A Forgotten Disaster Just One Month Later

What if there was an event that killed almost 300 people from 10 different countries, injured 1,200 people, and left 35,000 people homeless that hardly made news? What was this event? When did the event take place? It was just a month ago. This was the L’Aquila earthquake that took place in Italy.

The reason I am writing this is because I wanted to make a donation to help the people of Italy. I tried to google to find relief funds, or organizations that were accepting donations and I really found very little. I did not even know if any of these charities that were set up online were legit. Honestly, I have no idea what it was that drove this story under the rug. Is it because Italy is not a third world country? Is it because there was no news media photos or video that said look at these starving, desperate people? Was it because the economy is in the dumps and agencies would be afraid that Americans would not give any money or support to Italy and keep it all for themselves? I tend to disagree. Americans are very generous, sometimes too generous, look how much money we lent to failing banks and other companies. Sorry, bad joke. But, we do donate to many causes, Americans gave millions of dollars to starving children
in Africa, millions more after the tsunami, and the list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip,$900 million! So, the US, in a time of a struggling economy where many people are out of a job, cannot make ends meet, and are watching their taxpayer dollars go to fund foolishly insolvent banks, failing automobile manufacturers and fraudulent insurance companies just lost a needed $900 million to Palestine. Palestine, a place that does not really give a flying fart about America, and where some of its people danced in the streets while our country was attacked on September 11th! Oh, it is not just a Democrat rant, I cannot equally stand the billions that went to Iraq, and that we have received very little from that money, and most importantly lost
4,284, American men and women, and not including the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that were also killed since this war began in 2003. You may ask, what the heck does this have to do with the earthquake in Italy. Well, here goes. The amount of money that the United States State Department
gave to Italy in emergency relief funding, hope you are sitting, down,$50,000! It equates to about $1.42 to each person left homeless. Why did we even bother giving anything, what an insult! The Italians would have been much better off financially if they were enemies of the United States than friends. The US would have given billions. Instead, here’s your 50 grand, um, maybe you can buy the last American made car with that money. I thought the Obama Administration would be the one to mend the fences of our allies that the Bush Administration allegedly severed? $900 million to an enemy state and $50,000, to a friend in need does not make me feel that great that this is change. You may wonder, did the Italians give anything to the US during a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina? The answer is yes. Italy donated 80,000 pounds of supplies to Mississippi that was sufficient to give 12,000 to 15,000 of people needed aid.

Does anyone know how much the State of Palestine or Hamas gave to the US in aid from Katrina? I tried to find it I came up empty. If someone knows the answer to this, please feel free to leave a comment. Many Palestinian-Americans did have charities for Katrina.

May 6, 2009, will mark the one month anniversary of the earthquake and the 22 subsequent aftershocks that followed the 6.3 Mw quake.

While it was admirable of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to say that the Italians are ‘proud people’ and had sufficient resources to deal with the crisis, it was not necessarily the most intelligent decision. It may be true. But, then again, it may have been true in World War II, when the Americans came to Italy’s rescue. But, that does not mean that we as human beings still cannot show solidarity and give our support any way that we can. One day the country may not be as blessed and will not forget your generosity in a time of need. The Italian Premier also said that the homeless from the quake should consider the Easter weekend that the homeless should enjoy a camping weekend. I am hoping that something was lost in translation, but it does not appear to be the case. The recovery effort in Italy has been tremendous and has saved many lives. Maybe, if Italy did not have the proper rescue tools this story would have made more headlines.

A month later, swine flu dominates the headlines. The number of people who have died due to swine flu: 28.

First Trip to Citi Field

Ah, my first trip to Citi Field. I have the 15-game Friday pack, and it is the first time I have ever had a ticket plan with the Mets. My tickets are in Left Field in the Promenade Level. The ticket is $20 per game.
There is plenty of parking, with about 14,000 less seats and the more spots available due to the construction being completed this makes it easier to get to Citi Field by car. Be prepared to pay $18 to park. I like to park by the Marina, it is the easiest way out after the game. If you can take the 7 train, it’s only about a 15 minute trip from Grand Central Station.

Shea is nothing but a square piece of dirt right now. Only the memories remain. Many of those memories are shown around the walls of Citi Field, which does have an Ebbets Field facade to it.

Anything was better than Shea. This is true on so many levels. Escalators that work perfectly, there are even elevators, and the support staff at Citi Field are nice and friendly, and you almost forget you are in New York City. They must have hired a 1,000 people. Luckily, most of the people that worked at Shea seem to be living at Shady Acres.

This place is about the concession stands. They surround the concourses. The prices were about the same as Shea. The food options were robust. I ate before the game. A hot dog is $4.75, $6.50 to $7.50 for a beer, there are burger places, pizza, sausage & peppers, tacos, burritos, etc. Behind Center field is the Shake Shack that is very popular with even more options. The one problem with that place is that the scoreboard blocks your view of the field while you are there. It was cool to see the old Mets sign with the NYC skyline above it that used to be over the old Shea scoreboard.

Bill Veeck once said that, “The knowledge of the game is inversely proportional to the price of the seat.” He said this decades ago long before there would be 5 levels of club seating, seat licenses, waitress service to seat, etc. God, if he was alive today, what he would say. There are 5 Clubs at Citi Field, a different one for the ticket you hold. I do not have access to any of them. I have sat in Club Seats before, it is nice, but it is only good if you get free food with your ticket. Most of the Clubs at Citi do not give you free food. The real Met fans who probably sat in the Orange and Blue Levels in the past have mostly migrated to the top. The infamous Cow-Bell Man is up with us. Most of the “Let’s Go Mets” chants started with our sections, the people who paid 3 figures for the seats seemed content to sit on their hands, and hope the Mets win by at least 2 points.

My seat is no wider than it was at Shea, but there is more leg room and cup holders at every seat. And the rows are situated where you can see over someone regardless of height instead of looking between people’s shoulders. I am in the 6th row of section 534, I have a very nice view of the field, every seat faces home plate, which was something that was an adventure at Shea where you had to turn your body to see the pitcher. The height of my seat is about the equivalent to the Mezzanine level at Shea, so the view is not necessarily a nose bleed view. There are obstructed views and my seats are not immune from that. Because the seats overlap the Left Field wall, anything hit to the wall cannot be seen below you. I knew this when I bought my tickets, but, I wanted to be part of this place, and I was not going to spend thousands to get the perfect seat.

It is not a big deal to me that the seats are green and the wall is black. Everyone will learn to live with that. The Phillies have blue seats and a green wall at their park which does not really match their colors either. I would have rather seen a nice design built into the seats like the ones that exist for the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Manchester United.

The Jackie Robinson Rotunda is very nice, but it is 45 years too late. This should have been part of Shea and not Citi Field. The Mets have 47 years of history on their own. Yes, most of it is tragic and laughable, but some it is actually historic. The Mets are only one of three teams since the 1962 expansion to capture multiple World Series titles. The Blue Jays and the Marlins are the other two, and the only team to capture 4 Pennants. While, I am huge Brooklyn Dodger fan, I am in the 90 per cent majority who was not alive to see Jackie play. I would say only about 2 or 3 per cent of last night’s attendance actually saw a game at Ebbets Field, my father, who is 68, is in that 2 or 3 per cent.

While Dodger fans loved Jackie, he was not their favorite Dodger, the fans of dem Bums favorites were Pee Wee Reese, the most beloved, the Duke of Flatbush, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, who also managed the Miracle Mets (and should be in the Hall of Fame!), Roy Campanella, and the Reading Rifle, Carl Furillo were all more popular in Brooklyn than #42. What I would have done with the Rotunda would be to incorporate all 3 New York National League teams, the Dodgers, the Giants, and the Mets into one. The Field does not really have much at all in terms of Mets items associated with it. The banners hang from high flag poles out in Right Field and are hardly noticeable. Citi Field almost makes the Mets feel like a first-year expansion team with hardly any history. Now, I am not saying we needed to make a Benny Agbayani, Mel Rojas, or Tsuyoshi Shinjo Rotunda, but I think true Met fans wanted to see pictures of Tom Terrific, Doc, Darryl, the Kid, I’m Keith Hernandez, Ronny Darling, Mike Piazza, Johnny Franco, Gil Hodges, Davey, and some pictures of today’s Mets stars adorn the building. Everyone likes to wax poetic about Brooklyn, and it is a special place, and the borough is making a renaissance, but if Brooklyn was so great, how come the team moved just 2 years after a championship. You can blame Walter O’Malley and the city all you want, but attendance numbers dwindled, and the Trolley Dodgers are never coming back. We have the Mets, and the true fans bleed orange and blue, not blue and white. I look at the New England Patriots, a team that has been around for the same number of years, and with actually less history, now has a new stadium, a team Hall of Fame, a shopping area called Patriot Place, pretty good ticket prices except for the Club Seats, and that place is all about the Patriots. Citi Field should be all about the Mets.

Now to the actual game, seeing Gary Sheffield hit his 500th Home Run was special, and only done 24 other times, but what made it even more memorable was that it tied the game. A game that the Mets were cruising after the first inning, but fell asleep for the next 6 innings and trailed 4-3. Gary’s pop off the bench gave the Mets a spark that in recent years was sorely missing. The bullpen was tremendous, keeping the Brewers off the scoreboard for 4 innings, and Luis Castillo, a cross to bear for Met fans, comes through again in ‘09 with a walk-off winning RBI infield single.
The crowd was about 36,000, last night, about 6,000 short of a sellout. Unfortunately, I think there will be fewer sellouts due to the high ticket prices, and that the celebs and CEO’s that that the Wilpons thought would flock to the park, are here, but the demand was not overwhelming, due to the economy and the greed of the Wilpons’ favorite season ticket holder, Bernie “Arthur Ponzarelli” Madoff.

I will be making a trip to the new Yankee Stadium this season; I drove past it last night, and it looks jaw droppingly good. I will have a write up about the $1.6 Billion new Coliseum for the Bombers. I think the Mets $800 Million was pretty well spent, it will take a while to get used to the home field, but it is our home, and hopefully the memories, like the one I had last night, will add to the Ulti-Met times to come.

Congrats Tar Heels.

So much for my prediction.

North Carolina did what Louisville and UConn could not do. The Tar Heels dictated the game and 10 minutes into the game UNC had their foot on the gas pedal and was not lifting it for the rest of the night. It was as dominant a performance as you will ever see in a championship game. Do you ever remember a game being finished that early? The Spartans were not built to come from behind by 16, 9 minutes into a game, few teams are. Michigan State had a great year, but North Carolina had a great season, and it ends with Roy Williams’ 2nd NCAA Title.

2009 NCAA Final Four Championship Pick

I had Michigan State out in the second round. I really did not know too much about the Spartans, only that I thought they played in a weak Big Ten Conference. I was wrong. It’s the beauty of sports, you do not ever really know.

I just know a couple of things, first, it was not that long ago that we were saying that Roy Williams could not win the big one, no one says that about Tom Izzo, second, Michigan State in this tournament is not who we thought they were. They are clearly much better. Throw that meeting in December in the garbage. I remember in high school the team I played for, lost by 28 in one of our early conference games. Later that year, we played that team again in the Semifinal of our county tournament, and won by 4. Tournament basketball is a whole new ballgame. You play different as a team when you are on a run in a tournament. If you play like a team, and the Spartans certainly do that, then you can accomplish the near impossible.

UNC is a great team, and they should win on Monday night, but this Michigan State team that some did not even have in the Regional Semifinal, and few had them playing this Monday night can shock the world. The thing is; they wouldn’t shock themselves. Those guys in green probably would not ever want this season to end, they are playing their best and it is something when you are in a tournament you want to bottle up and keep forever.

With all of that being said, it just takes one game, one night, and one team to outplay the other.

My pick: Michigan State 79, North Carolina 75 (In Overtime)

Recap of Jon Stewart’s Interview With Jim Cramer

I really liked Jon’s interview with Jim Cramer. Jon’s questions and video evidence of Jim bending the rules was terrific. But, Jon is pointing his blame at the wrong person. The blame in this are the investigative financial reporters, lies not just at CNBC, but every network that had a chance to expose more of the fraud.

Is CNBC at fault, sure it is. Is it more at fault than the CEO of Bear Stears, Wachovia, or Lehman Brothers? No. Are reporters more to blame than a clueless Federal Reserve or an incompetent Securities and Exchange Commission? Heck no. Those are the people he should be interviewing.

Jim Cramer is not really better than anyone else on Wall Street. He really does not pretend to be. He has taught me and many others a few things about the stock market. I have made money thanks to his recommendations, my research, and working with my financial planner. Anyone who just listens to his advice without doing any additional research is crazy. Could he have known more than he led on? Probably. But, even if he did, few would have listened. You can go back to my youtube clip on Peter Schiff where he was completely laughed at, click on the link if you don’t believe me. Most of us were making money and we were happy and did not care that we were skating on paper thin ice.

The stock market and the economy reminds of me of baseball in 2009. We knew years ago that these players (companies on Wall Street) were artificially juiced, but we really did not make a stink about it until it hurt us in our own pockets, or if someone hit 73 home runs in a single season that we did not personally like. We liked seeing McGwire belt out 70 in a year, even though we knew he was a fraud. He brought us to watch baseball again and the 500 foot homers were really cool. But, when Bonds was doing it, the red alerts went off. Over 100 baseball players, like Wall Street executives were nothing but pathological liars.

The people that Stewart should have asked his poignant questions are the CEO’s, and other executives that are actually in banking, not an entertainer. We can question and learn from the past, but we have to have the right people step forward and be honest. It is 2009, and the damage has been done, it is time for new ideas, honest solutions and never going back to the days of being sold a fraudulent house of cards. Interviewing Jim Cramer is about equal to interviewing Tim McCarver.

By the way, I loved how during the last commercial break there was a commercial for Bank of America. What a double standard, that is! Hey, we can pick on banks all we want, but we will take their advertising dollars! Welcome to the Daily $how!

Blasts & Duds from the Oscars

It is time to bring back the popular column of Blasts & Duds from the
Grenade.  Today, it is all about the 81st Academy Awards.  The
Oscars have always been good for some great Blasts & Duds over the
years.  Let’s see how this year stacks up:

BLASTS

1.  The Academy Selections – I wrote my 2009
Oscar picks a couple of weeks ago, and many of picks came true. 
The Academy did not really have a surprise in the bunch.  Penelope Cruz
winning for Best Supporting Actress may have been the only winner that could
be classified as a surprise, but not a real big one in my eyes. 

2.  Kate Winslet  – Boy, she made up from her
"so surprised to have won" routine at the Golden Globes.  You
are a great actress, Kate, it’s ok, it is not a surprise anymore.  I
thought she gave a very good speech, and was classy throughout.  Brava! 

3. The Presentation of the Acting Awards – Great call by
the Academy to bring back 5 winners from each acting category to present the
awards.  You can’t beat seeing people like Robert DeNiro, Sophia Loren,
Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley, and so many others was a true tribute to
the screen.  I liked how they were able to talk a little about each
performance and it did not feel rushed. 

4. India – The Slumdog from Mumbai, became a Hollywood
millionaire on Oscar night.  Nominated for 10 Oscars, they took home 8. 
And since, there were two nominees for Best Song, they went 8 for 9. 
Danny Boyle took home Best Director and Christian Colson sealed the night
with the Best Picture Oscar.  Indian music was rewarded with A. R.
Rahman winning for Best Musical Score and Best Song.  Slumdog
Millionaire had a fairy tale finish not only on the screen, but on Oscar
night. 

5. Jerry Lewis - The Academy rightfully bestowed their
Humanitarian Award for him.  While his health may not be at its finest,
his spirit felt strong.  I am very glad that they finally got around to
doing this, while this legend of a person is still with us.  I only
wish he was able to speak longer. 

6. Hugh Jackman  – I know people have gone back and
forth on this.  I liked how his opening act was not political, but
reached out to just about everyone.  While, he certainly was not
as good as Billy Crystal hosting, he did not take away from the awards. 
Hugh is an Australian gem.  He can host this show anytime, as far
as I am concerned.

7.  The Camera Crew & The Stage – Alright, I
won’t be shy, I loved that the camera crew panned to Angelina Jolie &
Brad Pitt while Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black were presenting for
Best Animated Feature.  +1 to the camera crew and directors from ABC. 
The Stage looked amazing, with that Swarovski crystal curtain.  Well
done.  

8. – Dustin Lance Black - A well deserved Oscar that was
followed up by a very inspirational speech.  It was heartfelt and real. 
You could tell he was very nervous, but it was something he needed to get
off his chest.  It must have been quite an honor for him to have won
this award for Milk, and to see how Harvey Milk’s story inspired his
own life is very impressive and memorable. 

9. – No Music Cut-offs – It was nice that people who won their
awards were not cutoff after 15 seconds of talking by the band.  
There should be a time limit, but at least give them a minute or so, to
thank and describe their feelings on one of the biggest nights of their
careers.  

DUDS

1. Sean Penn – Ok, ok, we get it, you are America’s
Douchebag.  If I ever met Sean Penn, I’d probably shake his hand with
my right hand and want to knock him out with my left hand. He is a
tremendous actor, and while I thought he would finish 2nd for Best Actor; I
was not upset that he was the winner.  But, dude, can you leave
political crap at home.  It has no place at the Awards. 
Republicans are not the devil, and not everything you think is right,
actually is.  You could taken a page from your screenwriter, Dustin
Lance Black, on how to give a speech that gives thanks and sends a message
with pride and dignity.  Oh, and when you get a chance, could you
remember to thank Harvey Milk, he might have played a part in your victory. 
That reminded me of Julia Roberts thanking 4 million people and not even
mentioning Erin Brockovich’s name in her speech.

2 – The Great Unknown - The question we all are left
with in our minds; what if Mickey Rourke had won?  No one has any idea
what he would have done had he won Best Actor.  We can only guess and
say what is on our minds, but it will always be one of the most unknown
questions in Oscar history. 

3. – Ben Stiller – It does not help that I am not really
a big fan of his to begin with, but I did not really think his Joaquin
Phoenix impression was funny.

4.  Anne Hathaway – Should be more like Anne
Go-away.  First, she is not pretty.  Maybe, I am in the minority
here, but I know I am not alone.  She has eyebrows reminiscent of Bert
from Sesame Street, a big beak for a nose, and when I see those teeth, I
want to re-do the Go-go’s classic hit, "We’ve Got the Beat," to
"She’s Got Big Teeth."   Second, I do not really think
she is that talented as an actress, either. 

5.  Eddie Murphy – He was not given the easiest
task, but he seemed to have some difficulty reading off the monitors. 
I am hoping he is not into any drugs or something else.  

6.  Beyonce & Queen Latifah – I like both of
them.  I just thought their choice of song were questionable.  In
the movie Dreamgirls, Jamie Foxx’s character says to Beyonce’s
character, Deena, "You know why I chose you to sing lead? Because your
voice… has no personality. No depth. Except for what I put in there." 
While it was just a movie line, there is some truth in it.  Beyonce
could not resist throwing in a snip of "At Last".  Please,
just leave that to Etta James.  As for the Queen, a lovely voice, and
one with depth, but "I’ll Be Seeing You" just did not seem to fit
her, in my opinion.  

7.  Bill Maher – Straight from the Sean Penn school
of Douchebagness, Bill decided to put a smarmy little comment about his
documentary not being nominated and that people who believe in God are
responsible for the world’s ills.  Sorry, Bill, but about 95% of the
people do believe in some form of a God around the world.  We all DO
NOT think like you, so please, do not act like we do.  I am sure
Bill was so upset that later that night he smoked 3 bowls worth of pot and
had 2 escorts to carry him through his lack of winning an Oscar. 

8.  In Memoriam Montage – We always like to see and
remember who passed away in the past year in film.  The one problem was
that the way it was filmed by the cameras, you could not see some of the
people who died due to bad angles and long distance shots by the cameras. 

My overall grade for the 81st Academy Awards is a B-plus.  It was
more of a blast than a dud, and it did justice to a very good year in
movies.  The ratings were up 13 per cent over last year. 

HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE? YOU BET!

HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE?  YOU BET!  

My plan to change Health Care is one that is controversial, it would not be a
perfect fix, but I think we can do more with this plan than we could with the
current tragic climate of health care in America today.  

Health care has turned into Wealth Care.  The health insurance we have
covers us when we get ill, but we have it because we know without health
insurance and should we become seriously ill, there would be no way possible to
pay off the medical bills.  Health insurance has become not only something
to protect your health, but something to protect our wealth, and that is not
right.   

We should be able to take care of people who need health care.  If over
40 million Americans are not covered, this means the system is greatly
flawed.   I am not advocating a national health care plan, that would
be a disaster.  I know in Canada it can take 6 months or more just to get a
colonoscopy and I have heard from Canadians that I know that some come down
to the US to get a procedure like that done, because they cannot afford the wait.  

If you do have insurance, the pitfalls are endless.  Almost everyone I
know and have worked with as a Benefit Administrator has had a problem with
their insurance company denying something that has been authorized by a
physician.  With a majority of large health companies being publicly held;
the insurance companies have to choose between your care and their
profits.   I cannot tell you how many times an employee’s tests for
certain cancers have been denied, many of these tests cost less than
$1,000.  Yet, the insurance company will cover hundreds of thousands in
expenses for cancer treatment.  It is downright crazy.

Employers bare too much of the
burden on health care.  

Employers are baring too much of the burden on carrying health care for their
employees.  The costs to cover a single employee for a company can range
from $300 to over $500 per month.  More employers are increasing the
employee payroll deductions, employee doctor and hospital copays and
prescription copays.  It is their only option to fight off annual double
digit increases from the health insurance carriers.  Employers now have to
choose between giving larger raises or reducing the employee’s health
benefits.  It is not fair that an employee is dependent on their employer
and really does not have a fair say in the matter.  The new term of
employee-driven healthcare is nothing but a way to keep your deductible high and keep you from going to the doctor for something that may appear to be small but could be larger.  

LIGHTING UP FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE

The first bill signed by President Obama into law on February 4th, was an
expansion of the SCHIP(State Children’s Health Insurance Program).  This bill allows an extra 4 million uninsured children to take part in the program.  The addition $32.8 billion to SCHIP is coming via the funding of the largest cancer-causing related death in men, and the second largest cancer-causing related death in women.  That cancer is lung cancer.  The government will receive that
$32.8 billion through just one method.  That method will be a 62 cent per pack increase in federal taxes on the purchase of a pack of cigarettes.  You
certainly will not hear these words ever uttered by a politician but, "The government needs smokers".  With the new federal tax on a pack of cigarettes, if you live in New York, the state with the highest per pack tax on cigarettes, the total amount you pay in taxes on a pack is $3.76, $1.01 to the
Federal government and $2.75 to the State.  If you are smoker, the government does not have the words to thank you enough.  If you see a smoker, do not look nasty at them, thank them for supporting the government’s plans better than any way possible besides the income tax.  

My question is how come cigarettes are the only item that gets overtaxed?  

I found a very good website on what each state government receives ingasoline, alcohol and tobacco tax revenue. Here is another good website to look
at just alcohol I wanted to get a closer look at the alcohol
taxes.  The numbers are in gallons.  This is about the equivalent of a 12 pack of beer.  The state of Wyoming has not increased its $.02 per gallon of beer cost since 1935.  It would take 533 six-packs of beer to equal the tax revenue on a carton of cigarettes.  Only a handful of states have raised the beer tax this decade.  For every 12 pack of beer sold in the United States the average tax is about 20 cents. Now, I know what the critics will say, I pay enough taxes, are you suggesting that I pay more? 

First, the governments need to balance their budgets and cut wasteful spending, but that rarely ever happens.  We do pay our fair share in taxes and then some, but what I am saying is if we can generate more revenue without raising income taxes can we all have health care too?

What if the beer I am drinking not only quenches my thirst, but also helps pay for my medical coverage?  Now, that sounds like a pretty good deal, yes.  

LEGALIZE MORE GAMBLING AND THAT MARIJUANA, TOO

Last week, Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, a Democrat proposed to give
establishments with a liquor license the right to put video
poker machines in their establishments.  Governor Rendell said that
this could generate about $550 million in revenue for the state.  Now, whether that is true in a struggling economy, remains to be seen.  There are critics to this, but I love it.  The one problem I have is that the bill will only benefit students from families making $100,000 or less.  I think that number should be increased to at least $250,000.  More residents should reap the benefit, and it would keep more students in the your own state, which in turn would mean more state revenues within the borders. 

There are millions of people who like to gamble, some of whom, only get to do it at casinos every so often.  My solution, legalize gambling online, and
legalize sports betting in all states.  Why is Nevada the only state where sports betting is legal?  

In 2006, Americans wagered an estimated $12
billion wagered in the online gaming industry.  After 2006, broadband internet access became more prevalent and those who now had high-speed Internet
and wanted to gamble online, were either too afraid or did not really know how.  

As we have seen in the last few months, putting your money in the stock market may be the biggest risk of all. You have a better chance of getting struck by lighting 7 TIMES, before you can win the Mega Millions lottery
jackpot.  The odds of winning are over 175 million to one.  But, this form of gambling is completely legal!  Here are the complete lottery odds
for MegaMillions.  I guess because the state really does not mind that you have a better chance of marrying a multi-millionaire than you actually becoming one through their lottery.  

If we are allowed to play the lottery, a game with absolutely horrendous odds, why should we not be able to gamble online.  If the government can
reap the billions in revenue from online gaming

Oh, I know, this will lead to more gamblers becoming addicted and that would be unfortunate.  But, you know what there are hundreds of millions of addicted gamblers in America today.  It is each and every one of us who has any money in the stock market.  I tried to find a website or a toll-free number for support in assisting me in consoling me for my losses in my stocks
and retirement plans.  

I would make a fair wager to say that if someone was given a $1,000, to wager on sporting events, odds are pretty favorable that they would not lose most of
it, or would have a better chance of coming back with a nice return on their investment than if they used that money in the stock market or lottery in 2009.  If the government could receive not only the revenues from someone winning from online gaming, but by taking a percentage of the action (like a vig)
at the time of the bet, the amounts that would be coming into the coffers of this new health plan could be staggering.  

But it is completely legal that I can invest thousands and thousands of dollars every year into the stock market only to have it get shredded by some greedy pigs and by financial investors whom you could not trust with a dollar,
let alone billions.  You would not even want them to pick your lottery numbers, because with their knowledge they may not be intelligent enough to
understand how to even pick 6 numbers!  

I have not smoked pot since 1996, and I will never smoke pot again.  It is very addictive and can lead to other drugs.  But, then again so can
cigarettes and alcohol.  There are millions of Americans who enjoy as Adam Sandler would say, "Their marijuanaca", unfortunately this is still
deemed as an illegal activity and we do not reap much money in revenue from the pot smokers of the country.  The only revenues that come in, come from arrests and the fines that the local governments receive because of pot.

I have never paid for pot, and I would have no idea what a dime bag now costs on the street.  If it did cost $10, and the government made $2 on each dime
bag, how much revenue would that bring in?  If we taxed marijuana like we do cigarettes the windfall of money that would come in to each state would
likely be staggering.    

The money that would be received by the federal and state governments from these ventures would ONLY be used to fund our health care system.  There
would be no taking from Peter to pay Paul like our governments love to do. 

WILL THIS NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN BE FREE FOR EVERYONE?

Chances are, if you are still reading this; I have your attention.  So will this new plan be free for all?  The answer to that is no.  While
it would be nice to have a free health care system; it is not prudent. 
There needs to be at least a small hurdle to prevent this system from being completely ravaged by abuse.  The new plan will cost each American $50 per
month.  Children will be $25 per month per child.  A typical family of four is covered for $2,400 per year.  The money can be directly taken out
of your paycheck or it can be sent directly via the government, online or through the mail. 

Doctor visits will be a copay of $20. 

Prescription drugs will be $20 for a brand name prescription, and up to $10 for generics. 

Emergency Room visits are $50.   Overnight hospital visits up to a max of $200 per night.

A minimum of 75% of the hospitals and doctors in each state would be part of the network.  Pre-existing conditions will be extinct. 

If each person goes to the doctor twice a year for $40 in copays and has an annual prescription bill of $100 in copays per year, (these are very generic
figures), the amount money that would be collected would be $30 billion. 

