Hey, what's this. The Seattle Times editorializes the legalization of marijuana. This is the new casino money. Ohio should not ignore that fact. Get real and start taxing the damn stuff. And think of the job creation.

Meal of Links

Be sure to look for the brother of Kenny Fuckin' Powers at the Oscars. John Hawkes swears a lot, too.

The Scott Walker Prank Call. Yep, it happened.

The Best GIFs from the Oscar nominees. I think "The Fighter" is the best one.

More Awards. This time it's Mr. Skin.

Exercise Yard

Now we know all about Tim Horton's deathly car accident. He was drunk.

Visitor

17 Across: Country singer with the 1961 hit "Crazy" (10 letters) Answer: Patsy Cline

"Crazy"/Patsy Cline

There is a Tim Horton's in Kandahar. Its employees are actually eligible for war medals and, oddly enough, not one of them waited on me.

But I Google Mapped it anyhow. It's a long drive.

Meal of Links

No shit. This has to be the most fascinating interview about farts I have ever read.

A whole bunch of movies that are remakes or reboots. 75 of 'em and I think the only one that interests me is "Robocop". I love "Robocop".

Darryl Strawberry fires himself. Probably had to catch up on his DVR library.

Exercise Yard

Showtime sponsors the Southern 500. I don't mind their sponsorship, I just wish it wasn't for such an historic race.

Visitor

23 Across: Comic Phillips (3 letters) Answer: Emo

It's pretty sad when a guy gets the taser at a John Kerry lecture. This scene was disturbing on so many levels. First, we have a known prankster involved who probably didn't think it would escalate into what happened. We have the student committee who sponsored the event call in security. We have students in the audience encouraging security to remove the guy. Security cannot contain this guy? And Kerry reminds me of Al Lerner after Bottlegate at the Stadium: "Carmen, did you see any bottles? I didn't see any bottles." Kerry said he didn't know until he left the building that the kid got tasered. Bullshit, I say.

Maybe, he should listen to The Clash.

The Clash-"Know Your Rights"



Meal of Links

Catching up with Sean Young. Oh man, she makes my boy parts move.

Ten funniest Internet sites. Some obvious choices here. "Funny or Die" is newer, but really good. "Overheard in New York", a timeless classic.

Tim Horton's might not be a good stock play, but I'm sensing a Butter Caramel Smoothie in my near future. Methinks I'll flip a coin for the direction I travel. I'll take Romeo with me.

Exercise Yard

O.J. hates the World Series. Remember the World Series was cancelled last time he committed felonies. Be alert, October.

Visitor

32 Across: Terrell who sang with Marvin Gaye (5 letters) Answer: Tammi

No, I did not win the lottery. Sure sign of spring is not daylight savings time nor doing taxes. Nope, it's me going to Lowe's to buy fertilizer. All of this happened today, so far.

Anyhow, I haven't been around because Nomar Stalker and I headed up to Detroit for some work-related training. Training is training, so no surprises there. You're drained more mentally than physically after a day in the classroom.

The highlights were many. We stopped at a Tim Horton's, of course, on the way to Southfield. I got me a Hot Butter Caramel Smoothie with a strawberry muffin. I loves my Timmy's.

And Mr. B's in Rochester was the way I remembered it. They have HDTVs, of course, but the beer was cold and the sammies are always good there. Threw my weight around and got them to put on the last 15 minutes of the Champions League game, too. And it's close to the Palace of Auburn Hills, one of the few places that still has onsite parking. Why does that matter?

Because we were at the best regular season Cavs game I've ever seen, the Wednesday night win over the Pistons at the Palace! Our boss sprung for really good tickets, about 10 rows from the floor, in the corner opposite the Cavs bench. Much like Value City Arena in Columbus, these seats are made for the 1920's body, a bit tight. Great atmosphere. The thing you notice is lots more urban people and kids than the Q. But there are definite similarities when it comes to game presentation, and if you hear that Dan Gilbert wants to copy things from Detroit, it's not necessarily a bad idea. Certainly you have to see a game live there before you pass judgment.

