Da 1985 Bears vs. Da 2007 Bears, Apples vs. Oranges?

For no real reason that I can understand or explain I sat and watched parts of a show that I would normally thumb my nose at, on Tuesday. The NFL Network offered up pre Super Bowl programming where the press had two one hour time periods to travel among various setup booths and interview the booth enclosed NFL Super Bowl players from first the Bears and then the Colts. And we were there for the experience through the magic of live TV! And though I am sure the thoughts that the show produced in my mind were not the intent of the program it did make me muse over a couple of items.

 

 

 

One of the amusing things was the NFL announcers kept talking about the way that the players were handling the interviews. The interviews I watched were civil and offered respect towards each other’s team players. (Exactly the pretty picture the NFL likes to paint about itself.) Anyone use to watching the NFL knows that despite most players offering up respect to each other, usually there is a “Diva” or two in the mix that trash talks about players and the other teams chances of winning. The fact that this was not happening, because there was no Diva smack talk I witnessed despite some attempted press goading, seemed to upset the NFL Network announcers. It was actually showing just how unexciting the whole event was/is without the trash talkers. Without all the trash talk there was not much for the NFL Network announcers to feed the ravenous for National Inquirer gossip minded viewers. It was fun, for me, to watch the announcers squirm for something to talk about.

There are a lot of Da Bears fans (myself included) going crazy over Da Bears current trip to the Super Bowl. And if you cruise through the blogosphere the one thing that always arises is a comparison to the 1985 Da Bears team. The show also made me think about the constant comparison to the 1985 Bears team. Now arguably that team is one of the greatest teams in history. That team was made up of Divas. There were numerous Diva players and even their head coach and defensive coach were Diva type individuals. The team had swagger, talked smack and backed it up. Their Super Bowl shuffle, though I admit I enjoyed it and I still have it somewhere on VHS, was one of the most pompous pre Super Bowl events ever. But for all their talent they could never repeat. The dream of a dynasty never emerged. Free Agency and conflict between the two Diva coaches, Ditka and Ryan, quickly helped end the Dynasty dream. Was the problem too many Divas? Maybe the rest of the league just caught up to them.  I do not know the answer. I know and have stated before as great as that team was I am not sure they would be successful under current NFL rules. Just as the current team does they relied very heavily on defense. But the ’85 defense was a smash mouth defense. They were headhunters and they came at the other team in behaviors not allowed by current NFL rules. They inflicted pain and punishment on those that dared to challenge their defense. They often won games offensively and defensively by attrition, beating you down until you were out of energy and unable to offer up much resistance. The 2007 team still works that way on offense. Hoping to beat up and tire out their competition then score points attacking the weakened areas. The defense is different. They do try to tire you out, but they are not looking for a knockout punch to pin you to the mat, as did the ’85 team. The 2007 team defense is built on speed. They want to bend without breaking. If they play the defensive coverage percentages they figure the other team will self-destruct somewhere between the two twenty yard lines more times than they will score. And most scores will be field goals. The Bears team speed should also help the other team self-destruct. When the 2007 team defense is on its game, they flock to the ball. The ’85 team simply wanted the ball to go nowhere. They wanted to hurt the opposition and to keep the ball behind the line of scrimmage. That was the style they played. The 2007 team would like to keep the ball behind the line of scrimmage but they play the point of attack wherever the ball ends up. They flock towards the point of attack like a wolf-pack surrounding a potential meal. The idea is that if they get enough people near the ball they will create a mismatch where they can strip the ball away from the ball carrier enough times to win the game by either scoring themselves or by creating great field position for their offense. Which idea is better I do not know. Perhaps under current NFL rules this type of defense is the best idea. Under previous NFL rules the  ’85 style was dominant. I am not even sure you can have a bunch of Divas, like the ’85 defensive team was, run the 2007 offense. Too many egos could get in the way of a bend but not break style. It is truly a team defense. So is it really fair to try and compare this team with the ’85 team? In fact with the way NFL rules change is it really fair to try and compare any NFL championship team to another except to point out what each team did best and why? I do not know, but in many ways it reminds me of comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruit and both taste good but they are two different victuals. The same could be said when comparing any two NFL caliber Championship teams from different eras. They are all different creatures; maybe we should just enjoy them for what they are or were!

