The best NY Jets song

I found this on a website I post at. I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. Hopefully, the guy won't find out I'm copying it because it's too funny. This also goes well with my funeralized fantasy football team. I could have thrown another "f" in there, but that's not necessary. I lost the championship by ONE DAMN POINT 91-90!

Anyway, I spent 10 minutes just formatting the text so it would look right. And, I think this is a little too rough on Coach Herman Edwards, but here goes. This is to the tune of Don McLean's "American Pie."

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that ballclub used to make me smile.
And I knew if Herm just took a chance
That we could make it to the Big Dance
And, maybe, we’d be happy for a while.
But January made me shiver
With every kick Doug Brien didn’t deliver.
Bad news on the big screen;
I didn’t even give a scream.
I can’t remember if I cried
When I watch that last kick sail too wide,
But something crushed me deep inside
The day the season died.

So bye-bye, to my Jet fan high.
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

Did you have a team you love,
And do you have faith in Weeb above,
If the old-timers tell you so?
Do you believe we won it all,
And that this franchise once stood real tall,
And can you tell me all you know?
Well, I know that we’re in love with them
`cause we watch despite all the mayhem.
We all kicked down some brews.
Cause it’s the only way to kill the blu-uuuuues. ( I added the extra u's there).
I am a miserable middle-aged dumb-ass schmuck
Whose heart is always run-over by a big green truck,
And have never even heard of luck
The day the season died.

I started singin’,“bye-bye,
to my Jet fan high.”
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

Now for thirty-six years we could only dream
And Moss grows phat on another team,
But that’s not how it used to be.
When Broadway threw to win the game,
In pantyhose, we loved him just the same
And an arm that earned him a Super Bowl trophy,
Oh, and while the king was looking down,
Two bad knees stole his chance at second crown.
His legend is truly earned;
But the magic never returned.
And while the Sack Exchange led the attack,
Richard Todd almost got us back,
But AJ and mud gave a fade-to-black
The day the season died.

We were singing,“bye-bye, to my Jet fan high.”
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

Kotite, what a fright, but the Tuna came to set it right.
The turnaround was an amazing sight,
Winning games and rising fast
At the Meadowlands they added grass.
Leon Johnson tried for a forward pass,
And same-old-Jets came back from the past.
Now the ninety-eight team brought a collective roar
As we finished the season twelve and four.
We all got up for the dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
As Curtis and KJ tried to take the field;
The Broncos D refused to yield.
Do you recall how Vinny was revealed
The day the season died?

We started singing,“bye-bye, to my Jet fan high.”
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

Oh, here we all are in a strange new place
With a head coach who is lost in space
With no time left on the clock again.
So come on: Herm be nimble, Herm be quick!
Herm probably has a story about a candlestick
Cause BS is the Hermster’s only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the screen
My hands were clenched and I gave a scream.
No coordinator who gives ‘em hell
Could break old Herman’s spell.
And as the scores climbed high into the night
I knew that something wasn’t right,
I heard Herman saying “we’ll be alright”
The day the season died

He was singing,“bye-bye, to my Jet fan high.”
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

We started a QB who gave us hope
Was he the savior….sorry…. nope,
He tore his shoulder and then turned away.
I went down to theganggreen.com board
I searched for answers, but my faith wasn’t restored,
And the men there said it was tough to watch them play.
And in the threads: the darksiders screamed,
The faithful cried, and the sunshiners dreamed.
A million words were spoken;
All of our hearts were broken.
And the three things I abhor the most:
The Fake Spike, the shovel pass and the SOJ ghost,
They all have made our beloved team toast
The day the season died.

We were singing,“bye-bye, to my Jet fan high.”
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

We were singing,“bye-bye, to my Jet fan high.”
Smashed my remote as I emote,
And let the swears fly.
I feel like I could drink some arsenic and lye
Singin’, "this’ll be the Sunday I die."
this’ll be the Sunday I die."

I apologize to Tom Brady.

I've ripped this guy over and over. Some people think it was unnecesary. Well I still hate him more than any athlete not named Larry Jones. But I'm not going to rip him today. Instead I'm going to turn my attention to Washington WR Santana Moss, a true son of a bitch.

This midget couldn't ever produce as a Jet. He sucked for 5 years. He dropped passes, his size didn;t allow him to make big catches. All he did was catch a swing pass and the coaching staff expected him to break 11 tackles and score a touchdown. So this offseason, he goes to Washington and the Jets get back Laveraneus Coles and I was all for the trade. Pennington and Coles reunited. Joy to the World!!! Great trade!!!

What the hell happens? As it always goes for New York Football. Coles gets lost in the shuffle as the Jets use 4 quarterbacks and is barely heard from. He gets talked about as much as Harry Williams, the Jets 6th round draft pick this year, who hasn't played a down all year!

But that little bastard Moss becomes the FIRST PLAYER that Jet GM Terry Bradway has either drafted or signed that makes it to the Pro Bowl. And he does it with the Redskins. And the way he torched the Giants today was a damn joke. Did you see the way the Giants defense was tackling? That secondary? My 14-year old dog could have played better cornerback than Will Allen, Curtis DeLoatch, and Corey Webster. At least Hogan has some speed. But was that the Kansas City defense morphing into the Giant uniforms? What a debacle. The way they were walking around in the grass, it looked more like the Giants were playing golf or croquet!

But Moss was never half this player in green and white. It's like slamming your head against a concrete wall.

And everything plummets straight to hell for the Giants. Yeah, they may still make the playoffs, but they'll be one and done. Looking at the way they're plaing right now, they have no ability to beat Chicago, Seattle, or Carolina. Did Jeremy Shockey show up? Did Plaxico Burress show up? Better yet, did his hands show up? Nice drop on the first play of the game on what would have been a 50 yard touchdown. No Antonio Pierce. No William Joseph. No Kareem McKenzie. No Carlos Emmons. No pass defense. Next to no chance to get to the NFC title game, let alone the Super Bowl. Let's just move on to the WNBA or the AHL or professional lacrosse. Anything. The stupid World Baseball Classic.

And the Jets have been meaningless since September. What a Merry Christmas this is.

Conflict of interest, Fantasy

For the last two weeks, I've been entering professor and spring course information for a load of new colleges that we're entering into the Houghton Mifflin database. And I've already gotten two schools that are in Gordon's conference: Salve Regina and Eastern Nazarene College. ENC is our second biggest rival: alongside those evil Gulls of Endicott. ENC is the only other religious co-ed school in the 13-team conference, so the rivalry comes naturally, though it's more friendly than others. Then again, the only thing they're really good in is men's basketball so I don't have much of a problem with them. Now if they ask me to add Endicott, I will "politely" pass on that, thank you very much.

Fantasy football is winding down this week and one of my teams, Not Easy Bein' Green, is in the championship game. Even though I'm seeded second and he's first, I believe I have a great chance to win my first fantasy championship ever. Here's the lineup as of now.

My team
Carson Palmer (CIN QB)
Hines Ward (PIT WR)
Joey Galloway (TB WR)
Roy Williams (DET WR) or Plaxico Burress (NYG WR)
Shaun Alexander (SEA RB)
Ryan Moats (PHI RB) or Fred Taylor (JAX RB)
Tony Gonzalez (KC TE)
Jeff Wilkins (STL K)
Pittsburgh (vs. Cleveland) DEF or New England (vs. Jets) D

His team
Peyton Manning (IND QB)
Jimmy Smith (JAX WR)
Rod Smith (DEN WR)
Eddie Kennison (KC WR)
Larry Johnson (KC RB)
Greg Jones (JAX RB)
Jason Witten (DAL TE)
Jason Elam (DEN K)
Chicago (DEF)

Now Manning, first of all is not going to play much. Tony Dungy has said he will rest his starters after x amount of time since the Colts have homefield advantage secure. Nice move, Tony. You're a smart man. Jimmy Smith has a quad injury. Kennison has a sprained MCL and is questionable. Larry Johnson is my biggest concern. He's going aginst San Diego who will be desperate to get into the playoffs. The biggest question is will Greg Jones or Fred Taylor get more running opportunities. Taylor is the incumbent coming back, but Jones has been a fine replacement. Now Jones is hurting after getting a stinger last week. I have Jason Witten on my other fantasy team and he is useless. He scores a TD once every 4 weeks and that's it. Elam will get a few points against Oakland. The Chicago defense will probably do very well against the Bay of Pigs.

Carson Palmer is a guy I drafted in the sixth round and has been a steal. Against Buffalo, it at home should continue. Galloway and Ward have been fine all year. Burress or Williams? Williams is going against Atlanta and Burress against Washington, both very good pass defenses. I'm getting a little annoyed with Plaxico. Actually, it's really Eli Manning's inability to throw a straight pass that's hurting him. I like Shuan Alexander against the Colts if they are going to rest their regulars. And Indy Pro Bowl LB Cato June is out for the regular season. That can only help. Ryan Moats has been great and is playing Arizona, an average run defense. But Fred Taylor is back and playing the hideous Houston Texans, second worst in the league. Sometmes you need luck to do well and that happened to me in the draft for this league. I was the last guy to select a kicker and took Jeff Wilkins. He's been excellent. And with the Rams playing San Francisco at home, he'll score more than a few. I can play Pitt or NE on D and right now I'm leaning towards New England. I think Cleveland will give Pittsburgh a tough game and score some points. And the Jet offense is more prone to turnovers.

Right now, the Yahoo projected totals have me winning 70-54. But that's with Manning throwing for 80-99 yards and no touchdowns. I'll give him one, adding 6 points to his total. They have Palmer throwing 2 TD's for 250 yards and Alexander scoring 2 as well. Ward, Galloway, and Williams are all expected to score a touchdown which I don't think is realistic. My WR play has been very disappointing as of late. I'll take 6 points out of my total. That would have me winning 64-60.

Last year I won the regular season title and fell in the semifinals over not having access to a computer for 3 days since I was traveling out east. I couldn't make the subs I wanted to and lost. That's not happening this time around.

OK, time to enter Eastern Nazarene's information...

The state of the Knicks

This is a quote from Marc Berman in Satuday's New York Post.

In underscoring the greenness of his young players, Larry Brown said, "One guy asked me, 'How do I know the [shot clock] time?' Well, it's on top of the backboard. I never thought I'd have to have that kind of response, but you can't take anything for granted.

This whole franchise is so buried in the dumpster, it's absolutely ridiculous. Was it only 6 years ago that we were in the finals?

ECW! ECW! ECW!

Great news peeps! WWE is releasing an ECW DVD! Lots of matches on this thing and it comes out in February. If I get a girlfriend by then, this will have to be my Valentine's Day gift. Nothing like a Sabu-Terry Funk barb wire match that says L-O-V-E. I've got the match listings and here are my thoughts.

