Interview With Laurie Koozer: Author of What Happens On Sunday

Laurie Koozer is the founder of YinzR Readin and recently published her first book, What Happens on Sunday available on Kindle and at Smashwords. She is also a fellow Steelers fan and competition in one of my fantasy football leagues. Laurie was kind enough to answer some questions about her new book. Enjoy!

Sean: Let's start with the standard question. Tell us about What Happens on Sunday. (Yes, I realize that this technically is not a question.)

Laurie: What Happens on Sunday chronicles the lives and relationships of six women - Patty is a divorced mother of two who sends panties to a player each week, Angela is a high school senior who hates the Steelers and wants to get away from Pittsburgh, Megan is partying too hard and upset that her closest friend is ditching her for a boy, Shannon is in love with her sister’s boyfriend, Jen is pregnant and feeling unsure about her marriage and Desiree is a stepmom whose worried that it might be too late to have kids of her own. The book follows each of their journeys through the season and how some of them intersect.

Sean: Without reading the book yet, What Happens On Sunday seems to feature six women during the Super Bowl XL season. Why did you pick that season rather than any other season such as the most-recent Steelers' Super Bowl season?

Laurie: The A answer is that I started writing this book in 2006 so that was the obvious choice! As a Steelers fan, you probably remember the infamous guy who suffered a heart attack during Bettis’s fumble during the Colts play-off game, right? Well, that guy was my friend’s uncle and after that happened it really got me thinking about the different experiences that fans have during the season. I was in the MFA program at Pitt then so I used some of those ideas for a short story, Any Given Monday, based on three of the book’s characters (Patty, Angela and Desiree). Around the same time one of my writing professors, Cathy Day, was writing a memoir built around the 2006 Indianapolis Colts season and she gave me the idea of using the entire season instead of just writing character-based short stories which was what I was doing.

As luck would have it, the 2005 season was really interesting from a narrative perspective – coming off a 15-1 season and that heartbreaking loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game the year before, there was a definite expectation that the Steelers were going to do really well. And although they started out doing just that, the team was plagued with injuries and key players like Roethlisberger and Bettis were out for weeks at a time. Then, they suffered a late season slump, losing to 3 other AFC teams in a row and literally had to win the next four games to even get a shot at the wild card. And as you well know, they went from sixth seed to winning the Super Bowl. Now if that isn’t an exciting season then I don’t know what it is!

Sean: Do you see yourself or some of your personality/traits in any of the six woman featured in the book?

Laurie: I feel like this isn’t the professional writer answer to give, but for me part of the reason that I write is to try to make some sense of the world around me and maybe to give a voice to those things that I’ve felt that maybe I don’t like to talk about – so yeah, have I ever felt lonely and alienated like Patty, Shannon or Angela? Yes. Have I ever felt like I’m being left behind by friends like Megan does? Definitely. But would I handle any of those emotions by sending my panties to football players (Patty) or falling for my sister’s boyfriend (Shannon) or partying so hard my safety was in jeopardy (Megan)? No, but it’s very therapeutic to experience those things through the safety of my characters.

Sean: As someone who dreams about writing a book someday, how long did it take you to write What Happens on Sunday?

Laurie: It took about six years total. The first two years I was writing short stories based on the characters and once I got the structure and really started the novel in earnest it took me about a year to get my first draft and then about three years of editing and revising. That being said, I was working full-time and going through a lot of life transitions at that point so there were a lot of periods when I wasn’t working on it at all just because life was so crazy. Having already published the short stories on the characters really helped me though because a lot of people who had read those would occasionally contact me to find out what had happened to the characters and that was pretty motivating for me to actually finish the book. If you’re thinking about writing a book, all I can say is never give up!

(Sean's note: 6 years! I don't think I'm ever going to write a book.)

Sean: You're a Pittsburgher (woo hoo!) and the book seems geared to a Pittsburgh audience. Do you think the book could appeal to a wider audience or will non-Pittsburghers get lost trying to figure out what Yinz means?

Laurie: I definitely wrote this book with Pittsburghers in mind and obviously that’s kind of a risky thing to do as far as book sales go but it was also really liberating to feel like I really knew my audience. Pittsburgh’s such a special place and many of my initial readers have said that I really captured its essence and to me that feels like one of the highest compliments I could ever hope to get. That being said, even though the setting the narrative frame of the Steelers season is extremely specific, the themes of this book—love and family and friendship—are pretty universal so I feel like at the end of the day if I’ve really done my job at creating an authentic Pittsburgh experience, then other people would be able to read it and enjoy it too. They just might not get all of the Easter eggs I left for the Pittsburgh reader.

Sean: Any predictions for the 2012 Steelers season?

Laurie: Well, I’m pretty sure they’re going to win some and lose some. How’s that for a non-answer? I’m really not one for predictions, especially in a year like this when we’ve had so many changes during the off-season. But what I will say is that I definitely don’t agree with this analysis that the Steelers are going to experience to a huge drop-off this year.

Sean: Since we may be in a fantasy football league this season, do you want to share any potential sleepers?

Laurie: No, but only because I’ve been so busy this month I haven’t really had much time to even think about it but when I did an automated mock draft 5 out 6 analysts said my team would be number 1 overall. So as long as the rest of the league thinks like computers, I’m set!

Please make sure to check out What Happens on Sunday as well as Laurie's blog!

Message To The US Open

Dear US Open,

First, let me congratulate you on another exciting US Open. Now that I got the obligatory nice sentence out of the way, let’s get down to business. I wrote you several years ago about your silly final set tie-breaker system. With Andy Roddick retiring after this year’s tournament, do you know the match I’ll remember him most? That would be the 2009 Wimbledon final where Roddick lost to Roger Federer 16-14 in the fifth set. What an amazing match that could never occur at your tournament. You have your reasons as to why you keep the final set tie-breaker unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments which is why I want you to consider changing the bracket for next year’s tournament. Let’s take a look at this year’s men's bracket, shall we?

If the higher seeds advance, the semi-finals will feature #1 Roger Federer vs. #3 Andy Murray and #2 Novak Djokovic vs. #4 David Ferrer. Now Ferrer is a very good player, but I’m sure that Djokovic would much rather face Ferrer than Murray. I don’t necessarily want Federer to win, but it seems unfair to me that he, as the #1 seed, should face the #3 seed in the semi-final. That is a huge disadvantage!

Now, US Open, I’m pretty sure that the other Grand Slam tournaments have similar brackets. Therefore, be different and seed arrange the bracket so that the semi-finals feature #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3 like any other non-tennis tournament.

Sincerely,
Sean

P.S. For this suggestion, I'd be happy to accept tickets, airfare (or a train ticket from DC) and a hotel for next year's tournament.

