No, they're only coming to your school via WGN or ABC Family
Well, the news and publicity concerning the fake CNN news generator will be picking up in the next few days as the operators of the Web site and the tool used to create all those hoax pages issued a press release, which is sort of an apology for what they've done. I say sorta, because you could tell that they wanted to keep this up for a while but were stopped when everything hit the fan. Instead of those funny "Olsen twins go to (fill in name of college here)", it got to the near-libel/slander stage with accusations of people being child pornographers, etc.

On my end, I had to field a couple of phone calls concerning fake sports stories being generated, even though it's not anywhere close to looking like the pages on the work site. But try explaining that to someone not completely Web-savvy (or at least savvy to the stuff done internally), and, well, it becomes an exercise in futility. At that point, this whole adventure went from silliness (with reservations) to actual concern.

Now the site has message boards discussing this little slice of Internet history. Many of the posts are just talking about how these fake stories generated silly buzz around many college campuses. A bunch are explanations of the operators' actions, and if I don't agree with everything they say, their responses have been well thought-out and coherent. On the other hand, a couple of the regular posters have just reinforced my stereotypes of many message board folks -- lots of middle-school name-calling and ad hominem attacks that prove nothing. Plus, one of them used a handle that would probably make Charlie (and people of his ilk) cringe. These are the people that probably led to the quicker downfall of the site, and they probably don't even realize it.

And maybe that's the scary part of this little episode: With the Web, and especially the rise of blogs, just about anyone can post anything they want. While it has helped give many people a deserved voice in the public arena, it also gives as many people who don't deserve it.

Living the geek life
Scary to think that you replace debate with quiz bowl and you pretty much have this Onion gem. I guess the same could go with mock trial or Model UN. I take that back, I wish some I did more of the geek debauchery. Now that's a tad sad, eh?

This much is true
I guess the Brits are showing some taste and restraint by clamping down on celebrity boxing. However, the funniest part of this article is that the next fight was supposed to feature Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet. I guess that answers that question of "Where are they now?"

I think one word best describes the latest controversy in college basketball these days: Candygram.

Potvin still sucks
Well I've discovered that I'm very bad luck for NHL coaches. First, Montreal fires Michel Therrien a few days after I see the Thrashers blank the Canadiens in Bob Hartley's debut. Now, my formerly beloved Rangers get rid of Bryan Trottier after getting swept by the Thrashers.

I'm not sure what this says, other than losing to the Thrashers is dangerous to your job security. Then again, the team has played much better under Hartley, and there's actually some feeling of hope among the die-hard fans. Yes, they do exist. I've become acquainted with a group of them the past couple of games, and then there's Thrashheart -- a fan usually dressed up as Braveheart, complete with face paint. Then again, last night he had no face paint and with his beard and long hair, he just looks like a bunch of quiz bowlers I know.

Minute Maid Park, hello
Somehow, Larry King has gotten his way into writing a sports column on our site starting today. But to get you in the right frame of mind, you must read this Onion classic followed by these classic bits by Norm McDonald on SNL.

Hoax of the day
I suppose with the array of actors and other famous people who have come through the alma mater, a story like this might actually draw some legitimate interest, even though it's not for real. Then again, I blanch at the attention given to them across the board from all demographics.

Yo, statboy
While you've got to go through a bunch of hoops these days to read it, Salon has a great piece on the numbers game of protest marches. I've always wondered where the organizers of some of these events got their numbers of people attending their events, and many times they sound a lot like Dr. Evil (we had one million people). The mathematical formula used makes a lot of sense and reminds me of how people would use similar numbers to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar (and often be right). I'm surprised more people don't use it when estimating crowds at rallies, but then again just like everything else, the numbers game is political. Of course, if sports teams can fudge attendance numbers (and they have tools to measure the numbers precisely -- ticket stubs/turnstiles), why can't some group trying to prove everyone not in the Bush administration is against the war?

If I'm startin', I ain't departin'
As I keep on saying after the Pro Bowl selections are announced, don't whine if you didn't get in because you will eventually. You'd think Michael Vick was a long-time NFL veteran because he's skipping the game to have a bunion removed. That's the type of ailment you seen seven- or eight-time honorees get in order to skip the trip to Hawaii. A good thing about that move is that it finally gets Brad Johnson into the game. At least Priest Holmes had a good reason to pass, thanks to that injury that seems eerily similar to Bo Jackson's. I'm sure some of the other Super Bowl players will bow out soon, and I can almost see Jon Kitna being called in.

If the whole flag issue didn't already say a lot about the state of Georgia, the long-running crusade to exempt pick-up trucks from seat belt laws may finally end as long-time speaker of the house Tom Murphy was defeated last November. I suppose you could say he had his constituents in mind since he came from a rural area with plenty of trucks around, but the safety issue at stake here seems a lot more tangible than any smoking or drinking ordinances out there.

