..And then there's the NBC affiliate in Saint Louis

While flipping channels this evening I stumbled on the local NBC affiliates latest attempt at a newscast.

For starters the anchors appeared poorly informed about the St. Louis area. I would like to think the producer of the "newscast" is arrogant, but in reality the individual is probably just stupid or influenced by consultants. The lead story showed several different angles of a tear gas canister being fired into a rural residence. In reality, it was one shot. A little misleading for the viewers.

Later in the "newscast" a reporter had an interview with a former Iraqi resident working in a pizza parlor. The footage of Saddam having a noose slipped around his neck had been on the internet since very early this morning but snooze channel five claimed that it was viewed on a BBC web page. Yeah, right. A BBC web page and about 10 other domestic and international news outlets. Also, the fade to black as the noose was placed around Saddam's neck was a little dramatic. In reality the video distribution to media outlets stopped at that point and no other internet or network outlet I saw today used the "fade to black" to make the event appear dramatic.

And finally the sports anchor, Rene Knott (knot head?), ran a division three woman's basketball game story prior to a St. Louis Blues win over a very good Colorado Avalanche team. The Blues are playing their best hockey of the season, but Rene apparently is clueless or not very knowledgeable about hockey. That's okay if you want to work in the small markets, but St. Louis is home to a major league hockey franchise.

This miserable excuse for a newscast gets a big fat "F".

Apparently CBS is just arrogant

I wrote yesterday that CBS was guilty of pack journalism. Apparently I was wrong. After getting some feedback today, I learned neither ABC or NBC interrupted their afternoon programming for the beginning of President Ford's mourning period. Nope, CBS just decided the football game was not important to football fans in 50 states, and that it's talking heads repeating themselves was more important. Oh yeah, and nothing in the "live coverage" really had any motion. Just stills of the church in California and pretty little Katie repeating herself at the anchor desk. Way to go CBS "news".

I stand corrected.

What was CBS thinking?

I didn't put this in my post about the Tigers losing, but we missed the last six minutes of the first half because CBS decided to pre-empt it for "breaking" news coverage.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for late president Gerald Ford, but why did CBS decide to stop showing the game while it was very close and the two teams were slugging it out? The footage that was being shown could very easily have waited until the evening news. In fact nothing happened for about the 20 minutes of coverage with the exception of a coffin being lifted out of a hearse by an honor guard.

My theory is CBS decided it had to break into the game coverage because ABC and NBC had also done the same thing. This is a classic example of pack journalism. Shame on the news producer who pulled the plug on Mizzou and OSU!

Tough Afternoon for the Tigers

I am bummed out tonight. My beloved Missouri Tigers lost to Oregon State this afternoon in the Sun Bowl. The Tigers led the game by 14 points with six minutes to go and didn't finish off the Beavers. The most stunning play of the day was Oregon State going for two points and making it with 17 seconds left. In effect, they delivered the knockout punch the Tigers couldn't.

The Tigers were up 38-24 and had the ball against a tired OSU team, but just didn't move the ball anymore the rest of the game. You have to give credit to Oregon State. They came through when they had to, and beat the Tigers.

Mizzou ends the season 8-5 and could conceivably have had two more wins. Aaaaargh!! Oh well, as I have been saying since 1970..."There's always next year".

Still I have to give coach Gary Pinkel and his staff credit for turning around an all but dead program. Hopefully, today's performance will help them recruit some of the better players out of Texas, where they seem to focus a lot of attention.

No one said it's easy being a Tiger fan. I have followed this team for 33 years and they have broken my heart more times than I can remember in both football and basketball. But, they will always be my favorite and I will continue to give them my money and loyalty. MIZ ZOU RAH!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to you and to yours! Our whole family got together last night at my youngest sister and brother in law's home. There were 18 of us including a five year old, two three year olds and a six month old. As you would expect the place was a madhouse. But, in a fun way. The most popular toys of the evening seemed to be a remote controlled car for the five year old, and a pair of twin baby dollars for one of the three year olds. It's great to have family. Sometimes they drive me crazy, but I love them all!

I hope that you and your family have a great Christmas and remember Jesus' birth is the reason for the season. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I am officially done working for the year and home for the holidays! I started PTO today and don't have to go back to work until January 2nd. Woo-Hoo!

I went Christmas shopping for the little ones today and have everything bought that I wanted to get. But, I got to tell you after working my way through the store to find what I wanted, there are a lot of rude and inconsiderate people out there. And what is with all of the cell phones everyone has? Every woman in the store seemed to be talking to someone else on the darn phone. And they don't just talk in a normal voice they seem to be shouting into the phone. Yep, that sure made it feel real Christmas like.

But, the toys and clothes are all bought and now I get to wrap it up. I am not very good at it but will get through it ok. Besides the little ones, N, G & I, don't really care because they will rip it off in about five nanoseconds once they get them! Happy Holidays!

Strange Day

Well, it's just about bed time and I have seen a strange day today.

I went to work this morning and it was 60 degrees at ten to seven. 60 degrees on the 17th of December in St. Louis. Unbelievable!

Then when I was ready to write off the Rams football team for the season, they go out to Oakland and beat the snot out of the Raiders 20-0. It's the first time the Rams have posted a shut out since 1993. They played well, but then again the Raiders are one of the worst football teams I have ever seen...period.

I hope the weather holds, but I know it won't. In fact, it is supposed to get much colder by later this week. Actually I am glad it is supposed to cool down. It will seem like Christmas the colder it becomes.

Finally...The lights are up!

I had given up on getting the external Christmas lights put up this weekend, but about three this afternoon I went outside and it wasn't too bad. Not only that, but the ice in the gutters (it was still present from last week's ice storm) had pretty much melted off. So, I went for it and it worked out okay, after I broke up what ice was left in the gutters. It did not take too long either, maybe an hour and 15 minutes total.

I was finally done with the installation and went to plug them into the timer I use to turn them off and on. And guess what? They were all shining and about 30 seconds later, some of them started blinking. At first I thought what the heck??? But, as I watched them they were kind of cool looking.

Besides, after taking the time to put them up they are in place for this holiday season and now they aren't going anywhere.

This Blog is Worthless

Sometimes I think I should just delete everything I have posted here for the past year and a half and move onto something else. But, then I change my mind and feel the need to express myself with what should appear to be obvious to the rest of society. But, maybe isn't and is just my disgust with the local news media and stupid and rude people.

Since I last posted things have not gotten any better at work. In fact, they have gotten worse as I was chewed out by one of our executives for something that I was only partially responsible for completing. The guy is arrogant and earning the reputation of being a prick too. But, since he is very high on the corporate ladder you know who's going to win if push comes to shove. I have started searching the net for job opportunities, but at my age they really aren't there. I am only 53, but when a recruiter reads your resume, they can tell your age by what year you earned your first degree and your job history with previous employers. I know age discrimination is illegal, but there are numerous ways around it. And if a company can save 15 to 20k per year in salary they certainly will do so.

But, enough about poor old me. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and I am not going to let work bring me down. I have just six more work days left in 2006, so maybe things aren't all that bad.

Springtime in November

What a day! No work and not a whole lot of responsibility. The girls all went shopping today, which left us men to play golf. It was 65 degrees this afternoon in Saint Louis so a buddy of mine V and I played nine holes across the river in Illinois. I played well at the outset but ended up with a mediocre round of 48.

Anytime I get to play golf the last week of November it's a great day. Who knows maybe I can play again over the Christmas holidays! Life if good!

How Was Your Thanksgiving?

Mine was great! I spent the day with the family and smoked an eleven pound turkey on the Weber kettle. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, green bean casserole, and some kind of cranberry dish. It was excellent if I don't say so. And then add to that the Cherry pie and Cool Whip. Woo Hoo! After dinner it was up to my niece and her husband's to see the kids. Little I was as wound up as I have ever seen her. But, then she had an audience from Great-Grandma to her Grandma to her uncles and aunts. All in all it was a great day. I hope your day was just as good!

Random thoughts

-Has AT&T lost it's freakin mind? I got a notice from Ma Bell telling me I had not yet paid my phone bill today. The thing that pisses me off is that it's not due until next Monday the 27th. I pay the bill electronically on the day it's due. I don't pay it a day early and I don't pay it a day late. I pay the bill on the day it's due. So why is the phone company telling me they haven't yet received payment when the bill isn't due for a week? Whatever rocket scientist marketer thought up this effort to get idiots to pay their bill early can kiss my ass!

-My Tigers continue to struggle. They lost to Iowa State last week in a game they should have won. This weekend we have the lowlife Kansas Jayhawks coming to Columbia and hopefully the Tigers will look a lot better at home. And someone on the coaching staff needs to tell Chase Daniel to calm down. He has been trying to do it all by himself for the past month and it's not working. Granted his running backs keep fumbling the ball and his receivers either drop the ball or commit stupid penalties, but he needs to let some of the others on offense carry the load.

-The basketball Tigers are off to a great start. They are 5-0 at this point. But then again they haven't played a decent team yet either. Their first real contest will be later this month against Arkansas at the Mizzou arena in Columbia.

-I have not been to the casino in a month and have not gambled in two months. Oh I have taken their comps and eaten dinner on them and cashed in their money coupons for drinks but I have not given them any of my cash. I suppose that will come to a screeching halt real soon.

-How can this be the night before Thanksgiving? It seems like it was just St. Patrick's Day. But, tomorrow is the fourth Thursday in November and it sure is Turkey Day. It is the second earliest that Thanksgiving Day can occur(next year it is the 22nd and then in 2008 it falls on November 27th). Where has the year gone?

Sorry I haven't written more lately but I will have more time in the coming weeks. In fact after this weekend I will have only three more full weeks of work before taking off the last half of December. Woo Hoo!

Just catching up.

-Are you as tired of the politicians calling each other names as I am? In Missouri where I live we have a senate race where a two term Republican is being pushed by a political hack. But, she provides me with an option in that I can vote the incumbent out and hope she does better. I don't like Claire McCaskill or her politics, but I don't care to vote again for the incumbent Jim Talent. So, let's throw the rascal out and start over.

-We have a TV station in Saint Louis that calls itself "News Channel Five". It's the NBC affiliate but you would never know it. Three times in the past week it has dumped network programming in favor of it's own half hour long infomercial. And this isn't the first time these Bozos have pulled this stunt. I guess the only option left is to boycott their sponsors and let them (the advertisers) know we will not buy their stuff until the TV station stops this crap.

-And jeers to the CBS affiliate. Channel four, KMOV, decided two hours into the Eagles/Jaguars game last week that it would pull the plug and show it's own coverage of the Cardinals' world series parade. The problem is this particular station never showed a Cardinal's game all season because it did not have the rights and that it is supposed to be carrying CBS network programming. This station also has pulled prime time network programming in favor of it's locally produced half hour infomercials.

-I just heard that Saddam Hussein has received the death penalty. Big Surprise. I wonder if they will televise the hanging of Saddam and his buddies. If not I am sure it will end up on the web somewhere. I know it sounds morbid, but someone should do Iraq a favor and just put a bullet through his skull and save everyone the cost of an appeal and public execution.

Trouble in River City

Things at work are getting worse. Our team lead got demoted this past week and an Indian national has become our lead. Bad enough in itself but in team politics I am now on the "wrong" side. That and the previous statement by S that she would never want to be a lead because of the politics.

So what does this mean to me? Probably more work with less communication, direction and support. Those were the reasons our existing lead got demoted because CJ failed to achieve any of those goals. But S has never had time for any of these in working with others previously. She is brilliant but not very patient and not willing to share her knowledge.

I have to get out of this position before I have a meltdown. I have started looking around with some seriousness and have decided it is time to make a move, even though the company I work for has a very good benefit package.

Ideally, I would start working for myself and build my side business up quickly. But, that is not yet a viable option. So, I will keep my mouth shut, put up with the arrogance and laziness of others and keep taking the paycheck every week.

Still World Champs!

It's been a week since the Cardinals won the World Series and it still sounds great to hear the expression..."World Champion Saint Louis Cardinals"! I don't think it has fully set in yet but being a lifelong Cardinal fan I keep wondering if I am going to wake up and pinch myself and realize it was all just a dream. But, then I know it is reality. And that phrase will be accurate for another 51 weeks. Woo Hoo!!!

World Champion Saint Louis Cardinals!!!

How 'bout them Birds!?! They are the new World Champions of Major League Baseball. (Actually, this happened on Friday night, but I have had a busy weekend that I will elaborate on in another post).

The Cards beat the Tigers 4 to 2 and once again the Tigers played giveaway. I am not saying the Tigers would have won the game or series if they had not made all of the errors they did, but when you give the best team in the National League extra outs you are going to lose. The Tigers made eight errors in the series and the Birds took advantage of them. Five of Detroit's errors were by their pitchers who apparently lost their minds and arms whenever they fielded a ground ball in a clutch situation. Twice on Friday night Detroit's errors put the Cardinals on the board and they held on to win the game.

Finally, congrats to David Eckstein on being the series MVP. He may be the smallest player on the team but no one in the Saint Louis organization has a bigger heart. And a tip of my cap to Adam Wainwright who closed the series out for the Cardinals.

After 24 years of frustration the birds are back on top of the baseball world! Woohoo!

How 'bout Them Birds!!!

First it was the Padres, then they went seven to beat the Mets. Now my beloved Saint Louis Cardinals are up one game to none in the World Series! I haven't had a lot of sleep this past week, but who cares! I have all winter to rest up after the World Series is over. Stay tuned!

I Was Wrong

Last night I posted the Cardinals were in trouble. Well, I was wrong. The birds turned it around and pulled the game out beating the Mets 9-6. It was the first time since June a team had come from behind when the Mets were leading after six innings.

Now, it appears the Cards may have the upper hand as they come home for three and may be playing longer than I had pontificated last night. Go Cards!!!

TGIF

It has been a tough week at work. I continue to experience the same crappy management. What does that mean you ask? It means a lack of communication to the front line troops and being gutless in backing up their people.

I had to bite my tongue several times this week, to keep from telling idiot customers they just don't know what the hell they are talking about. Instead, I smile politely and do double work. I have to get a new job soon.

In fact, I have fired off a couple of resumes this week to companies looking for IT help. (Can you tell me why the head-hunters hang there jobs out there too, on the big job search engines)? Some sound promising. But, the fact is if they were such good jobs they wouldn't have to advertise for help.

Wish me well because if things don't change where I am now, I will be in the nut house by the end of the year. Have a great weekend and root for my Cardinals. BTW, they are down 6-4 to the Mets in game two of the NLCS as I write this and lost game one last night. I don't really expect them to do well this weekend and to be done for the winter by early next week.

Talk to you soon.

One down One to go

Goodbye Yankees, goodbye Yankees, Goodbye Yankees! It's great to see you go!!!

Congrats to the Detroit Tigers who beat the best team money can buy 8-3 yesterday afternoon to advance to the ALCS against the Oakland A's. It should be a great series.

The only negative thing to come out of it is that Joe Torre is probably going to get canned by the screwiest owner in professional sports George Steinbrenner. Maybe if Torre gets canned the Cardinals will can Tony LaRussa and hire Joe. Seriously Torre managed the birds in the 90's and was totally unappreciated by owners or fans.

And speaking of fans, how could the Padre "fans" boo their team, when they got down two games to one? That's just what happened on Thursday afternoon when the Cardinals went up two games to none. I guess they have high expectations. I would too, but with Chris Carpenter pitching for St. Louis tonight, the Padres season will hopefully come to an unglorious conclusion.

Why the big apple sucks and other thoughts...

Why is it the only teams that can play on TV in prime time have a New York address? I know the answer is all money and since Bud Selig sucks Fox TV and ESPN's dicks, that is the answer to this question. So, if you are actually going to a game in say St. Louis or Los Angeles you wont know until very late this evening what time your game is going to start. Why doesn't MLB get it's head out of it's ass and show the New York game in New York and the rest of the country watch whatever game they want. That's too simple. MLB would fuck up a wet dream...and as a side note the Cardinals couldn't even get on FOX today. They had to play their game at high noon on the cable network. And speaking of the cable types...who the hell is Linda Cohn and how did she ever get a job in the media. This bitch's voice could peel paint. And add to that her whiny nasal New York accent and I think someone should can her ass.

-Speaking of getting canned, I am in a jam at work. I stood up for myself and responded to some criticism from a moron at work a week and a half ago. I got sarcastic with her and she complained to management. My pussy manager then failed to back me up even though I told him what happened. He knows I was right. His manager now tells me I will be canned if I do it again. I am definitely back in the market. This company is a pretty good place to work. But the new management team that came in at the first of the year has failed to communicate since the start of the year. But, guess who gets the blame for work not getting done? Yep, it's the front line people. I think these gutless wonders should be working for MLB.

-As I write this I am watching the Tigers play the Yankees (Hey yank this)! I hope they do the rest of the nation a favor and knock the best team money can buy out of the playoffs. Then we won't have another who cares World Series. Do you remember several years ago when the two over-hyped media darlings brought in the lowest World Series ratings in history?

I'm tired

I was off for a three day weekend the past few days and had a blast playing in a four man scramble yesterday at one of St. Louis' premier public golf courses. We didn't play very well but we had a good time playing and drank a few beers.

But, today it was back to the office and all the petty b.s. politics that I put up with on a daily basis. And outside of a few things getting finished by one hard working co=worker, nothing got done in my absence that benefited the company any.

Oh, well I knew what I would have to deal with when I came in this morning, but still it was like someone slapped me upside the head. I ended up working 12 and a half hours and I could have stayed longer. But, like I said I am tired and I'm going to bed.

Boycott Office Max

Office Max this week sent some of it's customers a flyer for an unadvertised sale. Included in this sale was a 17 inch flat panel monitor for $99.99. It started yesterday morning and was supposed to run through today.

I got off of work last night after working OT and stopped (in the rain) at the store closest to my home. When I was greeted I showed the clerk the ad and said I would like to buy it. He responded by laughing and saying..."You and a half million other people". I thought it was a rude response and walked out of the store without saying a word while he blathered on like an idiot about some limited supply...yada yada yada.

OK Office Max you don't have to sell the monitor at that low price to more than a few people, but don't send it out to "half a million" people, if you don't have the product to honor it. Oh and if you don't want to sell me what you advertise than I will certainly not do any more business with you and will also let all of my friends and families know how you conduct business. I hope you go bankrupt.

Hello...I am still here

Hello how are you? It has been a busy last 30 days but I am still here. I was on vacation two weeks ago and had a blast. Then I went back to work last week and nothing had been done so there has been a lot of overtime too. I just thought I would write a few lines tonight just to express myself on a few things.

How long does a Sara alert last? In St. Louis an infant was abducted on Friday night and the TV stations immediately crawling crap across the screen. Not just here and there but continuously, ad nauseum. And not just Friday night. The morons are still running the garbage across my TV screen yet this evening, three days later. My question to these geniuses is: if they never find this infant will they run the Sara alert continuously?...The Rams appear to be over rated. After getting excited about their win over the Denver Broncos last Sunday, they promptly returned to form in Frisco yesterday afternoon by losing to the 49ers. Not just losing, but letting the Niners come from behind and shut them down in the second half...The Missouri Tigers are 3-0 now and have a cup cake scheduled this Saturday against Ohio U. But, the real fun will start in a couple of weeks when they head to Texas to take on A&M and then Tech. Then they come home for K-State and Oklahoma. And to make it a little more difficult they then go to Nebraska and Iowa State on consecutive weekends. We will see just how good they are...What is up with the Pope attacking Muslims as violent people? I am not a Roman Catholic but what was he thinking? And then as if they felt the need to verify the Pope's comments, the hardline Muslims now want to start Jihad against the Pope and the Vatican. I just don't get it.

I will write when I have more time, but I'm glad you stopped by to read this. Talk to you soon.

Why I hate Tiger

Normally, I would tell the winner of the PGA tournament congratulations. After all it is one of the four major tournaments of the year. But, Tiger Woods won today and I have no respect for this guy. He is all about himself based on what I have watched, listened to and read for the past six or seven years. And the coverage of golf has changed in this country, particularly on the CBS network, where the tournaments are now all about Tiger.

Is he a great athlete? Yes. Is he a good ball striker, Yes. Is he a good shot maker? No not really. But, is he a humble and compassionate human being? Again based on what I have observed, no I don't think so.

He is an Asian/African American who is all about Tiger. So, Tiger let's hope that if you really want to do something good you can contribute to the Ryder Cup team this year and work with your team mates rather than being concerned about yourself.

East Coast Sports Network

Ever wonder what ESPN stands for? Well, I am here to tell you that it means East Coast Sports Network.

If the event happens in Boston, Connecticut or New York City or anywhere within that triangle, you can be sure the East Coast Sports Network will be there. Or as a radio commentator said last night and I wish I knew who it was so I could credit him. It is the axis of sports evil.

What brought this post on you ask? All the crap I have seen today on ESPN promoting the Yankees and the Red Sox game tonight. Oh yeah and all of the crap that has been inflicted on the rest of the country by the Eastern announcers at the East Coast Sports Network talking about sports "greatest rivalry". Most of these kids are too young to know about the Cardinals and Cubs or the Giants/Dodgers who also played big rivaly series this weekend.

Ozzie Rips the Redbirds and his critics

About six weeks ago the manager of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen got taken to task by Major League Baseball for calling a Chicago newspaper columnist a fag. Ozzie was well justified to rip the newspaper type but he shouldn't have called him a fag in public.

Anyway Ozzie went to sensitivity training and has been pretty quiet for a while. I guess someone set him off yesterday because he came after his critics including the Cardinals' pitching coach Dave Duncan and Cardinals re-habbing starter Mark Mulder.

According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Joe Cowley, here is what Ozzie had to say.

Ozzie is certainly free to speak his mind and is for the most part right in what he says. But, one thing he needs to remember is that what goes around comes around.

Great-Nephews

I have a new six week old great nephew who has been laid back from the time he was born and really doesn't cry very much unless he has cause to cry. Monday of this week he started running a 102 degree fever and like good parents should his mom S and dad J took him to the ER at the urging of his doctor. Well, it's three days later and all the great and wise doctors could surmise is he had an entero-virus. The fever is down but little L according to his Grandma, one of my sisters, won't eat very much and wont sleep unless he is held. But, still the little guy is out of the hospital and back home. Hopefully, this is the end of the virus. I'll say one thing...he is one tough little fighter.

My oldest great nephew "N" started school today and from what I gather it was tears all around for him and his mom. They were led to believe by the school that there would be breakfast for the parents and the kids. But, when they got there, the teacher told the kindergarteners their parents would be going to breakfast while they stayed in their classroom. This upset N and because he hadn't had his breakfast at home because they thought they would have it at all together at school, he had no choice but to cry. If he had acted out in any other way he would have gotten in trouble with the teacher. Mama said she held it together until she and her husband J got N calmed down, but then she said she lost it for ten minutes when they got outside to leave. J had to calm my niece down and then she said she was a wreck all morning wondering how N was doing at school. I told her by this time next week it will be routine, but still that first day of Kindergarten is a tough one on the parents and in this case because he had different expectations on N too. He is really a neat kid and a good boy and the school district needs to get it's stuff together when it tells parents they are holding a breakfast. Or, like my niece said, "Why would we want to go to school to eat their cafeteria pancakes without N"? Good question school.

Six Days Later

It's been six days of enjoyment not having to go into the office and deal with the mis-management. I have also put on about six pounds in those six days as I have done pretty much what I wanted without working out but one day.

I have played golf twice, eaten dinner out the last three nights and had bacon and eggs every morning. Oh yeah, and had my share of beer the last several days too.

I am not old enough to retire, but if anyone knows of a way to do it on a moderate 401k and a small business on the side let me know. But, then again if I retired, I would probably live on a golf course and be up to my butt in debt.

