First-time fair vendor Dean Margarites of Monmouth County said he likely will skip setting up his Greek-A-Licious stand here next year because of poor sales.

“If I have something else going on, I’ll probably stick to something closer,” Margarites said.

As far as I am concerned that will improve the fair. Greek-a-Licious served me the absolute worst gyro I have ever eaten . . . Several years ago I noticed that BlogNetNews.com had picked up eCache in its feeds. It’s an interesting site, although it never generated much traffic here. A couple years ago the url for eCache changed. I contacted them to update it several times. They never did and I stopped trying. Just now in one of my feeds, I stumbled across this site again. I too a quick look. Not only have they not updated my feed, they have me classified as liberal. Bahaaaawwww . . . “Terrell Owens says he’s concerned teams are swayed by the perception that he’s a troublemaker and that’s why none have signed the free-agent receiver.” You think? I will be sorry to see Terrell retire. Since we have the same surname, my students always feel a kindred spirit. I use T.O. as an example throughout the year whenever my students fall into “me first” mode. We pound our chests just like the clueless one. Who will I use when he is no longer relevant? . . . Newspapers employing paywalls is poor business, imo, but Lancaster Online has taken the cake. Their new model uses a paywall only for obituaries. After reading seven obits, one will have to pay for the eighth. Yeah, that will work . . . Scoble is a media whore. He’s been pimping his “secret” all week. We’re all impressed . . . The other evening the handle fell off my Weber Performer. The grill i eight years old. The handle had rusted. I e-mailed the company, forwarded photographs, etc. In the mail right now to me is a replacement lid and thermometer free of charge. Weber has outstanding customer service . . .

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.

It certainly looked that the Steelers were the better team two and a half quarters into the game. Then the Cardinals seemed to figure out the Pittsburgh secondary. The Cardinals came back big.

Warner seemed to choke on the one drive. Kudos to Arizona for punting and pinning the Steelers deep. Personally, I thought the back’s knee was down for a safety on the play before, but that was inconsequential. The Cardinals came down and took the lead with 2:37 left.

Too much time. Way too much.

The Steelers marched right down. The winning touchdown pass to Holmes was remarkable. Two plays in a row he was open. The Cardinals needed to close that up and they didn’t. That was the ultimate difference.

The Cardinals have nothing to be ashamed of. I am not one who accepts moral victories. In the end they lost, but they played well. Congratulations.

Congratulations to the Steelers, the only team to win six Super Bowls.

Thank you for an exciting game that I watched until the end. Awesome!

I am not much on halftime shows. Springsteen announced he had but 12 minutes and he played exactly that. And while the Freehold native has ticked me off quite a bit in recent years with his politics, I have to say I cannot think of a finer halftime show ever. He rocked Tampa. A lot of fun. Of course, I would have loved Rosalita and Sandy, but I suppose the song selection was okay. Little Steven was having a blast.

Baseball
I am a baseball fan through and through. I love watching the game whether it be my World Champion Phightins or a local Little League game. Baseball is a thing of beauty.

There is no doubt that the Philadelphia Phillies are my team. I first saw them play live in 1971. I watch oodles of their games each year.

In addition to the Phillies though, I am willing to watch just about any baseball. The game is that wonderful. In my youth, it seemed that the Red Sox were featured quite a bot on the GOTW. I liked them then. I lived in Boston for four years and attended many games at Fenway. I liked them then. I still have an affinity for the Red Sox. It is easy to like them as they are the antithesis of the Yankees. As a Philly boy, I have a natural dislike of New York teams. And I do dislike them, although I respect the history of the Yankees has had on the game.

Football
I grew up a Dolphins fan. It is not difficult to understand. The first time I recall seeing them was in Super Bowl V when they lost to the Cowboys 24-3. I am sure their colorful uniforms helped (as well as being one of the better teams). As soon as I began liking them, they won back-to-back Super Bowls. Go me! Then it was a long time before they made it back to the show . . . and lose. I remained a diehard Fins fan until about a decade ago when I met my wife. She said I should root for the home team. And she was right.

It was becoming more difficult to follow a team 1500 miles from home. In their place, I watched the Eagles. I used to be a big WIP listener. Philly is much more a football town than a baseball one. I was persuaded and officially switched my allegiances. I still root for the Fins, but the Eagles have my heart.

Admittedly, however, I have noticed over the last few years I watch a lot less football than I used to. Sundays are filled with other activities. MNF is no longer an event. The Thursday game is now off limits as I do not subscribe to the NFL Network. It is just becoming easier to turn off the game.

Basketball
Yup, the 76ers through and through. Chamberlain was before my time. Instead, I recall the lowly 1972 team. Soon enough the team picked it up and we had a nice run for a decade.

I lost interest in basketball a long time ago. I cannot relate to the game. Despite large leads, all games close in the fourth quarter. It appears the last five minutes are all one needs to watch. Traveling has been re-defined. Palming is not called. It just isn’t a game that I look forward to watching any longer.

I spent time living in Boston. I ran a restaurant that the Celtics coach, K.C. Jones, had a stake in. I met the team on numerous occasions for fundraisers. I have a liking for the Celtics too.

Hockey
I love the Flyers. I like watching hockey, but I have not followed the game in a while. Too much going on. On occasion, however, I will sit down and watch a game. I find hockey to be very interesting. I can’t skate and never had any dreams of playing and I can’t afford to attend the games.

NASCAR
Growing up I watched a lot of racing. Cale Yarborough was my driver, but I liked Petty, Pearson, A.J. Foyt, the Unsers, etc. too. Then as I went to college, I stopped watching racing. It wasn’t until I moved here 15 years ago that I got back into it. When I did, I rooted for the pretty boy Jeff Gordon. I know. I know.

As I became a Ford driver, I tried to find a Ford driver to root for. I still rooted for Gordon.

I don’t watch weekly any longer, but I casually follow the Cup. The Hendrick team is my team and Gordon is still my driver. Go figure.

It occurs to me that baseball may be the game that sticks with me as it is the only game I can afford to attend any longer. And even that is becoming an issue. I go to far fewer games than I used to. It costs my family more than $100 to attend a game these days. That is a treat once in a blue moon, not a regular gig. I used to go to 15-20 games a year. We used to travel to Baltimore, New York, D.C., and Pittsburgh for games. Now D.C. is it and only because we visit there regularly for other reasons.

Anyhow, who do you root for?

With the nation’s attention on the Scarlet Knights, the following game was a stinker as Cincinnati dropped Rutgers 30-11.  Rutgers rebounded against Syracuse before losing the final game of the season to West Virginia.  The New Jersey team then prevailed in the Texas Bowl.  Bravo!

The Piscataway business university parlayed the 2006 season into a money grab. With a decent team, it was time to expand the 1993-built football stadium to hold the influx of fair-weathered new fans.  There was much outrage for the project and the $102 million price tag to add 15,000 seats.  In fact, so much so that Gov. Corzine did not commit tax dollars to the project.  All he did was write a personal check and spearhead a fundraising drive.

Some expansion has occurred, but the project has stalled and is out of cash.  Yesterday the Board of Govenors met secretly to discuss the project. 

The football team followed the magical 2006 season with an 8-5 record including the Invitational Bowl (the what?) win against Ball State in 2007.  The grid iron gang is off to an inauspicious 0-2 record this year after it was spanked last night, a Thursday game on ESPN, by North Carolina 44-12.

Play like this isn’t going to bring in the donations to expand the stadium.  It seems to me that those who are in charge of this project are on the public payroll.  Isn’t it short-sighted to expand a stadium based on one game two years ago?  I’d like to see some heads roll over this.