Walter Jones, the toughest guy named Walter ever

What do you say about this guy? After he announced he retirement, I felt a tinge of "hey hold on, so we wont get to make the joke about Walter Jones skipping training camp again?"

To his credit, he has a kidney condition that doesn't allow him to take painkillers that are stronger than say Tylenol. Wow. It takes a man to play football like that. And in 13 years of playing tackle for the Seahawks, he was called for holding just nine times. Are you kidding me?

Thank you Walter Jones, you may have the record for "offensive lineman I traded for the most when starting a franchise on Madden". I think Shaq would refer to you as a video game cheat code.

Here is some highlights of Jones. Check out the old school Seahawks jersey in this video too. Classic!

Spurs of the moment

Hold your horses, the San Antonio Spurs are lurking.

After knocking off the No. 2 seed in the NBA playoffs, expect choke artists extraordinaire Dallas, the San Antonio Spurs move on to play the No. 3 Phoenix Suns in the second round. Now with the Lakers struggling to mop up Oklahoma and the Denver/Utah series putting everyone to sleep, shouldn't we start looking at the Spurs?

Arguably the best team of this last decade, you can never count out a team with a championship pedigree like the Spurs regardless of their regular season performance. They struggled with injuries and finding a consistent lineup all year but those problems seem to have been worked out. Also consider that Tim Duncan is notorious for being unspectacular but steady for much of the season and then finding his moment to explode for monster games. Sure he's older, but nobody saves himself for better moments than Duncan. Parker looks like he's back into the swing of things and Ginobili's nose could probably guard Steve Nash by itself at this moment.

So as much as it pains me to say (and I really think the Spurs are way to dull for my liking), you can't ignore these guys at this point. They're like the wily vet at a poker table - never just assume they're over the hill.

Whoops

Did this photo for the radio show. As you can see, I'm big-timing it now.

Better start things off here with a bang

Happy Thursday!

Jessica Simpson doesn't like to brush her teeth

... everyday, that is. But she has one heck of a reason, which I'm sure to adopt and change slightly when I'm running late to work on some days and don't get the chance to brush my pearly whites.

"Because my teeth are so white and I don't like them to feel too slippery but I do use Listerine and I do floss everyday," she explains. "But I don't brush them every day."

"My lips just slide all over the place....I can't catch up with my mouth," she continues. "I need a little coating...."

Apparently she brushes them just three times a week. Which is fine right? I mean you all have no obligations right? That fills the quota for the week and it conserves water.

(Okay, no wonder Tony Romo broke up with her)

I'm not going to make anymore fat jokes

You really shouldn't call people fat (which I do). You really shouldn't judge people about their weight (which I do). And you really shouldn't make fun of women about their weight (which I do).

Looks like I need to learn a lesson. Apparently one guy did when he called a woman fat during a party. She bit his freakin' ear off.

Flood said three men in their twenties at the party were arguing with the rest of the partygoers as they left around 3 a.m. Then, Flood said, one of the men shouted an insult at Godfrey.

Godfrey allegedly ran half a block, tackled the man and bit off a chunk of his right ear.

Flood said the missing piece of the man's ear was not found, and he would likely require plastic surgery.

Good God. Something tells me that alcohol or drugs may have played a little bit into this. Because if she really was hungry, she would have gone to McDonalds.

ESPN Salary Crunch

ESPN has the best way to depress me.

It's called "salary crunch."

All you do is enter your yearly salary into the site and it will tell you how long it would take certain sports stars to make what you do.

Take Ryan Howard for example. He can make what I did last year in just about 1 1/2 innings. Awesome.

Or how about Julius Peppers. He can make the same I did in just about 1 quarter. So great.

And don't get me started on Eli Manning. Who with a simple 6.29 yard completion earns what I do in a year.

Try it for yourself. WARNING: Depression might happen upon seeing the results.

ESPN Salary Crunch

Why you should watch hockey tonight... Game 7!

The Washington Capitals were the best team in hockey this season. Now they're in a Game 7 battle with the Montreal Canadians, an eight seed. Ladies and gentlemen, the Stanley Cup Playoffs! Why is this such a big deal? Because heart break is something that Caps fans are all to familair with, take it away Yahoo Sports blogger Greg Wyshynski.

In 2008, I watched from the press box as the life was slowly sucked out of Washington Capitals fans in the Verizon Center during a tied Game 7 against the No. 6-seeded Philadelphia Flyers; when "Rock The Red" optimism morphed into John Hurt looking down at his stomach in "Spaceballs" and muttering "oh no, not again." (You know, right before the alien burst through his chest and did that ragtime routine.) Their misery ended on Joffrey Lupul's overtime power-play goal.

In 2009, I witnessed the Capitals battle back from an inexplicable 3-1 deficit to the No. 7-seeded New York Rangers, forcing a Game 7 in D.C. There was a moment early in that game when the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist nearly had a two-goal lead, but the Capitals rallied for a 2-1 victory to advance.

Later in Spring 2009, the Capitals had another Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and ... well, these memories are etched in the minds of both fan bases. Semyon Varlamov flaming out after shouldering the load for two rounds. Pittsburgh scoring five consecutive goals, including one by noted sniper Craig Adams. Marc-Andre Fleury's critical save on Alex Ovechkin's breakaway in the first period. Penguins won, 6-2, and it wasn't even that close.

Wednesday in D.C. is yet another Game 7 for a Bruce Boudreau playoff team, which is becoming a wearisome and troubling trend for his NHL tenure. This time it's the Montreal Canadiens -- the 16th-best team in the playoffs based on regular-season record -- who have rallied from a 3-1 deficit to make this a one-game series.

And it's not like Washington isn't playing well, they're getting a buttload of shots on net but anytime you get a hot goalie in net - it's a tough order. Tonight. Habs. Caps. Hell on Earth. Game 7. Enjoy.

Tyler Hilton Seattle

Last night Linds and I headed into Seattle for the Tyler Hilton, Spill Canvas, New Politics and AM Taxi concert.

Well the main act that we were going to see is Tyler Hilton. You might not recognize him, but he was Elvis on Walk the Line. He also played on One Tree Hill.

The show was awesome. He is amazing live and we even got to meet him afterward. He was very nice and signed the CD Linds had. We also snapped this photo.


Here's the acoustic version of "Sunset Boulevard" off his new EP.

Man vs Wild Season 5 filming

I read this on Bear Grylls Twitter today:

BearGrylls off to Russia for start of Man Vs Wild season 5 - am feeling quite nervous. (come on Bear get in the right mind set...)

Oh yes. Season 5! Can't wait.

And don't forget the new show on Discovery featuring Bear Grylls called Worst Case Scenario starts next week May 5th at 10 PM.

Epic Video of Greatness: NFL Player hits half-court shot

That Knowson Moreno can do more than carry the football for the Denver Broncos.

Epic Video: Kobe's biggest fan

Sounds like he wants some Black Mamba.

Epic Video: Time Warp Sawstop

My dad sent me this video. As someone who has been into woodworking, this is amazing!

If you have never seen "Time Warp," it's a show all about super-duper slow motion cameras capturing things we take for granted and never see as they really are. In this case, they take photos of this guy's new invention. What a combination!

The Weekend Review: Is there a draft in here?

The NFL Draft happened - In case you were under a rock that was locked up in a steel chamber in the planet Pluto, you had to hear something about the draft from ridiculous NFL fan. Nothing is more annoying than a fan trying to tell you why a seventh-round draft pick is going to turn the team around - and then have him struggle to name the college where that pick came from. Here's who drafted who.

Mariners get swept - The M's have been playing better ball, but the White Sox had their number this weekend with two walk-off wins and a third game that featured eight-inning heroics by Chicago. Seattle is going to have to figure out a way to finish games.

Sounders lose to Toronto 2-0 on the road - After tying Dallas FC earlier, Seattle finishes the road trip with just one point instead of a possible four. Lame. But at least they're still in third place of the Western Conference.

Outdoor Photo of the Week: Channel Isles and Washington Capitol Building

This week a special Outdoor Photo of the Week section. Today we'll feature not just one photo, but two. These photos are from Steve O'Neill, Olympia, Washington. Here's a bit about the photos:

Sunset was taken last summer on one of the Channel Isles in British Columbia. The Capitol Building was also taken last summer. I live in Olympia and the light was right so I caught that view of the Capitol Building.

Think you've got a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Please include your name, a short caption about the photo (date, location, and what makes it special) and your location.

Check back each Sunday for a new Outdoor Photo of the Week.

What my grump old self should do to my neighbors

Sitting down for a nice, relaxing evening with some bad whisky/Dr. Pepper, the History Channel and perhaps some writing! (Ha! Yes, sometimes I actually write things) And then what appears to be a semi-truck trailer starts rattling upstairs.

Oh wait, that's the neighbor playing music. Which is totally cool, right? I mean they're allowed to play music. It's Saturday night. Whatev.

Except the old man in me secretly wants to wake up at 6 am and rap my broom across the ceiling over and over again just to get back at them. I mean, music fine. The horrible crap they're playing is something that would cause a bad wedding DJ to say "whoah, whoah, whoah, I'm trying to get laid by one of the brides maids, not start a riot."

Consider me officially an old grumpy man.

Epic Video: Hockey players are just tougher than you

Dentist?

Kevin Kennedy is fighting terrorism

So lets say you're former Red Sox manager Kevin Kennedy. Let's say you're on a plane. Let's say some crazy guy says he's going to blow up the plane.

Well then...

"When I stood up, he kind of stared me down," the 55-year-old Kennedy said. "I was probably 4 feet from him. As soon as he started to go for the cockpit door, we charged. We took him down. We tied him up. But it was not an easy takedown. We finally got him hogtied with seat belt extensions from the plane."

The terrorists are screwed if we find someway to clone Kevin Kennedy. He'll take them out quicker than Chuck Norris with a machine gun.

Big Ben not liked by Zoo Animals

Big Ben doesn't even belong in a zoo, that's how despised he is in Pittsburgh now. A Pitt zoo has removed Ben's images from their displays which is basically the Pennsylvania way of telling you to go eff yourself. Can't wait until he's starting games for Oakland next year.

A life-size image of Roethlisberger has been part of a display that compares the height of elephants to other creatures. But the facility is having a new sign made that will replace Roethlisberger's image with one of former Pittsburgh Penguins star and team owner Mario Lemieux.

"Mr. Roethlisberger isn't the most popular person lately," Tracy Gray, the zoo's manager of public and media relations, said.

Well I mean they still called him Mr. Roethlisberger. That's got to count for something right? I'm wondering if the zoo was worried that the Big Ben displays would try and have their way with the Zebras.

Epic Video: Mighty Ducks Commercial

Here's a parody of the NHL's current series of playoff commercials. It's a big deal if you're a Mighty Ducks fan.

Epic Photo: Who is that thing to the right?

Did a horror movie somehow creep into the Lakers-Thunder game last night?

