My Sick Mind

"We put a tremendous emphasis on character. There are many times (when) we will pass a player in the draft room that is a terrific physical talent. Character is so important that I really attribute it to when you are suffering in the middle of the season - very few teams have 15-1 seasons or 16-0 seasons - you are going to have periods where you're down. Your momentum is down, whether it's the offense, it might be the defense, it might be overall. It's character players that bring you out of that lull. Last year was the greatest example of all. I think it does translate to success. It's worked for us. I know we've had the best record in the NFC this decade and I really attribute it to having a very high character group of players." - Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, August 6, 2009 OK then. It seems that Jeffrey's idea of character is limited to their attitude on the football field. For the fans, obviously it extends to their homes, private liv...

Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino is under the gun after admitting to some sexual tryst with a harlot six years ago, then loaning her money for health care. I'm not concerned at all with the sex act or its implications. What I am concerned with is the level to which we as a society elevate these alleged misdeeds. Every five minutes we hear or see an ad for something designed to give you an erection, make your erection last longer or enhance the size of your penis. Included in the ads are words that most adults wouldn't use around their school-aged kids, but there they are, blasted over the radio and TV. Then, we are supposed to be incensed over a guy going out and "getting some." Whether he is married or not is his issue. The bigger issue is the way we promote sex and then act as disciplinarians when somebody takes advantage of what we've taught them and say that it's wrong to use that apparatus for what the drug companies tell us it's for. I...

A couple of days ago, I questioned the claims of General Motors over their 230 miles-per-gallon Volt vehicle, which runs on a battery and gasoline. As often happens, once something is exposed to light, the blemishes are exposed , and the people who make the claims are forced to admit to the actual facts, which is something that marketing people abhor. The Volt is one of several so-called Extended-Range Electric Vehicles, or EREVs, in development. An EREV functions as an electric car until its batteries are depleted to a certain level; then it starts a small gasoline engine. That engine, however, doesn't drive the wheels - it merely acts as a generator to recharge the batteries. The Volt, GM says, can travel about 40 miles at any speed before its onboard generator kicks in. That number is significant, because Department of Transportation figures show that most Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. For most of us, owning a Chevy Volt could mean rarely ever using gasoline...

I'm strange. I know it. Otherwise, I would have named the blog something besides My Sick Mind. The Eagles are playing their first pre-season football game on Thursday night. The coach is telling people that the starters will be playing "a quarter and a half." That's football math. It won't fly in your kids' grammar school math class, but it works in the multi-billion dollar world of the National Football League. Tell that to a kid who complains that he'll "never use this math they're teaching us." Hard to argue. Stuff like that makes me chuckle. To me, a quarter and a half is three-quarters, but then, I'm not a football coach. To a football coach, a quarter and a half is three-eighths (or a quarter and half of the next quarter) but if he told his players they were going to play three-eighths of the game, they'd probably be up all night doing the math. Some of them attended college. Call a kid in grammar school.

I love gadgets. I'm a gadget guy . Most of my gadgets wind up on Ebay, so I'm now being very careful with the gadgets I decide to buy. I've resisted the PSP and the Kindle - so far. Lately though, I've noticed that gadget just wind up costing you more money. Like that Kindle gadget. It's nice. Now they have a DX model or something, with a 9-inch screen. Once you buy the Kindle (for a cool $500) you need to buy the books (duh) for ten bucks and/or (slash) a newspaper subscription for six bucks a month. Currently, I'm wondering if the 500 bucks is a small enough investment to justify not having the newspaper delivered. I'm guessing not, so I'll keep getting my paper newspaper and throwing it in the recycle bin - for now at least. The latest gadget looks like a good idea, but I have a question: WARREN, Michigan – General Motors Corp. said Tuesday its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon (98 kilometers per liter) ...

This ridiculous "news" story appeared on Yahoo this afternoon: Trainers can try to understand their obese clients or they can take it a step further like 32-year-old Aussie trainer and underwear model, Paul James . In an attempt to empathize and eventually inspire his chunky clients toward a slimmer future, James is on his way to packing on 85 pounds to reach a 265-pound target weight by the end of March. He'll then gym-fight his way back down to his 180-pound starting weight. At least he's hoping he will. James has bulged his belly with deep-fried chocolate bars and creamy pastas, catapulting him into his fat-pants-of-choice - second-hand track pants. With the extra flab, his blood pressure has risen a bit, he's sluggish and finding it difficult to motivate. First, gaining weight intentionally will do nothing to help him understand his clients. People gain weight over years, not months or weeks. Gorging yourself on food so you can train it off isn't a meth...