Crazy Basketball Concussion

I was looking for this clip for a day or two... I think this is just irresponsible coaching by the Georgia Tech coaching staff to throwing the kid (Matt Causey - Georgia Tech Guard) back into full contact basketball after the concussion he suffered. If cameras can catch his antics, I am sure his teammates or coaching staff should have pulled him aside and sat him down for the rest of that game at least. Who knows what else could have happened. I understand this is a game against Duke and you want to win and it is almost March Madness time... but there is a limit to everything.



There is the clip, judge for yourself. I am certain there is a better video and if anyone has an embed or link, let me know.

Crazy Dunk!

Just saw this clip on ESPN! What a dunk for a kid in high school. It is from a Hermiston High School... anyone know where that is? or the name of the kid?




Edit: As the clip title indicated, the kid's name is J.J. Ross and Mike D. says the school is possibly located in Oregon.

My Favorite Liar

Just read a great post by some guy on Reddit called "My Favorite Liar".

"Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach.

Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures ... one lie.

Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day." And thus began our ten-week course.

This is an awesome way for a professor to teach economics and trust me, I am taking it right now... I wish I had a professor like that.

Election Results Leaked

A hilarious video from The Onion regarding the leaked results of the 2008 Presidential Elections from Diebold. Diebold for those of you who are not aware is the electronic voting machine used to submit and tally votes. It has come under increased scrutiny amid concerns of voting frauds and lack of reliability.

** SPOILER ALERT: REBPULICAN FRONT RUNNER AND PROBABLE NOMINEE FOR HIS PARTY JOHN MCCAIN IS THE PROJECTED WINNER **

Enjoy the video.


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Fruit Chart

Pretty funny XKCD comic today... where would you rate these fruits?



EDIT: An updated regarding the fruit graph was recently posted.

Whoopi Goldberg == Moron

I was told today by my brother that this clip existed of Whoopi Goldberg exists where she mistakes Amani Toomer for David Tyree and his over-the-head catch in the Super Bowl.




Apparently this is the same Whoopi Goldberg who spoke at the Giants Super Bowl Parade as a "life long Giants fan". Way to go Whoopi.

Eduardo da Silva Broken Leg - WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC



This post taken from A Cynic's Paradise... a good friend of the blog.

Horrendous injury suffered by Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva after a challenge by M. Taylor of Birmingham City. More in-depth coverage at the soccer blog: Matchday LIVE!

(Video reloaded thanks to a poster at DailyMotion, YouTube post was removed likely by EPL in their headhunt for game footage.)

Do The Math

This shirt courtesy of Woot Shirt. Great for any math major that you might know :P




So I says everybody knows a year is three hundred and sixty-five days, and this guy—this little egghead pencilneck dweeb—he says no it isn’t. And I says of course it is, and he says naw, it isn’t. And I says OK, genius, prove it.

And he starts in with this Chinese algebra where I don’t know what he’s talking about. He’s multiplyin’ this times that. He’s carryin’ the two. He’s got letters and numbers and I don’t know what all in there. And finally I show him the thing you do with your knuckles, right?

No, not the calendar trick. What calendar trick? I just mean I slugged him in the nose.

This shirt was designed by: Iambusyeating, who’s given hope to all those lurkers who sit on the sidelines and decline to enter the Derby on the grounds that a first-timer doesn’t stand a chance. In your face, conventional wisdom!

Wear this shirt: to the upcoming Academic Olympics, or Quiz Bowl, or Space Camp, or Star Trek Convention, or at the center of that circle of jocks that are kicking you.

Don’t wear this shirt: to the Vatican. Ask Galileo how that’ll turn out.

This shirt tells the world: “As a matter of fact, I am free on Friday night.”

We call this color: The Square Root Of Navy Blue Times Navy Blue

Meteor Shower!

A must watch video from Portland, Oregon yesterday... coincidentally the same night as a lunar eclipse...



CNN video link: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/20/am.hotshots.meteor.cnn

Do You Believe?

