Of all the teams I used to root for before moving to NYC more than a decade ago, only the Chicago Blackhawks still have a prominent place in my order of allegiances.

I went to see the Blackhawks in Nashville this week and will catch them when they make a stop in Newark next month. 

Not only was it the pull of a Blackhawks hockey game that brought me to Nashville but my friends Jeff and Deborah are long-time Predators season ticket-holders with a pair of seats about twenty rows behind the penalty boxes.  They hosted the quick visit starting with a great pre-game dinner at Rotier’s Restaurant near the Vanderbilt University campus.  In business since 1945, Rotier’s is a dimly-lit joint famous for its cheeseburger served on French bread.  The well-done patty between fresh and thick sliced bread required two hands.  Why French bread?  I never found out, but it was a good way to eat a burger.  The fries were excellent.  Bud bottles were three bucks.      

From dinner, it was a few miles to the downtown arena called Sommet Center.  Deborah has government-issued parking privileges just a few blocks from the venue.  Both Jeff and Deborah donned Predators jerseys before entering the arena.  What’s interesting about their wardrobe selection is a mutually-agreed upon arrangement by which one never wears the home jersey if the other is wearing the same.  So, over the course of some forty home games in a season, never will you see Jeff wearing the dark blue home jersey when Deborah has hers on.  On Tuesday, Jeff wore the white road jersey while Deborah wore the home blue.  

I last visited Nashville with my Dad for a hockey game about five years ago.  The most notable change at Sommet Center since my last visit is a new scoreboard (with video capability) that hangs over the ice.  Also changed is the name of the arena.  No longer is it called the Gaylord Entertainment Center.  Gaylord sold its interest in the team – and gave up the arena linkage in 2005.  Sommet provides “outsourced business services.”  It’s a Tennessee-based company that gained naming-rights on the arena in 2007. 

There have been several behind-the-scenes maneuvers in recent years that raised questions about whether the Predators franchise would remain in Nashville.  Hamilton, Ontario and Kansas City are among the cities looking to add a team.  Jeff says the Predators are on pace to break even financially at this season’s end and expect to meet an attendance goal that would stave off relocation at least short-term. 

On the outer fringe of the playoff race, the Predators needed to beat the Blackhawks Tuesday to stay in post-season striking distance.  After two periods, the Hawks looked solid with a 3-1 lead.  Jeff and Deborah were pretty pessimistic about a Preds rally in light of the fact the team is dead last in the NHL in goal scoring.  But ex-Hawk JP Dumont scored a big game-tying goal for the Preds with 15 minutes to go and Nashville got two more scores with less than five minutes in regulation to win 5-3.  Attendance was 15,075. 

Locally-brewed Yazoo Pale Ale was our refreshment of choice at the game.  Preds fans are enthusiastic and well-behaved it seems.  Whenever a penalty is called on the opposing team, Preds fans hold up a balled-up fist and then simulate a pouncing cat with a downward motion of the fist.     

The young country music star Taylor Swift was at the game.  When the scoreboard’s video screen showed Swift (who released the top selling country record of 2008) in a mezzanine level seat, the crowd reacted with surprise and cheers.        

After the game, Jeff took me to Robert’s Western World for the full-on Nashville honky tonk experience.  The bar on Nashville’s bustling Broadway strip hosts live music seven days a week starting at 11 AM. 

The twangy trio Phil Hummer and the White Falcons from Old Hickory, TN (pictured above) was on stage during our time at the bar.  Phil has a Joe Ely sounding voice and his band was hard-working and entertaining.

The flights between Newark and Nashville were pretty much on time and uneventful.  Big thanks to Jeff and Deborah for making it such a fun trip.     

2-26-09 1755

All those misguided Rangers fans chanting “Fire Renney” at the Garden the last few weeks got their wish Monday.  Head coach Tom Renney was handed walking papers by GM Glen Sather after a prolonged stretch of lackluster efforts that included back to back losses against inferior teams this past weekend. 

Renney is a great hockey coach and he will win plenty of games wherever he lands.  His firing from the Rangers is a misplacement of blame.  As time passes, the goofs who called for his head will wish they had him back.     

It was Sather who gave the final OK to removal of the heart and soul of last year’s great Blueshirts team by parting ways with Jagr, Shanahan and Avery before the current season started.  Even without those three, the Rangers continue to have an extremely talented roster.  Problem is, there has been no credible, seen-it-all leader to step forward and flip on the jolt switch when the team hit the skids.  Scott Gomez can’t flip the switch.  Chris Drury can’t do it either.  Markus Nasland has been a dud.   

Renney’s style was not to intervene.  He’s the kinda coach that’s built for the long haul.  He’s the kinda coach that allows a roster to sift out the soft and get jump from an assertive core without yelling, carrying on and making crazy statements in the press.  In each previous season with the Rangers, Renney got cohesion from teams that didn’t look they’d work on paper.  Renney was a class act who probably knew that his relaxed, patient and confident exterior that held consistent as this team crumbled wouldn’t help him keep his job.  But that’s the way he was.  He acted as classy losing as he did when his team was winning.   He stayed true, and it’s too bad he’s not sticking around. 

-Sunday’s New York Times used Associated Press wire copy in its sports section for game coverage of the three local NHL teams.  Each team played important games the night before.  The Rangers played up in Buffalo and the Devils/Islanders played out on Long Island.  I could understand not sending a reporter to cover the last-place Islanders at this point, but both the Devils and Rangers are intriguing stories these days.  The Times sports section does a great job going beyond the game but it’s hard to believe it would choose to run just a few paragraphs of coverage from a news service as the local teams enter the home stretch of the season.    

-TSR gets on a bird Tuesday for a quick trip to see the playoff-bound Chicago Blackhawks play in Nashville.  Back with a full report here on Thursday.    

2-24-09 0155

Birds continue to move free and easy at LaGuardia Airport and the absurdly ineffective procedures for airplane avoidance of them continues without upgrade despite discussion of radical change in the wake of the bird-induced double engine failure that ended with a Miracle on the Hudson.    

A few days ago, as the first wave of morning departures launched off runway 13, a cockpit crew member flying a 737 bound for a Midwestern city told the LaGuardia control tower that he observed birds at one-hundred feet above the end of the runway.  The tower asked the pilot if his airplane struck any of the birds on takeoff and the pilot said no.  Those birds dispersed within a minute. 

Lacking technology to provide current information, controllers in the tower proceeded to tell at least a dozen subsequent departures about the bird sighting made at 643 AM.  As late as 703 AM, the tower continued to tell departing aircraft about what at that point had become old and irrelevant information. 

A bird sighting made by a pilot leaving or arriving LaGuardia is likely of little help to a flight crew twenty minutes later.  Birds are usually moving.  A flock in a flight path ought to be detected by more advanced means than a stale word of mouth. 

-The meltdown by Tommy Armour III on the slope below the putting green on the eighth hole at The Riviera Saturday was among the more disastrous ones you’ll ever see from a PGA tour pro.  After hitting his second shot on the par four into deep grass just off the side of the green, Armour was in birdie territory. He had a nightmare sequence instead.  It took Armour five swings to get on the green.  With each blown shot, you could sense Armour was getting aggravated.  After finally landing his ball on the green, Armour boiled over.  Rather than exchanging the wedge he was holding for a putter, he stepped away from his caddy (his brother) and swung the wedge with all his might into the ground.  It appeared to be deeply embedded.  Having blown off steam, Armour accepted the putter, lined up his 22-footer for quadruple bogey and drained it.  Armour started Saturday at eight-under for the tournament and was hanging with the leaders.  His collapse on the eighth hole knocked him out of contention in a flash.  Armour III is the grandson of Tommy Armour who won three major golf titles in the 30’s and whose name appears on golf equipment to this day.  Armour III has had a pretty mediocre professional career with just two PGA tour wins in the 28 years since he turned pro.  At the age of 49, one would expect Armour III to seek the easier competitive terrain of the Champions Tour when he becomes eligible in 2010.  

-The best public high school basketball player coming out of New York City this spring is still undecided on which college he’ll attend.  Hoops Weiss of the News says Lance Stephenson was in Lawrence for KU’s game against Nebraska Saturday and has already made visits to St. John’s and Maryland. 

-College basketball writer Lenn Robbins of the Post reported last week that the long-running alternating home and home series between St. John’s and Duke is nearing an end.  Robbins says Duke wants out of the series in part because it can schedule dates at Madison Square Garden and the Meadowlands without having to play an opponent that it routinely walks over.

-It seems like there may be a disconnect between the baseball writers who universally criticized A-Rod’s press conference performance to open Yankee camp in Tampa and a significant portion of the baseball fandom willing to forgive, forget and move on.  I’ve heard plenty of callers to sports talk radio the last few days who are satisfied with A-Rod’s evolved explanation.  And TSR received the following message in the electronic mailbag from loyal reader Matt from Chicago:   

“I'm curious....his name came out (shouldn't have, not his fault) that he was on 'roids.  He said I did them, I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry.

What more do people want from him?  Is it important what he took?  How he took them?  Where he got them?  What more "truth" do they want?  He's already had to say more than he had to, since his name wasn't supposed to be out there in the first place.

And believe me, I'm no big A-Rod booster.  I just don't get what more people want other than the pound of flesh they've already gotten.”

2-22-09 0100

It hasn’t received wide coverage, but ABC News has reported that the captain of the flight that went down outside Buffalo last week worked part-time at a grocery store until as late as last August. 

Little about 47-year-old Captain Marvin Renslow’s flying career has been made public beyond the number of flight hours he compiled – and the fact he just recently upgraded to the Q400 from a smaller twin-prop.  We know Renslow racked up nearly 3400 flight hours and was hired by Colgan Airlines in September 2005.   

Obviously, there’s a career history that precedes Renslow’s employment at Colgan that has not been disclosed publicly.  It may not even be relevant.   

But ABC’s report that Renslow worked a grocery store job to supplement his pilot paycheck is something worth thinking about. 

Here is a guy entrusted with such a huge responsibility and level of pressure - and he’s paid less than some of the men and women loading bags onto his airplane.  He’s certainly paid less than most of the salesmen, lawyers or accountants sitting in the back of the plane who paid a few hundred bucks for a round-trip ticket on the routes Colgan flies for Continental.   

According to a database that publishes pilot pay scales, a Colgan captain with three years seniority flying a Q400 makes $56 per flight hour.  With 75 flying hours a month guaranteed – and another ten or twenty more than that normal – Renslow was on pace to gross let’s say $60 K annually after the switch to the Q400. 

Before the switch – on the smaller airplane – while moonlighting at the grocery store - he was at $43 per flight hour.  That would work out to about $45 k annually. 

Sitting next to Renslow in the cockpit on the airplane that crashed was a first officer who was making not a whole lot more than $20k annually. 

People have already second-guessed the pilots’ actions in this case.  At some point, the NTSB will make a determination on whether or not errors were made. 

No matter what happens, it should be understood and remembered that major airlines break off a large portion of their route maps and cut deals with small regional airlines like Colgan to fly for them.  They slap the big airline’s company logo on the contract airline’s tail and sell tickets to people as if it’s one big, happy airline.  But the major airline doesn’t pay the contract airline a number or rate that allows the contract airline’s pilots to make much money considering the responsibility.  The breakdown and sub-division of the arrangement certainly is not made clear to the flying public.  They often only see the logo on the tail. 

The big airline’s pilots make two to three times as much as the contract airline’s pilots.  The logo on the tail is the same.  

The disparity doesn’t suppress all young commercial pilots starting careers because many of them dream of working their way up to the major airlines.  Some simply love to fly and make a career at the feeder carrier.  But the difference in pay is substantial and the job is much the same. 

Renslow had a wife and two kids.  The public doesn’t know a whole lot about him right now but when I heard about his grocery store job it made sense.  He likely needed to find a way to supplement a pay check that wasn’t cutting it. 

I guess in the current economic environment there are bigger things to worry about than the pay scale of pilots.  But what Renslow and his co-pilot got paid seems out of whack.  As we saw last week, the airplanes don’t just fly by themselves.         

2-19-09 1800

One of Dan Bejar’s finest Destroyer songs shows up on the new “Dark Was the Night” double-disc compilation out this week, but it's not his voice you hear.  The New Pornographers have contributed a drab and sugary cover version of “Hey, Snow White” and there’s no evidence Bejar was anywhere near this track (even though he's an irregular lyrical contributor and even more irregular touring member of the band). 

This new cover is atrocious.  Carl and Neko sing sweet over synth – and the main guitar rips that define Bejar’s version flutter weakly in the background of the New Porn adaptation.  All the guts contained in the original are stripped out.     

It’s nice New Porn contributed to the 31-track effort to raise money for AIDS awareness/research, but leave Bejar’s stuff alone. 

I heard a large portion of “Dark Was the Night” on a one-hour special that aired this week on the satellite radio station XMU.  Bryce and Aaron Dressner of the band The National narrated the program.  Perhaps the best tune I heard off the two-disc, triple-vinyl comp is an excellent version of The Handsome Family song “The Giant of Illinois” performed by Andrew Bird.  The song is about the freakishly large man Robert Wadlow who died at the age of 22 in 1940.  His officially recorded height at the time of death was 8 feet, eleven inches. 

2-18-09 1715

The Yankees do a lot of things right, but the A-Rod news conference on Tuesday to address his past steroids use was a total bust.  The young Yankees media relations director Jason Zillo presided over a snow job and serious chain yank with the 35-minute event in a tent at Tampa. 

After starting about twenty minutes late, Zillo laid down a ground rule that even a Presidential spokesman wouldn’t think of.  No follow-up questions.  That way A-Rod could better stick to the A-script.

A-Rod started with prepared remarks.  It seemed like he had not even looked at the curled-up three pages he held in advance.  He stumbled, stammered and didn’t seem to believe what he was reading.  When he tried to muster a fake sob for the bored, indifferent Yankee teammates who sat nearby, he couldn’t get the tear-making ducts to generate even a mist.   

I was young, I was stupid was the theme.  My nameless cousin scored the stuff from the DR and the same cousin shot me up.  I didn’t know what the stuff was.  I did it for three years and I’m not sure it worked.    

All the top New York baseball writers were there.  Since they weren’t allowed to ask follow-ups, there was no good way to create an inquiry that could penetrate the “young and stupid” script. 

When Joel Sherman and Sweeny Murti asked questions that reached at A-Rod’s lack of credibility and authenticity, A-Rod smiled and shrugged the questions off knowing he could prompt Zillo to rescue him.     

A-Rod says he recently made a call to Katie Couric to explain why he lied to her – and he confirmed that he gave a personalized shout-out to Selena Roberts for smearing her.  When reporters told him that fellow major leaguers Jamie Moyer and Roy Oswalt ripped him as a sham, A-Rod said he was sorry they felt that way.    

Even the good intentions and presence of a leading anti-steroids advocate suffered from association with this event.  Don Hooton lost his high school son to suicide and blames the depression that preceded his late son’s death on steroids withdrawal.  Hooton’s foundation may get some dough from A-Rod but it’s probably not worth making joint appearances if Tuesday’s song and dance is any indication of A-Rod’s commitment to the cause.    

I’d agree with Francesa who said Tuesday that the Yankees are aiding and abetting A-Rod’s misguided approach to parse and stonewall while changing and expanding the story as it goes along. 

Francesa says damage control is one thing.  But he says the team’s hope that a tightly-scripted news conference gives A-Rod closure is ridiculous. “They took the media for a joy-ride here.  They accomplished nothing.  They ended nothing.  If they think the story is going away based on today’s testimony, they’re nuts.  All he gave you today was the next chapter.  He still left a million things unplugged.  He still didn’t tell you the truth.”  

2-17-09 1700

The refusal to let a rising Israeli tennis star enter the Arab country hosting this week’s stop on the women’s professional circuit has generated interesting reaction.  Of all the parties involved with the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships being played in the United Arab Emirates, it’s The Tennis Channel that has taken the boldest position.

While both the WTA Tour and the remaining participants in the tournament say the competition will continue this week, The Tennis Channel has abruptly decided to pull the plug on its coverage in protest.  Viewers in the United States will not see this tournament, even though Serena, Venus and most of the top players in the world will carry on.     

Tennis Channel boss Ken Solomon told Richard Sandomir of the Times that it was an easy decision to cut carriage of the event.  “It’s a simple and clear issue.  Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion.” 

It is the country of origin – and religion – that has prompted the United Arab Emirates to refuse admittance to 21-year-old Shahar Peer even though she was included in the tournament’s draw.  No Jews allowed -  even if you’re a mild-mannered professional tennis player well down the list on the player rankings.  What made the UAE’s action even more devious and reprehensible was the fact it waited for all the other players to arrive before telling tour officials it was barring Peer. 
    
The organizing body of women’s tennis (the WTA) has complete control of this event and could shut it down in a heartbeat.  But WTA chairman Larry Scott told Harvey Araton of the Times that the tour will wait until next year to punish the UAE for interfering politically.  Scott said Peer’s family told the WTA it didn’t want all of the players who traveled to Dubai to suffer because of Peer’s situation. 

