IFAF World Cup Championship: USA vs. Japan

Look for Craig Coffin at a gridiron near you. He'll probably be the one selling beer, but he'll also probably be the only one that won a world championship lately. The (former?) SIU kicker made two FGs in an NCAA-style overtime to push team USA to a 23-20 victory in the final of its first American Football World Cup.

The Americans faced their toughest competition, as expected, from the host Japanese. The two-time defending world champions took an 10-7 lead into the locker room (do they have locker rooms at this thing?) at halftime. They also led 17-10 in the 4th, until American running back Kyle Kasperbauer rushed for his second TD of the game with 2:51 remaining on the clock.

After matching FGs in the first OT period, Coffin won it for the US by making his kick in the second overtime.

A location for the 2011 IFAF final has not yet been determined. I say they have it in Indianapolis, and the US can just field whichever of the Colts happen to live in the area during the off-season.

In Demetrius Eaton news, Demetrius Eaton had one tackle.

IFAF World Cup: USA vs. Germany

The US national American Football side played its second (and final) pool match of the 2007 championships, and it beat Germany 33-7. USA had held its opponents scoreless for nearly 6 quarters before the Germans scored on interception return just prior to halftime at Kawasaki Stadium.

Team USA played a game that Americans would be more familiar with, after their 77-0 drubbing of Korea in earlier Pool 2 play. The 33 points came from three TD runs (Childs, Johnson and Blakowski) an interception return and a safety. Neither team had a particularly prolific offense, with USA gaining a total of 254 yards and Germany totaling 148.

In players we care about news: LB and captain, Demetrius Eaton had 2 tackles and 2 assists. The US punter/kicker is named Coffin. Do we think he specializes in "coffin corner" punting? We do.

I just remembered I'm a blogger: IFAF Edition

Guess what I haven't updated in a while? This! Fortunately, I have found a pretty stimulating topic...the IFAF World Championships.

?

The IFAF is the International Federation of American Football. So this the World Cup of American Football we're talking about here. And guess who's looking to clean house? Yup, a group of about 65 undrafted (and still playing?) college players from the good old USA. One of the Team USA captains is former Northwestern LB Demetrius Eaton, which is what brought this event to the forefront of my attention.


So, how are they doing so far? Well, the US is in Pool 2 with Germany and Korea -- Pool 1 consists of host Japan, Sweden and France -- and they just played their first match. The US seemed to be shaking a bit of the rust off, scraping by Korea 77-0.

77-0

Korea had no 1st downs. 1 complete pass. -47 rushing yards (yes that's negative) and -31 total yards. The US scored on two punt returns, one kickoff return, a blocked punt, a fumble return, and an interception return. Demetrius Eaton had 1 tackle (for a loss) and one assist.

The matchup against Germany in pool play and the presumed championship against Japan should provide a little more of a test for the US.

You should be there

I don't think I've pimped TelevisionWithoutPity.com enough on this blog. I know there's a little link on the right, but that hardly articulates how much I love TWoP some days. My main purpose in this particualar post, though, is to completely steal a passage from a recaplet (well, a weecap) of Dancing with the Stars.

If you like musical numbers featuring lots and lots of people, you would like this. My favorite part is at the end, where they bust out tambourines out of nowhere. I think more of life should feature tambourines out of nowhere. It would certainly make life more interesting. Imagine if you're waiting in line at the grocery store and suddenly a big musical number starts up, and all of the shoppers bust out tambourines. And maybe a group of large women in black robes pours out from behind the customer service desk to sing backup. God, that would be awesome.
- From Kim's recaplet of DwtS, season 4, episode 11

I swear I'm stealing this and quoting it to feed my starving family. And also because it made me laugh like crazy after a miserable bus ride to work. So if you don't read TWoP all day, you should, so that they can keep making my life better. And yours.

More of me being a jerk to various entities

After being angry at the White House this morning, it's now time to be angry at Reuters. It's just...you see a sentence that reads, "Three suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up on Tuesday following a police raid on a house in a Casablanca slum..." and you think: Suspected?

