I have not done one of these in a little while, so I thought it was about time here at Kickin' it Old School that I again point out a few stories that strike me as kind of sad, kind of happy and just kind of weird. If you go back through the archives you will find 3 previous times where I have done this. Now on to this issue's picks...

SAD STORY
Add another to the list of celebrity divorces. It is reported that Bill Murray is officially getting divorced after 11 years of marriage. Here is a link to a short article on this bit of news. I find it sad whenever a married couple gets divorced. Back in March, I posted after the Robin Williams divorce was reported and this included my Top 10 Robin Williams movies. Speaking of Top 10's, here is a link back to my Bill Murray Top 10 Movies list. He is one of my very favorites, but too bad his marriage will not have a Hollywood ending.

HAPPY STORY
In a true Cinderella story, Fresno State won the College World Series (CWS) in baseball. Here is a link to an article discussing this unlikely champion. The Bulldogs barely made the field of 64 and became the first number 4 regional seed to reach the CWS since the tournament expanded in 1999. This would be the equivalent of a number 16 seed winning the NCAA basketball tournament. Fresno State ended the season with a record of 47 wins and 31 losses which is more losses than any previous National champion. They defeated many higher seeded teams which featured players that were 1st round draft picks heading for the major leagues. Fresno State's highest draft pick was a 2nd round pick who even missed the postseason with an injury. It is always fun to see a true underdog come out victorious. As became the slogan in Omaha at the CWS, this team went "from underdog to wonderdog" and that is a happy story to me.

WEIRD STORY
As you probably are aware, the 2008 Summer Olympics are to be held in Beijing, China. In a very strange form of Olympic pride, many Chinese babies are being given names associated with the games. Here is a link to a very interesting article on this subject. According to the article, roughly 3,500 children have been named Aoyun (meaning "Olympics"). Some people, mostly males, have Aoyun as their given name, and many parents with the surname Yun are choosing to combine their surname with the given name Ao to create the word. Parents searching for creative names are also looking to the five Beijing Olympic mascots, the "Fuwa": Bei Bei the fish, Jing Jing the panda, Huan Huan the Olympic flame, Ying Ying the Tibetan antelope and Ni Ni the swallow. Together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they mean "Beijing welcomes you!" More than 4,000 Chinese have been named for the mascots: Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240 people), Huan Huan (1,063 people), Ying Ying (624 people) and Ni Ni (642 people). Just like with any name, parents need to think about this more long term. What might sound like a good idea right now may not seem so good 10-20 years from now. China is obviously a different culture, but I thought this story was interesting nonetheless.

That's all I have for you in this issue of Kickin' it. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy this feature. I try not to do it too often, but it is a nice way to change it up once in a while. Please click on the archive buttons in the upper left column to have access to all past issues of Kickin' it Old School. I encourage you to subscribe or at least come back often. Peace and much love.

Check this out: This signs falls in the category of "stating the obvious" which always makes me chuckle when I see stuff like this...

Quote of the day: "A man (or woman) needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his (or her) ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdog." -Irving Babbitt

Download this: "Please Forgive Me" by David Gray