News - Sunday, November 1, 2009

This teacher is impossibly cute to me. sigh.

I haven't felt great most of the day, so here is a belated news post for all of you. I blame BRETT FAVRE, as the media overload about his return to Green Bay has turned my brain and optic nerve (I think that's a real thing) into mush. But on the plus side, I have been able to catch up on and Glee and Titan Maximum and Modern Family and The Office and Community this weekend. (Not so shocking news: I did not go out for Halloween, and it felt great!)

- This is a bit of a belated pimp for this article, but it really is quite splendid. Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favorite authors, did a piece for The New Yorker showing that there is an especially strong link between brain damage and professional football. The article also tries to turn the findings into a bit of a statement on dog-fighting, but I found those parts of the piece less effective.

However, I am not surprised by the main finding at all. For years, NFL players have been dying early and suffering from an array of health problems that you just don't see in other sports. For example, old NBA players and NFL players might have problems with bad knees, but NFL players are also getting dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

- On the opposite end of the spectrum, I've just started reading The Book of Basketball by ESPN sports columnist Bill Simmons. If you don't like his usual work, then this isn't going to convert you, but it is an authoritative tomb on his chief love, professional basketball, and specifically the NBA and ABA. I give it a solid B+ so far, since it is well-written and enjoyable, but the narrow topic scope means I have to be in the mood to read about the NBA. Also, one of his chapters is a legit 80 pages or so.

Random note: Amazon offers this book for $30, but after discounts, the actual price is $16.50 plus shipping. I bought it from a Borders / Waldenbooks for $21, off the list price of $30, since there was a 30 percent discount. This begs the question, where are these book stores that actually sell goods at full price? Do they even exist?

- Mel Gibson's girlfriend just gave birth. Thing he'll be getting it circumcised? Hi-oh, thanks for coming ladies and gentlemen! (p.s. This lame joke doesn't even work because it was a girl. Sigh!)

- In weird, funny Halloween news, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili caught a bat during a game. Seriously. He was rather non-effected by it as well... Good for him.

- In weird and creepy Halloween news, some police departments do keep a tight eye on sex offenders during the holiday. In what makes perfect sense to me, they aren't allowed to hand out candy and they have to keep their lights off. Also, there are like a dozen stories on Google News about stabbings at Halloween parties, so if you do hold a party, don't leave the jack-o-lantern carving knife out on the table, seriously guys.

- And finally, in stripper news... And sad video gamer news... A bunch of Russian Counterstrike players managed to play despite strippers getting busy all up in their area. Some of them are kind of haggard looking, but really, if you're playing competitive Counterstrike in 2009, you should take whatever you can freakin' get.

The Bill Simmons picture is from this blog which has a good post about the NHL. Mel and his baby-momma are from the People article linked above. And the pictures of my new crush are from here, here and here. Note: The first two are awesome and I'm following both now.