Fatherhood Update

You may remember back in April that I wrote about my second child arriving into this world. (This sentence makes it sound like Superman coming to Earth from Krypton. I'm okay with this!) Of course, you may not remember this since I've barely mentioned him on the blog. Now that "Pedro Tulowitzki" is 6 months old, let's take a look back on the past half year.

For the first month or two, I was convinced that my son hated me. Much of this was because I was not his mother and could only provide so much assistance and support. Apparently, he didn't value my ability to change diapers or rock him to sleep.



Ever since he could smile, things changed. I just love making him smile and laugh, and I have been rather successful in accomplishing this (well, at least the smiling part).

As much as I think that Pedro Tulo loves me, I'm no match for his older brother. Pedro Tulo LOVES his brother and thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, he doesn't know anything about sliced bread, so the greatest thing since his own hands which he enjoys putting in his mouth.

I know I shouldn't do this, but occasionally, I'll let Pedro Tulo sleep on me. He should probably nap in his crib, but it's a nice feeling.

In the early months, I often gave Pedro Tulo the "last" bottle before bed and watched Game of Thrones during this time. I clearly deserve Father of the Year for letting my infant watch Game of Thrones.

I'm really looking forward to the days of sleeping in past 6:00. Yes, Pedro Tulo still does not sleep through the night.

On a related topic, sleeping like a baby is a stupid statement unless the individual means that he/she woke up once or twice during the night and didn't sleep well.

Pedro Tulo now has 5 first cousins (plus his brother) all under 3 & 1/2. He's going to have a lot of fun with them as he gets older. I sense some mischief in the future.

In 6 months, he has had 2 or 3 ear infections. I write 2 or 3 since the last one was either a 3rd ear infection or the 2nd one never fully went away despite the antibiotic.


Pedro Tulo - If you're reading this in the future (or even now), you have no idea why I'm referring to you as PT, but don't worry about that. You certainly let us know when you need something and are quite loud in letting us know this. However, when you are happy, you are truly very happy and have an infectious smile. You are loved so much. Now please sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 this weekend!

Peyton Manning Dresses Terribly

While much of the sports world is praising Peyton Manning today for breaking the NFL record for most career touchdown passes and for leading the Denver Broncos in an impressive win over the San Francisco 49ers, I find it necessary to bring up something no one wants to discuss. Why is Manning wearing a jersey tucked into jeans?



Is this how Peyton Manning dresses or was this the idea of someone at Papa John's? I also question wearing a black belt with an orange jersey and jeans. A brown belt may be more appropriate, though it might depend on the type of shoes he is wearing. A tucked in football jersey, jeans and black shoes doesn't seem like a good outfit.

This has been another edition of Sean on Fashion!

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Update: The video above doesn't seem to work anymore, so here's another Papa John's commercial showing Manning with his jersey tucked in.

Hacked Text Message?

Can someone hack into your cell phone and send text messages? I feel like the answer is probably yes, but I thought I would ask. The reason for this question is because I received the following text message from my wife last night:

Fico yep Kipp sorry physio tic i/o PO etc. Room do chi PC loo st by USK KY Kb boo PO Poll me see Dr deer VB NJ hi g hi TX zit shh sax fix h UK loo herb Kerri org fun NBA mi Ursa I

Just last week, I also received the following message from her:

Jjjkkmmmnyujnol N

Now the second one was definitely(?) from my older son. It's possible that the first one was also from one of my kids, but the spacing and the use of capital and lower-case letters makes this seem unlikely.

So should I be worried that someone hacked into my wife's cell phone?

The Sweatpants

Picture it. Pittsburgh. 1992. I was a star player on my high school soccer team. On a late October evening, we had a rare match under the lights instead of the usual afternoon start time. With the temperatures dropping into the low 40s, either my school wanted us to look more like a team traveling to an away game or they actually worried about us freezing in our thin long-sleeve jerseys and shorts (or both). Therefore, they issued us sweatpants and sweatshirts from the track team. As a substitute, I wore these clothes on the bench for the entire game. Although we were supposed to return these cloths, I kept the sweatpants and still have them today.

Despite weighing about 125 pounds in high school, I received this pair of XL sweatpants. There was a drawstring inside that allowed me to tighten the waist, and they were slightly long. I took the sweatpants to college, with me when I moved to San Diego, to Columbus for grad school, and they stayed with me during each move in Northern Virginia. The drawstring is now long gone and there is a hole on the right leg, but they have always been dependable. Of course, I primarily wear pajama pants in the house during winter now, so I rarely if ever wear sweatpants. In addition, while the days of being 125 pounds are long gone, I've lost about 35 pounds from my all time high about 10 years ago, so the pants truly don't fit anymore. I basically keep them up through will power.

So after 22 years, it's time to say goodbye to these sweatpants. It's time to retire the old 109er. Thank you for making me feel like a superstar athlete and for keeping me warm.



This could be the first in a series tentatively titled "Goodbye Old Clothes." Once my infant clears the "spit-up" stage, I have a lot of T-shirts to go through.

Fantasy Football Update

I know that you don't care about my fantasy football teams, but I wanted to share this anyway. Going into Monday night's San Francisco-St. Louis game, I needed a good night from the 49ers defense to win. When I fell asleep on the couch sometime during the 3rd quarter, things didn't look very good. With about 1 minute remaining in the game, Yahoo declared my opponent a 100% favorite.

Then, Dontae Johnson of the 49ers intercepted a pass, returned it for a touchdown, and made Yahoo change its mind.

While I'm very happy with the result, I would have been ecstatic if I was awake and watching this live.

Meanwhile, in the Pittsburgh Bloggers Fantasy Football League, I had a chance to avenge my championship tie defeat from last season in the craziest ending in fantasy football history. The result, another freakin' tie!

In my five leagues (that's less than last year!), I'm now 5-1, 4-2, 3-3, 2-3-1 & 0-6. I don't want to talk about that last league.

Urinating In The Shower For The Environment?

If you are one of those unusual people that follows higher education (like me), there are two places to go for news: The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. Last week, Inside Higher Ed featured this amazing story: Is Urinating in the Shower the Next Big Green Idea? I was not expecting this in my higher education coverage. Anyway, here's the news:

Students at the University of East Anglia are encouraging their fellow students to skip their first trip to the toilet in the morning and to, instead, urinate in the shower, the BBC reported. The idea is to save water by avoiding the first flush of the day, and student materials (see below) suggest significant water savings could be achieved. Students are being encouraged to pledge their participation with the #gowiththeflow hashtag on Twitter.

Get these students a Nobel Prize! Unfortunately, not everyone is on board with this idea. The comments section, likely consisting of academic elite or at the very least better educated folks than your typical message board crowd, is incredible. Skip the California politics stuff and you get some wonderful opinions about urinating outside and washing yourself in the toilet to help the environment.

