Real Men of Genius

I love these real men of genius commercials out there. Regardless for a Notre Dame fan (which I am) this parody is another kick in the groin in this season of embarrassment.

Notre Dame last won a bowl game back in 1993. That wasn't that long ago right?

The Kid has his work cut out for him

Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted. Luckily, The Kid kept this place alive recently by posting several entries. I have been a bad caretaker of this blog for quite some time now and I can't make any promises for the future. I hope to though.

Speaking of the Kid, he is a good friend and I have been sad for months now because he moved to Philadelphia. He met a girl who lives there, fell in love and left us all in Indianapolis. He still misses this place and has so graciously written about the city he loves.

It seems he has his work cut out for him though. His new residence was just voted the dubious honor of having the least attractive residents. Among the many categories, the people from the City of Brotherly Love were voted to be among the "least stylish, least active, least friendly and least worldly". I haven't spent a lot of time in Philly, I've really just passed through. It seems that the Kid won't have it easy, but I know Philadelphia is already a better place because of him.

Indiana Sports Round-up

I think Torpor's post on 9/11 may have finally run out of legs. So here are a few posts for your reading pleasure.

After watching the evil Patriots dismantle the Cowboys this past weekend, I couldn't help but think of the Coors Light commercial with Dennis Green, former Arizona coach. You know what commercials I am talking about? Each commercial has a former coaches' press conference and some guys asking questions about Coors light. The one I am thinking of in particular is where Dennis Green (presumably after a tough loss) declares: "They are who we think they were!"

The Patriots. Those dirty cheaters. They were who I thought they were. They are good.

They beat Dallas, the best team in the NFC, like a Pop Warner team. I wondered how the game would turn out. Not withstanding the national media's love for the cheaters, until Sunday they hadn't beaten anybody. The list of cream puffs who the cheaters had beaten had an incredible record of 7-16. I guess the AFC Least isn't quite as tough as the AFC South. Regardless after this past Sunday's win the Patriot's opponent's record is 12-16.

Your Indianapolis Colts, current World Champions, and the ignored un-defeated team in the NFL have had an opponent's record of 11-12. For you mathematically challenged out there that's one less than the cheaters. And the Colts have had a bye week. And did I mention the Colts haven't cheated?

The Patriots have a tough battle this week against winless Miami. Maybe if Dr. Frankenstein gets Trent Green ready it will be a game. Regardless the Colts have a tough game against 4-1 Jacksonville. I will put it out here right now. If the Colts beat Jacksonville on the road Monday they are the best team in the league. Just don't tell them. Our local teams don't do so well when they know they are the favorites.

Two universities have their hand full with what I think should be a major controversy. Indiana University's Kelvin Sampson got himself in some hot water with making phone calls with recruits. That wouldn't be such a big deal except he had been in trouble with the NCAA before for the same damn thing. What is the worst crime? The one where someone hasn't learned their lesson the first time. Say what you want about Bobby Knight the man ran a clean program (just putting it out there I am not a Bobby Knight fan). What is IU going to do? Not a damn thing. Fine him 500K. Well whoopie. Why aren't they going to do a damn thing? Eric Gordon. Sampson got him. No matter what the university says they stand for they are lying. They stand for winning. Hey if a few kids graduate too, that's swell.

Notre Dame football has become about as relevant on the national stage as Ball State. They haven't won much this year and they won't. At 1- 5 they might win one more game. They might not even beat Navy.

What's the problem? When Charlie Weis was winning back in 2005 they gave him a ten year extension. When Ty Willingham was winning what did ND give him? Not a ten year extension. Ty was fired for having a a 21-15 record. That apparently wasn't good enough. Weis record now stands at 20-12. And Ty never had a 1-5 record. More importantly he never had the last ranked offense in all the land. That's right Temple, Akron, University of Northern South Kentucky all have a better offense then good ole Notre Dame.

Anyone else think Ty got a raw deal?

Radiohead

So my favorite band still recording did a gutsy thing this past week or so. Freed from any constraint of a record label, Radiohead decided to put out its new CD on the web. There is no distribution from a record company to your local store. The only way to get their new CD In Rainbows is to go to their web site: www.radiohead.com. There you can follow some pretty easy directions and get their new CD--their seventh.

But here is the crazy catch-- you pay what you want. That's right. You put down what every you want to offer to download the new CD. You don't want to pay a dime: that's okay to Radiohead.

For the record I paid six bucks. I planned on paying more but I cut it back based on budgetary constraints. I don't hold any ill will towards someone who doesn't pay a dime. Although part of the reason I still buy CDs of bands I really like is to make it economically feasible for them to keep recording.

I am not going to review their CD here. Although I want to put out there that it is certainly worth the hype (Rolling Stone gave it 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5). It is their strongest CD I have seen since OK Computer (I am not as enamored with Kid A as some). For those who know Kid A well I will just say that In Rainbows is like a more accessible Kid A. I am not saying that in and of itself is better, just providing a point of reference.

Mostly I wonder whether not this will be the beginning of the end of record labels as we know it. Will this be the final slaying of the dragon that I-Tunes has yet accomplished? Will bands take control of their music completely and cut out the middle man?

Those are good questions. All I know is right now Radiohead put out the best CD of the year. You just can't pick it up at your local store.

Do Potatoes sap your logic?

The saga of Larry Craig the Senator from Idaho continues.

You may recall that Senator Craig found himself doing a little toe taping in a Minnesota bathroom. According to an officer for whom the toe taping was directed, the fine Senator's toe taping was a signal for some afternoon delight. Consequently the Senator was summoned, interviewed, and eventually pleaded guilty to a crime in the great state of Minnesota.

After the national media caught wind of this, Senator Craig initially felt compelled to first state he wasn't gay and two that he would resign from the Senate. Now the good Senator isn't going to resign, instead he is going to finish out his term and ignore all calls for his resignation.

You see the Senator is going to appeal the trial court's decision of denying to overturn his guilty plea. This is clearly a manifest injustice. I mean surely how can we expect a man of his age and of his stature being a Senator in the greatest country in the World to know what was going on during a court hearing in that big bad city? Geez, maybe he thought it was just a speeding ticket or something. I guess one doesn't have to know what the hell they are pleading guilty to in Minnesota. They probably don't have their laws all straightened out considering their focus is on hockey or something.

What a crock of crap. Does anybody believe this knucklehead? Quit acting like you didn't know what was going on in the courtroom. If you really didn't why would the fine folks in Idaho want you representing their interests in important matters such as health care coverage and the like. You know Senator you might have to pay just a little more attention there in the Senate than what you want Idahoians to believe you did in that Minnesota courtroom.

Was there ever a time when public service was an honor rather than an entitlement such as Senator Craig apparently believes?