Outside the Box

Wednesday Night Preview

2011-04-20T16:20:00.003-04:00

It's a big night in the opening round of the 2011 NHL playoffs. The Wings can eliminate the Coyotes, 4 teams have a chance to take a major lead in their series and the other 4 teams have a chance to make it a best-of-3. I examine all the games happening tonight.

Figure Out an Agreement Already

2011-04-20T16:17:00.002-04:00

When it comes to reading about most things business-related, whether it be a major acquisition or a launch of a new product, I’m normally affected not swayed by emotion one way or another. Of course, things like bankruptcy and massive layoffs and cuts to manpower will make me feel terrible for the people affected. However, I didn’t feel like I was affected by the repeated stories I would read about the ongoing negotiations between NFL team owners and the NFL players. It only took until the day after the release of the 2011 schedule for me to realize just how much I really have been affected.

Last night would have normally been a night where I watched intently on the NFL network as the major games were announced and the schedules of all 32 teams would scroll across the bottom of the screen. Who would the Buffalo Bills play in the opener? Who would the Bills play in the home opener? How difficult is our schedule? How many wins can we put ourselves down for this year based on the 16 teams that come up over the season? All questions that I would be asking myself as I gather all the information.

However, I couldn’t have cared less about the team’s schedule. After all, what good is putting out a schedule if there’s no guarantee that there will be a season at all? That would be like the NHL deciding to put out a schedule now knowing that the Phoenix Coyotes have a strong possibility to be heading to Winnipeg to play as the Jets for the 2011-2012 season. I’m sure the people of Phoenix wouldn’t have really cared one way or another about the release of the NHL season even if they were secure as can be, but with no security whatsoever, do you think they would care about who the opponents would be in February 2012? Not a chance.

I really hate the idea of being so indifferent about a sport that I love so much. Sunday afternoons during football season make the final day of the weekend so enjoyable and really cap off a couple of days in which everyone was able to unwind. However, I just can’t get into anything NFL-related knowing that two sides are being stubborn in their ways in a selfish attempt to get more of the 9 billion dollar pie. I understand that both sides have to be stubborn to secure as much money as they can, but it’s starting to become personal for someone like myself. When you start playing with my emotions, then I’m going to respond.

Don’t ask me for my thoughts on the NFL Draft because it makes me sick that these players might not have a chance to suit up for their respective teams. If the subject comes up on the show, I’ll talk about it, but know that I have a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth while doing so.

I hope that by continuing to work as if everything is normal, the NFL and the players are showing everyone that they will eventually get everything worked out and nothing will be affected. However, until they show that they will be back, I’m withhold my excitement and that sour taste stuck in my mouth will get more and more acidic.

Only in Idaho

2011-04-20T08:11:00.003-04:00

I never made it to Idaho or other smaller states on my baseball trip two summers ago, so my subject choice may not be correct, but I wonder how many of you just shrugged your shoulders and said the same thing after reading this story. Just another day at the music store in potato country.

By the Associated Press

Stop me if you've heard this one: A goat walks into a music store.

It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that's exactly what happened at the Piano Gallery in the southeastern Idaho town of Ammon.

KIFI-TV reports the goat followed a woman and her child into the store on Monday. Maybe it was looking for some sheeeet music.

Clerk Lorri Bridges says the goat was just adorable. The staff corralled it in a bathroom until animal control arrived.

The goat, dubbed Beethoven for its apparent love of music, is being held at the Idaho Falls Animal Shelter.

If it isn't claimed, someone is ready to adopt it.

Need Another Way to Kill Time?

2011-04-20T08:04:00.003-04:00

Think of it as Cops meets hotornot.com. Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Maricopa County wants you to vote in his version of "Prison Idol". Just a quick thought: Am I the only one who thinks that the first paragraph of this story should be investigated a little more?

By the Associated Press

The Arizona sheriff known for dressing inmates in pink underwear and feeding them green baloney is inviting people to choose the most popular jail booking photos posted on his website.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (ar-PY'-oh) allows online users to browse through the photos and then vote on their favorites that will be highlighted on a "Mugshot of the Day" section.

The top picks so far aren't unexpected: They're the most disheveled, unusual looking people among those booked into the downtown Phoenix jail.

Arpaio says he hopes the increased Web traffic will highlight the work of his employees.

He also says more crimes may be uncovered if the public can view the photos.

The website is www.mcso.org

Must Stay Awake...Must Stay Awake...

2011-04-20T07:57:00.004-04:00

Good to see that our safety is of the utmost importance when travelling in the United States. Remind me never to book the red-eye if I happen to be travelling within American borders. You know you're desperate to stay awake if you're resorting to watching a non-descript "crime thriller" to pass the time...

By Joan Lowy and Ray Henry of the Associated Press

An air traffic controller has been suspended for watching a movie when he was supposed to be monitoring aircraft, deepening the Federal Aviation Administration's embarrassment following at least five cases of controllers sleeping on the job.

In the latest incident, the controller was watching a movie on a DVD player early Sunday morning while on duty at a regional radar center in Oberlin, Ohio, near Cleveland that handles high-altitude air traffic, the FAA said in a statement Monday.

The controller's microphone was inadvertently activated, transmitting the audio of the movie — the 2007 crime thriller "Cleaner," starring Samuel L. Jackson — for more than three minutes to all the planes in the airspace that the controller was supposed to be monitoring, the agency said.

The controller's microphone became stuck in the transmit position, preventing him from hearing incoming radio calls or issuing instructions to planes during the incident, the agency said.

The controller was alerted to the mishap when he was contacted by a military pilot.

Besides the controller, the FAA also has suspended a manager at the Oberlin center.

In all, the FAA has suspended nine controllers and supervisors since late March.

In five of the cases the controllers allegedly fell asleep. In another case, the FAA is investigating why two controllers in Lubbock, Texas, were unresponsive to radio calls.

Nearly all the incidents occurred during overnight shifts when traffic is light and people naturally have trouble staying awake.

The incidents have shaken FAA officials, made air traffic controllers the butt of late-night comedians and raised public jitters about the safety of air travel.

Kids These Days

2011-04-20T07:56:00.001-04:00

Good Basketball and Bad Basketball

2011-04-20T07:55:00.001-04:00

It's a Series...

2011-04-19T07:57:00.002-04:00

Here I am on a Tuesday morning getting ready to do another show. Of course, we’ll be talking about the playoff games from last night. Detroit takes a commanding lead against Phoenix. Pittsburgh and Philly take the lead in their series against Buffalo and Tampa respectively. And we’ll certainly be talking about the Bruins getting back into the series against Montreal with their win last night. Wait a minute…something isn’t right about that last sentence. Were the Bruins out of the series to begin with?

A lot of people will say that a 2-0 lead for the underdogs with two games coming up at home would signify the opposition being “out of it”, but I think it actually serves as a perfect example of how reactionary we’ve become as sports fans. In a world of daily sports talk and a constant bombardment of fresh content and instant analysis, it’s almost as if we’ve forgotten how to look at things from a broader perspective.

We dissect every single game with the precision of a surgeon as we look for any single hint, clue or reason as to why one team is going to take the series over another and I wonder to myself, why? It’s probably not the question I should be asking when it’s my job to sort of do that to get through the day, but it would be hard for me to take myself seriously in the position that I’m in if I didn’t ask these questions of myself.

I got to thinking about this even more after the latest media confrontation between New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella and Larry Brooks of the New York Post. In the latest exchange, they get into a heated argument over the term of “backs against the wall”. The problem to me about using this term last Friday morning is that the Capitals had a 1-0 series lead.

Really? Is Tortorella really being asked about the Rangers having their backs against a wall after losing one game in a seven-game series. I understand that it’s the 1-8 matchup with the Rangers being the major underdogs, but are we really now reduced to asking coaches about being in perilous situations because of losing one game? I agreed with Torts’ assessment of the situation. It’s a series. The Capitals had won one game and needed to win three more. The situation isn’t bad enough yet to break out that phrase.

And yet, we do as a media because it’s all about that instant reaction now. When it comes to sports talk, people want answers immediately. They want to know what their teams are doing right, doing wrong and how everything is going to get fixed. There’s no time in people’s lives to live through a process or a rebuild or a re-tooling. If they have no time in their own lives for themselves because of work, family and other commitments, why would they invest time in other things?

I guess if I want you to take away one thing from this, it’s that we need to get back to the thought of letting thing play out a little bit more before we cast judgment. I picked Boston to win in seven games. For that to happen, Montreal has to win three. They just happened to win the first two. I’m not panicking with my pick. I’m just letting things run its course.

If They Bite You, You Bite Twice as Hard Back

2011-04-19T07:29:00.003-04:00

Good luck to this next loser on trying to find a lawyer to take this case. But then again, it is America and in a country where a person who spills coffee over themselves, sues for millions and succeeds, maybe this guy does have a chance after all. Read on and judge for yourself. I'll still stick with my first instinct.

By the Associated Press

A 33-year-old man who bit back after he was caught by a Phoenix police dog is suing police.

Erin Sullivan alleges the dog violated his civil rights and used excessive force to capture him after he ran from officers in Glendale during a burglary investigation last year.

Police say Sullivan bit the dog back, injuring it.

The lawsuit names the cities of Phoenix and Glendale and four officers.

Precursor filings to the lawsuit sought $200,000 from Glendale and $250,000 from Phoenix.

Officials in Glendale and Phoenix have declined comment.

Sullivan also alleges Glendale police refused to give him insulin to treat his diabetes. Sullivan's attorney, Keith Knowlton, has said his client suffered a diabetic seizure in a Glendale cell.

Sullivan is serving eight years for convictions in the Glendale burglary.

Give Me Back My Pig!

2011-04-19T07:23:00.003-04:00

Nothing against the name Steve, but it just doesn't fit as a name for an animal. Naming your pet Steve is a sign to me that you just didn't put a lot of thought into it or you were so indecisive in your naming process that you just got frustrated and went with the first name you thought of. Here's the story of Steve the Pet Pig.

By the Associated Press

A wayward pet pig whose residency was challenged by Pennsylvania township officials has been returned to his owners.

A Vietnamese micro-potbellied pig named Steve was reunited with Brian Maguire and Bernadette Broadhurst on Friday. Broadhurst says a Ridley Township commissioner personally delivered the animal, days after he'd been taken to a farm by police.

Maguire says Steve had apparently escaped from his yard and disappeared. When he checked with police to see if the animal had been spotted, Maguire says he was told it was found but sent to a farm because of a township ban on keeping farm animals.

Maguire said feared for the 6-pound, 10-week-old pig's safety in a farm setting.

That Much for a Pez Dispenser?

2011-04-19T07:20:00.004-04:00

I'll be glad when William and Kate finally get married so that I won't have to read or hear anything more about the ceremony. Why do we care so much? Anyways, here's a story that speaks to the reach that these two have. They're even affecting the sale of pez dispensers. At least the money is going to charity.

By Michael Shields of Reuters

A fan from Connecticut has paid 8,200 pounds ($13,360) to win a charity auction of PEZ sweets dispensers in the likeness of Britain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton ahead of this month's royal wedding.

PEZ, the Austrian company whose candy dispensers are known around the world, said on Monday it will donate the money to the Starlight Children's Foundation, which cheers up seriously ill children and their families by granting wishes and organizing hospital events.

A spokeswoman said the company chose that charity because Middleton and her family supported it.

She gave no more details about the winning bidder other than to say his or her user profile was Frank841950.

The winning bid, one of 33 submitted, falls short of the record $32,000 paid for an Astronaut B model Pez dispenser in 2006.

