2006 You Were A Good Year See Ya!!!

Ok I know I haven't really written much of anything over the last few months. No reason, other than one of the main reasons before this year i've never considered being a blogger. Overall my life is boring, I'm not a good writer, and who would care about the boring mundane details of my life. While I was on my whirlwind trip Blogging was the best way to stay in touch with folks, let people back home know the trip was going well, or in some cases not so well.. Anyway as 2007 approaches I plan on finishing up the country by country reviews of still at least 15 countries that I have not written about. Also hopefully I'll be able to take another trip in '07 that will provide more material for a blog if anyone is interested in reading..

Yet as 2006 comes to a close as with most people its a time to reflect on things of this past year. For sure 2006 was a great year for me, as I was able to take an amazing trip that left my passport with very few empty pages for future stamps, and it doesn't even expire until December 2008, so if I am able to travel as much as I want to over the next 2 years, extension pages will be in order. I am grateful for alot of things things this year, most my all my family and myself in relatively good health.. I saw relatively cause I think my Liver is still wishing it was in Europe where the beer was very pure and the liver was able to process the toxins very well and left my head clear most morning afters. Yet back in the old USA it seems like any beer, even Imported beer is hitting me HARDER than ever.. Yeah it could be cause I'm a year old, a year wiser, whatever you want to call it.

Yet as with all years there are some things to look back on as not so great and want to change for 2007. While Death is not something you can control, the world lost alot of great people this year and I myself was touched by the death of someone who was too young to have made her transition to the other side. So for all the good times, memories, pictures, stories.. For all the great people I met around the world on my European trip who I hope I am able to stay in touch with there are still all those people who have passed us on.. So below I will try my best with the help of Wikipedia to list those who have left us this year.

January 19 - Wilson Pickett, American Soul Singer. While not as well known as many of the other greats, Wilson could sing. Probably best known for his song "In The Midnight Hour", he was one of the great soul voices of the 1960s. Also a great songwriter in his own regard, tunes of were recorded by everyone from Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bruce Springsteeen. Practically a who's who of world music. 1991 Inductee in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. If you want a lesson, check out his 2CD Greatest hits from Amazon for only $19.99. Wilson Pickett 2CD Greatest Hits

January 30th - Coretta Scott King. Wife of the legendary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Ms. King had the duty to be a strong woman and stand by Dr. King's side during the tumultuous 1960's civil rights movement. Also raising their 4 young children after Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. The Civil Rights movement could go down as the most important movement of the last 100 years, and its surely not over yet. Great woman for sure.

March 6th - Kirby Puckett. Minnesota Twins great Outfielder, and MLB Hall of Famer. While never a twins fans growing up, there is something to be loved about Puckett. Standing probably 5"8 inches tall, as almost as wide in girth as he was in height, he was the ultimate competitor. Be it climbing a wall in CF to make a catch, hitting a clutch HR when his team needed it. Elected into the HOF in his first year on the ballot which was a shock to many. When you look at his numbers vs Don Mattingly they are incredibly close, yet Puck won those 2 World Series with the Twins. Youngest ever HOF death at age 45(except for Roberto Clemente who died before being elected but had his 5 year waiting period waved)

May 3rd - Earl Woods. Sure he was only Tiger's father, but he was a US Marine and war hero in his own right. But what should be looked at, is despite the fact his son was a sports prodigy at such a young age, both father and son always kept their diginity. In these days of fathers of 8 year old pee-wee football players being violent against their coaches, ref's, other parents, even other kids its great to see someone raise a child star and both the star and father being well adjusted.

June 6th - Billy Preston. The 5th Beetle, or sometimes known as the Black Beetle. The only person other than the Fab 4 to receive performance credit on a Beetles record. John Lennon wanted to make him a group member, while he never got that in the end, he performed with him during their last ever performance in 1970. Also a FONKY man on his own in the 70s, he played with probably the other most famous group from the UK, that being The Rolling Stones. For some true 70s funk check out his tune from 1972, Outa-Space. Definately check out for only $7.49 at Amazon his Millennium Collection with Outa-Space and You Are So Beautiful on it. Billy Preston Greatest Hits

June 7th - Maria Puppin-Boyd. This was was hard, my good dear friend Maria passing at only 31 years old from Cancer. I've said about as much about Maria as I already can, but lets just let it be known, she was by far one of the strongest people i've ever met. To fight cancer the way she did, always have a positive attitute and never question "Why Me?" well not many of us would ever be able to live with that dignity that she shows. You will be missed always Maria.

Below from (L to R), Patti, Myself, Daniel Boyd, Maria Puppin Boyd, Ingrid. During a dinner for her birthday in 1998.


September 4th - Steve Irwin. Always entertaining, always fun to watch on TV. The Croc-Hunter died young, and considering his line of work, it was a shocking death. While I've been told from friends in Australia this was on the level of a national tragedy, here in the USA while Irwin was on TV, he never fully reach Rock-star status. Yet we all will learn a lesson about swimming above sting-rays from his death.

October 6th - Buck O'neil. One of the great ambassadors for the game of baseball. A great player during the Negro Leagues. The first ever African-American coach in the major leagues, Buck become enormously popular during his latter years. Always in demand for an opinion, as a speaker, or just as a great guy. Sadly he wasn't elected into the baseball Hall of Fame when they elected 18 other Negro League legends. Hopefully the book hasn't closed on his chance to get into Cooperstown. Even if he never makes it, he was instrumental in establishing the Negro League Hall of Fame Museum in Kansas City. A place one day I will surely visit.

October 11 - Cory Lidle. Well anytime these days you hear of a plane hitting a building in NYC, people will freak out and worry the next attack is coming. Yet in Lidle's case it was probably a combination of bad weather and pilot error and nothing of the terroristic scare. Yet from a journey-man pitcher he will now go down in history for alot of people as a trivia question as to where they were, when they heard a plane crashed into an apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

October 28th - Trevor Berbick. The only man to ever fight Muhammad Ali(beat him in 10 round in 1981) and Mike Tyson (got his ass knocked out in 1986). I have only seen highlights of the Tyson knockout, never of the Ali fight.

November 9th - Ed Bradley. News commentator and journalist. Overall a legend in the African-American community being one of the few black faces on Network TV in the early 70s. Blazed a trail for all who followed him. Also a great sports fan and jazz music fan and supporter.