*ECW World Tag Team champions The Public Enemy vs. Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck (August 27, 1994 at ECW Arena)
Cactus and Mikey win over one of the best tag teams of the early ECW. Terry Funk was supposed to team with Cactus in this match, but couldn't make it. Mikey was the ultimate loser/jobber. For about 4 months of wrestling, he never got in ONE OFFENSIVE MANEUVER. He always talked about how scared he was to wrestle and how his opponent would kill him and he cried on camera. And people fell in love with him. This should be good.

*The Sandman & Terry Funk vs. Cactus Jack & ECW World champion Shane Douglas (March 17, 1995, ECW Arena)
I think Shane turn on Cactus here. Cactus and Shane were actually trained together in Pennsylvania by Dominic Denucci. When Funk and Cactus go at it, it's awesome.

*Axl Rotten vs. Ian Rotten - Taipei Death Match (Hardcore Heaven '95, July 7, 1995)
The Bad Breed was the name of this one-time tag team. I've heard bad things about this match, so I don't know why it's here.

*Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis - Mexican Death Match (November to Remember '95, November 18, 1995)
I remember watching Rey Mysterio and Psychosis wrestle on the second or so ECW show I watched. I knew immediately Rey had potential to be huge. Remember these types of matches were from 1995, back when Kevin Nash was WWE champion, defending against King Mabel and WCW Monday Nitro was just getting off the ground. Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant was the big feud there. So to watch this kind of fast, aggressive wrestling was really exciting.

*ECW World Television champion Chris Jericho vs. Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Pitbull #2 (ECW Heatwave '96)
This was a legendary match for the TV title. Jericho was the up and coming star, Pit Bull 2, one half of a great tag team, whose tag partner would soon have his neck broken at the hands of Douglas, Scorpio, the flashy, but solid veteran, Douglas was one of the best heels around, and this match really propelled him into that spot. Francine, the Pit Bulls valet, joined up with Douglas in this match, cost Pit Bull 2 the match, and the Pit Bulls super bomb (top rope powerbomb) her through a table. I hear it went 40 minutes and is a wrestling classic. I'm excited to watch it.

*Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee - Weapons Match (ECW Hardcore Heaven '96)
Brian Lee was Chainz and Ted DiBiase's Undertaker in WWE. Dreamer, the ECW folk hero who represented the company with more heart than anyone ever did. I have a scaffold match between these two, where the ring was filled with tables. The fall Lee took off the scaffold and through all the tables has to be seen to be believed. Lee is not a great wrestler, in that he never seemed to show much passion. Let's see what this match has.

*Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam - Stretcher Match (The Doctor is In, August 3, 1996)
RVD is one of my 3 or 4 favorite wrestlers ever. Sabu is wrestling's human highlight reel. They had some phenomenal matches, both as a tag team and against each other. But I will skip this. I have it on another DVD, and I was disappointed. There were several blown spots and I just felt of the 4 or 5 matches I have with them in the ring together, this is the lowest of them all.

Terry Funk vs. Sandman vs. Stevie Richards (ECW Barely Legal)
From ECW's first pay per view in April 13, 1997. Excellent three-way match with the rising star in Richards (and he would have gotten bigger if he hadn't broken his neck a month later), Sandman (the hardcore icon), and Funk (a legend who has more retirements than Gordie Howe and Evander Holyfield combined). Right after this match, Funk beat Raven (my all-time least favorite ECW wrestler) to win the ECW world title. Talk about emotion. I wish I could have been there. Then again, I was 16 and had school the next day.

*ECW World champion Terry Funk vs. Sabu - No Ropes Barbed Wire Match (Born to Be Wired)
I remember watching an ECW show and they were advertising this match on home video. Joey Styles, the announcer, said "There are some who say that the Terry Funk-Sabu barbed wire match was too extreme even for ECW. And we would be hard pressed not to agree. The crew actually took the ropes down and strung up barbed wire all around the ring. This will be tough to watch. That said, I wanted it on the DVD.

*Beulah McGillicutty vs. Bill Alfonso (As Good as It Gets, September 1997 at ECW Arena)
Perhaps the most beautiful woman in wrestling ever (and Tommy Dreamer's current wife) vs. RVD's manager with the highest, loudest, squeakiest male voice ever. I know Paul Heyman loved this match, as he called it one of the hardest hitting matches ever in the history of the company. That's quite a claim.

*Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow - ECW Death Match (ECW Heatwave '98 PPV)
Yeah, I have this on DVD too. Brooklyn, NY and Red Hook's own Taz (with one z) defends his TV title against the Beast From the East in Bigelow's home, Asbury Park. This was after the Lawrence Taylor Wrestlemania debacle, by the way. A good match, with a classic finish.

*ECW World champion Shane Douglas vs. Tazz (Guilty As Charged '99 PPV)
Taz finally wins the title. The Path of Rage begins.

*The Dudley Boyz vs. Spike Dudley & Balls Mahoney - Chicago Street Fight
Man I hated the Dudleys. Everyone did. I gladly would have spent my money to watch the Dudleys get beat up any day. And isn't Balls Mahoney one of the greatest wrestling names ever?
*ECW World champion Mike Awesome vs. Spike Dudley (Guilty As Charged 2000 PPV)
Spike took some of the sickest bumps ever. Safe bet he'll be taking a few powerbombs in this match.

*Rhino vs. The Sandman (ECW on TNN, February 2000)
Rhino was going to be the company's next huge heel if the company had not gone under. Hopefully, the company will pay the extra royalty money so we can hear Sandman come out to "Enter Sandman." It's not the same without it.

*Super Crazy vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Little Guido (ECW on TNN, March 2000)
International cruiserweights. Don't know what to expect.

*Tommy Dreamer vs. CW Anderson - "I Quit" Match (ECW Guilty as Charged 2001)
CW looked just like Ole Anderson. Something about an I Quit match always raises the ante.

*Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka (ECW One Night Stand PPV)
The best match from 6-12-05, ECW's reunion show. At the end, the fans were chanting "This match rules!" It did.

All in all, not a bad selection. The entire reign of ECW is pretty well represented and the attention given to the different wrestlers is fair. I do wish Raven had been included. He was the easiest guy in the world to hate. I'm really upset the Eliminators, the greatest tag team of all time, are not on here. No team I have ever seen in 20 years could outwork Perry Saturn and John Kronus. And I would have liked to have seen Eddy Guerrerro vs. Dean Malenko from their legendary 1995 feud. There could be a little more straight up wrestling on here.

Hopefully, there will be some promos here too. Steve Austin, Cactus Jack, and Tazz are the top 3 I would want to see. I would love to see Austin doing his Monday Nyquil skit, when he parodied Monday Nitro and impersonated Eric Bischoff.

For JA in MA

Songs about Rain-Gary Allan

Well this town has closed down, way too early
And there's nothing to do
So I'm driving around in circles
And I'm thinking about you

Today I heard you got a new last name
I sure didn't know it was gonna hit me this way
And the radio just keeps on playing all these songs About Rain...

Now there's all kinds of songs about babies and love that goes right.
But for some unknown reason nobody wants to play them tonight.
Hey, I hope it's sunny wherever you are.
That's sure not the picture, tonight in my car
And it sure ain't easin' my pain all these songs like...

"Rainy Night In Georgia"and "Kentucky Rain"
"Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again".
"Blue Eyes Cryin' in the early morning rain"
They go on and on, and there's no two the same
Oh it would be easy to blame all these songs aAbout rain.

Well, I thought I was over you but I guess maybe I'm not.
Cause when I let you go looks like lonely is all that I got.
I guess I'll never know what could have been.
It sure ain't helping this mood that I'm in.
If they're gonna keep on playin these songs like...

"Rainy Night In Georgia"and "Kentucky Rain"
"Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again"
"Blue Eyes Cryin" in the early morning rain"
They go on and on, and there's no two the same
Oh how I wish I could blame all these songs about rain

Another week goes by

And so another work week is drawing to a close. The snow is piling up, the temperature is dropping, and so are the Giants. I don't see any realistic way they can beat Kansas City's No. 1 ranked offense on Saturday without superstar linebacker Antonio Pierce in uniform and on the field. I just don't feel good about this game, unless they can force a few KC turnovers. I'm starting to think the Giants will be a wild card. I hope I'm wrong...

Great Houghton Mifflin holiday party Thursday night. One of the best parties I've ever been to. Then again, considering the number of parties I've been to in my life, that may not be saying much. Good food, the people were great, solid entertainment, everyone had a fine time. To me it's really a testament to the power and to the draw of an open bar. Went to bed with a little buzz, which hasn't happened to me since I was in Mexico over a year ago. Guess there's a second time for everything.

If short people are referred to as vertically challenged, is it okay to refer to overweight people as horizontally challenged?

Convicted hit man Jimmy "Two Shoes" McClardy confessed today that he was hired to beat a cow in a field using two small porcelain figurines. Police say this may be the first known case of a knick-knack paddy wack.

Song pick: Mindy Smith "One Moment More"

USA in trouble

I'm referring to the World Cup soccer tournament drawing that was held today. The USA, ranked 8th in the world, is in group E with Italy (12) Czech Republic (2) (who basically score at the same pace as the Ottawa Senators or the Indianapolis Colts) and Ghana (50). I give the USA a very slim chance to get one of the top 2 records in that group and advance.

I totaled the FIFA rankings for all 8 groups. The four combined teams in Group E is 72. The lower the number, obviously, the better the ranking, and the better the teams are. The next best group is Group F with Brazil (1), Japan (15), Croatia (15), and Australia (49) for a total of 85. But the key is not winning your group, it's how tough the competition is from the other teams in order to advance. The Czech Republic was the second ranked team in the world and not even considered one of the top 8 seeds for this tournament. Amazing.

The only way it probably could have been worse is if they were in Group C with Argentina (3) and the Netherlands (4). This will not be easy.

My South American team, Ecuador, is the lowest ranked team in their group. They're 37 and draw the hosts, Germany, Poland (23), and Costa Rica (27). Plus, if I can score a goal in a game against a group of Ecuadorian soccer players, they're probably not too great anyway.

Mexico has an easy path to the second round. At least they'll play Iran in their group where someone has to lose!

Friday morning, yes!

Six inches of snow blanket Chicago last night.

The good news: I left work 30 minutes early after my boss invited me to. The bad news: I was supposed to drive 45 minutes to Warrenville and watch a movie with my church group. After mom and Unger went on and on about how worried they were, I decided not to go. I was ticked off, but dealt with it. At least I got to hear the broadcast of the Rangers 5-1 win over Nashville. I don't know how, but they did it.

I was actually posting on the Rangers bulletin board during the first period. Now this board is ultra sensitive to bad words. You can't even write the word "sucks." So I'm typing in my post and I don't remember the entire context, but the words "of a goal" were in there. So I submit my post and then I look at the board to make sure it's in. I noticed something unusual. The three words I just typed above were censored. I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized what had happened. "of a goal" contains three letters in a row that refer to a derogatory name for gays. And the computer detected it and censored it. I was just bewildered. I mean, come on, what a joke.

