Why are you here? There can only be one reason. SUPERBOWL XLVI with Tom Brady and Eli Manning at the helm. After recent games, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants are facing off once again for the ultimate prize. Tom Brady will square up against Eli Manning in pursuit of the greatest honor in professional football. There's a lot at stake here, so let's first take a look at Tom Brady's stats then we'll look at Eli Manning. Brady is 6'4 at 225 lbs and graduated from Michigan. He definitely has the experience to beat Eli in Superbowl XLVI and boast many impressive statistics:

Tom Brady Stats

• 611 attempted passes / 401 completions = 65.6% completion percentage
• 8.6 yards per attempt
• 12 interceptions
• 105.6 QB rating

Manning is also 6'4 at 218 pounds and graduated from Mississippi. He also boasts tons of experience so let's take a look at his stats compared to Brady's.

Eli Manning Stats

• 589 attempted passes / 359 completions = 61.0% completion percentage
• 8.4 yards per attempt
• 16 interceptions
• 92.9 QB rating

As you can see, Eli Manning is seemingly the underdog in this offense scenario against Tom Brady. There's much more to a football team than a QB, so next time I will go over the offensive sectors vs the defensive sectors. Without an effective defensive strategy, the Giants could be left with their pants down. On the other side of the equation though, without an all-out offensive rush there's no way to win a Superbowl. It's going to be tough for the teams to do, but they need to strike a balance of offense and defense to win this game. Whichever quarterback gets this balance right will win the Superbowl for sure. Some quarterbacks can find this middle ground very easily right from the start while others struggle to find it until it's too late. For these quarterbacks, it's critical that they find their groove right away or it could spell absolute disaster for the team and the fans. Personally, I think that Tom Brady will be able to manage his team and discover this balance more effectively because he seems to have a cooler head and takes it all in stride. All in all, seeing Eli Manning vs Tom Brady will be undoubtedly one of the biggest spectacles in NFL history and will remain in the minds of the viewers for years to come.

Phil Han/Getty Images files

Tommy Ardolino, drummer for NRBQ, whom Elvis Costello once called "the greatest American band" died last week, but not before leaving an indelible mark on his instrument and rock music.

OK, a joke: How do you know there’s a drummer at your door? The knocking speeds up and gets louder. Another? All right: What do you get when you cross a drummer and a gorilla? A really dumb gorilla. Ha! One more, OK? A drummer decides to go solo. He goes down to the shop and tells the guy behind the counter that he needs a Les Paul and a Marshall Stack to front the band he’s starting. Guy behind the counter says: “You’re a drummer, right?” Drummer says, “Yeah, how did you know?” Guy says, “Because this is a fish and chip shop.” Kaboom. Drummers: I love them, but not everyone else is onside. Years ago, some musicians were so troubled by them that they invented a machine to replace them. Things didn’t go as planned, however, and it was the often-neglected bass player who ended up getting downsized by electronics. Hey, how do you know a bass player’s at your door? Sorry. You were saying something?

Drums look like fun to play and they are. A woman once asked a friend of mine what he did for a living and he was able to tell her: “I hit things” (He went home with the woman.) Drumming is great tension release and it is easy to go boam-tap-boam-tap-boam-tap and pretend you’re playing for Gerry and the Pacemakers. The first thing anyone wants to do when they sit behind the drums is twirl their sticks like Neil Peart or Lars Ulrich. Either that, or raise one stick in the air and shout something like “GNARLLLGHHH!!”

Most times, whenever anyone pretends to play drums, they play like Animal from The Muppets, who was based on Keith Moon, whose kit used to have a floor tom that opened to reveal a fully stocked bar. Still, while everyone wants to pretend to be a drummer, only a few commit. Drumming isn’t something you flirt with. Drumming is a reality, a lifestyle, a behavioural pattern. The best drummers embody their instrument, which is why you occasionally end up with Keith Moon, who once assailed his bandmates for replacing him after hearing the acetate for a song they’d recorded a few days before. Moon, it turned out, had forgotten the whole session, having kept the door to his floor tom open a little too long. Oh: What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Never mind. The answer is actually kind of sad.

One of my favourite drummers of all time passed away last Friday. His name was Tommy Ardolino and he played with NRBQ, whom Elvis Costello has called “the greatest American band.” Tommy used to strike his drums so hard that the toms would sometimes fall off his kit, tumbling across the stage like hexagonal dice. Once, I watched while the roadie from his band screwed them back on the metal rack, returned sidestage, lit a smoke, and, a few songs later, got up to do it again, then a few times more. With Tommy, that’s just the way it was. He was all hair and arms: Hiroshima Afro bouncing in time; hands glancing lightning-quick across the kit. He had a thick torso and a broad chest that gave thump to his dancer’s feet and hands as nimble as a clockmaker’s. Tommy looked like a character from The Banana Splits, but he could play anything. His kick patterns leapt like a child’s heartbeat, and crowds who left clubs and taverns after seeing him drummed their way home: on subway cushions, dashboards, bike handles, coins and keys.

I first heard Tommy — and NRBQ — on a cassette tape given to me by two sisters, Joanne and Evelyn, who lived in Vancouver. I didn’t like the music at first, but eventually, it stuck. After a few years, I found the tape and played it again, then went looking for the story. Although NRBQ sounded like a band from tomorrow, it turned out they’d been formed before yesterday: dating back, in their first incarnation, to the late 1960s. There were four master musicians in their lineup — Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato, Big Al Anderson and Tommy — but virtuosity didn’t stop them from writing songs about cars and air conditioning and snack food as well as recording three lowbrow albums with three different artists: Carl Perkins, Skeeter Davis and wrestling promoter Captain Lou Albano. Live shows lasted forever and were legendary for their breadth of music: From skiffle to pop ballads to turn-of-the-century jazz to Monk to surging rock ’n’ roll to Rain at the Drive In, possibly the greatest pop single ever. Once, in New York City, NRBQ ended their show with Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. After 20 minutes of cheering from the crowd, they returned to play Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, again. Although only a relatively small following know their recordings, more people, it seems, know their stories. Like the time in England, when a limousine driver met them after a club show in London. The driver said he’d been hired by another musician to bring them to his castle for an after-show party. This was good enough for NRBQ, so they climbed in, and, eventually, they were delivered to the home of Paul McCartney, where bassist Joey Spampinato was presented with a bass monogrammed with The Beatles’ initials. NRBQ refused to be defined by the size of their audience, or numbers of records sold; they were artists in the truest sense, right up to their quasi-farewell show in 2004. Recent scuttlebutt had keyboardist Terry Adams reforming the band with new members and the same name. One wonders how Tommy’s death will affect this, but maybe, in the long run, it doesn’t matter. They’ve earned the right to do as they please.

I met Tommy a few times. He was a wonderful dude: freaky, funny and happy; both normal and strange, as most lifers are. A few memories remain from our conversations. Once, before an Ontario Place show opening for Blue Rodeo, he told me that he had every episode of The Young and the Restless on VHS, and that, just a few weeks before the show, he’d held the master tapes to Pet Sounds in his hands, and kissed them. He also got a chance to play with his hero, Brian Wilson. He told me, “I could have died right there,” but whomever manages the Great Beyond had other ideas. Tommy would play lots more, and play better than ever. At another show, he played a drum lick that has stayed with me my entire life because I can’t believe how he did it. People have said this kind of thing about Hendrix and Bird and Freddie Mercury; where it’s almost like a magic trick, disbelieving even as you’re watching it happen.

It was a drum fill played on high-hats; a rattling of sticks on shimmering metal that razored across the up-tempo swing number, something Adams had counted in. I was with my friend, Dave Clark, and I remember grabbing him by the arm after it happened, and him grabbing me, although maybe it’s the corrupt drama of memory that conjures this. After the fill, Tommy smiled and kept going, his hair bobbing and arms swimming as if nothing unusual had happened. The song ended and we were bewildered, feeling as if the genius and essence of drumming was before us. Then, Adams snapped his fingers. It was late afternoon and the sun lingered above the horizon. Rain at the Drive In started. It sounded so good. Let’s stop time right there.

The drummer to end all drummers

Have you wondered what our world might look like if Dr. Martin Luther King's dream was realized? I have. As I watch the Occupy Movement, I think about what it might be like to raise to the . majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force (Martin Luther King, PhD, I Have A Dream Speech, Washington, DC, USA, 1963) in a world where all men are treated equally, as well as created equally (US Declaration of Independence, 1776).

With the celebration of Martin Luther King, I began looking for tidelike trends raising us up consistently and subtly. What I found is remarkable. Folks, we're doing it in so many ways Here are two examples.

From hamlets across the globe, people uplift one another with the phenomenon of crowd-source funding: see internet source (1) below. Global entrepreneurs and investors connect via the internet to fund projects that include a broad spectrum of human innovation. With investment platforms ranging from point systems, to as little as $5 per share, to no-limit-donation based, human creativity emerges. With a soul-to-soul force yet unseen in our evolution, from citizen journalism, to the arts and technology to micro projects that help the planet, education, community, and on, humans sit at the table of equality and create. As a result, even more dreams are envisioned and realized. One person at a time, we march ahead lifting one another up instead of .wallowing in the valley of despair.. Little black boys and black girls.join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers (King, 1963).

Oh yes, King's dream is being realized from sea to shining sea throughout this mighty planet From the red hills of Duluth, GA, USA, Afghanistan families are judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin as they are assisted by The International Rescue Committee that helps resettle about 2,500 refugees in Georgia each year (King, 1963), (extracted on 9 January 2012 from internet source (2) below). Their .rough places are made plain in the heart of the deep US South (King, 1963). According to CBS Television, they are no longer likely be killed. Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, they are free at last (King, 1963).

While we can only guess what Dr. King might think of these examples, here are my thoughts as a behavioral and management scientist. Wisely standing on the shoulders of great thinkers like Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King comprehended the essence of humanity and our evolutionary trajectory. Dr. King broadcast that essence with a force so powerful that it could have only risen from his most cherished vision and authentic self. With a crystalline vision, Dr. King relentlessly marched with thousands into the jaws of our collective-human fear. With a soul-to-soul force that no man, woman, or child, no prejudice or judgement, no slanderous intent or greed would dare deny, Dr. King pulled back the veil on our capacity and called us to that higher purpose.