They are suspected of being suicide bombers? What tipped you off? The part where they blew themselves up when you tried to capture them? Is that when you started to think, "Hmm, maybe these guys are suicide bombers..."

Yes, I know that if you read the rest of the article, you see that the men are thought to have belonged to a gang that organized and carried out such bombings, and that the members were believed to wear those devices constantly to avoid being captured.

I'm just saying. SUSPECTED???

Four suspected bombers killed in Casablanca [Reuters]

Two unrelated items

First, in the spirit of Tom's post in February, I need to share my iPod's sense of sArcasm. Fortunately, I only had wait outside for a couple minutes today to get on the bus. What song was played from the moment I exited my building, until the moment I boarded the bus? U2's "Beautiful Day." Ha ha. Very funny Dr. Jones*.

This is what my iPod considers "beautiful."

Second, what is up with the White House? They want to appoint a war czar? What, a Secretary of Defense isn't good enough? Or the Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces? Or the Commander-in-&^@%ing-Chief???

This is why I shouldn't read those newsfeeds on the bus, and I should stick to analyzing my iPod's taste in music.

* - No, my iPod is not named Dr. Jones.

How did I not know this?

As if I needed another reason to root for the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League.

They had the inside track for my sports affections, simply by playing in the CoBL. And admit it, you know that being owned by Bon Freakin' Jovi is just plain cool.

But now I find out that Dwayne Missouri is playing for the Soul! Apparently he's been there the whole time, and was actually the first player they selected when they formed an expansion team in 2004. He's been up and down between the AFL and NFL since graduating from Northwestern in 2001.

With large-field, no-wall, outdoor football -- it's hard to visualize, but trust me, it's pretty cool too -- many months away, this is going to make the interim much more exciting!

S-O-U-L! Soul! Soul! Soul!

All-Name Update

Let's take a look at how that all-name team is doing through the first two rounds: 8 lost in the 1st round. 1 lost in the 2nd round. 5 remain alive in the Sweet 16. 1 had his arm ripped off by wolves (or at least, I pretend he did, because it's less gruesome than his actual injury.)

Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes (Gonzaga) - Lost in the 1st round. 1 foul, 0 points in 1 minute.
Solomon Tat (Virginia) - Lost in the 2nd round. 4 points in two games.
Supo Jegede (New Mexico State) - Lost in the 1st round. DNP.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (UCLA) - Sweet 16. 11 points in 60 minutes played.
Idong Ibok (Michigan State) - Lost in the 2nd round. Oh God. Please don't make me think about his arm.

Can Civi (Davidson) - Lost in the 1st round. DNP.
Martin Zeno (Texas Tech) - Lost in 1st round. 21 points in 40 minutes.
Duke Crews (Tennessee) - Sweet 16. 18 points in two games.
Fendi Onobun (Arizona) - Lost in 1st round. 2 points in 1 minute.
Chinemelu "Junior" Elonu (Texas A&M) - Sweet 16. 0 points in 2 minutes.

Churchill Odia (Oregon) - Sweet 16.
Chamberlain Oguchi (Oregon) - Sweet 16.
Ousmane Barro (Marquette) - Lost in 1st round.
Taj Finger (Stanford) - Lost in 1st round.

All-Name Team

It's a March tradition to make fun of young men's names, just because they happen to attend one of the 65 schools competing for the national basketball championship. So let me do it, before I see one elsewhere. I tried not to hit too many names just for being difficult to pronounce, but there are some.

First Team All-Name
G - Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes (Gonzaga)
G - Solomon Tat (Virginia)
F - Supo Jegede (New Mexico State)
F - Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (UCLA)
C - Idong Ibok (Michigan State)

Second Team
G - Can Civi (Davidson)
G - Martin Zeno (Texas Tech)
F - Duke Crews (Tennessee)
F - Fendi Onobun (Arizona)
C - Chinemelu "Junior" Elonu (Texas A&M)

Honorable Mention
G - Churchill Odia (Oregon)
G - Chamberlain Oguchi (Oregon)
F - Ousmane Barro (Marquette)
F - Taj Finger (Stanford)

10 can be as bad as 11

How did I miss that the Wildcats are the 10th seed in the Big Ten tournament and not the 11th seed. I guess we won the tie-breaker over Penn State based on overall record?

If Northwestern can't win the Big Ten Tournament, they will not be playing the in the national post-season, by virtue of a sub-.500 record. If they do win, they will probably have the worst record of any NCAA tournament team (17-17).

But there's an even juicier possibility. What if Minnesota wins the Big Ten tourny? Can you imagine a 13-21 team in the big dance*? We can only hope.

* - Can I say "big dance," or is that like "Super Bowl?"

Live-blogging the DM webcast

Just kidding. But I just tuned in for a minute, and there's Jeremy Piven. Sweet!

Congrats in advance to all the dancers! Consider me impressed in advance with the amounts of money that you will eventually find out you have raised for ECF and CURE.

Also, congrats to Sasser for being so tall that you're the only person I can ever spot on the webcast.

The Black Donnellys: Pilot

Thanks to iTunes, I am watching the first episode of The Black Donnellys. Just FYI, I have never watched The Sopranos, so I don't know whether there are comparisons to be made, and I won't be making them.

First impressions:

• Is it just me, or does Joey Ice Cream's voice not match his face?
• "Hey, that's mine! I stole that!" Heh.
• The fight scene at the wake is kind of awesome too.
• These guys need more distinctive names, because I can't keep Tommy, Sean, Kevin and Jimmy straight.
• I like that, while the language is network-safe, there's some in the scuffles that sounds like cursing, but it's unintelligible. That's classy and it seems realistic
• The last 2-3 minutes? Whoa. Also? Hah!
  

Overall:

• This pilot is super put-together. I've heard it described as "cinematic" and it totally is. We learn the main guys we need to know, and get a feeling for the drama and comedy that will probably run through the series. That's important in a pilot. More, it's also engaging and compelling, which is often missing in a premier episode (especially one that's the usual 44 minutes.)
• I will probably watch this show a couple more times, but they're going to need the humor to keep me involved with this series. The characters are interesting, but if the dramatic situations wear out (like they do on so many dramas), the humor can carry it through rough patches. That's what shows like Lost and Studio 60 have missed out on for me lately.

So, THAT'S what happened

In case Because you were wondering what happened, here's the deal with that Purdue player who got three free throws late in the 2nd half yesterday.

It was not, as I had suspected at the time, a lane violation. Because who violates the lane (and what ref calls it) on the first of two shots? In fact, the defense is required to occupy both of the lowest positions on the lane during a free throw. Since NU apparently didn't do that, on one of the first two attempts, there was a violation and an extra foul shot.

Thus endeth the mystery.

Special thanks to Bad Idea Blue Jeans for breaking this story wide open.

More fun with words

You know I like words. I like using them, and I like making fun of Tom when he uses them.

So, I just learned a new word. The word is shambolic, and it is defined thusly: (British slang) disorderly or chaotic.

I heard it used twice in the last two days. In both cases, it was used to describe sloppy defending by soccer teams. Different games. Different broadcaster (I think).

So, I'll be saying that as much as possible from now on. Don't say you weren't warned.

Two things that I love about soccer

Well, one thing I love about soccer and one thing I love about loving soccer. Got that?

I am watching DC United take on CD Olimpia in Honduras in the first leg of the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. I DVR'd it, so don't spoil the result for me! What I love is that the Hondurans have a couple of songs that they are singing non-stop. Now, that's not unusual for a soccer match. The part that gets me is that they are whistling. Whistling. And it carries through on the crappy FSC broadcast. Awesome.

GOAL! Christian Gomez! CD Olimpia 0:1 DC United in the 30th minute.

What I love about loving soccer is that I didn't have to worry about getting spoiled on this result. ESPN was not running Copa de Campeones scores on the Bottom Line. It's nice to not have to avoid the bottom 15% of the screen. I'm sure only 3 people* at ESPN are aware of this competition.

GOAL! CD Olimpia 1:1 DC United in the 34th. I'm not live-blogging the rest. Or even delay-blogging it. Check the second leg of the aggregate score match next week from DC.

