Need to put a hold on that Saint Tressel Statue. As Jim Tressel resigned this morning.

This whole scandal started with something I thought would be his doom. That is, knowingly playing ineligible players. The NCAA looks the other way on some things and completely ignores others, but that's not something they are going to let slide. With the Ray Small comments burning up sports talk for another two days this past week, it became obvious this would be what OSU would deal with until they met with investigators in August.

They have no distractions of spring football or actual games. So any comments by former players or, heaven forbid, any hint of further allegations was going to muddy the waters the next two months.

SI has the goods.

Meal of Links

I'm convinced it's part of a viral campaign. But if there were any doubts about David Fincher being capable of handling "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", this alleged trailer solves that. Shaky camera at beginning and end. Trent Reznor/Karen O. "Immigrant Song" "The Feel Bad Movie Of Christmas". Book it now.

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Trailer



Is it too early to talk about the Oscars? Clearly, nothing released stateside yet is a contender. "Tree Of Life" is here this month, so that'll signal the start.

First it was IFC. Now it's PBS. Commercials during programs. BTW, last night I stumbled across "Wedding Crashers" on TBS, I think. "Jesus Christ" was dubbed in for "Cheese and rice.". So, Isla Fisher is hitting Vince Vaughan and he is yelling, "Cheese and rice!" multiple times. Amazing.

Patriot Act. It's still here. Debate in the house lasted all of 30 minutes.

The economics of barbecue. Eastern NC BBQ great. Western NC BBQ tragic.

Exercise Yard

Swansea beats Reading and joins the Premier League. The first Welsh side to make it.

Visitor

49 Across: Slurpee seller (11 letters) Answer: Seven-Eleven

The Tribe won today to get back on track, after dumping three in a row. Here are some things we should be talking about, going into today's game:

Jack Hannahan is hitting .185 in May, with only 2 extra-base hits.

Big hit for Shelley Duncan today. He was hitting .135 in May. But still hits lefties at .303.

Orlando Cabrera has walked only 6 times.

Carlos Santana has knocked in 4 runs in May. Lou Marson has 1. That's 5 RBI from the catcher this month.

Michael Brantley is at .259 before his big triple and single today. Looking good.

Shin-Soo Choo is apparently coming out of it. Last 2 weeks, .353 BA, .439 OBP, .500 Slugging. Those are Choo-like numbers. Has to sustain that to get back to his levels of last 2 years.

No numbers necessary. Asdrubal Cabrera is your All-Star representative.

Matt LaPorta is not really doing anything great. Plugging along at .250, slugging and OBP down in May.

That's why it's not so much the pitching this year. It will be the hitting that takes the Tribe to wherever they wind up this year.

Meal of Links

Commuting. It's killing us.

Cities accept crazy people. Corporations do not.

Ten myths about bedbugs. Beware.

Exercise Yard

The Champions League Final proved one thing. Barcelona is the best club in the world. Complete domination, starting with about 70% possession, of Manchester United. Goals by Messi and Villa offset one by Rooney.

Uh...Messi is Great



Barca wins, 3-1. Crank up the "greatest club ever" talk.

Visitor

48 Down: Willem of "Spider-Man" (5 letters) Answer: Dafoe

Alan Sepinwall writes about Jeff Conaway. I always thought he was the fifth wheel on "Taxi" and not sure I liked him until the trainwreck he provided us late in life. Sepinwall does us a favor by including the classic clip where Ignatowski tries to pass his driver's exam.

He died today at age 60 and it's pretty astounding he lasted this long. This is one of the reasons we've already turned our attention away from Charlie Sheen. Trainwrecks always end up badly.

Meal of Links

The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs. Get the black light out. At least 23 of these will make you cringe. Save "Time" and "Shine on, You Crazy Diamond. Lots of Tull, ELP, King Crimson, early Rush, Genesis and Yes. Run.

How is Lawrence O'Donnell doing at MSNBC? He has retained Olbermann'a audience, probably making management happy.

Urban Outfitters stole another design. This time, though, social media put the smackdown on them.

John Tesh is still getting mileage from his "NBA on NBC" theme. "Roundball Rock"!

Birthday "whammies"? Delivered by a padded hockey stick? What is going on at school these days?

FIFA may be as corrupt as Cuyahoga County. Maybe even more.

Exercise Yard

Hirsh talks about tomorrow's Champions League Final. Could be the first time in a while, that Man U could actually be looked upon as a plucky underdog.

