On The Tandy Hills Looking At A Smoggy Fog Enveloping Downtown Fort Worth As Locals Go Nuts Over The Pittsburgh Steelers & ESPN

I don't know if that is fog or smog dimming the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth today when I looked west from the Tandy Hills.

Of the four short skyscrapers that you can see through the fog/smog, the one on the left is the Omni Convention Center Hotel. This is where one of the NFL teams is staying that is in North Texas for the Super Cold Bowl next Sunday.

I don't know if Fort Worth gets the Pittsburgh Steelers team or the New Orleans Saints. I know the buildings in both the downtowns of Dallas and Fort Worth have been color-cordinated to match the conference colors that town's team.

I know I've read which town is which color, but I forget. I believe one is blue, one is red. I also know I could likely get the answer to this probing question with about 5 seconds of Googling.

I just went to the Star-Telegram to see if I could easily find out what team is in town.

Well, apparently the Pittsburgh Steelers arrived today and were greeted by a big crowd of screaming football fans. An ESPN person said they'd never seen this level of excitement so early in Super Bowl Week.

The Star-Telegram said Fort Worth has never seen anything like ESPN.

Below is a blurb from the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, titled A Texas-sized howdy for ESPN on 'opening day' ...

The TCU band blasted its music across Sundance Square, and the cheerleaders rocked the crowd. Mayor Mike Moncrief meted out some inspirational words, and Ed Bass shook more than a few hands. And that was all before 5 o'clock in the morning, all before ESPN even began broadcasting Monday from downtown Fort Worth.

ESPN folks said they never had seen such enthusiasm, not this early in Super Bowl week anyway. And, of course, Fort Worth never has seen anything like ESPN. 

This is all starting to seem somehow sad to me. Maybe I would understand if I were a football fan.

BELIEVE! Eric LeGrand's First Interview With ESPN's Tom Rinaldi

Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand, paralyzed from the neck down after making a tackle in a game against Army last October, has his first interview since the injury with Tom Rinaldi of ESPN. And there is hope for recovery.




What a courageous young guy. Whenever you think you're having a bad day, think of Eric.

BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!

 

 
 

Bowled Over by Bowls

Good morning and happy "1-1-11"!

That's the most "ones" we'll have in any date for 10 days and it's "1-11-11", but still nothing compared to November when it becomes "11-11-11".....a numerologist's Dream Day.

There's kind of a strange vibe to this New Year's Day, and much of it has to do with the bowl games today. For what seems like forever the bowl schedule would begin with the Outback Bowl from Tampa (Florida vs Penn Sate) on ESPN at 11:00AM. The Capital One Bowl from Orlando (Alabama vs Michigan State) would begin on ABC at noon, followed by "the Grandaddy of "em all", The Rose Bowl from Pasadena (TCU vs Wisconsin) at 4:00, also on ABC.

Meanwhile, the Cotton Bowl from Dallas (LSU vs Texas A&M) would start at noon on FOX, and CBS would have the Gator Bowl from Jacksonville (Michigan vs Mississippi State) around the same time. Back in the day, NBC would have the Orange Bowl from Miami (Stanford vs Virginia Tech) to close out the day, with the Fiesta Bowl from Arizona (Oklahoma-UCONN) and the Sugar Bowl (Arkansas vs Ohio State) from New Orleans either preceding the Orange on New Year's Day, or one would be played New Year's Eve.

Before the BCS, we would have final polls on January 2, and an unofficial national champion would be declared by the writer's and the coach's polls. This year the champions will be crowned after the meeting of Auburn and Oregon in Glendale, AZ....on January 10.

I know it seems confusing and a lot of gobblegook from anyone who's not a fan of college football. But the rhythm of what used to be has once again been disrupted, partially to facilitate TV scheduling, and also to maximize profit.

Something I've never heard of, the the Ticket City Bowl (I HATE the use of corporate names attached to the bowls) is being played in the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on New Year's Day, pitting Northwestern and Texas Tech. Meanwhile the Cotton Bowl Game is NOT played in the Cotton Bowl, but in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington...and the venerable old New Year's Day classic has been moved to Friday, January 7. The Orange Bowl, not played in the old Orange Bowl Stadium (now torn down) for at least ten years, has been moved to January 3, and the Sugar Bowl will be played on January 4th.

All six of the New Year's Day Games will be on the ABC-ESPN family of networks....The Ticket City at noon on EPNU; the Capital One on ESPN at 1:00PM; The Outback on ABC at 1:00PM; the Gator on ESPN 2 at 1:30: the Rose at 4:30 on ESPN; and the Fiesta at 8:30 on ESPN.

For the first time the Rose Bowl will not be on one of the Big Four Networks, and the Gator has moved to basic cable for the first time. The Outback went from a 11:00 am regular on basic cable to a network featured game on ABC.

Are you confused yet?

Well don't worry about it... I'm a college football fan....and I'm having a hard time keeping track of all the stuff.

Keith Olbermann On The LeBron/ ESPN Debacle

"Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in".....Michael Corleone, The Godfather, Part III





I know...in my previous post I made it appear that it would be my last words (and entry) on the decision of Fredo, errrr, LeBron James to leave Cleveland and join the Miami Heat.

But how often do you get to see a real Anakin Skywalker morph into Darth Vader before millions on national TV as ESPN's broadcast of The Decision became the ratings champ for that night? Early numbers indicate ESPN did a 7.0 share for the LeBron media event, which appeared to be as controlled as anything George W. Bush or Barack Obama could command for an alleged presser.

This was more than a sports event...it was a pop cultural phenomenon, though it does well to recognize the show was fruit of an unholy alliance between a narcissistic superstar and a network that prostituted itself to a level that surpassed WWE wrestling.

Here's what Keith Olbermann had to say on COUNTDOWN, with guest Will Leitch of The New Yorker

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

LeBron James Epilogue; One Man Says It All In 27 Words

In deciding to exit the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat and leaving his home town fans hurt, angry, and probably unforgiving, LeBron James has gone from hero to villain in record time.

On ESPN.com Bill Simmons has posted some of the email reactions to James' decision. Most are worth a read, but one in particular stands out; it sums up the emotions felt by many in Cleveland and Northeastern Ohio, and perhaps throughout most of the Buckeye State.

It's from a man identified only as "Seth" from Columbus.

"I think this is the first time in history one man managed to destroy an entire city by himself. Even the Enola Gay had a flight crew."

WITNESS.....And The Prodigal Son journeyed to Babylon by the Sea, and henceforth he was vilified by his kinsmen .

LeBron's Circus Goes To The Center Ring

By all accounts, LeBron James is a pretty good guy....but I'll cut to the chase anyway; I'm as sick of the LeBron free agent sideshow as just about anyone on the planet.

Ever since Mr. James opted for free agency, we've had speculation about where the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar will playing next; in Chicago, where he could compete on the same floor as his idol Michael Jordan did, and perhaps return the Bulls to past glory.

Or to New Jersey, to turn around the moribund Nets.....perhaps to New York and Madison Square Garden, basketball's Mecca, which in recent years has become an elephant's graveyard, where fading stars come to pick up paychecks on bad teams with clueless ownership.

Of course there's Miami, where Chris Bosh will being teaming with the returning Dwayne Wade.

Or, he could stay in Cleveland where he is not just King James; He is The Anointed One. If The Blessed Trinity were ever to be expanded to a Quartet, shrines to Lebron James- complete with relics- would saturate all of Northeastern Ohio, with a mythology and tales of miracles and healings gushing forth like waters from a spring.


But alas, it already has gotten to be tooooo much.

Tomorrow night Lebron will make (supposedly) the announcement of where he will play basketball in the future, in a special hour long program on ESPN, hosted by Jim Gray, scheduled to be broadcast on Thursday night. Spur of the moment programming? I don't think so. This was probably in the works for a long, long time. And I'll be very surprised if there are not one or more new LeBron commercials for the various products he has a contract with.

This is the culmination of weeks of speculation, and announcements that no announcement was forthcoming. If you thought the annual Brett Favre "will he or won't he" pressers were mindblowing time wasters, these past few weeks of LeBron sightings, subtle clues, rallies for him to come, rallies for him to stay, billionaires and elected officials groveling at his feet were theater of the absurd that no screenwriter could conjure up....he wouldn't be able to sell the script.


Anyway tomorrow the waiting will be all over......the NBA will officially cease to be a sport and become a reality show. But it probably was all along.


Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Is the BIG TEN About To Get Supersized?

Its another of those days when I really don't want to talk about politics, I did a TV review yesterday, touched on books and films this past weekend....so let's look and listen to a possible shakeup in the world of college sports.

Yesterday I report on a radio station in Kansas City said that the BIG TEN, which has been talking expansion for sometime, is indeed going to expand. And according to the report the candidates for expansion are; Nebraska and Missouri from the BIG TWELVE, Rutgers from the BIG EAST, and football independent Notre Dame.

Pat Forde talked to Dana Jacobson today on ESPN First Take.



So the BIG TEN, which now has 11 teams, could expand to as many as 16 teams, and stretch across the landscape from New Brunswick, NJ to Lincoln Nebraska, two time zones. Or, according to GOOGLE MAPS, 1,307 miles and 20 hours 56 minutes by car....but its a pretty straight shot on I-80.

I'm game.

When do we start?

RU RAH! RAH!


  I'll drive the first 300 miles!

UCONN Women Win Record 71st Game In A Row

Its been a great run for this latest chapter of the UCONN Dynasty, but the time has come to try level the playing field in the Women's Big East Tournament

Commentary

Last night I watched the University of Connecticut's women's basketball team do something extraordinary, an accomplishment that may never be broken- unless a future UCONN team is able to to set a new bench mark; they won their 71st consecutive game against Notre Dame 59-44 in The Big East Tournament, held at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. The Huskies have not lost a game since the Final Four National Semi Final 2008 against Stanford in 2008.

The team, coached by Geno Auriemma and led by All World stars Tina Charles and Maya Moore are part of something special and this chapter is not yet complete. Tonight they'll be playing for the Big East Tournament Championship against second seed West Virginia. During this winning streak UCONN has never won by anything less than double figures- and the conventional wisdom is they'll win tonight's game with relative ease, behind a huge fan base in what was previously known as the Hartford Civic Center.

These current Huskies beat the win streak of 70 (2001-03) in a row which a previous edition of Huskies owned; the Bird-Cash-Williams-Jones-Taurasi team, what I thought was the greatest women's basketball team I'd ever seen in person. What we've seen at UCONN might be the greatest sustained period of excellence in college sports since the UCLA men's basketball dynasty of the 1960's and '70's. This program deserves to be included in the same conversation as UCLA (88 wins in a row), Oklahoma football in the 1950's (47 in a row), and their counterparts at the University of Tennessee women's basketball.

I'll give them their due; I think what they have done as a team is as amazing in its way as Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak, or even Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak; and I know some who have read that will want me burned at the stake for heresy for saying that.

Congrats to this team, and its excellent coach.

Now having said that....isn't it time the Women's Big East Tournament ceased to be "The UCONN Invitational", where the rest of the conference comes to play on one of UCONN"s home courts, in front of a packed house of people dressed in UCONN blue?



What we saw yesterday, in addition to watching some excellent basketball from UCONN, was more or less an anointing and coronation by many in the national media, and was a case of incredible shilling by ESPN, who will be broadcasting the Women's NCAA Tournament again this year.

The Notre Dame- UCONN game led off the night's events, to be followed by Rutgers -West Virginia in the other semi-final. Dave O'Brien and Doris Burke, one of ESPN's "A" broadcast teams called the game, along with former UCONN star Rebecca Lobo working the sidelines. In the past ESPN has been criticized by some for seeming to show a degree of favoritism towards the University of Connecticut- ESPN is headquartered in Bristol,CT. Last night's broadcast of the women's semi-finals gave more fuel for the critics.

O'Brien and Burke's intro went on and on about UCONN and "The Streak"; when it began, who they beat, by how much, what former UCONN players are saying about it, what Lebron James is saying about it (whatever his connection is to UCONN women's basketball is anyone's guess)....if I recall, I don't think Notre Dame was mentioned at all except at the very beginning of the broadcast. Finally at the opening tip the viewing audience was made aware that there were, indeed, two teams on the court that night. While the action was going on O'Brien and Burke did a commendable job for the most part, though I began to wonder how much UCONN minutiae they could come up with for the duration of the broadcast.

After switching to the UCONN press conference for the majority of the time between games- meaning that any discussion of the second game of the doubleheader, Rutgers versus West Virginia for the berth against UCONN for the tournament championship- was negated, ESPN relieved O'Brien, Burke, and Lobo for the second game and replaced them with Beth Mowins and Brooke Weisbrod.

Mowins and Weisbrod then proceeded to give the shoddiest job of announcing I think I've seen in a sports event, perhaps ever. Instead of calling West Virginia's 56-49 win over Rutgers, they spent about half of the time talking about UCONN and their streak, UCONN's chances in the NCAA"s, how they would fare against undefeated Nebraska, UCONN guard Caroline Doty's injury...at least half of their chatter was about all things UCONN. At times I wondered out loud if their director had left the building with Geno's team- they spent long stretches of time ignoring the game in front them to talk about the game that was just played. Something is wrong when a viewer has to listen for the public address announcer to find out who just scored, who fouled, how many fouls does she have, how many team fouls do they have, how many time outs remained, who got credit for an assist, who's came into the game....you had to try and pick it up over their nonstop interpretation of the Dickie V School of Broadcasting. Dick Vitale has the personality to make up for such lapses; Mowins and Weisbrod don't.

It was their job to describe the game to those at home; and they failed to do it even adequately. If it wasn't for the five second delay with the radio broadcast I would have switched to the Rutgers play by play team.

I think the biggest beef most Big East fans have with the women's tournament is that its held on a home court of the the best team in women's basketball. Yes, they put fannies in the seats. But its ludicrous for anyone to suggest there is any semblance of neutrality just because the UCONN logos have been removed from the floor of the XL Center. Playing these games in Hartford does give one more advantage to a team that doesn't really need anymore.

Suppose the BCS decided to play the football national championship on the home field of the team ranked number one in the post season polls? For example, Ohio State in Gainesville to play Florida for the championship....do you think that would be fair?

Or designating that the Yankees get home field advantage against Oakland or Tampa Bay in the baseball playoffs, because they draw better, play in a spectacular new stadium, are in the largest market, and in a better baseball town? The sports traditional sports community....which is male dominated...would be going ballistic.

Look....I'm a realist....if this UCONN team played West Virginia, Notre Dame, or Rutgers in a CYO hall in Spokane they'd probably win, most likely handily. But giving such a dominant program home court advantage makes any sense of neutrality a sham, and is another slap at competitive balance- and credibility- in a sport that needs it.

In men's basketball last night Siena beat Fairfield 72-65 in overtime to win the MAAC tournament and its automatic NCAA tournament bid. Siena won three games in a row, all on its home court....the Siena Saints have won 38 home games in a row, the second longest streak in men's basketball.

The MAAC is moving its tournament out of Albany, New York to The Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, CT.....this morning Siena Coach Fran McCaffery talked about it on ESPN. The move, according to McCaffery, is dictated by a need for the MAAC for more competitive balance in its tournament, even if it may mean an initial loss of revenue.

Competitive balance and a neutral court for its members to play on....that sounds like something the Big East Women's Basketball Tournament needs to explore.

O'Hara endows Rutgers scholarship - Big East Blog - ESPN

Above, Shaun and Amy O'Hara

You hear, see, and read so many negative stories involving professional athletes...and its good to see some very positive press about one of the NFL's good guys.

Shaun O'Hara of the New York Giants is endowing a scholarship at his alma mater, Rutgers University.

The story is by ESPN's Brian Bennett.

READ MORE....from Big East Blog - ESPN

Even more from scarletknights.com.

Political group to run college football playoff ads - ESPN

Not being content with having a disfunctional federal government, a new political action group will take aim at college football's Bowl Championship Series.



Read more....from ESPN.com

Quick Hits For November 30; Stop Tailing Tiger, And Other Assorted Rants and Raves

Once again I'm (a) too lazy or (b) too brain locked to spend a lot of time writing something coherent and substantive, so I'm going to resort to my old fallback, QUICK HITS.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!!!

(1). Tiger Woods- Too bad about the accident. And I really don't give a damn about the other stuff; was it a domestic dispute, why he won't talk to the cops, was he fooling around with a female diversion in New York.

I don't care. Talk about the "silly season", as a certain college football head coach put it.

(2). Charlie Weis and Notre Dame- Once again America's premiere Catholic University, which stresses moral integrity and doing the right thing, shows how its really done. Its win more and win bigger, or your out. Not that this is a surprise; Weis' tenure was dead after he lost to Navy earlier this month- the following losses to Pitt, UCONN, and Stanford just made the firing a little more expedient. I'm not shedding any tears for this one ( as you'll see in the next segment). I'm not a Charlie Weis fan or a Notre Dame fan....but notice how they treated a loyal alum who just wanted to succeed on his dream job. Quite frankly, anybody who leaves a high profile Division One college job for ND next stop should be the funny farm- you'd have to be a complete whack to make the move.