To me, the reaction here is all mixed up.  Both the Tour and the players should walk away from this event.  If that doesn’t happen (and it appears it won’t), The Tennis Channel should continue with its coverage and use its powerful broadcast platform to magnify the controversy that is playing out.  Show us who is sitting in the stands.  Show us the players participating in a country that has excluded a Jew.  Stick a microphone in front of Serena Williams after she wins the final in straight sets and ask her what she’ll do with the six-figure check earned in a country that has shut out a Jew.     
 
-New Met reliever JJ Putz did a live spring training interview with Scott Clark during channel 7’s 6 PM newscast Monday night and made it clear he’s not thrilled in the set-up role.  Putz told Clark he thought he was headed to Detroit to close games before he was sent to the Mets in the Heilman deal.  Putz will work the eighth inning to set things up for K-Rod.  To see Putz publicly act sour about his ’09 role is a concern.  This will sound crazy, but if I were Jerry, I’d consider feeding Putz unannounced save chances on occasion just to keep him on his toes.  You wanna be the closer?  Here ‘ya go.  You obviously can’t have a committee when K-Rod is brought in for big dollars, but work Putz into the ninth-inning mix.   

-In case you haven’t heard, Scooter has found his groove and will get married this August.  He made it official a week ago Saturday.  The thinning ranks of the unhitched will lose a great longtime member, but the defection is fully understood in this instance.  The wedding should be a serious gas.  Way to go Scooter. 

2-17-09 0125

It wasn’t long after Continental Connection flight 3407 went down outside Buffalo Thursday night that a heretofore obscure web site gained a large worldwide audience.       

Just hours after the crash, the news networks were re-broadcasting conversations that included the first officer of the doomed flight, an approach controller, a Buffalo tower controller and other inbound cockpit crews.  The audio recordings normally aren’t released by the federal government for weeks – even months after any incident it investigates.  But in this instance, they were archived and available on the web site LiveATC.net.  With permission from the web site, media from around the world used the recordings as the foundation of its early coverage.    

Air traffic control conversations are broadcast over airwaves that can be picked up with a regular police scanner and LiveATC.net uses a network of people interested in collecting, accessing and distributing the transmissions.  The crash of 3407 is the first instance I can ever remember of an almost immediate dissemination of the related air traffic control conversations.  Aside from revealing the suddenness of the airplane’s trouble, the ATC tapes included other crews bound for Buffalo discussing the accumulation of ice on approach. 

Having been scooped on some level, the lead federal investigating agency (NTSB) may have moved a little quicker than it normally would to release details from the cockpit voice recorder which survived the fiery wreck.  Less than 24 hours after the crash – the NTSB told the media that 3407’s Captain and First Officer discussed the presence of ice on the airplane shortly before it fell from the sky. 

The question now is whether the airplane’s de-icing system worked properly on the twin-prop Bombardier Dash 8 / Q400. 

Clearly, the folks that run Continental (and Colgan Air – which operated the Q400 as a contractor) are confident that whatever happened is an isolated incident.  How else would you explain their decision to operate the first flight of the day Friday from Newark to Buffalo using the same aircraft type?  Just nine hours after 3407 went down, Continental and Colgan sent another Q400 airborne bound for Buffalo at 727 AM with 47 passengers on board. 

The flight number 3407 has been replaced with the number 3411 in the schedule.  Colgan (doing business as Continental Connection) will continue to operate four daily trips using the Q400 between Newark and Buffalo.

With a snowstorm expected mid-week in upstate New York, you’ll find out for sure whether the airline is rock solid confident about whether the Q400’s de-icing system is infallible during flight. 

The NTSB has a long way to go on this but don’t be surprised if it urges the FAA to intervene and add another level of assurance that the prop-driven airplane can safely fly through conditions that include icing.  

-The most distasteful crash-related coverage came during the 3 AM hour Friday when Fox News correspondent Rick Leventhal was put on the air to file a live report from the passenger seat of a moving news van hundreds of miles from the scene.  “Our GPS tells us we should be there by 8:15,” said Leventhal.  He told viewers he had been given the plane crash assignment at midnight and was racing to the scene from New York City.  Leventhal boasted that he had “Streambox” technology in the van which would allow him to “live stream” the video of his journey.  “We’re gonna try to get the feed up on Fox News Live,” he said.   

What happened to the idea that reporters report the news; they don’t make the news? 

Here is a nationally broadcast cable news channel five hours after the first fatal plane crash in this country in two and a half years – and what do the viewers get?  They get Rick Leventhal yammering for a solid ten minutes about mundane details of his trip to the crash site.  If Leventhal lacks judgment in this instance, there has to be a producer at the home base with a better nose for news.  Go to Leventhal when he gets there. 

Perhaps Fox was hamstrung by the fact that its Buffalo affiliate has no news gathering operation.  If that’s the case, there has to be a way to cover the story from afar until Leventhal arrives.

Over on CNN, Anderson Cooper worked through the night and his network turned out to be the most comprehensive television source for early information on the crash (despite an erroneous assertion that the plane had 50 seats – it actually has 74).  Among those who assisted Cooper’s coverage was the former Chicago weatherman Jim Tilmon who beautifully balances avoidance of wild conjecture with a sharp application of aviation knowledge to the available facts at hand. 

Unfortunately, CNN’s greatest resource for aviation-related information was fired from the network just two months ago.  You can bet Miles O’Brien would have been all over CNN’s coverage of flight 3407 has he still been on the payroll.   

Luckily for those who value his insight, O’Brien continues to share knowledge on his newly-created web site.  His writing on the crash of 3407 is by far the best I’ve come across.  In a post filed early Saturday morning, O’Brien cites NASA research showing that extension of an airplane’s flaps can trigger sudden loss of control if the horizontal stabilizer (tail) is coated with ice.  The NTSB has said the airplane went down shortly after the flaps were deployed.           

-Colgan Air operates fifteen Q400’s bearing the Continental logo on the tail.  Just last week, Continental announced that it expanded its agreement with Colgan by adding 15 more of the 74-seat twin turboprops starting in 2010.  Continental has cited the plane’s ability to use Newark’s shorter “crosswind” runway as a key benefit.  Since flights using the Q400 don’t join the long conga line waiting for takeoff on the long, primary departure runway, its usage allows for greater capacity at a busy airport without further adding to the delays for takeoff.        

2-15-09 0200

The undefeated, consensus number one women’s college hoops team came to Queens this week.  U-Conn brought a 23-0 won/loss record and a 32.7-point average margin of victory this season into Carnesecca Arena.  It was a wonderful opportunity to see one of the most dominant college sports teams of the last two decades. 

What knocked my socks off more than anything about U-Conn was the full spectrum of basketball skills on display from their best player Maya Moore.  Just a sophomore, Moore may be the finest all-around college player in the women’s game.  She plays a ferocious defense.  She blocks shots.  Double-doubles are near-automatic for her.  And she runs up and down the court harder than anybody else.  Against St. John’s she had 20 points, 11 boards, four blocks and two steals in 39 minutes.  They’re not gaudy numbers, but her dominance can’t really be quantified by stats.  It’s just clear she’s a very special talent.    

If the WNBA can remain financially solvent for a few more years and Moore can stay healthy, she’s probably a number one overall pick and will put lots of people in the seats.  It doesn’t hurt that she has an electric smile and a 3.74 GPA.  She’s said to be in the running for college basketball’s player of the year award this year.   

Moore wears number 23.  She may not have the moves of the guy who made that jersey number famous, but she certainly does the number proud.  Her father is Mike Dabney, a talented guard for the Rutgers hoops team in the mid-70’s. 

My knowledge of women’s collegiate basketball is very limited.  I don’t really start paying attention to the sport until the women’s version of March Madness – and I all but ignore the WNBA.  Jackie Stiles was the last women’s player that had me going out of my way to watch.  But I tell ya:  Moore is incredibly fun to watch and if you get a chance to catch a U-Conn game on the tube, check her out. 

U-Conn won the game 77-64 and never was able to really bury St. John’s.  After the game, U-Conn coach Geno Auriemma (pictured above) told reporters he was glad to have a game in which his team was tested.  It’s been nothing but blowouts for most of the season.  A couple of weeks ago, his team beat Syracuse by 54.  Earlier in the season, the Lady Huskies beat Washington by 58 and Holy Cross by 59.  That’s how good they are. 

U-Conn’s women haven’t lost to St. John’s since 1993.  Auriemma is 681-122 over 24 seasons at U-Conn. 

Admission to the game was 12 bucks.  It is three times that amount to get into a men’s game.  The ushers working the women’s game allowed you sit wherever you wanted except for three rows that were taped off behind the U-Conn bench.  Attendance was announced at 2189.  I would guess at least a third of the crowd consisted of girls from the area under the age of sixteen who cheered wildly for U-Conn.  It appeared several hundred at least made the trip from Storrs, CT and the vicinity.        

-How windy was it in Queens Thursday?  It was so windy, the big metal street corner waste baskets were blowing over with their contents flying all over the place. 

-I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Letterman interview that made me laugh as hard as the one that aired Wednesday night.  Who knows if Joaquin Phoenix is pulling an act – or if he’s on a long, strange trip – but Letterman was as good as I’ve even seen him.  It was pretty amazing television and the video is up all over the place if you haven’t seen it.  

-Francesa asked Yankees GM Brian Cashman Thursday if the team would have agreed to a 10-year, $275 million dollar deal with A-Rod prior to the ’08 season if it knew then what it knows know.  Cashman didn’t answer the question directly but his response was telling.  “A lot of people can infer and take the obvious leap of faith of directions that (the negotiations) would have taken,” said Cashman.  The GM seemed to suggest A-Rod would not be on the Yankees if the steroid revelations had been known prior to November 2007.  As Cashman discussed the “what-if” with Francesa, he realized he was saying more than perhaps he should.  He caught himself and acknowledged the headlines his statement would create if he answered the question clearly. “It would certainly play loud if I answered it.”

-I told my Dad when the A-Rod/steroids story broke that a full apology and detailed acknowledgement of his usage would go a long way in restoring A-Rod’s place in the game.  The nonsense he ended up feeding Gammons early this week screwed up his best chance at redemption and I think he faces a rough ride from baseball fans in this city going forward.  The treatment he got when he struck out with the bases loaded on a Friday night in August is nothing like the wrath he’ll get now at the new Stadium.  Bottom line:  the Yanks thought they were getting a clean pursuit of Ruth and now they’re stuck with a younger, more polite version of Bonds.  There’s no way A-Rod works the full length of his current contract in a Yankee uniform.  No way.

2-12-09 1805  

After a long period of civility since their radio show broke up last August, things have suddenly turned nasty between Chris Russo and Mike Francesa.  It all started early Wednesday morning when Russo went on Howard Stern’s program and got pulled by Stern into several discussion topics aimed at smearing Francesa.  Russo initially resisted Stern’s effort to stir things up, but then went along when the subject turned to the Super Bowl. 

Stern mocked Francesa’s decision not to join the rest of the nation’s sports radio hosts at the Tampa Convention Center the week before this year’s Steelers/Cardinals clash.  Known as “radio row,” dozens of radio outlets set up booths each year the week before the Super Bowl at a league-specified location.  Major sports figures descend on radio row and make themselves available for interviews.  Russo was on radio row the week before the Super Bowl this year doing his program that airs on Sirius-XM.  Francesa, meantime was doing his show that week in the lobby of a Hyatt hotel eight blocks away.  Said Stern to Russo:  “Your ex-partner thinks he such a fucking big deal that he’s gonna stay in a hotel eight blocks away and people are gonna come to him like he’s Jesus.”  

Rather than saying Francesa’s location during Super Bowl week was irrelevant to him, Russo gloated that Francesa’s decision backfired:  “I had 56 guests that week.  Mike had 26 guests that week.” 

With more prodding from Stern, Russo also seemed to take pleasure in the fact that he interviewed Francesa pal Bill Parcells – and Francesa did not.  

At one point, as is Stern’s custom, the shock jock asked Russo if he had ever wanted to have sex with Francesa’s wife.  Russo made it clear he wanted no part of that kind of talk but Stern asked it three different ways and the damage was done.  It was incredibly disrespectful to Francesa – and Russo’s refusal to fully repudiate the Stern nonsense was disappointing.    

Given the high-profile nature of the Stern show, it didn’t take long for word to reach Mike about his ex-partner’s guest spot.  Francesa was clearly agitated about the Russo/Stern segment when it was brought up by a caller to his program a little after 2 PM Wednesday.  Francesa said he had been flooded with calls from both the media and fans seeking his reaction.  He said he would address the issue in “due time” and later said he would discuss it “before six.”  At about five minutes after six, Francesa gave his reply.  He said he has never liked working on Super Bowl’s radio row and could care less how many guests he may have lost by taking his show to the Hyatt.  Francesa said he hadn’t talked to Parcells in six months – and wasn’t bothered that Russo landed the Tuna as a guest. 

Francesa also said that Russo’s suggestion on the Stern show that WFAN’s ratings had sagged since the Dog left is ridiculous.  In fact, Mike said his program’s position had improved in the most recent measurement period minus Russo versus the same period the year before with him.      

Francesa said the discussion about his wife wasn’t worthy of comment.

In the end, Francesa may have the last laugh.  If Sirius-XM files Chapter 11 as has been suggested, the reorganization process could lead to the nullification of either or both of the bloated Russo and Stern contracts.

Whatever the case, Russo ought to know that going on Stern’s show invites a whole bunch of potential problems – and there’s little to be gained by joining the self-proclaimed “King of All Media.” 

2-11-09 2155

If Tuesday’s 381-point Dow free-fall wasn’t enough of a statement, many of those who watch and cover Wall Street gave a big thumbs-down to the much-awaited wheel-out of Tim Geithner’s plan to power-scrub troubled assets from a system loaded with banks on the brink of failure.  On CNBC, investment banker Robert Albertson said Geithner’s big speech demonstrated a failure to understand capital markets.  Albertson says Geithner simply re-stated the previously known goal of unfreezing the credit markets rather than offering a specific plan to remove toxic assets from the books of banks.  He says the financial world is desperate for a signal or information that indicates Geithner understands how to proceed. 

Money manager Mike Crofton – also on CNBC – said Geithner’s speech was long on rhetoric and short on specifics.  “It had no hope and showed no change.” 

I don’t know.  I watched the President’s prime time news conference Monday.  The way he plugged Geithner’s forthcoming announcement boosted expectations.  At least a couple of times, Obama said something has to be done right now.  We can’t wait.  Yet, you watch Geithner and he’s talking about seeking input as he moves forward.  Where’s the right now?

After watching the speech, Paul Krugman told the Wall Street Journal that Geithner completed his announcement without saying what the plan is.  “So, what is the plan?  I really don’t know,” said Krugman who was inclined to give the new guy the benefit of the doubt.  “Maybe, maybe, it’s a Trojan horse that smuggles the right policy into place.”      

When the clock hit 4 PM Tuesday, traders on the NYSE could be heard cheering as if they were thankful the session was over.  That cheer turned to genuine enthusiasm when several Sports Illustrated swimsuit models rang the closing bell.

2-10-09 1815

Geese or gulls? 

Was it a flock of Canadian Geese or  a swarm of seagulls that shut down both engines shortly after US Airways flight 1549 departed LaGuardia on 1-15-09? 

It’s a question that has yet to be officially answered - and it was the most glaring omission from Katie Couric’s exclusive first and otherwise fascinating 60 Minutes interview with Miracle on the Hudson pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and the rest of his crew.  The Couric piece aired Sunday night. 

Katie probed Sully on the details of the bird strike but she never asked him what kind of birds they were.  Captain Sullenberger at one point said “large birds” filled his line of vision after takeoff and he said when the airplane struck them it felt like the plane was being “pelted by heavy rain or hail.”  Given a wide opening to ask the obvious, Katie failed to ask the question about bird type.      

Several news outlets including the Associated Press and Newsday have written presumptively that the birds were geese.  There has been no government, airline or eyewitness source to step forward and confirm that the birds were geese.     

When I first heard it was Katie that landed the initial sit-down interview with Sullenberger, I feared she may blow it.  I would have preferred Scott Pelley in this spot, but after you watch this piece you realize that anybody could have done it.  Just roll the tape and let Sully tell the story.  The guy needs just minimal prodding and quizzing to recount an episode that blows your mind ten different ways. 

Among the details I hadn’t heard before that emerged from the interview: 

-Sully grabbed the airplane’s maintenance log book just before he exited the half-submerged aircraft. 

-When he called home to tell his family he was ok shortly after the incident, his wife twice chose not to take the call while she spoke on the other line.  On Sully’s third try, his wife picked up.          

-At a CBS-staged event a few days before the 60 Minutes piece aired, the entire Miracle on the Hudson flight crew reunited with several passengers and their families in Charlotte.  One guy wore a t-shirt that said:  “Sully is my Co-Pilot” and he had Sullenberger sign it. 

Despite saying he intends to get back into the captain’s seat, I kinda got the feeling from the interview that Sullenberger has flown his last commercial flight.  His acknowledgment of sleepless nights and his initial reluctance to feel good about the steps he took when both engines shut down – make him a good candidate for retirement. 

Make the book deal.  Hit the speaker’s circuit.  Continue as a consultant for the aviation industry.  Sully is clearly a star if he wants to be.  At the end of the interview, he seemed to acknowledge why his story is so important.  “Something about this episode has captured people’s imagination.  I think they want good news.  I think they want to feel hopeful again.  If I can help in that way, I will.”   

-If and when the complete list of 104 baseball players said to have tested positive for banned substances in 2003 ever comes out, Mike Francesa says he is confident there are two Yankee greats who are definitely not on it.  He singles out both Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.  Said Francesa on his show Monday:  “I would bet a lot of money that neither one of those two names is on the list.  I’m positive.  I would bet serious money and I would take anybody’s bet on those two names.”  The list of players was never supposed to see the light of day, because it was compiled as part of a trial program to determine how prevalent the juice had become in the game at that point.  It seems possible that the same sources who leaked A-Rod’s name to Selena Roberts may be sitting on the balance of the list. 

2-9-09 2100

On this day one-hundred years ago, my grandfather (referred to in my family as “Grandpa”) was born on a farm three miles outside the town of St. Henry, Ohio.  His parents - Veronica and Henry - named him Clarence Bernard.  He was the fifth of six children.  His birth date is February 9, 1909.  All of his brothers and sisters are dead now.  He has outlived his wife, a daughter and a grand-daughter.  Clarence (pictured above) is still kicking pretty good.  On

Saturday, the family had a big day-long party to celebrate the milestone birthday.  42 of the 44 members of the extended family were on hand.  Only a son-in-law recovering from surgery - and a young great-grandkid on the west coast who struggles with long plane rides failed to make it.

My grandpa wasn’t crazy about being the focal point of attention - or the recipient of adulation - but he clearly loved having his very large extended family together in one spot.  It hardly happens any more.  My family (on my Mom’s side) has spread out to both coasts with a cluster staying put in Chicago and so it’s rare that the whole bunch gets together.

Just recently, my grandpa elected to start using a motorized scooter to assist most of his movement.  He attends Sunday mass.  He has a daily subscription to the Chicago Tribune.  He loves crepes and typically picks up the tab when someone takes him to the Egg Harbor Café in Elmhurst.  He doesn’t drive but it was only about a year ago that he quit and gave up his vehicle.  When he passes by other residents in the hallways of the assisted-living facility he calls home, he bellows out a personalized greeting with enthusiasm.  He has plenty of aches and pains - and they’re probably worse than he lets on - but jeez - a hundred years?

A little more than two years ago, Clarence lost his wife at the age of 98.  They had been married 72 years.  It seemed possible that when my Grandma passed, it would have snuffed out my Grandpa’s will to live.  His grief is deep and plain to see.  Losing his life-long partner crushed him but he’s built in a way that doesn’t really allow for surrender.

When I told people in recent weeks that my Grandpa was about to turn 100, the question everybody asked me was “how did he do it?”

I asked him that question over the weekend, and he just chuckled and said he wasn‘t sure how or where he got his longevity.

His vices during the adult prime of his life were limited to a before-dinner stiff one and these stinky thin cigars with plastic filters on the end.  He ate plenty of meat when times were good and his diet included plenty of my grandma’s homemade pie.

When he retired from his job at the US Postal Service and became a permanent resident of Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, he took daily bicycle rides over hilly terrain.  But you can’t really say he was a fitness buff. 

I guess I’d attribute his longevity to a philosophy of moderation - and an internal mechanism that processed life’s ups and downs with a calm consistency.  Who knows?

Happy Birthday Grandpa.  I won’t say “and many more.”  It’s probably best at this point to simply wish you comfort and peace.  It’s great to see you stick around so long - and it was great to see that smile on your face after you blew out the candles Saturday night.  Congratulations.

2-9-09 0005

Greetings from the official hotel of my grandfather’s 100^th birthday celebration.  It’s a Courtyard By Marriott.  I’m staying in my parents’ room.  It’s a bleak and somewhat isolated setting for a lodging spot - but it’s conveniently located near both the assisted-living facility that houses the birthday boy - and it’s close to O’Hare Airport which is good for the flock of out-of-town visitors who jetted in for the weekend.  I have a big family on my Mom’s side of the family tree.  It is my Mom’s father that is hitting the hard to attain birthday milestone and it’s expected that there will be near one-hundred percent attendance for this celebration.  In all, 40 plus are expected. The only notable absence will be a favorite uncle who is marooned in California under doctor’s order as he battles a health concern.

Last night, I convinced my Dad and brother Tim to make the trip out to Arlington Heights, IL to see St. Viator’s ten-point victory over Palatine in a non-conference high school basketball clash.  It was public vs. parochial.  When I was in high school twenty-five years ago, St. Viator (and most of the Catholic schools for that matter) couldn’t compete athletically with the big suburban public schools.  Viator was transitioning from all boys to boys/girls at the time and that change seems to have paid off for the school’s athletic programs.  The school has added state titles in soccer on both the boy’s and girl’s side and appears to compete now on an even playing field with the public schools.  That was certainly the case against Palatine.

Unthinkable twenty-five years ago, St. Viator handled Palatine easily to push its record to 13-7.  Palatine is 3-17.  With that kind of record, you’d think Palatine is a hapless bunch but that isn’t the case.  The young rotation (including hard-charging junior Nat Pearson - pictured above) went ten or eleven deep, played hard and were a pleasure to watch.  Palatine is coached by Eric Millstone who replaced the legendary Ed Molitor after a 32-year run as the coach.  Eric Millstone is the son of Doug Millstone who for a decade coached the boy’s basketball team at my alma mater - Buffalo Grove High School.  To replace a well-respected veteran coach will be tough for the young Millstone, but you can tell just by watching the way his team plays that he’s gonna have success.  His kids locked in on him every huddle, and he has a real gentle, intense approach as he interacts with everyone from his players to his assistants to the refs.

The most impressive player on the floor in this game was the six-foot St. Viator junior point guard Alan Aboona (pictured above - #12).  The playmaker leads his team’s Catholic school conference in scoring.  He’s as good a passer as he is a scorer.  He’s also a star on the school’s soccer team.

2-6-09 1625

High-quality high school basketball has been played in these parts forever.  An emphasis on strong defense, occasional and stifling full-court press, and active/multiple screen sets on offense has never seemed to leave the game they play here.

The game I attended Tuesday night with my Dad just a half-mile from his Huntley home was Illinois high school basketball as I remember it growing up - and as it should stay forever.  It beats most of the basketball being played at higher levels and in other parts of the country including the public schools in New York City.

Prairie Ridge and Huntley battled right to the wire in a Fox Valley Conference showdown in front of about 600 fans on a frigid night. In the end, it was the visitors from Prairie Ridge that eked out a thrilling a 44-43 victory.

Prairie Ridge wore black jerseys that simply said “Ridge” on the front in an Old English font.

Far and away the most talented athlete on the floor was Huntley’s Jordan Neukirch (pictured above - #15) who scored 18 points from inside and out.  Built like a big fire hydrant, Neukirch has a three-point shooting touch from the corner and can muscle to the hoop with some good-looking moves.  When Huntley called timeout with 10 seconds left in the game down one, Neukirch was designated to take the game’s final shot. He never got the opportunity.  When Huntley in-bounded the ball, Prairie Ridge defenders clogged things up pretty good and the outlet man was forced to dish to Huntley’s Zac Boster as the clock was about to hit zero.  Boster had to rush up a long trey.  It was on target but clanked off back rim.  After the game, Neukirch sat on the bench, hung his head and stayed there for a while as the rest of his teammates walked to the locker room.  As a fan sitting there, you felt for him because he probably would have made the winning hoop if he got his hands on the ball.

I told my Dad when the game started that it was pretty clear that Neukirch was a football player.  A subsequent internet search shows that not only does he play football, he’s one of the best players in the state.  Neukirch is a dominant two-way player.  He had 1730 yards rushing, 24 touchdowns and led the school’s defense from the middle linebacker spot this past fall.  Prior to his senior season, Neukirch’s parents enrolled him at a nearby private high school with a powerhouse football program.  Neukirch’s father acknowledged it was an unapologetic effort to get his son in a program that would better expose him to division one college football recruiters.  It turns out Neukirch and his parents changed their minds.  He stayed at Huntley for his final year, led the football team to a rare playoff appearance (including a post-season win) and he will leave as one of the greatest football players in the school‘s history.

This morning, Neukirch signed a letter of intent to play football at Illinois State University.

Prairie Ridge head coach Corky Card (pictured above) had an interesting way of communicating to his players on the floor when the clock was running.  Rather than calling out a number or a phrase, Card would raise laminated, color-coded cards and his players would glance in his direction.  It wasn’t clear to me what the cards signified - whether is was a specific offensive play - or a more general theme or set.  At halftime, one of the student managers on the Prairie Ridge bench handed Card a laptop that appeared to show shot selection and from where one or both teams were making field goals.  Card walked to the locker room with the laptop in both hands.  He examined the screen as he walked.

Prairie Ridge senior Bryan Bradshaw (pictured above - #33 with the ball) scored the game’s key hoop with a couple minutes to play. His nifty move and drive split defenders and the basket gave his team a 42-37 lead.  Huntley would score the next six to take the lead back with 30 seconds to play but a shooting foul put Ridge’s Chad Ljunggren on the line for two.  You could totally tell this kid was gonna knock both free throws down.  He had a confident smirk on his face and stuck his hands out for the ball urging the ref to let him just take the shots already.  After swishing the first one, Huntley called timeout to ice Ljungrren but after he came out of the huddle he just smiled and fired without any hint of nervousness and gave his team a one-point lead that would stand as the final outcome.

Admission for the game was four dollars.

-One of the guys I listened to on the radio here in Chicago in my teens and twenties passed away Tuesday at the age of 62.  Eddie Schwartz worked the overnight shift and did a type of free-form program that you don’t really hear much on either terrestrial or satellite radio these days.  I first became aware of Schwartz when the popular radio personality Steve Dahl would mock him mercilessly because of his weight (even though Dahl himself was a fat-ass) and the high-pitched tone of his voice.  Dahl also targeted Schwartz because of the simple and non-structured flow of his graveyard shift show which on some nights lacked much in the way of a theme.  But once I started listening to Schwartz - first on WGN-AM - and then on WLUP-FM - I couldn’t get enough.  Open phone lines in the middle of the night on a radio station with a far reach invite a bizarre mix of listeners.  Schwartz would bring out the best, worst and most unusual of his audience whenever he went to the phones.  If a fire or a crime of significance was going down in the city in the middle of the night, he’d often get a phone call from Chicago Fire or Chicago Police on the scene for a recap.  Schwartz had been pretty sick and had been off the air for a decade. He died at a nursing home in Waukegan.

2-4-09 1659

Greetings from Cleveland where I have an extended sit before catching a connecting flight to Shy-town.  I’m on vacation for the next ten days and will spend a good portion of it in Chicago for festivities connected to the 100^th birthday of my grandfather.  The actual birthday is next Monday, but the celebration will happen this weekend in the burbs just a few miles south of O’Hare.  I’ll stay with my folks for a few days in Huntley, IL before we set up shop in the designated birthday party hotel near the assisted-living facility that houses my grandpa.  I caught the 0959 departure to Cleveland out of LaGuardia Tuesday morning.  A light snow was falling so airline workers applied de-icing fluid before we pushed from the gate.  There were fewer than 25 passengers on a 737-500 with a capacity of 114.  The airport here in Cleveland is like a ghost town.  Airport workers outnumber passengers on large stretches of the concourse.  Tuesday is traditionally a slow travel day, but clearly there are fewer people taking to the skies these days.

My Dad and I hit the Huntley High School hoops game tonight.  A report on that tomorrow.

One story from the stack of papers I got before leaving town made me smile.  It’s a nicely done obituary on the passing of Union Square’s Vegetable Peeler Man.  If you’ve been to Union Square, it’s likely you’ve had the pleasure of catching his act.  Check out the obit.

2-3-09 1355

Francesa interviews Joe Torre at 4 PM Tuesday to talk about the much-discussed book the ex-Yanks skipper collaborated on with SI’s Tom Verducci.  “The Yankees Years” hits bookstores today.  For Torre, the telephone chat with Francesa will be the second interview since excerpts of the book were released last week.  Torre did the Larry King show Friday night.  Francesa said Monday that King didn’t read the book and failed to question Torre legitimately - suggesting that Torre will face his first tough round of questions about the book when he appears on WFAN Tuesday.  Francesa said King was “lost” and said his Friday night program was “hideous” and a “clown act.”  The consensus of the New York media to date says Joe betrayed trust by breaking the seal of silence that generally protects the baseball clubhouse.  I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve seen enough of the stuff that’s come out to say I’m surprised Joe would participate in a project that discredits players once under his command no matter how much those players may deserve it.  It’s such a departure from the way Torre conducted himself as the Yankees skipper.  Credit Joe for not running away from any of the controversial quotes or anecdotes.  Torre has not attempted to shift any responsibility for the book’s content to Verducci even though it is Verdooch that is the book’s narrator (Torre is referred to in the third person).    

-I usually feel indifferent about the graffiti which covers portions of residential buildings, commercial space or vehicles in this city.  Lawful or not, some of it actually enhances the urban landscape.  But there are certain objects that should be completely off-limits to the spray-painter.  If you’ve ever been to the underground arcade at Bethesda Terrace in the middle of Central Park, you’ll know that it’s definitely one of those places.  Over the weekend, the arcade was badly defaced with black, red and purple spray paint.  Much of the graffiti included the letter/numeral combination “3D.”  The phrase “U Not Ready” also appeared.  Four young people were busted for vandalism.  If they haven’t received it already, their punishment should include a lengthy lecture about how offensive their actions are to a lot of people who cherish the many special places inside Central Park.  To deface that ornate arcade is comparable to tipping a gravestone or throwing a rock through the window of a place of worship.  I became aware of the story by seeing the Monday evening report of Channel 7’s Steve Fleischer.   

2-3-09 0133

Well, what can you say?  That was a riveting fourth quarter of Super Bowl football.  Steelers Fan Mike was at the game in Tampa and spoke to TSR early Monday morning.  Just click on the black arrow on the left side of the audio icon below to hear his recap.  It runs 14 minutes, 34 seconds.

I have yet to see a replay that truly convinces me that Santonio Holmes got his right foot down on the game winning touchdown, but conversely there was no angle which allowed the on-field call to be overturned.  It appeared to me the right foot rested on his left one as he gained possession.  But jeez, everybody including Ken Whisenhunt seems ok with the call – and the non-reversal – so what the heck.   

Holmes is deserving of the game MVP award – no doubt – but James Harrison’s pick was the play of the game. 
 
When Al Michaels said there was a flag on the Harrison TD right before halftime, I thought Steelers corner Deshea Townsend would be cited as the culprit and the score would be nullified.  Townsend’s right hand locked onto Kurt Warner’s shoulder pad as the Cards QB tried to tackle Harrison at about mid-field.  Turns out Arizona was flagged for a facemask leaving only a video review to confirm that Harrison got in for the huge game-changing TD.  Where were the Cardinals skill players on the Harrison tackle?  Harrison was chugging down the field like he was carrying a big sack of bricks and all somebody has to do is prevent him from getting to the house.   

-It seemed like bad strategy for Arizona to defer after winning the coin toss.  Only the stoutest of the stout team defenses should be deferring.  Take the ball.  Set the tone with your team strength. 

-Also somewhat questionable at the time of the play was the decision to punt rather than let Neil Rackers try the 53-yarder down six with three and a half to go.  As it turned out, the punt was a good one and the holding call on Hartwig led to the safety.  When Fitzgerald scored on the ensuing Arizona possession, it looked pretty good for the Cardinals even though there was still a fat two and a half minutes on the clock.  
 
-Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff told Francesa last week that Cardinals punter Ben Graham didn’t deserve to be punting in a Super Bowl.  Westhoff would know.  He coached Graham during the Aussie’s four-year stint with the Jets that ended when the team cut him last fall.  Graham had a brutal 27-yard dead duck of a punt to start the fourth quarter in the Super Bowl.  He redeemed himself late in the game with that great pooch job that landed just shy of the goal line.  Both Graham and Steelers punter Mitch Berger are barely-surviving members of the bottom fringe of the punting profession.        
 
-The live Matt Lauer interview of President Obama during the pre-game show was painful to watch.  The one-on-one from the White House Map Room included about a 25-second audio dropout and Lauer’s awkward insistence that he know who was cleared to send e-mail to Obama’s Blackberry.  

-Costas spoke with Roger Goodell on the pre-game show and the notable comment from the commish came when Costas asked him about a play late in the Ravens/Titans playoff game.  Flacco and the Ravens offense got away with a clear delay-of-game situation and under the rules there was no replay review.  Goodell told Costas he supports the use of video replay to assist officials when there’s a dispute involving the clock.    

-Springsteen sounded way off key on Born to Run.  Working on a Dream got clipped in a bad way.  Tenth Avenue Freeze Out sounded pretty good.  Glory Days was great in large part due to Little Steve’s comedy routine with the Boss about going overtime.  I don’t know.  I think when the Boss sits down and looks at a tape of this performance, he may wonder if it was worth the promotional boost it gave the new record and forthcoming tour.  The gig worked for Petty last year, but it didn’t feel right this time around.  I mean, I think Bruce really tried to make it work – but he’s only natural when he’s playing for three hours at a crack. 

2-2-09 0259

Times reporter Monica Davey bested the Chicago papers with her up-close coverage of Rod Blagojevich on the day he was removed from office.  Unaware to the end that full access does not necessarily guarantee a sympathetic portrayal, Blagojevich allowed Davey and photographer Amanda Rivkin to join him on the state’s nine-seat airplane as it took him from Chicago to Springfield and back on the final day of his impeachment trial.  Among the more incredible anecdotes in Davey’s story was the re-telling of an incident on the return flight after Blagojevich made a rambling plea in the state senate in a futile attempt to stave off his ouster.  Davey says the airplane’s on-board telephone rang.  She said Blagojevich ordered staffers not to answer the call in case it was official news that he had been stripped of power.  Davey said Blagojevich feared his state-paid airplane ride home may not reach its final destination if it was communicated to him that the senate had acted and he no longer was governor.  After ignoring the phone call, Davey said Blago cracked wise:  “I tell you what.  I’m not jumping out.  Not for those people, no way.  I don’t like heights.”     

Davey also described how Blagojevich exited the Capitol after making his final plea to the state senate.  “He left the Capitol in Springfield through a secret basement corridor full of grunting, clanking pipes, bare walls and puddles.” 

Davey was careful to point out in her front page story on Friday that the Times paid “expenses” associated with the day’s travel.  Davey didn’t specify what she meant by “expenses,” but presumably the newspaper paid the state of Illinois something equivalent to what a round trip flight between Chicago and Springfield would cost.   

A day later, Times reporter Malcolm Gay included excellent information about Blagojevich’s inclination to stay away from Springfield during his tenure as governor.  Springfield is the city that includes both the governor’s mansion and state capitol – two places that Blagojevich didn’t bother visiting much.  Gray went to the woman who oversees public tours of the state capitol and asked her about the ousted ex-governor.  Said Jenny Glisson:  “I never saw him (Blagojevich) one day after he was elected; I have not seen him in six years.  All the other governors used to leave their doors open so tour groups could look inside.  This governor had the doors shut.” 

-Since the vote to convict Blagojevich on an article of impeachment was unanimous in the state senate, Illinois House member Milton Patterson has the distinction of being the only state legislator to cast a vote against kicking Blago out of office.  On January 9th, the House voted 114-1 in favor of impeachment.  Patterson defended his no vote by saying he went by his “own gut feeling.”  Patterson represents the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s south side.  He is licensed as both an electrician and real estate broker. 

-Without fanfare, the MTA has added overnight frequency to the Q33 bus route linking the busy Jackson Heights, Queens transit hub with LaGuardia Airport.  The new service supplements the existing schedule and guarantees a bus in both directions every half hour during graveyard hours.  Previously, the Q33 made just hourly runs between the hours of 3 and 5 AM.  TSR often rides the 4 AM Q33 bus to LaGuardia and it is always packed to capacity.  The addition of a 3:30 AM departure out of Jackson Heights will likely relieve the crowding problem at 4 AM.  Whoever at the MTA made this decision – and implemented it – should be commended for being responsive to a clear demand for service at an odd hour.  It should also be mentioned that the gentleman who operates the 4 AM bus on most days (sorry – I don’t know his name) is on time – all the time - without fail. 

-In a Q and A with the Post’s Justin Terranova, the great and versatile play-by-play man Ian Eagle confirmed that he was offered and declined the opportunity to work opposite Mike Francesa on WFAN.  Eagle called the idea of filling the chair left vacant by Chris Russo “enticing.”  He said that if he weren’t so wrapped up with his various play-by-play responsibilities, he “would’ve done anything for that spot.”  No doubt Eagle would be the perfect guy to complement Francesa on a five and a half hour, five-days-a-week radio show.  The Bird-Man is funny, smart about the local sports scene and seems to have the respect of Francesa.  This is just a guess, but if Eagle’s combined paychecks don’t currently exceed what he’d get paid for doing Mike’s show, he probably believes (and justifiably so) that his career trajectory will take him to a place far better than being Francesa’s sidekick.   

2-1-09 0100

I took the 7 over to Shea Stadium Thursday to get a look at the demolition.  The home opener is two and a half months out and there is still plenty of work to be done to convert the Shea site into a parking lot. 

On a cold and sunny January afternoon, dozens of workers could be seen amongst the rubble and what’s left of the structure.   

Since the city prohibits implosion, the steel and concrete that held the place together for more than forty years is being twisted and torn away a little at a time.  A half-dozen excavators fed debris into dump trucks.

The Mets say demolition will be complete within a month. 

Several people were gathered at the west end of the Manhattan-bound side of the Willets Point subway platform when I came by Thursday a little after 2 PM.  They were there to watch the workers.  Some took pictures.  One guy just stood motionless and stared at what’s left of Shea.  Three or four trains went by while I was there and none of the regular folks on demolition watch stepped onto the train.   

-The Mets say sales of the various multi-game ticket plans has produced the full season equivalent of 25-thousand tickets sold.  The Mets are characterizing this as “better” than this same time last year – but I believe it kills the commonly held theory that Citi Field would be a total sellout the entire season.  Single-game sales start in early March – and yeah – plenty of games will be sold out.  But I think the number cited by the Mets seems to guarantee there will be plenty of weeknight games in April, May and September that will be easily accessible to the average fan. 

-Action on the Arizona Cardinals has all but pushed the Super Bowl line to 6.5 with bettors playing Zona now being forced to pay an extra five to ten percent juice to lock in at the full seven.  We’ll say 30-10 Steelers with Santonio Holmes hoisting the MVP.  Don’t forget to check here Monday morning for a Super Bowl on-the-spot audio recap from Steelers Fan Mike.  

Of all the prop bets listed below (and available at all the major books), I think I like the over on Berger the best.  I also think the over on Santonio is a lock.      

Total rushing yards for the Cards over/under 72.5

Total rushing yards for the Steelers over/under 115.5

Total first downs for the Cards over/under 17.5

Total first downs for the Steelers over/under 19.5

Total net yards by both teams over/under 666.5

Big Ben total passing yards over/under 230.5

Big Ben total completions over/under 17.5

Willie Parker total rushing yards over/under 80.5

Hines Ward total receiving yards over/under 65.5

Santonio Holmes total receiving yards over/under 58.5

Mitch Berger shortest punt over/under 31.5 yards

Kurt Warner total passing yards over/under 255.5

Larry Fitzgerald total receiving yards over/under 95.5

1-29-09 1735

Here he comes, Chicago.  Before Aaron Heilman (pictured above) could even develop a taste for the coffee in Seattle, he was traded Wednesday to the Cubbies. 

After eight years in the Mets organization, Heilman was shipped to the Mariners six weeks ago in the JJ Putz blockbuster.  Heilman avoided arbitration and signed a one-year deal worth $1.625 million.  Wearing a Mariners pullover, Heilman introduced himself to a gathering of fans in Seattle last weekend.  He had been told by management that he’d vie for a spot in the Mariners rotation – but then without any warning, he was traded having never thrown a pitch for Seattle.  

In exchange for Heilman, the Mariners got Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson from the Cubs.  Cub fan message boards seem to indicate opposition to the deal with many posters believing Olson has more long-term up side than Heilman.  Cubs GM Jim Hendry reportedly had long coveted Heilman which would suggest the Notre Dame grad will stay put, rather than be used again as a trading chip. 

What uniform number will TSR’s favorite ex-Met wear in Chicago?  Lefty reliever Neal Cotts currently wears #48, the number Heilman wore here in New York.  Carlos Marmol wears #49.  Perhaps #47? 

I was hoping Heilman would get a full season in Seattle to see whether he could make the transition back to a starting role without the pressure cooker environment.  But I’m guessing Heilman is happy to be back home.  He lives in the Chicago burbs.

-After watching the under-card of the professional mixed martial arts event held in Anaheim, CA last Friday, I really hope New York maintains its ban on the sport.  There’s been much talk that New York lawmakers are prepared to approve legislation that would allow the brutal fights to be sanctioned and held at Madison Square Garden and other venues in New York.  The parent company of the leading MMA organization has started pouring money into their New York lobbying efforts.  According to campaign financial disclosure data available on the New York State Board of Elections web site, Zuffa LLC (which runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship) gave $25-thousand to the New York State Democratic Committee on January 18, 2008.  The company additionally cut $10-thousand checks to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee in June and September of last year.  There’s a time lag on 2009 contribution information, but you’d assume the money spigot is still on.  The woman who chairs the NY state athletic commission has already said she supports MMA, so it’s only the state legislature that stands in the way now.  But we would agree with those who characterize MMA events as “human cockfighting.”  Let these fights be held elsewhere (including in New Jersey where a big event was staged last year – headlined by the big lug Kimbo Slice).  New York is a boxing town.  To allow MMA events at the Garden would be to cheapen the legacies of the legitimate sports and events that have made history there.      

-A friend who works at one of the big Chicago ad agencies called Wednesday to say she had been laid off.  She described how her employer informed her and it sounded cold and hard.  With no mention of a possible recall – and advisement of an abrupt end to her medical coverage at week’s end - she was told she had an hour to vacate the premises of her workplace.

1-28-09 2145       

When you walk around this city and consider that it has only just begun to absorb an economic drubbing not seen since the 70’s, you wonder what things will look like a year from now.  Or three years from now. 

Since every extreme human condition imaginable exists and is on display even in good times, one might say the bad times may not look much different.  But I think astute observers are bound to see things that show a decline in the overall health of the city.  

Crime stats aren’t changing much yet – although bank robberies were up 57-percent in 2008.  The mayor says a planned six-percent cut in the city’s upcoming budget will likely bring layoffs of cops, firefighters and teachers.  Wall Street is hacking jobs by the thousands.  I was walking up Third Avenue with my Dad the week before Christmas and couldn’t believe the amount of businesses that were either empty – closed – or touting quick liquidation sales. 

To pay for a roof over one’s head even here in Queens is crazy expensive, so job losses would seem to guarantee a quick corresponding displacement of a portion of those people from their dwellings.  Because the cost of living is so high, there are plenty of folks without the kind of cushion necessary to ride out a boot from the job. 

I don’t really understand enough about the homeless problem to know whether the depressed economy is pushing people into the streets.  I know when it has gotten really cold the last month you can see folks establishing position and seeking comfort in warm, public places like the airport or in subway stations.

I can do the math in my head and know it wouldn’t take long for people without a nest egg and/or some kind of friend/family support of last resort to end up in a bad spot if the job went away. 

1-27-09 2200   

Several violent incidents at and near public high school hoops games in Chicago this winter have prompted the outrageous implementation of a ban on fans.  That’s right.  The games will go on, but there will be severe limits on who can go to the games. 

Calvin Davis oversees athletics at Chicago’s public schools and announced last week he was imposing the following plan (effective 1-26-09) to eliminate the spate of skirmishes connected with the Public League basketball schedule. 

-A mandatory 4 PM tip-off for all varsity games – boys and girls

-No fans associated with the visiting team are allowed to attend games unless they are pre-approved by the home team’s principal

-Certain games deemed to be of special concern will be closed to all fans

No word on how long the fan ban will stay in effect.  It’s similar to one imposed here in New York City which effectively bars the regular fan from attending the city’s public high school championship games at Madison Square Garden. 

In both of these situations, no level of violence should result in prohibitions or limits on attendance.  High school athletic events are meant to be played before fans.  If some thug with a gun or goofball intent on starting a brawl interferes with a high school sporting event, the perpetrator should be held accountable. 

To exclude fans is to punish the high school athlete.  Advocates for kids must fight hard for the preservation of the high school athletic experience and reject short-sighted or desperate responses to people stirring shit up at a hoops game.  

There has always been – and always will be – the prospect of a “rumble” when the fans for two competing teams gather for a competition.  The only difference these days is the proliferation of the gun.  Deal with the gun.  Deal with the thug.  But don’t change the way we play our games – or who can watch them. 

-He wasn’t there to accept an award, but my favorite ex-Met Aaron Heilman took out a quarter-page ad in the program handed out at the annual gathering of baseball writers in New York Sunday night.  The New York chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America held its 86th annual awards dinner and those who saw the Heilman ad were struck by its thoughtfulness.  According to a friend at the event, the Heilman ad said thanks to both the Mets and the New York fans for the opportunity to play in New York.  Heilman was traded to Seattle late last year.  He’s been assigned uniform number 49 and will vie for a spot in the Mariners starting rotation.  The annual writers’ dinner includes the distribution of baseball’s major awards:  MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year.  Of the eight individuals who won those awards, only Rays manager Joe Maddon failed to appear in person. 

-The new Boss record “Working on a Dream” comes out today.  The reviews have been all over the map.  Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune hated it, saying half the record “trots out the kind of facile imagery that would’ve gotten (Bruce) tossed out of a Nickelback songwriting seminar.”  Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone loves it to death.  He called it the “richest” of the three Bruce w/E Street releases this decade (Rising/Magic/Working) and said there were “more musical surprises” on Working than any record Bruce has ever made.  I haven’t heard the whole thing yet but I’m not crazy about the title track which has gotten heavy play on E Street Radio.  I love The Wrestler.  The rest I’ll hear this week when I buy the disc. 
    
-One of TSR’s most loyal readers is going to the Super Bowl this weekend and has agreed to file a post-game report.  The observations of Steelers fan Mike will appear here in audio form on Monday so make sure you have your computer speakers ready to go and punch up TSR the morning after the Super Bowl. 

-It’s worth noting for the record that three democratic US Senators (plus Bernie Sanders) voted against the nomination of Tim “TurboTax” Geithner.  Russ Feingold, Tom Harkin and Bob Byrd refused to march to the beat of their party and were unwilling to approve Obama’s choice to run Treasury.  Geithner’s tax problem fails the smell test.  He fails to meet the standard one would expect from someone about to preside over both the IRS and a financial system badly in need of a leader with an air-tight background and reputation.    

1-27-09 0120

When NTSB investigators pulled guts and a feather out of one of the engines attached to the “Miracle on the Hudson” airplane last week, it only added to the pilot’s claim of bird blame.   Gulls and geese are a common sight at and around LaGuardia Airport.  The birds comfortably coexist with the airplanes and meet little visible harassment or discouragement. (check out the gull that decided to perch on the tail of a 737-700 this past Friday at LaGuardia – pictured above). 

It makes you wonder whether the Port Authority of NY/NJ (the entity that controls airport operations) views the bird menace with the proper level of seriousness.  In an op-ed piece printed in the Post last week, a biologist hired by the Port Authority in the late 90’s says the airport operator stonewalled his efforts to solve the bird problem.  Steven D. Garber was brought in after a bird eradication campaign using guns was halted in the courts by environmentalists.  Garber believes the bird populations around LaGuardia can be controlled in environmentally sensitive ways but he said the Port wouldn’t allow him to execute his plan “openly, honestly, and effectively.”  Said Garber:  “The PA didn’t want to fix the deadly bird problem at LaGuardia…it wanted to look like it had already fixed things.” 

Garber believes the Canada goose can be effectively limited if the resident breeding geese near the airport are “rounded up” during molting.  He also suggests a concerted effort to discourage bird feeding in a five-mile radius and aggressive removal of bird nests and eggs in that same radius.  The man has a plan but says he left the Port in ’99 after realizing the agency was dragging its feet.  “PA officials have never been interested in solving this problem, only in whitewashing it.”  

-You wonder if US Airways is considering legal action against the Port Authority NY/NJ if indeed the cause of its forced landing in the Hudson is blamed on birds.  A federal report titled “Wildlife Hazard Management at Airports” cites an incident at nearby JFK airport that could serve as precedent.  On June 3, 1995, an Air France Concorde ingested “one or two Canada geese” into one of its engines just as it was about to touch down for arrival.  The report says shrapnel from the damaged engine destroyed a second engine and severed hydraulic lines and control cables.  The plane landed safely but the report says “damage to the Concorde was estimated at over $7 million.”  The French Aviation Authority sued the Port “and eventually settled out of court for $5.3 million.”  The Port may argue in the most recent “Miracle on the Hudson” incident that the birds ingested were flying well beyond the purview of the airport.  It’s estimated that the airplane had been airborne for at least thirty seconds before it met up with the birds.  But at what point does responsibility for bird control leave the airport operator?  Shouldn’t the Port Authority assume power over bird control at any reasonable distance deemed within the range of arriving/departing aircraft?  And if not the Port, then who? 
    
-Everybody’s talking about how bad New York Governor David Patterson botched the process that culminated with his appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Hillary’s US Senate seat.  There’s no doubt it turned into a circus.  But to me, the worst part of the whole thing came when Patterson formally introduced Gillibrand at an Albany news conference on Friday.  Mugging it up and standing front and center for the event carried nationally on the cable television networks was scuzzball lobbyist and former republican US senator Al D’Amato.  On a day meant to elevate a young and fresh democratic face, you had a slimy vestige of the past right behind the podium.  It was salt in the wound for progressive democrats who cringe at Gillibrand’s 100-percent rating from the NRA.  Bipartisanship is great in certain situations, but when you’re filling Hillary Clinton’s senate seat, somebody needs to bar the door when Al D’Amato comes knocking.         

-New York’s Major League Soccer franchise has waited much too long to get the new soccer-specific stadium it needs for true legitimacy.  It was thought the long wait would end this year with the opening of a brilliant new 25-thousand seat English-style building in Harrison, NJ right off the PATH train.  But now the Red Bulls are saying cold weather has slowed construction and the stadium won’t be ready until the 2010 season.  My first cynical thought was that weather was being used as an excuse for deeper problems connected to the economy.  But when you look at the live camera aimed at the construction site (streaming online since ground was broken a couple years ago), it is clear the project is past the stage where anybody would consider scrapping it.  It appears much of the building’s frame and outer shell is complete and periodic checks of the web-cam would indicate steady progress has been made in the last six months.  Until it opens, the Red Bulls are forced to play on the FieldTurf at cavernous Giants Stadium where the team is a fish out of water.  

1-25-09 0111

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs held his first briefing Thursday and right off the bat he got an earful from aggravated television reporters who got shut out of an official event the night before.  On advice of White House counsel, Chief Justice John Roberts came by to re-administer the oath of office.  It had been botched on inauguration day so the lawyers determined it would make sense to get a flawless one in the books.  Rather than make a big deal about the do-over, Gibbs used the pool concept and allowed just four print reporters in the White House Map Room to watch it.  There were no media cameras – still or otherwise and the only photo of the event came from the in-house photog.  At Thursday’s briefing, both Chuck Todd of NBC and Bill Plante of CBS whined hard that their exclusion contradicted Obama’s vow of transparency.  Gibbs seemed unwilling to fully defend his decision to limit media presence but cited the size of the room as a problem.  I think what was really happening here is that the White House didn’t want to further embarrass the chief justice and wanted to keep the event’s fanfare to a minimum.  If you open the event to everybody, it gets carried live on all the cable networks and gets perhaps more play than it deserves.  Yeah, I know it gets into dangerous territory when open government functions are held behind closed doors – or shielded – but I think Gibbs wanted this treated as a quick book-keeping matter.  Earlier in the day, Joe Biden had made a wise-crack about the Roberts inauguration day flub, and Obama was clearly steamed.  Gibbs just wanted the story to die.  Todd, Plante and the rest of folks getting pissy about this need to understand that the world doesn’t always revolve around the TV medium.

-On the ESPN program College Football Live on Thursday afternoon, draft guru Mel Kiper predicted that speedy Mizzou wideout Jeremy Maclin will take get taken number seven overall by the Raiders.  The Jets select number 17 overall, and TSR is already on record as saying we want UNC receiver Hakeem Nicks if he’s there in that spot. 

1-22-09 1640

I usually wait the year or so it takes for most good movies to hit my array of cable channels.  Earlier this week, I watched Starting Out in the Evening – a simple and sad story about an aging author who can’t seem to make headway on his novel despite unexpected inspiration in the form of an admiring grad student.  

It’s only rare that I hit the movie house because the movies inevitably come to me. 

But I’ve been itching to see Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler and so I hit Clearview’s multi-screen cinema at 62^nd and First on Wednesday afternoon.  It’s been playing in the city for a month or so. 

The film was made at a cost of only $6 million.  Director Darren Aronofsky says the movie’s budget was limited largely because many of the people sought to finance the project were leery of Rourke’s involvement.  That quandary prompted Aronofsky to replace Rourke with Nicholas Cage in the starring role.  It didn’t take long for Aronofsky to un-do the decision (go back to Rourke – part ways with Cage).  If you see the movie, you’ll see why Rourke is absolutely perfect for the role.  I’m not saying Cage couldn’t have pulled it off, but it’s hard to imagine anybody doing it better than Rourke. 

He plays a loser.  A screw up.  A guy who doesn’t really have his shit together.  Since Rourke has some real life understanding of this kind of character, he totally nails it. 

Shot on 16 mm film, there’s a grainy look and a documentary feel.  It’s all New Jersey, all the time and a lot of the acting feels improvised.  Rourke plays a great professional wrestler well past his prime.  He’s barely able to pay the rent on his weathered trailer and keeps his life afloat by headlining cards and signing photos for enthusiastic East coast wrestling fans in small venues.  To maintain his persona, “The Ram” takes roids, bleaches his hair and goes to a tanning spa.  In the ring, he gives all for his craft despite a heavy physical toll. 

I won’t blow the whole movie, but I’ll just say that Rourke is amazing playing “The Ram.”  The scenes where he walks into the dressing room to get ready with the other wrestlers are really compelling. 

Aronofsky should probably have re-done a badly blown sequence when Rourke smooches Marisa Tomei in a tavern.  The two stop in for “just one beer” after Tomei’s character assists The Ram in the selection of vintage clothing items for his daughter.  The dialogue prior to the smooch looks like improv gone bad.  But hey, it’s only the one scene that sticks out.  Otherwise, the delivery style – whether scripted or not – really works. 

Rourke picked up an Oscar nomination in the best actor category this morning for The Wrestler.  The only other performance among the leading men nominated I’ve seen was Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, so I can’t guess who will get the trophy.  Both Jenkins and Rourke were great - as great as you’d hope to see at the movies.                

The excellent Springsteen song made for The Wrestler is kinda wasted.  It rolls over the closing credits.  It’s a great tune but there’s no real good place for it in the body of the movie since The Ram likes nothing but rock of the Cinderella and Ratt variety. 

Admission for the 2:45 PM Wednesday showing of The Wrestler was $12.  There were about thirty people in the audience. 

1-22-09 1045

Tangible change for those starving for it may require time to take root, but the process that formally transferred power from Bush to Obama Tuesday was quite a refreshing sight to see. 

I started the morning with the TV tuned to C-Span, then switched to the HD signal of CNN which delivered all of the visuals in beautiful 1080i. 

Who knows what Bush and Obama said to each other when they jumped in the limo at the North portico of the White House for the trip to Capitol Hill.  It was just the two of them with secret service in that limo for a ten-minute ride to the capitol.  Do you think the pleasantries that Bush likely offered made Obama re-think whether he should put an “X” through the following two paragraphs of his prepared inaugural address:

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.  Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.  Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.  And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born:  know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more." 

"Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.  They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please.  Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.”

No matter how awkward it must have been to diss an outgoing president who by all appearances allowed for a gracious and civil transition of power, they are words that needed to be said. 

They were the most important passages of the speech for sure.  And even if Obama had second thoughts about them as he rode in the limo with his two-term predecessor, it was too late.  Embargoed copies of the speech had gone around the world and political reporters had probably already run a yellow highlighter over the two grafs.   

The day was behind schedule from the start as it took a long time to seat the platform.  The republican giants Cheney and Poppa Bush raised eyebrows when they entered slowly with infirmities.  But it was the democratic kingpins Byrd and Kennedy who couldn’t make it through the day.  Both left a capitol luncheon with medical distress. 

As the clock struck noon marking the official switch to the new president, the quartet of Perlman/Yo-Yo/Montero/McGill performed what sounded to me like what a college radio station would play during the lunch hour.  It was beautiful. 

Stevens and Biden nailed the oath but Roberts effectively tripped up Obama when it was his turn.  The chief justice was stilted and lengthy with that opening line and it messed up the new president.  If Roberts was cool, he would have said “take two” so that the audio/video archives wouldn’t have such an uneven performance in the permanent record.  But take it as it is.  It’s still seals the deal.    

When the Marine One helicopter now dba as Executive One gave Bush and his wife a lift to their airplane ride out of Andrews, the outgoing commander got a good low-altitude aerial view of a massive crowd celebrating his departure.  They sang Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey.” 

What were the negatives of the day?  It’s hard to find many, but there were a few:  

(1). Gay marriage opponent Rick Warren’s delivery of the opening prayer was an insult to those who hoped “change” would include a vigorous rejection of hate and exclusion.

(2). Roland Burris had a pretty good seat on the inauguration platform – and that is pretty outrageous.

(3). Perhaps it was the cold weather – or the fact the parade started an hour-plus behind schedule but the crowd along the parade route actually looked sparse or flat-out empty in spots.  There were also reports of large numbers of people denied access to either the parade route or the mall because of clogged security checkpoints.  CNN reported the stories of people holding tickets touting certain levels of access that were shut out.   

(4.) All day long, CNN hyped a pending exclusive satellite image of the Capitol grounds that it said would illustrate the breadth of the crowd that assembled.  The image was finally broadcast at about 5 PM, and I’m not sure how it added to the live pictures that well captured the massive throngs throughout the day.  The satellite picture was a pretty basic overhead shot.  Nothing special.  When David Gergen asked Wolf if the satellite image could help formulate an attendance figure, Wolf ignored him. 

I’d imagine the physical and mental demands of inauguration day for Obama may compare to how a bride or groom may feel on their wedding day.  After much preparation and attention to detail, there were many marks to hit.  When you can barely stand much longer, you gotta work the reception room and thank everybody for coming.  There’s no time to eat cake.  It’s not until the next day you can really start your new life.  And man, what a life Obama is getting himself into starting Wednesday. 

An older African-American woman from the state of Georgia called C-Span when I first flipped on the tube Tuesday.  She said she was gonna have a viewing party with 15 or 20 of her friends.  C-Span host Susan Swain asked the woman for details of her party.  Said the woman:  “We’re gonna raise the flag and sing some songs.” 

1-20-09 2145

Just two days before US Airways flight 1549 went down in the Hudson, CNN says the same airplane on the same route using the same flight number experienced a serious engine problem shortly after takeoff.  CNN cites the accounts of three passengers on board last Tuesday’s flight 1549 (the “Miracle on the Hudson” was Thursday).  All three on board told CNN that they heard loud banging noises shortly after takeoff and that a public address announcement from the cockpit said that the number two engine compressor had stalled.  They said passengers were told that an emergency landing was planned.  One of the passengers – John Hodock – said he saw fire coming from the engine.  It turns out the flight continued on without incident but you’d have to say this information is relevant simply because of the airplane’s tail number.  CNN was able to obtain confirmation that the registration number of the aircraft that flew Tuesday’s flight 1549 was N106US.  That’s the same airplane that ended up in the Hudson two days later. 

Everybody seems to want this story to be about the miraculous outcome – and indeed the final outcome was a miracle.  But it may be too early to make the cause of this incident an open and shut case of two engines shutting down from bird ingestion. 

-It should be noted that Brian Williams made no reference to the CNN revelation on his NBC Nightly News program despite the fact the information had been in the public domain for hours.  

-Expect the Super Bowl line to bob back and forth between 6.5 and 7 before finally settling at a flat touchdown by game time.  The Steelers are famous for taking casual money – and their status as favorites adds to the allure for the bettor who jumps in only on the big days.  What might make the most sense is a money line play on the Steelers at -250.  The books are expected to post a long list of prop bets sometime tonight. 

-Happy inauguration day to all.  I had toyed with the idea of making it a day trip if the flights had room – and to my surprise – there’s space on the first one down and the last one back.  But I decided I don’t have the stamina to move with the masses packing a city I don’t know that well.  I’ll watch it on the tube.  Among the most anticipated moments on this historic day will be an event listed in the White House schedule of events. 

1:25 PM THE FORMER PRESIDENT makes remarks at departure ceremony.  Andrews Air Force Base – Hangar 6. 

1-20-09 0005

It’s been about twenty-five years since a flu bug hit me as hard as the one that took over from head to toe on Friday night.  It was a vicious assault on the stomach, the head and the body temperature control mechanism.  It was impossible to eat or drink anything and efforts to sleep it off have been unsuccessful thus far. 

You can see how the flu can kill people in an already weakened state.   

As I write this Sunday evening, I feel like a corner is about to be turned and that recovery is on the way.  But for about 36 hours, it was absolute hell.  I’ll omit the detail describing the worst of it. 

Living alone is usually something I enjoy just fine, but when you’re shivering with sweat unable to gain a vertical position, you realize how great it was when you had your Mom in the house.  She would convince you that this too shall pass as she handed you a glass of iced ginger ale.       

There were moments in the last couple of days when I considered checking into the emergency room at the crazy city-run hospital down the street.  I thought about what that experience would be like relative to the potential relief it would bring and I quickly decided I would rather take my chances staying put. 

-The cockpit crew of the US Airways airplane that went into the Hudson on Thursday said it was birds that killed power in both of its engines.  Birds are common off the end of the runway used in this instance.  Less than 24 hours after the outcome that captured the nation’s attention, arriving airplanes at LaGuardia were using the same path although in the opposite direction.  One flight captain arriving at about noon on Friday told me that he saw “two large gulls at about 500 feet” as he neared landing on runway 22. 

-Following normal procedure, the fuel truck used to gas up US Airways flight 1549 before its dramatic landing in the Hudson was immediately impounded by the Port Authority.  The man who fueled the airplane was forced to submit to a drug test.  There has been no suggestion that a fuel problem had anything to do with 1549’s engine problems, but immediate scrutiny on everyone involved with a flight’s preparation is normal.  It’s expected that the NTSB will test the fuel contained in the impounded truck and will have a discussion with anybody who had even a loose connection with preparing that flight for departure. 

1-18-09 2010

With an outdoor temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit and a water temp just above freezing, it wasn’t the greatest day to ditch a plane in the mighty Hudson.  But anytime an airplane lands on anything but a runway and there isn’t a full-blown catastrophe, it is flat-out amazing. 

It’s a miracle.  A miracle times 155.  Or as Governor David Paterson called it:  “A Miracle on the Hudson.” 

At the time I write this, it has been reported that one or both of the engines powering US Airways flight 1549 ingested birds shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Thursday afternoon.  The plane bound for Charlotte (the key Eastern hub for the airline) took off from runway four over Rikers Island.  It wasn’t long before the cockpit crew knew it had engine problems and passengers say they were told to brace for a hard landing.  A left turn over the Bronx became a half-circle.  With its landing gear up and a flat belly, the airplane was said to touch down in the drink at about 50^th Street.     

Why didn’t it sink?  It appears the back doors were kept closed and the sealed capsule stayed afloat with the main cabin door tilted upward. 

The folks that operate the ferry boats (New York Waterway and Circle Line) that responded to the floating airplane deserve serious credit for an expedited rescue.  Those ferry boats went from transportation provider to emergency responder in a flash.  They saved the day and now you’d hope any questions about ferry service subsidies in this region take on a little more depth.  People on the plane say boats were waiting for them when they stepped off that airplane.  That’s amazing.    

-If indeed it was birds that caused this accident, expect the Port Authority to redouble efforts to eliminate, thin or move the rampant seagull population that congregates north and east of the airport.  It’s no easy task given the natural habitat that exists for birds in that area but there are tactics to discourage bird activity and they must be used to the fullest extent.  You’ve heard several media reports indicate that it was a “flock of geese,” that caused this accident.  More likely, the bird type was sea gull. 

The more shows they play, the better they get.  Members of the great Brooklyn band Fan-Tan headlined the Mercury Lounge Wednesday night and it’s clear they’re on the rise. 

It had been about a year since my last Fan-Tan show and you’d have to say top billing at the Merc indicates some kind of climb in status.  This band really has it all.  Front man Ryan Lee Dunlap (pictured above left) has a Gift.  He sings like Roland Gift.  His guitar is short-strapped for rapid strums and he moves around the stage with pivots full of pizzazz.  Drummer Kuki Kooks (above right) alternates gentle with attack mode.  On “Age of Discovery,” Kooks unleashes a pretty awesome barrage at the half-way mark of the tune.   He’s forced to set a tone along with synth man Mike Walters since the band’s songs are constructed with a lush dance-beat. 

In the thirteen months since I saw tightly-spaced Fan-Tan shows in late 2007, there’s no evidence of significant new output.  No record deal.  Only a couple of new tunes popped up recently on their MySpace page. But consistent efforts to play live here and back on Tobacco Road where it all started have made the band a tight, professional group.  Fan-Tan has no trouble flipping on a switch that prompts some attending their live show to start flapping arms and doing a dance that feels better than it probably looks. 

Bassist Sandee Kooks (Kuki’s brother) stood stage left, a good distance from the center of activity.  Like a lot of rock band bass players, Sandee Kooks (pictured above) seems intent on conducting business with minimal fanfare. 

Admission was ten bucks.  Fan-Tan went on about 11 and played for nearly an hour.

The band that preceded Fan-Tan on the bill was a big mismatch in terms of talent and style.  Billed as “Kickass Rock and Roll With a Southern Accent,” Madison South was unbearably bad.  The blame is not with the band but the folks at “The Bowery Presents” who fill slots without regard for genre and the crowd they bring.  

1-15-09 2000

Plenty of times I wish I could download (or is it upload?) the pictures I take in my mind as I go from here to there.  Maybe that technology is coming. 

It’s only on occasion that I’m toting my camera.  There are all sorts of scenes that would make great pictures that pass me by.    

A week ago Friday I was sitting at work and the sunrise became something special.  It wasn’t simply the sun coming up in the East as it does every morning.  This one was a mind-blower.  I kicked myself for lacking the ability to record the image and then realized that I could try to snap a shot with my cell phone. 

Cell phone pictures are usually crude misrepresentations of the actual subject – but in this case the low resolution and inferior technology didn’t get in the way. 

Two things I should mention in loose connection with this theme. 

First, when I was working the morning shift consistently, I became a serious sunrise appreciator.  With an Eastern view, I’d see it come up every day.  Most days, it was nothing special.  But a couple of times a month, the sunrise would really make you stop and take it in for the short time it showed off. 

