Last night, USA Network continued with another of the terrific boxing documentaries that have aired this year by showing the Sundance film, "Ring of Fire". This film detailed the fight where six-time champ Emile Griffith beat Benny Paret to his death inside the ring, after Paret had taunted Griffith about his homosexuality. Great story, and it had interviews with many of those associated with the fight (especially Gil Clancy, Griffith's trainer) and writers of the time (Jimmy Breslin, the late Jack Newfield, and Pete Hamill). Norman Mailer even had a voice-over from his great essay, "The Death of Benny Paret":

"He hit him 18 right hands in a row, an act which took perhaps three or four seconds, Griffith making a pent-up whimpering sound all the while he attacked, the right hand whipping like a piston rod which has broken through the crankcase, or like a baseball bat demolishing a pumpkin."

What a sentence.

After that, Turner Classic got me in a much better mood by showing the great, "His Girl Friday". Cary Grant, as usual, is fantastic in this one.

Meal of Links

Tonight's episode of "The Apprentice" highlighted the flaws of the current season. Tonight's product placement was from Staples. Each team had to invent an office product to solve clutter. Bren and Alex, the two lawyers, came up with a desk that was kinda lame. Remember, Alex was part of the American Eagle group that designed that horrendous clothing that allowed you to take your laptop to the beach. Sort of surfing after surfing, I guess. The other team must have hit Staples' Easy button, as they made a stackable. The Staples people and focus group loved this item or at least that's what they told us. It certainly didn't get too much love in the editing I saw. Anyhow, do we really need another stackable? They won and Bren got the boot. The thing that killed me was that the boardroom crew decided that Bren was no risk-taker and that doomed him. My question is how did that not come up in any of his interviews to get on the show? This is just crazy. And besides, didn't Bren come up with the cucumber porn idea for Dove? That seemed risky, but no one brought that up. As he stated in the cab ride, maybe he was just too tired to put up a fight. Trump says, "Nice Guy. Probably a good lawyer, but he's no entrepreneur." OK, why was he picked? No more exemptions. Tana, Craig and Kendra probably didn't gain much. I mean, as Project Manager, Craig has made a box and a stackable. Jeepers. Alex probably gained the most from this episode by showing he wants it badly.

Ray Davies did not show up to testify in the trial against an accomplice in his shooting last year. He's probably happy that "Picture Book" is being used in HP's digital photography ad campaign and feels no need to come here while touring.

Adelphia finally gets sold. Look for a new e-mail address from me later this year. Looks like Time-Warner grabbed New York, LA and Cleveland.

Exercise Yard

Surprise, surprise. Jim Paxson got fired as Cavs GM today. No playoff appearances, several coaches, and one lucky bounce of the lottery ball. That about sums up his career here. Horrible drafts, head-scratching free-agent signings, letting Carlos Boozer go for nothing, and clearing up cap space not once, but twice. Too bad he won't be around for the second time.

The LeBron Era begins for real, starting now.

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