I survived Dyngus Day. Yes, Mardi Gras for the Polish was so successful, it will now marked with a permanent spot on the calendar. Or should I say, drinking calendar. Locally, it joins St. Patrick's Day, Opening Day, any Browns home game, and Cinco de Mayo as an excuse to drink in the afternoon when you'd ordinarily be at work or lounging around on a weekend.

We took part in the Parkview Nite Club portion of the proceedings. Big Chuck was there in his Certain Ethnic Man outfit. There was a Miss Dyngus Day complete with a crown of sausages.

The crowds later on at Happy Dog and Reddstone were reported to be big, as well. So, I assume next year (April 9), it might be expanded or even more crowded.

Meal of Links

The President is an American. Whoo hoo! Now it's on to his college transcripts and Selective Service records for the non-believers. Where are Trump's tax returns?

"Celebrity Apprentice" has one of the largest Democratic audiences. Trump, with his "China is raping our country" shtick, is literally driving away its audience.

I think Jake Vale is funny. I laugh all the time at these.

Peyton Hillis is the Madden NFL 12 cover boy. Let the hatred begin.

Here is the Lollapalooza lineup. Thumbs up for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Chain restaurants with the fattest meals. I'm glad I've not had any of them.

Good stuff with Rowdy Roddy Piper. Loved that guy. Great entertainer in the ring.

Tom Durkin bows out as the Triple Crown announcer. He cites stress. I don't blame him, especially in the Derby. You got 20 horses and have to mention them all. By the time you do that and get back up front, God knows what might happen. And, heaven forbid, you call a horse late, which he has done. Not as easy as it seems.

Tom Durkin Calls a Race



Exercise Yard

I took my Dad to the Indians game last night. The opponent was the hated Kansas City Royals. The bottom line is if they pitch and hit like they did last night, they'll hang in the pennant race for a while.

Pitching good news? Justin Masterson, not at his best, gets into the 7th, allowing only three runs. Struck out 7 and walked 2. Oh, Melky Cabrera drilled a homer and got to stare it down, but that was about it. Vinnie Pestano then got out of an 8th inning, based loaded jam without giving up any runs. I said when he came in that I didn't trust him yet. I may have to change my thinking.

Pitching bad news? Tony Sipp looks like he's back on the slippery slope after dominating for three weeks.

Hitting good news? When you hit five homers in a game, almost everyone looks good. Homers from Jack Hannahan (who hit 2), Matt LaPorta, Grady Sizemore and Shin Soo Choo. All of them smoked.

Pitchers are going to have to go back to the old book on Grady Sizemore, because they are pitching him using the 2009-10 book and he is just killing everything. On his second double, he was motoring around first like the old Sizemore and should have had a triple, but the third base coach, Steve Smith, held him up. They need to let him loose.

Choo's homer came off the first pitch from Lewis Jackson. It's as if Choo told the ball, "Where have you have been all spring?" Absolutely crushed it and pretty much clinched the game.

Hitting bad news? Orlando Cabrera isn't a very disciplined hitter and it's starting to show. His average is in decline. And Carlos Santana is now looking at fastballs when he has a hitter's count. A 2-1 fastball, with men on, from Hochevar and he never moved the bat off his shoulder. Uh-oh.

But it was a good win. There were only 9620 in attendance (the Monsters drew more next door) and it felt even emptier. But I got cheap seats behind the Indians dugout through StubHub and they even had the $4 concession value built in. So we opted to get super dogs. And they were good. The threat of rain was gone and it was most enjoyable to watch that victory.

BTW, SI has a feature on Choo. Very complimentary piece.

Visitor

6 Across: Texas Rangers CEO Nolan (4 letters) Answer: Ryan