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Helen Thomas, Lynne Stewart, a vat of anchovies and me ... indeed!
-Glenn Reynolds
The Daily Blitz has had a nice run but I think that I'm going to shut it down now ... at least for the time being. This is "Man on Horseback" by 17th Century Dutch artist Gerard Ter Borch:
Truthfully, I don't remember too much from my childhood in Russia. The fact is emigrating from the Soviet Union to New York City was a long, difficult and somewhat traumatic process and, somewhere along the way, a bright line developed in my memory. I don't know if this is common or normal but that's the way it is with me. Everything after June, 1977 is pretty clear. Everything before June, 1977, those years in Leningrad and the months in Italy, is pretty hazy, with the exception of a small handful of episodes.
One of those is one that I wrote about a while ago. It is the story of my dad and Father Frost. So, why do I bring it up again now? Because, more and more it seems, there are grinches in the world who forget that children believe and forget the wonder and joy that can come from little more than hope and faith and imagination. These people, these bitter, jaded, sad creatures, these adults, with not a hint of childlike wonder left in them, should be pitied ... because if you do not have it in your heart to allow a child to believe in a world that is more wondrous and more full of magical possibilities than you know it is, then you have probably lost the capacity for joy and wonder yourself.
Yes, people who live in a gray place without the possibility of wonder should be pitied ... and children should be protected from them, lest the morose, bitter existence of the adult grinch drain the color from a child's wonder-full world.
Now, where did I put that red hat?
I don't know if I'll be around the computer much tomorrow, what with the demands of pre-Hannukah preparations (you know ... picking out the best Chinese food restaurant, checking to see which bars and bowling alleys will be open on Christmas, etc.) so I thought I'd post my Friday poetry a day early (rather than not at al, which is what I have been doing lately). Anyway, here's one for the regular guys among us by the great American playwright Eugene O'Neill:
A Regular Sort of a Guy
He fights where the fighting is thickest
And keeps his high honor clean;
From finish to start, he is sturdy of heart,
Shunning the petty and mean;
With his friends in their travail and sorrow,
He is ever there to stand by,
And hark to their plea, for they all know that he
Is a regular sort of a guy.
He cheers up the sinner repentant
And sets him again on his feet;
He is there with a slap, and a pat on the back,
For the lowliest bum on the street;
He smiles when the going is hardest,
With a spirit no money can buy;
And take it from me, we all love him 'cause he
Is a regular sort of a guy.
I don't care for the praise of the nations,
Or a niche in the great hall of fame,
Or that posterity should remember me
When my dust and the dust are the same;
But my soul will be glad if my friends say
As they turn from my bier with a sigh
"Though he left no great name, yet he played out the game
Like a regular sort of a guy."
Eugene O'Neill
It seems that Hitler and his Nazi gang weren't the only ones looking to create the ubermenschen. Loveable old Joe Stalin apparently also had plans ... but he was looking less for the ideal man than for the ideal worker and soldier ... someone with super strength who would ignore pain and destroy any enemies that were put before him. That's right. Stalin wanted to breed men with apes. By all accounts, the attempts to make Stalin's vision a reality were a complete failure.
I wouldn't be so sure.
In case you're wondering, the little guy is 6'2" and about 240 lbs. The big guy wearing the sweater? Nicolay Valuev, the St. Petersburg native is 43-0 and is the new WBA heavyweight champion of the world.
Here's something seasonal from 19th Century British painter Atkinson Grimshaw. "A Wintery Moon" was painted in 1886 and is now in a private collection:
Iranian President Psychopath Mahmoud Ahmadinejadhas issued a decree outlawing all Western music. Folks, this is not a small thing. It is an absolutely inevitable part of this war. As I have said repeatedly, the war against Islamism is not a land war or an economic war or even a religious war. It is, fundamentally, a culture war and our enemies have always treated it as such. They realize that this war cannot be won, by either side, with bombs and bullets alone. It is past time that we also fully recognized this fact and conducted our war efforts accordingly.
The peaceful men and women of Democratic Underground would like you to know, in this season of peace and reconciliation, that if they don't get what they want through legal means, they'll try to get it through war against their fellow Americans. As of this post, they support the overthrow of the American government by a margin of 88% to 12%.
Oh, and as for the weak-kneed edit by the original poster re: "peaceful" revolution ... enacting change through voting, by definition, is not equivalent to revolution. Otherwise, you'd have to conclude that we've had revolutions in this country every two years and that they have recently been pro-Bush revolutions. What does the edit tell you? It tells you that they were for revolution before they were against revolution. No wonder Kerry appealed to them.
It's sad. These anti-American leftists can't even fully commit to their own idiocy. No wonder they keep losing.
Here is the bottom line about Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is a little more anti-Semitic than most of the international community is publicly comfortable with, could go on television tomorrow, declare that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons and that it intends to launch them at Tel Aviv the day they get them ... and the world wouldn't do one effective thing to stop them. Charles Krauthammer was absolutely correct when he recently wrote the following:
Lest you get carried away with today's good news from Iraq, consider what's happening next door in Iran. The wild pronouncements of the new Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have gotten sporadic press ever since he called for Israel to be wiped off the map. He subsequently amended himself to say that Israel should simply be extirpated from the Middle East map and moved to some German or Austrian province. Perhaps near the site of an old extermination camp.
Except that there were no such camps, indeed no Holocaust at all, says Ahmadinejad. Nothing but "myth," a "legend" that was "fabricated . . . under the name 'Massacre of the Jews.' " This brought the usual reaction from European and American officials, who, with Churchillian rage and power, called these statements unacceptable. That something serious might accrue to Iran for this -- say, expulsion from the United Nations for violating its most basic principle by advocating the outright eradication of a member state -- is, of course, out of the question.
To be sure, Holocaust denial and calls for Israel's destruction are commonplace in the Middle East. They can be seen every day on Hezbollah TV, in Syrian media, in Egyptian editorials appearing in semiofficial newspapers. But none of these aspiring mass murderers are on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons that could do in one afternoon what it took Hitler six years to do: destroy an entire Jewish civilization and extinguish 6 million souls.
Everyone knows where Iran's nuclear weapons will be aimed. Everyone knows they will be put on Shahab rockets, which have been modified so that they can reach Israel. And everyone knows that if the button is ever pushed, it will be the end of Israel.
. . .
Negotiations to deny this certifiable lunatic genocidal weapons have been going nowhere. Everyone knows they will go nowhere. And no one will do anything about it.
That's right. No one save, possibly, for Israel and maybe (but not likely) the United States, or (most optimistically) the Iranian people themselves, will do a thing about it before the missiles actually fly. Let's all hope that somebody does or Iraq and Afghanistan and even 9-11 will be an afterthought compared to what will come.
As I mention in my Narnia review, Santa Claus was portrayed as Jesus' arms dealer ... but keep that bit of knowledge to yourself boys and girls because, as Ogden Nash points out, you don't want to piss off jolly St. Nick or he'll go old school Twilight Zone on your ass:
The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus
In Baltimore there lived a boy.
He wasn't anybody's joy.
Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
His character was full of flaws.
In school he never led his classes,
He hid old ladies' reading glasses,
His mouth was open when he chewed,
And elbows to the table glued.
He stole the milk of hungry kittens,
And walked through doors marked NO ADMITTANCE.
He said he acted thus because
There wasn't any Santa Claus.
Another trick that tickled Jabez
Was crying 'Boo' at little babies.
He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
Sideways instead of up and down.
Yet people pardoned every sin,
And viewed his antics with a grin,
Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
'There isn't any Santa Claus!'
Deploring how he did behave,
His parents swiftly sought their grave.
They hurried through the portals pearly,
And Jabez left the funeral early.
Like whooping cough, from child to child,
He sped to spread the rumor wild:
'Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
There isn't any Santa Claus!'
Slunk like a weasel of a marten
Through nursery and kindergarten,
Whispering low to every tot,
'There isn't any, no there's not!'
The children wept all Christmas eve
And Jabez chortled up his sleeve.
No infant dared hang up his stocking
For fear of Jabez' ribald mocking.
He sprawled on his untidy bed,
Fresh malice dancing in his head,
When presently with scalp-a-tingling,
Jabez heard a distant jingling;
He heard the crunch of sleigh and hoof
Crisply alighting on the roof.
What good to rise and bar the door?
A shower of soot was on the floor.
What was beheld by Jabez Dawes?
The fireplace full of Santa Claus!
Then Jabez fell upon his knees
With cries of 'Don't,' and 'Pretty Please.'
He howled, 'I don't know where you read it,
But anyhow, I never said it!'
'Jabez' replied the angry saint,
'It isn't I, it's you that ain't.
Although there is a Santa Claus,
There isn't any Jabez Dawes!'
Said Jabez then with impudent vim,
'Oh, yes there is, and I am him!
Your magic don't scare me, it doesn't'
And suddenly he found he wasn't!
From grimy feet to grimy locks,
Jabez became a Jack-in-the-box,
An ugly toy with springs unsprung,
Forever sticking out his tongue.
The neighbors heard his mournful squeal;
They searched for him, but not with zeal.
No trace was found of Jabez Dawes,
Which led to thunderous applause,
And people drank a loving cup
And went and hung their stockings up.
All you who sneer at Santa Claus,
Beware the fate of Jabez Dawes,
The saucy boy who mocked the saint.
Donner and Blitzen licked off his paint.
Ogden Nash
That's right ... he knows who's naughty.
I saw King Kong, the mega-blockbuster of this holiday season and ... well ... it's a mixed bag. First, the positives. The effects are amazing. Kong is incredible and conveys subtle, thoughtful emotion. This isn't a monster movie. This is a love story. Andy Serkis, the man who "plays" Kong as well as Lumpy the cook deserves serious Oscar consideration. In addition, Naomi Watts gives a wonderful performance in a classic role. The scenes on Skull Island make Jurassic Park look like the teacup ride at the local carnival. I mean, there's a brontosaurus avalanche that needs to be seen to be believed. There is also quite a bit of really excellent humor throughout the movie. The final scene is terrific (and a bit reminiscent of the final scene in Titanic).
Now the bad news. I am a fan of Jack Black. I think he's hilarious and was great in School of Rock. Jack Black is just horribly, tragically miscast in this movie. He plays the closest thing to a villain the movie has and it's a character who is (or should be) layered and complex. Unfortunately, it's perfectly clear that Black just doesn't have the acting chops to pull it off. Over and over again when Black has lines it feels like the movie comes to a screeching halt and Black is doing a stand-up routine. The last line of the movie is a cinematic classic ... and Black manages to make it completely forgettable. I don't want to rip him too much ... like I said, I'm a fan and I can hardly blame him for taking a role that, according to Peter Jackson, he was actively pursued for ... but Jack Black plays Jack Black in this movie. My one other quibble is that after a long, interesting stay on skull island the New York part of the movie seems abbreviated and rushed and any chemistry between Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody pales completely compared to the chemistry between her and Kong ... there is no question about who the alpha male is.
Bottom line: A pretty good movie that definitely needs to be seen on the big screen, if you're going to see it ... but it's not the incredible classic that some people have descdribed it as ... and it's not going to threaten any box office records, regardless of hype to the contrary.
Do the Jets need a sure-handed tight end? How about a good center fielder for the Yankees? Call this guy. He'll make the catch when it really counts.
Look, I'm absolutely as anti-Castro as the next guy (or, while I'm in either DC or San Francisco, as the next 12 guys) but the Treasury Department's decision to exclude Cuba from the inaugural World Baseball Classic is simply wrong. One of the great benefits of sports is that peoples of differing world views and even enemies can come together on a field other than a field of battle and see each other's basic humanity up close. One of the worst decisions in modern sports history was Jimmy Carter's decision to boycott the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. Carter accomplished nothing for the people of Afghanistan by his feeble gesture but did manage to shatter the dreams of thousands of athletes (American and others) who had been training for years for their (often one and only) olympic chance. If the Treasury Department's anti-Cuba (anti-baseball, really) decision stands, it will be the second time that the United States government screwed up a major international sporting event for no good reason and the WBC will be invalidated, since no country, including the United States, will be able to claim to be the greatest baseball nation on earth if Cuba is prevented from competing.
Speaking of the WBC, shame on my New York Yankees for not letting catcher Jorge Posada play for his native Peurto Rico. Yeah, I know that teh Yankees have a major investment in Posada, who is not getting any younger and plays the most physically demanding position in the game ... but no other team has prevented any of their superstars from playing and Posada doesn't have a history of being injury-prone. Bottom line, the Yankees, who are sending several players to the WBC (Rodriguez, Jeter, maybe Matsui and others) have put their team ahead of the sport and it's a shame.
Finally, we have yet another instance of ignorant racism in sports ... this time from the leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. I, for one, am not even a little bit surprised that a leader of the increasingly irrelevant NAACP has become another sorry apologist for and buttkisser to Terrell Owens and has acted like a petulant, drunk fan in throwing Donovan McNabb under the bus after a difficult season. If you're interested in this story (and it's an interesting story) make sure to check out the (spot on) comments of Michael Wilbon of PTI, which can be found at the "video" link at the top of the linked article and the comments of the Sacramento Bee's Mark Kriedler.
I feel a little bad about doing this becasue, after all, I have a Narnia ad at the bottom of this blog and they were nice enough to send me two free tickets. On the other hand, I forgot the tickets the night I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I paid full price, so I don't feel too bad about giving a frank review.
First, I need to tell you that I was really looking forward to this movie. I mean, I loved the books when I was 11 or so (they were actually assigned in 3rd grade). I had really high hopes for the movie version. Unfortunately, some 24 years later the magic just didn't translate to the big screen. Let me be clear about this. This is not a bad movie by any stretch. In fact, it's really good in parts and there is at least one truly remarkable performance (more on that later). However, this movie would undoubtedly seem better if it had ben released a few years ago ... say before The Lord of The Rings trilogy. As it is, this movie about a spectacular battle between fantastic creatures representing good and evil cannot help but suffer by comparison. The special effects just aren't as good (there was one particular scene in which Peter, the oldest of the Pevensie siblings, stands before a spectacular backdrop and, well, it just looked like a blue screen ... on the other hand, the talking beavers were great ... director Andrew Adamson really showed his Shreck chops with them and some of the other talking animals ... none of whom minded that the protagonists showed up wearing massive fur coats and later entertained themselves by hunting), the story wasn't nearly as epic and the battle was a mere skirmish compared to what we got in Peter Jackson's masterpieces. Of course, this has a lot to do with both the source material and the fact that this movie seemed to be more geared for children than any of the LoR movies (it is worth noting that while it has its scary moments, it is both shorter and far less violent than LoR and is therefore probably ok for kids as young as 9 or 10).
As far as the whole Christian message controversy goes, I recommend that people just relax and enjoy the movie. Clearly, there are biblical references and Christ imagery. Adults will have no trouble identifying the noble, self sacrificing Aslan as the Christ figure and the witch as the personification of the Old Testament Satan, both charming and beguiling and cruel and evil. However, the movie is neither particularly preachy or heavy handed. It doesn't promote Christianity much more than, say, Star Wars, in which Obi Wan Kenobi sacrificed himself to Darth Vader to save Luke and the Alliance, only to be reborn more powerful than ever.
Finally, while all of the performances were pretty good (and I can be pretty harsh ... anyone who read my thoughts on Star Wars, Episode 1 knows that), the performance of ten year old Georgie Henley (9 when the movie was made) as Lucy Pevensie was really wonderful. She was easily the life of the movie. The comparison that comes immediately to mind is to 7 year old Drew Barrymore's breakout performance in ET. I expect tat we'll see a lot more of her in upcoming Narnia movies and other roles and, barring something unexpected, I'd bet on her to be a big star one day.
Bottom line: The first Narnia movie is decent but largely unspectacular. It's a very good kid's movie and it's not so weak that I won't go to see the next one. However, if anyone who thought that Narnia would match the magic of LoR or the Harry Potter series will have to admit that the Chronicles are off to an uneven start. Oh ... and Santa Claus is Christ's arms dealer ... yes he is.
And I'm sorry to say that "Black Notice" really, really reeked. I mean, it was not even remotely good. That said, I have new found respect for Cornwell, who tells it like it is regarding Tom Cruise and Scientology's dangerous attack on the mental health field. Hey, you want to give your time and money to a wack-job cult? Knock yourself out. However, when you allow your money-grubbing cult to use your celebrity to encourage people to not seek the medical attention that they might very well need to live, well, you've crossed a big, bright line at that point. Kudos to Cornwell (and, of course to Trey Parker, Matt Stone and all of the Jane Smiths and John Smiths involved in making the brilliant South Park Scientology episode) for speaking out. Besides, I understand that her other books are better. Perhaps I'll give her another chance.
On a related note, A long time ago I read James Patterson's Along Came a Spider, which was very good (he also wrote the bestseller "Kiss the Girls"). Then I read Patterson's Hide and Seek which was, and let me be clear here spectacularly bad. I mean BAD. It read like something some completely untalented college freshman might have thrown together before he learned the first thing about character development or realistic plots or ... well ... writing ... and then managed to get published 20 years later on the strength of actually having written some decent books in the interim (that's my theory). I've never read a Patterson novel since.
Another horrible book by an allegedly good author? The List by Steve Martini. Seriously, I have lousy luck picking out books in airport book stores. Martini is an attorney-turned-novelist and his protagonist in the book is ... wait for it ... and attorney -turned-novelist ... It was so bad that it made me despair about my chances of ever writing the Great American Novel. In fact, I blame the fact that I have yet to have a novel published on Martini's craptacular book about attorneys trying to get published and the people who want to kill them. You'll be hearing from my novelists lawyers, Martini!
If you want a really solid read, try any of the four novels by Joseph Kanon. Los Alamos was an excellent first effort and I hear that his latest, Alibi, is also very good.
As those who read this blog regularly know, I relocated to the East Coast a few months ago. Being new to D.C., I decided that I should try to meet new people and, hey, what better way to meet new people than to find some cool group to join. Naturally, I surfed over to Craigslist to see what my options were. Oh boy. Here are a few "highlights." First, for those who have not just given up on themselves but the whole human race, there's the Voluntary Human Extinction Group. I bet those are some cheerful meetings. Then there is the Das Kapital reading group. Yup. A group for reading one really, really boring book. How boring? Apparently, you need a support group just to get through it. And finally, there's "Hip-Hop Dance For Middle Aged Guys Who Cant."
I have found my people.
I've been too busy and/or tired and/or sick to post lately but here is something interesting to look at for all of you who continue to visit. This is Salvadore Dali's "Woman at the Window." It was painted in 1925 and is now at the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Figueres, Spain:
Maybe she's taking a break from cleaning the bare apartment ... maybe in advance of the new residents moving in ...
Jewish law prohibits the taking of human life but there is support in Israel for suffering, terminally ill patients to have the option of euthanasia. In order to find a resolution, Israeli officials have decided that euthanasia can be acceptable in Israel (in certain rare cases), so long as it is performed by a machine rather than a person. Personally, I support this. I think that adults who are of sound mind should be able to end their own lives if they are suffering without hope of recovery. After all, if a person doesn't have control over his own life, what does he have?
What do you think?
The Ukraine has a really serious problem with Jew hatred and there is no better evidence of this fact than the call by Kiev's Interregional Academy for Personnel Management, which supports Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for the destruction of Israel, for the United Nations to undo its 1947 resolution creating the modern state of Israel.
Oh, a note to the Jerusalem Post about their headline: Russia and the Ukraine are different countries. Have been for a while now.
Update: I have just learned that, according to the Anti-Defamation League: "White supremacist David Duke 'teaches' a course on history and international relations, was awarded a doctorate for a "thesis" on Zionism and was a key participant in MAUP's June 2005 conference entitled, 'Zionism: Threat to World Peace.'" Nice.
Sheesh! Some people really, really need to just go jump in a lake or something:
SammyBlue  (1000+ posts)     |
Tue Dec-06-05 05:35 AM Original message |
| Next dirty look I get from some Christian fundie over Christmas gets |
 |
laid out! JEWISH!!!I can't wait. I'm going to fucking deck one of these POS bastards out! I already have the punch lined up! |
To have a crush on your favorite hot athlete.
You hear that AG? Derek Jeter could come visit any day now.
I had meant to post this yesterday but, somehow, I just couldn't.
Yesterday, December 5, 2005, should have been Dan Champion's 37th birthday. Unfortunately, Dan passed away on August 12th and now his widow, Stephanie, keeps up the place where I knew Dan from. I've given it some thought. I was trying to figure out what I knew about Dan and why his death has stuck with me so. I mean, he and I never met in person. We never talked. Hell, we didn't know each other very well at all.
But here's the thing. The world, and maybe especially today's world, is full of ugliness and confrontation and ugly, often vicious pettiness. This is, in many ways, especially true of the blogosphere, where otherwise civilized people sometimes treat each other with a brutality and callousness that they would never exhibit if they were in the same room.
It is in the context of the blogosphere that I met Dan (at the now-dormant Iron Blog) and, over the course of weeks and months I grew fond of him. Not because of his political or religious or social views but because it was abundantly, unmistakably clear that, whatever his views or ideas on particular issues, Dan was good. He was a good man and everybody, regardless of ideology, could tell that. This is why, if you look at who commented on Dan's blog, you'll see representatives of the entire American political spectrum. His last blog (linked above) was almost entirely non-political. What it was was funny and interesting and full of life. I suspect that it was a pretty good reflection of Dan himself. It featured art (TDB's occasional art posts were inspired by Dan) and poetry and social commentary and, after Dan discovered that he had cancer for the second time in his life (he had beaten it as a youth) and continued to write what was, in my opinion, one of the very best blogs, period, it featured a courage and an honesty and a depth of humanity that affected me, and has continued to affect me, more than almost anything else that I have ever seen, on the web or anywhere.
Pastor Dan Champion was good and it is wrong, just plain wrong, that he is gone but he touched so many while he was here. Many more, I think, than he knew or could have imagined.
State representative Randy Terrill of Oklahoma recently decided to take his political disagreement with the governor out on a bunch of elementary school children. Congratulations, Randy. I think that, in you, we have found a true uniter during this holiday season. I can't see how any reasonable person wouldn't conclude that you are a complete and utter schmuck.
It's always comforting when truly vicious, evil people also turn out to be unbelievably, hilariously stupid. Here's hoping that this woman never, ever sees freedom again.
When do they want it? Soon!
| mermaid (1000+ posts) |
Mon Dec-05-05 11:58 PM Response to Reply #28 |
| 37. I'd Rather |
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have the civil war. At least I then get the sincere pleasure of occasionally getting to kick their asses up between their shoulder blades! |
DUers would like to know why you are so "very childish, self-absorbed, materialistic, greedy and fat."
Yup. DU asks the question:
Why are Americans so selfish?
Anyone have an answer for them?
Got them in the mail on Saturday from the Narnia promotional folks ... and just for running the nifty little ad at the bottom of this page. Look at that ... this blog is finally good for something.
It isn't the people on the right side of the political aisle that hate her. The biggest hurdle between Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Presidency is (and will continue to be) the kooks and extremists on the far left that despise her. Of course, politically idiotic statements from her own party chairman sure won't help either.
First, an observation:
Is there anything more frustrating to a blogger than writing a long post and having it suddenly and inexplicably disappear due to a computer glitch?
OK, on to a couple of thoughts about sports for both or either of the sports fans who read this blog.
BOXING
On the boxing front, there is a big fight tonight for the world middleweight (160lbs.) championship of the world as all-time great former champion Bernard Hopkins gets a rematch against Jermaine Taylor, an undefeated fighter who is the only man to have beaten Hopkins (on a close and evry controversial split decision) in over a decade. While many think that it is pure lunacy to pick against Hopkins, who was clearly dominating their first fight when the final bell rang, I believe that the younger, faster, stronger Taylor will have the confidence in this rematch that he lacked in the first fight and will use a great left jab and an array of power punches to cruise to a convincing unanimous decision against the 40 year old former champ. If Taylor does manage to beat Hopkins, look for a super-fight in about 9 months between him and undefeated super-middleweight (168 lbs.) champ Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy. Of course, Lacy still needs to get by dangerous and undefeated Joe Calzaghe on March 4, 2006, who is 40-0 and will be fighting on his home turf in England (that fight will be broadcast for free on Showtime ... if you're a boxing fan, mark the date and don't miss it). The sudden and unexpected retirement of Vitaly Klitschko, the heavyweight division is a wasteland with mediocre journeymen like Oleg Maskaev and bloated super-middleweights like James Toney (who is a great fighter but hardly a natural heavyweight) being considered for a title shot against Hasin Rachman, who would not make anyone's list of great heavyweights. Therefore, fans have to look to the lower weight divisions for great fights. Luckily, there is absolutely no shortage of terrific fights and terrific fighters in the lower division. In addition to tonight's fight and the Lacy-Calzaghe fight look for Castillo-Coralles III on February 4, 2006 (which can't help but be great, for as long as it lasts), Vargas v. Mosley on February 25, 2006, Jean-Marc Mormeck vs. O'Neil Bell on January 7, 2006 (Mormeck, a cruiserweight, fights like a slightly smaller Joe Frazier) and Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao in a rematch of their great battle on January 21, 2006. If you're interested in the circus-sideshow freak factor, you can't do better than John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz (the world's least popular heavyweight champion, due to his awful grab & clutch style) against undefeated Nicolay Valuev who, at over seven feet tall and over 320 lbs. is a freak of nature who has recently beaten a couple of legitimate fighters (knocking out Clifford "the Black Rhino" Ettiene and getting a majority decision against Don King fighter Larry Donald). How unpopular is Ruiz in the U.S.A.? In order to market the fight and actually sell some tickets, promoters have decided to have the fight in Berlin, where Valuev has had most of his recent fights. This one is hard to predict but I join everyone that loves the sweet science in hoping that Valuev pummels Ruiz and finally removes the least aesthetically pleasing fighter alive from the sport.
BASEBALL
With the additions of slugger Carlos Delgado and closer Billy Wagner the Mets have turned themselves into legitimate contenders not just for the NL East crown (which the Braves have owned for the last 11 (and 13 of the last 14) seasons. If the mets manage to get Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox, as they might, they will be the clear favorites in the NL East and will challenge the Cardinals for regular season supremacy in the National League. Of course, the Mets also need to pick up a top catcher (they have offers out to both Bengie Molina of the Angels and Ramon Hernandez of Sandiego, either of which would be a major defensive upgrade over departing Mike Piazza ... but let's face it, Screech from Saved By The Bell would have been a major defensive upgrade over Piazza) and a starting pitcher or two (look for them to make offers to both Barry Zito of the A's and Arizona's Javier Vasquez, who wants to play closer to his family in Puerto Rico). Why are the mets suddenly using their checkbook like George Steinbrenner on crack? Well, part of the reason is that they just got a new TV network deal, much like the Yankees YES network and they have to put a competitive team on the field to make the whole thing profitable. Look for he Mets to take plenty of the back page ink from the Yankees in '06.
FOOTBALL
Note to my fellow Jets Fans: Maybe if we root really hard for the Texans, the Niners and the Packers they can win a few games and we can draft Reggie Bush ... That's all I have as far as silver linings go.
Note to Tony Dungy: If you ask 100 casual football fans who won the superbowl in 1971 or 1973, you're likely to get a whole lot of blank stares. However, almost any fan can tell you that in 1972 the Dolphins won the title. Why? Because that is the only team to ever go undefeated (and they weren't even that great). Tony: You have an amazing team. For the first time in recent memory the Colts have a great defense to go with their awesome offense. For the love of all that is good and pure, don't sit your starters in the last 2 games, even if you have clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Do yourself, your players and every fan who is sick of watching the '72 Dolphins pop champagne corks when the final undefeated team loses a favor and go for the undefeated season. Hell, it'll probably help you in the playoffs by keping momentum (you'll have a week-one bye anyway) and if you happen to not win he Super-Bowl, I promise that we'll all forgive you.
QUESTION FOR THE READERS
Is ultimate fighting a sport? For the record, I believe that, by any reasonable definition of the word "sport," it is ... but many people argue that it isn't and I'd like to hear your opinions.
UPDATE: Looks like I was 100% correct about the Hopkins-Taylor fight. If you made a fortune based on my prediction, kindly contact me for information as to where to send my cut.