November 29,2004

Hi


    Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. For old times sake on Wednesday, I
went to Shelley's for the pre-Thanksgiving drinkfest. All the favorites were
there, such as Mcgrath, Frankie, Michelle, Bernhard, Gary (briefly) and Anne
Marie (celebrating her birthday), my sister and Steve, and later in the night
Mr. Pat B. Finn himself.
     Bernard who move here from Ireland a few years ago, said to me that the
Post was the only paper he reads. "I love Steve Dunleavy" he said. "After
September 11, he was the only one to say we should kill 'em all."
Now there's a man who gets it.
      The next day I met another man ho gets it too. Tara's father, also reads
but one newspaper. And its ain't the New York Times. I had the pleasure of
breaking Thanksgiving bread with Mr. Connors and the rest of Tara's family,
which includes her mom and two younger sisters, Kerry and Megan. Things went
well, I didn't make an ass out of myself and I ended up having brunch with
them on Saturday.
      Friday I stayed late at work and went out for beers with co-workers Tom,
Brian, Zach, Clemente and Billy. Sunday was very quiet. Thankfully.

Dan Rather/Tom Brokaw

     Dan Rather decided to call it quits on the CBS Evening News effective
March 9, a week before Tom Brokaw gracefully exits his anchor seat at NBC. I
guess since Rather's guy didn't take the White House, despite his best
efforts, he decided to pack it in.
      Like I said before, I respect all three networks anchors, even if
sometimes Rather and Peter Jennings say some stupid things. But Rather hurt
himself big time with that report on President Bush's National Guard service.
Bill O'Reilly (of all people) defended Rather today, saying that yes he made a
huge mistake, but was treated unfairly.
    Maybe, but I have a hard time believing that an experienced anchor-man
couldn't see that those documents were forged, when your average cyber-geek
could see it crystal clear. Tie that with Rather's unapologetic liberal bias,
and it makes you wonder how much was a mistake and how much was blatant.


NFL 2004

     There's going to come a time when I'm watching A Jet team go 5-11 or 4-
12, and I'll think back fondly on that great 2004 season when the Jets got off
to that great 5-0 start, and after 11 games were 8-3. I may even remember that
team for winning 10 games and making the playoffs.
      Maybe then, I'll forget the frustration I feel when I'm watching this
team play. The last three weeks, and to be honest, most of the season has been
either frustrating or sleep inducing. The game in Cleveland last week could
cure insomnia, and Sunday's game against the Cardinals was another snoozer. I
know Arizona has a solid defense, but the opportunities to score were there
and the Jets just couldn't execute.
     I know Quincy Carter isn't Johnny Unitas, but he's a decent QB with good
speed and a gun for an arm. Even with Carter the Jets should be scoring more
points. Tell you one thing, 10 and 13 points isn't going to get it done
against some of these teams the Jets are playing in December.
     And of course, the Giants, who didn't listen to me and put Eli Manning in
as QB, has watched him get his butt whipped 2 weeks in a row. Peyton Manning
couldn't save this Giants team, so how could they expect Eli to turn them
around?
     Thankfully our Steelers continue to plow ahead, making the state of
Pennsylvania a combined 20-2. Maybe we'll get that all Pennsylvania Super Bowl
we wanted 2 years ago. I don't care, as long as the Patriots don't win again.
That's all I'm asking.

     Christmas season is now upon us, which means that we're about to be
attacked by Christmas music for the next month. Mercifully, 102.7 and 106.7
have decided not to do what they did last year and go 24/7 with Christmas
music. Still, I'm sure we'll get our fill and then much more.
      My list of favorite Christmas songs (of which there are only 5 or so)
are pretty much intact from the last couple of years, but one that is fast
moving up the charts is Josh Groban's version of "Oh Holy Night." That kid has
got some voice. Even if you're not a fan of that type of music, (and I'm not)
you have to give him that.

Holiday season is also birthday season around here. From November 24 to
January 7 there are at least 14 Weekly Mail readers that celebrate birthdays.
Plus my mom and Tara.
This week's birthdays are Nisha (Thursday) Patti-Ann (Friday) and Amy
(Saturday) Happy Birthday to all.
And to all a great week
Wild Bill


CORRECTION


I just discovered to my absolute horror, that not only has Lite-FM decided to
go all Christmas music, but one of my favorite stations WPLJ, is joining them!

Lite-FM I could see a bit, becuase their audience will go for that crap, but
PLJ? This is the worst radio news I got since K-Rock went alternative.

You know, Im beginning to wonder if this is a conspiracy. Think about it, what
has radio become? It's paranoid program directors, playing the same 10 songs
every day. Used to be z-100 was guilty of this, but now its stations that brag
about having huge music libraries like CBS-FM and Q104.3. Maybe the reason
they are doing this is so that more of us will buy satalite radios. Howard
Stern was giving them out two weeks ago, then went on Letterman to promote it.
Maybe that's what they all want. So that once again, we'll have to pay for
something that we used to get for free.
Its the end of the world as we know it.......