The first day of summer, known as the summer solstice, begins at around 7
p.m. tonight. The weather in the capital region will be extremely hot according
to a heat advisory issued last night by National Weather Service.
The temperature in the capital region will reach up to near 99 high today
due to a one-day heat wave along with high pressure in the sky.
Patchy fog, hot and humid conditions are likely to happen, ushering in some
of the hottest weather ever seen in the region since last year. It is likely that
the record high temperature of 97 degrees will be broken.
And thunderstorm is not out of the question, given the intense amount of
daytime heating. Precipitation will possibly visit the region late Thursday
night onto Friday morning with the approach of cold front into the region.
Tomorrow temperatures appear to be the above normal.
The weekend will likely bring back the normal temperature of this time of
year due to the high pressure coming from Canada.
The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year, though not
necessarily the hottest. Temperature is influenced by the mixture of
atmosphere, land and oceans taking in part of the Sun's rays and releasing it
at different rates, in light of the Farmer’s Almanac.
Below is the detailed, one-week forecast from the National Weather Service: Today: Sunny and hot, with a high near 96. Calm
wind becoming west northwest between 5 and 8 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 56.
Southwest wind between 7 and 10 mph. Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 80. South southwest
wind between 13 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Thursday night: Increasing clouds, with a low around 55.
South southwest wind between 13 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 79. South
southwest wind around 9 mph. Friday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Saturday night: Mostly clear, with a low around 53. Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 79. Sunday night: Clear, with a low around 53. Monday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Monday night: Clear, with a low around 55. Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 85.
This Sunday, fathers around America
will be showered with gifts, meals, hugs and activities centered on us. We will
receive ties, cologne, cufflinks and gift cards from our wives. Our children
will give us clay coin holders (which were ashtrays 30 years ago), and art
featuring stick figure families, with daddy having the largest circle-head. We
will be thanked for our hard work, our sacrifice and our love...And many of us
dads will think it's all much ado about nothing.
Of course we lay down the law. Yes, you better defer to us when it comes to
the thermostat, lights and how long it takes to shower. Yes, we are the he-man
bug killers and retrievers of stuff on high shelves. You better believe that we
are the driving instructors and keepers of the remote, and don't you forget ANY
of that!
But the one thing that Father's Day means to fathers is gratitude. Boy oh
boy, we are so thankful for YOU.
Most every father I know, myself included, lives in awe of our families.
None of us ever get over the images of pregnancy and childbirth. Those events
impact us forever, and frame our lives forever.
Most of us spend Father's Day just so happy that you love us, so humbled by
the miracle of life. We are amazed we somehow got to marry a girl like YOU. We
can't get over that our daughters love us, and that our sons want to BE us. On
Father's Day, we get out the telescope and count our lucky stars.
Fathers' Day is not only a day of reflection, for most dads it's a day which
finds us looking forward as well.
As we look around us, the hunter-gatherer in us takes note of what the
family needs going forward. We pledge silently to ourselves that Monday begins
a new push for more and better, safer and healthier everything for our
families. We resolve that we will be better fathers, more
attentive husbands; prepared to double our efforts so as to provide. Longer
days, harder work, less sleep; whatever it takes to keep the family healthy,
protected and happy.
Many of us will promise ourselves to finally get to the doctor
for the check ups and screenings which we hate so much. Because we so fear our
own mortality, very often men take refuge in the notion that "no news is
good news" so we avoid the doc like the plague itself.
Father's Day reminds us how badly we want to be around for as long as
possible to see weddings and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
So at some point this Sunday, take a few moments to just observe dad.
I promise that if you watch us long enough, you'll see a deep breath, a
wiped tear or a lingering gaze. At any moment you may see serenity, awe or
fear.
And if you could hear our thoughts at those moments we'll be saying "I
want this to last forever."
To our wives and children on behalf of dads everywhere, your gift to us is
you...And we are so very grateful. T.J. McCormack is a comedian and commentator. He is host and producer of
"Sunday Night with T.J. McCormack."
San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - After a day when the
game's best struggled badly at the U.S. Open, there was plenty to cheer about
if you dug deep at Olympic Club.
Tiger Woods may, or may not be back, but either way, for at least a day, he
showed vintage form. Your opinion of the man notwithstanding, if you can't
marvel at this ability inside the ropes, your hatred of his disgusting actions
outside them has clouded your objectivity.
He had a spark in his step after the round, bouncing around with confidence.