Top Ten Best and Top Ten Worst

2011-04-19T07:17:00.002-04:00

Don't See This Every Day

2011-04-19T07:16:00.001-04:00

A Look Back at Some NBA Prop Bets

2011-04-18T16:23:00.002-04:00

It’s not too often that I go back to some comments that I made months earlier, but a friend of mine reminded me about the post I made in late October about four teams to bet on for total wins over/under. I thought it would be interesting to go back and see if I would have made any money or if I would be given another reminder why it’s probably best that I don’t end up in the sports prognostication business.

I thought that the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz were undervalued and the Toronto Raptors were being given too much credit after Vegas gave them a projected total of 26 wins for the season. How sad is that I thought the Raptors going 26-56 would be far-fetched? Winning just over 30% of your games should be automatic, but not this year. Anyways, let’s take a closer look...

Boston Celtics
Projected Record: 54-28 or 55-27
Actual Record: 56-26

It was close, but we got the job done by picking the over. It would have been even easier to get the over if the Celts hadn’t made a senseless trade of Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. They loss their inside presence and necessary toughness that has allowed them to be so successful in the playoffs. I thought that the additions of Jermaine and Shaquille O’Neal would have made them deeper. When both healthy, it did, but those nights were few and far between. Consider us lucky to get this one.

Phoenix Suns
Projected Record: 41-41 or 42-40
Actual Record: 40-42

Give credit to Vegas for being really close with these first couple of picks. I thought this pick would have been a lock once the Suns and Magic made their blockbuster trade to help each other mid-season, but then again, I should have realized that I was now putting my hopes in the hands of Vince Carter to come through in the clutch. I thought they would be a consistent scoring team and it would lead to more victories. The only thing consistent for them was that they hovered around .500 all year long.

Utah Jazz
Projected Record: 49-33 or 50-32
Actual Record: 39-43

My quote from October, “Having one of the best point guards in the game in Deron Williams and one of the best coaches in the game in Jerry Sloan will always allow for this team to be better than competitive.” Too bad I couldn’t do my best Kreskin impression and predict that the relationship between the two would become so toxic that it would force Jerry Sloan into retirement. I can’t be mad about losing this pick because there was nothing I could do to ever predict that. All you can do is shrug your shoulders.

Toronto Raptors
Projected Record: 26-56 or 27-55
Actual Record: 22-60

You have to feel bad for Jay Triano. He didn’t have a talented lineup to begin with and then every time you would turn around, the Raptors would be dealing with another injury. In the end, the Raptors would put together what looked to be more like a D-League lineup as opposed to an NBA one. I’m assuming that Jay Triano will be gone as coach, Bryan Colangelo will continue to avoid taking any heat for putting together such a terrible lineup and Raps fans will be stuck watching a sub-par basketball team.

Chat with Jan Levine

2011-04-18T15:47:00.004-04:00

A double-dose of interviews today as I talk with fantasy hockey expert, Jan Levine from rotowire.com. We break down what we've seen in all 8 of the NHL playoff series so far. It's been a great first few days of the playoffs and there's still a lot of intrigue to come over the next week.

Chat with Kevin O'Brien

2011-04-18T15:40:00.005-04:00

It's Monday and that means we try and help you out with setting your fantasy baseball roster for the week. This week, I talk to fantasy baseball expert, Kevin O'Brien from rotowire.com about three players that are lighting up pitchers and three stars that are struggling in the first couple of weeks.

Delivering More Than Just the Mail

2011-04-18T15:16:00.003-04:00

I guess delivering the mail could be considered a dirty job in some instances, but I'm sure the mailman himself isn't supposed to be contributing to that dirtiness with a "special" delivery. Here's the story of a now-suspended Oregon postman and how he'll probably end up looking through the want-ads pretty soon.

By Wayne Havrelly of KGW-TV

Don Derfler's own wife didn't believe him when he told her the mail carrier was defecating in public. Then he showed her the pictures.

Derfler saw it all from his living room window while he was babysitting his son Wednesday afternoon.

"He started pulling his pants down and started defecating, and at that point I grabbed my camera and started to take pictures," said Derfler.

Officials with the U.S. Postal Service say they are disheartened and disappointed.

"We're taking this very seriously, and I really want to apologize to our customers and to the public. I've worked for the Postal Service for many years and have never heard of an incident like this, and I hope I never do again," said Ron Anderson with the U.S. Postal Service.

Postal inspectors may have already cleaned up the evidence, according to another neighbor who said he confronted several men in suits walking around the scene of the act Thursday morning."I told them it's not normal to be wandering around someone's house, especially when they are away at work. He told me, 'It's OK, we're postal inspectors,'" the neighbor, who identified himself only as Dennis, told KGW.

"This is how they respect our property?," said Derfler. "It's just not right, and it's also a biohazard." It's also a misdemeanor crime in the city of Portland.

"Nature calls at inopportune times," said Dennis. "But jeez, go back to your rig and find a gas station for crying out loud."

Officials with the Postal Service told KGW they have suspended the mail carrier in question without pay, pending an investigation.

Is That My Ex-Wife?

2011-04-18T15:14:00.003-04:00

In this technological age of cellphone cameras and instant access to social sites like twitter and facebook, you can't hide, you can't lie and you have to realize that you can be exposed for anything at any time. This woman found out the hard way just how vicious the internet can be if you put yourself in a bad position.

By the Associated Press

A New York City woman who was getting $850 a month in alimony because she was supposedly disabled and unable to work had her payments slashed after her ex-husband spotted online photos of her belly dancing.

Brian McGurk went to court after discovering a blog that showed his 43-year-old ex-wife dancing at a gallery.

In other Internet postings, she wrote about dancing vigorously for several hours every day.

Dorothy McGurk told the court that the dancing was physical therapy for injuries she suffered in a car accident in the mid-1990s.

A county judge didn't buy it — and reduced her payments to $400 per month.

The judge also ordered her to pay her ex-husband's legal fees and 60 percent from the sale of their home.

Moonwalking Politician?

2011-04-18T14:51:00.003-04:00

With Canada going to the polls in a couple of weeks, it's only fitting that I would run into this story. I wonder how well this Romanian politician would do with his "unique" campaigning against the big wigs of Canadian politics. I might be convinced to vote for him...as long as he does a moonwalk for me.

By Alison Mutler of the Associated Press

A moonwalking politician might not be the best reason to pay attention to Romanian politics, but the antics seem to be working.

Edmond Talmacean, a 40-year-old Bucharest politician, has inspired national headlines with his Michael Jackson-inspired moonwalk on a television show and his impersonations of the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. His impersonation of a well-known sports commentator during a serious political debate also stunned other lawmakers into silence.

"Dancing is another kind of political message to appeal to the younger generation, that it is good to have fun ... that you can go to a disco and dance," Talmacean told The Associated Press on Monday.

Party bosses, however, say enough is enough and have ordered him to tone down.

Prime Minister Emil Boc declared the routine was more suited to "showbiz" than politics, while Vasile Blaga of the Democratic Liberal Party said the fringe lawmaker should head over to the TV program "Dancing with the Stars."

Despite the official disapproval, Talmacean is trending big time, gossiped about in coffee bars and hairdressing shops. Traffic to his political blog has soared, boosting it from 49th most viewed to the seventh in just two weeks.

"I think he expressed the way he felt which is good," said Valentina Tudor, 25, a sandwich vendor in Bucharest, the capital. "It's not as if he stole or did something bad. He is talented. I can't imagine (President) Basescu doing the moonwalk."

In Romania, the home of Dracula and other occult traditions, politics are renowned for being occasionally off-the-wall. President Traian Basescu and his aides have been known to wear purple on certain days to ward off evil.

Politician Mircea Geoana claimed that he lost the 2009 presidential race because Basescu hired a parapsychologist to launch a "negative energy attack" on him during a key debate.

Basescu has also appeared dancing with his wife or jiving with Gypsies — but his moves are far from Internet gold.

Talmacean promised Monday to keep a low profile until party elections next month but says he has no regrets.

"I danced, I sang. These are the qualities of the Romanian people," he told the AP.

Score a Goal, Get a Video

2011-04-18T14:43:00.002-04:00

Not to Stereotype Anything

2011-04-18T14:42:00.002-04:00

Chat with Ben Wilinofsky

2011-04-15T13:15:00.003-04:00

Ben just recently won over a million dollars by winning a European Poker Tour event in Berlin. We chat today, but it was a really enlightening talk about the life behind the scenes. I always want to pick the brain of anyone who's successful at what they do and I took advantage of that today. One of the best interviews I've done on this blog. Hope you enjoy it.

He's Got Enough Problems

2011-04-15T12:22:00.003-04:00

Leave it to a Canadian politician to go after Charlie Sheen for one of his lesser life problems. I'm not an advocate for smoking and I don't smoke at all, but out of all the problems this guy has going on right now, does he really need to deal with this battle as well?

By Scott Haggett of Reuters

Charlie Sheen, whose well-publicized list of bad habits includes smoking, is being offered a hand in kicking the tobacco habit by an Ontario cabinet minister, media reports said on Thursday.

Ontario Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best said she was personally willing to give Sheen a hand in quitting smoking while he's in Toronto on Thursday for his "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is not an Option" show.

She also pointed out that health inspectors would be in the city's Massey Hall venue to make sure Sheen doesn't violate a provincial law prohibiting smoking in enclosed public spaces, the Canadian Press reported.

"I would encourage him, given that he is a smoker, to call our hotline and to try and quit smoking for his own health," the news service quoted the minister saying.

"You know, he can give me a call. I'll certainly direct him how to get the help that he needs," Best said.

Sheen, whose assertion that he is always "winning, duh" has become a pop catchphrase, created the stage act -- a disorganized group of sketches, monologues and videos -- to prove to detractors that after months of drug and alcohol rehab, an assault on his ex-wife and probation, he was still in shape to work.

The show has mostly received poor reviews so far in appearances in Detroit, Chicago, New York and elsewhere.

Sheen, formerly the highest-paid actor on U.S. television, was booted off the highly successful CBS show "Two and a Half Men", in March after he publicly insulted both the studio, Warner Bros Television, and series co-creator Chuck Lorre.

The makers of the series denied on Thursday they were in talks to rehire the actor.

That's a Weird Name for a Town

2011-04-15T12:18:00.003-04:00

Anyone who watched wrestling in the 80's and early 90's would remember the Million Dollar Man and his infamous evil laugh and catch-phrase, "Everybody's got a price." Well, the people of Altoona, PA, certainly could be a shining example of that phrase after selling their town name. I didn't know you could do that...

By the Associated Press

Later this month, there will still be a city with roughly 31,000 residents in the Allegheny Mountains east of Pittsburgh. What there won't be is a city named Altoona.

That's because the city has sold its name to make some money — and to help independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock make a point.

City Council on Wednesday approved a deal to change Altoona's name to "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" for 60 days. Spurlock will pay the city an unspecified amount that will benefit its police department.

The film skewers the proliferation of advertising in American life. POM Wonderful is a juice company that paid to be the movie's title sponsor.

The film will screen in Altoona on April 27, the day the name change takes effect.

Beans?

2011-04-15T12:15:00.002-04:00

I know I would get sick and tired if my business was broken into over and over again and the same product was taken. I would pay for some extra security or get law enforcement to help me out. This drug store owner in Mississippi decided to go outside the box in an attempt to thwart a would-be drug robber.

By the Associated Press

A pharmacist in southeastern Mississippi says some drug store burglar got a surprise when they broke into his business to steal the pain medication Lortab — the pills had been replaced with beans.

Pharmacist Mac Clark works at Fred's Drug Store in Pascagoula and told WLOX TV the store has broken into several times in the past six months, and each time the burglars got Lortab. He decided he needed a decoy.

He put kidney beans in a large Lortab bottle. Around 6 a.m. Wednesday, the burglars came back. The only thing stolen was the Lortab bottle filled with beans.

