Pirates Chance Of Making The Playoffs (I'm Confused)

I'd like to think that I'm a fairly intelligent individual. I'm not sure if I can provide any specific examples of this other than the fact that I have a Master's degree. Well, that might not help my case. Perhaps earning free burritos for a year shows my intelligence?

Anyway, ESPN has a relatively new category on the Major League Baseball Standings: POFF. POFF is not some type of bug spray or something to repel urine, but the percentage chance of making the playoffs. Here are the National League Central standings as of today (May 16th):

Team / Record / Games Back / POFF (I'm sorry that this format doesn't look very good.)

St. Louis 21-15 - 84.1%

Cincinnati 18-17 2.5 36.1%

Pittsburgh 17-19 4 7.7%

Milwaukee 16-20 5 16.0%

Houston 15-21 6 12.8%

Chicago 15-21 6 12.2%

Even though the Pirates have better records than the Brewers, Astros and Cubs, they have a lower percent chance to reach the playoffs. I don't get it. While I'm sure that Pirates' run differential of -25 (runs scored - runs allowed) probably factors into this equation somehow, why would the Brewers have double the chance the reach the playoffs with a run differential of -23? (The Astros and Cubs have run differentials of +1 and -19 respectively.)

Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies at 14-21 and 9.5 games out of the NL West have a 9.1% chance of reaching the playoffs with a -17 run differential. Although the Pirates are 2.5 games ahead of Colorado and 5.5 games closer to the division leader compared to the Rockies, the Bucs have a lower chance to reach the playoffs.

Can someone explain this to me?

Trivia Tuesday: TV Edition

It’s a rainy Tuesday here in Washington, so the sky is gray as opposed to blue. If I turn on the radio, maybe I will hear Wiz Khalifa’s Black and Yellow. Plus, it’s not easy being green. Given the stars and the year of debut, your challenge this week is to name the television show with a color in its title. Now you understand the first few sentences.

1. Ricky Schroder, Erin Gray (1982)

2. Daniel J. Travanti, Betty Thomas (1981)

3. Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh (2005)

4. Betty White, Bea Arthur (1985)

5. Eddie Albert, Eva Gabor (1965)

6. Denise Boutte, Tamela J. Mann (2009)

7. Dennis Franz, David Caruso (1993)

8. Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay (2009)

9. Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlbert (2010)

10. Rowan Atkinson, Elspert Gray (1982)


As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Chad Smith’s False Hope

Chad Smith is the excellent drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band I saw perform at the Verizon Center in DC last week. Yes, the show was great though I would have preferred that the band play a few less songs from their new album and perform Breaking the Girl and Snow (Hey Oh). I could write much more about the show, but I want to focus on Mr. Smith. At the end of the concert, Chad Smith was the last member of the band on stage. He threw a few of his drumsticks into the crowd, went to the microphone and said, “I hope that Capitals win the [f’n] Cup!” He did not say f’n. Anyway, I wouldn’t have thought much about Smith’s proclamation except that the next day I saw this article and video of Smith by NHL.com:



This text is from the article:

But the longtime Detroit Red Wings fan has also been lucky enough to live out some of his childhood hockey dreams. For the Michigan-born Smith, a lifelong infatuation with the Wings reached a new level in 1997, when he found himself in the locker room at Joe Louis Arena as the Red Wings celebrated their first Stanley Cup in 42 years.

Your favorite team wins the Stanley Cup and you get to celebrate the victory in the locker room. That’s just awesome.

A Los Angeles resident for decades, Smith has adopted the Kings as another NHL favorite. For the drummer, who occasionally attends Kings games when the band isn't touring, their current run to the Western Conference Finals has been exciting.

Essentially, Smith roots for the Kings unless they face the Red Wings. I completely understand this. When I lived in San Diego, I supported Tony Gwynn and the Padres unless they faced the Pirates. I also lived in Columbus during the inaugural season of the Blue Jackets, so I have a connection to that organization from my time working as a beer man at Nationwide Arena. Of course, as much as I want Columbus to do well, the Penguins will always be my favorite team.

Anyway, let’s get back to Chad Smith. Nashville eliminated the Red Wings in the first round of this year’s NHL playoffs. With the Kings advancing to the Western Conference finals, you would think that Smith now wants Los Angeles to win the Stanley Cup. So why the "I hope the Capitals win the Cup" statement?

Let’s go back to the video. If you watched it, you probably noticed the 4:40 mark where Smith states "I think Washington’s going to win tonight (meaning game 6 last Wednesday). I don’t really want them to win…but game 7 is going to the Rangers." He continues by stating that he hopes that the Kings and Rangers meet in the finals. So what the heck, Chad Smith? Why state that you hope the Caps win when you also want the Kings and Rangers to win? Is Smith looking to run for political office? If so, it's a good strategy to pander to the New York and Los Angeles voters. I guess that you don't want to upset the Capitals fans either. This seems like a Sarah Palin situation from 2008 all over again. With the Capitals loss to the Rangers in game seven on Saturday, I guess that Smith's hopes of the Caps winning the Cup this year are over.

For more about the Chili Peppers concert in DC check out the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post reviews.

A Mother’s Day Birthday

Today is my birthday, so Happy Birthday to me! If you’re reading this on Sunday, Happy Mother’s Day too! Do you see what’s happening here? It’s my birthday, and I have to share today with every mom. Can’t I be a little selfish today and have my own day?

I was 4 the first time my birthday fell on Mother’s Day. To celebrate, I got chicken pox. Apparently, that ruined a big dinner and plans for the entire family. Maybe subconsciously, I didn’t want to share the attention.

I recently complained to a friend about this whole birthday-Mother’s Day thing. (I left out the previous paragraph and the whole chicken box thing.) She replied, “try having a Christmas birthday like me.” My complaining ended immediately.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Crying Baby Saves The Day

I received a phone call the other night from a member of a political party talking about the importance of winning Virginia in both the Presidential and Senate elections this November. The guy said that I could support the party by donating $100. Um, no. As he stated that he understood that $100 was a lot of money and started going into the appeal to contribute less than $100, my child began to cry. I have no idea why, but he regularly cries when we lay him on the changing table. Even though my wife was there to change his diaper, I could clearly hear him through the baby monitor. I interrupted the guy on the phone by stating that I had to go due to a crying baby. Game, set, match! Checkmate! What else could the guy on the phone do in that situation? A father needs to take care of his crying baby immediately. Phone call over and the guy can't feel like I blew him off even if I did.

Meanwhile, I also received an invitation to a wine & cheese reception to support a candidate from a different political party. For the sponsorship levels, the cost is $1000 to be a "host" which also gives you 6 reservations for the event. However, a "friend" level is $100 and gets you 1 reservation. Why wouldn't someone contribute $1000 for 10 friend level sponsorships and bring 10 people to the event? The better question may be why am I receiving all this politcal stuff?

Trivia Tuesday

This week's Trivia Tuesday is all about Steve Buscemi. Your challenge is to name the film or television show that featured the incredible actor from the pictures below.

