Five for Friday, Vol. 8: Saturday Morning Cartoons Edition

OK, running late on the Friday list again. Today I examine the JP Favorite Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Kids today have an embarassment of cartoon riches. Several entire networks dedicated to showing cartoons most, if not all day. Then there are DVDs and videos... I know this is sounding like a "when I was a kid I walked to school barefoot in the snow...uphill both ways" but dang it, I did grow up in the pre-cable era (at least in my home town, where Family of JP didn't get cable until I was in 4th grade). So in those early grade school days, Saturday mornings were a sacred cartoon ritual. Getting up early and getting into the living room without waking mom and pop. I'd get comfortable on the couch and watch cartoons all morning. Now remember, I'm a guy here, so no smurfs or girly stuff.

Here were some of my favorites through the years:

1. Challenge of the Superfriends/Superfriends - Oh, yes, they were cheesy. But to a grade schooler in the mid to late 70s, they hit the spot. I was all about superheroes. Batman was always my favorite, although his character was not as developed (along with the others) as they were in their own comics. But this was the Justice League facing off against the Legion of Doom, a rougue's gallery that lived in what looked like a giant Darth Vader head in the swamp.
2. The Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner Show - I saw these classic cartoons in several formats over the years. But to me the heyday opened with Bugs and Daffy in tuxes, singing "Overture, hit the lights..." Always preferred Daffy to Bugs and Wil E. Coyote to that wascally Roadrunner. These are the gold standard of cartoons.
3. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! - There have been many incarnations of scardy-dog Scooby and his mystery solving pals. The earliest, made before in 1969-70 but reaired forever remain my favorites. Many of the stories were actually kind of spooky to a youngun. That space ghost was my favorite for the longest time. Then along came cousin Scrappy (him being the badguy was the only redeeming quality of the forgettable recent life action movies, in my book) and it all went downhill from there.
4. Thundarr The Barbarian - The coolest at the time. Post-apocaplyptic superhero with a light saber err-- sun sword. Sci-fi cartoon goodness. The post-apocalypse views of famous landmarks was always something to look for. Now it's just funny to realize they had the earth ending in the mid 1990s. Oops.
5. Dungeons and Dragons - I was just starting to get into the game Dungeons and Dragons when this cartoon hit. Synergistic coolness. I was even able to overlook the cheesy plot setup of the group of friends teleported from an amusement park to Dungeons and Dragons land. It was just a fun show and one of the last Saturday morning cartoons I cared for before "growing up." (Only later did I realize I never grew up. :) )

Honorable Mention:
Laff-Olympics
Blue Falcon

Wonkette: Libby Scoots Out

So Wonkette gets to be the first to inform Jonworld of the indictment of the vice president's chief of staff as part of the investigation into the leaking of the identify of an undercover CIA operative. Scooter Libby resigned his post. No Karl Rove indictment today.

And I'm shocked...shocked I tell you, that Drudge didn't pull out the flashing light for this. So allow me this small honor.

Libby Scoots Out [Wonkette]
Pull Out All the Stops and Go To The Metaphorical Well One More Time [Jonworld]

Mr. Sulu Comes Out

On the sneaker heels of WNBA All-Star Sheryl Swoopes outting herself earlier this week, actor George Takei, best known for playing helmsman (and later captain) Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, says he's gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

UPDATE: Apparently in some quarters, using the above Seinfeld reference - especially in this context - is not taken in the innocent humor it was intended by this Seinfeld fan. To each his or her own, and I certainly feel no need to defend my usage other than to say it wasn't used as code for anything other than the fact I'm a Star Trek fan and a Seinfeld fan.

Takei, a Japanese-American who spent time in an internment camp in Arkansas during World War II, says the current social climate convinced him to reveal his sexuality.

"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he tells the AP. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."

The 68-year-old actor said he and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for 18 years.

Swoopes, the three-time Women's National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player said Wednesday, ""I was at a point in my life where I am just tired of having to pretend to be somebody I am not."

George Takei, 'Trek's' Sulu: I'm Gay [CNN]
Swoopes Says She Is Gay, and Exhales [NY Times]
Takei Treks Back to WWII Internment Camp [CNN]

Exxon: Don't Hate Me Because I Have All of Your Money

On one hand, I can't begrudge a business being successful. My libertarian friend would counsel me about the free market and businesses just charging what the market will pay. But there's another part of me that feels like Exxon and the other oil companies have me over a barrel...an oil barrel.

The LA Times focuses on the eye-popping numbers: "More than a billion dollars a day, $45 million an hour, almost $340 for every living American — that's what Exxon Mobil Corp. reported in third-quarter revenue Thursday.

"The Irving, Texas, oil giant said sales totaled $100.7 billion — the most by any company in history — and reported a profit of $9.9 billion, an oil industry record. The financial results drew outrage from politicians and consumer advocates who see historically high U.S. gasoline prices as evidence of profiteering."

Scarily enough, I gotta agree with Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, who said during his AETN call-in show on the subject: ""There's no reason that they [oil companies] should be profiting at that level when everyone else is suffering the consequences. ... It doesn't make sense that somehow this one sector of the economy is recording their highest record. ... "there's a point at which you cannot continue to just gouge people because you can, because they don't have an option. ... that's not a market. That's an immoral force [the bold emphasis is mine]."

Exxon Sales Top $1 Billion A Day [LA Times]
Exxon's Quarterly Profit Equals $45 Million An Hour [Seattle Times]
We Second the Huckster [Ark Times blog]

Goat Boy Becomes Local Weatherman?

A Goat Boy Redux?

This is the kind of hard-hitting journalism you don't find in the MSM (mainstream media for you blogger neophytes), Chief Local TV News Analyst LT breaks the story on the possible location of former Saturday Night Live character "Goat Boy" (aka comedian Jim Breuer). Could it be KATV Ch. 7's new weekend weather guy, Todd Yakoubian? Has anyone seen them together?

Didn't He Do Goat Boy? [Dashboard]

Bush v. Clinton: Indictments Edition

The Wash Post media writer Howard Kurtz breaks down the comparisons between the ongoing Bush-Administration-CIA-leak investigation and the Clinton-Whitewater-Monica investigation. You know you've been thinking about it, too, as the media frenzy heats up around Scooter (Cheney's chief of staff) and Rove (top Bush advisor)...will there be indictments? is lying about sex worse than lying about an issue of national security?

Howard makes it easy for us in today's Media Notes column with a handy dandy scorecard so you can draw your own conclusions.

Scandal Scorecard [Washington Post]

Sunny Bono

Jonworld Chief U2 correspondent LT points us to this Rolling Stone interview of U2 frontman Bono, in what LT calls "Bono's Big Week."

"First Bono has lunch with George W. in the White House, now he's sitting down with another larger-than-life figure lots of folks love to hate, Rolling Stone Founder and Publisher Jann Wenner, for his first "Rolling Stone interview." What's more, the interview is available in podcast format, so now we actually hear the sounds of Wenner kissing a rock star's ass, as opposed to having to imagine them as we read along."

Being only a pedestrian fan of U2 (I got "Joshua Tree" and LT got me "Achtung Baby" for me birthday one year), I can appreciate some of the insight into Bonoworld. But I'm sure to Zooropia-philes like LT, the song-and-dance bit may be old news.

Thanks LT for the good read.

Bono's Big Week [Dashboard]

I Still Miss Calvin and Hobbes! :(

There was once a time when I looked to the comics pages each morning to read the latest adventures of "Calvin and Hobbes" along with the manic genius of "The Far Side." But then, just like that, between 1994 and 1995, they both ended and there was great crying and gnashing of teeth across the land. No more daring resuces by Spaceman Spiff, or Calvin and his pet tiger Hobbes enjoying another game of no-rules Calvin Ball. There have been no more cow hijinks on the Far Side. No more dogs trying to lure cats into washers with the promise of "cat fud."

