Author: jbenton

Favorite line from a political weblog (from Howard Dean’s site): “If you hadn’t heard, the Iowa caucuses were last night.”
I have a feeling that anyone checking out the Dean for America weblog Tuesday morning had already “heard” that the Iowa caucuses were last night. They probably heard about it right before they started leaping from windows, Depression-era-stockbroker style. There seems to be a bit of denial in the Dean blog camp — at least until you get to the comments, which alternate between self-flagellation and blaming everything on the media, the traditional sport of losing candidates everywhere.
In Chanda news, she won her first round match against the Swedish menace, although she had a bit more trouble than she should have (6-3, 4-6, 6-3). Thirty-six unforced errors didn’t help. Anyway, the draw is developing as expected, so it’s Denisa Chladkova in the second round, followed by the winner of Francesca Schiavone-Elena Likhovtseva.

It’s a new year, which means it’s time for another installment of ChandaWatch, in which this web site catalogues the progress of Chanda Rubin, the 10th-ranked female tennis player in the world. (Also known as “Chanda Rubin, that girl who Josh went to high school with.”)
Have I ever mentioned that Chanda’s career winnings total $4,173,313? That’s just slightly better than journalist money. I knew I should have worked on my backhand instead of writing for the school paper.
Chanda’s coming off an excellent 2003, having finished the year ranked in the top 10 for the first time in her injury-riddled career. She won two tournaments (Madrid and Eastbourne) and had solid if unspectacular majors (fourth round at the Australian, quarters at Roland Garros, third round at Wimbledon, and an unfortunate first-round ouster at the U.S. Open). And just a few days ago, she at least took a set off of No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne, the pride of Belgium, before falling.
Her path to glory at the Australian this week doesn’t look too awful: the dentally impaired Asa Svensson in the first, likely followed by sketchy Czech Denisa Chladkova, and 18th seed Francesca Schiavone. Then would come her first real test, the wily communist sympathizer and world No. 6 Anastasia Myskina, in the fourth round.
(By the way, I’m going to mention the words naked, nude, and porn here — for no other reason than the fact that Google regularly sends me many hits from people searching for “[insert name of women’s tennis star] nude.” “Anastasia Myskina nude” is a particularly popular one.)
Should Chanda make it past the Myskina juggernaut (which she couldn’t last year at this time), she’d likely get Clijsters in the quarters, Venus in the semis, and Henin-Hardenne in the finals. Not to plan ahead or anything.
Anyway, the Australian has historically been Chanda’s second best major after the French (she got to the semis in ’96 and won it all in doubles that same year). So here’s hoping for a lengthy series of Chanda updates in the coming days…

Cycloptic goats.
Fritzner Bechette: Now where did I put that ticket?
World’s biggest liar accused of cheating.
Don’t yell at the noisy.
Smart move: Canadian squeezes murder in hours before he turns 18, avoids being tried as an adult. (Or he may have killed the guy just after turning 18 — it isn’t clear, which is why he gets the kiddie trial. I remember reading some years ago a lengthy legal discussion of whether your birthday should count as the last day of your previous year of age or the first day of the next one. In other words, is getting drunk on your 21st birthday legal, or are you still a 20-year-old in the eyes of the law since it may not have actually been a full 21 years since your birth? The article I read argued that in fact your birthday is part of the previous year — so this kid should be tried as a juvenile and that drunken 21-year-old is still an underaged drinker. Any lawyers reading this are free to comment with their better researched thoughts.)

It’s not posted online, but it you track down the front page of yesterday’s (Friday’s) Metro section, you’ll find the first reference to the female orgasm I’ve managed to get into The Dallas Morning News.

Ever wonder what song you just heard on the radio? This remarkable web site has the answers. (Well, for an awful lot of radio stations, at least.)
May I pat myself on the back for a moment? Yesterday I ran my first 10K (6.2 miles). I could get into all this running stuff.

Never let it be said that Leia doesn’t respond quickly to criticism. She has filled her site today with amazing content, perhaps the best in her site’s history.
(Bouncing head courtesy of Rannie at last year’s SXSW, by the way. I’ll be there again this year, so I hope all my peeps will be in attendance.)

So I got Leia profiled in today’s Dallas Morning News. The thanks I get? I’m not even on her link list. Pathetic. Last time I do that large head a favor.
Education at its finest: Teacher forces students to landscape his mother’s home as “service project.”
Has your puppy been smuggling drugs? (Use the pulldown menu at the page’s bottom for endless hours of fun.)

A final burst of bad-boy journalist news (final for a while, at least):
The final word on Jack Kelley. It looks pretty bad.
In contrast, this 6,000-word (!) hit job on Frank DeFord is absurd. I’m not much of a DeFord fan — I think he’s too emotionally manipulative — but geez, this article (which seeks to tar him with the Jayson Blair brush) is waaaaay too much of a stretch. Among the things the reporter considers crimes against journalism:
– Calling Larry Bird “the greatest basketball player ever” in 1988. (The reporter presumably thinks Wilt or Jordan would be better picks.)
– Saying “except for the 1960s, the United States has produced a great [tennis] champion in every decade of the 20th century.” (The reporter thinks Arthur Ashe should qualify.)
– Writing that “Curious as it may be for this nation of immigrants, we Americans have never cottoned to foreign athletes.” (The reporter thinks that Wayne Gretzky proves this statement wrong.)
Are any of these demonstrably false? They’re opinions. DeFord is a columnist, and he’s allowed to have opinions. This reporter needs to get off his high horse and stop trying to make a name for himself by tearing down someone bigger than him.

The next step in the JB self-improvement program: Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon. If you’re planning to be in B.C. this June, come run with me.

Mistah Kurtz has a followup on Jack Kelley. Turns out he was fudging, at least in the course of the investigation into his alleged misdeeds. (Still no absolute confirmation he fudged in stories, but this revelation — that he asked one interpreter to impersonate another in order to cover his ass — makes him look quite suspect.) More here and here; pick up tomorrow’s USA Today for what will allegedly be a lengthy explanation of the hubbub.