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Referral Friday

It's been over a year since we've looked how people found Sean's Ramblings via internet searches (as opposed to billboards and television and newspaper advertisements). Enjoy!

BYU bitches

This is a possible name for a future ABC television show to go along with GCB and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.

Brett Keisel Muppet

No offense to Kermit or Fozzie Bear, but I think seeing a Brett Keisel Muppet with a beard would make an awesome Muppet!

i received an anonymous text message that my husband is a

Is a what? Why did you stop? The suspense. The suspense!

2nd long toe meaning

The meaning for the 2nd long toe is clearly that this little piggy stayed home.

balding rappers

Has someone discovered my secret identity?

is there a drink named sean

If there's not, there should be. Next time you mix, lemonade with lemonade, call it a Sean.

sidney crosby big ol' butt

This might have been a line that didn't make the final cut of EU's Da Butt (Sidney Crosby got a big 'ol butt; oh yeah)



who is red hair girl in wendy commercial

I'll go with Wendy.

selling my burrito

Not a good advertisement for a food truck.


That was fun. I'll try this again in about 6 months!

Seeking Summer Vacation Ideas

Let’s say that you’re trying to plan a vacation for 8 people, including two kids under 18 months. You’re looking to take this vacation in late-June or early-July and it must be in driving distance from Washington DC. Let’s also say that a trip to the Maryland or Delaware beaches is out since beach house rentals appear to be too expensive for the prime-time of their tourist seasons. Where would you go? Please note that the group of 8 would prefer to stay in the same facility.

Thank you.

Trivia Tuesday: TV Edition

We haven’t had many responses to Trivia Tuesday recently. Are the questions too easy or too difficult? Regardless, I sense that you’ll do well this week. Given the name of the television shows below, your challenge is to name the city that provides the primary setting.

1. The Flintstones

2. The Andy Griffith Show

3. Glee

4. Family Guy

5. Ally McBeal

6. The Big Bang Theory

7. Two and a Half Men

8. Family Matters

9. How I Met Your Mother

10. Parks and Recreation

Bonus: Mr. Belvedere


As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz (except for the bonus question) is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

How To Run a 5K Without Preparing

I woke up Sunday morning feeling fairly miserable with a cold. I committed to participating in a 1 mile fun walk/run, so I dragged myself out of bed, took some Dayquil and left for the event. Upon arrival, we picked up our packet and T-shirts and noticed a mix-up just before the walk started. Although I received just the normal racing number (I’m sure there’s some fancy facing term for this), my wife received a racing number with a special strip that times you when you start the race and cross the finish line. While we thought that we both signed up for the 1 mile fun walk/run, the event staff signed up my wife for the 5K portion of the event. No big deal as we completed the walk and figured that we were done for the day. However, some friends signed up for the 5K, and since we already had the special race number, I decided that I would borrow her number and run the 5K. This was a mistake.

When I ran a 5K about 18 months ago, I was in decent shape through all of my running as a soccer referee. Now, my only exercise consists of short-distance running. (This is a fancy way of writing that I get most of my exercise sprinting to catch the bus and Metro.) Despite being out-of-shape, not feeling well and not prepared to run a race (meaning wearing heavier clothes than one would normally wear for a race with no music or stopwatch), my competitive side took over. I wanted to see if I could beat the time from the previous 5K and who knew when I would have the opportunity to run a 5K again. The answer to if I could beat the time from the previous 5K was clearly no.

About a 1/2 mile into the race, my right ankle started bothering me. While I persevered through the race, the ankle discomfort, my stuffed up nose and my general out-of-shapeness caused me to finish in 31 minutes and 34 seconds. Not bad, but this was also 4 minutes more than the previous 5K. The good news is that I finished in 20th place for the 30-39 female division! Overall, I finished in spot #215 out of 351 runners. There were a lot of kids in the race, so it was a little discouraging seeing that several 8 and 9 year-old kids had better times than I did; however, a 9 year-old me probably would have ran a better time than the current me.

A personal highlight of the race was running near (as I would later learn by looking at the results) a 62 year-old man. We were close to each other over the last half of the race, and I desperately wanted to make sure I defeated him. (See competitive nature above.) There were a few times when my ankle pain caused me to walk for about 20-30 seconds, but I made sure to stay within range of him. Near the race’s conclusion, I made my move for the big finish and soared past him. It turns out that I defeated the old(er) guy by 20 seconds. I’m awesome!

The lowlight of the race was missing out on the post-race donuts. Although I had plenty of water along with an orange, some bread and a banana, I missed the table with donuts. Donuts seem to be the perfect reward for running a 5K. Yes, I want a donut now!

Despite being sore today, I’m glad that I ran the 5K since the proceeds went to a good cause. Plus, I have a brand new T-shirt and a time to beat for my next 5K when I try this again next year (but not sooner!).

Jose Canseco Is 2 Legit 2 Quit

A recent trivia night question asked the name of the MC Hammer song with the video featuring Jose Canseco, Kirby Puckett, Deion Sanders and Roger Clemens. We got the answer correct, but I didn't recall ever seeing the video. I found the video on YouTube and felt the need to share it with you. One word describes this video: wow! Not necessarily a good wow; just a wow. In case you're wondering, Canseco and friends appear just past the 8:00 minute mark. That is not a typo; it's just a long video.



The best cameo has to be former Atlanta Falcons coach Jerry Glanville.

I Want My MTV

Although I don’t update the “What I’m Reading” section of my blog very often, I continue to read books regularly. I’m currently reading I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum. While the history of creating and starting MTV is interesting (who knew that Michael Nesmith of the Monkees “fueled the origins of MTV?”), I truly enjoy reading the behind the scenes descriptions of making the videos. Here are a few portions of the book I feel like sharing (along with the videos):

Daryl Hall: People loved to spend my money. This is a good story: Somebody decided the “Maneater” video wouldn’t be complete unless we had an actual panther, a man-eating animal, in the video. It appeared for a second and a half in the video and probably cost $10,000. This South American black panther was wired to the floor so it wouldn’t attack everybody. Of course, it got loose in this gigantic studio in LA and went in the rafters, fifty feet up. Nobody could get it down. That’s when I left the building.



The panther got at least 10 seconds of air time!

Jazz Summers (Wham!'s manager): Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” is a bit camp. Two young boys dancing around in shorts. I thought it was tacky, and said so. I tried to talk them out of it, but my management partner, Simon Napier-Bell, was more camp than a row of tents. He thought it was lovely. And MTV really got behind it.

Debbie Gibson: Being a gay-boy magnet even at fourteen, I was in love with George Michael. I'd come home from school and turn on MTV - and there was "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.



I'm confused. Is Debbie attracted to gay boys or are gay boys attracted to her?

Nigel Dick (music-video and film director): Roland Orzabal told me what he envisioned for "Head Over Heels": "I see myself in a library, there's a beautiful girl, we'll grow old together, and there's all this random stuff like a rabbi and a chimp." And I'm rapidly scribbling on a piece of paper: "Chimp. Rabbi."



Is this the only video featuring a rabbi and a chimp?