Also, while I am thinking of it, the little polish girl who waited on us at dinner last night at the Mexican restaurant was really good. She had a better command of English and Spanish then most Americans I know. Props to you Katia!

It's Party Time

Hey everyone, how are you? I hope that you had a good weekend and that you had a good start back to the work week. I had a good start to the work week because I only had to work one day this week. As of this moment I am officially on VACATION! Woo Hoo!!

I plan on playing golf and living life large. I will sleep in and eat and drink what I want for the next six days. Well, actually I started this evening on the way home at a little Mexican restaurant that opened up about four months ago. The chips and salsa are OK but honestly the beer is over priced. (Bud-Lite). Then when I got home I did some work out in the yard before coming in and eating half a thick crust pizza. Yeah it was good!

Also, just FYI since I have written about losing weight since the first of the year, I have reached my goal. As of last Thursday afternoon I was down to 210 pounds. That's 78 less than I weighed on January 3rd of this year. Am I proud of it? You bet your sweet as* I am! At this point I have a thought in the back of my mind that I might drive up to Cincinnati on Wednesday and see the Cardinals play the Reds in a crucial NL Central division match up. Or I might go play golf and then hang out at the 19th hole for a while. Check back and see what happens.

Props

Here's a shout out to my friends C&B G for their hospitality last night. I visited the old stomping grounds after work and we had a great time. They picked up dinner at the best pizza restaurant I have ever been to visit. Then we went back to their home to renew our friendships and visit for a while. She then pulled out this sinfully rich Chocolate Cream Pie. It was to die for. I told my hosts there were more calories in that one piece of pie than I would eat in a whole day this past winter. So to you guys I say "Thank you very much"! I had a wonderful time. And to their son C, congratulations on the amazing performance you turned in at the national competition! You are going to go far!

Some Random Thoughts

It's kind of humorous to me that even though it's been 100 degrees plus everyday this week in Saint Louis and other Midwest cities, all of a sudden the heat wave is a big news story now that it has hit New York and Washington. Yeah, I guess all the people in the East are more important than the millions of us that out number them in the Midwest.

To me it's a real who cares about the Mel Gibson story. If a guy in California wants to get drunk and rip on Jewish people that's his business. I really don't think anyone outside of LA or New York really gives two hoots.

What's wrong with the Cardinals? They have lost eight in a row for the second time this season. It's not the management doing anything any different. The players have stopped hitting and the pitchers for the Birds can't get anyone out. Is it possible there is dissension on the team?

And finally to the police car that pulled up behind me in a construction zone and honked for me to get out of his way..."what the heck were you thinking". As this moron from the Creve Couer police department came around me I noticed he was out of his jurisdiction. In addition, if he was in his own little municipality he should have had his emergency lights turned on. He almost caused an accident. I hate asshole cops.

I reached my goal this week in my weight loss plan. I am now at 210 pounds which is exactly 78 pounds less than I weight on January third of this year. My goal now is to keep it off.

Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter

Congratulations to Bruce Sutter. Bruce was just sworn into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His appearance has changed, but he was still the smooth professional in his acceptance speech I used to watch pitch for the Cardinals back in the 80's.

A lasting image burnt into my memory was Sutter striking out Gorman Thomas of the Milwaukee Brewers to end the 1982 World Series. After the strikeout, the Cardinals poured onto the field and Sutter is pictured in numerous photographs jumping into the arms of late Cardinal catcher Darryl Porter.

Sutter had a wicked split finger fastball and helped to pioneer the pitch now utilized by many Major League pitchers. As late Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck put it so elegantly whenever the Cardinals would win..."That's A Winner".

In addition to Sutter, the Hall of Fame inducted 17 players from the old Negro leagues. The move was long overdue and included the first woman inducted into the Hall of Fame Effa Manley.

Congratulations also to the new members inducted into the media wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Gene Elston was inducted into the Broadcaster's Wing and Tracy Ringolsby into the Writer's wing of the institution.

Congratulations to all of the members of the 2006 class of the Baseball Hall of Fame!!!

Baby It's Hot Outside

Are you holding up in the heat okay? I sure hope so. Having the electricity back on again has been a godsend because it is getting hot in Saint Louis. At two this afternoon it was 98 degrees at Lambert Field, and 101 at Spirit Airport in West county. Lord don't let the power go out again and air conditioner don't fail me now!

This is how the heat wave of 1980 started. It gradually worked it's way through the mid to the upper 90's and then everyday was in the low, then the mid 100 degree range. It ended up lasting into mid September before things finally cooled off. I can remember a 111 degree day that summer. I sure hope we don't have to deal with that again this year.

The Lights Are Back On

After four days the power company finally showed up and turned the electricity to my home back on when a crew from Fort Wayne, Indiana reset a transformer. As soon as the crew replaced a fuse and hit the reset switch the hum of air conditioners could be heard filling the air on a warm Sunday summer evening. And it was kind of weird because the lights came on almost four days to the time they went out on Wednesday night. Both nights it was about eight o'clock.

As far as surviving, I don't think I have been more uncomfortable as when I went to bed on Thursday night. But I was fortunate because by Friday night the air temperature had cooled off into the mid 60s and I slept like a baby both Friday and Saturday nights.

I know civilization made it for thousands of years without air conditioning, but now living without it is quite an ordeal. Still, I was lucky. My power did come back on and I was able to go to the store this afternoon and restock most of the food and frozen items I threw out because they were no longer frozen or cold. The survivors of Hurricane Katrina never had that option. As I say I am very fortunate.

Still No Power

I spent a second night without power and air conditioning. It was warm but not unbearable. The air temperature when I went to bed was 91 degrees and when I got up it was 82 degrees but with the heat index it was 89. You know, you stick to the sheets pretty good when it's that warm. But, it could be worse.

One thing I am hearing from the spin doctors at the utility company (Ameren) is that this is the worst storm they have had to deal with in their 100 plus year history. Yeah, maybe in their mind. The real story is why a storm that the National Weather Service did not list as that severe has caused so much damage to the electrical infrastructure in Saint Louis.

The real story is Ameren is no longer being pro-active in upgrading and replacing worn out facilities. The former company had a regular maintenance plan that replaced equipment at regular intervals. The new company replaces things when they wear out or are destroyed. Thus when this storm came through it became the worst in the company's history. Oh and one other thing, while about 350 thousand homes are still without power at this time the company recently requested a 30 percent rate hike from state regulators. Maybe regulators should be asking what Ameren is doing with the money it is already making. Because it sure isn't being put back into the infrastructure.

Amateur Night on the Radio

There is a radio station in St. Louis that bills itself as "The Midwest's most trusted news source". The station is in downtown St. Louis and at one time was a fairly good news source. Not anymore.

Last night it was broadcasting rumors and half truths from it's listeners who were just as confused as station management about the storm that was ripping through the area. One listener had tractror trailer trucks being turned over on the I-270 bridge over the Mississippi. Yeah, that happened but when KMOX repeated it, they also had the wrong bridge. The actual fact is a construction shed was blown over on the Poplar Street Bridge 20 miles south.

Fact error 2. KMOX believed it's listener who told them the roof at the East Terminal at Lambert International Airport was blown off. Reality - part of the roof of the light rail station at the airport had some of it's corrugated roof blown onto I-70.

One of the first things you learn in Journalism school is you do not report rumors. You verify from at least one source and more if possible. Maybe the station's news director needs to go back to school.

The St. Louis Area Gets Whacked

I very powerful series of Thunderstorms came blasting through St. Louis last night, leaving almost a half million homes without power. In addition the storms blew down many trees and blocked a large number of streets. The good news is apparently no one was killed and very few people hurt very badly. It's almost a miracle when you consider wind gusts were measure in excess of 80 miles per hour.

Personally, I am without power and the local power monopoly (Ameren) says it could be several days before the lights and air conditioning come back on because there are so many suffering from the outages. Still, my home is intact without damage and I can cut and rake up the downed branches that strew my front and back yards. I am not the only one like this though. My siblings are all without power as are the next generation in our family as well. But, eventually the lights will come back on and life will return to normal. I guess things aren't all that bad after all. If you want to read a pretty good wrapup of what happened try this link.

