Forgotten loser from last week.

Those of you who go to football games probably have been near someone like who I am about to describe. I went home last weekend to see my high school alma mater, Massillon play host to Saint Ignatius. Playing Ignatius is like playing a college team. They are that good and that stacked.

Massillon has a new football coach that is trying to change the culture of the program and instill some discipline that has been missing in the past.

Anyway, Ignatius jumped out to a 14-0 lead about a minute into the game! The Wildcats were leading 35-0 at the end of the first quarter. Massillon just isn't talented or big enough to deal with a team like Iggy.

The point of my post is this butthead who was sitting on the aisle seat in Section Three. He was wearing a big white Massillon jersey with the number 34 on it. As Massillon was making mistakes and turnovers that were leading to quick scores, this jerk was screaming and yelling at the kids on the bench. I noticed some of the players turned around to see who was yelling. It was getting so bad at one point that people in the section were yelling at this guy to shut up. Thankfully, he didn't stick around.

This is high school football for crying outloud, not the Browns. I think the kids knew they were not playing well. They didn't need some jerk (insert better words here) to yell at them that they were playing badly.

Not a good answer.

It was nice of Wolf Blitzer to attempt to offer up an excuse for Palin. "She's trying to cram a lot in there." Yes, it was a lot...of unrelated thoughts and a very weak attempt at a legitimate answer. I just have this weird, anxious feeling whenever Palin talks; like I expect her to mess but I don't know how badly. It reminded me of the following infamous question and answer.

Winners and Losers

It's not often that I can put the Winner and Loser in the same video but hey, it happens. Last night's debate was interesting. I have to give John McCain his props. He did better than I expected for a guy who prefers town forum style meetings.

Anyway, my winner of the week, is Barack Obama. For a guy who has been hammered for not knowing foreign policy or not being experienced in it, I think he handled himself quite well.

Loser of the week goes to the "Bitter Beer Face" at 1:04 in this video. And then, who is McCain craning his neck to look at at 1:11? A lot is being said about the nonverbal communication in this debate. Besides the odd facial expressions by McCain, he never looked at Barack during the entire debate. That came off as awkward.

One last issue, we all know that a lot of what makes candidates successful is how they are marketed and promoted...you know, the image. However, I wish the following words and/or phrases could be banned from any future debates or appearances that get replayed on the news or elsewhere:
(In no particular order)
"I have a pen..."
"I will make them famous..."
"I am the candidate for change" (for both...obviously, either candidate technically is a change from Bush)
"maverick"
"First dude"
"Reformer"
"Drill, Baby, Drill"
"Community Organizer"
"Hockey mom"
"9/11"
"September 11th"

It just seems like whenever either candidate gets stuck, these catchphrases creep their way in to the speech or response.

Does she know her own running mate?

Just watch the last minute where Katie Couric asks essentially the same question three times. How can she NOT KNOW the accomplishments and reforms by her "maverick" running mate???? Even the Republican supporters have to be asking "what the hell?" Yes, she is apparently a very nice woman but jeez, she is so unprepared for this high of an office.

All of her answers seem very rehearsed and revolve around catch-phrases..."track record," "maverick," "reform", etc.

New studio at WBGU

On a recent walk through West Hall after my class at Bowling Green State University, I stopped by the radio stations. Pictured above is the brand new renovated studio of WBGU 88.1 FM. I spent several shifts in this studio from 1989-1993. I loved every minute in that room during my undergrad years. It's good to see the university is still committed to giving students the best training possible to get a jump start on their careers.

Nice job, BGSU!

See you at Homecoming next weekend!

Who is riding the gravy train here?

From Yahoo!'s Entertainment section:
She's Just Being Miley
posted by celestia - Mon, Sep 22, 2008, 12:25 pm PDT

"Rumor has it that Miley Cyrus is being a total brat on the set of her hit Disney show, "Hannah Montana." Us Weekly notes that there have been reports the tween queen shows up incredibly late to the set. In addition to being tardy, she allegedly told Disney execs that she'll only shoot 12 of the 24 planned episodes of her new season. If that's true, who does this girl think she is? Yes, she's sold millions of albums. Yes, her program nabs big ratings for the channel. Yes, her merchandising makes millions. But, let's be real ... without Disney's financial and creative support, Miley would only be known as Billy Ray's 16-year-old daughter!"

****Ok, are you kidding me? The original story goes on longer. I couldn't believe the last line of the opening paragraph. I think right now, and probably until Miley becomes irrelevant, if she ever does, the consensus public feeling is something like, "Oh, that Billy Ray guy is Miley's father" and NOT the other way around.

