Foreman drugged

How much seedier can boxing get? Even its golden era is now being tarnished, or perhaps it's always been tarnished, I mean Don King has been involved with this "sport" for a long time now. Professional boxing, cycling, or baseball, take your pick on which is the seediest. Oh yeah, then there's that whole criminal element to the NFL.... No wonder poker is doing so well these days. Professional, televised poker is actually much cleaner than the amateur game that has been played for years in dark corners across the America. Based on that theory, I wonder what the next big "sports" craze will be? (Help me out here, I can't think of one, but is there some other sport where amateurs cheat like hell, but if you were to clean it up and put it on TV, you could reduce the cheating? Thanks.)

Ralph

Greg Lemond

Has anyone been reading about this Greg Lemond thing? "I'm your uncle, and I'll be there tomorrow." Landis is hangin' out with people like this? I guess that tells you something about how competitive the cycling world is. These guys are sick. Landis, of course, is the former Amish guy who was apparently shunned for purusing a career in professional cycling, and then came back from a huge deficit to pull out the Tour a couple years ago (maybe it was last year) Anyhow, testing found this huge comeback was fueled by unusually high levels of testosterone, which makes sense, but, he's denying it.


Lemond is one of my favorite athletes of all-time; he also had an incredible cycling comeback. After becoming the first American to win the Tour, he was shot in a hunting accident, and came back and was so sucky, it seemed like his career was over and no top flight team would give him a job. He ends up with some rag-tag bunch, and proceeds to shock everyone by winning the Tour, capping it off with a record-setting time trial on the race's last day. His French rival at the time described him as "playing the chicken, when he is really a lion," as Lemond kept playing like he was shocked to be near the leaders and was just waiting for an inevitable falter, which never happened. Then, he came back and won the thing the following year as well, in a little more conventional fashion.

Anyhow, that was back when cycling wasn't quite as fucked up as it is now, or at least we didn't know as much. Now, it seems half the top riders are in trouble for doping and Lemond is being blackmailed regarding being sexually molested as a child. I would have to say cycling has now passed baseball as the most "fucked-up sport." Or, it's the European version of baseball -neither of which is a sport of course, as baseball is officially our national "pastime" and cycling's top race is actually known as a "Tour." That's what happens I guess when you get too deep into these things....

Cheers.



Ralph

Doral

This place is kind of nuts. They seem to play reggae 24/7 in the lobby. It's actually kind of nice. Right now, they're playing some version of Bob Marley's "Chase Those Crazy Baldheads out of Town." It's hot as hell down here, so it's probably appropriate I guess. Doral is located a few miles inland and you don't get that fresh breeze off the ocean that you typically get nearer to the coast in Miami. But the palm trees are nice, and as long as you don't move too fast, just kind of sway with the reggae, it's kind of relaxing.

Cheers.

Ralph

1973 continued

In 1973,

The A's won the World Series
Secretariat won the Triple Crown
The Dolphins beat the Redskins 14-7 in the Super Bowl in January....

Did anything else happen?
Yes, I was in kintergarten, Richard Nixon was president...hmmmm

George Will on China

Another great George Will column, this one on the economic awakening in China and its evolving interest in free trade. Will makes some great points, but as is typical of his columns, kind of leaves you hanging with a vague ending. Maybe that's part of his charm...

Bill-Ravens MaGahee

Haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy with other things and whatnot... a lot of whatnot, of course. Anyhow, I came across this paragraph in scholar Greg Easterbook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback column this week. As a Bills fan, it is both funny and sad, which to me makes it some kind of literature:

"Discounting to Present Value the McGahee Trade: TMQ is underwhelmed by Willis McGahee, who's a legend-in-his-own-mind type. Football pundits speak of him as a star; McGahee speaks of himself as if he were Franco Harris, but McGahee's career stats are run-of-the-mill and defenses don't fear him. Still, he's a decent back, which makes me wonder why the same sorts of pundits who praise McGahee also said Baltimore gave up too much for him. The price was the Nevermores' third-round picks in 2007 and 2008, plus a seventh-round choice this week. Because Baltimore's seventh-rounder is choice No. 239, whoever is chosen there will be a long shot to make an NFL roster. If I were the Bills, I'd offer the pick to Denver for $3 million. Because this year's third-rounder is near the end of the round, it is only slightly better than a fourth-round choice; meanwhile, the 2008 third-rounder discounts to a fourth-rounder. (Future choices discount by one round per year: That is, you'd need to trade your first-round selection in 2008 to get someone's second-round selection in 2007.) In effect, Baltimore gave two fourth-round draft picks for a starting-quality tailback; the Ravens got McGahee for significantly less than the Patriots surrendered for Wes Welker. Anyway, whose front office has done a better job on player decisions in this decade, Buffalo's or Baltimore's?"

