Obama gave the commencement key note at the Notre Dame Graduation on Saturday, and not everyone there was psyched about it. I’ll start this one about 4:20 in, you’ll see why…
They probably limited the students to 2-4 tickets for the family, and some kid had the audacity to invite his/her limo driver. Unreal.
As if he almost predicted the outburst, Obama went were he needed to go to calm the ND crowd – the playing field. But what angle do you choose when you’re dealing with the fact that the once dominant Notre Dame legacy has been reduced to a middling Basketball team and a middling football team? Well, guys, you’ve still got the largest outdoor 5-on-5 tournament in the World. (Did I mention I had the Tarheels come over my house the other day?)
Had Jeeves heard Hallelujah Holla Back roll off Barack’s tongue? Agreed, he still would shouted obscenities from the Upper Deck.
Kudos Hulu. I thought I was going to spend the entire Inauguration asking CNN.com to bark like a dog for me, but you did the damn thing. And now I can move on to poppin’ champagne like we won a Championship game! (Later on actually, right now I’m celebrating with a chicken cutlet heroe with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette – a sandwich that you cannot defeat, nor outlast).
…And I believe it was Puffy who said, ‘Before you change the World, you gotta change yo’self.’ (Man, NOTORIOUS was terrible, and awesome, and ridiculous, and tragic all at the same time. See it.)
According to Petitionsite.com, Target Target Kenya, a tourism firm from the African region, is planning a ‘cultural extravaganza’ this month in an attempt to capitalize on the fervor for what they are calling the ‘Obama tourism circuit.’ Barack Obama’s father was Kenyan, and he is tremendously popular there (you can buy Obama Beer in Kenyan bars).
As a climax to the celebration, organizers are planning to hold a bull fighting event at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, much to the disdane of activist group ‘People Against Cruelty to Animals in Kenya.’
You can go here to check out their petition they plan to send to Hon Najib Balala, the Minister of Tourism in Kenya. But first, check out the chaotic scene of a traditional bullfight held in the Kakamega District of Western Kenya.
There’s something missing here… the toreador, right. Guess we’re not talking classic bullfighting.
She’ll host/ judge/ ruin this new reality show about the Iditarod, and, boom, six months from now – the White Oprah! (Tip of the hat to J Dot Domingo, who’s actually predicting this White Oprah outcome, he’s probably kidding)
It indeed flew under my radar that the Discovery Channel was airing a new show this Fall about the 1,000+ mile Alaskan sled dog race, called “Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod“, which premiered on 10/14 and airs every Friday, at 8 p.m. Check out the trailer:
Since this series is apparently baked, I’m thinking as a follow-up: “America’s Next Top Musher”, hosted by Palin, featuring a cast of characters resembling the usual cast of reality show characters. (what’s Bonaduce been up to, anyway?)
And, boom, a year from now you can rest assured that Sarah Palin is preoccupied folksin’ around in Alaska with a bunch of VH1 producers, and has all but abandoned blind political ambitions.
White House perk alert: There’s a bowlng alley (??). And apparently, Barack’s roll needs work.
Turns out Obama was a little out of his element when he hit the lanes during primary season last March in Altoona, PA – putting up a 37 (geez!) over seven frames. Wow, that is quite the egg he laid in a crucial swing state. Risky.
“Once the family is settled in, the PBA Tour will be pleased and anxious to send some of our top male and female professional bowlers in to give lessons to the president elect and first lady on the White House bowling lanes,” said Tom Clark, BPA vice president. (PBA offers to give lessons to Barack Obama)
Some of the PBA’s finest rollers are already offering up their expert services to get Obama’s game up to snuff, including the legend Norm Duke and Billy Oatman, the PBA’s first African American.
“I have one bowling tip for Obama: take a lesson from me,” said Billy Oatman, the first African American on the exempt PBA Tour. “Call Billy Oatman and he’ll get a lesson.”
JB, patch Oatman into the Oval Office for me, will ya? [Keep up the good work Mr. Vice President, top notch]
Oh, maybe it wasn’t for you, but a bowling alley in the White House – news to me. Where was that episode of West Wing, Sorkin?
Throttling, I love that term. This is a great example.
Congratulations to Barack Obama, his family, and his colleagues in his camp – especially, Head Campaign Strategist David Axelrod, who will undoubtedly go down in history as running a brilliant campaign.
Looking back, I hope that Obama’s presidential run and subsequent lambasting of the GOP will be seen as the year that a campaign harnessed the power of bottom-up empowerment through technology the unleashed the real real America. Axelrod would probably say that this campaign is just the beginning of that new sensibility, and will pail in comparison to how candidates use the internet, social media, and one-to-one online voter outreach from here on out.
