Ne'er Forget, Me Hearties...

Talk Like A Pirate Day is nearly upon us! Arrrr!!!

Here's Duncan talking like a pirate during breakfast on TLAPD last year. Cute guy.

Tax the Gas, Lose the Ass

A great post on the Sierra Club's Compass blog about how to push the results of the study regarding gas prices and waistlines. I had to share...

Worst Movie Trailer Ever

If you're wondering what Wolfpack's comments are about on this post, here's the story.

Wolfpack (my wife) and I were at the movies and this trailer came on. Keep in mind, I'm a HUGE Batman fan. And after Batman and Robin, I was feeling pretty betrayed.

The trailers came on, and this one starts with the Warner Bros. logo, and it started winding up through this creepy house, and the voice over was something like this (heavily paraphrased - I can't find the trailer online anywhere): "For decades, he has protected us from the forces of evil. He has prowled through the night, searching for evil and exposing it wherever it was found...." Meanwhile, the camera's still going up stairs, around corners, until it gets to an open window with the moon outside. And the camera stopped behind this very familar silhouette - what looked like a head with two bat-ears coming out of the top.

I was sitting on the edge of my seat, getting totally geeked out. I hadn't heard about any new Batman movie being in the works! How did this one get past me? Would it fall into the cartoony crap-trap that the original Batman movies did? Who was playing Batman? WHEN WAS IT COMING OUT? Meanwhile, Jenn was sitting next to me and shaking her head.

The voiceover continues: "And now, after years of waiting, to bring his justice to the night!" And then, just as you're expecting the Batman music to start, or something like that, the figure turns around... and it's FREAKING SCOOBY DOO!

I seriously let out a howl, right there in the movie theater! A soul-wrenching "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Meanwhile, my wife, who's a big Scooby Doo fan, let's out with a "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

So there's the story of the worst movie trailer ever. And now you're in on the joke.

Edit: "Thanks" to Matt: Here's the stupid trailer.

Scooby Doo - Batman Trailer
Uploaded by Leeowen

Makes Me a Little Bit Weepy

I don't even know what to say about this. It's absolutely beautiful. I'm already agog.

Save the Haka!

The NCAA is sticking its nose where it doesn't belong... AGAIN. This time it's in reference to the University of Hawai'i's practice of performing a Polynesian Haka dance before the game.

You may know if you've been reading this blog for a while that I love the Haka. I don't know how long Hawai'i has been doing it, but I love the New Zealand Rugby team's performance of it. They do it before every match, right in front of the opposing team, and it's a real great show of spirit and pride.

That being said, the NCAA wants to get rid of it because apparently someone got offended. Well, that person needs to shut up. No one has the right to not be offended in a land where we have a freedom of speech. You can dislike it, and not go to games where it's performed, but you can't ban it because you're offended. That's simply immature and ridiculous.

Keep up the Haka, Hawai'i! I hope you guys play ND soon so I can see it too!

Iron Man!

You know, I was never really a fan of this comic, but this looks really freaking cool!

Amazon.com's Mental Leaps

Here's the text of one of those "if you liked this, you'll like..." messages I got today.

James Fellrath,

As someone who has purchased or rated books by Alexandre Dumas, you might like to know that Finance for Sport and Leisure Managers: An Introduction will be released on September 21, 2007. You can pre-order yours by following the link below.

Finance for Sport and Leisure Managers: An Introduction Robert Wilson Price: $48.95 Release Date: September 21, 2007

Book Description

Sport and leisure managers need to understand the financial side of their industry in order to offer the most cost-effective facilities and to make sound business decisions. However, to the non-expert the language and practice of finance is often bewildering and perceived as complicated, difficult and impenetrable. This textbook guides the reader through the maze of financial terms and concepts, illustrating theory with examples drawn specifically from sport-based contexts to make this the most relevant, transparent and helpful handbook for students of leisure management available.

Written by experts in accounting and sport management, this book enables readers to work through the subject at their own pace, with case studies, ... Read more

Um...

Ah...

Er...

What exactly does my appreciation for The Count of Monte Cristo have to do with managing sports? I suppose there's some sword-fighting in it, which is sort of like fencing... which is a sport... no, even that's too much.

There's a High Rate of Exercise-Induced Asthma, Says Study. Jamie Says "Why?"

The results of a study was released recently by OSU's sports medicine department recently that speaks to the high rate of exercise-induced asthma in college varsity athletes. The department used a "eucapnic voluntary hyperpnea testing" procedure, where basically people hyperventilate themselves and then their lung function is measured. 42 of 107 athletes were diagnosed with the condition as a result. 39 of them had never had asthma diagnosed in them before.

Interesting study. It goes on to say that the rate of exercise-induced asthma (I'm just going to say asthma from now on, assume I mean this specific form of the condition) is probably higher than originally thought due to this test never having been used before.

But I think that what this test is failing to consider is that maybe the rate of asthma has actually increased, instead of just lying undiagnosed for all this time. This study could be a benchmark for a study of air quality in our city. All the athletes diagnosed were from OSU, and therefore are breathing Columbus air (which isn't the best in the world, by a long shot).

If they'd never been diagnosed before, it's possible that they come from a cleaner environment than Columbus and they didn't develop it until they got to OSU...