Do you believe in the Golden State Warriors now? A 33-21 team that is on the outside looking in, on the playoffs in the Western Conference played one heck of a game last night against the Boston Celtics... a thrilling 119-117 win in regulation against the best team in the league. If a basketball clip is going up, you know I watched the game with Joe.

Coach draws up the play for Baron Davis and once again, he finds a way to deliver. Here is the clip so the rest of you can enjoy it as well.

Goal: One Million People

Just got this email from the Obama Campaign and they are above 900,000 people who have donated to his campaign already, well on his way to a million people. 1 Million People?!?!

That is quite an accomplishment to make for a junior senator out of Illinois. You know what? I think I am going to be one of those 1,000,000+ people. Will you?

Faraz -- We learned something extraordinary since I wrote to you last night. We've crunched all the numbers and discovered that we are within striking distance of something historic: one million people donating to this campaign. Think about that ... nearly one million people taking ownership of this movement, five dollars or twenty-five dollars at a time. We're already more than 900,000 strong, including over half-a-million donating so far this year. This unprecedented foundation of support has built a campaign that has shaken the status quo and proven that ordinary people can compete in a political process too often dominated by special interests. Unlike Senator Clinton or Senator McCain, we haven't taken a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. Our campaign is responsible to no one but the people. One million donors would be a remarkable feat -- something that's never been done before in a presidential primary and something no one ever thought would be possible for us. And you still have the opportunity to be a part of it. If you make a donation right now, one of those 900,000 donors has promised to give again in order to match your first gift. You can double the impact of your first donation -- and you can even choose to exchange a note about why you are part of this movement. Be one of the million who will own a piece of this campaign before the potentially decisive March 4th contests: https://donate.barackobama.com/match We started this improbable journey a little over a year ago in Springfield, Illinois. And because you've joined together to make your voices heard, this journey isn't looking as improbable anymore. Since our victory on February 5th, we've won ten straight contests. But on March 4th, we face a huge challenge in Texas and Ohio, who will vote along with Rhode Island and Vermont. We are behind in the big states and need as many people involved as possible if we're going to win. If we can reach our goal of one million donors by March 4th, we can send a powerful message that the Washington establishment and big-money interests cannot ignore. As one million people with one voice, we can tell them that their days of dominating Washington are coming to an end -- the old politics are crumbling and a new voice is breaking through. Our voice. Will you make a matching donation now to make it happen? https://donate.barackobama.com/match I learned the power of ordinary people coming together as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. I worked side-by-side with people who had been laid off from steel plants that were moved overseas. These were people who needed new jobs to rebuild their lives, and their political leaders were ignoring them. But even though the odds were stacked against them, they discovered that by coming together with one voice, they could no longer be ignored. When we launched this campaign, we knew we were up against similar odds. We knew we'd be running against a massive political machine with deep ties to the Washington establishment. We knew it wouldn't be easy. But if we can do this, we're not just going to win an election. We're going to change our country. Thank you so much, Barack

What A Hockey Game

I know I do not put a lot of hockey news on here but the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens game from last night has to go up. Half way through the second period, the Rangers had a 5-0 lead... but as you can imagine since I am putting the highlights up from the game... the Canadiens sort of made a little come back. It ended up going to overtime and then shootout... where I will let you see who won the game. What a game it was.

Greatest Baseball Prank?

Several of you have already seen this but I will put it up anyways.

Kyle Kendrick was a victim of one of the best pranks I have ever seen in professional sports. It was all set up the help of assistant general manager, the team manager, teammates and even the members of the media. Truly an awesome prank.

After the Phillies' workout on Saturday, Ruben Amaro Jr. summoned Kendrick into manager Charlie Manuel's office at Bright House Networks Field. With a straight face, the assistant general manager told his gullible pitcher that he'd been dealt to the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese Central League for a player named "Kobayashi Iwamura."

Kobayashi - for those of you who are not familiar with the name, is the name of the famous hot-dog eating champion from Japan and no such baseball player exists.

Here is what his manager had to say... "I would have loved to see him fly to Japan and get off the plane. That would have been the best. As a matter of fact, I would have paid his fare."

What a prank indeed. If you want an official detailed article on what actually took place, an article from MLB.com is here.

An All Star Weekend...

What an All-Star weekend and no I am not talking about my visit to Virginia.

Saw the 3-point competition there where Jason Kapono just lit up the field and blew everyone away winning for a second straight year.

The event that everyone will be talking about though will be the slam-dunk competition. It had recently become quite a bore the past few years but certainly this one had the life of the 2001 competition where Vince Carter stole the show.

Last year's champion Gerald Green, I do not think got enough credit for his blow out the candle dunk because if you watch it live without any previous knowledge of the dunk, you might not know what is going on. What a dunk though.



Clearly the star of the night of 'Superman' Dwight Howard. I will only link to the Superman dunk but certainly you could pick any one of his dunks and it was simply amazing.



On an unrelated note, I had heard of an Obama music video of "Yes, We Can" but had not seen it yet but was linked to it by Katie today.

Excuse Me Ma'am, You're How Old?

Just got this article from my sister who I thought was studying but apparently not... but here it is anyways.

Turns out, there is this Israeli Arab woman who claims she was born in 1888, which would make her 120 years old this year and surpass the oldest person alive by far - 6 years older than the oldest person alive right now... an Edna Parker of Indiana.

Mariam Amash filled in the routine form with anything but routine information. Amash, who recently applied for a new Israeli identity card, said she was born 120 years ago — a claim, if confirmed, that would make her the oldest person in the world. The Guinness Book of Records currently lists 114-year-old Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Ind., as holding that title. - Article

Her relatives are saying that she has 11 children in total (10 sons and 1daughter). The oldest child being well into the 80's now... She also has approximately 120 grandchildren, 250 great-grandchildren and 20 great-great grandchildren according to family members. That's just remarkable.

So how does this woman continue to live a healthy life at such a high age? Her granddaughter-in-law said that she is a "healthy, active woman. She walks each day and makes sure she drinks at least one glass of olive oil." Obviously a person of her age would have a great amount of historical knowledge in her and she certainly does. She likes to talk about the history since the Turkish times when they controlled over the Holy Land ended with World War I.

I wish I live up to at least 115 years old, a certain someone would owe me a dollar.

Clinton: Still No Congratulations For Obama

Interesting piece of article on CNN earlier. Now with Obama getting the delegate lead even when you factor in the super delegate votes, you certainly should not expect any congratulations now until the race is done.

EL PASO, Texas (CNN) – For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.

On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.

On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).

The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.

Clinton congratulated Obama and John Edwards after their first and second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. Obama returned the favor in New Hampshire, saying Clinton “did an outstanding job.” That courtesy continued through the early states.

But as the race has shifted to a delegate chase with dozens of states in play around the country, the notion of congratulating one’s opponent seems, for Clinton, to have fallen by the wayside.

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

Key Dates to look out for: State (Delegates)

March 4: Ohio (161) and Texas (228) Primaries
April 22: Pennsylvania (188)
May 6: North Carolina (134)

Those are the last four states left with triple digit delegates left and with the total difference still barely in double digits, I expect March 4 to be crucial. Obama needs to make inroads in Texas and certainly this momentum will help.

To think it is February 13th now and people expected this race to be over after over a month ago following Iowa and New Hampshire. How crucial would Florida and Michigan primaries be, had they not decided to defy party rules and push their primaries before the February 5th deadline... The world will never know.

Interesting Google Queries

I have attached below a recent Google Analysis on the terms searched on Google and if my blogs are in the top 20 (as in appear on the first page), these are the top search queries from that.

It is a little disturbing to see all those Tom Brady references to see whether he was actually on The Brady Bunch. I remember talking about it a couple of friends a day or two after I had posted the ESPN clip about him and the mock Brady Bunch references. Apparently, several people took that very seriously and did not get the joke. Among the top disturbing queries would be "Angry Tom Brady" and "Brady 'Bunch Tom' Brady" searches. I do not know what these people were thinking when they searched for it but certainly my blog appears #3 when you search for either of those two terms and there you have it. However, as of today if you search "Brady 'Bunch Tom' Brady", I do appear #1 on the search result... go figure.

Outside of the title of the blog, I was impressed to see that I appear #1 when you search for "Super Tuesday Results" on Google.

Chris Berman going "Boinkers" now has me third overall.

Stoudemire's Block Party

So as you have probably noticed I watch a lot of basketball with Joe and yet another highlight that goes up on here from the game that was on last night. Phoenix Suns vs. Washington Wizards - nevermind the disturbing uniforms that the Wizards have on... just focus on the awesome two blocks by Amare Stoudemire. He definitely throws one heck of a block party.

Pictures from Belfast

Here are a couple of pictures from a very good friend of mine. She was on this very bus that I posted earlier about being firebombed by local vandals. Thankfully everyone is okay. If more information becomes available of these vandals I will write about it.






Courtesy: Katie Murray

Vandals in Belfast

I received an email from one of my friends about 9 PM local time yesterday in Belfast. She linked me to this BBC article. It is believed that this is the cause of local vandals who are burning tourist buses who are stranding tourists from countries as far as the United States and Australia.

It is the second known attack in as many weeks on a Paddywagon bus but has not deterred most tourists from visiting and taking the tours. One even went on to say "I'd take the Paddywagon again, just to support them. It's great craic and harmless - I don't get why somebody would do this." Kudos to those that continue their routines throughout these events. I think that my friend took the very similar bus and is in the region when I received the email but was assured that she is okay.

Just one of many little stories affecting the world today, I will update if I have more. Another one I will probably talk about soon is about the cable wires being cut around the Middle East.

EDIT: Nothing major to update except for the "Our bright green, shamrock and leprechaun covered bus was fire bombed around the corner from the hostel." Fortunately everyone is safe and okay.

I am a Muslim

Giants Parade

If the parade was held on any day other than a Tuesday, I probably would have gone to see it considering it was right by my dad's work. Anyways, it turns out that a cousin of mine went there and here is a screen cap/video. You can see him around the 12 second mark - coming in from the left.



Much props Sabih.

Bobby Knight

In honor of Coach Bobby Knight resigning in the middle of the year, I have decided to put up the top 10 sound bites courtesy of ESPN. Already enjoyed this earlier with my roommate while another friend of mine talked about some Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. in early April. Anyone interested in going?

Just for reference, I currently have no interest in attending that festival.

Privacy: Where To Live?

Going back to the biometric database issue, a fan of the blog Krishna showed me this graphic. The larger the index number, the less intrusive the government is.




Courtesy: Krishna Hajari

Updated: Super Duper Tuesday

Barack Obama leads in the delegates that have been voted by ACTUAL VOTERS!!

The only reason Hilary Clinton is leading is because of the Superdelegates where she has an extra 87 delegates to boost her. What can you do when the system is designed to favor those who are in it and makes it very difficult for any one from outside to come in.

Super Duper Tuesday

(paraphrased from an email sent to a friend overseas summarizing Super Tuesday)

So the night started off interestingly early with Obama picking up Georgia with like 88% of the black vote and he only lost the white vote like 60-40. Clinton quickly replied with wins in new Jersey and new York both by 15 points. Obama won his state by 32 points. Obama picked up quality wins in Missouri, Connecticut and Kansas but Clinton has California, Massachusetts and Arizona to battle back.

I really hate the Super Delegate system where the party establishment has votes on who to give the delegates (look at attached picture below). Based on total voting delegates only! Clinton has a lead of 475 to 451 (only up by 24 delegates) but if you add super delegates 668 to 557 (lead goes up to 111)*. Gives Hilary quite the boost.

So the democratic race goes on with states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas still to vote all of them have triple digit delegates so we’ll see.

*note: numbers subject to change as more districts report numbers.

For the republicans, McCain kind of kicked butt but Huckabee surprised me picking up several states (WVA, TEN, ARK, ALA)… they are talking about a McCain / Huckabee ticket which is quite scary for America…

Super Tuesday Leaderboard

Courtesy: Summaiyah Hyder

Super Tuesday

It is Super Tuesday in over 20 States across the country and you better go out and vote today. It does not matter who you vote for as long as it means you know some things about the candidates and you go out and vote for the one you prefer most.

Look for an update tonight after 9 PM on the results.

Conan O'Brien Super Bowl Prediction

Watch Conan O'Brien correctly predict the result of Super Bowl XLII.



Courtesy: Cindy Murray

FBI To Keep A Biometric Database

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expected to announce in the next few days a $1 Billion, 10 year contract to help complete a biometric database that will consist of every American's palm prints, eye scans and even tattoo mapping.

The FBI already has 55 million sets of fingerprints on file. In coming years, the bureau wants to compare palm prints, scars and tattoos, iris eye patterns, and facial shapes. The idea is to combine various pieces of biometric information to positively identify a potential suspect. - Article

If you did not think America was a surveillance society before, maybe this wake up call is what you needed. I know a couple of people who had been talking about things like this for a little while now and it certainly does not come as a surprise to me that they are announcing this. Only thing that caught me off guard was that they just came out an announced it, I thought they would have been a little more subtle with things like this. I guess throwing in that it is used to identify dangerous criminals and potential terrorists.

This is always comforting that they already had full access to pretty much do what they wanted with no oversight and now publicly announcing a plan like this just gives them more authority to do what they want. Certainly there are civil liberties group who are speaking out against the issue. "It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.

Only time will tell how big of a Big Brother this will develop in our society but by no means is this a good start.

Babbio Garage: The Controversial History

Good article in The Stute this week about what is going on with the Babbio Garage and continuous disagreement with Stevens and the Hoboken community about a garage that is financially viable for Stevens students and also accessible by the Hoboken community.

Stevens received approval for the parking garage in 2004. According to Dobbelaar, if Stevens wanted to, and had the money, the Institute could move forward and build the garage as it was approved in 2004. They have received a one-year extension on the approval until August 15, 2008.


So why are they redesigning the garage? The new plan is a compromise between Stevens and parts of the Hoboken Community which have objected to a visible parking garage on the waterfront.

Babbio Garage: Back to the proverbial 'drawing board'

Play of the Year?

Certainly was the play of the day and the playoffs... could this be a candidate for play of the year too?

Unbelievable play by Eli Manning to escape the sack and then for David Tyree to catch the ball and keep possession on his helmet... It was all just meant to be.



My props to the Giants continue for a second day...

Eighteen and One...

Talk about The Boston Globe jumping the gun a little early with this book on 19-0. Also, how about the Patriots earlier this week trying to file a patent on the term "19-0"... Maybe this time it was the Patriots who got caught up in all the hype this time?

Live Blog!

So a few people mentioned the idea of live blogging which further pushed my own intention of doing it. So follow the game on your television sets and when you get a chance, stop by there for my analysis. Feel free to drop any comments and I will throw them in here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

10:37 PM:

Me: go read the update

Cindy: hahahh

Cindy: umm that the GIANTS ARE THE BEST TEAM!!

Cindy: duh!

Cindy: and the pats can sit on it!

Cindy: the the 72 dolphins still own.

Cindy: =]

10:34 PM: So Cindy is also pointing out that David Tyree made a ridiculous 32 yard catch on the 3rd down conversion and he also had a touchdown reception as well. So his props are there now... did I miss anything else Ms. Murray?

10:04 PM: THE MOST DISAPPOINTING 18-1 SEASON! There will never be a more disappointing season than the ones Patriots just had. Quite a disappointing end by Belichick when he ran onto the field and would not leave with 2 seconds left. Congratulations to Eli for having his moment, taking that knee and winning that championship. Congratulations to the New York Football Giants.

10:01 PM: I kind of expected that deep bomb pass to Moss to fall into his hands.

9:57 PM: This is the stuff legends are made of. Crazy play on 3rd down to convert and then the touchdown pass...

9:47 PM: Important first down by Jacobs.