Friday Video: Different Sean

There is a video (actually a VHS tape) from my Bar Mitzvah somewhere in my basement. While it is doubtful that any part of the video will ever appear on this blog (unless someone wants to convert it from VHS to DVD to an online video), nothing on the video compares to Shaun Sperling's Bar Mitzvah dance. Enjoy!



What a shirt!

The Inside Of A Lemonade Stand

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

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

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

The Belt Story

Whenever I go away, I always tend to forget something. Hopefully, the something is minor like toothpaste, which I can pick up at my destination, rather than something significant like my cell phone, glasses, or spleen. On my trip to Florida this weekend, I thought I had everything when I left my home. I knew that I didn't have a fantasy football magazine but figured that I would find one at an airport newsstand.* After arriving at the airport on Friday but prior to going into the security line, I realized that I didn't pack a belt. While this wasn't a problem for the shorts I was wearing, I definitely needed a belt for my jeans and another pair or shorts I had packed. Fortunately, Washington National Airport has several clothing stores. Unfortunately, I couldn't purchase a belt at Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Bank or even the PGA Store for less than $50 or $60. Therefore, I departed from Washington without a belt.

When I arrived in Charlotte, I had a clear mission: eat lunch and find a belt and fantasy football magazine in the one hour before my next flight. Mission accomplished thanks to Burger King on the lunch front, but the belt situation looked dicey with more stores like Brooks Brothers. However, after finding a fantasy football magazine, I stumbled into something called Bijoux Bellagio. While the store looked to sell only women's clothes and accessories, I inquired about men's belts. Amazingly, they did sell men's belts and the cost was only $10. Success! I was so excited about finding a reasonably priced belt that fit I didn't even care about the look. I only slightly regretted my purchase after putting on the belt.

I really hope that this belt becomes fashionable soon! By the way, since this belt is both brown and black, can I wear this with brown and black pants? I'll probably just wear this with jeans and make sure my shirt covers the belt.

What is the most random and/or obvious item you forgot on a trip?


* This turned out to be extremely difficult search. Although every airport store had dozens of magazines, none had any fantasy football magazines. Fortunately, I found one fantasy football guide at the EA Sports store (?) at the Charlotte airport.

How I Escaped Tropical Storm Isaac

Did you know that I travelled to Florida this past weekend? Probably not since I posted nothing about this here, on Twitter or on Facebook. I arrived in West Palm Beach on Friday afternoon just in time to see only the third film I’ve watched in the theater this year, The Expendables 2. I didn’t see the first film, so I worried that I wouldn’t be able to follow along. It turns out that there wasn’t much plot to follow other than lots of shooting with people and things getting blown up. (Should that have been a spoiler alert?)

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon, it appeared that Tropical Storm Isaac would cause havoc on South Florida meaning possible flight cancellations. US Airways posted a travel advisory that you could change your flight without a change fee, but that only applied to flights departing on Monday or Tuesday. My 1:30 Sunday afternoon flight was still on time, but I had some doubts. Finally, around 8:15 on Sunday morning, I received an automated call from US Air notifying me about my flight cancellation, wishing me good luck in getting out of South Florida and expressing disbelief that I spent $64 between quarterbacks Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford as part of an auction draft in a one QB fantasy football league. The recording didn’t actually state the last two sentences, but I know the voice was thinking this.

Time to evaluate options. I needed to get back Sunday night to see my family and to get to work on time Monday morning. Every flight out of Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale to Washington, either Dulles or National, was booked. US Air could get me on Monday morning flight, but there was no guarantee I would get out particularly since the worst weather was expected for Sunday afternoon/evening and most school districts already cancelled school for Monday.

My solution: rent a car and drive north. The US Air agent admired my resourcefulness (though she didn’t comment on my fantasy football drafting results) and even though everything was booked from Orlando, there were seats for me on a flight from Jacksonville to Charlotte and Charlotte to Dulles. Daytona Beach is actually closer than Jacksonville, but who knew that they had an airport? (Apparently, not me. I ended up calling US Air on the road and learned that a flight out of Daytona Beach would get to Charlotte earlier, but I would still be on the same Charlotte to Dulles flight.)

So I had a relatively uneventful 275-mile drive to Jacksonville Airport. I arrived at the US Air ticket counter around 2:05 with plenty of time for my 3:30 flight. However, I decided to ask if there were any possibilities to get into DC earlier. The agent stated that there was a 2:30 flight going directly to National (I’ve been on this flight several times), but that since it was after 2:00, boarding already started, and it was too late to get on the plane. Jacksonville isn’t that big of an airport, so I figured that I had a chance to arrive at the gate before the plane doors closed. I walked briskly to security and amazingly made it through security in record time. It was at this point that I realized that I had a legitimate chance to make the flight. Therefore, I channeled my inner OJ (minus the “alleged” murders).



I made it to the gate as the last group got called and approached the gate agent…who informed me that the flight was full. Oh well. I ended up flying into Dulles through Charlotte and was able to see my family before bedtime. Then, I picked up my car from National Airport on Monday morning before work.

I should have an exciting conclusion or morale of the story, but unfortunately, I have neither. I guess I can share that US Air's customer service folks and gate agents were extremely nice and quite helpful. Actually, I do have a unique experience that occurred on my trip down to Florida, but I’ll save that for tomorrow.

My First Figure Skating Blog Post

It's the middle of August with the Pittsburgh Pirates in playoff contention and the NFL regular season only a few weeks away. So this is a perfect opportunity to write about, um, figure skating. The London Olympics concluding recently, and the biggest "stars" to emerge from the Olympics were Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, and Gabby Douglas. What do these Olympians have in common? They all won multiple gold medals. This got me thinking about figure skating. While this sport is always one of the most watched during the Winter Olympics, I wondered if the figure skaters ever got upset at not having the opportunity to win multiple medals like their gymnastics, swimming and track counterparts. I proposed this idea to two friends who are HUGE figure skating fans. We'll call them Kelly and Marino since they are also Bills and Dolphins fans respectively.

Sean: I assume that you're following the Olympics and the gymnastics competition. I'm sure that you saw Gabby Douglas win two gold medals, one for the individual all-around and the other for the team competition. In addition, Aly Raisman won three medals, gold in the team competition and floor exercise and bronze on the beam. These two gymnasts now have as many or more Olympic medals than arguably the greatest American figure skater, Michelle Kwan (silver in 1998 & bronze in 2002). While Kwan has done quite well for herself off the ice including some type of Royal Caribbean competition with Greg Louganis, do you think she should have more medals? Let me put this another way, should she have had the opportunity to win more medals?

In gymnastics, you can win a team medal and several different individual ones. Should figure skating have this? Why not a team figure skating competition? Why not separate events for the short program, long program, that silly figure 8 thing they used to have, lutz and Salchow. (I had to look up the spelling of Salchow. Who knew that the H is silent?) Feel free to call me an idiot for these suggestions if warranted.

Kelly: I do think it would be cool to have a team event for figure skating, nation against nation. But since the skaters are doing the very same routines over and over again, I don't see the need to have separate events like you do in gymnastics, where there are individual apparatus events, in addition to the all-around, and team competition. Since FS did away with compulsories (those silly Figure 8's, as you call them), I don't see them bringing them back. The only growth I could see in terms of adding another event would be Team Synchronized Skating (which they do have) as there is precedent for this with synchronized swimming.

I know it's been done, but it really doesn't seem right that events like synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline (!) are in while baseball, softball and golf are out (although coming eventually, right?).

I think a better analogy for Michelle Kwan's Olympic results is Roger Federer. You can argue that both are the GOATs of their sport, and neither have gold (unless you want to count Fed's doubles gold with Stan Warwrinka in 98). For GOATs, nothing but gold is acceptable. You can't blame Roger for this time around, he went 19-17 in the third against Del Potro. In Beijing, he lost early to Berdych. Kwan played it conservatively and got surpassed by jumping beans/tiny mites in the long program.

Kelly (again before I was able to reply): Got the skinny from someone in the know:

There is now a team skating competition (men (2), ladies (2), pairs (1) and dance (1) all represented), not a group of ladies and men like in gymnastics though. It’s held after worlds now and it will be included in the Olympics in two years! It should be interesting to see how this added event changes the dynamic of the individual events. The format is still being decided (if the team event will occur before the individual events, etc). Clearly the main focus is still the individual events so I wonder if some of the big named players will back out of the team event based on results from the individual events. Hey – its another chance to watch skating and for the skaters to win a medal. Pretty neat.

Also, after watching some of the rhythmic gymnastics yesterday (which is easy to make fun of, until you watch those girls perform!) I do believe there could be a category for cheerleading at the Olympics. If there international participation level were there. Think about it. Those girls are athletes just like synchronized swimmers or rhythmic gymnasts (aka Cirque du Soleil training grounds). Then, we could pave the way for drum corps to be part of the Olympics, too. Anyone who has been in marching band would agree that there is equal amounts of athleticism and artistry in drum corps. OK, I realize this'll never happen.

Sean: Interesting that figure skating is considering a team event. I think the top skaters would enter for a chance to win more medals. Someone the caliber of Kwan probably wouldn't participate in the pairs or dance event, but I think they would also compete in the individual portion of the team competition.

Before you sent me the e-mail, though, I wanted to reply to your comment about skaters doing the same routines over and over rather than the separate events gymnasts compete in using different apparatuses. I have suggestions! 1. Spinning competition. Specifically, who can do the most spins in 20 seconds? They go so fast, so you might as well see who does the most in a specific period of time. 2. Obstacle course. I don't know the format since it's not speed skating, but maybe the skaters have to skate a routine with various obstacles on the ice. 3. Hardest slap shot. This is fun in the NHL skills competition, so why not see how fast 90-pound figure skaters can shoot a puck.

Between the current individual competition, possible team competition, compulsories (figure 8s) and my other three ideas, figure skaters could earn up to 6 medals! Please propose this idea to the person you know that is in the know!

Besides using cheerleaders at some events in London (ex. beach volleyball), is cheerleading really big around the world? Since baseball and softball are no longer in the Olympics, is cheerleading more popular that these sports globally?

Marino: I am just catching up on personal e-mail and this whole conversation had me giggling my head off.

You have to think about Michelle Kwan in terms of winning 9 national titles. There will NEVER be a gymnast that has the endurance to come to 9 separate national championships and win medals at each one at the elite level.

I don't think there should be separate things like a spinning comp. And I agree with Kelly about cheerleading being a sport, and should be at the Olympics, the same way I would encourage dance to be there too. Dance would be like gymnastics with ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, etc.

Kelly: to Marino's point, Nastia Lukin, the defending All-Around champ, didn't even MAKE this year's US squad.

I would support Marino's motion to add dance to the Olympics. Competitive ballet? Bring it on!!!

Sean: With the introduction of dance, I think we've ended this conversation. The Olympics would be just like one of those Step Up movies! Why not go with chess, Scrabble and Connect 4 as Olympic sports too?

Marino: oooh yeah they could dance battle like the Step Up movies. I love those movies, [my husband] hates them. He categorized all dance movies this weekend as: 'someone is poor, needs a lot of money, discovers they can dance, finds other people who can dance with them that are also poor, magically there is a dance contest where they can win a lot of money, they enter the contest and win.' :)

The conversation dissolved even further from there. Anyway, the morale of the story: It looks like the Figure Skating Organization listened to me, although it would be nice if they added a hardest slap shot competition among the figure skaters!

Trivia Tuesday

I’m bringing back Trivia Tuesday earlier than expected since this week is a little different than usual. Your challenge is to answer the random questions below. Yes, there are still right and wrong answers.

1. Jennifer Lopez is one of the most famous people in the world. Name one of her songs.

2. Who would you draft #1, #2 & #3 in a fantasy football draft?

3. How many unwatched episodes of Breaking Bad do I have on my DVR?

4. How was Panic! at the Disco’s "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" a hit? (The song reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.)



5. Who is a better singer/performer/artist: Rick Astley or Richard Marx?

6. Prior to Paul Ryan, has there ever been a major party Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate with two first names? (To be more specific, Ryan is a much more common first name than a last name. I'm sure that there are plenty of people named Washington, for example, but my guess is that Washington is a more common last name than first name. Of course, I could be wrong.)

7. What does Bryan Adams do when the feeling’s right and he’s gonna stay all night?

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

Navy Sub Commander Accused of Adultery, Faking Own Death

Have you heard about this story? This text is directly from The Washington Post:

For the past four years, Navy Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II lived with his wife and children in the Burke area of Fairfax County, just off Rolling Road. Ward and his family sold their house last month and moved to Connecticut when Ward was awarded command of the submarine USS Pittsburgh, based in Groton, Conn., which he assumed on Aug. 3.

Seven days later, he relinquished command of the USS Pittsburgh, which, if it isn’t a record, has to be in the top five shortest commands. A woman from Chesapeake came forward and said she’d had an affair with Ward after meeting him on an online dating Web site, The Day newspaper of New London, Conn., reported Monday. That is not the worst part.

The woman said Ward told her he was separated from his wife and was assigned to ”special ops.” And on July 6, the woman said she received an e-mail from Ward’s address, but written by a man named Bob. “He asked me to contact you if this ever happened,” The Day reported the e-mail said. ”I am extremely sorry to tell you that he is gone. We tried everything we could to save him him. I cannot say more. I am sorry it has to be this way...He loved you very much.” And technically, he was “gone.” From Burke.

