RE: Wolverines Dirty Rotten Cheaters

Have to admit I'm enjoying reading UM fan comments (like the ones here) about how everybody cheats, or the writer hates UM, or it's a conspiracy, or the players are wimps, etc. For a Wolverine fan, it's never the Wolverine's fault, there's always an excuse.

One (serious) question: How often does an allegation like this get proven false? I can't think of any time off the top of my head where an investigation turned up nothing.

Disney buys Marvel

Not sure I'm too excited about this news.

One Week

It's one week until the fantasy draft. We still have a few people that need to sign-up (Schott, Rusty, Joe, Ross, and Fritz); it would be nice to have that done before we started drafting. We do need an even number to start the season.

Also, typing that title made me think of the song, so:

Wolverines Dirty Rotten Cheaters

The front page story in the Free Press today (we get it for the coupons) details players accusations of persistent violations of NCAA rules regarding practice time during both the season and off-season.

Rich Rodriguez says "We follow the rules".

For example, players say the were working out from noon till 10 pm on Sundays during the season, in dramatic excess of the 4 hrs per day allowed.

The pressure on the head coach, especially after a bad season, is obviously tremendous, and I am certain many schools have minor violations from time to time, but to have the violations be so great and so consistent that multiple players would take it to the news, risking NCAA penalties has to say something.

Hope the maize and blue didn't want all those scholarships.

On a side note, former Spartans stated that they followed all the rules.

Coverage of Evolution in State Standards Better, Says NCSE

Evolution is receiving better coverage in state science standards compared to 10 years ago according to a review of all 50 state science standards and the District of Columbia by the National Center of Science Education (NCSE). Louise S. Mead and Anton Mates of NCSE conclude that "[t]he treatment of biological evolution in state science standards has improved dramatically over the last ten years." Nine states and the District of Columbia received an A for their treatment of evolution, However the study authors point out that five states--Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia-- received a grade of ‘F’ for their treatment of evolution and there are others that didn’t include key concepts such as the Big Bang Theory. “It’s almost surprising to us that we are having this discussion about inclusion of evolution,” given that the theory is well-accepted by scientists,“ said NSTA Executive Director Francis Eberle to Education Week reporter Mary Ann Zehr in her August 12 article.

An "F"? Ouch. Giving them a "D-" wouldn't be enough? Those five states probably should have been given the "A's" and everyone else "F's."

Chuck freakin' Norris

When Chuck Norris was a baby, he didn't suck his mother's breast. His mother served him whiskey, straight out of the bottle.

See more Chuck Norris stuff here.

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.
Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
It takes Chuck Norris 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.
Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.

Arkham Asylum Launch Trailer

I don't know how to score that.

There was an unassisted triple play by Phillies second baseman Eric Bruntlett in the Phillies-Mets game today, only the fifteenth in MLB history. Read more about the game at ESPN or The Corner.

Pretty Good.

Marty Mornhinweg says Michael Vick looks "pretty good" in practice. Might as well slot him into the Pro Bowl right now.

"It won't work."

We can, however, be certain of some facts about the health care reform plan. It won't work. No government proposal more complicated than "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" ever works. And that doesn't work.

-P.J. O'Rourke, on the Clinton health care reform plan, Wall Street Journal

Limited

I just read this article from the Washington Post that argues the government does not have the authority to require every American to buy health insurance based on the powers enumerated in the Constitution. The specifics are interesting, but I thought the conclusion was the most important part. We've gotten so used to the idea of government power that it sounds strange to say the government doesn't have the authority to do something. But that was the idea the founding fathers had; they wanted the government to be weak so that it didn't turn into a tyranny. They'd had enough of that from the king of England. It's a good thing to keep in mind.

The Black Brigade

Is this a photo shoot or a porno?

If you haven't heard about Tim Tebow's GQ pictures, here is the authors comments:

Tebow is six feet three and 245 pounds, all thick polygons and smooth flat planes and inescapable corn-fed handsomeness. He's wearing a billowy white shirt and loose-fitting jeans that somehow only underscore the solidity of his bulk, like a tarpaulin draped over a concrete pylon. You can see why coaches have always wanted to deploy his body as a battering ram. ...