And we hear that purpose. It resonates in the roots of our beings. One step at a time, battling our lesser selves to free our greater good, we march on. Through the marbled halls of our institutions to tent cities dwelling in the US shadows to the slums of Calcutta, Taipei, Hong Kong, and on, we create a tipping point that can and will forever change how we relate to and interact with one another and ourselves. In a trial-and-error process, we envision preferred outcomes, develop our performance, and create new and healthier choices for every single living soul on this planet.

As we go into this week, may each of us take a few moments to consider our place in this design. May we hold ourselves accountable for our contribution to the global condition. May we summon our courage and take the reins of our own wellness. May we further develop our performance as we comprehend, learn, experience, adapt, reinforce, and share our knowledge one day, one choice, one step at a time to .let our freedom ring (King, 1963) Be clear, be great, be all in

Internet Sources Referenced Above

(1) http://dowser.org/top-ten-crowdsourced-funding-platforms/

(2) http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16203691/afghan-refugees-find-dreams-realized-in-metro-atlanta

DURHAM — The first national touring production of the four-time Tony award-winning musical “Memphis” will make its way to the Durham Performing Arts Center starting this week.

Based on the Tony award-winning book by Joe DiPietro, directed by Christopher Ashley, choreographed by Sergio Trujillo and featuring music by David Bryan of the rock band, Bon Jovi, “Memphis” takes audiences to Memphis, Tenn., to the underground dance clubs of the 1950s.

Julie Johnson, who plays Gladys in the show, took a few moments out of her touring schedule to talk about the show during a stop in Hartford, Conn., on Jan. 13.

Johnson said her involvement in the show came about as “an interesting monkey wrench” in her touring schedule at the time. She was portraying Fraulein Schneider in “Caberet” prior to auditioning for the role of Gladys, who Johnson described as “a typical woman of the 1950s. She has prejudices and is torn in how to approach her son being in love with an African-American singer. She really has to weigh things and realizes that she’ll either lose her son or be accepting of the decisions he makes.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better role,” she said. As a mother, “you love your child no matter what. And the soulful gospel music in the show is just amazing. This music just gets you ready to jump on that train and go.”

Johnson’s recent concert tour, “Julie Johnson Sings,” has received critical acclaim from critics and she has portrayed Patsy Cline in eight productions of “A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline” along with the new musical “Look Homeward Honky Tonk Angel” with music and lyrics by Larry Gatlin at Lyric Stage of Irving. She performed in the off-Broadway premiere of “Roadside” by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, starring opposite G.W. Bailey of “The Closer.”

Her movie credits include “Pure Country” with George Strait and “The Apostle” with Robert Duvall.

She also appeared on episodes of “As The World Turns” as well as being the voice of Baby Bop on the “Barney and Friends” series.

She described Bailey and J.K. Simmons, also of “The Closer,” as “two of my favorite people … they’re dear friends.”

A native of Texas, Johnson still has that warm Southern drawl and an upbeat personality, too. She has a 13-year-old son who travels with her on the road. She home-schools and uses the tour as teachable moments.

“We like to see historic parts of each town we visit,” she said. “We like to research a city before we go there.”

Inspire Change, an in-classroom educational program provided to students before the show, has allowed students to not only speak with members of the cast, but has served as an interactive tool for teachers.

Johnson said that big groups participated in both Charlotte and Chicago. Although she’s not certain they will interact with students in Durham, she added that in these workshops “we’re there to encourage them to dream, work hard and pursue their goals in this business. We tell them how life will give you opportunities and it’s up to you to make the best of them. Gosh, I know I still do that. There’s a myriad of opportunities in our business. This is an amazing program.”

“We’re really, really excited about bringing this show to the Raleigh/Durham area,” she added. “I’ve been there before with other shows, but this is the first time for ‘Memphis.’ I think audiences there are going to love it.”

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29, at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC), 123 Vivian St. Tickets range from $46 to $66 and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000.

'Memphis' makes its way to Durham

Future Knights In The NFLFour Scarlet Knights will play in Postseason All-Star Games. DE Manny Abreu, in Casino Del Sol All-Star game on Monday, January 16. DL Justin Francis in the East-West Shrine game on Saturday, January 21, OL Desmond Wynn, OL also in the East-West Shrine game and RB Joe Martinek in the Players All-Star Classic on Saturday, February 4.

WR Mohamed Sanu declared he will be entering the 2012 NFL Draft and forgoing his senior season. Sanu will be invited to the NFL combine in the next few weeks.

Pro BowlRB Ray Rice was voted to the NFL's 2012 Pro Bowl.

Two DozenTwenty four former Scarlet Knights finished the season in the NFL – 14 on active rosters, 4 on practice squads, and 6 on injured Reserve. scarletknights.comWild Card Weekend

The Cincinnati Bengals was the only team of the eight playoff teams competing this week that had Rutgers alumni on their active roster.

LS Clark Harris handled his normal long snapping duties for the Bengals, who fell to the Texans 31-10 at Houston. Harris added one tackle on special teams as well. RB Brian Leonard had a productive day, leading the Bengals in rushing with 34 yards on 3 carries and catching a team-high 6 catches for 36 yards. His 16 yard screen catch-and-run to the 1 yard line set up a Cedric Benson 1 yard score for a Bengals 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. However, the Bengals would not score another touchdown in the game as they were eliminated from the playoffs.

CB Brandon Bing, who is on the Giants practice squad and OL Howard Barbieri, who is on the Houston Texans practice squad, both saw their teams advance to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs.

Divisional Round Playoffs

While only four former Scarlet Knights were in the Wild Card round, this weekend's NFL Divisional Round will feature eight former Rutgers players.

OT Anthony Davis and his San Francisco 49ers will host the New Orleans Saints Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night, the New England Patriots will take on the Denver Broncos at home. The Patriots have four former Scarlet Knights on their roster: CB Devin McCourty, DB Nate Jones, WR Tiquan Underwood and DL Alex Silvestro (practice squad).

On Sunday, RB Ray Rice and his Baltimore Ravens host the Houston Texans. OL Howard Barbieri is on the Texans practice Squad.

In the second game Sunday, CB Brandon Bing (practice squad) and his Giants will be at Green Bay

A LOOK BACK AT 2011Here is how the whole Scarlet List on NFL rosters at the end of the 2011 NFL season performed during the year, with season stats:

Howard, OL, Houston TexansOn Practice squad all season.

Brandon Bing , DB, New York GiantsOn Practice squads all season.

Gary Brackett, LB, Indianapolis ColtsPlayed only one game, where he injured his shoulder. After a few weeks he was placed on Injured Reserve underwent surgery to repair damage to his left rotator cuff.

Kenny Britt, WR, Tennessee TitansBritt was lighting the league on fire with 14 catches for 271 yards and 3 touchowns in three games. He was injured in his third game of the season and later placed on injured reserve with knee injuries. He finished the season with 17 catches for 289 yards and the three scored.

Kevin Brock, TE, Buffalo BillsStarted the season on the Raiders practice squad and was signed to the Bills practice squad later in the season. The last two games of the season he was active and caught a pass in each game. He finished the season with two catches for 22 yards.

Anthony Davis, OT, San Francisco 49ersDavis led San Francisco line in a dominating season for the 49ers, who finished the season 13-3. Davis started all 16 games and has started all 32 games of his career.

Ryan D'Imperio, FB, Minnesota Vikings D'Imperio started on the Vikings practice squad, where he spent all of last year learning the full back position. He was activated in week five and played in 12 games, starting one. He totaled 2 catches for 7 yards and 8 tackles on special teams.

Eric Foster, DT, Indianapolis ColtsFoster played in four games, starting three before suffering a horrific ankle injury on Monday Night Football in week 4 that landed him on injured reserve. He finished the season 12 tackles (6 solo, 6 assisted).

Gary Gibson, DT, St. Louis RamsGibson played in 16 games, starting one. He had three sacks this season, after having none in his previous five. He finished the season with 13 tackles and 2 pass defenses.

Courtney Greene, S, Jacksonville JaguarsGreene played in 7 games, starting the first two weeks of the season before being replaced in the lineup. After battling injuries late in the season he was placed on injured reserve prior to week 13. He finished the season with 10 tackles.

Clark Harris, LS, Cincinnati BengalsHandled the Bengals long-snapping for all 16 games this season.

Kevin Haslam, OT, Jacksonville JaguarsHaslam suffered a knew injury in preseason and was placed on injured reserve.

Nate Jones, DB, New England PatriotsJones had a topsy-turvy 2011 season. He was cut by the Broncos toward the end of preseason and later picked up by the Dolphins in week three. He played two games in Miami before being waived after week four. He was out of football until the Patriots picked him prior to week 13. He ended up starting that week, hanging on with New England and finished the season seven games played in total. He 19 tackles and 1 pass defensed on the season.

George Johnson, DE, Tampa Bay BuccaneersJohnson started the season on the practice squad and was promoted to the active roster in week six. He was gradually earning playing time and had his most extensive action in week 10. However, he was injured that week and ended up spending the rest of the season on injured reserve while recovering from a knee injury. Johnson totaled two tackles on the season, all in his final game of four played on the season.

Joe Lefeged, S, Indianapolis ColtsLefeged added to a long line of Rutgers rookie free agents who make a team and go on to contribute significantly. Lefeged was the Colt's main kick returner and played extensively in nickel packages all season. Joe played in all 16 games, starting one. He finished the season with 34 tackles, 2 interceptions and 2 pass defenses. He returned 31 kickoffs for a 18.6 average and a long of 51 yards. He also returned 9 punts for a 4.7 average.

Brian Leonard, RB, Cincinnati BengalsLeonard played in 13 games, missing one early game with a shoulder injury and two more later in the season with a bruised knee. He handled his 3rd down duties well, totaling 85 yards rushing on 17 carries and 210 yards receiving on 22 receptions. He did not score this season. He also recorded seven tackles on special teams.

Kevin Malast, LB, Tennessee TitansMalast was picked up by the Jacksonville Jaguars prior to week 15 and then was waived and signed by the Titans to their active Roster. Malast finished the season with two tackles on special teams.

Devin McCourty, CB, New England PatriotsDevin McCourty had a difficult follow up to his pro-bowl rookie campaign. The Patriots secondary has struggled all season and McCourty was the victim of separated shoulder that forced him to miss two games. For the season he played in 14 games, starting all 14, finishing the season with 87 tackles (65 solo, 22 assisted), 12 pass defenses and 2 interceptions. The 65 solo tackles were good for second on the team (Kyle Arrington -66). He also returned one kick for 24 yards.

Jason McCourty, CB, Tennessee TitansJ-Mac had his best season as a pro. He starting and played in 15 games, missing one following a concussion. McCourty led the team with both 105 total tackles and 85 solo. He also recorded 1 sack, 2 interceptions and 13 pass defenses.

Ray Rice, RB, Baltimore RavensRay Rice put together another fine season, earning him his second pro-bowl nod. Rice continues to show his strength and durability as a pro as he has now played in 61 games as a pro. He played and started all 16 games this season and tallied over 2,000 total yards for the second time in his career. He has 2,067 all-purpose yards in 2011. Ray rushed 291 times for 1,364 and had a 4.7 yards per carry average. He had a career high 12 rushing touchdowns, including one for 70 yards. He caught 76 receptions for a career high 704 yards and three receiving touchdowns. Rice also threw a 1 yard touchdown pass for his first career completion in two attempts.

Alex Silvestro, DE, New England PatriotsOn Practice squad all season.

Tiquan Underwood, WR, New England PatriotsUnderwood who was released by the Jaguars in preseason after two seasons with Jacksonville was signed to the active roster of the Patriots prior to week 12. The Patriots had twice earlier, once in preseason after he was waived by the Jaguars, picked him for a short period and released him. He was clearly on their radar all season. He ended up playing in six games, catching three balls for 30 yards and seeing significant time as the third receiver.

Jamaal Westerman, DE/LB, New York JetsWesterman played in all 16 games, starting three. He had 32 tackles on the season (23 solo, 9 assisted) and picked up a career high 3.5 sacks as a pass rush specialist. He also forced a fumble earlier in the year.

Jeremy Zuttah, G, Tampa Bay BuccaneersZuttah played in 15 games and started 14. The 14 starts were the second most in his four seasons.

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Knights in the NFL – Wildcard Weekend 2012 & Final NFL Season Stats

Former New England Patriots coach Bill Parcells and running back Curtis Martin are two of 15 modern-era finalists who will be candidates for election to the NFL Hall of Fame when the Hall's Selection Committee convenes in Indianapolis, Ind. on Saturday.

Parcells was a head coach for 19 seasons, winning two Super Bowls and reaching one other. The Big Tuna spent four seasons coaching the Patriots from 1993 to 1996. The team was a moribound 2-14 the year before he arrived but won at least 10 games twice during his tenure, including a trip to the Super Bowl in his fourth and final season.

Martin, who has more rushing yards (14,101) than all but three running backs in NFL history, spent his first three seasons with the Patriots, rushing for 1,000 yards in each of them. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons, and was named the 1995 NFL AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

To be elected, candidates must receive at least an 80 percent positive vote from the 44-member committee.

For more Patriots coverage, visit our team page or our blog Pats Pulpit.

2012 NFL Hall Of Fame Finalists: Curtis Martin Inducted; Bill Parcells Left Out

The following students were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Greensboro College:

Richard Parker Cresenzo, Amy Dawn Deel, Woodraille Faith Gilchrist, Terrie Dionne Graves, Adrianne Marquita Hensley, Melissa Carol Landreth, Jessica Danielle Marsh, Joseph Reid Porter, Meghan Kristine Rich, Emilie Helms Rigney, Justin Lamar Roberts, Sitta Bush Rogers, Brooke Leanne Turley and Sheila Marie Webb, all of Reidsville; Cornelia Bailey-Hunter and Courtney Tara Evans of Eden; Clint Mitchell Dillon, Claudia Vaughn Hunsucker, Santana Marie Landreth and Leah Vernon Marley of Mayodan; Bonnie Bell Johnson and Kimberly Shannon Lemons of Madison; June Turner Lawrence and Donna Jo Lawson Moore of Stoneville.

• • •

The following students were named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Elon University:

Lora Leigh Sigmon, Ashley Renee Meeks and Tyler Wayne Alverson of Eden; William Clark Powers and Amanda Danielle Wilkins of Reidsville.

• • •

Scott Bishopric of Eden and Megan Elizabeth Rollins of Reidsville were named to the 2011 President’s List at Elon.

• • •

Neil Shoffner will be the new marketing manager for Annie Penn Hospital, effective Feb. 6.

Shoffner brings more than 12 years of marketing experience. Most recently, he served as marketing manager for Hanesbrands in Winston-Salem. He has a BA degree in English from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MBA from UNCG.

• • •

Sara Paschal of Rockingham County was recognized by the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNCG and inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma international honor society.

• • •

Daryl N. Crowder of Reidsville recently graduated from basic law enforcement training at Guilford Technical Community College.

• • •

Bess Hopkins of Rockingham County will compete in the 2012 Distinguished Young Women of North Carolina Scholarship program Feb. 3-4. The program, formerly known as North Carolina Junior Miss, provides scholarships for senior high school girls from across the state.

Send items for Rockingham People to robyn.taylor@news-record.com

Rockingham people: Students receive college honors : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Lance Armstrong, the seven-time tour de France champion, and his professional bicycle racing team are no longer the subjects of a U.S. criminal probe, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said.

No charges were filed against Armstrong, according to court records there.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said yesterday in an e- mailed statement that the joint investigation by prosecutors from his office, special agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Service “into allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a professional bicycle racing team owned in part by Lance Armstrong” was ending.

“The United States Attorney determined that a public announcement concerning the closing of the investigation was warranted by numerous reports about the investigation in media outlets around the world,” according to the statement.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles had been investigating Armstrong’s possible drug involvement, a person familiar with the matter previously said. The person didn’t want to be identified because details of the probe weren’t public.

Armstrong rode for the Postal Service team.

The probe of the doping allegations was led by Jeff Novitzky, a criminal investigator with the FDA. Novitzky previously investigated steroid use by professional athletes, including former San Francisco Giants baseball player Barry Bonds and Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, who was convicted for lying to grand juries about her steroid use. Bonds was convicted by a jury last year of obstructing the probe. He is appealing the conviction.

‘Right Decision’

Armstrong, 40, a cancer survivor, retired from professional cycling in February 2011 to focus on Livestrong, his cancer charity. He has denied using banned performance-enhancing drugs and has passed almost 500 tests over 20 years of competition, his attorney has said. He won the Tour de France, the sport’s most-prestigious event, each year from 1999 to 2005 after surviving testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs.

“I am gratified to learn that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is closing its investigation,” Armstrong said in an e-mailed statement from his attorney Mark Fabiani. “It is the right decision and I commend them for reaching it. I look forward to continuing my life as a father, a competitor, and an advocate in the fight against cancer without this distraction.”

Armstrong ‘Secrets’

Doping accusations against Armstrong began shortly after his first Tour victory, including in a French book, “L.A. Confidential — The Secrets of Lance Armstrong.” In 2010, Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour title after a positive drug test, accused Armstrong and other former teammates of using illegal substances.

Another former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, who handed back his 2004 Olympic cycling gold medal after his own doping admission, told CBS’s “60 Minutes” last year that Armstrong used endurance-boosting erythropoietin, or EPO, during the Tour in 1999 and to prepare for the Tour in 2000 and 2001. He also said he saw Armstrong transfuse blood during the 2000 race. “60 Minutes” reported that Hamilton said the same thing to investigators under oath.

Armstrong said at the time that Hamilton “duped” the program and was seeking to make money from a book he was writing.

‘Clean Sport’

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Chief Executive Officer Travis T. Tygart said his organization, the official anti-doping agency for Olympic sports in the U.S., will continue its investigation.

“Unlike the U.S. Attorney, USADA’s job is to protect clean sport rather than enforce specific criminal laws,” Tygart said in an e-mailed statement. “Our investigation into doping in the sport of cycling is continuing and we look forward to obtaining the information developed during the federal investigation.”

Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer in October 1996. He underwent chemotherapy and returned to professional cycling two years later. In 1999 he won the first of his record seven consecutive Tour de France titles.

His team, owned and managed by Tailwind Sports, was sponsored by the Postal Service, which provided about $8 million a year in financial support and covered about 60 percent of its expenses.

The Postal Service ended its sponsorship in 2004 and Discovery Communications Inc. was a sponsor until 2007. The team announced that year that it was shutting down as cycling reeled from a spate of doping scandals. Armstrong’s seventh Tour win with the team was in 2005.

Armstrong has endorsements including Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s Michelob brand, Nike Inc., Nissan Motor Co., Trek Bicycle Corp. and RadioShack Corp., which sponsors the racing team he formed in 2009, according to his website.

His Austin, Texas-based Livestrong charity has raised more than $325 million, according to its website.

–With assistance from Rob Gloster in San Francisco and Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles. Editors: Glenn Holdcraft, Peter Blumberg

To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

Lance Armstrong, Racing Team No Longer Being Probed, U.S. Says

The actor, best known for playing emotionally complex men and villains, went on to work with numerous high-profile Hollywood directors, including John Cassavetes, with whom he collaborated on several films, including the 1976 gangster drama "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie."

His credits also included a role as porn-film producer Jackie Treehorn in the Coen Brothers' 1998 cult comedy classic "The Big Lebowski" and a supporting role in the 1999 remake of the art-heist drama "The Thomas Crown Affair," starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.

