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Our future child’s welfare was the subject of today’s Quick 10 list on mental_floss. I feel like Angelina Jolie.

Today’s extra special mental_floss quiz asks if you remember where superstar athletes finished their careers. Let’s see how well you know the career trajectories of Joe Namath, O.J. Simpson, Keith Hernandez, Yogi Berra and many more.

Take the Quiz: Surprise Endings: Where Players Wound Up

Put your Mr. Belvedere knowledge to good use.

Seven years ago, my commencement speaker was Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a CNN Johannesburg correspondent and the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Georgia. She did not invent the iPod.

Her remarks did not make the mental_floss list of 7 Memorable Commencement Addresses. But Steve Jobs, my sister’s speaker at Stanford in 2005, was prominently featured.

In a sign that her spokesdog career could be taking off, Bailey spent several hours last week on the recently redesigned mentalfloss.com. CNN will be re-running Matt Soniak’s “Why Do We Yawn?” exposé on their site, and there’s a good chance Bailey will reprise her role as Yawning Dog #1 for a much wider audience. Fingers and paws are crossed.

In anticipation of Mint, Dave Jamieson’s book on the rise and fall of baseball cards, I picked up a Beckett and put together this quiz, which got a nice boost from Sports Illustrated. Let’s see how well you know the card market.

Take the quiz: My Cards Are Worthless

Only a few more hours before tonight’s return of The Office. I’ve watched over 20 episodes this week while putting together this quiz. Which reminds me, I’ve got a pretty great job.

Take the quiz: The Office (U.S. Edition)

I’ve been spending some time in the Sports Illustrated Vault, the new everything-they’ve-ever-written online archive. I particularly enjoyed the first story SI ever wrote about WFAN, back on July 27, 1987 (italics used to denote my favorite section):

Sports around the clock: WFAN is the first station to give sports junkies a 24-hour fix
Lift your heads and rejoice, all ye sportaholics, for whom ESPN, WTBS, WWOR and CBS Sports Sunday just aren’t enough….There’s something new in New York, and it’s just for you. They call it all-sports radio.

If you are between Maine and southern New Jersey, you no longer need a TV set to satisfy your sports lust. Just turn the AM dial to 1050 WFAN—all sports all the time—and you’ll immediately be plugged into the latest locker room developments. Are you a Knicks fan? WFAN had live coverage of the press conference that introduced new coach Rick Pitino. Do you go bonkers over Bo? The station had a reporter at Jackson’s press conference in Auburn, Ala., at which he declared his intention to become a two-sport pro. WFAN has it all in the world of sports.

The problem is, during the greater part of most days, the world of sports isn’t all that newsworthy, which explains why the lion’s share of the station’s airtime is devoted to listeners’ calls. The hot topic in New York is the mercurial behavior of the Mets’ Darryl Strawberry. Typical callers range from Jeff of Manhattan, whose voice took on a tone of malicious glee as he discussed possible trades for Strawberry, to Dan of Enfield, Conn., who got all choked up recounting how Strawberry’s rookie season inspired him to accomplish what Richard Simmons, Dr. Stillman and Weight Watchers couldn’t, that is, lose 50 pounds.
* * * * *
The power behind the all-sports experiment is Emmis Broadcasting, the nation’s largest privately owned broadcasting group. Eleven months after purchasing WHN, a New York City country music station, Emmis plunged into the uncharted waters of all-sports. If the experiment works, clones should soon appear, and you, too, will be able to hear endless over-the-air second-guessing by your fellow fanatics. If it fails, Emmis execs will be doing some second-guessing of their own.

For more from the Vault, read these posts from mental_floss:

• Sports Illustrated Firsts
• More Fun From the SI Vault

On ‘Back to School Night’ in second grade, we were asked to leave our parents a note. “If you have a special nickname,” Mrs. Onufrak told us, “you can use it.” I did not have a special nickname, but I didn’t know the next time we’d be granted such liberal name-signing power.