(Found this on Deadspin)

Epic Video: Ovechkin snows kid

That's what he gets for being a Canadians fan.

Space Plane is classified, so don't ask about it

I know some of you are probably bummed that NASA is doing away with the Space Shuttle program. But no worries! The Air Force just launched their Super Secret Space Plane up in orbit. I can't tell you what it's doing or why it's up there, but hey! Forget exploration, let's just continue the Cold War.

The Air Force has fended off statements calling the X-37B a space weapon, or a space-based drone to be used for spying or delivering weapons from orbit. In a conference call with reporters, deputy undersecretary for the Air Force for space programs Gary Payton,  space programs did acknowledge much of the current mission is classified. But perhaps the most intriguing answer came when he was asked by a reporter wanting to cover the landing as to when the X-37B would be making its way back to the planet.

“In all honesty, we don’t know when it’s coming back for sure,” Payton said.

Payton went on to say that the timing depends on how the experiments and testing progress during the flight. Though he declined to elaborate on the details. The vague answer did little to quell questions about the ultimate purpose of the X-37B test program.

In other words, the Air Force probably knows what I put on to wear to work this morning. Oh Goodie.

Reasons why you're still single... WWII Documentaries

It's a nice day out, there's plenty to do and you have plenty of time. However, instead of going out to enjoy the day... you end up stuck in front of the TV watching WWII documentaries on the television.

Ummm... the Allies won. Sorry to break the suspense.

And even though you may already know that you still are captivated by "Hitler's Secret Jet Airplane."

(Although jet airplanes?!?! In WWII?!?! How cool is that?!?!)

Word of advice, when you invited somebody over, don't ask them if they want to watch "WWII in HD."

Milton Bradley has landlord issues

We all know that landlords are dicks. Espicially the landlords of professional athletes. Ask Milton Bradley, his former LL from Chicago is raising all sorts of hell.

Kotsiopoulos alleged Bradley had caused $13,900 in damages to the condo before he split. The suit contended he left red paint on white silk draperies, water rings and wine stains on an ebony zebra wood credenza, food and juice stains on a silk velvet ottoman, and a five-foot coffee splattering on the master bedroom carpet.

"I viewed the apartment today," Kotsiopoulos said Wednesday in a phone interview. "I saw the damage he had left first-hand and it is real damage." 

I understand that is some damage but since when do stains amount to $14,000? It's called a carpet cleaner dingbat. Something tells me that he's inflating costs - that and he didn't return to Bradley his $30,000 damage deposit.

What a dick.

Rick Mirer, we remember you fondly...

Just so you can relive the past, check out this little story about Rick Mirer's rookie card.

The photo team at Pro Line was excited when Rick Mirer asked if he could bring his motorcycle to his shoot in 1993 — at least, until Mirer showed up. The rookie QB rolled into the studio's parking lot on the Harley he had purchased with his signing bonus, wearing the free Seahawks leather jacket that came with the bike, a pair of mom jeans, prescription round-lensed sunglasses and his football helmet. Knowing that a photo of any man dressed like this should never see the light of day, the Pro Line photographer did the only thing he could: He conducted the shoot inside a dark, windowless warehouse on the outskirts of the Emerald City.

McGwire over Favre

Mike Sando is perhaps one of my favorite sports bloggers of all time. I have read his stuff since he covered the Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune for nine years. In 2007 he left the TNT to become the NFC West blogger for ESPN.

Today he had a great post about how in the 1991 draft the Seahawks didn't listen to then Head Coach Chuck Knox and instead of drafting Brett Favre drafted a guy by the name of Dan McGwire.

Check it out on his blog.

Cocona Tester

I'm excited today because I found out that I was chosen from thousands of entries i was chosen to be a tester for Cocona Fabrics. I'm pretty excited about this opportunity. So look for updates about my reviews of the coat I received to test. I'll be taking it on the Northern Rangers adventure and review it in vidoes, photos and text.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Epic Photo: Volcano in Iceland

That's lighting from the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. You know, the one that is paralyzing air travel around the world. Serves them right for naming a volcano Eyjafjallajokull.

MLB lets up on Cliff Lee

Cause this helps so much since Lee has been out with an abdominal strain. Thanks MLB Baseball!

SEATTLE (AP)—Major League Baseball dropped its five-game suspension of Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee(notes), who could be healthy enough to make his Seattle debut by the end of this month.

The 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner threw 70 pain-free pitches in a simulated game Tuesday and was asked how anxious he is to finally pitch for his new team in a game that means something.

“I don’t know if it can get any higher,” Lee said. “For me, it’s the start of the season. I’ve got to get back and help these guys win. … I’m excited.”

While the Mariners have looked better as of late, will Cliff Lee be the catalyst that gets things cooking?

There's baseball going on right now?

Baseball hasn't been doing so hot attendance-wise. In the eight MLB games played on Monday night, three of them set all-time lows for their respective ballparks in attendance. Including our very own Safeco Field!

Notes: The crowd of 14,528 was the smallest in Safeco Field's history. The previous smallest was 15,818 on May 6, 2008.

Crap. And this probably isn't going away anytime soon. I know the weather is still a bit cold out, but frankly not a whole lot of people can afford major-league prices at the moment. Overall, teams may have to adjust ticket prices accordingly next season unless they want this downward trend to continue.

(Or perhaps it's because everyone has high-def screens? Just a thought)

These guys again?

Didn't Donovan McNabb and TO end up hating one another in Philly? Don't we remember the wide receiver working on his biceps in his driveway in front of a national audience? And now McNabb wants to play with TO again?