Investigators believe the burglar cut him or herself during the break-in because they found a trail of blood leading away from the building.

Emotional Play-By-Play

2011-04-15T12:14:00.001-04:00

Top Ten Plays from the NBA/NHL

2011-04-15T12:13:00.001-04:00

Chat with Jan Levine

2011-04-14T12:34:00.004-04:00

5 games are in the books and 3 series get started tonight. We're off to a great start already based on what we saw on Day 1. I break down the final three matchups of the Stanley Cup playoffs with our fantasy hockey expert from rotowire.com, Jan Levine.

Not Near the Library!

2011-04-14T08:33:00.004-04:00

It's not too often that morailty wins over greed and money in these times, but the town of Lead, South Dakota, decided to take the high road in their town's latest vote. I wonder how many of the 303 who voted for this "addition" to their local establishment.

By James B. Kelleher of Reuters

Voters in the town of Lead, South Dakota, rejected a proposal on Tuesday that would have allowed nude dancing at bars in its historic downtown, a move supporters had said would give an economic boost to the struggling mining town.

The proposed easing of the state's adult entertainment law was defeated by a vote of 535-303, Lead City Commissioner Casey Borsch said in a phone interview. He characterized turnout for the referendum as "considerably higher" than normal.

State law in South Dakota already permits nude dancing in bars -- provided it does not take place within a quarter-mile of any residence, business or community gathering place.

But city commissioners in Lead, a town of about 3,000 near Deadwood in the Black Hills, voted in January to adopt a more lenient standard, eliminating the quarter-mile rule for their city by means of a special ordinance.

The commission acted after the owners of the Wild Thing Saloon on Main Street, located a few blocks from the town's opera house and public library, brought in nude dancers for two days in December to see how popular it would be.

The event reportedly drew hundreds of extra visitors into Lead, best known as the site of the Homestake gold mine.

Opponents of the easing, which the commission passed 3-2, gathered enough signatures to put the ordinance to a public vote. On Tuesday, they prevailed.

Once the largest and deepest mine in the Western Hemisphere, Lead's Homestake mine ceased production and closed in 2002. Scientific researchers now use it to conduct research into neutrinos and other cosmic particles. But the facility no longer employs anywhere near as many local workers.

In 1989, the nearby town of Deadwood legalized gambling, a move that created a two-decade-long boom and generated millions of dollars in taxes and fees, according to the state.

We're Fooled So Easily Sometimes

2011-04-14T08:30:00.003-04:00

In this technological age where information is accessible at the push of a button, there's been a shift in the media where being right isn't necessarily as important as being first. Because of that, incidents like this next one can happen from time to time.

By Scott Malone of Reuters

General Electric Co, embroiled in controversy over its low 2010 U.S. tax bill, was the target of a bogus press release claiming that it would donate billions of dollars to the federal government.

The official-looking release, complete with the GE logo and slogan "imagination at work", said that GE would send its $3.2 billion tax refund from 2010 back to Washington.

The Yes Men, an activist group known for issuing hoax statements claiming major attitude changes in corporate America, said it sent the release in an e-mail to media outlets on Wednesday.

"It's a hoax and GE did not receive a refund," said Deirdre Latour, a spokeswoman for the largest U.S. conglomerate.

The spoof came amid an ongoing battle in Washington between President Barack Obama's Democratic party and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives over how to cut the nation's budget deficit.

GE shares slipped after at least two news organizations, the Associated Press and Dow Jones, reported the hoax as fact.

AP later pulled its story, which AP spokesman Paul Colford said was "clearly a case of editorial error."

Dow Jones followed up its headline, which cited the AP, with GE's rebuttal.

"We moved to clarify the original headline as soon as we became aware of the situation," said spokeswoman Ashley Huston.

GE shares were down 4 cents at $19.97 in early afternoon trading.

In October 2009, the Yes Men staged a phony press conference to "announce" that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had reversed its opposition to climate-change legislation.

Reuters was among the news organizations to fall for that hoax, and later withdrew its story.

Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE's tax rate has been in the public eye since the New York Times reported last month that it paid no U.S. income taxes in 2010, a claim that GE denies.

GE has acknowledged that its 2010 tax bill was low due to hefty losses at its GE Capital finance unit during the financial crisis.

Chief Executive Jeff Immelt acknowledged in a March speech in Washington that the company tries to keep its tax bill as low as it can but said it does so legally.

Ummm...Never Mind...

2011-04-14T08:26:00.005-04:00

I received a letter recently from my Hydro company saying that they in fact owed me money and that my bill for that period was covered. It might have been my best day of 2011. I wonder what some people felt when they got a letter from the town of Hamilton, Ohio, that said their parking ticket was voided.

By the Associated Press

Motorists are off the hook for more than 900 speeding tickets automatically issued by a mobile police camera in southwest Ohio.

The camera had been stationed in a park in Hamilton on April 2 at the same time a youth soccer tournament, the Mid-American Soccer Classic, was being held.

Police Chief Neil Ferdelman tells The JournalNews of Hamilton that he canceled the tickets because of the tournament, which he says drew many out-of-towners who were unaware the camera was in use.

The tournament's director says there would have been consequences for next year's event if Hamilton had decided to pursue the tickets.

At $95 each, the 900 tickets would have totaled more than $86,000. The chief says 70 of the tickets were mailed. Those motorists have been sent letters telling them: never mind.

Some More Thursday Entertainment

2011-04-14T08:25:00.001-04:00

Some Thursday Humour

2011-04-14T08:23:00.001-04:00

A Chat with Jan Levine

2011-04-13T13:09:00.004-04:00

I break down the first five matchups that get going tonight with our fantasy hockey expert from rotowire.com, Jan Levine. We hadn't done a lot of breakdown on Sportscall this week, but I thought we did a good job of doing that here. Have a listen and hope you enjoy!

Who Stole My Pen?

2011-04-13T07:57:00.004-04:00

It happens in every office around the world. The stolen pen can be one of the more infuriating things of your day. On the flip side, finding a pen when in desperate need of one can be one of the best feelings of the day. It's kind of nice to know that even prominent world leaders stoop to pen theft when necesary.

By Robert Mueller of Reuters Life

Czech media chided President Vaclav Klaus on Tuesday after a viral Internet video showed him discreetly pocketing a ceremonial pen during a visit to Chile in what viewers are calling a theft.

The video "The Czech Republic's president steals a pen" shows Klaus admiring the pen during a news conference with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, then holding it under the table where he appears to put it in his pocket.

The video has logged more than 100,000 in two days and caused a media stir, with television news shows repeating the video and papers splashing it on the front page.

"Even though protocol allows Klaus to take the pen, with which the foreign minister signed a transport agreement, as a souvenir, Internet users are branding the Czech president as a thief," daily Mlada Fronta Dnes wrote.

Presidential spokesman Radim Ochvat said Klaus had a right to take the pen, which presidents and their delegations get on state visits. "We at the Prague Castle always give such a pen to delegations, along with a notepad," he said.

Hey Now!

2011-04-13T07:54:00.003-04:00

All of a sudden, another dreary school day for male university students in Philadelphia got exciting real fast thanks to a professor's outside the box idea on how to teach students about business ethics. I wonder how often he's relied on his guests in his life outside of school. Hmmm...

By the Associated Press

Students at La Salle University in Philadelphia say exotic dancers were part of a professor's extra-credit symposium on business ethics.

Officials at the private Roman Catholic school say they are investigating the March 21 seminar, which ended abruptly after the business school's dean showed up.

Students say the dancers kept their clothes on. Sophomore Brad Bernardino tells WPVI-TV that one dancer gave a lap dance to assistant management professor Jack Rappaport.

Rappaport did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

La Salle spokesman Joseph Donovan would not comment on Rappaport's status while the investigation continues. Students say they have a new teacher.

The seminar was held at a satellite campus about 10 miles from La Salle's main campus.

Check Numbers Carefully

2011-04-13T07:49:00.003-04:00

Good thing these people are able to laugh about it. I think I would be violently ill for about a month before I would be able to get back to normal. It's not every day that you think you have over 4 million in the bank account and then have it taken away.

By MSNBC.com

It pays to doublecheck those lottery numbers — if you want to avoid heartache.

A couple from Pueblo, Colo., found that out after they checked their tickets' numbers in the local newspaper. At first, Jim and Dorothy Sprague say, they experienced a lot of joy on Sunday morning when they looked in the Pueblo Chieftain to find that their numbers were winners.

"I woke up and found out we were millionaires," Jim Sprague told NBC station KOAA.

In his excitement, Sprague called his children to tell them he'd won the $4.3 million jackpot.

Then came the disappointment: The newspaper had mistakenly published Friday's Matchplay numbers in place of Saturday's Colorado Lottery drawing.

"We had told my son and my daughter, and we were getting ready to tell our other kids, but we found the mistake, that it was wrong," Sprague said. "It's a good thing that I didn't talk to too many people."

The Spragues are able to laugh now but admit they're still a bit frustrated.

The newspaper published a correction in Monday's paper, faulting the error on "misinformation and an oversight." Sprague said he decided not to push the issue and said the experience won't keep him from playing the lottery in the future.

"I hope that I'll find the right numbers one of these days," he said.

Premature Celebrations!

2011-04-13T07:42:00.004-04:00

Talking Basketballs? Really?

2011-04-13T07:41:00.001-04:00

Western Conference Preview

2011-04-11T21:40:00.001-04:00

Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks

We’ve all heard it already. For Vancouver, drawing the defending champs in the opening round could be the best thing for them if they win and clearly the worst thing possible if they lose. Much like the 1-8 match-up in the East, the top-seeded Canucks would win this series on paper every single time. This is not the same Hawks team that we’ve seen in the past couple of years. The biggest difference between the Caps vs. Rangers and this series is that the Canucks have to fight the demons that have no doubt been spending time in their heads after repeated eliminations by Chicago in previous playoffs. I think this team is good enough though and they get past Round 1

Pick: Vancouver in 6

San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings

We talked so much about the mental aspect for the Canucks in the previous breakdown. How the Sharks are feeling between the ears will go a long way to telling us how they’ll do this time around. As opposed to years previous where a lot was expected of the Northern California team, this year’s edition has flown under the radar and aren’t really being talked about as Stanley Cup contenders. The lack of expectations has to be a nice change of pace. On the other side, it’s been an inconsistent year for the Kings and in a lot of ways, the team either stagnated or got worse. Combine that with the injury concerns that they have entering the playoffs and it could be a quick exit.

Pick: San Jose in 5

Detroit Red Wings vs. Phoenix Coyotes

Last season’s opening round series was a classic. Despite the fact the Wings were able to take the series, many believe that the Coyotes took so much energy out of them that they had nothing left for the second round. We could be in for another fight for this year’s first-round match-up. The Wings come into the series with many injury concerns and may not be the same team that dominated the regular season. No one is talking about the Coyotes because everyone is focusing on whether or not this team will even be in the desert next season due to financial problems. In the end, the depth and experience of the Wings should get them through again, but could the grind of Round 1 force them to suffer the same fate that led to their demise last season?

Pick: Detroit in 7

Anaheim Ducks vs. Nashville Predators

This is another tough match-up to figure out because both teams were inconsistent at times during the regular season. At one point, neither team looked like they were going to make it to the post-season dance. However, both teams made a great late-season push in order to get themselves in. A couple of questions for the Ducks: 1) Can they get production from players other than Perry/Getzlaf/Ryan? Teemu Selanne had a great end to the year, but can he continue that pace alongside another veteran in Saku Koivu? 2) Can they get competent goaltending? For the Preds, can they stop that top line of Anaheim and get consistent scoring over the seven-game series?

