Guess MoDo wanted Goodell

The Times' Maureen Dowd writes of her scorn for David Paterson, finding him wanting compared to Illinois Gov. Blagojevich. No, seriously. But the piece's real subtext seems to be about her hatred of the Clintons (yes, that again) and the new girl, Kirsten Gillibrand. With characteristic Times transparency, MoDo says "colleagues in the New York delegation" refer to the new Senator as Tracy Flick.
Which is a good thing, I guess, because that's what people called Hillary, too. So at least our press corps' misogyny is consistent. But, really, if elected officials talk like that about a fellow rep, isn't that, like, juicy news? And shouldn't the name-callers be ID'd?
Personally, I don't give a flying Flick what Gillibrand is like personally, as long as she doesn't steal from us and represents the whole state.
Oh, and Caroline Kennedy? Unlike Roger Goodell, she had an audition, and she blew it. End of story. One that Dowd apparently hasn't read.

Kirk Radomski's greatest hits

Baseball batboy-cum-steroid-snitch-cum-as-told-to-author Kirk Radomski shares his twice-told tale (once to George Mitchell, once for his book) with my colleagues at the mother ship. Check out Mike Fish's story, especially some back and forth with Scott Boras. The book? Some interesting reading, though most of it's already in the Mitchell report.
On a personal note, this old magazine piece holds up pretty well (helped by some great reporting from Shaun Assael and Amy Nelson).
The clubbies gone wild are indeed getting the last word.

Kasprzak vs. Stewart?

If Betty Little wins Gillibrand's seat, check out this:

A line of candidates is already forming on the Republican side.
At the top of the list could be Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward of Willsboro and Plattsburgh Mayor Donald Kasprzak.
Both said they would seriously consider a move.
"It has been my privilege to serve as mayor of the City of Plattsburgh and if I have the opportunity to run for higher elected office I will continue to work in the best interests of the majority of my constituents," Kasprzak said.
"If I am approached I would be happy to consider the position..."

and this:

As for the State Senate seat, Mannix said Democrats will worry about that if the seat does become vacant by virtue of a Little victory in the congressional race.
Stewart, the former Plattsburgh mayor, is said to be interested in running as a Democrat, but Mannix said he had not heard of anyone's name being mentioned so far.
Stewart, 46, was elected to the Plattsburgh City Council in 1993 as a Democrat and re-elected in 1995 and 1997.
In 1999, he ran for mayor as a Republican and defeated 10-year mayor Clyde Rabideau, a Democrat.
Stewart left the mayor's office with 18 months remaining on a three-year term in June 2006 to accept an appointment from then-Gov. George E. Pataki as chairman of the State Commission on Corrections.
He has since switched back to the Democratic Party.

The only question is, would there be a debate, or pistols at dawn?

Who won the Cold War, again?

Spying on journalists. If true, really, really bad.

The conservative Senator

It struck me as strange that Gillibrand, a Congresswoman who voted with the Democratic caucus 93% of the time in a region that has been conservative for, well, ever, was getting hammered from the left, as in the comments below this post. Yes, the NRA likes her, but hunting is pretty important to a lot of people up here. Her gay-rights stance wasn't exactly crafted by Rick Warren.
And that vote against the bank bailout looks smarter with each passing day, doesn't it?

Gillibrand beats Goodell!

Wow.
I had a lot of fun with this, but I will take credit for thinking this made a lot of sense for Paterson. Nice pick for upstate, striking a blow for geographic diversity and, at the end of the day, against nepotism.
I'm a little tired of somebody's son running things.

Why does Courtney Hazlett hate the North Country?

She thinks "Frozen River" is, like, so lame, because it's like, so elite. A movie about people living in trailers, filmed in Plattsburgh (the Tinseltown of Clinton County) and its surrounding environs is elite! Damn right it is!
Evidently, Courtney Hazlett also thinks Spike Lee is uppity. So maybe it isn't just the North Country. Maybe she hates all New Yorkers.
By the way, who is Courtney Hazlett?

Frozen River!

Two Oscar nominations!
Even better, that means it should have another run in Plattsburgh before the big night. Because I missed it the first time.

A13?

The most incredible airplane crash landing and rescue ever, in our home state, on an airline that a not insignificant number of North Country residents use out of Burlington, from an airport that a not insignificant number of North Country residents connect through, and it's not on Page 1 in the PR?
Come on, folks, you're better'n that.

Corporate shilling

Because I'm a good Walt Disney Co. employee, I think you should subscribe to ESPN Insider for my original insights, like this and this. Plus, Mehmet Okur, too!
And if you want real value, Buster Olney's blog is part of the subscription.

Damn QB

So I write a couple of dittys Friday for ESPN Insider (sorry, subscription only, and anyway, I reveal myself to be an idiot) about Carolina and the Giants, making a stats-based argument about how difficult they will be to beat in the playoffs because they can run the ball. Brilliant. Incisive. Logical. Elegant. Insidery.
And what do John Fox and Tom Coughlin do to me (and, yes, I will take this personally)? Put the game in the hands of their quarterbacks. And Delhomme and Manning put up a cumulative 9 turnovers (and, yes, just for spite I'm calling Eli's failed fourth-and-1 sneak a turnover). Making me a cumulative 0-2, in embarrassing fashion.
Note to self: Hedge all predictions with, "If team X can take care of the football..."

Sports welfare queens

Here's a nice commentary on our government priorities. The guv's office is threatening death to the Empire State Games, saying that if kids want to play, they must pay out of pocket.
Meanwhile, the City of New York, with the state's sign-off, is saying, yes, by all means, a billion-dollar company in the entertainment industry which has the ready cash to pay three new employees $423.5 million, yes, that company deserves an additional $260 million in tax-free bonds, on top of the hundreds of millions it's already received, because no new ballpark is complete without granite countertops and fancy toilets.

With our city facing the worst financial crisis since the Depression, and more than 200,000 people expected to lose their jobs by the end of the year, baseball's richest team wants another $260 million in tax-free bonds to help cover a stadium cost overrun of $370 million.
Even worse, the city's Industrial Development Agency, which Mayor Bloomberg controls, is set to approve the bonds next week.
The itemized list of extra stadium costs that city officials released this week is truly astounding.
There's $137 million to pay for concessions at the new stadium - including a swank new Yankees Steakhouse, a Hard Rock Cafe, a museum and a conference center. The Yankees added most of those items to the stadium budget after the city approved the original financing plan.
Other enhancements include:
- $14.2 million for various scoreboard changes.
- $5 million for fancy public- bathroom improvements, including "burnished and glazed block" and "solid surface countertops."

They haven't won a title in a while, but in the world of sports greed, the New York Yankees are second to none. Juan Gonzalez deserves prizes for his reporting on this, by the way.
Anyway, let's review. Go billionaire Yankees! You deserve more of our money, so your luxe-box fans can pee like kings!
Kids, seniors and regular athletes who want to compete in the Empire State Games? You suck.

Power train

Went to Manhattan yesterday, and on the way back this morning was on an Amtrak car to Albany with what seemed like every small-time pol and appointee from Gotham. They were headed north to hear Gov. Paterson's state of the state speech. (He failed to mention rail, except for lip service for the MTA.)
What did the small-time pols talk about? New York development deals--Atlantic Basin, Atlantic Yards (and the what's-JayZ-smokin' Brooklyn Nets), Coney Island's stalled Xanadu, something on Staten Island, Mayor Bloomberg's now-dead Yankees suite--and whining about how the budgets for their small-time offices are being cut. (Did you know borough presidents still have 50-plus-member staffs?)
In other words, they don't seem to realize the world has changed.

I was polled!

The robots called me Saturday asking about Andrew Cuomo and Caroline Kennedy for Senate. So I told them. And I may have contributed to the result! Though I'm no big fan of either one for the seat. I'd prefer someone familiar with the North Country and not sired by someone famous, like Gillibrand.
Or if it has to be somebody with a popular pops, this guy!

Damn LT

Chargers replaced him with a member of the Sproletariat. Unfortunately, the hopes of my playoff fantasy team, the Playa Hataz, rode on a bunch of Colts.

Smithers, release the electronic hounds

Heh-heh, he said bibulous:

For years, season-ticket holders across the league have paid top dollar to put up with the overlay of thuggery at games. The crudeness grows with colder weather and heightened alcohol intake, as bibulous loudmouths celebrate their primacy, pretending to be one with the muscular entertainment down on the field.

Yes, drunks suck (though I thought all those able to afford today's pricey tickets were supposed to be a better class of people), but there's something vaguely East German about mainstreamed snitching.