At the time, my two biggest influences were Lawrence (”LT”) Taylor and the WWF. Since “JE” wasn’t very special, I opted for an uninspired moniker in the tradition of Gene Okerlund. “Mr. Mean” was born.

The name didn’t stick.

When I asked all-star mental_floss designer Terri Dann to whip up a banner to promote this WWF Action Figure Quiz, she asked what my WWF nickname would be. I told her that story, and now Mr. Mean has a second chance to catch on.
* * * * *
The quiz received an overwhelming response, which inspired my dad to dig out my old action figure collection. He was hoping I’d come remove them from his basement. Instead, I stopped by with a camera and created a completely unnecessary sequel.

The title of this post refers to a prediction I made around 1988, a quote my Uncle Len won’t ever let me forget.

Those should kill 10-15 minutes. (Click on either banner to take that quiz.)

After a five-and-a-half hour commute last night, I brought ‘Commuting Suicide’ out of retirement over at mental_floss:

I used to write a column called “Commuting Suicide” for YesButNoButYes. For a while, this was fun. But as my body became more conditioned to bus travel, I struggled to find novel complaints. It’s been over a year since the last installment.

But none of the slight inconveniences I whined about can compete with yesterday’s journey home. I left the office at 5pm and didn’t get home until 10:30. Here are excerpts from emails I sent to my wife and various friends from the bus:

“Snow has turned to sleet, I think. I’m actually not sure where we are. There’s a WalMart I’ve never noticed before. We may still be on that road right after the Lincoln Tunnel. It’s been 100 minutes.”

“After three hours, we’re somewhere in Harrison. It’s an interactive commuting experience, as the driver is now following a shortcut suggested by a passenger. Other people are chiming in as well, like audience members at a Price Is Right taping.”

“Now other passengers are offering advice, walking up from the back. Lots of pointing. It’s tough to put ‘I-Will-Now-Accept-Your-Navigational- Input’ back in the bottle.”

“I just remembered that my car is on top of the Park n’ Ride lot, five spots away from the roof’s shelter. Good times.”

“I’m so glad I didn’t drink any sparkling water this afternoon.”

“Any chance I put the ice scraper back in my car?”

“Now I think we’re lost, though some guy just rang the bell and hopped off. Not sure whether he actually lives near here, or, after three hours and twenty-two minutes, just couldn’t take it any longer.”

“Ooh, we’re back on track. We’re on Northfield. I’ll call you from the car.”

“Correction: We’re on Northfield, but the bus is sliding backwards. Also, the bus is filling with smoke.”

“We’re pulled over, waiting. For what I’m not sure. A lady shouted, ‘My lungs are filling up!’ Guess I’ll get out and walk. It’s gotta be about four miles from Seton Hall Prep to the Park & Ride at Turtleback Zoo. Through the snow. Can’t wait to hold this over my kids’ heads.”

OK, it’s only two miles. That part may get left out when this story is passed down. And the ice scraper wasn’t in my car. Lucky for me, a bathing suit was. It worked wonders.

[See the original post at mentalfloss.com.]

Brett’s blockbuster Saved by the Bell quiz is up (test yourself here). And here’s a fantastic picture he acquired of Kate & DJ, which he used in his blog entry announcing the quiz.

Just a little something to get you excited for Brett Savage’s Saved by the Bell quiz tomorrow over at mental_floss.

Update…

The quiz is ready.

The Bud Bowl: A Definitive History.

The epic post you’ve been waiting for, by Scott Allen for mental_floss.

With Tom Brady gimping around the West Village, there’s been a lot of talk about his backups, Matt Cassel and Matt Gutierrez. This got me thinking about other Super second-stringers who were just a heartbeat (or anterior cruciate ligament) away from the big game. How well do you know the men behind the men behind center? Here are fifteen questions to test your backup QB IQ.

> > > Take the quiz: Super Backups

I should say that this one is really, really hard. The average score is 38%. So don’t feel bad if you didn’t remember Joe Namath’s understudy.