the Coolidge Test

A thoughtful analysis of the presidents performance.

"President Barack Obama is an Ivy League-educated man of considerable intelligence and ambition who has surrounded himself with numerous experts to help in his decision-making. With these advantages, he has tried a number of things to help the country domestically and in the area of foreign affairs. But at the end of the day, how does Obama’s efficacy in office compare to that of a sack of hammers?"

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A question for those of you who are bigger baseball fans than I: Now that Justin Verlander has his 20th win, and before the end of August to boot, should he win the MVP? If not, is there a number of wins he needs to have to be a candidate? Paul Sporer of ESPN has some discussion here. Regarding the argument that a pitcher doesn't play enough to truly deserve the MVP, Sporer observes:

Looking at Verlander’s 216 innings shows that he has pitched 18.6 percent of the Tigers' total innings (1161) while the team’s best offensive player and marginal MVP candidate, Miguel Cabrera, has logged 577 plate appearances, or 11.5 percent of their 5,001 total plate appearances. So who is really making a bigger contribution?

That conclusively settles that argument for me. Any other thoughts from you baseball guys?

A Thought

Perhaps this might come across as a little insensitive, but after seeing some of the news about Hurricane Irene it strikes me that New York City on the day a hurricane hit would be a fantastic setting for an action movie or a mystery/thriller. Can you imagine? Daniel Craig. Dwayne Johnson. Emily Blunt. Storm Surge. Summer 2013. It practically writes itself.

Draft Day

Is everyone planning on having our 2011 draft next weekend? It's our traditional time, but I thought I had better check. Also, we have only 6 managers signed up so far, it would be nice to have everyone in before we draft. We can't start unless we have an even number.

Some draft links:
Fox's Draft Guide
ESPN's Draft Kit
Yahoo's Draft Kit

I'm thinking of going with ESPN's top 300 as the default list rather than Fox's top 200. Thoughts?

Football Humor

Via The Corner: "Which NFL team should I root for?"

Age of Reptiles

It All Makes Perfect Sense

Maybe this explains why the Lions have never really tried to build a winning team. You make more money...LOSING!

Boooooo!

Now that things have settled down, I have a chance to get to the theater to see Captain America. Unfortunately, a few of the city theaters are already pulling it or reducing the number of showtimes, which makes it difficult to fit into a schedule (especially if they say they have a 9:50 showtime on their automated recording only to find out at 6:30 when you get there that 4:40 was their actual last show for the day.)

I've been gone a lot since it was released, but I was pretty confident it hadn't come to the Cass Theater yet. But when the poster showed Smurfs as the next show after this weeks Cowboys and Aliens, I started to wonder. (No way does he show "CA" Friday, Sept. 2...six weeks after it was released.) So, I called the theater last night and asked when it was coming. It's not. BOOOOOOO! How do you not have a way to fit Captain America into your summer rotation?

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So now that the Raiders have selected Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft, is he going to be a flop or a huge flop? Not that I expected him to succeed, but going to the Raiders pretty well seals the deal.

Good news everyone!

Matthew Stafford played for 5 minutes in an exhibition game last night and didn't get injured. So, hey, that's one in a row. If we're lucky he might make it through the preseason, but there's always the chance of getting hurt while he's playing Xbox or washing his car.

Static

Man of Steel

From ComingSoon.net via Big Hollywood:

RE: Movie Trailers

This trailer?



Usually I feel like a trailer loses something after I've seen the movie a dozen times, but that's still pretty awesome. The teaser trailer isn't bad either, I think I prefer it to the one for The Dark Knight Rises, even though it doesn't have any scenes from the movie:

Movie Trailers

I watched "I Am Legend" last night on DVD and the best part of the movie was seeing the trailer for "The Dark Knight." It still sends chills down my spine and gets me even more geeked for 2012. When I finished the movie, I went back to watch the trailer again. I also noticed in the trailer that there was no reference to Harvey Dent. In fact, there was probably less Bruce Wayne/Batman than the Joker.

Bright Eyes (Live)

It's Good to Have the NFL Back

You've probably noticed that the sports-related posts around here have fallen off dramatically. That's because there just hasn't been that much interesting enough to me to be worth the effort. But now the NFL is back, so here's a quick summary of the first few days of free agency, mostly the ones with fantasy impact:

-DeAngelo Williams is staying with Carolina.