Let’s say their are 200 million adult Americans who subscribe to the plan.  That would be a total of $120 billion in premiums.  If 50 million children are signed up in to the system that adds another $15 billion.  We would recoup the money from SCHIP, which we no longer be needed, that would be another $60 billion into the new system.  If you add in the costs that would be saved from each state having its own health care, and then the additional revenues from tobacco, alcohol, gambling, marijuana taxes; I think we could have a pretty good health care system taking shape and about as much money as was in either "stimulus" package to get this much needed
plan rolling.  

After one year on the plan, your account will be evaluated and depending on usage the monthly amount that you pay may increase or decrease.  The new
annual amount cannot exceed more than 50% of the prior’s year premium.  If you do not use the plan much, your premium will be decreased by an amount not to exceed 50%. 

WHAT IF I WANT MORE HEALTH CARE?

Opponents will say, oh great, public health care, you have just destroyed the system.  Actually, no.  It makes it fair for everyone.  There are
no free rides, but no one left out in the cold. Private companies will still be in business.  You would be fully eligible to purchase a plan with benefits
tailored to your needs in addition to the standard American plan. 
Insurance companies would be in the same situation they are with Medicare. 
There are many millions of Americans who have additional coverage through Medigap plans.  You would have the option to increase your coverage and be able to see any physician in that network you chose. 

Medicare will still exist. 

Employers will no longer bear the burden of health care and can save millions a year, which hopefully can lead to bigger raises for you and for me. 

There you have it.  Health care for everyone.  I did not even have to raise income taxes to get it.  In fact, I may have saved you some money,by not having to pay for health insurance at work where your deductions can be hundreds of dollars a month, alone.

I just gave you more of the things you wanted to do, but could not do legally in the past.  If this behavior makes you sick, you paid for your health
care and helped many more people along the way than what the system used to be.  Used to be you just ruined your life and did not help anyone else. 

 

 

2009 Oscar Predictions

Sunday night, February 22nd, the 81st Annual Academy Awards.  It’s Oscar Night!!

Unlike the Grammy Awards of two weeks ago, where you see who wins the award and you say to yourself, “Who are these people?  And where did all the good music go?”   At the Grammys they always have to drag out our old favorites like Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and others to bring us back to why we liked music to begin with.  The Oscars delivered some very big performances.  I am proud to be a movie buff and very proud that Hollywood, Bollywood and all points in between still take pride in the craft that is filmmaking.  I was lucky enough to see all five Oscar nominated films and then some over the past year.  I did not see every nominated film, but most critics did not either.

Here are my 2009 Oscar Predictions, these are just my picks, do not go bananas if you disagree, but I’d love to hear your opinions.

I will start with the two easiest ones of the evening.  These two are my pick and whom the Academy will select, the rest will change.

Best Adapted Screenplay – Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy. A fairy tale worthy of Snow White.

Best Original Screenplay – Milk written by Dustin Lance Black. It is should not be close.  This was not just a portrait, it was a masterpiece.  Only wish Harvey Milk was alive to see his story come to the screen so beautifully.

Best Song – Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire. Take Your Pick of the Slumdog Millionaire songs which I am sure will win.  The Best Song should have gone to Bruce Springsteen for “The Wrestler.”  Thanks to a nonsensical rule by the Academy, states that the nomination of a song must be in the movie and not during the credits.  If “The Wrestler” was good enough for the Golden Globes, it should have been good enough for the Academy.  Few will remember the winner of Best Song this year, but I know I will not forget “The Wrestler”.  Springsteen nails the character of The Wrestler with this song.  It is nice to see Peter Gabriel nominated here, but when I think of him and movies, I will always think of “Say Anything”.  “In Your Eyes”" was one of the best uses of a song in a movie.

Academy Pick – Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire

Left Out: The Wrestler, Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler.  See above.

Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams, Doubt.

This may be the one award where all 5 have a legit chance at the statuette.  I did love Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”, but I doubt the Academy will reward her again.  I would not be upset if they did give her another golden statuette.  Viola Davis had a great scene in “Doubt”, but should one scene reap this reward.  It has a couple times in the past, but I thought Adams was better in the whole movie.  Davis winning would be the equivalent of David Tyree winning last year’s Super Bowl MVP.  He was not on the field that much, but made the play that everyone remembered.  Taraji P. Henson deserved the nomination for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, very good but not the best.  I did not see “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and cannot comment on Penelope Cruz’s performance, but I did see clips and I have read that she is deserving and could win.

Academy Pick – Viola Davis, Doubt

Left Out – I cannot really think of any, they nailed it, with this superb cast of five.  While Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe for Revolutionary Road, she is already nominated for Best Actress and that was a far better performance.

Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger, Dark Knight. This one is the lock of the evening in acting.  Ledger saved his best for last, tragically.

I loved Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt, he played the part of the priest in scandal to near perfection.  I did not think Josh Brolin was outstanding in Milk, good, yes, but his nomination was sketchy to me.  Michael Shannon’s acting as a man out of his mind, but brutally honest at the same time was a good one. You will hear more from him.  Robert Downey, Jr. should enjoy the parties after the ceremony.  You have to feel for this year’s other nominees.

Academy Pick – Heath Ledger, Dark Knight.

Left Out – David Kross, The Reader.  At 18, he gave a tremendous effort.  Even if he was nominated, he would not stand a chance against Ledger; I just wanted to give him his just due.  I thought he was terrific, and I hope he will be in more English-speaking roles.  Not an easy role to play when you are paired with someone so talented as Kate Winslet, but he grew in to the role nicely.

Best Actor – Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.  A movie that made you truly believe that Rourke and his character Randy “The Ram” Robinson, were one in the same.  The mirror images of “The Ram’s” career and Rourke’s life are pretty stunning.  Rourke gives everything he has left in this performance.  It was the comeback performance of the year.  Sean Penn, may win any other year for Milk.  He was fabulous, but the Ram is an unstoppable force.  Frank Langella was great as President Richard Nixon, but was it more of an imitation than it was acting?  I did not see “The Visitor” and could not comment on Richard Jenkins performance.

Academy Pick:  Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Left Out: Leonardo DiCaprio, “Revolutionary Road” – I thought this was a very underrated performance. There was no need to make a huge stink over it, the winner is either Rourke or Penn; they are head and shoulders above the rest.

Best Actress – Kate Winslet, The Reader. An absolutely captivating performance.  Yes, we could have done without all the nudity, lol.  But, her portrayal of a German woman standing trial for her past was excellent.

Meryl Streep as always delivers the goods in “Doubt”, and her ability to master any accent comes flying through here.  She is as good as we have ever seen when it comes to acting. Ironic that Winslet’s award winning performance as a former Nazi guard could beat out a woman who once played a Nazi concentration camp inmate in “Sophie’s Choice.”  I would not be surprised if Kate took a page from Meryl from Sophie’s Choice on how to play an accent with her role.  Angelina Jolie was very good in “Changeling”, but this is a two woman race like best actor is a two man race.  I would be more than satisfied if either Winslet or Streep won.  It was nice to see Anne Hathaway get nominated for “Rachel Getting Married” I hope she will steer her career towards more dramatic roles instead of crapola romantic comedies.  I did not see “Frozen River” and cannot comment on Melissa Leo’s performance, but I have heard few others have seen it as well.

Academy Pick:  Kate Winslet, The Reader

Left Out:  I, personally did not see any other performances worthy of a nomination, but there may be others.  Winslet and Streep rise above all.

