Strollerderby : sports

Is It OK to Hate Your Kid's Sport?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Don't mess with the soccer moms. It might be a bit of a hackneyed sentiment in this post-Palin era, but as Sarah Rain from Delmar, NY, found out when she wrote a post titled "At Least It's Only 8 Weeks Long" on the local paper's blog for her town discussing her dislike of soccer season, the vicious soccer mom isn't gone.

You'd think from the vituperative comments that she'd said she hated her kid or couldn't be bothered to want to do anything with him at all. What she actually said, quite clearly, is that she believes that kids develop better social skills and autonomy from informal pick-up games, but since that's not really happening for her son she's dragging herself through soccer season because she thinks the benefits outweigh the costs, though all the while she's quietly hoping he doesn't fall in love with the sport.

"Mustering up the interest in something your child does is a challenge? How self absorbed can one person be?" writes one person, deriding informal games as "a can babysitting your child."

"The writer’s desire for 'informal games with their friends' means 'I don’t have to be there' . . . they are only young and “ours” for too short a period of time . . . relish the moment!" writes another. (Or, you know, she could actually believe that informal games and time not being hovered over by adults are better for children's development, an argument that has a lot going for it and is distinctly less selfish than trying to soak up the time kids are "ours".)

Another rhapsodizes about how much she loves dragging herself out of bed on Saturday mornings to pack snacks for games, clearly implying that this is the proper attitude of motherhood.

I happen to know that the writer was much amused by all the kerfuffle (and probably courted it on purpose), but what she wrote was hardly extreme. If these are the attitudes of the people she has to hang out with when her son's at soccer practice, I don't wonder that she dreads it. Is this level of martyrdom-to-the-planned-activity-gods attitude really so pervasive? It makes me scared to consider organized sports for my kids.

Photo CC by Chip Griffin via Flickr.

More by this author:

Lose a Game, Gain a Son

JeanneSager — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:01:00 GMT

The day your child is born may not be THE best day of your life (because, really, what does that say about every day after that). But, hey, doesn't the birth of your child tend to overshadow everything else that happened around that time?

Let's hope so for Casey Jennings.

The pro volleyball player had a horrendous day in the sand on Saturday, finishing in seventh place with partner Matt Fuerbringer at the AVP Crocs Tour Huntington Beach Open. But Jennings walked off a pretty happy guy - it was less than twenty-four hours since wife Kerri Walsh (the Olympic gold medalist) had given birth to a little boy.

Jennings played in matches (and won them) on Friday, but he made it home in time to escort Walsh to the hospital and be present at the birth of Joseph Michael. But he said his finish on Saturday was most disappointing because it doesn't carry with it the story he'd hoped to tell Joey down the road.

"I wanted to win and be able to tell him, 'The day after you were born I kicked some butt, and that 'The day you were born I kicked some butt!'" Jennings told the LA Times.

Otherwise, Jennings was on top of the world. And a seventh place finish wasn't going to change that.

Can you blame him? Did you have something really crappy happen around the birth of your child that you were able to power through because this was just SO much better?

Image: LA Times

Boy Scouts Say Your Kid is Too Fat

JeanneSager — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:01:00 GMT

If your little boy is overweight, you better be prepared to break this news: he might not be allowed to join the Boy Scouts with his buddies.

The Scouts are adding height and weight standards for boys and their adult counterparts who take part in the "high adventure" or extreme events, the kind of activities that often take Scouts and their leaders off into the woods or other places that are far afield from medical assistance.

The Scouts say the new requirements are for the safety of participants. But parents and a lot of current Scouting participants say they're merely cutting more families out (and I say more because, of course, there's that whole "no gays allowed" thing already going on in the Scouts).

As one major scouting site points out - you can easily be physically fit and not fall within those height to weight guidelines. Besides, there are plenty of Scouting leaders who could stand to lose a few pounds - and we all know how easy it is to get parent volunteers these days (er, NOT).

Of course, the bigger concern here is what does this say to our kids? That fat kids have yet another barrier in front of them?

Let's face it - we all know that kids with weight issues also often face self-esteem trouble. A study found that problem increased significantly when kids hit the early teen years, just about the time that Scouts are allowed into the higher adventure activities. It's worth noting too, that this is when kids are at the heigh of puberty, and their bodies are changing significantly - including their heigh to weight ratio.

In other words - it's a risky and difficult time for kids, a time when they would most benefit from a group activity and the ability to participate. A group activity that may even get them off their butts, out from in front of their XBoxes and out climbing trees and hiking forests and . . . um, losing weight, gaining muscle, etc.?

Obviously, I was never a Boy Scout (although they do accept girls for certain events now - especially the adventure groups for teens), but the men I've known who truly enjoyed Scouts were not necessarily your classic buff, rough, tough athletic types. In fact one Eagle Scout I know has battled lifelong weight problems and was unable to play school athletics because he "wasn't good enough." He found his place in Scouts because he didn't have to be masterful at any one thing to succeed.

It might do the Scouts well to mold their programs to the kids rather than expecting kids to mold to their programs. After all, without little boys, there is no Boy Scouts of America.

Image: Boy Scouts via Chicago Tribune

Joba Loves His Messy Mom, Do You?

JeanneSager — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:26:00 GMT

I am not a fairweather Yankees fan. I love Joba Chamberlain, even when his mom is brought up on meth dealing charges (when he gives up four runs in the first, weeeeeeell...).

The Yankees pitcher's comments had to warm the cockles of moms everywhere, especially this week of all weeks (ahem, look at your calendar).

"You've only got one mom, man, and you've got to be thankful for her,'' said Chamberlain. "I still love her."

Of course, it's not Joba's fault that his mom, Jacqueline Standley, was allegedly selling methamphetamines back home in Nebraska.

It isn't any kid's fault when mom is a serious mess. But this is certainly sit down and take stock week, especially for parents. Joba's sort of right - most of us only get one mom (yes, children of lesbians get two, kids in open adoptions get two . . . but the point is, your options are still limited!).

So does that mean we all have to love our moms? Or our dads for that matter? Or does it mean Jacqueline Standley is REALLY lucky to have a son who knows life throws you curveballs?

