A sign of hope--football season is half over.

How great is that! If football season is half over--and that's what they're saying--baseball will be here soon. Phil Allard's turning point is the day after the World Series ends. It marks the countdown to spring training.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Corruption deepens in Communist Chinese food chain

• Yankees president Randy Levine in China promising money and Yankee personnel to the Communist Chinese, 1/31/07, photo China Daily

"Chinese regulators are widening their investigation into contaminated food amid growing signs that the toxic industrial chemical melamine has leached into the nation's animal feed supplies, posing health risks to consumers.... China is also one of the world's largest exporters of food and food ingredients, including meats, seafood, beverages

• and vitamins.

Melamine was banned as an animal feed additive in China in July 2007. And last year, United States regulators put tough restrictions on the amount of melamine allowed in food products.

But interviews on Friday, and over the past year, with several Chinese chemical dealers who sell melamine suggests that

• melamine scrap, the substantially cheaper waste left over after producing melamine,

• continued to be added to animal and fish feed.

"I heard some melamine dealers still sell to animal feed producers," said Qin Huaizhen, manager at the Gaocheng Kaishun Chemical Co. in city of Shijiazhuang,

• though he insisted he has never sold melamine to animal feed producers. "In Shandong province many animal feed manufacturers buy melamine scrap."

Two other melamine dealers in east and south China said that

• only after the recent dairy scandal did government regulators begin to closely monitor the sale of melamine to animal feed producers....

Some food-safety experts are perplexed as to how melamine was allowed to seep into China's food supplies after melamine-tainted animal feed exports from China were blamed last year

• for sickening dogs and cats in the United States,

• touching off international trade and food safety disputes between the two countries."...

No baseball player should be forced to travel to or play in Communist China for obvious reasons. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

WFAN's Mark Chernoff adds duties

"Mark Chernoff, Vice President of Sports Programming, CBS Radio

• and Operations Manager, WFAN

• has been named Vice President of Programming for

• CBS RADIO’s New York Market."

via Radio Daily News

• Get those tapes over to 'Chernie'...

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Not busting it to first base in the World Series

(NY Post, Phil Mushnick):"How many of us, blessed with the ability and coaching to play major league baseball, wouldn't run reasonably hard to first base?

• Yet, over five World Series games, there were at least six instances of players

• who might have made it to first, second or third but

• failed to run hard to first.

• In the World Series."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

A-rod, Madonna met at Seinfeld's

The meeting took place on October 21, per The Sun: "A Hamptons source said: “A-Rod arrived at the airport by helicopter and was whisked away in one of Seinfeld’s Porsches.

• “Madonna arrived less than an hour later by helicopter and left with Seinfeld in another car.

“It is believed they all went to Seinfeld’s mansion for a discreet party for a few hours, before they all left separately.”

The meeting was on October 21, six days after The Sun revealed Madonna and Guy, 40, were to divorce. Madonna took a break from her world tour."...via Newsday blog

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Brad Penny throws punch at Hollywood club-goer

"TMZ has video of Brad Penny at the Key Club in West Hollywood, taking a swing on the sidewalk at some well-heeled clubgoer....

• Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Penny threw the punch left-handed, so the National League will once again soon be enjoying the comfort that is his arrow-straight 88-mph BP fastball. That is though only if he re-signs with the team. But if it’s up to GM Ned Colletti, he’ll no doubt receive an enormous raise."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Google cancels afternoon tea at NYC offices amid tough times

"Google is going on a diet when it comes to spending on a smorgasbord of food perks for employees living high on the hog in its New York office.

• The online search giant issued a memo to its Big Apple workforce earlier this week noting slimmed-down cafeteria hours and food selection as part of an effort "to find areas where efficiency can be improved."

The move, first reported by the tech blog ValleyWag, comes as Google has seen its stock sink more than 48 percent, or $333.48 per share this year. ...

• Gone are exotic treats like afternoon tea on Tuesdays, which has been suspended indefinitely.

However, the company said there still may be "occasional surprise 'snack attacks' in the future" - similar to what employees get in Google's Mountain View, Calif. offices.

• The company also is creating new rules for feeding guests and
• discouraging employees from taking meals to go."...
• via MichaelSavage.com
• photo NY Post

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Burwell added to St. Louis FM sportstalk, 1/1/09 start

"Sports/Talk 101.1 adds to its staff with nationally recognized sports writer and broadcaster Bryan Burwell (who) has been added to the station’s lineup... Bonneville's and St. Louis' Sports/Talk 101.1 goes on the air January 1." via Radio Daily News

• Sources said that the station, WMVN (101.1 FM), has reached a tentative agreement with Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bryan Burwell to be host of a midday program, probably running from 10 a.m to 2 p.m.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Baseball expert instructs political media about use of polls

"Too often, (Nate) Silver told me, polls are used to provide a "veneer of science" to media narratives.

