We went to the game that night with a true Bostonian who scored a pair just fifteen rows from the field a bit past the bag on the first base line. Our pal had worked as a vendor at Fenway for many years and was a wealth of knowledge and history on the ballpark and city. Schilling and Tommy Glavine dueled beautifully on a humid final night of the three-game series. Bosox centerfielder Coco Crisp was the star, scoring the go-ahead run after reaching on a bunt single, stealing second, advancing to third on a bunt and then scoring on a sac fly. Up a run in the eighth, Crisp made an incredible diving catch on a screamer from David Wright that saved at least a run. Schilling told reporters after the game that he couldn’t remember seeing a better catch. Red Sox rookie closer Justin Paplebon retired the side in the ninth to record his 24th save and preserve a 4-2 win which included a Big Papi (pictured above right with Manny) eighth inning home run. Attendance was announced at 36,028. It was a sweep for the Red Sox and an ego check for the Mets who remain solidly atop the NL East but now know there’s some better baseball being played in the AL.

-As nice as the Red Sox fans were to Pedro – and really to Mets fans in general – they do have venom. They hate the Yanks – and they hate Johnny Damon. One woman sitting in front of us Wednesday night wore a Damon jersey that was manipulated to express her disgust with the ex-Sox centerfielder who left via free agency. She put a piece of masking tape over the “o” in Damon and wrote “Yankee” below the jersey’s numeral to have the jersey read: “Dam-n Yankee.”

-We were consumed by baseball this past week, so the NBA draft didn’t get our full attention. Boston fans were debating the merits of trading the number seven overall in a package deal that brought Brooklyn point guard Sebastian Telfair from Portland to the Celtics. You’d think the Knicks couldn’t screw up the number 20 pick overall, but it sounds like they did. Isiah took South Carolina small forward Renaldo Balkman who wasn’t even among the one-hundred players written up in the NBA’s draft media guide. In defending the selection, Isiah said he feared that Phoenix would take Balkman with the 21st or 27th pick. The Post’s Knick beat writer Marc Berman later reported that his multiple Suns sources (including one “within the organization") disclosed that Phoenix wouldn’t have drafted Balkman period – even if there were a third round of the draft. Meantime, the Nets took three great players – all who could contribute. Marcus Williams and Josh Boone from UConn – and Hassan Adams of Zona were taken at 22, 23 and 54.

-Say what will you will about China and their horrendous human rights record – they accomplished a transit feat that would be considered politically impossible in this country currently. At an estimated cost of $4.2 billion, the Chinese have opened up a twelve-hundred mile rail link connecting China’s Qinghai province to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. What’s remarkable about it is that the average height of the route is more than 13,100 feet over tundra and rough terrain. Tibetans are skeptical that the increased accessibility to their land by the Chinese is a way to consolidate power over the region. We don’t doubt that, but are impressed by the enormity of the project.

A five-day TSR trip to Chicago for a wedding included a wonderful return to the city’s south side to see the world champion White Sox. We caught the first flight into O’Hare out of New York Thursday in order to make kickoff of US/Ghana on the tube. We settled in for breakfast at Cans Bar and Canteen on Damen and Milwaukee, a tavern which had a pretty good crowd of soccer fans considering the time of day. The chili/cheese fries were on the money. The unfortunate and controversial penalty-kick goal by Ghana right before the half was deflating in light of what Italy was doing to the Czechs at the same time. But the US didn’t deserve to advance this time around. Being out of sorts against Ghana and the Czechs for long stretches was justification enough to send the Americans home regardless of the great effort against Italy. Heck, if a country with the wealth, size and opportunities of the US can’t beat a country like Ghana, then they need to make way for countries that can. Landon Donovan showed why he couldn’t make it as a German pro. And as much as we like Brian McBride, he failed to put a ball in the net. Bruce Arena knows his time is over. He should be commended for taking US soccer to a place better than when he inherited it – but his negativity immediately after the Czech loss and his lineup uncertainties going into the tournament seemed to unnerve his squad.

But back to the White Sox. TSR had not been to the ballpark at 35th and Shields since the dismantling of the upper deck and a series of cosmetic changes to what was called the “new” Comiskey when it opened fourteen years ago. They call it the “Cell” these days (pictured above) as a way of disguising the fact that a cell phone service provider bought the ballpark’s naming rights. We were flat out impressed by what we saw on Thursday night. We parked in the cash lot northwest of the stadium for 18 bucks and tailgated heartily with no restrictions. Our lower reserved seat in right field is a great place to watch the game. They’re growing ivy in center field and the upper deck looks beautiful. Those who sat up there tell us that you no longer need mountain climbing equipment and oxygen tanks to enjoy the ballgame.

Sweaty Freddy Garcia scattered four hits over eight innings and Jim Thome hit his 24th homer for a 1-0 White Sox win over the Cards on a 75-degree night with no humidity. Thome’s big shot to right was the only hit for the White Sox. The game was played in just two hours even. Bobby Jenks pitched a perfect ninth against the three, four, five hitters including Al Pujols who was coming off a three-week sit to recuperate from a strained oblique muscle. White Sox fans and Cardinals fans were nothing but hospitable to one another and the vibe in the ballpark was strongly upbeat. A world championship will do that I guess. Attendance was 39,509 which is pretty close to full. Cardinal starter Anthony Reyes is worth watching.
The ballpark’s chicken fajitas were so-so. And vendors (the guy pictured above goes way back) were selling what appeared to be nothing other than Miller products for six bucks a pop.

The quick ballgame left plenty of time to hit one of the best ballpark taverns we’ve ever been to: Jimbo’s at 33rd and Princeton serves cold beer in the can for four bucks. McCuddy’s used to be the easy choice when it was open right across from the old Comiskey, but it got knocked down. So, if you’re looking to wet your whistle before or after a Sox game, head to Jimbo’s. It’s a good crowd with good bartenders minus the pretentiousness of a lot of the Wrigley taverns. The proprietor, Jimbo Levato (pictured above) has been greeting patrons with enthusiastic Sox analysis for a long time and the success of the 2005 team is a payoff for all those years he’d sit with us mopes during the lean years. His place was packed post-game.

Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was all the talk, all the time on the radio talk shows for his tirade against Sun Times columnist Jay Mariotti. It wasn’t enough for Ozzie to call Mariotti a gay slur. He had to compound his mouthy mistakes with defiance and more smack after the commissioner’s office gave Oz the light punishment of no suspension and mandatory participation in a sensitivity class. Said Guillen in the Friday papers: “If they want me to do it (sensitivity training), make sure it’s after 12 o’clock. I don’t get up until after 12 o’clock.”

Guillen’s long string of outbursts and offensive language is gonna get him fired. Not anytime soon because of his team’s success. But Sox management will grow tired of putting out Ozzie’s fires.

That’s not to say Guillen doesn’t have a point when he wonders how Mariotti can write a column critical of players/coaches/managers without actually ever meeting his subjects face to face. Numerous scribes have pointed out in recent days that Mariotti doesn’t do locker rooms. His opinion pieces use quotes obtained by his colleagues. Mariotti is not the only sports columnist to do much of his work on a home computer or in a newsroom, rather from a pressbox. The current era of sports blogging and web writing has changed the way games are covered. Ozzie believes Mariotti and writers like him should appear in the flesh when lowering the boom on subjects. Most sports bloggers don’t have that access – Mariotti does.

-An item by Teddy Greenstein in the Trib says Islanders play-by-play man John Weideman is “among the favorites” to get the Blackhawks top radio job vacated by Pat Foley. Still no word on what Foley’s plans are.

-Three notable Chicago dining experiences during the visit:
Soft shell crab and banana ice cream at Sola on Lincoln and Byron // Bratwurst at Hot Doug’s on California and Roscoe // Chicken Shawarma at the Pita Inn on Dempster in Skokie

-TSR heads up to Boston tomorrow for the three-game Met/Red Sox series and a few bowls of chowder. A full report on Fenway and the series upon return.

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Much to our surprise, the NTSB web site offers what appears to be completely open access to most if not all of the preliminary investigative details related to the Southwest jet that slid off a snowy runway at Midway airport in Chicago last December. The mainstream media coverage thus far has been disappointingly slim and TSR had hoped to digest and then discuss the information – but we ran out of time, and now we’re hitting the road for a vacation that will take us to Chicago and Boston.

Updates here will be infrequent over the next ten days or so. But when we get back to it, you’ll see a full report on our first visit to 35th and Shields since the championship. We’ll recap our much anticipated trip to Beantown for all three games of the Mets/Bosox series - and we’ll report on some significant aviation news including an analysis of that Southwest incident. In the meantime, enjoy the start of summer and try to take a few days off if those you answer to allow it. Or heck, even if they don’t.

6-21-06 1839

We wuz robbed. The US soccer team played gutsy all the way against Italy and escaped with a draw despite horrendous officiating from a ref named Jorge Larrionda of Uruguay. After the reasonably assessed ejection of Daniele DeRossi of Italy for elbowing Brian McBride and opening a gash below his eye, the US appeared set to dominate up a man and tied at one. But then Larrionda stunned everybody by pulling a red card late in the first half on Pablo Mastroeni of the US for nothing more than a hard foul. Our thought was that Larrionda wanted to even the sides as refs often do in any sport. But not so. Playing even to start the second half, the ref who was suspended for “irregularities” by his home country’s soccer federation earlier in his career then almost immediately ejected Eddie Pope of the US for what appeared to be a clean, aggressive play. So, Italy played ten on nine the rest of the way.

Never has a team in World Cup play scored a goal playing with just nine men. Yet the US nearly did with multiple chances against a lethargic Italian team. American DeMarcus Beasley, who came in as a sub in the second half and played as if disinterested, actually put the ball in the net in the 66th minute. But it was disallowed on what was described as either offside or goalkeeper interference on McBride. Brilliant US striker Eddie Johnson never got in the game despite the fact that coach Bruce Arena had another sub to use.

Clint Dempsey, who failed to play in the first contest against the Czechs really sparked the US with his fancy footwork. Landon Donovan, McBride and Oguchi Onyewu all played balls to the wall for the entire game. Donovan especially looked great after a poor first game.

Now soccer fans in this country will wait until Thursday morning when the US will play its final group match and advance to the single-elimination round of sixteen under the following scenario: The US must beat Ghana and the Italians must beat the Czech Republic. All four countries are still alive and both those matches will be played simultaneously at 9 AM east coast time. We’re no soccer expert, but we were on the edge of our seat this afternoon, yelling at the TV screen and waving the flag for a US team which competed at a very high level, especially in light of the brutally unfair officiating.

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Like most of the interleague matchups this weekend, the Mets/Orioles three-game set lacks any kind of serious intrigue. It’s not as bad as Royals/Astros – and Saturday’s middle game of the series features Pedro vs. Benson – but last night’s affair at Shea was about welcoming home the team from Queens off a 9-1 road trip. There was the eight-game winning streak and a perfect warm night with 45-grand in the house. We sat in the loge behind the plate and were impressed with Oriole left-hander Erik Bedard who was hitting 95 mph consistently and mixing in a nice change of pace. Met batters were guessing quite a bit and we knew the eight-game win streak was at risk when they didn’t score in the first inning – something they did in each of those last eight victories.

Even so, Met rookie Alay Soler pitched pretty well after initial turbulence and exited after six innings and 101 pitches thrown. With the Mets up 3-2, you could tell Willie wanted to preserve the lead with a predictable bullpen formula that he badly wants to continue. Aaron Heilman for one, Duaner Sanchez for one and then Wags to close it out. But Heilman has struggled horribly since those perfect three innings in the May 19th win over the Yanks. He’s given up sixteen earned runs in 12.2 innings pitched since that point. Willie has not lost confidence in Heilman, nor has there been any kind of role change. But you wonder how long that will last because last night Heilman walked the first two batters he faced, and eventually got tagged for two more hits including a home run blast by Melvin Mora on a hanging change.

Heilman finished the seventh inning, but gave up four runs and had blown the game. Met fans booed Heilman which is an off-base reaction in a town that boos way too much. The concern is that Heilman (pictured above) is cooked from the routine of relief pitching. He’s a starter by preference. But Met pitching coach Rick Peterson believes he has isolated Heilman’s problem. Peterson says the ND grad is delivering the ball from an over-the-top postion when his past success came from something closer to a semi-sidearm angle. It sounds like a simple prescription from Peterson, but let’s see if Heilman can fix himself.

Things are going very well for the Mets right now. Even with last night’s 6-3 loss, they remain 9.5 games up on the Phils and 13 up on Atlanta. Still, you hope Heilman can get things figured out because the Met rotation is old – and is going just six frames a pop. Heilman is that seventh/eighth inning man that all good championship teams need.

-Home plate ump Dana Demuth tossed Oriole catcher Ramon Hernandez in the third inning after punching him out on a couple of borderline strike calls. Hernandez said something and Demuth gave Baltimore’s good-hitting, great-throwing catcher the heave-ho. We understand you can’t argue balls and strikes, but there ought to be a brief opportunity for upper echelon hitters to verbally editorialize on iffy strike calls.

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Things we like about the World Cup:

-The player procession pre-match beats any kind of pre-game hoopla we get here in the USA. Both teams enter the field (pitch) simultaneously and escort young soccer players, their hands clasped. And then they play the anthems of both countries with each team’s rosters singing along with enthusiasm. If you watch the ESPN/English language broadcast, you’ll miss the playing of the anthems. Most American sports broadcasts view this window of time as a perfect opportunity to play commercials and make money. But they’re spoiling a critical element of the telecast. We discovered a few days into the tournament that you have to switch to Univision if you want the anthems.

-We like the fact that nobody grumbles about the lack of scoring. In this country, sports fans thirst for scoring. International soccer fans don’t care. The scoreless tie between France and Switzerland was a thing of beauty. So was the 1-0 German win over the Poles. If a match goes an entire half without a goal, you still have the sliding tackle, the corner kick and the yellow card. You have the header, the little chip pass and the deke.

-We like the embattled Togo coach Otto Pfister who wore a dress shirt buttoned down halfway down his chest for his team’s opening game against South Korea. Pfister’s reckless fashion statement could have been a sign of protest over that government’s refusal to properly compensate that country’s players.

-Our favorite team to watch has been England whose star of stars David Beckham repeatedly kicks these looping shots toward the net in hopes of finding the head of six foot, five inch Peter Crouch.

-We like the time certain compactness of a match’s length of play. They kick off at 8:55 AM local time and the game is over by 11. There are two or three minutes added to each half to make up for stoppages within a half, but there’s no TV stoppages or team-called timeouts.

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On his weekly radio appearance on WFAN, Met Manager Willie Randolph had an interesting and previously unknown assessment on sensational rookie outfielder Lastings Milledge. In explaining why Milledge has been playing left field with Endy Chavez in right during Cliff Floyd’s absence, Randolph says Milledge has a “below average” throwing arm. We’ve been watching Milledge for two weeks and have seen nothing but blistering, long-distance laser beams on throws from deep left and right. Chavez also has a great, accurate throwing arm but jeez, ‘ya wonder what Randolph is looking at.

Randolph also confirmed that Pedro will pitch in the Wednesday 6-28 Red Sox game at Fenway as the rotation and rest gaps are set right now. TSR will be at all three of the Met/Red Sox games. Our “obstructed view” seat for that huge Pedro return game on the 28th is behind a post.

-Page Six reported this week that Zibby celebrated his lickity-quick knockout at the Garden with a post-bout gathering at Foley’s on 33rd Street. Among the guests reported in attendance: Lance Armstrong.

-They’re playing the US Open just twenty miles up the road this weekend and the weather forecast is fantastic. Everybody wants to bill it Tiger vs. Phil, but Tiger hasn’t played a tourney in months and Phil hasn’t been playing at the level he was prior to the Masters. We’re predicting an upset and putting a few pesos on Camilo Villegas at 80-1. Villegas is the big-hitting Columbian who attended the University of Florida. He will be a major player on the men’s tour before you know it. Watch him this weekend and be delighted by his antics – the way he sizes up a putt – the outfits he wears – the swagger and the huge drive.

6-14-06 1823

The Notre Dame safety who came to New York to show he could box stepped into the ring before cheering thousands and mauled his opponent in a successful professional debut Saturday night. Tom Zbikowski immediately smothered Robert Bell (pictured above) with a flurry of lefts to the head and body of Bell.

His bell rung hard, Bell went down just thirty seconds in and when referee Arthur Mercante Jr. cleared the boxers to resume fighting, Zibby went in for the sealer. He delivered a right to Bell’s head that prompted Mercante to stop the bout after just 49 seconds.

Zbikowski’s 214-pound frame was trim and tough-looking. Bell weighed 227 pounds just prior to the fight and was clearly overmatched. Said Zbikowski to the boxing media afterwards: “I wanted to prove to everyone that I’m a fighter. I can fight. I’m not just a football player. This was too much fun. I’d like to come back to the ring.” But the senior at Notre Dame won’t be fighting anytime soon. It’s back to school and a senior season on what should be a great Irish football team. And then it’s a professional football career for a guy whose playing style reminds football fans of the great retired Chicago Bear Gary Fencik.

We’d love to see Zbikowski return to the ring and test his skills against top-level heavyweight boxers. But if that doesn’t pan out, at least boxing fans and Zbikowski himself got a shot at experiencing a moment on boxing’s biggest stage.
The main event was dominated by WBO junior welterweight champ Miguel Cotto who retained his belt with a unanimous decision over Paulie Malignaggi. Cotto opened a cut over Malignaggi’s eye in the first round and the challenger never could get on track after that. Malignaggi was courageous in defeat and was taken to the hospital after the bout for what’s being reported as a broken right orbital bone and a possible broken jaw. Cotto becomes a potential box office smash now and replaces Felix Trinidad as a top Puerto Rican hero. Prior to his victory over Malignaggi, the fans pictured above laid out a road map for Cotto as he ascends the ladder for a potential blockbuster against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The most entertaining fight of the night was the slugfest won by “Irish” John Duddy over Freddie Cuevas of Chicago. Duddy extended his record to 17-0 when the corner of Cuevas asked for a stoppage just prior to the eight round because of too much accumulated punishment from the hard-hitting Duddy.

Attendance was announced at 14,369. The Garden’s top tier was closed and empty. A solid 75-percent of the crowd was cheering for Cotto, many of them waving Puerto Rican flags on the eve of the big Puerto Rican Day parade up Fifth Avenue. There were also a lot of Irish fans who gave Zbikowski a memorable welcome when he entered the ring.

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The big day has arrived. Tom Zbikowski will enter the ring for his professional boxing debut at MSG to face an opponent he is supposed to beat. Zibby’s opponent is Robert “Ring My” Bell, who has fought at about 240 lbs. while compiling a 2-2 record. Bell will wear the colors of Ohio St. University and Zbikowski (210 lbs) will be surrounded by a huge contingent from Notre Dame, where he still has one year of football to play.