The Braves trade away Andy Marte, Danny Kolb, and Johnny Estrada and get back Wes Obermuller, Lance Cormier, and Oscar the Grouch Villareal. Oh, and they got Edgar Renteria. So what do the Mets do? They sign Jose Valentin, who I think could be a fine utility player provided he's healthy. There's no guarantee of that though. He's a good hitter, and he can certainly replace Marlon Anderson, but I question his defensive abilities. And they sign the only active baseball player who was actually once a teammate of Ty Cobb, Julio Franco. 47 years old. Two guaranteed years. What do we need him for? We have Chris Woodward and Xavier Nady on the bench. The king of grounding into double plays in big spots is on the Mets.

I don't like signing guys like this because I think a team needs to play together for a year or two to develop a team atmosphere. You want some guys who can grow into identifying themselves with the jersey they wear on the field every day. Franco is not one of those guys and he's certainly not about to produce for us like he did for Atlanta.

Today is my last day doing course profiling at Houghton Mifflin. I'm going to be starting a new project of sorts on Monday. And by the end of the weekend, I will have a list of the best college names that I have come across while doing this job. And I already have Number One picked out.

A disaster in Chicago

How are the Rangers winners of 20 games? This was a piss-poor performance as they lose 2-1 in overtime to the lousy, stinky, beat up Chicago Blackhawks, losers of 5 of their last 6.

I attended the game last night at the United Center. I even left work early so I could get there right when the doors opened at 6 p.m. And I did. I had several Rangers fans sitting around me as well. There may have been a few hundred of us in the arena. And all the ends of the stadium were empty. The areas behind the goalies were just a sea of red. Either that or all the people were dressed like chairs.

The first period was totally uneventful. No shots for the first eight minutes by either team. The Rangers had two power plays, didn't score. But they had no pressure at all. Their only close chance came when Steve Rucchin hit the post. Actually the Rangers hit 3 posts during the game. The off the post shot is as much a staple of the Ranger offense and the fumbled snap is of the New York Jet offense.

Now I expected ex-Blackhawk Michael Nylander to do something big in this game. And he did. Pressuring Jim Vandermeer in the Ranger offensive zone, the puck came loose and Petr Prucha scored. 1-0 Rangers midway through the second period.

The bliss lasts for..... eighteen seconds. Before you were done cheering, before the Hawk announcer finished the goal summary over the PA, the Hawks get the puck into the Ranger zone. Nobody seems to see Jaroslav Spacek all alone in the slot. Matthew Barnaby, of all people, passes to him. He shoots, he scores, he ties the game. Somehow, I wasn't surprised. I really wasn't.

Now onto my biggest gripe. I have never seen a power play so inept. I can't imagine it was this bad for the last seven years. Even when they got a 4 minute power play late in the second, I knew they weren't going to score. I said out loud "OK, here comes four minutes of scoreless hockey." That's what happened. Time after time, the Rangers would get into the Hawk zone, pass around the blue line twice, then miss a pass, and the defense would clear the zone. No Ranger dared stand in front of the net and create a little traffic in front of Nikolai Khabibulin. It was like watching the New York Jet offense get the football at the other team's 40 yard line, run 3 plays (with 2 being runs up the middle), and try to kick a field goal. A passive, soft conservative offense that does not work.

But what drove me nuts was the third period. The Rangers have played the third period well all year long. They come out and run Chicago all over the ice. The Hawks never sustained any offensive pressure for more than 30 seconds at a time. The Rangers had breakaways, one-timers, shots from the slot, and nothing went in! Tom Poti stopped point blank. Ryan Hollweg and Martin Rucinsky fail on breakaways. Dominic Moore has Khabibulin flat on his stomach and a wide open net. All he had to do was lift the damn puck six inches! But no. The puck goes right off his stick. The game goes to overtime.

I should also note that the Hawks always had 2 guys in front of their own net. It's as if they were playing not to lose. They were seemingly waiting for the Rangers to screw up and take advantage. Speaking of which...

Martin Rucinsky takes one of the stupidest penalties I have ever seen. 45 seconds into overtime, he sticks his stick up a Hawk's nose. I mean, even Luke Petigout of the Giants was probably watching it and going, "What the hell is he thinking?" A four minute penalty and I got ready to leave. I knew it was over. Not even one minute later, they score. Game over. With my seat two steps from an exit I just got out of there as fast as I could. For any cheering Hawk fan, I reminded them which team was in first place. I should've started a 1961 chant, the last time they won a Stanley Cup. Nah, maybe not.

Yes we got one point. It should've been two. If our power play was worth a damn, we would've scored 4 or 5 goals.

And why did Ville Niemenen sit for a game against his old team? I don't think Colton Orr even played in the third period. The Rucchin-Moore-Hollweg line will not work.

Fedor Tyutin had a lousy night. He could be a good young player, but he'd better get a clue on how to run the power play. And he has no idea how to play defense either.

The Rangers have somehow gotten away with a good first third of the season. I don't know how. But a major move must be made soon. Because there is nowhere near enough offense on this team to keep this team at the top of the Atlantic Division, let alone to make a playoff run.

A very aggravating night, to say the least.

Another shot at this one.

I spent 20 minutes typing this last night before the stupid computer decides to freeze on me. So let's try this again.

One of the spaciest and quirkiest girls I knew in high school is now married and a financial advisor in Texas. Man, 6 years ago, I wouldn't have trusted her with 50 cents. And I don't think I could trust a financial advisor who is starting to pick up a Texas accent. "Well, see the keeey ee-is, ya got tuh diversi-fie wi' ya money. What wee-yull do, we'll take hafe ya' money, put it in a biiig may-naise jar, bury it out in yer backyard. Udduh hafe, wee-yull take down to the dawg track, bet on the one that does his bid-niss right 'fore the race starts."

I didn't watch the Giants game yesterday. Why? Because I played volleyball. Why? Because I'm an idiot. We lost 6 games, including 3 to the team played with for 2 years, and the only team we're better than in the standings. Oh the pain! Basically, we have 4 guys including me. All three are taller than me and I would describe 2 as somewhat athletic. When they go up to spike the ball, I don't think they understand that they can actually hit the ball straight down to the ground. I'm seeing these little dinky popups all day long. It was making me nuts! I seriosly don't think we recorded one kill that I would consider legitimate. And the playoffs are looming next week. Oh joy.

My high school basketball teams are on the road to last place. The girls are 2-5 and the guys are 0-4. Two losses at home this weekend in the hallowed Warrior Dome. Can we just forfeit the seasons and move straight to soccer?

At least Gordon College is doing well. The guys are 4-0 with an upcoming showdown at those evil Endicott Gulls. The women lost to a good Salve team on Saturday, but still look pretty good. But here's what amazes me. The Gordon women's roster has 8 players! Eight players! At my job, I see high school girls teams with 16 players. We can't even do a 5-on-5 scrimmage. That is unbelievable. Can we get Sarah DeLuca off the coach's position and reinstate her for one more year? But I think Coach Cavallaro knows what she's doing. She has a way of getting the most out of her players.

That was the first time I was happy to see the Just End The Season lose to New England. We have nothing to hope for except Reggie Bush in the draft. Curtis Martin rund for 29 yards on 16 carries. And at the end of the first half, 3rd and 5, Jets on the 15 or so yard line on NE. 1 minute left, trailing 3-0. A run with Curtis up the middle. Herman, Heimerdinger, whoever calls the plays, come on. This is not an offense that goes up and down the field at will. If you get that deep late in the first half, you have to try something to keep the ball and go for a big play when you still have a minute to go in a division game on the road! That's not a time to be conservative.

And Tom Brady is still nothing more than an overglorified prick. Put him on the Jets, they still go 4-12.

OK, let's change the mood.

Two and a half days until Rangers-Blackhawks!

Onto the Mets. We now have Paul LoDuca to catch. Now he is a good player and from Brooklyn. We traded Gaby Hernandez, a 21 year old pitcher who I wanted to keep more than Petit! He threw a no-hitter last year and is on his way up. He and Petit will probably be stars for the Marlins in about 2 years. Hey, Mr. Full Autonomy, do we have a minor league system anymore? Do we have any pitching prospects left? Because in case you haven't noticed, we have 3 starters all over 34 and they will need to be replaced soon. And we're probably about to sign Mark Grudzielanek to play second base, which I like well enough. Now get Matsui out (God willing, a trade for a decent prospect) and please DONT TRADE FOR MANNY RAMIREZ.

The Mets are a win-now team. They have 2 years probably, to win the World Series. I'm nervous about throwing so many chips into the center of the table when this is a hand we could easily lose.

If someone could explain to me how cigarettes are appealing, I'd like to know.

Rocky 6 is going to happen. I just don't know, 16 years after the last one, what storyline could be appealing. The only thing I know is Rocky is widowed and gets back into the ring again. Uh, yeah. If I was Stallone, I would not go back to Rocky unless I had a great storyline that could end the series on a good note. Or was flat broke.

Thank you, Trace Adkins, for releasing a country song about butts. Damn, that's a catchy song.

I can't remember much more of what I wrote. So I'll go now.

It is 10:47 and 38 seconds...

on a Thursday morning from the people's cubicle in the HM office in St Charles. That's right, my cubicle here at Houghton Mifflin. The job is going pretty well. Basically I take data from spreadsheets and enter it into the computer so colleges can get new editions of their textbooks whenever the year comes for a new rollover. It's very repetitive, but it sure beats sitting at home.

And some people wonder whether it's better to stand for 8 hours a day at work or sit for 8 hours a day at work. Listen, they both blow. It depends what you're used to, I guess. But man, I do this for 8 hours, then go to the paper and sit for 4 more. I have to make some time to get back into the gym.

Much to my amazement, I got invited to the HM Winter Gathering in 2 weeks. Now that's really just a corporate name for Christmas party. But it's cool to be invited after less than 2 weeks here.

I saw Jerry Lewis on Larry King last night. He was talking about his new book about Dean Martin. It was very entertaining and he seemed to be in very good health. He said he lost about 80 pounds and he had his usual energy level. But I can't see Jerry without thinking of Chris Rock's bit about his telethon. Since I've designed this space for my millions and millions of readers (OK, more like dozens and dozens) and am sensitive to them, I won't quote it. It is downright hysterical though.

HOW BOUT THEM KNICKERBOCKERS!!! Rode the Bulls all over Madison Square Garden and came back in the 4th quarter. Jamal Crawford played his best game as a Knick showing he can play a complete game (that means defense) when he wants to. Eddy Curry didn't play and in this case that may have been a good thing. No doubt the Bulls would have been waiting the chance to hammer him once he got the basketball in the low post (that's near the basket). Nate Robinson (who I like a lot, since he's my height) made an incredible pass to second year small forward Trevor Ariza who slammed the ball home to tie the game at 82-82 and drew the foul. It was the first time the Knicks hadn't been losing since 0-0. Quentin Richardson was benched and he certainly wasn't needed either. The Knicks got Robinson and Richardson in exchange for Kurt Thomas. The more I think about it just being Thomas for Robinson, the better it sounds.

Channing Frye scores 20 points again, and boy does he look good. Mo Taylor, and to a lesser extent, Malik Rose, are just stealing playing time from Frye and their other rookie forward David Lee. Seriously, Jerome James, Maurice Taylor, and Penny Hardaway are meaningless to this team, barring injuries. Like The Who sang, the kids are alright.

Six days till I get to watch the Rangers smoke the Blackhawks in the UC.

Here's my idea for the Mets at catcher. Forget acquiring Hernandez or Molina, though I'd rather have Hernandez. Sign a lefty like Paul Bako, who can platoon with Castro, will come cheap, plays good defense, and save the money to either sign another reliever or, even better, save the money for next year. The starting rotation is aging. Next year's free agent crop will be better and Glavine will be gone. So save the money for next year when Zito or someone like that becomes a free agent.

The latest rumor is Kris Benson to Baltimore for Armando Benitez-clone Jorge Julio. I don't know. I really don't know if Julio has the guts to pitch in big spots. Trading Benson's contract would be good. He's a 3-starter, good, but inconsistent. This is from the NY Post, regarding Julio.
“His out pitch is a four-seam fastball that he fires in the 96-98 mph range. He also throws a slider. Julio gets himself in trouble when he tries to overthrow. As a result, he loses his release point and his control." Can you say, "Welcome back Armando!"

If the starting rotation is Pedro, Glavine, Trachsel, Zambrano, and Seo, I can deal with that. Except who's our insurance policy when one gets hurt? Matt Ginter is a free agent again...

And the Giants are supposed to revisit a Kaz Matsui for Edgardo Alfonzo swap. If I'm Omar Minaya, I do that now. If I have to eat 2 million or so of Matsui's 8 million dollar contact this year, I would do that. Willie Randolph doesn't want Matsui. Fonzie would be a very good 6 or 7 hitter. More importantly, he bleeds blue and orange and would be a good plug in until Anderson Hernandez is ready to play in the majors, assuming he ever is. And besides, Tony Graffanino is about to sign with Kansas City.

Back to work I go... Later peeps.

Anybody object...

to me referring to the basement in my house as a dungeon, please let me know. The term "basement" just doesn't say enough in my humble opinion. And if you saw the amount of light in where my computer is, you know why I use the term I choose to use.

Well, mom pulled off one of her rare "ding-dong!" moves today. At my house, we have three cars and only space for 2. So at night, 2 cars go in the garage and the third in the driveway behind another car. So she and Unger are headed to the doctor's office. They take the Jeep, which was in the driveway and not blocked. They take off to Maywood or somewhere near downtown Chicago leaving one car trapping another car in the garage. Guess which car was mine? 50-50 shot here...

Yeah, it was trapped. So my mom's car is keeping me from driving my car to work. All I could do was go into her car (which was unlocked) and start digging for keys. 30 seconds and I knew I wouldn't find them. Turns out she took her keys in her purse. In other words, I had no way of driving to work. So I had to sprint/walk for 35 minutes in 25 degree weather to work. Was I cold? Uh, that would be the case. Luckily, they're not too picky what time I arrive.

Fortunately, I realized they didn't mean to drive me crazy (at least not this time), so I stayed cool. OK, poor choice of words.

Thanksgiving Friday night feels like Saturday night

A number of thoughts coming from the dungeon tonight.

This is Friday night, but man, it feels like Saturday. I'm convinced that tomorrow, I have to set my alarm for 7 a.m., go to church, play 3 hours of volleyball, go to Rookie's, hopefully watch the Giants win, go to Ecclesia, hang out with everyone at Culver's, and collapse into bed around midnight. Nope, this is all later on.

But tomorrow, I've got "Walk the Line," 25 bucks off at Maggiano's, and Willow Creek, which I hear will be a farewell service of sorts, for Bill and Lynne Hybels. And that's not even including work that night at the newspaper! Hopefully before I leave the church I'll buy one of those phenomenal Sunshine cookies with the almonds, walnuts, pecans, raisins, cinnamon chips, and dried cranberries! And no chocolate!

My church procured 40 tickets to the premiere of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." We actually have a chance to see it the day before it comes out, December 8. The last time we did this was when "The Passion" came out. Now I know almost nothing about this film, or any of the Narnia Chronicles. I only know CS Lewis, the author of the book. Hopefully, I'll be able to get one of those tickets by Sunday.

How did relief pitcher BJ Ryan get 5 years and 47 million dollars from anybody, let alone the Toronto Blue Jays. God knows Billy Wagner is going to ask for 11 million dollars per year and probably for 4 years. I was actually talking with a reporter at work about it over the phone and I told him the news. He just asked me "Who's BJ Ryan?" And this is coming from a White Sox fan, a team that plays the Orioles!

Carlos Delgado is a New York Met! For Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit, and a SIngle-A third baseman. That's a fine fine trade. I know this guy has baggage. Actually, it's oversized baggage. It's certainly bigger than the size you can carry on to an airplane. But we got the RBI guy that we were sorely lacking all last year. Now Carlos Beltran has got to hit second. Let's think about this lineup. Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Wright, and Floyd is as good a 1-5 that you can find in the National League. I'm not too sure how to arrange 3-4-5 at this point. I do prefer to alternate the lefty and righty hitters, if possible. There are still need on this team though. They still need a catcher (Ramon Hernandez), a utility man (Tony Graffanino), and 2 arms in the bullpen, including a closer (Too many names to mention).

I've already mentioned my Ryan-Wagner concerns. If they wound up signing catcher Ramon Hernandez (though Benji Molina wouldn't be the worst in the world, though he will get far more money than he deserves), closer Trevor Hoffman, and another setup guy like a Joey Eischen (who would give them the lefty they sorely need), that would work for me. Add those two arms to Aaron Heilman, Juan Padilla, Roberto Hernandez (if he's resigned), and Heath Bell and throw in a returning Bartolome Fortunato, Orber Moreno, or Tyler Yates, and you've got something good.

To football. Running back Ron Dayne made his first big play of his sorry NFL career on Thanksgiving afternoon. And amazingly, he helped his old team, the Giants! He ran 55 yards in overtime to the Dallas Cowboy 5 to basically drop the Cowboys into the Texas Stadium turf. He never made a play that big when he was actually wearing the blue!

The Jets still stink.

Will the Bears finally get exposed this week?

There's almost nothing funnier on TV than watching outtakes from classic sitcoms.

The snow came down today. And there was ice. And there was wind. And there were bad driving conditions. Now if you're reading this and you're in the northeast and been enjoying your 55-65 degree days, just wait. You will get a big white blanket covering from the sky before you know it.

Quick football notes

Great win by the Giants over Philadelphia. David Tyree (GO SYRACUSE!!!) is a special teams ace! Maybe once football is over, he could sign with the New York Rangers and play the point on their power play! Linebackers Nick Greisen and Antonio Pierce were downright beasts on defense. Good clutch throws by Eli Manning. His pump fake before hitting Plaxico for the clinching TD pass was great. The only complaints I really had were the play of CB Curtis DeLoatch (who absolutely stinks) and Tom Coughlin choosing to run Brandon Jacobs up the middle three times from the 1-yard line and not getting in. At least, Coughlin went for it on 4th down and passed it. My big fear with the Giants is their pass defense, particularly the cornerbacks. This week, Seattle on the road. That's going to be a tough one. I can't realistically exepect a win.

The Jets offense has turned the ball over 9 times in their last 13 possessions. How is that possible? And they've been outscored in their last 2 games 57-3. AND in six games on the road, they've been outscored 151-44! Let's just think about the draft for them. Not the NFL draft. How about all the draft beers Jet fans are probably drinking to numb the pain right now. They should absolutely finish 2-14. And that's the best thing that could happen. With the first pick in the 2006 NFL draft, the New York Jets select... Reggie Bush out of USC, I pray. It's like I've said every time the Jets are supposed to be big, they tank. But right now, the way they are playing, they don't give a damn.

Will anyone watch the Jets-Saints next week? If I were in charge of ESPN programming, I'd put on the World Curling championships. At least there would be some suspense there!

The Bears are legit. Plain and simple. A Super Bowl team? That remains to be seen.

Rambling along

I'm in the process of reading "The Death of WCW." It's a long, in-depth look at how a company that was rising and flying high, and had the possibility to become the biggest company in its particular industry, made bad decision after stupid decision after idiotic decision and went out of business 3 years after seemingly standing on top of the heap. It's an excellent lesson in how to treat people, how to handle business, economics, learning from your mistakes, and how to handle success, or how not to handle success. The irony of this is the publisher of this book is called ECW Press! If you know anything about the owner of WCW and the owner of one of their former archrival companies, ECW, and their respective feelings for each other, that's downright hilarious.

Man, you could read that and not know I was discussing pro wrestling!

Anyway, it's 9:45 on Saturday night, I'm at work, and I have absolutely nothing to do. With all other options out, I figured I'd stop in here. Drank rum and Coke for the first time last night. I really don't drink hard liquor, but I was in a pub in Huntley (which has basically nothing but the outlet malls) and I know one of the waitresses there so I stopped in to see her. They had some piano music going but it was mostly the old standards. I like old music, but the only 2 songs I recognized over 2 hours were Autumn Leaves and Unforgettable! I should have asked him to play some Elton John and the guy would have looked at me like "Who?!"

Anyway, the liquor thing. It was sort of a little celebration for myself after getting hired by Houghton Mifflin in Thursday. Actually, it's a temporary position, but it is full time work for 4-5 weeks. From what I understand, it will be a lot of data entry. And now, coupled with my newspaper job, I will be working 60 hours a week. So forgive me if I'm not blogging all that often. Who knows, maybe someone there will give me a reason to blog. Nah, that's highly unlikely. Nonetheless, I feel good about the opportunity and I don't intend to waste it.

CMA Awards

All in all, not a bad show. The show was heavy on concert performances, which was good. But all the acceptance speeches were annoying in that the network started playing "Hurry-up music" after they had been talking for maybe a minute. I guess they wanted to make sure everyone had ample time to speak. But what really pissed me off was when Alabama was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Jeff Cook talked for a minute then let Mark Herndon speak. He rambles a little bit, probably because he was caught up in the moment. He's talking for a minute and they start playing the music. Mark stopped talking for 5 seconds and they cut to a commercial before Randy Owen or Teddy Gentry had a chance to speak. It ranks right up there to when CBS cut away from a Frank Sinatra acceptance speech at the Grammy's about 11 or 12 years ago.It was one of the most classless disrespectful things I had ever seen.

