Recently by Ryan Karasek

American Idol contestant David Archuleta has succeeded in making it to the final two on the show. However, his father won't be able to enjoy his practices after he was recently banned from being on set. American Idol producers made the call after dad told them to change the lyrics of one of David's songs. They wouldn't allow it, but David surprised everyone and changed the lyrics during the live show.

This is just another example of a parent trying to control everything for their child. Sure David probably loves singing now, but his love may disappear if his dad continues to run the show. Isn't it ridiculous how parents of child stars seem to always get in the way and ruin a good thing. One last thing, David also competed in Star Search as an adolescent, and his dad was banned from that show too. Ridiculous.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2008-05-04-dieter-eilering_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

This guy has lost 100 pounds since 2003 and has kept it off. He now runs in marathons and competes in triathlons.

Every day it seems there is an article in the news about someone who has lost all this weight. Is anyone else getting tired of hearing the same story over and over again with different names inserted?

Gas prices continue to rise. At least in the past companies would come up with excuses for the gas price rising, now they don't give excuses they just do it. If gas prices continue to rise at this rate, nobody will be driving and I definitely want to be in the bicycle business. Ridiculous.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/05/news/economy/gas_prices/index.htm

For those of you who enjoy the NBA.

I was never much of an NBA fan when I was young, until I watched KU players like Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, and others get drafted. I was sitting back wondering the other day how many KU players were in the NBA Playoffs. After some research, I discovered four players on the active rosters of playoff teams.

Julian Wright, New Orleans Hornets
Jacque Vaughn, San Antonio Spurs
Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics
Billy Thomas, Cleveland Cavaliers

After discovering this, I decided that I would cheer for these four teams in the playoffs, so they can win a championship in the same year as their Jayhawks.

For those of you who watched the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, did the end of that race just make you feel sick to your stomach? Okay, so Big Brown, the favorite, made winning the race look easy, but the big surprise of the race was the filly(female horse), Eight Belles. The only Filly in the race, Eight Belles finished second behind Big Brown. However, celebration quickly ended. Eight Belles collapsed on the track after finishing. She broke both of her front ankles and was euthanized immediately on site.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for the horse, who was trained and then forced to run in races. Did anyone else feel disgusted after the race, or is it simply the way things go sometimes?

The NBA has recently talked about raising the minimum age to become eligible for entering the league. The ideas talked about raising the age to 20 from 19. The effects of this change would make a huge impact on college basketball. Players like Derrick Rose and Michael Beasely would be forced to stay another year. On the other hand, players may choose to go play overseas for a couple years until they are eligible to play in the NBA. Thus far, the NBA hasn't made any changes to the rule, but if they do change, basketball players across the world will have their opinions.