Anthem Time

Wait Til Next Century did a writeup on some past National Anthem performances that wasn't quite as good as the one I did last year, but he did embed the top notch Chicago NHL All-Star game performance, so props for that.

Jordin Sparks, the reigning American Idol, will do the Anthem this year.

Vegas Watch did a piece on a number of Super Bowl prop bets, including the Sparks Anthem over/under, which is set at 1 minute 42 seconds. As I found out last year, when Billy Joel rushed through the Anthem in the rain, just because all of the past performances you can find on YouTube are longer than that doesn't mean we should ignore the other factors. Last year I overestimated Billy Joel's performance flair and lost my bet with Dirty Dave.

Sparks is a mere pup at 18 years of age - so maybe nerves will be a factor? On the contrary - she's had plenty of exposure from Idol, and will probably embrace the chance to show off her pipes. Go with the Anthem Over and the Pats minus the points.

-KD

Can I Get A Jersey?

From Peter King's MMQB column:

"Transaction of the Week: Noticed this in the paper the other day, under baseball transactions in something called the Golden Baseball League: CALGARY VIPERS -- Agreed to terms with OF Jorge Poo Tang."

Wow. Just wow. Where can I get a Poo Tang jersey? That's even better than the Alexander Semin jersey!

-KD

Double Stuf Racing League?!?!?!?!

Yes - the Manning brothers REALLY did this commercial. I saw it with my own two horrified eyes today WHILE Peyton was crashing and burning at home as a massive favorite against the Chargers (who, in case you were wondering, stand NO shot against the Patriots next week.)

Ok, so, if you want to throw up in your mouth out of shock and disgust at the levels Peyton Manning will stoop to, go to the homepage for the DSRL. Now click on the video on the right hand side of the screen - don't worry, despite the name Double Stuf Racing League, it's not pornographic, except for the part where the Manning brothers furiously scrub their tongues with open faced Oreo cookies, like they're trying to erase the taste of some sour twang. Sour twang - I like that - good name for a band.

Doesn't Peyton Manning have an agent who's supposed to advise him not to do commercials like this? Big Show surmised that Eli must have really needed the money and that Peyton, TV whore that he is, was more than willing to help his little bro.

And oh, Jeremy Green published his postmortem on the Pats-Jags game, blaming the Jags defense for the loss...

-KD

Mea Culpa?

I'm always amused by articles like this one from Jeremy Green, explaining how the Jacksonville Jaguars will beat the New England Patriots this weekend.

What's most amazing about Green's piece is that he commendably managed to write a pro-Jacksonville piece without using the most prolific and asinine Jacksonville cliche soundbite of the past month: that they are a "Southern football team that plays like a Northern football team," and that the Jags are "Built for Northern, hard nosed, cold weather football."

Look, it's fine for a columnist to try to make a name for himself by issuing a ridiculous, counter-trend thesis with the tiny prayer that the multi-sigma event will actually go his way and attract "I told you so" recognition. HOWEVER, when the Pats beat the Jags on Saturday I'll be looking for Jeremy Green's mea culpa on Sunday morning.

-KD

The O-Dog

Oscar kinda has his own blog now. Mrs. Dynamite spends a lot of time working on the SnifNYCDogs blog, which is a blog of dog-related activities in New York City. Obviously, the O-Dog is the star of the blog - and will soon be the pioneer test subject and early adopter for the cool technology that SnifLabs is developing.

-KD