Ask any parent how their own parents play into their choices as a parent today, and you'll get one of two answers: 1. They're doing things the way their parents did it. or 2. They're trying very hard NOT to do it the way their parents did it.

We might only get one mom (or the equivalent), but that doesn't mean she had to be any good. And since we won't all have a Yankees pitcher for a kid, we'd best work our butts off to try to not to make a mess of it.

Image: DailyNews

Morning News - Obama Loves Google

Brett Singer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Hello and welcome to Morning News! We're giving Madeline a break, so I'll be your Morning Newser for today. Let's get right to it, shall we?

President Obama wants good advice about science and technology and stuff. After that sentence, I think we all know that he isn't picking me to sit on that panel. He did, however, ch-ch-choose Eric Schmidt, the CEO of some little startup called Google. I think they might have a web site or something. Not sure.

In sports news, Michael "Dogs? What dogs?" Vick is releasing a revised bankruptcy plan today. A judge rejected the plan his lawyers presented, which had Mike asking to keep "multiple houses, multiple cars, and a Ms. Pacman video game" according to ProFootballTalk.com. Vick was a talented athlete but a complete moron. He blew through most of his money and then went to jail for dogfighting, thus losing his lucrative NFL contract. He may come back and play again, but I doubt he'll get the same paycheck that he had before. Trivia moment: Vick's contract is still the highest any NFL player has ever signed. He never got all of the money, of course, but it was still a record contract.

The United Auto Workers may own 55% of Chrysler when all the wheeling (no pun intended) and dealing is done. Does that make them management? Can you stil be "labor" if you own the company?

This swine flu thing gets worse and worse. MSNBC is reporting that some folks in Mexico who had the virus were turned away by doctors. Nice. "Country faces criticism for seemingly slow, confused response to outbreak," according to MSNBC.com. How hard is it to treat sick people? OK, we don't always do such a good job of that in this country. Well, better than Mexico. I hope.

Speaking of swine flu, SuperEco has a list of ways to protect yourself... naturally. (You need to say "naturally" in a breathy voice to get the full effect of that sentence.) Tips include natural hand sanitizers and my personal favorite, "Limit personal interaction." So stay inside and don't talk to anyone. Works for me.

I think this article from the New York Times implies that hobbits might be real. Well, not exactly, but people the size of hobbits.

Tired of having so many DVDs around the house? G.E. may have found a way to put 100 of them on one disc using holographic storage.

Finally, this odd item: "A jet normally used as Air Force One rattled windows and workers Monday morning. President Obama, who was not aboard, was reported to be furious." See, when you fly a plane over New York City and you get too close, we have bad memories. Apparently it was meant to be a "photo opportunity." Guys, a little advice: next time, just buy a postcard.

Image: Wikipedia

Swine Flu - Are You Worried About Your Kids?

7 Year Old Boy Forcibly Tattooed By Father

Fox News Hates Kids In Political Videos Except When They Don't

Mom or Winning Division I Basketball Coach? You Decide

JeanneSager — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:01:00 GMT

Two guesses how I figured out the the coach of Arizona State University had to be a mother.

Something about the word "poop" just gave it away.

A video of Charli Turner Thorne screaming at her players in the locker room at half-time has gone viral in the past few days. Not because it's strange for a coach to yell or even because this is a female coach.

Her strong words for her players? "You played like poop!" Check it out:

Sorry Coach, even at top volume, it just sounds so, well, eight-year-old.

Which would make sense, as Thorne's son Liam IS eight years old. She also has a ten-year-old and a five-year-old, all boys. And I give her full credit - Thorne coached throughout all three pregnancies. She is also a well-respected coach who brought her team to the elite eight during March Madness this year. By the way, it was the team that ended the ASU run to the championship that had Thorne all riled up - the women were losing (and did lose) to UConn.

Because, apparently, they played like poop!

Hey parents, ever find yourself using your potty mouth outside of the house?

Image: TalkingProud

Where I Say Something Nice About the New York Mets

JeanneSager — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:34:00 GMT

Ready your markers for the calendar. I'm about to do something a Yankees fan should never do.

I want to send good thoughts the way of New York Mets' pitcher Johan Santana. There I said it. Happy? Good, because it hurt.

So what did Mr. Santana do, pray tell? The pitcher skipped the Mets' home opener last night at the new CitiField because he had bigger fish to fry. Like the birth of his third child.

Santana stayed in Florida after allowing no earned runs in seven innings and pitching thirteen strikeouts on Sunday, so he could be at wife Yasmile's bedside when she delivers a sibling for daughters Jasmily and Jasmine (have they been talking to the Duggars?).

He wasn't scheduled to pitch anyway, but come on, we're talking about the home opener at a brand new park in arguably the biggest baseball town on the planet. I always love it when the big names show they have their priorities straight. It makes me respect them a whole lot more - even if they do play for the Mets.

Does finding out athletes are family oriented change your opinion of them?

Image: NJ.com

DVD Review - The Sportys

Brett Singer — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Baseball season has begun. For those of you looking to teach your kids some of the fundamentals of the game, you could do worse than to watch "The Sportys."

The set up is simple enough for even very young children to follow. A group of kids get together and decide that they want to play baseball. But they don't know how. So a talking ball named "Stitch" (voiced by "The Green Mile"'s Michael Clarke Duncan) shows up to teach them. Then they encounter a rival team who are, at first, much better than our heroes, who themselves tend to strike out while batting and to run into each other on the field. Spoiler alert: despite these overwhelming odds, they come back and win the game. It's completely unrealistic but my almost 4-year-old didn't care one bit. He was right there with it the whole time.

The best thing about "The Sportys" are the baseball tips they throw in. From a storytelling perspective, it's not exactly smooth, but as an instructional-type video aimed at youngish children, it works. Examples include:

- "If you're going to catch a fly ball, say 'I got it!'" (advice that even Big Leaguers forget from time to time.)
http://www.guzer.com/videos/baseball_crash.php

- "Lead off? What's that?" "That means you bat first."
- "If I get four balls, I get a walk, right?" (Something I figured out my first year in Little League. The pitching wasn't exactly great, and even though I didn't get a single hit, I was third on the team in walks. Ah, memories.)

