Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

What's the Buzz:

An attack at Seaworld in Orlando, FL. A trainer is dead and a killer whale is in isolation.
   It happened at Shamu Stadium. The trainer told the audience what they were about to see and then suddenly, the whale came up from the water, grabbed the trainer and violently thrashed her as it dove back into the tank.
   About two dozen tourists looked on in horror as the whale held 40-year-old DAWN BRANCHEAU in its mouth. She was one of Seaworld's most experience trainers, having spent 10 years working with the killer whales. She drowned.
   Video? Photos? You know those tourists had cameras. One Brazilian couple told the Orlando Sentinel they'd seen the popular Dine with Shamu show two days earlier and came back to take pictures. These images are sure to turn up on the internet.
   Park officials say nothing like this has ever happened and they're conducting an investigation. No word on what will become of the whale or why it did what it did. The show has been suspended. (Maiman)

Guilty Pleasures:

   --No winner in Tuesday night's drawing for the Mega Millions Lottery. That means Friday night's drawing is valued at $99 million ($60.6 million cash value). Mega Millions is played in 34 states and Washington DC. Chances of winning the big prize are 1 in 175.7 million.
   --No winner in Wednesday night's drawing for the Powerball Lottery. That means Saturday night's drawing is valued at $95 million ($46.1 million cash value). Powerball is played in 41 states, Washington DC and the U-S Virgin Islands. Chances of winning the grand prize (all five numbers plus the powerball) are 1 in 195.2 million.

I'm a Poll Man:

AdWeek reports that 41 percent of people polled by Rasmussen after TIGER WOODS' apology event last Friday (the gift that keeps on giving) said they think the golfer was "sincere," while 28 percent think he wasn't and the rest (31%) weren't sure. As for how they view the man:
   --12% said they have a "very favorable" impression of him
   --24% admit to having a "somewhat favorable" view
   --32% have a "somewhat unfavorable" impression
   --19% view him "very unfavorably" impression
   --13% weren't sure
   Bottom line: the calculated groveling doesn't' seem to have helped Tiger's image: Rasmussen notes in its analysis of the findings that the favorable total is unchanged since mid-December, while the unfavorable total actually rose slightly. (Kaye)

Like you really care:

Olympian APOLO ANTON OHNO is setting a trend. In Touch magazine has pics of ASHTON KUTCHER, CASEY AFFLECK, JOE and NICK JONAS and BRADLEY COOPER all trying to sport the bandana-on-the-head look that Apolo made famous.
Editor's note: Just my opinion: I don't know when I passed the point of no return, but I am officially tired of the Olympics. On the other hand, there are still things about the Olympics that intrigue me. For instance, how long do you have to wait for a sport to become an Olympic sport? And what must that meeting between the head of the Curling Association and the Olympic organizing committee been like?
   "Well, we get this huge stone weighing 40 pounds or so and then a bunch of guys with brooms try and steer it to the center of a circle about 150 feet away without touching it. It's like shuffleboard on ice!"
   Of course, people participate in all kinds of sports and want them to be considered for the Olympics. There's a huge group of synchronized ice-skaters who want that to become an Olympic sport. And there's even a bunch of women who believe pole-dancing should be included. I'm not kidding... and it's legitimate. Check it out HERE.
   Of course there have been weirder Olympic sports, like Pigeon Shooting in 1900. That was the second modern Olympics, and they were still testing things out. Baseball and Basketball were just demonstration sports back then. In fact, as late as 1904, at the Olympic Games held in St Louis, they had mud-slinging.
   Turns out the Olympic committee decided to have events which would allow 'primitive' tribes, such as Pygmies and Patagonians, to compete separately in a two-day competition. So they included mud fighting, greased-pole climbing, rock throwing, and spear throwing. But the 1904 summer games proved to be such a fiasco that the Olympic committee decided to restage the games just two years later in Athens to put some dignity back into the affair. (RB)