Once in a Blue Moon

- Picture by Tony Wilder courtesy NASA.

Did you know tonight will be a "Blue Moon?"

So what, you say? That's a justified response. However in my world, it's an excuse for The Sister-In-Law to host a theme party. And so we will be there, drinking Blue Moon beer, and eating lots of goodies. Oh and we're all dressed in blue.

It's fun to be us.

Speaking of blue moons, and things that don't happen very often, the Yankees won a game last night. Talk to me when it becomes a winning streak, OK?

I honestly have nothing else on my brain right now, so I think I will close here.

In other words, I've got nothing.

Off The Hook…um…Bench

First and foremost, we must start with a quick Memorial Day thought, even though we’re two days late. God (or Allah, or Elvis or whomever) bless all of you who gave your lives so valiantly in defense of our great, yet flawed country. Whether you served at Gettysburg, Iwo Jima, Baghdad, or anywhere else, you are a hero. I hope the many people who enjoyed a barbecue, TV show, day at the beach, or shopping bargains on the day that we celebrate you took a moment out to remember you.

Incidentally, though they weren’t necessarily soldiers who died in the line of duty, those who perished on September 11, 2001 deserve to be remembered on Memorial Day. They died in an act of war.

Just in case we want to split hairs over such things.

Among the biggest questions always put to me is, “what’s wrong with the Yankees?” It’s quite simple – they suck. That however, is too easy. It’s an old baseball axiom – when you hit, you don’t pitch. When you pitch, you don’t hit. Right now, the latter is the problem. There was a chance that this team would get old fast. It’s happened, and baseball fans are partying like it’s 1965.

Go look it up and you’ll see what I mean.

A-Rod seems to have his family values in order. Going to a strip club with a strange woman, then taking her into the elevator to go to his room? Uh oh. No chance the media is going to pick that up, eh?

Morals aside, you can do that when you play for the Texas Rangers. You can’t do it when you play for the New York Yankees.

I’m not in the “Joe Must Go” camp. I am in the “start dumping players” camp. You can start with Bobby Abreu. Seemed like a good trade at the time, but now we can see what the Phillies saw.

If you like Cajun food (or the kind of things you can eat in N’awlins), then get yourself to The Bayou on Gramatan Ave in Mount Vernon. Now. Have an Abita and enjoy!

On the subject of beer (that’s what Abita is, folks), I was disheartened to discover that Connecticut lives in the dark ages with a blue law that was in effect on Monday. I dined at my sister’s place in Fairfield, and was looking forward to a brew with my hot dog, but alas the Stop and Shop wasn’t allowed to sell.

We’ll get Tim Parry and John Mayer on that ASAP. I also drove by the former market in Fairfield that NIMBY’S (including Mr. Mayer) don’t want turned into a Walgreens. Instead folks would be happy to see the building sit there, empty and falling into disrepair.

NIMBY’S! Gotta love their way of thinking.

I attended the Fairfield Memorial Day parade, which was almost out of small-town America central casting. Then I remembered the Banana Republic, Starbucks, and Border’s Books within walking distance and snapped out of it.

By the way, those vendors with their shopping carts full of junk should be fair game.

I’m not saying for what. I’m just saying they should be fair game.

Hate to say this, but pretension seemed to be at an all-time high at the parade. That takes nothing away from the fine parade, and the efforts of those who organized it. Also congrats to my nephew, Jake, for marching in the parade, as part of a group who quickly assembled a map of the US at various points during the route. He carried Florida, just for the record.

I scored a second interview with a job that I recently mentioned here. Thanks for your best wishes on this subject, both in the comments and via email, etc. I don’t see me getting this job due to a series of factors, and that’s OK. I’m very happy that they wanted to talk to me. It gives me reason to believe.

The other night at Yankee Stadium, Mick told me something that I’ve thought for some time – that we need to write an entry about the Friday night scene in Section 5. He also said that he felt I should be the one to write it.

Then he told me how much he liked me, but if I got so much as one thing wrong, that I would never hear the end of it.

Glad we got that out of the way. I slept so much better.

Anyway, I suspect I will write it when the right mood hits. It could take a while.

The Police played the first show of their tour in Vancouver on Monday night. The set list blew me away. Check it out:

Message in A Bottle
Synchronicity II
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
Spirits in the Material World
Driven to Tears
Walking on the Moon
Truth Hits Everybody
Wrapped around Your Finger
The Bed’s Too Big Without You
Murder By Numbers
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking in Your Footsteps
Can’t Stand Losing You
Roxanne
————-
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
————-
Next To You

That was the good news. Then I read the first review, courtesy of the Edmonton Sun, and my heart sank just a bit:

...anyone expecting the fierce, punk-tinged reggae rock of The Police at their prime instead got a jazzier, more-mellow version.

That’s what I was afraid of: a little too much Stingo. Oh well, I’m not trading my tickets. I’m going, and it will be a blast. Incidentally reviews in USA Today and Billboard are much kinder.

I watched most of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus on TV last night, and read up a bit on the event. The Stones had shelved the project for years, thinking that their performance wasn’t very good. I would say their performance was just fine, but rumors persist that the Stones were especially jealous of The Who, who (no pun intended) kicked some arse on “A Quick One While He’s Away.” I also especially enjoyed The Dirty Mac, a supergroup made up of Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix Experience on drums , and guitarists Eric Clapton (fresh from breaking up with Cream), Keith Richards, and some bloke named Lennon (first name might have been John). I think the Lennon guy was in a band also. They played The Beatles track “Yer Blues” from the legendary “White Album.”

Yes, Yoko was there. Yes, she did weird things. Yes, she sang. If that’s what you want to call it.

Most interesting to me was that Led Zeppelin (still a new band at the time) was initially thought to be invited to play, but were instead replaced by Jethro Tull. No offense, but the trade wasn’t quite up to par. Not quite Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, but you get the idea.

Oh well, you can’t always get what you want.

Overall this isn’t essential Rock 101, but if you spot it on TV, check it out. It’s kitschy and fun.

So Kobe Bryant says the Lakers are a mess and that he would welcome a trade? That might answer those who can’t understand why Kobe is so disliked. I think he’s a great player, but when it came right down to it, who were you going to choose between Shaq-Fu and Mr. I Didn’t-Do-Anything-Wrong-In-Colorado? Kobe is emblematic of the problematic (take that, Clyde Frazier) NBA star.

Then again, rumor has it that the NBA is still playing.

Next thing you know, somebody will try to tell me that the WNBA season has started.

Surprise time! It seems that our guy Barry Bonds has been kind of, shall we say, distant towards reps from the Hall of Fame. He hasn’t exactly been warm to the idea of giving them stuff like bats, balls, uniforms and so on as he pursues perhaps the most cherished of sports records (Hank Aaron’s lifetime mark of 755 home runs). Tracy Ringolsby, a Spink Award Winner for writing excellence (as recognized by the very same Hall of Fame), writes that the Hall has every right to get the booty, saying:

It's time that the teams took charge. Who says that if a ball from one of Bonds' home runs is retrieved the ball has to be given to him? It's not his ball. It belongs to the home team, which pays for the baseballs. Ditto on the jerseys that he is hoarding. The Giants pay for his jerseys. Same with his bats. The team pays for a player's bats. If Bonds doesn't have any compassion for the history of the game then the Giants need to make sure that they don't shun the folks in Cooperstown.

Well here’s the shocking part: I’m with Bonds on this. I understand that the team pays for the stuff, but come on – it’s Bonds who is accomplishing the feat (with a little help from his friends). If he wants to keep it, then he has that right. If he wants to donate it to charity, put it up on Ebay, or give it away, then that’s up to him. That said, one would like to see it on display, but then again, why? Do you want to see a monument to this flawed record?

Bonds should be more forgiving and donate some items to the Hall, but he doesn’t specifically owe them. I can pick him for a lot of things, but sometimes it seems like we’re criticizing just because we don’t like him.

Mike North was the latest to try the Imus chair. Let's just say he made Chris Russo sound intelligent. Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't pick Benigno and Roberts over this guy, but for a legendary time slot, he brought it way down. His bit on the Bookie Priest (or whatever it was called) made me ill. Plus his Chicago accent was brutal to listen to.

I switched to the iPod, where I listened to Ben Folds' album Supersunnyspeedgraphic. To be sure, this effort is not for the kiddies, especially his remake of Dr. Dre's "B*tches Ain't Sh*t" but I think it's hysterical to listen to a rap song translated into a pop beat with harmonies and piano. Two other covers exist as well, The Cure's "In Between Days," and The Darkness' "Get Your Hands off of My Woman." The collection of songs are the highlights from three "EP's" that Folds put out over the past several years, Super D, Sunny 16, and Speed Graphic. The original songs are equally good, if not better than the cover songs, and the wit of Folds shines through on each lyric. It's snarky sarcasm, parody, and commentary, but the parody isn't as shameful as Weird Al Yankovic.

It's all in good fun, taste and music.

Top 10 Yankees

On Mike and the Mad Dog today, a caller tried to suggest that Derek Jeter, who passed Joe DiMaggio for total career hits last night, is among the four greatest Yankees ever. M&MD found that laughable, and I just kept eating my High School Special (with chili and cheese) from Garden Catering. So the duo threw out their top 10, of which they were sure about the nine. OK, I'm agreeing with them in terms of the names, but I'll rank them for you (free of charge!).

1) Babe Ruth. Sometimes I want to rank Lou Gehrig higher because I just think Gehrig was that great, but the fact is that nobody in the history of the sport (or any other sport) was...or is greater than Ruth. He's the Babe. Remember, prior to joining the Yankees he was the best lefthanded pitcher in baseball. After joining the Yankees, he outhomered entire teams.
2) Lou Gehrig. Argue DiMaggio or Mantle if you wish. Say his streak was overrated. Just have a look at the numbers he put up, in comparison to his contemporaries. That's all the conversation we'll need to have.
3) Mickey Mantle. When he was healthy there was nobody better...including Willie Mays.
4) Joe DiMaggio. As with Ted Williams, one must consider the war years, and what it took away. DiMaggio was a right-handed hitter who was not tailor-made for Yankee Stadium, yet he thrived.