And Bon Jovi was performing. I know the show was in Madison Square Garden and Bon Jovi is from New Jersey. I have nothing against the band at all. But what are they doing performing on a country music show? They should have used that time to allow for some more speaking from the winners.

But there were some good performances. Gretchen Wilson, Alan Jackson (interesting song choice with Wonderful Tonight) and Garth Brooks from Times Square were real standouts. I would give the top marks to Brooks and Dunn with "Believe."

Good to see Keith Urban win Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist. I felt he had a good chance for both, and he deserves it. It'll be interesting to see in 10 years what kind of leegacy he leaves. Will he just have a nice string of commercial success or will he get bigger than country music, or will he fade away? With his ability, I think he will be around a while longer. Lee Ann Womack winning 4 awards really surprised me. "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a very good song, but it didn't hit the Top 5 and it won "Single of the Year." That's about all that really surprised me about the award winners. I expected Sara Evans to win Female Vocalist, as did most people, but Gretchen Wilson deserves it too.

Not too many memorable moments that people will remember for years to come, shall we say. Maybe Garth Brooks, but that's about it. What worries me most is Vince Gill actually has a decent New York accent...

X-Man, X-Met, Not too X-cited

The Mets have traded Mike Cameron to San Diego for Xavier Nady. On the surface, I don't get this trade. My guess is this is the first step to a big free agent signing or a trade for Manny Ramirez. If the move frees up the money to where the Mets could sign a Billy Wagner and Ramon Hernandez, fine. A platoon with Nady and Mike Jacobs at first base would be sufficient.

Nady had some great stretches last year in terms of hitting for power, but he was playing behind Ryan Klesko. The question remains how would he hold up playing 120-130 games. And now I'm starting to hope we don't get Ramirez, because with Cameron gone, to get him, we will HAVE to trade outfielding prospect Lastings Milledge, who's supposed to be excellent. Milledge should not be traded. And he would just be the first part of the trade. We'd probably have to include Aaron Heilman and or Yusmeiro Petit. I know how good Manny is, but I don't want to raid the farm system.

God Bless Eddie

WWE superstar Eddie Guerrero is dead at 38.

I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. I'm numb. Eddie was not only a talented performer in the ring, but really charismatic. He knew so well how to make fans feel, whether he was a heel or a babyface. And that's what wrestling is all about. Making the fans feel one way or another.

This may be more shocking to me that when Owen Hart died.

Apparently, when he didn't respond to a wake-up call on Sunday morning, hotel security at Minneapolis Marriott City Center and Guerrero's nephew and fellow WWE wrestler, Chavo Guerrero, forced their way into the room. There were no apparent signs of foul play or suicide, police said. An autopsy was planned at the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.

It's ironic. In 1997, Brian Pillman was also found dead in a Minneapolis hotel room on a Sunday morning of a WWE event.

Eddie, if you never watched him, was one of the finest North American wrestlers of the last 15 years. His rise to stardom was in Mexico. He started to really gain fame in the AAA promotion as one half of the famed heel tag team La Pareja del terror, the Pair of Terror, along with Art Barr. They were pro-American Hispanics wrestling in Mexico. These guys, from what I hear, were hated as hated could be. The Mexican version of the 4 Horsemen, if you will.

I should mention a thing about Art Barr. Now I never saw him wrestle. But from what I read, he was the epitomy of the word "heel." He had such heat, riots in the building were often common place. It was always a security risk whenever he wrestled. Sometimes he had to wait up to three hours after the event before he could leave the building safely. He was that over. This is straight from the Slam Wrestling website. "Art Barr was the top draw in Mexico and was generally regarded as the best heel in wrestling. His solid ring work, unmatched work ethic and ability to draw the audience into his matches made him an icon. He was a charismatic heel."

They had a tag match in 1992 at When Worlds Collide from Los Angeles (AAA's only pay-per-view), where they lost to their archrivals El Hijo del Santo and Octagon in a double mask vs. double hair match, forcing Eddie and Barr to have their heads shaved bald. The match, which was rated a 4 and a 1/2 star effort from the Wrestling Observer newsletter, thrust Guerrero and Barr in the spotlight, and they were established as the best tag team in the world. And as they were on the verge of exploding into superstardom, about 2 weeks after that match, Barr, who lived the fast lane, was found dead in his bedroom in Springfield, Oregon over Thanksgiving. After hearing the news, Eddie admitted to crying for three days straight. By the way, his frog splash is a tribute to Barr, who also used the move.

Eddie got his initial American notoriety in ECW when he engaged in a series of absolute classic matches against Dean Malenko. I first saw him when he debuted in WCW in late 1995. I didn't think too much of him initially, but I liked his frog splash finisher. He won several titles, including the US title and two cruiserweight titles. He feuded with guys like Dallas Page, Chris Jericho, and Chavo. He also founded the Latino World Order (LWO). The LWO was an answer to the nWo, since the Latino wrestlers were not getting a chance to succeed.

Later, in WWE, we really started to see some personality with his relationship with Chyna and later, it was the "Lying, Cheating, Stealing" and we knew he would be a star in the big pond, not just in WCW or ECW. As he emerged as the champion of SmackDown! more and more people seemed to at least recognize the name. More than that, he also sported the classic mullet at one time, too.

If you need an example of how good he was, go to May 19, 2005 in Iowa. He was in a feud with Rey Mysterio. Long story short, the external circumstances kind of dragged this feud on and hurt it a little. But Eddie came to the ring, with Rey's mask. He did not say one word. But with his mere presence, he had the crowd reacting so much that he fired them up. Five minutes of complete silence, but plenty of heat from the crowd. It was amazing to see. Without saying a single word, Eddie guided the crowd to react the way he wanted them to. Just with his body language and gestures.

More important was his life. He had 3 daughters and a wife. Eddie had been open about past drug and alcohol use but was sober for exactly 4 years. He was in a 1998 car crash (where he was thrown through a windshield). By 2001, Guerrero developed an addiction to pain medication stemming from his car accident, and in May 2001 he was sent to rehabilitation. On November 9, 2001 he was arrested for drunk driving, and was subsequently released three days later.

After rehab and a string of solid independent promotion matches, he was rehired by WWE in April. Three weeks, later he won the Intercontinental title from Rob Van Dam. He also had a few matches with the Rock, and their promos were hysterical. Who can forget when Rock alluding to Eddie's mullet and facial hair said "with a haircut like that and a face like that, it looks like Billy Ray Cyrus went and had sex with a retarded hyena." He won a few tag titles with Chavo as well. Around the summer of 2003, he started coming to the ring in a lowrider, now a Guerrero trademark. Then, in February 2004, he won the WWE title from Brock Lesnar at No Way Out in San Francisco. After holding the title for several months, he began the partnership and then feud with Rey. He was on the verge of possibly recapturing the title as he had already challenged Batista. Speaking of which, remember the Batista-Eddie promo where Eddie was sick, is getting treatment from a hot nurse, and then Batista introduces another "doctor," who looked like he was ready to do a number on him with a rubber glove. "Hello, Mr. Guerrero." As the camera zoomed in on his face, Eddy's squealing and grimacing were just priceless.

And now, somehow I feel I took him for granted a little. Or maybe I didn't appreciate him as soon as I should have.

And if that's not enough, the WWE was scheduled to release Eddie's bio around Christmas. It may have been an autobiography I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that as well.

I'm going to pop in the DVD of Chris Benoit. He has a few matches on there against Eddie. They also spent some time interviewing him as well.

Eddie, thanks. Your life and work will be remembered by me and millions of other wrestling fans.

The future of the business

Now I want to talk about the future of this company and wrestling in general.

Right now, Batista is out for 3 months with a back injury. Christian is gone. Chris Jericho is gone. Steve Austin is nowhere to be found. RVD is injured, but should be back soon. And Chris Benoit's contract expires in 2 weeks and there's no guarantee he is going to stay. And with the sudden loss of his close friend, I almost expect him to leave. And on Raw, John Cena is starting to get booed. Maybe Chavo will lose the stupid Kerwin White gimmick and just be Chavo again. God knows a lot of us want to see that now. Think of the Hispanic demographic that has lost their hero.

I just don't know. Guys like Chris Masters and Carlito are up and comers, but not ready to be main eventers.

Guerrero's last televised match was against newcomer Ken Kennedy. It was a very solid match and the credit goes to Guerrero for leading a youngster like Kennedy along. How mnay veterans are around that can bring out the positives in young, green workers like that? Not many.

Bottom line: WWE is in deep, deep trouble.

King of Pain!!!

Imagine "King of Pain" by the Police is playing as you read this. Cause I am that. Let me start off by saying I was supposed to play volleyball in my rec league. I would be making my season debut on Sunday afternoon. But the team that my team was playing against didn't have enough players so they forfeited. That left me the whole afternoon to watch football. That left me the opportunity to go through aggravation and ageda that I didn't think the New York Giants were capable of putting me through.

The game started eerily enough as Willie Ponder, who is one of the best kick returners in football, fumbles the opening kickoff. Fortunately, Minnesota would not score. The Giants defense allowed 6 yards of Minnesota offense in the first half. That's excellent, for those of you who don't know. Yet, they trailed 7-6 at halftime thanks to 2 Eli Manning interceptions (and I'll rip him a new one as this goes on) and Darren Sharper interception return for a touchdown. The Vikings also missed 2 field goals, one of which was blocked.

Oh, and Mr. Automatic, Jay Feely, the kicker who was starting to make everybody forget about Jan Stenerud, Matt Bahr, George Blanda, and Adam Vinatieri. Misses a 28-yard field goal at the end of the first half! We trail 7-6 going into the half. But I still felt fine. I knew the Giants were better. They had plenty of time to get hot.

Actually, it was me who got hot on the first play as Koren Robinson, who I thought was out of football, returns the opening kickoff 86 yards. Touchdown. 14-6.

But the Giants come back with a beautiful drive, covering 85 yards on 6 plays, including a TD pass to Well-Dressed Amani Toomer. Coughlin doesn't go for 2 points, he kicks, 14-13. Fine. Their offense hasn't done anything still. Actually, on the Vikings' next drive they scored a TD that was nullified by a penalty. They punted. Giants get the ball at their 23, and go 3 and out, including 2 horrible looking passes from Manning. Jeff Feagles punts to a guy I benched on my fantasy team this week, Mewelde Moore. What does Mewelde do? 71-yard return into the end zone. TD Minnesota.

Later the Giants recover a Minn fumble on the Minnesota 35. And here's when you knew the Giants were in a heap of trouble. First play, Manning fumbles and Minnesota recovers. It was challenged and correctly called an incomplete pass, but on the first play after your defense does something huge, you cannot put your own team in that kind of situation. So no turnover. Got away with that one. Next play, a 7-yard run by Tiki. HOLD ON! Holding on Luke Petigout, 10 yard penalty. 2nd and 20 now. Manning lobs the ball up, settles right into the hands of Brian Williams. Problem! He plays for the Vikings. Way to give them the ball right back!

