It said on the promo that both tribes goto tribal council and two people get voted off. What that tells me is the week after they will probably merge. i expect james to go down on the hero tribe and boston rob to get voted off the villian tribe. This is turning into my favorite season of survivor. I like how they are portraying rupert as a follower and kinda in a negative light. This man could do no wrong on his first two survivor's. There is an interesting side note to this show. depending on who lasts longer either rupert or boston rob will have won the most money from survivor. remember rupert won i think it was a 1 million dollar fan favorite vote.

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If it's the villians that win i say that james and his big mouth with toungue lash everyone and piss everyone off and he will be voted off. If the heroes win i say that russell can either get coach or boston rob of the show. I have supreme confidence of russell getting his way and swaying the women''s vote in his favor. This is turning out to be the best survivor so far. Keep up the good work cbs. I have not checked out the nubers this season for survivor but i'll guess they are up and will climb as the season wears on.

It's a BIG Deal!  The U.S. Curling Nationals are going on now at Wings Stadium.  The debate continues...is Curling a true sport?  Does it require athleticism to participate?  Or, is it a glorified frozen version of shuffleboard?   I feel it's a 'sport' much like golf and bowling.  Drinking is essential.  If you're an out of towner, it's mandatory to head over to Bell's Brewery in downtown Kalamazoo.  The best microbrew in the Midwest!

i'll take a long shot and say boston rob or coach will be voted off. i think  their will be a power struggle on the villain team and i think Russell can outmaneuver either one of those guys. I think he could get the backing of the women he needed to get either one of those guys off. I already said that i think Colby or Amanda will win this season. I just think a hero will win and it will be someone who came in second place. If their was one villain i would pick it would be russell.

Author's Note:  Because the first race was delayed for a second time on Wednesday, Race 1 will begin Tonight/Early Morning Friday 3am Pacific (This is yet another postponement of 2 hours from the 1am start time).  The best coverage state side is espn360.com

Today the Vince Lombardi Trophy will be hoisted by the greatest professional football team in the world.  But the Lombardi Trophy is nothing compared to the oldest sporting trophy in the history of mankind.

History has shown what those will go through and sacrifice to capture the cup.   Yachtsmen have failed and even died in attempts to win.  It defies logic to dedicate so much time, money and livelihood to just a sport.  The Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, British royalty are the type of characters who chase this holy grail.  The 2010 America’s cup is undboubtably the most maddening edition of a yacht race that spans three centuries.

In one corner you have a team that hails from Switzerland… Team Alinghi.  Alinghi is backed by gizllionaire drug lord Ernesto Bertarelli.  Team BMW Oracle, now known as USA-17 is headed by yet another gizllionaire Larry Ellison.

In short only these two teams, rather than the more than ten we are used to, are foolish enough and egotistical enough to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a single event that could be realistically decided in the first 10 minutes.  The technology being applied to these two boats is ridiculous.  These boats move more than three times the speed of the wind… defying all traditional science.  USA-17 doesn’t even have a mainsail, it uses a wing!  A wing so massive it dwarfs that of a Boeing 747

 We’ve never seen, nor will we ever see again in our lifetimes such infuriated amounts of research, time and money being thrown at a sailing race.  The next edition of the America’s cup will most likely turn back the clock to traditional monohauls and sails.  So this is it!  If you don’t follow the America’s Cup there is no better time to start.  And if you do, this is the race you tell your grandchildren about.  The resources dedicated, along with the ludicrous soap opera between these two team makes this perhaps the most single important sporting event of all time.  And the 33rd America’s Cup Starts Tonight!

I was reading the krispy creme challenge and thought of this. Joey Chestnut vs Takeru Kobayashi (and others)at nathan's hot dog eating contest comes to mind. i think they show it live on espn now. I know Chestnut won last years title. Also would you consider the WSOP an uncommon sport b/c there are over 8000 participants with a grand prize of a bracelet and  6 -10 million dollars in cash. It depends on how many entrants. Just curious.

