Memories of Yankee Stadium

Today's column is about Yankee Stadium.. but we will start with a trivia question about Shea. The answer is at the end of the column.

Back in 2006 when Endy Chavez made "The Catch"... what advertisement was on the fence right in front of where he leaned over to take away that home run. That sign was actually discussed in a column in this very blog 2 yrs ago.

Stadiums fascinate me. They are almost like a rock musician's ego booster. Here in New Jersey we are a bit spoiled... being the home state of the immensely talented Bruce Springsteen and the not quite as talented Jon Bon Jovi. (Good thing Trophy Wife never reads my blog - she wouldn't be thrilled with that comment, so we will keep this our little secret..:) Rock stars take to the stage at the big staduims and proclaim...."Look at me... I'm so popular I can sell out a stadium!". Other musical acts who are not quite as popular perform in arenas while others take their act to smaller venues.

I actually live near the new and improved Rutgers Stadium and it is pretty cool to drive past it during a game. The stands are positioned so that the fans appear to jut out almost on to River Road and as I drive by I see the fans cheering (well maybe not this season) and I can almost imagine them saying... "Great driving job Nate!... Great footwork on the gas pedal!"

This past Wednesday, I celebrated another birthday, and once again Trophy Wife was absolutely wonderful giving me a day filled with surprises. I was told to be home at 5pm at which point we departed for parts unknown. We first went to dinner at the most famous restaurant in New Brunswick and had an absolutely incredible meal. I'm not really a good food writer... but I will say that the meal was fantastic and well worth the price tag. After that I was led through the streets of New Brunswick... and right into the State Theater whose marquee did not display what show was on for that night. Trophy Wife picked up the tickets at the will call window, and held on to them and it was quite amusing that here I was in a lobby filled with people just minutes away from the curtain and I was the only person there who had no clue what I was about to see. Could it be the road show of Mamma Mia with another Pierce Brosnan musical performance?

Actually, it was the road show for NBC's Last Comic Standing featuring 5 comedians who had appeared on the show. The show was quite entertaining and you have to give stand up comics credit who perform in that type of setting since comedy clubs' ever flowing liquor gives the audience beer goggles that make the jokes funnier. The sobriety of Wednesday Night's audience forced the performers to work that much harder. After the show, I looked at the program and discovered that the show was co sponsored by The Stress Factory Comedy Club which meant that this tour had gotten so big - it had now graduated from comedy club to theater. Would an arena be next? Or a stadium in the future?

When I was growing up in the 1970s, it was interesting to watch as baseball teams opened new stadiums that were built to be filled by crowds of 50,000+ paying customers. The stadiums were "multi purpose"... which means they could also host NFL teams. However, now that we are 30 years past the 70s it seems as if the NFL's popularity has soared... while baseball has decided that the 70s style stadiums were designed in such a way that the fans felt "too distant" from the action, and the response has been a 21st century building of smaller more intimate baseball only stadiums. Sunday we will say goodbye to Yankee Stadium... and if the Mets make the post season, that tacky ol' Shea will close for good sometime in October. And if the Mets don't make the playoffs, they will close it on September 28th.

Today I will present some of my memories of Yankee Stadium. You will note that I have dates for most of the games, yet I did not keep the stubs nor did I keep a scoreboard. However I have discovered that if you have a good memory of certain events at a game, you can actually find the details of that day's game by utilizing a couple of excellent websites. I also noticed that I went to the Stadium a lot during my college years when my buddies were Yankee fans.. but I stopped going after graduating. I resumed in the late 90s when interleague play started... and then stopped going after I got married in 2004.

I believe my first game was actually a road trip organized by my former synagogue. Back in the 70s they used to have all kinds of youth group activities and I remember going there as a young kid although I remember nothing about the game except for the fact that we were way out there in the outfield and I really wasn't paying attention to what was going on. I also recall a Yankee Blue Jays game in 1998 that was organized by a buddy of mine and about 100 of his closest friends. He was dating a woman at the time who I met that day, and we are still friends to this very day! One of the girls there was drooling over the nice Jewish Blue Jay outfielder Shawn Green. As I recall, we were supposed to meet near the big bat, and that was the year Chuck Schumer was running for the US Senate. He was campaigning right near the bat, and some wiseguy got him a little flummoxed when he said... "Hey... your name is Chuck? What's that short for?"

Here are some other memories:

GAME 1 2000 WORLD SERIES - I include Game 1 of the 2000 World Series for Honorable Mention even though I was not there. It was the Jewish Holiday Simchas Torah and I trekked into the City for my annual tradition of attending services at Bnai Jeshurun. That year, I also went to the Carlebach Synagogue, where they were partying like it was 1999. As usual, they went to the wee hours of the morning. I hadn't been watching the time as well as I should have, and with the last train back to NJ leaving at 1:40 AM I had to forego taking a subway to find a cabbie that would get me down to Penn Station in time. As luck would have it, I could not find a cab anywhere although it was about 1:20 on a Saturday Night. Ultimately I found a cabbie who got me to Penn at exactly the time the train was set to depart. I ran like a maniac down the stairs to the departure board, found my track and ran like hell praying that the train would not leave without me because if it did, I was going to have to sleep in the waiting room with the bums. As I got down those steps, the train was there... and it was not pulling away! It had not left yet.. and it actually sat there for about another hour because thanks to Armando Benitez's blown save, the Met Yankee game went extra innings and the last train was not going to leave until all the fans were back from the game. The game went 12 innings and got the ball rolling for the Mets in the wrong direction. To this day I have never missed the last train, but that night was a close call, and if the Mets had better pitching than Benitez, this story and that World Series may have had a different ending.

RICKEYS FIRST GAME - APRIL 23, 1985. This was another extra inning affair that went 11 innings. I was in college and they were sponsoring a trip to the game so I hopped on a bus and figured, hey maybe I'll pretend to care about the Yankees and hook up with some hot babes. No such luck as far as I recall. It was Rickey Henderson's first game in NY after he had been aquired in the offseason by Oakland. He had missed the first few weeks due to an injury but that was the night he made his debut. He went 1 for 6 in a game that dragged on for 11 innings and I don't even remember if the bus left at a specified time or waited for the game to end.

THE "H" GEORGE STEINBRENNER INCIDENT - JULY 29, 1987. My buddy (I'll call him "H" in honor of the upcoming season premiere of CSI: Miami) got tickets to a Yankees Royals day game. We took his little sister and her young friend along with us... and off we went to a matinee game. H went to get a hot dog as soon as we got there, and the long lines and the scoreless duel that ensued found us in the 6th inning of a scoreless tie. And H still was not back! Where the heck could he have disappeared to for 6 innings? He finally came back nonchalantly with his food and was surprised how much of the game he had missed but he really didnt seem upset about it. The Yankees scored 1 in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th on Mike Easler's bases loaded double to win the game 4-0.

A few months later that summer a few of us took a road trip to Action Park aka Traction Park along with H. If you recall the water park, they gave you little lockers to store your dry clothing and each visitor was issued a little key to open the aforementioned locker. H's key appeared to not be working correctly, and he couldn't seem to open his locker. I could see he was getting very frustrated over the stupid little key and at one point he just kicked the locker and said..."God damn... that f'ing George Steinbrenner". Another buddy of mine who was with me looked towards me with the same puzzled look and in this moment of frustration over a malfunctioning key H finally came clean that he had been quite ticked off all this time at how poorly Yankee Stadium's concessions were run that he missed most of the game a few months earlier. All it took was a silly key to get down to the bottom of this.

CLEMENS STREAK ENDS - June 6, 1999. This was the first Met Yankee game I attended at Yankee Stadium... and I later decided I would not attend any of these game at Shea or Citi Field because I do not enjoy seeing my team booed at their home ball park. However, I did not find anything wrong with booing the Yankees at the Stadium. Clemens got the start for this one and came into the game with an incredible 20 game winning streak. But on that Sunday night's ESPN game, Nate booed and Clemens tasted defeat as The Mets knocked Roger out in the 3rd inning as they built a 7-0 lead en route to a 7-2 win. Piazza also homered off Clemens... perhaps that planted a seed in Clemens mind to retaliate. Too bad Action Park had closed down - I would have rather he threw a baseball at a locker instead of at Piazza's head!

THE MET YANKEE DOUBLE HEADER FEATURING THE CLEMENS BEANING OF PIAZZA - JULY 8, 2000. This was the first of what has now been three 2 stadium same day double headers. I went to both games that fateful July day with two seperate sets of friends! The first game was at Shea and the Yankees took former Met Dwight Gooden off the scrap heap to beat the Mets. Then it was off to the subway and a leisurely trip to Yankee Stadium. This was of course the infamous episode where Roger Clemens hit Mike Piazza in the head with a wayward fastball. This was before our cell phones had internet access, so we didnt really know how bad the injury was, and the buzz in the stadium was that Piazza was hurt so badly that he would be out for the season. As it turned out, Piazza was not quite that badly injured, but that game started the spark that led to Met fans anti-Clemens sentiment that carried on into the World Series and probably still continues to this day.

SINGLES GROUP TRIP AGAINST THE INDIANS - JUNE 3, 2001. I signed up to go to a Sunday Indians day game with a singles group that had an interesting twist. It was sort of a like a Big Brother Big Sister event where each of us singles was matched up with an under priveleged child who we would take to the game. My little brother didnt seem too interested in the game nor me for that matter and spent most of the time hanging out with his buddy, but otherwise it was a terrific event and it made the local Jewish paper too. I was actually interviewed for an article about the big brother aspect of the event, and I believe I said something along the lines of this was a great event for young kids since baseball played a big part of my youth and it was important for kids who don't have a lot of stuff to get an opportunity to get out to the ballpark so they will have happy baseball memories too. Andy Pettite who starts the finale Sunday took the loss in that game.


