It took about 155 games, but I finally made an emotional connection with the Dodgers last night. I don't know if it was the gutty pitching performance by Hideo Nomo, the late comeback, or the two-run rally in the ninth off of Trevor Hoffman, but I finally got it last night. On Wednesday, I attended my first game of the year, a depressing, dull loss to the Giants, where the only joy I got out of the experience was the companionship of my friend Deborah, who is just getting into the game; it must have been like how my dad felt, taking me to a game when I was just a lad, and I would say things like "do the best you can" when Steve Garvey or Willie Davis came up as the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, so as to take the pressure off them. The Dodgers this season were just another team to me, not as fun or interesting as the Angels; the Sheffield trade seemed to remove the one player on the team who gave a rat's ass about winning, so for most of the season I didn't care how they did, even though they were in contention from Day 1. I guess for me it's always about just one player; if I can identify with someone, no matter how obnoxious or arrogant or incompetent he is, then the team follows. Last night it was Nomo, a consummate professional, throwing some wicked stuff and laying down a perfect bunt in the fifth inning to set up the tying run; all night long, he had this look in the dugout, a cross between determined and pissed-off, that was so unlike the typical frat-boy attitude that has permeated the team since they broke up The Infield in 1982. This was someone who was upset that the team wasn't going to make the playoffs barring a NoCal collapse, that he had to share a locker room with the same morons who were now counting on him to carry the team, again, and he just wanted the damn ball. LOVE IT !!!

According to Google, this is one of the top sites for surfers seeking info about Bush's verbal miscue last week (ie., "fool me once...won't get fooled again"), which for a time led to two of the biggest days in traffic in the five month history of Smythe's World. Since all I did was accurately transcribe the quote, without comment (snarky or otherwise), in my thought-of-the-day box, above, it was a bit of undeserved good fortune for yours truly; by the way, I found the accurate quote from the White House's own website; for their part, the media amended his remarks to reveal what they thought the President meant to say, inserting a "...fool me twice, shame on me" at the end, as if he were a teenage prospect from San Pedro de Macoris, valiantly attempting his first interview in English. According to this Bush expert, however, the gaffe may have been less of a misstatement than previously thought, and more of a character flaw that could prove devastating to the Republic.

It seems that if W and the GOP were serious about compromise on the Homeland Security Bill, they will have to do a better job than Zell freaking Miller. C'mon, if you want to convince real Democrats in the Senate on the sticking point of employee rights, you'll have to find a senator who's not from a right-to-work state to be your water boy.

Sorry for the lupicaesque cliche, but MEMO TO COMISKEY PARK: feel free to evict any fan who takes off his shirt during the game, especially if he (or his son) is covered with tattoos. Left untreated, such a situation always ends tragically.

This may be an unfair comparison, since, granted, I'm not a tennis expert or anything, but, looks aside, Andy Roddick is pretty much a male version of Anna Kournikova, except she may win a Grand Slam event sooner.

Admittedly, I didn't think this was a big deal when I first saw the headline. I mean, "Seven Mets Suspected of Using Pot" is not exactly a coffee spit-take sort of story, especially since the big drug story in sports last year concerned allegations that 75% of the NBA (you know, basketball players, as in, real athletes) were using. If it's only 7 players, the Mets clubhouse has to be a den of bible-thumpers. Having been publicly called out by TalkLeft on this story, though, I must confess that however much I would like to see pot legalized, thereby making its legal status consistent with the public's moral consensus on the subject, I have no problem with a team setting standards on drugs and alcohol that are much higher than those of the rest of society. Professional athletes are not jazz musicians, who might need to smoke pot to take the edge off after a night of performing; they get paid substantial sums to be in the ultimate physical shape, and the steady usage of marijuana is seemingly not conducive to hitting a 98 mph fastball from Eric Gagne (I could be wrong about the subject, though; I have it on good authority that one of the few decent players on the Detroit Tigers won't play unless he's baked). But I would hope that the club's policy on drugs would be consistent with its policy concerning beer, booze, and fast food; if the Mets want an explanation as to why their team went south this year, they should look to the star catcher who sees nothing wrong with getting hammered after every game, or the first baseman who apparently views weighing 300 pounds as his career objective.

Please read the text of the draft resolution, to be approved shortly by Congress, giving the President unlimited authority to start a war with Iraq and any other nation he sees fit. As neither of the Senators from California are up for election this year, there is little I can do to vent my displeasure at the ballot box concerning the craven manner in which the Democratic Party has once again acted. It is perhaps telling that the one senator who is most likely to do the right thing on this issue, Paul Wellstone, is the one facing a challenge from the Green Party. Ironically, quick passage of the bill will probably assure a big election night for the Democrats, because it will neutralize the Iraqi war as a political issue seven weeks before the election; after the resolution is approved, foreign policy differences will not be a big factor in local congressional races. But its passage will only show how unfit the current Democratic party is to govern, and why control of Congress just doesn't matter, in spite of the handful of judicial nominees the party can stall in the Senate.

My uncle's memorial service is Saturday up in Kernville, so I will miss most of the year's grand social event at Joxer's, the Hockey Draft. Every year, the hockey fans in the bar get together and draft players by according to the number of points they will score. And this continues for about ten or twelve rounds (of picks, not beer). It costs $50 to enter, it's open to the public, and the winner gets a grip of money and a lot of Molson. And remember, its a contest, not a pool.

Frankly, I'm surprised this sort of thing hasn't happened more frequently. Part of the charm of going to a baseball game is that the players and the field are relatively accessible, so it isn't difficult for any fan who so desired to jump onto the field and join the festivities. For years, "Morganna" became a cult celebrity by simply running onto the field and kissing an athlete, with what had to be the acquiescence of the home team. About six or seven years ago, some nutcase attacked Randy Myers of the Cubs after he gave up a game-tying home run in the 9th inning. In the same ballpark last year, Chad Kreuter of the Dodgers was assaulted by a fan while catching in the bullpen; when he and his teammates responded, they were showered with alcohol by the assorted rummies. Considering the ease with which guns can be obtained, it's inevitable that at some point, some drunk fan is going to run onto the field and kill someone.

