Riehl World View

Guess who hung out with Sarah and Todd Palin Sunday in NJ...

- Jennifer of Cubachi

I am not sure what these three talked about, but I would love to be a fly on the wall when Sarah and Todd Palin met with Governor Christie during a New York Jets game last Sunday.

Tucker Carlson's Pussified Prep School Pulls Out Of Game Fearing Injury

We had the strongest team by far back when I played junior league football. You couldn't play school ball until 9th grade. My second year, our coach took us over to PA to play a much older and heavier team without telling us who they were. We noticed as soon as we pulled up to the field. We also sensed what was coming.

They kicked our asses up and down the field in a 2 hour full contact scrimmage. I was the go to running back that year and I still remember every kick-off and carry. lol I got hammered every time, even just blocking. But I probably played harder right to the end in that game than any other I had ever played in. Our whole team did. We were crushed as far as scoring and obliterated on the field. Even more, I still remember the pride we felt afterward from playing them hard on every down.

I guess Tucker Carlson's prep school doesn't roll that way, along with too many other public and private schools today, I imagine.

Rhode Island school pulls out of game citing size of foe's players

That's exactly what happened Monday, when St. George's (R.I.) School canceled a game on Friday against fellow Independent School League member Lawrence Academy (Mass.), citing a concern over the disparity in the size of the two schools' players. St. George's is the first team to officially pull out of a game against Lawrence Academy (Mass.), one of two programs that has been completely dominant against ISL foes in recent years.

As laid out by both Mike Carraggi of the Boston Globe and Danny Ventura of the Boston Herald, the numbers behind St. George's decision are pretty stark. Three Lawrence Academy offensive lineman weigh in at 300, 335 and 350 pounds, where St. George's players come nowhere near those marks. Still, the withdrawal is a stark statement of competitive inequity in the entire league. St. George's stands at 2-0 after going winless last year, but still decided it was better off withdrawing than playing a team that won all but two of its games by 40 or more points in 2009.

Blogging And Writing

Stacy McCain wanders through a large set of breasts and Brett Favre's manly bits to get to this otherwise unexpected destination.

Blogging is a form of journalism and, at its best, blogging can have as much credibility and impact as the New York Times. There’s no reason why bloggers should limit their effectiveness by always writing in “snarktastic” mode. You’ll notice, for example, that Dan Riehl uses a different style of writing when he’s doing actual reporting than when he’s just linking and commenting.

Years ago, someone referred to my blog as the place to go for straight news-like coverage on the Holloway case. That was true, though I also had as much fun, or blew off as much steam, as I do today - in unrelated posts. Glenn Reynolds often writes substantive articles - today, it's the Higher Education bubble. But he'll snark on his blog, or even in an off-site item, depending on the subject matter.

Some bloggers blog because they want to speak out in their own voice, it's usually consistent, or often the same. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. As an aside, an email this afternoon suggested this gal writes like Jim Hoft. I can see some similarities.

As I've always seen myself as a writer first and blogger second, I enjoy playing with voice and tone. People refuse to believe that I'm often laughing when writing some of my most angry sounding posts. Sissy Willis is a blog writer I admire, though her style is completely different from anything I do. The same could be said for Ace of Spades. Agent Bed Head is someone else with a style I absolutely love, but couldn't do.

In general, I think writers tend to catch on and last out here longer than someone who suddenly discovers they want to blog - but doesn't think very much about the words they use within the form. If you blog and want to last and grow, you might want to think about what kind of writer you are and what you want to acheive, or do with that, as opposed to only thinking in terms of it as a blog. ymmv  

In Spanish the cats would say "purr," but the act is called "el ronroneo"

"Oracle Octopus Picks Spain in Final, Receiving Death Threats," went the headline: "Just as Americans look to the groundhog for signs of what the future holds, German soccer fans have their own animal prophet, Paul the Octopus." Hey, guys, I'm just a cephalopod out here looking for a good meal. Terrifying how stupefyingly stupid members of our own species can be when mortal sins are in play, but hey. That's the nature of the beast.

By Sissy Willis of sisu

"Pablo el puplo pulpo!" — Paul the Octopus — twittered Cubachi this afternoon, basking in the afterglow of Spain's World Cup victory. We have zero interest in soccer — closest we ever came to involvement of any kind was playing goalie for the high school field hockey team way back when, which was a real yawner — but thanks to Twitter, Cubachi has blessed us with a new word that makes us purr:

Cubachi: Since Jake Tapper's cat is betting on a win by #ESP, I taught it how to say "meow" in Spanish: "miau" ;)

We: What's Spanish for purr?

Cubachi: In Spanish the cats would say "purr" but the act is called "el ronroneo"

It's true Chelsea is a sanctuary city with a robust Hispanic citizenry, but who knew Tiny spoke Spanish?

Note: Thanks to mary in the comments for correcting our dyslexic misspelling of the Spanish word for octopus. Should be pulpo.

Crossposted at sisu and Liberty Pundits.

AP Jumps The World Cup Shark

Look at the headline, then read the tragic lede graphs in this announcement of a new professional soccer stadium in Chester, PA. It has to be one of the most bizarre AP stories I've ever read. It's as if a local crime reporter was desperate for a soccer connection, given the World Cup. Also of note, in Europe, soccer is notorious for brawling and near riots. While I doubt the tradition carries over, if it does, I don't think soccer will do much for Chester's crime problem. Geesh!

