Hello folks!

Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock believes that monarchs should be whimsical and bears should be equipped with backpacks.

In case you haven’t heard, the most important world news right now is that Arto’s Tuesday post earned “Freshly Pressed” honors on WordPress, and yesterday was our most popular day on The Blog of Funny Names since the end of our Olympic coverage. Woohoo!

Did you notice the date yesterday? It was 10/11/12. This is significant because this means it’s Oktoberfest – that wonderful time of year when you can get together with some friends and feel completely justified drinking some Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock. That’s a name worth celebrating!

In other news, there is a presidential election going on between Barack Hussein Obama and Willard Mitt Romney, and this debate season has shone light on the Bowles-Simpson financial recommendations. Though our blog’s discussion of politics is confined to occasional non-partisan dabbling, we are grateful Bowles-Simpson has taken center stage, because Erskine Bowles is the type of name that belongs in the spotlight.

In sadder political news, this week saw the passing of Congressman Mervyn Dymally, who lived quite a life indeed. Born in Trinidad, he moved to the U.S. at 19, working as a janitor and school teacher before becoming a trailblazing politician. Mervyn Dymally then became the first black Senator in the California state senate, the first (and only) black Lieutenant Governor of California, and then was elected to the U.S. Senate. He will be missed.

“Electric menace” Abdulai Bell-Baggie proving why he’s better than everyone else.

On to sports, which don’t seem to be happening in the National Hockey League. Due a stalemate in negotiations and an ongoing lockout, the league has created a void that hockey journalists have to fill with speculative news. However, they say that any news is good news. We’d like to amend that by saying “any news that introduces us to someone named Joffrey Lupul is good news,” which is why we were glad to see this analysis of why the Montreal Canadiens haven’t reached the Stanley Cup finals since 1993.

Finally, we turn to soccer, which is often a goldmine of awesomely-named individuals. This week was no exception. One article in particular caught our attention, and not only because it involved a game between Tranmere Rovers and Notts County, but because of the impressive rosters these two teams boasted.

When you get an article that includes names like Abdulai Bell-Baggie (who they described as an “electric menace”) and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, you know good things can happen. Good things like this:

“Earlier Jake Cassidy, the third seven-goal man, was foiled by Bartosz Bialkowski‘s smothering save and Bell-Baggie hit the far post.”

Or perhaps this:

“Rovers’ under-exercised goalkeeper, Owain Fon Williams … commended the way ‘we played in little pockets of keep-ball’.”

Even though this jargon all sounds like stuff Graham “Bunny” Onions might say, I have to admit my ears were piqued when I heard Tranmere Rovers would be playing Yeovil next weekend. That should keep us sated until next week’s Funny Names in the News.