OK, I defended LA columnist Jill Stewart last week, but this was too good to pass up. A while back she won a libel suit that had been filed against her by a local politico whom she had called a "poverty pimp", and her subsequent article about the suit was filled with smug, self-congratulatory praise, repeating the slur in almost every sentence (btw, attacking left-of-center African Americans is her specialty, along with implying that unionized teachers are the spawn of satan; several years ago, she actually started a jihad against a local black Democrat in the State Assembly for using his family's house as his residency for his district, when, in fact, the cad had occasionally been spending the night with a member of the opposite sex in another district !!). In any event, check out this letter to the editor entitled "How un-PC" (scroll down a bit), written in the same spirit.

The latest word is that Bison Dele, along with his boating companions, were killed by his brother with Dele's own handgun (no doubt following a heated discussion about the Second Amendment). Since this appears to be in French jurisdiction, the death penalty won't be involved, if and when they capture him.

(ED.-Tonight ESPN is reporting that the brother of Bison Dele has been apprehended, but that he is in a coma.)

Believe it or not, we are still looking for contributors (amateurs, preferably) to the new college football weblog, Condredge's Acolytes. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

One of the more laughable rumors (being taken seriously by Kausfiles not surprisingly) is the claim that Ahnolt is about to enter the California governors race as a "write-in" candidate. Just besides the logistical difficulty involved in getting several million people to spell his last name, there is simply the problem that among most voters, particularly in the Golden State, the Terminator is viewed as something of a right-wing joke. The entire point of floating such rumors is to gratify the ego of the celebrity, who can pretend that he is not simply an action star but a person of substance as well. In a few years, I guarantee you that we will hear of Rob Reiner (or Sylvester Stallone, or Ben Affleck) doing the same thing, and hopefully the LA Times will not report those rumors as credible either.

Tom Daschle may do nationally what Gray Davis has done for California: make the Green Party the only legitimate route for liberals to take. The Senate's craven action in scheduling a vote on a war with Iraq before the November election not only circumvents efforts by the U.N., our European allies, and most of the West to remove Saddam short of war, but it also indicates that the Democratic party is too compromised to offer anything remotely resembling a "loyal opposition". There has been one party, though, which has used its influence in the halls of power to ask the tough questions about Iraq, and in particular the futility of engaging in unprovoked hostilities in that region: the Republicans !!

Fortunately, our leaders in Congress have been focused on more serious issues, like debating whether to honor the Williams sisters (thanks to Adam Felber for the link).

As noted below, the French police and the FBI are now treating the disappearance of Bison Dele and his girlfriend as a murder investigation, with the focus being on his brother, who was detained shortly after they went missing on an identity theft charge, then released. Dele's catamaran was found late last week, and according to one tip, investigators are looking into a possible fight on board that led to the murders. The more I find out about Dele, the sadder this story gets.

According to TalkLeft, a longtime crime reporter for AP was let go recently because he allegedly invented sources to boost his articles. Of course, I'm shocked. I mean, who could believe that such a thing could happen in American journalism. The poor guy will probably have to wait weeks before he will be allowed to sub in for Chris Matthews on Hard Ball. Or even worse, he might have to go into entertainment or sports journalism !!!

I just found out that my Uncle Sid passed away last weekend. I hadn't seen him since my dad's memorial about four years ago. His memorial is up in Kernville this weekend, and I'm trying to figure out something to say my grandmother, who has now lost two sons. What I did knew of his biography wasn't all that pleasant: he served in the Navy, was agoraphobic, alcoholic, smoked two packs of Camels, suffered through severe depression, and couldn't hold a steady job. Whenever we visited, though, he was always the most interesting person in the room, and I loved the fact that he practically lived in the public library, reading everything he could get his hands on, and developing a thorough knowledge of politics. About ten years ago, he came out of the closet, which is rather late in life for that sort of thing, but it seemed to put him more at ease in fighting his demons. I feel bad that I didn't know him better.

Keith Olbermann points out the obvious mistake made by the Shoney's patron last week when she decided to tip off the authorities about the "terrorists" in the next booth.

Speaking of snitches, my sympathy for Noelle Bush is unabated in light of this article. It must be hard enough kicking a cocaine habit and being Jeb's daughter without having to share a rehab center with Linda Tripp. Any liberal who gets any sense of schadenfreude from that story deserves to spend time in purgatory with Christopher Hitchens.

The real scandal about the resignation of Bob Greene, the MJ-toesucking hack from Chicago, isn't that he had a consensual relationship with a legal age high schooler ten years ago, but that he was forced to resign after the whore apparently tried to blackmail him. I had thought one of the cool things about Bill Clinton overcoming Ken Starr's witchhunt several years ago was that it was going to become much more difficult in the future to extort a public figure because of his sex life; after all, if Clinton could have an affair with an intern, lie about it, only to have the public forgive him and turn on the assorted drunks and perverts who later tried to impeach him, than maybe a public figure who is gay, or an adulterer, or had a messy divorce, or is a single parent, or whatever would have an easier time in the future being judged on the substance of his views. I guess I was wrong. Greene should issue a statement saying that the only people who can judge him is his family, and then sue the fishwrap.

So far, I am getting good reviews for the new "look". The links and my e-mail address are now aligned properly. And today would have been F.Scott Fitzgerald's 106th birthday, had he taken better care of himself.

Those of you who have ESPN Classic will no doubt be thrilled to know that it will be rebroadcasting tonight, for the first time in over two weeks, the fourth game of the 1993 World Series. Tomorrow, in between the half-hour team films it shows in lieu of replaying an actual NFL game, will be the woman's semifinal of the 1988 Australian Open. And don't forget, there's twelve straight hours of the "award-winning" SportsCentury this Friday !!

Well, I guess none of it is going to interfere with my watching the two big series involving the Golden State's baseball teams this week. In most years, if the Dodgers and Angels were in contention late (as happened in 1978, 1982, 1985, 1995 and 1997), most of the local attention would be on the Dodgers; the Angels have always been more of an after-thought for the local media, and if you live north of O.C., they are viewed more as an appetizer than the main course. This year, its been different. Even though the Dodgers are a game back, with a huge 4-game series with Giants starting tonight, almost all the local attention is on Anaheim, which has, for all intents and purposes, assured itself a playoff spot (after '95, though, nothing is certain). It's easy to see why: the Angels are an exciting, never-say-die team, while the Dodgers, now in the midst of a season-ending choke, are a team whose bland, boring nature reflects the personality of their manager, Jim Tracy, and come up well short in comparison not only with the Angels, but more importantly, with the team that has been its local rival for the affection of SoCal sports fans for over three decades, the Los Angeles Lakers. As a team, they haven't played with a sense of urgency since Kirk Gibson was here, and its no wonder that one of the truisms of LA sports is that the baseball season doesn't really begin until after the Lakers playoff run ends.

French police are treating the Bison Dele disappearance as a suspected homicide. That's about six weeks later than they should have done so, and about three months earlier than the DCPD did with Chandra Levy.

The LA Daily News has a cover story today about gangs, with a handy map showing where each has its territory in the Valley. My mom lives in an area controlled by Barrio Van Nuys (I always thought that we were a part of Mara Salvatrucha territory, so that may be an indication that the power of the Salvadoreans is slipping), and I used to reside on the outskirts of the Canoga Park Alabama gang. (More)

Well, I've changed the template, but I still haven't figured out a way to make the links (now on the right) cover a single line in a neat, orderly fashion. If this template isn't as good as the one I had before, let me know.

For most of us, blogging is a hobby, a fun way to pass dead time at the office, to relieve anger and stress (for me, especially; this site has been almost as good as therapy), to allow latent narcissistic tendencies to run riot, and to communicate with people you've never met. Let's hope that the people behind this collaborative blog have more free time in the future...a medical logistics support unit stationed in Afghanistan (thanks to Matt Welch for the link). Hopefully, the chickenhawks preparing for our upcoming adventure in Iraq will visit this site, to get some perspective on the people who actually serve (and die for) this country when we go to war.

Any doubts about the courage of Oscar de la Hoya were forever dispelled tonight. He took a beating the first five rounds tonight, shook if off, and relentlessly bullied Fernando Vargas to pull out a terrific 11th round TKO. Hopefully, this will put an end not only to the ridiculous "who's the real Mexican" debate that existed concerning the two native-born fighters, but also the sniping concerning the manliness of de la Hoya. I have no idea what his sexual preference is, nor do I much care, but from what I saw tonight, the man can fight !!

When I first began my write-in campaign to be SF Valley Mayor, I never considered the possibility that another "Steven Smith" might try to crash my party. As I recall, there was another "Jesse Jackson Jr." on the ballot this year in Illinois running against the incumbent Congressman, and now the mayor of DC has had to sweat out the past few days, hoping that the eight other "Anthony Williams" that are registered to vote in the District didn't try to claim victory. Obviously, my name is even more common: just looking at the phone book for the West Valley, I see a whole grip of Steven Smiths, and even a few Steven E. Smiths; that's not even taking into account the "S. Smiths" in the phone book who have my name, or the Steven Smiths with unlisted numbers. And that's just the West Valley.

Obviously, having a name that common can be a blessing as well as a curse. I've always had the gut feeling that my bar results, my application to Berkeley, even my applications for credit, were being judged not on what I accomplished (thank God) but on what someone else with the same name did. Incidentally, for a time there were three different bankruptcy attorneys in the Los Angeles area named "Steven E. Smith". Besides myself, and, of course, my late father, there is a partner in a prominent debtor's firm in Century City with the same name. On one occasion, I represented my dad in a hearing, back when he was a Chapter 7 Trustee. Representing the debtor, of course, was Steven E. Smith. So we had a good chuckle when we made our appearances: "Good morning, Your Honor, Steven E. Smith Jr. for the Trustee, Steven E. Smith", then, "Steven E. Smith for the debtor". I guess you had to have been there....

While most of the attention of political mavens Tuesday was on the tight battle for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor, a surprise result in Minnesota may have even bigger ramifications: the upset defeat of the endorsed candidate for the Green Party nomination for the Senate seat held by Paul Wellstone. In a race in which neither of the major candidates has held a lead larger than the margin of error, the elimination of a third party candidate who threatened to bleed significant support away from the progressive incumbent greatly improves the chances the Democrats will maintain control of the Senate.

For some time I've linked to Scoobie Davis' blog, which I have found to be well-researched and a lot of fun, even if he hasn't yet posted nude photos of Erika Christenson. Those of you who visit his site regularly know that for the past couple of months, he performed an encyclopedic take-down of 40-something faux blonde pundit Anne Coulter, culminating in a classic interview. Now, its Rush Limbaugh's turn to get "scoobied".

The latest news on the Bison Dele disappearance is not good. His catamaran was discovered in Tahiti, with the name of the ship painted over. Apparently, it had been there since July. In the meantime, his brother, who had been detained recently for attempting to use Dele's passport as identification to purchase gold bullion, has gone on the lam.

The House leadership has pulled the "Bankruptcy Reform" Act from the floor without a vote, apparently to protect the feelings of about four dozen arch-conservatives who refuse to go along with the compromise version approved in conference, that would have made debts incurred from illegal abortion-protests non-dischargeable. The abortion issue is clearly a red herring: liberal Democrats used it to block passage of a bill supported by powerful lobbies, while the wing-nuts in the GOP probably came to realize that any "reform" that would make it more difficult to file a bankruptcy in the middle of a double-dip recession would be a hard sell to the voters. Sometimes, in life, you just have to accept your small victories as they come....

Can you imagine what would have happened if luxury liners were still allowed to underman lifeboats, some 90 years after the sinking of the Titanic. This article points out that the mistakes and blunders that characterized the tragedy of September 11 may be repeated because of the lack of a public inquiry into those events. The whole point of such an inquiry isn't simply to get people on the record with what they recollect, or to have some panel make recommendations to prevent such snafus in the future. It's to put a human face on the screw-ups, such as the Base Commander at Pearl Harbor, or the head of the White Star cruise line; embarassment and shame have always been an effective way of overcoming bureaucratic lethargy.

I'm beginning to wonder whether Florida should be allowed to remain in the Union, after yesterday's debacle. How many strikes do they get? Going back three years, there was the 2000 election, and the racist goon squad tactics used to disenfranchise black voters, to trick elderly Jewish voters into selecting an anti-Semite for President, and to prevent the votes from being accurately counted afterwards. It is one of the most barbaric states in its use of capital punishment (ie. "ole Sparky"). Its child welfare department has lost hundreds of kids under its supervision, and is now being run by a religious fanatic who has publicly supported the Biblical policy of "smiting" miscreant children. Speaking of which, last week a prosecutor was able to con two different juries into convicting two children of murder in Florida, even though only one of them could have done the act, and the fact that they were children !!! Furthermore, the governor's daughter decided to celebrate her stay yesterday in the rehab clinic by getting caught possessing crack, the tragedy of which is compounded by the fact that Florida has some of the most draconian drug laws in the country. Oh, did I mention Little Elian? Rather than dumping Jeb, that state may need to be taken over by the Marines for a few years.