• Whether in baseball or politics, "the basic problem is that

• people misinterpret random events as being meaningful."

There simply isn't enough skepticism of polls, Silver said -- especially exit polls, which often miss the mark. That's why he believes journalists

• should avoid reporting that centers on polls;

when they do report the results of a poll, they should strive to place them in context with other surveys.

• They should, he said, "apply the same kind of fact-checking and balance to coverage of polls as they would to any other set of facts." reported on Poynter.org

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Media knows it's a mob but thinks it doesn't matter (Babe Ruth's daughter would disagree)

The brethren in politics live in a bubble as they often do in baseball reporting (for good reason). 'Slate' maintains 'opinion is not bias' and anyone who disagrees is just wrong.

• They have 4 mob cohorts to excuse their orientation:

• living in "extremely democratic cities on the East and West Coast,"

• "young" in age,

• friends of people who advise Obama, and finally

• the fact that they are "journalists."

If that is not enough, they say nothing can be done about this set of allegiances:

• (Slate): "There are obvious reasons why Slate would lean heavily toward Obama:

Most of our staff and contributors live in extremely Democratic cities on the East and West Coast.

• (It's worth noting that our lone McCain voter, Deputy Managing Editor Rachael Larimore, lives in Ohio.)

Slate's voters tend to skew young, and all polls show younger voters favoring the Democrat.

• Also, a significant number of former Slate contributors...

• are now advising Obama.

It's understandable that our affection for them and respect for their views may be accruing to Obama. (He's taking Jason and Austan's advice on the economy? Then he must be pretty smart.)

• And, finally,

• we are journalists, and,

• to quote (former Slate editor Michael) Kinsley:

'No doubt t is true that most journalists vote Democratic, just as most business executives (including most media owners) vote Republican, though neither tendency is as pronounced as their respective critics believe.

• This is a natural result of the sort of people who are attracted to various careers....

• And there is nothing that can be done to change this disparity,

unless conservative press critics would like to see the media institute a political quota system, favoring conservatives over better-qualified liberals (affirmative action for opponents of affirmative action).

• But—for the millionth time!—an opinion is not a bias! The fact that reporters tend to be liberal

• says nothing one way or another about their tendency to be biased.

It does suggest that when political bias does creep in, it is more likely to tilt liberal than conservative. But there are so many

• other pressures and prejudices built into the news—including occasional overcompensation for fear of appearing biased—

that raw political bias plays a fairly small role. …Of course it is not easy to persuade folks of this, and many will never believe it. No doubt it is easier just to

• keep your political opinions secret and imply that you don't have any.

But that absurdity or dishonesty itself undermines your credibility. Or it ought to."*******

(Yes, there are other 'groups' in other walks of life that influence things, but none as great as this. Even mentioning the subject of news peoples' 'fandom' elicits immediate ridicule. One might charge that Republicans and/or conservatives (2 different entities) have their own media groups.

• That would be a bad analogy however, as the so-called Republican/media elites are very critical of the Republican ticket. You can read all about it in democrat press and sites). sm

P.S. On the power of mobs, Babe Ruth's daughter:

• ""I watch baseball all the time," she said. "In New England, you mostly get the Red Sox. You don't get the Yankees' games. You can't live in New England without being a Red Sox fan. I've lived up there for 60-something years.
• It's so hard to be a Yankee fan in a country that's all Red Sox.
• But I held out until about 10 years ago.""

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Australia to implement internet blocking, no opt-out for users

"AUSTRALIA will join (Communist) China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.

• The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.

The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter."...via Drudge Report

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

October Phest

Back cover Newsday, 10/30/08

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Huffington Post writer stabbed ex-partner 220 times with screwdriver

It's wise to be cautious around members of the media. And their employers, considering this one still feels lucky to have the brutal murderer on their team (last paragraph). The outlet is quite an influential one, too:

• "A Huffington Post writer stabbed her former lover more than 200 times with a screwdriver and then tried to conceal the slaying, PalmBeachPost.com reported.

After committing the gruesome crime, Carol Anne Berger, an election correspondent for the Huffington Post, reported her former flame missing, then fatally shot herself a day later, police told the Web site....

Kalish had been stabbed with a Phillips-head screwdriver 220 times, he said, with wounds concentrated in the back of her head, back, arms and face. A blow to Kalish's neck likely killed her, Chapman told the Web site.

• Burger and Kalish recently had hired an attorney to sell their house and split the revenue. Kalish had met another woman and spent hours absorbed in cyber-dates with her new companion, PalmBeachPost.com reported.

"We are all very lucky to have Carol Anne be part of the Off the Bus family," a Huffington Post statement read, referring to the Web site's special election section. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of Carol Anne Berger and Jessica Kalish."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Top newspaper daily circulation, 1998-2008

• Top newspapers daily circulation:

Increases 2008-1998

• USA Today (M-Thur.) 2,293,310 (2008) 1,653,428 (1998)

• Wall St. Journal 2,011,999 (2008) 1,740,450 (1998)

• New York Post 625,421 (2008) 437,467 (1998)

Decreases 2008-1998

• New York Times 1,000,665 (2008) 1,066,658 (1998)

• Los Angeles Times 739,147 (2008) 1,067,540 (1998)

• New York Daily News 632,595 (2008) 723,143 (1998)

• Washington Post 622,714 (2008) 759,122 (1998)

• Chicago Tribune (W-F) 516,032 (2008) 673,508 (1998)

• Houston Chronicle (M-Sat.) 448,271 (2008) 550,763 (1998)

• Newsday 377,517 (2008) 572,444 (1998)

SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, 10/28/08; 1998 figures are for the 6 months ending Sept., 1998 which was "before ABC dictated that all papers must report a Monday-Friday average." "Publishers were allowed to pencil in daily averages of their choice. On this list all averages are Monday-Friday unless otherwise noted." 2008 figures are the six month period ending Sept. 2008. All figures are ABC.

• via SportsBusinessDaily, Daily Stat

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Is your media partner going bust? Seminar Thursday...

"With many media companies wondering how they’ll be affected by the outcome of Interep’s bankruptcy court hearing on Thursday morning,

• the Media Financial Management Association (MFM) and its BCCA subsidiary will host a Distance Learning

• Seminar entitled “Interep - What's Happening? Where Do We Go From Here?” on Thursday afternoon, October 30, from 4:00 -5:15 p.m. ET."

"Bring your questions and we will answer as many of them as time will allow." via RadioDailyNews

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Mark Cuban backs BailoutSleuth.com

Cubs bidder Mark Cuban backs a blog shedding light on the taxpayer/bank bailout, BailoutSleuth.com. So far, it has aimed to find out what has been blacked out by Hank Paulson on current documents. People interested in sunlight approve. That probably would not include Selig, Du Puy, Reinsdorf, et al.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

With help from the media, language is used to defeat a nation.

• And it's all happening so quietly and sweetly...how bad could it be?

"The 2001 audio tape of Barack Obama describing the Constitution as a document of "negative liberties" reveals an utterly Orwellian Obama....

• Only in our age of collective thinking and untidy language
• could such a thing as "positive liberty" be conceived.
• The state power to coerce is not liberty.

Notions like "positive liberty" are part of the web of thought control by language manipulation which Orwell described in 1984. ...

• The conscious surrender of language to the needs of the party creates a self-made
• prison from which escape is, quite literally,
• inconceivable.

These unguarded remarks by Obama display a mind trapped in a reality in which words are phantoms....

• Government does some things which reduce our private rights and yet which increase the common good.

Politics is all about where the boundary between broad notions of promoting the general welfare by state coercion and preserving liberty should be.

• Politicians on the Left have often argued that liberty should be reined in more tightly so that "the people" can live better.

But implying that more state power somehow increases liberty is beyond mere Leftism.

• It is entry into that dead realm of Newspeak in which

• language is pureed into nonsense, and then

• nonsense is presented as argument....

True charity is always a free act. That does not make the moral duty of charity any less, but it means that it is a function of liberty. But it seems as if Obama's mind cannot grasp this sort of distinction.

Is the Orwellian character of Obama's mind a surprise? No. He is a man young enough to have grown up in a

• cocoon of semantic babble.

The subliminal contradictions of popular entertainment, the indoctrinary quality of his education, the pandemic use of "politically correct" language, the nonexistence in Obama's universe of

• any need for critical thinking, his absorption into a parish filled with surreal anger

• which numb his conscience --

almost every single aspect of the life of Barack Obama dovetails into someone for whom the word "liberties" has no authentic meaning.

• This is the newness of Obama in our history. Leftists like George McGovern and Jimmy Carter lived real lives. Both served in the military. Both seemed to have been genuinely religious. Both worked in private business. Both came from states that were conservative, and so they had to defend their political philosophies. Barack

Obama, by contrast, has lived a life of utter sameness. There are no bumps or rough edges or hints of individuality at all.

• It is not just his life, so marinated in rote theory, that makes Obama unique. He is an early prototype of a new creature in our lives: Orwell's children, if you will. These are the people who can honestly believe that September 11^th was an "inside job" or that the CIA invented crack cocaine to hurt blacks. This is the generation

which has grown up with no intellectual or cultural system of checks and balances.

• Iron and dull control of education, destruction of the nuclear family, disappearance of religion in public life, degradation of art and entertainment into tasteless mush, and, most of all, the politicization of everything in life -- these forces have created

a new sort of human being, a person who lacks from life any tools of discernment or devices to describe life

• outside of the realm of collectivist political rhetoric.

There is something about Obama, many of us sense, which is different from any other politician. Socialism is inadequate to explain Obama. He is both more and less than that. The Left with all its odd menagerie of causes and claims is not enough either. Obama is part of that but part of something more disturbing.