Calvin creator Bill Watterson has been quite the recluse, according to this article. Spending time with his father and away from the spotlight.

The Far Side's Gray Larson said "burnout" made him give up his comic. In 1998, he released an "adult children's book" but has mostly been keeping a low profile, too.

How I wish they would come back to their comics.

Until that comic reunion tour, I'm still holding out for those complete collections of Calvin and The Far Side. Are you listening, Santa?

'Calvin and Hobbes' Creator Keeps Privacy [AP via Yahoo!]
Gary Larson [USA Today]

Five For Friday, Vol. 7: The Mandatory Morning Reading Edition

Was skimming my usual roundup of Web sources for news this morning, when I came to the source of this week's list: my morning Web ritual of for getting caught up on the news. These come with a JP Seal of High Recommendation:

1. Today's Papers on Slate.com: The indespensible starting point for me is this morning what's in the nation's major newspapers courtesy of online journal Slate. Writers of the columnroundup of compare the coverage of the stories in each paper and often point out holes. Plus, they usually have a chuckle-worthy pun for a headline, such as last Sunday's "The Sunnis Come Out," leading with coverage of the Iraqi election.

2. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Gotta find out what's going on locally, and there's no choice but this Right-leaning D-G. I try to tune out the ideological spin and the unforgivable editorial bias (see: "Paper Rewrites History") on the historical topic of the 1957 intergration showdown in Little Rock. They lose points for requiring a subscription for online access. But I subscribe to the Sunday paper and get online access, so quite a bargain.

3. Media Notes in the Washington Post: Another excellent daily roundup of the day's media coverage, with some good analysis and insight from the WashPost's media writer, Howard Kurtz.

4. Most Viewed News on Yahoo!: Nothing like the Yahoo-viewing masses voting the most popular news stories and photos. If there's some celebrity gossip or a photo of some scantilly-clad female, you can guarantee it'll be tops...often ahead of "real" news. God bless the Internet.

5. (tie) The Drudge Report: You hate to love Matt Drudge and you love to hate him but there's no questioning the impact his Right-leaning site has had on the Internet and the media. Oh, the passive-aggressive, liberal-baiting headlines and that classic flashing light graphic he's employed since the start. I don't agree with his politics but I've always thought you need to know what those you don't agree are saying and thinking...I can't stomach Rush, so I visit Drudge.

5. (tie) Wonkette: More my political leanings and great passive-aggressive...and aggressive aggressive swipes at conservative folk. But Dems get their share of dissage too. Love the daily gossip roundup. "Politics for people with dirty minds," they say...and they are right.

It's Gotta Be the Shoes

Gotta admire Arkansas State basketball player Jerry Nichols for sticking to his guns. Nichols, the team's returning leading scorer, says he won't play ball wearing adidas shoes, which the team is under contract to wear.

UPDATE: Adidas announced Thursday it will not require Nichols to wear its shoes. Wise PR move. I'm sure the adidas folks want this story to go away ASAP.

Nichols says he was wearing that brand when he suffered a serious knee injury. But the school's athletic director says he has to. The school says Nichols has to dress by its rules.

"We have a contractual agreement with [adidas], and it's not any different than any number of other contracts with other schools. There is not any stipulation or any research that shows any shoes are worse than any others," Arkansas State athletic director Dean Lee told The Jonesboro Sun newspaper.

The coach is more sympathetic but it sounds like there's some tension with the athletic director. Coach Dickey Nutt (brother of University of Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt) just got a new contract but there seemed to be some grumbling that Nutt hadn't been more successful.

Arkansas St. Player Refuses to Wear Adidas [ESPN]
Adidas Says It Won't Make Arkansas St. Player Wear Its Shoes [CBS Sportsline]

Oh. He's Dead.

