The 1000th Post

No true content here. I just wanted to note that this is the 1000th blog post over here at the ClownVision Chronicles. So feel free to party amongst yourselves. I think I'll do a little partying with Heidi.

Today On The iPod Shuffle

I was seriously going to use yesterday for some writing. So I put my iPod on shuffle instead of turning on the TV, figuring that that would be less distracting. Instead, I got a list of so-called random songs that scarily fit the mood that I've been in lately.

And I swear, these are the first 10 songs that I heard yesterday.

1. "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word," Elton John. Now that's a real up song to start out with.

2. "Photograph," Ringo Starr. Sure it's Ringo, but still, not the world's most upbeat song.

3. "No Myth," Michael Penn. Great song. But seriously, would something a little upbeat be asking too much?

4. "Captain Jack," Billy Joel. Just shoot me now.

5. "Try, Try, Try," Smashing Pumpkins. No, seriously, if I get much more depressed, I'm going to shoot myself.

6. "If It Makes You Happy," Sheryl Crow. Okay, this is a little better. But still, not the world's most upbeat song.

7. "Ordinary World," Duran Duran. Somebody hates me.

8. "American Man," Velvet Revolver. A good solid rocker, probably the best song off the band's second album. Still, not upbeat, but I like a nice rocker.

9. "Headwires," Foo Fighters. YES! The Foo. You can't go wrong with the Foo Fighters.

10. "Do It Again," The Kinks. One of my all-time favorite songs from The Kinks. Still, a little cynical.

So there you have it, seriously. I put my iPod on shuffle and these were the first 10 songs. Happily, things changed a bit with song 11, Joan Jett and "Cherry Bomb."

Sex Sells -- The Vanity Fair Edition

I'm sure that most of us out there don't read Vanity Fair magazine. But there's actually a sports link to the next issue, a story on Mrs. Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen. And guess what? Yep, there's photos.

Gee, But Ain't That Jumbo Kind of Small Looking?

Here's some distressing news for Astros owner Drayton McLane, and it has nothing to do with the performance of his team on the field. No, this is even worse. There are teams in MLB reducing concession stand prices. Yes, you read that right, reducing concession stand prices.

The Cincinnati Reds are going the Wendy's route and offering up a dollar menu consisting of many of the same items on sale throughout the ballpark, though the portions are slightly smaller. And the New York Mets, who are in moving into their brand new pleasure palace, financed by U.S. taxpayer money, are reducing concession prices by an average of 6.5 percent this season.

Now don't read this wrong. Even with the reductions the concession prices in Cincinnati and New York are still way too much. But it's a nice start, and it's a nice bow to economic reality. But somehow, I'm not expecting Drayton to attempt anything like this. There's too much money at stake for him.

Ch..Ch...Ch...Cherry Bomb

I was actually trying to get some writing done yesterday, and I thought that instead of turning on the MLB Network, I would put my iPod on shuffle and let that be background noise instead. I found myself unable to get much done as a the shuffle just seemed, for the most part, to come up with a strange list of songs that somehow seemed to be fitting my all around for the past couple of weeks. But more on that in a later post.

Anyway, one song stood out from the rest. It's one that I haven't heard in a good while, not even on shuffle. So here's Joan Jett and the Blackhearts with "Cherry Bomb."

NOW WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE!!!

I just got this in my e-mail.
Yep, it's an e-mail trying to get me to sign up for AARP. But there's just a slight problem. I know I sound like an old fart. And I know I've been carrying on like one of those "hey get off my damn lawn" guys, but damn it, I'm only 43. An old 43, but I've still got a few years to go before I'm eligible for AARP.

And no, I don't need a free travel kit. I've got plenty of those, thank you very much. Now get off my damn lawn and leave me alone.

The Dontrelle Willis Story (Part The Continued)

Yesterday I wrote about Detroit Tigers pitcher Dontrelle Willis being put on the disabled list due to a diagnosis of anxiety disorder. The strange thing about the diagnosis was that it came from a blood test, and there was discussion that the Tigers were couching it in these terms so as to scam money from the insurance company so that the insurance company, and not the Tigers, would be responsible for paying Willis's contract should he not be able to pitch this season.

I was willing to play along, though it sounded a bit funny, just because I despise insurance companies -- I used to be an insurance defense attorney for car wrecks and the cheapest, most-willing to cheat bastards in the world were the insurance companies. But it was a bit strange that this was diagnosed by way of a blood test.

So today, doctors not associated with the Detroit Tigers weigh in on this topic. And guess what, you can't diagnose anxiety disorder by way of a blood test. Nope, not possible. It just can't be done.

Yes, yes, I know. You're shocked. There's no way a baseball team would lie, after all, because baseball execs are fine, upstanding individuals on the same level as insurance companies.

There are a couple of things that could be going on here. Willis could legitimately have anxiety disorder, and the Tigers are looking for some way to get out of paying his contract by having the insurance company pay it. There's also the chance that there's something else, something more seriously wrong with Willis, and the Tigers for some reason thought this would be a better thing to come up with. Or of course, maybe Dontrelle Willis just can't pitch anymore and the Tigers don't want to be stuck with his contract.

Anyway, if it is anxiety disorder, let's hope he gets the proper treatment. That's the important thing. Right?

It's Only Spring Training. No One Will Ever Notice...(WITH UPDATE)

This is one of the funniest things I've read in a long, long time. (h/t Awful Announcing).

The New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles were playing a spring training game yesterday when rain interrupted the game in the first inning. There was a 90-minute delay, then the game resumed. Except no one in Baltimore heard the game because the radio announcers left the ballpark and didn't return. They even went so far as to tell their radio station bosses in Baltimore that the game had been cancelled.

I like this quote from a rightfully confused Orioles PR flack: "Yes, the rest of the game was not on the air back home and we don't know why...We looked over during the game and they weren't there."

And having read this, I've got an idea for the Astros radio guys. How about making Milo Hamilton think that every game from hereon out has been cancelled, then just have Brett and Dave do the games? I think that would make for a more pleasant broadcast experience for all involved.

UPDATE:

The two announcers involved are now claiming that they were ordered home by station management because the game was going to be rained out -- even though station management was in Baltimore and the game was in Florida. But the funny thing is, I thought the radio guys were actually employed by the team and not the radio station.

Two Years Ago Today, Give or Take a Day or Two

It was two years ago, give or take a day or two -- it was definitely the Monday after the Elite Eight because I had a great weekend at the art festival with an attractive woman, and a friend got what looked to be a big career promotion, and things were looking good. Damn good.

Things were actually going kind of good for me. Work was good -- I had been a star the year before, having bailed out the head office on a couple of key jobs and I had been traveling all over the country for work and fun as part of my quest to see all of the ballparks. I should have known that things wouldn't last. They never do. Not in my life.

The signs were there, I chose to ignore them. My father separated his shoulder on New Year's and had surgery a couple of weeks later. Then my grandmother, my dad's mother, died on Super Bowl weekend. I spent most of that week with my father, which was a bit of a burden for reasons I won't go into, and I thought we got through it rather well, as did the rest of the family.

But it was two years ago, give or take a day or two, but definitely on the Monday after the Elite Eight, that I received a call from my father's neighbor saying that he thought my dad had had a stroke or something and he and my uncle wanted to know if they should get him to the hospital. I made it clear that the first call should have been to 911, not to me, and I told him to get my dad to the hospital. I had taken the bus in that day, and I had one of my colleagues drive me to my car so that I could make the two-hour drive to Huntsville.

My father was fine, but a little groggy, and they decided to keep him in the hospital overnight for observation. Which turned out to be a good thing because it was only as I driving home for the night that my uncle decided to tell me that they had found an empty bottle of sleeping pills next to my father. So I drove back up early the next morning so that I could meet with his doctor on rounds and fill him in on the pills bit. While waiting for the doctor, my father decided to confess that he'd tried to kill himself.

And since that time, my life has been in kind of a freefall. I struggled with work all that year to catch up on my billables and work, and though nothing was said, it just kind of strange that I was taken off of travel duty. And I never traveled for work again, and struggled to get work ever after that time. Sure, I did some personal traveling during that time, part of my ballpark quest, and I even had a cameo on David Letterman (wait for the :35 second mark), but during this time we had to deal with my father being twice committed to different mental institutions, then committing him to a nursing home, and signing away to the state the right to my father's inheritance in order to get him on medicaid.

I don't know. Things just haven't been the same since that day. I'm not saying it's my father's fault, but it just seems that life has been in a bit of tailspin. And so far, nothing I've tried has seemed to be able to pull me out that downward spiral.

I just felt the need to write this out, to rant and cry and whine a bit. It's been two years now, and it hasn't been that good. But I was told to write this stuff down when it really gets to me, and it's really getting me today.

(Oh, and my friend that I thought got the promotion ended up getting screwed around by her employer even worse than I did.)

Video Jukebox Don't Always Come Easy

For some reason, I had an urging for some Ringo Starr. Why not a little Ringo with what it perhaps his best known song as a solo artist? So here's Ringo Starr with "It Don't Come Easy."

Sex Sells -- The Good Morning Sunshine Edition

I'm not doing the bikini photos as much as before, but I thought, damn, what a better way to start the week. Of course, I'm looking at a week of nothingness, but hopefully, all of you will have a nice week.

Dontrelle Willis Disabled By Anxiety (With Update)

Here is possibly one of the saddest baseball stories of the year. Detroit Tigers pitcher Dontrelle Willis has been placed on the disabled list because of an anxiety disorder. Willis was traded to the Tigers before last season, and he just didn't seem to have anything, going 0-2 with a 9.38 ERA between stints on the DL due to injuries.

Willis burst onto the scene as a rookie for the Florida Marlins in 2003 with his fun personality and high, twisting leg kick. He's supposedly always been really fan friendly, and he's often eagerly agreed to be the face of MLB to the inner-city fans. He's got a career record of 68-56 with a 3.91 ERA.

Willis states that he is not suffering from depression now, nor has he ever suffered from depression. The condition was supposedly discovered through a blood test, even though it is a mental issue, not a medical issue. Neither Willis nor the Tigers were willing to offer up a time on when he might be able to return to the game, though there is hope that he might be able to pitch again this season.

Dontrelle Willis is not the first major league player to be placed on the DL because of this condition. Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke spent the 2006 season on the DL because of anxiety disorder.

UPDATE:

To answer Ms. Conduct's comment. The Detroit Free Press story I linked to kind of addresses this topic. The reporter believes that the Tigers are couching this as a medical issue -- thus the blood test diagnosis -- because of insurance issues. There is some doubt as to whether the insurance policy that the Tigers have on Willis's contract covers mental issues. If it's a medical issue and Willis doesn't play, then the insurance company covers Willis's contact, but they might not do so if it's merely a mental issue and Willis is medically fit to play.

To Suck, Or Not To Suck: That Is The Astros Question

Now here's some shocking news, but according to the Chron, the Astros are facing lots of questions about the makeup of the team as they prepare to leave camp. Among those questions include the starting rotation, the starting third baseman, and the back-up infielders. Left unasked amongst the questions is how many games will Kaz Matsui play. Or if Michael Bourn has figured out this whole hitting thing. Or what else Miguel Tejada has lied about.

I could go on.

What the Astros don't know for sure is who will be at third base. The original plan, albeit a sucky one, was to platoon Aaron Boone and Geoff Blum. But Boone's out for the season after having open heart surgery on Thursday, and Blum's the very definition of mediocre, so you really don't want him playing every day. Minor leaguer Chris Johnson got off to a hot start to start spring training, but he's been in a big slump, so his making the team and playing at third is not a given, though Cecil Cooper has made it clear that if Johnson does make the team, it's going to be as the starting third baseman.

If I were given this decision, I would take a flier on Chris Johnson. Only deluded people like Cecil Cooper and Richard Justice think this team is going to contend this year, so if there's a youngster with potential, then why not take a chance on him? There's not going to be a lot of pressure since the team won't be contending, so this should be the perfect opportunity for Johnson to give the majors a try. He won't be any worse than Blum.

As for the rotation, the primary question is the fifth starter. It appears that injury-prone Russ Ortiz will get this spot. And the fact that Ortiz is getting another chance says volumes about how bad the Astros pitching is. It's bad because the only really good pitcher is Roy Oswalt, one of the best pitchers in baseball. The Astros are debating whether Wandy Rodriguez or Mike Hampton will be the number two starter, and neither of these guys should be more than a four starter. Hampton was once a very good pitcher who hasn't pitched a complete season in about four years. He's been torn apart by arm injuries, and while I really hope he can make a comeback, I don't think a team should be depending on that. And Wandy Rodriguez, while also injury prone, just isn't very good. And the fourth starter is Brian Moehler who had a career year last season. Only problem is that Moehler's in his late-30s and he's been pitching in the majors since the mid-90s. As with the rest of the guys, there is nothing in his career stats to indicate that he can put two good seasons back-to-back.

