sirshannon.com

Arthur C. Clarke, author of one of the most important works of science fiction ever (2001: A Space Odyssey) died yesterday at age 90.

Respect.

Don Herbert (aka Mr. Wizard) was one of the biggest influences in my early years as a nerd-in-training being raised by the teevee. His show on Nickelodeon, Mr Wizard’s World, was one of my favorites; it was cool, it was fun, it was smart, it was educational, and it had girls my age on it…

He died of Cancer today at age 89.
Respect.

This morning, the Charlotte Coliseum was imploded.  For those of you who don’t know or remember, the Coliseum was built to house the Charlotte Hornets. George Shinn’s design was as bad as ability to run the team and, after 14 years, Shinn took the Hornets elsewhere, basically stealing our city’s colors, mascot, and innocence (when it comes to getting reamed by pro sports teams owners, that is).

Unfortunately, he didn’t remove our collective stupidity, otherwise we wouldn’t have a floundering pro NBA team with bad team colors, a horrible record, an owner who appears clueless (at best) when it comes to raising local team spirit and, best of all, a brand new arena uptown built just for a pro team.

Shinn’s trophy coliseum lasted 19 years.  I wonder how long Robert Johnson’s Arena will last before he finds a bigger sucker in the form of another city elsewhere in need of an NBA team.

I used her toothbrush.

I used it to clean my flops.

They deserved better.

Disco D (Dave Shayman) apparently committed suicide last night.  His future was too bright for this early end.  Fuck.

Respect.

Respect.

If you haven’t tried the new Xbox Live Video Marketplace, DON’T!

[UPDATE: Results at the bottom]

Nick Diaz Vs. Gleison Tibau : Nick is on his way out of the UFC, and Tibau is on his way in. I would like to see Nick win again, he has let me down continuously over the last year, but I don’t have any reason to think that he will win. If he loses, this is a “see, you need to come back when you’re ready” fight for Diaz and a “look, he beat Nick Diaz” fight for Tibau. If Diaz wins, he’ll get to walk away from the UFC saying “you guys just fucked up.” I can’t count on Nick to win these days and I don’t think the UFC wants to let him leave on a win, so I am guessing Tibau will win somehow.

I will skip the rest of the undercard because I am not qualified to comment on them.

Joe Stevenson Vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima : Joe Stevenson just doesn’t impress me. I think people like him, though, and I know nothing of his opponent, so I’ll go with Joe winning by decision after a boring fight.

Alessio Sakara Vs. Drew McFedries : I’ll go with Sakara on this one, simply because he has a better record. I’ve seen him fight once but that isn’t enough to base an opinion on.

Brandon Vera Vs. Frank Mir : Frank Mir needs to win this fight to prove he isn’t finished. Brandon Vera needs to win to prove he deserves some real competition. After Frank’s last fight, I have to go with Brandon Vera. Probably by KO/TKO.

Tim Sylvia Vs. Jeff Monson : Monson by 1st round submission. Nuff said.

Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre : Matt Hughes by submission, Rear Naked Choke around 1:45 into Round 2.

I’ll be back tomorrow to compare the results with my predictions.

[UPDATED with results 2006-11-19]

Nick Diaz Vs. Gleison Tibau : Diaz won halfway through the second round due to Referee Stoppage, or so I heard, but they didn’t show the fight, even though there was plenty of time to show a few undercard fights thanks to 3 very short fights starting off the main card.  The entire PPV event was under 3 hours so I feel a bit ripped off and assume they didn’t want to show Diaz winning the match because he is leaving for the IFL.

Joe Stevenson Vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima : I was correct about Joe winning but wrong about when and how.  It was an extremely short fight, ending with a guillotine a little over 2 minutes into the fight.

Alessio Sakara Vs. Drew McFedries : This was a 4-minute slugfest, either of these guys could have been knocked out at any time.  I guessed Sakara would win but I guessed wrong.

Brandon Vera Vs. Frank Mir : Mir looked a lot better than his last fight but didn’t fight much better.  Or maybe Brandon Vera is really that good…  we’ll see.  Vera won this by TKO 69 seconds into the fight.

Tim Sylvia Vs. Jeff Monson : Damn.  Sylvia did his homework and impressed the hell out of me last night.  He completely shut Monson down, avoiding every take down attempt and controlling the entire fight.  The final round was as boring as the final round of Sylvia/Arlovski III and the fight ended with the same results.  Sylvia seemed to think Brandon Vera will be next in line to challenge him.

Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre : GSP won this fight twice.  Once at the end of round 1 (Hughes was saved by the bell) and again 1:25 into the second round.  GSP avoided every takedown attempt Matt threw at him and Matt took a beating standing up.  Usually Matt takes it to the ground when he gets punched a few times, GSP prevented that and Matt couldn’t hang.  GSP earned the belt, dominating the only fighter to beat him in the UFC.  I look forward to seeing him hand Diego Sanchez his first loss ASAP.

My score (correct/incorrect, going by win/loss only, not when/how): 2 right, 4 wrong.  Doh.

Did anyone else notice the worlds greatest Office Linebacker, Terry Tate, does the voice acting for Cole in Gears of War?

I have no clue if this will work, but there are only 4 ways to find out.

Attempt #1…

———————————————————————-
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.
- Aristotle