With the BIG game coming up tomorrow, the best football analysts have predictisized and bullshitaguessed about the ultimate result of the Super Bowl. Hogwarts....I mean hogwash, I say. As we should all know by now, the result of sporting events has nothing to do with physical ability, x's and o's, schemes, coaching, luck (I am looking at you Sh-Eli), and the like. Those things have no impact on the final score. Indeed like 43, the big G-O-D is the decider. Will Warner and the Cards of a reddish hue prove worthy in the eyes of the beholder or will the black and yellow team from the Steel City deserve his glory? Only time...and God with tell.
Bosnian and Serbian spectators attacked each other with lawn chairs after the third-round Australian Open match between Serbian Novak Djokovic and Bosnian-born Amer Delic. Police arrested two men and kicked 30 people off the grounds for fighting.
Apparently, these type of outbreaks have been commonplace at the Australian Open since 2007 and police even added to security measures this year in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the violence to a minimum.
The poor woman who took the chair to the face probably wishes they did more.
Who knew tennis would inspire such cultural tension?
The tennis might have been pretty at the Australian Open Tuesday, but the action after play was over turned pretty ugly.
Croatian Marin Cilic defeated Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in four sets during round two, but the bigger story came when fans from both sides got so violent towards each other that cops had to be brought into Court Two and the brawl ended up spilling out into the Garden Square.
The two groups faced off, hurling chants and shouting abuse. The situation only was defused when police, who had been discreetly positioned around the arena, moved them on.
Punches later were thrown in a scuffle near a packed bar. Both groups, wearing national colors, then continued to march around Melbourne Park in large packs. A repeat of the out-of-control brawl in 2007 did not eventuate.
As scary as this one was, one player is worried it could get worse. Bosnian-born player Amer Delic is facing off against third-ranked Novak Djokovic and is pleading with his fans to just be chill and not bring all the political tension to the tennis arena.
"I'm just hoping in the next match with Novak that it doesn't turn in to World War III," he said. "I am going to try and tell my fans that we don't need to be embarrassing ourselves in the eyes of the world."
Sometimes, as an American, I forget how intense things can get when these nations meet in anything, be it tennis or cricket or just hanging out at a bar. While Steelers fans might hate the Ravens, it isn't like they're marching around with political chips on their shoulders, actually hating the people that support a squad from Baltimore.
This stuff appears to be too serious for the sports world, and we can only hope that they avoid making it bigger than the game itself.
I, like many, spent yesterday glued to the TV watching the inauguration ceremonies from DC. I, like many, had trouble keeping my emotions in check. There were many profound moments throughout the festivities, including the impressive sweeping shots showing the overwhelming mass of humanity in attendance, the president as he walked alone prior to his introduction around 11:30 am EST, the traditional get-out and walk with the people down Pennsylvania Avenue in route to his new home, etc., etc. Save the actual physical act of swearing in, the moment that stood out the most for me, was Aretha's rendition of "My Country 'Tis of Thee." While her hat, by all accounts, was bow-arific and looked like a Christmas present had been perched upon her head, Aretha proved she still had her legendary vocals in the opening seconds of the song. Admittedly, certain sections of the song proved to be out of The Queen of Soul's range, but considering the venue, the timing, and the emotion of the occasion, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" never sounded more beautiful.
To put this performance over the top, one must take into account that Aretha sung the same song at Martin Luther King's funeral.
For those of you who lack the faith required to crown a national champion under the reign of the BCS, I offer you....math. I came across this interesting website that utilizes the transitive property (if a=b and b=c, then a=c) to crown 116 of the 120 NCAA Division I teams champions of 2009. For example, let us take the lowly Michigan Wolverines, who finished a pitiful 3-9 this past season. Michigan beat Minnesota - Minnesota beat Illinois - Illinois beat Iowa - Iowa beat South Carolina - South Carolina beat Mississippi - Mississippi beat Florida - Florida was the 2009 AP National Champion - so, by the transitive property, Michigan was the best Division 1-A school of 2009.
I took a weekend trip with a couple of friends down to Yellowstone. While access to the park is limited to the northern road between Gardiner, MT and Cooke City, WY, there is still plenty to do in the nation's first national park. On Saturday, we braved the snowy conditions and completed the entire 110-mile loop on US-212. Beyond the physical beauty encountered in Yellowstone, we were able to see a wide variety of wildlife, including elk, bison, pronghorns, mule deer, big horn sheep, coyotes, and wolves. We stopped by Mammoth Hot Springs and went cross-country skiing. I must say, cross-country skiing was certainly an exhausting experience. However, I was surprised how easily I was able to pick up the skill. I think I have to credit my father's old NordicTrak. Here is a selection of our travels:
Another snowy day in Missoula and as I suggested in my previous post, I have been considering uploading a "making a beat" video. Here it is...The Peppermint Mine theme song with verbal insertions by Yukon Cornelius.
From time to time, I fool around with audio production. I have acquired a PadKontrol MIDI Controller for my continued musical amusement and I use a variety of programs to produce hip-hop instrumentals. Youtube and other video sites contain a slew of self-produced videos of people making digital music on a variety of set-ups. These videos often produce feelings of musical superiority, amazement, respect, inspiration, and jealousy. Recently, okayplayer posted a series of three videos from Exile, half of the hip-hop duo Blu & Exile (check out their solid album - Below the Heavens), playing some of his material from his new album Radio. The album is composed completely of material sampled from the L.A. radio waves. Here is a performance of Bounce on the MPC (via okayplayer.com)
Me pater checked out the blog this morning and liked what he saw. Honestly, I think he was just pleased to see my "penmanship" back in the blogosphere, after my well chronicled struggles with Delawhere. But, he posed an interesting and important question...what's in the name and why the use of the quirky and rubicund (thank you thesaurus.com) prospector, Yukon Cornelius. As I mentioned before, I am originally from Wilmington, Delaware and I have moved my way out west, in search of natural beauty and elevation.
Factoid Break - the hike up to the M on Mount Sentinel is a mere 620 feet of elevation gain. Considered to be a recreational hike for many in Missoula, the M trail surpasses the total elevation change represented by the difference in Delaware's highest (the Ebright Azimuth - 447.85 feet above sea level) and lowest (sea level - 0 feet above...sea level) points.
My westward movement has coincided with my growing academic and personal interest in the geosciences. My academic research focuses on rivers and the movement of contaminated sediment in river systems. This growing interest in the outdoors and the processes that shape the landscape has contributed to, among other things, the growth of an amazingly patchy and poorly maintained beard. (Insert weak transition to the Christmas season here). This past month, the holiday season brought it's seasonal cheer, brisk winter weather, holiday music and classic movies. As a yute in the DE, there were many classic holiday movies in my family's rotation, including classics like A Christmas Story, White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Black Adder's Christmas Carol, Mr. Bean's Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Christmas Vacation, and Diner (a timeless Christmas movie in my dad's proverbial book). Missing from this rotation of holiday cinema is the original Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I am sure that I saw it a couple times during my childhood, but it never was an annual yuletide standard. Fast forward several years to Christmas 2008 in Missoula, my girlfriend put Rudolph on her Netflix queue. As we cozied up on the couch to watch the awkward teenage year's of Santa's guiding light, I was smacked in the face by the glory of Yukon Cornelius and his search for gold and silver. Impressed by his full, fiery beard and powerful voice, I latched onto Yukon Cornelius, the greatest prospector in the North.
The name is Yukon Cornelius, the greatest prospector in the North. This is my land and you know, it's rich with GOLD. Gold and Silver. Silver and Gold.
As a responsible geoscientist and amateur geographer, I found Yukon's introduction intriguing. Beyond the holiday warmth displayed by Mr. Cornelius in the remainder of the movie, at some level, Yukon's character represents the idea of ownership and subsequent exploitation of natural "resources" that has played such a significant role in the American West and has been a driving economic force in states like Montana (Side Note: good read - Wounding the West by David Stiller). In many ways, a lack of connection to the outdoors, a lack of understanding of nature's inter connectivity, and the idea that natural resources were created to be wholly exploited and taxed continues to plague our society. Combine these social elements with my graduate research addressing the downstream transport of formerly impounded sediment, contaminated with heavy metals from historic upstream mining activities, in the Clark Fork River following the removal of Milltown Dam. (See map below)
An enjoyable year-long journey across Montana visiting the state's many microbreweries. I have some work to do. I have shared just three of these Montana beer experiences: Big Sky, Kettlehouse, and Bayern. Each a positive one.
I have failed to maintain my first (and certainly most prolific) blog DeLaWho? DeLaWhat? DeLaWhere?. Created about 4 years ago for a communications class at Denison University, I have had troubles maintaining a constant blogging presence. In the search of new colors and blog title, I have decided to give blogging a fresh start. However, the content of this blog will not veer too sharply from the content of my former blog. Hence, Yukon Cornelius' The Peppermint Mine. I have continued my westward migration from Wilmington, Delaware out to Missoula, Montana. I am currently attending the University of Montana for graduate studies in the geosciences. There it is. The intro. Let the posting begin.
