Screen Shot from TNT Show Leverage

The TNT show Leverage starring Timothy Hutton is shot Portland. I played "Charlie" the Security Guard in a recent episode called The Two Live Crew Job guest staring the great Griffin Dunne and Wil Wheaton of Star Trek TNG fame.

Here is a screen shot:

The Noisettes Hit The Stage At Berbati's In Portland O

Anders Osborne Plays Portland O

It was a stone groove last night at Portland's Mississippi Studios as Anders Osborne along with Johnny Sansone and Clarence Bucaro invaded town on their Southern Troubadour Tour.

Obviously Hurricane Katrina and the ineptitude of the aftermath sucked. But there has really been some great music coming out of New Orleans in its wake.

Reaction To The SI Jeff Komlo Story

On June 15, 2009 Sports Illustrated published a facinating piece about former Delaware QB Jeff Komlo. Here is the reaction of another former player to that story:

In March, I dined with former college teammates from Delaware, and there were three linemen at the table, including myself, who had blocked for Jeff Komlo. When we shared the news of his recent demise, not a tear was shed. He was a talented athlete but a more talented con. He cared for one thing: himself. His actions went against the traditions of our school and all that we were brought up to believe was right.

-Former Delaware Player Joseph G. Susan Jr in a letter to Sports Illustrated published in the July 6, 2009 issue.

Alex McMurray @ Lousiana Music Factory

My favorite New Orleans musician playing from his new album at my favorite New Orleans music store. Pay close attention as there will be a quiz...

Mmm...Nice Slacks.

"No, No, tuck in the jersey. You look great, Mr. Hernandez." (Caption provided by Matthew Fine.)

Chris Wheeler Makes an Oopsie.

Phillies broadcaster Chris Wheeler obviously didn't stretch out his tongue before the nugget:

A Cautionary Tale

Former UD Quarterback Jeff Komlo's Sad Story

Baseball The Way It Was Meant To Be:

With a porn-stache, a polyester shirt, and a smoke.

Ahh, don't you miss the 80s?

The Great American Comedy

"Yeah, I was in the shit."

Rushmore is one of those movies that help define its era. It is the quintessential American movie of the 1990's that not only helps define us a people, it pokes fun at where were were and where we were going.



It is a story about the loss of innocence. It is the story of America on the precipice of George Bush, 9/11, and the Iraq war.

Besides, Bill Murray has never been better.

Stay Classy Boston. Stay Classy.

Red Sox announcer Dennis Eckersley says what every Red Sox fan is thinking as Mets ace Johan Santana takes down the Sox last night....

Breaking News: Delaware State Changes Nickname

Amid pressure from the National Honey Growers Assn. and in the wake of forfeiting a home conference game next season in order to get paid to play at Michigan, Delaware State, moving forward, will be known as the Whorenets.

"There's no cheating in Baseball!"

I am currently working on a two part series examining cheating in Major League Baseball. The first part is done and can be seen here: Baseball's Cheating Culture.

Alive and Kickin'

I wrote an article reviewing the book Pieces of Me by Paul Sanchez.

Here is the link: Alive and Kickin': Life After Hurricane Katrina

Springtime for BK in Germany

I have logged a lot of air miles in the last week: Portland to Houston to New Orleans to Las Vegas to Portland to Atlanta to Munich where Pam and I are now. On the ride to Munich I sat next to a German born woman who has lived in Alabama since 1957. She had an unfortunate accent combo. The first thing she said to me about six hours into the flight was about Iranian President Acmadinijad and how he was running his mouth again. I kept my face buried in Pieces of Me the book by Paul Sanchez that I bought on my last day in New Orleans.

After twenty-four hours of travel including time changes and layovers, we arrived in Munich at seven a.m. The train ride from the airport into town is about an hour and not too scenic. I kinda felt like I was in Northern New Jersey, and not the Red Bank, New Jersey of Alex McMurray’s youth. But Munich itself is a beautiful city with great architecture.

The main train station is huge and very clean. It was early in the morning, but Pam was having a hankering for sausage (what else is new), so we dove right in with a early morning brat with mustard. In for a penny; in for a pound. It was delicious.

Pam got us a bit lost trying to find our hotel which was supposed to be with a stones throw of the train station. Fortunately it seems like many of the people speak English which is a good thing because these Germans have a different word for everything.

We found the hotel, but the room wasn’t ready yet, so we went back to the train station to catch the first train out of town and up to Dachou which is where the fist German concentration camp is. The town of Dachou is a quaint little hamlet with a checkered pass. The camp is a fifteen minute bus ride out of town. It has been preserved to pretty much the exact condition it was in when it was operational. We toured the facility and watched a half hour film about the history of the camp.

We eavesdropped on an English speaking tour guide to get a bit of the lay of the land. We saw the same guy later in the day in town. He offered to tour us later in the week to some of the castles outside of Munich, and he only wanted 471 euro for his efforts. Pam practically laughed in his face wondering how much it would cost not to have him talk.

After Dachou, we went back into Munich. We checked into our hotel, the King Hotel, rested for a bit before heading back out into town. We went to the old part of town to the famous Haufbrauhaus which I am sure is the German equivalent of the Hard Rock except it dates back to the 1500s. We drank those ridiculously large beers, sausage, spitzel, pretzels, and salad. Gotta have your veggies.

Later that night, we were back in our neighborhood. Pam wanted to go to Boobs which is the table dance bar across the street from the King Hotel, but instead we went to another beer garden for some more giant beers.

Only one day in Munich and we experienced beer halls, sausage, and a concentration camp. Not a bad first day.

On day two Pam woke up crazy early and fetched me coffee and breakfast. I was feeling a bit worse then she was after our night of drinking. Once I had my legs back, we embarked to the old section of town again to see the sights and shop for shoes. We went into the Ludwig Beck store but the clerk told Pam that they only had a small selection of shoes which was his polite way of telling her that she probably couldn’t afford them. Instead she bought a fifteen euro umbrella which guaranteed us another couple of hours of sunshine.

We sat next to an American couple from Texas in the town square waiting for the Glockenspeil outside town hall. Next it was off to the outdoor market where a mean butcher lady yelled at Pam for wanting to take a picture of the meat case. I kicked her ass and we instead went to the fish store for a lox and onion sandwich on the best kaiser roll in Germany.

Afterwards it was time for more beer and sausage at one of the oldest sausage houses in Munich. The Weisses Brauhaus has been making their own sausage and beer since 1567 which is a good thing because anything opened after 1600 is total BS. The waitress might have been part of the original staff. She perfected the art of looking right at you without seeing you. She totally pegged me for an American and brought me a “light” beer. After some more walking and shoe shopping it was off the Ratskellar for more beer and none of the light shit this time. Ah Lowenbrau when the beer you pour must say something more somehow.

Later in the day we toured the famous German Residenz where many generations of royalty lived. It was largest house I have ever been in this side of Brakefield’s beach house. Some of the crucifixion art had remnants of the actual cross. Is that what they mean by Neo-Realism?

We were obviouly exhausted after touring the million square foot facility so afterward we had to get some more beer and sausage. Pam found some comfortable shoes on sale at the Puma store. Who’d a thunk it?

On day three we rented a car and headed out of town to one of King Ludwig II castles in the foothills of the German Alps. The castle itself was never entirely completed as they prematurely pulled the plug on Ludwig’s reign. The place was still pretty incredible.

Afterwards we drove to the German town of Garmisch which is a ski town that was used as a site for the 1936 Winter Olympics. Unfortunately the we missed the last tram to the peak and could only go about 1000 meters up to a little lake village.

Back in Munich last night, we went to one of the oldest pubs in Munich where they have been using Swiss ice to cool their wooden beer kegs since the late 1500s. We made some new friends as Pam swapped cooking stories with Christine and I talked politics with her husband Wilhelm and his friend who immediately discarded me because I was American and I didn’t smoke.

We spent the day today touring Schloss Nymphenburg and the surrounding grounds and then it was off to Hirschgarten which is the largest outdoor beer garden in Germany. It was a beatiful day for giant beer and pork shank.

A great dinner tonight at a tapas bar in a hip neighborhood and tomorrow it is off to the English Gardens to eat and watch the surfers.

More to come.....

Harry The K (1936-2009)

Very sad news today about the death of Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas. I worked for the Phillies back in the early Nineties. Harry was an inspiration to me and many others.

Here is a piece that I wrote about Harry for HubPages:

Harry The K

The Money Shot

As I get ready to hit the road again this week, I was thinking that I just might be visiting the two most diametrically opposed cities on the planet. My first stop will be New Orleans where the best shows rarely start before two am and the potential for debauchery is well documented. Afterward it is off to Munich, Germany which I thought would be stuffy, conservative, and, you know, German.



And then I saw this video and wondered if some Philadelphia Eagles fans had taken a wrong turn in Conshohocken and ended up at this “football” match in Germany between Hamburg and Manchester City. I started thinking that maybe New Orleans and Munich are not that different after all. 



Although “I’ll have a beer and sausage” may not translate exactly the same way...

Coach Gets Fired; World Ends; Film At Eleven

Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie was fired the other day after only two years on the job. While you can certainly argue whether or not the firing was warranted (Gillispie's record was a respectable 40-27 but Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament this year for the first time in eighteen years), you can't argue that the behavior of Alan Cutler of WLEX-TV was anything but sleazy.

Watch the video below as Cutler chases Gillispie like he was Bernie Madoff down hallways and corridors of the Joe Craft Center after the firing.  My first thought was that Gillispie deserved the wrath of Cutler just for his lame I'm-on-the-phone-so-I-can't-talk-to-you-Mr.-Reporter bit, but upon further review, it is obvious who the douchebag is here.  If the hairplugs fit you must not acquit...

HubPages Article

Here is an article that I wrote recently with advice on how to choose a Real Estate Agent.

Choosing the Right Realtor

HubPages Article about Joe Flacco

Here is an article I wrote recently about Joe Flacco focusing on his incredible game against Navy in 2007.

Joe Flacco: From Delaware to the NFL

Dancing With Myself

Any chances that I might have had to win any of my pools magically disappeared about three minutes into the first game of the first day of the 2009 NCAA Tournament.  As soon as Butler fell behind LSU 9-0 around 9:14 this morning, my hope of finally winning dashed.  I should have hit the snooze and gone back to bed.

I never understand the people who fill out several brackets.  How do you know who to root for?  I may enter several pools, but I only fill out one bracket.  So it doesn’t matter when I enter the CNN DC Bureau pool as I do every year with about seventy people, the Portland Life of Riley pool that I am in for the first time along with about 150 others, or the Fine Boys Invitational which once again is me, my friend Matt, and his son.  Every pool I use the same bracket.  It is like my March signature.

Every year I also have the same feeling looking over my picks on Wednesday night before the tourney starts, “I think picked every winner this year!  How can I be wrong?  After all no one knows more about college basketball than me!”

My delusion usually lasts longer than five minutes.

By the time the day was over not only had Butler who I picked to go to the Elite 8 lost, but also so did Mississippi State and VCU each of whom I picked to go to the Sweet 16.

I feel like the guy who finally gets the nerve to ask the girl to dance only to be cut-in on right away without even a chance to dip.  And after I polished my shoes and everything.  

Selling The Snake Oil in Upstate New York

I know the economy is bad but....

It may have been one of the greatest college basketball games of all-time, but it didn't take much for the pinheads in the Syracuse Athletic Marketing office to turn last week's 6-OT game against Connecticut in the Big East Tourney into a huckster cheese fest.

Exactly how long did it take them to put this gem on their website?  What they couldn’t frame Eric Devendorf’s enlarged preening ego?

The best part is that as quickly as they put the framed boxscore up for sale, they reduced the price from $79 to $69.  “Now you too can own a piece of college basketball history at a bargain basement price!”

I have already made a cleared a spot on my bookcase right next to my Barack Obama Inauguration Commemorative Yes We Can Eat Salad Bowl and my Michael Phelps gold medal bong phone.

 

Link to Article:

An article I wrote for HubPages about the Presidential Impeachment of 1868.

Edmund G. Ross: American Hero or American Zero?

When I told Pam what I was writing about, she snarkly asked if I had uncovered some new evidence.  Funny.  No, but I still think it is an interesting read....

Article Written for Hub Pages:

Baseball Signs: The Game's Secret Underbelly