Personally, I think we need further study about this. Thoughts?

Taking Kids To High Holy Day Services

Yom Kippur ended nearly a week ago and Rosh Hashanah is now two weeks behind us. So, of course, I'm writing about the High Holy Days/High Holidays today. I'm all about timing.

Anyway, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of reflection, prayer, celebration (in the case of Rosh Hashanah) and atonement (in the case of Yom Kippur). Going to synagogue for these holidays/holy days is a bit more challenging with two children. Fortunately, the synagogue we attended included many families and services specifically geared towards kids. Unfortunately, if you (and by you I mean me) wanted some individual time for prayer, that wasn't going to happen.

This isn't going to be a religious post, so please don't leave just because of the topic. It's more about the experience going to synagogue for the high holidays with kids rather than, well, something else.

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we got to synagogue early compared to when the preschool service started. Almost immediately after we got our seats in the main sanctuary, our five-month old started crying. He exited the sanctuary leaving me alone with my 3 year-old son. Naturally, the 3-year old was a little restless though he enjoying playing with my tallit. (That line could sound dirty. A tallit, or tallis, is a prayer shawl. I'm not sure that makes it sound better. How about a picture of a Steelers tallis instead?)



It didn't take long until we exited the sanctuary to find the preschool service. The preschool service was outstanding with an energetic and patient teacher, and after a successful trip to the potty (for my 3 year-old, not me), we went back to the grown-up service. We entered during the Torah service and saw them carry the Torah around the room. Unfortunately, I quickly realized we came in during the end of the Torah service. We arrived just in time for...the Rabbi's sermon! While my kids might be fascinated by some prayers/songs, they weren't going go get anything out of the likely 15-minute sermon. It was more likely that they would distract others. We quickly left.

During the morning Yom Kippur service, we went straight to the kids' service. After that ended and with both kids occupied, I wanted to go into the main service for a few minutes. The room was packed, so I managed to squeeze into the middle of a row. About 2 minutes after I entered, the Rabbi called up two members of the congregation...to present the annual appeal asking the congregation to give money to the synagogue! I was stuck. There was no way I could discretely sneak out, so I stayed and listened and hoped it would end quickly. When it did, I pushed (not literally) my way out.

I guess the morale of this story is that I'm not ready to take my kids to the main Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Maybe next year?

Fall For Fairfax 2014

One of my favorite events, the 22nd annual Fall for Fairfax, takes place this weekend at the Fairfax County Government Center. If you have young children (like me) through elementary school-aged kids, this is the event for you. First, it's free. Yes, there are some activities that cost money (ex. carnival rides, scarecrow making and pumpkin painting), but most of the event including kid-friendly entertainment on three stages is free. Personally, I'm excited to see my oldest son with the animals at the petting zoo and getting to climb on and see the fire and rescue vehicles.



Several years ago, the festival made the decision to extend this event from Saturday to an all-weekend event. With Yom Kippur on Saturday this year, the organizers made an excellent call. Otherwise, we would have had to miss Fall for Fairfax this year.

For more information about Fall for Fairfax, click here to visit the festival website.

In addition, feel free to go up to any of the festival staff and volunteers and tell them that you learned about the event through Sean's Ramblings!


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Pirates-Giants Wild Card Liveblog

This might be the first baseball live blog ever on Sean's Ramblings. Join us, and make sure that you are wearing black.

Live Blog Pirates-Giants Wild Card LiveBlog

 

Merchandising Merchandising

As a soccer referee (and probably every other type of referee), you are required to dress professionally. There is no room for individuality when you put on your yellow shirt and pull up your black socks with white stripes by your knees. Therefore, I was a little surprised when I received the October e-mail from the U.S. Soccer Federation ("USSF") Referee program including a link to Official Sports' Breast Cancer Awareness apparel page. The company is selling various products like wristbands and whistles so that referees can show support of Breast Cancer Awareness month with proceeds to be donated to Stand Up To Cancer.

While I applaud Official Sports for their efforts, I'm a little skeptical about how much will go to Stand Up To Cancer. For example, the wristbands below cost $3.95. Does the entire $3.95 get donated to Stand Up To Cancer or is it a certain percentage? I contacted Official Sports about this and will post the company's reply if I receive one.

I just hope this isn't a case of Official Sports promoting more merchandise!



Please note that I think USSF wouldn't be pleased if referees used a pink whistle or wore pink wristbands once Breast Cancer Awareness month ends. That wouldn't look professional.

Update! I received the following message back from Official Sports

Thank you for your email and inquiry. Official Sports donates 40% of the retail price to Stand Up 2 Cancer.

Is that an appropriate percentage?

Trivia Tuesday

Happy Tuesday everyone! I understand that you don't want a fancy introduction today; you just want your trivia. Here you go:

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

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Pub Stumpers.

Victory!

In the spring of 1992, George Herbert Walker Bush was President, the Pittsburgh Pirates were coming off of back-to-back National League East division championships and the Pittsburgh Penguins were about to win their second Stanley Cup title. Meanwhile, I was a high school junior and joined a NL-only/auction/keeper rotisserie baseball league with some friends. Please note that I wrote rotisserie baseball since there was no such thing as fantasy baseball back then.

At the time, we (and be we I mean someone else in the league that was not me) calculated stats by hand by looking through baseball box scores in the newspaper. I think we called the league Commissioner each week to make transactions. The entire league spread out for college but we still returned to Pittsburgh for live auction drafts and maintained correspondence by e-mail. We even hired a guy to do stats for us. It truly was exciting to get weekly e-mails with the standings.

After college, I moved to San Diego but stayed in the league. I wasn't able to attend the drafts, so I must have drafted by phone or via Instant Messenger.

Over the years, the league moved online to Commissioner.com and then Sportsline until the company was bought out by CBS Sports (who still thinks Vance Worley pitches for the Minnesota Twins). With much of the league starting families, live drafts became more and more difficult. Now everything is online, and we can see stats updated live.

In my 23 years in this league, I never won. There were some near misses including losing on the final day of the season one year. I also made arguably the worst trade in league history when I traded Gary Sheffield at the beginning of a MVP-caliber season for Deion Sanders and an ancient Dale Murphy. Yes, this league has been around a long time. I also traded Benito Santiago for a can of Coke. Dave Clark was a regular fixture on my team during the 90s, and I once drafted Roberto Meija who I nicknamed Meija & fries since I thought fajita and Meija sounded similar and why wouldn't you want fries with a fajita?