Last week, SD Steve and I were at the Tilted Kilt for an event with 619 Sports. In addition to the San Diego Sockers Indoor Soccer team being in attendance, the local roller derby team was there -- The San Diego Derby Dolls. Lucky for Steve and I, the girls were nice enough to give us free tickets to attend their next bout (yes, they really call it a bout) at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

And with that, we have the following report, complete with blurry action pics and some video!

For those who aren't familiar with it or who didn't see Drew Barrymore's Whip It, roller derby is an awesome sport where girls race around a track on skates and beat the crap out of each other while doing it. Seriously, it rules. Speaking of rules, you can view the rules of the game here at the Derby Dolls website. They do a much better job of explaining it than I ever could.

The event itself was very well-attended, with people supporting both teams sitting at floor level or in VIP bleachers. There was never a dull moment with some sweet music pumping coupled with the nonstop action of girls skating and getting all kinds of nasty with each other. Very un-ladylike. Below are the blurry pics I promised.

Warming up before the craziness begins

via lh4.ggpht.com

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via www.nysun.com

"My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular" said Adlai E. Stevenson (quotationspage.com). Unfortunately, badminton has been unpopular for a long time in America the land of freedom. However, the United States of America (USA) Badminton team put in a good effort at the 2008 Summer Olympics. But, they went home empty handed without any medals. Part of the reason why the USA Badminton team lost was because they do not have a huge talent pool to pick from to develop a Olympic team. In addition, badminton is considered more of a backyard sport in America. It’s not a hugely popular sport in the USA such as in China, Malaysia, Denmark, and Indonesia. But, why isn't badminton popular in America?

First, badminton isn't even the most popular racquet sport in the USA. Tennis is the most popular racquet sport in America and its drawing tons of interest in young athletes that could be competing in badminton. No one really dreams about being a badminton star in America. One reason is because there has not been any star badminton players in America like there are tennis stars such as Serena Williams, Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi. Star athletes help bring exposure to the sport and that increases young people’s interest in playing it. There are a few good USA badminton players such as Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan. But, they do not get the media attention needed to become well known in America.

America is not one of the best countries in the world at badminton. Since USA is not dominating and consistently winning events this is keeping the media from providing any attention to American badminton. The 2008 Summer Olympics the USA team in Beijing did not end the competition ranked highly. To illustrate, the highest ranked teams were China, Indonesia, South Korea, and Malaysia. These countries that finished in the top ranking in the Summer Olympics is continually dominating the sport. American sports fan do not like to see their country gets beat by other countries. And until America gets more competitive at Badminton the USA will continually overlook the sport.

Another issue in drawing America interest in badminton is the salary for badminton athletes are substantially lower when compared to professional athletes in other sports. For example, Datuk Lee Chong Wei won the Super Series Finals on January 11th and he took home a 15,000 dollar check. The compensation for that win is a lots lower than the amount that other athletes get paid such as basketball players, football players or tennis players. For instance, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras both made over 30 million dollars in their careers. It’s very rare for a badminton athlete to make that much in their career. That has hurt the amount of American athletes that are drawn to the sport especially when most people equate a professional athletic career as a way to become wealthy.

Thus, badminton hardly draws any interests even though it’s a Olympic sport in America. But, if the USA team keeps improving and eventually starts winning medals in the Olympics. Then that will increase exposure and bring much needed attention to the fun and enjoyable sport of badminton. There are definitely young athletes that would make the needed sacrifices to become part of the USA badminton team so that they could possibility accomplish the great feat of becoming a gold winner for their country in the Olympics.

Works Cited

26 Sept. 2009 http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1383.html

via www.us.orienteering.org

It is a huge feat to represent your country in competition. Sandra Zurcher did just that. As an accomplished orienteer from Colorado Springs, Zurcher found herself in Hungary last week, competing in the World Orienteering Championships.

Middle Distance Qualifier

Qualifiers — August 16
Finals — August 19

Sandra Zürcher has qualified for the Middle Final race, to be run on August 19th! Sandra finished 13th in her heat of 28 runners (the top 15 qualify), 7:54 behind the leader Lea Muller of Switzerland.