Hornung says Notre Dame should dumb down its academic standards

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Paul Hornung regrets suggesting that Notre Dame needs to lower its academic standards to "get the black athlete.''

"I was wrong,'' the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday." What I should have said is: For all athletes, it is really tough to get into Notre Dame.''

During a radio interview Tuesday night in Detroit, he told WXYT-AM that his alma mater has to "ease it up a little bit'' on its standards.

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What an idiot.

Looking for the BEST Pizza?

For some reason, today I'm really craving some pizza. Not just any pizza, but the best. Looking for the BEST Pizza?

Annual Egg Drop Contest

Megan and I had to make something for the egg drop contest. Here's what we did.

- put the egg in a plastic bag (just in case it breaks)
- wrapped it egg in soft foam (the kind that something fragile gets shiiped with)
- put duct tape around it to hold the foam in place
- wrapped all of that in bubble wrap
- put it in a small cardboard box, about 7 inched long, 3 inches in width and 3 inches deep
- duct tape to seal the box closed

We tested our contraption by throwing it out of our second story playroom window. It didn't break!

We were going to attach a parachute to soften the landing, but didn't. Made one, but we didn't use it. We made the parachute by cutting a circle out of a white plastic garbage bag. Used a one of those round laundry baskets as a circle template. Put four holes and attached string to it.

We'll see what happens at school for the actual contest.

Coach K

Winning seasons, superb graduation rates for his players and a basketball team that is as close as family are all attributes that reflect on the man who is now in his 24th year as the head coach of the Blue Devils, Mike Krzyzewski.

Although some still stumble with pronouncing and spelling his name, when people speak of the highest level of success in the college basketball world, the name Krzyzewski (Sha-shef-ski) immediately comes to mind.

In 23 years at Duke, Krzyzewski, a 12-time National Coach of the Year, has built a dynasty that few programs in the history of the game can match. The numbers under Coach K are staggering:

Three national championships (1991, 1992, 2001)
12 National Coach of the Year honors (eight seasons)
Six National Players of the Year (seven honors)
Five National Defensive Players of the Year (seven honors)
19 NCAA Tournament bids
16 All-America selections (26 honors)
Nine Final Four appearances (third all-time)
Eight ACC championships
Nine ACC regular season championships
590 total victories (215 ACC wins)
292 weeks ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams
183 weeks ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams
74 weeks ranked number one in the country
60 NCAA Tournament victories (second all-time)
33 NBA Draft selections, including 17 in the first round
11 NBA Lottery picks

Duke to the Final Four

Go Duke!

I've always been a Duke basketball fan. I'm glad to see them in the Final Four. Even though no one else wants them in it. I think they've had the toughest road. They had to beat the hottest Big Ten team (Illinois). Then had to beat another hot team in Xavier (who also snapped St. Joseph's winning streak). And now they have to beat Connecticut, just to get to the Championship game.

Other teams are Georgia Tech (with Jarrett Jack), who we got to see play in Milwaukee. I would love to see a Duke vs. Georgia Tech matchup in the Final.

But, they both have to get by 2 tough teams. Georgia Tech has to beat Oklahoma St (another team playing very well).

Ohio State National Champs in 2 sports

Ohio State Synchronized Swimming Earns Fifth Consecutive Collegiate National Title
The Ohio State synchronized swimming team claimed first place honors at the 2004 Collegiate National Championships Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. It marks the fifth consecutive crown for the Buckeyes and 24th title in the 28-year history of the event.
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Ohio State Fencing Claims First National Title in Program History
The Ohio State fencing team won its first-ever NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championship Sunday at the Gosman Athletic Center in Waltham, Mass. The Buckeyes outscored second-place Penn State by 34 points, 194-160, en route to the national crown. Ohio State posted the second-highest team total in the five years that the NCAA has contested events in the six weapons.
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Using Yahoo and Google cache

I was able to use the cache for my weblog to restore lost entries from both Yahoo and Google. It was great because it even had the images that I never backed up. Bad, bad, bad...I've learned my lesson and will never again be lazy about doing backups.

Sydney on Alias to get sister

Mia Maestro is set to join the cast of ABC's "Alias," playing the sister of Jennifer Garner 's character.

She will appear in the last three episodes of the spy drama this season and is expected to return as a regular next season, the show's fourth. Her credits include the features "The Motorcycle Diaries" and "Frida" and HBO's "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story."

