| | Home
The Daily Dose/August 24, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Notes from around the Human Experience, including THE END OF THE WRITER'S SHACK JINX!
JINX? WHAT JINX: The curse is broken! The Writer's Shack Jinx, which plagued our All Blacks, the New Zealand national rugby union team, and the Mount Union Purple Raiders, has been broken by our faves the Norwegian women's handball team, who won the gold medal Saturday at the Beijing Games!
The Final From Beijing National Indoor Stadium: Norway 34, the former Communists from Russia 27, in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated.
It was never close. Our Norskies dominated from the start, leading 3-0 before anybody needed a deodorant. Russia stemmed the tide, temporarily, with a goal at the four minute mark, but the beat down resumed shortly thereafter, and Norway led 8-1 eight minutes in and once led by as much as eleven before a late Russian flurry made the score respectable enough so they won't get shot when they get home.
FunFact: This is the first handball gold medal for Norway, which had won bronze in 2000 and silver medals in 1992 and 1988. Denmark had won the past three women's gold medals. Norway's four team handball medals ranks second to South Korea's six.
Jinx? What Jinx II: Our other faves, the US men's volleyball team plays Brazil for the gold medal Sunday. This follows a 3-2 victory over those losers from - where else? - Russia in the semi-finals, and a hard-earned 3-2 victory over Croatia in the quarter-finals.
Dry, Technical Matter: The world famous Writer's Shack jinx started in last fall, striking down the All Blacks in the quarter-finals of the rugby World Cup, where they lost to - and we are still not completely over this - the French! It struck next in December, when our Mount Union Purple Raiders lost in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III national championship football game.
Oh Yeah: The US men's basketball team has to go through the formality of spanking the dreaded Spaniards again Sunday before they can be awarded their gold medals, but that should be routine enough, and, honestly, it should be a decade or so before the rest of the world bothers us again.
I'm not entirely sure who would win a game between the original Dream Team and this squad, let by Kobe, Lebron and company, but this year's team has shown the US, like the original Dream Team, is again head and shoulders over the rest world.
Hey, Didn't We Invent This Game? The US baseball team, on the other hand, composed of minor league players and one collegian, showed that the only baseball worth getting worked up about is played in the big leagues.
Oh, Team USA did as well as could be expected, make no mistake about that. They won the bronze medal by defeating Japan 8-4. But the best players in the world are playing in the big leagues right now, and the major league office has never had any interest in Olympic baseball, which is why it is getting kicked out after the Beijing Games.
Mr. Doubleday, Time To Turn Over, Sir: South Korea - South Korea! - won the gold medal, defeating favorite Cuba 3-2.
FunFact: South Korea didn't even qualify for the 2004 Athens Games.
FunFact II: Neither did the US.
USA! USA! The US women won their fourth straight basketball gold medal Saturday, defeating Australia for the third straight Olympics in the gold medal game. Like the others, this wasn't close, either, the Americans winning 92-65. The US women haven't lost in the Olympics since losing to the Unified Team in the semi-finals in Barcelona in 1992, and are 47-1 since
Medal Count: While the US will probably win the overall medals count, the Chinese lead the gold medal count, and, if they hold on it will mark the first time since the Unified Team at Barcelona in 1992, that the US did not win the most gold medals.
Repression Count: The following tidbits were stolen from the Reporters Without Borders site, www.rsf.org:
50 - The number of pesky human rights activists, arrested, placed under house arrest or forced to leave Beijing.
47 - The number of pro-Tibet activists arrested.
30 - The number of Internet sites, mainly human rights, Chinese language news sites and other sources of evil, are still banned at the Olympic media center, including - and we are not making this up - itunes.com! Evidently athletes are listening to pro-Tibetan songs.
22 - The number of foreign journalists arrested or obstructed so far during the Games.
15 - The number of Chinese citizens arrest for - and, again we did not make this up, we stole it - for requesting permission to demonstrate! Not actually demonstrate, but for having the nerve to ask to demonstrate.
Dammit, We Were Hoping To Start An International Incident: The Writer's Shack is still available in China, though.
IN THE CROSSHAIRS/SHAMELESS CONTENT PLUG: The Bottom Ten will debut next week! Can North Texas repeat? Can Duke avoid their usual fluke, early season win and finally claim the title? We don't care either, but old habits die hard, and so do the B-10 pollsters! The 2008 Bottom Ten will move next Tuesday. Probably.
3…2…1…BLASTOFF: On this date, in 79 AD, Mount Vesuvious in Italy erupts, destroying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae.
I Told You To Sacrifice The Kid: Vesuvious erupted a day after the celebration of the feast of the Roman god of fire.
We're Just Practicing: Residents of Mainz, located in what is now Germany, blame the Jews for the recent bubonic plague outbreak and kill 6,000 of them, on this date in 1349.
Maybe We Should Just Convert To Something Else: On this date, in 1391, about 300 Jews are massacred in Palma de Mallorca. A year later, King Juan I of Spain tried to make amends by granting amnesty to everyone who had taken part in the massacre, and by declaring all Christian debts to Jews null and void.
With A Special Forward By Jesus H. Christ Himself: On this date in 1456 the printing of Gutenberg Bible is completed.
Didn't We Cover This During The Revolution? In this date, in 1814, the British enter Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and other buildings.
Editor's Note: In 2008, the Chicago Cubs are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their last World Series title, and On This Date is celebrating right along with them, chronicling the 1908 Chicago Cubs season!
This Date In Cubness: The Cubs got three runs on four hits and an exciting double steal in the seventh to beat Brooklyn 4-2. They have won three straight and six of their last seven.
The Post Game Show Is Brought To You By Old Style Beer: After having been in first place since July 14, the Pirates are dismissed from the top spot by New York, who beat them twice in Pittsburgh, 4-1 and 5-1, in front of over 16,000 fans, one of the largest crowds ever in Pittsburgh. The Giants, who started the day a half-game back, are now a game-and-a-half up on the Pirates and three-and-a-half games up on the Cubs, who actually lost a half game to the Giants. New York has won six straight, and 17 of their last 22.
Yeah, But Her Luggage Ended Up In Denver: On this date, in 1932, Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the United States, flying from Los Angeles to Neward, New Jersey.
Brrrrrr: On this date, in 1960, the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth, -127 degrees, is taken at Vostok, Antarctica, though a temperature of 128.6 would be taken at Vostok in 1983.
Thought For The Day: If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad of instances and applications. - Henry David Thoreau
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Bob Beamon's long jump of 29 feet, 2 ˝ inches, set at Mexico City in 1968, is the oldest Olympic track and field record.
Today's Stumper: You have today off. The Daily Dose will return with more coverage of the Human Experience next week, after The Bottom Ten debuts!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
Home |
|