Bryan Adams: The whole budget for the "Run to You" video went into building a tree. Lightning was supposed to hit the tree, and create a big, long lightning storm. Imagine the shock and horror on set when the [f'n] thing burns in about a minute. We stood there, looking at this tree up in flames. And Steve Barron's (the video's director) going, "Oh. S#!t." This is probably my worst video.



The real problem is that Adams doesn't run at all in the video. The Bangles walked like Egyptians (sort of) walked in their hit. If the song title is "Run to You," you run!

There are a lot more stories I could share particularly about Van Halen, Paula Abdul, and Billy Squire, but this could end up being my longest post!

Please note that this is not a sponsored post. I'm just really enjoying the book.

Free Kids Meals

It’s audience participation day here at Sean’s Ramblings! I’m looking to create a list of restaurants that offer free food for kids. Since I don’t have much experience with this topic, I’m looking for your help. For example, I know that California Tortilla offers free kids’ meals with an adult combo purchase on Sundays. I have also heard, but not confirmed, that IHOP, Denny’s, Chili’s, Bob Evans, Ponderosa and Max & Erma’s have various promotions.

Please leave the restaurant name and the deal in the comments section below.

Trivia Tuesday: Wheaties Box Edition

Welcome to a brand new edition of Trivia Tuesday! We have a special picture round edition for you today. Your challenge is to name the athletes on the Wheaties boxes below. As they say, Wheaties is magically delicious! (I'm sure that someone somewhere says this!)

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Steve Miller's Map

In 1976, the Steve Miller Band released the song Rock ‘N’ Me. This #1 hit features the following lyrics:

I went from Phoenix, Arizona
All the way to Tacoma
Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A.

Northern California
Where the girls are warm
So I could be with my
Sweet baby, yeah

Assuming that Steve Miller’s final destination was San Francisco, California, this total trip is 7,662 miles according to Google Maps (see below).


View Larger Map

However, this doesn’t seem like the best way to get from Phoenix (the starting point) to San Francisco (the finish line) with stops in Tacoma, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Los Angeles. I think the most efficient trip is Phoenix to LA to Atlanta to Philadelphia to Tacoma to San Francisco (6,959 miles).


View Larger Map

Amazingly, going from Phoenix to Atlanta to Philadelphia to Tacoma to LA to San Francisco is only 9 miles more (6,968 miles).


View Larger Map

So is there a better way for Steve Miller to get from Phoenix to Northern California with the multiple stops? Stay tuned for the next post so that we can discuss the warmth of Northern California girls and if their temperature is greater than 98.6 degrees.

Space Shuttle Comes To Washington

Earlier this week, I wrote a review of the Kool and the Gang/Van Halen concert in DC that occurred several weeks ago. Therefore, even though the Space Shuttle flew over Washington on Tuesday, mentioning this now only three days later is not too bad, particularly since I’m thinking about writing a blog post next week dealing with something that took place 35 years ago. (How’s that for suspense?)

Anyway, if you missed this story, the Space Shuttle Discovery arrived at its new Smithsonian home after flying from Florida and all around the DC area on Tuesday. Here is a picture from near my office:

The Space Shuttle flying by your office is a nice way to start a Tuesday morning! If you want to see more amazing pictures including the Space Shuttle near the Washington Monument and Capitol Building, check out the photo galleries on Yahoo, The Washington Post and DCist.

Survive & Advance (First Year of Fatherhood)

During the NCAA Tournament, broadcasters often use the cliché survive and advance. It doesn’t matter how teams win the game as long as they win and advance to the next round. Now that my son celebrated his first birthday, I feel like I survived the first year and advanced to year number two.

Let’s start this post with the measurements. At one year, my son is almost exactly at the 50th percentile in both height and weight. While my dream of him being tall is likely over (he was in the 72nd height percentile at 6 months), I think the odds of him being taller than me (5’ 7”) are pretty good.

Although he doesn’t walk or crawl yet, he moves all over the house by scooting on his butt. He somehow drags him right leg on the floor and it seems like crawling would be much easier, but he gets where he want to go quickly. I feel bad for Ziggy since my son constantly chases him around.

We just started giving him milk, and the transition from formula has gone smoothly. I feel like we’re going to save thousands of dollars by not purchasing formula anymore. Now we have to find a way to transition him from bottles to sippy cups.

Like his dad, my little guy loves books. There are times when he’ll sit on the floor with a book in his hands and flip through the pages. It is incredibly cute. He also turns the book pages when I read to him regardless of whether or not we finished that page.

I’m not sure why, but my son wants me to put him to bed. I feel like this is a huge honor. He likes me. Right now. He likes me! (Yes, that’s the actual quote.)



While I still struggle in putting on his pants (Why does he kick and move his legs so much? Just stay still!), I feel like I’ve earned a B+ in my diaper changing abilities. Prior to his birth, I was more nervous about changing diapers than just about everything else. After changing hundreds and hundreds of diapers, I’m now a seasoned veteran.

On weekend mornings, he will often fall asleep while finishing a bottle. While I should probably put him in the crib, I love holding him during these naps.

There are times when I still worry that I’m not a good father and that I don’t know what I’m doing. While I give him bottles without a problem, I haven’t transitioned well into real food. Sure, I can cut up fruit, give him pieces of cheese (he loves cheese; smart kid) and spoon food out of the canned jars, I have no idea how much food he needs or if he has enough food. Plus, I almost always have to ask what he should have to eat for meals. Regarding clothing, I generally put him in whatever is at the top of the drawers. Otherwise, I have no idea what he should wear. It is also a rarity that I would pack a bag for him when we go out, so when I do, I feel like I’m missing something important. This paragraph shows a lot of uncertainty when it comes to feeding and clothing my child. This has to be among my top two responsibilities as a father!

So now that year one is complete, I can write that it went fast. Why not finish this post the way it started, with a cliché?

Trivia Tuesday: Movie Edition

Let’s get right to the trivia action. Given the first name of the actor, your challenge is to name the movie in which you would hear these quotations.

1. Renee – It is a truth universally acknowlged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectactulary to pieces.

2. Robert – I will be watching you and if I find that you are trying to corrupt my first born child, I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown.

3. Will – I’m just going to throw this out there. If you don’t like it just send it right back. I wanna be on you.

4. Steve – …and that all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair. And I don’t need one other thing! Except my dog. (GROWL) I don’t need my dog.

5. Billy – There’s nothing like a good M-L-T; mutton, lettuce and tomato, with the mutton sliced very thin…mmmm…smack-smack

6. Rick – I see that your schwartz is as big as mine. Now—let’s see how well you can handle it.

7. Ron – Not now Lumberg, I’ve got a meeting with the Bobs.

8. Gene – Do you know what happened to the child that got everything he ever wanted? He lived happily ever after.

9. Matthew – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

10. Jason – You realize we’re all going to go to college as virgins. They probably have special dorms for people like us.


