Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Papa, are you packed?
Muilenburg Boys (Norm, Andy, Pete)take Boston, three days and counting down! Pack your Dodger Blue!
World Cup primer
Futbol: More commonly known as soccer in the U.S., it is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball. It is the most popular sport in the world. The game is played on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal in the center of each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by driving the ball into the opposing goal (between the posts and under the bar). The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins.
FIFA: The International Federation of Association Football, soccer's international governing body. French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association, from which the acronym FIFA is derived.
FIFA World Cup: Also called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, it is the premier international soccer tournament contested by the men's national teams of the members of FIFA. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not contested because of World War II. The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th World Cup; it is being held in South Africa.
Pitch: The soccer playing field.
Match: A soccer game, usually 90 minutes in duration, 45 minutes per half, plus "extra time."
Goal: A score in soccer, something that occurs about as often as a sighting of Halley's Comet.
Draw: A tie game in soccer. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.
Nil: No score, as in nada, zip, zilch, zero. A nil-nil draw would be a 0-0 tie game, not an uncommon occurrence in soccer.
Keeper: Goalkeeper or goalie. The goalkeepers are the only players allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the rest of the team usually use their feet to kick the ball into position, occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair.
Robert Green: The England goalie who has become known as the equivalent of baseball's Bill Buckner.
Wayne Rooney: The English soccer hero, not to be confused with Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes" fame.
Vuvuzela: The infamous plastic horn of distraction, incessantly blown by soccer fans during a World Cup match. As written by Jason Gay in today's Wall Street Journal: "Is everyone already exasperated with The Infamous Plastic Horn of Distraction? WE SAID, IS EVERYONE ALREADY EXASPERATED WITH THE INFAMOUS PLASTIC HORN OF DISTRACTION?"
Hooligan: A violent young ruffian or hoodlum, usually associated with an English soccer fan who has consumed too many pints of ale, either before, during, or after a soccer match.
Yellow card: Something submitted by soccer players after being asked to give a urine sample for drug testing.
FIFA: The International Federation of Association Football, soccer's international governing body. French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association, from which the acronym FIFA is derived.
FIFA World Cup: Also called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, it is the premier international soccer tournament contested by the men's national teams of the members of FIFA. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not contested because of World War II. The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th World Cup; it is being held in South Africa.
Pitch: The soccer playing field.
Match: A soccer game, usually 90 minutes in duration, 45 minutes per half, plus "extra time."
Goal: A score in soccer, something that occurs about as often as a sighting of Halley's Comet.
Draw: A tie game in soccer. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.
Nil: No score, as in nada, zip, zilch, zero. A nil-nil draw would be a 0-0 tie game, not an uncommon occurrence in soccer.
Keeper: Goalkeeper or goalie. The goalkeepers are the only players allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the rest of the team usually use their feet to kick the ball into position, occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair.
Robert Green: The England goalie who has become known as the equivalent of baseball's Bill Buckner.
Wayne Rooney: The English soccer hero, not to be confused with Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes" fame.
Vuvuzela: The infamous plastic horn of distraction, incessantly blown by soccer fans during a World Cup match. As written by Jason Gay in today's Wall Street Journal: "Is everyone already exasperated with The Infamous Plastic Horn of Distraction? WE SAID, IS EVERYONE ALREADY EXASPERATED WITH THE INFAMOUS PLASTIC HORN OF DISTRACTION?"
Hooligan: A violent young ruffian or hoodlum, usually associated with an English soccer fan who has consumed too many pints of ale, either before, during, or after a soccer match.
Yellow card: Something submitted by soccer players after being asked to give a urine sample for drug testing.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Kagan exercises
A few weeks ago there was a picture of Elena Kagan, Solicitor General of the United States and U.S. Supreme Court nominee, in The Wall Street Journal playing softball. For some reason, this picture caused quite a stir in the national media, the reasons for which I am not quite sure. Maybe an open stance is a predictor of judicial activism? I'm not even sure that she was playing softball. Since she received a Masters Degree from Oxford, she might have been holding a cricket bat instead of a softball bat, for all I know.
I suspect one of the reasons for her nomination by President Obama is that she comes from a rather unique minority, that of being a Jewish ballplayer. There is already a female Jewish Supreme Court Justice, but to my knowledge Ms. Kagan would be the first Jewish ballplayer on the court. Only Sandy Koufax and Sean Green come to mind as Jewish ballplayers who made it to the big leagues. How convenient that the Supreme Court consists of nine members, as does a softball team. If confirmed she will replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, who at 90 is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth to be sliding into second base.