So instead of there being a question about who the fifth starter should be, the real question should be who is going to be the second through fifth starters. And I don't think I like the answer.

And while the team wonders what to do about the backup infield spot, I frankly don't think it matters as neither option is really appealing. So I go to my default position. I say take the youngster and give him a shot. What can it hurt?

Meanwhile, Lance Berkman is injured, though he should be ready for Opening Day. And Cecil Cooper still hasn't earned the respect of the veterans.

Then you have the issues revolving around the injury-prone Matsui, and the rapidly-aging Tejada, and the unable to hit Bourn. It's not a good team. I just don't see any potential of this being a good team. It's going to be a long season.

It's Lima Time

I know that all Astros fans are really worried about this rotation because a semi-decent pitching rotation can make an awful team look halfway decent, and the Astros rotation is nowhere near semi-decent. But don't worry because I've got some news that'll make you feel better.

Jose Lima has signed to pitch with the Long Beach Armada, one of the numerous teams in one of those numerous independent leagues that aren't affiliated with MLB. This can only mean that Jose Lima is preparing for his return to the big leagues, and this can only mean good news for the Astros since Mike Hampton and Russ Ortiz are due for a season-ending injury any day now. And should this happen, it would be really good news for the fans in the Crawford Boxes as they would get a ton of souvenir baseballs whenever Lima pitches.

And who knows, should the need arise, the Astros can also use Lima as a back-up anthem singer.

Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard

The Farrelley Brothers, the masterminds behind There's Something About Mary, Kingpin, and Dumb and Dumber, are preparing to make another movie. A movie about the Three Stooges. I would be okay with this, and I would be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because I think these guys are funny, and they've shown they can do slapstick humor, but...

Then I saw the cast. And all benefit of the doubt just went out the window. This is a mistake. A mistake on Speed Racer as a live action film scale.

The big casting coup is multiple best actor Oscar winner Sean Penn, who is set to play Larry. Jim Carrey has signed on to play Curly. And the brothes are pursuing Bennico Del Torro to play Moe. (There's no info from the story on who will play Shemp or if his character will even be in the movie.)

Yes, you read that right.

Now this is supposed to be a biopic, so there's going to be drama as well as comedy, but still...

Just because Sean Penn says he'll do the movie is no reason to cast Sean Penn. It's been over 20 years since Penn has done a comedy -- besides a guest spot on Two and a Half Men -- and he's not displayed any ability to do slapstick, physical comedy. The same with Del Torro, of whom I'm also a fan. I just can's see Penn as Larry, or Del Torro as Moe. Carrey makes sense, though I see him as Moe more than I do as Curly, but the rest of this cast, no, it just doesn't work.

I'm not the studio funding this thing, though, and if this is how they want to spend their money, then fine. Just don't expect my support.

Screwing Up The Ballpark

It appears that the New York Yankees went to the Drayton McLane school of ballpark design. Word out of New York is that the YES Network (the New York Yankees network) and ESPN are not pleased with the ballpark because the designers did not put a spot for a home plate camera, and the cameras down the lines are stuck at funny angles.

Not many people know this, but these same complaints were raised about Minute Maid Park when it opened. There's no decent position for a home plate camera -- all shots are from up high in the TV press box, and the centerfield camera is actually stuck over in left field, which is why it's often impossible to make a visual determination from that camera on what's a strike, and what isn't a strike.

One would think that, in this day and age, when TV is king, that designers would keep TV in mind. Then again, one would also think that the real fans, those who go to every game and don't get to sit in those George H.W. Bush seats directly behind home plate, would also be kept in mind. But as has been proven time and time again, those people don't count. So I'm not surprised that the TV wasn't kept in mind either.

Digging In The Memories

I was looking around YouTube earlier, trying to locate video of Peter Gabriel performing "Solsbury Hill" because I thought it would fit with what I was doing for my Houston Aeros post-game write-up. I found "Solsbury Hill," and went with video of him performing it on his 1993 Secret World Tour.

Then I started getting all kinds of memories, because you see, Gabriel's 1993 Secret World Tour was a rather special concert experience for me. That concert, more than any other I've probably ever been to, marked a turning point in my life. Not the concert so much, but as what was happening to me at the time of the concert.

The concert was on a Friday in August. The same Friday as the last day of my Texas Bar Exam. The next day, I was moving out of my apartment and temporarily, for about a week-and-a-half, moving back in with my mother and step-father. And from there, I was on my way to Europe, on my very own, to meet a bunch of people I'd never met and to live in countries for five months that I'd only dreamed of visiting.

And I was scared out of my mind. Not that I admitted such. It wasn't the Bar Exam that got me. I knew I would pass it. I knew I wouldn't pass it with flying colors, but I knew I passed it -- I would find out four months later that I passed it by the tiniest of margins. I was just scared about my life. I hadn't been much of a success of in law school. I made some decent grades, excelled in some classes, and was beyond awful in others. I was average. Much as I always have been, and always will be. But somehow or another I lucked into this LL.M. program that would keep me in school for another year -- then, as now, I was terrified of the job market and just knew that I would end up in a lousy soul-sucking job unless I did something different. So I did the LL.M program and went to Europe and to California and came home and worked for a judge as his briefing attorney, then ended up in a soul-sucking job that left me alone, and wiped me out, mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially.

Which is kind of where I'm at now, I think. I'm beaten up, alone, and wiped out mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. And I've been trying to deal with that for these past several weeks, since being laid off and once again facing the great unemployment unknown. And seeing the videos on You Tube from that concert just kind of, tonight, brought all of those early-90s feelings and memories to the forefront and meshed them to together with everything I'm going through now.

I'm not sure that there's a point to any of this, but I just wanted to write it out. To get it down somewhere as if, by doing so, maybe it would help out. I'm not sure it has -- this has probably not done much but depress all of you reading -- but it's my blog after all.

Hopefully, this might make things a little better. Here's Peter Gabriel performing "Digging In The Dirt" -- not the most uplifting of songs -- live on the Secret World Tour.

Batters Up! Let's Get This Season Started

I know I've used this photo before, but baseball season is fast approaching, and I love baseball. This photo could almost turn me into a fan of the Chicago Cubs.

Note, I said almost.

Updates About Nothingness

You know, I had a pretty decent week this week. I still don't have a job, but the recruiter I met with yesterday made me feel a lot better about life. And I just didn't let things beat me down this week. So compared to last week, this week was good.

Most of you probably just want to read my rambling rantings about various sports and pop culture items, but since I blog about my life a bit, too, I just feel the need to update you on myself. And this week, it was good. And I hoping next week will be even better.

Have a good weekend everybody.

Houston Chronicle: Alienating Readers Day After Day

So you're the Houston Chronicle, and you've just laid off what appears to be most of your reporting and sales staff. What do you do next?

If you answered raise subscription and newsstand prices, you win. You don't win anything, but still, you were right.

A friend of mine sent me a memo he received from his employer who pays for their subscriptions out of their pay. The memo stated that subscription rates were rising, and that employees should make it known whether they wanted to keep their subscriptions.

But who knows, maybe this will rate increase will allow the Chron to add a beat reporter for TSU.

Isiah And The Clippers

This is priceless. It probably won't happen, but it's priceless.

What am I talking about? Simple: the Los Angeles Clippers, once the worst franchises in NBA history, have been meeting with former NBA great Isiah Thomas about taking a job in the team's front office. That's right, the same guy who drove the CBA into bankruptcy, the same guy who nearly destroyed the Indiana Pacers, and the same guy who turned the New York Knicks into a NBA laughingstock. Yeah, that guy.

It's probably not going to happen. But teaming up these two disasters is nothing but a group of punchlines just waiting to happen.

Meanwhile...Over At The Houston Press

For those of you who don't religiously read me over at the mothership, here are some links to a few items that I've written this week that I wanted to share because I thought you might actually like them.

From today, I have a post on the Chron's layoffs and the possible implications to the sports department. And from yesterday comes this post on Hannah Storm, who is being honored in Houston in May -- most of you probably don't care, or remember, but I reference her early work in Houston with shock jock Moby on the hard rock station.

Tuesday gives us the comedic stylings of Houston Astros manager Cecil Cooper who believes that the Astros are going to sneak under the radar and win 90 games this season. And from Monday comes a brief profile of Houston Aeros forward Tony Hrkac who is in the second week of his comeback to hockey after a four year retirement, the last two years of which he spent coaching college hockey.

I think that's going to do it for me tonight, but I promise to return tomorrow.

You're So Flower Power?

So I was up late the other night watching Craig Ferguson -- the one good thing about this unemployment thing is that I can watch Ferguson and not feel guilty the next morning about wanting to sleep in the office because I have no office and I can sleep late. But after Ferguson was over, I was getting ready to go to sleep when an infomercial came on.

I love informercials. I never buy any of the crap, but I like to watch them. I used to love those infomercials for the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts because I remembered watching those shows as a kid and thinking they were the funniest thing ever, and frankly, watching the clips on the infomerical, it was amazing to see how well they held up. This informercial dealt with "Flower Power" music, offering multiple CDs of 1960s "flower power" music, and it was hosted by Peter Fonda.

I'm watching and going along with the thing and really grooving to the songs from the 60s, wondering if anybody ever actually buys these things when I'm jolted back to reality by the inclusion of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain." This is not a song I associate with "flower power." Sure, I was a young kid in the 70s, and was really young in the late 60s, but I think I know my musical eras, and this song just didn't seem to fit, especially since this song from sometime in the 70s and I associate "flower power" with the late-60s.

So I'll ask you guys: "You're So Vain," is this "flower power" or not? I say not. But I'm open to argument.

A Note For Rob

Hey, Rob, I just wanted to offer some thanks. I called up and made appointment for the flying trip next week. Thanks a lot. I appreciate everything, and I hope I'm doing a good job here and over at The Third Intermission and The Houston Press.

And to everybody else, thanks for your continued reading.

The Chronicle Is Making Me Angry

As I wrote the other day, the Chron is in turmoil as many, many reporters, editors, etc. were laid off the other day. Among the casualties were the sports guys who covered UH, Rice, and TSU. So I spent a couple of hours last night writing a post about how the Chron, which had done just about everything possible to ignore those schools, was now definitely ignoring them.

Only to log on today and discover that the Chron has assigned them new reporters. Of course, assigning Steve Campbell to the Cougars means that golf has no person covering it. Then again, it's golf, the only sport more boring than soccer, so is no golf writer really that big a thing. And Megan Manfull is now covering Rice. Which means that the Houston Texans are down to one reporter, and that one reporter, John McClain, is more concerned with making videos and doing radio shows than he is in actually reporting. TSU, however, still has no beat reporter assigned to cover it. So I just spent massive time rewriting this and sending it to the Press. That should run later today.

But I've got two points for here: can anyone tell me just what it is that Anna-Megan Raley actually does for the Chron, and why is it that she has a job but not Michael Murphy, MK Bower, or Terrance Harris? Also, I noticed that Ken Hoffman had a story in the sports on Ron Artest. Does this mean that the Chron is about to go back to that failed experiment, tried by the defunct Houston Post, to make Hoffman, a former TV critic and humor columnist, a sports reporter?

Maybe They Should Also Offer Some Sacrifices

Apparently the Christians are pissed off at the Detroit Tigers for scheduling their home opener for daylight hours on Good Friday. Apparently this is the supposed time that Christ hung on the cross, and Catholics supposedly like to go to a Church and celebrate this event.

Here's the thing. I don't care. The Tigers are playing a day game because it's early April in Detroit. It can be miserably cold with snow in Detroit in April, so it makes sense to try and play the game during the day when the weather is supposedly better.

And there's this. You don't have to go to the damn game. If church is so important to you, you shouldn't even have this problem. When Sandy Koufax had to choose between his religion and pitching game one of the World Series, he chose his religion. And frankly, I don't think any of Detroit's so-called Christians are better people than Koufax.

Now you need to excuse me because I've got to dodge some lightning.

A Not So Fine Day In The Park

For years, one of my favorite bands was Chicago -- at one point I think I had every album on LP or cassette though they never made a complete transition to CD or iPod. Then original members started dying off -- rest in peace Terry Kath -- and the band went from rock to power ballad -- though Peter Cetera could do a mean ballad -- and then he left and the band just kind of became aimless as it tried to recapture the late-70s/early-80s power ballad hits.

Still, I saw the band several times in concert, even after the only remaining original members were keyboard player Robert Lamb and the horn players. And I still fail to understand how they've never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If Madonna can get in, surely Chicago deserves to be in.

But damn, I saw what's left of the band on Craig Ferguson last night, and they did "Saturday In The Park" which is one of the great songs of all time, and well, maybe they should just give it up. I know they do the summer oldies concert circuit, and there's probably lots of money in that, and I'm not one to talk about giving up money now that I'm out of work, but...they didn't look or sound good.

So to attempt to wipe out what I saw last night, here's old school Chicago performing "Saturday In The Park" back in the day.

