Sports games prevailed this day. Madden, Fifa, Tiger Woods and many other options presented themselves, but a very casual gaming day led us to rest at a nominal hour. The Henry’s, a family not seen at least by me for quite sometime, were in town and graced us with their presence. Laura slam dunked with Alfredo shrimp and croissants and then Mr. Henry busted out his laptop to show us ensuing improvements on Camp Lamoka on Tom’s 46” television. A few people had the gumption enough to send and receive phone calls with me since I’ve been down here and I am more than glad to chat with you and tell you how much more awesome it is than wherever you are. I think Saturday, we may try the beach.

If you know me, you know I don’t tend to make big deals out of little ones.

>_>

That being said, much has been written in the past few days about Michael Phelps, America’s golden boy, and his recently-surfaced pictures- pictures of him doing drugs.

It is quite interesting to see people’s/companies’/the media’s responses to what has occured. Kelloggs immediately dropped him off their support, while Subway said “Like most Americans, and like Michael Phelps himself, we were disappointed in his behavior.” … “Also like most Americans, we accept his apology. Moving forward, he remains in our plans.” Here we can see Kelloggs standing on moral grounds while Subway plans on keeping its cashcow.

The media seems to be split, whether or not to assail America’s hero or to let it slide, as in the case 4 1/2 years ago when he was arrested for drunk driving.

Michael Phelps refuses to outrightly admit he was wrong. He is quoted as having said “Obviously, for a mistake you should get punished” and “It was bad and stupid judgment, and something I’ll always live with.” We’re so caught up in these blame-reduction buzzwords… This wasn’t just a bad judgment or mistake. It was a clear decision to do something illegal and wrong. He has now started playing the victim, as evidenced by he response, “I’m taking it step by step, day by day. There’s still a long way between now and then, but I’m back here, I’m training for who knows what yet. But I’m back in the water, doing the thing I love.”

Most people I’ve talked to about this don’t even really care, and for good reason. It’s hard to see someone that we’ve looked up to fall.

This quarter I’ve been taking a “Heroes in Literature and Film” class. I’ve really gotten some insight into what we consider heroes now versus what they used to be. We idolize those who have a single great physical ability: singing, athleticism, etc, but being a true “hero” is more than just that. Our idea of the term has even perverted one of the greatest hero tales of all-time, Beowulf. In the book, there is no great fall of the man. He takes pride in what he accomplishes and does these amazing feats that no one could imagine. There is no successful seduction of a temptress, there is no greed for power or wealth. He did what he did because it was his duty and felt the obligation to his friends and family.

Yes, heroes have flaws, but the “hero” that does something solely for the act of bettering himself and for his own glory is no hero at all. A hero is bound by the rules and laws that bind the rest of us. There should be forgiveness, yes, but there should not be this idolization because, ultimately, we’ll be left disappointed.

Even though I missed the majority of the Super Bowl, I did happen to catch the ending (the best part) and a few commercials along the way and thanks to the evil, alien-run empire, I was able to see them all.. A year ago I posted my top 10. This year I’m going to mix it up a little…

Best TV/Movie trailers

Runner up

Winner

Wow <3

Lamest

Fourth Place

William Shatner is always lame.

Third Place

Creepy looking guy who throws like a girl.. lame.

Runner up

I was about as clueless as the kids.

Winner

Sorry guys, you killed the talking baby franchise.

UU Tee chr(146)

Fifth Place

Just. Weird.

Fourth Place

Way to ruin memories…

Third Place

First cowboys, now football players… You are men. Remember that.

Runner up

Can’t. Un. See. X_x

Winner

Alec Baldwin. Duh. This would be in “Lame”, but hulu is pretty awesome.

Funny

Fourth Place

I’m good.

Third Place

Runner up

Get a dog

Winner

I have to admit, I loled during this one

Epic

Fifth Place

And she called him.

Fourth Place

Lego my coko

Third Place

Could have been the winner if it wasn’t too off the wall.. although props for having the real McG

Runner up

LMAO!

Winner

I won’t admit to have ever thought this.

Winner

Here it is.. the best commercial. Slightly less-than-PG, but… yeah.

Props to Vork from “The Guild” for his rather eye-searing role. The Guild is an online sitcom written by Felicia Day, of Dr. Horrible fame.

Where is Kentucky? Its kinda in the South, no actually its really the Mid-West, but on the map, to me it looks rather east-ish than west-ish; and more mid-ley, than south-ley. West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Ok if these words still don’t have you on page, just look at the graphic. This should give you a good idea where it is.

Enough about that, -what- is Kentucky? Well, a united state of course. (was I supposed to capitalize that? Spell-check doesn’t seem to care; communists.) What’s cool in KY? Louisville is the largest city here and is a must-see for any visitor, but beware: locals don’t take kindly to mispronunciations of their beloved city. Not “Lewie-ville” – try ‘Loouhvull’ or ‘Luhvull’ and you might get through a visit without being dubbed the dreaded title of “yank” or worse… “dang yank.”

Before you skip the rest of this post to the comments to question the existence of KFC’s in Kentucky, let me formally assure, they do and they thrive. Why, eating food is one of the primary functions of many of the denizens in this fine state. Another well kept secret locals hold dearly in lieu of Louisville is the fact we only have 49 states: Kentucky and Indiana form to make Kentuckiana, a deformed mutant, failed experiment of a state. BLARRGH!

