San Diego: German for...

Last week I was on a business trip for work. I was attending the annual CSUN Conference, for those of you who don’t know what is, it’s put on by the California State University at Northridge’s Center for Disabilities. There are sessions about cognitive disabilities, making the web accessible for the deaf and blind, and anything you can imagine. I work in web accessibility and have been focusing recently in the social media area of the web. Not too surprisingly social media like facebook, YouTube, and even Blogger (Blogspot) are not accessible and therefore it’s an entire area of the web people with disabilities are unable to navigate through and get information. Now without boring you, it’s surprisingly easy to make websites accessible, but sites like facebook and YouTube are not hurting for customers so they may not see the point in opening up there sites for people with disabilities. YouTube to be fair is working towards it. One thing they are doing is allowing people to add captions to the videos. It was a really great experience and while I did know a lot because our office is on the cutting edge in a lot of areas, I still learned some valuable stuff. If you’d like me to go into more, message me I’d love to tell you.

Now while the reason I was out in San Diego was for work, I did find plenty of time for fun. One thing you should know about San Diego is that the weather is amazing, it was in the 60’s and sunny all week. One bartender told us the coldest it had ever been was 47 degrees at 3am in the winter. Not bad if you ask me.

I was traveling with my friend Casey who also works with me. We arrived on Tuesday morning and went to the hotel, our rooms were not ready so we went out to fine lunch. Our hotel was in the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego. Our hotel concierge said it was like San Diego’s Georgetown. The only comparison is that they both have a lot of places to eat. We found a Friday’s and got lunch and 3 buckets of beer. We finally were able to get into one room. The hotel was awesome, although Casey’s room didn’t have a bathroom door. And one wall was glass floor to ceiling. (Once I got my room, we realized they all had the glass wall, but the rest seemed to have doors.) We then went to visit the USS Midway, which is an aircraft that has been converted into a museum. This was cool just for the fact we were able to run around an aircraft carrier. That night we went to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery, so yes our first day in town we ate at two restaurants we could eat at anytime back home.

The next day we ate lunch at a bar that all of you have seen and if not then you should be ashamed of yourself and go out and rent Top Gun. The Great Balls of Fire scene with Goose at the keys and the final scene where Charlie finds Maverick sitting at the bar were filmed there. The name of the place is Kansas City Barbeque. After the conference we went back and changed and asked the doorman if he knew a good Irish bar in the area since we had already seen four different ones. He recommended Dublin Square and I recommend it to all of you. We sat there and drank beers during Happy Hour. They had live music which added to the atmosphere. We were singing along with the songs we knew and the band appreciated it. The lead singer invited us out to his show on Friday in Ocean Beach.

On the third night we really hit the town, since the doorman hooked us up with the Irish restaurant, we asked him about a good Mexican restaurant. He failed us, the restaurant el Puerto was good, but it was Americanized and not what I was looking for when I asked about Mexican food. Afterwards we walked around and went to one of the other Irish bars, Maloney’s. This bar was in the basement and was set up a lot like the bar in Cheers. We spend some time talking to the bartender here and he told us if we waited around we could sample some 12 year Scotch’s, so we did. After Maloney’s we worked our way back towards the hotel and stopped at Double Deuce, the country bar. The Double Deuce had a mechanical bull. I’ve always wanted to ride one so Casey gave me 5 bucks and I rode the bull. (See the video below.) Afterwards I realized why the sign said not to ride if you are intoxicated. It was rough afterwards. If you can imagine doing pull-ups with one arm while someone is pulling on you the whole time and shaking you around. This is the closest thing I could think of, it was awesome and I’d do it again.

Friday the week was catching up to me, I woke up and my body was aching, stupid bull. Not much happened this day except we did get to watch the USS Nimitz and some of the ships that were deployed with it return to San Diego. The Nimitz battle group had been deployed for 8 months. Seeing these ships returned made me Proud to be an American, I’m thankful for what those men and women do in there sacrifice for this country. That night we took it easy and went to Anthony’s Fish Grotto for dinner with co-workers. Our flight left at 6:45 am so we went back and crashed after walking around town for a bit. You could certainly tell the Navy boys were home. It kind of felt like Newport News back in the day with the Navy boys from Norfolk.

