I was going to write on a number of topics, but time is short, and I’m too tired. So, suffice it to say that whatever it is you celebrate: Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, or just plain Thursday, let me wish you a happy holiday season.
Of course, I also wish for a very Happy New Year to us all. We have a lot of hope coming with the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the end to the corrupt, inept Bush years. But, he has left the country is quite a mess: the economy sucks; we remain at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we have to work together with our new administration. I know that a number of people are already disappointed with Obama’s choices, especially the Rick Warren situation: and I say – grow up! Obama is doing the right thing – he knows that we are going to have to bring the rest of the country (some 40 million people voted for McCain) around slowly. If everyone thought like liberals/progressives, we wouldn’t have elected GWB; certainly not the second time. But Warren for all of his boneheaded views on gay marriage; is one of the leading religious figures in supporting the poor. I read that he donates 90% of his earnings to the poor, which is one of the major reasons that I supported John Edwards early in the campaign.
But we have a new day dawning, and we have work to do and the problems that we face are going to require all of us, not just the “right thinking” left leaning people.
So, I’m going to sign off now; spend some time with the recuperating Indignant Wife and the Indignant Children for some time off. I wish I could attend the Alamo Bowl and sheer on my beloved Northwestern Wildcats, but with the wife’s surgeries and new baby, I have to pass on this one. Besides, just like the 2000 Alamo Bowl which I did attend, we face a pissed off Big 12 team (Nebraska before, Missouri now) who thinks they got stiffed for a New Year’s Day bowl, and have something to prove. I’m not saying that we are going to lose, but it could get ugly. If the wife is feeling up to it, I may invite some of my season ticket holding posse who don’t go to Texas over to the house to watch the game.
And, if there’s time, I’ll add a post or two over the holidays. If not, I’ll see you in 2009!

That is a line from the film “Jaws” when the mayor of fictional Amity wants to keep the beaches open on July 4th even as he knows that there is a shark in the water.
This is my reaction when it became public that Drew Peterson, under suspicion for the death of his second wife and disappearance of his last wife, Stacy, is engaged to be married again.
Peterson, who is still legally married to his missing wife, is now engaged to a 23-year-old Chicago-area woman, according to his publicist. Glenn Selig said the 54-year-old former police sergeant has been seeing the woman for about four months. She’s the same age Stacy was when she disappeared last October. If they marry, she will be Peterson’s fifth wife.
I know that he has only been convicted in the court of public opinion, and Peterson has not been tried or convicted of anything, but this guy just looks sleazy. At they say, he must have something that attracts women (in pants?)
I know that there are women who crave attention. Look at all of the women who become pen pals, or even marry serial killers and other infamous criminals. But, at least those women aren’t putting their lives in jeopardy, since their “husbands” will never be released from prison.
The first question of course, is what does a 23-year-old woman see in a 54-year-old man? However, this woman, whoever she is, could be taking her life in her hands. For fame? For a potential big money book deal? Maybe, but she had better not piss Peterson off; she might end up “committing suicide” like Peterson’s second wife or disappearing.

That is a line from the film “Jaws” when the mayor of fictional Amity wants to keep the beaches open on July 4th even as he knows that there is a shark in the water.
This is my reaction when it became public that Drew Peterson, under suspicion for the death of his second wife and disappearance of his last wife, Stacy, is engaged to be married again.
Peterson, who is still legally married to his missing wife, is now engaged to a 23-year-old Chicago-area woman, according to his publicist. Glenn Selig said the 54-year-old former police sergeant has been seeing the woman for about four months. She’s the same age Stacy was when she disappeared last October. If they marry, she will be Peterson’s fifth wife.
I know that there are women who crave attention. Look at all of the women who become pen pals, or even marry serial killers and other infamous criminals. But, at least those women aren’t putting their lives in jeopardy, since their “husbands” will never be released from prison.
First, one should ask what a 23-year-old woman sees in a 54-year-old man? In this case, however, this woman, whoever she is, is taking her life in her hands. For fame? For a potential big money book deal? Maybe, but she had better not piss Peterson off; she might end up “committing suicide” like the second wife or disappearing.

For years, I have thought that certain films were bad for you. Not just in time wasted, but in real ways. I have felt my brain losing IQ points as I channel surfed by films starring Jim Carrey, Pauly Shore, or Will Farrell. By the same token, I have avoided romantic comedies simply because they are insipid, but the damage could actually be worse…
Romantic comedies have been blamed by relationship experts at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh for promoting unrealistic expectations in relationships. They claim that fans of these films fail to communicate with their partners; believing that if someone is meant to be with you, they should know what you want without being told. Psychologists studied 40 box office hits from 1995 to 2005 and identified common themes that they believed were unrealistic. As part of the project (described on BBC.com), 100 student volunteers were asked to watch the 2001 film “Serendipity” while another 100 watched a David Lynch film (both groups may have come out of the experience warped, but I digress). Students watching the romantic comedy were found more likely to believe in fate and destiny. Further analysis showed that fans of romantic comedies had a stronger belief in predestined love.
Or, as I like to call it, the “Kreskin effect.” For decades, my friend Wendi Walker and I have played a game called “Defend Your Gender,” in which we bring up stupid things that men and women do, and challenge the other person to defend this behavior. Often, however, the person challenged ends up commiserating with the challenger, and often our conversations end up with “Men suck” or “Women suck.”
One of the worst offenses that women subject men to (and I include the Indignant Wife still to this day) is the belief that men have any idea what women want or are thinking. Men (in general) are simple beings who can’t or, more likely, don’t want to try and unravel the Machiavellian twists and turns of the female mind. Talk to us, tell us what you want, and you have a much better chance of getting what you want. But make us guess, and you are likely to be disappointed. Then you get angry with us and call us insensitive; until you piss us off so that we either retire to watch sports or to the local bar where no one will bother us.

