Sports Stories & Other Stories

While watching the Louisville game (and later probably UK), it seems like a good time to leisurely update the blog with some backlogged stories. Big game for Louisville. If they can go on the road to Oregon State and make a good showing, it will give me hope for a decent season.

Great. Louisville looked to score as Adam Froman ran into the end zone, but the ball was punched out at the one yard line and went through the back of the end zone thus giving the ball to Oregon State at the 20. God, I hate that rule with a passion. It makes no sense to give the ball to the defense if they force a fumble but don't recover it. They don't do it anywhere else on the field. But Louisville has been in scoring position twice and came away with nothing. Not nearly good enough to do that.

One of the most important news stories in America......no, the world is the sexual harassment faced by Mexican sports reporter Ines Sainz. Why is it so important? I can't think of one good reason at all. She shows up to a New York Jets practice to do an interview and gets catcalls. Why did she get catcalls? She has a tendency to dress provocatively. And not really behave as you expect a serious news reporter to behave. So, were the Jets players acting unprofessionally? I guess, but what do expect? Their "profession" is trying to physically destroy each other. These guys play a sport that they know will lead to long term injuries and possible brain damage, and yet, they still play. How gentlemanly do you think they are? But who is really the less professional? Personally I think it's the strumpet trying to milk this for even more attention. We're talking professionalism here. Being a professional means dressing appropriately for your job. I don't act surprised or shocked when women hyperventilate in excitement (almost looks like dry heaving) as I show up in the office in biker shorts. It's not what I should be wearing to the office so I can't complain about their reaction to it. So, I don't think much of the professionalism in sports journalists to begin with, but even under that low standard, I don't consider Sainz a serious journalist of anything. She may be smart. She may know her stuff, but she's clearly using sex appeal to get ahead. Which is fine. But if you're selling sex over ability, don't come crying to me when someone starts buying.

And when Mike Ditka says shut up, you shut up.

Great. After a good defensive stand, Louisville roughs the punter to give Oregon State a first down. Holds again for another punt. Then offense goes in reverse and Oregon State scores for a 7-0 lead.

Now this is awesome. Since continuing to blame George Bush for ......well, everything two years later is absurd to most non-liberals, Barack Obama is now trying to blame John Boehner for his troubles. Apparently Obama is unaware that the House of Representatives is a majority rules sort of organization. And Obama's party has a large majority. So, blaming the minority leader for your inability to do what you want is laughable to anyone with a clue. But what really makes it great is criticizing Boehner for golfing. Can they really be serious? It took Obama less than a year to play more golf than George W. Bush did in eight years. He's the guy who goes to the G8 meeting and his first question is about the golf courses. Can't make the funeral of the Polish president? Have a choice to find a proper place to offer condolences to the Polish people or go to the golf course? Guess what Barack Obama chose. Democrats criticizing anyone for golfing too much is like me criticizing someone for drinking and surfing porn.

Actually, it is great. Louisville is actually showing a pulse on offense. They tied the game at 14. Defense is having trouble with the Beaver running game. Beaver....heh heh. But only down 7 at the half.

I think the Jets' biggest problem isn't a big assed reporter from Mexico. It's the fact they aren't the Super Bowl caliber team that everyone thought. Well, I didn't. They got hot and made the AFC title game, but they only made the playoffs because Indy rested their last two games. Defense is good but I don't see much from the offense. Just a lot of mouth. Without backing it up. Someone (I don't remember who) noted that for all the brash talk, Rex Ryan had them kick a field goal instead of going for 4th and short inside Balmer's 10. But he's like his old man, Buddy Ryan, in that respect. Buddy would have his team fighting itself. He'd put bounties on opposing players (including kickers). He talked a lot of shit. Then went 0-3 in the playoffs and lost meekly in every one of them.

Second half starts with defense falling down. Just aren't big enough or fast enough to get this done. Offense struggling again which is bad news. Need to stay on the field more. Give the defense some rest.

