Entertainment Tonight was never the same without him.

For those of you that read the Sports Guy on ESPN you've already seen this, but I had to post it. It's John Tesh! My favorite part is the air piano at the beginning. I could watch that for hours and never get bored.



Is the guitarist the same one from SNL in the 90's?

Brazil/Argentina

Here are a few pictures from my awesome trip to Brazil and Argentina.

So the trip started out fantastic because we saw Cleveland Brown Jamal Lewis in the airport. Scariest man I've ever met in my life. Seriously, there is a reason that he has no endorsements. But I got a picture and that's all that mattered.


Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio


El Cristo Redentor statue that overlooks the city.


Copacabana beach in Rio.


This was a picture of the firework show at New Year's. It was one of the best part. There were a bunch of barges in the water all shooting off fireworks for about 20 minutes.


From Rio we went to Sau Sabstiau and Ilha Bela. They were gorgeous.


We played a little beach volleyball.


And then some paddleball.


Awesome view from the water.


Brazilian churrasco


From Ilha Bela we went to Sau Paulo, not pictured because it's a hole, and then to Londrina. In Londrina, we rented this fantastic car the VW Fox. On the road we were jealous when we saw the "Space Fox" but the Fox did us well, except for the flat tire we got.


This is the head engineer of a sugar factory that we toured. We drove by and decided to see if we could take a tour of the place. When we went to the front desk we said that we were foreigners and we wanted to take a tour. They told us that they don't give tours, but then asked the general manager. He set us up with the head engineer and we had a 2 hour tour of this sugar factory. It was awesome.


Gorgeous Iguazu Falls. Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life.


More Iguazu.


More Iguazu


The pink house in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires was the most beautiful city on our trip. The downtown is really pretty and clean.


This is an Argentine asado. It kicked the crap out of the Brazilian churrascos. Seriously, there was no comparison in the quality of the meat or the fixins.


The obelisk in Buenos Aires.


We went to a drum show and saw this guy. His shirt says, "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." And yes, that is a joint in his hand.


From Buenos Aires, we took a ferry out to Uruguay to visit Punta del Este. Apparently, it is THE beach resort in Argentina or Uruguay. Imagine being at the ocean where the water is colder than a Utah lake in the spring time with about the same type of sand. Now add a constant wind that makes everything really chilly and you have Punta del Este. Poor Argentinos and Uruguayos if that is the best they can do.


It did have this weird hand statue sticking out of the beach. It's only saving grace.

Viva Las Vegas

Here are a few things I learned in Vegas when I was there this last weekend:

I believe the greatest game ever incorporated into gambling is bingo. What other game allows you to compete against senior citizens? Shuffleboard maybe. Plus the excitement of every number being called when you are one number away is fantastic. Much better than getting a good card at blackjack or waiting for red or black on the roulette wheel. Possibly rolling dice well in craps can compare but unfortunately I don't know how to play and stay away from it. Bingo rocks.

Vegas isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it's still pretty scandalous. I remember when I was about 10, our family went to Vegas. My most vivid memory was the ship battle in front of Treasure Island. There was a fight between two ships and one ship sank right there in front of me. It was awesome. Fast forward to 2008 and Treasure Island is now called "TI" and now the play is the "Sirens at TI" which consists of scantily clad women singing and dancing on one boat and shirtless "seamen(this word was used many times)" on another ship. They had some songs and dances and the men shot canons and then the "siren" ship sunk the male ship by apparently using estrogen(the storyline was a little ambiguous as to how they sank it). What wasn't ambiguous was how slutty the whole thing was from the sexual innuendo to telling everyone if they wanted action to go into the casino. It was right out in the open for kids to see. Crazy.

I also learned that the Bellagio is the coolest place in Vegas. I could sit and watch the fountains for hours and be entertained. If you've never been to Vegas, go to the Bellagio.

The blue man group is weird. And I'm not talking about the self-help group. We went to see the blue man group and there were parts that were cool and others that made me scratch my head and wonder what they were absorbing in the blue paint to do something like that. Eric, are there any mind-altering chemicals in blue paint? I was entertained at the show, and I guess that's all that matters. Not $50 entertained, but it wasn't a total loss.

The last thing I learned is that I should probably stay away from Nevada for a while because I put down my first sports bet ever and I won(Oklahoma by 17). I love sports and am pretty confident about who will win or lose, especially in college football. This love of sports and getting something for nothing are two of my favorite things and so for my own sake, I should probably stay away from it. Speaking of sports betting, how long will it be until betting on horse racing stops? Seriously, do you know or have heard of anyone under the age of 50 that knows anything about racing and follows it? I just think horse racing's time has passed. Actually it hasn't been relevant for the last 30 years, but somehow it's still sticking around in Vegas.

All in all Vegas is pretty fun. There is a lot to do and in the nice part of the strip, Vegas is really cool. Viva Las Vegas!

