Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Not an Addict" by K's Choice

I know nothing about the band "K's Choice."   I don't think I'd ever even seen the video for Not and Addict until just now.  But I do remember first hearing the song on the radio in the summer of 1996, and have put it on countless playlists ever since.  So here's a couple of factoids I just discovered from group's wikipedia page:

1.  The core members are a sister and brother from Antwerp, Belgium.
2.  In 1999 they performed a song in an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

As far as "Buffy the Vampire Slayers" go, I'm partial to the 1992 film staring Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Donald Sutherland, and Pee-wee Herman as a vampire vs. the late 90's WB television series.  I should definitely write a Buffy vs Buffy blog someday.



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If you happen to be a vegetarian Sox fan who loves kosher baked ziti, you're in luck.

I was waiting in the beer line at Fenway the other day when I saw this:

It's a kosher/vegetarian/hot food vending machine that has onion rings, cheese sticks, veggie burgers, and baked ziti.  And to the left is another that sells kosher hot dogs.  So clearly the Red Sox are concerned about having kosher and vegetarian food available, but there's not enough interest to warrant actually offering the stuff at one of the regular concession windows.  Both machines say the food is "hot" and "fresh," so I assume that means it cooks whatever you order on the spot?

I'm not even sure what the commentary is here... I guess I'm impressed that there is vending machine technology that can assemble a hot dog or veggie burger (it's definitely no Coca-Cola "Freestyle" machine though)?  Everything in them cost $5, which by Fenway standards is pretty reasonable.  As I write this I've just decided that next time I'm at the park I'll give it a try.  It'll be a two-part blog, and I'll write off the five bucks as research.

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There are some CRAZY people out there on the interweb

This website provides me with data on where visitors come from, and for the past few days I've been getting hits to my page from something called "cluesforum.info."  It's a message board/forum dedicated to "exposing media fakery," and it's been directing people here because someone posted my photo of the 5K the day before the Boston Marathon, while credited LucidSportsFan.com as the source.  They used it as an example of what the area around the finish line looked like pre-race, which was then being compared to pictures that were taken during the bombing.

The reason?  The entire post is dedicated to the concept that the "during" pictures are all fake, and the whole tragedy was a hoax created by the media.  Seriously.  Here's the link.  If you decide to look at it I should warn you that it contains some graphic images of injuries from the explosions, as well as the opinions of pathetically misguided people.

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The NBA has secretly eliminated the "no hanging on the rim" rule (probably because LeBron said so?)

Would Nate Robinson have been allowed to do this last night?

This is going to sound like whining from a bitter Celtics fan, but it's actually something I've been annoyed with all season long.  Allegedly the NBA has a rule stating that you're not allowed to hang on the rim unless you need to for safety purposes.  The result of such is supposed to be a technical foul.  I looked it up, and it's listed in the official rulebook under Hanging on Rim (Deliberate) 12A IV a 40.

But in reality this "rule" does not exist; kind of like "travelling."  Which is OK, but then the league should just admit that it doesn't exist.  Guys do it all the time.  The great king LeBron himself swears by it.

Slapping the backboard is supposed to be a technical also.  As is lifting your head above the rim "chin up" style.  Last night with 4 minutes remaining in the 1st quarter Kenyon Martin did all three of these on the same play (it's at the 20 second mark of this clip):



That's about as easy a call as there is to make, but there was no whistle.

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Have you seen the creepy hologram lady at the airport?

I've been meaning to write about this ever since I went on vacation to Mexico back in March.  Obviously this creation is intended to make you feel safe and sound and comfortable because the nice women is helping you figure out where to go and what to do.

But it doesn't.  It made me think I was stuck in some sort of sinister "Big Brother is watching you" type sci-fi movie; and that is not a good emotion to have as you're about to fly off to a foreign country.  I'd like to believe I'm a reasonably up to date guy, so I can only imagine how an older and/or less technologically exposed generation might react to this.  The really eerie thing about it is that the hologram only goes from the waste up, while the bottom half of her body is just a still cutout.  For whatever reason half a fake lady is even more disturbing than a whole one.



That "assorted tank tops" line makes me laugh.  Clearly whoever posted the below youtube video agrees with me on this issue:





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ESPN Radio's "Telling it like it is" commercials are fantastic

ESPN has been making brilliant Sportscenter ads for a long time.  Recently they've branched out to some of their radio shows, and the results are just as spectacular.

For "The Herd with Colin Cowherd"


I'm impressed by Cowherd's willingness to possibly come off as anti-dog in this commercial.

For "Mike and Mike in the Morning"


I couldn't agree more with what Greeny is saying (unlike his stance on NBA stars resting); not about mashed potatoes, but in regards to "elite" NFL quarterbacks.

And finally for "SVP and Russillo"


"I see you more as an online dater."  Classic.  It's this kind of stuff that makes "SVP and Russillo" the best show on the network.

Overall I love the "telling it like it is" theme that ESPN is going with here; that's basically one of the founding principals of LucidSportsFan.com.   However, it's noteworthy that the "worldwide leader" feels the need to make this point, clearly they are concerned about the growing sentiment among sports fans that maybe it's something they don't always do.

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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "The Star Spangled Banner" by the crowd at Fenway Park

Yes, what happened spontaneously at the Bruins game last Wednesday was more awesome, but the National Anthem at the Red Sox game yesterday was still pretty great:



However, the real reason I chose this was so that I'd have a good excuse to post these spectacular pre-game words from David Ortiz as well:



And just in case you haven't heard about this yet, or have trouble understanding his Dominican accent, the quote is "This is our f---ing city. And nobody's going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong."  Chairman of the FCC Julius Genachowski also stated that they would make no issue of the situation, even though it aired live nationwide on ESPN and other channels.

David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius
— The FCC (@FCC) April 20, 2013

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