Potluck Quote of Day/Night (6 of 10): Jerry Seinfeld

A Writing entity on Twitter asked us to write a five-word sentence in which an athlete confronts an unexpected challenge. We came up with: "Simone Biles converts to Judoism." Biles is as even barefoot children in Malawi now know is American gymnast who has won four gold medals and one bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

As we were putting this together, we noticed they were once again playing chainsaw heavy metal on WKNC, the student-run college radio station for North Carolina State in Raleigh. Among the tunes they were playing on the station was "Fight Em Till You Can't" by Anthrax.

We have to wonder if this song or perhaps some hip hop was in Zlatan Ibrahimovic's I-Pad as he helped Manchester United, his new team, with two goals to defeat Southampton 2-0; now that's what we call an impressive debut. We have actually lost track of European soccer lately. In fact, we even have to ask Google if Turkish-German soccer star Mesut Ozil was still playing for Arsenal, one of MU's main rivals on the grass.

Perhaps some of you came across this blog out of indecision as to what to watch on Youtube. We can recommend a clip from "Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster" (1971). If that doesn't work, then check out a Quote of the Day from someone like Dr. Seuss, whom we are not quipping here. That honor goes to standup comic and former sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld, who will be performing in at least two swing state venues, including stops in Des Moines, Iowa, (Sept. 9th) and Toledo, Ohio (Oct. 7th).

Here is Seinfeld's quote:

"Men don't care what's on TV. They only care about what else is on TV."

Oh, we forgot to mention that Bette Davis is tomorrow's TCM Star of the Day: Her film "Noe Voyager" airs at 8:00 p.m., followed by many of her other performances. 

http://jerryseinfeld.com/

http://www.writersdigest.com/

https://wknc.org/

https://www.ncsu.edu/

http://www.g-fan.com/ (Godzilla fan page)

https://www.premierleague.com/

http://www.tcm.com

10 for 10 (8th Entry): The First Line of the Novel 'Choke'

Greetings to our blog readers in Macedonia, Belgium, and Jordan.......in order to substantially increase our global audience we will name drop Serbian soccer player Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea and German striker Mesut Ozil , who is of Turkish heritage, for Arsenal.

Tonight actually marks the 10th anniversary of our first blog entry here on this blog, to our knowledge only four or five people read that one. Hopefully, at least 98 will read this entry (nudge, nudge, wink, wink....)

On a personal note, we want to send our kudos to Chris Hurst, the 11:00 news anchor for WDBJ-7 in Roanoke, Va. If you watched CNN a few weeks ago, you saw him speak with Anderson Cooper, he has been through a lot. Tonight marks his second week of returning to the broadcast booth. Since Roanoke is our hometown, we wish Hurst the best.

We were hoping a joke about Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who dropped out of the Republican presidential candidate race, but we are running late, and you can see the tweets of his former employee Liz Mair, which are indeed quite amusing.

Tonight, we are going retro with the first line of Chuck Palahniuk's great 2001 cult classic novel "Choke." A few years ago, we had lots of fun with posts about the first lines of novels, such as Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace," which we must profess to have never read!

Here is the first line from "Choke:"

"If you're going to read this, don't bother. After a couple pages, you won't want to be here. So forget it. Go away. Get out while you're still in one piece. Save yourself."

http://chuckpalahniuk.net/

Soccer Week (7 of 8): American Player Tim Howard Shuts Down Chelsea

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
We now how Dutch international Maikel va der Werff, who plays for the Dutch soccer team Zwolle, felt when he kicked in an own goal which propelled Ajaz Amsterdam to defeat Zwolle 2-1.

As we were typing to score for the Southampton-West Ham game which ended in a 0-0 tie, we punched the wrong button and all of our work (if one can call blogging work) vanished.

But, our header was that American goal-keeper Tim Howard (pictured above) came back from helping Team USA earn a World Cup bid by defeating Mexico 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio. And, then he flew back to England to help his team Everton (based in Liverpool) defeat London powerhouse Chelsea 1-0.