-Reggie Bush is going to Miami, and now that I've typed that sentence I have to post this:



-Kevin Kolb, displaced from Philadelphia by Michael Vick, is going to Arizona.

-Chad formerly Johnson has signed with the Patriots.

-Vince Young has signed with Philly, presumably to see if he can learn something from Vick.

-The Eagles also signed CB Nnamdi Asomugha, the best cornerback on the market.

-Brett Favre is still retired.

Avengers: SHIELD

Avengers: Hawkeye

Avengers: Black Widow

Avengers: Captain America

Avengers: Hulk

Game on?

According to ESPN, the NFLPA and the owners have reached an agreement that will end the lockout. There are still a few hurdles left, but according to the article these are considered formalities and shouldn't slow anything down. Assuming there aren't any issues, free agency will begin on Saturday.

Avengers: Thor

Avengers: Iron Man

Star Wars Deleted Scenes

Thoughts on Captain America

-I liked the movie a lot. I think most people will call it the best of the Marvel movies so far. It has to at least be a tie with Iron Man. It reminded me somewhat of Indiana Jones, mostly in tone and that it's a period piece. And also the Nazis.

-Chris Evans was excellent in the role. I had my doubts when he was cast, but I don't think anyone else would have done any better.

-The rest of the cast was great too. Hugo Weaving is excellent as the Red Skull. Tommy Lee Jones basically plays himself, or at least the character you usually see him play, but that's perfect for the part. Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter has much more to do than I would have expected and plays the role very well. She's also an absolute knockout in this movie, I expect you'll see her in a lot more films in the next year or two.

-The film is a little more violent than I would have expected. Nothing graphic, but a few places where it might take you off guard, like when a HYDRA soldier goes through a spinning propellor blade.

-There's a Wilhelm scream in the movie. I don't recall any of those in other Marvel movies.

-The score is very John Williams-ish, there's a sequence with a fight on a train that sounds a lot like a piece from Star Wars.

-Pre-serum Steve Rogers looks good in the movie, not as odd as in the trailers. The rest of the effects are pretty decent, but I think they outstripped their budget. There's a lot of scenes where it's pretty obvious that you're looking at green screen work.

-I still think the HYDRA costumes, and Cap's suit, look too future and not retro enough, but it looks okay on screen. I think they pushed the designs for HYDRA pretty hard because they were worried that the audience would think they were normal Nazis.

-The post-credit sequence is a teaser for Avengers. Definitely worth sticking around for, it got a round of applause at the showing I went to. It looks fantastic, but I'm honestly more excited to see Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark interact with Cap and Thor than any action pieces.

"Going Out of Business"

After watching Captain America last night I stopped in at the Borders across the street. I figured they might have some good deals since they're liquidating. Well, half the people in the Quad Cities must have had the same idea, there wasn't a place to park in the parking lot. I finally got in and it looked like it would have taken 30+ minutes to check out. That didn't look like fun, but I thought there must be some good deals if people were putting up with it. So I started looking around and the biggest discount? Twenty percent off. That almost makes them competitive with Amazon. Needles to say, I left without buying anything.

Car of the Week

On Father's Day, we went to Frankenmuth to celebrate...everyone's birthday. There are four June birthday's in the King family, so we get big discounts on the chicken dinners, yada yada yada. Woohoo!

As we were leaving the Bavarian parking lot, I noticed some humans checking out a vehicle as if they've never seen one before, let alone certainly not their way of transportation that afternoon.

So, when they were done gawking, I stolled over and tried to pretend it was just another ugly Bugatti. It didn't take long for me to also realize I'd never seen this type of car before, in fact, I had no idea what it was (that's not really saying much, I know Japanese about as good as cars). I looked at the emblem on the grill, but that was really no help. It looked like two M's inside each other. I really should have taken a picture. Not sure why I didn't. Maybe because I knew this was nothing in the ballpark of a Bugatti, and once you've seen one of those, everything else is just small potatoes.

But, I filed it in the back of my mind and hoped the M's had something of importance...or at least that I thought they were M's and could help me later. So, it's now later and I did a little search of auto's that start with the letter M...that I've never heard of and would sound foreign/expensive. I don't know the model, but it's in the Maybach family tree.