December 13th - Lamar Hunt. By far one of the most influential people in USA sports over the last 40 years. From helping to form the American Football League(AFL) and lead for a merger that created our current NFL. To his role in USA Soccer, being a founder of both the North American Soccer League(NASL) and Major League Soccer(MLS) and owner of 2 teams. While he was lucky to have come from a wealthy family and can't be protrayed as a rags to riches story, his contributions to USA sports are legendary.

December 25th - James Brown. The Godfather of Soul. By far the hardest working man in show business. To hear his music, or see his dancing feet was something we all have to have done. I luckily had the chance to see him perform live at the Taste of Chicago in the late 90s, while not in his pure heyday, he still put on a helluva a show. I even attempted to go pay respects to his body when it laid in repose at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem a few blocks from my house, but the crowds were simply too big. Loved by all, Respected by Many, his music is simply the backbone of almost anything you hear these days that makes you want to move your feet and shake your ass!!

December 26th - Gerald Ford. While in many ways I am always shocked at how they make it out when former presidents die that they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. If Ford was that great, he would have gotten more than 49% of the vote in 1976 and beaten an unknown peanut farmer from Georgia. Yet in death he is greater than his 28 months in office. Will always be a trivia question as the only man to be president of the USA without ever receiving a single vote from the public for office.

December 30th - Saddam Hussein. My feeling for the Iraq war aside, the Devil is finally able to get his way with Saddam as depicted in the South Park Movie. I hope Lucifier and Saddam are having a blast down there.. If you have not seen Bigger Longer Uncut, check it out by far my favorite Musical ever! Only $7.49 new at Amazon. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut

See ya 2006! Hope everyone has a great 2007!!!!!

Utah! You go live in Utah!!!

I have to wonder if that is what Freddy Adu said when told he was traded from D.C United to Real Salt Lake. In the famous words of NBA star Derek Harper when he rejected a trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Utah Jazz he told a reporter "Utah.. You go live in Utah, I ain't living in Utah!!"

This past weekend I know of one Ghanaian who had a great weekends, and one who might have been scratching his head. Watching the Chelsea vs Arsenal game, it appeared that arch London rivals Arsenal would be the first team to win at Chelsea's home stadium since Jose mourinho took over as coach in 2004. With only six minutes left, Michael Essien of Ghana struck an incredible 35 yard shot right into the corner of the net, to tie the game at 1-1. Later he almost scored the game winner from up close but hit the crossbar. Overall it was an amazing game, check the video of his possibly goal of the year strike below.


Then later in the weekend, USA citizen but Ghana born teenager Freddy Adu, the former "savior" of USA Soccer, former number 1 overall pick in the MLS, former highest paid player in the MLS(at a paltry $500,000 a year, i think the waterboy on Chelsea makes more than that), got traded from his hometown DC United team out to the middle of Utah. Now while initally it sounds like the end of the career for Adu, some things have to be looked at. He will be playing for John Ellinger, who was his coach on the Under-17 USA national team where Adu first came to the attention of everyone. Second the kid clearly needed a new start, maybe outside of the spotlight, and pressure of DC United, he will get a chance to play his proper position as a central midfielder and develop his skills. His skills are obviously not where he wants them to be, as after his 2 week try out at Manchester United, they told him come back kid when you are a better player, no thanks this time..

While I know the kid at only 17 has plenty of time to shine and become a centerpiece of our 2010 USA World Cup team, the future of USA soccer has others to fall back on. Watching a few of the NY Red Bull games I was totally impressed with the play of Josmer Altidore who is also 17 years old. Less pressure on Freddy might in the end be a good thing. No more clashing with coaches, no more not being the best player on his team, no more mouthing off the way a 17 year old can mouth off and piss off team-mate who are old enough to be his father.. just get out to Utah, help them with attendence and jersey sales, help them get a real stadium cause that thing they play in the College Football stadium is simply UGLY on TV.

Best of luck to Freddy in Utah, but I still agree with Derek Harper, "you go live in utah.."

My Music CD of the Year: John Mayer Continuum

As the year comes to a close, I have to say this year brought some good music to listen to. For the first time in a while, I actually can say there are at least 5 CDs that came out this year that I have totally enjoyed. But yet the best album of the year by far for me, is the new John Mayer release "Continuum". Why? Well its a combination of alot of things..
John Mayer is a great guitar player, simply put. At the same time he manages to write great songs, and had a decent voice. So all around, a complete musician. While most of his fans seem to be women, men should have no problem admitting they enjoy Mayer. His recent CD did not come out till September 12th, a bit after I was home from my Europe trip, which sucks, as it would have made AMAZING music to listen to on numerous 12hr train rides in Eastern Europe.
Along with his great songwriting of his own, he managed to do a cover of one of the most amazing songs guitarwise i've ever heard. From to me the greatest guitar player who ever lived, Jimi Hendrix. Bold as Love has to be one of my favorite of all time hendrix songs, from the colorful images of the lyrics to just the killer guitar work. Its a song that i've never heard Hendrix do it live, yet according to some web sites that list every concert he ever played he played it before. There is an amazing test/demo version on the 4 disc "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" box set, that is suppose to be the 21st take, an all instrumental version. It was Take 27, that we hear on the album that was released..
Anyway check out the amazing live solo performance of John Mayer doing this song below and if you don't have the album, pick it up, you won't be disappointed. Its only $7.88 on sale at Amazon.. check out the link below.

What I will and won't be doing this weekend...

On this weekends list of things to do, and not to do. Not to do, sorry was not invited to the TomKat wedding in Italy. Not that I really care, as i've already seen Katie Holmes nice cans in the movie The Gift, and Tom hasn't made a good movie in some time, Mission Impossible 3 kinda sucked. Plus anyone getting married in a damn HAUNTED Castle in Italy, even if I got the invite, I might have had to send back, sorry can't make it. Not big on Ghosts, I saw my otherwise cool friend Godfrey freaked the fuck outta his mind on the VH1 show "Celebrity Paranomal Project". The Odescalchi Castle is the site of the wedding outside of Rome. Back in the 15th century dude who lived there, his wife would let younger men come in and violate her in ways which must have pissed off her man, so he killed her in the castle. He would later then violate a bunch of married women and wound up killing their husbands. Imagine if they had a NY Post back in 15th century Italy, I can only imagine the headlines that would scream out..

