From SI.com: Did You See That?
Warren Sapp is going to be on this season’s Dancing with the Stars. Sapp was one of the quickest “big guys” I’ve ever seen. He had an amazing ability to chase down quarterbacks from the Defensive Tackle position. It’ll be interesting to see how those quick feet translates to dancing.
From ESPN.com: Report: LPGA will suspend memberships if players don’t learn English
Players were told by LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens that by the end of 2009, all players who have been on the tour for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills or face a membership suspension. A written explanation of the policy was not given to players, according to the report.
Betsy Clark, the LPGA’s vice president of professional development, said a team of evaluators will assess players on communication skills including conversation, everyday survival phrases and “golfspeak.” Players must be able to conduct interviews and give acceptance speeches without the help of a translator, she said, according to the report.
This seems to be an over-reaction by the LPGA towards the large number of foreign players, especially Asians.
I would like to think that it’s not meant to be discriminatory. It is in the best interest of players to be able to speak English. It makes playing with partners easier and it’s good for players to be able to market themselves and women’s golf. But, I have read where people don’t believe that having an influx of Asian golfers is good for the women’s game because they aren’t connecting with the crowds.
So, is it right to mandate English? What if the French Open in tennis made all tennis players speak French? Or the Olympics in Beijing required everyone to speak Mandarin to the media? Neither the NBA or MLB requires English with their huge numbers of foreign players and they seem to be doing fine.
UPDATE 8/27/08:
From Golf.com: LPGA’s English-only policy is unsportsmanlike and un-American
The world of sport is supposed to be a true meritocracy. You should be measured by your skill, not your personality or parents or linguistic prowess. If Seve Ballesteros was subject to a rule like this one, he never would have won the 1980 Masters. The LPGA wants to hold its members to a different standard, one that makes proficiency in English and the ability to entertain pro-am sponsors as important as proficiency with a 7-iron.
The CEO of Premier Exhibitions, the company that produces Bodies the Exhibition has resigned. Bodies the Exhibition is currently being shown at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Premier Exhibitions (PRXI) says Bruce Eskowitz, who served as President and CEO and as a Director, and Brian Wainger, who served as Vice President, Chief Legal Counsel and Corporate Secretary, have resigned. In addition, James Yaffe and Jonathan Miller have resigned as members of the Board of Directors. CFO Harold “Bud” Ingalls was elected to the Board of Directors. PRXI also announces that will restructure its marketing program and plans to outsource much of its marketing efforts.
I saw this banner downtown, near Fountain Square. Clever use of the pole as the neck of the giraffe.
Evidently, there’s a new Giraffe exhibit at Zoo. I haven’t been to Zoo in a while except for the Cheetah Run, so I didn’t realize that they didn’t have Giraffes there.
From Guardian.co.uk: Architecture after the flame goes out
But just two years after the Games left town, Athens officials – facing upkeep costs of more than $74m per year for athletic venues that were not used after the Games’ end – started thinking about tearing venues down.
An interesting article about the historical investments into Olympic stadiums and their use post-Olympics.
From NYTimes.com: After Glow of Games, What Next for China?
To a large degree, the Beijing Games reflected the might of the centralized power of China’s authoritarian system: The stunning sports stadiums contributed to a $43 billion price tag for the Games that was almost completely absorbed by the state. China’s 51 gold medals, the most of any nation, were the product of a state-controlled sports machine. Those successes are one reason that some analysts doubt Chinese leaders will rush to change the status quo.
In contrast, the Chicago bid for the 2016 games has a price tag of between $2-3 billion dollars.
From CNN.com: Founding Fathers’ dirty campaign
Things got ugly fast. Jefferson’s camp accused President Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”
In return, Adams’ men called Vice President Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”
Makes today’s negative campaigning seem pretty tame by comparison.
I saw this banner ad and I had to check the news to see if Lieberman was actually announced as McCain’s VP.
Nope. Not yet. But he might as well lobby for the job since it looks like he’s burnt his last bridge with the Democrats. It’s amazing to think that Lieberman could have been finishing his second term as a Al Gore’s Vice President, as well as being on his way to becoming President as many VP’s have become.
From NewHavenRegister.com: EDITORIAL: Lieberman makes final break with Dems
Lieberman, 66, has another four years in his Senate term. If he were up for re-election today, he would likely be swept away by the state’s strong antiwar sentiment. Voters did not elect him to campaign for a Republican president.
From mobilecomputermag.co.uk: Is the iPhone’s predictive text too clever for its own good?
The iPhone’s predictive text doesn’t allow you to type the word “sesame” letter by letter.
If you try typing S-E-S, and then try to type an “A”, only an “S” shows up. The only way to type it is to go ahead and type “S”, backspace and then correctly type in the rest.
However, if you just type it in fast and not look at what you’re typing, “sesame” shows up as the correction. So if you just type in “sessme” or “swsame”, “sesame” shows up as the correction.
Kind of weird.
There’s a video in the article above of someone trying to type in the word Damiera. The word Flickr also has this same problem.