Well, lookee at us...Cincinnati has made the bigtime. The Wall Street Journal published an article about a regional backyard game called Cornhole. It's in the same genus as Jarts, badmitton, etc.
WSJ
excerpt:
It is a fun game and goes well with beer. And it is a lot cheaper than golf.
Savage is trying to set differentiate himself from other Conservative radio hosts by taking the side of the U of Florida student who was tazed by the campus police at a John Kerry speech. He wants to be the "renegade independent Conservative" don't you know. In explaining his position he told a few untruths. Maybe he thought what he was saying was true, but I doubt it. That would make him a liar. Oh well, if the shoe fits. Here's what he said.
1. The kid was hand-cuffed when he was tased.
Wrong. They could not handcuff him due to his squirming and resisting.
2. The female officer tased him without warning.
Wrong. They warned him, telling him to stop resisting.
3. "They" cut off the mike during his allotted time because tase-boy was asking Kerry unsettling questions about Skull and Bones.
Wrong. The Q&A had been declared over and tase-boy interrupted and strated giving a speech and not obeying the rules of the Q&A. He would not stop yelling.
By the way, tase-boy's yelling "help! help me! they're arresting me!" during the event is eerily, hilariously, similar to a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When King Arthur is riding along among a bunch of serfs and he drags Michael Palin off, who is protesting the fact that Arthur has declared himself King of the Britains because some "aquatic tart" handed him a sword. Palin yells out "Help! Help! I'm being oppressed! See the repression!"
HBO is making a movie about the 2000 presidential election in Florida. So what's the over/under on how many days this will be premiered before the presidential election between Hillary and Guliani/Romney/Thompson?
7:50pm More road nonsense
kkk always seems to have an asshole driver story...don't we all.
A couple days ago I was at a light waiting to turn left--waiting for an opening in the stream of cars coming the other way. A truck comes up behind me after I had been there already. Finally there is an opening and apparently I didn't accelerate fast enough because this guy was nearly touching my rear bumper. So I speed up and we come up to the 4 way stop at an intersection. This intersection is weird in that it has 2 lanes. The lane on the right ends not far up ahead. So I know what this guy is going to do--I'm in the left lane, the correct lane to eventually continue. He gets in the right lane and doesn't really stop at the stop sign, he wants to fake a stop and get ahead of me. I, seeing this coming a mile away, give him a taste of his own medicine. I mimic his "rolling stop" and take off just as he is taking off (there was no other cars at the other 3 stop signs) staying ahead of him. Now, there is a car ahead of us, in my lane. This guy decides to gun it and barely gets ahead of the car in front of me. I had to slow down because the car in front was going a normal, slowish speed. But at least he didn't cut me off and if the car wasn't there, he would've had to get back in my lane behind me.
Wow, our Navy is really evil. Check this out.
This building has existed since 1967 and now thanks to Google Earth, some people are outraged. Due to complaints the Navy will spend $600,000 of your dollars to fix something that is completely meaningless and doesn't affect anybody.
The U.S. women's soccer team has been pummeled by Brazil, 4-0 in the World Cup semi-final. For this game, the goalie that had played in all the games of the World Cup was benched in favor of a veteran goalie who had played well against Brazil earlier in the summer. Not since whats-his-name (Red Sox manager) left Pedro in the game one inning too long in 2003 and the Sox blew their 3-0 lead in the playoffs has a player change been this controversial. Well, maybe not, since no one is paying the least bit attention to this.
James Brown had to be embarrassed as a black man when he pimped the 60 minutes segment on Vince Young and had to lead in to a clip featuring a Young quote. Young, eschewing the time-honored double negative preferred by ignorami for centuries, passed go and went straight for the triple negative. In responding to a question regarding being told by critics (and presumably coaches) that he should be less reckless he said "Can't nobody tell me nothing." Now, trying to glean any meaning from the grammar of that sentence would probably produce a confused look similar no doubt to the look on the face of the scholar who was first presented with Egyptian heiroglyphics and asked "what does this mean?" But it certainly has a lot of street cred, I guess.
"Timeout" is the latest fad for "correcting" children (and utterly bullshit) but now we have a situation in football where the adults are getting hip to timeouts--and the refs are enabling them.