Life Sucks!

My website crashed!

Our site was off-line for a couple days. My hosting provider was upgrading their server and could not do it (due to the fact that the version of Redhat it was running is no longer being supported)

So, they tried to move all of the accounts on that server to a new server. They did, lost all my data, including my weblog. I had everything but my weblog data backed up (only had my weblog up to 12/31/03). Then when I asked for my backup data, they said the old server crashed and they could no longer get to it. Uggg!!!

I think I'm all up to date now. Just need to upgrade back to Movable Type 2.661.

Hang on Sloopy

Sloopy, I don't care what your daddy do
'cause you know, Sloopy girl, I'm in love with you.

-- The McCoys

State of Ohio Revised Code
State Rock Song

"Hang on Sloopy," was a national hit in 1965 by The McCoys, from Dayton, Ohio. Co-written by The McCoys' guitarist Rick Derringer of Celina, Ohio, "Hang on Sloopy," became the Ohio state rock song in November 1985.

The actual House Concurrent Resolution No.16:

WHEREAS, The members of the 116th General Assembly of Ohio wish to recognize the rock song "Hang On Sloopy" as the official rock song of the great State of Ohio; and
WHEREAS, In 1965, an Ohio-based rock group known as the McCoys reached the top of the national record charts with "Hang On Sloopy," composed by Bert Russell and Wes Farrell, and that same year, John Tagenhorst, then an arranger for the Ohio State University Marching Band, created the band's now-famous arrangement of "Sloopy," first performed at the Ohio State-Illinois football game on October 9, 1965; and

WHEREAS, Rock music has become an integral part of American culture, having attained a degree of acceptance no one would have thought possible twenty years ago; and

WHEREAS, Adoption of "Hang On Sloopy" as the official rock song of Ohio is in no way intended to supplant "Beautiful Ohio" as the official state song, but would serve as a companion piece to that old chestnut; and

WHEREAS, If fans of jazz, country-and-western, classical, Hawaiian and polka music think those styles also should be recognized by the state, then by golly, they can push their own resolution just like we're doing; and

WHEREAS, "Hang On Sloopy" is of particular relevance to members of the Baby Boom Generation, who were once dismissed as a bunch of long-haired, crazy kids, but who now are old enough and vote in sufficient numbers to be taken quite seriously; and

WHEREAS, Adoption of this resolution will not take too long, cost the state anything, or affect the quality of life in this state to any appreciable degree, and if we in the legislature just go ahead and pass the darn thing, we can get on with more important stuff; and

WHEREAS, Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town, and everybody, yeah, tries to put my Sloopy down; and

WHEREAS, Sloopy, I don't care what your daddy do, 'cause you know, Sloopy girl, I'm in love with you; therefore be it

Resolved, That we, the members of the 116th General Assembly of Ohio, in adopting this Resolution, name "Hang On Sloopy" as the official rock song of the State of Ohio; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislative Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this Resolution to the news media of Ohio.

Dodge Ball

Was Apprentice winner revealed?

If you don't want to know who Katrina Campins claims is the winner of "The Apprentice," stop reading now. Campins, 24, a finalist on Donald Trump's hit reality show, was overheard telling partygoers at Mansion nightclub in Miami Saturday night that Goldman Sachs investment manager Kwame Jackson comes out on top. "People were begging her to say who won," says an earwitness. "She was like, 'OK, it's Kwame.' I was standing right there!"

story

Shelley is the big 40 today!

We started out the day very early (5:00 AM) so we could get home to pick the kids up from school. We stopped by Findlay on the way to say Hi to Tami.

When I picked the kids up from school they were SO excited to see me.

The kids made Shelley a cake for her 40th. They were so proud. It was a chocolate cake, they said it was called a Thunder cake. Megan said it had tomato sauce in it (not sure if that's really true).

For dinner we took Shelley to Brio. We had a nice time.

Wisconsin loses, but dinner was great

Saw two more basketball games today. Georgia Tech won in the first game. Their leader was Jarrett Jack. Wisconsin lost to Pitt though. They had some chances, but couldn't pull it out. The fans were bummed.

Shelley and I went to Rock Bottom Brewery for dinner. It was really good. Nice place, good food and a reasonable price (especially compared to last night).

