TV reporter files report -- via iPhone

Here in Albuquerque, KOB-TV reporter Jeremy Jojola (or @jeremyjojola on Twitter), did something pretty cool -- he filed his report via the iPhone.

Check it out:



I'm not an iPhone user and I still find this pretty cool.

Chad Ochocinco is multitalented

Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson) kicked an extra point which proved to be the difference in the Cincinnati Bengals' preseason victory over the New England Patriots. Ochocinco, being the self-promoting showman that he is, wasn't exactly humble afterwards.

From the Associated Press:

" 'Esteban' Ochocinco is back, the most interesting footballer in the world," Ochocinco said. "Everyone has to remember, I've always said that soccer is my No. 1 sport. I think Ronaldinho would be proud of me right now."

It isn't the first time the American football player has expressed his love for the European style of football. Though, at the time, he was still named Chad Johnson.

ESPNsoccernet: Rumor has it that you drove Coach Lewis crazy juggling a soccer ball during practice?

CJ: [Laughs] Yeah that's the way I warm up, before games, during the season, in practice, in between drills, in between practice I use the ball, just juggling the ball all day.

Usain Bolt is crazy fast

Ho hum, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt smashed another record, this time in the 200 meter sprint.

The remarkable Jamaican took gold in 19.19 seconds, shaving just over a tenth of a second off the mark he set in winning the 200m at last year's Beijing Olympics.

Bolt smashed his own 100m world record with a 9.58 seconds clocking in claiming gold in the shorter sprint on the second day of the championshiops.

And his antics afterward, according to Pardon The Interruption's Twitter account, were almost as entertaining:

Usain Bolt just ran 19.19. Then fake-raced a mascot. Then got hand kissed by cameraman. We'll discuss at 5:30pm ET.

Crazy fast and he just has fun out there.

Why I love the New Yorker

This article on Ricky Jay, who not only is not only one of the most gifted sleight of hand magicians of his time but also a great historian of magic, is nearly 15,000 words long. And every word is worth reading.

The article is from 1993, and I wish someone else would write such an article about him in 2009. It would be equally interesting to see what he has done in the last 16 years.

@TheOnion: "Newly Discovered Recordings Reveal Beatles Actually Terrible Group"

From The Onion:

This unfortunate find has forced music historians to completely reassess the talents of John, Paul, George, and Ringo," said Beatles scholar Mark Lewisohn, who has dated the tapes to early 1968.

I wish I could write as well as David Sedaris

His latest from the New Yorker is here:

The thing had been struck but not run over. It hadn’t decomposed, or been disfigured, and I was surprised by the shoddiness of its coat. It was as if you’d bred a rabbit with a mule. Then there was the tail, which reminded me of a lance.

“Hugh,” I called. “Come here and look at the wallaby.”

It’s his belief that in marvelling at a dead animal on the roadside you may as well have killed it yourself—not accidentally but on purpose, cackling, most likely, as you ran it down. Therefore, he stayed in the car.

“It’s your loss,” I called, and a great cloud of steam issued from my mouth.

As always with Sedaris (and the New Yorker), there is much, much more.

The toughest place to play in all of sports

You think that Cameron Indoor Stadium is hard to play in with their Cameron Crazies? Think again. The Big House in Michigan? Hell, Appalachian State won there. Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks?

Nope. None of those are even close to Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. The 100,000+ seat stadium, the fifth-largest stadium in the world, is so impenetrable that the United States has never won a match there. Ever.

ESPN's Bill Simmons attempted to let you know what it was like last week when the United States played Mexico in a World Cup Qualifying match that was a must-win for Mexico:

You can't even call it just a hostile environment; it's more primal than anything. I have only attended two other games in which the crowd's collective loathing was palpable -- Game 6 of the 1986 NBA Finals (Boston fans heaping hatred on Ralph Sampson, who had punched two Celtics in the previous game) and Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern finals (the same treatment for Bill Laimbeer, who had decked Larry Bird the previous game) -- and neither approached USA-Mexico. Michael Vick could crash a PETA rally and get a friendlier reception than the Americans did at Azteca.

Amazing.

ESPN columnist attacks Twitter after ESPN social media ban

ESPN really doesn't like social media. After their ban of Twitter, a columnist on their site decided to blast Twitter.

Isn't that timing weird...?

Don't mess with Prince Fielder

Prince Fielder, the All-Star first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, got hit by a pitch in the 9th inning of a game where his team was being destroyed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was in retaliation for his pitcher hitting the Dodgers' star Manny Ramirez.

Fielder, however, took it a bit personally. From the Associated Press:

When the game ended, Fielder charged through the underground tunnels at Dodger Stadium to the door of the home clubhouse, shouting obscenities with many fellow Brewers trailing behind. Several security guards and teammates Bill Hall and Casey McGehee prevented Fielder from entering the locker room in search of Mota.

"He ran over there, and they weren't going to let him in, and everybody came back," Milwaukee manager Ken Macha said. "I don't know if you can restrain Prince. I don't think I can. I don't think there's anybody else out there who can."

England gets more Orwellian -- UK government to put cameras in people's homes

This is just plain scary, from the Daily Express across the pond:

The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes.

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.

Umm, wtf?