What the heck!?!?!

Sounders new kits

The Seattle Sounders FC unveiled their "alternate" kits today. And all I can say is, are you the University of Oregon now?

Seriously Sounders? Terrible.

The difference between Tiger and Big Ben

Not that I condone either's actions, I do find it interesting how everyone is reacting to the Ben Roethlisberger and Tiger Woods "sex scandals" in the past few months. One is the most famous athlete in the world, did something completely legal but immoral and is ripped apart by the media for it. The other hasn't been officially charged for anything but it's quite clear that his actions towards women have been very inappropriate for somebody of his stature (or any stature for that manner).

Yet, if you're keeping score at home, Tiger Woods has been ran through the ringer much more than Big Ben. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has had his fare share of flack from the media but the only endorsement he's lost is for some crappy beef jerky. And nobody is demanding public apologies from Big Ben, or trying to determine how his actions directly affect their being - whereas everyone was proclaiming how much Tigers' actions affected the deep reaches of their soul.

Also how many awkward press conferences have we had to watch where Ben apologizes to his mother?

I know that Tiger Woods isn't any saint, but he didn't do anything nearly as atrocious as Big Ben was rumored to have done. If you want to boil down the quarterback's actions to a horribly watered down and inaccurate "taking advantage" of women (Which is crap, the dude is a creep and a bastard, but that's just my thought), that's still one-hundred times worse than Tiger Woods cheating on his wife with lots of women.

In Tiger's case, everybody did what they did on their own free will. And frankly, it's not really our business, even if Tiger is a big name. However, Big Ben is obviously forcing his will on other people. Yet Tiger gets the brunt of this media explosion.

I know that he hasn't been convicted, but there are so many instances surrounding this quarterback, you have to reaaaaalllyyy wonder what he's doing. When there is smoke, there is fire. Simple as that.

Tiger? Sure he's a bad husband, but he's not nearly as bad a guy as Big Ben and I dont think he should even be put on that same level as Ben.

What Tiger did was a mistake, what Ben did was a crime. Or many crimes.

Saving the world from asteroids

Even though the United States is apparently shelving the Space Shuttle program (and we're not going to rely on private contractors for space travel-ugh), President Obama has now presented a much more realistic and handy goal for astronauts - deflecting asteroids.

I'm all for landing on Mars and think that we should continue to explore and expand, however, how can you not work on your asteroid deflecting skills? That's slightly more important because if a sizable one hits this planet... well ask the dinosaurs.

NASA is developing plans to send astronauts to an asteroid to see if they can push it off course. John Grunsfeld is an astrophysicist and a former NASA astronaut who flew on five shuttle missions. As he told Space.com, “by going to a near-Earth object, an asteroid, and perhaps even modifying its trajectory slightly, we would demonstrate a hallmark in human history … [It would be] the first time humans showed that we can make better decisions than the dinosaurs made 65 million years ago." He explained that if scientists don’t work on a solution to get out of the path of an asteroid, life as we know it will certainly be ended by one.


According to Space.com, scientists estimate there are about 100,000 asteroids and comets near Earth and that 1,000 of them could be potentially dangerous. About a dozen of these asteroids could be reached by astronauts, but the target would have to be at least 300 feet wide to make it worth the trip. Even so, spacecrafts have landed on asteroids before. Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft just traveled to the asteroid called Itokawa, where it attempted to collected samples for scientists.


Obama’s asteroid mission is the first step in the ultimate goal of landing on Mars. This mission would not be without complications. First, the flight to a space rock would likely take months. Then astronauts would have to be tethered to the asteroid to keep from floating away, as gravity forces would not be in effect. In addition, the space flyers would be outside the Earth’s protective magnetosphere and would be exposed to harsh radiation. 

I'm just wondering if we have to use nuclear weapons like every single asteroid movie made by man. Or can we do something like gently nudge the asteroid off course with some thrusters? Either way, Bruce Willis will not be involved.

Epic Video: Octopus! Thief!

One of my friends posted this on their facebook. It was too good not to share.

octopus steals my video camera and swims off with it (while it's Recording) from Victor Huang on Vimeo.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Epic Video: Lebron James reminds us why he's awesome

Don't be that Wii Golf guy...

Don't be that guy that...

(1) Tries to determine his actual handicap on the game, and then brags about it at the bar.
(2) Complains about the physics of the game and how unrealistic it can be sometimes.
(3) Suggests to friends that there should be money on the game. Then tells someone if he can get spotted a few bucks to get pizza delivered.
(4) Requires people to step away from him so he can focus on his swing.
(5) Fist pumps after they hit a big shot.

David Aardsma throws a curve, literally

So apparently somebody has a photo of the DA's um... deputy DA if you catch my drift. Somebody sent a letter to the Seattle Met saying this:

To whom it may concern:

I have a photo of Seattle Mariners pitcher David Aardsma that may be of interest to your magazine publication. Sent to my phone directly from Mr. Aardsma (camera phone of Mr. Aardsma clearly displayed in the picture itself) showing subject in VERY compromising position (i.e. fully nude). Considering his marital status and prominent position in the Seattle community, this photo necessitates significant attention. Due to the recent media coverage of Tiger Woods' similar situation, this topic is rather timely & appropriate in nature.

If you have any interest in acquiring this photo, feel free to contact me through this email address. Thank you for your time.

M.S.

It's alright David, Greg Oden knows your pain.

(Found this on Deadspin)

Epic Vide: Kranked 8

I saw this video over on Washington Adventures.

