A Few Bytes
Ice Bucket Challenge
I love what’s happening with the ice bucket challenge. Incredible hearing about all of the money being raised by athletes, celebrities, entertainers, etc. (everybody, really) to help fight ALS, a terrible, deadly disease. One request to everybody who gets involved with this, though. Could people who are getting doused ask that the ice and water being poured on them as part of “the challenge” be done over grass or plants or vegetation somehow, thereby USING the water for some environmental good, instead of wasting the water by pouring it on staged areas of man-made surfaces? (let’s be honest, most celebrities doing this are first and foremost doing it for basic, selfish photo-op reasons)
It’s as much of a symbolic gesture as anything. There is a very bad drought going on in the Western half of this country and many of the farms that produce a lot of the food that feeds this nation are REALLY hurting for water. Why waste the ice and water when it could be doing additional good at the same time? It would be a nice win-win situation for both the cause and the environment. Otherwise, it’s a still a really good thing for the ALS cause, but it’s kind of a slap in the face to others, and I know that’s not the intention.
Usain Bolt’s 40 Time
Usain Bolt set the world record for the 100 meter dash with a time of 9.58 seconds. Some speed measurement experts have broken down his race and figured that, if timed like they do at the NFL combine, he would have run through the 40 yard dash point at a time somewhere around 4.0 seconds. That would still give him about 5.58 seconds to run the final 70 yards (100 meters is a fraction less than 110 yards). I’d love to see Bolt run a 40 yard dash at the NFL combine to see what kind of time he could run. Could he break four flat if he trained for that distance? That would be must see television.
Hall of Fame Managers?
It seems to me there there are a couple of MLB managers that are about one more big splash away from earning themselves a ticket to the baseball Hall of Fame. That would be Bruce Bochy of the SF Giants and Terry Francona, now of the Cleveland Indians, but formerly of the Boston Red Sox. Each has two World Series titles and one more to either of them would guarantee them a spot. Even some long tenured managing excellence (read that as lots of wins and a few more division titles) COULD get either or both in. Pretty exciting stuff for two excellent baseball men.
Automobile driving is a sport, so…
Why is it that the police and other law enforcement authorities make SUCH a big deal about passengers riding along in cars without a seat belt on (danger factor?) , going so far as to writing up very expensive “you’re not wearing seat belts tickets,” but don’t seem to mind one iota that there are wild driving motorcycle riders dangerously zipping in and out of 10 MPH stop and go traffic at about 40 MPH themselves? Where is the consistency of your enforcement of law, Law Enforcement?
The Ochocinco Syndrome
Has anyone noticed that every time an elite athlete makes the grand move (or, creates a big, multimedia publicity stunt) to change their given name to an obviously bogus “new” name to draw attention to themselves, they end up becoming a shell of their former athletic self and effectively trash their own career? You can call it the OchoCinco Syndrome. Or the failure to achieve World Peace. Or the inability for Lamar to keep up with the Kardashians. But one thing you can bank on is that once you hear somebody choose the flash of a “new” name change over the substance of the hard work needed to compete in their sport, you will see that person lose the edge needed to be an elite athlete and they will become a fancily named NOBODY.