We're heading for home early tomorrow. Don't want Shelley to spend the good part of the day in the car.

Rowlands is champion!

Five All-Americans Lead Buckeyes to Best NCAA Wrestling Finish
The Ohio State wrestling program reached new heights at the 2004 NCAA championships March 18-20 at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Mo. The Buckeyes traveled five qualifiers to the national meet and 18th-year head coach Russ Hellickson mentored each to All-American status as the Buckeyes posted their best national finish in program history, scoring a tie for third-place with 77.5 team points.

Leading the All-American charge was Tommy Rowlands , who became the most decorated wrestler in OSU history with his second national title and fourth All-American award at HWT.

Seniors John Clark and Blake Kaplan each took fifth at 165 and 184-pound classes, respectively. The award qualified Clark as the ninth Buckeye to earn multiple All-American honors. In addition, fellow senior Jeff Ratliff took eighth at 149 pounds to round out the All-American class.

Go Bucks!

story

Movie and then Dinner

Finally got to see Miracle today. Excellent movie. You probably need to be a hockey fan though.

Bought Shelley and early brithday gift. She's been looking for a Mother and Son Figure and found one today.

Later in the evening, Shelley and I went out to dinner with Bill and Kathie at the Third Street Pier. Very good dinner, but extremely expensive. Dinner, dessert and drinks for the two of us was $165.40. Haven't spent that much on dinner in years. Afterwards, we went to a little bar for a few drinks.

We had a lot of fun.

We saw 4 games today

All of the games were very good. Except for maybe the last one (Pitt vs. Central Florida). Both teams looked really bad. It ended up being a close game, but started out really boring. Since we were in Milwaukee, the tickets were pretty hard to come by since Wisconsin was playing. Glad we had ours.

The crowd was great. It started when Northern Iowa was playing. Everyone was really pulling for the underdog. Then the arena was extemely loud for the Wisconsin game. Especially when they started to come back from their 13 point deficit in the second half.

No upsets in our games today.

Great time.

Comment on this entry or email me if you'd like to see higher resolution pictures.

We made it to Milwaukee

Ready for a full day of basketball tomorrow.

Mamma.com

Mark Cuban posted this on his blog. Interesting thoughts/comments.
A search engine Mamma Metasearch

Jack got his blue stripe today

Jack is doing Taekwondo. He started with his white belt. Then you get various stripes which work towards your next belt. His next belt would be yellow.

See more photos of Jack here.

Buckingham Fountain

Our games in Milwaukee

We have these games for the 1st and 2nd Round NCAA basketball tournament:

6 Boston College vs. 11 Utah

3 Georgia Tech vs. 14 Northern Iowa

6 Wisconsin vs. 11 Richmond

3 Pitt vs. 14 Central Florida

Mark Cuban has a blog

The owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban has a blog now. A very intelligent guy with some interesting comments.

Blog Maverick

Illini still hot

Illinois gets past Indiana 71-59 in the Big Ten basketball tournament quarterfinals today. Illinois (23-5) won its 11th straight. They were the Big Ten's regular-season champion. One of the hottest teams in the country right now. It'll be interesting to see what seed they get and how they do in the tournament.

Jennifer Garner promotes CIA career

You've got to be kidding me.

YOUR GOVERNMENT IN ACTION

The CIA got Jennifer Garner who plays a CIA officer on the ABC TV series "Alias" to promote careers with the CIA.

see it here

I love the show. It seems a bit unrealistic at times. But, maybe it's all real.
Hmmm...

Dribble was great

Last night was Megan's 2nd Grade Musical. I put a few pictures out.

Look here for more pictures and larger ones of these. If you would like better quality pictures, let me know.

Tonight's Megan's 2nd Grade musical

She's going to be a basketball cat. Dribble (#21 of course). I'll try post a few pictures tonight.

Click here for the original #21.

Take me through the park. You know how I love the park

Joe Greene is back with the Steelers

Q. How many Steelers fans does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Four. One to change the bulb and three to stand around and talk about how much better light bulbs were during the 1970s.

Maybe it's foolish for fans to live in the past, but for an organization to do that it's downright dangerous. And when a team hires its greatest player ostensibly to do a job he's never done before, well, it sounds a whole lot like the Miami Dolphins hiring Dan Marino to be team president, and it figures to work out just as well. The Steelers hiring Joe Greene to a front office position currently defined loosely as special assistant/player personnel may appear to be similar, but it's not.

