That other blog

We recognize that the increased rate of posts in the month of November has resulted in some links to quality sites being buried in the archives. As a result, we are reposting here those links we have referenced in this blog to date (they are listed in the order they were first posted.)

• www.thatotherblog.com – (not us, someone who already had a claim to a domain name we wanted: we don’t know anything about them)
• DarkUFO’s Lost Mysteries – (an awesome reference site for the TV show LOST)
• Jay and Jack’s Lost Podcast – (very entertaining podcast, primarily about LOST but occasionally other stuff too )
• WWWF Grudge Match – (the archives of a site which answered those nagging questions like “who would win a fight: Webster or Arnold Drummond?” The link in the original post was mistyped: it is fixed here. Ugh, fixed again December 10 – now it works! Go visit the site – it was worth the wait.)
• Book of Ratings – (The archives of Lore Sjoberg’s incredible site, currently replaced by http://slumbering.lungfish.com. Assorted specific archives were referenced.)
• Mile High Comics – (a comic book distributor we used to use back in the mid ’80s)
• The DC Universe – (The encyclopedia of DC’s comic book characters. The entry for the “Silver Age” Flash character was referenced.)
• The Marvel Directory – (The encyclopedia of Marvel’s comic book characters. Entries for the Juggernaut, crossroads, and the Beyonder were referenced.)
• Dominic Cianciolo – (The website for film and video game director, Dominic Cianciolo – a friend from when one of our contributors lived in Michigan.)
• Our 2008 NCAA Mens BBall Bracket – (Our “sheet of integrity,” so to speak.)
• American Cancer Society – (Two friends of the site were fundraising for the American Cancer Society: this is the ACS main page. We had links for both Amy Cook and Jessica Allison’s donation pages, but they are no longer active.)
• 1986 Houston Astros. – (The Baseball Reference . com entry about our favorite baseball team of all-time.)
• 1986 National League Championship Series Wikipedia Entry – (Just what it says.)
• Matt Trudell’s Website – (The website of artist, track star, and all around good guy – Matt Trudell.)
• Scott Copperman’s West Milford Articles – (A collection of articles about Guest Contributor – Scott Copperman’s time in West Milford.)
• The Junior Rotisserie Fantasy Football League – (A fantasy football league for kids. The league commissioner has a blog and a link to that blog was included in the entry.)
• Simply Syndicated – (A collection of very clever podcasts and forum discussions.)
• WWdN: In Exile – (Wil Wheaton’s blog.)
• TechSupportRich – (Richard Smith’s blog.)
• Download a Dragonite – (News about how Toys R Us was giving away free downloads of a Pokemon character for their Diamond and Pearl games.)
• WQHS – (The University of Pennsylvania’s student run radio station.)
• NTSB findings – (A link to the NTSB’s findings about the crash of AA 587 in November 2001. A link to a newspaper article was also provided.)
• The Alphabits Online Project 2004 – (Description of and results of an multi-classroom investigation of the letters which make up a box of Alpha Bits cereal.)
• Mark Rosenfelder’s Facts from his bookshelf – (A guy took one interesting fact from every book on his bookshelf, and made this list. We like the one about the French taught in schools.)
• B101 – (The first radio station in Southern New Jersey to broadcast Christmas carols this year.)
• Airplay – (A play while you watch online gaming network that makes television truly “interactive.”)
• The Weather Underground – (That Other Page’s preferred weather service online.)
• The Wilton Village Market – (What if Guest Contributor – Scott Copperman had accepted their offer to forsake graduate school and become Bob Lengyel’s assistant manager back in 1992? Imagine how different the world might be.)
• Public-domain-photos.com – (One of our contributors made use of a photo from this site.)

We also have a set of links on our blogroll.

• 4th Person – (Friend of thatotherpage, Elton McManus’ site.)
• Coppermanland – (Where Brian Copperman is king.)
• J2 Content – (An educational content development site)
• Kaiju Big Battel – (Home of the infamous Dr. Cube and his posse.)
• Memory Alpha – (The Star Trek Wiki.)
• The Sifl & Olly Archive – (The former hosts of MTV’s Sifl and Olly Show live on, online.)
• Turn Left at the Corner – (The site which hosts the JRFFL and other fantasy football games.)

Back in the day, the blogroll also included:

• Flight Aware – (A real-time flight tracking site.)

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. If any of the links were of particular interest to you, please let us know. And be sure to go back and read the earlier entries of our blog, if you haven’t already.

According to Kevin Mabley, “ham” is the longest three-letter word in the English language.

This statement was made to us more than 20 years ago with the following explanation: if you pronounce each letter as with its common duration and do not exaggerate the sounds, “ham” is the most drawn out of the three-letter words.

We recognize that there are other candidates, among them: “now,” “hum,” “fez,” “his,” “has,” and “oil.” However, back in the late 80’s, Mr. Mabley made a compelling case for “ham” being the longest – so much so that it has stuck with us all this time.