Ok since i'm not invited to that wedding or any wedding for the matter. I'll be watching sports(again)! If you haven't heard there is a certain big college football game this weekend, Ohio State vs Michigan. Now growing up in NYC and going to a college that was not a Division I, II, or even III school I dont really get into college sports. I was told its cause on the east coast, we have not had a college football team that matters in a century by my west coast cousin who is a USC nut. Yet as a kid I did like Michigan as they had Anthony Carter who caught some amazing passes during his days in Ann Arbor. Well this year for the first time since 1975, both teams are undefeated and this is going to be the game of the season, decade, century whatever. With this being the last game of the Big 10 schedule now for the past few years, it usually decides a bowl birth, championship, but rare have both teen been the "only"(save for Rutgers, Boise State, etc) undefeated teams. I can only name about 2-3 guys on each team, but I'll be watching and probably rooting for the underdog Michigan. Having never lived or gone to college in either state, I can't understand the full level of HATRED between the school and states. I just have to chuckle at stories about how legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes wouldn't even fill up his gas tank anywhere in the state of Michigan. or how Bo Schembechler a former assistant under Woody Hayes couldn't win a national championship with Michigan and this has spawned a number of hate fight songs. In fact he died today, I guess never being able to win the Rose Bowl, ate at his heart for so many years, it gave out today. I'll be watching this game on Saturday for sure. Saturday at 3:30pm on ABC

Other sports to watch this weekend include the NASCAR Ford 400 from Homestead Florida. Its the last race of the NASCAR season and while it appears that Jimmy Johnson with a 63pt lead has the Chase for the Nextel Cup sewn up. Anything can happen.. Jimmy needs to finish 12th or better to assure the spot, even in some ways a 15th place finish with 2nd place guy Matt Kenseth would clinch the tie breaker for him. Basically unless Johnson blows an engine or crashes, this thing is done. Yet its still the last race of the season, and I'll be watching. Sunday at 2pm on NBC.

No major European soccer games on this weekend, while if you get Fox Soccer Channel, you can watch Manchester United, Everton and Liverpool all in action. Last weekends game of Arsenal vs Liverpool was a quality matchup. The big news in european soccer this week is that Freddy Adu is going to have a 2 week training stint with the Manchester United team. Most likely he will be playing with the reserves, so i doubt he will get to show off his skills to the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Louis Saha.. it will be interesting to see what comes about his 2 weeks overseas playing with the big boys, as so far in his YOUNG career, remember he is only 17 and most of us were poppin zits on our faces at 17, but so far he hasnt done much in MLS.

NFL Football as usual is in effect on Sunday here in the states, my resurgent Jets hopefully can at least play competitive against the Bears, I don't expect a win, but hopefully they don't get blown out. Their schedules after the Bears is easy with not having a play a winning team. Other good games to watch for include the NBC Sunday night game of Denver(7-2) vs San Diego(7-2). I know that the ratings are huge for these NBC Sunday games, and they are glad they paid as much as they did to get football back.. Fuck those deperate housewives, I know what I'm watching on Sunday.

RIP to Bo Schembechler, i'm sure you'll be watching on the big screen HDTV up in the sky.

How to waste $51.1 Million dollars

You want to know how to waste $51.1 Million dollars, well just be Theo Epstein, the GM of the Boston RedSox.. And not its not like the movie Brewster's Millions staring Richard Pryor of having to spend $30 million in 30 days in order to inherit $300 million. Is baseball turning into European soccer where players are moved for gigantic transfer fees? Was Theo on the phone with Roman Abramovich the owner of Chelsea football Club when he was thinking of how to bid for Daisuke Matuzaka?? Roman probably told him about wasting away $40 Million dollars to sign a player like Shawn Wright Phillips only to watch him sit on the Bench and not score a goal in his Chelsea career but making it right by signing Didier Drogba for $45 Million to have him become the best goal scorer in the Premiership, ya know you win some you lose some...

To play $51.1 million dollars just for the right to talk to a player is in many ways crazy, but in many ways like European Football. Now the Red Sox still have to sign Matuzaka to a contract, and guess who his agent is.. Yep Scott Boras, the man who can get the last dollar out of everyone. While at the time the Carlos Beltran contract looked insane, his recent season and leading the Mets to the playoffs and a great season makes it look like a better return on his 7 year, $119 price tag. Word is Boras is looking for a 3 year, $45 million contract. This would make the 3 year, $21 million that Hediki Matsui signed with the Yankees look to be the far east bargain of the century. I can understand keeping it to a 3 year deal, as if this guy proves himself, he will only be 29 and up for a monster 5 year contract. If it doesn't, it limits the Red Sox losses at just short of $100 million dollars.

Just how good this Matuzaka is remains to be seen. Foreign pitchers don't have the track record of performing great in the USA. Neither expensive imports from Cuba, Mexico and Japan or elsewhere have done amazingly well. Possibly a few years with flashes of brilliance, but overall for a full career its been a toss up. Fernando Valenzuela had his brilliant rookie year in 1981 at the age of 20. He went 13-7 seemed unstoppable. Over the next 7 years the Dodgers would let him pitch 96 complete games, of which an amazing 27 were shutouts. Then at the age of 26 he was essentially DONE. After this point only 17 more complete games for his career, only 1 season of over 200IP, and a career record of 60-71, more hits than IP and an ERA of about 4.50 most season.

The fact that Matsuaka is already 26 years old, and has thrown in Japanese baseball about 1400IP to this point in his career is not a good sign for the future. Its going to take him a year or so to adjust to USA Baseball, and having to rely on your fastball to establish strikes early in the count. On top of it, looking at him he looks built like Pedro Martinez, while Pedro has only begun to start breaking down physically now at 34 years old. Roy Oswalt has a similar build, and while he has been a total stud his first 6 years in the Big Leagues, it will be interesting at age 28 if the Astros get their money worth with his current 5 year, $73 million deal. If I was a Red Sox fan, the slight build would bother me. Obviously there is a sense of urgency to do something after not making the playoffs last year, and knowing the Yankees lack of quality starting pitching, they wanted to make it SURE the Yanks would not get him. Well the Yanks will look in other directions and possibly even let our minor league pitching prospect, 20 year old Philip Hughes. My opinion is i'm glad its the Red Sox wasting $51 million so they can go ahead and raise the already league high average ticket prices, instead of the Yanks spending $30 million or so and ending up with another Hideki Irabu.. who it should be noted has more World Series Rings(2) than the Red Sox franchise have in the past 88 years. Along with his 1.7 Billion yen in Career salary.

What I know about Kazakhstan!