Best Director – Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire. Brilliant storytelling.  This movie could have been easily juggled if in someone else’s hands.  It was handled with precision by Boyle.  Seeing how Bombay (Mumbai) and the children grew from the slums to living in condos and having high-tech cell phones was very dramatic.  Boyle gets to the heart of the squalor in Mumbai and does not spare a detail, even if it will make your stomach cringe.   The actors were good enough to carry this amazing screenplay and directing. Gus Van Sant probably wins this in many a year for his work in Milk. Ron Howard did his usual above average job, and Stephen Daldry deserved his third Best Director nomination for his direction in The Reader.

Academy Pick:  Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire.

Left Out:  Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler.  Tremendous directing, turning what could have been a high-budget and overdone project into a movie that will touch your heart and has more of a feel of a documentary than it does as a film of fiction.

Best Picture – Milk. I know it is sacrilegious to pick a different director and picture combination, but this has happened three times this decade.  Milk was so true to its story.  A terrific performance from Penn.  If the Academy picks Milk, I think this will count as a makeup for not picking “Brokeback Mountain” for Best Picture in 2005 due to its homosexual tones.  This award will probably go to Slumdog Millionaire, but the movie I enjoyed the most was Milk.  I think Slumdog is very good, borders on great, but it is not Best, Dev Patel’s mediocre job on the accent really brings the film down a notch for me.  Frost/Nixon is very good, but is more imitation, than that of new filmmaking.  The Reader is terrific, and if not for a half-hearted effort from Ralph Fiennes this movie could have a shot, but it doesn’t.  Benjamin Button gets better in the second hour, but the first hour should be called Snooze Button.  It is a very good story, but not best picture in 2009.

Academy Pick: Slumdog Millionaire

Left Out:  The Wrestler and The Dark Knight. Maybe, there are not enough pro wrestling fans in Hollywood, but this picture was worthy of a nomination and could have been a contender for the trophy. I am not sure how the Dark Knight was not considered here.  Maybe the Academy wanted to keep this popular movie out, but it deserved a nomination.

Well, there you have it, my 2009 Oscar Picks.  What a great year for movies, it sure makes you forget about that music award show earlier this month.  Let’s hope the Jonas Brothers are nowhere near the stage.  Oh, one more pick, I think Hugh Jackman will do a very fine job.

Another Buck for A-Rod

Let me begin this column by stating that I am a Mets fan, and I have no bones to pick here.  Man, Joe Torre, is one lucky guy. He fails to win a World Series in his last 7 years as Yankee manager, despite the Yankees spending a stimulus worthy amount of over $1 Billion in payroll, and you hardly hear a peep of blame.  In fact, most Yankee fans were sad to see him leave.  I do not think Joe wanted to come back with the current management structure of the Yankees, and I do not think the Steinbrenner Sons wanted Joe back.  It was bizarre for New York.  In other cities; they are a little more patient.  Jeff Fisher has been the only in coach in Tennessee’s history, and Bill Cowher was in Pittsburgh, and did not win a title until his 14th and final season with the Steelers.

Yes, Joe won 4 World Series in 5 years, and that is undeniable.  He was also very fortunate to step into a very good situation.  And last year, Manny Ramirez falls in his lap as he decides that Fenway park will never get wi-fi in the green monster, and moves to an area more comfortable for him, La-La Land.

Last week, his book, The Yankee Years, was the talk of the New York sports world. People were reacting that the Yankees were not going to retire his number 6, and that there would not be a Joe Torre Day someday at Yankee Stadium.  Now, it seems like that may happen a lot sooner than you think.  This week the book seems to be as memorable as Bill Parcells’ book about his last season in the NFL when he coached the Jets in 1999.  He returned to coach the Cowboys in 2003.  Personally, I think Joe’s book is overblown.  What I disagree with the book is the timing.  It reminds of me that car that makes a fast turn to cut in front of you, and then proceeds to drive under the speed limit.  You then look in your rear view mirror and see there was no one behind you.  My point here is, Joe couldn’t wait?  Joe couldn’t wait until his managing career was over to release some details that he thought were sacred cows of the clubhouse?  Did he need the money that bad?  I believe Joe Torre is a nice man, but I think he is a man who still likes the spotlight, and the spotlight he has as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers is not like he had in New York.  Joe, being from Brooklyn, knows their is no limelight in sports like New York baseball.

I think one of the most seldom asked questions in New York sports is what if Buck Showalter did not leave the Yankees after the 1995 season? People tend to forget that Buck took over the Bronx Bombers in 1992, after the 1991 season with Stump Merrill as Manager posting a 71-91 record.   Buck did not get along well with George Steinbrenner and was not really seen as a New York kind of manager, despite his success.

Buck ran it to unfortunate luck as Yankee skipper.  If the Wildcard system was in place in 1993, the Yankees would have won that.  In 1994, the Yankees appeared to be running away with American League East, they had a 6 and 1/2 game lead over the Orioles and had the best record in the AL with a 70-43 record.  No one would ever see how that season would finish as the 1994 baseball season ended prematurely on August 11th, due to the players’ strike.  Buck was named AL Manager of the Year in 1994 as a consolation prize.  In 1995, after a 144 game strike-shortened season; Buck led the Yankees into the playoffs for the first time since 1981.  The Yankees met the Seattle Mariners in baseball’s first ever Division playoff series. The Division Series originally ran with the Wild Card team hosting games 1 & 2 and the Division Winner hosting games 3, 4, & 5.  This would change after 1997; I can’t help but think that the Yankees would have won that series if it was a 2-2-1 series.  Just another unlucky piece for Buck’s resume.  It was an epic series, where the Mariners outlasted the Yankees in 5 games after a classic 12-inning finale.    There was a young 20 old shortstop named Alex Rodriguez on that Mariners team.

Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez was a natural.  He couldn’t miss. He tried out for Team USA while still in high school.  He was drafted first overall by the Seattle Mariners.   Major League Baseball could market him as the next superstar, young, good-looking, a boy with a Latino roots but born in America and could speak to people of so many backgrounds.  He could have been to Latin-Americans, what Joe DiMaggio means to Italian-Americans,  what Willie Mays means to African-Americans, and what Sandy Koufax means to Jewish-Americans.  An American born of a minority race with unparalleled talent that would be talked about by generations of fans as their personal baseball icon.

Somewhere along the line the boy known as  Alex Rodriguez became A-Rod.  Arod is a Sindarin word that means noble.  Unfortunately, for Mr. Rodriguez, his version of A-Rod has a hyphen and now it means something totally opposite of the Sindari counterpart.  His numbers were piling up in Seattle, and then he went to Texas in 2001, where he would sign that monster 10 year/$250 million contract.  After three years of terrific stats, his Rangers failed to make the playoffs and the Yankees would trade for him in 2004.

When Alex came to New York, he was given his king’s salary and given all of the media spotlight.  But, there was no key to the city to be rewarded, because this was not his team.  (If LeBron James becomes part of the New York Knicks in 2010, you will see what the key to the city really looks like).  A man by the name of Derek Jeter has the key sealed until he retires.  Jeter is a New York icon, and held the position that Alex grew up playing which was shortstop.  You almost feel bad for A-Rod.  He is kind of like what Maris was when compared to Mantle.  The only thing is here, Maris, I mean A-Rod, makes over $20 million per season and will not receive an ounce of pity.  He would move to third base, and it would be the hot corner for him in more ways than he could ever imagine.  This week it became an inferno.

Derek Jeter was supposed to be a good player, he made it himself great through his hustle, running down to first base on almost every at bat, going after balls that few would dare, and then in 2004 by diving in to the stands and risking his body and his possibly his career to make a catch.  It was a play that was completely Jeter-esque, but it is a piece of the game that does not seem like it is in A-Rod’s repertoire.  The heart of Jeter well overshadowed the supreme talent of A-Rod.  It is a very large shadow and it is one you do not get away from if your cocky, unfeeling, and make the front page headlines for who you are dating rather than the back page headlines for his accomplishments.

A-Rod had his chances to make add to the Yankee legacy, but it was not meant to be. I wonder what Yankee fans would be saying about A-Rod today if it were he and not his predecessor at third base, Aaron Boone, who hit that home run to win the 2003 American League Championship Series.  I also wonder what would have happened if he had homered in extra innings in either Game 4 or Game 5 of the 2004 American League Championship Series to knock out the Red Sox, instead of having to be part of a dubious legacy.  But, when the chips were down, A-Rod could not deliver.  Over the years, he became the other K-Rod, or my personal favorite, Double Play Rod.

You look at A-Rod and you are not really sure that it matters to him.  He knows he is great, heck, he will tell it your face.  But, to be great in sports, especially when you play in New York, and double that when you play for the Yankees, you need to be a champion.  He had been a Yankee for 5 seasons, and the Championship cupboard was bare.  Could it get any worse for A-Rod?  Oh yes.

A-Rod came out this week and admitted he had used steroids in his time with the Texas Rangers.  Ok, let’s set the record straight, he didn’t come out, he was forced out by a Sports Illustrated report that said he had tested positive for steroids back in 2003.   After appearing, voluntarily, on 60 Minutes in 2007, and stating that he never took steroids, he now puts himself in the world of first class baseball liars along with  Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and the list grows each and every day.  One thing you didn’t think A-Rod would do was take steroids.  He did not really show any physical build up like those mentioned in the prior sentence.  With his talent, did he really need to do it?  But, he did it.  He is digging a hole so deep, that I do not know how anyone can come out of it.  There is just one thing that I don’t understand; I may find myself rooting for A-Rod.  I may not be alone.  He is about as steep of an underdog as there is right now, and New Yorkers always love an underdog.  If he can pull himself out and show the heart that matches his skills and lying ability, he just might redeem himself.  Will this happen?  I have no idea, but I am going to tune it.  I bet you will, too.

Like the opposing team’s manager his Mariners defeated in 1995, A-Rod did not have much luck in the Bronx.  Unlike Buck, he may get a chance for redemption and a chance to change his luck. Also unlike Buck, A-Rod’s wounds are mostly self-inflicted and he cannot undue the damage that has been done, but he may get a chance to do something good.

I wonder what else Joe Torre knew, maybe he will save that for his next book.

Requiem for the Sports Guy

I am writing this as a piece not to knock the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, but it is a tribute to someone who has given me plenty of enjoyment in my life.  I am just asking him to take a break. In terms of sports writing exclusively on the Internet, Bill was one of the first.  He is a very talented writer, and since he came well before we knew what a Blogger was; he is a columnist, and I know he would like to be called that. He’s a Hall of Famer in my book. I just want him to concentrate on what he does best, which is write.  The podcasts are ok, but I really don’t give a crap about Cousin Sal every NFL week, and could care less if Johnny is worried yet.  Sometimes it feels like you are just listening in on their phone calls.  Bill has a voice made for writing.  When I see him post a diary, the ramblings or have an online chat it makes me feel like Old-Timers Day is at ESPN.  Years ago, many teams had Old-Timers Day, today it is just done by the Yankees.  I always enjoyed the event, even though I am a Met fan.  It is always cool to say, “Look, Yogi still can wear the uniform,” or “Wow, Whitey Ford can still reach the plate!”  Reading Bill’s columns now has that effect on me.

We are both Patriots’ fans and that is how I found him. I live in New Jersey.  Back in the 90’s, when AOL had an overwhelming share of the at-home Internet market, the out-of-town sports fan did not have too many options.  Newspaper websites were far from what they are today.  Some of those papers actually charged to read their content!  Personal websites were very minor and this whole social networking phenomenon was limited to chat rooms, AOL Instant Messaging, and if anyone knew how to create a Geocities page, where it would take an hour to load your 3 pictures.  Those who had dial up remember these days well.  And those of you who were too young to remember these days, you didn’t miss much at all.  Digitalcity.bostonsportsguy.com was the first sports website that I found that was informative and made me laugh as well.

His move to ESPN was not the end of the world. It was the start of something new.  This was an unbelievable jump for someone who used to write me when I made a comment on his site.  I was happy for him like I would have been happy for him if he was my brother.  He brought a lot of his days as the BSG over to ESPN, and for those who thought his columns would suffer by making the jump to tWWL (the WorldWide Leader) in 2001 (God, it’s been almost eight years already!) were mistaken.  He became more polished.  While he did not really keep track of and rate other sports columns anymore, his columns were better.  Using movie lines and songs to correlate to sports was terrific stuff that kept us wanting more.  I would take lunch late at work to wait for his article to come out and print it, so I could read during lunch or on the bowl.

My favorite article of all time is when he wrote about the Pats winning their first Super Bowl, on February 3, 2002.  He must have stayed up all night to write this.  It was a masterpiece.  He had to have been drunk as well while writing it, which makes even more impressive. It may be more of a masterpiece to me because it was a moment of shared joy for him, myself, and so many other long-time Patriot fans.  I knew Bill had made it to the big time when the Chairman of the company that I work for, brought me in to his office, two days after Super Bowl XXXVI.  The Chairman knew I was a big Patriot fan, and the only one in our New Jersey office. He talked to me about this article he received from a friend of his.  His friend is the President of another company who was up in Massachusetts, and when he gave me the print out of the article and I saw the title and Bill’s name; I knew he had really made it.

Later on in 2002, he signed on to be a writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live.   We did not hear too much from him in 2003, and I was surprised that he left Jimmy’s show and worked full-time at ESPN.  Maybe, it was contract related, or ESPN’s viewership went down and offered him a better deal.  I think his downfall in terms of his sportswriting, comes from a few things, his move to Hollywood, having two children, and other projects have truly hampered him in terms of what he does best, which is column writing.  But, hey that’s life and you cannot fault anyone for that.

I narrowed my elegy to four things that caused me to write this:

1 – The Book, Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN’s Sports Guy Found Salvation, with a Little Help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Boston Red Sox

I initially thought it was great that Bill was writing a book about the Sox amazing year.  Then, I opened it at Borders.  I was shocked to see that book was just a compilation of his columns as ESPN.  He never spoke about this when he referenced the book.  It was a total let down to people who have read him for the last five years.

Here was my review that can be found under the 2-star rating:

“Bill Simmons cleans out his hard drive and calls it a day and now a book. (Sorry, it had to be said). Anyone who has read the Boston Sports Guy could have just saved his articles and added their own commentary.

Bill is a very talented and original writer but I would have rather read something that is new. I know he has a new daughter and we all need to make a buck, so I can’t blame him.  The columns are as a good as it gets about the Sox and sports, but you may have read this before.

I wish the title was a better one. First, there are a few more important things that I would like to see happen in my life than a baseball team who could care less about me (except my wallet) win a World Series. Second, the title is a complete rip-off from 1994 when a fan had made that sign at Madison Square Garden after the NY Rangers won the Stanley Cup. Adding to the non-originality of the book.”

I hope his NBA book that comes out this fall is original, I doubt I will buy it, but I hope he uses original writing.

2 – He Cannot Relate to New England Anymore

Now, every once in a while, Bill can still bring it, like in this column on the demise of home-field advantage in the NFL.  He made it work with ideas that were given to him by some of his compatriots in the Blogosphere.  But, I also noticed in his column something that really pissed me off:  “I’ve attended three Pats games in the Gillette Mausoleum.” His distance from the Boston sports fan really showed up in that sentence.   I do not care who your friends are who go, and what you hear, what websites or podcasts you read or hear, if you are not personally there, you truly cannot relate and are not qualified to comment.

He has only attended 3 Pats games at Gillette Stadium?  How is that possible?  The Stadium just finished its 7th season.  I am not saying you have to be a season ticket holder to be a diehard fan, you don’t, and you don’t have to go to any games at all.  But, let me get this straight: You write for ESPN, who would probably pay you to go to Foxborough, and you have only been there once every two years?   Even if you do not like the stadium, how do you not get out to see one of the greatest era’s of your team in your lifetime.  Yet, he is not afraid to wax poetic about Foxboro Stadium.  I, myself, have attended over 10 Pats games at Gillette, driving 4 hours to and from Northern New Jersey, and I was one of about 1,000 Patriot fans that went to Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville.   I have also attended every Patriots-Jets game at the Meadowlands since 1993, but that is another story.  I am not from New England either, but I do follow the Pats religiously and follow the team on a daily basis, and see them as often as I can.  I do have friends in the area, but it does not make me an expert on what the pulse of the fans truly is.

Here are a couple of facts from a fan who has been to both many times:

A – Foxboro Stadium always was a dump. My high school stadium where I played football had more amenities.  What Bill didn’t mention about Foxboro Stadium, was that the traffic used to be the slow road to China, be prepared for a 3 hour ride home, it is better now, not great, but better.  You prayed for your car and for your bones when parking at Foxboro, most of the parking lots were unpaved, there were just mounds of dirt and rocks in the parking areas.  Oh, and if you went during a night game, leave a paper trail on how to find your car because there were about two working lights in the parking area and a million bottles you could trip over on the way back.  Those days may have been fun when you are in college, but as you cross the 30 yard line in terms of years, it blows for the most part.

The fans who sit by the field have the same enthusiasm for the most part as those up in the 300’s.  While it will never be what Foxboro Stadium was in terms of its closeness, the closeness to the field from the upper level is the only thing I miss about Foxboro Stadium.  Being squeezed in on metal benches was lousy, there was one TV monitor, one scoreboard, a sound system that looked my old 8-track system complete with ropes tying up the speakers!

B – Gillette is not perfect. Unfortunately, and I agree with Bill on how the noise goes straight up instead of directing the noise on the field.  There is a wine-and-cheese crowd, luckily, most of them are in their precious Club area.  Patriot Place is amazing, but you cannot believe that you are walking into stores, restaurants, and a theatre on a place that you used to have hold on to someone else to make it over a dirt hill to get to the stadium.  It does take away from the team a little.  But, it sure beats what we had.

C – Winning breeds complacency. When your team has had as much success as the Patriots have had in this decade, you lose a little bit of that hunger to stand and yell on every down.  But, unlike the Atlanta Braves, the Pats still sell out every game and have a wait list over 50,000 fans, something we never had at Foxboro.  The fans still show up in droves no matter what the weather.  I have sat in about every possible location at Gillette Stadium, I’m still amazed by the Pats fans I sit next to during the games.  Most are very knowledgeable about today’s team.  Their memories are short and some of them would fail to recognize who used to wear #11 for the Pats, let alone know who Hugh Millen or Tommy Hodson were.  If he lived in the area or went to more games, he would know this.  You can strip him of the Boston in Boston Sports Guy.

3 – The Machine Named ESPN (hiding behind Disney) Ate Him Alive

ESPN is owned by this little mouse with ears named Disney.  That mouse has huge ears and those ears have executives with eyes that do not like when content done by one of the mercenaries, oops, I mean employees, can cross the line.  I am still amazed that the Tuesday Morning Quarterback was brought back on to ESPN’s Page 2.  You don’t create your own Blogspot page called Sportsguy Unplugged with a picture of Andy Dufresne, if you are happy about the work you are doing and the company you represent.  You know the editors at ESPN have cut his columns limb from limb in terms of censorship. I know in this past year that he couldn’t stand that ESPN was giving Rick Reilly, $3 million a year, for 800 words per column and that Reilly thought of him as a Blogger and not a columnist.  I also know that he will take his anger towards tWWL about how they screwed him over on having then Senator Obama on his podcast.  His contract is signed until 2010, this must feel like the longest year in his life.  His column does not allow comments, now I am not sure if that decision is his, or if it is made by tWWL, but it would be cool to see what others are saying.

4 – Most of Us Did Not Watch the Same Things as You or Constantly Talk About Our Friends In Our Writing

I may have watched Beverly Hills 90210, and seen the first three Karate Kids, but I do not discuss them.  I have been waiting for a Guiding Light reference someday.  Also, I do not see anyone else who mentions their personal friends, like JackO, J-Bug, and Blueboy constantly.  Seriously, who has a friend named Blueboy?  And why would you want to be named after a gay porn mag? Maybe, these guys get a piece of the action.  Mentioning your parents, or your wife and kids is fine, but I guess Bill will keep trying until he can land them a job at ESPNEWS or something.   If he ever wonders why people call him a Blogger; it is precisely there.

Competition came along as every network, newspaper and team put in these people called Bloggers, that would give fans instant access to their teams.  This was followed by thousands of fans’ posting their own columns and then came the other side of sports websites like Deadspin, SportsbyBrooks, Awful Announcing, Kissing Suzy Kolber, and too many other good ones to mention.

The need for a 10,000 word column went out of fashion.  There is just too much information that is presented in front of our faces to occupy our time anymore. By the way, if you are still reading this, thank you. You run out of hours in the day when you try read and listen to all of what you want, oh, and do your job at work, too.  In 1999, there were no iPods, cell phones were just that phones, the Internet was fledgling and 75% of the people did not know how to go online, and video games were just games, not consoles that bring so much more to the table. Time moves on, and Bill moved on to Hollywood and drifting away from sports to the world of glitz and glamour.

Rest well, Sports Guy, we will be there for you when you come back.  If you are under 40 and you write about sports, you know you have taken some lessons from him.  Thanks for some great columns and for paving the way for so much more to come since the days of my 56K modem.  I hope I am there to witness you receiving your Lifetime Achievement Webby Award.  I would like a picture.  I will put next to my picture of me and some of my friends that we took at Old Timers Day.