Rody's Roundtable

Polly the Pomeranian is our Weekly Radio Pet and is a great candidate for Harbor’s “2 for 1 and Couples” Adoption Special for February. In addition to pets that we are hoping to find homes for together, we’re taking a look at pets that get along well with others and would be happy to share your home with another furry companion.

Regular prices, dogs: Puppies $150, Adults $125, Seniors $75

Regular prices, cats: Adults $30, Kittens $50 each or 2 for $60

Current Harbor News: February Adoption Special: 2 for 1 pricing

Pet store Adopt-a-thons in January: 2/4 Holland Chow Hound (11am-3pm) - Weekly Special at Shelby's Place (Harbor's Thrift Store): - Double "Shelby's Bucks" for every donation you make, and discount on all ladies pants

Harbor Humane 2012 Pet Calendar NOW DISCOUNTED Available at Harbor Humane - 14345 Bagley St. and Shelby’s Place – between Hobby Lobby and Kohl’s. Also available online at harborhumane.org

Current ‘Top Needs’: Litter • Non-clumping litter • Laundry detergent • Paper towel

HARBOR HUMANE SOCIETY
14345 Bagley St., West Olive, MI 49460 • (616) 399-2119
harborhumane.org • facebook.com/harborhumane
Open M-F: 12pm–6pm, Sat: 12pm–4pm
Closed Sundays, holidays and first Thursday of month

Bloomingdale High School and the Angry Birds... separated at birth or just closely related?    --Rody

Thanks to Don Petersen for joining us on the Morning Show this morning for Humpday Humor. Not only did we have a great time but we were joined by Sarah Lilly from the CityFlats Hotel, who I'm pretty sure she won't be back. ;>) Listen below to the fun! (...unless you have an iPhone 'cause Midwest Communications doesn't believe in providing all of our quality content to iPhone users. Go figure.)    --Rody

Catch Don Petersen at the Ann Street Radisson in Grand Rapids this Sunday night for Sunday Night Funnies presented by our good friend Brian B.

My commentary follows this report from Associated Press:

Members of one of the last major Occupy encampments are making a last-minute court effort to stave off eviction from public land in Washington. A federal judge is hearing arguments Tuesday on a request to bar the National Park Service from enforcing a ban on camping that would affect the Occupy DC sites. The ban went into effect at noon Monday at the two Occupy encampments at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza. But protesters still remain there. A separate request seeks to prevent the police from destroying tents and other belongings of the protesters. The hearing takes place in U.S. District Court before Judge James Boasberg.

Hey... worthless, unemployed "Occupy" Protestors: Occupy THIS!    --Rody

Here is some news that has TRULY CHANGED LIFE.

ASPEN — Perfection. Shaun White, the iconic snowboarding master of halfpipe, already had his five-peat.

But in his third and final victory spin down the Winter X Games superpipe Sunday night, the flame-maned pipe slayer went higher, spun more and notched a historic 100-point score. It was the first perfect score and perfect run ever seen in a halfpipe contest.

At the top of the pipe, White's coach, Bud Keane, predicted White would earn a perfect score if he could cleanly stick his run, which included the first-ever back-to-back double-cork 1260s.

"I was thinking he was just excited. I came through and everything felt perfect," said White, his right eye black and a bloody scar on his chin from failingto stick the last trick of his second run. "I don't know if I've ever landed my double Mc12 as clean as I have tonight, and that just set me up perfect for the frontside double-cork 12. I guess the first ever to do back to back double-cork 12s. I definitely earned the black eye here going for it."

Before it even started, it was a battle for silver and bronze.

In his qualifying round earlier in the day, White boosted higher than he did in last year's Winter X finals. Topping the qualifiers list and starting in the enviable last position, White — wearing a leather jacket and skin-tight zebra-pattern pants as well as his signature black bandana — needed only his first run to claim the first-ever fifth consecutive Winter X gold in the halfpipe.

In his first of three runs Sunday night, he spun his signature double-backflip McTwist 1260 and logged a 94-point score that withstood even double-backflipping from the seven other competitors. White cruised to his 12th X Games gold and 17th X Games medal.

He could have slid his second and third runs on his belly and still won. Still, he dug deep for his final victory lap and, after already securing his five-peat, threw down the best halfpipe run ever seen.

White joins snowboardercross racer Nate Holland and snowmobile racer Tucker Hibbert as the only X Games athletes to win five consecutive gold medals.

Swiss rider Iouri Podladtchikov — known as Ipod — worked hard to derail White's quest for the five-peat. The only other snowboarder able to throw White's double McTwist 1260 and the only snowboarder known to hit it switch, Podladtchikov did not unleash the unseen trick. With a final run score of 93 points, the Swiss rider was unable to bump White from his throne but locked up a silver.

Podladtchikov said he was struggling with the switch trick Sunday, with "slow" tricks.

"I was kind of planning on it," he said of his switch double 12. "That hit wasn't being nice to me today. I kept landing flat, and the switch airs didn't work out the way they should have, and I just didn't have enough juice today. That will come real soon. Real soon."

Ryo Aono's frontside double 1080 and the only backside 1080 of the contest earned the Japanese athlete a bronze.

White suffered an ankle injury in slopestyle practice Thursday and dropped from the X Games slopestyle contest. He passed on a pipe practice session Saturday night and caught five practice runs early Sunday morning before acing qualifying.

White spent most of Sunday dunking his ankle in buckets of ice and hot water.

"It was the hardest decision of this X Games, obviously, to drop out of slopestyle the last minute, and I'm glad I did," he said. "I was able to do what I did in the pipe tonight because of it."

Now, if he was REALLY good, he would go on to win the Y games.   --Rody

I'm pretty excited about the Valentine's Package they've put together at CityFlats. You get a night at the Hotel with a late check-out (wink-wink!), a $50 Dining Credit at the CityViewBistro and a Holland Gift Basket with very cool stuff in it... all for just $199 bucks.

If you're anything like me, planning something romantic starts on my way home that day and usually ends up consisting of a lame card and a box of the chocolates that no one else wanted. Really. Nothing says, "I really love you, baby", like a two-hour wait at a chain restaurant you normally wait 20 minutes for and a bag full of cliche crap. Get ready to sleep on the couch, big boy.

Do something different this year. It's cheap and easy and will leave your gal very satisfied ...just like you, my friend.  Rock on.    --Rody

CityFlatsHotel - Holland

61 East 7th Street
Holland, Michigan 49423

Meet Hannah the Wondercat. She's a little timid but certain to be a wonderful addition to your family. Two years ago, she suffered a terrible injurythat resulted in the loss of a leg but she's doing fine now and wants a real family.

Adoption Special in January; focus on Special Needs Pets. $15 off adoption fee for SN Cats, $50 off adoption fee for SN Dogs.

Come to the Pet Store Adopt-A-Thon on Jan 28th at the Petco on Alpine.

CURRENTLY NEEDED: Dry or canned dog food, non-clumping kitty litter and laundry detergent.

Pick up your 2012 Harbor Humane Pet Calendar at Harbor Humane-14345 Bagley, Shelby’s Place-between Hobby Lobby and Kohl’s and online at harborhumane.org

Big thanks, Stu! Glad you could find the place (again). Coffee is always free.

Follow Stu! www.twitter.com/StuMcCallister -or- www.stumccallister.com

Thanks again to Lance for another classic stating of the obvious...   --Rody

NOTE: READ THE WHOLE THING TO THE END; THAT'S WHERE THE BEST PART IS.  --rody

Winter on the college football beat means a lot of dumb coaching rumors from dubious sources. So when a local television station in Portland, Ore., cited anonymous "sources" Sunday night who claimed that Oregon coach Chip Kelly was "in the process of finalizing a deal" to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the collective brain of the college football punditocracy — coalescing in a matter of minutes on Twitter — dismissed it as interesting but idle chatter. (Possibly started by his rival at USC, Lane Kiffin, because that would be such a Lane Kiffin move with just a few days to go in the 2012 recruiting cycle.) Why on earth would Chip Kelly want to leave Oregon with another national championship run on the horizon, and who had the idea he might be a good fit in the NFL?

Then came Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, who confirmed that where this is smoke, there is indeed fire:

Oregon football coach Chip Kelly is finalizing a deal to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, the Tampa Bay Times confirmed Sunday night. Kelly met with the Bucs earlier this past week and both sides are hopeful an agreement can be reached within the next 24-48 hours. The secret meeting between with Kelly, Bucs general manager Mark Dominik and members of the Glazer family which owns the team came during an exhaustive search in which they interviewed eight known candidates with a wide array of experience in the NFL, from former head coaches to offensive coordinators and position coaches.

Kelly is reportedly the first college coach the Bucs have interviewed in its "thorough and wide" search since firing Raheem Morris in January, and of all the college coaches they could have talked to, he makes the least sense.

Question 1: What does Tampa Bay see in Chip Kelly? There is really no coherent answer for that, other than his sterling record at Oregon. But that record is brief, and it is not what you would usually consider "NFL-friendly."

Not only has Kelly spent his entire 22-year career in college football: The vast majority of those years were in relatively small-time college football, including 14 years at his alma mater, New Hampshire. It wasn't until 2007 that he was plucked from obscurity to install the spread option as Oregon's new offensive coordinator, and he was only promoted to head coach in 2009. If he lands in Tampa, his career trajectory will have taken him from assistant coach at an FCS school to head coach in the NFL in just five years.

On top of his complete inexperience in the pros, he's synonymous with the kind of quintessentially "college" scheme that is openly disdained at that level, with one exception: The Denver Broncos, who only embraced a spread option/zone read philosophy when it became clear that Tim Tebow was their only viable option at quarterback. The Bucs' starter, 250-pound colossus Josh Freeman, would look awkward in Kelly's system even against college defenses. And it's been at least a decade since Kelly has coached anything else.

Question 2: Is Kelly looking to jump ship before Oregon is bombarded by NCAA sanctions? On the same note, Kelly has few apparent incentives to leave Eugene: He's thehighest-paid coach in the Pac-12 at $2.8 million per year — a number that could potentially rise to just shy of $4 million with incentives — and has three consecutive conference championships in his first three years as a head coach. Facilities are first-rate, recruiting is improving, and the Ducks are on the verge of joining an elite class of perennial national contenders.

The only plausible reason Kelly might want out of that situation — other than his ego — is the fear that an ongoing NCAA investigation into possible recruiting violations is about to drop a hammer on his burgeoning juggernaut. He wouldn't be the first: Two years ago, Pete Carroll took the same opportunity to bail on USC for the top job with the Seattle Seahawks, just six months before the Trojans were slapped with the most heavy-handed NCAA sanctions in more than a decade. A looming bowl ban may also help explain the otherwise baffling decision by quarterback Darron Thomas to skip his senior season for the draft despite the high likelihood that he won't be selected at all.

But Darron Thomas was not (so far as we know) making $2.8 million a year at Oregon; under the circumstances, Chip Kelly's willingness to ditch a plum position at a burgeoning powerhouse for an outfit that was outscored by more than 200 points en route to 10 straight losses and a last-place finish in the NFC South makes even less sense. Then again, Kelly didn't get where he is by biding his time.

UPDATE, 1/23 • 6:04 a.m. ET. After reportedly accepting the Bucs' offer late Sunday night, a "high-ranking team source" reports Kelly has reversed course and decided to remain in Oregon. For now.

 Let’s see… Time spent finding this story, reading it, editing it and posting it to my blog (as if anyone would really care). Total: 17 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. You're welcome, Chip.    --Rody

Ravenna: Superdog. He's much more than just a hound dog and he could be yours. You weally want to meet this guy and enjoy the love he has to offer.

Adoption Special in January; focus on Special Needs Pets. $15 off adoption fee for SN Cats, $50 off adoption fee for SN Dogs.

Come to the Pet Store Adopt-A-Thon on Jan 28th at the Petco on Alpine.

CURRENTLY NEEDED: Dry or canned dog food, non-clumping kitty litter and laundry detergent.

Pick up your 2012 Harbor Humane Pet Calendar at Harbor Humane-14345 Bagley, Shelby’s Place-between Hobby Lobby and Kohl’s and online at harborhumane.org

So the only news bigger than photos of Snookie without makeup is news of Lauren Scruggs, who is apparently some kind of fashion-blogging supermodel that we are all supposed to care deeply about. Well, she's feeling better now after she walked into an airplane propeller. Yippie. My commentary follows this story from the website Popular Critic:

A photo of Lauren Scruggs emerged today for the first time since the terrible accident six weeks ago.

It has been revealed that Scruggs was warned by the pilot to walk behind the plane minutes before being injured by the plane’s spinning propellers according to a new published report.

In a National Transportation Safety Administration preliminary report released on Monday, the unidentified pilot recounts the moments of Scruggs’ unfortunate accident where the fashion blogger and model suffered the unthinkable loss of her left eye and left hand.

“Upon noticing that she was exiting in front of the strut, the pilot leaned out of his seat and placed his right hand and arm in front of her to divert her away from the front of the airplane and the propeller,” the report states. “He continued to keep his arm extended and told the passenger that she should walk behind the airplane.”

Assuming Scruggs had taken heed and walked away behind the plane to safety, the pilot said he “returned to his normal seat position… open his window to ask who was next to go for a ride,” according to the report.

The pilot was flying looky-loos above Dallas to landscape Christmas lights sprawled over the city. Instead of gearing up for the next round of passengers, the pilot shut off the plane engine when he heard someone call out, “Stop, stop,” and saw Scruggs injured body on the ground, according to the report.

It is unclear if Lauren failed to listen to the pilot’s cautionary advice or if she simply didn’t hear the warning because of the loud engine. However, in a ‘Good Morning America’ interview shortly after the incident took place, Lauren’s parents believed she walked back toward the plane to bid the pilot a thank you.

The preliminary report hits airwaves as the 23-year-old makes her first appearance as she leaves the Dallas’ Parkland Hospital since the tragic calamity six weeks ago. Lauren has been enduring intensive therapy to relearn the basics—how to walk, talk, use a stationary bike, and how to dress herself, but has made tremendous progress according to her Mother Cheryl Scruggs’ blog.

Lauren wore knee-length black yoga pants, a blue jacket with the left sleeve hanging beyond her injury, pink-and-black sneakers, and a blue baseball cap which strategically covered her bandaged left eye as she was seen outside the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas. The fashion blogger was unconcerned with fashion, but seemed happy and content as she was seen laughing and joking with family according to reported photos.

Donations may be made to the Lauren Scruggs Hope Fund on the Lolo Magazine website.

Yep. Walking face-first into a spinning airplane propeller is a bummer. But donate money to help her out? You have GOT to be kidding me. Reality check: we have plenty of good, hard-working people right here who have had bad things happen to them who could REALLY use some help. They may not be 'beautiful' or popular but if that's the criteria for who should receive help, then it's a pretty sad world.   --Rody