So the woman drove to Burke on July 9 to pay her respects, and learned that Ward was alive and well — in Connecticut. She told The Day she became ill, found out she was pregnant, and then miscarried.

The woman contacted the Navy, which issued a statement on Friday, Aug. 10, saying Ward had been relieved of command “due to lack of confidence in Ward’s ability to command based upon allegations of personal misconduct on the part of Ward.”

Ward declined to comment to The Day. He has served in the Navy since 1987 and had been assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. The rest of the article is here.

What an incredible story! Who knew that there was a USS Pittsburgh or that it was based in Groton, Connecticut? Plus, any chance that Michael Ward has a nickname of Hines?

Happy Birthday Ziggy

Today marks Ziggy’s 4th birthday. While I know nothing about his birth or anything about his life prior to adopting him from the Fairfax County Animal Shelter in November 2008, it’s difficult remembering a time when he wasn’t in our home.

Ziggy has had to endure major life changes over the past year. First, he freaked out. While this fortunately turned out fine, my son is now mobile and loves Ziggy. Unfortunately, the love doesn’t translate into nice petting. We’re trying to teach our son "soft" and "gentle" in interacting with Ziggy, but he doesn’t seem to understand these concepts yet. Therefore, I sincerely appreciate Ziggy’s patience and awareness in knowing when to walk away or escape to higher ground.

Ziggy continues to be as loving as ever and regularly sleeps in our bed at night. He also always greets me at the door when I come home and usually flips over to get his stomach rubbed like he's a dog. There’s not a better feeling than coming home to a child and a cat who are visibly excited to see me.

So what does Ziggy think of his birthday and this blog post?

I guess he’s just resting now and waiting for his friends to call to go out and celebrate!

Emma Watson Is Awesome

On Friday afternoon, I posted the following message on Twitter:

I promptly received approximately 7,000 retweets, which is 7,000 more retweets than I've ever received before. Of course, with only 140 characters, I couldn't share Watson's quote in the full context. Therefore, here is the entire Q&A from EW's Fall Movie Preview Edition.

Although this may be difficult to read, here are the two items that stick out. First, Watson's initial perception was that she would hate Pittsburgh, but she really enjoyed it once she spent time there. I guess going anywhere after spending years at Hogwarts would be difficult. Second, her admiration of Pittsburgh was completely unprovoked. The interviewer didn't ask Watson what she thought of Pittsburgh. The question was simply "I'm assuming it was a fun shoot." (To the Entertainment Weekly interviewer, that's a statement not a question.)

Emma Watson is now one of my favorite actresses ever. Perhaps she and Ron can move to Pittsburgh and convince Harry and Hagrid to join them. Hagrid would make an excellent red zone target for the Steelers!

Ric Blas Update & Other Olympic Links

In case you missed it last Friday, Ric Blas won his first round match becoming the first Guam Olympian ever to advance in judo. While he lost to the Beijing bronze medalist in the second round, Ric has had an incredible experience in London and has made Guam proud. Plus, per the picture below, he also appeared on CNN International even though I can't find the video online.

Here are articles about Ric in London:

CNN highlights the underdogs. [CNN]

I like Ric's nickname, The Little Mountain, referenced in this article. [Reuters]

You must be judoking? Really, Brisbane Times, you couldn't come up with a better headline? [Brisbane Times]

This is only video I could find of any of Ric's matches.

Guam's News Network chimes in. [KUAM News]

An article with an actual quote from Ric. [NBC Sports]

What would the London Olympic games be without a Terrible Towel?

In case you forgot, we've seen a Terrible Towel at the Beijing Olympics and in London during the royal wedding.

Pittsburgher Cassidy Krug had an amazing Olympic performance in the 3-meter springboard diving final. Unfortunately, she didn't fare well on her final dive and it cost her a bronze medal. [Post-Gazette]

More on Cassidy by Dejan. [Pittsburgh Trib-Review]

Not Olympic related, but a photo gallery of the Stanley Cup in Ithaca is pretty cool. [Ithaca Journal]

Enjoy the last few days of the Olympics!

Sean on Science: Asparagus Pee

While scientists have debated an important topic for decades, I’m going to solve it today with your help. Yes, we’re tackling asparagus pee. Some of you may have no idea what I’m writing about. Others of you may be like me and notice a distinctive odor in your pee after eating asparagus. According to this article by Discovery, “The ReSearch Guide to Body Fluids (by Paul Spinrad, June Books, N.Y., 1994), says just 22 percent of survey respondents experience asparagus pee.” It turns out that the 22 percent don’t just emit the asparagus pee, but actually have the receptors to smell it. I am proud to be one of the 22%!

Anyway, are you part of the 22%? If so, do your parents also experience asparagus pee? Maybe just one parent experiences asparagus pee. If you’re a parent yourself, does your child follow in your footsteps? In my household, my son has never had asparagus and since he doesn’t talk yet, wouldn’t be able to tell me anyway. The other person in my household that probably doesn’t want to be discussed here on this topic does not notice a distinctive urine odor after eating asparagus.

By the way, I’m sure that I could look up asparagus pee and genetics somewhere online, but it’s more fun to hear from you and your theories about how asparagus pee, um passes, through generations.

Trivia Tuesday: Commercials Edition

Trivia Tuesday has lacked participation lately, so I think we'll take a few weeks off after today. Maybe folks are on summer vacation. Anyway, listed below are ad slogans from the past. Your challenge is to name the product.

1. Kid Tested Mother Approved

2. A different kind of company, a different kind of car.

3. We don't make a lot of the products you buy, we make a lot of the products you buy better.

4. Does She...or Doesn't she?

5. We'll leave the light on for you.

6. It's everywhere you want to be.

7. Fly the Friendly Skies.

8. Obey Your Thirst.

9. Where do you want to go today?

10. Drivers wanted.


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.

Ric Blas Time

After four years of training, Ric Blas finally returns to Olympic competition on Friday at 4:51 AM Eastern time. I’ve written about Ric many times since the beginning of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (including this incredible interview), so I hope that you’re supporting him in his match (and hopefully matches) like I am. Ric faces Facinet Keita of Guinea in the Men’s +100kg Judo division elimination round of 64. You read that correctly. 32 Olympians, who have trained extremely hard over the past four years, will compete in one match and go home (well, after partying in the Olympic village). The Olympics are essentially a single-elimination tournament until the quarterfinals, when it becomes double-elimination.

Although I’m not sure what television station carries the judo matches in the U.S., this link for NBC’s Olympic site should show Ric online. In addition, if you’re like me and have little or no idea how judo works, the London Olympics website has the rules and history of judo.

