I know I do not put a lot of hockey news on here but the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens game from last night has to go up. Half way through the second period, the Rangers had a 5-0 lead… but as you can imagine since I am putting the highlights up from the game… the Canadiens sort of made a little come back. It ended up going to overtime and then shootout… where I will let you see who won the game. What a game it was.
Greatest Baseball Prank?
Several of you have already seen this but I will put it up anyways.
Kyle Kendrick was a victim of one of the best pranks I have ever seen in professional sports. It was all set up the help of assistant general manager, the team manager, teammates and even the members of the media. Truly an awesome prank.
After the Phillies’ workout on Saturday, Ruben Amaro Jr. summoned Kendrick into manager Charlie Manuel’s office at Bright House Networks Field. With a straight face, the assistant general manager told his gullible pitcher that he’d been dealt to the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese Central League for a player named “Kobayashi Iwamura.”
Kobayashi – for those of you who are not familiar with the name, is the name of the famous hot-dog eating champion from Japan and no such baseball player exists.
Here is what his manager had to say… “I would have loved to see him fly to Japan and get off the plane. That would have been the best. As a matter of fact, I would have paid his fare.”
What a prank indeed. If you want an official detailed article on what actually took place, an article from MLB.com is here.
An All Star Weekend…
What an All-Star weekend and no I am not talking about my visit to Virginia.
Saw the 3-point competition there where Jason Kapono just lit up the field and blew everyone away winning for a second straight year.
The event that everyone will be talking about though will be the slam-dunk competition. It had recently become quite a bore the past few years but certainly this one had the life of the 2001 competition where Vince Carter stole the show.
Last year’s champion Gerald Green, I do not think got enough credit for his blow out the candle dunk because if you watch it live without any previous knowledge of the dunk, you might not know what is going on. What a dunk though.
Clearly the star of the night of ‘Superman’ Dwight Howard. I will only link to the Superman dunk but certainly you could pick any one of his dunks and it was simply amazing.
On an unrelated note, I had heard of an Obama music video of “Yes, We Can” but had not seen it yet but was linked to it by Katie today.
Excuse Me Ma’am, You’re How Old?
Just got this article from my sister who I thought was studying but apparently not… but here it is anyways.
Turns out, there is this Israeli Arab woman who claims she was born in 1888, which would make her 120 years old this year and surpass the oldest person alive by far – 6 years older than the oldest person alive right now… an Edna Parker of Indiana.
Mariam Amash filled in the routine form with anything but routine information. Amash, who recently applied for a new Israeli identity card, said she was born 120 years ago — a claim, if confirmed, that would make her the oldest person in the world. The Guinness Book of Records currently lists 114-year-old Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Ind., as holding that title. – Article
Her relatives are saying that she has 11 children in total (10 sons and 1daughter). The oldest child being well into the 80’s now… She also has approximately 120 grandchildren, 250 great-grandchildren and 20 great-great grandchildren according to family members. That’s just remarkable.
So how does this woman continue to live a healthy life at such a high age? Her granddaughter-in-law said that she is a “healthy, active woman. She walks each day and makes sure she drinks at least one glass of olive oil.” Obviously a person of her age would have a great amount of historical knowledge in her and she certainly does. She likes to talk about the history since the Turkish times when they controlled over the Holy Land ended with World War I.
I wish I live up to at least 115 years old, a certain someone would owe me a dollar.
Clinton: Still No Congratulations For Obama
Interesting piece of article on CNN earlier. Now with Obama getting the delegate lead even when you factor in the super delegate votes, you certainly should not expect any congratulations now until the race is done.
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) – For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.
On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.
On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).
The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.
Clinton congratulated Obama and John Edwards after their first and second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. Obama returned the favor in New Hampshire, saying Clinton “did an outstanding job.” That courtesy continued through the early states.
But as the race has shifted to a delegate chase with dozens of states in play around the country, the notion of congratulating one’s opponent seems, for Clinton, to have fallen by the wayside.
– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
Key Dates to look out for: State (Delegates)
March 4: Ohio (161) and Texas (228) Primaries
April 22: Pennsylvania (188)
May 6: North Carolina (134)
Those are the last four states left with triple digit delegates left and with the total difference still barely in double digits, I expect March 4 to be crucial. Obama needs to make inroads in Texas and certainly this momentum will help.
To think it is February 13th now and people expected this race to be over after over a month ago following Iowa and New Hampshire. How crucial would Florida and Michigan primaries be, had they not decided to defy party rules and push their primaries before the February 5th deadline… The world will never know.