The Humanoids: Don’t Hate The Player… Or Do Hate The Player

You know what the hardest part of blogging is? It’s coming up with a good title. It has to explain the post to anyone browsing on a search engine but it also has to make a potential reader click on the link to it. That is if your blog posts are actually listed. That would be the other thing that’s hard about blog writing. I’m used to writing and performing on live radio. I figure that means that a lot of my passive attacks and pseudo-sarcastic remarks don’t work as well in print as they do with my amateur radio voice. That doesn’t mean that I won’t try. This week I try to the tune of over 2300 words. Not Bill Simmons long but it’s a good start for someone that Jay Mariotti would characterize as having no life and living in my parents’ basement. Still, writing 2300 words on the blog is easier than writing that much for a university term paper.

Anyway, it’s been a tough week in the world of sports for a lot of folk. Usually we’re gliding our way into the dog days of summer and are just praying for the start of football or hockey or meaningful baseball games. Instead, we have all sorts of stories popping up. It’s a blogger’s dream… And ESPN’s nightmare. Among other folks. Continue reading

The NHL Clearance Price Is Right

Inspired by this quiz about merchandise from the NBA, I decided to put an NHL spin on that Price is Right quiz. Most of the questions are about discounted merch for players that left during this off-season and the NHL is trying to clear the inventory. But you never know what might turn up. Not even all items are discounted. There are 20 different pieces of swag to try your skills on. Continue reading

Wednesday Link-Off: Strange But True

katherine-heigl-gq2Katherine Heigl has a new movie coming out this weekend. She hopes that it does well because she’s managed to piss off Grey’s Anatomy writers. I can sleep soundly at night knowing both Grey’s and The Ugly Truth will flop.

The King is back to haunt our dreams. Burger King is sponsoring a Spanish soccer team and expect the King to make regular in-game appearances. (Deadspin)

I knew that you could drive a car without legs but I didn’t think it was possible to ride a motorcycle without arms. (Ananova)

Normally I wouldn’t complain about criminals getting locked up for a long time but this might be excessive. A man steals five CDs from Wal-Mart and gets life in prison. He still got off lighter than if he were to try to start a union in Wal-Mart. (Houston Chronicle)

After the jump, learn about golf broadcasts, dumb athlete excuses, and Rick Astley meets Nirvana in the world’s greatest mashup. Continue reading

July 21st Episode of The Lowdown

You can listen to tonight’s special Listeners’ Choice edition of the Best of The Lowdown. On tonight’s episode, the guys find out what not to say in a bar, Steve goes to UWO’s Clubs Week twice, he also tries to release a rap album, and he ends by gets lost repeatedly on campus.

Click here to download the 10 MB podcast version.
Click here to download the 26 MB high-quality version.

Shaquille O’Neal To Guest Host WWE Raw

When I live-blogged Raw is Trump a few weeks back, I mentioned that The Donald was going to have a celebrity guest host in charge of Monday Night Raw every week. Just because Trump is gone doesn’t mean that the WWE have given up on celebrity hosts. Now, NBA and Twitter superstar Shaquille O’Neal will be the guest host on WWE Monday Night Raw next week. Continue reading

Not News of the Week

It’s all the news that’s not fit for print. It’s the weird, wacky and wonderful Not News of the Week. All of this week’s stories have to do with money. After all, cash is king.

Two former advertising executives have written a book that puts a monetary value to things that make you happy but don’t actually cost you any money. It seems generally pointless but there are some interesting things in there. For example, the words “I love you” are worth £163,424. While that is considerably more than what I paid for my last mail order bride, the good news is that you aren’t likely to see anyone run away for that cash. Also, I’m sure you’ll help yourself if you say that your girlfriend’s love is worth more than that. I guess this week is the not news and love advice of the week. Continue reading

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

harry potter and the half blood princeAs mentioned in my Entertainment Link-Off, here is the movie review for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The latest entry to the Harry Potter film series drops the bright, light-hearted tone of the previous films and attempts to capture the dark nature of… teenage romance? Continue reading

Football Night In Canada: Week 3 Wrapup

The third week of the CFL season was a tribute to its history. Each team played its games in a 1960’s retro jersey during the CFL’s Retro Week. While all the games weren’t vintage rivalries didn’t mean that the teams didn’t give their all and go hard for the win. Among the big games for the week were Saskatchewan and Montreal battling to be the sole remaining undefeated team this season. However, even that game failed to provide any real excitement at the wire. Continue reading

Sunday Link-Off: A Hive of Scum and Randominity

january-jones-gq-1January Jones is not described accurately by the title of this post. Though I would imagine that her Emmy-nominated show, Mad Men, could be described as such.

It’s always nice to make fun of people you know who have the same name as porn star. I’d imagine it wouldn’t be as fun for you if you were a well known public personality. (Mediaite)

Speaking of porn, there might be a video tape to that effect of MMA superstar Gina Carano. We could be talking about the highest selling sex tape of all time. (Cagewriter)

Keeping with the theme of nudity, ESPN superstar reporter and blogosphere favourite Erin Andrews was filmed naked in her hotel room though the peephole. Bloggers (including yours truly) and oglers fail to see the humour. (Deadspin: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) I’ll have more on this story on Friday with my Humanoids column.

After the jump, Megan Fox, Jeremy Mayfield’s drug and family issues, and Charles Barkley attempts an interview for Canadian TV. Continue reading

Entertainment Link-Off: Do You Believe In Magic?

zooey deschanelForget about the little boy wizard known as Harry Potter. Since the screaming fangirls will be crowding the theatres to see that, let’s take a look at an alternative option. This weekend also marks the release of the quirky comedy 500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel (pictured). Seriously, if you already read the Harry Potter books, you’ll know how it ends. Go watch something fresh instead and check out the amazing chemistry between Zooey and her talented co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Since this is a FOX Searchlight release, expect the platform rollout which means the film will hit the larger cities first before spreading to other areas. Here is the release schedule so that you can check if it’s going to be playing in a theatre near you this weekend. (500days.com)

After the jump, small tidbits on TV, 3D Movies, Harry Potter and zombies! Continue reading