And why shouldn't he have been positive? Six guys broke par, eight managed
par and 142 were over par. The six players who went sub-70 should be proud of
their accomplishments.
One of them, Nick Watney, recorded a double-eagle and chipped in. Think of
it this way - it took those two unlikely swipes of the club for one of the top
players in the world just to break par.
But most of Thursday's great stories came not from the game's elite, but
from those who you don't know much about. The beautiful narrative was written
by those we expected little from, or from those we were just happy made it to
Olympic Club.
A few years ago, we weren't sure we'd see Casey Martin play competitively
ever again. Nearly crippled by a birth defect that makes walking excruciating,
he became the head coach of the men's team at the University of Oregon,
made it through qualifying, and did quite well on Thursday.
Yes, his score was a 4-over 74, but that beat Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy,
Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and a host of other players that were supposed to
contend for this title.
Martin's start was, let's say, less than ideal. He bogeyed five of his first
six, birdied seven, then calmed down. He played the last 11 holes in even par
and can take realistic expectations of making the cut into Friday.
"I would say the birdie, just finally getting a putt to drop on seven
finally settled me down," Martin said. "I haven't felt like this in a
long, long time. It's the U.S. Open, you don't, you can play in PGA Tour events
all day long it doesn't feel like this."
Discount, for a moment, Martin's disability and his odyssey to professional
golf. Isn't it refreshing to hear someone so effusively gush about how this
week has stirred excitement?
Martin wasn't the only great story in his own threesome Thursday.
There was Dennis Miller. We've all heard the name, but it's not the
comedian, rather the viral hit from Youngstown,
Ohio.
Miller, 42, is the director of golf at Mill Creek Golf Club and he found his
way into a four-man playoff for three spots in the sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.
He had 20 feet for birdie on the fourth playoff hole to get into the field
at Olympic Club. Miller hit a great putt, but the ball, and his chances of
finally playing in his national championship, hung ever so gently on the lip.
Miller turned his head in disbelief, then, a mere second later, the ball fell
and the jolly, ice-cream loving club pro, made it to the U.S. Open.
Granted, his 10-over 80 puts him at the bottom of the leaderboard, but
Miller can always tell his grandchildren that he tied a former Masters champion
(Trevor Immelman) and beat a perennial Ryder Cupper (Miguel Angel Jimenez).
Imagine the nerves a 42-year-old professional swam through on Thursday.
Now imagine what a 14-year-old kid would go through.
Andy Zhang is the youngest golfer to ever play in the U.S. Open. He told a
fantastic story Wednesday that illustrated exactly how a high-school kid should
feel playing on the big stage.
"I was on the airplane, and then I was asking Chris (Gold, Zhang's
caddie), I was like, so I get to practice on the driving range and putt and
chip in the U.S. Open facility," Zhang said. "So is that OK if I go
up to Tiger and those great players for autographs. And he goes, like, no, you
are going to be the one who is giving out autographs. And I came here and
everybody knows me for some reason. Yeah. I'm signing autographs, I
guess."
Zhang, like almost all of the newbies, had a rough go early thanks to the
nerves. He opened with a triple-bogey, then a double-bogey, then three straight
bogeys.
He calmed down some and had 15 feet at the last for a 79. Zhang poured in
the putt and now should brag to the girls at the roller rink that he broke 80
in the U.S. Open.
"I am really proud of myself, actually. Well I shouldn't say proud, I'm
really happy to be here," Zhang said. "I was on the first tee, I was
like, just please don't hit a hundred-yard slice off the first tee and I was
shaking really hard."
Again, genuine enthusiasm is so fun to hear. We take for granted that this
is just another major championship. Will Tiger finally win a major? Will Luke
Donald break through? How will Phil do?
It means a lot to guys who have virtually no chance to win the championship.
Technically, they do, and that's part of the magic.
We won't be talking much about Martin, Miller or Zhang come Sunday evening,
but we should celebrate what they did on Thursday.
Media Social Gossip
Associated News LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have been the faces
of the NBA for the past decade. They are worshiped globally, but polarizing
figures in the U.S.—loved
by their fans and hated by their detractors. They drive TV ratings and
make more than twice as much off the court as other NBA stars. It is time for Kobe and LeBron to make
room at the top. Kevin Durant is set to be a global star.
Durant exploded for 36 points Tuesday night leading the Oklahoma City
Thunder over James’ Miami Heat in the opening game of the NBA Finals. It was
the second most points by a player making his Finals debut since the NBA-ABA
merger (Allen Iverson had 48 points in 2001; Michael Jordan also had 36 in
1991).
