March 22, 2006

Hey


    This past weekend was a pretty good one. I got out of work Friday at 6:30 and headed over to
Metro for St. Paddy's Day.
      I wish I would have had a camera to take pictures of what 2nd Avenue looked like at 7 PM
Friday. It looked a little like the parade route itself. Lines of people gathered outside the slew of
pubs that make up 2nd Av. On Between 52nd and 53rd Streets, where you have no less than 6
bars in the vicinity, the crowds were unreal.
     I met Tara, her cousin Deirdre, some of her pals, and two more cousins from Ireland, Caroline
and Christopher. We got into the bar which was packed, started our celebration of our patron
saint.
      The musical entertainment for the evening was provided by DJ's Mouse and Trish, a splendid
mix of Irish favorites, today's hits and of course classic 80's hits.
       Tara's cousins are a hoot. Caroline and Chris had a way of getting up to the bar and getting
back as if they were the only ones in the place, while the rest of us had to negotiate our way
through. Plus she could carry stacks of beer at a time. I told Tara it was like watching the Red
Sea part as she made her way up and back from the bar. A real pro.
        All in all it was a great night. But also another night that once again reminded me that my
youth is rapidly receding into the rear view mirror of life.  

I haven't watched South Park in years, to be honest, I wasn't, really aware that it was still on.

But it caught my eye the other day that Isaac Hayes, who was the voice of Chef, quit the show
because of the way it poked fun at religion. Hey that's his right, though I wondered why it took
him all these years to take a stand.
     Then it was pointed out by South Park co-creater Matt Stone that Hayes was PO'ed by a
particular episode, the one that dealt with Hayes'  "religion" Scientology.
      Hayes had no problem with Cartman dressing up as Hitler for Halloween, or Jesus Christ
getting pounded in a boxing match vs. Satan. But make fun of Scientology and all bets are off.
What a hypocrite.
And it gets worse, a report at hollywoodinterupted .com says that Tom Cruise demanded that the
re-run of the Scientology episode be pulled,  or else he wouldn't promote Mission Impossible 3.
The episode, which was supposed to air this past Wednesday, was replaced by two "chef
classics."
      If we are to take Comedy Central at its word, and these episodes were aired as a tribute to
Chef, then South Park fans should expect to see the Scientology episode to air again soon.
      If it doesn't air and the network caves in to Tom Cruise and the rest of his band of headcases,
then you'll know who runs Hollywood. And we all should be scared of FOX News Channel?
Please.

Speaking of which I saw the movie Good Night and Good Luck this week for the first time.

   There are two separate issues at work here. The first is the movie itself, which was excellent. It
was brilliantly shot and the acting was outstanding. David Strathairn as Edward R Murrow was
just about as dead-on as you can get. The black and white film gave it an authentic look and feel.
(Strathairn will probably need a lung transplant after all that smoking in trying to capture
Murrow.) If your a history buff and a media buff like me, you'll enjoy this movie quite a bit.
     But the other issue is that of its director and writer George Clooney. Now, as an actor and a
filmmaker, I like Clooney alot. Its off stage where Clooney has become a bit of an ass.
      Clooney made fun of Charlton Heston's Alzheimer's disease, and when given a chance to
apologize, has reiterated that as president of the NRA, Heston deserves only scorn. He's even
taken to telling Democrats who voted for the Iraq war to go f-ck themselves, even the ones who
now admit they were wrong.
      In addition to GN & GL, he made another movie called Syrianna, which I refuse to see.
Almost every review of the movie said that it sympathized with Middle Eastern terrorism and
painted the US as villains. Why would I want to waste my money watching drivel like that?
      But my biggest problem with Clooney is his persecution complex. I got the feeling, watching
Good Night and Good Luck, that he was comparing himself to Murrow, and President Bush et al
to Senator Joseph McCarthy. This is nonsense.
       Clooney like many in Hollywood, have bashed the administration time and time again.
About the only time I can remember any of them suffering any sort of repercussion was when
Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon were barred from speaking at the Baseball Hall of Fame during
the 20th anniversary of Bull Durham. Now I don't agree with alot of what Robbins and
Sarandon have to say, but what the Hall of Fame did was dead wrong.
       Otherwise, I don't see where any of these liberals are a victim. Clooney is still making
movies, winning awards and making more money than any of us will probably ever see.
Where are the boycotts? The blacklists? Murrow was called on the carpet several times by CBS
President William Paley for taking on McCarthy. Dan Rather cooked up phony documents that
even a blog nerd like myself could tell were fake, and CBS still wasn't going to cut him loose.
(He took an early retirement instead)  They all want to paint themselves as victims. They must be
kidding.
Bill O'Reilly calling you out during his Talking Points Memo does not make you any sort of
victim.

The World Baseball Classic...

          In his Sunday column, fellow Post writer Mike Vaccaro lamented the fall of American
teams as a whole the last few years, including our latest national disgrace, losing to Mexico in the
inaugural World Baseball Classic.
          I'd like to expound on this a little bit. First specifically on the WBC, and then the state of
American sports as a whole.
          Firstly, the timing of the WBC was awful. Most Major Leaguers around March 3rd are just
starting to get into baseball shape, so you aren't getting them at anywhere near their peaks. Then
from the perspective of the fan, you are putting this right up against March Madness. Now I love
baseball and don't really follow college basketball.....until March that is. For me its doubly useless
because for the first time in years, my Rangers are actually making some noise, and it makes me
care even less about the WBC.
      I remember watching the 2000 Olympic Men's Basketball Final at Shelley's and hearing some
of the guys at the bar say they were rooting for the opponent. I thought that wrong at the time,
and a year later I found it borderline treasonous. But during this past Olympic Hockey
Tournament, a bunch of people were rooting for other countries besides the US. Some were
rooting for individuals (for example rooting for Sweden because of Hendrik Lundquist) some
didn't like the make-up of the US team. I still rooted hard for the US, but I couldn't work up
much of a lather for those who didn't.
      Back during those 2000 Olympics in Sydney, I asked some of those guys why they weren't
roofing for the US, and a couple of them said they didn't like the attitude. "They don't care, so
why should I?" one guy said to me.
And that's the problem.
        The Olympic basketball team in 2004 was a disgrace, I don't think they've won anything
since that 2000 Olympics. The men's hockey team nearly won Gold in 2002, but lost to Canada.
Our overall Olympic performances have been shaky the past few years. In fact, almost every
sporting event since 2001, the US has come up short.
        I root hard for our American teams to win. Hell, two of my least favorite athletes of all time
were on the US Baseball team (Chipper Jones and Roger Clemens) and I got the feeling they
were the only ones who were putting up much of an effort. And you can't help but ask yourself,
"Is it worth all the aggravation, to root so hard for a team that's really just going to let you
down?" And keep in mind, that this is a Met (1986) Ranger (1 championship in 65 years) Jet
(1969) and Knick (1973) fan asking this. One think you can't question about me is my loyalty to
my teams.
        I'll continue to pull for the American teams. Of course I will. I just don't know if I'll put that
much effort into it. Whether we win or lose, we are still the greatest country in the world. And
if we are putting our hopes on a bunch of spoiled millionaires, well, disappointment is probably
inevitable.

Hope all of you enjoyed your St Patrick's Day
Have a Great Week
Billy G