Now that you know when Ric competes, here’s some of the media coverage Ric has received:

This is Ric's Olympic profile. [Guam Sports Network]

Cool video of Ric first arriving and training in Kendal, England. [ITV News]

Ric is the heaviest athlete in Olympic history at "34 stone." I think I like using stone as a unit of measurement. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, everybody must get stone! [The Independent]

This video is the Team Guam Olympic Preview from Kuam Sports.



Good luck Ric!

Pittsburgh Pirates Shock Everyone at Trade Deadline

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued their amazing season by acquiring three new members to the team on Monday night and Tuesday. Most analysts never thought the Pirates would be so aggressive in adding these players to help the team compete for the playoffs for the first time since 1992, but the team has proved critics wrong all season. I’m proud to introduce you to your new Pirates:

Gabby Douglas

The Pirates need players in the locker room who have won on the biggest stage. Even though she’s only 16 years old, Gabby “The Flying Squirrel” Douglas proved that she could handle the pressure by winning gold in London.

DJ Qualls

DJ Qualls isn’t necessarily a guy that you want to depend on to carry your team or movie; however, he is a solid glue guy. I think this is best demonstrated through his work in Hustle & Flow and Road Trip. Qualls is a solid veteran able to adapt in various environments and step in when needed (see his guest spots on Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Lost, Monk, CSI, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Numb3rs, My Name Is Earl, Breaking Bad, The Big Band Theory and more). Solid veteran.

Attorney Edgar Snyder



In 50 years, I'll still remember 391-2101. 391-2101! Anyway, this is a no-risk addition for the Pirates. They don't have to pay Snyder a salary unless he gets money for the team!

You can read more about the Pirates' trades here. Let's Go Bucs!

Trivia Tuesday: Two-Hit Wonders

Welcome to the last day of July. Is it just me or does summer seem over already? Anyway, listed below are pairs of songs recorded by “two-hit” wonder artists and the years the songs were released. Your challenge is to name the artists.

1. You Spin Me Round (1985), Brand New Lover (1987)

2. Gotta Get Thru This (2002), If You’re Not the One (2003)

4. Orinoco Flow (1989), Only Time (2001)

5. The Power (1990), Rhythm is a Dancer (1992)

6. Gotta Tell You (2000), Baby Come Over (2001)

7. Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover (1992), As I Lay Me Down (1995)

8. Wild Thing (1998), Funky Cold Medina (1989)

9. This is How We Do It (1995), Get It On…Tonite (2000)

10. Virtual Insanity (1997), Canned Heat (1999)

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 Greatest London Olympics Preview

This is not your typical Olympic preview debating whether Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte will win more medals or dissecting the U.S. men’s basketball team. Instead, this preview highlights some of the more random parts of the Olympics and my friend Ric Blas competing in his second Olympic Games for Guam in Judo. I’m sure that you’re wondering how I know an Olympic athlete, particularly one from Guam. Did you know that I was fairly well known in the judo world for my prowess on the mat? You probably didn't know this since it isn't true. I did earn a white belt from doing one month of karate though!

Actually, I noticed Ric during the Beijing Games, since he was difficult to miss as Guam’s flag-bearer, and he later agreed to do an interview with me. While I’ve never personally met Ric, we’ve been Facebook friends for the past four years, and he’s a very cool guy. While NBC will focus on swimming, gymnastics and track and field, I highly encourage you to find Ric’s judo matches and support him. I’ll include some pictures of Ric from London throughout this piece and you should check out this recent interview of Ric by Guampdn.com (even though my interview was significantly better), but let the Olympic preview begin!

- The complete roster of the American Olympic team includes three people named Sean. Therefore, I would also like to invite Sean Furey, Javelin Throw; Sean Rooney, Volleyball Outside Hitter; and Sean Rosenthal, Beach Volleyball to share any thoughts on the Olympics since this blog is Sean's Ramblings! [ESPN]

- The best name in the Olympics is clearly Dong Dong of China. Dong Dong is the favorite to win gold in the Men's Trampoline after earning a bronze medal in Beijing and winning the 2012 London Test Event. Yes, I am 12 years old sometimes. [NBC Olympics]

- With Rafael Nadal withdrawing from the Olympics stating that he is "not in condition" to compete, I'd like to congratulate Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer for winning the men's tennis Olympic medals! It's just a matter of who wins gold, silver and bronze.

- The first athlete kicked out of the Olympics for steroids is Voula Papachristou of Greece. Wait a minute, Papachristou was actually expelled for a racist joke on Twitter. [Yahoo]

- Meanwhile Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice is also on Twitter and posted this picture earlier this summer.

- Donald Sanford was born in Los Angeles and attended Arizona State University where he met his future wife. This doesn't sound at all unusual, right? Well, his wife is an Israeli who was studying abroad. Sanford is now an Israeli citizen running track for Israel. Despite being born in America and attending ASU, Sanford can now be deported any time he visits Arizona based on the state's laws. (That last line is not in the article.) [The Times of Israel]

- Archery will likely be more popular this year than ever before courtesy of The Hunger Games. I put the over/under of references to Katniss Everdeen and the movie/book during the Olympics at 72,591.

- This is a list of all Olympians that have ties to Western Pennsylvania. [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

- Amazing story about Guor Marial, a runner that does not have a country. [ESPN]

- With Bravo airing some Olympic events, I'm looking forward to seeing The Real Housewives of London.

- The second greatest Olympic name is William Speed Lane Fox-Pitt. Yes, Speed Lane is really his middle name. It’s like Megan Fox and Brad Pitt had a son who became a British equestrian guy. [Facebook]

- Let me address Michael Phelps. First, does his mother still have a clothing line at Chico’s? Phelps is expected to break the record for most Olympic medals by surpassing Soviet Union gymnast Larisa Latynina who won 18 medals in the 1956-1964 games. While this is an amazing accomplishment, it’s not really fair. As a swimmer, Phelps competes in 7 or more medal events during the Olympics. Meanwhile, the greatest wrestler (for example) of all time can only win 1 medal during the games. There’s no team wrestling event or different styles of wrestling, such as arm wrestling or a steel cage version, like there is for swimming. I feel like Phelps should compete in one swimming event and then try to medal in shot put or something.

- Americans Gabby Douglas (gymnastics) and Ellis Coleman (Greco-Roman wrestler) are both nicknamed the Flying Squirrel. If either or both of them win a medal, Ithaca College will create a flying squirrel mascot. (No one who reads this blog will understand this reference.) [Rapid City Journal]

- Speaking of Ithaca College, good luck to Meghan Musnicki '05, a member of the US Olympic Rowing Team. [Ithaca College Athletics]

- A friend of mine knew track athlete Aires Merritt from the University of Tennessee. Unfortunately, he can't share any of the stories due to attorney-client privilege, a confidentiality agreement and the Hippocratic Oath.