• He is someone who can say "negative liberties" unaware that

• he is saying nothing at all."

from American Thinker, Bruce Walker, via Lucianne.com

• P.S. The 2001 tape referenced at the open of this article was minimized or ignored by big media. (sm)

Also--this approach assumes workers will continue to produce at current levels.

• Not happening. I would work as little as possible, produce as little as possible. Why should I do more since it will be taken away?

• That's already happening to a large degree, but anymore who would be dumb enough to agree to slavery?

• How are they going to make me work more? Beat me, starve me? Fine, go ahead. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Interep still in business while organizing

(Mediaweek): "Interep spent Monday (Oct. 27) letting advertisers, agencies and the stations it represents know that it hasn't shut its doors yet and is still conducting business. A trustee, attorney Kenneth Silverman, is working with CEO David Kennedy and executive management to preserve as much value in the company as possible, which could lead to a sale of all or part of the company. Meanwhile, all employees of Interep still have a job and for now, there are still two national radio rep firms.

• "The trustee has determined that it is in the best interests of the debtors' estates to continue the operations of the debtors and has arranged for ongoing funding of the trustee's operations," Silverman wrote in a letter sent to Interep's clients Monday afternoon (Oct. 27)....

On Friday, Interep filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to convert its bankruptcy Chapter 11 status to Chapter 7 liquidation in order to pay off the company's debtors....

• CBS Radio, the largest group repped by Interep, said in a statement it was looking into alternative national sales representation strategies and will have an announcement soon."

This article is an UPDATE to my post on 10/25/08 saying Interep would begin layoffs this week.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Selig does not act like a man

Commenter notes about Selig with which I agree: He's not a man, he's something else.

• It's become the thing to do these days to portray him as a saint- if one wants to be part of the crowd.
• Or if one is just tired. But it's not accurate and ignores history.

"Selig: FOX Network's B*tch

Flashjeff on Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:14 pm

I had to chuckle when I read Bud Selig's answer about how much of a role FOX played in his decision about Saturday night's mess. "Not much", he said. What a steaming load of crap that was!

• Selig is FOX's b*tch and everyone knows it. As long as the network pours boatloads of money into MLB's coffers, Selig will remain the dutiful slave and do whatever FOX tells him to. Start World Series games at 10 p.m.? Sure thing, boss! Play games in driving rainstorms? No prob, boss! Demonstrate through your half-assed decisions that money counts and fans don't? Be glad to, boss!

Selig disgusts me on every level imaginable.

• He isn't a man, he's a spineless, yellow-bellied cretin who, for the sake of money,

• allowed a television network to pervert the sport he's supposedly in charge of beyond repair.

And last night was perhaps his crowning acheivement in terms of total and complete incompetence."

• Comment posted on SportingNews.com to article by Jim Litke, "Fans Subjected to Farce in Philly"

The late and greatly missed Doug Pappas would probably agree with FlashJeff. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

McCain stands up for rights of World Series

"No one will delay the World Series for an infomercial when I'm president." John McCain,

• from his speech earlier today, audio played back on the Rush Limbaugh radio program, approximately 2:42 pm ET. McCain showing a bit of spirit late in the campaign.

October 15 announcement of World Series delay due to infomercial.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Yankees 1996 home opener in snow

top photo from the Record, above photo from ap. Above, Andy Pettitte pitches 1996 home opener in snow, April 9, 1996, photo Newsday, Bereswill

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Thoughts while gearing up for GM meetings next week--Ken Davidoff

• Krod's agent reiterates to Newsday he wants 5 years.

If a team isn't going to the post season, it may be a good deal. Krod's humanity has repeatedly shown up under the brightest lights, with the excellent exception of his debut year. Not to say he won't be worth what anyone wants to pay him.

• Charlie Manuel's version of 8 Men Out, per Ken Davidoff:

"Constant Charlie

• The Phillies have used the same eight position players in

• each of the five World Series games so far.

One opposing scout said with a chuckle: "Charlie Manuel writes out a lineup on Opening Day, and he makes 161 copies of it."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Huizenga: I'D RATHER GIVE MY PROFITS TO CHARITY THAN OBAMA

"Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga said Sunday no date has been set for selling up to 45 percent more of the team to Stephen Ross, but the presidential election is among the issues weighing on his decision.

• That's because a Barack Obama administration is expected to mean higher capital-gains taxes.