We’ve only seen a few great two-sport stars in recent history, and Zbikowski may never be able to fully devote future energy to a high level boxing career. But after an amazing junior season as an elusive punt returner and crushing open-field tackler for ND, this kid is stepping on to the greatest of all sports stages tonight to get a taste of the sweet science. He’ll get drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL draft a year from now and will enter a league that is far more organized and above board than the sport of boxing. But at least he’ll have given boxing a shot. After 90 amateur fights, he’s debuting as a pro on an excellent fight card that includes the junior welterweight title bout. Zibby may get disenchanted with dealing with the likes of Bob Arum, Don King and the promoters of the sport. But the sport at its most basic is just as great or better than football when the sideshows are eliminated.

Speaking of sideshows – tonight’s fight card at the Garden won’t have the undivided attention of boxing fan nation. Incredibly, HBO has what could be a greater draw in its fifty-buck pay-per-view showing of Tarver/Hopkins from Atlantic City. Arum says he secured the Garden date a year ago and couldn’t be talked out of changing it by HBO. But it’s a shame that boxing fans have to decide between the two. The Zibby/MSG pay-per-view event – if you can find it on your cable/satellite system is selling for $40.

There were lots of great newspaper stories on Zbikowski’s debut in publications across the country, but the Lacy Banks/Sun Times story had the best nuggets we could find:

Trainers Danny Nieves and Sam Colonna will join 85-year-old hall of famer Angelo Dundee in his corner.

Gospel singer Bebe Winans will sing the Notre Dame fight song when Zibby walks out to the ring. Winans will then sing God Bless America.

Zibby will enter the ring with a black right eye that hasn’t healed from a recent sparring session. Says Dundee in the Banks story: “It just makes him look even more like a fighter. I told him to put the (steel) pancake over the eye. But he’s so tough, he doesn’t even want to do that. He’s tough, like so many other guys I had.”

-Post radio/tv writer Andrew Marchand says the Devils have sacked their radio team of John Hennessey and Randy Velischek. Would this open the door for the hiring of a more seasoned, high-profile broadcast voice like Pat Foley?

-After a mysterious banishment into an eight-year exile, the Islanders have hired Ted Nolan to become its ninth head coach in the last eight years. Nolan had huge success as coach of the Sabres in the mid-90’s but after a dispute with GM John Muckler got him canned from Buffalo in ’97, he couldn’t even get a sniff of a job offer. It was hard to figure. He was just off winning the league’s coach of the year award. A young, dynamic coach with Keenan-like qualities suddenly becomes blackballed. Nolan denies rumors that he had a drinking problem or got involved with the wife of then-Sabres goalie Dom Hasek. He has distanced himself from comments suggesting the league avoided him because of this Ojibway Indian heritage. His absence remains a mystery, but it’s fitting that he takes over an organization like the Islanders which are again at risk of slipping into the abyss. Owner Charles Wang’s real job is running Computer Associates, an outfit marred by scandal. The Isles play in a building with a lease that makes it impossible for them to make any kind of money. So, why not make a bold coaching pick to join with new GM Neil Smith in a desperate attempt to make the Isles matter again. We like it - and whatever got Nolan banished – we’re glad the statute of limitations has expired.

For the record, since we’ve become a fan of the Islanders in 1998, we’ve had the following coaches behind the bench: Rick Bowness, Mike Milbury, Bill Stewart, Butch Goring, Lorne Henning, Peter Laviolette, Steve Stirling, and Brad Shaw.

-Nothing fancy about our Belmont Stakes pick today: Bluegrass Cat at a price of probably about 5-2.

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A story by George Diaz in the Orlando Sentinel says Tom Zbikowski will make $25,000 for his Saturday night four-round professional boxing debut at the Garden. Zbikowski’s four-round bout with Robert Bell of Akron is on the undercard of the junior welterweight title fight between Paulie Malignaggi and Miguel Cotto. Zibby’s ND roommate and teammate Jeff Samardija will be among the entourage which joins Zbikowski for his dramatic ring entrance. Samardija, known as “The Shark,” was drafted by the Cubs earlier this week in the fifth round of the amateur baseball draft. The Shark brings the heat and has been a pretty solid starting pitcher for the Notre Dame baseball team, but when faces a decision to choose between baseball and football, his clearer path to professional success may be as an NFL wideout.

-The federal response to a series of claims by Jason Grimsley’s lawyer in the Arizona Republic is notable for its failure to rebut the notion that Grimsley was asked to wear a wire. Grimsley obtained the services of Edward Novak after the feds grilled the vagabond reliever about steroids and Novak attempted to counter with a campaign to question the government’s efforts to squeeze the admitted human growth hormone junkie. Novak says the feds wanted to wire up his client to get dirt on Baroid. How that could be strategically effective with Grimsley wearing a D-Back jersey is unclear. But in a response by Luke McCauley, spokesman for the US Attorney’s office for the Northern District of California, the feds defend their efforts. “The investigative procedures involved were conducted in an entirely appropriate and legal fashion,” said McCauley in a story on the Times web site. That same story suggests the federal investigation of perjury and tax charges against Bariod is picking up steam. Written by Jack Curry and Murray Chass, the item says the attorney for Bonds’ ex-mistress has told baseball’s steroid investigator George Mitchell that his client can’t assist him while the fed probe is ongoing.

Bottom line: there’s a lot more coming down the pike on steroids in baseball and there’s a shot that Barry Bonds gets indicted this baseball season. The blacked-out names of baseball players in the Jason Grimsley statement about use of illegal substances will likely get leaked and perhaps baseball fans at least get the enrichment of knowledge about the players they pay to see. You don’t wanna see a witch hunt, but at the same time, if the drama can help erase the scourge of unfair competitive advantage and dangerous manipulation of athlete body chemistry, I guess you want an aggressive investigative campaign.

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We look forward to the the month-long World Cup soccer tournament kicking off with host country Germany playing Costa Rica. Every game is televised in high-def and so much is on the line for the fans of the participating countries. Except for the US, where relatively few share the over-the-top fervor for their national team. Daily News columnist Filip Bondy has been exceptional with his quirky coverage both in print and on a separate blog which includes his humorous, off-beat and sometimes whiny observations about his experiences in Germany. Bondy said in his print story Thursday that national teams should be worshipped, not ignored as the US team is. “It is all a bit of a mystery. Americans probably fly more flags and speak of patriotism more than any other nation in the world. Yet they are indifferent to their national sports teams, which have become very bad, in part, because of that apathy.”

Success in the Cup would be the best thing to happen to American soccer, but that’ll be hard this go-around given the extreme difficulty of their four-team group. Only the top two squads advance to the single-elimination round of sixteen, and the US may not be able to beat the Czechs, Italians or even Ghana when the math will probably require them to earn at least a win and a tie.

Kids in America play soccer in increasingly big numbers but is that growth translating into support for the US national team? Is there a buzz as we enter this month of high-intensity once-every-four-years competition? It doesn’t seem so unless you’re surrounded by immigrant populations who honk horns and wave flags when their home countries win a Cup match. We’ve got that here in Queens in a big way, but what about anytown, USA?

Brazil is the overwhelming favorite and has a roster loaded with mega-stars who do incredible things with the soccer ball. England, as usual is under insane pressure to win its first cup in forty years. That pressure creases the brow of their intense coach Sven-Goran Ericksson. We caught England’s friendly last weekend vs. the Reggae Boys and will root for the English and their exciting striker Peter Crouch. We’ll also root hard for US forward Brian McBride who turns 34 in two weeks and is viewed as the wise vet on the American squad.

-Nice piece on ESPN tonight by Jeremy Schaap on the blatantly racist behavior exhibited by soccer fans in some European countries. Schaap concluded the story aired on Sportscenter by asking FIFA President Sepp Blatter what would happen if that kinda crap rears its ugly head in Germany this month. Confident it won’t, Blatter said if fans in the stands conveyed racist sentiment, the tournament would shut down and be “abandoned.”

-Shaq, Dwayne and the Heat are getting five points in game one of the NBA finals tonight in Dallas. We’ll take that. We like the Eastern Conference champ to put the defensive clamps on the very likeable Mavericks coached by the very likeable Avery Johnson. Heat in six.

-The swagger was back briefly this morning when the Texas cowboy went to the White House podium to say that the death of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi was a “severe blow” to al Qaeda. But do the two five-hundred pound bombs that leveled his hideaway spawn or inspire more enemies who grow tired of our military brawn?

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It’s worth mentioning because for decades, United and American would muscle out competition in many markets through schedule domination and selective under-cutting or fare matching. Now the shoe is on the other foot with carriers like Southwest, Frontier and Jet Blue using business models that allow them simply to run flights for less than the old school big-boy airlines.

-Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is scheduled to visit Derby winner Barbaro tomorrow as the horse recuperates from a shattered leg in a vet hospital in his home state. You wonder if Rendell’s fall gubernatorial election opponent Lynn Swann will follow suit. Then instead of a political horse race, you’ll end up with a political race that includes kissing horses.

-All of a sudden, there’s a state senate race brewing in TSR’s home district. City councilman Hiram Monserrate has announced he’ll take on incumbent John Sabini in the fall democratic primary. Monserrate has an uphill battle since Sabini has deep support from the Queens democratic party machine. But this district is dominated by Hispanic voters these days, and it’s noteworthy that Monserrate broke through as the first Hispanic council member to be elected out of Queens five years ago. The only blemish on Monserrate’s record that we’re aware of was his effort to extract financial promises from the Mets in exchange for city council approval of their new stadium plan. In a story earlier this week in the Times, reporter Jonathan Hicks said: “The race could well be the most hotly contested one in Queens, because it pits two elected officials with high name recognition in the borough against one another. Moreover, it could become an ethnically charged race in an area of Queens whose Hispanic population has grown significantly.”

