Hanks has his nomination for the most underblogged story of 2003.
Archives for January 2004
From the “No Shit!” Department
This breaking news:
Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s career hit leader, has admitted that he gambled on baseball games while he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds, according to excerpts of a television interview .
In an interview for ABC’s Primetime Thursday to be broadcast this week, Rose said he bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988.
Asked by ABC’s Charles Gibson why he gambled, Rose said, according to interview excerpts released today: “Well, I wish I could answer that question, but I just can’t. I was wrong, I just, stupid, worst thing I ever did in my life.”
Put him in the Hall of Fame but keep him banned from baseball (he should never be allowed to disgrace a uniform again), and let’s quit talking about this ass. And for the love of God- put Shoeless Joe in, too.
Not Sure
Parts of me like this, parts of me don’t:
Foreigners arriving at U.S. airports were photographed and had their fingerprints scanned Monday in the start of a government effort to use some of the latest surveillance technology to keep terrorists out of the country.
The program allows Customs officials to check passengers instantly against terrorist watch lists and a national criminal database.
The goal is to “make sure our borders are open to visitors but closed to terrorists,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said.
I guess I am concerned with the civil liberties of my fellow citizens more than foriegn visitors. I guess I consider my neighbor’s right not to be blown up by a Saudi terrorist a more pressing civil liberty than whether or not an Egyptian tourist has his picture taken.
Really- They Just Hate His Policies
The MoveOn.Org commercial juxtaposing President Bush with Adolph Hitler.
I am now officially supporting Bush in 2004. Right now the Democrats either really believe Bush is Hitler, and thus have no perspective and should officially be barred from making foreign and domestic policy decisions, or they are too stupid to understand how insensitive a commercial comparing Bush to Hitler might be, and thus are simply too stupid to serve in any official duty.
Quite a nose-dive the Democrats have taken in recent years.
Why Am I a Fan?
Sometimes I wonder why the hell I root for any teams anymore, particularly after the way they treat me year in and year out. Let’s review the sports teams I love and review their performance over the past year:
1.) The Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates were 75-87 in 2003, thus successfully completing their 11th consecutive season of sub .500 baseball. A truly impressive performance.
2.) The Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers were also exceptionally impressive this year, racking up a wonderful 6-10 record in one of the easier divisions in football. Thought to be Super Bowl contenders in the pre-season, the Steelers made Cincinnatti look like an all-pro squad. Twice.
3.) The Pittsburgh Penguins: Halfway through the Hockey season, the Penguins are 9-21. This is not so upsetting, as I am used to the Penguins sucking (much like the Pirates). Not to mention Sports Illustrated, when ranking all the NHL teams in five categories (coaching, power play, short-handed, goalkeeping, and one more- I forget), had the Pirates ranked either 29th or 30th in every category.
4.) The WVU Mountaineers: Despite having an 8-4 regular season and providing some wonderful moments, we once again just rolled over and played dead in our bowl game. This statistic is worth repeating:
West Virginia is 1-10 in its last 11 bowl appearances, 0-2 during Rich Rodriguez’ tenure by a combined score of 89-29.
Oh well. Pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks, and we can start the misery all over again.
*** Update ***
Statboy corrects me in the comments:
The Steelers beat the Bengals the first time they played and looked reasonably good doing it. In the SI preview, the Penguins were 30th in every category except for one, and in that one they were 25th, not 29th.
More on Mad Cow
More on the media attempting to stir up hysteria about Mad Cow. Today they breathlessly report that a ‘third herd’ has been quarantined. Oh my god- end of the world. Beef is not safe! Bush sided with agribusiness. Profit over food safety! We are all going to die.
Just to keep this in perspective, let’s review some facts:
1.) One cow has been discovered to have been infected. Compare that to the 183,000 confirmed cases in the United Kingdom.
2.) The cow was slaughtered in a manner in which the dangerous portions of the animal (the spinbal tissue, brain matter, etc.) were separated from the edible portion of the beef. No one is claiming otherwise.
3.) A ‘quarantined’ herd does not mean it is infected- the herds are only being quarantined because they had some animals that were shipped from Canada with the infected animal.
There is simply no need for hysteria, and pretending that the government, the beef industry, the Bush administration, or whoever the scapegoat du jour is somehow failed us is absurd.
Personally, I would have eaten beef tonight if I had not made so damn much pork an sauerkraut yesterday.
Blogiversary
As some have noticed, today is officially the second anniversary for this website. Yay, Me!