Entertainment Round-Up

Congrats to Flavor of Love for having 7.5 million viewers (including me) for its season finale Sunday night. That’s a lot of people! Even though Flav picked Delishis, New York is going to be OK. Apparently, she's getting her own spin-off called “Flavorette” where she gets to pick a guy. I don’t think I can take an entire show of her.

Random thought: Do you think Kirk Cameron ever looks back on the Growing Pains days and wonders how Leonardo DiCaprio is a major movie star now and he isn’t?

Tom DeLay is having a bad few days. When he resigned from Congress, he said that he would continue "to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day." Apparently, the important cultural and political battles of our day is "Dancing With the Stars," or more specifically Sara Evans against Jerry Springer. (This is all from Lisa de Moraes, the fantastic TV writer of the Washington Post.) "Shortly before the show debuted, DeLay sent out a blast e-mail, asking his supporters to vote for Evans on the dancing competition series because she had been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and "represents good American values in the media" while "ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer" does not. At the time (and maybe until last week), there was speculation DeLay's endorsement of Evans had something to do with her husband, whose résumé includes chairman of Craig PAC, a national political action committee dedicated to electing Republicans at the federal and state level. Anyway, Evans left Dancing With the Stars because she is divorcing her husband, who she accuses of cheating on her and verbally abusing her. Nice guy. Anyway, I like Evans and I wish her the best. Oh, and Jerry Springer is still on Dancing With the Stars.

Sports Round-Up

What a great football weekend! The Steelers and Pitt both had impressive wins on national TV. Woodland Hills won again with its third straight shutout, while Woodland Hills grad Steve Breaston had five catches for 79 yards in leading Michigan over Penn State. The Big East also had a nice weekend since every team playing a non-conference opponent was victorious. The only thing missing was an Ithaca College victory (they had a bye).

The Oakland A’s fired manager Ken Macha even though the A’s advanced to the American League Championship Series. In four years, Macha was 368-280. Oh yeah, Macha was interested in managing the Pirates when the position was open last winter, but he didn’t even get an interview (maybe he did and I just don’t remember). Anyway, according to the A’s "genius" general manager Billy Beane, it wasn’t Macha’s fault; just that a "disconnect was there and it was something [the A’s] needed to address as
soon as possible." While there may have been some internal disagreements, I think some of the blame for not making the World Series goes back to the GM. The A’s have little speed (no individual player had more than 11 stolen bases during the regular season) and not as much pitching depth as they’ve had in the past when Hudson and Mulder were there. I hope Macha gets a good managing job just like Jim Leyland. Go Tigers!

Thanks to LaDainian Tomlinson, I’m now 5-1 (2nd place out of 10 teams) in one fantasy football league and 3-3 (7th out of 16 but 3rd in overall points) in the other.

Flavor of Love Finale

If you haven't seen the episode and plan on it, don't read this message. For everyone else, here's a quick summary:

Although I haven't watched Flavor of Love 2 as much as the original version, I caught most of last night's finale. Congrats to the winner: Deelishis. However, the real winner is all of us because Flavor Flav did not pick New York. The last 15 mintues focused on the highly entertaining argument between the two after he rejected New York for a second time. Deelishis (yes, that's how it is spelled on the show) was somewhat of an afterthought.

My opinion: Hoopz, the winner of first season, was much better than anyone from season two.

Annoying Parent

After a soccer game today where I was the center referee, a parent walked on to the field and said, "You're the type of referee that gets kids hurt." I stared at him and nonchalantly replied, "Thank you," turned around and quietly said "I guess." The players that heard me laughed. Now that I've had a little time to think about it (and of course I couldn't say this at the time), I would have liked to have said F-you. Get the F off of my field. While you're at it, get a new sweatshirt since the one you are wearing is probably 15 years old (just for the record, I have no problem with old sweatshirts since I probably have some that are at least 10 years old) and think about shaving sometime.

If there was a foul during the game, I called it. If there was a foul but a team that got fouled had the advantage, I didn't call it but yelled play on. Back to the guy, soccer is a physical sport. If you don't want your kid playing soccer, encourage him to play chess. (Although I once helped instigate a fight in an eighth grade chess tournament, but that's for another time.) You know what else? Although two players were shaken up during the game, they were back on the field three minutes later, so everyone was fine.

I'm fired up now for Steelers football!

Sienna Being Sienna

I'm a few days late with this story, but Sienna Miller had an "incident" at a Pittsburgh bar earlier this week. Apparently, she didn't have her ID and tried to play the "I am Sienna Miller. I am a famous actress!" card. Didn't work. That's never worked for me either.

Rogan's Corner Closes

Almost a year ago, I wrote that Rogan's Corner, my favorite pizza place of all-time located in Ithaca, New York, was essentially gone. At the time, I heard that two guys took over the restaurant and the pizza was not nearly as good. Anyway, Rogan's Corner apparently really is gone, at least temporarily. The store abruptly announced it would close last week and apparently had an "everything must go" sale. There were huge discounts on beer, Red Bull and even posters on the wall. According to The Ithacan, the two guys who were leasing Rogan's hadn't paid rent in four months! They must have really screwed up the pizza because that place was a goldmine being less than a mile from a college campus of 6,000+ students.

Stop the Blame Game

I don't get political much here, but things like this really upset me. Senator John McCain, who is someone I like for speaking his mind and not always going with the party line, is blaming President Clinton for the current North Korea situation. While the Yahoo article does not give the entire transcript of McCain's statement, he said, "I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure." Whether that's true or not, the Bush administration and a Republican Congress have been in power for SIX YEARS! At the six-year mark, you really should have some type of foreign policy plan for North Korea.

Why not blame Harry Truman for going into Korea too? What about Eisenhower's post-Korean War strategies? I understand that the only reason McCain is saying this is for his 2008 Presidential bid. It's just frustrating.

How I Met Your Mother

I watched HIMYM last night for the first time this season. (I'm addicted to Prison Break which is on at the same time. Yes, I have started looking into TiVo.) I've missed a few episodes, but when did Ted and Robin get together and what happened to Marshall and Lily? Yes, I realize that these are fictional characters.

Weekend Sports Questions

What's wrong with the Steelers? (I could write more here, but it's 12:22 AM, so maybe tomorrow/today.)

Why do people make Terrell Owens out to be the worst player in the NFL? Yes, he's selfish and I would never want him on the Steelers. However, he's never been arrested for domestic violence, weapons charges or worse like other NFL players.

Florida Gator fans: Why do you hate Chris Leak? Is it just because you want Tim Tebow to start?

Did you know Pitt had a running game?

Why is Bill Walsh doing these annoying Coors commercials? Does he need the money?

One more that I forgot last night: If you were the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, would you trade Zach Duke and a relief pitcher (Matt Capps, John Grabow or Salomon Torres) for Alex Rodriguez, assuming the Yankees would cover much of A-Rod's salary?

Cleaning House

I found a box at my parents' house that never made the trip to my home in Virginia. The box includes some old newspapers that (at the time) I thought would be cool to keep. Here's what I found:

November 9, 2000 - Columbus Dispatch: Headline: Waiting, wondering. Florida, Oregon and New Mexico are all too close to call. Gore leads Bush in the total popular vote by 100,000 votes. The recount is underway. I think we're still a few weeks before "hanging chads."

September 9, 1998 - San Diego Union Tribune ("U-T"): Mark McGwire breaks Maris' home run record.

September 17, 1998 - U-T: Sammy Sosa hits home run #63; I was at the game, but not mentioned or pictured in the story.

May 21, 2001 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: I think I kept this because there's a feature story about food vendors and beermen at PNC Park (at the time, I was working part-time as a "Beerman" in Columbus. The top story is President Bush's remarks at Notre Dame University where he called for an "assault on poverty." I haven't heard much (or anything) about this in the last five and a half years or so.

December 15, 2000 - USA Today: An article about NFL radio announcers featuring Myron Cope.

June 20, 2001 - Baltimore Sun: Cal Ripken retires.

September 28, 1998 - U-T: McGwire ends the season with 70 home runs. I don't think that record will ever be topped!

October 15, 1998 - U-T: The Padres are the National League Champions defeating the Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, the World Series did not go as well against the Yankees. There's a quote on the front page by the late Ken Caminiti. Baseball was fantastic in 1998. Eight years later, that season doesn't seem quite right.

Now I have decide which papers to keep and which papers to throw away.

Burnt Sienna

Burnt Sienna is a type of Crayola crayon in the brown family with personality traits including simplicity, comfort, quality, harmony, home, and down to earth. Based on her comments to "Rolling Stone" magazine, Sienna Miller represents none of these characteristics. If you haven't heard, Miller refers to my hometown as something that starts with "sh" and rhymes with Pittsburgh and said "Can you believe this is my life? Will you pity me when you're back in your funky New York apartment and I'm still in Pittsburgh? I need to get more glamorous films."

Excuse me, but who are you? What movies have you been in? The only reason you're famous is because you dated (are dating?) Jude Law, who cheated on you with the nanny. Oh, and now you're famous again for trashing a city that you've only seen from your hotel room. This is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's article where I first saw the story this morning. Miller quickly came out this afternoon to say that her remarks were taken out of context. So what context were you trying to use? In a statement issued by her publicist, Miller said was referring to the fact that the production was shooting mostly at night and she had not had a chance to fully explore the city. "What I have seen of it is beautiful. I came once before to visit The Andy Warhol Museum whilst researching a film and found both the city and its inhabitants warm and gracious," she said. Keep working on that spin (and don't use the word whilst in an apology). 

