“An All-American Tradition”

By Paul M. Banks
-The dynasty is over. Kobayashi, the 6 time hot dog eating contest winner actually lost his title to Joey Chestnut this past 4th of July. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/05/content_8495066.htm

-I’ve lived in Chicago almost my entire life, and I’m not supposed to put ketchup on a hot dog? I’m supposed to care about the fact that I do that? Really when did this happen? Apparently Chicagoans are supposed to never put ketchup on their hotdogs. I’m with ya on the bright green relish though! For more on the topic, and to learn what hot dogs are really made of (it’s not as utterly repugnant as you might think!)

-Guitar Heroes
Rolling Stone Magazine presents the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527
Some of my favorites on here include #15 The Who, “My Generation,” #70 Smashing Pumpkins “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” #50 “Debaser” The Pixies, Weezer, Rage Against the Machine..There’s just so many! It’s a list everyone can appreciate.

-A good friend of the program (brother of the man who started the whole “juice” craze, does a mean version of #47 Van Halen’s “Panama” at karaoke night in SICA.

-URL of the week http://bekanyenow.com/

-I’ve told you that climate change was unpatriotic. Check out this report about global warming possibly aiding as a recruiting tool for terrorism.

-King Lebron James and Spongebob Squarepants (doesn’t that seem like an unlikely pairing?) are teaming up with Nickelodeon to raise awareness. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25459074/

-Another unlikely combination joining forces to spread greenery are rapper Ludacris and rocker Tommy Lee who are competing in a ecological themed reality show.

-League leader in Walks http://www.walkscore.com/

“What is Walk Score? We help people find houses and apartments in walkable neighborhoods. Walk Score shows you a map of what’s nearby and calculates a Walk Score for any property. Living in a walkable neighborhood is good for the environment and good for your health.” Enter in your address and find out your home’s “walkability.” The Sports Bank global headquarters got an 85/100. Nearly double that of my childhood home in SICA, which registered a 43.

-Another reason that Chicago rules over all cities in the summertime is the amount of people that come to visit you from out of town. Check out “The Chi” slideshow from Raul B. Moreno, a Fulbright colleague/friend, Peace Corp member, ex-Coast Guardsman and true patriot. As you can see from these photos, he’s quite the photographer too.
“One Day in the Second City” http://as-it-were.blogspot.com/2008/07/one-day-in-second-city.html

-Remember that scene in Monty Python and the life of Brian where both insurgent groups arrive at the same time underneath the Emperors palace to stage their coup and they end up fighting each other instead of the Romans? And Brian shouts, brothers, we should be struggling together? Too geeky and obscure of a reference…well, you’ll get the point when you see this video of Cubs and Sox fans fighting on the same side instead of against each other!

-I wonder how many emails Ozzie Guillen gets. Love ‘em or hate ‘em you have to admire how well he expresses his first amendment rights. He is exactly what Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence for!

-To create a bobblehead of you or anyone else you choose to bobble, go to…
http://www.xmbaseball.com/

-Finally, I’ll close the All-American edition of WIR with three (and it was very hard to narrow this down to 3) of my favorite passages from the sports chapter in Stephen Colbert’s laugh out loud, pee in your pants It’s so funny book “I am America and so can you”

“Sports do have some positive impact on society. They solve problems, such as how to get inner-city kids to spend $175 on shoes. They serve as a backdrop for some of our most memorable commercials. And they remain the one and only relevant application of math.”

“Rules of the Game: Sports contain a lot of rules and I’m not a fan of “rules,” especially when it comes to sports. That’s just Big Government interference. Let the free market decide what constitutes a touchdown.”

“7th Inning Stretch: Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks. Hey buy them yourself! Just more melodic proof that we are living in a welfare state”

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