It was the latest accomplishment for the wildly talented, 23-year-old Durant
who entered the NBA in 2007 after winning the college Player of the Year award
as a freshman (an NCAA first) at the University of Texas. He was selected to
the All-NBA team the past three seasons and led the league in scoring each of
those years. He is one of just seven players to ever lead the NBA in scoring
three straight seasons. Durant was runner-up to James in the MVP voting this
season. This past season was the first in the five-year, $86 million contract
extension he signed in the Thunder in 2010. He is signed through the 2015-16
season.
Durant is vastly different than James and Bryant when it comes to
perception. Only 30% of people find James appealing. Bryant fares even worse at
23% according to research by Nielsen. Durant, in sharp contrast, is liked by
56% of those that are aware of him, among the highest rates for NBA players.
The one thing critical lacking for Durant is awareness. Nielsen says he is
known by a scant 12% of people, which is on par with Chris Paul and Chris Bosh.
Bryant and James are known by 63% and 46% of people says Nielsen. Durant
suffers from playing in a small market on a team that was rarely on national TV
until recent years (OKC made two national TV appearances during the 2009-10
season, compared to 29 for the then LeBron-led Cleveland Cavaliers).
The NBA Finals will change that. The games are being broadcast in 215
countries and territories with media members from 34 countries attending the
Finals. The NBA expects nearly 300 million fans globally to follow the Finals
on social media.
“This is Durant’s first time on the biggest stage in the NBA and a strong
Finals performance will raise his level of awareness with casual fans and brand
marketers,” says Stephen Master, Vice President of Sports at Nielsen.
Basketball’s global audience puts its stars in high demand for marketers,
particularly shoe companies. There are 300 million basketball players in China according
to the Chinese Basketball Association. Bryant sells twice as many sneakers in China as he does in he U.S. The U.S. basketball
team is expected to be the rock stars of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and Durant
will be in the middle of it all as one of the national team’s icons.
Durant told Sports Illustrated a couple of years ago: “Global marketing and
all that stuff” doesn’t interest him and that, “it’s all about basketball.”
Durant should get ready to say hello to the world. His marketing star is about
to explode.
“An NBA championship for the Thunder can catapult Kevin Durant into the
upper echelon of NBA players from a marketability standpoint,” says Nielsen’s
Master.
Durant is already among the NBA’s top earners off the court thanks to Nike. The
Swoosh signed Durant to a seven-year, $60 million deal when he turned pro in
2007. Durant’s annual payments from Nike are now approaching $10 million, as
his significant accomplishments have triggered bigger payments from Nike on the
original pact.
Nike sent Durant to China
the past two summers to promote the brand, as well as KD’s signature shoe. His
sneaker is still a very small seller. Nike moved only $7 million (wholesale)
worth of Durant’s shoe in the U.S.
in 2011 according to research analyst Matt Powell at SportsOneSource. That
compares to $90 million for James and $40 million for Bryant.
Durant also has endorsement deals with Sprint, Gatorade, Panini, General
Electric and 2K Sports. He makes an estimated $13 million annually off the
court, which trails only James and Bryant among NBA players in regards to their
endorsement incomes.The gap is big though with James and Bryant both making at
least $30 million from sponsors. The only thing holding Durant back is
awareness. An NBA title would go a long way to closing that gap. Media Social Gossip
They call him the "Godfather of Whiteclay."
He chuckles when someone refers to him that way....but his eyes don't smile. He
can probably think of a lot of other things he'd rather be called than the king
of the streets in a place where the streets are dark even in daylight; the
place where the Lakota have committed death by Budwieser for decades. I can
usually smell him before I see him...and still I am happy to see him. If you
look at him through eyes that don't see him as the gift he is, then he is torn
and tattered and beyond saving. But look again. His spirit shines through. With
human contact and the calling of his name...his spirit shines through. When he
sees me he says "There she is!" and my spirit shines through.
I love him like the Son loves me...fully, joyfully, even when my sin makes me
stink too.
Eli is writing a book. You won't find it on Amazon, but you will see it laid
bare chapter by chapter if you will just take a few minutes and speak to him.
This chapter is entitled "Hell in a Handbasket."