What I find really ironic is that Miller's father is from Meadville, Pennsylvania, only about 1.5 hours from Pittsburgh. Her dad is planning to show her around Pittsburgh this weekend. I recommend the Aviary where maybe some birds will "Pittsburgh" on her head. That's not very nice of me. That's not at all like a Pittsburgher. Sorry Sienna. For this weekend the Warhol Museum is great; take the incline to Mount Washington; stop by the O for a hot dog and fries and/or go to Primanti's; the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning are always interesting; the Carnegie Museum has dinosaurs and more; and catch a Steelers game while you're in town (I'm sure you can use some connections). 

 For more comments by regular folks, check out Rolling Stone and ThePittsburghChannel.com.

Wednesday Wrap

Is it bad to have bagels, cream cheese and lox for dinner three straight nights? I say it's fine!

Does anyone realize that the hockey season starts tonight? I didn't either until about two hours ago.

Speaking of hockey, here are some of the players that made the Penguins roster: Nils Ekman, Dominic Moore, Jarkko Ruutu, Karl Stewart, Chris Thorburn, Mark Eaton (not the 80s basketball player) and Kris Letang. Who are these guys? I remember knowing every single player on the Penguins roster and now I'm lucky to know a third.

Not that many of you care, but my primary fantasy baseball team had a terrible final week of the season causing me to go from 5th place (in the money) to 7th place (not in the money) out of 12 teams. However, I really like my chances for next year. I have a solid nucleus and just need a #1 starter and a good power hitter. I think I sound like the Pirates.

The Music of 2000

I spent the summer of 2000 in England where I got to enjoy the pop music scene. The British seemed to have the best American songs at the time as well as the hits from throughout Europe. Before I returned to the U.S., I bought “Now That’s What I Call Music Volume 46.” I recently listened to disc #1 and thought I would share some thoughts about the featured artists.

The first song on the CD is “Oops!...I Did it Again” by Britney Spears. Who would have thought that six years later Britney would have two kids, chew gum in national TV interviews and be married to a guy named K-Fed?

Samantha Mumba – Her song actually made it in the U.S. and she was in the movie “The Time Machine” with Guy Pearce, which bombed. Maybe she’s still big in Europe, but I haven’t heard from her in years. At this point of her career, I thought she would be the equivalent of someone like Ashanti or Christina Milian.

Louise – Just one name like Cher or Madonna, only you probably haven’t heard of her. She had a catchy song called “2 Faced” and was also famous for marrying a soccer player named Jamie Redknapp. Think Posh Spice & David Beckham only not famous.

Aaliyah – Now she definitely would have been a superstar. She died much too young.

*NSync / Backstreet Boys – We are all grateful that both groups are not still around. Six years later, I’m going to compare which band was better:
*NSync – Justin Timberlake has one of the top selling albums in the country; JC Chasez dated Eva Longoria; Chris Kirkpatrick got mentioned in an Eminem song; Lance Bass was on the cover on “People” earlier this year and Joey Fatone was in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”
Backstreet Boys – Nick Carter dated Paris Hilton and is the older brother of Aaron Carter who at one point had Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff fighting over him. Aaron Carter was also engaged to one of Nick Carter’s former girlfriends but he broke off the engagement. What a nice family! Perfect for a reality TV show! I have no idea who else was in this group.
The winner: *NSync

Kylie Minogue – Besides Steve Irwin, is she the best known Australian? (Before answering this question, please note that Nicole Kidman was born in Honolulu and Russell Crowe was born in New Zealand).

Richard Ashcroft – You may not know the name but he was the lead singer of the Verve. Maybe the band doesn’t sound familiar but you probably know their song “Bittersweet Symphony.” I thought the band would be bigger but that didn’t happen.

Coldplay – There’s a song call “Yellow” on the CD. I wonder what ever happened to them.

Bloodhound Gang – Even when the song “The Bad Touch” came out, you knew they would be a one hit wonder. You may remember this group for the famous lyrics “Let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.” Shocking that they couldn’t come up with another hit.

Other artists on the CD include Moby, Tom Jones, Shania Twain and Mary Mary. It’s a very eclectic CD but great for a road trip.

September Referrals

With the Steelers on a bye this week, I figured now would be a good time for this monthly feature. For the new reader(s) out there, I am “borrowing” this idea from Sarah. Again, these are real searches (usually from Yahoo or Google) that people used to find and visit this place:

suzy kolber tattoo
Are you asking if Suzy Kolber has a tattoo or if someone has a tattoo of Suzy Kolber? Sorry, but I don’t know the answer to either question. Is this Joe Namath?

How to catch a punt
I would suggest using both hands and keeping your eye on the ball. Is this Ricardo Colclough?

"sean hannity is hot"
Really? This must be Sean Hannity “Googling” himself.

worst moment pittsburgh sports history
In no particular order, I’ll go with the recent Duquesne shootings, Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS – the Sid Bream game, Game 7 of the Penguins-Islanders series (1993?), every Steelers AFC Championship game loss – especially the loss to the Chargers, Roberto Clemente’s plane crash, the last 13 years of Pirates baseball.

refrigerator diaries
Today, the door opened and they took out the milk. Two minutes later, the door opened and they returned the milk.

lyrics "how can i get you alone"
I get this search or a variation of it all the time. I don’t have the lyrics but this song is better if you think Heart is singing “How can I get you a loan?” My suggestion is a bank or credit union.

Booker Stallworth
I went to high school with this guy. I remember when he got in a fight with Greg Martin in 7th or 8th grade. Apparently, he’s now working for a conservative think-tank in the state of Washington.

yom "bob kipper"
Bob Kipper, the greatest Pirates pitcher of all-time with the last name Kipper. Since Yom Kippur starts tonight, I thought this would be an appropriate way to end today’s referrals. For those of you observing Yom Kippur, have a meaningful fast.

TV Review

Since I write about TV so much, I thought I would share my thoughts on some of the new shows this season.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
I liked Sports Night and the first few seasons of West Wing, so naturally, I like Studio 60 too. Matthew Perry is extremely underrated as a comedic actor, so it’s nice seeing him in a role other than Chandler.

Shark
After Grey’s Anatomy last Thursday, I had a choice between Shark and Six Degrees. I’m a fan of James Woods, so I thought I would give Shark a shot. Woods is perfect as an arrogant trial lawyer. While I’m not sure how often I’ll watch it, I recommend Shark especially since it seems like the type of show where you won’t be lost if you miss an episode (unlike many new shows this season).

Smith
I’ll always like Ray Liotta for being Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, one of the greatest movies of all-time. The combination of Liotta and the first episode being partially filmed in Pittsburgh made Smith a must-watch. While I didn’t think it was as bad Sarah thought it was, it wasn’t great. I thought I would give the second episode a try last night and again was under whelmed. Here’s my problem with the show. Liotta leads a group of thieves which includes Amy Smart. You want to root for the bad guys, but the show doesn’t let you. In the first episode, Smart tazered a random woman who thought she looked familiar and the group killed a security guard and possibly some other people (I think this happened but I was on the phone for a few minutes). Last night, Smart and two other guys pulled off a major theft of computer files. Yeah, like I’m going to root for people who pull off a major identity theft.

Conversely, you root for the guys on Prison Break (except for T-Bag, but at least he’s an intriguing character) because they all have redeeming values or were incorrectly imprisoned. While Prison Break is still great, I have no idea how long this show can continue.

Flavor of Love
Not a new show, but I thought I would mention it. I didn’t think the first season could be topped but the second is definitely making a nice run. I actually haven’t watched Flavor of Love much this season, but caught a repeat last night. New York is back. Oh last night, Flavor kicked out a girl because she’s a “pole dancer” and he couldn’t bring her back to meet his kids. I’m sure that his kids are very proud of their dad over the past few years.

Book Suggestion

I'm looking for a new book to read. If you have any suggestions, post a comment or e-mail me at seanramblings@yahoo.com.

Thanks.

A Real Roaming Gnome

A friend forwarded me this article about a stolen garden gnome that attended the Steelers' home opener and has previously been arrested and requested bail money. Travelocity is a big fan of "Gnomey." Seriously.

Sunday Notes

I wore my Louis Lipps jersey and Heinz pickle watch with my Terrible Towel today but that alone could not overcome the five turnovers by the Steelers against the Bengals. What a frustrating game. If you told me before the game that Willie Parker would run for 133 yards and two touchdowns, the Steelers defense would force three turnovers and have six sacks, Chad Johnson would have only one catch for eleven yards and Rudi Johnson would have 47 yards rushing with neither Johnson scoring a TD, I would have thought that would be an easy Steelers victory.

Domino’s “Fudgems” character is really disturbing. I don’t know why, but he/she/it kind of freaks me out.

Why does a high school football team with Michael Vick, LaDainian Tomlinson, Brian Urlacher, Troy Polamalu and coached by Don Shula and Jimmy Johnson (I assume he’s an assistant coach as well as a teacher) need a last second trick-play to win the game in the Nike commercial? With that much talent, and playing against high school kids, they should dominate. I really blame the defense for giving up the last-second touchdown. Did they really expect a running play with only 15 second left and Vick’s team down by more than a field goal and on around the opponents’ 40 yard-line? The safeties should have been on their own 10 yard-line!

Congrats to Woodland Hills High School on a big win against Central Catholic and Pitt on defeating The Citadel. Ithaca College, ranked #11 coming into the game, didn’t do so well against St. John Fisher.

Sean’s Ramblings welcomes the first ever (and probably last ever) visitor from Bishkek City, Kyrgyzstan!

To all those who are celebrating it out there, L'Shana Tova!

Attention DC Radio Stations

From Thursday, September 21 to Wednesday, September 27, I am extremely important to you. I am part of the Arbitron radio ratings which helps measure radio audiences and produce the ratings reports. I'm also probably in your most important age demographic: 18-34. So if you're a radio station or program looking for a boost in ratings, I'm here to help (for the right price)!

Coup Coup for Cocoa Puffs

Earlier today, the Thai military launched a coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he was attending the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York and have successfully taken over Bangkok. I should mention that, as long as no one gets hurt, I really like coups. It's probably because "coup" is a cool word, and not one that seems to fit with a military takeover. (Yes, I know coup comes from the French phrase "coup d'état.") Anyway, my favorite part of this coup is the quote from the Thai military, "We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience." Doesn't that sound like something you would hear if your flight or Metro is delayed? I just hope that this remains peaceful since and I quote Murray Head, one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble and the tough guys tumble.

For more serious details about the story, click here for The Washington Post's article.

Apology

I want to apologize for the Steelers loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars last night. Some people might credit the stifling Jacksonville defense and the effective Jags offense who, although only scored 9 points, dominated the time of possession (37:25 to 22:35) and seemed to convert on nearly every big third down. Some people may criticize the Steelers defense for giving up 362 total yards or the offense for only getting 26 rushing yards and 153 total yards. I'm sure that's what you will hear on talk radio today.

In actuality, it's my fault. I wasn't wearing my Louis Lipps jersey or any other Steelers geaer. I wasn't even wearing my Heinz pickle watch. Apparently, just having my Terrible Towel isn't enough. Lesson learned, and I'll be more prepared next week.

Monday Night

I will not be watching the following tonight (even though I would like to):

* The 2nd half of "Prison Break"
* The season premiere of "How I Met Your Mother"
* The series premiere of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"
* "Finding Nemo" on Disney
* "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny"

OK, I really don't care about "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny" but what a great night of television! Of course, the Steelers on Monday Night Football trumps all of these.

I realize that ABC and ESPN are all in the same corporate family, but don't you think they would rather be showing Monday Night Football over Supernanny?

Funny Bumper Sticker

I saw this on a bumper sticker on I-95 in Delaware today. Regardless of your political persuasion, this is funny.

Fantasy TV League

Two of my favorite things are fantasy sports leagues and television. Thanks to JQ, I learned that both of these interests can be combined through The Alison LaPlaca Open Television Death Pool. Now in it's seventh year, the LaPlaca Open is a contest to see who can guess how many TV shows will be cancelled during the 2006-2007 season. To be eligible, a show must air sometime between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007 on any of the big five commercial networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW), and presumed not to air a first-run episode after August 31, 2007.

Here are my picks:

10-pointer: What About Brian (ABC)
9-Kidnapped (NBC)
8-Happy Hour (FOX)
7-The Singles Table (NBC)
6-Men in Trees (ABC)
5-Runaway (WB)
4-The Knights of Prosperity (ABC)
3-The O.C. (FOX)
2-Seventh Heaven (WB)
1-The War at Home (FOX)

What About Brian had 6 episodes in the spring and had poor ratings. However, since this show is produced or created by J.J. Abrams (of Lost), I think ABC decided to give it another try in part to keep Abrams happy. I think the ratings have spoken, and there is no chance it will make it to the 2007-2008 TV season.

Of the picks above, I'm a little worried about Kidnapped and The Knights of Prosperity. Kidnapped looks exactly like the movie "Ransom" with Mel Gibson but NBC seems to be hyping the show and it looks decent. The Knights of Prosperity was originally going to be called "Let's Rob Mick Jagger" (or something like that) and still has a terrible title. The show stars Donal Logue (who I like) and, in seeing a preview tonight, looks funny.

I really, really, really hope The War at Home gets cancelled. This may be the worst show on TV.

My Return

You have probably noticed that except for two sentences about commercials that I'm already tired of, I haven't written much in the past week. I'll try to make up for that over the next few days, starting tonight.

* The football teams I follow most are off to great starts. The Steelers are 1-0 and Pitt, Ithaca College and Ohio State are all 2-0.

* I am in four separate fantasy football leagues this season and had a 2-2 weekend. In the two leagues I care about most, I'm 1-1.

* I watched VH1's Behind the Music: Nick Lachey edition. Did you know that 98° was originally signed by Motown? Did you also know that Lachey was married to Jessica Simpson?

* "Men in Trees" with Anne Heche debuts tonight on ABC. Why is this important? I picked this show as one of ten that won't make it to next season. (I'll write more about this later.)

* I can't believe I'm watching "Dancing with the Stars," although it is quite funny watching dance judges ridicule Tucker Carlson. His scores: 5, 4 and 3. I haven't really watched this show before, so is this out of 10?

Commercials

The first week of the NFL season is not yet complete, but I'm already tired of GM's "Floating Cars" commercial and the Coors commercials featuring former NFL coaches Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil. They are starting to make me miss the days of the gellin'/zinfandelin commercials.

Your Newest Pittsburgh Penguin

This picture of Evgeni Malkin makes me laugh. First, why of all pictures, is the Post-Gazette using this one? Second, Malkin, along with Sidney Crosby, is the future of the team and will hopefully lead the Penguins back to the Stanley Cup. However, I worry that since Malkin seems to be having trouble getting his jersey on, how will he do on the ice? From this picture, Mario Lemieux may be thinking the same thing.

The Zidane Head-Butt

Two months after the World Cup ended, Zinedine Zidane's head-butt in the Italy-France final is still making news. Yesterday, the Italian defender Marco Materazzi who was on the receiving end of the head-butt spoke out. According to Materazzi, he tugged on Zidane's shirt who said "If you want my shirt so much I'll give it to you afterwards." Materazzi's reply: "I'd prefer your sister." That's a pretty funny reply. Maybe not as good as the George Costanza's jerk store line, but not bad. However, why do I think that maybe Materazzi is telling the entire story. Was that line really worth a head-butt? I can't see Joey Porter responding like that to a "I'd prefer your sister" line.

Guest Entry

This is Sean’s wife for a brief side commentary. What is it like to visit Michael’s craft store with Sean? Well…it is very amusing! I wanted to make a brief visit to see if I could possibly come up with a craft to do in my spare time. Sean went directly to the Halloween area. He had done this before while we were looking for fake flower arrangements a few weeks ago.

In the Halloween area my wonderful husband began pushing all the buttons of the toys that made noises. Basically, the sounds were the ones you may hear while trick or treating. He would push the buttons or even step in front of the toys and then proceeded to laugh.

Our visit yesterday topped everything. Sean proceeded to put on a cat ear headband and purr like a cat. (Sean’s note: I did not purr.)

It was quite cute, even if he got a few dirty looks from other customers.

Shampoo

I can't believe I'm writing about this. I went to Hair Cuttery yesterday for a haircut, and they were really trying to sell me Nioxin shampoo, which apparently helps with hair loss (hopefully with slowing hair loss). A small bottle of this stuff is $12. $12?!?! I refuse to spend that much for shampoo. I don't have enough hair to spend $12 on shampoo!

So I'm now writing to look for shampoo suggestions. I have used Pert Plus (shampoo and conditioner in one!) for many years now, but I wonder if there is a better product out there that may help reduce hair loss but does not $12 per bottle? I apologize if I'm sounding like Tony Kornheiser with his hair/lack of hair stories. Any suggestions?

Mayor O'Connor: 1944 - 2006

Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor died last night from his battle with brain cancer. While this is obviously all over the place in Western Pennsylvania, I just happened to discover that Mayor O'Connor passed away by checking the Post-Gazette website late yesterday. Mayor O'Connor had only been on the job for 8 months and was truly passionate about serving the city. He had wanted to be the mayor for nearly a decade before being elected last year.

While the city is mourning the loss of O'Connor, the focus is slowly (or maybe even quickly) being turned to Council President and now Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, 26. He has some big shoes to fill and fairly or unfairly will be under the microscope because of his age.

Manilow vs. Diamond

With Barry Manilow's Emmy win the other night, I had a conversation with some folks recently about who is the better musician: Manilow or Neil Diamond. Feel free to weigh in on this topic. I'll share my thoughts later this afternoon.

Neil Diamond's acting performance in "Saving Silverman" should not be considered in this discussion.

Best Steelers Website

I have a link on the right to Steeler cornerback Ike Taylor's "Face Me Ike" website, and I have also profiled Joey Porter's website in the past. Neither of these compare to the MySpace page of Steelers backup center Chukky Okobi. Did you know he's a rapper? I didn't either until I found this site. He's actually pretty good, although I may be a little biased since he mentions the Steelers and Pittsburgh quite frequently. Please note that some of the lyrics may be R-rated. I personally like the 412 references in "In the Strip," but my personal favorite is "Steelers '06 Who's..."

In case you've been wondering, Steelers backup tackle Trai Essex also has a MySpace page.

August 29th

August 29th will always be a special day for me. The 29th was my grandmother's birthday and is the birthday of my best friend growing up (basically from 3-18). Unfortunately, I haven't talked to him in years. Exactly two years ago today, another set of friends had a baby boy and of course, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast last year. Michael Jackson's birthday is also today, but I really don't care about that.

Slide

Over the weekend, I went to my first concert in probably four years to see Counting Crows and The Goo Goo Dolls. Much to my surprise, the Goo Goo Dolls put on a better performance (with the exception of the two songs sung by the guitar player and not by John Rzeznik). Two days later, I'm still amazed at this. I don't own any Goo Goo Dolls CDs, yet I knew almost every song they performed. Meanwhile, I didn't seem to know many of the Counting Crows songs, and they played a really odd version of Mr. Jones.