Seventeen Seconds, Sometimes it is an Eternity

What can you do in seventeen seconds?  Probably not enough time to read even one of my shorter posts! Seventeen seconds. When you say seventeen seconds, it does not leave much of an impression, especially when you include it within the time and extent of your life. A few deep breaths and it disappears into the fabric of eternity. Yet this week forty years ago, seventeen seconds was an eternity for three brave explorers. Forty years ago seventeen seconds proved that despite hard work, effort, optimism and planning even the best plans could instantly turn to disaster! In seventeen seconds you can go from the personification of excellence to just another name in the history books.  Forty years ago three explorers lost their lives, as did many explorers before and after them, attempting to take mankind where it had never been before. It was a reminder that since man first started exploring the unknown, the advances has cost lives of those who strive to lead us into unfamiliar worlds. I was a very young kid but I can still remember the tragic announcement about the loss of the crew of Apollo 1, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee in a flash fire during a training test. We can never know what was happening in the minds of these men who had started the next step in fulfilling their fantasies of visiting the moon and when just seventeen seconds later their lives ended and their dream was destroyed. It still saddens me when I remember the incident. And I am sure there are many individuals more capable than I of revealing the significance of their story. Still I salute them, for it is from the sacrifices of these and similar individuals looking into the darkness and pushing against the obstacles that block and trip us, from which our future is formed. They should be remembered for their bravery, sacrifice and for risking everything when taking those first early steps that have helped direct us towards our future.  

Quad City Restaurants, what is wrong with this list?

I have lived near or in the Quad City region since I was eight years old. I am now older than eight years old, well, that probably depends on whom you talk to. At least physically no one can argue that point. I like living in the Quad City region or I would have left for greener pastures long ago. I spent most of my adolescent life and part of my Adult life living in small local villages and Quad City prime. I attended college here in the Quad City region and received an associate’s degree in business management. Most of my Adult life has been has been spent working for various companies in the Quad City region. I also remember that when my family first moved up here this was a region where the community and business revolved around the agricultural industry. Even many of the business revolved or feed upon the agricultural population. The local commerce alternative has since been evolving (de-evolving?) into an industry that revolves around the Hospitality, Gaming and Tourism industries. The QC community has gone to a great deal of effort to sell itself as the Las Vegas alternative. An idea I have always found plausible. Despite the recent growth pains of violent activity that has started to rear its ugly head the last few years, the QC has always been a family friendly type place that I felt could be marketed to attract tourists from anywhere. Even Las Vegas has been trying to reshape its image and make itself into a more family friendly location. However as of late I have been reading problems pointing to the struggling of this tourism movement.

I spent several years in the local Hospitality Industry. I have observed how the industry promotes itself locally from the grunts working the front line up to the stuffed shirts and blouses at the top wheeling and dealing. I also represented the companies I worked for at times in the Hospitality Development meetings designed to plan meet and greet itineraries to entice outside tourism groups. Can anyone in the industry at the time ever forget the National  Women’s Bowling tournament held in the Quad City area? Despite several problems that came with the massive migration of untold amounts of women bowlers into our small community, it had to be one of the most exciting moments in time I ever spent in any industry. People from all over came into this region and exposed most every town and business to the diverse cultural individualities this country has to offer. Many of them even came bearing gifts of their cultural differences.

 I am far from an expert but there have always been some personal observations I have always felt that played a part in holding the QC region back from becoming a major player in the game. But I am curious as to what the QC community also thinks about what are the current successes and failures attempting to make this area into a mini Las Vegas. Here is one of my personal lists of weaknesses regarding QC tourism development. I am not going to comment on the list at this time, other than to say I find all these places fine establishments filling a need in our community. But considering the industrial changes we are going though, what is wrong with this list? (Other than you personally do not like their food or service and that I cannot spell well or that the spell checker is useless on proper names.)

 

Applebees, Biaggis, Bennigans, Dennys, Village Inn, Hardees, McDonalds, Fazolis, Burger King, Olive Garden, Outback, Cheddars, Subway, Red Lobster, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Taco Johns, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Dominos, Godfathers, Sbarro, Steak Escape, Blimpies, Cracker Barrel etc. etc. etc.