They're the saints of Yankees baseball, in my opinion. Now it gets tough. Some want to put Jeter in fifth place. Not here...not yet.
5) Yogi Berra. I have a tough time with Yogi, and have vascillated on his standing in Yankees lore. Obviously he was a great player, and the winningest player of them all (10 World Series rings). Recent things that I've read and heard has convinced me of just how truly great he was. I used to put Bill Dickey (Yogi's mentor) right along side of Berra.
6) Whitey Ford. Hey sombody has to pitch and who better than the "Chairman of the Board" who still holds World Series records for wins (and losses) and consecutive scoreless innings. His 1961 season deserves to be talked about among the greatest ever (25-4, 3.21).
7) Derek Jeter. You know how I am about "instant classics." Jeter is great and, barring anything, will be the first Yankee to get to 3000 hits, and could even get 4000 hits if all went right. He's never not been to the playoffs, even riding the bench as a non-playoff-roster rookie in 1995. He's won four titles and came within two outs of a fifth. Then there's the World Series loss to the Marlins in 2003, and let's not go to 2004. It's funny when people try to call him overrated. Instead let's call him one of the greatest ever. Still I just can't see where he ever be better than the fifth greatest Yankee ever.
8) Mariano Rivera. Many of the same reasons regarding my placement of Jeter make me put Mo here. You could flip-flop their positioning and I would have no problem with it, but there's no question we're talking about the greatest reliever ever. No, I can't forget Sandy Alomar in '97, or the ninth inning of Game 7 in 2001, or Game 4 in 2004, but those missteps only magnify his greatness. It's amazing to see him fail, just as it was with Dennis Eckersley when Kirk Gibson homered off of him in 1988.
9) Bill Dickey. I've changed my stance on Dickey, simply because he was surrounded by such greatness during his career. That doesn't change how great he was. Plus as mentioned earlier, he helped turn Lawdie Berra from a pudgy backstop to a Hall Of Fame catcher.

OK, those are the easy nine. Number 10 is just brutal to pick. Here's who won't be at number 10:
- Bernie Williams. I get it - you all love him. I like him also. I just think when you consider who is in this top 10, he's not better. Certainly not more than the players that I'm thinking of. Let me say this - he might be one of the great team players of all time.
- Don Mattingly. Ooof, that hurts. He might be the 11th greatest. Like Williams, I think you probably have to be a hall of famer. Donnie Baseball won't be unless something changes.
- Paul O'Neill. A great Yankee. Not one of the 10 best.
- Bobby Murcer. Number one in my heart, and maybe he would be here if not for Gabe Paul trading him following the 1974 season.
- Reggie Jackson. Only five years as a Yankee. No dice.
- Dave Winfield. Great player. Also Mr. May. No way.
- Ron Guidry. If only he was a hall of famer. Still responsible for the greatest season I've seen from a starting pitcher (1978 - 25-3, 1.74).
- Jorge Posada. Getting closer, and is in the great Yankee catcher conversation.
- Thurman Munson. Close...very close.
- Elston Howard. Great catching tradition carried on with Howard, just as it started with Dickey, to Berra, to Howard, to Munson, to Posada (with many years in between). Dignified man, great player.
- Roger Maris. Two great years. Not enough to crack the top 10.

Obviously there are countless other names (Nettles, Piniella, Chambliss, Gomez, Hoyt, Muesel, Rolfe, Raschi, Reynolds, Lopat, Cone, Henderson, and on and on) but one player seemed to stand out a touch more...

10) Red Ruffing. After coming to the Yankees from the Red Sox in 1930, Ruffing was the ace of the 1930's and early 40's teams. From 1930 to 1946, Ruffing went 231-124 (.651) with a 3.47 ERA. He would win 20 games or more four straight years (1936-1939) and was a part of seven World Championship teams. His top year was arguably 1939, when he went 21-7 with a 2.93 ERA. He also finished in the top five in the MVP voting in 1938 and 1939. And he could hit - a career .269 average with 36 home runs! To top off all of that, he was 7-2 in 10 career World Series starts with eight complete games and a 2.63 ERA.

Those are my top 10 Yankees. Comments are always welcome.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.

Quickies

A few thoughts on this Thursday morning:

- Talk about a must-win! The Yankees needed that last night, just to right the ship. Plus it's always nice to beat Curt Schilling.

- Radio changes are on the horizon, and I just love this stuff. It seems that CBS (you know, the geniuses of radio) has pulled the plug on "Free FM", at 92.3 here in New York. They are doing what is known as "stunting", where they'll play things completely off format (I once heard a station stunt as being a movie-themed station for an entire weekend). In the case of an old station of mine (WREF AM-85 - Ridgefield, CT), the station played "It's The Same Old Song" by the Four Tops for at least 24 straight hours. Today, following Opie and Anthony, 92.3 started playing a series of sound clips, with an occasional touch of radio tuning sound effect, then the words "today at five." So stay tuned.

- The preliminary 2007 Greenwich High School football schedule is out and this is what it looks like:
Sat, 9/15 - Bridgeport Central at Kennedy Stadium - 1:30
Thu, 9/20 - Darien at Cardinal Stadium - 7:00
Fri, 9/28 - Trumbull at Trumbull - 7:00
Fri, 10/5 - Danbury at Cardinal Stadium - 7:00
Sat, 10/13 - Westhill at Cardinal Stadium - 1:30
Fri, 10/19 - Brien McMahon at Brien McMahon - 7:00
Fri, 10/26 - Wilton at Cardinal Stadium - 7:00
Fri, 11/2 - Stamford at Boyle Stadium - 6:00
Fri, 11/9 - Naples at Naples, Florida - Time TBA
Fri, 11/16 - FCIAC Championship Game at Boyle Stadium - 7:30
Thu, 11/22 - Staples at Staples - 10:30 AM

Did you see November 9th? Nope, that's not a mistake. The Cards will play in Florida that week, perhaps live on ESPN. What does that mean for us? It could very well mean that for the first time that I'm aware of, the Cardinals would not appear on WGCH at all. I'll be very interested to see what happens with that game. Would I travel, if offered? Most likely, depending on the circumstances.

Once again...stay tuned.

- I also saw the schedules for Rye, Harrison, and Port Chester (which means that all of Section 1 are avaiable). The Rye-Harrison game is September 29th at 1:30 in Harrison. Right now, the Cardinals are off that day, so I'm hopeful that WGCH will carry that game. We'll see.

- Speaking of WGCH, my friend and colleague Zach Fisher is now doing sports in the morning with Tony Savino. Zach has sports at :15 and :45 past every hour (from 6:00-9:00, that is). This is the kind of internship that every student should have! Plus he sounds great. Check him out for yourself, as I think he'll only be there for a short time.

- I've never been shy about giving props to places with great food, and have also never been shy about promoting Garden Catering, with locations around Greenwich, Stamford, Port Chester, and Mamaroneck. They have a breakfast sandwich that I recently tried and if you're hearty enough (and heart healthy enough), you should try as well. It's called "The Hotsy" and it has eggs, cheese, home fries, bacon, and chili! Oh my! All that for just three bucks! Personally I think once was enough for me, but it was different. Their chili is outstanding, and so is all of their food. They have plenty of other healthy options as well. Their webiste is here (and there's a link to look at their menu). It's always tough to be on Mamaroneck Ave and see Sal's pizza and Garden Catering on each side of the street. What to have?

- Lastly, a little fun for ya. What was the number one song on your birthday? Or your anniversary? Or whatever? Look here and you can find out. By the way, the number one song on the day I was born was "Hey Jude", by The Beatles (of course).

Off The Bench

OK, let’s get right to it. Blake or Jordin? It doesn’t matter to me because Sanjaya is gone, and honestly, the true winner left when Melinda was voted off.

The demise of “American Idol” has begun. It was never the same after Dunkleman left.

Baseball’s exhibition season has ended again, at least for now. Rumor has it that the Mets won two of three from the Yankees, but I couldn’t tell you. I barely watched it, and virtually ignored all media regarding it. It was easier that way.

Honestly, I saw small parts of each game. That’s it.

Back to reality now with the Red Sox, and it’s sad when we must celebrate a two-game winning streak by Torre and company. At the moment though, all is right with the world.

At least until Mike Muissina went out and laid a big fat egg. Sox 7...Yanks 3. Uh huh.

I think Joe Torre was veryclose to being gone. And might still be.

Am I the only one who thought there was something refreshing about Jason Giambi coming out and saying that baseball screwed up and that they owe the fans an apology? Granted, he’s a loose cannon, but I was OK with it. That’s why his teammates like him.

As opposed to Kyle Farnsworth, who needs to shut up and pitch.

The moral outrage over the Roger Clemens family clause is funny. We’re supposed to be in shock because he asked for it and the Yankees gave into it? Barry Bonds essentially has his own locker room, for God’s sake.

He’s Roger-freaking-Clemens, and despite what Tommy Dee (Mets fan, natch) says, he’s not the worst person in sports (Mike Tyson, Albert Belle, Ty Cobb, keep lining ‘em up). He might however, be the best pitcher in the history of the sport. If you’ve got a chance to have him on your team, might you consider giving him whatever he wants?

That’s what I thought.

Over at NYYFans.com, there are some so-called experts who because they write the occasional article for a website figure that they are entitled to be so smug (present company, hopefully excluded). This one is positive that the problems with the Yankees are A) Robinson Cano (don’t ya know) and B) Saint Joseph Torre. I will readily admit that Torre’s managing has not been the best, and Cano has been putrid this season, but come on. Anybody seen Bobby Abreu’s confidence, or a consistent rotation?

Puh-leeze.

He does make one good point, at the end when he says this:

Double Postscript: That was pretty classy of so many Met Fans who cheered when Darrell Rasner had to leave the game after being hit by the comebacker. Do you all feel proud of yourselves now?

I will not accuse my friends in Queens of doing this. I hope that is inaccurate or just an exaggeration, but considering I still remember how loud the cheer was when Kirk Gibson injured himself at Shea in the 1988 National League Championship Series, I wonder.

Anyway, it’s all just continued proof that there are lots of bad sports fans out there, and unfortunately people expect it from New Yorkers especially. Don’t believe me? Listen to the visitor’s broadcast during a New York sports event. You can hear it, sometimes cryptically, during a national broadcast (FOX or ESPN), but it’s obvious on the local ‘casts. I’ve heard it on broadcasts from Cleveland, Texas, and Chicago (the White Sox) when their teams were playing the Yankees. They have stereotypes of New Yorkers and, in these cases, Yankees fans. Unfortunately more often than not, we do nothing to squash those thoughts.

Oh, it seems the Mets fan is unhappy with the fact that they’re not getting slaps on the back in the media for taking two of three from the Yankees. I know that this is new to y’all but here’s the deal – first, this is still a Yankee-town. Deep down, it always will be, but that being said, when there are problems (like being under .500 with a big fat payroll and the manager teetering on being fired) everything gets magnified and put on the back page. The Mets, the better team in New York right now, were expected to win – especially at home. Thus they won. There’s nothing compelling about that right now.

So what I’m saying, nicely, is shut up. Or stop whining. You’ve got a great team – one that might bring the whole ball of wax home this year.

While on the subject of shutting up, can Jimmy Carter please do that?

We get it – you don’t like the sitting president. At this point, who does? But do I need to remind you that me, and many like me, think your presidency was one of the great embarrassments? Short of, say, Warren G. Harding, you might have had the worst presidency of the 20th Century.

Some of you might want to include Nixon, but you wouldn’t dare if not for Watergate, so let it go.

The mass hysteria continues. Seems that Bernard McGuirk, former Imus bald-headed stooge, was to be a guest co-host on a Boston-based radio show this week. That was until another special interest group got up in arms about it. The wimps that run the station promptly canceled it.

I’m telling you, this has got to stop.

Guess I shouldn’t be so sad that I haven’t been on the airwaves in a while. It’s safer for me to keep my credibility and so-called career.

Once again this morning, I dealt with the issue of “watch what you say around him or it might end up in his blog.” Friends and readers, I ask for your trust as I use great common sense when writing this. As I sit here today, I’m faced with two acquaintances that are battling cancer. You can’t have any more details than that out of respect to their friends and loved ones, but I am going to ask for your usual amounts of good thoughts.

I won’t write it if it’s off the record, or if I think it might hurt somebody. But when people that I care about have loved ones who are up against this, I am going to say a small something. Too many good people lately seem to be battling too hard. Life’s hard but it shouldn’t be this hard.

OK, let’s do some happy wishes. We start with a happy birthday for my buddy Cameron, who also just celebrated his first communion last Saturday. While we’re on the topic of communions, congrats to my godson Philip, who also celebrated on Saturday, and wowed everyone in the church with his reading. Philip’s father, the artist formerly known as John Harrison, also celebrated his birthday in the past few days. He swears that he’s 21, but I’ve known him long enough to know better. If he’s 21 in his soul, then that’s the best way to be – young at heart.

More happy wishes – this one to our friends Jon and Rebecca in R-VA (that’s Richmond, Virginia to y’all). They celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary, and I still say that their wedding was one of the most memorable I’ve ever been to. First, I had never worn a yarmulke until that day. Second, to get to the site, you had to drive on a dirt road, passing over a bridge that automobiles had no business crossing. Third, it was at a plantation. Fourth, a ZZ Top-like string trio was the entertainment, playing Civil War-era tunes. Fifth…peeps on the wedding cake! Peeps! Sixth, fried chicken and collared greens and other southern delicacies. Seventh…AWESOME!!

Plus good friends everywhere, and the beginning of a solid marriage. A hearty Mazel Tov!

Again, peeps for the peeps!

Lastly, a happy birthday to Bobby Murcer (May 20). May he, and all of these other good people, have many more birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations.

Blah Blah Blog

Earlier today, my coworkers and I got on the topic of blogging. It seems my colleague Lisa's son Darius is writing a blog on his travails while he's in Australia. I intend to read it soon, and perhaps put a link up, but I'm not sure that's what he wants, so I'll hold off.

Anyway, Lisa is an opinionated sort, and told me that she really is not a fan of blogging. To her, it seems like we're all ranting and raving and weird (I'm paraphrasing here). I explained that many of us are just frustrated or starving writers who have things to say and this is the perfect outlet. Naturally we have to use common sense, but when done correctly, a blog is great fun. I appreciate each and every person who reads this, and am cognizant of what I write, but this has always been a chance to try something that I always wanted to do. I often wish I could let it all hang out (and Jeez, am I ready to let fly!) but that would not be good for anyone - especially me.

So why blog? Why spend that much time in front of the computer? Well why not? Everybody needs a hobby, right? This is probably better than being a couch potato, especially at 10:49 at night when the day is winding down.

It's 10:49 PM...do you know where my wife is?

Sorry, dark humor. Never mind.

This will likely be the first post that my coworkers, temporary or otherwise, will read. Of course I struggled a touch with letting my boss, Cathia, know about it, because that's a supposed "cardinal sin" of blogging. What if I've said something wrong, or offensive? But HAH! As I have said all along, and even said it in this very post, I am careful because you never know who is reading. Besides, Cathia has been very good to me, as has everyone in New Rochelle. My move to Sheila's desk was a non-issue in the end, and despite a few shocked looks (and the fact that her name comes up when I call people on the phone at her old desk) things have gone quite well there. Though I've been somewhat quiet at times there, I think it's been good for Cathia, Lisa, and Tracy to have me there. Or at least I hope so.

Let's get Off the Bench, shall we?

Um...New York Yankees...this is your season calling. Would you like to join us now? Another loss today dropped them further down, and now comes my least...favorite...time...of...the...season. That's right - the Subway Series. I will tell you this as clear as a bell, and it's the same stance that I've had all along - the Mets can win all six SS games, but if the Yankees win the World Series, then it's barely a blip on the radar. It's still about October - period.

Will I watch the games? I can tell you that I'm not sure. I just hate these three games that much, and hate the other three (one of which I have tickets to) coming up next month. I'd like to see them get treated as other games. That's how it should be. But that's not reality.

Great win by the Queens team today. They have a little magic going, and they're going to be very tough all season. Their fans are quite cocky right now and they have every right to chirp.

Still you've got believe that they, and the Red Sox, will hit some kind of speed bump along the way. By and large it's been smooth sailing for both teams. The Mets seem like they're going to be pushed by the Braves all year. One can only hope that the Yankees wake up to give the Red Sox a tough time.

To TV, where the "Scrubs" season finale was kind of blah and predictable. Still I'm glad they got renewed for what's supposed to be their last season. My buddy Zach Braff was pleased.

OK, he's a MySpace friend, and we've never actually met, or even traded emails but just the mere fact that he is my MySpace friend makes me happy, OK?

That's two OK's in one sentence.

Unfortunately I missed the first half of "The Office", so I have no idea what initially happened. Still my TV viewing (kind of a rarity for me) was all set from 8:30 to 10:00. Then I decided to blog away.

Looks like the Pistons put away the Bulls tonight in the Eastern Conference. I think the Motowners will move past the Cavs (sorry, Nets) into the NBA Finals. It will probably be San Antonio out of the West and it's hard to see the Spurs losing. But I've been wrong before.

Kudos to the Sabres for getting the win in Game 4 of the NHL's Eastern Conference Finals. Now they just have to go all...um...I can't say it...no 2004 reference. OK, they have to go all Islanders.

They also came back from an 0-3 deficit in a seven-game series.

In the West, the Anaheim No-Longer-Mighty Ducks look to tie their series with the Detroit Red Wings. They have a 4-3 lead with about 10:00 left in the third as I look at the TV.

I said it before, and it needs to be repeated - hockey needs excitement. No brain surgery there, but it needs it with a better TV contract, more marquee players, better marketing, successful large market teams (that would be the Rangers) and...most of all...playoff nuttiness. Game sevens always help there.

Something is going on back over at WFAN in the old Imus slot. Mike and the Mad Dog announced that they are going to host the program again next Monday and Tuesday, and that whatever was set to be in that spot was canceled. Leave it to Neil Best in his Watchdog blog to straighten it all out. It was due to Sandra Bernhard being scheduled to host, then something canceling it. OK, whatever.

While we're talking about the media, it's clear we have no shame. Roger Clemens first start for the Tampa Yankees will be broadcast by ESPN tomorrow night - but only when Clemens takes the hill. That's right, ESPN will cut in for the Rockets' pitching as part of their "Baseball Tonight" programming. Then YES will show the game in its entirety on Saturday.

Embarrassing.

I'm not for screamers in sports play-by-play (Gus Johnson, that's you) but there is nobody better at painting the picture with raw, honest passion than Mike "Doc" Emrick. He's done it for years with the New Jersey Devils and is now doing it in the Detroit-Anaheim game on VS.

That's pronounced "Versus" since probably Ricky Fritsch, Sean Kilkelly, Mick and me are the only regulars here that watch it.

By the way, Anaheim just scored with 1:08 to go. The series is tied at two. In mock appreciation, a Ducks fan threw an Octopus on the ice. Funny stuff.

It would take me too long to explain, so read it here. The simple explanation is that, back when the tradition began (in 1952), it took eight wins to earn the Stanley Cup. Eight legs on an octopus. There you go.

Just in case you were too lazy to hit the link.

Incidentally, game over in Anaheim. Joy and rapture. The series will at least go six. That, friends, is a positive for the NHL.

It's Getting Crazier

We all know that gas prices are through the roof here in the US. I say "here in the US" because they're worse in other parts of the world, in case you didn't know. Often I want to scream at these gas station owners; the ones who are truly sticking it to us, but that's more like killing the messenger, so I keep my big mouth shut.

In San Francisco, one gas station owner took matters into his own hands. Frustrated by his situation, he decided he would close down, but not without going out with a bang. I bring you the following picture, courtesy of Liz Mangelsdorf in the San Francisco Chronicle:



No, prices aren't really $4.00/gallon out there. As you see in the picture, the sign in the foreground has gas going for roughly $3.65/gallon. In the background though is our hero's sign. That's right - $4.29 for a gallon of regular gasoline. He decided that if he's going out of business, then he won't care if he sells another gallon.

Have a read here.

No chance this war that we're still fighting is about gas prices, is it?

Another Long Journey Thanks to Momma Nature

Few things get my blood pressure up like driving in foul weather. This is not, mind you, due to weather itself, but to the idiots driving in said foul weather. Yesterday we had another addition of Mother Nature's personal road rage with thunder, lightning, wind, and general chaos. I left New Ro a little early so I could pick up The Son, get my new contact lenses, and return my loaner car to the dealer where they were fixing "Charlie", the beloved Honda Accord (so-named by The Son). Grab your maps, folks and enjoy my excellent adventure.

It started by getting from Harrison St in New Rochelle to Interstate 95 at the Exit 16 entrance - standard stuff. Then I took 95 to I-287. I got off 287 at Exit 9 for the Hutch and turned right on Kenilworth Rd, then left on route 120 - which I took up to Manhattanville Road, and on to I-684 north. Again this is all standard as I often use this route to avoid backups on 287.

Then it got weird.

A Goldens Bridge fire chief vehicle raced past me near Armonk on 684, and that convinced me to bail off to route 22 south and get on 128 to go to Mount Kisco. Good idea, in theory. I moved along with little trouble until, to the south of Mount Kisco, there was a tree in the road. The tree had been cut in half, allowing one small lane of traffic to pass. So I got around that, but not before being told by a passing driver that another tree was down up ahead. I figured my back road knowledge was enough that I could survive. Sure enough I found the tree - just south of the village of Mount Kisco. Using my trusty Westchester County atlas, I saw that I could get around it.

So did everybody else. OK, no problem, I'll turn around.

So where was I? Oh yeah, route 128 - left on Horseshoe Road and a right on Daily Crossing Road, before I turned around at Kathleen Lane and went back on Daily Crossing to turn right on 128 where I thought I would outsmart everyone by turning left on Sheather Road and got to where Sheather reaches a fork with Harriman Road. At that point I saw a downed tree in front of me and a crew working on it, so I made the left on Harriman...which ALSO had a tree down. Time to turn around again - which meant taking Sheather back to 128 (left), passing the first downed tree, and returning to Armonk...where I now needed gas!