I have had the Bengals-Packers game on in the background as I've been typing this. Bengals Quarterback Carson Palmer is back and looks really good. That's good for the NFL and is even better for the Steelers-Bengals games. At least now we don't need to hear the "Palmer is hurt" excuse when the Steelers beat the Bengals!

2006 Emmys - Live!

Welcome to my live comments and thoughts on the 2006 Emmys! I am typing live from my couch and will be here all night (or at least until I get bored or tired). Anyway, feel free to post comments or predictions throughout the evening. Enjoy the show...
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I should mention that I will be joined tonight by my wife. Tonight's Emmy host: Conan O’Brian, who I think still has a TV show on at 12:30. I honestly have no idea since I don’t stay up that late anymore. I’m not really a big fan of his, but I thought he did a great job. Of course, making fun of your network is always funny (see Letterman, David). Putting yourself in a montage of TV shows (Lost, The Office, 24, etc.) was also a good move.

First award of the night: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series being presented by Patrick Dempsey and Grey of Grey’s Anatomy. Grey is not funny (her joke bombed). The winner: Megan Mullally. I really think this is going to be a Will & Grace tribute show tonight. Debra Messing will definitely win for Best Actress in a Comedy. I'll also predict a big night for Grey's Anatomy despite Grey not being funny.

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Alan Alda. Why does Sean Hayes get to accept Alan Alda’s award? I think the presenter should say that they're going to put the award on EBay.

From my wife: I don’t think I want to watch this with you. I’m bored already. Could be a short night.

Bob Newhart = funny. Even if he's not talking, he's still funny. I also think he's extremely underrated. Two hit shows and the best series finale of all-time.

Congrats to Jeremy Piven for winning Best Supporting Actor in A Comedy Series. He was great in PCU!
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Is it bad that I know Cloris Leachman from "The Facts of Life" and not because of her eight Emmys?

Dick Clark looks better than he did on New Year's Eve.
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I'm getting tired (and a little bored), so I'm not sure how much more I'll be writing.

The Jon Stewart Show won a couple of awards.

Is Bob Newhart sitting in the glass case all night? Do they let him out to use the restroom or have some nachos?

Tony Shalhoub won for Best Actor in a Comedy for Monk. While most people know him from Wings (does anyone watch Monk?), I also remember the short-lived show he was on with Neil Patrick Harris. Without checking IMDB, can you name that show?
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Stephen Colbert's rant, especially about losing to Barry Manilow (apparently, he's not a Fan-ilow) was great. OK, I'm done for the night. Too tired. I'll just share my predictions for the rest of the main awards:

Best Comedy: Arrested Development
Best Drama: Grey's Anatomy
Actress Comedy: Debra Messing
Actor Drama: Martin Sheen (Peter Krause could be an upset winner)
Actress Drama: I have no clue on this one. Maybe Geena Davis.
They will keep Bob Newhart alive.

New Referrals

Once again, I’m “borrowing” this idea from Sarah, who just redesigned her site so check it out! Anyway, these are real searches (usually from Yahoo or Google) conducted by real people:

VH1 Flavor of Love
One of the greatest TV shows of all time!

Kevin Federline
Would you be at all surprised if he had a VH1 reality dating show in 10 years? I didn’t think so.

test answers for dmv driving test for day august 23, 2006
Unlucky. I had the answers for August 22, 2006. Make sure you stop completely at a flashing red light.

I Hate Taylor Hicks
Is that you Justin Timberlake?

rumors about celine dion being a lesbian
Sorry, no rumors here. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

wife of "pat mears" baseball player
Why is anyone even searching for Pat Mears?

breezewood park-n-ride
Breezewood has a park-n-ride? It really is a traveler’s oasis!

family ties "not the theme song"
That would be every song besides the actual theme song.

World cup speedo
I have nothing even remotely funny to write.

tempur pedic bad results
Sorry to hear that. Maybe you shouldn’t buy a bed after seeing a 3:00am infomercial.

are you gellin and zinfadellin
NO! How many times do I have to say that I hate these commercials? I’m going to go now to have some watermelon. Damn, they got me rhyming again!

There's a really good chance that I'll have a live journal for the Emmys on Sunday, so feel free to provide your comments then. It should be fun.

College Rankings

The 2007 U.S. News & World Report edition of America's Best Colleges and "The Princeton Review" rankings have both been released recently. The spin by colleges and universities are always the best part of these rankings. For example, I received the following information from The Ohio State University boasting about being named 19th among the nation's top 50 public universities, up from 21st in 2005, 22nd in 2004 and 2003, and 24th in 2002. If Ohio State goes to say 42 next year, would there be this type of press release?

Conversely, while many current students of Penn State (#2) and West Virginia (#3) may be happy to be ranked among the top party schools by the Princeton Review, the administrators want to put a different spin on it. In response to the ranking, Penn State university spokesman Tysen Kendig said, "Certainly, we want our students to have a great experience at the university, both academically and socially. But I think we need to be careful at all colleges and universities because we are dealing with a climate of alcohol abuse. And that's definitely not something that any college or university would be proud of." Of course he's right. However, he then pointed out that the Washington Monthly had a poll of the best universities in terms of service to the nation, where Penn State ranked No. 3 in that poll.

Other schools of note for the Princeton Review rankings:

Ithaca College
#4 Best College Radio Station
#18 Best College Theater
#14 Reefer Madness

George Mason University
#16 Students Dissatisfied with Financial Aid
#13 Their Students (Almost) Never Study
#2 Diverse Student Population
#14 Least Happy Students

The George Washington University
#5 Most Politically Active
#20 Dorms Like Palaces
#18 Great College Towns

The Ohio State University
#7 Teaching Assistants Teach Too Many Upper-Level Courses
#19 Students Pack the Stadiums

To see the complete list, click here (you may need to create a username and password) or if you're looking for a particular school, let me know and I'll check it out for you.

Updates, Updates, Updates

* The air conditioning is working again! Unfortunately, the cost to fix it was a lot more than I hoped. Of course, I had hoped it would be free.

* The first episode of season two of Prison Break was great last night. I don't want to give anything away, but there was definitely an unexpected "wow" moment.

* I know that no one cares about other people's fantasy team, but in case you were wondering, here is my team from my 16-team fantasy football league. The number in parentheses is the overall pick number.

1. (3) LaDainian Tomlinson
2. (30) Kevin Jones
3. (35) Torry Holt
4. (62) Trent Green
5. (67) Tony Gonzalez
6. (94) Muhsin Muhammad
7. (99) Drew Bennett
8. (126) Kevan Barlow
9. (131) Byron Leftwich
10. (158) Jacksonville D
11. (163) Jerry Porter
12. (190) Zach Hilton
13. (195) Michael Turner (Tomlinson insurance)
14. (222) Bobby Engram
15. (227) Sebastian Janikowski

Toilet Talk

I have said many times (although mostly to myself) that the United States is way behind in toilet technology. The primary toilet innovations come from the Japanese company, TOTO. I'll get back to TOTO momentarily. Maybe the U.S. is starting to make some strides in toilet technology, however, thanks to the Fish 'N Flush, a two-piece aquarium toilet that is pictured. I don't know how it works but you can check out the FNF website for more details.

While I like the idea of FNF, it's really a novelty compared to TOTO's most famous product, the Washlet. Some of the Washlet features include a heated seat, warm air dryer, air purifier, remote control and it self-cleans. I can only dream!

Manic Monday

I love using music references in the title of my posts. Anyway, this is a special afternoon posting because I'm home today. We have had some air conditioning problems so I have been home waiting for the HVAC guy. He was here this morning and has to come back because a major part was broken.

Besides the air conditioning, here are a few things I wanted to share:

- Prison Break - Season II starts tonight. Watch it or set your TiVos!

- There's a website I just discovered called TopBlogArea.com, which is a blog directory with a ranking system based on the number of unique visitors each blog receives every week. You can see where I rank with other blogs. For this week, I'm #11 in the sports section (I had to choose one and figure I write just a little bit more about sports than entertainment) and #293 overall.

So Bored

I've talked about my love for fantasy sports many times in the past. I am typing this at the 2.5 hour mark of my 16-team, 15-round fantasy football league online draft. Yes, I've been spending my Sunday evening sitting in front of a computer. Did I mention that this is a 16-team league? Oh, and there are 3:00 minutes for each pick. That is an eternity especially in Round 11 when all of the good players are long gone. We're almost done, so I can go back to enjoying fantasy football soon.

On the bright side, I'm watching the Teen Choice Awards. Nick Lachey won an award for Best Love Song (I think) which could have made for great television since Jessica Simpson is the host. Unfortunately, Jessica did not present the award; she was probably in a dressing room. However, I'll give Nick some credit. His first word for the acceptance speech was "awkward," followed by the sound of 1000 squealing girls.

Kevin Federline will be performing for the first time ever. This could be very entertaining.

Update 10:04: Chewing her gum and looking the opposite of classy, Britney came out to introduce Kevin. His performance: not very good. I guess he thinks that he's a rapper. He may be a good dancer, but singing/rapping, not so much. All I know is that he would never be performing on TV if his wife wasn't Britney. They are just a train wreck.

Christina on GMA

If you're reading this early this morning and happen to be at home, Pittsburgh's own and one of Ramblings' favorites, Christina Aguilera will be in concert on Good Morning America. I'll miss the performance (that work thing gets in the way), but if you see it, feel free to share comments about how she did.

