TiVo Questions

I've talked about TiVo for months, and I think we're finally close to getting it. I do have a few questions for any TiVo folks out there. There's a current offer for a free 80-hour TiVo Series2 DVR. For $70, I can get the same thing except with the ability to record two shows at once. There's also a 180-hour series for $170. We can probably get by with the 80-hour model, but is it worth $70 for record two shows at once?

I'm also weighing the costs/benefits of the monthly versus prepaid plans. The prices for the monthly plans are: $19.95 per month with 1-year plan; $14.95 per month with 2-year plan; $12.95 per month with 3-year plan. The prepaid plans are: 1-year for $199; 2-years for $299 or for a limited time offer, 3-years for $299. If you use TiVo, what plan do you have? Any recommendations?

Feel free to post a comment or email me at seanramblings [at] yahoo [dot] com or my personal e-mail if you have it. Thank you!

Ohio State-Michigan

I'm having a hard time with today's game. I received my graduate degree from The Ohio State University and attended about ten football games when I lived in Columbus. Granted, I was OSU the last two years of the John Cooper era, so the team was not as good as past and present Buckeye teams. Therefore, as an OSU alum, I am rooting for the Buckeyes.

On the other hand, I really like Steve Breaston, the leading punt returner in Big 10 history (I believe), who went to my high school as did Michigan's Ryan Mundy and Ohio State's Devon Lyons, but as a sophomore, Lyons does not play much. Besides Breaston, I'm kind of rooting for Michigan because of the passing of Bo Schembechler yesterday.

Well, I guess I'll just watch the game and appreciate some (hopefully) really good college football.

Oh, I want to thank ABC for showing Ohio State's marching band (TBDBITL). You have to get goose bumps watching them do Script Ohio.

Random Ramblings

* Did you know that Ohio State and Michigan are playing each other on Saturday?

* For years, I have seen NFL coaches on the sidelines and thought they looked ridiculous wearing sweatshirts and track suits. It's actually refreshing seeing Joe Paterno and Jim Tressel wearing a tie on the sidelines. Apparently, there's a reason why NFL coaches don't wear a coat and tie anymore; the NFL has a rule requiring coaches to wear apparel from NFL-licensed suppliers on the sideline. According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post, San Francisco Coach Mike Nolan has been permitted to wear a suit this weekend as a tribute to his dad. That's very kind of the NFL. Just a prediction: you'll see Nolan wearing a 49ers hat or tie.

* This is a few days late, but Andy Katz of ESPN wrote a nice article about the Duquesne basketball team. The team and entire university have gone through so much over the past few months when five players were shot. Sam Ashaolu is making a remarkable recovery. You can't help but root for the Dukes and although it was only one game, it was great to see them win.

* We ate at a restaurant next to a Best Buy tonight, where we saw people camped out in tents for the PlayStation 3, which goes on sale on Friday. Is it really worth it?

* After losing to Cortland last Saturday in the Cortaca Jug game in overtime, Ithaca College football ended the season 7-3 and did not make the Division III playoffs. Surprisingly, Cortland (9-1) also did not make the Division III playoffs. Anyway, the Bombers ended their season with a 7-3 record and only one school at any level of college football has a longer streak of winning seasons than the 37 Ithaca has recorded. I don't know what school has more than 37 straight winning seasons.

Links Part Two

I'm a little disappointed that no one else posted a comment about their celebrity matches or if the accent thing worked. Please feel free to add your comments.

I've also written about Chunky's Click for Cans. A few weeks ago the Steelers were in first place just ahead of the Bengals. The Packers have now taken a commanding lead with over 558,000 votes, almost 100,000 more than the second place Steelers. Great job by the Jets fans in having a whopping 3,228 votes. That's about the same number of Kevin Federline CDs sold.

Fun Links

Here are some fun links if you are looking for something to do besides (or during) "Dancing With The Stars."

What American accent do you have? Click here, answer about 15 questions and get your result. Apparently, I have a Midland accent, which means I am from Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois or Missouri. That is true. One flaw in the quiz...there is not a category for a Pittsburgh accent.