Let's go to 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Facing 3rd and 10 Manning throws a great pass to Jeremy Shockey for 19 yards and a big first down at the Minn 11. Tiki then runs for 6 yards. Good job. Next play, a short pass to Tiki that he takes in to the end zone. But oh no! Chris Snee, an offensive guard, is an ineligible receiver downfield. Are you kidding! That moves the Giants back 5 yards and Manning completes the next pass to Darren Sharper. Who of course plays for Minnesota. He had Tiki Barber WIDE OPEN on the flat! Instead he throws to a guy who was ripping New York football in the media today, Mr. Sharper. I was so angry I drove home and watched the end of the game at home.

And again the Giant defense comes up enormous! They move Minnesota back 3 yards and they get the ball back with 3:17 to go. The offense has their second of 2 good drives, culminating with Tiki's TD and 2-point conversion. Tie game 21-21. And the fact that they converted the 2-pointer was shocking to me. But as always happens in this spot, how much time do you leave the other team to drive down the field and set up a game-winning field goal. In this case, following the 4-yard sack of William Joseph on Brad Johnson, the Giant defense stopped playing. That defense had dominated all day long. Were they even on the field for that last minute? It looked like the New York Knick basketball defense under Don Chaney! 21 yard pass, 11 yard pass, 11 yard pass, 3 yard pass and they're on the Giant 30.


And after missing two field goals earlier, you knew there was no way Paul Edinger was missing this time. Would the god of wind help us, No freakin' way. That kick would have been good from 60 yards and it was right down the middle. Game over. Absolutely a disgusting, hideous loss to a bunch of purple thugs. And even worse, God knows I'm going to be hearing their radio announcer, Paul Allen, call the field goal on Sports Center tomorrow. Oh, the pain!


Manning did a fine impression of Neil O'Donnell to Larry Brown in the Pittsburgh-Dallas Super Bowl from 1995! Great job, Eli, of finding the open defensive back. You were an embarrassment today. And as bad as the last drive was, I credit the Giant defense for playing so well for 59 minutes. But Mike Sweatman, the Giants special team coach, deserves to get dropped off in the rough section of Harlem naked and handcuffed. Let whatever will happen, happen. This was the worst special teams performance I have ever seen by an NFL football team. This was not exactly Dante Hall and Terrence McGee breaking tackles. It was Koren Robinson and Mewelde Moore scoring TD's? Give me a break already!

And Mike Tice, your team deserves to celebrate tonight. I hear New York has some marvelous boat cruises! Take the whole team! You bald, fat piece of crap.

The Giants have a lot of learning to do, especially Eli Manning. Just a shameful, gut-wrenching, make-you want-to-vomit loss to Minnesota. They had better learn from this.

The Jets are an afterthought. They're done. I'm not even going to go into them. Except this: they don't give a damn right now about playing football.

OK, back in the dungeon again

Back from 2 fine days in Madison, WI and I am ready to go. This is ward, as for once I'm typing when the sun is out. So let's see. What happened while I was away? Took a lot of time to reflect and sort a few personal things out. Got rejected from 2 more jobs, which I kind of expected. And Illinois could learn something from Wisconsin about tolls. I drove roughly the same amount of time in both states. I paid 4 tolls in Illinois and zero in the land of cheese!

I heard something about the baseball and steroid issue that I couldn't believe, which I have largely ignored. Congress is amazing to me, and not in a good way. The bill that Senator McCain (FROM! Arizona) came up with proposes a half a season suspension for a player's first offense, a full year for the second offense, and banishment for the third. And McCain and Senator Jim Bunning believe they can pass the bill within 2 weeks. But the catch is it may take a full year for the law to take effect! A full year! Give me a break. Congress is so much fluff on this type of thing. Don't talk all tough and then at the last minute say, "Oh, with all the loopholes and red tape, it'll take some time to pass." Come on now.

Great job by the Rangers knocking off a reeling Lightning squad. Moore with 2 goals. Marcel Hossa, Jason Ward, and Ville Niemenen (who by the way, has appeared in more Stanley Cup Finals games than any other current Ranger) scored as well. They only had 20 shots on goal and scored 5 times. Unfortunately, goaltender prospect Al Montoya is sidelined for 4-6 weeks due to a broken finger.

Now onto the Mets and their offseason. This is a hideous free agent market and I would look to trade. Maybe we could trade Matsui and Zambrano to Tampa Bay and get Kazmir back! And throw in B.J. Upton and Aubrey Huff too! They owe us! I would take B.J. Ryan or Billy Wagner in the bullpen in a minute, though they won't come cheap. I guess I would take any player named B.J. If Aaron Heilman (FROM! Notre Dame) isn't traded (and I think he will be, if the Mets make any kind of significant move), he should be the primary setup man. I like him, but I don't know if he's a full season closer, especially in a big spot. But I don't know if the Mets are in a position to throw the most money they'll spend this season at a close when their lineup is so incomplete.

So let's go to position players. I don't want Benji Molina. He's the only player in baseball who makes Jason Phillips look like Carl Lewis. I would go for Ramon Hernandez at catcher and try to get either Julio Lugo or Todd Walker to play second base. Or sign Tony Graffanino (which I'm hearing), and use him in a utility role. Rafael Furcal, as I've said before, is just using the Mets. There's no way he's playing second base. He's going to the Cubs.

Mike Jacobs should get a chance to play first base full time. And I know Omar "Mr. Full Autonomy" Minaya said in a published report that there is no way he will trade Mike Cameron unless something huge comes along. Hmm, Manny Ramirez? We'll see. I like Victor Diaz, but I think he makes too many bonehead plays. He's not reliable enough to be this team's starting right fielder. Then again, if he never plays for the Mets again, that 3-run homer he hit off Latroy Hawkins (who will not be on my fantasy baseball team this year!) in 2004 to knock the Cubs out of the playoffs will be good enough for me!

One more thing about baseball. They're doing this World Cup of Baseball with 16 nations next March. That sounds fine, for international marketing of baseball. Of course, wait until one pitcher blows his arm out and that'll be all she wrote. But from what I hear, Mike Piazza may play for Italy! What?! What's Piazza doing playing for Italy? He wasn't even born there. According to writer Tom Verducci, in this competition, "Each nation has its own set of rules." I just think that's funny. Anyway, I've got some pumpkin bars to cook for a Thanksgiving dinner tonight at the McElwee ranch. And I'm meeting with someone from Houghton Mifflin in human resources. I'm not too optimistic, but at least I have a meeting arranged. Later.

State of Mind

Well I'm going out of state for 2 days to Madison WI so I'll be back on Thursday night. Right now, off to the gym I go for a quick workout.

Singing the Blues...

The Big Blue, New York Football Giants that is. I actually didn't watch one moment of NY football on TV today. I was attending to some personal matters regarding volleyball and some steak tacos. We stomp all over the 49ers and next week it's Minnesota, who somehow won today. With this game in NY, I think the Giants will reach 7-2 before the schedule gets tougher as they play home against Philadelphia, go to Seattle, then host Dallas, and visit Philadelphia. Maybe TO will still be suspended for those two games...

My hope is over the next 5 games, they will go 3-2. That would put them at 9-4, and probably only one win away from at least a wild card berth. I think that's very realistic.

And the Broadway Blueshirt New York Hockey Rangers. The last time the Rangers beat the Devils three times in a season, I was a high school freshman at St. Joseph's in Metuchen, NJ. Now I'm 2 and a half years out of college. They're in first place in the Atlantic Division, 2 points up on Philly, but they've played 3 more games. To me the key is how many points do you have versus how many you could have. Not to get all Billy Beane Moneyball here, but don't be fooled. To quote an old song, "Enjoy the good times while we can."

And I got my Ranger-Blackhawk ticket for December 7. Section 329, on the corner, Second row of the upper deck. So as you're watching on TV (Actually that's only possible if you're in the New York metropolitan area since the Hawks don't televise their home games), I would be in the upper left corner. After 8 years in the Windy City, it's my first professional hockey game in the City of Broad shoulders. I can't wait.

The Jets played tough, but lost to San Diego, which was expected. Brooks Bollinger showed he is a capable QB. But he's not Tom F'N Brady for the record. Some bad news: WR Wayne Chrebet got another concussion on a third down pass that he caught for a first down. Kind of ironic that's going to be his final pass reception. Thank you #80.

Congratulations to Jets RB Curtis Martin on his 100th career TD. Anyone who says New York athletes become great because of the media hype need only look at him. Because he is the antithesis of that theory. As about as humble, giving, professional, and classy an athlete can be.

Oh, at Ecclesia tonight (www.ecclesiawheaton.com), we were talking about vacations. I got to tell the story of my trip to Cancun and the Mexican Screaming contest. If you want to read more, flip back to last November's archives.

And finally, we're getting the speedy DSL Internet connection at home tomorrow! Whooooooooooooooo!

If you don't like wrestling, don't read this, cause you won't get it.

The last time I attended a wrestling event was Wrestlemania 1997 at the All State Arena. Tonight, (actually, last night as it's 1:22) I attended Ring of Honor. The event started at 6:45 and went until about 11:15. To say I got my money's worth would be a gross understatement.

The event was at the Chicago Heights Park District, which is only a step or two down from your local elementary school gymnasium. I have seriously seen high school gyms bigger than this place. But that helped to add to the intimate feel of the place. That's cool because even in general admission seating, I was still sitting only about what would have been 15 rows away in a major arena. I would guesstimate the crowd was about 900 people in a small building.

Onto the action. After two warmup matches (a tag match and a woman's match), the show started at 7:30. It was a tag match and one of the guys, Ace Steel, who is from Chicago, definitely had the fans going for him. He teamed with this guy, Delirious, who looks like he's from Mexico. Got the mask and everything. He's absolutely nuts the way he bounces around like a headcase in the ring. They faced a guy named Chad Collyer and Nigel McGuinness, who's from England and the ROH Pure Wrestling champion. McGuinness did two headstands on turnbuckles that were quite impressive. Delirious made us laugh when he got Nigel in the corner and started delivering clotheslines to his chest. And boy, I mean clotheslines. He may have really delivered about 50 shots right in a row. At first we were like "Ok, that's enough." Then it was "Yeah, keep going!" Then, "This is hysterical!" and finally "Are you kidding me?" After he was done, Delirious favored his arm for the next few minutes. Gee, hard to imagine why. I then shouted out, "Hey you got a left arm too, you know?!" Anyway, Steel and Delirious won a fun to watch match.