Joe Greene was a great player, a commanding presence in a locker room full of other great players, and that combination made him the cornerstone upon which Chuck Noll constructed a dynasty that won four championships in six seasons. Great players often have trouble as coaches, because they cannot relate to players with lesser skills than their own, but Greene isn't here to coach. He's here because he knows what great players look like. He can recognize toughness, or a glaring lack of it. He knows what it takes to be a winner and can recognize which players have those qualities. He understands the importance of intanigbles and how they complement talent. He respects the Rooney family and loves the Steelers. He understands the relationship between this franchise and its fans.

Greene was asked if his experience as a great among other greats will help him be a part of finding the great players of tomorrow. His answer reflected the exact kind of experience, the understanding of the whole process, that the Steelers may need.

"If I go back and think about our group, we were allowed to be together and have some difficult times and lose ball games that we thought we should have won. Through those difficult times we developed the courage, the stamina, and the mentality to push through. When you look at players you always like to look and see how they react when they are having difficult times. Or after a difficult play, how do they bounce back, how do they respond to negative situations. Sometimes, how do they respond even to positive situations."

"Sometimes a good play is just a routine play, it is one you should have made; how do you respond to that? There is a difference between a great play and just a routine play. They are all plays that need to be made, but how do you respond to those things? That is just a part of what goes into it. That is something that is not always easy to detect. Those are the little things that anyone who looks at players is trying to decipher. What makes this player tick? What makes them do what they do? Not always the fastest, the strongest, players are the best players. There is a litany of things that you look for and those are just some of them."

Joe Greene has a rare perspective on what it takes to win championships, and when that's coupled with his love for the Steelers, he becomes a valuable component in the ongoing process to construct a championship team.

The Steelers are not living in the past by hiring Joe Greene. They're using it to create a better future.

press release

This has always been one of my favorites

Creative Memories

Shelley went to the Creative Memories all-Columbus crop today. The kids and I had the whole house to ourselves. I'll see if I can post a few pictures of here pages.

Places I've been

These are the states I've been to so far:

Create your own personalized map of the USA

And these are the countries I've been to:

Create your own visited country map

Mars Rover blog

I think this blog has some great Mars pictures.

Disney Crowd Tells Eisner To Take a Ride

PHILADELPHIA --They were young and old. They came from near and far. A few wore mouse ears and snapped photos like tourists on vacation. Some were curious onlookers, but most were angry shareholders of Walt Disney Co.

On the eve of Disney's annual shareholder meeting, several hundred people gathered Tuesday at a rally organized by two dissident former directors to voice their concerns about the venerable entertainment giant and call for the ouster of its longtime leader, Michael Eisner. Hundreds more were turned away, unable to enter the crowded hotel conference room.

The crowd gave a standing ovation to Roy Disney, nephew of the company's co- founder, when he took the stage. Flanked by two banners proclaiming "Restore the Magic," the former Disney director rallied the crowd and repeated his calls for Eisner's dismissal.

At one point, he compared Eisner's departure to the death of the Wicked Witch in the "Wizard of Oz" movie. Later, Roy Disney jokingly added, "if we had enough rifles we'd have this thing over with."

Embattled Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner on Wednesday was stripped of his role as chairman, but kept his position as chief executive even after 43 percent of shareholders voted against him in an unprecedented protest.

Convening in Philadelphia after a stormy annual meeting, Disney's board said it had elected former U.S. Senator George Mitchell as the company's chairman. It said 61-year-old Eisner had its unanimous backing as Disney's top executive after a shareholder vote widely seen as a rebuke to his leadership. The vote sent shock waves through corporate America and marked the strongest such protest against an incumbent chief executive ever, signaling Disney's concession was unlikely to satisfy shareholders campaigning for Eisner's removal.

more...

Save Disney

Today is Dr. Seuss’s 100th birthday - Seussentennial!

The kids informed me when I got home from work yesterday that today is birthday of Dr. Seuss and of course our cats Rex and Ruby.

Dr. Seuss is getting a United States postage stamp, a statue and, on March 11, a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. It's all part of a bicoastal celebration of the centennial of Theodor Geisel, best known as Dr. Seuss, the man responsible for the Grinch, the Cat in the Hat and the Lorax, among other unforgettable creatures.