On television, Gazzara starred from 1965 to 1968 on the NBC prime-time drama "Run for Your Life." He played a wealthy, successful lawyer, Paul Bryan, who quits his practice after learning he has a terminal illness and embarks on a globe-trotting quest for adventure before he dies.

The role earned him two Emmy nominations as best actor in a lead dramatic role. He picked up a third Emmy nomination for his 1985 role in the made-for-TV movie "An Early Frost," and won an Emmy for his supporting work in the 2002 HBO television film "Hysterical Blindness."

He earned Tony nominations for his appearances in three Broadway productions of the 1970s, a revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and his dual roles in a double bill of the plays "Hughie" and "Duet."

Gazzara was married three times, with his first two marriages ending in divorce. He is survived by his third wife, Elke, and daughter Elizabeth.

Actor Ben Gazzara dies – International Business Times

Based on true events, Captain Phillips bravely allowed himself to be taken prisoner by Somali pirates in 2009 to ensure the survival of his crew.

He captained the MV Maersk Alabama before it was hijacked and he subsequently spent three days as a prisoner before being rescued by a team of US Navy SEALS.

According to ComingSoon.net, Keener is set to play his wife, Andrea, who remained strong throughout the hostage ordeal and Kevin Spacey is set to be one of the producers.

The film is based on Phillip's memoir, A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea, and is expected to begin filming shortly.

Rita Wilson with her husband Tom Hanks

Keener joins Hanks' Captain Phillips

A full month is in the books in the MLB and the month of May is upon us. Several big names have gotten off to extremely poor starts and their month of May is an opportunity to break out. Here is a short list of a few to watch and what we may see from them.

Josh Hamilton (TEX): The feel good story of last season (can anybody forget the HR derby?) is off to an extremely slow start. Entering May, Hamilton has hit just 2 HRs and has a very mediocre .242 batting average. He also has only driven in 10 runs which is well off the pace that he carried last season to a final tally of 130 RBIs. The Texas offense has produced some big numbers so far and rank 6th in total runs scored and are first in home runs hit by a fairly large margin entering May. Hamilton hit 32 into the seats last season but is yet to find his stroke so far in 2009. He has battled some early going injuries including a strained rib cage, which likely contributes to his very slow start. Once Josh Hamilton gets healthy it is only a matter of time until he starts crushing the ball again. The offense around him is stacked and capable of some big innings, which Hamilton will eventually cash in on.

Jimmy Rollins (PHI): Saying Jimmy Rollins has gotten off to a poor start is an understatement. Viewed as a top SS pick among the names of Reyes and Ramirez, and seen as a first round pick caliber player, Rollins carries big expectations. Needless to say a line of a .207 batting average, 1 HR and only 1 stolen base just does not cut it. The most alarming aspect of the line on Rollins is the lone stolen base. For a guy who swiped 47 last year in 50 attempts, it is worrisome that he has only even attempted twice this season and was caught once. Rollins has given owners that drafted him early very little to smile about and have forced many into benching him until he re-emerges. Rollins has personally stated that May will be his month, so keep tabs on him. Look for his numbers to improve through May for they really can not get much worse than they were in April.

David Ortiz (BOS): Many predicted Ortiz's glory days are behind him (myself included) and he so far has done nothing to disprove that thought. Through the first month of the year Ortiz has yet to hit a single home run. That's right – 0. After his injured and tattered 2008, it seems Ortiz may be in the waning stages of his career or at the very least is simply not the overwhelming power hitter he once was. For a guy that had over 100 RBIs every year between 2003 and 2007 (5 seasons), it is alarming to see him with only 12 at this stage. Granted he is not being completely unproductive but the truth is he just does not look like the David Ortiz of old. As we enter May the main story here is pondering when Ortiz will connect for his first home run of the season. He is bound to go on a hot tear here or there, but his injuries from seasons past look to have finally taken out the enormous power from his hands.

The TRX Suspension Trainer is a great all-in-one tool for MMA training. The TRX can workout your whole body and many of the best MMA fighters in the world implement the TRX into their workouts.

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Once The Franchise, Allen Iverson returned to face his old 76ers team, now as a member of the Denver Nuggets. The 76ers fans gave Iverson a standing ovation, in appreciation of a career given to 76ers Nation.

Allen Iverson is small of stature by NBA standards, standing 6' tall, but weighing a mere 165 pounds. His frame has been dropped, poked, tripped and shoved all over Philadelphia. One thing that could always be counted on, was that Allen Iverson would always bounce up off the floor, pull himself together, and hit big shots for the 76ers.

The Philadelphia fans can be difficult, but they are fair, and they are knowledgeable, loving effort. If nothing else, Allen Iverson is all effort on the court. Iverson gave it all to the 76ers in a decade of on-court excellence.

His 76ers career statistics are staggering. Rookie-of-the-year, MVP, All-Star game MVP, 27.8 scoring average, a cool 30 points-per-game in the playoffs, 2.3 steals a game to go with over 6 assists per game. The stats are amazing, but his heart is what sells to the 76ers faithful.

He was a pain in the ass off the court, too hip-hop for the faithful, didn't like to practice, it is all true. In this day and age, you have to take it all if you want to take it at all. That is reality, and that too, is Allen Iverson. His return to Philadelphia to face what were his 76ers, seems bittersweet. A cocktail of what was and what will not be.

Perhaps no industry is trendier than fashion. If you're over 40 like me, you probably remember bell bottom jeans, parachute pants or collar up polo shirts from the '80s. In hindsight we all look silly at times following these trends over the years and pictures of these moments often provide comic relief for the next generation. Well, like fashion, the NFL is extremely trendy as well and what is en vogue today is often laughed at 10 years later. For example, how many teams do you see playing the 46 defense on Sunday or employing the Run and Shoot offense? Schemes do evolve over time and it is easy to see that the current preference to use spread formations is an extension of the earlier Run and Shoot concepts. With these offensive changes, the 3 down running back is now on the EPA's endangered species list and has become the exception rather than the rule. Is this trend simply the product of a change in offensive philosophy, rule changes or something else?

There is no debating that the NFL has become a passing league with teams on average preferring the passing game 59% of the time over the run. However, it wasn't that long ago that the formula for winning Super Bowls was flipped? When the December weather rolled into the most of the country, you needed to play defense and run the ball. If you couldn't do that, well then you weren't going to be in any top 10 Championship shows on the ESPN Classic channel.

Granted rule changes since the Patriots mauled the Greatest Show on Turf in the Super Bowl have helped open up the passing game but is that why the 3 down back appears to be going the way of the T-Rex?

If you asked most coaches, a majority would agree with the statement that you should play to your strengths. Since we know that the league is slinging it all over the field now, is that an indictment on the current crop of weak RB talent coming out of college or a compliment to the strong quality of WR's that are emerging from the college ranks. Like a good politician, I would argue it is a combination of both.

The formula for a successful running game in today's game is to have to have at least 3 running backs or in the case of a team like the Cowboys drafting DeMarco Murray this year, you may need 4 to truly get the job done. Aside from a few players like Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson and MJD, most backs are lucky to get 7-12 touches per game. Gone are the days of the 20+ carry RB's like Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton or more recently Marshall Faulk. If you spend any time watching the NFL Combine you will realize that these players are certainly not less talented from a pure numbers standpoint. The size and speed of today's running backs are increasing each year and their training is much more sophisticated than ever.

So if it is not the talent level, what has fueled the growth of the Running Back By Committee (RBBC) approach? In a word – Specialization Let's remember that sports are a microcosm of society right? Look at the medical profession as the best example. Specialization abounds in spades in that industry where doctors not only specialize on certain organs or systems but will even build their whole practice on the treatment of one aspect of an organ. Corporations are not much different these days either. Gone are the days of the generalist as responsibilities are often segregated down to the smallest details. Running backs are also affected by this similar trend in the NFL where just being able to run the ball is not enough anymore. Back in the day, the RB with great vision was on the field the whole time even if he couldn't pick up a blitz or catch a cold. Not anymore and not with the price-tag that today's top drafted QBs are commanding. Now coaches like to shuttle in three or four different players on each play to specialize their team according to the situation. There is the 3rd down back, the short-yardage back, 1st and 2nd down back, blocking fullback or H-Back and each with a different purpose. Coaches insert the players with these various skills depending on the down and distance in an effort to play to their strengths.

Perhaps RBs are a victim of the growth of the spread offense in college and are now an afterthought where they don't get the chance to hone their skills as thoroughly as before? This may have some merit when you consider that the old fantasy theory of the breakout 3 year WR is all but dead with many WR's hitting the ground running like Mike Williams in Tampa Bay last season. Rare is the RB today that oozes with so much talent that you just have to have him on the field for all three downs. When you find one like an Adrian Peterson or a Chris Johnson, you should hold on tight and ride him to your fantasy championship because more than ever, these players are difference makers and clearly separate fantasy teams that have to play matchups every week and hope that the coach doesn't have a 50+ passing game plan installed that week. We probably took for granted the talent level of players like Barry Sanders or Curtis Martin in the past and should really learn to appreciate this increasingly rare skillset of the every down back. Then again, like parachute pants are making a comeback, maybe we will one day return to the 4 yards and a cloud of dust days in the NFL where RBs were the toast of the town.

Built by the Giant King Og of Bashan/ 3200 BC;
37,000 Tons of Stones/159 Meters diameter;

Outer Ring, seven feet high

Location: Israel (Golan Heights)
Gilgal= circle:

The Circle of Refaim is one of the last great scarcely known wonders of the ancient world atop Israel's Golan Heights (see: Josh, Chapter 4: JKV).

In the middle of the rings is a mound of stones set up as a landmark, monument gravestone. Perhaps used as an astronomical observatory and stellar calendar; it resembles some of the ruins found on Malta (I have been to Malta, and its makeup is very close to the Refaim Circle). Built on a flat plateau, in an remote area, it can only be seen clearly from the air; perhaps for the returning giants; hundreds of tombs are on this site, thus it could have been used also as a burial site.

