CURIOUS INDEX, 1/23/09

Re: Podolak — if you’re a media figure of ANY note, no matter how minor, one must assume that you’re likely to be observed out on the town, and adjust behavior accordingly if you need to. The real problem is that Gary Barta is one of those prudes about booze, as are many heads of big universities and media orgs, because the current math states that if you’re sloppy drunk, you’re an embarrassment to the org you represent.

…it has less to do with amusing photos of Iowa’s announcer drinking, and more for the prudish standards applied to those who enjoy drinking, not to mention the ongoing prejudices against functioning alcoholics.

and there is the converse of that axiom as posited by p.j. o’rourke: “It is an odd but universally held opinion that anyone who doesn’t drink must be an alcoholic.”

Riddle me this: Is it worse to be an idiot ABOUT booze or an idiot WITHOUT booze? I believe I’d take Podolak over Lou Holtz 163% of the time.

Also, a bit of clarification—was that a factory where orcs are made or a factory owned by orcs or a factory staffed by orcs? None of the three would be a surprise in West Virginia as long as it was named the Robert Byrd Orc Factory.

Beckley? Egads, sorry about that! Cuddles actually LIVES there? My family hails from Roanoke, so I know how bad that area sucks. The best thing I can say about Beckley is that is only two hours from Snowshoe, which boasts some of the best skiing and boarding terrain east of the continental divide. I prefer it to most of the overcrowded, overpriced New England mountains.

I gotta side against Brian on this one.

His selective quoting of the article missed the central line: “Altogether, the coach cost Michigan $6.6 million in 2008.” That is entirely accurate and not a stretch or lie.

It did not say the university paid Rodriguez $6.6 million, only that the decision to hire him caused $6.6 million to leave the athletics department bank account. Not sure where the mix up is here.

There is an orc factory in West Virginia? That means that the surrounding area must be clear Ents. My question is do they make Urakhai there? If they do, why is Stewart not recruiting them.

The idea from fanboys that a newspaper “has it in” for a program is silly. Anything Brian deems “misleading” in the story was cleared up in the third paragraph — and the point of the story is it is an awful damn lot to be spending on a Division I football coach. It’s merited work, and not worth rooting for the death of industry. Turn your tint down please.

As a vicarious recipient of Tebow’s Loyalty, I applaud his every move and look forward to another year of his Gatorness.

As for congress, and as a vicarious recipient of their idiocy, I applaud their continuous inability to achieve anything positive for the constituents they serve and look forward to observing their eventual demise into a quagmire of frustration the likes of which they have provided the citizens of this great nation.

O, be sure to pick up some coal jewlery for the lady while you’re there at the welcome center. It is, in fact, only a couple hundred milina shy of being a diamond.

Re: Podolak. This proves is that drinking is far more acceptable in the SEC. How many chances did Kenny get? He wasn’t fired – just took a leave of absence. I am sure that he will ultimately return. If we fired everyone who made a fool of himself/herself in public (with or without alcohol, we would be looking at test patterns on the tv instead of football games or at football games without announcers.

As for the Congressional vote…I can understand Utah’s bitch and no vote. Texas reps are idiots. It has been pointed out [ad nauseum] that their complaint is with the Big 12 tie-breaking rules. Can they honestly make a claim for the championship after that performance in the Bowl game? I accept Arkansas’ claim that there are more important things to deal with (but c’mon – hundreds of bills get passed just like this while Rome burns). As for the Auburn guy – bitter rivals? The reps “serving” the Tide district, Vol/Vanderbilt, MS, Arps, Gamecocks, LSU country, (apparently California), northern FL (FSU country), south FL (da U) all voted for it. Someone needs to lighten up.

Well if there is an Orc factory there, that would explain their fanbase, ya know the ones that crawl from out from UNDER the trailer…….ZING!
And Podolak, he must not be fired, his mustache is glorious and FBI worthy, and I think the main reason he was fired is that we are in a recession, everyone is cutting back, and he is out there drinking Corona from a bar, at bar prices, just flaunting it in the average Iowanians faces…he would have gotten a little more slack had it been Keystone or Miller High Life…and if the chick would have been Denise Milani, he’d still have his job because then he earns hero status and more street cred……

Luca Braci sleeps with the foreskins.

Living in WV would still be preferable to living in Pittsburgh where the Orcs are mulleted and cranked on PCP. Y’ins know i’m right.

This shiat is driving me nuts! Can’t any of you idiots see what I am saying here? How could I be wrong? Everyone hates Michigan. Focking Wolverine Liberation Army is killing me with all their crazy junk. All they do is insult my readers, and all my readers do is post up the dumbest junk on the interwebs. I need me some more control. I want to be interwebs Czar. I want all the power to ban anyone and everyone I want to. And some nuklear weapons. And some lasers with sharks attached. And a samwhich.

Hey, and Morgan Trent ran down Percy Harvin and I don’t care whose stickers he puts on his helmet. Shut up Delaware.

Isn’t there an IRS office out in Beckley? Surely Cuddles isn’t a revenuer?

and having avoided fanhouse in recent days due to the possibility of accidentally gazing upon the unctious visage of their newest columnist i wasn’t aware they had undergone a site redesign. gotta say, i’m not taking the Waffen SS-style look for the logo was the right approach to take there, guys.

Podolak got fired for that!?! Seriously? I don’t know who they are going to get to replace him, but they deserve this guy. Boom goes the dynamite!

The Michigan money is income to RR as far as tax liability goes. it was for his direct benefit.
Why it was paid is annother matter. UM wanted out of answering for his case. The president and AD lost their motion to be excused from deposition, and a deal was struck immediately.

Also, while in the mountain state be sure to check out the indigenous hemp and coal mine expose in Beckley. Its said to be glorious.

Maybe Podolak should have shown the Iowa heads some footage from the Tide guy who lives in the trailer and who drinks on camera. For some comparison.

Beckley. I grew up in rural Nebraska and WV makes Nebraska look like the Magnificent Mile in Chicago by comparison. I’ve never seen a more depressing place in America. For an interesting sidetrip, head to Mullens (home of Mike Dantoni!) and see their sign as you enter town proclaiming their state titles in basketball. They won several titles in the ‘60s in WV"s largest classification, now there’s no high school there. Beckley does have a Chick-Fil-A though.

Beckley? Perhaps Orson is skiing at Winterplace. Yay for Southeast coast skiing/icing/slushing, in shorts and a t-shirt.

Skiing in jorts give me a rash, and FBS…..(frozen ball syndrome)

My question is, can Orson TAKE Cuddles now, since Orson has been working out? Like toss him thru a plate glass window during a spirited game of Xbox 360 or Wii Tennis?

Was that coal factory in a place called Weirton, WV? I’ve been through there and had the same thoughts. That place in ungodly.

Given how many Congresspersons benefit from non-competitive gerrymandered districts, it seems to me that they are the last persons in the world who should be allowed to weigh in on anything having to do with competition. And don’t they have an economy to fix?

Re: Pololak

1. Many Iowa students drink enough so that it negatively affects their lives, the lives of the people in Iowa City. I know of one merchant downtown who cleans puke out of his doorway every Saturday and Sunday morning during the school year. Let me repeat that: every Saturday and Sunday morning. If you think that’s cute, let me come over to your house and puke on your doorstep sixty or so times a year. Until the last year or so, university has been steadily offering fewer and fewer classes on Friday mornings because the young ’uns are still in bed. Given these circumstances, and the fact that the people who pay the freight (donors, parents, and taxpayers) know it, the university is understandably sensitive about what messages the “grownups” are sending. Why should the taxpayers fund five to seven years of substance abuse for able bodied youth?

2. Podolak wasn’t fired. He was told that he had to fulfill certain conditions to be offered a new contract. He decided that he’d rather drink in public than broadcast games. It’s his choice, and, as EDSBS says, good for him.

3. Pololak’s situation is yet another example of the fact that NCAA revenue sports are completely hypocritical from top to bottom from fans, to institutions, to players, to coaches to athletic departments. After all, Podolak was essentially a beer salesman. You’d think the beer companies would want a guy around whose pictures suggested that if you get hammered enough, you’ll get to look at interestingly situated tattoos. Apparently not so much.

Yes, being drunk in public equates to being drunk on the Internet. However, that does not mean it has to be you who brings it to the world’s attention. W of O should be above that, given his usual fine writing.

Brian is right in the sense that the W of O is angling for an Orson to Sporting News, Sunday Morning QB to whichever one pays him, etc type deal. However, the manner in which he is doing it, hoping that the hits from cheap gossip instead of his writing equates to some media outlet paying him, is unfortunate.

Granted, that model certainly worked for other sports blogs, but if the writing does not pass muster, said writer will eventually be exposed.