"He wants to double the capital gains tax, or almost double it," Huizenga said. "I'd

• rather give it to charity

• than to him."" via the Drudge Report

(Hope Huizenga is prepared for the mob of J-schoolers of all ages who will ridicule him as a hater and racist. Their hate speech is accepted every day under the guise

• of tolerance and compassion). sm

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Tampa Bay Rays post season run a winner for St. Pete Times

• "Andrew Corty, the paper's vice president and corporate secretary, puts the estimated incremental ad revenue at "well into six figures."
• The Times has an exclusive marketing arrangement with Tropicana Field, allowing prominent promotional signage and distribution of papers and other material.
• (The rival Tampa Tribune has a parallel deal at Raymond James Statium where the Bucs play)." via Poynter.org, Edmonds

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Explaining news media bias for the democrat candidate

• One columnist's theory: newspaper editors are biased toward Obama, motivated by concern for their own careers:

"In other words, you are facing career catastrophe -- and desperate times call for desperate measures. Even if you have to risk everything on a single Hail Mary play. Even if you have to compromise the principles that got you here.

• After all, newspapers and network news are doomed anyway -- all that counts is keeping them on life support until you can retire.

And then the opportunity presents itself -- an attractive young candidate whose politics

• likely matches yours,

• but more important, he offers the prospect of a transformed Washington with the power to fix

• everything that has gone wrong
• in your career.

With luck, this monolithic, single-party government

• will crush the alternative media via a revived
• fairness doctrine,

• re-invigorate unions by getting rid of secret votes, and just maybe

• be beholden to people like you in the traditional media for getting it there.

And besides, you tell yourself, it's all for the good of the country …"

This is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.

Michael S. Malone, columnist (Portion appears at end of article). via the Drudge Report.

• Many are concerned about future job security and act accordingly. In baseball reporting it's similar to politics. You only have to keep one thing in mind: will ESPN like what I'm doing. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

A-rod in new Guitar Hero commercial

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Another example of Yankees managerial vacuum: Felix Lopez

• Son-in-law behind rally for democrat candidate at Steinbrenner Field with World Series bound Rays:

Newsday: "Felix Lopez, son-in-law of George Steinbrenner, continues

• to capitalize

• on the power void in Tampa,

where Hal Steinbrenner is busy running baseball operations with Brian Cashman

• and Hank Steinbrenner is busy making hilarious statements to the media.

Lopez organized Barack Obama's usage of Steinbrenner Field as a campaign stop last Monday. Obama appeared alongside a number of Rays players, who were less than 24 hours removed from their thrilling ALCS victory over the Red Sox.

• But Obama, according to a witness,

• didn't mention the Yankees significantly in his speech, something

• Lopez should've covered in his planning with the Obama people."

Not surprising--the Yankees are easy to take advantage of. Especially when it's media-related.

• There were already ethical problems for baseball with this event. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Rays advantage at Tropicana Field

Blyleven, nbc.com: "There is a definite home-field advantage for the Rays, who know opponents struggle with the lighting at Tropicana Field. They are not used to having to try and track fly balls

• against the background of a fiberglass roof where you can’t take your eyes off the ball. In an open-air stadium when the ball is hit in the gap an outfielder can take a look at where he is going and then look up and lock in on the flight of the ball.

But that’s not the case at Tropicana Field where over the years the baggy roof has become

• almost the same color as the baseball and so an outfielder can’t take his eyes off the ball.

The Rays’ outfielders have an advantage since they are much more familiar than are their opposing counterparts with dealing with this element as they play 81 games in the dome each season. It’s not easy on them either but it’s tougher on their opponents." (10/15/08)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

'Polls' used to make 'news' are purposely biased

From Rasmussen Reports: "For polling data released during the week of October 26-November 1, 2008, the partisan weighting targets will be

• 40.0% Democratic,

• 32.8% Republican,

• and 27.2% unaffiliated.

For the preceding week, the partisan weighting targets were 39.7% Democratic, 33.0% Republican, and 27.3% unaffiliated."...

• When 'polls' are skewed toward 1 political party or entity, the 'results' usually favor that party/view. eg, 'Palin is no good' can be expected if a poll skews toward democrats.
• Therefore, it does not mean 'Palin is no good,' it means
• they survey more democrats. (sm) via Lucianne.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

On advice to lower the volume on WFAN's morning show

(NY Post, Mushnick): "WFAN's station manager, Mark Chernoff, recently responded to a complaint about the vulgar content of the Craig Carton-Boomer Esiason morning drive show with a defense of the program as one "meant to appeal first and foremost to 25-54 year old males."

• Thus, Chernoff's missive continued, "I never like the idea of suggesting not listening to the station, but if you're in the car with your kids, I probably would recommend

• turning the radio way down for that time."

Brilliant solution.

But Chernoff's claim of a 25-54 target audience seems disingenuous, too. Carton and Esiason, as heard Thursday and Friday, could not have been targeting adult listeners when they had tons of naughty hilarity making fun of the last name of Arkansas QB, Casey Dick. Yep, that's what passes for adult sports fan entertainment on that show.

• Esiason, Friday, signed off with this clever line: "My testicles are swollen."