.sons of God (b'nai Elohim), taking wives from among the daughters of Adam. In those days giants [Nephilm] were in the earth.
The word, which is translated, giants, in the King James Version Bible is in Hebrew, Nephilm, which means, Those who fell (or . the fallen ones). Jude, the brother of Jesus describes them as angels, having left their first estate in heaven who came to earth on a mission, to guard the people of earth (otherwise known as 'the Watchers).

The fallen ones (or the Watchers) sought to merge with the bloodline of Adam, because of the promise that was given to send a redeemer through Adam's kinsman. The Hebrew says that the Sons of God (the angelic Watchers) saw that the women on earth were able-bodied (or good fit) extension, for they sought to extend themselves into this realm from the spirit realm (or from spirit to flesh), as well as to extend themselves into the children of the promise (thus, they would thereafter be part of the birthright) of Adam. Satan of course, tried to screw this up, by trying to prevent the eventual birth, in the future of the Messiah (perhaps envy, for he could not get in on the show). This mating process of human beings with angelic beings resulted in hybrid creatures, evil spirits with human bodies; Giants such as Og, and thereafter, Gilgamish. And is perhaps the main reason God had the Great Flood come.

The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon: old tribe of giants (also: implying spirits)=rapha: shades or spirits.

Dr Giles Fraser, who resigned from St Paul’s Cathedral after its governing body tried to evict the Occupy protesters camped on its steps, said Lord Carey is now a “one-man band” who should “take up golf” rather than intervening in important debates, as he did last week.

He added that the former Archbishop was only ever appointed because Margaret Thatcher disliked the “Marxist propaganda” put out by much of the Church in the 1980s.

His comments came after five bishops who sit in the House of Lords led a defeat of the Government’s plans to cap benefits at £26,000 a year, by insisting that Child Benefit be excluded from calculations in order to protect children from poverty.

After last Monday’s vote, Lord Carey said that the prelates could not claim the “moral high ground” as the current welfare system rewarded “fecklessness and irresponsibility”.

In response, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, Convenor of the Lords Spiritual, said he was “disappointed” that the former Archbishop had made his comments in a newspaper article rather than attending the Parliamentary debate.

The Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, formerly the Bishop for Urban Life, wrote on Twitter that he was “ashamed” of Lord Carey for having “disgracefully bought Tory dogma about undeserving unemployed poor”.

Now, in an article for the New Statesman, Dr Fraser has continued the assault on the man who was the most senior cleric in the Church between 1991 and 2002.

He said Lord Carey had “pitched in to the debate over welfare reform with all the intellectual subtlety of Jason Statham trying out ballet”, and dismissed him as “yesterday’s man”.

Dr Fraser said he had been appointed by the former Conservative Prime Minister as he was “a man after her own heart”.

“This is why Carey’s attack on his fellow bishops is entirely predictable. His outlook comes straight from the Thatcherite self-help handbook. But in the current Church of England, he represents a very limited constituency. Today the Church looks much as it did in the 1980s. As the government’s austerity programme targets the “undeserving poor”, the clergy are finding their voice.”

The former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's said he doubted rumours that the current Archbishop of Canterbury, the self-styled “hairy lefty” Dr Rowan Williams, is to leave Lambeth Palace later this year.

But if he did, there was no obvious “smooth right-winger” to take his place.

“The truth is that there is no longer a plausible George Carey-type candidate in the Canterbury stakes. And that says a lot about whom Carey speaks for. He has become a one-man band, peddling a narrow version of Christianity as old-school as the Iron Lady. So, come on, George, do us all a favour – take up golf.”

Before the welfare reform dispute, Lord Carey had described the situation at St Paul's Cathedral as a "debacle" but had said Dr Fraser's resignation over the presence of the anti-banker camp was a "sad day" for the Church.

Former Archbishop called 'Thatcherite yesterday's man' by fellow cleric

It’s the biggest edition of the Spring Film Festival, now on its sixth year at the Shangri-La Plaza mall, according to its organizers.

The audience for the annual film event—which showcases award-winning and popular films to usher in the Chinese New Year—has grown steadily through the years, said Rosita Leong, founder of Ateneo de Manila University’s Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies, one of the fest’s organizers, along with the Confucius Institute.

Last year, Shangri-La’s 291-seat Cinema 4 boasted 95-percent attendance in almost all screenings of the four movies in the weeklong fest, said Marline Dualan, the mall’s division manager for marketing.

Six movies

On its sixth year, the fest will screen six movies (“Ocean Heaven,” “Lost on Journey,” “Country Wedding,” “Confucius,” “Bodyguards and Assassins,” “King of Milu Deer”) in 10 days, from January 20 to 29.

There will be simultaneous free screenings in Visayas and Mindanao—at the Sacred Heart School in Cebu starting tomorrow until January 22, and at Ateneo de Davao from Jan. 24 to 25.

All screenings are for free.

“We’ve teamed up with the Chinese Embassy in Manila,” said Sidney Bata, director of the Ricardo Leong Center.

The embassy gave the organizers a list of films, eventually narrowed down to the six, that highlight the diversity of contemporary Chinese cinema. Three films top-bill China’s biggest stars: Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat and Leon Lai.

In “Ocean Heaven,” Li plays the dying father of an autistic child.

Chow portrays the Chinese philosopher Confucius in the bio-pic which shows the icon’s human side.

Lai leads the all-star-cast epic “Bodyguards and Assassins,” which also features Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Jacky Cheung, Eric Tsang, Fan Bingbing and Wang Bo-Chieh.

“Lost on Journey,” Bata explained, is quite timely as it is set during the New Year holidays which witness the biggest annual human migration when millions of Chinese return to their hometowns. The comic road movie is about friendship.

Adding a touch of romance is “Country Wedding,” which shows the differences (and similarities) among urban and rural folks as they prepare for a momentous family occasion.

Also noteworthy is the inclusion of a 3-D animated film, “King of Milu Deer,” which sheds light on environmental concerns.

‘Chopsocky’ superstars at the Chinese fest

Good Luck for London 2012

1896 The States was one of the first 13 countries to send an athletic delegation to the Summer Games – among the world's most high-profile sporting events– on Greek soil. This year was a key moment for the global's sport.

1896 In Athens, the United States of America became the leading sports country of the world after finishing first in unofficial team standings in the First Modern Olympiad. There, the 1896 U.S. Olympic squad earned a total of 20 medals: 11 gold, 7 silver, and 2 bronze. Meanwhile, Boston-born James B. Connolly was the first person to claim a gold medal in Olympic history after winning the triple jump in Athens' Panathinaiko Stadium. Back home in Boston, Mr. Connolly was given a hero's welcome. Since 1896 -without interruption– America has been renowned for producing international champs.

1896 Thomas Burke's rise to prominence came in Athens when he was the first winner of the men's 100m in Olympian history, making him the world's fastest sprinter. Mr. Burke was identified with the emerging generation of American athletes in the late 1890s when he realized his dream of winning the Olympic gold.

1896 What hurdler was the first American athlete to win an Olympic title? Answer: Thomas Curtis, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student. He made a time of 17,6 seconds to win the gold in the men's 110m hurdles in Greece.

1900 With 47 international medals (19 gold, 14 silver, and 14 bronze), the States once again became one of the world's elite sports powers in the multi-sport event in Paris (France).

1900 Alvin Kraenzlein was in the spotlight as he, a born-athlete, led American team to win four golds in Paris: 60m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles, and long jump. To prepare himself to become an outstanding sportsman, the United States hurdler made his first overseas visit to the United Kingdom. Hailing from Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Kraenzlein was the American star in the Games of the Second Olympiad, followed by Ray Ewry (3 golds), Margaret Ives Abbot (first female in US history to capture an Olympian championship), and Irving Baxter (2 golds), among other high-profile athletes. On the other hand, Kraenzlein's life has been an inspiration to several sports people in Wisconsin and the States.

1904 St. Louis (MO) was the site for the Games of the Third Olympiad. Unequivocally, the 1904 Olympics were in the focus of the attention of the world press.

1904 In the Olympic diving tournament in Missouri, the Americans swept the first three positions.

1904 Pittsburgh-born runner James Lightbody was the winner of the men's 800m and 1,500m–He was the first male to win both these competitions at the same Olympics. Shortly afterward, he took a number of other major athletic titles, including the Intercalated Games in Greece.

1904 The host country's team -made up of four stars: Herman T. Glass, Edward Hennig, Anton Heida, George Eyser- claimed first in the gymnastics tournament at the III Olympiad in St. Louis (MO).

1908 At the IV Summer Olympics in London (England), the US Olympic team was ranked second in the medal count -23 golds, 12 silvers, 12 bronzes-behind only Britain.

1908 With three wins (800m, 1500m and medley relay), New Jersey's runner Mel Sheppard had an exceptional year in the Briton capital of London.

1912 Oklahoma-born Jim Thorpe won both the decathlon and pentathlon in the Summer Games at Stockholm, Sweden. Decades later, many sportswriters and sports experts selected Thorpe as both the greatest football player and male athlete of the first half of the 20th Century.

1912 With three gold medals in the shooting tournament, New York City-born Alfred Lane became America's most successful athlete at the V Summer Olympics on Scandinavian soil.

1912 Two future personalities competed in the Games in Sweden: Firstly, Avery Brundage in pentathlon-elected President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the first U.S. sports leader to occupy the post. Secondly, George S. Patton, General during World War II.

1920 At the Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp (Belgium), the States became undisputed champion when it was first in the medal standings with 95 medals. The U.S. team had more than 40 Summer Olympic Games Champions.

1920 In Belgium, Duke Kahanamoku earned the men's 100m freestyle for the second time in a row. For the past four years, Hawaii's sporting icon became the first islander to conquer the coveted title (Stockholm Games) and was a national-class swimmer in the States. Prior to 1916, the untapped athlete moved between his home, Hawaii, and frequent swimming events in the continental United States, where his only goal was to train to become the world's fastest swimmer. There, he gained the national trials, capturing tickets for the Summer Olympics. As well as being one of the most outstanding swimmers on Earth since 1912, Duke Kahanamoku reintroduced the sport of surfing to the western world- he turned it into a great national passion in the continental U.S. Like Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and the performer Don Ho, his immense personal popularity added to Hawaii's international fame.