Have you ever wondered who is your celebrity match? All you need to do is enter your birth date and the site gives you five matches. Here are my celebrity matches:
- Miriam Pielhau (No idea who she is)
- Christina Aguilera (I always thought we had a connection)
- Lisa Snowdon (The name was familiar but I didn't know why. She was the host of VH1's "Rock the House" and the BBC's "Top of the Pops" so that may be it. I guess she was also involved with George Clooney.)
- Cat Deeley (No clue)
- Amy Jo Johnson (She was the pink Power Ranger and I always thought she was cute. I don't think she's done much since leaving "Felicity" except for being on the pilot of "What About Brian." If she was still on the show, maybe the ratings would be better.)

I love fantasy leagues. I've written endlessly about fantasy baseball, football and television. Here is a new league that I probably won't enter: Fantasy Congress.

Follow Up to I Am An Idiot

Despite a 4:15 kickoff for yesterday's Steelers-Saints game, I was at the stadium by 1:30. I just wanted to make sure that there was no problems with the tickets. I made it to the specific gate and window as instructed and hooray the tickets were there. I handed the person at the ticket window my credit card and was told that it was cash only. Therefore, I had to go to the ATM where I had to pay the $2 service fee.

(Just as a side note, I really hate ATM fees and never go to ATMs other than those of my bank. Al Franken wrote a very funny book called "Why Not Me?: The Inside Story Behind the Making and the Unmaking of the Franken Presidency" where Franken's entire campaign platform was eliminating ATM fees.)

I paid the money, received the replacement tickets and entered the stadium. About 45 minutes before kick-off, Heinz Field security came by the seats to check the tickets. They wanted to make sure that the tickets we had really were the replacement tickets. If they were the real tickets, I'm not sure what would have happened. Maybe we would have got ejected or maybe the season ticket holder may have had his tickets revoked. I'm not really sure.

As for the game itself, it was nice to see the Steelers win. They really needed it. Fast (but maybe needs to be a step faster) Willie Parker had a huge game with over 200 yards rushing, but was tackled twice after 70+ yard runs. Yesterday really showed what happens when the Steelers have success running the ball and don't turn the ball over.

The Saints are a legit team. Marques Colston looked like Jerry Rice. I can't believe he is only a rookie. With Drew Brees, Colston, Deuce McAllister, Joe Horn (when healthy) and Reggie Bush, the Saints could make a nice playoff run.

I Am An IDIOT

I may have done the dumbest thing ever in my life today. In fact, they should feature me in a commercial where I would get hit in the head by a Vonage box with the tag line "one smart decision among many, many stupid ones." I was on the Pennsylvania Turnpike less than 50 miles to Pittsburgh and 3.5 hours into my drive when I realized that I LEFT THE TICKETS TO THE STEELERS GAME IN MY KITCHEN IN VIRGINIA! My only thought was that #(&%, I'm going to have to turn around and drive back to Virginia. Of course, being on the PA Turnpike, I had to drive another 15 miles to actually get to an exit.

When I reached the exit, the phone calls began. I called my parents, who suggested that I call the Steelers. Fortunately, Joey Porter was not answering the phones. The ticket office asked if I was a season ticket-holder. Nope. However, the tickets were from a season ticket-holder. (Specifically, the tickets were a gift and came from a season ticket-holder. Does that make sense?) After about a dozen phone calls, the season ticket-holder (how many times can I use this phrase in a paragraph?) contacted the Steelers and I am OK. I have to go to a specific ticket window at Heinz Field, pay for the tickets, and when I get home, I will mail the original tickets for a refund.

The morale of the story is that I made a dumb move, but things will be OK. At least I realized the tickets were in Virginia today and not on Sunday.

Updates

In case you were wondering (or even if you were not), here are some updates of things I have written about in the past few months:

- I finally switched my shampoo from Pert Plus to Vive pro for men. This is a "daily thickening 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner." After only a few weeks, I can already feel that my hair is approaching the fullness of Fabio's hair. OK, maybe not.

