Sign Me Up for the Shaun White Fan Club

Looks like ratings are down for the Winter Olympics, but I could care less whether the U.S. has two fewer gold medals than Germany. Not when you have just one great athlete like nineteen year-old snowboarder Shaun White to entertain, both in actual competition and in front of the cameras. I've seen this guy in X-Games of years past, and while I appreciated his skills on both the skateboard and snowboard, I figured, hey just another X-Games athlete, complete with the slacker persona and fashion sense (fashion in this case used very liberally). But I don't know if I can remember a more likable athlete - the best in his sport, no less - give a more entertaining interview.

I caught him on ESPN News last night after I got back from running, and the kid is good. He's got a natural enthusiasm that's infectious, and seems unconcerned with appearing cool, even though he competes in sports where cool is a big part of your markteability. He also stays away from the awfulness that is the sports cliche, and he's funny as hell. In the span of a 2-minute interview, he managed to hit on twice-his-age SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn (who wasn't conducting the interview, but it was still funny), diss his silly Flying Tomato nickname while still reminding viewers that the tomato is a cool vegetable that's good for you, and seem genuinely in awe of winning a gold medal that he was the favorite to win. Now, someone explain to me why the hell anyone would "Join Bode" when there are guys like Shaun White who we could be watching instead?

Winter Olympics: More Medals Needed?

Even though the good old U-S-A is, as of this writing, third in overall medals, the perception in the media seems to be that we're not doing so well. That's probably due to the seemingly large number of events in which U.S. athletes are finishing fourth, fifth, or sixth. Never fear though, loyal readers, I have a solution!

First of all, do we even know why there are medals awarded for only the three top finishers? It probably dates back to ancient Grece, but this is the 21st century, baby! Time to expand the medal platforms to include a few more participants: from now on, medals to the top five.

Now, about those medals - why do they have to be metal? Medal is just short for medallion, not for a hunk of mined ore. Time to switch that up as well, put some animal alongside the mineral: fourth place - medallions of beef, fifth - pork medallions. Just don't leave them in the trophy case too long, and you'll be fine. Plus they both go well with a nice marsala sauce.

Terps Coverage Ends for the Season

With Maryland's loss to Clemson last night, I'm officially done raging about Terps basketball for the season. I'm not saying I won't watch any more games, b/c I probably will (although not all of them, as I had been doing), I just will stop wondering what went wrong. More accurately, I will stop writing about what went wrong, because I simply don't know and it hurts my brain to think about it.

By extension, I will stop searching for that endangered species of college basketball, the elusive Maryland Screen (Latin: Emydidae Pickius). Hell, not even the Teps beat writer for the Sun knew where to find one! Yes, that second question is mine, and while I very much appreciate Ms. Dinich indulging the inquiry of a disgruntled fan, her response brings me no closer to that which I seek.

To paraphrase Chicago Cubs fans, maybe next year.

Another Loss, and Not a Screen in Sight

Terps lose again to their arch-rivals. Maryland decides not to attempt more than five 3-pointers until the last two minutes of the game. Meanwhile, they are disorganzied on defense on many occassions, and allow open 3-point baskets. Still not a screen in sight for shooters like Mike Jones. He should learn to shoot more while he's covered, because if he's waiting for a pick to free him for a shot, he's going to be waiting a loooong time.

Oooh, just thought of an extremely dumb joke. Q: Why doesn't Gary ever open the windows of his house in the summer? A: There are no screens, he doesn't believe in them!

Chocolate! (& Charity)

Jenny and I attended the 15th Annual Chocolate Affair at Ravens Stadium last night, our first real exposure to such a charity event, and we had a great time. Our friend Tammie is involved with the charity, Health Care for the Homeless, and was one of the organizers of what I assume must be their largest annual fundraiser. The food was terrific, although after a while we found we really needed to rein ourselves in, for fear of entering some kind of chocolate-induced coma. I think we were most impressed with the scallops with chocolate glazing - who knew scallops and chocolate would work so well together?

We also placed a couple bids on one of the silent auction items: a signed Jerry Springer photo and 4 tickets to a taping of his show!!! Alas, we were not victorious, as the winning bidder (A Mr. David Johnson) went up to $70. He was hovering around the bid sheet towards the end of the auction, so we knew that we were a long shot to take home Jerry. He was somewhat-jokingly trying to discourage us from bidding anymore, but we didn't end up going beyond $45, so we weren't his real competition. But I suppose that we did do our part to bid up the final price of the item, so even though we didn't win we helped out the charity, right?

Refs on Durham Payroll Get Busted!

The ACC is finally realizing that games featuring the Bleu Devils aren't officiated impartially. Funny, most ACC fans have known that for years.

Super Weekend

[I didn't add Bowl to the title for a reason; you never know these days when some trademark lawyer is gonna wake up in a bad mood and get overzealous with the cease-and-desist letters.]

Kind of a blah weekend, in terms of the weather, here in Charm City. But we managed to get out of the house despite the cold and rain, and after 3+ years in the city finally got library cards! Doesn't sound too exciting, I know, but Baltimore has a very good library system, and buying every book that we read starts to add up after a while (in terms of money and space - we are in serious need of a third bookshelf).

I also stopped by the local running store and picked up some shiny new shoes - the Saucony Grid Trigon 3!. The helpful person at the store confirmed what I already suspected, that I'm a neutral runner (I don't significantly roll my foot one way or the other); I did learn, though, that my foot would be happier in a size 11 than in the 10.5 I used to wear.

Now, on to the games. Yes, games, plural. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Terps' loss to N.C. State yesterday. Good effort, close game, oh well. Although I would like to call the Maryland coaching staff's attention to this element of modern basketball that they are apparently blissfully unaware of - please implement this for Mike Jones, it won't hurt a bit. Honest.

The Super Bowl? Eh, it was OK. Don't get me wrong, it was a good game, but how does any game that doesn't go to at least 3 overtimes live up to the Super Bowl hype? It doesn't. Especially a game with such terrible officiating. But nevermind the game, how about them Stones? I was somewhat taken aback by the reaction of many of the people I was watching the game with; outright disgust at the sight of a 60+ Mick Jagger prancing around the stage in the skintight pants. Isn't that what rock-n-roll is all about though? Sure it's ridiculous, inappropriate, self-destructive, even ugly at times, but that's what's so cool about it, and that's what Mick and the guys personify as well as any act still performing. Any opportunity to not act one's age should be embraced, and the Stones do that as well as anyone. I'd rather see that kind of energy on stage any day, rather than a bunch of guys who just stand around, sing, play, exit stage right. Might as well stay home and listen to the CD in that case, and save yourself some money.

Anyone Know How to Pronounce 'Boehner'?

I'm referring, of course, to the new House Majority Leader, John Boehner of Ohio. The big question is, does it sound more like Bayner or Boner? I would think the latter, he is a Republican after all. Still, I suppose he's better than having a DeLay disciple like Roy Blunt as leader.

That's another thing - the Post really missed out on a great headline for this piece of news: Boehner Smokes Blunt! I just hope, for the sake of impressionable children everywhere, that he refrained from inhaling.