He looks smaller in person than on TV or on a stage. Something to do with the geometry of his body, the relentless blockiness; distance turns Tebow into a cartoon. Close-up he's rounder, reassuringly 3-D, wearing a sea blue T-shirt and long ivory shorts. He grabs a hard-boiled egg from a bowl at the dining commons. With exquisite casualness, he tosses it back and forth from hand to hand without cracking the shell. ...

Tim Tebow moves; glides? drifts?-back to his seat, his plate heaped with three sausage patties, a syrup-drenched waffle, and five hard-boiled eggs. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asks, and pours me a glass of orange juice. ...

His chin is stubbly. He smells strongly of deodorant, and his thick-lashed eyes are impressively serene, considering that a mere forty-five minutes ago, back in the Florida weight room, Tebow was grunting next to a painted slogan that read PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY, doing calf raises with a 300-pound offensive lineman sitting on his shoulders. (In the weight room, Tebow wore a blue spandex shirt with an orange flame crawling up the sleeve; everyone else was in gray.)

To Sand We Return

Top 15

IMDb has posted its "The Top Rated Films of the New Millennium", the best rated films since 2000 based on the IMDb user ratings. The top three are The Dark Knight, LOTR: The Return of the King, and City of God.

John Nolte at Big Hollywood has also posted his top 15 in response. His top three are: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Passion of the Christ, and The Dark Knight.

I've seen most of the films on both lists and I'd say they're both pretty solid selections. Except for Napoleon Dynamite, I hate that movie, even though it has a llama.

Punch Line

I think Wojo pretty well sums up my feelings on this Favre joining the Vikings.

Breaking News

Brett Favre is really awful at making up his mind.

I'll Huff, and I'll Puff...

The Tigers aquired Aubrey Huff from the B-more Orioles yesterday. If I'm correct, when we went to Cleveland for one of our Baseball Stadium Tours, they were playing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (not just the Rays, the Devil Rays). We were all standing on the porch in left field...about 25 yards from a delicious lemonade stand...watching the TB batting practice. All of a sudden, a homerun ball came flying right at us. The ball hit my hand (ouch) and bunced around us. I eventually got the ball. But, if memory serves me correct, I wanted to know who hit the ball, and all I could see was "Huff" and #44.


UPDATE BEFORE POSTING: Apparently memory only served a little bit correct. I remember the batter hitting from the right side of homeplate. I just realized Aubrey Huff's profile lists him as batting lefty, hence the major reason the Tigers traded for him.

My bad. Well, it was a great story. At least I plugged the lemonade stand back into our memory banks.

Heck. Why not make a reference to the annoying guy dressed up as an indian banging the drum 9 innings straight in the top row of the left-center seats.

Rock Star

I was reading the paper as I was getting my oil changed this morning and there was an article about how popular Jay Cutler is with Bears fans. It included a chart comparing Cutler to... the Beatles. Really. Apparently fans knocked down a fence at training camp so they could get closer to him.

I'm sure they have realistic expectations for the season though.

Imagine That

Michael Vick, on returning to the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles:

"I think everybody deserves a second chance, I think as long as you are willing to come back and do it the right way and do the right things and that you’re committed, then I think you deserve it. But you only get one shot at a second chance, and I am conscious of that."

Shocking that the guy who desperately needs a second chance after taking a wrecking ball to his life believes in second chances. So did Vick actually change, or just learn that he's not untouchable? Tony Dungy seems to think he's changed. Does anyone else?

MSU vs. Notre Dame

I need to start getting ready for the season.

Fantasy Draft

Is anyone ready to make plans for the 2009 Fantasy Draft? The season starts 9/10. Labor Day is 9/7. I will be in town from 9/5 to 9/12. Thoughts?

By the way, you do have to sign up to be able to play.

The Butcher

Top Gear tests communist cars, part 2.

Top Gear tests communist cars, part 1.

Top Gear reviews the Ford Fiesta

Unwinding from the long drive on Saturday I sat down on the couch, started flipping through channels, and came across Top Gear on BBC America. What I've seen before was pretty entertaining, so I stopped surfing and started watching. They featured this segment, which may be the best car review ever: