Thoughts While Driving

I'm kind of bored with the "Off the Bench" moniker, so it's taking a break.

Right off the bat, let's go to "The Sopranos." I hate Instant Classics, but that episode was awfully close. SPOILER ALERT...Down goes Bobby, down goes Sil, Tony's hiding in a bedroom with a rifle, AJ is acting like Fredo, Melfi gets medieval. Is that everything? Not even close.

How exactly does Paulie fit into the finale? BADA BING!

PS - Never disprespect the Bing.

So basically A-Rod told Boston, "mock me if you want, but I got your blonde wigs right here."

Then he hit one to the Prudential Center to help the Yankees win two of three. It could have been a sweep but the Yankees decided to play worse than the Carmel T-Ball Giants on Saturday.

Then, as they have done time after time during this putrid season, they take whatever momentum they build and prove the old axiom that momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. Matt DeSalvo was dreadful and the Yanks lost to a reeling White Sox team. So I will say it now:

It is over. This team is done. Joe Torre will manage the rest of the year, the Yankees will miss the playoffs, and sweeping changes will come for '08. I see nothing positive with this team.

This is not a knee-slap reaction. This is logical, rational thinking.

I'm not known for being an animal person, but this story bugged me. Look, I love horses, and am fond of dogs, and have owned cats for as long as I can remember. But what's most troubling to me about this story - where this arse clown in London eats dog meatballs - is that it's the meat of a Corgi. I know a corgi, and we're very good friends.

Of course, Yoko Ono was there and she ate some of the dog meat also. Um...OK.

I have a Yoko comment, but nothing good will come from it. Moving on...

Paul McCartney is supposedly a little frisky in the latest edition of The New Yorker. Haven't read it yet but have heard some of the rhetoric, where Macca takes some shots - including at Oasis, Coldplay, and U2. So to answer the question, Sir Paul will be angry when he's 64.

I read a lot of media critics - especially sports media critics. I admit that I have read Bob Raissman for as long as I can remember. Most of the time I think he's dead wrong and as I have said, he has a flat out bias. He has long mocked Mike and the Mad Dog, Suzyn Waldman, John Sterling and others. This past Sunday he put a whole new spin on his own form of hypocrisy. He defended Ms. Waldman - whom I have also defended at times - in the face of criticism from, you guessed it, Mssrs. Russo and Francesa for picking on Suzyn after her Roger Clemens meltdown. This from a guy who has called her "Ma Pinstripe" for years.

Laughable, Bob. The best part was Francesa calling out Raissman and Michael Kay, both of whom were called "jerks", and ripping on 1050 ESPN's ratings.

I read Raissman because he frankly pisses me off most of the time, but I'm starting to find that Neil Best is, well, perhaps...um...the best of the critics out there. He doesn't seem to have a bias, and that's refreshing. Plus his blog is interesting. Go read him in Newsday - which I admit I would not read if it wasn't online, because it's too much of Metsday for me.

The Journal News really could use a media critic again - especially a sports media critic. They had one (Jane McManus) but I often felt she was flying so high being a feminist sports media critic that her opinions were often skewed.

I would be open to the job for a fair salary...since the "Rob in New Ro" era ends this Friday. Perhaps more about that later.

Many thanks to JoJo for her fun-filled party in her new abode. She definitely put the "warm" into "housewarming."

I don't care how hot it was in that apartment - good food, people, and laughs will get you through anything.

History alert! For those who have XM Radio, their "40's on 4" channel will be running the actual audio, as it happened, from NBC Radio's coverage of the D-Day Invasion. Now think about this - reports that were coming in from 1944 when radio was all that we had for up-to-the-minute info. The bad news is that the rebroadcast starts at 12:41 tomorrow morning. The good news is that it runs through 5:45 tomorrow night.

I really get into these "as it happened" types of things (think September 11th, 2001, and the JFK assassination), so I'm going to try to hear at least some of it.

Charles Nelson Reilly died on May 25th, and I just found that out. If you do not know who CNR was, then I feel badly for you.

Two words: Match Game. (Could be Match Game '74, '75, etc, but it makes no difference). He, Brett Somers Richard Dawson, and Gene Reyburn MADE the Match Game what it was, and it was often hysterical.

It would be too easy to pick on Billy Donovan for his flip-flopping on the Orlando Magic job. He had a change of heart. Why in the world would the Magic want him to stay, or make him miserable? They're feeling like they've been stiffed, and they have, but the bottom line is that nobody looks worse than Donovan himself.

That's why it's too easy to pick on him. He did it to himself.

I guess David Beckham is having second thoughts as well. What, you didn't know that arguably the most popular soccer player is supposed to be with the team in LA. Then he discovered that money can't buy everything.

Let's finish with some video, shall we? Want to go from LA to Richmond, VA and not leave your seat, all within 3:55? It's well-edited and kind of funny, plus the music is cool. Oh, but you're going to have to look at a few more toilets than you might want to. Enjoy the ride.