First of all, the pre-game festivities start 30 minutes ahead of gametime. We had a local dance school perform, which seems like a cheap and easy way to fill time these days. Then they have what I guess is a house band. Yes, a house band playing all your funk favorites from yesteryear. I heard some Sly and some Stevie Wonder. Very good unit, I would not mind seeing a rock band at the Q. They also have a drumline. No kidding, a drumline. The cheerleaders are Automotion. Trust me, everything is in motion on these women. They also show the Pistons on the big screen, emerging from the locker room. It sounds hokey, but it gets people fired up, anticipating the start of the game. Then they come out to the floor and the place goes nuts. They also have fire during the Pistons introductions. At the Q, the fire comes out of the scoreboard and you will definitely lose hair from most of your body parts that have it, it's that hot. At the Palace, the fire comes out of two pipes on each backboard. Lord, have mercy! Gotta have that fire. And "DEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALL" has been replaced by the equally annoying "Pistons basketball, right back down the floor!". Overall, an assault on your senses that is a David Stern wet dream.

As for the game, well, everyone knows what happened by now. I thought at 81-72 the Cavs were toast, but somehow they managed to get that game into overtime and win. A few observations, probably to file away in case we meet Detroit later. Don't get me wrong, this was a huge win, but it masked some problems. Number one is our coach is awful. Why Shannon Brown was in this game went unanswered. And Mike Brown did not call one timeout in this game to halt any Piston momentum. Not once. It appears the Cavs are winning in spite of the guy. And it does not help when you have a journeyman like Damon Jones, standing next to the coach, during the game, mind you, to offer suggestions. I've never seen that. This was constant, as well, not just once in a while. This would be like Jack Haley sauntering over to Philip during the Jordan era and calling out plays. Unbelievable.

Next, our guards can't cover their guards. End of story. Rip Hamilton against Sasha Pavlovic will not work. Chauncey Billups was having his way with Larry Hughes and with Eric Snow off the bench, it didn't get any better. The Cavs got this win, simply because the Pistons went to the threeball late in the game. If they had stuck with some inside play, especially guards slashing to the basket, they would have won. Thank you, Flip Saunders.

But LeBron was the man. His dunk around two Pistons with five seconds left was an amazing feat. Showed how much speed and power he really has. Just an awesome performance. However, his teammates continue to miss open shots. In this game, it was Donyell Marshall who stunk. Don't want to minimize the win, because it was their best result of the year, but the Cavs cannot rely on LeBron scoring 50 a game come playoff time. Although, he just may do it.

Meal of Links

OK, most loyalists are already suffering from "The Office" withdrawal. But this seems to be a decent idea to fire up some old reruns, called "newpeats". These air next Thursday. And Toby hosts a marathon on March 29th.

You can also check out a bunch of episodes of "Andy Barker, P.I." before they air on NBC. I like Andy Richter. His last show was mishandled badly by Fox, so we'll see where this one goes. I thought the pilot was funny.

The Sun is always there. But I'm not sure we want them to be, because we get stories like this.

Exercise Yard

This article regarding the MLB/Extra Innings/DirecTV deal explains why Bud must go. As I said earlier, I know of no other sport that willingly denies a fan's ability to see more games.

Oh, goody. I get to take a look the Ray Austin-Wladimir Klitschko bout on HBO.

4:45: We are looking live at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. It's Lamps, Merchant and Lennox Lewis on the commentary. Harold Lederman not there, HBO must not have wanted to pay his way. Uh-oh, a sign this won't last long, as Harold comes on after Round 3. This is just like the old "Wide World of Sports" days, a heavyweight title on in the afternoon. I love it.

5:00: Ring entrances. The challenger, Ray "The Rain Man" Austin, is from Cleveland. Apparently, he goes to Browns games, as "Thunder" from AC/DC is played. The champ, Klitschko, "Dr. Steelhammer", has some dude pounding out something on an anvil. A video of his last three KO victims is played, attesting to the fact he is "Dr. Steelhammer". This is done as he enters the ring to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Can't Stop".

5:02: Michael Buffer tells us we get two anthems today. Yes, we are in Germany. The crowd is booing "The Star-Spangled Banner". Thanks, allies! The German anthem goes off without a hitch. At least, I think so, as the crowd cheers.

5:05: Intros. "For the thousands in attendance..." is in German. "Let's get ready to rumble!" not in German. Austin is about a half an inch shorter than Klitschko, they weigh about the same. Oooh, Dr. Steelhammer and The Rain Man have a staredown. Seconds out and we have...

5:08: Round 1. The crowd is shouting "Kleech-ko". Moving and pawing by both men. Klitschko has the better jab, Austin kind of a light one but he stayed on his feet. Not much action. Klitschko gets the round, 10-9, on my Harold Lederman Memorial scorecard.

