What Happened to Erica Blasberg?

It has been over two months since the untimely death of my favorite LPGA golfer, Erica Blasberg. I’m not a coroner and I’m not going to play one on this blog, but why has it taken so long to determine how or why Blasberg died?



CBS News seemed to have some information.

Police may be a step closer to finding the cause in the mysterious death of 25-year-old pro golfer Erica Blasberg. Newly released search warrants reveal that just four days after her death on May 9, investigators raided the medical offices and home of Dr. Thomas Hess. "Early Show" National Correspondent Hattie Kauffman reported sources close to the investigation say Hess talked to Blasberg the night before her death. The next day, he visited her home, and was the one to call 911.

Oh, did I mention that this article was published on June 2nd? That’s nearly six weeks ago! There hadn’t been any additional information about the police investigation until July 2nd (one month later!!) when Mel Blasberg, Erica’s father, told RadarOnline.com that "it sounds like we'll hear something next week about the findings, whatever they are." Mr. Blasberg also stated that his daughter wasn’t suffering from any health problems. "From time to time she had some sleeping issues and anxiety issues, but nothing she was treated for. She wasn't under care for any of this...25 year-olds just don't die...I believe the investigation will show that Erica should not have died."

Once again, two months seems like a long time to determine a cause of death, especially of a public figure. Sure, Erica Blasberg didn’t have the celebrity status of an A-list Hollywood actor, but I’m surprised that there hasn’t been any media follow-up or coverage particularly since her death was covered by all of the major sports and non-sports networks.

Erica Blasberg Found Dead

Longtime readers may remember several posts I wrote about Erica Blasberg, my favorite LPGA golfer. Shockingly, Blasberg was found dead today at the age of 25. According to MSN/Fox Sports, "it was not immediately clear whether foul play was involved," and there doesn't seem to be any more information about her death. So sad.

Erica Blasberg Videos

It's been a while since we caught up with my favorite LPGA golfer, Erica Blasberg. She's promoting something called the Puma Open by starring in videos with athletes that are not golfers.

In this first video, she appears with NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne. Would it be too much to have Blasberg speak one line? It's not like Kahne will be playing in the Puma Open, is he?



At least she got a few lines in this video with New York Yankees' outfielder Johnny Damon.

2500

Welcome to the 2500th post on Sean's Ramblings. This blog recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, so that's an average of, let's see, 2,500 posts divided by 10, carry the one, 400 posts per year! Incredible!

While I feel like there are only about 4 people that read Sean's Ramblings, since I started using Google Analytics in February 2008, this blog has had visitors from 192 countries from Afghanistan and the Aland Islands to Zambia and Zimbabwe. Personally, I'd love to know what the visitors from Tajikistan and New Caldeonia thought about my opinions on Steely McBeam!

In case you ever wanted to know, here are the top 10 visitors by city:

1. Pittsburgh, PA

2. New York, NY

3. Washington, DC

4. Arlington, VA

5. Chicago, IL

6. London, United Kingdom

7. Reston, VA

8. Los Angeles, CA

9. Fairfax, VA

10. Sanzhong District, Taiwan

But Sean, while the visitor information is interesting, what are your most-visited posts? I'm glad you asked. Here are the 10 ten most-visited posts:

1. 2011 Year-End Credit Card Spending Summary

2. LeBron James Should Choose Pittsburgh

3. What Happened to Erica Blasberg?

4. News & Notes

5. Erica Blasberg Found Dead

6. Lady Gaga Needs a New Terrible Towel



7. Spider Pig Lyrics

8. Am I Strange? (TMI Thursday)

9. Why Do People Hate Hillary Clinton?

10. Jaromir Jagr's Biggest Fan Pleads Guilty

Finally, here are the top 10 search terms used to find Sean's Ramblings:

1. Jenna Bush Wedding Plans

2. Erica Blasberg

3. Free Birthday Food

4. Hamburger Helper Rice Oriental

5. Seans Ramblings

6. Cosi Prices

7. Sean's Ramblings

8. Spider Pig Lyrics

9. Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot

10. CVS Coupons

So random.