Well like the millions of others Americans I went to see the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan over the weekend. It has made a ton of money, with another $29 million over this weekend, for a total of $67 million and rolling on strong. I'm sure the studio is happy, Sacha Baron Cohen is happy, and even the nation of Kazakhstan is happy despite being portraited in slightly backwards ways. I think the only people who aren't happy are the unwitting "stars" of the movie, who signed release forms for like $150, or $500 bucks for their scenes and now want a piece of the pie.. ahh the American way, don't you love it???

Before the whole Borat takeover I actually knew a few things about Kazakhstan. It being the 9th largest country in the world, larger than Sudan, slight smaller than Argentina.

In sports at the 2006 Winter Olympics, the USA beat Kazakhstan 4-1 in hockey. This would be a huge victory, in fact our only victory in the tournament and show just how much we sucked. We tied Latvia, and lost to Slovakia, Sweden and Russia. So if not for the glorious nation of Kazakhstan we would not have made it to the quarterfinal round(where we lost to Finland).

Also if you follow the annual march through France, otherwise known as the Tour de France, everyone could cheer for Lance Armstrong back in the day but you had to really enjoy the race to root for Alexandre Vinokourov who is one of the most exciting riders. He would attack at any time, any place, mountains, or whatever and even was a guy who would be with the sprinters at the end of the race to win a flat stage. Probably one of the best overall riders of the tour, he didnt compete in the 2006 Tour as his team had 5 of its riders eliminated in the pre-race doping scandal. He was never accused of doping, but at such a late date, it was impossible to enter the race with a 3 person team. He will be 34 in 2007 if he rides the tour, and sadly in the endurance sport of cycling that might be a bit too old to win the whole thing. Still he has had a great sporting career, and possibly the most accomplished athlete in the history of the country, having won an Olympic Silver medal in 2000.

While I was in Europe this past summer, I met a girl from Kazakhstan and let me tell you they look alot different than in the movie. Considering Kazakhstan's location the people are a mix of the Chinese Asian look and Russian. It seemed like the people shown in the movie were poor gypsies from a tiny village. I am not sure if any of the movie was filmed actually in Kazakhstan, I did see in the credits something about a Romanian unit.

I was in Bratislava after the World Cup Final game and talking to the few French fans I saw and she was in that group. Knowing the Borat movie was about to come out, I had to trade currency with her and managed to get myself a 200 Tenge bill(worth about $1.50). It will be a nice collectible until/if/I ever visit the glorious country of Kazakhstan itself.

The movie was funny for sure, in fact there was one particular scene where I was crying, tears literally rolling down my face. Yet was it the funniest movie ever? No.. Was the script stupid... Yes.. Is Cohan a genius at this form of comedy? Yes.. Should you go see it? Probably Yes if your not easily offended.. Remember people the actor doing the jokes about Jews is actually Jewish himself. The same way black comedians can make fun of blacks.. but if they talk about jews or whites its TROUBLE. Cohan can make fun of the jews. In fact from some stats i've seen on the web, I dont even think there are many jewish people in Kazakhstan. I've seen the religion break-down as follows: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%.

Alright next post for sure, how the USA can regain a world-wide sporting presence.

Has the USA lost its sports mojo???

Recently I was watching and NHL hockey game, and it struck me just how many of the players are foreign born. The NHL should literally be renamed something like the International Hockey League, as so many of the players are foreign born, and not just from North America countries of Canada and USA. While the Canadian born players are still the leaders both in terms of sheer numbers and in all-time hockey greats, the European born players are catching up. The NHL is already starting to resemble European Football leagues like the English Premiership and Spain's La Liga where players from all 6 continents compete on a weekly basis. For sure the best up and coming young players from the NHL are from Europe, and looking at past draft history that is not going to change anytime soon. All this thinking had me wondering if the USA as a country has lost our sports mojo. While without a doubt we can claim the best players in NFL Football, at the same time we are basically the only country in the world where the game is played. All the others sports that are played on a national basis, it can be argued we don't develop the best players.

The NBA is still dominated by mostly Black, mostly American players, but more and more Europeans and even South Americans are coming to play. While well known players like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are foreign born and have played major roles on teams winning the Championship, did you know there are 80 foreign born players making up roughly 20?% of the league from 35 different countries. The Toronto Raptors have not 1 but 2 Slovenian players(Rasho Nesterovic and Uros Slokar) from a country of 2 million people smaller than New Jersey.

Yet looking at recent performances in International basketball tournaments it can be said we aren't the best in the world. At the recent FIBA World Championships our team finished 3rd place. True we have won the 1996, and 2000 Olympics, but the 2004 Olympic performance while missing some of the best players due to "terrorism fears" we lost. Who knows if for the 2008 Olympics our best players will go, or claim the long travel to China as a reason for not going. I mean these players are already making untold millions(just look at the Knicks giving Jalen Rose nearly $15 Million dollars to GO AWAY) and they want to spend their summer vacations driving around their fleet of cars.

Other sports are no better, in Baseball, once thought the dominant sport, in the recent World Baseball Classic we simple sucked. While it can be said the timing of the event was not good during spring training, we lost of Canada and Mexico our 2 north American neighbors. The biggest biding frenzy this off-season is for some Japanese Pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka who few fans have ever seen pitched. The best offensive players seem to come from the Domician Republic, Venezuela or other places these days. We won the Olympics in 2000, but this sport with its limited worldwide appeal is being dropped from the Olympics after the 2008 games, the first sport dropped from the summer Olympics since Polo at the 1936 Berlin Games. Not something to be proud of for the game of baseball as it only became an Olympic sport in 1992.

Golf??? Well you can't really consider it a team game, just as much as Speed Skating was made out to be a team sport at these past Winter Olympics with the controversy between Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. The recent performance in the Ryder Cups shows the USA either doesn't play well on the big stage, or simply aren't the best golfers in the world. That is the 3rd straight Ryder Cup we have lost and in recent memory have only won the 1993 and 1999 Cups. I don't watch the event anyway as this year the time delay coverage was boring and horrible. While I can understand simple stroke play golf, I have NO IDEA what four-balls or foursomes are other than a potential kinky sexual event!