5:12: Round 2. Klitschko has yet to throw a right hand. All of a sudden, it's FOUR LEFT HOOKS BY KLITSCHKO! Good night! Austin starts to fall on the first one. He is down and gets up at 10 and the ref stops it. Nice bit of work for a million dollars by Austin. The crowd is whistling, they are not happy in Mannheim. HBO goes to the big book of filler material.
















5:15: Dr. Steelhammer goes to each corner and applauds the crowd and waves to each side. The whistling subsides.

5:17: Buffer announces Klitschko as the winner and confetti rains down. It seems to me the folks at SAP Arena thought he had an excellent chance of winning.

5:21: Finally, Larry Merchant with the post-fight interview. Klitschko said he fought the fight, because it was a mandatory defense. Austin was slower than his sparring partners and it was a rather easy fight. He wants to unify the titles and is glad his brother is mounting a comeback in the heavyweight division. Merchant closes with some thoughts about Klitschko not being the perfect heavyweight, but "he's pretty damn good."

5:25: Lamps runs down the other champs and says the likelihood of unification is still a ways off. And it's "Auf Wiedersehen" from Germany.

Visitor

8 Down: Director Kurusawa (5 letters) Answer: Akira

With the strains of Cake's "Rock'n'Roll Lifestyle" in the background, I am back from seeing two concerts the last couple of days. The Pretenders at the Agora on Sunday, followed by The Who at Greg Oden's Place in Columbus.

The Pretenders, Agora

S. and I went to the Pretenders show at the Agora and that's a place I haven't been to in years. Of course, the Corridor Project has rendered their parking lot a bloody mess. Lots of mud. And we learned they have an interesting smoking policy, at least for now. Let people smoke before the show starts, then take the ashtrays away. WTF? I guess they are going to plead confusion over the law, but they better figure it out, as the arrests and/or complaints will start soon. The Agora has tables and chairs on the downstairs terraces, which are probably immediately claimed after the doors open. So, we headed to the pit, where we were about six rows back.

Where I think I may have suffered permanent hearing loss. How will I hear those kids playing on my lawn? It was because of the opening act, Living Stereo. Although the frontman was pretty funny, really spastic and such, the decibel level had to be about 130. Chest-pounding, ceiling tile-falling loudness. I liked them, but wished I could understand what the hell they were saying. At one point, I couldn't understand if the guy "worked at the Yellow Pages" or if he "was afraid of the undertaker". It was that muddied. Need to bring earplugs next time.

Then the Pretenders took the stage at a decibel level that accomodated by damaged hearing. The original drummer, Martin Chambers, is in the band, with a really young bass player, Nick Wilkinson, and a really good older dude, Adam Seymour on guitar. Chrissie Hynde is now 55 (gulp!), but puts on a really good show. And, let's face it, it's all about her. She mentioned they had been touring with The Who on part of their schedule. She said, "There were some old faces on that tour. Really old faces. They would come out and watch our set and learn some things." Hah!

She also mentioned the lack of vegetarian restaurants locally and since she moved back to Akron, there will be one open down there next year. By her, of course. I was curious that they didn't play that many new songs, so it had a greatest hits feel. And I think I have most of those listed here, in no particular order:

"The Wait"
"Message of Love" (my favorite done early in the set)
"Talk of the Town"
"Precious"
"Kid" (dedicated to Farndon and Scott)
"Tattooed Love Boys"
"Forever Young" (She mentioned there were many men in her life, but this one had been there since the start and had remained with her. Chrissie said he had recently written a book and now has a radio show. A girl behind us yelled, "Al Franken!". I thought that funny. Of course, it was Dylan.)
"Brass in Pocket"
"Back on the Chain Gang" (terrific solo by Seymour)
"Up the Neck"
"My City Was Gone"
"Middle of the Road"

All in all, a good show and Chrissie Hynde autographed my ticket after the show.

The Who, Value City Arena

Gale was working in Columbus, so I joined her for The Who at Value City Arena on Monday night. It may have been the most professional show, in terms of performing, I've ever seen. Oddly enough, still touring with The Who was...wait for it...The Pretenders! I give Chrissie Hynde credit. They were in a situation where no one wanted to see them, but she gave it a go and won the crowd over. Probably half the show from Sunday lengthwise. All the major hits.

I liked the part where she posed with a tambourine, wearing a top hat, and says, "Guess who I am?" On Sunday, people yelled "Tom Petty!" and I yelled, "Mick Jagger!". She says, "Stevie Nicks. I thought that obvious." Same routine Monday. I yelled, "Stevie Nicks!", and when she said it, this guy in front of me whipped his head around, and must have thought I was Kreskin. Better looking, of course.