MY LAST TIME THERE - JUNE 27, 2003. Amazingly I haven't been back since that night when I went with Trophy Wife who is a Yankee fan and Pumpstradamus. Poor Pumpy was working in the city and they would not let him bring his work bag into the Stadium, and finding a place to leave it was quite a pain in the neck. One would think Pumpy could predict that this was going to happen. The Yankees jumped out to a 5-3 lead and held on to win 6-4. Amazingly Jose Reyes batted 8th in that game! Incidentally, I had a hard time racking my brain to get the year for that game... but luckily Trophy Wife saved the ticket stub which confirms that indeed was the last time I set foot into the Stadium. Pumpy is totally clueless about sports but we still had a good time despite the results and Trophy Wife's endless Yankee cheering. Pumpy's wife who is not a sports fan later made a terrific observation that baseball is a bunch of out of shape people eating junk food watching a game played by people in excellent shape.

MY HAPPIEST YANKEE STADIUM MEMORY - TOM SEAVER WINS 300 -AUGUST 4, 1985 - The all time best game I have ever attended! It was just a couple of months after the Rickey Henderson game. I had won tickets on WABC a few weeks earlier, and nobody at the time realized what a historical day this was going to be. I even made a banner that said "NY LoVES ToM" with the o's lined up and a 3 running vertically creating a 300. Off I went to the Stadium to cheer on Seaver... my favorite player at that time... as he went win #300 for The White Sox. It was also Phil Rizutto Day where The Scooter was knocked over by a live cow during the pre game festivities. As for the game, Tom went all the way for the win... We sat in the left field stands, but our view of the left field corner was obstructed so I actually did not see Don Baylor catch the ball to record the last out! But it was still quite a day seeing Tom Terrific win his 300th, even though it would have been nicer had he won it with the Mets.

Sunday Night will be quite a big night for the Big Ball Orchard in The South Bronx as Art Rust Jr. used to call it. A pre game ceremony will preceed the game featuring Yankee greats from the past including Bernie Williams, Reggie Jackson and Yogi. I saw on Newsday's Neil Best blog this week that 90something PA announcer Bob Sheppard will not be able to announce the game. In the Newsday interview, Sheppard said he had been sick since late last year, and that illness combined with his age has made him feel that he does not have the stamina to conduct his announcing duties. The interviewer said Sheppard sounded great on the phone. However, as we get closer to the ceremonial "first pitch", I would hope that Bob has enough energy to be driven to the game, and ride to the Yankee Stadium mound in a car and surprise the sellout crowd by emerging from the vehicle, walking up to a microphone on the mound, and announcing that Bob Shep pard Sheppard (echo effect) will throw out the first pitch. Is there anybody more deserving?



PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK - Last week Pumpie took a loss when he went against the Giants, and evened his record at 1-1. For today, we go to Yankee Stadium where The NY Giants played from 1956-1973. This week The Giants are 13 1/2 point favorites over the Bengals. Sayeth The Pump: "Since Little Pumpie is learning about animals and learned to say meow when he sees a pussycat, we will have to take The Bengals."

UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS - Last week we went 2-1 to even things out at 3-3.

GIANTS 13 1/2 faves over The Bengals - I like the Giants, but the spread scares me. I think Cincy is going to cover.

GREEN BAY 3 doggies over Dallas - The NFL's incredible popularity should make for some interesting TV ratings results since this game will air opposite the Stadium finale.

Steelers 3 doggies over PHILADELPHIA - I'm going to a bbq Sunday at an Eagles fans house. Hope they don't cry on the hot dogs!


And the answer to the trivia question is - Endy Chavez caught the ball behind the AIG sign!

Collateral Damage: Did We Just Solve the Mortgage Crisis?

While everyone is wondering how you get lipstick on a pig....has anybody else noticed how the NBC News political coverage has gone downhill since the sudden death of Tim Russert? All this craziness going on involving the sniping between the MSNBC hosts is just absurd. And kudos to the NBC bigshots who finally decided to take Keith Olbermann off the anchor chair for election news coverage! Olberman is a goofball whose most notable accomplishment was ESPN's Sports Center where co-anchor Dan Patrick knew how to draw out the good quailities of his nutty co host. The two have reunited on NBC's Sunday Night Football show where they do the highlights, as Olbermann's ego maniacal mind spins in circles wondering why he is not replacing Bob Costas as the host of The Football Show... and The Olympics,... and Deal or No Deal.... and The Price is Right... and American Idol... and American Top 40.... Who knows how long this gimmick will last? I still think NBC Sports down the road will "reunite" Mike Francesa and Mad Dog Russo on that show.


One of the things I noticed about Russert was his terrific relationship with his dad who he used to lovingly refer to as "Big Russ". It was interesting to see how Big Russ instilled a sense of hard work to help support his family by working his butt off to keep a roof over their heads. This sense of entitlement so prevalent today was never a concept for Tim Russert when he was growing up.... That ethic of hard work was passed on to Tim who earned a well deserved reputation of being one of the most prepared interviewers on TV. And its that concept of not taking reponsibility that may be a major reason for the horrific collapse of the real estate and mortgage industries.

Last week I jumped on the Republicans for absurd comments by a right wing talk show host that health care and food are a privilege and not a right. However, when it comes to home ownership.... that is a privilege and NOT a right.... and anybody who thinks that they are entitled to own a house needs a serious reality check.

The way mortgages are bought and sold is extremely complex, but for the purpose of this column, I will try to simplify it. I think the ball started rolling towards the mortgage meltdown a few years ago when Congress changed the bankruptcy laws. Of course I am extremely sympathetic to people who are hit with a hardship like an illness or a death that wipes their savings out and causes them to file for bankruptcy. However, under the old laws, a lot of people felt that they could get a mulligan when they piled up a stack of credit card debt. They would file for bankruptcy and choose the Chapter 7 option which wipes the slate clean... as opposed to the Chapter 13 option which makes the person pay his debts spread out over a period of a time through payments paid out to a bankruptcy trustee. The new laws however made it very difficult to file for 7... and a lot of people who thought they were going to get a do over got a rude awakening when they realized that the bankruptcy courts were not going to give them a magic wand. How many of these people who thought they were getting a break with a 7 and ended up in a 13, ended up falling behind on their mortgage payments because they budgeted in a Chapter 7?

As a result of all these late payments and subsequent foreclosures banks have been forced to tighten up their lending rules.... even for those with good credit. That has made it even more difficult for home buyers to secure financing. Many banks are requiring higher down payments and stricter income documentation. These tougher rules are making it harder for sellers to find qualified buyers, forcing them to settle for lower offers. This creates a ripple effect, since homes are only as valuable as the sales price of similar homes.

A few months ago, I got a call from a woman looking for information about refinancing a mortgage for her parents who refused to learn English and only spoke Spanish. My mortgage application interview consisted of me asking questions, and then waiting for her to translate the question and translate the answer back to me. The concept that people move here and don't learn English boggles my mind...especially since my father came over from Europe after spending the Holocaust in hiding, and he took great pride in becoming "Americanized", a foreign concept to those immigrants who steadfastly refuse to learn the language.

Anyway, this woman said she was calling because her mom was hoping to get a better interest rate on her mortgage.... and I told her that if her credit was good... she might be able to accomplish that. But that possibility was shortlived when she told me that her parents had recently filed for a Chapter 13. I looked back on my notes and noticed that the mother had a lot of equity in her home... I asked her to ask her mother why she filed for Chapter 13 instead of taking a cash out refi to pay off those debts. Her translated answer... "That is the way she wanted to do it".

Amazingly, this was not the first time I had heard this and I don't understand why people who have built up all this equity don't tap into it to pay down their debt instead of going through the hassle of a credit wrecking bankruptcy? Doesn't anybody have any sense of responsibility anymore... or are we just gonna sit around screwing our lives up and waiting for the government to bail us out?

This is why I think the time has come for banks to rethink how they offer mortgage loans. If somebody borrows 20 bucks.. I give them 20 bucks and they pay me back. If it's a bigger loan, the borrower offers collateral to ensure that they will lose something of value if they do not pay back the loan. Banks have this concept that using a home as collateral is going to be a good threat to keep people from not reneging on their mortgage payments. If you don't pay... we take your house. Maybe it is time for banks to rethink that idea. Nowadays, people whose homes are worth less than their mortgage balances are just walking away. Also, a lot of people bought investment properties with little or no money down... and then decided to walk away. Now the banks find that this great idea of holding the house as collateral is forcing them to turn into realtors by selling these houses... for a loss.

A lot of people in America live from check to check. If they don't get a paycheck or their paycheck bounces... they're screwed. Obviously with people racking up billions of dollars in credit card debt, we are not really a society that is living within our means. It seems that the banks have been doing this too. The last day of the month rolls around.. and the banks discover that many of the mortgage checks they were counting on... never show up. And as the months of delinquent payments started to add up.... the banks were forced to shut their doors. According to the Mortgage Implode o meter Website 282 lenders have shut down since this crisis started.

Here is my plan:

Forget the idea of using the home as collateral. Instead, convert the equity in the home into collateral and turn that into cash.

The bank counts on the interest payments to make their money. If the last day of the month comes in, and the interest is not paid to them.. they lose money they were counting on... Keep in mind that a borrower has signed a legally binding contract to pay that money to the bank,. (There are always going to be extenuating circumstances where families are going through unexpected financial hardships and I am sympathetic to that.) Under my plan...at the closing of a purchase or refinance, the bank would set up an amortization chart that shows how each monthly loan payment is broken down..... and how much of that payment goes to interest. Then, before they allow the loan to be finalized, the bank would set up a home equity line of credit for the equivalent of 8 months of interest payments. So if the amortization chart shows that 8 months of interest would be $16,000... that would be the amount set aside for that line of credit. That line of credit would then be frozen, and the person borrowing the money would not be allowed to touch it for the lifetime of that loan.