Hockey, well my favorite sport is being overtaken by Europeans for sure. While I LOVE the Czech players on my NY Rangers, looking at the overall stats of the NHL its clear the foreign born players are the best right now. From today's top 20 in league scoring we find 1 American, 2 Czechs, 1 Slovakian, 9 Candaians, 2 Russians, 4 Sweedes and 1 Austrian. You are telling me the best player in the USA hockey is equal to the best Austrian player?(Thomas Vanek for those not in the know). The recent drafts don't show much promise for American players, in the past 3 NHL drafts, there have been 24 out of 90 players of USA decent taken in the first round. While this percentage of 26% is higher than the current 17.7% of NHL players, wait a minute. Of these 24 players taken, only 2.. yes only 2 have even PLAYED for their NHL team.. Only one of these Phil Kessel has even scored a goal. Yet when you look at the Sidney Crosby, Alex Overchkin, Evegni Malkin, Anze Kopitar and the rest of some of the 1st round foreign born players making an impact now its makes you wonder how many of the 24 Americans are going to pan out.. Watching any of these young players is a treat, last week got to watch the Rangers killed by the LA Kings and this 19 year old Slovenian player Kopitar was all over the ice, everywhere you looked he was in on a play.

So where does this leave the USA? Well it basically means that SOCCER, yes some of your call it football, but that Soccer is the USA's only hope of fielding a team that will compete on an International level to sucess. While this past 2006 World Cup as experienced in person the USA put on a totally embarrassing showing, the future is bright. There are many challenges, and by no means are we about to produce as many quality soccer players as a Brazil, its our nations only hope.. more on this on my next entry as to how Soccer can save the egg on the USA face in International sporting events...

Revenge is a Dish Best Served tomorrow!!

The UEFA Champions League group stages continue with Matchday 4 on October 31st/November 1st. The match I'm most looking forward to is the rematch of the game October 18th. Yep Chelsea vs Barcelona, this time the game will be played in Barcelona at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. Back 2 weeks ago Chelsea won the game 1-0 on a great goal by Didier Drogba, who has 4 goals in the Champions League, to go with his 5 League tallies to have an amazing 9 overall goals. This week the venue shifts and with some 70,000 or so Barca fans the home team should have an advantage. Its a very important game for Barca as they are tied with Bremen for 2nd place in their group with 4pts. Barca cannot afford anything less than a victory, as Bremen is playing winless and hapless Levski Sofia who has scored 1 goal, allowed 10 goals and is starting their backup 18 year old goaltender.

On Halloween in the daytime, why soccer?? Well the NBA season is about to start up on Tuesday, but early season games don't do much for me and my team the NY Knicks are plain and simply an embarrassment. While it would be hard to be as horrible as last season with the highest payroll at $126million (next highest team was Dallas Mavericks with 97million, but THEY MADE THE FINALS). While the youth movement is slow in coming to the Knicks, I guess there is always hope... NOT.. I expect Isiah to be fueding with someone by January, and this will probably be his only season coaching the team, as he will quit or be fired. Jeff Van Gundy is sitting somewhere glad he quit when he did or else the last 4 years would have aged him 40, and Jeff had not been aging well since being attached to Alonzo Mourning leg in that fight vs Miami years ago.

So back to the sport that seems to draw the most interest for me right now at this time, yet soccer, football if your not in the USA. While I root for Arsenal, and think Thierry Henry is simply a magician with the ball when it comes to big time matchups i'll watch most of them. Chelsea is an undefeated 3-0 in group stage play, only allowing 1 goal. They are also at the top of the premiership in England and all around having a great season. This will be a great game to watch, if you can find it. Its being shown on ESPN Deportes which I don't get on my DirecTV so I guess its off to a soccer bar to try and catch this clash. I expect Barca to win 2-1, but if you read any of my team USA world cup predictions I was WAY WAY WAY off the money. So sports gambling is not a career i'm looking to go into anytime soon.

Help out my Favorite NYC Band!!

Hey everyone.. Live music is one of my passions along with Travel, Sports and Beer.. When you can combine 3 of those together, we are talking about a PARTY!! Anyway YouTube is having a contest for the most popular underground music video. This band that I've been seeing live for a little bit over 2 years Valeze has an entry. First off Valeze are great on stage, incredible stage presence, all live instruments and talented folks. Second they are freaking cool people, love to drink and party during the afterparty. So right there you have a winner. Doesn't hurt the lead singer is cute and very stylish, so all around they are winners..

Check out their latest music video below, or goto YouTube and watch their video for the song "Go, GO Go" and vote for Cingular YouTube underground Contest
You want to see this video cause it features a bathroom make out orgy with girls kissing girls!! Yeah, now that is a party..

Also you can join their Myspace page at Valeze My Space Page Some upcoming concert dates include
Tonight October 26th in Boston at "The Middle East"

October 31st in NYC at Crash Mansion

November 21st NYC at the Knitting Factory

Country by Country Hungary - Stop the Budapest Riots!!

After the recent events in Hungary over the last few days I decided to write my country review of Hungary now, instead of going in chronological order. I took a bus from Krakow, Poland to Budapest, Hungary. It was an easy 6hr bus ride, straight through the heart of Slovakia and the low tatras mountains. The bus was the only direct way from Poland to Hungary, as the rail network in Slovakia is not quite yet up to standards of Eurail. Bus are for sure the better way to get around Slovakia, but more on that country during a later post.

I have really wanted to visit Budapest over the past few years. I had heard only good things about the city and country from 2 bartenders who worked in the NYC area over the past years. That combined with the fact the city was located on the famous Danube river drew me to it. I was not disappointed by any means, and my 3 days there hopefully will not be the only time I ever spend in the country. I must say although there has been little coverage of the riots that have taken place over the last month in Budapest, its safe to going in the summertime was the right time to go, as things look a bit dicey right now, with mistrust of the government by the people. I did not see or feel any sort of despair/anger/frustration when I was there, but obviously it has been building for a while and the notion of a corrupt govt doesn't help by any means.

For those who haven't heard about just what has gone down in the last few days, I'll do my best to give a quick recap of events. Monday October 23rd, 2006 marked the 50th anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising. People were either celebrating in the streets, or protesting the recent leak of a tape of the recently elected Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. In his campaign the PM basically lied about the state of the economy, said he would cut taxes where after he was elected he raised them and announced spending cuts. Gosh looks like he learned his political education from some of our US leaders.. Hey Poppa Bush remember that "No New Taxes" Pledge???? Well the government choose this event to squash the protestors outside the Parliament building, by bringing out the rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas to send the rioters home. Naturally there was some resistance and mini riots in the street. The govt would then claim "Everything is Under control, nothing to see, move along.. keep it moving.." Anyway that is the current situation in Budapest, when I was there in July 2006 it was lovely and while I was mostly sightseeing by day, and drinking by night, I didn't see any signs of the impending trouble.


