"Skating" with disaster

On January 19, 2006, the nadir of television will be upon us. "Skating with Celebrities" begins on the Fox network. Who here thinks this should be called "Skating with Disaster"? Hell, the SwC website even bills itself as a "trainwreck on ice"! (Skating with Celebrities) You know this is going to be a tough sell when in the promos, the only "celebrity" they tell us about is Todd Bridges of Dif'rent Strokes and Los Angeles County Correctional system fame.

It's only saving grace may be that my girl Deborah (please go back to Debbie) Gibson is on the show. I will make it a point to watch just for her.

But who came up with this show anyway? Maybe it was the same guy who came up with "Manimal" (premiered Oct 11, 1983, canceled Dec 17, 1983).

And who will be watching these also-ran personalities and also-ran skating personalities? Anyone brave enough to watch this stuff must be a very sad type of star-struck. Or maybe just very lonely.

To anyone who will watch this (except to see Deborah) I say this: Get a life!

Heisman hoopla

The Heisman Trophy is one of the most coveted awards in sports. It only goes to one man each year. It is to "the best college football player in the United States" (heisman.com) This award is the acme of any college football player's career. There are not many pastimes on which a "best of" accolde is bestowed with such fanfare.

Many people see the NCAA as a minor league system to the NFL (which leads to cries of paying these guys). So it would lead one to think that the "best player" of this minor league would be, at worst, a viable candidate for sucesss at the next level: NFL. But past results are counterintuitive to that idea. To wit: Mike Rozier, Andre Ware, Gino Toretta, Charlie Ward, Rashaan Salaam (sp?), Danny Wuerffel, Chris Weinke, Eric Crouch, etc...

It bothers me that someone who is deemed the "best player in college football" can do so crappy at the next level. A main goal of the fellas who play major college football is to get to the NFL. You would think that the "cream of that crop" would have some success at the next level. Indeed, many do. That would lead to the "best" of that group being successful.

The whole point of this is: How can (many times) the "best college footlaball player in the United States" be so shitty in the NFL when many of the "other guys" be so great?

It is the same in all the other sports. The #1 draft pick in the NBA or NHL or baseball isn't always a bone fide MVP, but with college football, the "MVP", the Heisman winner is touted as the be-all and end-all of players for the year. Why is that, when more than not he is the "we shoulda known" pick or the "let's take a chance on him" in the 12th round pick?

I just don't get it...

Storm of the Century--get to Food Town!

Well, we were supposed to get some snow yesterday. Two to four inches were expected. Also expected were long lines at the grocery store. One prediction was correct--the lines. I don't think we got that much snow.

What is it about bad weather that gets everyone all excited? Bad weather, not catastrophic weather. It seems that every time the weather folks predict a "storm" people go disaster-crazy. I'm not talking about hurricanes or blizzards. Just an inch of rain of a couple inches of snow. Also, I'm referring to my area: Central New Jersey. I can understand that a couple inches of snow could paralyze a place like Atlanta or Baton Rouge. But we are used to snow here. Why do people go so crazy?

I would think that most normal families usually have enough food in the house for two or three days, even at the end of the week. Can anyone remember when we couldn't leave the house for more than two days because of the weather? Blizzards and hurricanes not withstanding, no. So why do people raid the grocery stores, buying food for two weeks and water enough for a month as soon as the weather people even hint at a dusting of snow? When was the last time you had no running water for even a day due to a storm that wasn't a disaster. Never.

I'm standing on line with a pound of chop meat and a box of Hamburger Helper for dinner behind some lady who's preparing for Armegeddon or Ragnarok: two carriages full of all sorts of groceries and water. The irony? I see a lot of stuff that needed to be cooked in her lot. Funny, considering when the storm is really bad, my guess is there will be no power to refrigerate or cook this stuff.

Some of the blame rests on the TV stations who use hype and hyperbole in their teasers: "How much snow will we get and why you should be stock up on TV dinners enough for two weeks! Right after this: Bradjolina in foursome with Jessica and Nick--and why they are afraid of the snow 3000 miles away!"

I don't weep for America. I weep for myself because I have to put up with this shit.

Are Cheesesteaks Italian?

Around here, we have a ton of little pizza parlors; I can count at least 12 within three miles. They all offer pretty much the same fare. Pizza's of course. And hot and cold submarine sandwiches such as Italian heroes or meatball sandwiches or sausage with peppers and onions. Plus all the traditional pizza parlor dinners such as spaghetti and meatballs or veal parmigiana or fettuchinni alfredo. And cheesesteaks.

Cheesesteaks? Are they Italian? Did I miss something? Why do all these places have this on the menu? I never figured that cheesesteaks were even ethnic. And it may be the only thing on the menu that is cooked on the grill.

Maybe I missed a class or something.