Well, enough about what I think...how did the events of a year ago affect Goldie Hawn?

Isn't this tragedy happening in the same state that Darryl Strawberry is currently doing time?

This is a very strange and sad story, one that might ordinarily be covered by Domenick Dunne were all the victims white. When Bison Dele was a local prep standout back in the late '80's (when he was known as "Brian Williams"), there were the usual predictions that he was going to be a certain Hall of Famer, but it never quite panned out. He did play on the 1997 champion Chicago Bulls, among other teams. I seem to recall that he had problems with some form of depression, but the authorities are looking at a possible identity theft/murder by a relative.

I'm not planning on any big 9-11 post this week, so this will have to do. I will always remember the feeling I had when I first saw the bulletin on the AOL screen that morning that a plane had crashed into the WTC, and thought at first that it was one of these private aircraft being flown solo by an amateur pilot, and resumed my surfing for about fifteen minutes. Then the AOL screen stated that the WTC had collapsed, and I knew that this would be a day I would always remember. The horror and pain that day have not gone away, nor has the anger that another human being could plot such a thing.

Nevertheless, of all the articles I have read on the subject, this one, by Jill Stewart, best encapsulates how I feel. From the "Let's Roll" bric-a-brac (and the popular mythology, largely based on unsubstantiated rumors and hearsay, about Flight 93) to NYC's efforts to steal the Oscar Awards to the Bush Administration attempting to exploit the attack in order to boost the GOP in November, as well as to justify performing a Pearl Harbor on Baghdad, the baser elements of American culture and politics are raping the memories of the brave firemen and innocent clerical workers at the Pentagon and the WTC. A critic writes that this sort of view is a typical "PC", "California" view, at variance with the rest of the country, as if that were a stinging rebuke (and btw, anyone who thinks Jill Stewart, who is just barely to the left of David Horowitz, is politically correct has got to be the biggest moron in all of christendom; hey, I'm PC, buddy, and Ms. Stewart is never at our meetings). In fact, if anything symbolizes the stereotypically facile "Hollywood" reaction to the murders of September 11, it's the repetitive, maudlin tributes and mourning (classical music on the Food Network?) that that critic seems to demand from everyone. How we remember those events is an individual decision, not something to be imposed by some sort of Stalinoid mandate.

Andrew Sullivan always has his funniest stuff at the beginning of the week...check out his pathetic tribute to Madonna and Guy Ritchie, whom he compares with Bush and Blair. Does that make the British Prime Minister W's sperm donor?

I've added some more blogs that I strongly recommend to my bloggees, as I endeavor to focus more on analytical thinkers and less on cut-and-paste linkers (ED.--sorry) Three in particular that I would like to point out are Matthew Yglesias, who, as some of you may already know, razzed my first post on the Dream Team IV debacle; Sam Heldman, another lawyer whose site comes highly recommended by TalkLeft, and Shadow of the Hegemon, who was inexplicably left off the revised Alterlinks list (I, on the other hand, was plicably omitted), even though he had single-handedly carried the torch for the blogger's god-given right to anonymity in a series of posts last month. Having plugged those blogs, I am off for the weekend to work on Condredge's Acolytes, and I shall leave you with this chilling piece about how easily and quickly lies can spread through the media, in this case over a Moonie slander about the NEA. Back Monday.

Wow !! Now its come out in the press that Ilsa, She-wolf of the SS may have registered to vote in the 1980 election when she was only 16....

It looks like I might not be the only one who has a write-in campaign a-brewing: Richard Riordan, bolstered by polls showing the two major party candidates locked in a tight battle to see who can generate the greatest amount of loathing from the electorate, is now hinting he might pursue a write-in candidacy to be governor of California. RUN, DICK, RUN.

I have mixed feelings about the upcoming adventure in Iraq; on the one hand, I don't trust the current Administration, and fear that this is geared more towards domestic politics than serving any perceived American interest; on the other, this is Hussein we're talking about--there is no scenario I can think of in which the world benefits by letting him live another day. If this isn't going to be another US-led debacle, where we end toppling one dictator, only to have another, slightly more benign one take his place, to the ultimate detriment of American foreign policy, we need to have an exit strategy, as well as a valid conception of what a future post-Saddam Iraq will look like. Which is why this story really scares me....

Jeez, the Dream Team got beat again, 81-78, to Yugoslavia. George Karl is sure having a great year; first the Bucks collapse, and now his team gets out-gutted in the final minutes by Vlade Divac. Now, the US won't even medal in the World Championships, even though we're hosting the damn thing, and will have to qualify just to play in the next Olympics. Maybe Mr. Yglesias was right; if you give these other countries just an inch they'll violate you in your own crib. Next time, just send the Lakers.

Is it unpatriotic of me to be absolutely delighted that the Dream Team (IV) got its ass kicked last night by Argentina? Who plays for Argentina? The only Argentinean hoopster I've ever heard of might have wrestled in the WCW years ago. Losing to Argentina never would have happened on Bill Clinton's watch.

The so-called "retraction" by the NY Times of its earlier claim that Henry Kissinger was to be counted among the opponents of the Bush policy re Iraq seems much ado about nothing. Basically, they admit to having blown a trivial point (whether Kissinger thought that something should be done about Iraq); obviously, the larger issue concerning the opinions of the former Sec'y of State was whether he supported the Bush policy of unilateralism, something the paper continues to accurately maintain in spite of the objections of the likudniks in DC.

I'm spending my first morning at my new residence, a delightful spread south of Valley Vista in Sherman Oaks. I believe this will reinvigorate my write-in campaign for mayor of the SF Valley, which admittedly had stalled during the two months I had lived in my mom's basement. My staff (or is entourage? flunkies? booze-buddies?) had come to fear that my continuing domestic situation would become an issue, particularly since some of my opponents actually live on their own, have successful, ongoing businesses, etc. This new place has DirecTV and TiVo, as well as this ergonomically-fitted keyboard I'm typing on right now...OK, I admit it--I'm now living with my sister, essentially house-sitting while she and her husband plan their permanent move to Berkeley. More later....

Congress resumes its debate today on the "Bankruptcy Reform" Act, better known as the "Let the Credit Card Companies Gang-Rape the Consumer" Act of 2002. Obviously, the political grounds for attacking this monstrosity are much stronger now that we are in a double-dip recession, so let's drive a stake through this thing!!

From a joke posted on WilWheaton.net:

-How do you get Gray Davis to change his position on an issue?
--Tell him the check bounced.

