HOO-RAY FOR THE RAYS...AND BASEBALL

I stumbled upon a couple of fascinating pieces of data while strolling through the Baseball Reference web site a couple of days ago. And the data leads me to the conclusion that maybe I need to back off my bashing of Rays fans just a tad.

BASEBALL REFERENCE WEB SITE:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/

I was trying to think of when was the last time a team with a similar record and history of futility as the Rays rose up to compete at the World Series level in a similarly surprising fashion.

The best I could come up with was the 1969 Miracle Mets, a team I witnessed grow up before my eyes as a youth growing up in New Jersey.

And I started to wonder what the team attendance figures were, THEN and NOW.

The 2008 Rays drew 1,811,986 fans according to the site.

By comparison, the 1969 Mets, in the New York market, drew 2,175,373. TOTAL. And they were FIRST in attendance in the National League!!!!

The Yankees drew only 1,067,996 the same year, they were basically a .500 team. The Orioles, who won the division and also played in the 1969 World Series, drew 1,062,069.

The 1970 Cincinnati Reds, THE BIG RED MACHINE, drew 1,803,568 the next year, with a 102-60 record.

The 1972 Reds drew only 1,611,459 as a divisional winner. The 1973 division winning Mets drew only 1,912,390 for a team that was not expected to compete for a title.

It wasn't until the 1980's that we began to see attendance figures really swell for some of these division winners and cross the 2 million mark. The 1981 Dodgers won with 2,381,292 and the 1986 Mets drew 2,767,601.

So 1.8 million fans is not too bad for the Rays and the Tampa Bay community to hang their hat on. Perhaps if the infamous "Contraction List" comes back into vogue among the ownership, the Rays will not be on it. We'll see what the follow-up attendance is this year.
------------------
Interesting that in the A-Rod drama this week, we see again a PLAYER, publicly drawn and quartered.

A PLAYER squeezed for a public apology, and then being excoriated in the media for said apology not being quite good enough.

And at the same time, we hear Bud "Sargent Schultz" Selig claim no responsibility, no culpability whatsoever for the growth of the problem.

I'm not sure how Tom Hicks can demand an apology when he should in fact be offering one up for having so many users on his roster without his knowledge. Yeah right.

LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS RIGHT:

This team of Hicks' had A-Rod, Rafael Palmiero, Pudge Rodriguez on it's roster from the period in question, 2001-2003.

They also employed Ken Caminiti (2001), Gabe Kapler (2001-02) and Juan Gonzalez (2002). Not to mention at one time employing Jose Canseco.

This is also the team whose player representative to the union is credited with being the first clean player to step up at a union meeting and identify the extent of the problem in Rick Helling.

AND YOU, THE OWNER OF THE TEAM, HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON???


They should force this idiot to state his position under oath, perhaps before Congress, then strap his lying ass to a polygraph and see where the results take us.

By the way, as an interesting side note, the Rangers from 2001-2003 finished last in their division ALL THREE YEARS IN QUESTION.

Interesting stuff. It should make for some great labor-management negotiations going forward.

RICK SANTELLI'S CHICAGO TEA PARTY - ALL ABOARD

Rick Santelli hit the nail on the head with this analysis of the Administration's foreclosure mitigation plans.

A Chicago Tea Party in July. I'M THERE. They should throw some of these idiot politicians in Lake Michigan instead of tea though.

Santelli is a straight shooter who doesn't sugarcoat it.

We the people, are subsidizing the banks, the auto companies and now the morons who got in over their heads to own a home and should have remained renters.

This isn't T-Ball people, we keep score and there are winners and losers in life.

This middle class that Obama/Biden seemed so concerned about during the campaign is getting no relief from any of these packages and will instead be asked to pay the bill.

People are getting fed up with bailing out all these losers. It's way past time that Washington gets their finger on the true pulse of the American public.

Where have you gone John Galt?

SAD DAY FOR GIANTS FANS - R.I.P. BRAD VAN PELT

BRAD VAN PELT SURROUNDED BY FORMER TEAMMATES HARRY CARSON AND LAWRENCE TAYLOR


It is with great sadness that I read of the passing of former Giants linebacker Brad Van Pelt today. Van Pelt reportedly died from a heart attack at the age of 57.

One of my all-time favorite players, Van Pelt brought some credibility to a Giants team that--during the mid to late 70's--seemed to be floundering in a perpetual state of incompetence.

Sadly, Van Pelt left the Giants just before the team would win it's first Super Bowl. The Giants Players of the Decade for the 1970's, Van Pelt only played on one winning Giants team in his eleven years with the club. He left the club three years before it developed into a Super Bowl winning club in 1986.

In 2005 he was nominated for the Hall of Fame. Given the Giants lack of success on the field during Van Pelt's tenure with the club, his chances of induction seem low.

Van Pelt was a former defensive back at Michigan State making him a formidable defender against the run and the pass. He was a five time pro-bowler and a Maxwell Award winner.

Van Pelt was a part of the "Crunch Bunch", a group of linebackers consisting of Van Pelt, Brian Kelley, Lawrence Taylor, and Harry Carson. That group would have to rank with the best linebacking crews in NFL history.

During Brad's stint with the team, the Giants posted a winning record just once (1981), when New York reached the playoffs for the only time in a 20-year stretch between 1964 and 1983.

Van Pelt left the Giants after Parcells selected another Michigan State standout, Carl Banks, in the first round of the 1984 NFL Draft.
--------------------
FROM NEWSDAY REPORT:

Brad Van Pelt, who helped form one of the most fearsome linebacking groups in NFL history, passed away on Tuesday from an apparent heart attack. He was 57.

Van Pelt, along with Hall of Famers Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor and Brian Kelley, formed the Crunch Bunch for the Giants. He played for the team from 1973 to 1983, during which time he was selected to five Pro Bowls. It was the drafting of Carl Banks that effectively ended Van Pelt's career with the Giants; he played three more years in the NFL after leaving the Giants.

Van Pelt's tenure with the Giants preceded their Super Bowl era. He played on just one team with a winning record, in 1981, but was voted the team's Player of the Decade for the 1970s. A converted defensive back, he wore the number 10 for the Giants, having entered the league just before regulations regarding the jersey numbers that linebackers could wear.

He played in 184 regular season games and had 20 interceptions and (unofficially) 24.5 sacks.

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT

Hard to believe when the temps up here in Illinois are 32 degrees or less, but it's that time of year again. Everybody starts 0-0 and every fan starts the season with visions of playoff berths dancing in their heads.

Maybe even the Giants. It just won't be this year. Perhaps 2010.

So what do we have to look forward to this year Giant fans? More Dave Roberts, Randy Winn, Rich Aurilia and Bengie Molina? More of the struggles of Barry Zito? YES. But wait, there's more.

Waiting in the wings are the eventual replacements for the pile of wasted salary mentioned above.

THE GIANTS TOP TEN PROSPECTS FOR 2009:

1. Madison Bumgarner LHP 6-5, 225
2. Buster Posey C 6-1,190
3. Tim Alderson RHP 6-6, 220
4. Conor Gilaspie 3B 6-1, 200
5. Angel Villalona 1B 6-3, 240
6. Pablo Sandoval C-1B-3B
7. Nate Schierholz RF 6-2, 215
8. Henry Sosa RHP 6-2, 185
9. Kevin Pucetas RHP 6-4, 225
10. Nick Noonan 2B 6-0, 180

The list is more than half-filled with guys who could help this year and others who are 2010 prospects and beyond, but it is shaping up to be the beginnings of transforming the franchise into one that builds more from within.

Bumgarner, Alderson, Villalona and Noonan are futures.

Schierholtz has to be in his put-up or shut-up year. They have to make room for him or move him.

They need to figure out what is going on at the corners (1B and 3B) so they can decide where to slot Sandoval. Pablo seems like he can hit at any level. He is a defensive plus behind the dish and a minus at 1B or 3B. So why he is going into the season as the projected 3B, I don't know. I'm sure the entire pitching staff is hoping Gilaspie can hit enough to play at third.

If Gilaspie fits at third, Sandoval perhaps shares time with Ishakawa at first until Posey is ready to take the reins from Molina behind the plate.

Eventually Noonan takes over at 2B and Ehire Adianza, a defensive wizard, takes over for Renteria at SS. Adianza seems to have risen ahead of Charlie Culbertson and Brandon Crawford as heir-apparent at SS.