A 2011 Maybach ranges between $372,000 and $463,000 if you are shoping for a vehicle.

Comic Cover of the Week: Daredevil #1

SSC Tuatara

The Bugatti Veyron, the fastest road-legal car in the world, has been mentioned a few times on this blog, and even photographed by Ump:



Well, the Veyron is going to have some competition as Shelby Supercars (SSC) is making a car meant to take that record, the Tuatara:



That is one fantastic looking car. I don't know about you, but I think I have a guess as to the inspiration:

Dark Knight Rises

"You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

I saw a crazy car yesterday at the gas station. Just as I was pulling up to the pump an older Chevy pulled in, probably an '85 or older Caprice Classic. It was rolling on at least 19" rims, maybe larger, but that wasn't the remarkable part. The top was yellow and the rest of the car was bright green. On the side there was an airbrushed scene featuring the Incredible Hulk. I should have taken a picture, but I was so in shock it didn't occur to me.

Comic Cover of the Week: Hellboy: The Fury #2

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Poster

Via Big Hollywood.

Game of Thrones Theme

I haven't watched HBO's Game of Thrones yet, but this mashup of two different covers of the theme music is awesome:

Comic Cover of the Week: Red Skull #1

Comic Cover of the Week: Detective Comics #878

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This is for those of you who never read comics. DC Comics, the publishers of Superman, Batman, etc is undergoing a major revamp in September. One part of this is updating the costumes of many heroes, including Superman. Now if the word "iconic" has any meaning I think Superman would fit it, but DC thinks this will help sales. Here are some pics:

VS.

I don't expect anyone reading this is going to go out a buy a new book because of this, but is it positive at all? Does eliminating the red shorts make you more likely to be interested? Does it just seem silly?

Super 8

More like "Super Ain't"...as in Super Ain't good.

The best part of watching Super 8 was getting to see the trailer for Captain America again.

Auto Review: Chevy Aveo5

This week I had to leave my car at the dealer for a little warranty work for a couple days. Ford provided a rental car. Knowing that there was no way Ford was going to spring for anything besides a basic car, I was really hoping for a Ford Fiesta based on this Top Gear review:



Unfortunately the car was not supplied by Ford, but rather provided by Ford through Hertz, so what I ended up with was the 2011 Chevy Aveo5:


It left such an impression that I thought I would write something.

The Pros
-My rental car looked exactly like the picture above. It's not especially good-looking, but it's pretty inoffensive, obviously a Chevy, and a big improvement over the previous model.

-There's lots of headroom, not that I would be the best judge. (That's a short joke.) It's easy to see out of the car at all angles.

-I really didn't like the 1.6 L 108-hp engine at first, but after driving around for two days I decided it was adequate for driving around town. As long as you stay off the open road you're not going to notice the lack of power.

-It did have AC and a CD player, but no cruise control.

The Cons
-Here's what driving an Aveo on the freeway is like: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA(breath)AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH(breath)HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This car was not designed to go over 55-mph. It has a strained relationship with the road and never feels firmly planted at freeway speeds. Add a crosswind on a bridge over the Mississippi to that and you have a terrifying experience.

-The car vibrated at idle like a two cylinder tractor. I was afraid it was going to explode.

-Those backseats are just for show, there's no way a human could sit in them if anyone was sitting in the front.

-The interior is obviously cheap, though not outstandingly so. The clock is awkwardly positioned on the dash near the windshield rather than on the CD player display.

-The interior door handles are positioned so far forward it can be difficult to open the doors, especially if you don't want to hit the car next to you.

-The car sounds hollow and flimsy when you shut the doors.

I could go on, but I won't. If you have had even a fleeting thought about buying one of these, stop. Please. No one should have to drive this car. You would be better off buying practically anything else. Heck, buy a horse. Even if it kicks you in the face it would be better than driving this car.

Captain America

Withering

Comic Cover of the Week: The Mighty Thor #3

Thoughts on Green Lantern

A few thoughts on Green Lantern, which I saw on Friday:

-I liked it, though not as much as Thor. It's a decent film, but it had the potential to be a lot better. They tried to fit a lot of story into one movie when they probably should have went with less.

-Like Thor, GL starts with exposition that fills you in on the origin of the Corps, their powers, and the source of the threat they face. I don't think it's a problem, but I've seen a lot of whining to the contrary.

