This Week's Update

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate sportswriters? Well, I've never liked Stephen A. Smith. Just because you scream a lot doesn't mean you are making a good point. He's now moved to the top of my list of most disliked sportswriter. Why? He launched a diatribe against people who write about sports on the internet. People like me. He says, "someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can." Let me repeat part of it - "should not be allowed". I guess if Smith ever gets elected emperor then I'll have to go underground as I will be forbidden to write about sports. It's always nice when a reporter decides that the First Amendment only applies to him. So, I think I'll just tell Smith to go perform an obscene act on himself.

Besides, what training is Smith talking about? He mentions ethics, but there's been quite a run of unethical journalists in recent years. I remember when Pat Forde was suspended for six months from his Louisville Courier-Journal sports column for an ethical violation, but that didn't stop ESPN.com (Stephen A. Smith's employer) from hiring him. Does Smith think you have to have a Journalism degree to write about sports? Yeah, right. That just means he can compose a better sentence than me. That doesn't mean he knows what he's talking about. It is Stephen A. Smith who was being paid to cover the NBA draft, but was completely unprepared for some of the picks.

I think one of the best things about "untrained" people writing about sports on the internet is that they don't fall prey to the group mindset that reporters often fall into. How many stories seem to make "common knowledge" assumptions? Before the 2006 draft, everybody (and I mean everybody) in the press assumed Reggie Bush was the can't miss player and Houston was a bunch of idiots for passing on him. Well, some are now changing their tune. Actually, I know of one "untrained" person who questioned whether or not Reggie Bush would be anointed one. There also seems to be a lemming effect about who or what reporters mention. For years, they avoided all mention of the possibility of steroids in baseball. Then when it finally came out that there could be a story there, there were a lot of names mentioned in speculation, but some names (like Roger Clemens) never seemed to come up even if an "untrained" person wondered why. Strangely enough, the name Roger Clemens has now come up. Of course, I'm willing to bet that he denies it. I'm also willing to bet a lot of baseball writers will still believe him.

Should I be happy that a teacher from England was sentenced to 15 days in a Sudanese prison (since pardoned) for allowing her elementary schools students to name the class teddy bear "Muhammad" which some thought was an insult to Islam? I guess since she could have been sentenced to the lash and a lot of people (in and out of the Sudanese government) thought she should have been executed for it. Truthfully, I think she was an idiot. Not for letting the class name the bear, but for thinking she was involved with rational people in the Sudan. People like her and the politicians who went down there from England are enablers to the whole radical Islamic mindset. Look at the statements they made after she left the country. She apologized for causing "distress" and she didn't intend to offend anyone. WTF? The member of Parliament was concerned it would hurt relations between the countries (I'm always concerned with the relations between my country and psycopathic, murderous backwater regimes). I half expect Britain to apologize for this. Let me make my position crystal clear. I don't care if she did intentionally try to insult Islam by naming the bear Muhammad. Civilized societies don't threaten death on people for that. Name me the last time a "Christian" country put someone on trial for blasphemy against Christ? Or had thousands of people taking to the streets screaming for that person's death? We constantly condone this behavior from Muslims (well, I don't), but then act surprised when they continue to do crap like this (once again, I don't).

Let's face it. It has become routine for Muslims around the world to whip themselves into a lather over something trivial. It has gotten to the point that it's almost impossible to parody it. Sure, they'll ignore or justify antisocial behavior by their fellow adherents. Murder your daughter for the way she dresses. Hang children. Blow up a schoolbus. No reason to take to the streets over that. Now, a soccer uniform with a red cross on it. That's going to bring a lawsuit. And once again the press takes these people's complaints seriously. And so do their enablers. Instead of trying to come up with some excuse why this guy shouldn't be offended, how about using the truth to tell this guy why he shouldn't be offended? I'm tired of this PC revisionist history crap about the Crusades. Islam was spread throughout the Middle East by the sword. It began on the Arabian peninsula. Jerusalem is not on the Arabian peninsula. Muslims did not show up with Mayflower moving vans and buy houses in the Holy Lands. They invaded. The Crusades were a response to the invasion, and an attempt to keep Muslims from invading farther into Europe. Muslim hands were not clean during the Crusades (or prior to the Crusades). But if they want to claim offense about events from centuries ago, let's let others do the same. I think the Israelis should begin killing all Muslims in their territories as payback for Banu Qurayza. Sounds fair.

