ObaMack-Daddy, Part 1

We all know what Don Imus said--here's what presidential candidate Barack Obama thought should happen to someone who made a bad joke:


In case you somehow missed it, here is (in my mind) the most provocative of the statements made by Obama's own pastor of many years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright:


And here's Barack's condemnation of the man who calls for God to damn America:


Just sayin'.

March Madness 2008

It's that time again--the only time of year when I'll watch basketball. I haven't watched the NBA regularly since Jordan retired (the first time)--he's the best player who'll ever come around in my lifetime; why bother with pretenders to the throne? (And yes, I did watch LeBron James's first game, and was unimpressed. Ditto for MJ's comeback with the Wizards.) But I do enjoy the college game--hungry young kids who haven't yet earned their mega-million dollar payday, who actually play defense, and who actually get called when they travel with the ball. I entered into a bracket-picking league (on Yahoo), but I didn't have the stones to actually put money on it this year. And somehow I ended up with my worst bracket ever--all four #1 seeds reaching the Final Four, no seed lower than 3 in the Elite 8, and my biggest upset #7 West Virginia over #2 Duke in the second round. I should have watched more of the conference tournaments to get ready for this one--I only saw a couple of games last Sunday. For the record, my finals pick is Memphis over Kansas to win it all.

Spitzer? I Hardly Know Her!

N.Y Gov. Eliot Spitzer, seen at left describing one of his sessions with high-priced call girls, is set to resign today.

I know I should feel bad for his wife and daughters (the oldest of whom isn't much younger than the women he was messing around with), but I can't help but feel a little smug watching this sawed-off little hypocrite crash and burn. For all his reputation as an "anti-corruption crusader", his most high-profile "cause" was one of the utmost importance: making sure radio DJs don't receive free beer or concert tickets from record companies.

When The Spitz's resignation takes effect on Monday, the country is going to have its first known blind governor. I think it would be funny and yet somehow appropriate if they switched in a copy of the Kama Sutra on him for the inauguration ceremony.

Oxy Morons

Another nominee for the Darwin Awards.

Seriously, I just can't muster up a lot of sympathy for someone who steals a cancer patient's pain medicine. Yes, I know the one who died didn't do the actual stealing, but I'm sure he asked his buddy, "Where'd you get the pills?" before ingesting him into his body. And if he didn't, then this outcome was inevitable anyway.

Maybe I'm just cranky because my own (cold) pills are wearing off. Almost time to go to the drugstore and pass a background check to prove that I'm not a meth dealer just so I can get some medicine that actually works.

Blogroll Updates 2.20.08

Just doing a little bit of housekeeping, folks. I'm deleting two links from my blogroll. Comedian Jim Norton is gone, as his blog is no longer being updated, and my girlfriend has decided to make her blog readable by invitation only, so that link has to go as well.

With spring training starting up, I'm adding a baseball blog to the list that was passed to me by my buddy Zeb (and no, it's not a Yankee blog, either)--UmpBump.com.

Finally, I've changed my links and blogrolls section to be alphabetical rather than more-or-less-order-added. It's a timesaver when I add and delete links, since it will alphabetize automatically, versus me manually moving each new site to the bottom of the list.

All In The Family

Fidel Castro resigns as Cuba's leader

If you have Fidel in your celebrity dead pool, it's looking better and better for you. He doesn't strike me as the type of guy who'd just up and quit unless his short term health outlook was very grim indeed.

Just don't look for any big changes in the lil'est Communist dictatorship, at least in the short term. Every indication is that baby brother Raul will simply remove the "interim" from his current job title and take over as the country's leader. He's talked of reform, but it sounds pretty minor league (increasing government wages rather than overhauling the totalitarian government structure). The only saving grace in this transition is that Raul is only five years younger than Fidel--hopefully once both of the Castro Brothers are gone, Cuba can be free once more and the U.S. can lift their embargoes. I want my Cuban cigars!

Guevarobama

OK, enough sports...time for some politics!

Apparently, some of Obama's staff support a terrorist after all...just not one who's Islamic. Or alive.

This guy becomes more worrisome to me every day. I can't believe there's a candidate out there who makes Hilary Clinton the more appealing Democratic nominee.

Hat tip to Clay over at the August Knights Forums for spotting this one.

Houston, We Have A Steroid Problem

Roger says he didn't. Andy says he did. And Brian says he has the evidence to prove it.

And when it comes right down to it, Pettitte is pretty damn believable. He has admitted to his own use of HGH (for injury recovery at a time when it was allowed under MLB rules) and has nothing to gain.


McNamee, on the other hand, comes across as either a liar or an utter scumbag with his alleged physical evidence that he claims has been kept in his basement for the past eight years. If this is true, then he's been planning to turn on his friend and employer for a long, long time. That doesn't mark him as the kind of upstanding citizen who makes a reliable witness.