-The costume is a little weird, but it worked for me well enough when watching the movie.

-Ryan Reynolds does a good job as Hal Jordan. Not exactly how I picture the character, but close enough.

-Mark Strong is very good as Sinestro, but he doesn't get near enough screen time.

-This movie has the most alien aliens I've ever seen in a movie.

-Yes, there's a lot of CG in this movie. A lot. I've seen complaints about that too and how things don't look real. Most of the CG is pretty good, but so much of the movie is spent in such fantastic locations you're never going to buy it as "real". If that's a problem you should probably go watch something else.

-There is a scene after the main credits, so you don't have to wait as long as you do in the Marvel films. It's a cool scene, but a bit disappointing because it's a major development and it really wasn't set up well enough.

Busy

I know I've been pretty quiet on his for the last 3 months, but I hope this sums it all up.



First time since 1995. We then beat Saginaw Valley Lutheran in the Regional Semi-Finals 6-5. We lost in the Reg. finals to Shepherd 7-3. We had bases loaded in the 7th with 1 out and our #3 hitter up. The #3 and #4 both struck out. Shepherd is the back-to-back defending state champs. They lost today in the State semi-final game.

Sad, Scary,...not surprised

Discrimination in Hollywood? No way.

Unless you're really naive, this shouldn't surprise anyone based on the world we live in today.

After reading the headline, there probably wasn't a GASP! reaction.

In one video, Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman says that when she cast Candace Gingrich-Jones, half-sister of Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as the minister of a lesbian wedding, “There was a bit of ‘f--- you’ in it to the right wing.”

Kauffman also acknowledges she “put together a staff of mostly liberal people,” which is another major point of Shapiro’s book: that conservatives aren’t welcome in Hollywood.

However, the ranks of dumb right-wingers has dwindled, according to Harris, whose video has her saying: “At least, you know, we put Obama in office, and so people, I think, are getting – have gotten – a little bit smarter.”

MacGyver certainly had an anti-gun theme, but (1) what's wrong with that, (2) that was kinda the point of his character, and (3) I didn't really see that changing the culture of the world much.

What's Your Point?

Percentage of black MLB players declines again‏:

I hate stories like this, especially when it comes from ESPN. I don't hear anyone complaining about the lack of white players in the NBA, so why is this "news"? I'm no professional sports team owner, but I'm pretty sure it comes down to who can produce the desired results, regardless of skin color. Is it that hard to figure out that maybe black kids growing up are better at basketball and choose to play that over baseball?

Ring Capacity

"We're all tired of hearing about Dr. Seuss."

Via Big Hollywood, at Dartmouth Conan O'Brien gives one of the best commencement speeches ever:

The most awesome news you'll read all day.

There's 33 episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe available on Hulu, but all 65 episodes are now available on Netflix streaming. Andy, you need to start William on these right now.

Comic Cover of the Week: Rocketeer Adventures #2

Nemesis

Although I follow the NBA only a little more closely than I follow NCAA women's volleyball (which is at least aesthetically pleasing), I'm really enjoying the fact that the Miami Heat, and LeBron James in particular, lost the NBA finals. Detroit News writer Vincent Goodwill has an article up about it today. Here's an excerpt:

This is the path the Heat laid for themselves, one of extreme hubris.

Their arrogance was one of a different kind. It differed much than the determined arrogance of the late '80s Pistons or the early '90s Bulls. And it wasn't quite the same as the historical arrogance the late '90s Bulls displayed.

The conceit of their predecessors was built from success, but in most cases it birthed from failure. From silent tears and mental growth. The Heat's arrogance stemmed from pulling off a coup in front of the world, staging a sense of suspense when they all truly knew what they were doing, before James' "Decision."

In doing so, they felt the season would just be a formality, aside from meeting the experienced Celtics and then possibly taking on the defending champion Lakers for an epic Finals showdown.

I think hubris is exactly the right term here, and I can't think of a pro sports team that has invited nemesis the way the Heat did. James, Wade, and Bosh made it pretty clear that they thought they had outsmarted the system and everyone was ready to hand them the title. Now, not only have they blown it, but James has cemented his reputation as the biggest choker in the NBA. It's wonderful, isn't it?

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Michigan's wearing "throwback" uniforms for the Notre Dame game. But if the uniform is a mishmash of old school design elements, is it really a throwback?