As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Kool and The Gang Concert Review

What is the most unlikely musical pairing you can think of for a concert? Miranda Lambert and Chris Brown? Marilyn Manson and Jars of Clay? Yo-Yo Ma and Odd Future? Van Halen and Kool and the Gang might rank fairly high on this list too, which is why these two groups currently touring together throughout the country seems like an odd pairing at best. I saw them at the Verizon Center in DC a few weeks ago and thought I would share a few thoughts about the show. Sure, I could write about how Van Halen still rocks and how David Lee Roth is slightly (or more) crazy (he showed home videos of him and his dogs on his ranch and yelled several times to turn off the f@#ing blowers), but I saw little coverage of Kool and the Gang’s performance, so I figured I would write something here.

First of all, how did the Van Halen-Kool and the Gang partnership come together? Here’s the answer from Kool (or perhaps one of the Gang):

We were excited when we heard about it. We were surprised too, because Van Halen being hard rock and we're funk pop. But then as I was speaking to David, he told me he saw us performing at the Glastonbury Festival. We had about 60,000 people, and we rocked them. I guess when he got together with Eddie and Alex, he said, "I want Kool and the Gang to be our support." They said, "Why Kool and the Gang?" He said, "Hey, man, I saw these guys get down in London." He said, "We were the rock party band of the '80s and you were the pop-funk band of the '80s. Hey, Kool, let's go out and have a party."

So there you go. As you probably expected, the Van Halen crowd was slow to warm to Kool and the Gang during the first few songs. To their credit, KATG (it’s easier to type this instead of Kool and the Gang over and over) knew the audience...and soon enough won us over. I guess that happens when you’ve been around for 40 years and have numerous hits. Seriously, it seemed like I said to the guys next to me during every song either “I know that song” or “I didn’t know that was Kool and the Gang.” It also helps that Jungle Boogie is an awesome song (the horns were amazing).



So a few random thoughts about KATG and their performance:

Who knew that Kool is the bass player?

What is the “It” in KATG’s song Get Down On It? Is it safe to get down on it?

Naturally, everyone was on their feet for Celebration, the finale of KATG’s performance. By the way, for my entire life, I thought that the sing-along part of the song was Woo-hoo or perhaps Yoo-hoo. Apparently, it’s Yahoo. I disagree with KATG here.

I hope I have as much energy as some of the members of KATG when I'm that age!

In case you wanted to read more about the VH concert, check out The Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Link City

Here are some must-reads that I think you'll enjoy:

Kennywood is considering selling beer in the amusement park. They will make a ton of money particularly during school district picnic days. [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

Fascinating article about the matzo business [New York Times via a list of things thrown five minutes ago]

Awesome pictures of the 171st Air Refueling Wing out of Pittsburgh [That's Church]



Good read from an English teacher about the Tennessee standardized test including some sample questions. Note to self...don't go back to high school in Tennessee.[Mr. Brame's Blog]

NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) with space shuttle Discovery mounted atop will fly above the DC area on Tuesday, April 17. Can I arrange for them to stop by my office? [NASA via The Washington Post's The Buzz]

Finally, although this post is over a month old, check out this cool story about a student journalist interviewing Aaron Smith as a student at Northern Colorado. [Behind the Steel Curtain]

Very Quick Penguins-Flyers Highlights

Sure you can read all about game one of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers series on countless websites or find highlights in numerous places. However, I’m happy to provide you with a short, short recap of the game.



Jeff Jimerson nailed the national anthem.

First Period

Sidney Crosby scores! 1-0 Pens

Tyler Kennedy scores! 2-0 Pens

Fleury stones Jagr.



Pascal Dupuis scores! 3-0 Pens

End of First Period

Mike Milbury doesn’t make any outlandish, offensive or inaccurate statements during intermission.

Second Period

Fleury makes an incredible save on Hartnell

Daniel Briere scores. Boo, especially since he was barely offsides. 3-1 Pens

Couple of unsuccessful power plays for the Penguins in there.

Craig Adams & Arron Asham on a 2-on-1. Probably the two forwards on the Pens you would least like to see on a 2-on-1.

End of second period

What are the chances David Beckham has visited a Burger King since this commercial? In the unlikely event that he eats at BK, there's no chance that he knows the restaurant manager's name, right? There's even less than a zero chance that Victoria Beckham eats or drinks at BK.



Third Period

Jagr interferes with Crosby. That’s not allowed.

Steve Sullivan has a point blank chance but Ilya Bryzgalov says no (or nyet).

Jordan Staal hits the crossbar.

Briere scores again. Boo. 3-2 Pens

Crap. Power play goal for Brayden Schenn on a nice pass from Scott Hartnell. Game tied 3-3.

End of third period.

Only five shots for the Pens in the entire 3rd period.

Overtime

Jakub Voracek scores. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Flyers win 4-3. Jakub spells his name wrong. If the Pens had to lose in overtime, I'm happy that it happened quickly. There's no way I could have stayed up late watching a 3 or 4-overtime game.

A few notes:

The Pens finished 0-for-3 on the power play while the Flyers went 1-for-1. Pens need to do better on special teams if they want to win the series.

The Malkin, Neal and Kunitz line combined for zero points.

Did Max Talbot play for the Flyers? I dont think I ever noticed him.

Game two on Friday.

Trivia Tuesday: Picture Edition

How well do you know children's book characters? If you are a parent or perhaps a child, this quiz may be for you. Based on the ten pictures, your challenge is to name the children's book characters (not the books; the characters).



As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Stupid Passover Videos

Here's the deal people. Just because you can film your own videos, doesn't mean that you need to post them online. Anyway, enjoy (I guess) the following three Passover related videos.



Is this person supposed to be Lady Gaga? What song is this anyway? Way too many questions. Besides, no one is in love with Passover except possibly Manischewitz.



Was it really necessary to take off the top shirt five seconds into the video? Couldn't she have done that before or after the song?



This one actually isn't terrible, but why a Kansas jersey? I feel like Danny Manning should have made a cameo appearance.

Have a Happy Passover!

Penguins-Flyers Schedule (With Commentary)

The NHL released the schedule for the first round of 2012 playoffs. Here are the specific dates, times and TV schedule for the Penguins-Flyers series:



Game 1: Wednesday, April 11

Looking forward to seeing the surprising move of using Betty White and her group of senior pranksters replacing NHL referees. NBC symmetry at its best!

Game 2: Friday, April 13

The last time the Penguins and Flyers met on a Friday the 13th, Mario Lemieux scored 9 goals.*

Game 3: Sunday, April 15

The Pirates face the San Francisco Giants at 4:05. Let’s hope for a long rain delay, so that we can watch both the Pens and Bucs during the last day MLB Extra Innings free trial.

Game 4: Wednesday, April 18

It’s a good thing that Whitney isn’t airing this week. Otherwise, hundreds of millions of people would need to decide what’s worse: watching Whitney or seeing Flyers’ Scott Hartnell.

Game 5: Friday, April 20 (if necessary)

Rebecca Black appreciation night in Pittsburgh!

Game 6: Sunday, April 22 (if necessary)

The network is listed as "to be determined" since NBC could have Kentucky Derby coverage two weeks before the race.