Now, in the 23rd year, I can finally write that I've won the league. I'd like to thank Russell Martin, Freddie Freeman, Doug Fister, Jordan Zimmermann, Kyle Lohse, Miguel Montero, Eric Young (who the Mets never seemed to want to play), Matt Garza, Luis Valbuena, Addison Reed and even the injured Troy Tulowitzki and Pedro Alvarez for being on my team all season. Maybe the addition of Pedro Tulo to my family was the good luck charm.

I also mortgaged any type of future by trading cheap keepers (ex. Tanner Roark & Alfredo Simon), super prospects (ex. Andrew Heaney & Kris Bryant) and nearly all of my minor league draft picks (yes, this is a super-geeky league) for players like Ryan Howard, Ben Revere (who was awesome), Aroldis Chapman, Adam Wainwright, Kenley Jansen, Adrian Gonzalez and Madison Bumgarner (who I hope pitches horribly in the Wednesday wild card game against the Pirates).

If I created a bucket list, winning this league would certainly be on it. Well, I can now cross this off the list. Now, I'm going to go out and buy Yoo-Hoo just so I can pour it over my head to celebrate! And yes, I have no problem including this song to end this post.

Party Like Its 5774 (Happy Rosh Hashanah!)

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

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



Ready to try the Honey Bucket Challenge?


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



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



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



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

Post by Benstonium.com.

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

Weekend Questions

1. Why would the Original Hot Dog on the University of Pittsburgh's campus show the Los Angeles Dodgers-Chicago Cubs baseball game on its televisions instead of the Pitt-Iowa football game?

2. Why would the Pitt book store not play the Pitt-Iowa game on the store's radio?

3. Why don't more Pennsylvania turnpike drivers have E-Z Pass?

4. Is it absurd that someone would refuse to have 2% milk with Lucky Charms cereal instead preferring to have skim milk with the cereal?

5. Is the sign "Want a job? Let's "Taco" 'bout it" at the Breezewood Taco Bell a clever way to attract potential new employees?

6. If Pedro Alvarez is healthy, would you put him on the Pirates postseason roster?

7. Is an advertisement on the PA turnpike featuring a picture of Yoko Ono with the question "Would you take energy advice from the woman that broke up The Beatles" effective?

While this isn't trivia, feel free to answer any of these questions in the comments section below.

Don't forget that you can always like Sean's Ramblings on Facebook.

Friday Videos

This may be the first time in months (maybe this year?) where I posted five separate blog posts in five days. To celebrate, I have not one, not two, not four, but three videos for your Friday.

While a baby bear on a golf course playing with a flag is cool, I'd worry that Mama Bear isn't far away, so I'd get out of the area quickly.



A dog running into the water? Sure.



Finally, I always liked this Cake song (and video).

Choose Your Own (License Plate) Adventure

There's a car that I've seen in my neighborhood several times, and I've been curious about the meaning of this license plate:

Option 1: This person wants the world to know that he/she is a terrible golfer.

Option 2: He/she really liked the pop Slice.

Option 3: This person clearly works in catering and slices prime rib as part of the buffet.

Option 4: It's Dexter. Holy crap!

Option 5: Based on the Johns Hopkins license plate holder, the person is a surgeon, cutting for the very first time.



Option 6: Insert your own theory.

C'mon CBS

I'm already unhappy with CBS for airing new episodes of the likely to be cancelled TV show Reckless on Saturday, September 13th meaning that I will not win the 2013-2014 Ted Marshall Open TV Death Pool. Now, it's the CBS Sports website that's upsetting me. My longtime fantasy/rotisserie baseball league (more on this in a few weeks) uses the CBS Sports website, which also shows player news and updates. Earlier this week, the website shared the following information about Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Vance "The Vanimal" Worley:

Notice anything odd about the picture? Sure Worley was a member of the Minnesota Twins in 2013, but he has pitched for the Pirates since June. It is now mid-September! Is it that difficult, CBS, to photoshop a Pirates hat in place of the Twins hat?

Trivia Tuesday

Stop the presses! Maybe, stop the internet is more appropriate. You're in for a treat today as I created my own Trivia Tuesday. Your challenge is to name the first part of the band name (in most cases this is the lead singer) based on the band name below.

For example, the answer for the "The Sunshine Band" is KC.

1. The Heartbreakers

2. The News

3. The Scene

4. The Ants

5. The Range

6. The Furious Five

7. The Flecktones

8. The Tantrums

9. The Vandellas

10. The Family Stone

As always (even though there hasn't been Trivia Tuesday is a long time), leave your answers in the comments section below and don't use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

Congratulations William Tell

If you missed this news from over the weekend, Lauren Conrad of MTV's The Hills* married William Tell. I wonder what music they played during the reception.



By the way, my favorite part of this story/post is this YouTube comment from The Artosphere Festival Orchestra's video by Rostislav Bycek:

i am drunk, but this interpretation of Rosini overture is simply great, sexy, and....and, loud


P.S. I'm sure that I'm the only person making a reference to William Tell's name.


* Yes, I had to look up the name of the show. I knew Conrad started her career on an MTV show, but I didn't know which one.

Steelers-Ravens Live Blog

Remember when live blogs were the greatest thing ever? Twitter wasn't really big yet, so you would have a group of friends discuss a game (while using more than 140 characters) and others could see what you were writing and share their own thoughts. Well, we're getting the band back together! Steelers-Ravens live blog tonight at 8:15ish. I'll be a little late since I'm going to attempt to get two kids to sleep before kickoff by myself. I might need Tom Cruise's help since this is going to be an impossible mission.

Live Blog Steelers-Ravens Live Blog Like It's 2008

 

If the game isn't going well, you can always see previous live blogs from over the years just for fun.

Brand New Random Ramblings

- Being a parent, you sometimes catch yourself saying ridiculous things. For example, I said "if you light this place on fire, I am not going to be happy" to my three year old recently. He was playing with a feathered-cat toy not far from a lit candle. (Does this entire scenario sound better if I explain that this did not occur at our home?)

- We are in full potty training mode in our house. There have been plenty of successes and also plenty of, well, not successes. If he has a good run of potty success, his reward will be taking a ride with me on the Metro. Yes, he is extremely excited about the prospect of taking public transportation that thousands of people use daily and love to complain about.

- We order food from a Thai restaurant in the neighborhood every few months. The food is delicious, but the restaurant is nearly empty every time I go there. Actually, I have only ordered take-out from the restaurant. It's in an odd location in the same shopping center as a Costco and Home Depot, so I wonder how they stay open. The theory is that they must do a strong take out and delivery business.

- At a restaurant recently, my son entertained himself by playing my wallet. Then he decided to take my drivers license, credit cards, Metro card and insurance card and throw them in the air like LeBron James with chalk.



- Although I am and will always be a Steelers fan, I would not be disappointed by a Miami Dolphins-Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl this season. Yes, there may be some money involved.

