No global warming, huh? The US has experienced the hottest year its ever had since 1895 when weather stats were first recorded. Crazily enough, that didn't include the heatwave that has engulfed most of the mainland during the month of July. Communities have been smashing heat records since the first 2012 heatwave in March (warmest March ever recorded), causing severe droughts in Colorado, Arizona, Indiana and Georgia which created an outbreak of large, almost uncontainable, wildfires. St. Louis residents breathed a sigh of relief on Monday when the thermometer only hit 91 degrees (32.7 celsius) after ten straight days of +100 degree (37.7 celsius) temperatures. And there has been many casualties all over the country due to the extreme heat, with Maryland (13) and Virginia (10) leading the league in that category. Moral of the story? Air conditioners (I know.. that's bad, but so good sometimes - now being one of those times) Oh, and Yuma, Arizona (home of Nick Papageorgio) had a forecast of 115 yesterday. Dry heat. Ouch. Anyways, don't cut down trees, waste water, and all other stuff that destroys this planet that is rapidly becoming a frog on a hotplate.
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There is a lot of 'activities' that pass as sports these days. Poker requires skill, no doubt, but it isn't a sport. Yet it's on all afternoon on the sports channels. And what about that ridiculous Coney Island Hot Dog eating contest. Dude crammed like 50 hotdogs in his mouth in ten minutes. Apparently the trick is to soak the buns in water. Sick. Winner gets ten thousand however, so, if you are good at eating hot dogs, well, run - do not walk and I wish you well. This just shouldn't be a thing though: the International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship (it's EXACTLY what it sounds like), which started over FOUR decades ago, has contestants from all over the US/world, and has six divisions. Two families, the Krauses' and the Lessards', have dominated the event with a member of one of the families taking home the trophy (or whatever the hell the prize is) every year since 1992. In comes a 46 year old Chicago native Ronn Matt, who was probably was on his way to get some of those delicious Michigan cherries, decided to enter the contest at the urging of his wife. He walked in and won the championship on his initial try, hurtling the cherry pit a whopping 69 feet. First time. He, like most other normal people, didn't realize he had this skill, unlike the Krause and Lessard families who no doubt have a cherry pit shooting range in their backyard.
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Not sure if this is a really nice story or a scary one. Guinness Book of World Records Largest woman, Pauline Potter (643 pounds last year) has dropped almost 100 pounds due to her new workout routine. She's been having sex and lots of it. Her and her ex-husband, a 140 pound tomcat named Alex have been getting hot and heavy for a while now. She says she can't move much in bed, no surprise, but says she burns about 500 calories each time; "It's great exercise just jiggling around." It isn't without it dangers though, Alex noted. "It's really dangerous for us to have sex because at any moment the bed could collapse and one or both of us could be seriously injured or even killed from the impact." The physics of it all is pretty crazy to wrap your head around. But using sex as a weight loss tool is more common than you think. "Shagging can make you slimmer, if you do it enough. It can also help the two of you fall for each other all over again. Requiring no monthly fee - dress code optional - you can 'sexercise' yourself into shape. This is one gym membership you'll never want to drop," says Dr. Yvonne Kristin Fulbright. Fun times!
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A man in Albuquerque, New Mexico was busted breaking into the Central New Mexico Community College after the police received a call about a break in. Thomas Molina, 38, tried to make a quick getaway though a window but found himself caught up in the blinds, which was where the police found him. If they were the horizontal venetian blinds I could see it happening, those can be tricky. But if they are the vertical kind, found in most community colleges, there is no excuses! Molina told police he was looking for computer hardware and has been charged with burglary and breaking and entering. He didn't post his 10,000 bail.
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I watched Sleepaway Camp last night. I remember seeing it in the video store when I was a kid and thought it looked pretty bad-ass just based on the cover. But I never watched it (even though it's possible I claimed otherwise) but after having it on my computer for about five years I went for it at about midnight. I usually don't like slasher-type movies that were popular in the 1980s (one or two of the tons of movies in each the Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm St series, not to mention the low-budget cult imitations they inspired). Well, Sleepaway Camp is held at a…. camp, so immediately you think of Friday the 13th. All the cliches at the camp were present; the slut, the bitch, the geek, the jock councillors, surly camp owner, and I thought for the most part it was a pretty decent 80s movie about goings-on (and bullying) at a summer camp. The violence is actually pretty minimal, or at least is until the last 15 minutes, with only a few casualties. But my God, the ending was super-sick. The girl is creepy, but you start to like her once she starts talking (and she's actually married to Deron Miller, member of cKy 1998-2011 in real life - nice!) and the aunt is super creepy. Acting was pretty bad, and the special effects were terrible. Exactly what I was looking for in a slasher film from 1983. It was followed by a couple sequels with Bruce Springsteen's sister in the lead role, then they were disregarded for a sequel picking up where the first film left off, with Felissa Rose reprising her role as Angela. |
| Judy (being a jerk) and Angela |
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Baseball's first half (or unofficial first half since most team are a couple games beyond the halfway point) is over. It's been a great season so far… very entertaining.
American League Notes:
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| Alexei Ramirez shows some love for Humber's perfect game |
Craziest thing about how the AL started off the year was when perennial contenders New York, Boston, Los Angeles and the newly stacked Detroit Tigers got off to terrible starts, some due to injuries, some due to incompetence. The Yankees have righted their ship, finding themselves with a 7 game lead in the AL East. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano have been putting together great seasons and Curtis Granderson has been hitting home runs at the same clip he has last year where he finished second in the AL. The Boston Red Sox (along with Toronto Blue Jays) find themselves sitting in the cellar of the AL East with an even 43-43 record, with Big Papi David Ortiz being the only consistent hitter on the team. It also appears that Adrian Gonzalez has forgotten how to hit the long ball, even though he is crushing the doubles and his average is decent at .283. The Blue Jays looked great in spring training, but too often follow up a great game with a terrible one and have found no consistency in their bullpen, and now they have a serious starting pitching problem, especially the way ace Ricky Romero has been pitching this season. Just down the road from Toronto in Detroit, things have been looking up lately, after finally catching fire, but are still only keeping pace with the surprising Chicago White Sox who are crippling every team in the league with their clutch hitting and effective (not over powering) pitching staff. In the first month of the season White Sox pitcher Philip Humber threw a perfect game as the Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0. The White Sox currently lead the Cleveland Indians by 3 games and the Tigers by 3.5 games. The Angels took a long time to get going due to Albert Pujols' learning how to hit American League pitching that he hasn't seen other than in the video room. He has been crushing the ball of late and has his Angels, and along with ace starters Jared Weaver (who had a no hitter of his own on May 2 vs the Minnesota Twins), Dan Haren and CJ Wilson, not to mention the emergence of young all-stars Mark Trumbo and Mike Trout make the Angels a team to watch in the second half. L.A. finds themselves 4 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. Seattle Mariners starter Kevin Millwood pitched a no-no for a few innings before he had to leave with an injury, but his bullpen picked him up and the Mariners used five other pitchers to pick up the no hitter.
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| L.A. Angels' Mike Trout |
National League Notes:
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| The Nats' Bryce Harper |
Clown question, bro. Two years ago, if you said the leaders of the NL East and Central were who are leading now you'd be laughed out of the room. That's right folks, the Washington Nationals lead the NL East. They have been the doormat of the National League (them and the Cubs) for years now, ever since the team moved from Montreal. But it shows you if you get enough high picks, don't trade them away and develop them you can field a great team. We all know Bryce Harper, rookie all-star centre/left fielder, and Steven Strasburg, the fire balling ace starter, and the teams first first round pick in Washington, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman but lost in the shuffle sometimes are some great young players like Danny Espinosa, a young guy with some power (knocked out 21 HR in his first full season last year), Steve Lombardozzi, versatile player starting in left field now but can play any infield position and catcher Jesus Flores doing a great job of calling the young staff, which includes Gio Gonzalez, picked up from Oakland over the offseason and currently is tied with the Mets R.A. Dickey for the league lead in wins with 12. Speaking of the Mets, they find themselves in third place (Atlanta is in second) only 4.5 games back of the first place Nationals, surprising many who thought the Mets could be basement dwellers. The first no-hitter in Mets history was thrown by Johan Santana, who mowed down the defending World Series champion St Louis Cardinals all game long, as the Mets won easily 9-0. And he has been the Mets second best starter. R.A. Dickey has been baffling National League hitters with his knuckleball all season long.. he really is a great story (article HERE) and it's a shame he didn't start the All-Star game. The newly-branded (and a new park!) Miami Marlins have failed to live up to the hype of their new signings and new digs, but even more shocking is that the Phillies, the powerhouse Phillies are in last place in the division.. Are they finally too old? Great team for years. In the NL Central, the Pittsburgh Pirates are leading the division, vying for their first divisional title since the were in the Eastern Division in 1992. Leading the charge is centre fielder Andrew McCutchen who has knocked out 18 homers at the break to go along with his .362 average. Hot on the Pirates heels though are the Cincinnati Reds, led by Etobicoke's own Joey Votto, who is making a strong case to win the NL MVP again, hitting .348 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs. The defending champion Cardinals find themselves in third place, just 2.5 games back. The top of the NL West looks fairly familiar to anyone who follows said division with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants battling it out for top spot. San Francisco's Matt Cain was the second pitcher to reach perfection against the dismal Houston Astros on June 13, the first perfect game in Giants history. Lurking quietly behind the California powerhouses are the Arizona Diamonbancks, lurking at 4 games off the pace. The Diamondbacks have been playing decent, not great ball, but good enough to still be in the mix in the West. Their season highlight so far has to be Aaron Hill hitting the cycle not once but twice 11 days apart. The former Blue Jay becomes the fourth player to hit for the cycle twice in the same season, and the second player to do so in the same month since John Reilly (Not John C. Reilly unfortunately) did it in 1883.
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| Cain & Buster Posey after Cain's perfect game |
Second half starts back up on Friday!
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