Roster for biggest match ever

Lotsa stuff happening on the ESPN Insider U.S. National Soccer Team blog. Better subscribe.

Change in plan

My employer forbids blogging on sports topics, as of yesterday. And the new rules say I can't critique media, either. (Sorry 7 Days; you'll get no more of my pithy insights.) So from now on, I'll shut up about those things, post links to my ESPN stories, and post local insights when I have them.

Jozy Altidore to Hull City

And where is Hull City? Find out on the ESPN Insider soccer blog, which is easy if you subscribe today!

One blog dies, another rises

Welcome to a new ESPN Insider project, the U.S. National Team soccer blog.

RIP, The Ultimate Race

Not sure how I missed this, but the Mag's web site, which folded itself into the ESPN Insider umbrella late last spring, posted my final episode of The Ultimate Race, a dynamic duel worthy of Katz's vs. Shwartz's.
Read it, and pour a little beer on the curb. For civilization.

Memphis in the meantime

Get your summer college basketball hoops fix on ESPN Insider, where you can find out how the Memphis Tigers are adjusting to the loss of John Calipari and a bunch of players who made him look good, and where you can learn the identity of the young man who posted this on Twitter:

"Imma shoot somebody if I don't get no pizza sometime soon"

Subscribe today!

Like we said...

...the new swimsuits have ruined swimming.

Instead of developing regulations akin to WADA's doping protocols, swimming got swamped in technology's wake. Morgenstein jokes that FINA's testing regime is "three guys in Switzerland with a bottle of scotch and a bathtub."

Sorry about that, Mr. Phelps.

Speaking of local flesh-eating

What wins the taste test, Katz's New York pastrami or Shwartz's Montreal smoked meat?
Smoked meat, of course!
I'm fiending for a Cott's Black Cherry soda about now.

The out-of-towners

I like 7 Days Vermont. I really do, and think it's a pity it doesn't cover the west side of the lake more often. So I was excited to see this week's ADK issue. Then I opened it, and found a story on... Michigans. Don't get me wrong. I love Plattsburgh's dogs. And it's not a bad review. But Michigans have been written about. A lot. By Gourmet magazine, even.
And the mistake in the first graf...

The city known to many as Wiggletown

...immediately signaled an exercise in pith-helmet journalism.(Wiggletown, for the uninitiated, is not the city but a neighborhood). Kinda smug, kinda condescending, kinda "look at the natives in their festive dress." Plus, going to Gus' without getting a shake is borderline criminal. 7 Days, you can do better.
Wow, I'm seething with Vermonster resentment. Like a native in festive dress.

The swimsuit issue

My take on high-tech floaties, here, if you're paying for it. If not, subscribe today!

On vacation

If I weren't, I'd have been tempted to do this.

Scoop!

Looks like Pedro Martinez is headed for the Phils. But Chris Neyenhouse, a former student of mine at Plattsburgh State now working for NTV television in Nebraska, reported that more than a week ago. In the Dominican Republic for a wedding, Chris saw Martinez at a restaurant, chatted him up, and came away with news--Pedro, the former Dodger-Expo-Red Sox-Met who's been out of work since last fall, told him he was signing with Philadelphia. Chris posted it on the station's website July 4, and for the rest of his career can brag about the (first) time he beat the national sports media.

Lout

That's an easy one.
A skillful takedown of the right honorable state Sen. Pedro Espada is here.

Pool parity

Maybe it's because I'm reporting a column on swimming this week, but this story, about the pool in Philly that tossed out a bunch of black kids for being, well, black, keeps jumping out. There's a nice treatment here, which makes a good point about what's going on with public recreation facilities all across this great land of ours.

The camp first contacted the club about membership after the New Frankford Community Y in the Frankford section of the city - where the children used to swim - closed last month because of lack of money. The club is about a 20-minute drive from the camp's location at Devereaux and Summerdale Avenues in Northeast Philadelphia.

Pools are closing all over the place for lack of funds. And if anyone's thinking help is on the way, think again:

Looking to strike fear and compliance in the hearts of local officials, Vice President Joe Biden warns that if they use money from the economic stimulus fund to build what he regards as the wrong kind of projects, “I’ll show up in your city and say this was a stupid idea.”
“No swimming pools!” he implored. “No tennis courts!” he begged. “No golf courses!” he pleaded. “No Frisbee parks!” he exhorted.

One of the many nice things about the Plattsburgh area is the attention paid to recreation, especially for kids. As I write this on a splendid summer day, there's a 3-on-3 kids basketball tournament in the parking lot at the rec center across from my house, people jogging and cycling on the neighboring parade grounds and bike path, and a bike-helmet giveaway scheduled for tomorrow at the community-sponsored sailing regatta. The schools offer solid sports programs, and not just for elite kids. People often marvel at the low crime rate here, even with demographics that suggest it should be far higher. I think the good schools and youth recreation opportunities have a lot to do with the lack of crime, and the general sense of public safety.

Moolah for Gooch

Oguchi Onyewu signs with AC Milan, becoming the first field player on a U.S. national team to join an elite European club. That piece of news makes this piece of writing from 2005 hold up pretty well, by the way, even if the typesetting doesn't.
And all you hataz, just give Eddie Johnson time!

Bumpy ride home

From SI writer Grant Wahl's twitter feed:

Word to wise: If you're going to World Cup '10, don't take South African Airways. Lost bags, theft, terrible customer service.6:00 AM Jul 5th from web

My rival soccer writer (actually, Grant has no rival) and I shared something in common. SAA lost, temporarily, all of our luggage. Didn't even make it onto the plane in Johannesburg. Grant says his got to him Thursday night, after our Wednesday morning arrival at Dulles. My lone bag didn't arrive until Friday. I had mine shrink-wrapped to prevent theft (they have these strange machines that wrap your luggage in plastic for about $7, an acknowledgment that the handlers can't be trusted), but that didn't stop somebody from trying to get at the outer pouch, which contained my priceless... toilet kit.
All was intact, but yeah, if the Disney travel gods allow it, I'm going with a different carrier next year.

It is writ

The official text from a prospective POTUS. Would make a good editing quiz. And also too, I'm not sure that's the most effective way to beat the press...

Palin Announces No Second Term
No Lame Duck Session Either

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly to you, the people I serve, as your Governor.

People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.

I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln's cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked "North to the Future". But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this "Seward's Folly". Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but right path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.


People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska.

Alaska’s mission – to contribute to America. We’re strategic in the world as the air crossroads of the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this - Alaska would be part of America's great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, and oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

So to serve the state is a humbling responsibility, because I know in my soul that Alaska is of such import, for America’s security, in our very volatile world. And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show my independence… no more conventional “politics as usual”.

And we are doing well! My administration's accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.

We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to help people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.

Here’s some of the things we’ve done:

We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line for Alaskans on Point Thomson – and finally for the first time in decades – they’re drilling for oil and gas.

We have AGIA, the gasline project – a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) – also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. This is energy independence.

And ACES – another bipartisan effort – is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas “clear and equitable formula” is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes new exploration and development and jobs that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.

We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.