"Look at our young men!" he cries out in a rare moment of sobriety,
pointing to the constant stream of the Seventh Generation coming and going at
the liquor store across the street from the building that houses my new
ministry. "They have no direction. No one to tell them go this way...don't
go that way." He shakes his head and mumbles in Lakota. "I have
been here for 28 years...longer than they have been alive. I would tell them
don't come here...but they won't listen to me."
We talk about how the respect he has on the streets could be used to change the
lives of these young men...but then we agree that the next time he gets clean
and sober he needs to stay away from here. "Yeah, that's where I go wrong
everytime," he admits. "I get sober and then I come here to help
before I am well enough to do that." We nod our heads in unison and
watch the stream across the way turn into a river. Someone needs to put a
"Deadly Undertow" sign on its banks.
The last day I was on the reservation, Eli had a seizure on the front porch of
our building and wrote a chapter called "All Is Grace." A woman
from the tribe came in to tell me. She spoke with the same urgency that someone
might have used to say they had found a pair of sunglasses in the parking
lot. Someone else called 911 and I went out to Eli. By the time I
got there he was coming out of it and his muscles were hurting badly from the
spasms. He was shouting to God at the top of his lungs.
"Grandfather! Grandfather! You want me? Come and get me! Please come and
get me! Why do you leave me here to suffer?" I held his hand and he just
hung his head and whispered. "Grandfather. Grandfather. Grandfather."
I found myself praying for God to save Eli from this place. He drank three
bottles of water and quickly ate the sandwich we got for him. I went back
inside to help someone who had stopped by and needed diapers, and came back to
check on him. I heard him chuckle. "I can feel you coming. I know you are
there before I see you," he said. Spirits shining through.
Once he had collected himself he began to talk to me of a Father's love. Not
his earthly father...but Tunkashila...the God who created the man called
Eli. The eternal Grandfather. "I sleep in that old abandoned house
over there," he says. "I got nothing. But every morning when I open
my eyes I say thank you my Father for another day. Thank you my Father for this
gift. Today maybe I can help someone." He lowers his head and clasps his
hands together. "Just like this...I say thank you my Father. And He takes
me in his arms, brings me in the fold and says he has not forgotten me. And I
say again...thank you my father."
And I say thank you, my friend. I think of you
everyday. I pray for you everyday and I can feel you praying for me. And now I
will ask you, dear reader, to dare to repeat Eli's words every morning
yourself. "Thank you my Father for this gift of another day. Today maybe I
can help someone."
Wade Davis, a former NFL defensive back for the Tennessee Titans, Washington
Redskins and Seattle Seahawks, recently admitted that he is gay.
Throughout his career, he struggled with the fact that he was a gay man in a
profession where homosexuality was almost never discussed openly.
It took years after he left the NFL before he felt comfortable enough to
publicly admit that he was gay, as Amy K. Nelson of SB Nation found out. "There was a lot that stood out from our conversation; one part
that didn't make the edit was his feelings about not only struggling with his
identity as a gay man, but also his identity as a black man," Nelson
recalled to Yahoo Sports.
"He would wear his clothes extra large, use patterns of speech that, to
him, sounded like he spoke like many of his peers. He said that he became the
best actor in the world."
"He still struggles with identity, both as a black man and as a gay
man. He's still trying to figure this all out, but really, aren't we all in
some way?" Davis works with kids in New
York City; at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, described as a New York organization
"which serves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning
youth," he found his personal voice.
He's also campaigning for President Obama he's hoping to help the movement.
It's official: Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemworth are engaged.
"I'm so happy to be engaged and look forward to a life of happiness
with Liam," Cyrus told People, with the couple's reps confirming
their engagement took place on May 31.
The star has yet to mention her exciting news on her Twitter account just
yet, but did tweet “ heaven is place on earth” on June 1, the day after her
engagement. Cyrus, 19, has been dating the "Hunger Games" star, 22,
since 2009, after they starred together in "The Last Song."
Hemsworth covered the March 2012 issue of Details magazine, and he
opened up about his relationship with Cyrus.
"What happened happened, and we've been together two and a half
years," he said about falling for Cyrus on the set. "She makes me
really happy. When you start, you want to be professional, but when you're
filming those scenes with someone and pretending to love them, you're not human
if you don't feel something."
In late 2011, rumors popped up that Cyrus was engaged after she was sporting
what appeared to be a diamond ring on her left ring finger. However, denied the
news she at the time.
"I think [sex] does change you as a person a little bit because you
start thinking maybe that's what guys want from you," she told The Sun.
"It's a big part of growing up, because it opens a whole new connection --
and heartbreak."
