An Owner Going All Out and A College Not

Teddy Lerner has a lot of money and his son Mark has a baseball team (Washington Nationals). But the difference is that Mark likes to do something that most professional sports franchise owners won’t even think of, go out and play with the team. Well sort of...

I was sitting in the front row of the right field bleachers at Nationals Park yesterday afternoon prior to the Mets/Nats game watching batting practice (and drinking a $5 beer...good promotion btw!!). All of the sudden a lefty for the Nats launches a ball high and deep towards the outfield wall. A guy who looked a little older then most of the players drifted over on to the warning track and reached up to snag the ball. I thought it was one of the coaches who are routinely out there doing the same thing. The ball glanced off the tip of his glove and hit him square in the nose. The trainer came out with towels and the whole nine and he walked off the field.

Low and behold I come to find out today it was actually the aforementioned owner, Mark Lerner. Adam Kilgore writes the piece in the Washington Post today. How about that? Fortunately Lerner is ok after some stitches, but he’s getting ripped for being out in the field in uniform. I’m not happy about this. It’s his team and he can do whatever the hell he wants with it. If he wants to sign himself to a 10-day contract and go and play 3rd base, that’s his prerogative. Fans may not come to the games but he can do what he wants. William Yurasko seems to feel the same way.

I also want to touch on Brown University. When I run with other people I like to talk which gives me little time to think. That’s to everybody’s benefit trust me. But something I passed (no idea what it was now) reminded me of Brown University. Their sports teams are called the Brown Bears. How is it that Brown is called Brown? According to our friends at Wikipedia, it was named after the Brown family of the 1700 Rhode Island Browns. But isn’t it interesting that it’s the only University named after a color. There is a Black Hills University (SD) and Blue Mountain College (MS). There is also Green Mountain College (VT) and The University of Wisconsin –Whitewater. But no other school with just the color. This is an abomination that needs to be corrected right away. I would be open to anybody’s suggestion or just calling the place what it is (sorry Brown alums) “Not Harvard”. Let it be so.

They’re Back...and Trying to Help

Those Krazy Kristians are back at it! This time they’re “helping” all the poor children in Haiti who survived the worst earthquake in over 200 years. They are so compassionate, so caring, so..well Christian.

That is except for the fact that the particular ten members of an Idaho church/mission tried to kidnap 33 children via bus into the Dominican Republic and today a Haitian court laid the proverbial Smack-Down on them.

According to the article in the Washington Post today, it appears that actually only one of the ten would face the wrath of a country in ruins. Group leader Laura Silsby apparently misled the other nine missionaries into believing that these children were orphans and needed help. It looks like she’s going to take the fall which is not a bad thing as it looks (at least based on this article from the Idaho Statesman) that she has had a problem obeying the laws of the US as well.

See this is the problem. Sure this woman is a dirt bag and deserves the electric chair (which considering the conditions in Haiti could take a while) but what’s the deal with letting these other nine zealots off the hook?

Here you have nine people who go all the way down to the Dominican Republic, get a bus, drive all the way across the island to Haiti and then just take the word of one woman. No questions? No, “hey are we sure they’re all orphans?”. No, “hey this one says her father is that guy standing right over there?” No, “you know Suzie Q, maybe we should just double check that these are the right kids, not just ones you picked at random?”

For that alone they should all fry (or hang, or smoke, or whatever they’re doing down there now).

But to the bigger picture here....why is it that only Christians go to disaster areas and try to spread the word of G-d? I don’t remember a bus full of rabbis or imams or even Buddhist monks traveling to China when a giant earthquake struck that country a few years back. But there were Christians who felt it was there duty to “save”. Leave the saving to the big guy/girl/bug/spaghetti monster in the sky ok?!

Filling Food. Unfulfilling Episode.

Eight long months of nothing but reruns and hunting for things I may have missed in the first five season of LOST came to an end last night as the final season premiered to lots of anticipation.

I won’t go into all the details. But here is a comical overview.

Bottom line is I felt the episode, “LA X” (a double entandre about the LA Airport where the flight terminates and how X marks the spot) fell considerably short of what we could have asked for. But I have put a lot of faith into the show over the last 5 years so if I could get thru Nikki and Paulo I can get through a slow episode or two.