"Serial Killer Fed Prostitutes To Pigs". Normally, that title should tell it all. Man was convicted of killing six hookers or junkies (suspected of many more) he picked up and feeding them to his pig. I don't see why the "feeding to pigs" part of the story is such a big deal. He's probably an environmentalist who is just into recycling. Plus, they think he killed over 60 women, so you have to figure he doesn't have a lot of time to go pig feed shopping. I think it just shows the violent nature of Canadians. Actually, I'm not sure I'm as disturbed over his actions (hey, there are crazies everywhere) as by the jurors who should be somewhat normal. They convicted him for killing the six, but it was for "second degree murder, which means they did not believe the killings were planned." WTF? I might buy that if it was one dead hooker. I mean, who among hasn't accidentally killed a prostitute and fed her to livestock to hide the evidence? But once you have to use your off hand to count the victims, I think it's safe to assume some planning was going on.

Ah, another global warming conference. In a resort in Southeast Asia. Probably attended by a lot of people not in Southeast Asia. In fact, my guess is most came from Europe and the United States which is pretty far away. Wonder how much pollution they generated flying over? Oh, don't have to wonder anymore. I'll let you in on a little secret. There's this thing called web-conferencing where people can meet and discuss things without leaving their office. Oh well, at least it gives Al Gore a chance to make another speech blaming the U.S. for everything even if it's something he could have just put on Youtube. But Gore has to do this because the science is settled and all the scientists are in agreement. Even if it isn't, and they aren't. Hey, Al Gore can't worry about that. He's got to make some cash to keep up the lavish lifestyle he's become accustomed to.

Nice to see the Dutch are becoming big on disposable products. Too bad this case was about an adopted daughter. A diplomat and his wife adopted a baby Korean girl, and then decided she didn't fit their "lifestyle" when she became 7 years old, so they dumped her on the Korean community of Hong Kong even though she doesn't speak Korean. I'll let you in on a little secret. Just because you are born of a certain heritage doesn't mean you inherently know the language. At least these clods recognize the trauma involved. Well, their own trauma which I'm is much worse than that of a young girl abandoned by the only family she's ever known. I hope his next duty station is in New Guinea and he gets eaten by cannibals. How's that fit in your lifestyle, jerkass?

Will Smith says he wants to run for president. He's black and a Hollywood star. I wonder which party's nomination he'll go for? I see he's saying that George Bush hasn't created universal health care or ended homelessness. I guess he forgot neither happened in the previous eight years before George Bush became president. Or that since federal law forbids emergency rooms from evicting sick people, there is technically universal health care. Just not universal health insurance. But either way, a line from the article shows that Smith wouldn't be able to get through the primaries to gain the nomination. He says he doesn't believe Bush is evil. The Democratic base will not stand for someone who doesn't believe such a basic tenet of their party.

Rather bizarre story here. A Japanese man was going around spitting coffee on uniformed schoolgirls. He was apparently nicknamed "Coffee Bukake Man". If you don't know what bukake is, I'm not going to tell you. I will warn you not to do an internet search on the word from work. Interestingly enough, the last incident before he was caught took place on Pearl Harbor Day. Frankly, I'm shocked at this guy. Coffee is pretty expensive and shouldn't be wasted in such a way. When I'm with Japanese schoolgirls, I shower them with........well, let's move on to the next report.

Tony Parker and Eva What'shername have come out denying the claims of a French model (probable part time prostitute) that said she's been having an affair with Parker. Now, I don't really care (a pro athlete cheating on his wife isn't exactly news), but I'm angry with the alleged mistress. The who....er, model claims that Parker said "Eva, sexually speaking, does not want to do certain things." What certain things? Let him go backdoor? Invite a homeless woman in for a threesome? Wear Tim Duncan's jersey while they have sex? If you're going to mention that part of it, you have to give us details.

Since it's Christmas, I think a mention of toys would be appropriate. The Atari 2600 was recently inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. I think it was well deserved. The graphics look like crap now, but at the time, they were stellar, especially since the previous game system, Pong, was two lines and a square ball. Actually, I played games on an even older system one summer when my mom brought home a PET computer from her school. It was before floppy disks which meant your games were stored on a cassette tape. Made it hard to find that Moonlander game.

Probably a good thing that the book showing how to make weaponized Lego toys wasn't around when I was working at Toys R Us. Probably would have been a lot of Lego Mindstorms crap in the RGD bins.