A ray of "Sunshine", The Roland Rocket, and Little League Parents.

Had a great time on vacation, but it's good to be back. I'm fortunate to have a job I love.

Courtney Greene told me today to get my butt blogging or she'd give me a procrastination beatdown. I think she's serious, so here are some quick hitters:

Little Miss Sunshine: Best movie I've seen this year. It's a dark comedy, and a road trip as metaphor for how families must stick together no matter how annoying each member finds another. It's ultimately uplifting and provided the biggest laugh out loud moment I've had in a long time (probably since Andy made fun of the Doppler radar wars). Little Miss Sunshine is rated R, so if grandpa doing drugs or a gay professor (Steve Carrell) surviving a suicide attempt isn't your idea of a path to comedy, stay away; otherwise, go see immediately at the Fleur. You can even have dessert, wine or beer at that place. I'm still a pop and popcorn guy. I can be stuffed from an all you can eat buffet, walk into a theater, smell that popcorn, and suddenly I'm Pavlov's dog. I digress, Little Miss Sunshine earns an A.

Invincible: Mark Wahlberg starring in a 70's movie scares me a little. How can we not think of him and his "prop" in Boogie Nights, but I'll see this one right away. I know it looks like Remember the Titans, The Rookie, Miracle or any other improbable but true sports story. I'm there anyway. Wahlberg is Vince Papale, a teacher and bartender who never played college football, tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles, and somehow survived three seasons. Cue the Who.

Snakes On a Plane: Enough already.

Windfall: I doubt you even know that this is. I think I could be the only person in Iowa still watching this, although I hope not. It's an NBC show on a group of friends who win the lottery and see their lives unravel. I keep it on my TiVo list because it's fun just to see how much more ridiculous they make the plot each week. My favorite moment is when they show an exterior shot of some factory that looks like it came out of the Pennsylvania steel town in All The Right Moves, and then they cut inside to Luke Perry sitting at a board room that looks like it was built next to our news set.

I apologize. I realize I wrote that last paragraph for myself.

Gary Thompson: If I could live anybody's life but my own, it might be Gary's. This guy is the real deal. He's an old school All-American and a man of impeccable integrity.

Gary put the small town of Roland on the map when he became the famous "Roland Rocket". He lived the Hoosiers life, only without Barbara Hershey. Gary married his sweetheart, went to ISU and became a national star in two sports (baseball and basketball), passed up the NBA to join the Phillips Oilers, bought into the business, became a national TV analyst for college basketball, supported ISU for decades with money and advice, raised great kids, never drank or cursed, though he does say "son of a biscuit", and continues being a great example to his grandkids, not to mention one of Iowa's best senior golfers. Gary has done it all the right way, and unlike me, always seemed to have intuition about the right choice. They should write a book about him. Wait, they are. Chuck Offenburger is working on one right now. It won't need any embellishment.

Tiger Woods: The greatest sports star of my lifetime. Better than Ali, better than Gretzky, better than Jordan. Tiger's dad was right, watching his son play golf is like watching Rembrandt paint.

Shawn Johnson: Give it up for the 4 foot 6 inch dynamo from West Des Moines! She didn't just win the gymnastics junior nationals, she dominated. Johnson won four golds, and the 14 year old from Chows Gymnastics, should be America's top hope for Olympic gold in Beijing. Plus Shawn's headed for Valley High School, and I know a lot of you are concerned about that school not getting enough pub; she could help.

Mediacom Connections: For me, worth the cost of cable just to see all these local games played both live and on tape delay. As I write this, the Iowa-Iowa State football game from last year is on. Still can't believe how much the Cyclones dominated Iowa that day.

Alford's recruits: This is why I don't follow recruiting closely. Until players show up and put on the uniform, you just don't know who you can count on. Two would-be-Hawkeyes don't make the grade, and now Alford's great class suddenly looks ordinary.

Marion Jones: Please go away. No one believes you. How could they?

Little League World Series Parents and Coaches: Stop taking the fun out of the game for these kids. THEY'RE KIDS! I'm sorry some of you are disappointed in your life, but don't try to make your 12 year old make up for it. IT'S A GAME.

For those coaches here in Central Iowa who realize only .00001% of kids will play professionally: THANK YOU. It's supposed to be fun, not pressure.

Thank you for reading. If you see Courtney, tell her I'm up to date :-)