What made the evening really great though (other then spending it with the wife and the dog) was the fun we had with the Lost-themed meal. On the menu:

Rousseau’s Nutty Baguette with Sayid’s Hand Pressed Olive Oil
Little Ben Linus’ Chicken Salad Sandwich
Hurley’s Famous Dharma-Ranch Dressing Fries
Sawyer’s “I’ll raise you a papaya” slaw
Frozen Donkey Wheel Sundae (with chocolate chip Frogart)

We did Dharma-brand labels and even had a full printed menu for the occasion.

Now I need to figure out how to top this for the final show (although I really hope that Liz and Jen over at the Washington Post will set up a giant viewing party).

Slick Willy Visits the North (Hide the Little Girls)

You have to love Bill Clinton. Of course that’s understandable if you’re a woman and have seen him speak. He can even seduce you while talking economic policy flaws of the Weimar Republic. That’s powerful stuff.

Editors Note: I have seen him speak in person and he’s so engaging that I might have a man crush on him.

Today (or yesterday depending on your time zone) he flew on a “private” diplomatic mission to North Korea to check on the condition (and presumably work for the release) of the two American journalists imprisoned there since April. The Washington Post has a full story of the first day of the trip here.

While reading this I decided to check out the “comments” section on the article and was not surprised to read the usual bickering from both the left and the right regarding Obama and Bush and Carter and even a couple of digs at Nixon (everybody loves a Nixon dig now and again). But what I observed was that we were arguing over our Government’s decision to go to North Korea. Actually arguing over a country that if were citizens there, we couldn’t even have a negative thought about the government less we run the risk of getting dragged off in the middle of the night. It speaks directly to our great country and the freedoms we enjoy.

I highly recommend reading Howard Fineman’s new book, “Thirteen American Arguments” for its insight into this exact situation and why our arguments/discussions/differences make this country so great.

But back to the article and the comments section. After reading everybody’s thoughts I decided to leave one of my own. I end today’s entry with my posting on the Washington Post’s comment board.

The great thing is we (both right and left) can argue for different sides of how to "deal" with the situation in NK. This argument underscores the differences between the US an NK in that we have the freedom to argue (and even deride) our leaders' decisions. Try doing that over in NK and see how fast they drag you away.

It is my opinion that anybody who doesn't believe that the WH/State Dept didn't have a hand in this trip is foolish and short sighted. It's very clearly a "government" trip but with a representative in Clinton who is respected by the people he needs to negotiate with. He is clearly there for the journalists and not to negotiate over nukes. If this trip is successful and the NK’s come back to the table to discuss nukes then that’s a bonus.

The bottom line is we cannot be isolationists to any country any more and our current administration is working hard to remake America’s image abroad which has been (and there is virtually no room for discussion here) tarnished in a post 9/11 world. I applaud this diplomatic mission as it is hopefully a beginning of meaningful dialogue between two nations who share this world.

Lastly a note to people who criticize the Obama administration: take a step back and think before you speak. That’s not to say you are not entitled to your opinion (you most certainly are) but part of the reason we (the country) is in such the mess right now is the constant splintering and bickering. Let’s try to find some common ground both in our national debate and the WaPo discussion boards. I’ll even buy the first round.

Today’s Topic: Things That Are Lost

Yes we’re going to talk about LOST and the kick ass season finale but that will come in just a moment.

Topic One: Snub the President? Calling the IRS!
First I want to touch on our esteemed President, Mr. Obama. It seems that he had graciously accepted the invitation that Arizona State University extended to him. President Obama did not HAVE to go to ASU. He could have accepted any one of hundreds (if not thousands) of invitations to other universities and colleges around the country, including his alma maters (at this point I won’t yet get into the Notre Dame fiasco...although we do have to thank Alan Keys for making the GOP look even more backwards!) But POTUS did decide to go to Tempe, Arizona and give the commencement address to the thousands of students gathered at the football field. He opens with a great joke,

"I learned to never again pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA bracket. And your university President and Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS."

And continued on to give the typical speech you’d expect...

Blah, blah, blah. The economy is tough, blah, blah, blah. Consider community service, blah, blah, blah, thank you and good luck.”

Ok the speech didn’t go quite like that (see the speech video here) but the bottom line was that all the students (should have been) were honored to have him there. That sentiment may not have been felt by the regents of the school however as they refused to confer an honorary degree upon the President saying in effect “he hasn’t accomplished enough yet.”. Um...he’s the freakin’ leader of the free world. So other then being the first black man elected president and other then bringing a sense of hope and change to most Americans and other then being an accomplished lawyer, community organizer, local, state, and federal politician yeah he really hasn’t accomplished that much.