Game 7: Tuesday, April 24 (if necessary)

In a surprising move, Arron Asham announces that he is making himself eligible for the NFL draft. ESPN spends the next three days of draft coverage comparing Asham with Tim Tebow.


* This may not be true.

Kids "Playing" Soccer Video

Today is opening day for the Pittsburgh Pirates, so I'm writing a post about, um, kids soccer. I may have mentioned once or twice that I am a certified soccer referee. When I first started as a ref as a teenager, the games I worked were played by kids about the age of those in this video:



I can watch this all day. Both kids are unfazed, so I feel no guilt in laughing.

With a very young child, I don't ref as much as I used to, and these days I only work games played by teenagers or adults. If this happened in one of those games, someone would receive a red card and there would likely be retaliation meaning more red cards and possible chaos. Good times!

Personally, I think it would be fun to referee games of kids this age again. Instead, I'll probably be a soccer coach in a few years.

h/t Yahoo's Dirty Tackle

Who Are the People In Your Neighborhood?

I’m on a neighborhood message board which is often useful but can sometimes be a little ridiculous. Take a look at the messages from last week with some of my commentary. Enjoy!

Friday, 11:38 AM
Subject: Police activity today around 11:15am

Anyone know what was going on this morning? Police scanner announced that they apprehended a person near Elm Street. (Sean’s note: Not the real street name.)

Helicopter, police cars, ambulance...

Any news?

1:18 PM
Omg body found in pond by golfer

Holy crap!

1:25 PM
A golfer found a body while attempting to retrieve a ball in the pond behind [Elm Street]. Apparently, a contractor was picking up day laborers and killing them when the job was done so he wouldn't have to pay them. He used that pond as the dumping ground.

The poster included the quoted text from a separate message board. All of a sudden, my neighborhood turned into an episode of Dexter, CSI and Law & Order!

1:28 PM
[Other website] is full of garbage hoax posts. This is not credible in the least.

1:29 PM
I didn't say it was 100% credible. I was just posting it and I referred to the link.

Let’s play the feud!

1:45 PM
what is the explanation for all the police n helicopter activity?

1:49 PM
Helicopters are for searching for someone on the run or for medical transport. It doesn't take a helicopter to find a dead body. Unless it's a zombie.

So my neighborhood might have a murder and/or a zombie. That’s going to make it tough to sell my home in the future.

2:03 PM
The dead body thing came from [other website], which is 100% non credible. Go to that site and look at any post in the forum. It's filled with dummies who spit vile and racist posts for any and everything. It's the equivalent of a truck stop bathroom wall.

It is possible there was a body, however re-read the post. It's racist and the people there always complain about anyone non white.

2:52 PM
If you're concerned, why not stop wasting everyone's time and simply call the police department?

A rational post? Maybe if there wasn't a zombie on the loose.

3:10 PM

I did n they are not discussing

This is the second time this person used "n" for and. This is almost as upsetting as the possible murder.

3:15 PM
I was not provided with any info either.

Now there could be a police conspiracy.

3:56 PM
I called the Police non-emergency number and the dispatcher advised that the activity was related to a shoplifter who had ran into the area.

All of this for a shoplifter? Did they at least find the person/people that stole my tire?


Trivia Tuesday will return next week.

I Don’t Want To Win The Lottery

The estimated jackpot for tonight’s Mega Millions is approximately $540 million. That’s a new record breaking the previous record amount of $954 from the Saved by the Bell high school’s 50/50 raffle/bake sale. Despite the odds of winning the jackpot at about one in 176 million, naturally, I decided to play. I mean having a few hundred million dollars around would be nice.



However, I’ve come to the realization that I don't want to win. I probably couldn't handle the media coverage surrounding me and my family after winning the largest jackpot in lottery history. People would come out of the woodwork asking for handouts. Plus, I’m sure someone will leak the fact that this blog exists to some news station or blog. Seeing my TMI Thursday posts in the news doesn’t seem like fun.

Therefore, even though I purchased $5 in tickets, I hope that I don’t win the jackpot. I do hope that I hit 5 of the 6 numbers and win $250K (I think). That would be nice.

Pittsburgh Pirates Predictions & Props

(For those of you that generally read my blog through Google Reader or another feed, I'm sorry that you saw an "odd" post with only the odds earlier today. That's what happens when you try to write a blog post immediately after arriving home from a Van Halen/Kool & The Gang concert - more on this later.)

With the 2012 baseball season only days away (not including the Seattle-Oakland games in Japan), I need to start working on a draft plan for my fantasy baseball league. I also decided that now is the time to make predictions for the Pittsburgh Pirates season. While the odds for the Pirates winning the National League Central division (30/1), NL Pennant (40/1) and World Series (100/1) are fairly poor, I thought it would be fun to explore the prop bets for the team and individual players and share my predictions.

1. Over/under wins: 72.5

I'll go over. It's March, so of course I'm optimistic now.

2. Andrew McCutchen batting average in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under .280

I'll go over on this one too. I think McCutchen will have an amazing season.

3. Andrew McCutchen - Total HR's in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under 25.5

While I do think McCutchen will have an amazing season, I think 20-25 home runs is realistic.

4. Andrew McCutchen - Total Stolen Bases in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under 25.5

Over.

5. Neil Walker - BA in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under .275

I'll go under on this one. No real reason why.

6. Pedro Alvarez - Total HR's in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under 17.5

The big money deserves to go on the under, but I'm one of the few remaining Pedro supporters. I'll go over.

7. Garrett Jones - Total HR's in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under 15.5

I'll go under only because I'm banking on Pedro playing well meaning less playing time for Jones with McGahee getting significant at-bats at 1st.

8. Jose Tabata - BA in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under .280

Over. I think Tabata will hit around .300.

9. Joel Hanrahan - Total Saves in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under 35.5

Under. There will be fewer save opportunities for Hanrahan since the Pirates will constantly win games 10-2!

10. Erik Bedard - Total Wins in the 2012 Regular Season: Over/Under 8

Over. I predict more wins for Bedard in 2012 than Correia in 2011.

Shockingly, there were no prop bets for Clint Barmes. I also propose my own prop bets.

11. Josh Harrison walks: Over/Under 9

This is the toughest prop on the board! I'll predict under, but barely.

12. Team bunting attempts: Over/Under 1000

Over, but I'm not going to actually count this during the season.

Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments section below, and we'll revisit this in October. The first 10 props are courtesy of Bovada, an online gambling website (as opposed to an offline gambling website).

My Application for The Real World

MTV’s The Real World is holding a casting call at Town Tavern DC this Saturday from 10-5. Although the requirements state that candidates must be between the ages of 20 and 24, I think that I would make the perfect candidate for MTV and The Real World's Casting Directors. Here are my qualifications:

• MTV has had significant success with the Teen Mom series. Therefore, MTV should want to incorporate more young children and their parents in their shows. A guy in his mid-30s with his kid (that’s me) and a group of 20-somethings would make fascinating television.

• To my knowledge, The Real World has never featured someone who regularly falls asleep on his couch between 9:30 and 10:00. I could be a trendsetter!

• Forget iPods. I can help return MTV to its roots by playing my Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Matthews Band and Rusted Root cassette tapes for my new roommates. Maybe I’ll bring my mix tapes to the casting call!



• Has The Real World ever featured a cat in the house? Ziggy would be a reality superstar and finally earn his keep.

• Even though I haven’t been to a club in over a decade, having the cameras follow me while I argue with my roommates about not going to the club could cause some drama. Watch an older guy complain that the club is too loud! I can’t wait to see the promos of that!

• Watching me watch Pittsburgh sporting events while Tweeting my thoughts about these events is ratings gold. I could be the new Timmy Beggy minus the getting arrested for open lewdness and losing my job as the Pittsburgh Pirates mascot.

• I could start the first ever fantasy football or baseball league in Real World history. A keeper league might be difficult to organize though so we’ll just use a straight draft.

MTV, I look forward to hearing from you (particularly since I can’t make the casting call due to fatherhood duties. This will just be like an episode of Teen Mom!).

Trivia Tuesday: Movie Music Edition

In 2004, AFI released 100 Years, 100 Songs which they might have also called “America’s Greatest Music in the Movies.” Regardless, listed below are ten song titles and the year of the movie release date. Your challenge is to name the film.

1. Over the Rainbow (1939)

2. Moon River (1961)

3. White Christmas (1942)

4. Mrs. Robinson (1967)

5. When You Wish Upon a Star (1940)

6. Stayin’ Alive (1977)

7. My Heart Will Go On (1997)

8. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head (1969)

9. Unchained Melody (1990)

10. Fight the Power (1989)

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

The Perfect Bar Mitzvah Gift

When I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah approximately 125 years ago (give or take one hundred years), adults constantly joked about whether I received fountain pens as gifts. I laughed, but I truly didn’t understand what they were talking about. Now that I’m an adult, I still don’t understand the significance of fountain pens related to Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. If anyone knows, please enlighten me.

Anyway, leave it to Sylvester Stallone to design the perfect fountain pen that even 13 year-olds could enjoy.



Here’s a description of the pen:

Montegrappa Pens recently released a limited edition pen co-designed by Sylvester Stallone called the Chaos. PowerfulPens.com, an online industry leader among pen collectors, says this pen exhibits elegance and the essence of Montegrappa's history and prestige. The Chaos Limited Edition honors the style and panache of the action-packed Sylvester Stallone while possessing the balance of elegance and function of a luxury fountain pen. 1000 of the pens will be made of silver and start at $4,965 with 10 fountain and 10 roller pens being crafted of 18 karat gold with precious stones. (emphasis added)

That’s right, you can have a Sylvester Stallone pen for only $4,965! That’s not a decimal, it’s a comma. So who buys a $5,000 pen? The only way I would consider purchasing a $5,000 pen is if the pen wrote whatever I said. And in calligraphy! I would tell my pen what to write and this magical pen would put everything that I say on paper and in perfect handwriting. I wonder if the pen could type all of my blog posts too. For $5,000, I say yes! Thanks Sly, for designing a magic pen and a wonderful Bar Mitzvah gift!

Civic Arena Memories

With construction (deconstruction?) workers tearing down Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena (it will always be the Civic Arena to me) I thought I would borrow an idea from Seth at Empty Netters and share my memories of the historic building. The Civic Arena truly is a historic building. According the Mellon Arena website, the arena “features the largest retractable, stainless steel dome roof in the world--170,000 total square feet and 2,950 tons of Pittsburgh steel.” Of course, the retractable function hasn’t worked since the mid-1990s. In addition, the roof has no interior support. Although I’m not an architect, I’m sure that Ted Mosby is extremely excited by this. Seriously, how does that even work?



However, the arena was clearly past its prime. It was the oldest and third smallest arena in the National Hockey League and with the Steelers and Pirates both getting new stadiums, the Penguins reached a deal with Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania for a new arena across the street. Anyway, that’s the background of “The Igloo” for readers that don’t know much about the Civic Arena other than it being the site of Jean Claude Van Damme’s classic film Sudden Death.

I don’t remember my first trip to the Civic Arena. It may have been attending a Neil Diamond concert with my parents and brother. It may have been a Pittsburgh Penguins game during the Rick Kehoe/pre-Mario Lemieux era. It may have been seeing the Harlem Globetrotters squeak by the Washington Generals. It probably was seeing the circus or Ice Capades. Here are some of my highlights:

Billy Joel – I remember that I was embarrassed to go with my parents, so my brother and I sat several rows ahead of them. This seems dumb now, but going to a concert with my parents as a teenager seemed uncool at the time. Yes, I totally expect this to occur in about 14 years with me and my son.

Pittsburgh Spirit (Major Indoor Soccer League) – One of my favorite parts of attending George Mason basketball games or Washington Capitals hockey games is seeing the kids play on the court or ice during intermission. I had the opportunity to be one of these kids playing soccer at the Civic Arena during halftime of a Pittsburgh Spirit soccer game. I only have a few memories of the game. First, it was difficult going over the boards to go on and off the field. Hockey players seem to have no problem doing this, but those boards were high for a kid. Second, the Astroturf used at the arena was hard, so you really didn’t want to slide. Regarding the Spirit, Paul Child and Stan Terlecki were awesome, and Child was my favorite player. To me, they were just as big as Jack Lambert and Willie Stargell.



Pittsburgh Bulls (Major Indoor Lacrosse League) – Despite little to no lacrosse presence in Western Pennsylvania, the MILL thought it would be a great idea to have a team in Pittsburgh. For some reason, without any knowledge of lacrosse, I wanted to go. I recruited several friends from my middle school, and my dad took us to several games. The star player was clearly Butch Marino. I guess the name Marino was close enough to Mario to grant the lacrosse player the right to wear number 66. I also remember a promotion where all fans received a large packet of BBQ sauce for attending. After either a bad call by the referee or an opposing player doing something that angered the crowd, fans threw the BBQ sauce packets on to the field. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone threw open packets.

Disney on Ice – I got former Pittsburgh Steelers’ kicker Gary Anderson’s autograph at a Disney on Ice event. He was fairly new to the Steelers attending the show with his kids. I approached him asking for his autograph and he was nice enough to sign my program. I believe that I still have the autograph, so if I do another “Found in my Basement” post, I’ll share the picture.

World Wrestling Federation – I attended several WWF events during my junior high days. At one event, I went down to the wrestlers’ entrance and got a high-five from Jake “the Snake” Roberts as he approached the ring. I thought that was incredible and talked about not washing my hand since Jake Roberts touched it. Fortunately, I washed my hand.



Pittsburgh Penguins – Obviously, the Civic Arena belonged to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Although I admit that I’m biased, it was a privilege seeing the greatest player in NHL history live. I get goosebumps just thinking about John Barbaro announcing a Mario Lemieux goal. Although I can’t seem to find an example of this on YouTube (please let me know if you find one), go to about 1:30 of this video to hear Barbaro’s call of Mario earning the #1 star.



