I’m a “classic rock” kind of a guy, but The Who sounded really old the other night at the Super Bowl. I recall listening and recording their “final” show 28 years ago. “Hope I die before I get old” . . . Congratulations to the Saints! It was an entertaining game. The first quarter sure had signs of a blowout against a green team. That they came back as soundly as they did is truly a credit . . . Here’s the obligatory comment about the commercials: I didn’t watch them. I think I am immune to these things. I watched Gary Vaynerchuk’s comments about the commercials, but not the commercials themselves. So much for those advertising dollars . . . I posted road conditions the other day for Millville. How would they have been better seen? Perhaps I will run my Twitter stream through the blog again . . . Millville Public Library didn’t answer telephones Monday morning. Left a message that has yet to be returned. Called the Vineland branch and got service immediately . . . Made some red beans and rice. This place has smelled great all day . . . We followed it up with a tasty heart-shaped cheesecake. It’s Gert’s grandmother’s recipe. Wonderfully delicious! . . . Time for a change . . . Signed up for pip.io today. I don’t understand the buzz. Help me out if you do . . . If you need to believe in miracles, a man was found alive in the wreckage in Haiti, four weeks after the earthquake . . . According to Millville’s superintendent, one-third of all Millville High School students are suspended each year. Yikes! . . . And at VPS, 46% are suspended . . . Gov. Christie finally declared a state of emergency for southern NJ three days after the blizzard hit. The timing probably doesn’t matter, but I am not encouraged by all the photo-ops last weekend. As I noted on Sunday, Christie should not be using snow plows as props . . . Christie stated he worked with the BUP to restore power to those without it. The BUP only doles out money and ensures Nick Asselta has a cushy job. It’s Atlantic City Electric that can actually do something to restore power . . . My classroom recently participated with Art Goes to School. I love this program. It’s one of those programs I look forward to yearly. Excellent job. This year we analyzed Velazquez’s Las Meninas, Picasso’s Las Meninas, and Dali’s Portrait of Juan de Pareja Fixing a String of His Mandolin and how they are all related. Very kewl! . . .
In truth, I’ve always had an affinity for the New Orleans Saints. They were so horrible for so long that I began liking them. The Aints had another Manning, Archie who is Peyton’s father. He was awesome, but surrounded by a bunch of nobodies. Early on the Saints had Tom Dempsey as their place kicker. He with half a foot booted a 63-yard field goal, and NFL record. Later he kicked for the Eagles. All this coupled with a liking for the town itself, I like the cajun team a little bit.
And that is all it takes to root against the Colts.
It should be a fun game with two powerhouse offenses. While the Colts may be slightly better, I suspect this will be a competitive game. And for Roger Goddell who is considering a cold-weather Super Bowl in New York, this weekend I will be watching the Big Game while snowed in . . . and I’m south of the Big Apple.
An interesting story of a small publisher who almost published a J.D. Salinger book was told in today’s Washington Post. Alas, he made a mistake. No book for you! . . . A telephone call Buddy Holly secretly recorded when he tried to get the rights to That’ll Be the Day from Decca is making the rounds. It’s interesting how different the music business was 50+ years ago . . . While it’s been a rough week for President Obama (no bump from the SOTU), I applaud him for targeting to eliminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit. It would be even better if eliminated the entire earned income tax credit program . . . A long time ago our family visited Haiti. It wasn’t in good shape then either. As I recall, a boy was going to be publicly flogged for an accident. While the earthquake has been devastating, Haiti has long been in great need . . . There was a time when I would have been gearing up to watch the Olympics. Now it is just a blip. How many storylines will be crafted that break up the actual sporting events? Curling and luge are still two events I marvel at . . . the one-inch of snow we were expected to get turned out to be a few inches more. It’s pretty outside . . . There is plenty to rail against the NFL for, but its move of the Pro Bowl to the off Sunday between the championship and the Super Bowl is a good move. I still have no interest in this game, but I suspect it will garner higher ratings . . . Bob Ingle’s piece today tells just one side of agency packing. It’s a bad side. Political appointments only need to earn $7500 to be in the state pension system. Of course, as I have been discussing of late, they do the political dirty work of elected officials without being held accountable . . .