- In my first year as part of the Alison LaPlaca Open (fantasy TV league), I am currently in 2nd place out of approximately 100 entries. I've mentioned this before, but the purpose of the open is to pick 10 TV shows that will be cancelled. Of the four shows that have already been cancelled this season, I picked three (Runaway, Kidnapped and Happy Hour). Of my other picks, Seventh Heaven has received a full-season order and I'm worried that FOX will never cancel The War at Home.

- My fantasy football record is 8-1 (1st place) and 6-3 (2nd in points out of 16 teams). Having LaDainian Tomlinson in both leagues has been helpful.

- Joey Porter must know that I'll be at Heinz Field for the Steelers-Saints game on Sunday. In today's Post-Gazette, Porter is quoted as saying "We will come back with a victory on Sunday." The Steelers have not lost a game I attended since the AFC Championship Game in 1995. They are unofficially 10-0 (I don't remember how many games I have seen in person the past 10 years) in games I have attended since.

- The referral entry I have each month is taking a short hiatus. I save all of the "cool" referrals in a Word document. When my computer died over the weekend, the files were also destroyed. I'm sure you are all disappointed in missing the latest ways people find this blog by typing Suzy Kolber, Flavor Flav or "How Can I Get You Alone" statements.

Election Night

According to MSNBC, with 1% of the votes in, Ben Cardin will defeat Michael Steele for the open Senate seat in Maryland. While the result may not be a surprise, Steele is currently LEADING 55% to 43%!

With millions of votes still to be counted, I'll predict that the Democrats will take over the House while the Republicans will hold the Senate but only by a slight margin.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans are equally concerned as to who is the better dancer: Mario Lopez, Emmitt Smith or Joey Lawrence.

2-6

I feel somewhat fortunate that I missed most of the Steelers-Broncos game yesterday. I do have some comments from what I did see.

* Ben - It's OK to throw the ball away when you are being pressured and don't have anyone open. The interception Roethlisberger threw when the Steelers had the ball inside the 20 at the end of the first half was terrible.

* Coach Cowher - It's OK to run the ball. Steelers football is all about running and defense. We tried the air attack offense with Tommy Maddox a few years ago with poor results (6-10). I know the team was down much of yesterday, but only 19 rushing attempts compared to 54 passing attempts! The running game was actually decent averaging 5 yards per carry.

* Based on Miami’s win over Chicago and Detroit’s win over Atlanta, I think it’s safe to say that the only team in the NFL worse than the Steelers are the Arizona Cardinals.

So now what? This season is over, but what can the team do to return to the playoffs next year? This is a fairly difficult question because the Steelers self-destruct more than their opponents beat them. What personnel moves should be made? Is Willie Reed the answer to return punts and kick-offs? Will Cowher stay?

Vail Updates

* When I departed from northern Virginia on Thursday, I was excited to leave behind Jim Webb and George Allen advertisements as well as the Ben Cardin and Michael Steele commercials. While I haven't watched much TV, I already hate Marilyn Musgrave and Angie Paccione, who are running for Congress.

* I am staying at a beautiful hotel and have a comfortable king-size bed. However, is it really necessary to have 10 pillows? TEN! Four of the pillows are decorative so I just throw them on the floor. That leaves six pillows which are just way too much.

* The good thing about being in Vail this particular weekend is that the Steelers game is the local TV game. They really need to beat the Broncos today, especially since I'm going to the Steelers-Saints game next week, and I don't want to watch a 2-6 team.

* This just in...Vail Village has many ski shops.

Greetings from Vail

If I ever write that I am about to go mountain climbing, please stop me. When I arrived in Vail, Colorado yesterday, I had a headache and was nauseous. Apparently, I had altitude sickness. I took some Bayer and didn't leave my hotel room from 5:30 last night until 7:00 this morning. I feel much better today and am drinking gallons of water, which is supposed to help.

In case you are wondering, there is some snow on the ground, but the ski slopes don't open for another few weeks. The current temperature is in the low 40s.

Two quick items from today's Vail Daily. The front page discusses two bear cubs that were captured in West Vail. The cubs' mother was killed after repeated home break-ins and apparently the cubs are learning from mom. Yes, this is the front page.

The other highlight is that Sara Fisher is running for Commissioner (I don't know of what). Her ad features a fish with the slogan "Fish for Commish." Nice catch phrase.