On Sunday during the Florida v. Auburn game the Florida coach was allowed to call a timeout during his opponents field goal attempt in such a way so that the kicker was forced to go through with the kick but it wouldn't count. So he had to kick it again. This is effing bs. It would be awesome though, if a coach tried this and the kicker missed the 1st attempt, and because of the timeout, kicked it again and made it. Ouch.
Amazing, kids actually learn better and become smarter by DOING things. It seems this study finds that playing with blocks produces smarter children than playing classical music to them while they are in their crib or even in the womb.
Some dopes actually believe that if they put on Mozart it will somehow stimulate the infant's brainwaves and develop their brain better. Uh, sure. I guess this is similar to the old tall tale that if you play audio of some textbook under your pillow at night you'll "absorb" the knowledge right into your cerebellum. Knock it off people, achieve by doing, don't be like... teachers.
7:45am
The brand new Airbus A380--the largest passenger plane in the world--flew into Greater Cincinnati Airport today as part of a promotional tour. This is a French built plane (Airbus is a French company and a big rival to Boeing). The engines are manufactured by a joint venture between usual rivals General Electric and Pratt and Witney.
The GE engine plant is right here in Cincinnati and on its way to the airport it did a low altitude flyby over the GE plant, which is about 25 miles north of the airport and close to where I work. We could see the thing out the window of our office building. Eh, big deal, it's a frog plane, I'll take a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner anyday. A lot of people around the area phoned police about the low flying plane, thinking it was in trouble or a terrorist attack despite forewarning by Cincinnati authorities.
Well, I guess I'll let it out. A kid will be arriving in our house and it isn't going to be a cat or a dog. Yep, the Terror's are expecting. A boy to be exact, due December 9th. Well, at least it'll get me off a couple weeks work....I'M KIDDING. Yes indeed, get ready for another right-winger coming into the world. I just might pipe Rush, Boortz, Beck, Medved right into his crib. But all kidding aside I'm sure I'm in for a wild ride and it's going to be great.
One thing's for sure, the kid is going to have a tennis racket and/or golf club and/or baseball glove placed in his hands as soon as he can take those first steps. Scholarship baby, scholarship, followed by million dollar paychecks, followed by new house on the coast for daddy.
Oh, and I've been going to various baby classes at the hospital. I'm dead certain my dad never had to go to a baby care class or birth class, etc. But these days it's expected that the father is going to take part in every microsecond of the birth. Yippee.
I really sick of major sporting events starting at 8pm or later on a weeknight or even on a weekend. Hey, I may sound like a grumpy old SOB because I go to bed early because of work, but I'm thinking of future generations here. There are so many kids who are missing the majority of, for example, the World Series because the damn games don't begin until 8:30pm. 11pm rolls around and they're still in the 6th inning. A great college football game took place last night (well, the first 3 and a half quarters were apparently pretty boring) and very few young football fans got the chance to see it. Nor did they see anything beyond the first couple innings of the World Series game (providing they have responsible parents who get their ass in bed on a school night). There's a game on Saturday night, and it could well be the only game played on a non-school day.
I dare anyone to name the last World Series day game for crissakes.
Alright enough bitching. I think Fox's coverage is terrific. Well, besides the awful, tired, so 20-years-ago James Taylor singing the National Anthem, which Fox may not have had a hand in anyway. I guess I'm old when I consider Jeannie Zalasko to be pretty hot.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.../710310438/1081
http://www.prideofdetroit.com/story/2007/10/31/05312/660
I like an original, well thought out Halloween costume. Jon Kitna, the Detroit Lions quarterback, and his wife showed up at a Monday Halloween party wearing an outstanding costume, in my opinion. But first a little backstory. Last year one of the Lions coaches was arresting for DUI--he drove through a Wendy's drive thru completely naked and drunk. Pretty funny, but also it turns out he was an alcoholic. Well, Kitna goes to the party dressed as a naked guy and his wife dressed as a Wendy's employee. Not bad. He's catching some heat in Detroit over this for being mean or whatever, but I'll cut him some slack because it's been a year. If the arrest had happened a couple weeks ago, then you have to lay off, but the time factor allows me to give him a pass.