2014 Sean's Ramblings Visitors

Happy 2015! Now that 2014 is complete, it's time for my annual post where I share data about Sean's Ramblings visitors and how people find this blog. I truly find this fascinating, and I hope you do too. The information below is courtesy of Google Analytics for January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014.

Top 10 Visitors by City:

1. New York, NY

2. Pittsburgh, PA

3. Chantilly, VA

4. Arlington, VA

5. Washington, DC

6. Deerfield Beach, FL

7. Los Angeles, CA

8. Owings Mills, MD

9. Chicago, IL

10. Johnstown, PA (Technically, just outside Johnstown)

I started tracking this data in 2009, and with the exception of the unusual amount of visitors from San-Ch'Ung, Taiwan in 2009, the combination of New York, Pittsburgh and Washington DC (not necessarily in that order) is always in the top 3. This year, DC slipped all the way to 5th. What's going on, DC? Do I need to write more posts about Metro or the DC blogging community?

London also fell out of the top 10 this year. I guess Will and Kate don't visit my blog as much as they used to with the new baby.

Remember, if your city is not in the top 10, visit my blog from multiple computers or mobile devices in 2015 early and often!

Top 10 Visitors by Country

1. United States

2. Canada

3. United Kingdom

4. Australia

5. Germany

6. Brazil

7. France

8. Philippines

9. India

10. Italy

While the top five countries are identical from 2013, I'd like to welcome Brazil to the top 10. Clearly, folks in Brazil looked to Sean's Ramblings for quality World Cup coverage like this.

Top 10 Keywords Used to Find Sean's Ramblings

1. Sean's Ramblings (or some variation of this)

2. Sally Wiggin Drunk

3. Sun Refining and Marketing

4. Talk Like a Pittsburgh Pirate Day

5. Don Cannon Drunk

6. Songs with Hawaii in the Title

7. Mark Melancon Singing Japan

8. Sean's Ramblings Daylight Savings

9. Delaware Hates Pitt

10. Erica Blasberg

These are almost completely different from last year where folks found Sean's Ramblings by questioning who is (or was) TJR, wanting Fleetwood Mac concert reviews, or, well, looking for something about Flavor Flav. In addition, I must have left out Sean's Ramblings from last year's list.

In 2014, people really wanted information about current and former WTAE newscasters being inebriated. Meanwhile, I'll have more about Sun Refining and Marketing and Erica Blasberg next week.

Thanks to all of you for visiting my blog!

News & Notes

Am I only one entertained by the recent dispute playing out in the pages of the Express? Almost everyday, the "Look Out People" section, which posts news/information about somewhat famous people, features a two-line story about Amy Winehouse. Twice in the past few days, a letter to the editor asks Express to stop with the Winehouse stuff. In response, Express featured another snippet about Winehouse on Wednesday. Personally, I don’t understand why people are so upset about the Winehouse coverage. If you don’t want to read anything about this train-wreck, turn the page and read the Blog Log, Pearls Before Swine or play Sudoku!

Thanks to everyone for providing their votes and comments about attending a game at Yankee Stadium. Please keep them coming, although at this point, I’m probably leaning towards visiting New York.

The Naked Cowboy is suing Mars Inc., the maker of M&Ms. Is Edgar Snyder on the case? (Call 391-2101; 391-2101! I will remember this phone number – even if it is not current anymore – for the rest of my life.)



I received an e-mail from Brandon who created an online petition trying to convince Marian Hossa to stay in Pittsburgh. Although I would love Hossa to return to the Penguins, it appears that money is more important to him than trying to win a Stanley Cup. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but unless everyone who signs the petition also pledges to give Hossa $5, I don’t know how much this will help. Good luck to Brandon anyway.

Finally, I have a new friend on Facebook…her name is LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg. In honor of this historic event, here’s another picture of her.



However, if she is going to continue to be my favorite LPGA golfer, she may have to do a bit better on the course. Blasberg finished last (of those who made this cut) in this past weekend’s Wegmans LPGA tournament.

2010 Sean's Ramblings Visitors

Ever wonder where people live that visit Sean's Ramblings and how people find this blog? Well, here are your results for 2010.

1. Pittsburgh, PA
2. New York, NY
3. Washington, DC
4. Fairfax, VA
5. State College, PA
6. Los Angeles, CA
7. Atlanta, GA
8. London, United Kingdom
9. Philadelphia, PA
10. Chicago, IL

As a comparison, here are where folks visited from in 2009:

1. Pittsburgh, PA
2. New York, NY
3. San-Ch'Ung, Taiwan
4. Washington DC
5. Reston, VA
6. London, United Kingdom
7. Arlington, VA

The number of visitors from Taiwan decreased sharply in 2010; however, I'm happy that there is some West Coast representation with Los Angeles breaking into the top seven.

In addition, here are the top 10 ways people found this blog through internet searches primarily via Google and Yahoo:

1. Erica Blasberg
2. cosi prices
3. seans ramblings
4. hamburger helper rice oriental
5. sean's ramblings
6. vh1 top songs of the 2000s
7. songs with alcohol in the title
8. free birthday food
9. best songs of the 2000's vh1
10. songs with drinks in the title

2009

1. free birthday food
2. fleetwood mac concert review
3. sean's ramblings
4. hamburger helper rice oriental
5. pittsburgh steelers mascot
6. fleetwood mac concert reviews
7. seans ramblings
8. spider pig lyrics
9. dear margo
10. cosi prices

Former LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg searches were far and away the top way folks found this blog in 2010. Naturally, folks were curious about her suspicious death and the circumstances surrounding her "doctor friend." Spider Pig lyrics from The Simpsons Movie finally dropped out of the top 10 while free birthday food and Hamburger Helper Rice Oriental continue to be popular. I'm surprised how many people found by blog through COSI prices. Seems random. Plus, there were hundreds of referrals by people looking for a VH1 show of the top songs of the last decade even though, to my knowledge, VH1 has never aired this type of show.

As we begin 2011, what searches will take over the top spot? Will Pittsburgh and New York continue to rank 1-2? Who are these people from London? Will visitors from Taiwan return?


P.S. Trivia Tuesday will return next week.

2012 Sean’s Ramblings Visitors

Have you ever wondered who visits Sean's Ramblings and how they found this blog? No? Really, it's just me? Well, here is 2012 data of Sean's Ramblings visitors and how people find this blog through internet searches.

1. Pittsburgh, PA

2. New York, NY

3. Washington, DC

4. London, United Kingdom

5. Chicago, IL

6. Chantilly, VA

7. Philadelphia, PA

8. Elizabeth, NJ

9. Bethesda, MD

10. (tie) Baltimore, MD & Arlington, VA

Pittsburgh-New York-Washington earn the top three spots for the third consecutive year. London finished in fourth which is the highest ranking for a non-United States City since San-Ch’Ung, Taiwan finished third in 2009. I expect London to fight for one of the top spots next year as a result of my coverage of the Steelers game there. Maybe I'll even go to London to cover the game live!

Now for the top referrals of 2012:

1. Seans Ramblings

2. Ricardo Blas Jr

3. LeBron James

4. Ben Roethlisberger house

5. Erica Blasberg

6. Corduroys

7. Jaromir Jagr

8. Songs with alcohol in the title

9. Songs with beer in the title

10. Why do people hate Hillary Clinton

"Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot," which was #1 last year fell out of the top ten. Steely McBeam is not happy. Meanwhile, congratulations to Ric Blas for being #2 on this list. Good guy who performed very well at the London Olympics. I need to catch up with him soon for a return appearance here.

Thanks again to everyone for visiting this blog in 2012! I hope to see you here in 2013 too!

If you’re interested in seeing the search and location statistics for the previous three years, click here.

Referrals and More Referrals

I haven’t done this in a while, but here are real searches generally from Google and Yahoo that real people used to find and visit Sean’s Ramblings.

Songs about Ben Roethlisberger
I believe that Bonnie Tyler’s song Hero was written about Big Ben.

I met my baby in a porta john line lyrics
Perhaps this is another song about Roethlisberger?

Websites that will let me watch Spring Break Shark Attack for free
If only there was such a thing.

Jay Caufield bobble head
If only there was such a thing.

Dara Torres legs
She has two of them. (Of course, the obvious response is that she’s got legs, she knows how to use them).

Mario Lemieux hair transplant
I don’t know about that, but perhaps you could ask his housemate, Sidney Crosby, about this.

Greg Lloyd Wegmans
I think there’s a great chance that Greg Lloyd will watch a Steelers game at Wegmans if you paid him $7000!

naked Erica Blasberg
You’re not going to find that here. However, I’ll be happy to provide a clothed picture of Erica for you.



Richard Ruccolo shirtless
You’re not going to find that here either. However, I’ll provide a clothed picture of Richard for you (although I’m not as happy about this one; he’s no Ryan Reynolds).



random hamburger in Verizon commercial
I hate it when random hamburgers show up in Verizon commercials. Random hamburgers in Viagra commercials make much more sense.

Why is Eric Roberts in music videos?
I think the better question is this: why is Eric Roberts not in every music video?

I hate fantasy football
I’ve been there many times, and I want to let you know that it’s OK. Everyone has good weeks and bad weeks in fantasy football, unless you’re my brother, and then you mostly have bad weeks (especially this season). Stick with it and maybe one day, you can win your league (I’ve only written this for a decade or so).

Cutting nails in public
Amazingly, there was a whole Q&A about this on Yahoo. The short answer is this: don’t do it especially on a bus.

Have a great weekend!

Sunday Links

It’s Sunday morning and you’re just sitting around before heading to the grocery store. Perhaps you’re watching a little bit of the British Open. You may possibly have an ultimate frisbee game at noon where it will be over 90 degrees and you’re worried about making sure you put on enough sunscreen. Or maybe not. Regardless, here are a few links for your Sunday morning and beyond:

Friday’s USA Today featured a story in its travel section about visiting Pittsburgh. This is now the second time in three weeks that a prominent newspaper featured Pittsburgh as a destination to visit.

In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the iconic restaurant Primanti Bros. is getting a street named after it.

Although the big story at the LGPA’s State Farm Classic is Michelle Wie’s disqualification, Ramblings’ favorite Erica Blasberg is tied for 14th.

I’m late to the game but you have to check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s a play/musical/I don’t know how to describe it starring Neil Patrick Harris and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place’s Nathan Fillion. The three acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th (that’s tonight people!).

Dancing in the Dark

Lacochran had this exchange with her husband a few weeks ago:

Just last night we had the following conversation:

Hubby: We have all these phone books. I thought I might get rid of a few.

Me: Get rid of them all.

We're probably the last people to do so.

I replied that "I keep our phone books too just in case the power goes out or there are computer problems. I figure as soon as I throw out the phone books, we'll lose power and the computer will die!"

Well, last night the power went out just before 7:00, and I used our phone book for the first time in years. My first call was to Dominion Virginia Power to report the power outage. They already knew and told me over 4000 customers were out and that crews were on the way. The 4000 customers included Mamma Lucia and California Tortilla in the neighboring shopping center (Dominion didn’t tell me this). Seeing that the chicken in the stove still had about 30 minutes left when the power went out, we needed food quickly in order to survive the blackout. That’s where the phone book came in again.

Chick-Fil-A: Hello.

Me: Hi. Is this Chick-Fil-A?

Chick-Fil-A: Yes it is.

Me: Great. Do you have electricity?

Chick-Fil-A: Huh?

Me: Do you have power there?

Chick-Fil-A: What?

Me: We live a few miles from you and the power is out in the entire neighborhood. I just wanted to find out if you were open before I drove there.

Chick-Fil-A: Oh, OK. Yes, we have electricity.

Thank you, phone book!

A few other notes about Blackout 2008:

- We bought flashlights at Target just this past weekend because I thought we should have some.

- It’s very difficult to get a good workout on the treadmill without power.

- Nothing is more romantic than eating Chick-Fil-A by candlelight with the cat tryinig to jump on the table.

The power returned around 8:45.

Finally, I received a comment yesterday thanking me for the eye candy picture I posted of Derrick Inglut. To be fair, I feel l like I should post a picture of my favorite LPGA golfer, Erica Blasberg.

State of the Ramblings

Saturday marked the sixth anniversary of Sean’s Ramblings. If my blog was a kid, she would be in kindergarten. Therefore, in honor of my sixth anniversary, I present to you a picture of number six himself, Bubby Brister!



Actually, for my blog anniversary I’d like to share my annual State of the Ramblings. Before we go forward, let’s take a look back at the past year. I hosted the second annual Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament in February 2010 and plan to have the third annual event next month. While Trivia Tuesday continues to be a weekly staple, TMI Thursdays slowly have become more and more infrequent. Over the past year, I became a “CSN Preferred Blogger” where CSN Stores has provided gift certificates to their websites as giveaways. I plan to have another giveaway in the next few weeks.

I haven’t had as many collaborative posts this past year as I did in previous years, but I did have a few including predictions for the Pittsburgh Pirates season; thoughts on the Winter Classic; and tweeting of the airing of game seven of the 1960 World Series.

I shared my experiences from several fantastic events such as my hockey road trip to Boston and Long Island (where I met Tec of PSAMP); Stephen Strasburg’s first major league game; traveling to South Florida for the Steelers-Dolphins game; and running my first 5K.


(I'm the middle person in the picture)

Over the past year, I announced my retirement from blogging. It took until late into the day (including a call from my mom wondering if I was serious) for people to realize that it was an April’s Fools joke. My not so serious blogging tone also came through when I encouraged LeBron James to come to Pittsburgh even though the city does not have an NBA team. I originally published this post on BlogCritics where they certainly did not get the joke. I should mention that I started writing on BlogCritics last year. I wrote about ten posts and reviews but I’ve come to realize that I don’t have time to write there as well as here. Even though I still need to write a few book reviews, I’ve made a decision that I’d much rather spend my writing time writing Sean’s Ramblings.

Last summer, I made a decision about this blog that I regret. A company offered to pay me money to write a post to promote their website. I accepted, put a disclaimer on the post explaining that it was written to someone else and didn’t allow for comments. It was a terrible post that is hopefully lost in the archives. Yes, I got paid, but I’m not going to allow this to happen again.

Sadly, the most popular way people found Sean’s Ramblings over the past year was by searching for Erica Blasberg, the late LPGA golfer who was a favorite of mine. Conversely, I was amused by the number of people who found my blog by finding the pictures of Lady Gaga with a Terrible Towel.



Other highlights of the past year:

After Express indicated that Kennywood is located in Philadelphia and refused to issue a correction, I started to highlight all of their errors. This really could become its own blog.

I may or may not be a star in Kittanning, PA after my second appearance on Rizzo Sports Weekly.

I only had one interview over the past year, but I enjoyed the experience of “talking” with Tim Gleason, author of From Black to Gold.

I had a great idea to start a series called “Found In My Basement” where I posted pictures of items I found from years ago. This didn’t last long as our digital camera broke, but I hope that this returns in the coming year.

I learned that Yuengling can be dangerous when the grocery store cashier got her hand caught in my beer.

This leads me to the upcoming year. Last month I posted a major announcement that my wife and I are expecting our first child. This will change my life significantly, even if I have no idea yet of how this will change my life significantly. I expect to get less sleep but this could benefit you. You see being awake in the middle of the night could lead to some interesting new posts. They may not be coherent, but really, is that much different than what I write now?

Thanks again to everyone for reading and commenting. I really appreciate all of your support!

Wednesday Links

I had big plans last night to write a post or two that I think will be fun. However, I ended up spending the entire evening watching the end of season one of The Wire thanks to Netflix and the next to last episode of Lost. So instead of reading words of wisdom and magic from me, I thought I would pass on some interesting links from throughout the internet.

- A touching tribute to Erica Blasberg. [Yahoo's Devil Ball Golf]

- What happens to celebrities in the afterlife? [The D.C. Universe]

- Besides the most livable city, Pittsburgh also made many other lists. [PittGirl on Pittsburgh Magazine]

- Seth recaps every game of the 2009-2010 Penguins season. [Empty Netters]

- Top Chef is coming to DC. Without knowing anything about anyone on the show, I'm rooting for Kelly Liken who is from Pittsburgh but now lives in Vail, Colorado. [DCist]

- Behind the Steel Curtain talks with Merril Hoge [BTSC Part I; Part II]

- Great life advice even if given in a dream. [Restaurant Refugee]

- Since it looks like the Pirates will have another under .500 season, why not look ahead to the future. Specifically, a preview of the Venezuelan Summer League Pirates. [BuccoFans.com]

- Finally, I made my writing debut on Blogcritics sharing thoughts as a soccer referee. It was interesting having someone edit my posts. [Blogcritics]


P.S. Maybe tomorrow is the day when my post title doesn't include a day of the week.

2011 Sean’s Ramblings Visitors

I love numbers and statistics, so naturally I’m fascinated by the data related to where people live that visit this blog as well as how people find Sean’s Ramblings through searches primarily via Google and Yahoo.

Here are the results for 2011:

1. Pittsburgh, PA

2. New York, NY

3. Washington, DC

4. Chantilly, VA

5. Chicago, IL

6. Arlington, VA

7. Deerfield Beach, FL

8. Los Angeles, CA

9. Baltimore, MD

10. Columbus, OH

Pittsburgh-New York-Washington earn the top three spots for the second consecutive year. Only a third place finish by San-Ch’Ung, Taiwan in 2009 prevents this trifecta from back-to-back-to-back top three finishes.

Now for the top referrals of 2011:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot

2. LeBron James

3. Songs with Alcohol in the Title

4. Seans Ramblings

5. Jim Shearer

6. Top Songs of 2010

7. Erica Blasberg

8. Cosi Prices

9. Myron Cope Sound Bites

10. Sean’s Ramblings

11. Songs with Drinks in the Title

Seans Ramblings and Sean’s Ramblings together would have been #1, but the variations put these two at #4 & #10 respectively. Therefore, congrats to Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot for moving from #5 in 2010 to the top spot in 2011. Steely McBeam is quite happy.



Meanwhile, I am clearly the source for LeBron James news as evidenced by the impressive second place finish for LeBron James searches. In addition, Fleetwood Mac concert reviews, Hamburger Helper Rice Oriental and Spider Pig lyrics fell out of the top 10.

Please click here if you’re interested in seeing the search and location statistics for 2009 and 2010.


Trivia Tuesday will return next week though there could be a special edition later this week.

Athletes Websites

Have you ever wondered what your favorite athletes do when off the playing field? Well, many of them have websites that provide small glimpses into their lives. While most sports fans know about the blogs/websites of the Washington Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, here are a few sites that you may not have discovered:

On Dolphins’ running back Ronnie Brown’s website, you can take a poll to see which team will win Super Bowl XLII: the New York Giants or New England Patriots. The Patriots are huge favorites, so I don’t see how they could lose.

Although he’s not a current player or manager, Tommy Lasorda writes frequently on his website, including an entry last week in which he proudly writes about earning Best in Class at the 2008 Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition's inaugural Wine World of Sports, which pitted sports celebrities' vintages against each other. Lasorda’s Pinot Grigio (I never thought I would write those three words together) defeated wines by John Daly, Greg Norman, Wayne Gretzky, and the Andretti Winery.

In the latest news on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Rick Nash’s website, Nash won the gold and tournament MVP at the World Championships. Um, the 2007 World Championships.

Did you know that former Steeler Kendrell Bell was still a Kansas City Chief? According to his website he is; however, according to the Kansas City Chiefs’ website, not so much.

Face Me Ike, better known as Steeler cornerback Ike Taylor, is hosting his fourth annual football camp this Friday in his hometown of New Orleans. There is no punch line here; just thought you would like to know.

The top of Adam Archuleta’s website features pictures of him as a St. Louis Ram. This would be fine except he hasn’t been a member of that team since 2005. I guess the header “safety for the Chicago Bears” is supposed to clear everything up.

I have a new (OK, my first ever) favorite LGPA golfer, Erica Blasberg.



Just in time for Wimbledon, Andy Roddick provides, well nothing on either his website of Facebook page.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the blogs and websites of professional athletes. If you know of other websites of professional athletes, please feel free to share them in the comments below.