Breaking The Fire Didn't Bend Rule

So I'm at the movies the other day, and I see the trailer for the new Star Trek movie that's supposed to come out in May. And I don't really care as I grew out of the Star Trek universe many, many years ago. But...

You see, I watched the original series, and I've read lots of sci-fi, and there's just something about that trailer that is really, really bugging me.

In case you don't know, this movie goes back to the beginning, to when Kirk was just a literal space cadet and Spock was still supposedly battling emotions and McCoy was just a young country doctor and Sulu wasn't gay. And there's bit in the trailer where we see Kirk on a motorcycle and he's in a field somewhere, and off in the distance, he's watching them assemble a huge starship -- maybe the Enterprise.

Now any of you who know your beginning science -- as well as some of the show's history -- knows that the Enterprise was a ship built for traveling in outer space, where there is no atmosphere. It's not built to travel in an atmosphere -- a point made in the show a couple of times -- as it will burn up and fall apart and disintegrate. It's purely a space vehicle. Which is why, in the first movie, there's this endless sequence of Kirk in a shuttle craft flying around the brand new version of the Enterprise as it's being assembled in Earth orbit.

But in this preview, it's being assembled on Earth. And this bugs me.

A good friend of mine has this rule that I call "but the fire didn't bend" rule. It comes from Independence Day when there was a scene of fire exploding down a tunnel. And one of our characters ducks into an open door that is to the side. She doesn't close the door, she just ducks inside. But the fire just went right past her instead of coming into her space. And my friend just went nuts. The movie lost him at the point because the logic failed. Sure, that was a popcorn sci-fi movie that wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but because of that mistake, he couldn't see himself in that universe.

And that's where I'm at on this Star Trek movie. It hasn't even come out yet, but already it has failed "but the fire didn't bend" rule. A ship like that can't be built on Earth because it can't operate in an atmosphere. Yet in the movie, that's what they do. And I'm stopping now because my head's hurting.

The First Against the Wall

One of the things that gets me in trouble over at the mothership is that I tend to be a moralistic and judgmental and that I want people punished for their sins. They always want me to tone it down just a bit. And lately, I've been trying.

But luckily, I have this place here, so...

The people of Miami and Dade County really, really need to put the 12 members of the Miami-Dade County Commissioners Court and Miami City Commission up against the wall and start pulling the trigger. Really, in this economy where businesses are going under and people are losing their life savings to scam artists and others are having to hack into 401ks because they just got laid off, it makes absolutely no economic sense to approve the majority-taxpayer funded pleasure palace for the Florida Marlins.

But on Monday night, the various Floridian politicos gave Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria his dream and agreed to build him a 37,000 seat, retractable roof stadium on the site of the old Orange Bowl. And it will only cost $515 million dollars, of which Mr. Loria is paying only $119 million.

This pisses me off to no end. Really. I'm sick of rich bastards like Loria soaking the taxpaying public for these pleasure palaces then jacking prices on tickets and merchandise and concessions inside the stadium so much that most of the taxpayers who paid for the place can't even get in to the damn place to watch the game.

So come the revolution, instead of placing us attorneys against the wall, we really should start with rich bastard sports teams owners and the politicians who reward them while soaking us.

Yeah, there's no way the mothership would have let me get away with this.

Mr. Deshaies Channels Joe Namath

I noticed this over at the blog Awful Announcing, and I wanted to share. It's the father of Astros TV guy Jim Deshaies putting the moves on Fox Sports' Patti Smith during an on-camera interview. Note the comparisons to Joe Namath, but unlike Namath, Daddy Deshaies got his kiss, and he wasn't drunk.

R.I.P. Houston Chronicle

To my friends over at the Chron -- and yes, I do have some friends there -- I want to apologize. I guess it's partly my fault that you guys are being laid off like crazy over there today (and tomorrow -- seriously, what kind of sadistic bastards makes laying off employees a two day process?) I stopped buying the hard copy edition about five years ago as the price went up and the original content started to vanish and be replaced by wire copy.

But I guess I should have realized what might happen if I didn't buy. That content would disappear. That on-site reporting would be replaced by more wire copy. That the size of the paper would continue to shrink, and since the paper was shrinking, but the cost kept going up, more people would refuse to buy, which meant that it would shrink some more. It's a vicious circle. And I apologize for helping to bring this about.

Still, if there's one reason more than any other that I stopped by the Chron, it's that the Chron failed to realize what was really important. After all, in a city with major employers and industries consisting of Continental Airlines, NASA, and the oil business, one would think that the Chron would make sure to keep reporters on those beats, no matter what.

One would think wrong as those beat writers were amongst those laid off today.

And would think that trying to appeal to local interests -- where wire copy generally isn't as readily available -- would be of prime interest to the Chron in its attempts to stay relevant. But once again, especially with sports, one would think wrong.

The Chron decided to lay off Michael Murphy, the only guy at the Chron to cover University of Houston sports. It decided to lay of MK Bower, the only guy at the Chron to cover Rice University sports. And I've also heard through sources that Terrence Harris, the man who covers TSU sports, was also let go. That leaves no sports reporters at the Chron to cover the local universities while Texas A&M and Texas -- schools that aren't located in Houston, still retain dedicated beat writers.

It's just stupidity. It's like, in some ways, the Chron is doing everything it can to totally alienate its readership so that it can entirely close up shop.

Anyway, RIP Houston Chronicle.

And since I feel this is all party my fault, here's Nirvana performing "All Apologies."

Explaining The Inexplicable

Can you guys help me out with something? Can you please explain to me the popularity of Jim Nantz? Can someone please tell me why this bore is seen as one of the preeminent sports broadcasters of all-time because, frankly, I don't get it.

He's got absolutely no personality. He's got no charisma. He's pompous. I read this guy's book last year, and it was one of the worst written things I've ever read from someone who's actually supposed to possess a college degree.

And now I read he's thinking of running for political office. The guy's a mental midget who holds no convictions and holds no opinions except that he's the most special person to ever inhabit the planet -- okay, on second thought, maybe he is a perfect politician. He writes in his book of friendships with Rush Limbaugh and the Bushes. And in many ways, that makes perfect sense because, just like the Bushes, Nantz has never had to work for anything. He's lucked into every job that he's ever had, and none of these jobs were ever given to him because of ability, but because he was there.

I think of the great broadcasters from when I was growing up, like Jim McKay and Curt Gowdy and Vin Scully and Keith Jackson and Jack Buck and Gene Elston. These guys made me part of the setting. They told a story (Scully still does) that I was part of. And while I've soured on Al Michaels in recent years, nothing tops his work with ABC in the 70s and 80s -- "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" is one of the great broadcast moments of all time. Can anyone imagine Jim Nantz being able to do something like this? He might try, but no one would hear because everyone would be asleep already.

I don't know. I just saw that post about him running for political office someday and it just pissed me off. It just pissed me off that this spoiled brat who's never had to work for anything in his life and who has ruined me a sports broadcast for me, thinks he needs to be working to make my life better. But why should he work as a politician when he's never felt the need to work as a broadcaster?

So I'm back to the beginning. Can someone please explain this guy to me? Why is he as popular as is he? What am I missing? Please. I really want to know.

Daddy Bush and the Astros: Why Am I Supposed to Care?

Can someone please explain to me why it's a big story when George H.W. Bush goes to an Astros game? There's this big story in the Chron. And everytime he takes those seats behind home plate at Minute Maid for an Astros game, Fox Sports and Astros radio make a big deal of Daddy Bush being at the game.

Why?

When did this guy become the Astros most prominent fan?

Hell, he didn't start hanging around the Astros until they started getting good in the mid-90s, and even then, he didn't actually start showing up at games until they moved to Minute Maid and Drayton gave him those primo seats.

I'm a lifelong Houstonian, unlike the so-called fraudulent Houstonian that is Daddy Bush (to be a real Houstonian, you actually have to spend the entire year in the city, not just winter), and I can guarantee that I've actually attended more Astros games than this guy. I went to their games in the 1970s, when they were bad and the team was run by bankruptcy creditors. And I actually know a lot of people like that. Yet the Chron doesn't do stories on us. Fox Sports doesn't focus a camera on us and talk about us, but I can guarantee that we're all better fans than Daddy Bush.

Frankly, I'm sick of this guy being known as the number one fan of the Houston Astros. He's done nothing to earn the title except to be rich and a failure of a president. But then again, now that I think about, maybe it's fitting that is man, a perfect example of futility, is the face of the Houston Astros who just happen to be another fitting example of futility.

But that still doesn't mean I have to like it. It's the real fans who should be celebrated, not fake celebrity fans who can't be bothered to show up most of the time because they're summering in Maine.

Saying Nothing About Nothing

I had a nice day yesterday. I got in my car and I drove east on I-10 -- and that's one of the more ugly drives that any person can take when driving around Houston. I drove east to Louisiana, stopped in Lake Charles, and dropped some of my severance pay at the Isle of Capri Casino. Yeah, I know I shouldn't have done it, but I wanted to have some fun, and since the so-called Heidi Fleiss of Houston was arrested last week, I've got to find some other way to blow some money.

I didn't win, but I didn't really take that much money. I always hold true to the dream that I'm going to get lucky and hit a big jackpot, and I was actually ahead at craps for awhile until all of the shooters went cold. But I had fun. And isn't that what actually matters? That for the first time in weeks I actually had a nice relaxing day.

Anyway, to wake you all up today -- I'm sleeping in -- I've chosen this clip from Cheers. I'll check in later today. But until then, enjoy.

I'm Taking A Me Day

Okay, no more posting from me today. I'm taking off. I'm getting the hell out of town for the day. I'm not going to sit by my damn phone waiting for calls. I'm not going to sit at my computer, trolling for material to blog.

I'm taking a "me" day. I'm getting in my car and going who knows where -- actually, I do know, I'm just not blabbing because this day is all about my escaping.

However, should any future employers be reading this and feel the need to contact me for that job you've got my resume for, well...I do have my cell phone, and my cell number is on the resume, so call me on that. Or if you want, send me an e-mail, that's on my resume as well, and I can read and easily respond to e-mails on my iPhone. Or leave me a comment here. Those go straight to my e-mail which mean they go straight to my iPhone.

But before I go, and because I hope to have a great day, I'm posting another bikini photo -- because who doesn't like a good SI.com bikini photo, right? So here's Anne V. from this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

Sex Sells -- The Second Baseman Edition

Courtesy of the blog The Big League comes our latest edition of Sex Sells. This young lady is Diana Chiafair, a former model on Deal Or No Deal and inside of FHM magazine. But she makes this edition because she is the wife of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts. And let's just say that I'm impressed.

No Aeros Here

Just a reminder, if you're still coming over here to find your Houston Aeros coverage, then you're out of luck. That's because all of that is now going to The Third Intermission. So go check out my stuff over there, along with the work of Andrew Ferraro, Heather Galindo, and Fred Trask.

Be Afraid: Some Notes From Astros Spring Training

With Opening Day about two weeks away, the Astros are still trying to get their act together. Five veterans were assigned to minor league camp today, and frankly, that either of these guys was given a shot at making the major league roster shows just how bad the Astros really are.

Meanwhile, the Astros thin pitching rotation that's depending on continued career revivals, careers finally meeting expectations, and injury-prone guys suddenly learning to stay healthy got hit by injury news. Wandy Rodriguez, who's been injured all spring, bruised a finger on his throwing hand on Thursday and will have his next start moved back. Rodriguez has yet to pitch consistent innings this spring, so it's kind of hard for me to understand just how it is he's going to be ready for the start of the season.

But at least the Astros can keep Brandon Backe's career alive a little longer as they have decided to put the pitcher on the disabled list instead of giving him an outright release. I wish I could get a year's worth of a salary guaranteed for being so crappy. And Brian Moehler suffered a contusion to his right shoulder during his start today and had to leave the game early.

Cecil Cooper, meanwhile, is promising to carefully monitor Kaz Matsui this season in an attempt to keep Matsui healthy and off of the disabled list. Man, that Cecil Cooper is some genius because I'm sure that none of the other managers that the injury-prone Matsui has played for ever thought of carefully monitoring Matsui's activities in an attempt to keep him healthy. But since Matsui can get injured in a light breeze, Cooper better get somebody around to actually manage the team because Matsui monitoring will be a full-time job.

Meanwhile, Cooper's not content with watching Matsui. He's also screwing around with newly-signed catch Ivan Rodriguez. Primarily, Cooper wants to bat Pudge second, which is actually good since no one else seems to be able to handle it and Pudge does have some experience in batting second. But it's not going to do any good since lead-off Matsui can't seem to get on base. But for some reason, Cooper has decided that Pudge also needs to learn how to play third base. Then again, this is just further proof of how damn bad the Astros really are that they need Pudge to play at third.

And for the love of the flying spaghetti monster, could somebody please explain why Cooper insists on batting Miguel Tejada fifth? The guy was a disaster with his bat last season, and he's given no indication of improvement. Why not stick Hunter Pence here for an entire season instead of sliding him around the batting order because of everyone else's failure. Tejada was a flop hitting in front of Berkman and Lee, and he was a flop hitting behind Berkman and Lee, so why reward him? Give this slot to Pence and let's see what he can do.