Monster on the Radio

Wii U Wha?

Nintendo announced their next system, the terribly named Wii U.

The controller has a built-in touch screen in addition to the accelerometers. The whole thing looks terrible awkward. I want to be excited, but I just can't figure it being comfortable to play with. Besides, I won't be buying it anytime soon anyway regardless.

It will be backwards compatible with the Wii, but not the Gamecube, will have Hi-Def HDMI output, and the controller will be usable to play games as a notepad with data streamed to it by the console. Cool gadget, not sure about it as a game system.

Captain America: Super Soldier

This could be fun:

James Bond will return...

I was recently discussing with my brother that there was a bit of a question mark over the Bond franchise due to studio financial troubles. Well, that must be more or less resolved, because MGM and Sony have announced that Bond 23 will release in the UK on 10/26/2012 and in the US on 11/9/2012.

Comic Cover of the Week: Hellboy: The Fury #1

OR

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Just how happy are Michigan fans that Jim Tressel has resigned? The sweater vest was 106-22 overall at OSU and 9-1 against the Wolverines. He beat MSU a few times as well.

So True

Comic Cover of the Week: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #23

Just a Note

While Chrysler is celebrating paying off its debt to the US government, Henry Payne makes a few observations of how things aren't quite what they seem. Notable points:

-The government still owns 6.6% of Chrysler.

-Chrysler didn't so much pay off the debt as move it to another credit card, just not one owned by the government.

-Taxpayers are still going to lose $1.9 billion on the deal.

-Obama insisted that part of part of Fiat's acquisition deal of Chrysler be that they bring the successful small car from Europe, the Fiat 500, to the US. But what's bringing in the money for Chrysler now? The same as every other US automaker, trucks and SUVs.

Comic Cover of the Week: Rocketeer Adventures #1

Petroglyphs

It's not every day you see an article in a Detroit paper start with a location of Cass City, but the lead story on the Detroit News website today is about the Sanilac Petroglyphs. Short version: The Petroglyphs are eroding away because the government does not want to spend the money to protect them and there's difficulty getting private money because of general economic conditions in the Thumb and legal issues involving Indian tribes.

Green Lantern

Go Green!

MSU has won a share of the Big Ten baseball title by beating Northwestern 10-1 today, the Spartans' first since 1979. The Spartans can win the title outright with a win over Northwestern tomorrow or if Illinois loses to Indiana tonight.

Comic Cover of the Week: Daredevil: Reborn #4

RE: Thor

A few thoughts of my own:

-I liked it quite a bit myself, not sure exactly where it ranks against the other Marvel Studios films. Ahead of Hulk anyway.

-I was surprised that the movie managed to be funny without being cheesy. I was worried it would slip up in this department, but it managed to not get stupid.

-Ump, what did you think of the costumes? I thought they came out well on screen when they could have looked pretty goofy, but I'm more tolerant of that sort of thing than the average viewer.

-I'd heard it was doing fairly well with women, so it's nice to hear some confirmation of that. I actually thought it needed about two more scenes on Earth to flesh the relationship angle and I wouldn't have minded that at all. Maybe I just wanted more Natalie Portman.

-I think Hemsworth is going to be a star. He seemed to carry the film without any trouble. Also, having good actors makes a huge difference. Anthony Hopkins was great as Odin.

-Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, the guy with the bow, got me psyched for Avengers. I really hope they get him some screen time, which is going to be tough with Iron Man, Cap, and Thor.

-The device at the end was almost certainly the cosmic cube. It gives anyone who holds it the power to turn their thoughts into reality. It's sometimes possessed and often pursued by Captain America villain the Red Skull. I'd be surprised if it didn't show up in Captain America. I also think it's practically guaranteed that Loki and the cube will either be or cause the main threat in Avengers. Loki was the villain in The Avengers #1 way back in 1963.

Thor

Saw it. Good flick. My wife even liked it...it had a love story. She also thought it was pretty funny.

We even stuck around for the crazy end credit scene. I'm getting geeked. Maybe someone could explain their thoughts on what is being talked about at the end credit scene...I don't know comic books as well.

Comic Cover of the Week: Fear Itself #2

Rashard Mendenhall...

