One Girl's Opinion

One Girl's Valentine's Day

2012-02-13T23:47:00.018-05:00

It hasn't happened yet, but here is a prediction of how my special little Valentine's Day will go.

7AM: Am awakened by blue birds, squirrels, and friendly raccoons, Disney Princess style, and spring from my bed, throw open the shutters to a bright, sunny day and burst into song about how today is my day for true love!

7:30AM: Realize I was dreaming and have turned off my alarm clock in my sleep. Am actually awakened by the desperate meowing of my dozens of cats... the survivors who haven't been crushed beneath my hoard.

7:40AM: Time to get ready for work and MUST. LOOK. AMAZING.

7:45AM: Amazing isn't happening. Settling for 'festive' since it isn't yet 8AM and ripping shots until I *feel* pretty isn't an option... after all, it's a Tuesday. Big hair? Check. Lipstick? Check. Perfume? Check. Maybe some bows? People wear bows right? That's a thing people do. Okay maybe bigger hair, brighter lipstick, more perfume, couple more bows, obviously a pink or red outfit preferably with puffy sleeves, pink nail polish, deely bobbers and two FISTS FULL OF VALENTINES FOR EVERYONE I SEE.

8AM: KICK open door and emerge from apartment on a Valentine's mission! I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT TODAY SEEMS LIKE IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT DAAAYYYYYY.

8:15AM: Arrive at work still Valentine-less after passers by are startled by either A) my outfit, B) my thrusting Valentines in their faces, or C) growing concern over my urban raccoon infestation.

8:30AM: Sit grinning ear-to-ear at desk, hands folded neatly, in front of my chipper-looking homemade Valentine's mailbox! Any minute now!

8:35AM: Still no Valentines in my lovely box. Spruce said box up by using a red sharpie to draw a few more hearts on it.

8:40AM: Still no Valentines. Cue up some Mariah and Whitney love songs on my work computer and play them at an unreasonably loud volume so all my coworkers know I've arrived and that my Valentine's mailbox is open for business (you know, just in case they missed the outfit, the skipping, and the trail of glitter I sprinkled leading to my desk).

8:45AM: Turns out we aren't "doing that". Also my outfit isn't "work appropriate" and my Fruiti O's cereal box with a hole cut in the side, wrapped in tinfoil and colored with crayons isn't the grand masterpiece I envisioned. ...also something may have died in it and it's stinking up the office. Really gotta do something about that hoard. This is probably how Don Quixote felt about his cardboard helmet.

9AM: "Seriously we aren't doing that. You're 27. Stop putting that thing back on your desk every time I'm not looking and get to work."

9:30AM: Carefully update all social media applications (Twitter, Facebook, gchat status msg) with posts about politics or sports - anything other than Valentine's day - so as to look like I don't care, but subtly let everyone know I am checking my social media applications just in case they want to wish me a Happy Valentine's Day and / or ask me to be their Valentine. "What!? It's Valentine's Day? Psh I TOTALLY forgot and TOTALLY don't care. Let's talk about the Steelers you guys!!"

11AM: Resolve self to staring longingly out the window, sighing dramatically like a scene in a movie that would be accompanied by really sad music. If no one responds, sigh louder and at more frequent intervals.

11:03AM: Am now hyperventilating. Abandon window sighing plan.

12:15PM: Lunch of self-purchased Whitman's sampler. Open Valentine's card to self filled with words of encouragement. Resolve to greet rest of Valentine's Day with renewed enthusiasm!

1PM: Note that no boy has gchatted me, likely due to fear that the following will happen:

guy: hey
me: LOVE ME

3PM: Ruin an email chain of single girlfriends discussing who is bringing what homemade dessert to the "Single Gals Vday Party!!" that night with horrifying response either involving un-ladylike bodily functions like crop dusting or involving hard drugs like meth and heroin authored with no obvious notes of irony so no one is quite sure if i'm joking.

5:15PM: Arrive home. Put on hoodie and sweats and house the absolute shit out of a combination of spaghettios, Easy Mac, and half a shaker of heart-shaped sprinkles for dinner, which I will describe in response text messages asking what i'm doing as "having a slow-motion, sexy pillow fight in my heels and lingerie and also my sprinklers went off so I'm all wet!"

6PM: Call my mom as preventative measure instead of raiding liquor cabinet and potentially calling a boy because "Wow. So 15 missed calls, a voicemail, and a text saying 'come downstairs'. And where is downstairs? Explain." isn't the line of questioning I want to wake up and deal with tomorrow.

8PM: Start going down list of Steelers' twitter accounts in alphabetical order, asking them to be my Valentine.

9:30PM: Write dark, brooding poetry.

9:50PM: Dramatic reading of said poetry outside on my lawn. Poetry reading to be followed by professing my love to a flower and performing an interpretive dance in the moonlight as my writing does not adequately convey all my feelings. I just have so many feelings.

1AM: Refusing to walk, drag self slowly and dramatically across my floor through the narrow alleys between my hoard piles to my bed, pausing every few feet to curse my parents for not loving me enough as a child (even though they did), just for dramatic effect. Climb into bed with my law degree, terrible towel, and the trophy I won in a middle school debate contest, and find solace in what a catch I am.

1:05AM: Remember I haven't yet checked my mailbox and run outside to check it where I discover a Valentine's Day card from my grandmother with $20 in it (turn this life around!) and am reminded that yes, Virginia, there is a Valentine.

Valentine's Day Blog 2011: My Fuzzy Valentine: http://onegirlsopinionogo.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-fuzzy-valentine.html

Valentine's Day Blog 2010: One Girl's Guide To Getting A Boyfriend: http://onegirlsopinionogo.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-girls-guide-to-getting-boyfriend.html

2012 Winter Classic keeps it classy

2011-09-26T19:57:00.021-04:00

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife. Hide yo valuables, and for the love of God hide your jersey when walking through groups of rival fans. The NHL has just announced that the 2012 Winter Classic will feature the Philadelphia Flyers vs New York Rangers and will be hosted at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Wow. If the plan was to round up the trashiest fans the NHL has to offer and try and set some sort of record for most people beaten to death in a parking lot, then well done.

The Rangers are expected arrive in Philadelphia at staggered times over the Christmas holidays, each player in a separate, nondescript car, to the luxurious Motel 8.

Instead of the National Anthem, the game will commence following a rousing rendition of either "Smack My Bitch Up" or the unedited version of "Forget You", as determined by popular fan vote. Fan vote will be determined by whichever artist, Prodigy or Cee Lo, isn't bludgeoned to death getting off their tour bus.

Fans are encouraged to wear helmets to the game to show their support for their favorite team, and also to avoid a similar fate.

Intermission will feature a shot put-style battery throwing contest where fans try to get the most distance on a Bud Light-fueled Duracell toss where the winner will receive a bullet proof vest so he or she can survive the inevitable shanking-in-the-bathroom sure to follow as a result of being seen on the JumboTron.

Following the game, the losing team will be set up as decoys and awarded medals of participation, which, if the players are wise they will use to try and reflect the light into the eyes of the fans pelting them with beer bottles to temporarily blind them, while the winning team will be allowed to immediately flee to their armored buses through the nearest fire exit.

Should fans set fire to the arena, officials plan to seal all exits, trapping the fans inside like the British army pulled on the colonists during the revolutionary war as depicted in Mel Gibson's movie, The Patriot. If officials are forced to resort to what has been dubbed "Plan A", a college scholarship fund will be set up for the children of local strip club employees, whose business is expected to be irreparably damaged by such a "tragedy".

And then the children will salt the land, so nothing will ever grow there again.

I think this Rangers fan is voting for the Cee Lo song.

Know how I know this Flyers' fan's father is one proud dad? Hint: it isn't because she is literally wearing only a bra and short shorts to a sporting event and has an arrow painted on her body pointing to her unmentionables.

The GOP's Breakfast Club

2011-06-13T22:28:00.012-04:00

"At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in the room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." ~Billy Madison

As I wrote this, the Boston Bruins were up 5-1 over the Vancouver Canucks and went on to tie the Stanley Cup Championship series 3-3. America may have lost in the GOP Presidential debate Monday, but at least it's winning at hockey.

While America was the loser, it was hard for me to pick a clear winner in the debate, but I'm going with Herman Cain and Mitt Romney. Rather than blogging a play-by-play analysis of the cacophony of "pro-life" this and "cut corporate taxes" that which was the first large-scale GOP debate in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential election, I just want to highlight some standout moments. Here they are, chronologically.

I'll start with the candidate with whom I'm best acquainted, former PA Senator Rick Santorum. I've met and worked with Santorum politically in the past. I think Washington Post's Jonathan Bernstein put it best when he said Santorum's "only plausible role in these proceedings is to be as shrill and abrasive on the various social issues as possible." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/on-with-the-show-the-gop-kicks-off-2012/2011/05/06/AFHGBQ8F_blog.html)

Santorum certainly played his roll well tonight. The debate started at 8PM and when I flipped to CNN at 8:07, the first statement I heard out of anyone's mouth was Santorum dropping the importance of his pro-life agenda in response to a question about the economy. Way to stay on point.

Michele Bachmann was up next and she didn't bother answering the question at all. Instead, she took the moment to announce that she officially filed the papers to run for President. I wanted to be offended at her lack of respect toward addressing the issues affecting the American people, but honestly, it's best she doesn't talk.

Then there was Tim Pawlenty. Who?? Exactly. Unless you're a political insider or citizen of Minnesota, you probably have no clue who Pawlenty is, nor would you after having seen his lackluster performance in the debate.

"T-Paw" missed a crucial opportunity to really define and establish himself as a candidate when he chose to tuck tail rather than take current GOP frontrunner, former Gov Mitt Romney, to task about Romney's advocacy of universal healthcare in Massachusetts. On Fox Sunday, Pawlenty knocked what he called "Obamneycare"; a hybrid of "Obamacare" and "Romney". People don't know who Pawlenty is, and if he wants to make a name for himself he needs to make, and stand behind, his bold statements, or he is going to be swallowed by the more recognizable names in the field.

Back to Bachmann, who unfortunately decided she was now going to answer some questions, she asserted that the Tea Party is made up of "disaffected Democrats", and paused for emphasis, before adding on a litany of political party types who make up, what I can only assume, is the other 99.99% of the Tea Party.

She then graced the American people with her economic panacea. Her big job creation plan? "Kill the EPA", or, as she so cleverly named it, the "Job Killing Organization." But then this got me thinking that, while she may not make a very good President, or even a passable Hill intern, she'd be a great pirate. Just think about all the pirate-y names: Blackbeard. Treasure Cove. Dead Man's Bay. Those are all both scary AND seemingly self-explanatory, eliminating that whole need for an A to B logical thought process like in high school when your math teacher would ask you to "show your work" solving a problem. Why? Sounds scary, therefore is scary. No explanation needed. Shipwreck Island. Boom.

Back to Santorum, this time trying to fake a blue collar empathy to appear more sympathetic on the issue of jobs. "I represented the Steel Valley of Pittsburgh when I was in Congress.” ...Okay no, no you didn't. You didn't even live in Pennsylvania when you were our Senator. You and your wife and 19 kids and counting picked up and moved to Virginia where you sent your children to expensive private schools while the good people of Pittsburgh footed the bill. (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06146/693291-192.stm)

Not only did Santorum not represent the interests of his Pennsylvania constituents, which is why we voted him out of office, he couldn't even pretend to care enough about the state to live or keep his family there. His audacity in still standing up there, years after this issue, and insisting he's was a Pittsburgh boy while he was in Congress was a slap in the face to the people of Pennsylvania. Elephants never forget. And neither do donkeys. And Pennsylvania will not look kindly on Santorum come voting day.

The candidates were also asked a completely random selection of pop-culture "this or that" questions periodically before cutting to commercial breaks. Ron Paul picked Blackberry over iPhone... Hands down best answer to any question I heard all night.

When addressing protecting medicare and social security for retirees, Pawlenty said, "We want to keep our word to ppl we made promises to." What, except union workers expecting their pensions?

At some point, the proceedings devolved into a debate of who could oppress gay people more.

Santorum, on the issue of prayer and faith: "All of our ideas are allowed in and tolerated."
Santorum, on abortion: "All life" should have "respect" and "dignity".

His comments are of course in stark contrast to the point of absurdity as he juxtapositioned them with statements that gay marriage should be constitutionally banned and that gays should be banned from the military through the reinstatement of Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Sadly, every single member of the GOP field agreed with him on the issue of a constitutional ban on gay marriage (even Newt Gingrich, who I can only assume is, however, okay with marriage between one man and three women in rapid succession) and in the reinstatement of DADT, which of course framed as gays as likely to exhibit "military misconduct" which should be frowned upon... every single member of the field except for one...

Enter Herman Cain.

Herman Cain was the only member of the GOP who seemed to express any true tolerance toward the gay community at all, saying the issue of gay marriage should be left up to the states rather than be banned through a constitutional amendment, and that he would not pursue the reinstatement of Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Herman Cain dug himself into a hole, however, bungling a chance to retract earlier statements he made about refusing to appoint a Muslim to his cabinet.

It is, one would think, truly hard to top such a seemingly offensive remark. Never fear, Newt is here.

Gingrich came to Cain's rescue by out-bigoting him, essentially endorsing McCarthyism... yes, that happened. #goodoldfashionedwitchhunt

As far as the depth of foreign policy experience possessed by this esteemed panel, my favorite comment was by Pawlenty who called Iraq, a "shining example of success in the middle east." ...if Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house, it should be immediately apparent that Pawlenty cannot see Iraq from his.

So, at the end of the day, we've got God's crusader, that dumb tea party one with the crazy eyes (no, not the one who thinks masturbation is a sin, the other one), that guy who says anything he says is inaccurate, the Mormon yankee boy who brought his state universal healthcare who now TOTALLY opposes universal healthcare, the old man and his crazy budget plan he is hell bent on believing can one day become a real boy, what's-his-name, and the pizza shop owner guy / token minority.

With a field like that, it's no wonder we got a debate like this. Bang up job, candidates.

Everything I know about the NBA in 150 words; written by a bandwagon fan

2011-05-10T13:51:00.013-04:00

Is this still relevant? Because if not I can do this in under 100 words.

I liked Michael Jordan and have his #23 Chicago Bulls jersey from when I was a kid.

I had a Toronto Raptor's Starter Jacket as a kid... I don't for the life of me know why.

I hate Kobe Bryant and Lebron James because Kobe doesn't know the meaning of "no means no" and Lebron = Judas.

I like Shaq because of Shaq Versus.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards suck.

I like John Wall’s dance and I know he played for Kentucky because, as a WVU fan, I hated him. We're cool now.

I know the name Dwyane Wade thanks to Jay Z’s song, Empire State of Mind. The playoffs have taught me he is a guard for the Miami Heat.

Former Pitt Panthers' player, Sam Young, plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Kobe Bryant plays for the Lakers.

I can correctly pair almost all the NBA teams with their appropriate cities.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. 150 words. I can’t tell you one single other thing about the NBA.

Don’t get me wrong, I know a ton about basketball and I’m a rabid college hoops fan, but after college I completely lose interest as players either get drafted into the NBA or fade into obscurity.

With these things in mind, I’m jumping on board the NBA playoffs bandwagon for the first time in my life. Last year, I watched the final NBA Championship game and that’s it. This year, I’ve watched a handful of games already including last night’s OT victory of the Heat over the Celtics and the triple OT victory of the Thunder over the Grizzlies. I just can’t bring myself to not watch a close sports game.

Two years ago, I decided I should adopt an NBA team for the novelty of it. Since I live in Washington, DC, I decided to go with the Washington Wizards. I’ve only been to 2 NBA games in my life: Wizards vs Detroit Pistons and Wizards vs Milwaukee Bucks. And I mean, I met the Wizards’ mascot, the G-man, and he’s pretty cool... so they've got that going for them... which is nice.

I figure I can lump them in with my Pittsburgh Pirates in the “bless their heart” category of teams. Also, this way, if the Wizards get good one day, no one can accuse me of just bandwagoning with the good team. Oh no... No, I’ll bandwagon with one of the worst and ninja my way in as a fan while no one is looking.

But, since the Wizards aren't in the playoffs and I’m trying to get into the NBA action, I’ve also decided to bandwagon temporarily with the Celtics and Grizzlies as my “backup” teams to the Wizards. I went to Boston University, so I figure that gives me enough credit to qualify as a half-assed Celtics fan. I’m a huge Pitt Panthers’ fan and their former player, Sam Young, plays for the Grizzlies. In the same vein I cheer for Ohio State solely because and while Terrelle Pryor (from my hometown of Jeannette) plays for them, I will cheer for the Grizzlies because of Sam Young. If both those teams get knocked out, I'll be cheering for Team-Anyone-But-Miami-Heat.

Now, behold, as I make a concerted effort to join the ranks of NBA fans. I’ve clearly got a way to go. Go Celtics and Go Grizzlies!

My "lazy, greedy, union-employee" parents

2011-05-08T22:02:00.029-04:00

Seen to my left and right; the face of union workers in America. This isn't photo-shopped.

If you've ever met me, you know I love talking politics. If you've ever talked politics with me, you know the one subject about which I will entertain absolutely no debate is labor unions. While I have many reasons for my stance, I'd like to elaborate on just two of these.

My mom:

I'll start with my mom. My mom is a member of the most vilified of all unions; the teacher's union. Specifically, she belongs to the Pennsylvania State Educator's Association (PSEA).

My mom has been teaching for 30 years; since she was fresh out of college at 22. Officially, she works 9 1/2 months a year, from 7:20AM until 2:40PM. In reality, my mom stays at school until at least 8PM one to two nights a week with her journalism students putting out a nationally award winning yearbook and newspaper. When she was hired, the yearbook and newspaper didn't win any awards.

She never leaves school ever before 4PM. She stays after to do some grading, prepare her lesson plans, or talk to students who come to speak with her. Her "summer break" starts in mid-to-late June due to the many snow days caused by the Pittsburgh-area winters. She starts spending all her days back at the high school again by mid-August, when she comes in to get her classroom ready for school to start, and to receive the yearbooks from the publication company and get them in order to distribute to students on the first day of school.

July is her only real time off. In July, she spends one week every summer with her students at a yearbook and journalism conference so she and the students can learn new skills to help improve the publications and build closer bonds among the publication staff. When my mom has a student who can't afford to go, but wants to, she pays for their trip herself out of pocket.

She takes her students on a trip to New York City every year in March to attend a national journalism conference at Columbia University. The students who can't afford the trip sell candy bars as a fundraiser to pay for their trip. When my mom has a student who can't afford to go even after fundraising, she pays for the remainder of their trip herself. One year, with a particularly promising but poor journalism student, after a chaperone backed out last minute and couldn't go, my mom gave the opened spot to the student.

When one of my mom's students recently became homeless, she came and asked my mom if she knew anyone who wanted two cats, because she could no longer keep her beloved pets. With two rescue cats and a rescue dog of her own, my mom couldn't take them in herself. After asking and emailing around unsuccessfully at the high school, my mom paid $200 to have her cats neutered and fostered so they could find forever homes. They had to be neutered in order to be fostered.

My mom has several students every year who can't even afford lunches, but who for whatever reason, are not yet part of the school lunch program. My mom buys them food at the grocery store when she goes shopping for our family, and every night when she makes her lunch she packs healthy lunches for her students who can't afford one. She finds a subtle way to get it to the student after the other students have left the classroom for the next period, so they won't be embarrassed by having the other kids see.

Students come to my mom for advice when they're pregnant, when they have problems at home, problems in a relationship or with a friend, or for advice on where to go for college or which elective classes to take. In her spare time, my mom writes letters of recommendation and grades an endless stack of papers. My mom easily spends 12 hours every week outside of work grading papers. She makes and updates her lesson plans. She goes to the store to purchase supplies for her class room, because the limited budget she has through the school for these expenses doesn't provide enough for her to get all the things she needs to give her students the best education she feels they deserve. When invited, she attends students' graduation parties and the weddings and baby showers of former students. She goes to the musicals and plays at night in the spring when her students are in them.

Years after her students graduate, or on graduation day, they come and see my mom or write letters that have made her cry, thanking her for all she did for them. They tell her how much she has changed their life for the better.

My mom loves her job. She doesn't want to retire early, and often jokes about how she'll be teaching until she's so old, students just stop listening to her. Her only remaining goal for herself in life is to be able to travel the world. She was born in France. Since then, she has never left the US but for twice to the Virgin Islands. It's too expensive and our family can't afford it.

My dad:

My father, on the other hand, has never gotten a thank you note for his work. He is in construction and has been since he was 18 years old when he worked in the summers to pay to put himself through college. My dad is a union member of Laborers' Local 1058.

Working construction means you work long hours in every condition. When the roads are so bad no one else can get to or from work, my dad has to be on the job site. He has worked in the freezing cold winters in Buffalo and Pittsburgh in sub-zero temperatures, where massive heaters have to be turned on at the site so they can do pours and the concrete doesn't freeze before they can lay it properly. He is currently working in New Orleans where temperatures are in the 90s all summer and the humidity through the roof. He of course works outside in all these conditions.

He works in all these places and many others, far from his family and home, because that is the nature of the construction industry. You follow the projects the company for which you work does. I remember the first time my father was sent out of town. I was 4-years-old and my dad sat down with my little brother and me on my grandmother's couch and told us. He didn't want to go, but he had to. That was the first, and one of the only, times I ever remember seeing my father cry. He still drove home every single weekend to be with his family.

He works from 5AM until 6PM virtually every single day. He works 7 days a week nearly every week. He has off Christmas, but not Christmas eve or the day after. When the company does major pours, my dad will get home from his regular work day around 7PM, and needs to be back into work at 2AM for a pour that will go until midnight the next night. He still has to be at work the very next day at 5AM again.

He comes home from work covered head-to-toe in mud and cement.

A few days before my dad married my mom, he fell off the Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh. He fell into one of the giant 150 ft-or-so concrete pillars. Fortunately, he was wearing a safety harness that was secured to the bridge. Labor unions, who lobbied for improved worker safety devices on job sites, were responsible for saving my father's life. A few years before, on the same job site, an iron worker fell off the bridge at another spot and was paralyzed.

On a different job site where my father worked, the boom of a crane collapsed and crushed the oiler inside the cab to death. While building one of the tunnels to the Pittsburgh airport, one of my father's coworkers was in a work accident that decapitated him. While building the Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown in Washington DC, my dad, one of the first on the job site every day, found the destroyed body of a woman. She had thrown herself off the partially-finished freeway to commit suicide, and landed in front of their construction trailer. That was how my father started that work day, and he worked the full day afterward.

My dad was one of the first on the scene in October, 2001, when a speeding tractor-trailer veered onto a road-side job site and killed five of the construction workers who work with him. He was the superintendent of that site, and they were one of his crews. They were sitting and eating their lunches when it happened. He came home that day, in shock, and told our family about how he came upon their lunch boxes with their half-eaten lunches. He didn't need to elaborate on the rest of the gruesome details of that scene. If he had gotten back to that area of the job a few minutes earlier, that could have been him. [ http://www.wtae.com/r/1010736/detail.html ]

My father's coworkers who have died were also, of course, union employees. Thanks to labor union lobbying as a result of this and similar accidents, state police are now present on most road-side construction projects in Pennsylvania to be sure traffic actually obeys the construction signs.

My dad was shot with a paintball gun in Lancaster, PA by some kids driving by a job site.

He works constantly around jack hammers and incredibly loud machines and will undoubtedly one day suffer hearing problems. My grandfather, who was in construction for his entire life, has to hear through a hearing aid, and even then very poorly. My dad already has serious back problems as a result of the heavy lifting required of him. These will no doubt only get worse with age.

My father is in New Orleans now working to build new and vastly improved flood walls to protect the city so another Katrina will never happen.

Most people in the US have never seen a dead body outside a funeral home, or been shot. Most people's lives aren't at risk every single day at their job site. The giant construction signs reading "Slow Down, My Daddy Works Here" in a child's handwriting have special meaning to me. My father has seen as many of his friends and coworkers die as any Iraq or Afghanistan war veteran, but he isn't treated like a hero. Instead, when we do things like take a bus tour of the city in Boston, he gets to hear the tour guide on the loud speaker crack jokes about construction workers "not exactly being qualified for Mensa" as we ride past them.

These are just two examples of union workers. This is what your tax dollars pay for. My parents are the "Everyman" union worker to me. So the next time you hear a talking point about "lazy, greedy" union employees, you can feel free to think, like I do, of my parents, and see if those words still ring true to you, or if you find yourself searching for some new adjectives.

It's a party in the USA: What we're really celebrating

2011-05-03T00:11:00.026-04:00

"Answering the question of what we're really celebrating, and why, matters not just to our internal conscience, but to how we are perceived by the world as well."

Last night, television and radio programs across the United States were interrupted by breaking news that President Barack Obama had an announcement. I caught wind of the news through twitter and turned on my tv. Shortly thereafter, widespread speculation in the twitterverse, they by news reporters, broke the story the President would confirm shortly thereafter.

At approximately 11:30pm, President Obama announced, "Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world, that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children... The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al Qaeda... Justice has been done."

As Obama spoke, cheering crowds massed outside the White House fence.

One of my best friends since middle school called me up in the midst of this and asked if I wanted to go to the White House, last night's celebration ground zero, to join in the festivities. She and I both live in DC now, having moved here from western Pennsylvania. My friend was with me that day, September 11, 2001. It was our senior year of high school.

With that day in mind, I answered, "Absolutely." She picked me up and we sped down to my former law school campus at George Washington University to park and walk the few blocks to the White House. Along the way we ran into scores of fellow revelers walking towards the same destination. You could hear the crowd screaming and cheering and cars honking from blocks away.

When the last block separating us from the White House ended and the buildings parted, we were greeted with the sight of hundreds or maybe thousands of revelers. The majority of the crowd was 18-28 year olds; almost all young people who seemed to be mostly students at GW and Georgetown, confirmed by the GW and Georgetown t-shirts many sported. The primary attire, however, was red, white, and blue. Revelers rocked homemade t-shirts and signs. Among my favorite was a young man holding up a sign that read "A HAPPY MUSLIM" and smiling for pictures. There were plenty of young marines wearing their marine hood shirts and carrying a giant marine flag. The scene could have easily been mistaken for a super hero convention with all the American flag capes people were wearing. I was impressed, frankly, by all the patriotic gear people happened to own.

People cheered "USA! USA!" and "Obama! Obama! You [expletive] killed Osama!", sang the National Anthem and God Bless America. They lit sparklers, climbed trees and lamp posts, and blew vuvuzelas; horns made popular by the World Cup. I had my trusty vuvuzela with me as well; a blue horn with a small American flag I taped to it last Fourth of July. I ran into 3 other young men in the crowd with the instruments as well, and the crowd reacted enthusiastically and laughed at their err.. "music".

Crowds parted way easily to let you through. If you asked people to take a picture of you with your camera, they were happy to oblige. Even those perched atop the coveted spots on the White House fence who had been there for hours were happy to let you up into their spot so you could get a photo.

The crowd was truly all in this together. It was full of Democrats and Republicans, young marines and Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and pacifists, rival college campus students of GW and Georgetown. All were jubilant and there was more than just a feeling of camaraderie; it was like we were all friends with the same shared experience and, in fact, we were. We all shared that awful day in history that President Obama noted is "seared into our national memory." And here we were, sharing this too.

[redacted]

I understand that in many places, any death can be deemed justice by certain stretches of the imagination. Indeed, though most of the world mourned with the United States on 9/11, there were people who celebrated. While these people may have perceived the United States as having committed injustices against them, what they were celebrating was the death of thousands of our innocent civilians.

Here in the United States, our Navy SEAL troops who executed the mission to kill bin Laden "took care to avoid civilian casualties", said Obama in his speech. Bin Laden was given a burial at sea according to proper Islam law; his body washed and placed in a white sheet.

[redacted]

The crowd did not burn photos of bin Laden in effigy last night or hit photos of him with a shoe. They waved the stars and stripes.

Answering the question of what we're really celebrating, and why, matters not just to our internal conscience, but to how we are perceived by the world as well.

When one truly evil person we know is directly responsible for atrocities on our people is removed as a threat, we rejoice in the fact that justice has been done.

[redacted]

The canary in the coal mine for the GOP

2011-04-18T23:46:00.012-04:00

Justice Prosser may have won the election, but the battle over union rights is far from over and will play out in swing states in 2012.

The votes were totaled and a winner unofficially declared and reported far and wide by the media, including by my own blog. 204. That was the number of votes that separated the two contenders in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election battle royale between conservative incumbent David Prosser and liberal challenger, Joanne Kloppenburg. Considering that approximately 1.5 million votes were cast, this was bound not to be the last word in this election.

In fact, the very next day, nearly 14,000 votes were discovered that had not been tallied in the original total. After the dust cleared, the end result is that Prosser narrowly defeated Kloppenburg by 7,316 votes.

I had been hoping for Kloppenburg to remain on top as the election miscounts we've now come to virtually expect in America played out, despite her tenuous lead of only a few hundred votes in the original final count.

However, an incredibly narrow loss for Kloppenburg does not mark a loss for unions, nor for the Democratic party; quite the opposite per the details in my original post. A few wise commentators for the GOP are acknowledging that this election could spell trouble for Republicans in 2012. As I predicted, however, many in the GOP have been selling the tale of a solid GOP victory! A mark of support for Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's underhanded budget-ploy he used to cut corporate taxes and cut union bargaining rights, all while plunging Wisconsin from a predicted $121.4 million budget surplus into a $137 million budget deficit.

The story most of the GOP isn't telling is the background story I told in my last blog post; the truth behind the scenes of the Walker scam on the people of Wisconsin; the truth behind the vote that is a Justice with an untarnished record plunging from receiving 99.54% of the vote in the last election to only 50.48% in this election.

This is not only virtually unheard of in state Supreme Court races where the incumbents win, period, but it all happened in only a matter of weeks. Weeks is all it took for Kloppenburg to go from a virtual nameless nobody on the Wisconsin political scene and living on a prayer as far as this election was concerned, to the canary in the coal mine for the GOP in 2012.

These weeks before the election were the direct and undeniable result of dramatic policy changes and political battles forged by Republican Gov Walker and the Wisconsin GOP against unions and the working class people of the badger state. This election was a referendum on Walker and the GOP.

In addition to Wisconsin, big union states like Ohio and Pennsylvania will also have their say within their own borders on the matter of union rights in 2012. While Kloppenburg narrowly missed out on victory, unions have always turned out much bigger droves of supporters in OH and PA. The unions, now provoked by the GOP's attack, won't take this affront laying down, and we will see the results of this in '12.

[For more on the history of this election and on the Wisconsin union battle, and what it means for the 2012 elections, read my last blog post: "The Wisconsin Supreme Court election and why it matters".]

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election and why it matters

2011-04-06T20:15:00.020-04:00

This is what democracy looks like.

204. Today, Joanne Kloppenburg defeated David Prosser in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election by 204 votes out of over 1.4 million ballots cast. While the number may seem small, and the Republican party will no doubt attempt to paint it as such in the coming days, it is, in proper context, staggering, and the implications are monumental. While there will likely be a recount, this election is the canary in the coal mine for the GOP.

Your run-of-the-mill state Supreme Court races get little to no attention. They attract little to no voter interest, draw little to no campaign funding, and receive little to no media coverage. Today's Wisconsin Supreme Court election, however was a historic, virtually unprecedented battle. This election received national attention and around the clock media coverage from the time results began filtering in yesterday evening until the final votes were tallied late this afternoon. Over 1.4 million voters turned out to cast their ballots, many waiting in lines for over 20 minutes before polls even opened at 7AM. Nearly $3.6 million was spent on the race.

Until a few weeks ago, Kloppenburg was an all-but-unknown Assistant State Attorney General. She barely hung on in the requisite general run-off election where she garnered a meager 25% of the vote. Prosser, her opponent, is a conservative three-term incumbent State Supreme Court Justice who had previously served as Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly before being appointed to the court by former Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. Prosser won his last election with 99.54% of the vote. He received nearly every single vote.

Until a few weeks ago, Prosser was a shoe-in practically guaranteed to walk away with this election by another staggering margin of victory. But, a few weeks ago, Republican Governor Scott Walker changed all that. A few weeks ago, Governor Walker took on the unions and the working class people of Wisconsin.

Walker took to the media outlets decrying the $137 million projected end of year state budget deficit. He blamed the shortfall on one of the Republican party's favorite scape goats: unions. He blamed teachers. He blamed healthcare workers. He blamed government workers, bus drivers, garbage collectors and postal workers. He blamed the working middle class.

But while Walker was busy pointing the finger, attempting to distract the good people of Wisconsin with smoke and mirrors, the truth was slowly but surely coming to light. On Feb. 16, the Madison-based newspaper, The Cap Times, revealed that the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau had released a memo on January 31, detailing that the state was slated to end the 2009-2011 budget biennium with not a deficit, but with a *surplus*; a surplus of $121.4 million.

You can read the memo for yourself here: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf

So, if not the result of greedy union workers, where was Walker getting his figures? As it turns out, Walker had just pushed through a bill containing $140 million in new spending to provide corporate tax breaks. It was Walker's bill that created the deficit from the huge surplus he inherited coming into office. Walker, elected as a platform fiscal conservative, was quickly arousing suspicions and stirring public interest, though not in the direction he anticipated.

As it turns out, an unavoidable, union-caused, pre-existing deficit isn't the only lie Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans were peddling. Walker said he wanted workers to "contribute more" and "pay their fair share" of their pensions. This was a statement he made over and over again. The truth, however, that the media soon exposed, is that the union pensions are 100% employee funded. Every penny of the union workers' pensions are bargained-for part of their compensation packages. They are deferred income the workers have both bargained for and earned; a form of deferred compensation. The key phrase in the workers' contracts is "The Employer shall contribute on behalf of the employee." You can read the labor agreements for yourself here: http://oser.state.wi.us/subcategory.asp?linksubcatid=1246&linkcatid=389&linkid=27

Rather than private investment and stock portfolios for retirement like the wealthy or privately employed workers have, union members defer a portion of their own earned wages which they essentially agree to let the state hold on to and manage temporarily, under the assumption they can draw from their own contributions at retirement.

Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans' lies aside, the unions attempted to meet with Walker to take a few cuts and make some sacrifices in order to meet him halfway. Walker refused. This is where he made perhaps his most fatal flaw. When union workers attempted to meet with Walker on the budget issues, he made it clear that he wasn't interested in just the budget, but in also stripping workers of their collective bargaining rights.

He wouldn't sit down with the unions, so the unions came to him.

Tens of thousands of union workers stormed the Wisconsin Capitol.

They came from far and wide with their signs and protest songs to stand in the freezing cold and be heard. As union workers made their entrance and presence known, Wisconsin's Democrat Senators made their exit; strategically fleeing across state borders and using Senate rules to do what their minority membership couldn't: prevent Walker's budget which would slash union workers' benefits and collective bargaining rights from passing. However the rules could only prevent budget matters from being decided while the Democrat Senators were in hiding. It couldn't halt all legislation.

Walker and the Republicans then separated the budget and collective bargaining issues, temporarily ignoring the budget matter. On March 10, the Republicans passed a bill stripping the union workers of their collective bargaining rights.

The jig was now up. The fraud on the American people became apparent as Walker's smoke cleared and his mirrors shattered; the illusion seemingly no longer necessary now that he had completed his disappearing act with workers' rights. This was never about the budget. The entire situation; the created deficit, the lies surrounding it, the "solution", were all manufactured by Walker to provide justification for union busting.

They may not have known it at the time, but Walker and the rest of the Wisconsin Republicans just put the final nail in their own coffin. And they didn't just seal their own fate; they had just launched a massive counterattack on the GOP.

Republicans will no doubt try to write off the Prosser loss as the result of poor campaign organizing. Walker will no doubt try to claim Prosser's near 50% of the vote as nearly 50% support for his attacks on unions.

In reality, these things are yet more illusions the Republican party would like people to buy into. In reality, Kloppenburg's defeat of would-have-been-shoe-in Prosser, slated to walk easily with a victory just a few weeks ago, is a direct referendum by the people of Wisconsin on Walker and the Republicans, who had just taken office and taken the majority only months ago. Prosser, with no scandal or blip in his record, could not have lost that much support that quickly without a particularly damning intervention. No campaign in history has ever been that poorly managed.

On March 18, Judge Sumi did what 14 fugitive Senate Democrats and tens of thousands of protesters had failed to: she halted Walker's law by issuing a temporary restraining order blocking the new law from taking effect.

Once the law entered the court system, it slowly dawned on the people of Wisconsin that they could still have a voice in the process that was their runaway Governor and Republican legislature yet. They could change the power balance of the Supreme Court with the upcoming election.

While the court is technically non-partisan, if Kloppenburg could unseat Prosser, a conservative, on the bench, she would shift the court from a 4-3 conservative lean, to a 4-3 liberal lean for the first time in over a decade. The ramifications this will have on Walker's bill when it reaches the court's docket were apparent. The people of Wisconsin recognized this and reacted and organized in record numbers.

You do not mess with unions and you do not lie to the American people. Not only did the people rally to support the unions in the polls yesterday, they rallied to make the statement that they are owed candor and respect from their elected officials. Walker didn't do the job they elected him to do; far from. He overstepped his bounds and, in the process, kicked the angry hornets nest that is the unions.

With Kloppenburg expected to take the bench, though there may be a recount process, and Walker's bill in limbo, it isn't clear that Walker accomplished anything in terms of dismantling the unions. What is becoming clear, however, is that Walker has mobilized the unions at levels unprecedented in recent years.

Republicans didn't just seal their fate in the Kloppenburg / Prosser election, which they had in the bag until a few weeks ago. The Republicans will pay dearly for this in the 2012 election. The GOP will suffer losses in Wisconsin, as well as in the nearby, heavily-unionized states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. While all are normally swing states, I promise you they will all be blue in 2012. They should have let sleeping dogs lie.

The people have spoken out against the travesty of worker rights and against a dishonest government who is more interested in pursuing its own agenda at the expense of the people than in doing what it was elected to do. Republicans have paid a price for Walker's assault on American workers, and in 2012 they'll keep paying.

My Fuzzy Valentine

2011-02-14T02:14:00.028-05:00

I was torn between celebrating today by wearing a red onesie and glitter heart deely-bobbers to work or expressing myself through the majesty of prose. In the end, majesty of prose won out, narrowly, but only because I don't have a bedazzler to add some extra flare to my onesie.

I custom made myself a someecard for Valentine's Day because I found that none of
Hallmark's selections accurately expressed all I wish to convey about this holiday.

Valentine's Day is my FAVORITE day of the year, just after Christmas, my birthday, Halloween, Super Bowl Sunday, New Years Eve, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Sundays during football season, any day on which any Pittsburgh sports team wins a game, St. Patrick's Day, every Thursday - Saturday, Thanksgiving and Easter, and just ahead of Yom Kippur, Arbor Day, and Boxing Day (Canada), as I still have no idea what the hell any of those things are. My enthusiasm for the holiday is mildly dampened, however, by an annual dilemma.

Choosing just one Valentine from all my many gentlemen callers (a short list of whom can be found in last year's Valentine's Day blog http://onegirlsopinionogo.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-girls-guide-to-getting-boyfriend.html ) is always a difficult task for me. Though many men vie for this privilege, this year, I haven't found any who meet the requirement of either being my soul mate, being Sidney Crosby, or being someone willing to take me out to do something gratuitously opulent, preferably involving a unicorn, icecream cake, me in a tiara, and not being offended by my texting a boy I'd rather be with after the date is over.

So upon whom, you may ask, have I selected to bestow this prestigious honor? There were 3 finalists.

Finalist number 1 is a bar; George. George makes the cut because while there last night, I found some chocolates on the bar and pocketed them. Since my drunk memory span is approximately that of a goldfish, I was delighted and surprised to find my coat pockets full of said chocolates this morning. Not only were they delicious (hello, breakfast), but they miraculously did not contain the date rape drug, Rohypnol. I know George loves me even though he only we only see each other drunk on Thursday - Saturday nights after 10PM, he always keeps the lights dimmed, he sometimes leaves me with bruises, and he is seeing a few hundred other women...

Finalist number 2 is my grandmother who sent me a Valentine's Day card with $20, which, in an effort to honor her thoughtfulness, I will attempt not to spend on booze, crack cocaine, or whores.

Finalist number 3 is my cat, Maya. I have to give it up for my cat. She's easily the most low maintenance of all the finalists, and I'm a big fan of putting minimal effort into a relationship and having the recipient of said minimal efforts not become resentful or develop a drinking problem as a result. All you have to do for a cat to love you is basically put out food and water in bowls on the floor. If that's all the effort it took to raise a child, I might actually look into it some day.

In the four years I've had my cat, I have spent more time with her than anyone else. Somehow, however, I have managed to not get sick of her except on the weekends before 1PM when she attempts to wake me by pushing each and every belonging off my dresser one item at a time, then glaring at me to be sure I heard the noise and am just passing back out before she pushes the next item onto the floor for maximum sustained annoyance.

When I get home, she greets me at the front door, meowing; her back paws on my dining room table, her front paws on the door knob, looking eagerly through the window in the door as I undo the locks. I compare the feeling of something greeting you that enthusiastically with swimming naked in a pool full of puppies. When I am home, Maya follows me from room to room, even laying just outside the shower along the edge of the basin when I'm in there. She doesn't care what I spend my time doing; she's happy just to do it with me.

She lets me watch whatever I want on tv and sits beside me on the couch or in bed and watches contentedly and silently with no complaints. Anything and everything on Animal Planet? Of course my cat is into it. Hoarders and Intervention on A&E? Maya's down. 8 hour all-day weekend marathons of America's Next Top Model? Those too. Sports games? Yup. She is the only thing I know aside from my father who can watch as many Pittsburgh sporting events as I do with me and tolerate me... although when I swear at the screen and jump up and down, she definitely glares. At least she would never cheer for the other team.

Most importantly, my cat loves me unconditionally (like my grandmother but unlike George, which doesn't appreciate when I "sit on the floor" or "go out the fire exit" or "lose my purse/cellphone/keys/coat for the ninety-fifth time"). My cat loves me whether I'm in makeup or not. She loves me whether I'm sick or healthy, and no matter my mood. She loves me whether I'm in unattractive, loose-fitting pajamas, a floor length ball gown, or something incredibly sexy like my bunny onesie, complete with bunny-footies. My cat loves me the same whether I'm sitting on the floor playing with her toys with her, or stumbling into the house at 4AM apologizing with slurred words, "I'm sorry for being your drunken, white trash mother, but next weekend I'm gonna get dressed up real classy-like and find us a DADDY... go get some lottery tickets and play my numbers. Maybe win a couple hundred and turn this life around!"

True, sometimes I think she may be a bit of a Judgy McJudgerson because she'll give me that angry "I'm better than you" look the cat species has perfected, but I know she loves me. If you believe the adage "If you love something let it go. If it comes back is yours.", then you will be convinced of my cat's unconditional love with the following:

A few months ago, I fell asleep with my front door wide open and somehow managed to not only be not robbed and not raped, but to still have a cat. I woke up and found her laying contentedly at the foot of my bed, untempted to stray in an attempt to find greener pastures. There will always be a wide world beyond your front door, but having someone (or something) content to choose home, having realized that home is where the heart is, over whatever else is out there; that's something indispensable in any Valentine of mine. So laugh all you want at my fuzzy Valentine, but I'd rather have a cat for a Valentine than anyone who doesn't have these qualities, or who isn't Sidney Crosby.

P.S.
If sappy feelings about love aren't your bag and you're a little overwhelmed with the cringe-worthy status messages of your coupled-up friends or embittered "Valentine's Day is just a stupid commercialized holiday!" status messages of your single friends, here is a video of the incredible Pittsburgh Penguins / New York Islanders NHL game / battle royale the other night. It resulted in 65 penalties, 15 fighting majors, and 6 players from each team being tossed from the game. That makes this game approximately 65 times more fun than monogamy, 15 times more tolerable than cuddling, and 6 times more worthwhile to discuss with friends than whatever monotonous, cliche thing you've got planned for Valentine's Day. http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/news/story?id=6117621

The Pittsburgh Steelers: A season in review

2011-02-06T09:59:00.021-05:00

The DJs at all my favorite bars are as thankful that the Super Bowl is finally here as I am
so that I will finally stop requesting Wiz Khalifa's "Black & Yellow" three to seven times a night.

ITSHERE!ITSHERE!ITSHERE!ITSHERE!ITSHERE!ITSHERE! SUPERBOWLOMG!!

In case you're wondering, I was up until 4AM last night, and here I am wide awake at 9AM. Nothing wakes me up before noon on the weekends... unless, of course, that morning just so happens to be Christmas or the morning of the mother of all football games and the Steelers are playing. A recent Yahoo Sports poll found that men look forward more to the Super Bowl than their anniversaries. You can chalk me up to being one girl who fits that bill, then replace "anniversary" (how is that even in the same realm??) with "Christmas".

And seriously praise the sports gods for giving me a Pittsburgh Penguins / Washington Capitals NHL game at noon so I have some sort of intensity outlet before kickoff this evening. There's a probable chance I might explode otherwise.

I've been in a frenzy since the Steelers defeated the Jets to win the AFC Championship two weeks ago to send Pittsburgh to its eighth Super Bowl appearance, tying the Dallas Cowboys for most ever Super Bowl appearances. Fun fact: with 6 Super Bowl rings, the most of any NFL team in history, that makes our record 6 of 8 in the big game. I even made a Super Bowl countdown calendar at work. I printed out a new "_ days until the Super Bowl" page every morning and proudly paraded it by the desk of my Patriots fan coworker and Ravens fan boss like a ring girl in a boxing match. I wore nothing but black and gold to work for the past two weeks until this past Thursday when I ran out of work-appropriate black and gold outfits.

This hasn't been something I've been preparing for for just the past two weeks either. As every Steeler fan knows, every year could be the year. This year, however, I've been calling a definitive Pittsburgh Super Bowl appearance since the preseason on every social media platform I use.

The season got off to what some would call an inauspicious start for the Steelers. Quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, was facing accusations (differentiate from charges) of sexual assault. To those who would continue to bring the allegations up, I would say simply this: the man was never even charged and so he never had his day in court. There was a lack of evidence to bring any charges. If you have a dispute about the lack of evidence, you should take issue with the police work in the case, not with the accused.

Even at the last game of the season, as I sat, freezing in the stands at the Steelers / Browns game in Cleveland, I heard a nearby Cleveland fan (one of the few who hadn't left the stadium after the first quarter), undeterred by the fact his team was trailing by no less than 30 points, yelling "Ben Rapelisberger". It was then that a trash-talking guru, a boy of about 10-years-old, bedecked in Steelers gear, yelled back "He's raping Cleveland right now!" Indeed.

While Roethlisberger never faced any legal action for the charges, he was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the season. He also faced criticism from Pittsburgh fans who were none too happy about his behavior threatening to tarnish the Steeler brand and franchise, long one of the most respected in the NFL.

Roethlisberger spent the better part of the past year rebuilding his image on and off the field. At Steelers training camp in August, fans, myself included, watched the team practice in the heat, then eagerly crowded along the fences in hopes the players would stop over to sign a few autographs of the hats/shirts/helmets/dolls/calendars/photos/magazines/footballs/bobbleheads we thrust forward as far as our arms could reach. Sweat-drenched and exhausted, all of the players except two headed back to the locker room after practice. Roethlisberger and linebacker James Harrison stayed and headed toward fans. Harrison stuck around signing for about ten minutes. Roethlisberger stayed for the better part of an hour. He stayed until it started raining. He stayed past when the staff suggested he head back in. He stayed until he signed my Steelers baseball hat, and just about every thing every other fan held out for him.

Roethlisberger owed a debt of gratitude to Steeler Nation, who was hesitant in supporting him after his off-season antics. As he took to the field in week six, after facing a four game NFL-imposed suspension and a week five bye-week, Steeler Nation gave him another chance and cheered him on. Commentators questioned if Pittsburgh fans would boo him in his first return appearance, which I knew wouldn't happen. I knew Steeler fans had a deal of sorts with our QB; this is it. You get one more shot at redemption and we will stand behind you and you will show us that you're worth it.

He spent the rest of the season racking up wins despite a broken nose and broken foot, none of which prevented him from playing, proving himself worthy of that support. The Steelers went 12-4 in the regular season, locking up the 2-seed and homefield playoff advantage.

Because of Roethlisberger's suspension, most sports commentators didn't consider Pittsburgh a contender for this year's Super Bowl, or even playoffs. Not me. I knew Pittsburgh was going to the Super Bowl, and said as much on various social networking sites since the preseason. We still had the rest of an incredible team, including one of the best defenses in the NFL, an incredible runningback in Rashard Mendenhall, and sure hands and speed in wide-receivers like Hines Ward and Mike Wallace. Also, I knew that with Roethlisberger being one of the most-sacked QBs in the NFL, missing a few games would mean a QB with fresh legs and a fresh arm on someone who would otherwise be a battered and bruised at that point in the season. All those hits take their toll, and this year, a suspension simply meant that many less of them. I knew all the Steelers had to do was even go 2-2 to keep themselves in the running before Roethlisberger's return to give ourselves a fair playoff shot.

The team went an impressive 3-1 sans Big Ben, with speedy Dennis Dixon who was reminiscent of former QB Kordell Stewart, and Charlie Batch at the helm. Pittsburgh would have been 4-0 but for a meager 3 point loss to the Ravens, thanks in part to two missed field goals by kicker, Jeff Reed. Reed, inconsistent throughout the season, was let go in November and replaced with former Redskins, Cowboys kicker, Shaun Suisham.

The team faced more road bumps along the way, including injuries to key defensive player, safety, Troy Polamalu, defensive end Aaron Smith, and first-round draft pick, center, Maurkice Pouncey. Pouncey, who helped shore up the Steelers offensive line problem, important with a QB who takes as much time in the pocket as Roethlisberger does, and Smith will not be playing in the Super Bowl.

The only question in my mind was who Pittsburgh would face from the NFC in the big game. I had my answer as soon as the injury-plagued New Orleans Saints were eliminated in the wild-card week of the playoffs. On January 10, after watching the first round of playoffs and sizing up the competition, I called a Steelers / Packers Super Bowl, announcing my prediction on a few social networking sites with no uncertainty about it.

Needless to say, that is the match-up I'll be watching today, stressed out and living each and every moment of the game as if I were on the field with the team. I ended the last Steelers Super Bowl, in 2009, an elated mess, happy beyond words after praying into my terrible towel (now all the dirtier after yet another season's wear and tear and my superstitious refusal to ever wash it) on my knees as the refs reviewed Santonio Holmes' game winning catch in the endzone with just seconds left in the game. The truth is, Pittsburgh fans really do feel like we are out there on the field. Our hearts and souls, and the spirit of our city is out there on the line with our team.

Pittsburgh is synonymous with its sports teams. That's the reason we expect so much out of them and the reason the Roethlisberger situation mattered so much to fans. That is why I felt the need to rehash it and, in my mind, lay it to rest here. No matter how much crap anyone ever gives us for any perceived shortcomings of our city, and believe me, there are always uninformed (to put it nicely...) individuals who do, we know that when it comes to sports, there is no doubt that Pittsburgh reigns supreme.

Pittsburgh sports teams are the "My kid beat up your honor student" bumper sticker on the black stripe, yellow paint, blue-collar beater car that might not look luxurious, but never fails to get you where you need to be and get the job done. Today, our city is counting on our football team to do just that.

We are the city of champions. We have the best sports teams and the best fans. We are Pittsburgh. We are Steeler Nation. Now throw your towels up, Nation! Throw em up!!

Pryor, OSU take down Arkansas, SEC

2011-01-05T01:02:00.015-05:00

Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate a well-earned victor over the Arkansas Razorbacks.

To see how far someone has come, you need to look at where they started. For Ohio State quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, that is from very humble roots indeed, in a little school district in my hometown, where the high school football team lifted in the coach's garage because the school couldn't even afford a weight room. For Ohio State, that is from a record of having lost its nine previous bowl games played against SEC schools. For the Big Ten conference, that is from having just suffered three embarrassing bowl game losses to SEC teams on New Years Day.

If you understand those things, you understand why last night's Sugar Bowl was such a huge statement game. It spelled redemption across the board any which way you read it.

Admittedly, I found the game personally redeeming as well. I have been defending Pryor and Ohio State to the hilt all season, insisting to my SEC friends and in my own facebook status messages and twitter posts that this will be the year Pryor and OSU take down the SEC and break the curse. Specifically, I said I believed this year's Buckeye team would defeat any SEC school, except perhaps their #1 ranked team. That is exactly what happened.

Pryor is finally a junior; an older, more experienced QB, and, as such, he is the secret ingredient OSU had been missing in its past losses to SEC teams. No matter how many times I told everyone that this is the year and they should believe me, they didn't see it coming until this game was over.

Telling an SEC fan that any of their teams are inferior to any non-SEC teams is like teaching a pig to whistle. It wastes your time and annoys the pig. While any good football fan has to give respect to the SEC as the best conference in college football, many of their fans' blind inability to appreciate talent on other teams has warranted an "In. your. face." spirited reaction from me. The problem with SEC fans is that they fail to give any respect or recognition where it is due outside the SEC. Perhaps if they took some time to smell the winning Rose Bowl performance Pryor and OSU gave last year, they would have seen this coming like I did *all* season.

Pryor and OSU fought their tails off every day and got little to no respect from SEC fans; respect which they can no longer be denied after taking down the Razorbacks, the SEC's #2 team in this decisive bowl game.

Pryor earned the MVP award for his performance in the game, in which he basically carried the entire game on his shoulders, running for essential first downs and a team-leading 115 yards, and completing 14-of-25 passes. Two of Pryor's passes resulted in touchdowns, helping OSU build a solid lead over the Razorbacks, who went into halftime trailing 28-10.

However, the Razorbacks managed to stop the bleeding and stage a near comeback in the second half. 14 points and a safety later, Arkansas, then trailing only 31-26, nearly did get their comeback when Colton Miles-Nash hurdled two OSU linemen to block a punt and give the Razorbacks the ball at the Ohio State 18-yard line with 1:09 remaining in the game.

As if the game weren't heart-attack-inducing enough at this point, an interception by Ohio State defensive end, Solomon Thomas, only seconds later, sealed the victory of #6 OSU over #8 Arkansas, 31-26.

OSU stayed on top despite a wrist injury to one of their wide receivers which forced him to leave the game in the second half, and a late fourth quarter ankle injury to Pryor, which caused him to miss only one play while he got taped up before continuing to play through. Pryor's teammates had to assist him in getting up onto the award podium after the game.

Indeed, Pryor and OSU didn't just beat Arkansas tonight; they triumphed over the jinx of previous losses to SEC teams, and, indeed, triumphed over many disrespectful SEC fans in what will hopefully serve as an eye-opening "you're good, but you're not as good as you think you are, and you're not invincible" moment for the conference and their loyal-to-a-fault fans.

Make no mistake, I absolutely respect the SEC and the incredible talent across the board of their teams. I also respect the dedication of their fans, though not when it produces the type of hubris I saw exhibited by them this season.

This year, Ohio State's Sugar Bowl win proved Pryor and the Buckeyes were better than all in the conference but perhaps #1 Auburn. They earned the respect for which they fought every step of the way and which they had been wrongfully denied.

Building bridges

2010-12-07T22:03:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow morning I'll be a guest on an episode of a new show: Tawasol. It's arabic for "building bridges". The show is slated to air Dec. 20th, and the episode in which i'm participating will air in January. The show will be broadcast on arabic news network, Alhurra, which broadcasts to 26 million viewers across the Middle East.

We're discussing ways young adults use the internet and social media to send a message and establish a dialogue worldwide, including through social networking sites and blogs like mine! The show connects Americans real-time with people in the Middle East.

Fellow guests with me tommorrow will be Saudi blogger, Ahmed Al-Omran, founder of blog Saudi Jeans, Abdullah Mosaad of web portal What's Up Youth, and Lebanese blogger and activist Darine El Sabagh.

As far as the specifics of what I have to say - you'll have to tune in to find out! While Tawasol only airs on tv in the Middle East, American followers can view the episode online when it airs in January and i'll be sure and post the link then so you can check it out.

As the banner at the bottom of my blog says, "The world is ruled and governed by opinion." Nowhere in the world are individual opinions heard on so large a scale and by so large an audience as they are online. Here's to blogging and social networking being used for the right reasons and hopefully having a positive effect in the world, however small.

One girl's opinion on the midterm elections

2010-11-01T21:06:00.042-04:00

One of the many brilliant signs I photographed at the Rally to Restore Sanity.

Tomorrow is election day. Though it's a midterm election, you'd never know it for all the sound and the fury. As the native of a battleground swing state, Pennsylvania, who is currently in the heart of our political world, Washington, D.C., I've been inundated with this election cycle for the past several months.

I guess the best way for me to tackle the many things I want to say about these elections are with some firsthand examples. I'll start with the day I met the Tea Party.

I wanted to believe the Tea Party was something made up by Fox News... kind of like conservatives want to believe the human impact on climate change is something made up by Al Gore and the 'mainstream liberal' media. Disbelief and denial are excellent coping mechanisms. Unfortunately, they are just that; coping mechanisms, not solutions. Indeed, the Tea Party is real. The inconvenient truth I encountered a few months ago in DC on the day of Glenn Beck's Rally to Restore Honor was that these people really do exist.

That they exist wasn't what bothered me. That people exist who actually support the people they do; that's what bothered me.

It was mid-August, the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's transformative "I have a dream" speech. I was minding my own business, waiting for a friend at a restaurant a few blocks from the rally site at the Lincoln Memorial (also the site of MLK Jr's - who was no doubt rolling in his grave - speech) when half a dozen tea partiers descended upon me.

There was no mistaking the fact they were all here for the Beck rally which featured Sarah Palin as a keynote speaker. All were wearing matching Beck shirts with his picture on the front. I instantly knew they were probably better Americans than I was when I saw the Beck logo, and my suspicions were confirmed when I caught a glimpse of the back of their t-shirts, revealing a Florida Marlin with an American flag for a dorsal fin. 'Murica.

All were white. All in their late 40s to early 60s. All slightly overweight and carrying their foldout lawn chairs. All eager to tell the hostess they were in town for the rally because they were going to "take back this country" and "restore honor". They had all the divisive propaganda nonsense talking points down pat.

I was tempted to touch one to prove this wasn't just a nightmare. I didn't, though, because I feared if I did, they would accuse me of inflicting upon them the poor, the Muslim, the gay, the entitlement, the socialism, or one of those other afflictions plaguing America which are carried and spread by liberals.

Beck opened his rally earlier that day to these people and the tens of thousands like them by joking, "I have just gotten word from the media that there is over 1,000 people here today." ...all "over 1,000" of whom undoubtedly failed to note the incorrect grammar or, in the alternative, if they did, began accepting it as proper speech, right up there with the word refudiate.

You see, my problem with the Tea Party isn't their beliefs. My problem is with stupid people. My problem is with mindless sheep. My problem is with extremists, on either side of the aisle, who are virtually always the product of the aforementioned issues.

Before I get railed by my friends on the right who are always quick to snap back with an eye-for-an-eye "but liberals...!" argument, this isn't to say the liberals don't have these stupid people, crazies and ideologues. Oh, we've got em alright.

The difference, as of the past several years, is in the distinct way the parties are handling their lunatic fringe. The Democrat party marginalizes these subsections. The Republican party, however, is being overrun by them. To say they are embracing them is a bit of a misnomer. Rather, the tail is wagging the dog.

A few years ago, the Republican party was hijacked by the religious right. These ideologues drove the party away from its roots in fiscal conservatism and essentially handed the '06 and '08 elections to Barack Obama and the democrats. Not only did Obama and the dems have the support of democrats, but also independents who were driven away by the extremism and lack of intelligence evident in the religious right. Even moderate Republicans swung left, unable to identify with what had become of their own party. When Senator John McCain chose the painfully far right, uninformed and unintelligent Palin as his running mate, he quashed his shot at the presidency.

As the Republican party learned from this and pried the religious right's claws from its back, it was no sooner beginning to rebuild itself as a voice of reason than the Tea Party showed up to, well, crash the party. As the voice of the woefully uninformed and uneducated, simple-sweeping-solutions-for-complex-problems extremist Tea Party got louder and louder, the voice of intelligence and moderation in the Republican party began to change its tone. Desperate to get the votes and do whatever it takes to win in this election cycle, the mainstream Republican party began pandering to the Tea Party. Just as the religious right had done to it, the tail once again began wagging the dog.

While people on both sides of the aisle hurl the term "extremist" at those leading the opposing political party (because, let's face it, people buy into it), one cannot help but look at the indisputable and stark contrast between the so-called extremists on the left and those on the right.

Even if, for the sake of argument, we accept as true that Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid are the "extremist" counter points on the left to those on the right, they pale in terms of scare factor to the ideologues who are currently spearheading the Republican party. The right is currently being lead by the voices of Beck and Palin. The most extreme voices who cost the Republicans the last election are now leading it. Instead of touting the agenda of the religious right, they've found new talking points to sell, authored by the Tea Party.

Republicans are even tucking tail and supporting the even more painfully unintelligent and extreme voices of candidates like Christine O'Donnell, a Tea Party candidate now wrapped in the Republican banner, who the Republicans campaigned against in the primary.

These people frighten me not because of how extreme they are, but because of how stupid they are. And, even then, it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that they individually frighten me. What is truly scary, however, is that people - even those who I know personally to be better, more intelligent, and much more moderate than this - will en masse, de facto support them, defend them to the hilt, and vote for them if it means gaining a few seats come election time.

This brings me to my next personal story. This past Saturday, I attended John Stewart and Steven Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity, ironically nicknamed by Colbert, March to Keep Fear Alive. It was neither a Democrat nor Republican rally. In fact, it openly mocked both parties, biased political pundits, and a culture of fear, stupidity, extremism and over-simplification perpetuated by the media. Optimistically, the rally drew an estimated 215,000 people. Beck's drew approximately 87,000.

This was my America. It was intelligent and informed. It was interested in a rational discourse. It was interested in what was best for the country, not for a specific party.

I saw a sign there that perhaps summed it up best: "If your beliefs fit on a sign, think harder." Everywhere were people pointing out the flaws of allowing unintelligent, uninformed, and unqualified people to lead us. They recognized that the blind leading the blind might be of temporary benefit to a political party, but it certainly doesn't end well for our country.

There are, and always have been, extremists and stupid people on both sides of the aisle. As of the past few years, however, it has become apparent that the two political parties are handling them differently. If you feel I am unfairly harping on the Republican party, it is because of late, these people are becoming more prevalent and more common within its ranks and leadership and are directing its discourse. These same people are writing the political talking points and acting as political king makers. These same people are the voices that turn out campaign donations and rally numbers.

This isn't to say that because the Republican party is being lead by truly unintelligent and uninformed extremists, that all or even most of the party, or their candidates are like that. This isn't to say that because the Democratic party handles these people differently that they don't also participate and have a voice in the party and hold political office within it. This is simply an observation I think deserving of an acute awareness, especially by those within the Republican party, so they can try and salvage it from the dunces. You tried to take back your political party and you once again lost your grip.

Socialism is not facism. If you don't know the difference, turn off Fox News and open a book. All tea partiers are not racists. If you can't discern this, turn off MSNBC.

If you let your party and the talking heads tell you what to think and what to say and for whom to vote, you are part of this country's problem.

As Stewart put it at his rally, these are hard times, but these are not end times. The best way to show our parties, our government, and our media that we aren't as stupid and extreme as they want us to be is to stop letting the tail wag the dog. Don't let them tell us who to be. We need to send them a message about who we want them to be; reflections of ourselves: real people with real problems and not the problems they create for us; rational moderates who see the world in gray, not black and white.

Tomorrow, support those who are intelligent and capable and informed, regardless of political party. Refuse to blindly support those who you know to be unintelligent and unqualified and uncompromising.

These past few months, and especially tomorrow, the political parties and pundits are going to go out and tell you this is about a party victory or loss. They're going to tell you this is about gaining or losing a net amount of seats. It isn't... or, at, least, it shouldn't be. It's about a net victory of loss for America.

I am of the opinion that the best qualification a candidate can have is not being a Democrat or Republican, but, rather, being intelligent and informed. I have faith the American people realize this too. If you look at one of the most important key special elections held since '08 - the PA-12 Congressional election in which Mark Critz (D) [for whom I wrote an endorsement: http://onegirlsopinionogo.blogspot.com/2010/05/endorsement-for-mark-critz-pa-12.html ] defeated the unintelligent and out of touch Tim Burns - it is a crucial indicator of the same thing that Stewart and Colbert's rally turnout suggests; the American people want what is really best for them, and that isn't something you can fit neatly into a political party package. They want the candidate who is best qualified, who is intelligent, who is aware of the issues, and who isn't extremist.

If pundits think this election will be a referendum on incumbents, they're wrong. If pundits think this election will be a referendum on the majority party, the Democrats, they're wrong.

Instead of "Remember the Alamo", tomorrow, remember Mark Critz. Remember to do what is best for our country by electing the best candidate, not the candidate best for your party. This is less a plea to vote moderately than it is to vote intelligently, though, as I have said, I find that the former characteristic tends to follow the latter. Vote with your brain, not with your party.

We are better served by an intelligent, educated, informed, thoughtful candidate on either side of the aisle, than by the idiot who agrees with us.

There's no crying in football

2010-10-19T17:03:00.009-04:00

Apparently the NFL is under the impression that Browns' wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi showed up on Sunday to do a ballet performance of Swan Lake, not to play football.

After a hard-hitting weekend of football which left players injured as the result of helmet-to-helmet hits, the NFL is reviewing its policy on flagrant hits. The NFL says it is considering harsher fines and even possible suspensions.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was football. When I was a little kid, I knew one thing about football: it is a game where people throw a ball then slam into each other. And I mean slam into each other as hard as possible. That is how you knock the ball loose to create fumbles. That is how you be sure you knock someone to the ground and not just a few steps out of their way so they are able to recover and continue running. That is why they recruit guys who are 6'6" who weigh over 300 lbs. Hard, rough, dirty, knock-you-to-the-ground, knock-the-wind-out-of-you hits.

But, this past weekend, in a freak accident, Rutgers defensive tackle, Eric LeGrand, became paralyzed from the neck down after making a tackle in a football game against Army. The moment was of course captured on video and is horrifying to watch. One cannot help but be touched and incredibly saddened by this tragedy. However, it is easy to get caught up in the emotions surrounding this situation and forget that this it is extremely rare and unlikely and, as I said earlier, a freak accident.

It was because of this incident that the NFL took the uber-sensitive approach to the hard helmet hits in this weekend's games.

The NFL has just announced that Steelers' linebacker, James Harrison was fined $75,000 for the concussion-causing hit on Cleveland Browns' wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi. The hit happened during the second quarter as Massaquoi reached down and bobbled a pass from quarterback, Colt McCoy. Harrison hit both Massaquoi and wide receiver Josh Cribbs in helmet-to-helmet tackles during Sunday's game, and, watching the game, you could clearly hear the cracks of the helmets hitting together, so even fans knew how hard the hits were. The NFL determined the hit on Cribbs to be legal, however, and, in fact, during the game, the Steelers' did not incur penalties for either hit, as officials determined both to be legal.

Atlanta Falcons' cornerback Dunta Robinson was fined $50,000 for hitting Eagles' defenseless wide receiver, DeSean Jackson. Both players received concussions.

Finally, Patriots' safety, Brandon Meriweather, was fined $50,000 for the hit on Baltimore Ravens' tight end, Todd Heap.

The NFL says Harrison's fine is larger because it considers him a repeat offender. Harrison didn't help his situation when he stated, after the Steelers' 28-10 victory, "I don't want to injure anybody," Harrison said. "There's a big difference between being hurt and being injured. You get hurt, you shake it off and come back the next series or the next game. I try to hurt people."

But, while it wasn't necessarily an intelligent or appeasing thing to say if you're trying to avoid the wrath of the NFL, Harrison makes a nuanced point.

There are positions in football whose express duty it is to hit and hit hard. Aside from the immediate bonuses of a solid tackle, hard hits also intimidate the opponent, and football is both a mental and physical game. You never want to seriously injure an opponent, but you do want to show them who is boss. The Pittsburgh Steelers consistently have one of the best defenses in the NFL, and, over the past few years, Harrison is a big reason why.

A host of penalties already exist to protect players, including penalties for late hits, facemask grabs, running into the kicker, roughing the kicker or passer, unnecessary roughness, striking an opponent with a fist, or kicking or kneeing an opponent. In fact, there are even 15-yard penalties for a tackler using his helmet to butt, spear, or ran an opponent, and for any player who uses the top of his helmet unnecessarily. It is in a team's best interest to reign in defensive hits as far as is reasonable so they are not penalized. Penalties can absolutely lose games, and teams, coaches, and players are aware of this.

The truth is, when a play in football is underway, and things are frantic, the players on defense can't always be acutely aware of exactly where they're going to strike another player. While Meriweather's hit on Heap was considered flagrant and egregious, these calls are often difficult to determine. For every intentional hit like Meriweather's, you have a hit like Harrison's on Cribbs, which was considered legal and safe, even though it resulted in Cribbs being sidelined.

While I can appreciate the obvious need to protect players from what could potentially be devastating hits, I feel the NFL has appropriate protections in place already, in the form of in-game penalties and smaller fines. The fact that it is issuing the absurdly expensive fines like those it just did earlier today, as well as considering suspensions, which I consider far beyond reasonable, is ridiculous and could detract greatly from the game.

What is further, the NFL is being rather hypocritical in what is asking of players. It profits greatly off the hard hits that consistently make the sports highlight reels. In fact, the NFL is currently considering lengthening the season, which would subject players to the physical strain of the games for an additional two weeks every year. As Steelers' linebacker, LaMarr Woodley points out on his twitter page, "If theyre so worried about players' safety then why are they trying to add 2 more games? #justsayin." ( http://twitter.com/#!/LaMarrWoodley/ )

Obviously, the NFL finds a huge difference in a split second of play and in the exact angle with which a player hits another player, in determining whether a hit will be legal or illegal under these new, more strict guidelines with sky-high penalties. Indeed, it is hard to determine unless the play is reviewed with cameras from many different angles and with slow motion capabilities. However, if the NFL thinks defensive players trying to make critical plays in the midst of a frantic football game are able to make this same distinction, or that fans want them to, the NFL better think again. Players and fans will opt for a risky hit if it means the difference between making or missing a tackle, or landing a solid hit and simply causing an opponent to stumble.

During a day long field hockey tournament in high school in which I was the lead scorer of all the players from any team there that day, I broke my nose when a member of the opposing team slammed her head into me as I passed the ball to a teammate, earning a goal for the team and an assist for myself. Blood poured from my nose and down my uniform as I stumbled a bit from the blow, before running back to the 50-yard line, high fiving my teammates, to line up to go again before the refs blew the whistle and stopped play. I ended up having to go to the E.R., but as I sat on the sidelines bleeding, I just kept asking the coach to put me back in. It was like a scene straight out of one of a cliche' sports movie. The hit on me was probably an accident, or at least the girl had intended to hit me but not break my nose and send me to the E.R., but the bottom line is that that is what happened. Neither that girl nor her team should have been penalized. I was well aware of the risk when I signed up to play field hockey, and, as an aggressive goal scorer for our team, I frequently put myself in a position vulnerable to injury at the expense of scoring or making a big play. That's what I signed up for. That's what I call taking one for the team.

That is the price you pay to play the game. And I wasn't being paid millions of dollars to take that risk either. The suggestion the NFL seems to be harping on now more than ever is to play it safe. By all means, try holding back on making or taking hits or in any other aspect of a sport and let me know how far it gets you and if you don't get passed over time and time again for players who put themselves, and their safety, on the line.

Man up, NFL. We can protect players without going overboard.