David Copperfield is being accused of sexual assault by some lady while he was in the Bahamas. So far the reports are very tenuous at best. He has not been arrested or anything. But now, enter the media. Yes, the media God love them. They are trying to find stories, any story, that could cast Copperfield in a negative light. Get this--there is a story about a guy who attended a Copperfield show with his wife here in the States. (I heard audio of this story on the Phil Hendrie Show, I couldn't find a print link.) Well, what is this guy's deal? Apparently Copperfield sent his assistants to ask his wife if she wanted to come backstage and meet him (they weren't aware she was married to the guy). When they found out she was married they dropped the whole thing and everyone went their merry way. OH MY GOD. You mean to tell me that entertainers pick up women at their shows? NO WAY. And this story is presented in such a way that is trying to show Copperfield as a predator. Jesus, the media.
Well, there's one in every crowd. As you read the following, keep in mind that this guy is responsible for teaching kids.
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer opinion page, 31 October 2007.
Beck is right, take Z's body and wrap it in bacon and put a ham hat on. Maybe a pigskin suit would be better.
And now....the Top Gear car review!!
BMW Z4 M series
Richard Hammond says: BMW have stripped the car of the usual technological gadgets and created a raw performance car. A normal, basic manual transmission as opposed to the 2-in-1 automatic/manual paddle shift transmission that are now popular on high-end sports cars. Fun on the track, pedestrian in everyday life.
Michelle Wie is attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open. I'm hearing many voices of idiocy from people who should know better. People are saying she shouldn't be allowed to do this, just stay on the LPGA, etc. Shut up, you dumbfucks. She's playing from the same tees. Everything is equal. The PGA is not a men only organization. Whoever you are, if you are good enough to play under the same rules as everyone else, you should be allowed to compete. If this were some bogus thing like having her play from separate tees, yes, screw that. But that's not the case here. Oh yeah, she's kinda hot, but I will not comment any further until she turns 18.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was arrested YET AGAIN a couple days ago. This time DUI and speeding. He just got through a court hearing for a separate arrest while in Florida. It's hard to figure how someone could be so damn dumb. But the Bengals should keep him, because in the Pros it's about winning and nothing else. If they cut him, someone else will pick him up and he could come back to haunt the Bengals down the road. Last I checked the Ravens had 2 star players get prison time, or at least were found guilty of some crime. Who cares, this aint high school. The Steelers new draft pick, Santonio Holmes recently got into trouble. But they'd do well to keep him because he'll help them win games. I hear guys on the radio saying "cut that creep Henry, we don't need that kind of player on our team". Oh really? You want a bunch of saints on your team and go .500? Can you imagine the shit the dudes back in the 70s did off the field in the NFL? Holy Christ, it'd make your hair turn white. This is the Pros baby, deal with it.
The French Open was NOT broadcast in HD on NBC over the weekend. I hate you, NBC...unless it was out of their control. I think they just use the French TV feed for their broadcast, so maybe they were unable to show it in HD. I'm still pissed though. And it looks like Martina Hingis is advancing nicely. The occasional skirt fly-up is the real reason I want the HD. Hingis appears to have really gotten into great shape. At least I'm honest.
Muslims terrorists--some Canadian citizens--were captured in Ontario. They were planning bomb attacks in Ontario. During the same week, the Ontario division of the largest trade union in Canada was calling for a boycott against Israel for mistreatment against Palestinians. Man, that is divine irony.
I watched Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" over the weekend on the Independent Film Channel. Wow, what a mess. And talk about ripping off Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oh, I guess the part where one of the killers uses the facial skin of one of his victims as a mask--just like Leatherface--was supposed to be a homage. Well, it was one clumsily done homage, I'd call it a rip-off any day.
And I've heard plenty about the sequel, "Devil's Rejects". And this leads me to the conclusion that Zombie is one gutless wonder. Sure, he has his killers torture and kill normal white people--in the case of "Reject's" an overtly Christian family is tortured and put to death. Zombie doesn't show any blacks or other minority group as victims. Nor do you see a Muslim family tied up and tortured. Zombie would not want to appear bigoted I'm sure and I guarantee he doesn't want to piss off Muslims. But cruelty against Christians is fun!
24 has been very good in previous seasons. This season it is terrible.
Lost has jumped the shark, really sometime last season.
Heroes jumped the shark on about episode two or three.
First, 24:
1. The writing this season is amateurish. The dialogue is horrible. It is filled with loads and loads of exposition. Maybe the show's producers have received complaints from viewers that are having difficulty following the storyline. Whatever the reason, the whole thing comes across as a show for 9 year olds.
