Streakin'

The University of Miami saw its 14th straight year of having at least one first round pick in the NFL Draft. This is the continuation of their record streak, one that seemed less sure until the selection of Kenny Phillips with the last pick in the 1st Round.

The Miami Herald's Manny Navarro has a retrospective on Miami and the draft. Miami has produced 47 1st rounders since 1984, more than any other school. In addition to that, many have been extremely productive, and often in their first seasons.

Go Canes!

SPOTD #138

Howdy folks. I hope all is well.

Today's phrase:
Whatever we're going through, chances are we've been there before. From Lord Byron.

Actual:
El mejor profeta del futuro es el pasado.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
Ell may-hore pro-fay-tah dale foo-too-row ess ell pah-sah-doh.

Translation:
The best prophet of the future is the past.

Perfection
Only 4 more months until the college football begins. This is a very positive article about the BYU Cougars and the resurgence of the program as led by Coach Bronco Mendenhall. It's been fun.

Music
This is a very interesting transcript from a short segment on NPR.

Bruta
This is a great review of the Porsche GT2. It is blazing fast. It never ceases to amaze me what Porsche can do with a 6 cylinder engine.

Eric's Bad Movies
Eric Snider is my favorite movie critic. A few weeks ago he began a feature where he reviews bad movies. This one is for Superman IV, a movie I enjoyed a great deal as a kid but now find mostly unwatchable. It's a good review.

Infrastructure
Popular Mechanics has pointed out several aspects of US Infrastructure that need attention. Soon.

Dad's No Dummy
Advertisements portraying fathers as stupid are neither effective nor creative.

Link of the Day
Speed Racer looks crazy, and I think it will be awesome. Here's a little clip.

SPOTD #137

It has been a long while since the last SPOTD, although I have posted here at the blog (http://blog.spotd.net) regularly. The blog is less dependent on my laptop, which was un poco enfermo until last week. It is a short one, but I hope you enjoy.

Today's phrase:
We were invited to the house of some friends for dinner last Sunday. They made a fantastic meal of authentic mexican food- rice, refried beans, and best of all- tamales. Real, homemade tamales. These take hours to make. It was a treat, and gives rise to this thought:

Actual:
Panza llena, corazón contento

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
Pawn-zah yay-nah core-ah-sewn cone-tain-toe.

Translation:
Full stomach, happy heart.

Películas
I enjoyed this Spanish-language film Ladrón que roba a ladrón (Thiefs steals from thief). It is an Oceans 11 style film about some thieves who plan a major heist using immigrants. It's short, humorous, and clever. It should be available at your local Blockbuster. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it was entertaining.
We took Joseph to see Horton Hears a Who and it was surprisingly (to me) enjoyable. I recommend it.

Golf
I haven't played golf in months, and have little time to do so as it is, but this article makes me want to keep at it. It's a nice story about that beautiful game.

Moses
I was saddened by the passing of Charlton Heston. This is a nice interview with him done by Entertainment Weekly in 1999.

Arthur Clarke
I'm a lifelong fan of Science Fiction, and Arthur Clarke was one of the pioneers of that genre. What is so interesting about writers like him is the tremendous impact that they've had on actual science and technological development. Get a sense for his life here.

Link of the Day
I thought this was a pretty great advertisement for BMW. I found it through Instapundit, who provides some interesting technical background into how they shot it.

Super Video Monday (AweVidSat XXXII)

Here are some of my favorite spots from last night's Big Game:



Bridgestone Tire Super Bowl Commercial: Squirrel vs Car


Fedex Super Bowl Ad: Carrier Pigeons Bad Choice for Shipping


Tide-to-Go Superbowl Commercial, My Talking Stain Ad


You can see them all on MySpace or Hulu.

Doing it Right

I may be the only one that cares, but I enjoyed this story about Calais Campbell. He has been a standout defensive end for several years for the Miami Hurricanes. He has declared for the draft after completing his degree in 3 1/2 years.

He was one of the highlights of the game I attended in October, and he was the most visibly fired up player the entire game. When he wasn't directly involved in a play he was playing his role perfectly, and could be seen trying to fire up the crowd whenever possible.

He's a great player and I wish him well.

The Best Sports of 2007

I don't want to let this go too long. The Wall Street Journal's sports blog, The Daily Fix, has posted their picks for best sportswriting on 2007. There are some winners here.

SPOTD #134

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I've had this half-completed for almost a month. Finally I have time to get it out.

As the first matter of business I would direct you to this post from the SPOTD blog, some great videos of the kids being kids. In the first one Joseph decides to feed Millie her dinner. In the second Millie doesn't know what to decide. It is amazing to watch these kids grow. I also have written some interesting things on the blog and at In Rare Form.

Today's phrase:
I've used this one before, but if it fits, it fits:

Actual:
¡Felíz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
¡Fay-lease nah-vee-dahd ee prose-pear-oh ahn-yo nway-voe.

Translation:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Stem Cells
This is a fantastic article about how one man decided to find an alternative to embryonic stem cells for research. He appears to have succeeded.