• Certainly, the male target audience of this pathetic show can't possibly be any older than third or fourth-graders."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Phillies pitching coach says his guys change speeds better than Red Sox

(10/21/08, Boston Globe): "Phillies pitching coach and former Bridgewater-Raynham High School pitching great (Rich) Dubee said... "We have to get ahead in the count.

• Our guys can change speeds, which is something I don't think
• Boston did a whole lot of.

• A lot of those home runs were balls that were up in the middle of the plate. They made a lot of mistakes. Good hitters hit mistakes, and that's what the Rays did.

Hopefully we'll avoid getting in the middle of the plate, and we'll get ahead in the count, and hopefully be able

• to change speeds and throw a number of pitches for strikes.""

from Extra Bases

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

The global game of manicures and pedicures

• For fans of globalism, your idea worked out real well. The yearly World Economic Forum in Davos was a blur of pedicures, massages, and fine dining:

"Each January, global financial titans and their entourages gathered in the Alpine hamlet(of Davos, Switzerland).

• A band of fluegelhorns wandered in hotel lobbies, heralding the arrival of delegates such as

• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. CEO Richard Fuld Jr.,

• Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, along with actresses such as

• Angelina Jolie and

• Sharon Stone."...

Disaster was imminent, but in globalism no one is responsible! Cool. The last person on anyone's mind was the taxpayer. As in baseball, the fan is last on the list of global concerns. Either that, or so-called leaders are criminally insane and need to be locked up. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

A-rod marketing value tarnished by off the field reports--Ken Davidoff

Ken says the World Baseball Classic, Inc. won't be breaking down A-rod's door this year if he keeps them hanging. Don't expect another call from Selig begging him to join:

• (Newsday): "...this hasn't received much attention, but apparently he divorced his wife and is involved with Madonna.

• He's less attractive as a marketing tool, therefore.

Moreover, Team USA can employ the very capable duo of the David Wright and Evan Longoria at third base, while Team Dominican Republic has Adrian Beltre and, just as important, high-profile guys like David Ortiz and Albert Pujols."...

• Davidoff thinks Davey Johnson would be a better manager for USA WBC team:

(Newsday): "...there's a push for Davey Johnson, who served as manager Buck Martinez's bench coach last time, to take over the managing responsibilities.

• Johnson, who of course led the Mets to their last World Series victory in 1986, lacks Martinez's media-friendly nature. Yet he's a far more accomplished manager than Martinez."...

Joe Kerrigan is sneaky--look out:

• (Newsday): "The Pirates' hiring of Joe Kerrigan as their pitching coach raised some eyebrows. "Didn't they ask around about this guy?" one industry insider asked. While Kerrigan is regarded as intelligent,

• he also is thought sneaky and selfish."

End of the line for Rich Monteleone:

• (Newsday): "Rich Monteleone, let go by the Yankees as their special pitching instructor, has been informed by the club that he won't get a job at their minor-league complex. Before his elevation to bullpen coach in 2002, he worked with the Yankees' minor-league pitchers."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Obama Campaign cuts off WFTV after normal interview with Joe Biden

"WFTV-Channel 9's Barbara West conducted a satellite interview with Sen. Joe Biden on Thursday...

• West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama's comment, to Joe the Plumber, about spreading the wealth.

• She quoted Karl Marx and asked how Obama isn't being a Marxist with the "spreading the wealth" comment.

"Are you joking?" said Biden, who is Obama's running mate. "No," West said.

West later asked Biden about his comments that Obama could be tested early on as president. She wondered if the Delaware senator was saying America's days as the world's leading power were over.

• "I don't know who's writing your questions," Biden shot back.

Biden so disliked West's line of questioning

• that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate's wife.

• "This cancellation is non-negotiable, and

• further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election,"
• wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director
• for the Obama campaign.

McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was "a result of her husband's experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West."

• I'll wait to see how the NY Times and Washington Post handle this media slight by the Obama Thought Police. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Radio Ad Sales firm Interep goes bust--Crain's NY

CBS Radio now without national sales rep:

• "Interep, the largest independent national radio sales representative firm, is shutting down.

According to the Web site Radio-Info.com, layoffs will begin next week at the New York-based company and a court-appointed trustee will be charged with selling the firm or its assets....

• “We’re looking for alternate representation strategies,” a CBS Radio spokeswoman said.

The sole remaining national radio sales rep firm, (is) Katz Media Group,"...via RadioDailyNews

• UPDATE: 10/28/08, Interep's door still open, but slightly. Mediaweek.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

How the NY Times can save itself: SELL THE RED SOX

• Estimated value of their Red Sox share: $150 million

"The New York Times (NYT) is now running on fumes. S&P has downgraded the company's debt to junk, and Moodys is about to do the same. The stock has fallen to $10 $9, and is being propped up primarily

• by the company's non-news assets.