6-7-06 1816

The buzz topic in the tabloids, on the radio and in the workplace today was the decision by Met rookie Lastings Milledge to parade down the right field line and slap high-fives with fans as he took his position in right field in the top of the eleventh inning at Shea yesterday. The 21-year-old rookie hit a dramatic, game-tying, two-strike, two-out home run in the bottom of the tenth and the place went bonkers. Milledge stayed in the dugout during an extended period of fan insistence that he appear for a curtain call. But when the tenth inning ended on a Cliff Floyd strikeout, Milledge couldn’t resist sharing the fans’ joy on the way to his position. It was a wonderful display of mutual admiration we can’t remember ever seeing during a ballgame - and it was stirring.

But the unwritten rule of baseball prohibits “showing up” your opponent, and that’s why Met manager Willie Randolph scolded the rookie when he returned to the dugout in the bottom of that inning. Met radio beat reporter Eddie Coleman of the FAN says some Met teammates expressed disapproval with the Milledge celebration because of their great respect for Giants manager Felipe Alou. Coleman says Milledge’s penance came on the team charter last night to LA when he was forced to high-five every single passenger and crew member on the airplane. Milledge has vowed to never repeat the spontaneous response to the Shea crowd’s love. He called it a “rookie mistake.” TSR calls it a pure and fantastic emotional response to a fandom which is head over heels crazy about Milledge.

We agree with Mike Golic who said on the radio this morning that the Milledge display was the baseball equivalent of the “Lambeau Leap.”

A few Giants had the gall to criticize Milledge which is inappropriate given the numerous Mets who have done nothing but stood up for Baroid Bonds and the PR circus that follows that team.

-A curious piece in the Times today by arts critic Caryn James, who attempts to discredit the actress Jennifer Anniston. Yeah, Anniston has participated in some bad movies but James comes off as unprofessional when she writes about Jen’s unconfirmed relationship with Vince Vaughn. Says James: “The relationship with Mr. Vaughn may have cost Ms. Anniston sympathy. In terms of her image it doesn’t even matter if that relationship exists; the public believes it does. And while replacing (Brad) Pitt with a new trophy guy would have seemed like vindication for the wounded princess, instead she has reached beneath her on the celebrity food chain. Mr. Vaughn seems smarter than his on-screen persona, and his mega-hit “Wedding Crashers” gave him some Hollywood clout. Still, nobody says, ‘how did she get him?’ Just the opposite.”

6-5-06 1810

The rain system that wiped out the Friday night Met game against the Giants resumed in a big way just in time for the start of Saturday’s double-header. A big crowd sat through a two-hour forty-one minute rain delay before the double-dipper got underway a little after four pm. There wasn’t much to do other than wait it out. Baroid was booed strongly in each at bat of the first game (he pinch-hit in the second game). There were a few signs (one pictured above simply expressed a sentiment we share) and a few chants. But mostly, Bonds failed to draw the predicted hostility from a seasoned baseball crowd that would much rather boo Armando Benitez.

El Duque pitched around Bonds in the first (pictured above), and a baserunning blunder by the hobbled home run cheat ended what could have been a bigger inning. Later, Bonds was intentionally walked, had a couple of hits and a strikeout. He looked solid at the plate but horrible in the outfield. It’s clear he can’t play in the National League next year and Giants manager Felipe Alou is handicapped by Bonds’ inability to field his position and run the bases. You hope American League teams don’t get tempted by his still effective power stroke. They should engage in some old-fashioned collusion and freeze the guy out this off-season.

Beer sales were cut off in the fifth inning of the first game, an apparent judgement call based on tbe long rain delay. Willie blew an opportunity to pinch-hit for Ramon Castro bottom nine and the Mets can’t be thrilled with El Duque’s performance. The 6-4 loss almost turned into a thrilling rally when Benitez pulled his usual meltdown, but what the heck. It was 7:15 PM when the first game ended, and we were cold, wet and had to work early the next day - so we passed on the nightcap. Too bad, because it was an extra-inning Met win. Attendance was announced at 45,576. We sat in the loge seats down the right field line after sneaking down from our mezz seats. We got to see Lastings Milledge take his position to start the game with some of the flamboyance that Sammy would generate as he greeted his fans at Wrigley. It was cool. The kid is cocky and he has this strut when he jogs. But he’s already hugely popular among the Shea crowd. The starting pitcher for the Giants Matt Cain is gonna be top-notch pitcher once he adds another out pitch to his repertoire. He brings the heat and can dominate at times.

-The Post’s Joel Sherman cites an unnamed AL GM in reporting that the Marlins turned down an offer of Justin Verlander and Curtis Granderson for Dontrelle Willis prior to the start of the season.

-Met shortstop Jose Reyes goes one-on-one with Steve Serby in the Post today and says he believes he can steal 100 bases in a season, if only he could get on base at a higher clip. Reyes names Yadier Molina of St. Louis as the toughest catcher to run on.

6-4-2006 1622

They called the Friday night Met/Giant game at about 5:45 PM. They probably could have tried to play it on a normal night, but the 4:15 PM monsoon that rolled through the city dumped a huge amount of water. So much so that the underground city subway system that millions rely on was paralyzed. We walked out of the homestead at 5 PM to hit some dinner and head to the ballgame hoping to see some baseball. When we tried to get on the train to the game at 6:15 PM, we got word that the game was scrapped. A few cold ones later, we saw that the trains were still shut down and Jackson Heights was a cluster of mad end-of-the-work-weekers who wanted to go somewhere but couldn’t get on a train (pictured above). Nobody could get on anything other than the 7 (elevated), so people flocked to the buses and made hopeless attempts to score a taxi or car service. It was a nutty Friday night scene.

They’ll play a single-admission double-dipper at Shea tomorrow if the rain stops, and it works out for this ticket-holder. We’ll get to see two tomorrow, and trade in our tickets for tonight for another game down the road.

We got back to the TSR headquarters in time to watch a stirring introduction of the ’71 Pirates as they celebrated the 25th anniversary of their ’71 World Championship in a rain-delayed home game at that great-looking new ballpark in Pittsburgh. Bruce Kison, Manny Sanguillen, Jackie Hernandez and Al Oliver all ran out and looked great. Dock Ellis had earrings in both ears and a big smile on his face. It was raining and the crowd in Pitt was dead, but it was a swell ceremony.

6-2-06 2121

Just a week away from the pro boxing debut of Tom Zbikowski, the promoter of the June 10th card has announced his opponent. Bob Arum and Top Rank says Zibbie will fight Robert Bell of Akron, Ohio just prior to the main event. Bell has fought just four times. He was knocked out in the first round of his last fight in Atlantic City, losing to Travis Kauffman on the undercard of the Rahman/Toney bout back in March. He’s 2-2 overall and all four of his fights have ended in a knockout. Bell’s first three matches were in Akron. Who knows what kinda boxer he’ll be next Saturday. He made his debut in May of 2003, and then fought again in October of that year. He then took two years off before resuming his career last October. No doubt this will be Bell’s biggest opportunity, but the boxing skeptic in all of us wonders if Arum has selected the 240-pound Bell for his ability to get crushed in Zibby’s debut.

It’ll be a pretty crazy night of boxing at the Garden in terms of the crowd. You’ll have most of the Notre Dame football team in attendance, and I’d expect Charlie Weis to be in the house. You’ll have thousands of Puerto Ricans cheering for headliner Miguel Cotto on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade. You’ll have Italians all over the place cheering for Cotto’s opponent Paulie Malignaggi. You’ll have a bunch of Irish fans cheering for popular undefeated Irish middleweight John Duddy of County Derry. And then you’ll have the run of the mill boxing nuts taking in a card at the world’s most famous arena. Not even a crook like Arum can screw up a night like that.

In his conference call yesterday, Arum said this is how the card would be presented:

Numerous preliminary bouts starting at 7 pm. The pay-per-view telecast starts at 9 pm. Manuel Lopez vs. Sergio Mendez start things off. Then Bobby Pacquiao (brother of Manny) takes on locally popular Kevin Kelley. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Aaron Drake. Duddy vs. Freddy Cuevas of Chicago. Zibby vs. Bell. And then the main event, Cotto vs. Malignaggi, both undefeated for the WBO junior welterweight belt.

-The weather radar is showing a rain storm the size of Montana bearing down on New York, but we’ll head to Shea tonight regardless to see the first place Mets and Glavine take on the sideshow and the Giants. Bonds has been off the last three nights, so you’d expect him to play, but a sloshy left field may lead Felipe to sit the big head one more night. A full report tomorrow.

6-2-06 1502

The big bubble on the Hudson River at west 23rd Street in Manhattan is bubbling into a big problem. Most pressing is the facility known as Basketball City which includes six top-notch basketball courts inside that big bubble. Problem is, the entity controlling the land on which the bubble sits wants to demolish it and turn it into a park. The Hudson River Park Trust has been planning the beautification of the river property on the west side for years and Basketball City has ‘til next week to shut down and get out. What makes it such a pressing problem is that Basketball City isn’t just any commercial outfit profiting off the rental of basketball courts. It voluntarily serves as the full-time home courts of dozens of girls and boys high school basketball teams in NYC which lack their own facilities. The schools use the facilities for free in exchange for the performance of community service projects. In an open letter printed in the Post today, athletic director John Sarci of the Beacon School said: “Over 50 New York City teams with no gyms in their schools rely on Basketball City for practice, home and playoff games. All of these schools would not have basketball programs without Basketball City.”