Buy, buy, buy
There is an interesting new retailer that wants your business:
http://www.buynlarge.com/
Actually, this is a site set up to promote Pixar's new film, Wall-E. I linked to the new trailer in last Saturday's AweVidSat.

Football & Loyalty
This is the time of year for the college and NFL coaching carousel to enter full swing. Bobby Petrino's exit from Atlanta is a key example of when this is handlef poorly.

Beedle
A very rare book was sold bY Sotheby's, with the proceeds going to charity. Read more about it here.

Polar Bears
Are they really that bad off due to climate change?

Trip Quiz
This website promises to provide, based on the results of a quiz, the perfect destination for your next trip.
http://www.besttripchoices.com/
Where will you be going?

Featuritis
What happens when bad features happen to good concepts? An epidemic.

Serving
This is a great article about the serving Miss Utah. She is a combat veteran and serving member of the Utah National Guard. This is a nice article about what kind of person she is.

Link of the Day
This is the link for the 2 minute preview to the next season of Lost. Shortened or not, I'll be watching when it comes back on the area in a few weeks.

Steroids' Victims

I enjoy reading The Daily Fix in the Wall Street Journal. It is a blog dedicated to showcasing the best in today's sportswriting. Today one of its compilers decided to provide his commentary on the release of baseball's Mitchell Report on steroid use. I think it is worth reading, even if you are not a baseball fan.

Check it out.

Joe Knows Bo

Not really, but I enjoyed this ESPN piece on the electrifying Bo Jackson. I don't have a lot of time to comment on it, but if you are an old fan of Bo's, give it a read. An excerpt:

These days, the real-life Bo Jackson, the Bo Jackson who cooks spaghetti and washes his own dishes and watches reality TV, doesn't even see a need to run around the block anymore. Why bother when a man can play golf instead? Why bother when there is nothing left to prove to anyone?
"But I also know, if I was healthy, with good hips right now, I'd be the fastest 45-year-old in the country, or in the world," Bo says. "That much I know. That much ... I know."

Interesting guy.

When it rains

Football games mean little in comparison to human life. Today the Miami Hurricanes lost the second member of their family in a little over a year with the death of NFL safety Sean Taylor. Follow the link for more.

http://mobileapp.espn.go.com/wireless/espn/redesign/news?story=3129561&topNewsPhoto=1&cId=null

Farewell to the OB

A few weeks ago I wrote about my pilgrimage to the Orange Bowl, the home of Miami Hurricanes football for 70 years. Tomorrow the Canes play their final game there, against Virginia. Today I learned that city officials will recommend the demolition of the OB. It is not a shock, but I find it very disappointing. There is great history in that stadium, notably the Hurricanes streak of 58 straight home wins.

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald lists the best Hurricanes to have played in the Orange Bowl. The first one I remember is Vinny Testaverde, a childhood hero of mine. Chris Fowler of ESPN weighs in with his favorite Orange Bowl Memories (scroll down the page). Some fans share their favorite memories.


The picture above is from the 2001 National Championship. Hasta luego Orange Bowl. Te voy a extrañar.

Awesome Video Saturday XXII

This is a pretty funny cheerleading mishap.



One of the all-time classic SNL bits:

SPOTD #132

Scroll down the SPOTD blog for excellent stuff.

Today's phrase:
Today's quote is from Hippocrates. It demonstrates that there have always been things to be pessimistic about. It shows that adults have always worried about the inclinations and acitivites of the young. Sometimes they have been right, sometimes not.

Actual:
Los jóvenes de hoy no parecen tener respeto alguno por el pasado ni esperanza alguna para el porvenir.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
Lows ho-vay-nase day oy no pah-ray-sane tay-nare ray-spay-toe ahl-goo-no poor ell pah-sah-doe nee ace-pay-rahn-sah pa-rah ell pro-vane-ear.

Translation:
The youth of today do not appear to have any respect for the past nor any hope for the future.

The Wilhem Scream
This is a fun article, featuring common misquotes of classic movie lines. It also addresses the phenomenon of the Wilhelm Scream. You can see examples of it on the SPOTD blog.

Testaverde
Peter King writes for Sports Illustrated. He can be very longwinded, but I like this bit about Vinny Testaverde's return to the NFL. As a kid I was a big fan during his days at Miami.

Warming Warning
Al Gore's movie now requires a special warning before being shown to school kids in Great Britain.

Crazy Allergies
This kid is allergic to almost every food. Bummer.

Repairing Sports
Chuck Klosterman has some ideas about how to repair sports coverage. I agree.

Link of the Day
An interesting article about Hillary Clinton and her former cat Socks.If she discarded Socks upon leaving the White House, will she discard some of her supporters upon returning?