Always the diplomat, Obama simply played it off and said (again to the effect of), Yeah I really haven’t done much yet. In effect he’s saying, just you wait. If they snub him again I wouldn’t be surprised to really see the IRS paying the school a visit.

Topic Two: Stop Flapping Your Arms.
Congratulations go to Jerry and Helen for winning their respective categories on the latest season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser. Helen kicked but and beat out Tara and Mike who were the two toughest people on the show. BTW: Tara, if you’re not doing anything next Saturday give me a call. (just kidding Mrs. Bloggerman!) But the real story was Jerry, who, as the oldest contestant ever (65) lost 170 pounds with most of them coming away from the “ranch”. He is a role model for all older people trying to loose weight but now that he has all that prize money I’m urging him to spend a few dollars and get those arms tightened up. They were flapping so much with extra skin that I was worried he was going to fly away and hit the lights in the tv studio they were filming in.



Topic 3: WTF!
What a great episode of Lost last night. I want to tell you all about it but I’m not sure of what I saw...plus there are those of you who read this who haven’t seen it yet (known as American Idol or Capitols Game 7 Suckas) so in deference to those two hate mongering groups I’ll simply point you to Jen and Liz’ Weekly Dueling Analysis in the Washington Post.

As a side note to that topic we went to the WaPo’s LOST Happy Hour at the Reef where we got to meet Jen and Liz and have a Jin and Tonic, Sex (with Sawyer) on the Beach, and Jughead Juice. No Dharma-tini’s though. Brendan is a light drinker.

Tax Man or Tea Man Cometh

Happy Tax Day. Or should I say “Happy Last Day To File, Don’t Get Into An Accident Rushing to the Post Office To File At The Last Minute Which Probably Won’t Work Anyway Because They Are Cutting Back On Staff and May Close Early Day”

Fewww, that’s a mouthful.

What I want to really do today is share my thoughts on the so-called “Tea Party” protests held in various locations today (the full background can be found on the liberal rag, Washington Post).

This protest (is meant to) harkens back to the Boston Tea Party where the theme was....anybody, anybody? "No taxation without representation". It seems the only people who should be allowed to protest today are the residents of DC who don't get a say in their federal tax dollars (yet).

The rest of you are whiners who complain when you need to write a check to the government to help support the programs you use (or at least those in need use).

Yeah let's not pay taxes but we do want national defense right?

Yeah lets not pay taxes but we need our Medicare or social security right?

Yeah lets not pay taxes but we want our government jobs right?

The economy is in the toilet and there is plenty of wasteful spending out there but go after that, not the "economic policies" or the "Obama administration" (which has been in office less then 100 days...I'd like to see you do a job that big with so little training)

How about instead of complaining about who is right and who is wrong, you suggest real solid suggestions about improving things. Stop being so reactionary and think about what it really means to be an American.

There are soldiers who gave body parts and in many cases their lives for our people and you are complaining over writing a little check (and chances are you are getting a refund anyway).

I need to go and wait on that fat refund check! Yeah Money!

Papers At The Ballpark and I'll Do the Other Two Parts Next Year

I guess the first part should be last and the last part first. So let's start with

Elliot kicking ass at the National Triathlon yesterday in DC. He swam the Potomac (which in and of itself deserves a medal), rode the Clara Barton (avoiding the deer carcasses) and ran the streets of DC (finding the cozy confines of the Haines Point restrooms along the way) all in under 3:30! We here at Nobody Likes a Jerk are all proud of this milestone and wish him congratulations!

During that whole journey he never had to buy a copy of The Washington Post and that's a good thing considering the change needed for a Sunday edition would really weigh him down! But here at Nationals Park as I sit here after BP but before game time pondering why there are no less the 10 paper-boxes throughout the park each costing 25 cents for the weekday paper. Its not that a quarter is too much to spend for hours of reading and entertainment, but rather I wonder why a) you would need hours of entertainment when you've come to watch a baseball game and b) if the games start at 700pm (or near that time) why the Post would still charge you to read news that is almost 24 hours old. The mind wobbles and the newsprint smudges your fingers.

Publish Post

Now where is my Jumble?!?!

