The Daily Bongo -- September 2005

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Thursday, September 29, 2005 -- Late Evening After having the best game of his career, Clark Haggins is going to be out for five weeks after surgery on his groin. It seemed that Haggans injured himself during Sunday's game, but he continued to play. It seems that Ryan Malone has been doing a good job on the same line as Mario Lemieux. It seems that line is really clicking as was evident from that line's performance in the preseason game the other day. Mars Rover, Opportunity, is being sent to investigate its largest crater yet. The crater is Erebus, and scientists are hoping to get a plethora of data from the crater. Thursday, September 29, 2005 -- Evening Another episode of Survivor: Guatemala/The Maya Empire was on tonight. Yaxha camp is sleeping while Lydia is working hard. Lydia said that she would have gotten rid of Brianna because she is on the weak side. Brianna said that she doesn't get along with Lydia. They don't fight, but they don't have alot in common. Brian said that he orchestrated the ousting of Morgan. He says that he will do anything to have things go his way, but he would go along with the others just to get far. Judd from Nakum said that he only slept a few hours even though they are in day seven. It seems that a monkey is constantly calling for his friends. It seems that there is a howling monkey there that is just constantly screaming. Judd said that the constant screaming is driving him nuts. Jeff Probst calls the Yaxhu tribe in for Nakum to get the first look at the new tribe. The challenge is for the tribe to build an archaelogist's tent. The teams will be blindfolded and tied together. One member will not be blindfolded and will direct the team to gather the things that are scattered around the ruins that will allow the team to build the tent. Once all the elements are gathered together, the team members can take off the blindfolds and build the tent. The first to correctly build the tent will win comfort supplies like blankets, pillows, lanterns, tarp, rope and fuel. Brook will be the caller for Nakum and Gary for Yaxha. Nakum seems to be ahead in gathering bits although Brooke seems to suck at calling at directions and they seems to hit each other alot. Yaxha got their ninth item and could take off their blindfolds. Yaxha had a big lead. As Jeff says it will come down to who works well together. Yaxhu seems confused and can't figure out the frame while Nakum is working well together. Nakum won the reward. Yaxha fell apart in putting it together--the calling was good, they just couldn't work together. Nakum had awful calling, but could work together. Stephanie said that the reward challenge was easy and that they just started building in conflict with each other. Stephanie is hoping that they can pull it out. Amy said that it sucks to lose, but hopes that they can get it together to win the next commpetition. Amy is very funny about how funky her clothes are, and sounds very New York. She comes from Massachussetts though. Amy said that she will not give up. Bobby Jon said that it felt good to win. It seems that the heat is taking a toll on Nakum getting anything done work wise. Cindy said that there's probably hundreds of alligators in the water. Cindy said that alligators got deeper to cool off, and that her teammates think that it is safe to go deep. Brandon said that the brave may not live long, but the cautious don't live at all, and he would rather live. Brianna is working hard mushing corn because she wants to be a useful member of the team and not eliminated. She makes corn mush for the tribe. Rafe said that every meal tastes the same and he would just like to eat something different. Rafe wants to eat a termite. He and Gary taste them. Rafe thinks they are good protein even if they don't taste good. Stephanie just wants them to stop because it looks gross. Brandon said they all have different ideas of how to do it, but that they work as a team. Margaret starts to tell them what to do. As she said the tarp should lean, but they have what looks like a circus big top. Bobby Jon said that you just can't tell grown men what to do. Judd said that nobody's going to tell him what to do except for his boss and his wife. The morning of day 8 dawns. Nakum has received a basket of feathers, bands and body paint. The idea is to decorate themselves for the next competition. Brian says that they need to do it so Yaxhu does not go to tribal council. Brian is fired up and trying to get the others just as fired up. The competition: it is based on the Mayan game of court ball. There will be three players on each team. You can't run with the ball, it is just passing. The team must then make a basket. The first team to score five points wins. First team is three men against three men. Judd, Blake, and Bobby Jon against Brian, Rafe and Jaime. Brian scored first for Yaxhu. They lead one to zero. Then it is two men, one woman. Judd, Blake and Margaret against Rafe, Jaime and Amy. Blake scored one to one. Then it is all women. Lydia ran with the ball and had to give it to Nakum. They score and have two points. Blake then scores again for Nakum. They lead three to one. It is 114 degrees. Blake, Bobby Jon, and Brooke against Rafe, Gary and Amy. Rafe scores. Three to two. Blake, Bobby Jon, Judd against Gary, Brian, and Jamie. Score is tied three to three. Danni, Cindy and Brandon against Amy, Lydia and Rafe. Danni scores for Nakum. They lead four to three. Brianna doesn't move around, and Danni winds up scoring for Nakum. Yaxhu goes to tribal council. Stephanie said that she doesn't like being on a losing team again. Stephanie is really upset with the women on her team and things that they aren't very athletic. Lydia and Brianna never played sports before. Lydia tried, but Brianna just sort of stood there without doing anything. It seems that they are going to vote out Brianna. Brian said that he didn't like Brianna because he likes them crazy or pretty and Brianna is neither. Brianna said that she is scared because she is the weak link. Brianna says that she knows that Lydia doesn't like her her, and is trying to talk Stephanie into going against Lydia. Yaxhu goes to tribal council. Jeff asks Stephanie if it is looking familiar and she says it is like deja vu. Stephanie said that she felt frustrated and admits that Brianna and Lydia didn't know sports. Lydia said that she sucked today and was in there trying her best and put her heart into it. Brian said that the other tribe is probably more athletic but that Yaxhu is committed to be together and like each other. Gary says that being athletic is important. Amy tries to tell people not to vote her out. Brianna is voting out Lydia for not looking her in the eye or trying to talk. Brian votes out the girly girl Brianna. Stephanie votes to stop the losing streak. Who is out? votes, Brianna, Lydia, Brianna, Brianna, Brianna, Brianna. She is voted out. Brianna says that they are strong and need to go and kick some butt. Yaxhu heads back to camp. Wednesday, September 28, 2005 -- Evening Last night was the second episode of Bound for Glory. The show starts with Ellis Cannon talking about Montour's opening game for the season. Five days before the game, Ray Crockett and Dick Butkus meet to discuss the plans for the game. I'm not sure where they met to talk because the restaurant did not look familiar. Crockett and Butkus were talking about who could step up for the team, and they mention DJ. Meanwhile Morgan Singletary is talking about going to see the doctor and get cleared to play again. He has to have clearance since he had the concussion. He mentions that he opened a fortune cookie with no fortune and that can't be good. Back at the field, Butkus brought in a drill sargent from the US Army. Butkus thinks that it will get the team into great shape. I think that it is just so much phony baloney for the television cameras. What we see is the drill sargent standing on the sidelines talking to Butkus talking about what he would like the kids to do. Meanwhile the kids aren't even listening. I don't think that the drill sargent actually interacted with the kids. I think it was just more show. There is a kid nicknamed "Meat" who really seems to think it is funny. The kicker for the team is actually pretty good, and Crockett calls him the secret weapon. Derrick Johnson (DJ) said that Crockett is always there to give advice. It seems that Morgan fails his test to play. He couldn't complete the test and got a headache doing it. So he is out for another week. Three days before the game we see Gianni Ricci talking about how Montour is being talked about in the local paper and how Gianni is being mentioned as a possible lineman. It seems that he keeps on letting the colleges know how hs is doing. The drill sargent is back on the sidelines on the field. Crockett says that he has his eye on Gianni because he thinks that the kid will be stepping up and doing some things on the field. We then see Butkus giving his pep talk. They did edit this show well. You wouldn't think that Butkus is not actually coaching. It is just talk. The booster club at Montour paid for the high school locker room. It is a really nice one and not like the usual high school locker room. Butkus is telling the team that they won't be moving into the locker room until they earn it. DJ looks like he lives in a house that isn't as upscale as some of the others. It seems that he was adopted four years ago by the family that he lives with. He says that his parents treat him like he is one of their kids and that he has lived in the house his whole life. DJ thinks he will get alot of time on the field in the next game. He hopes that the hard work pays off. After the break, we see the team doing jumping jacks in their uniforms. Ben Roethlisberger shows up to motive the kids. Butkus slaughters Roethlisberger's name. Roethlisberger showed up to practice with this kids. From what I hear in the local papers, Roethlisberger just showed up for abit, threw the ball alittle and left. We see him watching the kids and appearing to give the kids some techniques. we heard from DiIanni, the quarterback for the team, how Roethlisberger gave him some good tips. Crockett said that a professional player never came to his school and coached him. The cheerleaders are practicing in the gym when one runs in and says that Roethlisberger is there. All the girls squeal and run to watch him on the field. The personal trainer who is a woman comes to yell at the girls because they are watching and squealing. I would have told her to get lost. What could they really do? Butkus and Crockett drive over to talk to DJ at his house. They want to impress on him that he has a great opportunity to become a star and to carry the load. Crockett wants DJ to do a little bit of anything. It seems that DJ got at least 8 yards every time he touched the ball. It seems that the quarterback DiIanni has his favorites and DJ isn't one of them. So DJ doesn't get the ball very often. So the duo show up at Nick DiIanni's house to impress on DiIanni that he should get the ball to DJ more often. DiIanni said that he wants to be a leader, which Butkus says he hasn't seen. The kids are in the gym the day before the game. Nick DiIanni said that the pressure is on. The cheerleaders go to DiIanni's to decorate his yard. It seems they do this for all the senior players. Ryan Welsh is told by the one fat cheerleader that he really isn't a football player. The fat girl is a talker though, and the other girls seem shyer. We see the fathers of four of the guys on the team at a local bar downing a few and hoping for a good year. Crockett says that DiIanni has to throw to DJ or they won't win. As Crockett said, it's a team sport. He hasn't seen a quarterback yet who can throw the ball to himself and catch it. Butkus tries to talk to Morgan, but doesn't seem to know what to say. Crockett tells them that since the team had a great practice for two days, they can use the locker room. Crockett said that it should happen before the first game. It seems that they got alot of new stuff, including new uniforms from Reebok. Butkus tells them not only should they look like champions, they should play like champions. Butkus says who cares about Chartiers Valley or whatever it is called. Butkus doesn't know who the opponents are and obviously doesn't hide it. Montour travels to Chartiers Valley for the Friday night game. It's a rainy evening at the end of August. The team is hoping for a win. The rain is pouring down. Butkus tells the kids to go out and have fun and that the byproduct will be that they will be winners. Butkus asks everyone to bow their heads and pray in their own way, and then talks some about God and winning and to have fun. chartiers Valley is favored to win. We hear a phony newscast because everyone here knows that Lou Cerro is coach. he has the headset on in the film--not Butkus. DiIanni misses a throwing opportunity because he wasn't looking down field. He runs with the ball, and the team can't get a first down. The Chartiers Valley Colts run down the field and score. The kick was no good, and the score was 6-0. Montour's defense has been doing well, but not the offense. It seems that DiIanni again doesn't throw to DJ. Then DJ throws an interception which might be due to the rain. With 52 seconds left in the half, Anthony Pastin intercepts the ball and runs it in for a touchdown. Score at the half is 7-6 with Montour leading. It seems that in high school, they play 12 minutes quarters, so there is 24 minutes left to play. This is the first time in a while though that the team went to the locker room at half time without being 20 some points behind. Ryan Welsh kicks off the ball, and then is the only one who brings down the punt returner. chartiers Valley then misses a field goal attempt. DiIanni finally throws to DJ who gets them some yardage. DiIanni winds up getting hit and fumbled while he tries to continue his run. Ryan Welsh misses a field goal attempt. Chartiers Valley scores a touchdown when a runner breaks through the line and goes all the way down the field. They do a two point conversion and lead 14-7. Ricci is down and appears to have hurt his leg and is helped off the field. Ricci tells them to leave him alone and walks off the field. It doesn't look like it is broken or serious because Ricci can wiggle his toes. Montour now tries to do something with 2:19 left in the game. DiIanni makes a long throw to DJ who catches the ball. The team is close to the end zone, and winds up getting sacked twice. Montour tried a quarterback fake, but it didn't work. The final play was an incomplete throw to DJ. Chartiers Valley then runs out the clock. Montour lost by a score of 14-7. Butkus said that losing has become a habit with the team, but they have to strap it up and break the pattern. And the show ends. I just checked on Montour's statistics so far for the year, and they have 1 win, 4 losses. Has to suck if you are Butkus and ESPN. But since ESPN is using the team for drama, they should get plenty of it. Wednesday, September 28, 2005 -- Afternoon The Penguins won the first home preseason game last night. The score was 7-2. The big star of the evening was Mario Lemieux with one goal and three assists. Poor Sidney only had one assist. He's young and should get better. Of course, the Pens might not have had alot of competition from the Blue Jackets because half of them were out with a stomach flu. They probably had the nachos at the Arena. If you are a student in the Pittsburgh area, you can go to some of the Pens games with the student rush program. Students with a valid ID can purchase tickets for the Pens games one hour before the start of the game for $20. That's $20 regardless of which seat is available. The only issue may be that there won't be seats that are together, so if you go with friends, you might not get to sit together, but you will see the game. I thought that Bill Belichick was rude when he told the Steelers doctor to get lost. Well, it seems that others agree with me. The president of the pro football athletic trainers said that it was not the usual sort of thing that would happen. The home team doctors usually offer as much assistance as possible. I wonder if Belichick was having a bad day. This was on last night, and I recorded it. However, keep your eyes open for repeats! Cosmos the series that Carl Sagan did in 1980 has returned to TV. It's on the Science Channel, and will be shown on Tuesday evenings. It seems that some of the graphics and animatations have been recently enhanced. I haven't had a chance to see the shows yet, but I am looking forward to it. I loved the shows and I think I saw them several times when they were repeated on PBS. I became a life long fan of Sagan's, and I would have to credit him with my fascination with astronomy (I did get a degree in physics and astronomy). The show is wonderful. Watch if you can. If not, look for Sagan's books. The Dover trial has started up, and we have gotten testimony from teachers who were told by the school board that someone should stand up for Jesus and have the biology classes teach evolution and Intelligent Design on a 50-50 basis. The teachers said that they were forced to watch videos that said that Darwin's theory was full of holes. It seems that the prosecutor is trying to show that the school board has a history of talking about God and creationism. Tuesday, September 27, 2005 -- Evening Today was the start of Amazing Race 8. The race is starting in New York, and features ten families. The ten families are: The Gaghan family with two little kids. The family runs marathons together, and Carissa the little girl can run a seven minute mile. As she says "I may be small, but I'm not stupid." She says that she is going to out trick the other families and adults. The Linz family with three brothers and a sister. There are three other brothers at home. Tommy and Megan are the youngest, but they are adults. The Paolo family are parents and two sons of older teenage years. The Black family is another with paretns and younger boys. The Black family is also black. The family practices karate together. The Branson family with a father and three daughters who are late teens/early twenties. The Weaver family with a mother and three kids. The mother is a widow whose husband was killed on a race track. He was trying to clean the track and was hit by a car. The Aiello family is a father with three sons-in=law. He wants to know how his sons in law will react under stress. The Schroeder family is a father, step mother with a teenage son and daughter. They are from New Orleans. We see the family kickboxing. The Godlewski family are four sisters. They plan on going with the prissy, blonde bimbo. The Rogers family with parents and older son and daughter. The father says that he is going to take charge. They are southern and from Shreveport, Louisana. The prize will be $1 million. At the start of each race, each family is given a small amount of money that can be used. There are pit stops that the families must reach quickly, or be eliminated. The first race starts with the families getting a clue, running to drive away in their own SUV, and then head across the Brooklyn Bridge to destinations unknown. The race starts. They run to their bags to get the clue. Clue: Drive yourselves to Soho, find Eastern Mountain Sports and get supplies. They have $150 for the race. They all run to the cars. It seems that the Gaghan family was the first to leave. The little Gaghan kids seem to be pretty bright. Everyone is trying to figure out where Soho is. No one seems to know where to go. The Weavers went the wrong way down a one way street. The Gaghans seem to be doing pretty good in getting around in New York city. It seems that the goal of the families is to follow the other cars. The Gaghan family gives up the lead to another team that knows how to get to Soho--the Linz, and starts following them. The Paolo family seemed to be pretty argumentative with each other. The Gaghin and Linz family did well. The next clue takes them 90 blocks where they have to find a hot dog stand on 91st Street to get further directions. The Paolo family is in last place because the father who was supposed to know New York got the family hopelessly lost in Manhattan. The older son was really unhappy with the father. He kept on about how stupid and retarded the family was. We see some of the guys knocking over things and running around. Then the Paolo family finally finds out where to go when the older son gets out of the car to ask for directions. They should not have had the families drive in New York because it looked really dangerous. The Black family hasn't travelled much. Meanwhile the Paolo family is arguing and yelling at each other and calling each other stupid. The Linz family is in first place. Next up is to cross the George Washington bridge. Cross through New Jersy and Pennsylvania and go to Washington Cross. The Gaghan family is second. The Schroeder family is third. The Black family is in 9th place. The Paolo family is dead last. Once they get to Washington Crossing, the Aiello family first. They have to row a boat across the Delaware, get a flag, and come back across the river to get their clue. There are only four boats that will carry the families. Each boat has a fack George Washington who gives directions. The Bransen family is now second. The Rogers family is third, the Weavers fourth and the Gaghins are now fifth. The Aiellos are the first to get their clue. They have to 34 miles to Philadelphia, go to Fairmount Park, find Belmont Plateau, and then pitch their tents and spend the night. They have to hurry up because they will be assigned times to leave the park for the next leg of the adventure. With the Black family, one of the little boys saw the clue box and got the family on the right track. The Paolo family seems to be really far behind which is what you would expect from their start. The Linz family is lost and had gone well past where they should have gone. Meanwhile on the Delaware River, the Black family is being taken away by the current because the kids are crying that they can't paddle. The Aiello family arrives at the park first and starts to pitch their tent. The Gaghan family moved up into third place. The Aiello family gets to depart at 10 am. The Gaghan family are second and also get a 10 am start. The Bransen's in third place get 10:30. Back at the river, the Black family is still having issues, and the Godlewski family is in eighth place. At least they have their flag. The two teams who haven't gotten their flags yet are the Linz and Paolo families. The Paolo family is in dead last still, and are just crossing the river as the Linz team is leaving to find the Park. The Schroeder family has found out that they are in 6th place and get to leave at 10:30. The Paolo mother is really having problems moving. The Paolo mother lost the clue so the family has to go back to get it. The Paolo family has some serious issues that are coming out in this episode. The two boys are disrespectful to their parents, and the mother and father let the boys, especially the older one, treat them like shit. The show is just past the first hour. I have to admit that I'm not sure if I am a fan of Amazing Race. I think that this show is far too long--it is two hours. I would rather be watching one of the shows that I am recording, and I just hope that things pick up when the shows are shorter. The older son in the Paolo family said that they have to take a risk. He said, we know what the clue said, we don't need to go back to get it. Meanwhile the mother was acting like the sad martyr. The next morning, the teams had to travel 92 miles to Mount Joy, Pa and the Bruebaker family farm for the next clue. The Weavers seem to be a religious family and always seem to make some sort of religious reference. The Weaver family is now in first place. The farm is in Amish country. The teams get their first detour. They must either build a watermill or pull a buggy. Both the Weaver and the Rogers family choose to pull the buggy. The Gaghin family has it easy because the two adults can put the lighter two kids in the buggy and pull them. The Weavers have an accident in their buggy. It runs away with the two girls in it. The mother and son were pulling the buggy. The mother in the Weaver family was run over, and she was okay. The one daugher started to cry because of how the father died. Fortunately the Weavers tell the Gaghin about the brakes as the Weavers go to do the building. The Gaghin family passes the Aiello family while the kids sing. As the Aiello guys say, the Gaghins have 70 pounds of kids in the buggy while they have 400 pounds of men. It seems that the better choice was to build it instead of buggying it. It seems that pulling the buggy was the bad choice because it is so tiring. The LInz family is having some problems. The Weaver family is first. They have to go to the Rohrer family farm in Lancaster. The last family to reach the Rohrer farm will be eliminated. The Paolo family is disorganized as usual, and the fighting ensues. The Gaghin family finished the buggy in third place. it will be interesting to see if the Paolo family finishes last. For some reason the families seem to get lost even though they have maps. They really seem to have problems following directions and using a map. The families are looking for blue silos that mark the Rohrer family farm. The Godlewski family is the first team to reach the farm. As the winners, they get $20,000. The Weavers and the Gaghins get to the farm at the same time. The Gaghin family made it as team number two. Those kids can run. The Weavers are team number three. Back at the building the Paolos are fighting. The Linz family is not doing too badly considering they pulled the buggy. The Schroeder family is having some problems building their mill, but they finally get it going. The elder Paolo son yells at his mom who was trying to touch the watermill. Goodness knows why she was doing that. Meanwhile the Mother starts crying because she says that she has had a lifetime of embarrassment with how her children treat her. She tells the father that he needs to handle the kids. I guess she doesn't want the parent role. The Rogers family is the fourth team. The Schroeder family is team number five. The mother starts yelling and screaming because they thought they were lost. At the end they were team number six, and the family is all smiles and laughing. The family is really disfunctional. The Bransen family is team number seven. The Linz and Black families are still building and buggying. Aiello family is team number eight. It is down to the Black and Linz family. The kids in the Black family are starting to look abit depressed. The Linz boys decided to not follow the other team in the hopes of getting there first. Both families get there at the same time. It is now a race to the finish, and the Linz family is team number nine. The Black family is eliminated. The family is sad, but the father said that sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. As long as you put in your best effort that is what counts. The dad says that he is proud of his family. The mom said that the boys did the best job that they could, and the father said it was the best experience that he wouldn't give up for anything. Tuesday, September 27, 2005 -- Afternoon If you are interested in being on Big Brother, applications are being accepted for next year's show. I know that I won't be applying because I can't imagine being stuck in a house with no escape with a group of drama queens and kings. It's more fun for me to watch the action than to be a part of the action. Don't you just wish sometimes that you can turn the clock back? I'm sure that the Steelers would love to do that. It appears that the press box operator made a mistake with the clock that resulted in the game being 52 seconds longer than it should have been. Now the game winning field goal was scored in the last few seconds on the clock. IF the time had been correct, the game would have gone into overtime, and who knows what would have happened? Cowher is being diplomatic and says that it would not have made a difference and that New England won fair and square. You just have to wonder. Granted there is nothing that can be done now, but the mistake should have been caught and fixed at the time. The other Steeler story deals with Bill Belichick turning down help from the Steelers' doctor. When Matt Light was injured, with what turned out to be a broken leg, the Steeler doctor ran out to help him, and was told to get lost. John Norwig, the Steeler doctor thought it was funny because he was just going out to help someone in need. I guess that Belichick just thought that Norwig was going to turn the screws on Light to get team secrets. Sid the Kid will be making his home debut tonight in the Penguins game tonight. The game is a preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and will be our sixth preseason game. So far, the first five have been loses, so everyone is hoping for a win. This is not a good sign, but I'm hoping that it is just because we are playing around with the lines and don't have things firmed up yet. Bo Bice and his wife had a baby on Saturday. It is a boy named Aiden. No other details have been released. Congratulations Bo. This week is Banned Book Week. It's one of my favorite weeks because I think that I should be the person who decides what I, or my children if I had them, read. Here's the list of the 100 most frequently challenged books. Some of my favorite books are on the list, like Harry Potter, Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men, and A Wrinkle in Time. It's fine and dandy for someone to decide that they don't want to read the books or don't want their children to read them. Let me make up my own mind about what is permissible. Most of the time it is just that some folks are trying to suppress ideas. This is not just a conservative thing. Liberals are just as apt to want to ban a book or a thought that doesn't agree with their agenda. I originally mentioned this around May 25, but it appears that more scientists are getting on board with the idea that Voyager 1 is on in the heliosheath. This is the area of solar system that marks the location where the solar winds slow. Voyager already experienced the terminal shock that occurs when something hits the heliosheath area in December of 2004. The Sun is surrounded by a bubble that marks the extent of our solar system. This bubble is called the heliosphere and extends well beyond where the farthest planet is. It is expected that Voyager will reach the heliopause which marks the outer boundary of the heliosphere in eight to ten years. Voyager will then no longer be affected by solar winds of any kind. At least from our Sun. Monday, September 26, 2005 -- Evening The Penguins have reduced their roster to 35. 12 players were sent to the Wilkes Barre Penguins. There are going to be more cuts tomorrow. More news on the Grand Challenge. Red Whittaker of the CMU Robotics Institute says that he thinks his team has a good chance to win the challenge this year. It seems that both Red Team vehicles, H1ghlander and Sandstorm, have both completed 175 mile courses in preparing for the event. As Red says, what it comes down to is the durability and smartness of the vehicles and the luck of the contestants. H1ghlander was the vehicle that was damaged when it turned over last week, and it was back with limited functionality within 48 hours. Monday, September 26, 2005 -- Afternoon I do have some additional notes about the Steelers loss yesterday. The one comment that I didn't like was made by Hines Ward in explaining how New England won. His comment was "They're the Patriots. That's why they're champions." The reason that I don't like it is that in a way it excuses bad performance on the team's part because they were just playing a better opponent. At the NFL level though, I think that the players should be more level. Besides, the Steelers had many opportunities that they just blew. All is forgiven with Antwaan Randle El. Even Cowher told him that he should just let it go. He understood that Randle El was trying to make a play, but that you just can't do that with a team like the Patriots. I would feel really bad if I were Randle El, but you can't let it eat at you. Just realize what you did wrong and move on with life. Meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum, Clark Haggans had one of the best games of his career. Teams will be competing for a spot in the Grand Challenge robot race on Oct. 8. Qualifications will begin this Wednesday with 40 teams competing in a 2 mile semi-final race that will determine the 20 entrants for the great race. This is the robotic vehicle race that takes place in the Nevada desert and could be as long as 175 miles. The robotic vehicles are supposed to navigate the course without human interaction. They are supposed to respond to whatever comes into their path based on algorithms that have been preprogrammed into their systems. The winner of the race will get $2 million dollars. CMU has two challengers on the Red Team, but one of them flipped last week while preparing for the Challenge. The vehicle is being repaired and should be ready for the qualifying round. There hasn't been alot of news about the upcoming Pittsburgh mayoral election. Basically the Democratic party controls the city, and the person who wins the primary for the Democratic party usually sails into the job with little challenge in the November general election. This year there might be abit of a change up though. The Republician candidate for mayor, Joe Weinroth, has gotten the endorsement of the firefighter's union. The reason for the switch in support was because Bob O'Connor, the Democratic nominee, refused to meet with the union until after the election (which will be held on Nov. 8). The news about this endorsement is that the firefighters really do vote as a bloc, and it seems that they were the group responsible for the last mayor's win. The thing is that O'Connor shouldn't count on a win before it actually happens. In the city, things have just been as quiet as can be. You wouldn't think that there was going to be an election for mayor in six weeks time. I hope that this starts the flurry of activity so we can find out what the candidates hope to do for the city. I am really not happy with O'Connor's assumption that the race is won. Sunday, September 25, 2005 -- Evening Second Half In the first few plays of the half, New England was still having problems. Brady was sacked, and they were just not moving the ball. Adam Vinatieri missed a 53 yard field goal attempt. That was a quandry for me because I have vinatieri on my fantasy team, but of course want him to do poorly in this game. Roethlisberger is on the field. The audience found out that the way that Brady communicates to his snapper in noisy places is by tapping him on the butt. The announcers didn't know what the scheme was, but it was probably a pat on the butt, the linesman says something and then off they go. It didn't work for Brady because he was sacked as they were saying it. Then Haggans caused Faulk for the second time in the game to fumble, and it was recovered by the Steelers. I just realized that I didn't see Staley play. I can't tell if he is suited up and just on the sidelines, but he hasn't made it into the game yet. Reed just scored a 24 yard field goal, so the Steelers are ahead 13-7. Brady can't seem to get anything going, but fortunately for them, our special teams let them get close to the endzone. Vinatieri wound up capitalizing on it and making a field goal. The score is now Steelers 13-Patriots 10 with seconds left in the third quarter. Things are not looking good for the Steelers. Corey Dillon just scored a touchdown and the Patriots now have the lead. The score is 17-13 in the Patriots favor. Roethlisberger was under attack in the end zone, but he managed to get a pass off to Verron Haynes for a first down. In the very next player, Roethlisberger got sacked. The Steelers just seem sort of out of it. Duce Staley is playing now. The ball wasn't passed to him, but he was on the field. The Patriots seem to have something going for them that the Steelers are lacking. The Patriots have suffered some injuries in the game, and yet are still plugging away. Meanwhile the Steelers just seem to be out there on the field doing nothing much of anything. What is sad about it is that the Steelers had the momentum in the first half, and it just seems to be totally gone. There is less than four minutes left in the game. vinatieri just scored another field goal for the Patriots, and the score is now 20-13. Ricardo Colclough, from Special Teams, got the ball to the 50 yard line. A pass to Cedrick Wilson has us to the 40 yard line. We have to score a touchdown here to stay in the game. Ward got another first down just as we reach the 2 minute warning. Ward got his leg wrapped because he was having hamstring problems. We lost yards with two holding calls, and are at second down and 11. Now it is third down and 11 because Randle El wasn't able to hold onto the ball. This is not looking good because we have to score a touchdown to tie. On the third down, Roethlisberger was tackled as he tried to run with the ball. Now the question is what will we do with the fourth and 11. We have a timeout now, and the guys on the Steeler sideline look down. Pass interference called on the Patriots and it is a 23 yard penalty and a first down. We are on the five yard line, and Roethlisberger just threw a nice pass to Hines Ward who scored the touchdown, the extra point is good, and the game is now tied! There is still 1:21 left in the game. This is nerve wracking. The defense seems to be having problems, and it really sort of sucks because we are so close. There have been plenty of opportunities though that the Steelers had but didn't take advantage of. We should have had a touchdown with the Randle El mistake that caused a turnover. Vinatari just scored a 43 yard field goal with one minute left in the game. New England wins and Roethlisberger has his loss in the regular season. He's 15-1. This was really disappointing. Final score is 23-20. Sunday, September 25, 2005 -- Late Afternoon First Half The Steelers game has just started. The Steelers won the coin toss and elected to receive first. We didn't have the ball for very long before we had to punt. The New England Patriots have the ball and are in the red zone with their first sets of moves. The Steeler defense doesn't seem to be stopping or blitzing Tom Brady, and Corey Dillon just ran the ball in for a touchdown. The Patriots have scored first. 0-7. Not to worry though! Ben Roethlisberger is hell bent to prove me a bad predictor and I love it. He threw a pass to Hines Ward who ran the ball in for an 85 yard touchdown, and the game is now tied. 7-7. The fans are psyched now. I have to admit that I didn't think much of Roethlisberger based on his pre-season, and I'm all for putting someone in his place, but Roethlisberger is proving me wrong. He has been consistently good in the regular season, and really seems to want to work. So he may be a jerk in real life, but he is a good player. New England has the ball, and James Farrior just sacked Brady. Bad news in the first quarter with 7:32 left to play. Rodney Harrison was badly injured on the field, They had to bring out the cart to take him off the field, and it looks like he really hurt his left leg somehow. Earlier in the week, Harrison was trash talking the Pittsburgh fans in a way by saying that all they could do is make noise. As Harrison said: ``It's just fans yelling. I don't care how loud it is. It's just fans, It's people sitting on their butts, standing up, yelling and screaming. That's all it is. They can't do anything. They can't throw, they can't catch. All they can do is yell, scream, swear at you, maybe give you the finger, and those type of things. But they can't do anything. They're fans, sitting down, drinking beer, eating popcorn and pizza, and you respect that." Roethlisberger did something unusual. He was underattack, and ran with the ball, and took a tackle. Usually he, and other quarterbacks, slide to avoid the hit, but he plowed right in. I was surprised. Of course, you don't want your quarterback taking risks like that because you don't want him to be injured. The Steelers weren't able to convert on their next move, but we did manage to get it within field goal range. We now lead 10-7. In the second quarter, New England had the ball but Clark Haggans caused Kevin Faulk to fumble. Larry Foote recovered and we are on the 35 yard line. Roethlisberger threw a long pass to Antwaan Randle El who was running, and almost tackled. Randle El, threw the ball to Ward, and the ball was fumbled and New England recovered it. Boy, what a stupid move on Randle El's part. New England had the ball, couldn't do anything and had to punt. We tried to make some moves, but then Roethlisberger was trying to throw to Randle El and the ball was intercepted with 7:23 on the clock. The Steelers challenged it, and it is being reviewed now. It looks like it is going to be ruled an incompletion, and it was. The Steelers are not charged with an interception. It was fourth down though, and we just basically wound up throwing the ball away. New England wasn't able to do anything and had to punt. It doesn't seem that either team really has things going right. I am really surprised because New England is really seeming lackluster this season. Right now, they are 1-1 for the season. Roethlisberger was injured with 2:37 left in the first half. He was rolling on the ground and it is not clear right now what the issue is, and there isn't an instant replay on the tv. one guy was holding onto him and Roethlisberger threw the ball, and the guy still dragged him down and fell on him. Jeff Reed tried a 47 yard field goal, and it was good, but there were whistles before the snap. We had a false start, and it is now a five yard penalty, and it is a 50 yard attempt. The second attempt was blocked though, and we make no score. It is still 10-7. Roethlisberger hurt his left shoulder, and it's not known yet if he will come back into the game. Chris Hope intercepted the ball within yards of the endzone. Roethlisberger is on the field, but he took a knee, and the teams are going to the locker room. Sunday, September 25, 2005 -- Early afternoon There is a Steelers game later this afternoon, and I am going to rush out in abit to make sure I have plenty of snacks for the game. You can't watch football without making it an eating feast, and if there is one thing I love to do, it's to plan activitites around food. Big news from the Penguins is that Mario Lemieux has been moved from the left wing position to center. It seems that the line will be Lemieux with Ziggy Palffy and Ryan Malone. what is just great is that this is our second line! When you look at the depth that the Pens have this year, it is really exciting. My boyfriend and I received our tickets to the home opener which is scheduled for Oct. 8. One item which I have not been able to comment on to the length that I would love is the topic of Intelligent Design. According to the propopents of this "theory", it is not creationism. It's claim is that evolution has holes in it. For example, not every link is found in the evolution of animals and humans. Therefore, according to the ID folks, that means that there is a problem with evolution. Their claim is that there is no way that things could have evolved from single cell creatures to the complex human without the hand of an overseeing being. What we are talking about here is God. The ID folks don't want to come right out and say that because they know that there is a problem with preaching religion in public schools. The problem is that they believe that this notion of intelligent design is scientific and that it should be included in classes that teach science. Not only that, they want the children to be taught that the evolution is a theory with holes in it and only intelligent design is complete. I am really offended that someone would want to have a pseudoscience presented in a scientific format. I hope to have some time to comment on this topic more fully, and have been planning a comments page on it. I just haven't had time since I started the writing class and went back to work. However, I am going to make the time because there is a case planned here in Pennsylvania that is going to court in Harrisburg tomorrow. The Dover school district wants to include intelligent design in the science classroom, and of course, folks are fighting that. I know that the question that I have for any person who does not believe that it is possible for an eye to evolve is how does this superpowerful, magically being exist? Did this being just pop up out of nothing or does it have a creator too? I find the evolution of the eye to be alot more believeable than a God that just is. I will have more in the coming days and will keep an eye on this trial. Saturday, September 24, 2005 -- Evening Finally, the Pittsburgh Panthers were able to beat a high school level team. That's right, Pitt beat the Youngstown State Penguins. The game was abit of a route and the final score as 41-0. I know that the team is probably whooping it up at the fact that they finally won a game and won't be starting the season 0-4. The fact of the matter is that there is not alot good with the team just yet, and it is going to take some work to get them into shape to play a better team. Granted our schedule is weak, but I'm not anticipating alot more wins. There were some interesting stories from someone who went to the Big Brother wrap party. It seems that the Maggots aren't talking to each other. This was bound to happen if one of them won because they were the sort of people who would have sour grapes and not be happy for a buddy. It was quite alot of fun to watch the Wednesday House Calls show because it was very obvious that there was tension between Maggie and Ivette. Check out the House Calls this coming Monday. Gretchen and Marcellas will be catching up with some of the houseguests over the next several weeks on Mondays to find out how they are doing and what they think of the experience since they have had a chance to watch the tapes. Friday, September 23, 2005 -- Mid Afternoon I finally got the chance to watch the episode of House Calls that had Maggie, Ivette, Janelle and James on it. It seems that they were trying to not to call Maggie and Ivette on some things (although Marcellas did try to bring up some things, and almost called it the "Fiendship" to their faces). Maggie was trying to cover for April and Jennifer when Ivette brings up the fact that some folks in their alliance did not like her. James and Janelle exchanged rolling eyes when Maggie was trying to boost the Maggots. Marcellas did call Ivette on the fact that she should have taken Janelle's offer to throw the game and let Janelle win. Ivette tries to defend herself, but she really was stupid and it still comes through. Maggie wears a sour puss throughout the show, especially when James makes comments about Eric. It was an interesting show, and I am thinking that the Maggots will not be friends outside of the show. Michael called into the show, and Maggie asked what people really thought of them outside the house, and Michael said that everyone really lovedhim, Kaysar, Janelle, James, Sarah, Rachel and Howie. I thought it was hiliarious. One thing of interest is that Maggie is saying that she is going to split some of her money with Eric. I didn't think that the contestants were allowed to do it because they signed a contract with CBS. Friday, September 23, 2005 -- Afternoon It seems that there is a chance that Duce Staley might play in this Sunday's game against the New England Patriots. It seems that Staley has been practicing with the team for the past couple of weeks and Bill Cowher thinks that Staley might be able to play a role in the game. I'm thinking that Staley won't be a starter, but will see some action in the game. We'll have to see how he does. I'm not a big fan of Staley's because to me it seems that he has always had some sort of physical issue over the past two years. What gets to me is that for all the time we have had him, he hasn't really produced what we had hoped for. I must not have been listening too closely to the sports news because I missed this story. It seems that Rafael Palmeiro is at it again. No, he hasn't tested positive for steroids again. What has happened is that Palmeiro claimed that if he had steroids in his blood, it must be because a teammate who claimed to inject him with B-12 actually injected him with steroids. Who did Palmeiro implicate but his teammate Miguel Tejada. What is really wrong with the story is that Tejada only had B12. So he didn't give Palmeiro steroids. What I think stinks to high heaven about this is that Palmeiro knows that he has been taking steroids, but to protect himself, he blames an innocent teammate. What a jerk and asshole Palmeiro is! I think that MLB needs to just give Palmeiro an ass kicking and suspend him from playing for a couple of years. Palmeiro did the deed and should pay the price, and should pay double for being a jerk. Thursday, September 22, 2005 -- Evening Today was the second episode of Survivor: Guatemala/The Maya Empire. As with most of these shows, we had a recap of last week's episode. The new action started on night 3 with the Nakum tribe returning to camp and thinking of how sick all the men are. Day 4 takes us to the Yaxhu tribe. They don't think that the Nakum drive is as big a powerhouse as they originally thought. Yaxhu thinks they are the most diverse tribe. Gary isn't telling anyone that he was an NFL quarterback 15 years ago. It seems that Yaxhu is getting along very well, and they think that will help them in the competition. Blake from the Nakum is whining about not being able to breath, sleep, and that he's not feeling well. Then we see the nurse who's on Nakum nursing Blake. He really seems like a whiner. Meanwhile Brandon, the farmer, says that he thinks that Blake has to man up and play with pain. The next compeitition is going to be for food. They have to race one at a time over to a net, and then have to climb around on the net and release one of eight bags, drop it into the water, and must drop into the water after it. If the person falls into the water without a bag, they have to go back to the beginning. All the players must go in a certain order, and after everyone has gone at least once, then they can go in any order. The winning team gets all eight bags. What they win will be worms, hooks, and other things to help them fish because besides crocodiles in the water, there is also alot of fish. Amy sits out for Yaxhu so they don't have an unfair advantage since they have more people. First up is Jaime and Bobby Jon. Jamie was first into the water with his bag. Brian for Yaxhu is on his way. Finally Bobby Jon gets back and Cindy goes off. Cindy made up alot of time, and got Nakum the lead. Blake and Stephanie then went off. Both were pretty much tied, but Stephanie got out first. Gary and Brandon then go out. Brandon got his bag first. Margaret was first for Nakum, and then Rafe for Yaxhu. Rafe dropped without a bag and had to go back and then couldn't get out of the water. Rafe really lost them alot of time. Judd didn't get a bag and dropped into the water. Danni went out for Nakum and Morgan for Yaxhu. Brianna was out next for Yaxhu with tied bags. Brianna fell without a bag. Lydia went out for Yaxhu. Danni got a bag for Nakum. Nakum has 6 bags, Yaxhu has 5. Jamie from Yaxhu goes out and Brooke is coming back. Jamie made up alot of time, and they are tied again. Blake is going for the eighth bag and Brian is going for his bag. It looks like a tie. Nakum won the competition, and Blake acts like he is dying. Nakum goes out to fish early in the morning. They actually caught a few little fish. Rafe says that they are in desperation mode and will eat anything. Rafe found a grasshopper. Gary lets us know that Morgan isn't doing her fair share of the work at the camp. Meanwhile Lydia makes a fish trap. Rafe decides to eat some ants, and he and Gary get an ant nest. They sample the ants, but Lydia gets 10 little minnows so that means one each. Lydia says that the way to a man's heart is through their stomach. We then go back to Blake wheezing in the Nakum camp. Judd says that Blake does nothing in camp, and Margaret just nurtures him. Judd is getting sick over just hearing how much Blake is resting and not doing anything. Judd complains to Brandon about it. As Judd says Blake rests all the time while the rest of them work, so he can be the hero in the competitions. Blake is still whining. The next competition is coming up, and it sounds like tug of war. Danni from the Nakum tribe is a sports writer and recognizes Gary as an NFL quarterback. Both tribes will be connected to each other with a colored rope. Each person must get a flag, and other players from the other team can try to impede the other team. If no one from the tribe gets a flag in the specified time, it becomes a one on one competition. Brianna will be sitting out this one. Nakum had a bit of a lead. One of the guys goes for Danni, and a real mud battle goes on. One minute is left unless they get flag it is down to one on one. Which ever player is closer to the flag gets it. They have to get three flags to win. Danni yells out that Gary is a quarterback and that her teammate needs to be a tight end. Yaxhu looks shocked. Brandon has a big lead and gets to the rope and gets the second flag for Nakum. Judd and Jaime both go up again. Jaime made a big move and started to move towards his flag. Judd waited until the final seconds and pulled Jaime. Nakum won the flag and immunity. Yaxhu goes to tribal council. Yaxhu is not happy about the tribal council, and they are all wondering who will go. They all love each other they say, but they have to vote someone off. Stephanie is shocked that they might be talking about getting rid of her. She is shocked. Stephanie says that she is the strongest girl on the team and can't understand being voted off and refuses to get off. Someone asks Gary about being a former NFL quarterback because Danni said something while she was wrestling in the mud. Gary is keeping his past quiet because he doesn't want to be voted off. Gary says that he doesn't like Morgan because she does nothing in the camp. He doesn't like Lydia because she is limited because Lydia is smaller and older and therefore can't compete. It seems that a group of them have decided to get rid of Lydia. Brian likes Lydia because she is a really hard worker. He tells Lydia what is going on. Lydia campaigns and says that she puts her heart and soul into every single challenge. Morgan is lazy, and does nothing, but they will keep her because she is young. That is so stupid. So they have tribal council. Stephanie said that the tribe was very welcoming. Jeff asks Lydia about her being the least athletic, and she says that she tries really hard. Votes: Morgan, Lydia, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan. So Morgan gets voted out by five votes. Jeff tells the tribe that they are obviously close and unified but that the person voted out obviously didn't see it coming. As the show ends, we see everyone voting, and everyone voted for Morgan to leave. She admits that she didn't see it coming at all. Thursday, September 22, 2005 -- Afternoon Sidney Crosby garnered an assist in his debut as an NHL player. It was a preseason game, and the Penguins actually lost in overtime with a score of 5-4. The nice thing is that Crosby didn't seem to be out of place playing against older, more experienced players. It's going to be a good season, and I am excited that I have my partial season tickets! Some of the local sportscasters have issues with the way things are being presented on the Bound for Glory. The main issue is that Dick Butkus is being presented as the coach on the show, but in real life it is Lou Cerro. I know that they did this for the cameras, and folks outside of Pittsburgh will only watch because Butkus is on the show. I think that the show is hilarious. I'm not sure if that is the way that it is meant to be, but to see Butkus go off on one of his stupid tirades is just hilarious. There's Butkus saying that the 15 years old should be playing hurt. Come on, they are only 15! Do you want them to ruin their bodies now so they never make it to college or to the professionals? I guess that Butkus wouldn't mind that. I think that the kids from Montour aren't necessarily hoping to be the next biggest star. They are just hoping for a scholarship that will pay for college. Wednesday, September 21, 2005 -- Evening I watched the debut episode of Bound for Glory. It is set in the Montour School District which is a area southwest of Pittsburgh. It is not too far from the Pittsburgh Airport, and the homes are usually nicer ones with more land around them than you would find in the city. We see Dick Butkus driving into town with a trailer listening to a radio show with Ellis Cannon talking about Dick Butkus coming to town. We then see some guys in the Kennedy Township Fireman's Club sitting at the bar talking about the Montour football team. We hear that football is the sport in this part of the country (southwest Pennsylvania) and that the team hasn't had a winning season since 1988, and was 1 in 8 last year. We then see some of the yuppie kids sitting outside on the family deck with the nice yard behind them talking with their dad about how great it will be to have Dick Butkus as the new head coach. The kids and that environment that they live it reminds me very much of the well to do middle class family that you see in movies. That is how that part of town is. The majority of kids are the team are white, with one kid who is half black (his mother is white). If you went five miles away to McKees Rocks, you would see a different picture. There you would find more black children in the schools and on the sports teams. There are also three areas that are lower income, and all three are scary places to find yourself in. The show takes us to the Montour Football Boosters Picnic where one of the fathers was telling the kids to eat up because they were skin and bones. We hear from some of the parents and boosters that they are looking forward to a winning season at Montour. It was one of the better football programs in the 50s and 60s. We hear from some of the players that last year was a train wreck and embarrassing. This is supposed to be the turn around year. Now a scene right out of American Pie with a pool party in the backyard of one of the players. We have the typical high school jocks prancing around the pool with scantily clad buxom teenage girls embracing each other or flirting with the want-to-be heroes. One of the players believes that this year they will make the playoffs and they keep on saying that they can guarantee it. It seems that at least one of the players is intimidated at the thought of Butkus coming to town. He says that he is coming to Montour because he is getting the kids at the beginning of their football careers that he is hoping to mold them and get them to build alittle character. One thing to note is that the homes and rooms of the football players are very nice. They obviously have alot of priviledge. They just talk like ghetto kids. We then get to meet the only black player, Christian Wilson. He's a running back for the team and has been playing since he was 7. He broke his leg last year, and his mom really doesn't want him to go back to football. Christian wound up breaking his leg in a football game. Dick Butkus shows up for the coaching meeting. Poor Lou Cerro introduces Dick Butkus. Butkus gives them the pep talk while the students sort of look dazed. I don't think some of them are listening. Now it is time for team practice. The team sucks. They play like girls, and can't catch the ball. I've seen some better pee-wee league teams. Butkus asked them if they knew why they were doing this because they were pancakes with no motivation and no urge to really win. After the break, it's the morning of the first scrimmage (this was this past August). We get to see a father (DiAnni) who used to be a coach and assistant coach and now has both of his sons on the team. Butkus says that he was dealt a team with no motivation and not alot of depth and that he just has to drill it in and hope they get it in which case everyone will die of a heart attack. Morgan Singletary, one of the linebackers, says you don't want to hurt yourself in scrimmage, but you want to play. Christian Wilson is the premier running back. There is another black kid as a linebacker on the team. So it seems there are two in total on the team. In the scrimmage, the quarterback just sort of drops the ball and the other team falls on it. The quarterback can't throw and no one can catch. Butkus said that they forgot alot of the things that were drilled into them all week, and you have to wonder why. It seems 2-3 guys are doing the right thing, and 7-8 are missing their assignments. Butkus said they have to eliminate the mental mistakes. We see one of the players, Morgan Singletary, really get wacked in the head during a tackle, and it looked like a bad hit. We see the medical person there say that she thinks Morgan has a concussion. His parents take him to Children's Hospital here in Pittsburgh. The doctor says he has a concussion, and they take a head CT scan to see if he has any bleeding. Dr. Singh comes in to see Morgan. The CT is fine. It seems that Dr. Singh is worried about him reinjuring his head and that he has to be out for a month. As she said, he has only one brain. The doctor tells him that he has to sit on the sidelines and watch, no practice. Morgan is upset about missing three games. Now Butkus is going to pick up a buddy from the airport to check out the team. The guy is Ray Crockett. Butkus is telling Crockett that no guy is standing out except for maybe Christian the running back and Morgan Singletary. We are now at week two of camp. Butkus introduces Crockett to the team and explains that he is there to make them tougher on the defense. Butkus asks if the players can look in the mirror and say that they gave 100%. Butkus says that he and Crockett don't want to be embarrassed to be associated with losers. Crockett then flashes his Super Bowl ring. After the pep talk, the team sucks and finds themselves unable to catch the ball. Crockett is telling them to sprint. Then shows the kids how they run and that is just how a wide receiver will run past them. Christian seems abit bored while he is doing his stuff. Butkus asks for fullback volunteers. No one volunteers so he grabs a kid (he calls him number 18) and tells him to do what the other kid did. Then he tells another kid to just go and run somewhere. It is hilarious becuase they really do suck. Christian is given tips on how to run and run around cones. During the practice with the spinning drill, Christian popped his finger, and the trainer said to go to the hospital. So a piece of bone was pulled off of Christian's bone and has to be operated on. Christian's thumb is grossly unstable according to the doctor and can move sideways. The doctor says that he won't play football for at least two months after the surgery, but Christian says he has two more years anyway. After the break, Christian returns to the training facility and tells everyone that his thumb is broken and that he might be out for the season. Crockett can't believe it and keeps on saying no. Crockett didn't think it was a bad injury, and doesn't believe that it was that bad because it is just a thumb. As Crockett said, get it operated on now, and go back to play. Crockett sais that Christian has to be thinking if he should play football with a broken leg one year and broken thumb. One of the players said that with Christian injured that the season is over. Butkus starts yelling at the players, and Crockett is telling them they are terrible and they have to run. Butkus says to Cerro that he is about to lose it because he can't believe that the folks are claiming that the injuries are so serious. Butkus says that he doesn't care that the players are 15, they need to be running with the crutches. The funniest line was Butkus calling it Club Med and that the injured players were treating it like a social club, and they should just go off and play Nintendo. Butkus then tells the players that there is pain and there are injuries and they need to play with pain. He says that they don't think that the kids care, and that the coaches are trying to make them winners instead of periennial losers. He says even God can't coach them. Butkus says that the desire has to come from inside and that other teams can kick their ass. He says that kids in the ghetto know that it's their only way out to play the game. Those kids can't afford to go home and play Nintendo. Another break down. The players gather around to talk and they agree that there is alot of soul searching to be done. Morgan said that he has to sit out with a concussion, but he is waiting to be back. Morgan said that he played through injuries in the past, and they need to do the same. Christian goes to his mom and says that he has to play whether the doctor agrees or not. Christian says that he has to play and his mom is trying to find out if "they" are saying it or he wants it. Christian then tells his dad that he has to play, and the father says that there are 40 other kids and Christian isn't the only one. The players say that Butkus yelling at them gave them motivation and pushed them. Someone does catch a ball. Christian's dad, Pierre, must be a cop because he has handcuffs on his belt. Christian's mom, Romi, and Christian decide that they need a second opinion. Butkus said that he is not going to let anyone let him be a loser, and that he has been dwelling on the negatives too much to give any credit to the positives. He tells them they are on the way to the playoffs. Christian goes to the Center of Sports Medicine with UPMC. The second opinion was to fix the hand now and that he could go back to the field in ten days with a good cast. Christian tells Cerro what is happening with the finger now. We hear Christian telling everyone he is getting surgery tomorrow and will be playing in two weeks. Butkus is not very promising though. The final section of the show shows the morning of the final scrimmage. Christian is at the hospital getting his finger operated on. Christian's dad, Perry, said that the surgery went well, and if the doctor gives the okay, they will play. Butkus gives the team a prescrimmage pep talk. Butkus said that he is there to stop the mental problem of the team viewing themselves as losers. Montour was doing well, and then the other side scored. Butkus said that they didn't fold their tents like losers do. It seems that the progression of the team has been better but as Gianni Ricci, one of the players said, they still have a long way to go. Crockett keeps on telling them to run fast not jog. He also says that they are improving and learning how to play the game of football. Butkus said that you have to plant the seed in their heads that they can win. And so the show ends. Wednesday, September 21, 2005 -- Afternoon Yesterday was a busy day for me as I mentioned, and I had some difficulty in getting caught up with all the things that needed to be done. The first episode of Bound for Glory was on last night right after Big Brother. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch all of it, but I do have the show recorded and will give a full update on it this evening. The show looks like it is going to be an entertaining one for drama, but I don't know how much the kids will gain from it with football experience. You have to feel sorry for the coach that was just hired to take on the real full time duties of the team, Lou Cerro. He is one of the better high school coaches, and has to take a back seat to the drama of Dick Butkus on the show. From what I hear in real life, Cerro takes a more active role. You would have to hope so! I wasn't the only one who was disappointed in the Big Brother finale. I mean it came down to a vote for a Maggot. I think that Howie summed it up best by saying that they couldn't vote for one of America's choices, and that the only option was to chose from one of America's least favorite players. Granted the players created plenty of drama on their own, but it would have been nice to get some good secrets and more game stirring activities from Big Brother's end. I do have to admit that both April and Jennifer seemed upset at being called on the carpet for "America f***ing sucks" and lies that they perpetrated though the game. Since I'm back at work, I didn't get a chance to catch today's episode of House Calls, but I hope to watch it sometime this evening. Supposedly, Maggie, Ivette, James and Janelle are supposed to be on the show. It seems that Ben Roethlisberger hurt his back with a hit that he received in Sunday's game. That didn't prevent him from soldiering on. Roethlisberger should be proud of his 15-0 record in regular season games. The first loss will be hard, but hopefully, he will bounce back with another win. He is impressing me because I have to admit that I was writing him off after his pre-season performance. It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge someone too much on their performance when it really doesn't count. Scientists are find that Mars is alot more active than originally thought. It seems that the Mars Global Surveyor has found evidence of gullies and craters. The gullies showed up in photos from April of 2005. They checked back on previous photos of the area, and the gullies were not in evidence in July of 2002. To have such changes in just a few years time means that more is going on with Mars than we thought. Scientists have found out that the ingredient in green tea that might fight cancer, might also play a role in protecting the brain from Alzheimer's Disease. Actually what the scientists found out is that when the injected lab mice with the antioxident in green tea that the beta-amyloid protein was not produced as much. It is suspected that these proteins are the cause of the plaques in the brain that clog the arteries and wind up causing Alzheimer's. Of course that doesn't mean that it will work in humans or that the prevention of Alzheimer's is as simple as drinking a glass of green tea every day. For one thing, there are other things in the green tea that appear to block the protein from doing its job. The other thing is that scientists tend to give lab mice so much of the ingredient that they are testing that it isn't feasible for a human to get that much into their bodies without supplements. So the thing now is to find out if and how to make the supplement, determine the amount that would be needed to prevent Alzheimer's, and wonder if it will cause any side effects in humans that werern't noted in mice. Tuesday, September 20, 2005 -- Evening Since I returned to work, it has been difficult to come up with a schedule that allows me to do all the things that I grew to enjoy during my recovery from the bunion surgery. I'm going to have to work harder on freeing up time to get more blogging done. Tonight was the final episode of Big Brother. We all know what that means. It comes down to either Maggie or Ivette winning the grand prize. The 80 days of Big Brother are over, and it is time for the live finale. The recap for this show covered the entire season. They mentioned the Summer of Secrets which didn't result in alot of secrets. Julie Chen was there with a live audience. The jury will be made up of Jennifer, Rachel, James, Beau, Howie, April, and Janelle. We see Maggie and Ivette hugging after Janelle left. Ivette said that her game plain was to be honest. She said that she was she was outspoken, blunt and loud. Maggie said that she made it this far in the game by the loyalty to the group of people that she chose. We see her just keeping quite instead of giving her opinion. Maggie claims that she likes the spotlight and isn't the quiet sort of person and her family and friends would be shocked. Maggie claims that she didn't break the trust of anyone she cared about in the game. Ivette says her family is everything. We then go to the jury house to see the arrival of Janelle. James said that he would like the final winner to be the person who played the game the best, not the one that kissed the most ass. As he was arguing with everyone, Janelle appeared. She hugs everyone, and tells them that Ivette won HOH and that Janelle made Ivette an offer to take her to the final and win the big prize, but that Ivette gave up her the final prize. James gets really angry and says that she remained true to her friends while kicking her family in the ass. Beau tried to stick up for stupid Ivette, but James said it best by saying that she chose a friend that she knew for nine weeks over a family that she had for 25 years. April says that if it came to two of the Maggots and one of the others, that if the Maggot chose the other then none of the Maggots would vote for her. Beau said that it would be playing dirty to do that, and they wouldn't honor it. Janelle says that it shows that Ivette had integrity though, and Howie said that Ivette didn't play with integrity thoughout the game, why do it at the final part? Janelle said that Ivette wasn't as bad with integrity. James says no one played with integrity. Janelle said that she would want the person who wins to be a person who won the game and didn't hang in the shadows. Rachel said that Ivette is a big piece of trash in the game in her eyes. Beau said that was Rachel's opinion, and she said that she is entitled to it. Janelle seems to be really anti-Maggie. April said that she thought that Maggie was going to be carried by the others so why should she compete. Beau said that Maggie wanted to fly under the radar. Rachel agrees and thought it was strategy. James thinks that it was good that Ivette was able to beat Janelle. Janelle says that Maggie always pointed the finger of blame at the other players instead of at herself. James asks if Maggie kept the Maggots around because the more she kept the Maggots together because she cared about them, or because by keeping them together made the others targets. Beau asks if James thought that Maggie got others to do her dirty work and James said that she did and that was why everyone was sitting there. James tells them that she set them up. April asks if they really think that Maggie was manipulating them, and then says that they all knew that Maggie was manipulating them. Janelle said "why didn't you get rid of the bitch, and April says because she liked Maggie. James grabs his head in disbelief and disgust. April thinks that Maggie deserved to be at the end. Rachel thinks that Maggie was a strong competitor and said that she deserves to win. James said that it should be the person who played the best. They all admit that they have alot of thinking to do to see who gets the $500,000 prize. Second prize is $50,000 which I had erroneous thought was $250,000 earlier. Geeze, Ivette was really dumb! After the break, we see each member of the jury ask one final question and have the finalists make a plea. Maggie calls James best friend. James asks Maggie what definitive moment she thinks got her to the final. Maggie says that it is because of all her team members. Rachel asks Ivette why she shouldn't vote for Maggie. Ivette says that she can't give one because Maggie has played the game as hard as any of them has played the game, and she could never tell someone not to vote for her. Howie asks Ivette if she did play the game with integrity. Ivette says that she did not lie in the game and that she was honest and in fact sometimes too honest for some people. Janelle asks Ivette that throughout the game she was playing for her family, but that didn't she think by last night's decision (to chose Maggie over Janelle) that she made a $450,000 mistake and why she did it. Ivette said that chosing Janelle would have caused her to break a promise and lose the $450,000 anyway. Janelle then says to Maggie that she hasn't made alot of plays in the game, and why she deserved the money over Ivette. Maggie says that she tried to be a competitive player but that she did not need the spotlight and didn't want anyone to think she wasn't a strategic or strong player. Then Beau asks Maggie what her strategy was when Eric left the house. Maggie says to not get evicted. Maggie says that's when she formed the Maggots. April asked Ivette if she was throwing the competitons because she didn't win until the final few folks were in the house or if there were just stronger competitors in the house. Ivette said that she knew the other side wanted her and that she was nervous and that her only safety was in one of the Maggots getting HOH> Jennifer asks Maggie who was the one person who brought up Kaysar's name as a nomination. Ivette says that she doesn't mind taking the blame and that she thinks it was her and Beau. Maggie says that she couldn't display what sort of player and strategist she was. Maggie said that she tried to blend in and maintain a competitive edge, and to lose at some competitions or to let others take a bigger role. Maggie thinks that she deserves to be there because she gave 110% of herself to be there. Then Ivette speaks and says that it is hard to say that she deserves the money more, but that she deserves it because she played Ivette. She also says that there were others who were causualties but the she offered herself up in the past. Ivette says that she is so grateful to be there. It is over, and Maggie tells Ivette that she wants a hug. James says that he is wavering towards Ivette because she did what she did for her friends while Maggie did it for herself. April says that one played as an open book and the other as a closed book. April says that both worked. Janelle said that it is tough for her because she thought that Ivette was a stronger competitior than Maggie. Jennifer says that she found out some things about Maggie that shocked her, and that she has thinks against Ivette and that it is 50-50 now. We then see Maggie and Ivette talking where Ivette says that she is confused, and Maggie says that she doesn't think they (the jury) like either of them. The jury is then brought out to sit in front of the live audience. The screams were extremely loud for Janelle, as she came prancing out like the blonde bombshell that she is. Another break down. It is now time for the jury to vote. Each jury member has a bag with a key for each of the remaining two. They are going to be called up one by one, insert the key for the player that they want, and then to make one final statement. Beau is first. He says that he is proud of them. He says that he has amazing memories with Maggie and that he has grown closer to Ivette. April is next. She says it was a long road for all of them, and that it feels great to see the wonderful people and fans and that they will see family. She says that it is a hard decision and that she really likes them both. James is next. He says that they did an outstanding job and thanks them for putting up with him. He said that he had his say throughout the season. Rachel is next. She says that the person she is voting for is the person who has been the most complete player, personally and competitively. Janelle is next. She congratulates them and says that her decision was so 50-50, and whether she should choose the better player or to base it on personal decisions. Jennifer is next. She says that she loves Maggie and wishes Ivette luck and says both played a good game. Howie is last (because he is star of the show according to Julie). He says that he loves them both and they played a great game. He also says that he can't vote for America's number one Choices--Kaysar or Janie. That he is stuck voting for America's last choices. He then says "don't hate the houseguests, hate the game". Both try to smile. Howie is sweating alot, and Julie tells him to take a deep breath. The votes are final. Ivette looks upset probably because of the comment Howie made about America's last choices. Commercials are over. The first five evicted houseguests are brought back. This will be the first time the jurors will hear more details about the show. They bring out Ashlea, Michael, Eric, Sarah, and Kaysar. Julie starts with Sarah and asks Sarah what was the one thing she wished James was aware of. She said that the loyalty that Rachel, Janelle and Howie had towards them. That she loved them all. James is speechless and says that in the end everyone had to go home in the end. Julie then asked Eric the same question. Eric thinks that Maggie played the game better than anyone that he has ever seen because she never gave anyone any indication of which way she thought or favored. Eric thinks that Maggie had everyone figured out and that she was that good. Julie then asked Michael about the claims of his supposed bad behavior, and wants to know what he has to say to his accusers. Michael said that he got great feedback from people who saw the live feeds and that was it. We then get to revisit Howie being mean to April. Howie said it was scripted for television. Howie says that he apologizes to April. April says that you love to hate him and hate to love him and that she was roommates with Howie in the jury house. We then hear April calling America pieces of shit on phone call. Then April was more evil with the second Janelle America's Choice win. April says she really doesn't think that America is a piece of shit and that she is sorry to America and Janelle. Julie then tells them that America gave Kaysar 82% of the vote. Julie asks Kaysar what he has to say to Jennifer and he tells her next time to think for herself. Jennifer looks teary eyed and says that she did think for herself. Eric said that Kaysar supposedly swore on his life and didn't like a taste of his own medicine. Everyone started booing Eric and Julie said that they would move on. We move on to Sarah and James. They get to give each other a hug. James looked very emotional and teary eyed. It is now time to find out who has won. Beau's vote goes to Ivette. April's vote goes to Maggie. James' voted for Ivette. Rachel voted for Maggie. Janelle voted for Ivette. Jennifer voted for Maggie. It is now down to Howie's vote and it goes to Maggie who is the winner. Ivette did screw her family, and she looks close to tears while Maggie is all smiles. It sucks that the head Maggot won. We have to see ugly, midget Eric hugging Maggie and then Ivette. All the houseguests go around hugging,and Ivette looks really upset. She sold out her family for a friend. The families of both are there, and they hug and cry. The final moments. Maggie says that she feels awesome and that she has lots of gifts to buy, a house, pets to take care of, taxes to pay. Julie reminds Ivette that she goes home with $50,000. And so the season ends. Monday, September 19, 2005 -- Evening The 2005 Golden Gasms from TVGasms has been released and Big Brother won a few of the awards. For Best Rivalry, the winner was Janelle and the Maggots. Most Annoying Female was Ivette. Julie Chen tied for Best Hostess. Kaysar, of course, was the Best Reality Star, Male. Janelle was the hands down winner of Best Reality Star, Female. Finally, Big Brother won the Best Television Series, Unscripted. This past season has been a good one with alot of drama. The only part that has not been as enjoyable has been the ending since it has boiled down to two Maggots competing for the final prize. Monday, September 19, 2005 -- Afternoon The official word from Bill Cowher is that Willie Parker will be starting for the Steelers next week. This past game was Parker's third consecutive game where he managed to get over 100 yards so for now, he is the man. Another high note from the game yesterday was Troy Polamalu, the Daily Bongo player of the game yesterday. He has been getting alot of kudos for his three sacks yesterday. It appears that three sacks set an NFL record for the most sacks in a game by a safety. Polamalu well deserves all the recognition that he is getting because he is a play maker who can always be counted on to make something happen in the game. Also, he is just a nice person off the field. Hines Ward also had a notable game with six catches and two touchdowns. All in all, there is alot to be happy about with yesterday's game. NASA has released detailed plans for its upcoming moon flights. They hope to get four men on the moon in 2018 for a week. The spacecraft that should carry the astronauts to their destination should be ready for 2012. That should give them enough time to test the technology and hopefully get the astronauts there and back safely. The cost for this endeavor should cost around $100 billion. Yep, you heard that right. Some folks think that this is a waste of tax payer money, but there are so many benefits to be gained by returning men to space, not just orbit of the Earth. I am back to work, hence the lack of blogging today. I will have to wait until I get home to check out the archives of House Calls. Today's episode will be a bittersweet one for all of Janelle's fans because she will be interviewed as the final houseguest who was evicted from the Big Brother house. Check it out if you get a chance because I'm sure that it will be a great episode. Sunday, September 18, 2005 -- Afternoon Second Half The Texans got the ball first in this half, and they actually managed to make a play, and got short pass that gave them a long gain. Polamalu just sacked Carr with abit over 12 minutes left in the third quarter. Polamalu is a great player. I love him because he does interceptions, sacks, and just general play making. You have to love a guy like that. He is one of the folks on my fantasy team, and even if he doesn't score points, I would keep him because he is entertaining. Carr just missed a tackle and ran for 19 yards to make first down. Houston is doig a good job of moving the ball down the field and have gotten down to their own 10 yard line. It looks like they might actually get a score of some sort. With a short pass, the Texans were finally able to score on their first drive of the half. They got the extra point and the game is now 20-7. The temperature on the field is now 108 degrees, down from near 120 degrees at kickoff. Boy, this was quite a play. Roethlisberger had the ball on a third down with 5 yards to go. Roethlisberger was under siege, but he kept on running and evading, and made a 40 yard completion to Cedrick Wilson. It was something else. We got the ball down close to the end zone and Parker ran it in for a touchdown! Reed made the extra point, and the score is now 27-7. It seems that there have been moments during this second half were the Steeler defense just falls apart. With around 11 minutes left in the game, the Texans were able to throw the ball and get a first down when they were at 2nd down and 24. It's not that the defense is doing poorly, it just seems that there are times when things just aren't meshing. It's probably because of the heat on the field. It was all okay because Polamalu sacked Carr yet again for his third sack of the day. It's amazing to see svelte Polamalu fling Carr around like a baby. The guy is amazing. The game feels like it is winding down even though there are 7:54 minutes left to play. We were just going to punt, but the Texans roughed our kicker, so we have the ball again for a few more minutes. Even the announcers seem to be talking about personal stories of the people on the team and showing folks on the sidelines. Two minute warning. The Steelers have the ball. It looks like another win. One of the local sportscasters was claiming that the Steelers would lose today which seemed like a stupid choice to me because the Texans aren't a good team. Roethlisberger is still playing which is surprising considering the fact that he had the bone bruise in his left knee earlier. There is 1:10 left in the game, and we are at 4th and 6 on the 22 yard line. We just ran the ball and didn't make the down, but the game ran out of time. It finished with Carr getting sacked yet again. The feed cut to another game quickly, but it was a sack by James Harrison. Anyway, the game is now, and the Steelers have won. Sunday, September 18, 2005 -- Afternoon First Half The temperature on the field was nearing 102 degrees. That is going to be a problem for the Steelers because of their black uniforms, but right now, we are lucky because the sidelines for the Steelers is in the shade. We received the first kickoff, and Ben Roethlisberger did play. The first play was a handoff to Willie Parker who got 18 yards on the initial run. The announcers are commenting on the fact that Roethlisberger had a perfect passer rating in last week's game. Nice play just now with Roethlisberger evading a tackle and throwing a ball to Antwaan Randle El who caught it just inside the line. So far with 5 rushes, Parker has 39 yards. He can wiggle through some tight spots. Hines Ward just dropped a pass, and now we are at third down on the twenty yard line, and then Roethlisberger missed another throw. Jeff Reed just made a 37 yard field goal for the first score of the game. Steelers have 3. Clark Haggans just knocked the ball out of the hands of the Texans quarterback, David Carr, and Joey Porter grabbed the ball. Our ball. Now with the offense on the field, Roethlisberger threw a 16 yard pass to Ward for a touchdown. Jeff Reed made the extra point, and it is Steelers 10, Texans 0 with 8:04 left in the first quarter. The Steelers have the ball again with 20 seconds left in the first quarter and we are within field goal range. Parker was tackled and we didn't get anywhere, and then a holding offense on our offense put us on the 14 yard line, and so the first quarter ends. The very first play of the second quarter was a touchdown pass to Ward. The Steelers had a false start penalty that moved them back for the extra point, but Jeff Reed was able to come through. Steelers lead 17 to 0. Roethlisberger is 8 for 11 with 135 yards and 2 touchdowns Troy Polamalu is making life suck for the quarterback, Carr. That's good news for us because Carr is having difficulty getting his act together. We challenged the spot of the ball on a throw that was completed, and lost the challenge so we got charged with a timeout. The Texans are really not doing very well, and so far, they really aren't providing the Steelers with alot of competition. Polamalu just sacked Carr when they are trying to get close enough to get a field goal with 8:20 left in the game. So we get the ball back again. Roethlisberger threw a 54 yard pass to Randle El for a completion. One of the Houston defensemen, Robaire Smith, got injured, and Roethlisberger called over the trainers for him. Parker is not getting alot of yardage at this point. The fans aren't too happy and I can understand why. It must be as hot as hell there because the Texans are trying to affect the Steelers with the heat. Unfortunately, it has to suck for the fans too. Willie Parker just got a first down for us, and we are on the 15 yard line. There are abit over 5 minutes left in the game, and it looks like we are trying to use up some time before making our next score. We couldn't capitalized because of some penalities, but Reed scored another field goal. It's now 20-0. Carr got sacked just after the 2 minute warning in the game by Ike Taylor. We got the ball and on the first play, Roethlisberger got sacked. He didn't even see the defense guy coming because Roethlisberger was trying to run with the ball. We almost made the down, but it didn't matter because it was the end of the first half. Sunday, September 18, 2005 -- Late morning The Steelers are warming up in Houston right now, and it looks as if Ben Roethlisberger will be playing today. At least he is practicing more with the team than Tommy Maddox is. There are alot of comments about how Roethlisberger's right leg is wrapped but that it's his left leg that was injured. I guess that the thing that the Steelers are trying to attempt to do is to confuse Texans to attack him from the side they think is injured but that in reality isn't. On the Big Brother front, it appears that Ivette and Maggie were asked some questions via video connection by their former housemates in the jury. It seems that the questions really got to them because it appears that all of the jurors, with the exception of Beau, really seemed to have the knives in for them. For example, James alluded to the fact that Maggie used her Maggots to do the dirty work for her so she remained in the background, and that enabled her to ensure her place in the final two. James also asked Ivette that if she is correct that her family comes first that she chose someone for the final two that put her family second. You have to love James for saying it like it is and for seeing these folks for what they are. Also, Jennifer asked Maggie whose idea it really was to put up Kaysar. Then Rachel followed up by saying that they knew it wasn't Maggie--implying that it was Ivette. Another good part was Janelle saying that Maggie looked shocked as always--implying that Maggie wasn't a very good game player. Maggie seemed to be really upset that no one realized that she was a great strategizer and player of the game--it seemed that no one congratulated her on her play as they did with Ivette. I think that Maggie's strategy was to use other people to get far, and she did that well. It's just that using people tends to come back to bite you in the butt. Some folks who have been watching the live feeds and know that Ivette has said some really racist remarks (too numerous to enumerate) about others in the house and about folks in general, wonder why Arnold Shapiro (the executive producer of the show) hasn't allowed the remarks on the television show. The idea is that by not showing the comments that Ivette makes that a more favorable image of her has been propagated. Shapiro's comments are that he doesn't want to have such remarks on the show because he doesn't like the remarks, and that folks who have the live feeds (and access to the commentary of the live feeds on the Internet) know what a racist pig Ivette has been. I suppose that I can see the point that the television show is meant for a more general/family audience while the live feeds have a disclaimer on them that the viewer may see offensive material. Also there is the concern that if a wider audience heard the remarks, there might be some people who would do something to Ivette when she comes out of the house. It doesn't matter if the remarks made the national air. The remarks were made, and all the viewers of the live feeds and readers of online commentaries know they were said. So we know that Ivette is a racist pig. The other thing that I have take issue with is that Ivette just wasn't making these comments to air. She was making it to other Maggots. They NEVER said anything to her about the offensiveness of her remarks. From that and from the frequency with which Ivette made the remarks to her fellow Maggots, I have to say that the other Maggots are equally guilty. I find the Maggots offensive people, at least in the house, and find it sad that two of them made it to the finals. Saturday, September 17, 2005 -- Evening My boyfriend and I went to an early dinner so we could watch the Pittsburgh Panthers game this afternoon on a big screen television. More about the game later, but first I wanted to mention the great experience that we had at Buffalo Blues located on South Highland Ave. in Shadyside. The restaurant is known for having great wings (they have been voted best in Pittsburgh in some local polls) and for having blues music. Today they had all the large screen televisions (of which there are several scattered all over so every seat has an excellent view of a large screen) focused on the Pitt game. The food was served quickly by a very alert and responsive waitress. The wings are some of the best that I have had in a restaurant. They were meaty and on the large size. Usually when you go to a restaurant for wings, you get an anorexic chicken. Not at Buffalo Blues! The flavor of wings that we got today were garlic parmesean (drier, less saucy wings), Buffalo Blues (a buffalo style sauce), and spicy garlic (with hot pepper flakes scattered on the wings). I gave in to the inner fatty who is quickly becoming the outer fatty since I haven't been as mobile since the bunion surgery, and we got the fudge brownie ala mode with chocolate sauce. It was enormous and fabulous with an extra container of hot chocolate sauce on the side for additional pouring and dipping. I was really impressed with the atmosphere, the price ($8 for a dozen wings), the quality of the food, and the service which was exceptional considering how busy it was. I would definitely go back again and recommend the place to others. The only disappointment was the Pittsburgh Panthers game itself. As my boyfriend said, "Pitt is not it". The final score of the game was 7-6 with Nebraska winning. Don't let the score fool you. The game was not that close. Pitt had plenty of opportunities, but didn't capitalize on them. The most frustrating and sickening part of the game was in the final few seconds of the game. Pitt had the ball in the last 30 seconds of the game, and managed to get the ball down within 40 yards of the endzone. All that was needed was a 42 yard field goal. Well, the first attempt went horribly awry with the football being thrown before the holder guy was ready. The ball ricocheted off the helmet of the holder and flew into the kicker's hands (Josh Cummings). Cummings threw the ball down the field almost to an interception. One second was left on the clock, but Pitt still had a second chance. Well, that attempt was blocked and Pitt lost. The game was a huge disappointment. There are alot of problems. The offense seemed out of sync--how else could you explain the holder not even looking toward the line for the ball, hence having the ball ricochet off his helmet. Also, the defense didn't seem to understand that this was NOT a touch football game, but a tackle game. The team needs alot of work, and a 0-3 start for the season is really not looking good for Dave Wannstedt. Saturday, September 17, 2005 -- Early Afternoon The Penguins practice continued at Mellon Arena yesterday. The big news was that a defenseman outscored Sidney Crosby in the scrimmage. Everyone will be analyzing and over analyzing the poor kid's moves all during camp. I don't think that a defenseman who hasn't scored much in his career outscoring Sid the Kid means very much. I would like to go to some of the practices, and used to in the past. However, visiting the practice at Mellon Arena isn't as nice as going to Southpointe. At Southpointe (the old practice area), you could sit in a restaurant overlooking the ice and actually have some lunch or breakfast while watching the team. Granted the arena was meant for junior hockey, and had those awful medal benches that required a blanket for comfortable sitting, but you could see the players upclose. Afterwards, if you had your skates, you could even go out for a public skate on the ice. I miss Southpointe practices. NASA is planning to have men back on the Moon by 2018. The plan at this point is to make the vehicle a combination of space shuttle and Apollo rocket parts. It seems that the engineers for the new vehicle will be relying on older, more tried and true technology as opposed to something newer, flasher, and more impressive. That makes sense because basically they want to get the folks there and back safely, and sometimes an old war horse is more reliable than a frisky filly. From the Moon, it will be a hop, skip, and a jump to Mars. At least that is my hope. I have to admit that I am not the brave, adventurous type who will want to make the mission, but I think that it would be great for our future. Friday, September 16, 2005 -- Evening Tonight was the final HOH and eviction episode on Big Brother--Day 76 in the house. The show started with the usual recap since Howie was evicted. The recap ends with the HOH competition from Tuesday night. Maggie admitted that the HOH safe competition got more complicated when the dial started moving. Janelle tells us that the speed of movement changed up so it would go slow and then fast. Maggie says as they are walking that it is an honor to be next to the other two, and they both agree. Ivette said there was no talking and she was busy praying. The dial was really moving fast, and they were sweating and Janelle says that her back was hurting. Meanwhile Ivette said that it was horrible having to send April home. We see after April leaves Janelle says "final three" and then tries to touch Maggie's hand, but Maggie said that she was sad. Then we see Maggie and Ivette hugging while Maggie admits that she is going to miss April. Back to the dial game, and Janelle almost falls off and says that the game is hard. Then Janelle tells the others that she is not going to be able to make it. Ivette tells her to keep on trying though. As Ivette explains in the DR, she knows that America thinks that she is evil, but she really isn't. No, she isn't evil. Janelle fell off after three hours and 45 minutes. Janelle said in DR that she didn't feel good about losing HOH and hopes she didn't let down her family. Maggie and Ivette thought that the first part of the competition was endurance and the other was memory. Ivette was trying to explain to Maggie that she really wanted to win the HOH competition. As she tried to explain, if Ivette wins, she is taking Maggie and if Janelle wins, she is taking Maggie. So Ivette is just trying to safeguard herself by giving herself a shot at winning. Maggie did not like the conversation because she did not have any inclination the Janelle would take her to the final. Maggie then falls off, she says because she lost focus because of the conversation about Janelle taking her to the final. Ivette stops instantly, and says "you didn't fall". Ivette thinks that Maggie gave her the competition. Janelle comes running out and congratulates Ivette. Janelle said that she saw a look of fear on Ivette's face. Ivette got the combo to the last gold safe and finds out that the prize is in the backyard. It was a pair of Vespa scooters. Everyone was so excited. Janelle said that she really wanted one of them so bad. hehehehe! After the break, we have the second competition with Maggie and Janelle. They go outside and there is a platform that is shaped like a giant padlock and there are keys hanging near by. Ivette hosts. In front of each is a giant padlock. They have to remove covers on the top that reveal eight clues. Once they have the answer to the clue, they put that number on the combination clue. Once they think they have it, they run to the other side and pull on the loop. The loop only opens when the combo is correct. When it opens it releases a key. The first houseguest to put the key on the post wins the HOH competition. Janelle says that she is going to try very hard because she wants to go head to head against Ivette. Ivette was not allowed to stay outside, and had to go inside and as she said, have panic attacks. The first clue was number of women in the pressure cooker. (6) Second was number of vetos not used. (4) Janelle was doing two clues at a time while Maggie was only doing one at a time. Third was number of pairs in the house the day before Eric was evicted. (5) Fourth was number of players who have won veto twice in a row. (1) Fifth was number of menu items from snack shack from hell. (9) Sixth was number of votes to keep Rachel in the house when she was evicted. (0) Seventh was number of houseguests who have won HOH and veto in the same week. (3) Eighth was number of different houseguests who have won the power of veto (7). As we are hearing the clues, we see Maggie and Janelle talking about the clues and how sure they were of the answers. Sometimes they were sure and they were right, and sometimes they were wrong. Maggie tried the lock first and it didn't open. Maggie couldn't figure out which answer she was getting right. It came down to both Maggie and Janelle having three answers wrong. Janelle and Maggie were both down to one item wrong. The two questions they had wrong were the Snack Shack from Hell for Janelle and Votes for Rachel that Maggie had wrong. Janelle got it first and won. Ivette comes out and congratulates Janelle. Maggie would prefer Ivette to win because she would pick her. When they go back into the house, they see that the dining room table now has a center that is filled with money. Janelle screams and reads the note. "Congratulations final three houseguests on making it this far in the game. As one of you will be taking home the $500,000 grand prize, we wanted you to see how much money that actually is. Best of luck to each of you. Big Brother". Maggie said it was to remind them that they would be winning alot of money. I think that the point was to remind them to play for the money and not for fake things like supposed friendships. After some time, we see Maggie going outside and Janelle and Ivette sitting inside and playing chess. Janelle asks Ivette if she is thinking of winning the game at all. Ivette says that is her goal. Janelle then asks her if she thinks that she can beat Maggie. This is a good question because Ivette can't beat Maggie and should realize that. Ivette realizes that she can't. Ivette says that it is a bond with Maggie though. Janelle says that Ivette has a choice of whether to have money or to have friends. Janelle says that she is going to pick Ivette. Ivette says that if she won the money it would be great for her family. Janelle then reminds Ivette that if she picks Maggie Ivette is dooming herself to second place and not first and that is a fact. Ivette is stupid though and will screw herself out of supposedly loyalty. We go to the living room to talk to the final three houseguests. Julie asks out of all the former houseguests who she misses the most, and Janelle replies Michael. and grins. Julie thought that she would say Howie to which Janelle replies that she saw Howie recently, but hasn't seen Michael in a long while. Janelle is asked who she misses the least, and she says Eric and says it's because they didn't get along very well and didn't see eye to eye. Maggie says that she misses Eric the most. Maggie said it is because he is an awesome person and a great friend, a true leader. (a true smuck.) Maggie misses James the least because Maggie said that he was mean all the time. Ivette says that she misses Eric the most and didn't get to know more about him. The least for Ivette is Ashlea. We are going to find out after the break what Ashlea, Michael, Eric, Sarah and Kaysar have been doing. After the break, we see Ashlea, and she thinks that people didn't get to know her. Ashlea said that the first episode she saw was Janelle and Michael kissing the "spider man kiss" where Michael kissed Janelle upside down. Ashlea said that if this is what Janelle wants she will be supportive of her, but if Michael breaks her heart, Ashlea will break his ass. Then we see Michael and Kaysar. Michael has freaky spiked hair. On a web site poll we hear that 69% of the voters think that Kaysar is hotter than Michael. Michael comments that folks have asked him how he could become so involved with someone in only two weeks. As he explains the situation was very intense. Michael says that he would like to see where it will go. Kaysar is grateful for what has happened, and even made an appearance on The Young and the Restless. Then we see the vote to put Kaysar back into the house. (Side by side with Kaysar, you can see what a midget Eric is--and he was shocked.) Kaysar was shocked that 80% of the public sent him back into the house. Eric claims to not be disappointed at all to not get back into the house. Eric says that now he is only known by Cappy at work. Eric claims that Ivette is everything that he is and that they both are very emotional, and he believes that is why they clicked together. Eric claims to not regret anything he did in the house, and like him or hate him that's how he is. I can understand that, and I choose to hate him. I can't stand those short men with Napoleon complexes. Finally we move on to Sarah. She went back to Chicago and spent time with her family. Sarah can't wait to talk to James and thinks that the show had a positive impact on their relationship. Sarah is rooting for Janelle to make it to the final two, and is hoping that James would do the right thing and vote for Janelle. Then we hear again from Eric. Eric thinks that the two opposite people in the house are Maggie and Janelle. Eric thinks that Maggie has kept her eyes on the prize. She has too, and has been quite skillful at manipulating the Maggots. Kaysar thinks that Ivette can win the whole thing. Michael and Kaysar both hope thought that Janelle will win. The final image is Sarah holding a pink t-shirt that says "Bye Bye Bitches". Which is a Janelle quote. Break is over. It is now time for the final HOH competition. The winner must evict someone immediately. Ivette and Janelle are sitting side by side. Maggie is sitting in the dining room but Ivette and Janelle can't see her. Julie is going to read the beginning of a statement made by a houseguests at the jury house (so it is only those who made the jury). They are then given two choices of possible endings. For each correct answer they get one point. The one with the most points at the end of six questions wins. First: Howie said the most annoying thing about living at the Big Brother house was (a)hearing people say they wanted to leave (b) the girl scout troup. Answer: A. Ivette got it right. Second: Rachel said the most shocking moment in the house was (a)the fight between Michael and Eric or (b)the fight between Howie and April. Answer: A and both got it wrong. Third: Beau said if I had to spend a romantic evening with a houseguest I'd choose (a)Howie or (b)Michael. Answer: B. Now one got it right. Fourth: James said the hottest guy in the house was (a)Kaysar or (b)himself. Answer: A. Ivette got it right. Fifth: Jennifer said the biggest mistake I made in the house was (a)backdooring Kaysar or (b)not sticking up for Michael. Answer: B. Janelle got it right. Sixth: April said the houseguest who deserved to win the America's Choice phone call was (a)Ivette or (b)April. Answer: B. Janelle got it right. Ivette and Janelle both have two points and are tied. They grab their chalkboards. The answer is a number. Who ever is closest without going over wins. If both go over the one who is closest wins. What is the combined total of all votes cast to evict this season? Answer: 74. Both said 66 and it was another tie. How many hours have you lived in the Big Brother house from the night you entered until 5 pm this evening? Janelle said 1900 and Ivette said 1875. Answer is 1797. Ivette won. Ivette goes off to hug Maggie who swings her legs around Ivette and shows us butt crack. Maggie has a really flabby shaky ass. Maggie is so shocked. Ivette is reassuring Janelle that she was awesome. Julie reminds Ivette that she is guaranteed at least second prize, but that she now has to evict someone remembering that she is picking who will compete against her for the grand prize. Ivette is going to d