  

Inside the Real Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

I have been preoccupied with getting things ready for Da Bears game this Sunday. I am chilling the Mt. Dew and getting all the right snacks lined up to feast upon during the game and removing anything breakable out of grabbing distance from Big Green’s location, “just-in-case” Da Bears lose. However, like so many others, when I took a break I decided to catch-up on the happenings in the celebrity world. So today I am sharing some links from a site called “The Smoking Gun” I like to visit. It is a site that reminds me that the rich and famous may live in another reality but they still get stuck in the same muck and mire as the rest of us from time to time. It just pays better.

 

The Smoking Gun

 

Uh Oh! Me bad! I am sorry officer I do not know how that got into that water bottle, honest! I blame it on the Coca-Cola company.

 

I guess there goes Mary’s shot to be the next Samantha Foxx version of American Idol. Maybe she should have went for the Paula Abdul look instead.

 

Ah the beautiful people, they make so many people jealous of their gorgeous looks. Uh Oh, I guess sometimes they just don’t look all that beautiful. I guess they look a lot like the rest of us when they aren’t packing on the make-up and using camera shots to hide those little imperfections the rest of us have.

 

Oh my, can that really be little Bobby Brady!

 

 

Sorry Bill, even as a multi-billionaire, once a geek still a geek. But the joke is on the rest of us as you are an extremely wealthy geek.

 

I expected more class from Raquel Welch’s offspring. Of course how many wives can say they beat up their athlete husband.

 

Hey Nick you are taking that Incredible Hulks dad look a little to seriously.

 

Iron Mike what happened to you? You were once the MAN, now you are a series of train wrecks waiting to happen.

 

So what has you favorite celebrity been up to?

 

Some of us have to deal with celebrities and their eccentricities trips from time to time. My personal favorite was Neil Diamond. His list of requests was always long. And though the request I always found a hoot, does not show up on the following link, I can still remember our staff having to keep someone constantly available to stay on his floor and keep a crock-pot of oatmeal freshly stirred. Here is a link where you can check up on the strange (and some not so strange) backstage requests made by your favorite celebrity. Though most are not funny it just always amazes me of the audacity of some of the requests. Evidently K-Fed needs someone to purchase his smokes. Britney Spears does not like wrong phone numbers to the tune of a $5000 fine. You better be stocking up on Flintstone Chewables for Christina Aguilera. And you better be packing a weapon if you are planning to protect ‘Ol Hank Jr, although I was surprsied at the lack of Jack on his required beverage list.

 

Go Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Chicken in Every Pot

 

Clearly the torture for the USAmerican citizens is already starting. Every superstar wannabe of the Republican and Democrat Party are starting to announce their plans on building an exploratory committee to explore the possibility that they should begin to investigate their prospects of successfully navigating the soon to be clogged arteries of the countries political vascular system that in 2008 leads to the right to be called the newly-crowned-SpecialInterestGroup-powered-handpuppet President of the USA. Can somebody please play me dirge in remembrance of our soon to be eradicated-by-political-rhetoric mental state of minds.

 

 

Well, I will not be the one to keep the USAmerican public waiting in anxiety wondering about my political ambitions for 2008. I will now state unequivocally and without reservations that as of today I have began my personal study for a team for an exploration of announcing my non-candidacy for the 2008 POTUS opening. I have secured the best minds at my availability furiously researching for the best quotes and reasoning from past and present leadership explorations that will accent my soon to be announcement of my non-candidacy. As a non-candidate I will not stoop to the low level practices of mudslinging that my opponents will. Scandal (and they wonder why people have no respect for politicians) will not be a part of my agenda, oops oh My Gosh how did that link get in here? I am currently working on my platform, which will paint a picture perfect world, point out that I am the only one true USAmerican patriot qualified for the job, promise everyone unlimited riches, power and everything else they ever wanted (I just have to get that list back from Governor Rod) and deny anything questionable that I might have ever did. Now I just have to find the money to pay off all the debts I am incurring. Hey maybe I could get a plug and head start by announcing my non-candidacy before the next Bears playoff game. Maybe I should even challenge the people from New Orleans and tell them that their fantasy ends when they take on Da Bears in the playoffs. Or maybe I should make a bet on the game with a New Orleans’ blogger. Read My Lips, No New Taxes! I categorically deny ever having sexual relations with that woman. You say potato I say potatoe! And remember, my parents sung me to sleep singing “Look for the Union Label!

 On a more serious note, Politician and Scalawag, they are interchangeable expressions. Open mouth and insert foot!