Pedro Astacio - Greatest Pitcher Ever

I attended the Nationals-Braves game on Tuesday night and witnessed the best pitching performance I can recall seeing in person. The amazing part about this is that Pedro Astacio was pitching. Astacio threw only 89 pitches in the complete game win giving up no runs, two hits, no walks and five strikeouts. This was Pedro Astacio, who many casual baseball fans have probably never heard of. For the non-casual baseball fans out there, do you realize (I did not) that Astacio has been in the majors since 1992 and has a career record of 127-121?

For those of you keeping track, I rank this game with one where Kip Wells took a no hitter into the 9th inning (2001?).

Taste Test

Along with Lucky Charms and Honey Nut Cheerios, one of the cereals that I eat regularly is Kellogg's Apple Jacks. On a recent trip to the greatest grocery store of all-time, I decided to buy the Wegmans version of Apple Jacks, Apple Snaps. So the taste test was on! Although the Wegmans brand is less expensive and they both look similar, there is no contest in terms of taste. The winner: Apple Jacks!

Yes, I have a very exciting life.

Failure To Be a Good Movie

I'm currently watching the movie "Failure to Launch" starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. What a terrible movie! I guess this is a technically a "chick flick" but it's so bad that my wife left about twenty minutes ago. Actually, it just got worse...they showed Terry Bradshaw's ass. Not cool and not funny. I'm really glad that I didn't pay money to see this in the theater or from Blockbuster. I borrowed this piece of crap (I don't think I've ever used this phrase on this blog before) from a co-worker because a classmate from high school is in the movie. Anyway, here is the IMDB profile of Gretchen Cleevely. She was on screen for an entire minute and had maybe two lines. I'm really looking forward to Sunday night football or even Desparate Housewives.

3:00 AM Eternal

I'm all for random KLF references instead of the other song I could think of with 3:00 AM prominently featured in the song (Matchbox 20).

Anyway, I fell asleep on the couch a few hours ago, so now I'm wide awake. Basic TV is really, really bad at this time of night/morning. Well, unless you love infomercials! Here's what's on:

- The local FOX station (WTTG) has something about a company called Carleton. I have no idea what it is but there are items such as "How to Skyrockets Your Profits" and "How to Get Cash at Closing."

- The paid program on ABC (WJLA) is from The Sharper Image. They are talking about cleaning a grid. Let's move on.

- Channel 8 News is an ad for Proactiv. Hey, we get famous people like Jessica Simpson and P Diddy!

- WUSA (CBS) - ACFC. I don't know what it is but there's a family riding on a boat. Oh, there's a cash flow workshop involved.

I've also found information for a Sleep Number bed, Tempur-Pedic bed, Time Life's "Classic Sixties" edition (I like this one!) and Erik Estrada talking about Bella Vista Village.

There's something wrong with the local NBC station (WRC). They had an infomercial on at 2:58, but now they're actually showing a real show: an SNL repeat with Kelsey Grammer.

Time to go back to sleep...

Political Quiz

I love taking quizzes, and here's a political one. Maybe you think you're a centrist but are really a libertarian. As for my results, I received a Social Liberal percentage of 65% and an Economic Liberal percentage of 23%. Therefore, I am "best described as a Democrat."

Click on the link to take the quiz and feel free to share your results in the comments section.

Book Review

As usual, I've been reading a large variety of books lately from Mike Lupica's "Bump and Run" to Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink." I'm looking forward to the next few books I will read: "Glow Pucks and 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History" (which I mentioned a few months ago) and "The Great Deluge" about Hurricane Katrina by Douglas Brinkley.

The book I'm currently reading is "What Really Happened to the Class of '93" by Chris Colin. I found this book by accident at the library. It caught my eye since I also graduated in 1993 and is about graduates of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology ("TJ") here in Northern Virginia. While I am enjoying the book, I am continuously comparing the students at TJ to my high school. TJ seems to be very political; the students have intense discussions involving politics and sexuality; and apparently, a good number of students came out during high school. At my high school, we talked about sports, music and relationships (or who liked whom). I didn't know of anyone who came out and I don't remember high school being very political even though the Bush-Clinton Presidential election took place my Senior year.

For high school graduates from the early to mid 1990s, which high school was more typical?

Song Lyrics (or Lack Thereof)

Although most of the recent NSync news has focused on Lance Bass, Justin Timberlake has a new song out called "Sexy Back." It has a great beat and a cool video, but I heard the song on the radio today and realized that there are virtually no lyrics. The song has three verses with four lines each and a bridge, but most of the song is JT singing "Go ahead, be gone with it." It doesn't make any sense. I'm starting to miss the days of insightful lyrics from songs like "My Humps" and "Hollaback Girl."

Looking for a Fantasy Football League

Now that it's August and training camps have started, it's that time of year to start thinking about fantasy football. I'll admit it; I have a problem/addiction with fantasy sports. I'm currently in two fantasy baseball leagues, two fantasy football leagues, and I even had a World Cup fantasy league earlier this summer. There are much worse vices than fantasy sports. Anyway, my two fantasy football leagues are not enough especially since one does not appear to be very serious (we pre-rank the players and the computer automatically drafts for all teams; what fun is that?). So I'm in search of an additional league. I don't care if there is money involved or not. It just needs to be a league where people are involved. I don't want to be in the league where owners give up in week five and are starting players on a bye or tore their ACL in week two. Preferably, I'd also like to know at least one person in the league.

If you are looking to start a league or have any suggestions of a league I could join, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at seanramblings@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Flavor of Love is Back!

VHI's Flavor of Love 2 debuts on Sunday, August 6th, but maybe you're like me and don't want to wait for Sunday. If so, you're in luck. The first episode of Flavor of Love 2 is online at VHI's VSpot. I watched the first half last night. I'm not sure how this season can top the original Flavor of Love, but the show is off to a great start.

Thanks to Jason for forwarding this link. He says he's not a fan of Flavor of Love, but why else would he have been looking for the show? :)

Huh?

I've written on several occasions about Express, a free publication from The Washington Post, with news and random stuff that is great to read on the Metro. However, I think that the Express editors were asleep for page 21 of today's edition:

"PITHY HEADLINE: Missouri, known as own as the Show Me State, is cracking dow the Show Me State, is cracking down on Gov. Bob Holden on Thursday signed ri, known as the Show State, is on . Gov. sexuall mile of 40-45 WORDS.(AP)"

This is a direct quote! I'm sure the AP is honored to be the source of this.

Happy Anniversaries

25 years ago today, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles aired on MTV. (Complete tangent but would the Buggles even have been a one-hit wonder without MTV? Did the song get any radio play?) That's right, MTV is officially 25 today. To celebrate, MTV aired portions of one video per year in a one-hour (or 30-minute; I'm not sure) show. Not much of a retrospective. Oh, MTV also showed several episodes of Sweet Sixteen, celebrating the birthdays of people born 9 years after the station debuted.

2 years ago today, I got married!

Pirates Trades

At today's baseball trade deadline, the Pirates made four separate deals. I really don't have problems with any of the four trades individually. I even like Xavier Nady, formerly of the Mets. Maybe he and Jody Gerut can compete for an outfield spot next year or Nady is the Pirates new first baseman.

The big disappointment of the day for me was that the Pirates didn't get Ryan Shealy of the Rockies (now of Kansas City). The second biggest disappointment for me was that, excluding Nady, the Pirates traded 5 players and didn't get any position players, just pitchers. What the Pirates really needed was a power hitter who is major-league ready or a prospect in AA or AAA. Oh well.

Oh, my biggest fear of the day: Oliver Perez (who is only 24) will become an amazing pitcher again.

A Cultured Sean?

I talk a lot about TV and sports, but there is a different side of me that I don't share very often. I have a little culture in my life once in a while. In fact, in the past week, I attended an art festival and went to The Kennedy Center for a performance. OK, so based on this picture below (my favorite from the festival which I'm probably not allowed to show so I better say it is from Agoo Art), I'm not quite ready for the art world.



As for The Kennedy Center, we saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company perform "The Complete History of America (abridged)." Very, very funny. I highly recommend seeing them if they ever tour in a town near you. Not exactly Hamlet, but I'm still going to consider myself cultured (at least this week).

Nothing To Write About

I've hit a rut. I want to post something insightful or thought-provoking (well, at least funny), but I've got nothing. There's nothing to write about for my usual subjects:

Pittsburgh Steelers - Training camp starts in just a few days. I really don't want to write about the rookies the Steelers have been signing.

TV - There is nothing on! I don't care about the most talented person or wannabe lead singer or comedian. The TV shows this summer seem worse than ever. At least Flavor of Love 2 will start next Sunday.

Pittsburgh Pirates - They keep losing. Maybe they can get some good prospects in trades.

Middle East (Israel/Lebanon & Iraq) - These are topics that I actually have something to say but it just depresses me. I heard today that the U.S. has been in Iraq longer than we were in World War II.

My job as a Soccer Referee - I haven't done any games since a June tournament and won't do any again until late August or Labor Day weekend.

The Metro - It's a little less crowded in the summer and I haven't had any problems lately.

I guess I could talk about my ultimate frisbee team, but I don't know if anyone would be interested. It's also too early to write about fantasy football.

I'm open to any suggestions about what I can write. Have any other bloggers out there had similar problems with having a guess I can call it writers block?

How To Not Get Elected

David Dickerson is one of 18 Maryland candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the Senate currently held by retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes. Dickerson is definitely going to be one of the 17 that loses.

First, according to Washington DC station WJLA, he is unemployed. How many unemployed Senate candidates have ever won?

(This is from the Baltimore Sun) Second, according to court documents, Dickerson's wife met Dickerson (who is currently 43) "in Latvia when she was 16, and they decided to "wait to pursue each other" until she turned 18. She told police that she married him in Latvia in June 2005 and came back with him to the United States in November, after she had become pregnant with their child, court records show." This doesn't seem like an electable person.

Now on to the serious stuff..."Dickerson was arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree rape, a fourth-degree sex offense, and second-degree assault, according to Baltimore County police and court records." I am not trying to make light of this at all. What is wrong with this guy? If this last paragraph is true, he should forgot about the Senate and start thinking about jail.

In his defense, Craig Kadish, Dickerson's attorney, said that Dickerson's wife is mentally ill and is "creating an entire story of things that never happened." OK then...so if the allegations are not true, the candidate will be known for having a "mentally ill" wife who he "met" when she was underage (and 24 years younger).

I guess this is a way to get name recognition?

Links of the Week

Searching the web for something to read? Here are some suggestions:

Two articles by ESPN's Bill Simmons, AKA, The Sports Guy: His search to find an English Premier League team and new fantasy football rules.

What do I have in common with Marlon Wayans? Find out here.

Apparently, "the average blogger is a 14-year-old girl writing about her cat." I guess I'm not your average blogger.

Go Dolphins?

I received this e-mail today, which is nice except for one problem, I'm not a Dolphins fan. Certainly I like the Dolphins more than other NFL teams since Jason Taylor went to my high school and Dan Marino is from Pittsburgh, but they are not targeting the right person. I will give the Dolphins credit...having your tickets delivered by a cheerleader or former player would be very cool. Although I'm not so sure that Kirby Dar Dar would be happy going to houses when no one is home. I wonder if this is what Oronde Gadsden is doing this these days.

New Referrals

Once again, I’m “borrowing” this idea from Sarah, who has a referral posting every Friday. These are real searches (usually from Yahoo or Google) that people used to find and visit this place:

ROGAN'S PIZZA ITHACA & Rogan’s Pizza and Subs (two separate searches)
Great pizza especially with blue cheese dressing. Even better at 1:00am. I still don’t understand why they closed. Rogan’s was a goldmine.

what happened to new york from flavor of love show on vh1
I can’t tell you, but Flavor of Love II is returning in August! There’s a good chance I’ll mention the show again (like in August)

troy-mcclure "Selma" tom-cruise katie holmes
Apparently, I was not the only person to see the connection

"for maximum value" diapers FMV
Yuck. You can buy 12 FMV hot dogs for 99 cents. I wouldn’t trust the quality of their diapers.

Dr. Scholl's Gellin Commercials
I’ve talked too much about this already.

zidane butt
I wrote about Zidane’s head butt in the World Cup final; not about anything else (besides his bald head).

sports illustrated posluszny spider
No idea.

McDonald's Breezewood PA
Breezewood: a traveler’s oasis! The McDonalds there had a renovation within the last year. It looks good but very busy July 4th weekend.

keith rural
Congratulations on his wedding to Nicole Kidman!

yao ming character in bourne supremacy with same as name as nba player
You mean that they’re not the same person?

"famous ithacans"
If you search this on Google, I’m the only result! I guess I'm the only famous ithacans!

Still Serious

but on a completely lighter topic. I've mentioned this before, but I hate the Dr. Scholl's commercials. I don't care if your having a melon, gellin' zinfadellin, whatever. I'm sure that the company and advertising company is happy to know that I remember the product, but please make it stop. Stupid Mrs. McMillen with her eyes that are wellin'.

Serious for a Minute

I've been away from civilization the past 48 hours with no access to the outside world. I'm back now and have been trying to get caught up on the news. It seems like things are getting worse between Israel and Hezbollah. Several questions here (and feel free to provide comments):

What was Hezbollah trying to accomplish by its ambush of the Israeli soldiers in which they killed three soldiers and captured two others?

How does isolating the entire country of Lebanon by bombing the Beirut airport and major highways help Israel in getting the soldiers back?

There's a lot more to ask, but I'm tired and will try to catch up tomorrow morning.

World Series of Pop Culture

I wrote in February that I would be the perfect candidate for VH1's World Series of Pop Culture. I take that back. As much as I would like to believe that I have vast knowledge of useless information, I am really struggling with many of the show's questions. There was just a question about what 70s rock band was featured in an episode of What's Happening in which Rerun was going to tape the band's concert (or something like that). No idea. Feel free to guess the answer (without searching the internet).

I just did very well in the category where you have to name the actor who was in the three named movies. Maybe there's still hope for me!

All About Pittsburgh

As I'm typing this, the baseball All-Star game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh is about to start. Besides Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez, I actually don't really care about the game except that it is good for the city of Pittsburgh. A few quick notes:

* They just had an 18-year-old try to win $1 million by hitting a ball of a tee in an attempt to hit one of three targets about 200 feet away. Even if you didn't see it, just by my description you can tell that Taco Bell was not going to be giving away $1 million.

* Great ovation for Freddy Sanchez! We like Freddy. David Eckstein is laughing because he knows no one will be cheering for him following Freddy.

Completely changing the subjects...

Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor was recently (very recently) diagnosed with lymphoma and started chemotherapy today. From what I've heard, he's in the hospital while this really would be his time to shine as Pittsburgh is getting national attention with the All-Star game. We all hope that he has a full recovery.

Because of O'Connor's cancer, I learned that the Pittsburgh City Council President, Luke Ravenstahl, is 25. For any Pittsburgher out there, who is he and how is a 25-year-old the City Council President of a major city? I'm not saying that it is a bad thing; just curious how it happened.

Final World Cup Post

I take back what I wrote comparing Zidane and Mark Messier. I don't remember Messier ever taking his stick and swinging it like a baseball bat to hit an opposing player during the Stanley Cup playoffs. (For the hockey fans out there, please correct me if I'm wrong.) The story of today's game isn't that Italy won; it is Zidane's head butt to the Italian player's chest. Zidane's actions were not as fierce as Kermit Washington's punch of Rudy Tomjanovich (NBA) or Todd Bertuzzi's punch/assault of Steve Moore (NHL). It was just done on the world's biggest stage at a crucial point of the game in Zidane's last game of his international career. For non-soccer fans out there, this would be the equivalency of pre-comback Michael Jordan punching an opposing player in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in his last game. Unbelievable!

Congratulations to Scott for winning the ESPN World Cup Pick'Em. I finished in last out of nine. Thanks to everyone who participated!

World Cup Final

Two thoughts on today's Italy-France World Cup Final. First, is it just me or does France's Zinedine Zidane remind you of Mark Messier when he was on the New York Rangers? Maybe it's because they are both bald and that they both are/were captains and led their teams to victory at/near the end of their respective careers.

Not sure who to root for today? Here's some advice. Do not cheer for Italy just because you think it will make the U.S. look better for tying them in the first round. It won't make a difference. Back in February, we had a Super Bowl party that was planned well before we knew the Steelers would be playing. There was an acquaintance who cheered for Seattle (in a Steelers home!) because he felt like it would be better for his team, the Washington Redskins, because they lost to the Seahawks in the playoffs. Stupid argument! (Plus he was very lucky that I didn't kick him out.)

Emmy Nominations

Dan already shared some thoughts about today's announcement of the Emmy nominations, but I wanted to give my two cents.

* Congrats to Grey's Anatomy on its 11 nominations! I'm still curious to see how it will do on Thursdays this fall.

* Do you have to be under 16 to know anything about High School Musical? I was in a high school musical. Did I get nominated? It received 6 nominations (although I can't tell you for what categories).

* Do you think the folks at The Daily Show (3 nominations) are buying drinks for the folks at The Colbert Report (4 nominations)?

* Congrats to How I Met Your Mother (underrated show) for two nominations! Upon further review, the nominations are for Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series and Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series. Nevermind.

* How did Kevin James get a Best Actor in a Comedy series nomination? Jason Lee from My Name is Earl deserved the nod over James.

Thanks IMDB

I was watching "Fargo" last night and thought that this guy looked really familiar. Thanks to IMDB, I confirmed that I knew him from one of my favorite shows, Prison Break. Turns out that John Abruzzi is not his real name; it's Peter Stormare. And he's from Sweden. Who knew? From IMDB, I also remembered that I knew him from "The Frogger" episode of Seinfeld. However, I don't remember him from "The Big Lebowski."

Celebrating People Eating Hot Dogs

Just what the founders dreamed of when the United States was founded...competitive eaters having dozens of Nathan's hot dogs in Coney Island. I shared notes of last year's competition here. I'm guessing I could probably use these same comments this year. My prediction: Kobayashi wins again with Joey Chestnut finishing 2nd and Sonya Thomas in 3rd. Can I bet this as a trifecta somewhere?

Penguins Sign Former Defensive Player of the Year

I rarely discuss the Penguins in July, but the team made a move today that I wanted to mention. The Penguins were in search of a solid defenseman, so they signed Mark Eaton. You may know Eaton as the bearded seven-footer (maybe 7-4") pictured, who led the league in blocks four times and was selected to the all-defensive team three times. I'm not sure how he's going to do on ice skates and he's a little older now, but he will certainly bring a defensive presence to the Pens.

For details about the "other" Eaton, check out the Penguins press release.

Pirates Lose!

We made the trip to the Burgh this weekend and attended our first Pirate game of the season. As usual, the Pirates lost. Even though Pittsburgh gave up 9 runs to Detroit, the best team in baseball, the Pirates still had a chance to win. Actually, I'll go as far as to say that they should have won. The Pirates had bases loaded with one out in both the 7th and 9th innings but could not tie the game.

While at the game, I sat in front and met a Pittsburgh celebrity...Kraig Koelsch of IrateFans.com. IrateFans, a web site created by a few disgruntled Pirate fans that love the team and PNC Park but are tired of losing and are not big fans of the owners, has been featured in the Post-Gazette and WPXI over the past few weeks. Now IrateFans can boast about being featured here on Sean's Ramblings!

As another frustrated Pirates fan, you will notice that I have added IrateFans and Mondesi's House in the links section on the right of this page. If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out the sites.

Pirates Win!

This is going to be all over the place. I went to Post-Gazette website to link the article about the Pirates ending a 13-game losing streak. Here's the link. While on the website, there is a headline to say that Penguins announcer Mike Lange was fired as the team's TV announcer. According to the article, Lange will be replaced by Paul Steigerwald, who is currently the team's radio announcer and Lange has been offered Steigerwald's job as radio announcer. I'm really confused.

Going back to the Pirates, I'll be heading to the Burgh this weekend and (weather permitting) will attend my first Pirates game of the season. I'm excited about it. I know the team is lousy but I always enjoy going to baseball games, especially at PNC Park. Plus I can always root for Cheese Chester in the pierogi race.

Finally, I want to give a "Best Week Ever" award to Mondesi's House. After having a blog for only one week, this guy was referenced on Deadspin and in a Post-Gazette article. Way to go Mondesi's House (nice site too)!

Vote Early & Vote Often

Dan has already mentioned this, but Pittsburgh and the Pirates have had a campaign for Jason Bay to start in baseball's All-Star game in Pittsburgh. Bay is currently leading the voting for National League outfielders. The online all-star balloting ends tomorrow (June 29) at 11:59pm. You can vote a maximum of 25 times, so click here to vote for Bay and write-in Freddy Sanchez as your National League third-baseman.

Changing Subjects

As you have probably noticed, I've been writing a lot about the World Cup lately. I apologize for people out there who don't really follow soccer. Anyway, here's something new: J.K. Rowling has revealed that at least two characters will die in the seventh and final installment of Harry Potter. Personally, I hope they kill off Doby. I'll actually make a prediction...a Weasley family member will die.

While any news on the last Harry Potter book is good, I really want to know when the book will be released. Does anyone know?

World Cup Thoughts

* It hasn't happened yet, but over the next few weeks, several World Cup matches will be decided by penalty kicks. If the game is tied at the end of the second half, there are two, fifteen-minute overtime sessions (it is not sudden death/golden goal). If the game is still tied, it goes to a shoot-out. I am here to say that this is garbage. This is the equivalent of a basketball game ending with a free throw contest or a baseball game ending with a home run derby. I think soccer games should go until someone scores a goal just like the NHL playoffs. I don't care if players are tired. The game should be decided on the field; 11 vs. 11. Maybe FIFA can incorporate a rule change to add an additional substitution at the end of each overtime if there's really a concern about players being tired (of course, these are professional athletes playing in the sport's greatest event...they should be fine).

* I watched the Portugal-Netherlands match today. I believe that there were 16 yellow cards and four red cards for players receiving a second yellow! I don't want to say that the ref lost control of the match, but he lost control of the match. Portugal's reward for winning 1-0: they get to play England without Deco (of Barcelona) and Costinha who will be suspended.

* The name of Argentina's coach is Jose Pekerman. Pekerman! I feel like I should have known this before yesterday's Argentina-Mexico match.

Crazy

One of my favorite songs of all time is "Crazy" by Seal. One of my favorite current songs is "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. That's, like, crazy!

Metro Question

I like Metro. I take it to and from work everyday and rarely have complaints (my few complaints generally have to do with people riding Metro more than the system itself). I do have a question...According to this Metro press release, Metrorail ridership had over 783,000 trips last Friday, the seventh highest weekday ridership in the system’s 30-year history. In fact, last Tuesday (6/13), Wednesday, Thursday and Friday rank in the top 10 weekday ridership in Metro's history. So why after noticing the increase in ridership, is Metro running 4-car trains on the Orange line during rush hour? It happened during the AM rush (8:45am) this morning and during the PM rush yesterday (6:00pm).

I apologize for the readers outside the DC area who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Quick Notes

* Over the past few days, there have been visitors to this site from Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Finland, Italy and the U.K. That's so cool (although I'm guessing that none of these folks will be visiting here again)!

* Congratulations to my new favorite soccer player Fred (who I wrote about last week) for scoring a goal in his World Cup debut in Brazil's victory over the Socceroos.

* Unlike many NFL teams, the Steelers have had success over the years in having quality players (i.e. players that do not get arrested). Which leads me to the Steelers first round draft pick, Santonio Holmes, who was arrested and charged with domestic violence and simple assault. A few weeks ago, Holmes was arrested for disorderly conduct. Not a good start to his pro career. If he doesn't turn his life around soon, I don't want him as a Steeler.

Question of the Day

Why is the national anthem played or performed before sporting events but not before concerts, plays or musicals?

U.S vs. Italy Journal

I'm here sitting on my couch waiting for the game to start, so I figured I would post notes from today's U.S./Italy World Cup match periodically. I may include notes from the four soccer games I refereed earlier today as well. Please feel free to write comments throughout and after the match.

2:35pm (Eastern Time) Why is Taylor Hicks doing Ford commercials? Did he sell out already? Is it possible for him to ever sell in?

I missed the Czech Republic-Ghana game. Was Ghana really good, the Czechs bad or a combination of both?
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2:41 Commercial for the new Superman movie. I’m not sure I really want to see it, but I like the bald look for Kevin Spacey plus he’ll probably make a good bad guy.

2:47 ABC just showed three U.S. fans wearing Harlem Globetrotter jerseys. The Globetrotters are great, but what do they have to do with soccer?

2:50 More commercials. Please start the game.

2:52 Dave O’Brien and Marcelo Balboa are calling the game. Balboa looks a little scary. A haircut would be nice.

2:53 Let me state for the record that I hate the red and gray referee jerseys. I’m sure they will start requiring all referees to wear them. I really don’t want to buy a new referee jersey.

2:56 The Italian national anthem is nice. However, why did they show at Italian guy in the stands wearing no shirt and a Speedo? Call security and get him out of the stadium!

2:57 For the U.S. national anthem, ABC showed several Americans with U-S-A written on their chests. At least they weren’t wearing Speedos.

2:59 Bocanegra and Dempsey get the start for the Americans today. I’m surprised the Johnson isn’t starting in place of McBride up front as well.
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3rd minute: The U.S. already has 4 fouls. Fortunately, none of them have really hurt the U.S. Another foul; 2nd on Onyewu. He needs to be careful or he’ll get a card soon.

4th minute: Yellow card for Totti of Italy. He deserved it for a cheap tackle. He’s also the one player on the Italian team that I know which means he’s really good.

7th minute: Good no call. Donovan was trying to draw a foul in Italy’s box.

9 minutes in: Besides all of the fouls (7 overall), the U.S. has played well. They’re not intimidated and seem much more aggressive today.

11th minute: Nice play by Onyewu stopping an Italian 1-on-1. I don't know any of the players names on Italy, so if you are looking for extremely thorough analysis, this is probably not the place.
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13th minute: I’m getting into the game. I just yelled at the TV when McBride was taken out just outside the penalty box. Great opportunity for the U.S.

14th minute: The kick went directly into Italy’s wall. U.S. corner kick.

15th minute: Clint Dempsey is making things happen. Great cross which Convey kicked all the way to Poland. Dempsey then missed just wide on a shot from about 20 yards out.

This game is being played in Kaiserslautern. I’ve never heard of this city. Is it near Keyser Soze? (Speaking of Kevin Spacey...)

20th minute: Yellow card for Eddie Pope.

21st minute: Goal for Italy. There was a foul by Donovan (I think). On the free kick Alberto Gilardino had a diving header for the goal.

23rd minute: There’s an injured Italian player. Bathroom break!

26th minute: GOAL FOR THE U.S! I don't care it it's an own goal (meaning the Italian player knocked it in). It's a goal

27th minute: RED CARD on De Rossi (not Portia from Ally McBeal and Arrested Development). He elbowed McBride in the face. McBride's bleeding nicely. It's 11 on 10 now. This game has got really exciting. I think the Italians are losing their composure. Get a T.O. baby!
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I’m so inspired by the red card that I just went outside, saw a squirrel and gave it a red card. The squirrel responded by running up a tree.

35th minute: Substitution; Totti is out. That is really early for a sub.

39th minute: Carlos Zambrano was just offsides for Italy. I didn’t realize he played for the Italians and the Cubs.

41st minute: Great shot by Mastroeni (of the U.S. not Italy) from about 40 yards out. Just high…didn’t miss by much.

45th minute: Red card on Mastroeni. Bad call. He slid for the ball and got the man. It should have been a yellow, but not a red. Balboa says it’s a make-up call from the earlier red card given to De Rossi.
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Welcome back (or just welcome) for the Second Half! The score is tied at 1.

47th minute: Bad foul by Pope. He got a second yellow, which means he’s gone. Balboa (who is a big time homer) thinks it’s an awful call. I think it’s actually a good call but my brother (who refs many more games than me) agrees with Balboa. The U.S. is now playing 9 against Italy’s 10. That’s not good.