I could read absolutely no more after that touche at the end.

Regards,

Ralph

1973

Does anyone remember 1973?

Erie Pizza

So, last night we had one of those recurring debates about who has the best pizza in Erie. We were down at Skeeter's watching the Pitt game. At halftime, with Skeeter's kitchen being closed, we decided we needed order out for a pie. Being the guy who came up with the idea, I was put in charge of making this happen, and being down the street from Dominick's, I made my call. Mind you, it was a bit of an expensive proposition, $14.25 or something for a large with cheese, pep, and sausage, but I think it was worth it. Dominick's has changed hands since I frequented it 15-20 years ago in college, and their pie recipe has also changed. One thing that has not changed is their sausage, which is still very plump, juicy, tasty, and plentiful. I would say the sausage alone saved the pizza, and actually made it very filling, so the large, which was actually pretty good size, was able to take care of 5-6 hungry drunks.

Anyways, Dominick's does not have the best pizza in Erie, but it was convenient and alright. After the pizza came in, the bartender told us that, believe it or not, The Cellblock has some of the best pie in town. "I'll stand by their pizza," was her exact quote, which led to some obvious jokes. J.B. insisted that Skeeter made a killer pie, and I have heard before he is a good cook. And then someone said their wife had been raving about a pizza shop downtown, but we weren't sure of the name. Someone said it may be Howie's, which is actually a chain, but that doesn't mean they have bad pizza...except that ordering from a chain, in a town like Erie that used to have a local shop on every other block, is a bit of shame. For a while though, I'll admit, I was hard-pressed to find good local pizza and took to going to Papa John's and Pizza Hut, which are both convenient, make decent pies, and always have coupons available. However, recently, we've turned back to Mr. Pizza, which has good solid pie and wings and is run by a really nice couple, which counts for something. Steel City has some good pie too, especially their cheese, and their crust receives high reviews.

Finally, my wife's friend highly recommends Mama Mia's, which of course, suffered the tragic loss of one of its delivery men in a notorious bank robbery a few years back. As bad as that whole situation was/is, it did put Erie's local pizza shops back on the map and I think we are seeing a bit of a resurgance in this area. Any thoughts?

Cheers.

Ralph

Smoking ban

Let's give some props to Judge Bozza for proving he is indeed no Bozo and striking down the county-wide smoking ban. Now, I'm not a smoker, so I really shouldn't care about this, but I am a big freedom and rights guy. I mean if you want to run a restaurant or bar where people are allowed to smoke, why shouldn't you be able to do it? Cigarettes were still legal, last I checked. If there is really tons of public support to ban smoking in public places, wouldn't that mean there is a huge opportunity for non-smoking establishments to open up, and these droves of people who destest smoking could just go to those?

I think it's a farce. I really don't think the majority of people in Erie County are in favor of a smoking ban. Rather, I think it's a vocal (and somewhat powerful) minority. I say we put the matter to the test. Put a proposed smoking ban on a public ballot, and if we get more than 50% of county-wide voters in favor of it, go for it. If not, then don't. We still live in a democracy, don't we? I mean if we can get stuff like gay marriage ammendments on the ballot, why not an anti-smoking ordinance? All those in favor, say, aye.

Cheers.

Ralph

What's the hang-up in Koehler project?

It has been recently reported in the Times that the project was stopped dead by some "paperwork" disagreements between Cornerstone (the acute health care guys) and the developers. Could we be more specific about this? Originally, it was reported that there was a problem specifically involving an "Estoppel Certificate" that the banks wanted Cornerstone to sign before they would finalize their loan to the Koehler developers. So, what's an Estoppel Certificate? Through some Googling, the best I could find is that it's some sort of agreement stating that terms in the lease have been agreed upon. So, was there a discrepency between the lease the Koehler developers showed the banks and the one Cornerstone agreed on? One story I heard was that the lending banks wanted Cornerstone to guarentee 20 years worth of lease payments, because that's how long the loan is for, but because Cornerstone only has a 10-year lease, they wouldn't do it. I would just like some more detail on this matter before we close the book on the project.

Cheers.

Ralph

Passan column on steroids

So, was it coincidence that a new steroid scandal broke right when I finished the compelling book about the last big sports steroid scandal. As my firend Dr. Dee likes to put it "there are no accidents." Anyways, I would be less interested in this current story if I hadn't read such an in depth and interesting account about the old one. And the title of one of the chapters in Game of Shadows rights truer than ever: "Cheat or Lose." After all, the Pittsburgh Steelers doctor is accused of spending $150,000 on Human Growth Hormone last year, which he claims was medicine for one of his patients. Yeah right. Didn't the Steelers win the Super Bowl last year?

Then there's this great Jeff Passan column. Passan is a former Kansas City Royals beat guy who now writes for Yahoo! and cranks out consistenly riveting copy. He pretty much calls Gary Matthews, Jr. and the California Angels onto the carpet for some sort of collusion in which Matthews got a $50 million contract because of one good year, which we find out was now was contributed to by some sort of "supplements." Let's see, great year out of nowhere by a mediocre player who appeared to be reaching the end of the line... haven't we seen this scenario before, like starting with Brady Anderson about 10-15 years ago, and down through the years. Anyways, Passan says if the Angels had bothered to look, they could have figured out for themselves that Matthews was juicing, but they chose instead to ignore it and pay sign him to a $50 million contract, that they're probably stuck with now, even though Matthews has been busted... Anyways, Passan's point is that if Matthews gets his $50 million, it's yet more evidence that the cheaters have won.... and just wait until Barry Bonds breaks Hammerin' Hank's home run record. Aye Carumbas!

Ralph

Honoring Fr. John "Tex" HIlbert

For many in the Erie community, the recent passing of Fr. John Hilbert was shocking and sad. "Tex" as he was known (as was his father before him) was active in the Erie Cursillo movement, the Erie CALL program, and was chaplain at Mercyhurst Erie for nearly 20 years. At the time of his death, he was chaplain to Mercyhurst North East.

Tex was a friend to my family since 1970 and I worked with him personally for the past five years. He was a great man with a great spiritual presence. His funeral at St. Peter's Cathedral on Tuesday was standing room only. Clearly, he touched many lives.

Tex and I used to have long conversations at MNE concerning politics (he did not care for the Bush administration and its rush to war) and spirituality (he believed that all of us are God's childrem, regardless of color or gender or belief system). I will miss those conversations and I will miss seeing him in the hallways of MNE.

If you have not yet see his obit on GoErie, you might want to take a look to see how many people loved Tex. It's very moving.

A great light has been taken from us, and he will be impossible to replace. We can only thank God that Tex was able to spend his entire life helping the people of Erie, PA. We need more people like him.

DDDDD

Presque Isle Downs

I've been talking to people about the new casino in Summit Township, Presque Isle Downs. As you might imagine, some people think it's a good thing, some think it's bad, and others are indifferent.

Those who support the project cite jobs and tax revenue. And although they are skeptical about the promise of Property Tax Reform (meaning that your property taxes will go away and be paid for by the slots), they believe that county-funded projects like the Zoo and the County Library System will now be able to avoid their annual funding crises.

Those who do not like the casino cite social problems. People told me that gambling "attracts the wrong crowd to Erie County" and will create additional strain on social service agencies (presumably, because gambling creates debt and debt can destroy families). In addition, debt also leads to the lending of money which quite often cannot be paid back, and this leads to Draconian Debt Collection, if you get my drift.

Those who are indifferent tend to see both sides of the issue. They agree that revenue generation is necessary; however, they're not sure that a casino is the best way to generate jobs and tax revenue.

Interestingly, the seniors I spoke with are more likely to visit the casino than people in other age groups. They said they like to play the slots because it's fun, safe, and potentially profitable...and now they won't have to travel to Salamanca or Canada to play the slots.

Personally, it seems to me that there is so much to do in this world: Helping people learn to read and write, feeding the hungry, volunteering for various local projects...making Erie a better place to live, that it seems odd that so many people have time to sit on a stool and play slots. But it's back to Bread and Circus, I guess. As long as the masses are fed and entertained, then all is well in the U.S. of A.

Heart of Darkness

Here's a great quote from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which I am making my way through:

"You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appals me. There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do. Temperment, I suppose...."

Cheers.

Ralph

Game of Shadows

Started reading this incredible book about about the Barry Bonds' steroid scandal. It's been pretty well publicized, and I think the two authors got into some sort of trouble for being in possession of leaked Grand Jury testimony, but they really do a great job detailing the culture that led to this tremendous abuse of steroids in baseball. I'm about halfway through, and I'm pretty convinced that Sosa's, McGwire's, and Bonds' records, well they're tarnished to say the least. Should we pull them from the record books? I don't know. I guess, when you really think about it, Ruth and Mantle, for example, probably would have turned to steroids had they been as readily available back in the day as they were to these three guys I just mentioned. I'm not saying they were victims, but they were just playing the game, a big money one at that. It's the same game that track and field athletes, as well as football players (less so now I think) have been playing for years. Remember Lyle Alzado - the guy went from nobody to All-Pro defensive end, thanks to steroids and then died of brain cancer.

