Watchdog

This one is borderline on the sensitivity meter, but I'm going to go with it anyway.

It's loyal reader Lee, responding to my obligatory "Manny-being-Manny" crack in a post of the video in which Washington Heights' own Mr. Ramirez makes a nice catch on a deep fly, high-fives a fan, then doubles off a runner.

"I think we've gotten to the point where if Manny became the 2nd Unabomber, or did the exact same thing as OJ Simpson, everyone would write it off as 'Manny being Manny.'''

This week's winner is loyal reader Ray, for turning my post about Joe Pepitone's hair into a look back at "Ball Four," the most important sports book ever. Here is his comment/excerpt:

One of my favorite moments in Ball Four is the recounting of the tale where, after a grueling loss, Pepitone came out of the shower to blow-dry his perfect coif:

So everyone was tired and angry and upset and you could hear a pin drop in the clubhouse, because after a loss that's the way it's supposed to be. Pepitone came out of the shower and turned his hair-dryer on . Whoooosh! Instant white. He looked like an Italian George Washington wearing a powdered wig. There was talcum powder over everything, his hair, his eyebrows, his nose, the hair on his chest. Of course, everybody went crazy. Loss or no, they all laughed like hell.

The paragraph ends with what may, in my legal opinion, be an admission of guilt by one J. Bouton of Teaneck, New Jersey.

In the early months, the energy behind the blog's growth was generated primarily by the Don Imus saga and by the loyalty and passion of his fans.

In recognition, I'm giving the Friday comment contest award this week to an entire thread of comments here that reminded me of the good old days of 2007, when every Imus post would generate dozens of responses.

Warning for parents and Craig Carton: There is some rough stuff here. But Carton can take it.

Many people think I'm some sort of Carton/Boomer apologist. Sorry, not guilty. Every time I've written about the show I've tried to stay mostly neutral, because that's the way I feel about it.

It's grown on me and I usually enjoy it in small doses, but on the other hand Carton undeniably can be crass and sophomoric and stuff involving other fancy words.

If you don't like him, turn to another channel, or go to the library and take out a book on tape. "War and Peace" should take care of at least a week worth of commutes on the LIE.

My favorite comment this week was an e-mail I got Monday in response to a post in which I announced I was not in the mood to blog.

It was from a famous local radio personality who shall remain nameless, other than that his last name is Ackerman.

He quoted George Costanza, thusly: "You ask me to have lunch, tell me you slept with Elaine, and then say you're not in the mood for details. Now you listen to me. I want details and I want them right now. I don't have a job, I have no place to go. You're not in the mood? Well you get in the mood!"

Speaking of not being in the mood . . . ESPN was nice enough to invite me to a movie screening Thursday night where I would have hung out with John Skipper, one of the most powerful men in sports media, as well as Kelly Ripa.

Then the NFL Network was nice enough to invite me to an event Thursday night where I would have hung out with Steve Bornstein, one of the most powerful men in sports media, as well as Brett Favre.

I politely declined both and instead played softball and drank fermented malt beverages.

I'm on a roll blasphemously bashing baseball (see post below), so I might as well dig myself even deeper and award the Friday comment contest a day early before I spend the rest of this Thursday doing my side job as a newspaper columnist/reporter.

(Hint: I'm on Mark Jackson's trail!)

Our winner is Jim Clark, for sharing this quote on Theodore Roosevelt's view of the sport, from someone who should know. Turns out he was no Teddy Ballgame.

"Father and all of us regarded baseball as a mollycoddle game. Tennis, football, lacrosse, boxing, polo, yes; they are violent, which appealed to us. But baseball? Father wouldn't watch it, not even at Harvard."

- Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 1961

This week's award is a combo to Jeff and Islander505.

I had a post Thursday about the new YES show, "YESterdays," which debuts Friday with a "This is Your Life" style look at Joba Chamberlain and will follow with an episode on Alex Rodriguez in May.

Responded Jeff: "Even more interesting is that Canseco will be the first guest when A-Rod's show is on."

To which Islander505 responded: "So....Wouldn't an A-Rod/Canseco episode be more appropriately titled... 'This Is Your Wife?"'