As the months go on.... the borrower pays his bill on time... Lets say one month the person doesn't make his payment. The last day of the month arrives and there is no check. Instead of the bank saying..."Oh crap... Jones didn't pay us"... they tap into the line of credit and take one month of interest. The problem with banks is... they were not getting their checks, and they would get almost no warning that a payment was going to be missed. Then the last day comes along with no payment... and the bank is screwed because x amount of people didnt pay their loan payment that month! Under this plan, when the late payment ultimately comes in after the 30 day mark... the interest is repaid to the line of credit and the "missed" payment can always be tacked on at the end of the loan.

And why do I choose 8 months of interest payments? Nowadays, if you are 4 months late, the bank starts to initiate foreclosure. But the way things are going right now, the bank has already had the sting of four months of unexpected missed payments. Under this plan.. they would start the foreclosure 4 months after the 8th month... which would be after 12 months of missed payments. Now, the bank will not be caught by surprise by the non payments of the soon to be foreclosed borrower, because after 3 or 4 months of dipping into that line of credit.. somebody better be making some phone calls to explain why the loan payments have fallen this far behind. This gives both the lender and the borrower more time to open the lines of communication... and takes away the surprise from the bank which will no longer have to camp out at the mailbox on the 31st waiting for all these non arriving checks to come in.

I think if the banks had counted on a plan to get their interest payments for those missed months and had not counted on a depreciating house as collateral... many of these closed lenders might still be alive and thriving.



PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK

Pumpy is off to a 1-0 start... which is one more win than Rutgers has. This week we go to Secaucus.. the home of the Giants, and also the city where the Porn Expo show was booted out this week.... That show is now headed over to Edison in Middle sex County! The Giants are 8 1/2 point faves over St. Louis. Sayeth The Pump who predicted the Porno Show's move to Edison: "I gotta go with The Rams in honor of all the Rammin'!" (Note to self: Find a new psychic who works clean)


UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICKS OF THE WEEK

I recently commented that The Ledger dropped their National Baseball Sunday column. Now it occurs to me that they have also dropped Kimberly Jones NFL column AND the weekly staff football picks! What is going on with what used to be a terrific sports section? Last week we went 1-2.

Giants 8 1/2 point faves over ST. LOUIS - The Giants road winning streak continues.

New Orleans pick 'em over WASHINGTON - The Saints pick worked for Pumpy last week, so why not?

Philly 7 point doggies to DALLAS - The lesser of 2 evils. How does Tony Romo memorize a playbook yet have a relationship with that airhead girlfriend of his? She cooed to Letterman last night that she likes to look at football player's uniforms because she can see their shmeckles.



CLIP OF THE WEEK

With all the hullaballo about Mad Dog Russo going over to satellite radio, here is a very amusing short segment of Dog appearing on Howard Stern's satellite show... This is the first time I have heard Howard Stern's show since his defection to satellite radio a few years ago. It is broken up into 7 segments on You Tube, but this particular segment was the most amusing!

My New Pal Palin - Not!

Hey look Rudy Giuliani just left little smoochies on Governor Palin's Facebook Page!

Monday evening, as I listened to Jerry Lewis wrap up Labor Day with "You Will Never Walk Alone".... I looked back at last weeks baseball column, and it occured to me that despite my sentimental pick of the Mets going all the way, it is very possible that we could see a Chicago Cubs - Chicago White Sox World Series. If Chicago ends up being the hotbed of sports action this October, isn't it ironic that Windy City media personality Jay Mariotti decided to suddenly quit his Chicago Sun Times newspaper gig. Jay announced that newspapers are becoming extinct, even though he had recently signed a new contract, and then took an all expenses trip to the Beijing Olympics. Roger Ebert who is unable to speak due to a bout with cancer, is still writing for The Sun Times and he was quite displeased with Mariotti's departure. Ebert wrote a recent column about his now former colleague and wrapped it up with a little love note to Jay stating: 'On your way out, don't let the door bang you on the ass."

Football season starts tonight.... you can see all the scores right here on NWOW on the CBS Sports widget on the left. Today, Pumpstradamus will start his 3rd season of NFL picks... The game is actually starting early tonight - 7pm so it can be over in time for NBC to broadcast the John McCain speech from the Republican Convention.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been amused by the goings on with both political conventions... although I haven't watched too much of them... As was the case during the Olympics.. I watch the Met game first and after the last out I have been flipping between the US Open and the Convention. Last Tuesday's Met game went extra innings so I never had the chance to see Hillary Clinton's speech but I have been staying up into the wee hour watching CNN's late night replay which kicks off after Larry King's live midnight show... a nightly exhibition of watching poor Larry try to stay awake!

Last week during the Democratic convention, Larry King pulled a Fox News on us with a gaggle of GOPers kvetching about the Democrats. Monday he had a Rush Limbaugh wannabe named Lars Larson who was offering his take on Senator Ted Kennedy's speech. I'm not a fan of Senator Kennedy but I give him credit for delivering a rousing speech against doctor's orders while he fights with brain cancer. Larson seemed to find it interesting that Kennedy made a comment that Health Care is a right not a privelege. "Not so" said Larson who hopefully was not speaking for the rest of the Republican Evil Empire. Health care along with food are privileges and NOT rights were the words that poured out of his ugly mouth.

Oddly enough, Larson is actually right. In 1991 Magic Johnson announced he had HIV and 17 years later he is alive and apprarently well. Yet back in '91 the average person diagnosed with HIV was lucky to remain healthy 17 months much less 17 years. But in the world of Republicans where health care is a privelege not a right, isn't it ironic that a multi millionaire like Johnson has done so well for so long? I recently heard that a guy who I briefly worked with in the mid 90s was diagnosed last year with an extremely rare form of cancer. Now, one year later I hear that this fellow has racked up 2 million dollars in medical bills, 250,000 dollars out of pocket and incredibly..... the lender foreclosed on his house. What kind of craziness is this? How do we vote for people who just sit there not giving a crap if a guy loses his house due to a medical condition, while at the same time spending millions of dollars helping Iraqis build new homes after they were displaced by a war that President Bush had no business getting involved in in the first place! But that is the Republican party folks. The party of rights vs. privelege where only the priveleged seem to have the rights... where the almighty tax cut is created to help the rich at the expense of school boards where members clamor to design drastically cut budgets because state aid is being cut out of their districts!

There were other highlights from the CNN coverage. Tuesday, Larry King had a big Hillary fan as a guest who was upset that she was shunned by her fellow Democrats at the convention. She claimed the Obama contigency mocked her in the hotel lobby because she was wearing her not too popular Hillary For President accessories. After a few minutes it was obvious that this woman was obviously mentally disturbed and that interview should not have gone on as long as it did.

CNN also had a Governor join them at their Democratic Convention... I don't recall who it was... and he was asked point blank by Geography Expert John King if certain all white counties of his state that oridinarily vote Democrat would support Obama because he is black. That politician replied that civil rights violations and prejudice have never been a problem in those districts.. but then again there are NO blacks living in those districts either so there has never been much of a chance to fill the police blotter with anti black crimes. Is the whiteness of the community the reason people live there? And will some people vote for a person they would not want as a neighbor?

Also John King has his amazing little election map that he smacks with his hand..... you almost wish he would yell Big Bucks, No Whammies and Stop beforehand,.... to show how each area has voted. It was cool to see him at his map talking to Governors who might have lost a Geography Bee to King about regions of their own state. He even let some Governors touch the map....which they seemed to find very exciting. I wonder if he takes that map home at night.. throws fellow CNN colleague/fiance Dana Bash on top of it and does the ol' Hoochy McScoochy right on top of it. If Dana positions herself correctly on the midwest.. one could see Ebert making more wisecracks about being banged on the ass....

As for those people we call The Republicans...

So far this week, the big story has been Governor Palin.... John McCain's odd choice to be #2 on his ticket bypassing the more popular Rudy Giuliani... But Giuliani's pro choice stance knocks him out of contention amongst the right wing nutjobs running the GOP. I thought Minnesota Governor Pawlenty was going to be on the ticket and I had reams of material about his shortcomings as Governor. Nonetheless, I hear that Governor Palin is against abortion in all cases including cases of rape and incest.... She also is part of the lunatic fringe that wants to teach the kids about abstention as an integral part of their school education.

I watched Palin Friday and the first thing that came to mind was she was wearing Amy Winehouse's hair. (If you were born before 1970... she was wearing Ruth Buzzi's hair). Now she has let her hair down and looks pretty hot. That 18 year old boy who impregnated her jailbait daughter probably had a few "Stiffler's Mom" shrieks during his evenings of passion with the first daughter.

I was a little bothered watching the shots of the little baby on that daughter's lap.... this baby had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome a few months into the pregnancy and Palin opted to not abort but keep the child instead. If God Forbid John McCain is elected and God Forbid he dies in office, I can't wait to see Palin question potential Judges abortion stances by marching out her Down Syndrome child and bellowing how she knew from prenatal testing that the child had Down... but she kept her baby! And how can you as a judge vote otherwise?

Now on Labor Day we heard that the older 17 year old daughter is pregnant by an 18 year old boyfriend whose hockey abilities obviously include being able to slip one past the goalie. The Republicans who think that pregnant teens only exist on The Maury Povich Show quickly announced that this girl's pregnancy has no relevance.

So I guess I should end the column here, and get to the football picks.

But I'm not.

