Okay, who remembers’ back when I started this site and people were thinking, “Who’d want to scorn mounty? mounty scorner? What’s that about?” Well, eventually word got around, one way, or the other, that no one was scorning anything and the site, in fact, represented mounty’s little corner of the internets. The folks at 1&1 didn’t get that message:

1. At what point does a coach cross the line between fiercely defending his own players, his quarterback in particular, and move into childish screaming? That seems to be the question surrounding Oklahoma State’s head coach Mike Gundy this week. Gundy, in a press conference after OSU’s win over Texas, absolutely went berserk on the Daily Oklahoman sports writer who, in his mind, shredded quarterback Bobby Reid for a whole host of reason, most of which seemed to be backed by surmising and rumor. Now, you can read the article here then watch Gundy’s response here (or here if YouTube is not kosher for whatever reason). The debate is centered around professionality…and while, no, throwing a fit on national television is not the most professional way to go about things, I can almost guarantee that, considering the lack of action elsewhere in the state of OK, those reporters have never been shouted down from a local sports icon before, and I further doubt it’s an experience they’ll soon forget. Props to Gundy, though, for sticking up for his player. Anyone who’s spent time away from home at college knows that you tend to gain a handful of surrogate parents in the faculty and staff with whom you interact on a regular basis, and in this case Gundy acted no less than any other concerned protective father would if his son were trashed in local/national media. Good for him!
Click for more…

In the words of some immortal bard whose name escapes me at the moment: “my official position is that I have no official position.” I did, however, stumble upon an excellent party game that has the potential to inspire your guests to new heights of vocabular genius…or drive them terminally insane, one or the other. The game is simple: given an acronym, find every and all possible meanings for said acronym. For instance, in internet slang, “FTW” is often seen and (usually) means “For The Win,” when used in such fashion as: “Lunch will be at Doc Chey’s - FTW!!!1!” That is not all “FTW” could theoretically stand for, though. It could, for instance, stand for “Fred Tickles Wallaby” or “Famous Toe Wreath.” The only rules are: 1.) no obscene/vulgar words may be used, and 2.) no word may be repeated, either verbatim or with slight modification (ie., since “tickles” was used already, no further conjugation of “tickle” may be used; however, “ticklish” may be used because it is no longer a verb). This went on for some time at lunch today while we contemplated the acronym “UVA.” “Unwanted Verbal Assault” and “Unrepentant Vicious Administrator” seemed to be the best at the table, though there were several others over half an hour of unrelenting vocal asininity.

For kicks, and to see how many shadow readers are out there, I wonder what you can come up with for the following tech-related acronyms:

1. DOA (dead on arrival - used to describe parts that do not work immediately upon receipt)
2. NIB (new in box/bag - used in auctions to indicate an unopened package)
3. IMO (in my opinion - precedes most un- or ill-informed opinions on internet discussion boards)

Suggestions may be from any topic, and it’s best that the entries not be from their parent category (though if you come up with a zinger in the computer realm don’t stop yourself). Show your handle of the English language right here!

The Quartet was on the road again this weekend (is on the road, rather - I’m typing this from a motel in Taylorville, IL) and we got to do something that I don’t think I’ll ever do again: sing the National Anthem at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Okay, so it was just us, the rest of the tour group, and a few guys who had paid big bucks for Allison Transmissions to take them for a spin around the 2.5 mile track in a pickup, but it was still pretty cool. When the tour guide found out our identity, he had us step up in the winners’ podium (where the National Anthem is typically sung at the Indy 500) and sing for the crowd. Expect a video on YouTube sometime after we get back.

After that coolness (not to mention all the other stuff there - the IMS is really a nifty place to tour) we went to sing at a church in Dennison, IL. After the service, we stepped outside and waited for the last folks from church to leave. That left us, Bussy, and a whole slew of stars above. It was so clear and so dark that we could barely pick out constellations for all the stars that were up there. I recognized the Big Dipper and Scorpio (I think), but the really neat thing was that from horizon to horizon there was a cloudy band of stars - that, folks, is the edge of our particular arm of the galaxy. Yes - the Milky Way Galaxy was spread out above us tonight. I’d heard about that but have never seen anything quite like it before, and let me say it was absolutely stunning. To see that many stars sprinkled above the earth like that…truly God is an amazing God!

So that’s all from IL. Go Eagles, go Penn State, and go Pig Sty Esquires, my fantasy team on ESPN, who are 1-0 after solidly trouncing Davey last week. Woo hoo!

…both the BBC the Wall Street Journal have problems creating a headline that makes sense (read the highlighted headlines):

(courtesy of Google News)

Whoever Fukuda is, he doesn’t exist yet…but he’s next in line. This is waaaay to existential for a Friday morning.

As some of you know, my friend Jordan Poss recently returned from a few weeks in Germany attending a summer session of German language and culture courses at the University of Heidelberg. Props for finding something extremely cool to do over the summer, Jordan! Anywho, I managed to catch him on Google Talk as he was waiting for a connecting flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta a few days ago:

Jordan: well hello
Jordan: i was actually thinking of you--i'm in philly
me: no kidding?
me: get a cheesesteak
Jordan: nope--layover until 440
me: ooh...in the airport?
Jordan: yeah
me: best soft pretzels on the planet are in baggage claim/ground transportation
me: but you're leaving in half an hour
Jordan: nice--i'm all the way in terminal f, though
Jordan: yeah
Jordan: first thing i'm doing after landing in atl is going to five guys

Can I have an “amen”? First thing the man does after returning the U.S. of A. is go to Five Guys. Brings a tear to my eye…

Click for more…