Pa. city fights crime with soccer, strict curfews

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) -- Marjorie Clark lost her husband to the swing of a baseball bat against his skull after he dared confront a drug dealer in 1993. Her daughter, who has cerebral palsy, was raped about 12 years later by a man who broke into their home. Last week, her 2-year-old neighbor was shot in the head and killed just outside.

"It's getting worse and worse. I'm angry. I don't want to be here no more," said Clark, 66, who has lived for 20 years in this historic but troubled riverside city of 29,500.

Leaders, also angry and desperate as they try to see through a $500 million revitalization plan that includes the inauguration this weekend of a Major League Soccer stadium, are preparing to extend a five-day state of emergency to at least a month.

Wendell Butler Jr., mayor of this once-mighty manufacturing center halfway between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del., responded to the recent shooting deaths of four people in eight days by instituting a curfew in five of Chester's high-crime neighborhoods, putting police on 12-hour shifts and announcing that eight more officers will be added "as soon as possible" to the 96-member force.

The shootings and resulting crackdown will have no effect on the Philadelphia Union soccer team's home opener Sunday, team spokeswoman Aimee Cicero said. The game, a sold-out event that has been hyped for months, will be the team's first there.

The Slide Toward Soccer Fagdom

I knew this popped up on Memerandum, yesterday. See, RightWingNews' soccer babe here. I grew up in an area considered one of the early soccer capitols of America in NJ, another being the St. Louis area, as I recall.

I had a cousin who played on an American all-star team that played the Scots, then touring the US. He was okay. But then, he boxed, too. I think it was the boxing that saved him from soccer fagdom in the end.

The big push for soccer came about, in part, as a result of fear of injury for kids from playing football. By the time I stopped coaching junior league football, you could hardly find a field to play on, so many of them having been converted to soccer fields.

I keep a list of things that equate to the downfall of America. It's growing. I think I'll add the slide toward fagdom as a result of soccer to the list.

Cominsky? Basaball Been Berry Berry Good To Obama

Yes, Obama can't name any of those baseball players he was so fond of as a kid. But does he also make the more typical mistake of calling it Cominsky Park? Why, yes, at one minute in, I believe he does. And it isn't the first time via Breitbart TV.

‘Cominskey Field’? President Obama Botches Name of Home of His Beloved White Sox

But that does rhyme with Alinksky, so, maybe we should cut him some slack. Basaball been berry berry good to Obama!

Dodger Willie Davis Dead At 69

I was extremely young when he was in his prime but my family were mostly all baseball nuts. I remember this dude. Back in the day, they'd let us bring transistor radios to school during the series to catch the day games at our desks if we kept the sound low. RIP.

(Reuters) - Willie Davis, the speedy former All-Star center fielder who spent most of his 18-season Major League Baseball career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has died at the age of 69.

Known as "Three Dog" for his ability to often hit triples and because he wore number three on his uniform for most of his career, Davis played on the Dodgers' World Series championship teams in 1963 and 1965.

Davis set a Dodgers team record in 1969 with a 31-game hitting streak and remains the franchise's all-time leader in hits, extra-base hits, at-bats, runs, triples and total bases.

"He was beloved by generations of Dodger fans and remains one of the most talented players ever to wear the Dodger uniform," Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said in a statement.

Some Jews Need To Chill Out

If the back story to why tenor Ronan Tynan lost his Yankee's gig and is now leaving New York due to lack of work is accurate, than some people in the Jewish community really need to chill out. His comment would have had nothing to do with the women being Jewish. It would merely be a reflection of what he was told. And this Dr. Gabrielle Gold-Von Simson sounds like a complete azzhole. The ADL doesn't appear to distinguish itself very well with the "slips up on one occasion" crap, either. Hyper-sensitivity by any race, color, or religion never serves it very well, frankly.

As for the Yankees, weak, really weak, assuming this below is accurate, as I said.

As the story goes, a real estate agent brought two Jewish ladies to view an apartment neighboring Tynan's. The agent warned Tynan that the "two Jewish ladies" were very particular, and the tenor wondered if living next to him would be prudent.

Later, when an associate of the agent told Tynan the apartment had been sold, he joked, "Don't worry, they're not Red Sox fans." Tynan retorted, "As long as they are not the Jewish ladies," which was overheard by the client, Dr. Gabrielle Gold-Von Simson, also Jewish. Gold-Von Simson complained to the Yankees who then told Tynan not to come to Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the 2009 ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels.

"I made a comment that was misunderstood," Tynan said. "If anyone knows the pain of discrimination, I do."

Tynan was born with lower leg problems that forced him to wear braces. After complications following a car accident, Tynan elected to amputate both legs. He would go on to compete in the Paralympics on two prosthetic legs, representing Ireland in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Paralympics according to the Paralympics Web site. He won four gold medals, two silvers and a bronze.

Tynan then became a physician specializing in orthopedic sports injuries before taking up singing at age 33 and emigrating to the United States in 1998.

Following the controversy, Tynan apologized to the Anti-Defamation League. ADL director Abraham Foxman, told reporters that, "It is our belief that when an individual who has a record of good works, as does Dr. Tynan, slips up on one occasion, a sincere apology should help everyone move on."

Update: Bryant Gumbel: No Blacks Makes Winter Olympics A Joke "Like A GOP Convention"

Update: I hear the Gumbel thing is old. Shows you how much attention I've paid to him over the years. Chit happens. Linked from an email from BP.

Tell me, again, why is this guy is still on the air, anywhere? Video at link.

Oh yeah, that's right, he's black. And articulate.