While there is pretty much no way I could ever come close to these guys. The stuff they do are amazing. The video is great. Plus the fact that each rider is wearing a different color really makes them pop from the surroundings.

Check it out.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Epic Photo: I'm not a big fan of petting

Found this on Huckleberries.

Game Photos from Shock-Battlewings

The Shock defeated the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings 78-70 in a near sell-out crowd at the Spokane Arena. Here are some images from the game.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTO GALLERY

Outdoor Photo of the Week: Mount Shuksan

This week our Outdoor Photo of the Week is from Rakesh Malik. Here's a bit about the photo:

In early March, I went to Mount Baker and parked at the Bagley Lakes trailhead. There were a lot of people there, with snowshoes, skis, snowboards, and sometimes just boots. Oddly, the crowd thinned out drastically near Artist Point; I suppose most of the visitors were interested in the sport rather than in the view.

This is a picture of Mount Shuksan as the sun set. I used a Nikon d300 with a manual focus Nikon 105mm f/2.5 lens, and stitched 14 images together.

To view more of Rakesh's work, you can visit http://www.whitecranephotography.com or http://www.flickr.com/baratheon.

Think you've got a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Please include your name, a short caption about the photo (date, location, and what makes it special) and your location.

Check back each Sunday for a new Outdoor Photo of the Week.

Bleacher seats might have been a better idea

Brett Favre doesn't show up to camp, but his jeans do

I'm sure they would have prefered to have their quarterback in camp, but whatev. Brett Favre is such a swell guy he got his teammates... Wranglers. Oh goodie.

All Vikings who showed up to the team's offseason conditioning program -- obviously, this wouldn't include Favre -- got a pair of Wrangler jeans, courtesy of number four. No word on whether the jeans were cowboy cut or relaxed fit.

Aren't these like 15 dollar jeans? Wow, I'm sure professional athletes will love that gesture.

Worst fan ever

What a pile of crap. Or puke. However you want to box it up.

It seems an off-duty police captain took his two daughters — one 16 years old, the other 11 — to the Phillies' game against the Nationals the other night. They were soon set upon by the kind of gentlemen who give Philadelphia sports fans their reputation as urbane and terribly cosmopolitan.

"They were yelling vulgarities, obscene language," [Michael] Vangelo said Thursday.

Vangelo and his older daughter asked the men to stop, but that seemed to just cause more trouble, he said.

"I had beer thrown on me and water and then one individual started spitting at the back of my daughter's chair and he actually spit on my 11-year-old daughter," he said.

I'm so sick of Philly fans. You run out Donovan McNabb, the best QB in your cities history, you boo Santa Claus and I'm pretty sure you'd boo the pope if he were in attendance of a Phillies game.

The fans were ejected, and into the void stepped one Matthew Clemens.

"He leaned forward, he projectile vomited all over me and my daughter," Vangelo said with a look of hurt splashed across his face.

Clemens then began wailing on Vangelo after he pushed him away from the girl — hitting the off-duty officer in the head and neck, causing his ear to bleed, police said.

Surrounding fans jumped in to help subdue Clemens before he was arrested.

"He was still vomiting on the other fans that were holding him down," Vangelo said.

First off, what a sick bastard. Secondly, I hope it was the dad that got in a punch and caused that black-eye above. Let's put this guy in the category of "hopefully he never reproduces so we dont have to deal with D-bags like him ever again."

And with that said, I'm never going to any Philadelphia sporting event. Which is easy to say since I'm in Spokane.

Epic Photo: Epic Elk!

Found this on Huckleberries.

Elk cross the Gardner River near Mammoth in Montana in Yellowstone National Park recently. (Angela Schneider/ The Livingston Enterprise)

Free Fries at Jack in the Box tomorrow

It's no surprise that since Brandon and I are bloggers, our diets haven't changed since we were starving college students.

So tomorrow, Friday, April 16, Jack in the Box is giving away free fries. We so have dinner now!

Congress tries to do the impossible

Congress has gone insane. Instead of fixing this little thing called an economy, they've decided to go after something they'll never be able to fix. Big leaguers using chewing tobacco.

WASHINGTON — After hounding Major League Baseball and its players union over steroids, Congress now wants the sport to ban smokeless tobacco.

"Good luck," San Francisco Giants reliever Brandon Medders said. "Guys do what they do. We work outside. It's been part of the game for 100 years."

At a hearing Wednesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Health Subcommittee chairman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, called on baseball and its players to agree to bar major leaguers from using chew, dip or similar products during games.

Also on Congress' agenda...

1. To stop truck drivers from cursing.
2. Curbing Lindsey Lohan's drinking habit.
3. Getting CSI:Miami to win an Emmy.
4. Prevent zit outbreaks among teenagers.
5. Get JaMarcus Russell to a Pro Bowl.

Good luck, guys.

Campus Rail Jam: Spokane Style

A few months ago I wrote about the Campus Rail Jam Tour and how it would be cruising through Spokane on the campus of Gonzaga University.

Well, it happened. And here's how it went down.

To a bus full of college-bred shredheads, the city of Compton doesn’t sound like a pleasant place to hold an inner-city rail jam. Sure, we all enjoy a little Eazy E or N.W.A. every now and again, but let’s face it, a shred-mob wearing tall-tees and tight pants probably wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms by the local homies. So naturally, when the Campus Rail Jam Tour crew began to head to a little city in Washington dubbed “Spo-Compton” everyone was a little skeptical. However, this ghetto-fabulous stereotype couldn’t have been further from the truth. Not only did Spokane welcome the Campus Rail Jam Tour with open-arms, but the event laid-claim to the best skiing and snowboarding of the entire tour. Spo-compton represent!