Grant Wahl chimes in.

Visitor

44 Down: High Sierra director Walsh (5 letters) Answer: Raoul

Last night was a great opportunity to zip through the dial and see who gives you the best weather coverage. The combination of lots of storms and violent ones at that, allowed us to see who was at the top of their game.

Channel 3

Kling makes a strong case for being calm and not at all panicky. Although she kept using the phrase "place of safety", which I guess means your basement, closet or bathroom on your lowest floor. Not very compelling to see someone watching a computer, so they had the irritant of Ramona and then the 7:00 crew sit by and offer up some tidbits. Kling must have the stalkers though, because she showed her phone after receiving an alert from Channel 3 Weather. "I get alerts for Cuyahoga County because that's where I work. You can also choose additional counties. I have the "county where I live" and two adjacent counties, as well."

Channel 5

OK, Mark Johnson has the Power of 5 on his side. Too much begging for photos and interrupting the broadcast with them. Did a decent job, but had the line of the night, early on in the proceedings, when the wind and hail were issues for the western counties. "Three-inch hail? How'd you like that coming down on your car? Three-inch hail. How'd you like that coming down on your kids? What are they doing outside? Get'em indoors!"

Channel 8

Didn't linger here too much. But I did hear Andre Bernier at 7:45 mention we would not miss a minute of "American Idol". Even as storms were closing in on Cuyahoga Falls.

Channel 19

Easily the clusterfuck of the evening. It seemed that every storm chaser that went west got there after the storm had already passed. Tanchak had to redirect everyone eastward. The Vampire, Eddie Gallek, sent in some video that was not even legible. I guess they filmed from the car, but who could tell. Even Tanchak looked like he was gonna comment, but bit his tongue. Tanchak's highlight was demanding that a Tornado Warning be called for Portage County and actually said, "If the Weather Service is watching us...". No wonder they have no upticks in ratings when the weather turns sour.

Kling is probably the winner, with 5 and 8 reasonably close and 19 huddled somewhere in it's "place for safety".

Meal of Links

Friends of Jeff Bridges talk about Jeff Bridges. Good stuff.

Palin is making noise again about entering the fray. I'd like to see her in a legitimate Republican primary season with no holds barred.

Guinness does taste better in Ireland. Why? Crazy little thing called freshness.

Oh, boy. VH-1 decides it wants more "Pop-Up Video".

Outstanding. Mugatu will be back for "Zoolander 2".

Vermont adds another first. They go to single-payer health care.

The 10 Greatest War Movies. I've seen 9 of them. This is actually a very good list.

Gov. Kasich's poll numbers are pretty bad. And they are still dropping. I think part of it is he never seems happy. Always mad or grousing about something.

The Ted Williams Bio is on tonight. Wonder how that Cavs job is going.

Exercise Yard

It was rather interesting to see David Beckham back at Old Trafford for the Gary Neville Testimonial. The fans
still love him there.

Hey, I know it was a friendly, but he looked pretty good. Did a lot of passing to the opposite side of the pitch and was on target virtually all the time. And almost put in a free kick. Odd that he played the full 90 minutes, but they Probably figured if he got hurt, he doesn't play there anymore.

Visitor

2 Down: Baseball's "Old Perfessor" (7 letters) Answer: Stengel

Casey Stengel

The men in my family accompanied my niece to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 4: The Search For Curly's Gold". Actually it was "On Stranger Tides". Not ready to be put out to pasture, given last weekend's box office, but it's getting close.

First off, this one clocks in at over two hours, about 2:20. And it was a slo-o-o-o-ow first 45 minutes or so. There was an extremely long runup to the meat of the story and it was a struggle to watch, at first. I'd like to see more funny lines out of Jack Sparrow or perhaps even some action. I'm afraid you don't get much of either in this one. Quite frankly, there were only a couple of lines that I'd call remotely funny. Maybe the 3D version had all the laughs.

Shine Guy as Barbossa (with a peg leg) was pretty good. Ian McShane channels Oliver Reed more than ever in the role of Blackbeard. Penelope Cruz offers a rather tepid love interest for Depp. Al Capone from "Boardwalk Empire" (you know, Tommy from "Snatch") gets the largest role out of the minor characters along with some guy known as the "Catechist", who falls for a mermaid.

Anyhow, the group in this is seeking the Fountain of Youth. As an audience member, I was seeking the Fast Forward button. Looking ahead, I'm sure this series will go as far as Depp wants to take it, and I see maybe one more, if that.

