- My Saturday was made as a sports fan by three hours and 46 minutes of bliss broadcast from Yankee Stadium. The target of an overwhelming majority of my baseball-related hostility, Roger “Pocket Rocket” Clemens, was on the mound for the Yankees against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Near Encino Next to Redondo Beach. When Clemens pitches, my outcome of choice is always to see him be pounded by the opposition and take the loss. Running a close second in fates I love to see befall the big-headed, big-egoed Clemens is to see him pitch as well as he possibly can………and his team still loses. Option Two was the result today, with R. Clemens going eight innings and giving up only one run, yet the Yankees still lost, 2-1 in 13 innings. There’s not much better than watching Clemens give his all, go balls-to-the-wall, exhaust his every reserve of energy and still have it be not quite good enough. The loss, coupled with tonight’s loss by Boston, keeps New York to 11 games back in the division race, meaning that the Yanks can be no closer than 10 games when the All-Star break sets in after tomorrow. The Yankees may not be getting the season-saving boost they hoped for by signing the Pocket Rocket, but the $1 million per start they’re paying this jerk is definitely buying me a lot of enjoyment. So thanks for the help, Mr. Steinbrenner, you’re the best!
- I’m torn on what to think of the Live Earth concerts around the globe today, because it is definitely good to see people stand up against the continued abuse of the planet and our natural resources but some of the musical acts performing…….umm, they suck. I realize that if you’re going to have such a massive event and have concerts staged all around the world, you can't just go with one specific genre of music; that wouldn’t appeal to all of the people you want to reach. However, I think it is still possible to fill a 150-slot roster and avoid wretched and ear-assailing artists like Madonna, Shakira and Kelly Clarkson. With concerts in Rio de Janeiro, London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Sydney, Hamburg, Washington, D.C. and East Rutherford, N.J., you could surely find enough acts who aren't all-dance, all-attitude, no-musical-skill-having skanks who are either 15 years past their prime (yes, you Madonna) or sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks operating a jackhammer (yes you, Shakira), no? Thankfully there are decent acts involved, including Metallica, Snow Patrol and Kanye West, but there are far too many hacks taking part for this to be a truly great event. I do feel bad for Washington, D.C. residents because the two headliners for the concert in their city are Garth Brooks are Trisha Yearwood, so many condolences go out to those living in our nation’s capital. Not everyone is down with the concept of a series of concerts to promote environmental awareness and conservation, though. “The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert,” whined The Who’s Roger Daltry. That’s the spirit, Roger, to hell with concerts, especially rock concerts! I guess you can say those sorts of things when you’re a member of a legendary, establish rock band, but I disagree with R. Daltry. The problem here isn't that a worldwide concert is being held; the problem is that the concert is mostly going to suck because of who’s performing in it.
- Oh, how I love empty, showy symbolic gestures. Nothing is better and more uplifting than empty, meaningless displays laced with all sorts of heavy metaphors and social messages. Case in point: the NAACP is going to hold a symbolic “burial” for the N-word at it ongoing convention in Detroit, with Julian Bond, the NAACP’s chairman, declaring that use of the word is wrong whether the person saying it is black or white. I don’t disagree with his sentiment, mind you; I’m just saying that in no way and no how is this one single, empty ceremony going to stop anyone from using that word. Fact is that people everywhere use it, whether it is bigoted, racist people of other races using it in a derogatory sense or whether it’s black people using it as a friendly or endearing term between each other. Whether the NAACP says that use of the word should cease or continue, people who use the word are going to continue using it. They don’t care what some activist organization says and you’re not going to convince them otherwise. It’s a nice concept by the NAACP, but it’s not going to have any impact at all.
- Passing the buck…….now that’s what should be the motto of our federal government. I don’t know what it is, probably something about unity, patriotism, service and commitment - I just know that passing the buck is what our government is all about. No one wants to actually be responsible for anything, as evidence by the decision of a federal appeals court in Cincinnati which rejected a lawsuit challenging W.’s intrusive, abusive and outright wrong domestic spying program that basically allows the government to totally invade its citizens’ right to privacy and intrusion upon their lives and private communication by the government. The appeals court justices ruled in a 2-1 decision that the plaintiffs had no standing to sue because they couldn’t actually prove that their communication had been monitored by the government. Amazingly, the two Republican judges on the panel were the ones voting in favor of a law enacted by an inept, idiotic, dolt of a Republican president. The decision vacates a ruling by a lower court in Detroit in 2006 that declared the warrantless surveillance authorized following the 9/11 terrorist attacks was unconstitutional. If you’re scoring at home, this makes the running tally The Man 1, Oppressed Citizens 0.
- That was fast. As quickly as the new CW series Hidden Palms came hurtling onto the airwaves, it is burning out just as quickly. The show will be airing its series finale this week, which is funny because having a wrap-up for a series that has only been on the air for a brief and aborted summer run is absurd. I’m not sure if the CW had plans for this to be a long-term show (and by long-term I mean more than a dozen episodes or so), but obviously not too many people were down with what was supposed to be a new version of The O.C. What’s also funny is that based on the subpar ratings Hidden Palms received, I’m surprised the CW cancelled it. After all, isn't it the network’s policy to keep its crappiest and most unwatchable shows on the air and get rid of its best shows? You’re saying that’s not their policy? Are you sure? This is the network that keeps One Tree Hill and Everybody Hates Chris on the air, revived a dead, dead, dead 7th Heaven for another season even though the show had outlived its usefulness about five or six years prior and killed off awesome shows like Everwood, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. It absolutely floors me that the CW cancelled what was clearly a terrible show in such expedient fashion and it leads me to believe one thing: Dawn Ostroff is no longer in charge. The good people at the network must have offed her and now be pulling a Weekend at Bernie’s with her corpse, because no way does that incompetent moron make the right decision in any situation. So adios to Hidden Palms, I never watched you and I’m glad I didn’t.
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