I do have to recommend San Diego as a place to visit if you get a chance, there was so much more for us to see, so I know I’ll be returning again, but it is good to be back in the Commonwealth.

Things We Are Good At! Really its Storytelling Time.

Everyone has something they good at, some people are good musicians, athletes, debaters, actors, you name it there are a lot of things you can be good at and make money and find glory. You could win an Oscar, MVP Award, Championship Ring, or become a Supreme Court Justice. But there are the people who are good at certain things that receive no fanfare outside of a bar, group of friends, or the fraternity house. I bet you can't name the team that won the World Series of Beer Pong this winter in Las Vegas unless you were there, but I bet you could name the guys in your Fraternity House who dominated the table every night. In my fraternity beer bong wasn't just a stupid game, we took it pretty serious everyone was pretty good, but there were a few of us who were almost always on point. In our house there was Brammer with his rainbow arc, Bolt with his off balance I'm hammered shot, and a few others.

There was one night when I took the table after a football game with my partner Hasson and the switch just flipped, we won our first game, then our second, before we knew it we had won 7 or 8 in a row. At this point we are getting tired of playing and not getting drunk enough for a Saturday night party so we spend the next three or four games trying to lose so we could enjoy the rest of the party. We would bounce off of girls’ foreheads and other various body parts. We would bounce of the wall and they just kept going in the cups. We soon realized around the 13th win that what we were doing was pretty cool, so we went for it; we wanted to get to 20 wins. By the end of the night we hit 19 games which was not 20 wins, but we couldn’t get anyone else to play us, we showed back up at the house the next night and won two more games before losing, which put us at 21 straight wins as partners. The record, among at least my fraternity brothers, held until I graduated and for a year or so after that. Brothers talked about that night for a few years after, I know this because I got a drunk phone call from Brammer his senior year at 3am telling me him and his partner hit 22 games. Like I said outside of the fraternity nobody really cared, but among our brothers it was a goal to try and beat. Brammer and his partner I believe still hold the record, if not I hope they also got an early morning wake up call to let them know they had lost it.

Now there is only one other instance where I held a similar accomplishment. In 11th grade my church’s youth group participated in the 30 hour Famine. So for 30 hours we were not allowed to eat any food. At the end of the 30 hours we always went to CiCi’s Pizza. Well I got an idea from a friend on my high school’s baseball team to see how many slices of pizza I could eat in one sitting. So a group of us at church sat down and went for it. We were all neck and neck for the first 20 slices. Over the next 10 slices, 3 of us distanced ourselves from the field. When I hit 30 I knew there were only a couple guys who could keep up with me, in the same way runners have a kick at the end of a race, I had once at the end of this race of food. I somehow put down another 12 slices. 42 slices of pizza, the thought of it makes me sick today. I’ve never surpassed 20 since, which is a good thing.

Now I know all of you have a story or two about something you’ve done that gave you bragging rights amongst your friends. Go ahead and leave your story in the comments section.

March: The Greatest Month!

As you read the title you are thinking to yourself, "really March, what the hell does March have to offer?" A few years ago I wrote a blog about March being the greatest Month so I'm going to revisit the topic and break it down against the other months and since the tourney is beginning we are going to do head to head match ups. So the first round we have we have four play-in match ups to make the Elite 8, April/October the winner plays July, June/February the winner plays December, August/September the winner plays March, and May/January the winner plays November.

Let's start with the first match up of April and October. April is the first full month of Spring, High Schools have spring break, the temperature starts to rise and the snow melts. April has Easter, no day off of work though. April is also Pollen season. As for sports, the opening rounds of NHL and NBA playoffs begin. The worst part is April is tax month. It also rains a lot in April, otherwise where do you get the term "April showers bring May Flowers. October has Columbus day, an underrated holiday, but a government holiday and we got off of work. Have you ever wondered how we know the day Columbus found the New World but we really don't know the year, people assume its 1492 because of a song we learned in pre-school. (I know Columbus Day is not the real day Columbus found the New World.). October also has Halloween, a holiday that never seems to get old, grown men still put on costumes, adults have parties, people decorate there houses and families go trick or treating. The temperature in Virginia starts to cool off, Football is in full swing, baseball playoffs have begun, the trees begin to change colors, and for my friends and I, O'Gradyfest. O'Gradyfest is a weekend at the river where we drink, party, and roast a pig on an open fire. I don't think its a question October wins and wins big.