(3)More Notre Dame Kudos to ESPN's Kirk Herbtreit who finally told it like it is on last Saturday's COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMEDAY. Herbie asked, "Why do people still care about Notre Dame"....and added that the program has been irrelevant since 1993. I agree- Notre Dame has not been a true player on the national stage since today's incoming freshmen were in preschool. Notre Dame demands and gets special handling from the media and the public, and they get it- and they don't deserve it. I said it before in another post, and I'll repeat it here- Notre Dame football is like Old World aristocracy. The Irish and their fans live off of memories of The Glory Days, off of the accomplishments of previous generations. There has not been one Notre Dame team to warrant the attention they demand since the tenure of Lou Holtz, which ended in 1996. Notre Dame has their own television network (NBC) broadcasting their games and shilling for them. They have an abysmally unfair arrangement with the Big East in which they are in the conference for all sports except football, where they maintain their independence. Yet, Notre Dame is included with the Big East when eligibility for the Gator Bowl is concerned- they can take a spot guaranteed to the Big East under certain conditions. They won't join the Big East for football, and yet- I'm doing this from memory- they have lost the last three games they've played against Big East members; Last year against Syracuse, and this year versus Pitt and UCONN. Don't even get me started on the BCS which continues to give the weight of one of the six power conferences when determining BCS bowl eligibility. This is a total joke and a travesty. Its time to bring them into the 21st century, at long last. They don't deserve or warrant special handling, and haven't since the beginning of the Clinton administration. If they want a BCS bid, let them have to win one in a conference just like other member schools do, or like the Boise States and TCU's have to, as an at large with no more kid gloves. I'm not speaking out of jealousy, I'm talking about fairness here.

4. Afghanistan Tomorrow night President Obama will unveil his Afghan strategy. And this has me scared to death. How long does he think we can withstand an open ended war after eight plus years of American presence? We keep asking the same people to do the same job year after year...less than one percent of the American public is affected by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Stop loss" keeps troops on active duty after their term is up. We've never fought a war this long using troops in this manner. Maybe its time for America and and Americans to reconsider the cost of war, and the fairness to those who will be involved and of their families. If a war is to be fought, the American public must be willing to go forth and sacrifice even more- if you support a war be prepared to pay more taxes or even see a draft reinstated. If you can't go for that, and your representatives won't go for it, then maybe it would be expedient to find an alternative to armed conflict.

5. "Good Will to ALL Men....and Women" Yesterday in The Home News Tribune I saw an article that said Catholic churches in New Jersey were sent a letter by the state's bishops asking the faithful to pray for our members of the State Senate and General Assembly to oppose a bill to allow gay marriage in New Jersey. At mass yesterday, it was not read, but maybe it will be in the future. It is interesting...the Church will not marry a Catholic and a member of another faith unless certain things are agreed to. That being the case, they could just refuse to sanction same sex marriage because it is against Church rules. Since the Church doesn't believe a Catholic's marriage in a ceremony outside of the Church is valid anyway, then I ask this.....what's your beef? They don't believe a civil ceremony is valid under the eyes of God, so doesn't it logically render their opposition as a moot point? Sadly, the Catholic Church has gotten on the same side as those on the far, far right on this one.

Maybe I won't be so blown away by the crassness of this hypocrisy if the Church did admit that "higher ups" did know more than they admitted during the priest sexual abuse scandal. Frankly, I find it very hard to believe that so few knew so little about something so widespread that hurt so many.....where was the leadership and the accountability? Part of the Church's response was to deny the priesthood to anyone who was homosexual, and not acknowledging the difference between homosexuality and pedophilia. The Church hierarchy got their convenient scapegoat.

And don't dare to try to tell them otherwise....because (God knows)...they know best.

Quick Hits For November 11, 2009, or "Beauties and The Greek"

Phyllis George

1. Did you ever use the self checkout at supermarkets or discount store, and get into an argument with the disembodied Voice that's "instructing" you what to do next? It happened to me this afternoon- and I lost. I really thought The Voice was being condescending and I sent an email to the store manager. I just hope there's a Voice with a better attitude next time I use that self scanner.

2. I don't care if its on ESPN. Poker is NOT a sport.

3. And neither are dog shows.

4. However...speaking of ESPN and poker...kudos to ESPN and their 30 for 30 series of sports documentaries. They never cease to impress. This week's entry was The Legend of Jimmy the Greek. I feel sorry for those who are too young to remember or had never seen or heard legendary members of the sports landscape like Howard Cosell or Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. Jimmy was an oddsmaker who's appearances on the 1970's and '80's iconic version of CBS's The NFL Today took sports betting out of the back room and gave it a sort of legitimacy in America's living rooms. He was a larger than life figure, who's rise and sad downfall are chronicled in this film by director Fritz Mitchell.



The film has remembrances by cohorts Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, and Irv Cross, as well as friends like Miami radio and TV personality Hank Goldberg. The Greek was from Steubenville, Ohio, where one of his boyhood neighbors was one young Dino Crocetti, better known as Dean Martin.

(An Update 11/12/09- I was checking out some of the search queries and some people wanted to know more about the Dean Martin-Jimmy The Greek connection. They indeed did know each other back in Steubenville from childhood. WFAN radio's Mike Francesa, who used to work for Jimmy on THE NFL TODAY, took it a step further. On his radio show Mike told his audience that Jimmy once told him that young Dino used to beat up the even younger Jimmy on a regular basis when they were kids. If that was the case you could say they knew each other- intimately. And if it was an embellishment by The Greek, its still a helluva good story.)

And the poker connection? Jimmy emceed the very first WORLD SERIES OF POKER on TV.....way back in the early 1970's!

5. More on Jimmy The Greek. Here's an audio podcast from WFAN's Mike Francesa in New York talking to former NFL TODAY producer George Veras about life with Jimmy. Mike worked for Jimmy the Greek in the early days of the NFL TODAY, and was kind of a go'fer for The Greek when he was a kid. A GREAT listen. Give it a few minutes, its very revealing. You think Indian casinos are a recent phenomenon? Jimmy was on to it years before it happened.

6. Still more on The Greek, and original NFL Today on CBS. On ESPN"s Monday Night Countdown the old CBS crew of Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, and Irv Cross made a return in a remarkable recreation of the old show's opening moments. Joining them are current co-hosts Chris Berman and Tom Jackson.



7. And just to prove the theory of SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION- even in an obscure part of the blogesphere of which I am The Lord and Master- did I mention that the aforementioned Phyllis George was Miss America, 1971, and was at one time the First Lady of Kentucky? Well, youngin's....now you know. Which leads us (drumroll please!) to a former Miss West Virginia.

Kim Parrish, former QVCer, HSNer, and current fashion designer and children's author moves on to ShopNBC on Friday the 13th (11/13 7-9 PM EST) with her latest creations from The Kim Parrish Collection. I don't think the rumor that this Renaissance woman has taken up ice sculpture is true- being that she will now be working in the Twin Cities- but its early. I'll check with Linda the Homeshoppingista...she'll know.

And throwing in this little "reminder" gives me the excuse to post that incredible head shot.

8. And speaking of ShopNBC's corporate sister NBC, the latest skinny is that the ratings for the Jay Leno Show are sinking faster than a rock. It looks like this "great experiment' might be failing- big time. NBC didn't want to lose Leno to a rival network, and thought it could save money over ordering scripted series by giving Jay the 10-11 PM block Monday thru Friday....but it seems to be a concept that wasn't really well thought out by all involved. There have been rumors that local affiliates aren't happy with the situation, and are seeing ratings for their 11PM news hurt by a poor lead in from Leno.

Personally, I was trying to think about when the last time I watched NBC for anything other than SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. And that was probably the ER finale last spring. The once formidable Thursday night juggernaut that lasted for close to two decades is long gone, the LAW and ORDER franchise jumped the shark when (pick one) Jerry Orbach or Jesse L. Martin left the show, and the reality program they have is less than real.

That's one fading peacock they've got there.

9. The "joy" of living in New Jersey. Just when you think its safe to put the TV back on because the election for governor in New Jersey is all over and there won't be any political ads for awhile, guess again. New York's governor David Patterson has started his ad campaign last week. If the CIA needs something to get the Al Qaeda detainees to talk, just let watch the political ads we're bombarded with nonstop. They'll flip....and probably give up Mom and Dad as well.

10. In conclusion....here's a "thank you" shout out to all veterans past and present. If you haven't done anything yet to show your appreciation to our men and women in uniform, please do so. They like to hear it (trust me, many moons ago I was one of them)....and they deserve it.