This week's honoree is multiple-time champ Chris, for a weird but interesting response to my item about Paul O'Neill briefly being barred from the Blue Jays' locker room Monday by a guard who didn't recognize him.

I'm always a sucker for references to former Newsday food writers, in this case none other than Molly O'Neill, Paul's older sister.

I once asked Paul about Molly at Shea when the former was playing for the Reds. He grudgingly answered while eating a plate of locker room food of which his sister would not have approved.

Click below for Chris' winning contribution.

The remarkable John Philips already has clinched this week's comment contest. Thanks to everyone else for playing our game.

Upon WatchDog's request, Philips posted his video of the famous Kiner's Korner in 1986 that featured Lenny Dykstra and his mom, and which was referenced here and here.

Lenny's mom doesn't look much older than him, and reminds me of . . . Lucille Ball.

When I called up the video, it had registered zero views. I feel honored to have been the first. Beyond cool!

Dual winners this week!

Laurels and hearty handshakes to Rich and John Philips for their responses to a post about Len Dykstra's post-career business success.

They combined two Mets icons: Dykstra and Ralph Kiner.

Wrote Rich: "I seem to remember he was on Kiner's Korner with his mother (for some reason) and it seemed Ralph was trying to hit on her. Anyone else remember something like that or is it an urban myth or macabre nightmare?"

Wrote John: "Rich, I have that edition of Kiner's Korner on videotape and you are correct. I was at the game that day, taped it, watched it, and decided it was a keeper. Ralph was being Mr. Smooth. He ended the interview by saying something like, 'Well, congratulations on a great game Lenny, and for having a great-looking mom."

Here's something strange and disappointing I just discovered: A search of "Kiner's Korner" on YouTube yielded zero matches.

I like this simple, biting, to-the-point comment from loyal reader SC-NJ in response to my whiny post the other day about being too cranky and burned out (and busy with my real job) to blog:

"C'mon....snap out of it.

Did Roger Clemens take any days off?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Enjoy!"

OK, that's it from me for the rest of the day. I'm whiny, cranky, burned out and behind schedule on my Sunday column.

This week's award goes to frequent commenter and fellow former Alaskan "Islander505" for his reponse to this sentence in Sean Salisbury's exit statement from ESPN:

"I have created a brand and it’s time to expand into other opportunities in TV, radio, Internet, publishing, movies and public speaking, among others."

Click below for Islander505's comment, which references one of the most fondly remembered (and truly gross, now that we look back on it) dinner treats of the baby boomer era.

What's that you say? It's Thursday?

So what? We already have a winner: Mike from Morristown, who late Wednesday afternoon is believed to have been the first caller ever to mention the WatchDog blog by name on WFAN's "Mike and the Mad Dog" program.

Self-promotion is fun, but having others promote you is even funner.

Thanks, Mike.

(Full disclosure: My wife's brother lives in Morristown. But his name is not Mike.)

This week's comment contest winner is Islander505, who had a strong overall week by buttering me up with heavy duty early 1980s Anchorage, Alaska, trivia. Well played, sir!

He officially wins for the comment below about my Zorn's chicken tangent in the wake of the Redskins hiring a new head coach by that name.

It's all got me in the mood for my first visit to Zorn's in at least 30 years. I will be there Sunday to pick up a bucket for lunch. No autographs, please. But I will be available for pictures.

Here is Islander505's comment:

"Geezus Best,

You are one trip down memory lane after another.
I grew up not far from the original Zorn's in Bethpage (on Hempstead Tpke). In the early 60's it was more than a food outlet, they had a little mini-zoo that was a weekly must visit for any post diaper toddler. I wasn' t aware that Zorn's still existed until I read your article and googled their website.
Sure enough, there they are.....still going out of business in the same location for over 65 years.
God Bless 'em."

I intentionally used the word "spunk" to describe the Arizona TV reporter who slipped uninvited Sunday into the NBC suite where most of the Manning family was watching SBXLII.

(He ended up taking a family photo and writing a story about the experience for the Arizona Republic.)

I was curious to see who would be the first reader to make the obvious connection between the word "spunk" and an item about a local TV journalist.