52nd minute: Substitution. Conrad in for Convey. I’m a U.S. soccer fan but I have no idea who Conrad is. Italy almost converts on the free kick. The ball is deflected by a U.S. player off the crossbar. Italy is killing the Americans on these set plays.

If the U.S. has any chance of winning, Donovan and Dempsey have to make something happen.
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62nd minute: DeMarcus Beasley is in for Dempsey. Like I said, if the U.S. has any chance of winning, Donovan and Beasley have to make something happen. I expect big things from Beasley today.

63rd minute: Donovan sets up McBride for a shot. McBride misses badly with his left foot.

65th minute: GOAL U.S!!!! Wait no goal. McBride was offsides and obstructed the keeper. Great shot by Beasley; McBride was in the wrong place. Arena is going nuts. If this was basketball, he’d get a technical. My brother just called and was laughing at Arena. Completely unrelated, but I wonder if there is a “Bruce Arena” somewhere in the world. Same with a “Chan Ho Park.”

68th minute: Carlos Zambrano just misses a shot wide from 20 yards away. I don’t care if his name really is Zambrotta. Calling him the Cubs pitcher is more fun.

70th minute: Yellow card for Zambrano/Zambrotta for pushing. A yellow card wasn't deserved.
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73rd minute: Great diving save by Keller. Italy is really putting on the pressure. If they are able to stay onsides (they have been off about 10 times this half), it could be trouble.

Is Italy known for their sideburns? It seems like all of their players have unique sideburns.

77th minute: Del Piero (who will also be known as Del Monte) had a shot from about 30 yards out that Keller deflected away.

The game is playing slow now. I think both teams are really tired. I say suck it up! I was a referee and assistant referee for four games today (4+ hours). It is 95 and humid here in DC. It’s only 68 in Germany.

Balboa is still complaining about the refs. Just shut-up and get a haircut!
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I’m like Brian McBride, but I think it’s time to put in Eddie Johnson or Josh Wolff or even Brian Ching. Why not put in someone with fresh legs to stretch the Italian D?

Balboa just said exactly what I wrote regarding Johnson or Wolff.

90th minute: 3 minutes of stoppage time. It looks like it will be a draw.

Game over. It basically comes down to this. If the U.S. defeats Ghana AND Italy defeats the Czech Republic on June 22nd, the U.S. will advance to the 2nd round.

Thanks for joining me today. Nap time!

Virginia Senate Election

I'll admit it. I was one of the approximately 3% of registered Virginia voters to actually vote in this past Tuesday's primary. Here's something else...I voted for James Webb because I saw him on Comedy Central's Colbert Report in March. Is it bad to primarily vote for a candidate because he came across well on a TV show?

World Cup Fantasy Update

Now that each team has played at least one game, I wanted to provide one quick note about the World Cup Fantasy League standings. The team tied for last place is that of my brother, who follows international soccer more than anyone I know. I just find it funny that he's in last place.

It's not too late to sign up for the league as there are still many matches to be played. If you are interested or want to see the complete standings, click here. For the folks currently in the league, you can make or change your pick up until kick-off.

Best Name Ever!

Last month, I wrote that D'Brickashaw, as in D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the recently drafted offensive lineman for the New York Jets, is one of the coolest names ever. Today, I found a better name.

Many of Brazil's great soccer players are known only by one name. You probably know Pele and current superstars Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Kaka (hehe...I just wrote Kaka). However, you may not know a reserve on the Brazilian national team: Fred. Just plain Fred. According to this description from the World Cup homepage, Fred is a forward with a prolific goal-scoring record in his short club career. He can shoot with both feet, is reliable in the air, and is tactically sound, with the knack of putting himself in the right place to score goals. Fred also holds the record for the fastest goal in Brazilian history, timed at 3.17 seconds. How do you score a goal that quickly? Did he shoot directly on the kick-off while the goalie was busy stretching? Way to go Fred!

Big Sports Monday Afternoon

How often can you say that? How about never. First, as every Steelers and football fan knows by now, Ben Roethlisberger was in an accident while riding his motorcycle. From the reports I have seen, Ben has a broken jaw, a broken nose and is missing some teeth. He was not wearing a helmet. It sounds like it could have been a lot worse. Obviously, I am hoping that Ben is OK and is able to make a full recovery. There are a lot of people thinking of and praying for him. With all that said (actually written), why is he riding a motorcycle without a helmet? I'm sure the answer is that he's in his mid-20s and feels invisible. You would think he would learn after Kellen Winslow Jr. was injured in a motorcycle accident last year.

On to the other sports news...The U.S. was destroyed by the Czech Republic 3-0 in their first 2006 World Cup match. Tomas Rosicky scored two goals and Petr Nedved had his best game since scoring in the fourth overtime of the 1996 Penguins-Capitals series. Oh, that was not the same Nedved. Even if Petr Nedved had played, it probably wouldn't have made a difference. Next for the U.S. is Italy on Saturday.

Funnel Cake + Kettle Corn

= a great weekend!

Celebrate Fairfax! 2006

This weekend (June 9-11) marks the 25th anniversary of the Celebrate Fairfax! festival. The headliners include Collective Soul, Sugar Ray, Sister Hazel and .38 Special. There are also nearly 80 bands such as local favorites Welbilt and JunkFood, hundreds of exhibitors and activities and (of course) fair food (Mmmmm...funnel cake).

If you live in Northern Virginia or the DC area, it is definitely worth attending. Tickets are only $10 at the gate (there are also coupons on the Celebrate Fairfax website).

I'll be at the festival all weekend and I hope to see you there!

Last Call

Even if you are not a soccer fan, it should be fun to try and pick the winners of the World Cup through ESPN's Pick'em contest. It's free and it looks like you can make your picks up until kickoff. There are two ways to enter, click either this link or click here and use the following group and password:

Group: Sean's Ramblings
Password: ramblings

Plus you have a great chance to win since there are only two people currently in this group.

Omaha - Somewhere in the Middle of America

I am writing this from Omaha, Nebraska continuing my tour of random U.S. cities. I did not know this until I landed but President Bush is also in town. He is actually staying only a few blocks from where I am. I just hope that traffic isn't bad tomorrow (Wednesday) morning and my flight isn't delayed.

A few notes from here:

- Here's what I had for dinner the past two nights: chicken & salmon. That's right, I'm in Omaha and have not had a steak. I really wanted one tonight but it was a little too much (especially since everyone else was ordering entrees that cost less than the steak).

- I can now add Iowa to states that I have been in. Omaha is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, which borders Iowa. I need to do a little more research about this but apparently, the Corps of Engineers moved the Missouri River years ago. A town in Iowa that was to the east of the river became west of the river. However, the town decided to stay as Iowa. Therefore, this one town of several thousand people is considered Iowa even though it is completely surrounded by Nebraska.

- Did you know that President Ford was born in Omaha? Me neither. I always thought he was from Michigan.

- I think that's it. I have no other Omaha knowledge to share except that the College World Series will be here next week.

Fantasy World Cup League

I've set up a fantasy World Cup league through ESPN.com and invite everyone to join. This is just for fun since most people who read this (including me) really have no insight on who to pick. To join, click here. Please feel free to invite friends, family or other random strangers.

Update: I don't think you need the password if you click on the link. Just in case...the group name is "Sean's Ramblings" and the password in ramblings.

Real Name or Nickname?

During a soccer game I was a referee for today, there was a 13 or 14 year old girl named Salty. I don't know if Salty is her real name, short for something or a nickname but her coaches and teammates didn't call her anything else. Is it mean to say that the name Salty makes me smile?

Mr. Cowher (& Mr. Rooney, Mr. Bettis, etc.) Goes to Washington

Tomorrow (Friday, June 2nd) the Steelers are being honoredat the White House for their Super Bowl victory. The ceremony is scheduled at exactly 1:45 pm (according to the White House Press Office schedule) where the "President participates in a Photo Opportunity and Remarks to the Pittsburgh Steelers." Is it possible for just a regular person (like me) to go and join the Steelers for the celebration? I guess I could call the White House Press Office (the number was on the press release), but it's probably too late at this point. I would love to be there to see if Bush Jr. has a "Who Are You" moment like Bush Sr. did with Mario Lemieux.

World Cup Coverage

The World Cup is less than two weeks away, and I'm getting excited. It's not just because of the commercials featuring Bono or the fact that I just bought FIFA 2006 for my XBOX which is a nice change after months of playing NCAA Football 2005. If you're looking for World Cup Coverage, I have two links for you:

The World Cup Soccer Blog - This may be the most complete site that I've seen to the point that it is overwhelming.

The Washington Post's Road to the World Cup - Much more management with quick posts and links. There seems to be more entries each day as the World Cup nears.

I'm sure I'll write more about the World Cup over the next month.

Today's Rant

During an afternoon walk, three guys wearing white shirts and ties riding bikes stopped me. As many of you probably already know, these folks were representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I told them that I was Jewish, hoping that they would decide that I wasn’t about to switch leagues. Instead, I was surprised that they were actually very excited (maybe converting Jews is worth extra points). I let them give their speech about the book of Mormon for a few minutes and they gave me a card.

As someone who has worked with multiple religious organizations (the Mormons were a huge help in several blood drives I coordinated several years ago), I am probably too nice just to dismiss them. However, I really, really, really don’t like being proselytized. I am very happy and comfortable with my religion. I would never tell people what to believe and don’t want to be told that I’m going to hell. Just leave me alone! Thank you.

Funny Video

I have no idea how to show a video, so go to Deadspin and see what happens when you mix a kid with a trampoline and basketball hoop.

I seem to have a dark sense of humor tonight, so please don't get upset if you don't find this funny.