Just a couple of Mavericks

Mike Leach

How can you not love this guy?

I have a few thoughts on the BYU game that Rachel brought up on her blog recently. First, BYU was the better team on the field almost the entire game. Washington could not stop them. They had no answer for Unga running them over and Hall passing all over the place. With that, BYU played mediocre defense and had terrible defensive play-calling, especially on Washington's last drives. Locker had such a hard time throwing accurately and basically only made plays with his feet. Why not send in a bunch of guys to take away his running and make him beat you with his arm? I hate it when teams have a small lead and then play not to lose, because they usually lose. BYU almost lost even though they were the better team. Second, I agree that the final call was bs. It was a lame call that shouldn't have been made, BUT if the special teams can't kick a 35-yard field goal at the end of the game, they deserve to lose. In college, a 35-yarder is not that hard. I think the best team won, but they should have won by 21 at least. BYU just doesn't seem like they have the killer instinct to put a team away and that's why I don't think BYU will beat UCLA this week. Thoughts?

Carl's Jr= Papa John's when we had the buy one get one free card

There's nothing more satisfying in this world than eating food that is cheap and good. That, my friends, is the Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Carl's Jr and it's uglier cousin, the Big Hamburger. In Utah, for only $2.13 you can get one of each which will fill you up. And they're delicious.

Los Olimpicos

I just want to say that I'm loving these olympics so far. What's not to love? Michael Phelps might be a machine from the future to change the world by dominating swimming. If he starts asking about John Connor, I'll get scared. All the volleyball teams, indoor and out, have been playing lights out. Especially the men's indoor who had a killer game yesterday against Serbia. And how can you not mention the incredible and irresistible Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh? I'm way excited to continue to watch volleyball, but the team that gets me most excited is Team USA basketball, or the Redeem Team. Hell yeah! is the best way to describe watching them. I was one of the many who doubted that they would dominate and would have a hard time rolling through opponents. Boy, was I wrong. Here are a couple of things thoughts on the team.

First I thought that they would have a hard time rebounding against some of the bigger teams like Spain or Argentina(even though Pau Gasol is the epitome of soft European big man). I thought that Dwight Howard would be the only big guy and they would get pounded on the boards. Chris Bosh has stepped in and dominated and the rest of the team gets rebounds with their ridiculous athleticism. Second, I didn't think that they would be able to run so easily against good teams like Greece and Lithuania who have pretty good guards-at least I've read they have good guards. From the games I've seen they look like AAU players playing against an all-stars. Last, I was so wrong about Dwayne Wade. I loved Wade when he took Marquette to the Final Four in 2003 but that love turned to intense hatred at the 2006 NBA Finals when he knocked out my beloved Mavericks. Count me in as a conspiracy theorist that the NBA fixes games because you cannot watch game 3 of that series and think it was a fairly, or even remotely fair, called game. But that's a different discussion. Dwayne Wade has been incredible for Team USA. He jumps through the roof and has been everywhere for the Americans. My feelings are starting to change about him, but I wish he'd stop endorsing such a disgusting drink as G2.

When I first heard who was selected to the team, my initial response has been confirmed by his play that Carlos Boozer should NOT be on Team USA. He shouldn't have been picked then and I feel I'm still right about this. Tyson Chandler, even with a mild injury, is a much better rebounder and defender than Boozer. And I'm pretty sure Tyson Chandler wouldn't miss all those uncontested 3 footers that Boozer can't or won't put away with a dunk. While the rest of the team realizes that they can play above the rim and dominate, Carlos has stuck with his finesse game and seems not willing to get aggressive. I cringe every time he goes in. Plus, Team USA does not have a need for scoring big guys. They need rebounders, shot-blockers, and dunkers. Carlos rebounds ok, he is not the inside force they should have in a big guy. Now, he's a good player, but on Team USA, he is the Weakest Link. And it's not even close.

With that, I love watching it and I'm looking forward to the Argentina game. GO USA!

Good times at the subway

Here are some pics from our recent Subway adventure in Zion National Park.

A few notes on the NBA Draft

The NBA draft was last night and that only means one thing to me, we are finally done with basketball and can focus all of our attention to football, and maybe a little bit of baseball when the playoffs start. I like the NBA but I just don't love it like I love football. Maybe I'll put up my reasons on a different post. With that, congrats to the Jazz on continuing to draft big white guys. The whitest team in the league just got a little whiter with Kosta Koufos. Apparently he's good. I have no idea. I do know one thing and that is that USU star Jaycee Carroll did not get drafted and I would like to send out an "I told you so" to the 2006/2007 USU men's volleyball team who argued with me that he would be drafted in the first round. For some reason the NBA likes players that can play defense. Go figure. Sure he can shoot, but how many times can your defense look like Shaq defending the pick and roll before people take notice?