Besides the Kip Miller goal, my memories of Penguins games are much more general. Going up the concrete stairs. Hoping for the Penguins to score seven goals so that all fans received a free Wendy’s chili. $20 student rush tickets. And of course, the Civic Arena was the first stop on the hockey road trip.

NCAA Tournament – While the 1997 first-round Wisconsin-Texas match lacked excitement, seeing #15 seed Coppin State defeat 2nd-seeded South Carolina was incredible. The crowd had absolutely no ties to Coppin State, yet the place was electric as everyone turned into Coppin State fans that day.

The demolition of the Civic Arena nears completion. The picture below from a few weeks ago shows the new Mario Lemieux statue with the Civic Arena in the background. That is not an open retractable roof. There were lawsuits and debates about keeping the Civic Arena, and not living in Pittsburgh anymore, I’m not too familiar with the merits of either side. However, while the Civic Arena truly is historic, what do you do with an unusable arena? Nevertheless, I’ll always have memories of the Civic Arena, and more importantly, memories of attending events there with family and friends.

Is Zooey Deschanel a Steelers Fan?

The answer to this question is probably no, but it’s a better title than “Are Jake M. Johnson and Lamorne Morris Steelers Fans?” So what am I writing about? The recent edition of Entertainment Weekly features a story about New Girl, arguably the first non-animated Fox comedy hit since Married With Children, Roc or 24. While the EW article obviously focused on the show’s star, Zooey Deschanel, there is a significant amount about the show’s three male co-stars. Here is a picture of two Jake M. Johnson and Lamorne Morris hanging out on a golf cart:



Whoa! What’s that flyer on the golf cart windshield? It looks to me like a Steelers Fever logo with a note stating AD’s Steelers Nation Golf Cart, but who is AD? Athletic Director? Assistant Director? Automatic Detonator?

At first I thought that Morris or Johnson were Steelers fans; however, through the power of Wikipedia, I learned that they are both from Chicago and are likely Bears fans. So who on the New Girl cast or crew is responsible for this flyer? Zooey, feel free to chime in to solve this riddle.

Trivia Tuesday: 2000

This is my 2000th blog post! I could do a retrospective, show clips of me writing and share videos of long-time readers and other bloggers explaining the importance of Sean's Ramblings in their lives, but since today is Tuesday, let's do some trivia. This week’s challenge is the ten questions in the following picture:



Although the questions are listed in the picture, I'll type them here again for no apparent reason.

1. What country is this?

2. Who am I?

3. What movie is this?

4. Who am I?

5. Who am I?

6. What band is this?

7. What kind of creature is this?

8. Who am I?

9. What board game is this?

10. Who am I?

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz was created by PubStumpers.

National Love

When we last checked in with the highly successful rapper Pitbull, we noted that he displayed his lyrical skills by rhyming Kodak with Kodak. Since that time, "Mr. 305" earned 11 2012 Billboard Latin Music Award nominations and VH1 featured him on a recent Behind the Music episode. He also teamed up with Chris Brown (probably not the former Tennessee Titans Running Back) for the single International Love. Let's take a look at Pitbull's latest masterpiece.

You Put It Down Like New York City
I Never Sleep
Wild Like Los Angeles
My Fantasy
Hotter Than Miami
I Feel The Heat
Ohh Miss International Love

This is the chorus. Now, I acknowledge that my geography skills are probably average at best; however, the chorus features three cities: New York City, Los Angeles & Miami. Therefore, shouldn't Pitbull rename the song National Love or American Love? You can't throw in London, Tokyo or Paris in the chorus?

The song also featured two more lines I feel the need to share.

In Lebanon Yeah The Women Are Bomb

I feel like referring to people or things as "bomb" or "the bomb" stopped in 2000.

And in Greece, you've guessed it, the women are sweet

I didn't guess it. My guess would have had something to do with the Greek economy. Is Pitbull making some type of reference to baklava? I hope Pitbull isn't attempting to rhyme Greece and sweet. I think he should have tried peace, hairpiece, geese, crease or fleece. Here are my two suggestions for the remix:

1. And the women in Greece like to wear fleece
2. And in Greece, the women like Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease

Perhaps, I'm not qualified to be a rapper.

Anyway, despite some odd lyrics, Pitbull knows how to create catchy songs. Enjoy.

Abolish Daylight Savings

Daylight savings never really impacted my life. An extra hour of sleep in the fall was nice and complaining about losing an hour in the spring was a good topic of conversation, but that was the extent of my daylight savings experience. Well, except for adjusting the clock in my car which always seems to be a challenge and changing the clock on our microwave since the numbers 1 and 8 don’t work meaning that you have to change the clock in the afternoon so that you can select 2 for PM.

Anyway, having a child completely altered my outlook on daylight savings time. On Sunday night, we allowed my nearly one-year old son to stay up until around 8:45 about 20-30 minutes later than his normal bedtime. However, in his mind, the time was really 7:45. Even though he didn’t nap much during the day, he wasn’t ready to go to sleep. We put him in his crib and left the room followed by nearly 15 minutes of hysteria from our usually calm kid. Finally, we returned to his room and rocked him sleep. Fortunately, he seemed to adjust to the time change by Monday night, so I’m sure we’re lucky compared to other parents.

This leads me to the point of this post. Why do we still have daylight savings time? Does it truly save energy? Do the farmers need the change for some reason? Arizona and Hawaii don’t change the time, and although I don’t want to give Arizona credit for any state policies, I think they have it right on this one. Does Arizona and Hawaii use any more or less energy than the other 48 states because of their decision not to participate in daylight savings? Plus, wouldn’t farmers just wake up prior to sunrise regardless of what the alarm clock reads?

I guess that I don't see the purpose of daylight savings time anymore. I just see if as unnecessary. So what will it take to get rid of daylight savings?

Wednesday Videos

I usually post videos on Friday, but daylight savings time (more on this later this week) and the NCAA Tournament have altered my schedule. Anyway, there are two videos I want to share today. First is a video for the song Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra. It has a different sound, a hint of Don't You Want Me Baby by the Human League, and is simply a cool song. I thought I was on the early side of hearing/discovering this song, but based on the fact that this video has almost 110 million views on YouTube proves that I am clearly not on the early side.

   

The second video has significantly fewer YouTube views, but also had a unique sound 20 years ago. Although the video doesn't quite hold up, I still like 3 AM Eternal by KLF. 

Trivia Tuesday: M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E Edition

Happy Tuesday! So how well do you know the Mickey Mouse Club? Specifically, how well do you know the Mouseketeers? Based on the biographical information below, your challenge is to name the former Mousekeeter.