Just when we thought that the Chicago Tribune might actually be joining a “post-partisan” world, a piece was posted on the paper’s website yesterday that shows that stirring up the religious.
The article begins: “Sorry we missed it last week, but what with the Tribune Co. bankruptcy and that Blagojevich thing, we kind of took our eye off the critical issue of the day: The War on Christmas. It seems the latest front has opened in our own state capital, Springfield. Responding to the installation of a nativity scene in the Illinois Capitol rotunda, the Freedom from Religion Foundation has put up a sign espousing atheism.”
The sign reads “There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world.” And it continues “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” It is the exact same sign that caused controversy in Olympia, Washington last week until the sign was stolen.
Fortunately, there has been no similar reaction in Illinois, despite the Tribune trying to stir up one. Unlike Washington, Illinois has been able to avoid the controversy described by the newspaper: “Urged on by Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly, protesters there have deluged the governor’s office with demands that the sign be removed no matter what officials keep saying about the Constitution.”
Personally, I think that people who participate in one of multiple religions, and those who choose not to participate in any religions have the same rights. For years, O’Reilly and other “shouting heads” have been telling the easily led that there is a “War on Christmas,” that there is an orchestrated attempt to eliminate Christmas. What hogwash. But “Bill-O” (as Keith Olbermann calls him) earns millions of dollars per year screaming at the stupid and those who want others to think for them that everything is a conspiracy, and the “liberal elite” wants to take away the rights of the stupid. Well, maybe someone should. The only reason there is a liberal elite is that it is composed of people who want to learn, take value in thinking for themselves; unlike the Sarah Palin worshippers who think that intelligence is a vice; knowledge is akin to sin.
I’m not sure if the Tribune piece was intended to stir up the Bill-O brigade, but let’s hope it doesn’t work. And if they were trying to make a distinction between the people of Washington state and Illinois, it was poorly written.

I know that we have a little over one month before the George W. Bush presidency, and I know that it’s like kicking a dying dog, but my new hero is Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, a reporter with Cairo-based network Al Baghdadia Television. Mr. Zaidi chose a traditional Muslim form of insult when he and other Iraqi journalists had the opportunity to ask questions of Bush over the weekend.
Bush, making a surprise last visit to the mess he created, along with Iraqi leader Maliki had just finished their speeches and were preparing to take questions from the Iraqi media, who have never had a chance to ask a question to the American president. At that point, Mr. Zaidi reportedly said in Arabic “This is a goodbye kiss, you dog!” and threw both of his shoes, one at a time, at Bush. Like all other criticism leveled directly at the President, he deftly ducked, allowing both shoes to go sailing over his head (again, like most intelligent comments that the President does not agree with go sailing over his head). Of course, he was apprehended by security forces, as were two other Iraqi journalists who had praised Zaidi’s shoe-throwing protest as courageous. (The journalists were released.)
When the media reviewed Mr. Zaidi’s background, the Washington Post revealed that he had experienced first-hand the brutal violence that consumed Iraq. Mr. Zaidi was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen last year and was later released.
This incident reminds me of a small piece I read in the New York Times a couple of months ago: that Bush, Chaney, Rice, et.al. may all have problems if they leave the United States after Bush’s term ends. Apparently, aides have warned several of the members of the administration that if they travel abroad, they risk being arrested for war crimes violations. Bush could be arrested like Pinochet or other dictators and warlords for war crimes. Makes getting a shoe thrown at you look like small potatoes.

We have heard that the country/world’s economic woes have hit sport, but only a little. The NFL reportedly laid off 100 people; the NHL is making contingency plans for upcoming seasons. But, is there any real risk that our multibillion sports enterprises are at risk? Perhaps not for the major leagues, but for the smaller leagues, times may be tough.
Verifying rumors that have been floating around for weeks, the Arena Football League is reportedly about to suspend operations for 2009, hopefully to return in 2010. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday night, the AFL’s board of directors voted via conference call earlier in the day to shut down in 2009.
The AFL is down to 16 teams after New Orleans folded earlier this off-season. Reportedly, the director voted to shut down in 2009 because too many big-name owners or teams in big-name cities said they would not return in 2009. Teams reportedly not returning included the Chicago Rush, Dallas, Philadelphia, Georgia and Cleveland.
The final death knell came from television. ESPN reportedly said that it would not televise a six-, seven- or eight-team league.
Now, I’ve never been a fan of indoor football; it’s like playing a football pinball game. To be fair, I wasn’t into indoor soccer (although it must be said that I’m not much of a fan of outdoor soccer either). I have sympathy for the fans, the players, even the owners of the AFL teams. It was a good outlet for markets too small even for large arenas; it gave sports fans a chance to see live competition; and it was a great “minor league” for the NFL. Kurt Warner among many others came to the big league from Arena ball.
A bigger point is: is this a sign of the breaking point in terms of there being too much sports, especially on television? ESPN runs four full time networks (not counting Pay-per-view); have we reached a saturation point? Economically, we have, in this tough, unprecedented economic environment; in terms of time, we fans overdosed a long time ago.