I'm a long time watcher of the Match Game and I have to admit, Charles Nelson Reilly's death has me a little sad this morning. I saw him in his one man show about 5 years ago, called "Save It For The Stage." He was a funny, foppish fella.

If you're interested, here's some footage of a Match Game "Retro Reunion" from about 5 years ago on the CBS Early Show (courtesy You Tube).

Labels: Charles Nelson Reilly, Match Game

Leetch, only American-born playoff MVP, retires

Labels: New York Rangers

But neither is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Check out this story from this morning's NPR Morning Edition. Mayor Bloomberg is putting it on the books that all of NYC's cabs will have to hybrid by 2012.

It's an aggresive deadline for a city whose government generally moves at a snail's pace and it's wait and see as to whether it will actually happen, but I applaud the measure.

Also, listen closely to the part about using feces as fuel in Minnesota. Jesse Ventura alone should be able to fuel half of St. Paul's SUVs.

Labels: feces, New York City

I'm sure we're going to find out a lot more about this, some information that will contradict, some that will corroborate. Either way, this link should make you really angry.

*Editor's note: Elijah Dukes is a rookie outfielder with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays that has a long history of anger management issues.

Labels: baseball

Labels: Port-o-potties

It's weird how a day can start normally, and then can totally get thrown off track.

This morning, I woke up, showered and came into work like I always do. I turned on my computer, check my email, went out onto my sites to spotcheck and make sure everything was functioning properly. Just like I do every morning.

Then I got a phone call from my dad and found out my grandfather died this morning.

It's hardly unexpected. He's been really sick for the better part of a decade. He was also 93 years old. In that respect, it's not shocking. But it happened so quickly that I didn't really have time to mentally prepare for it, so it was a shock.

And now, instead of working and playing golf and seeing Ricky Gervais do some standup, I'll be burying my stepmother's father. A man who grew up so poor that he had to play baseball with rags. A man who was so strong he could survive the horrors of a concentration camp. A man who was so sweet that he never said an unkind word about anyone. A man who never treated me any differently just because I wasn't his "real" grandson. A man who loved me and taught me so much.

A man who was so wonderful that I'm going to miss him terribly.

** UPDATE: Funeral will be at 11am on Sunday at Hellman Memorial Chapel in Spring Valley, NY.

Directions are here.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Rockland Holocaust Museum, 17 South Madison Ave., Spring Valley, NY 10977, (845) 356-2700

Labels: Grandpa

I was thinking about this last night, as I watched a repeat of the 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden on MSG. I've been at two of the most gut-wrenching losses in New York sports history.

May 21, 1995, Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 7, Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks. Pacers 97, Knicks 95.

Admittedly, this loss wasn't as bad the Game 1 loss, where Reggie Miller scored 8 points in the last 17 seconds of the game to beat the Knicks. However, the vision of Patrick Ewing missing a finger roll at the buzzer (which would have sent the game into overtime) and Reggie Miller running across the floor and kissing it, while his teammates mobbed him is burned into my memory forever.

October 19, 2004, ALCS Game 6, Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees. Red Sox 4, Yankees 2.

The bloody sock game. End of story.

And those are just two big examples. But I've also been at a Yankee World Series win (1998), a Super Bowl (2003), a Yankee ALCS clincher (1998), several Ranger playoff victories (1994, 1996, 2007), two championship parades down the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan (1994 Rangers, 1996 Yankees).

I'll take it.

Labels: jinx factor, New York sports

Here's a pic that I took this Sunday while walking my dog. The background in midtown Manhattan. The foreground in a pond just east of Wollman Rink.

Labels: Central Park

Jolie: Shiloh was planned.

Geoff: I don't give a crap.

Labels: play

Interesting article from the Village Voice about Rudy Giuliani's relationship with the Yankees.

Speaking of the Yankees, I went to the game Monday night (the one with the botched stolen base call) and had amazing seats. 3 rows behind the Yankees dugout. I took some pictures, which I'll post as soon as I get a minute to upload them.

Also, a quick shout out to my man Dennis DiClaudio. I'm getting into his second book, The Paranoid's Pocket Guide to Mental Disorders You Can Just Feel Coming On. It's a worthy follow up to his first book, even if he does molest collies.

Labels: Dennis DiClaudio, New York Yankees, Rudy Giuliani, Village Voice

I caught an interesting episode of American Masters on PBS last week. It was about a guy named Ahmet Ertegun, the son of a Turkish ambassador that fell in love with Rhythm & Blues and Jazz in the 30s and 40s and founded Atlantic Records to get this music into the mainstream.

You should watch the show. I won't go on in detail about what the guy accomplished. I'll just say that he died in a really unusual way: by falling backstage at a Rolling Stones concert at age 83.

You can read a really interesting article from Rolling Stone about the show here.

Labels: American Masters, PBS

I saw a rat today at the 7th Ave. subway station in Manhattan. Not on the tracks. On the platform.

I tried to get a picture, but I was on the B train when I saw it. The doors closed and the train took off before I got my camera phone mobilized.

Labels: B train, rat