“In The New Year” — The Walkmen

Well, that’s all she wrote for us in 2008/this week, as we’ll be dark tomorrow and Friday. Many hearty thanks to all of you that have stopped by since our inception four months ago. It’s been swell. We hope you’ll be back for the ride in 2009.

Have fun this evening in what ever fashion you are celebrating the new year. Come back recharged, with plans for world domination, and eager to waste time at your desk job Monday, Jan. 3, 2009.

See you then, you silly thing.

It’s New Year’s Eve, we’re taking a half day, and this just needs to be seen:

This is our own Brian Dryfhout’s mother, Mama Windmill. She is my new favorite YouTube star.

No Jake Peavy To Speak Of

Multiple reports have the Cubs shipping Jason Marquis and his too large of a salary to the Rockies for reliever Luis Vizcaino. I would think upon reading this news item, there would be some mention of the Cubs freeing up money to go after Jake Peavy one more time. But, no Jake Peavy to be mentioned here. Looks like Sean Marshall and Jeff Samardzija will battle for a starter’s spot. Crazy to think Samardzija could be a starter as soon as next year, but this is also a guy that could have been a first-round draft pick in the NFL, so hey: Go get it, Jeff. {Hardball.}

Return Of the Kirk

Remember Kirk Hinrich? He’s the guy that used to carry the ball up the floor for the Bulls before they drafted that Derrick Rose cat. Looks like he’s going to be back before expected from his right thumb surgery:

Bruce Weber Will Rule Us All One Day

If you give Bruce Weber talent, he will produce a good basketball team on the floor. With Bill Self’s recruits, he led one of the best college basketball teams in recent memory to the national championship game. Last year, without talent, Illinois lost their most games in history.This year, things are on the up and up, as the Illini are now 13-1 after an upset win at No. 9 Purdue last night. The Illini did what they do best: defend the hell out of you. Purdue shot 38 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point land. {Mark Tupper.}

UPDATES, UPDATES, UPDATES:

Cubs utility stud Mark DeRosa has been shipped to the Indians for Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Caub. Aaron Miles is now a Cub, too. It’s been a busy day for the North Siders. {Bleed Cubbie Blue.}

A couple of weeks ago, I speculated on the Bears’ playoff chances with help from PlayoffStatus.com. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone entirely the Bears’ way, the regular season is over, and their chance of reaching the postseason is listed at zero percent. However, I would argue that this projection fails to consider potential external factors that could lead to a playoff spot.

Of course, there’s the “24 scenario.” If you’ve seen the third season of the television show “24,” you will recall that an international terrorist maintained control of twenty or so nuclear weapons, all of which were located in major American cities. President David Palmer had no choice but to comply with his wishes, so in effect, he was a sort of “shadow President” who was able to leverage his power to have virtually any order executed. Now, just suppose this international terrorist were a Bears fan, and demanded that they be awarded a playoff slot. While this scenario is highly improbable, it is not absolutely impossible, and there are a lot of Bears fans out there.

However, I’m more interested in the possibility of time travel. Stop looking at me like that.

Mainstream science acknowledges that forward time travel, in all likelihood, is at least theoretically possible, and it is unwilling to rule out the possibility of reverse time travel. Does a time machine exist in the present day? Almost certainly not, but humanity has the remainder of its history to figure it out, and if backward time travel is indeed possible, we may be able to harness it at some point.

Keep reading →

I’ve never bought a ticket off of Stubhub, but I know people that have. And, it’s never really much of a pleasurable experience: They’re a ticket brocker, they jack up prices, people pay anyway and then they complain about it. But if you’re looking for a ticket to a game or a concert, they likely have it. Powerful, Stubhub is.

But, Stubhub isn’t all about profits. No friends, they’re giving to Mother Earth this holiday season. For every ticket sold on their site to an NFL playoff game, they’re planting a tree in a nearby forest.

Playoffs: One tree will be planted in a National Forest for each playoff ticket purchased on StubHub. The number of trees to be planted in each forest depends on the number of tickets that are purchased on StubHub for each team’s home game(s). All tickets purchased will be attributed to the home team’s designated National Forest.

Super Bowl XLIII: One tree will be planted in Florida’s Ocala National Forest for every Super Bowl XLIII ticket purchased on StubHub.

Fans have two ways to participate in StubHub’s Tickets for Trees program:

1. Buy an NFL playoff ticket or Super Bowl XLIII ticket on StubHub
2. Donate directly to your team’s National Forest–every dollar plants another tree

Look like Minnesota’s Superior National Forest isn’t going to get much of a makeover.

Via Green Daily.

It’s been a rough year for people who look like Ron Paul. First, Ron Paul failed to win the Republican nomination and was barred access to his party’s convention. And last night, Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was fired.

Shanahan finishes at 146-91 over 14 seasons in Denver, including playoffs; his final game was an unseemly 52-21 loss to San Diego with the division title on the line.

This news makes the AFC West even more interesting (that might not be the right word). It’s made up of the Chargers, who squeaked into the playoffs with a .500 record, and the Broncos, Chiefs and Raiders, who, respectively, are in transitional/rebuilding/sucky phases.

Hey, can we get a slideshow tribute to Shanahan? Can we set it to a Queen song? Awesome, thanks!

Many awesome things about the Rockets signing Dikembe Mutombo for the rest of the year:

1) He’s 42. That’s old for any professional athlete. Good for him.

2) He’s again backing up Yao Ming. I like to imagine him and Yao playing parcheesi on the team plane for serious money. And then donating said money to Mutombo’s efforts in Democratic Republic of Congo.

3) “Who wants to sex Mutombo!?!?”

4)

Yup, that should just about do it.