There's even a song with the Obama-esque title "Yes We Can" to keep little ones engaged. It's not going to win a grammy, but it worked on my son, who spent the next three days "batting" with his tinker toys all over our apartment.

A nice bonus feature is the 30 minutes of instructional segments by New York Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long. Each lesson is simple to follow and refreshingly low-key, emphasizing "realistic goals" such as "I want my child to hit the ball today." (As opposed to "That kid better hit a home run or she's walking home!" That would be an unrealistic goal.) Fans of Evan Longoria can enjoy a poster of the 2008 Rookie of the Year, included with the disc. (Fans of Eva Longoria should watch "Desperate Housewives." Rim shot.)

Although the animation is nothing to write home about (the "visiting" team also appears to be made up of clones, since the animator didn't bother to create 9 new characters), and the overall story is ridiculous, young children with an interest in baseball should find plenty to enjoy while they – and their parents – learn a few things about how to play the game.

"The Sportys" DVD is $19.99 and can be ordered at TheSportys.com. A portion of DVD sales will be donated to the RBI Foundation.

Morning News -- Layoffs and Vampires Edition

Brett Singer — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Friday, Friday, Friday! Let's get to it, people.

"Obama to Set Benchmarks in Fight Against Militants." So sayeth the New York Times. What's that conversation like? "Have we found Osama Bin Laden? No? Okay, what else you got?" Another headline from the Times: "Pakistani and Afghan Taliban Unify in Face of U.S. Influx." Oh goody. Sounds fun. Not.

Here in North America, it's layoffs, layoffs and more layoffs -- Google (200 people laid off), the New York Times (100 people laid off and most remaining employees taking a 5 percent pay cut), and the Canadian Broadcasting Company (800 jobs cut, hoping to sell some assets). Google? Really? That's not good.

Speaking of Canada ("C'mon, say 'about' one more time. Please?"), Garth Drabinsky was finally found guilty. Drabinsky was the head of Livent, the producer of the Broadway shows 'Ragtime' and 'Kiss of the Spider Woman.' I admit that I was somewhat giddy to read news of Drabinsky's legal demise; I used to work in theater and was fascinated by the brazen way he left the United States to avoid prosecution. Apparently Garth and his co-hort Myron Gottlieb pulled a Max Bialystock and kept two sets of books -- one fiction, one non. What I've never completely understood about schemes like this is why they keep them both. Wouldn't it make more sense to only keep the fake books? I don't want to give anyone ideas or anything. No word on whether or not Garth is wearing a cardboard belt. (I hope someone gets that reference.) Amazingly, Garth has been appearing on a Canadian reality show called "Triple Sensation" where he and some other people "look for young stars who can sing, act and dance." But not add. That's not needed. Despite Garth's conviction, there will be a season 2. I might need to find that show. (If you want to know the whole saga of Garth, click here.)

If you live in New York and ride public transportation, prepare to pay more. The MTA voted for a big fare increase and cuts in service. Hey, at least it's green.

Speaking of New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has resorted to quoting Popeye the Sailor. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

By the way, if anyone didn't know what I meant when I referred to funny car radio ads, here's an example. Except that this ad is for church. "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" Seriously. Check it out. Consider this your "Moment of Zen", Daily Show style.

And speaking of Comedy Central: I like Stephen Colbert, but naming a space station after him is stupid. The faux-conservative's fans "stuffed the virtual ballot box with 230,539 write-in votes, overriding the four official choices NASA offered," according to Wired.com. NASA can change their mind, but why did they put themselves in this position? Not exactly rocket scientists over there, are they? Oh. Oh! Never mind.

Finally, a fun little item from Gawker. Students at the Boston Latin School have been spreading rumors that the prestigious institute of pre-higher learning is infested with vampires. According to MTV.com, "The headmaster [had become] concerned that some students' safety might be jeopardized, particularly if they were accused of being members of the undead." (Maybe private school doesn't always offer the best education.) Police were called. Parents were alarmed. But school officials promised that it's not true. Then they turned into bats and flew away. (Note: They didn't really turn into bats. Although the rest of the story, as far as I know, is true.)

Thanks for joining me on Morning News the past two weeks. I'll be handing things back over to Madeline, but will continue to do a daily round-up of newsy goodness at DaddyTips.com. Have a great weekend, don't take any wooden nickels.

Image: SXC

Husband Loses Job, Wife Loses Respect For Him

UPDATE - Josef Fritzl Sentenced To Life In Psychiatric Institution

Oprah Gets It Right On Chris Brown

Soldier Gives Birth At Army Barracks

Heath Ledger's Daughter Gets His Oscar

The Dr. Phil And OctoMom Show

Morning News -- Twitter Makes Nothing But Is Worth Something

Brett Singer — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Thursday! Yesterday I outed myself as one of the millions of Americans who knows zip about college basketball. I guess that's what happens when you go to a Division III school. On the plus side, I received a quality liberal arts education that allows me to do… well, this.

We'll start with something fun -- a Queens man played the lottery using the last three digits of Bernie Madoff's prison number and won $1500. The Daily News points out that this is a "16,000% return on his $9 investment - far more than even Madoff promised his bilked investors." It turns out that 501 other people hit a winner with those same three numbers (0-5-4, if you want to try it out yourself).

Back to the NCAA for a moment: Yahoo! Sports released a report claiming that the University of Connecticut violated recruiting rules in their contact with former player Nate Miles. Lots of people claim that the NCAA's rules are too confusing to follow, but I have an easy solution: hands off. Oh, but what about the shoe companies? They can contact the players. Well, under my plan, they can't. No one can. Amateur is amateur. If you want to play college ball, you can't accept any gifts from anyone at all. Ever. End of story. Of cause, its not that easy, but the solution isn't "make the rules go away", which is what some nudniks are saying.

Speaking of nudniks, somebody bilked Apple out of 9,000 iPod shuffles. What, you couldn't get them to send you a Touch? Piker.