And check out video from the event at their site. I had it embedded but it kept auto playing. Very annoying.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Oh Ryan Leaf, you keep making a name for yourself

Everybody thought Ryan Leaf had settled down after being one of the biggest busts in NFL history. He had a coaching job at West Texas A&M. He had put pro football behind him. Things were good right?

Nope, apparently he was addicted to pain meds and has since been sentanced to 10 years probation.

AMARILLO, Texas (AP)—Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has been sentenced to 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to eight felony drug charges in Texas.

State District Judge John B. Board sentenced Leaf on Wednesday in Amarillo. Leaf also was fined $20,000. He pleaded guilty to seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Leaf said he knew he “had a problem” even as he continued to use prescription pain medication.

I have a feeling that the Ryan Leaf SportsCentury may have been the greatest hour in ESPN history if they had kept doing that show.

That's a lot of GU tickets

Over at the radio show, we had a listener named Mondo come in studio to show off his latest art project... all his Gonzaga season tickets in a frame. Pretty impressive eh?

Orangutans! In a Boxing Ring! What could go wrong!

Look out UFC! I think you might have a competitor.

It's a fight club for orangutans.

A safari theme park in Thailand has become a macabre tourist attraction for its orangutan kick boxing matches - complete with simian "round card girls."

Safari World, on the outside of Bangkok, has been drawing huge crowds that cheer orangutans forced to wear boxing gloves and trained to trade punches and spin kicks.

As the heavyweights of the jungle duke it out, female orangutans parade around in bikinis displaying the round number.

After the 30-minute shows, the orangutans are returned to their dark, dingy charges, according to an investigative report.

Other than the rather obvious animal rights concerns, is anyone concerned that they have orangutan ring girls? Isn't that a bit weird? Just saying.

Cancellara, King of the Cobbles!

I told you more bicycle related posts, and I am delivering.

This weekend Fabian Cancellara won the 2010 Paris-Roubaix. And he even had to do it with a complete bike swap during the race.

There were a number of crashes during the race. (Including a number involving Team Garmin-Transitions who happen to have Tyler Farrar on it)

They are my new favorite bicycle team for two reasons: 1) A Washington native is on the team (tune in this week for that profile on him) and 2) They have the COOLEST uniforms. Seriously, blue and orange argyle. Does it get any cooler than that?

But back to Cancellara. It was an amazing win. Here are some of the crashes during the race. I can't understand the announcers, but then again I never could understand John Madden and he was in America.

The Cancellara bike swap happens at 3:07.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Spring means bicycles!

Wow. What a weekend. I apologize for no Outdoor Photo of the Week on Sunday.

Actually on Sunday I was out with Jeff at the Bonney Lake Bicycle Shop of Sumner as he was buying a new road bike in preparation of our ride down the Oregon coast for the People's Coast Classic for the Arthritis Foundation.

And he got a sweet Felt bike that I'm sure you'll be seeing in upcoming Northern Ranger videos.

After Jeff got his bike, we attended a bicycle maintenance class at the shop put on by Jim Stevenson.

Jim is the same guy who did the bike fitting that I wrote about last year.

Anyway, it's been busy. But I'm back. And for those of you who enjoy biking, look for more bicycle related posts.

Including a post about Tyler Farrar. Don't know the name? Well you should. He's world class bicyclist from Wenatchee, Washington. So tune back in!

Epic Video: Some kid lost his jock strap

I'm jaded against how stupid youth football is, but what this video doesn't show is the d-bag parents going "oh yeah, that's right boyyyyyyyyy" right after it. I'm sure this was a wonderful learning experience for the kid.

Reasons why you're still single... bragging about running

You constantly fill up your facebook status updates with the amount of miles youve ran and then you try to pass them off like you've done it all the time.

"Oh man, three miles running, feels so good"

Although you're not actually sure if its three miles, you just assume since you broke a sweat by the time you got to the street corner and that has to be three miles right? But it doesn't stop there, you have to throw in the little nugget that "you might be training for a half-marathon"

Please, humor us. There's no way you're doing a half-marathon unless you want to be that guy with bloody nipples towards the end of the race. And nobody cares that you ran a long ways. Whoop de doo, you know who also runs? People getting chases by Grizzly Bears. Anyone can do it.

So please stop making me feel guilty for sitting at home eating McDonalds.

Ah Duke, thanks for reminding us that we hate you

Look at that mess covering an entire page of Sports Illustrated. Ugh. Puke. Blah.

Not only did we have to suffer through another Duke Blue Devils championship but now we have to see things like that. The real sticker though is that this ad cost somewhere between $200,000 to $300,000 (according to the SI ratesheet).


And this ladies and gentlemen, is why we hate Duke.


Found this on Deadspin.

Goodbye Portland's post-season

Things just got interesting for the Portland Trailblazers and not in a good way. It's being reported that Brandon Roy has torn meniscus, which isn't good. Unless of course you like it when your star player is cruising around without knee cartilage.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy has a torn meniscus in his right knee and his status for the playoffs is uncertain.

The three-time All-Star is sitting out Monday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and will miss Wednesday's regular season finale against Golden State on Wednesday night.

He will require surgery and will be out from four to six weeks. But he said he may try to play with the injury in the playoffs because doctors told him it cannot get worse.

"I want to play," Roy said. "It's the playoffs. You play 82 games and take a beating just to get to this point."