- Daniel, a friend of Sean's Ramblings, created a Team Israel Olympics video page. Check it out throughout the Games. [Sass Video]

If you made it all the way to the end of this preview, thank you. I'll have much more about Ric throughout the Olympics and you can follow him on Twitter.

DC Area Casting Call

Have you always wanted a vacuum cleaner that you didn't buy from an infomercial? Have you ever wanted to use this vacuum as part of a web series?

If you are a neat-freak living in a world of clutter in the Washington DC area, you can get your house clean and receive a brand new Dyson vacuum! Here's the information:

A new web series for Discovery Channel is currently casting odd couples that love each other but just can’t stand living together due to the other’s standard for cleanliness (or lack thereof).

We’re looking for newly moved-in couples to participate in this wakeup call for their messy loved one. We’d love to hear from people who have just moved in within the last year.

But wait – there’s a catch! We’re keeping this top secret from your partner until the day our Clean-tervention arrives at your door ready to mop up. Part mock reality show, part practical joke don’t miss out on the opportunity to draw a line in the dirt and get your other half clean.

Participants will be rewarded for their time with a brand new Dyson vacuum cleaner as well as get their house sparkling clean!

In order to be considered:
- Please submit an email to Castingshp@gmail.com, with the subject line “No more mess!”

- Include: Pictures of yourself, your messy other-half and some of the worst examples of their mess.

- Also include a written bio about why you just cant stand the mess any longer.

- Any video you may have that shows off your personality.

If you enter and get selected, please let me know since I'd love to hear your behind-the-scenes stories.

Revisiting Cosi Prices

I regularly ate at Cosi during the early days of this blog thanks to $2 off coupons that appeared in The Washington Post’s Express every few weeks. There used to be days where I would pick up 5+ editions of the Express just for these coupons. The coupons stopped years ago, so I rarely eat at Cosi anymore since I generally pack my lunch or pick up food from other restaurants.

I visited Cosi recently to get a tuna sandwich which included tuna (obviously), romaine lettuce, tomatoes and the Cosi vinaigrette. The cost was $6.79 before tax. Unlike the old Tuna Cheddar sandwich that used to appear on the menu, I learned that getting cheese was an additional 75 cents for a total of $7.54. Meanwhile a Tuna Melt with the same ingredients (I think) cost $7.29 before tax. When I pointed this out to the cashier, she kindly charged me the tuna melt price.

I mention this since 5 years ago (this really must be one of the oldest continuous blogs), the tuna melt cost 40 cents more than the tuna cheddar sandwich. Why can’t Cosi charge the same thing for this sandwich regardless or whether or not it is toasted?

Trivia Tuesday

No time for an introduction today, except to write that I’ll announce the winner of the Orient Watch giveaway later today or tomorrow. Your challenge this week is to name the artist or band that is the subject of the music biographies listed below.

1. Catch a Fire

2. Hammer of the Gods

3. The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

4. No One Here Gets Out Alive

5. Walk This Way

6. Last Train to Memphis

7. Old Gods Almost Dead

8. Just Kids

9. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band

10. Out of Sync


I may provide clues or multiple options later, but let’s see how you do first.

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.

Found In My Basement: Bought From An Infomercial

I was recently in a room where a significant event occurred. It was not at the Supreme Court for their ruling on Obamacare or at PNC Park where the Pirates swept the Marlins to go to 14 games over .500. This was much bigger. My friends watched an infomercial and proceeded to buy a vacuum cleaner by calling the number on the television screen. Plus, simply for purchasing the vacuum that day, the company also threw in a steam mop. The same vacuum was being sold on Amazon for about the same price and had excellent reviews, so I feel that due diligence was done before making this big decision. In addition, the infomercial deal included a 10-year warranty (and the steam mop) which Amazon did not.

I was impressed by my friends in purchasing something from an Infomercial since I didn’t think I knew anyone that did this. It turns out that I knew someone very well that bought something from an Infomercial…me. Sometime during or after college, I bought the two cassette tapes of Totally ‘80s and found tape #1 in the basement. (I have no idea where tape #2 is).

In case you’re wondering, here are the songs on Totally ‘80s Tape #1:

Side A
Take On Me – a-ha
Hot Hot Hot – Buster Poindexter
Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) – Billy Ocean
Walk Like An Egyptian – The Bangles
Who Can It Be Now? – Men At Work
Addicted To Love – Robert Palmer
Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
Jump (For My Love) – The Pointer Sisters
Wild Thing – Tone Loc
Everybody Have Fun Tonight – Wang Chung

Side B
Walking On Sunshine – Katrina and The Waves
Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield
The Heat Is On – Glenn Frey
Wild, Wild West – The Escape Club
Heaven Is A Place On Earth – Belinda Carlisle
She Works Hard For The Money – Donna Summer
(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me – Naked Eyes
Too Shy – Kajagoogoo
Missing You – John Waite
Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye

It seems odd seeing Donna Summer and Marvin Gaye songs on an ‘80s tape.

Anyway, have you ever purchased anything from an Infomercial?


In addition, please feel free to click here for more in the Found In My Basement series.

Orient Watch USA Giveaway

The amazing folks at Orient Watch USA are giving away this incredible watch valued at $225 to one of my readers.

(I highly encourage you to click on the link simply so you can see the video of the watch features that includes amazing footage of a hand model that rivals George Costanza.)

To enter the contest, please leave a note in the comments section below with your brief thoughts on the Pittsburgh Pirates and whether you feel they will make the playoffs. Even if you have no opinion of the Pittsburgh Pirates, share something about pirates in general.

One comment/entry per person. Please enter by 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, July 23rd, and I will use Random.org to choose a winner. This contest is open to folks living in the U.S. only. (Update: While I probably know most of you that enter, please make sure there is a way for me to reach you if you win.)

This is probably the best giveaway I've ever offered had on this blog (or off of this blog), so I'm very grateful to Orient Watch USA for this wonderful opportunity.

In addition, while you are all winners, only one of you will win the watch. For everyone else, type blogger30 as a coupon code so that you get 30% off any Orient Watch.


Update: Congratulations to tecmo for winning the watch. Tecmo entered the fourth comment.

I'll be in touch. Thanks again to everyone for entering!

Trivia Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! Like the Trivia Tuesday a few weeks ago, your challenge this week is to identify the phrase based on the pictures below.

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

Greatest Stroller Ever

Folding strollers can be difficult, so what if a stroller folded itself. This is the Origami stroller by 4moms*



This amazing stroller automtically folds and unfolds, has daytime running lights and an LCD dashboard, and can charge your cell phone. So how much would you pay for this innovative stroller? $5000? $10,000?

