Ira Glass..

...of This American Life. Tonight at the Woodruf Arts Center. Woot!!!

If only I had too much time on my hands...

...and a piano...

Scully takes down Dan

....oh yeah. I finally figured out how to put my own movies on my blog. Thanks Divx! Yes, you need the divx codex to view the video. www.divx.com

Note the dog pulling the guy on the scooter. It is a little hard to see, but when the dog changes direction, the guy bites the dust.

What is sport?

What is a sport? This is a question that interests me. Well, ok, I obsess about it a little. Just ask anyone that has gotten into a conversation about nascar (not a sport) with me. Once upon a time I thought this issue could be easily settled by a trip to dictionary.com where sport is defined:

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

But, this wasn't good enough for me. I object to things like car racing and hunting being called a sport. So, during a recent car trip Molly and I talked it out and I think that sport needs to have a few components.

1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

2. The activity must be either human powered or a harnessing of natural power.

3. Most people that engage in the sport can not be intoxicated doing it.

4. While a risk of death is acceptable, death cannot be the goal.

Now a discussion. I think number one is fairly clear. Number two eliminates things like car racing (which is machine powered) and hunting with guns (guns are machines and machines get the result). However, a bicycle is powered by a human, so it is a sport. Archery is also a sport because a human generates the force behind the arrow. At the same time naturally powered sports, like yacht racing (powered by wind) and skiing (powered by gravity) are included. Horse racing and jumping are also sports because a natural power, the horse, is harnessed. Fishing is not a sport because humans are only attempting to harness a natural power, fish, but cannot control if the fish takes the bait or not.

Number three eliminates bar games like pool, darts, and bowling. While these three meet the requirements for numbers one and two, most people are drinking when doing them. If most people can do it drunk, it is not a sport. Bowling is admittedly right on the line. However, because drinking is part of the broader culture of bowling, it is not a sport. This also gives added weight to excluding hunting and fishing as sports.

What am I talking about in number four you say? Well, mostly hunting. Taking a life just shouldn't be fun. But, then I figured you probably shouldn't be allowed to have wrestling death matches or any sort of gladiatorial events either.

I do think there should be a separate category for bar games and motor racing events. I could probably even be able to call something a "motor sport," but only as a separate type of thing from true sport. These undeniably are physical and require skill, but they do not feel like true sports to me.

So, that's it. That is my definition of sport. Questions?

UF is the best school ever.....

....and not just for academics!!! Three major national championships in 12 months!! We rock.

I hate junk mail...

...yeah, the old school kind that comes printed on paper. Specifically, I am fed up with the Atlanta Journal Constitutions Reach advertising mailer. I have been calling and e-mailing them for almost three years trying to get them to stop sending this to me. Every time they assure me that my name will really be removed this time...but it never works. So, I am taking matters into my own hands.

The United States Postal Service has this great form called PS Form 1500. It was originally created to stop pornographic mailings, but the supreme court has ruled that any material deemed inappropriate by the receiver can be stopped with this form. So, I am going to try it. You can find the form here:

http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps1500.pdf

For more info about the form visit this site:

http://www.junkbusters.com/dmlaws.html#form