All in a life's work.

Ralph

Britney

I'll have to admit, I'm a Britney Spears fan. In fact, "Oops I did it again," was one of my favorite pop hits of all time. Catchy, sarcastic, and a really funny video, plus Britney was pretty sexy back in the day. Had a lot going for her. Now, it's all come apart. As Bill "Sports Guy" Simmons puts it, she's entered the Tyson Zone. Go Britney.

Here's my take: Britney is at a crossroads. He old life is gone, and she needs to make a call about what her future direction is going to be. Her days as a teen queen pop star are over, and she knows it. She's a mother of two now- a lady, not a girl, and is having a tough time figuring out how to deal with that. The shaving of the head thing - that was the external sign that she knows she's changed. But how is she going to come out of this? The best move she could me would be to pull a Demi Moore and back off everything for awhile. The other alternative is an Anna Nicole Smith and just keep running around as a has-been and deluding yourself into thinking you're not a joke. Drugs and alchohol help with that delusion.

Anyhow, I'm cheering for Britney to drop out, but I'm sure not betting that is the path she'll take. Bottoms up.

Ralph

A Clockwork Orange

Spent the last week in Belgium and previous week in Vegas and parts of San Diego. Not a huge Vegas fan, but San Diego, especially if you've got a view of the bay, can be pretty relaxing. Anyhow, the two shots posted above are from Belgium. The top is from the town square in the villiage of Brugge, which is in the Flemish (Dutch) part of the country. The bottom is the Atonium or something in Brussels which was built for a World's Fair in the 1950s. We went up in it. Nothing too great. Brugge seemed pretty cool and only reaffirmed my desire to visit Amsterdam someday... Anyways, I was pretty sick the whole time I was there, with a stomach thing and a cold. It didn't help that I didn't get my luggage until Thursday night, after the gala meeting I attended in jeans and a shirt I bought out of some shop across the street from my hotel. Did I mention that European people like to wear suits, and I had packed one for the occasion? I came across as quite the "American" in my duds...

Then there is this thing about heat in Europe. It was about 40-50 degrees during the day in Belgium, which I understand was nowhere near as cold as it was here. But, Europeans seem to have something against forced air heat, as I could never get the temperature properly adjusted except for half of one night in my hotel room. Then, on Saturday, I went out for a "coffee" appointment and the gents I was with suggested taking it in an outdoor cafe. I think the key to this aversion to heat is the fact alcholic drinks run pretty much as same price as soft drinks, so you might as well go for the internal warmth and damn the heaters. Normally, I would have had no problem with this, but with my stomach, my drinking capacity was down substantially...

Anyways, I tried to rest a bit and did manage with the help of travel time to finish Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. Quite likely, you’ve seen the movie version, which I did a number of years ago. However, for some reason, as it does from time to time, a bug had gotten into me to read the book. So, I checked it out of the Ridge Library and off I went.

Now, there appears to be a bit of a discrepancy, and maybe even a bit of controversy between the novel and movie. You see in the U.S. published book on which the movie is based, Chapter 21 is removed. Chapter 21 functions as sort of the denouement, or falling action. If you remove it, you end up with this real horror show (to use Alex’s terminology) ending, where the main character is pretty much back where he started. The extra chapter, in fact, shows him maturing a bit and growing away from this character.

Here’s what Burgess has to say about that (in the intro to the second U.S. book version.): “There is in fact, not much point in writing a novel unless you can show the possibility of moral transformation, or an increase in wisdom, operating in your chief character or characters….

“When a fictional work fails to show change, when it merely indicates that human character is set, stony, unregenerable, then you are out of the field of the novel and into that of the fable or the allegory.”

If this is the case then, it's my call that A Clockwork Orange works great as a fable or allegory, but not as a novel, because the last “extra” chapter seems forced and really doesn’t draw on the rest of the story very well. It’s like Burgess wrote 20 chapters to come to this perfect fable ending, then realized he hadn’t shown any change and tacked this last one on.

Burgess claims this 21st chapter was always planned, but it sure didn't come across as very connected to me. I’ll let the poor guy rest, as he’s probably dead now and did say in the intro he was a bit embarrassed by the novel and all the attention it garnered. He thought he had many works that were much better Poor chap.

Regards,

Ralph

1980 Browns- Cardiac Kids

Does anyone remember this team? I must have been 13 when they made their improbable run into the playoffs with an 11-5 record. I remember, we used their nickname for one of our street football teams that had a penchant for comebacks. The 1980 Browns were led by Brian Sipe, an undersize, and I believe undrafted quarterback who had beaten out first-round pick Mike Phipps a couple years earlier. He was a real underdog story, and their coach, Sam Rutigliano, was one of these rah-rah Italian guys that everyone seemed to rally around.

Anyways, the Browns met their demise in one of the coldest games in NFL history, played in January in old Cleveland Stadium. They were trailing 14-12 with time running out and had driven down the field against Raiders to well within field goal range-on a normal day. But the Browns' 200-year-old kicker, Don Cockroft, I believe, had already missed two extra points to create the deficit - correct me if I'm wrong - so they called a pass play, and Sipe threw into double coverage - for Ozzie Newsome - and it got picked off by in a great play by a Raiders' linebacker.

Maybe it's because the Super Bowl is approaching, but Sports Time Ohio has had a couple specials on this team this past week, with former WR Reggie Rucker, who was on the team, interviewing ex-players. They had the old middle linebacker on last night, and he explained that he had actually driven halfway to practice the following Wed. because he still couldn't believe the Browns had lost the game. The Raiders went on to win the Super Bowl and the Browns went 5-11 the next year. They're cursed I tell you...

Ralph

Cheever's Swimmer

Has anyone ever read John Cheever's, "The Swimmer?" Any thoughts on this disturbing piece of literature? Re-read it last night for the first time in several years. Even though I've gone though many changes since I first read it, it still came across as powerful as it did the first time I read it back in college. Maybe that's the definition of true literature - that it never ceases to have a profound affect on you, no matter when you re-visit it. (Yes, Cheever was the guy mentioned in the Seinfeld episode when Kramer burned down the cabin.)

Regards,

Ralph

Welcome Back Snow!

Finally, some snow. I must admit, I think it's wonderful. I may have told you that last Janurary I bought this beat-up toboggan off some Canadian guy in an old pick-up that looked like it had dog cages in the bed. I found it through an ad in the classifieds and the transaction took place one evening in the Home Depot parking lot. When I got the thing home, it was in worse shape than it appeared in the dark, but for $35, I definitely had a solid piece of wood I could work with. I think I invested about $10 in some screws, cut up an old belt for leather strapping material, and put a few hours worth of manpower in. After a couple test runs, I decided we needed a pad and ordered one off E-bay. A couple weeks later it arrived, and what do you know, it stopped snowing...until now that is.

I was out of town when the initial couple feet hit, but arrived back home Friday. By Sunday, we were up at Erie Golf Course. Must have been about 50 people there around sunset time, and we were all cruising down the ice covered slopes - if you remember there was some freezing rain that day. Well, we took it easy and made a few runs down one of the remedial slopes, but we were still moving pretty good. Then, last night, as we got hit hard with fluffy snow - it seemed like the perfect time to try out my new/old sled at Frontier. I figured on a Tuesday, the crowds would be sparse and the new-fallen snow would keep the track slow enough that I could still work out some kinks.

Now, as it kept snowing, it became clear that maybe one shouldn't take to the roads for something as frivilous as a sled ride, but something kept pulling at me. It was almost like that old toboggan was calling me from the garage. I kept trying to find excuses not to go, but after taking out the garbage and shoveling the walks and driveway, I found myself waxing her up with a piece from an old candle. I leaned her against the car and waited. The snow was falling heavily and thickly, and I went inside to check on my son and see if he still wanted to go. After some chaos involving him not wanting to go in the basement himself to get his coat, we headed out. I don't think the wife was all too happy, as I was leaving her with a baby and my daughter who was too tired to go out, but as I said, I was being called.

We negotiated through a near-white out to get to Frontier and found ourselves on hill with a couple drunken teenagers on snow boards. The snow was so thick, that on the first ride down, its spray blinded me, but my instincts had proven correct and we made it down at a nice cruising speed without hitting any jumps. After we wore a path, the spray decreased and we picked up speed. We just went down about four times, but that was enough for me to learn what I needed to about the old toboggan. As I get a better feel, I expect to be able to go faster and take more chances.

But, regardless of all that, it was an absolutely beautiful night at the park. I'm not sure where all the ambient light was coming from, but its reflection off the snow gave the whole place a wonderful night-time glow and the heavy falling snowflakes and peaceful setting surrounded by trees created a winter paradise. Yeah, the snow gets a bad rap, but when you haven't had it for awhile...boy, was I starting to miss it. Last night reaffirmed why. Welcome back snow! Erie in the winter is not such a bad place after all.