Sean Contacts Presidential Candidates

Virginia's Presidential primary takes place on Tuesday, March 5th. Virginia has open primaries, meaning that you show up to your polling place and simply ask for a Democratic or Republican ballot. While this generally doesn't impact the overall results, it does make things interesting. For example, in 2008, I remember some Republicans saying they would vote for Barack Obama in the primary believing he would be easier to defeat in the general election than Hillary Clinton. (I'm not sure if this is true or not since John McCain only defeated Mike Huckabee by about 45,000 votes in the 2008 Republican primary and Obama defeated Clinton by almost 300,000 votes in the Democratic primary).

So that brings us to 2024. Here are your ballots for Tuesday's primary: 

I contacted the campaigns of everyone on both the Republican and Democratic primary ballots and asked one simple question: Why should Virginians vote for you? (Or if the candidate has withdrawn, who do you support and why?)

Here are the responses:

Nothing. No one replied. Actually, I take that back. I received a "Failure Notice" that the email account I tried to reach does not exist message from Vivek Ramaswamy. I appreciate the fact that his campaign completely ended and decided to stop paying for things like email addresses.

While Sean's Ramblings isn't CNN, The Washington Post, Fox News, or any of the local news stations in the Washington, Richmond, or Virginia Beach markets, this seems like a missed opportunity for candidates to communicate directly with voters on a smaller scale. 

So where does this leave Virginia voters? My guess is that most Republicans will vote for Trump, most Democrats will vote for Biden, and others will vote for a candidate of the opposite party as a "protest" vote. And maybe candidates will want their voices heard on Sean's Ramblings in future elections! 

Linked In

Enjoy links of articles and stories from around the world:

I’ve mentioned J.J. Hensley here before. As a former police officer and former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, he has some valuable insight about the security for Wednesday's inauguration. [J.J. Hensley]

This is a really cool story about Presidential candidate Barack Obama playing pickup basketball with the University of North Carolina men’s team. [The Athletic]

The Pittsburgh Pirates traded pitcher Joe Musgrove to the San Diego Padres for a handful of prospects. The most significant prospect is 19 year-old outfielder Hudson Head who was a 2019 third round pick. I appreciate the Pirates getting an early 1990s sitcom, especially since the team was really good at the same time that the show aired.  [Pittsburgh Baseball Network]

I don't know what to write about this story about the U.S. government paying $3,000 a month to rent a toilet for the Secret Service staff to use in protecting Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner other than it's amazing. [The Washington Post]

When I was in high school, I shared the stage with E. Clayton Cornelious in Lil Abner and Peter Pan. When I write "shared the stage," I mean we were both on the stage at the same time as he was a much, much, much better singer and actor than me (though you can judge my acting ability for yourself). Clayton has been performing on Broadway for years and was recently interviewed in Playbill. [Playbill]

Don't forget to click on the link to check out Dancing and Life which I wrote about last week. The 30-day New Year New You challenge is pretty cool. [Dancing and Life]

Finally, Congregation Rodef Shalom in Denver welcomed Reverend Timothy Tyler at a special Shabbat service on Saturday just before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I highly recommend checking out the video starting just before the 50-minute mark. [Rodef Shalom Facebook page]

Oh, I almost forgot that I have a referral available for LearnedLeague, the greatest trivia league in the land. If you're interested in trying a season, please let me know. [LearnedLeague]

Obama's Long Game

Over the weekend, President Trump sent out the following tweet:

Naturally, people went crazy. Trump's supporters called this the biggest overreach in Presidential history. Trump's critics replied that he provided no evidence of this, and said that even if this was true, this would be a Department of Justice investigation, not issued by the Obama administration.

Jon Favreau, President Obama's former speechwriter, replied with this tweet:

Personally, I think Trump has a case here. Obama is well aware of the 22nd Amendment which states that "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."

Obama ordered the wiretapping knowing that the Justice Department would find something that would lead to Trump's impeachment and subsequent removal. With the executive branch in chaos, somehow the presidential line of succession would disappear. Despite both the House and Senate being under Republican control, Obama knew that this was a way to get around the 22nd Amendment and plans to become President again instead of Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Orrin Hatch (yes, he's third in line to be President), every Cabinet Secretary, and Designated Survivor, Kiefer Sutherland.