Bad Sports

One of my least favorite things about going to a sporting event is the foul language coming from many of the fans. College football games are particularly rough. This is a growing problem in the NFL as well. From Mark Yost in OpinionJournal:

Unruly behavior at sporting events has been one of the most visible signs of the coarsening of American culture, but the NFL is in a league of its own. One reason is the sheer size of the crowds. The Washington Redskins, who lead the National Football League in attendance, draw about 90,000 fans per game, almost twice the average number of baseball fans at Yankee Stadium and four times the number of spectators at the best-attended National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games.
...Walking through the parking lot before the game, I witnessed a scene all too common at NFL tailgates: home fans taunting the visitors with four-letter expletives. What made the scene here particularly appalling was the target--a family of Cowboys fans with two small children. And the taunt, repeated throughout the stadium by Bills fans, questioned Dallas quarterback Tony Romo's sexual orientation (think of what rhymes with "Romo"). I wonder how the parents explained that one.

If someone can tell me how this is a good thing I'd love to hear it. Jason Whitlock weighs in on another dilemma in the NFL, this one on the player side:

Hip hop athletes are being rejected because they're not good for business and, most important, because they don't contribute to a consistent winning environment. Herm Edwards said it best: You play to win the game.

It is an interesting and provocative article.

Hurricane Photos

Here are some photos from yesterday's game. Even though the Canes lost a tough one I was glad to be there, and glad to have felt what it is like to watch a game in the Orange Bowl one last time.

Go Canes!

This is my first try at cellphone blogging, coming to you live from the historic Orange Bowl. I love this place. It is my first game here in over ten years, and thanks to Justin Palmer (& of course my sweet Lacy) I get to make this pilgrimage to the OB.
Miami set an NCAA record here with 58(!!) straight home wins. It is old, run-down, and beautiful. Here's hoping for a win. I'll post some pics later.

The Phuture of the Phins?

The Miami Herald has a nice opinion piece advocating the ascension of former BYU quarterback John Beck to the starting spot on the Miami Dolphins. He makes a good case:

Beck did pretty well in the preseason if you'll recall, throwing for more August yards (300) than any Dolphin rookie since Marino pitched for 354 in '83. Don Shula then waited half a season to give Marino his chance and later wished he hadn't.
Marino went on to throw 296 passes as a rookie. Bob Griese threw 331. The idea that rookie QBs need to be treated like porcelain -- lest they shatter irreversibly if deployed a minute too soon -- doesn't stand up.

There is a very good chance that Beck will get more playing time. That is reason to be optimistic.

SPOTD #131

Almost another month has passed. Time flies by.

Today's phrase:
From Benjamin Franklin:

Actual:
¿Amas la vida? Pues no malgastes el tiempo que es la tela de la vida.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
¿Ah-mahs lah vee-dah? Pways no mal-gas-tays ell tyem-poe kay ess lah tay-lah day lah vee-dah.

Translation:
But dost thou love life ? then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of

The Blog
Here are some highlights. Scroll down to check it out.
-Mormon Anarchists
-Police Beat
-Clay Aiken looks like the Donald
-My kids are awesome
-The Republican party need to cleanse itself
-And much more!

Randy Shannon
He is the new coach of the Miami Hurricanes, but not new to the program. This is a very interesting article about how he came to be the coach, and the many challenges that he has experienced in his life.

Butlers
This is a great story about a man who came from nothing and became a butler for several households in New Orleans. He learned to read and write while in his twenties. He was selected as butler of the year. The link may not be available to people who are not subscribers of the Wall Street Journal.

Religion
This is an entertaining quiz that identifies your religion. It worked for me.

Humor
Eric Snider is writing for Film.com. This is a funny article about bad movie promos.
This is a great article, also by Snider, about fatness in America.

Thoughtless
You may have heard about the young MIT student that thought it would be a good art statement if she walked into Boston's Logan airport with a fake bomb strapped to her chest. As they said, she is lucky to be alive. Unfortunately she is probably still an idiot.

Pina Coladas
I think this is a pretty funny story about a couple that decided to explore the personals, only to find that they had matched up with each other. Unfortunately they did not reconcile while getting caught in the rain.

Link of the Day
This is old news by now, but Mark Ecko, a fashion designer, had a pretty cool idea about what he should do with Barry Bonds' record breaking 756th homerun ball.

Awesomely Bad Videos (cont'd)

This just happened last night, or I would have included it in yesterday's post. It appears this sportscaster, Mike Patrick. is trying out for a job with the E! network, or perhaps Access Hollywood. His partner's reaction is great.



Stay classy Mike Patrick.

Delightful

I've been watching the Miami Hurricanes play the Texas A&M Aggies. Miami is 2-1, after being thrashed by Oklahoma two weeks ago. A&M is 3-0, ranked #20. For Miami fans there hasn't been much to cheer about this season.

Until tonight.

For three full quarters Miami's defense has absolutely dominated A&M. The offense has shown spark and swagger, the likes of which I haven't seen since 2005. I am smiling brightly because this team's future looks very good. The announcers just mentioned that this is only the third time that Miami has reached 30 points in the last 20 games!

For more on the new direction of this Miami team you have to learn about their coach Randy Shannon. He is as Miami as it gets, in all the right ways.

Go Canes!