Bill Simmons

The finals of the National Spelling Bee just took place, and that reminded me of a great article I read a few years back. The article was written by Bill Simmons. Simmons writes a sports column for ESPN ( He's also done comedy writing for Jimmy Kimmel. ), but whether you're a sports fan or not, I think you'll be impressed if you click on the link below:

Bill Simmons' Spelling Bee Column

In the column above, Simmons does the impossible. He somehow manages to make a spelling bee entertaining.

If you found that Bill Simmons article entertaining, I'd also recommend the following three articles:

Thoughts on the most dreadful - This is a great article about 9/11.
One final toss for The Dooze - This article is about the death of his dog. If this doesn't get you choked up, then you must not have a heart.
Getting deep sixed - This article may be stretch for those of you out there who are not sports fans ( particular those who don't know much about baseball ), but if you really want to understand the feelings of a passionate sports fan, you should read this article ( Personal Note: This article is about 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. Simmons is one of the biggest Red Sox fans in the world, and I'm probably one of the biggest Mets fans in the world. The Mets won that World Series ( the only time in my life one of my favorite teams won a championship ) , but the Red Sox would have won it if not for a extremely unlikely series of events at the end of game 6 of that series. Depending on how you want to look at it, the end of game 6 represents either the greatest comeback victory in the history of baseball, or the most crushing loss in the history of baseball. Simmons ( and every Red Sox fan in the world ) was devastated by this game. As a Mets fan who was absolutely euphoric after game 6, it was fascinating to read such an eloquent and passionate description of the "other side of the coin". Simmons frequently points out that he was only 17 during the 1986 World Series, and writes that the moment that the Mets tied the game on a wild pitch was "one of the five or six worst moments of my life". I was only 16 at the time, and I don't think I've ever experienced as much pure joy as I did right at the moment the Mets tied that game. I know it sounds silly, and in retrospect, I would have to say that my wedding day and the birth of my children were greater moments, but I can't really understate just how much the New York Mets meant to me as a 16-year old boy. I had sooooo much emotionally invested in that team. There was no doubt in my mind that the Mets were going to lose that game I was absolutely crushed. After the second out was made in the bottom of the 10th inning, I sat in the corner of my couch at home, clutching on to a pillow with a death grip. I was petrified. I couldn't move, and I could barely breathe. Even when the Mets started a rally and managed to get the tying run to third base, I still didn't believe a Mets victory was possible. Each time the pitcher released the ball, I knew that pitch could end the Mets season. I sat there petrified, waiting for the guillotine to drop. Then the wild pitch happened. Even after the ball got past the catcher, I was still worried that Kevin Mitchell ( the runner at third ) would be thrown out at the plate. When he crossed the plate to tie the game, I finally dropped the pillow, and flung myself across the room. The next thing I knew I was on the floor, pounding my fists and kicking my feet in a spasm of ecstasy. ).

I know that Bill Simmons seems like a rather odd subject for a column, but if not for Bill Simmons, there wouldn't even be a MoLewis57 blog. Bill Simmons is the first link in the series of events that led to this blog. The chain of events is as follows:

1) Bill Simmons provides a link to the video below in one of his columns:



2) After watching ( and loving ) the video, I feel compelled to respond to some of the stupid comments made on the video. I soon discover that I need a YouTube account to make a comment, and the MoLewis57 YouTube account is born ( The video below has the details of why I decided to create the MoLewis57 YouTube account ).



3) I start using YouTube more frequently so I can save videos of old Sesame Streets clips to the Favorites under my new YouTube account.

4) The video below gets featured on the front page of YouTube. I click on it and discover communitychannel.



5) I become a huge fan of communitychannel, and I am eventually inspired to start making videos of my on ( see this link for more details ).

6) Katy Perry records "I Kisssed a Girl".

7) Natalie ( communitychannel ) makes the following brilliant "I Kissed a Girl" parody.



8) The lyrics to Natalie's parody included a reference to scones. While reading through the comments on Natalie's video, I notice that a lot her viewers have no idea what a scone is. This inspired me to make video response below.



9) Natalie enjoys and favorites my "Scone" video. Naturally, the video starts to get a ( relatively ) huge amounts of hits after that. The video gets noticed by lots of people who wouldn't have noticed it otherwise. One of those people is Shweta, who comments on my Scone video from her munchkinhugs YouTube account. We converse a bit via comments on the Scones video, and I eventually I discover Shweta's blog.

10) After a while, Shweta's blog inspires me to create my own blog.

So, all of the stuff above leads us to YOU reading this blog post right now. So, if you enjoyed this post ( or my blog in general ), you can thank Bill Simmons ( along with Natalie, Shweta - and to a lesser extent, Katy Perry ). If he doesn't provide that link to the Brady video, this blog post never happens.

