Raymond Johnson @ downclimb.com

I've always really liked Al Franken, although as he's gotten more political and argumentative he's lost a bit of his charm. Oh well, I'll probably try to catch his radio show anyway, so long as it's streamed on the net. I have his White House correspondence dinner speeches from 1994 and 1996 and listen to them regularly. Not only are they funny, but they are brilliant examples of what you can do when you know and understand your audience. But if it's serious news you're looking for, it's hard to find a better voice than Bob Edwards of NPR. Unfortunately, he won't be leading Morning Edition anymore. He'll still be around, and I'm sure NPR has chosen his successors wisely, but it just won't be the same. As for what you can and cannot say on the radio (or other mass communication mediums), I'm always interested in what George Carlin has to say . My fondness for George Carlin goes beyond being a simple fan; it's more int...

For those "basketball fans" out there, I've completed my bracket this year and posted it for all to see . Remember, I won an office pool several years ago, so I'm pretty sure my luck has been used up and I'll never win one again. The NCAA Divsion I wrestling tournament starts tomorrow, and while I don't have brackets filled out for it (330 wrestlers in a double elimination tournament? Get real...), I will predict the finals: 125: #1 Jason Powell (Nebraska) over #2 Luke Eustice (Iowa) 133: #3 Johnny Thompson (Oklahoma St.) over #4 Foley Dowd (Michigan) 141: #6 Dylan Long (Northern Iowa) over #5 Cliff Moore (Iowa) 149: #1 Jesse Jantzen (Harvard) over #2 Zack Esposito (Oklahoma St.) 157: #3 Jake Percival (Ohio University) over #2 Ryan Bertin (Michigan) 165: #2 Troy Lefters (Lehigh) over #1 Tyrone Lewis (Oklahoma St.) 174: #5 Eric Hauan (Northern Iowa) over #2 Tyler Nixt (Iowa) 184: #1 Greg Jones (West Virginia) over #2 Ben Heizer (Northern ...

I just caught the season premiere of "The Shield" on FX. As a traditional Nick @ Nite kind of watcher, it takes a little mental and emotional preparation to watch The Shield. It's just plain intense, with a lot of well-written plot twists that keep you hanging from episode to episode. Good stuff, even if it's over the top reality-wise.

Although things have quieted down in the past week or so, I don't think we've heard the last of the bad news from Boulder. Today ESPN is running a feature during SportsCenter about the use of sex and alcohol to lure recruits, and I think we can all be sure this type of recruiting isn't restricted to one school. Boys will be boys? Sure, if coaches and administrators choose to turn their heads and pretend things like this don't happen. But as Gary Barnett and others are finding out, when things go this wrong heads are going to roll, guilty or not. Colleges and universities are going to need to find ways to protect themselves. After all, these are very young men and women they recruit, usually only 17 or 18 years old, and during the their visit it is the expectation that the university is responsible for the recruit's well-being. I think the next step is for the university to provide a full-time chaperone for each recruit. This chaperone would accompany the r...

Oh, it's you . Please, put the mask back on and have a good day...

Quiznos owes us some sort of explanation, and I guess this is it . This is at least 10 times more disturbing than the Goldfish "until we bite their heads off" jingle...

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Cassius Clay defeating Sonny Liston to become boxing's heavyweight champion. If my Ali history is correct, then that makes today the 40th anniversary of Cassius Clay publicly announcing his joining of the Nation of Islam and becoming known as Muhammad Ali. It wouldn't have meant much without winning the title, but in hindsight it is the event that now allows us to see Ali as an icon - something much greater than boxing or of sport. Feelings about the Nation of Islam aside, Ali's step into the civil rights controversies of the 1960's, his refusal to be drafted into the Army on the basis of his religious beliefs, and the faith he still carries with him today puts him into rarefied air. Some suggest his lifelong contribution is equaled only by Nelson Mandela, and most agree that the fact Ali was never assassinated is a miracle. For a time Ali was one of the most hated sports figures in American history, but attitudes toward Al...

Thanks to Harry Caray's Restaraunt in Chicago, the infamous ball from Game 6 of last year's NLCS has been destroyed . I watched it live...didn't you? At least nobody is suggesting the Cubs blow up a billy goat ... Interesting that the billy goat article was written right before Game 6. Okay then, at least nobody's talking about blowing up Alex Gonzalez ...

I'm guessing that I"ve checked ESPN.com 20 times a day the past month (I know that sounds like a lot, but when I'm home hitting the refresh button is somewhat habitual) and the first thing I've looked for is the news that Greg Maddux was going to the Cubs. I just got my wish! Yeah, he's in the twilight of his career, but there aren't too many other guys out there who can almost guarantee you 15 wins a year. This offsets Houston's acquisition of Roger Clemens and relieves me of the grief I'd felt had Maddux gone to the Yankees. Speaking of the Yankees, I think their trade for A-Rod is a good thing for baseball based on the fact that it puts one of the best players in a major market and frees up a lot of money for the Rangers. There might be reasons to hate the Yankees, but when it comes down to deals like this I agree with what Jason Giambi said after he went to the Yankees - "The boss wants to win." Hard to argue with that. Now the Ya...

Last night was one of those nights where you just start working on something and then suddenly realize, "Wow...is it 5 am already?" I finished all my major code alterations today and got everything uploaded. Like I said, it doesn't look all that different, but I'm much happier with what's going on behind the scenes. It didn't all go perfectly, of course - I broke some links by moving and renaming my archives, but it wasn't all that often that I linked to myself anyway. I've spent a little time rebuilding the pages for my 1998 trip to the Superior Hiking Trail. That was my first real web project - I remember being in the dorms that summer, scanning photos and making the pages in Word. I figure that if I'm choosing to rework the code from my trips because I'm not satisfied with the job done by Word and FrontPage, then it's only fair to remove all the Microsoft-generated graphics as well. I have to admit that some of the sites look pr...

The improvements to this website that I mentioned a few posts ago are going pretty well. All my pages are PHP and XHTML 1.0, I've stripped out the layout tables in favor of CSS positioning, and the main task that remains is to polish this page and the archives. My moving the archives to their own directory I may be creating a number of problems, but those will just have to be dealt with. Perhaps the most visual change to the site is my changing of font sizes - now, instead of specifying fonts in pt values, I'm using the generic "medium", "large", "x-large" values in CSS. Anybody using Internet Explorer will certainly tell a difference - your fonts are now bigger and their size is controllable by your browser. Oh well, you should be using Mozilla anyway...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4065461/ What, no Lenny Williams ?

Meet The Press - On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say President Bush's performance Sunday on Meet The Press ranked about a 5. I can't say I really learned anything, or have a keener insight into our president's decision-making processes, but it was good to see him take the questions. His responses were consistent, if not repetitious, and his appearance took back some of the attention lost to John Kerry and the other Democrats trying to put him out of a job. He may have survived Tim Russert, but he'll have some work to do when real debates come around. NFL Pro Bowl - I passed on the Grammys this year to watch the Pro Bowl, and I'm very glad I did. Instead of being the usual "Let's Hope Nobody Gets Hurt Bowl", this one featured some great individual performances and was a great game to watch. Plus, being an NFC fan, I was greatly pleased with the outcome. The NHL All-Star Game was also yesterday, but I'm just not a hockey fan. Given that t...

The Super Bowl was a great game, but nevertheless overshadowed by the halftime show. I can add this incident to the already long list of reasons to dislike Justin Timberlake, N'Sync, boy bands, lip syncing, MTV, and The New Kids on the Block. (Yeah, I've been around this block too many times already.) All you need to know about Justin Timberlake's musical ability is that he cancelled a concert due to a sprained ankle. Bet that never happened to Al Green. I came in dead last with my Super Bowl picks . Blame it on a "wardrobe malfunction", whatever that means. I got the dome being closed right, and then it kinda went downhill from there. Next year we'll have to bet on more non-game related items, like the over/under on the length of the national anthem and the result of the coin toss. Since I'm not really an NBA fan, I don't find much to follow in the world of professional sports during the month of February. February is a good month for co...

I don't have any particular interest in this year's Super Bowl, but you can bet I'll be watching. This will be the first year in a long time that I won't be watching with my college buddies, Chris and Ecker. Chris was my college roommate, and Ecker (that's Dr. Ecker to you) is a professor in the math department. Every year we'd get together for the Super Bowl, the NFL Draft, and other random occasions, but now that I'm 800+ miles away that's not going to happen this year. We still keep in touch and make our sports picks, and I've put this year's Super Bowl picks for all to see: Chris Ecker Me First 1st Down Carolina Carolina Carolina First FG Carolina Carolina New England First TD Carolina New England Carolina First Penalty New England Carolina Carolina First Turnover New England Carolina Carolina A Safety? Yes No No Total Punts 13 10 10 More Offensive Yards New England New England New England More Penalties New England C...

The weird news continues. Exploding whales? I could comment on the story, but I think it'd be much more entertaining to read it and let your mind wander without any guidance from me. Besides, I could hardly be considered knowledgeable on the subject of large exploding sea-going mammals on flatbed trailers in Asian countries. And if anybody is an expert on such a thing, it looks like you've got your work cut out for you.

Some news stories are too weird not to be true...

Not a bad speech by Kerry tonight, but Edwards was still probably the best. Mike Barnicle said it best about Dean's speech: "After that speech, not only do I not want that guy president, but I wouldn't want him as my doctor in an operating room." Here's a good article about the Iowa caucus process: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26071-2004Jan17.html

I have great pride in my home state, and I think I missed Iowa more today than any day since I left. It happens only once every four years, but today all the national media focuses on the Iowa and its caucuses. Caucuses have to be one of the most fun political processes out there - a bunch of people gather in a gym, listen to a few speeches and discussions, then the "voting" begins. "Okay, everybody for John Kerry in this corner! Dean supporters to this corner! Edwards supporters over here!" And it continues on down the line. "Hey, you five people back there for Sharpton - your group's too small...either join a bigger group or drop out! Same with you Lieberman folks!" What a great process...I wish I could have been there. My thoughts: John Kerry - Great comeback and great win. Even if people don't know your policy, your war record and what it says about you is undeniable. John Edwards - The trial lawyer turns out to be the nicest, cl...

So Pete Rose finally admitted that he gambled on baseball. As a late-80s Mets fan who watched guys like Dwight Gooden and Darrell Strawberry practically throw away their careers for drugs, only to get a slap on the wrist, gambling never sounded all that bad as long as no games were thrown. So I've been quietly pulling for Pete all this time, and now that he's admitted he bet on baseball (with less-than-ideal timing, given the announcement of the new Hall of Fame class yesterday), I guess I'm still hoping he gets his lifetime ban from baseball lifted. But what if Pete Rose is lying now ? He doesn't seem any more or less sincere in his apology now than he was in denying he bet on baseball, so isn't there some chance that he figured his only opportunity to get back in the game was to tell people what they wanted to hear, regardless of the truth? And isn't it a productive way to cash in on a book deal? I imagine he's telling the truth now, but without an...