Now I got to sit in the parking lot of the gas station because apparently one cannot just gas up and go. Oh no - that's too easy. Gotta go inside to find the chips and soda and wait on line to pay with cash for the gas a pack of cigs. Ugh.

OK, I hope you're still with me. Also by now, I have called The Wife, who will bail me out by picking up The Son. Forget about the contact lenses, and now I have to pay the car dealer with a credit card over the phone, and make arrangements to get the car!

So leaving the gas station, I made a right on 128 north, then a right on Leisure Farm Road, and a left on High St, then back onto Sheather (at the other end) before I reached where the downed tree on Sheather had been removed...only to find that the tree on Harriman was still there. OK - turn around again and return to Sheather and make a left on Westwood Drive and a left on Sarles St. Straight across Byram Lake Rd (which has its own bit of infamy, thanks to a dying immigrants body being found there recently, and the police are suspected of foul play - good times in the northern suburbs, eh?). Continued straight on Sarles to route 172 (turned right) and made the next left on W Patent Road, then a quick left on McClain Street and an immediate right onto Springhurst Road. At the end I turned left on Bedford Center Road and, oh boy, this is where things got really bad. Bedford Center Road was backed up, so I turned right on Church St - which was closed - then went left Griffin Ave, and lefts through Depot Plaza, before I turned right on route 117, where I passed over the Saw Mill Parkway (Parking Lot is more like it). I hoped to pass through on Cherry Street to get to route 35.

HAH!

Cherry Street was closed, so I turned around immediately and went back to 117 (left) and continued to Harris Road, where 117 turned into its own parking lot. OK, make a right on Harris and instead of trying to take the 117 by-pass to the Saw Mill and 684, I decided to take Harris to Beaver Dam Road. As I turned left on Beaver Dam I saw - sing along folks! - a police car. I didn't even wait to see what he had to say. I just turned around, went back to Harris, initially made a left, then turned around (just for kicks!) and went back towards Katonah, where I got on...

the 117 by-pass to the Saw Mill Parkway and Interstate 684. I got off at Exit 6 and turned left at route 35 (now we're rolling). Traffic lights were out everywhere until I reached the Pepsico complex in Somers. I turned right on route 100 and rolled into downtown Somers, where I picked up US route 202 (which used to also carry route 100 as a multiplex, but enough road geek terminology for now). At Croton Falls, I turned left on Stoneleigh Avenue and headed for home, where I picked up The Family and we went and got our beloved Charlie.

Over two hours of fun. By the way, traffic reports in the northern suburbs stink. I want to buy my own radio station so that I can do a traffic and weather together on the fives (Exit 55 - get it?) for the 'burbs.

A little PS to all of this (if you're still with me, and I highly doubt that). I can't reveal too much, but I actually had a job interview this morning via telephone. All I can say is that we'll see. It might be far-fetched but it was nice to be asked to interview for something.

Happy Motoring!

What Is Going On With This World - O&A Suspended

This is getting nuts...it really is. First, it was Don Imus and "nappygate." Then there were a couple of much smaller market types who were fired for repeating that same statement. Next came the firing of JV and Elvis on Free-FM here in New York for an Asian parody that they created when their show was in San Francisco. That's right - they were fired for a repeat!

Now, although they are not fired, comes this missive from XM Radio:

XM Radio Suspends Opie & Anthony
WASHINGTON and NEW YORK, May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XM Radio announced today that the company has suspended Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, hosts of "The Opie & Anthony Show" and ceased broadcast of the show for 30 days, effective immediately.

XM Radio deplored the comments aired on "The Opie & Anthony Show" last week. At the time, the company strongly expressed its views to Opie and Anthony, and they issued an immediate apology.

Comments made by Opie and Anthony on yesterday's broadcast put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter. The management of XM Radio decided to suspend Opie and Anthony to make clear that our on-air talent must take seriously the responsibility that creative freedom requires of them.

As a company, XM provides customers with tools to control what they listen to on XM. "The Opie & Anthony Show" appears on one of XM's explicit language channels (XL). Whenever a radio is tuned to an explicit language channel, the letters "XL" continuously appear on the screen. XM frequently mentions on its explicit language channels that the content may be inappropriate for certain listeners and tells how to "block" channels that feature this type of content. Channel blocking is available through xmradio.com or by calling 1-800-XMRADIO.

What did they do wrong? Read this from Wikipedia (which had it updated right after the suspension was announced):

A homeless man making a guest appearance on the XM version of the show described how he would like to explicitly rape Condoleeza Rice, the US Secretary of State, Laura Bush, the first lady, and Queen Elizabeth II. [21] In the wake of the Don Imus firing there has been speculation that O&A may be fired following the bit aired on their program May 9, 2007 which featured the character "Homeless Charlie" saying of Condoleeza Rice, Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth that he'd "love to f--- that b----." On their Friday show, Opie and Anthony had apologized for the bit by saying, "We apologize to the public officials for comments that we made on our XM show on May 9th. We take very seriously the responsibility that comes with our creative freedom and regret any offense that this segment has caused."[22] On May 15, 2007, XM suspended Opie and Anthony for 30 days. [10]

OK, I get it - it's bad...but isn't that satellite radio?? Look, I'm not an O&A listener, but I respect that they stood behind Imus during that debacle. Plus these people are hired to be witty and irreverent. So aren't you getting what you expected?

We're going to hell in a handbag, folks. Whatever that means.

Miami is Ruder Than New York - You Got a Problem With That?

Finally, a little road talk on Exit 55. According to the Associated Press,

For the second straight year, rude Miami drivers have earned the city the title of worst road rage in a survey released Tuesday.

Miami motorists said they saw other drivers slam on their brakes, run red lights and talk on cell phones, according to AutoVantage, a Connecticut-based automobile membership club offering travel services and roadside assistance.

So how did they come to this conclusion? Again, from the AP (written by Sarah Larimer):

More than 2,500 drivers who regularly commute in 25 major metropolitan areas were asked to rate road rage and rude driving in telephone surveys between January and March. The survey was conducted by Prince Market Research has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

So let's break them down, shall we? Let's start with the Top 10:
1. Miami
2. New York
3. Boston
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Phoenix
7. Chicago
8. Sacramento, Calif.
9. Philadelphia
10. San Francisco

OK, I can say that I have personally driven in numbers 1,2,3,5,7, and 9. Of course, the East Coast rules here, with five of the top 10 on the right side of the map. Interestingly, I think there's a correlation between rudest drivers and worst rush hours. I always thought Washington's was the worst - by far - with Boston and LA (from what I've heard - never been to LaLa Land) nearby. I have driven in Miami during rush hour and it's pretty brutal, so no shock there. So in short - none of this surprises me, with the exception of Sacramento (what?). Boston drivers are always going to be rude if one of the following situations exists:

a) You have out of state license plates...ESPECIALLY New York plates. You see, the fine folks in The Hub are no doubt angry today that New York beat them out for being the second rudest city. That's what kind of rivalry exists.
b) You refer to the road that forms roughly a half circle around Boston as "I-95." Interstate 95 was meant to go through downtown Boston, but NIMBY'S (love 'em!) killed it, so the route number was eventually moved to the outer ring of the metro area - a road formerly known as route 128. So when you listen to the traffic, they will NOT use "I-95", it will always be "128." They're so inflexible.

Incidentally, Steve Anderson's amazing website has more on 128 here. You can link from that site to Steve's other efforts on New York, Washington, Montreal and Philadelphia - and a lot more. It's one of several road sites that I will recommend to you going forward.

To the next group:

11. Houston
12. Atlanta
13. Detroit
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Baltimore
16. Tampa, Fla.
17. San Diego
18. Cincinnati
19. Cleveland
20. Denver

This is a group that I'm not as familiar with. Sure I've been to Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Tampa, Cleveland, and Denver, but of that group, I've only really driven in Baltimore, Tampa, and Cleveland. Again, I see the correlation between difficult rush hours and rudeness/road rage.

21. Dallas-Ft. Worth
22. St. Louis
23. Seattle-Tacoma
24. Pittsburgh
25. Portland, Ore.

Come on, Portland? All they do is microbrew beers out there! They're too nice otherwise. I've only been to the 'Burgh in this group, and I thought they were as "East Coast" as anyone else. But hey - all Steelers fans are nice!

A Little Something to Start The Week

My friend Mick (he of Section 5 at Yankee Stadium) sent me a "funny" a few days ago to put in the blog. I intended to do it much sooner than this but life is funny. Not funny hah-hah, but funny...well, no not like a clown, and it sure as hell does not amuse me.

Never mind. Anywho, have a read and REMEMBER!!! This is parody. Nobody should be fired for it. Of course, if you're not a baseball fan than you might find no humor whatsover. Go here to read.

Belated Happy Mother's Day to one and all. We had a very nice party at our house, and much props belong with The Sister-In-Law and The Wife for arranging the food and drinks. Yes, I did say The Wife, but that's how she wanted to spend Mother's Day. I protested and said that I should help with the food, but with the exception of having me do a few chores and mow the lawn, I stayed out of the way. It's fun to listen to The Mother-In-Law and The Grandmother-In-Law (on The Mother-In-Law's side) laugh when you say "shite" "arse" and "fook" with an Irish brogue. Hey, it's the little things that I provide.

While I'm at it, I must tell you that it is OK to officially start panicking. The Yankees are eight games out, and Roger Clemens isn't going to help them make that up. There's still lots of time in the season but things are very confused in the Bronx. It's possible that this just isn't their year. It's bound to happen.

I feel like I have more that I want to say but I can't think of anything. With that said, I'm out of here.

Hypocrisy and Hysteria

Jim Nantz, the lead sports voice at CBS, was a guest this morning with John and Patrick McEnroe on WFAN in the old Don Imus spot. Nantz often gets criticized for being "vanilla" and not very opinionated. Well this morning, in what can be described (for Nantz) as speaking out, Nantz talked about Revered AL Sharpton making a very clear shot at Mitt Romney's religion.

From The Associated Press, via The New York Times:

"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," Sharpton said Monday during a debate with (Christopher) Hitchens (an athiest author) at the New York Public Library's Beaux-Arts headquarters.

Of course, the righteous rev denied that he was showing any bias against Romney's faith.

And he believes in the Easter Bunny.

Feel free to read on here (might need to register).

So now, can I get Sharpton fired? Will media outlets keep the reverend off their airwaves?

Oh that's right. They're afraid. Ain't hypocrisy grand?

Then there was this little nugget that I read this morning. Here's a snippet:

A giant black-and-white rodent — named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a Mickey ripoff — does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children's show run each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas.

(AP Photo)

Yep, that looks a lot like Mickey Mouse - a latter-day version of "to Hell with Babe Ruth" that was shouted during World War II by the Japanese. Now Hamas is trying to recruit children to hate the US by using our most famous mouse. Apparently if you understand the language, or are just interested, the video exists on the internet - just Google it, I guess.

Now, I'm not naive. Propaganda has existed for centuries, and this kind of propaganda - via electronic media - has been around for as long as said media. Still when you're going after children, that seems to be just wrong.

Like I said yesterday, there's a lot of this out there. And we should be very afraid.

How Times Have Changed

I thought it would be fun to do this...

A few weeks back, I showed you this picture:


The Son...number 10 on the Giants in the Carmel Sports Association in 2007.

Now let's jump in the wayback machine:


That would be The Father...number 12 on the Twins in the Mahopac Sports Association in 1977.

The difference is that I'm eight in that picture, while Sean is five. My first year was "pony" league (where the fathers pitched to us) while Sean plays tee ball. Oh yeah, and we didn't get nice Major League apparel back then. I mean honestly, since when did the Twins use light blue shirts with a BLACK hat? And today, kids get baseball pants. Look at the hideous getup I'm wearing! Can I look any more like the 70's with my striped undershirt and GREEN pants? Not to mention what looks like the cheapest pair of sneakers humanly possible (likely bought at Caldor). Fashion police...help!!!

Oh well, I thought you might enjoy it.

Post #100

On TV last night, Howie Mandel and his models (of which I think my wife could definitely be one) held their 100th episode of the hysterical "Deal or No Deal." What makes it funnier is watching The Son as he imitates Howie when he says "open the case."

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing except this is our 100th post here at Exit 55. That's about it.

Let me take you back a little over a week to my tribute to my late coworker Sheila, when I said the following:

My worst fear has come true in that it was suggested that I sit at her desk beginning next week. Not to overstate this, but it would be like, say, Miguel Cairo taking over Thurman Munson’s locker. I’m just a temp, and a very small part of the promotions department...

Bingo! The move is effective tomorrow, and it seems likely that it will be the final move here in New Rochelle for me. I would think that I will moving on as soon as they find Sheila's replacement. Incidentally, I could be Sheila's replacement but all parties seem to feel that I'm overqualified. I'm hoping to get about another month here. As for sitting at Sheila's desk, I'm coming to terms with it because I don't really want to fight it. I'll let you all debate what you feel about it. I'm just going to deal with it. It's not a criticism of anybody here - it's more of a personal concern.

I guess Post 100 can't go by without me saying a few quick thank you's. Like I said when I first started the blog, I had been thinking about writing for some time and got inspired by some friends, including Sean Kilkelly and Matt Hamilton. It's been fun and there have been good times and bad times. There have been times where maybe I was too whiny, or too personal, but I said I'd try to be me here. Believe me when I say that I've also held back a lot of things.

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive of this - from my family to my friends to the friends who I have made (like Tim Parry) as a result of Exit 55.

Lastly for every time I've called a post "Off the Bench", you can thank my great friend Harold. He knows why...

Enough - it's only 100. Let's move on.

In terms of overall annoyances, is there anything worse than the common cold? I was overdue to get one, but still, it's a pain.

I mentioned a song that grabbed my attention recently as a result of listening to Captial 95.8 in London. That song, ironically, was named "Sheila" by Jamie T. Capital has become part of my regular listening habit (even though I don't think we're supposed to be listening to it on the web in the US). Anyway, they have an evening show hosted by BamBam, with a cast that includes Streetboy, Craig the Engineer, and a TV game show host (the Brits call them "presenters") named Kat Shoob. It's quite entertaining listening, and they have their own MySpace pages - one for the BamBam show, and one for Kat Shoob. For purposes of full disclosure, I will tell you that Ms. Shoob posed in the UK's Maxim magazine. While she's definitely easy on the eye, I've never quite gotten that kind of fascination, so I'm content with The Wife, thank you very much.

I really don't get that "he/she makes me so hot that my significant other and I have agreed that he/she is the one person that I could cheat on my significant other with" concept. Guess that's why I've never been to a strip club either. I just don't see the point.

As you've probably noticed, I'm a bit of a music fan. I also enjoy a good debate about these idiotic lists that exist. Well here we go again. While at Costco the other day, The Wife spotted the legendary CD "Pet Sounds" by The Beach Boys. The CD is being released as part of a series called The Definitive 200, presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My interest piqued, I couldn't help but wonder what else was on the definitive 200. Have a look, and bring something to clean up the mess with, because you'll need it after you vomit.

We could complain about the ranking of the albums but I can't even get upset about that. What made me nauseous was the albums that were included in the first place. First of all, this is presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we can argue about the semantics of what is "rock and roll." With that said, we can start cutting the list (Norah Jones Come Away With Me just for an example, which is a CD that I like but it is *NOT* rock and toll). What's putrid to me are the mention of artists like Kenny G on a "definitive" album list. Where's Clay Aiken then, if we're really going to go for things that might...um...suck?

Damn. I've been trying to be more tolerant of music and my world. That can be the only reason that I would consider going to see 311 in concert. Either that or I just want to kill myself. Actually my goal (if it happens) is to see if they have any two songs that don't sound the same.

Double damn. I'm doing it again.

Anyway, any list that actually has Faith Hill's Breathe listed higher than Johnny Cash's Live At Folsom Prison is inherently flawed.

I've given you, the loyal reader, virtually nothing in terms of my road talk. Look up at that description, and "roads" is among the many things that I said would get the Exit 55 treatment. Perhaps I haven't done it because while I have discovered that there are many road geeks on the internet, it's still a unique hobby. The wife, conversely, is into stamping (cards, invitations and the like). She likes such types of crafts, and often picks on herself for doing so. Then I come back with "I take pictures of roads signs, so I have no right to say anything." That normally works.

Sometimes I think about putting up a second blog, just dedicated to roads but I don't really want to go that route (get it? Roads...Route! HAH!). That's why I label every post. If you decide that you don't feel like reading about a topic, then move along.

Still, the bottom line is that I think my road fascination is a little embarrassing. But I guess I'll give this the full on treatment soon - with pictures, why I enjoy it, and some other sites that I visit on the topic.

Back over at Capital (that's 95.8 FM in London), the BamBam gang (2:00-5:00 PM New York time) are asking people to text on how they want the Harry Potter books to end. They're asking for one word - "Happy" or "Dead." So what do you say?

Personally, I think Harry will move into the adult film industry.

Scary stuff in New Jersey, and this is just going to keep happening. Quoting from the story on CNN:

The federal government has charged six alleged "Islamic radicals" with plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey. The six were arrested Monday night, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey said in a statement. "Their alleged intention was to conduct an armed assault on the army base and to kill as many soldiers as possible," the office said.

Again, these are the things that we hear about. What aren't we hearing about? I shudder to think about another September 11th, and yet we all have to think about it, if only to remain alert and vigilant.

This is the world we brought a child into?

Is it me, or is Mitt Romney beginning to look like the safest bet on the Republican ticket for 2008? I don't know what the heck the Dems can offer, which is not to say that they can't win, because they obviously can. There are plenty of people willing to buy into Clinton or Obama. I'm just not one of them. I'm not against voting for a Democrat if they're the best person for the job.

OK, gas is just flat our of control. In Mahopac, the cheapest gas is $3.21. I'm not going to try to be smart enough to tell you the political reasons behind this, but the bottom line is that we, the consumer, are getting screwed, as usual.

I like to drive, and I want to do some road trips, so these prices have got to come down. Richmond, Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania are all on the agenda, if we can get there. Plus I want to do some local road trips.

The tornadoes in Kansas reminded me that Mother Nature is really pissed off with us, isn't she? Didn't we learn from those Chiffon Margarine commercials in the '70s? "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature", was the tag line. Well who the hell fooled her because she is one angry woman.

Jokes aside, it was horrible to see an entire town wiped out. Sad.

Sounds like there might be a chance that Bob Costas would consider the Imus chair. I still can't see it, but perhaps I was wrong when I said that Costas taking the job was "not happening."

Gotta finish with a funny. NBC ran one of those "best of" shows the other night of Saturday Night Live in the 1990's. They were painful times for the mighty SNL, but the fact is that some huge stars came out of there during that period - Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon, David Spade, and Will Farrell, to name a few. There were also some funny characters and catch phrases. Yet for sheer hilarity, few things seem to make laugh as hard as "Celebrity Jeopardy." For those who know me, I will compare my level of laughter to Beavis and Butthead during the "Cornholio" segments or any time I watch Dennis Miller. Yes, that hard. To the point of not being able to breath.

I leave you with that as we say adios.

From The Desk of Idiotic Ideas

While Mike and the Mad Dog and seemingly the rest of the world continue to whine about Roger Clemens coming back to the Yankees, I thought I would break things up by showing you the continued idiocy that is the braintrust at Major League Baseball. Brian Hoch writes for MLB.com:

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, bitter rivals in the American League East, could be headed for an Opening Day showdown in the Far East.
Major League Baseball has entered preliminary negotiations with several teams, including the Yankees and Red Sox, about playing exhibition games in China next March and opening the regular season in Japan, according to a report in Saturday's New York Times.

Um...stupid? I get that it's sports greatest rivalry but to play it anywhere other than Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium borders on ludicrous. While it was an interesting novelty when the Yankees and Devil Rays opened in Tokyo in 2004, it didn't really hurt anything because those two teams don't exactly fill stadiums every time they play - making it perfect to put in Tokyo, because those games would sell out.

The rest of the story is here.

Oh, before I run, thanks to the New York Rangers for giving hockey fans hope for a big postseason. Unfortunately they played the top seed in the Eastern Conference, and that's no easy tasak. Further unfortune is that so few of you watched it thanks to the debacle that is the NHL's broadcasting arangement. Nobody knows where to find the games on TV, further compounding an already difficult sell in hockey. Sad, really, because the Stanley Cup tournament is sports at its best.

Back to the Rocket for a quickie. I hadn't heard Suzyn Waldman's hysterical rantings after the Yankees announced the return of Clemens when I posted my thoughts last night. It's here if you'd like to hear it for yourself. Look, I like Suzyn because she's a survivor and a fine reporter, but not a great analyst at all. This however was over the top. In fact the whole thing is striking me as a bit embarrassing - from the fanfare to the contract to the reaction. I said what I said in regards to the Yankees spending their money - it's not against the rules, so whatever. I welcome Clemens back to win games, especially big ones, but I'm not in love with the stretching of the rules that the Yankees are doing - after saying that they wouldn't in the first place. Baseball is about teamwork, and allowing Clemens to come in, pitch, and leave again just seems wrong.

I also wish broadcasters didn't have to be shills for their teams but that's their bread is buttered unfortunately. Michael Kay ("I got goosebumps" or whatever asinine thing he said) didn't exactly stand out as a voice of objectivity either. You all just set things up for clowns like Bob Raissman (speaking of objective...HA!) and Phil Mushnick (I have nothing nice to say). It's too easy for them and just makes the Yankees look, well, stupid.