* - Eric Wynalda, Tommy Smith, and whomever Wynalda is talking to.

What's more exciting than census data?

Well, just about everything except for Tom's recent bugaboo. That is to say, the chief and his accoutrements are not exciting. Tom's bloggage is far more worthy of your time than most census data.

So, why am I presenting 6-year-old South African census data? Well, to help answer some of the many questions I get about Amanda's village and to stimulate conversation in general.

These data refer to her electoral ward, which includes Amanda's village and the village next door.

• Population: 15,492
• 41% of the population is between the ages of 0-14.
• 30% of the adult population has had no schooling. 18% have completed Grade 12.
• 3,018 of the 15,492 (19%) are economically active (have jobs or seek jobs). 59% of those are unemployed.
• 80% of the population receives no income. 5% receive $0-54.80/month. 10% receive $54.81-109.60/month.
• 7% of the population suffers from a known disability.
• Less than 1% drive a car.
• There are 3,222 total households. 1/2 of the households have more than 5 people.
• 1/2 of the household have 3 rooms or fewer (total rooms, not total bedrooms).
• Only 30 households have a flush toilet.

Stayed tuned to this channel for your chance to contribute to a photography project that Amanda will be developing for her village's school.

PSA: Daylight-Saving Time 2007

I consider it my solemn obligation to let everyone know what time it is. So, here's an update:

On Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 am, it will be 3:00 am.

Yes, Daylight-saving time starts three weeks earlier this year, and it ends one week later on Sunday, November 4. Make sure your cell phones and PDAs get software updates, so they can maybe do that for you. You're probably still on your own for watches and alarm clocks, unless you have a manservant like I do.

The more you know.

Gadget owners beware: Daylight-saving time has changed [C|Net news via Engadget]
Energy Bill [US Senate]

Robert H. Lurie

Hopefully this gets picked up by Google Image Search, so future generations will know what we mean by the bust of Dr. Lurie.

Lurie with hat.

Next time, don't narrate my demise

Instead of commenting on Tom's bloggage today, how's about I write my own damn post about getting to work in the cold....

An Open Letter to the Woman Who Drove the 147 Bus this Morning

Dear Woman Who Drove the 147 Bus this Morning,

I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here, so first, please accept my thanks for getting me to work today. I got in a little late, but I expected that since I stayed home this morning to make a phone call.

Sadly, my ride on your bus was not as enjoyable as I'd hoped it would be. Please allow me to give you some advice, so that future CTA patrons will be more pleased than I: Don't tell your passengers that you're going to drive the bus off the road and kill everyone.

I know this may be a surprise to you, but I think I speak for all bus-riders when I suggest that we don't like to see our lives flash before us as we ride down Lake Shore Drive. We like to see Marine Drive (if we sit on the right) or kamikaze cyclists (if we sit on the left) flash before us.

Woman Who Drove the 147 Bus this Morning, your driving was actually quite good, considering the snowy conditions. Also, your advice that commuters in a hurry consider transferring to the Red Line at Thorndale was probably well-headed by some clock-punchers. I'm just saying: Next time, don't tell us that you're going to "jack-knife the bus into a tree" and please don't repeat your predictions of a harsh future when we're churning along the LSD.

See you next time the Northwestern bus deserts me,
JoshEatsBirds

A Dream Fulfilled

Not Payton Manning's dream or Tony Dungy's. Although, I guess it probably was for them. And it's not that it was my life-long dream to see the Colts win the Super Bowl.

It was however my dream last Thursday night, when I found myself wandering through an electronics store and all the TVs were proclaiming that Indy tight end Ben "Matt" Utecht had finally won a title. It is likely that this was mostly due to my ongoing confusion between Utecht and backup guard -- and Wildcat -- Matt "Ben" Ulrich.

A more exciting interpretation ignores the Super Bowl angle. Maybe I'm really destined to have an awesome new TV? Stop by some time and find out! If my dream turns out to be prophetic, maybe I can get them to base a Heroes character on me...