Random Thoughts

It's hot in Saint Louis and it's getting hotter. It made it up to the mid and upper 90's last week and the temperature is forecast for about 100 each day this week. Air conditioning don't fail me now.....Is there a better beer brewed in the state of Missouri than Boulevard's unflitered Wheat Ale? I don't think so, and believe me I have drank my share of beer through the years. The beer is made over in Kansas City and has become my favorite ale. (I do like other Stouts and one particular Porter that are also very good) but Boulevard Wheat has a nice pleasant taste and the wheat helps in the digestive process. A win/win situation!.....How bout them Birds! The Cardinals have now won six in a row including four extra inning games. Yeah, they seem to be back on track, but then again they are not playing the best teams in baseball like the Tigers and White Sox. The Cards will win a lame central division but then will fall after the first round of the playoffs to the New York Mets. The Mets will then lose to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.....What's up with those dadgum flip flops. Everyone seems to be wearing them even in situations where they shouldn't be allowed. My employer permits summer casual from Memorial Day to Labor Day and even blue jeans are allowed at work. But, the flip flops have to go. You sure can hear them coming can't you? Flop, flop, flop, flop, flop all the way down a hall...flop, flop, flop, flop, flop, flo.....

MLB & ESPN Screw the Cardinals Again

The Major League All-Star game is set for tomorrow night in Pittsburgh and to hear MLB tell it, it will be the grandest night of the year. And it will be an entertaining exhibition to see all of the game's stars on display. But, it doesn't really mean a thing. It's just that...an entertaining exhibition.

But, the commissioner of the game Bud Selig, who is now apparently relying on the advice of apes, has again decreed that the league winning the exhibition game gets home field advantage in the World Series. The World Series used to be the most prestigious sports event in North America but since Bud and his flunkies (or maybe more accurately monkeys) have taken over the game it has lost a lot of it's shine. The "Fall Classic" is now played in the last third of October on cold nights. Yes, I said nights...When school children have to go to bed hours before the games end. Many people now believe the World Series ranks behind the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament in it's prestige.

It's a shame because baseball has so much going for it, but it has made the wrong decision every time it has had to make a decision. Even an idiot flipping a coin would get half of them right. Part of the decision making is fueled by TV (That's spelled FOX and ABC which owns ESPN). And the greed of the media has once again ruined about a third of the All-Star break for the St. Louis Cardinals and their families. An excellent better explanation is offered by Rick Hummel of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch writing in Sunday's sports section. And I quote:

"The Cardinals will play the Astros in Houston on Sunday, marking the third straight year they will have played ESPN's Sunday night game the day ahead of the All-Star break. "They act like you're honored to be a part of the thing," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. In fact, it is more of an inconvenience, especially to Cardinals who have had to fly overnight to be available the next day for All-Star Game festivities, such those in Pittsburgh this year. For instance, Albert Pujols, the leading vote getter, is scheduled to appear at a Monday morning press conference.But it also is inconvenient for players who want to go home for the All-Star break, with Monday being a travel day rather than a day at home.

And it is inconvenient for La Russa, too, who puts on a charity golf tournament in California on the Monday of the All-Star break for the benefit of his Animal Rescue Foundation. After Sunday's game, La Russa flies to Scottsdale, Ariz., with lefthander Mark Mulder on Mulder's plane and then charter another plane to make it to the San Francisco area in time for the start of his tournament, having already missed the pre-tournament gathering Sunday night.La Russa is less concerned with this annoyance than he is concerned with what he perceives is an uncaring attitude by ESPN toward his team. He said he would talk to ESPN telecasters Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on Sunday, because they are friends. But he indicated he wouldn't go much farther than that."(ESPN) decided they were going to mess with us," La Russa said. "Cincinnati-Atlanta would be a great contest on Sunday night. The (Sunday night) game should be played in a time zone where the All-Star Game is. There are East Coast games that are attractive. There's other games, I can guarantee it."But (ESPN) is selfish. They're probably ticked off that Roger (Clemens) isn't pitching."All they do - if someone gets belted or drilled - is they show highlights of that. It's all controversy."In 2004, the Cardinals played the Sunday night game at home before the All-Star break, when the All-Star Game was in Houston. Last year, with La Russa as National League manager, the Cardinals played the Sunday night in San Francisco before their All-Star contingent traveled three time zones away to Detroit".

Those are the words of Saint Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Rick Hummel, who is one of the finest baseball writer's in the nation and is well respected by both players and journalists. It's to bad he doesn't cover the Cardinals on a daily basis anymore.

Happy Fourth of July

It's been a while since I've had time to post... I've been busy with the three G's (Girls, Golf and Gambling)!

But, I do want to take a moment today to say Happy Fourth of July to everyone. I know I have expressed concern about our involvement in Iraq in previous posts and I am still alarmed by the number of young Americans being slaughtered by the low lives they are trying to help. But, that is another topic for another post.

Today I want to express my deep gratitude to all of our brave men and women serving this country both in combat zones and non combat areas. It is something I know I take for granted but I can not express how much I appreciate these fellow country men and women putting their lives on the line.

Were it not for their courage and bravery we might not have this freedom of expression to post messages such as this one. So HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to everyone!

Kudos to SWA

Just another post about the trip to Vegas...

I wasn't feeling real well on Thursday afternoon when I got ready to fly home. Several times in the past month I have had an incredible amount of pressure in my gut where I just can't get comfortable. Maybe it's nerves or maybe it's gall bladder. I don't know but it's not very pleasant.

Anyway, at McCarron airport I was waiting to board the flight home on Southwest Airlines and I got this pain in the gut. It continued as I boarded the plane and waited for takeoff. After we got in the air and the flight attendants were able to start moving, the lead flight attendant, came to me and asked if I was okay. I told her I had some indigestion and she told me she would bring me some Alka Seltzer. I thought it would be a while, but just a few minutes later she brought me a can of water and the A-S. I was impressed by her thoughtfulness and how quickly she responded and that she even noticed as she put it " I could tell you were under duress". I do not know her name but she was awesome. (Not to mention that she wasn't just cute, she was really pretty). And to top it off about 10 minutes later she came to check on me and brought me more ice water.

I am impressed with this lady and her true commitment to customer service. I would have let Southwest Airlines know this but I could not find a link on their web page to let them know. I like Southwest Airlines. They were early on both flights, were a pleasant experience and really cared about me when I didn't feel good. I will definitely fly SWA again!

A Chance to Reflect

It's been a week since I got home and I have had a chance to think about what I saw in Las Vegas. For starters, the downtown area seems more viable than the last time I was there. The Fremont Street Experience is crowded at night, and the people are filling the casinos. Also, the value downtown is probably in general better than on the strip. (I might be biased because I stayed at the Golden Nugget, which is downtown).

While downtown I discovered a great place to eat and drink. The Main Street Station has a microbrewery with a stout to kill for. It is called Wild Cherry Stout and it lives up to it's name. I went in twice and each time the experience was good. And the buffet is one of the lower priced in Vegas, but still had a huge variety and the food was really good! I don't think I will stay at this place but I sure will be back for the food and beer.

I guess the best surprise I had in Vegas was betting at the old Binion's Horseshoe. The girls working at the sports book were always friendly and always comped me when I put in my baseball wagers (which I won five out of seven for a tidy profit)! Too bad the same couldn't be said for Binion's coffee shop. The service was terrible and the food was average. The hostess acted as if she wanted to be some where else when I came in to be seated. She acted like she was doing people a favor to seat them. Hey lady, they're paying your salary. And the only other disappointment I can think of off hand was waiting for Gray Line Tours to get a bus to get me to my hotel. I waited for 55 minutes before the shuttle showed up and then it took another 40 minutes to go downtown from the airport. I would suggest you find another company if you find yourself in a similar situation.