Damn, it's going to be a long season.

Who Cares? I Care

Okay, it's my fault. I'm the one who put that damn choice at the bottom of the posts. You know, the "who cares" option. And I do want to know when you're not that interested in what I write. Not that it will stop me, but I am interested.

Still, seriously, who could say "who cares" to a photo of Heidi Klum in a bikini? It's Heidi Klum. And she's in a bikini. How can you not care?

Well, I care. So I'm posting another photo of Heidi Klum.

Who cares? Right. It's Heidi Klum.

All Apologies

I want to apologize to everybody for my attitude the past couple of days. I know it hasn't been pleasant to read some of my posts, and I'd like to thank you for staying with me.

I can't really say my life has improved a whole hell of a lot lately. But some good friends have reminded me of a few things that I had forgotten in my eight years of continuous employment, and it put some things in perspective. Mainly, legal firms don't work like normal companies when it comes to hiring. It can take weeks and months for them to make decisions, and it takes a while for resumes to circulate around. I do remember that the first time this happened to me, way back in 1997, that it took two months for me to find a temp job. So 10 days is nothing.

Now this is my blog, and I feel like I can write on it whatever I want to write on it whenever I want to write on it, but...that doesn't give me the right to be a miserable jerk trying to make the rest of you as miserable as me. So I apologize.

Thanks for sticking with me and reading. I'll try to do better.

Get Your Astros Season Tickets

Some amazing news from Florida. The Astros win again. That makes the Astros 3-16-3 for Spring Training.

Aren't you excited? I know I'm excited. I just know that this means that everything is just fine and dandy with the team. That it's time to start printing the World Series tickets.

Yeah, I'm going overboard because it is only spring and the games don't count, but damn, they've won two games in a row. They still suck, though. Suck big time.

SI.com Goes Back To The Beginning

The news on the internets is that come the end of the year, you will have to pay to access some of the content over at SI.com. And that's fine. It's their site and they can do whatever they want. And ESPN.com seems to be doing okay forcing you to pay for some of their content -- though I don't and haven't really missed any of their content.

But...

Am I the only one around who remembers that SI.com formerly did charge for accessing most of its content, including the magazine archives, for many years until changing things up a couple of years ago, ironically, at about the time ESPN.com started charging for access. And I'm sure SI.com stopped charging because it wasn't getting much traffic.

Yahoo! Sports, Fox Sports, and ESPN.com pretty much dominate the online sports media, but I actually read SI.com a lot because I like their baseball writers. But if they start charging, I'm sure I won't miss them too much, just like I no longer miss reading Peter Gammons or Buster Olney over at ESPN.com. But I can't help but wonder about what the reaction might end up being if SI.com decides to start charging to access the old magazine archives, which SI.com trumpeted as being free. And just think about the reaction if they should decide to charge for access to the swimsuit photos.

But it's their site, and they can do what they want. But they tried it once and it didn't work, so I don't quite understand what's changed to make it work now. But what do I really know. I'm just an unemployed moron.

Did I Miss The Skyscrapers?

Rob, as requested, I've got a little Chuck Berry for you. And there are better versions of this song, but the back-up singers and arrangement are so strange that I just had to go with this. So here's Chuck Berry performing "Back In The USA" on Shindig.

A Great Aeros Marketing Idea

Courtesy of the blog Puck Daddy comes this little promotion that I would seriously like to see the Houston Aeros marketing people to think about.

The Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL are having an Over 18 Night with a later starting time and an open bar for $20. But that's not what has got me excited. It's that they're doing a Stripper 101 thing on the concourse featuring performers from some Vegas show -- no nudity, unfortunately.

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of hearing kids choirs singing "God Bless America" during the intermission -- I seriously think Heather is going to go postal should they do that too many more times. I'm also tired of the chin-up competition, the sumo hockey, and just about everything else they do. It's time for the Aeros to do something a little different. And with all of the strip clubs and topless bars in Houston, I would think that if they were to do a stripper competition during the intermission, that they might be able to get not only a decent crowd, but some fantastic competitors. And since it's my understanding that the young ladies no longer strip in the clubs so that they can get around the SOB laws, they're probably used to just stripping down to a bra/bikini top and panties/bikini bottoms.

I mean, the Aeros usually get a big crowd for the Miss Aeros Bikini Contest. Just think of the crowds they would get for this. And instead of hiking the ticket prices, they could go with a high cover charge.

I'm just saying that this is something to think about.

Bowing At The Altar of Heidi

Hopefully, a nice photo of Heidi Klum to end the week will lift my spirits. A job would be better, of course. But hey, I'm desperate.

Breaking News: Astros Win

This is breaking news. Breaking news.

The Houston Astros have won a spring training game. Yep, that's right, after failing to win 19 straight games and achieving a spring record of 1-16-3, the Astros finally won a game. They defeated the Cincinatti Reds 4-2 today.

The Astros World Series Express is getting ready to start up.

The Airing of the Grievances -- Arabic Speakers Only Edition

I had a really lousy day yesterday. It didn't start out that way. No. The dentist was quick and painless. Then I met my best friend and we spent the day at Hooters watching basketball -- well, okay, I spent some time looking at the girls in the tight shorts, too -- and generally forgot about the misery that is my life.

Then I got home.

Checking my mail, I found the preliminary info for my COBRA. It's only going to cost me $800 a month to keep my medical insurance. Which leads me to this question: how in the hell is a normal unemployed person supposed to pay $800 a month for COBRA coverage? Who thought up this scam? And where can I find a wall to put them up against?

But then it just got better. I spent most of the night on the net, going through the classifieds, looking for a job. And finding nothing. There's lots of stuff that I'm overqualified for, and lots of things I'm underqualified for, but nothing that I'm qualified for. I'm a document review/production legal specialist, and I actually find a bunch of jobs on-line for document reviewers, only along with being a document reviewer, you've got to be fluent in Arabic.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe it would just be easier if someone were to go ahead and shoot me and put me out of my misery now, like they do horses with broken legs.

Coach K Says What?

The news yesterday was that Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was upset that President Barack Obama was taking time away from more pressing matters to give his NCAA brackets to ESPN.

Now, my first response is that, personally, I'm thrilled to have a president who can multi-task and do multiple things at the same time. But seriously, is there anyone out there who doesn't believe that former baseball team owning President Bush wasn't taking time out from mismanaging Iraq to fill out his brackets. And I'm sure the Dubya found a way to put the economy aside so that he could watch the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.

But what everybody fails to remember is that the beloved Coach K is, politically, to the right of Sarah Palin. So I'm don't really think it's necessary to Krzyzewski's bitching too seriously. Besides, I'm sure if Obama had picked Duke to win the championship instead of North Carolina, then Coach K would have been more than pleased that the President was filling out brackets.

Video Jukebox Loving Me Sexy

Well, going with The Beastie Boys yesterday didn't really seem to help me any because the day still sucked. It was a definite suck-minus day. So I'm going to try again. Here's Will Ferrell with "Love Me Sexy."

Hey, How 'Bout A Warning Before Going to Oprah

This is just a note to KHOU-TV here in Houston. Dudes, when you're switching from NCAA basketball to Oprah, would you please give us a little warning? The only time that I want to see Oprah is when she's on 30 Rock.

And the switch from basketball to getting-women-to-cry entertainment is really rather jarring and painful for us men.

Thanks.

Airing of The Grievances

Okay, let me see if I've got this straight. I've just lost my job and I've got no money coming in -- except for a small stipend the mothership gives me for pissing off soccer fans (and I would do that for free, so don't go letting the Press know that, okay).

But despite the no income thing and the upcoming loss of all medical benefits, I find myself owing money on my income taxes, having to pay to have some cavities filled, still paying student loans from fifteen years ago (I've still got about 15 years to go), and all of my other disastrous bills. Plus I have to pay my father's bills -- and by the way, here's a big FUCK YOU to Rick Perry for that stupid ass legislation of his that forced me to sign over my father's house to the state because he was too poor to pay for his medical care, but still forces me to pay all of the bills and taxes on that same property because my father decided to live and not die.

So what does this rant lead up to: I just got the bill for my father's house insurance. FUCK. And I've got my Bar Dues coming up.

I would get a spot on a street corner and beg, but all of the good spots have been taken. And I don't think I have the qualifications for flipping burgers at McDonald's. I think they demand more degrees than I've got.

Oh well. Thanks for letting me vent. You guys are great.

A Little Heidi To Pump Me Up

I've been a bit depressed lately. And I want to apologize. So maybe a little Heidi Klum will serve as an apology, along with helping my mood. Of course, a job would help my mood more, but I can't beg, right? And maybe if Ms. Klum were to decide to pay me a visit, my mood might get a whole bunch better.

Chipper Don't Know Toronto

Chipper Jones spent some time in Toronto last week while Team USA was playing in the World Baseball Classic. And let's just say that Chipper ain't much of a fan of Toronto.

"We stayed in Toronto for a week and played three games," Chipper told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, via Deadspin. "I don't know if you ever stayed in Toronto, but it's not exactly Las Vegas. To say that we were plucking our eyebrows out one at a time would be an understatement."

In some ways, Chipper's statement is true: Toronto definitely isn't Las Vegas. But as someone who has been to Las Vegas, Toronto, and Atlanta, like Chipper, I will gladly take Toronto over either Vegas or Atlanta. Now I only spent four days in Toronto, but I fell in love with the place. The people were friendly. It had a lively downtown area with shops and clubs and bars and restaurants. You could do cheap. You could do expensive. It has a Second City comedy club. It's got major league baseball, and the NBA, and the NHL, and the AHL. I'm told that it even has strip clubs.

Sure, Vegas has the Strip and the casinos and the fancy clubs and the strippers and the organized crime and the prostitutes. But I've never been able to take Vegas for more than four days, and I've always been rather relieved to leave. And Atlanta has never done that much for me. It's like a miniature Houston -- small downtown surrounded by millions of suburbs.

But I liked Toronto. And though I don't live in Toronto, I find it sad that Chipper Jones doesn't like Toronto.

Like A Pinch On The Neck From Mr. Spock

It's been a bit depressing over here the past couple of days. I'm truly sorry about that. But maybe I need to get the day off to a different start. So I thought I would try to see if the video jukebox could kick out a little something that might get me in a brighter mood.

So here's the Beastie Boys with "Intergalactic."

Boone to Have Surgery

I mentioned yesterday that the Astros were holding a press conference this morning. And I linked to a rumor that the Astos were going to announce the signing of Pedro Martinez. Well, the Astros did hold their press conference, but it had nothing to do with Pedro Martinez.

It was announced today that Aaron Boone -- the team's big off-season free agent acquisition -- would miss the season because he is having open heart surgery. To this, I say best of luck to Boone.

This news means that Chris Johnson, who's never played in the majors, will probably get a roster spot for this season, and that he might actually start the season at third base with Geoff Blum, who was supposed to platoon with Boone, moving back to a super-sub utility status.

And before I go, one thing on Pedro Martinez. Don't do it, Drayton. Pedro Martinez was once one of the game's greatest pitchers. Now he's injury prone who has lost some speed on his fastball.

On Setting Goals And Not Meeting Them

I've been stuck in this unemployment thing before. Long, long ago when the economy was in decent shape -- it was late last century. I know that I'm supposed to establish some kind of routine so that I wake up at a decent time, shower, shave every day, makes calls/return e-mails, work on contacts, etc.

But I'm not there yet. I'm still trying to figure a schedule.

But along with a schedule, I'm still trying to figure my psyche.

The first time I was without work for a long, long time was not my fault. My boss and I had an ethics disagreement. I had ethics, he didn't. So I was fired. I bounced around doing contract work for four/five years, did the bankruptcy thing, found someway to survive.

I don't want to do that again. It's been 10 years now, and I don't want to have to reboot my entire life again. And this time, the job loss wasn't my fault. I was good at my work. I was told I was good at it, they just didn't have anymore.

But I feel like a failure. A big failure. Even more so this time than I did the last time out. Perhaps because I have more at stake, financially, emotionally, physically, etc. Perhaps because I was damn good at my job and I know that I was damn good at it. So I've got this plan in my head, this schedule to which I want to stick, but I can't get my head wrapped around the idea that I'm not going in to the office that day. And then I start getting a bit depressed and my day ends up being shot.

I thought it would be easier this time. I've got my resumes out. I've met with recruiters. I've done what I'm supposed to do. So I thought I would work on that a bit in the morning, read the internets and blog for an hour or so, work on my novel throughout the rest of the morning and the afternoon, blog a bit more. Then it would be night.

My schedule.

But it's not working.

I seem to be failing at that as much as I've failed at other things.