Pick: Anaheim in 7

Eastern Conference Preview

2011-04-11T21:39:00.001-04:00

Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers

On paper, the Caps should win this series every single time and I really don’t have a problem with picking them in this series. A lot of people will point to the lack of experience with goaltending with this Washington team as a future problem in later rounds and I agree with that, but I think there could be a bigger problem that arises. What is the true identity of this team? Have they truly turned the corner and become a defensive team? I just wonder what will happen if they face a deficit. Will they revert back to being a run-and-gun team if they find themselves in trouble?

Pick: Washington in 5

Philadelphia Flyers vs. Buffalo Sabres

A lot of people are pointing to this series as the upset special based on the fact that the Flyers struggled in their final 20 games to coast their way to the second seed. Meanwhile, the Sabres have had to fight so hard just to make it in by winning 8 of their last 10. If you listen to Sportscall every day, you know I’m all about momentum as well, but I’m still taking the Flyers. This team is built to win in the playoffs. I think they’ll be able to flip on the switch and get back to top form. Their big-time advantage in the size, depth and physicality departments are sure to be a big help as well.

Pick: Philadelphia in 6

Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens

This one is the hardest series to pick because of all the different off-ice variables that come with this series. How does either team handle the pressure of playing in such an emotional rivalry series? How do the Bruins rebound after an embarrassing collapse to Philly last season? How do the Habs respond to the challenge of trying to repeat their magical run of a year ago? Is there still some fallout from the Chara/Pacioretty hit from early March? So many questions and so many variables. I would avoid betting on this series at all costs, but I’ll throw out a pick to keep some continuity within the entry.

Pick: Boston in 7

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Dan Bylsma deserves a hell of a lot of credit for being able to keep his team on the rails and continue to win on a regular basis despite missing their top two players in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. However, as we all know, it’s one thing to perform in the regular season and another to perform in the playoffs. The obvious question for the Pens: Do they have enough depth for a seven-game series? For the Lightning, the biggest contribution they’ll need will have to come from their blue line and back. If the defense and goaltending falter, this Lightning team is going nowhere. The defense has to be solid and Dwayne Roloson has to try and find some of his form from 2006.

Pick: Tampa Bay in 6

A Couple of Randoms

2011-04-11T20:55:00.003-04:00

The Fun of the Final Day of the Regular Season

2011-04-11T20:54:00.002-04:00

They Really Do Have Apps For Everything Now

2011-04-11T20:42:00.004-04:00

It's simply amazing how far our world has advanced in only the last five years or so. Think about it. Five years ago, your cell phone had limited functions and most of them were for communicating with others. Perish the thought. I couldn't believe this newest app when I read about it.

By Bernd Debusmann Jr. of Reuters Life

Worried about how many calories you are going to consume in that slice of pizza, chocolate cake or bag of fries? A new iPhone application may help.

After taking a picture of the meal with the phone, the app gives a calorie read-out almost instantly.

The app, called MealSnap, was developed by DailyBurn, a fitness social network that has created several other fitness and diet-related iPhone applications.

Within minutes of taking a picture of a meal and matching it to a database of some 500,000 food items, the app sends users an alert with a range of calories for the meal that was photographed.

"The database can quickly help identity the food, how many calories there are, proteins, fat, carbs, vitamins, whatever you may want to know," said DailyBurn CEO Andy Smith. "Users can then choose to share what they've eaten on Twitter or FourSquare, leading to social accountability."

Smith added that calorie counting can be a very time consuming process. But the app makes it easier to track the calories in food.

"The pure act of tracking something can cause a psychological change that can help people on their health and fitness journey," he explained. "Just the simple fact of logging it makes me more aware of what I'm eating."

Additionally, MealSnap can serve as a food diary, allowing users to keep a visual log of the meals they have eaten.

"It's like a food journal, but easier. All you do is take the picture," Smith said.

MealSnap is available on the iTunes store for $2.99.

Only at AppleBee's

2011-04-11T20:34:00.004-04:00

The slogan is meant to talk about their incrdeible deals or their larger portions at full price. I doubt it was meant to include what happened to this toddler in Michigan. I'm sure you wouldn't want your infant to find out how adults feel after a night of over-indulgence.

By James B. Kelleher of Reuters

The company that owns the Applebee's restaurant chain said on Monday it was immediately retraining its workers nationwide after a server at a suburban Detroit location accidentally served alcohol to a toddler.

The company, California-based DineEquity Inc, said it would also change the way it serves juice to youngsters to eliminate the chance of any mixups that could result in any more tipsy toddlers.

On Friday, Taylor Dill-Reese went to an Applebee's in Madison Heights, Michigan, where -- among other things -- she ordered her 15-month-old son Dominick an apple juice.

What the little boy apparently got instead was a margarita. His mom told WDIV-TV that she only realized something was wrong when Dominick "kind of laid his head on the table and dozed off a little bit and woke up and got real happy."

The little boy reportedly began hailing strangers, too.

Applebee's released a statement on Monday saying it was relieved that Dominick was "not seriously injured as a result of accidentally receiving the wrong beverage" and apologizing to his family "for the stress and worry this caused them."

It said it would begin to serve apple juice to children only from single-serve containers at the table and would "retrain all severs on our beverage pouring policy, emphasizing that non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages must be stored in completely separate and identified containers."

Interesting Add-On with Purchase

2011-04-11T20:12:00.003-04:00

Americans make fun of Canadians for saying "Aboot" or having round bacon or having a sub-par army. Canadians make fun of Americans for a lack of intelligence, no gun control and a sub-par health care system. This next story won't help Americans with their perceived lack of gun control.

By Laura Zuckerman of Reuters

A chain of electronic stores in parts of the states of Idaho and Montana are offering free guns to first-time subscribers of satellite TV services.

The new promotions by combination RadioShack and Dish Network dealerships in western Montana and another in southwest Idaho have attracted crowds that range from the merely curious to the firearm-friendly.

John Marshall, owner of a RadioShack store in Mountain Home, Idaho near Boise, said the flagging economy was behind the program he began advertising this week.

"There's no problem with it here; this isn't New York City," he said about a gun giveaway that has sparked criticism on blogs by gun-control advocates elsewhere.

Under the arrangement, new subscribers to a Dish Network package are given a coupon for $135 to purchase a single-shot shotgun at a local sporting goods store.

The guns-for-subscriptions offer is the brainchild of Steve Strand, owner of a RadioShack store in Montana's Bitterroot Valley.

Strand said the promotional campaign he crafted last fall has proved a sure-fire strategy to target satellite subscribers in a region that favors firearms. Subscriptions for Dish Network packages have increased threefold since he began offering freebies on pistols or shotguns.

Strand said women make up the majority of his growing customer base.

"All I can tell you is, grandma is packing a gun in Montana," he said.

A RadioShack official questioned the promotion but the corporation has not prohibited it by franchise owners like Strand.

"I might not even consider such a program if I were in Detroit city but we have a different demographic out here," Strand said.

Forgiving and Forgetting

2011-04-11T16:18:00.001-04:00

I wrote about how much the Masters means to me as one of the top sporting events of the year. Golf by itself doesn’t usually hold my interest long enough for me to invest hours in a day to play, let alone watch. However, the people in charge of running the Masters set the course right every single time and allow for the tournament to be challenging, yet produce a true winner who has to go out and earn it through exceptional play. It’s too bad those same people need a lesson on how to treat female reporters and probably females in general, but that’s another story.

As I watched Tiger making his run towards the Green Jacket on Sunday, I noticed so many people in the gallery just hooting and hollering every time he would hole a big putt or bomb a monster drive down the middle of the fairway. Every move he made was being scrutinized and every positive shot that he made was being applauded by the guys in the booth just as loudly as those walking the course.

I couldn’t help but wonder though. How many of these same people that were cheering for him yesterday were making him out to be the second coming of Satan just a year and a half ago after all the extra-marital affairs and overall lies were exposed by a probing media that had spent so many years building him up to be the second coming of Jesus? I would venture to guess that a good number of them had nothing but praise yesterday, but quite the opposite just over a year ago.

As Charl Schwartzel, Jason Day and Adam Scott were battling over the tournament and my interest started to fade away, I began to think about someone like Michael Vick. He was another one that was completely demonized by the public for his actions in financing and partially running a dog-fighting circuit. He truly deserved it and I have no problem saying that. However, how many of those same people who were completely trashing him a few years ago were trying to purchase Michael Vick Eagles’ jerseys this year? I would say that number was probably higher than you think.

A lot of people would have a problem with that. I love animals just as much as most people do and I don’t condone what he did in the past, but there comes a point where a person has done as much as he can to prove himself worthy of forgiveness and I think Michael Vick is at that point. Whether or not Tiger is there is unclear because he didn’t break a law by what he did, but he broke a moral code that a lot of people adhere to.

However, I thought what we saw yesterday from the gallery was a sign of humanity that shows compassion and a willingness to give people second/third/fourth chances in life. Imagine where we would be as a society if we were always holding grudges and never ever gave someone a chance to redeem themselves. I doubt we would be as advanced as we are today. I thought yesterday’s round truly was a wake-up call for those who still held a grudge against Tiger. Most people are willing to forgive and forget. Should you?

Jan Levine Blog Apr11/11

2011-04-11T13:55:00.003-04:00

A double shot of interviews on the blog today. We'll talk a lot about the opening round matchups as the week goes on, but we focus on guys to look out for or to avoid if you happen to be in a playoff pool this year. My conversation with fantasy hockey expert, Jan Levine from rotowire.com

Kevin O'Brien Blog Apr11/11

2011-04-11T13:48:00.004-04:00

A personal note. I destroyed my first opponent 12-1 this week in fantasy baseball. It's basically like taking candy from a baby. I feel bad because I get some great insight every single week. You can too by listening to fantasy baseball expert, Kevin O'Brien from rotowire.com.

Great Goals to End the Season

2011-04-11T07:54:00.001-04:00

Teemu Can Do it All

2011-04-11T07:53:00.002-04:00

I Love the Masters

2011-04-07T22:00:00.001-04:00

As I’ve said many times on Sportscall, I’m not a big golf guy. I don’t play all that much in the summer because of the time commitment and the amount of money it costs to play the game. I don’t watch the tournaments on a weekly basis since the vast majority of tournaments seem like nothing but cash-grabs for the players without any significance. However, I will male some time for three of the four major championships.

The Masters, the British Open and the PGA Championship are the three that I make time for. I have no time whatsoever for the U.S. Open. If I have to watch it, I’ll let it be known right away that it’s against my will and the only justification for me is that it’s necessary for my job. I just find the U.S. Open just completely unwatchable.

One day into the Masters and we have two players tied for the lead at 7-under. Rory McIlroy and Alviro Quiros were able to take advantage of good scoring conditions to have themselves some tremendous rounds. Do you hear anyone complaining that the scoring is too low? Does anyone have a problem with seeing as many birdies as we saw today? Of course not.

People want to see birdies and the best golfers in the world should look like they know what they’re doing. If you’re watching professionals on TV in the hopes of them playing closer to the way you do, my suggestion to you would be to get some professional help with a counsellor so that you can talk about your issues involving your own ego. Why in the world would you want to see professional guys playing like you do when you hack it up on the weekend?

Getting back to the U.S. Open, have you ever heard a conversation happening in your office between two guys reminiscing about how a past winner needed to be consistent in making pars to win a championship? Of course not! Nobody remembers the consistent guy and nobody remembers the guy that won the tournament by default because the others played so poorly around him. There’s a reason why Jack Nicklaus’ 1986 win at Augusta is brought up all the time. It was unbelievable drama to watch.

I only happened to be 4 at the time so I didn’t see it live (or at least I don’t remember seeing it live), but I made sure to go back and watch the highlights of that amazing comeback in which he shot 30 on the back nine. He had to go out and win the tournament. He didn’t rely on others to shoot several shots over-par. Coming up big in the clutch makes sports figures legendary. Being consistent when others are not is not memorable.

So as I watch the Masters over the weekend, I’ll enjoy every minute of it because I know that this is one of the few tournaments where the significance is more important than the money and the person that ends up holding the trophy will be someone that truly earned through good play and making winning shots.

One Man Who Was Truly "All-In"

2011-04-07T21:53:00.003-04:00

After reading about this New Mexico resident, I won't feel so bad next time I'm bad-beat in my weekly 20 dollar poker game. I have to wonder about the New Mexico penal system as well that allows for a felon to try and avoid jail time by being successful at gambling. Odd story to say the least...

By the Associated Press

A New Mexico man has been sentenced to prison after he asked to repay his investment scam victims through poker tournament winnings, but failed to find luck at the card table.

Samuel McMaster Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years. He pleaded guilty last year to charges of stealing nearly $450,000 from 23 investors.

Prosecutors had agreed to delay the ex-insurance agent's sentencing after he asked to attempt to earn money for restitution. The agreement included broad language that allowed those attempts to include gambling.

A lead prosecutor with the state Securities Division says she is not aware of similar cases, and that prosecutors had been aware of his intentions.

State officials say that as a result of McMaster, they will probably examine the ways in which restitutions are made.

He Started It!

2011-04-07T21:48:00.004-04:00

Just another example of how alcohol can make you do some really stupid things sometimes. It's never good to have a criminal record for anything, but how do you explain to a potential employer that you have a criminal record because you tried to out-bark a police dog?

By WLWT.com

A Mason man has been charged with teasing a police dog.

According to a police report, Officer Bradley Walker was responding to a crash at the Mason Pub early Sunday morning when his K-9 officer, Timber, began barking.

Walker said he observed 25-year-old Ryan Stephens with his face about 2 inches from the rear window of the police vehicle, barking and hissing at Timber.

When Walker questioned Stephens about why he was barking at the dog, Stephens replied, "He started it. He was harassing me."

Walker said he believed Stephens was intoxicated because he smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.

Stephens is to appear April 21 in municipal court on a misdemeanor citation of willfully teasing a police K-9 officer.

Walker said it's dangerous to incite the dogs while they're locked inside the vehicle.

"Everything is metal in here, and a dog could easily get his tooth caught in one of these grates here and rip his tooth out and cause severe dental trauma to get at one of these people that is harassing him," Walker said.

Walker said it's also dangerous to the person doing the harassing.

"If the door was actually left unlocked or something, and a drunk individual or an intoxicated individual opens the door, he has a very good likelihood of getting bit," Walker said.

It Pays to Do a Little Cleaning

2011-04-07T21:46:00.003-04:00

Any guy that reads this next story will immediately think to ask their wives/girlfriends to clean out their purses after reading this story. I'm going to avoid doing that in order to avoid possibly sleeping on the couch. Don't ever get between a woman and her purse.

By the Associated Press

A Georgia woman's decision to clean out her purse paid off in a big way when she found an old lottery ticket worth $189,302. Fifty-five-year-old Rhonda Williams of Fairburn says she found the winning Fantasy 5 ticket in the bottom of her purse after cleaning it out over the weekend.

WSB-TV reports that the ticket is from a Jan. 17 drawing. Williams picked all of the winning numbers: 18, 25, 28, 29, 35.

Williams says she plans to pay off bills and may take a cruise.

I'll Make Up for It Now

2011-04-07T21:33:00.002-04:00

The Videos Are Back

2011-04-07T21:30:00.001-04:00

Chat with Kevin O'Brien

2011-04-05T12:42:00.004-04:00

It's been all Kevin O'Brien lately, but we're just getting on schedule now. This will be a weekly segment on the blog and we'll usually have this for you on Mondays. One day late today because of schedule commitments on both of our parts, but here it is for you.

Don't Move or I'll Infect You!

2011-04-05T08:10:00.003-04:00

When you think of weapons used in armed robberies, you think immediately about guns or knives or baseball bats. We've all seen the videos before. I'm sure you've never seen a video of a woman robbing a gas station using their infected arm as a scare tactic.

By newsnet5.com

A woman from Geauga County, Ohio, pleaded not guilty to robbery charges after police said she used a MRSA infection on her arm as a weapon to steal from a Cleveland gas station.

Caroline Slusher, 32, of Chesterland was arraigned on one count of robbery and one count of theft.

According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, Slusher entered the BP gas station on East 152nd Street near I-90 on Oct. 3 and began taking candy and gum off the shelves and stuffing it in bags and in her clothing.

When a worker confronted her, prosecutors said Slusher showed her Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus-infected arm to the attendant, told him to stay away and then left the store.

The bacterium is responsible for infections that are resistant to treatment by antibiotics. The infections have plagued hospitals.

She was arrested March 30 after skipped out on a November court appearance, prosecutors said.

Slusher’s bond was set at $25,000. Her next hearing is set for Thursday.

Don't Forget About Us

2011-04-05T08:08:00.004-04:00

I've never lived in a small town before. Anyone that I know that has will tell me that everyone knows everyone else and that everything you do will most likely be talked about. In the town of Lost Springs, Wyoming, I would hope that all residents know each other. There's only four of them...

By the Associated Press

The Wyoming town of Lost Springs can finally count on the Census to get its population correct: Four, not one.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports that the Census Bureau somehow missed four other residents of the town when it counted only one person in 2000.

The cause of that mistake wasn't clear. Leda Price, who lives on the west side of the 1-block Main Street, jokes that officials must have counted only her side of town.

The 2010 Census, however, got it right this time when it found and counted all four of Lost Springs' residents. The newspaper reports that since the 2000 survey, two residents died but a newcomer moved in.

The state highway department says it will change the town's population on signs.

Amateur Soccer Fails

2011-04-05T08:04:00.001-04:00

Random Thoughts via Audio

2011-04-03T10:49:00.005-04:00

Some quick points on a few topics including what I really like out of the Toronto Blue Jays, a Butler-UCONN championship game on Monday and even a soccer take. Well, it really doesn't have anything to do with soccer. More about the business side of things. Have a good Sunday everyone!

Glad to Get That off My Chest

2011-04-03T09:58:00.001-04:00

I have a solid routine every single day of reading about 2-3 hours worth of sport news, reports and opinion in order to have a good grasp on just about everything. My apologies go out to cricket fans. I know India won the World Cup yesterday, but reading the report on how it happened may does me no good. I have no idea what 6 wickets means and whether or not that’s a big margin of victory.

Normally I can just get through my reading and not be upset about anything that I do read. I’m pretty de-sensitized now to some of the shock value that writers try to add or the inherent and sometimes necessary bias that comes with an opinion piece. I just couldn’t hold my tongue today though. Some of the things I’ve read today made me just shake my head.

First of all, I’m getting sick and tired of reading all the articles about the Leafs having a fighting chance to make the playoffs. In reading over the last 24 hours, you would think that the Leafs have a coin-flip chance of making the playoffs. Even after last night’s win against the Senators, you want to know what their actual chance of making the playoffs are? According to sportsclubstats.com, the Leafs have a 1% chance of making it to the post-season. They moved 0.1 with their win last night.

The problem is that they continue to win, but the teams in front of them continue to do so as well. It seems like such a small gap for them, but there’s just too many things working against them. I think I’m so upset about it too because it’s so clear that Leaf fans have been sucked in by all of this media hype. I’m even getting annoyed by fellow Leafs fan thinking that the chances are better than they really are.

I also got a kick about the coverage on the Oilers/Canucks game last night. It was first vs. worst, David vs. Goliath and all the other big vs. small clichés that you can think of. My god, at this rate, you would have thought the Oilers chances of winning that game would have been 1%. On the surface, it looked like it was going to be a tough night for the Oilers. In actuality, it was always going to be a tough night for the Canucks.

I get that the Oilers had lost 11 in a row, had a shell of a lineup because of their injuries and could be looked down upon based on their ability to lock up the bottom spot in the NHL standings, but everything was lined up for them to win that game because of the emotion involved. Simply put, the Oilers had everything to play for and the Canucks had nothing.

It was the first time all year that the Canucks could truly take a deep breath. They literally have nothing to play for now because they’ve accomplished everything possible. They had a playoff spot sewn up by November, the division title won a couple months later, the Western Conference weeks ago and the regular-season title just two days ago. With no motivation whatsoever, you want them to beat a team full of youngsters that are embarrassed, tired of losing and looking to make a name for themselves by beating the best? Good luck with that.

Like I said, I can usually get through the daily reading without really having a problem with any of it, but I felt like I shouldn’t have this much tension on a Sunday morning. What have we learned today? The Leafs aren’t going to make the playoffs and people need to take emotion much more into account before they decide on how the outcome of a game might unfold.

Is That All It Takes in Spain?

2011-04-03T09:53:00.003-04:00

I can't even remember the last time I used a fax machine. Why someone would even rely on fax machines anymore is beyond me? It's the same gripe that I have with regular mail service, but that's another story. Well, at least a couple in Spain used the out-dated technology and did so for a big-time short-term benefit.

By Harold Heckle of the Associated Press

Spanish police say they have arrested a man who twice escaped from custody by having his wife send fake faxes ordering his release.

Fifty-seven-year-old Jose Carlos Serna was taken into custody at his home in San Lorenzo del Escorial, a suburb north of Madrid, on Friday, while hiding in a hollowed-out sofa, police said.

In December, he was in a cell at Arganda del Rey courthouse awaiting trial when officers got a fax purportedly from a regional court. It was followed by a phone call purportedly from a court official, corroborating the release order.

Officers tried to verify the order, but their calls went unanswered. When they received a second call confirming Serna's release, he was freed to a waiting taxi. Both calls came from his wife, Gema Maria Serna, whom police tracked down to a house in the northern suburb and arrested on March 3.

It was not the first time Serna used the trick on police. He escaped from Valdemoro jail in October using the same tools.

He had been in prison for heading a gang that in 2008 kidnapped a Spanish businessman and held him captive in the southern Portuguese beach resort area of the Algarve.

Since his last escape Serna had rented several houses, including the heavily fortified suburban home where he was arrested.

Police said Serna had equipped the house with reinforced window protection and a secret entrance that could not be easily detected or approached. He had also hired a number of men to drive him around while pretending to be an Italian university professor.

Officers broke in through a skylight to find Serna hidden, the police statement said.

I Can't Believe This Idea Failed

2011-04-03T09:50:00.004-04:00

Everyone in their family has that one person who is always coming up with crazy and over-the-top schemes in order to make a quick buck without really having to do much work. Luckily, most of these people never put their idea into motion because they don't want to do the leg work to get the project started. This guy did and is now paying the price...literally.

By the Associated Press

A man who bought a used 300-foot Staten Island Ferry to convert it into a waterborne dorm for New York college students is drowning in a bad case of buyer's remorse.

Former marina owner Jacques Guillet bought the orange ferry for $162,000 at a closed-bid auction three years ago.

But he's failed to find an affordable parking spot along the area's waterfront for the 3,500-passenger boat, named the Gov. Herbert H. Lehman. The city wanted to charge him $1,000 a day.

Now he's paying $6,000 a month to dock it in Staten Island.

He tells The Wall Street Journal in Saturday editions that he's trying to sell the ferry. Any buyer would need to deal with complicated logistics, including the boat's size.

There were no bids when he advertised it on eBay.

Jim Kosek Reminds Me of Matt Foley for Some Reason

2011-04-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

Jim Kosek is at it again...

2011-04-03T09:42:00.003-04:00

Power to the Fans!

2011-04-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

“You can’t fool the fans. They’re pretty smart. You don’t have to necessarily win right now but if they see light at the end of the tunnel, if they see you’re being consistent in what you’re doing, they’re going to back you up unless you betray them.” Those are the words of three-time World Series winner and former GM Pat Gillick spoken to Ken Fidlin of the Toronto Sun.

Gillick is one of the most respected executives of all-time in the game of baseball and his success can only be dreamed by many present-day executives and young guys working their way up and trying to prove themselves. As Alex Anthopolous told Fidlin, “…getting 45 minutes with Pat Gillick was worth way more than getting to see a kid for the draft.”

Gillick certainly shows a ton of respect for the fans and their intelligence when it comes to following their favourite teams and their rivals around the game. If Gillick is respected by so many of his peers and he can show more than an ounce of respect towards the fans, how come so many executives in all types of sports fail at this seemingly easy task? Why is it that executives feel like they can swerve the fans into believing in something that’s nothing but fool’s gold?

We see it in sports all the time. The Blue Jays were guilty of trying to fool their fans into thinking they had a playoff contender for years. It’s only now under the leadership of Anthopolous that the charade has finally been put to rest and the future has become the light at the end of the tunnel. Funny how an executive is honest with himself and others and the fans show some respect for that.

If there’s one thing that I can’t stand with professional sports, it’s the egotistical strut that some sports people walk around with and the audacity and ease at which these same people discard the opinions of the fans because “they don’t know what they’re talking about”. You would never hear or read about an executive saying those exact words, but it’s impressive to me how many times they can come up with a politically-correct way of saying exactly that to the same people that help keep the franchise propped up with their hard-earned money and support.

Being able to host a sports show on a daily basis, I’ve learned exactly how knowledgeable a fan base can truly be. They know exactly what’s happening on the field of play and they know exactly what’s even happening outside the field of play also. We may not necessarily agree on certain points on a daily basis, but I come with well-researched points and a lot of times, the caller/e-mailer will also show off well-researched points to prove the other side.

I guess my whole point in all of this is that too often, the fans get dumped on because they’re the easy target. They don’t really have a voice like a media member does or an executive does with a microphone underneath his mouth or even a player that has daily chats with the media. Because of that lack of voice, they don’t have a chance to defend themselves as intelligent people. I will never ever take the fans for granted, but it’s a shame that a lot of people in the sports world do. The only saving grace is that the ones that do often are the ones that aren’t very successful.

NCAA Final Four Preview

2011-04-02T11:10:00.003-04:00

I normally take the weekend off, but I'm just so excited for the Final Four to start tonight. I sat on my couch with my recorder and just started talking. I went for 6 and a half minutes. It's really weird to talk to yourself for that long. Enjoy the games tonight!

Take Your Dirty Business Elsewhere

2011-04-02T09:07:00.004-04:00

If he owned a buffet restaurant, would he ban customers over 200 pounds? I wonder if he would ban high-rollers from his casino because they would be betting too much for his liking. He must know something we don't since he's been in business for 20 years, but...

By MSNBC.com

A laundromat and car-wash owner in Pennsylvania is banning some of his customers — for bringing in clothes that are too dirty.

Troy Schoenly says he's fed up with natural gas workers bringing overly greasy clothes to his self-service laundry, Troy's Suds Depot. And not just that, he doesn't want their muddy trucks at his car wash, either.

Politicians in Pennsylvania may say the burgeoning development of the natural gas industry is good for the state's economy, but Schoenly doesn't want any part of it.

"Coming in here and finding a washer that's completely covered with grease and oil, [you] basically have to tear it all apart because you can't get it all out by wiping the inside out," Schoenly told a local television station, WNEP-TV.

As for his car wash, dirty trucks are a problem because they leave behind big piles of mud that turn off his longtime customers.

"It deters my local customers who have supported me almost 20 years. They don't want to pull into a bay completely full of mud, when they just want to rinse their car off," Schoenly said.

Schoenly argues that extremely greasy clothes should be handled by a commercial uniform company.

He has erected signs in front of his business reading, "Absolutely no muddy vehicles in any of our wash bays, no exceptions!"

The owner of a laundromat in nearby Canton, Landon's Laundry, told WNEP that he keeps his machines clean even though natural gas workers clean their clothes there.

Truck driver Marion Clonch isn't a gas industry worker, but he goes to Landon's Laundry nonetheless because he feels unwelcome at Troy's Suds Depot, WNEP reported.

"They didn't want dirty clothes in the washers. And I didn't know where to draw the line where mine are too dirty for him or not, so I always come here," Clonch said.

Anyone Can Be a Hero

2011-04-02T08:58:00.004-04:00

It's one thing for the average man or woman to perform an incredible act of heroism by stopping a would-be bank robber, but yesterday proved yet again that anyone can be a hero if they want to. Two robberies were stopped yesterday thanks to a 66-year-old woman with Stage 4 cancer and a 55-year-old man with a prosthetic leg.

By Todd Wright, NBCMiami.com

A 66-year-old woman with "nothing to lose" stopped a bank robber in her tracks Friday, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.

Helen Dunsford, 66, was a customer at a Bank of America in Oakland Park, Fla., when a woman reached in her purse, said she had a gun and yelled for everyone to get on the ground.

As other customers listened to the orders, Dunsford tackled the would-be robber, Renee Breen, and held the suspect down until authorities arrived.

"She got on my last nerve," Dunsford said. "I have cancer, stage 4, and I figured if I'm gonna die it's God will when I die. She's not gonna shoot me."

Breen told deputies when she was taken into custody that the robbery attempt was really an April Fool's joke. She had demanded $10,000.

We're guessing cops and customers didn't find it too funny.

Two other men were taken into custody and are believed to have some connection to Breen. One of the men yelled from the back of a squad car that Breen has "mental problems."

Customers thanked Dunsford for risking her life to potentially save theirs.

"I was more scared than her, I'll tell you that," bank customer Aron Lassin said. "She's a brave old lady. I appreciate the help."

By the Associated Press

A Massachusetts man who used his prosthetic leg to take down a robber says he didn't have time to think, he just reacted.

Stephen Cornell peered through the window of his neighborhood convenience store in Middleton on Wednesday and saw a man pointing a gun at the owner.

He tells The Salem News he intended to tackle the thief when he left JC Grill & Pizza, but instead stuck out his artificial leg and tripped him.

Cornell and owner Edson Andrade disarmed the thief and dragged him back into the store in a chokehold before calling police. The weapon was a pellet gun.

The 55-year-old Cornell lost his leg at age 12.

The suspect, 23-year-old Eric Homen, pleaded not guilty to charges including armed robbery.

Mascots and Slingshots

2011-04-02T08:52:00.003-04:00

Torts Strikes Again and a Classic

2011-04-02T08:49:00.003-04:00

2011 MLB Preview - Part 5: Top Sleepers

2011-04-01T13:06:00.004-04:00

Final segment of the week. A big shout out to Kevin O'Brien from rotowire.com for coming on with every single day of the week. Today, we finish off the preview by talking about the big sleepers for the 2011 sleepers. It's the hardest thing to predict, but if you can do it well, you should win your fantasy league.

Quite the Donation

2011-04-01T07:55:00.003-04:00

I was about to title this one "Hell of a Donation", but then realized that it would be pretty blasphemous to use the word "hell" to describe a story of someone donating a very valuable lottery ticket to a church donation basket. Good thing I can catch myself from time to time.

By WBALTV.com

Maryland Lottery officials said the pastor of a struggling parish recently came across a generous donation in the collection plate — a $30,000 scratch-off ticket.

Lottery officials didn't release the name of the church but did say the ticket had been scratched off when it was placed in the collection plate earlier this month.

The pastor found the ticket when tallying that Sunday's contributions.

The church will use the money toward operating expenses, but the pastor said he hopes some of the money can be shared with those in need.

"I have no idea who did this," the pastor told Lottery workers, admitting that he had to ask someone if the ticket was indeed a winner. "I really have no clue."

The winning "Cash Craze Crossword" ticket was purchased at No. 1 Liberty Mart on Liberty Road in Randallstown.

A Flour Shower

2011-04-01T07:50:00.003-04:00

Ugghh, I feel dirty just having thought up and writing that title. I apologize. It was just so easy. It was right there for the taking. As Krusty the Clown yelled at the Washington General on the TV, "He's spinning the ball on his finger. Just take it!" Ahem...here's a story about a town being doused in flour.

By the Associated Press

People might have thought they were part of a recipe when a northern New Jersey bakery blew its top and shot a cloud of flour over cars and buildings.

Englewood Fire Chief Gerald Marion says a pipe became loose at the top of the La Esperanza Bakery silo as flour was being pumped into the building on Tuesday.

Some people thought there was an explosion as flour filled the air and coated several adjacent buildings.

A spokesman for the bakery told The Record newspaper it lost probably less than 10 bags of flour from the 20,000 pounds that were being delivered.

The pipe has been resealed.

April Fool's Day?

2011-04-01T07:47:00.003-04:00

I wonder if this next idiot could have gotten away with his stupidity if he had decided to wait until today to pull off his stunt and add "April Fool's Day!" at the end during the first sign of trouble. Clearly, I've thought this through a ton more than this moron would have be capable of...

By the Associated Press

A California man is charged with demanding a rubdown and $200 while pretending to be a massage parlor inspector.

Orange County prosecutors charged Edward Justin LaPorte with felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of impersonating a peace officer and firearm violations. The 47-year-old faces arraignment Friday in Newport Beach.

Investigators say LaPorte is a former police officer from Illinois. They say he was wearing a badge when he entered the Golden Spa massage parlor in Lake Forest on Jan. 31 and told the manager he was investigating a complaint.

Prosecutors say he then complained of back pain, and a masseuse gave him a back rub before LaPorte asked for a frontal massage, which was refused.

No phone listing could be found for LaPorte and court records don't list an attorney for him.

The Laughs Continue on TSN

2011-04-01T07:40:00.002-04:00

Fear the Beard!

2011-04-01T07:39:00.001-04:00

I Love This Day!

2011-03-31T16:13:00.000-04:00

As you all know already, I’m a ridiculous baseball fanatic, so there’s a big reason why I had a little extra jump in my step and a perma-grin on my face all morning long. The winter already has its obvious drawbacks with the cold, snow and ice, but one of the things that make it so difficult for me is the lack of baseball on my TV.

I know most of you don’t share the same love and a lot of you actually feel the exact opposite about it. If only I had kept count of all the times I’ve heard people tell me that they would rather watch paint dry or grass grow than watch baseball. You’re all entitled to your own opinion and I’m never going to try and change your mind about a game you don’t care about, but I love baseball to death.

To me, there’s something about the sound of the crack of the bat or the background noise of all the people in the stand as they chat away about their everyday lives. There’s the gasp in the crowd when a ball is well-hit and leaves the yard. There’s the smell of the grass and the shine of the sun on a perfect-looking infield as you get set to spend three hours tanning on a beautiful summer day.

I even love the idea of the constant one-on-one battles that happen within the game itself. There’s the obvious batter vs. pitcher, but there’s also runner vs. fielder, catcher vs. base-runner, manager vs. manager, reliever vs. slugger, and so on. It truly is a game of chess played on a big field with an element of contact mixed in.

I remember playing Little League as a kid and remembered the raw emotion that would come out of me when faced with a difficult battle against a tough pitcher. There was one kid that was the monster of the league. He was able to throw 75 miles an hour at 12 years old and it felt like 100 to me. I was scared to death about getting in the face with that. I was also scared about the embarrassment that would come with striking out to him.

I was always a patient hitter and was always willing to take a base via walk rather than swing at junk and hope to hit. The count got to 2-2. The next 7 pitches were high-heaters that were fouled away. I was literally shaking at pitch 12 because he was throwing so hard and I was so tired from swinging so many times. Pitch 12 was a ball. Pitch 13 was a ball. I had walked and won the battle. As weird as it is to say, that remains one of the things I’ll remember the most in playing sports.

As I write this, Game 1 of god-knows-how-many is in the books, but trust me, if I can get a chance, I’ll watch at least a portion of every single one. Baseball is back and it couldn’t come back soon enough!

World's Loudest Cat?

2011-03-31T15:16:00.002-04:00

There's only a few people in the world that would be able to handle living with a cat that purrs as loud as busy traffic. Good thing rabbits make no noise whatsoever. I only have to deal with chewed-up cords, repeated sweeping of "messes" and the occasional bunny photo shoot.

By Raphael G. Satter of the Associated Press

No need to bell this cat: A gray-and-white tabby by the name of Smokey has catapulted to fame with purring so loud it has been recorded at a potentially record-setting 73 decibels.

The British community college that measured the sound said it peaked at 16 times louder than that of the average cat. By some estimates, that is about as noisy as busy traffic, a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner.

The 12-year-old, ordinary-size feline first came to national attention last month when her owner, Ruth Adams, decided to run a local competition for the most powerful purr. That led to a local radio show appearance, and from there, media coverage snowballed, with the tabloids full of headlines like "Thundercat" and "Rumpuss."

"Sometimes she purrs so loudly it makes her cough and splutter," Adams said on a website devoted to the cat, which was rescued from a shelter about three years ago. Smokey "even manages to purr while she eats."

Hoping to see Smokey recognized as top cat, Adams asked Northampton College in central England to provide the equipment needed to submit a world-record application. Last week, the college dispatched a team with specialized sound equipment to record Smokey purring in the comfort of the family home in the village of Pitsford, about 70 miles northwest of London.

The recording has been submitted to Guinness World Records, the college said.

Seventy-three decibels is louder than ordinary conversation, which is generally around 60 to 70 dB. On a video posted on the website, the purring sounded like the cooing of an angry dove.

Guinness World Records spokeswoman Amarilis Whitty said she is eagerly awaiting the recording.

Got to Know When To Quit

2011-03-31T15:11:00.002-04:00

Anyone that has ever played sports has been taught to do things consistently aggressive. Even if your efforts aren't going the way you thought, you try and try and try again. You could use that advice in life as well, but there's got to be a point where you choose to slow down. This woman would be wise to learn to pick her spot better.

By the Associated Press

A California woman facing nearly five years in prison for forging drug prescriptions showed up for sentencing with a phony doctor's note seeking a delay in the proceedings.

Michelle Elaine Astumian was free on $45,000 bail and pleaded no contest in January to felony counts of forgery and using a fraudulent check.

The 41-year-old woman arrived Monday for sentencing in a San Luis Obispo County courtroom and presented a note with a doctor's signature asking for a postponement.

Prosecutor Dave Pomeroy called the doctor, who said the note is a forgery.

The judge immediately ordered Astumian into custody and she collapsed to the floor. An ambulance took her to a hospital.

Pomeroy told the San Luis Obispo County Tribune that Astumian will be sentenced later, but he doesn't know when.

Only Fitting on MLB Opening Day

2011-03-31T15:04:00.002-04:00

With six teams using their baseball bats in order to start their 2011 MLB season, it was only fitting that I run into a story of a woman using a baseball bat to thwart would-be burglars. True story: My grandma made the paper for doing the exact same thing years ago after a burglar tried to enter her apartment through the window.

By WXII12.com

A woman grabbed a baseball bat from her kitchen and used it on two men who had broken into her Bass Mountain Road home on Thursday, Alamance County deputies said.

Deputies said that as they were responding to a 911 call at the home, they came upon the suspects' vehicle along Highway 87 south.

After stopping the vehicle, deputies said Richard Guthrie Jr., 28, of Greensboro, and Jeffery Martin Moore, 42, of Burlington, were found bleeding from head injuries.

Deputies said they determined that the two kicked in a front glass door and began assaulting the woman.

That's when the woman used the bat to defend herself, striking both suspects in the head, deputies said.

They were taken to the hospital where they were treated for their injuries and released, deputies said.

Guthrie and Moore were charged with first-degree burglary, assault on a female and injury to personal property. Both were also served with outstanding arrest warrants.

They were each being held with bail set at $15,000.

2011 MLB Preview - Part 4: Top Rookies

2011-03-31T13:22:00.003-04:00

I'm so giddy! Opening Day is here and I've got a date with my comfortable couch for the next few hours. Today, we break down the top rookies to look for in 2011 with Fantasy Baseball expert Kevin O'Brien from rotowire.com. Tomorrow, we round out the week with the top sleepers.

Climbing Buildings? Flipping off of Them? Difference?

2011-03-31T07:36:00.002-04:00

Responding to Smack Talk

2011-03-31T07:35:00.001-04:00

2011 MLB Preview - Part 3: Top 20 Picks

2011-03-30T12:25:00.003-04:00

For those of you who haven't completed your fantasy baseball drafts as of yet, today through Friday will help you quite a bit. We'll talk about the top rookies on Thursday and top sleepers on Friday. Today, we'll talk about the top 20 picks of your draft. For the record, I chose Albert Pujols number one. :-)

MLB 2011 Preview - Part 2: National League

2011-03-29T12:44:00.003-04:00

We took a look at the American League yesterday. Today, we break down the National League. I think there's gonna be some great battles in the NL Central and NL West this year and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the final standings break out. Here's the breakdown with Kevin O'Brien from rotowire.com

Interview with Bernard Hopkins Revisited

2011-03-28T22:21:00.001-04:00

I noticed in the Monday headlines that Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal had a press conference in Montreal to promote their rematch after the controversial decision that went the way of Pascal in Quebec City a few months back. The two combatants directed punches at one another and had to be separated by security and handlers. Sad as it is to say, it’s usually par for the course at a boxing press conference. I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that it was staged and was a way for people to be coerced into watching the fight.

The only reason I wanted to write about this though is because I was thinking back to the interview that Lee and I did with Bernard Hopkins just days after their first fight. I think it’s the interview that I get asked about the most because of who the guest was, how poorly it came off for Hopkins and us. and because of how awkward it was to conduct and to listen to. I guess I’m just trying to kill a bunch of birds with one stone by telling you what was going through my mind throughout that whole process. For those who didn’t hear the interview or don’t really care for boxing, at least it’s a story.

The interview was set up a couple of days after the Saturday night fight. We received an e-mail from someone representing Bernard that asked if we would be interested in having him on to talk about the fight. As a boxing fanatic and having watched the fight, I was ecstatic to go after the opportunity. Lee doesn’t watch it as much, but knew the name and knew how much Hopkins has accomplished. It was a go and we worked it out.

The day of the show, we open the show with the usual banter and get to talking about the interview. Lee had asked earlier off-air about what kind of interview it might be. Off-air and on-air, I talk about smart he is and how good of a communicator he can be and that we could have a great interview ahead of us. For some reason though, I had this feeling that we were going to be let down. I saw his TV work on ESPN Friday Night Fights and thought he was excellent, but some sort of radio intuition kicked in.

Sure enough, the interview starts and right from the start, Bernard takes control of the interview and tells people how he got robbed and that he should be the champ and Pascal has no business walking around with the belt. That was to be expected, but the fact that he talked over both Lee and I and seemed to be in his own world did us no favours. It made the interview a complete disaster.

There’s a certain formula that goes with radio interviews. You try to make it as conversational as you can, but the main element is question/answer/question/answer and everyone is generally OK with that. I’ve always believed that the “formula” should only really be a base and that the best interviews are the ones that just turn into normal conversation. But enough about radio theory. This one had no semblance of formula at all and had me completely on edge about where it was going. It’s an interview that I’ll never forget. It wasn’t the best 10 minutes I’ve ever done, but it’s one that helped me learn quite a lot.

It’s interesting that as I write this, I’ve come to realize that it may have been unrealistic to expect the fighter that has never lived his life in a formulaic way to give you a formulaic kind of interview. It’s part of the charm of Bernard Hopkins, part of the mystique and a huge reason why as a boxing fan, you love him or you hate him. All he really cares about is whether you watch him and pay to see him. I wonder how many will when he fights again in Montreal…

Baseball Preview: Part 1

2011-03-28T12:29:00.003-04:00

All week long, I'll be talking with Kevin O'Brien from rotowire.com to break down the 2011 MLB season from all different angles. Today, we talk about what to expect in the American League and we start the conversation right away with what the Toronto Blue Jays may do this season.

Cinderella is Alive

2011-03-28T09:27:00.001-04:00

I was telling everyone within earshot before the NCAA tournament began that parody was going to be the theme word for this year’s edition. Unlike past years where we had clear cut number ones and dominant teams that were stockpiled full of talent, this year’s edition was full of good teams, but all with flaws. It was simply going to come down to which team was able to play their best at the right time.

The final four that we’ll see play for a national championship in Houston this upcoming weekend include a 3 seed in UCONN, a 4 seed with Kentucky, the 8-seeded Butler Bulldogs and the 11th-seeded Cinderella of the tournament, VCU. It’s only the third time in the history of the NCAA tournament that a one-seed has not been a member of the final four.

It’s a shame for a lot of fans that Butler and VCU are matched up in one semi-final because the dream matchup of an 8 vs. and 11 can never happen, but on the flip-side, at least a mid-major/Cinderella story is assured of making it to the big game. It’s the kind of story that people live for and a huge reason why so many allocate some time to watch a portion of the tournament.

It’s amazing how much we under-estimated Butler and their head coach/guru Brad Stevens. They made it to the finals last year against a talented Duke and were a mid-court shot away from doing the improbable and becoming national champions. Not much was expected of them this time around. Sure, they had a solid team and if they were able to put it all together, a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 birth was not out of the cards, but no one expected the Final Four.

It’s easy to disregard them because they don’t have the lottery selection that’s looking to take the next step. Outside of Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack, they don’t have household names. The two things they do have though are a hell of a coach and amazing team chemistry. Everyone always focuses on star power, but it’s funny how we always dismiss the best “teams” in any sport.

The same could be said for a VCU team that had to play an extra game in the tournament because of the added-play in games for 11 seeds in the tournament. Having lost 5 of their last 8, no one expected them to accomplish anything after beating USC to punch their ticket in the 64-team dance.

They don’t have a large lineup and don’t really have a lot of talent to speak of, but what they also have is a great team chemistry and hell of a coach in Shaka Smart. They could have folded against Kansas on Sunday as they were under immense pressure from the top-seeded Jayhawks. All they did was rally and run away to victory. Smart made a great adjustment to an ultra-small lineup and hoped for some good stops and some clutch shots.

This year’s Final Four may not have the star power that we’ve seen in past years, but it may be more compelling to the fair-weather fan or the common man who sees a basketball game here or there. The Cinderella story is still alive and kicking and we’ll see one make it all the way to the final dance next Monday.

Beware the Chickens!

2011-03-21T14:26:00.002-04:00

I didn't go to a high school that was huge on pranks, but some of the pranks that I've heard go down in the States are legendary. I don't think this one hits the legendary category, but I'm sure it was pretty ridiculous to see some chickens running through the school hallways.

By Sergio Bichao - mycentraljersey.com

The chickens are coming home to roost for a couple of high school students who thought releasing live chickens into their school would make for a good senior prank last month.

But instead of chuckling at the fowl play, angry Woodbridge High School officials called the police and this week suspended the four students, who are now facing criminal charges.

The students and their parents are saying officials overreacted to the practical joke.

Tyler Bruno and Anthony Cesareo, both 17, and Bryan Pater, 18, were among the students suspended for five days. They'll also lose their "senior privileges,'' which include being able to attend their prom and walking during graduation ceremonies.

They were each charged with a disorderly persons offense and trespassing, charges that in the worst-case scenario could land them each six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, although such a harsh sentence would be unlikely, Woodbridge police Lt. Carl Lizzano said.

Principal Arthur Lee Warren has now barred other students from wearing black T-shirts depicting a cartoon chicken in support of the accused, an act the students say violates their freedom of speech.

Woodbridge police declined to release information about the underage students and wouldn't voluntarily provide police reports or names for the two 18-year-olds. But Bruno, Cesareo and Pater spoke with television reporters and the Home News Tribune about their punishment.

Bruno said the friends bought the red and black chickens in Newark and slid them through a first-floor window that had been left unlocked and open. A janitor reportedly found the chickens before the start of school that day.

Bruno said he cooperated with police after school officials fingered him as "a person of interest.''

Warren said students were disciplined based on information the police provided the school.

"I don't call it a prank; I call it an incident that should not have happened,'' Warren said. "We are not looking for a disruption of the school day or year.''

Lizzano defended the police department's response.

"We realize it's a prank and we don't want to charge people with crimes they shouldn't be charged with. But you don't want to make light of the incident. What's next, you bring a cow into the school?'' he said. "It was funny, but wrong.''

Cesareo hopes all the public scrutiny will convince school officials to restore their senior privileges.

"It makes them look bad. They're not letting kids (walk at graduation) over a chicken? It sounds ridiculous,'' he said.

Still, he admits they deserve some punishment.

"There should be a five-day suspension, but taking away the prom and not allowing us to not do anything, that's too much for that.''

Sammy Linked With the Outside World?

2011-03-21T14:20:00.003-04:00

Maybe Sammy has gotten into a little bit too much of his own Cabo Wabo. Hey, it's the best tequila that I've ever had, but I never had enough to believe that I ever had an encounter with someone from the outside world. However, he's dead serious that he believes that he was probed by aliens.

By Jill Serjeant - Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - No doubt Sammy Hagar, a former lead singer for Van Halen, has enjoyed a lot of far out experiences in life, but on Monday, the rocker told perhaps his farthest out tale to MTV. He was abducted by aliens.

Or, at least, his brain was.

In an interview for his new book, "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock" at mtvhive.com, Hagar lets go of what even he admits might make him "sound like a crazy person" to some readers.

He and the reporter are talking about dreams he claims to have had about UFOs, and when asked whether he believed he had been abducted, Hagar answers: "I think I have."

The reporter seemed surprised. "What? Really? I was kidding. You seriously believe that?" he asks.

Hagar laughs and goes on to explain that a passage in the book described as a dream in which he is contacted by aliens from outer space in California was, in fact, reality.

The tale describes how the beings tapped into his mind through a wireless connection.

"It was real," Hagar told the reporter, according to the story on MTV's Hive website. "They were plugged into me. It was a download situation ... Or, they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment."

Hagar goes on to describe another experience at the age of four where he believes he saw an alien space ship in broad daylight hovering over a country field where his family lived.

The rock guitarist and vocalist is no stranger to wild times. He was a part of several bands, including Montrose, during the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" era of the 1970s and 1980s, and during its heyday Van Halen was among the biggest acts in rock music.

In his book and in the interview with MTV's Hive, Hagar lets the stories fly on the sex and drugs he did during those years, and he even has a few not-so-nice things to say about another Van Halen lead singer, David Lee Roth, whom Hagar replaced in 1985.

Any Poutine is Good Poutine in My Books

2011-03-21T14:14:00.003-04:00

It seems so simple and yet it's just so good everytime you have it. Well, at least that's the way I think about poutine. I can't imagine what a lobster poutine would be like, especially when it's made from a chef that's good enough to have his own show and win the Iron Chef competition.

By CBC

Quebec chef Chuck Hughes has won the epic TV food battle, Iron Chef America, beating out his heavyweight competitor with a plate of lobster poutine.

The Montreal cooking show host was the second Canadian and first Quebecer to "reign supreme," as they say on the show, which aired Sunday night on Food Network Canada.

Hughes beat out Bobby Flay, one of the show's resident culinary masters, in the kitchen stadium battle, which featured the secret ingredient — Canadian lobster.

With his two sous-chefs from his Old Montreal restaurant, Garde-Manger, at his side, Hughes whipped up a multi-course menu in an hour that wowed the panel of judges.

"This really is a dream come true for me. It was one of the most intense challenges of my life, and I'm so proud and honoured to represent Quebec and Canada," said Hughes in a statement released Monday morning.

Having lobster as a surprise ingredient didn't hurt. Hughes likes the crustacean so much that he has a picture of one tattooed on his arm, along with shrimp, pie and bacon.

"I actually kind of knew exactly where we were going to go with it, so it was kind of a perfect-case scenario," he said.

I Can't Wait!

2011-03-21T14:11:00.000-04:00

I Can't Believe It Actually Played Out in Real Life

2011-03-21T12:39:00.000-04:00

The Next Stage of MMA?

2011-03-21T12:36:00.000-04:00

I remember the first time I ever sat down to watch the UFC. I was in my first year of high school at the time and a friend of mine had a VHS tape that recorded the best fights in the first 3 shows that the UFC ever put out. The promoters came up with the idea of finding out: “What fighter had the best style?” At that time, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were popular as video games and they basically did the same thing. What would happen in real life?

In the first ever pay-per-view, you had eight fighters, including a boxer that fought with one glove (seriously?), a sumo wrestler, a pit-fighter, a karate guy and a jiu-jitsu master in Royce Gracie. All of them had a distinct style and fought with only that style to see how they would fare inside of the cage.

Everyone was one-dimensional and Gracie’s jiu-jitsu proved to be the best style on that night and many nights in the future. The evolution of the sport of mixed martial arts was on. Anyone that wanted to fight had to learn jiu-jitsu as a starting point or as something to add to their repertoire.

As the sport grew, more styles became prominent and fighters learned to add aspects such as wrestling, ground-and-pound, submissions and pure boxing. All of these fighters in the middle stages of the evolution of the UFC still had a base-dimension that they had a ton of experience in. They had to add skill sets that they weren’t necessarily comfortable with in order to keep up.

However, over the last year or so, I believe we’ve started to see the next stage in the evolution in the sport of mixed martial arts. We’re starting to see the first set of fighters that have never trained in just one aspect, but have been groomed from day one to be MMA fighers and UFC World Champions.

Cain Velasquez got the trend started by going through the heavyweight division in order to set up a date with UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. People were split when it came to picking a winner in that championship fight, but when it was all over, Velasquez laid a thunderous beating on Lesnar that he may never fully recover from.

Jon Jones continued the trend on Saturday night. Despite being only 23 years old and having faced limited competition in his young MMA career, the kind of destruction he unleashed on former champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was one of a kind and may have been the best performance ever seen in the octagon.

These two represent the future of the company and could find themselves at the top of the division for a long time. They also represent the next evolution of the sport. At a time, it was OK to be one-dimensional as long as you performed that skill-set really well. Then you had to be multi-dimensional. Now being multi-faceted isn’t even enough anymore. Jones and Velasquez represent the first that were born and bred to be UFC champions. They have the belts now. The question is: Who’s going to take them?

Why I Love the Tournament So Much

2011-03-17T08:21:00.001-04:00

I’ve always loved this time of the year. The start of March Madness always signals to me that spring is here. I used to take the Thursday-Friday off from school or work and watch the tournament with my dad. When I was younger, he had to explain to my mom why I needed to take the days off, but it was something special to him and it was something that was very special to me.

Thursday morning, I would always go out and buy the USA Today because they would have a 12-16 page special section that focused purely on the tournament, complete with bracket and a breakdown of every single team. I would research that section right up until the first tip at 12:15, so I knew as much as I could about the Iona Eagles or Hampton Pirates as I did the Duke Blue Devils or the North Carolina Tar Heels.

I would carefully cut the bracket out from the newspaper and put it up on a part of the wall that was visible to everybody. I knew that only my dad and I really cared about it, but just in case my mom or my sister wanted to know anything, I wanted to be quick on the draw to tell them anything they needed to know.

I had a routine where I would only write down the winner of each game when the game has officially finished. I didn’t care if a team was ahead by 50 with 2 minutes to play, I still waited. I wanted to write in the name so bad, but I stayed disciplined and waited. It felt so good once the game was over.

The games on Thursday and Friday would go from noon until midnight and I didn’t care because I would watch every single minute. I would catch my dad falling asleep from time to time because he always felt so comfortable in his favourite chair. I would let him sleep during the games that were lopsided or were just in the first half, but if there was a game that was close with only a couple minutes to go, I made sure to wake him up and we would watch the finish.

Just like everyone else, all we cared about was watching the upsets. For one day, I could say I was a big fan of the Harvard Crimson Tide or the Butler Bulldogs. Any team that made it past the opening round as a seed higher than 10 became our favourites and we cheered them all the way. I don’t know how much energy we wasted over the years on 16 seeds trying to knock off top seeds. I hope to see it sometime in my life and I’ll always cheer for it to happen.

By Saturday or Sunday, my dad would have to go back to his work duties, but I would have the weekend off at that point so I could continue to watch the games. It wasn’t the same without my dad and I would always go through some basketball overload. By Sunday, I was glad that CBS fit all the games in to accommodate for CBS.

The rest of the tournament always wasn’t as special as those first couple of days, but upon reflection, it had nothing to do with who was playing or what the final scores were, it was the fact that I got to share it with my dad.

A New Epic Soccer Fail and a Favourite Fail

2011-03-14T12:15:00.002-04:00

Outside the Box

Wednesday Night Preview

Figure Out an Agreement Already

Only in Idaho

Need Another Way to Kill Time?

Must Stay Awake...Must Stay Awake...

Kids These Days

Good Basketball and Bad Basketball

It's a Series...

If They Bite You, You Bite Twice as Hard Back

Give Me Back My Pig!

That Much for a Pez Dispenser?

Top Ten Best and Top Ten Worst

Don't See This Every Day

A Look Back at Some NBA Prop Bets

Chat with Jan Levine

Chat with Kevin O'Brien

Delivering More Than Just the Mail

Is That My Ex-Wife?

Moonwalking Politician?

Score a Goal, Get a Video

Not to Stereotype Anything

Chat with Ben Wilinofsky

He's Got Enough Problems

That's a Weird Name for a Town

Beans?

Emotional Play-By-Play

Top Ten Plays from the NBA/NHL

Chat with Jan Levine

Not Near the Library!

We're Fooled So Easily Sometimes

Ummm...Never Mind...

Some More Thursday Entertainment

Some Thursday Humour

A Chat with Jan Levine

Who Stole My Pen?

Hey Now!

Check Numbers Carefully

Premature Celebrations!

Talking Basketballs? Really?

Western Conference Preview

Eastern Conference Preview

A Couple of Randoms

The Fun of the Final Day of the Regular Season

They Really Do Have Apps For Everything Now

Only at AppleBee's

Interesting Add-On with Purchase

Forgiving and Forgetting

Jan Levine Blog Apr11/11

Kevin O'Brien Blog Apr11/11

Great Goals to End the Season

Teemu Can Do it All

I Love the Masters

One Man Who Was Truly "All-In"

He Started It!

It Pays to Do a Little Cleaning

I'll Make Up for It Now

The Videos Are Back

Chat with Kevin O'Brien

Don't Move or I'll Infect You!

Don't Forget About Us

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Random Thoughts via Audio

Glad to Get That off My Chest

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Jim Kosek Reminds Me of Matt Foley for Some Reason

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NCAA Final Four Preview

Take Your Dirty Business Elsewhere

Anyone Can Be a Hero

Mascots and Slingshots

Torts Strikes Again and a Classic

2011 MLB Preview - Part 5: Top Sleepers

Quite the Donation

A Flour Shower

April Fool's Day?

The Laughs Continue on TSN