For as long as I can remember, the bar originally known as Stats, then Gavin's, and now Joxer Daly's, has used ceiling fans to cool the place, rather than air conditioning. As those of you who have visited Matt Welch's website know, we are in the midst of a heat wave in Southern California, so it was pretty much necessary to blast those things all night. When the fans are going full speed at Joxers, they go pretty damn fast.

Well, anyway, after an afternoon of carousing and football-watching in Santa Monica, Saturday night I ventured down to Joxers to see the Samurai Homeboys, and perhaps to do some boozin' with Susan, and toasting Storm Mixalot on his last day in Los Angeles before his big move north, and of course to have a pretty good time. As I mentioned last week, the Homeboys always put on a great show, and I was looking forward to their concert for some time; it had been a year since I last saw them perform, and this was their first time at my home bar. What I couldn't have anticipated was perhaps the most UNFREAKING BELIEVABLE performance by a lead singer in the history of pop music.

In the first set (they did four, and they performed for just under 3 1\2 hours), the aforereferenced singer, the Rev. Carl Roberts, got atop one of the tables just off the stage, and with microphone in hand, balanced himself on a partition that separates the stage area of the bar from the bar area, where patrons sit and watch games. As he's doing this, I'm wondering if he's noticed the ceiling fan right above where his foot is balanced, but when he ducked below it on his first pass, I realized that him being the consummate professional, he obviously had cased the place beforehand, and knew where everything was. So I was relieved, and he continues to sing.

And as he's continuing to sing, I grab the 12 oz. liquid free weight I've been curling for the past hour when suddenly, I feel what appears to be spray hitting my hands and face. I look up, and to my horror saw that the Rev. Carl had miscalculated a bit with the ceiling fan: the right side of his face had been split open, blood gushing out everywhere, as the onlookers at the bar gazed in horror. AND HE CONTINUED TO SING, WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT !!! With his face bleeding like Jerry Quarry in his first fight with Ali, he not only completed the song, but nailed the next song as well before taking a break. After the blood had been wiped away, it was clear what an incredible break he had been given; the ceiling fan had cut him less than an inch from the side of his eye. Nevertheless, he and the band performed three more sets, and by the end of the evening, the joint was packed; apparently the early proceedings had already become part of rock lore.

The Homeboys play at O'Brien's in Venice a week from Saturday, and return to Joxers on the 28th of September. If you want to see a great show, even one without bloody encounters with fans, you would be well-advised to check that band out.

Fred Sanford is back !!! And his recommended Book of the Month is by Michael Ledeen !! I guess if Sullivan is Fred, and Paglia is Grady, than Ledeen must be Rollo. Or maybe Ledeen is Grady, and Paglia is Aunt Esther. Well, it's starting to be a rather strained analogy, but LORD, WHAT A FREAKSHOW.

Probably no more posts 'til Tuesday ("Voices Carry" [1986]), as I concentrate on the other web site...the one about college football...you remember...TheBigHouse.blogspot.com. I'm still looking for contributors, particularly fans with an interest in Big 12 or Big East teams, although, truth be told, you can write about whatever you damn well feel like, as long as its related to college football. To the rest of you, have a safe and relaxing Labor Day Weekend !!!

Now that Michael Skakel has been sentenced from 20 to life, the most immediate thing that comes to mind is, what will professional ghoul and celebrity gravy-trainer Dominick Dunne do now? The Robert Blake trial isn't for another few months, and that outre tacky show he hosts for Court TV can't be all that time-consuming (btw, in each episode, at some point he exposes himself as the self-promoting fraud that he is by pronouncing, "the trial of [rich person] became the talk in all the boutiques and restaurants of Beverly Hills/Monte Carlo/Newport." Sorry, Nick, in the fashionable salons of BH, they're usually too busy talking about whether they can get Uncle Reza and Aunt Izat out of Tabriz to care about the Mendendez brothers or Joe Hunt). I don't see him covering the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial. Maybe, if he uses his imagination, he can use some of his dormant writing skills and pretend that he cares about the many unsolved murders that don't involve B-list society page denizens.

Anyone interested in a sneak preview of the just-released future bestseller by Katherine Harris should check here.

My new college football blog, Condredge's Acolytes, is now up and running. It is my goal that the site be an open, collective effort, with contributors chatting up their favorite teams, conferences, rivalries or whatever else they want to rant about. I have no claims to any expertise on the subject, having not even played the sport in high school, but then again, a lack of expertise has never stopped me from writing about the Middle East, the environment, or movies, either. If anyone is interested in participating, let me know.

SatireWire has shut down, or should I say, it is on permanent syndication. Fortunately, The Onion, The Borowitz Report, and "Michael Kelly" remain prolific in their output, and will more than pick up the slack for those of you who need a regular dose of humor, intentional or not.

Now Christmas is ruined !! No more sunrise football classics between two all-star teams made up entirely of players from losing college programs !!

Reading Alexander Cockburn wane ineloquently on "the Jews" is like reading Andrew Sullivan's frequent comments about the Bell Curve, African Americans and their supposed lack of intelligence. Why does anyone believe that "political correctness" still works as a term of derision?

I'm kind of getting tired of having this site discovered by Googlers looking for "Niki and Paris Hilton" or "Anna Pornikova". But at least I did mention those faux blondes in a post. I have never addressed the topics of "Monica Lewinsky gets spanked" or "Gay Hayden Christenson rumors" (is he?), or this topic, no doubt from a dyspeptic resident of Knoxville: "Spurrier AND toupee". Not surprisingly, no one has yet taken up my challenge of several weeks ago, concerning a certain Oscar-winning actress and a utility infielder.

Speaking of which, this Saturday is setting up to be a huge day, starting almost immediately with Washington and Michigan (9 a.m. Pacific), and running through the evening with Maryland and Notre Dame (5 p.m.). All of which I shall watch at Joxer's, of course; although I'm certain the management isn't picking up the college football package, the games I want to see this weekend are all on either direct cable or ABC. Of course, my old school, CAL, opens on Saturday against Baylor, but even if that were being broadcast somewhere, I couldn't inflict that on another human being.

Afterwards, the Samurai Homeboys perform at the bar, which will make the whole day perfect. If you haven't seen the Homeboys before, its kind of like what it would have been to see Springsteen play in New Jersey, circa 1973. 3-4 hours of solid, real R&B/rock, sung by a local bartender with the justified rep of being the "Irish James Brown". Sadly, the sort of music performed by the Homeboys (and Springsteen) is becoming as anachronistic as Big Band vocalists were in 1960. I don't mean to slight hip-hop in any way, since, for the most part, I really like it, but its a repudiation of rock, not a continuation. Does that make me sound old?