But I suppose I'll give it another try today. I've showered. I've shaved. I've looked over the internets and I've blogged. I've got to go downtown to handle some banking matters relating to my 401k. I've got my nieces birthday party tonight -- I'm always in a good mood around my nieces and nephew for the world has no boundaries as far as they're concerned, and they think I'm a great guy.

Will I get all of this done? Well, if the rest of this week sets any kind of precedent, the answer is no. But I will see my niece for her birthday. So that's one thing I'll accomplish that I actually set out to accomplish. And I guess that's a start.

Reading The Astros Tea Leaves

The Astros are holding a press conference, in Florida, tomorrow morning at 7:45 Houston time. And it's not supposed to be about the signing of Ivan Rodriguez.

So what's going on?

There are rumors out there that the Astros are going to announce the signing of Pedro Martinez. Personally, I'm hoping that it's an announcement that Drayton is selling the team. But we're just going to have to wait until they actually tell us something tomorrow.

I Am I Said

I was watching the MLB Network earlier today, and they were doing one of their spring training team reviews. This one focused on the Cleveland Indians.

One of the network's reporters, Hazel Mae, was on the scene, and she was talking to the guys in the studio about Carl Pavano. She made note that the Indians, unlike Pavano's former team, the New York Yankees, didn't have a policy banning facial hair, to which she quotes Pavano as saying "Finally get to be myself."

What does "finally get to be myself" mean? That he'll actually start more than two games a season? That he won't make one season-long trip to the DL? I'm not a Yankees fan, but this guy was a fraud with the Yankees, and he'll probably wind up as one with the Indians, too.

But at least he'll get to be himself.

The Story of The Broken Noses

My eight-year-old nephew got to come to the Aeros game on Sunday afternoon. And along with seeing the Aeros win, he got to see Mitch Love fight. I asked him what his favorite part of the game was, and he said the Love fight.

I took him down to the locker room after the game, and he got to meet Mitch Love real briefly. Well, Mitch broke his nose in that fight, and he is having surgery on it today.

Here's where the story gets really interesting. To me at least.

Yesterday, my nephew was playing in the park with some kids in my Mom's neighborhood -- he's in town for spring break. And he was running around over the playground stuff and he tripped on something concrete and landed on his face. While they haven't taken Zach to the doctor, my brother and sister-in-law are pretty sure that he broke his nose.

So like his favorite player, my nephew has a broken nose.

Like I said, that's probably only of interest to me. But hey, if I can't share this stuff on my blog, then of what use is my blog, huh?

The Astros Finally Get Something Right

Hey, the Astros finally got something right. They have finally signed Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to a contract to be the team's catcher this season.

I'm a Rodriguez fan, and even with his diminishing stats he's still better than every other catcher on the Astros roster. And they got a great deal on him, signing him to a one year contract of $1.5 million with an extra $1.5 million possible in incentives.

The Astros are still going to suck this season. But at least the catching will be somewhat decent.

If You Want The Aeros, Try The New Place

HEY! Over here.

If you're looking for my Aeros game reports, and if you want desperately to know what happened with the Aeros this weekend, then you're at the wrong place. I'm posting that stuff over at the new site, The Third Intermission. So go read. And make sure you read the stuff from Ms. Conduct and Andrew Ferraro, and gaze in wonderment at the photos of Fred Trask.

Checking In On The Lastros

I get tired of people telling me how to be a good fan, especially the guys at the Chron. I get tired of them telling me that I should just accept whatever Drayton McLane wants to do with his team. I'm tired of being told that good fans should just shut up and cheer no matter what.

Yes, Richard Justice is right. Spring training records don't count. They don't mean anything in the greater sense of the word. Players are working to get into the proper shape. Pitchers are working on location. But...

The Astros are 1-14-2 as of this moment. Just about every pitcher on their roster is getting beat around -- except for Roy Oswalt who is off play with Team USA. The hitters aren't hitting. The fielders aren't fielding.

This isn't Cecil Cooper's fault. It's a bad team. I don't know if Tony La Russa could make this team work. But that doesn't mean that I should just accept things. That doesn't mean that I should be satisfied with this team. And no, it doesn't mean that if the Astros start the regular season at 2-0 behind the stellar pitching of Roy Oswalt and Mike Hampton that I'm going to decide that this is a pennant winning team. Richard Justice will do that, but I won't.

P.S.: Oh, and while I'm at it, SI.com's Jon Heyman reports that the Astros are engaged in serious discussions with Ivan Rodriguez to handle the catching duties for the Astros. And Jose de Jesus Ortiz reports that many of the Astros players are actively lobbying for the signing of Rodriguez. The guy's one of the best catchers, ever. The team's going to suck, but maybe he can be of use and actually help some of the youngsters. And if they don't mind Miguel Tejada hanging around, then the linking of Rodriguez to steroids shouldn't really be a problem.

Who Says There's No Depression? Not The Astros

This is just getting ridiculous. The Astros lost another spring training game to move their spring record to 1-12-1. Sure, it's spring training, but they've only won one damn game for spring.

The pitching sucks. The hitting sucks. The fielding sucks. Hell, Richard Justice has flip-flopped again, and he's decided that it's now suddenly a good idea to sign Ivan Rodriguez to be the team's catcher. Cecil Cooper is unhappy and bitching about his players, kind of like he did last year before they started winning and turned into the greatest team in MLB history -- that is probably what you thought if you read the Chron. And Miguel Tejada, who previously had refused to play third base, or to even consider playing third base, is suddenly willing to play third base.

This is a bad team, and it's looking like it's going to be a bad team that makes bad teams look like good teams. The Houston Press isn't going to let me write every game this year -- not enough readers -- so I was thinking of doing it over here, but damn. I just don't know. This team looks so bad, and my life sucks enough as it is right now. So I don't know if I want to depress myself any more than I already am. And I'm not even going to be able to afford the MLB Extra Innings package this year, so there's not going to be any chance of watching any good baseball either.

Planning The Next Step

This whole unemployment thing has me thrown for a loop, and I suppose I should be blogging about it. But...

I doubt that any of you out there want to hear my whines. So this place might be kind of quiet for a few days as I try to figure out my next steps.

A Little Cross-Promotion

I'm a bit slow in noting this over here, but life's been interfering with things.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't been over to the mothership in a couple of days, I've got a little contest running until Friday, April 3rd. It's the Astros Marketing Slogan Contest. All of the rules are explained over there. And if you've got any suggestions, just leave them in the comment section to that post.

And while I'm doing the cross-promotion thing, don't forget to check out The Third Intermission if you have any interest in Aeros hockey.

Who Watches The Watchmen? No One, Hopefully

This is just a quick little warning. If you had any urge to see the Watchmen, then take it from me...

DON'T!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen some bad films over the years. But this is one of the worst movies that I've seen in years. And you know, most filmmakers adopt comic books, they keep most of the story, but actually do a little rewriting when it comes to the dialogue. And that's generally a good idea.

Not this time.

I don't know if I can say this anymore forcefully.

DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!

DON'T GO!!!!!!!

DON'T!!!!!!

And Speaking of The Cash Family

The last several days, I've played videos from Johnny Cash and Roseanne Cash. So here's one from their former son-in-law/brother-in-law, British rocker/Elvis Costello producer Nick Lowe -- Lowe was once married to Cash's daughter Carlene Carter. And here he is perfoming "I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass" from his unappreciated Jesus Is Cool album.

Prophecy

God, when I set that Johnny Cash song to play today -- and I did that on Sunday night -- I had no idea how prophetic it would be. Let's just say that I had some really crappy stuff happen yesterday that I can't really talk about. I'll try to get back to some standard nonsense in a few days, but...

I really need time to sulk.

UDPATE: Yes, I'm a frigging idiot because I've had prophecy misspelled in the headline for about eight hours.

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

Yesterday I featured Roseanne Cash, today's video jukebox features her father Johnny Cash performing "Ring of Fire."

The Third Intermission

It's a slow blogging day over here today, and for that, I apologize. But I was up late handling Aeros stuff last night, which you can see below, plus I'm working on a big post for the end of the month that is taking a lot of work.

But I've also been spending some time on a new blog that myself, the Chron's Andrew Ferraro, photographer Fred Trask, and blogger Heather Galindo (Ms. Conduct) are setting up. You might have seen it referenced over in my blog links, or you probably saw that I cross-posted my Aeros game story to it last night, so let me make it official.

The Third Intermission is a blog we're setting up that will hopefully become the definitive Houston Aeros go-to site on the web. The plan current plan is that Andrew, myself, and Heather will file our game stories all on that site, so that you won't have to search all over the web among various sites to read them. Fred's going to be our photographer, and hopefully, along with his photos, he'll post his thoughts from time to time. If the Aeros make a roster move, we hope to not only post it, but to discuss it. We'll do our own three stars of the game. We're thinking of doing the Barry Brust Words of Wisdom for each game, or maybe getting words of wisdom from a different player every night. Andrew does a lot more reporting than I do, but he doesn't have the space over at the Chron, so he wants to put it all up over at the new place.

We're still in the early stages, so there's not much content up yet, but I hope that you'll give it a read and stick with it. And don't worry, I'm not giving up the CVC. Not with baseball season coming up, but I when Andrew came to me with this idea, I thought that it was too good an idea to pass on.

So, as always, thanks for reading the CVC and please keep coming back, but I do hope that you'll check out the new place when you want your hockey fix.

Tell Me You're Trying To Cure A Seven Year Ache

Here's Roseanne Cash performing one of her biggest hits, "Seven Year Ache" with Elvis Costello and a few other big music names.

Aeros Douse The Flames, Beat Bad Ice and Quad City 3-1

I’m not sure who is responsible for handling the ice and arena conditions at Toyota Center, but whoever it is should have their ass fired. The Aeros got the 3-1 win over the Quad City Flames tonight, but not only did they have to battle the Flames, they had to battle hot, humid temperatures on the ice that made smooth skating on the ice impossible.

This affected the Aeros on many occasions tonight as the team had several odd-man rushes toward the goal that resulted in no shots or bad shots on goal because the puck wasn’t sliding on a smooth surface and the players couldn’t get where they should be. The Aeros first goal, which came at 56 seconds into the second period came on one of those rare instances tonight where the players were able to adjust to the ice properly. Jesse Schultz fed a breaking Benoit Pouliot who was able to fire the puck past Quad City goalie Leland Irving for the goal.

“It was a perfect pass,” Pouliot said. “That’s his game. Schultzie can pass the puck like no one else.” As to the ice conditions, Pouliot felt that “we could have maybe just slowed down the game a bit. I tried to go too fast at times and I would just go by [the puck] for no reason.”

“The heat in the building affected our wind a little and the movement of the puck,” coach Kevin Constantine said. “It was not as good of ice and our guys were dragging.”

Krys Kolanos got the game winning goal when he tipped the puck past Irving at 14:15 of the second period. And Paul Albers sealed the win with a slap shot from up by the blue line at the 18:50 mark of the third period.

Unlike many of their past games, where the Aeros have relied on their power play to overcome poor five-on-five play, tonight saw the Aeros five-on-five play working better than the power play.

“We scored three goals [on the five-on-five],” Pouliot said after the game. “Usually we rely on the power play too much and not try too hard on the five-on-five, but tonight was a different story….We’ve just got to that bring every night.”

The 3-1 win came on a night when most of the West Division was silent. The Aeros record is now 32-23-1-8 (73 points) and they’re now three points up on the third place Rockford IceHogs (70 points), four points up on the fourth place Chicago Wolves (69 points), and five points up on the fifth place Peoria Rivermen (68 points).

The Aeros will next play on Friday night, at Toyota Center, against Quad City once again. They’ll travel to San Antonio for a game against the Rampage on Saturday night, then they’ll take on Rockford in Toyota Center on Sunday afternoon.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

For a change of pace, we decided to hit up a couple of non-star of the game players for their wisdom into the game. Barry Brust, who didn’t play because of injury gave the best, most precise bit of wisdom into the victory when he said the key to the game was “to score more points than the other team.”

And Matt Kassian, who played because of an illness to Jason Ryznar, said that the key was that, even though Quad City once again scored the first goal of the game, “we rebounded really well and we stuck with it and were able to take over the game.”

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Some notable notes from tonight’s game included Corey Locke setting a career-high when he assisted on Benoit Pouliot’s second period goal. The assist was Locke’s 43rd for the season, eclipsing his previous mark of 42. He now has a four-game point streak (0-4=4). Jesse Schultz, meanwhile, has a point in 10 of his last 12 games. And John Lammers played in the 100th AHL game of his career.

Also, this was the first game of the season to be missed by Jason Ryznar, who couldn’t play because of a flu-like illness. Ryznar was the last Aero of the season to miss a game. Thus the Aeros will have no players play in every game this season.

The Aeros are now 10-3-0-0 at home since the first of January. And they are now 17-4-0-2 when leading after two periods. But even more impressive, the team is now 11-8-0-5 when trailing after one period.

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The three stars of the game, as named by the Aeros, were 1) Krys Kolanos, 2) Benoit Pouliot, and 3) Quad City’s David Van der Gulik. But those of us up on press row – tonight that would be me and the Chron’s Andrew Ferraro – have decided to start naming our own three stars.

So, our three stars of the night were 1) Krys Kolanos, 2) Benoit Pouliot, and 3) Paul Albers – it was his goal that iced the victory.

*****************
And to play us out tonight, I thought I would take a live performance from Foreigner playing “Cold as Ice.” Maybe the Toyota Center arena crew will see this and get the right idea for how arena conditions should be on ice during the game.



Cross posted over at The Third Intermission.

The Carnival Barker Is Losing His Suckers

From the it couldn't happen to a nicer guy department...

Peter Gammons is reporting (via Big League Stew) that MLB officials are informing the various teams that the league is expecting an attendance drop-off of at least 20 percent this season, and more in areas that have been especially hard hit by the recession. That comes out to the league losing about $400 million in ticket revenue.

Ouch.

And among those teams Peter Gammons is reporting might be taking a greater than 20 percent drop is our own Houston Astros. Now I've been puzzled as to why people have been paying Drayton's overpriced product for years now. He's made no noticeable effort to improve his on field product since that last Roger Clemens contract, and the fact that the minor league product is so poor is proof the guy just doesn't care, not as long as the suckers are out there paying him.

But it looks like things might finally be changing.

Like I said, this couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

John Adams Back On The Aeros Roster

I missed this Aeros move the other day as it happened at the same time as John Scott being called up to the Wild, but...to replace Scott on the roster, and to probably take Dane Crowley's spot in the stands, the Aeros called defenseman John Adams up from Corpus Christi.

Don't Panic, It's Only The Astros

The news of the day is that the Chron's Brian McTaggart doesn't want us to panic about the Astros. Yet. Despite their awful spring training play.

He makes several good points. Like about Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman, [Correction: Lance Berkman is in camp. I apologize for the confusion.] Carlos Lee, and Miguel Tejada being away from the team at the moment because of the World Baseball Classic. And he gives the good news that this is giving a bunch of prospects plenty of time to get some good action under the command of the major league coaching staff -- though, truthfully, except for Chris Johnson, none of them are playing worth a crap.

So you know what? I'm not going to panic about the Astros poor play. But it's for none of those reasons. Instead, it's because I've always thought these Astros were going to suck, so I'm not surprised in any fashion by how badly these Astros are playing. Because that's just how bad they are. And it's not going to matter at all if Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman are or are not in camp.

And If I Ever Hurt You, I Didn't Know It

Continuing with my attempt to show that I don't completely hate all country music, here's another country song that I like. The Mavericks performing "What A Crying Shame."

Apologies

Sorry about all of that white space. I don't know how long it was up there. Blogger's been doing this to me a bit recently. So hopefully we're back to our scheduled programming.

Some Programming Notes

Posting might be a little light around here for the next several days. But I'm not ignoring anybody. I'm putting together some things for baseball season that take awhile to compile. And I think you're really going to like them.

And while I can't go into details now, there might be some changes coming to the hockey coverage, but changes that will definitely be for the better for all you Aeros fans. But I'll tell you more about that later. When the time is right.

Besides, you guys know me. I might get some real inspiration and post about thirty things in the next two days. But I wouldn't count on it.

P.S.: I've gotten kind of bored with the daily Sex Sells feature, and the numbers for those posts seem to be dropping a bit, so I'm going to stop with the daily posts and go with more of an occasional posting schedule for those.

Maybe I'll Be Fast As You

I know that I say that I hate country music. And I do hate most country music. But not all of it. Here's a song that I like. It's Dwight Yoakum performing "Fast As You" on what appears to be the old "Late Show With David Letterman" from back in his NBC days.

Shocking Baseball Injury News

Wow, here's a shocker. Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, who's struggling to earn a spot in this season's Houston Astros rotation has suffered an injury and will miss at least one spring training start.

That's some potential starting rotation for the Astros. The injury-prone Brandon Backe, the injury-prone Wandy Rodriguez, the injury-prone Mike Hampton, the injury-prone Russ Ortiz to go along the hoping-to-strike-lightning-two seasons in a row Brian Moehler.

Yeah. This is a great, pennant winning team.

John Scott Goes Wild: The Sequel

One of my favorite guys on the Aeros, John Scott, has been recalled by the Minnesota Wild. He should be joining the Wild in Los Angeles in time for tonight's game against the Anaheim Ducks, and according to Michael Russo, it appears that he will be in the lineup for the game.

Kurtis Foster, who got action for the Wild last night, appears to be the odd man out for the Wild and should be the one who will be replaced by Scott. Coach Jacques Lemaire appears to have quite a fondness for Scott and likes that Scott gives a "different dimension" to the team.

I say congratulations to Scott. He's always one of the nicest guys on the team to speak with after a game, and while he's not the most graceful of players, there has been a marked improvement in his skating ability this season when compared to last season -- though I'm still terrified every time he's got his stick on the puck.

File photo of John Scott courtesy of Fred Trask.

UPDATE: You know, now that I'm thinkingabout it, a call came into Kevin Constantine while we were interviewing him last night. I wonder if that was from the Wild about Scott.

Aeros Melt The Wolves, Win 3-1 To Go Into Second Place

At about thirty-eight seconds into the second period, Krys Kolanos found himself alone and heading toward the Chicago Wolves goal. Marco Rosa saw him and fed him the puck. Kolanos, looking like he was skating through wet cement, got to the Chicago goalie, shot the puck, only to find his shot blocked with the puck bouncing back to him.

“I saw it,” he said. “And I didn’t want to use my hand, so I just kept moving towards the net. I just skated into it.”
The puck bounces off of Krys Kolanos for the game's second goal. Photo courtesy of Fred Trask.

And just like, thirty-eight seconds into the second period of Saturday’s game against Chicago, the Aeros were up 2-0 and 8653 fans inside of Toyota Center were rocking. The Wolves kept pressure on the Aeros the entire game however, outshooting the Aeros 31-18, and it wasn’t until Marco Rosa got an empty-netter with two seconds left while the Wolves were on a 6-4 power play, to put the Aeros up 3-1 that the team and the fans were able to breathe easy.

“I thought we did enough to win,” Kevin Constantine said afterwards, “but if you look at it overall, I think they probably outplayed us a little bit.”

While maybe not totally outplaying the Aeros, the Wolves were able to keep the Aeros in trouble and on their heels all night, especially with the Aeros committing numerous turnovers while spending way too much time in the penalty box. The Aeros were sent to the box five straight times before Chicago was whistled into the box. And the team was nearly doomed to overtime when Clayton Stoner committed a boarding penalty with 1:56 left in the game.

Despite this, the Aeros fifth-place AHL-ranked penalty kill shut the Wolves down eight times while their AHL third-ranked power play converted on one of six chances. This came with just 12 seconds remaining in the first period as Corey Locke fed John Lammers flashing down the middle of the ice. Lammers made a nice move with the puck to get it past Chicago goalie Brent Krahn to put the Aeros up 1-0 and to halt Chicago’s momentum.

And luckily for the Aeros, and despite the poor ice conditions, goalie Nolan Schaefer was on the top of his game, stopping 30 of the 31 Chicago shots to further prevent Chicago from gathering momentum on the ice and completely taking over the game.

“Nolan did a good job,” Constantine said.

And with 17 games remaining in the season, Nolan Schaefer is going to have to keep up with the good work. The Aeros return to action as they take on division rival Quad City Flames on Tuesday night at Toyota Center at 7:05.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

With the win, the Aeros moved into sole possession of second place in the AHL's West Division. The Aeros record is now 31-23-1-8 (71 points). The Rockford IceHogs lost in a shootout to the Peoria Rivermen tonight to move their record to 32-26-0-6 (70 points). After their loss to the Aeros, the Chicago Wolves dropped to fourth place with a record of 33-29-2-1 (69 points).

The West is still a jumble for the final playoff spots. Peoria sits in fifth place at 32-29-1-1 (66 points). The Iowa Chops are in sixth place at 26-25-4-8 (64 points), and Quad City is in seventh place at 25-26-6-6 (62 points).

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I would like to congratulate the Aeros for setting a record last night -- at least a record for my time covering the team. Their were six choirs that performed during tonight's game. One for the anthem, three during the first intermission, and two during the second intermission. And I liked both of the second intermission choirs performing "America The Beautiful."

Really, couldn't they come up with something else for that break? They couldn't trot the Lady Dynamics out to the ice to a dance number like they do during some of the midweek games? I know that I would have enjoyed that more. Then again, tonight was some kind of Catholic Church night, so maybe they were trying to cut back on some of the sex aspect.

********************
The Toyota Center ice was in perhaps its worst shape of the AHL season -- almost like it's playoff time or something, because I'm sure everybody remembers how awful the ice was for the Rockford playoff series last year. And this bad ice caused problems not only for the team trying to advance the puck -- Kolanos appeared to be skating through wet cement on his second period breakaway -- but it was also a big problem for goalie Nolan Schaefer.

"It was pretty hot. It might have been hotter than it was outside. It was pretty warm on the ice and the puck was bouncing everywhere," he said. "You have to be focused a bit more…because the puck’s bound to jump up on you."

********************
The number one star of the game was Krys Kolanos. I've got no problem with that because Kolanos' goal was key to winning the game -- I would have gone with Nolan Schaefer, the game's number two star, however. And Kolanos credited his line mates for making that goal happen.

"It was just good vision by [Marco] Rosa to see me breaking. I laid a hit on [Chicago defenseman Jamie Rivers] in the corner, and he wasn’t able to recover. And I saw a lane and I was able to just shoot out, and Rosa put it right on my skate. You couldn’t have asked for a better pass."

The goal was Kolanos' 22nd for the season, and it was his 38th point. So through 38 games played, Kolanos is still averaging more than a point a game. Corey Locke's assist on John Lammer's first period goal tied his career-high of 42 assists in a season.

*******************
This was perhaps the roughest, most physical game the Aeros have played in awhile. The hits were pretty hard throughout, and pretty constant, and they often continued after the whistle. And while Constantine was pleased with the win, he wasn't too pleased with the team's play -- except for the penalty kill, the power play, and Nolan Schaefer -- as he thought they were much too sloppy and took way too many penalties.

*******************
I thought the best way to play us out tonight was to celebrate the physical play of the game with Chicago. So here's Olivia Newton-John with "Physical."

Olivia Newton-John - New Music - More Music Videos

What's So Funny 'Bout Covering The Cover of The Cover of The Original? Again

Mr. Fred, this is for you. "(What's So Funny) 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding?" as performed by Elvis Costello with Jakob Dylan and M. Ward on guitar and vocals and Zooey Deschanel and Jenny Lewis on backing vocals and harmonies.

Enjoy.

Talk Talking About Another World

Rob,as requested,here's Talk Talk with "Living In Another World."

Sex Sells -- Dedicated To Heidi, Part The Final

And let's bring this week's Sex Sells, Dedicated to Heidi week to an end with Heidi and a painted on bikini. Have a good weekend, everybody.

Dancing With What Stars?

It's not that I'm suddenly going to decide to watching Dancing With The Stars, but if anything changes my mind, it's the addition of a contestant who has displayed all of her assets for Playboy.

Apparently, Jewel was supposed to be a contestant in the upcoming series of programs, but she supposedly injured her leg and will not be able to appear. To replace Jewel, the producers have selected one of Hugh Hefner's former girlfriends, Holly Madison.

I actually watched one version of this series, and that was the season that Stacy Keibler was on the show. I didn't know who she was when the thing started -- I watched the first episode to see how big a fool ESPN's Kenny Mayne would make of himself -- and I became hooked on my first sight of Keibler's legs. But I haven't watched it since.

And frankly, I don't think Holly Madison is going to make me watch, either, but having more really hot women on the show might get attention. Also, how can this show be called Dancing With The Stars if it so rarely has real legit stars? Really, Jewel's a star? Or Holly Madison?

Sure, the show's not made for me, but I'm just offering my opinion. For what it's worth.

Atlas Might Have Shrugged, But I'm Shaking My Head In Disbelief

I hate to go all serious on everybody -- and I've seriously been trying to avoid politics -- but...

Look, if you're going to discuss a book or an author, or if you're going to use some character from a book or an author to back-up your point or to become your guiding philosophy to life, then is it asking too much that you actually have read and/or understand that author? Yeah, I'm talking to all of you Ayn Rand/John Galt morons out there.

For those who have missed out on this discussion let me try to summarize, briefly.

I've been reading from various sources that there are supposedly a lot of rich people/titans of finance/etc. who are preparing to take their money and go home and abandon all of us heathens to the hell being created by Barack Obama. And to back up, they keep quoting Rand and/or referencing her novel "Atlas Shrugged" and that book's most famous character, John Galt. But seriously, I listen to all of these morons and I wonder if any of them have actually read the book.

Because I have. And their comparison of her book to today's ongoing economic troubles are clearly off-base. Well, clear to anyone who's actually read the thing.

