June 6, 2009

Radio appearance a success

Had the opportunity to be on ESPN Radio 940 AM’s (940espn.com) ‘Game Face’ football show Saturday morning, hosted by Steve Fratt.

Talked Giants for about 20 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed it. Remember, check Big Blue View to talk Giants or Pinstripe Alley to talk Yankees.

May 12, 2009

Radio show starts today

I m going to try something new today — a sports talk show of my own on Blog Talk Radio. Show time is 1-1:30 p.m. Eastern.

I will be talking New York Giants football, New York Yankees baseball and maybe some other sports topics if they come up.

We will see how this goes. I haven’t done radio in almost 30 years, and I’m kind of nervous about it.

April 8, 2009

Appreciating Tiger’s greatness

‘Great’ is a word that gets tossed around too easily these days. True greatness is something rarely seen, and it should be admired.

It is why I loved to watch Michael Jordan, who was just inducted into the Hall of Fame, play basketball. It is why I watch Tiger Woods.

I was watching Woods come from 5 strokes behind to win the Bay Hill Invitational a couple of weeks ago, and my wife asked how I could watch golf on TV. I wasn’t watching golf. Why would I do that? I was watching Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer ever, add another chapter to his legend.

The Masters, the granddaddy of all the major golf tournaments is this week. And Tiger spent part of Tuesday letting the world know he plans to win not only the Masters, but all of the majors.

“Well, I know I can do it,” he said. “I’ve done it. It’s hard for me to sit here and tell you that it can’t be done because I’ve done it before.”

I am certainly not going to doubt the man. I won’t watch every second of the tournament Thursday thru Sunday, but you can bet I will be paying attention.

Whether you love golf or not, if you appreciate greatness you should be, too.

March 31, 2009

If I hadn’t seen this, I wouldn’t have believed it

Legendary hothead Bobby Knight is actually mellowing into an enjoyable old man. How else do you explain this?

Speaking of Knight, I love listening to him talk basketball on ESPN. I learn something from him every time.

Hat tip to Tom Rock for the find.

March 30, 2009

Make it stop, please!

Thank God the special congressional election to fill Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat is tomorrow here in New York. I can’t take this anymore!

Yes, I have a preference who wins the race between Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco. No, I’m not going to tell you who it is. You don’t care about my political views.

I just want this to be over. I want to stop hearing Gillibrand’s voice on my answering machine. Joe Biden’s and Bill Clinton’s, too.

I want to stop having people representing one candidate or the other make my dogs bark by dropping literature at my front door, and bugging when when I am outside cleaning my car or playing with my son.

Go away, people! The only thing you are literature and your voicemails are accomplishing is pissing me off.

March 27, 2009

This cop had no clue

This video of Houston Texans’ running back Ryan Moats being detained, and hassled, by a completely clueless police officer is truly disturbing.

All I can say is I hope this cop is never allowed back on the streets.

March 24, 2009

Maybe I’m too old to understand this

I don’t get the appeal of ‘Facebook.’ Or ‘Twitter.’ Or even what is by Inter-Google standards the old standby, ‘MySpace.’

Full disclosure. I have a ‘Twitter‘ account, set up by the Sports Blogs Nation tech gurus to promote my football site, Big Blue View. I also joined ‘Facebook’ the other day, again just to promote my work at Big Blue View and Pinstripe Alley.

You won’t catch me copying Shaquille O’Neal and spending my time ‘tweeting’ away with mindless posts on Twitter. Or dropping silly posts about my mood swings (always dark, anyway) or what music I feel like listening to.

The posts from my Facebook ‘friends,’ who are mostly former co-workers or other bloggers include these gems:

  • Someone I know is ‘feelin’ jazzy.’
  • Someone wants to ‘remind everyone you can still rock in America.’
  • Someone is ‘looking forward to some good music.’
  • Somebody thinks ‘Haikus are awesome. But sometimes they don’t make sense.’

Why does any of this make sense? To me at least, it doesn’t. And none of this provides me with information I need or care about. Nor does it improve my life.

Maybe I’m too old at 48, maybe I’m a curmudgeon, maybe I’m not open-minded enough, or maybe I just haven’t examined all the possible benefits. But, right now I just don’t get the appeal.

My 21-year-old daughter couldn’t believe it the other day when her dad showed up on Facebook. Of course, she practically lives on it. I can’t really believe it, either. I certainly don’t know what I’m really doing there.

I just know that the work I really care about is at Big Blue View and Pinstripe Alley (and here, of course). Even if I am truly anti-social — which my wife will vouch for– if the social media sites can help me promote that work, then I will be there.

Just don’t expect lots of other silly little posts about what I happen to be doing right that second. And don’t ask about my mood.

March 18, 2009

Take risks? Not right now

My copy of ‘Newsweek‘ magazine arrived in the mail Tuesday afternoon. Staring at me on the front cover was Uncle Sam with the headline “I Want You … To Start Spending.”

The Newsweek article, which you can find here, says in part:

As consumers hibernate and investors hoard cash, the economy is withering. This new age of thrift is understandable. But for a recovery to take hold, Americans will need to start taking risks again.

To which, I have to ask, taking risks with what?

The unemployment rate continues to climb, and I am one of those unfortunate folks who hasn’t been able to find a job. I haven’t worked since before Thanksgiving.

My investments, and my wife’s, are worth half of what they were a year ago.

Go to the grocery store, and you will notice that prices there are climbing.

I don’t have any extra money to spend. So again I ask ‘take risks with what?’ Certainly not the money I need to live on.

I would love to put vinyl siding on my house, replace the broken recliner I sit on every day, tile the bathroom floor, buy a new computer or do some interior painting in my home.

Just tell me where the money is going to come from, and I’ll be happy to spend it.

March 16, 2009

The World Baseball Classic? Hardly

Are you a fan of the World Baseball Classic? If so, you’re likely in the minority of baseball fans around the USA.

Today at Pinstripe Alley I take a look at why the WBC is more farce than classic.

For New York Giants fans, today at Big Blue View I continue my look at the Giants’ draft history, looking for the best third-round picks since 1970. The first and second rounds have already been covered.

March 13, 2009

Never underestimate the power of a blog

Many of the best political blogs gained acceptance years ago. Sports blogs are not quite there yet, but they are catching up.

I was reminded of this by something I posted earlier today at Pinstripe Alley,where you may know I write about the New York Yankees. I dropped in a quick line about ex-Yankee Bernie Williams having been accused of hitting a woman in a nightclub recently.

Lo and behold, a few hours after the post I had an e-mail from Williams’ publicity team with a press release denying the allegations.

Buzz Bissinger might not like blogs, but that e-mail tells you that there are plenty of people out there who understand the reach — and the power — of the blogosphere in shaping opinion.