2. Absurb, implausible goings-on. I'm not talking about Jack getting across LA freeways in 3 and a half minutes--the show has always had over the top storylines and that's OK. I'm talking about little things such as: Jack's brother being left alone with his father. There is no way Jack's brother would be left alone in a room with the IV still attached to his arm, let alone with another person present, even his own father. And the repetitive nature of the general plot is getting old. Same thing all over again. A couple hours and a new layer of the bad guy hierarchy is revealed; last hour's top bad guy is shown getting a cell phone call from yet another, different bad guy who is above him, and so on.
Second, Lost:
Lost is a....lost cause. It started to suck last year. The spiraling plots are just a bunch of tangents going nowhere. Nefarious plot tangents brought up last year have never been resolved. You can't do that to an audience.
Third, Heroes:
Never got going. Great potential, jumped the shark right out of the gate. The cheerleader's father sucks and is a lousy character. The chick with the evil twin sucks--horrible storyline, horrible character. Everytime the bitch comes on, either one of them, the show grinds to a halt. Same with the cheerleader. Fucking awful character, the shows grinds to a halt every second she is on screen. Getting through each fucking episode is like wading through molasses. The dumbasses writing the show have no idea how to keep the audience interested. Just because you through in a twist 58 minutes into the show means nothing.
There will be an open auction in France in September to sell off parts of the famous Concord airplane. I'm sure 99.9% of the parts will be out of my price range, but I'd love to get my hands on an emblem or maybe something from the instrument panel. Of course, I won't be in France in September, so this post is very rapidly becoming irrelevant. Yes, in fact it was irrelevant after the first word was typed, but there you go.
And, in an attempt to rescue this post, here's a creepy anecdote regarding the Concord, or rather, the Russian version:
Russia was developing its own version of the Concord the same time as France, known as "Concordia" (very original Russia). An early prototype crashed in a populated area and a part of the plane which had sheered off decapitated a child playing in his yard about a mile away from the crash. I wonder what that part would bring at auction?
A normally reasonable and level-headed local talk show host in Cincinnati, Mike MCconnell, put his foot in his mouth this morning. He was railing against various news headlines that read basically "Putin surprises Bush with offer", (about a alternate site in Europe for the missile defense shield that Putin has been angry over). Mike was claiming that was misleading and that it was actually Bush's idea, not Putin's. Well, I looked into the story and it WAS Putin's idea, based on what I read in the articles shown below.
I emailed his show (he's read my emails on the air before) but so far he hasn't addressed the issue. I pretty sure he won't return to the topic to correct himself--it was too large a gaffe to admit to. Most listeners will never know he was wrong. I'm guessing this is how hosts deal with a situation when they go out on a limb on an issue and they're wrong--IGNORE IT.
sfgate article:
From the caycompass (Ap story):
Phil Hendrie has announced on his blog that he is returning to radio on June 25th. He has signed a deal with talk radio network FM. I haven't heard anything on how many/what stations he'll be on, but he'll certainly be syndicated. TRN has AM stations and I guess the FM is a new thing.
I also have no idea what kind of show this will be. When he ended his radio show last year he said he was finished with not only radio but with the type of show he did (character-based satire). He said he was moving on to TV and movies (so much for that). Will he resurrect his old characters? My opinion is no. I'm betting that he will do commentary/politics infused with some satire. His blog has been nothing but politics with the occasional satire piece. He won't take callers--he hates talk radio callers. They are the very people he ridiculed and generally messed with on his old show. No, he'll try to invent some new type of talk show without callers and without his old characters.
The coronation of LeBron James as the next MJ was consumated last night during a fourth quarter performance that ranks among the best pro athlete performances in history. (BTW Rome continues to have egg on his face for declaring that James is no MJ after game one.) Now, I'm basing this on descriptions by my local sports radio hosts, one of whom saw it live in Detroit, and by Mike Tirico, who I heard say "this is the best thing I've ever seen".
The reason I have to rely on outside descriptions is because I, in a monumental act of stupidity, turned the game off with about 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. This was right at the time when James took over the game, playing one on five and winning. So I missed one of the great sports moments in history. I just hope ESPN classic replays tonight.
There are plans to make another Star Trek film, going back to the era of Kirk and Spock, in an attempt to reinvigorate the franchise. This is, of course, the only way to bring back the magic of Star Trek and, if done correctly, will once again inject Trek into Pop Culture. However, this path is frought with dangers--dangers of serious movie-suckiness.
The problem is simple. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy ARE Kirk and Spock. Period. It will be very, very difficult to find 2 actors to take over the role--even if the film is set during their younger years. This problem can be demonstrated by taking a look at an attempt at a prequel from 1979. This prequel was called Butch and Sundance: the Early Days. Of course, it was trying to capture the greatness of the 1969 classic starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The 2 actors chosen were Tom Berenger and William Katt. Berenger you should be familiar with--Katt starred in the TV show "Greatest American Hero" in the 80s. It was a disaster because Berenger and Katt were just poor imitations of Newman and Redford. It's not really an insult to them, they just aren't Newman and Redford.
I'm still all for the idea, I just have reservations. As long as the right people are trusted with doing it, it may turn out OK.
Then again, look at Ghostbusters II and those 3 Star Wars prequels...
Update:
I just saw a news report where JJ Abrams is denying some of the earlier reports about a proposed Star Trek film. He also says it will not feature the characters Kirk or Spock. Well. I guess never mind.
Alright, we all know most Liberals and the Left consider President Bush to be a radical Conservative, a real hard-line type. But now there is a recent development where you have hardcore Conservatives calling the president a Liberal, complaining about policies they feel are a betrayal of the Conservatives that voted him into office.
One of these two groups is dead wrong. Which one? Is Bush a moderate you might wonder.
Take immigration. The Left thinks he is a bigoted Conservative who wants to oppress the minorities. The newly-annoyed Right thinks he is a sellout to Liberals because he wants to explore the amnesty option and isn't doing enough to enforce strict border control.
Religion. The Left thinks he is a dangerous religious fanatic who wants to form government policy based on fundamentalist Christianity. The others think he is selling out his religious values and his religious base by, for example, allowing private stem cell research.
Economy. The Left thinks he is a "fat cat" type who wants to cater to the rich, while stepping on the throats of the poor. The others think his economic policy is a sellout to the Liberals, what with all the spending.
One of the most vehement Conservative public voices against the president is radio talk show host Michael Savage. Savage feels Bush is a Liberal and even goes so far to say he should be impeached (I think his reason was something to do with locking out certain Conservative Senators from some important meeting). He recently said that Bush is the worst president in U.S. history. He pointed to Bush 41 and Clinton doing the fund raising gig together as a sign that the Bushes aren't really Conservative.
What the frak? Oh I know, both sides are weirder than catshit and should go straight to Hell, 5th Ring, first Pit on the left.
I've been listening to Dennis Miller's new radio show. It's very entertaining. He does not get in-depth into topics the way that a Rush or Boortz would and he always has 2 guests per hour. I think he's just trying to feel his way through the beginning here, not wanting to do too much monolouge stuff. But the jokes he gets off are classic and hilarious. He of course works in the world of the simile, and they come hard and fast, like a 10-cup-a-day coffee drinker working a gatling gun. I would put the url to his site, but my workplace computer is denying me access due to a filter. This filter is very hit and miss, as evidenced by my ability to post this blog entry right now. In fact it's probably watching my every keystroke....
Donald Trump is now selling steaks through the mail--kind of like the Omaha Steaks that you can order. In what is certain to be a very good deal, Trump will send you what he calls the greatest steaks in the world. Now, I--oh wait, I just saw the prices--hmm, $999 sounds reasonable for 16 steaks and 24 burgers. Or you can really save a lot of money and get the Classic Collection. The CC features 4 steaks and 12 burgers for $199. Forget Biggs, I'm going exclusively with Trump from now on to meet my meat needs.
George Lucas thinks that Spiderman 3 is "silly" Um, yeah, George, you did alright with those first 3 movies, but a lot of people agree that your next 3 attempts fell a little short. In fact one could make the case they appeal more to the grade school set than the adult world.
Most radio side kicks don't bother me at all. But I listen to the Dennis Miller show and I have to say that his side kick "Sal" is the worst presence on radio that I've ever heard. This guy is HORRIBLE. Dennis seems to have a blind spot concerning this guy. He actually thinks Sal is hilarious. Sal will say the dumbest, most vapid, boring comment you've ever heard and Dennis will laugh like crazy.
Here's an example of Sal's brilliant comedy: Dennis was making a reference to Mr. Miagi from "Karate Kid", talking about how Southern California needs to prune back some of the foilage to prevent fires, like Mr. Miagi pruning the Bonsai to let it breathe. As they go into commercial break Sal chimes in with "Wax on Wax Off!". Oh God.
