First, do we really consider the chicken our friend? If so, it can’t be mutual. We eat their eggs for breakfast. Also, does he mean “money” like “you’re so money,” like in Swingers, or does he mean pigeons were once actually used as currency?
Luck led Stanford to a 12-1 record and played brilliantly in a rout of Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, confirming the consensus that he would be the top player selected in the draft. Luck also finished second to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton in the voting for the 2010 Heisman Trophy. Luck’s father, Oliver, said his son wanted to complete his degree in architectural design, a rigorous major in the school of engineering. Luck also felt, his father said, the tug of finishing his career with the players with whom he entered school.
“He wants to finish with those guys,” Oliver Luck said in a phone interview. “It’s a great group of players. That was by far the most important factor.”
Oliver Luck was listening to radio hosts criticize the decision and recalled the psychological test in which people perceive different things in inkblots.
I guess people feel the need to criticize just about every decision everybody ever makes, but a college athlete’s choice to stay in college or go pro has always seemed impossible to quibble with one way or the other. I suppose if a guy isn’t ready to go pro it’s one thing, but then people said that about Mark Sanchez and the decision seems to have turned out OK.
The way I see it, there are plenty of good reasons to turn pro and plenty of good reasons to stay in college. When Jeff Green and Greg Monroe left Georgetown for the NBA, I couldn’t fault either because they stood to make a lot of money and they’d risk injury (and jeopardizing their immediate earning potential) if they returned for another year with the Hoyas. When Roy Hibbert stuck around all four years, I thought it was awesome, since the development time in college would clearly benefit his NBA career and because he was able to earn a college degree.
Plus, you know, college is fun and everything. But then probably being a millionaire athlete is pretty fun too.
Essentially, if you’re a star college athlete with big-time professional prospects, you’re in something of a win-win situation. Luck, for his part, gets the opportunity to compete for the Heisman Trophy and a national title and to earn a Stanford diploma. To him, clearly, those were valuable enough to forgo the immediate riches of the draft.
Add “donut hero” to the long list of R.A. Dickey’s accolades. <3. The producer of this segment, Joe Kraus, confirmed that the donut holes are incredible.
Clay Dillow at Popular Science provides a nice overview of the bird and fish deaths that captured the Internet’s imagination this week and investigates what may have caused them. Also of note: First time I’ve ever heard the term “avicide,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Does that make bear-killing ursicide? A) Yes.
This is absolutely awesome.
Sorry if I’ve been remiss in reviewing the Beefy Crunch Burrito here. I know you’ve been expecting it, and I haven’t delivered until right now. I apologize.
Truth is I wanted to test out the Beefy Crunch Burrito from a Taco Bell other than the one nearest to my house, which is the Worst Taco Bell in the World. The pathetic part is that I actually planned some of my Christmas shopping around a better Taco Bell just so I could try said Beefy Crunch Burrito. But then I went on vacation and never got around to posting anything about it.
I took an exterior photo of the burrito but it just looked like any Taco Bell burrito. Here’s the inside:
So how is it? Well, as you can see from that picture, I’m not sure I’d call it “Beefy.” The “Ricey Crunchy Burrito” would be a more accurate name, though inevitably a less popular menu item.
And that’s kind of the thing. I’m hardly one to hate on Taco Bell, but really, who wants rice from Taco Bell? It’s pure filler, and the reason I shy away from items like the Grilled Stuft Burrito. I’m here for the beef, people.
Besides that quibble though, this is a good burrito. I don’t need to tell TedQuarters-reading Taco Bell enthusiasts about the tortilla, sour cream, seasoned beef, and nacho cheese because basically if you’ve ever had anything supreme from Taco Bell you know what all of those things taste like. The big innovation here is the presence of Flamin’ Hot Fritos, which are an excellent addition to the Taco Bell roster of ingredients.
I’ve long advocated the Crispy Red Strips as a great way to insert crunchiness into portable Taco Bell items (i.e. the ones you can eat while driving). But awesome though the Crispy Red Strips are, they don’t add flavor, just crunch. The Flamin’ Hot Fritos build on the work done by the Crispy Red Strips and elevate it, bringing a good deal of heat into the equation.
I look forward to their inclusion in Taco Bell items that aren’t so bogged down by rice. How ’bout a Beefy Crunchy Soft Taco, folks? Oh, and with lava sauce.
Not sure how or where these folks saw my Hall of Fame post from yesterday, but they used my words to defend the suspected steroids user’s case for the Hall of Fame. Whole thing seems like an interesting idea. Megan Murphy does a decent job with the comic inflection and everything too:
Pete Barrett at New York Sports Cookie hooks up with Darryl Hamilton to discuss a broad variety of baseball topics. But sadly, not cookies.
Travis sends along this picture, taken at a Target in South Plainfield, New Jersey. That’s Travis on the right:
I have so many questions.
Ted Burke points out that the mascot shown here is clearly the same personified taco used in the graphic seen at the 0:22 mark here. But do those tacos appear to have pieces of shredded cheddar cheese growing out of their foreheads?
As you may have heard, Scottish singer and songwriter Gerry Rafferty passed away earlier this week. Though I cannot purport to be familiar with much of his work beyond his two most famous songs — “Stuck in the Middle” and “Baker Street” — a Wikipedia tangent this morning led to the uncovering of a bunch of interesting trivia about those two songs.
“Stuck in the Middle” was actually written as a Bob Dylan parody, which makes the lyric, “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right” make a whole lot more sense, since it’s unbelievably Bob Dylany sounding.
Another fun fact about “Stuck in the Middle” that’s not listed on the Wikipedia is that no one who has ever seen Reservoir Dogs can ever again hear that song without thinking about one particular scene. (That movie was awesome, FWIW.) Also, the Moo Shoo Porkestra covered “Stuck in the Middle” twice, but it didn’t really fit our style and never went over that well so we bailed on it.
“Baker Street,” best known for its absurdly triumphant saxophone riff, was actually supposed to have an absurdly triumphant guitar riff but the guitar player didn’t show up to the studio that day. Saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft, who was in the studio to record a soprano sax part on a different song and may very well have written his own Wikipedia page, suggested he record the part on the alto sax he had in his car. Thus spake the Wikipedia: “The solo led to what became known as “the ‘Baker Street’ phenomenon”, a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and TV advertising.”
Furthermore, Slash has cited Baker Street as an influence on his guitar part in “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” which seems to make sense because everything Slash plays is also absurdly triumphant.
Lastly, my friend Bill has an apartment with a deck overlooking bustling Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., and has been known to bust out an alto sax, go outside, and honk out a brutal rendition of the Baker Street theme in the evening, out into the night air. That’s also not on the Wikipedia page.
Tedquarters 