• Congrats to my childhood/high school/college/adult friend Tim.  After he and his wife had eight¹ straight girls, he is now a father to a baby boy.
• The latest Real Sports on HBO was quite interesting as it focused on football and had a bit of a local flare to it.  The first segment was over Troy Aikman and his broadcasting career.  I recall an interview he did during his playing days during a halftime on Monday Night Football and he mentioned that the league should consider going back to using leather helmets to limit the risk of concussions.  I rolled my eyes at that interview and always wondered if he regretted saying such a thing.  I got my answer last night as he repeated that suggestion to Bryant Gumbel.
• I didn’t know he got an offer to skip college and play baseball for the Mets, but since they wouldn’t offer him $200,000 he decided to stick with football.
• In that segment, Aikman’s broadcasting partner Joe Buck compared him to the Unabomber.
• I still don’t understand his Wingstop commercial where’s he’ eating wings on the roof, but I crack up at the Reliant Energy one where his agent suggested digestible sunscreen as a product endorsement – that is, you basically sweat sunscreen and will always be protected from the sun.
• Speaking of chicken wings, I tried out this technique on the flat wings yesterday for the first time and it worked splendidly.
• Real Sports also had a segment on Peter King and his “Monday Morning Quarterback” column on CNNSI.com, which is a vital part of my Monday morning.  It was bewildering to me to see him type with only his index fingers.  It’s like he’s a reporter back in the 40’s or something.  Unfortunately I thought the segment was a bit empty, but then again, the reporter was Mary Carillo.
• There was also a segment on NFL linemen and the weight they gain after their playing days, with a decent portion focused on the unrecognizable Nate Newton.  I remember him saying that in retirement he wanted to endorse french fries.  Funny.
• As a child I attended a Lutheran church for a while and never noticed anyone writing in their Bibles, it may have happened, but I don’t recall seeing it.  As a teenager I attended a Baptist church and noticed people writing in their Bibles almost like it was a competition, and initially that was very confusing to me – It didn’t make sense to me because the front cover of the book said “Holy Bible” and I thought writing on something holy would be a big no-no.
• I noticed that YouTube’s logo had a red phone next to it.  After clicking on it I learned it’s for an opportunity to ask President Obama a question in 250 characters².  He’ll answer the questions live on YouTube today, if you are interested here are the details.  Now that I know the answer behind that red phone, I think it’s pretty nifty idea for the logo.  Those Google guys continue to impress me.
• Jason Garrett will not allow his assistant coaches to speak to the media, I like that, the team should just have one voice.  Too bad with Jerry you’ll have have two.
• Girl Scouts annoy me in that they don’t actually bake the cookies they sell, but I certainly wouldn’t steal their money.
• Why so many wild fires?
• A state bill was filed yesterday to abolish school property taxes. (Hat-tip, Barry)
• Duh – Sexy News Anchors Distract Male Viewers
• How to cheat at throwing dice
• Alabama lawmaker’s words offend Jefferson County commissioner who demands chess match to settle insult

¹ Full disclosure, I lost count after his first three baby girls.
I can't remember if he's the father to three or four girls.  I think
it's four, because I remember one friend joking that if he had one
more that would be enough for a starting squad in basketball.

² I wonder how many asked, "Where's the birth certificate?"