Well, here is one story that didn't need to get out. Someone tried to sell a video of Brandon Spikes playing with his junk (and some hottie) to deadspin.com. The reason they didn't buy is because of most people's reaction to reading the story - "who is Brandon Spikes?". Well, I know because I watch a lot of college football and knew he'd been drafted. But doesn't mean anyone wants to see his junk. I might watch it to see the girl. Well, her boobs. And that is the other reason no one wants to watch this. Guys watch celebrity sex tapes. That's why all the famous sex tapes are of celebrity women. It's not called the Tommy Lee sex tape. It's the Pamela Anderson sex tape. The only time a famous guy's sex tape may get a lot of play is if rumor is he's got some kind of mutation or is poorly hung (and thus making guys viewing it feel better about themselves).

Well, Oregon State's run game got going. Big time. But Louisville is still only down 14 and just knocked the Beaver's (heh heh) starting quarterback out of the game. Making them punt from midfield. Holy crap. We just scored. Awesome. Hey, UK is only up 6-3 on Akron midway through the second quarter. What's going on there? Akron lost to Gardner-Webb last week. This shouldn't even be a game.

If someone in my neighborhood had an illegal cobra breeding operation and 160 got loose, I would kill everyone involved.

Louisville pulled within 7, but threw a pick with a minute left. Reinforced my beliefs from after the UK game. Louisville is finally being coached up. They're playing above their lack of talent and won't quit for anything. But there is a ceiling what they can accomplish with it. But I like where we're going.

Oh wow. People are worried that not allowing a mosque at the spot of an Islam influenced terrorist attack will make us look bad in the Muslim world. I say who cares. Know why? The Muslim world sure doesn't care about our opinion. In Indonesia, a Christian church was shut down. Was it on a Muslim holy spot? Nope. Just in a Muslim neighborhood and they (being the tolerant beings that we know Muslims to be) didn't want it around. So, what did they do when some Christians insisted on still worshiping there? Stabbed one of them. But hey, it's not like they burned anything. Oh, and guess what. Indonesia is a "moderate" Muslim country.

Okay, what exactly has Auburn done to get the benefit of every call at home? They were losing 17-3 to Clemson. A Clemson defensive back leaps at the two yard line to intercept an Auburn pass. He is barely able to get a second foot down before his momentum carries him into the endzone and out the side. They marked the ball at the 1 yard line for Clemson. Later, Clemson takes a kickoff in the endzone. The return man waffled on coming out but finally knelt right behind the goal line. About five seconds later (and after the whistle), he gets hit and knocked over by an Auburn player. Brent Musberger showed his true stupidity by saying they must not have called a late hit penalty because the ref was late getting over to stand in front of the return man. How retarded is he? It's college. You can never hit a guy kneeling on the ground.

This little nugget popped up over the summer. They're destroying 40 million doses of the swine flu vaccine. Because it didn't get used. Then they'll destroy some more. Yet, somehow we all survived. I guess nobody thought they were overreacting to something that wasn't showing to be particularly deadly. Well, I know one person who did.

In a moment of clarity or something, Fidel Castro admitted something that anyone with common sense already knew - the Cuban model does not work. Granted, Castro then tried to say what he meant was "exactly the opposite" and he was misunderstood. Which makes no sense because he admits the quote that the Cuban model doesn't work is accurate. So, therefore, the Cuban model doesn't work. Of course, if you're only paying your slaves....citizens $20 a month, it can't be working too well. Hmmm. Apparently, younger brother Raul misunderstood too as he just laid off 500,000 state workers. Oops.

It's amazing how poorly a state run dictatorship can do when it relied on money from a much larger (say the USSR) state run dictatorship that folded before it. Cuba has always been a fantasy world to rich lefties who would never think of moving to Cuba and living on $20 a month but it makes them feel good to like the concept. So what is left for them. Well, there is Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. They can survive because they have oil to support them. Well, they did. Now they have an economy that is declining worse than near bankrupt Greece. Oops. Let me get this straight. He keeps nationalizing industries and no one wants to invest their money there? I wonder if there is a connection. But then I read this lovely story about a bunch of Venezuelans who are even further left than Chavez. It mentions that they've been able to implement socialist policies. One of which is apparently "socialist stores sell milk and meat from recently nationalized producers at about 50 percent discount." If there is any statement that shows why only deluded people believe in socialism, that is it. Anyone can sell something for a steep discount if their supply chain is stealing it from someone else. Margaret Thatcher made the point that socialism doesn't work because "they always run out of other people's money." Well, at some point, those bozos will run out of things to steal.

