Monthly Archives: January 2010

Mark McGwire owes us an apology

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Nearly 5 years ago I wrote a post titled “Apologies are owed to Mark McGwire”.  It was the first post that I had written to gain any sort of attention. The point of the story was that even though Mark McGwire hadn’t told Congress that he had taken steroids, he didn’t lie on the stand, and he should be respected for that, especially in light of Raphael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa. I defended him for that. Watching Palmeiro and Sosa up there, lying under oath, I respected that he didn’t lie. That’s all undone tonight.

I watched Mark McGwire go on the MLB Network and lie to the fans and that is unforgivable. McGwire stated that he didn’t take steroids for performance enhancing benefits, just to get back out on the field sooner. He also stated that was able to hit because he had God given talent. Maybe he believes this, but Mark, you benefited from taken steroids, whether you wanted to, or not.  It’s not as if you can tell the steroids to only make you feel better and not make home runs go 25 feet further.

Either McGwire lies or he’s stupid, and I don’t think he’s stupid. What I don’t understand is why come this far just to screw it up at this point. What’s worse is that when McGwire stated that he wishes that he didn’t play in that “era”, he basically threw every player that played in the 90′s under the bus. It’s one thing for writers and fans to do that, it’s another thing entirely for McGwire to do so.

Good for Mark McGwire coming clean after all these years, I wish him the best of luck as a hitting coach. Let’s hope he teaches his players how to play on the field, and that those same players learn from his example of how not to behave off the field.

Top 10 List of Late Night Talk Show Hosts Better than Leno

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It’s been 4 short months since Jay Leno single handedly ruined NBC television. So now he goes and ruins late night once again. The fact that Leno won the battle against Letterman had nothing to do with quality, it was luck and following Johnny Carson. To prove my point, here’s a top 10 list of late night talk show hosts better than Jay Leno.

  1. Jon Stewart
  2. David Letterman
  3. Conan O’Brien
  4. Craig Ferguson
  5. Stephen Colbert
  6. Wanda Sykes
  7. Jimmy Fallon
  8. Jimmy Kimmel
  9. Carson Daly
  10. Mike “The Situation” (from the Jersey Shore)

OK – maybe it’s a stretch on those last two, but honestly I enjoy Jersey Shore more than Leno.

I’d like to give Conan O’Brien a little advice – don’t take the 12:05 spot. Settle with them, take the money, and run to Fox. There you can bring back your old show, and clean his clock.

Where are the Philly police

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I recently returned to work for a non-profit in Center City Philadelphia. It’s great to be back in the city, it makes me feel more a part of things. Because of the cold, my walk has been limited to about seven blocks. What’s crazy is what I haven’t seen in this time.

It’s been a little more than 3 weeks and I’ve yet to see my first police officer aside from those whizzing by in their cars. Not one policeman or woman walking a beat. No directing of traffic, no standing on the corner making sure there’s no trouble.

It’s not like there isn’t a need – there is a total disregard for traffic laws by drivers, bikers, and pedestrians. There are intersections where blocking the box is the rule. And what happened to the blitz on renegade bicyclists? Seems like it lasted a day. And while they’re at it, there are too many pedestrians that could use a jaywalking ticket. And maybe a visible presence on the streets would prevent the bank robberies that happened downtown recently.

It seems to me that policing shouldn’t be limited to cars, subways, airports, and ghettos. It seems that the Philadelphia Police are only focused on anyone carrying a gun or selling drugs. That’s all well and good, but for the other 99% of situations that deserve their attention, it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves.

RIP CSI Miami

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So CSI Miami has decided to mimic the other CSIs only without the talent or quality. They were tired of people laughing at them (I thought they were laughing with us). So now CSI Miami might as well be NCIS (that’s not a complement). How have they changed?

  • No more snappy Horatio one liners
  • No more quick removal of the sunglasses
  • No more Alex making mental love to her corpses
  • No more Horatio talking to Eric – because there’s no Eric

They even added more ugly – er – normal looking CSIs. (Of course the guy they replaced Delko with could be a model).

The problem here is that the scripts are still ridiculous and the acting still horrible, but without the pithy humor to distract us from all that. I often said that I liked CSI  Miami because I thought the writers and actors were in on the joke. I mean seriously, Elizabeth Berkley? Mala noche justice? Do you think we can respect you after 8 years of that kind of cheese? As Whitney would say – “Hell to the no”.

CSI Miami – I’ll miss you.