We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.

We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands – where it should be.

We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.

We broke ground on the new prison.

And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.

And the Lt. Governor and I said "no" to our pay raises.

So much success in this first term – and with this success I am proud to take credit... for hiring the right people! Our goal was to achieve a gasline project, more fair oil and gas valuation, and ethics reform in four years. We did it in two. It’s because of the people… good public servants surrounding the Governor's office, with servants' hearts and astounding work ethic... they are Alaska's success!

We are doing well! I wish you'd hear more from the media of your state's progress and how we tackle Outside interests - daily - special interests that would stymie our state. Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular. Some of those dollars would harm Alaska and harm America – I resisted those dollars because of the obscene national debt we’re forcing our children to pay, because of today’s Big Government spending; it’s immoral and doesn’t even make economic sense!

Another accomplishment – our Law Department protected states’ rights – two huge U.S. Supreme Court reversals came down against that liberal Ninth Circuit, deciding in our state’s favor over the last two weeks. We’re protectors of our Constitution – federalists protect states’ rights as mandated in 10th amendment.

But you don’t hear much of the good stuff in the press anymore, do you?

Some say things changed for me on August 29th last year – the day John McCain tapped me to be his running-mate – I say others changed.

Let me speak to that for a minute.

Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations – such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters’ questions.

Every one – all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We’ve won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted thousands of hours of your time and shelled out some two million of your dollars to respond to “opposition research” – that’s money not going to fund teachers or troopers – or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the “politics of personal destruction” … Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn’t cost them a dime so they’re not going to stop draining public resources – spending other peoples’ money in their game.

It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with this instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more “politics as usual,” but this isn’t what anyone had in mind for Alaska.

If I have learned one thing: life is about choices!

And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose not to tear down and waste precious time; but to build up this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!

Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and “go with the flow”.

Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".

No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to build up.

And there is such a need to build up and fight for our state and our country. I choose to fight for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and life... I'll work for and campaign for those proud to be American, and those who are inspired by our ideals and won't deride them.

I will support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the right reasons, and I don't care what party they're in or no party at all. Inside Alaska – or Outside Alaska.

But I won’t do it from the Governor’s desk.

I've never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this - to make a difference... to help people. So I choose, for my State and my family, more "freedom" to progress, all the way around... so that Alaska may progress... I will not seek re-election as Governor.

And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks… travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade – as so many politicians do. And then I thought – that’s what’s wrong – many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and “milk it”. I’m not putting Alaska through that – I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! That’s not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old “politics as usual.” I promised that four years ago – and I meant it.

It’s not what is best for Alaska.

I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable.

With this announcement that I am not seeking re-election… I’ve determined it’s best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor Parnell; and I am willing to do so, so that this administration – with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future – can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.

My choice is to take a stand and effect change – not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain in this new environment. Rather, we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities – and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me – sports… basketball. I use it because you’re naïve if you don’t see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket… and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win. And I’m doing that – keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities – smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it’s time to pass the ball – for victory.

I have given my reasons candidly and truthfully… and my last day won’t be for another few weeks so the transition will be very smooth. In fact, we will look to swear Sean in – in Fairbanks at the conclusion of our Governor’s picnics.

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you trust me with this decision – but it’s no more “politics as usual”.

Some Alaskans don’t mind wasting public dollars and state time. I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of Governor. And my children won’t allow it either.

Some will question the timing. Let’s just say, this decision has been in the works for awhile…

In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life - my children (where the count was unanimous... well, in response to asking: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from outside the Governor's office?" It was four "yes's" and one "hell yeah!" The "hell yeah" sealed it - and someday I'll talk about the details of that... I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.) Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we all could learn so much from someone like Trig - I know he needs me, but I need him even more... what a child can offer to set priorities right – that time is precious... the world needs more "Trigs", not fewer.

My decision was also fortified during this most recent trip to Kosovo and Landstuhl, to visit our wounded soldiers overseas, those who sacrifice themselves in war for our freedom and security… we can ALL learn from our selfless Troops… they’re bold, they don’t give up, they take a stand and know that life is short so they choose to not waste time. They choose to be productive and to serve something greater than self... and to build up their families, their states, our country. These Troops and their important missions – those are truly the worthy causes in this world and should be the public priority with time and resources and not this local / superficial wasteful political bloodsport.

May we all learn from them!

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

First things first: as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what’s best for Alaska. I’ve explained why… though I think of the saying on my parents’ refrigerator that says “Don’t explain: your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.”

But I have given my reasons… no more “politics as usual” and I am taking my fight for what’s right – for Alaska – in a new direction.

Now, despite this, I don’t want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this real “climate change” that began in August… no, we need hardworking, average Americans fighting for what’s right! And I will support you because we need you and you can effect change, and I can too on the outside.

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government’s supposed to serve from the bottom up, not move toward this top down big government take-over… but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it’s time so the team can win! And that is what I’m doing!

Remember Alaska… America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future. It'll be good. So God bless you, and from me and my family - to all Alaska - you have my heart.

And we will be in the capable hands of our Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell. And Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume the role of Lieutenant Governor. And it is my promise to you that I will always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska.

In the words of General MacArthur said, “We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”

###

ALASKA.GOV - Governor - Site Map - Contacts/Locations - Email Governor

Tired

That was the problem for the U.S. against Brazil.
I can relate.

U.S. and A! Part II

Yes, I've written quite a bit about them this week. But seriously, you should root for this team. Because it looks like America. And represents us better than we deserve. I've seen them close. They're all pretty cool. At the risk of sounding like a corporate whore, watch it on Sunday at 2 pm.

U.S. and A! U.S. and A!

Quite a game. Quite a post-game, too. And I have more work to do in Africa.

Courage on the field

It's the ultimate over-used sports cliche.
Except it's not a cliche this time.

Five of Iran's World Cup soccer team wore green wrist bands Wednesday when they played South Korea to show solidarity with protesters back home.

Apparently, the protesting athletes were punished for their act of free speech. They didn't qualify for the World Cup, but they're now my favorite team.

One of our mayors is missing

This is kind of strange:

The linking of Nova Bus with the Town of Plattsburgh satisfies the efforts at partnership between Quebec and eastern New York state. That is a partnership that former Plattsburgh Mayors Clyde Rabideau and Daniel Stewart vigorously pursued, along with the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce and other development gurus in this region. That relationship has continued to help shield the North Country from the full effects of the national and global recession.

Did our local editorial board throw the current occupant under the bus?
h/t ncg

I thought he moved to Florida

Clown.

Bush critic + Obama critic=Journalist=Canned

Dan Froomkin gets the axe, even though he has a following. I'm not sure I now have any reason to read that paper.
Here's a trenchant Froomkin essay from a while back on what's wrong with newspapers.

Not very good at all, really

The United States had rather a rough go of it against a group of Brazilian men in a contest of association football.

The horn of Africa

Vuvuzelas are the new Thunderstix. And predictably, someone's calling for a ban. Get some earplugs, or a mic filter, and relax. It's part of the game down here.