Fantasy Football: So easy a caveman could do it

2010-09-16T00:32:00.028-04:00

My team logo for my fantasy football team, The Libertines. This is exactly how I am with anything sports related. [credit to Hyperbole and a Half for the drawing]

This year, for the first time ever, I'm playing fantasy football. I had heard multitudes of my friends talking about it the past few years and had always wanted to play. I didn't, however, because I didn't have a league or know anything specifically about fantasy football, and because I could never bring myself to cheer against my own team, the Steelers, or for the teams I hate the most, Ravens, Bengals, Browns, and Patriots, simply because it conflicted with my fantasy football interests.

I decided to set the latter bias slightly aside this year and give it a shot when I was invited to join several fantasy football leagues by my guy friends who, I guess after seeing my blog, decided I actually knew enough about sports to be worthy of being the only female in their leagues.

After I was invited to join two leagues, one with a substantial buy-in, I decided it was time to beef up my football knowledge. For those who don't play fantasy football, you basically choose a team consisting of a quarterback, 2-3 running backs, 3-4 wide receivers, a tight end, and a team defense which you select as a whole.

My knee-jerk reaction was "Draft the Steelers... ALL the Steelers." But, even if I wanted to stick with that plan, there are simply too many slots available to fill up a fantasy team and bench with solely Steelers players. Plus, like any draft, the players you want may be taken by other teams. Additionally, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger started the season serving a four game suspension and won't be playing until week 6, so I would need a backup plan.

This wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. I started researching top players on teams. I called up my father, the all-sport guru, and talked on the phone with him for several hours about who he thought would be the strongest choices for each position. We discussed our thoughts and I wrote down all the top options.

I went out and bought a Fantasy Football Draft Guide magazine which advertised "#1 Rated Cheat Sheets" on the cover. How sneaky of me, I thought... Between my dad's input and my fancy $10 magazine with its important looking gold lettering on the front, I was going to blow the competition away. I combed through the magazine, highlighting my personal preferences and also highlighting where the Steelers' players were located, so that should I let my personal bias get the best of me on draft day, at least I'd know in which order to select the Steelers, based on their comparative rankings.

The magazine. Oh you fancy, huh?

I started doing additional research online. I printed out a "Fantasy Football Top 200 Rankings" sheet, which listed the top 200 players overall, regardless of position, and studied this. I found a 2010 ESPN Fantasy Football Draft Kit online, which claimed to be a "positional cheat sheet", and listed the top players by position. It turned out there was a lot more information out there than I thought, so it was even more important for me to take it all in so I would be sufficiently prepared.

Though this information was public, still, I thought, I've done the research and undoubtedly found things *no one else* in the league will have. I could not be foiled. After all, I had a $10 magazine with "#1 rated" cheat sheets. Mwahahaha!

Before I knew it, draft day was upon me. I signed up on the websites for the league on the day of the draft.

Select a team name? Are you kidding? I can name things like a motherf*cking champion! I was already going to have a leg up on the competition. At first I thought it would be funny as the only girl in the league to name my team something like "Fluffy Pink Unicorn Pretty Lovelinesses & Princess Kitties", so that way everyone would immediately go, "Oh, that must be the GIRL'S team...", but then I remembered that not everyone picks up on my irony.

So I decided to go with Jesus' Velociraptor, and then for the team logo use a historically accurate picture of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, riding a dinosaur with a saddle. Unfortunately, the name had too many characters for ESPN to allow it. I guess that's for the best because I would probably still have had that whole irony problem to deal with...

My third and final choice was The Libertines. The name was sufficiently bad ass (go ahead and Wikipedia it. I'll wait...) AND fit within ESPN character limits.

Now, it was draft time. Buoyed by the self-proclaimed tremendous success of my team name and logo choice, I readied myself. I sat on my floor and surrounded myself on all 360 degrees with my hand written out top choices, my magazine, and my many printed out and heavily highlighted and analyzed cheat sheets. I can't not win.

"Begin draft" is the button we all clicked at the pre-set draft time. I saw everyone else's logos and team names across the top of the site, lined up according to draft order.

I pictured them all seeing my team name and logo for the first time, knowing i'm "the girl" and underrating me in their minds. "Excuse me", was the smug, hypothetical response in my head, "but perhaps you haven't seen my magazine."

...Then I saw it... right there below the team names. A list of all the players. But not just ANY list of all the players. No. This was much more sinister. It was a list of every single player in the NFL, pre-sorted by position, and pre-ranked by the experts and the website according to who in each position were to be the best choices. Exactly what was in my magazine and in all my heavily researched information sheets? That's exactly what was essentially all right in front of me and all the other competitors online, on the draft page, on draft day.

You must be kidding me. All my coveted secrets in all their $10 magazine filling glory, exposed for all to see. Basically, you could show up on draft day and not know a single thing about football, and just click on each position you need and choose the best available player. Not sure who the best available player for each position is? Not to fear! It's right in front of you! Why should you have to do any work?

Seriously, a monkey could do it. Ever heard of the infinite monkey theory? It basically claims that a monkey hitting keys at random on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. If a monkey can type a Shakespearean play, it can sure the hell choose a winning fantasy football draft team with the tools the website provides right there on the draft day page.

In fact, if you're too lazy or otherwise engaged to show up on your own draft day, you can simply have auto-draft do it and it will select the best available players for you on your turn. Did I say monkey? Hell, my dog could do this. And he eats his own vomit.

Alright, I thought, screw this. Time for plan B. What is Plan B, you ask? Why it's the original Plan A: Draft the Steelers. ALL the Steelers. As a result, including benched players, both of my fantasy teams in my fantasy leagues include my first round draft pick, Rashard Mendenhall, in addition to Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller, Jeff Reed, and Roethlisberger. I still used the rankings from my cheat sheets and research to determine in which order to draft these players. For instance I held off on drafting Reed, and Roethlisberger until I locked down some players in other positions from other teams because I know they weren't exactly hot commodities. Also I still had to plan for things like bye weeks.

My other choices which I rotate in (such as my quarterback choices while Big Ben is suspended) are much more nuanced and were also heavily thought out and researched. To be sure, I had a lot of fun on draft day and am incredibly happy with my choices. The players are not only strong and players in whom I have tremendous confidence, but I also get to root for my NFL team and thus my fantasy football teams simultaneously.

To be fair, this post isn't meant to be critical of the idea of fantasy football. I had a great time drafting and have been enjoying the season immensely. My only criticism is that fantasy football websites such as ESPN and CBS do all the work for you then put it right in front of you, and even provide auto-draft, so that no real expertise in football is required.

My team in each league won big in week 1 against seasoned fantasy football team owners, so I must be doing something right. One thing is for sure, I'm definitely playing fantasy football the way I want to play it.

Both of the two things pictured here are capable of drafting a winning fantasy football team.

Pirates return to glory days... Wait for it.... 17 years later ...Wait for it...

2010-06-17T16:07:00.021-04:00

Old mafia costumes and old Pittsburgh Pirates uniforms; throwbacks to better days for both organizations, long since passed.

Yesterday, the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered their 10^th straight loss. I use the term “suffered” not in the sense that it was inflicted upon them so much as that at this point the team seems like a sad, struggling deer hit by a car, then another car, then another car, then it starts raining on it, then another car hits it, then a bus hits it… and so on, and so on.

Their record is now 23-42 so far this season.

I won’t elaborate on the many reasons the Pirates have an abysmal record and haven’t had a winning season in 17 years. There have been enough media, fan, and sports commentator analyses on this to fill a stadium, which, oddly enough, the Pirates still do too. Suffice to say that our biggest problem is that those running the franchise use it as a cash cow and milk the Pirates as a feeder system to send any good players to better teams like the Yankees and Red Sox. You know, teams with winning records who make it to the playoffs and such.

As a result, the Pirates have become the Detroit Lions of baseball. That comparison is only inaccurate in that it is impossible to have a completely winless season in baseball due to the sheer number of games played.

When I was a child, the first sporting event I remember attending was a Pirates' baseball game with my parents and little brother. My mom and dad bought my little brother and me Pirates' baseball hats and black and gold baseball bats. I still have my hat and the initial of my first name is still written under the brim in marker that I used to differentiate it from my brother’s. I was 6.

My parents took me to a baseball game, not a hockey or football game. They did this for a few reasons. First, we didn’t have much money growing up, but for a couple dollars, you could, and still can, take your family to the game.

Second, baseball is a family game. You can take your young children and not have drunk, rowdy fans ruin the experience.

Finally, baseball is the great American past time. After watching that game, my brother and I had to have baseball bats, balls, and gloves. I remember countless hours spent in the backyard throwing the ball around with my dad and brother. When they weren’t around, I threw the ball up against the shed and it would ricochet back into my glove. ...I got yelled at for the marks that left on the shed.

By comparison, I’m a much bigger hockey and football fan, and I didn’t attend my first pro hockey game until I was 10, and my first pro football game until I was 22. They are just too expensive. To this day, I can go to all the Pirates games when they play in DC, where I live, against the Nationals without a second thought on cost. I still have to save up ahead of time if I want to go to a Pens' or Steelers' game.

Your average American family can make it out to the baseball park and afford to see the game. Your average American family can’t afford a pro hockey or football game. Our hardworking families of western Pennsylvania deserve to see their dime well spent when they go to a Pirates game. I don’t mean they need to see wins all the time, but they need to see something impressive on the field, and they deserve to go to a game where “root, root, root for the home team!” means you are cheering for a team that has a chance.

This past October, at a friend’s Halloween party in Washington, DC, I happened upon the oddest costume I had ever seen to date. It was a man in his 70s dressed head-to-toe in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform. It was one of the old timey uniforms too. I crossed the room and walked right up to him smiling.

Me: “HI! Wow you must be a big Pirates fan to wear that here! I'm a fan too and I love your costume. I’ve never seen a Pittsburgh Pirates costume before."
Guy: "Oh this isn’t a costume. It’s actually my old uniform. I used to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Don Schwall. Nice to meet you.”

I had never before been so proud to be a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Here I was, honored to meet a man who pitched for my baseball team in the glory days. Here he was, having played for the Pirates from 1963-1966, 45 years later still proudly getting some use out of his old uniform. He wasn’t mocking the Pirates, and certainly nobody was mocking him. He stood tall and proud in his uniform, the way our team and fans used to too.

"Duke" (as he goes by), remembered the days when he used to play for the Pirates; when we used to be great; when we used to be respected. My dad remembers those days too and, growing up, Roberto Clemente was one of his heroes. I don't really remember the Pirates ever being good.

Meeting Duke made me realize that the Pirates aren’t nobodies. We used to be somebodies. And we can be somebodies again.

I want to cry over a baseball game. I’ve cried over a football game before. I’ve cried over a basketball game. I’ve cried over a hockey game. I cried in all of those when hard fought battles ended and dreams (mine, a team’s, a city’s... of winning a game or a championship, or making the playoffs or moving on in them) were shattered. For dreams to be shattered, you had to have a dream to begin with. For far too long a World Series win, a playoff win, or even a winning season, has, for Pirates fans, been an honor we dream not of. I want some baseball dreams, even if only to be shattered.

I’m not looking for a World Series win. The Red Sox and Yankees can have 'em. In Pittsburgh, between the Steelers and Penguins, we’re all stocked up on championships and we’ll keep them coming in. I just want a team I can be proud of; a team about which I can say “I think this is our year!” and ever be taken seriously. I don’t want baseball fans – neither ours nor our opponents – to roll their eyes at the mention of my team.

I’ll never be one of those awful fans who turns on my team. I’ll never call the “Buckos” the “Suckos”. I’ll never boo us or cheer for the other team. I’ll still go to games, decked head to toe in Pirates gear and Pittsburgh colors and cheer for my favorite players, who’s names I actually bother learning (my favorite is Lastings Milledge), despite their high likelihood of being traded away. And I’m not the only one.

The Pirates have got the best fans in the world in the people of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Steelers fans are consistently named the best in the NFL by ESPN and Pittsburgh Penguins’ fans are named the best in the NHL by Forbes Magazine. Neither organization even needs to give these awards, because if you ask just about anybody, they'll tell you the hockey and football fans from Pittsburgh are the most dedicated.

We have one of the most beautiful stadiums in MLB; and it’s practically brand new!

If you build it, they will come. We built you a beautiful new stadium. We built you the best fan base any team could ever ask for. We still fill those stands. We still buy the Pirate gear. We still do this after 17 straight losing seasons.

All we ask in exchange is that those in charge of the Pirates franchise try. Try and build us a sustainable team. Try investing some money into buying us good players we actually hold onto and don’t sell at their first spark of talent. Try and show some, any, appreciation for what this city has given you. We are the city of champions... not just our teams, but our people as well. Start running this team like you give a crap about it. You've got a city and fans who still do.

We don’t want a World Series win. We just want one year to believe – really believe – that this just might be our year.

“I believe. I believe. It’s silly, but I believe.”

NHL playoffs in review: Marian Hossa is a girl's name

2010-06-15T03:36:00.025-04:00

Hossa, no matter where your hockey career takes you, this is how you'll always be remembered to Penguins' fans.

It has taken me this long to be able to cope with and adequately reflect upon the NHL playoffs due to the traumatic way in which they unfolded. Like a harshly dumped girl who holes herself up in her room with Ben & Jerry's ice cream, her cat, feel good books like "Eat, Pray, Love", and "Hang in there" kitten dangling from a branch motivational posters, who finally emerges days later ready to write angry, brooding, dark, yet cathartic poetry, I'm finally ready to tackle the NHL playoffs with a blog post.

Now, I'm not one for crying - especially not over boys. But, I will say that I cried over a record number of boys - 34 of them to be exact - on May 12; all 34 of which are members of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And together, on May 12, they faced the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

If you had asked me up until there was less than one minute remaining in that game 7, when the Pens were down 5-2 and the Canadiens had a power play, who was going to be in the Stanley Cup Championship, I'd have said Blackhawks vs Penguins. I predicted that matchup since the playoff teams were announced.

It wasn't until just under a minute left and trailing by 3 goals and one-man disadvantage that I came to accept reality, and came to cry over boys. Watching the game in DC and surrounded by 3 loyal Pens fans and a bar full of Caps fans rooting loudly for the Canadiens who had defeated their team a series prior, but who despise the Pens more for their constant playoff routing of their team, I must have been truly a sad sight because the Caps fans couldn't bring themselves to cheer or give me a hard time after that loss. I went on crying for a good 5 minutes.

I don't want to sound like a sore loser or anything, but, on behalf of my boyfriend Sidney Crosby, you're welcome for your gold medal, Canada.

With the Pens out, I came to two conclusions. First, the Red Wings' and Penguins' fates are tied together in some sick, twisted universe which cosmically links the two arch rivals. Think of it as Harry Potter and Voldemort. Obviously the Penguins are Harry Potter and the Red Wings are Voldemort.... In '08 the Red Wings and Pens faced each other in the Stanley Cup championship and the Wings won it all in 6 games. That series produced one of my favorite hockey games of all time when the Pens won game 5 in triple overtime to avoid elimination. ...I didn't make it to work the next day.

In '09 the Wings and Pens would again take each other on in the Stanley Cup championship, but this time it would be the Pens who would win, doing so in 7 games, the last of which ended 3-2 and with a barrage of Detroit shots on Pens' goalie, Marc Andre Fleury, the stress of which took years off my life.

This year, in the Western Conference playoffs, Detroit pulled the only upset of the first round; entering as a 5 seed and defeating the 4 seed. The 1, 2, and 3 seeds all won. In the Eastern Conference playoffs. Pittsburgh was the only seed to avoid an upset; a 4 seed triumphing over the 5 seeded Senators, while the 1, 2, and 3 seeds all fell to their lower ranked opponents.

However, both teams would fall in their conference semi-finals. I guess it was time Detroit and Pittsburgh let someone else have a shot at the Cup.

The truth is, in game 7 against the Canadiens, Fleury was just really off his game. He had been on and off, hot and cold, throughout this year's playoffs. The team also didn't have quite the same level of energy in that game as it did in the other matches they played against the Canadiens.

I went to game 5 of that series and sat third row on the blue line in what would turn out to be the last ever Pens' victory in Mellon Arena. [Their new arena, the Consol Energy Center, is slated to open in July.] The seats were so close and amazing that when the puck was shot up and around the glass I could see the ice spinning off of it. The players were life size and only feet away, and I yelled at Sidney Crosby to marry me and allow me to have his babies at least 5 or 6 times. The Penguins' energy and force in that game was palpable and they straight up outplayed the Canadiens. That is what we needed to muster in game 7. We didn't.

Perhaps there should have been some foreshadowing here in that the Penguins' first ever game in the arena was a loss to the Canadiens, and of course the parallelism between the Pens and Wings success in recent years.

The second conclusion I reached after the Pens were eliminated, was that this year's cup match would be between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers. The San Jose Sharks, the 1 seed who would play the 2 seed Blackhawks in the Western Conference final, were overrated as hell and anyone who disagrees is wrong and doesn't know their hockey. Before even watching a game between them, I knew the Sharks were going to be put to shame. I also knew the Flyers would win in the Eastern Conference because they're a much scrappier team, were on a hot streak, and were playing the Canadiens who wore themselves out against the Washington Capitals and Penguins.

The Cup match itself, however, was a more challenging puzzle. The Blackhawks were the better team, but they also possessed they key to their own self destruction; one Marian Hossa. I truly believed that Hossa was forever fated to make it to every Stanley Cup championship ever and lose.

Hossa is known in Pittsburgh and across the NHL as the cup-grubbing ginger who played in Pittsburgh in '08, then turned down a contract renewal with them in exchange for less money and a shorter contract with Detroit, which became his '09 team. Think of him as the Alex Rodriguez of hockey, if A-Rod [See also, Pay-Rod] had actually taken less money to play for the Yankees instead of the Red Sox. Hossa made it to the Stanley Cup match 2 years in a row and lost, the second year after betraying his team to go to their biggest rivals.

In Pittsburgh, it is a truth universally acknowledged that any good Penguins fan in possession of a good hockey knowledge must hate the Flyers as division rivals, and must also hates Marian Hossa. Decisions, decisions... I thought Hossa's fate might do him and his team in for the third year in a row, but all that changed the night before Game 6 of championship round. That night, I had a dream.

I woke up and posted about it on facebook. The time stamp reads June 9, 12:25PM. The post reads as follows:
So I had a dream last night that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in OT, 4-3. The night before the Pens lost to the Canadiens in game 7 I also dreamed that we lost that game. Sports stress me out. And who dreams about sporting events?? I think most girls dream about like... I don't know, boys they like or unicorns or... something. Not me. It's more like ESPN up there.

In case you weren't following the game [odds are that if you're interested enough in sports to read this far, you have], the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup that night... in OT... 4-3.

Of course I didn't want to see Hossa's grubby hands on the Stanley Cup, but it will make the Pens all the hungrier for victory next year. Let's go Pens. And, as a fellow Pittsburgh fan pointed out, it is better to have one set of grubby hands on the cup than a whole team (read, "Philadelphia").

The way a hot cheerleader in high school might handle a breakup? That's basically how we deal with season ending losses in Pittsburgh. It is a phenomenon with which we're unfamiliar. We have no idea what just happened, but everything is wrong with the world and we're in a glass case of emotion. So, if you'll excuse me, I need to go back to staring at my motivational kitten poster again.

In the meantime, feel free to come to me before you place your sports bets.

An endorsement for Mark Critz, PA-12

2010-05-17T23:00:00.020-04:00

I drew a tiny American flag into Mark Critz's hand because, if voters are as simple, gullible, and naive as his opponent, Tim Burns, thinks they are, then this tiny symbol of novelty patriotism oughta be all the assurance they need that Critz is the right guy for the job. For those who need more convincing, read below.

I hear a lot of noise inside the DC beltway, where I now am, about the importance of the special election being held tomorrow in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District. I refer to it as "noise" because that is exactly what it is; a lot of empty commentary from people who don't actually know a thing about PA-12; people who have never bothered going there or getting to know the people there on a first hand basis, what their lives are like, or what matters to them.

These commentators know that this is a decisive battle in the war of Democrats verse Republicans and each side selfishly wants the candidate under their party banner to win, thinking only of the ramifications this will have on a national scale and not what this election will mean locally.

To those who feel entitled to chime in and sway an election on behalf of the people who are capable of and entitled to making up their minds for themselves, know this: PA-12 isn't just a highlighted area on your map in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania. The people there aren't pawns in your game.

PA's 12th is made up of hardworking, blue collar Americans. They are coal miners, workers at Kennametal, at the Latrobe Airport, waiters and waitresses at Dino's and Sharky's, teachers and janitors and coaches at schools like Latrobe and Derry Area, nurses and doctors at Latrobe Area Hospital. They are farmers. They are graduates of PA-12th colleges like Indiana University and Saint Vincent College. They maintain local historical museums like the Johnstown Flood Museum. In the summer they attend annual events like the Westmoreland County Fair where, for a few dollars, a family can be entertained all day by petting zoos, motocross races, tractor pulls, local bands, local craftsmen and artists, and eat enough funnel cakes to make you sick of them until the next August. They pack the hill around the field to watch the Steelers practice at Saint Vincent college in the dead heat of August, decked out fully in black and gold as if it were the Super Bowl game. In the winter, they shovel feet of snow from their driveways and sidewalks, and know how to drive in it too.

I don't know the stats for average income in the area, but I do know this; the people there work hard for their money and they work well into their retirement age. They used to have a lot more options for places to work until businesses like LeNature went bankrupt after it was discovered that the owners had drained the company dry and cooked the books, and Rolling Rock beer sold out to Anheuser-Busch who closed its local plant, leaving 250 people without jobs.

They live in modest but proud homes in neighborhoods, on farms, and in trailer parks. Many are proud members of local unions like United Mineworkers, United Steelworkers, Laborers, the AFLCIO, and the Pennsylvania State Education Association, of which my mother is a member.

All of these labor unions and many more have officially endorsed Democratic candidate, Mark Critz. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, which is the most widely circulated and read newspaper in the area, as well as the Observer Reporter and The Tribune Democrat have all endorsed Critz as well.

Here's why I chose to list these endorsements and why I care about them and not very many others endorsements or opinions; if you aren't from PA's 12th district, or haven't spent significant time in it and gotten to know the people and issues there, I don't really care who you support because you don't know the district enough to be entitled to have a voice in it.

I, too, am proud to endorse Mark Critz, a fellow western Pennsylvanian, for Congress. So why does my endorsement matter? I'm a constituent of PA's 18th District which neighbors PA's 12th. The areas have been so gerrymandered you cross from the 18th to the 12th and back again on a trip to almost anywhere locally without even knowing it. If they ever alter the boundaries even by a few miles again, I'd find myself a constituent in PA's 12th. I have friends and relatives in PA's 12th and grew up in the area until I went to college, still returning and living there in the summers and holidays in between semesters in undergrad. I still go home multiple times a month. There really is no place like home.

I think long and hard about for whom I vote. The candidate who earns my vote doesn't do so by party affiliation, but by truly being the person best suited to represent the constituents.

If you want to be elected in western PA, you absolutely must be two things: pro-labor and pro-second amendment. You will not win if you do not stand for both these issues where I come from, regardless of your party.

Why the pro-labor requirement? Our blue collar workers constitute a majority of our local population and many of them are represented by some of the strongest unions in the country, which ensure that our workers have good healthcare, pension, wages, and other benefits. We protect our workers because we appreciate them and recognize them as the backbone of our society, not the corporate CEOs with their own profit making agenda.

Why the pro-second amendment requirement? The first day of deer season in November is actually a holiday where I come from. Seriously. There is no school and many people have the day off from work. To say hunting is an avid past time for many locals would be a tragic understatement. We love our guns like we love our Steelers, Penguins and yes, even the Pirates.

Critz solidly represents both of these values. His endorsements by a slew of local labor unions speak to his credibility on the pro-labor front, and he states his pro-second amendment stance on his website

Critz is focused on creating new jobs. In PA's ailing 12th, with able bodied men and women and the space and facilities available, Critz sees the opportunity to bring businesses to the area and will work to do so. He has promised to end the tax breaks for companies that ship jobs oversees so that we can keep these jobs local! He will fight for trade deals that protect American jobs and workers.

Critz will also fight for tax cuts for the middle class, the heavy majority of constituents in PA's 12th, and stop giving tax cuts to the wealthy. These can offset to still provide a break for middle class Americans while still reducing the federal deficit; another goal of Critz's.