While in Vegas I had the chance to check out the new Hooter's Hotel and Casino. Don't waste your time. The restaurant is the same chicken wings as you get anywhere else in the country. The only problem is the beer is twice as much for a draft as here in St. Louis. They were getting four dollars for a draft beer the night I was there. It will be interesting to see how Hooters does against the other players there. I think after the newness wears off they will struggle. While the Hooters girls are fine looking, they are not the only girls in town you can look at. And, the other places show a lot more than the Hooters girls if you know what I mean. ;-)

I will write more when I have time, but overall I had a blast. Talk to you soon.

..Back home again

It's been a great week of time off from the job. I spent it in the desert and had a blast. I will give you more info about my trip to Vegas, but suffice it to say for now I had a ball made some new friends and saw the human species first hand. I have to say the American Dream is alive and well in Las Vegas. In fact, the enterprise system couldn't be better as hundreds of thousands try to get something for nothing as they gamble away their vacations.

It was fun while it lasted, but it's also good to be home. I will write when I have more time.

Wrap of another TV season

Well, ratings month is over and so is this TV season. Herewith a few thoughts:

The Simpsons just keeps on going. I really think the satire is just as sharp today as it was 17 years ago when it premiered. If you read those news groups they keep saying it is gone down hill. I disagree. And it's still funny. As an example in the show where Grandpa turned into a bull fighter, one of the paper headlines was "Old Man Beats Meat". I laughed out loud. The writers are still doing a great job.

My thoughts on the West Wing were posted before this, but that reminds me of the ABC show "Commander in Chief". Last fall the critics were calling it great and apparently it was scoring good ratings. But now, ABC has decided to cancel it after three more episodes. Why? Maybe if they hadn't put it on hiatus for four months people would have remembered it. A shame it is leaving the air.

Two and a Half Men. This may be one of the two funniest shows on the air. Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer are excellent. I wish the season were starting again because their antics are laugh out loud funny. Plus Sheen's character is my hero.

My Name is Earl. This is the other funniest show on the air. The writing is brilliant and the characters well defined. The season finale was a hoot as Earl (who was trying to give all of his lottery money away) and his hoosier brother and friends had me laughing so hard I wish it wouldn't have ended. And Jamie Presley...she is truly a babe.

Lost and American Idol...who cares? And what's up with 60+ million people voting for a TV show? My guess is more of them voted for American Idol than bothered to vote in the last US presidential election. I hear people talking about Lost, but I have never had any interest in it.

Finally, The Sopranos and Big Love have one more episode each left. But, HBO is stretching it out for another week. I imagine that way they think they can hook people for another month of their service. Or maybe they just figure everyone will be busy over Memorial Day weekend. Either way I look forward to the season finale's of each.

Princess of the Train

What is it with people and their freakin' cell phones? A couple of days ago I was riding the Metro-Link when a princess got on board. She never lowered her voice once and subjected everyone within 20 feet of her to a boring conversation about her boring life. One of her whines was about some dude who would not make a commitment to her. She was telling her friend he didn't seem to be showing much interest in her. Duh? If she is that boring and inconsiderate on the train, what do you think she is like on a date? And she wasn't much of a prize, kind of big and plain. And then to top it off I heard her tell her friend (I couldn't avoid it), that she didn't like baseball. What the heck is wrong with this woman? I will tell you what is wrong with her. She is a loser and she thinks her shi* don't stink because she obviously wasn't concerned in the least with annoying those around her. The bitch finally got off the train in U City. When she left, those of us who had been subjected to her loud voice and rudeness started laughing. And her ears were probably burning because she sure was the topic of conversation.

Goodbye West Wing

I watched the series finale of "The West Wing" this evening on tape.

I thought it was a great way to wrap up the seven year run of one of my favorite shows. Martin Sheen who played the president gave an outstanding performance as did Jimmy Smits who played the incoming president.

The writers and producers did a nice job of wrapping up the loose ends and leaving the viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling as Jed Bartlett flew off into the sunset and said "Tomorrow" when asked by his wife Abbey what he was thinking about.

Farewell "West Wing". I will miss you.

I Can See Again

I can see again, thanks to my eye doctor. My eye's have been getting "better" which means that my old contacts and lenses were too strong and making things blurry. It cost me $384.00 to get my new devices but so far it is well worth it.

A Joke of a Radio Station

How can a city the size of Saint Louis be such a wasteland for local media? The CBS Radio affiliate is still calling itself the "Sports Voice of America". What? In the past five years it has lost the local broadcast rights for all three professional teams here. The station doesn't even carry national sports events made available to it by it's network let alone any local college broadcasts on a regular basis. Sports Voice of America? No it's not even the sports voice of downtown Saint Louis. And this little joke of a radio station also refers to itself as Mid America's most trusted news source. Yeah, right. It rewrites the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch (a crappy paper in it's own right) or rips and reads the Associated Press. I have even heard the station make corrections when the local paper runs a correction. Unbelievable.

The Idiots Are At It Again

The CBS and NBC affiliates are at it again. They are insulting the intelligence of two and a half million Saint Louis area residents to put up a thunderstorm warning for a county that is closer to Indiana than it is to Saint Louis. There is a thunderstorm warning in effect for Clay county, Illinois until seven this evening. But, my guess is there are less than three thousand tvs in the entire county and most of the people are watching their local affiliates and not stinko channel four.

I am trying to watch golf as are literally tens of thousands of other St. Louisans and the CBS affiliate channel four, has insisted on slapping it's logo on the lower left hand corner of my screen. Hey channel four you are supposed to be programming in the public interest not your station promotion now that ratings month is underway.

And just to see if the bozos are at it, I flipped over to channel five and not only are they putting up their station logo covering the lower left corner of the screen, but they are insulting us even further. They are running a crawl across the bottom of the screen telling us that a severe thunderstorm watch for Saint Louis and it's surrounding counties is in effect until seven tonight. Gee, someone tell Cindy Pressler that storm watch has been in effect since 11:30 this morning and only a retard would not get it by now.

Bottom line, this is all about ratings folks and the local stations are using your TV screen as a way of promoting their dumb ass weather tools. If you don't like this write the FCC and tell them that KSDK and KMOV are not programming in the public interest as they are required to by the government.

A Good Day

Remember back around Christmas I was bitching about how heavy I was? Well, today I went to the doctor's office and I checked in at 228 pounds. Now, the doctor's scale doesn't weigh as heavy as mine, but still that is exactly 60 pounds less than where I started on January third. Woo-Hoo! I am proud of myself. Now the next goal is to keep it off. After working this hard I have told myself I will keep it off.

It's also interesting that my blood pressure is down to 100/80. The doc has told me to cut one of the medications I take for high blood pressure in half and to monitor it closely.

It was a good day and to top it off one of my favorite casinos comped my dinner tonight!

Google Romance

If you haven't seen it yet...Google had a great April Fool's Day Joke called Google Romance. It's a very clever spoof of on line dating services. Check it out!

Clueless TV station

For the second time in four days the local NBC affiliate decided it was more important than the programs people were tuning into see.

The egotistical weather boy at KSDK decided he should break into regular programming repeatedly ad infinitum with the same dull message from about five until 7:20 p.m. If he is doing this on his own or the consultants at Channel five have told him to do this I don't know. But, the bottom line is it insults the intelligence of two million people in St. Louis and it's surrounding counties while the talking head shows the same boring pictures of weather radar over and over and over and over and over, until you want to puke. The sad thing again as I said last week is that most of the weather coverage was for counties too far away to see this sleazy presentation. But, those in Saint Louis and it's bordering counties have to watch this crap for little towns 90 miles away that no one in their right minds could care about. And to top it off the losers at five kept it up long after the other stations had dropped their graphics and crawls. I guess the weather boy at five is more important than the message.

Hey "Sleaze Channel Five"...get a freakin' life and quit bothering us with this crap. Put up a crawl about every 15 minutes and you will get the same message across without bothering millions of people who really want to see something else than your little dog and pony show.

Tony Soprano's getting better

The new episode of the Sopranos was on last night and it looks like T is on the mend.

My favorite line of the night was...

Nurse - "Just so you know, depression is common in post-surgery patients."

Tony - "So I should try to be happy, lyin' here, looking at my own guts?"

