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The Daily Dose/August 8, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Pics will return! This exciting, colored font is proof!
Notes from around the Human Experience...
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT: Look, we know we hadn't promised soccer coverage, but between air pollution, Internet censorship, Tibet and the upcoming doping fiasco, we're desperate for some real sports action, so bear with us. The staff here is aware soccer isn't a real sport, but you know, they issue medals for it, so we'll take it.
Yes! The Olympic soccer tournament got underway Wednesday and the big news is that, in a burst of excitement seldom seen in this dull, dreary sport, almost all of the games featured scoring, with a full seven of the eight games featuring at least one team getting a goal. Four of the games had both teams scoring!
USA! USA! The American men's team got off to a winning a start, scoring their first goal since the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier in March, beating Japan 1-0.
This Will Surprise You: In other exciting Group B action, Nigeria and the Netherlands entertained everyone with a scoreless tie.
This Is The Most Popular Sport In The World? These eight games produced nine (9) goals.
Dry, Technical Matter: Nine goals in eight games comes out to one goal every 80 minutes.
Hey, What About Us? The American women, determined to liven up matters, gave up two goals to the Norwegians in the first four minutes, then took the rest of the match off in a 2-0 loss. Their next loss is against Japan on Saturday.
More Excitement! The women's tournament featured similar, exciting numbers! Five of the six games featured scoring, while both teams scored in three of the six games. Similar excitement is planned for the rest of the tournament.
Dull FunFact:The men's soccer tournament allows teams to have just three players over 23. There is no age restriction for the women's tournament.
Write This Down: Soccer is the only sport getting an early start. The sport with the latest start is modern pentathlon, which doesn't start until Aug. 21.
What The Hell's Modern Pentathlon? Modern pentathlon consists of five events someone thought an 19-century warrior might find useful, and 21st century contestants are obliged to shoot a pistol, fight with a sword, swim 200 meters, ride a horse in a show jumping competition and run 3 kilometers.
Show Jumping? Look, they had to have something involving a horse, and all the real good events are taken by rodeo.
More Dry, Technical Matter: The ancient pentathlon consisted of a short foot race, wrestling, the long jump and both javelin and discus throws, all skills it was thought ancient warriors would find useful in battle.
USA! USA! Americans have never won a gold medal in modern pentathlon. Two men and one women have won silver medals and two men have won bronze medals. The US also won men's team silver medals in 1956 and 1964, and bronze in 1960. The team event was discontinued following the Barcelona Games in 1992, and if the event had not been invented by Baron Pierre de Coubertin himself expressly for the modern Olympic Games he founded, they might well have been given the heave-ho years ago because only Europeans have won gold medals.
FAST FOLLOW-UP: It is reported that the Internet ticket scam beijingticketing.com did more than $50 million worth of business.
COPY THAT: Thomas Edison received a patent for the first mimeograph machine on this date in 1876. The term 'mimeograph' actually wasn't coined until the following year; Edison had called his invention "autographic printing".
For The Record: Also on 8/8/1876 the Chicago Cubs, then known as the White Stockings, played the 46th game in their history, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 13-3.
Editor's Note: If you're just joining us, the popular On This Date segment is taking a look back this summer at the 1908 Chicago Cubs season, the last season in which they won the World Series.
Uh-Oh: On this date in 1908 the Cubs lost their fourth straight, 4-1 at New York. Those damn Pirates won again, too, beating the Phillies 4-2, so the Cubs are in third place in the National League, four games back. The Giants keep pace and remain a game-and-half out.
It's About Time: 20,897 days after the Cincinnati Reds first did it in 1931, the Chicago Cubs become the last major-league team to host a night game on this date in 1988. Their game against the Philadelphia Phillies, however, is rained out in the fourth inning, and the first official game is played the following night against the Mets.
Those Zany Californians: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting snitty and refusing to sign bills passed by the legislature. This is the result of an impasse that has yet to produce a state budget for the next fiscal year, a full month after one was due.
This follows Schwarzenegger's decree last week that all regular state workers have their salaries slashed to the Federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, and, 10,000 temporary and seasonal workers were laid off.
You Didn't Mean Me, Did You? About a quarter of the workforce will be exempt because they occupy public safety positions, and the treasurer has said the state has sufficient funds to last through October and that he doesn't plan to execute the Governor's order anyway.
FunFact: California law dictates that bill that are not vetoed in 12 days automatically become law. It also states that the legislature can withdraw a bill before it is vetoed.
FunFact II: Gov. Schwarzenegger declines his salary and works for free.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The only country not on the European land mass to win an Olympic team handball gold medal is South Korea, which won women's gold medals in Seoul In 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.
Today's Stumper: What US Army General was an Olympian modern pentathlete? - Answer next time!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
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