Given the ongoing decline of print advertising, management now has to take emergency steps to avoid defaulting on the company's $1.1 billion of debt. SAI and 24/7 Wall Street have put together a seven-part rescue plan:

• 1. Sell the stake in the building. The New York Times recently moved into a spectacular new Times Square headquarters...

• 2. Try to sell the Boston Globe and Red Sox stake. Probably a few hundred million of value left in the Globe, at least for a while. Newspaper assets are hard to sell these days, but the Globe is a famous, valuable franchise. It might fetch $300-$400 million. (Jack Welch approached NYT about buying the Globe in October 2006. He is one of the few people who could raise the money.)

• Lehman recently estimated that the 17% stake in the Sox is worth about

• $150 million."...

"The Times said it is looking for ways to reduce its debt, but said it is a difficult time to make asset sales."

• ***Not true of course, Pinchy, in the case of the Red Sox!!! They could sell that in 2 seconds to any remaining fraternity brothers of Bud Selig. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Governor Sarah Palin drops puck at St. Louis Blues game

• AP reports she received more cheers than boos. The Washington Post and NY Times will not allow this to ruin their day. ap photo.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

40% of newsroom staff to depart NJ Star-Ledger

"The Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey said about 40% of its newsroom staff will depart in a buyout wave, among the steepest cuts in the continued downsizing of the newspaper industry....

• Jim Willse, editor of the Star-Ledger, told staff Friday that 151 buyout offers were accepted in a newsroom of about 330 people. The paper turned down 17 people who had requested buyouts.

Departures will be staggered between now and the end of the year, Mr. Willse said in an interview."...via Romenesko

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Surviver of 2006 Royals credential yank, Rhonda Moss leaves KCSP radio

10/20/08: "Rhonda Moss, considered by many to be one of the top sports reporters in Kansas City, has been let go following cutbacks at Entercom Communications' Sports Talk station KCSP 610, according to sources."...

• 6/9/06, AP: KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- "Two reporters who asked contentious questions at a news conference introducing Dayton Moore as Royals general manager
• had their credentials revoked Friday.

Bob Fescoe of WHB and Rhonda Moss of KCSP, competing sports-talk radio stations in Kansas City, said they were informed by public relations director Aaron Babcock that their credentials were taken away....

• At the news conference Thursday, the two grilled owner David Glass on the way he handled the dismissal of former general manager Allard Baird.

• Glass appeared to become irritated and told Moss at one point that her assessment of the situation was "completely wrong."

Moss has covered the Royals for KCSP for almost three years. Also during the news conference,

• she appeared to rankle Dan Glass, the team president and owner's son,

• when she asked him what his role was in running the baseball operations.

Moss said she called Major League Baseball and was told nothing could be done."...

• ###"The Royals quietly returned Moss's credentials to start the 2007 season."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Chris Russo-Person of the Day, Radio Daily News

Chris "Mad Dog" Russo - Sirius Sports Person of the Day,

• Radio Daily News
• (click here to visit and e-mail)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Adding up buzz on Mike Francesa's new partner-Neil Best

Neil Best says no confirmation but leading the buzz to join Mike Francesa is Joe Benigno. Joe would be my first and only choice. He is a true radio talent. I hope the try-outs end soon.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Selig hopes Moores' divorce won't lower Padres payroll

The Moores' and Padres' finances are secret. 'Bud' Selig suggests each of the Moores may want to keep enough money that the Padres' payroll could suffer. I'll disregard that threat until I see the books of the Moores, Padres, and Seligs:

• "Selig hopes the divorce of Padres owner John Moores and his wife, Becky, won't result in

• a reduction of the team's payroll.

• "I don't think John or Becky want it to affect the Padres.

They both love the Padres," he said. The Moores even fought about access to the owner's box at Petco Park last season. "Somebody once told me that you think you've seen everything, but you haven't. That falls under that classification," Selig said."

• (item at end of article)

Using national media in this manner is so helpful. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Disposable diapers report hushed up--green lobby on ice

The carbon offsets lobby was briefly angered by UK news that disposable nappies are kinder to the environment than washing and reusing cloth diapers.

• Their discomfort was easily resolved. The results of the study have been hushed up by authorities!

"A government report that found old-fashioned reusable nappies damage the environment more than disposables has been

• hushed up because ministers are embarrassed by its findings.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has instructed civil servants

• not to publicise the conclusions of the £50,000 nappy research project and
• to adopt a “defensive” stance towards its conclusions."...

This is how things are done today. Censorship. Major League Baseball is a supporter of the global carbon offset agenda. 10/19/08, TimesOnlineUK

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Don't make NY Times' Bill Keller mad whatever you do.

• "(New York Times' Bill) Keller on McCain camp criticism (of media bias):
• "My first tendency when they do that is to find the toughest McCain story we've got and put it on the front page."
• (But he doesn't.) 09:43 AM

From Huffington Post, 10/7/08 by Rachel Sklar

• Whatever you say. Fine. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

For World Series Manager Maddon, 'Joe the Plumber' is family

(NY Times): "But he (Joe Maddon) does follow politics keenly, in particular the hullabaloo over Joe the Plumber and whom he is supposed to represent.....

