The Beautiful Game

I've not written here in a while, but I thought I'd plug the upcoming World Cup. I've fallen in love with soccer at its highest levels because there's so much passion, and the game is truly wonderful to watch. The creativity of the best players is simply astounding, and the American side has a shot to do something amazing starting June 12 at noon, with their match against the Czech Republic. Soccer has been decried as a sissy sport for years, but there's more contact in a match of soccer than a season of baseball. The athletes are in incredible shape. The sport doesn't have the same respect level of the triumvirate of American sports here, but there's a reason the rest of the world loves the game. As such, I'm encouraging you to watch the Yanks take on the world starting in 7 days. You won't be disappointed.

Czech Republic-Mon, June 12-Noon-ESPN2
Italy-Sat, June 17-2:30-ABC
Ghana-Thu, June 22-10am-ESPN

An Awesome Commercial

Saw this on TV, and it gave me the chills:


An amazing commercial from Gatorade:

Election night mayhem

Today's been great fun seeing that I had the opportunity to have my picture taken with the First Lady. That makes three out of four members of the First Family, though I imagine getting a picture with President Bush will pose a much greater challenge.

Anyway, the Primaries were today, and I (idiotically) passed up on an opportunity to go to Ken Blackwell's celebration party. Ted Strickland vs. Ken Blackwell for the governorship of Ohio. Each has their own advantages, as the conservative base of the Republican party now have a candidate they can really work for, though Blackwell's going to have to work his ass off to stay clear of the mess that Bob Taft has created. Which is where Strickland's opportunity really arises. Blackwell, being the first black gubernatorial candidate in Ohio's history, could cut into parts of the Democratic base, but the current adminstration has done a lot to turn moderates into Dems. Should be craziness.

(There was a comment in error about the North Canton School levy failing. A check of the BOE website showed it carrying by roughly 7 points.)

Randomness

Well, plenty's been happening the last few days. My beloved Green Bay Packers got AJ Hawk, which is amazing, and also managed to get 13 picks overall, Brett Favre to return, and signed Charles Woodsen, moves that I'm more skeptical about. I managed to work Chuck Norris and roundhouse kicking into a response for an essay, and was lauded for the example and recieved an A. Saturday was spent campaigning in Findlay for Steve Buehrer and Ken Blackwell. And last but not least, tomorrow I've managed to get free admission to a $250 a plate luncheon featuring the First Lady, Laura Bush. Been interesting, but I rather like it that way.

It's a shame really

Well, they released the results of the USG election last night, and it looks like pretty much a worst case scenario for the much maligned organization which is supposed to help students out. As was pretty much inevitable, the Results Coalition gained about 75% of the Senate, however, the Fournikate ticket won the presidency. It appears as though the inability to spread the word far and near that they weren't disqualified really hurt the Knapp/Gent team.

This is the worst case scenario because of the enmity that exists between a good number of the Knapp/Gent people (who will dominate the Senate) and the Fournikates, who have already been promised most every executive position. And you thought USG was irrelevant now. At least if Kreiner had won, there wouldn't have been imbeciles on a power trip running things. The results bear out the idea that Kreiner/Rosentraub, even with a Lantern endorsement, were totally incapable of winning the election, because they simply didn't have the number of supporters. Fournier won because Knapp/Gent were screwed over again and again, and the sensible voters were divided up between the K/G and Kreiner. Though luck for Dave, having been runner up in two consecutive elections. Should be interesting to see if he'll get involved again this year (or if Fournier will let him in any case.) Maybe they'll all prove me wrong, but I'm less than optimistic. Likely USG becomes even more a waste of our student activity fee than normal.

Also, props to Andy Beppler for working his ass off trying to help Knapp/Gent in a somewhat misguided failed bit to win a North Campus senate seat.

More proof that M*ch*gan still sucks.

Peter Jackson+Star Trek=Brilliant

So I'm sitting in my room, and Tim randomly comes down. He's like "I just heard some interesting news, and I wanted to see your face when you found out." Turns out that Peter Jackson is going to direct the next Star Trek movie. My face instantly transformed into a gigantic smile. I can't help but anticipate the result when the guy who brilliantly adapted my favorite books gets his hands on my favorite sci-fi property.