I read that new villas have been built and sold at NJMP. The properties will be taxed. All this is positive. I just hope we don’t find out that the property taxes on the villas are at a rate not commensurate wih the $425,000 price tag of the homes . . . Congratulations to the Colts and the Saints. I like it when a new team makes it to the show. Go Saints! . . . Speaking of football, I think moving the Pro Bowl to next week at the same site as the Super Bowl the following week is an excellent move on the part of the NFL. It will drive viewers and give football fans something to watch as they wait for the big game . . . I love the smell of the woods on me after hiking. It should be packaged as a cologne (not) . . . For some reason, the older the children grow, the more difficult it seems to stay ahead of the laundry . . . This is why I disdain James Carville. Going with the Blame Bush defense has grown tired, much like the Cajun himself . . . I used to link to New York Times articles. I don’t any longer. I have no illusions as to what effect that has, however, few sites I read these days link to the Times. A few years ago the NYT placed its editorial content behind a fee schedule. It abandoned that when it saw how much money it lost. Not having learned anything from that experiment, the NYT is prepared to put all its content on a meter. Links are king and no one links to PPV content online . . .
Former MLB player Jack Clark is all over the news this week. Clark was a slugger for the Giants for the first half of his career. He then played for the Cardinals before bouncing to Yankees, Padres, and Red Sox as he career winded down. I was not a huge fan, but he certainly was an above average player in power.
After Mark McGwire admitted steroid use this week, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa stated he had had no idea about Big Mac’s drug use. LaRussa managed McGwire in Oakland and in St. Louis. Clark took both to task (and here).
All those guys are cheaters — A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez]. Fake, phony. Rafael Palmeiro. Fake, a phony,” Clark told the newspaper. “[Roger] Clemens, [Barry] Bonds. [Sammy] Sosa. Fakes. Phonies. They don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
“They should all be in the Hall of Shame,” Clark said. “They can afford to build it. They’ve all got so much money. And they could all go there and talk about the next way to rub something on your skin. The whole thing is creepy.
“They’re all creeps. All these guys have been liars.
They’re not really a man’s man,” Clark said. “They’re just whimpering boys who are just sad to watch. They try to put it off on somebody else. I don’t know how they sleep at night, looking at all their fame, let alone the money they took by faking everybody out and lying to everybody.
[McGwire's] own manager never knew that [Jose] Canseco and McGwire and anybody else ever had taken steroids?” Clark said to the Post-Dispatch. “Trust me, from [a former player], I have a lot of insight into who did what and when but I’m not even going to talk about it.
Only one who is in denial could have thought McGwire had not juiced. It is difficult, however, to “convict” without proof. McGwire provided that this week. He had to as he is going back in uniform as a hitting coach. If he had not cleared the record, he would have been hounded about it all year. He still will be, I suspect.
When one looks at McGwire’s career, what is his HoF potential? It’s based solely on his home runs. His fielding isn’t getting him in. He wasn’t a batting champ. He wasn’t even a huge RBI guy in his career. Any HoF considerations are based on his home run total and that total is totally suspect after his admission. It is easy for me, McGwire does not deserve a place in Cooperstown.
Clark’s comments are hard-hitting. I like that. It is uncomfortable though. Another player listed is Roger Clemens. I was a huge Rocket fan. He has not admitted to any drug use, but it looks rather plain to Joe Public he juiced too.
Clemens and Bonds make decision-making more difficult. Not knowing absolutely that they juiced bothers me a bit, but in the end probably would not keep me from passing ultimate judgment. With McGwire, his HoF potential was directly related to his steroid use. That is not quite the case with Rocket and Bonds. Both were destined for the HoF prior to their drug use (I think. Obviously, if they juiced, I don’t know exactly when it began, but it sure looks like 1999 is a good indication.). Drug use in their cases escalated their stats. Clemens pitched effectively into his 40s, which is definitely not the norm. Bonds went from a 600+ home run hitter to the all-time leader.
So does drug use keep these two out of the HoF too. If Jack Clark had his way, absolutely. I tend to want to take the hard line as well. Their records are there for all to see, but the plaque can be left off the wall. The deal they cut garnered them big paychecks. Of course, Lucifer got to hold onto their reputations, which are now shot.