TSR believes this dilemma exposes a much wider problem in New York City. It’s a failure on the part of education leaders in recognizing the importance of high school athletics. It’s very sad visiting the horrendous athletic facilities available to kids in this city. We attend high school athletic events in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn and there are a lot of hard-working educators trying to coach kids with solid athletic aspirations. But they have few decent places to conduct their athletic contests. If Mayor Mike Bloomberg and schools chancellor Joel Klein want to continue trumpeting their successes on school reform in this city, they oughta realize that athletics is crucial to the development of a lot of young people.

Yeah, in the end Basketball City will get kicked out of the bubble and probably find a new place to set up shop. But that’s not the answer. This city needs to independently establish its own facilities for public school kids to participate in athletics activities that will shape their teenage years and in some instances provide an alternative to aimless street shenanigans. The idea that all of these schools rely on a commercial entity to bail them out because they don’t have athletic facilities is not the way public schools ought to be run. Not when per-pupil spending in New York City is higher than most all of the big cities in this country.

-Dying on the vine and considered to be mostly irrelevant these days, The Village Voice has hired a new editor-in-chief. The once-respected tabloid with a circulation said to be a quarter-million lost a bunch of key people last fall when its parent company merged with New Times, a chain of free weeklies. Now comes word that the newly-merged parent has hired 41-year-old Erik Wemple to right the ship at the Voice. The Times story tried to throw cold water on the appointment saying that Wemple has never worked or lived in New York. Who cares. Few have before they got here and gave it a shot. Let’s see what the guy who spent recent years writing for the Washington DC City Paper can do.

-We opened the mailbox to find a letter from the Meadowlands this afternoon. We excitedly ripped it open and reading it felt a bit like a college rejection letter: “Thank you for submitting an application for tickets to the 2007 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship East Regional to be held March 23 and 25, 2007 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ. The total number of ticket applications received exceeded the number of tickets available so a random selection was held. Unfortunately, your ticket application was not chosen in the random drawing and as a result, you will not receive the number of tickets requested on your order form. With regards to payment, your original check is enclosed with this letter.” Somehow, I picture something other than a truly random drawing happening over there at the Meadowlands.

6-1-06 1712

The Lastings Milledge era is under way in New York. The hotshot outfielder with the fast wrists got the call up and made his major league debut at Shea last night when rightfielder Xavier Nady went on the DL earlier in the day after an emergency appendectomy. It’s exciting to have a home grown product make it to the big leagues and you wonder what’ll happen when Nady returns. Baseball columnist Bill Madden of the News suggested in a piece today that the Milledge promotion was just as much about instilling humility in the 21-year-old than it was about his ability to contribute in Nady’s absence. Madden says Milledge came off as selfish in spring training when he barely reported in time for daily stretching exercises while most of the team had arrived an hour-plus earlier. Madden quotes an anonymous team “insider” as saying: “This is a real team here and these guys are really playing their butts off for Willie. Everyone’s ego is in check, and from what I saw of (Milledge) in spring training, he’s got great talent but he needs to tone done the stylin’ and all that other stuff.”

Milledge wears a large wooden cross around his neck that appears to be potentially dangerous in the event of a sliding catch on the stomach. Manager Willie Randolph said on the FAN this afternoon that he had asked the rookie to remove or tuck it in for future games.

-It was hard to watch Katie Couric’s teary farewell from the Today show this morning. We had been overloaded with segments promoting her departure for the last ten days and the actual goodbye program seemed like a party that had lasted too long. But credit the Times today for an excellent profile in the Arts section about a Vietnam vet from the Bronx who has been attending the show at 30 Rock nearly every day for the last twelve years. 63-year-old Linny Boyette told Times reporter Lola Ogunnaike that he leaves the Bronx every morning at 4:40 and gets in position after a cup of tea. Boyette says his constant presence initially made Katie nervous but that he now knows all the cast and their family members. Boyette told the Times his sister can’t believe he makes daily treks to watch the show: “My sister thinks I’m a bit mental.”

5-31-06 1837

We caught Baroid’s 715th on the FSN Bay Area feed this afternoon. Byung-Hyun Kim fed him a pretty juicy pitch right down central and Bonds ripped it deep to right center. A no doubter that flickered off a few fans and landed in a concession area below the seating area. I guess you’d have to talk to people that were there, but as a baseball fan, it’s a shame not to feel even a shred of joy as it left the yard. Bonds’ teammates gave what appeared to be a lot of half-hearted hugs (except for Todd Greene who seemed to be genuinely happy) to the robotic sulker.

We were hoping Bonds would sit on 714 ‘til he hit New York next weekend for a three-game set at Shea. That way we could relish the opportunity to see guys like Glavine and El Duque attempt to deny him in a hostile setting. But oh well. Now, all we can hope for is that his chemically-engineered body breaks down before he passes Hank.

Happy Memorial Day to all. It’s a meaningful day loaded with extra punch these days what with all the flag-draped coffins getting shipped back to families who have to be conflicted in their feelings about what the heck is going on in this world of ours.

5-28-06 1738

I guess like most of working America, we were glad to see the jury in Houston hand down convictions against Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling for their deceptions and greed as overseers of the Enron collapse. Credit the government for simplifying a complex series of off-the-books entities and accounting tricks into a presentation the jury could understand. And of course, credit the media for exposing the company as a fraud when it could have gotten lost in the 9-11 haze of that period. Interestingly, Skilling and Lay are scheduled to be sentenced on September 11 of this year. During trial, Skilling used the 9-11 attacks as an excuse for his effort to sell 500-thousand shares of Enron stock before regular shareholders found out the company was a sinking ship. Problem is, the government caught him in a lie because records indicate he attempted a sale of 200-thousand shares on September 6.

Both Skilling and Lay are out on bail with no confinement to the home provision. I wouldn’t worry about Lay making the sentencing date, but Skilling’s record of unstable behavior makes you wonder if he shouldn’t be wearing a bracelet. This is a guy who just a couple of years ago was questioned by police here in New York City for babbling incoherently outside an upper east side tavern claiming bar patrons were spying on him. Skilling allegedly lifted the skirt of a woman outside the bar and said he was looking to see if she was wearing a recording device. He scuffled with other patrons and was taken by police to a hospital for observation.

-Chicago restaurateur Jim Photopoulos will milk his recent victory in Chicago’s “fastest hot dog maker” contest with a couple of major publicity stops coming up this week. On Memorial Day, Jimmy Photo will appear on the “Fox and Friends” morning program on the Fox News Channel. Officials at Vienna Beef are joining Photo for the three-day trip to New York and are said to be providing all supplies necessary for a fully-dressed Chicago dog down to the celery salt. Picture this: Photo, the consummate Chicagoan making Chicago-style hot dogs on Memorial Day morning in mid-town Manhattan. New Yorkers are gonna walk past the grinning, bald-headed Photo and wonder where this guy came from.

And then on Thursday morning, Photo will be back on home turf when he appears on the WGN-TV morning news program. Photo tells TSR that he hopes the two nationally-televised appearances do more than simply promote his two suburban Chicago restaurants. Photo, in all seriousness says he hopes the TV spots will showcase his acting ability and produce a response from Hollywood.

-Veteran jockey Garrett Gomez appeared on Mary Ryan’s “Talkin’ Horses” program on the NYC OTB channel this afternoon and it’s clear he doesn’t read the Racing Form. As Ryan usually does when a jockey appears on her show, she asks about the rider’s mounts that day. She inquired about each of Gomez’s four rides on the Saturday card including his mount on the early line favorite in the grade two Sheepshead Bay Handicap. Each question from Ryan garnered the same basic response from Gomez. “I don’t know anything about that horse.” Gomez is represented by Ron Anderson who was Jerry Bailey’s jockey agent until this past winter when Bailey retired. When Bailey appeared on the Ryan show, he would always discuss his mounts that day in-depth in part because he was an avid reader of the past performances in the Racing Form.

Gomez’s complete lack of knowledge of the horses he’s riding may not necessarily impact performance when he’s riding for guys like Todd Pletcher, but as a bettor I’d prefer high-level mental preparedness from a jockey. Gomez says he’ll ride the Baffert-trained Bob and John in the Belmont stakes.

5-27-06 1611

The print coverage of a government report examining the shooting death of a bipolar Florida man killed by federal sky marshals last December is just as confusing as the incident itself. Yeseterday’s Times buried a short item written by Abby Goodnough with a headline: “Man Killed by Air Marshals Was Shot 11 Times.” Goodnough’s story says 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar was “wounded 11 times – in the chest, abdomen, shoulder, hand, wrist and forearm,” according to autopsy findings included in the report.

A story written by Maya Bell of the Orlando Sentinel the day before said: “It was unclear how many times Alpizar was hit, but a medical examiner found four bullets in his body.”

The AP’s Curt Anderson said in his story: “The two marshals…fired a total of nine rounds from their .357-caliber handguns.”

The Miami Herald’s piece by Nicholas Spangler – the most detailed of all the stories written on the report also says nine shots were fired.

So, was it nine or eleven?

Regardless, it’s no surprise that the sky marshals were found to be “legally justified” by the report and will soon be back on the job. Alpizar was returning from a church trip to Ecuador with his wife of twenty years and was on board for the final leg of his journey – a short hop from Miami to Orlando. Problem is, Mr. Alpizar was off his meds for whatever reason and was acting nutty by all accounts. With a backpack in hand, Alpizar tried to flee the plane just before it was to leave the gate with his wife chasing him, yelling: “he’s sick.”

Witnesses report that Mr. Alpizar was seen reaching into the pack, and in a post-9/11 world that might be enough to get you shot. He was - and he died on the jetway connected to the American Airlines aircraft.

The early reporting of the incident failed to include independent verification that Alpizar yelled “bomb.” But the government report finds that passengers heard Alpizar use the word. Worse, one of the flight’s pilots says Alpizar verbally urged the sky marshals to shoot him.

A TSA spokesman told Spangler: “Now that this report has cleared them (the sky marshals), they will be back flying shortly.”

5-26-06 0902

Initial reaction to the just announced trade of Jorge Julio from the Mets to Arizona for El Duque: seems like a sensible deal from a Met perspective. They need a starter and El Duque is a post-season veteran who could excel down the stretch and into the playoffs if that’s where the Mets end up. We were one of the few Met fans who actually like Julio’s stuff. But we can’t help but think about the job El Duque did for the White Sox in game three of their playoff series against the Red Sox last fall.

Is El Duque healthy? Sure looked like it when he struck out nine Pirates in seven solid innings the other night. El Duque’s arrival could also be a boost to Met rookie starter Alay Soler. Both are Cuban nationals who came to this country under similar circumstances.

Julio got off to a rough start in New York and couldn’t shake the home crowd boo-birds despite lighting up the speed gun and being generally effective recently. We wish Jorge good luck and welcome the arrival of El Duque.

5-24-06 1830

You wonder how much longer they’ll continue selling Bud products in the aluminum bottle at Shea Stadium this year after a bad incident at Sunday’s Met/Yankee game. According to a report in the Post, 23-year-old Jason Schmeider of Bay Shore was arrested for throwing one of the aluminum beer bottles at a security guard who was working an unrelated incident late in the game. Schmeider is charged with assault, harassment and weapons possession under a new state law created in the wake of fan misbehavior at Shea in recent years. The security guard suffered facial injuries. The bottles have been embraced by fans. They keep the beer cold for a long time – and they’re easy to carry from the big icy tubs you buy them at on the concourses back to your seat. But you know that incidents like this from bad apples are going to force the Mets to consider liability/safety concerns and perhaps a return to the plastic cup.

-Once you’re in, you’re in. That’s the problem with the Democratic machine here in Queens. The party has endorsed veteran state senator Ada Smith for a tenth term despite a horrendous string of misbehavior and boorishness by the lawmaker in recent years. Earlier this year, a Smith staffer in Albany said the Senator threw a cup of coffee in her face. Smith is accused in several reports available on the internet of throwing trash cans, desk organizers, piles of papers and ice cream bars at other staffers over the years and she once held up a butter knife to the neck of a terrified staffer. Those who cover Albany and those who work there have said Smith is an embarrassing off-kilter terror – yet somehow the Queens Democratic organization endorsed her for re-election at a meeting yesterday. The Times reports that Smith was the only candidate nominated and present for the meeting.

Elizabeth Bishop-Goldsmith is running against Smith in the Democratic primary, yet she told the Times she was deliberately misled by the party about the meeting’s starting time and missed it.

A web search shows that Bishop-Goldsmith is the president of an organization called Mothers Against Guns. She lives in Rosedale. Her inability to garner support from the Queens Democratic party is no surprise. In our eight-plus years in Queens, we’ve seen a lot of legitimate, smart public servants and activists step up seeking to contribute to state and local government only to be denied by a corrupt band of cronies who control the process.

-A funny observation by Post TV writer Michael Starr today when he asked the question: “How can we miss Katie if she won’t go away?” Katie Couric’s last day on the Today show is a week away, yet viewers have already been subjected to several days of farewell schmaltz - and it’ll only get worse before she leaves next Wednesday. Katie takes the CBS evening news anchor chair in September and TSR believes she’d be wise to push for a tone-down in the Today farewell parade in order to gain cred for her next gig.

5-23-06 1654

John DaSilva of the Post reports today that Barbaro’s jockey Edgar Prado was booed by New York racing fans at Belmont yesterday when he made his first appearance since returning from Baltimore. Said DaSilva: “Escorted by a security guard (prior to the third race), Prado made his way to the paddock amid cheers when, all of a sudden, loud boos were hurled his way. Everyone in the paddock was in shock at the unjust display toward the jockey.” If DaSilva recorded his observations correctly, this is hard to believe. Prado appeared to do an excellent job harnessing Barbaro’s desire to run with the shattered leg and seemed to handle the incident as professional as could be.

Still, instead of absorbing the tragic end of Barbaro’s racing career with reverence and sadness, you have all sorts out there floating crazy theories. On talk radio, the most dominant suggestion is that Prado appeared to look back several times at Barbaro’s hind legs during the post parade. On the FAN this afternoon, we heard one caller suggest that it was possible that Barbaro’s connections were hiding an injury prior to the race in order to collect what the caller described as “gate insurance.” The caller implied that somehow the trainer and/or owner of Barbaro had entered into a side agreement protecting them financially if somehow Barbaro lost the Preakness – as long as he started.

Forget all that. Barbaro got hurt because he’s a horse. Because he’s a fragile animal who may have taken a bad step. Just because there was a ton of money gambled on him doesn’t mean anything sinister happened, necessarily. Not at this level. Barbaro’s trainer Michael Matz is known to be a patient, above-board guy with high concern for his animals’ welfare.

Doctors say Barbaro’s surgery went as well as could be but still only give him a “coin-flip” chance of surviving.

5-22-06 1822

It was a difficult and dramatic day in sports as we watched the horrible breakdown of Barbaro, the meltdown of the Met closer Billy Wagner and a stunning, violent punch at Comiskey.

The Kentucky Derby winner busted through the gate prior to the start of the Preakness and was led back around as those who wagered the horse down to 3-5 gasped before the race even started. As the field eventually broke and Barbaro tried to gain track position, his rear right leg started rotating improperly and jockey Edgar Prado tried to save the horse’s life by stopping his ambition to run. At this moment tonight, it seems doubtful that a great horse who suffered what is reported as two bad fractures can ever be immobilized through a recovery period and live a life as a stallion. The bottom line is that horse racing fans are crushed and torn emotionally after watching the suffering by an animal who runs for our entertainment and wagering fun. Gary Stevens, an ex-jock nearly broke down himself on the NBC telecast. His analysis with a cracked and shaken voice was exceptional. Not the same could be said of Frank Stronach, the owner of Pimlico Race Course who seemed insensitive and cold in the post-race trophy ceremony honoring the winner Bernardini.

An emotional breakdown with long-term effects is the concern at Shea. Billy Wagner was improperly called on to finish things off in what was a 4-0 Met lead against the Yanks this afternoon. Wagner’s cheeks were flush from the get-go and something was amiss as he walked the ballpark and was left dangling by skipper Willie Randpolph. You hope Wagner can recover and find the strike zone when he next appears. He probably will. But why did Randolph put his closer in that spot and why did he refuse to take him out despite a clear set of signals that Wagner was in no condition to record outs?

As for the Michael Barrett cold-cock to the chin of AJ in another Cub loss: not much more needs to be said than the complete lack of defense and support from his own manager Dusty Baker.

What a day in sports. We sat here comfortably in front of a television but felt like we had sat through a day of Cyclone roller coaster rides. Let’s hope tomorrow brings a more cheerful set of happenings and results in the sports we love.

5-20-06 1928

 

Cowbell Man (pictured above) paid a visit to the upper deck well down the first base line early in the game and didn’t seem to mind not being the center of attention. Belligerent Met and Yankee extremists engaged in alcohol-fueled sideshows in the bathroom, on the concourses and in the stands. The ratio of Met fans to Yankee fans was about 70-30, a mix that was more Met fan dominated than previous Shea subway series encounters. The 7 train home was lickity-quick and pleasant.

A hearty congrats to Jim Photopoulos (pictured above courtesy of the PR Newswire) for his big victory in the highly competitive hot dog making contest held in downtown Chicago this past week. Known by most as Jimmy Photo, the lifelong restaurateur and TSR friend beat out 24 other top city Vienna Beef dog sellers by dressing 32 Chicago-style hot dogs in five minutes. Photo owns two classy and family-fun hot dog joints in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. He told TSR that he was proud to take down a title surrounded by great city institutions. Photo says he expects a nice publicity boost from the title. He has already appeared on the Johnny Brandmeier showgram and says more media spots are on the way. Way to go Photo!

-Cub catcher Michael Barrett is gonna get suspended for a long, long time. FOX cut into the Met/Yank game this afternoon to show the second inning play at the plate which was clean by Pierzynski all the way. The punch by Barrett was jaw-droppingly violent and totally out of line as a response to what is a normal baseball play by Pierzynski. Yeah, the Sox catcher can be annoying to his opponents but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when they showed the replay. Pierzynski celebrated the shot to the jaw as he approached the bench and was inexplicably tossed. It'll be interesting to see what is said and done in the aftermath, but we’ve never seen a bare-fisted haymaker quite like that one on any sporting field.

-One of the original six NHL franchises has sunk to a new low with the announcement that it’s parting ways with the great broadcaster Pat Foley. The Chicago Blackhawks web site says the organization has withdrawn a contract offer that had been on the table since May 9. The Sun-Times cites an unidentified source saying Foley was lowballed. It’s a sad day for Blackhawk fans because Foley had done the games for 25 years in a way that drew you to the radio. The Blackhawks are owned by the Wirtz family who have a long history of cheapness and disregard for its shrinking fan base. So far, Foley hasn’t commented. But you know he will and you know he’ll be in great demand if he wants to continue doing hockey. TSR hopes he remains on radio. The Blackhawks had announced earlier this month that they wanted Foley to do only radio, rather than be the voice of a TV/radio simulcast. We thought that was a good idea, but we didn’t expect the Hawks to fail with an inadequate financial offer to a guy who was as skilled and popular as they come.