...has persuasively made the case for NFL players not being allowed to have Twitter accounts. For example, after tweeting about Bin Laden's death, concerning 9/11 he wrote: "We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style." Sure, he's free to put up whatever he wants, but is that really a good idea? I can't imagine the Steelers front office was thrilled, especially since they released a statement today:

"I have not spoken with Rashard, so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments. The entire Steelers organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon."

I don't think it was hard to explain or comprehend, but I guess that's an official statement for you.

What's in a name?

For those of you dealing with naming children, this might be useful: Most Hated Baby Names.

?

So, is 2011 NFL Draft #1 pick Cam Newton going to be a huge bust, or only a minor one?

Comic Cover of the Week: X-Men #10

The Future

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had an editorial in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that is definitely worth a look. It explains in plain terms what the league will look like if the players win their lawsuits. Short version: No draft, unlimited free agency, no minimum/maximum payroll, no minimum salaries, and no consistency in training camp or substance abuse policies. Does anyone actually believe these things would benefit the league? A major reason the NFL has increased in popularity is because fans believe that any team, even the Lions, has a legitimate chance to be a contender if they play well and make the right personnel moves. The changes described above would blow that away and likely lead to the total destruction of some teams, e.g., Buffalo and Green Bay. Do people understand this?

IX

The New York Times has an article up today accusing many major colleges of deception in reporting numbers of female athletes. A few thoughts:

1. The article reports the "three-pronged test" of Title IX this way:

Universities must demonstrate compliance with Title IX in at least one of three ways: by showing that the number of female athletes is in proportion to overall female enrollment, by demonstrating a history of expanding opportunities for women, or by proving that they are meeting the athletic interests and abilities of their female students.

Problem is, from what I've seen before, in practice the first way is the only way to actually satisfy the requirements of Title IX as decided by the Office of Civil Rights (Think they're ideological at all?). The third would work great if it was actually allowed.

2. Women make up 57% of the college population. You think that puts a strain on a school trying to stay proportional in sports programs?

3. The article takes a shot at football, noting that programs "rarely face cuts." With very few exceptions, to the extent athletic departments are making money, they're making it on football. (I'm sure there's a few men's basketball programs that make money, and maybe the women's at UConn at Tennessee.) Does anyone really think messing with football is going to end up as a plus for female athletes?

What's wrong with wood?

There's an article on ESPN.com from last week about the new metal bats being used in college baseball that I just ran across today. It mentions how MLB scouts love them because power numbers aren't inflated by them the way they were with the old bats. It also notes that the decrease in power is changing strategies and will likely change recruiting. So, if all of these things are good, as the article implies, why didn't they just switch to wooden bats and get rid of metal altogether? Is the danger of broken bats that great?

Comic Cover of the Week: Spectacular Spider-Man #1000

Don't blame the goat.

According to some documents recently acquired by the Chicago History Museum the Chicago Cubs might have thrown the 1918 World Series. So, maybe the curse has to do with cheaters and not a goat? Does that get Bartman off the hook?

Comic Cover of the Week: Deadpool #35

Mobbed

For some reason I've been on a mob kick lately. It started with Goodfellas on Saturday night. It's always been on my list of movies to rent, so I did. Then I watched 12 Angry Men (not necessarily a mob movie, but he does go against a mob of jurors opposing his view). Then I watched Road to Perdition. I own it, but haven't seen it in three years. Of course, bacheloring it right now probably has something to do with it, so I can watch movies with blood and violence again. And some language.

I have until Sunday afternoon, any recommendations? I'm limited to what Videomation might have in their inventory, so if it's a classic, they probably won't have it...like Back to the Future.

Miller Park

It's been a while since I've seen any discussion of ballparks, so I thought I'd link to this review of Miller Park at Right Field. A few things I remember about the trip to Miller Park:

1. The parking lot was large. I do recall many tailgaters.
2. It was probably the nicest weather of any game I've been to.
3. It's the only time I can remember sitting on the left field side.
4. The sausage races weren't quite as entertaining as I'd hoped.

Also, found a pic:

Comic Cover of the Week: Doctor Who Classics: Seventh Doctor #3

Paying College Athletes?

The new sports blog at National Review, Right Field, has an interesting post up about whether college athletes should be paid. There's a number of arguments noted which are mostly familiar, but one was presented that I hadn't heard or thought of previously:

In other words, a significant chunk of top-level FBS programs are losing money. Should those programs be obliged to pay their football and basketball players, even though they aren’t actually producing a net profit? Or should only moneymaking programs be forced to offer player salaries? Would it be “fair” to have a system in which roughly half of all FBS schools paid their players while the other half didn’t? Do we really want blue-chip recruits picking a college based on financial compensation? Wouldn’t the wealthiest programs just scoop up all the best talent?

Meanwhile, would each salaried player on a given team be paid the same amount? If not, who would decide whether the All-American linebacker deserved more money than the All-American wide receiver, or whether the star point guard was more valuable than the star power forward? Would 18-year-olds be negotiating “contracts” with officials in their athletic department? Would they be hiring agents before high-school graduation? And how would all this affect those sports programs that depend on football and basketball revenue to stay afloat?

Can you imagine how much of a mess it would actually be to pay players? What most sports journalists seem to mean when they talk about this is that schools in the FBS should pay their players, possibly major basketball programs too. But how would you end up not paying the women's field hockey team or other equivalent? Can you imagine the mess this would turn into? Granted, that doesn't mean the idea couldn't be considered, but I can't imagine a more unenjoyable drain on college sports than this would surely be.

Liam Neeson

Checked out the movie "Unknown" this weekend. Not sure what it is, but seeing Liam kick tail in every movie just doesn't get old. Speaking of old, he's pushing 60! I don't know what it is, but he's like the cool Chuck Norris. He's way better than Seagal or Van Damme. Again, something attracts me to his movies, maybe it's because he makes me feel I don't have to be young and living in a weight room to know how to handle myself. Or, maybe he can actually act.

Side note: I just looked at his profile on IMDB. He was an uncredited Delta Force member in "The Delta Force" starring...Chuck Norris.

Green Lantern

Stranglehold

Want to see a great example of a reporter trying to be subtly clever in an article? Here's one from the Detroit News about Ted Nugent (emphasis mine): "Rock 'n' roll icon Ted Nugent made the rounds in Lansing on Thursday, meeting with Gov. Rick Snyder and other leaders to make a pitch for loosening regulations he said place a stranglehold on hunters." Nice.

I think Snyder should forget about meeting with Uncle Ted and just appoint him head of the DNR with sole rule-making authority. I'm not sure that's exactly legal, but it ought to be.

Also, video:

Comic Cover of the Week: Amazing Spider-Man #657

Captain America: First Avenger

Radiation

With everything that has happened recently in Japan have you wondered what some of those numbers about radiation actually mean? Check out this chart. It gives you some perspective on radiation amounts, and bananas. Via Jonah Goldberg at The Corner

Comic Cover of the Week: Daredevil: Reborn #3

Happy Birthday...

...to William Shatner, who turns 80 today. Seems like a good time to share a classic Shatner bit:

Arkham City

Comic Cover of the Week: Loki #4

Batman: Arkham City

Moving Out

Apparently it's not just the whole state of Michigan that Ohio State fans hate, but also former Buckeye quarterback Kirk Herbstreit. A "vocal minority" of OSU fans have driven Herbstreit from Columbus to Nashville. Their complaint, apparently, is that Herbstreit doesn't stick up for OSU enough. Or something. Of course, judging by the comments on the News article there's Michigan fans who think he's too tough on UM, so I guess neither school has the market on arrogance cornered. Herbstreit's one of my favorite college football analysts (Keep in mind he uttered the devastating words: "This is why you're Michigan State." I'd have plenty of reasons not to like him.) and always seems like a professional. It's too bad a few nutjobs have driven him out of town.

Why We Watch

After MSU's win over Purdue yesterday in the Big Ten tournament I got to thinking about the unpredictability of the college game. MSU and Purdue played three times this year, here are the results:

1/22 MSU 76, PUR 86
2/27 MSU 47, PUR 67
3/11 MSU 74, PUR 56

Obviously Purdue had less to play for last night since they are already guaranteed a spot in the tournament, but it's still striking to me just how much intangibles can change the outcome of a game.

My Coach Sucks

Comic Cover of the Week: B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Gods #3

Quote of the Day

No question. There's no reason we can't be 16-0 as long as we put in that work. As long as we stay healthy and put in that work, we should be happy with what we end up with.

-Ndamukong Suh, on what to expect from the Lions in 2011