Epic Video: This is Sparta! Eastern-style

Note the photo of Casey in the video.

Oh, no Paul Pierce didn't

Paul Pierce dropping some major twitter trash talk after Boston beat Miami tonight...

@paulpierce34: It's been a pleasure to bring my talents to south beach now on to Memphis.

Montana makes the right choice

The University of Montana made the right choice, announcing today that they'll be staying in the Big Sky Conference. They flirted with the WAC and that was the big elephant in the room during this season, but it was promptly shoved out the door as the Grizzlies put them in a spot where it will be very difficult to win their 12th straight conference championship. It makes the most sense that they stay in the FCS as they'll continue to compete for national titles and always be in the playoffs.

Had they made the choice to move to the WAC, they would have relegated their program to obscurity. Even in the second-tier FCS, fans come to Washington-Grizzly Stadium knows that they're watching a team that has a very good shot at being the best in the nation for their class. If they went to FBS, even if their team was good they'd be reduced to hoping for a berth in the PapaJohn's Bowl against the eighth-best team from the Sun Belt Conference. Even if everything went well and they were the next Boise State... well look how the Broncos are dropping in the BCS rankings...

It's not likely they'd even be the next Boise State. While Boise actually has a rather large metro area of over a half million people, Missoula has a metro-area of 100,000. That's perfect for the FCS, and they get the job done with fan support. However, the corporate money would be significantly lower than most of their FBS counterparts. Heck, just look at the issues WSU is having and the Cougars have the Spokane metro area to draw from. You need corporate money to expand. You need rich alumni or boosters (read:Oregon) and you need fans to show up regardless.

Over half of Montana's season ticket base is outside of Missoula County, so that sold out stadium might dwindle if the team is no longer competing for national championships. In fact, you can count on it. Only the most delusional marketing rep would tell you otherwise. It's easy to sell out when you're winning, not so much when you're not.

Throw in the MSU rivalry and the Big Sky is just the right choice. Hands down.

Just how bad are the Seahawks?

Looking at their schedule this season, I thought that if Seattle played above average they could make the playoffs. That doesn't mean that they're a good football team, it means that who you play from year to year is one of the more important things in the NFL. The Seahawks are 4-4 but look at these rankings... yuck.

NFC Total Yardage on Offense
Seattle - 2,091 yards - 14 out of 16

NFC Total Yardage on Defense
Seattle - 3,065 - 14 out of 16

Seattle's Offense
83.6 rushing yards per game, 177.8 passing yards per game.

Yeah, that's not good.

Mariners legendary broadcaster Dave Niehaus dies

The Seattle Times has reported that the Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus has passed away on Wednesday.

Dave Niehaus, the legendary and beloved voice of the Mariners from their inception in 1977 through the final game of the 2010 season, died Wednesday, the ballclub confirmed.

The Mariners are expected to make an official statement soon.

If you're like me, and grew up in the Northwest, then you've heard Niehaus calling the M's games.

When I was interning with FSN I had the chance to talk with him a few times and he was a pretty cool guy. And he had a certain swagger throughout the ballpark. But I guess when the broadcasting booth is named after you, you're allowed to do what you want.

And if you grew up in the Northwest, then you'll never forget this call:

(If you don't get chills listening to this call, then something is wrong)

This week in Big Sky Conference Football...

This week is actually pretty lame because some teams have decided to throw in some non-conference games at the end of the season. I'm not trying to be a debbie-downer, just getting revved up for the Griz-Cats game in two weeks.

North Dakota (3-6) at No. 13 Montana (6-3)
This is pretty smart scheduling for the Grizzlies. They should beat ND and that should allow them to have some momentum going into their game against MSU.

Southern Utah (6-4) at No. 5 Eastern Washington (7-2)
I wouldn't be surprised if EWU loses this game. The game is essentially meaningless. But it is as home and you know the school would like to remain undefeated on the red turf.

Northern Colorado (2-8) at Portland State (2-7)
Their records may not show it, but this may be quite the game. However, it's just for bragging rights.

Weber State (5-4) at Northern Arizona (5-4)
There is three tiers in the conference. The not-so-good-teams, the good teams and the elite teams. This is a battle of the two good teams in the Big Sky Conference. While a championship is out of the question, if Montana stumbles against MSU, one of these two teams could pick up that third playoffs spot.

Sac State (5-4) at Idaho State (1-8)
Sac State could be one of those playoff teams too but I'm hoping Idaho State gets an upset win out of their system so I don't have to worry about it happening against EWU next week.

There you go, big thanks go to the Daily Inter Lake for coming up with the matchups each week. It's great to live in a state that takes it Big Sky Conference football seriously.

Arnold Schwarzenegger on bike

This is perhaps the funniest photo I have seen in a long time.

NBA returning to Seattle

Ok, so maybe that headline is jumping the gun a little bit, but the rumors have certainly been flying around lately.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, recently sold a number of his shares of Microsoft worth about 1.3 billion. He has stated that by the end of the year he will sell another part of his share for 700 million. Many have been speculating why he's selling so much.

Some believe Steve Ballmer's plan is to buy the Sacramento Kings and bring them to Seattle.

The rumors have been flying for a number of years now that the owners of the kings want to move the team because they can't get funding for a new arena and their current lease at Arco Arena is expiring soon.

However, an article that ran yesterday in the Puget Sound Business Journal stated that this was not the case.

Our sister publication the Sacramento Business Journal dashes our hoop dreams today, at least as they relate to its hometown club -- quoting Joe Maloof, a co-owner of Maloof Sports & Entertainment and the Kings, saying that he has “never met Mr. Ballmer, we’ve had no contact with him and the team is not for sale.”

Of course that doesn't preclude Ballmer from pursuing another team.

However until more news and facts are shown I don't want to buy into either story. How many times have we, the fans, heard that certain things won't happen with their team only to have that exact thing happen a few months later?

But perhaps this speculation of the NBA returning to the Emerald City is just a lot of fans hoping for a team where one isn't there. Maybe Ballmer is just selling those stocks to buy a spaceship.

Or maybe he's selling them to bring the NBA back to Seattle.

Great pick-up lines in American history

If you follow the blog then you know that we love Barats and Bereta around here at JustSON.

Well their latest video gave Brandon a number of ideas for the next time he's kicking it in the Eagles club and scouting out the field.

Football trick play

This Texas middle school pulled a trick play during a recent game. And it worked very well.

This lady is WAY too happy to be on COPS

Yeah, just watch the video:

New Muppet movie

I found out yesterday while reading Entertainment Weekly that a new Muppet movie is in the works!

I grew up loving the Muppet Show. Oh, and to make it even better Jason Segal, who is awesome in How I Met Your Mother, is co-writing and staring in it! Epic!

The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made’ is about Gary (Segel), Mary (Amy Adams), and Walter (a man, his girlfriend, and the man’s life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend) getting the old Muppet gang – now retired entertainers known for the same Muppet show we know them from – together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks, and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers.

And just for a little nostalgia:

Lady solves Wheel of Fortune with one letter

This lady only needs one letter to get the answer correct on Wheel of Fortune. I usually need all but one to get it.

The fall of Montana football

With Eastern and Montana State sitting in the drivers seat for at least co-champions of the Big Sky, Montana is on the outside looking in.

Their streak of Big Sky Conference championships will most likely come to an end. And because of that the athletic department of the University of Montana is in complete turmoil.

Checkout this footage from the closed door meeting they recently had:

Deer stuck in basement

This happened in Chesterfield Township, Michigan. But I could totally see Brandon finding this in Polson, Montana.

Ndamukong Suh Kicks Extra Point

Ndamukong Suh, of the Detroit Lions, attempted an extra point today in a perhaps the biggest kicker in the history of the NFL.

With their normal kicker, Jason Hanson, injured the Lions turned to rookie defensive lineman Suh.

Check it out:

Laptops fry balls. No really.

About three years ago, I read that if you use you laptop computer in your lap, you're frying your computer because chances are you legs are blocking the heating vents and causing the comp to overheat. Having fried one laptop, I quickly made a point of putting my laptop on a coffee table i bought from Walmart for about 10 bucks. It's been three years since a laptop has actually been on my lap.

Future generations of Hansens will thank me.

Whoever invented the 'laptop' probably didn't worry too much about male reproductive health.

Turns out that sitting with a computer on your lap will crank up the temperature of your nether regions, which could affect sperm quality.

And there is little you can do about it, according to the authors of a study out today in the journal Fertility and Sterility, short of putting your laptop on a desk.

The researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 young men who were balancing a laptop on their knees. They found that even with a lap pad under the computer, the men's scrotums overheated quickly.

Although if you factor in the previous five years before that I had my computer on my lap, and the fact that I have a cell phone in my front pocket... my kids are going to come out looking like Sloth.

Epic Photo: Winter in Montana

Well winter in the mountains. Not so much in the valley... yet.

Boise State is screwed

Even after a win over one of the better WAC teams, Hawaii, Boise State is losing support in the polls and slowly slipping down in the top 10.

NEW YORK -- TCU's impressive victory not only lifted the Horned Frogs to No. 3 in The Associated Press poll, it caused Auburn to move up behind top-ranked Oregon and Boise State to fall two spots to No. 4.

The Horned Frogs won 47-7 at Utah on Saturday in a matchup of unbeaten Mountain West Conference teams.

With that thoroughly dominant performance, TCU drew so much support away from Boise State, it caused movement in the top four for the first time in three weeks.

At this point, Boise State can only hope the upper teams drop off like flies. If you've seen TCU and Oregon, that's highly unlikely.

Live leprechaun web cam

I've always been fascinated by cryptozoology, the study of hidden animals. For example, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, chupacabras and many other creatures. I don't think that this discovery falls under cryptozoology, but when I heard about Tipperary, Ireland I knew they had something special.

Leprechauns.

Located in Tipperary, Ireland there is a web cam that has been hidden. This web cam runs for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The camera has been placed in an area that is believed by many to be enchanted. It is near what is known as a "fairy ring."

According to the website, you might see leprechauns and other Irish fairies such as pookas, banshees and merrows if you watch the cam closely.

Since the camera is in a very remote location, once the sun goes down there is nothing to see but a black screen. But when the camera is out, you have a great view of the fields of Ireland.

You can access the web cam through the website irelandseye. Send us an email, or leave a comment, if you ever see something on the camera.

Or check out these videos.

Here's a time lapse video of one day of the "leprechaun cam":

And here's another video in which the camera supposedly caught a leprechaun on film at :08 in trees to the right. The unknown object moves through the middle part of the trees. I think its a bird: