My Anthropology Theory, EA Sports Lets You Decide, and Other Musings

Hello again,

Recently the Westminster Dog Show has been all over the news. Uno a beagle, won best in show. This was suprisingly the first ever win for a beagle. However, the media made it a little too big of a deal. The beagle is recognizable to most every American. From reports I have heard, the beagle has been in the top ten list of breeds in American homes for the last 100 years. And if you are not aware (because you had your head in a hole) Snoopy is also a beagle. But contrary to many media reports, I do not believe Snoopy is proud of Uno. My reasoning? Snoopy is FAKE.

This recent ad nauseum coverage of dogs, especially Uno, in the media led me to come up with an Anthropological Theory. The theory is, "If we had to today, humans would be incapable of domesticating dogs." (editor's note: I am writing the boring piece first because I want you to read it before you get to the fun) When dogs were first domesticated from wolves, humans existed in a similar pack structure. There would have been one alpha male, a number of subordinates, females, and children. Therefore, when a wolf cub was raised by humans, it was a power structure the wolf could easily fit. The alpha male, or chieftan of the tribe would operate as the top of the hierarchy, so the wolf would never attack him. The subordinate males would exert their dominance over the wolf in the hierarchy also thereby putting the wolf in its place. It is obvious today that humans have lost the ability to put a dog in its place... That is why when someone keeps a wolf in a neighborhood as a pet, it invaribly escapes and gnaws off someones face. Luckily, our ancestors did the dirty work for us because we could not do it today.

Behold look into the eyes of a killer!

(I would like to note that to get this photo to appear in the proper place, I had to actually edit the HTML script. There is a first time for everything)

Second on the agenda is NCAA 2009 for Nintendo Wii. Not only will this be the first NCAA football game for the Wii, but it will also have a mascot on the cover. And EA Sports is letting America decide on which mascot to use. This brings up two things: 1) MSU's Bully mascot could actually be on the cover of a videogame sold all over the United States; and 2) Ole Miss doesn't have an official mascot, so they are out of luck. You can vote once per day. Here is the link:

http://www.easports.com/ncaa09/

Finally, I read an article this week that was not by itself funny, but the pictures accompanying the article are hilarious (and strange). It is the article from England that caught some play here in the States, regarding the World's Smallest Bodybuilder. The humor to me is not necessarily that idea, but the gentleman in question himself. He has terrible bleach blonde hair, a nasty mustache like kids have in Junior High to "look cool," and an absolutely no nonsense look on his face. Here is the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=513820&in_page_id=1811

The picture of the other bodybuilder holding him in his hand reminds me of this picture: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=492264&in_page_id=1811

Now my article has come full circle, bookended by dogs (nice work if I do say so). Also, note that both of those articles are from the Daily Mail in the UK which just goes to show you, there is actually nothing else worth writing about in the UK (but wait Jeremy, didn't this blog start by writing about your trip to the UK? Yes, quite a paradox).

-J