If you feel that you can afford to pull yourself away from today’s celebratory media coverage, check out the Rolling Stone cover story on Obama from last March – The Machinery of Hope. This is the piece that sealed me on Obama, and it does an excellent job of outlining the campaigning course that their camp committed too. I’m by no means a political science authority; someone like Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight could probably point you to a much more in-depth dissertation on how team Obama did what they did. However, after yesterday’s flogging, this is reads like fun prologue. It’s like watching season four of The Wire again, after you’ve seen how Michael turns out at the end of season five.
Not the creme brulee (Tina, of course) of Sarah Palin mockeries, but Thandie Newton is nice to look at, and she’s trying.
The subtext to these Brits reading a scene from a porno about Sarah Palin – somebody (an American, that you’ve heard of) hates Sarah Palin that much that he made a porno to spite her!
After the rip-roaring success of the politically charged Great “Bailouts” in Sports History, I decided to go back to the well and poll the sports blogging intelligentsia on issues quasi-related to Decision ’08. This week’s topic:
BEST SPORTS PLATFORMS FOR THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
It may seem a little (or entirely) taboo right now, given the economic ground and pound, however, I’ll point to a story in this week’s New Yorker by Peter Boyer (The Appalachian Problem) on Obama’s campaigning in Appalachia, in an attempt to siphon votes away from McCain and take the state of West Virginia . Boyer brings up former Democratic Governor Mark Warner, who fought an uphill battle to get into office, and repaid the voters of the region by getting Virginia Tech into the ACC. Since VT joined the conference, their men’s basketball team earned its first NCAA Tournament berth, and the football team was able to expand Lane Stadium. All the while, creating heightened interest in V-Tech sports in and around the region – translating into additional revenue, not to mention jobs, in the state.
In the same light, I’m suggesting Obama vow to get Memphis out of Conference U.S.A, to appeal to the economically liberal, socially conservative voters of Tennessee. (And Alabama’s UAB faithful.)
If he so chose, he could mix in some lackadaisical foreign policy while catering to the Memphis populus – who can see Germantown from their houses (nod to Scott from WaitingForNextYear.com for that one!)
Here are some other campaign promises the sports blogosphere would like to hear coming out of the political arena in the final month of the race. And Since Obama and McCain already downplayed anti-steroids legislation (thanks Phil, from CheatorBeat, for that), they could use something to get sports fans going…
“[The candidates] should focus their campaign on adopting the ‘Francesca Football Plan’ which involves replacing the final two NFL exhibition games with regular season games. This plan, which I first heard mentioned by WFAN Legend (in his own mind) Mike Francesca, would expand the NFL regular season to 18 total games and in doing so would push the SuperBowl back two weeks to the Sunday just prior to Presidents Day. This would create an official, govt. sanctioned three-day SuperBowl Holiday weekend and subsequently do away with the most ‘called-out’ workday of the year.” (Chris “Shorty” Smith, BadChoiceMilk)
The incremental plan to increase the amount of football is as brilliant as Francesca is insufferable.
Have you seen the Mike Francesca Show? Who in their right mind would watch that one gurgle for a half-hour late Sunday night when you’re faded from a full-day of football?
Jimmy Traina from SI.com has a simpler suggestion for how our chief commander could improve the NFL: “Whoever is elected president needs to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday”
The Super Bowl is already a well established, polished glutton fest. But this would set off a spending spree that would rival black friday. It would all be contained to beer and protein, but still. (plus I think I’d like to live in country where those things helped drive the economy). The real benefit, however, is the money saved by companies closing on a clear no-work work day.
Bares mentioning that I’m actively looking for a politician to run for office on the four-day work week platform. The Super Bowl holiday could seamlessly be included as buffer.
NBA blogger Trey Kerby (The Blowtorch) would like your candidates to abolish the shooting game at the All-Star Game, and mandate a one-on-one tournament.
The score of last year’s All-Star game was 134-128 – 260 points, yet almost an unwatchable game. It’s a combined point total that’s only rival is that of the Dow Jones Industrial losses over the last week. What do they have in common? Both are pretty boring to follow, yet there is undeniably something wrong happening.
Forget NBA All-Star regulation though, what we need is NBA relegation. I’d like to see the president vow to protect against lame duck teams who mail in the end of the year so they have 25% chance of getting the #1 pick in the lottery. You tank, congratulations, welcome to the D-League. Have fun spending a year throttling post-pubescant 19-year olds (that run, and run, and run) in Sioux Falls for a year.