The Yankees seemed to be heading down the right road and just didn't need another sideshow to their seemingly endless circus. But...none of that will matter if they win the ring, right?

A Rocket Lands in New York...again

I'll keep this quick and to the point. The Yankees signed Roger Clemens to what is basically a six-month contract for some crazy amount of money (reported to be 28 MILLION dollars). Let me bottom line it for you folks - there is no salary cap in baseball, the Yankees make the most money in baseball, and that money is obscene. They also make the most for teams in the cities that they travel to, drawing upwards of roughly seven million people total. Add it all up, and they can spend their money how ever they want. Criticize how ever you wish, but George Steinbrenner is not afraid to go get whatever it takes to win.

It still means nothing. Will Clemens win every time out? Are the Yankees now the favorite to win the 2007 title? Reminder - they're still one game under .500, and five and a half games behind the Red Sox, who had this to say:

BOSTON -- In response to numerous media inquiries, the Boston Red Sox today issued the following statement:

"We met with Randy Hendricks earlier this week and, at Randy's request, made an offer to Roger Clemens. We offered a substantial salary and suggested, for health purposes, that Clemens return on approximately the same timetable as last year. Today we learned from Randy that Clemens has signed elsewhere."

All of this being said, the big money purchases have generally been poor at best for the Yankees, in terms of titles since 2000 (when I still think we made a deal with the devil). Yes they've been in the playoffs every year and made World Series appearances in 2001 and 2003 (and oh so close in 2004) but despite the advantages that a fat payroll can offer, it still doesn't buy a title. Even when it does give you the possible advantage, do the Yankees then break it up the next year (Florida Marlins...come on DOWN!)?

So Clemens is back. Yankee haters (Russo, that's you) bitch away! But the Yankees use the system and remember, with every move they pay a huge luxury tax that goes into the pockets of every owner. It's up to them to then spend that money how ever they wish. The Yankees aren't doing anything illegal. It's like when the 49ers and Cowboys did this same thing at one time in the NFL. They weren't doing anything illegal, so there was nothing that could be done about it.

Oh will talk radio be alive on Monday!

Off The Bench (The TGIF Edition)

Back with hopefully more sunny, witty, and insightful thoughts.

Then I realized that it was me typing this and smacked myself in the face.

So Boomer Esiason’s post-Imus week is over, and I’ll say it: he was good. So was Monica Crowley. I don’t know if I could take a daily diet of that, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. Next week it’s the McEnroe brother – John and Patrick. I’ll give a listen on Monday.

Neil Best writes in today’s Metsday…ooops, that’s Newsday, that another native New Yorker’s name has surfaced as a possible I-replacement: Bob Costas. Oh the irony of the person who the I-man himself called “that little shrimp” taking his place.

Let me put it this way: not…happening.

Costas is a media-savvy person, but he is not the slightest bit interested (in my opinion), nor do I think he’s got the bite to hold morning drive.

In the same column, Best talks about the failures of WFAN and how 1050-ESPN is gaining in the ratings. That’s because WFAN is now the home of Mike and the Mad Dog and nothing else. Steve Somers is still entertaining but the rest of their stuff is pitiful. Let’s start with the sports broadcasts that they’re offering. The Devils? The Nets? Oooh, rating bonanzas there! The do have the Mets and Giants, so that’s something, but you can’t call yourself “New York’s Sports Leader” when the Yankees, Knicks, Rangers, Jets, St. John’s basketball and even the Islanders are on other stations, particularly when the MSG teams are on 1050.

Then there are the show hosts. Obviously they lost huge with the end of Imus, but besides M&MD, what is there? I’ve made it very clear that I am not a fan of Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts (aka the Mets twins). Roberts is basically a smug punk and Benigno is…annoying (easy, Rob, I can feel the blood pressure rising). Tony Paige is…um…I have nothing nice to say, so I won’t. These guys have almost made Chris Carlin seem acceptable, or made me pine for Russ Salzberg. Jeez, Anne Liquori would be nice to have back.

"The Mary Anne Show" would be better than any of this stuff, and she doesn't know the first thing about sports.

You know things are bad when you’re willing to listen to StevenASmiffinthehouse. He, if you don’t know, is over on 1050, as is Michael Kay, who I find even more unctuous on the radio then he is on YES. Then there are the two buffoons in the morning (Mike and Mike), and I’m telling you, I’ll listen to Opie and Anthony before I’ll take that in.

This is what iPods are great for.

So what does the FAN do? Hire me? Please, let’s be real. First of all, I’m a Yankees guy, and other than Mike Francesa, they don’t tolerate that there. I’d actually be willing to go rip-city on the Mets, and no, that wouldn’t be acceptable either. Only Francesa and Mark Malusis can do that. Malusis by the way, could use more airtime, and there are others (like Kevin Burkhart). How about plucking somebody fresh and new? I always thought my friend and once-WGCH colleague Dave Rothenberg would be good, because he was like another Francesa to me though he would HATE me for saying that). Dave is super-knowledgeable, and I have no idea how he ever found a woman to marry him, because he was all about sports. He is also super-opinionated. In other words, he’d be great.

Despite what Neil Best is saying, the FANnies can’t be that worried. There’s still a pretty wide chasm. For now.

Oh, since we're talking about newspapers, I actually emailed a columnist a week or so ago (I never do that). I read Bob Raissman's stuff all the time and he has a decided bias against a bunch of people in the business - most notably Mike and the Mad Dog and John Sterling. In a recent column, B-Raze (since he has pithy little nicknames for everybody else) complimented Atlanta broadcaster Skip Caray (ugh!) for his ripping of a stadium lackey for the way they were running the scoreboard, sounds, etc. After years of reading the bald-yet-mustachioed one's drivel, I figured it was time to say hello. I told him that I read his stuff, and know that he is the master of all things PC but that he's also a huge hypocrite with some mighty bias. John Sterling has been saying the same things as Skip Caray for years. Shockingly Mr. Raissman didn't respond.

See, here's the things about Sterling. I know he's not Vin Scully. I know he's not a great baseball announcer. I do think he's entertaining and that's fine. Harry Caray was entertaining, so was Howard Cosell. I'm a critic of John Sterling, but after a while, I just get so tired of the Sterling-bashing that I've begun to defend the guy. If everyone could just LAUGH at Sterling (ala M&MD) then we'd all be happier.

The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow, and I have to admit that I’m no good at analyzing horse racing. I’m content to be near a TV (or even a radio) around post time, and watch them run. Then I’m back to whatever I was doing. It’s fascinating but I don’t put that much effort into it. That being said, my friend Sean Kilkelly (another guy who would be FAN-ariffic) knows a bundle about the ponies. When we did our talk shows together, he would often get a horse racing guest on, and I would just sit back and listen. I’m not putting any pressure on him, but don’t be surprised if you pop over to his blog and he has the Derby all analyzed.

Oh, and he’ll probably be drinking a Mint Julep with the Queen. She’ll be there tomorrow.

If you care, the Golden State Warriors pulled off a major upset, shutting down the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks. Great. Mark Cuban is still in the middle of meltdown.

Leave it to George to send off a missive and have the Yankees respond. It was either that or the firing of the strength coach.

Whatever.

Allow me to point out some blogs that are worth reading. They mock all kinds of things and it’s good stuff. I frankly don’t know what they do with their lives. Anyway, check these out:

Awful Announcing – related to sports announcing (hope my name never shows up here).
Deadspin – the Mother of all sports blogs (most sports fans have heard of it, but I'm here to educate)
The London Underground Tube Diary – since The Wife and I are such anglophiles.

There there are what I like to call the great name blogs:
Kissing Suzy Kolber - so named because of the infamous Joe Namath interview with ESPN's Suzy Kolber, in which Broadway Joe was so knackered that he kept asking for a smooch.
With Leather - this one also has an ESPN ring to, but is a little harder to explain. Allow Wikipedia to do so here. This one has the same kind of origins as another current popular underground phrase, "more cowbell."

All of these phrases have a little age on them but better late than never. I think they're all funny.

There are countless other blogs out there worth reading (of which I hope you count this as one) and I'm always interested to learn about others.

See, I've set you up with lots of reading, and listening.

From the idiot department, Stuart Scott (stop laughing people!) defends Pacman Jones and wrappers who use the term “ho” but thinks Don Imus is a racist. Gotta love it.

Normally, I hate prank calls. The ones that Scott and Todd did back in the 90’s (and are still doing on WPLJ) were beyond irritating. But this cracked me up. It’s a couple of Howard Stern cronies, who call this public access show in New York hosted by Jonah Falcon, who apparently, has, um, a big bat. See his Wikipedia entry for more. Whatever, listening to him get riled up is good stuff. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE AND CONCEPTS IN THESE LINKS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)

Go here, here, here, and here.

I'm way off course here now, so I'll stop...then come back for more.

Today's post needed more cowbell. Oh well, you're with me, Leather.

See, you're beginning to understand.

No Title Seems Appropriate

Like the first day of any job, I arrived nice and early. I knew very little about New Rochelle, except that it had an entertainment complex called “New Roc City” and that its high school sports are pretty good. I also knew that I’d only been off Interstate 95 in “New Ro” just a couple of times – once to eat at the Thruway Diner after a Rangers-Islanders hockey game, and a few times to pick up a back brace with my father.

I stayed in the parking lot reading my paper until just before 9:00 that first morning. Then I made my way to the building that I would be working in for the next few days, and joined a few women in the elevator. One of them noticed me and spoke.

“Are you Rob?”, she said.
“Yes”, I replied.
“Good. You’re working with my group. We need the help. I’m Sheila.”

Sheila would quickly establish herself in my eyes as a go-to person, and one of the great personalities that this office had to offer. If I had a question, I went to her first. When I needed a laugh or some sanity, a quick visit with Sheila would do the trick. She would be the first to roll her eyes at me if something was off base to her. If somebody was saying something stupid, we’d lock eyes, and she would roll hers, knowing that I couldn’t return the favor, but giving me a way of her saying “we agree.” That was Sheila – no BS.

“We didn’t think you could talk.”

She said that to me after I’d been here for a few days. Certainly I’m always quiet and wary when I first start. In fact I border on painfully shy. Sheila was quick to help offer suggestions for things like where to get lunch, and overall survival skills. She told me where Quizno’s was, and how it was about an eight-minute walk. That was good because it would give me some exercise.

As our brief time knowing each other went on she’d discover that yes indeed, I could talk. She also found that I was also a bit off-key, and she seemed to like that. She liked how one of my goals was to wake the office up a bit (a tall order, she and I agreed). She didn’t like the constant silence either but had gotten used to it. It was Sheila who told me to bring in my iPod, because the mundane nature of my work would drive me nuts. As I helped out her entire department, it seemed like I was helping her the most, and she was appreciative.