Critz states that he will make veterans a top priority, like his predecessor, John Murtha, a heavily decorated Vietnam vet. Critz even earned the Patrick Henry Award, the highest civilian award issued by the National Guard.

Critz's opponent, Tim Burns, on the other hand, doesn't really stand for much substance. Burns' first ever tv ad, which I saw first hand on the air at my parents' house, stated that his values are a, "A belief in a God above, that abortion is wrong, and owning a gun is a right." These are all beliefs which Critz holds and states on his website, but that he didn't state as outright in his ads because he covered more substantive issues like jobs; issues that are more pressing and important to PA's 12th. Basically, from the little to nothing Burns' ads tell us, Burns is Critz if instead of having multiple issues, Critz would've stated his position, briefly, on three or so, then just stopped talking and stood around posing for pictures kissing babies and what not. That's basically all we get from Burns.

Burns even states on his website, "I don't know 'how Washington works'." You don't need to be a career politician or a beltway insider or out of touch with voters to know how Washington works, like Burns would have voters believe, but you damn well better figure it out if you want to be effective on the Hill and bring back real results to your district. Pride in not knowing how something works might get you into office, but it won't get you anywhere on the Hill when you are trying to get that same thing you don't know "how it works" to work for you and your constituents. I haven't seen this much pride in ignorance since Dubya... and look where that got us. I worked on the Hill and I know how it works and I was only a Congressional staffer. I can say for certain that if you don't know how Washington works and you're running for Congress, you've got some bigger problems than just winning an election.

Burns goes on about "wasteful pork barrel spending" which is a great talking point for politicians who don't really have a clue what they're discussing. So called "pork barrel" spending is used to fund local projects that need money and haven't gotten it elsewhere. It builds and repairs parks, recreation centers, senior centers, teen centers, shelters for battered and abused women, medical facilities, and animal shelters. The constituents of PA's 12th certainly aren't in a situation to provide extra money for these things themselves, but that doesn't mean they don't need them or don't deserve them because you can slap the label "pork barrel" on it and call it a day. In fact, part of the job of a member of congress is to provide as many goods and services for his constituents as possible. Someone like Critz would assure funds are used for PA's 12th citizens in ways they need without going overboard or being over-broad and calling the projects that apply for these funds "wasteful". Let's let the constituents applying for the funds which would improve the area decide whether something is "wasteful", not the politicians like Burns.

I went to Burns' website and found a total one page summary in something like 20 point font about his stances on the issues. It was pathetic and lacked any depth or understanding of any of the issues beyond two sentence talking points identical to everything else written and said by the Republican party leaders in Washington, DC (which he claims to have nothing to do with). Seriously, if his ads are uninformative soundbites, a politician's website is his or her chance to really tell people, in depth, what they have to say about the issues. It turns out that Burns doesn't have much to say about anything.

What I walk away with is that Burns is a guy who is really in over his head. He doesn't know the issues, meaning he doesn't make it a priority to know that much about the district and the things affecting it, and he doesn't know Washington, by his own words.

If he doesn't know the issues affecting the district, and he doesn't know Washington, what DOES Burns know then, considering his job as Congressman will be to know both the district and Washington damn well if he wants to be effective?

Well, he seems to know talking points. God. Check. Pro-life. Check. Pro-gun. Check. Use the term pork barreling. Check. Anti-Pelosi. Check. Substance? Substance? ...Bueller? Bueller?

Critz even called out Burns for his campaign message that heavily focus on aligning Critz with Pelosi and nothing to do with PA's 12th. Critz said, "I believe my opponent is somewhat confused because I've seen his commercials and he mentions Nancy Pelosi way more than he ever mentions me. And a local newspaper, the Herald Standard, told him in their editorial section maybe he should move to California if he wants to run against Nancy Pelosi and I support that."

Critz knows PA's 12th, he knows the issues, he knows what people want and has promised to do his best to represent them and everything we have seen from him thus far on the campaign has shown he is more than capable of that.

Critz worked with Murtha to grow to know and love the district in a way that is crucial to being a good representative. Critz was there when PA's 12th needed him; as Murtha's liaison to the Flight 93 Memorial, and spending 72 hours at the Que Creek Mine disaster site. Critz has shown the people of PA's 12 that he is there standing by them in their times of need. It is time for the people of PA's 12th to stand by Critz as the best representative for them by voting for him in the election today.

Get to the polls. Get out and vote. Vote for someone of substance. Vote for someone who shares your values. Vote for the candidate who knows what matters to you and your family. Vote for Mark Critz.

Read more about candidate Mark Critz at his official campaign website, http://www.critzforcongress.com/

My "problem" with Kagan's Supreme Court nomination

2010-05-10T14:28:00.020-04:00

Kagan finally gains the approval of social media commentators and the masses with her makeover

Today, President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Solicitor General Kagan, if confirmed, will replace Justice John Paul Stevens.

Kagan is now poised to become the Supreme Court's third female Justice of its nine member body. As women are half this country's population, it's about time.

I had concerns that Obama would choose a male to fill the spot after previously nominating Justice Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter. With Sotomayor's nomination, Obama restored the court to its (in the past few decades) two-women quota (or, in President George Bush's case, one woman), which seemed to fulfill the token requirement of having some women on the bench.

Obama broke the mold with Sotomayor, nominating the woman who would become the first ever Latino Justice, and does so again with Kagan's nomination which marks the first time three women would sit on the Supreme Court.

In Kagan, Obama found a brilliant woman with an impressive resume. She earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton and her law degree from Harvard where she later served as dean of the law school. Before becoming dean, she clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall and taught at the University of Chicago Law School. She also served as associate White House counsel under President Clinton.

There is some concern that her lack of judicial experience may be an issue. She is the first nominee to the Supreme Court in nearly 40 years who has not previously served as a Federal Circuit Court judge.

Republican Senator, Orin Hatch, however, had insight into the relevance this possible point of contention should have, minimizing it. He stated, "Judicial qualifications go beyond legal experience; any Supreme Court nominee should have an impressive resume. The more important qualification is judicial philosophy and a nominee's understanding of the power and proper role of a Justice in our system of government."

She has come under fire from the right for her staunch opposition to the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, and for arguing against the recent Supreme Court decision overturning campaign finance reform which limited corporate and union spending in federal elections.

Some on the left have criticized her for not opposing broad executive power as it pertains to anti-terrorism activities. Some liberals have also jabbed at her for her activities as dean at Harvard where she mollified tensions over accusations of a perceived liberal tilt to the faculty and curriculum by pushing for the appointment of conservative professors.

If you are nominated for the Supreme Court and both sides of the aisle don't take issue with your positions from time-to-time, chances are that you aren't going to be a good, unbiased judge who looks at the facts, Constitution, and law as they are, but instead for what you want them to be.

As both liberals and conservatives point to a few issues with which they disagree with her, they hail her intelligence. Hatch, a member of the Judiciary Committee, called Kagan "a brilliant woman" and told her she has done "done a terrific job up there at Harvard."

In a press conference this morning, Obama said of Kagan, "Elena is respected and admired not just for her intellect and record of achievement, but also for her temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints, her habit — to borrow a phrase from Justice [John Paul] Stevens — of understanding before disagreeing, her fair-mindedness and skill as a consensus builder". He went on, "While we can't presume to replace Justice Stevens' wisdom or experience, I have selected a nominee who I believe embodies that same excellence, independence, integrity and passion for the law, and who can ultimately provide that same kind of leadership on the court."

When members on both sides of the political aisle acknowledge your aptitude but disagree with at least a few of your stances on the issues, that forms part of a foundation that makes for a great Supreme Court Justice. It shows the Justice thinks well and hard and thinks for him or herself.

I couldn't be more pleased with the nomination of Kagan. My problem, however, is the completely irrelevant issues that have nothing to do with her qualification that are getting so much attention.

Even if mainstream media has been (for the most part) too intelligent and high-minded to give much credence or time to these wasteful and insulting discussions, social media outlets including facebook, twitter, and various other social networking sites, on which many actually rely for their news and information, are rampant with criticism of her appearance and sexuality.

I can't decide if it's more important that a female nominated to the Supreme Court have a husband and children and be straight, or that she be attractive. Oh sexism, so good to know you are alive and well. I had missed you since Hillary Clinton's campaign for president where her sexuality and attractiveness were often subjected to constant scrutiny

The sad truth about society today is that even women nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States are still open targets to be made fun of for their looks. Men, however? Free pass. I suppose, if asked in the confirmation hearing why she isn't hotter, her excuse would have to be, "Sorry I didn't have time to do my makeup this morning and go to the gym every day. I was a little busy being dean of Harvard Law School, arguing before the Supreme Court, and accomplishing amazing things with my career to get nominated for the most important and influential legal job in the world."

Priorities, Kagan. Priorities.

Another rule about being a less-than-very-attractive, single, middle-aged woman, who is significantly accomplished in her career is that she also, surely, must be gay. ...Right? I mean the short hair... and the being single... and the astonishing achievements in her career... how gay is that? Seriously.

Maybe by making leaps and bounds in her career, she didn't have time for the distraction of kids and family. Maybe her career success actually made her less desirable to men (which is a whole separate can of worms entirely---on which I'll avoid a rant at this point in time). Or maybe, just maybe, she is gay. And even if she were, would it matter? I am of the opinion that it would not, but I cannot discern whether the jumble of uninformed, barely intelligible opinions offered by social media commentators discussing the issue think it would matter as a Justice or not. Their analysis simply leads to the conclusion that she is unattractive and gay as well as to a general disapproval or at least mockery of this, and not to a statement as to what that has to do with anything.

My problem with Kagan's Supreme Court nomination has nothing to do with Kagan. My problem with the nomination is the shallow, mindless masses ruminating on things that have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with her qualifications, such as her appearance / level of attractiveness and what that says about her as a person, such as her sexuality.

On the whole, I am supportive of the mass social media invasion that gives us up-to-the-nano-second news and lets everyone from bloggers, to tweeters, to facebook-status-updaters, to anonymous posters on message boards feel like the next Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer, or Chris Wallace. However, when we find that more of us have something to say about what a female Supreme Court nominee looks like than what she has accomplished or if she is qualified, perhaps it is time to shut your yappers and step away from the keyboard.

Their comments would, perhaps, be relevant if, instead of being the foremost judicial body in the world with the task of interpreting our laws and constitution, the Supreme Court were a frat boy shotgunning beers and smashing the empty cans off his head while wearing a "No fat chicks" t-shirt and ending every sentence in "no homo."

So future male nominees, continue looking like someone straight out of Grumpy Old Men, Bucket List, or a zombie horror film. Your career achievements, academic prowess, and legal success will pave the way for you, as it should. Future female nominees, start looking like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and get yourself a husband, two kids, a dog, and a lovely house with a white picket fence in the 'burbs (you know, in addition to all that "achievement" nonsense) if you want to be taken seriously by the uninformed masses.

It is disheartening and sad to see women, constantly, even the most intelligent and accomplished among us, be reduced by many to how hot they are and the obviously empirical ramifications that has on their sexuality.

I, for one, am proud to be a commentator who tosses my hat into the ring of opinions on Kagan on the basis of something other than her looks.

Of phones and me

2010-04-12T01:58:00.034-04:00

Pretty much.

Giving me a phone is basically the equivalent of giving Steinbeck's Lennie a mouse. Entrust a phone to me and you are placing a tiny mouse in the grasp of a hulking, mildly-retarded man with large hands and a penchant for petting soft things a little too hard. It doesn't end well.

My scraped and worn, pink Blackberry Curve, with its scratched screen, sticking tracker ball, malfunctioning keyboard, and a significant portion of the pink paint chipping away showed all the signs of loving something too hard seen in any child's favorite stuffed animal. Think the Velveteen Rabbit, for adults. My phone was my binky.

The last time I ever used it was at 2:48AM, April 11, 2010. I know this because, though I have no memories after approximately midnight on said date, verizonwireless.com tells me this. It also tells me who I texted, but not what I wrote, which is incredibly fortunate because I can only imagine that whatever it was was horrifically misspelled, inappropriate and / or borderline incoherent.

At some point thereafter, my phone went missing. I discovered this when I woke up the following morning, feeling very much like P. Diddy. I was on my neighbors' couch, (a lovely young married couple I've never met before) in a men's tie and my cocktail dress. My frenzied thought process went like this:

Sweet Jesus, where am I? Oh thank God, there's my purse. Okay, got my camera still... that's awesome. Most of my makeup... ID and money... Oh sh*t. Where's my phone.

This is why we can't have nice things.

I spent the next several hours traipsing through Georgetown and retracing my steps after going home and changing out of the fashion masterpiece that was the night before's outfit-coupled-with-men's-tie to track my Blackberry down. After contacting some friends online, I narrowed down my bberry's zone-of-disappearance.

Possible location 1: City Tavern Club. My friends say I was still texting them after an event I had attended there ended. Ruled out.

Possible location 2: George. Ruled out because "allegedly", according to my friend, I wasn't allowed in this bar because I was "too intoxicated". If you have ever been to the blackout cesspool that is George, you know what an accomplishment that is.

Possible location 3: Smith Point. My favorite bar and boyfriend, SP, closes at 3AM, and I was still actively using my phone minutes before it closed. This made me think it is unlikely I lost it there in the last few minutes before close, but not out of the realm of possibilities. I only wish the SP bouncers had been as judicious as the George bouncers and not let me in. My friend said they had initially refused, but she got them to change their tune with a $20.

Possible location 4: Five Guys. This local ghetto, greasy food-that-eats-through-its-own-bag establishment is, in all likelihood, where the tragedy occurred. I know I was there because I found several dozen ketchup and salt packets littering my front sidewalk today.

I called Five Guys and they said no one turned in a phone. SP doesn't open until Friday so, being the ever-patient person I am, I went there and 'let myself into' the courtyard where I searched dejectedly. No phone. I did, however, find $5.

At that point I was down one phone, and up one tie and $5.

I guess karma considers that a fair trade, because whoever had my phone turned it off at approximately 7PM, meaning they weren't giving it back.

I know it was turned off because I had been frantically calling it all day from my backup cellphone. Yes, backup cellphone. I actually own another phone, with its own number, that I keep and use solely for the purpose of calling and tracking down my primary phone whenever I lose or break it.

I officially declared my phone dead and irretrievable when my calls stopped ringing and started going straight to voicemail. The battery was too full to have died. The loss of this phone, while only one of many that have managed to evade me, is particularly tragic. I had it for a year and a month. In the world of me, that is a record.

Not only has this phone been with me for so long, it has been through a lot and always came out a survivor, if not a little worse-for-the-wear. It was on its fourth life when it was stolen from me.

Its first life ended in March, '09, when I threw up on it. Not my proudest moment. I tell it in the interest of full disclosure. It stopped functioning for several days afterward and the 7 / Z key only worked periodically. Fortunately, I didn't send a lot of text messages with "z" in them, but dialing any phone number that had a "7" in it was a real treat.

Its second life ended in January when I dropped it in the toilet at one of my favorite local dive bars, Gin & Tonic. There was a split second when I questioned whether to leave it in there; resting on the bottom like the Heart of the Ocean in Titanic, or go in after it and risk inevitably contracting the swine flu, the AIDS, the typhoid, the cholera, or some other old-timey disease I learned about playing Oregon Trail. I took the plunge. Again, it stopped functioning for a few days and this time the return and "$" keys were the casualties. That only really mattered when I had to send an email from my phone, because it would be one incredibly long paragraph.

Its third life ended during Snowpocalypse II in February in DC. I had it in the front pocket of my snow pants while sled riding when I decided it'd be a swell idea to run and belly-dive down a hill. Crushed it. And by "it" I mean both my phone and the hill, which I bet I looked pretty sweet flying down. At this point, my phone was used to the abuse and must have built up a tolerance, because it returned to life a mere few hours later.

I've also dropped or inadvertently thrown it more times than I can count, but that is barely worth noting considering what else the phone has endured.

My trusty bberry had earned the nickname Ol' Reliable. It was my favorite possession and I took it with me absolutely everywhere and had it with me at all times. There's me. There's my phone. Here's me. Here's my phone. Beside me on the dinner table? Phone. On my other pillow when I sleep? Phone. On my towel beside me at the beach? Phone. In my hands in the car when I'm not supposed to be using it? Phone. You get the point.

While it always managed to protect itself from me and my follies, it couldn't save itself from stranger danger as it fell into the clutches of evil Saturday night. My only hope is that whoever stole it reads this, so that they can have the distinct pleasure of knowing just how much my phone has been through. I refer specifically to the way its first and second lives ended. Enjoy that.

I get a new phone today. I'll try to be better with it. And I'll have a farm with Blackberries on it. And i'll tend to the Blackberries...

A mini-poncho in which I dressed my bberry for Cinco-de-Mayo. Yes, really.

West Virginia, Butler go down in Final Four

2010-04-05T12:16:00.018-04:00

Coach Huggins shares a moment with his players near the end of the Final Four game.

On Saturday, I'd bet 90% of people became Mountaineers, if just for the night.

First of all, as a general rule, unless you (or a parent) went to Duke, you hate Duke.

Secondly, everyone loves an underdog. While this season, you couldn't apply that term to WVU, they are a second seed against 1-seed Duke. This was also Duke's 15th Final Four appearance, and its 11th under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. This was WVU's first Final Four appearance since 1959 and only the second in school history. WVU has never before won the NCAA basketball championship, and, it turns out, this year wouldn't be the year either.

Finally, viewers were touched by the moments the Mountaineer team shared with each other and with their coach on Saturday night.

The Final Four West Virginia Mountaineers vs Duke Devils match-up game looked awfully familiar to WVU fans. It was strikingly similar to the West Virginia vs Kentucky Elite Eight game just a week before. Except, in this game, WVU looked like Kentucky and Duke like West Virginia.

Like the Kentucky Wildcats had done facing West Virginia, WVU fell apart against Duke. They played a 1-3-1 zone again, but it failed to work for them as it had before. The Devils penetrated the setup and drove to the basket with little resistance. The Mountaineers were also off their shooting game, going only 6 for 20 from the floor in the second half and ending the game shooting 41.3%. They couldn't replicate their 3-point field goal barrage that earned them so many points a week prior, either.

In fact, the only part of the Mountaineers' game that was on par with their Elite Eight performance was that they were once again out rebounded. West Virginia was shooting one-and-done. Duke, on the other hand, posted a considerable number of points as the result of second-chance shots.

Duke landed 3-pointer after 3-pointer. They ended the game going 53.3% shooting, 29 of 55. Like West Virginia had against Kentucky, Duke started with an early lead that left WVU playing catch-up the rest of the game.

The Devils went up 18-11 and the Mountaineers fought back and cut the lead to two points, 23-21. This was the closest WVU would be tasting victory for the rest of the game. The Mountaineers trailed 39-31 going into halftime.

I anticipated WVU would regroup at the half and come roaring back into the game once play resumed. The second half is when they really pulled ahead against Kentucky, and the last 7 points of the first half of this game were Mountaineers' baskets.

And WVU did close the lead, coming within five points, 43-38. From there, however, it was all downhill for West Virginia. Duke sank three 3-pointers while WVU turned the ball over, leading to a 15-point Duke lead.

Just when Mountaineers' fans thought things couldn't get worse, team star and lead scorer Da'Sean Butler went down - hard - while attempting a shot with 8:59 remaining. He collided with Devils' Brian Zoubek and both fell to the ground. When Zoubek got up, however, Butler continued to lay on the court in pain, clutching his left knee. WVU Coach Bobby Huggins ran to his side, got down on his knees, hugged his player and stroked his face to console him. This was the most endearing, most enduring moment of the game.

The players took a knee and WVU fans took time to pray, looking on helplessly as their best player's chances of walking off the court being okay, and their hopes of winning the game and making the NCAA championship, were simultaneously dashed.

Butler was helped up and taken to the locker room in a golf cart. The Butler incident had me near tears, but I could no longer hold them back when, with a minute and a half remaining, Huggins hugged two of his starting-lineup players to him in a moment where the feeling of "we gave it our all, did our best and we had a heck of a run and I'm proud of you" was tangible.

The Mountaineers lost, 78-57, but what I'll really remember about that game is the moments between Huggins and his players. Those are moments of victory, even in defeat. Those are the reasons, really, that make sports worth playing, no matter which side of the ball you're on. And those are the moments that stay with us, rather than who won or lost, when all is said and done.

Mountaineers slay Wildcats; advance to Final Four

2010-03-29T15:33:00.020-04:00

WVU's unlikely hero, Joe Mazzulla, moves easily past Kentucky's John Wall, giving him a pimp backhand in the process, just as WVU moved past Kentucky to advance to the Final Four.

As one of what is likely a slim minority of people who predicted a West Virginia University win over Kentucky in the Elite Eight matchup in my bracket, I can't claim to be surprised when the Mountaineers defeated the Wildcats. I did not, however, predict the win would be with a large 7 point margin; 73-66.

In fact, that score fails to do justice to the Mountaineers' solid win, considering they were up by a dozen points or more several times during the second half. Their biggest lead was by 16 points, 61-45, with 4:25 remaining. The Wildcats spent the last few minutes of the game fouling WVU just to stop the clock so they could catch up. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their plan backfired as WVU sank foul shot after foul shot.

Maybe it was Mountaineers' Coach, Bobby Huggins', magical tracksuit. Maybe it was WVU's uncanny ability to sink 3-pointers and prevent turnovers or Kentucky's complete lack of ability to do the same. The truth is, West Virginia emerged as the undoubtedly stronger team and the one more deserving of being in the Final Four with their performance in Syracuse Saturday night.

The game began more tentatively for WVU, as they were unable to make a single 2-point basket, going 0 for 16. Kentucky posted an early 16-9 lead. Astoundingly, however, the Mountaineers made eight of fifteen 3-point field goal shots. The 21 points from field goals on top of sinking a high percentage of foul shots kept them in the game and actually put them on top 28-26 going into halftime.

West Virginia barreled full force into the second half and immediately built up a 10-point lead. Kentucky chipped away at the lead and fell further behind from time-to-time throughout the remainder of the game, but never recovered.

The Mountaineers maintained their lead thanks in part to having only 3 turnovers during the game. Kentucky, on the other hand, turned the ball over time and time again. WVU also continued sinking a high percentage of foul shots while Kentucky only went 16 for 29. The quick-on-their-feet Kentucky team out-rebounded WVU 51-36, but it wasn't enough to recover from the other areas in which WVU trumped them.

Huggins also used a 1-3-1 zone to which Kentucky didn't really know how to react. It largely shut the Wildcats out of landing any 3 pointers. Kentucky's team is also young and relatively inexperienced, and just was not able to pull together what they needed for a win against the equally good Mountaineers who were on top of their game Saturday.

The Mountaineers' win was made all the more impressive due to the absence of their starting point guard, Darryl Truck Bryant, because of a broken right foot. He was replaced by Joe Mazzulla who became unlikely hero of the game. Mazzulla only played in 17 games all season up until Saturday night, and had only averaged 2.2 points per game. He played only 11 minutes in the Big East tournament and suffered from a bruised shoulder for much of the season. He posted 17 points Saturday night; a career high for him and an invaluable contribution to the Mountaineers' victory. Bryant is expected to return in time for the next game this Saturday, which will add more depth and strength to WVU's impressive roster.

If Mazzulla was the hero no one saw coming, Da'Sean Butler was the hero the Mountaineers were counting on, and, as usual, he did not disappoint. Butler posted 18 points for WVU, including making 4 of West Virginia's 10 3-pointers.

With their win, WVU advances to their second Final Four appearance in school history. The last time they made it as far was in 1959. They play #1 ranked Duke on Saturday. Duke is the only remaining 1-seed in the tournament after West Virginia (2) knocked out Kentucky (1). WVU is the only remaining Big East team in the tournament after a disappointing showing from fellow division members. The Big East was hailed as the strongest and toughest division all season.

Mountaineers explore new territory; win first Big East Championship

2010-03-14T23:13:00.011-04:00

WVU hoists their trophy in celebration. Coach Huggins and his tracksuit not pictured.