Roy is the Blazers' leading scorer with 21.5 points per game. He injured his knee on Sunday, 11 minutes into the Blazers' 91-88 victory at the Los Angeles Lakers.

When they say that your injury CANT get any worse, you might have a problem.

Tony Romo did more damage when he fumbled that field goal attempt

I'm sure more than a few of you loved to see Texas Stadium bite the dust...

(Fast forward to about the final quarter of the video, that's when the fireworks happen)

Admit it America, you love Tiger Woods

You say you don't care about Tiger Woods? You say that you wont watch because of what he's done? You say you don't care about golf or The Masters? You lied apparently as The Masters ratings were up, up, up this year - only topped by Tiger's first green jacket in 1997.

NEW YORK (AP) — Phil Mickelson's Masters win, with Tiger Woods lurking but never really contending, drew much higher television ratings than last year but fell far short of the record set by Woods' first title at Augusta.

Sunday's final round on CBS earned a 12.0 overnight rating and 25 share. That's up 36 percent from last year's 8.8/21 for Angel Cabrera's win in a two-hole playoff. But it doesn't come close to the 15.8/32 for Woods' first Masters victory in 1997.

It was still the third highest overnight rating for a final round of any golf tournament since at least 1986, which is as far back as the records go. Woods' second Masters title in 2001, when he became the first player to hold all four professional majors at once, drew a 12.9/27.

Admit it America, you love Tiger Woods. Or at least you love to watch him.

Weekend Review: Mickelson shows us why he is the master

Phil Mickelson wins The Masters - This weekend was amazing for golf, and Tiger wasn't even the biggest draw. He hung around - sure - but several un-Tiger errors made sure he wasn't on top at the end of the day. Mickelson on the other hand was consistent all the way through and deserved his third green jacket. When he came off the eighteenth green to hug his wife, Amy, who has been battling cancer - you probably had a really tough time keeping your eyes dry.

Shock bounce back big against Utah - The offense looked much better and Spokane can rest easy as the Shock rolled to a 68-34 victory over the Utah Blaze. So all this talk about the team being terrible this year? Well ease off the gas pedal, Spokane fans, and try to resist those front-running tendencies. All indications are that this team should be fine this year.

Banged up Mariners continue to struggle - With injuries keeping Cliff Lee and Erik Bedard out of the rotation for now, the Seattle Mariners have had a less-than-stellar start to the season at 2-5. The highlight so far was a three-run ninth inning comeback against the Texas Rangers on Saturday. Franklin Gutierrez drove in the go-ahead run and then made a spectacular catch in the bottom of the ninth to help secure the game. However, they're going to have to find more answers at the plate if they want to stay in contention.

Sounders FC blow lead against Real Salt Lake - Up 2-1, The Sounders conceded a goal in stoppage time and ended up tying Real Salt Lake on the road. This isn't devastating or anything like that but anytime you can beat the defending champs on the road, you've just gotta do it. Not give up a goal with 30 second left to go in the game. My head hurts.

Phil Mickelson just has bad luck

If you're not watching The Masters, you're missing a lot of good golf. However, when nature conspires to get in the way, this happens...

Epic Video: Tiger didn't think that was a great shot

The Masters, a tradition unlike any other...

Milton Bradley thinks Texas fans are swell

We knew that Milton Bradley was something of a headcase, but we're just five games into the season and he's already flipping fans off. This might end badly.

Yes, that's the newest Mariner giving a nice one-fingered salute to his old friends in Texas during the fourth inning of Seattle's 6-2 loss to the Rangers on Friday night. Bradley didn't speak to reporters after the game, but he's hitting .059 on the season and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on the night. After he popped out in the eighth, the AP reported that Bradley "glared for about 10 seconds" at fans who were jeering at him from behind the dugout.

Flipping fans the bird isn't the worst thing in the world — some of history's greatest men have extended it – but you have to be concerned about this if you're with the Mariners. This certainly isn't the last time Bradley is going to face hostile fans on the road this season and if he's already responding in this manner, well ... let's just say that our Mt. Milton eruption watch is officially on. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2010 Seattle Mariners!

Shock put out the Blaze

Spokane Shock fans can rest easy after the team redeemed their opening weekend loss with a drubbing tonight of the Utah Blaze. This one wasn't even close, 68-34, and all of a sudden the Shock look to have one heck of a high-powered offense.

Rowley looked much better under center, and the play-calling was wide open, throwing numerous times down the field and stretching the defense. The ball-hawking Shock defense was stubborn and held tight, if they can continue this sort of dominance, we're looking at some very good things for Spokane this season.

Now granted, Utah could just be very, very bad, but if there's anyway to bounce back from a loss, this is a way to do it. And since this was against a divisional opponent, the win has a little more significance. Players and fans should have much more confidence going into the April 17th matchup against Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings.

The crowd was unimpressive at Utah, as the 10,000-seat E-Center looked fairly empty. Now I havent seen the other arenas but it looks like Spokane has one hell of a home-field advantage compared to the other barns in the league. That is if the fans show up and don't sit on their hands (like they did in the first game until the first quarter).

Hopefully the first game was a hiccup, and the coaching staff was able to make the necessary adjustments (the Blaze can't be that bad, they have a slew of AFL veterans and were a member of the AFL before it went under) and we'll see more consistent play from the team. What a difference a week makes.

This is already a painful season for the Mariners

Not the start that the Seattle Mariners were looking for this season.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Colby Lewis got his first major league win over six years, leading the Texas Rangers over the Mariners 6-2 Friday night and sending skidding Seattle to its fourth straight loss.