While working this shift, I had a co-worker who went by the nickname A-Rod who shared my enthusiasm for a good sunrise.  When a dazzler was in progress, we’d try to find one another to make sure the other was paying attention.  It was fun to have a fellow sunrise appreciator to compare notes with. 

A-Rod ended up suffering a severe back injury which is what happens to guys who throw big pieces of luggage around in tight confines.  Shortly after he was forced to leave the job because of the permanence of his injury, I ended up getting knocked out of my morning shift.  We lost track of each other.  But whenever I see a good sunrise, I think about A-Rod and wonder if he’s seeing it somewhere.   

The other thing I wanted to mention as long as I was talking about cameras and photos and seeing things that pass you by is a web site done by a guy who posts a single incredible photo each day.   Joseph Holmes must carry a camera everywhere he goes.  I’ve not seen a more compelling and proficient web site devoted to photographic content.  The daily photos posted by Holmes elicit comments and questions from people all over the world.  One skill beyond Holmes’ obvious technical mastery is his fearlessness to take pictures of people.  It takes some moxie for someone with a camera to point it in the direction of strangers and many of Holmes’ greatest photos were taken without the prior consent of his subjects.  (if and when you go to the Holmes site, click on the “previous” arrow to scroll back into his collection…you’ll be amazed)

1-13-09 0215

I was working during all four divisional contests this weekend but got a pretty good look at all but the Giants game.  The Tennessee/Baltimore slugfest left me feeling sad for fans of the Titans.  The Crumpler fumble was excruciating.  As he rumbled toward the goal line in the fourth quarter, Crumpler was met by a double shot of defender with the worst of the physical violence coming from Ravens safety Jim Leonhard (Bart Scott was also in on the play).  It was the viciousness of the legal Leonhard hit that caused the fumble.  You hope Crumpler doesn’t beat himself up too much about the turnover – as hurtful as it was to his team.  The way he got whacked would make it hard to hold on to a golf ball, much less a football.  Leonhard suffered a concussion on the play but not before he had a hand in all three Titans turnovers.  Leonhard is listed at 5-8, 185.  He plays like Gary Fencik and appears to be in a safety rotation that includes Ravens rookie Tom Zbikowski who is another punishing defender much discussed here over the last few years.    

Leonhard (pronounced LEN-ard) is quite a story.  A small guy from a small town, he walked on at Wisconsin, played in every game over a four-year period in Madison and became an All-American.  No NFL team drafted him but he landed as a free agent in Buffalo in ’05.  Now, he’s a game away from the Super Bowl. 

-In a NFL season that will be remembered for bad officiating, it seems like there was scant attention paid to a couple of possible miscues that hurt the Titans.  With 7:39 to go in the game and the Ravens up three, Flacco faced a 3rd and 10 from his own one-yard-line.  After a couple of running plays intended to minimize risk, Flacco surprisingly went into shotgun formation.  After receiving the snap, Flacco seemed to lose sight of where he was and appeared to step out of the end zone.  He fired incomplete and the Ravens ended up punting.  The Titans would end up scoring three on the ensuing drive to tie, but who knows how a safety would have changed the complexion of the game.  I was watching the game with a co-worker who screamed at the TV – begging CBS for a replay to confirm what we thought our eyes saw.  I never did see a replay. 

Even more clear cut – and egregious – was a no call when the Ravens offense let the play clock expire with under three to go and the game tied.  It was third and two.  CBS had the play clock inset on the screen and at least a second and a half went by after it hit zero.  Flacco took the snap and fired a 23-yard completion to Todd Heap.  It was a crucial play on the game-winning drive that should never have been allowed.  Why a play like that can’t be challenged, who knows?  The NBA allows refs to look at replays to determine if a basket was scored before time expires at the end of a game.  Why can’t the NFL let Fisher challenge a no-call on a clear-cut clock issue?  It’s one thing for a quarterback to receive the snap a split-second after the play clock hits zero, but this was way beyond the pale.       

-About 45 minutes before the Steelers kicked off in Pittsburgh Sunday, an Airbus 319 painted with the team’s logo landed at LaGuardia.  US Airways operates the Steelers-themed airplane as part of its regularly scheduled service and the sight of it as I prepared to watch the game confused me as I tried to discern meaning from this coincidence.       

-Whether you like the sport of kings or not, check out the well-done piece posted by our pal Jim Mulvihill who paid tribute over the weekend to legendary horse racing writer Joe Hirsch.  Jim spent a lot of time with Hirsch during the 2001 Saratoga meet and carries great memories of that summer.  Hirsch died at a Manhattan hospital Friday at the age of 80. 

-Bruce Springsteen must have had a pretty good idea  he was gonna take down a Golden Globe Sunday night for making the title tune contained in the acclaimed movie “The Wrestler.”  It’s hard to believe The Boss would drag Patty out for a long awards night with Mickey Rourke unless he knew he was gonna win.

1-12-09 0130

A Thursday Wall Street Journal story examining sharp 2008 declines in the value of 401(k) accounts suggests a government “overhaul” of the retirement savings plan may be on the way.  Reporter Eleanor Laise writes that the world-wide stock market plunge has “ignited a crisis of confidence” in the 401(k) and she gives voice to financial planning experts who say individual plan participants should be protected from themselves.   

Laise cites data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute in advancing the notion that workers entering an era of vanishing company pensions (necessitating heavy reliance on the 401(k)) are getting burned by market swings.  Perhaps the most startling fact is that workers aged 55 to 64 lost an average of 20-percent of their account’s value in 2008. 

What the story fails to convey properly is that any government attempt to remove or reduce worker autonomy from how his/her 401(k) is constructed should be considered an intrusion – not a protection.

If the government and/or employer wants a safe, risk-resistant worker retirement fund that provides a guaranteed life-sustaining stipend at the end of a worker’s career, then make it happen.  But don’t create/make available the 401(k) option to the American worker and then change the rules when the market tanks. 

Tales of woe from people who got their ass kicked by a bum market are indeed sad.  But you didn’t hear people moaning when the technology and banking sectors – or a range of Asian funds – were acting as multipliers on account balances. 

At my place of employ, there was great anticipation building in mid-2008 when the company announced it was expanding the worker’s 401(k) investment options from a list of 93 mutual funds to a bonanza of choices that basically allowed the individual to buy into any listed equity or mutual fund with a value greater than $1 a share.  More choice, more control and yeah, greater risk.  Those not interested in greater risk had the option of staying within the existing framework of the plan – or having the additional choice of getting into so-called “target date” funds dumbed-down for the hands-off investor. 

As the November 1 launch date for the new options approached, the company announced it was delaying implementation.  It cited “market volatility” for the postponement. 

Having watched my own 401(k) lose more than half its value in 2008 with big-name mutual funds, I’ve been anxious to participate in the proposed expanded plan allowing one to turn the account into a brokerage window.  I’m not much interested in protection from the company or the government.  In fact, I resent it.  If one is allowed to watch one’s investments plummet in a bad market, one should be allowed to trade free and wide when the market is low.  Big brother shouldn’t use “market volatility” as a reason to limit one’s ability to execute an investment strategy. 

And more broadly speaking, don’t re-think the 401(k) concept nationally.   Devise a separate “safe” plan implemented from scratch if necessary.  But don’t change the rules mid-stream on a 401(k) plan that was designed to withstand lumps and bumps over three or four decades.  Even the biggest sledge-hammer hit over the head of one’s 401(k) is a buy-low opportunity for a worker with a ways to go before he calls it quits.  Let ‘em be. 

-The line on Florida/Oklahoma swung wildly in the 24 hours before kickoff.  Florida sat at a soft minus-3 for most of the last month but then big day-of-game money poured in on the Gators pushing the number up to near a touchdown (even higher than 7 on one off-shore book).  A few hours before game-time an internet-fueled rumor with wide circulation had Percy Harvin re-injuring his ankle which brought the number back down to 5 and a half.  The over-under number closed at 69, down from an open of 71.5.         

1-8-09 2249

I sat down Wednesday afternoon to watch New York Governor David Patterson deliver his first state of the state speech hoping the governor would get the ball rolling on the big public transit funding proposal designed to stave off deep cuts in service and a giant fare increase. 

If placement and time devoted to the subject within the speech is any indication of the priority the issue will be given by Patterson, then it’s not looking good for bus and subway riders.  

It wasn’t until the 29 minute mark of the 62.5 minute address that Patterson brought up the Ravitch Commission proposal containing new funding mechanisms for public transit.  Patterson spent all of 25 seconds discussing it.   Rather than elaborate at length on the various reasons why a new infusion of public transit funding is important (as he did with discussing child obesity and affordability of higher education), Patterson simply said he hoped lawmakers would “negotiate and eventually pass” the Ravitch recommendations.  His usage of the words “negotiate” and “eventually” may be viewed as troubling.  “Negotiate” would suggest the possible watering-down of the Ravitch proposal – and “eventually” seems to lengthen the time frame beyond the looming deadline needed to stave off the MTA’s proposed doomsday plan. 

Who knows?  Maybe Patterson is trying to play it cool and plans to push the Ravitch plan behind the scenes.  It just seemed like the governor failed to give the issue the attention it deserves.   

That said, Patterson deserves credit for pulling off a speech of this kind given the fact that he’s legally blind. 

When he entered the chamber, Patterson (a longtime Albany pol) clearly knew where he was going and moved to the main Assembly podium below the Speaker’s chair without assistance.  He handed hard-bound copies of his speech to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority leader Malcolm Smith (seated behind him) and then proceeded to recite his remarks from memory.   

Patterson isn’t blind as the dark, black night.  What appears before him is said to be something better than nothingness.  But a teleprompter does him no good – nor do written notes or flash cards.  He doesn’t read Braille and there’s no technological trick or crutch to help him through such occasions.  Patterson is speaking purely from what’s in his head.  When you consider the amount of detail – the number of names, dollar figures and statistics he referenced in the speech – you can’t help but be amazed at his feat.    

He understandably got crossed up a few times during the speech, but regrouped quickly.  He has a nervous tendency to repeatedly fold his hands together, release them, fold them back, release and so on while he speaks.  It’s a somewhat awkward looking display and distracts a bit from the delivery of his speech. 

But having watched a lot of state of the states over the years (Spitzer, Pataki, Caperton, Edgar and Ashcroft), this one felt more like a talk with the citizenry than any other I’ve heard.  If only he would have made public transit a bigger deal.   

-Since the Times wouldn’t reveal the price tag on its front-page advertising hole unveiled this week, you knew it was only a matter of time before the Post would disclose it.  Citing “several ad buyers who asked to remain unnamed,” the Post says the going rate for the 2.5-inch tall ad covering the full width of the bottom of the front page is $75-thousand on weekdays and $100K on Sunday.  

-If you run into my Dad in the next couple days, ask him if you can see “his staples.”  While retrieving mail at the bottom of his driveway Tuesday night, he went down like a sack of potatoes.  The frozen precip makes it slippery on suburban Chicago driveways this time of year.  In this instance, my Dad’s head took the brunt of the fall.  A long, deep gash was closed up with staples and he’s said to be neurologically unscathed.  Must be some thickness in that skull? 

1-7-09 2230

I did a serious double-take when I pulled the Times off the stack on the way into work Monday.  A three-inch color strip below the fold at the bottom of the page looked like an advertisement.  Impossible.  The Times doesn’t put ads on the front page.  But there it was.  It was an ad for the CBS television network underneath news stories about a rash of kidnappings in Mexico and a plunge in the US commercial real estate market.

Forever off-limits to display ads, the front page of the Times is now in play for advertisers.  It’s a desperate measure for desperate times.    

Plummeting revenue has forced the business side of newspapers to do all sorts of things that make the editorial wing throw its hands in the air.  

In the past six months, the Times has cut the width of its page and consolidated sections.  Now the newspaper’s globally positioned staff of reporters must share the front page with advertisements.  It’s still a great paper, but you’re starting to get the feeling that you’re watching it die a slow death. 

And it’s not just the economy that’s killing the newspaper.  On the same Times business page (B3) that carried a story about the newspaper’s inclusion of a front-page display ad for the first time, there was a piece that said “Web Passes Papers as a News Source.”  The story cited a study by folks at the Pew Research Center which said that 40-percent of Americans get most of their news from the internet.  35-percent of respondents to the same study say they get their news primarily from newspapers.      

-The Bernie Madoff story is understandably big news for CNBC, but the cable channel devoted to coverage of financial markets lost sight of its prime mission Monday with less-than-newsworthy segments of live pictures showing the investment adviser traveling to and from a court hearing.  Using a camera deployed by a news helicopter hovering over Manhattan, CNBC devoted good portions of the afternoon to tracking Madoiff’s movements.  It had all the news value of a car chase on a California freeway, except in this case people are cheering against the crook rather than for him.  For now, Madoff is confined to his city apartment as a condition of his $10 million bail.  The hearing on Monday was his first court appearance since he got arrested for a massive stock fraud scheme that sucked a lot of people dry.  Prosecutors claimed Monday that Madoff has attempted to shelter certain valuables from seizure post-arrest.  For that reason, the feds want Madoff tossed in jail until he’s tried.  A US Magistrate judge is expected to rule on the government request after gaining more information in the next few days.  White collar crooks usually stay out of the clink pending trial and I’d expect Madoff will get that privilege.  Flight risk shouldn’t be a concern when you consider his every move is watched and his Manhattan apartment is surrounded by federal agents and photogs.  It seems impossible that Madoff would be able to get on a plane or a train without somebody strangling him first.  And at the rate CNBC is going, you’d be able to see that too.      

1-6-08 0135

I guess nothing disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich pulls at this point should surprise you, but his appointment of Roland Burris to fill the senate seat he’s accused of auctioning for cash rocked me pretty good.  It was shocking because I thought no credible or upstanding public servant would discuss – much less accept such an appointment.  Burris is embarrassing himself and he’s tainting an otherwise non-descript (albeit felony-free) political legacy.  Burris says he won’t cause a scene, yet he’s enlisted a lawyer to wage a fight for membership in a legislative body that wants to keep him out.  Especially disgusting is the racial element at play here.  Blagojevich inserted Congressman Bobby Rush into his twisted script by asking Rush to speak at the news conference introducing Burris, a 71-year-old African-American.  On cue, Rush played the race card to make an already incredibly awkward and cynical procedural taunt by the governor even more so.  Rush said leaders in the US Senate thinking about blocking the appointment should not “hang and lynch the appointee as you try and castigate the appointer.” 

The laws and rules covering all of this may end up favoring Blagojevich and Burris, but it’s as clear as day that the appointment should not be made by a governor who is on tape saying he wanted to cash in on it.  Burris should understand and respect the notion that the Obama senate seat vacancy should be filled by either the people of Illinois – or the current lieutenant governor once Blago is removed from office via impeachment.  The hands of Burris are just as dirty as Blagojevich if he presses forward with efforts to enter the senate chamber as if he were a legitimate member.  He’s not.   

-On my New Year’s Day flight back to New York, the captain made a PA announcement just before takeoff which included the basic facts of the journey.  It was a fine announcement.  There was advanced warning of a bumpy climb-out, a flight time estimate that was shorter than usual because of a strong tailwind, and a cheery, confident edge in the captain’s voice.  It made me feel good until the pilot recited an error commonly made by even the most seasoned travelers and/or aviation employees.  He said the flight’s destination was “LaGuardia International Airport.”  Problem is, the actual name of the airport does not include “International.”  It’s “LaGuardia Airport.”  That’s it.  Yeah, there are several daily flights to Canada, non-stops to the Bahamas and seasonal once-a-week round-trips trips to other spots in the Caribbean, but LaGuardia is not an international airport either in practice – or in name.  US Customs has a limited presence at LaGuardia and the airport’s gates aren’t set up to accommodate customs clearance requirements.  Passengers flying into LaGuardia from out of the country are pre-cleared by US Customs at the origin.  One entity that perhaps deserves most blame for perpetuating the LaGuardia “International” error is The Weather Channel.  When the nationally-distributed TV channel updates airport delay and weather information, it uses the erroneous airport name in all of its graphics.    

-Headline writers for the New York tabloids have condensed the last name of Steve Spagnuolo, who is making a lot of back pages these days.  With multiple NFL teams including the Jets courting Spagnuolo to fill their head coach position, the tabloids have gone with the nickname “SPAGS” to make it fit within a narrow space on the page. 

-Indy would have won the game Saturday if it converted on 3rd and two at its own nine-yard line with two and a half to go.  Manning and Dungy usually convert 3rd and twos as easy as they cut butter but they botched this critical play with an empty backfield that left the QB exposed.  From San Diego’s perspective, everybody is crediting the great runner Darren Sproles for winning the game.  But the true player of the game was the Chargers punter.  Mike Scifres had a huge punt with under three to go.  As he has much of his career spanning five seasons, Scifres launched it high, got a gentle landing and had the ball roll out of play at the one-yard line.  Scifres’ five previous punts forced Indy to start at their own 9, 7, 3, 19 and 10-yard lines respectively.  Amazing!  All six of his punts inside the 20!  

1-4-09 0135

I brought in 2009 with family in a modern log cabin on the outskirts of Oxford, Wisconsin.  My folks had the place built on the remote lakeside parcel nine years ago with the idea that it would be their place to get away from it all.  It’s built in such a way that it could easily be a permanent residence if one decided he or she could live the rural life. 