A few weeks into the assignment (that was initially supposed to last just two to three days), our boss Cathia came to me and said that Sheila would be out for about a week with a medical condition. It wasn’t expected to be life-threatening but was something that she would have to be conscious of. So yes it was serious and even dangerous but it seemed controllable.

Life went on in the office, and I took on some more of Sheila’s assignments. That way she’d be able to return and the stack of work wouldn’t be too overwhelming. Sheila would return in late April. She looked like herself but I noticed that she’d disappear around mid-afternoon. When we spoke about it, she said that she was getting tired but that she otherwise felt great. The doctor told her to take it easy and to not lift anything more than ten pounds, which would be tough because she and her husband were getting ready to move, but that she would do as the doctors told her. Besides, she’d have the movers do it all.

The weekend passed, and Sheila didn’t come in on Monday. She complained that she wasn’t feeling well so she just needed the day off to rest up. Monday night she went to bed.

At our house, The Wife has been working a lot of crazy hours lately, including getting up and out by about six each morning. She decided that after not getting home until after 9:00 Monday night, that she would drive The Son to her father’s house on Tuesday, and that I could just go to work. I made my way from Carmel to New Rochelle in less than 45 minutes. I was so early that I went into Stop and Shop to buy some yogurt, and still had time to stand outside the office door and read my newspaper because the office was still locked. About an hour later, my office mate Georgia turned and looked at me, horrified.

“Sheila’s dead.”

Sheila did not wake up Tuesday morning. Nothing I could say, do or analyze was going to make the situation better. Still like many, it was tough to concentrate on work. Though I had known her all of about eight weeks or so, I felt like we were friends. More so, I knew that our mutual friend Joanne would be devastated. I also felt awful for the many long, teary-eyed faces that I saw as the day went on.

So how would the office respond?

Life, they say, goes on. And so it did on Tuesday, May 1, 2006. There would be a small memorial in the office – fifteen minutes, tops – with lots of tears, a few heartfelt stories, and some rancid phoniness. After that, everyone went back to work. Knowing Sheila the way I barely did, I’d think that she would want everyone to carry on, but would have been thrilled to get her colleagues the rest of the day off.

But nobody wants that under the circumstances.

I’m not a part of this story, you see, but I’ve suddenly become the person who will take on many of Sheila’s duties. My worst fear has come true in that it was suggested that I sit at her desk beginning next week. Not to overstate this, but it would be like, say, Miguel Cairo taking over Thurman Munson’s locker. I’m just a temp, and a very small part of the promotions department (so much so that my name wasn’t mentioned when one of the higher-ups name-checked everyone in the department during the memorial). In the memorial, I even felt this glaze of people with the “who’s he” look. Believe me I didn’t want to go to the memorial, and questioned if I belonged there, but Georgia prompted me to go, and I know what Sheila would have said: “Come on. You belong in there also”, just as she did when there was a retirement luncheon that I questioned if I should be at.

In the end, I was glad to be in the memorial, if only to prepare Joanne for some hard crying without saying a word. As another colleague spoke, I knew she was going to refer to the last time she spoke to Sheila, and how Sheila’s last sentence was a huge compliment to JoJo. I grabbed Joanne’s shoulder as she started to speak, and I’m glad I did because Jo all but collapsed.

We finished the work day, and I had some deep thoughts about all that I had seen and heard. Everybody has a different way of handling grief. Some do it by rambling at the mouth, others cry for a person that they barely knew, others are more thoughtful about it, and a few put on a grand show. Some speak as if they knew the person, yet truly did not. These words have to come from the heart, not from paper. They have to be real.

Today, Sheila’s desk is adorned with flowers and plants, and people are carrying on as normal, albeit with heavy hearts, as if Sheila is going to walk in the room at any moment with a big smile on her face. It’s all just been a big joke, right? Not so. I walked to Quizno’s for lunch today, just as I did on that first day, and on my way back, on the other side of Huguenot Street, was Sheila’s best friend in the office, Tracy, walking with somebody else. It was just too weird, because Sheila was supposed to be there. That’s the way lunch always was for them.

So here we are. Yes, life does go on, but it doesn’t make any sense. Why take a vibrant, funny, brilliant 40 year-old woman? Because she didn’t have any kids? So what – there’s a husband, mother and others mourning her today. As always, we begin to question the powers that be, but it’s not going to do us any good. So without getting into any grand philosophical argument, let me just raise a glass.

Here’s to you, Sheila. And thanks for being the first to make me comfortable here.

Retired Numbers Redux

As I wrote in the last sentence of my last post, we've lost a coworker here at my job. While I've only been with this company for not even a few months (and am still only a temp), this was the first person I met when I got here and instantly liked her. I will post a few thoughts about all of this if and when the right time comes. This stuff is never easy to write or read, and while I do have a few thoughts about her (and the way things have been handled here), I admit that I must tread carefully. I know you all understand.

However, to do something completely frivolous and off the topic of death, I found this from Sweeny Murti's blog over at WFAN. You will recall that I was knocking Yankees off their retired number perches in a recent post. Well Sweeny goes even farther than I did. His list is:

#3 Babe Ruth
#4 Lou Gehrig
#5 Joe DiMaggio
#7 Mickey Mantle
#8 Yogi Berra
#10 Phil Rizzuto
#15 Thurman Munson
#16 Whitey Ford

#3 Babe Ruth
#4 Lou Gehrig
#5 Joe DiMaggio
#7 Mickey Mantle
#8 Bill Dickey/Yogi Berra
#9 Roger Maris
#10 Phil Rizzuto
#15 Thruman Munson
#16 Whitey Ford
#23 Don Mattingly
#37 Casey Stengel

I've cut Billy Martin, Elston Howard, Reggie Jackson, and Ron Guidry. I've already said that Joe Torre, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera are no-brainers. I've also wounded some by saying no to Paul O'Neill and (GASP!) Bernie Williams. I can argue leaving Roger Maris as retired (special reasons) just as I can argue reinstating Elston Howard (again, special reasons).

Anyway I agree with Sweeny on a lot of his points but disagree on two major points (that you must spend your entire career with the Yankees and that you must be a Hall of Famer). No - you hav to resonate and be a legend. That's Don Mattingly, my friends. On ANY OTHER TEAM that is Bernie and O'Neill. Sometimes there are special circumstances (Munson, and even Maris and Howard).

So read up on what Sweeny has to say. He by the way, is one of the best in the biz and seems to be a really nice guy with no agenda. I've sat near him in the press box at Yankee Stadium and even on a flight from New York to New Orleans (strangely enough). He does not drink the Yankees Kool-Aid.

Again, a reminder that Bobby Ray Murcer, cancer survivor, Yankees legend (his number might have been reitred with another team) and great man returns to the booth tonight for a three-game set as the Yanks visit the Rangers in Texas.

Off The Bench

Greetings from beautiful sunny downtown New Rochelle, where the temperature is probably a good 10 degrees lower than it is inland. Oh well, I’ll still take it.

Ah, Spring. The time of the year when the weather warms up and I’m constantly thinking that I’m getting sick when I’m really dealing with some lame allergy.

So exactly what kind of boost did that walkoff A-Rod homer against the Indians give the Yankees two weeks ago? It’s not A-Rod’s fault – imagine how bad it would be without him – but there are still a lot of problems. We’ll see if a trip to Texas is what they need. Oh and by the way, Bobby Murcer will be part of the YES TV crew. That’s great news.

I asked my friend JoJo where to get good pizza here in New Ro, so she suggested a place to me within walking distance of our office. Her endorsement didn’t strike me as ringing, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I liked it, and it’s fine in a pinch, but I wouldn’t give a ringing endorsement either. A quick Top-5 (off the top of my noggin’) would be this:

5) Plaza Pizzeria – Carmel. The guys are friendly and the food is really good. It’s not easy to find good pizza in “the sticks” but these guys get it done. One beef – they don’t except credit cards (which by the way, The Blazer Pub in Purdy’s doesn’t do either. Too bad because they have well-known burgers there).
4) Peppino’s – Somers (Baldwin Place at Mahopac). Like Plaza Pizzeria, this is a small, no-frills pizza joint. Then pizza tastes like the Bronx – good flavor, especially in the sauce, while the crust is almost a perfect consistency. But dinner here is a treat. Their chicken parmesan is just too good.
3) Dom and Vinnie’s – Valhalla. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a full fresh pizza from these guys, so if the reheated pies are that good, then that’s saying something. Again, it’s small and no-fills. Some misses can be had sometimes, but the hits are oh-so-good.
2) Patsy’s – Manhattan (the Harlem one, not the midtown one). I only had it once, after my brother told me about it. We bought the pie and it rode in my lap from 1st Avenue to Mahopac. It was still amazing when I finally bit into it.
1) Sal’s – Mamaroneck. All I can say is that it is a religious experience for me. The people there are sometimes like soup Nazi’s (of Seinfeld fame, people!) but the pizza just melts in your mouth. A regular slice? Sicilian? Both? You can’t go wrong.

Lucio’s in Pleasantville and Nicky’s in White Plains are also top-notch and I’m sure there are others. Notice that I picked plain pizza places (so “Greek style” Four Brothers in Mahopac didn’t make the cut). And chain pizzas? Nope. Frozen? In a pinch, fine, but they’re not going to be here. My friend and fellow blogger Sean Kilkelly is fond of Italian Pavilion in White Plains. It’s all subjective, of course and believe me, just after I hit the “publish” button I’ll realize that I left somebody out.

We pulled off my mother’s surprise party at McCarthy’s in Lake Carmel Sunday. If you were on route 52 yesterday and saw a sign that said “Happy 70th Birthday Nancy”, you know what it was for. What the party reminded me of (along with wakes, funerals, and weddings) is that life is too short and we have to make time to be with people we enjoy. That said, nobody has the time.

That’s some great driving in Oakland, CA. If you didn’t see it, a truck fire brought down part of an interchange near the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, in what’s being described as the worst traffic nightmare since the 1989 earthquake. For us New Yorkers, the interchange is like the equivalent of, say, the LIE and the Grand Central, or 287 at 87 near the Tappan Zee Bridge (in Westchester) or something like that. In other words, it is a vital artery in the Bay Area and a chunk of it is closed. The proverbial “they” don’t know when it will be fixed either.

Geez, and I thought it was taking “them” a long time to fix the sinkhole on 6N between Myrtle Ave and Hill St in Mahopac?

I haven’t talked too much about it, but what the hell is going on with The Sopranos? I get that they sometimes need an episode to set things up, and I’ve never been a big critic of the show, but last night was just not up to par for me. Then there was that poop thing…

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.