The Arena: Can you tell this structure was built with strict governmental/university rules in mind? For example, not many men's bathrooms, so there were lines. Why? Well, besides serving beer, each men's room contained three urinals, two stalls, and a handicapped lounge. That's it. Oh, I longed for a trough. BTW, we parked for free at some OSU facility which they ignore. If that was in Cleveland, if they didn't charge for parking, you would have at least received a ticket, and maybe a tow. Also, I asked a guy at a stand where the mustard was, after I bought a pretzel. One guy who overheard me points, but the mensa I asked said, "Over by the condiments." Thanks, pal.

The Seats: We were in Section 123, the third section from the stage. Unfortunately, to cram in all of the seats, there is little leg room. It appears the Value City of design firms worked on this joint, and designed it for the 1920's type of body. But when standing, it's OK.

The Crowd: Chaperone Hat wasn't even packed. Wow, there were some old farts at this one. The hippy lettuce was smoked by some people in front of us. Also, in front of us, a guy who texted during much of the show. Has this replaced the "waving-hello-while-on-cellphone" during games? After the show, I was pleasantly surprised to see many people using public transportation after games. I understand it's college, OK, but there were lots of people waiting.

The Stage: It surprised me how sparse the staging was. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey up front, the other four in a second row behind them. Huge video screen behind them, and three smaller ones, left, right, middle, up top.

The Band: Pete and Roger, of course, the last two. Pino Palladino, who has knocked around with them for a few years and late of the John Mayer Trio, on bass; Pete's brother, Simon, on guitar and vocals; Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, on drums; the regular synth player had left the tour to tend to an ailing wife, so the keyboard tech filled in and did a great job.

The Music: This was the last show on this leg of the tour, before a long break. Unfortunately, Roger had a chest cold and his voice was subpar. I think if this happened in the middle of the tour, it probably would have been postponed. I said, "I don't wanna be here the day Roger killed his voice." But Roger fought on, telling us, after the fourth song, "It's not my throat, it's my chest. Whatever I got left, you'll get it tonight." I tell you, at times, it was a real chore, but he did a great job considering. There's no doubt, Pete just loves Roger singing his songs, because after the encore, he yelled, "You fuckin' made it!" and rubbed his neck and gave him a playful pat on the head a couple of times. I heart Pete.

Pete also cracked me up after "Baba O'Riley". He said, "The relationship between an artist or a band with the crowd is amazing. You are more responsible for our success than you know. We play that song and it gets such a great reaction and it brings the house down every night. But, sometimes, I wonder about it and think, people, it's a song about digging a hole in a field. Digging...Yay...(hands way up in the air). But we love playing the old songs and we got about an hour of them coming up." Then they went into "Eminence Front". He is still the craftsman on stage. Still has the windmills going, although not as many as in the past, for obvious reasons. He only had one side leap and one split kick in him, as well. Pete is great. And Roger clunked no one while whipping his mike around.

The songs: I'll try and remember as many as I can. Lots of hits.

"Can't Explain"
"The Seeker"
"Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (Great tune)
"CSI Song"
"Behind Blue Eyes" (Every time I hear this song, I think of Scotty Baldwin in "General Hospital". Remember, when he was in jail, they used to play this all of the time.)
Then they did a six-song suite from a new EP.
"Baba O'Riley"
"Eminence Front"
Some more new stuff.
"You Better You Bet"
"My Generation"
"Won't Get Fooled Again"

The encore:

"Pinball Wizard" and a suite right into "See Me, Feel Me" where we really felt bad for Roger.

Pete, on acoustic, and Roger closed with "Tea and Theatre".

Meal of Links

Another highlight in visiting Columbus is Tim Horton's. After the show, we had to go to two of them to get a correct food order, but I had my Butter Caramel Hot Smoothie. Then I got another for the ride home.

And, of course, with the hotel next to a Waffle House, guess where I had breakfast? There is nothing like an ex-con makin' you breakfast. And no, I did not eat lunch. Great atmosphere. A guy was selling DVDs for five dolla. New stuff like "Saw III". I'm sure it was theatre quality.

Back to reality, here is a site that's cool. Lots of video. TV shows, cartoons, etc. First thing I see is "24: Season 1" and it looks and sounds good. And all the "Dexter"s, as well.

Exercise Yard

Boy, the Knicks are a sorry lot.

Visitor

46 Across: The Riddler portrayer of 1960s TV (12 letters) Answer: Frank Gorshin