In his hometown of La Jolla, Calif, the University of California, San Diego, has a Geisel Library, which today will unveil a bronze statue showing "Ted sitting at his desk, one of his legs plopped on its top with `The Cat in the Hat' standing behind him," his wife, Audrey, said. "It's perfect because that man never had both feet on the ground. One leg represents reality, the other his imagination."

Geisel died in 1991, at 87, after a life that traded in the imagination. Son of a zookeeper father, Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, 1904, in the factory town of Springfield, Mass. At an early age he began to draw animals, often adding an extra hump in a camel's back or a long snout on a hyena's face for comic effect. While attending Dartmouth College he edited Jack O'Lantern, a humor magazine. But it was his Latin classes that had the most enduring influence on his future art. "It allows you to adore words," Geisel once said about Latin, "take them apart and find out where they came from."

Today Dr. Seuss's 44 books have been translated into 21 languages, selling more than 500 million copies. "We're even in Braille," Ms. Geisel said from her home here, an old observation tower overlooking the Pacific, where her husband did his illustrations. A private man, during his lifetime Geisel never sold his art; he was a pack rat who hoarded everything. "No house could hold all of Ted's stuff," Ms. Geisel said. "So I'm happy it's all found the perfect home."

The home she is referring to is the postmodern Geisel Library at the university, where the Dr. Seuss Collection is now open to scholars. There are more than 8,000 archived items on file, including a 1921 program from a minstrel show written by a precocious 17-year-old Geisel, "Chicopee Surprised," and the original sketches of "The Cat in the Hat."

Ms. Geisel, a former nurse who today oversees Dr. Seuss Enterprises, is quick to point out that if you cannot make it to La Jolla — or Springfield for that matter, where the museum is currently exhibiting "The Art of Dr. Seuss" — you can follow the centennial happenings on the Seussville Web site (www.seussville.com), maintained by his publisher, Random House, and which receives some 100,000 hits daily.

Official Seussentennial Web site

Laughter's Perennial at the Doctor's Seussentennial (NY Times)

Private Alex Stepanovich?

Former OSU offensive lineman Alex Stepanovich had a little run-in with former Miami tight end Kellen Winslow at the NFL combine in Indianapolis last week.

According to Stepanovich’s account on WBNS radio, he was on his hotel’s elevator with Iowa’s Robert Gallery and a few other players when Winslow entered. Winslow was introducing himself to the group (Hi, Kellen Winslow, U of Miami), when he came up to Stepanovich.

“Alex Stepanovich, Ohio State,” he said.

“Man, Ohio State ain’t have nothing … who do you think you are,” Winslow said.

“I’m just a soldier, dude,” Step replied.

Apparently, there was an uncomfortable silence for a moment and Step thought something was about to go down. But, finally the door opened and Winslow couldn’t get away fast enough as everyone in the elevator burst out laughing.

In case you don’t remember, Winslow referred to himself as a “solider” after a postgame tirade last season. That’s where he also unveiled the now infamous, “I don’t give a hell, I only care about this U,” when asked his feelings about a player he injured.

Click here for that story.

Sean Penn Wins Best Actor

Sean Penn won the Oscar for best actor on Sunday for the drama "Mystic River" and a standing ovation from his Hollywood peers for his role as the tormented father of a murdered girl.

Penn, nominated in the past for "Dead Man Walking," "I Am Sam" and "Sweet and Lowdown," took the top acting honor for one of his trademark roles, the anguished, shattered father torn apart by the murder of his daughter and his friend's possible involvement in blue collar Boston.

He was considered a frontrunner for the Oscar but some said the volatile, brooding actor might be overlooked because of his outspoken political views -- particularly against the Iraq war -- and his failure to attend the Golden Globe awards in January.

But Penn's affecting performance in "Mystic River," coupled with another bravura turn this year in "21 Grams," was too good for voters to ignore.

Hollywood's finest rose to their feet as an uncharacteristically smiling and shy Penn went to the stage to collect his award.

But Penn, who said he had not prepared a speech on the grounds that this was "presumptuous and embarrassing," did not leave his politics far behind.

"If there's one thing that actors know, other than that there weren't any WMDs (weapons of mass destruction)," he said, to cheers and scattered applause, "it's that there is no such thing as best in acting and that's proven by these great actors I was nominated with."

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