Oh, and BTW, to add one more twist to the whole "Butterfly Effect" angle, the Brady video probably never happens if the NFL referees get the call right on the play below:



Yes, so this blog was really brought to you by "The Tuck Rule".

Wow, what a positively link-y blog post.

Rich

Losing My Faith in Humanity

Sometimes you see something that kinda makes you lose your faith in humanity. In the last few days, I've seen 3 things:

#1




Over Memorial Day weekend ( a big time for driving in the USA ), I must have seen/heard about 20 commercials like the one above for the "Click it or Ticket" campaign. What does it say about people in general when threatening people with a ticket is apparently the most effective method to convince people to wear seat belts? There are actually a significant amount people out there for whom saving a few bucks is more important than saving their lives? Good Lord! I'm embarrassed to be a member of the human race sometimes. Personally, I really don't think the government should be in the business of coercing people to wear seat belts. People who don't wear seat belts aren't harming anybody but themselves, and if you're too stupid to wear a seat belt ...
... well let's just say I believe in the concept of "thinning the herd".

OK, maybe I'm being a bit harsh - but c'mon, how could the fear of getting a ticket trump the fear of getting thrown through your windshield?

#2



According to the commercial above there are two ways to avoid a hangover. You can ...
1) Not Drink
2) Take Chaser while you drink

God, I don't even know what to say here. They should just rename this "Chaser" product "The Alcoholic Enabler". I don't mean to be too much of a prude, but a hangover is really your body's way of telling you that you have put too much poison in your body. If you find you are getting hangovers all the time, it's a really good clue that you should stop drinking so much. It really depresses me to know that we are such a nation of boozers ( or perhaps a world of boozers ). There are so many people out there that can't even conceive of having a good time without drinking. The fact that there is a market out there for a product like "Chaser" is really sad.

#3



I read this New York Times Magazine article today. Apparently, there are still places in the American South where high schools have two proms - one for white kids and one for black kids. So much for Obama's America.

OK, I know this was rather cynical post. I'm actually quite happy with life. There's a lot of good out there, but sometimes I can't help buy dwell on the stuff that sucks.

Rich

More Swooning

As those of you who have been reading my blog regularly already know, I swoon for Amanda Terkel. However, the start of the French Open reminds me that I also swoon for defending French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.

Actually, what really reminded me what this video I saw attached to a news article last week. Ana's just sitting there in a pink T-shirt, but she looked so stunning that my jaw dropped to the floor.

The crush I have on Ana is certainly different than the "smart girls with glasses" crushes that I usually have. However, I have a history of being attracted to athletes, particularly world class athletes. Actually I usually only swoon for a pretty female athlete if she's one of the best in the world at her sport ( I could never really get into Anna Kournikova, because she could never manage to win a tournament ).

Specifically, over the last 33 years I've had crushes on 4 female athletes, who at one point or another have been ranked #1 in the world in their sports. I made a video about about these 4 athletes about a year ago.



If you don't have time to watch the video above, I'll just tell you that I got my first big "Sports Crush" during the 1976 Olympics ( when I was 6 ), and I've gotten a new Sports Crush about once every 10 years. My 4 crushes have been ...

1976: Nadia Comaneci
The 80's: Katarina Witt
The 90's: Mia Hamm
Now: Ana Ivanovic

I discovered Ana back in November of 2007. I was flipping through the TV stations when I came across coverage of the Madrid Open on ESPN. Ana was wearing the blue outfit you'll see in some of the photos below. After I picked my jaw off the floor, I Googled her, and I've had a Sports Crush on her ever since.

So, I was happy when she won the French Open and attained the #1 ranking in the world last year. Unfortunately, things haven't gone as well for her since then, and she still doesn't really get the attention that other supposedly hot players like Maria Sharapova get.

Now, I guess it is kinda fair that Sharapova gets more attention and endorsements. Maria is a bit more accomplished. She was ranked #1 for a longer period of time than Ana, and she has won 3 grand slam titles while Ana has only won 1. Maria also beat Ana head-to-head when they met in the finals of the 2008 Australian Open.

However, it seems like there are more guys who drool over Sharapova. I dunno, maybe it's the blonde thing, but Maria is just a tall fairly pretty girl, while Ana is simply stunning. If any of you guys reading this doubt me, take a look at the photos below:












Yes, I know that's a lot of photos, but hey, I only have 5 blog followers, and posting a bunch of photos of Ana Ivanovic might be a good way to get a few more hits to this site ;) .

Anyway, if you're a guy reading this, and this is the first time you've ever see Ana Ivanovic, I have just one thing to say ...

Your Welcome.

EDIT: BTW, I changed my blog template simply because I noticed that the previous template was chopping off the right side of embedded YouTube videos.