You heard it here first.

Party Like Its 5774 (Happy Rosh Hashanah!)

With Rosh Hashanah and year 5775 starting Wednesday evening, party today by, um, watching these Rosh Hashanah related videos (and a bonus non-Rosh Hashanah video at the end).

This has to be the only Rosh Hashanah video featuring a guy wearing a Kelcie McCray Kansas City Chiefs jersey. Unless of course Kelcie McCray has his own video singing "All About That Rosh."



Ready to try the Honey Bucket Challenge?


Here's British Prime Minister David Cameron's Rosh Hashanah message. I noticed that he didn't thank the Jews in Scotland for voting against independence.



I see that President Barack Obama plays the friends with Elie Weisel card.



Not only does one of the guys in this video have a great voice, but he can also juggle apples. Now that's talent! He's like the Andrew McCutchen of acapella!



Finally, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Pirates on reaching the playoffs for a second consecutive year! Benstonium put together the Pirates radio call with the final outs. Let's Go Bucs!

Post by Benstonium.com.

Update: Here's one more video courtesy of Dejan Kovacevic, live in Atlanta last night.

Random Ramblings

- Despite living about 250 miles away from my hometown, I have run into someone I graduated from high school with twice at the local Wegmans grocery store in the past few months. If she talks to any of our classmates, she would likely say that I have a lot less hair than I did in high school and that I looked disheveled since in both cases, I was unshaven, wearing glasses (as opposed to contacts) and not dressed very well. I have good reasons for looking this way (picking up a prescription for a sick child & going shopping after shoveling snow), but I don't think that makes a difference.

- I saw that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to bet President Obama a case of Canadian beer per Olympic hockey game this week. Want a really fun bet? If both the US men's and women's hockey teams defeat Canada, the US should get Victoria/Vancouver Island. If both Canadian teams win, Canada gets Maine.

- The big entertainment story this week is Jimmy Fallon's new role as host of The Tonight Show. I don't think I've seen five minutes of either of his NBC shows (with the exception of Saturday Night Live).

- Dallas Buyers Club is up for multiple Oscars including best actor and supporting actor for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. While I haven't seen the movie, it sounds like both actors did an amazing job portraying Mark Cuban & Jerry Jones respectively, owners of two prominent Dallas sports franchises that are known for spending a lot of money

Kripke Vs. Slash

I'm sure that many famous people read this blog. While I can't prove that President Obama, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, David Cameron or Andrew McCutchen read Sean's Ramblings, they probably do. With that written, it's already documented that former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kordell Stewart read this blog. Now, I have proof that Big Bang Theory actor John Ross Bowie read Sean's Ramblings.

@seansramblings knew about Feldman, did not know about Jordan. Cool!

— JohnRossBowie (@JohnRossBowie) April 12, 2013

@johnrossbowie Thanks for the reply. Go Bombers!

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) April 12, 2013

So just for fun, of these two, who is the most famous person to admit to reading Sean's Ramblings?

Kordell Stewart

- 11-year NFL career
- 2001 Pro Bowl QB
- Formerly married to a Real Housewife of Atlanta
- Co-host of Atlanta radio station 92.9 The Game's Gametime with Dukes, Slash & Rachel
- University of Colorado graduate and part of one of the most memorable plays in college football history

John Ross Bowie

- Plays Barry Kripke on The Big Bang Theory, the top-rated American comedy and the most-watched entertainment television show in Canada
- Member of Naked Babies sketch comedy troupe.
- Appeared in The League, Happy Endings, Bones, Childrens Hospital, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Family Guy, Monk, Heroes and Arrested Development.
- Has a Tumblr Page
- Ithaca College graduate

So who is more famous: Kordell Stewart or John Ross Bowie? More importantly, will either or both of these individuals allow me to interview them for a future blog post?