Now October plays July next. July has Independence Day, it is hot, its the first full month of Summer, its the midpoint of Baseball season and the All-Star break. People go to the pool and the beach for fun in the sun. However even as much as I love America October triumphs again.

The next match up is June and February. June might be the worst month, the only notable holiday is Father's Day. Many schools end for summer break, summer begins, and the temperatures rise. However June is a popular wedding month. Its also possible the NBA playoffs are still going on, two months later. June is also the beginning of Hurricane season. February is cold and by this point people are tired of snow. Presidents day falls here which gives us another Federal Holiday and a day off of work. February is also Black History month, where at least in schools we learn about American Hero's like Martin Luther King Jr. And Rosa Parks. February also has Valentines Day. This is a close match up, but February pulls it out at the buzzer with some clutch shooting by ML King, no thanks to the shotty defense Valentine was playing.

February plays December next and the winner goes on to play October. December received the Duke treatment in this tournament, an easy path to the Final Four. December has Christmas and New Years Eve. Christmas is practically all month long. December is also the beginning of Winter and if you're lucky you get snow on Christmas. December is one of the more exciting months, with Christmas parties, buying gifts for family and friends, decorating the house and the tree, and spending time with family. February's Cinderella run ends here just like George Mason's did in 2006, it's not even close.

Now on to the other half of the bracket. August takes on September. August may make the bottom 3 months for me, along with February and June. August has the Bristol Night race, which is its only saving grace. Aside from that its disgustingly hot. September however has Labor day the last good weekend of the summer. September also has the beginning of the NCAA and NFL seasons. The temperatures start to slowly cool off as well. The playoff races are in full swing in baseball and this is why September takes the game and goes on to play March.

March versus September, it looks close at first glance, but there is a reason March received a first round bye. March is the first month of Spring, which does mean pollen, but not as much as April. March also has the best adult holiday known to man, St. Patrick's Day. On St. Patty's day people take of work, put on green and drink the day away. Its a holiday spent with friends having a good time. March has NCAA basketball conference tournaments and March Madness and at the end a National Champion is crowned. March is also when Spring training takes place, which means baseball is right around the corner. The snow starts melting and warm days start popping up regularly. September gives it a good run, but March takes the game in the closing minutes, although September looked pretty drunk out there, maybe St. Patrick slipped some Jameson's in there water cooler.

In the last region we have May facing off against January. May has Mother's Day, Memorial Day and the Richmond Spring Race. Its time to put away winter clothes until the fall. The trees and flowers have bloomed and everything is bright and colorful. The best part is you can walk outside in the evenings and smell meat being cooked on grills, the smells of America. January has New Years Day, NCAA Football Bowl games, the NFL playoffs. January also has Martin Luther King Day. This is one of the closest match ups the this point and May takes the upset with the whole country celebrating Memorial Day.

In the Next round May takes on November. November is an important month because of Election day, there is also Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving, Football is popping off at this point, plus you have 5 day period over Thanksgiving of non-stop football. Thanksgiving you get a huge meal and time with the family. Thanksgiving weekend is also the beginning of the Christmas Season. The leaves have fallen off of the trees at this point and it is getting much colder out. This was another close match-up, it's probably the toughest region in the bracket. November takes it in a nail biter.

The Final Four sets up like this March/November and December/October. March defeats November it what will become an instant classic on ESPN Classic. St. Patty made Tom Turkey look a fool out there. December takes down October as St. Nick smashed Jack O'Lantern and took him out of the game. However it appears St. Nick needed to hit the gym a bit harder because even with 4 weekends of party's he couldn't keep up with St. Patty in Over Time. March is the best month for sure.