Last night after a close game fought until the bitter end, the West Virginia University Mountaineers (7) triumphed over the Georgetown Hoyas (22) in the last seconds of the game, claiming both victory and their first ever Big East Championship.

This was only the second time WVU ever reached the Big East championship game and is the school's first conference tournament victory since 1984 when it won the Atlantic 10.

The game-winning shot was scored by senior guard, Da'Sean Butler. He put the final, crucial 2 points on the board with 4.2 seconds remaining. Georgetown ran the ball back down to its end of the court, but missed the shot which could have tied the game and sent it into overtime. Butler posted 20 points total in the game, went 9 of 17 shooting, and was chosen as the tournament MVP.

Butler scored his 2,000th career point late in the first half thanks to a three-pointer which put the Mountaineers ahead 24-20. Butler's achievement solidified his place alongside fellow graduates Jerry West and Rod Hundley, the only two other WVU players to have scored as many points. This was Butler's second game-winning clincher. He sank a 3-pointer in the quarterfinals at the buzzer to win 54-51 over Cincinnati.

WVU squeaked through by the soles of the sneakers both literally and figuratively throughout the tournament, winning the semifinal game over Notre Dame 53-51. They won each round of the tournament by one basket.

This game was won because of WVU's solid defense and ability to quickly snatch rebounds. They also benefited from two four-minute stretches of game in which Gtown was unable to land a single shot.

The Mountaineers' starting lineup included Butler, Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Wellington Smith, and Truck Bryan. They were lead by Coach Bob Huggins who frantically directed his team courtside, refusing to let the importance of the championship dissuade him from wearing his signature tracksuit in favor of the business suits worn by other basketball coaches.

Oddly enough, third-seed WVU was the only one of the top four seed teams to survive the quarterfinal round. Syracuse, Villanova, and Pitt fell unexpectedly. Proving it had the best team in the Big East and consistently hailed as the most competitive conference in the NCAA, WVU enters the East bracket of the NCAA tournament as the #2 seed. I, for one, expect big things from this team, and expect to see them appearing in that tournament's championship game as well.

The WVU mens' team succeeded where their womens' hadn't. In the womens' Big East Championship game on Monday, WVU fell hard to UConn 60-32. That game was the Huskies' 72nd straight victory, the longest in NCAA history.

The Time Traveler's Wife: a book review

2010-03-10T00:39:00.005-05:00

Grade: B+

The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, is brilliant because of the uniqueness of the concept on which the entire story is based. At the foundation of the book is a love story, but one so original there has never been another quite like it.

Henry is an unwilling time traveler. He travels backward and forward through time uncontrollably, each time appearing naked and feeling ill. Clare is the love of his life. She is his Penelope; faithfully waiting all the days of her life to be with him, knowing she is destined to be with him since she meets him in her childhood as he is time traveling.

The broad array of situations Niffenegger creates revolving around the premise of Henry's unwilling time travel are so original that the reader is simply stunned. The love story is good, but it is the adventure of a love forced to coexist in a world of inexplicable random time travel that reaches the level of greatness.

The Time Traveler's Wife truly is a modern day Odyssey; a book of adventures and, at the heart, a love story, which makes all the adventures fulfilling and worthwhile.

Favorite Quotes:
"...It's better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, then to be just okay for your whole life?"

"Why is love intensified by absence?"

"Right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment."

"Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though it offers no resistance, as though the world is your natural element."

"There's always world enough and time."

The Lost Symbol: a book review

2010-03-09T23:36:00.006-05:00

Grade: B+

Dan Brown has to be one of the greatest mystery writers out there today. His most recent book, The Lost Symbol, is as gripping as his previous, The Da Vinci Code. It is a book you cannot put down because each chapter leaves you hanging and desperate to figure out what happens next to answer the plethora of questions in your head so you can start unraveling the mystery. This compelling story is so intricately woven that you never know the answers, do you even who are the good guys or bad guys, though you think you might

I found this book particularly fascinating because it takes place in Washington, D.C., where I live, and revolves around actual landmarks from the Capitol to the Washington Monument and the Almas Shrine temple, to neighborhoods including Kalorama, and even to actual metro stops. Symbol uses existing locations and specific details down to actual engravings to create the dramatic tale of the Masons and their symbols which protect a secret. The concept of the Masons also finds some basis in reality, as the group really exists and has previously included members including George Washington, who used real Masonic symbols and beliefs in everything from the etchings on monuments to the timing of when to lay cornerstones for the U.S. Capitol.

Symbol is compelling because it is founded in reality and simply expounded upon to show us a world which could exist beyond and beneath the world the reader can see. The many facets to his novel keep the reader guessing and craving more, devouring chapters to uncover answers. There are so many "Wow! I never saw that coming." moments the reader is constantly on his or her toes and consistently finds that everything they thought to be true is not what it seems. The best mysteries are exactly that; a mystery right up until the very end.

The only flaws I found with this book is that it is very similar to The Da Vinci Code, which had all the good qualities for Symbol, but was original in that it was the predecessor. In both, the hero is reluctant but brilliant and can't help but continue to stumble upon clues and fortunate circumstances that help him along the way despite all the pitfalls. His sidekick, with whom there is a romantic tension, is an attractive female who is incredibly intelligent and passionate in a specific field which happens to be related to the storyline. The antagonist an odd looking and intimidating man who is a brilliant and relentless in his pursuit of something, but is blinded by their single minded determination to stop at nothing to achieve their goal. In the end of both novels, the books get rather preachy about morals.

This still makes for a fascinating and wonderful mystery novel, but Brown is going to need to find a different formula in the future if he is to continue his reign as one of the best writers in his genre. Be warned, once you begin reading this book you will not be able to stop.

Favorite Quotes:
"Order from chaos."

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

"Small minds have always lashed out at what they don't understand."

"There are those who create... and those who tear down."

Blind Trust: a book review

2010-03-09T16:39:00.006-05:00

Grade: C

Blind Trust is a Washington DC insider's glimpse into life on Capitol Hill and is proof that the best look at the intricacies of DC politics comes from the perspective of a seasoned insider. This is Senator Barbara Boxer's second book.

Boxer writes about a fictional Senator Ellen Fischer Lind, who is, coincidentally, also a senior liberal Senator from California. Lind finds her world rocked by scandal and accusations of impropriety that threaten to damage her credibility and end her political career. As her political enemies and the right wing media team up to destroy her, the reader gets a unique look at the dirty inner workings and dealings of political smear campaigns.

Boxer also elaborates on the inside deals necessary in politics that often force a politician to choose between doing what is right with doing something they do not believe in to save their political careers and hopefully do more positive on down the road in the future if they remain in office.

This is not a book praising one political party over another or depicting one party in the right while the other is in the wrong. Instead, it praises truth over lies and gossip and good intentions over personal ambition. The book reminds readers that what is popular isn't always right, and what is right isn't always popular.

Boxer's first hand knowledge of politics is brilliantly conveyed in this book. The only reason I did not give it a higher grade than a C is because the end wraps everything up a little too quickly and too neatly. It is as though Boxer set out writing the book with a purpose and then got too busy with a piece of legislation part way through to take the time to give the book the ending or devote the time to the conclusion that it deserved.

I think Boxer would be a great author if she wrote non-fiction books about politics rather than a half-finished story masquerading under the loose pretense of fiction. She is a gifted politician and she knows how to talk politics. She is not a gifted story teller. She offers wonderful insight which is quite eye-opening about the way American citizens can have the wool pulled over their eyes and be lead to believe what those in power want them to believe. She should have stuck to discussing that though, which she lays out in great detail and with much thought, instead of attempting to weave it into a rather poorly crafted story.

Favorite Quotes:
"The higher you go, the more of a target you are."

"But remember three things: First, there are good people out there; they just don't make so much of a racket. Second, if you don't make waves, then the bad guys don't get washed overboard. And third, nobody bothers to bad-mouth you unless they're afraid of you. So think of it as kind of a compliment."

The Weight of Water: a book review

2010-03-09T14:28:00.009-05:00

Grade: B+

The Weight of Water, by Anita Shreve, draws a parallel between the lives of a photographer in the 1990s, Jean, and a fisherman's wife, Maren, in the late 1800s. Maren is the sole survivor of a brutal double murder, and Jean is seeking to uncover more details about this unresolved crime by traveling to the site on a remote island off the coast of the northeast US shore and photographing it nearly 100 years later.

This is not, however, a murder mystery. Rather, it is a journey into the minds of the main characters and a drawing of parallels between their lives. The main focus and question of the book is this: by telling a tale, can you lift the burden of what you have told from your shoulders? Can you finally let it go so that it can stop haunting you?

The book reinforces the idea of mind over matter, as the two women both create ideas in their minds that overtake the reality of the world around them. Eventually, as they change their behavior in accordance with the visions in their heads, they unintentionally sculpt their actual realities until they become the haunting world in their minds.

What I loved best about this book are Shreve's descriptive details and the way she made things come to life and appear so vividly.
"Rich walks about the Morgan with athletic grace, and he gives the impression of a man for whom nothing has ever been complicated."... "I watch Thomas bend over the stern to snag the mooring. His legs are pale with whorls of brown hair above the backs of his knees. Over his bathing suit, he has on a pink dress shirt, the cuffs rolled to the elbows."... "The sand, I discover, has held the sun's warmth, and it feels good against my bare legs." ... "...I asked with the irritation that comes of not wanting to think about anything except the thing that is frightening you."

It is with this level of thought and detail that the author describes everything from the island of Smuttynose, where most of the womens' stories take place, to every character in the story. As she writes, the reader is in the character's shoes, seeing the men work on the boat, feeling the warmth of the sand, hearing the sloshing of the waves slapping against the hull of the ship...

Shreve's writing is incredibly perceptive not only in terms of character and scene details, but in terms of observances of human feelings and emotions. The tale she tells is realistic and believable, and the reader is transplanted into the minds of both Jean and Maren. The reader can see and feel their worlds through Shreve's vivid and brilliant descriptive details, and can relate to their thoughts and emotions.

This is a good book, but it is Shreve's unique, perceptive descriptions that push it into the category of those I recommend.

Favorite Quotes:
"She was, it must be said, a plain woman with a melancholy aspect, which I have always understood is sometimes appealing to men, as they do not wish a wife who is so beautiful or lively that she causes in her husband a constant worry..."

"...I think we both felt the stricture to be pale reprimand for the thrilling loveliness of the crime."

"I learned that night that love is never as ferocious as when you think it is going to leave you."

"I have never appreciated women who resort to histrionics or who show themselves to be so delicate in their constitutions that they cannot withstand the intense images that words may sometimes conjure forth..."

"There are moments in your life when you know that the sentence that will come next will change your life forever, although you realize, even as you are anticipating this sentence, that your life has already changed. Changed some time ago, and you simply didn't know it."

"I have observed that while fishermen do take seasonal rests from their labors, their womenfolk do not, and do not even when the men are too weak from old age to draw a trawl and must retire from their labors. An aging wife can never retire from her work..."

"I no longer had anything compelling to pray for. Not his arrival, not his love, not even his kindness or presence. For though he was in that room all the days, though we were seldom more than a few feet from each other, it was as though we were on separate continents, for he would not acknowledge me or speak to me unless it was absolutely necessary, and even at those times, I wished that he had not had need to speak to me at all, for the indifference of his tone chilled my blood and made me colder than I had been before. It was a tone utterly devoid of warmth or forgiveness, a tone that seeks to keep another being at bay, at a distance."

America loses to its hat in hockey gold medal round

2010-03-01T14:02:00.023-05:00

You know the scene in Titanic where Rose wears her diamond necklace for Jack, and only that? ... Crosby, meet me in a car on E Deck. Bring the gold medal.

There was no miracle on ice for this year's USA mens' hockey team. Just like the USA womens' hockey team this year, they lost to Canada in the gold medal round. America lost to America's hat.

This was the most watched Olympic gold medal game since 1980 and, showing that fans are loyal to not only their country, but to players from their NHL teams, Buffalo and Pittsburgh had the top number of viewers per city.

The bronze medal was awarded the night before to Finland after they defeated Slovakia. Slovakia went from a 3-1 lead to a 5-3 loss. I cared about this game because Marian Hossa (first of all, that's a girl's name) plays for Slovakia and he is universally despised by Penguins fans for leaving our team to go to rival Detroit Red Wings. Hossa played for the Pens in '08 when we fell to the Wings in the Stanley Cup game, then turned down a contract with the Pens to go to the Wings, who fell to the Pens in the '09 Stanley Cup game. Once again, Hossa walked away without anything to show for his efforts as his team placed fourth. Suck it, Hossa.

Coincidentally, Finland's women also won bronze, resulting in a gold / silver / bronze identical medal podium placement in both mens' and womens' hockey.

The Finland / Slovakia game, where the winning team overcame a two point deficit to win, could have served as inspiration to Team USA which would find itself in a similar predicament in the gold medal match.

Team USA had gone undefeated throughout the tournament to earn its spot in the final game. Team Canada had won all but one game in its journey to the finals. Its previous loss was 4-1 to Team USA.

Canada's goalie, Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, had replaced Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils who was Canada's starting goalie throughout most of the Olympic games. This was a crucial element of Canada's success. Brodeur was good, but not great, and not always reliable. Luongo proved to be a much better choice and was particularly comfortable playing on home ice since the game was held in the Canucks' arena. Personally, I think Marc-Andre Fleury, Canada's third sting goalie and member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, would have been an equally good choice and an asset to Canada on the ice, but he did not get to play.

This game was 2-0 by midpoint as the result of goals by Canada's Jonathan Toews and Corey Perry. This wasn't thanks to any lack of effort on the part of Team USA, who was largely going shot-for-shot with the Canadians. USA had its game face on and its enforcers out in full force, including Brooks Orpik of the Pittsburgh Penguins who was laying hits on the Canadians left and right, including shoving one up and into the box in the first period.

Team USA came rallying back with a goal by Patrick Kane which may or may not have been tipped in thanks to the help of his teammate Ryan Kesler.

The third period was a fast and furious blur of shots on goal on both ends. Luongo and Ryan Miller, the US goalie and member of the Buffalo Sabres who would later be awarded the well-deserved title of MVP after his incredible performance as a brick wall in front of the goal throughout the Olympic matches, were both holding strong.

USA pulled its goalie with over a minute left as a last ditch attempt to catch up to the Canadians and put the added pressure on Luongo. With 24.4 seconds left, USA's Zach Parise shoveled in a puck that had rebounded off Luongo's pads to tie the game 2-2. My family and I jumped from our seats cheering. We knew Team USA had it in them, but it was still unbelievable. These are the moments fans dream of.

Team USA fans and Canadian fans were getting the game they deserved between these two evenly matched teams. The game went into a 20 minute overtime.

About halfway into overtime, Canada's Sidney Crosby, member of the Pittsburgh Penguins and my boyfriend, hovered near the Team USA net, screaming for the puck from teammate Jarome Iginla. Iginla, swarmed by two USA defensemen, frantically heard Crosby's calls of "Iggy!" and quickly passed the puck between the defensemen to him.

“There's different pitches to a guy's voice when he's yelling for it. This was pretty urgent, so I knew he had a step. I didn't see it go in, I just heard everybody yelling, and saw him jumping around, so I knew we won.” said Ignalia.

Crosby, who would later tell interviewers he wasn't even looking at the goal because he knew he had to react immediately and just feel it out, quickly struck the puck as it reached him and sent it barreling toward the goal... and into it. It was so quick Miller never had time to stop it.

"CROSBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!" is what I was yelling with my arms in the air in momentary happiness when my favorite hockey player scored. I'm pretty sure all of Canada was cheering it with me. It's one of those knee jerk reaction moments where you're incredibly happy for an individual before the larger ramifications dawn on you.

As soon as I put my arms down, I was sad for Team USA, who I had been rooting for throughout this game and the entire Olympics. Team USA is my team and, like the rest of the country, I really thought we would win when we rallied back to tie the game in the last seconds of regulation. I was sad for Orpik, as a Penguin, who played his heart out on the ice. I was saddened by the looks on the faces of all of our team, and the way they dragged their sticks solemnly across the ice behind them as they slowly skated off. Team USA left it all on the ice, and as US citizens, that's all we asked for.

Crosby and the Canadians won Olympic gold. At that moment, Team USA and fans could probably only think about how we had lost it. But, the truth is, Team USA won silver in a game that could not have been any closer. And if there is one team to which the US should not feel bad about losing, it is Team Canada. The Canadians invented hockey and it is their national sport. Crosby is the face of Canadian hockey, the face of the '09 Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins, and one of the best hockey players in the world.

As Crosby's #1 fan and also rabid Team USA devotee in every sport throughout the 2010 winter Olympics which I followed religiously, I was torn. I supported and stood with Team USA in this game. I wanted us to win. I also wanted Crosby to have a good game. It turns out I can't have my cake and eat it too.

There is no shame in only winning silver, and hopefully Team USA won't be having any "coulda, shoulda, woulda" moments when looking back, because the truth is they played like gold.

Team Canada plays peewee team; advances in Olympics

2010-02-24T22:18:00.014-05:00

Canadians cheer on their hockey team in the winter Olympics

Wait what? They were playing Russia?? And oh how the mighty have fallen. In fact, substitute "playing" with "slaughtering" and you'd have yourself a pretty accurate summary of the Olympic Canada vs Russia mens' hockey game. The Canadians won 7-3 in a game many were surprised wasn't closer... or close at all.

As any good American would, I'm rooting for Team USA. However, I still had a vested interest in this game, aside from the fact that the winner will likely be playing the US in the gold medal round. This game involved many of my favorite players on both sides of the puck. I determined who to support by mathematical equation. Crosby (+2) + Fleury (+1) versus Malkin (+1) + Gonchar (+1) + Ovechkin (-1) = Go Canada. I'm glad I supported the side I did, otherwise this would have been really painful to watch.

I could do a full game summary, but it would basically be, "Canada scored. Then Canada scored again. Then Canada scored again. Then there was some skating. Then Canada scored again." Instead, here are the top 3 moments of the Canada vs Russia game.

#1 Canada's Dan Boyle taking down Russia's Alexander Semin. And by taking down I mean absolutely slamming him to the ice. This came after Semin's late hit on Boyle seconds before. As a result of this cheap hit, Boyle came charging back and slammed Semin in the front while simultaneously taking his feet out from under him. I laughed my ass off. Priceless.

There haven't been all that many fights or cheap hits throughout the Olympics. I'd imagine this is because none of the players want to get hurt and because of the Olympic spirit and all that. Despite this, one player who has been playing consistently dirty hockey is Russia's Alex Ovechkin. (Herein, "Obitchkin.") Obitchkin has been taking dirty hits on players throughout the Olympic games including on the Czech Republic's (as well as former Penguins' player and childhood crush of mine) Jaromir Jagr and on Canada's Sidney Crosby. With Semin pulling the same stunts, a teammate of Obitchkin's on the Washington Capitals, it's nice to see that someone retaliated for the low blows. Maybe if Obitchkin and Semin spent more time trying to score and less time trying to take down opponents, Russia wouldn't have fallen so abysmally.

#2 Sergei Gonchar's goal for Russia. Gonchar scored Russia's third goal against Canada, giving his team a sliver of hope that turned out to be futile. Honestly, I liked this moment solely because Gonchar plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins and I'm not going to feign neutrality.

#3 Crosby shaking hands with Obitchkin at the end of the game as Crosby, Fleury, and the Canadians advance and Obitchkin goes home. It was pretty much just like last year's Stanley Cup playoffs... I basically enjoyed this because I'm a Pens fan and because I'm in love with Crosby and Obitchkin is my least favorite sports figure. Beyond that though, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to many.

The truth is, Russia's hockey team is overhyped and has been for quite some time, especially in the USA. This is a result of the miracle on ice 1980 USA vs Soviet Union hockey game where the US won and ended the Soviets' gold medal streak from the past four winter Olympic games. This was one of the greatest sports moments in history (unless, of course, you're from Russia). However, Russia, has not won a gold medal in men's Olympic hockey since 1988. I was three. The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992 and while they are still my favorite baseball team, I wouldn't exactly call them dominant in their sport... Russia's hockey team didn't even make the medal stand in the 2006 Olympics.

To be sure, I'm not saying Russia doesn't have one of the top hockey teams out there, but they are no longer this completely dominant power house that truly talented teams like Canada need to fear. The game wasn't even a contest.

Where in the world is Elin Woods?

2010-02-19T13:20:00.012-05:00

Where's Elin? Can you find her at the press conference?

Tiger Woods gave his official public apology today for his marital infidelity with no less than a dozen women including various cocktail waitresses and an adult film industry actress. The cheating is alleged to have happened over the course of several years including while his wife was pregnant. The press conference was held in front of a group of close friends and a few selected reporters. There were no questions allowed.

I could write volumes on my thoughts on cheating. I also have my share of thoughts on politicians / celebrities / athletes who cheat, whether there is such thing as 'sex addiction', whether companies should continue to endorse Woods, whether today's 'press conference' was a sham, and whether the whole thing is the public's business.

Instead, I'm more interested in the only redeeming facet of Woods' press conference today and, indeed, of the whole scandal. It isn't about what viewers saw, but what, or rather who, we didn't. Elin Woods, former model, Woods' wife, and mother of their two children was not in attendance today.

Cheating scandals have playbooks. There are ways these things are supposed to go. They end with a public figure giving a public apology for his indiscretions as his little wife stands dutifully beside him. Today, an exception to the rule, Elin did not stand by Tiger. Tiger stood alone.

I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing about the "strength" of the woman who stands, stoically, hands clasped in front of her, loyally by her man, as he stands and tells the world about his failure (often repeated...) to do the same: stand by his wife and be loyal. True strength isn't something many probably expected from the beautiful, smiling blonde always faithfully at Tiger's side. Celebrating his victories. Taking care of his children. Cheering on his achievements. Supporting his dream.

The public has never heard about Elin as anything other than Tiger's wife or the mother of his children. Oh and that she looks good in a bikini; not exactly a sign of strength, but obviously a valuable asset in any trophy wife.

Today, Elin showed that she is more than that. She isn't his toy or trophy or an extension of him and his image. She is not someone to be cast aside and used at his disposal or for his convenience. She isn't a nobody because no one knew Elin before Tiger. She is a real person; capable of thinking, feeling, being, acting, and living independently of him. She has been photographed out lately sans wedding band and today, she wasn't present to be photographed at all.

While Tiger stood in front of the world, it was Elin who was truly taking a stand. Elin showed that true strength isn't standing by your man at the podium, but standing on your own two feet.

CPAC brings patriotic salvation to DC

2010-02-18T15:38:00.018-05:00

There is so much patriotism going on in this picture right now that it should be the official logo of the US Olympic team.

Good news, patriots! It's CPAC weekend in D.C. and the big event kicks off tonight! I know it is difficult to even imagine a more happy weekend for America than one where the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) happens at the same time as the Olympic games in which the U.S. has more medals than any other country! I'm sure the District will be echoing with chants of "USA! USA! USA!" intermingled with "They took our jobs!" [a' la South Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brj2UkUPjCI ] . Whether the rabble yelling about jobs will be the mob of supporters or conservative politicians voted out of office in the past few elections has yet to be determined.

What treats are in store for this weekend? Well, the highlight will, of course, be keynote speaker and great American, Glenn Beck. No one loves his country more than Beck. I know this because he cries about it every time I turn on his show. Ever seen cryingwife.com about the woman who cries uncontrollably during any and every movie? Even if it's a horror movie? Even if it's a comedy? Even about R2D2 being put back together in Star Wars? This gal has nothing on Beck! I'm sure there will be plenty of water works tonight for all you faithful Fox News followers to get your fill. Beck was no doubt gunning for this gig after his show had aired for 5 straight days without a single advertisement in the United Kingdom. This happened after Beck lost 103 0f his sponsors who pulled funding due to his controversial remarks. Unlike in those pansy European countries, however, in America Beck is one of the figures spearheading the CPAC political movement.

Let's also shalln't forget the other God-fearing, country-loving patriots speaking at the event, including former US Attorney General, John Ashcroft. His contribution to our great nation is most marked by scrapping that pesky bill of rights so that we can win the war on terror against the evil doers. When he resigned from his position in 2004, his letter of resignation stated, "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." For saving America, Ashcroft surely deserves a standing ovation when he takes his turn at the podium this weekend.