Sal Rinauro (an Italian guy) took on Jimmy Jacobs with his manager, Lacey, who had wrestled in the women's match on the undercard. Here's all you need to know about Jacobs. For 10 minutes, I hear the crowd chanting "Huss! Huss!" And I'm wondering what is all that about. So I asked a guy sitting near me and he explained the whole thing. "His gimmick was he used to imitate the Berzerker until Lacey convinced him to not do it anymore." So every time Jacobs lands a punch on Sal, the crowd chants "Huss!" Jacobs won with a move called the Contra Code. I don't remember what it was.

Then out came the new commissioner of ROH, the king of the tennis racket, the manager of the legendary Midnight Express, Jim Cornette, who a few months ago was removed from his job at the WWE's Ohio Valley Wrestling territory in Louisville. He kind of alluded to it, prompting a few fans to start chanting "F*** Vince!" Cornette goes, "You said it, I didn't!" He then brought out Cowboy Bill Watts, the guest of the evening. Unfortunately, the speakers weren't working to well, so I couldn't make out most of their conversation. They talked about the old guys and mentioned some big names Watts had helped break through into stardom such as Ted DiBiase (which I gave the Million Dollar laugh afterwards!), Junkyard Dog, Dr. Death Steve Williams, Bobby Heenan, Hacksaw Jim Duggan (who seriously got a HUGE ovation!) A newcomer, Adam Pearce, came out and demanded a match. He got one later.

BJ Whitmer, the other half of Lacey's team, beat Claudio Castagnoli in about 17 minutes. Claudio is a pretty popular guy. Early on, the two were doing some armbars, hammerlocks, etc. Every time Claudio got the advantage, he'd go "Heyyyyyyyyy!" And we'd all do it with him. From what I'm reading on the net, a lot of people are bummed Claudio lost this one clean. Oh well...

Next came one of the biggest moments of the night. Samoa Joe against the Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. If you know anything about independent wrestling, you know these are two of the best. Daniels has been a solid veteran on the independent scene for years and Samoa Joe is an absolute star in the making. He's 6'2, 290, big, agile, energetic, and very tough. The crowd was so back and forth. When Daniels came out, we all chanted hockey-style "Fallen Angel, clap, clap, clap-clap-clap." Then, when Joe came out, the place went nuts! So there was about 150 guys chanting "Fallen Angel!" And while they were clapping, everyone else chanted "Let's Go Joe!" Talk about a hot crowd.

Joe used his power, while Daniels (more the mat technician) focused on the left knee of Joe. This match went about 44 minutes and Joe won with his Island Driver finisher, which was devastating to watch. Some people didn't like the match, and I think it went a little long, but it was a pleasure watching them both compete. Not like I had much to compare this match to.

Then came a, how shall I say, memorable and forgettable moment. Homicide (a black thug type guy from Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn) faced Colt Cabana. Cabana is the only wrestler, I'm guessing ever, who uses Barry Manilow's Copacabana as his entrance music. I never thought I would hear Barry Manilow at a wrestling event. It happened. The match was a brawl and went to a no-contest. What happened afterwards was almost silly. Homicide put a beat down on Colt and duct taped his wrists to the turnbuckles. Duct tape. Apparently, the ROH Budget isn't big enough to afford a pair of handcuffs. Besides, there were 40 cops around. Couldn't one of them had given away their cuffs? Anyway, then he took at a fork and stabbed him. It was ugly and then Ace Steel reappeared and made the save.

Intermission time. Checked out the DVDs at the merchandise counter. Didn't buy anything though. They had so much variety I had no idea how to narrow it down. Besides you usually pay more for those types of things at the events anyway.

Mr. Pearce beat some guy in 6 minutes with a piledriver. He did come out to CCR's Run Through the Jungle. Not a bad choice.

Then, the World Championship match. The champion, the "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson defending against Roderick Strong. Let me say this. If these guys just had a match where they chopped each other for 30 minutes, that would have been better than most of the WWE matches on TV today. Strong has the absolute loudest chops I have ever heard. Forget Flair, forget Benoit, these chops were downright scary to hear. The echo just bounced off the ceiling. But anyhow, for about the first 10 minutes, they just wrestled. It was straight wrestling. Danielson emerged as the heel as he cursed a few fans out. But there were no foreign objects to speak of, no outside interference. These two went at it for 57 solid minutes. Almost an hour of wrestling. It was 10:50 p.m. when Danielson reversed a backbreaker into a chicken wing and began delivering repeated elbows to the side of Strong's head. The ref had to stop the match. A great, great match. AsStrong was helped to the back, most of us chanted, "Thank you, Roderick!"

Finally, the 8-man tag match. It was Generation Next: Austin Aries, Jack Evans, and Matt Sydal. Since Strong, normally a team member, was in the title match, they needed a new partner. Their tag team partner for the night: The Phenomenal A.J. Styles. They had two female managers as well, Jade Chung and Daizee Haze. They faced the Embassy: Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley (who I have seen before), the monster Abyss (who I saw close up and is absolutely huge!), and Prince Nana (who is a Ghanan manager who always manages to avoid getting the crap beaten out of him.)

High flying, brawling, one table, AJ back suplexing Abyss through a table. Haze turned heel, joining the Embassy after low-blowing Aries and Sydal. Rave apparently had promised the crowd a great new finisher for this match. Turned out it was just a Pedigree and he used it and pinned Sydal to win the match. I stood by the entrance aisle as those guys walked out. They got a big ovation, at least Generation Next did. Actually as AJ and Jade were about to head back, one fan got in his face. I was about 5 yards away so I didn't really hear it. According to a fan on the ROH site, this was the exchange.

"The fan said something to AJ along the lines of "you suck" yada yada, and AJ in turn said something like, "That's good coming from an idiot with glasses you faggot," and the fan told AJ to go back to the locker room. AJ got in the fan's face and asked him "What happens if I don't?" Styles invited the fan over the rail where he'd slap the glasses of his face. The fan was dumb enough to climb over the rail, and the security guards began holding him back. Samoa Joe then ran out, and told him to "let him go!" because Joe was going to knock this guy out. The security guard took the fan to the back."

The event ended at 11:10 p.m. From start to finish, about 4 hours, 15 minutes. And even with all the Ticketmaster charges, I still only paid about 25 bucks.

And then the rain outside. It had been drizzling in the afternoon. As I'm heading towards the exit, and about to step outside, avoiding the guy handing out club flyers, I see a huge bolt of lightning. Then I see a guy with a blue baseball cap and it's totally drenched. I realize the rain has only picked up and I've got 5 minutes of running to get back to my car. I ran through rain that was falling as hard as I can remember. And then the long drive home. It was not easy reading highway signs, let alone lane dividers on the road. Four highways. 70 minutes, needed to stop for gas on the way. Quite a drive. But it's all good.

From the fans I've talked to, this was as good a wrestling show as they can remember seeing in a while. It almost makes me tired of watching what's in WWE compared to what you can find on the underground scene. By the way, ROH will be doing a show from the Inman Sports Club in Edison, NJ on December 17. What are the odds. My old stomping grounds!

The next time Ring of Honor comes to Chicago is two shows on March 30 and April 1, aka, Wrestlemania weekend, which I already have tickets for. We'll see what happens. But I must say Ring of Honor did a great job tonight.

More musings

How often do you really floss? For me, it used to be whenever I ate corn on the cob and got a kernel stuck in there somewhere. So after hearing dentist after dentist go on and on about flossing, I figured I would try to floss more. And let me tell you, it ain't working!

On a related note, I don't like cigarettes. To me, the smell of the smoke is brutal. But there must be something that some people find appealing about it. I don't want to know. Some people say to me, "You don't know how hard it is to quit smoking." Yeah, I do. It's as hard to quit smoking as it is to start flossing.

By the way, I'm watching the Best Damn Sports Show. And Michael Strahan (the All-World Giant with the David Letterman size gap in his teeth) is on. One of the hosts says "Michael, we got you some dental floss." And he pulls out this huge piece of rope. Too funny.

If the Cubs don't mange to get Rafael Furcal in free agency, the North Siders are the biggest screw ups in baseball.

The best thing about typing. You can say whatever you want, but you have the opportunity to edit before everyone else sees them. Even for me, it's hard to stick my foot in my mouth. Actually considering the post right below, that may not be the case yet....

Another Friday night

Once the clock hits 12:00 AM on Friday night, it seems really easy for me to think of something to type about. Whether it's the challenge of making a good coffee cake (Boring), Ring of Honor wrestling (What in the world is that that, Adam?) the Rangers beating the Devils (nah, I'm taking a break from sports here), recent fitness habits, grad school options (Who knows?), the "thing" I'm starting to get for a local volleyball coach ........................................... .......................................................................................................................
Oh, sorry, I spaced out there for a minute! Details are not necessary because there are really no details to give.

Can't beat the style

Well, I finally got back to a Mongolian BBQ. They just don't have enough of them. And thanks to a certain someone's dislike of Asian food, I hardly ever go.

But I went to one in downtown Naperville called BD's and it was quite quite good. There are about 10 locations are so throughout the midwest. What made them stand out was 2 things. One was the variety of meats and seafood. Most of the Mong. BBQ's I've been to have about 3 or 4 meats. This had chicken, duck, ny strip, ribeye, pork, lamb, andouille sausage, calamari, shrimp, scallops, and crab. Man that's hard to narrow down. In the end I took duck, chicken, strip, ribeye, and lamb. By the time I was eating it, I had no idea what was what anyway. Of course I added about 20 cloves of fresh gahhhhlic...

I also had Tazo iced tea. Now I've had tazo hot tea numerous times, usually when I'm fighting a cold or just freezing cold. I'm a big tea drinker. But this was fine tea. Just needed some saccharine/the pink stuff!

The only thing they were missing was the Mongolian bread. Now if you've known me for more than 10 minutes, you know I don't touch chocolate, but love bread. I had a 4 loaf-a-day habit. I had to go to Betty Ford and get straightened up. Anyhoo, this bread is a hot crispy flatbread with sesame seeds. It really helps round the meal out.

And for lunch, one bowl with the salad bar is 10 bucks. Not bad. Not too bad. All in all, I give a thumbs up for BD's.

OK, this one is big

I just found out an ex-girlfriend of mine is engaged. She was probably the most serious relationship I've ever had.

Funny, as I found out about this at 2 a.m. through her blog, I was playing an online country music station with a lot of oldies. Now seriously, that goes to the heart!

Anyway, how do I feel? Boy, this is one weird feeling. Certainly not jealousy on my part. I got over her a long time ago. We broke up 4 or 5 years ago, but it's still hard to believe she's engaged. We still chatted on AIM from time to time and we sometimes could do that for 2 or 3 hours at a time. As of the last 18 months or so, I'd say we've only had 2 or 3 conversations.