Now for those who care my guaranteed to lose pics for the real March Madness. My Final Four is Georgetown, Syracuse, Purdue, and Kentucky. I have Kentucky over Syracuse in the Championship game. West Virginia is my sleeper to win it all. WVU deserves to be a number 1, but now they will have to prove it. They also won the the toughest conference tournament. Here is a link to my bracket Tournament Challenge.

Guns, Rapper Feuds, and Basketball

The sport of basketball in DC, well three teams come to mind instantly: the Washington Wizards, Georgetown and George Washington University. Some might say The Maryland Terps, but lets be honest they are only the red headed step child of DC Sports, close enough to count but there teams are long past the glory days. Regardless my point here is to discuss the pathetic excuse of a team that the Wizards trot out on the court night after night.

On Saturday night I went to the Wizards-Magic game at the Verizon Center. Lately the only reason I'd spend money to go to the Verizon Center is to the see the South East Division Champion Washington Capitals, but I received free tickets to the game from my storage unit facility. I was surprised that so many people were at the game when we got to our seats, but when they are giving tickets away for free it makes a little bit of sense. My buddy Jake and I knew the Wizards had no chance against the defending Eastern Conference Champions, but were hoping that if the Wizards couldn't make it competitive that at least Dwight Howard and Vince Carter could turn it into there own personal Dunk contest.

The game started and the Wizards jumped out to an 8-2 lead and we got excited. Andray Blatche was hitting everything. Later in the 2nd the Wizards were up 35-20 and we started to think we could win this game. Then at half the Wizards were down 2. The game was close and Howard hadn't really taken over the game, but he never really does either. By the end of the third period the Wizards were down by double digits. This is when I turned to my buddy Jake and said, "our starters are not that bad, they seem to be able to play with teams, but man does our bench stink." He just shook his head in disgust. The Wizards went on to lose by more than 20 points, it was sad.

Let me fill you in on my buddy Jake, you see Jake is not only a bigger Wizards fan then I am, but probably a bigger basketball fan. I like to attend an occasional game and follow the local team, but I wouldn't call myself a Wizards fan, not like Jake at least. I grew up across the river from Philadelphia, Charles Barkley was my favorite player and it hurt when the Sixers let him go, I was only a kid then, but I followed Sir Charles to Phoenix and then to Houston. But my heart as a fan was always in Philly, I remember the years of Shawn Bradley (Javale McGee reminds me of him, sorry Wizards fans), I remember Jerry Stackhouse and then Allen Iverson coming to town. I knew we would be great, but Stackhouse and Iverson couldn't co-exist, It became Iverson's team and they made a few playoff runs and in 2001 they made it to the Finals to hit a brick wall known as the Shaq and Kobe Lakers. But after that I slowly started to not pay attention and then when Iverson was run out of town (deserved or not) I stopped caring. I almost started to care again this year when Iverson came back, but the NBA doesn't do it for me anymore. But Jake still cares and one day I hope the Wizards figure out what they are doing and can make a run of there own.

The past 5 years in DC have been plagued with injuries and drama. Arenas hasn't played a full season in over three years, Butler and Jamison have had there injuries too. Then there was the feud with Stevenson and Lebron that let to a feud with Soulja Boy and Jay Z somehow, then Arenas brought guns into the locker room, the locker room of a team that once changed its name from the Bullets so they didn't promote violence. We had a good team, but that good team could never beat Cleveland a team that at the time had one guy, the Wizards had three. Butler, Jamison, and Arenas, they were supposed to take us to the promised land. Now Butler is in Dallas and Jamison is in Cleveland, both preparing to make a playoff run and most likely further then the 2nd round. The Wizards trot out unknowns in the basketball world. There starters keep them close and there bench puts them in a hole. This season Wizards fans just hope that the Nets don't surpass them in the win column.

The future of the Wizards right now is an unknown. Abe Pollin the long time owner passed away this year, he did many great things for this city and team. Abe's business partner Ted Leonsis looks to be the front runner to take over the team, if he does Wizards fans should get excited, because all you have to do is look down the hall at the Capitals locker room to see the success he has as an owner, the Caps are three time division champs and look to make a long run in the playoffs this year. They have an high powered offense and fill the arena every night. DC used to be a football and basketball town, but with neither of those teams doing anything in recent history and both heading into a rebuilding era, DC is a Hockey town, maybe soon the Wizards will make it a basketball town and add another banner to the rafters.

Tiger's "Comeback"

A lot of rumors are starting to circulate that Tiger Woods is going to start his "comeback" to golf at Augusta National for the Masters in a few weeks. I'm going to state right now that if this is true it makes me very happy. I also find it hard to call it a comeback when Tiger has maybe missed 3-4 of his usual tournaments since his car crash in November and his dirty laundry going public.

I think a lot of people are calling this a comeback because of all he has encountered over the past 5 months. But Tiger missed more time in 2008-2009 because of knee surgery. Some are questioning whether he will be a contender at the Masters this year because he hasn't had a warm up tournament, did everyone forget he won the 2008 US Open on one leg.

Tiger woods made golf relevant. I still have a poster of him eying down a put from his first Master's victory in 1997. The intensity at which he plays the game is amazing, when you watch him play nothing surprises you anymore, because its all in the realm of possibility. Phil Michelson and the other guys on the tour, when they do something amazing you still act surprised, but Tiger does it and its all in a days work. But it's knowing we are watching greatness that keeps bringing us back to watching him walk 18 on a Sunday with his Red Shirt, Black pants, and Black Nike Swoosh hat. Its turning on CBS or ESPN and hearing Tiger is only 3 shots back with 4 holes to play and knowing he has a shot at winning that keeps us watching. Anyone who has watched golf in the last 15 years can tell you about watching Tiger do something amazing and that's what's going to keep us tuning in when he does step back on the golf course. If Tiger decides to step back on at Augusta where he won his first Major and has 4 Green Jackets to boot, then people will tune in. Tiger also wouldn't enter a tournament he didn't think he could win. That's why I think Augusta makes sense, the course is familiar to him, he knows he can win there and when he does nobody will be talking about his mistresses and sex addiction. They will be talking about his 5th Green Jacket and how he only needs 3 more major championships to tie The Golden Bear, they will start talking about him as the Greatest Golfer to play the game again and Tiger Woods the Adulterer will begin to fall to the wayside.

Some people are saying Tiger is choosing Augusta because of the restrictions and the Pomp and Circumstance of the event. Only certain press is allowed on site, meaning no TMZ or National Inquirer representatives will be there, the press does not have access to the locker room. Tiger is a member so the club will protect him. Also tickets are not sold to just anyone, they get passed down within families from generation to generation if someone wants to heckle Tiger they could loose there pass for good, not just get removed for the day. While these issues may be part of Tiger's decision it comes down to him being comfortable at Augusta and I think he is considering he has had more success at this Major then the other three, except the PGA Championship.

Tiger has overcome a lot through the years, his father died and he came back to win the British Open and he barely used his Driver, he tore his ACL and MCL in his knee and won the US Open, now he has to overcome a new kind of adversity, something he isn't used to, the world knowing his private buisness and the media digging through his life. All I know is that I am excited for the return of Tiger, he is always fun to watch and I'm thinking come Sunday April 11th, Tiger will be walking up the fairway on 18 to putt for the win.

Team Pride vs. National Pride

Recently in the news a lot is being made about a tradition at Chicago Blackhawks games. The tradition being that the Chicago fans cheer during the Star Spangled Banner. At first I understood it as the fans yelling random insults to the opposing teams, but I saw video of the fans today on Fox News, while getting my coffee at Mocha Mo's, and I don't he as much of a problem with it. The other thing that makes this easier to accept is its been going on since the 80's and just now its becoming an issue.

I know teams all across sports have little traditions when the National Anthem is played. In DC at Capitals games the fans shout the word RED, this started during the "Rock the Red!" campaign. In Baltimore the shout OH, in Dallas they shout STARS, and in Atlanta they change "...home of the brave" to "...home of the braves." Why do the people who have issue with Chicago's tradition not have issue with these traditions.