Mmmmmm... ox liver

With onions. Just had it for breakfast at the hotel. Very liverish. They love their meat in South Africa. In the student-heavy (Pretoria Universitaat and Pretoria High School for Girls) district near the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, three of every four restaurant's lead item seems to be burgers. Wimpy is huge.
Only way to get raw vegetables is to order a salad--usually with meat. Haven't found any cooked veggies anywhere, though with the restrictions on walking around (more on that later), I can't say I've done a thorough investigation.

That's amore

We make high-quality Italian soccer players right here in the US of A. That's today's lesson from Africa!

Not in Iran, but...

...this DailyKos post is fascinating. An Iranian sports journalist is apparently feeding a Kossack buddy updates from the revolution. They met on a soccer forum.
Sometimes, we do more than report the scores.

In Africa

Covering a soccer tournament that's a warmup for a bigger soccer tournament. By the way, it's colder in Johannesburg than it is in Plattsburgh.

Daaiiissyy... Daaiissy...

Remember the scene in 2001 where HAL the computer gradually has his plug pulled, and starts to lose what's left of his virtual mind? That's what the New York state legislature is like today, slowly losing sentience and starting to shut down all systems.
"Ii'mm... haallff... craaazzy...."

More on the draft

Our Insider draft series continues with a look at what lurks past the 10th pick. Short answer: not much.

Another reason to like track

I am on the record heartily supporting the sport of athletics. Today's USA Track and Field blog just adds to it. The COO of the sport in the U.S., Mike McNees, devotes a column to the horrors of plastic bottles. He makes an argument often regarded as wacko environmentalism sound like what it is--common sense.

Certainly our elite athletes must take great care to not drink from unsealed containers, given the potential consequences of a positive doping test resulting from a tainted bottle. A career could certainly be ruined. This does not mean, however, that every 12-year-old miler or collegiate official needs bottled water. I participated in more than a few track meets in the days when bottled water was something my mom poured into the steam iron, and when suggesting one pay $4 for a bottle of water from a concession stand might get you committed. There are alternatives, not the least of which is the best public water supply in the world. It is a public water system, by the way, in which we have collectively invested billions of dollars, only to turn up our nose at in favor of an environmentally toxic plastic bottle filled with water that is produced and bottled without a fraction of the regulatory quality control of our public water.
The ban-the-bottle movement is not new, and at least two states have banned the use of public money for bottled water. But in spite of growing awareness of things like the floating Pacific garbage patch, the effects of plastics in our environment, the energy costs to produce and distribute bottled water, and the cost to buy it, that movement is gaining traction very slowly.

What other leader of a major U.S. sport would even bother to identify a problem like this, let alone call for ban on bottled water at U.S. track meets, as he does at the conclusion of his column?
Read it all.

One thing on McHugh

The local paper today neglects to mention that the 23rd Congressional District is doomed to be subsumed into some other district in two years. That's because the 2010 census will show a relative population loss in New York compared to the subsidized South and the welfare West, and the state is likely to lose at least one House seat. Redistricting will take place. And the 23rd as we know it will cease to exist.
By the way, here's something I forgot about McHugh: He's relatively progressive on gays in the military.

Speaking of drafts

ESPN Insider is starting a month of NBA draft coverage. Here's my opening salvo.

Obama drafts McHugh

Ten-hut!
The president names North Country Congressman John McHugh as Secretary of the Army. Bipartisanship we can believe in!
Just as interesting is the scramble it will set off for the 23rd District. It's been solid GOP, but then so was the 20th. Wonder who's going to chase it. State Sen. Darrel Aubertine or McHugh aide Robert Taub, mentioned in the Washington Post article? Janet Duprey? Don Kasprzak? Dr. Bob Johnson? Aragorn? A Watertowner, a Malonite, a Plattsburgher? Fun to watch, and the new blood will be good for the district.

Happy border day!

Now that you can no longer visit Canada with just a driver's license, Jim Kunstler tells you what you're missing as he passes through the eldritch, Lovecraftian streets of Watertown, into the great northern safehouse. Step 1: Read. Step 2: Weep.
Oh, and there's this nifty tidbit from Kunstler's brand new comments section:

As for the Canada/USA difference - I still haven't figured that out. It seems to be due to subtle policy differences, including the fact that they ditched their arbitrary and inefficient (e.g. the East Syracuse police department) local governments years ago in favor of regional systems. One thing I will share is an anecdote from a bus trip I took from Montreal to Albany. This other American and I were talking with two British men sitting behind us when we pulled into Plattsburgh. It was their first trip to America (besides NYC), so they were shocked at they commercial strips. When they asked what those weird buildings were, we told them they were drive through banks. They just started laughing (enough said)!

Corrections and amendments

Credit where due, to the local paper, which atones for its rough headline about an area student with this:

CHEERS: to Leo Lee, the precocious 11-year-old speller from Plattsburgh who almost made it into the semi-finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week, making the entire North Country proud.

And a follow-up. I did some roughing up of my own regarding Sen. Betty Little a while back, thinking she was positioning herself for a run at the 20th Congressional seat. Obviously, she isn't. My bad.

Gimme rewrite!

Two headlines in the Friday print edition that the Press Republican wishes it had back:
First,
Area student falls short at National Bee
Sheesh, Leo Lee just misses making the national semifinals (and getting some face time on ESPN), he's only in sixth grade, and the hed makes him sound like a disappointment. Any idea how hard it is to get as far as he did? Give the kid a break. Heck, give him a medal. (Besides, "Area student..." ventures dangerously into Onion territory.)
Then there was this one, about the Denver basketball coach:
Karl won't rein in his Nuggets
Eewww.

ht/tg

Hatin' on the city

It's always cheap when upstate pols do it, especially since New York City taxes pay for just about everything up here (despite local conventional wisdom), but Janet Duprey goes blue-light special with this:

Over the past few days, I have received several phone calls from people upset and/or confused about automatic "robo" calls they received asking them to call my District Office. I want to correct what I have been advised is misleading information on a recent vote I took on the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) bailout. The implication is that I voted against jobs in the North Country by voting against this bailout.
Let me assure you that I have been and will continue to be a supporter of Bombardier, Nova Bus and their subsidiary companies providing subway cars and buses for New York City. My vote against the atrocities in the bailout bill will not affect the ability of these companies to compete on competitive and non-competitive bids for MTA contracts. For the Democrat Assembly Campaign Committee to suggest otherwise via robo calls is disingenuous.

Let's start with terminology. She calls it the "Democrat Assembly Campaign Committee." It's actually the "Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee." She's using the time-honored Limbaugh trick of using the word "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" in titles because political advisers like this guy think the "rat" sound at the end is ugly to voters' ears. It's so seventh grade. Also, "atrocities" is a word that should be reserved for war crimes, or irony, neither of which apply here.
There's a little logic problem, too. I'm sure she has been and will be a supporter of Bombardier and Nova Bus. But how does crippling the agency that purchases subway cars and buses lead to new purchases of such products? It doesn't. Bottom line is, a broke MTA means one less giant customer for the companies' wares. It's dishonest not to admit that.
The really irksome thing about the article, though, was this:

"..the Assembly voted to implement various fees and taxes on the people living within seven counties surrounding New York City to reduce the projected fare increases on city buses, subways and bridges. I hasten to point out that many of the people living and working in these seven counties seldom, if ever, use the various means of transportation in NYC. For instance, less than 2 percent of the MTA's ridership board trains in Orange County."