Like some New Yorkers who flock to the tip of Long Island, the Jersey Shore or remote places in upstate New York, Chicagoans have a long tradition of getting away to Wisconsin or Michigan.    

My folks stay at the cabin about a hundred days a year for stretches of up to a week or so at a time.  Both of my brothers bring their families there for short stays.  The drive from Chicago is about three hours.      

I flew into Madison on Tuesday morning via Cleveland.  The flights were empty and my youngest brother picked me at the Madison airport which is a very friendly facility to the air traveler.  

On Tuesday night, I had the once in a blue moon pleasure of sitting at the same table of fun with both of my brothers.  Jim Beam cocktails and cold Old Style nicely complemented Tombstone pizza and Johnsonville brats.      

You may know the story on Tombstone and Johnsonville.  They’re two Wisconsin companies that make products which  have grown in popularity beyond the Midwest.  I can’t get either the pizza or the brat at my neighborhood grocery stores in Queens and so they taste all that much better when I get back this direction.  There is no better frozen pizza - and no better encased sausage than the Tombstone and Johnsonville respectively. 

Wednesday morning, the temperature fell below zero degrees Fahrenheit and even a bright cloudless sky failed to lift the high temp beyond single digits in the afternoon.   

On New Year’s Eve, we took a drive over to Thal Acres Links and Lanes in Westfield, WI.  The place looks like a small textile factory from the outside.  On the inside, it’s a classic Wisconsin bowling alley with eight lanes, a full bar and updated wall tallies from the daily leagues that compete there.  My brother and his wife have made it an annual tradition of stopping at Thal Acres on New Year’s Eve to roll a couple of games.   My bro’s wife is due with their second in eleven weeks yet she was knocking down pins left and right.

She made fajitas for New Year’s Eve dinner.  A crackling fireplace kept the chill away and promoted a relaxing vibe that led to snoozeville before the clock struck midnight.  What better way to say goodbye to 2008 than to sleep through the final hour of it.   

There’s no live television signal at the cabin, but I brought along the satellite radio and it really added to the fun.  The “E Street Radio” channel is guaranteed solid with an endless rotation of never-before-heard live variations of many Bruce tunes. 

I work the early shift Friday morning, so I came back late Thursday.  I left Madison on a 350 PM departure to Cleveland for a connecting flight to LaGuardia that got in about 840 PM. 

The family aspect of the getaway was nice - and there’s much to be said for the peace and quiet of a landscape that is dominated by wide open space and so few people making noise.  To go from one population density extreme to the other - and back - is a nice jolt to the system. 

1-1-09  2255

TSR jumps on a bird early this morning for a little getaway to the land of cheese.  My folks own a log cabin in rural Wisconsin that’s truly in the middle of nowhere.  There’s no TV and it’s really quiet.  My youngest brother, his wife and my niece will be there and it’ll be a relaxing way to ring in the new year. 

Happy New Year everybody.  Talk to you in a few days…

12-30-08 0100

The US senate seat vacancy here in New York hasn’t caused the level of commotion the one in Illinois has, but we’ve had our share of excitement surrounding how the position will be filled.  It all got ratcheted up over the weekend when Caroline Kennedy formally stepped out of her private, mostly protected life of privilege to explain why she wants the job.

New York Governor David Patterson has the final say on who will fill the seat left by Hillary’s promotion to head the State Department.  The governor has said he’ll wait until Hillary’s nomination is confirmed before announcing his choice.  So what you have now is a handful of hopefuls who want the job with a non-traditional campaign of positioning and posturing by various forces in state party politics.  Other than Kennedy, nobody has publicly campaigned for the job to this point - and the only reason Kennedy stepped out this weekend is because critics were taking aim at her qualifications.     

Logically, experienced US House members like Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Brian Higgins and Nydia Velazquez would top any candidate list because of their Congressional chops.  They’d know their way around.  

But for some reason, and without any discouragement by Patterson, the two people who seem to be getting all the attention in this process is Kennedy and Andy Cuomo. 

Andy Cuomo is the feisty state attorney general who ran a horrible campaign for governor in 2002 and led HUD for a stretch during the Bill Clinton years.  He seems to have polished his act and his appointment to the senate may remove a potential rival if Patterson seeks re-election. 

Kennedy is the wildcard and her entry into all of this has filled some of the post-Obama campaign void in these parts as her candidacy is debated.  Kennedy raised her trial balloon a few weeks ago, and among the first critics to emerge was Queens Congressman Gary Ackerman.  Ackerman is a blowhard providing cover for the congressmen and women who want the job, but his comments got a lot of attention.  Ackerman criticized Kennedy’s legitimacy by comparing her to both Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Palin. 

It was at that point I began to shift my support away from an entrenched member of the current Washington cast to Kennedy.  Ackerman’s demeaning shot at Kennedy has me cheering for her.  Her performance on Dominic Carter’s NY1 show which aired over the weekend was impressive.  Yeah, she’s missed a few primary elections as a voter – and that’s a problem.  But the fact that she hasn’t written big checks to the democratic party shouldn’t be considered a black mark, nor should the fact that Mayor Mike likes her. 

There’s no doubt what you’re gonna get from Kennedy if she gets the job.  She’s gonna be a Kennedy of the Ted variety.  She’ll be more a true democrat than most democrats.  She’d definitely be more of a democrat than the other showboating clown that represents this state in the US Senate.  She unequivocally opposes the death penalty.  No exceptions.  She backed Obama from the get-go when a lot of people in this state rubber-stamped Hillary’s candidacy for president.   

I don’t know.  The more I saw her and read of her Q and A’s this weekend, the more I like.  She got snippy with the Times and put zero conditions on her sit-down with Carter.  And hey, if it doesn’t work out, she only has the seat for two years at which time the public will decide whether she ought to stay.  She seems down to earth, low-flash and workmanlike in her approach.  I hope she gets it.     

-Congrats to Chad and the Fins.  Yeah, it was an easy sked that made the extreme turnaround possible, but that new Wildcat offense consistently confused opponents as much as it entertained football fans.  Credit ex-Jet assistant Dan Henning and rookie head coach Tony Sparano for implementing it.  And how ‘bout Anthony Fasano.  Every time I looked up at a TV this season, it seemed like Fasano was making a big catch.   

-If Jets owner Woody Johnson does the right thing and parts ways with the Man-Genius, we’d love to see Ohio State coach Jim Tressel get a shot at the job. 

-It almost seemed unsportsmanlike for Tom Coughlin to call two “ice-the-kicker” timeouts at end of Giants/Vikes.  While it’s admirable that Coughlin and his team played it mostly straight-up despite wrapping up the one-seed a week ago, it seemed excessive given the Giants’ circumstances to try and freeze a kicker from fifty.    

-The Post’s great hockey writer Larry Brooks wrote a column Sunday saying that exiled winger Sean Avery belongs back in a Rangers uniform.  “It’s clear that there’s only one team and one team only for which Avery can play; one city and one city only big enough for him to live,” said Brooks.  I have been thinking the exact same thing for the last two weeks.  Bring Avery back.  His six-game suspension by the league and the quick hook out of Dallas that followed was a farce when you consider his actions.  The guy’s style of play is exactly what the Rangers need right now and his presence would get the Blueshirts back on track.    

12-29-08 0150

Striking bakery workers in the Bronx are asking the public to leave the popular Stella D’oro brand cookies and biscotti on the store shelf.  About 140 union cookie makers at the Stella plant at 237th and Broadway have been on the picket line since mid-August. 

Replacement workers – or “scabs” if you will – have kept the place going since the labor dispute started.

A lot is at stake.  The 136 employees represented by The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) have manned the plant since the early 60’s working under a pretty standard contract that provided a decent hourly wage and benefit package. 

Workers say things changed when the company switched ownership.  The labor-friendly Kraft (Nabisco) sold Stella to the private investment firm Brynwood Partners in January 2006.  At the time, Brynwood said it hoped to “grow and invigorate” the Stella D’oro business which it refers to currently on its web site as an “underperformer.”

Brynwood isn’t a baker – or a company with a long history of food or snack production.  It’s a private equity firm that snaps up “underperforming and/or undervalued” companies.  Among the companies in its “portfolio” are Genie (maker of garage door openers), DeMet’s Candy (producer of Turtles candies among others) and G & T Conveyor (manufacturer and installer of airport baggage carousels). 

When the contract (negotiated by Kraft) covering the workers at Stella D’oro expired on July 31, 2008, Brynwood put forward a new contract proposal that chopped away at the wage scale, holidays and vacation going forward.  Brynwood also proposed a hefty health care insurance cost burden for union workers. 

Workers everywhere – union or otherwise – are getting forced into a corner as companies seek to operate more efficiently through cuts in labor costs.  Many work groups – including the one I have long been a member of – have little or no say about the terms of their employment.  Those that do often don’t have the gumption to resist those terms by using the strike as a bargaining tool. 

But here you have a work group that has decided to take a bold approach.  The union says it sensed that Brynwood was preparing for a showdown by readying replacement workers.  The union says negotiations (along with Brynwood’s contract proposal) indicated this was anything but good faith bargaining on a new contract. 

So instead of taking it up the you-know-what and signing off on a new owner’s plan to “invigorate” the company, union workers went on strike a couple weeks after its contract expired.  They risk a lot.  Out of work for more than four months now, the workers face an uncertain outcome that could end badly.  If Brynwood can continue to muddle through the production and sale of cookies with replacement workers while breaking the spirit of the rightful body and soul of that plant, it will join the long list of companies that have successfully walked all over organized labor. 

But if an active public rallies in support of these union workers, then perhaps the suits from Brynwood will go back to the table with a greater appreciation of the long history of this work group and the labor/management balance that’s been achieved to date.              

Union workers have set up a web site that includes pictures of them on the picket line:

http://www.stelladorostrike2008.com/

It should be noted that Brynwood Partners also has a web site of its own.  It’s a fancy one.  Included on that site is a contact page which makes it easy to reach out to those who likely have some measure of control over the fate of the union workers standing in the cold this holiday season. 

http://www.brynwoodpartners.com/contact.htm

Until I learned of this story, I often had Stella D’oro biscotti with my coffee at work.  No more.  Not if and until these workers win their noble battle.

12-28-08 0155 

Train service to Belmont Park will be eliminated entirely except for Belmont Stakes Day under the proposed service cuts recently announced by the MTA. 

Like all the other specified proposed services cuts and fare increases planned for the subway/train/bus grid operated by the MTA, only a massive funding increase approved by the state legislature would stop the MTA plan and keep things as is. 

With most horse racing venues already suffering from a sharp decline in on-track attendance, eliminating the train to Belmont would almost certainly keep more people away. 

Yeah, there are a couple of city bus routes that can get you to Belmont.  But the LIRR link to the track has long been a crucial pipeline connecting horseplayers in New York City to the crown jewel of this region’s thoroughbred racing schedule. 

On weekday afternoons, guys with ties cut out early from their jobs in Manhattan and can be seen on that train to Belmont scouring the Daily Racing Form for betting angles.  On the weekends, the ridership to and from Belmont includes lots of young people of both genders.  Visitors from out-of-town staying in Manhattan are among those who also rely on the service. 

If the Ravitch proposal to stave off service cuts fails, perhaps the New York Racing Association can work to subsidize the service and stop this plan to eliminate the train to the track.  Losing the link seems to me would be as close to a death blow to on-track attendance at Belmont as any economic challenges that face it. 

-I heard the excellent ESPN studio host John Buccigross recently proclaim Evgeni Malkin the front-runner for NHL MVP honors.  I love Boochie, but man, Alex Ovechkin is the MVP of this league right now.  He’s Wayne Gretzky with muscle.  He’s the most dominant game-changer by far and he’s hands-down the best and most exciting player. 

12-24-08 2239

Since the regular days off from the job fall on Tue/Wed/Thu, it’s just luck that I don’t have to work the Christmas holiday.  All the flights are packed, so I’ll stick it out here in the big city and try to take it easy.  I’ll watch the Irish play Hawaii on the tube with a glass of nog on Christmas Eve and maybe catch a movie at some point.  But there will be little in the way of traditional Christmas activity.  I’ll miss the family, but I’ll enjoy not getting involved with the travel pressure-cooker that comes with such trips.     

-MSNBC’s live coverage of Monday afternoon’s NTSB briefing on the weekend plane crash at Denver International didn’t last very long.  Since NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt was dry and clinical in his description of what the government’s probe had yielded so far – and what the timetable of the investigation would be - MSNBC quickly lost patience and cut out of the news conference just a few minutes after it started.  I flipped over to CNN – which also bailed about the same time.  To get the sum and substance, I relied on the web sites of the few newspapers with reporters in Denver covering the story.  While it’s still not clear what caused the incident, several details emerged Monday after a 48-hour post-crash period with little significant official information.  Published photographs show open aircraft doors on the charred right side of the airplane, but the NTSB says evacuation of passengers was conducted entirely through doors on the left side of the aircraft.  The NTSB says firefighters opened the right-side doors to extinguish the fire but that the cabin crew directed passengers down slides on the left to avoid the flames.  The Denver Post reported that the captain of the flight suffered a back injury in the crash and has not yet been interviewed by investigators.  Sumwalt said he wanted to “be respectful of the captain’s mental condition” as a way of explaining the length of time that’s passed without getting the captain’s official account.  But it seems to be unfair in its implication.  Both the NTSB and Continental are protecting the identity of both pilots at this stage.  Why not protect them further by not making comments that suggest psychological impact. 

The union representing the flight attendants on board said two of the three were injured.  One suffered smoke inhalation and a neck injury – the other hurt a foot and ankle.

With a busy, snowy travel day expected Tuesday, Denver’s airport operator re-opened runway 34 right Monday night.  It means that planes will resume takeoffs on the same strip used by the plane that crashed – and it also means that some passengers launching in planes from 34R will see the broken-down Continental jet as they look out the window.  The runway is considered vital on a day with heavy traffic and even more so because it is in close proximity to the de-icing pad. 

It’s not clear how long the totaled airplane will stay at its spot beyond the end of 34R, but the NTSB made it sound like it would be removed no earlier than Wednesday.           

12-23-08 0130

When you spend every day of your work-week as one of 43-thousand people supporting the safe movement of 2500 daily departures, you can’t help but feel anxiety when an airplane that’s painted with your company’s colors ends up in flames. Thank goodness everybody got out with their life and you hope that those who were hurt – or traumatized by the experience – can recover fully someday.

You’re starting to hear aviation experts speculate on cause, but the wobbly general terms they speak do little to shed light on what happened. A story on the Wall Street Journal web site Sunday had the headline: “Brake Problem Suspected in Crash.” That headline and story is somewhat misleading (not to mention incomplete in its early assessment) from the standpoint that brakes would not have been necessary on departure had the airplane done what it should have. The two working pilots in the cockpit likely made a quick-thinking decision to abandon their ascent based on a serious problem that revealed itself as the plane raced down the runway. It’s also possible the problem that revealed itself gave the cockpit crew no option or available course of action. The main cause of the crash is likely something the cockpit crew knows or has a strong feeling about, but it could take a while before that information trickles out.

Without more data about wind speed/direction and the speed/position of the airplane if/when the brakes were applied, it seems hard to say much about the effectiveness of the brakes in this instance. A few passengers have been quoted as saying it felt as if the plane briefly left the ground before it came down.
There are a few things that are more certain. It was bitterly cold with a strong west wind when the plane was cleared for takeoff. The final resting place of the burning plane was just a couple hundred yards from a fire/rescue station. The fact nobody perished given the reported extent of the fire indicates an effective evacuation. Typically, it’s the cabin crew that orchestrates the evacuation – so it will be interesting to hear accounts of how that went down.

Beyond that, it’s hard to really say a whole lot until the NTSB, Continental, or an aviation writer with good sources reveals a specific cause.

If it’s speculation that you’re into, the place to go for that is airliners.net . The web site includes a forum with contributions from a broad cross-section of people in the US aviation industry including pilots. Hundreds of messages have been posted on this subject with many of them offering insightful analysis.
The airplane pictured above is the same model type as the one that crashed. It’s a Boeing 737-500 and it has a passenger capacity of 114. At about 15 years old, the airplane is not considered in any way outdated, although Continental is moving to phase them out of the fleet. The photo above was taken Friday when ground crews in New York were forced to spray fluid on the plane to remove and repel frozen precipitation.

-On the “Rapid Fire” segment of the FOX pre-game show Sunday, Kurt Menifee asked the four-man panel of chuckling hams whether Bills coach Dick Jauron should be fired at season’s end. Nobody seemed interested in the question, but Mike Strahan decided to chime in. “They started 5-1. They’re now 6-8. I mean, it’s not looking good,” he said. Terry Bradshaw then jumped in. He blamed Buffalo’s week 14 loss to Miami in Toronto for all of the team’s problems. “Goin’ to Canada screwed ‘em all up. I think it’s bad karma up there in Buffalo now. Oh Canada!” he said. Nobody on the panel mentioned that Fox Sports reported earlier in the week that Jauron was quietly given a three-year extension mid-season. Unless the extension has some kind of one-sided nullification option, you wonder if Buffalo would want to pay a fired coach for three years. At the same time, the money likely isn’t a huge sum (terms undisclosed) and fans in Buffalo are howling for a coaching change – especially after the brutal way the week 15 loss to the Jets ended.

