Take it to the limit

Maybe it's me, but this year there seems to be a big deal being made about crashes.

Lots of athletes crashing, and lots of officials making changes to courses as a result of these crashes.

Perhaps having the death of the Georgian Luger happen even before the games officially start set a more tragic and reactive tone for the entire Olympics but the point I wanted to make was that athletes have always , from time to time, crashed and gotten injured but I do not seem to remember officials making so many changes to courses as a result of people crashing.

This has happened to the Luge, the downhill and slalom courses, even some of the ice competitions, though that was mostly because the cheapo Zamboni they originally bought could not fix the ice appropriately.

I think all of these course crashes and "fixes" is a result of the industry of sports competition and athletes constantly pushing the limit of physical and technical ability.

Olympic athletes are special. They are the best of the best and as such have this drive and determination to constantly push themselves and their sport to new and higher and more dangerous limits.

This drive in turn makes the "sport" constantly look for ways to challenge the athletes.

Perhaps this year the sport has pushed the athletes more than it should have.

But still, I don't seem to remember officials making as many changes as they have this year. I am reminded of the old Wide World of Sports intro which shows the "agony of defeat" and thinking, "did anybody shorten the ski jump" as a result of this incident?



It seems that the only Olympic sport to not have been pushed to the limit and changed as a result of crashes is Curling.

Now I have to admit, we have been watching the Curling competition. I also have to admit that for such a none contact and physically demanding sport, it has gotten A LOT of air time. We have enjoyed watching it because it is intriguing to watch the strategy of the the sport and the technique involved.

But just like everything else, someone somewhere has found a way to push curling to the limit and prove that it is a sport of not only skill and strategy but of strength, speed and physical ability.

Strangely enough, I found these people pushing the limits of curling not on NBC Olympic coverage but on the Weather Channel and Colbert Nation.

So in the spirit of Fun Strip Fridays, I end this post with out takes of video which pushes Olympic coverage and interviews to new limits.

The Weather Channel proves that Curling is indeed a contact sport!

And Colbert pushes the coverage of the sport to new limits in his video spot.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Curling Team Tryouts Outtakes Pt. 2
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Of course, leave it to Colbert to take a sports interview to a level, a spot, where no other interview has gone before.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Zach Lund Outtakes Pt. 2
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

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Things I learned this past week...

Chinese symbol for knowledge




The Flu sucks. (I actually already knew this)

Our Family Practice sucks too. (Ditto on the knowledge thingy)

Seems they only give anti-viral medication (heck, just about any for that matter) to drug addicts, cancer patients, and enhanced athletes.
They call it their "high risk" policy.
Their best advice for folks/families who ALREADY HAVE THE FLU is to get a flu shot.
Never mind having kids (including a three year old) isn't risky enough already...

Speaking of high risk drugged athletes. . .
I heard that up to 12 players on the Cleveland Browns caught the flu and that the Browns were going to catch a break and be allowed a player roster exemption. . .

Nonsense! We all know the Browns can't catch!
Especially when it comes to anything related to pigskins...

The only thing worse than having the flu is having multiple people in the same family having it at the same time.

The only thing worse than having multiple family members sick at the same time is being sick with the flu at the same time as throwing out your back so you can't move.

There is a GOD.

Mercifully, he has spared me the worst of this last bit of knowledge for the moment, but I do still have the bad back and the start of a cough.

GOD has a sense of humor.
So it only hurts when I cough, or laugh...
I just know he is waiting until I get over the back thingy until I get what everybody else has.

We were actually torn on the whole flu shot thingy...

- Partly because of number 2 above...
- Partly because there is a part of me who believes in the pound of dirt theory...
- Partly because my wife and I see stuff like this on the news... and think once again about #2.
- Partly because it was only a few short years ago that I got my first flu shot ever, (my wife was either expecting and or we had a new born), but the flu shots that year were not for what ended up being the most prevalent variation and I got it anyway.

You probably are getting very tired of me RANTING . . .
Too Bad!

If my FF team (Santas Helpers) can pick a week to under achieve. They will.
As of right now I am 5 points behind and have two defensive players and Chris Cooley playing tonight.