- Over Labor Day weekend, my neighbors pulled weeds and covered our "back yard" with mulch since they had extra. I have awesome neighbors.

- We're now more than two-thirds of the way through 2014, and I have still not seen any movies in the theater.

- No one cares about my fantasy football teams, but in one league, I had to auto-draft since I was not available during the draft time. I did not edit any of the pre-rankings, and as a result, I ended up with 4 kickers on my roster. Amazingly, I actually won in that league in week one.

---

While this post and most of my other posts are designed to be humorous, I'm fully aware that I'm posting this on a national day of remembrance. Please take some time today to remember the victims of 9/11 and to thank first responders for all of their service.

Steelers-Browns Recap

Can we pretend that the second half didn't happen? Wouldn't you feel so much better about the Steelers if this game ended after 30 minutes? Let's start with the fact that the Steelers defeated the Browns and are now 1-0. This is also the first time since the 2010 season that the Steelers started 1-0. In the big picture, the Steelers are 1-0 and have a win against a division opponent. Woo!

Now, here are my notes from the game:

- The Steelers led Cleveland 27-3 at halftime and outgained Cleveland 364-101 yards and had five plays of 30+ yards. Wow!

- To paraphrase Meatloaf, Antonio Brown would do anything to win a football game, but he won't do that (well he shouldn't have done this):



I was all prepared to compare Antonio Brown's kick to The Karate Kid, but nearly everyone on the internet already beat me to this observation.

- For the second half, I feel like the Steelers coaches probably told the players simply to keep doing what you're doing while the Browns actually made adjustments. Meanwhile, did the Steelers players think the game was over at the half? I feel like the players and coaches were equally responsible for the poor second half performance.

- How much did Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey make for the Lincoln MKC commercial? It has to be 7-figures, right? Unfortunately, he didn't end the commercial by saying, "I get older, they stay the same age."



- Steelers RS Le'veon Bell is good.

- I love the fact that announcer Ian Eagle stated that the Steelers avoided testing Cleveland all-pro cornerback Joe Haden, and then as soon as he stopped talking and the play started, Brown beat Haden for a touchdown.

- I was impressed by Steelers wide receivers Markus Wheaton & Justin Brown. I had low expectations for both of them, but they certainly looked like they belong in the NFL.

- The Steelers offense allowed 4 sacks while the defense gave up 183 rushing yards. Browns rookie RB Terrance West had 100 yards. The team needs to allow less sacks and rushing yards if they want to be successful this season.

- Am I the only one who thinks of the song Broken Wings by Mr. Mister whenever new Steelers punter Brad Wing takes the field?



- I've been a big Ike Taylor defender over the years. Sure, he has trouble catching the ball, but throughout his career, he generally prevents opponents' top wide receivers from having big games. Taylor didn't look good against a Browns team on Sunday without Josh Gordon or any other "scary" wide receivers.

- Good luck to Ithaca College graduate CCH Pounder on her new show CSI: New Orleans. I just wish CBS would promote the show more and give it some exposure.

The Steelers play again in 3 days against the Ravens. 3 days!

P.S. Quote of the day about the Steelers game goes to the terrific writer/reporter Dejan Kovacevic: I’ll repeat my summer-long plea for more Gay. Yes, I'm still 12 sometimes.

h/t Mikey for the video.

Wegmans Knows Me

I've written about my love of Wegmans many times over the years. Just last week I visited the grocery store three times over an eight day period with my four month-old son. On the first two trips, I walked around the store with a stroller and a shopping cart and received one "you're a good dad/bless your heart" comment for looking awkward having my hands full. During the third trip, I finally figured out that it is easier to shop by placing the car seat directly into the cart.

Anyway, I received the following email from Wegmans yesterday.

Football, tailgating (well, at least the eating part) and coupons for Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur? Yes, please. It's like Wegmans created this ad just for me. All that's missing are offers for Rold Gold pretzels, Similac coupons and cat food for Ziggy, and I'm all set!

Ted Marshall Open Television Death Pool Champion

Congratulations to me! Although the CW network never actually announced the cancellation of the short-lived game show Oh Sit, the network did not air a first-run episode of this show during the 2013-2014 television season. This means that I won the 2012-2013 Ted Marshall Open Television Death Pool. This makes me a two-time champion and proving that my 2010-2011 season victory was not a fluke. I think this also makes me one of the premier American television observers. This might be my calling!



You may ask, well, what about the 2013-2014 season? If you're so good at picking what shows will be cancelled, smart guy, how did you do this past season? I'm glad "you" asked. I'm currently tied for 7th and will become a thee-time winner if CBS does not air any additional first-run episodes of Reckless after September 8th. Unfortunately for me, although it appears that Reckless may not get a second season, CBS's summer season will creep into September making the show "not cancelled." Maybe I should hope for multiple overtime NFL games over the next few weeks so that CBS decides to preempt the show.

Now you might be wondering how you can enter the Ted Marshall Open. The 2014-2015 season entry form is available now until Monday, September 8th at 11:59 PM EDT. Simply select the shows you think will never have a first-run episode on or after September 7, 2015 on the five major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX & CW). Good luck!

James Harrison Retires

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison officially retired over the weekend. While I have never been an NFL quarterback or even played one on the internet, I would think that Harrison would be at the top of the list of defensive players I didn't want to play against. In honor of Harrison's retirement, this is a video of one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.



Here's more on Harrison from Behind the Steel Curtain and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (particularly in the comments section).

Oh yeah. Harrison did this too.

Sean Analyzes Song Lyrics (Again)

As a student of pop culture, I try to be familiar with the latest trends in music. However, I understand that I am out of the demographic for many of the new songs and artists. That doesn't stop me from analyzing lyrics from recent hits. Enjoy!

"Fancy" by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX

First things first, I'm the realest.

How exactly do you quantify this? Is Izzy really realer than say Steelers WR Antonio Brown?

And I'm still in the Murda Bizness

How is business going? Is there a substantial murder business for Australian-born female rappers?

I'm so fancy
You already know

How exactly would we know this?

I'm in the fast lane
From L.A. to Tokyo

There's a fast lane from LA to Tokyo? Even the fast lane would take a really long time. Maybe she travels by map.



"All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor

Yeah, my momma she told me don't worry about your size
She says, boys they like a little more booty to hold at night

Mom, really said that last line? That's quite the open relationship between a mother and daughter. Maybe it is a female thing. When my male sons are grown, I can't picture having this kind of discussion with them.

"Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj

Bang bang into the room (I know you want it)
Bang bang all over you (I’ll let you have it)

What the heck does bang bang all over you mean? Actually, I don't want to know.

She might’ve let you hold her hand in school, but I’mma show you how to graduate.

To graduate, make sure you study so you get passing grades on tests. In addition, do not violate the attendance policy. Done.


This concludes another edition of Sean analyzing song lyrics. Click here for previous editions.

Sean's Scientific Study

Scientific might be a bit much, but how about a sociological study. There are 6 questions below. Please answer how this best describes you.

1. When taking a bath or shower, do you wash your hair

a. First
b. Last
c. Not applicable (ex. no hair)

2. When putting on a new roll of toilet paper, I make sure the

a. Toilet paper goes over the top.
b. Toilet paper comes from under the roll.
c. Never thought about it.

3. Do you have a specific way/plan of loading the dishwasher (ex. Forks and knives down or plates all in the same direction)?

a. Yes
b. No
c. You have a dishwasher?

4. Do you own a Smartphone?

a. Yes
b. No
c. What's a Smartphone?

5. What tastes better: green grapes or purple grapes?

a. Green grapes
b. Purple grapes
c. There's no difference.
d. Raisins

6. How long do you keep general bills/statements (such as electric, phone, credit card bills/statements)?

Please leave your answers in the comments section below. There are no wrong answers here. Well, maybe one or two wrong answers, but this is a scientific study, so no judging.

Science!

Don't forget that you can like & follow Sean's Ramblings on Facebook.

Exploding Shoe

I haven't written about any of my experiences being a soccer referee lately since nothing truly exciting or out of the ordinary has occurred. More importantly, I went on a self-imposed sabbatical from working as a ref (see the raising two young kids thing). While I worked as an assistant referee (AR) for one adult game in July, this past weekend was the first time I worked multiple games in probably 9-10 months. I served as a referee for a tournament and was assigned 3 high school aged boys games. Again, nothing out of the ordinary except for trying to see what kind of shape I'm in...until this happened.

That is my cleat. It is not supposed to be in two pieces. I worked as an AR for the first game and moved to the center referee position for game #2. About 5 minutes into this game, the top portion of the bottom part of my cleat came undone. Fortunately, the entre bottom part of my cleat came off (though exploded sounds more exciting) about a minute later. I have no idea how I would have run the entire game with part of my shoe flapping around. It took another four minutes to retrieve the missing part of the shoe, and I ran around holding the shoe for another minute until I could get it off the field.

There's a specific uniform you have as a ref that includes black shoes. While I knew that it was probably about time to get new cleats, I didn't think about bringing an extra pair of black shoes since, first I don't have a second pair of cleats, and second, I never thought that my shoe would explode! So I ended up finishing the entire game running on essentially one and a half shoes, and in my opinion, called a good game. For the third game, I wore gray tennis shoes as an AR. I don't think anyone noticed though I know I probably looked a little silly.

Oh, it turns out that I fared pretty well keeping up with all of the 16 & 17 year olds. Of course, I was exhausted when I got home from the games and am a little sore today.

Everybody Wang Chung In Herre Tonight

Earlier this week, it was announced that "Charles Wang has an agreement in place to eventually transfer ownership of the New York Islanders to a group led by former Washington Capitals co-owner Jon Ledecky." Apparently, due entirely to the last name of the Islanders' owner, I started thinking about the band Wang Chung. Then, I remembered the band's appearance on the (unfortunately) short-live NBC show Hit Me Baby One More Time. Enjoy Wang Chung performing their signature hit as well as their cover of Nelly's Hot In Herre.



(To understand how old this blog is, I wrote about Wang Chung's appearance on this show WHEN IT ACTUALLY AIRED.)

So on this Friday, celebrate like Frasier.

Sophie Masloff On The Pat Sajak Show

Former Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff died on Sunday at the age of 96. Masloff was already an "old Jewish grandmother" when she took office in 1988 after the passing of Mayor Richard Caliguiri. While you can read about Masloff in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I wanted to write about her appearance on the short-lived Pat Sajak show.

The Pittsburgh mayor going to Los Angeles to be on a national talk show was a big deal. Politicians, particularly Presidential candidates, go on TV shows regularly now, but the hometown mayor traveling 2000+ miles in 1989 seemed unprecedented. This was way before the days of Tivo and the DVR, and I don't recall if my parents let me stay awake to see Masloff on the Sajak show (it was a school night!) or if they woke me up to see her, but I remember watching her appearance. Again, this was a big deal.

I was too young to know if Sajak was using Masloff as a gimmick, but it seemed like she came off positively. While I thought Masloff presented Sajak with a Mario Lemieux jersey, according to the Monessen Valley Independent, she simply gave him a Pittsburgh Penguins T-shirt.

Unfortunately, I could find little about her appearance online. Apparently, there is not a robust archives of the Pat Sajak Show archives. There seems to be no video (with the exception of two seconds in the WTAE video below) or pictures of Masloff on Sajak .



There is also a 1989 P-G opinion piece about Masloff going on The Pat Sajak Show.

Masloff will certainly be missed.


P.S. I feel the need to share that I'm in a fantasy football league named after Sophie Masloff.

Thanks to DLuvPGH for helping me search for information about Masloff-Sajak.

Random Ramblings

* I took both boys out by myself for the first time last weekend to see a music performance that was supposed to be geared for kids but wasn't very good. Anyway, my goal was to leave the house at 9:15. We left at 9:40.

* Ohio State is playing against Navy in Baltimore and then 5-6 weeks later at The University of Maryland in College Park. That was poor planning on someone's part (I'll blame the Big 10). More importantly, why didn't I know about this? As a graduate of The Ohio State University, shouldn't the alumni organization let me know about this? Do they not consider Northern Virginia part of the Maryland-DC region? Of course, I'm not a member of the alumni organization, so, um, I'll blame the Big 10.

* Our home uses gas for heat and electric for air conditioning. Therefore, our gas bills are low in the summer bit higher in the winter. Actually, the fact that our summer gas bill is generally $20-$30 is a bit of a joke since (to my knowledge) the gas is never on. Anyway, this month's bill is $0.81. I approve! When I tried to pay the $0.81 through my online checking account, the bank denied my payment requiring me to enter an amount of $1 or more. Look out for that $0.19 credit next month!

* I just finished reading Brazil's Dance With the Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics and The Fight For Democracy by Dave Zirin. Very, very interesting read. Based on the book, I never want the Olympics in DC, Pittsburgh, or basically any American city.

* I cut myself fairly badly while shaving over two consecutive days this week. You would that that I would be able to avoid this after shaving for 25 years.

* Remember a few months ago when I nicknamed my new son Pedro Tulowitzki after two members of my rotisserie/fantasy baseball team? Well, Troy Tulowitzki is now out for the season and Pedro Alvarez barely plays anymore.

Why Does Delaware Hate Pitt?