The lone goal of the match was scored by Steven Naismith of Scotland during extra time of the first half.

Mesut Ozil, a German national of Turkish heritage, had a solid debut with Arsenal as he contributed an assist in the team's 3-1 win over Sunderland.

Gyfli Sigurdsson of Iceland score two goals for Tottenham Hotspur.

French national Yoan Gouffan scored the game-winner for Newcastle United in the 73rd minute of play.

Finally, the stars came out for Manchester United as both Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney came through for the home team.

Here is a complete list of weekend games in the English Premiere League:

Man U 2 Crystal Palace 0

Southampton 0 West Ham 0 (tie)

Liverpool 2 Swansea 2 (tie)

Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 2

Fulham 1 West Brom 1 (tie)

Tottenham 2 Norwich 0

Everton 1 Chelsea 0

Sunderland 1 Arsenal 3

Stoke City 0 Man City 0 (tie)

Hull City 1 Stoke City 1 (tie)

http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.evertonfc.com

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com

http://www.nufc.co.uk/

Coming Soon (we hope): Futbol Week

On Friday, we are hoping to launch a seven-day series devoted totally to soccer both here in the United States with weekend MLS games as well as Mexico and Europe.

The top image is of Serbian national Branislav Ivanovic, a star player for London's Chelsea football club. Today, German national Mesut Ozil, who is of Turkish heritage, signed with one of Chelsea's main rivals, Arsenal.

The bottom image is of Drew Moor, an American defender who plays for the Colorado Rapids in the MLS. Alas, our personal favorite MLS team, DC United is having a disastrous year so far!

World Cup Players Worth Remembering

Today, we have two special blog entries dedicated to 12 memorable players from The 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The other six players on our other blog "The Daily Vampire," which for some reason gets six times as much traffic as this blog!

1. Mesut Ozil (pictured here). Germany. Age 21. Wears # 11. Plays for Werder Bremen (German team which finished third in Bundasliga). Scored two goals in 14 international games, one of which included goal in 2-1 World Cup win over Ghana. He also set up fourth goal in devastating 4-1 victory over England. Dubbed a 'polite young man' by the German press, Ozil was caught up in 'custody battle' between Germany and Turkey, the country of his parents. Though he was scorned by Turkish nationalists in the motherland, Turkish-German parliamentarian Cem Ozdemir praised his decision because it showed the friendship between the two nations. Germany has a large Turkish minority, and Ozil was the center of a story which aired on the NPR show "The World" which aired this week about that unique diaspora.

2. Wesley Sneijder.The Netherlands (Holland). Age 26. Born in large Dutch city of Utrecht. One of my favorite players. He plays for Internazionale (Italian team based in Milan). His club teammates include Brazilian goalie Julio Cesar and star Cameroon player Samuel Eto'o (profiled here on Monday). Wears number 10. Ironically, he scored the game-winning goal against Cesar in Holland's brilliant 2-1 win over Brazil which was a minor upset. Also scored in World Cup play against Japan and Slovakia.

3. Luis Suarez. Uruguay. Age 23. Plays for Ajax Amsterdam (Holland). Has been named Dutch Footballer of the Year. Got red-carded in controversial play where he hand-balled to prevent a game-winning goal by Ghana in the 121st minute of play yesterday. Scorned by international media as a result, but he has been hailed as a hero in Uruguay. Will not play in the semi-finals against Holland. Scored both goals in 2-1 win over Mexico in the first knock-out round.

4. Kaka. Brazil. Age 28. Plays for Real Madrid. Has scored 27 goals in 82 international games. Known for humanitarian work, and is an ambassador for the U.N. Food Program.

5. Keisuke Honda. Japan. Age 24. Plays for CSKA Moscow. Has scored an impressive six goals in just 19 international appearances, including World Cup goals versus Cameroon and Denmark.

6. Park Ji-sung. South Korea. Age 29. Plays for Manchester United. Played in third straight World Cup. Scored in team's 2-0 win over Greece. Is first Asian player to score in three consecutive World Cups.