Sean’s Political Platform: The Real Issues

With the Presidential election less than a week away, there are some significant issues not mentioned by either President Obama or Governor Romney. In my opinion, if either candidate backed my initiatives, he would win the election. Therefore, let me introduce you to my 7-point plan.

1. Tax credits for owning pets adopted from animal shelters. Pets are wonderful companions and people should be encouraged to adopt animals from shelters. Plus, shelters usually require and ensure that the pets are spayed and neutered. Bob Barker is all for this!

2. Eliminate daylight savings time. I wrote about this earlier this year, and still don’t understand why most of the country follows daylight savings. What do we really save? Try getting a young child to follow the time change. Painful.

3. Change the non-profit status of the National Football League. I’ll admit that I don’t fully understand the tax status and how this works, but it seems inconceivable to me that an organization that generates billions of dollars is non-profit. All I know is that I have Sunday Ticket, but not the Red Zone Channel since it is an extra fee this year. The NFL has to be making big money from this.

4. Initiate paid leave for new mothers. The Family Medical Leave Act gives new mothers 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Canada allows for an entire year of leave for new mothers with 50 weeks of paid leave. The Scandinavian countries are even better. Wouldn’t it be great if new parents could get help supporting their infants in this country without needing to get back to work immediately?

5. You’re wondering how we’re going to pay for items #1 and especially #4, aren’t you? The solution: legalize marijuana and tax sales of marijuana. Is marijuana really worse than alcohol or tobacco? Legalize marijuana and let the states figure out how to sell it. Set a minimum age as well as penalties for driving under the influence. The opening of marijuana stores and licensed marijuana growers could also help create jobs. Wiz Khalifa is all for this!

6. End the NHL lockout. There’s no good reason why hockey isn’t playing right now. Actually, President Obama weighed in on this during his visit to Jay Leno, but that’s hardly getting the owners and players together. Has Governor Romney said anything about this? He was born in Michigan and was Governor of Massachusetts, two big hockey states, so you’d think he’d want the NHL to settle the lockout.

7. Get Joanna Garcia a successful television show. I liked Animal Practice, but not enough other people did. She seems to have had a string of unsuccessful television shows, but I admit that I like watching her. That sounds creepy, so maybe I should rephrase it before her husband, Nick Swisher, reads this. Um, just kidding, Nick.

I’m Sean of Sean’s Ramblings, and I approve this blog post.

The War on Halloween

You probably notice all the candy on display at supermarkets. You also may have received invitations for Halloween parties and/or thought about what you or your kids will wear this year. Although the temperatures are falling (although the high is supposed to be around 80 in DC today) and we’re now a month into Fall, there is clearly a War on Halloween in this country. Look around your neighborhoods and especially at intersections for proof. Sure, there might be some places with Halloween decorations, but they are no match for political signs. That’s right; Halloween is under attack from political parties, political action committees and the media.

What do you see when you turn on the television? Political advertisements. In the DC area, not only are there ads for or against Obama and Romney, but we see countless commercials for Virginia’s Senatorial candidates and several Maryland propositions. You can’t enter or exit a Metro station without people asking about voter registration or handing out flyers (or newspapers in the morning). Even restaurants such as California Tortilla have contests based on the Presidential candidates (yes, the Obama burrito vs. the Romney burrito). If you want further proof that there is a War Against Halloween, look at The Simpsons. The long-running show features the “Treehouse of Horror” Halloween-themed episode each year. This year, Fox aired Treehouse of Horror XXIII on October 7th. October 7th! That’s more than three weeks before Halloween. Rupert Murdoch, also the head of Fox News, is surely to blame.

It’s time to fight back! We cannot lose this war. Halloween is too important to kids, candy companies, guys who like seeing women in scantily-clad costumes, dentists, women who like wearing scantily-clad costumes, and pagans (including San Francisco Giants OF Angel Pagan) among others. Sure you can vote on November 6th, but don’t let them take away October 31st!