Sure enough, it was DuMont Berger, one of WatchDog's most reliable baby boomer nostalgia experts:

Lou [Grant]: "You know what? You've got spunk."
Mary [Richards]: "Well, yes… "
Lou: "I hate spunk."

Yeah, I know it's Thursday, but I'm naming the Friday Comment Contest winner now anyway, because I won't have time Friday and because I'm still trying to stagger to the January page views finish line.

The repeat winner (and a strong contender week in and week out) is Chris, for his response to my item making fun of Glauber for asking whether Jalen Rose's father, Jimmy Walker, is Jimmy Walker the actor . . . as opposed to Jimmy Walker the former Providence star.

Here it is: "Jimmy 'JJ' Walker being the father of Jalen Rose would be like Huggy Bear being the father of an NFL running back. What? Really?? Never mind."

(WatchDog's explanation: Justin Fargas of the Raiders is, indeed, the son of Antonio Fargas, aka Huggy Bear from "Starsky and Hutch," a show that was on when I was young.)

A laurel and hearty handshake for Chris, this week's Friday comment contest winner.

It happened Monday, after I posted an item making fun of Terrell Owens' assertion that he always has had his quarterbacks' backs.

The item was accompanied by a picture of Nicollette Sheridan dropping her bath towel as T.O. looked on in an infamous "Monday Night Football" intro from a while back.

Chris' comment: "So, recapping, T.O. has Tony Romo's back and Nicollette Sheridan's front, right?"

OK, that's enough.

I have to write a couple of pages worth of stuff for the Sunday paper to see who else I can get mad at me.

Enjoy "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" at 12:30 p.m. on Ch. 7.

I can't say whether I'll be on or not, or whether I'll make a complete fool of myself or not.

This week’s comment contest winner is a loyal reader who does not post comments in the traditional sense, as far as I know: Christopher Russo.

During a discussion of WFAN’s strong autumn ratings Thursday, Russo referred to a post from Dec. 21 in which I off-handedly suggested he and Mike Francesa tweak their show to keep it fresh moving forward.

“This is for Neil Best,’’ Russo said. “We are going to add a 20/20 inside entertainment segment every day now, just to make sure we keep up with the culture of the times.’’ Then he turned to Francesa and said, “Say something funny.’’

This week's runnerup? Francesa, on the same topic. He said asking them to tweak their show is “like the Patriots going out and getting a new receiver’’ because things aren’t working well enough.

Chris did say, “I like Neil. I think Neil’s funny.’’ I like Chris and Mike and think they’re funny, too.

For example: They said they did not originally read the Dec. 21 post, insisting someone had forwarded it to them. But Thursday they referred to a WatchDog post from Tuesday. I guess someone forwarded that one to them as well.

It was the second time in three days Russo and Francesa gave Newsday free publicity by making fun of me at 5 p.m. In my next contract I’m going to ask for a bonus the equivalent of the cost of a Newsday ad in that slot every time the boys mention me.

For an insightful, amusing view on Mike and Chris' ratings, click below for regular commenter DuMont Berger’s take. (Anyone who works the word “shmatte’’ into a post deserves props.)

I was tempted to make "Chris" the comment contest winner for this response to the news that I shared an elevator with Gisele Bundchen before Saturday night's Pats-Giants game:

"As a reporter, you should have asked her if she was coming back from Gate D."

That was funny, but honoring it would give the impression I find the abuse women have taken from drunk Jets fans at that location to be funny, which I definitely do not.

So instead our winner is . . . Bob Glauber? No, really. Yes, it seems as if Newsday employees should be ineligible, but I make the rules here and Bob has been as loyal a commenter as any of you. I enjoyed his response to a video link to a table hockey tournament featuring drunk sportswriters in 1971.

Here is the original post.

Click below for Bob's take.

For the second week in a row, the comment contest winner is Sandy, who once again weighed in with a cold, hard slap of reality in response to an item on rising baseball ticket prices.

Things figure to get much worse before they get better on this subject as the wave of new stadium openings crests in 2009 and 2010.

Click below for Sandy's take.

The news this week that both the Mets and Yankees will be raising ticket prices for 2008 - with more to come in 2009 at their new stadiums - was depressing, of course.