Recap & Other Stuff

Got the end result wrong on the UL/UK game, but I still think my analysis was spot on. After a quick start by UK to go up 13-0 in the first quarter, UL outscored them 16-10 keeping the final score within a touchdown. Overall talent did go to UK. Depth really wasn't a factor as UL got better as the game went on. Well, there was one case. Louisville's starting receiver got hurt early and his backup dropped everything thrown his way. I think the fact that UL adjusted a lot better after the first quarter reinforces my belief that Charlie Strong is a better coach than Joker Phillips. Louisville had no pass rush to speak of. Their defensive players compensated for their lack of size by being slow. I don't know how UK only scored 3 second half points. I didn't think either quarterback was all that impressive. Mike Hartline looked efficient, but with no pass rush, that's easy. I still can't figure out why Louisville played Adam Froman. His selling point was athleticism overcoming a weak ass arm. Yet, he rarely scrambled. Hell, he wouldn't even step up in the pocket. Granted, it didn't help that his wide receivers caught only six passes while dropping five. I did think UL's offensive line played well. Froman did have a pocket. Bilal Powell was a better running back than Derrick Locke. Even if you exclude Powell's 80 touchdown run, he averaged almost 5 yards on his other carries. But the best player on the field was Randall Cobb. His 51 yard touchdown run sealed the deal. UK better keep him healthy because he reminds me of Antwaan Randle-El when he was at Indiana. He singlehandedly took a relatively poor team and made them mediocre.

But what does the future hold for each team? Well, the fact that they didn't give up tells me UL can win some games. The fact that they only have one wideout who can catch footballs and a short, slow defense makes me think six wins is their limit. I'm not sure UK is very good. Bilal Powell and Victor Anderson are the only Louisville playmakers on offense. Johnny Patrick is the only good defensive player. Yet, they basically beat UK for the last three quarters. UK can't get away with that against good teams. But they should get six wins as the minimum. With their other three non-conference games being Western Kentucky, Akron and Charleston Southern, the Louisville win means they should 4-0 outside the SEC. Ole Miss lost to a 1-AA school. Vandy is Vandy. That's six wins. Seven is certainly not out of the question. I don't see Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina or Tennessee being all that good. And UK beat Auburn and Georgia on the road last year. So even if UK chokes away a game to Ole Miss or Vandy, they should still pick up another win along the way. After watching LSU almost blow their game against a UNC team missing half their starters, this would be a good year to face the Les Miles potential screwup train.

Great news. A church in Florida has declared it will not burn Korans on 9/11 in response to the ground zero mosque controversy mentioned last week. A lot of people got bent out of shape about it. Going all the way up to the President. Of course, based on the mosque principle, if the church buys the Korans, it's their property and they can do what they want with it. Right? Sure. I heard all kinds of words thrown around to describe the church group - outrageous, insensitive, idiotic, etc. How about irrelevant? This is a small church no one ever heard of before, and suddenly everyone is concerned that a global uprising will happen because of some podunk, nobody church doing a publicity stunt? I wouldn't do it because General Petraeus asked not to and it's disrespectful. But FBI visits? Global alert by Interpol? Warnings of violence by Muslim leaders? Isn't Islam the religion of peace? The assumption that this will lead to violence is pretty much stating that the vast majority of Muslims in the world are irrational savages. Because civilized people don't act like this. When was the last time Christians rioted over the destruction of their holy objects in Saudi Arabia? Or Buddhists to protest the destruction of the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan? Respect, sensitivity and tolerance has a tendency to be a one way street for the Muslim leadership.