Among the pitchers, Sosa helps fill middle innings in the bullpen and Pucetas is rising as an insurance policy against Noah Lowry not returning at 100% from elbow surgery. Pucetas works fast, has a good mix of pitches and competes well. His size is a plus, but he may need more seasoning at AA or AAA before arriving later in the year.

Scott Barnes, a LHP from St. John's impressed enough that he will get a solid look in camp as well as LHP's Ben Snyder and Clayton Tanner. You can never have too many left-handers. From the right side Kyle Nicholson seems to be the most impressive RHP that could earn a spot.

The Giants 2009 season may be much like this nations economic woes, we're just looking for signs of a turnaround. EEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!

O.K. - WHO'S NEXT???

My wife asked me what I think is the best question not asked since the A-Rod revelations hit the fan. If the remaining names on the list of 104 finds its way out to the public, what name would have to be on it to either shock the sensibilities of the fans or drag the games reputation down any further then it is now?

The obvious first response to me would be Derek Jeter. Other than Cal Ripken (who had retired by 2003), I'm not sure if anyone else in this era has a more squeaky clean image and the superstar stats.

My Top Ten List went like this:
1. Derek Jeter
2. Greg Maddux
3. Curt Schilling
4. Frank Thomas
5. Jeff Kent
6. Albert Pujols
7. Manny Ramirez
8. David Ortiz
9. Jim Thome
10. Ichiro Suzuki

Did I leave anyone out? Rememeber, Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Dale Murphy, Rickey Henderson and others who would make fine additions to the list, were not around in 2003.

Some have had "whispers" attached to their name, some are part of the "finger-wagging", Rafael Palmeiro wing and would set the crusader movement back a bit.

But all would be surprising and earth-shaking names.

The list almost has to come out at this point because it has been compromised enough as it is. Too many eyeballs have seen it that it is no longer "confidential".

The drip-drip water torture like release of names attached to the list will plague the game for a decade if it does not come out. The collateral damage to other "innocent" players may be the greater good to be protected over the "confidentiality" of the agreement. That horse has long since left the barn.

It just seems like every time we think that the final shoe has dropped and the fans can't get slapped in the face any worse, another shot comes from out of nowhere.

This could get very interesting.

OBAMA'S STOOL...GOD HELP US

After his first press conference the above slogan is what I see in our future and the future of most of those in the middle-class. Because I have yet to hear where most of the middle class benefits. If you're in the upper 5%, you're screwed. But you knew that. And your lawyers and accountants and lobbyists will prevent too much damage regardless of the rhetoric.

Those in the lower 10-20% of income earners, you'll get some free cheese. If you're in the middle, you better be in a union shop or a government worker for your boat to be lifted too much.

IT'S CALLED PAYBACK AND EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT PAYBACK IS.
-----------

FROM RASMUSSEN REPORTS:

The Senate is scheduled to vote today on an $838-billion economic stimulus plan, but 58% of U.S. voters say most members of Congress will not understand what is in the plan before they vote on it.The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 24% believe most of Congress will understand the contents of the 700-page-plus plan before they vote. Nineteen percent (19%) are not sure. Two-thirds of the nation's voters (69%) lack confidence that Congress knows what it is doing when it comes to addressing the country's current economic problems. Just 29% are even somewhat confident in the legislators.

Obama has used the term "three legs on a stool" to describe his administrations response to the economic woes, but nothing we've seen so far will address what are the three legs of the stool that need to be addressed: FAITH, TRUST and CONFIDENCE.
-------------

Obama comes out of his first press conference looking and sounding like a petulant child, blaming others for his predicament and threatening to hold his breath if Congress doesn't cave in to his demands. At the same time, he makes the Hank "Chicken Little" Paulson argument that the economic sky is falling.

Little Timmy Geithner comes out and tops that with his first major press conference as Treasury Secretary sounding like a child explaining to his teacher why he hasn't completed his homework assignment on time. Mr. "Talk to the Box" morphs into Secretary "My Dog ate my Homework". At least Paulson had a one page memo for Speaker Pelosi for his initial TARP plan. Geithner sounds like has little more than doodling on a cocktail napkin so far.

This is going to be a great four years. It looks like campaigning and finger pointing is indeed much more difficult than actually governing and making decisions.



