One of my favorite newspaper headlines of all time — because it took something extraordinarily stunning and world-changing, and made it sound utterly matter-of-fact — is from the front-page New York Times “news analysis” the day after Mikhail Gorbachev’s resignation. The headline: “The Soviet State, Born of a Dream, Dies.” Obviously, nothing in the world of sports can match that…. Read more »
So say rumors on the Internets. (Hat tip on the LOTR reference: B. Minich.) P.S. To review why Nebraska’s departure will trigger the epic realignment apocalypse, click here. P.P.S. How about some other Lord of the Rings quotes to sum up various players’ positions in this whole mess? Big East: “Are you frightened?” Big 12: “Yes.” Big East: “Not nearly… Read more »
For all the empty MSM chatter about the Gulf oil spill as “Obama’s Katrina,” the president’s failure to adequately emote, the potential political ramifications, etc. etc., one thing I haven’t really heard is much in the way of cogent, logical criticisms relating to specific, impactful, preventable errors or omissions in the response to the spill. Haven’t heard, that is, until… Read more »
This morning, in response to some reporting by the New York Times — money quote: “Does Notre Dame become the 12th team in the Big Ten or does it risk being forced to later join the conference as the 16th team?” — and SportsByBrooks (which summarized things thusly, in a tweet: “Notre Dame AD: No current talks w/ Big 10…. Read more »
Say what you will about blogging pioneer / curmudgeonly Democratic gadfly / U.S. Senate candidate Mickey Kaus, but he sure knows how to set expectations low. Here’s his take, in Calbuzz, on his chances in today’s primary against Barbara Boxer: My friend Jill Stewart of L.A. Weekly bet a friend dinner that I wouldn’t top 5%. But I don’t want… Read more »
Apropos of nothing: I got to thinking, the other day, about my favorite consecutive movie scenes in all of cinema: the Gandalf/Witch-King confrontation at the gates of Minas Tirith, followed immediately by the very best scene in the Lord of the Rings trilogy: the charge of the Rohirrim. (The Gandalf/Witch-King scene was inexplicably cut from the theatrical edition of Return… Read more »
[UPDATE: Event over; iPhone 4 is here. And it’s awesome. Of course, the best part of the demo was when Steve Jobs had network connectivity issues while trying to demonstrate the new, super high definition screen: Yeah… somebody‘s getting fired. Heh. To make matters worse (and more hilarious), at one point, Jobs asked for suggestions from one of his techies,… Read more »
Here is where things apparently are, from what I understand of what’s being reported: • From the Pac-10’s perspective, everything hinges on Texas. The Pac-12 thing (add Colorado and Utah) seems unlikely to happen; not enough upside. It’s Pac-16 or status quo, because Pac-16 is the only way to get Texas, and Texas is what the Pac-10 really wants. •… Read more »
A true legend, a fine human being, a man whose greatness and goodness transcended the bitterest of rivalries — the only Bruin who could get a standing ovation in a roomful of Trojans — has died at age 99. Rest in Peace, John Wooden. P.S. I’m sad he won’t be around to see the UConn women potentially break his team’s… Read more »
[INTRODUCTORY CAVEAT: I realize most of my readers don’t care about Newington High School sports. But, seeing as how this blog is called The Living Room Times — named after my old NHS newspaper — it seems only appropriate to post this here.] Back in 2006, on the eve of the Connecticut Class L boys volleyball state championship match between… Read more »
