You may remember about three months back, when I spied this “Cut Joakim Noah” wireless network on my iPhone at Addison and Racine. You may also not remember this. Actually, I’m betting you don’t remember this.

Well, this excuse-for-a-blog-post series has risen once again. On the Brown Line last night, just north of the Sedgwick stop, I came across this guy:

Yes, thank you, 2006 Chicago Bears. What a magical season it was … three years ago. Perhaps it’s time to update to a Jay Cutler-themed network name?

It’s a dangerous thing, Google. You have to be aware of it, after all; in this crazy new world we’re living in, it’s how many of us introduce ourselves to employers, acquaintances and the 40-year-old divorcee you met on craigslist. But you don’t want to spend too much time obsessing over your results, even if it’s about damn time you kicked that photographer dude down the page a few notches. Eat that, bizarro Eamonn.

Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel has recently learned this vast and unwieldy thrill:

He surfed Google and set up a news alert so that every time the words “Rick Ankiel” came up in an article he got an e-mail.

“It was stimulating for me,” he said. “It was kind of nice to know another team wants you. … That time of the offseason, you’re in no man’s land, you’re working out and then you hear all these exciting rumors, guys signing and you never know what is going to happen. That’s not me saying I would ever want to leave the Cardinals, but it was stimulating, mentally stimulating.”

It’s no “I use the Google,” but it’s a step in the right direction nonetheless. And no, I will not be touching the “stimulating” portion of Ankiel’s response. I’ll leave that for the pros.

We quickly ran through the Twitter exploits of one Mr. Charlie Villanueva yesterday. He will no longer be tweeting from the locker room at halftime. But that doesn’t mean he’s stopped tweeting entirely. You can set rules on a self-promoting athlete on Twitter, but you can’t stop him.

Jim Calhoun did not coach in UConn’s win over Chattanooga yesterday. The reason was because of an “undisclosed illness.” He’s had health issues in the past, so there is some cause for concern here. So when will he return?

Villaneuva knows. Because he has an “inside source.” Here, read his 140-character or less tweet about it from late last night:

Calhoun will coach next game, inside source

So there you have it: Villanueva is now beating Andy Katz and crew to the punch. Well, not really, because this has been elsewhere.

As I was setting this post live, Villanueva just dropped this:

Calhoun was released from the hospital and I believe he’s doing better. The Huskies have more a motivation now to win games. Let’s go!!!

Looks like stories about this just started dropping within the last half hour. Charlie Villanueva: in the wake of the news. I fully expect him to break a Washington scandal by June.

Via SbB.

As you probably all know by now, Charlie Villanueva decided to tweet during halftime of the Bucks’ game against the Celtics on Sunday. Our own Will Brinson brought it to everyone’s attention on FanHouse. Charlie hollered back via a tweet saying, yes that was really him doing it at half. Then NBA TV did a segment on it, and by Tuesday, Scott Skiles told Villanueva to cut it out. No more tweets at halftime.

So, naturally, some reporters are asking other coaches their philosophies on Twitter and cell phone use. Only natural, I suppose.

And Ross Siler of the Salt-Lake Tribune has some amazing quotes from Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan on the matter:

“I don’t follow that,” Sloan said. “I don’t even have a computer. I don’t know how to turn one on. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m going to be totally honest. How would you do that?”

Sloan was told that Villanueva could do it through his cell phone. This brought more confusion. “I have a phone, but I don’t know how to use it that way,” Sloan said. “I wish I did, but I didn’t want to be aggravated. I’ve just kind of been that way all along.”

Sloan has had a no cell phone rule on the team bus - - the Jazz’s p.r. staff often has to text us with updates about practice times and whatnot - - but is realistic about how closely his players are adhering to it.

“I know they’re back there on the bus, hiding around, doing that stuff,” Sloan said.

So many great things here, but I’m just going to highlight one. Why is it that older people always use the excuse they don’t know how to turn a computer on? It’s like any other piece of technology; there’s a button on it somewhere.

What I’m asking is this: Can someone please supply Sloan a computer, and then videotape his attempts to turn it on? I’m thinking this could be a bigger hit on the Internet than the dramatic chipmunk.

Via.

Like many in today’s society, I’m rarely off the grid.

Now, part of this is a function of my job: The Internet is my domain. Without it, I’d be lost.

The other part, as Leitch wrote about Tuesday, is its ability to have it pass our time on this earth a little bit swifter. When I see this Watchmen meme, or see the Christian Bale/Bill O’Reilly mashup, or read about the Bob Dylalt, I’m not really learning or doing anything meaningful per se; the Internet is oftentimes just an entertaining, yet frivolous time waster.

But, sometimes time needs to be wasted. Like last night when I was in a cab to Gaslight for dinner. I took my iPhone out of my pocket, and fired up my Tumblr dashboard. Standard.

And as the list of available wireless networks popped up as we sat at the light heading south on Racine at Addison, this guy popped up:

It seems someone living in one of the nearby apartments hates Joakim Noah’s game enough, that they dedicated the name of their Internet connection to it. Now, I wonder if this individual changed the name of his wireless router after Noah picked up two fouls within the first minute of last night’s woeful loss at the hands of the Magic last night, or if this is a deep-set feeling since the day the Bulls drafted him.

Either way, sweet Internet, you never fail to entertain. Keep doing what you do.

Back in school, I spent an unhealthy amount of time on college athletic programs’ official Web sites, fact-checking Wisconsin women’s cross-country runners’ names, and stats of Nichols State’s football team. Such is the life of a college newspaper editor. But now I’m a blogger. And bloggers don’t fact check. Ha. Yes they do. Sometimes. I think. Maybe. Not.

These sites always crack me up, because of how ridiculously homer-ish they are. A basketball team could get blown out by 50 and the top headline would be “Jones Score 14 In Loss To Jaguars.” It’s like if Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Jesus wrote the wraps. There is nothing wrong with athletic programs doing this; it’s sort of their job. Just pointing it out.

By and large, these corners of the Web are pretty standard. The sites get you the information you need, the meat-and-potato essentials, and that’s about it. But no longer, if you’re a Duke Blue Devil basketball fan. The program now has its own site — DukeBluePlanet.com — separate from GoDuke.com, that has all sorts of “cool” and “hip” features. Like “blogs” and “video” and integration for things called “Facebook” and “iTunes.” It also has a lot of Flash. Too much Flash.

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