That last statistic is absolutely ludicrous. There are 11 million MTA riders. Using Duprey's number (which I'm skeptical of), two percent of that ridership would mean 220,000 people take the trains from OC on a daily basis. Orange County has an estimated 380,000 people, total. That sounds like a majority of Orange County residents use the train. In any case, those in Orange County who don't take the train benefit from less auto congestion, and cleaner air, thanks to those who do ride the rails.
And while the MTA definitely needs more financial scrutiny, I never heard Duprey in high dudgeon over this $800,000 "transportation" project, which transports nobody anywhere, and which a majority of Clinton County residents, let alone residents of any other county in the state, never uses at all.
There were plenty of honorable ways of defending her vote. Duprey didn't need to resort to cheap shots and head fakes.

Anti-gay robot

A digitized voice identifying itself as Brian Brown called from the National Organization for Marriage to poll me, asking if I agreed that New York State should ensure that marriage is between a man and a woman. I answered, "No," and the robot hung up. God help us all if these machines ever become self-aware.

Aaarrgh!

How I learned to love some losers, or stuff I wrote about the Pittsburgh Pirates, here and here.

Gillbrand on board

This is encouraging: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sounds like a forceful advocate for more and better passenger rail to the North Country.

Gillibrand said a bill re-authorizing funding for transportation projects is being negotiated now, and rail service is a high priority.
"We want to advocate for some of our projects to be part of that bill. High-speed rail that would come straight up through the North Country to Montreal and straight west all the way to Niagara; that kind of investment is extremely exciting," she said. "We also want to do local rail. If we could have local rail, we could open up tourism opportunities."

This is exactly right. It would also open up telecommuting opportunities, making it easier for people whose employers are based in Albany or New York City to extend the tether. On top of that, Plattsburgh already has a toehold in the growing mass-transit industry, and Gillibrand recognizes that better than some locals.
Best of all, she's not afraid of using government to do things for communities, a la her old mentor, Senator Pothole.

The senator also told Plattsburgh Mayor Donald Kasprzak that she would support efforts to secure funding for the city to close an old landfill, build a new water storage unit and fight the drug war. "It must be difficult having people asking you for money all the time," Kasprzak said.
"It's not. Especially if I can get it," Gillibrand responded with a smile.

Michael Jordan or LeBron James?

Who's better in his first six NBA seasons?
We decide, so you don't have to, on ESPN Insider. Subscribe today!

Swords to car shares

A former Nazi military base cuts back on the automobile. That's change Plattsburgh can believe in! Maybe the Saranac River Trail is a local start down a path to more car-free roads.
h/t CB

The greatest letter to the editor ever

Been working a bit, and a bit behind. But I've been itching to put this up, because... well, just read and learn:

Empirical evidence
TO THE EDITOR: Janet Duprey is wrong. This is an equal-rights issue, not a civil-rights violation or deprivation. She's confused by her own admission. Do we allow the condemnation of others to suddenly influence our decision-making processes? What basis/fact does she rely on to determine that she can support gay marriage/civil union law? None!

Two opposites attract and stand side by side, equal, not separated, always, fact. Two same men opposite another two same women equal four sames. They're already together and that makes them equal to one another not opposite the other equal, ever, fact. Two separate same sexes men/women together (not possible) verses one set of opposites that equals four against one, five against one, three against one and one half against one, something other than any of them? Which is it, could it be all of them?

Confusion. Even turning the sames 180 degrees just to separate them, allowing them to stand side by side, is not equal. Get out six magnets if you don't believe this. The equalibrium is disturbed forever. The laws of gravity prove the confusion. Everything is already equal. A united woman and man allowed this procreated fact, but the woman bore this fact. I'm her equal when I'm united with another of her equal procreated self. Until then I remain her opposite.

David Lapier

Plattsburgh

Salary crap

More than I ever wanted to write about the potential demise of the NFL salary cap, here, on ESPN Insider. Subscribe today!

Principal skinned

Give the Plattsburgh city school board this much: It put the excitement back in bureaucracy. After the school superintendent recommended Plattsburgh High School Principal John Fairchild for tenure, the board last month shot him down, 5-4, in the first vote of a two-step process (if the superintendent recommends, the board has to vote twice not to grant tenure--confused? You're not alone). Anyway, a huge outcry ensued. The supposedly apathetic modern teens of today staged a walkout on behalf of their principal. The Press-Republican's letters section drowned in pro-principal sentiment. Pro-Fairchild parents and students packed two subsequent school board meetings, producing this damn-I-wish-I-coulda-been-there moment:

Another senior, Kyle Maggy, chastised board members for what he perceived was a lack of focus and respect.
"I noticed board members seem more concerned with computers while people are speaking than listening," said Maggy, who requested that the board members shut down their computers while people were talking and pay attention.

I have no idea whether there was a good reason to deny Fairchild tenure. By law, board members are not supposed to publicly discuss personnel matters. There is literally no telling what motivated them. But Fairchild's supporters came up with plenty of reasons to keep him, like decreased dropout rates and improved teacher morale. Despite an overwhelming public show of support, the school board voted not to renew him again last night. This count was 4-4.

Voting no were Patricia Bentley, Dr. John Gallagher, Clayton Morris and Kevin Richardson, while Leisa Boise, Dr. Richard Robbins, Steven Sullivan and Fred Wachtmeister voted yes.

None of those votes changed from the first go-round on March 26. But one vote went missing. Who was that? Brian Herkalo. Let's assume he had a good excuse not to be there. Otherwise, it's a profile in cowardice.
By the way, many of the students at Plattsburgh High wore black today.

Undercover bummer

One of my favorite blogs, Undercover Black Man, is going out of business. UBM didn't talk much sports, but he had every other aspect of the culture covered. Read this interview with The Wire creator David Simon.
One of his last posts is about sports--reviewing Siskel & Ebert's role in promoting the classic documentary "Hoop Dreams." I started reading in late 2007. I'll have fun going through the archives.

Roidger

A copy of "American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime" arrived yesterday, and I'll be digging into it this weekend. Full disclosure: Two of my best friends in the business, Teri Thompson and Mike O'Keeffe, wrote the thing, along with Christian Red and Nate Vinton, and, if I ever write a book, I'd expect a plug from them. (I doubt I'd get one. That's just how they are.)
But this plug isn't just personal. The book, excerpted in SI and in the Daily News, has the added advantage of being the real deal, promising the most thorough look at all things Clemens, from his juicing to his womanizing to his less-than-credible testimony before Congress. From the beginning of the Clemens saga, Teri and her investigative team killed on this story, week after week, for the better part of two years. They're still killing it.
Personally, I'm interested in the reporting on Brian McNamee, a man I've never met but whom I feel like I know.

Murphy's in. Did Little start her campaign?

Scott Murphy beat Jim Tedisco. And in what is likely the first move in the 2010 race to unseat the new congressman, State Sen. Betty Little comes down firmly against gay marriage. Because even though North Country politicians and media support it, she has to nail down the GOP base to win the nomination, and that means forbidding people to marry.

The Future

I was waiting for this (scroll down to the letter from Newton, MA):
Charles P. Pierce's evisceration of Daily Kos founder and Brave New World deity Markos Moulitsas. I believe the term of art is pwned!
In their weblog dialogue lie some lessons about the demise of the newspaper and the rise of whatever is, or isn't, replacing it. With apologies to Pierce...
Lesson the First: In any battle of wits with Mr. Pierce, we are, all of us, poorly armed.
Lesson the Second: The growth of this newfangled Internet, which is all in all a great thing (thank you, Al Gore!), inevitably leads to old-fashioned hubris. Last week, Kos drank deeply from a pixelated goblet of self-regard, and then proceeded to vomit all over the crumbling newspaper industry, a Caligula-esque display of blogo-triumphalism. Kos speaks to us in a parable:

At one of those conferences, however, a nice editor approached me. He had tracked the growth patterns of this site and was wondering what he could do to help his mid-sized newspaper become better acclimated to the web.My answer then, same as it would be now, was to embrace the audience and make them feel like part of the endeavor, create tools that would allow greater engagement and discussion between editors, writers, and readers. As a first step, why not add comments to your stories?
The editor sighed. You see, he told me, they had tried that already. The reporters hated it of course, since I doubt I've met a more thin-skinned group of people in my life than beat reporters. They're expected to become instant experts on any number of issues on a day-to-day basis, so they're touchy when they screw up, which is often. But the experiment in user feedback persisted until the newspaper's "star columnist" stormed into the editor's office one day.

The columnist in the parable demanded the "graffiti" come down or he would quit. The newspaper caved and took down its comments. And here's the O. Henry ending:

What newspaper was this? The Rocky Mountain News, which completely ceased publication Feb. 27, 2009.

My reaction to the Kos post, after first thinking, hey, I was a beat reporter, followed by my catty attempts to to ID the jerky columnist, was, Have you ever read newspaper online comment threads? You'll save time by going directly to Stormfront or Ayn Rand fan sites.
But Pierce gave the issue some thought. And he called Markos out, for all the right reasons.

I'm sorry, this and this are examples of what John Peter Zenger would've called, "just being a prick."
I admire what Markos has accomplished. But, despite his pale and worthless disclaimer late in that first post--Spare us your pity--if this isn't gloating, I'd hate to see what he thinks gloating would be. A few points:
a) this is minor, but handing along a pivotal anecdote about the behavior of a "star columnist" without naming that columnist is what we in the old media refer to regularly as "chickenshit," and setting that story at a place where recently a couple of hundred people lost their jobs is graceless and cruel...

It goes on from there. And predictably, it inspired a characteristically humble Kos rejoinder.

The times are changing, and the culture with it. And consumers are getting increasingly sophisticated about how and where and from whom they consume their news. Shoot the messenger, Charlie, but it doesn't change anything.

To which my immediate reaction was, well, this.
Anyhow, it led to Lesson the Third: Insult Pierce at your peril. He quotes Kos:

"For Charlie Pierce and many of his journalism friends, this debate is about how they continue to get paid. For me, I don't give a shit who gets paid or how much, but whether people get the news they need to make informed decisions in a democracy. If people get paid in the process, great! If they don't, but people still get good information, then great!"

Then Pierce schools him:

I would argue that there are a great number of people in a great number of professions having a great number of conversations about how they will continue to get paid. Auto workers come immediately to mind. I give a shit about all of them, including the people in my profession. I would argue that giving a shit about whether or not people should get paid a decent wage for an honest day's work is what progressive populism used to be about. I don't recall any legitimate progressive determining on his own which work is worthy of having a shit given about it. I would argue that my friend in Chicago, who was a decent and honorable sportswriter with two young kids and a mortgage, and who was laid off this week because the Chicago Tribune is owned by a vicious vandal named Sam Zell who needs to have his balls in the mouth of a shark right about now, is worthy of having a shit given about him. I would argue that the cafeteria workers, security guards, printers, drivers--and the newsroom staffs--at the newspapers in Seattle and Denver that went under are worthy of having a shit given about them. Here, from the invaluable Ms. Jane's place, is a story about which The Future, by his own admission, probably doesn't give a shit.
Of course, I do not understand the new world of progressive activism, where some professions are unworthy of having a shit given about them. I weep at my ignorance, of course.

There's another lesson in all this, one which Pierce knows but the blogosphere too often misses as it ghoulishly watches the business of print journalism, my business, sink.
Lesson the Fourth: It is easy to be a pundit. Opinions are free, technology's cheap, and really, anyone can do it. Even me. Look at me now, I'm punditing! I'm king of the world! But not everyone can do it well. In many quarters of the media, especially in some of the most rarefied precincts, celebrity is mistaken for ability, and people are allowed to run on the fumes of reputation. That is what the blogosphere triumphalists howl at, correctly, and they rightly unmask frauds. But the frauds usually aren't laid off. Those are the grunts. The workers. The people who go to the council meetings and the courthouses and fires and crime scenes and farms and high school games and deliver the world, or a part of it, to the doorstep.
And they're dying. And no amount of first-person diaries and second-hand blogging and media critiques will replace them. Real news is a service, like working sewers or functioning schools or reliable power grids or effective garbage collection. It's the kind of service that separates a good society from a primitive one. If nobody does it, and does it well, you live in a lesser place. But doing it well is hard work. The kind of work that, as Pierce says, nobody should do, and most likely, nobody will do, without being paid a decent wage for it.

Good for Janet Duprey

She changes her stance, for the better, on allowing people to marry. She's not alone. And another North Country legislator, Teresa Sayward, did the right thing first. But Duprey is part of a trend.

Click here, and try not to laugh

I'm on the road, but this demands to be seen. And heard. Now!

Your tax dollars at work

Juan Gonzalez of the NY Daily News shows how the new Yankee Stadium has evicted the baseball team from All Hallows High School in the Bronx, an institution I'm quite familiar with, and quite fond of, having written my master's paper on the school's basketball team in 1990. Promised a new field to replace their old one on the site of the Bombers' new playground for the rich, the Gaels will have to wait until 2011. Oh, and pay to play.

To accomplish all this additional traveling for the varsity and JV teams, even for practices, the school has been forced to buy two small buses and order a third. The total cost, says school President Paul Krebbs, has been more than $100,000.

But the Yankees, with all their revenue from the new park, stepped up and did the right thing, right?

Krebbs figured that since the new stadium made them homeless, the Yankees should help bear the school's additional cost.
He applied for a $40,000 grant from the Yankees Community Foundation to pay for one bus. That amounts to less than one inning's pay for CC Sabathia. "We were rejected," Krebbs said. "They told us they don't pay for vehicles."

Beware the ides of April

Technically, the ides of April is the 13th, but we're in the ballpark, and horrible, awful tragedies seem to happen this time of year.
And it's already been a terrible spring.

My dying industry

First, a friend sends me this unfortunate headline about the Saints coach:

Sean Payton beats the Easter bunny but not his wife in Crescent City Classic

Then the Washington Post emails me a NEWS ALERT! No, it's not about the American rescued from the Somali pirates. It's this:

News Alert: The First Puppy Makes a Big Splash

I ran across the clincher catching up on Undercover Black Man, who is noted for his unflinching roll call of MBP's--Misidentified Black Persons:

“In Sports on Monday, a photo accompanying articles about Sunday’s Lakers-Clippers game pictured Laker Lamar Odom trying to shoot over the Clippers’ Fred Jones. The caption misidentified Odom as Laker Kobe Bryant.”
Yes. The L.A. Times. Kobe frickin’ Bryant. Unbelievable.

Collapse is funny, except when it's sad.
ht/tt

R.I.P., Mark Fidrych

It is hard to overstate the phenomenon that was "The Bird," though plenty of media will make the effort. I think younger people will have a hard time understanding all the gushing over Fidrych, because unfortunately they haven't ever seen anything like him--an athlete who played, in the truest sense of the word.
It wasn't just a job for Fidrych, and though he put on a show, by all accounts it wasn't an act. He really enjoyed what he did. He wasn't cutting an opponent's throat, or humiliating them, or cheating, or aggrandizing himself for profit. He just played a game to the best of his ability, and his ability was rare. "He could throw a baseball through a keyhole from 60 feet," is how one competitor remembers it.
I had a conversation with Filip Bondy of the Daily News not long ago about the lack of playfulness among modern athletes. He lamented the departure of the Mets' Pedro Martinez, who had fun with the press and the fans, and knew never to take things too seriously, best exemplified, of course, when he was asked how he'd pitch to Babe Ruth: "I'd drill him in the ass."
Those kinds of quotes are as rare as the Bird nowadays, replaced by the premasticated mumblings of a class of people who (publicly anyway) want nothing to do with fun. It's what we've sown by turning kid athletes into de facto professionals before they turn 12, with every public utterance purposely boring, a la Jordan or Tiger or Tom Brady, or purposefully, and artificially, "outrageous," a la Terrell Owens and Bill Romanowski. In both approaches lie the same goal--to be marketed, or to use one of the dreariest words of the age, "monetized."
Maybe, as we enter a time more like the 1970s, another era where Mammon failed us, the monetization of the self will no longer be the paramount goal of life. And maybe the monetization of sports will be seen for the boring, joyless pursuit that it's become.

Donut (a-)holes

Some morons decided to carve donuts into the U.S. Oval soccer fields Friday night. City gym employees say the cops caught them, though. Few things worse than an idiot in a car.

Is it Evil Congressman Maffei?

The Tupper Lake bank robber's fake beard raises questions.
In other Star Trek parellel universe news, ever notice how much this guy resembles this guy?
ht/tg

Coach K's tears

For those into statistical analysis (and who isn't?), this is CyphersSpace post No. 100! Now go celebrate by taking a look at the favorites (hint--a prominent Polish-American is in the mix) for March Madness 2010--on ESPN Insider. Subscribe today!

If you liked Pulp Fiction...

...click on this YouTube video, wherein Brad Richter proves he's a really good guitarist.

Hatchet interment?

Unfortunately for fans of political cat fights, the current and former mayors of Plattsburgh appear intent on consigning their public little war to the dustbin of history.

"I hope it's behind us," Stewart said.
Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Kasprzak said, "I appreciate Dan's comments on moving forward with putting things in the past."

This is good for the city. We're all in the same gang, and all that. But admit it: A nasty state senate race would have been more fun.

Awesome Ultimate Race story

An ex-NFL player-turned-developer plans a walkable solar city.

The idea is to create a self-contained community where people can live and shop and work and go to school and have fun without long car trips. Kitson's construction plans start with a walkable and bikable downtown that will include a magnet school, a wellness facility and sustainable retail as well as 8,000 homes - including affordable homes for local workers. "In Florida, everyone has to drive everywhere they want to go," Kitson says. "And everyone thinks the solution to congestion is to build more roads. I think the solution is to design communities so you don't need more cars on the roads."

Yes, it could end up a pipedream, and it's a drawback that he's killing open space to do it. But a viable prototype of a new-grid city could have far-reaching effects. And it's also proof that retired football players have more to offer than dreamt of in "Heathers."

Damn Yan'ees

Because so far, they're missing the Ks.

Yankees starters in two games have yet to record a strikeout.

R.I.P, Marvin Webster

Growing up a Denver Nuggets fan, the Human Eraser was a favorite. His obit is sad.

Cut

I do not think that word means what John McHugh thinks it means.

Cool

Vermont lets people marry. Also, if you missed it, check out ESPN Insider Nate Silver, wearing his other hat, providing predictive statistical analysis.

Across the pond

Let's hope Vermont lets people marry. Because letting people suffer like this is unconscionable, and denying people rights is un-American.

Stoned

Seems libertine Tricky Dickster Roger Stone has hopped a boxcar north, perhaps, as The Albany Project surmises, to perform his black arts for James Tedisco in the 20th CD count.
Will be interesting to see if he feeds talking points/insider info to the AP's Michael Gormley. In late 2007 the Albany wire-service writer seemed to get a heads-up on Stone's, uh, wet work, regarding Eliot Spitzer. In a Gormley story from Nov. 24, 2007, just five days after Stone sent a letter tipping the FBI to Spitzer's hooker habit and three months before Spitzer's downfall, there was this:

"He's done,” said Roger Stone, a Washington political consultant who worked on President Nixon's re-election and worked for presidents Bush and Reagan. “I don't think he'll be re-nominated.”

Of course, Stone, according to Stone, had a lot to do with that. If he's launched a sneak attack on the 20th race, though, it hasn't started well. A judge says they can start counting the absentee ballots Wednesday, which isn't what the GOP wanted.

Mass killing and the new normal

This piece posted Friday in the wake of the Binghamton tragedy notes the numbers of lives claimed in mass shootings--50 in a month, and nearly 30 in one week. And that was before the three police officers in Pittsburgh and whole family slain in Washington state. Fifty-eight dead, and no media trend stories? Oh, right, I forgot, there was important stuff going on. Michelle Obama touched the queen.

Just do it, then, or shut up

The mayor came out and threatened bad stuff for the city, and unless he's able to do something about the taxes, or something, something bad will happen, like, like... like... dissolving the city.

"Although I did talk about the idea of dissolving the city during my first campaign for mayor (2006), I don't think we are at that point. But we may have to look into it in the future if the tax burdens continue to increase," Kasprzak said. "We are landlocked, and we have no place to grow and get more revenue to help deal with these problems."

Go for it. Because if the mayor can't see that rewriting zoning laws so they're more open to density and mixed commercial/residential use would go a long way to improving the city's attractiveness and business climate, then he should just shut the whole thing down. No, we don't have room for a mall or suburban subdivisions in the city. That doesn't mean it can't grow. There are plenty of vacant storefronts around. But the city won't grow unless attitudes change (sorry to disappoint all the glibertarian Ayn Rand cultists, but we do need taxes if we want things like roads) and the governance improves. The current city leadership can't perform simple tasks like watering the grass on playing fields. How can we trust it to figure out tough budget issues?
So take the mayor's advice. Kill it. Dump the strong mayor city-government system, since its only function is to air strange local factional grievances that are beyond earthly understanding. Then get a city manager, or shut the city down and merge with the Town of Plattsburgh. Of course, it's doubtful the town would have us.
Guess we're stuck with listening to people elected to do a job bitch about it.

Ring ding-a-lings

It's not my district, but...
When the counting's all done, the first thing constituents of NY-20 should do is tell their new Congressman, whether it's Jim Tedisco or Scott Murphy, to quit wasting breath and precious time talking about bringing back the Olympics. It can't happen, and even if it could, you wouldn't want it to--unless you want to bankrupt your already bankrupt government. See, the IOC doesn't give Olympics away without massive government support, read, subsidies. And there are better things to spend massive government funds on than rare, elite sports. Don't believe it, then read this and this and this.
Jayzuss.

Nate Silver on Murphy-Tedisco

In between baseball preview posts, he beats back some b.s. thrown against the wall by a Roll Call pundit.

Precious fluids, salty dogs

The always-good Eric Alterman delivers another scary, decline-of-the-news-biz column, which focuses on how already-poor business reporting, particularly health reporting, is likely to deteriorate.

...in “Revealing How Dentists Profit by Abusing Children,” Roberta Baskin earned one of the highest honors in broadcast journalism for her reporting on real-life little-shop-of-horrors dentistry at a chain of Medicaid clinics called Small Smiles. That same winter, she found out that her investigative unit had been axed by WJLA-TV because it was “’a luxury’ they could no longer afford.” She asks:

Is it a luxury when our reports convince companies to reform bad business practices? Is it a luxury when regulatory agencies suddenly are motivated to enforce laws already on their books?

Evidently, yes.
Meanwhile, bad reporting allows all sorts of health hokum to gain traction. I give you, ladies and gentlemen, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, er, the Plattsburgh City Common Council, which is seriously considering removing fluoride from public drinking water. And while they waste time on this, nobody talks much about an actual health threat that affects the North Country's large population at risk for heart disease: too much salt in the diet. Why? Because there's a Big Salt lobby, which bullies government agencies that release accurate information.
-ht/dmc

The Betty factor

If the Republicans end up losing the 20th Congressional District race, their leadership may rue the day the party went with the old boy and stood up their best gal, State Sen. Betty Little. Check out this map: Jim Tedisco lost in the northernmost three counties of the district to unknown Scott Murphy, which just happens to constitute a huge chunk of the area Little represents and where she is quite popular. Assuming Republican machinery in Saratoga and other points south would have kept her numbers competitive with Tedisco's, the GOP would have gained a House seat by choosing Little.

Photo finish

Murphy-Tedisco is a dead heat. Weeks, maybe more, of recount, fighting, lawyer money, Bush-Gore, Franken-Coleman, Syracuse-UConn...
There is such as thing as too much excitement.

On the death of newspapers

A great rant, this, about the bankruptcy of the Chicago Sun-Times:

I worked for these folks, and continue to work for the company now mercifully free of them on a freelance basis, just in case anybody was unclear where my burning rage at newspaper mismanagement that then calls itself a "revenue decline" or blames "changing tastes of readers" comes from. Who needs the Internet to kill journalism when you have clowns like this walking away virtually unscathed?

Read it all.

Slapped around

Another post on ESPN Insider, about whether you really need depth in the NBA playoffs. The stat freaks come out at night, and some of them give me a thorough browbeating, though they offer no data to counter it. We stand by the story.
But you're missing this drama if you don't subscribe today!

The company you keep

US Soccer wants to return the World Cup stateside. A worthy goal, pun intended. But the soccer federation just added to its bid group one Henry Kissinger, who's had long associations with, among other undesirables, AIG. And the Yank bid group also trumpets its a board member formerly with Goldman Sachs, a firm that isn't exactly popular these days. Guess they're the type of folks who are friendly with the masters of FIFA, though.

Don't get even, get mad

Up late Friday writing this pre-game analysis of Louisville-Michigan State's regional final. These things are fun to read in hindsight, at least when I haven't made myself look like a complete fool.
Oh, it's an Insider piece, so subscribe! It's just pennies a day!

Goal keeping

Have a story up on ESPN's soccer site about Yank goalie Brad Guzan heading into tonight's U.S.-El Salvador World Cup qualifying match, here. Because it's all about the world game.

The jail economy

Change is coming to the North Country's prison economy, as NCPR's blog points out. But state pressure to reform drug laws, and thus reduce the number of drug offenders behind bars, is only part of it. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia is introducing federal legislation to overhaul the entire prison-industrial complex.

With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world's reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. In addition, more than 5 million people who recently left jail remain under "correctional supervision," which includes parole, probation, and other community sanctions. All told, about one in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state, and federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year.

The movement is long overdue. The growth of the prison system, and its increasing cruelty, is a shame of the nation. To read this New Yorker piece on the growth of solitary confinement, despite the fact that the practice is torture, despite evidence that it doesn't work, and despite proof that it creates even more violent prisoners, is to cringe.
The answer is obvious. Shut down prisons. But it's not easy. One thing not covered in Webb's Parade Magazine article is the fate of corrections officers, and the communities that have become dependent on them. Are there retraining programs in the works? Severance deals? How will the government, in essence, buy off these powerful unions who've grown in response to public and political demand, however misguided and bloodthirsty that demand is?
The hope is that someone will figure out a way to put the manpower to use, close to home, perhaps on long-overdue government maintenance projects, or in some other crime-fighting capacities. But smooth and efficient re-allocation of resources hasn't been this country's strong suit lately.

Tonight, see Brad Richter

At the Unitarian Fellowship, 7:30 pm. Because he's a really good guitarist.

Car wreck

Gotham's subway bills to go up, cars to remain subsidized, thanks to a trio of Bozos. By the way, underrated News columnist Michael Daly has been on fire lately.

So long, Curt Schilling

The 216-game winner hung up his bloody sock yesterday, but I can't let him leave without an acknowledgment. Known for his pitching, Schilling did me a solid back in 2003 with his bat, which he used to smash a robo-umpiring system known as QuesTec. Schilling's rage against the machine was the perfect anecdote for a story about the failures of the technology, and the company behind it. The stories are here and here. Wouldn't hold up half as well without Schilling's great interview. Schilling also gave a heartfelt tribute at the passing of North Country legend Johnny Podres, and attended Podres' funeral in Port Henry. Thanks for the help, and here's to a happy retirement.

Gonna leave a mark

The Daily News unloads on Gov. Paterson with both barrels.

Straight heat

Props to Plattsburgh State reliever Billy Davis, the SUNYAC pitcher of the week.

Davis saved five of Plattsburgh's six wins. The five saves established a Plattsburgh single-season record while giving Davis 12 for his career, also a program benchmark.

We already have a soft spot for him, though, for his classic letter to my employer about his Wiffle ball prowess.

I think I should've been featured instead of the less talented Joe Nord. This supposedly great pitcher needs multiple pitches to get hitters out. I need only one to dominate: straight heat.

That's what we in the industry call great copy.

Fifth grade

If you're not following local politics, skip this. But in my fair city, the heady debates of the day often boil down to, "I know you are, but what am I?"

TO THE EDITOR: Dan Stewart, let it go. Or, tell the whole truth. Start with the fact that despite the city paying the expenses for your Duke trip with the promise of reimbursement from Duke, when the reimbursement check came, you cashed it. You may have intended to reconcile with the city, but you did not actually do it. Technically, that is a crime, but no crime was charged in our correspondence. In the final bill that went to you, there is no aim of bad intent, no indictment, only a request to settle the details. If you wanted to refute those details, you should have done so. Otherwise, just let it go.

Jim Calnon

City Councilor, Ward 4

Just wondering, though: If someone "technically" commits a crime, and political officials are looking the other way in a quest to "let it go," isn't that, itself, "technically" criminal?

Not Supertrain, but a start

Good piece in the Montreal Gazette on improved Amtrak service on the Adirondack.

Almost 2.5 hours could be cut from the travel time of Amtrak’s Montreal-New York City train service, which could move its operations to Lucien L’Allier station from Central Station, according to a plan put forward by New York state last week.

Love it, because I could get to meetings with my corporate masters more quickly. Something puzzling, though:

Quebec and New York have ruled out building a much-discussed high-speed Mont-real-New York City train, saying the multibillion-dollar project, which would require new tracks, is too expensive.

But a Boston-to-Montreal high-speed route apparently is under consideration. We're starved for rail service, so every bit helps. But it sounds like a case of filet for Vermont, scrapple for the North Country.

h/t adirondacktrailhead.com

Scary numbers

This fantastic New York Times interactive map pours cold water on any warm-and-fuzzy narrative about the local economy.

The future for the North Country remains optimistic, as we look forward to steadiness among top local employers.

Now look at the map again. Clinton County's unemployment is at 10.1%, up 3.3% from last year.

Mad, mad, mad...

Three more entries in the NCAA tournament ESPN Insider file, on Dayton (RIP), Arizona and Michigan State vs. Kansas.
Subscribe today!

Rejected!

Big men are important this time of year, and not just in basketball. Failed sportscaster Rush Limbaugh clearly intimidated a North Country Congressional candidate. Tedisco'd be better off playing the game like this 20th CD constituent. Or this guy. Come strong, or don't come at all.

h/t tg

Deeper into Madness

Stuff from last night on the NCAA tournament, on Maryland and Michigan. Still timely, so subscribe today!

Madness: Not just an 80s limey pop band

I have the first of what will be several NCAA tournament insiders here, on the LSU-Butler first-rounder. And if you subscribe today, you just might find a latter-day Star Wars reference.

Shoulda bet on Betty

Looks like the state GOP really screwed itself by picking Jim Tedisco for Gillibrand's old seat in the 20th Congressional District. His ads aren't working. His policy choices are late. And his supporters aren't really helping. (Note to campaigners: "Well shut up and listen!" might win arguments with D.C. reporters, but not the Times Union.)
But that's the way the party bosses wanted it. They chose an old boy from outside the district rather than someone local, someone solidly Republican, and someone with experience who could still credibly run from outside the Washington/Albany establishment.
Someone like Betty Little.
Not only that, it cost us a state senate race between the current and former mayors of Plattsburgh, which would have been hours of fun.

Used to live in Brooklyn...

...but not this Brooklyn. Click through. Trust me, it's worth it. I found these cool old pics by eating my vegetables and reading Andrew Sullivan, which led me to this trenchant essay on the future of the news business (for some reason, I'm reading a lot about that particular topic these days), which led me to enroll CyphersSpace here, which led me to peek at this Brooklyn blog, which led you to click through those magnificent photos of guys with 90-mile-an-hour hair.

Fatheads!

At the risk of being a shameless corporate shill (which is what I am), my colleague Tim Keown has the, uh, skinny on wall-sized cutouts of America's favorite athletes.

Fathead has shouldered its way into the pop culture lexicon, mostly because America loves anything that markets itself as socially acceptable camp. Think Chia Pets, Billy Bass and those dancing Santas.

As the proud owner of a Slanket (because it's higher quality than the Snuggie, and because Slanket existed first), I am down with that. Well, actually, not down, but 100% polyester microfibers.

Thrill rides

Allegiant Airways had a rough flight the other day, with high winds forcing an aborted landing in Plattsburgh and a detour to Burlington. Not fun.

As the jet approached the runway on the first landing attempt, Helmer said it jerked violently back and forth and dipped dramatically to one side before the pilot pulled up and aborted the landing.
"We were holding on like we were on a roller coaster."
The second attempt was much like the first, Helmer claimed.
Several children vomited during the rough landing attempts, and some passengers became hysterical.
When the plane landed in Burlington, the pilot reportedly told passengers that they were going to refuel, wait for the wind to die down, and then head back to Plattsburgh.

I can relate. On a return flight on Allegiant from Orlando to Plattsburgh, our plane, too, encountered high winds on the landing (after an unexplained two-hour departure delay). Not fun, either, with the plane lurching several times on the approach, and the flight attendant's voice shaky after we touched down safely.
Wonder if the wind conditions have altered in the 14 years since the Plattsburgh airport runway was used by the Air Force.

The Dominican: It's not all sun and games

Jorge Arangure Jr. and I have a new feature in this issue of ESPN The Magazine and a sidebar on Haitian-Dominican ballplayers on ESPN Insider. Subscribe today!

Map quest

Sometimes, the Times is worth it, even with Maureen Dowd. Take this map, for example. I moved from a county (Kings) with nearly a million foreign-born residents to one with 3,600. No wonder I've had trouble finding good Peruvian food.

Animal news III: Monkey planet

Though my favorite end times post was intended as satire, at least the part about ape revolution, it turns out that bleak future may be horrifyingly real!

Animal news II: Pink dolphin

Dolphins are technically legless and this story is two years old, but this pink dolphin once again has legs, gaining notice in Perez Hilton, which came up with the creative headline, "A Pink Dolphin!!!"
Figure every blog has to link to Perez Hilton at least once.

Animal news I: Black crows

Crows have blackened the skies above Plattsburgh all winter.

A steady stream of winged wanderers stretched for what seemed like miles in either direction, hundreds of crows all heading one way.
They moved steadily, a few hundred feet in the air, and all with the same resolve: to reach their nighttime roost before dark.

It's way Hitchcock. But the theories in the story don't satisfy, so here's one, based on no special knowledge. The past two winters have been milder than normal, meaning a growing crow population. This winter? Much colder. So the surplus population has had to find forage and warmth near the Saranac River in the friendlier confines of the city, where goodies like garbage are available to nosh on.
Like I say, a theory. Wish they weren't so loud at 6 a.m.