Last week, an unscientific survey of Reddit users revealed the most hated college football teams by state. Naturally, The Ohio State University is the most hated college football team in Michigan, the University of Michigan is the most hated college football team in Ohio, Kansas University is the most hated college football team in Missouri, the University of Missouri is the most hated college football team in Kansas, and, um, the University of Maryland is the most hated college football team in Vermont.

While it makes complete sense that the University of Pittsburgh is the most hated college football team in West Virginia based on the Backyard Brawl rivalry between Pitt and WVU, I don't understand the hatred of Pitt by Delawareans.

Did Mike Ditka or Tony Dorsett slight Joe Biden? Are Delawareans upset that Pitt allowed Joe Flacco to transfer from Pitt to the University of Delaware? Did other Pitt fans complain about Delaware on blogs like this guy?

Looking at the raw data (who is the one person that voted Middle Tennessee State as the most hated college football team?), only 18 Delaware residents responded to this survey, so this is a small sample size. HOWEVER, I'm sure that these 18 people represent all Delawareans!

If you can't see the map very well, here are the full state by state results.

ICYMI the hate map creator went through and removed stuffed votes, creating a more believable list: pic.twitter.com/s5BdtWwNQL

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 7, 2014

h/t DC Sports Bog

Friday Video: Getting Old

In another case of me getting old, I heard Shine by Collective Soul played yesterday on a classic rock radio station. When I listen to classic rock, I expect to hear The Beatles, Stones and AC/DC. However, Shine is now incredibly 20 years old, so I guess that qualifies as classic rock. Sigh. Still a great song though.

Dinosaur Train: A Review

If you have young children, you may be familiar with Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train on PBS. Just having the Jim Henson name attached gives this cartoon (and anything else) some credibility. Before I go into my thoughts about my son's current favorite show (which I think you'll enjoy even if you've never heard of Dinosaur Train), here's a description from the PBS website.

Dinosaur Train begins when Buddy [a Tyrannosaurus Rex] is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon and brought to their nest to hatch at the same time as his new siblings, Tiny, Shiny and Don. Buddy and his new family have an insatiable desire to learn all about the different types of dinosaurs, so they board the wondrous Dinosaur Train, which allows them to travel and explore the world inhabited by these amazing creatures.

Where to start? Well, combining dinosaurs and trains is a brilliant idea. These are two of many kids' favorite things.

As for the Pteranodon family, Tiny is extremely outgoing, confident and talks to everyone. Buddy is also adventurous (though slightly less so than Tiny) and loves to state his hypotheses. Meanwhile, Shiny is high-maintenance and often self-centered, and Don may be the first animated special needs character on a kids' show. I applaud the Dinosaur Train creators for including such a character.

Back to the show's premise, how exactly does a Tyrannosaurus Rex egg wind up in a Pteranodon nest? This is never explained, and there is no indication that there was an adoption process. There is actually an episode where Buddy learns that he's a T-Rex, and the T-Rex family offers to have Buddy live with them. He declines because the Pteranondons are his family now. Personally, I'd like to see the adoption paperwork since something seems sketchy. Donald Trump and others should focus on this rather than President Obama's birth certificate.

Besides Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon, the other main character is The Conductor, a Troodon that knows everything. Not explained is how through this vast dinosaur train network that travels throughout the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous time periods, The Conductor drives every train. Doesn't he get a vacation? Aren't there other conductors who can take his various routes?

Now that you know the primary characters, here is my number one complaint about the show. Check out the theme song:



At no point during the song is Mr. Pteranodon mentioned. He barely even makes the opening! Yet, many Dinosaur Train trips consist only of Mrs. Pteranodon, Buddy and Tiny meaning that Mr. Pteranodon is back caring for the two kids that require more supervision.

Here are my other thoughts/notes about the show:

- You may have noticed the dinosaur that roars at the end of the song. That is Laura the Giganotosaurus who appears to do little other than ride the train. Seriously, she is always on the train.

- In most episodes, you'll see The Conductor punching the tickets of the Pteranodon family. I've always wondered about the ticket policies and procedures. It must be expensive to constantly ride the Dinosaur Train. Does the family get a special monthly/yearly pass? Are there discounted train ticket prices for the kids? Is it extra to ride the Dinosaur Train Submarine (which should just be called the Dinosaur Submarine)?

- One of the characters that appears on multiple episodes is King Cryolophosaurus. (Yes, I had to look up the spelling...and name.) He's a dinosaur Elvis that is also scared of crowds. He can get annoying though some of his songs are pretty good.

- The winner for most annoying character goes to The Conductor's Mom, Mrs. Conductor. She is a less attractive version of Fran Drescher.

- I almost forgot to mention Dr. Scott, the paleontologist that appears in the middle of each episode to share some dinosaur knowledge. Whenever he comes on the screen, my son asks us to fast-forward. Dr. Scott is no Dr. Ross Geller!



Overall, Dinosaur Train is a good kids show. I'm personally tired of Dinosaur Train now since my son seems to only want to watch that show. (Is it that much to ask for the show to produce a few new episodes?) However, I thought it was the greatest show ever when I first watched it, though that was probably because I couldn't take any more Thomas & Friends. Dinosaur Train does have some educational aspects, and it is interesting learning about all of the different types of dinosaurs.


Now that you've made it through the end of this post, what do you think? Personally, I feel like this is either a masterpiece or the beginning of the end of my "career" as a blogger!

Update: After publishing this, I found another Dinosaur Train post at LyzLenz.com. Amazing! She also mentioned something I've thought about many times. When are they going to show Buddy (or any other dinosaur) eating another dinosaur? Once Buddy gets older, his pteranodon family may want to watch their backs!

Play Pedro Alvarez In Right Field

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez is struggling. Actually, that may be an understatement. Alvarez seems to have lost the ability to accurately throw the ball to first base. He leads the majors in errors and has been replaced by Josh Harrison. Meanwhile, Alvarez led the National League in home runs last season and is one of the best power hitters in baseball when he gets on a hot streak. However, he's not going to get on any type of hot streak since he's not actually playing other than an occasional pinch hitting appearance. Alvarez is out of options (meaning that he can't get sent down to the minor leagues), so the Pirates appear to be stuck. Pedro is a major defensive liability, yet, no one on the team can match his power.

With the Pirates (likely) placing reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen on the disabled list, the team needs to find a way to get Pedro into the line-up. Since Harrison is now playing third, my solution is to start Pedro in right field. Yes, this may be crazy, but what are the other options?