This is a widely circulated e-mail making the rounds (author unknown) but it seems like the direction we may be heading given the rhetoric of class warfare and the reward/punishment dynamic that is overtaking DC.

It may seem a little Ayn Randian and it may have some economic or tax inaccuracies at the margin but the reason that some of these e-mails get wide circulation is that there is widespread popular belief in the contents. Sort of like an electronic mail Rasmussen poll.

---------------
> Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill
> for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way
> we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
>
> The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
> The fifth would pay $1.
> The sixth would pay $3.
> The seventh would pay $7.
> The eighth would pay $12.
> The ninth would pay $18.
> The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
>
> So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men
> drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
> arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
> "Since you are all such good customers," he said,
> "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by
> $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
>
> The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay
> our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would
> still drink for free. But what about the other six men, the
> paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so
> that everyone would get his fair share?
>
> They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if
> they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the
> fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to
> drink his beer.
>
> So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to
> reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and
> he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
>
> And so:
>
> The fifth man, like the first four, now paid
> nothing (100% savings).
> The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
> The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
> The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25%
> savings).
> The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22%
> savings).
> The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16%
> savings).
>
> Each of the six was better off than before. And the
> first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the
> bar, the men began to compare their savings.
>
> "I only got a dollar out of the $20,"
> declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,
> "But he got $10!"
>
> "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth
> man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that
> he got ten times more than I did!"
>
> "That's true!" shouted the seventh man.
> "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The
> wealthy get all the breaks!"
>
> "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in
> unison, "we didn't get anything at all. The system
> exploits the poor!"
>
> The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The
> next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so
> the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it
> came time to pay the bill, they discovered something
> important. They didn't have enough money between all of
> them for even half of the bill!
>
> And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college
> professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay
> the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
> Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they
> just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start
> drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat
> friendlier.

AN A-BOMB......FOR A-ROD

As much as I wanted to roll my eyes at some of the things he said.

As much as I couldn't take my eyes off the dreamy, pink shade of lipstick chosen for the occasion to make him appear softer, more vulnerable.

I cannot deny the one message that A-Rod delivered with more power than a five hundred foot home run.

The "loose culture" in baseball that made it easier for him to drift to performance enhancing substances. Loosey-goosey I think he added later for emphasis.

I don't feel too sorry for the way he was "outed". The most powerful and successful union in the country finally fell on its hubris and let down its members. It is the MLBPA that is responsible for A-Rod's name leaking out and it will be their fault if all 104 names are released.

And I agree (strangely) with Curt Schilling's comments, that all 104 names now should be released. One thing I can virtually guarantee is if/when those names are released, there will be more Red Sox players named than there were on the Mitchell Report, which will allow people to see that exercise for the dog and pony show it was.

Let's see $20 million dollars on the Mitchell Report, $55 million and counting to put Barry Bonds head on a stick. I don't know what the Clemens tab is going to come to. And for what? Finality? Think again. I know these figures are chump change for the government and MLB to waste, but still quite a tab.

This 2003 list needs to be made public for a couple of reasons. All other players remain under a cloud of suspicion without its release. I don't buy the argument made by Yankees announcer Michael Kay on ESPN's "The Sports Reporters" that players "right to privacy" will be violated. He was arguing that A-Rods "rights" were somehow violated simply by the release and reporting before Alex stepped forward and confirmed the reporting.

This is a labor-management, collective bargaining breach but the players beef now rests solely with their own union. The union screwed up initially by having names attached (however loosely) to the "survey-only" samples. If it's just for informational purposes, there didn't seem to be a need to attach names to the list. But the union compounded the error by not securing the samples and lists and destroying them as it appears was their right under the agreement. THE UNION SCREWED UP.

Then we can get closer to the "Giambi solution" that I've been looking for. Remember, we got distracted by the media characterization of Giambi's "apology as non-apology" when he hit the nail on the head.

EVERYONE, PLAYERS, THE UNION and OWNERS should apologize to the fans for what happened. For the culture, the climate, that built up which allowed players to have to choose between their jobs, their legacy, their long-term health.

Players willfully made bad, short-term choices to inflate their wallets, records and legacies.

Union leaders protected those bad choices instead of protecting the players.

Owners turned their heads and ignored the issue as it grew in front of their eyes. They chose short-term, growing revenues and profits over the long-term health of the game.

And the one gaping hole that I still see that has not been adequately addressed is the culpability of management and ownership in the development of the culture.

Players have been drawn and quartered publicly. There is testing and public scorn to face for future users.

The union has been properly emasculated and cut down to size.

However, ownership continues on their merry way virtually unscathed. No better example of that then the Tom Hicks quote whining about the only thing he didn't hear out of A-Rod that he thought he should have was an apology to the owner who signed him to the infamous $252 million dollar contract that put so much pressure on A-Rod.

Dude, STFU. Have you ever heard of the phrase "a fool and his money....."? Well you are a fool. And a fool who can now claim Canseco, Palmeiro, Pudge Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Kapler and A-Rod as alumni. If there is a team that is the "poster team" for the steroids issue, the Rangers would lead the list.

OK, we've identified the problem. Now for the solution.

To ensure everyone is on board to make sure there is not a return to the culture that allowed this issue to stain the sport, the next agreement between players and owners should include penalties as follows:

THE SLAVIK PLAN TO IMPROVE MLB DRUG PROGRAM:

$1,000,000 fine for each member of the 25-man roster who tests positive
$500,000 fine for each minor league players who tests positive

The money should go to either drug prevention education programs in the schools and youth programs or to grass roots level youth baseball programs to REVIVE BASEBALL EVERYWHERE in this country, not just in the inner city.

Now the teams will be engaged and motivated to make sure something like this never happens again. And maybe the fans will believe it.

Too many have pinned their hope on the conviction of Barry Bonds being the exclamation point that signals the end of the issue. If those folks don't know they are wrong now, then they never will be.

The A-Rod leak guarantees there has to be a change in the narrative. A change in the story presented by the media.

It's interesting to note that now that the Bonds case has transferred from the court of public opinion to a court of law, we see the "mountain of evidence" that was the book "Game of Shadows" is turning into a molehill for the prosecutors.

Another larger issue that has not received much play is this: if the names remain private, there remains a risk that a player who participated in this survey, retires and is elected to the Hall of Fame and later the list is revealed and that player is on it.

Then the Baseball Writers who vote are going to find themselves with quite the problem. There is now a huge and growing list of "Scarlet Letter" players who do not seem to have much chance of induction. That list includes Bonds, Clemens, McGuire, Sosa, Palmeiro and now A-Rod.

That is going to leave a huge hole in the history and story of the Hall of Fame, which is a museum not a Stairway to Heaven. I'm not sure what these guys are going to do if this list continues to grow.

My suggestion would that instead of leaving otherwise worthy players outside the Hall of Fame looking in, I am sure that the writers could open their ballots to include more players like Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson who have not come remotely close to being implicated but whose career statistics were not "artificially" inflated as others in the era might be.

I don't think including players of that caliber comes anywhere near making this Hall of Fame into the Hall of the mediocre.

I think it would be justified under the theory that this is the Golden era of baseball where more fans have been brought to the ballgame than at any time in history. It's the fans game and the the fans hall and they have voted with their wallets.

For the youth, I would say responsible parents can teach their kids about morality issues just fine, sometimes negative examples provide good teaching points as well.

This is a part of the history of baseball, just as segregation once was. We acknowledge it, learn from it and move on. We don't remove the pre-segregation era players from the post-segregation era players.

Finally, it would demonstrate that indeed we are a forgiving nation. If this Hall of Fame and this sport wants to cloak itself in sanctimonious terminology, then maybe they should demonstrate that they have a REAL understanding of the concept of FORGIVENESS.

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE IN MY CABINET

Obama’s picks are laughable. It doesn't really surprise me too much that--after the primary revelations of "people in my neighborhood" with questionable backgrounds and histories that surrounded Obama--we would see problems with his choices to serve in his Administration. You would think that the vetting committee would have done a better job under the circumstances.

I guess,as we'll see further on down, that this is going to boil down to what your definition of ethics is. So we're back to the old Clintonian, legalese-sleaze. Change we can believe in, yessirree buddy.

Just in case you're scoring at home, we have three tax evasion issues, two "former lobbyist" issues and three nominees withdrawn so far. And we're less than one month into the Administration.

This should be an interesting four years.

NOMINEES WITHDRAWN:

Commerce: BILL RICHARDSON A guy who’s already had to pull his name out of consideration in disgrace, because of corruption problems. A pay for play scheme, or so I've heard. Maybe he can commiserate with Blago.

Health and Human Services: TOM DASCHLE A guy who’s spent the last few years as a big-time lobbyist. Hey, whatever happened to that “no lobbyists” rule, Barack? Oh, I'm sorry, he was never "technically" registered as a lobbyist so ;) ;), right? Plus, another nominee who seems to have a cavalier attitude with regard to paying his taxes. Maybe we should give all the people sitting in jail who were convicted of similar offenses the same "innocent mistake" treatment.

Deputy Director OMB - Chief Performance Officer: NANCY KILLEFER withdrawn over undisclosed tax issues over unpaid D.C. U/E taxes.

So, that's Daschle, Killefer and Geithner who are either incompetent or evasive regarding paying their own taxes, with Geithner heading the very Department that oversees the IRS. BRILLIANT.

A loss of CONFIDENCE and FAITH and TRUST in the financial system will not be healed by putting the same foxes responsible for its collapse in charge of the hen house.

OTHER NOMINEES WITH QUESTION MARKS:

State: HILLARY CLINTON A woman whose only foreign policy experience was having tea with dignitaries (Obama’s words). Never mind that while serving as First Lady under President Clinton, the White House--via the Lincoln bedroom--was turned into some sort of Motel 6/ ATM machine for campaign contributions for the Clinton's. Now we put her in charge of international affairs after her husband received millions in contributions for his library from the very sovereign states that she will be making major policy decisions about. DOES THIS EVEN REMOTELY SMACK OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST? OR IS THERE SOME SORT OF POLITICAL PAYBACK EXCEPTION I'M NOT AWARE OF.

Treasury: GEITHNER A guy who hasn’t paid his taxes properly. He's either an idiot or a tax evader, either way unqualified for this position. Also, the co-pilot of the wreck of Bear Stearns, Lehman et. al., TARP 1.0 and the head of the New York Fed while this whole financial mess on Wall Street was brewing.

William Lynn - 2nd in command at the Pentagon - former lobbyist for Raytheon. There must be a "former lobbyist exception" employed here as well.

Justice: HOLDER A guy who enabled a pardon for a tax-evading fugitive.

Homeland Security: A woman who strongly opposed–and vowed not to follow–one of the centerpieces of the new security apparatus.

Trade Representative: A guy who lobbied (successfully) for clemency for a drug dealer because the criminal’s daddy gave lots of money to Democrats.
------------------
FROM TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE:

According to the White House, the important thing is that Tom Daschle is not technically a lobbyist. "If you're not registered to lobby, you can't be a
lobbyist," explains White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. And Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader who is up for the top health post in the Obama Cabinet, never filled out the paperwork to register.

--------------------

That distinction matters quite a bit because Barack
Obama promised during his campaign that lobbyists
"would not get a job in my White House." On his first full
day in office, that pledge turned into the new
President's first official policy, when he signed an Executive
Order banning lobbyists from serving in his Administration.
The order did come with some fine print, however — a
waiver process that the White House counsel could invoke at
will in the name of the "public interest," allowing
an undetermined number of former lobbyists to effectively
violate the new policy.

THE SUPER BOWL & SPRINGSTEEN

SUPER BOWL PREDICTION:

As much as I like the Kurt Warner story in total, I still remember the Giants years when fumbles and the nickname "Skirt" came up all too often. So as much as I'd like to see him succeed, I have to get behind the Steeler defense to keep Warner, Fitzgerald and Boldin under wraps.

They should be able to bottle up the Cardinals newly found running game, putting Warner & Co. in long yardage situations, thereby letting the pass rush wreck havoc and bring about "The Return of Skirt".

Plus, it's probably too much to ask for an NFC team to come from out of nowhere late in the season and win the Super Bowl two years in a row.

Steelers 27-17.

And now, the for the real reason to watch this years Super Bowl.....
BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE.
-----------------


SPRINGSTEEN SONG POOL:

My bets for the four songs that the Boss will play are:
1. Born to Run
2. Working on a Dream
3. Promised Land
4. Land of Hope of Dreams