Bowl Names

When I was a kid, the college football bowl games weren't named after their sponsors. It was the Orange Bowl, not the FedEx Orange Bowl. It was the Sugar Bowl, not the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The change was of course motivated by greed, but I think the names have gotten a little ridiculous. Some bowls are named after companies that seem like an odd choice, like the the Meineke Car Care Bowl or the Brut Sun Bowl. Some have chosen to go with only the company name, like the Champs Sports Bowl or the GMAC Bowl. Some of the companies obviously don't care how long or stupid the name sounds, so we have the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl, and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. The Peach Bowl is now The Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Hall of Fame Bowl is now the Outback Bowl and the Citrus Bowl is now Capital One Bowl. I guess the next step is for all of the bowls to add a second sponsor to the end of the name, like the The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone.

Fortunately the Ohio State Buckeyes will be playing in the most appropriately named BCS National Championship Game.

Catchphrases

The TV Land Network, everyone's favorite Nick-at-Nite spin-off, has compiled their list of the 100 best catchphrases in the history of television. If you're not patient enough to watch their 5-part countdown special, you can check out their list in alphabetical order on this series of tubes we call the internet.

I think they were right on with some of their picks, like Dy-no-mite!, Homey Don't Play That, and Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis. But some of them were downright horrible. Some examples:

Welcome to the O.C., bitch. (Luke, The O.C.)
Tell me what you don't like about yourself. (Dr. McNamara & Dr. Troy, Nip/Tuck)
That's hot. (Paris Hilton, The Simple Life)
Suit up! (Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother)

Not to mention the plethora of phrases that are absent from the list. Shouldn't "Don't Have a Cow, Man" be on there somewhere?

Troy SI

Obviously it's a great year to be an Ohio State football fan, but this week's cover of Sports Illustrated featuring Troy Smith is an added bonus. It's the third time the Bucks have made the cover this year and the second time for Troy.

Undefeated

Zune Sucks

Today marked the much-anticipated release of Microsoft's attempt at the iPod killer. It's called the Zune, and you should not buy one.

"But Steve!," you say, "it has this cool soft rubber coating and I can send songs to my friends wirelessly!" My response? Wirelessly is not a word, and it still sucks. You can send songs to your friends if they have a Zune, but it takes a while and you can then only play the song 3 times. Lame. Also, their marketing tag line for the Zune is "Welcome to the Social." When was the last time you attended a social? Was there ice cream?

Seriously though, the real issue with the Zune is that Microsoft has agreed to pay the major record labels a portion of the profit from each unit sold. This is because they are assuming that most Zunes will be loaded with stolen music. While this may in fact be true, it's not right of them to assume it, and their paying of the labels sets a very dangerous precedent. And the consumers will pay the price. Literally.

Lego Horseshoe

I love the Buckeyes, and I love legos. But I would think that this scale replica of Ohio Stadium could be appreciated by anyone.

Paste Magazine

I'm not sure why I haven't posted about Paste before. It's a great music magazine that manages to be everything I always wished Rolling Stone could be. The material they cover is quality and the writing is excellent. Brian was reading it a year ago and when they went monthly in August, subscription was a must. Every issue comes with a CD sampler of their recommended listening. Pick up a copy and you will not be disappointed. Beck is on the cover this month.

Illini

I had the good fortune on Saturday to attend my 2nd consecutive Ohio State game. This time the tickets came from my sister and Dan and I made the road trip to Champaign.

Our seats were 12 rows up and there were easily as many Buckeyes fans there as Illinois fans. This made me proud of our people and their willingness to travel, but one thing that embarrassed me was how ignorant some of them were. Everyone knows that the big cheer for Ohio State is an O-H met with an I-O. For Illinois, their cheer is an I-L-L met with an I-N-I. This of course spells Illini, their mascot. But Dan and I heard our peers comment several times that their fans didn't even know how to spell, assuming that they were trying to spell out the name of their state. But at least they're loyal enough to make the road trip.

In the end, the Buckeyes won the game, though not as convincingly as some might have liked. The media is trying to paint it like they narrowly avoided an upset, which is not really accurate. They lead 17-o at halftime and played Tressel-ball for the 2nd half. Illinois started to play a little bit at the end but were never at a point where any of us were worried. At least not in the way that Ball State had Michigan worried. Besides, you can't really fault the players for not wanting to go all out and risk injuring themselves before the biggest game in the history of the universe.

More pictures are available in the gallery.

Fraggle Movie

I've been a fan of all things Muppet since I was a kid. I probably watched Muppets Take Manhattan about 3 times a day for I don't even know how long. So I was of course a fan of Fraggle Rock and the genius it achieved in its 5 seasons on television. Apparently Ahmet Zappa, the most normally named child of Frank, was also a fan. He is executive producing a full-length movie in which the Fraggles venture out into the human world for the first time. No word yet on whether any of the Doozers will make the trek with them. Worry's for another day my friends.

Only in Ohio

In most states they would probably just write 'wash me'.

So Long, Bob

It was announced yesterday that Bob Barker, legendary host of The Price is Right and advocate for pet population control is hanging up his skinny microphone after 35 years. Personally, I was surprised that he stayed with the show so long after Rod Roddy passed. Who will fill the 11am void he's leaving for the elderly, unemployed, and those home sick from school? No one, I say. No one.