PS, a new feature is on the blog. If you run your cursor across the links in the post you will get a SNAP window that will give you a preview of the site the link attaches to. I hope everyone enjoys the snap preview of the links!

Da Bears Win in Overtime 27 to 24

The Chicago Bears won their first round playff game on Sunday 1/14/2007 and advance to the NFC championship game against the New Orleans Saints. They beat the Seattle Seahawks with a field goal in overtime. It was a good game with the Bears leading for much of the game. They eventually did give up the lead and had to come from behind to tie the game and force an overtime period to get the victory.

Though I am happy the Bears won, the game continued to show that the defense, which was difficult to score on earlier in the season, has become much weaker and can now be exploited. Without Tommie Harris anchoring the defensive line the pass rush is weak and the rush defense is suspect to runs up the middle. The defensive secondary looked good despite them being without the services of Mike Brown and being forced to cover receivers far longer than many of the plays should have lasted. The team has to find a way to get to the quarterback and disrupt the passing game by the time they play the Saints. The linebackers looked good except Ulracher’s tendency to be vulnerable to run plays up the gut. That was a problem he has displayed at times since he was drafted until the addition of a solid set of defensive tackles. Part of that is he is just to quick for his own good, he reacts and gets out of position. The other part is the defense relies heavily on his big play making ability going sideline to sideline for covering the run and the fact that he is excellent in pass coverage. I think you have to be willing to risk him giving up the occasional big run up the middle to take advantage of what he offers the team in the overall defensive scheme. He is just asked to be too much of the defense at times. In my opinion without Harris this team will have trouble making it to the Super Bowl much less winning it unless one of the inside guys really steps up and plays a higher level than they have been playing the last few weeks.

I liked the way Grossman stepped up on offense and made the big plays when he had to. His one interception should have been caught by the receiver, Muhammad, but those gaffs are just a part of the game. He really has the touch for hitting Berrian and Davis. The timing and ball-control Grossman has with those two receivers seems to meld with Grossman throws better than the other Bears receivers. His registered fumble was careless and I thought that he got away with at least one other almost fumble because his arm was hit from behind which made the ball a forward pass as he lost control. However I do think his overall performance was good, especially considering that I thought the offensive line was stinking it up during pass protection situations. He must have better pass protection and more time to throw the ball if the team is to continue to win and advance in postseason.  I thought that the offensive line did do a decent job of run blocking and the running backs/game looked impressive.

The upcoming game with the Saints will be much more difficult than the Seahawks game. The Saints have two tough running backs and I think Brees at quarterback will be a tougher challenge than Hasselback. As bad as I want the Bears to win against the Saints, I just am not sure they have enough of a healthy defense left to stop the Saints offense.

 Also if the ownership does not find away to get Lovie Smith signed to a contract extension they should be publicly flogged and then hung naked from a post outside of Soldier field for a week with nothing but bread and water rations in midwinter. They really messed up by waiting on contract talks. There is a chance they could lose him to another team and the Bears once again have to play coaching roulette.

Move over Alien Autopsy

Yes it is true, move over “Alien Autopsy”; a new sensationalized documentary is about to replace the vaunted film for conspiracy buffs.

 Back in 2000-2001 there was an Internet Urban legend created about a supposed Time Traveler, named John Titor. Titor started showing up in Internet chat rooms claiming to be a time traveler from the near future. He is credited to have made several prophetic accounts of a not too distant future where the planet is in serious problems with around 2/3 of the world’s population dead.  Now what manages to give the predictions any credence is that many of his predictions revolved around current conspiracy issues. He had plenty of fodder for the Bush haters with stories revolving around loss of rights of privacy and Globalist issues concerning NAFTA AND CFTA, where we become one country with Canada and Mexico. He also predicted the widening spread of Mad Cow disease, civil war in the US and a host of other stuff all very believable and designed to feed and grow out of conspiracy plots and fear. He was supposed to have been exposed as a college student hoax, but exposed or not the legend lives on. And now thanks to Cris McCarthy and Fast Track Productions we are all about to be (?)treated(?) to a conspiracy filled documentary on his legendary exploits and his Nostradumass like predictions. Now I think time-travel makes for entertainment as an excellent fiction book or movie. But if they try and make the story a factoid documentary piece I feel it will give Alien Autopsy a run for its money as pure schlock. Still the Titor messages did bring up a lot of social issues that should probably cause us to take a look at the roads we travel.  

