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The Texas Ranger’s 30-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles set the sports world abuzz given that such a beating hadn’t been administered in baseball in over 100 years. For more about that game itself, there is the ESPN recap and ESPN Research Inside the Numbers. ESPN Page 2’s David Schoenfield compiled a list entitled The greatest beat downs in history which has 100 mostly sports blowouts according to him where he rates the Texas vs. Orioles game as number 8. |
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The SteriPEN uses UV light to disinfect drinking water by destroy viruses, bacteria and protozoa. If the SteriPEN works as advertised, it could prove itself useful in a wide variety of situations where reliably clean drinking water isn’t available including hiking or traveling abroad to places with suspect water. There are two reviews of the SteriPEN Classic on BackpackGearTest.org that give relatively positive remarks about the product here and here. Pictured to the left is the SteriPEN Adventurer which is designed with backpacking in mind. It measures a little over six inches in length and is powered by two CR123 batteries (included). The SteriPEN line ranges $99 to $130 in price and can be found from a wide variety of etailers including Amazon. |
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The Odyssey is proclaimed by its manufacturer to be the “undisputed, BRIGHTEST DISC EVER MADE” and claim it can be seen for up to two miles. The disc is an exact replica of an Ultimate disc weighing 185 grams and a diameter of 10.5 inches. Illumination is provided by four hi intensity LEDs and is powered by a six volt batter. The Odyssey is available in three colors: red, green and blue directly from Black Jax Sports for $20. |
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Nirve jumped on the Hello Kitty bandwagon and obtained a license from Sanrio to create a Hello Kitty bike. They have created four pink themed bikes in their Co-Branded Series ranging from their “Little Kitty 16″ ($110), to the Retro Kitty 226 ($300) and filled out with the Retro Kitty 20 ($240) and the Retro Kitty 24 ($280) to provide the ladies with the appropriately sized coaster bike for their entire life. That’s all well and good, but it was the tires that struck me on the Retro Kitty bikes. Note that even they could not escape the Hello Kitty marketing juggernaut. I imagine on the right surface you could leave quite a trail of Hello Kitty faces. You can get just the 26″ Hello Kitty tires for $26 or 20″ variety for $20. |
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If you are looking to practice your golf game inside, safe from the perils of The Big Room or if you have animals to amuse, the Floppy might serve you well. The Floppy is designed with indoor use in mind as it has a soft exterior and a proprietary fill so that it bounces like a real golf ball unlike whiffle style practice balls yet doesn’t go through windows or damage your breakables. I wonder how different The Floppy flies and bounces then the foam golf balls that occasionally amuse my cats, especially when I hit them with a golf club. The Floppy is certainly much more expensive as you can get a sleeve of three for $10 or a dozen for $35. |
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Growing up, I never really got into baseball mostly due to paternal influence. My father has always found the sports of football and basketball more appealing and by the time baseball season rolled around it was time for other outdoors activities. So I was largely unaware of the presidential link to baseball until I saw this article and I found it interesting. Both the Baseball Hall of Fame and The White House have pages describing the link between sitting American presidents and baseball. This Washington Post article further describes the history of the sitting presidents throwing out the first pitch on opening day for the local DC team. President Bush honored the tradition in 2005 when the Nationals brought baseball back to the nation’s capitol after a 33 year absense, but did not throw the opening pitch for them in 2006 or this year. Unless the world was at war, only Richard Nixon (twice) and Woodrow Wilson (after he had suffered a stroke) missed the opening day ceremonies. |
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Marshmellow Peeps have been around all my life, yet I never knew that Peep jousting existed until today. It seems that you take two Peeps and affix a toothpick to them and then microwave them on high until you have a winner. In order to “predict” the outcome of this year’s Final Four, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune played it out with Peep jousting. The Peeps successfully had Florida and Ohio State in the championship game, but incorrectly had Ohio State winning the final game. They ran the simulation twice with the exact same outcome, with such methodology, I cannot imagine how their predictions failed. Now if I can score some peeps on sale after Easter, I might be able to predict the winner of the World Series! |
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Even though the list includes a couple of mascots that I like or amuse me, including Florida’s Albert, it still seems to do a good job of covering some of the oddest mascots in Division I college sports. There are definitely some curious mascots out there and the commentary on the list had me laughing a few times. Pictured to the left is Xavier’s Blue Blob which as their mascot page state’s serves as the schools secondary mascot to D’Artagnan the Musketeer and looks like an ill-fitting Cookie Monster costume. Though I bet he does amuse the kids. |
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Whether you are just looking for an inexpensive projector clock, are into small, plastic replicas of sporting equipment or need a gimicky gift, enter the Digiview Sport Clocks with projection. These clocks feature a tiny Quartz display in twelve or twenty-four hour format, a calendar, and even have an hourly chime option alon with a “single crescendo alarm with snooze.” The Digiview Sports Projection Clocks are mostly available on Amazon.com with the Soccerball going for $15, the Basketball also selling for $15 and the Baseball is only available for pre-order for $20. |
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I haven’t ever been any good at golf, but I can appreciate a regulation golf ball that blinks. When hit, the Twilight Tracer flashes at a rate of 7.2 flashes per second for five to six minutes allowing for you to find your ball day or night. It is powered by an irreplaceable lithium ion battery that is good for about forty hours of battery life or roughly 2,000 hits and is illuminated by two red LEDs. The Twilight Tracer is available under a holiday special two ball for $14. They also have the “new” Putt Tracer available in yellow, blue and green in a three pack for $28 but don’t have any information on how it differs from the Twilight Tracer. |