Nothing like a buried lead in a story about a death. LR TV station KATV grabbed me with the headline "Little Rock Man Found in Residential Pool." Now, I know what they probably mean, but then jaded former journalist in me - having been drilled in J-School on buried leads and bad headlines - wonders...was he just taking a swim or was he dead...you sure can't tell from the headline.

So I go read the story (sure you can argue the headline accomplished its mission to draw me in, but that's not the point)...doing yard work...found...face down... A-ha! There in the fourth sentence it says he was dead when they found him. So it was news after all. Better headline would've been "Body of LR Man Found in Pool."

"According to reports, Forrester had a bruise on his forehead. A weed eater he was working with was found on the pool's cover." Sounds like an unfortunate accident.

OK, my snarky work is done.

LR Man Found in Residential Pool [KATV]

Pull Out All the Stops and Go to the Metaphorical Well One More Time

Wonkette spots an alarming escalation of journalists mixing their metaphors around America's Favorite Bush Leaguer and the Rove-Scooter-"Flame"-gate.

"The worst part about Bush having known two years ago of Boy Genius's role in this silly little kerfuffle? Mixed metaphors...," writes Michael Weiss for Wonkette, citing a NY Daily News story on the ongoing investigation into the leaked identity of an undercover CIA operative married to a Bush critic.

He points to following graf:
"As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald nears a decision, perhaps as early as today, on whether to issue indictments in his two-year probe, Bush has already circled the wagons around Rove, whose departure would be a grievous blow to an already shell-shocked White House staff and a President in deep political trouble."

To which Weiss wrote, "Hey, Scoots! Starting up the meat wagon now's like the fat lady singing while we're still in the trenches and can't see the forest for the trees."

I just think someone went to the Dem-Gaz sports editor Wally Hall School of Writin', with instruction about penning columns on the "perspiring arts."

As for me, I'm keeping my eye on the prize while sticking to my guns.

"I'll Hammer Anyone Involved But Snowjob Ya'll Into Thinking He's Fired" [Wonkette]
Bush Whacked Rove on CIA Leak [NY Daily News]
Report: Miller Told Prosecutors She Cannot Recall Who Gave Her CIA Operative's Name [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Clinton Gets Jiggy With It

Seems the former president has released a CD of his favorite music. According to the AP, the CD "features 11 tracts [sic] (methinks the reporter means "tracks" not "tracts" as in "HUGE tracts of land") ranging from jazz to gospel to blues and folk.

"The CD contains: "My One and Only Love" by John Coltrane, "Harlem Nocturne" by David Sandborn, "My Funny Valentine" by Miles Davis, "The Town I Loved So Well" by Phil Coulter, "There Will Never Be Another You" by Art Tatum, "Summertime" by Zoot Sims, "In the Presence of Jehovah" by Mickey Mangun, "Nostalgie" by Igor Butman, "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" by Nina Simone, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" by Mahalia Jackson and "Chelsea Morning" by Judy Collins."

Guess he's saving Motley Crue's "She Goes Down" and Nickelback's "Figured You Out" for Vol. 2.

Clinton Compilation CD Popular in Week 1 [AP via Yahoo]

Happy 15th Anniversary IMDb!

The Internet Movie Database celebrated its 15th anniversary today. Easily one of my favorite and most-visited Web sites with its endless warehouse of movie trivia and information.

The IMDB editors celebrated with a 15th anniversary site, tip-toeing through their own history along with the movies that got the highest ratings in the past 15 years. The site ranked the highest rated movies of the last 15 years, with a top 5 that included:

1. Fight Club
2. The Matrix
3. Pulp Fiction
4. The Usual Suspects
5. The Shawshank Redemption

Five really good movies. I never have quite gotten the fascination with Fight Club. Good movie, most certainly - but not better that Pulp Fiction or Shawshank or even The Matrix in my book. But that's me.

I cannot count how many times I've gotten lost on the site, following from movie to actor to movie to actor and finding all sorts of neat connections and nuggets. All hail the movie info king.

Our First Wookie American

A hearty "arrrgh wrogh bark" to our newest American, Peter Mayhew, the British-born actor best known in the Star Wars universe as the hairy wookie, Chewbacca. Mayhew was set to receive United States citizenship at a Monday ceremony.

Here's something this Star Wars fan didn't know about wookies that was gleaned in research for this post. Female wookies have six breasts. I don't know what to do with that information, but I thought I should share.

Now lets share some wookie cookies to celebrate!

Chewbacca Does America [E! Online via Yahoo]
Wookie [Star Wars Databank]
Wookie [Wikipedia]
Wookie Cookies recipe [Star Wars Holiday Special.com]

Five for Friday, Vol. 6: Late Rejected Edition

OK, so I was out moving last week and missed the list. But I did think about it. So here are my five rejected ideas for the Five list.

1. Things You Don't Want to Hear While Moving - That sounded fragile.... Help, I'm dropping this glass table top!...These electric outlets don't work. ... You threw what out?!? ...Your buyer's money hasn't gone through yet. Stop moving!
2. Things You Hear at 5-yr old League Soccer Games - THE OTHER WAY!!!
3. Five Recent iTunes Purhcases - Foo Fighters, "DOA"; INXS, "Pretty Vegas"; System of a Down, "Hypnotize"; Avenged Sevenfold, "Bat Country"; and Marty Casey, "Trees"
4. Five Favorite Places JP Has Lived - Sherwood, Fayetteville, Malvern, Berryville and rural Pulaski County. (Not making the list: Green Forest...that was a long two months...as Lou Holtz famously said, "it's not the end of the world - but you can see it from there." ...just too small for my tastes.)
5. Five Funniest Guys on the Planet at the Moment - Jon Stewart, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell (Chevy Chase: The Next Generation?), Jerry Seinfeld (absence - and syndication - makes the heart grow fonder) and Jason Lee's "Earl"

So sayeth the JP...

A Moving Experience

OK, been offline the last several days while moving across town. It was a long four days without the Internet...talk about a junkie going through withdrawals.

Anyway, I know the 4 or 5 of you regulars (Mom, LT...) have missed Five for Friday. It's a little late and will be a little longer before I can get to it. So please, sit back and enjoy yourself and visit some other sites I've frequented lately (when I've been online).

Pre$$titutes - Good media and political commentary.
Demotivators - The 2006 collection comes out soon. Procrastination was always a favorite of mine.
The Leader - Arkansas' largest paid weekly newspaper.

Five for Friday, Vol. 5: Boys Do Cry

Inspired partly by a drive-time radio show I heard while in Dallas, then by seeing October Sky again on cable the other night, I offer up this Friday’s list. It’s five movies (plus 6 bonus choices) that make me tear up, cry, weep, get choked up or blubber like a little baby.

I’ll admit it. I’m a melodramatic guy. I’m not afraid to get caught up in emotion. I’ve been shedding tears over movies since seeing Bambi and Old Yeller as a kid. As you’ll see, I’m a sucker for epic historical pieces where one person tries to make a difference against the odds. Sure it’s cliché but only because it’s touchstone of the human experience.

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Together with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, the LOTR movies are my favorite movie experiences. So after evil has been vanquished and the king crowned, King Aragorn approaches Frodo and the other hobbit heroes, who start to bow. The king stops them, “My friends, you bow to no one” and then he and everyone else bow to the four Halflings. And I am getting choked up just typing this. Of course by this time in the movie, I've teared up several times not the least of which is during Faramir's mournful march to certain death juxtaposed with Pippin singing a sad accapella tune to Faramir's father who had just told Faramir that he loved Faramir's dead older brother more.

