The Short List: Biggest waves in years; ESPN apology; missing pilot

Tropical Storm Marie and Hurricane Cristobal make surfers' dreams come true

Dude, these waves are huge. Big waves and high surf from storms far offshore walloped both the east and west coasts on Wednesday. In southern California, waves as high as 15 feet from Tropical Storm Marie are slamming into beaches from Los Angeles to San Diego, a late-summer treat for surfers. On the East Coast, waves from Hurricane Cristobal prompted high surf and beach advisories from southern New England to the mid-Atlantic coast. Tim Burnham, who's making a documentary about the Wedge, a famed surfing spot in Newport Beach, said it could be the biggest wave event since 1997. He also had the best quote we've seen all week (or ever): "This is the stuff that you dream of: rainbows, unicorns, Southern Hemi swells, hurricane swells."

People would have freaked about the Time Warner outage but they couldn't get online

No, unplugging your router for 30 seconds and plugging it back in wasn't going to work. Time Warner Cable had a major Internet outage early Wednesday. Service went down between 4:30 and 6 a.m. ET. Time Warner said it was an issue with their "Internet backbone." Their what? The outage affected the entirety of Time Warner Cable's network. Time Warner Cable operates in 29 states and has 11.4 million high-speed Internet customers. Coincidentally, on Monday, the company agreed to pay a $1.1 million penalty to the Federal Communications Commission for failing to file "a substantial number" of proper reports on outages that it had notified the agency about. Tsk-tsk.

Mother of kidnapped American journalist made rare move when she pleaded for his life

Shirley Sotloff is pleading for her son's life. In a video broadcast on Al Arabiya Network, Sotloff begs Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to release her son, American journalist Steven Sotloff. And she uses Islam to do it. "Since Steven's capture, I've learned a lot about Islam. I've learned that Islam teaches that no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others," she says. "Steven has no control over the actions of the U.S. government. He's an innocent journalist." Steven Sotloff appeared at the end of the video last week that showed photojournalist James Foley being beheaded as revenge for U.S. military action in Iraq. In the video, the Islamic State threatened to kill Sotloff if the U.S. doesn't quit its airstrikes. Sotloff's public plea is rare; families typically keep news of kidnappings quiet out of fear of attracting more attention and giving the hostage-takers additional leverage.

Another American Islamist fighter may have died fighting in Syria

We know that sometimes Westerners go the extremist route. It looks like two of them may have died fighting in Syria this weekend. Yesterday it was reported that Douglas McCain, 33, who had lived in Southern California and Minnesota, died in a battle between the Islamic State and other Syrian opposition groups. Now, the Obama administration is investigating reports from Syria that a second American was killed over the weekend while fighting alongside Islamist State extremists. The other American was not identified.

Witness: Pilot ejected from fighter jet that crashed in Virginia forest

They can't find the pilot. An F-15C fighter jet crashed into a national forest in Virginia on Wednesday after reporting an in-flight emergency and losing radio contact. The jet is a one-person craft, and right now no one knows where the pilot is. Authorities searching the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest near Deerfield, Va., were questioning a witness who reported seeing an ejection from the jet and a parachute, according to emergency scanner traffic. The witness' account could not be immediately confirmed. A half-dozen helicopters are looking for the pilot.

ESPN apologizes for reporting on gay NFL player's showering habits

Your Wednesday mea culpa has arrived. ESPN apologized today for a SportsCenter report that detailed the showering habits of defensive end Michael Sam, who is the first openly gay player in NFL history. "Clearly yesterday we collectively failed to meet the standards we have set in reporting on LGBT-related topics in sports," the statement said. On Tuesday, Josina Anderson appeared live on SportsCenter to report on the Rams. She was asked how Sam was fitting in with teammates. Anderson first quoted Sam's fellow defensive lineman Kendall Langford, who called the rookie "just one of the guys." Next, she quoted an unnamed Rams player discussing the same topic. "Another Rams defensive player told me that 'Sam is respecting our space' and that, from his perspective, he seems to think that Michael Sam is kind of waiting to take a shower, as not to make his teammates feel uncomfortable." Anderson continued, saying that other players, including Langford, hadn't been tracking Sam's showering habits. Sounds like the only one really tracking Sam's showering habits is ESPN.

Extra Bites

Day in Pictures: Our favorite photo from today's gallery.

When you watch this, this will happen: smiles, tears, giggles. Watch as Joe Biden flirts with a 108-year-old veteran.

An airport worker parked a wheelchair-using grandmother in a departure lounge. Then she left her there for 11 hours.

Get ready for your next fashion statement. Apple may reveal wearable device next month.

This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY.

Contributing: Doyle Rice, Katharine Lackey, John Bacon and Doug Stanglin, Brett Molina, Mike Snider, USA TODAY; Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports