My Sick Mind

For the uninitiated , this weekend is the best weekend of sports in the entire year. We've weeded out the crap from the NFL playoffs and we're left with the (supposedly) 8 best teams in the league, playing virtually non-stop from Saturday at 4:30 until late in the evening on Sunday. If you ain't a football fan, you'd better have a craft fair or a Bingo hall to run to because it's going to get ugly in front of the TV. The popular opinion says that the Jacksonville squad will knock off the mighty undefeated Patriots on Saturday night or at the very least, give them a run for their money. This unpopular opinion isn't so sure. Methinks that people generally like to root against perfection in all its forms - people, sports teams, politics - and if they can find an angle they'll use it. It's the reason that people generally don't like the popular crowd or the beautiful people and the reason we like seeing women like Britney Spears or (oops) Jessica Simp...

Earlier this week , Goose Gossage was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in his ninth year of eligibility. Mostly, he was elected because the class was weak. Partly, he was elected because the Hall of Fame schedules a big celebration at the end of July, and if they don't have anyone to induct into the Hall, the weekend is kind of pointless. In order to be inducted , a player needed 75% of the votes, and Gossage got 85.8% - suddenly - after missing out for almost a decade. Chances are, it's because this year's class was so pathetic, since he hasn't pitched a game in almost 15 years, and I'm sure his career numbers are the same as they were last year and the year before. Maybe Gossage should have been elected earlier or maybe not. Either way, one wonders why it took him so long, and if you have to debate it, perhaps he isn't worthy to begin with. I won't bore you with statistics and numbers. Suffice it to say that Hall of Famers are like great art - you k...

... or you will surely get it. I've been doing some thinking about the upcoming primary here in New Jersey. Some thinking, since it's still almost a month away and the John Edwards campaign seems to be running low on steam. It's typical of America that too many choices are a bad thing, so it stands to reason that the fewer the choices, the better we'll like it. That's why I'm thinking that John will probably not survive the process. It's looking like the Hillary and Barack Show, and my initial thoughts are that they might not be the two best choices. Mostly because I'm cynical of the political process and partly because I believe that the process is bigger than the will of the people. Specifically, I believe that the Republican machine is bigger than the will of the people. Ask yourself a question. Ask yourself why, in such a politically quick manner that Barack Obama has become the Flavor of the Month for America. How has he become so - supposedly -...

I had a dentist appointment on Monday. There was no drilling, only the scraping and scratching of the metal pointy thing and some low-level radiation from some X-rays. I decided to walk , since his office is only a quarter mile from my place and the weather was unseasonably warm. Thanks, Al Gore! On my way home, I noticed this silver shiny object on the street in front of me. Not being one to be embarrassed by picking up trash on the street, I bent over and grabbed it. Sure enough, it's a $50 debit card made out to ALL-ACCESS CUSTOMER . Since I don't know Mr. Customer, I decided to check the web site on the back of the card to see if the fifty bucks was still valid. The card was scratched and probably run over by a few cars and trucks, but hey, it's fifty bucks, right? Kinda. I checked the debit card's web site and punched in the number, and it showed a "pending transaction" for a sports gambling site , where our Mr. Customer placed a bet on Sunday, probabl...

I hate when this happens. I woke up at 3:15am and I couldn't get back to sleep. Once my brain starts working, it's a tough shut-down procedure. Like powering down a nuclear reactor. I had Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" running through my head. After that ran out, it was Tommy Edwards' "It's All in the Game." Where did that come from? Now , it's 4:21 and I'm sitting here sipping leftover Dunkin Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, so I guess I'm here for the duration. Who suffers? You, because I turn to this nonsense. I watched the Roger Clemens news conference on Monday afternoon. It's something like two days now, and I'm already sick of it. There he was, in front of the ESPN cameras, denying all the accusations and getting angrier by the second. At one point, his lawyer passed him a note advising him to "lighten up". The day I have to have a lawyer speak to people for me is the day I check out of this nut house altoget...

Don't say I didn't warn you . Between the stoppages in the NFL playoff games on Saturday, I wandered over to ABC to watch the presidential debates. I paid little attention to the Republicans, since I'm both a registered Democrat and not the least bit interested. Our New Jersey primary is in a few weeks, and I'm starting to feel as though I should get caught up. It seems to be the popular sport to jump all over Mitt Romney's financial condition. I suppose it plays in the sticks, but let's face it folks, none of these people are hurting financially. It's most of the reason they decided to run in the first place. Genuinely middle class individuals don't stand a chance in politics above the local level, and even then it's a tough road. Picking on Romney for being wealthy is a cheap misdirection ploy designed to make you dismiss his message - whatever that is. Mostly , the Republican candidates look like a bunch of guys who would try to keep me out of th...