2. Braveheart – Mel has slipped a little in my eyes for his "Passion" self-righteousness but he was in fine form here as William Wallace, fighting a losing cause for a free Scotland in the 13th century. At the end, during his torture, when Wallace believes he sees is dead true love (his beloved Scotland personified) walking through the crowd…that’s when the tears come.

3. Saving Private Ryan – Honor, duty and courage. It wasn’t the graphic and gripping D-Day sequence that gets me or the storyline of the group hunting the war torn French countryside for one soldier…until the end. After a dying Capt. Miller tells Pvt. Ryan to “earn this” and the movie jumps back to present day with an old Ryan falling his knees in front of Miller’s tombstone and asking his wife to “Tell me I led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.” Boy, it taps into, I think, everyone’s natural fear of not living a life that matters…in this case amplified by war.

4. October Sky – This isn’t a sweeping epic tale, this is a small story with a big heart. It’s as much about the difficult relationship between a father and son (who are more alike than they want to admit) as it is about a boy’s dreams of escaping a West Virginia coal mining town in 1957 with dreams of rockets and space. After winning the national science fair, when Homer goes home to launch his final rocket and his dad shows up unexpectedly and is offered the chance to push the ignition button, I lose it. By the time we hit the epilogue, when we discover that Homer and his friends did escape and graduated college and that he went to work for NASA and the space program, I’m sobbing.

5. Rudy – One of the greatest sports movies. Like Rudy, I was never blessed with athletic talent, but tried do my best. Rudy’s best, along with his perseverance against all odds led him to his dream of playing football at Notre Dame. I love it when most of the players offer to give up their spot on the game day roster so Rudy can suit up for the last game of the year – his last shot at his dream. Then he gets in the game right at the end and is ultimately carried off the field. But the kicker is when you read that since then no other Fighting Irish player has been carried off the field by his teammates. There’s no better recruiting tool for that storied program than this.

Honorable Mentions (What, 6 more? See, I'm a big movie wuss.):
Mr. Holland's Opus: Since my Dad is a retired high school choir director, this always hits me at the end when Mr. Holland’s students from throughout his career perform his music for him.

Schindler's List –A movie I’ve only seen once and may never see again because it’s so powerful and heartbreaking. It brings tears throughout, but now I’m a tad contaminated by the Seinfeld spoof of the Close Talker who could’ve shown Jerry’s parents so much more of NYC.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: During Kirk’s eulogy for Spock. Undermined a bit by Spock’s later resurrection in ST III.

Return of the Jedi: When Luke sees an apparation of his father join those of Yoda and Obi Wan.

Forrest Gump: When Forrest is at Jenny’s grave.

Field of Dreams: When Kevin Costner’s character plays catch with his father.

On a Mission from God?

So, some Palestinian officials tell BBC documentarians that President Bush once told some Arab leaders God told him to invade Iraq.

UPDATE: Oh no he didn't, says White House.

"President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God,' " said Nabil Shaath, who was the Palestinian foreign minister at the time of a top-level meeting with Bush in June 2003. Mahmoud Abbas, then Palestinian prime minister and now the Palestinian Authority president, was also present for the conversation with Bush.
"God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ...' And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God I'm gonna do it," Shaath quotes the president as saying in the three-part series.

Seeing this, I know how it makes me feel. I'm supremely uncomfortable when a political leader says he's doing God's work - especially when it involves armed conflict. Makes you wonder what God will "tell him" to do next.

I thought the story fit in with this Slate essay by John Dickerson that I read yesterday because I know there are some who will read the "God told me to" story and feel reassured. Dickerson describes the rift in the Republican Party between the so-called intellectual conservatives and the religious conservatives about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

Dickerson describes an uneasy alliance between "right-wing intellectuals, including the neoconservatives whose backing for the Iraq invasion has been so important" and "evangelicals who turned out in such numbers to vote for a man who boasted that he was one of them."

