We don’t really ease back into our regular features scheduling until Monday, but Christmas is over, right? That’s it. When the 26th hits, it’s the end of the “everybody singing Jingle Bells” jazz and straight into non-stop year-end lists until January.

We didn’t get to write about EVERYTHING Christmas-related this season and a lot of stuff is just being shared around today, so I thought I’d perform a gesture of good will and put everything relevant to post-Christmas Wednesday in one handy spot for the enjoyment of all. Or the enjoyment of anybody still clinging to Christmas, I guess.

Up first: School children singing a Robert Griffin III Christmas carol.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s an odd story out of Baltimore that makes Cleveland look almost respectable by comparison. Five Baltimore Ravens showed up to sign autographs for a Red Cross fundraiser, but then fans got bent out of shape when three players left early. The fans, who paid $50 each to get in, raised over $60,000 for tsunami relief efforts in Japan, but some of that money might be going back into those purple camo pants pockets.

[Some fans] didn’t get signatures from Ed Reed, Joe Flacco and Ray Rice because those Ravens star players didn’t stay for the entire three-hour event.[..]

Red Cross officials said their role was to provide volunteers for the event and didn’t organize it. Defensive backs Haruki Nakamura and Chris Carr remained so everyone who donated money would receive an autograph.

But officials said any fans that didn’t receive their desired autographs and want a refund can call 410-624-2030. The Red Cross will need proof of the donation.

–Ravens Insider [Insider? I barely know her!]

The Red Cross already pledged $10 million to tsunami relief in Japan, which is pretty amazing. They just figured that Americans would just give that much to the cause. I’m not saying that Japan didn’t suffer an amazing tragedy, but think about that: the Red Cross just knew that we’d give that much. Is that enough to buy our way out of hell for all the tsunami jokes we’ve made? I need a ruling on this.

It’s funny, you see, because sometimes when someone is doing something particularly well, especially in sports, people will often refer to that person as being “on fire.” But in Ravens safety Ed Reed’s case, he was both figuratively and literally on fire during Baltimore’s 20-10 romp of the Cleveland Browns. Now, try and keep up here: Reed secured his fifth and sixth interceptions of the season yesterday in the win that stamped the Ravens’ ticket to a third consecutive postseason appearance, so he was “on fire” in that regard, but he was also literally on fire after his jacket partially ignited when Reed plunked down too close to a sideline heater. The comic genius of it all is in its subtlety, obviously.

Reed was unharmed in the smoky incident due to the quick thinking of some teammates who alerted him to his smoldering status. That’s teamwork right there, kids.

“I think you’ve got your hook for your story,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “Ed was on fire. He really was on fire. He just played so well. He’s such a factor back there, run game and pass game.”

Reed, who warned Harbaugh not to get too close to the sideline heaters before his own episode, had another lesson to impart before leaving Cleveland.

“You’ve got to be smart trying to stay warm,” he said with a laugh. “[I was] too warm.” [via]

Huh. Even Coach Harbaugh saw the “on fire” angle. Perhaps my astute comic acumen isn’t as finely honed as I have led myself to believe. Sigh.

Video follows.

Read the rest of this entry »