1924 In the Olympics in Paris, France, America's strong squad was first in the medal count with 99 – 67 medals more than Finland (second in the Games).

1924 The US water polo team took third place in the international competition, becoming the first American squad to be medalist in the Olympiad.

1924 After gaining four golds, America's sportsmen became champion in the free-style wrestling tournament in the Games of the VIII Olympiad in Paris. The winners were Robin Read, Russel Vis, John Spellman, and Harry Steele.

1924 The United States swimmer Albert White quickly established himself as the undisputed champ in the Olympian Diving Tournament in France, winning golds in both springboard and platform diving.

1928 During the IX Olympiad in the Netherlands, the States was the leading nation in the medal count, earning 22 global titles -12 more than Germany.

1928 Pennsylvania's Olympic ambassador Johnny Weissmuller won the 100m freestyle for the second time in a row in Amsterdam (Holland/Netherlands). He was one of the top favorites to win the title. Over a sporting career that spanned more than 10 years, he obtained 52 national championships and five Olympian golds. Likewise, he set 67 world records in the States and Western Europe. After stepping down as swimmer, he became a top movie star in Hollywood and co-starred with such prominent actresses as Brenda Joyce and Maureen O'Sullivan.

1928 Elizabeth Robinson had the distinction of being the first female to win the 100m (track & field) in the IX Summer Olympics.

1932 The Games of the X Olympiad were held in Los Angeles (CA)-for the second time in the history of the United States (St. Louis, 1904).

1932 World-class athletes led the US delegation to win the Los Angeles Games: 103 medals -well ahead of Italy (36). Among Summer Olympic stars: Jesse Owens (track and field), Jim Bausch (decathlon, athletics), Edward Flynn (boxing), Michael Galitzen (diving).

1932 The home country took third place in the Water Polo Championship, earning a bronze. The local team gained that distinction by beating Japan and Brazil.

1932 America's Olympian decathlon champion Jim Bausch obtained the James R. Sullivan Memorial Trophy as the top Olympic athlete. Few were surprised when he received that award.

1936 Despite a troubled relationship with the Germany of Adolf Hitler, Washington dispatched a national contingent to Berlin, home to the XI Games.

1936 Alabama-born Jesse Owens captured America's attention by earning four world titles in Berlin— 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, as well as the long jump. As a result of this, the United States sprinter was one of the globe's most high-profile athletes in the 20th Century. This man is of great historical significance for America. Why? His big performance came at a time when there were fewer black athletes in the global sports arena, breaking down the barriers of prejudices, and occurred with the political backdrop of Germany's Nazi regime. During Owens' days as sprinter and long jumper, he became a symbol of the struggle against racism.

1936 The U.S. men's soccer squad did not qualify for the second round after being eliminated by Italy-the world's top-ranked team — but they finished 10th in the Olympic tournament, ahead of Taiwan, Egypt, Hungary, Turkey, Finland, and Luxembourg.

1936 The United States -a basketball-mad nation– placed first in the Inaugural men's basketball championship in Germany, a feat they repeated from 1948 and '68. The U.S delegation captured the universal trophy by beating Mexico (25-10) in the semis and then Canada (19-8) in the gold-medal match. On their way to win the event, the North American nation also defeated Estonia (52-28) in the second round and Philippines (56-23) in the quarter-finals.

1936 Glenn Morris, a native of Simla (Colorado), made headlines around the world when he obtained the James R. Sullivan Memorial Trophy as the top Olympic athlete in the States.

1940-1944 The Games were cancelled due to World War II.

1948 The United States received 23 golds in the Games of the 14th Olympiad in London, Great Britain, winning the unofficial team championship. In the meantime, in New York City, America's win set off a wave of explosive emotion as it was announced on nationwide radio.

1948 In the United Kingdom, the young American Bob Mathias, who hails from Tulare (California), began to make a name for himself in track and field when he finished first in the decathlon with 7,139 points.

1948 The US basketball team claimed first place in the London 1948 Olympic basketball tournament, earning the title and allowing they to compete in the next Olympics in Scandinavia.

1948 Surprisingly Porter William led a United States sweep in the men's 110-meter hurdles.

1948 Unbeaten in the decathlon, Robert Mathias –invariably known to his friends as Bob— earned the James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy. He gained a gold medal the XIV Olympiad and those of the XV Olympiad in 1952.

1952 At the Helsinki Games, the United States delegation took first place in team standing by winning 40 global titles.

1952 With four trophies, America's sportsmen finished first in the weightlifting competition in the 15th Summer Games in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, defeating the Soviet Union in the medal count.

1952 Pennsylvania's runner Horace Ashenfelter was the first American runner to gain a gold medal in the men's 3,000m steeplechase in Finland.

1952 Upon winning an Olympic trophy in the men's javelin throw in Scandinavia, Cy Young was the first person in America's sporting history to receive that honor.

1955 Looking ahead to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the US Olympic Committee sent an important delegation (spearheaded by its top athlete Patricia McCormick) to Pan American Games in the Mexican metropolis—Among whom were the future Olympic winners: Rafer Johnson (decathlon), Parry O'Brien (shot put), Mildred McDaniel (women's high jump), Huelet Benner (shooting), and Charles Vince (weightlifting).

1956 Norma Armitage, a fencer, was the flag-bearer for America's fourteenth Olympian delegation at the 16th Olympiad at Melbourne, (Australia).

1956 The United States team took first place in the basketball tournament at the Melbourne Olympics following its impressive string of triumphs in the 1954 World Championships and 1955 Pan American Sports Games.

1956 Patricia McCormick gained two global titles (her fourth Olympian gold) in the diving championship at the Australia Summer Games, becoming a regional hero. Previously to her wins in Oceania, she had collected two golds in the Helsinki Olympiad and three women's Pan American titles in 1951 and 1955. Hailing from Seal Beach (California), she was one of the most respect female divers in the world sports community in the 1950s.

1959 Santa Monica-born Parry O'Brien –who lived his dream of becoming an Olympic champ in 1952 and 1956 — earned the Sullivan award as the country's top amateur athlete.

1960 In the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Italy's capital, Rome, Wilma Rudolph was known worldwide by her triumphs in athletics — 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.

1960 The national team won the men's basketball tournament in Rome after losing to Brazil in the gold-medal match at the 1959 World Championship.

1960 Louisville-born Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior gained the gold medal in the Games of the Olympiad in Rome-This boxer was a fierce athlete (both amateur and professional) in every arena he competed, giving an extraordinary example for America's sportsmen and women. In the wake of his victory on Italian soil, he turned pro at the age of 18. Afterwards, by the 70s, he was regarded as the greatest boxer of all time by many international sportswriters. He converted to Islam, changing his name to Muhammad Ali in the mid-1960s.

1964 At the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, the US contingent captured 90 medals – 36 gold, 26 silver, 28 bronze– winning the first place in the unofficial team championships.

1964 The non-favorite runner Bob Schul came in first in the men's 5,000m (track and field) in Japan, being the first American to do so since it was included as one of the official sports in the First Olympic Games in 1896.

1964 At the Tokyo Games, Billy Mills was the first person in America's sporting history to take a gold medal in the 10,000meters since 1908 when men's 10,000m became a medal sport.

1968 America's sports system produced several Olympic champions and future new stars in the XIX Mexico City Games, defeating the USSR in the medal count. The States won 45 golds.

1968 New York's Bob Beamon set a long jump world of 29 feet 2 inches, earning the Olympic title in the Mexican metropolis—which stood until 1991.

1968 Despite being considered a strong contender to earn golds in men's swimming, Mark Spitz only won two Olympic titles in the United Mexican States, but that was a prelude to his big win in the next Olympiad in West Germany.

1968 The U.S men's basketball side, among the globe's most high-profile sports teams, obtained the gold for the seventh time in a row during the Mexican Games.

1968 America's discus thrower Al Oerter made Olympic history to win his fourth consecutive gold (from Melbourne 56 to Mexico 68).

1972 World-class swimmer Mark Spitz made international headlines in the Munich Olympics after winning seven golds: 100m frestyle, defeating 47 competitors from 29 countries and territories; 200m freestyle, with a victory over his fellow athlete Steve Genter; 100m butterfly, first among 39 swimmers from 29 nations; 200m butterfly, finished first over his countryman Gary Hall; 4x100m freestyle, alongside David Edgar, John Murphy & Jerry Heidenreich; 4x200m freestyle, with his fellow Americans John Kinsella, Frederick Tyler, and Steve Genter; 4×100 medley, with Mike Stam, Bruce Tom, and Heidenreich. On the other hand, America's coach James Counsilman was the hand behind the victory of his compatriot Spitz.

1972 While America's elite swimmer Mark Spitz made Olympic history in the Summer Olympics at West Germany's city of Munich, the basketball national team failed to earn the Olympian championship for the first time, after losing to the Soviet Union, led by its star and future famer Sergei Belov. Since 1936, the US squad went undefeated to win the Olympian championship.

1972 Olga Connolly –a gold medalist Olympic athlete for Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic since 1993) in 1956- was named as the flag bearer of the US Olympic delegation at the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics at Munich, West Germany.

1972 Finishing ahead of the world's top four runners — among these were Ethiopia's Mamo Wolde and Japan's Kenji Kimihara– Frank Shorter, a gold medal-winning marathoner at the VI Pan American Games in 1971, stunned West Germany by becoming the first American to gain the marathon since John H. Hayes in 1908.

1976 The women's basketball squad of America earned the Pre-Olympic Cup in the Canadian city of Hamilton, qualifying for the Games of the Olympiad in Montreal. In Canada, that winning team defeated such teams as Cuba (89-73), Mexico (80-57), France (79-59), Poland (84-66), and Bulgaria (76-75).

