Remember that F-14 pilot who shoved a Fox 2 up the tail of an American RF-4 during an exercise over the Med back in 1987? Exercise 'Display Determination' was a joint USAF, USN and NATO exercise, part of which was designed to test the US Navy's fleet defense. The USAF launched a single RF-4C from Aviano to find the fleet, try to sneak in undetected and (hopefully) snap some pictures of the USS Saratoga. Defending the fleet was a two-ship of F-14 Tomcats, including one commanded by the least experienced pilot on board the ship, LtJG Timothy Dorsey.

Dorsey first intercepted the RF-4 while it was being refueled outside the playground by a KC-135, and actually joined up in trail on the jet after it left the tanker. The RF-4, aware of the two Tomcats behind it,  executed a sliceback maneuver to get down on the deck and make a run-in on the ship. Dorsey, relying on all of his 240 hours of tactical brilliance, radioed to the ship that he had a bogey inbound toward the fleet. "Clear and free" the ship responded, indicating that he was free to engage and 'fire' on the target - engage and fire as in simulated, because after all this was an exercise and the 'target' was of course known to everyone as a friendly. The rest is history and well-documented in a Chicago Tribune article from 1988. Miraculously neither of the RF-4 crewmen were killed in this egregious display of aerial idiocy and buffoonery.

RF-4C aircraft similar to the one splashed over the Med back in 1987 by recently promoted Rear Admiral Dorsey. 

Dorsey had this to say about the incident:  "Under no circumstances do I consider myself trigger-happy. If called upon to do so, I've been trained to react decisively and smartly. In this most unfortunate mishap, I believe that I indeed reacted decisively and, at the time, with the information I had received and interpreted, believed I was acting smartly." Yeah...

The investigation board decided that Dorsey would be allowed to keep his wings but would never again be allowed to fly a USN aircraft. Reduced to shoe clerk status, Dorsey became an intel officer and eventually drifted over to the Naval Reserves to mark his time and earn a retirement. Uh, not so fast. He didn't retire, and in fact was just promoted to Rear Admiral! WTF?

For Dorsey, it didn't hurt that at the time of his crime his old man happened to be a Navy Vice Admiral, who reportedly shot down his own wingman over Vietnam several years before. Apparently, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Flying rubber dogshit on a cargo ship outta Hong Kong woulda been too good for this guy!

Remember that old James Caan movie Rollerball, which portrayed a futuristic sport combining armored roller skaters and motorcycles in a small enclosed arena, with lots and lots of gratuitous violence? Rollerball was so cool they remade  it in 2002 featuring rapper LL Cool J. Unfortunately the newer version didn't come close to capturing the magic of the original and just plain sucked.  The good news is there's a better sport out there that's quite real, and coming soon to an arena near you!

Ultimate Tazer Ball features 4-on-4 play and is similar to team handball with a twist - players armed with tasers (the real way to spell it) that can zap the crap out of their opponents as they move the ball. The sport is so new it doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, but it does have a web site - http://utblive.com/. The UTB has four teams, with plans to expand to twelve. For now the league functions as a traveling road show, but plans to hold a scheduled season as the sport grows. This sport would have Tom Brady screaming "Don't tase me bro!"

Back in 2005 the NCAA went after 19 colleges and universities who had what they considered "hostile and abusive" logos and mascots "demeaning" to American Indians. Most schools jumped on the PC bandwagon without a fight, but a few like the Florida State Seminoles were able to get tribal approval and keep their nickname. The Univ. of North Dakota has been using the Fighting Sioux moniker since 1930 when it replaced the "Flickertails", whatever a flickertail is. In 1969 the Sioux tribes of ND had no problem with the school's logo in an agreement providing educational benefits for native Sioux in the state.

In 2009, the NCAA threatened to bar UND from hosting tournament play unless they once again garnered support from the Sioux. For a school that has won seven Div I NCAA Hockey titles and placed 2nd five times, along with three NCAA Womens Basketball titles, that kinda sucks and could potentially cost a lot of money. Matters got worse when one of the two tribal councils refused to honor their 1969 agreement - the leaders of the dissenting council had their own agenda and wouldn't even put it up for a vote, knowing that it would pass.  Bending to PC pressure that never really existed from the majority of Sioux, UND agreed to drop the name in 2010. But the fight wasn't over - less than a year later a pissed off state legislature passed a law requiring the nickname be retained. The law was repealed seven months later after pressure from the Board of Higher Education and just in time for the NCAA playoffs.

A petition to repeal the repeal of the state law was held this week and the citizens of ND, including many native Sioux, voted overwhelmingly to put the issue up for a statewide vote. Part of that vote stipulates that the law go back in effect while the state gears up for this crucial referendum that has cost millions of taxpayer money and wasted a tremendous amount of everyone's time. In response the NCAA reaffirmed its position that the school will not be able to host or display the Fighting Sioux logo at NCAA tournaments... so nothing has really changed in seven years. But it's good to see the public take a stand against ridiculous PC maneuvers by a couple of asshole institutions like the NCAA and the state Board of Higher Education. Go Fighting Sioux!

Three years ago we predicted that manned Close Air Support (CAS) would be a thing of the past  by the year 2020 (Latest stats on USAF Drones). USAF HQ just hastened our prediction today, announcing they will mothball six tactical fighter squadrons, including four squadrons of the venerable (and awesome) A-10 attack aircraft as part of Obama's plan to gut our nation's military.

Units on the chopping block are the 107th Fighter Squadron at Selfridge ANG Base, MI.; the 163rd FS at Fort WayneANG Station, IN.; and the 184th FS at Ebbing ANG Base,AR. Throw in Iowa's 124th Fighter Squadron (F-16) and two other un-named active duty units flying A-10 and F-15's. That's 10% of our fighter force -- Gone in 60 Seconds.

Not to worry though. Jackwad Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz says the pilots in the axed squadrons would transfer to other units, including those that fly unmanned aircraft like MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1 Predators.

“What we are doing is re-missioning the units,” Schwartz told reporters at the Pentagon Jan. 27. “In other words, for example, a unit that was operating manned aircraft might transition to a remotely piloted aircraft mission. And so, their fundamental skills will still be employed but in a different way.”

Yeah, right.

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The last couple of decades has given us lots of new technology, from the internet to iPhone porn to Jersey Shore re-runs on Demand TV. But one of the neatest things developed in the last few years has been the GoPro HD cameras, which are used on practically every reality TV show and documentary these days. These miniature wonders can be mounted on everything from a helmet to a ski, and shoot video in a quality unheard of just a few years ago. And let's face it, if you're gonna do something awesome, what good is it if you can't show it off to your friends or the entire world on YouTube?

One of the coolest uses of these little gems has been in skydiving --  in particular skydiving in one of those little squirrel suits and documenting suicidal hops off majestic mountain peaks. Daedalus would be jealous - the concept of personal flight is now available to the masses -  if you have the stones for it. And sadly, at my advanced age - and as tough as it is to admit this - I don't.  I hand it to the X-Games generation though for inventing this kind of stuff. As awesome as flying fighters is, if you're really into flying, this sport would be the cats' meow!

But think of the possibilities if they figure out a way to strap an Aim-9 or a GAU-8 onto those suits...