I'd like to see this study become a larger study - it really could be a great example of just how bad things are with air quality in the city (and around the country).

Daily Roundup: "Diet" Pop, Great Anti-Klan stuff, Miss Scarolina puts herself on the map

As I've been saying for a long time, diet pop doesn't do much for actual dieting. In fact, quite the reverse. See this article from WebMD. Drop the pop - drink water. Tap water will do just fine, too.

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Possibly the greatest anti-Klan/Nazi/Ignorant bastard rally I've ever heard of.

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Miss Teen Scarolina redeems herself in a big way. Sure, she looked silly here, but you have to give her props for learning from her gaffe. I consider myself knowledgeable about Geography, but I only got 6 out of 7 right on this quiz (which gave me the ranking of "Crown Cartographer!").

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John Edwards Starting To Set Himself Apart From Merlot Democrats

John Edwards is starting to show himself as the populist candidate he's claimed to be all along, after a speech in Hanover, New Hampshire where he called for an end to the corporate lobbying culture of America. Full text here of the speech is here.

I have to admit, I'd sort of bought the lines about Edwards being something of a vapid individual until now... but he's saying all the things I've been saying for years... and he's a presidential candidate with some pull. Perhaps not as much as Clinton or Obama, but he's been a VP candidate, he's getting money from donors, and he's in a position to make real waves.

I'm not saying I'm going to start pounding the Edwards drum, but I'm going to start paying serious attention to the beat.

Holbrook Being Harassed For Telling Truth

Poor Karen Holbrook. It seems that people aren't allowed to tell the truth any more if it's going to be seen as offensive to someone.

From WBNS-10TV's website:

Paper: Holbrook Bad-Mouthing Buckeyes
Aug 29 2007 6:51AM

NAPLES, Florida - Former Ohio State University President Karen Holbrook reportedly told trustees at a Florida university that some who lived in OSU's campus area had "a culture of rioting" and were looking for any excuse to have "drunken orgies."

The Naples (Fla.) Daily News reported the comments came during Holbrook's recent interview for the president's job at Florida Gulf Coast University. Holbrook later dropped out of the job search.

"I went to Ohio State and had no idea there was a culture of rioting," Holbrook told the trustees. "Any good excuse gets some of the people on the street and they think it's fun to flip cars and have absolute drunken orgies."

During Holbrook's first year as OSU president in 2002, a campus-area riot after the Buckeyes' football victory over Michigan brought national attention to the university. The alcohol-fueled melee, in which cars were overturned and set on fire, resulted in more than 50 arrests.

Holbrook, 64, retired June 30 after five years as Ohio State's president.

Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for the latest developments on this story.

Hey, OSU? It's true. It's been happening ever since I moved here in 1996. Get over it, do something to fix the problem, and move on.

Cheney - Not Willing To Take His Own Advice

Words can't even describe how angry this makes me...

Former ND Kicker Harry Oliver Passes Away

There are certain moments when you remember exactly where you were at that moment. 9/11 and the Challenger explosion are the two biggies for my generation: I was sitting in my living room, late for work, when I heard about 9/11, and I was in our high school library after lunch when the Challenger exploded.

Another one I remember vividly is when Notre Dame beat Michigan in 1980. ND was down to Michigan 27-26 with something like two seconds on the clock. I was sitting in our car in the Kroger parking lot in Alma, MI because my folks had gone in to Kroger shopping and I wanted to listen to the Mutual Radio broadcast of the game.

Yeah, I know... even when I was only 11. Ask my friends, I was annoying back then, too.

Anyway, the Irish were going for a 51-yard field goal against the wind, and this little kicker named Harry Oliver was taking the kick. Miraculously, the wind stopped just as the kick was taken... it was up and it was good. I jumped out of the car and was running around it in the parking lot... my dad was so excited when he got back in the car and I told him... finally, something to stick in the faces of all the U of M fans in his office.

Anyway, Harry Oliver passed away yesterday in Cincinnati, where he was living and had spent the last two years battling cancer. Harry, thank you so much for a little slice of happiness and decades of nostalgia.

Here's the kick as described by Tony Roberts of the Notre Dame Football Radio Network:



And just for fun (well, my fun) here's U of M's Bob Ufer with the same call (he's so distraught he can't even get the score right until the third try):

Daily Show Captures "Horror" of Nantucket Wind Farm Project

No commentary necessary. Just watch.

RIP: Tommy Makem

As much as many of them cringe to hear it, the music of most children's memory is that stuff their parents listened to during their early years. For me, that consists of lots of Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach... and Tommy Makem. My dad is a bit tone-deaf due to a bad ear infection he had as a kid, and he always gravitates to lyrical music over instrumental because of that. And one band he loved dearly was the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

So I grew up listening to them - and when I was old enough I actually bought a couple of their albums myself. Tommy Makem is the consummate musician - passionate, respectful of those who've come before him and appreciative of those who've come after him, and humble about his skill and fame. He has a golden voice (golden as a dram of Irish Whiskey) and a wonderful presence about him, that makes you feel as if you're having a conversation with him as he sings or talks about his music.

Tommy died yesterday, but he'll never be missed. This weekend's Dublin Irish Festival will be a bit sadder for the loss of one so great, but in typical Irish fashion I'd imagine that this is going to be one heck of an Irish wake!