Stupid Sports News....and Morons

While I'm listening to a guy eating 50+ hard-boiled eggs on Opie & Anthony in 30 minutes to win $1000, I figure I can go off on a few things that got me all riled up this morning.

Barbaro
Is anyone else sick to f'n death about hearing news about this horse? It's a horse that broke his leg in a race. He's not an athlete. He's not a person. It's a horse that is worth a small fortune in stud fees and the owners are going to do whatever it takes to keep him alive long enough to knock up a couple mares. They don't care about what's best for the horse, they just care about what's best for their wallets. They didn't win their triple crown so they need some way to recoup the cost of raising and training the horse. I'm not a strong animal rights activist. I'm just sick of hearing about its recovery. If they keep the stupid horse and its reports off of my TV and off of ESPN's website I'll stop caring. They can really do whatever they want to the horse, as long as I don't have to hear about it. Especially not on ESPN, a network that is supposed to be dedicated to sports. Horse racing is not a sport, it's entertainment. The horses don't know they're competing in a race. They just know that if they don't run really fast the jockey will whip them more. It's all they've been conditioned to do since the time they fell out of the back end of a mare. They were immediately strapped with a saddle and tape on their ankles and the training began. Kinda sad, but whatever.

Terrell Owens
Apparently Terrell not only found his way back into the news, but also found a way to make himself seem like a victim. He claims he has no idea why the media likes to keep talking to him and making him seem like he's so selfish and that he's the problem. Let's see...maybe doing sit-ups and bicept curls in front of a collection of reporters was an accident then. Or all the all-field antics you do are simply accidents (sharpie, spiking the ball on the Cowboys' mid-field star, the rest of the TD celebrations). The fact that every team you play for eventually dumps you because you cause nothing but problems. If it was just 1 team and you seemed like a normal person on and off the field, okay. Maybe it was the team and not you. But when every single team and most of your former teammates say that you are a problem, it's you. And then when you combine that with your behavior in front of the cameras, no doubt it's you. He's an attention whore, plain and simple. And yes, this is exactly what he wants. People talking and bringing more attention to his newly published book. But I still had to vent a little bit.

Vacationing in Israel
There seems to be a new trend in summer vacations this year: Going to Israel. Apparently people don't see any problem with intentionally flying to a country that is actively in a war. This isn't the usually suicide bombs and the like, this is a real war. Missiles and rockets being fired by another country. Soldiers crossing borders and shooting people. I don't care what your reason is, it's a stupid move. If you're going there to support any family you might have over there, why don't you fly them out here instead? Holy Sites? I think God will let you slide this year given that you may be hit by a bomb while you're there. God wants you to follow his teachings, but also survive. You're not breaking any commandments or edicts by living to see 2007. Already had a trip planned and don't want to pay the cancellation fees? No fee is so large that it's worth risking your life to save it. Hmmm....my family's life or $1000. Which is more valuable...
And while you're out there, why not swing by Iraq to take in a little extra culture. I hear it's beautiful this time of year. The gunfire and explosions really highlight the local flora.

The Big Dig
Not sure if everyone in the country hears about this or not, so I'll give a quick refresher. The Big Dig is a giant underground expressway system that replaced the above-ground nightmare that had be built here. It was a hugely ambitious project that was way over budget and way late. But it was quite the improvement over the old network so it was okay. Even with all the battles over the political corruptions, shady contractors, lawsuits over sub-par work, etc, etc, etc. It worked, it improved everyone's commute, and it was done.
But now it's killed. A 3 ton ceiling panel fell and crushed a car. No that's not a typo. They actually had an entire section of tunnel with 3 ton cement panels suspended over the road. All held in place by an epoxy system. You drill a hole in the ceiling, squirt in this industrial epoxy, screw in your bolt, and let it cure. The problem is that there is a very specific and precise way this all has to happen. The hole must be dry and free of all debris. That means using a wire brush and air hose to completely clean it out. You have to use the precise amount of epoxy. You have to make sure it's mixed properly by the bolt you're installing and within a given time frame. Then you have to let it cure for a specific time before you can apply any load to it. The curing time all depends on the temperature. These were installed in winter, meaning the curing time would have been longer than in summer when the concrete and epoxy would be warmer. This is all done by workers who were caught on camera getting drunk at lunch before heading back to work. Fox News (I know, quality programming) used to do shock journalism on The Big Dig all the time. Filming the workers getting drunk before returning to the job. Documenting all of the violations in the contruction, talking to former workers who would list off all of the violations they were told to make by their supervisors, etc. So there is no way this exopy system should have been expected to work as advertised. And sure enough, they've found over 1200 additional bolts that are not up to code. 1200!!!! Thousands of people drive through this tunnel every week. Possibly thousands every day. And because of the rampant corruption in this state all of those lives were put at risk.
Many questions are being asked at this point. Why did you need 6,000lb panels here, when similar sections only needed 700lb panels? Why was construction allowed to continue even after a number of failures were found during the initial inspections in 1999? Why weren't better inspections done before opening the tunnel? And so on. The governer has officially taken over the over-site of the tunnel system and seems to be doing a good job. He's going to use this as a public relations example for his run for the White House, so he's really got to do it well. Good for us. There is also likely going to be a federal manslaughter case brought against the contractor, builder, and possibly the inspectors involved. Someone died because of negligence, so someone should go to jail for it.
So now we wait for a fix to the current problems and cross our fingers and hope they don't find more horrible problems. I still use several sections of the tunnel, as there is no good way around it now. But not the sections that use this style of ceiling panels. I don't want to be the guy that finds the next failure before the inspectors can get it. They've so far closed other sections to inspect them and have found problems every time. And it's really a shame. Everyone involved in this project had a golden opportunity to put their names on something great. They'd be able to use this for decades as a reason to use their contractors and construction companies. But because they wanted to cut corners and save a little money they'll now be associated with one of the biggest fuck ups in history. You can't use your involement with the Big Dig as a good thing. It's nothing but bad PR. Pretty embarassing for a city that constantly tries to get out of NYC's shadow. We're out, but is it really a good thing?