Do you have a problem with that?
So fresh off Atlanta's silly rebranding campaign (Every day is like Opening Day? Does that mean we'll have our hearts broken six months later?), now comes New Jersey's new slogan. It seems fine, although a bunch of the rejected suggestions were pretty good too, even if they might come up short for even those snarky t-shirts. Of course, I'm still waiting for this ditty to be the official state song -- inspiring something actually funny from Robert Wuhl (i.e. not Arli$$).

I missed this a little earlier, but here's an interesting list of the most played song on a variety of different radio stations in Atlanta in 2005. Not a lot of surprises, save for the Blue Merle song and, oh yeah, "Sara Smile."

Happy new year
For the first time possibly in a long time (and possibly ever), I actually spent New Year's Eve working. It was interesting trying to sample the variety of New Year's Eve celebrations on the tube:
-- Happy Boo Year (ESPN): Looks like a decent year-in-review show mixed in with Stuart Scott (hence my name for the show) and Little Steven (what, no Clarence Clemons?) introducing some musical acts.
-- Regis Philbin (Fox): Seemed like a train wreck. If Fox wanted to draw a younger crowed, why did you have Regis sing?
-- Anderson Cooper (CNN): Decent stuff, plus some decent musical cut-ins (James Brown, Kool and the Gang, Barenaked Ladies).
-- Carson Daly (NBC): Not too shabby, plus Melissa Stark was the on-the-ground reporter in Times Square. Plus, they got in and out quickly -- do the ball drop, then off to an SNL rerun.

Then there was the return of Dick Clark to ABC, and boy it seemed like watching Ali light the torch at the Atlanta Olympics (10 years ago! Yikes!). It was great to see him there, but boy, it was slightly uncomfortable to watch. He seemed to be in good spirits, but the stroke has taken its toll on him. At least we know he's mortal now, I suppose.

ABC also did a good job in keeping the show focused on the live stuff and then going to that hokey musical revue taped a couple of weeks earlier (still best lampooned in a Friends episode) after midnight. I guess having Mariah Carey perform live was a huge coup -- and it was fun seeing Ryan Seacrest trying to get her to kiss him when the clock struck midnight. And later on in the studio, I would've sworn she was getting ready to work at Scores after the show was done.

As for the canned musical stuff, I wasn't paying close attention except for when they brought The Bangles out of nowhere to perform. Susanna Hoffs still looked really good (and she'll be 47 in a few weeks); the rest of the group, not so much. And at least they avoided "Walk Like An Egyptian."

It did get interesting leaving work at 2 a.m. as it appeared the Widespread Panic show was letting out as we finished up -- we could smell the pot smoke wafting up to the walkway from the office to the parking lot.

I was also intrigued that my local alt-rock station opted for a top 99 party jams of all time (perfect for that New Year's Eve party) instead of a top hits countdown. So while the Beastie Boys were there no matter what, there were other songs you would never, ever hear on the station. Then again, with their recent "Shuffle" weekends (the music director's iPod goes on shuffle for the weekend), anything goes -- I've heard "Billie Jean" and "Piano Man" along with some deep Death Cab for Cutie tracks, for instance.

Happy, merry
The holiday season went pretty well, although I'm now in the midst of a long stretch of days in a row at work, but I guess it's fine since it's also coinciding with bowl season.

The time back home in Jersey was fine. Had XM on both ends of the AirTran flight, which is always nice. Hung out with the family (and future family members, as the case may be). Had a sort of "Jeopardy victory tour" visiting friends and relatives over the holiday season, but also dealt with a very wonky wireless connection from somewhere in my old neighborhood -- renovations in my parents' house limited some of the cable access.

Also got hooked, slightly, on Deal or No Deal, which seemed to be an overdone version of a Price Is Right game or even the old Treasure Hunt game show, replacing that creepy butler guy with 26 hot women -- nice upgrade.

Oh yeah, there was also that Sun Bowl game today, which was fun to watch with the local alumni club (and even running into a guy who used to live in my dorm) but then seeing what I thought might happen (defensive collapse) and even some weirdness (NU returning two picks for scores and UCLA returning two onside kick attempts for TDs to make sure the game covered the over).

That game, and the subsequent Independence Bowl, rode my bowl picks losing streak to six, although LSU is helping matters in the Peach.

I'm back home in New Jersey for "Holiday," and interestingly enough stumbled across public-access TV coverage of the town's tree lighting, featuring the most famous celebrity to grow up there. BTW, never saw her around town growing up. (For what it's worth, I'd imagine, this guy is the most famous to die there.)

Oh yeah, despite some major inefficiences in the check-in process (checking in baggage after using the kiosks needs to be much faster), AirTran does do a good job of making flights go fast when there's XM Radio on the plane. At least you don't have to shut that down during takeoff and landing (like I'd have to do with my iPod).

Speaking of transportation, the current New York City transit strike may end up affecting trips to see friends in the city, although I always wonder what people in other cities think about this strike -- especially in places reluctant to install mass transit.

The rest of the story ...
Since I've got the platform at work, here's Part 1 and Part 2 of the Jeopardy! experience.

And speaking of offbeat stories landing on the site at work, here's how longtime SI hoops writer Alex Wolff bought an ABA franchise. At least he seems to be more with it than a bunch of other teams that came and went without playing a game.

I think I did a good job in picking this game for my first foray into live NHL action since the lockout. Just a ridiculously fun game. Oh yeah, there were chants of "Fire Millen" late in the third period.

One last quick Jeopardy note before I end up concocting the grand write-up: The last show of the week/taping session, which I watched in the audience with my parents after being deposed as champ, features the categories "Bizarre MLB Injuries" and "Chicago." Serves me right for taking a guess on carnauba, eh?

Couple of other notes:
-- As I pointed out to Craig, the World Cup draw actually features the Continental Soccer Association battle between Mexico and Portugal.
-- And on another Simpsons note, this is a brilliant comparison between college football teams and the denizens of Springfield.

TPS ... in song!
Too bad it sounds like the Office Space musical will be done by mid-January, when I may be coming through town.

One hit wonder
Hope I'm not spoiling it for my West Coast friends, but I'm one and done despite playing a much better game than my actual victory. But them's the breaks, I suppose. Eventually I'll have some major long wrapup thing. But thanks to all those people that have contacted me since my shows have aired (and who I didn't prod into watching in the first place).

Trebekie Monster
To those of you searching for me after appearing on Jeopardy!, welcome, yup, this is the guy you're looking for. I'll have more thoughts on the war of attrition later, although I will say it's amusing that the J! site started putting pictures of contestants appearing this week on the front (instead of just on a special page) and, well, I'm not one of them. Then again, that shouldn't be a surprise -- who wants to see my mug front and center?

The countdown continues
Just hours before the Jeopardy airing (unless you're in L.A., San Francisco and Seattle). As I've mentioned before, check your local listings. Be there. Aloha.

On a completely unrelated note, you can tell how different some of today's churches are when they're going to be closed on Christmas. On the other hand, it'll be tough to find a seat at the Catholic church on Christmas with the twice-a-years showing up.

The waiting
Just a couple of more days until my brush with TV fame, but for now, you can see everyone who taped the same week with me over here.

I guess I head into this interesting week on a roll by winning my third Trashmasters title, teaming with JD, Julie and Rebecca, and going undefeated in the process. Not sure how we did it, but I guess we were sharp all weekend long, and I think I'm even more surprised to lead the team in scoring. But it was cool to get Julie her first TM title after so many years of playing the event. And as usual, it was fun seeing all the usual suspects.

Oh yeah, I also took my second K-Tel Hell title. When Charlie makes things "more accessible," it means I've got a fighting chance with the speed. Of course, having to battle Craig down the wire for it was both fun and nerve-wracking. Now waiting to get the belt back, although I wonder if it looks like Cena's belt.

Couple of a movie reviews here as well:
-- Walk The Line: Solid film, and I guess I'm really buying both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon singing (I believed Reese first). I think Reese has better Oscar odds than Joaquin, but both are solid.
-- Jesus Is Magic: After going to matinees for long films for stuff like Walk the Line, Harry Potter, etc., I suppose what goes around comes around as I pay full price to see a 70-minute film that probably could've worked as an HBO special. But it was you expect from Sarah Silverman, along with some silly musical montages in between (although she did look pretty good in the '60s get up).

Woooooo!
Not sure how much stylin' and profilin' he was doing when this mug shot was taken.

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted. Part of me has been busy, part of me has been lazy. I guess I'm counting down the days before my Jeopardy! appearance, and getting some viewing parties set up. Plus, there's the annual trivia contest/barbecue (which is now the best way to describe Trashmasters) next weekend, so that'll be good -- also a good time to tell even more people I'll be on TV.

Thanksgiving was nice with Victoria, Phil and the Norasaurus coming back into town, and I even got suckered into some Black Friday shopping and survived -- but then again, when you know what you want (a bunch of dirt-cheap DVDs), it just seemed like another day. And now I guess I can accept the Christmas season being here (it was strange seeing all the trees up at work by last weekend), although it was odd hearing Alvin and the Chipmunks being used to sell Sopranos DVDs.

Other random thoughts:
-- RIP, Mr. Miyagi. Although I guess I would've expected him to be older, but I suppose he never really aged a whole lot in the 20-plus years since the movie came out.
-- The local pop station is doing a "lost hits" weekend, so it amusing to hear this song or even this song, but this song should've been lost for sure (you realize Adam Sandler wrote similar lyrics to be funny).
-- My schedule for New Year's is up in the air, but if things fall the right way, a trip to Nashville for a bowl game would be just fine for me. Just too bad Vandy had to lose to both MTSU and Kentucky, or else that could've been NU's opponent.
-- Yes, I've watched the final tables of the WSOP a few times. It really is like the I Love The '80s in stuff that oddly holds up in repeated viewings. But I can't help but think that when I see Andrew Black on TV that it's really a slimmed down Paul Giamatti with Alan Rickman's voice.
-- And speaking of Snape, the latest Harry Potter movie was pretty good, and even the Dawson's Creek-type storylines came across pretty well.
-- It's weird that in baseball, pitching wins are an official stat, yet there are eight jillion ways to crunch the numbers to prove it's an overrated stat (see Roger Clemens' stats this season). Yet football has a rather complex formula to determine quarterback efficiency/rating/etc. but wins get brought up all the time as the number that matters over any other stat. (e.g. Joe Montana and Tom Brady vs. Dan Marino and Peyton Manning).
-- Late in posting this article from Romenesko, but it's curious to see schools where the white kids are the dumb ones. You might even want to cue up the part in The Cable Guy where Ben Stiller says the people who killed his brother were speaking Asian.
-- If you read this story about trying to rename a road after Rosa Parks, you'd think "diverse" would mean the same thing as "urban," especially when the spokesman refers to Clayton County as "a predominantly diverse community."

Congratulations to Gobo and Sarah on the birth of their first son.

So in the span of just a few days, I've had one friend from college get married (dot-com) and another enter into fatherhood. And I'm just observing from afar, possibly trying to dodge the next stage of adulthood/being a grown-up.

I think it's safe to say that my generation (or at least just among my friends) live primarily for references to anything pop culture, especially when one of the funniest moments on TV I'd seen in a long time was no more than a two-second interstital bit on Robot Chicken with that had just one word of dialogue: "Leon!?!?"

Ten years after
One thing that dawned on a bunch of us this weekend is that it's been 10 years since the core of the "cult" first met. Funny how time flies. Even odder is how some of the stuff that tied the group together all that time ago has suddenly come back in vogue.

I suppose it shouldn't be a coincidence that MTV aired a bunch of Beavis and Butt-head cartoons over the weekend to promote the new DVD collection. And then there's that pseudo-ECW revival marked by the thrilling pay-per-view over the summer and now the addition of Joey Styles to the RAW broadcast booth.

Congratulations to Steve and Melissa on their wedding over the weekend. It was a very nice ceremony, and I was thrilled to see plenty of old faces once again -- really felt like college all over again.

The wedding took me up to East Lansing, where I hadn't been since my last official quizbowl tournament representing Northwestern back in 1997. Ironically, Steve was one of my teammates that weekend -- and it would be years before he met Melissa and then eventually get married (dot-com).

Nice enough college town, although even the allure of cheap clothing at Steve and Barry's could get me to buy some MSU gear. However, I did get to see a very good Spartans hockey game after some crossed signals with other wedding plans during the weekend. When the hockey arena is just a short walk from the hotel, it's hard not to pass it up.

Couple of scattered World Series notes ...
-- The Thrashers game pre-empted the World Series on local Atlanta radio, or at least the primary station. It might've been on a much lower-powered station, but I couldn't pick it up driving around tonight. However, I could pick up the game on Chicago's ESPN Radio station and White Sox flagship. Even with satellite radio around, it's still fun playing with the dial and seeing what you can get. On the other hand, not everyone is as curious as me in trying to find the game on the radio.
-- The "Don't Stop Believing" theme song for the White Sox is amusing. (Remember, it landed in the Top 100 on iTunes because it appeared on Family Guy.) But then they brought in Steve Perry? But shouldn't he be a Tigers fan if he was "born and raised in south Detroit" (aka Windsor)?
-- Nice to see Dustin Hermanson pitching like he did when he's been on my fantasy teams in years past.