Thursday, January 04, 2007

January 4, 2007

Last night, after watching another great episode of “Friday Night Lights,” (*SPOILERS* how cute was Landry tutoring Riggins and then Riggins coming to Landry’s gig?) I somehow got sucked into watching “Degrassi.” I don’t know which is more depressing, that I watched “Degrassi” or that I had seen both episodes before.

NASCAR Update:
Tony Stewart is prepared. The two time Cup Champion told listeners of his weekly radio show on Sirius that he has $50,000 stashed for any fines he may receive from NASCAR this season. Something tells me $50k is not going to be enough! (foxsports.com)

Frank Kerr was named the crew chief of the #00 Toyota driven by David Reutimann for Michael Waltrip Racing. He replaces Larry Carter who left to join Roush Racing.

Ricky Rudd will drive the #88 at Robert Yates Racing not the rumored #28 he drove while at RYR from 2000-2002.

TNT will air the Pepsi 400 commercial free. I don’t know what’s worse, the incessant commercial breaks or having to listen to Wally Dalenbach for two and a half hours without a break. (jayski.com)

Giants Update:
Jeremy Shockey did not practice on Wednesday but the swelling on his injured left ankle has shown a marked improvement. He is still listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Around Sports:
Baseball
Universal Medical Systems Inc. claims the balls used in Major League Baseball in 1998 were juiced. They claim the balls had a “larger rubberized core and a synthetic rubber ring.” 1998 was MLB’s comeback year after the ugliness that was the 1994 shortened season due in part to the homerun derby turned in by the St. Louis Cardinals Mark Maguire and the Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa. Both managed to break Roger Maris’ 37 year old homerun record with Maguire besting Sosa with a record 70 homeruns in one season. So maybe it wasn’t the steroids! (AP)

Basketball
The New Jersey Nets traded guard Jeff McInnis and cash to the Charlotte Bobcats for Bernard Robinson.

College Football
Notre Dame lost its ninth straight bowl game on Wednesday, 41-14 to LSU.

Football
Congratulations to the San Diego Chargers LaDainian Thomlinson who was named AP MVP of the Year.

Congratulations to the New York Jets (yuck) Chad Pennington who was named AP Comeback Player of the Year.

IRL
Dario Franchetti will return to Andretti Green Racing in 2007. He’ll join teammates Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti.

A.J. Foyt, IV’s experiment in NASCAR didn’t go as planned. The 22 year old will return to the IRL in 2007 with Vision Racing.

WNBA
The Charlotte Sting, one of the original eight teams in the WNBA has folded only weeks after the Charlotte Bobcats gave up control of the team. The WNBA was unable to find a buyer for the team. (AP)

Around the World:
The first session of the 110th congress ushered in the resurgent Democrats who now own the majority in both the House and the Senate for the first time in 12 years. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is poised to become the first female Speaker of the House.

Toyota outsold DaimlerChrysler to become the no. 3 automaker behind GM and Ford Motor Company.

In a sci-fi geek’s dream news…A metal object fell through the roof of a Freehold, NJ home. The golf ball sized mystery object is being investigated…Meanwhile, pilots at O’Hare Airport in Chicago believe they saw a UFO. Federal officials claim it was an odd weather phenomenon. Maybe that was what dropped the metal object on the house in NJ on its way to Roswell.

Usually it is only old woman who give money to cats but the Bank of Queensland wanted to change that when they admitted they issued a credit card to Messiah, an adorable CAT! Messiah’s owner, Katherine Campbell applied for a second credit card for her cat to check out the Bank’s security system. Apparently, it’s not too good! (AFP)

Random Quote: “We have investigated the issue and it appears the bank made an error.” Bank of Queensland spokeswoman (AFP)

Popo in my crib news:
Jim Lampley was arrested for investigation of domestic violence on Wednesday. The sports announcer allegedly also violated a restraining order. He was released on $35,000 bond. Watch out Jim, because the popo are on your tail!

Celebrity Tid Bits:
The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were announced this morning. Here are a few highlights:

Motion Pictures:
Cast in a Motion Picture
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine

Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) were nominated for Best Supporting Actress while their co-stars Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) were nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Television:
Cast in a Drama Series
24
Boston Legal
Deadwood
Grey’s Anatomy
The Sopranos

Cast in a Comedy Series
Desperate Housewives (really?)
Entourage
The Office (YEAH!)
Ugly Betty
Weeds

Megan Mullally was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for “Will & Grace” even though the show was cancelled last year. She’ll go up against America Ferrera (Ugly Betty). Congratulations to Steve Carrell on his Best Actor in a Comedy Series nomination and Chandra Wilson, the only “Grey’s Anatomy” cast member to be individually nominated. She’ll go up against Kyra Sedgwick and Mariska Hargitay in the Best Actress in a Drama Series category.

For a complete list of nominees you can go to sagawards.com

TV ALERT: It may have been cancelled, but FOX is still showing new episodes of “the OC” starting tonight at 9 PM/est

TV ALERT: An all new episode of “Ugly Betty” on ABC at 8 PM/est

TV ALERT: Find out who Michael took on his all inclusive Jamaican vacation on “The Office” at 8:30 PM/est on NBC

The “Megan Mullally Show” has been cancelled only four months after it first premiered.

“Lost” star Emilie de Ravin and her husband of six months Jeff Raymond have split. Well that’s longer than Britney Spears first marriage!

Happy Birthday shout outs to David Foley (44), Michael Stipe (47) and Dyan Cannon (70).

It’s been fun blogging with you,
Kate

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