In the absence of a strong argument in favor of one of the other words, we must agree with Kevin and endorse “ham” as the longest of the three-letter words.

If you wish to voice your support for one of the words above or some other three-letter word, please do leave us a comment or send an email to thatotheremail at thatotherpage.com. We’ll carefully consider any relevant feedback we receive.

We experimented with Airplay today, while watching NFL football.  It was free, fun, and something we wholeheartedly recommend.

Check it out before the next time you watch  pro or college football, the NBA, baseball, Deal or No Deal, Jeopardy, or  Big Brother.

We repost here, with a working link, Mark Rosenfelder’s Facts from his bookshelf, and still wish we’d been clever enough to think to do this ourselves.

Maybe one day, though…

We proudly present this outstanding line from one of  many outstanding songs we enjoy.  If you don’t know the song, look it up.  We’ll present more lyrics in the future.

“I like your poetry, but I hate your poems” – Obscurity Knocks (Trashcan Sinatras)

or to put it another way “meh” is the new “feh.”

We love the expression “feh.” It’s an acknowledgment of activity with no element of approval. It’s like a sigh without the emotion, a scowl without the anger, a turn-and-walk away that can happen when you’re miles apart.

But tonight we found a new expression on the message boards at Simply Syndicated, one which threatens to replace “feh” as our signature noise: “meh.”

The subtle difference here is the suggestion of contemplation or near approval in the “m” sound. Not quite “hmmm, yeah”… it falls short and offers that same blandness “feh” provides with a bit of tease in front.

Clearly we have too much time on or hands here at that other page.

meh…

We are always looking to support ingenuity. We respect that even the best ideas have some element of risk involved, and as such we are happy to promote one particular good idea here:

The Junior Rotisserie Football League at Turnleftatthecorner.com

http://www.turnleftatthecorner.com/jrffl.html

A cooperative effort of several parties, the Junior Rotisserie Football League is designed to get kids interested in the statistics of sports and familiar with ALL of the NFL’s football teams instead of just their favorite(s) without requiring they invest a lot of time or know all the players.

Instead of drafting individual players to comprise their teams, the participants pick teams each week to use for four categories… Points Scored, Points Allowed, Passing Yards, Rushing Yards.  They can use a team for more than one category but they can’t use the same team two weeks in a row for the same category – so it gets them to look beyond their favorites a little bit.

For example, Alex might pick the Patriots for points scored, the Colts for Points allowed, the Chargers for Rushing yards and the Colts for Passing yards… and then next week he needs a new team for each category.  He can use the Chargers again, just not for Rushing.

Participants  make up a “Team Name” and that’s what they go by… on the webpages they are “Alex from Naples” or “The Screaming Yellow Zonkers” or whatever.  Nowhere at any time is their full name or address or any other more revealing information about them asked for or published.

“The Commish” regularly comments on the progress of the league, offers suggestions for picks, and makes good-natured comments on the overall standings in his blog. A sports savvy high school student with ten years fantasy football experience, this mysterious figure (and his supportive and very organized parents) should be able to provide a great experience for his players.  They are hoping to have a league filled with kids of all ages, from “around the US” participating. They are thinking of grades 1- 8 as their target audience, but it of course ultimately depends on the youth his or herself in determining whethe this activity is right for them.

We at That Other Page are thrilled to support this endeavor. It seems like the perfect way to introduce youth to fantasy sports or NFL football in general.  Take a moment and check out their site before the season starts on September 3rd, and if you decide to join, tell them TOP sent you.

The NY Mets beat the Boston Red Sox back in ’86.  The “Amazin’ Mets” are firmly entrenched in baseball history.

But we were rooting for another team back then; a team that came within a few pitches of making it to the World Series and possibly winning the whole thing. The 1986 Houston Astros.

We loved that team.

Nolan Ryan is our favorite baseball player of all time, but the ’86 Astros were filled with players we loved to root for. Their pitching staff included suspected scuffer Mike Scott, Danny Darwin, Bob Knepper, and the sensational young pitcher Jim Deshaies.  Set up duties were shared by Charlie Kerfeld and Larry Andersen while Dave Smith racked up over 30 saves for the ‘stros.

At the plate, first baseman Glenn Davis was the team’s home run threat with Kevin Bass and Denny Walling setting the table. Bill Doran and Dickie Thon made up the middle infield for a team that won over 90 games and won the NL West.  (yes, that’s right, the NL West… this was pre-expansion and realignment.)

Living in the NY Metro area in 1986, it was hard for us to openly root for the Astros during the NLCS, but we wore our ugly jerseys with pride. And when the Mets and Astros did battle that September, we lived and died with every pitch.

The Metroplitans ultimately won that series. They became media darlings (for all their personal issues) and gave another 17 years of suffering to the Red Sox nation. The Astros did not stay at the top for long. Nolan Ryan went to Texas (and became part of our second favorite MLB team). Glenn Davis moved on to have a lackluster season in Baltimore, and Larry Anderson went to Boston to give them a good month or two of solid relief as they chased another pennant (in return the ‘stros got Jeff Bagwell…. hmmm, I wonder who won out on that deal). Bagwell and Biggio and others led the Astros through the turn of the century while Phil Garner moved into coaching and the rest of the ’86 Astros followed their own paths.

As we said before, Nolan Ryan is the greatest in our eyes. To see him come so close and not reach the big stage broke our hearts. But he went on to have many more great seasons for the Astros and Rangers, so we cannot be too upset. And he was part of a Mets World Series back in the day. Still, it hurts to see a team we love have come so close to making history and receive so little recognition for their accomplishments.

Ohhhh, so you’re supposed to pick the team you think will WIN the game.  Well, that changes everything!

Seriously, though, what a brutal day.

Among the lessons we learned, foremost is the fact that this is the 2008 NCAA tournament not 1994 or 1991. Apparently, when making our picks we experienced some Lost-style consciousness leaps and forgot that John Chaney is not coaching Temple anymore, Fran Dunphy went 1-9 as the Penn coach in the “dance,” Shawn Bradley does not play for BYU these days, Antoine Walker is not on this Kentucky team, and Harold “Baby Jordan” Minor is no longer on the court for the Trojans. Among other things. Ugh… that’s really all there is to say – “ugh.”

All right, so we admit it… it was an bad day for That Other Bracket because we made more than a few miscalculations.

We owe the Purdue Boilermakers an apology, and we tip our hat to MSU, Kansas State, and close to a dozen other teams who defied the experts (us) and found a way to win.

The good news is, now we can sit back and watch the games rooting for our favorite teams rather than the teams we picked on our bracket. And, we take some solace in the fact that tonight at least 10 million other Americans saw their brackets busted just as badly or worse than we did.

So, “good luck” to those of you still competing in the tourney or leading your office pools, we admire your accomplishments and wish you continued success.

(Hmm…. wait a minute, you know… if we go 16-0 tomorrow we’re right back in this thing! Our Final Four is still in tact, … barely [Duke]. And, you know, it’s not like we made outlandish picks. We’re not dead yet! What time is the next Sportscenter on?)

If you listen to ESPN radio’s “Mike and Mike” then the phrase “sheet of integrity” needs no explanation.

For those less familiar with Greeny and Golic, a sheet of integrity is a single NCAA bracket which is your ONLY NCAA tournament bracket for pools and selections.  The use of a sheet of integrity means you’re putting it all on the line… there is no picking Indiana to beat Arkansas on one sheet and then Arkansas to beat Indiana on another. You make your decisions and you stand by them.

And here we have posted our SHEET OF INTEGRITY (read with a booming voice). We summarize the selections below

In the East Region: we see North Carolina as the cream of the crop.  We are big Pitino fans, and we would love to see Louisville go all the way; however, in our bracket we have them making only to the Elite Eight. Biggest upset pick? Butler over Tennessee to get to the Sweet 16. Our only other underdog wins are Arkansas over Indiana and St. Joe’s over Oklahoma.

In the West Region: we again went ACC, picking Duke to represent the region in the Final Four. We picked two mild upsets in the rounds – Western Kentucky over Drake (although we acknowledge Drake could win handily) and Baylor over Purdue (no chance for Purdue – “lock of the week” as they say). As alumni, it hurts us to pick against Texas A & M, but we just can’t get those visions of Shawn Bradley out of our heads and have to go with BYU.

In the South Region: we’re all about Memphis. While we do worry about the free throw shooting, our bracket doesn’t have them tested until they face Stanford in the Elite Eight. We expect Standford to be tired from a tough battle with Texas, and Coach Calipari will pounce to bring his team to the Final Four. As far as upsets go, we are big fans of Coach Fran Dunphy and his Temple team. We have the Owls winning two games before losing to Memphis. Other ‘dogs we have winning in the first round are Kentucky, St. Mary’s, and Oregon.

In the Midwest Region: we expect a tired but tested Georgetown team to come out of what we consider the most competitive bracket. Our Sweet 16 matchups of Kansas vs. Vanderbilt and USC vs. Georgetown should be excellent television, and while we expect KU to give the Hoyas a run for their money we expect the Big East team to take a spot in the Final Four.

This leaves a Final Four of UNC vs. Georgetown and Memphis vs. Duke.

Maybe it’s the prospect of an all ACC final, or maybe it’s that we’ve never really been Duke Fans, but we see UNC and Memphis battling in the finals where UNC will make less errors and come out with a 71 – 65 championship win.

View the complete bracket here.

That’s our crackpot theory of the week, and we’re sticking with it. (Jay and Jack fans know what we’re talking about.)