But I'm sorry that as a free-market type I have trouble getting overly worked up about this stuff. The best revenge in a capitalist society is as follows:

Don't go.

Most of you live somewhere near a minor league park. Hello?

Or watch Derek Jeter on a high def TV for not that much more than the cost for a family of four to sit in the high-rent seats.

Most of all: Take the "kick me" signs off your backs, people.

Anyway, click below to read comment contest winner Sandy's take on all this.

This week I'm dedicating the Friday comment contest to the teachers, students and alumni of Northport High School . . . and to the power of the Internet.

Over the weekend I wrote a blog post in memory of Richard Streb, a long-time, innovative social studies teacher at Northport.

That led to an e-mail from my junior-year social studies teacher, Linda Skidmore, who still is teaching at the school.

And THAT led to an e-mail from Bill Chu, a classmate I hadn't heard from in 30 years who I mentioned in the comments section of the original blog post.

I now am prepared officially to retract my bold pronouncement in 1995 that the Internet would turn out to be a fad.

I've banned loyal reader John Philips from winning any more Friday comment contests - twice!

Well, I'm going back on my word again and giving him this week's honors.

Give the guy credit. He knows I'm a sucker for sports TV nostalgia from the 1960s and '70s, but the most amazing thing is his seemingly total recall for events of several decades ago.

Wow. I was talking to a fellow writer about baseball ratings yesterday and needed about 15 seconds to remember which teams played in the World Series less than two months ago.

Naturally, it's a long post. So if you care to read more about the late, great Evel Knievel and his famous Snake River Canyon jump, not to mention the late, great Grandpa Bill, click below.

This week's winner is DuMont Burger, who is overdue for the honor, and who joined me in some Newsday nostalgia after I linked to a column from the great Stan Isaacs, who launched Newsday's TV sports column nearly 30 years ago.

(By the way DuMont, it's not "legend" that he stole that Dodgers banner; it really happened.)

Here is DuMont's comment:

Isaacs should be among the lists of Giants, especially as legend has it he stole the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers World Series pennant away from those damned O'Malleys. And for writing a tv-sports column when Cosell ruled the world and Bristol[s] was the preferred euphenism for breasts on the Benny Hill Show.

Good bite from a voice of the old Newsday [pre-Tribune Co.] like Jacobson, Gergen, etc.
And I do agree with his #1 chocolate ice cream favorite. I had mine there [right next to Notre Dame the cathedral, not Notre Dame the Touchdown Jesus] on a hot September day a few years ago.

Better than any Carvel, for sure.

I am proud to bestow this week's award on frequent commentor Jeff, who has passionate opinions on the NFL Network vs. cable companies war that was the subject of Friday's newspaper column.

For weeks, including today, he has posted long, well-reasoned opinions on the subject both on the Web site and the WatchDog blog. (Several others joined him today in disagreeing with me on this issue.)

I can't cut and paste Jeff's comments because they're too long, but read them for yourself.

If it makes you feel any better, Jeff, consider that:

1. Many respected business and media writers lean toward the cable companies' side on this, no matter what I think, and assume I'm an NFL lapdog because of my many years covering the league.

2. Thanks to the magic of cyberspace, you now have had nearly as many opportunities to express your opinions on it as I have.

One factual point you keep making that I'm not sure about is just how many games were taken away from non-NFL Network fans to create the eight-game package.

I believe it is only four - the old Saturday doubleheaders on CBS and Fox. The other four would have been regional games not seen everywhere.

Anyway, let me clarify my stance: I'm not defending the NFL's decision to keep "Sunday Ticket'' a DirecTV exclusive. I'm not even defending the right of the NFL Network to be on basic cable, because I think we should move toward a fairer, more capitalistic, more a la carte (or at least more tiered) model for channel distribution.

It's just that as long as my cable box continues to be stuffed with niche channels that are there only because they are owned by a big cable or media company, the NFL deserves to be there as well . . . at a fair price. That's all.

Click below for this week's (lengthy) winner, from a reader named "Jeff'' and posted Tuesday in response to an item about the ongoing NFL Network vs. the cable industry saga.

This thing is wildly complicated, and I promise to tackle it again later this month. Jeff lays out one side of the argument passionately - albeit with some debatable factual assumptions.