California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi took the opportunity to trash Bush while being interviewed by Chris Matthews about the fires.
Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt are on Capitol Hill fighting AGAINST the building of nuclear power plants. Nash called such plants "monsters". Huh? Good God, get over it people. Why don't you read up on France. They seem to be doing well with it.
There was a show on in the late 70s/early 80s called "That's Incredible". It featured people from around the world who did strange things, like had 5 inch fingernails or something, or who performed some kind of stunt. It was hosted by John Davidson and some chick with the last name Crosby or something.
Now I was a young teenager taking all this in and I remember a couple of people from the show. One guy from India, the full Hindoo deal, was on and he was referred to as the "Yogi ----", I don't remember the second part. This guy was over 6 feet tall and would contort and twist himself into this little clear plexiglass box that was something like 3 ft by 3 ft. They even put a lid on the box. He wore nothing but those diaper looking things and this guy was a TV cult hero for a brief period.
This other guy was a specialist at jumping over cars as they drove toward him. Hey, don't ask me, this is what passed for talent back in the day. This guy would stand in the road and a car would be driven at a specified speed directly towards him. He would get a running start and leap up, letting the car speed under him and then he would land safely. One time he did hit his foot on the upper part of the windshield, that was the only time I saw him screw up. The car was a Ferrari 308 (the Magnum PI Ferrari). I always wondered what became of these two guys. I can't imagine where your career goes after jumping over cars on TV or squeezing into a little box.
I recently fixed up a old 10-speed bike. I got nice cushy handle bar wraps, a new gel seat cover, new tires, special bike chain lubricant/cleaner, and even got a new chain thing on the back wheel, the one with the french name that controls the "speed" changes (I was expecting that to be expensive, but it was only 13 bucks). Now, I'll ride the thing around my neighborhood, which luckily is a pretty large area of winding streets, but I aint taking it out on the actual roadways. I know how drivers react to bikers and I'm not going anywhere near them. 99% of drivers see a biker on the road and they go into full adversarial mode. They get angry--how dare this guy get in my way! I'll admit to getting impatient and a bit teed off when I have to slow to 10mph, waiting to get around a biker.
I'm listening to 700 WLW in Cincinnati (Mike McConnell show) and their phone systems are completely down. They cannot take calls. So Mike (or one of his producers) decides to have people email to Mike's on-air address with their phone number and they will call them and put them on the air. The first guy they tried it with sounded pretty bad, but, hey I love this. I've never heard of this being done before. At least they're trying to keep the callers/fans happy.
I'm tempted to try it, but I don't think my boss would cotton to it. Then again, that recent court ruling allowing workers to surf the net may give me an out. Apparently talking on the phone and reading the newspaper are similar to web surfing while at work, so I guess I can talk with Mike on company time.
Just got back from the Dentist where I was informed that I need to go back on 3 month visits in order to maintain my peridontal crap. That's when your gums recede. Fuck. Not that I care about going more often, but I will have to pay more due to more visits that the insurance will not cover.
Dentistry has to be the best gig out there. Everybody's got a set of teeth.
My friend Brad (a Pharmacist) has purposefully not gone to a dentist in many years. He insists he can take perfectly good care of his teeth himself. He rinses with Vodka, claiming it kills germs more effectively than the various mouthwashes available. I'm not kidding at all. I guess he's doing an ok job, I never known him to have any cavities.
A Nike poster of English soccer star Wayne Rooney has inspired outrage and condemnation among some dipshits in England. And in America as well I'm sure. There are three reasons for the outrage: 1) the red paint and expression on his face promotes violence and aggression, 2) the configuration of the paint, in the form of England's flag, recalls a cross, with Rooney as the crucified Jesus, and 3) the form of the cross also recalls the familiar vest/clothing of the Crusades, which is offensive to Muslims.
Sweet living Jesus in a soda can, get a life people. A friend of mine was watching an England World Cup match and saw fans dressed in Crusader outfits. He immediately thought of Monty Python--I said no, that's a Crusader costume and if someone did that in America, CAIR and the ACLU would go apeshit. He said nah, it wouldn't be a big deal. This poster incident is a perfect example of the hysterical reaction to these kinds of things. And Christians don't get a free pass either--some are condemning it as offensive to God. Get a grip people.