A Chihuahua named Pebbles saved her owner from freezing to death when the two were stranded in the mountains of Wales. Beverley Burkitt is a dwarf, small enough that the little dog could keep her warm until help arrived. I still prefer bigger dogs, but this is a sweet story.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that our "insatiable demand for illegal drugs" is partly to blame for all of the violence happening in Mexico. "I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility." Well, it takes a village.

Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin would like to help newspapers survive by letting them "restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks." Since many of them are losing money anyway, sure, why not? The bill had no co-sponsors as of Tuesday. BusinessInsider thinks that there are some papers that will survive even without Cardin's bill. Personally, I like newspapers, but I'm forcing myself to read more news online beacuse that's where it's going, whether I like it or not.

Twitter is going to start trying to make actual money, although maybe they shouldn't bother -- despite having no revenue at all so far, the company was recently valued at $250 million, according to Julia Boorstin at CNBC. Potential sources of cash are "the ability to search what people are saying in real time", and since such searches are valuable, the ads placed next to them are also valuable. And Twittter CEO Evan Williams also wants to start "charging companies who use the site to reach customers, helping them better target and communicate." I know it makes me sound like a luddite, but sometimes I hate the new economy. Would somebody please go back to making money by making stuff that people want to buy?

Finally, Monster vs. Aliens opens tomorrow. If you have kids, you'll probably be seeing it. Let us know what you think.

That's all for today -- see you on Friday, folks.

Image: SXC

Husband Loses Job, Wife Loses Respect For Him

UPDATE - Josef Fritzl Sentenced To Life In Psychiatric Institution

Oprah Gets It Right On Chris Brown

Soldier Gives Birth At Army Barracks

Heath Ledger's Daughter Gets His Oscar

The Dr. Phil And OctoMom Show

Morning News - The Obama Bracket

Brett Singer — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Monday Monday… Can't trust that day…

Actually, you kind of can trust Monday. It's fairly reliable in that it always comes after Sunday. I don't think that's what Mama Cass and Co. were talking about, but then again, it was the 60's, so who knows?

Anyone make an NCAA bracket? I did. I know nothing about college basketball, and my picks are proving it, especially in the Midwest Conference. At least there's no money at stake for me. President Obama made one, which is being resoundingly mocked by many. Some were upset that he even took the time to make his picks, which is hilarious if you consider the amount of vacation time that former President Bush took while in office. (I know, it's a cliché, but it happens to be true.) Taking a few minutes to fill out a bracket is a pleasant distraction from the day's events for everyone, Leaders of the Free World included. If people want to complain about Obama's policies, fine, but his bracket? Let it go.

Damn those blasphemy laws -- a Pennsylvania man tried to register a limited liability company called I Choose Hell Productions, LLC but was told he had to pick another name because PA has an anti-blasphemy law on the books preventing such things. The laws were common the 19th century, but this one was enacted in 1977 when someone tried to register God Damn Gun Shop. The ACLU is suing the state. Heh heh. God Damn Gun Shop... (NYT)

A revival of "West Side Story" opened on Broadway with some of the songs translated into Spanish. Interesting idea but I can't imagine that makes the songs better. Frank Scheck of the Hollywood Reporter saw the show and agrees, as did many other critics. (Note: I haven't seen this production. I'll probably stick with the movie.)

The post office is in trouble. They lost almost 400 million dollars last quarter and are offering early retirement to 150,000 employees, in addition to staff cutbacks and location closures. Not enough people mailing letters I guess.

Susan MacDougal (remember her?) can't have the transcript of her own testimony in the Whitewater trial. She was hoping to use it for a novel or screenplay. Whitewater looks pretty damn tame compared to all the nonsense going on these days.

Some governors, including Nevada's Jim Gibbons, are turning down federal money to beef up their unemployment funds because they don't like the 'strings' that are attached. The thing is, those strings disappear when the federal cash runs out. (This according to a New York Times editorial.) Nevada will run out of unemployment money by the end of the year if they don't take the government cheese. (Nose, you don't mind if I cut you off to spite my face, do you? Cool, thanks.) You can't play games like this when people are out of work. And unemployment money gets taken out of your check every week for a reason. You get it back if you're unemployed. Hence the name. So it's not unreasonable for people to expect to receive that money if they lose their jobs. In other Republican Governor news, Alaska's Sarah Palin (perhaps you've heard of her?) is only accepting Federal money for projects that are truly "shovel ready." Alaska Democrats are not happy, saying that she is playing politics with state residents. There's definitely a shovel needed for what's coming out of the mouths of both Republicans and Democrats these days, but it's not the kind you use to fix roads.

Eliot Spitzer is talking smack about Andrew Cuomo. Hey! Here's an idea, Spitzy. Shut up. You have no credibility anymore. Sorry. You screwed up. Apologize and go away. Although maybe you can blog for Huffington Post like Gary "Monkey Business" Hart. ("G'head! Follow me! You won't find anything! Wait, you thought I meant that? I was only kidding! Aw, crap…")

Responding to Sheri's comment: I hadn't heard about what the President said on TV, so I looked it up. Seems that while being interviewed by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, President Obama said of his bowling skills, "It's like the Special Olympics or something." He apologized to the President of the Special Olympics before the show aired. Comments at ABC News' web site range from "who cares?" to "see? I told you he was an idiot." (I'm paraphrasing.) I can't say I agree with those who say that this is somehow on the same scale as other "gaffes" spoken by Republican politicians, or even "gaffes" from Democrats. Personally, I think the President is a little bit too much of a regular guy, at least in the way that he sometimes speaks in public. It was a dumb joke but hardly the worst thing ever. He also invited Special Olympians to the White House to do some bowling. There's one Special Olympic bowler who has three perfect games to his credit, so maybe he can give the Prez some pointers. By the way, Sarah Palin weighed in on the President's comments, because she's not all about politics like some politicians. This issue really effects Alaska, hence her very public reaction. Also: the President of the Special Olympics is Tim Shriver, Maria's brother, and therefore Ah-nuld's brother-in-law. That has nothing to do with anything except that I think it would be fun to have Arnold Schwarzenegger as your brother-in-law. The Governator, by the way, supports Obama's stimulus plan.

Tuesday, Tuesday… I trust that day… Nah, doesn't have the same ring to it. I guess John Phillips knew what he was talking about. See you tomorrow.

Image: WhiteHouse.gov via Washington Post

Morning News - Natasha Richardson Dies (UPDATE - Autopsy Information)

Morning News - March Madness or March Sadness?

Morning News - Cheney, Duct Tape, Outer Space

Open Letter To The Woman Who Pushed Me While I Was Picking Up My Kid

Back to the Third Grade for This 71-Year-Old

They Say: Old School Lice Checks Are All Wrong

UPDATE: Did M.I.A Really Name Her Baby Ickitt?

Why Teens Are Quick to Blame Rihanna

Keep This Kid Away From The Dog

Morning News - iPhone Gets Feature Other Phones Already Have

Brett Singer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Updating yesterday's Natasha Richardson story: an autopsy reveals that she died of bleeding in the brain and "she might have survived had she received immediate treatment." The thing is, people with this sort of injury typically feel fine at first. So sad.

NBC is launching a show to compete with "American Idol." Simon Cowell probably thinks this is a "horrible" idea. ("Horrible" is one of the words he uses a lot, right?) On "Idol", Alexis Grace went home. She was shocked. Shocked. Why are they always so surprised? I guess you have think you're a major talent to get on TV and sing like that but just once it'd be fun to hear someone say, "Yeah, I suck. It was only a matter of time before I got the boot."

Why is Steve Wozniak on "Dancing With The Stars"? Based on this quote from his website, I guess the reason is because people said he wouldn't be able to do it. I wonder if Apple fans will keep voting for him the way football fans did with Jerry Rice. Woz has definitely been keeping in touch with his audience, accusing "Dancing" producers of rigging the voting in order to goose the ratings, then apologizing, all via his Facebook page. If this keeps up, I might actually have to watch the show.

Speaking of Apple, the new iPhone software will include bleeding edge features like the copying and pasting of text. What's that, your phone has been able to do that for years? Mine too. The iPhone is nifty but certain omitted features prove that Steve Jobs could probably sell water to a drowning Apple fan if it had that logo on it. (Personally, until the iPhone has an actual keyboard, I won't even consider buying one.)

Financial news update: stocks tanked and it wasn't CNBC's fault. Are you happy, Jeff Zucker?

Austrian monster dad Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life in a psych hospital. Life in prison would be better, but even though he could be paroled in 15 years, it's not likely to happen. The speed of the trial was kind of impressive; in the U.S., these things seem to take a lot longer. I'm sure there's a reason for that but I don't know what it is.

And finally, there were a heck of a lot of babies born in 2007. Madeline points out that it wasn't Octomom's fault -- "she only gave birth to one baby that year."

That's all for now. Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday.

Image: Woz.org

New Baby Boom

Morning News - March Madness or March Sadness?

Morning News - Cheney, Duct Tape, Outer Space

Jimmy Kimmel And The Octomom

Morning News - Natasha Richardson Dies (UPDATE - Autopsy Information)

Brett Singer — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Starting on a sad note -- Natasha Richardson has died. UPDATE: according to this AP report, an autopsy revealed that "Richardson died from bleeding in her skull caused by the fall she took on a ski slope...The medical examiner ruled her death an accident, and doctors said she might have survived had she received immediate treatment."

She's one of those actresses that everyone seemed to absolutely adore on and off stage. I saw her perform in 'Cabaret' just before the show opened to rave reviews; she was amazing to watch. An appreciation of her life is here.

Pope Benedict XVI has folks up in arms because, speaking about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, he said, "You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem." Cathy Lyn Grossman at USA Today has an intriguing post in their Religion section titled, "Could choosing condoms mean choosing life?" Interesting idea.

The way everyone is carrying about the Jon Stewart / Jim Cramer kerfuffle (and really, what is it if not a kerfuffle?) you would think that their "feud" actually had some effect on the world at large. Or that more than 2.3 million people actually watched it. I'm not saying that's not a good number, but it's not exactly Earth shaking. Anyway, Jeff Zucker, the head honcho of NBC Universal, is all up in Jon Stewart's grill, saying that Jon is like, being unfair and stuff when he blames the financial crisis on CNBC's reporting. (That's not an exact quote; you can read Zucker's full quote here.) The thing is, that's not really what Stewart was saying. To me, the most important line from the interview he did with Cramer was, "It's not a f**king game, man." Cramer seemed to be telling Stewart that it was perfectly OK to say something under the guise of financial advice that wasn't entirely accurate as long as it was entertaining. Frankly, that pisses me of as well. For Stewart to question the worth of a network's reporting is a good thing, or it should be. Disagreeing with him is fine as well. Sing it with me now -- ain't that America, you and me… Also, if Jeff Zucker wants to yell at someone, it should probably be Cramer. He's the one who turned a bit on The Daily Show into something that has dominated news cycles for several days now.

Continuing with financial news, the Fed is doing more things that I don't entirely understand. This time they're buying "long-term U.S. government debt." (Someday someone will explain to me why anyone would want to buy debt.) This causes many things to happen, including wailing and gnashing of teeth. One possible good outcome of whatever-this-is is that mortgage rates will be vewy, vewy low for now, so if you need one, this is a good time to get it. Also on the good news front: fears of economic deflation have decreased! Why? Because the Consumer Price Index rose by .04%! Whoo-hoo! (Disclaimer: If you are getting your financial news from me, stop. Right. Now.)

Last but not least (if you're into college basketball), the NCAA Tournament, aka March Madness, starts today at noon. You can watch every game online at CBSSports.com, which is good for fans who will be stuck in an office all day. Of course, these people should probably be, you know, working. But who are we to judge?

That's all for today, back on Friday. Quick, fill out your bracket!

Image: Famecrawler

Morning News - Cheney, Duct Tape, Outer Space

GMA Tweets Details On Levi Johnston And Son

Jimmy Kimmel And The Octomom

Oprah Gets It Right On Chris Brown

Natasha Richardson Dead

Morning News - March Madness or March Sadness?

Brett Singer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Apologies for forgetting St. Patrick's Day yesterday. I could make a culturally insensitive joke and say that I was drunk, but the truth is I just forgot. Apparently everybody was Irish on Tuesday, but today you're back to whatever it is you are the rest of the year.

Speaking of being culturally insensitive, it's a St. Paddy's Day tradition for the current Irish leader to bring the U.S. President a bowl of shamrocks. Faith and begorrah, laddie! Why doesn't he just dress up like the Lucky Charms mascot and dance an Irish jig on the White House lawn?

A group in Boston conducted a survey of local teens and asked them about Chris Brown and Rihanna. The results? Forty-six percent thought the beating Brown allegedly gave Rihanna "was Rihanna's fault, and fifty-two percent said it was both Rihanna and Brown's fault. Fifty-one percent blamed Brown." Wow. This story gets more depressing by the minute. I'm increasingly of the opinion that there are a lot of guys out there who think it's acceptable to hit a woman if she, you know, just doesn't listen or something. Scary thought.

In goofier entertainment news: Wow, Harry Connick Jr. got fat. I know that doesn’t really matter, but women are usually the target of this sort of nonsense, so I thought I'd share a pic of a famous guy who got caught lookin' chunky on the beach.

I'm not sure what it means when Judge Judy makes more sense than most of the people who talk about the state of our world today. It may be a sign of the apocalypse. Granted, anyone can look good next to Larry King, but Judge Judy sounds quite reasonable here.

There's a six-year-old boy out there with a 176 IQ. At that level, shouldn't he be able to move objects with his mind or something? (Oh, and I bet his father was young.) When you see a story like this, do you look at your own kids and say, "Why can't you be that smart?" Yeah, me neither.

February saw an increase in the number of new homes being constructed, aka "housing starts." Here's the headline, which is pretty typical these days: "Housing starts take surprising jump in Feb. / But can gains continue amid all the housing industry's woes?" It’s like giving a child a piece of chocolate cake and then telling him you might have dropped it in the sink. Or that the frosting is actually made with carob. (Remember carob? It was supposed to be healthier than chocolate. I think people stopped using it in the 1970's.) Just once I'd like to get a piece of good news without being told, "hey, it's good, but don't expect it to last."

Alex Rodriguez, whom I refer to as The Rod, has revealed his true talent -- being annoying both on and off the field. I mean, how is it that the highest paid player in baseball isn’t playing and is on the cover of Details magazine with the headline, "A-Rod: Confessions of a Damned Yankee"? Yes, the cover was planned before he had his surgery. But what the hell, dude?

And finally, March Madness has arrived. If you're like me and have no officemates to play with (let's call it March Sadness), you can make a bracket at NYTimes.com and compete against random people for an Amazon Kindle, which is a nice prize. And CNET has a list of several NCAA-related websites to choose from. The tournament starts tomorrow (Thursday March 19), so get your bracket ready if you want to play. It's like the stock market, only more fun and with less sweating.

Image: CNET

Half of Kids Surveyed Think Rihanna Had it Coming

6-Year-Old Boy has 176 I.Q., Bums out Entire Adult Population

GMA Tweets Details On Levi Johnston And Son

Jimmy Kimmel And The Octomom

Morning News - Cheney, Duct Tape, Outer Space

Best of FameCrawler: Week of March 13th

Whit Honea — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Katie Holmes is Beautiful Again

Is Kelly Clarkson Pregnant? (PHOTOS and VIDEO)

Jade Goody's Funeral: Public?

Paramedics Called to New Octomom House

Michael J. Fox is Positive

Angelina Caught Brad With The Nanny!

Gospel Singer BeBe Winans Arrested For Assault

Britney Spears Has A Not So Secret Romance

Best of FameCrawler: Week of March 6th

Whit Honea — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Jon Gosselin of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" Cheating on Wife?

Milo and My Son Agree - Scooby Doo is Awesome

T.O. is OUT: Dallas Cowboys Release Terrell Owens

Video - The Bachelor Explains Himself On Jimmy Kimmel

Update!! "The Bachelor" Jason Mesnick Makes His Choice!!

Jade Goody's Wedding Kiss Photo

Angelina Jolie Can't Take It Anymore

Has Marquis Cooper Been Found Alive?

Guess the Celebrity's Kid XII

America's Got Talent's Piers Morgan in Constant Touch with His Children

Best of FameCrawler: Week of February 27th

Whit Honea — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Wedding Bells: Dying Jade Goody Gets Her Wish On Sunday

Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston - The Oscar Throw Down

Jade Goody - Her Story

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Oscar

Cruz Beckham Celebrates 4th Birthday in Costume

Naomi Watts Says Sasha is a Total Daddy's Boy

Adriana Lima is Not Pregnant, Just Married

Guess the Pregnant Celebrity IX

Nadya Suleman's Sperm Donor - Tricked!

Teeny Tiny Jade Goody In A Teeny Tiny Wedding Dress

Heidi Klum and Seal at Oscars

After 2nd-Round Loss, Tiger Woods is Going Home

Guess the Celebrity's Kid XVII

Octo-mom Nadya Suleman - Loving Mother or Professional Moocher?

Update: New Spoiler! The Bachelor Jason Mesnick Chooses...

Six-Year-Old Soccer Star Could be the Next Beckham

JeanneSager — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:02:00 GMT

At six years old, I got a whopper of a scar on my knee out of pure klutziness - put a soccer ball in front of me, and I was flat on my face.

Which makes me that much more impressed that the kid being hailed as the next Beckham - or better yet the next Zinedine Zidane - isn't suiting up to play in the English Premier League anytime soon. He's six.

Six, and Madin Mohammed can spin his body in a three-sixty around an opposing player without blinking - and more importantly without losing touch on the ball. His on-ball skills are stunning - mostly because they're effortless. At that age, the ability to move a ball with that accuracy is talent - pure and simple. There are players in the English Premier League today who don't have that kind of control. It's no wonder the top officials at Chelsea and Real Madrid (Beckham's old team in Spain) have their eye on him.

Maybe his age plays a role here - Mohammed moves without thinking, which is easier to do when you're six years old, playing purely for fun. His age doesn't account for the fluidity, the natural talent that can't be taught. But his parents would be wise to keep the sniffing scouts at bay, to allow him to develop that talent while he's able to take adantage of the youthful joy of movement, the lack of pressure.

Check out his skills - it could be the French rap (everything sounds better in French, doesn't it) but this video is mesmerizing.

Do you think he has the stuff to take over the soccer world? Would you suggest the world just back off for awhile?

Image: Polish News

Source: Yahoo

Teen Ball Players Throw Away a Win for Child of Cancer Victim

Is it Time to Give up on Athletes as Child Role Models?

Four Children's Books That Almost Weren't

Best of FameCrawler: Week of February 20th

Whit Honea — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Jade Goody in Her Wedding Dress - Photo

Octuplets Mom Nadya Suleman Abuses Her Children?

Alfie,13, May NOT Be The Father, Will Take DNA Test!

Jack P. Shepherd Welcomes "Coronation Street" Baby No. 3

Nadya Suleman: I'm Not Obsessed With Angelina Jolie. But If You See Brad Pitt, Give Him My Number

American Idol: Single Mom Alexis Grace Makes It To the Top 12

Wanda Opalinska Welcomes "Coronation Street" Baby No. 4

Boy,13 Becomes Father, Sister Had Baby At 13 Too!

Lance Armstrong's Schedule is the Same as His Kids' Schedule

Jade Goody Goes Home To Spend Her Last Days With Family

Teen Ball Players Throw Away a Win for Child of Cancer Victim

JeanneSager — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:33:00 GMT

Just when you think kids are done surprising you, they do it again. Take the boys of the DeKalb (Wisc.) high school basketball team - who showed this month that winning isn't everything, especially when it means hurting a boy who has just lost his mom.

A group of teen boys traveled two hours to play a high school basketball game in Milwaukee, Wisc. earlier this month, only to find the coach of the opposing team, the Milwaukee Madison High School team, wasn't there. Coach Adam Womack Jr. was at the local hospital with player Johntell Franklin, whose mom had died that day from cancer.

The visitors from DeKalb were eager to get home, but Coach Dave Rohlman told Womack to take his time. DeKalb offered to go home, to let the players from Madison have their time to grieve.

But Womack decided his kids needed to play, needed to get their minds off of their friend and onto the game. They took to the court. In the middle of the second quarter, Franklin arrived. He wasn't on the roster, but he wanted to play. It would mean giving up two free throws to DeKalb - official policy in high school basketball, substituting a player not listed in the official scorebook is a technical.

It would have given DeKalb an advantage. Instead they argued with the ref. They didn't want to take it. When the ref insisted, one of the team's best players went to the free throw line, and missed. Twice.

He purposely threw the ball out of bounds, and threw away a win. Madison went on to win a close game . . . and the two teams sat down afterward to share a couple pizzas.

Somehow, I seem to find a weeper to share here on the 'Derby at least once a week. This is no exception (and the fact that this story was e-mailed to me by my husband, who was touched in his own sports guy way makes this all the more moving). What's remarkable about this story are the attitudes of the kids and coaches from DeKalb, of course, but also the understanding of Coach Womack that his players needed to play - that Franklin could find catharsis on the court after losing his mother.

High school sports are hotly contested, and a win means far more to kids at that age than most adults realize. Giving that up - throwing that away - takes guts, heart and an incredible self-possession that most sixteen, seventeen-year-old boys (or girls) don't have. A letter from Coach Womack to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out an incredible job is being done in raising these kids.

"As a principal, school, school district staff, and community you should all feel immense pride for the remarkable job that the coaching staff is doing in not only coaching these young men, but teaching them how to be leaders," Womack says.

These are the kinds of sports stars we really need.

Source: Bleacher Report

Image: Journal Sentinel (Johntell Franklin)

Best of FameCrawler: Week of February 13th

Whit Honea — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Nadya Suleman Exclusive Interview on Dateline - Video

Nadya Suleman's Pregnancy Was Huge. Literally. (PHOTO)

First Pictures of Nadya Suleman's Octuplets

Jade Goody's Boyfriend Wants Curfew Changed

Video: Pregnant M.I.A. Grammy Performance, Says Son To Be Hip Hop Star

Dr Phil Takes On Octuplets Mom. Guess Who Wins?

Octuplets Mom Nadya Suleman: Angelina Jolie Wannabe?

Naomi Watts Says Octuplets Story is Way Too Much

Octuplet Mom Nadya Suleman Received $300,000 For NBC Interview?

Michelle Obama on the Cover of Vogue

Nadya Suleman and the Octuplets - Their Story

Octuplets Mom Nadya Suleman: I'm Not Irresponsible Or Selfish

Kristy Swanson Gets Married to Skating With Celebrities Partner

Salma Hayek Spreads The Breastfeeding Love

Is Seth Binzer Dead From Cardiac Arrest?

Is Nadya Suleman in Hiding?

Is it Time to Give up on Athletes as Child Role Models?

JeanneSager — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:24:00 GMT

A-Roid. Stoner Phelps. It's been a bad couple of weeks for our so-called role models.

But Alex Rodriguez was hardly the first star to be caught 'roiding it up and Michael Phelps has a long line of disgraced Olympians ahead of him (including athletes who were doped up DURING the games, not just smoking it up six months after the games).

So is it time we put that old "athletes are our kids' best role models" horse back into the barn?

Because when a player walks out onto a field, court, diamond, pitch . . . they aren't being paid to make kids like them. They're being paid to win a game.

The Yankees don't pick a third baseman based on a history of helping old ladies across the street or even a stellar credit rating. They pick a guy who can hit homeruns, a guy who can whip the ball back to first when pressure's on to keep the tying run off base. In short, they hire an athlete, not a man.

The man - or woman - who plays a professional sport or makes it to the top of the amateur world has something the rest of us don't - talent. It's impressive, sure. And without drive and amibition - both traits we'd like to see in our kids - it would be worth nothing. Still, it's not the answer to making our kids better people. It's inate, something few people are lucky enough to be born with, and few of our kids will ever have.