Truly Reality

Flavor Flav is expecting his seventh kid and I am shocked that the mother is not Deelishis, the winner of Flavor of Love 2. Fortunately, the mother is NOT New York. According to People, all Flav would say is that the mother is "shorty in Las Vegas." Maybe it is Celine Dion.

In the article, Flavor Flav insisted that his relationship with Deelishis isn't over, and said he recently met her family in Detroit and they loved him, despite his reputation as "the black Hugh Hefner." I have never heard that reference before.

Anyway, good luck to Flavor Flav, and I hope that his new album does well. I think he's going to need the money.

Flight Restrictions

As part of today's Halloween celebration, I received pre-packaged cookies made by Cheryl & Co. They are really, really good cookies. Anyway, I'm flying on Thursday and would like to take them on the flight. Am I allowed to take the cookies on the flight or will they get confiscated by airport security?

Happy Halloween!

Today, I pulled out my old Blockbuster shirt and name-tag, and went to work as a Blockbuster employee. I was surprised at how few people dressed up for Halloween. I guess everyone wears a costume for parties the weekend before Halloween and not the day of. I only saw several other costumes on the Metro today; one person was dressed in a Cubs uniform and three other people were dressed in military uniforms (although there's a 99% chance that they actually WERE military officials going to and from work).

I also celebrated Halloween by finally having a vanilla Frosty from Wendy's. I highly recommend the vanilla version. Mmmmmm....Frosty!

Wentworth Miller - Pittsburgher?

Anyone that knows me knows that I am proud of my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and of people from or related to Pittsburgh that do well. People like Dan Marino, Michael Keaton, Christina Aguilera, Jonas Salk, Gertrude Stein, August Wilson and Fred Rogers among others. So when I recently learned through a WQED magazine article that Wentworth Miller, better known as Prison Break's Michael Scofield, was from Pittsburgh, that made me happy. My question after reading the article is whether or not Miller considers himself a Pittsburgher. He moved to Pittsburgh during his senior year of high school, went to Princeton for college and now only visits Pittsburgh once a year. Wentworth, if you're reading this and want to consider yourself a Pittsburgher, I'll certainly support you.

Oh, and if you're looking for someone to be in a future Prison Break episode, I'm your guy. According to the article, you were the star of Quaker Valley High School's "Lil' Abner" in 1990. Well, I was in the Woodland Hills High School version of "Lil' Abner" in 1992. Maybe I wasn't in the title role but my 10 lines as Government Man were essential to the show. Plus, due to my performance (according to the judges), Woodland Hills won the best musical at The Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater among Pittsburgh high schools. Woodland Hills won again in 1993 when I starred as Twin #2 in "Peter Pan." Did Quaker Valley win any awards when you were there? No. TAKE THAT SCOFIELD! (Wentworth, please note that although this doesn't convey well in print, I am displaying my range as an actor. I also know that the first year of the Kelly Awards was 1991.)

Future Ralph Kramden

From today's USA Today, a 15-year-old boy, Ritchie Calvin Davis, stole an Orlando city bus, drove it along a public transit route, picked up passengers and collected fares. He was charged with grand theft auto and driving without a license. While I certainly do not condone stealing a city busy, I admire the initiaive. I also appreciate that Davis made all the appropriate stops on the route. I'm rooting for Davis to get community service and/or probation and be able to become a bus driver some day.

I Forgot One Team

After writing about the lack of success of certain teams I follow yesterday (and the success of IC football), one team stood out and said "What about us? We're good." Unfortunately, that team is not the Pittsburgh Steelers, after an embarrassing 20-13 loss to the Raiders. More on the Steelers momentarily. The team I'm referring to is the Pittsburgh Penguins. After an 8-2 victory against the Flyers Saturday night, the Pens are 6-3 and in second place in the Atlantic division. The combination of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin has been fantastic and should be great for years to come.

