Height and Concussions, BEP Hate, Egypt

New USA Today: Some thoughts on concussions

New Puck Daddy: In the wake of the Aguilera anthem, the players perspective on going through the anthem before the game

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Tomorrow I’ll be writing about being the coach’s whipping boy for Hockey Primetime, in honour of Phil Kessel in Toronto.  Keep in mind that I don’t mean the fans whipping boy – that’s clearly Brent Lebda.

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Diet update: tough weekend with Dad in town, Superbowl.  206.4.

Cat update:  Jiggsy’s limp is going away all on it’s own!  Huzzah!  Unfortunately, they love each other so much we never get to hang out with either one, sooo….. maybe this backfired.

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Head: low to ice. Teeth: almost touching ice.

So Sid the Kid is still on the shelf with that concussion, huh?  As sad as that is to see (and worrysome going forward), it’s nice to see them taking precautions with him.

I brought this up on Twitter earlier today: there has to be some concussion/height corellation, wouldn’t you think?  I realize I’m probably blinded by the recent attention-garnering cases of Marc Savard and Sidney Crosby, but I still think it’s just logical.

Your head is constantly at shoulder height, so casual rubouts and clips catch you right on the button instead of the shoulders or chest.

Dave Lozo of NHL.com said he spent a couple hours on the same thing yesterday and found similar results for guys over and under six feet.  I have no idea the depth of his research on that, but I think there has to be some connection somewhere.  Not that there’d be anything we could do about it, just sayin’.

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So, the Packers won the Superbowl (which I approve of), and the Black Eyed Peas won the ire of 90% of the people who watched the halftime show (which I approve of.  The ire, I mean).  Those people are just so, so horribly corny, and obviously manufactured it makes me ill.

I hate when the Superbowl caters to the largest possible population with music, if only because it makes me realize that the largest possible population likes this music.

Hey, I’m as guilty as the next guy to bopping out to something catchy and poppy (Ke$ha!), and she’s no better, it’s just….man.  Keep it classic at least for these shows.  More The Boss, less The Mess.

(Bruce Arthur’s column on the Superbowl being “decadent and depraved” was pretty darn good if you care to read it.)

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Here’s a terrific read on the situation in Egypt and the rest of the middle east today, as written by Kansas City Royals blogger Rany Jazayerli (and linked to by Bruce Arthur on twitter).  Sometimes I’m a hopeless case – I want to know more about what’s going on in the rest of the world, but OMG twitter and LOLcats and….. you get the point.  It’s a bit of a long read, but really, really great and should get you up to speed on things.

I haven’t read enough about it all to comment on it, but it feels like this is as good a place as any to start learning.

Things That Matter: Sports and Music

Music:  It’s so deflating that my passion for football is shared with a group of people who feel that an “Opening Kickoff” concert would be best played by the Black-Eyed Peas and Tim Mcgraw.  I stomached every second of every song just so nobody could invalidate my hatred with a “you have to really listen to it all” garden-variety response.  It’s awful.

Its a real testament to technology that the Black-Eyed Peas can be successful in the music world today.  F*** they’re painful.  And then Tim Mcgraw gets up and plays the exact same song I would write if I were trying to do a parody of everything that’s awful about country music – “Southern boys like beer and football and hats and rodeos…” (*may not have been exact lyrics).

Musically, I’ve got broad tastes – I’m all over the map.  And I’d never try to defend the rap music I listen to when I’m in a good mood.  With the baseball “up-to-bat” songs, I just like a little swagger in the step if you’re not trying to funny with it.  Maybe this one’s not quite up-to-bat worthy, but it definitely gets the “volume up” honor when it comes on in the car {random thought: the car is almost officially named.  Public release coming soon}. 

Bourne – alienating hockey fans through rap music, one reader at a time.

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Football:  Steelers tight-end Heath Miller has a farmer tan so ridiculous that the white-ness extends past his jersey length.  I love it.  Way to really emphasize your whiteness in the NFL.

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Football:  Troy Polamalu is freaking scary.  Could you imagine playing “jackpot” with him as a kid?  “500, dead or alive”… annnddd Troy gets 500 points.  Again.

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Hockey:  How much does watching old highlights of NHL games half-taint the stats of players in those days (sorry Dad… I’m just sayin…)?  The goaltending is sinful.

I was watching a game on the NHL network - some classic game, mind you - that ended in a triple overtime, on-the-ice five-hole shot, and not a single player tried to behead the goalie who let the shot in.  If an unscreened shot goes in on-the-ice five-hole nowadays, goalies (by law) have to let every fan in the first three rows punch their face.  And teammates get two punches.

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Hold on, lets waste 45 seconds as a group...

Baseball:  Why do I have to sit through intentional walks in baseball?  For that matter, why does anybody? 

If the team wants to put the guy on base, can we not accomplish that using our big-boy words?  Like, exchanging dialogue with the ump wouldn’t be okay? 

“We’re just going to throw four pitches very far away from the plate because we’d like this player to get to first base.  Permission to skip those steps?”

“Yes.  Take your base.”  Done.

Or even better… you can put the guy on base in one pitch by just hitting him with the ball.  Maybe you miss him with the first couple (evasive bastard), but you can save time by trying again on the next pitch.  If I pitched in the AL and didn’t have to bat, I’d have 0 intentional walks, and 53 intentional rib injuries (a new – but valued – stategory).