Budapest is actually 2 cities that are united by bridges across the Danube. There is the flat Pest side, which is larger and has most of the important Parliament buildings, church's, and museums. Then there is the hilly Buda side that is less populated, has a few clubs, the Citadel Castle and a few museums. Its a city of 1.7 million people, by far the largest in Hungary and one of the top 10 in all of the European Union. The currency is the Forint, with a rate of about 200 Ft for each US Dollar. The city is easy to navigate by tram/bus/subway and even walking. In fact my first day sightseeing there I walked all around for about 7hrs, only to get back to the hostel and be topped by an Aussie staying there who walked for 11hrs. He woke up earlier than me I guess. Here is one of the better church's that I managed to find.


I totally enjoyed the sights of Budapest, more so than Prague. It was surely less crowded than Prague, and I was able to just walk without a map or purpose and run into some great sights. I climbed up in the Buda Hills to the top of the Citadel, and the view was simply amazing. Each level you reach and stop for a breather you look and say wow what a great view, it only gets better the higher and higher up you go until you reach the top and the whole city is in view. There is a nightclub up at the Citadel and I was thinking of going, but after walking/hiking/climbing up during the daytime there was no way I was going to do so at nighttime a second time. Yet there is plenty of other nightlife to find in Budapest.


I stayed at a decent Hostel The Aborignal that was located well right off Jozsef Korut avenue which is a main drag that you can catch the 4 or 6 tram. The hostel was average with only 1 bathroom with a shower, but had 2 computers with free internet. The people staying there were not really party people, and no one seemed to stay for more than 1 night, so I mostly hung out at night alone. Budapest has a great transportation system with both underground subways, and above ground trams. The fares are about 185 Ft per ride and I was warned to always pay as they seem to like to pick out black foreigners to check tickets and potentially fine... luckily I bought all my tickets and didn't have any problems. The trams don't run all night, but I got around that by partying till 4am and caught the first tram back home! After being in Krakow and their cool underground smoke filled bars, going to outdoor spots on the Danube was a total blessing in Budapest. On the Buda side of the river, there are 2 cool spots, Zold Pardon and Club Rio right across the street from each other. Zold Pardon is open in the daytime and has a great 2 for 1 happy hour beers for 400 Ft total($2 USD), at night they have 2-3 different music styles playing and its all outdoors. Club Rio is a bit more of a swanky place, and while the beers were more expensive about 750Ft each, and they didn't have any local Hungarian beer on tap, the crowd was better dressed, younger and seemed to be on the prowl for good nightlife.
I must say if any country in Eastern Europe where English was a problem it would be Hungary. While I was told that all the younger people speak english, I ran into a few that didn't speak it too well.

The worst experience regarding language was when I went to the Thermal Baths in the City Park. I bought my admission ticket for I think 2000 Ft($10) and literally walked around the building twice trying to find where to enter. It turned out I should have entered where I bought the ticket, but I only saw a line of women, and thought the baths were separated men on one side, women on the other.. After a 1hr long wild goose chase of running around trying to find where to enter I was ready to give up and totally frustrated but eventually found the way in. The Thermal baths are amazing, inside you have sauna rooms, hot hot hot pools, and then you get outside and they have 2 pool, one COLD, and one Medium to Warm. Even in the dead of winter the natural thermal springs heat the hot pool to over 100 Degrees. A very cool place and better yet they served beer!!!

The city has over 10 thermal/hot baths, and one could basically relax at them all day long and then party all night long, Budapest is a great city.. Plus if you like the cultural side of things, ya know churches, museums, architecture and shit like that, plenty to be seen.. Most importantly LESS PEOPLE THAN PRAGUE. I would highly recommend a trip to Budapest, and if you have extra time try to explore some of the smaller cities in the rest of Hungary, I didn't make it to any, but in my future travel plans I hope to. Towns like Eger, the Lake Balaton area, and Pecs all sounded like cool places from people I talked to during my travels, hopefully i'll make it there eventually.

A picture of the Parliament building, before the protests/riots.


Another view from my walk up to the Citadel

Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona battle of Spain, and other sports to watch this weekend

One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to watch sports. This month of October has been a great month for me, with the beginning of the NHL season, NFL getting into full swing, the MLB Playoffs and world series. Even some great NASCAR races, but the grand-daddy sporting event of the weekend will be in Soccer. Yep, rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are going to play for the first of 2 times this season. This game will be played at the 80,000 seat Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. This is for sure the hottest ticket in Spain this weekend. This could possibly be one of the most famous rivalries in all of sports. Yep all of sports here, we are talking about a rivalry between cities. If you have ever been to Spain and met someone from Madrid, they say their city is the best, and the same for people from Barcelona. Barcelona is the capitol of Catalonia, a region that would like to separate from Spain and be their own country. This rivarly has gone on as long as both teams have been around(over 100 years), its about a lot more than who wins or loses the game, its national identity at sake here. The game will be watched everywhere in the World as the roster on both teams includes players from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Iceland, Italy, England. I will be watching it live on Sunday Oct 22nd, 3pm here in the USA on Gol TV, channel 614 on DirecTV.

Should be an interesting game, will this be when Ronaldinho who hasn't been spectacular this season at all finally break out. Who can forgot his last performance in Madrid in 2005, when he scored 2 goals and was CHEERED!! by the away fans. Other questions include what role does David Beckham have with Real Madrid?? Is this the end of his career? No longer on the English national team, and not even starting for real Madrid, will we see Beckham in the MLS next season? The season is still early, only 6 games having been played. Barcelona has not lost yet, and Madrid would love to be their first defeat of the season and it might give Madrid the spark they need to move up in the standings from 5th place. I know GOL TV is not on every cable system, but if you get it, this should be a fun game to watch.

Also on TV this weekend and worth watching The World Series Game 1 & Game 2. on FOX at 8pm Saturday and Sunday nights. While the matchup of St. Louis vs Detroit is not going to win any ratings battle for most watched World Series, in fact it might be least watched, what a story it would be in Detroit Tigers could win the World Series after losing 119 games only 3 years ago..