Attention smokers! You have often been the target of many rants (perhaps not in the blog) but definitely in my thoughts. Here’s the deal. Cars come with these things called ashtrays (and if yours doesn’t have one, then buy one). Put your fookin ciggies in that ash tray, you arsehole. Should I just spit my gum out the window when I’m done?

Oh, and let this be a reminder to my fellow drivers that signals are your friends. Use them. Please.

Next up – celebrity driving school with my guest star, John Corzine! Seriously, the governor of New Jersey left the hospital yesterday, and I do wish him nothing but the best. Just because I think he’s a political clown doesn’t mean I wish poor health on the man. I just always thought he was proof that the most money buys an election.

I hate chain letters, whether they appear via email, MySpace, or any other way. They are evil, and I ignore virtually every one. As Cream sang in “Born Under a Bad Sign”, “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” That, friends, is quite true.

Why do people drink decaf coffee? Are you trying to tell me that it’s for the taste?

Couldn’t help but ponder that one when I saw the pot on the burner in the kitchen here.

Apparently there’s sadness over the fact that “The King of Queens” is ending on TV. Hmmm…guess I can’t be sad if I never watched it. That show sits in the “Everybody Loves Raymond (But Me)” category. Never watched it but more importantly, never wanted to watch it. If I’m going for CBS sitcoms, I’ll take “How I Met Your Mother” first. That is, of course, if I’m not watching “The Office”, “Scrubs”, and “30 Rock” over on NBC.

You remember NBC, don’t you? The home of the gutless news division?
By the way, it isn’t appointment TV for me, but “Deal or No Deal” is just too good. There isn’t a better host than Howie Mandell (and I never thought I’d ever say anything nice about him). It isn’t even about the models. It is, however, about watching people get greedy and implode. Take last night, for instance. Here’s a 19 year-old college girl facing a board with huge dollar amounts, but she has been offered $239,000 to walk away. She declined. Long story short, she walked out with $88,000. Not too shabby, but greed did her in.

That’s the beauty of the show. That and watching The Son imitate Howie’s “open the case.”

Boomer Esiason is now holding down the Imus slot on WFAN and the remaining affiliates. At first I was dismissive, and will not base my day around it, but it’s been fairly tolerable. So far, Boomer has had somebody to kind of keep him company (besides Charles McCord, Chris Carlin, and Lou Ruffino). Yesterday it was Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Today it was Cris Collinsworth. Tomorrow it is Monica Crowley. Interesting stuff. Boomer says he would not consider doing the morning radio bit on a consistent basis, so those who thing that the “B-man” will become the next “I-man” are wrong.

At least based on what he said this morning. If they showed him the money, who knows?

Crowley, on the other hand, might be the one to take a stab at it. It bears watching.

Greetings from beautiful sunny downtown New Rochelle, where the temperature is probably a good 10 degrees lower than it is inland. Oh well, I’ll still take it.

Ah, Spring. The time of the year when the weather warms up and I’m constantly thinking that I’m getting sick when I’m really dealing with some lame allergy.

So exactly what kind of boost did that walkoff A-Rod homer against the Indians give the Yankees two weeks ago? It’s not A-Rod’s fault – imagine how bad it would be without him – but there are still a lot of problems. We’ll see if a trip to Texas is what they need. Oh and by the way, Bobby Murcer will be part of the YES TV crew. That’s great news.

I asked my friend JoJo where to get good pizza here in New Ro, so she suggested a place to me within walking distance of our office. Her endorsement didn’t strike me as ringing, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I liked it, and it’s fine in a pinch, but I wouldn’t give a ringing endorsement either. A quick Top-5 (off the top of my noggin’) would be this:

5) Plaza Pizzeria – Carmel. The guys are friendly and the food is really good. It’s not easy to find good pizza in “the sticks” but these guys get it done. One beef – they don’t except credit cards (which by the way, The Blazer Pub in Purdy’s doesn’t do either. Too bad because they have well-known burgers there).
4) Peppino’s – Somers (Baldwin Place at Mahopac). Like Plaza Pizzeria, this is a small, no-frills pizza joint. Then pizza tastes like the Bronx – good flavor, especially in the sauce, while the crust is almost a perfect consistency. But dinner here is a treat. Their chicken parmesan is just too good.
3) Dom and Vinnie’s – Valhalla. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a full fresh pizza from these guys, so if the reheated pies are that good, then that’s saying something. Again, it’s small and no-fills. Some misses can be had sometimes, but the hits are oh-so-good.
2) Patsy’s – Manhattan (the Harlem one, not the midtown one). I only had it once, after my brother told me about it. We bought the pie and it rode in my lap from1st Avenue to Mahopac. It was still amazing when I finally bit into it.
1) Sal’s – Mamaroneck. All I can say is that it is a religious experience for me. The people there are sometimes like soup Nazi’s (of Seinfeld fame, people!) but the pizza just melts in your mouth. A regular slice? Sicilian? Both? You can’t go wrong.

Lucio’s in Pleasantville and Nicky’s in White Plains are also top-notch and I’m sure there are others. Notice that I picked plain pizza places (so “Greek style” Four Brothers in Mahopac didn’t make the cut). And chain pizzas? Nope. Frozen? In a pinch, fine, but they’re not going to be here. My friend and fellow blogger Sean Kilkelly is fond of Italian Pavilion in White Plains. It’s all subjective, of course and believe me, just after I hit the “publish” button I’ll realize that I left somebody out.

We pulled off my mother’s surprise party at McCarthy’s in Lake Carmel Sunday. If you were on route 52 yesterday and saw a sign that said “Happy 70th Birthday Nancy”, you know what it was for. What the party reminded me of (along with wakes, funerals, and weddings) is that life is too short and we have to make time to be with people we enjoy. That said, nobody has the time.

That’s some great driving in Oakland, CA. If you didn’t see it, a truck fire brought down part of an interchange near the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, in what’s being described as the worst traffic nightmare since the 1989 earthquake. For us New Yorkers, the interchange is like the equivalent of, say, the LIE and the Grand Central, or 287 at 87 near the Tappan Zee Bridge (in Westchester) or something like that. In other words, it is a vital artery in the Bay Area and a chunk of it is closed. The proverbial “they” don’t know when it will be fixed either.

Geez, and I thought it was taking “them” a long time to fix the sinkhole on 6N between Myrtle Ave and Hill St in Mahopac?

I haven’t talked too much about it, but what the hell is going on with The Sopranos? I get that they sometimes need an episode to set things up, and I’ve never been a big critic of the show, but last night was just not up to par for me. Then there was that poop thing…

Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.

Attention smokers! You have often been the target of many rants (perhaps not in the blog) but definitely in my thoughts. Here’s the deal. Cars come with these things called ashtrays (and if yours doesn’t have one, then buy one). Put your fookin ciggies in that ash tray, you arsehole. Should I just spit my gum out the window when I’m done?

Oh, and let this be a reminder to my fellow drivers that signals are your friends. Use them. Please.

Next up – celebrity driving school with my guest star, John Corzine! Seriously, the governor of New Jersey left the hospital yesterday, and I do wish him nothing but the best. Just because I think he’s a political clown doesn’t mean I wish poor health on the man. I just always thought he was proof that the most money buys an election.

I hate chain letters, whether they appear via email, MySpace, or any other way. They are evil, and I ignore virtually every one. As Cream sang in “Born Under a Bad Sign”, “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” That, friends, is quite true.

Why do people drink decaf coffee? Are you trying to tell me that it’s for the taste?

Couldn’t help but ponder that one when I saw the pot on the burner in the kitchen here.

Apparently there’s sadness over the fact that “The King of Queens” is ending on TV. Hmmm…guess I can’t be sad if I never watched it. That show sits in the “Everybody Loves Raymond (But Me)” category. Never watched it but more importantly, never wanted to watch it. If I’m going for CBS sitcoms, I’ll take “How I Met Your Mother” first. That is, of course, if I’m not watching “The Office”, “Scrubs”, and “30 Rock” over on NBC.

You remember NBC, don’t you? The home of the gutless news division?
By the way, it isn’t appointment TV for me, but “Deal or No Deal” is just too good. There isn’t a better host than Howie Mandell (and I never thought I’d ever say anything nice about him). It isn’t even about the models. It is, however, about watching people get greedy and implode. Take last night, for instance. Here’s a 19 year-old college girl facing a board with huge dollar amounts, but she has been offered $239,000 to walk away. She declined. Long story short, she walked out with $88,000. Not too shabby, but greed did her in.

That’s the beauty of the show. That and watching The Son imitate Howie’s “open the case.”

Boomer Esiason is now holding down the Imus slot on WFAN and the remaining affiliates. At first I was dismissive, and will not base my day around it, but it’s been fairly tolerable. So far, Boomer has had somebody to kind of keep him company (besides Charles McCord, Chris Carlin, and Lou Ruffino). Yesterday it was Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Today it was Cris Collinsworth. Tomorrow it is Monica Crowley. Interesting stuff. Boomer says he would not consider doing the morning radio bit on a consistent basis, so those who thing that the “B-man” will become the next “I-man” are wrong.

At least based on what he said this morning. If they showed him the money, who knows?

Crowley, on the other hand, might be the one to take a stab at it. It bears watching.

I have so much more to say, but I can’t remember any of it. I guess with senility settling in, I really should be writing these things down when I think of them, eh?

People who honk their horns for no apparent reason should be vanquished on-site. At least count to ten before the yabo at the light doesn’t move.

Of course this plan would mean that we’re going to be low on cab drivers, but we’ll survive.

I am beyond sick of listening to people whine about "NIMBY-ish" things. Indian Point doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so get over it. There will be a new Yankee Stadium and there is not a blessed thing I can do about it, so I'm dealing with it. Eventually if Patterson Crossing isn't built, something else will come along.

Every day I read some idiotic complaint in the paper about something - trivial or otherwise. Like the person who complained about the trains honking on the Metro North lines coming into the Peekskill station. Apparently that bothered him in his pricey condo. So, you know, as not to disturb him, the trains could try their softer horns.

Hey, you knew the train was there when you bought it, fool!

For those who are about to take me to task, there is a difference between a train horn that HAS to honk and a car horn that needs to honk.

I have so much more to say, but I can’t remember any of it. I guess with senility settling in, I really should be writing these things down when I think of them, eh?

Wouldn't be right if I didn't finish with birthday greetings for my blog mate Tim Parry. TP doesn't look a day over...um...um...30. How's that, Tim? Happy Birthday, and thanks for helping to make my job as a broadcaster a lot easier.

(Just one thing, Tim - update that personal blog...soon).

The birthday wishes are belated, but heartfelt nonetheless.

Oh, and Rangers in Seven (and stay onsides, or something like that).

I no sooner hit "publish" on this one when I found out that a coworker in my department passed away this morning. A very young woman is gone - please think some good thoughts. Sometimes I really can't figure the world out.