1976 With Darrell Pace and Luann Ryon, the States finished first in the archery competition in the XXI Summer Olympics at Montreal, Canada.

1976 Surprisingly, with a world record of 49,99 seconds, Jim Montgomery captured the men's 1oom in the Olympic Swimming Tournament. He achieved his greatest success at Montreal after gaining a bronze medal in the 100m at the II FINA World Championships in Cali, Colombia (South America), in July 1975.

1976 America's charismatic athlete Bruce Jenner defeated West Germany's Guido Kratschmer and Nikolai Avilov from the Soviet Union -winner at Munich'72– to earn the decathlon with 8.618 points. During his brief stayed in Montreal, he was regarded as one of the most popular athletes by sportswriters and Canadian fans. Upon his win, he became the face of the Summer Olympics during the 1970s.

1976 Women's basketball debuted in the Olympiad with the US squad gaining a silver medal.

1979 As a warm-up to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, America's sportsmen and women competed at the VII Soviet Spartakiad,between July 21 and August 5, 1979, in the Russian capital of Moscow–the world's largest multi-sport event in the 70s.

1980 After capturing the FIBA Seoul World Championship and the William Jones Cup on Taiwan, the women's basketball side obtained a spot at the Moscow Olympics following a historic win over the host nation 76-75 in the World Olympic Qualification at Varna, Bulgaria.

1980 The men's soccer squad made an unexpected returned to the Olympic scene when they qualified for the Moscow, but the American could not go the USSR.

1980 At the request of President Jimmy Carter,the U.S. Olympic Committee decided to boycott the Moscow Games after a votation, becoming a project against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and then followed by 60 other governments and anti-Soviet rulers –as Albania's Maoist chairman Enver Hoxha– around the globe. It was a major blow to America's Olympian sport.

1980 Ahead of the Moscow Games, the American team were planning to spend many days training in West Germany.

1983 With the leadership of the future Hall of Fame player Michael Jordan, the American basketball team claimed first in the IX Pan American Sports Games at Venezuela, the most important pre-Olympic event in the Western Hemisphere.

1983 In preparing for her upcoming event -Los Angeles '84, the U.S. Olympic Committee sent five future Olympian champs to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to compete in the Pan American Boxing Tournament. They were Henry Tillman (heavyweight), Jerry Page (lt.welterweight), Pernell Whitaker (lightweight), Steve McCrory (flyweight), and Paul Gonzalez (super heavyweight).

1984 The Kremlin and its satellites in the developing world – the likes of Laos and the backed-Soviet Angola– and Eastern Europe decided not to participate in the Los Angeles Games. Similarly, four anti-American states, Albania, Burkina Faso, Libya and the Islamic republic of Iran, declined to send athletes to these Olympics. By contrast, Guinea, Guyana, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Romania, Seychelles, and Yugoslavia –states with difficult ties to Washington-competed at Los Angeles'84.

1984 Los Angeles (CA) was transformed into an Olympic paradise with the famous Olympic Stadium as backdrop. The largest city of America's western coast, hosted the Summer Games for the second time, regarded as one of the greatest multi-sport events in Olympian history despite an international boycott.

1984 Guyanese-born Innis Jennifer became the first naturalized American to compete in the women's long jump in the Olympics. As a United States athlete, she was runner-up in the Pan American Games at Indianapolis in late 1987. While competing for Guyana -an Anglophone republic on the South American continent– she placed 13th in the 1980 Olympiad. Jennifer's athletic career dates from the time when she went abroad to compete in the 1979 Pan American Games.

1984 Edwin Moses came in first in the men's 400m hurdles, capturing its second Olympian title. Curiously, he won all his races between 1977 and 1987.

1984 In California, the American track-and-field athlete Valerie Brisco-Hooks defeated the up-and-coming Florence Griffith Joyner to win the 200 meters. Brisco-Hooks also was the winner of the women's 400m-she was the first sportswoman to earn both these competitions at the same Olympic Games.

1984 The 1984 U.S. Olympic team came close to winning the water polo gold after losing to Yugoslavia -an ex champion in 1968– in the finals.

1984 After being runner-up in the 1976 Montreal tournament, the US women's team gained the III basketball championship in the Los Angeles Olympiad, securing a berth in the 1988 Olympiad in South Korea. The North American squad was one of the world's most high-profile teams, attending every Olympic event from 1984 onwards.

1984 At Los Angeles, Mary Lou Retton won a gold medal in women's gymnastics, becoming the first US women to do so. Aside from that, she won five 1984 Olympic medals.

1984 Surprisingly, Joan Benoit was the first person to gain the inaugural women's marathon at Los Angeles by defeating Grete Waitz of Norway and Rosa Mota of Portugal (both world-class runners).

1984 America's handball players participated in women's tournament– It was the first appearance for the US side on the Olympic stage.

1988 At the United States Olympic Track and Field Trials at Indianapolis, California's sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, under Bobby Kersee's watchful eye, lowered the previous world record of 10,76 seconds (established by her fellow team-mate Evelyn Ashford) in the 100m four times -a 10.60, 10.49, 10.71, and 10.61.

1988 Surprisingly, the men's basketball team of America –often the favorites to obtain the competition-earned a bronze medal. In the last global tournament in Spain, by 1986, the national team placed first by defeating the Soviet Union.

1988 Astonishingly, America's top swimmer Matt Biondi lost to Suriname's Anthony Conrad Nesty in the men's 100m butterfly.

1988 After finishing second in the women's 200m in the Games of the 23rd Olympiad on US soil in 1984, Griffith Joyner became the globe's fastest woman when she obtained three golds in the Seoul Games:100m, 200m and 400-meter relay. She added a silver medal in the 1,600-meter relay. But that wasn't all. On September 29, 1988, she broke the world record twice in the women's 200m — 21.56s (semi-finals) and 21.34s (finals). At the medalist's press conference following his victory in South Korea, she said: When you've been second-best for so long, you can either accept it, or try to become the best. I made the decision to try and be the best in 1988. As well as being named as the sportswoman of the year by sportswriters, sports comentators, and other experts in Western Europe and the States, she was praised in the Communist-controlled newspapers in the Soviet Union. By the end of the year, she obtained the 1988 Sullivan Award.

1992 John Smith, Kevin Jackson, and Bruce Baumgartner were the first American wrestlers to capture golds in non boycotted Olympic events since 1972.

1992 The so-called Dream Team made its long-awaited international debut in the Games of the 25th Olympiad in the Spaniard city of Barcelona, after beating Angola (African champion) 116-48. Later on, the team became Olympic champion. The US delegation included the NBA stars Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, Larry Bird, and the young-up-and-coming player Christian Laettner. From the beginning, the American side was the big favorite by the media in Spain. Four years earlier, the 1988 U.S. Olympic squad-made up of American collegians– claimed third in the Olympiad -its worst result since 1972-previously they had a bad year in the pre-Olympic year of 1987 when the North American team losing to Brazil in the gold-medal match during the X Pan American Games in Indianapolis (IN). At the time, under Soviet/East German pressure (during Cold War, exactly), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to accept professionals in the multi-sport events. Nonetheless, by 1989, the IOC ruled that professional athletes were eligible to participate in the Summer Olympics (1992-).

1992 The 19-year-old boxer Oscar de la Hoya, nicknamed Golden Boy, gained the Olympian lightweight boxing title, upon a win over Marco Rudolph (Germany) in the finals–America's only boxing gold in the 25th Olympiad,

1992 Evelyn Ashford qualified for the Olympics for the fifth time (from Montreal'76 to Barcelona'92).

1992 After not even qualifying for the 1988 South Korea Games, New Mexico-born Trent Dimas was the first American gymnast to become an Olympian champ during the Post-Cold War era.

1996 Kentucky-born Muhammad Ali-the Greatest– lit the cauldron for the Centennial Games in Atlanta, giving one of the more memorable moments in the Summer Games.

1996 After capturing the gold in the men's long jump by defeating James Beckford of Jamaica, Carl Lewis, whose career spanned three decades, earned his ninth Olympic gold medal. Due to these trophies, he was considered one of the 20th Century's greatest athletes. He began to represent the States in the international meets in July 1979 as he attend the VIII Pan American Games on Puerto Rico in July 1979-at the time Carl Lewis was an pre-Olympic hopeful.

1996 The men's soccer team competed in the Games after being absent for two editions -Seoul'88 & Barcelona'92.Nonetheless, they placed ninth — the nation's best result

1996 The U.S women's soccer team, one of the most popular squads on the North American continent, won the Olympic Cup at the Atlanta Games, the first time women's soccer was included in the Summer Olympics. As host nation and medalist in the last global championship in Scandinavia, the U.S. team was the heavy favorite to gain the Olympic contest, well ahead of Norway's side (the current world champ). Meanwhile, the backbone of America's undefeated 1996 championship squad, Mia Hamm was the most outstanding player.

2000 Rulon Gardner defeated three-time Olympic champ Aleksadr Karelin of Russia -known during Cold War's time as the Soviet Union/USSR — to win the Greco-Roman super heavy-weight final; Karelin had never lost an international championship. Gardner is widely regarded as the most remarkable wrestler in history of the US Olympic wrestling team.

2000 Baseball history was made in the Summer Games when the US side received the gold by defeating Cuba.

2000 The US women's team finished first in the Sydney Olympic softball tournament, earning the gold. In the finals, they defeated Japan in extra innings, 2-1.

2004 The US took first place at the 2004 Athens, capturing 103 medals (35 gold, 39 silver, 27 bronze).

2004 Astonishingly, America's basketball players won the bronze medal in the men's Olympic championship, behind Argentina (gold) and Italy (silver). In Athens, the national squad was considered a strong contender to earn the event.

2004 Steven Lopez, whose parents are from Nicaragua (Central America), won a gold medal in taekwondo for the second time in a row. With two golds between 2000 (lightweight) and 2004 (middleweight category), he is the greatest American taekwondo fighter of all time.