And on the darker side of life: 

One prediction that did hit home with me that is tied to the Titor myth has been the continuing push to create a manmade black hole by scientists. I have been reading stories about this on the net for months. There really are people out there trying to create a black hole. Now that does worry me, not because a supposed time traveler predicted it, but because I just am not sure I am comfortable with a bunch of scientists hiding under the Alps trying to tear open a black hole on the Earth. Now call me crazy, hey many people do so you will not be the first, but my limited understanding of a black hole is that it pulls matter into the hole. What goes in has to go out somewhere. Plus tearing a hole in anything is far different than being able to fix a tear once you make one. Sometimes when you tear something it just keeps tearing. And anytime you tear something you weaken the item even if you are able to patch it back up. Now call me crazy again, but I really am not interested in being pulled out into another dimension or get space trash dumped on us because someone has created a cosmic imbalance where some type of osmosis occurs and further screws up the Cubs chance at going to the World Series within the next century. They do that well enough on their own. Either way my comfortable little world gets screwed up and I wind up wasting that wad of cash I paid for that big screen I bought to watch the Cubs win the series on. Now I am sure that it would be a much faster way to diet down to twiggy-size levels as our bodies are pulled through a pin sized hole, but I would rather avoid that experience. I also realize that the predicted level of danger is small. But do the rest of us get a vote on this procedure? If we do I am voting no, not that the French and Swiss scientists working on this project care really care what I think. I like science and what it offers but this move seems a little too bold, while I am still breathing. Let them go to the Mars and play with their black holes. Hey I’ll even donate a buck or two to get them off planetside.

Trips of Science and Imagination

The universe is a vast aged creation overflowing with virginal adventures waiting to fulfill the unfathomable dreams and desires of yet nameless explorers. There will come a day when the progeny of the current Earth bound cavemen shall mature, then reach out and trace the presently forbidden regions of that Universe with anticipating hands. Until that day we can only dream and use our existing tools, minds and imagination to enhance our Earth-bound restricted visions of the wonders that await us. Delightfully, even that elementary equipment offers our minds revelations that are beyond credible description:

 

My favorite site, Hubble. I never tire of visiting this link, several lifetimes of knowledge available from the click of your mouse..

 

The Hubble Gallery breathtaking views of the Universe.

 

My personal favorite sub-directory, Nebula Collection.

A slideshow of of places we can only imagine.

An excellent site for looking at the Earth and its sky.

Earthview, a sub-directory of Formilab. My recommendation is to view it at nighttime. Despite the spectacular nighttime view, it always leaves an element of sadness in me when I think about the loss of a view of the night sky due to ever increasing extreme artificial light pollution.

 

And until the day we can journey the skies of the Universe we have a world of adventures just outside our backdoors to enrich our lives, stimulate our curiosity and teach us the knowledge that shall take us to the unexplored regions of the universe:

 

National Geographic, science, nature, history, people and places from around the world.

 

And for some of us we are just dreaming big for small miracles of life:

The NotJohnMarxFantasy website for big dreamers. I personally keep their website hit count high with my numerous visits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrrrgh, Music Format Change, Not Again!

I love listening to music. My lifetime collection contains many albums (mostly 33 rpm but actually if I looked around I might even find a few 45 rpm and some of my grandmother’s old 78 rpm collection), although I do not currently have anything setup to play them with. Shush now (my great-grandmothers favorite words when I was in the room, what can I say, I have always been a motor-mouth and lamp-shade entertainer around those I am comfortable being around), and I will let you in on a secret, somewhere hidden in an attic someplace on this planet, I also have a couple of 8-trak players/recorder awaiting a renaissance, though the tapes that accompanied them have rotted away long ago. Most of my newer music is all compact disks with a few cassettes mixed in.  I have no particular favorite artist. If I were in a position where I had to choose one genre of music, I would probably choose classic country. There is something I have always liked about the twang of older country music. But in my collection of music you would also find both pre-scoundrel and modern pop/top40, rock and roll, big band, classical, Broadway/movie, jazz, gospel and select new age artists such as Ray Lynch, Enya and Tomita. I used to have a pretty good-sized Elvis Presley (he was my parents favorite artist and I grew up surrounded by his music and movies) collection but that has dwindled over the years through excessive use. If you could dig through my selection of music albums/cds you will find some Sinatra, the Broadway version of Camelot (I could even sing you most of the tunes, off key, if requested), maybe some Pat Boone, Bob Dylan, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, John Denver, The Beatles, Hank Williams Sr. & Jr., Webb Pierce, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and etc. I am especially fond of the Ray Lynch albums Deep Breakfast and No Blue Thing.