-I would favor an exemption in the NFL’s “excessive celebration” rule for players who do “snow angels” after scoring a touchdown. Wes Welker’s snow angel seemed perfectly appropriate after he scored a second quarter touchdown against Arizona Sunday, but he was flagged and the Pats lost fifteen yards on the ensuing kickoff. As it stands now, players are allowed to spike the ball, dunk it, and jump into the stands. They’re allowed to dance. Why not let ‘em do a snow angel?

12-21-08 2100

My neighborhood’s newly-elected state senator Hiram Monserrate is in a big pot of hot water after being charged with a brutal attack on his girlfriend. It’s a murky he-said, she-said set of claims further complicated by the victim’s reluctance to assist investigators.

But this much we know based on the widespread coverage of the case and the police statements in connection with Monserrate’s arrest:

Early Friday morning, the 41-year-old Monserrate and his 30-year-old girlfriend Karla Giraldo appeared together at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Giraldo had a nasty gash near her left eye. Twenty stitches were needed to close it up. At first, Giraldo told medical personnel that Monserrate deliberately inflicted the damage to her face with a broken glass. But when cops showed up at the hospital to arrest the veteran Queens politician and former cop, several news reports indicate that Giraldo retracted her original claim and said the whole thing was accidental when she realized Monserrate was in trouble.

Domestic violence law in these parts seems to acknowledge the tendency of victims to withdraw from pursuit of punishment for their abusers. So, fair or not in this instance, Monserrate was arrested and later charged with felony assault despite the withdrawal of Giraldo’s original claim of abuse.

Proving the case in court may be tough without the victim’s assistance, but Newsday reported exclusively that a surveillance video taken at Monserrate’s apartment building in Jackson Heights shows hostility and feuding in the hallway before the two went to the hospital. An unnamed source who Newsday says saw the video says the footage shows Monserrate dragging Giraldo away from another apartment as she sought help after the alleged assault.

It should be noted (as it has in all of the news stories) that Monserrate took Giraldo to an emergency room 12 miles away rather than the ER at Elmhurst Hospital which is just a few blocks from his apartment.

It’s possible that Monserrate may have chosen Long Island-Jewish because of its quality of care (or lack thereof at Elmhurst) but cynics will say he was looking to cover up the incident by seeking medical assistance out of the neighborhood.

As a resident of Monserrate’s state senate district and a former supporter of the popular city councilman, I’ll wait to pass judgment on the current case. But two prior incidents involving Monserrate made me unwilling to support his quest to serve in the state legislature.

(1). He has helped channel hundreds of thousands of dollars in city council slush fund money to a shadowy community organization called “Libre.” The Times has reported that Libre can’t break down in detail how the tax-payer money steered to it by Monserrate is spent. It has been alleged that among the non-profit’s unofficial functions was to aid Monserrate’s campaign efforts.

(2). When the Queens Democratic Party machine cut a deal earlier this year to push out incumbent state senator John Sabini to clear the way for uncontested entry into the senate for Monserrate, the first move he made after officially gaining the senate seat was to withhold support for the senate’s majority leader, a democrat. Rather than promote a new, unified democratic majority – something any freshman lawmaker should do – Monserrate briefly held out in an effort to extract terms from the democratic leadership. He did the same thing with his opposition to the Willets Point development. He opposed it until he could extract a deal – and then he supported it. Lawmakers should take positions on principle – not engage in games of push and pull.

With the thickening cloud of wrongdoing hovering over him, it’s time for Monserrate to put his political career on hold. At least until the assault charge is settled one way or another, Monserrate should not begin his job as state senator. And unless he’s cleared entirely of the heinous injury to his companion, it’s time for Monserrate to step away from public office completely.

-Word came down late Saturday night that a Continental Airlines 737 bound for Houston crashed on takeoff from Denver International. All of the cable television news networks were locked into recorded, undated programming several hours after the incident and the top news radio station in Denver carried only cursory reports a solid five hours after the crash. The newscast we heard on KOA-AM Denver via the web at 11 PM Mountain time recited only the basic facts as reported by the AP and used a snippet of a recorded interview of a passenger obtained by a local TV station. KOA’s conservative talk show host Sean Rima came out of the 11 PM news and said with an irreverent chuckle that the crash was “freakin’ unbelievable” before taking his program into a long riff with callers about a proposed congressional pay raise. So much for the idea of covering the breaking local story. MSNBC will spend 30 minutes showing live footage of an airplane making an emergency landing without incident during the light of a weekday, but if far more significant news unfolds on a Saturday night, forget about it. My quest for information on the story was only minimally assisted by regularly updated AP dispatches and I was glad to get the fairly quick news that there were no fatalities. There was a time when local radio stations in cities and towns far smaller than Denver went to work immediately to blanket significant breaking news stories. Sadly, it seems like that time is gone.

12-21-08 0155

Few bands bring it live like Oasis does and Wednesday night’s show at Madison Square Garden again delivered a rock and roll blast of greatness. They’re cool. They’re tight. Their sound is layered and beautiful. You either seem to love ‘em or hate ‘em. I was indifferent until I saw them play Radio City in 2001. I’ve been hooked ever since; always hoping the next record is coming soon and waiting for the next tour.

This show was in support of the new record “Dig Out Your Soul.” Oasis played for an hour forty-five and sprinkled six new songs into the setlist. The disc’s first song – and perhaps the best song – “Bag it Up” was not among the songs that made the cut.

The band’s previous stops on this North American stretch of dates were met with thousands of empty seats.
Large arenas in Detroit and Minneapolis had just five or six grand in the house. Not so at MSG. The place was totally packed except for closed-off sections behind the stage. Me and the Heckler sat on the aisle in section 309. The crowd of old and young stood and sang throughout. My regular Oasis running buddy Roberta was nowhere to be found but has the valid excuse of living in another state raising a newborn son with her husband.

Drummer Chris Sharrock has replaced Zak Starkey but otherwise the band’s lineup is the same as it’s been for as long as we’ve been seeing Oasis.

We stopped at several pubs in the six-block radius of the Garden before the show – and all of them were packed with Oasis fans prepping for the gig. The band’s music blared from jukeboxes in all of these taverns. It made for a feeling that Oasis fans had taken over Manhattan.

Surprisingly, there was no meaningful security screening on the way into MSG which made me wish I had brought my camera.

12-18-08 1955

A shapely and fresh Scotch pine has been set up in the foyer of my apartment building.  It’s nicely decorated and you get a pleasant whiff when you walk past it.  Soon, a plastic Menorah with fake flame flickers will gain a spot on a ledge near the building’s mailboxes.   

Much of the Christmas stuff in my normal sphere of movement is gaudy and overdone and feels even more so this year given the circumstances faced by many. 

But there are a couple of modestly tasteful decorations that have caught my eye in the last week or so.  When I take the bus home at night, there’s a house on 82nd in the East Elmhurst neighborhood that has single strands of small green lights wrapped around the stairwell railings.  The lights are evenly spaced and burn a constant low glow.  The display is understated and simple, but it conveys great beauty and spirit. 

Even more visually impressive is the arrangement of Christmas flowers that decorate the doorframe of the main entrance of my neighborhood parish, St. Joan of Arc at 83rd St.and 35th Avenue.  No matter what time of year, the majestic steeple at St. Joan’s makes you stop and notice.  But this Christmas season, the bustling hub of worship looks better than we’ve ever seen it.   

-Rookie linebacker Vernon Gholston was deactivated for Sunday’s win over the Bills, a troubling indication of how bad this season has gone for the Jets’ first-rounder out of Ohio State.  Gholston was drafted with the sixth pick overall after dominating as a pass rusher in the Big Ten.  The Jets converted him to linebacker and in spot duty he’s made zero impact in game situations.  In the thirteen games prior to his healthy scratch against Buffalo, Gholston registered just 12 tackles and no sacks.  Gholston was a complete menace to opposing quarterbacks in big college games, so I’m inclined to believe he’ll pay dividends in the right system and under different supervision.  Sometimes I wonder if the Jets defense would be much better up front and downfield if coordinator Bob Sutton would call the occasional blitz.  

12-16-08 0155

The lucky Jets victory over the Bills on Sunday keeps postseason hopes alive and will at least temporarily cool the talk on dumping the Man-Genius at season’s end, but really what’s the point of going to the playoffs?  It took a ridiculous gift from a bad Buffalo team to eke out what should have been a breeze at home.  Since the upset win over the then-undefeated Tights, the Jets have looked awful defensively.  No pass rush.  No coverage.  No stops.  And how ‘bout punter Reggie Hodges?  Every time Brian Moorman of the Bills was pooching one inside the 20, Hodges was putting his punts in the end zone.  Seriously, sign Todd Sauerbrun to this Jets team right now.   

With a win next week at Seattle, and then a win against the Fins in the regular season finale at home, the Jets will win the division.  It seems like a tall order for that happen, but if it does, do you really wanna put the bunting up at the Meadowlands for a January contest with the Colts or Ravens the way the Jets are playing right now?

-For those who wagered on the Jets at minus-7, the Man-Genius cost you a push with his decision to pass on a field goal with 1:21 to go in the game.  We normally wouldn’t complain about something like this, but the choice by Mangini defied sound strategy without regard for point spread.  With the Jets up four, it was fourth and two at the Buffalo 25.  Feely has been solid from all distances this season and hasn’t been blocked in three years.  The extra three points would put the Jets up a TD in case the Bills reeled off a big drive in the final seventy seconds.  Instead, Mangini runs Jones into the right guard for no gain.  Buffalo failed to move the ball past midfield, but Mangini needs to have a little faith in his kicker in that spot. 

-It seems like we get the Steelers on television here in New York every week, and why not?  The Steelers get in these intriguing defensive battles with dramatic endings and there always seems to be some controversy or debate about significant plays in each of their games.  In Sunday’s thrilling smashmouth tilt with Baltimore, it all came down to an official replay analysis of a catch at the goal line by Santonio Holmes with fifty seconds left in the game.  On a third and goal from the four-yard line, Big Ben had fired a dart to Holmes.  With both feet in the end zone and his back facing the goal post, Holmes extended his hands forward and caught the ball before falling to the ground.  The ball did not appear to break the imaginary plane that extends upward from the goal line.  The ruling on the field placed the ball inside the one yard line which would have forced Pittsburgh to kick a field goal.  It would have been fourth and one with the Steelers down three.

After a couple minutes of replay review, the referee announced that since Holmes had both feet in the end zone while gaining possession the call was a TD.  Nance and Simms didn’t seem to quarrel too much with the reversal and the Steelers won 13-9.  Worth mentioning about the game-winning TD sequence is a bungled decision by Tomlin and Roethlisberger to spike the ball with 64 seconds left on first and goal from the four.  The clock is your friend in that spot and you have one timeout left in your pocket.  Why in the world would you waste a play when a TD gets you the win?  It turns out the replay reversal made the spike moot but if Holmes is down at the one, the Steelers would have regretted the spike and wished they had another play before being forced to kick the field goal.         

-The Steelers have covered seven of their last ten games and it would have been eight of ten if the Polamalu score against the Chargers was called properly.   

-As I looked out the window of my bus to work on Sunday, who should I see standing at the corner of 83rd Street and Northern Blvd.?  It was none other than my new state senator Hiram Monserrate chatting with constituents outside of Natives (nah-tee-vayz) restaurant. 

12-15-08 0145   

If Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich remains defiant and drags out his fate rather than step away from a job he no longer can effectively perform, state legislative leaders have a game plan to remove him via the impeachment process.  It’ll start in the House and move to the Senate.  Hopefully C-Span would carry it all live.  Any political science class that wants a modern spin on the rarely-used legislative mechanism to throw a cheat out of office could tape the proceedings and show it in the classroom.

The process is such that Blago’s formal ouster via impeachment would have to wait another month or so.  That’s fine.  If it means that the vacant US Senate seat remains unfilled, so be it.  What should not be considered acceptable is the self-serving effort by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to use the judicial branch to do the dirty work.  Madigan announced Friday that she’s filed papers asking the state supreme court to remove Blagojevich from office (or strip him of power) on a claim that he’s effectively “disabled.”  Madigan’s move is said to be a flimsy legal stretch and may not get serious consideration by the state supreme court.

Madigan has burning political ambition of her own.  She has her eyes on both Blago’s job and the vacant US Senate seat.  Madigan needs to quit the grandstanding and let the state legislature deliberate Blago’s fate through a longstanding process created for this very occasion.  She’s conflicted by her own ambition and by her father Michael Madigan who presides over the Illinois House.  If Papa Madigan is viewed as delaying the impeachment process (it starts in the House) to leave a window for her daughter’s questionable legal maneuver, this saga will add unnecessarily messy layers of nonsense.

-One overblown element of this Blagojevich story is all the jumping up and down in the media about communication between the Obama transition team and Blago in the days and weeks leading up to the governor’s arrest.  Why is anybody shocked that Rahm Emanuel conveyed guidance on how to fill the senate seat vacated by Obama?  The President-elect would naturally and rightfully have an opinion on the matter.  It’s already clear based on the transcript contained in the Blago criminal complaint that Obama’s people weren’t bringing a gift basket to the table, so what’s the big deal?

-I don’t know how versatile play-by-play man Ian Eagle doesn’t get sick with the workload he takes on in the winter.  Beginning this afternoon, The Bird Man will work five television broadcasts and two radio broadcasts over a nine-day span in six different cities.  Here’s the rundown:

Sunday, 12-14-08: Chargers/Chiefs in Kansas City - CBS
Monday, 12-15-08: Nets/Raptors in Toronto – YES Network
Wednesday, 12-17-08: Jazz/Nets in East Rutherford, NJ – YES Network
Thursday, 12-18-08: Colts/Jaguars in Jacksonville – Westwood One
Friday, 12-19-08: Mavs/Nets in East Rutherford – YES Network
Sunday, 12-21-08: Bills/Broncos in Denver – CBS
Monday, 12-22-08: Packers/Bears in Chicago – Westwood One

-Many of the stories written in the day or two before Saturday night’s Heisman ceremony said the outcome was “too close to call.”  But if you looked at where all the gambling dollars were going, you knew Sam Bradford would get the trophy.  Twenty-four hours before the result was announced, my book had it:

Bradford -300
Tebow +250
McCoy +450

It should be noted that the new home of the Heisman Trophy and the first-year host of the annual award ceremony may not be around for next year’s event.  Just six months after it opened, The Sports Museum of America in Lower Manhattan is in financial trouble.  Richard Sandomir of the Times reported last week that the SMA defaulted on bonds used to finance “more than half of the $93 million museum and has since been negotiating a restructured payment schedule.”  There was no mention of the SMA’s financial troubles during ESPN’s broadcast of the Heisman Trophy Presentation.  Sandomir said less-than-expected attendance has forced the museum to lay off workers, cut admission prices and reduce its hours of operation.

12-14-08 0130

As the generous opening offer of $140 mil over six years to CC Sabathia grew dusty, it seemed a little funny that the rotund free agent lefty would let it linger and risk ire and impatience from the Evil Empire.  No other club came remotely close in sum to the original proposed monster pile of cash laid out by the Yanks.  Given an economy that will likely slow the turnstile clicks in many of the markets toying with the idea of adding Sabathia, the Yanks knew they had their top-of-the-rotation guy if money was the deciding factor.  So, what do they do?  They tack on another year guaranteed and make Sabathia dizzy with a ridiculous $160 mil. 

Why not play hardball with Sabathia and let the inevitable player’s union pressure and very real recession-induced market forces let negotiations start and end with the opening offer?  Take it or leave it, big guy. 

I was a scrooge about the length and amount of the Santana contract this same time last year.  Turns out Santana answered with a campaign that has few people second-guessing the deal now. 

It just seems excessively risky and desperate to go beyond four or five guaranteed years of payroll-busting commitment to a single starting pitcher.  Arms and shoulders get sore.  The guarantee doesn’t go both ways. 

The Yankees have a new ballpark and remain well-positioned to wildly outspend their rivals short-term.  But the way things are going in this country – and in this city - Sabathia may have landed the last bloated long-term baseball contract for who knows how long. 

Ticket revenue from the rank and file fan is bound to sink.  Corporate support will likely do the same.  At some point, baseball teams will have to adjust payroll to match the coming reality.  Even the Yankees. 

-In a glowing Times review of the film “Wendy and Lucy,” A.O. Scott expresses bewilderment about the movie’s “R” rating.  He notes that the film contains no nudity, sex or explicit violence.  “The rating seems to reflect, above all, an impulse to protect children from learning that people are lonely and that life can be hard.” 

12-10-08 1715

It had been long clear based on the work of Chicago’s competing daily newspapers that Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was a crooked player.  It was only a matter of time that typically slow-moving federal corruption investigators would put together a package of allegations sufficient to put the pretty-boy in a bunk up at the medium-security federal clink in Oxford, WI where a procession of Chicago pols have whittled away months or years for dipping into the cookie jar.

What makes your jaw drop about the series of audacious Blagojevich statements picked up on tape in the last couple months is that he did it all knowing full well he was a target.  If nobody associated with the string of government approvals required to secure the wiretaps and external recording devices used in this case tipped him off, Blagojevich had to suspect there was a pretty good chance his conversations were being piped into the FBI.