What kind of a mother is Sara Palin? It's nice that she is ambitious and wants to be a heartbeat from the Presidency, but she knew how the media would react to the news of her daughter's pregnancy and she still agreed to jump on the McCain ticket even though she knew that this kid's pregnancy would become a huge national news story. It's hard enough for a 17 yr old high school girl to go through a pregnancy but how much harder will it be because her mother decided to drag her name through the headlines just because she has a chance to be VP? Maybe if Sara was a better mom she would have said no to McCain to spare her daughter from all this attention... Some bloggers already were speculating that the daughter was the mother of the Down Syndrome baby too. Obviously these people have been getting too many conspiracy theories from Desperate Housewives. Is Palin supposed to be Bree?

I was speaking to a Republican co-worker.. just to see how the other side lives... and he feels that the media should take a hands off approach to this story. But then I asked him if the child should also be shielded from media commentary if she had chosen to have an abortion. He felt that if she had had an abortion... then she was fair game amongst the media and the bloggers and the facebook status wisecrackers. Imagine that... the wacko right wingers would have had a field day if the daughter of a VP candidate had a legal procedure performed on herself, but because she kept the baby, she is entitled to a hands off policy.

By the way, I have no issue with this kid. She's a kid and she made a mistake and deserves to not be thrown into the limelight. I think its nice that this girl has a financially supportive family who will embrace her and support her and her baby. But emotional support? Can you imagine the conversations in that house when she told Mom and Dad that she was preggers? How soon did they tell the kid she MUST marry the baby's daddy... to avoid embarassing the Governor? And aren't 17 and 18 year olds a little too young to get married? And look at this poor guy... last week he was hoping to get overtime at the local WalMart to support his baby... now one week later he's parading around the stage at the Republican Convention. And if McCain wins... doesnt that mean that Mom moves to Washington? Will Dad stay in Alaska? Will this pregnant high school girl have to switch schools to go to DC to be with her mom? Will the parents live seperately? And will that daughter move to DC in the middle of the school year? Do you think the other kids are going to pick on this girl who will be a new mother by the time the inauguration rolls around?

In reality, as "lucky" as young Miss Palin is to have this family, the Republicans should realize that this situation is the exception rather than the rule. A lot of young pregnant girls dont have homes to go back to... no money from Mom and Dad to help them out.. and they really have nothing... except the choice to decide if terminating the pregancy is the route to take. Of course, it would be nice if these girls would keep their babies and/or arrange for another family to adopt their babies. ..Unfortunately. a lot of these girls deliver sick babies due to poor prenatal care because as the Republicans have pointed out that contrary to what Senator Kennedy says,...in America, health care is a privilege and not a right.

The party could have chosen the more experienced Rudy for the ticket... but he is pro choice.. and Palin is not. And as long as Republicans continue to embrace candidates who are anti choice, I will continue to choose to vote against them.



Pumpstradamus Pick of the Week...

He's back! Pumpy resumes his weekly picks today. Last year his brilliant start foshnizzled into losses in each of the last 5 weeks to finish at 10-7. This week we go to New Orleans just like Hadassah will next summer for the annual convention. The reason I mention Hadassah is because this Sunday... as the NFL opens its season....Trophy Wife's Young Women's Group will sign an official Hadassah Charter and will officially become part of this wonderful organization. Trophy Wife started this group from scratch a little more than 2 years ago, but she and the other terrific women have done an incredible job and I am proud of all of them. Last year they wrapped gifts for hospitalized children on the same dining room table where my mother used to peck away the Linden Hadassah newsletter on her electric typewriter back in the 1970's. This week the New Orleans Saints host the Tampa Bay Bucs and The Saints are 3 and a half point favorites. Sayeth The Pump:

I'm going with the Saints, in honor of all the sanctimonious pricks in attendance at the RNC this week.



Unbiased Giants Fan Picks of the Week: (Last Year - 26-23-2) Home Teams are in Caps.

GIANTS 4 points faves over Washington - The Super Bowl Champs will pick up right where they left off.
CLEVELAND 5 1/2 doggies to Dallas. - The Maid of Honor at my wedding now lives in Cleveland and Friday is my wedding anniversary - so Go Browns!!
COLTS 9 1/2 faves over The Bears - Could be a big weekend for both Manning Brothers, as the Colts will probably bang the Bears right on their Chicago asses. Personally.. I think Roger Ebert and Pumpstradamus should clean up their language!



CLIP OF THE WEEK

Here is the classic clip taped right after last year's Fantastic Super Bowl where my buddy continues to hold his stance that the Giants did not make a good trade when they got Eli Manning!

Holy Pavano! Pedro to the Pen? The Baseball Quarterly Report

Well the Chinese drummers have gone home, and the Olympics are over and I wrote only one paragraph plus this sentence on this blog about the Summer Games! I watched 'em every night after the Met game was over, which will be my viewing habits these next 2wks when the US Open is on. Maybe they should have the ball girls wear beach volleyball bikinis? Is there anything dopier than those silly bikinis and how Bob Costas hyped the Finals taking place on a rainy wet day?

Well... here we go with another sports column.... and amazingly at the end of next wk, it will be time for our first week of NFL picks... featuring the very popular Pumpstradamus. And as we wind down into the last week of August on that dreaded path to Labor Day, it is time once again to revist the baseball scene with our Baseball Quarterly Report.

First... I gotta admit I was wrong with last weeks column speculating on the possibility that Mad Dog Russo's departure from WFAN was engineered by Mike Francesa. Doggie's quick jump over to satellite radio to not only host his own show, but also to program his own channel makes it obvious that Dog really felt it was time for a change and this whole transition had been in the works for many months. I actually am starting to think of subscribing now that I have realized that I can get satellite radio on my cell phone. We'll have to see how many shekels that is going to cost. As for Francesa.. I hope he hires a good sidekick/update person because he really doesn't have it what it takes to carry a 5 1/2 hour show by himself. Granted he knows his stuff, but its hard to maintain a Mad Dogesque stamina running a talk show solo over that long a period. Maybe the FAN should hire Warner Wolf to do the same stuff he does for WABC/ESPN.... do sports updates with a weekend show tossed in. That would inject some personality into the show. Sid Rosenberg would be a good addition too... he could be the Artie Lange of the Francesa show.


Baseball coverage fascinates me. When it comes to the NFL I'm really more interested in the Giants and Jets than the other teams. Yet when it comes to baseball... even though we hear a lot of Mets and Yankees talk here in NJ... fantasy baseball players like myself develop a keen awareness of the national baseball scene. I actually follow the national baseball scene more than the out of town NFL games... and its quite disappointing that the Newark Star Ledger seems to have dropped its long running Sunday Baseball column. Yet they have enough resources to deal with that crappy NJ.com website and its dastardly bulletin boards?

Anyway, we will first start with the locals...

The Yankees - it's over folks. They have no shot at passing Tampa Bay and Boston for the division title, and just to get the wild card they would need to not only finish 2nd in the East but still end up with a better record than either the White Sox or the Twins. Ain't gonna happen as the post season streak will come to an end. But they did get Carl Pavano back!

Speaking of Pavano.. isnt it interesting how we work in a society where workplace signs are posted mandating employees to report an injury no matter how minor it is. Then in George Carlin-esque irony, we have baseball... which has a website boldly announcing all the on field injuries. I can't understand why the fans were busting Pavano's chops these last few years... the guy was hurt on the job! (Granted he did suffer some injuries in a car accident he kept hush hush) If you were on the job and cut your finger you would make a whole case out of it. Pavano suffered an on the job injury that required major surgery. And in the NFL.... if you suffer an on the job injury... you don't have a guaranteed contract... they cut you - you're fired! Maybe Gene Upshaw's replacement can change this. Can you imagine getting hurt at work and then getting fired for it?

The Mets - Here we go with my controversial idea for the Mets.. especially in light of John Maine's possible season ending injury. I became a big Pedro Martinez fan on October 11, 1999 during Game 5 of the best of 5 playoff series between the Red Sox and Indians. Pedro was getting over an injury and was not even supposed to pitch in the game. He was unable to start, but surprisingly came in from the bullpen in the 4th inning of an 8-8 pitchers duel, Pedro pitched 6 innings of hitless relief to help the Red Sox win the game 12-8 and the Series 3 games to 2. He also did have a crummy relief appearance in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS when the Red Sox beat the Yankees after being down 3 games to none... but that game was so surreal and bizarre that you gotta take that appearance with a grain of salt.

I think about that 1999 game when I realize that the Mets have an outstanding rotation, and a pretty decent offense that has been able to compensate for shaky corner outfielders and a not so Beltraaaaaanish season by Carlos Beltraaaaaaaaaaan. Nonetheless, the starters and offense are quite outstanding compared to the other NL teams which puts them in a great position to win the division, except for the fact that the Billy Wagner-less bullpen has been awful. The Mets have gotten a couple of bandaids by acquiring Luis Ayala and Anthony Reyes from Tampa Bay. Ayala has been ok and Reyes was the Rays stopper in 2007... but who knows how much he has left in the tank. It would be cool to see him pitch in a mop up game batting 9th so that the Mets could go into an inning with Reyes, (Jose) Reyes, and (Argenis) Reyes due up. Has a team ever had 3 guys with the same last name bat consecutively?

Anyway, going back to that Pedro appearance mentioned before, could he be a 9th inning option after the manager opined about having a starter move to the pen? Pedro might not have the overpowering heat he had back in the old days, but a stopper only needs a strikeout if he has a runner on 3rd with less than 2 out. Plus he is a seasoned veteran with post season experience. The Mets got a break in the schedule these last few weeks playing a bunch of sub par teams, but now that that stretch has come to an end, its time to enact a battle plan to avoid the same late season tumble the Mets endured last year. Perhaps Pedro to the pen might be the answer.