9:44 PM: Two minute warning... can Giants convert the first down?

9:39 PM: Can they make it any more easier for Brady and Moss? Touchdown Patriots... 13-10 Pats. 2:42 to go. Is this where Eli becomes a legend?

9:25 PM: Careless mistake by Eli to Burress... could have easily converted the first down. Now the Patriots get the ball back with 8 minutes to go and Tom Brady has another chance to led a game winning drive in the 4th quarter. Can the Giants D continue to come up with great stops?

9:12 PM: Good Coke commercial with Bill Frist and James Carville.

9:10 PM: 11:05 left in the final quarter.. the Giants score their first touchdown and lead 10-7.

9:07 PM: Finally the big play Giants had been looking for... and the one to catch is Boss - who has stepped up big time since Shockey went down.

9:00 PM: The look on Brady's face after the failed deep bomb to Moss fails says it all. Brady is frustrated, Patriots offense is stopped yet again... can the Patriots be unraveling?

8:51 PM: Good call by the Giants to go over the top to Burress but still have not converted anything big. How long can the Giants D hold down the Mighty Patriots?

8:43 PM: Interesting call by the Patriots to go for it on 4th-and-14 from the Giants 35. Once again the Giants stop them, now can Eli and company reply?

8:40 PM: Now the Giants allow 14 yards on a 3rd-and-13...

8:37 PM: Big overturn here... Patriots successfully challenge that the Giants had 12 men on the field. Get that call, get the first down and usually the Patriots will capitalize on opportunities like this one.

8:30 PM: Giants D in the past 3 of the 4 Patriot drives have held them to only 3 drives on the possession.

8:21 PM: Almost the start of the second half now... The Patriots struggled on offense in that first half. Their defense did pretty good holding the Giants to only 3 points and you know they are more than happy playing like this and gonna keep waiting for Giants to make their mistakes.

7:50 PM: Important fumble. I have not seen Brady pressured this much in the longest time. Very impressive first half for the Giants... If you are a Giants fan, you have to feel really good knowing you held the Patriots to only 7 points in the half. Giants had a couple of opportunities to convert and they will have to start converting because sooner or later you know the Patriots are going to strike again. Manning looking good so far, short passes are there and even the running game is there every now and then.

It's me signing off for an hour or until Tom Petty is done. I'll be back for the second half.

7:27 PM: I do not remember a single time this season that Brady was sacked on back to back plays... Giants D playing great, holding Patriots with back-to-back 3-and-outs.

7:21 PM: Just when the Giants' D comes up big, their offense comes out just as flat... follows a Patriots 3-and-out with one of their own... barely taking any time off the clock.

7:18 PM: BIG stop here by the Giants defense. I was talking here during the last Giants possession with my brother and I agree with what he said. The Giants do not necessarily have to get a touchdown but just protect the ball and put something on the board. Keep your eyes for the end zone but be happy with a field goal... this is only the first half.

7:12 PM: That is the last thing the Giants needed. HAVE TO make those catches there... cannot give the Patriots these free opportunities. Wasted at least 3 points right there and now with the interception, Patriots can have a time consuming drive to limit the Giants to probably only one more drive this half.

7:09 PM: Impressive catch by Toomer and now Giants need to convert.

7:00 PM: 7-3 Patriots. Giants need to respond now, do not want to give Patriots the ball back with the chance to push the lead to 11.

6:57 PM: Costly pass interference by Pierce for the Giants. You have to turn around on a play like that and just not tackle a player without looking. Had a chance to hold the Patriots to 3 but probably will not now. 4 downs to pound it in.

6:45 PM: Giants ran an impressive first drive. 16 plays - the longest drive in terms of plays for an opening drive in Super Bowl. Eli Manning looks pretty good so far but they will need to convert drives into touchdowns instead of field goals if they want to keep this game close.

6:26 PM: Giants call tails and end up winning the toss... 3 minutes to kick off now.

6:18 PM: Unofficially the anthem was at 1:55... good luck to those that betted over on the 1:42 line.

6:13 PM: Here come the Patriots, led by Brady and Bruschi.

5:50 PM: Switched over to C-SPAN for a bit and turns out Maria Shriver comes out to support Barack Obama in California.

5:39 PM: My dad continues to insist that since the Patriots are 18-0 they might as well win the 19th game as well. I am certain he does not understand that the Patriots are now like the Yankees of baseball. They are going to be hated. Maybe it is not fair to the Yankees since they were never caught cheating.

5:36 PM: I was not aware but my friend Matt from RIT tells me Coughlin coached there when they had a football team from 1971-73. Who knew?

5:29 PM: Talking about Tom Coughlin's mentality... several Giants' players joked that if they win the game today, Coach Coughlin might give them the day off tomorrow.

5:22 PM: Jeremy Shockey is shown on tv... turns out he is actually going to be at the game with the team.

5:15 PM: So far I saw two early commercials... one about the deaf community in America and certainly a well done commercial.




Only an hour and 15 minutes until game time...

A British Journalist Murdered

James Miller was a Welsh filmmaker producing a documentary on the lives of Palestinian and Israeli children affected by the ongoing conflict. He was murdered during the filming of this scene. His film was posthumously released as the documentary "Death in Gaza."

The context of this scene is that the Israel Defense Forces are bulldozing nearby Palestinian homes, under which it claims are tunnels to smuggle weapons from Egypt. The bulldozers are accompanied by Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) equipped with night vision equipment. The film crew is wearing bulletproof vests and helmets.

If video does not work, use the link to iComment



On May 9 2003, one week after Miller's death, the IDF announced that any foreign national wishing to enter Gaza will need to sign waivers absolving the IDF of any wrongdoing if they are killed or injured by Israeli forces. [link]

The shooter has been identified by the IDF only as Lt. Haib, a Bedouin Arab. The Israeli Advocate General recommended he be disciplined for his actions, but he was acquitted by a commanding officer.

To date, no one has been held accountable for his death.

Courtesy: iComment

Super Tuesday - Weekend Polling

I apologize for the brevity of my diary; however, I think the results speak for themselves. Zogby has some pretty surprising results in his latest polls, which are to be released tomorrow.

Both parties have staged tight, seesawing battles for the nominations for November's presidential election. Clinton, the New York senator, and Obama split the first four Democratic contests -- Obama won Iowa and South Carolina, while Clinton won New Hampshire and Nevada.

In California, the poll found Obama led Clinton by 45 percent to 41 percent, with a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. Clinton held statistically insignificant 1-point leads on Obama in New Jersey and Missouri, well within the margin of error of 3.4 percentage points in both surveys.

It would be an extraordinary feat to see Obama come within 1 point of Hillary in New Jersey, considering that it's her backyard. Hillary also had a huge lead in Missouri just over a week ago, but now it seems that it has evaporated into thin air.

Furthermore, Obama appears to be consolidating his lead in Georgia.

Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, has a comfortable 20-point lead in Georgia fueled by a more than 3-to-1 advantage over Clinton among black voters.

From the polling results, we can ascertain that this race is precipitously shifting in favor of Obama.

Update: Many people are criticizing Zogby and some of their criticisms may be fair. however, the Field Poll will be coming out tomorrow and it will also show that the race in California is a dead heat, thus corroborating the results of Zogby's poll that shows a dramatic shift towards Obama.

Taken from Daily Kos.

Super Bowl Prediction

Well here it is... Super Bowl Weekend. It's also time for a game preview between the hometown New York football Giants and the team everyone loves to hate - the New England Patriots.


New York Giants vs. New England Patriots (6:30 PM - FOX)

It has been nearly two weeks since the Conference Championships but here we finally are. New York Giants against the New England Patriots, certainly not the match up most people expected at the start of the playoffs.

Everyone always likes a feel good story and this year's Giants are just that. They have won about a million straight games on the road, having defeated the Cowboys and Packers in back to back weeks, their quarterback has finally come into a zone, the team has all the confidence in the world... but let us not forget who they are going up against. The Patriots are in pursuit of a perfect 19-0 season, they are not going to let that slip away to a team with just momentum on their side.