But wait! There's more! Political commentators including Fox News' (the only real fair and balanced news channel on the air... let's be honest.) Tucker Carlson and columnist Ann Coulter (I'm so glad to see the views of women in America represented by this spirited firecracker!) will also be speaking.

Politicians speaking are to include former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. We can only hope that, as he lead the impeachment charge against President Bill Clinton, this weekend he leads the fight to impeach Obama for ... uh.... well, I'm not sure exactly, but I've seen conservative demonstrators with signs and shirts that say "Impeach Obama!" and yelling it as well, and I'm sure they know what they're talking about because they're very loud.

Remember the politicians you either didn't elect or voted out of office because they were 'too extreme' and 'out of touch' with America? Well, they're back!! Other CPAC speaker gems include Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum (from my very own Pennsylvania! ...even though neither he nor his family ever lived there while he was senator. But who can blame him with all those corporation-bleeding unions they have going on there.) !

I'm particularly excited to hear from Santorum because the religious right needs a voice at CPAC. Audience members can be sure to expect a lot of Bible quoting and a reminder that they are doing what is right because Jesus is on their side. I know this because Jesus definitely picks political parties just like he picks favorite countries. I mean obviously... otherwise how else would America be the best and most wealthy country in the world with the most Olympic medals, while other countries like Haiti are so poor and earthquake-ridden? Speaking of Haiti bringing earthquakes on itself through its pact with the devil, it is unfortunate Pat Robertson won't be there to speak with Santorum so that good Christians everywhere will have no question about when it comes time to vote next November. The answer to "WWJD?" is "vote Republican!"

Outside the doors of the Marriott where the convention is being held, the streets or at least the bars will be filled with the voices of Americans sick of Obama and Pelosi and their socialism. Thousands of patriots, many undoubtedly in their American flag shirts, or similarly pro-American values shirts such as Nascar or "Second Amendment! Don't tread on me!" shirts will be demonstrating or attending local CPAC fundraising events. The Palin-idolizing Tea Party will be in town too!

Unfortunately, I'll be out of town missing this great moment in our country's history. I'll rest assured, though, that in D.C. this weekend, freedom is ringing! The RNC (Republican National Committee) recently rejected calls for a litmus test for candidates seeking the party's endorsement in fall elections. The test would have denied endorsement for any candidate who disagreed with two or more of its codified principles. CPAC, fortunately, has refused to tuck its tail and do the same in selecting its speakers and those who represent it. By having the most extreme, vitriolic, and relentlessly unwaivering members of the republican party speaking as its voice, CPAC will show that conservatives don't need to listen, compromise, or gravitate toward the middle of the political road.

Basically, they aren't taking any crap from anyone and they don't care what anyone says about it! This sort of all-or-nothing, stick- to-your-guns, appease-your-extremist-base, stay-the-course mentality is why the party was so wildly successful in the '06 and '08 elections. If the dems stand for 'change', CPAC is doing its best to show that republicans stand for the same rhetoric and same extreme stance on the issues spoken by the same politicians that worked so (err...?) well? for them before.

Forget those yellow-bellied moderates, intellectuals on either side of the aisle who need to think about something rather than blindly following, or people who disagree on any issue with the extremists in their party. Give me ideologues or give me death!

One Girl's Guide to Getting a Boyfriend

2010-02-14T16:27:00.013-05:00

I'm pretty much an expert on the subject. I know this because I have so many boyfriends. This fine group of gentlemen includes but is by no means limited to Penguins' player Sidney Crosby, Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno, actor James McAvoy, all the members of Fall Out Boy, and Prince Bersheron McWellington Praddlefroe Cornwallace IV, to name a few. Needless to say, my mailbox was of course overflowing with Valentines today. There were simply so many to choose from, I decided to not have a Valentine today to risk offending one or more of my many boyfriends. Who I have. Who totally aren't imaginary or unaware of the fact that we're in a relationship or anything...

"But how", you ask, "How did you get yourself so many boyfriends?" Well, friends, I've compiled a list of essential behaviors that every girl should exhibit to have no less than half a dozen boyfriends at any one time.

1. Get to know in a Biblical sense at least one other guy in his social circle
Men don't like uncharted territory or uncertainty. It is best if he can hear about you from one or more of his friends with first hand experience first. This way your target will know exactly what to expect.

2. Tell him all about your cat
And I mean ALL about your cat. Spare no details. His or her name. Age. Favorite toy. Coloring. Personality. How your cat is TOTALLY not like other cats even though everyone else says it, its definitely true about yours, and he'll love her. If you have photos of your cat on your cellphone to show him, so much the better. If you don't have a cat, make one up or talk about how much you want a cat. I feel it's a great supplement to any conversation about your cat to also mention how many additional cats you plan to acquire in the future. When men hear about how much you love your cat and all the cats you plan to get, they can't help but think of how marriageable you are and how loving you will be with any future children.

3. Be drunk in front of him
And the drunker the better. Be sure and go out every Thursday - Saturday at a minimum so he knows you mean business. He should essentially think you are nocturnal. When you're out, drink entirely too much and slur your words, give him the one-eyed leer across the bar, spill your drink on his shoes, get too handsy... Guys like it when you can go shot for shot with them, or at least act like you can. Couple this by talking about how you like drinking all the time. Every day. Don't ever let him see you sober as you won't want to run the risk of confusing him.

4. Have no speech filter
Say anything and everything that is on your mind. Even if its entirely inappropriate. Even if it is by far overshare. Even if it implicates you in a crime. Even if he doesn't seem to care. You just met him but you love him? Your thoughts on abortion or the feminist movement? How and why the song the DJ is playing right now is your faaaaavorite song everrrrrr. Tell him. Tell him you hate his sports team, political party, or something he holds dear. He should know you are a woman who thinks for herself. If at all possible, use a lot of swear words. The menfolk love a woman who cusses like a sailor.

5. Call him too many times at odd hours of the night
The more calls the merrier! 2 calls between 3 and 4AM? Why not make it 15. He'll appreciate your persistence. Indeed, there are few better ways to get a guy to like you than by calling him many, many, many times. You may also want to send a text or two, you know, just in case he doesn't see your missed calls...

6. Cry in front of him
Guys like to see your emotional side and know you're secure enough around them to let the water works loose. He'll appreciate knowing you are vulnerable. Cry about whatever. You cat (bonus points for combining the cat with the crying), mom, job, another boy, one time he didn't say hi to you because he didn't see you but it still ruined your night, nothing-whatsoever-but-you're-

drunk-so-crying-seems-like-the-proper-response... anything.

7. Be a bit of an exhibitionist
I'd suggest dancing on tables or the bar or wearing revealing clothing. This goes hand in hand with the first rule in our list. Men don't like mystery or a surprise. They like to know exactly what they are getting. What better way to let him know what he could have than by showing him exactly what that is in public places in front of many other people.

8. Eat a lot
Don't just have the salad. Be sure that if there is ever food around you, you are stuffing your face with it. If you are at a gala or ball with multiple food tables set up, definitely post up by the desert table and down cupcakes like they're going out of style. Can't decide between the cheeseburger or grilled cheese at Five Guys at 3AM? You should probably get both. And the fries. He'll know you are healthy if you have a healthy appetite. And, since absence makes the heart grow fonder, your face-stuffing induced silence and resultant food coma will make him yearn for you to start talking again about your cat and not using your speech filter.

By using some of these suggestions, hopefully you too can have so many boyfriends. You're welcome.

Colts and Saints hop off the plane at MIA with a dream and their cardigans: the Super Bowl picture

2010-01-27T22:49:00.028-05:00

New Orleans Saints' quarterback, Drew Brees, contemplates what it will take to win against Manning and the Colts

The Indianapolis Colts will take on the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl. The teams ended their regular seasons in the AFC and NFC respectively with the two best records. Let's break this down by conference.

-AFC-
Once regular season ended and the playoff picture was decided, no one who knows anything about football should have been surprised to see the Colts win the AFC Championship. They were hands down the best AFC team all season and everyone knew it. They went 14-2, and the only two games they lost were the last two of the season, for which Coach Jim Caldwell decided not to play virtually any of his first string players. This move was strategically a good call in that the Colts had already locked up the #1 seed and hoped to avoid injuries and rest up for the playoffs. However, it was decried by fans and teams throughout the NFL as a cop out.

The fans deserve a hard fought game played by the best players. The fans deserve a team who fights for an undefeated season. The opposing team deserves a victory of which it can be proud, not one even they know they only earned because the other team failed to really play.

They beat the overrated 9-7 Wild Card New York Jets in the AFC Championship in an anticlimactic 13 point victory everyone who knows anything about football saw coming. Woot.

-NFC-
Who dat? The Saints. No, really, who IS that? Truth is, no one can blame you for not knowing who that is. Like me, you may not have heard much about the New Orleans Saints before this year because, prior to this season, they had only won two playoff games in the entire history of their franchise.

This year, despite having the best record in the NFC at 13-3, they still played like the underdogs in the playoffs and remain in this position entering the Super Bowl. They managed to pull off a win over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship despite being straight up out played.

The Saints didn't win because they were the better team. Far from. The Saints won because the Vikings were their own worst enemy. Minnesota posted a monumental six fumbles and two interceptions before all was said and done. Against the opportunistic Saints defense, those are mistakes they couldn't afford to make. Yet even with all those blunders, the Vikings still would have won as they prepared to kick the game winning field goal in the tied game with only seconds left on the clock. On third down, Minnesota needed only a few yards to put them in range for a field goal. These are plays you don't risk. These are plays you run, not throw. Play it safe. Instead, quarterback Brett Favre committed one of the cardinal sins of football. The rule? You never throw late down the middle. Perhaps Favre, with two Super Bowl appearances and one ring under his belt earned playing for the Green Bay Packers, thought this rule didn't apply to him, or that he was too good of a QB for it to happen. Oh and let's shalln't forget that he also made that play by throwing the ball across his body. Boy was he wrong. The ball was intercepted by Tracy Porter. The game went into OT. The Saints won.

Frankly, if you play the way the Vikings did, sloppily giving away that many turnovers and making what I'll call the "stupidest play decision ever" on your last play of the game, you don't deserve to win.

After the Vikings lost to the Steelers, I posted in this blog on Oct. 26 that, "[T]he Vikings and Favre aren't the unstoppable force so many thought they were, and they are going to need to examine their game more critically and play more carefully in the future if they are to continue racking up the wins and points they couldn't pull off against the Steelers." The Vikings did not take my advice about seriously focusing on playing more carefully and protecting the ball, and the result is a blown NFC Championship.

However, another team's loss doesn't make you a winner. Saints' quarterback Drew Brees' 197 yards pale in comparison to Favre's 310. Their 69 total rushing yards posted by running backs Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush together is laughable when stacked against Vikings' RB, Adrian Peterson's , 122. The Saints' top two receivers had a combined yardage of 77, while Vikings' wide receiver Bernard Berrian and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe each individually topped that with 102 yards and 83 yards respectively. The Saints didn't 'win' the NFC Championship. They scored more points in it.

The best team did not win the NFC Championship. The team who made the least stupid mistakes and who was well prepared to take advantage of these follies, did. The Vikings did not deserve a victory. The Saints did, and they got it.

-The Super Bowl-
The Colts and Saints will now tackle each other Feb. 7 in the big mother of them all; the Super Bowl. In all likelihood, the Colts will win. They are the stronger team with the more seasoned quarterback and coach. Campbell is still in his first year coaching for the Saints. The Colts don't rely on forced fumbles and picks and unconventional play calls as do the Saints. They just do what works.

Most, however, will be rooting for the Saints. America loves an underdog, and the Saints are definitely that. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, which obliterated most of New Orleans just a few years ago, is also still fresh in people's memories. As a result, people know what this means to the city and to the fans. The Saints will have a difficult fight against the Colts, who are undoubtedly the fiercest team they have faced all season.

The Saints are the team with heart and something to prove; to those who doubt them, to their fans, to themselves, and to their recovering city.

The Colts are the team backed by the confidence and fortitude of knowing that they are the best, that they are expected to win, and that they are lead by Peyton Manning, one of the best quarterbacks of all time. The man also makes hilarious commercials... but I digress.

Reigning Super Bowl champs dethrone comeback king Favre

2009-10-26T12:38:00.022-04:00

"Yo, Brett Favre. I'm really happy for you, and imma let you finish, but the Steelers are one of the best football teams of all time."

The bigger they are the harder they fall. And comeback king Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings certainly fell a long way in terms of fan and commentator expectations as well as season predictions after their first loss of the season Sunday.

The loss came courtesy of reigning Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was a big wakeup call for the Vikings and a huge confidence boost for the Steelers. The Vikings came to the field 6-0, but the truth is their record is built largely on wins over abysmal teams like the Cleveland Browns (1-6), Detroit Lions (1-5), and Saint Louis Rams (0-7). In fact, the only really tough team the Vikings have faced this year is the Steelers, and we know how that ended.

The Steelers led the game with a Ben Roethlisberger touchdown to wide receiver Santonio Holmes... or it would've been a touchdown but for a pass interference call against Heath Miller. Pittsburgh settled for 3 points courtesy of a 39-yard Jeff Reed field goal.

The teams each scored a touchdown before heading into half time, Pittsburgh leading 10-7.

Thanks to some fast footwork by running back Rashard Mendenhall and a 15-yard face mask penalty against Minnesota, starting to play rough since they weren't getting their way, the Steelers were looking good early in the third quarter. Another Mendenhall run was followed by a QB keep for two yards by Roethlisberger, who, in a low blow, was speared as he ran out of bounds by Vikings' cornerback Benny Sapp. Sapp got a personal foul and the Steelers got added motivation on the field to 'protect this house' from Minnesota, who, at that point appeared willing to play dirty to attempt win at any cost. The drive ended in another Steelers field goal. 13-7.

The Vikings answered with a field goal of their own, 13-10.

The next Pittsburgh drive, a 45-yard Holmes run, put them on the Vikings' nine-yard line. Unfortunately, all Holmes' effort appeared to be for naught as Minnesota recovered a Mendenhall fumble on the next play at the four-yard line. Steelers fans had now watched two would-be touchdowns slip through our fingers; the Holmes penalty-negated touchdown and now this.

A relentless sports optimist, I found solace in something wide receiver Hines Ward had said last week in an interview on local Pittsburgh radio station, 96.1's morning Freak Show. [Podcast "Hines Ward Calls the Show" from Oct. 20 available here: http://www.961kiss.com/podcast/freakshow.xml ] In the interview, the DJ's talked about a touchdown he should've had against the Cleveland Browns, but for some poor reffing. The always smiling, always composed Ward's response? "Oh well. I'll get it back somewhere down the line."

That in mind, I knew if the Steelers put in all that work for two touchdowns we didn't get in this game, we would get them back.

The next Vikings' drive lead them to the red zone and to a called-back touchdown on a tripping call against Minnesota's Jeff Dugan. The next play was a Favre sack by Brett Keisel (in a nod to one fan's sign "Our Brett is better than your Brett") for a 15-yard loss and fumble. Lamar Woodley recovered the ball at the 23-yard line and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown. Fumbles taketh the ball away from us and fumbles giveth it back.

Quick to reroute any Steelers' momentum, the Vikings ran the resulting kickoff back for a touchdown, closing Minnesota's point deficit to a one field goal difference. 20-17.

The Steelers' next drive didn't earn them any points, due in part to a Roethlisberger fumble which, thankfully, rolled out of bounds. Now the Vikings once again had the ball with only minutes remaining. I knew, however, thanks to Ward's mantra, the Steelers were still owed their due.

1:15 remaining in the game: Vikings' second down with three yards to go on the 19-yard line, linebacker Keyaron Fox intercepted a Favre pass and ran 82 yards giving the Steelers a touchdown, giving the Vikings their first loss of the season, and making all things even in this game's karma.

Though safety Troy Polamalu returned to the Steelers last week, he was not 100% until this game. With his return, Pittsburgh's steel curtain defense is once again showing why they are consistently one of the best in the NFL. The game was won by two defensive touchdowns. The Steelers' offense looked strong, but our defense was stronger and it won the day.

It appears the Vikings and Favre aren't the unstoppable force so many thought they were, and they are going to need to examine their game more critically and play more carefully in the future if they are to continue racking up the wins and points they couldn't pull off against the Steelers.

As for Pittsburgh, they finally have Reed back to being the reliable kicker they knew he was, Polamalu back in the ranks of the defense, and Willie Parker back from injury to deepen our line of running backs. We have re-solidified the team that won the Super Bowl last year, but which, this season, had been missing a few crucial pieces due to injury or just having fluke off-weeks. We were missing some puzzle pieces in the form of key players until Sunday's game, and now that they're back, the picture is complete.

The Misadventures of the Washington Redskins

2009-10-19T21:21:00.021-04:00

So the way sports work is that someone has to win and someone has to lose... but if it were possible for both teams to lose, Sunday's Washington Redskins versus Kansas City Chiefs would be a shining example of this. I actually went to the game at DC's FedEx field, and can report that when Shakespeare wrote "Never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo", it was because he hadn't lived to see this game.

I'm pretty sure neither team even made it past the fifty-yard line until about six minutes remained in the first quarter. In the end, Kansas City pulled off a 14-6 victory, but, frankly, I'm surprised there were any points on the scoreboard for either side. All points scored by both sides were the result of field goals because neither team possessed the ability to score a touchdown or even come close. Oh, and +2 for the Chiefs on a safety.

Highlights of the game? ...scratch that. Lowlights would be more appropriate. Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell lead a desperate drive at the close of the first half, comprised of the majority of the abysmal 89 yards he threw in the game. From about the 40-yard line on fourth down, they had to decide whether to attempt what would be about a 55-yard field goal, or to go for a touchdown. In another spectacle of poor decision-making, the Skins went for it. It resulted in an interception by Chiefs' cornerback Brandon Flowers with no time on the clock. And, of course, they didn't get any points out of it either. The boo that erupted from Skins fans filled the stadium for what was probably at least 10 seconds, and what, to the team, must have seemed to last an eternity. The score? 0-3, Chiefs leading.

Skins Coach and fan scapegoat Jim Zorn benched Campbell to start the second half and continued through the end of the game with backup Todd Collins. His name sounds like a mixed drink, and, honestly, Washington fans would've been better served with a glass of the hard stuff than by this QB.

Zorn claims to have made the replacement decision at some point in the second quarter, but I think he did it to appease fans who were filing out in droves after the halftime boo-fest. Collins had an early flourish in his first drive of the third quarter, completing a long pass and taking the team within field goal range. This allowed the Skins easy access to 3 points and finally got them on the board, tying the game 3-3.

Through a series of equally unimpressive plays by each side, the Chiefs found themselves ahead 12-6. With a little over 9:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali sacked Collins in the end zone for a two-point safety. 14-6. And that score would stick the rest of the game. The desperate Skins even attempted an on-side kick from their own half as a last ditch attempt to come back with only seconds remaining in the game. Like almost everything else either team attempted, this too, failed. The Chiefs took a knee to burn the remaining seconds off the clock, and took their first win of the season.

After the game, Zorn was stripped of his play calling abilities, Campbell stripped of his confidence, the Redskins stripped of their dignity, and the fans stripped of their patience with all of the above.

The Redskins have now lost to the 0-19 Detroit Lions (who are bad beyond criticism... suffice to say "bless their hearts...") and the 0-10 Kansas City Chiefs. The team is just surrounded in failure, having even played every single game this season against teams who have yet to win a single game since the season start... winless, that is, until they play the Skins, which has given most of these teams their first win of the season.

Specializing in Pittsburgh sports knowledge, I can't profess to know how the Skins franchise should fix this. I don't think, however, it should be remedied with finger pointing and replacing productive changes to the game with the blame game. Everyone hits a rough patch and you can criticize and switch some things up, but you don't abandon hope. The way to dig yourself out of a hole in sports is to have faith and rally around and build on the positive. Skins fans recently had to have paper bags taken away from them at one of the games when they were planning to wear them on their heads as a symbol of their embarrassment. These same fans, no longer "Horny for Zorny" and instead hit with a case of ED as far as love for their second season coach goes, are calling far and wide for Zorn to resign or be fired.

The difference between winners and losers is that winners don't give up. You can constructively criticize your team, coaches, and players, but you don't turn on them. You don't threaten to wear paper bags to a game as a fan. You don't strip your head coach of play calling ability. You don't remove your QB and replace him mid-game to appease booing fans. You find a way to work with what you have, rather than belittling, minimizing, or sidelining it. You stand by your team, you stand up for them, and you can stand and voice your opinion if you do it constructively. And you keep standing.

Victory march of the Penguins

2009-10-13T23:11:00.011-04:00

Jordan Staal celebrates his goal against the Ottawa Senators by high fiving teammates with this tacky but completely accurate piece of fan gear.

Last year's Stanley Cup Champions are proving they are now more experienced and confident than ever, cruising to a 5-1 record. Adding their Monday night strong 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators to an impressive list of wins, the Pittsburgh Penguins are tied with the New York Rangers for the best record in the NHL.

Perhaps most impressively, the Pens' season record comes as a result of a 4-0 record on the road.

Goalie Marc Andre Fleury has said he isnt nervous this year like he used to be, just focused. The result is only 15 goals against in 6 games.

Team Captain, hockey wunderkind, Mario Lemieux protege, and my boyfriend (no, I haven't told him yet...) Sidney Crosby has turned his one weakness - faceoffs - into a strength. His 63.2% success rate puts him sixth best in the NHL.

In addition, Crosby has been putting points on the scoreboard, and he isnt the only one. One of the Pens' strengths is how many players they have who get the puck in the net. Tyler Kennedy (who scored 2 goals against Ottowa in last night's game), Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Bill Guerin, Matt Cooke, Ruslan Fedotenko are part of a long list of players who have scored this season. Even defensemen Sergei Gonchar, Mark Eaton, and Alex Goligoski have contributed goals. There is basically no player an opponent can afford to discount, because all are so effectively used as goal scoring weapons.

They retained the vast majority of the players who helped them to a Stanley Cup victory last year, and as a result they are more functional as a unit than ever. They read each other and work together beautifully and it shows. There isn't one player leading the others, such as Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals. Instead, the would-be heroes Malkin and Crosby are humble, crediting their teammates with every bit of the team's and their own success in every interview, and passing to teammates with better angles for shots on goal, rather than trying to make the goals themselves. This is part of the reason for the long list of team goal scorers, and part of the reason for the long list of wins.

On the ice the Pens are all intricately aware of where each other are. They have been through the emotional highs and lows. They've gone as far as you can get in the NHL, and they've won. This year they appear poised to do it again as they have taken all their raw talent and fine tuned it into a well oiled machine.

While it is still early in the season and there are many games yet to go, the Penguins look as energetic, determined, and fierce as last year, but with a more polished game and confident - but not cocky - attitude. There is nothing to add but keep up the good work.

NFL goes titty pink

2009-10-06T00:27:00.017-04:00

If amidst the clashing bodies, helmets, and pads on the field you noticed flashes of pink, you weren't just seeing things. When I first saw the pink shoes on one of the Steelers' players, I thought it was pretty ballsy of the guy, and I respected him for doing it because not many men have the guts to wear pink... and he was just asking to be tackled in those.

When I noticed that the pink shoes graced the feet of many players on the field, I had even more respect for what I belatedly realized they were doing. And not only were they wearing pink shoes, but pink gloves, pink sweat bands, pink towels... even the padding on the goal posts was pink. On the sidelines the coaches and players were wearing baseball caps with pink brims. The cheerleaders had pink pom-poms. And it was all for October: Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as part of a campaign the NFL names "A Crucial Catch".

The NFL is partnering with the American Cancer Society (ACS) in a campaign focused on the importance of annual screenings for early breast cancer detection.

Even the NFL's official merchandise site has gone pink in support of the cause; fusing old fan favorites and some new specifically themed items with the symbolic color, and donating a portion of the proceeds to the ACS.

Breast cancer is the 7th largest cause of death for women in the United States; killing over 40,000 women in 2005 alone. I have never seen the NFL, nor any profit organization, tackle any charitable cause this directly and in such a multi-faceted array of means reaching so many; actively making it a part of the games, thus allowing it to be a constant focus and reminder; in every photo taken, on every television, in all the video replays... pink is everywhere, in every shot. It couldn't be ignored.