2008 America's soccer players obtained their Olympic ticket for men's tournament in Beijing 2008.

2008 President George W. Bush made a special trip to the People's Republic of China to attend the Summer Games.

2008 With special pride, Lopez Lomong –a former refugee during Sudan's civil war 1983-2005– accepted to carry the American flag in the four-and-a-half-hour-long opening ceremonies of the Summer Games in Beijing's National Stadium.

2008 After many disappointing years in which the States repeatedly lost the big events – 2004 Olympiad, 2006 FIBA World Cup (third ), 2007 Pan American Games (5th place), the national team won the basketball tournament.

2008 Maryland-born swimmer Michael Phelps shocked the world by winning eight Olympics golds in Beijing, China's capital. This sports star — whose supporters number among them President George W. Bush– won the 200m individual medley, the 400m individual m, the 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, the 4x100m freestyle relay, the 4x200m freestyle relay, and the 4x100m medley relay–breaking the 36 -year-old record of Mark Spitz. His victory in the Asian country was the subject of considerable media attention and was the most recognize face on the planet in 2008. The United States athlete is the most decorated sportsman in Olympian history.

2012 America's modern democracy and political-economic system has produced a host of top-class athletes since 1896 (not as a political propaganda as occurred in the former Soviet Bloc): Alvin Kraenzlein (1900), Mark Spitz (1972), Mary Lou Retton (1984), and Greg Louganis (1984-1988), among other high-profile sports figures. Unlike many countries around the world, its sportsmen and women are lionized by their compatriots. In fact, they are Goodwill Ambassadors. At London 2012, the States might send 580 athletes, having strong chances in several sports as athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, women's soccer, women's volleyball, and wrestling. In the last FINA World Aquatics Championships at Shangai, China, for example, the US delegation captured 17 golds with sports stars like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Rebecca Soni, Jessica Hardy and Missy Franklin. Meanwhile, in the 2011 Athletics Global tournament, there were 12 winners from America.

Micron Technology (NYSE:MU) has opened bullishly above the pivot of $7.48 today and has reached the first level of resistance at $7.67. Investors may be interested in a cross of the next upside pivot targets of $7.78 and $8.08.

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Over the past year, Micron Technology has traded in a range of $3.97 to $11.95 and is now at $7.58, 91% above that low. The 200-day and 50-day moving averages have moved 0.64% lower and 1.98% higher over the past week, respectively.

Watch for Shares of Micron Technology (MU) to Approach Resistance at $7.78

All season, in-house Grantland Idol experts Jay Caspian Kang and Mark Lisanti will answer five very important questions about each performance episode. They literally have nothing better to do.One

Who was your favorite performer on the second night?

Kang: I'm torn. Heejun Han will be the third Korean dude to take the Idol stage, following in the footsteps of Paul Kim, who refused to wear shoes on stage, and John Park, who was handsome enough but bored the shit out of everyone. I'm not sure if the Korean-American community is ready to have a contestant who can actually make it to the late stages of the Idol competition. We're ready to content farm, run for local office, dominate college admissions, and write “immigrant experience” novels, but what happens when we're exposed to America's gigantic army of rabid, Idol-voting tweens? I fear the worst.

Overall, though, I want to say that I thought last night's show was much, much better. There were five people (Erika Van Pelt, the mobile DJ from Rhode Island; Reed Grimm; Heejun; chubby preteen dude Eben Franckewitz; and Hallie Day) who each would have been the best person on day one. Of those five, I'd say the mobile DJ was the most likable, Reed Grimm was the most annoying (but maybe because he reminded me too much of fellow scat-o-philiac Casey Abrams from last year), and Hallie has the best chance to make the final three. She has the relatable story, she has a flexible voice that can sing a lot of different types of songs, and the fact that she's married to a nice fat guy gets her around the "too hot for the tweens" problem. If I had to choose, I’d one hundred billion-gazillion percent go with Hallie Day, who really does look like Debbie Harry.

Lisanti: I was ready to ride teenage coal miner Shane Bruce to the finals*, if only because Justified’s new season has also just began and I was hoping Raylan Givens might have shown up during Hometown Visit Week* to throw one of his meth-slinging uncles down a mineshaft. Unfortunately, it turns out that anthracite dust’s magical, vocal-enhancing properties dissipate upon contact with fresh air, and my hopes of young Croonlander advancing to Hollywood were killed along with the continuing viability of “Hallelujah” as a showcase song.

So even though you’ve already sort of tentatively planted your flag in him, I have to go with Heejun Han. A Korean hipster with Bolton pipes? If things don’t work out for him on Idol — and they won’t; let’s not get crazy here — I’m drafting that dude as a ringer with my first overall pick in the Grantland Happy Hour K-town Private Karaoke Booth League and marching straight to the championship. (The Lisanti/Han duet on “Jack Sparrow” is going to melt your balls. Bring a Ziploc bag for safe transport home of your liquefied testes.)

[* That didn’t come out quite right.][**I KNOW JUSTIFIED IS IN KENTUCKY. So stop. Just stop. A coal mine is a fucking coal mine.]

Two

Last night, a contestant named Reed Grimm made it to Hollywood by scatting his way through the theme song for Family Matters. Two-part question: (A) Do you approve of this gimmick and (B) What theme song should he sing next and why?

Lisanti: (A) You have to do whatever it takes. There are no rules in the Audition Room other than (1) Do whatever it takes and (2) (Females under the age of 21 only) pretend to be sexually attracted to the poetry-spewing, scarf-swaddled leather mummy sitting on the left side of the judges' table. (B) I’d go with an a capella medley of the Seinfeld theme and commercial bumpers. Scat some slap bass, son, and we’re going to the top 12. And you didn’t ask, but (C) His nickname going forward is The Sing.

Kang: I do not understand the appeal of scatting. We invented instruments for a reason. There’s no reason to sing notes that should be played on a much nicer-sounding device. And I don’t like the cheap retro-soul points this Reed Grimm got for hocking a loogie all over the hallowed Idol audition stage.

Young people of America, there’s actually nothing more Oberlin College these days than scatting. It’s not cool, it’s not “soulful,” it’s basically gone the way of Rawkus Records and Digable Planets. Let’s just stop.

As for theme songs, I’d sing the one from Golden Girls. Eaaaaaaaaasy.Three

Will Eben Franckewitz snatch the crown off David Archuleta's head and rule the Kingdom of the Castrato Pubescent Preteen Singing Machines?

Kang: My girlfriend just asked me, "You really think that fat little kid is cute? What's cute about him?" How do I answer this question? It's like standing in the middle of a minefield with Bill O'Reilly poking you in the back with a shame stick. So, umm, while I think this little Castrato Pubescent Preteen Singing Machine (CPPSM) will probably make it to the finals (unless he gets blindsided in Hollywood Week like the last chubby CPPSM), there CAN ONLY BE ONE King of the Tweens. His name is David Archuleta, he has vampire teeth, and he will eat this fucking kid.

Lisanti: I was a little insulted that Eben Franckewitz claimed he looks like Justin Bieber. Eben, it’s time for some real talk: You are not pulling Selena Gomez, nor an insane groupie claiming you smuggled a lovechild into her uterus in a Staples Center bathroom, anytime soon. Can you play the drums? Would you make a disturbingly attractive woman if the genital lottery had turned out differently? Can you even afford a swagger coach? Biebs is more than just a haircut, you cherub-faced punk. He is a haircut and a $1,000 pair of sneakers. Step off.

I don’t remember what the question was. Nor do I particularly care. Ugh, that kid.Four

Last night's episode introduced us to Patty the Planker, a young lady who followed her sister into the audition room and planked on the floor while her sister sang. My question: What the hell was wrong with Patty the Planker? And what other passe memes will Idol bring out to create TV/Internet synergy?

Kang: Asbestos? I have no idea, but there are better ways to get on television. Like standing behind Hoda Kotb with a big sign or calling into CNN during a disaster to yell “Baba Booey” at Wolf Blitzer. Tebowing is too predictable. I'm going to go with Keyboard Cat. When someone gets voted off, Seacrest will say, "Play him/her off, Keyboard Cat!"

But instead of this annoying little bastard, Keyboard Cat would play off annoying little bastards like Kevin Covais.

Lisanti: I’d love to see some version of horsemanning, where the “severed” head does the singing. Failing that, actually decapitating someone midsong and watching how long their disembodied dome could keep belting out “Umbrella” would be a good time.Five

The judges last night were a mess. What was the worst thing they did?

Lisanti: Steven Tyler’s failure to sling Patty the Planker over his shoulder like a contractor moving a two-by-four and joke about how he was going to need a minute off-camera to saw her in half was unconscionable. Maybe he was still spooked by the looming menace of Joe Magrane.

Kang: The number thing has to stop. Nigel Lythgoe, you must be a very smart man. Please hire an English teacher to sit down with your judges and teach them a few synonyms for “enthusiastic.” I remember my second-grade teacher did me a similar service when she told me that I should never use the word “good” more than once in a paper. “What, really,” she asked, “does ‘good’ mean?” Hey, Randy, Jennifer and Steven: What, really, does “300 billion percent yes” mean?

Second question: Have you all come to an agreement with one another to never drop “Infinity” because it’ll screw over the next judge?

Has this ever happened?

Randy: One billion percent yes!Jennifer: Infinity yes.[RECORD SCREECHES TO A HALT]A befuddled look passes over Steven Tyler’s face. He takes a sip from his Coke cup and looks helplessly at Nigel Lythgoe, seated off-screen. Then, with all the hate inside him, he turns to Jennifer. Steven: You fucked me over, Jen. There is nothing greater than infinity, by definition.

Jay Caspian Kang does not see color.

Mark Lisanti is the editor of Hollywood Prospectus and is a better singer than Jennifer Lopez.

Previously:Five Questions on American Idol Week 1, Part 2: Korean Crooners and Cute CastratiFive Questions on American Idol: Season Preview Edition

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TagsIdol, jennifer lopez, american idol, Randy Jackson, steven tyler, heejun han, hallie day, eben franckowitz

Five Questions on American Idol Week 1, Part 2: Korean Crooners and Cute Castrati