NASCAR, Subway 500 from Martinsville, Virgina. Sunday Oct 22nd, 12:30pm NBC. What watching NASCAR on a Sunday? Well this weeks slate of NFL games doesnt have any compelling matchups until the Monday night game Giants vs Cowboys. This NASCAR race is on a tiny track, .5 mile oval, so there will be PLENTY of bumping, passing, spin-outs and even a few accidents. But don't worry with average speeds of only 90mph, these guys will hit the wall, go into the pits, fix the car and get back out there.

College Football... While I honestly don't get into the college game, it rules the airwaves on Saturday. Plus if Ohio State ranked 1, and Michigan ranked 2, both can run their remaining schedules and finish undefeated it will be an EPIC battle on November 18th at Ohio State when the 2 teams would meet in the last game of the season for both the Big 10 Title, National Championship shot and total midwest bragging rights. Ohio State vs Michigan is one of the biggest and best rivalries in college sports.

The NFL is usually king of the TV airwaves on a fall weekend, but even NBC does not want to go up against the World Series so no "Football Night in America" this week. Whatever is on, there is a good chance I'll be on my couch with remote in hand watching some sports this weekend! Enjoy

Anyone seen this man lately?

Talkin about the vampire hunter, Blade himself Wesley Snipes. It seems that Wesley has not paid his taxes for a while and the government would like to take some photographs of him. It seems that from 1999 to 2004 Mr. Snipes didnt file or pay his taxes. He also applied for a nice little $11 million refund for years paid previous to 1999. Know I don't know what sorta crack Wesley was smoking, but he could have been reading some urban rumors about not having to pay US Taxes on any income earned in the USA. There is a sucker born every 7 seconds these days, and people make a living preaching about how you dont REALLY have to file your taxes. To top off the whole shock of not paying/filing taxes but the indictment says that Wesley gave bogus checks worth $14 million to the IRS for his estimated tax liabilities in recent years. Ouch, lets just say this man is in trouble and probably will go down
Maybe Wesley got confused about the difference between Federal and State. Seems that Wesley has not exactly had the best financial advisors in the past few years, in 2003 he had his Windermere, Florida(home of half the PGA tour, and other MLB, NBA players) home sold at forclosure auction. His agents at recently filed a 1.5 million dollar lawsuit against him for unpaid agent fees for recent movies.

To make the story even better, it appears Wesley is on the run. He hasnt made a movie since 2004's Blade Trinity, and tried to enter South Africa using a fake/forged passport in 2005 and was kicked out.. While there isnt a reward that I know of yet, if anyone happens to see Wesley I would call the IRS. I have actually met Wesley on two ocassions at Prince concerts, while he was a nice guy, most of all I can remember about him is just how short he is. Possibly pushing 5"7, but he is a big dude, so don't try to take him yourself, plus he knows all those martial arts moves from his films. I have actually liked Wesley in alot of his movies, but shockingly as many movies as he has made from his big debut in Major League in 1989, he has never starred in a movie that grossed $100 million bucks. Never has been in what is considered a blockbuster film.

I have enjoyed his films, but for himsake I hope he learned a bit about evading the law from his role as Nino Brown in New Jack City, and is living on an island in the south pacific sippin on coconuts, cause his midget self will become someone's bitch at the state pen.
It will be a real life version of his first big acting gig in Michael Jackson's Bad video where the first words Mikey says are "Your butt is mine!!" If you have 10 minutes of your life to waste, check out the long version of the Bad video Mikey and Wesley acting in Bad Video. Filmed at the 8th avenue 14th street A,C,E,L NYC subway station. gotta love those old school turnstyles, even Michael Jackson can evade the fare easily!

6.5 million reasons to love the NY Rangers

Just as T.O has 25 million reasons to live, I wish I had 6.5 million reasons to buy this Diamond studded bra for Karolina Kurkova, the uber-hottie model from the Czech Republic. She'll be wearing this creation at the upcoming Victoria's Secret fashion show. The $6.5 million Hearts on Fire Diamond Fantasy Bra, weighs 800 carats I have never bought a diamond in my life so I have no idea how many that is, but i'm guessing alot, more than i'll probably ever buy in my lifetime.. Oh why are we talking so much about Karolina, well she is a big NY Rangers fan.

Tonight with so many choices on TV, either Grey's Anatomy, the Mets winning game 1 of the NLCS, what did I watch.. yep the NY Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins. Stills trange watching the game and not having John Davidson in the announcing booth, having basically grown up over the last 20 years listening to Sam & J.D it will take me a while to get adjusted to former Islanders(of all damn people) Joe Micheletti doing the games. Who knows former Islanders dont have a good track record on broadway, remember the Fire Trottier chants?

The Rangers lost in a heartbreaking fashion, with damn uber-sophmore Sidney Crosby scoring with 3 seconds left in the game. Good thing its game 4 of the season and not game 84. I was hoping to see the Pengiuns so called super rookie Evgeni Malkin play, but he is hurt. Instead I'm treated to the first ever goals from freakin 18 year old, he cant shave Jordan Staal and Kris Letang. While the Pens I think still haev no goaltending, they do have great young talent. Watch out for this Staal kid, they are going to be a 4 player dynasty in a few years once the youngest kid, now 15 gets drafted. oldest brother Eric last year showed in winning the Stanley Cup in Carolina he is the real deal.. The rangers have hopefully a decent defenseman in Marc Staal currently in the minors.

I do like the makeup of this Rangers team. I usually dont like signing 37 year old players like Brendan Shanahan but he is probably one of the better "power forwards" in the game. We are still taking too many penalties, and Jagr cant be back at full strength yet. I love the fact we have an established 2nd line now with Shannny, Petr Prucha, and Matt Cullen. This is something we couldnt do last year. Lundqvist is not looking at full form yet, but god help us if Kevin Weekes gets more playing time. Yeah I should be supporting the few brotha's playing hockey, but nope cant get into Weekes. At least i'll support the other brotha Nigel Dawes as long as he can stay in the NHL. But overall the Czech connection is still there with 6 Czechs and 1 Slovak.

Back to Karolina, she and my favorite Ranger Petr Prucha are from the same town in the Czech Republic. Not sure if they are an item, but they were seen dining at Jordan's in Grand Central right before Rangers training camp, you go Prucha!! Alright you made it this far you deserve a reward, a little ass shot from the Vicky Secret's fashion show..

Cory Lidle is NOT a Terrorist... RIP

Life in NYC is always crazy, but today things seemed to get a bit crazier. First the reports come in about a small plane hitting a building on Manhattan's upper east side. 524 East 72nd is a 50 story building.