1. Former ‘N Sync member who recorded the 2004 solo album “Schizophrenic.”

2. Actress noted for her WB television character’s long curly hair.

3. Had three number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999 and 2000.

4. Endorser of the perfumes “Curious,” “Fantasy,” and “Believe.”

5. Actor who appeared in the films “The Notebook” and “Lars and the Real Girl.”

6. Recorded the song “I’m Lovin’ It” for a McDonald’s advertising campaign.

7. Revealed in 1992 that she has multiple sclerosis.

8. Played in the TV show “The Facts of Life” where she played the spoiled Blair Warner.

9. Joined En Vogue from 2003 until 2008 and played Nicole on “The Jamie Foxx Show.”

10. Member of the short lived 2000’s girl group Innosense and the short-lived Fox series “North Shore.”


As always please leave your answers in the comments section below, and do not use the internet for assistance. Personally, I think that numbers 9 and 10 are impossible, so we'll see how it goes. Please note that there are no duplicate answers. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Fisher Price Swastika?

My son received an amazing gift for the holidays, a Fisher Price laptop computer. Sure, he's not even a year old yet, but it is important that he becomes computer literate. It's a neat toy where he can learn numbers 1-9 in both English and Spanish among the fun and entertaining features.

However, there is one pattern that may be disturbing. Although it is extremely difficult to see, take a look at this nine second video.



Through the power of YouTube, I was able to isolate the screenshot.



What do you think? Does Fisher Price include a swastika as part of the pattern or is this more like the letter X?

Friday Videos

Happy Friday! First up in today's videos is Jaromir Jagr apparently finding a new job as a firefighter after his hockey career ends.



(h/t Puck Daddy who also explains this ad)

I like ESPN's Tim Kurkjian. I also like Toronto's J.P. Arencibia impression of Tim Kurkjian.



(h/t Deadspin)

Finally, here is a very happy dog.



Have a nice weekend!

Am I Strange? (TMI Thursday)

Before you answer this question, I’m going to give you three scenarios of things that I do.

1. The Mustard Protocol

Since I make a sandwich at work most days, I keep a container of mustard in the office refrigerator. I also have mustard in my home refrigerator as part of my normal condiment selection. When I run out of mustard at the office, I always replace it with the mustard in my home refrigerator. Essentially, my mustard goes on a journey: Grocery store to cabinet; cabinet to home refrigerator after opening; home refrigerator to office refrigerator. Is this odd to have an unofficial protocol for my mustard usage?



2. Procedure for Cutting Toe Nails

Before I clip my toe nails, I feel the need to soak my feet in water. While this occasionally occurs as part of the shower, at least half the time I’ll grab something to read and dip my feet into the bathtub. I think this originated from when I was younger and used to cut my toe nails with manicure scissors rather than use nail clippers.


(These are not my toe nails. Plus, how is having toe nails this long ever a good idea?)

3. The Bathroom Location Game

Every once in a while, I’ll play the game of trying to figure out where I spent the most time. Generally, I go by state meaning that I spent the most time in Pennsylvania followed by Virginia, New York, Ohio and California (DC probably finishes in 6th but Maryland, Florida and West Virginia also earn honorable mentions.) However, sometimes I go a step further and try to figure out what bathrooms I have used the most. The bathrooms in the Pittsburgh home where I grew up are easily #1 and #2 (ha!). However, things get tricky after that. Does the bathroom in my previous home finish 3rd or is it the bathroom in my office building earn the bronze medal? Do I need to consider each urinal/bathroom stall separately or should I just go with the bathroom as a whole? That could significantly change the answer. Regardless, I wish there was some statistic on this.


(I typed bathroom map into Google images, and this was the result.)


Back to the original question, are any or all of these things strange? Am I on an island here or is this not unusual?

Although I haven't done a TMI Thursday in some time, feel free to click here for some truly amazing or not-so-amazing stories.

Congratulations Behind the Steel Curtain

After unofficially receiving the most votes in the history of the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament, Behind the Steel Curtain earned its spot as the 2012 Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog! Behind the Steel Curtain now joins previous winners The Pensblog (2009), Bucs Dugout (2010) and Pirates Prospects (2011) on the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh sports blogs. More importantly, BTSC wins this fabulous trophy that I found on Google images.



I sincerely want to thank everyone for voting in this silly little tournament and for supporting some wonderful blogs. I also want to thank the blog writers for the time and energy spent to provide consistently enjoyable content. On a personal note, this tournament takes more time to organize than one would think. With that written, I truly enjoy the forum to promote some terrific blogs. Maybe next year, I can find some sponsors that want to reach the thousands of Pittsburgh sports blogs readers. I’m quite happy to sell out for the (for example) Heinz Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament!

If you found my blog solely from this tournament, I hope that you’ll stick around. I write about Pittsburgh sports, but I also write about a wide variety of other topics and issues. To my regular readers, thanks for bearing with me over the past few weeks while I focused on this tournament. I have some good posts in the works about fatherhood and my recent hockey road trip.

2012 Pittsburgh Sports Blog Championship

We have reached the championship of the fourth annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament. Behind the Steel Curtain, the #1 seed in the Walter Abercrombie Division, has had impressive run to the final by gathering more votes than any other blog in the tournament. Meanwhile, Pitt Script, the #5 seed out of the Kip Miller Division, is clearly the surprise story of the tournament by defeating #1 seed Empty Netters in the Sweet 16 round and then upsetting the top-seed in the Dave Clark Division, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke in the Final Four round.



So who will join The Pensblog, Bucs Dugout & Pirates Prospects in the Pittsburgh sports blog pantheon? Will Behind the Steel Curtain continue its dominating run or will Pitt Script do the improbable by defeating three #1 seeds? The choice is up to you. Championship voting begins now and runs through tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9:00 PM Eastern time. Good luck to both Behind the Steel Curtain and Pitt Script.

Behind the Steel Curtain vs. Pitt Script




Thanks again for supporting Behind the Steel Curtain, Pitt Script and all of the blogs in the tournament. Please make sure to visit these blogs as well as the other Pittsburgh sports blogs included in the links section on the right. Plus, thanks to Cotter for creating the incredible logo.

Oh, here’s the bracket to see how Pitt Script and Behind the Steel Curtain reached this point.



Update: Voting is now closed. Congratulations to Behind the Steel Curtain on winning the 4th annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament. Check out this blog tomorrow (Wednesday) for more information.

2012 Celebrate Fairfax Headliners

Celebrate Fairfax, Northern Virginia’s largest festival, announced its headliners for the 30th annual event taking place on June 8-10 at the Fairfax County Government Center. I am quite excited by the line-up.

Friday, June 8
The Legends of Hip Hop including Digital Underground, DJ Kool, Rob Base and Young MC and hosted by Flavor Flav. These four groups/individuals are responsible for some of my favorite songs of all time. I’ll share the videos below, but let’s see the other performers first.

Saturday, June 9
Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo. Benatar previously appeared at Celebrate Fairfax in 2002 which was also my first year at the festival. Quick story: As I was leaving the restroom during the festival, Giraldo, Benatar’s husband and guitarist, entered. I said hey, and he replied hey. I wonder if he still remembers our meeting.

Sunday, June 10
The Legwarmers. The best 80s cover band ever. Most of their performance was cancelled last year after it rained (that’s quite the understatement). Anyway, it’s definitely worth seeing The Legwarmers live.

To learn more about Celebrate Fairfax, including ticket information, go to their website. Now enjoy some great songs/videos.