Old news

Some of your are probably familiar with this story, in which a woman hit two children riding bicyles and killed one of them. So far, the police haven't filed any charges against the woman, who said she fell asleep.

I don't get how falling asleep makes you any less liable for killing someone. Is that really a valid excuse? It doesn't make any sense to me. It's not about intent - even a drunk driver doesn't mean to hurt anyone.

I can't see how there weren't manslaughter charges brought up. Isn't this the exact kind of thing the manslaughter charge is for?

The whole thing pisses me off, as I'm a little oversensitive to anything involving bicycles. But it's typical of the sort of car centered laws that are currently in place that a person on a bike has no rights, or if he/she has rights, they're thrown out in the process.

"Research"

Found this when doing a little research for my beer review at HBG. Funny enough.



This one I'm not so sold on.

Oh what the hell

I've sent an email to my old high school soccer coach to see if he'd be interested in throwing his current squad (well, once the season starts, anyway) up against an all-star team of former players. Because in my head it seems like a good idea... I'm sure those kids would run us into the ground. But we can sub a lot. And foul. And steal their girlfriends. Except most the guys I know are older than 30, so maybe not the girlfriends part.

I haven't played soccer in a few months, of course, but I feel good about myself. I'm amazed at how fast I am on a bike already this season. I'm sure that'll translate to soccer skills.

Right?

MLS starts soon. I'll write about that someday.

Sorry, guys named Dave.

New header, again. Reminds me of Ok Computer and spilled ink.

Maybe I need a nap

I'm back, but I'm not feelin' it.

Request to change nickname to "The John Cougars" was not approved

I thought I had heard rumblings, and now I know it to be true. Your Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Cougars are making the jump to D1 athletics. What does this mean to you, the SIUE grad?

1) When you tell people where you went to school, the first words out of their mouth may no longer be "Oh, the Salukis?"

2) You are no longer able to piggyback your hopes on SIUC's basketball team in the NCAA tournament. Here's how I usually convey that: "Well, I went to SIUE, which is the sister school, so I figure it's as close as I'm going to get, anyway..."

3) Bring back out that 1979 NCAA D1 Soccer champ banner, we're BACK. SLU is scared to death right now. I still love you, Brian McBride.

4) It's time to shell out some bucks for your Red and White (or silver? who knows) Cougar gear. So what if it looks just like Houston's stuff.

5) We still don't have a football team. But we do have a sweet background on our athletics page. That's the best our CMIS/IT guys can do? Where'd they go to school, SIUE?

In any case, I'm pretty excited by the whole thing. It took me a long time to show any sort of pride over where I went to school, but now I'm going whole hog. I can't wait for SIUE shower curtains and SIUE mudflaps and SIUE bbq grills... I want it all, everything that goes along with being a D1 school.

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While you're looking at stuff on the internet, check out Hoosier Beer Geek, where I've written a review of beer. Be sure to leave a comment about how it's the best review ever written... someone named anonymous already has... I wonder who that could be?

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I'm off to Vegas next week, so don't expect much from this space until I get back, when I'll have a shocking expose about the real truth behind the movie Showgirls.

I'm bike commuting again

Today marks the second day this year that I've been fortunate enough to be able to make the 11.5 mile trek (roughly 40 minutes) to work by bicycle. One of the nice things about traveling by bike is that you notice things a little more.

One such example would be the amount of In God We Trust license plates on the road. Haven't these things only been out like a month? I'm pretty sure they're now ranking second only to the regular Indiana license plate as far as popularity goes. THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU to buy license plates, I guess. Quite frankly, it scares the bejesus out of me.

The other thing that I've noticed is that riding a bike on the city streets on a Sunday afternoon when there's basically no traffic is something that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy... it's just an amazing way to see the city; the whole thing just opens up and it's all yours. Let's get working on banning cars downtown on Sundays. As the first policy in my Mayoral candidacy...

*I highly recommend clicking on that bejesus link. then again, i'm pretty juvenile.

Shades of Gary Tidwell

Saturday evening I somehow managed to get out my house and away from my endless pirated movie collection, and made my way to Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse to catch a regional high school bout between North Central and Franklin Central.

North Central's squad features Eric Gordon, a future Indiana Hoosier, who apparently is the number two prospect among high school seniors in the country. Franklin Central's squad featured JaJuan Johnson, a 6'10" beanpole who's headed to Purdue (GOOSE). It all added up to a heck of a game and the discovery of an appreciation of high school basketball.

Both Gordon and Johnson had very good games - Gordon was somehow quietly dominant until late in the game when he decided that he was going to shoot over anyone from anywhere he wanted. I don't think he missed a three point shot all night. Impressive stuff.

I got 50-some miles in on the bike this weekend, bought tickets for The National (a band) in Cincinnati, bought Reds/Texas Rangers tickets while I was at it, and assured that I wouldn't be in Indy for F1 weekend - something I didn't realize until I drove by the track during my lunch break today.

Oh well.

it's a special time of year

Gina is going back to Illinois this weekend, so I'm home alone without much of a plan. But I do have options:

1) Bike if the weather permits
2) Watch some tape delayed FA Cup at Brugge
3) Celebrate the 17th Anniversary of Wesclin's State Championship in basketball (bottom of page).

I think you know which one I'll choose.