Meal of Links

Interviewer: Dave Grohl. Subject: Kristen Wiig.

Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan.

"Maggie's Farm"/Bob Dylan (Rolling Thunder Review)



50 dinners in 50 states. In Ohio, it's the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan.

Here are the cars that get 30 mpg combined. The Nissan Leaf gets 99 mpg for first place.

Exercise Yard

You just climbed Mt. Everest, what do you do for an encore? Well, you climb Lhotse. In the same day.

Visitor

16 Across: Ponce de ____ (4 letters) Answer: Leon

After the Rapture...

The EPL closed up shop for the season today and what a day it was. Five clubs were in danger of being relegated, with West Ham already down. There were 81 possible combinations. So many possibilities that some teams could win and stay up, while at the same time, they could lose and stay up. That's how nutty it was. Relegation means $50 million in revenue because of all the TV contracts, so staying up is huge as you compete for players, etc.

At the start of the day, the bottom of the table was:

Wolves 40
Blackburn 40
Birmingham 39
Blackpool 39
Wigan 39
West Ham 33

Of the five teams left, I like Ian Holloway, the coach of Blackpool. They are a small team from the seaside, and nicknamed the Tangerines. A real breath of fresh air in the league this year.

I like Wigan and their coach, Roberto Martinez. He was part of ESPN's World Cup coverage last year. A sharp, young guy who never offers excuses. They are the smallest club in the league and if they could find some goal scorers, life would be a lot easier for them. They played the match of the year last week, relegating West Ham, after falling behind 2-0. A late goal won it for them.

And I like Wolves. Mick McCarthy is a straight-shooting coach and their fans are nuts.

We had three matches available to watch. Manchester United and Blackpool on ESPN2. Man U had not lost at home since last April and won every home match this year, except for one. Birmingham and Tottenham on Fox Soccer. I didn't think this would have enough drama. I opted for Blackburn and Wolverhampton on Fox Soccer Plus. Both teams there in real danger.

So, what happens? Blackburn scores three in the first half. I had given them up for dead about a month ago and now they looked solid. Great camera work by the Sky Sports crew as they ran the gamut of emotions by the fans. At the Birmingham match, I saw someone dressed as a nun (maybe a real nun) praying as they fell behind. At Wolverhampton, those fans were put through the wringer. Down 3-0, they were willing their team back. They scored to make it 3-1, but Birmingham had scored to start making them bite their nails again. Wigan scored at Stoke to lead, 1-0.

That made it clear. Wolves needed not a win, but just one more goal to stay up. Blackburn scored off a goal kick earlier in the match, which is rare, but by God, Wolves did the same as Stephen Hunt fired one in, in the 87th minute. Bedlam. Combined with a late Tottenham goal over Birmingham, Wolves could celebrate. Probably the biggest LOSS in the team's history and people ran on the field, kissed the TV cameras, were carrying players off the pitch. It was insane.
























At the end of the day, the bottom of the table was:

Blackburn 43
Wigan 42
Wolves 40
Blackpool 39
Birmingham 39
West Ham 33

Wigan had spent 75% of the season in the bottom three and survived. Birmingham is the first winner of the Carling Cup to be relegated. Mick McCarthy and Wolves can breath normally for a change. Blackpool and Ian Holloway go back to the Championship.

So, I get my Sunday mornings back until early August with only one match remaining. But it's the big one, the Champions League Final. Barcelona and Manchester United at Wembley this Saturday.

Meal of Links

How Fox's Roger Ailes failed to find a strong Republican candidate. He appears to be a Chris Christie man. Everyone else...meh.

This guy doesn't really like "SNL". Calls it "The embarrassing uncle of American comedy".

Randy "Macho Man" Savage died on Friday. It was a cause to remember him, so everyone did their "Oh, yeah" impersonations. Plus you could snap into a Slim Jim, if you preferred.

Randy Savage is Insane



Exercise Yard

Looks like LAPD has a suspect in custody from the Opening Day beating of a Giants fan. One of last week's Giants games in LA was the lowest attended in the series since 1997.

Visitor

None, on a warm Sunday.

I am now officially honked off at having a cold. I am now in Day 12 and seemingly not that much better than when I started. Now it's devolving into take a deep breath and immediately start hacking.

I swear I am now coughing up lung chunks. Lung chunks? Look for them in the frozen aisle of your favorite grocer. I keep hoping for some warmer weather which might help but, man, this is getting old.

So, when in doubt...Alcohol! I have poured myself a rye and ginger to help out. Who cares about any alleged healing powers after a few of these.

Meal of Links

I didn't see this coming. Frank Beckmann vs. Mitch Albom. Seems Albom is in favor of the Michigan Film Tax Credit (a proven loser for the state) and just happened to also get his own screenplay filmed in Michigan.

Danny Trejo. The Badass's Badass.

Dick Ebersol leaves NBC. Could this mean a Berman Olympics?

Two more days until...

"Rapture"/Blondie



Ruhlman has an excerpt of his book on Slate. He suggests sex while cooking.

Speaking of cooking...

My Drunk Kitchen Does Brunch



Stuttering songs. Another excuse to hear "Psycho Killer". And this...

"Surfin' Bird"/Family Guy



A driving tax? No fucking way. Very few of us get to work around the corner from where we live. And if anyone had vision in this town to build public transit to the South, lo those many years ago, I might sing a different tune. We only had three directions to build in this town and public transit barely benefits 2 out of the 3.

Exercise Yard

Man sets candlepin bowling record. I'd like to raise a practical question. What is candlepin bowling?

Visitor

24 Across: Fourth-cen. monastic (7 letters) Answer: St. Basil

Man, I had an interesting day today.

Had a guy tend to my roof. I had birds that were subletting without my knowledge.

I could not get my garage door to open. Electrics all screwed up.

To get the last bit out of a jar of Taco sause, I had it upside down for about a week. When I opened it...A red Jackson Pollock painting before my very eyes.

Meal of Links

Austin City potst its lineup. is that suspiciosuly like Lollapalooza?

I haven't really bothered to explore the comedy of Mitch Hedberg. But his widow has relaunched the website, so maybe it's time.

The resume is dead. The new king is your bio.

More Dogs of War. This Belgian Malinois intrigues me. "They can be destructive or develop neurotic behaviors if not provided enough stimulation and exercise." A match made in heaven.

Dan Le Batard gets his own show on ESPN2 in September. I'll have to get that into the rotation.

Comcast signs up TiVo. They have cut a lot of deals to turn it around over there. Left for dead many times.

1979. A great music year.

"Go the Fuck to Sleep" has gone viral. The campaign has been very effective.

Cornel West vs. Barack Obama.

Exercise Yard

Was that the worst lineup of the spring for the Tribe tonight? It showed.

Visitor

28 Across: Musical with the song "Midway Chase" (6 letters) Answer: Barnum

Things are looking up. The Cavs got the Number 1 pick in the draft and also got the Number 4 pick, from the Baron Davis trade. So, the NBA lottery goes our way!

The ramifications of that go way beyond just the players acquired. If those two are parlayed into star players, along with the trade exception still lingering, they may be able to get back to respectability quickly. Hence, fewer empty seats, more revenues, and on and on.

Who cares if it was fixed.

Just can't have the world end this Saturday.

Meal of Links

The ESPN book comes out next week and the buzz is really high. GQ has an excerpt. The subject of the excerpt? Why, Keith Olbermann, of course. His reign of terror at ESPN was legendary. "Welcome to the end of my career." still rates as one of the best lines ever uttered on TV.

Jerry Lewis is out as the MDA Telethon host. Probably due to the fact it's only 6 hours this year.

Elaine's in New York is closing. She once threatened this guy.

Dylan and his cult. One man wants it stopped.

According to Peter Griffin on last week's "Family Guy": "1985 brought us the gayest music video of all time":



"This happened and we all let it happen." I was on the floor.

Seth Macfarlane reboots "The Flintstones". That has hit written all over it.

You hit a deer. Now what? I ain't movin' no fuckin' deer.

Earworms? Maybe "Dancin' In The Streets".

The Pearl Jam doc goes to PBS. This is the Cameron Crowe one. Should be appointment TV.

"Wires"/Red Fang



Cuddy leaves. "House" becomes a sausage fest.

Huey Lewis and the News hit Number One with "Sports". Patrick Bateman, in "American Psycho" said this: "Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when "Sports" came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humor." Then he put "Fore" on and killed Paul Allen.

Exercise Yard

Dean Smith vs. segregation. Nice history about Dean-o pushing for his Kansas school to be desegregated on the court in the late '40s.