Before I go further, let me give you a bit of a primer on Rand and her so-called philosophy. This is only a half-assed primer because it's kind of tangential to my post, so excuse me if it's a bit fuzzy. I suggest that you use the Google if you really want to get to the nuts of it. But quickly...Rand believed that their are exceptional people, and that these exceptional people must be left alone to do whatever they want, whenever they want, without governmental or societal interference. This is to especially be applied to the financial and industrial sector because if let to their own devices, these exceptional people will become Titans of Finance/Industry who, by the sheer fact that they are exceptional, make the world a better place.

I have a good friend who is a rather smart and attractive woman, and we agree on lots of things and have lots of the same likes and interests. And she worships Rand. I read "The Fountainhead" because she wouldn't stop talking about the greatness of Rand. There was just one problem: Rand was a crappy writer. The so-called hero of "The Fountainhead" is an architect of great, outstanding talent who is destroyed by those who don't have his talent and by so-called critics who know he's a genius but who want to destroy him because he's too good for the masses. The book's poorly written, and it's got another basic problem: the hero is a prick. There's not a single likeable trait to this guy. (Plus, I took a little architecture back in the day, and what this genius was designing appeared, due to her crappy writing, to be those ugly concrete and steel boxes of the 50s that are currently associated with ugly government buildings).

But on to "Atlas Shrugged," which is the relevant book to this discussion. This book is actually decently written, though it's way too long -- editing can sometimes be a good thing. In this novel, the government has gotten so involved in business and finance and science and medicine and so on -- seemingly for the good of the people -- that the Titans start disappearing because they can't do what they want to do. The businesses are then left in charge of government flunkies and those flunkies of the Titans who just had absolutely no idea of what they're doing. So with all of the Titans gone, the world falls apart. People starve. There's no electricity. Train tracks fall apart. Crops can't grow. It's the end of the world as we know it. And the leader of this movement is a mysterious man named John Galt who's been recruiting all of the Titans to a valley surrounded by mountains and covered by a Romulan cloaking device where the Titans just work and await for the world to come calling. It's a pretty ridiculous story, but it's decently written, so you end up sticking with it.

Now here's why I think all of these morons who are going around talking about pulling a John Galt because of President Obama have never actually read the damn book. You see, these current so-called exceptional people, these so-called Titans, are the ones who have been running things, without government interference, for most of the past decade -- hell, Alan Greenspan was one of Rand's disciples.. They're the ones who created hedge funds, and the mortgage crisis, and who used their best instincts to create bigger SUVs. They're the ones who have created a cure for erectile dysfunction but still can't stop a common cold, much less cancer. It's not Obama or his policies that caused this mess. It's the Titans. Maybe if the government would have actually tried to exercise some so-called control over these so-called Titans back in the day, we wouldn't be in this spot.

So the premise that these John Galt-wannabees is going on about is all wrong. It's reversed. They were left alone. And this is the result of their being left alone to be exceptional. So go ahead and run off to mountain valley covered by the Romulan cloaking device. We don't need you, and we'll probably all be better off without you.

And please, if you're going to adopt a book character as your hero, read the damn book. Is that really too much to ask?

(And I need to interject at some point that "Atlas Shrugged" and the philosophy of that book should, in no way, be believed or followed by any rational person older than 16. It's world is so fantastical that I would more readily believe that the person in the office next me to is a Cylon -- it would be nice if a Caprica Six worked at my office, or maybe a Boomer model. And definitely that Lucy Lawless model.)

Gonna Use My Style

The time has come to end my tribute week to The Pretenders. So here's the original lineup performing the band's first big U.S. hit, "Brass In Pocket."

Aeros Rip the Griffins, Win 2-1

There was one thing that Jesse Schultz, Nolan Schaefer, and Kevin Constantine agreed on after tonight’s 2-1 Houston Aeros victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins: the team played its best game in weeks. It also happens to be something on which I agree, and on which I’m sure the 3278 people in attendance at Toyota Center also agreed.

The Griffins took the early 1-0 lead when Darren Haydar got the puck past Nolan Schaefer at 6:33 of the first period. But the Aeros kept the pressure on Grand Rapids throughout the first and the second (they went on four power plays alone in the first period), keeping the puck in the Grand Rapids zone and firing shot after shot toward Griffins goalie Daniel Larsson.

At 8:28 of the second period, Morten Madsen got John Lammers cutting across the ice in front of the goal, and Lammers slipped the puck past Larsson to tie the game at 1-1. And at 17:44 of the second, Jesse Schultz found himself with the puck and heading toward the net. His first shot never got to the net, but he got the rebound and buried the puck to put Houston up 2-1.

“I just tried to go to the middle and throw it on the net,” Schultz said. “I saw [John] Lammers going to the net, and really, it was just a lucky bounce. It never got there. I think it hit Lammers’ skate and it came back to me and I saw the goalie go down, so I just tried to out wait him and go to my back hand.”

The Griffins regrouped in the third period and put pressure on the Aeros and Nolan Schaefer, but the team was able to hold off the Griffins for the win. The win improved the Aeros record to 30-23-1-8 (69 points) and moved them into a virtual tie for second place with the Rockford IceHogs (32-25-0-5, 69 points). The Aeros are percentage points ahead of the Chicago Wolves who at 33-27-2-1 (69 points) are in third place.

And it’s the Chicago Wolves who the Aeros will be taking on come Saturday night in Toyota Center at 7:35.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

Before I delve into the stats and various player notes, I’ve got something more important to address. Sure, I know it is Rodeo Houston time. And yes, the Lady Dynamics look really hot in those cut-off jean shorts. But that doesn’t mean that the Toyota Center sound guys have to subject us to a constant bombardment of country music.

And at the 8:10 mark of the third period, some moron decided to play “Achy Breaky Heart.” That decision almost cost the Aeros the game as the team fell apart at that same time and had to struggle to save the victory. Thankfully, Nolan Schaefer was able to make a key glove save with three-tenths of a second remaining in the game to preserve the victory. But if the game would have been lost, it would surely have been because of that damn song. (Paragraph now hopefully fixed of typos because I really shouldn't write with no sleep.)

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Jesse Schultz’s game-winning goal was his 20th for the season, giving the Aeros three 20 goal scorers for the season. Corey Locke got another assist, giving him 41 for the season, which is one assist short of his career-high for assists for a season.

The Aeros are now 24-7-0-8 when Locke gets a point in a game.

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The Aeros were 0-for-7 on the power play tonight, which normally would be a cause for alarm. But in fairness to the Aeros, the Grand Rapids Griffins came into the game with the AHL’s number one ranked penalty kill.

The Aeros increased their record to 10-8-0-5 when trailing after the first period. This makes the Aeros one of only four AHL teams with a winning record when losing after one period. The others are Hershey, Manitoba, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The win also makes the Aeros 6-9-0-2 against the AHL’s North Division this season.

And after this game, the Aeros have only one more game left outside of the division, and that will be against the Lake Erie Monsters on Saturday April 4.

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As mentioned above, Schaefer, Constantine, and Schultz all thought the Aeros played their best game in a long while.

“It was our best game in a long time,” Schultz said. And to make the playoffs, Schultz says they’re going to have keep playing this way. “We have to step up our game. You don’t want to go into these games and not show up because it could be over early.”

“We didn’t like our game at all last weekend,” Constantine said.

Constantine thought the team’s play might have been motivated by their playing Grand Rapids, which is one of the AHL’s better teams – they were the league’s second highest scoring team coming into the game.

“It is fairly common that you will be a better player when you are somewhat fearful of, and respectful of, how good the other team can be,” Constantine said. “Fear is generally a pretty good motivator, and fear of another team being able to thump you, sometimes you rise to the level of that competition.”

“The guys like to rise to the challenge,” Schaefer said.

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And to make up for having to hear "Achy Breaky Heart," here's a little something I heard on the radio as I was driving home. So here's Power Station with "Some Like It Hot."

Sex Sells -- Dedicated To Heidi, Part The Fourth

Here's one of Heidi having just washed up on the beach.

Checking In On The Late Night Wars

Craig Ferguson has asked everybody to take it easy on Jimmy Fallon during his first couple of months on the job. And it makes sense, because the theory is that it takes awhile for a host to grow into his role, and for the show to figure out what it's going to do.

There's some validity to this theory, primarily in the name of Conan O'Brien. I wasn't around when Conan's show started -- I was in Europe, but I got home at about month three of his show and, at first, I didn't like it. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. I saw the promise in the show, and in Conan, and I watched because there was no one else on in that time slot. And then in Houston, the NBC affiliate decided to air his show at 2:30 a.m., after infomercials, so I didn't really see it for a few years. But when it got back to the post-Leno time slot, it was really damn good.

So I'm going to give Jimmy Fallon a shot, though unlike Conan, he has actual experience in front of the camera, and because they've been doing his show on-line for several months. So it shouldn't be as bad as it is. Because the CBS affiliate delays Craig Ferguson by a half-hour, I get to watch the first half-hour of Fallon, and last night was the first time Fallon actually clicked with a guest, as he and Cameron Diaz conducted a legit interview segment -- Tina Fey turned out to be a disaster on Tuesday night (you could see the look of horror on her face as the thing with her former SNL Weekend Update partner just fell apart). But this show still needs lots of work.

That said, I don't really think anybody out there can dispute that the best house band of any of the late shows is Fallon's band, The Roots. Of course, he's still figuring out how to use them, but this has actual promise.

Craig Ferguson doesn't have a band. It's just got Ferguson mugging for the cameras and telling funny stories. And he does the best interview of any of the late night hosts. And while Jimmy Fallon was trotting out Cameron Diaz last night, Ferguson hosted Bishop Desmond Tutu. I think Letterman might have been able to handle the Bishop, but Leno definitely could not do it, and neither could Conan. But there's this thing about Ferguson, a kind of gravitas, that no one since Johnny Carson has possessed.

Plus Ferguson has puppets and Michael Caine in Space, though not last night.

So I'm sticking with Ferguson full time while I'll keep checking Fallon to see if he's improved.

Comcast Annoying

This is a commercial for Comcast. It's got to be one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. And that damn monotone singing. I can't get the damn thing out of my head -- especially since the TV stations in Houston won't stop playing the damn things.

So I'm kind of hoping that playing this damn thing here where get it out of my head. Sure, maybe it will get stuck in yours, but I'm willing to take that chance.

That Damn Milo Hamilton Is Getting On My Damn Nerves

I spent way too much time listening to the Astros yesterday. I think the game ended a tie. I was listening, but not listening, if you get what I mean. The only thing that stood out was when Milo Hamilton went off on a rant because the promo department had a date wrong about some promo item and that despite the number of times he had mentioned it being wrong, they hadn't changed his promo copy.

First, Milo, if you know the damn date, and you can take the time during the damn broadcast to bitch about them not fixing your damn copy, then why don't you just fix the damn copy yourself and read the damn promo. I don't give a damn that the day is wrong.

Second, I wish that Milo Hamilton would be more concerned with his own damn mistakes and less concerned with the mistakes of the promo department. Seriously, this guy makes countless mistakes a game, and that never seems to bother him. He's not perfect, and maybe he should be more concerned about his own damn mistakes.

P.S.: Yes, I just used damn a lot, but that's because somebody bitched to me yesterday about my use of the word damn. So damn it, I'm going to use the damn word as much as I damn can.

If There's One Thing You Can Do

We're approaching the end of my The Pretenders tribute week. And I'm still going far back. This time back to the original lineup with "Stop Your Sobbing."

Sex Sells -- Dedicated To Heidi, Part The Third

According to Sports Illustrated, this is Heidi Klum. So who am I to dispute them?

What If I Were Romeo...

True story…

One day I was sitting in my office just doing nothing – which I’m generally doing in my office. This was probably about five years ago, give or take a year. And the woman in the office next to mine pops in. Now this woman doesn’t work at my law firm, but she leases out an office. Anyway, she pops in and asks if I’d like to be on The Bachelor.

I look up at her like she’s crazy, then ask her what she’s talking about.

Apparently, the producers of the show had contacted her about helping to find some candidates who were professionals. They were recruiting from Houston and they wanted lawyers, doctors, architects, etc. I’ve never seen the show, but I know about the thing – who doesn’t right? So I say sure, why not. It’s not like my love life was going so great that it couldn’t be aided by going on national TV and begging for a date.

I don’t remember how much time passed. It might have been five minutes. It might have been a day. But anyway, she returns to my office and tells me that I can’t be on the show because they sent her the guidelines, and I was too old. So it’s not like I watched the show anyway, but damn, if they’re going to discriminate against people older than 35 – I was about 37-38 at the time and the cut-off was 35 – then I’m not going to waste my damn time watching. Not that that was a big deal because I’d never watched it anyway.

What does all of this have to do with anything?

Well, I checked Facebook yesterday and most of my female friends were pissed off about what the so-called douchebag bachelor did. Then I was surfing the net yesterday, and two of my favorite TV sites – sites that actually review and discuss TV with some intelligence and have never ever written a damn thing about “The Bachelor” – felt compelled to write about the damn show.

