Beatlemania

Last night, my awesome daughter climbed a few more rungs on the ladder of coolness. She's 3 1/2, which you must keep in mind. She's the coolest person I've ever met, and her actions last evening made me beam with pride.

I'm channel surfing and came upon VH1 Classic, which is quickly becoming my favorite station. They were showing Backbeat, which is a rather cheesy dramatization of the early years of the Beatles. My daughter looked at me and said, "That's the Beatles." I was shocked. Awesome! I told her that it kind of was, but kind of wasn't. She said, "I want to watch the Beatles." I almost fell out of my chair. "Really?" I asked. "OK...I'll put on some Beatles." So, I walked over to the DVD collection and grabbed one of my many Beatles discs and popped it in. For the next hour, she rocked out to the Beatles, dancing and attempting to sing along. She's 3!! My 3 year old daughter is loving her some Beatles. I couldn't be more excited and proud.

To further drive the point home, those who know me know that I don't let anybody touch my Beatles shit...books, DVDs, CDs, LPs, toys, etc. I broke out of my shell and let her play with my Beatles action figures (yes...I own Beatles action figures). She had a blast. It was a real father-daughter moment that will forever be etched in my brain.

Gotta love kids.

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog

It's been quite some time since I last posted anything. A lot has happened in the past month...the Cavs lost the NBA Finals in four games, Angel Cabrera won the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods became a father, Maria Sharapova was bumped early from Wimbledon (sob, sob), Harry Potter mania has swung into full effect, and my company has undergone a huge reorganization that has left many of us dizzy and lightheaded.

However, all of this has been overshadowed by the greatest spectacle on the planet, the championship to end all championships, the most amazing sporting event ever to take place...

The 2007 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition.

Now, let me tell you, any sporting event where one of the contenders to win blows chunk into his hands and then proceeds to swallow said chunk, is the ultimate in grace, composure, and skill. Unfortunately for 6-time defending champ, Kobayashi, he met his match when American Joey Chestnut (that can't be his real name, can it?) downed a record 66 hot dogs (and buns) in 12 minutes. For those of you who may be mathematically challenged, that's 5 and 1/2 hot dogs (and buns) per minute.

Now that is what I call winning a world championship and breaking a record in style. Barry Bonds? Meh. Roger Clemens? Na. Joey Chestnut is the story of the year.

And he didn't even need to barf to prove that to me.

See you soon.