What's your superskill?

When Marc was in Iowa City this weekend, I was reminded that Marc is able to smell deer (like knowing they are there without seeing them). Apparently one of his Maryland buddies has the same skill, what are the odds?

I'm not sure what my superskill is. Similar to a previous thread of conversation, I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. I suppose endurance via willpower might qualify, meaning I can run/bike distances or at speeds for which I am not adequately trained. But that's relative to my physical skill, there are people much more adept at running or biking than I. I'll bet Ed would say I have a knack for getting under someone's skin, I can be relentless if properly motivated.

Will have to give that one some more thought...

What's the Probability?

So today, actually about eight hours ago, I lost my money clip. Enclosed were three credit cards, $40 cash, £30 cash, Drivers licenses for the UK and US, and my Costco VIP card.

We've scoured Oceans of Fun today where I lost it. I suspect that I lost it in the parking lot. On occasions such as these what do you believe the probability of recovery is? 10%, 20% or more?

I wonder if the probability of it being turned in (either with or without the cash) had dropped, increased or stayed approximately the same from a decade or more ago. Certainly over the long term I'll bet the probability has gone down. But how much I really don't know.

If you found a money clip with the items I noted above, would you turn it in? Take the money and throw the rest in the trash? Take the money and turn it in saying their was no money in it? This would be a great straw poll for some TV show. But only after they actually observed 100 people come upon it and recorded what they did.

Because I lost it at a water park on a Friday I'll bet my chances of recovery are even more slim. Lots of teenagers at the park today.

Well, figured I could vent just a bit via blog rather than taking it out on someone at the park. The security guard specifically. When I wanted to go to the area where we had congregated for most of the day to look for it (it was after hours) he said "was there money in it?". I said yes and his response was "then I'm sure it's not there". Thanks for the vote of confidence buddy.

But in hindsight, he was right and would be right a lot more than he would be wrong in this case. Maybe he's a bookie or something.

Ed on 'What Would You Do'

C'mon, you all know what I would do. First of all if I'm that hungry and I've had a third of it I still haven't tasted it because of how fast I'm eating and second, I can count on one hand the number of times I've upchucked (is this the more diplomatic term for puked?) on bad food. Beer, yes. I have a much more stellar history here. Food? I really can't recall.

Dad said in the military he used to get 7 minutes to eat. 7 minutes? Piece of cake ... actually three, an appetizer (say, wings), main (16 ounce ribeye), a pound of mash potatoes (actually, twice baked), a trip to the toilet, and three cokes (diet, of course). I bet I could polish the whole thing off and still have two minutes to let my food settle. Marc, perhaps you can enlighten us with the current and updated military practice on the subject.

Hey, are we still doing the Krispy Kreme challenge???

Ed on Food

Now there are a lot of topics for which I have little or no knowledge. But as the heftiest of the Baldwins of the last three generations, this is a topic I have a rich and robust knowledge of ... so, enough of my credentials.

Totinos - their pizza suck, and Mom's oven added insult to the injury. Since when is pepperoni cubed? C'mon! But, I would opt for a Totino's pizza to this day compared to "roast jerkey" or fish sticks. At least the fish sticks didn't have any fish in them. But when you're eating a pizza and you order pepperoni, you actually want the pizza to have some real meat on the thing.

A couple of other food highlights for you two that I'm sure you will appreciate

#1 KOOZWAZZA! How does one come up with such a name. For all our blog fans (are there any?) you won't know what I'm speaking of. But for my two brothers, this name rolling off the lips meant the very best of Baldwin treats ... oh, yeah! HoHos! Ok, not a Hostess but still rolls of cream and chocolate in packets of two, or boxes of twelve. Want to know how I know that ... I'll let you imagine!

#2 Microwave popcorn - what brand did we eat anyway? Marc may be able to remember the popcorn that started it all. Not microwave popcorn, but popcorn that came in a tin foil skillet and you shook it over the stove for a meer twenty minutes at which time you would have 3 kernels of perfectly popped popcorn, and a ton of either unpopped kernels or charred to a crisp popped popcorn. Downright atrocious!

I have enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as anyone. So with that, where are the little Debbies?!

Brad on End of an Era - Favre

I agreed with everything you said Ed right up until you put Brett Favre on that list. While I'm sure he's charitable in his own way, I just can't stand the guy. Shocking developments in Favre watch 2010: he's now practicing with a high school team. Aggghhh the suspense is killing me! Actually I could care less, and if it weren't for former Hawkeyes Chad Greenway and Albert Young being on the Vikings team I'd wish for a winless season and a new interception record for the Mississippi Ego-Maniac.

What a jacka$$.

Speaking of food...

I've had two flashbacks in the past couple of weeks to the same part of my highschool years that I had managed to expunge from my memory.

We're in Lynchburg at my in-law's house and last night at around dinner time Mom says, "I've got a couple of pizzas in the freezer, I'll make those for dinner." Hey, I love pizza, so I quickly added, "Sounds great to me!"

A few minutes later I wandered into the kitchen to see if I could help with anything. Nope, they didn't need any help taking the TOTINO'S PIZZA out of the box and putting them into the oven.

Totino's pizza?

I didn't know that they still existed, let alone that someone was actually still buying them and eating them. I swear that between the three of us we ate about 1500 of those things during our days at home.

The funny part for me is that what I remember about eating Totino's pizzas is that it seemed like I hardly ever cooked them enough... there was always a cold corner somewhere that was just nasty, but I ate it anyway.

I said that I had had two flashbacks so here's the other one: About two weeks ago when we went to buy our new car we decided to grab some lunch in the Target cafe/restaurant next door. We both decided to get pizza, and the lady said it would take about 5 minutes to cook them. Only 5 minutes? Okay, whatever. When we got them and I started eating, it just wasn't that good. And in my opinion, it takes a real lack of talent to screw up pizza! Anyway, the taste reminded me of something. As I thought on it, I suddenly realized that it tasted like Totino's pizza (and it probably was). I laughed to myself last night when we had the Totino's because in Target that day I told Jennifer that I was okay with NEVER eating a Totino's pizza again the rest of my life!

BTW, Totino's pizza has a Facebook page if you want to "become a fan"! I wonder if Mom still buys those things.

What would you do?

So here's the situation...

You are starving. You've just rocked a bike ride without any fuel in the tank and its time to replenish. So you stop at your local Jimmy Johns and get a sub. You sit down at your table at home and start attacking it like a pack of hyenas on a zebra carcass. About 1/3rd of the way in, something's a little off. Maybe the taste, maybe the smell, perhaps the mayo you slathered on there. What do you do?

I pounded that sub like Joey Chestnut on a hot dog and washed it down with some Diet Coke. We'll see if I regret that!

PEDs

There has been much ado about PEDs in the last 10-15 years, with baseball and cycling being two of the sports that seem to regularly be in the spotlight for offenses. My take on PEDs is a little different...

I have to start by conceding right out of the gate that the definition of "drug" is debatable. For the purposes of my thoughts on the subject, I'm using the term to mean any article taken that is intended to affect the structure or function of the body. Yeah, I know, that's pretty broad. But I have to start there so that the rest of the discussion makes a little bit of sense (hopefully).

There isn't a professional athlete on the planet that hasn't taken PEDs.

The real question for me that determines whether or not someone is "cheating" is whether or not they have taken a banned substance. And I mean during the time that it was banned by the governing body. Athletes are always looking for ways to enhance their performance with drugs that are not illegal or banned. I can't prove it but I would bet there is a pretty sizable industry out there of scientists and/or pharmacologists that make a living by staying a step ahead of the banned substance list.

By my definition, PEDs can be about anything. Are you sucking down a Gatorade Prime 01 before your ride? Are you taking a pain reliever before you start your run? Are you taking amino acids before you lift? You can see where I'm going with this, right? And that's why I think that every professional athlete takes PEDs. I'm okay with that. But I'm NOT okay with athletes using banned substances or abusing substances or methods that in and of themselves are NOT banned (for example, blood transfusions).