So why do we push them to focus on athletes? Some of the best in the world were hardly stellar people. Mickey Mantle was an incredible baseball player (and as a die-hard Yankee fan, one of my favorites). But the Mick was also a womanizing alcoholic. By contrast, his dear friend Roger Maris was another stellar athlete, the first to hit sixty-one home runs - without a needle in sight. And he was demonized by the media for his simple, quiet ways, for being the sort of man most of us probably WOULD like our kids to grow up to be - a man who focused on his family, who was honest, who lived a clean life.

The problem with putting athletes on pedestals, is simple. They weren't vetted as child role models. They were vetted as athletes. Anything more is just a bonus.

Image: AllTalkSports

UPDATE: A-Roid Admits It

Brett Singer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: A-Rod (A-Roid, A-Fraud - I still like The Rod, but it's not sticking yet) has admitted to ESPN's Peter Gammons that, you know, he did it. Children everywhere are... actually, I don't think children care about this at all.

When I was a young Yankee fan, my guy was Reggie Jackson. All I cared about was how he played. Granted, it was a different time, but despite all of the posturing from commentators I don't think kids care much about whether or not The Rod was juicing. Maybe I'm wrong.

Original post follows:

*-*-*

SI.com is reporting that Alex Rodriguez, whom I usually refer to as "The Rod", tested positive for two different anabolic steroids, Primobolan and testosterone, back in 2003. (Make up your own joke about Alex taking testosterone.)

What does this have to do with parenting? Well, somewhat like the Plaxico Burress gun incident ("Safety? What's a safety?"), kids who are into sports, and even those that aren't, will hear this news. What do you tell them? If you go with the "tut-tut" sanctimony of Major League Baseball and the seemingly endless parade of columnists and talk show hosts, then you have to tell them that The Rod is a big fat cheater. That's the word that has been assigned to steroid users. Cheaters. At least it’s a word that even little kids understand. You know, because it's childish.

If you want to go with a calmer explanation, you could say that The Rod made a mistake and we don't have all the facts yet. (Probably better to call him A-Rod, since I'm the only one that calls him The Rod.) Columnist Chris Ballard says that "All of A-Rod's achievements, past and future, will be tainted." First of all, what if the report was wrong? I'm not saying it was, but sometimes reporters, sources or no, make mistakes. Also, we're slamming the guy for doing something that may not even be against the law because he "tainted" the "purity" of baseball. That seems like a pretty bad message to send to kids, frankly.

Ultimately, baseball is a game. Professional baseball, like all professional sports, is a business. In recent years it has become a huge business, one that allows someone like The Rod to earn almost $30 million in one year. That's just his salary, by the way. He probably made a lot more in endorsements, autograph signings, and other things. Sports figures are no longer on the same playing field as the rest of us, if they ever were. (Pun unintended.) Kids should be allowed to enjoy the game without the braying sanctimony of adults who appear desperate to believe that baseball is more important than it is. Sports can bring great enjoyment to fans young and old. When you try to pretend that these people are something more than human, any fall from grace will be a huge disappointment.

For the record, I am a lifelong Yankee fan and I never liked The Rod. (Give me Scott Brosius any day of the week.) I also don't much care about steroids. I think Major League Baseball helped create this problem by preferring profits to players' health; there were multiple times when guys were obviously juiced up and no one said anything about it, sanctimonious commentators included. And I never thought I'd say this, but I'm a little bit glad that my son isn't a big baseball fan. Explaining Plaxico's gun was easier than this will be.

Image/Source: SI.com

Do Your Kids Watch The Super Bowl?

VIDEO: O'Reilly Upset About Two Year Old Bashing Bush

Pittsburgh Schools Open Late Day After Super Bowl

Is The Peanut Allergy Scare Overblown?

Octuplet Mom Wants TV Career

Best of FameCrawler: Week of February 6th

Whit Honea — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Mark Wahlberg Plans a G-Rated Wedding

Mom Jeans - A Poll

Britney Threatens to Cancel Tour

Baby Bump Photo: Halle Berry Pregnant Again?

Nadya Suleman - Octuplet Mom Won't Receive Freebies

Christian Bale Shows Alec Baldwin What Angry Dads Really Sound Like

Alessanda Ambrosio Shares Her Motherhood Routine

TLC's Kate Gosselin Talks Octuplets Mom

A Baby For Demi and Ashton!

Sex and the City Star Welcomes Baby

Mother of Octuplets Mom Nadya Suleman Speaks Out

Comcast Super Bowl Surprise

Brett Singer — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Some Arizona cable subscribers got mighty ticked off during the Super Bowl on February 1. But not only because the Cardinals lost the game.

Certain Comcast cable customers were watching Larry Fitzgerald's terrific catch and run with just over two minutes left in the game, when suddenly something… else… appeared on their screens. A movie. The kind of movie you really don't want your kids to see.

The title of said movie was "Wild Cherries 5." Let's just say that you don't really need to have seen any of the first four films in order to follow the plot.

This comment from The Arizona Daily Star website sums it up nicely and even uses clean language:
It was really weird. I thought at first, awww, whet are they doing , thinking it was just an edgy commercial that the Superbowl is known for.
Then it was clear that something was really wrong as the guy stood up and everything was there, yes, everything.

If you want to see the video, click here. It is not safe for work, school, children, or pets. Well, maybe pets. Maybe.

All kidding aside, parents who were watching the game with their kids were quite peeved at this year's wardrobe malfunction. (Also from the AZ Star.)
I had a 2 and a 7 year-old in the room and it was totally disgusting. Comcast better get ready to give all subscribers at least one free month of service for having to be subject to this filth!

Full month of service from Comcast and Cox cable (make up your own joke there, Beavis)? Nope. Ten bucks. Maybe they can use it to order some pay-per-view.

One parent who understands how those parents feel is Tristan Kingsley, the star of the film in question. Kingsley, who has appeared in 600 adult films (I get tired just typing that phrase), has two children of her own, a three year old girl and a four year old boy. She told the Star, "I've read some comments that parents have left on different blogging sites, and I can understand that they'd get a little upset that their children might be watching it. I would never go and put one of my videos on for my kids to watch."

Wow. Just…wow.

What would you do if you were watching TV with your kids and suddenly saw… that?

Source: AZStarnet.com (1, 2), Gizmodo