I saw this stroller at a store for the low price of only $850. What a deal! Think about how many hours minutes seconds you can save by having a stroller that folds itself. Personally, if I'm going to spend that much on a stroller, I want the stroller to change diapers too and maybe ever write a few blog posts!

While I planned to show how silly it is to pay $850 for a stroller, I'm really impressed by the video. Plus, it looks like the American headquarters of 4moms is located in Pittsburgh, so I always want to support Pittsburgh companies. Therefore, I hope that you'll support 4moms too. I'm sure that they have products that don't automatically fold that cost less than $850!


* Apparently, the names Five Guys and Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place were taken.

Friday Links & Videos

I haven't shared links or videos for some time, so I hope that you enjoy these even if some links aren't very current.

- The A-Z guide of jumping on the Pittsburgh Pirates bandwagon. [ESPN.com]

- Zoltan bonding brings Pirates fans together [Pirates Prospects]

- Mr. Brame took his son to his first professional baseball game. I'm looking forward to doing the same thing with my son in a few years. [Mr. Brame's Blog]

- This is a little dated, but Vice President Joe Biden danced the Hora. Sadly (or we're very grateful), there does not appear to be a video of this. [DCist]

- Video #1: I saw the musical 1776 a few months ago. If you've ever wanted to see the song "Lees of Old Virginia" from this show performed by My Little Pony, here's your chance:



h/t A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

- Pitt Script, the runner-up in this year's Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament is no longer. Fortunately, the guys at Pitt Script aren't going away completely as they're joining another fine Pitt blog, Cardiac Hill. [Pitt Script]

- One of my favorite writers, Drew Magary, interviewed Justin Bieber. [GQ] & [Deadspin for the outtakes]

- Finally, if I ever create a bucket list, attending a live Australian Rules football game would be near the top. I just hope that the game I see has this much excitement.



h/t [Deadspin]

New Steelers Chris Rainey, Sean Spence & Alameda Ta ‘Amu Better Than Jan Stenerud

The Collectors’ Showcase of America is hosting a Show at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly this Friday through Sunday featuring over 50 current and former professional athletes including Hank Aaron and Pittsburgh Steeler legends Jack Butler, Dermonti Dawson, Jack Lambert, Greg Lloyd and Andy Russell. The top five Steeler picks from the 2012 draft, David DeCastro, Mike Adams, Chris Rainey, Sean Spence and Alameda Ta ‘Amu will also be in attendance. Actually, by my unofficial count, there will be more current or former Pittsburgh Steelers at the Chantilly show than current or former Washington Redskins players which seems odd considering Chantilly is located in the DC metropolitan area.

Anyway, the players make some good money during this show through signing footballs, pictures and any other memorabilia you can find. For example, it costs you $110 for NFL Hall of Famer John Riggins to sign your football and $25 each for each of the aforementioned Steelers draft picks. Meanwhile, it only costs you $20 to get an autographed football from Jan Stenerud. Although Stenerud is a kicker, he is a four-time Pro Bowler and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1991.

In other words, he’s pretty good and has much better credentials than the five new Steelers who haven’t even attended their first training camp yet. While I hope all five turn into NFL Hall of Fame players for their careers on the Steelers, that seems unlikely. Therefore, why does it cost more for an Alameda Ta ‘Amu autograph than one from Jan Stenerud? (This must be the first sentence in history to include Alameda Ta ‘Amu and Jan Stenerud together!)

Pablo Sandoval Traded To Cardinals (Express Fail)

Tuesday's edition of the Washington Post Express showed the starting line-up for last night's baseball All-Star Game. Despite being a pretty big baseball fan, I somehow missed the fact that the San Francisco Giants traded their All-Star third baseman Pablo Sandoval to the St. Louis Cardinals.

This is a shocking trade since Sandoval is an excellent hitter batting .307 with 8 home runs and 30 RBIs despite only playing in 53 games and with the Giants only .5 games out of the NL West and Wild Card. In addition, it's surprising that the Cardinals would aquire a third baseman since David Freese is also an All-Star and coming off a season where he was the World Series MVP.

What makes things even more interesting is that I haven't seen any other reports of a Giants-Cardinals trade and Sandoval wore his Giants gear during last night's game. Joe Buck didn't even say anything about him becoming a Cardinal. Perhaps Express knows something that we don't. Of course, perhaps not.

Please click here to see past editions of Express Fail.

Update: For the first time since I started writing Express Fail posts, Express issued a correction in today's paper stating that Sandoval plays for the Giants. My apologies to Express.

Trivia Tuesday: Director Edition

This week’s edition is pretty straight forward. Name the directors based on the films listed below.

1. Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy

2. Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Departed

3. Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club

4. The Rookie, True Crime, Space Cowboys

5. North by Northwest, Strangers on a Train, The Man Who Knew Too Much

6. Jumpin’ Jack Flash, A League of Their Own, Riding in Cars with Boys

7. Annie Hall, Small Time Crooks, Sleeper

8. The Shining, Spartacus, Eyes Wide Open

9. The Ten Commandments, Brewster's Millions, Dynamite

10. Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, The Godfather


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.

Revisiting My 1997 Road Trip: Chicago (Part 2)

Welcome to the second edition of my reliving the 15-year anniversary of my cross-country road trip through sharing stories from the journal I kept during the trip. Today’s entry takes a look at the second half of the Chicago portion of the adventure. The first part of this blog post where I look at my life as a 22 year-old through the lens of Kevin Arnold and The Wonder Years could be either the best or worst text I ever wrote. I’m leaning towards the latter, but I’ll let you decide.

Wednesday, July 18, 1997

Our first major stop was at the National Broadcast Museum. I more-or-less followed my brother here because this was not on my places to go list. However, my brother encouraged me to go plus it was free. The museum itself was very interactive with classic radio shows for the most part. I liked going through Jack Benny’s vault and hearing a George Burns-Gracie Allen bit. However, I was mostly unfamiliar with many of the classic names and shows (like the Goldbergs). Upstairs, we went into the TV archives just to see what they had. I thought they would have a lot more but it was mostly a few sitcom episodes and Chicago programs. I decided that I wanted to watch the final episode of The Wonder Years. My brother thought I was being silly but this was one of my favorite shows and I didn’t remember seeing the last episode. Watching The Wonder Years final show really made me think about my past and future. (Sean's note: Am I getting deep here?)

