Cheers:
1. Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Team – I recall a short while ago cheering a certain Men’s Basketball team. By Title 9 I’m now required to also cheer the women’s team. Let’s just say women can do anything men can do and more, like win more than one game in the NCAA tournament. The Irish defeated the Utah Utes (just like football) on their home floor in front just about no one. On Monday, they defeated Temple at Utah to move into the Sweet 16 in front of less than no one. The explanation for the less than no one crowd was that the 7:30 pm start time is past the 6:00 pm start of Mormon family night when Mormons are required to be at home. Seriously, tune in on Saturday at 2 pm when they take it to the Sooners in Dayton.
2. The Sin Bin – People are always worried that they’re going to kneel down in the confessional and the priest is going to be like you did whaaaat? Just the opposite. It says so much about your love of God when after you’ve done something really stupid you realize it and say ‘wow that was really stupid, and I need to confess that.’ I wish I had more moments like that and more courage to just go. It’s the perfect season to go too. So if you’re feeling the weight of something heavy on your conscience or you’re frustrated with some little thing you do, examine your conscience and take whatever it might be to the Basilica confessional at 11:00 am, 4:45 pm, or 7:00 pm Monday – Friday. Your soul will thank you, unless you’re a Pre-Socratic philosopher. As an aside, watch the movie “I Confess.”
3. Hotlanta Hero – Three weeks ago Anaiah Rucker and her younger sister were crossing a suburban Atlanta street when a speeding truck nearly hit them both. Anaiah, 9, pushed her 5 year old sister out of the way and took the full impact of the truck. She lost her leg and broke her neck but after some time in the hospital her response to claims of her heroism were that her younger sister was too young to get hit and probably would not have survived if she had. How often the simplicity of a young child is more powerful than the writhing and mulling about this and that. She saw what needed to be done and did it.
Jeer:
1. Modern Day Slavery – Where’s Harriet Tubman when you need her to come slap Vikings RB Adrian Peterson? I’m really interested to see how she would confront a man who claimed that today’s NFL is modern day slavery. Just remember this is millionaire players being locked out by billionaire owners. When you were worried about the recession, they were worried about whether to get a Lamborghini or a Porsche (as a third vehicle). I can say I won’t be disappointed in the least if there is no NFL. Maybe I’ll actually get some work done on Sundays. I know Browns, Bills, and Lions fans will be with me; it will be their best season in recent memory. And on Thanksgiving Day, Adrian Peterson will be thankful he doesn’t have to play in the league of Nasty Forced Labor anymore.
2. Friday – Yesterday was Thursday and tomorrow is Saturday. Rebecca Black has now topped Sesame Street as the most viewed educational program on the air. And we so so so excited about this development. Even Justin Bieber tweeted about his new-found understanding that Sunday comes after Saturday. Weird. What do you get when you put Rebecca Black and Justin Bieber in a music video together? Well, she’s educationally-oriented and he’s love-oriented so I introduce “The Birds and the Bees” featuring auto-tuned Bieber and Black with their guest star: overweight, middle-age, Usher want-to- be. It’s the newest tool in parenting. Note: If you’re lost become educated on YouTube.
3. Potassium Iodide and Nuclear Fear – In the wake of the earthquake in Japan people in California and on the West coast are freaking out. OMG did you get your potassium iodide pills so that you don’t melt from the radiation to which you’re not exposed? I’m glad we’re very concerned as a nation about the welfare of those a mile from the reactor rather than those 4,000 miles from it. According to one source, there is contaminated spinach going around. I’m going to stop eating it since I’ll be exposed to the equivalent of a CT scan if I eat two pounds of spinach everyday for a year. And once again our stupidity has set back the nuclear program in this country another 20 years. It’s just like Three Mile Island when absolutely no one died as a result.