The Inside Of A Lemonade Stand

In his opening statement at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said, “President Obama has never run a company. He hasn't even run a garage sale or seen the inside of a lemonade stand." Since I generally try to avoid politics on this blog, I’m not going to support or debate Prebus’ comment about President Obama. However, I have an issue with his statement about the inside of a lemonade stand. Since when do lemonade stands have an inside? Was Priebus privileged enough to have a lemonade stand with a roof? Maybe he had an original version of the Melissa and Doug Grocery Store/Lemonade Stand available at Target for $129.99.

Is there even an inside of this Melissa and Doug lemonade stand? Regardless, how do you expect to make money selling lemonade when you have to put out $130 for the structure before you even purchase cups, ice, lemonade, etc? I guess that you could sell lemonade for $10 a cup, but who would want to buy such an expensive cup of lemonade?

When I was a child, my brother and I sold lemonade on a table on a street corner. I don’t even think we had chairs. The only inside was the inside to our house where we went to eat dinner. And yes, we walked uphill both ways to get to school. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go yell at kids to get off my lawn.

Do Any Presidential Candidates Play Fantasy Football?

Fantasy football is a $1 billion industry with nearly 27 million participants according to The Hollywood Reporter. (I’m sure that there are more detailed statistics available from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal or even ESPN out there, but this is where Google directed me.) While the growth of fantasy sports over the past decade has impacted people at most businesses, I wonder if it has reached the White House. Sure, President Obama completes NCAA tournament brackets for men’s and women’s college basketball, but I don’t think he worried about choosing between Adrian Peterson, Arian Foster or even Aaron Rodgers with the first pick of a fantasy football league draft earlier this fall (though he may have drafted Rodgers based on their meeting).



Personally, I’d find it fascinating seeing the President scan the waiver wire on Tuesday afternoon deciding whether to put in a claim to pick up Darrius Heyward-Bey or Jabar Gaffney. Would the President call Matthew Berry directly each Sunday morning asking if he/she should start Beanie Wells or C.J. Spiller? Would the President delay the start of a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in order to finalize a trade to acquire Mike Wallace? White House press conferences could end with correspondents asking the President’s thoughts on Jamaal Charles’ torn ACL. While I may be taking this question a little too far here (though I don’t think any of this would be completely unrealistic), I wonder who will be the first U.S. President to embrace fantasy sports.

While I don’t believe that any of the current Presidential candidates are active fantasy owners, I thought it would be fun to pretend that the candidates are in a league together. Please note that the candidates are in no particular order:

Mitt Romney – This is a high stakes league where Romney put up $10,000 on him winning.

Newt Gingrich – The former Speaker of the House also serves as the league’s historian.

Michele Bachmann – Selected Atlanta running back Michael Turner with her first pick so that she could name her team Bachmann Turner Overdrive. (Sorry if this sounds like a bad Chris Berman joke.)

Rick Perry – He focused his draft plan on three positions. Running back, quarterback, and the um, what’s the third one there? Oops!

Ron Paul – He could have early season success, but don’t look for Paul winning the fantasy league championship.

Jon Huntsman – Since his daughter went on a date with Kris Humphries, well before he was the former Mr. Kim Kardashian, Huntsman prefers fantasy basketball to fantasy football.

Rick Santorum – The draft must be on-line and not in person since Santorum doesn’t actually live where he claims his residency.

Herman Cain – Sure, Cain’s not a candidate anymore, but he was when the league formed in August. Cain drafted ninth and only selected players wearing the number 9. Sure, Drew Brees was a great pick, but starting #99 Brett Keisel at running back hasn’t worked very well.

Since you can’t have a league with just eight participants, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who many Republican leaders hoped would enter the Presidential race, will serve as the 9th member. I don’t have anything to write about Chris Christie, so the league also included Kris Kristofferson as the 10th member simply because it’s fun to say Chris Christie and Kris Kristofferson in the same sentence.


After I finished typing this post, I found a brief article about Obama drafting a fantasy football team in 2008 with Rick Reilly. I'm still not willing to credit Obama as the first fantasy football playing President.

Ten Years In Washington (Part 2)

I have now lived in the Washington DC area for a decade. While I shared some thoughts about significant events that occurred since moving here, I figured I would pose the question about whether or not I am a Washingtonian.