There are other little things that point to Clemens being a steroid user, like when he winged a piece of broken bat at Mike Piazza during the double-aught World Series--'roid rage, anyone? Then there's his giant head--other notable members of that club are Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire...hmmmm.

The whole "congressional inquiry" thing seems a bit ridiculous in sports when there's a war going on, but at least this series of hearings on grown men playing a kids' game is aimed at protecting people's health. Sen. Arlen Specter apparently feels it's the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's job to make sure no one's stealing signs, either.

Of course, the best argument to keep kids off steroids should be Roger Clemens's 2007 stats line. Combine that with a couple of months on the DL, and steroid abuse should be a thing of the past. Who wants to emulate those numbers?

Proud to Be...A Super Bowl Champion!

This video says it all.

Champs!!

I'm sitting here absolutely stunned right now. Two weeks into this season, I said to my dad, "The Giants are a 4-12 team...but I can't figure out which four teams they're going to beat." Five months later, my team is this year's champions. I couldn't have been more wrong about the game. I thought it would be an offensive shootout--somewhere along the lines of 38-35. I thought the "over" would be the safe bet--boy, was I wrong on that one. Here's some other random thoughts from the game and the season.

- Ryan Seacrest has no business on a football pregame show. If that little Nancy has ever watched a game in his life, it was to watch the linemen get into position (if you catch my drift.)

- Giants G.M. Jerry Reese is a genius. Everyone from this year's draft made a contribution, and even the guy from the preseason who made a big contribution to another team (Packers RB Ryan Grant) was traded for a pick in this year's draft.

- I was ready to fire Coughlin after a lackluster preseason and an 0-2 start. Now I think the Giants would be foolish to sign him to less than a 5-year extension. (And for the record, my girlfriend did predict that the Giants would win the Super Bowl to cheer me up after the loss to the Packers in week 2. She just didn't predict it'd be over her dad's Patriots.)

- I thought Joe Buck should be fired for calling Giants DE Justin Tuck "Jason Tuck" for the second consecutive broadcast during the game. I was even more appalled when Stuart Scott did the same thing during the SportsCenter highlights with time to prepare. Unpreparedness is, to my mind, a worse offense than trying to make a joke that comes up offensive. If Don Imus and Kelly Tilghman get punished, then Buck and Scott should be punished even more harshly for their faux pas.
- David Tyree's final catch should be replayed as often as that of Franco Harris. It truly was the Immaculate Reception for the new millenium.

- Who ever would have thought that the Mike Barnes of the NFL (that would be Randy Moss) would be more gracious in defeat than Bill Belichick, who basically got his start with the franchise that defeated him tonight? I guess that makes him the NFL's John Creese, which in turn makes Bob Kraft football's answer to Terry Silver.

- And apparently I wasn't the only naysayer who reads this blog. Check out the comments on this post.

Congratulations to the Patriots for setting the record for wins in a season, and for an excellent Super Bowl. And congratulations to MVP Eli Manning and the Giants. This truly was one for the ages, and for the next year, at least, you truly are...the best around.

(Photo from FoxSports.com.)

Easy E

Welcome back for another year at Beast's World! I'd like to start another year with congratulations to my New York Giants, especially Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin for finally winning a playoff game wearing the Big Blue. Next stop: Dallas; nothing would make me happier than for the Giants to be the team that knocks the Cowboys and the vastly overrated Tony Romo out of the playoffs.

As for the game itself, I'd give the game ball to Corey Webster, who has now shed his "bust" label in a single game with a pick and a fumble recovery. (Until yesterday, I had him pegged as Will Allen Jr., only with fewer interceptions.)

The only negative I can see out of this game is that after this, Tom Coughlin is sure to get a huge contract extension, and keep Kevin Gilbride with him. I just don't see the former as a Super Bowl winning coach, though I'd love to be wrong. As for Gilbride, let's just say that I don't think the man who brought us Ryan Leaf is the best person to be developing a mercurial talent like Eli Manning.

Of course, if the Giants do somehow manage to get to the Super Bowl, I'll have to eat that paragraph, but an NFC championship is sauce that can make crow taste oh-so-good.

(Photo from Sports Illustrated.)

This Is Not A Retraction

No, I haven't backed down on the comments I made about A-Rod in my last post merely because he re-signed with the Yankees. He really thought he could get $300 million from some sucker GM, then came back to suckle on the Yankee teat when no one was buying. Yes, I'm sure super-scumbag agent Scott Boras deserves some, or even most, of the blame, but A-Rod hasn't shown any loyalty to his team this offseason. I won't be booing you, Alex, but rest assured that my cheers are first and foremost to the uniform. The uniform, and the fact that you have the best chance at restoring legitimacy to the now-tainted career home run record.