Here are some additional ideas to get people flocking to the polls:
Here’s a thought – make instant replay mandatory in every sport. Everything is reviewable, especially missed calls. (Moon Dog Sports)
“There needs to be a plus one system playoff for D1 college football. The top 4 play and the winners play in a final game. This will keep the pundits happy that still want to keep the smaller bowls, and it will still allow for a lot of pork barrel spending at the AT&T Cotton Bowl, AutoZone, Liberty Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Brut Sun Bowl, Capital One Bowl,Champs Sports Bowl…” (Ethan Jaynes, NESW Sports)
…etc., etc., etc., etc. (great ref. to pork barrel spending!)
“Being that Ohio is a battleground state, Obama should campaign to get better coaching for the bengals and browns. I’d say the same about michigan…but mccain’s already conceded it and the lions are a lost cause anyway.” (Dan, InGameNow)
Swing states are going to make or break this election, and both candidates have already vowed to examine and take down programs that aren’t working (I think they were mainly talking about government bureaucracy, however.)
Do your civic duty, and vote for the platform that will get our presidential candidates your vote on November 4:
The folks behind the “Don’t Vote” video are asking folks to share it with five other people. (video is actually called, simply, 5 Friends). And bloggers are taking the extra step by posting it and linking to five other blogs.
You don’t have to be getting hit over the head with news alerts to realize that tomorrow the House will reconvene to try to reach a solution, for better or worse, concerning the financial bailout proposal. Thus, I thought it appropriate to recall some of the great bailouts in sports history.
My personal contribution is Drew Bledsoe coming off the bench, after losing his starting job to a then injured Tom Brady, and leading the Patriots to victory in the 2001 AFC Championship Game, only to be relegated back to the bench for the Super Bowl.
I tasked some of the sports blogosphere to come up with other great bailouts in sports history. Here are the top-3, and many other below…
1.) The Tackle
Courtesy of Melfi, NYHoosier.com, a Colts fan who had the pleasure of experiencing this game on ESPN Gamecast. Here’s a rather indulgent video of the play. The anguish of a Colts fan having to follow that game on ESPN.com, with the 18-minute delay time and the kind-of-moving football dot, warms my heart. It’s the little things that get us through these tough economic times.
….
2.) The 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals
James Christensen, from NEPatriotsDraft.com, was the first to suggest this, but his sentiments were wildly echoed by others for this one…
Isaac, from World of Isaac, gets the nod for sending in the clip of the no-call that only the most entitled of Wall Streets’ out-of-work millionaire CEOs could defend…
My buddy Derek, who’s the biggest hockey fan I know, gets a shout out for this one…
The Pittsburgh Penguins were bankrupt, and on the verge of leaving the city, when the franchise’s most storied player bought the team. In a deal that had to be approved by the Federal Government, Lemieux assumed control of the team in 1996, and vowed to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Also, as part of the deal, he agreed to pay back the close to $100 million owed to creditors.
Apparently, most of that debt has been paid back. And with the addition of Sydney Crosby (who lived in Lemiuex’s house when he first joined the team), the Penguins are now selling out games left and right, and moving towards the black.
This is a bailout backers of the Bush’s plan would like you to remember, simply, because it’s worked. However, as things shake out in the financial world over the next couple days, I ask that you also keep Drew Bledsoe in mind taxpayers – he was asked to step up when Brady went down, and then discarded with near immediacy.
….
The sports blogosphere’s most distinguished statesmen stepped up with some other great examples, so here are all the honorable mentions…
A big bailout? How about MLB relocating the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. and christening them the Nationals? Jeffery Loria sold the Expos to MLB for $120 million, and a few years later, MLB sold the team to the Lerner family for over $500 million. Add to that, Washington, D.C. threw in a $611 million stadium with very little ownership equity. (Maury Brown, President of Business of Sports Networks, BizofBaseball.com)
The NBA stopping the Cavaliers from themselves in the early 1980s, preventing them from continuing to trade away consecutive first round picks for past-prime talent. (Kelly Dwyer, Balls Don’t Lie)
How ’bout Jeff Hostetler coming in for an injured Phil Simms (foot), winning the last 2 games of the season and the Super Bowl XXV (Chimpanzee Rage, Deuce of Davenport)
George Steinbrenner bails out the Red Sox by signing A-rod (Jodie Boduch, GossipOnSports.com)
Gretzky saving hockey any place West of Detroit (Ethan Jaynes, NESWsports.com)
Kevin McHale bailing out his buddy Danny Ainge by trading KG to the Celts (The Sports Culture)
Ray Lewis NOT Convicted of Murder (Trey Kirby, TheBlowtorch.net)
Ed Hochuli coming to the rescue of the Denver Broncos in Week 2 this season. (Ryan Phillips, Rumors & Rants)
Throw your personal favorite sports bailouts in the comments below!