For my Indiana readers, I just want to point out that Purdue assistant coach Paul Lusk (nickname: Goose) was a leader for that 1990 Wesclin squad, and was quite possible the best high school basketball player that ever existed, short of only Lebron James (slightly better than Kobe and Greg Oden).

There's a chance I've written about this before, but I'll do it again, because it's that awesome.

I was in eighth grade when my whole family traveled to Campaign, IL for the finals of the state basketball tournament. In the state final, Wesclin were on the verge of losing when Prairie Central's Guy Who's Name I Can't Find On The Internet was fouled and given the chance to win the game from the free throw line. He missed, and the game went through two overtimes before the Warriors were crowned state champions.

The 1990 state championship team has become a bit of an ongoing joke in my circle of friends... I'm sure I bring either the team or one of the players up at least once a month. I attended a New Year's Eve party in St. Louis two or so years ago, and a former member of the team, Matt Brandemeyer (Nickname: Chewy), was in attendance. After the guests had settled in, my friend Josh turned to me and said "Did you ever think you'd get to go to a party with Chewy?"

But in all seriousness, those guys deserve praise for what they accomplished; they created a memory that still burns in my mind, and gave two little towns (Trenton and New Baden, IL) in the middle of nowhere something to talk about. Even 17 years later.

Awesome: Cahokia Conference Wiki.

What the fuck is this shit... how are you gonna have Gary Tidwell (Prairie Central) on this roster without Goose? I remember Cuonzo Martin (East St. Louis Lincoln), that guy was good. BUT HE WAS NO GOOSE.

True Story: Paul Lusk Senior (Goose's dad) was a PE teacher at Wesclin... I once wrote a letter to the school paper about the inability of the school principle to handle adversity, but Mr. Lusk somehow misread it and thought I had written about him. He brought me into his office and laid into me, saying "I think when my sister died, I handled that pretty well". He had the biggest hands I've ever seen on a man. I briefly considered not typing that story because I'm still scared of him.

just a quick note

Last evening, while at Shallo's restaurant, Gina and I sampled Barley Island's Black Majic Java Stout. With the word Java in the title you might expect a strong coffee flavor, and the beer did not disappoint.

I'm still in search of a meal and beer that compares to the meal I had after biking the Katy Trail all day. This beer was the closest yet.

I'm afraid that I've built up the Katy restaurant experience so much that I won't ever be able to replicate it, even at the same restaurant. I hope to find out soon enough, though. Come on weather.

loud noises

Last night after my spin class, I hopped in the truck and started flipping through my ipod looking for something loud. After settling on Primal Scream's XTMNTR album, I turned both the ipod and truck stereo to full volume and ROCKED THE FUCK OUT.

I'm 31 years old.

This post is a question: When was the last time you turned your radio all the way up, and what were you listening to?

eureka

Looks like bike weather.

the emperors mismatched clothes

Recently I had a conversation with Gina in which I stated that I was suprised that Nike hadn't gotten their greedy hands all over Fulham yet. Since the Dempsey move Fulham have become the default American EPL team, and it seemed only natural that Nike would want a taste of that exposure.

I must be psychic, because apparently Nike is attempting to secure jersey sponsorship.

Fulham appear to be having some sort of problem with their current kit supplier (the French company Airness) anyway. It's true that Fulham's jerseys, shorts, and socks are made by Airness, but a quick view at the sidelines reveals that the warm up uniforms and coats feature the Nike logo. It all seems sort of half-assed.

I'll be happy if Fulham moves to a Nike jersey. It means easier access to the jerseys, and perhaps even a design that isn't shared with Lille.

Are you aware of the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act of 1837?

It's probably bad form to just take the complete text of an article for a blog, and possible plagerism or something... ask me about how I passed half my college classes. I can't resist bolding some of this...

A man who was found dressed in latex and handcuffs brought a donkey to his room in a Galway city centre hotel, because he was advised “to get out and meet people,” the local court heard last week.

Thomas Aloysius McCarney with an address in south Galway was charged with cruelty to animals, lewd and obscene behaviour, and with being a danger to himself when he appeared before the court on Friday. He was also charged with damage to a mini-bar in the room, but this charge was later dropped when the defendant said that it was the donkey who caused that damage.

Solicitor for the accused Ms Sharon Fitzhenry said that her client had been through a difficult time lately and that his wife had left him and that his life had become increasingly lonely.

“Mr McCarney has been attending counselling at which he was told that he would be advised to get out and meet people and do interesting things. It was this advice that saw him book into the city centre hotel with a donkey,” she said. She added that Mr McCarney also suffered from a fixation with the Shrek movies and could constantly be heard at work talking to himself saying things like “Isn’t that right, Donkey?”

Supt John McBrearty told the court that Mr McCarney who had signed in as “ Mr Shrek” had told hotel staff that the donkey was a family pet and that this was believed by the hotel receptionist who the supt said was “young and hadn’t great English.”

Receptionist Irina Legova said that Mr McCarney had told her that the donkey was a breed of “super rabbit” which he was bringing to a pet fair in the city. The court was told that the donkey went berserk in the middle of the night and ran amok in the hotel corridor, forcing hotel staff to call the gardai.

McCarney was found in the room wearing a latex suit and handcuffs, the key to which the donkey is believed to have swallowed. He was removed to Mill St station after which it is said he was the subject of much mirth among the lads next door in The Galway Arms.

He was fined €2,000 for bringing the donkey to the room under the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act 1837. Other charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.