So I hope this serves as a lesson for the producers of this trash. First, how about more legitimate programming, you know, something that demands a little intelligence when watching. Second, maybe you should be careful about casting douchebags as your bachelor. Finally, that’s what you get for being pricks and not casting people over 35.

Hah.

Stupid Is As Stupid Says

So I was listening to the Tampa Bay Rays demolish the Astros in spring training action yesterday, and I was bored and only half-listening -- I listen because, well, baseball is my passion and I’m kind of the Astros beat writer for the mothership though the Astros won’t give me a press pass, but anyway, I digress.

I’m guessing that Dave Raymond and Brett Dolan, the Astros broadcasters, were bored, too, because they started talking about the person who plays the Rays mascot being fired during the offseason, then they started talking about Tropicana Field, the dome stadium that is the home of the Rays. And they started comparing it to Miller Park in Milwaukee, home of the Brewers, and Chase Field in Phoenix, home of the Diamondbacks, and they started talking about how superior Tropicana Field was to these other stadiums.

Now I’ve been to all three of these stadiums, and, well, listening to Dolan and Raymond, I find myself wondering just what kind of drugs they were taking when they went to Tropicana Field last season. Because, while Tropicana isn’t the awful monstrosity that was Shea Stadium in New York, neither is it comparable to Chase Field or Miller Park. They’ve tried to add some life to Tropicana Field, but still, it’s a concrete stadium with plastic seats and a low roof with catwalks that can come into play.

But why pay attention to me? Or to them? I can show you photos. So I’ll just let you look at some of my photos from my visits.

Here’s Miller Park….


And here’s Chase Field…..


And now, here’s Tropicana Field….


Yeah, I thought you would agree with me. I appreciate that the Rays owners made an effort with that stadium, but Miller Park and Chase Field are both much, much better.

Tattooed Love Boys

Continuing with my The Pretenders tribute week. Here's a little something to remind everyone that Chrissie Hynde and the boys can really rock. Watch the work out that Martin Chambers gets on the drums. So here's "Tattooed Love Boys."

Sex Sells -- Dedicated to Heidi, Part The Second

Welcome to week two of my Sex Sells dedication to Heidi Klum.

Grading the Late Night Wars

I think you all know by now that I'm a fan of Craig Ferguson. So it pains me to say that I was a bit disappointed last night. For some reason, it was decided to pair Ferguson up with Paris Hilton for a bunch of spots on CBS prime time, then seeing her as a guest on his show.

Seriously, what does Paris Hilton have to offer to anybody besides being born rich? She's got no talent that I've seen. She's not funny. I don't even think she's that good looking. So it was a bit disappointing to see her on Ferguson's show. I can see CBS forcing her on him for the prime time bits, but for the show?

Yeah, I'm disappointed.

And this is for Ferguson's new competition, Jimmy Fallon. Dude, the show wasn't great, but it also wasn't the train wreck that I was expecting. In the terminology developed by my colleague Andrew Ferraro, I would classify it, after one show, as a suck-minus. The grade would have been worse but for The Roots and Justin Timberlake -- you made good use of him as a guest, especially with the call back to the classic SNL skit, "The Barry Gibb Talk Show."

Some Somewhat Interesting Notes from the World of Baseball

I do this from time on my various blog versions of this thing, so why not here. Instead of doing a bunch of separate posts, I thought I would throw out some links and observations on some interesting things from the world of baseball. So...

Curt Schilling has decided that he's not getting enough attention anymore, so he's decided to get the speculation going about a possible comeback by saying that if he did comeback, it would be for the Chicago Cubs or the Tampa Bay Rays -- but only if he gets to follow the Rocket Clemens half-season plan.

There was discussion about Schilling and the Rays last season. And he lives in the area, I believe, so that could make sense though I really don't think the Rays need him or his ego around that team. As for the Cubs, I'm guessing he figures that if he could end the curse in Boston then he can end in Chicago. This guy's hard enough to live with now, as it is, so just imagine what he would be like if he were to lead the Cubs to a World Series victory....(h/t Deadspin)....

Miguel Tejada changed his mind and has decided to play for the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic. And astros.com reporter Allison Footer informs us that Tejada is upset that people saw him as selfish because he didn't want to play first base for the team because he had never played that position before. He's especially upset because he's such a "team" guy.

If he was such a "team" guy, it seems to me that he wouldn't really give a damn about what position he's playing as long as there was a chance he could help the team. As it is, Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez are still the DR shortstops. Tejada is going to back them up and play some at third -- another position he's never played in the majors before -- and do a little DHing. Speaking of hurting your team, Tejada at DH is definitely hurting a team since he can't hit anymore....(h/t astros.com)....

The Los Angeles Dodgers might be having problems with locking down Manny Ramirez to a contract, but there are still plenty of other people who want to work for the team. This past weekend the Dodgers held a job fair to fill 500 part-time spots at Dodger Stadium this season. And over 7,000 people showed up to apply. Either these people are really huge baseball fans, or the economy is really damn bad. Or both....(h/t CNN)....

And one of my favorite blogs, Baseball Musings, just turned four years old. So if you don't now, I encourage you to go over and the read blog on a daily basis.

Don't Get Me Wrong

Continuing with my week devoted to The Pretenders, here's Chrissie Hynde doing her best imitation of Dame Diana Rigg as Emma Peel for the video of "Don't Get Me Wrong."

Sex Sells -- Dedicated To Heidi Edition

I've decided to dedicate this week of Sex Sells to Heidi Klum because, well, she's Heidi Klum and just look at her.

Blahhhhhhhhhh......

Good Monday morning. God, I hate Mondays, especially when it's a slow work week -- hell, I've had a ton of slow work weeks, lately.

And it's funny seeing, as how I have time, I just really don't have the urge to write my thoughts about the great things happening in the world today. Maybe things will change later the day and the urge will hit me. Maybe the Astros will just do something really stupid, or the Texans for that matter. Or maybe something else will happen in the majors.

As for now, I just a case of the blahs and I don't give a damn. Sorry about that.

And seriously, thanks for reading. I really appreciate it.

P.S.: Of, if something happens and the urge hits me later today, well, just ignore this damn post then, okay?

I've Got A Smile, For Everyone I Meet

I've decided to dedicate the video jukebox for this week to The Pretenders. Rob, I couldn't find a decent version of "Rosalee" that would embed here. Sorry about that. I'll hope you'll accept the video of one of my favorites, "Middle of the Road," instead.

The Pretenders - New Music - More Music Videos

The Pretenders Should Be The Talk of The Town

A review of The Pretenders is generally a review of founder and lead singer Chrissie Hynde. So let's get the obvious out the way. The Pretenders performed in Houston at the House of Blues on Saturday night. And Chrissie Hynde may be 57-years-old, but damn, she is one fine looking woman. She came out in tight jeans and purple boots -- probably made of Chinese plastic -- and a tight black jacket. Her hair was longish, and the bangs were in her eyes. In short, Chrissie Hynde at 57 looks like Chrissie Hynde at 27. How she does it is beyond me.

This lineup of the band includes Ms. Hynde along with the original drummer, Martin Chambers. And though Chambers wasn't the drummer for the recording of the new The Pretenders album Break Up The Concrete, it's Chambers drumming that drives the band in concert. And drive this band down a well-traveled he does, and does well.

The band opened up with the best song off of the new album, "Boots of Chinese Plastic," then moved into another cut off of the album, "Don't Cut Your Hair." Surprisingly, for a new album that's not exactly receiving lots of airplay here in Houston, the packed crowd reacted with as much enthusiasm to these numbers as they did to oldie "Talk of the Town" which was the set's third song. And by the time the opening chords of "Message of Love" hit the crowd for the fourth song, Chrissie and the boys were firmly in command.

The concert was a tight, simmering, ninety minute set of about 22 songs with a good mixture of band classics and new cuts from the new album. And Chrissie Hynde was in fine voice and fine form, sexily slinking about the stage, using the same moves she's employed since the beginning days of the band. But unlike Mick Jagger and others, who look ridiculous when pulling the same shtick they've been using since youngsters, Hynde -- who still looks as great as she did when she hit the big time -- is still a purring sex kitten using her legs, her smile, her side-step, and her imagination.

Highlights of the concert, along with the opening four song barrage, included "Tequila," the band's cover of the Ray Davies penned "Stop Your Sobbing," "Cuban Slide," "Rosalee," and the title cut to the new album which closed out the set. The band then came out for the obligatory encores -- encores which completely dropped the country sound of the set -- the new album has touches of country throughout -- for some punk rock excess, including the highlight of the night, for me, "Precious," and "The Wait," "Tattooed Love Boys," and "Up The Neck."

Chrissie did perform some of the band's biggest hits. She introduced "Back on the Chain Gang" by telling us that this was a song she hoped that we remembered, then wondering "what kind of crap introduction" was that because of course we would remember. Then after a blistering "Brass In Pocket"which she had introduced by saying she should get this one over with -- and damn, she looked fantastic moving about the stage on this song -- she did "Don't Get Me Wrong."

It was great hearing these songs live, and Chrissie and the band killed, but there was one small, slight problem for me on "Back on the Chain Gang" and "Don't Get Me Wrong." The new album, as I said above,has a country sound to it, including the use of the pedal steel guitar. So she's got the steel guitar incorporated into most of the songs the band performed, and for me, at times, the steel guitar distracted from the songs. Chambers is pounding on the drums like it's the early-80s and this is a blistering rocker, and the lead guitar, Chrissie Hynde, and the bassist, are playing rockers, as the songs were recorded, and then from nowhere, on the edges, is a steel guitar. It didn't hurt all of the songs -- especially the new ones which were recorded with it -- but on "Back on the Chain Gang" and "Don't Get Me Wrong," it just kind of bugged me.

Martin Chambers, who Hynde calls the best drummer in rock and roll history, was solid on the drums -- especially on the numbers dating back to early in the band's career -- you really need to see him handle "Tattooed Love Boys." James Walbourne handled lead guitars with aplomb, Nick Wilkinson was handy with the bass, and Eric Heywood was on the pedal steel guitar.

Before she launched the band into "Day After Day," Hynde sent out a dedication to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, the other two founding members of the band with Hynde and Chambers, and both who died of drug overdoses between the recording of the band's second and third albums. Hynde said that she and Chambers would never have made it to where they are without those two, then she stated that if not for her and Chambers, maybe Honeyman-Scott and Farndon would still be alive.

Chrissie Hynde joked upon the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that they'be become nothing but a tribute band. But nothing could be further from the truth. Chrissie and the guys sound as lively and vital today as they did when "Brass In Pocket" was bombarding the U.S. airwaves way back in the day. This band still grooves and kicks with the best of the of the youngsters.

It was a delightful concert.

And I need to say again that, damn, Chrissie Hynde is one fine looking woman.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS CONCERT NOTES:

Opening acts generally don't impress me -- unless it's Elvis Costello opening for The Police. But the opening act for Saturday's concert was this rock band from Nashville-way called American Bang. And bang they did. These guys weren't out to reinvent the wheel. They just pounded on the drums and blistered with the guitars for a 35-minute set that got the crowd in just the right mood for Chrissie Hynde and the boys.

The last time I was this blown away by the opening band was in 2003 when I went to see Liz Phair. There was this band opening for her called Wheat, and they came out and did this great set that pulled the crowd from apathy to wanting them to stay on and perform a few more hours. I felt the same way about American Bang.

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I thought it was kind of ironic (don't ya think) that The Pretenders played Houston on the day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo parade. Particularly since the House of Blues isn't far off of the parade route, and particularly since Chrissie Hynde is a big member of PETA -- they were selling PETA gear at the show.

I half expected her to say something about the rodeo, but she stayed silent. She didn't really talk much during the show at all, except to insult Martin Chambers at times or make some general small talk.

Speaking of which, I've read in the past that she has problems with photographers in the crowd -- there were signs all over forbidding the use of cell phone cameras -- and that she supposedly bitches at people talking during her performance, or is just a general bitch. None of this was evident during Saturday's show.

She wore a smile the entire night and often spoke and mixed with the people down front. Then again, I also didn't see any cell phone cameras.

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And to my disappointment, no they did not do "Middle of the Road," "My City Was Gone," or "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" -- which would have been hard to do since they had no keyboards. But I can't think of any song they did do that I would have wanted to have cut so that these three songs could have been done. It must be nice to have so much material that your band can cut three major songs yet have no one complain about it.

And damn, Chrissie Hynde is one hot woman.

The Reason We're Here

I'm working on my review of The Pretenders concert. But as I do, I thought I would say that one of the highlights of the night was the performance of "Message of Love." So I found video of the original lineup performing the song way back in 1981.

So here's The Pretenders with "Message of Love." Oh, one more thing. Chrissie Hynde still moves around the stage like this. God, she's a gorgeous woman.