• (Maddon, NYT): “Joe the Plumber is probably as American as you can possibly be,” he said. “I don’t think Dad (a lifelong plumber) would be offended by it, actually, at all. It would have piqued his interest a bit —

• he would have wondered what they were going to do for Joe the Plumber,

• or what was wrong with Joe the Plumber,

• or how people view Joe the Plumber. He would have been honored by it. He never read into things wrong.”He added: “But for me, to hear that phrase

does indicate hard-working. It indicates honest. It indicates respectful.

• It indicates job well done.”...

Maddon, a blue-collar Pennsylvanian now earning about mid-six-figures in Florida, doesn’t have his dad’s aversion to discussing politics. He is a registered Republican, he said, in large part because

• he believes in “not so much entitlement, but earning it.”"

(How mean-spirited--for a working person). sm (joke) photo by Europeon Pressphoto Agency

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

On Tampa Bay Rays team vote, Monday media appearance

(NY Times): "David Price found himself

• on perhaps an even bigger stage Monday afternoon....

Price, a 23-year-old rookie with just eight major league appearances,

• was chosen by his teammates
• to introduce Obama."...

How did that evolve, who called the meeting, who was present, and why would a team vote as one about a public political endorsement to be exploited by media? The team is of course entitled to do whatever it wants. I am also free not to buy tickets or merchandise supporting them. I do recall Curt Schilling's political endorsement a few years ago and it might have been handled more graciously. But he was one person, and Red Sox ownership campaigned for and contributed to the other candidate.

• (St. Petersburg Times): "In his introduction of Obama: "(David) Price kept it short and sweet: "Now please welcome the next president of the United States, Barack Obama!"

• The surprise partisan appearance by several Rays players prompted some complaint calls to the team,

• but it's unlikely management will be bent out of shape.

Principal owner Stu Sternberg wrote a $2,000 check to Obama in April, and

• Rays president Matthew Silverman donated $1,000 to Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, co-chair of the Obama campaign in Florida."

(What player would dare disagree with such a crowd?)

• Fernando Perez is a product of elite educational institutions Columbia University and the Peddie School--which cost a small fortune to attend. With that background, it's understandable that Perez, a very new, young player, would choose to make a spectacular public endorsement using the selling points "change" and a "new direction." Then again, a block of Rays' players was in on the endorsement as well as Rays' ownership.

(St. Petersburg Times): "Barack Obama has political stars fanning across Florida on his behalf this week,

• but none with the glow of those hugging him Monday in Tampa: members of the World Series-bound Tampa Bay Rays.

"What an exciting day for Tampa Bay," outfielder Fernando Perez told thousands

• of Obama supporters at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the morning after winning the pennant.

• "We can change the nation, but people like you need to help us do it.

• Barack Obama will take this country in a new direction, but we're going to have to make sure that every voice is heard," said Perez,

joined on stage by teammates Carl Crawford, Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes, Edwin Jackson and David Price, who introduced the Democratic nominee."

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Joba's mother looks just like Joba

• picture of Joba's mother Jackie Standley, Joba from Newsday

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

Lorne Michaels on Sarah Palin: 'She was characterized so quickly by the media.'

Lorne Michaels words about Sarah Palin: "I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while.

• I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful.

Her politics aren't my politics. But you can see that she's a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman.

• This was her first time out and she's had a huge impact. People connect to her....

Tina's Sarah Palin is not the real Sarah Palin. She was fresh casting. The fact that no one knew anything about her, the fact that the audience got to go with her from Wasilla to Minneapolis.

• Literally six weeks ago she was in another world. I think there's a lot of sympathy for anybody who can step forward and handle that level of pressure. That thing on a human level was fascinating to watch.

• She was characterized so quickly by the media.

• She got a really tough welcome.

So when she introduced herself that way at the convention, people went, oh, I see. She gave a great performance."....

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon

NY Times admits its writer intentionally lied

"The "Corrections" column of the New York Times today contains an extraordinary admission that one of its writers deliberately misrepresented a study and misquoted a source:

• "An article in the Itineraries pages last Tuesday reported about the increasing stress on business travelers, and cited the findings of "Stress in America," an annual survey of the American Psychological Association. That survey found that economic factors were the leading causes of stress levels in 2008,

• but it did not say, as the article did, that "the crisis on Wall Street was the No. 1 cause of anxiety,"

• nor did participants in the survey say they felt most vulnerable to stress "in the office and on a business trip"....

Gawker notes that the writer in question, Paul Burnham Finney, is a freelancer. AT contributor David Paulin wonders

• how much of the NYT is now freelancer-written;

• he suspects quite a lot, given the number of layoffs."

via Lucianne.com

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon