Entry Based on Trending Topics_ DNC vs. NFL

Tonight sports and politics collided over American airwaves as a landmark speech by former president Bill Clinton may have gone unseen due to the fact that the New York Giants were hosting the Dallas Cowboys in a game aired on NBC; the Cowboys won 24-17 (but, we watched the Democratic National Convention where Clinton spoke from).

So, here is composition made up with trending topics and other recent social media network phenoms as well as other speakers and politicians who were in Charlotte, NC, for the DNC: Lady Gaga tour, Scarlett Johansson. Natalie Portman, Burger King, Andy Roddick, McKayla Maroney (pictured center), Tim Kaine (pictured top), Julian Castro, Sandra Fluke and Sen. Al Franken_

"It was announced today that the Lady Gaga North American tour would begin in Vancouver, Canada, on Jan.11 when the American presidential election will presumably be over with. Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman will be speaking at the Democratic National Convention tomorrow night. Yesterday, both Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro spoke to the same crowd, which included Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn). Today, pro-choice activist Sandra Fluke, who was called a slut by fringe right-wing radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, gave a rousing speech about the need to protect women's reproductive rights.

There may have been Internet rumors that Bill Clinton was going to have Whopper at the lone Burger King in Fort Mill, South Carolina, which is 15 miles south of Charlotte, but those were not proven and neither was a net rumor that Olympic gold medalist gymnast was going to endorse Dunkin Donuts.

Andy Roddick, 30,  played his last pro tennis game at the U.S. Open where he fell to Argentinian tennis player Juan de Portro, but he should have made enough wages to purchase a very expensive dog like Big Splash, a dog that is worth $1.5 million (we are not making this up)."

http://www.alfranken.com

http://www.kaineforva.com/home

SIDEBAR: Kudos to South African swimmer Achmet Hasseim, 30, who won bronze for his country at the 2012 London Paralympics in men's swimming (100-meter butterfly relay). Hasseim had lost one of his legs after a shark attack of the coast of South Africa in 2006. Interestingly enough, his nickname is Shark Boy.

And, in the world of Turkish Super League soccer, our two favorite teams GalataSaray (Istanbul) and BursaSpor squared off. GS won the game 3-2 with goals from the likes of Umut Bulut and Burak Yilmaz For BursaSpor, Omer Erdogan scored a late goal for the Crocodiles.

Casualties of Modern Technology (11 of 12)_ Slide Projectors

Back in the 1970s, while other families

were watching "The Love Boat," my late father Mehmet Gokbudak would get out the slide projector and we would watch slide shows featuring images of backyard family trips (we lived in Roanoke, Va) of Highland County and from the two European trips we took. One famous slide was of me posing besides a street sign for Attila Josef Street in Budapest, Hungary, in a Dallas Cowboys hat and jacket. Since Attila is my name, this seemed very cool to my dad. And, I had no idea who Attila Josef was until today (a legendary Hungarian poet who died at age 32 in 1937).

Another famous slide was one of a crocidile at a restaurant in Warsaw, Poland- of all places. The croc was a gift from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. We have no idea what the croc's name is, but we learned from Google that the croc came to the establishment in 1972. He may well still be the only crocidile in Poland.

As for the slide projector, it was very popular and hip from the 1950s to the 1970s, as it allowed slide prints to be displayed on a screen. But, today, many manufaturers have quit making both the prints and the machines.

http://www.highlandcountyva.org/

Quote of the Day/Week- Roger Staubach

Today we continue our quips from Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks with a quote from Roger Staubach, 70, who helped the Dallas Cowboys win two Super Bowls in 1972 (over the Miami Dolphins) and in 1978 (over the Denver Broncos). The Cowboys would win three more Super Bowls in the 1990s.

This one brings back memories because there is a photograph of me taken in Budapest, Hungary, in 1976 when I was just six years old, as I was wearing a matching Dallas Cowboys hat and jacket. Of course, at the time, I had no idea who Roger Staubach really was.

Staubach was also a Heisman Trophy winner for Navy in 1963, and he helped the Midshipmen win two games over arch rivals Army. Along with former NBA star David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, Staubach is considered to be the most famous athlete to graduate from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Due to his military commitment, Staubach did not enter the NFL as a rookie until he was 27 in 1969. He retired from football after the 1979 season. Staubach played for the Dallas Cowboys for his entire career.

On the Fox-TV animated sitcom "King of the Hill," which ran for 13 seasons, the local Texas elementary school is named after Staubach.

Here is his quote:

"Confidence comes from hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication."

SIDEBAR: One thing one has to love about Google is that it can help you answer a question about something you saw on Twitter. Today, The Grammar Girl (Mignon Fogarty) said that several words in English, such as Gobblefunk, were the creation of children's book writer Roald Dahl ("James and the Giant Peach"). I was puzzled as to what exactly Gooblefunk or gobblefunk meant, and the answer is 'delicious.'