Here's the thing. She's always been the type who needs to have a guy. I guess that's why when we were apart in college, (She was in California and I was in Massachusetts), she cheated on me with some prick. At least it wasn't with the guy she's engaged to! Though she cried hard when she told me what she did, I could read the writing on the wall. It wasn't going to work out. And from what I could tell reading her online journal tonight, she's wanting to get this wedding done as soon as possible. I'm not surprised at her wanting to rush things. We were only an item for a few months, and most of that time was spent 3,000 miles apart, but I guess I knew her pretty well.

I want her to be happy. But I could just see her falling in and out of love a lot in her life. Anyway, Elizabeth, (since she's probably not reading this), I wish her the best. As I was typing this, an old Hank Williams song came on called "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight." I'm posting the lyrics. They don't apply down to the letter, but pretty close.

I'll pretend I'm free from sorrow
Make believe that wrong is right
Your wedding day will be tomorrow
But there'll be no teardrops tonight.
Why, oh why should you desert me
Are you doin' this for spite
If you only want to hurt me
Then there'll be no teardrops tonight.
I'll believe that you still love me
When you wear your veil of white
But you think that you're above me
So there'll be no teardrops tonight.
Shame, oh shame for what you're doin'
Other arms will hold you tight
You don't care whose life you ruin
But there'll be no teardrops tonight.

Speaking objectively, I believe she will still have feelings for me years from now. I really do. But I'm fine.

That's a White Sox winner/WA/Wellington

Well there are 100,000 legitimately happy White Sox fans right now. And there are 10 million more people around Chicago who are really Cub fans but are acting like they've always been White Sox fans. How do I feel? I really don't know. I'm almost emotionless over this, if that's a word. I'm not surprised they won. They were built to win it. And I know that come April every whippersnapper Cub fan will be like "First the Red Sox, then the White Sox, now it's our turn!" Please. I have often said if there was ever an all-Chicago World Series, I would root for the White Sox. So I guess it all could've turned out worse. But Timo Perez is on a World Series team? Mr. Jog from first base to home plate in the 2000 World Series?" At least he did almost nothing in the playoffs!

How bout that Maroon Platoon?! Wheaton Academy volleyball going for a regional championship tonight against Montini and guys soccer is in the state tournament on Friday. Go Warriors!

And a quick tribute to Wellington Mara. The late great New York football Giants owner and patriarch (not a bad word huh?) passed away at age 89. I best remember him after the Giants had wasted the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC title game in 2001 by a score of 41-0. I was sitting on the carpet in my living room in Winfield, IL on a cold snowy day. After the game was over, Terry Bradshaw interviewed Mara and he said simply, "Keep in mind this was the Giants team that people said was the worst team ever to win homefield in the National Football Conference playoffs. And today on this field of painted mud, we've proved that we're the worst team ever to win the National Football Conference championship. And I'm proud to say in two weeks, we're going to try to become the worst team ever to win the Super Bowl!"

I had that game on video tape. I went away to college. I came back in May. My mother had thrown the tape away. I called the social service people. "Take my mother away!"

RIP WM. Go Big Blue!

Gangrene

I am officially numb.

There is nothing more the Jets can do to upset me this year. This is why every time the expectations are high going into a season, they collapse under the weight of their own curse.

And the whole country realized tonight how futile the Jets are. They are like the Chicago Cubs of football, only just depressing. There's nothing to love about them. But they keep finding new ways to break your heart. Right from the beginning, you knew this was going to be another one of those hideous nights.

Atlanta drives 48 yards and instead of going for a 52-yard field goal, they punt. OK, good break. First play of the game. You figure it'll be a run with Curtis Marin up the middle as always. No it's a pass! Laveranues Coles, 9 yards. Not bad. Second play on offense. Our center, Kevin Mawae, one of the best ever, is done for the season. So Pete Kendall, a guard, plays center. Vinny can't handle the snap, the ball bounces on the Georgia turf, Falcons recover on the Jet 19. You knew they were in trouble right there. Michael Vick eventually scores, 7-0.

Next Jet possession, Antawn Lake (and people think hockey players have weird names?) sacks Vinny and the ball comes loose again! Atlanta recovers again on the Jet 47 and returns it 26 yards. Todd Peterson kick a field goal and it's 10-0 and I'll tell you right there, you could have shut your TV off. It was only 12 minutes into the game, the Jets were done.

Two possessions later, another Atlanta sack costs the Jets 11 yards. Actually, it would have just been 11 yards, but Vinny loses the ball AGAIN! Chauncey Davis returns it 24 yards. Touchdown. 17-0.

And there were more beautiful moments to come. Justin "Butterfinger" Miller actually returns a kickoff 95 yards. It's called back on a holding penalty! They did overcome that as they did score a touchdown on a 1-yard Vinny scamper. But the offense only did anything at all because of Vick's two interceptions in the fourth quarter. Bollinger attempted 20 passes and completed 12. Only 3 went for more than 9 yards. Being down by 20 points, on the road, don't you have to take at least one shot down the field? And Curtis gains 28 wonderful yards on 14 carries. Where was Cedric Houston to give him a breather? And Doug Jolley. Is he still in Oakland? Our genius general manager gave up a number one draft pick for this "All-World" tight end?! Again, not one catch for him!

Yeah, the Jet defense did a good job on Michael Vick. They picked him off three times and held him to a passer rating of 16.3 out of a possible 158.3. But Warrick Dunn ran for 155 yards. I mean that looked like the run defense of Ted Cottrell of 2001! And has anyone seen Dewayne Robertson, our all-world defensive tackle who was going to make everyone forget about Warren Sapp? Because I sure as hell haven't. Shaun Ellis. I hope you enjoy your 40 million dollar contract. You must be home with all of it, because I haven't seen you on the field in weeks!

What else. Vinny injures his Achilles and Wisconsin's Brooks Bollinger takes over. I guess that means all passes are now 7 yards or shorter. Laveranues makes 9 catches for 96 yards. Great game. One problem. He hurt his elbow and could be out for a while. And Eric Barton, a very good athletic linebacker. He's missed 4 weeks with an ankle injury. He promptly comes back and tears his left tricep. Done for the year. Reading about the Jets in a newspaper is like reading the Medical-World News.

The best thing to hope for a lot more losses and thus, a good draft choice. This team is 2-5 with a good defensive coordinator in Donnie Henderson. That's it. I hate to see Coach Herman Edwards under the gun, but I wonder if management will want to make a change. I know the fans want him gone. And a lot of times I don't understand his in-game management skills. But he's a good leader. And he has the best press conferences that don't include profanity!

It's halfway through and the year is over. It's absolutely over for this team. And let's see the remainder of their schedule. After the bye week, they host San Diego. Think the Chargers will have revenge on their minds after last year? Then they play at Carolina. At Denver. Two more excellent defensive teams. They host New Orleans on a Sunday night which is maybe the only reasonable game I see. Then they go to Foxboro to play the lovely Patriots, host Oakland with Randy Moss and our old buddy Lamont Jordan (how many yards will he run for?!). They travel to Miami, which is not necessarily a gimmie. Then they finish at home against New England and Buffalo! Oh just a week at the beach! What do you have down for them? 2-6? 3-5 at best! This team is on their way to 5-11. Hopefully this will lead to a good draft position and more than that, the realization that this is not a championship team. They need help almost everywhere.

Borders vs. B&N & Best Buy

I can kill hours in any bookstore, particularly if there's music. Now Borders and Barnes and Noble are both fine places, but they are different. At Borders you can only listen to a few CD's, but at least you get the whole song. It's always cool browsing through the different sections and seeing if they've changed any of the CD's around from week to week. Three days ago, I'm in there, and I listened to a new George Jones record of cover songs and it was actually quite good. "Funny How Time Slips Away" was excellent. I guess I like songs where the guy tells the girl off in a calm way.

I also listened to a little of Ray Charles "Genius Loves Company." I only played 2 or 3 songs, but I made sure to give "You Don't Know Me" a spin. He does this one with Diana Krall. On a sidenote, I once went to a Diana Krall concert in Chicago at the request of my mother. I'm not one who notices or looks for these types of things, but that was the absolute most gay place I have ever been. And the price was about 75 dollars and it was worth maybe 20 or 30. Nothing against Diana or her talent, but that kind of relaxed concert was way overpriced. Anyway, "You Don't Know Me" is one of my favorite songs, no matter who does it. The modern country version by Mickey Gilley, the live version on the Ray movie soundtrack with just Ray's voice and the piano that will absolutely break you down, Eddy Arnold's original. I'm not saying it was the best version, but this was certainly the most sophisticated version I've ever heard. Sounded like I was chilling in a jazz club. Ray's and Diana's voices weaved in and out real well. But I still think hearing this song as a duet was a little unusual. With the lyrics, I think it needs one singer. With two voices doing it, that can almost sound like mutual stalking. Hmm. Mutual Stalking. I should write a novel with that title!

Anyway at B&N, you can listen to any CD, but you only get 30 seconds of a song. That's kind of like going to Sal & Carvao and only getting one cut of meat. Sorry Dad, but hey, that was a good toss-in!

But I will say this about Borders. They have the absolute worst Chai tea in history. Since I don't touch coffee, I know a thing or two about tea. And I will gladly pay the extra dollar or two at Starbuck's for a good product. The chai at Borders tastes like dark powder, coffee creamer, and hot water mixed.

Have you been in Best Buy lately? I seriously think this is the place the US government trains spies. I appreciate hospitality, but this is crazy. I walk in, immediately a guy asks how I'm doing and shoves a book of discounts in my face. What does he want, to valet park my car? Give him a tip? Actually, he probably does, but anyway. This isn't a hotel or a restaurant. It's gotten to the point, when I walk in, I actually take out my cell phone and hold it up to my ear. Not that I'm talking to anyone, I just want it to look like I'm preoccupied. Every time I go in, I seriously feel ten employees in the store are watching me. You cannot be in Best Buy for more than 3 minutes without an employee asking how you're doing. And when I'm looking through the merchandise, I'm always being asked questions. It doesn't matter, I have my phone out, I'm reading a book. "How to Overcome Your Hatred of In-Store Salespeople." They come up and try to get me in a conversation. You like this artist? Looking for anything in particular? Hey, you know, that's one fine movie. I'm just thinking can I have a minute alone? If I need your help, I'll ask.

And then checkout time. Uggh. You know, it's like the opposite of a door-to-door salesman. Instead of them going to each customer in a different house, the customer goes to a register and gets a barrage of questions, most of which I don't see the point of. Did you find everything okay? (That's fine to ask) You know, you may need batteries. Would you like a Best Buy credit card? Did you know with another 20 dollars of purchase, you can get a 1 year subscription to any of these magazines? You must like sports. You know you could get Sports Illustrated? OK, how about a 6 month subscription? We can deliver it to your home? Would you like the hardcover edition? What's your zip code? (I guess for demographics) Sorry, this DVD is rated TV-14. I have to ask you your blood type? Your driver's license number? Your criminal background? Your shoe size? Your SAT score? Any aliases? Yeah, they call me the Cashier Strangler.