Visitor

66 Across: Country star Travis (5 letters) Answer: Randy

"Better Class of Losers"/Randy Travis

I think I'm done with the rain. Luckily, I used that window of nice weather on Friday to get the lawn mowed. Yesterday, I had a neighbor mowing his lawn in a driving rain. That's how weird it's getting.

Meal of Links

Hollywood North wraps in Vancouver. The TV portion, that is.

NBC unveils its 2011-12 schedule. I don't see much.

The Misery Index is at a record high. Even larger then when Carter was President. And that was bad.

Exercise Yard

We knew it for months, but West Ham was officially relegated today. Not a surprise, Avram Grant was allegedly sacked in the tunnel afterward.

So, West Ham will sell off some players and get some cash. Plus, they get the Olympic Stadium in London, starting in 2012, so I don't see them gone for long.

Two other relegation spots remain undecided, so next Sunday's fixtures are going to involve lots of channel changing.

Visitor

None, on a rainy Sunday.

My Dad and I were going to go to today's Indians game. This was the last Saturday 1:00 start of the year and I really like that start time. The forecast looked too ominous, so we backed off pretty early on going.

Instead, we headed to the Capitol and took in the documentary "Bill Cunningham New York". Cunningham is the iconic photographer of the New York Times. Not only takes pictures at social functions, but does the shows in Paris and also shows the fashion from the streets of New York.

Absolutely a first-rate production. Just enough of a picture into the guy's life. A guy still doing his job at 80, riding to and from work and to the events on his bike. Sweet guy who has an eye for what looks good on people and a keen sense of what would make a good photo.

After the movie, while it was still raining, BTW, we went for our first taste at Sweet Moses. This is the new ice cream joint on Detroit. Neat interior and the ice cream is really good. I had a root beer float and he had a chocolate malt. I had one taste of that and have to get one of those next time. Highly recommended.

Meal of Links

Michael Heaton is right. The Lady Gaga-Madonna comparison is so obvious, I can't believe the lawyers haven't been summoned. You hear a song and you say, mmm, that's "Express Yourself' or "La Isla Bonita". Watch the Gaga special on HBO, It's laughable. My favorite part was the shoutouts to "Jesus Christ" and "Jesus Christo" for being real superstars.

Paul Simon is kind to Canadians. He got a request from the audience and let the requester play guitar.

"Treme" got renewed for a third season. I was starting to worry about the ratings ("Terriers" territory) and wondering if HBO could continue to buy into David Simon's 5-year vision. Good for them.

Speaking of NOLA, the Mighty Mississip has to empty somewhere. Can you really trust the Corps decision to open up that Spillway? Limited options, but, oh, if they get it wrong.

"Good Eats" is done.

Catching up with Bootsy Collins. Includes "Groove Is In The Heart".

Man City Wins the FA Cup



The WBWC Summer Marathons on Thursday have started. This year, even Gordon Lightfoot gets the treatment.

These are not pictures of government officials watching Bin Laden get his. Nope. These are funny. The one with Bob Ross kills me, because you also have notables such as Quint, Spongebob, Pee Wee Herman, The Rally Monkey, and Mr. Clean.

Huckabee says "Not for me." Keeps his job and his money. Might have made some early primary noise but would not have won a nomination, in my opinion.

Exercise Yard

Harmon Killebrew has decided to end his cancer treatment and head over to hospice. Now this is how you want to sign off. Beautiful. As Rick Telander said, "...it's not raising the white flag, but perhaps lowering the party banner."

Killebrew was not your prototypical slugger. Kind of short and squat. But he homered 40 times in 8 different seasons (along with A-Rod, Bonds and Aaron) and only Babe Ruth has done better.

Visitor

51 Down: Shortstop Vizquel (4 letters) Answer: Omar

We officially live in Podunk. How can a simple Motivation Seminar cause major gridlock in town? You would not believe the traffic I saw this morning. The Jennings was backed up to State and it was barely moving. Then the 480 East exit ramp to 77 North was backed up onto 480, because of all the people who were not moving on the Jennings. Coupled with regular 77 North traffic that was, at one time, backed up to 82. WTF?

All that because Rudy Giuliani invited us to this seminar at, not $9.95 per person, but $9.95 for the entire office. Also on the bill were Goldie Hawn and Bill Cosby among others. I can't blame you for thinking "scam' as a description. Because they obviously oversold it.

Anyhow, our little hamlet was completely disrupted by this non-event. Incredible. Come on everyone, get motivated to arrive early next time.

Meal of Links

FCC Commissioner approves the NBC-Comcast merger. Now she steps down to take a lobbyist job. At Comcast, of course.

Weird news from last month.

Good news. More "Family Guy". For a 10th season!

Keith Olbermann is compiling his list of contributors for his new show. Now they have to let us know where Current is on the cable dial. I'm guessing Richard Lewis will be funnier than Dennis Miller on O'Reilly. BTW, you know Al Gore gets a lot of press for his Current Association, but Joel Hyatt is a bigwig there. Yes, that Joel Hyatt.

Reminders of the origins of Social Security.

The Hoff wants to remake "The Equalizer". I, subsequently, want to throw up.

Newt Gingrich for President? You have to be fucking kidding me. He's like Mikey. He hates everything. Best slogan, thus far: "Gingrich 2012: He will always love America. Unless it gets cancer."

Exercise Yard

Brazil is going to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. So, what better time to ratchet up the fear, then the present.

Visitor

16 Across: Best Supporting Actress before Paquin (5 letters) Answer: Tomei

I really hate being ill, even if it's for only a short while. But I picked up a bit of a cold over the weekend, as I guess I was running around as if it was 80 degrees instead of the 62 it actually was.

Yesterday, I had a hell of a time as the day wore on. Battling pretty hard until mid-afternoon, when I started getting the chills, along with some non-stop sneezing. Knocked me out pretty good and then I got to play a lame-o when I went home. Signified by my cable going out with 18 seconds left in regulation during the Miami-Boston game. Do I crawl and grab the cable box for a manual reboot? No, I turn on XM and get a score from ESPN radio.

You always have to be resourceful.

So, is it starve a cold or feed a fever? WebMD says never starve.

Meal of Links

Clear the decks, start checking off the bucket list. The world ends on May 21. Boy, if you're not raptured or subsequently saved, it's gonna really suck around here.

Gus Johnson lands on Fox. I'm not sold on him being permanently removed from March Madness coverage. Especially with Turner involved. Clearly, their influence got Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and Reggie Miller NCAA gigs this year and Kevin Harlan has been doing double duty for a while. But I'd love to see Gus get a Fox NFL playoff game soon.

More on the Derby winner, Animal Kingdom. And those lying trainers.

Google Music has arrived. Just in time for the apocalypse.

"Party At Ground Zero"/Fishbone



That's why there is an Internet. Things Tracy Jordan said on Season 5 of "30 Rock".

Bible? Yes. All other books? No.

Gary Coleman is dead. Has been for a year. That doesn't mean he's buried.

You're watching a favorite TV show. In this episode, the characters go on a game show. "Odd Couple"? On "Password"? Yes, sir! Plus "Sanford and Son" go "The Gong Show".

Michael Bolton Is Funny



The center of population since 1790 in the United States. Go west, young man.

Painful stats on Americans and their cars.

Hitch is losing his voice. Strange, but every time I read him, I actually hear his voice saying those words. Just picked up a National Magazine Award, as well. Of course, he can still find time to neuter Noam Chomsky.

Exercise Yard

Dan Rafael from ESPN has a nice wrapup on the Pacquiao-Mosley fight from Saturday. It's a shame these things cost $54.95 on the PPV. I mean who pays for these, especially when you hear the 39-year old Mosley say, "I wasn't going to take those kinds of risks. I was looking to land my shot." Which means, "I stayed away from Pacquiao for 12 rounds and got my $5 million."

It's tough to put any blame on Manny, but he hasn't knocked anyone out since Ricky Hatton. And that fight was two years ago! Since then, he's carried Cotto, Clottey, Margarito and now Mosley for 12 rounds. Now with the Mayweather fight seemingly not going to happen until both these guys are in their forties, Manny is starting to run out of opponents. It looks like Marquez will be next, because they can sell the fight to the public. After that, who knows?

BTW, Pacquiao-Mosley's $8,882,600 gate was the 14th best in Nevada history. It shows the public still loves Manny, regardless of who he fights. Showtime has the replay this weekend.

Looking ahead, what other fight holds any interest? I see Haye and Klitschko are starting to knock around a bit for their heavyweight fight. That's July 2nd on a crowded holiday weekend, so we'll see what audience that will attract. Haye talks a good game, so it'll get interesting as we get closer. HBO will have that live during the late afternoon on July 2.

