ASTRONAUTS ARE CRAZY PEOPLE TOO

"I remember when...I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so present about that place
Even your emotions have so much echo in that much space...
I just knew too much/Does that make me crazy?"
--Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy" c.2005

Yes, much has been written, reported and blogged already about the NASA astronaut who, desperately jealous that another woman was dating her fellow astronaut lover, put on an adult diaper and drove day and night from Houston to Orlando to try and kill the other woman. Just because you may have graduated from the Naval Academy and flown in a space shuttle mission, it doesn't mean that another man or woman can't drive you cuckoo for cocoa puffs. This makes the story sensational but not all that surprising. Its a classic tale of a wronged woman seeking revenge.

My question about this and other cases like it--how come the women rarely try to kill the man who two-timed them? Do they still want their cheatin' heart? And what on Earth (or in space) for?

Maybe that does make them crazy...

Well, That's Just Super

I know six blogs in six weeks of the new year is pretty pathetic, but it's really hard with a full time job and a wedding coming up to just...you know, stay ON TOP of everything like I used to. So even in my sports blog I didn't get to say anything about the Super Bowl before it happened and that is arguably the biggest sporting event of the year. (By the way, I had the Colts winning 29-17). But one thing I do want to say about the Super Bowl after the fact is that having two African-American head coaches is certainly progress, but it doesn't mean we get to stop talking about race in America or that all of our racial problems and race-related social ills are safely behind us. It is what it is--a nice human interest story, made nicer by the fact that Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are (by all accounts) not your typical coaching tyrants, a la Bill Belichick.

Grammys Schmammys

When I was a kid I used to be kind of into the Grammy Awards--back then Stevie Wonder and The Police won a lot and I really liked them, so it was kind of cool to see them rack up the trophies. Truth is though, the Grammy people (what are they? The National Society of Recording Artists or something like that?) have never been the hippest and they usually have been quite clueless as to what constitutes the best of any chosen genre for a given year. (Natalie Cole's Unforgettable for Album of the Year? Forgettable...)

So now I don't really care about the Grammys and I haven't watched them since about 2000. I will watch a little bit this year because The Police are reuniting and performing at least one number in one of the best leaked "secrets" in years. My advice is to pretty much ignore most of the winners. If I got to pick the winners, I would make sure that the Dixie Chicks won Album of the Year (its a story too good to be true for one of the few acts left with the guts and talent to put match meaning to their artistry) and I would pick Gnarls Barkely's "Crazy" (see above) to win Record of the Year. These are two of the Grammy's better nominations. Most of the rest are crap.

On a day when the fifth Army helicopter in three weeks was shot down in Iraq killing all seven troops aboard, more than ever I wish for...

Peace.