Thanks for all the interest in the college football blog. I hope to have something going by tomorrow. More info later....

One of the new sites I've permalinked to is TalkLeft, which specializes in legal issues. It's a terrific place to go for recent developments in death penalty cases, Patriot Act abuses, War on Drugs atrocities, etc. For those who are interested, TalkLeft provides information today on a thorough analysis of every US District Court judge since 1968, which is indispensible for any law office that does, or intends to do, significant work in the Federal Courts. Smythe's World= More billable hours !!!

In fact, it was the enetation code that was causing the problems with the "comments" section, which they have promised will be fixed next week. I hope to have something up sooner than that. In the meantime, just e-mail me.

Those of us who had been looking forward to Dennis Prager hosting the L'Chaim for Life Telethon were awfully disappointed when he played it straight, going the entire seven hours without saying something like liberals being the true anti-semites, etc. The only highlight was when Dom DeLuise came out wearing his trademark white cap with a black yarmulke perched atop, and did a few minutes of shtick. The rest of the evening was a melange of Jewish reggae bands (which is appropriate during a telethon for a drug shelter), testimonials, and Sept. 11 images.

Another month, another best-seller by a wingnut, aimed at an audience incapable of thought. No doubt, reviewers will praise the author's "use" of footnotes.

Let's see, when I left Joxer's last night, bored out of my melon from the games that were on, and needing to meditate over the day's festivities, Florida State had a 31-14 lead over Iowa State. Dammit if the Cyclones didn't make a fantastic fourth quarter comeback and nearly pull off the upset of the season (granted, only five games have been played so far....) I will definitely need more Red Bull next week.

Sports fans like to dream of classic match-ups that because of time or distance are impossible, ie., Ali v. Marciano, the '60's era Celtics v. the Magic Era Lakers, McEnroe v. Sampras, Tiger Woods v. Bobby Jones, etc. Political junkies have dream match-ups too, of which one example would be a hypothetical race between Jeb Bush and Gray Davis, the nation's two most odious elected officials. Davis has pulled away in his reelection battle, mainly because the GOP managed to nominate someone who combined far right politics with a business background that out-sleazes the nation's reigning Kleptocrat. To put it another way, I'm pretty liberal (err, I mean, "populist"), but if Riordan had been the Republican nominee, I would have not only voted for him, but I would have contemplated walking precincts to elect him.

Jeb Bush, though, is in a different league altogether, as his recent attempt to appoint some religious wacko to head his state's utterly incompetent Child Welfare Department indicates. His defense of the nominee, as detailed in the above link, is to claim that his opponents are motivated by "bigotry against fundamentalist Christians". To which I add, GUILTY AS CHARGED, gov'na. There have to be some standards by which we can judge certain beliefs and behaviour, and I see nothing wrong with being prejudiced against Nazis, Klansmen, bullies, pedophiles, fans of the Washington NFL team, the Taliban, wife-beaters, and nutcases who believe that "smiting children with a rod" is acceptable government policy because the Bible tells them so.

I'm starting a college football blog, and I'd like to know if there is anyone out there who would like to contribute to it, hopefully someone east of the Mississippi. What I hope to have is a number of people who contribute on a semi-regular basis, with a focus on a particular team or region.

I guess if Gary Sheffield is a "cancer" in the clubhouse, he's awfully benign.

Two questions:

1. Why was Ariel Sharon going to Florida anyway, if not to "campaign" for Jeb Bush?

2. What exactly is wrong with AIPAC, or any other politically-interested group, targeting a politician they don't like? It's not like the voters in Cynthia McKinney's district were unaware of who was financing her opponent, or what its agenda was. They knew, they considered, and they voted the lady out of office. I don't happen to be a fan of the extreme agenda of AIPAC, but I do like the First Amendment, and as long as we allow people and interest groups the power to contribute to campaigns, AIPAC has the right and the duty to get involved, just as groups more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause have a right to get involved. Involvement should be based on principal, not whether it is tactically disadvantageous in the context of Jewish-Black relations. AIPAC is no different than NCPAC was twenty years ago, or the Moral Majority; in time, their extreme agenda will taint any campaign they contribute to. In any event, the political discourse in our country is not the poorer for no longer having Ms. McKinney in Congress.

Finally, a reason to keep going...the college football season has started, with the first game on TV (Fresno St. v. Wisconsin) being broadcast tonight. Some mediocre games Saturday and Sunday, but I intend to see as many as possible. Dodgers play the Braves, Angels battle the Red Sox, and the weekend culminates with the L'Chaim for Life Telethon Sunday night...TV Guide doesn't say who's hosting this year, but I assume its going to be Fyvush Finkel...maybe the Tokens will perform; you just know Norm Crosby and international comedy star Johnny Yune will show...some suspense as to whether Angelina Jolie's dad will raise that topic in the context of the Chabad House.

Conservative clip-and-paste guru Instapundit compares MoDo to Fraulein Goebbels, in a bizarre example of moral equivalence. Let's see, a writer who occasionally makes silly statements about politics and culture in her columns is like a writer who wants to see the NY Times office building blown up, has called for the summary execution of all liberals and Arabs, and fabricates evidence in her books. I guess you can't take law profs from SEC football powers all that seriously....

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, SMYTHE-STYLE: I've been dreading this day for awhile now, but I think its finally time that I yank Kausfiles from my set of links. I used to find his views on welfare, education, and the future of the Democratic Party provocative, even if I disagreed with him most of the time. As you might observe to the left, I have no problem linking to conservatives, warbloggers and the like. I do have issues with bloggers who link to hatemongers, like Fraulein Goebbels and Lucianne Goldberg. To put it another way, if MWO were to begin posting screeds calling for the assasination of Dick Cheney on a daily basis, I would yank that site too, as well as any site that continued to link to MWO.

I notice that I'm having problems accessing my own site today, which I am attributing to the server I use for your "comments" at the end of each post, enetation.co.uk. I can't get on their website, so I don't know if enetation is updating its program or what, but I'm going to give it another 24 hours before I remove their code. If there are other bloggers who use enetation who happen to be reading this, but do not have the same problem, please, let me know.

ED. Note: Screw it--Enetation is gone !! If you need to respond or retort, use e-mail.

Although I have abdicated the responsibility of using my public forum as a cut-and-paste service for liberals, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the significance of the N.Y. Times in our country. The Democrats have pretty much abandoned any efforts at being a serious opposition movement, the Greens are basically just the left wing of the GOP, so the "Gray Lady" is pretty much it right now. Particularly with respect to the pending invasion of Iraq, the Times is asking the appropriate questions, and providing the same skepticism about what may be an unnecessary war that it did last year in covering W's tax cuts for the rich. It is what used to be called, "speaking truth to power", and that is why the far right is so pissed.

Ken Starr's latest victim...Bob Barr !!!

A couple of weeks ago, I marveled at an LA Times review, by a "critic" named Andrew Malcolm, puffing Fraulein Goebbels' discredited opus, Slander. Today, Bob Somerby picks up the trail as to who Andrew Malcolm is: a former campaign advisor to George W. Bush !! I kinda wish the Times had told us that at the time it published the review.

No wonder he loves Ann Coulter so much, and believes that Media Whores Online and Al Qaeda are linked...Mickey Kaus writes last night that "cultural populism", of the type historically practiced by Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, Theodore Bilbo, and George Wallace, is preferable to the "economic populism" that characterizes 20th century liberalism (see below). A good rule of blog: if it's worth writing, it's worth writing at a time other than 1:30 a.m.

As a word, liberalism can't seem to catch a break. In the '80's, and particularly after the Dukakis debacle in 1988, the right was able to transform the term that had once been embraced by FDR, Harry Truman, and Hubert Humphrey into something derogatory. Those of us who were to the left of center hastened to either embrace the term "progressive" to describe our politics, or would react with outrage that any sort of label was being used. After a wildly successful two-term Presidency, by someone who was generally (but clearly not always) a political southpaw, and a campaign where the combined left of center(Gore + Nader) vote constituted a clear majority, my compatriots now identify themselves as "populists". The distinction between the two terms, as they are used now in common parlance, is barely worth mentioning; historically, of course, "populism" has generally been a politics of demagoguery, often focused on the sort of bigotry and intolerance that liberalism opposes. At least until the next time we get our asses kicked in an election, liberals don't have to remain in the closet, cloaking our identity before a public that has been willing in recent elections to elect our candidates.

Terrell Davis will make a token appearance, then retire, during Denver's pre-season game tonight with the 49'ers. It's best to remember that before he came into the league, football experts thought that John Elway was an overrated stiff who always choked in the "big game". Sad to say, opinions similar to this writer's will probably prevail concerning his Hall of Fame chances. Counter-balanced against the two Super Bowls the Broncos won while Davis was their M.V.P., his 2000-yard season, and his dominating performances in the four seasons he was healthy, is the argument that Davis' career was too short (which is a fair argument), and the claim that Davis compares unfavorably to players who are in the H.O.F. but had even shorter careers, such as Gale Sayers and Ernie Nevers. It is a prime example of a sportswriter not being able to justify his opinions according to any objective criteria, so he makes subjective arguments that he will abandon when it comes time to argue in favor of some other player.

Sayers was indeed spectacular, but arguing, as that writer does, that he should therefore be in the H.O.F. ahead of Davis would be like a baseball writer arguing that Frank Howard should be in the Hall over Kirby Puckett, because his home runs traveled further (or more to the point, that Lynn Swann should be in the Hall over Steve Largent, b/c Largent had no highlight reel grabs). It wasn't Gale Sayers' fault that the teams he played for were lousy, but one can only speculate how he would have done in a game that really mattered; of course, there is no need to do so for Terrell Davis. Sayers is in the HOF for three reasons: 1) he was exciting to watch; 2) he was a famous player in Chicago; and 3) Brian's Song. If Billy Sims had played for the Bears, and had befriended a tragic white teammate, he would have been elected to Canton ten years ago. And the notion that any running back from the Jim Crow era in NFL history, such as Ernie Nevers or Cliff Battles, should rank ahead of any modern-day player is absolutely nuts. None of the players referenced in that article had quite the impact on a team or a season that Terrell Davis did, or more importantly, did as much to help his team win. And that, not whether he looks great in the highlight film, is the only relevant criteria to use in determining a player's qualifications for the Hall of Fame.

A belated happy b-day to my beloved sister, Cat, who turned...a year older yesterday. She will soon be moving to the Berkeley Hills with her hubby. It means I will have yet another place to crash when I visit the Bay Area.

According to the broadcast of their game last night, the expansion Houston Texans make their home debut this Saturday at the brand-spanking-new Reliant Stadium. I don't know what kind of business "Reliant" does, but that company could do me a huge favor if it files it's Chapter 11 petition in the Central District of California.

As you might have noticed, I have published less and less over the past two weeks. I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the direction my blog is taking, towards becoming little more than a clipping service for liberals, and away from something that actually reflects a sense of who I am. There's nothing wrong with websites acting as "clipping services", mind you; it would be great to see a southpaw version of Instapundit develop, especially for small websites like this one. I will still visit blogs that attempt to perform that role, and will not discourage visitors to this site from so doing. I assume, however, that most of the visitors to this site know how to find the most recent Krugman column in the NY Times without my having to link to it. I don't want to do that for you anymore, and the political sites that I will link to in the future, will, regardless of politics, be of a more analytical bent, like MaxSpeak and Rittenhouse Review, rather than sites that simply link to other bloggers and to newspaper columns that the blogger finds interesting; in other words, less linking, more thinking. And of course, anyone who links to me gets linked back, because I'm a narcissistic whore who's grateful for the attention.

Damn courteous of baseball to threaten to cancel its season on August 30, the day before the first full week of college football games. It'll be easier on the fans that way. But remember, the next time you hear a writer complain about "small market" teams, the Minnesota Twins, future Central Division champs, are one of the teams he's referring to. There are no small market teams, only small-time owners.

Apparently the unofficial newspaper of my alma mater, the Daily Cal, was able to mau-mau its way into having the ASUC building renew its lease. For some inexplicable reason, the normally reliable TAPPED seems to think that this is a victory for "free speech" over the forces of "political correctness"(whatever that means), rather than a well-funded student rag being able to prevent less fortunate student groups from being able to occupy some choice campus office space.

Uneventful weekend planned, with a family barbq Saturday and a trip to the Skirball Center (for a food festival !!) on Sunday; anything to avoid the malignancy of R****** fans at Joxers. In any event, I will be there tonight.

This guy wasn't a bad actor, although I hope Phil Gramm doesn't try to emulate him. My favorite Thompson performance was in the TV series, Wise Guy, when he played a white supremacist con-man; it was the only role of his I can remember when he didn't play either a government official or a lawyer.

Unfreaking believable!!! While Andrew Sullivan is on vacation, reputed "scholar" Camille Paglia is pinch-hitting. Its just as good as those old Sanford & Son episodes when Redd Foxx couldn't be bothered to show up on the set, so Grady would be the star that week. Highlight of her debut post: her oft-repeated but bogus claim that she is a "disillusioned Democrat" who voted for Clinton twice !!! As far as I could tell, though, she failed to refer to any of her adversaries as "Stalinists", so this might be the work of an imposter.

As noted in this space last week, Delaware is rightly called the hellhole of the universe, in part because of its lax incorporations laws. From the perspective of a bankruptcy lawyer, it means that a whole grip of Chapter 11's get filed there, and are heard before judges with a sycophantic bent toward those debtors with the good fortune to be incorporated there. This article proposes a reform that makes too much sense: federalizing corporate law, thereby making all corporations that conduct interstate commerce susceptible to the same standards and practices, and giving shareholders everywhere the same protections. Ideally, of course, the federal standards would be the bare minimum; states could adhere to even higher standards, if they so desire.

For a nation supposedly formed around the principal of opposing "taxation without representation", I have always been amazed that our great experiment in democracy never blessed the District of Columbia. This good piece eviscerates the arguments against DC statehood; although he doesn't say it in so many words, I think its safe to say that if DC were a predominantly white city, it would have had its two senators and representative some time ago.

Concerning the title of this article, isn't "sushi cook" a contradiction in terms?

For those of you who want me to quit whining about the "Bankruptcy Reform" act currently before Congress, and want me to let you know what you can do about it, check out this site (thanks Sir Mix-A-Lot !).

Having busted the budget with an unnecessary tax rollback for his friends in Newport and Waco, W. now decides to push the "fiscal responsibility" cart with a veto of a spending bill that consists, in large part, of programs that he originally pushed. With all the talk about Ashcroft threatening to roll back civil liberties, its stories like this that actually offer some reassurance: can a moronocracy truly be feared?

A word of caution to those of you who were directed to this site by Google: this blog mainly concerns politics and sports, with occasional forays into Alias, Phoebe Nicholls, my drinking bouts at Joxer Dalys, and my fledgling write-in campaign to be SF Valley Mayor. I do not typically write about "Paris Hilton" (four hits !!), "Anna Pornikova"(two hits), or "The Miller Sisters"; that was from last month's Miss Overrated 2002 contest, and, in any event, my references to them were not too kind. I have never written on the topics of either "Klum Being Screwed" or "Gretchen Mol rumors", so you should take that up with Google.

This Krugman column explores the old adage (I think it's the Kinsley Law of Scandal) that holds that the real scandal isn't the illegality; its what's perfectly legal.

Last week, I mentioned, almost in passing, stories published about two public figures, Jose Offerman and Gwyneth Paltrow, that I thought were so poorly sourced that it offended me that any reputable journalistic venture could have published them (by the way, I believe this blog is the first to ever put those two individuals together in the same sentence; I can't wait to see if someone reaches me through a Google search for " 'Jose Offerman' AND 'Gwyneth Paltrow' "). Its not a big deal, unless you're the subject of such a hitpiece; the journalistic standards regarding "anonymous sources" for sports and entertainment/gossip are so low anyway that the public has already developed an ingrained skepticism about such stories. Then again, I came upon this story and this story today, which only show what a strong shelf-life the most odious of lies can take on.

Anyway, I'm sure a lot of you have already heard about the Fox.com smear of Al Gore last week: that he and his wife attempted to use influence to get some freebies to the opening Springsteen concert, and had a fit when he didn't get the tickets. Coming as it did on the heels of a campaign season when false stories were printed about the former Veep taking credit for inventing the Internet, or for having been brought up in a luxury hotel, I was amazed that anyone with a sense of fair play could have believed that allegation even for a second. To that end, I would propose a hard and fast rule concerning any published story that uses anonymous sources: unless it involves a whistleblower, or a Mafia informant, anything that you read that contains a reference to an unnamed "friend", "teammate", "source" or "insider" must bear the presumption that it is a lie, unless the journalist can show elsewhere in the story that the anonymity was granted to protect the source, not the reputation of the journalist.
(Ed. I would be happy to discuss with anyone who e-mails or comments, below, why I believe the stories involving Gore, Offerman and Paltrow were untrue in whole or in part)

Look who might have to give up his Second Amendment rights....

Good follow-up piece to NYC's efforts to scam the Oscars from LA, using 9/11 as a crutch. Its pathetic that Gov. Davis and Mayor Hahn are willing to allow the ceremony to be split, although Davis' motivation is obvious: Harvey Weinstein must have "contributed" to his campaign. I'll make it easy for Hahn: your job is to do things (like govern) that are good for LA; if New York City is willing to share the Giants or Jets, or allow the Tony Awards to come to LA the next time we have an earthquake, than we can talk about having the two cities host the Academy Awards.

Staggering, moronic review in the LA Times today of Slander, the bestseller by the writer I've come to know and love as Fraulein Goebbels. Someone named "Andrew Malcolm" wrote the puff piece, which praises the author's rigorous use of footnotes and her provocative and ironic style. No doubt his review of Mein Kampf would marvel at the writer's wit and clearheaded social and political criticism. I'm not an LA Times basher (I have to go someplace for my sports scores), but its book review section really is a pit of mediocrity.

Well, I spent a good deal of the evening Saturday at what is arguably the happiest place on earth, watching a full panoply of pre-season football and the like. Since Joxer's is unofficially a "R******" bar, the place filled up with transplants from the Virginia/Maryland/DC area, all of whom were disappointed big-time when the management couldn't pull down the game from their satellite. With two exceptions, they all left by 6:00 p.m. What a vile specimen of rodent excrement is the Washington football fan. They root for a team whose nickname is a racist obscenity, they never show up at any other time except when their team is playing, they sing that idiotic (albeit catchy) fight song, and then leave without paying their bar tabs. Simply sharing a sports pub with them over the years has practically turned me into a hard-core fan of "America's Team", which is an almost unthinkable turn of events in my life, considering how I grew up believing that Roger Staubach was the anti-christ, and that Tom Landry was the person about whom Lucas based the evil emporer from the Star Wars movies.