ANS FREE ZONE
This is an Anna Nicole Smith Free Zone. As a quick aside, however, I remember the days when a celebrity worthy of this type of coverage at death first did something noteworthy while alive, such as sing, dance, tell jokes, go on a five-state killing spree, marry Elizabeth Taylor, etc. But that's all I'm going to say on the issue, because if I rant anymore, then this would no longer be a ANS Free Zone. Thank you for your understanding.

One last, quick footnote about Super Bowl XLI coverage before we reach the point (by March) when we have to stop and think about who even played in it. (Don't believe me, then quickly answer these simple questions: Who played in the 2006 World Series? What about the 2005 World Series? How about the 2005 Stanley Cup? Hah, that last one was a trick question. The NHL didn't even play in 2004-2005. How many readers forgot that?)

Anyway, we were all quite aware that it was the first time black head coaches were in the Super Bowl. But after awhile did anyone else sense a Michael Scott Moment occurring? Michael Scott, of course, is the character on the show The Office played by Steve Carell who has taken inappropriate comments to a new level, has taken sensitivity out of sensitivity training, tries desperately to prove that he understands the plight of every minority group in existence, and does all this with a clueless-ness that matches Maxwell Smart. A Michael Scott Moment then is defined as the moment when the words speak much louder than action. This sums up the Super Bowl coverage, whether it was the rambling commentary before, during, and after the game, or the commercials that decided black head coaches in the Super Bowl was a good bandwagon to hop on. At one point, I think it was during the third quarter, Phil Simms started filling airtime with what must have been his requisite rambling about the Greatness and Importance of this Historic Ocassion, and he started repeating himself and talking in circles and was stretching to make us understand how Great, Important and Historic this Ocassion was, in case we were as bright as a field goal upright and couldn't figure it out ourselves. It was a pure Michael Scott Moment, only without the unintended deragotory statements. But when it was happening, I was waiting for them.


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Without fans, won't it seem like soccer in the US then? Meanwhile, in Berlin, they are taking their shirts off their backs trying to attract fans.

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Horse, it's what's for dinner.

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And if this had been a guy, all the jokes would have been how he didn't want to ask for directions.

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It's good to see that some men still aspire to greatness.

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This sort of thing would happen more often if David Blaine was a college philosophy professor, except the barrel would be suspended in the air, or encased in a block of ice, or something equally philosophical.

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Cool. Really cool.