Let's start with why this won't work. Pedro Alvarez has only played third base during his time with the Pirates, in the minor leagues and at Vanderbilt University. Maybe Alvarez played some outfield in high school, but to my knowledge, he did not. Teaching a player a new position in, oh, two days doesn't seem like a recipe for success. Plus, PNC Park requires athletic outfielders in both left field and center field. Alvarez is likely not athletic enough for either of these positions. With McCutchen going on the DL, Starling Marte can move to center. Do you move rookie Gregory Polanco to a brand new position to accommodate Alvarez?

Now the alternative. The Pirates recently signed Jayson Nix who has already played in Philadelphia and Tampa this season. You can play him and move Harrison to OF along with Marte and Polanco. You can also keep Harrison at 3B and have Travis Snider or Jose Tabata as your regular outfielders. Regardless, a Pirates line-up without McCutchen and Alvarez is not intimidating and not one that you would expect to regularly score more than 3 runs per game. Alvarez has the ability to hit game-changing home runs and his on-base percentage has improved from last season.

If you're looking for a similar situation, the Nationals moved Ryan Zimmerman to the outfield this season, a position he never played previously. That experiment seemed to go well until he got re-injured (which had nothing to do with the move to the outfield).

Vote for Pedro (to play right field)!

Baby Born In Toilet; This Is News?

Today's Washington Post Express included a brief article about a Connecticut baby being born in a toilet. From doing a quick search online, I found this story appeared in many places including the New York Daily News, the UK's Daily Mail, USA Today, and The Huffington Post. Here's the story from NBC Connecticut:

A West Haven mother who went into labor shortly after being sent home from the hospital because she was told she wasn't ready to deliver, ended up giving birth at home.

Lillie Davis told her husband, David, she wasn't going to make it back to the hospital, so Dad did what he could: he delivered the baby in the bathroom.

Not long after a visit to Lillie's doctor at Griffin Hospital in Derby on Friday, after a nurse evaluated her and told her the baby wasn't ready yet, Lillie began to feel labor pains in the bathroom, so Davis called 911.

"Once I got off the phone with them, she said she had the feel...felt the need to push," David Davis said.

So, that meant it was up to David to deliver the baby in the bathroom.

"And thank God we were near the toilet because she slid...the baby slipped through my hands and actually went into the water...crying like that," he said. "So, when I heard those sounds, I knew that was like the best sounds I ever heard in my life."

It happened fast and David had to act quickly, but all ended well and his wife and newborn baby, Livia are doing well. Livia, weighs 7 pounds and 6 ounces.



I know of a case of a Pittsburgh baby born in a toilet 30-some years ago. I don't think there is any news coverage of this birth (unless you now count Sean's Ramblings).

Trivia Tuesday

Have you ever wondered how long you could survive in the vacuum of space without a spaceship or space suit? I haven't either though I did watch the first two episodes of Extant starring Halle Berry. Anyway, this short quiz can determine how long you could survive. Apparently, I could last 1 minute, 11 seconds though I would lose consciousness at 15 seconds.



Yes, this may be dumb, but it's a somewhat entertaining. Enjoy (and please share your results in the comments section below)!

Josh Harrison Loves Rundowns

If you see a player get into a rundown at the Little League level or below, there's a decent chance the runner will be safe. Usually, a fielder will throw the ball too late or someone will make a poor throw or miss a catch. At the major league level, a runner is tagged out nearly all of the time. Generally, the runner will simply keep the rundown going long enough for his teammate to advance to the next base. Then there is Josh Harrison of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Check out this clip from Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies:



Harrison also eluded the Mets last month.



(There's a decent chance Harrison should have been called out for going out of the baseline against the Mets, but the umpires ruled him safe.)

Man, I'm sure Harrison's elementary school classmates must have hated trying to get Josh Harrison in freeze tag!

Airport Family Restrooms Are For Families

Traveling with kids is difficult. A 12-pound infant needs a car seat, stroller, formula, bottles, diapers, wipes and multiple changes of clothes for when he/she spits up on the current outfit. All of this stuff is significantly heavier than the baby itself. Flying with two kids, particularly with both in diapers, brings an even greater degree of difficulty. You just try to get to and from your destination without meltdowns and with as little disruption to the other passengers as possible.

Inevitably, you will need several diaper changes during the trip. Just pray that you don't have to do this on the airplane! Fortunately, most (if not all) airports have family restrooms or at least changing stations in the restrooms. Family restrooms make it much easier for diaper changes and for when you need to go potty yourself without worrying about leaving your kids unattended. However, some individuals decide that they would rather have the privacy of their own restroom even if they don't have any kids with them.

I was at the Jacksonville airport recently with family restrooms but no changing stations in the regular restroom. Unless you want to change a diaper in public (and no one wants that especially for the disposal aspect), the only place to comfortably change the diaper was in the family restroom. I waited more than 10 minutes for a family restroom before finally giving up and calling my wife for help. In case you're wondering, I tried the door several times and even knocked once asking if everything was okay. I got no response. In hindsight, perhaps I should have called security to make sure there wasn't an emergency. Anyway, after I switched with my wife, she saw a woman exiting the family restroom alone.

To this woman and to anyone else using a family restroom without a family at an airport, suck it up and use the "regular" bathroom like everyone else.


This post was also published on the excellent Ya Jagoff , recently included on Pittsburgh Magazine's Best of the 'Burgh 2014. I guess I can share in this award, right? Maybe? Ya Jagoff has had a great run recently including this interview with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

Ultimate Mix CD

While I have plenty of mix tapes from my high school and college days, I think I only have one mix CD. And it's a good one. This is the ultimate pump-you-up mix that will also ensure that you'll drive a little faster on the highway.

1. Jump Around - House of Pain

2. It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock

3. Bust a Move - Young MC

4. Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-a-Lot

5. Humpty Dance - Digital Underground

6. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice

7. Fantastic Voyage - Coolio

8. OPP - Naughty By Nature

9. Gettin' Jiggy With It - Will Smith

10. Lose Yourself - Eminem

11. Hot in Herre - Nelly

12. What's Love - Fat Joe & Ashanti

13. U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer

14. California Love - 2Pac & Dr. Dre

In hindsight, I would probably replace Gettin' Jiggy With It with the superior Will Smith song Summertime (by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince). Otherwise, I still enjoy it.

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

Who Is This Guy?

Even though there is a question mark in the title, this is not a Trivia Tuesday. Each week, The Washington Post Magazine publishes Date Lab, where Post staff members match up singles. From Date Lab's Facebook page: "The premise of Date Lab is simple: you fill out a questionnaire about yourself, and we match you up on a blind date. The next day, a reporter interviews you about the experience. It's free to participate, and we foot the bill." Basically, it's exactly like Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker except that, well, it's not.

The July 6th edition of Date Lab features the pairing of Annie O'Neill, a Steelers fan, and Joe Riley, an Eagles fan.