Breakdown:

Head Coach:
Tom Coughlin has done wonders getting his team to finally believe in each other after the miserable start but he is always a visibly angry coach. Bill Belichick is truly a genius at his position and no one comes close to him. Maybe if they had one week to prepare... maybe... I would have given the Giants the nod especially with the way they played week 17. Edge: Patriots.

Offense:
The Patriots have put together the greatest offensive season the NFL has ever seen. Tom Brady threw for 50 touchdown passes, Randy Moss caught 23 of them and I have not even started talking about Wes Welker or Laurence Maroney or Kevin Faulk or Dante Stallworth. As good as Eli Manning is playing, the Patriots just have too many weapons compared to the Giants. Edge: Patriots.

Defense:
This is the place where the Giants can provide the difference. Even though I would probably give the two teams a push here with the Giants D-Line and the Pats' Secondary. I think if Osi or Strahan some how find a way to do something no team really has all year - rush Tom Brady or apply constant pressure, they can create turnovers and keep the game close. Edge: Giants.

Special Teams:
Giants' fans hold their breath everytime Lawrence Tynes comes on to kick. That is enough reason to give the Patriots the edge but if Domenik Hixon can give the Gaints good field position, it can prove to be the difference. Edge: Patriots.

This is not going to be a rout as many people are expecting the Patriots to put on the Giants. Give the Giants some credit. It is too hard for a team that is not talented to make it to the Super Bowl by fluke. They have the ability to win it but they lack the experience and possibly a true superstar. Randy Moss has been completely ineffective for the Patriots in the playoffs and they still have won their games rather comfortably. The Giants have had everything clicking and they have pulled off two heart-wrenching victories. This playoff season was the time for Eli Manning to step out of his brother's shadow and has the chance to not only become the 2nd quarterback to win a Super Bowl after going 0-2 in his first two playoff games (Peyton Manning) but he can also lead the first team to a championship after they had a losing record at home (3-5).

Giants keep it close but Patriots find yet another way to win their 19th game and complete the great season in NFL history. 35-28 Patriots.

P.S. How funny would it be if the game came down to a game winning kick and Stephen Gostkowski pushes it wide with Adam Vinatieri sitting at home watching the game.

EDIT: Early results on an ESPN.com poll asking viewers what they would rather see. The Patriots go 19-0 or would you rather see the Giants upset the Patriots. Too bad this is not like the Presidential Elections, New York Giants are carrying about 40-45 states... enough to translate to about 57% of the total votes.

A Penny...

I would say this is a fairly accurate representation of the change in society over time.

Congress: Hard At Work?

So early this morning my best friend from Ireland sent me this article reporting that Senator Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee from Pennsylvania, wants to call National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell in for hearings regarding why the confiscated video tapes which allegedly implicated the New England Patriots in the SpyGate scandal were destroyed and never made public.

Immediately after reading the story, my initial response was "Congress really needs to find better things to do." With the economy failing and the dollar dropping, there being no end of the war in sight and the rest of the world cannot stand for anything American... one would think Congress really has more pressing matters to sort through than the Steroids in Baseball and now SpyGate in Football. Yes those are troubling issues plaguing the sports world but let the commissioners and owners and players clean that up and certainly if the fans really care this much about cleaning up their sport, they should stop attending... but we know that is not happening so just the sports clean it up themselves. Baseball was a little late but they eventually did it, and yea Patriots probably cheated with SpyGate but adding asterisk to their season does not prove anything. You can have all the information in the world but you still need to have coaches and players on the field who can execute plays game in, game out. No amount of cheating and make up for that.

Congress... just go back to work on more pressing issues and get these American fans some jobs or try fixing the economy or how about improving the situation in Iraq or the way Americans are viewed around the world? Baseball and Football are really third-class issues when compared to those.

Berman Goes Boinkers!

The all too jolly character on ESPN, Chris Berman, finally goes berserk... Enjoy fellas.




Courtesy: Ayaz Hyder