What's with these Missouri political ads? One for the Senate, another to push for stem cell research in Missouri, known as Amendment 2. Obviously, with the Cardinals in the World Series, these ads get played locally during the games. Let's take a look at them.

McCaskill

Claire McCaskill enlists Michael J. Fox for a Senate campaign ad about stem cell research. Pretty powerful stuff. You get Mike in full shaky mode, you know the kind Rush Limbaugh called "an act". Why is "Doc Hollywood" doing commercials in Missouri? Well, he tells us why, by stating "all politics is local, but it's not always the case". He tosses in a "Missoura" pronunciation and then shocks us all by renouncing his Canadian past and becomes an American citizen. Who knew? I think it's a terrific ad.

Michael J. Fox



No to Amendment 2

The production values on this one are not, let's say, as professional as the previous ad. Hey, it's Jesus! WTF? Is he saying "Vote no on Amendment 2" in Aramaic? And is he on vacation? Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan is next in front of a background that looks like he might be posing for a license at the DMV. Then it's former Ram quarterback, Kurt Warner. Kurt appears to be hanging out at your local rec center while forwarding an asinine argument that basically says no cures for 15 years, why spend the money? Hey Kurt, ask Magic Johnson why. Next up, it's Cleveland's own Patricia Heaton. She uses the old low-income eggs will be sold argument and we all know who she's talking about. It's not your neighbor, it's those people. The Royals Mike Sweeney is caught in the hallway of a local hotel to remind us of the physical dangers of egg extraction. Warner comes back and warns us that if groups can spend $28 million to tell us Amendment 2 is a good thing, maybe it's not. See, it's those OUTSIDERS telling us what to do. Jesus, as the sun is setting in an exotic locale, tells us in English to vote no on 2. I think the celebrity combo of Patty Heaton and Jesus is offset by the sports trio of Suppan/Warner/Sweeney. That would be the Cleveland equivalent of Jake Westbrook/Bernie Kosar/Jim Thome. Not sure the current citizenry would be enraptured by those three to take them seriously on a vote.

Assorted Celebrities



Meal of Links

We have all heard Jim Rome rag on "Softball Guy". But, how about a co-ed team that films its flag football games? I hate that guy.

Halloween is coming. How about reading some scary stories.

Dick Clark sells out. All his memorabilia, that is.

Exercise Yard

TV rules all sporting bodies. The latest was last night when Fox kept everyone waiting for the start of Game 4 of the World Series. It could have been called two hours earlier, but then Fox would have been unable to show three episodes of "The War At Home". Why didn't they show "House"?

But the most blatant act of how TV affects sporting events is the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Swimming and gymnastics finals would be contested in the morning local time. Which translates to, umm, lemme see, 9 p.m. Eastern.

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