In his first big appearance since dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination mid-August, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty showed off his lighter side as a special guest on the Colbert Report. He and Steven Colbert discussed what led to a premature end to his campaign: lack of money, and lack of a real edge. Pawlenty made it clear that he put all his eggs (money) in the Iowa Straw Poll’s basket, and his third place finish wasn’t strong enough to forge on. “We came in third place behind Michele Bachmann. I think that’s enough for any one person to endure,” Pawlenty said with a grin. The former Minnesota governor also acknowledged the criticism of some pundits: his serious, hard-nosed approach to the presidency was simply too bland to stick out in a race that took on “an element of reality TV.” Asked if he thought about learning to juggle to pull in voters, Pawlenty quickly responded: “I thought about shooting sparks up my butt.” Now, if there was a Buttspark political party, we know who’d be on that ticket.

A jet carrying a Russian professional hockey team crashed after takeoff in Yaroslavl, Russia, killing between 36 and 42 of its passengers, according to NHL.com. Members of the Kontinental Hockey League team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were flying to Minsk, Belarus for their KHL season opener on Thursday before the plane went down and erupted in flames about a mile from the airport. The cause of the crash and the exact number of passengers on board are uncertain, though it’s known that at least two survived. Russian news network Sovetsky Sport confirmed with the team that the majority of their roster was on board. Pavol Demitra, who played two of his 16 NHL seasons with the Minnesota Wild, played for Lokomotiv. A handful of other Lokomotiv players and their head coach, Brad McCrimmon, have ties to the NHL. A list of the passengers on board has not yet been released.

Sept. 7 in history:

-1940: Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe began bombing London in the midst of World War II. Their ‘Blitz’ of Britain would last until May 1941.

-1964: The infamous “Daisy” ad for Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential campaign first aired on NBC.

-1979: The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) was officially launched.