Why I May Be a Washingtonian

- Not only do I regularly ride Metro, but like my fellow Washingtonians, I feel the need to complain about non-air-conditioned trains, cost (I still don't understand the peak of the peak fares), delays, and broken escalators. However, overall, when Metro runs on time, I generally enjoy my experience commuting.

- I dislike Dan Snyder. I'm not a fan of the Washington Redskins in general, but the years of overcharging people for everything at FedEx Field, putting a poor football team together and suing the Washington City Paper all fall under Snyder's watch as owner.

- I know that Chuck Brown is the Godfather of Go-Go.



- I attended Stephen Strasburg's major league baseball debut. Of course, I was one of the few people in attendance wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates shirt.

- I get annoyed by tourists especially when the stand on the left on Metro escalators. However, a recent article in the Washington Post makes me reconsider my views on tourists.

- I have attended concerts or shows at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, 930 Club, Wolf Trap, Strathmore, Nissan Pavilion/Jiffy Lube Live and the Verizon Center.

- I have played ultimate frisbee on the National Mall.

- I like the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin. Yes, it's a bit touristy, but they truly are beautiful and signify the beginning of spring.

- I know the correct way to pronounce the name of rapper Wale.

- I know what a Topper Shutt is.



Why I May Not Be a Washingtonian

- I have never attended the July 4th fireworks on the National Mall. I'm generally not really a big fan of being in crowds of 100,000 or more (unless the Steelers or Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert are involved).

- I attended Washington Capitals games before they became pretty good the past few years. Sure, many of these games were against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but there was no such thing as Rocking the Red then. There was also no problem getting tickets then.

- I have never played in a kickball league.

- Although I have had Ben's Chili Bowl at a Nationals game, I have never been to Ben's Chili Bowl itself. Yes, I realize that this item alone probably puts me into the not a Washingtonian category.



- I did not attend either the 2nd Bush inauguration or the Obama inauguration. Please see the big crowd thing above.

- I rarely visit the DC monuments or museums. This is the one part of this list that bothers me more than the others. Although I live in Northern Virginia and not actually in Washington, I certainly should visit these places more than I do. I tend to only visit these historic sites and wonderful exhibits when I have friends and family in from out of town.

- I have never been to Georgetown Cupcake or any other cupcake store or food truck.

- LiLu made a list of 10 places to visit when moving to the District. I have only been to four of them.

- I have not been invited to any White House event. Apparently, I don't have any connections and I don't feel like crashing any events like the Salahis (remember them?).



So what do you think: Am I a Washingtonian?

What Are You Doing, Mr. President?

The White House announced last night that President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday, September 8th regarding his plan for jobs and to improve the economy. While I appreciate President Obama presenting information on his plan on the biggest political stage available, doesn't anyone in the administration have a calendar?

The National Football League's first game of the season between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers takes place at 8:30 on the 8th. If the television choice is between President Obama and an NFL game, football will win. If the game is pre-empted by Obama's speech, people will get upset.

In this case, President Obama and Congress need to follow the lead of our Canadian friends. This spring, a political debate was postponed because of a Montreal Canadiens' first round playoff game. I hope that President Obama reconsiders the date of his speech, or at a minimum, schedules the address for 7:00 Eastern time.

Barack Obama > Lou Holtz

The Virginia Gubernatorial election is, thank goodness, only six days away. All of advertisements have been negative, so I'm looking forward to not seeing them on television after next Tuesday. Although I like to consider myself as generally politically aware, I honestly have no idea where Republican candidate Bob McDonnell and Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds stand on most issues. (Please let me know when someone has a good transportation plan and is able follow through with the plan.) In all honesty, it doesn't matter much. The Virginia Governor can only serve one term, so they are essentially a lame-duck immediately after being elected. Virginia is run by the legislature. (Meaning a transportation plan in Northern Virginia never gets incorporated.) Anyway, that's not the point of this post.

Deeds, trailing McDonnell by double-digits in various polls, enlisted the support of President Obama yesterday at a Norfolk rally with nearly 5,700 people in attendance. Meanwhile, "about 200 people sipped wine and munched on cheese and crackers at the Willow Oaks Country Club" in Richmond on Monday night as McDonnell brought out his own secret weapon: Lou Holtz.