This column reminds me of my concerns that Bush sees Miers as a "stealth" nominee. Blank enough on the surface to confound Democrats in the confirmation process...then set to go off to the far right once on the court.

Bush Said God Told Him to Invade Iraq, Arab leaders say [SF Chronicle]
White House Denies Bush Claimed Divine Inspiration [AFP via Yahoo]
Gods vs. Geeks [Slate]

It's a Gas, Gas, Gas

"...your home heating bill, 70 percent higher than last year's" (!!!!)

Just as the weather in central Arkansas takes a turn for the fall-like (finally...90 degree temps in September/October were getting old), I read this sobering Slate article that already has me shivering.

Daniel Gross writes in Slate that higher gasoline were really just the tip of the ice berg as he predicts heating fuel prices could be an "enormous problem."

"The price of natural gas [which heats JP World Headquarters], the most popular fuel for heating homes, is rocketing upward, driven by rising demand, relatively stagnant North American supplies, and the disruptions imposed by the recent hurricanes," he writes.

The bottom line, he says, is that the Energy Information Administration projects that with a typical winter, "residential per-household expenditures" will rise by 71 percent for natural gas in the Midwest, [emphasis by JP] 31 percent for heating oil in the Northeast, and 40 percent for propane in the Midwest."

Yee-gads! I'm unpacking my sweaters tonight!

The October Surprise [Slate]

Too Sexy for the Jags?

In its eternal quest to completely satisfy our sports appetites, Fox Sports wants folks to vote on who is the sexiest athlete in each sport. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was voted sexiest driver in NASCAR. So now they've moved on to football.

But then columnist Dayn Perry (how is that first name pronounced?? Is it like Diane? Or Dane? Or Dan?), has challenged viewers to pick the least sexiest NFL players - and offered up a top 10 of his own. His list features none other than former Arkansas Razorbacks QB Matt Jones, now a WR with the Jacksonville Jaguars. We knew fashion sense wasn't a priority during his college career with his often shaggy and unruly hair. Oh well, this picture does exemplify the police mug shot look.

Top 10 Least Sexy Men of the NFL [Fox Sports]
Jones Makes the Highlight Reel [Jonworld]

Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator

There are some headlines that just grab you and make you think, "Oh, I gotta see this..."

This would be one of those occasions. And the photo does it justice.

Officials say a "13-foot Burmese python burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole" causing the death of both animals. A wildlife professor says its the fourth such gator-python encounter he's seen, highlighting the introduction of new animals (pythons released by pet owners) into new habitats (the Florida Everglades).

The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. The wildlife prof said the alligator "may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it."

Yum.

Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator [AP via Yahoo!]

Squid Sighted In Northwest Arkansas!

OK, still giddy over the recent filming of the legendary (and bashful) giant squid, I giggled in delight when reading today of a fossilized ancestor of the giant beasty discovered up in Northwest Arkansas.

Brothers Brenten and Jerrod Stevens just disclosed their 2003 find of a 7-foot-long nautiloid - an antediluvian relative" to the giant squid - in west Washington County. They kept the discovery to themselves, they told the Northwest Arkansas Times, because about the same time three University of Arkansas students found an 8-foot nautiloid fossil near Fayetteville.

They recently chiseled the thing out of the ground and hope to one day donate it to an area museum.

Brothers Unveil Aquatic Fossil Found in Washington County [NWA Times]
Sea Monster Caught on Video! [Reuters]

Where There's a Wil...

One of my favorite weekly reads on the satire online newspaper The Onion is the Games of Our Lives column, which aims its wit at video games of yesteryear. It's a funny and nostalgic look at the good, the bad and the ugly video games, both coin-operated and console from author Wil Wheaton.

Yes, that Wil Wheaton. He earned cheers for his turn in the coming-of-age movie Stand By Me, but jeers from many Star Trek fans while serving as astro nerd Ensign Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Who can forget "121 Uses For a Dead Wesley Crusher"? But Wheaton has developed some blog cred through his Wil Wheaton.net.