What brought on this barrage of words was an article located in Saturdays Kiddy section of The Dispatch! (The same paper containing an article that let me know that my overuse of exclamation points was pretentious!!!) The article was talking about the financial collapse of Tower Records and how most of the evolving generations are now choosing to download their music online ushering a demise of record stores across the nation. The Itunes phenomenon also seems to be driving a stake through the heart of the Compact Disk Industry. I realize that it isn’t just the kiddies downloading their music; I am always being given quizzical looks by my own generation because I do not get on board the new downloading music train. I have been through the album to cassette to 8-trak back to cassette to CD progression of the music industry but I am slower than most of my generation evidently, because I refuse to embrace the new downloading your music technology. (Hah, I do not even own a cellular phone! If you see someone fuming and fussing while walking alongside the road away from a broken-down vehicle, that is probably me.) OK, I admit it I am degenerating from former tech-savvy into a Stone Age Dinosaur Consumer. I hate the concept of downloading music. I am not interested in investing my hard earned cash on some new technology that I do not trust or that requires oodles (Is that word even used anymore?) of my personal time including my having my computer exposed to the Internet while I play pick and choose musical chairs. Besides I like buying complete albums of an artist. I realize that often an artist will offer up DJ commercialized versions of their works just to get more eccentric items that they value on the album. The whole collection permits me to get to know and understand the artist’s direction a little bit better. There are often times I buy an album and when I get it home I do not even like half the music on an album. But more often than not most of the album content begins to grow on me. I understand the desire to be able to pick and choose songs instead of purchasing a whole album, but I also understand that a lot of music (as does most art) just deserves the chance to be observed and examined more than once to be appreciated. And the nice thing about the CD is that if the music does not grow on me I can still pick and choose what I listen to. Plus if I so choose I can still return to the rest of the album and give it more chances for the message to reach me. Of course, I seem to be finally aging and I seem to be regressing back toward the Dinosaur Days. Who knows, maybe I will eventually decide to dump my calculators and computer for an abacus and sheepskin parchment.

Th-Th-Th-Thats all for 2006 Folks

Weeee-ll Doggies! The New Year has arrived. Say goodbye (is this word doomed to join other words in the PC Police waste basket of unacceptable deity acknowledgement expressions like Merry Christmas, it is short for God be with you, even though it was considered shocking and blasphemous by many when it first became popular) to the old, 2006, and hello to the new, 2007. Ah, but we all know, things do not really change much overnight. SO – About face, Forward March, on with the show this is it (you will have to add your own audio and visual memory tribute to the link)!

While many of you were ringing in the New Year followed by a bone-crunching onslaught of college football, I was busy reclined in Big Green, once again absorbed by the ancient wisdoms of the Sci Fi Channel’s annual Twilight Zone marathon, while only leaving the Rod Serling masterpieces long enough to catch one of my newer favorite shows, “No Reservations” with Author and Chef Anthony Bourdain, on the Travel Channel. Yes I know it probably taints my infamous macho image, but I love to watch shows based on cooking. I suppose later I can go out and find some Woody Allen type to beat up as an offer of macho-man penance.

 

Unlike other cooking shows I watch, “No Reservations” has less to do about actual cooking and is more about cultural vision and cooking tradition. Bourdain is a foul-mouthed, heavy-smoking, heavy-drinker with an abrasive personality that enters into national and international venues partaking in and exposing the viewer to nontraditional (to the average USAmerican) cultural and food adventures. Despite his coarse character he offers up his hosts the honor of living and experiencing life in their culture. Sometimes he is eating and dining at fine dining establishments but often he is on the streets of someplace eating exotic combinations that most of us probably have (gladly) never even been exposed to. I have sat and watched him consume things that would have made me wretch just to look upon. He often helps in the harvest and preparations of whatever he is eating. And afterwards he always sets down, socializes and eats the meal, no matter how disgusting. I salute him for his ability to surmount his abrasive personality and become a willing guinea pig and ambassador to the shows cultural adventure.