Idle Ramblings...

OK, so I was bored and idly surfing digg.com random selections.
I actually kind of like Digg.com for researching new, up and coming stories, and filtering content on my particular interests.

Well, this is what my idle random clicks came up with for this week.

A creative beggar...

















Economic truth and consequences...
















Elvis Grbac: Not as sexy as initially indicated...From Jeff Pearlman












One of my favorite all-time stories is about Elvis Grbac (left), Rich Gannon (right) and People Magazine’s Sexiest Men issue from 1998. It is both outlandish and 100-percent true.

Back in the day I knew many People staffers, and they were all cool, fun, intelligent—and woefully ignorant about sports. Every year, in planning the Sexiest Men issue, People’s editors would ask a bunch of us at Sports Illustrated for suggestions and insight. In 1998, for a reason I’ll never understand, they decided not to seek out help.

The magazine chose Rich Gannon as its Sexiest Athlete. At the time, Gannon was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. Still a couple of seasons removed from his golden tenure with the Raiders, Gannon was 33, handsome and likable. In other words, a solid choice. Yet People, being People, simply informed the photographer assigned to the piece that the Sexiest Athlete was the Chiefs’ quarterback. Hence, he took pictures of the Chiefs’ quarterback. Well, one of the Chiefs’ quarterbacks: Elvis Grbac.

Yup.

The pictures made their way back to the New York offices, and editors were dumbfounded. This was their Sexiest Athlete? Yet upon learning the truth, no one with the magazine had the heart (guts?) to tell Grbac that an unfathomable mistake had been made. As a result, Elvis Grbac reigns as People’s 1998 Sexiest Athlete.

The article’s final line says it all: “His personality makes him sexy.”

Amen.

And a title that is funny, even if the article is not...

Texting Teen Falls Down Manhole















An interesting but, in my opinion, somewhat useless, ad campaign...

86-RedSox-Victoria-Secret






















Roller Skating taken to new heights...




Is this Mr. Stick or a member from a distant branch of the family...






And one I found a couple weeks ago all by myself... (sort of)...

So, You think it is easy to just stand up there and give a weather report...
A couple of inept Penguins prove otherwise...

Read more...

Immitation is the best form of Flattery

Lately, I have seen, and heard of, a couple things floating around on the internet that have caught my attention.

There is the facebook app that asks you for your favorite albums or artists of all time.
There is also one a little more specific on ones you have seen in concert.

Then there is the MEME, I think that is what they are called, that has people generate fake album covers based on the following random input from across the internet.

Which got me thinking about cover albums, bands and songs. So, although not original by any means, here is my collection of classics...






















































Of course, sometimes the cover, although well intentioned, is never quite as good as the original...

Read more...

Is Stan Kasten Seriously Confused?

Perhaps not...

In his Washington Post article "Kasten Shows Some Ill-Advised Brotherly Love" Thomas Boswell argues that as a Washingtonian, the last thing anyone should do is invite anybody remotely related or loyal to Philly!

And that goes for any major league sport; Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, and especially Football!

Here is what Kasten actually said...

"We have an Opening Day here Monday. We'd love for all our Philly fans to come down, because I know it's gonna be so hard to get tickets in Philadelphia this year. It'll be much easier if you drive down the road and come see us in Washington.

"I have gone to enough games in Philly to tell you that I haven't always felt welcome in your parks, okay? But you can root for whoever you want, you will be welcome when you come to Nationals Park."

OK So, he didn't actually say, "Come boo my team."
Rather, "Come spend your money at my place"...

Thomas Boswell makes lots of good arguments about rivalries and bad experiences both with Philly fans and games across all the sports.

But I think there is actually a method to his madness...

I started thinking about all the wonderful things that can happen in Baseball. Especially on opening day!

With the proper seating, you could catch a great view of the following...







Great Pitching












Great Catching and Fielding












Great Batting
Even a home run!











But we would not want any Philly fans gloating and jesting with a Philly home run ball that they just happen to have caught.
So this knocks out a good portion of the outfield seats from consideration.

We also do not want to leave them with a bad view of the field. After all the closer you are to the game the better your experience.
So this knocks out all the tiered seating areas.

This leaves the field level seating around both sides of the infield and behind the plate.

Now I admit, some fans may prefer to be able to look into their teams dugout in order to see their favorite players, coaches and managers. But in this case, that would mean that Philly fans would be sitting behind and above and around the Nationals dugout. This could prove to disruptive to the Nats, and I'll admit it, they will need all the help they can get.
So sorry, this rules out half of the remaining available seats.

So, what we have left is; the seats behind home plate, and the ones behind, above and around the visitors dugout.

Now, there is a chance that this game will be televised, so as a Washingtonian, we want to project the proper image of National Fans cheering for their team. This means we want National Fans sitting behind the plate in full view of the camera angles.
So, sorry no behind the plate seats for you Philly fans either.

This leaves the seats next to your teams dugout!
Pretty cool! The Philly fans get good seats, a chance for a fun experience at the ballpark, an opportunity to view all the action up close, possibly even get pictures with their favorite players! What better way to experience rooting for your team!

RIGHT!

These seats are also prime location for zinging foul balls flying at you at close to 100 MPH!









Oh and unlike the seats behind home plate, there is no safety net!











These seats are also prime location for shards of broken wooden bats



hurling, and twisting through the air



towards unsuspecting fans!
























So, watch out Philly! We have a special selection of greased baseballs and rigged bats just for you!

Have a nice day!

-----------------------------------

Did you catch the stick? :-)

Well, at least one dog did not.
And as a result cause not only the dog, but the owner of said dog much discomfort, time, money and worry.
Fortunately the dog and its owner have fully recovered...

OK, maybe just the dog... ;-)

If you are curious about why the stick, check out Life with Dogs

And like all great ideas, it took on a life of it's own at Misterstick

Read more...