Before we get any further, I have an issue with the Date Lab staff. How is the compatibility between a Steelers fan and an Eagles fan closer to "Smokin'" than "Brrr" in the Date Predit-o-Meter? Is it because they are both fans of professional football teams? Anyway, the date seems to go well until the end.

Actually, the date goes well, but I can't get past the highlighted text. How is Joe Riley a Philadelphia Eagles fan AND a New York Rangers fan? That doesn't make any sense.

Sofia Vergara: Steelers Fan?

You may know actress Sofia Vergara from "Modern Family," the funny but short lived "Knights of Prosperity" (originally titled Let's Rob Mick Jagger) or from her appearing in seemingly hundreds of commercials. You may now know the extremely attractive Vergara for being linked to the extremely attractive actor Joe Manganiello according to People magazine. While two extremely attractive actors dating is not uncommon, it has been well documented that Manganiello is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

We can only hope that this relationship continues to blossom and that Sofia learns to love the Steelers through Joe.*

* We're all on a first-name basis now!

Photo from "People" by Claudia Vergara.

Christina Aguilera: Found In My Basement

In the summer of 2000, I won a contest where I received two tickets to one of nearly a dozen Columbus concerts or events. However, as I mentioned last week, I was in England for most of that summer and unable to attend just about every event. There was one concert, though, that I could see when I returned, and this is the ticket stub from the concert:

Yes, I saw Christina Aguilera perform live at the 2000 Ohio State Fair. She was a genie in a bottle. She knew what a girl wants. She also wanted her fans to come on over baby. She was not lady marmalade or dirrty yet. All I remember was that there were hundreds if not thousands of screaming pre-teen and teenage girls. My friend and I were completely out of place. She also performed a cover of Free's All Right Now and most of the crowd had never heard of the song before.

As an interesting side note to this concert, the opening act when the tour started was a little group called Destiny's Child. At some point during the summer, Destiny's Child got big, and they were no longer opening act material. I wonder what ever happened to them. Anyway, Christina's opening act was a group called soulDecision (thanks WikiPedia!) that seemed like Destiny's Child-lite.

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

13 Year-Old Ketchup (Found In My Basement)

When I was in high school, my friend and I worked as videographers at several Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties. We were definitely not professionals and got paid as such. We videotaped the receptions, including the speeches and dances, and gave copies of the tapes directly to the families with no editing whatsoever. Years later, my friend's sister got married, and their parents asked me to come out of retirement to videotape the wedding and reception. While I don't remember getting paid much, they gave me a potpourri of Pittsburgh memorabilia including this bottle of Heinz ketchup to commemorate the opening of Heinz Field.

I'm not sure if you can tell by this picture, but the date on the bottle states September 16, 2001. However, because of 9/11, there were no NFL games that weekend. The first regular season game at Heinz Field was actually October 7, 2001. Therefore, perhaps this ketchup is a collectable worth hundreds or thousands of dollars!

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

Friday Video

You can get car insurance from GEICO, Allstate, Nationwide, The General, an Elephant or dozens if not hundreds of places that advertise non-stop. However, if you are Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Pedro Alvarez or a fan of his, there is only one place to get car insurance: El Toro Del Toro.



Terrible effort by the goalie on the bull's shot. He should have made the save.

With the 305 area code, maybe this is Pitbull's car insurance!

Sheffield Wednesday vs. PSV Eindhoven (Found In My Basement)

As part of my graduate program, I spent the summer of 2000 in Lancaster, England with several trips throughout the UK and Ireland. My internship supervisor was a Sheffield Wednesday season ticketholder and offered to take me to a game. Even though my program ended, I traveled back to Lancaster just to meet up with my supervisor to attend a friendly between the Netherlands powerhouse PSV Eindhoven and Sheffield Wednesday, who had just been relegated from the Premier League, and unfortunately, remains in the Championship League today.

This is what I remember about the game:

- Despite the recent relegation, folks were upbeat about the season.

- I ate some type of chicken pie from the concession stand, and it was terrible.

- The final score was 2-2 (though I'm not 100% sure of this now).

- I slept for nearly the entire car ride back from Sheffield.

Why am I bringing this up? Besides the fact that the Netherlands play in the World Cup today, I found the Sheffield Wednesday-PSV Eindhoven program recently. Here is said program:

You may recognize Ruud Van Nistelrooy on the PSV roster. He did not play and actually went to Manchester United not long after the game.

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

Trivia Tuesday

Holy crap! I visited Sean's Ramblings, and there's an actual Trivia Tuesday. These used to be common, but now Trivia Tuesday is like an endangered species.

Yes, yes, I'm bringing back Trivia Tuesday. It may only be for this week, but rejoice in this trivia-ness.

Your challenge today is to see if you can pass a U.S. citizenship quiz. These 50 questions on Playbuzz test your knowledge of the United States with sample questions from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization test.

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

I'll share my results in the comments section later.

Gifford's Good Times Ice Cream Tour

As a global national social-media influencer,* I was invited to attend Gifford's Good Times Ice Cream Tour Ice Cream Social at Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park. As we learned Monday, I am all about free food, so I happily accepted the invitation and took my three-year old son (who I will nickname "The Moose" for a reference that no one will understand) with me. Here are some notes about and pictures of the event.

- Despite having sandwiches and fruit, The Moose was only interested in eating Sun Chips and ice cream. While I'm happy that he enjoyed the ice cream seeing that Gifford's Famous Ice Cream was the reason for this event, I'm not sure I can put "allowed my son to each only chips and ice cream for dinner" on my Father of the Year application.

- I also learned that The Moose is not ready for miniature golf. He seemed to enjoy throwing the golf ball and watching me chase after it much more than hitting the ball.

- Then The Moose turned his attention to the helmets outside the batting cages. Sure he is way too young to enter the batting cages, but the helmets were a huge hit even if they were a little big.

- He reminded me of Dark Helmet.

- I approve of Gifford's Famous Ice Cream. Quite tasty. The only negative is that they didn't bring my personal favorite flavor, mint chocolate chip.

- Lindsay Gifford-Skilling, the General Manager of Giffords, was one of several employees on hand. They are very passionate about their ice cream and the fact that the company is in its 5th generation. Whenever I take a New England trip, I think I'll need to stop at Ben & Jerry's in Vermont and Gifford's Famous Ice Cream in Skowhegan, Maine. Sounds like an awesome trip!

- Besides a fun event, I'm a big fan of receiving free swag which included a Giffords hat and coupons to the Dulles Gold Center & Sports Park.

- Thanks again to Andrea of Real Housewives of Northern Virginia for organizing the event!

* If you question my social-media influencer status, I'll let you know that Sean's Ramblings has almost 20 likes on Facebook. I also have nearly 400 Twitter followers, though many of the followers are probably not real people.