Visitor

63 Across: Singer with Crosby and Stills (4 letters) Answer: Nash

"Chicago"/Graham Nash

This is not how you want to see one of your Derby picks at the end of the race. Usually you want to see your jockey still atop the horse. The things we learned about Archarcharch? Well, never will I bet the #1 in the Derby again. Ferdinand won from that slot only because he is a Hall of Famer. So, Archarcharch literally turned into a lame pick.





















Soldat, on the other hand, was near the lead and what did we learn about him? Well, he doesn't like dirt kicked in his face. We know that for a fact now.

Here's a nice race pictorial from the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Meal of Links

Can you cut the cord on cable? Lot easier than it used to be.

This is an interesting Canadian court case. They didn't extradite a prisoner to the US, because we have become and untrustworthy state when it comes to handling prisoners. A superior court upheld the decision.

You'd think prisoners would flock to this Norwegian prison. Tanning beds. Chicken risotto. WTF?

Uh, about that GOP Medicare plan. It kinda sucks.

Exercise Yard

After today, two weekends are left in EPL play. Big three matches today. Wolves beat West Brom, 3-1. So, Wolves have escaped the relegation zone for now. Arsenal lost to Stoke by the same score, so they officially spit the bit today. Leaving it all up to today's featured match, the alleged Match of the Year, first-place Manchester United against #2 Chelsea.

Manchester scored with only 36 seconds gone and eventually won the game, 2-1. So, they are the unofficial official champs this year. Just have to wait for the math the next two weekends.

In other news, Randy Lerner's Other Team officially escaped relegation this weekend. So, they will be back in the Premier League next year. The relegation zone currently consists of Blackpool, Wigan, and West Ham. Blackburn, Birmingham and Wolves are still in danger. Wigan and West Ham is the biggie next week and Wolves get Blackburn on the final weekend.

Coming up next year, for sure, are QPR (Queens Park Rangers), after a long absence, and Norwich (the Canaries), back after a 7-year absence. Those playing off for the last spot are Swansea, Cardiff, Reading and Nottingham Forest.

Visitor

None, on a hopefully turn-the-corner weatherwise Sunday.

While watching Bin Laden watching himself on TV...

Today is Kentucky Derby Day. Even if Uncle Mo had not been scratched, this was gonna be a pretty mediocre Derby. Let's face it, the favorite is probably going off at 5-1, which means you don't really have a favorite.

Regardless, I have lit upon two horses that I think have a chance. That would be:

#1 Archarcharch -and-

#17 Soldat

Archarcharch is your Arkansas derby winner. he has one of the best speed figures in the race. But he drew the dreaded #1 post. No doubt, he'll be flying late.

Soldat gagged as the Florida Derby favorite last time out. Maybe Thunder Gulch revisited? He's got the speed and class to win this. If he doesn't get to the front, does he like the dirt in his face? In Florida, that answer was a no.

Meal of Links

The other day, I visited Palookaville Chili for the first time. I had the Texas Beef Chili, Cornbread and Chili Chips. Chili and 2 sides is $9. I just wish the bowl of chili was bigger, because it was really good. I had cheese, sour cream, jalapenos and onions added. They don't add a lot of volume, but just enough for some more kick. No beans and really good beef here, so i understand the pricing. Cornbread was only so-so, the chips very good.

What happens when a merely distinct movie gets branded a "classic"? See "A Bronx Tale" at Cannes.

OK, I understand oil prices took a huge drop this week. But the increases at the pump lately are blamed on speculators and Bernanke.

I turn my head and Gus Johnson may be leaving CBS. I think Twitter exploded the other day.

The new era of Internet search. Answers, not just links.

"Hey, those Muslims make me uncomfortable." So, they are removed from the plane. their destination? A conference on prejudice against Muslims.

TV has officially run out of ideas. Now, it's a second sitcom based on the life of an ESPN Radio host.

They made a movie about Paul the Psychic Octopus. Seriously.

Seinfeld has his own website. Looks like a few clips per day.

Oprah should have waited to start her network. Already fired the CEO.

Catching up with D.A. Pennebaker. That guy knows how to shoot a doc.

The problems with celebrity charity. Lengthy read.

I've picked up a couple of Groupon deals. Here is their model.

This is very cool. The dogs of war.

Exercise Yard

Seve Ballesteros died today. Deserves every accolade he gets today. The most emotional golfer ever, truly an entertainer. Invented the European Tour, saved the Ryder Cup from its negligent period, and a 5-time major winner. If you think Phil Mickelson can't keep it in the fairway, you should have seen this guy. Really a big loss for golf at age 54.