But I say go ahead and do the burning. I think it's disrespectful to attack a holy object for a different religion, and I don't think Saudi Arabia is who we want to emulate. But if you're worried about Muslim reaction, what's the difference? Muslims get outraged and offended? Big deal. That isn't a normal position for them. That's basically their default position. They're constantly offended. And the threat of violence? Once again, default position. Anything that could possibly be slightly insulting to Islam is met with threats of violence. There have been times Muslims have (with no sense of irony) advocated violence against critics for..........wait for it.......claiming Muslims are violent.

UPDATE: He may have changed his mind.

Not long ago, Time magazine declared the BP oil spill wasn't the environmental apocalypse that it was supposed to be. Glad I didn't think of that when it first happened. I might be feeling kind of smug.

Been awhile since a porn star story. Someone came up with a list of the 13 smartest porn stars. Thought it was interesting that two went to San Francisco State University. And two went to Rutgers. Makes you wonder what kind of majors those two schools are offering. But I did notice that #12 is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. And once had sex with 919 men. In one day. They should hang a banner at Rupp Arena.

How about another porn story? Laurence Fishburne was embarrassed recently (at least I hope he was) when it came out his daughter was trying to further her career by acting in a porno. Because everyone knows that's how you break into real acting. Of course, he's no stranger to acting shame. After all, Fishburne was Cowboy Curtis in Pee-wee's Playhouse. Oops. This was actually her second movie. And she might be a prostitute. I guess next step is for the video of her to surface with a beagle and jar of peanut butter.

French fighter jets were recently credited with 4800 confirmed kills. Too bad they were chickens. On the plus side, France received favorable surrender terms from the cows.

I think what I find so bizarre about the whole mosque/Koran burning is the reaction from the politically liberal people. They generally don't act very favorably towards religious groups. The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage? Try to take it over. The Mormons do too? Vandalize their temple. But strangely, no black churches even though they overwhelmingly voted against gay marriage. Oppose abortion? We'll try to use racketeering laws against your protest. Yet, as socially conservative as those religions are, they have nothing compared to what is mainstream Islam. Gay rights in Muslim countries aren't about marriage. It's about not being killed for being gay. The Mormon church is patriarchal and the Catholics won't allow women priest. In many Muslim countries, women aren't allowed to drive cars or go out in public without a male family member. Rape victims are routinely charged with adultery if they go to the police. Yet, they seem to be on the side of a religious leader who wants to build a mosque at ground zero and spread sharia law. I shouldn't be surprised. It's not something new. Jews tend to be some of the most socially liberal people in the world. The ones in Israel are clearly the most socially liberal people in the Middle East. Yet, liberals in this country seem to like Hamas better. As long as they don't kill too many homosexuals. Oh, and maintain their great tolerance for other religions.

I saw this story about Paul McCartney when it first came out. He does some PBS concert for Obama and makes a comment bashing Bush as not knowing what a library is. Showing his worldliness by letting it be known that he doesn't know Bush was married to a librarian. Yawn. Another lefty celeb bashing a Republican in front of other lefty celebs. Granted, the setting was rather tacky, but what can you expect. Then I saw where he claimed that he got great support for it because it was "rock 'n roll". Woo-hoo. I find this quite funny because I think the Beatles were about as edgy as lettuce. They were a teen idol boy band that had somewhat long hair (in a horrible chili bowl cut). Everything they did was following trends. After harder bands showed up, the Beatles got a little harder sound. Drugs became trendy so they became hippies. New age religion? That was for morons then and it's for morons now. The edgiest thing the Beatles ever did was the recording the song Taxman.

A man decides to end it all. By jumping from 40 stories. He actually lives because a woman's car breaks his fall. And she's pissed because her car was totaled. My first inclination was that's a rather callous thought. Then I thought about it. If you're going to commit suicide, you should have respect for others. Don't jump from a building where you might land on someone (or their car). Jump from a bridge. Then I found out she had a classic Dodge Charger and I would be just as pissed as she is. But what I love about the article is the picture of the couple. It looks like it was from some event so I assume the paper got it from them. Did she look through her pictures and decide the best choice was the one with her boob about to fall out?

Speaking of bad stock photos, there is this story of British social workers paying for a guy with "learning disabilities" to go to Amsterdam to run whores. A guy with dyslexia can get government funded hookers? And a trip to another country to buy one? And for what reason? Because sex is a "human right" and the guy was sexually frustrated. Welcome to my world. Sex may be a human right, but only if someone is willing to give it to you. Or you pay for it yourself. Otherwise, grab the Vaseline and do it with Rosy Palms. But really, my main problem is the stock photo of the prostitute. She's pudgy. They must have files of stock photos of Dutch hookers. They couldn't find a hot one?

One more sex story. A couple (of what I'm not sure) was going at it hot and heavy. Unfortunately for them, they were doing it outside a community center. With kids inside and a crowd gathered around to watch. That's kind of illegal. But it gets better. One of the onlookers happened to be the guy's girlfriend (meaning the female fornicator was not) who went over to see what all the commotion was about. But so far, the boyfriend isn't claiming he was forced to do it because his girlfriend was transgendered and couldn't have sex. So he has that going for him. But my favorite line was from the EMT who was at the local fire station across the street. He said they'd been watching through binoculars "because he could not believe what he was seeing." Yeah. I'm sure he wasn't watching because there was a free sex show going on.

The Big Game & Some Other Crap

I'm sure most people expect me to pick Louisville to win the game over Kentucky Saturday. So I will. I could easily make a case for either team. I know on paper UK seems like the better team especially with depth. It wouldn't be out of the question for them to get on a roll. But a couple of things about that. It's the first game so depth won't be as much of an issue yet. And I think UK's team this year won't be as good as last year's team. Which needed some special teams flubs to beat Louisville by 4 last year. And the biggest change is that loser Steve Kragthorpe is gone. I don't know how good a game coach Charlie Strong will be for Louisville, but he can't be worse that that waste of space. And I don't see Strong getting out-coached by Joker Phillips. Still can't believe he kept taking Randall Cobb out of games at crucial times. But while I think UK has more depth, I'm not convinced their starters are that much more talented. Receiver definitely is. Cobb will be the best player on the field. But he was the leading receiver with 447 yards. Not much of a passing game at UK. I don't think either quarterback is very good. Both defenses will suck. Both lost a lot from last year. UK is starting a walk-on junior at defensive tackle. Louisville hasn't really plugged some holes. It would seem that UK has the better running game with Derrick Locke, but Victor Anderson out-played him in last year's game. And with Bilal Powell, Louisville has two backs that have had some success in past years. Behind Locke is unproven guys who could be very talented. Or maybe not. And the one thing that gives me the most hope is Louisville's offensive line is considered their strength. Kentucky is replacing four starters. So I'll take Louisville.

Is Barak Obama a Muslim? A poll found a surprisingly large percentage think he is. Although I think it's skewed by Republicans who don't believe it but think it's funny to tell pollsters. So, is he a Muslim? In a literal sense, yes. Because Franklin Graham was right when he said that Muslims pass their lineage through the father so in Islamic eyes, he was born a Muslim. And unlike other religions, leaving isn't so easy. Apostasy is still a crime in many Islamic countries (Malaysia is considered a moderate Muslim country). So for foreign policy reasons, it'd be best that Obama doesn't travel to certain countries who may think he's an apostate. But we aren't in Malaysia or any Islamic country so a man's religion is what he thinks it is. If Obama says he's a Christian, then he must be. Although I don't really think he's one of those either. But for the same reason. Both believe in a power higher than Barak Obama.

I followed the Russian spy story a bit. Wasn't too big a deal. They didn't seem to hardcore. Thought we should have driven a harder bargain. Ten for four? Were the Minnesota Vikings involved? The other big deal about it was Anna Chapman was seen as incredibly hot. She's really not. Attractive sure, but if she didn't have the notoriety of spying, she'd just be another pretty face. But here is what kills me. She got mad because her ex-husband sold nekkid pics of her to tabloids. A betrayal? Seriously? She was a spy. Probably married him for his non-Russian last name so she wouldn't seem suspicious. Betrayal? Is she effing kidding me?

Now, I've heard the name Heidi Montag (as a news junkie, I can't miss it). But I've never actually seen The Hills and only have a vague notion what it's about. But since reading the story about a sex tape of her and Playmate Karissa Shannon possibly being released, I've become much more interested.

So why would one assume that Obama could be a Muslim. One reason might be his ridiculously silly outreach to Muslims. When your choice for NASA administrator says that the "foremost" responsibility for him was to reach out to Muslims. Granted, the administration says that's not the case, but I think it must have been stressed at some point to the guy or he wouldn't go around saying it. I'm not saying that Muslims wouldn't be able to make a contribution. I'm sure they have many math and science scholars. Of course, they also have a lot living in third world squalor and radical groups trying to drag them back into the Dark Ages. Not the most fertile recruiting ground.

Oh, the other reason that he came out in support of building a mosque (some say learning center) in a building damaged by the towers falling on 9/11. So, yes, contrary to some opinions, I consider the location part of ground zero. Now Obama feels that it's about freedom of religion. I'm sure in the abortion debates, he's all for the practice of religious beliefs. Now, for some reason I highly doubt that President Obama would be a big supporter of the Westboro Baptist Church building a church on the spot that Matthew Sheppard died. Now I think the group building the mosque has every right to build it. It's their property (although if any money comes from terrorism sources, take the whole property). I just think that for all their talk about building bridges and tolerance, they're a bunch of assholes. If you know the majority of the people in the country are against it, how is it building bridges to flip them the bird? Are all Muslims radicals who may engage in terrorism? Of course not, but they aren't a small minority of Muslims. The strength of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Virtual theocracies in Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Muslim states. Turkey and Egypt are now heading that way. So, people can say that 9/11 was not an attack by Islam, but it was an attack in the name of Islam. And there was sizable number of Muslims in the world who celebrated the attack as a great victory for Islam. Building a mosque on the sight of that will be seen as an even bigger victory. Maybe if "mainstream" Islamic groups in this country were quick to condemn terrorist acts instead of looking for excuses (like a certain imam wanting to build a mosque at ground zero), I might be more willing to accept this. But they aren't so I'll say they have a right to build it. But they are a bunch of assholes to do it. I'm not Islamaphobic. You're just a dickhead.

Here is what soccer does to the world. It destroys lives. The North Korean soccer team was publicly shamed for it's poor showing in the World Cup. Oh, and their coach was fired and made to take a construction job. But on the plus side, they didn't send them to prison camps like they used to do in the past. Except that North Korea is one giant prison camp. And apparently not that good at soccer.

I mentioned Tiki Barber recently. This has-been cheated on his wife when she was pregnant with twins and left her. Well, he now says he didn't. He was just friends with the 23 year old intern and I guess was only taking her to events to help out her career. Assuming her career choice was home wrecker. Such a cute couple. I might have ignored it. Except Tiki ended the interview with his concern that his kids might be affected by his ex-wife's failings. Wait....what? Gee, I wonder why Tiki hasn't made it as a media personality. Oh right. He's a smarmy POS but not smart enough to hide it onscreen.

Woman goes to Epcot. Sees Donald Duck. Woman asks for an autograph. Donald gropes her. Not that I'm blaming the victim but my first thought is why a 27 year old woman would ask someone dressed as Donald Duck for an autograph? Did she think she could sell it on ebay? And everyone knows Donald Duck is the big perv there. He never wears pants.

Ick. Girls 12 and under are getting bikini waxes? What could their mothers possibly be thinking? Oh wait, one mother did explain why. Her second grader's hair was "bit two thick" on her legs. The poster on the blog had a good follow-up question - "A bit too thick for whom?". Obviously the woman would be mortified if the local creep down the street felt some stubble on her daughter.

Tila Tequila went to perform at an Insane Clown Posse festival. The fans threw rocks and "material" from the port-a-cans. Sounds like an awesome show. Kept her from singing anyway. Besides, I bet that wasn't the first time she's been smeared with crap. Or been highly disliked by a large group of people. Why would anyone be surprised by this? Just because they like no talent hacks like the Insane Clown Posse doesn't mean they'll like a no talent hack like Tila Tequila. They probably were mad because when they saw her on the playbill, they assumed she'd be giving bjs behind that port-a-can, not singing.