Tuesday's Tidbits

Sports
-The 2nd edition of the World Baseball Classic came to end in dramatic fashion last night. Ichrio Suzuki had a 2-run single in the 10th to lead Japan to it's 2nd consecutive WBC championship. Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was named MVP for the 2nd consecutive year as well. It seemed to me like this year's WBC was more in the spotlight than the 2006 games. Maybe because Team USA reached the semifinals it got more press in the country. It will be interesting to see who decides to play in the 2012 games for the American team.

-Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, became the first athlete to announce his retirement on his blog. Schilling was a part of 3 World Championship teams (2 in Boston, and 1 in Arizona), and played in another (Philadelphia 1993). He has been one of the most outspoken players of his generation through his blog and his weekly radio appearances on WEEI in Boston. Now comes the debate, is he a hall of famer?

Entertainment
-Late Show host David Letterman married his long time girlfriend Regina Lasko last week in Montana. The two begin dating in 1986! They have one son together who is named Harry. 23 years of dating finally led to a marriage. Mmmm.... and my wife was getting antsy after just 5 years of dating. See honey, we were pretty much on the fast track!

-Jack Bauer will be back for an 8th season. Thank God! Kiefer Sutherland announced yesterday that he will be returning for an 8th season of one of the best shows in TV history, 24. Sutherland did mention that it will be up to the writers to figure out how long the show will stay on TV, but I mean c'mon, who could actually kill Jack Bauer? Thank goodness for TiVO!

Business
-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke wanted to sue AIG to prevent it's top executives from receiving bonuses. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner are making an appearance on Capital Hill this morning to discuss the AIG bonuses among other things like the toxic assets that I linked to in yesterday's post. When will the AIG bonus news just go away?

-Lots of new rumors about the latest hardware changes for the iPhone. I have read some blogs where people are real excited about all the new changes for the iPhone, but my question is, why didn't they just have some of this stuff on the original hardware? I realize that you can download the new software changes free of charge which excites people, but why weren't they upset when it wasn't on the phone to begin with? Ahhhh.... BlackBerry!

Weekend Update

Sports
What a weekend in sports. Everything from the NCAA Basketball Tournament kicking off to the WBC winding down this has been one of the best sports weekends of the year.

-How's your bracket doing? The Sweet 16 is set. Arizona is the lowest seed still remaining in the tournament, after upsetting Utah in Round 1 and defeating Cleveland St. in the 2nd round. I will say that I have 14 of the 16 teams remaining as well as all of my Elite 8 still in tact. Knock on wood, it could be a good weekend coming up.

-Team USA fell to Japan in the semi-finals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic Sunday night in L.A. The Japanese team will now take on Korea in the finals as they try and repeat as champions of the WBC. Korea is coming off a gold medal performance in Beijing at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Should be a great game.

-Kyle Busch turned left better than anyone on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kasey Kahne finished in 5th which was 4 spots below where I needed him to finish to win our Nascar pool. Oh well.

Entertainment
-Sad news from across the pond. British reality TV star Jane Goody has passed away following a very public battle with cervical cancer. Goody was famous for starting on the British version of Big Brother. She is survived by her new husband Jack Tweed, and her two sons Bobbie (age 5), and Freddie (age 4).

-Knowing has captured the weekend battle at the box office. The Nicolas Cage movie brought in $24.8 million over the weekend. I Love You Man starring Paul Rudd came in 2nd, and was followed by Duplicity which starred Julia Roberts. I haven't seen any of them, but feel free to comment below if you have.

-Today Show host Matt Lauer was absent from the set this morning after flipping over the handle bars while riding his bike in New York over the weekend. Apparently a deer jumped out in front of Lauer forcing him to slam on his brakes and he flipped over the handle bars. What a guy won't do for a day off!

Business
-The Treasury Department has unveiled a long awaited plan to remove troubled assets from the books of many banks. The plan calls for our tax dollars, along with money from private investors to buy up the toxic assets that come from many bad mortgages and other loans.

-Struggling with your finances? Well fear not my friend, the world's cheapest car is not far away. The "Nano" (no Steve Jobs did not create the vehicle) will sell for around $2,000 when it debuts this summer. I'm sure you will get your money's worth.

The Links
-Mike C. sent in this video which pretty much summarizes how I feel about my usual lunch. My how I love Chick-Fil-A.

Do you have link you'd like to share? If so, PLEASE feel free to e-mail it to 8hourstokill@gmail.com. I post articles that I find throughout my morning travels online, but I know many of you have much more entertaining links out there and I'd love to be able to share them with all the readers.

Wednesday's Works

Happy Hump Day... Away we go...

Sports
-Team USA used a dramatic 3-run comeback in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat Puerto Rico and advance to the WBC semifinals last night in Miami. David Wright blooped a base hit into right field and set off a huge celebration on the field. It's games like this that will help get the WBC on the map.

-Just a fantastic story here about a disabled veteran meeting Team USA after the game in Miami.

-I love this story. President Obama has filled out an NCAA Tournament bracket for ESPN. There were times when I thought how cool is it that President Bush had an ownership stake in the Texas Rangers, and now how cool is it that our Commander In Chief is filling out a bracket just like the rest of us? It definitely makes it easier to relate to someone in such a powerful position when they do things just like we all are doing.

-New Jersey Devils goalie, Martin Brodeur is now the NHL's all time wins leader. Brodeur broke the record that was previously held by Patrick Roy. By the way the NHL also canceled their season a few years back. Morons!

Entertainment
-Belinda Carlisle is the casualty of this season's Dancing With The Stars. Steve Wozniak was the other "star" in the final pairing, but he was spared another week. PHEW!

-Watch out Hills fans, Audrina is leaving! Audrina Patridge has told MTV that she will not be back on the "reality show" after the upcoming 5th season. She has instead signed a deal with Mark Burnett productions that will find other ways for her to exploit her "celebrity".

Business
-It's probably not a good thing when your Chief Executive calls your bonuses "distasteful". But that's exactly what Edward Liddy said of the bonuses that his company paid out to its executives. However he does feel that the company has to uphold those bonuses due to contracts it has in place. This will make for a very interesting debate on the hill.

-David Friehling, accountant for Bernie Madoff, has turned himself in to authorities on charges that he falsified numbers, and lied in the scandal that has Madoff facing charges of up to 150 years in jail. Ouch.

The Links
-Whether he realizes it or not, Matt G. has given us this link for a hilarious rap video featuring T-Pain on YouTube. Quick warning, this video contains some strong language and may be NSFW.

Wednesday's Works

-If you don't think the players are taking the World Baseball Classic seriously, then you missed the fantastic game between the Dominican Republic, and the Netherlands. The Netherlands defeated the Dominican team in the first meeting of the WBC for both teams. Now the winner between the teams will advance to Miami for the 2nd round. No way the Dutch team can pull off an upset of such a star studded Dominican team right? WRONG! Thanks to a throwing error on a pick off play by Carlos Marmol, and an error with 2 out in the 11th by Willy Aybar, Netherlands is going to Miami. What a great game.

-It appears that the San Diego Chargers, and running back LaDanian Tomlinson have agreed to terms on a new deal that will keep the fantasy football legend in SoCal for the next 3 years. Tomlinson agreed to the restructured deal to help allow the Chargers to have more cap room, and thus have the ability to improve the club for the future.

-Oh, the Clippers. You would think a 19 point lead at home in the 4th quarter would be enough for these jokers to win a game. Not so much. LeBron James recorded a triple-double and the Cavs came back to win 87-83. It was only the 3rd game of the season that the Clippers have sold out, and it was the first that wasn't against the Lakers. Eeks. Sorry Mr. Sterling.

-I told you in Tuesday's post that the Lakers had resolved to violence in their loss at Portland on Monday night. Well a suspension has come down from New York. Lamar Odom, not Trevor Ariza has been suspended for 1 game. Odom was suspended by the league for leaving the bench area. While he did not escalate the situation he leave the vicinity of the bench earning himself a one game suspension without pay. Rudy Fernandez, the recipiant of the flagrant foul has been released from a local hospital.

-Sports Illustrated gives us a nice illustrated (what else?) view of Shaquille O'Neal and his greatest quotes throughout his career.

-It appears that America is still happy with the election of Barack Obama. That's probably a good thing. It probably wouldn't be a good sign of things to come, if 50 days into his Presidency he wasn't liked by the public that voted for him. Just a quick FYI, at the same time of George W. Bush's Presidency his approval rating was 3% lower than Obama's is now. Where's Keith Olbermann when I need him?

-Jay Leno is giving back to the people of Detroit. Good for the Chin.


The Links
Once again, this is where I post your links. Send them to me, I bet if you thought it was worth reading lots of other people will too! Send you links to 8hourstokill@gmail.com.

TGIF

-Lots of different stories coming out on Alex Rodgriguez. Reports are that he has a torn labrum in his hip as well as the previously reported cyst. If A-Rod decides to have surgery he could be out anywhere from 10 to 16 weeks. Good news for Yankees fans, Cody Ransom hit .302 last season. Oh wait... What's that? He only had 43 AB's. My bad.

-Is there a better sports show on TV than Inside the NBA? The answer to that question is no. Need further proof? Check out this clip from last night's episode.

-Only two games last night in the Association. Carmelo Anthony had 38 points in his return from a one game suspension to lead Denver past the Trail Blazers in a match up of Northwest Divison rivals. Chris Paul had a big night leading his Hornets past the Mavs in the Big Easy.

-Tom Verducci with Sports Illustrated has given us 10 Reasons Why The WBC Matters. Great article, and I can't wait to watch Team USA play this spring.

-And now some sad news. It appears that Lauren Conrad will be leaving The Hills. I know, I know, it may take some time for all of us to get over that....... Excuse me? Oh, you're already over it. Again, that's my bad.