As for the playoffs there are a few races left:

In the AL, the Angels have sewn it up and the only question is will K-Rod break the all time saves record. Over in the East, the Rays have been hanging tough despite injuries to rookie sensation Evan Longoria, outfielder Carl Crawford and stopper Troy Percival, The Red Sox traded away Manny but Jason Bay is a very underrated player who could develop into a big star. The Sox now have an outfield of JD (Drew) JE (Jacoby Ellsbury) and Jay Bay. The rest of the division could all finish above .500. Over in the Central the White Sox and Twins battle it out for the division with the 2nd place finisher trying to get the Wild Card. These 4 teams could battle down to the wire.... with only 3 making the post season, but I am going to go with Tampa succumbing to its injuries but icing the wild card with the Red Sox winning the division, and the Twins winning the Central with their terrific young team especially the pitching staff. It brings back memories of the days when Bert Blyleven used to to throw gas... See Bert's pic below. I found this pic on another blog awhile back.



In the NL... I'm hoping the Mets can pull it off.... their hitting has been pretty consistent and the starters have been doing the job better than their other division rivals. I'm picking them again this season to win the East, but with substantially less confidence of years past. 2nd place in the East might not be enough this season with the Cardinals and Brewers fighting to finish 2nd to the Cubbies. The Cards looked great for most of the season but the Brewers added CC Sabathia to a rotation anchored by Ben Sheets and their young sluggers Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder seem to have enough to take the Wild Card. Remember... Wild Cards are so hard to predict, because all it takes is a hot streak on a weak schedule for a team once thought dead to breathe life into its season. That was the case with the 2007 Rockies who rode a late season hot streak all the way to the World Series. Over in the West, The D-Backs have a terrific rotation of Brandon Webb, Dan Haren and the ageless Randy Johnson. I think they are going to hold off the Dodgers to take the West even though their bullpen looks a little shaky lately. Plus they just added Adam Dunn... the Dave Kingman of the new millenium.


Post Season Awards:

AL MVP - I thought it would go to Josh Hamilton at the All Star Break but you gotta go with Carlos Quentin. He leads the AL in homers, and who knows where the White Sox would have been with out him. He is the Carlos Pena of 2007... this guy came out of nowhere from a part timer in Arizona... and the DBacks could have used him this year with all the injuries suffered by Eric Byrnes.

AL Cy Young - Cliff Lee has had an awesome season and I would give it to him, however if Fransisco Rodriguez breaks the all time saves record, he should get it.

AL Rookie of the Year - Evan Longoria gets all the hype but Tigers starter Armando Gallaraga has been gaining steam now standing at 12-4 with a 3.17 ERA after the pitching challenged Rangers cut him in the spring. Longoria has played 104 games with 20 homers and 71 Ribbys.


NL MVP - Too close to call. If the Cardinals make the playoffs, I would go with Ryan Ludwick who has Quentinesque numbers. If they don't and the Mets make it, I would give it to David Wright. Nonetheless, there could be a scenario where the Mets pen knocks them out of the playoffs, and if that were the case it would cost Wright the award and probably give it to Chase Utley if both the Mets and Cards are out. I'm gonna put my faith in the Mets pen that they will make it, the Cards won't and that Wright will win the award.

NL Cy Young - I had picked Zambrano at the All Star Break but Brandon Webb has pretty much iced it.

NL Rookie - Edinson Volquez 15-5 2.73 ERA on a crummy Reds team.

Well now its time for the Democrat's Convention. I might chime in with some thoughts about it. But then again, I might not. Nonetheless, we will definitely be back September 5th which is my 4th wedding anniversary for our first week of NFL Picks with the popular Pumpstradamus.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

Let's hope Michael Strahan decides to come back. Here is that classic stomp clip from last year's parade. And to think that event included an amusing speech by Eliot Spitzer! As TMZ.com would say... Memba him?

The Blog and The Dog: One is Back and One is Gone!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand good afternoon everybody how are you today?

It's interesting to note that the FAN announced the Doggie departure by proclaiming that Francesa had signed a new deal to be the "solo" afternoon host. Also, keep in mind there is a new NY state law that doesnt allow "no compete" clauses anymore, a broadcasting industry twist that changes the playing field that used to keep media personalities off the airwaves after they left one station to head to the next. I remember Arnold Diaz appeared mustacheless on 20/20 one night, the same night he appeard on a spot on Channel 5 to announce that he was coming back to NY TV real soon.. with a mustache! Good thing there isn't a no compete clause in the mortgage industry: Last month I left one job at 10:05 AM and was at my desk at my new job at 10:10 AM!

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I have been following the saga on the terrific Neil Best's fine blog....(Not to be confused with Neil Fein's best blog). But I am wondering if this move was iniated by Dog's desire to expand his career elsewhere or was this a move engineered by Francesa? He saw that the station took a hit losing Imus... did he gamble that they would find him valuable by telling brass that he would only stay if the station allowed him to sign a "solo hosting" gig? Now with much fanfare lauding the new Mike solo gig, Dog is gone... even as the FAN website was touting a number of Russo promotional remote appearances?

I really like the Doggie - I met him many many years ago pre WFAN when he was hosting a little weekend talk show on WMCA where I did one of my two college internships... (the other was at WFAN). Here is a coincidence nobody caught. Mike's first show Friday featured a number of car commericals voiced by Patricia McCann. Back in the WMCA days, Doggie's talk show was on right before a show hosted by.... Patricia McCann! Russo was exactly the same way off the air then, as he is more than 20 years later on the air! And he was a really nice friendly fella too. I actually told him that one day he would replace the late Pete Franklin as the afternoon host on WFAN! And with Pumpstradamus like accuracy - I was right! Dog actually took me to Shea for Tom Seaver Day, and used his press credentials to get us out on the field to watch the ceremonies. What a day that was! Seaver was my hero at the time and it was fantastic. Later, Doggie and I sat in the Press Box during the game and I rattled off some stat about the game that was repeated a moment later by the Press Box PA announcer to which he exclaimed in typical doggie-esque fashion "Good job Nate! Good job!" A newspaper reporter heard this exchange and approached Dog and asked him if he was Chris Russo. I wondered if it was the first time he had ever been recognized in NY. Perhaps a star was born that day!

While still toiling in the obscurity at WMCA, Dog started moonlighting at WFAN picking up odd over night fill in shifts. It didnt take him long to get noticed as his loyal San Fransisco Giant fan-dom led him into a fiery on air debate with Mike Francesa over who is a better player - Will Clark or Don Mattingly. The 2 kept battling it out on the Imus show, and on Sept. 5, 1989 - (exactly 15 yrs before my wedding day!) the Mike and the Mad Dog show was born.

I think they actually did some shows together before the official 9/5/89 premiere. I thought they were on the air the day Bart Giamatti died which was September 1st 1989. The only reason I remember was I was working at a now defunct little AM station in Plainfield, NJ and I was anchoring a 30 minute news show at 5pm. At a few minutes to 5 the AP wire had an urgent announcement that Giamatti had suffered a massive heart attack. I had no way of leaving the studio during the show to get more AP updates, and there was nobody there to check the AP machine in the next room. So I was resourceful - I took a transistor radio to the studio and monitored WFAN and while I read other news stories about local mashugas I was getting Giamatti updates. I was really hoping he would be okay because I really admired him... but unfortunately his death was announced on WFAN near the end of my 30 minute broadcast, which was repeated by myself with the announcement that "Broadcast Reports indicate that Baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti has died". I more than made up for that theft, when I moved to a different station and the competing station always listened to me and stole my news stories.... even the ones where I mispronounced names (purposely).

Mad Dog picked up the nickname from NY Daily News Media Columnist Bob Raisman who like myself tends to pin nicknames on people - most of which don't stick. The Mad Dog moniker stuck.

I think the FAN made a mistake and the way this contract signing unfolded, makes it appear that Francesa played it out to have his own show. Unless Russo was behind the scenes clamoring for a solo show elsewhere these last few months, it just seems like the Doggie got stabbed in the back. But in his defense, Francesa was very humble and polite on Friday's show which consisted of hours of pro Russo calls. Who knows what the real story was... and who knows if we will ever know... until of course one of them publishes a book.

There was other stuff going on during our little blogging break:


OLYMPICS - Memo to NBC: Is there anything else going on besides swimming, gymnastics and beach volleyball? With all these skimpy outfits.....All Ive seen all week are tuchises!! Michael Phelps has already dethroned Eli Manning as Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year... even if Bret Favre leads the Jets to a 16-0 season!But c'mon let's get to the track and field already!

THAT POOR MISSING KID - Why do I get the feeling that the cop with the missing wife Drew Peterson is wathcing this since it is keeping the news talk shows away from him. But this story gets stranger by the day as the kid's mom is in jail, yet it looks like her only crime... and its a pretty big one... is not reporting her kid missing. But is the kid missing? Why do I get the impression this kid was sold to somebody else? And these grandparents - c'mon their daughter is a single mom - she only has a part time job, yet they dont find it odd that she would leave for work and then a long vacation afterwards. What single mom can afford to take such a long exotic trip? And this "babysitter" who the mom says took the kid? They found her.... she claims she doesn't know the family.... yet the mom knew her name and where she was from. And then the bizarre love hate relationship that the grandparents have with the media just makes it even stranger since one minute they are begging the media to spread the word to help find this poor kid and the next minute they are snapping at them like bickering afternoon drive sports talk show hosts! It gets weirder by the day!

JOHN EDWARDS - Wow, are the Republicans having a field day or what? My original prediction of a Edwards vs. Giuliani election never materialized, and maybe thats a good thing. But wait a minute.... wasn't Rudy also committing adultery by two timing his wife Donna Hanover by publicly cavorting around town with his girlfriend Judy Nathan? Amazingly Republicans say what Edwards did was worse because he lied when confronted by reporters who asked him if he was cheating on his wife. Rudy was not such a tzaddik either publicly dumping Hanover by announcing his intentions during a press conference! And then... last weekend I was watching Geraldo Rivera's show on The Fox News Channel and Geraldo of all people had the audacity to rip into Edwards for two timing his wife!! Geraldo?? Who does he think he is... Mother Teresa?? Look at his sordid past!

