Path1:
Based on the Dec 18 blog entry "Well, I’m looking at a game hint right now, and, wow! That is one nice game hint" the hint must be a physical something Frank could see from wherever he was on the afternoon of the 18th (anyone?). Running with the image of a seal holding the weight of a ball on it's nose so it can't eat and misses dinner... the misspell in
usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-kit-of-arts-info-and-an-actual-game-hint points to a painting or a play or a sculpture. Google's most popular image of a statue of a seal balancing is this one
outside AT&T park in San Francisco. Note that it is balancing a baseball.
Now the other part of the Dec 18 blog entry: "but we’re not quite ready to release it yet. We’ll be doing that on 12/21." Why would it matter what exact date the hint was released? I thought of E-bay and a listing that might expire by kick-off (what a clever place to hide the encryption code for the 2013 game manual...) but I don't think E-bay listings can be set to 2 week duration. However, I think Craigslist expiries can be set to two weeks. Wouldn't it be something if there were a Craigslist item for sale, where the listing was released on exactly
December 21/12, in the
arts category and in the
San Francisco area... and if that something were a
statue of a seal balancing a ball...
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/art/3482870317.html
It seemed like such a good match but, after contacting the seller, it appears this is all just coincidence.
Path2:
Maybe a release date of Dec 21/12 coincided with something else. For instance, the release of a movie like
Cirque Du Soleil's World's Away. Maybe a bit of a stretch but then again, the
balancing seal image,
pi and the repeated reference to
3 as in three-ring circus?
Path3:
Going back to hint #3 and the rhyming couplet, the last line could be interpreted as
bearing defined as "something that supports weight". So, in the
art theme, a
bear's dinner missed.
Sorry if this is all going from plausible to busted but I had to get it out of my head. Maybe this hint is all (or mostly) a red herring (seal's dinner?) like the fourth (red) thumbtack on the rick Astley photo.