Lewis (1-0) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, struck out three and walked four. The 30-year-old right-hander won in the major leagues for the first time since starting for the Rangers and beating Barry Zito at Oakland on April 7, 2004.

This is the worst start for the Mariners since 2004, and Cliff Lee may not be back until May. Oh boy.

The pitching hasn't been as good as advertised, something Lee was expected to bolster. The bats for the Mariners are tepid at best - and even though it's just five games into the season, the weaknesses are very apparent.

Oakland isn't supposed to be even close to contending this year, yet they took the opening series against the Mariners three games to one. Texas is a divisional opponent and any loss against them is key down the stretch if things turn into a pennant race.

However, if things continue the way they have been going, I don't think the Mariners will have to worry about any pennant race.

Tebow Football 10

It makes sense, since he was probably the best all-around college football player for the past three or four years, but I'd imagine some people will groan about Tim Tebow being on the cover of NCAA Football 11.

According to Tim Tebow, the best part about being the "NCAA Football 11" cover athlete isn't seeing his face plastered on the front window of every video game store in the country. It's the chance to play his favorite game before anyone else. "I've been playing this game since I was 6," Tebow told me during his photo shoot. "But they made so many big changes this year, I needed to find out the secrets before it came out."

That's why Tebow made the trip to EA Sports' Orlando studio, spending half his day posing for pictures, the other half hunkered down in various gameplay producers' cubicles learning the ins and outs of this year's groundbreaking title. The difference? Try a brand-new locomotion physics engine that allows players to move and react realistically on the field, including running with momentum and leaning forward to truck defenders. Best of all, the game finally nails the difference between a player's speed and acceleration, giving guys with higher acceleration ratings the ability to burst out of their stances at the snap.

But playing games and smiling for cameras wasn't all Tebow was up to in Florida. The quarterback's other mission was to hunt down "Madden NFL 11'" ratings guru Donny Moore. Tebow wanted to put in a good word for his cyber self in hopes of boosting his stock a few points, especially when it comes to his speed and trucking ability. And it looks like the face-to-face time with Moore worked to Tebow's advantage.

I'm not wondering about the cover as much as I'm wondering about Tebow as a quarterback. I still think that he'll be something of a bust in the NFL since he won't be able to run over players like he use to in college. He's not particularly fast, nor is he an excellent passer (He's not a bad one, but in the NFL you have to have pinpoint accuracy and timing. This might be the mountain top for Tebow and that's fine.

Is having too many QBs a bad thing?

One of the underlying stories this spring for Eastern Washington University football is the logjam they have at the quarterback position. This isn't anything new, as Erik Meyer battled Skyler Allen for the starting job in 2004, and Matt Nichols fended off Chris Peerboom for the position in 2006 (it wasn't that tough, actually, Peerboom was a trainwreck). However, this isn't just two guys going for one spot. It's six.

Yes a half-dozen quarterbacks have aspirations for the starting quarterback position at Eastern Washington University, and the normal reaction would be "hey, fantastic, the more depth the better!" but that's simply not the case. This might be a hand grenade that blows up in Eastern's hand and I'm a bit worried about it.

First they brought in an SMU transfer Bo Levi Mitchell, which is a fantastic grab by the coaching staff. Anytime you can get a player from the upper level of Div. I, you've got to be happy. However, the issue I have with Mitchell is that he's a junior meaning that at best, we'll get two good years from him. Nevermind it might take him a while to get acclimated to the system.

The other problem is that there is plenty of young talented quarterbacks that were already in the system at EWU before Mitchell came. I'm always following the school of thought that you want to go with the guys that have been in your system for a while, and will give you plenty of years out on the field. Sophomore quarterback Jeff Minnerly looked pretty good last season when he gave Matt Nichols a break in games. I don't see why he couldn't be the heir apparent to the position as opposed to Mitchell.

There are plenty of quarterbacks on the roster too, but I can't really comment on them because I haven't seen them play. However, they're probably thinking the same thing Mitchel and Minnerly are thinking - I came here to play, not sit on the bench.

I understand that this is how the game of football works and things will shake out, but I would guess that Mitchell would be the front-runner for the job and that would cause a large majority of the quarterbacks behind him in the depth chart to transfer. Those kids are competitors and expected to play when they came out to EWU. Then this new kid transfers in and takes that spot. It's all very normal in the world of college football, but if you're those kids - you're probably out of here. So your sudden depth at the quarterback position is lost. And since Mitchell is a junior, we only get him for two years.

What happens after that? These young kids you were bringing up in the system are gone. The quarterbacks that did have some playing time are gone. Mitchell merely serves as a stop-gap and then two years from now you find yourself throwing an untested freshman quarterback out to the wolves.

I don't think Eagle fans understand just how important this spring is when it comes to setting up the future for Eastern's football program, and the long ramifications it could have. Let's hope that the coaching staff makes the best possible choice and has enough foresight to understand that perhaps having six kids competing for the same job isn't the best possible situation.

Epic Video: Oyster Urban Adventure Race

Coming to a city near you! The Oyster Urban Adventure Race.

This is the "Ultimate Urban Adventure Race" which combines pure athleticism with thought-provoking strategy and creative tasks.

The race requires athletes and their teams to utilize a variety of disciplines to circumnavigate a number of cities including Seattle and Portland.

Your team will run-bike-paddle-climb- and perform other crazy athletic stuff to race around the city, answering clues and completing tasks. This amped, one-day version of the Amazing Race will have you doing things and in places you never experienced before!

Here, just take a look:



(This is from Just Northwest)