This week, the Games Of Our Lives column looks at a favorite of mine from the early 1980s, Moon Patrol. As Wheaton explains, the point of the game: "The moon isn't very safe, and thanks to budget cuts, your buggy explodes as readily as a 1972 Pinto. Luckily, you've tricked it out with a dashboard Jesus, lasers, and hydraulic shocks, so you can blast the rocks and jump over the bottomless craters that get in your way."

It was a simple yet addicting game that had me feeding it quarters if for no other reason than hearing the catchy Moon Buggy-driving tune that I still can't get out of my head.

Games of Our Lives [The Onion]
WilWheaton.net

Five for Friday, Vol. 4: Memorable Sports Moments

The 1-3 football Hogs are off this weekend, so let's reflect on some fond sports memories. This edition of the list (and one of these days I'll get back to doing it on Friday) is devoted to the top 5 favorite sports events I personally witnessed. In each case, I was there...in the stands...cheering my team on to victory.

1. Arkansas 106, LSU 92 (March 4, 1992 at Fayetteville): Perched in the student section at historic Barnhill Arena, I saw the Hogs rally for victory over Shaquille O'Neal and the LSU Tigers in Arkansas' first season in the SEC. LSU jumped out to a 51-36 lead. But then the triple threat of Todd Day, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller took over. Mayberry pumped in the 3s while The Big "O" kept O'Neal in check - blocking Shaq's last-second shot to force OT. Mayberry his a then school record 9 three-pointers, and the Hogs ran away in OT. I screamed so hard I was hoarse the next day.

2. Arkansas 45, Houston 39 (Oct. 28, 1989 at Little Rock): Freshman year at UA, and had just seen the Hogs lose to Texas the previous week. I almost told my parents I didn't want to go to War Memorial to see the ground-oriented Hogs face the Run-and-Shoot Houston Cougars, with Heisman Trophy-winning QB Andre Ware. I feared a butt whuppin'. I went to the game and sure enough, the Cougars took the opening drive straight down the field and scored. Here it comes. But then the Hogs, led by QB Quinn Grovey and WR Derek Russell, answered. And answered again. And took the lead. And never looked back. I'm glad I went to the game.

3. Arkansas 27, Kentucky 20 (Oct. 8, 1998): Houston Nutt's first year and the Hogs were 3-0 coming off a convincing 42-6 win over Bama the week before. Now they faced stud QB Tim Couch and the pass-wacky Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky took the lead but the Hogs put on a second half comeback and withstood a last-minute drive by Kentucky that was for naught. Boy, War Memorial was loud.

4. Dallas 5, Anaheim 4 (Dec. 31, 1999): And on the last night of 1999, I was in the stands at Reunion Arena on the last row in upper decks with my six-month-pregnant wife and some friends to see the Golden Brett, Dallas Stars winger Brett Hull become the 12th NHL player to reach the 600-goal mark. He scored two goals as the stars beat the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 5-4. The next day I stayed at my buddy's in Dallas (while he was at the game) and watched the football Razorbacks whip the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl (woo-pig!).

5. Malvern 20, Lake Hamilton 9 (November 1992): In the Class AAA State Championship, played in a torrential downpour at War Memorial Stadium, All-State RB Madre Hill scored two TDs on long runs in the second half to break open a tight game. The weather held Lake Hamilton's passing game in check and my high school alma mater won its first (and so far only) state championship, avenging one of its two regular season losses. They had avenged the other the week before in the semi-finals as Hill led a second half comeback to beat Magnolia in a game played in frigid temperatures. Hill went on to be a star RB with the Arkansas Razorbacks, setting a freshman rushing record, but then tore his ACL in the 1995 SEC Championship game. He bounced to finish a strong college career but never quite made it in the pros. Today he coaches RBs at the University of South Carolina.