The Team Stinks, Raise the Prices and Stop that “Bell” Hop

Oh Ne-Ne they say. “They” can be the fans or possibly the ticket scalpers who are getting wallet raped because nobody wants to go out and see a team compete for last place in the division, even with the new ballpark. However in this case, “They” are the owners of your Washington Nationals Professional Baseball Club. And “They” have said to the fans that not only are we going to raise ticket prices next year but we are in fact going to drop them.

Yep, that’s right....a professional sports team is going to drop the price to attend their games. I know...it’s a shocker. What’s next, lowering the price of beer to within $10 of the suggested retail price? Let’s not go overboard, but this is good news, especially for those of us who go to a few games a year. Here’s the full rundown from the Washington Post.

Now on to the recently departed Tatem “Wait Those Aren’t My Bags” Bell. Mr. Bell was recently dismissed as a running back from the Detroit Lions Professional Football Team. He was being replaced by Rudi Johnson, a free agent recently cut by Cincinnati. Well Johnson’s bags got to the locker room in Detroit before Bell left, and being the concerned citizen he is, Bell picked them up and walked off with them. The theft was caught on security cameras and Johnson was alerted. Bell was called and the bags showed up the next day emptied of Rudi’s underwear, credit cards, driver’s license and $200 in cash. Bell has a story about how he didn’t know the bags were Johnson’s and thought they belonged to a friend and claims he doesn’t know how they got emptied but you can read the whole story here in the Detroit Free Press. What I what to know is, why was there a security camera in the locker room? Who’s watching this footage and why? Is there an all female or an all gay-male security staff? Even so, most of these guys are like 350 lbs and not all of it is muscle if you know what I mean.

I think I need to go throw up now...excuse me.

Gustav Blows Hard. Reporters Blow Harder.

The good news is that Gustav seemed to have spared New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast from the same catastrophic damage that Katrina produced thee years earlier as all the localities seemed much better prepared and communications with all levels of government were cohesive and working. However there was some bad news to report too. Bad weather brings bad reporters out too. As Paul Farhi reports in today’s Washington Post, there was a “High Chance of Blowhards” out in the New Orleans region too.

Before I begin to rip network news anchors a new one I do want to mention that Jim Cantore and the rest of The Weather Channel crew are excused from this discussion because reporting in bad weather is there sole job! Also excluded from this “ripping” are the camera and audio operators who also brave this weather but usually get nothing but a quick shot of (as Farhi puts it): “...the disembodied hand of a TV camera person wiping the rain-spattered lens in the middle of the correspondent's report.” Now on to the show.

I only wish that you fine readers out there who haven’t been a network news room when a big story hits could get that chance and hear the powerbrokers for the “big” anchors battle out to see who gets to go to cover the big story live. Now I don’t mean live like actually in the thick of danger...that goes to the lower peons. Unless of course you are Anderson Cooper and no longer the golden boy at CNN or you’re Geraldo Rivera and you are a complete idiot. No these peons are the ones who have to go into danger and cover a story that really can be accomplished with just a camera operator and a producer shooting and airing live footage while an anchor talks over top. These are the peons who are so desperate to move up the corporate ladder that they put their lives in jeopardy by going out in a hurricane and telling everybody why they should stay inside.

Then we have the aforementioned “power brokers” (Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, et al) who cover these same events live but at the prerequisite safe distance so as not to put their “face” in danger of the same peril that befalls the lower rungs out in the field. These folks sit up in directors chairs at least ½ mile, if not more, away from any danger and smile for the audience bringing us stories of the survivors who “rode it out” and of Fluffy the cat who swam all the way home after being carried away by flood waters (or was that Geraldo who was looking for dinner??). Unfortunately my desire to see all the field lights fall onto these phonies has yet to happen but that’s why we keep watching. One day this kind of catastrophe will come true and then I can go back to watching Sports Center. Da-na-na. Da-na-na!

Comrade Bush: Neyt!

For reference read this Washington Post article first.

Are you really getting dumber or just bolder in your waning days in office? You are seriously going to criticize a “free press” because you don’t like the way they edited the interview they conducted with you this week??

Are you flipping crazy?!?!

Also further, your henchman, Ed Gillespie, had the nerve to criticize MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Keith Oberman because their “opinion” shows are “blatant[ly] partisan”?

Good for you! [Note to Congressional Democrats: I want an immediate investigation and weeks of hearings on the entire broadcast schedule at Fox News. Because if MSNBC is “partisan” then Fox is down right state-run media (ala soviet Russia)]

Comrade Bush-kov, go back to your fox hole and stay out of site for a few months less you inspire more “shock and awe!”

POTUS, Pets, and Passports

We should have seen this coming. Eight years ago when Bush and Gore were vying for the Presidency, we should have seen this coming. We should have known that every cravat of their lives and those of every other candidate in the future would be probe, prodded, licked, and sucked until a good story comes of it.

The latest comes as a report from the State Department yesterday that Barrak Obama’s passport file was “looked” at three different times by three different people over the last few months. The bulk of the story can be read in the Washington Post, and I really don’t want to delve into the facts too much, but rather I want to focus on what was gleaned from his records.

I don’t know what would be in my “passport file” other then the basics (name, address, dob, ssn, etc.) and the places I’ve traveled. I wonder if Senator Obama has been to the Bahamas or Fiji anytime recently, or if he took a quick jaunt up to Canada last summer to get some R&R?

Really I could care less! What I want to know is do Obama or McCain have pets? I exclude Hillary from this because we know about Socks the Cat (is he still alive?) and Bill’s dog, Buddy. But do Barak and John have pets? Are they pets that are representative of the leader of the free world? I wish somebody had asked this of Bush before the election in 2000.

Even though there are a good amount of Americans (a little over 50%) of them who think that Bush really didn’t win the election of 2000, I think that it wouldn’t have been as close as it was if voters knew and thought about Bush’s choice in pets. A small fu-fu dog (“dinner” as the Mooks likes to call them) is not a pet for a president who so closely resembles Yosemite Sam. Surely Karl Rove or another advisor would have seen this coming…Bush walking solemnly on the West Lawn of the White House with this small ball of hair in tow. I don’t want to go to the other end and say he should have a German Sheppard or a Pit Bull, but certainly a Retriever or Boxer or something would be better.

To close, if we are going to evaluate every word the candidates speak, analyze every person they’ve ever met at a cocktail party, and dig for every bit of dirt that might make a good headline and sell a few more papers, then we should also take the time to evaluate their pets and make sure they properly represent the good ole’ US of A.

Thanks Indiana and Shut Up Patriot Fan

Thanks that is for bringing (or rather electing) Dan Burton (R) congressman. Rep Burton, during the congressional hearings for the ‘roid-rage Rocket actually had one of the two best comments of the day, “What happens if your lies are proven untrue?” Uh, Congressman, that’s why it’s called a lie.

And a special runner up comment goes to Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) who saw fit to inquire "what uniform you will wear to the Hall of Fame?"

As Dana Milbanks of the Washington Post properly concluded, “The world might look very different today if Congress had spent as much energy probing Iraq for weapons of mass destruction as it did yesterday examining Roger Clemens's derrière.”

If we didn’t think Congress made way too much money doing way too little work, this is the proof. Oh and thanks to the GOP for lying down and being Clemens doormat. When exactly did the memo go out that said, “Hey guys, lets be nice to Clemens, Bush Sr. says he’s ‘a good guy’”?

Also from a few days ago this article on Patriot Fan who still can’t accept that his team couldn’t get the job done. They want the NFL to replay the last 1:41 of the SuperBowl because they don’t understand that when the refs call for a measurement that clock stops. You can find the NFL rulebook here. Please print it out and save it for future idiotic arguments.

Another Reason Not to Wear Headphones When Running/Biking/Scuba Diving and How does ION stay on the air?

For those of you who don’t know (and based on telling this story to my running team on Saturday, most of you in this group), Mike Wise, a sports columnist at the Washington Post.

Last week he was out in the evening (after dark) running a few miles with his dog on a DC trail that runs along the C&O Canal. After going about 3 miles he stops to stretch and the dog (who is off leash) paces around him. After a minute or so the dog wanders off on to the frozen over canal to sniff something and falls through the ice. Wise (who is about 6’4”) slides down the embankment and onto the ice to try to rescue the dog and also falls in. He can’t get himself out and would have frozen to death in just over 6’ of water had it not been for a lone runner out on the trail who heard his plea for help. Jason Cotes just happened to be running by the trail at that moment and came to Wise’s rescue (and the dog too). You can read all the details here at WJLA’s report, but the long story short, had Cotes been like many runners out on the trail and listening to headphones/ipod/etc he would not have heard Wise and that evening would have turned tragic. I ask all of you who go out side to run/bike/roller blade/whatever DO NOT WEAR HEADPHONES….you may just put yourself or others in danger.