And to answer Brian's query, as it states in the article, SUVs are not part of this exemption. Then again, I doubt there were that many SUVs in Murphy's district. Speaking of SUVs, the Wall Street Journal had an entertaining essay the other day breaking down the sociology of SUVs, calling it a "civil war within the educated class" and comparing it to a war between geeks and jocks. I'm not a big fan of SUVs, or more accurately, I'm not interested in getting one. But I'm not sure I'm all for the crusade against them, especially the "moral fervor ... which has risen to the level of a liberal fatwa." I'm just more annoyed by how much space they can take up in the parking lot -- there used to be a guy living in my section of my apartment complex with a gigantic Escalade that seemed to overwhelm any car around it.

Desperation unknown
Well I guess it's something that I've discovered this guy's page before MTV follows him around for an upcoming special (no, not Cribs, thankfully). I suppose an actual application to date this guy (and is that really his name? Come on, now.) seems strange, but I'm not too sure on which end: The guy would seem to desperate for a date, but then again he's got a full list of qualifications and he seems to have dated some attractive women over time. On the other hand, you wonder what type of women would apply, either for real or as a joke, and if they send a photo, just exactly would they send? I suppose I'll just have to watch the special to find out.

The application itself is rather funny. The Ralph quotes are classic, and the description of a "Chicago girl" is a riot. I now have to think that over carefully based on who I knew and know from there.

It's a very creative, if very vain project, but more power to him if he can actually find some hotties out of the whole deal. Plus it's probably preferable to some of the dating stories already told on some of my friends' blogs or the whatever it is I call my social life.

No, Senator, you may not buy a vowel
Hmm, Fox News is ruling the cable news airwaves so I guess they can afford to give Pat Sajak a talk show? Then again, it may not be a bad choice given how much I guess he appeals to Middle America all these years. Then again, I thought his short-lived talk show wasn't all that bad, so what do I know?

I've recently had my share of getting lost en route to social engagements, but I don't think I've had anything as public as everyone's favorite police chief. No word if Boris or Natasha were seen in the vicinity, but there was a very agitated squirrel.

At the Googleplex ...
I'll give SI's Grant Wahl the credit for excessive hits on Googlism, a silly tool that pretty much digests Google results and turns them into some odd descriptions of your search terms. A lookup of my name pretty much turns up things I already knew existed on the Web. I'm afraid to see what might happen with other people, especially with those who might share the same name.

Mmm ... 24.2 pound cheeseburger. Something tells me it's probably a bit better than the $41 monstrosity that seems to shy away from the real definition of the term.

While the format was a bit screwy, Jim Caple hits some good points about the hypocrisy over criticizing baseball while giving a pass to football regarding start times and schedules.

However, for now the NFL has scheduled prime-time playoff games on Saturday nights, which probably doesn't have as much effect on the "children" watching the games. (Then again, many of the same critics want World Series weekend games to start during the afternoon, so it's all over the place.) But, things have been screwy recently with the timing of NFL playoff games. Most fans have now been trained on the 1 p.m./4 p.m. schedule for games during the season, so why change things for the playoffs? I guess appeasing the West Coast audience is good, and it makes things slightly easier had they're been two Pacific Time Zone teams hosting conference title games.

Fonts of misinformation
It's interesting what browser settings people working different sites use as their default for designing pages and other formatting issues. We've had debates in the past at work about how things looked on the site when the browser was shown on TV or on one of our bosses' computers (both had font sizes jacked up bigger than most people used). When things were close, we'd default to a pretty basic setting. However, they're a little bigger than what I'm used to using at home. Conversely, the layout, design, headline sizes, etc. on this site look perfect on my home laptop but are a bit goofy on my settings at work.

While those late night G.I. Joe cartoons are now off Cartoon Network, it's really cool to see Futurama repeats showing up on the network. At times, it was funnier than The Simpsons, although these early episodes showed how far the show had developed. However, I can't help but think Bender (must get one of those Bender toys) sounds eerily like Ron Santo.

Tick, tick, boom
I guess 24 is giving way to American Idol for a couple of weeks, but it's going away on a high note in the one of the more bewildering episodes I've seen in a while.

Some stuff was obvious. Who didn't see Sherry turning on President Cerrano? And of course, Jack's daughter was going to do something silly to get herself into more trouble, although she looked very hot doing so. Plus, they had to resolve the Jack-Nina hostage crisis quickly in order to move all the other plot elements along.

Some was out of left field. Annoying blonde bride was a killer and involved in the whole thing? What? I suppose some people could've seen it, maybe that stupidity and airheadedness was a great cover. Now the bizarro thing was the Michelle-Soul Patch "Hey, you wanna go out sometime" exchange. In the midst of a potential nuclear bomb, there is plenty of sexual tension in the air. Yeah, I guess so. Oh well, there was at least some realistic awkwardness in the whole exchange. Then again, I think we know what happens with interoffice romance at CTU.

It probably shouldn't have been too surprising that Willis McGahee went pro despite his injured knee. The only reason I'm surprised is that few people considered the possibility when he got hurt in the first place. The only person to say anything about it was Jason Whitlock, and it made plenty of sense at the time. The early money may not be there right away, but getting a third- or fourth-round contract, going on IR and getting proper treatment from pro trainers will mean something in the long run. The question is when a team is willing to make the move on a running back with a known knee injury. Much smaller injuries longer ago have killed some players' draft status in the past.