The debate over Lance Armstrong will never end. When people want to fight about it, I take the air out of their sails when I say right off the bat that I think he's taken PEDs. However, I don't think he's ever taken any illegal or banned substances. And I don't think that he won all those TDFs "only because he took PEDs". If winning the Tour was as simple as taking some totally legal PEDs, I don't think Lance would have dominated the sport for so long. That guy has to pee in a cup probably 450 times a year. He's not taking banned substances. Talk about a detailed health record... they have enough urine from that guy to tell you what he's eaten every day for the past 10 years!

Regardless of the PED issue, as you guys referenced, I appreciate athletes that do great things not only for the sport itself, but outside the sports arena. As a much as I rant about him, Brett Favre has donated lots of money over the years through his foundation and other organizations. Lance Armstrong's "Live Strong" foundation has grown beyond what anyone probably ever imagined. Andre Agassi built an entire academy in Las Vegas that gives full scholarships to underprivileged kids. And last but not least, your favorite Ed, Tiger Woods, gives away in excess of $10 million every year (he also agreed to give away $750 million to some lady named Elin Nordegren!).

This is a rabbit trail, but it's another thing that disappoints me about the athletes that earn $100 million during their careers and then are broke two years later. What that means is they haven't established themselves in such a way financially to be philanthropists for the rest of their lives. They can't even pay their own bills, let alone use the wealth that they once had to help others.

Sorry, back on track. PEDs aren't necessarily illegal, and if they're not banned, I don't see how you can really be mad at someone who uses them. Can we appreciate athletes who try to do it in a "pure" way? Sure. But you can't call someone a cheater for drinking Gatorade anymore than you can call someone a cheater for having a 13-pound bike. It's not illegal. Phil Mickelson was accused of cheating when he was using a 20-year-old club that was NOT illegal and he was pissed about it, and I think rightfully so. He was operating within the framework of the rules.

And I feel the same way about PEDs. If it's not illegal...

Ed on 'End of An Era'

Let me start by saying I'm a big Lance Armstrong fan. I like the guy and believe all the great stories and cast away those character discrediting ones. It's a little bit like Tiger Woods, I like what Tiger has done on the golf course, and for the game of golf. I like what Lance has done on a bike, and for the sport of cycling.

Both are tremendous athletes with a passion and history of winning - that's unarguable. The media allegations that neither could have achieved what they have other than by using PEDs is concerning. Can there not be any great achievement without them? At least to date, the answer is yes. And for Lance in particular since he's been drug tested probably more than anyone on the face of the earth.

Both Lance and Tiger have used their fame for good causes. And yes, they have used their fame. Perhaps they should have been selfless in their efforts, but they have done a lot of good with their fame. For that, I'm also a fan.

I hope Lance comes back and wins another Tour, whether that's this year or another. I hope that Tiger scorches St. Andrews and wins another major. And I hope Brett Favre comes back (again) and wins a Superbowl. These are some of my heroes. Maybe others would choose the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela or Barack Obama, but I'm a sports fanatic that has found greater good in these sports superstars than bad ... not to mention they are a lot more fun to watch. TV ratings and popular demand would prove that true.

End of an Era

We've seen the passing or retirement of a number of notable people in athletics lately, and today we saw the effective end of Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France. After being involved in 3 crashes and not being able to answer the bell, he sits far out of contention already early in the Alps. His tweets (I'm not a twitterer, it was referenced in an article) were surprisingly upbeat, almost as if he knew this would be a tough year.

7 tour wins, beating cancer and legions of critics who demand such performances must be supported by PEDs. It has been quite a ride for Lance. He has single-handedly elevated the sport to a global phenomenon for three weeks every July. Although many have been trying to get rid of him for years, the sport will almost certainly go back to the dark ages where nobody cares anymore.

Now he will be able to focus on his philanthropic efforts.

WOW - a lesson from Dan Gilbert on the dangerous mix of anger, liquor, and the internet

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert posted this letter on the team's website after LeBron James' announcement he was leaving for the Miami Heat.

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE"

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day....

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue....

Dan Gilbert

Majority Owner

Cleveland Cavaliers

I love the NBA...

...but I sure am ready for LeBron to have his national TV event. Its time for him to gut every person in the state of Ohio, sell out and move to Miami, so we can focus on better things like the World Cup final!