Idiots at the local NBC affiliate

What is wrong with the freakin losers at St. Louis' NBC affiliate? I am trying to watch the network program this evening called ER and the egotistical bastards at this station are so impressed with their weather techie crap, they insist on putting it on the screen every chance they get. And the map that covers the lower left quarter of my screen is for a freakin Thunderstorm WATCH! No not a thunderstorm warning...just a stinking Watch. That means conditions are favorable for the formation of a strong storm, but that none has been sited.
And they also want us to know there is a tornado WATCH (not a warning) in Phelps county that can't even get their signal off of the air. And I have news for the losers at five and their loser consultants who tell them to pull this crap. Phelps county is blacked out on the Rolla and Salem cable systems in order to protect their primary stations in Columbia and Jefferson City.

So tell us KSDcrap why do you put these disgusting images over what we are trying to watch? No one in their right mind cares about a tornado watch for a town of 15 thousand that is 90 miles away. I'll tell you why they do this. They have been told by some over-priced consultant that this will hype their news ratings at ten o'clock. So, guess what? Instead of being able to enjoy the program that channel five is getting paid to carry by NBC, we get to watch their large annoying boring images for an hour. Hey snooze channel we're not stupid we get it after about ten seconds. Instead of leaving up your graphic just run a crawl across the screen every 15 minutes or so.

The only other option open to us is to tell the local advertisers on KSDK you will not buy their products they advertise with this sleaze bag of a TV station.

Rambling thoughts

I can't wait for opening day! T minus - 5 days and counting! ( I don't count the bastardization of baseball by ESPN on Sunday night, even though it is the first regular season game this year). The Cardinals will make the playoffs this year, but they have some big holes in left field and at second base. Add to that some doubt about the fourth and fifth starters and they have real concerns. But, if it all comes together the Cards could win the World Series this year. One key will be 3rd baseman Scott Rolen. If he can regain his 2004 form before he got hurt it will go a long way to answering some concerns about the offense.

In another note, I was flipping channels and saw this new show tonight on NBC called "Teachers". It was mediocre at best. I guess sex sells because it took all of eleven minutes before two teachers fell into bed together. Now I'm no prude but what the heck is NBC thinking? This show will be lucky to last six episodes.

And would the sun please shine? After a beautiful Saturday we haven't seen the sun since. And rain is forecast for tomorrow and Thursday. Help me!

Finally, GW seems to be about as popular as a case of the clap. His approval ratings keep falling and today he fired his chief of staff and got a new one. I don't understand the move and I didn't vote for you this time around Mr. Bush, but I sure wish you well for the good of the whole country.

Turmoil in the workplace

The more things change at work the more they remain the same.

We have lost one of our minority employees, but the division between black women and white men remains the same. The guy who wants to be boss is trying to work around it but he isn't communicating with everyone. H has spoken to only people who he happens to see or who have sucked up to him. And speaking of sucking up H will have a broken nose if our bigger boss sits down.

In the meantime Senior management has opened up an internal position for promotion. Everyone has applied for it, but I don't know if it's to attract someone in from the outside or to truly promote someone who is deserving of a raise and responsibility. (Like me)!

I will keep you informed on what happens but it will be interesting to see the posturing and listen to the bullshit from people who would have you think they are the hardest workers in the world. Stay tuned!

A Great Day for the Irish!

I've been chillin out most of today, but what a great day for the Irish yesterday. I walked in the Hibernian's parade yesterday for the first time ever. My friends P&B had asked me several years ago to walk the parade route with them, but I had always bailed. But, this year being in shape for the first time in years and walking daily I thought it was something I would like to do.

And boy was it fun! The parade according to the rag St. Louis newspaper was attended by in excess of 100,000 people. I had the chance to give beads to little kids. (Not really throwing them, I had the chance to hand them to the little ones rather than arbitrarily firing them into the crowd of adult drunks). Some of it was kind of ugly such as the 25 year old blond bimbo screaming for beads, who yelled F*** You when they went to a two year old instead and she didn't get them. But, screw her. She must have been drinking since about ten in the morning and already had about a dozen sets of beads wrapped around her neck. If only I could have put my hands around her neck when she yelled out F-You.

Still, all things considered it was a great parade. I saw some friends in the crowd and had the chance to toss them beads too. I want to thank P & B for the invite to walk in the parade. They are awesome friends and the day was also a wonderful one. And the Ancient Order of Hibernians did a great job of setting up the parade and keeping it orderly and moving.

Finally, here's a joke for you. Do you know what the difference is between Saint Patrick's Day and the MLK holiday is?

A: Everyone wants to be Irish on Saint Patrick's Day!

And the Sopranos

Did you catch the season premier of "The Sopranos" last night? Wow, what an opener to the new season.

Looks like we are in store for another eleven great episodes if last night was an indication of the rest of the season. A whacking, a hanging and what appears to be an accidental shooting. Not to mention that Phil Leotardo may be setting himself up for a hit. I don't watch a lot of television but when "The Sopranos" is on it is my favorite program.

...and that.

Shame on CBS Sports! Two of their so called basketball "experts" took it on themselves to attack the chairman of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament selection committee during their selection show yesterday afternoon.

Billy Packer and Jim Nance decided enough major conference teams did not make the tournament and used their portion of the show to attack committee chairman Craig Littlepage. It was not the proper forum for either Nance or Packer to express their opinions. It may have started out as a legitimate question but it turned into an editorial. And to top it off Littlepage was not given the opportunity to respond after the attack started. He tried to answer but CBS cut him off. If you would like to read a more balanced article about the selection process check out this page.

Hey CBS get these guys off the air before they do even more damage!

This...

Well hello there Blogland...I have been sick with this darn flu for the last couple of weeks and have not been writing because frankly I haven't felt up to it. That doesn't mean I haven't wanted to rant about certain things, I just haven't been up to sitting down at a keyboard and organizing my thoughts.

But, off the top of my head here is one. First of all the TV stations in this town are like amateur night. They all try to outdo each other when a thunderstorm rolls through. And it doesn't matter how far away they are. They are so desperate to show off their technology they will break into programming to tell you how awful the storm is that is about 100 miles away. (Why they do this I don't know). The people 100 miles away cant get their signals anyway and the cable subscribers in those towns are blacked out in favor of their local stations. But, in Saint Louis we get to hear about storms in north central Missouri and central Illinois. Give me a break already. I am NOT watching your station to see weather. I am watching to see your network's prime time programming! Twice while watching 'The West Wing" last night the weather man took it on himself to interrupt to tell us about a storm...I kid you not, that was 90 miles north of Saint Louis. Now this was pretty inane but it was the same thing the weather bimbo on the CBS affiliate did during "60 Minutes" the previous hour. Her justification was "these are dangerous storms moving our way from Kansas City". Hey get a life. Kansas City is 250 miles away. And as far as the alleged threat to my safety and property...never happened. It barely rained at my house. STOP SHOWING OFF YOUR FANCY TECHNOLOGY AND JUST SHOW THE NETWORK PROGRAMS! No one cares about storms 100 miles away!

A big bust

Did you watch the Olympics this year? I watched about all I could stand. I'm not sure just what it was, but they weren't as interesting or as inspiring as in the past.

And what about Bode Miller? This is the guy who was expected to win up to five gold medals. As it turns out the guy didn't win any medals at all. Zip Zilch, Nadda. What a bust! And this is the same guy that Nike pumped millions of promotional dollars into in an effort to promote their products.

And two other jokes were Apollo Ohno and Chad Headrick. They both spoke of winning a bunch of medals. Between them they won a whopping total of two gold medals.

I am glad this particular saga of the Olympics is over.

...tomorrow is another day

It's been a horrible day. First of all I get to work this a.m. and one of our minority employees cops an attitude. She sends me and two coworkers a smart ass email. I choose to ignore it. Then her friend, another minority employee who is actually racist in her attitude, sends out another email blaming everyone but herself for not telling her what time to come to work and blames the boss for not communicating with her the first minority and another. I decide to ignore it to and let the boss worry about it. He responds by sending an email to everyone saying we are going to have a team meeting to discuss the problems. Aaargh! The problem is the minority employees don't want to come to work on time and he needs to solve it.