Wait, what? I guess the connection is that McDonnell graduated from Notre Dame in 1976 and Holtz coached the Notre Dame football team from 1986-1996. Were Knute Rockne and Tyrone Willingham unavailable?

So what does Lou Holtz have to do with Virginia and with encouraging people to vote for McDonnell? Well, I'm sure that Virginia voters fondly remember Holtz as the head football coach at William & Mary from 1969-1971. You do remember William & Mary as a huge national college football power during that time, right? During his speech Monday, Holtz was asked what was the most important thing he learned while coaching at William & Mary. His response: "We had too many Marys and not enough Williams." Apparently, Holtz didn't want to wait 25 years to have the opportunity to coach current Steelers coach (and former W&M WR) Mike Tomlin.

While it seems like I'm giving Holtz a bit of a hard time, that's not really the case. Holtz is from my mom's hometown, is likely the most successful person ever to hail from there, and has given back to that community even though he hasn't lived there for years. I guess that I don't understand the logic of McDonnell bringing Holtz to an event in Richmond. Were McDonnell supporters really enthused to pay significant money to attend an event featuring Lou Holtz? When you think of Holtz, you think college football. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to have him campaign for McDonnell in Blacksburg or even Charlottesville?

With all of this written, I will give credit to Holtz for knowing his current events as he said, "What do you call a former Redskins player with a Super Bowl ring? Senior citizens."


Finally, boo (and not in the good Halloween way) to WJLA, Washington's ABC affiliate, for having a Battleground Virginia special on Tuesday night instead of airing It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Yes, I've seen the Great Pumpkin dozens of times, but I was hoping to watch it again on Tuesday evening.

Yinz Luv Da Stillers and Contests

Here is your weekly Yinz Luv Da Stillers:



There are also several contests I wanted to share.

- Win a trip to Washington DC to meet President Obama. I can't wait to fly from Washington Dulles to Washington National if I win. Maybe I can drive to National and fly to Dulles; take the bus to West Falls Church; and then Metro to the White House.

- Steelers Today is hosting a Steelers-Bears haiku contest.

- Make your college football picks. (Go Iowa!!) [RizzoSports]

Almost Famous

My TV debut on Rizzo Sports Live is now available on the Family Life TV website. Check it out and please let me know what you think of my performance. Personally, I'm impressed with how Michael Rizzo looks so interested in listening to my ramblings. He's definitely a professional!

To protect the station from me, there's a disclaimer at the end of the show stating that "views expressed are those of the participants." I wonder if there would have been an uproar if I said that Pitt and Penn State wouldn't face each other until Joe Paterno dies. (You may notice a dramatic pause when we briefly talked about Pitt-Penn State football since I really wanted to say this but thought it would be inappropriate.)

Besides my interview which I'm sure will be viewed by millions of people, I wanted to share a few other items today. First, Phil of Phil's Occasional Musings did a live blog of the New York Philharmonic's Opening Night. This could be the first live blog of its kind

Second, check out the Steelers pregame show by Tecmo and Cotter. It's still a work-in-progress, but they're better than me. Maybe I could be a guest star on a future episode!



With that, I wish you all a Shana Tova (Happy New Year)! Actually, even though he didn't invite me to the White House for the Steelers or Penguins ceremonies, I'll let President Obama get the final word today.

Please Invite Sean To The White House

Unlike most of my blog entries, I’ll get right to the point. How can I score an invitation to join the Pittsburgh Penguins when they visit President Obama and the White House on Thursday? I unsuccessfully tried begging to join the Steelers during their visit this past May. Any chance Mario Lemieux or Joe Biden is reading this and wants to extend an invitation to a Penguins fan who remembers watching Penguins games featuring Rick Kehoe on WPGH?

