by John Walters
PCH: Robo Oh No
The Starting Five
Terror In Manchester
An explosive device, believed to have been set off by a suicide bomber, explodes outside of Manchester Arena in northern England just after an Ariana Grande concert. Initial reports say that 22 are dead and 59 are injured. The world is full of messed up people.
Yes, it could easily happen here. But you may as well try and prevent clouds. Live your life and, to quote Bono, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
2. Touch My Ball!
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This is either a new NBC prime time game show starring Howie Mandel or a still from Austin Powers 4: The Orgasmic Orb of the Apocalypse. Actually, it is Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and U.S. President Donald Trump officially “activating” Saudi Arabia’s Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (do visit the women’s equality wing!).
Meanwhile, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross noted on CNBC that “there was not a single hint of a protester anywhere [in Saudi Arabia] during the whole time we were there, not one guy with a bad placard.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMbeiUlxtyM
When CNBC host Becky Quick pointed out, without being so graphic, that protesters in Saudi Arabia typically find themselves disconnected from their heads, all Ross could say was, “In theory that may be true.”
What else matters, Wilbur?
3. Pittsburgh Penguins Vs. Tennessee Tuxedos?
Someone phone Professor Whoopee! The Nashville Predators, who have lost just one game in Bridgestone Arena during the NHL playoffs, are on to the Stanley Cup finals, where they are likely to meet the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, who smoked Ottawa 7-1 on Sunday afternoon to go up 3-2 in the Eastern Conference.
This is the finals we all wanted, no? Hockey’s hottest team versus its reigning champion.
4. A Farewell To King
Oregon’s Edward Cheserek, he of the 17 NCAA titles, including three individual national championships in FOUR different events, is done as an amateur. A lower back injury will keep him out of this week’s Western Regionals, which is a qualifying meet for the NCAA Outdoor Championships that will be held on Cheserek’s home turf, Hayward Field in Eugene (one of my favorite places in the USA).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EXMixBq_Rk
The Kenyan native, who emigrated to the States seven years ago, is still waiting upon his U.S. citizenship. Considering that he won 17 of 21 NCAA finals that he entered and also last winter set a new collegiate mile record (3:52.01), don’t you want him on our team?
Here’s a terrific feature on King Ches from The New York Times.
5. Never Rest Up Everest
Ultrarunner and alpine enthusiast Kilian Jornet just set a new record for the fastest ascent up the world’s highest mountain, Everest, by summiting it in 26 hours. The 29 year-old Spaniard eschewed oxygen and fixed ropes and clambered up the world’s tallest mountain’s North Face, from base camp (17,600 feet) to the peak (29,029 feet), as if it were a hill of dirt at a construction site. This may be the world’s fittest human being.
Music 101
Take A Picture
In the late 1990s we got a profundity of American bands that seemed poised to maybe perhaps hopefully seemed poised to take the baton from grunge and carry us forward (Third Eye Blind, Sublime, Goo Goo Dolls, Foo Fighters, Collective Soul and these guys, Filter) into the next century. Most of them had a hit or two, but none of them with the possible exception of FF really, REALLY, attained the summit that bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Guns ‘n Roses did. But I really did love this song.
Remote Patrol
Game 4: Boston at Cleveland
8:30 p.m. TNT
Of course Cleveland is going to blow the Celtics out by 40-plus again tonight. But, I mean, what if they lose? Then it would be best of three with two in Boston. Does Marcus Smart have another 27-point game in him? I doubt it. And I’m sure LeBron isn’t going to put up a mere 11 again.
LeBron’s been playing at such a MAGNIFICENT level in the Playoffs for so long (over 3 straight YEARS) that it was a shock to see a subpar effort from him, but at least it happened Sunday in the Eastern Finals after they’d annihilated the Celtics for 2 straight games & not in the Finals. Maybe his biorhythms were off & it affected his shooting. Heck, whenever you watch a basketball game you can see how such SMALL differences can completely change the outcome, a step too slow here, a lean too far to the right there, etc.
And for the record, I watched his post-game presser live & I thought Sweet Pea was JOKING with the media guy when he said the guy only asked questions when they lose. Plus, at the end of the presser, he SMILED right at the guy! For 2 days now, I’ve heard & read some other media folks portray this episode as LBJ “attacking” that dude! Humphf!
I don’t understand how that climber got up Everest so fast when everyone else has to basically stand in LINE to get up there & they inch along waiting for the folks ahead to move. (From the many Everest docs I’ve seen, the lines at arena bathrooms at halftime move faster). Did he go up a little used route?
Was devastated this morning to learn of the Manchester bombing. Unlike yourself, I don’t know how you don’t think of this possibility these days whenever you attend certain large events & even occasionally change your plans. Isn’t that what the “terrorists” want, doesn’t that mean “they win”? Unh, if you’re ALIVE, you WIN.
But at least The Sociopath put those nasty terrorists on notice with his ‘devastating’ comment which I think we should ALL adopt when we henceforth write about HIM – “EVIL LOSER”.
Susie B.,
I don’t understand your Manchester comment. I think you contradict yourself, but maybe I just don’t get it. I think about the possibility for a second or two, but I never let it affect my plans. Related: I don’t get out much.
Susie B.,
Living your life in fear is worse than death, in my opinion. Don’t construe that as some morbid take. It is obviously easy for me to say; I’ve never been a part of a tragic incident such as this.
But, from observation of others while growing up, your mind (and the value of unperturbed thought) is greater than anything. That’s what they want.
Hey Jacob, when I was your age I said the same thing – that fear was “worse than death”. NOT so much anymore, now that I’m an old fart & deaths of people I know is no longer an abstract concept.
I’ve also never (thankfully) been involved in a mass shooting/bombing but I sort of know someone who was. A few years after the VA Tech mass murder, I found out the daughter of an old camp friend of mine was a survivor. She’d been shot in one of the classrooms & her friend right next to her on the floor was killed. My friend’s daughter had written a newspaper article detailing the event, the immediate aftermath & how she was coping a few years later, etc. She was adamant that this one event would not “define her life”. I was impressed & hopeful she would be able to keep that mindset as her life continued. Tragedy &/or shock events have a way of periodically bursting back into one’s life when you think you are long past them.
I would love to live in a world where you don’t have to think of the evil possibilities, that you could go anywhere at anytime & “feel safe”. Well, as a FEMALE, that’s never been my life experience anyway (or at least not since I left the farm, I was quite the fearless kid). To say that I’m not now even more ‘ancy’ in certain public areas would be a lie. You can call it “fearful”, I call it being observant & not willing to take chances with my life. Just last Saturday I was at the car repair place having my car serviced & I was in the lounge area, sitting & watching the TV & waiting. The guy near me gets up & leaves to go somewhere (they did NOT call his name that his car was ready) & leaves a bag behind on his chair. He does not ask me to “watch it till he returned”. Was I concerned? Yes. If he had not come back within a few minutes, I would have gone to get one of the managers. What that guy did was STUPID, IRRESPONSIBLE & most of all, SELFISH!
You may say that getting us to change our lives in any way is exactly what the terrorists want. I disagree – it’s our deaths they want. AND to eradicate our way of life entirely. Fear is just a by-product.
Jacob: You’re right. And I’m a lot closer to Susie B’s age than you are.
They may “WANT” our deaths, but I want a pet tiger. Doesn’t mean I’ll get one. I get by with a kitty cat. They get by with taking out 22 lives in a world of nearly 10 billion people. The hysteria and fear they create, all of it irrational, is far more powerful.