead 2-0, and with no outs and the bases loaded, Matt Diaz flailed wildly at a pitch that went well outside and Casey Kotchman drilled a line drive that became a double play — kept it from being a rout …
… Speaking of Braves-Red Sox, I’m all for a movement that prohibits both teams from wearing softball jerseys in the same game. If one side wants to wear a color other than white or gray, then fine; I don’t like it, but I’ll live with it. But Major League Baseball was not meant to be played by one team in red and the other in navy …
… One more Braves thought. Furman, you’ve gotta be shitting me …
… Another late night, another workout. Seven hundred and thirty calories burned on the elliptical trainer. One hundred chest presses of a 45-pound weight. One hundred biceps curls. Not bad, I reckon, but my strength still needs work …
… There are 10 televisions in the main workout area of the 24-Hour Fitness that is my temporary workout destination for the next month. One was tuned to Glenn Beck interviewing Ann Coulter. Even without sound, that’s one television too many …
… St. Cloud, Minn., this is your Congressional representative (EDIT: I kept that link open for 20 minutes and it launched 16 pop-up windows on my desktop. A pox on your house, Washington Times) …
… As I wind down, watching an hour-long review of the 1982 season in Major League Baseball. A day earlier, I watched back-to-back America’s Game episodes. The single-sport channels like MLB and NFL Network rock.
2009/06/19
June 18
The previous day, in fragment-and-ellipsis form:
You can't help but love him, even though he craps everywhere.
Began training Rupert, a now 12-week-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy … Watched as he began squatting in the middle of the basement floor just seconds after he’d wandered around outside on his every-two-hours constitutional … Listened to him whine as I put him in his pen, then read a puppy-training tome that advised against such harsh consequences … Still loved the little guy, even as he soaked up all my attention and left me distracted in my work … Put my limited graphic-design and Photoshop skills to work during most of the afternoon, since it was the easiest thing to do with Rupert alternately demanding playtime and sleeping on my lap … Ate dinner with an old friend who helped ensure that Rupert and incumbent canine George got enough attention … Watched George bump Rupert, who responded by biting George’s ear … Worked 45 minutes on an elliptical trainer, burning 780 calories … Started this blog after realizing that my daily writing had become as bland and stale as expired saltines.