Before you’re fast to overlook as ‘just another city’ in ‘just another state,’ mind you the wonders of a sport oft overlooked by many Americans: That’s right: Glue manufacturing, production and distribution! It all starts with a few short people, (we’ll call them jockys) and a few horses of high muscle/body-weight ratio, (we’ll call them race horses). Jockys ride these horses in some sort of ovular track. “Break a leg!” And whenst they have their hay-day, or become incapacitated, they’re shipped straight for materials. This is where the fun begins: First, make sure they’re dead, then beat them. It gets fuzzy after this part, I forget: then eventually glue comes out of the factory! (and when I say ‘they’, I mean the horses, silly)

Is there anything else cool about KY? Just as things that “Taste like chicken” aren’t chicken unless its really chicken; Louisville/Kentucky is just like many other cities and states, but aren’t those other cities and states, and chicken tastes pretty good. I dunno really, but apparently I’m the new Zomgee Kentucky Representative or ZKR for short. With my new deep-fried job, I should be able to have a few more time on my hands in the upcoming year. If there are any disputes or misconceptions about this state, please keep it in the comments area of this post, not in any previous post; thank you.

42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question

This year, that question was: “When will the Super Bowl commercials be good again?”

Remarkably absent were the riské commercials so prevalent in years past- which was good. So sit back and relax as I give you the Top 10 Commercials of Super Bowl 42.

10. Bud Light – Fly
A little lame, but still is half way decent overall

9. Bud Light – Fire
A little bit stronger of a showing, but not the best Bud commercial of the night- and no where close to beating out the Frogs

8. Sobe – Thriller
Not especially funny, but the one lizard eating the other is classic. Not as good as Andy Serkis’ version (or this one), but it still made it to #8

7. Budweiser – Rocky, Equine version
Strongest Bud showing of the night, but still a little flat (plenty of pun intended)

6. ETrade – Clown
The baby is completely correct in stating that the clown is in fact creepy.

5. Wall E
Who would have thought that a commercial with Toy Story characters would still be mildly entertaining? This would have been #1 had this dysfunctional robot admitted at the end that he was, in fact, a Mac

4. Bridgestone – Richard Simmons
Tempting to not steer away from the 3rd obstacle…

3. FedEx
I literally lolled when I saw this one. Spell checker not kicking in when I say “lolled” is a bonus.

2. Bridgestone – Screaming match
Pretty good. The bug makes the video.

1. ETrade – Puking baby
What’s not to like? Investment returns.. a cute baby with an adult voice (Stewie minus the accent), and random baby vomit.

Last night, those of us who turned on our TV’s and watched the big game were treated with a special delight. The greatest quarterback to ever play the game, Tom Brady, was there to put on a show and what a show it was. Throughout the stunning, unbelievable game we saw nothing but spectacular perfect passes and poise under pressure. Never faltering Brady orchestrated drive after drive of football that was closer to perfection than anyone in the game has ever managed to accomplish. The man is a brilliant passing genius and second to none. I can’t even begin to hail his praises as he single-handedly carried his team on his back, the entire season, to their undefeated record. Without Brady this season would have looked more like the Dolphin’s brush with futility. The way he engineered a last second comeback to once again pull the team up by his bootstraps was again one of the great moments in NFL history.

Pause a moment and allow the sarcasm to sink in a while before continuing for as you must have known by now – Brady did none of those things. In fact he looked down right pathetic in the face of pressure and was able to muster up no last second miracles to keep his team from the best worst record of all time, 18-1. You see for months sports writers and broadcasters have been mindlessly repeating things similar to what my first paragraph implies. They will state absolutes without taking a moment to step back and examine the bigger picture. The fact is, that while Tom Brady is a good quarterback it is his team that makes him appear great. The 2007 Patriots team is or was one of the greatest of all times. Brady had one of the best offensive lines in the game, 3 amazing receivers including but not limited to a guy in Randy Moss who could catch passes that weren’t well thrown, and a defense that has kept even good teams from consistently scoring.

You see Tom Brady wasn’t the reason for this team’s success, but he sure did contribute to its failure. Failing to receive near perfect pass protection like he had throughout the regular season, Brady showed nothing but a lack of ability in the pocket. Sure don’t worry all you commentators out there he still had “poise” but that was about it. Passes were flying right and left but many of them went nowhere near the intended receivers. Sure he did lead the team to two successful TD’s, one in the first half that I missed and really can’t comment on, and one in the second half where rather than showing us how amazing he was, he showed us how when given time in the pocket and given a single receiver who the Giants couldn’t seem to cover he was somehow perfect again. Now don’t get me wrong it was a good drive to go ahead 14-10, but all he did the whole time was dump the ball off to Wes Welker who was somehow wide open almost every play. Now does that show Tom Brady’s greatness or Welker’s? The Super Bowl commentators seemed to think it was Brady who was the second coming of Joe Montana when he hit a wide open Randy Moss in the endzone after his defender tripped and fell. He couldn’t hit a wide open Randy Moss in the endzone the play before when the defender hadn’t fallen so it would stand to reason that he managed to do it the second time around.

This will go down as perhaps the biggest upset in Super Bowl history and may be the greatest Super Bowl flop allowing the 2007 Patriots to eclipse the futility of the 1991-1994 Buffalo Bills. The Patriots had a great team, but in the end they couldn’t get it done and no matter how sweet that 16-0 season was, they will go away with nothing but bitterness in their mouths. You have to figure Bill Belichick wishes he would have gone for the field goal instead of going for a foolhardy 4th and 13 at the 31 yard line, but hey these things happen. Have to hand it to him for being so unsportsmanlike like and running off the field to cry at the end of the game – quality coach to be sure. In the end though none of this matters because the Super Bowl Champions are none other than the New York Giants…of course I trust you will always remember this as the season that the New England Patriots almost went undefeated.