There was a guy on Fox News who stated that there is a law in the US code that states people are to stand at attention with there hand over there heart during the playing of the National Anthem. If the USA is going to begin enforcing this law then shouldn't they start with President Obama, during the campaign he wouldn't place his hand on his heart?.

The question the commentator had was is this a patriotic act? To many people it will be considered disrespectful and unpatriotic, but to some the thought doesn't cross there mind.

My question is how this isn't protected by the First Ammendment, burning the USA Flag is protected and I feel like that is a much worse offense. There are laws in the US Code directing citizens how to properly dispose of a flag, how to treat it and when its time to get a new flag. I don't agree with burning the flag in protest, but its protected, how can expressing yourself during the National Anthem at a sporting event not be protected? So I'd like to see what others think about this, take a minute and comment?

God Bless America!

Going To Work With My Dad

When I was in middle school my family was preparing to move to Virginia from New Jersey,, my father had already moved down to an apartment in Dale City while we prepared to move the house down in September for the beginning of the school year. My father was was the Senior Inspector for the I-95 HOV extension from Fairfax down to the Dumfries area. At the time he was working for a company called Frederic R Harris Inc and that company was responsible for ensuring the roadwork met Highway Codes. I remember one week I went down with my mom, brother and sister because we were looking at houses. The rest of my family went home on Friday morning while I got to go to work with my dad. I remember showing up to my dad's Field office, one of the windows had a bullet hole through it and you could see where it went through the wall across the hall too. I've learned that's just Dale City. When we first arrived at the office my dad logged in when he arrived and said to me, "you will hear words today that I do not expect you to repeat in front of you mother." To a 12 year old that was exciting enough because foul language was new and fun and this is was a place where it was accept and somewhat normal vocabulary.

After my dad went through his morning routine we jumped in his work truck for a tour of the job site. I thought it was really cool that the company gave my dad a truck to dive in at work. The truck had a yellow flashing light which somehow gained us access to the unfinished HOV lanes. I remember my dad showing me all of the bridges and flyovers on the site and introducing me to his coworkers. Every time I drive on these lanes I think about this day and the fact that my dad was part of building them. Every time we stopped somewhere on the job site and got out of the truck I had to have my blaze orange vest and hard hat on, it's the little things that make you feel like an adult. At one point I asked my dad if I could use the radio to talk to his coworker at the field office, my dad let me and told me what the say, but let me know that it wasn't a toy. His coworker came back on the radio and told us where we needed to go next followed by, "you should let your son talk more often, we can understand him." After that we were heading from the north end of the project to the south end, this is where it gets exciting. My dad put the peddle down in his truck and we took off. It was my first time being in a vehicle going that fast, I don't remember the speed exactly, but it was well over the speed limit. Before you think how irresponsible, the road was not open to the public so there was no posted speed limit. This could explain my lead foot though. The end of the day was spent back in the office, it was 1994 so not everyone had computers and they certainly didn't have Internet so it was pretty boring, until I could hear my dad arguing with the VDOT Manager on the job site. It was the first time I heard my dad swear, all I know is he dropped the F-bomb and the VDOT manager said, "watch the language there is a kid in the office." My dad responded, "don't change the subject it's nothing he hasn't used or heard before. As we left my dad wrote the time in the time book and we got in the car to go home to Jersey. I slept the whole way home and thought how cool it would be to do that myself one day. After high school I did work at my father's office, but by then he was with Parsons Brinkerhoff. I was given my access to a company truck and met a lot of guys on job sites that worked with my dad in the past. I just wish I would've opened the truck up on a job site just once, but I did get my own hard hat this time.

I was thinking about this story today when I heard about the father who took his son to work at the JFK Air Traffic Control Tower. The father let his son get on the radio and direct a couple flights to take off. Audio can be found here. After listening to the audio the child was clear in what he was saying and it is obvious he was being told what to say. It appeared that people knew the child would be talking to them. Now this should not have happened, but it did. The father should be punished, but people are saying he should lose his job. There was no harm in what happened and the intent of the Air Traffic Controller was not to cause harm. As of now the Air Traffic Controller and his supervisor have been suspended pending an investigation.