Winners and Losers

Winners of the Week



I love old buildings. I graduated from Massillon Washington High School...the old one that was built in 1910 and torn down several years ago. I had history class in the same room where football legend Paul Brown taught. When I got my Bachelors Degree at BGSU, I played pickup games of hoops in the old Eppler gym that still has a walking track above the court like in the old school gyms.

At Toledo, the Memorial Field House was built in 1931 and this past Thursday, a dedication or Grand Re-Opening was held in front of the building. It used to be home to the university basketball teams and many big names came through the doors. Being old and needing modernization, the university put money into it to make it a very open and inviting place for learning. Plenty of natural light from skylights and up-to-date looking conference and classrooms make this a great place to go.

So, long story short, for my love of old buildings, I have to give my "Winners of the Week" to the planners and designers who saved this old building from the wrecking ball and kept Memorial Field House as something useful.

OH, and as part of this Grand Re-Opening, the university served free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks to everybody who came. I waited in line about 15 minutes for my freebies.

Loser of the Week
NBA player Josh Howard runs away with the title this week after cellphone video surfaced of him criticizing the national anthem and saying that he's "black" and he doesn't support that *&%$. I will not embed the video on this blog to be replayed. You can do a YouTube search for Josh Howard anthem and see it for yourself. There are a couple of other things wrong with the video besides Howard's anti-American rant. First, whoever the idiot is walking around as the anthem is being sung, there's no reason to be getting cellphone video and bothering othes as the anthem is going on. Second, the repeated use of the "n-word" is deplorable. There is no justifying it. I don't care who says it. And everytime it is said, I think even less of the person who said it.

Legitimate concern?

I watched ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopolous" this past Sunday and a supporter from the Obama campaign and one from the McCain campaign were on. The lady representing the McCain campaign raised the issue that attacking McCain for his age is age discrimination.

Is it ever ok to judge whether of not someone is fit to take on a job based on age? If so, what jobs or occupations?

The issues

In watching the two vice-presidential candidates tour the country, there's a pattern forming in their appearances. Joe Biden will recognize the town where he is in and gear his speech to that town and the issues that face that town. Sarah Palin will recognize the town she is in and then mention her family, her world champion "first dude" husband, the fact he works on an oil rig and then why John McCain, the maverick, is the candidate for change. These appearances follow the script each time. One addresses the issues and the other dances around them.

Sure, I'm liberal but watch the coverage and the speeches. There's a reason why Palin does what she does. She's trying to appeal to the "common folks"...even if it means not addressing foreclosures, the economy, or gas prices. Constantly saying that you are not "old Washington" doesn't help. WE GET THAT and can obviously see for ourselves that she isn't "old Washington."

This could be our leader.

I must begin this post with my disclaimer that my views are not representative of any institution or organization. The following commentary is solely my view on the current political scene.

Readers, pay close attention. This could be our President. Sarah Palin would be the first v-p to not have met with any foreign head of state in at about 30 years.

Being able to "see Russia from land in Alaska" as she says does not count as foreign experience.

Palin failed at explaining her "this is a war from God" statement. She diverted the attention away from that question.

And even though there are different parts of the "Bush Doctrine," shouldn't Palin be ready to offer up her response instead of asking Charlie for clarification? Couldn't she have said, "Well, Charlie, it depends what part you are talking about. I think that..."

Seeing her utter the line of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" made me feel like I was watching a remake of "Legally Blonde." Rah-rah.

Saying that Sarah Palin is qualified to be President is like saying a high school principal is ready to run a state department of education.

****Rush Limbaugh and others, you have my permission to save the following paragraph for after the debates. Thank you.

Furthermore, Democratic v-p nominee Joe Biden is in a no-win situation for his debate with Palin. On one side, if he crushes her, which he should, critics and analysts in the media will say he took advantage of Palin (and the charges of "he shouldn't have been so mean because she's a woman" will follow...most likely from Rush Limbaugh and others.) And on the other side, if Biden eases up a little or goes soft on Palin, critics (Rush and company again) will say he did it because again, she's a woman and felt sorry for her. Based on Palin's performance with Charlie Gibson, Palin better do some homework and hit the books. Study hard, Sarah! Let me say this to make myself clear...look for the media like Rush and others to make these criticisms. I am obviously not a member of the mainstream media and cannot influence public opinion. I am just giving you a "heads up" on what to look for after the debates.

Now, let's say a woman of Hillary's experience were in Palin's seat. I don't see the criticisms happening above that I describe simply because someone with a resume like Hillary will not make or allow for those excuses. And as I said before, it's too bad that Bush's eight years have been so bad because Condi Rice would have made a much better pick for v-p but her ties to Bush prevented a v-p pick from happening.

Winners and Losers of the week.

Winners of the week go to the two Presidential candidates for putting their differences aside for a day and helping to take a moment to recognize those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001.


My Loser of the Week is the clown above named Russell Brand, who as I mentioned in an earlier post, hosted the MTV Video Music Awards. This relatively unknown British comic, was as erratic and out of control as his hair. This guy makes Sanjaya's hair look good. In a rant in which he told the audience to vote for Obama, he blasted President Bush and called him a "retarded cowboy." There are two sides to this issue. One, it's a comedy routine, so I'm sure he, as well as other comics would say they deserve to have "creative freedom." On the flip side and more seriously, against the comic, the point where he said that, his routine took on more of a political commentary than it did a comedy routine. And if someone is going to give a pro-Obama speech or rant, do it in a dignified way. Don't call Bush a "retarded cowboy." Doing things like that negates any credibility the speaker has and it makes liberals look bad...or any other party that uses language like that.

Britney's back, I guess.

MTV should get an environmental award for how many times they recycle Britney Spears. At their annual Video Music Awards, Britney, somehow, won three video awards. I had no idea she was still relevant.

I just don't understand how many of the young folks I work with day in and day out say her music "sucks" but she still ends up winning these awards. Is it just image? I'm guessing so.

To her credit, she atoned for what critics said was a horrendous performance last year.

I don't think British comic Russell Brand will be coming back for another host job. That was horrible. Check out any clips on YouTube of this clown's act.

The GOP backdrop

It appears there's more of a story behind the video wall that was behind John McCain during his speech. Read on. Oops!!!!

McCain's backdrop baffles California school
Fri Sep 5, 6:26 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Staff at a California school were scratching their heads on Friday after their facility mysteriously appeared as a backdrop during John McCain's Republican Convention speech.

A giant image of Walter Reed Middle School in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood was one of several pictures projected onto a backdrop at the Republican Convention on Thursday as McCain addressed delegates.

However ABC and online reports have speculated McCain's campaign could have intended to show a picture of the prestigious Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. rather than a relatively obscure school in California.

A McCain campaign spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reasons for the selection of the photo. But Walter Reed Middle School's principal Donna Tobin said in a statement that use of the school's image had come as a surprise.

"It has been brought to the school's attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention," Tobin said.

"Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school's picture an endorsement of any political party or view."

Walter Reed hospital was at the center of a national scandal in 2007 after revelations of negligent patient care at the facility. Reports revealed how wounded soldiers convalescing at the hospital were often lost in a bureaucratic morass as outpatients, or housed in rooms with moldy walls, holes in the ceiling and infestations of rodents and cockroaches.

Winners and Losers

The winners of the week go to the mighty Bowling Green State University Falcons who upset the 25th ranked team in college football last week, the Pitt Panthers, by a score of 27-17. BG hosts Minnesota tomorrow. Go Falcons!

Another winner of the week...even though I lean left, I have to give John McCain his props for giving a civil speech. He attacked the Democrats but didn't come off arrogantly doing it. I also have to respect the guy who takes the national stage and gives credit to his mom. That scores points with me.

Democratic readers of this blog...I'll give you a moment to recover from that last statement before you proceed.

My loser or losers of the week go to the person or people who gave the green light to putting on the video at the Republican National Convention that showed the tragedy of 9-11 and attempted to make the case that John McCain will keep us safe. There is no need to show the second plane slamming into the World Trade Center. As I have written a couple times now, using someone's and this country's worst and most horrific tragedy for political gain is sick.

Another Loser of the week is Linda Hogan, Hulk Hogan's ex. According to Yahoo News, in divorce papers, it says that Linda Bollea's monthly expenses include $7,258 on clothing; $1,318 on grooming; $6,100 on vacations, the documents state. Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, spends $102 on clothing by comparison, and more than $38,000 on legal and accounting fees. Women readers of this blog, can you please help me out. Why would a woman need $1,300 for grooming...a MONTH? That's over $300 a week! I would run out of space spending over $7,200 in clothing a month. The news article doesn't say how much Hulk, I mean, Terry spends on tanning and uh, "weight lifting supplements."

McCain's big night

Tonight was John McCain's big night. Thankfully, the "presumptive" prefix is now off all of the candidates.

I thought McCain's speech tonight was pretty good. Sure, he got off his jabs at Obama but I thought he was very diplomatic about it. He didn't belittle or demean Obama's resume as Palin did.

I thought McCain did what he had to do. He barely mentioned Bush as he wants to distance himself from Dubya. He played up his war service as kind of a way to make the people of the country believe his heroic and valiant efforts as a veteran will carry over to the White House.

I have give McCain props for bringing up education. This hasn't been touched on too much during the campaigns. He mentioned unions as well as good and bad teachers and schools that don't do well but I was hoping to hear some connection to No Child Left Behind. Would he reform it or keep it as it is?

The Republicans and their supporters made a big stink about Obama's "Greek like stage." Being a broadcast teacher, I was distracted by the "video" background of McCain's stage. Too many times, on medium shots (chest up) of McCain, we saw bright blue in the background (see above picture) and when the shot went wide, it was revealed that that blue was part of a shot of the sky with the American flag. Or we saw a loud green in the background. I thought something was wrong with the background and it looked to me like a weather forecaster's "green screen" or "chroma-hey" background.

While looking for some images to upload on this blog, I went to Yahoo news which carries news/photos from the Associated Press. When I worked in media, I tried to give people a fair representation in the press. If they interviewed poorly, I tried not to let it show on the air by doing some serious editing or some other means to minimize the damage. How could the photo below be used? That's such an awkward picture!

Governor Palin

Ok, I preface this with a disclaimer. My thoughts do not represent any organization or institution. They are merely my own thoughts and reactions to this campaign.

I have to say that Governor Palin's first speech on this grand of a stage was impressive. She came off well. However, as her counterpart, Joe Biden has already said, during her approximately hour long speech, gas prices, foreclosures, affordable college tuition, and the middle class were all missing from the speech. Heck, I don't remember hearing any references to Gulf Coast, which was hit hard by another hurricane, which altered the convention. And before you ask, "Did Obama say anything about those things?" Yep. He did. You better believe I'll be listening for these things tonight during McCain's speech. How about affordable health care?

I just find it hard to attach credibility to someone who blasts "big oil" companies on one hand and in the same speech, she acknowledges that her husband works for an oil company and a relative who opened their own service station.

Somebody from the right needs to straighten me out on the whole experience issue. Governor Palin says because she has been mayor and governor (executive experience), she therefore, has more experience for the top office than Senator Obama. If it were up to me, I think I would rather have someone who has been in Washington and knows lawmakers and can navigate the mess that is in Washington. People have been blasting Obama's foreign policy experience. What is Palin's foreign policy experience?

Getting back to my initial impressions of Palin's speech...I think my favorable impressions of Palin's performance relate to the fact that my expectations were so low and she did better than I expected. She is no Admiral Stockdale (Ross Perot's running mate). This wasn't a case of me having high expectations and having her met them.

I read that John McCain met Palin ONCE in person and called her on the phone once before asking her to be his running mate. Last night, a Republican strategist said on tv that Mitt Romney was initially going to be offered the spot and then that offer was reneged because of Hillary's speech last week. I think most of the criticism towards the Palin pick is because people see her as unqualified.

Final note: I watched last night from 10 o'clock through the end of Palin's speech. As has been a criticism of the Republicans and especially Bush, whenever the public opinion goes south, the gameplan is to bring up 9-11. Rudy Giuliani referenced it and then Sarah Palin mentioned that her son would be going back for another tour of duty "a week from tomorrow on September 11th."

Choice of words.

A few posts back, I mentioned how some headline writers were using the word "raps" with Obama in terms of criticizing McCain and that I doubt we'll see that word used with McCain's camp.

Today's Toledo Blade has an interesting headline that accompanies a story about Barack Obama's visit to Michigan over the weekend. Here it is.

Article published Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Obama adds 'soul' to plea for victims
By TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER
DETROIT - Barack Obama vamped a few words from Motown songstress Aretha Franklin's classic "Chain of Fools" here yesterday before turning serious about the storm that forced millions of people along the Gulf coast to abandon their homes.

*****Now, while the article mentions that Barack made a reference to an Aretha Franklin song, do you think the author of the article, intended there to be a hidden racial double meaning with the use of the word "soul"?

Furthermore, again, do you think that we would see "soul" put in quotes in a headline describing John McCain if he did the exact same speech?

Fantasy Football

Every year, a group of guys get together and draft football players to have make believe games every weekend. This is a simple explanation of fantasy football. Last year, my team, the Massillon Hitmen won the Total Points Championship as well as the Most Improved Franchise Award (as designated by the Al Davis plaque). I didn't win the whole thing. A very worthy opponent beat me in the final contest.

However, I am looking forward to another fun year. I took a couple risks in drafting Ricky Williams and Edgerrin James. If it pans out, it will look good. Last year, I drafted Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, LaDanian Tomlinson, Jamaal Lewis, and Braylon Edwards. Owens, Moss, and Edwards had their issues in the past and fellow team owners thought I was nuts. But at the end of the season, I had at least one top five player in the QB, RB, and WR positions in the NFL. That's just lucky.

My league held its draft yesterday and I was able to get Romo again. I also drafted Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards again.

Ah, the excitement of football.

Just a hint for an early "Winner of the Week" for next Friday, it might be a certain college football team that pulled off an upset.