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"Ben Roethlisberger Close to Completing Offseason Without Committing Sex Crime"

From The Onion, of course.

Packers vs. Steelers Isn't David-vs.-Goliath

You root for the Packers in this Super Bowl because if the Steelers left Pittsburgh there would still be the Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2009, and the Pirates. True, they stink, but Albert Pujols visits all the time. If the Packers left, Green Bay's major attraction would be the L.H. Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve. But some people would still take Packerland Drive to get there.

That's ESPN's Rick Reilly who, at least it seems to me, is trying to make the Packers out to be the little guy in the classic Super Bowl match-up this Sunday.  Keep in mind that the Steelers have won 6 championships while the Packers have won 12.  Sure, the Steelers have won 6 Super Bowls, the Packers 3.  Does the fact that we call the championship game a "Super Bowl" lessen the importance of the league championship game that was played without this name?  

With all due respect to my Packer-loving friends, if the Steelers happen to win this Sunday, I'll be happy and that happiness won't be tempered by a feeling that Goliath beat David.

Go Steelers!

Video of the Metrodome Roof Collapse

 

Via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

What's With the Odd Sports Name Changes?

I thought that changing the Omaha Royals' name to the Omaha Storm Chasers was stupid, but changing the MLS's Kansas City Wizards to Sporting Kansas City is, like, stupider.  That sounds more like the name of some rent-seeking sports activist group.

Then again...

Rob Neyer Justly Trashes the Changing of the Name of the Omaha Royals to...

what simply, to me, is a stupid name.  The Omaha Storm Chasers?

They're definitely on the right track, though. I think the problem is that they just haven't taken the fan voting and the focus groups and the branding expertise quite far enough. I'm just spitballing here, but how's about ... BenevolentRailBombingHuskerStorms?

Neyer is rightly skeptical about the influence of a "fan vote."  The comments to this Omaha World Herald article are simply scathing.  I know a comments section is not a random sample of fans, but given how vociferous the commenters are against the name change, Neyer's probably right that marketing people were more influential than a fan vote.

Here's one of the new mascots, Stormy.

 

A picture of the actual mascot is here.  What is this supposed to be?  It looks like the Philly Phanatic.  Is that supposed to be a tornado on the nose?

I'm glad my sons and I took in one last game at Rosenblatt Stadium this summer on our minor league road trip.  I knew that the 'blatt was doomed, but I didn't know the O-Royals' name was also doomed.

For political (or history) junkies, the entire C-Span video archive is online

You probably already have heard this, but on the off chance that you might not have, the entire video archive of C-Span is online.

Here is one with a sports angle:  a hearing about funding the construction of the new Yankee Stadium using federally tax-exempt bonds.

Water Usage (i.e. Potty Flushes) in Edmonton During the Hockey Gold Medal Game

Via the Freakonomics blog comes this picture of water usage in Edmonton during the Gold Medal game in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Or, as the newser website quipped "Canada Peed in Unison During Hockey Final". Edmonton, actually.

I've seen such a picture before but I can't remember where.

HT John Chilton.

"And They Were Concerned About Beer and Cigars"

So, the IOC got their underwear in a knot because the Candian women's hockey team celebrated their gold medal with adult beverages and cigars.  From John Palmer who emailed me this link and wrote "and they were concerned about beer and cigars."  Apparently there was a concern about other adult activities:

Rowdy curling crowds; spontaneous street parties; public drunkeness. You don't have to look far for evidence that the crowds at Winter Games in Vancouver know how to have a good time.

And, as if anymore proof is needed that a wild Olympic atmosphere permeates B.C.'s largest city, now there's an apparent condom shortage.

That's right. As you read this, an emergency shipment of condoms is desperately making its way across Canada to the West Coast city.

Health officials in Vancouver have already provided 100,000 free condoms to the roughly 7,000 ahtletes and officials at the Games. That's about 14 condoms per person. But as of Wednesday, those supplies started running dangerously low.

14 per person?  They ain't married!  That's all I can say.

Congratulations, MSU Student, and Bronze Medalist, Nina Tikkinen

My university has an Olympic bronze medalist.  Nina Tikkinen, a player with the Finnish women's hockey team, is bringing home a medal.  Bonus:  she's an Economics major in my department (even though the first link says she is a history major at MSU).  Congratulations Nina.

The Canadian Women's Hockey Team Celebration: "One of the Coolest Things Ever"

So the International Olympic Committee is saying it is going to investigate the behavior of the gold medal winning Canadian women's hockey team for returning to the ice after the medal presentation and drinking beer and champagne and smoking stogies.

C'mon!  It's not like they trashed a hotel room, accosted strippers, or bilked taxpayers out of billions of dollars.  What they did was a very typical celebration.  Pro baseball players do the same thing here in North America when they win a divisional, league, or world series title.  Tony Kornheiser had the appropriate take on his radio show at ESPN980 in DC this morning:  "What they did was one of the coolest things ever and one of the most human things ever." 

Video courtesy of this link, which says the video is racy.  It's not racy.  It's a news story.  Now, the girls of curling calendar is racy.

Update:  Three words for the IOC:  Lighten up, Frances.