Second item today: How does ION network stay on the air? Yes, I too was unaware of ION network until recently. I subscribe to a number of media industry newsletters and saw in one of them that this is the “prime time” line up tonight:

8pm: Mama's Family
830pm: Mama's Family
9pm: Drew Carey Show
930pm: Drew Carey Show
10pm: Who's the Boss?
1030pm: Who's the Boss?

No offense to Valerie Harper, Drew Carey, or Tony Danza, but these are not names that can carry a network in primetime in 2008. Twenty years ago possibly but not now. The one notable exception is ”Mama’s Family” which was never funny, unless you live in the middle of Ohio or Indiana and perhaps know somebody who looks and sounds like a loud mouth New York Jew but who happens to be trapped in the body of a 70 year old Midwestern protestant house wife. Oh and for a “family-friendly programming” network, I don’t think bringing “Baywatch” on the schedule in March is the best move. Unless they plan on blurring out Pam’s boobies.

Assorted Friday Ramblings

I have an assortment of things to discuss this morning. So here we go; please keep your hands and feet in the car at all times and keep the restraining harness on.

1) St. Louis Billikens Set a New Low

Last night the George Washington University Colonials helped the St. Louis University Billikens set a new record in men’s college basketball. SLU scored a new low in points during the “shot-clock” era with 20. That’s not 20 in a half, that’s 20 in the game. The final was 49-20 in favor of GW. The bulk of the story is here on ESPN, but what I want to point out is not that the Billikens couldn’t shoot or that GW’s defense was that strong (although they did record 11 blocked shots); rather that GW only scored 49 points. St. Louis had to be getting discouraged by their lack of production and I have to think that GW could have taken better advantage of that on their offensive end. Yet they only scored 49 points. Perhaps GW’s coach, Karl Hobbs, told his guys “to take it easy” on offense, but that doesn’t sound like Hobbs, who could power a small city when running up and down the sidelines. GW is having a really poor season and while they are on the good side of history here, they should have more to show then just 49 measly points.

2) The Meeting Room is Locked

Today I tried something new. I’m trying to get back to running with the group from Pacers that I’ve been with since they started a few years back. Since going on the diet I’ve been weighing in on Saturday morning and thus couldn’t join them for their runs. It’s something I’ve missed terribly and want to start again. So today I figured I go to a weigh in here in DC in the morning before work. The meeting I was supposed to go to started at 730am and should run until 830am, anytime in between I should be able to weigh in. However when I showed up today at 820am the doors were closed and locked and there was a sign on the door saying that this was “an Express Meeting” and ended promptly at 8am. I knocked when I heard voices on the other side of the door and the woman said, “Sorry we’ve locked everything up.” This sucks, I just want to get on a freaking scale and see if I had as good of a week as I think I did. I’m awaiting a call from the company’s customer service department and I want nothing less then one month free for my “mental suffering.”

3) Metro is Considering New Hi-Tech Cars for the Rail System

Of course they a) can’t get the cars for another 5 years and b) the ones they have now can’t run in any semblance of an on-time schedule. But this is not the most disturbing part of the article I read today in the Washington Post. Our friend councilman Jim Graham (see the previous rant on this bow-tie wearing, wussy-dog holding, sissy boy), actually had this to say regarding making a suggested small change to the Metro logo, "…that's weeks of discussion…" Wait a minute; you want weeks of discussion for a simple logo change? Maybe that’s why we needed such a large rate increase (that just went into effect), all the energy that is used during these meetings of Graham talking about the Logo change. Maybe (and this is only a suggestion) we could discuss how to better improve the trains and busses and to teach our employees how to properly interact with the customers they encounter daily. But then again a logo is really important too.

4) A quick note to Washington Capital Fans

Be very thankful for your owner, Ted Leonsis, and his genuine care for the team and the community. Yesterday he signed a 13-year agreement with star forward Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin is a 22-year old Russian superstar and is even more remarkable because he negotiated the contract with the team by himself. Yes, he DIDN’T use an agent and not only saved commission but also cut out all the BS that comes along with tense negotiating talks those agents usually cause to occur. Leonsis didn’t try to screw him and Ovechkin didn’t try to screw the team. His deal is worth $9M per year for the first 6 years of the deal and $10M per year for the remaining 7 years. This means that even now he represents a smaller portion of the teams salary cap then the 20% maximum allowed for one player by the NHL. This gives the team the money to be flexible in free agency and sign strong players around Ovechkin. This is the kind of move that a savvy veteran makes to help his team win championships, not a 22-year old kid. Kudos to you Alex and you will always have a fan on this blog. PS: Can I get a loan?

A Dope and A Dentist

I am writing to alert you regarding two news stories this morning that tickled my fancy. Well to be truthful one tickled the aforementioned fancy and the other one sickened me and further prove that our elected government is dragging our society further into the next realm of Dante’s Inferno (which is different from Disco Inferno.)

Let’s start with the positive; it is the holiday season after all. We begin with the story of Dr. Arthur Nelson, DDS. He is 67 and a dentist in Long Island. He also happens to be a fan of the New York Knickerbockers. Let me rephrase that. He has been a long standing fan of the NY Knicks who was thrown out of a game the other night for having a “printed sign” with him. What was written on the sign that was bad enough to get him thrown out of the game? Did it contain a vulgarity that the 9 year olds in attendance wouldn’t hear on the streets outside of Madison Square Garden after the game? No. Did he hold up a sign that sponsored a company who is in competition with one of the arena, league, or teams’ major corporate partners? Nope. He held up a sign that said “Fire Isiah” (in reference to the Knicks sexually harassing head coach.) Well Mr. Nelson didn’t take this lying down. No way Jose (or Isiah as the case may be). He set up a press conference yesterday in front of the Garden and displayed a 9ft tall “Pink Slip” that he would like James Dollan, head of the Garden who owns the Knicks, to deliver to Isiah Thomas. You can read the whole story here in today’s NY Post

I applaud Dr. Nelson (although I’m not sure I want him working on my teeth). We should all stand up and deliver a similar message to our President and Representatives, especially after reading this story.

The first comes courtesy of our friend Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) It seems the honorable lady from the Bayou has seen it fit to direct over $2 million to DC City schools over the past few years to bolster that city’s failing reading programs. It sounds like Congress has finally realized that the citizens of DC are people too and not just road bumps and obstacles to be avoided on their way to work and when going out for drinks after work. But wait, there’s more. According to an expose in today’s Washington Post, the fine Senator stipulated that those funds have to be used to purchase the Voyager Expanded Learning literacy program. It turns out that Voyager raised quite a bit of money for the Senator (to the tune of over $80,000). What was that you say? Is that a politician directing Federal tax dollars to a specific company while interfering in the District’s education program? Yep. The funny thing is you’d think Senator Landrieu might have directed that money to the New Orleans city school system. Oh I don’t know, they are still reeling in a post-Katrina rebuilding process and I’m sure $2 million would have come in very handy. I would even accept if she directed the same money to DC schools for a “reading program” with no stipulation as to which program/vendor they had to use. We saw Landrieu’s incompetence during the Katrina aftermath and we see it again a lot closer to home. Senator, do me a favor, spend some time teaching reading to kids in the DC schools. You could make a real difference instead of taking money and suckling at the government teat.

An Open Letter to DC Councilman Jim Graham

Dear Councilman Graham,

First loose those stupid glasses. Nobody thinks you look any more intelligent or noble because you choose those frames over contact lenses. In fact they only serve the purpose of making you look the fool even more.

Now that the nice-ites are out of the way lets talk about the latest proposed increase for DC's Metro service in order to close the $173 million budget gap.

You seem to think that us "suburban-ites" are an endless supply of money and have no problem coughing up a few more dollars a day on parking, on and some more to ride the train into your city. All of this while your bus riding constituents don't pay a cent more. Humm....do you see anything wrong with this picture? No? Well I do. I have no problem helping to shoulder the load (even though 90% of it is caused by mismanagement and poor decisions by yourself and others on Metro's Board of Governors) but let's be fair. Look at the following areas and see if the proposed rate increases are really "fair".

1) Your so-called "poor bus riding constituents" already have a rate that is so far subsidized below the US transportation standard for large cities it's disturbing. Metro bus riders pay only $1.25 for any fare in the system (even less if you're a senior or student). By comparison, NYC bus riders pay $2 (oh yeah...their subway which is 20x as large as DC's pay the same $2 fare), Chicago and Atlanta: $1.75, Boston: $1.50. Do you get it yet? I think your constituents could cough up a few more cents?

For the 30 days leading up to October 25, 2007, bus ridership (according to Metro's numbers) was 443,000 riders. Lets say that 75% of them were seniors and students (high number but let's pretend), that means an increase of say $.25 per rider for the full fare crowd would mean an increase of income of: $84, 000 per month. Now let's draw this out for a whole year and we get $1M extra to help close the gap. (I'll keep a running total for you....$173M-$1M = $172M)

2) Instead of raising the parking fees $1.15/day and putting an lopsided burden on those of us who don't live within walking distance of the suburban stations (all of which are outside of DC...I don't think that's a coincidence), only raise it $.25/day. That would bring the parking about to $4.25/day. Metro has about 55,000 spots available. Let's be conservative and say 53,000 of them are full on a regular weekday (if you've ever tried to get to the station after 830am you'd think that they were all full). Using the extra quarter a day would yield $13,250 extra per day. This translates to: $265,000 extra per month and $2.9 million per year(we'll do it by only 220 working days to figure on some holiday and vacation time) (Thats $172M-$2.9M=$169.1M)

3) You are in favor of raising rates for subway riders up to $.30/ride, again putting more of a burden on those of us who have the longest trips in and thus the highest fares (I currently pay $3.90 each way between Shady Grove and Farragut North), yet if you look at the amount per distance it's not even close to "market rate." My trip and many others who pay the "max" breaks down to about $.14/mile (my trip is 28 miles each way). By comparison,NYC riders pay the aforementioned $2/trip between ANY 2 points in the system. That means you can ride the "A" train from 207th street in Harlem to Far Rockway in Queens for $.07/mile. Why not go to that model? While it looks like Metro would loose money on the max fare, they would in fact make quite a bit (actual numbers aren't available) on those riders who go the minimum of $1.35 rush hour fare. Let's be conservative (again) and figure Metro could stand to make $40M-$50M more per year (not even figuring in weekends and holidays. ($169.1M-$50M= $119.1M)

4) Stop holding up the sale of the property around the Takoma station. Today's papers tell about your activity in holding up the sale of property around the station to a developer that would net Metro $4.6M based on fair market value. ($119.1M-$4.6M= $114.5M)

5) Shut off the light when you're done. Unless your press office was asleep on the job you caught the article in the Washington Post on October 8th, "Metro Leaves the Light on For You" Where because of timers installed the lights go on in the building at 5:30am and off at 8:00pm running a total amount of lighting to $1,400/employee per year. Now if they shut off the lights when they came in and shut them off when they left and make the other basic energy saving recommendations in the article Metro could save $4M per year. ($114.5M - $4M = $110.5M)

6) Perhaps you can explain to me why according to Metro's 2008 projected budget numbers you're spending $38M on advertising (with a guaranteed minimum of $35M to your contractor)? Let's try this...you spend $2.5M on advertising, although I'm not sure exactly what you're advertising for...Oh lets ride Metro instead of that other mass transit system in the area (which doesn't exist!) ($110.5M-$35.5M =$75M)

While my above recommendations don't completely close the gap the system is facing it does attempt to make a dent while keeping the burden spread evenly among the various groups using the system. But in closing, I want to give you a few more numbers. My daily commute costs me $11.80 ($3.90 each way on the train round trip and $4 for parking). Your proposal will make that same commute $15.35. For comparison, I can park at a garage downtown for $11/day on and early bird special. My commute at 645am takes about an hour on the train and the same by car. Looks like if your plan goes through, I'm going to drive...just don't cross the street in my path if you catch my drift.

Sincerely,
Me

Really Cool Article about Small Worlds

A Co-worker sent me this article and I thought it was pretty cool. You decide (You may want to hum... It's a Small World After All while reading this):

DISPATCH FROM . . .

A Chance Metro Meeting

Monday, October 1, 2007; Page B01

It was a Wednesday night. I'd met my husband for dinner downtown, and we boarded the train at Metro Center to head home. As he checked e-mails on his BlackBerry, I checked out the people around us. In front of us sat a young man wearing a baseball cap, a T-shirt, jeans and an iPod. He stood to offer two young women his seat. They declined. Nice guy, I thought. As he sat back down, I noticed "University of Kansas" on his cap.

Click here for the rest of the article (I don't want to get sued for republishing....only for bootlegging.)