I have graduated from college and I’m 22. At this point in my life, I am an adult. My childhood is over and I’m not sure if I like that. I have always seen Kevin Arnold as me during his junior high and high school years. (Really?) But in that last episode, at the very end, (Spoiler alert if you don’t want to know how the final episode of a show that’s been off the air for 20 years ends) he starts describing the lives of his family and friends. Winnie goes away to Paris for 8 years, his father dies 2 years later, and Kevin is married with a son. Don’t get me wrong. I’m really looking forward to San Diego and the rest of my life because I feel the best is ahead. (Cliché alert.) But leaving childhood and my dependency on my parents is tough. I guess in some sense, this road trip marks the end of one stage of my life and the beginning of the next stage. I’m trying to make the most of this trip because I’m not sure if I’ll have this chance again. Hopefully, I will with my wife and kids but that is not in the foreseeable future. Going back to The Wonder Years, Kevin realized that this was his last summer with his family and close friends. I knew a part of Kevin is in me for the trip (again, really?), and the youthfulness will stay with me forever.

What the heck was this last paragraph? (Unless some website that gives away best blog awards thinks this is awesome.) Let’s move ahead to other aspects of Chicago.

Anyway, I’m not even close to Wednesday evening. During the afternoon, we wondered around Chicago (seeing Bulls championship memorabilia everywhere) and went to the Sears Tower. Unfortunately, it was a little foggy about 5-10 miles outside the city, so we couldn’t see much past the city and some of Lake Michigan.

We ate dinner at a 50s style restaurant called Ed Debevics. The waiters and waitresses are purposely mean to you and the atmosphere really resembles an old soda shop. Our waitress was named Jewels because she wore a lot of jewelry around her neck. She was also cute and gave us hugs goodbye. I forgot to mention that when we were walking around downtown, we found a Celebration on State Street. It reminded me of the Three Rivers Arts Festival with the art and food stands.

One note about this was my brother said to me, “I could use a drink.” (My handwriting looks like I wrote Danish, but drink probably makes a lot more sense.) He was thirsty because we were walking a lot. A guy in front of us told him that there was a great deal for a 22 oz. beer just down the block. In addition, he was drunk (probably by having several of the 22 oz. beers) and told my brother that he reminded him of his 16 year-old son. (For some reason, this was very funny at the time. Doesn’t seem as funny now.)


My journal then goes into a description of seeing Shear Madness which was very cool at the time. Now that Shear Madness plays several hundred shows a year at DC’s Kennedy Center since at least 2001, it’s not as cool. Next stop: St. Louis!

Plus, you can click here for more on the 1997 Road Trip.

A Message To The Pittsburgh Pirates & Hal Sparks

Dear Pittsburgh Pirates – Call Hal Sparks, invite him to a game and have him address the crowd.

Dear Hal Sparks – Accept the invitation and become a Pittsburgh celebrity.

With a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 10 games over .500 for the first time since 1992. Now, just past the half-way point of the baseball season, the Pirates are in first place in the National League Central division and have the second best record in the National League. So what’s the secret of the Pirates success? The MVP performance of Andrew McCutchen? The outstanding performance of the pitching staff including All-Star Joel Hanrahan and should be All-Stars James McDonald and A.J. Burnett? The hot bat of Pedro Alvarez? The answer is Zoltan and the “Z” from the legendary, Oscar-Award winning 2000 movie Dude, Where’s My Car?



As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article (and video) explains,

"It all started in Atlanta when we were watching [television] in the clubhouse, and there was nothing we wanted to watch," said second baseman Neil Walker, recalling the last weekend in April. "We saw 'Dude, Where's My Car?' And guys were like 'Oh, we haven't seen this in a while.' So we watched it.

"It was just so terrible and stupid. We just pulled that from it. It's just kind of our team way of bonding, I guess."

As the Pirates have continued to win, Zoltan fever has continued to spread across Pittsburgh. Therefore, I recommend that the Pirates reach out to Hal Sparks, the actor who portrayed Zoltan, and ask him to give the Zoltan speech followed by a “Let’s Go Bucs” prior to an August or September home game. The crowd will go crazy! Don’t believe me? Several years ago, the Steelers started playing the song Renegade to pump up the crowd. Today, the city goes nuts whenever Styx comes to town to perform this song.

I bet you’re also wondering why such a big star like Hal Sparks would ever consider this opportunity. He’s probably extremely busy preparing for the next season of Disney’s TV show Lab Rats or the next VH1 I Love the 80s, 90s, 2000s, or 2010s show. However, this type of publicity is just the spark that Sparks needs to, um, spark his career!

Of course, Sparks is from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, so if he’s a Reds fan and doesn’t want to support the Pirates, I understand. Then again, being a celebrity is nice.

Let’s Go Bucs! Zoltan!

Chasing Pirates

Norah Jones is prophetic. (Has anyone ever written this phrase before?*) Just like Prince predicted that people would party like it was 1999, Norah Jones accurately predicted that the entire National League Central division and all NL teams fighting for a Wild Card position would chase the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Well done, Ms. Jones, well done.


* According to Google, No results found for "Norah Jones is prophetic". That probably changes now.

Trivia Tuesday

This week's Trivia Tuesday is a bit different as this is a word game. I'm not sure how to describe this, so do your best to identify the phrase based on the pictures.

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

Found In My Basement: Doyle Defeats Santorum

During the summer between my Junior and Senior years of college, I worked as an intern for Congressman Mike Doyle at one of his Western Pennsylvania offices. As a Politics major, this was a great opportunity for hands-on experience helping people at a Congressional office. Despite receiving exactly zero dollars for two months of work and dealing with several rather crazy constituents, I really enjoyed the experience. While there clearly seems to be no cooperation between the Republicans and Democrats in our Legislature today, I never got that sense at the District office. The people in Congressman Doyle’s office, and Congressman Doyle himself, truly were there to help people. I guess the politics were left to the DC staff.

Anyway, I want to stay away from the political side of the internship and focus on what may have been the most important aspect of the summer: softball and alcohol. The members of Congressman Doyle’s staff, including me, played in three softball games culminating in a battle against Senator Rick Santorum’s staff. We played the Turtle Creek Fire Department twice as practice and went out with them for food and drinks following each game. One of my athletic highlights came during these games, as I managed to get on base during nearly every plate appearance. I was (and still am) a rather small guy compared to the firemen, so they got a little frustrated always seeing me on base. I was David Eckstein before David Eckstein! Finally, we faced Senator Santorum’s staff and you can see the result here:

Yes, the picture is extremely fuzzy (this is a copy of a copy of a 15+ year-old article), but I like the caption below the picture. How did “ringer-filled” make the publication? In case you’re wondering, Senator Santorum did not participate in the game itself, so the game was simply between the two staffs. After the game, I visited Chiodo’s for my first and only time. (And it seems like I wrote about much of this several years ago.)

Please click here for more in the Found In My Basement series.