-The French Tickler, Julien Leparoux makes his New York debut tomorrow with four mounts at beautiful Belmont Park. The 22-year-old jockey leads the country in wins. Leparoux made a huge impression on bettors and fans Derby week with a bunch of unlikely victories.

5-20-06 1445

It’s a big sports weekend here – and everywhere really as interleague play begins. Cubs/Sox in Chicago. And in New York, it’s Mets/Yanks at Shea. We’ll be sitting in what feels like the structurally unsound upper deck tonight cheering for the Metropolitans at plus-130 against a Big Unit that has sputtered this season. The crowd will be nuts, boozed-up and rowdy with ugly chants and taunting directed at the opponent’s fans. Nearly all the tickets to the sold-out series were snatched up through the sale of multi-game ticket packages which are enticing in large part because of the guaranteed seat for one of the Subway series games. Jeremi Gonzalez gets the start for the Mets. Pedro pitches tomorrow on five days rest. He should be pitching tonight but because TSR is going, he won’t pitch. He never pitches when we go. Never. Gonzalez, you’d expect won’t give you more than five or six innings – and he’ll get hit. But you just hope that the Met lineup can do what the rest of baseball has done to Randy Johnson this year. A report tomorrow.

As if the Subway Series wasn’t enough, the NBA playoffs have a double-dipper tonight featuring the last two champs in must win situations. The Pistons are reeling after three straight losses to the Cavs and must go to the arena formerly known as Gund and get out of there with a win over King James and a surrounding cast that has played well the entire playoffs. That’ll be followed by Spurs/Mavs with Dallas minus Jason Terry and Spurs coach Avery Johnson certain to hatch a plan to double Duncan the whole game and avoid a game seven at all costs. Spurs win this game with a big night from Tony Parker.

Then after all that excitement, you can rise tomorrow, put some money in your phone account and bet against Barbaro in the Preakness. Barby will be the overwhelming 3-5 favorite to win the second jewel of the triple crown, but he’ll see Like Now, Diabolical and Brother Derek ahead of him early. Will he fire and use that long stride of his to blow past them nearing the final turn? He could. But we won’t play it that way. We’ll use Greely’s Legacy, Brother D, Sweetnorthernsaint and Bernardini in multi race wagers and hope for the upset. It’ll be the first triple crown event we haven’t attended in a long time and so it’ll be interesting to watch the NBC broadcast and see what it all looks like from that perspective.

-An excellent item in the May 15 issue of the New Yorker examines the marketing success of organic foods, now a $15 billion a year industry. Food market chain Whole Foods has led the way on this front with nearly two-hundred stores nationally including an incredible location in the Time Warner building here in New York. Among the interesting disclosures in the story written by Steven Shapin:

*Whole Foods is as “ferociously anti-union as Wal-Mart.”

*The founder and CEO of Whole Foods John Mackey has referred to unions as “parasites.”

*Despite the anti-union approach, Whole Foods limits the pay of its high-level execs to no more than fourteen times the salary of the rank and file.

*Early proponents of organic farming have become disillusioned by a takeover and domination of the concept by mega-growers, suppliers and retailers.

-The MTA says the average weekday New York City subway ridership in March 2006 hit 4.9 million, up 3.1% from the same month a year ago and the highest number since the transit agency started compiling statistics in 1970. If you include bus riders, the number is 7.4 million daily. That’s a lotta people riding public transit. And the best part of it is that it all works pretty darn good.

5-19-06 1429

Many members of the print and broadcast media in New York throw around the word “incompetence” without justification. The media in New York lacks patience. They treat hard working athletes, coaches, general managers and owners as if they’re disposable and replaceable if they don’t win and produce immediately. But what’s happening with the Knick organization is deplorable and reeks of incompetence. Check it out: next season the Knicks are on a $98 million hook for Allan Houston, Stephon Marbury, Jalen Rose, Steve Francis, Maurice Taylor, Shandon Anderson, Malik Rose and Jerome James. Of those eight players, only the surly and selfish guards Marbury and Francis have a chance to contribute something. Houston and Anderson are gone but still collecting huge checks. OK. It’s brutal. But this Larry Brown furor of the last few days has brought incompetence to its pinnacle. Prior to last season, Knick owner Jim Dolan signed the vagabond Brown to a five-year, fifty-million dollar deal. It’s a deal that everybody assumed Brown wouldn’t complete because of his own lack of commitment to any one franchise. It didn’t make sense for a lot of reasons, primarily because Larry shapes and builds teams that are on the brink of being good – and are willing to play defense. Larry walked into a mess – much of it created by GM Isiah Thomas who has had zero success at any endeavor since his playing days. Isiah brought on many of the bad contracts and bad attitude players.

So, Larry trudged his way through a 23-59 season with a band of misfits led by Marbury who feuded with the coach publicly much of the way. It was excruciating. But it wasn’t Larry’s fault. And with the huge paycheck and his personal comfort level in this city he announced after the season was over that he’d be back and the Knicks would be better next year. He reportedly told Isiah that he wanted the team gutted – which is unrealistic given the ridiculous salaries of the malcontents littering the roster and the cap limitations imposed by the league. But hey, Larry wanted to come back, preach defense to whoever would listen and at least collect another ten mil a season.

But then this is where the incompetence comes to a new high. Last Sunday, Peter Vescey broke a story that Dolan is tired of Brown’s act and wants him out. He wants him out so bad he’s willing to buy out most of the rest of the deal. You didn’t know whether the story was true because it was Vescey, but then the other papers confirmed it and what can you say? Larry has four years and forty-mil left on his deal. He’s a hall of fame coach who’s done it all and Dolan wants to run Brown out and let Isiah take the coaching reins. All the papers cite league sources which you gotta believe are getting the info from Dolan. Jim Dolan is refusing to deny the story. Brown’s agent says Larry will not accept a buyout. The papers are saying Dolan is offering $25 mil for the separation, which if accepted would mean that Brown would collect $35 mil for one year of coaching. What is Dolan doing? He may be forced to fire him outright given the public handling of the crisis and Brown’s insistence that he won’t accept a buyout. And if that happens, then Isiah and the misfits win and the franchise goes deeper into the muck. As Selena Roberts wrote in the Times, Isiah “for once would have to confront his own chaos.” Roberts suggests that Isiah is protected from termination because of a pending sexual harassment suit against him by a female ex-Garden official - and Dolan (for the sake of his company) wants Isiah to beat that rap. Jeez. Incompetence to the absolute max.

-Some Gordon Bethune-like frankness from Continental Airlines president Jeff Smisek at a Bear Stearns airline industry conference in New York last week. Bethune retired from Continental in 2004 with a legacy of bold, abrasive language and insights on the airline industry. Bethune was replaced by numbers-cruncher and plain-spoken Larry Kellner. But Smisek – the Houston-based airline’s number two didn’t hold back when he spoke last week much like Bethune would do. As reported by Ted Reed of thestreet.com, Smisek said the following:

“Our network competitors have screwed their employees by defaulting on their pension plans and taking away wage and benefits in a very hostile manner.” Smisek is referring to the pensions at US Air and United with this comment. Additionally, the pension plans at Delta and Northwest are badly underfunded and drastic pay cuts at all four airlines have been obtained during bankruptcy proceedings. Relations between those four companies and their workforces have all been hostile. But Smisek should not boast here. Yes, Continental has avoided bankruptcy, and yes, Continental has continued contributing to its pension funds. But the pilot pension plan was restructured and reduced going forward and the company obtained a half-billion dollars in pay cuts from its workforce with a not-so-tacit threat of bankruptcy of its own.

“Our competitors have got a lot of gas-sucking pigs for aircraft.” The target of this remark is probably Northwest, whose fleet still includes a lot of DC-9’s – and American – which still retains a lot of MD-80’s.

“We did not follow our competitors in a race to the bottom to achieve a crappy product. We did not take off pillows, we did not take off blankets, we did not take off meals at mealtime and we will not charge fifteen bucks for an aisle seat.” After 9-11, most carriers looked for any and all ways to reduce costs and most airlines stripped away amenities. Northwest has taken major heat for imposing a charge for aisle seat requests and don’t be surprised if that policy is rescinded. The company has already dropped the charge for its frequent fliers.

“They are a low-cost carrier (Jet Blue)…and their customers don’t pay them a penny to watch those I Love Lucy reruns … it’s a wasted investment in my mind.” This is a commentary on Jet Blue’s offering of satellite television to all of its customers in flight. This quote appears not to attack the concept, but the contradictory cost associated with the technology vs. Jet Blue’s boast of low fares. Jet Blue offers 36 channels of Direct TV programming, and the passengers we’ve talked to enjoy it. But what Smisek appears to be saying is that Jet Blue may not be able to retain its low cost/low fare structure by spending money on frills.

“Our successful international expansion is being copied by a lot of people, including at least one bankrupt airline in Atlanta. They’ve already gone through their stockholders’ money; now they are going through their creditor’s money. They are throwing a lot of capacity into the market. I predict they will lose their shirts on it.” A clear dig at Delta, which has started beefing up its number of flights to Europe out of JFK and Atlanta. Continental had led the charge to expand international routes the last few years, and Delta has started an attempt to match that strategy. What is somewhat hard to understand is why Smisek would publicly criticize, chastise or question competitors. Especially Delta and Northwest which share a code share agreement with Continental and work cooperatively to steer customers to each other in certain instances.