Split Rock Resort

Back in the early April, my family and I went to Split Rock Resort in the Poconos ( BTW, that's in Pennsylvania ). I've posted a bunch of pictures from the trip below:

( Drawing on the lessons from my wasted youth, I show Michael the proper way to make a billiards bridge )





( Peter pumping up )


( Muscleman Michael )







( Michael jumping from lily-pad to lily-pad. Click photo for close-up. )


( Michael before his big surf )


( This would be the Split Rock. )







( It snowed while we were there. )


( Movie Time! )


( Michael drew WALL*E )




We also shot a few videos:

Gotham Hall

Ruth and I went to wedding on Saturday night at a place called Gotham Hall. It was really an architecturally fascinating place. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures ( Ruth left the house without her camera, which is kinda like Superman leaving the house without his cape ). However, if you click on the link in the first sentence, you'll see what I'm talking about. The place looks like a Roman Temple. The room is a huge oval ( probably about 75 feet by 125 feet - It's hard to tell - you can check out the pictures on the website and judge for yourself ), and it had 70 foot high domed ceiling ( see photo from the website below ).


I also couldn't help but notice that there were a bunch of aphorisms carved into the walls. What I found odd ( initially ) was that almost all of these sayings has something to do with money. For example:

“Waste neither time nor money but use both for your own and your neighbor’s good.”

“There is no gain so sure as that which results from economizing what you have.”

“It is what we save rather than what we earn that ensures a competency for the future.”

So, I'm sitting there during the wedding ceremony, trying to figure the story behind this place. As I said, the place looked like a temple, but it seemed to be a temple to money. It was like a giant, opulent, secular temple of wealth.

Eventually, I found out that the place was a former bank. It was actually the former main branch of The Greenwich Savings Bank ( built between 1922 and 1924). So that explained the aphorisms of wealth, but I was still fascinated by just how impressive the architecture was. You really don't see impressive architecture in modern bank buildings . Of course, it isn't really that unusual to find impressive architecture in old bank buildings. I think those old banks were designed to be impressive in order to inspire confidence in prospective clients. Back in the early days of banks, I'm sure it was a rather radical idea to hand your money over to a stranger for safe-keeping. I'm sure lots of people thought that keeping their money in a mattress at home would be a safer option. So, banks spent lots of money to build incredibly impression structures in order to convince people that a bank was safe place to put your money.

Of course, there was no FDIC insurance back then, so people who put their money in mattresses in 1924 ( 5 years before the Great Depression ) probably made out better than those who put their money in the impressive-looking banks ( I'll let the reader decide how this might related to what's happening in the financial world today ).

In any case, Ruth and I had a great time. We love being with the boys, but it's nice to have a night out every once in a while ( Ruth's Dad looked after the kids ). There was all sorts of music played at the wedding, and one song in particular reminded me a story from my youth. I made a YouTube video about that story, so you can click on the video below if you'd like to hear it.



Rich

More Neil Finn / The Wiggles

As I mentioned in this post, I recently learned who Neil Finn was. Well, I was flipping through the TV stations late on Saturday night, and all of a sudden I spot Neil Finn. "Hey, I know that guy!", I said to myself. "That's Neil Finn, and those guys on stage with him must be the rest of Crowded House."

So, I watched about 30 minutes of a Crowded House concert on TV that night. Two things I noticed:

1) I recognized all of the songs they played. However, before watching those 30 minutes of the concert, I wouldn't have known that half the songs were Crowded House songs.

2) I could tell it was a recent concert, because Neil Finn looked about as old as he did in the Google images I looked at back in March. However, he didn't actually look old while he was singing. He seemed old when he was just talking to the crowd between songs, but as soon as he started singing, he seemed about 15 years younger.

Speaking of Australian bands, I will soon be a Wiggle for a day ( or at least for about 30 minutes or so ). On June 14th, we are having Peter's 4th birthday party ( he turns 4 on June 12th ). Peter loves the Wiggles, so Ruth and I have convinced 3 of my friends to do a Wiggles act with me at his birthday party ( Of course, we'll all be wearing shirts with the proper Wiggles colors ). I'm going to play the role of Greg ( yellow shirt ), so I'll be doing most of the singing. Assuming this isn't a complete disaster ( and probably even if it is ) photos and videos will follow.

Rich

Best Actor

I think I deserve to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. Take a look at the picture below. It's a picture of me riding a camel with Michael and Peter at the Bronx Zoo on Saturday ( I don't have time to post a bunch of Bronx Zoo photos yet, but I'll post some more photos eventually ). I've never really wanted to ride a camel, but Michael wanted to try, Ruth wanted to get a photo of Michael and Peter together on the camel, and Ruth and I were both afraid that Peter might fall off the camel. So, I decided to ride the camel with the boys. In the picture below I look pretty happy, but that's just my great acting at work.


You see, the picture below was a posed shot. I knew Ruth was taking a picture. The candid shot below tells the story of how I really felt during that camel ride.


Why was I making a face like that? Let's just say that the camel ride was bumpy, that hump is harder than it looks, and it's unlikely that I'll ever be able to father children again.

;)

Rich