THE NEW AND IMPROVED KOSHER- Speaking of Conservatives....The Jewish Conservative movement is behind a new idea to make food officially "kosher" if it passes stringent religious requirements AND the company that produces the food treats its workers properly and respectfully. There has been a lot of controversy lately because of the raid on the Rubashkin plant in Iowa that led to the arrrest of a huge number of illegal immigrants who were working at the slaughterhouse. This led to this new kosher concept, and amazingly the ultra-Orthodox, and the plant owner is one of them, seem to mock this attempt to avoid the embarassment of this type of news story. I see in the new Jewish Week that Rabbi David Lincoln is being ripped by Ultras after he criticized them on a cable tv show for trying to minimize wrongdoings in their community when they become public.

A periodical published for an ultra audience really took some shots at the Conservative attempt to correct this - or as they call them the "deviationist Conservatives". This periodical also had a glowing review of a tour of the plant that sounded like Mike Francesa touring the Yankee Monuments. The best line of this journalism described the "huge air conditioned dining hall where the employees ate". But how do you explain the large number of illegal immigrants that were discovered at the plant? Did they all coincidentally arrive there to watch Lucha Libre on the TV in the "huge air conditioned dining hall"??

Don't get me wrong - I like my ultra Orthodox brothers and sisters, but maybe they should write their newspapers in Yiddish so my fellow "deviationist Conservatives" won't understand what they are writing about!


CLIP OF THE WEEK

Earlier in the year I wrote about Andy who used to own the deli in my former office building. He was kind of forced out for a new deli whose owner bolted out in the dead of night breaking his lease and leaving the building deli-less until a new caterer moved in. Anyway, a tribute video was put together for Andy that I just recently discovered on You Tube and here it is - if you go to approx 8:50 of the video you will see what the big problem is in America - Shoplifters!!



SPECIAL CHINA CLIP OF THE WEEK

I get a kick out of the Chinese introductions to the National Anthems... not to mention the little music breaks piped in during the breaks on beach volleyball while the women adjust their wedgies. Here is an old clip of the Chinese version of Hava Nagila!

Casino Royale - A Movie Club Column

Hey... is the All Star Game over yet?

If only I was the Commissioner of baseball.... Besides giving the Mets the World Series each year, I would first get rid of the silly rule that the All Star Game "counts". Its the All "Star" game and people want to see the stars they vote for... not the backups that played the last several innings of that 15 inning marathon. I would make a rule that each manager needs to have 6 pitchers (including 3 starters) on the bench going into the 8th inning... and 4 pitchers (including at least 2 starters) going to the 9th. Then, if the game goes extra innings. allow free substitutions so the players voted in can come back into the game, but once you run out of pitchers, everybody gets together, sings kumbaya, shakes hands and goes home. And if its a tie... who cares? Its about the "all-stars", not the "game". Last week's Costas HBO show with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays showed you those players played competitively in a game that didn't "count", when the legends rattled off their All Star won lost records, and Hank bragged about winning all but one of those games.


Today we review our final James Bond movie picked by new papa Steve - Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.

Personally, I would have preferred that the producers kept Pierce Brosnan as James Bond... that way he would have been too busy when they were casting Mamma Mia and we would not have been subjected to his horrific singing! I saw a Mamma Mia matinee during the recent heat wave and lets say right off the bat - I hate musicals... (except for The Sound of Music). but I love Abba. I liked Mamma Mia on Broadway (see February 2, 2007 in the archives), so there is some bias when I went to this movie, I agree with the Star Ledger critic who says that Meryl Streep is way too old for this role, and that Brosnan as an American is a horrible singer, but I thought the movie deserved more than the one star he gave it. It is also not a good idea to see the movie too soon after seeing the musical... for me, a year a half was enough time so that the movie didn't disappoint. As a matter of fact all of the non Batman fans at the Friday afternoon screening stayed through the closing credits since it included a nice little treat that was similar to the post finale portion of the stage musical.

This movie shows how hard it is to put a stage musical on film, since some of the numbers in the show do not translate as well on screen, especially a dance featuring the guys on the island dancing with scuba flippers that just comes together a lot better when you see it unfold on the stage. The story is about the 19 year old daughter of a single mom who invites 3 suspected dads to her Greek Island home for her wedding - pre DNA it's the Daniellyn Nicole Smith Story. However, even though she looks younger, Meryl Streep at 59 is a fine actress, but for her to play the mother of a 19 year old who was the result of a "young indiscretion", just doesn't make sense - this role should have been played by a 40- 45 year old actress.... And even though Christine Baranski turns in yet another excellent performance as Streep's friend, her role and Brosnans might have worked better if they had been played by the less famous actors I had seen in the Broadway show - Judy McLane and David McDonald.


Besides Pierce Brosnan's unfortunate availability there is another link between Casino Royale and Mamma Mia. I saw on IMDB that Mamma Mia was the first movie to use the famed Bond movie Pinewood Studios after a fire broke out there after Casino Royale wrapped up shooting.

Casino Royale takes Bond into the new millenium.... by making it "the first movie" in the series taking place right after Bond is promoted to 00 status making it a bit of a time bender. It's not a prequel per se... just a mulligan on the prior back story... sort of like the first Christian Bale Batman compared to the Michael Keaton era. Casino Royale is based on the first Bond book of the same name, but legal maneuverings prevented the producers from putting this movie together until 2006. Because of that, the movie has no established history with some of the popular regulars so there are none of Moneypenny's flirty wisecracks, nor Q's gadgets and the cranky gadget training sessions.... Neither character appears in this movie. Bond doesn't even know yet that he prefers his martini shaken not stirred.

Casino Royale starts off in black and white! and doesn't use the traditional pre credit action sequence. I thought my dvd player wasnt working when I saw it was in b and w! This is the scene where Bond earns his stripes to warrant the promotion to 00 status. Bond earns it by showing off his cleverness... a far cry from the somewhat bumbling womanizer he will evolve into when Sean Connery becomes Bond. Bond might be too smart for his own good when he not only figures out "M"s real name (as predicted in the movie's opening credits - "You Know My Name") but breaks into her apartment and figures out how to hack into her computer. Bond doesn't get off on the right foot with "M" and goes off on his own for his adventure evoking memories of 24 when CTU is abuzz when Jack Bauer goes off one of his little unapproved side tangent terrorist hunts.

The plot revolves around a multi million dollar poker tournament where Bond is expected to beat out a terrorist named Le Chiffre who plans to win the contest in order to fund his terrorist operations. Even though this movie doesn't have the exciting pre credit action sequence... things pick up almost immediately after those opening credits. Bond's pursuit of a terrorist, starts with a bomb maker who he pursues in a wild and crazy foot chase through Madagascar that invovles people jumping off buildings and climbing walls and all kinds of other gravity defying hijinks. Bond also gets involved in a crazy airport chase with one of Le Chiffre's henchmen... that ends up in the parking lot with a surprise for the henchman. There are other memorable action scenes here too including Bond having to rely on his own wits and some luck to save his life after he is poisoned.... and a touching affair with a woman whose post poker tournament make out scene doesn't trigger the closing credits which makes you realize that this way too long movie is still not over yet.... and based on the Lanzeby movie, this chickie might not have such a happy ending.

I usually mentally write my reviews and then as I start to type I meander over to see what the Great Roger Ebert has to say. Incredibly he gave it 4 stars and loooooved it... but I was not quite that impressed. Bond loses a ton o' money on one hand when he thinks he sees terrorist Le Chiffre's "tell"... but even Cheers had its classic Harry Anderson poker cheating episode where Coach admitted that his "cheat" of scratching his nose only happened because his nose actually itched. And during the hand he asked several times if people saw him scratch his nose because it itched. Of course they played the hand.... lost... and then discovered that Coach's nose was really itching. But the whole idea of a terrorist fundraiser through a poker game strikes me as a bit nutty, especially in an era where we are over innundated with TV Texas hold 'em tournaments that are aired on virtually every tv channel. Maybe Gabe Kaplan providing commentary might have been more interesting, although there was one exciting hand where 4 people went all-in - I wasn't sure how realisitic that was, but one of my poker playing buddies told me that scenario actually does happen once in a blue moon...... kind of like my Royal Flush in Double Down Stud last Christmas! Personally, I like Omaha HI-Lo better than Texas Hold 'Em.

The Craig Bond is also a lot more serious - the movie is rarely funny compared to the other ones, and Bond only gets off one really good wisecrack when a potential suitor, the oddly named Vesper Lynd (no relation to Danielynn or Paul Lynde) responds to his "You're not my type" with "Because Im smart?" To which Bond retorts..."no, because you're single.:. " . You also know something is up when Bond gets his poker winnings from a banker who asks him for his password so the money can be wired to his account. As soon as we see him share his password with his Bond girl du jour (and it was not Bosco), you could see that something bad was gonna happen.

There is also a character in the movie who risks her life to save the life of a mysterious loved one who is never shown. That woman meets her end in a rather incredible Indiana Jones-esque building malfunction that will make you very nervous next time you enter a waterfront house! The "loved one", is never shown in the movie, but he is slated to appear in the next Bond movie coming out in 2009, and that character's appearance along with another character who may or may not have been a "bad guy" has already generated a lot of buzz - since the next Bond movie takes place just a few hours after Casino Royale ends,....... Its almost like when the first Bale Batman Movie's ending teased the arrival of The Joker.


I think in retrospect, maybe I should have watched these Bond movies backwards - starting with Craig and ending with Roger Moore and Sean Connery, because as the movies progressed, the Bond quality never lived up to the bar set up Connery and Moore. Not that I take particular issue with Craig per se, but he has tough shoes to fill in this movie, and this 21st century movie audience apparently likes its heroes to be more brooding and serious which makes you miss the old tongue in cheek humor of the Bonds of the earlier movies.

Overall, the story is interesting - the action is compelling and the music is okay. We don't hear the Bond theme as often as usual, but that could be the movie producer's attempts to distance this Bond from the other Bonds. Its too bad we didnt have Money Penny... but its a downright shame we didn't have Q and his gadgets... although Bond's computer hacking skills seemed to be quite impressive. On a scale of 1 to 4 Bladders meaning how less likely you would be to leave in the middle to go to the bathroom - Casino Royale gets 2 and a half bladders.... And Mamma Mia - it also gets 2 and a half bladders. Casino Royale might have been better with Pierce Brosnan, and Mamma Mia might have been better without Pierce Brosnan.

Here is the list of the prior Bond reviews:

October 19, 2007 - Sean Connery's Goldfinger
December 7, 2007 - George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service
January 18, 2008 - Roger Moore's Octopussy
March 23, 2008 - Timothy Dalton's The Living Daylights
June 16, 2008 - Pre Mamma Mia Pierce Brosnan's Tomorrow Never Dies



Now time to announce our next movie series - Christian Bale had that notorious role in American Psycho playing the incredibly bizarre Patrick Bateman...which is why we will do.... "From Bateman to Batman - the Christian Bale 4 pack!"


CLIP OF THE WEEK:

Lemme tell you a little Clip Story. When I first started posting audio and video files online I used a company called Streamload. They were bought out by Media Max which is when everything went downhill. Due to Media Max's unreliability, I started uploading my files elsewhere, posting videos on You Tube and my Mortgage Podcast on Clickcaster. A few months ago, I got an email breathlessly announcing that Media Max was bought by The Link Up and TLU was going to migrate all files to its new site! Yippee - they emailed me a link to a manual file mover if I chose to do the move myself. I decided that to do the job right, I might as well do it myself, but alas - the link didn't work so I was at their mercy along with thousands of other customers. Well, the old Clickcaster became inaccesible and NONE of my files were moved to TLU - except one. Now, TLU just announced - they are closing in a couple of weeks and all the non migrated Media Max files are - gone permanently! For me, it was just a bunch of podcasts and videos that are saved on any of our 3 computers, but many of these other customers used that service for work, and they were billed every month for this (lack of) service and now they have... nothing. If any lawyers are doing a class action suit against the owners of Streamload/MediaMax/TheLinkUp, count me in!

Now the only file still on TLU - get it while it lasts - Jersey Dreamin' - The Jim McGreevey Song - by McG and DJ Fine Freddy. Please see the archives from June 4th for the liner notes how this song is about how Jim McGreevey used his homosexuality as a smokescreen for the real reason he stepped down.





See you later in the summer.

An Incredible (and Long) All Star Day in NY - The Baseball Quarterly Report

Greetings from the New York Metropolitan Area…where Tuesday Night we witnessed the final All Star Game at legendary Yankee Stadium as we know it. And after this classic, I don’t think any future All Star Games will be able to measure up! As a Mets/NL fan I don’t think I have been as emotionally tied to a baseball game since Game 7 Mets Cardinals in 2006 on the night Endy Chavez made “the catch”. And how ironic that the possibility of a tie was based on the arm of Scott Kazmir the pitcher who Mets fans still mourn and whose trade for Victor Zambrano led to the reversing fortunes of both teams. Of course, where was Commissioner Bud Selig during the Fox coverage when the tie talk started brewing in the 8th inning? And as I am editing this at 147 AM and I see Ed Peper give a Chevy to MVP JD Drew, Jeannie Zelasko just asked my question... can he drive everyone home,... especially the Jersey Fans whose last train left at 135 AM?

Today’s column was supposed to originate from LA, the site of the Hadassah Convention where Trophy Wife has been off gallivanting this week… I was originally going to tag along and hang out in LA while Trophy Wife hung out with the Hadassah Ladies,.. and I even entertained thoughts of attending the Match Game on TBS taping which had been originally scheduled for this week. Ultimately, I decided to stay home instead, but I will be heading off to the airport soon to pick up my sweetie! It was very strange watching an All Star Game without her around… especially since our courtship started during the 2002 legendary All Star tie. (see July 10, 2006 in the archives for the whole story)

The All Star Coverage that aired on Fox from 7pm to 8:30 was unprecedented in its fantasic-ness! The parade from 7-8 (aired on tape delay) was quite entertaining… and the introduction ceremony prior to the game was truly spectacular although I was not too thrilled to see that George Steinbrenner was involved in the pre-game when its quite obvious that his health has deteriorated so rapidly. It brings back memories of the summer of 1996… the last time the National League won the game… when the tabloids first started showing pictures of Bob Hope whose health suddenly declined in his early 90’s. Incidentally, George wore his sunglasses at night at a game that ended on a throw by... Corey Hart!

The idea of having the Hall of Famers appear on the field standing at their position was truly touching and a great history lesson for young baseball fans. All fathers with sons old enough to appreciate this should be plopped him down on the couch to watch this and given a test afterwards because of the incredible history that was on display there… It also showed how absurd it is that Pete Rose is banned from wonderful moments like this,…. especially with his past All Star Game history when he ran down Ray Fosse with the winning run in the 1970 All Star Game. If you listened to some of the old timers during the weekend you heard them talk about how back in the old days,.. like the 70s when I was an awe struck kid hanging on to every pitch… the players used to play all 9 innings and they were quite competitive. Who needs this silliness of making the game “count” to give the winning team home field advantage in the World Series? As I have said before, change the rule.. if it goes extra innings bring back the players that were taken out earlier. A team is allowed to bring back a catcher which is scary because I think Russel Martin who had just been removed, would have tagged out Justin Morneau in the bottom of the 15th!

Once the Hall of Famers were introduced, the 08 All Star players were then brought out and stood out in the field at their positions with the Hall of Famers. I got a kick out of Willie Mays who didn’t seem to care that he was standing next to Josh Hamilton who became a hero of sorts at the Stadium after his incredible power show during Monday Night’s home run derby. And interestingly enough, it was the Reds-Rangers Hamilton for Edinson Volquez trade that made quite an impact…. Hamilton with his rocket shots Monday Night and Volquez blowing the 2-0 lead before Jonathan Papelbon gave the National League a run back when he pitched the unfamiliar top of the 8th. That was around the time when Joe Buck and Tim McCarver started to speculate about a tie if the teams ran out of pitchers. And as the game went on, I thought we might see Tim Lincecum make a Willis Reed-esque appearance on the mound after being hospitalized earlier in the day with flu like symptoms.


The Home Run Derby was quite crazy as Hamilton put on a show that topped Bobby Abreu’s performance form a few years back. Of course Abreu’s home run pace dropped off after that performance, so I would be curious to see how well Hamilton will do. Nonetheless, Hamilton’s story is just terrific.. He bounced back from a life of drug addiction to turn his life around… a nice story coming so soon after the big steroids debacle that has rocked baseball. Hopefully, he will continue his straight living life unlike the late Steve Howe who continued to get numerous chances after numerous drug test failures. But Howe was a left handed relief pitcher which is always a valuable commodity for any pitching staff.


As we gear up for the 2nd half, it is time to look back at my preseason picks, but first some midway predictions for individual awards.

CY Young - Fransisco Rodriguez and Carlos Zambrano

MVP – Josh Hamilton and Chase Utley

Rookies of the Year – Evan Longoria and Edinson Volquez



Looking back to the preseason picks, I must be watching too many Met games because my American League picks were way off the mark. My American League pitching staff on my fantasy team is just as bad – My four top starters Erik Bedard, Shaun Marcum, Fausto Carmona and Vicente Padilla are all on the DL along with two of my outfielders – Eric Byrnes and Hideki Matsui! Isn’t football draft time coming soon?

In my Preaseason Top 14 List of Relevant Teams for 08, I only picked 6 AL teams and 4 of ‘em were Toronto, Seattle, Cleveland and Detroit! However, I did pick the White Sox as my surprise team and they have done quite well in the first half.. leading the equally surprising Minnesota Twins while The Tigers and the surprisingly bad Indians have been big disappointments. I thought the Mariners would win the division with their lineup and a rotation anchored by Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez, but I was obviously quite wrong. My pick of Boston as division winner looks to be on the money, unlike my other 3 playoff team picks of Detroit, Seattle, and wild card Cleveland. It seems as if the West is going to the Angels, and I will pick the White Sox for the AL Central, although the post Santana Twins have some decent starting pitchers that nobody seems to have ever heard of.

And will the Rays hold off the Yankees to win the Wild Card? Or can the Twins or A’s sneak in for the Wild Card as the Rays pass the BoSox? Im going to stick with my Red Sox prediction, but I think the Tampa Bay Rays have the right combo of hitting and starting pitching led by former Met Scott Kazmir. Therefore I pick the Rays for the Wild Card even though everyone still calls them by their old name of Devil Rays. Can we call them Blu Rays instead? And maybe refer to the Yankees as the HD-DVD of the 2008 season? As I predicted, the offense has had its usual consistent performance, but the Chin Min Wang injury and the failure of the young arms is putting too much pressure on the aging Mike Mussina and Andy Pettite. Add to that the injuries to outfielders Matsui and Johnny Damon, and the Yankee playoff run appears to be in serious jeopardy.

As for the NL…. Of the 8 contenders from my preseason picks, a few have fallen short. Houston didn’t gel as well as I thought with their revamped offense, and their starting pitching let them down, The Padres offense has not come through for them and Greg Maddux continues to pitch there even though he has only won one game since April 13th. Is this guy ready for a trade to a contender? The Braves took a big hit with injuries to Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Mike Hampton, which I predicted could be a season killer in our baseball preview. And speaking of Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux, do you realize that if all 3 retire at the end of this season or next season, it is very likely all 3 would be voted into the Hall of Fame together. That would be one heck of A Hall of Fame induction ceremony! I hope baseball gives the Braves and Bobby Cox the day off so the fans can watch the inductions – maybe on TBS which doesn’t air Braves games anymore but does a Game of the Week on Sunday afternoons.

I’m not going to ask for a mulligan for my NL picks since The Phillies, Cubs, and D-Backs as division winners with a Met wild card looks quite realistic. The Cardinals and Brewers have been fighting it out for the Wild Card, but the Central has a pretty decent division – even the also rans Pirates, Astros and Reds are actually fielding somewhat competitive teams. The Central’s unbalanced schedule could hurt the top teams in that division, while the Mets can feast on Washington and the fading Marlins and Braves. And as good as the Phillies line up is… the pitching leaves a lot to be desired. The Mets strong pitching might not be enough to overcome the Phillies big bats, but there is room in the playoffs for both of ‘em! I don't think the Phillies have enough pitching this year, but if they made the World Series, isn't it incredibly dopey that they lose home field advantage because Brad Lidge had to pitch at 1:30 in the morning in The All Star Game?

And my revamped AL World Series team – get the rally monkeys ready for the Angels in their futile attempt against - I really want to say the Mets. Let’s hope they pick up some help for the corner outfield spots – and I am not talking about Trot Nixon! Otherwise, the Mets could see a big opportunity slip away in what might be Pedro’s last year – and see the Cubbies win the NL Pennant!

And can you just imagine that Hall of Fame Line up – The Braves Big 3 and Pedro Martinez? Wait a minute – isn’t Victor Zambrano retiring too?? Nah – just kidding with my fellow Met fans who still curse the Scott Kazmir trade, the same Scott Kazmir who got the win in the 2008 All Star Game! By the way Victor is 0-6 in the minors this season with a 9.45 ERA and a 2.30 whip… and the Yankees are thinking of acquiring him!!

Let the games resume!

Did We Just Have a Full Moon During the Holiday Weekend?

Hope everybody enjoyed the long 4th of July Weekend. I never thought my idea of a Wimbledon Mens Final/Met game twinbill would turn into a 12 hour rain delayed marathon. The most exciting story was the rescue of those hostages in Columbia - the most daring and miraculouos rescue since Entebbe back during The Bicentennial in 1976. During the long rainy weekend, I have been catching up with the news, Now that I look at all the craziness going on, I am starting to wonder if there has been a full moon for the last few days. Here are a few reasons for this theory:

*Nathan’s – We’ll start with my name sake and the great hot dog eating contest. I ran into this guy I knew from college a few years ago and he told me that he had launched a side career as a competitive eater. I actually did the Carnegie Deli Knish Eating Contest approximately 20 years ago and after meeting Henny Youngman and hearing him say “Take My Knish Please” and having Vic Miles stand over me as I took an early lead… I knew this type of craziness was not for me. I blew my lead, but not my lunch… lost to a skinny guy and finished in the middle of the pack. This other guy from college subsequently won a knish eating contest on Jewish Night at a Brooklyn Cyclones minor league game.

The hot dog contest has turned into a national event, and is broadcast live by ESPN. The 10 minute contest didn’t commence till 40 minutes into the 60 minutes of coverage which included lengthy eater introductions along with some heart warming Olympic-esque features about the competitors. They also made a big deal about the fact that the competition had been shortened from 12 minutes down to 10 and compared it to other sports which instituted major rule changes such as baseball going from 154 games to 162 games. Uh… hot dog eating is not a sport… its entertainment… so I wouldn’t quite go as far as to equate it to baseball or football. It was also quite entertaining to see the little graphics about other contests won by the competitors. It was also interesting to note that a contestant is eliminated if he or she pukes. And maybe if ESPN wouldn’t have had so much pre game filler we would have had a chance to see Joey Chestnut's post game celebrating after his overtime victory.


*Christie Brinkley - We went into the long weekend with headlines blasting about A-Rod splitting with his wife just a few short months after she gave birth…. And blaming the Kaballah wackos for it. I actually stumbled into a crazy Kabbalah service one Friday Night in Manhattan and this was no Friday Night Service… it was a bunch of malarkey. They did have a lot of very good looking babes dressed totally in white for this so called service. Now the big questions are is ARod with Madonna and is Mrs. ARod with Lenny Kravitz. And if they do get divorced, will it be as crazy as Christie Brinkley’s bizarre trial??

Brinkley’s divorce case has become a hot topic on the local newscasts… The stunning revelation came early on when she testified that she found out her husband was having an affair with a teenage girl when the girl’s step dad spilled the beans as the one time supermodel was about to deliver a commencement address at a local high school. Not such a great idea on the husband’s part to make negative comments to the media about Brinkley’s testimony, considering how bad this whole thing is making him look. And he pays for porn? Hey save your shekels.. there is a TON of free porn out there – at least that is what I have heard. I would think that this is only such a hot topic since Brinkley was a former model who has aged quite well now that she is in her 50s…. I woulda thought she would have started to look like David Brinkley by now…



*Belmar Finger Ban: Back in my knish devouring youth.. Belmar, NJ was the big party headquarters at The Jersey Shore. They had this big McDonalds right on the boardwalk, On non-Subway nights, Angelo’s Pizza which burned down many years ago was the spot for a quick dinner break before and/or after trips to Tropicals Pub. The powers that be that run the town however have never been thrilled with all the problems associated with young whippersnappers cavorting around, so laws were passed to minimize the seasonal visitors. According to Saturday’s Star Ledger, there are now approx. 300 summer rentals there… as opposed to 1990 when there were approximately 1200! Not good news for the rental agents there.

The town also passed the usual laws to keep debauchery to a minimum. Public pishing laws were passed among other things… they will actually give you a ticket if your pish ends up in a place other than the appropriate location. They also passed a law that forbids you to give someone the finger in public… but now, the law has been repealed… They apparently felt it was impossible to enforce… Now they figure this out?? What happens if someone scratches their nose? Or picks it? How about people who use the middle finger to press buttons when they do debit transactions at the grocery store? And what happens if they use the middle finger while ticked off about high prices? Is that an illegal use of the finger? Or… what happens if you flash someone fingers 2-4 and implore the recipient to read between the lines? Ultimately, they couldn't enforce the law for freedom of speech reasons, so use of the finger is now legal.



*Governor of FL falls in love! – I saw this story about Governor Charlie Crist on the news and thought – well good for him. The middle aged governor met a stunning young woman in her late 30’s last September and now he is planning to get married. But before you start finding out where the lovely young couple is registered – the rumor mongers are already tossing out some allegations about this love affair.

Crist is being hailed as a possible VP for those evil Republicans. So is Minnesota Governor Pawlenty who I talked about more than a year ago on my mortgage podcast about his idea to get rid no document and no income verification loans for residents of his home state. That decision could come back and bite him when retirees and the temporarily unemployed find themselves in adjustable rate mortgages that they can’t refinance.

Well according to the comments on a few of the news sites such as The New York Daily News and Wall Street Journal – Crist has to get himself “in order” as a potential GOP Veep. And the gossipers are saying – Holy McGreevey – that Governor Crist is gay… not that there’s anything wrong with that…. Could that mean he would actually hide his gayness because Republicans won’t accept that lifestyle?? Kind of like Dennis Prager who claims that gay marriage is a bigger issue than the economy that George Bush wrecked. I really don’t know one way or the other what the deal is with Governor Crist.… but I do know that my friend McG the musical genius who wrote the McGreevey song might have to put together another song if this is actually true! Either way… I’ll have to ask former Floridian DAS about these rumors next time I speak to him… (or next time he comments here)



*Terrorist Mentally Ill? Speaking of Das…. Hey it’s Bicentennial Boy’s birthday today, so I thought I would write about something that would tick off him and his fellow wacky liberals. I gotta credit the Israeli government’s decision to tear down a now dead terrorist’s family’s home, after he used his construction vehicle to kill three and injured dozens of others. Let’s gas up the bulldozers, and send them over to Hussam Dwayat’s house….. now that the Israeli government has temporarily halted their home demolition program.

This latest attack though comes with a bizarre twist right out of TMZ. An Israeli woman who won’t reveal her true name claims she had an affair with Dwayat many years ago and he is the father of her 7 yr old kid. While this so called mystery woman says that Dwayat would not kill Israelis...but would knock one up. The terrorist’s family say he had “mental issues” and drug problems. I’m surprised Jimmy Carter didn’t try to open a Betty Ford clinic while he was over there negotiating with those terrorists…. Unless there is still a grudge that Jimmy beat Gerald Ford in the ’76 Bicentennial election.

This woman said she was willing to convert to Islam for her man… I guess Madonna couldn’t reach out to her with her Arod Kaballah rap…. But she was forced to leave him because he was beating the crap out of her. This woman’s family also apparently intervened and convinced her to leave him…. I guess the welts on her face from the ass kickings he gave her wasn’t enough reason to leave this creep. Maybe he wasn’t too thrilled by the Jewish family that was not so accepting of their daughter’s baby daddy. She also pressed charges against him – he spent time in jail for beating her. The woman also says the child doesn’t know who his daddy is. Personally, this sounds to me like a big lie.

So I guess the next time a terrorist violates the cease fire in the Middle East they will play the ol’ TMZ – mentally ill Hollywood star card. Maybe we can kill 2 birds with one stone and send the home materials from the torn down terrorist buildings down to New Orleans so we can finally finish (or in some cases start) rebuilding the homes down there. And gas up a 2nd bulldozer because they’re also gonna tear down the home of the terrorist who bombed that Jewish seminary back in March.


Next week – the Baseball All Star Game Report – then we’ll have our next James Bond review, and then it’s time for our summer blogging schedule as McG and I will be putting together the video for his McGreevey song.


CLIP OF THE WEEK: