If you are not excited about watching the Olympics tonight......you just might suck

Yes, I said it - you suck if, by choice, you will not be watching Micheal Phelps and Dara Torres swim in the Olympics tonight. These are 2 Americans both swimming for history on a worldwide stage displayed on live television. If you saw last night's swims by both Torres and Phelps then you had to feel some sense of excitement and patriotism.

I thought we witnessed one of the greatest displays of sportsmanship ever when Torres took it upon herself immediately before the start of the semifinals for the 50m freestyle to alert the officials that Swedish swimmer, Therese Alshammar, had a torn suit and was delayed from getting to the starting blocks. In addition, Torres spoke to the other competitors and appeared to be asking them to all purposefully take their time in order to be sure Alshammar had enough time to solve her suit issues. Torres knew the officials did not have to hold the start of the race just because Alshammar had a wardrobe (lol) malfunction, so she used her maturity and experience to keep a cool head and just slow the entire field down without causing a problem or losing a beat. Torres went on to win the race and qualify first for tonight's finals.

I really don't know what else to say about Michael Phelps that hasn't already been said. He is an amazing athletic specimen and just a pleasure to watch in the water. He also seems like a nice guy and you can never find any fault with that!! Sphere: Related Content

Nick Saban Named "Most Powerful Coach In Sports" by Forbes Magazine

The newest issue of Forbes Magazine to hit newsstands tomorrow will feature Nick Saban, head coach of the University of Alabama football team, on the cover with the title "Most Powerful Coach In Sports." I have already admitted that I am an Auburn fan, so let there be no mistake as to where my bias lies, but do you need a bias to see that there may be some problems with this wonderful, FREE publicity that is going to be seen by every football recruit in the nation? I think not. I understand that the magazine has a right to publish whatever they want and if they wanted to proclaim Lou Holtz as the greatest ESPN commentator to ever live, then they could do so, but Lou Holtz is not an active NCAA head coach......I will say that I'm not sure he can be ruled out as some sort of a recruiting tool for Notre Dame based on his blatant biased on-air comments, whether it is a positive or negative tool will be up to you to decide. I still haven't made my final decision on this article yet, but you can read The Birmingham News article from today and decide for yourself - AL.com Sphere: Related Content

Finebaum's New Podcasts

The Paul Finebaum Radio Network appears to have burst onto the iTunes Podcast scene, ranking #2 in the Sports & Recreation: College & High School section after just a week. Check it out for yourself HERE. You can also check out my Squidoo lens on Finebaum HERE. Sphere: Related Content

Brett Myers Has Serious Issues

Philadelphia Phillies' starting pitcher, Brett Myers, once again showed he has some emotional issues. Saturday night Myers basically showed up his manager, Charlie Manuel, when Manuel came out of the dugout to pull Myers from the game. Instead of saving his comments for the dugout or clubhouse and just handing his manager the ball, Myers stepped off the back of the mound and appeared to yell, "This is my (expletive) game" at Manuel. Once in the dugout, the argument escalated as the two were nose to nose before Myers disappeared into the clubhouse.

This isn't the first outburst Myers has had in the public eye. Let us take a walk down memory lane......

June 23, 2006 - Myers arrested and charged with assault after punching his wife during an argument on a Boston street near Fenway Park. The charges were later dropped after Myers' wife refused to pursue the case, even though the Judge in the case acknowledged that Myers had actually struck his wife as alleged. Associated Press

August 26, 2007 - Myers has verbal altercation with a reporter in the Phillies' clubhouse that was caught on tape. Myers yells obscenities at the reporter and repeatedly calls him a "retard" during the incident. You can listen to this display of maturity HERE

I can't wait to see Myers' next genius move.... Sphere: Related Content

Dara Torres

Dara Torres is simply amazing. Check out my Squidoo lens on her - Dara Torres Sphere: Related Content

The Olympics

I must admit I am a life-long fan of the Olympics, so I have been looking forward to tonight's kickoff with the Opening Ceremonies, but my interest has certainly diminished from what it was in the past. That being said, I think I have already been sucked back in by NBC and the Opening Ceremonies. They were fantastic and I'm also enjoying watching the parade of athletes as I type this. I had to get online to see what NBC had to offer when I realized I would be wanting to watch several events. I was very pleased to see NBC's online coverage and the viewing options provided. I am going to post the first cool widget I've found so far below and I will probably be posting more later and moving things around. Go USA!!

Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBC Olympics.com!

Sphere: Related Content

What's up with John Edwards and his sudden confession?

Was anyone else taken off guard somewhat by John Edwards' sudden confession of an extra-marital affair to ABC News? I must admit that I have not been following John Edwards very closely in the recent months and I definitely haven't been following the rumors about an alleged (now confirmed) affair and love child, so my surprise after hearing about his sudden confession of an affair may not be shared by others. As a person who hasn't been following this story, I am totally confused at the confession itself, but I am more perplexed by the timing. Why now? What did ABC News have on Edwards? I have no doubt I will be bombarded with answers to these questions before the day is over. In the meantime, I will be doing my own investigation of this whole situation....starting HERE. Sphere: Related Content

Squidoo Experiment Update #2

I just received my Squidoo payment for the month of June and was pleasantly surprised. I got $50, up from the $23 last month!!! I did have quite a few more lenses in June than in May, but the payout tier #'s were pretty much on course. I don't think I described the Squidoo payout system in my earlier post, so I'll do that now, or make my best attempt at an explanation.

Squidoo pays out on a tier system made up of 3 "tiers." The tiers are broken down by lens rank with the top tier having the highest lens ranking and so on. There is some debate regarding how Squidoo determines what a certain lens' lens rank is when it sets the payment tiers. I always assumed the lens rank was the average ranking the lens had for the month, but things couldn't be that easy......No, Squidoo apparently feels the need to be somewhat secretive about whether they use lens rank averages or just "randomly" choose one day of the month and take a snapshot of the true lens ranking when making determinations on tiers. I have more to say on this, but will save it for another day....

Here is the breakdown in tiers for the month of June:

Tier 1 - $7.78
Tier 2 - $1.32
Tier 3 - $0.07

I had 4 lenses in the top tier, compared to just 2 in May, so I am pleased with that ratio. I did have quite a few more total lenses in June than I did in May so my payday could have been a LOT better if I had been able to squeeze a few more of those into the second tier, but I'm not going to complain about almost doubling my payment from month 1 to month 2. I can't wait to see the payout for month 3!!!!

You can see my post from last month HERE Sphere: Related Content

More Video Lenses

I don't think I realized quite how many of these I had created. Here are the rest....

Miami Vice Video Showcase
Knight Rider Video Showcase
Who's The Boss? Video Showcase
Another World Video Showcase
Ricki Lake Video Showcase
The Fall Guy Video Showcase
ALF Video Showcase
The A-Team Video Showcase
Arrested Development Video Showcase
Kathy Griffin Video Showcase Sphere: Related Content

My new Squidoo lenses

I haven't posted in several days because I have been busy creating new Squidoo video lenses. Personally, I think they are pretty cool, but I am also slightly biased....check them out for yourself. This isn't a complete list of my video lenses. I will post the rest a little later.

Flipping Out Video Showcase
Weeds Video Showcase
William Shatner Video Showcase
Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts Video Showcase
Top Gear Video Showcase
America's Got Talent Video Showcase
Days of our Lives Video Showcase
One Day At A Time Video Showcase
The Facts of Life Video Showcase
30 Rock Video Showcase
Silver Spoons Video Showcase Sphere: Related Content

LastMinuteGolfer.com is really cool

I have recently discovered LastMinuteGolfer.com and I love it!!! If you are a golfer and haven't visited this site before, take a few minutes and check it out. The site is a little awkward to navigate, but that is my only real complaint. It has tons of information on golf courses in a number of cities throughout the country and they are adding more cities consistently.

When I first discovered the site I was intrigued to see Birmingham listed as one of the featured locations, so I signed up just to see what it was all about. I quickly discovered what it was about when I scored a $10 round at Cumberland Lakes with one of the "Tour Tuesday" Red Flag rewards specials the very next day. That price was the total amount I paid for 18 holes with a cart!!! You just can't beat those kind of specials.

LastMinuteGolfer.com is a cool online golfing "community" that I encourage all golfers to check out. You can book tee times online, take advantage of numerous specials, read and post course reviews, earn rewards that you can redeem for free golf when you do various things like refer others or book a tee time through the site, along with a ton of other neat golfing tools.

If you are in Birmingham, check out the Birmingham community HERE. Currently, you can book online tee times for 6 Birmingham area courses - Alpine Bay, Capstone, Cumberland Lake, Heritage, The Meadows and Trussville Country Club. These are also the same courses where the reduced rates and specials apply. If you do choose to sign up, I would really appreciate you using my username - sgwalker - as the person who referred you...I can use all the free golf I can get!!! Sphere: Related Content

Fulmer first denies ever receiving subpoena, suddenly "finds" it on his way out of town.....

In one of the strangest twists to a pretty much otherwise non-story, Phillip Fulmer denied ever receiving a subpoena this morning upon his arrival at SEC Media Days in interviews throughout the day, but it has just been reported that Fulmer has actually since "located" this non-existent document. Fulmer's attorney, Jeff Hagood, told the Knoxville News-Sentinel this afternoon

"Phillip was getting out of his car and focused on other things, as you might imagine, getting ready to face an audience of about 800 people or so," Hagood told the newspaper. "Someone basically threw something at him. They didn't look official, as far as he was concerned. It didn't look like a law enforcement person or that ilk. He didn't pay attention to what it was."

My complete disbelief at today's festivities could be because I'm an attorney, but I'm not totally convinced of this. It seems that some of what went on today was the result of arrogance on the part of Phillip Fulmer, not his lack of legal training or knowledge. Fulmer went as far as calling the topic "B.S." "And I would have some other choice words if there weren't so many cameras in here," he said in one of today's interviews.

At this point it is appropriate for me to declare my allegiance and it is to neither Tennessee or Alabama, my allegiance is with the Auburn Tigers, so I have no dog in this fight and really had no thoughts either way until today.

Obviously, Fulmer's statements were not illegal or anything he could get in trouble over, but they are troubling to me. Why didn't he just explain this alleged mass confusion that met him when he arrived at the Galleria during the first interview and that he wasn't going to comment on anything concerning a lawsuit until he had spoken with his attorney? To me, this seems like the easiest and most reasonable way to handle what went on this morning, but Fulmer chose the worst path possible. He not only denied this incident ever even happened, he mocked the people saying it did occur. Nothing may ever really materialize from the lawsuit, but I am going to make a bold prediction that today could mark the beginning of the end for Phillip Fulmer as the head football coach for the University of Tennessee. Sphere: Related Content

UT's Phillip Fulmer welcomed to SEC Media Days with a subpoena

As Phillip Fulmer arrived at SEC Media Days a few minutes ago he was given a present - a subpoena to appear at a deposition on September 25th regarding the case against the NCAA brought by University of Alabama booster Wendall Smith. News is quickly breaking from the Wynfrey Hotel here in Birmingham and I will try to update the story throughout the day. You can read the news that is known HERE Sphere: Related Content

Birmingham's Survival Plan

Well, the wait for an update on this story wasn't very long at all. You can read the details of La La's plan HERE. Sphere: Related Content

La La has a secret??

According to The Birmingham News, Larry Langford has a secret he is calling his "Birmingham Survival Kit." It took great self-restraint to not make just one of the many jokes that immediately came to mind when I think about any "secret" La La may have, but I only have so much time in my day. Apparently, this secret has something to do with Langford's new plan to pay for streetcars, scholarships and a dome stadium without raising any more taxes or going to the bond market. I guess I can see one positive in this plan - Langford may actually realize that Birmingham cannot afford these initiatives he continues to propose.

This must be one heck of a "survival kit" if it will allow the city to pay for all of these items without raising taxes or using the bond market. I am almost scared to find out what this secret is for many reasons, but I think the fact that Langford even mentions the bond market as a financial option for this city may be the most frightening. I guess he's forgotten the SEC complaint currently pending against him and others for their past dealings in the bond market. There is a really good article by Joe Mysak that explains the issues involved in huge ball of wax much better than I can. You can read that piece HERE.

You can check out the story regarding La La's secret HERE. I am sure I will be updating this story very soon with details of the secret. I can't wait....... Sphere: Related Content