One issue he doesn't explore is the cable industry's disingenuousness in arguing people should not pay for what they don't want - unless it happens to be a channel owned by one of the major cable or satellite companies! (That means you, Comcast, Versus and Golf Channel.)

Elsewhere in the sports distribution battle zone, there are not one but two important games Saturday that will not be available to many of the people who might have liked to watch it:

Ohio State vs. Wisconsin on the Big Ten Network and UConn vs. Rutgers on ESPNU.

Not good.

Congratulations, Dennis J. Droogan!

You have correctly identified Bobby Plump in the picture at right and won the respect and admiration of WatchDog readers throughout North America . . . and probably this week in England as well.

At my first Final Four in 1991, the media party was held at Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler, where Plump made his famous shot. A black-and-white film of the play ran on a continuous loop on screens in each corner of the court during the bash.

At one point I was having a drink a few feet away from Oscar Robertson, another pretty good high school basketball player.

It used to be fun leaving my basement sometimes.

I'm disappointed no one has taken a stab at the high-degree-of-difficulty photo contest from earlier today. I hope it's that you're stumped, not that you're indifferent.

Regardless, here's another picture that should be a big hint.

Try again.

The first person to get the identity of the original photo subject correct wins the ultimate prize: the respect of all WatchDog readers.

As we wind down another wacky WatchDog week, it is time to honor the blogs' most important people: you, the loyal readers.

John Philips has been kind of quiet on the commenting front since I barred him from winning the Friday contest again, but rushing in with a strong entry was a commenter named Peter.

Here is what he had to say Tuesday in response to the news the start of the NFL Draft would be moving from noon to 3 p.m. next spring:

"Looks like the Jets will be drafting at about the same time as they did last year."

Ouch. I'm going to write my Sunday newspaper column now. It's about the Jets!

Look, I know the comment below from a reader who calls himself or herself "Blue Collar'' is far from an original thought. And, yes, I'm a capitalist/libertarian from way back. And, yes, I tell my children all the time that life is not fair, so just deal with it.

But on this Friday that the New York sports world will spend debating the merits of a guy who turned down $5 million (or much more) to manage a baseball team, with much more to come about a guy who might turn down many millions more than that to play third base . . . well, it seemed appropriate to give the award to this:

"Baseball is a game, just like every other sport. Every athlete in professional sports is overpaid. How can anyone justify $30 mill a year for playing a game when the law enforcement officers who risk thier lives to protect them, the firefighters who risk their lives to save people from fires and accidents, and the soldiers who defend this country make about 1/1000th of that amount? Our priorities in this country are tragically skewed."

Last Friday I permanently retired John Philips' Friday comment contest award to give others a chance to win the prestigious title.

Then he announced 15 minutes after the Mets' elimination Sunday that he was through with sports forever - yeah, right - a memorable rant excerpted below that caused me to give it to him one last time. NO MORE, THOUGH!

Here it is, complete with a Carl Sandburg reference:

"I'm done. When I think of all the time, money, and emotion invested into a stupid game and team, I feel like a complete idiot. So many times, I went to weddings and family functions only to think of ways to sneak to a radio or TV and find out what a score was. All of the video tapes and DVD's of complete game broadcasts that I have collected and archived in the belief that I will someday want to watch these things again suddenly seem even more ridiculous that my wife told me they were. I have spent almost 20 years trying to forget Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS even though there is no rational reason why I should have been upset in the first place. I must simply give it all up. My 40 year run of Mets yearbooks, my copy of Dick Schapp and Paul Zimmerman's The Year The Mets Lost Last Place, my framed poster from Tom Seaver Day in 1988, my Lets Go Mets video - I'm putting it all up on ebay tomorrow along with an equally disturbing collection of Jets memorabilia.

I have never read Faulkner's Absalom Absalom, Carl Sandurg's American Songbag, or Robert Frost's North of Boston collection, but I will now. I am breaking free of this cursed affliction of sports and try to redirect whatever free hard drive I have in my brain towards better pursuits. Farewell sports and while I'm sure Faulkner's prose will initially sound like it being read by Lindsay Nelson and Ralph Kiner in my brain, it will eventually cease and I will become a better person."