Sorry For The Delay, But..............

Ladies and Gents, I realize its been along time between posts. There's been a few personal issues, like my octogenarian father's recent surgery followed by his subsequent bout with the flu. Its taken much time to resolve, with post op care and basic day care, but all seems to be going well.

I'll be back very soon with some "Quick Hits" about politics, culture, and entertainment, with some observations about President Obama and new administration, and of course "The Big Game"

I don't think I can say "S*U*P*E*R B*O*W*L" with having to pay royalties to the "No Fun League".

Happy Birthday Stephen Stills

I'm not one for remembering birthdays, but I did notice while looking at a copy of Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees that today, January 3rd, is the 64th birthday of rock legend Stephen Stills. One year ago today Stills was operated on after being diagnosed with the early stages of prostate cancer. It was said that the illness and death of his friend, singer song-writer Dan Fogelberg, from prostate cancer prompted Stills to have a checkup that probably saved his life.

God bless and long life, Stephen.....and thanks for five decades of great music.

Quick Hits - January 2, 2009

Here we go with the first edition of Quick Hits for 2009. If you're tired of my droning on about sports....and Rutgers and Bob Mulcahy...sorry! Yo just might have to deal with it a bit longer.

1. The College Bowls, BCS and all the rest- I have to admit it; I liked the good old days of having eight games on New Year's Day. It was special. Your TV remote needed new batteries the next day from over use. The system we have now, with traditional New Year's games being stretched out for about a week, takes away from what made New Year's Day a favorite day to those of us who are college football fanatics.

2. The Big Ten has had its worst year ever in bowl game competition. With the embarrassing loss suffered by Penn State to USC in the Rose Bowl the overrated league has fallen to 1-5 this year, its only win coming with Iowa beating the OTHER USC (South Carolina) in the Outback Bowl. The Big Ten has one more shot on Monday with Ohio State meeting Texas in the Fiesta Bowl.....but I'm calling it Texas 34 -Ohio State 24.

3. Conversely, The PAC Ten is 5-0 in bowl games this year, and have already clinched the ESPN trophy for conferences with the best winning percentage in bowl games. This should shut up critics of the PAC Ten....until next fall anyway.

4. The Big East and the ACC- The ACC sent a record ten teams to bowl games this year. This meant the mediocre was sent with the good. The result was a 4-6 record. Two of those losses were by North Carolina and NC State, who were beaten respectively by Big East foes West Virginia and Rutgers in the Meineke and PapaJohns Bowls. The Big East was cruising along with a 3-0 record with two games to be played. Then Pitt played what was one of the worst bowl games in NCAA history when they lost to Oregon State 3-0 in a snoozefest otherwise known as The 2008 Sun Bowl. And last night it was Cincinnati of the Big East watching their QB Tony Pike play like Bret Favre (2008 version) while being picked 4 times by Virginia Tech in getting beaten in the Orange Bowl 20-7 in a game that had more current and former members of the Doobie Brothers performing on the field than were fans in the stands.

5.Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has vowed to accompany his appointee to Barack Obama's Senatorial seat, Roland Burris, to Washington to insure Burris swearing in as a senator.



Its only January. I thought the circus was do to hit the road in April.

6. This morning financial guru Suze Orman rang the opening bell in the New York Stock Exchange, I guess the NYSE is symbolically hoping for a better 2009. Ms. Orman is also a frequent visitor to QVC where she sells kits and books to help insure financial freedom. Among her mantras is, "SAVE, SAVE, SAVE". She disdains spending money on things that you don't really need, and she allegedly only owns one pair of earrings. Then after Suze's two hours on the Q, the host turns it over to the next host, usually one of the several "Lisas" on QVC, who then proceeds to to sell the women of America on some fine cubic zirconia or designer fashions by someone only the viewers have ever heard of. Only in America........

7. New Years Eve 2008 CNN's Anderson Cooper does the Times Square festivities with comedienne Kathy Griffin, who has this exchange with a heckler.



I don't think Kathy will be back next year.

8. Also from New Year's Eve- Daredevil motorcyclist Robbie Maddison uses ramps to jump to the top of the Arc de Triomphe replica in Las Vegas, and then uses a ramp to get down from the dang thing!



Now you can go on, gentle viewers, with the rest of your lives.

9. Tomorrow in Piscataway, NJ- a matchup of coaching legends Pat Summitt and C.Vivian Stringer as the Tennessee Lady Vols visit the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at The RAC. Go RU!

10. Lastly... Thank you again, Bob Mulcahy (pictured, holding the PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL TROPHY).