Visitor

48 Down: "Tommy" rockers (6 letters) Answer: The Who

I was lucky to find out about the death of Bin Laden when I did. I finished up "Treme" and somehow landed on Fox 8 to watch a scene from "The New Adventures of Old Christine". Then I landed on the baseball game where ESPN was running a Breaking News crawl about the death of Osama Bin Laden and we had the body. Mercy! So, I grabbed a news channel and continued to watch the President and the aftermath of his speech.








































I was surprised at the gathering outside of the White House and the subsequent cheering. I seem to recall when we see people in their homeland cheering at our misfortune, we are none too happy about it. Somehow when we cheer it's not necessarily a celebration, but something else? I don't get that. It looked like a bunch of students with nothing better to do and having some sort of meetup at the WH. I found that very strange, because frankly, there wasn't a whole lot to cheer.

I mean hadn't Bin Laden won this fight a long time ago. In terms of the human cost and dollars spent to get him. Setting aside other freedoms that were lost via the Patriot Act, travel restrictions, constant fear mongering, etc. Plus, he still wins in death, by the virtue of the war not ending, meaning more lives are wasted.

Don't get me wrong. I love the fact Bin Laden is gone and the mission was pulled off expertly. I see it most definitely as a milestone, but the job is far from finished.

Meal of Links

The story behind the FDNY photo that made the rounds after Sunday's news. Oh, that'll get awards.

Top 25 Newspapers in America. By circulation The PD is 20th daily and 15th on Sundays.

There is "Dexter" news already. He gets a Latina love interest.

Beastie Boys references. These are my favorite rhymes:

"Hey Ladies"/Beastie Boys



"There's more to me than you'll ever know
And I've got more hits than Sadaharu Oh"

"Three MCs and One DJ"/Beastie Boys



"Sweet and sour like a tangerine
Fresh like a box of Krispy Kremes
Kenny Rogers' Gambler is my gambling theme
Mix Master Mike with the scratch routine"

"Sabotage"/Beastie Boys



"But Make No Mistakes And Switch Up My Channel
I'm Buddy Rich When I Fly Off The Handle
What Could It Be It's A Mirage
You're Scheming On A Thing That's Sabotage"

The economics of fighting Bin Laden. His strategy all along was a financial one.

Here are all of your May TV finales. Not on there, but the Champions League final is on my birthday.

Finally. Deconstructing Limbaugh's act on Monday.

Exercise Yard

Bill Simmons combines "The Wire" and the NBA Playoffs. Complete with a Hebner Brothers reference.

The Hebner Brothers



Jesse Ventura: "How can there be two Dave Hebners?"

Classic.

Visitor

5 Down: Sandinista Daniel (6 letters) Answer: Ortega

I found myself at Champps last night. Mr. and Mrs. Mix were in town, so Jeff and Gale and I had a meetup at Crocker Park. Hey, they have Harp on tap there and I had a Fan Favorite known as a Club Sandwich. Anyhow, we found out Mrs. Mix and her family celebrated Dyngus Day for years. What Secret Society is this?

Anyhow, most of the TVs had the Tribe game and I noticed there was some MMA on, as well. Perhaps some old reruns from Spike or something. Boy, as soon as 9:00 came about, most of the TVs were tuned to MMA. Now, I realized it was the PPV event from Toronto. As I looked about the room, I noticed all the Affliction shirts and figured this was the reason for the crowd. Because it was kinda packed. No doubt these places get people to show up, because of the high PPV price for home use.

I'm still old-school boxing, but we saw a bout end in 20 seconds last night by a questionable referee's decision. So, at least that carries over from the Sweet Science. If you care, here are last night's MMA results.

Meal of Links

Our Governor is a Steelers fan. But he loves Cleveland. So, in the unlikely event of the Browns ever making the Super Bowl, sorry, but he cannot participate.

Never buy expensive HDMI cables. Why? It's science.

You are a thief. You need electronics. Where do you go? Starbucks.

The thing I like about President Obama is he handles these types of things with a pretty good delivery of these funny lines. Trump! Hah!

Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner



Clay Matthews. Comedian.

Looking back at the Playboy Clubs. I am assuming there was not one here.

Exercise Yard

I just found out that the Tribe is serving Christmas Ale. Stand by Section 153. That's not a bad idea, but wow, if the crowds get bigger, it may go quick. I'm not sure I've ever had that when the temperature outside was warm.

On the field, things are looking good. Another win today.

Visitor

None, on a cloudy Sunday.