OK, back to the Steelers. While the defense and Jeff Reed played well today, Big Ben threw four interceptions (two returned for touchdowns) and was sacked five times. No touchdowns in four red-zone trips equals a loss. The Steelers have now been unofficially eliminated from the playoffs. There are nine teams in the AFC with at least four wins. Unless the Ravens and Bengals both choke, the Steelers will probably need 10 wins to make the post-season. I don’t see how this team can go 8-1 in its remaining nine games with two games against Baltimore, games at Cincinnati and Carolina and home games against Denver and New Orleans. Therefore, Go Penguins!

Ithaca College Athletics

Since the Steelers are 2-4, Pitt football lost to Rutgers last week (and probably will lose to West Virginia and Louisville within the next month) and even Woodland Hills was defeated last night for the first time in nearly two months, I thought it was about time I wrote about the success of Ithaca College teams. Earlier today, the 20th-ranked (in Division III) Ithaca College Bombers defeated #14 Springfield 24-7. IC is now 7-1 with a very good chance to make the Division III playoffs. In addition, IC's women's cross country team is currently ranked 23rd in the nation and IC's women's soccer team is ranked #18. Go Bombers!

Don't forget to vote everyday for Campbell's Chunky soup's "Click for Cans" to fight hunger. There is quite a battle for first between the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

Nothing To See Here

I'm just playing around with Firefox 2. I haven't used anything other than Internet Explorer since Netscape probably 8 years ago. Don't mind me. Just testing. Have a nice weekend!

Dear Political Candidates:

You can stop calling me, showing ads on TV and sending me mail. That’s because I voted yesterday. It feels nice to be done. Now, if anyone calls or stops me on the street, I can just say that I voted, now leave me alone (of course, I wouldn’t actually say the last part...probably). I may wear my "I Voted" sticker for the next two weeks.

What Is Wrong With Me?

This is really bad that I'm addicted to The Duel, the latest version of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge on MTV. Before I get started, there are a few things wrong with the title. There hasn't been a Road Rules in five years and I think there is only one person (Tina) on the Duel from RR. Plus, there are all these random people that weren't on either; they were on the last version of the challege called Fresh Meat.

As for the show, Tina may be the most useless person in reality history (Tucker Carlson is a close second). She's not competitive in any of these challenges and all she does is yell and pick fights. She's also not very bright. In last week's show, she got kicked out and lost her chance at $150K by punching the almost as useless Beth. Not that I condone violence, but for a chance at $150K, the punch should at hurt the target. Stupid show and I'm sure I am dumberer for watching it.

The Heat is On

It is currently 42 degrees in Northern Virginia and it is expected to go down to 36 tonight. It's cold! Therefore, even though we were hoping to wait a little longer, we turned on the heat. No sign of the loud squeaking sound yet, but the heat has only been on about ten minutes.

I'm Not Writing About the Steelers

41 points allowed...to Atlanta! Even worse was giving up most of those points to the Falcons' passing attack. OK, here's some non-Steelers stuff:

I'm glad that Sonic has so many commercials. However, I don't think I have ever seen a Sonic. Where are they located?

So it appears that Jay-Z's retirement is over. That didn't last very long. It's nice that his new song uses the sax sample from the classic Wreckx-N-Effect song "Rump Shaker" from the early 90s.

Is the band Hinder popular? They have a song "Lips of an Angel" that seems to be all over the place. All I think about when I hear the song is that the lead singer sounds like BoB ice and they are preparing to be the next Creed. I really hope they don't become the next U2 or Bon Jovi because I don't want to hear them for the next 20+ years.

OK, I will talk about the game. The red zone defense was poor as was the Special Teams. The bad turnovers really have to stop. While I still feel that the Steelers can turn the season around, I'm not confident that they can go 8-2 the last 10 games, which is probably what they need to do to reach the playoffs. At least Pitt had a good weekend. Maybe not. OK, at least Ithaca College and the Penguins won on Saturday.

Click for Cans 2006

In my attempt to use this site for good and not for evil, here's something good.

Campbell's Chunky soup is again having its Click for Cans to fight hunger. Visit the Chunky website and vote for your favorite NFL team (hopefully the Steelers) everyday. Only 57 days left to vote, so vote early and vote often (there's a limit of one vote per day).

By the way, the Steelers are currently in 2nd place behind the Bengals. We can't let Cincinnati fans win!

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...
---
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?
---
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.