I applaud the NFL for their in-your-face tactics in the way that it was integrated in so many ways into the games. Especially commendable is that the football is a game where, with very few exceptions, men play, men coach, men ref, men own the teams, and men call all the shots. Women are the pretty things that prance up and down the sidelines in skimpy outfits. That they took a disease which 99% of the time affects women, and made it the center of their efforts this weekend in all their games and spent considerable funds doing it, deserves a standing ovation.

Further, millions watch football every week, many of whom never think much about charity, breast cancer, or those types of causes or concerns. That the NFL is drilling into a huge and largely untapped resource in its football fans is invaluable to breast cancer research, screening, and treatment funding and awareness. Truly, there is no better team the breast cancer foundations could have on their side than one with such a wide reach to such a wide array of people; the NFL.

NFL teams are also going one step further, holding additional awareness events and fundraisers. The Pittsburgh Steelers are hosting a "Hot Pink" event next Tuesday, Oct. 13. It is to be hosted by Steelers tackle Max Starks and his mother Elleanor and the proceeds benefit breast and cervical cancer screenings for uninsured women in Western Pennsylvania. To learn more about this event, visit: http://www.steelers.com/article/110261/ . For non-Steelers fans, to learn more about what your team is doing for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, visit nfl.com or your team's website.

As for all that pink gear the players and coaches, support staff and cheerleaders are rocking? They're going to continue wearing it throughout October and in the end it will all be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society and other individual team charities. You can check that out at www.NFLAuction.NFL.com .

3 out of 4 quarters aint bad

2009-10-05T20:23:00.019-04:00

Mendenhall barely escapes the paws of this guy, just as the Steelers barely escaped the evil clutches of the daunting fourth quarter.

So lets say the person you were dating was attractive, smart, and kind, but really doesn't like your sports teams... maybe they're even a fan of a rival team. You, of course, are a rabid sports fanatic. You could ignore it for a while and tell yourself that 3 / 4 ain't bad. But sooner or later, there will come a Sunday afternoon where you're snowed in and forced to watch a game together and you are at each other's throats fighting for the remote and who gets to watch their team's game on the 'good tv' in the living room, if the ref's call was 'bull' or not and whether he should get glasses, and the sexual proclivities of each others' quarterbacks. At some point during the game, you realize 3 / 4 ain't bad, but it ain't gonna cut it all season. Steelers' fans are having this same epiphone.

For the first three quarters of the Steelers' game against the Chargers, they looked every bit the Super Bowl Champions everyone knew they were and believed they would be all season.

Pittsburgh scored touchdowns in their first two drives of the game and continued on their power trip until they lead 28-0 until the last few minutes of the third quarter.

The absence of running back 'Fast' Willie Parker due to turf toe proved to be no obstacle for Pittsburgh. They substituted Rashard Mendenhall, who ran 165 yards in 29 carries; 2 of which resulted in touch downs. Comparatively, Chargers' running back LaDainian Tomlinson had 7 carries and produced only 15 yards against the Steel curtain.

Ben Roethlisberger threw another two touchdowns and 333 yards before all was said and done. Usually when Big Ben puts up stats like that, we also see a correspondingly high number of interceptions, but this game there were none. One of his touchdown throws was to running back Mewelde Moore, who himself later threw a touchdown pass to Heath Miller.

San Diego finally got on the board with little more than 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter. In a fourth quarter 'wtf' moment, the Chargers stripped the ball from the hands of Stefan Logan as he was being tackled on top of a pile of more Charger players, in a play that resulted in a San Diego touchdown. I can't blame this one on the Steelers because neither they, nor the crowd, nor the announcers, nor even the referees really knew what was going on. Game announcers didn't even announce the Charger touchdown and were silent. Viewers were left with the 'it seemed like there should have been a referee whistle somewhere...' feeling. The episode had the makings of one of those where play has clearly ended, but a player will run the ball into the endzone anyway, juuuust in case... Luckily for San Diego, thats exactly what they did. Coach Mike Tomlin's challenge only succeeded in a wasted Steelers' time out.

At this point Pittsburgh once again met with what has proven to be their biggest challenge this season; the fourth quarter. In their last two games against the Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bungles [sic], the Steelers have managed to fritter away their leads in the fourth quarter. Yesterday, San Diego quickly scored touchdown after touchdown until they were within one touchdown of Pittsburgh; 28-35.

Thankfully, with the large lead Pittsburgh had built up in the previous 3 quarters, there just wasn't enough time for San Diego to rally. Equally as thankfully, kicker Jeff Reed was on top of his game, making a crucial 46 yard field goal to secure a 10 point lead with less than a minute left in the game. James Harrison locked up the win with a sack and forced fumble which Pittsburgh recovered from the Chargers' final drive.

Still, one has to ask how the Chargers' were able to come back from a 28 point deficit in a game where they were simply getting smashed in every statistic, most notably time of possession, in which Pittsburgh lead by more than 20 minutes.

Now realizing Reed's missed kicks were a problem (that seems to have been resolved), but not the heart of the Steelers' issues, Pittsburgh is going to need to address their fourth quarter shortcomings which have dogged them to only a 2-2 record this season. The Steelers' offense is solid; scoring again and again and securing strong leads which is the only reason they managed to hang on to this week's win. And no Steelers' fan ever thought we'd see the day where our defense has become our problem. Specifically, theyre running out of gas in the fourth quarter. One thing is for sure, if any team can set themselves straight, its the Steelers, who always manage to do whatever they need to win.

Penguins' new marketing campaign brilliant; could use more shirtless Crosby

2009-09-23T01:02:00.016-04:00

The 09' Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins launched a new marketing campaign today in the form of a two minute video, with the theme "Deny Ordinary". While I thought it could use more shirtless pictures of the players (which I have kindly supplied above... you're welcome) , on the whole I have to say it was multi-faceted and brilliant, much as I imagine the Cup itself to be.

The video served the dual purpose of promoting both the city and the team, though the latter needs little introduction or promotion. The world watched two years ago as the Pens fell to the Detroit Red Wings in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Championship, after fighting to get there in the previous game, which Pittsburgh forced into 3 overtimes before finally winning (I didn't make it to work the next day...). The world watched again this year as the same two teams faced off in yet another final Championship series, this time waging war up and through game 7, this time with a different result. Pittsburgh won 3-2.

The video showed clip after clip of the Pens scoring throughout this past season's playoffs; through opponents' legs, ricocheting off the edge of the goal and in, and shot straight in untouched. It showed incredible Marc Andre Fleury saves made possible by splits (maybe he learned a thing or two from George W. Bush's cheerleading skills?). It showed opponents thrown into the glass and fist fights on the ice. And it showed the pinnacle of all those moments; team captain Sidney Crosby hoisting the Stanley Cup high over his head. I got chills reliving all the moments that, the first-time-around, had me on the edge of my seat and jumping up and down starting "Lets Go Pens!" chants.

Equally importantly, thought not as exciting, viewers are also treated to a quick glimpse of some of Pittsburgh's many gems. From the beautiful bridges, to local hot spots, to the university campuses and currently under-construction future Pens' arena slated to open in the fall of 2010, the Consol Energy Center (to replace the aging Igloo), those who watch see a beautiful city with much to offer. Viewers encounter the Penguin players hand delivering the game tickets to season ticket holders, a unique Pittsburgh practice that the viewers also have a chance to experience by submitting an entry for free season tickets at the end of the video.

It shows people like Pittsburgh native and now focus of a museum in the same city dedicated to him and his art, Andy Warhol. And it shows people who are rabid Pens fans like I am, decked head-to-toe in fan gear inside the arena and out where a large screen is set up for fans who don't have tickets to the game and need a place to watch, and where hundreds gather - rain or shine - and camp for hours to be near their team.

From a steel town and heart of the labor movement to a state-of-the-art national leader in the medical and robotics industries, the marketing campaign shows the many facets of the dynamic city.

To outsiders (read, non-Pittsburgh fans) the marketing campaign is an informative opportunity to better know the city. To those of us who know and love Pittsburgh and the Penguins, its a reminder of how great our team and our city are.

Pittsburgh is forced to defy old stereotypes that it is a dying, polluted, blue collar city with little to offer.

Last year, the Pens stood in defiance of those who wrote them off and didn't think they would make the playoffs (they were, after all, a long shot). They stood in defiance against those who doubted Crosby and Malkin could succeed against Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the playoffs, especially starting off the series down 0-2 games. They stood in defiance of those who saw them fall last year to the Detroit Red Wings who were convinced the same would happen this year as they began that series once again the same way they started with the Caps; 0-2. The fans stood with the signs "WE BELIEVE!", defying those who doubted us. The Penguins stood and defied all odds when they played game 7 in Detroit after having lost all previous away games in that series. They stood. And they won. Then they stood with the Cup above their heads, not just for the team, but for the fans and for Pittsburgh.

For an underdog city and an underdog team that just can't be kept down, the slogan "Defy Ordinary" means so much more than just that. Its a more politically correct way that Pittsburghers read as 'Defy the odds', 'Defy the expectations' and 'Defy what people say or think about you, your team, or your city.'

Get a first hand look at the video and marketing campaign here: www.pittsburghpenguins.com/defyordinary

Maybe the third time would've been a charm

2009-09-21T17:21:00.014-04:00

[In perhaps his most effective moment of the game, Steelers' kicker Jeff Reed shoves Bears' wide receiver Johnny Knox out of bounds on a kickoff return. Photo from ESPN.com]

I feel like my boyfriend just punted my cat, dumped me, and broke my heart... and that boyfriend is Steelers' kicker, Jeff Reed... and he honest to God may as well have been using my cat in place of a football because it'd have been just as accurate a kick...

The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Chicago Bears yesterday 17-14, as the result of two missed field goal attempts by #3, Reed, that he sent soaring wide-left.

The Steelers, still sans Troy Polamalu out on a knee injury, needed to be on top of their game against the Bears with their shiny new quarterback, Jay Cutler, who played a great game, going 28 completions for 37 attempts and 236 yards, and looking every bit the star Chicago hoped he would be when they acquired him from the Denver Broncos this year.

Ben Roethlisberger also looked strong, going 23 for 35 resulting in 221 yards. The consummate passer and not at all known or praised for his running ability (basically the opposite of former Steelers' QB Kordell Stewart who effectively ran the ball nearly as often as he threw it), he tricked the unsuspecting Bears' defensive line with a QB keep play that resulted in a touchdown they neither saw coming, nor covered.

'Fast' Willie Parker had better games and gave a lackluster performance, averaging only 3.4 yards per carry, while Rashard Mendenhall had 3 impressive carries totaling 39 yards. The Steelers' rushing game produced almost double the yards of the Bears' Matt Forte and Adrian Peterson.

Even the Steelers' passing game out-ranked the Bears' 140 yards to 111.

Then, the weak link became apparent. Reed missed a kick from the Chicago 20-yard line with 11:42 remaining. Everyone misses sometimes.

He missed another with 3:23 remaining in the then-tied 14-14 game. Now this was getting ridiculous.

The mistake turned out to be one the Steelers could not afford to make against Cutler, who lead the ensuing eight play drive, completing all four of his passes.

The Steelers' fate was sealed when Bears' kicker Robbie Gould succeeded where Reed had failed, successfully making a 44-yard field goal with only 11 seconds left in the game. The resulting kickoff and Steelers' last hope, was caught and then fumbled by Stefan Logan... we could've done without that. Pittsburgh fans would have been upset about it, if not already beside ourselves at the Reed situation, which left us with little indignation to direct toward Logan.

The whole debacle is summarized best on the Steelers' official website; www.Steelers.com, "Make the kick and you're a hero, but miss it and you're the goat." Reed effectively lost the game two times Sunday.

I've always been, and continue to be a Reed fan. Two years ago at the Steelers / Redskins preseason game, I sat in the front row, 30-yard line (Steelers sideline, of course - as with every one of their games i've ever attended), cheering (definition used loosely... more like badgering) our players with various exclamations including but not limited to "Go Steelers!" "I love you!" and "I want to have your babies!", and Reed came up to me after half-time and personally handed me a football he had signed "Jeff Reed #3 =) ".

Suffice to say, nothing could turn me into a Reed-hater or a fair weather fan. However, missing TWO field goals in one game when the game is close and you play for the best team in the NFL is unacceptable and fully warrants the criticism he is now receiving. With Reed's high standards for himself, I'm sure he'd agree.

Reed is an exceptionally talented kicker who has made 82.7% (162 of 196) of his field goal attempts entering the '09 season, including completing the last 14 of his postseason field goals. He has kicked career-best 51 yarders three times, and with stats like that, it remains a mystery as to why he was unable to complete either of the 38 and 41 yard attempts, respectively, in the Bears game.

Reed even described the field goals as "makeable" (Steelers.com), and Steelers fans, we describe missing two of those as inexcusable. We can only hope this was a fluke and that our beloved and reliable Reed was just having an off-day. A Super Bowl caliber team absolutely must be able to depend on their kicker, so Reed needs to brush his shoulders off and step up.

[Side Note: No animals were punted or in any way harmed in the writing of this post, and I do not condone violence toward animals]

Devine's speed foiled by own QB's failures: WVU vs Auburn

2009-09-21T15:09:00.010-04:00

After a lightning-laden torrential downpour delayed the start of the WVU / Auburn game for an hour, things got off to a fast and, for the Mountaineers, promising start.

In their first drive of the game, WVU running back Noel Devine, lucky number 7, scored a 1 yard touchdown on the heels of a huge pass which got the ball to the first-and-goal range. Minutes later, Devine scored again with a 71 yard run. The speed with which he evaded and straight up out ran the Auburn players on this play and throughout the night looked like the would-be outcome of a Shaq versus Ubain Bolt race. It reminded me of watching Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor when he played for Jeannette High School, where his QB keep running plays resulted in touchdown after touchdown and looked like he was playing against elementary school kids.

By the end of the first quarter, WVU still lead 21-10, and Auburn had virtually tied the game at 21-20 by halftime. WVU resolidified their lead thanks again to Devine, who ran another touchdown, this time for 12 yards, on a third-and-short play. They missed their extra point, however, which was one of a string of errors from which the Mountaineers could not recover. The missed point left Auburn in a position to tie the game on an 82 yard pass by QB Chris Todd.

Unfortunately, Devine and his 128 rushing yards were the only thing the Mountaineers brought to the table Saturday night. Auburn went on to win, 41-30, thanks largely to four interceptions thrown by WVU QB Jarrett Brown, and another by second string QB Geno Smith; all this and more leading to a total of six Mountaineer turnovers.

Despite the fact that WVU had a few more passing yards and first downs, more than double the rushing yards, and more time of possession, you just can't win when your playing is that sloppy.

The turnovers nullified anything good the Mountaineers had done, and even Devine couldn't outrun his team's mistakes. I bet he wished the game was rained out... as a Mountaineers fan who watched the game at a house party with 2 fellow WVU fans and roughly 12 Auburn fans, I know I did...

Steelers trump the Titans : a lesson in "sports karma"

2009-09-15T02:58:00.002-04:00

I'd call it a clash of the sports 'Titans' if one of the teams involved weren't already named that, having the potential to result in some serious confusion. Instead, lets say that two of this season's predicted top contenders, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans, met Thursday night to kick off the NFL season.

The Steelers won 13-10 in overtime, Polamalu-less (due to a knee injury he sustained earlier in the game which is predicted to put him out for 3-6 weeks) thanks to Roethlisberger's talent and use of a no-huddle offense, and the reliability of the formula: Football + Reed's Toe x upward velocity = 3.

The purpose of this post isn't to discuss my opinion of the game, but rather to discuss my theory of sports karma.

The idea of karma is that one's actions determine their destiny. What goes around comes around. If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you, and if you do good things, good things will happen to you. My favorite example is the story of Hercules involving Diomedes. Diomedes raised flesh-eating horses and was ultimately killed by being fed to those same horses; the evil you put out into the world will come back on you.

Sports karma is the same concept. Unsportsmanlike conduct will come back to haunt you. Last year the Shitans [sic] made quite the showing of stomping on and blowing their noses in the Terrible Towel, a cherished Steelers sports symbol and fan favorite, after winning a game over the Steelers.

In Thursday night's game, the first time the Steelers and Titans clashed since the terrible (pun intended) incident, which was a more-or-less even matchup between two very skilled teams, the Titans hubris did them in. Sports karma.

The same happened in '07 after the Patriots cheating scandal was uncovered. While they went on to a 16-0 season ("This won't stand long. God won't let it stand this way long." -Renee Zellweger / Cold Mountain), they lost the Super Bowl to the Giants with only 30 seconds left. Patriots, 0, "Cheaters never prosper" addage, 1.

In game 6 of this past season's Pittsburgh Penguins / Philadelphia Flyers NHL playoff matchup, the Pens started down 0-3. When things seemed bleak, Fedotenko managed to score the Pens' first goal of the game with 4:35 left in the 2nd period. He threw his arms in the air to celebrate his first playoff goal in five years. As he bent down to pick up his stick, Flyer defenseman Braydon Coburn knocked him to the ice, which, in traditional hockey-style, lead to a full-on good-old-fashioned brawl. As a firm sports karma believer, I knew the ramifications of Coburn's cheap hit. We were gonna win this. End of story. The rest of the game was a flurry of Pens' goals. Five in a row, to be exact. Pens won the game 5-3, and the series 4 games to 2 that night.

Sports karma assisted the Penguins again in their series against the Washington Capitals when, in game 4 of the series, Alex Ovechkin injured Penguins' Sergei Gonchar [a former Caps player and Obitchkin [sic] teammate] in a knee-on-knee hit. Currently living in DC, I told my Caps-fans-friends they had just sealed their own fate with that low blow. The Penguins won the series in 7 games. Don't mess with Pittsburgh.

At the end of the day, I truly believe in life you should be a good and kind person and in sports a good and sporting player. If these past examples and Thursday night's game are any proof, it matters.

Monday Night Football = a disappointment

2009-09-15T02:18:00.001-04:00

As a Steelers fan, I adamantly hate both the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. However, my instinct for self preservation causes me to hate the Shitriots [sic] more, as they are the better team. For this reason, on this particular night I found myself rooting for the lowly Bills to trump one of my most-hated teams in the NFL lead by none other than the perpetually hoodie-clad Bill Bellicheat [sic] and the Anti-Christ of football / pregnant-girlfriend-abandoning Tom Brady.

I was actually tossing around a football in the backyard with my father until there were about 2 minutes left in the first quarter. We came in and as we turned on the tv, he predicted a 13-3 Patriots lead and I predicted a 7-0 Bills lead [a score admittedly, against all odds, but one I adhered to resolutely as a perpetual sports optimist]. Lo and behold, the Bills were up 7-0. This caught our interest because the Bills leading anyone who isn't the Detroit Lions is newsworthy. We glued ourselves to the couch. Game on.

The rest of the game we were shocked to find the Bills not only held their own, but were actually in the lead as the result of a Patriots' missed field goal, Brady sack, and Bills interception, among other things. The game stats at halftime showed the Bills being outrun, out thrown, out third-down-conversioned, nearly 2-1. If I were a fan at the game, however, I would have completely ignored all this and resorted to the chant referring to the only stat in the Bills favor, and the only one that ultimately matters, "Scoreboard."

A firm believer in sports karma [see the Patriots cheating scandal in which they were caught red handed using electronic methods to steal signals and monitor other teams, thus making all their previous accomplishments null and void in my eyes], I really believed the Bills could pull this off. It seemed like that thought could become reality as Brady threw a touchdown with approximately 3 minutes left in the game, and the Patriots failed to make the seemingly-necessary two point conversion, leaving them trailing The Bills by 5 points, 19-24...

All Buffalo had to do at this point was not screw up...

All Leodis McKelvin had to do was return the punt and hold onto it...

This is why Buffalo and Leodis McKelvin can't have nice things...

I shalln't rehash the remaining time in the game. Suffice to say the next few moments in my household were loud, expletive-laden, and scared the dog from the room. The Patriots pulled off a 25-24 win, beating Buffalo for the 12th straight time...

Terrell Owens, the Bill's newly acquired wide receiver (who was only thrown to 3 times) stormed out of the locker room after the game. Not that he's exactly known for his sportsmanship, team spirit, or friendly demeanor, I would have too, a la - "I'm taking my ball and going home! Hrumph!"

Perhaps my father summed it up best when he stated, "Thats why they're the Buffalo Bills. And they're the New England Patriots." Thank God I'm a Steelers fan.

Kanye West apologizes: Time to forgive

2009-09-15T01:47:00.002-04:00

Tonight, West gave a genuine and heartfelt apology on Jay Leno for his actions re: the Taylor Swift incident at the MTV Video Music Awards. For those who missed the incident, you can read and view it here: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621389/20090913/west_kanye.jhtml . Its worth noting separately that later in the VMAs when Beyonce won "Video of the Year" for "Single Ladies", she graciously called Swift up on stage to share in her moment.

I was very impressed with the sincerity with which West spoke. At one point he almost reached tears as Leno asked him what his mom would say about it. It's time for everyone to forgive a good person who means well who made a mistake.

This public televised apology followed upon the heels of his blogged apology in which he wrote, "I'M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD'VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED!"

He made a mistake out of adoration for a fellow artist and friend, Beyonce, not to ruin the moment for Swift. The damage, admittedly, was done. As Jane Austen wrote in Pride and Prejudice, "Without scheming to do wrong, or to make others unhappy, there may be error and there may be misery. Thoughtlessness, want of attention to other people's feelings, and want of resolution, will do the business."

And for this reason, an apology was needed. West apologized. It is time for the rest of us to forgive. Life is too short to be pissed off all the time. [American History X] The Bible says to forgive your enemies and those who trespass against you. Its doubtful many of us have room to judge another for thoughtlessly doing something that resulted in the unintentional hurt of another.

West is a good man who tries to do good things and say what he believes and he isnt above admitting a mistake and apologizinig. Time for the rest of us to move on.

One Girl's Opinion

One Girl's Valentine's Day

2012 Winter Classic keeps it classy

The GOP's Breakfast Club

Everything I know about the NBA in 150 words; written by a bandwagon fan

My "lazy, greedy, union-employee" parents

It's a party in the USA: What we're really celebrating

The canary in the coal mine for the GOP

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election and why it matters

My Fuzzy Valentine

The Pittsburgh Steelers: A season in review

Pryor, OSU take down Arkansas, SEC

Building bridges

One girl's opinion on the midterm elections

There's no crying in football

Fantasy Football: So easy a caveman could do it

Pirates return to glory days... Wait for it.... *17 years later* ...Wait for it...

NHL playoffs in review: Marian Hossa is a girl's name

An endorsement for Mark Critz, PA-12

My "problem" with Kagan's Supreme Court nomination

Of phones and me

West Virginia, Butler go down in Final Four

Mountaineers slay Wildcats; advance to Final Four

Mountaineers explore new territory; win first Big East Championship

The Time Traveler's Wife: a book review

The Lost Symbol: a book review

Blind Trust: a book review

The Weight of Water: a book review

America loses to its hat in hockey gold medal round

Team Canada plays peewee team; advances in Olympics

Where in the world is Elin Woods?

CPAC brings patriotic salvation to DC

One Girl's Guide to Getting a Boyfriend

Colts and Saints hop off the plane at MIA with a dream and their cardigans: the Super Bowl picture

Reigning Super Bowl champs dethrone comeback king Favre

The Misadventures of the Washington Redskins

Victory march of the Penguins

NFL goes titty pink

3 out of 4 quarters aint bad

Penguins' new marketing campaign brilliant; could use more shirtless Crosby

Maybe the third time would've been a charm

Devine's speed foiled by own QB's failures: WVU vs Auburn

Steelers trump the Titans : a lesson in "sports karma"

Monday Night Football = a disappointment

Kanye West apologizes: Time to forgive

I was very impressed with the sincerity with which West spoke. At one point he almost reached tears as Leno asked him what his mom would say about it. It's time for everyone to forgive a good person who means well who made a mistake.

Pirates return to glory days... Wait for it.... 17 years later ...Wait for it...