Ok...so I move on. About three this afternoon a thunderstorm rolls over and the skies drop hail on our building like you have never seen. I go outside at quitting time to the parking lot and my car is now pocked by numerous dimples laid in it by the hail. Every car in the lot is damaged. Aaaargh!

So, I decide to stop by a family members on the way home. I tell her about my day and she decides to change the subject and talk about some inane thing totally off the topic. We get along fine for a while. She then makes a statement that is wrong and I correct her and tell her what really happened as I remember it. She gets pissed that I corrected her and starts this crap about you ought to show more respect. I told her where I was coming from but decide it is best to leave. Just another brick in the wall.

Finally, as I start my car I cant get the headlights to turn on. I tried everything I know and end up driving with my foglights. That wont do, so I put on the highbeams and make it home. Fortunately I didn't have anyone flip their lights at me. I guess they thought I was a SUV and just ignored the high beams.

I am done with dinner and going to bed. As Scarlett said..."tomorrow is another day". I can hardly wait to drive to work at daybreak with my fog lights.

A letter to termed Mizzou Coach Quin Snyder

Quin you can't say you didn't know it was coming. I respect your loyalty to your team and your agreeing to bow out now, rather than drag the team through seven more games. I have empathy for your wife and child in that their provider has lost a very prestigious job. But, you know very well that all of us are ultimately responsible for our actions. Ultimately your failure to recruit the needed players at key positions led to your downfall. I won't dwell on the Ricky Clemons fiasco, but you were so desperate to solve the point guard problem left by the departure of Wesley Stokes that you failed to use good judgment. Combine the inability of you and your staff to recruit those key players with a lack of experience in game management and it was just a matter of time before you would fail. And in fairness, you are not alone in blame. Mike Alden should never have put you in the position in the first place. Yes, you did go to four NCAA tournaments and your first recruiting class was outstanding, but then many of those players were recruited by Norm Stewart.

I wish you well in the future and hope that if you decide to remain in the coaching and teaching profession that you are able to grow and succeed. But, for now a large number of Missouri fans will remember you for the failures of this and the past two seasons.

Something I've been meaning to write

I do not watch a lot of television outside of sports. But, there are a few I like to watch weekly.

One of my favorites is the NBC program "My name is Earl". It airs at eight p.m. on Thursday nights and may be the best written comedy currently on commercial TV. The characters are strong and the acting is excellent. The cast includes Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Eddie Steeples and Nadine Velazquez. They are hilarious!

Bias at the S*O*C*P

A writer for the St. Louis-Post Dispatch has taken it up on himself to attack the city of Columbia and the state of Missouri as racist. Writing in a blog from the Olympics in Italy, Vahe Gregorian, wrote..."is Columbia, Missouri ready for a black coach"? This bias made it past Gregorian's editors and onto the blog. I have my doubts that the blog is edited and that Gregorian, who is the son of an Ivy League school president, is probably of the mind he can write whatever he wants in what is supposed to be about his experiences in Turin.
I believe the writing is unacceptable and posted the following with the paper in response to Gregorian's attack.
"Vahe, what do you mean when you write "is Columbia, MO ready for a black coach"? I certainly hope this insult and screw-up by your editors does not mean you believe that Columbia is racist. Does it?

If in fact you and your Maryland peers in the Sports department have this attitude it would explain your publication's shoddy treatment of Missouri athletics. Since you appear to be using a bias from having lived a privileged East Coast background I would suggest you live in the community before attacking it. I hope I am wrong but if you are saying Columbia is biased, it is probably time for you to move on to another job".

...and speaking of awful

The Missouri basketball team last night was the definition of awful. How can a team that beat Kansas a month ago look so horrible against a team it should have taken apart.

My impression is (and I hope I'm wrong) the team has just given up and they know their coach is a lame duck waiting for the hatchet at the end of the season. I have been following Missouri basketball since 1968 and this year's edition is by far the worst I have ever seen.

It was so bad last night I turned the game off early in the second half. Aaaaaaarrgh!!

S*O*C*P

No, the title is not some military abbreviation. It stands for Same Old Crappy Paper. I am referring to none other than the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

It's latest trick was to run a huge feature story on the front page of the Sports section about a college that has very little readership in the Saint Louis metropolitan area. But, what is really amateur on the paper's part was doing it on a day when the university with more alums than anyone else in the region played a Big XII Conference basketball game. Instead of full coverage of the University of Missouri's game against Baylor, the rag published a boring feature on the coach at the University of Illinois.

Now, you might say, but Illinois has a better program. My response as a professional journalist would be fine. Run the feature on a day when the larger share of readers want to see it. Instead, the Post ran a small story about Mizzou on the far right column, where the eye did not want to go naturally but rather was attracted to the huge photo of Bruce Weber and his minions.

When will the S*O*C*P realize this is one of the reasons why it keeps losing readers.

MU Tigers

Since bragging on my Missouri Tigers earlier this month after they beat the Kansas Jayhawks they have done absolutely nothing positive. They have lost three in a row to Kansas State, Iowa State and this afternoon Nebraska.

The win over KU was a fluke. Coach Quin Snyder is certainly shaping his future with the University as he continues to be outcoached by his peers in the Big XII.

Earlier this week, the Kansas City Star's Wright Thompson told this interesting tale of Snyder's perspective on life in the big time world of NCAA Division one basketball and his own job at Mizzou. This article is property of the Kansas City Star.

It's too bad the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch is incapable of such fine journalism. Well, let me correct that. It has several writers who are capable of such work, but their editors don't have a clue that readers would like to read more than the constant attacks on the MU Athletic program. But maybe there is hope for the Saint Louis rag. One of it's editors did have the sense to re-publish the article in Saint Louis later in the week.

Hey Post-Dispatch get your head out of your ass!

I'm still here

I haven't written much lately as a very close family member has been recovering from knee replacement surgery. She is doing very well but still I have spent a lot of time looking in on her and making sure she has what she needs. I will write more as time permits, especially about some of the bonehead things observed lately in the local media.

How 'Bout Them Tigers!!!

My alma mater, the Missouri Tigers came from behind tonight to beat up on their arch rival Kansas Jayhawks. The final was 89-86 in overtime. Mizzou was down by nine with a minute and a half to go but somehow got it tied and then got a huge break when KU missed two free throws with less than a second left. That sent the game into OT and there were by my count six lead changes in the OT period alone. What a game!

This is the first time in quite a while that Mizzou has won two in a row over the lowlife Jayhawks. Let's hope it's the start of a good streak against those Lawrence losers!

MIZ ZOU RAH!!!

...And in broadcast news

As long as I am writing about the media here I want to give out a few awards...

Best television new staff...KTVI Channel 2. They aren't as flashy as channel four and five, but they do the best job of reporting and presenting the news. I have even seen the news staff at two report on issues. (This is rarely seen in television news. (Is that an oxymoron)? In the weather department if their main meteorologist wasn't so bad at predicting the weather the station would be really good. But, they are still better than the products being generated by the other stations in this market.

Worst television news staff KSDK Channel 5. There newscast has turned into a slick presentation of little more than features and puff pieces. In fact yesterday morning, at it's nine a.m. newscast it not only did a promo in the newscast for the Skating competition in town this week, it went so far as to tell viewers where to buy tickets and how much they cost. News? Come on folks why don't you just label this crap what it is. In fact you should call yourself feature center five. The woman who does prime time weather is awful and the Asian woman on Saturday morning isn't much better.

The other two TV outlets that do "local" newscasts are mediocre. The CBS affiliate KMOV puts up a lot of slick, glitzy pieces, but it does have some reporters who know the market and do recognize a legitimate story.

Channel 11 tries real hard, but it is reminiscent of the newscasts I used to put out when I was in journalism school. ..not really very good. But they do try and they have a few people in their newsroom that are good at what they do. And give them credit, unlike the other three they are not constantly interrupting prime time programming with their latest weather technology, to bore the pants off of viewers.