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg

The big news in the NFL the past few days has been James Harrison’s refusal to visit President Obama when the Steelers are honored at the White House. Harrison originally told WTAE "if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won." This also led to an extremely funny post by Christmas Ape at KSK (R-rated language for those sensitive readers). However, Harrison revealed to the Post-Gazette that the real reason he is missing the White House visit is because he has a fear of flying. I guess this also means that Harrison will not be a Monday Night Football broadcaster after he retires.

With Harrison missing from the festivities on Thursday, and based on my understanding of Algebra II from high school, it seems like there is an open spot for someone to attend. Therefore, I’d like to propose someone that already lives in the Washington DC area and does not need to fly. This person has been a Steelers fan since birth and even has this photo with Hall of Famer Franco Harris.



Plus, this person is a terrific blogger (at least in his mind), and he’d be more than happy to write about his experiences on this very blog. I have an idea: how about Sean of Sean’s Ramblings!

In all seriousness, how does one get invited to the Steelers ceremony at the White House? Besides actually being a Rooney or a Steelers player or a coach. If you have any connections at the White House, and can get me in, I’d love to witness this event. I'll even get you a Pop Tart from California Tortilla (Wednesday only). President Obama, if you happen to be reading this, have Rahm send me an e-mail!

Steelers to Loose Super Bowl Trophies

Yes, this was the subject of an e-mail that was forwarded to me. Not lose, but loose. It only gets worse from there.

The Super Bowl XLIII Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, the only team to win six titles, will soon be loosing half of those trophies. After a meeting between NFL Commissioner Rodger Gadel (Sean's note: Rodger Gadel? Really?) and President Barack Hussain Obama, Obama decided to redistribute half of their Steeler Super Bowl victories and trophies to less fortunate teams in the league.

"We live everyday in the country that invented the Super Bowl." said Obama "We are not about to lose this Great American tradition in the wake of these difficult times." Obama’s plan calls for the Steelers, who are a successful NFL team, to give half of their Super Bowl trophies to teams that are not successful or have not been as successful as the Steelers. "The Detroit Loins are just as much a part of the same fiber of the NFL as the Steelers and they should, no rather will, be entitled to a Super Bowl Trophy as well." Obama explains in his plan that he has imposed on Godel and the NFL.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who by virtue of hard work, excellent team play, stellar draft choices, responsible investing of free agents, careful hiring of coaches and excellent community service and commitment to their fans, has prospered greatly during the past 30 years and have won six Super Bowl Trophies. But President Barack Hussain Obama’s plan calls for the Pittsburgh Steelers to carry the larger burden of the NFL’s less successful teams. Obama went on to further proclaim, "In these difficult times we are all in this to work together. We must reclaim the NFL Championship Dream for every team, for every city and for every fan."

"My plan will not affect 31 of the 32 teams in the league." Obama assures. That’s over 95 percent of the teams in the NFL will not have to worry about loosing any Super Bowl Trophies. "The worst teams in the NFL and the teams that can’t seem to get a break and win a championship will no longer have to worry about going without a title." Obama promises. "We are a country and league of hope. We all need to make a change. It does not matter the color of the teams uniforms, the personal decisions that the teams make or their performance but rather if they are a member of this great American league."

The Super Bowl XLIII trophy will be redistributed to the 0-16 Detroit Lions. Through no fault of their own incompetence, the Lions could not manage a victory all season and this trophy will help ease the pain of their lack of performance and give them hope once again. The redistribution of Super Bowl XL trophy will go directly to the Steeler’s division rival the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals who also have fallen on hard times have never won a Super Bowl. This victory will bring a smile to hundreds of Bengal fans all over the world as they can now celebrate. Finally, one of the Steeler’s two Super Bowl victories over the Dallas Cowboys will go back to the Cowboys since the league needs to provide hope in the face of difficulty and provide hope in the face of uncertainty. This is a heavy burden for the Steelers but together we can all prosper.

All hope is not lost for Pittsburgh fans, Barack Hussain Obama has another plan in place. Obama has meet with MLB and commissioner Bud Selig on a similar plan. The New York Yankees will redistribute two of their world series trophies to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a supplement to their loosing 16 straight seasons and counting. This plan will help stimulate the Pirates and enable them to regain the American Dream. Barack Hussain Obama will be meeting with the NHL and Michael Phelps in the upcoming weeks as this issue is high on his agenda for "Hope and Change."

Someone is still bitter about Obama being elected President! I'm not touching any political aspect of this, but I do have a few notes:

1. Would Canada, or at least Quebec, go to war against the U.S. if we tried to take away some of Montreal's Stanley Cups? If so, look out Plattsburgh, NY!

2. The Pirates don't want any World Series titles from the Yankees. The Pirates earned the Championship against the Yankees in 1960! (Someone I met at the Pirates game in Bradenton on Sunday was a Yankees fan and is still unhappy about Maz's home run.)

3. Based on this plan, at least the Browns won't get a trophy!

Everybody Loves Ottawa

I started a trend. It happens quite often but I didn’t expect this trend to occur north of the border. As part of last month’s hockey road trip, we visited Ottawa to see the Senators-Canadiens game and also toured the Parliament building. Nearly one month later, it appears that Ottawa is the place to be. Last week, Barack Obama made his first international trip as President to visit Canada’s capital and meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Here’s a picture if you don’t believe me:



Now two international superstars (me and President Obama, of course) visiting Ottawa does not make a trend. That’s where the Ottawa Senators come in. I already shared the eight-second video of Carrie Underwood attending a Sens game to watch her boyfriend Mike Fisher. Then last Friday, Ottawa acquired Mike Comrie in a trade with the New York Islanders. You may know Mike Comrie as the boyfriend of one Hilary Duff.



It seems to me that Ottawa is now THE place to be seen. Now we’ll just have to see if Duff, Underwood or Obama take a picture with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Safety Bear.



It’s tough being a trend-setter sometimes!


Voting in the Elite Eight round of the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament continues through 8:00pm tonight in the post below.

Election Maps, Steelers and Great Authors

My life the last few days has focused almost entirely on the election and the Steelers’ Monday night game, though not necessarily in that order. I have a few links about both:

I love maps and have spent way too much time looking at the county-by-county results of the Presidential election.

From the map, only one county in the six New England states went to McCain: Piscataquis, Maine.

Conversely, McCain won every Oklahoma county, and Obama only won two counties each in Wyoming and Utah and three counties in Kansas and Nevada. Of course, winning Clark County, home of Las Vegas, was enough for Obama to carry that state.

McCain also won both Mineral counties. That would be Mineral County, Nevada where 49 total people voted and Mineral County, Colorado which had a whopping 64 voters. I spent over 20 minutes trying to verify these numbers from the Mineral County government websites, but I don’t think these counties have actual websites.

According to the Pennsylvania map from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, John McCain won Mercer County with 24,321 votes versus Obama’s 24,319. That’s a difference of only two votes. Amazing! However, the Mercer County government site actually shows that Obama won 24,955-24,792. Did they find an extra thousand people at the Grove City Prime Outlets to vote late Tuesday night?

There are a lot of angry Redskins fans in and around Washington. It’s not the team lost handily to Pittsburgh on Monday night; it’s the fact that there were thousands of Steelers fans in attendance. Personally, I thought there were a larger percentage of Steelers fans at the game I attended in Jacksonville earlier this season (I thought about 25%) than at Monday’s game, but I have seen some people put the percentage of Steelers fans on Monday as high as 30%. Much more about this as well as some fun comments from Washington fans on the DC Sports Bog here, here and here (this one is the Redskins player reactions to the Steelers fans. The offense needed to use a silent count...at home!).

In other Steelers news (sort of), PSAMP and One for the Other Thumb interviewed Amos Zereoue.

Finally, I am always on the lookout for good books to read. While I am enjoying Don’t Know Much About Anything Else by Kenneth C. Davis (I like receiving free books), which has facts and quizzes on a variety of topics, there is not a plot or protagonist. Therefore, I am thinking about reading some books by historic authors. If you could choose one book each by Ernest Hemmingway, Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck, what would you recommend? I remember reading Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck in high school, and I must have read a Dickens book at some point, but I don’t recall which one. Any suggestions of books by these authors or others are appreciated.