5-17-06 1847

The recently released film United 93 will have you slumping in your seat, squirming at the real-time depiction of the hijacked 9-11 airliner and the confused bureaucratic response to it. We caught a matinee at the Kaufman Astoria Stadium 14 complex. Only about a dozen moviegoers were in the theatre but there was sobbing and gasping. It’s an intense movie experience and we’ve not seen a more accurate portrayal of the day-to-day working life of a flight crew member. We saw no serious flaws or mischaracterizations as it applies to aviation or air traffic control. There’s some occasional clumsy dialogue and scripting, and there’s an unrealistic moment when the first officer verbally tells the fueler to throw more gas on the airplane, but this flick is the real deal. It’s basically an apolitical film, although the military’s response is shown in a poor light primarily because it lacked direction from the White House.

It’s two hours on film as they were spent that sunny September morning at various air traffic control facilities in the Northeast and in Cleveland. You spend time in the main FAA control center and the NORAD facility in upstate New York. And you get every little bit of flight 93 from the time it’s boarded ‘til the moment it goes down. What happened up there is not known for sure, but phone conversations between passengers and the ground have pieced some of it together. The rest of it is the creation of the filmmaker Paul Greengrass who will garner an Oscar nomination for best director. What you get on board is a terrifying period in which two Arab men take the two seats in the cockpit and two others try to keep the 40 others on board at bay. How the cockpit was penetrated isn’t known. The movie adopts the most violent of theories. United Airlines clearly cooperated in letting this film project happen, because their equipment and logo is front and center. There’s no Hollywood cheese and no trickery. It’s an excellent flick and it’s highly recommended.

-When we bought our movie ticket, the woman who sold it said the film would start precisely at the 11:55 AM showtime with no previews. We thought that was a reverential way to begin a movie of this type. The only problem was that they ran all the previews from about 11:35 AM right up until 11:55 AM.

-We must have been in Kentucky when the news broke, because we’re just finding out about the newly unveiled “Grand Slam” wager being offered at Belmont Park. It’s similar to a pick four – except you only need to have your selection finish in the top three slots in each of the first three legs – and then you need to pick the winner in the final leg. Interesting. The wager has potential value and intrigue if you believe there’s a horse in the sequence’s first three legs that will take heavy money yet has a shot to finish off the board. There’s a danger that the New York Racing Association’s additional wager will dilute the pick four pool, but it seems like bettors may not yet know about the new opportunity. Yesterday at Belmont, the late pick four had $221,587 in the pool and the new Grand Slam wager took in just $14,407.

-Bob Uecker paid a visit to the Sports Net New York booth and managed to make Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez laugh through most of a half-inning during last night’s Met telecast. We laughed too at a guy who said he’s been in baseball for an amazing 41 years – 35 years as a broadcaster, and as Uke said: “plus 6 years as a player – or should I say a sitter”

-Nice job by sixth man Cliff Robinson of the Nets who must have been unable to resist puffing up. He got suspended five games prior to last night’s crucial game three loss to the Heat for violating the terms of the NBA drug rules. The assumption based on Robinson’s track record is that must have tested positive for pot. That’s fine. But the timing stinks. It’s one less body to bang Shaq and his absence last night was big. Rod Thorn knew Cliffy had a couple of pot busts under his belt prior to acquiring him, so he can’t be totally shocked. Robinson’s teammates were publicly supportive. It’ll never happen, but the NBA really should look the other way when it comes to personal consumption of marijuana.

5-13-06 1723

The security-conscious Israeli airline El Al has asked the US government for permission to supplement the routine baggage screening by federal screeners at Newark International Airport with a more intense screening process of its own. A Times report today gives a nod to the Newark Star-Ledger as the paper that originally broke the story. You can see this story two ways: either El Al doesn’t trust the TSA or it has an almost obsessive level of interest in making sure its fleet operates safely and freely from what you’d have to believe are any number of groups that would like to attack the Israeli airline. It could be a combination of both. El Al takes security very seriously in ways both visible and invisible to the public and their safety record is impeccable. When you notice an El Al aircraft sitting empty at airports across this country, you always see an armed guard in a vehicle stationed next to the aircraft. This is a procedure unique to El Al as is the fact that its fleet is the only one to employ anti-missile technology.

But I guess the question raised by El Al’s request – and their use of supplementary screening at other US airports - is why this country’s screeners aren’t good enough? After 9-11, Congress and the current administration created the Transportation Security Administration to screen all checked luggage. The TSA has been criticized for its competency level and cost. Politicians, the public and domestic carriers have all raised questions about the new bureaucracy's effectiveness. But this request by El Al may be a worse indictment.

-Richard Sandomir of the Times reports progress on the new hockey arena in downtown Newark. “The horseshoe shape of the lower bowl is clearly in focus. So is the main concourse. Construction has begun on the luxury suites.” The Devils are slated to open up the ’07-’08 season at the 17,500 seat stadium. Most exciting is the fact the building will sit an easy walk away from Newark’s Penn Station.

-The broken wrist suffered by Yankee left-fielder Hideki Matsui in the first inning of Thursday night’s loss to the Red Sox could be a death blow to a team already racked with problems. The two corner outfield positions are now in the hands of Melky Cabrera, Bubba Crosby and Bernie Williams. Who knows how long the moody Gary Sheffield will sit with a wrist problem of his own. The Big Unit looks horrible and the AL East is no picnic with a pretty tough Blue Jay team joining the BoSox as the two contenders to worry about. The spoiled Yankee crowd is booing A-Rod and getting restless. As Post columnist Mike Vaccaro said today: “They’d boo free pie.” On that note, we’re punching a betting slip on the A’s tonight at plus-126 with Zito in the Bronx going against Wang and the Yanks. It may take a while for the betting public to realize what kind of impact the loss of Matsui has on the pinstripers.

5-12-06 1558

They held a funeral mass here in Queens not too far down 37th Ave. yesterday for a 23-year-old soldier killed in Iraq. Jose Gomez was killed in a roadside bomb attack a few weeks ago and he leaves behind a mother who said her son went into the Army because he couldn’t afford college. An excellent story written by Michelle O’Donnell of the Times today details the funeral and profiles the young man and his family. A photo on the front page of today’s Metro section shows Gomez’s coffin inside Our Lady of Sorrows in the Corona neighborhood as his mother Maria weeps on the shoulder of a servicewoman. Gomez’s step-father looks on from behind with a look of anger on his face. It’s the kind of photo that you look at and can’t help but get stirred up.

Gomez didn’t want his mother to know he was in Iraq when he died because it was his second tour of duty. So, he told her he was working and studying in Texas.

Other facts of note in the O’Donnell story:

-Gomez had called New York from Iraq the day before he died to arrange for the delivery of flowers to his mother for Mother’s Day.

-Gomez’s death followed the death of his fiancé by 31 months. The fiancé was an Army private who had been killed in a roadside bomb in Tikrit.

-During the mass said in Spanish, O’Donnell says the Rev. Thomas Healy expressed concern for Gomez’s mother. She quotes the priest as saying: “Twenty-five hundred of these around the country. Can you imagine?”

Reports in the Chicago dailies say the Blackhawks are gonna end the practice of simulcasting their radio and tv game coverage and will begin splitting the two broadcasts next season. That’s what most teams do. Longtime Hawks play-by-play man Pat Foley has had to cater to both mediums while doing the simulcast and the radio audience has suffered, as great as Foley is. The item says Hawks broadcasting director Jim DeMaria hopes Foley will accept terms that would put him behind the radio mike solo or with a partner - with a separate tandem doing the tv coverage. Foley has done Hawks games for 25 years with all but about five of those using the simulcast system.

It’s a bit hard to believe that Foley has stuck with the Hawks for so many lean years given his talent. Add to that the fact that the only TV broadcasts allowed by Hawks owner Bill Wirtz are road games with few exceptions. You’d think other teams in the league would love to have a guy like Foley – who has a thrilling, descriptive and humorous approach to his game call.

No matter what Foley does however, this decision by the Hawks to have radio and tv broadcasts become unique from one another is a long time coming.

-As we predicted here on TSR about six weeks ago, the winless colt Here’s Ya Souvenir was on the brink of breaking through. Sure enough, he won on the turf at Belmont yesterday. The five-year-old New York-bred had been winless in 35 career attempts but came alive in the ninth race with a length and a half victory at odds of 5.7 to 1. After a long career of futility, how can you not be happy for Here’s Ya Souvenir?

5-11-06 1706

One of the more prominent unions representing airline workers has announced they’ve gathered enough authorization cards to trigger a vote on whether to unionize baggage handlers at Jet Blue Airlines. The International Association of Machinists will seek an election that if certified by the National Mediation Board would be conducted later this year.

If Jet Blue officials adopt a strategy used by other air carriers trying to stave off unionization by its workers, expect a campaign of mild intimidation and rampant misinformation in an attempt to defeat it.

Ultimately, it takes a simple fifty-percent plus one majority among the work group to gain union representation. But sadly, the current climate of economic fear and insecurity makes unionization difficult. Add to that the steamrolling of unions by companies in bankruptcy courts and the organized labor movement has really flamed out in the private sector of this country. It’s all too bad, because the basic idea of union representation is nothing more than a seat at a bargaining table every few years in which the employees can negotiate the terms of their employment. Sometimes those terms aren’t economic. They can be safety issues. They can be retirement or health care issues. Unions helped build this country and now they are demonized for isolated corruption and occasional miscalculations on demands. But the basic idea of a union is one that all workers deserve if they so choose. We support the IAM