I found this quote from an article on Fox News; it's an interesting point of view about the situation.

LiveATC founder Dave Pascoe, a pilot and radio enthusiast, said he was sickened at the thought that the controller could be disciplined.

"I absolutely believe that this being blown out of proportion," he said. "This is just a completely controlled situation. A child was being told exactly what to say."

He added, "I think it's just fantastic that this guy cared enough to take his kid to work. How many parents take their kids to work these days?" (Fox News Story, AP)

Hopefully the Air Traffic Controller can return to work soon. It sounds like this is a man who cares for and loves his kids so hopefully he can continue to support them.

Holmes on Homes Could've Saved Olympics!

I don't know how many of you know of Holmes on Homes, but its the greatest home repair show since Home Improvement or This Old House with Bob Villa. Mike Holmes comes into peoples homes after a General Contractor has royally screwed up and left a room or the whole house in a mess and usually unsafe and not to code. He spends the first 5 minutes of every show talking to the homeowner, then the next 10 minutes ripping the previous general contractor, the rest of the show is demo and remodeling the room. At the end the homeowners come back and are shocked and the women hug Mike.

The reason I tell you this is because 1) its a great show and 2) I heard Canada had a "repairman" fix the torch that had mechanical issues during the Opening Ceremonies. Mike Holmes is from Canada, he's the greatest non-comic to come from Canada since Wayne Gretzky, why not have Holmes come out and fix the torch, it would've been pure comedy gold for Canadians and Americans.

Anyways if you want to find Holmes on Homes on tv it is on HGTV.

Crosby: America's New Villain

Thirty years ago a scrappy group of ameteur hockey players defeated a group of mature professionals in what is still the biggest upset in hockey and possibly all sports. Team USA beat the Russians in what is now known as The Miracle on Ice.

I bring this up because the game played on Sunday between the USA and Canada was the closest any hockey game has come to the intensity of The Miracle game since 1980. While Team USA won in 1980 they lost in 2010 in overtime. In a game where the momentum had shifted to the Americans side and out of no where the star of the Canadian team broke the hearts of millions of Americans.

Since this is my first real post I'll fill you in on my hockey allegiences. I grew up following Eric Lindros' Flyers, I watched them make it to the Stanley Cup finals and get destroyed by the Red Wings. I slowly stopped following hockey and I moved to the DC area in 94. Then the strike happened and many fans left the sport. When teams came back after the strike I started to follow the Washington Capitals where I've now seen Ovechkin, Semin, Green, Laichs, and others become stars in the NHL.

I tell you this because it lays the groundwork for my pure hatred of Sydney crosby, you see being a fan of any Philadelphia team, especially being from the metro area you grow up hating Pittsburgh teams and Post Strike DC despises the Penguins and most of all Sydney Crosby. The NHL set out to create a rivalry between Crosby and Ovechkin, needless to say they didn't need to do much.

They compete for everything, Ovie leads in personal awards and Crosby has the team achievements. Ovie has Rookie of the Year, 3 scoring titles, 2 league MVPs. Crosby has 2 Eastern Cnference Championships, 1 Stanley Cup, and an Olympic Gold.

One other thing that makes it hard to find an endearing quality about Sydney Crosby is he looks like a robot out on the ice. The Americans had personality and heart and that's what hurt the most Sunday is you could see the pain in there faces after the loss.
Last season though Crosby broke the hearts of Capitals fans, he also crushed a few other teams on his way to the Stanley Cup, but on Sunday all Americans joined in the hatred of Crosby, except for a few Penguins fans who have no National Pride. Either way my only hope is that Crosby does not get to hoist the Cup this year, I hope its the Caps, but I'd be ok with any of the teams that have one of the American Players on it hoisting it. Plus if Sydney Crosby loses, maybe Mario Lemieux will kick him out of the basement.

The one thing Team USA can take away from these Olympics, aside from there Silver medals is knowing that they made Americans care about hockey again. Gary Bettman should give these guys a bonus, because he stands to make money off of the exposure.