The WSJ picture had a caption which now escapes me, but it could have been "Kagan at the Bat" or "Kagan Exercises," not to be confused with Kegel Exercises.
According to Wikipedia, a Kegel exercise, named after Dr. Arnold Kegel, consists of contracting and relaxing the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor (which some people now colloquially call the "Kegel muscles"). The aim of Kegel exercises is to improve muscle tone by strengthening the pubococcygeus muscles of the pelvic floor. Kegel is a popular prescribed exercise for pregnant women to prepare the pelvic floor for physiological stresses of the later stages of pregnancy and vaginal childbirth. Kegel exercises are said to be good for treating vaginal prolapse and preventing uterine prolapse in women and for treating prostate pain and swelling resulting from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatitis in men. Kegel exercises may be beneficial in treating urinary incontinence in both men and women.
But I digress....
I suspect one of the reasons for her nomination by President Obama is that she comes from a rather unique minority, that of being a Jewish ballplayer. There is already a female Jewish Supreme Court Justice, but to my knowledge Ms. Kagan would be the first Jewish ballplayer on the court. Only Sandy Koufax and Sean Green come to mind as Jewish ballplayers who made it to the big leagues. How convenient that the Supreme Court consists of nine members, as does a softball team. If confirmed she will replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, who at 90 is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth to be sliding into second base.
The WSJ picture had a caption which now escapes me, but it could have been "Kagan at the Bat" or "Kagan Exercises," not to be confused with Kegel Exercises.
According to Wikipedia, a Kegel exercise, named after Dr. Arnold Kegel, consists of contracting and relaxing the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor (which some people now colloquially call the "Kegel muscles"). The aim of Kegel exercises is to improve muscle tone by strengthening the pubococcygeus muscles of the pelvic floor. Kegel is a popular prescribed exercise for pregnant women to prepare the pelvic floor for physiological stresses of the later stages of pregnancy and vaginal childbirth. Kegel exercises are said to be good for treating vaginal prolapse and preventing uterine prolapse in women and for treating prostate pain and swelling resulting from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatitis in men. Kegel exercises may be beneficial in treating urinary incontinence in both men and women.
But I digress....
Inside pharmacy joke
On May 27 I watched a Dodger-Cub game on MLB Network. Ted Lilly pitched for the Cubs, and rookie John Ely (pronounced with a long "i") pitched for the Dodgers. So I watched an Ely-Lilly matchup. By the way, the Cubs won 1-0.
(For those not in the medical field, Eli Lilly is a pharmaceutical company, best known for making Prozac, Darvon, Keflex, and Zyprexa, among other drugs.)
(For those not in the medical field, Eli Lilly is a pharmaceutical company, best known for making Prozac, Darvon, Keflex, and Zyprexa, among other drugs.)
On Obama's Plate
by Calvin Trillin
Now Israel and Turkey are having it out.
The well near the Gulf Coast continues to spout.
Kim Junior's attacking "America's lackey."
It's hard to tell why: this little guy's wacky.
The war in Afghanistan drags on and on.
Iran's near the bomb--conclusion foregone.
The oil's at the beaches now, blob after blob.
Are you still quite certain you wanted this job?
(Thanks to my sister Marilyn for passing this along.)
P.S. Kim Jong-il, above referred to as "Kim Junior" by Calvin Trillin, is the leader of North Korea. The official leader of the country is still Kim's long-deceased father Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. According to David Letterman, Kim Jong-il has a brother by the name of Men-ta-lee-il.
Now Israel and Turkey are having it out.
The well near the Gulf Coast continues to spout.
Kim Junior's attacking "America's lackey."
It's hard to tell why: this little guy's wacky.
The war in Afghanistan drags on and on.
Iran's near the bomb--conclusion foregone.
The oil's at the beaches now, blob after blob.
Are you still quite certain you wanted this job?
(Thanks to my sister Marilyn for passing this along.)
P.S. Kim Jong-il, above referred to as "Kim Junior" by Calvin Trillin, is the leader of North Korea. The official leader of the country is still Kim's long-deceased father Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. According to David Letterman, Kim Jong-il has a brother by the name of Men-ta-lee-il.
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