If you take a chronically bad performing FF team (Pariahs) and decide to play spoiler and accept trades from others who go raiding, you actually might get a better team and start winning...
I now have Big Ben, AP, Sproles and Vincent Jackson.
As of right now I am amazingly 18 points ahead going into tonight.
I have Cooley (notice a pattern) and he has Maclin left to play.

I'll stop for now but I'll be back!

Promise.

In the meanwhile, Be Good. Do Well. Have Fun.

And stay away from evil medicine hoarding family practitioners!

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Fun Strip Friday

I originally saw this on a fellow blogger site (Trader-X)...
Then on MSN ...
Then other links all pointing back to Comedy Central...

So, I suppose by the time any of you see this post, the video will have gone viral across the internet and you will all say "Oh no, not again"!

Anyway, sometimes it is good to laugh at a bad situation... Sometimes...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

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Mutt Madness

In the spirit of March madness and in an effort to honor all sport fans, both human and non human, I introduce the first annual Fumbled Returns Mutt Madness Contest.

Actually, it is a really boring time for football and fantasy football fans everywhere and I was looking for a way to spice things up a bit.

So, without further delay, I introduce Fumbled Returns Mutt Madness!!!

The Rules:
1) Open to any sport or team or athlete of your choice.
2) Open to any type of Dog of your choice. Sorry, we are dog people no other pets allowed in contest.
3) Decorate your dog(s) in your favorite team or sport hero’s colors, logos, uniforms, or what ever you can think of. The end result should be to show both yours and your pets loyalty and passion and humor for the sport and the game.

These next ones should be obvious but I am going to include them anyway…
4) No permanent damage and or do not physically harm your pet in any way.
5) Tasteful entries only please, though I will be the judge as to what is tasteful or not, and I have been known to have my moments (slip ups in judgment). So if you have a risqué risky idea (but not too much) go ahead and submit it.

Contest starts March 1st and ends March 29th.
Category winners will be announced March 30th.
Top Dog (Grand Prize Winner) will be announced March 31st.

The Categories:

Rookies: This is for puppies up till the age of 1 year. Because we all know that puppies have mega cute factor when young and may pose an unfair advantage to the older entries.

Veterans: Adult dogs over 1 year of age. Despite the fact that nearly all sports and contests are split between men and women, I am keeping this as one category. After all, we all know that both are equal… right? ;-)

Groupies: For entries of two or more pets.

Faux-Paws: (for photochop experts)Because, we all know that there always some athletes and contestants who are… “enhanced”.

Entries and Winner Determination:

Send all entries to fumbledreturns@gmail.com

Please include your pet(s) name and the category you wish to be entered in.

All approved entries will be posted on the Fumbled Returns Facebook Fan Page for everyone to view, comment and most importantly VOTE ON.

Each category will be a separate photo album on the fan page.

You can cast your vote by pressing the “like” button on the entries you like most.

You can vote for more than one entry but not multiple times for the same entry.

The Prizes:

The winner of each category will receive a yet to be determined prize (probably some sort of sports chew toy). If there is a tie (as in two or more category entries have the same number of "like" votes) the tie breaker will be who has the most favorable comments. If there is still a tie, I get to pick.

A grand prize, Top Dog, winner will be chosen, by my wife and I, and receive a complimentary hand painted painting of the winner as interpreted by my lovely and talented wife.

You can see excellent examples of her work on Etsy.

She also runs a blog called Hope and Greyz.

So everyone get your thinking caps on, and get as creative as you can be, and dress up those wonderful pets of yours.

Spread the word to all your friends to try and get the most votes and may the best contestant win!

Check back as often as you wish to view new and updated entries!

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A Little Christmas Humor

A Russian couple looked out their window Christmas Eve and the wife said, “Look Rudi, it’s going to snow!”

“No” said the husband, “it is going to rain.”

Wife: “It’s cold and windy outside. It’s going to snow I tell you.”

Husband: “No dear, it’s going to rain.”

Wife: “Rudolph, how can you say that?”

Husband: “Because, Rudolph, the Red, knows rain. Dear.”

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