Today is a grey and rainy day in the city, not the best day to be flying a small plane. First the fears were of terrorism, but eyewitness reports on the ground confirmed it as a small, single engine plane. Ok so now the fears of another Terrorist attack were eased, then word leaked out that owner and pilot of the plane was pitcher Cory Lidle. Whoa.. Right now word is 2 people are dead, Lidle, and his flight instructor. This toll sadly might rise, as after the plane hit a building it started a fire and fire in any high-rise building in the city is a worry. Stories are coming out that Lidle loved to fly, and wanted to fly as much as possible. Sadly Lidle had to leave the Yanks in middle August and put on the Bereavement list as he attended the funeral of his grandmother. From the preliminary reports, the plane was headed up the east river, strange for someone who lives in California, could he have wanted to circle Yankee Stadium one last time before heading home???



What to say at this point. First off Lidle was an average ML League pitcher, but heck the Yankees pitched BELOW average in their recent playoff loss. At 34 years old, he had been in the league for 9 Years playing for 7 Different teams(NY Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland A's, Toronto BlueJays, Cincinnati Reds, Philadephia Phillies, and last stop NY Yankees). To say he was a journeyman was fair, but he had a career record of 82-72, and ERA of 4.57. Not great stats, but in these days of pitching starved teams, enough to earn 3.3million this past season, and a career total of around 17million bucks. Not bad for being "average".

Lidle came to the Yanks as a salary dump/throw-in during the Bobby Abreu trade this past summer. He did manage to pitch a clutch game August 21st for the Yanks during the "Boston Massacre" going 6 innings and not giving up any runs, surrendering 3 hits and striking out 5. Another good performance was his September 1st outing against the Twins again going 6 innings and not giving up any runs.. Was he in the Yanks future plans for 2007, highly doubtful, but he was good insurance to have as a backup starter and his price would have probably been below 5 million bucks.

The ebay effect on Death is a strange one, as someone had listed signed Cory Lidle baseballs a week ago and were set to end in 6hrs before the news broke. There had been no bids on the items. As it write this in the last hour the items have gone from $10 to over $200. Now with someone as marginal of a star like Lidle, I'm sure this affect will be limited to Autographed Items, or game-used equipment. This frenzy seems to happen anytime a person dies, remember the Kirby Puckett effect on both autographed and non-signed items. I have no idea what the final price of the Item will be, but check out one of the balls for yourself Cory Lidle Ebay Autographed Baseball. Also in a sick ebay note, people have now recently listed 4 signed baseballs that will end in a 1 week. If people knew the way to make money on ebay, they would know to list as a 1 day auction, and let the frenzy take over. Even right now a simple Phillies Postcard with Lidle, not even signed is selling for over 50 bucks.. Amazing what death can do to a person's "worth". Yet right now there are 32 items for sale of Cory Lidle, expect this number to double or triple in the next few HOURS. Its a frenzy out there once someone dies..

Athletes die in plane crashes all the time, probably less than the statistical probability considering how much they fly. From golfer Payne Stewart in 1999, NASCAR's Davey Alison in 1993, to entire teams like the US boxing team in 1980. The Yankees have a strange history of players dying in plane crashes, the last active roster baseball player to die in a crash was Thurmon Munson in 1979. Well lets just prey for his family and those of people in the building or the ground who might have been injured or killed. Here are a few images of Lidle.. Rest in Peace...

Country by Country: Poland - A Tale of Two Cities

I went to Poland on 2 occasions, and each was totally different as the cities are like night and day. I flew on WizzAir from Lithuania to Warsaw on June 9th, the first day of the World Cup. I only stayed in Warsaw for one night before flying on to Germany for the first USA match. Warsaw was basically a pit-stop of sorts, a lot of discount airlines fly in and out of there, but the schedules didn't allow me to change planes the same day so I ventured into town for a night. It was an early morning 6am flight, so I was in Warsaw by 8am and at the hostel. I stayed at Nathan's Villa Hostel in Warsaw, Nathan's villa is about as close to a franchise in the Hostel world as could be, with other locations in Krakow, and 2 in Romania. It was a very nice place, but due to my early arrival and how full it was I could not check in till past noon, so despite wanting to sleep I had to wander around town for a while. This was my first experience with not being able to get straight into a room at a hostel, and was a good learning experience for the future. If you are going to arrive before Noon, don't be tired, hungover, hungry etc as there is a chance it will take a while till you can check in.

To kill time I walked around Warsaw, I must say Polish people are a very religious people and Warsaw has plenty of churches to go and pray. Seems like people would just walk by a Church and go, have a quick prayer and then continue on their day. The city is fairly walkable with some main avenues that you can follow and its almost a grid system, so its easy to walk around and find you way. I must say not much of the architecture impressed me, but this could be since the city was heavily damanged in WWII and had to be rebuilt, not much from the past was left. They did seem to have a lot of statues/monuments all around town, seemingly every few blocks.

This was the first day of a new schedule for me, that revolved around the World Cup, basically for the next month my days would consists of being in front of a TV to watch games, and then going out somewhere at night. I met a cool dude from Namibia and we went out to a bar to watch the Poland vs Ecuador game. Found this place called Tortilla Factory that was run by an american dude from Chicago, nice place with TVs and naturally it was packed with Polish fans all dressed in Red. Poland lost the game and would soon be bounced from the World Cup in the group stages, the mood of Warsaw seemed to change that night. Myself and my friend from Namibia befriended an american and his polish girlfriend, they told us a few places to go and hang out, thankfully we caught a cab with them to the first spot, so we were charged the normal/non-tourist rip off rate. None of the bars would let us in, not sure if it was a racist thing against me, which I felt at the time that it was, or just whatever, but if they didn't want my tourist dollars fine I'd take them somewhere else. For my friend Otwin from Namibia who was a white dude this sucked, his main mission was to get laid. There is close to a 45% rate of infection of HIV among the women on Namibia, so while in Poland on a short break he wanted to get some action. I think he struck out the this night, and since I left the next day, no idea if he was able to accomplish his mission. The cab ride back to close to where our Hostel was, the driver charged us the tourist rate and it was about 3x as much as the first cab ride. It was still cheap compared to a cab in NYC, but still not a good feeling knowing your getting ripped off but couldn't do anything about it.. The combination of not getting into any places, being ripped off, etc left a bad taste of Warsaw in my mouth. Thankfully Krakow restored faith in Poland for me.

The currency in Poland is the Zloty. The exchange rate is about 3 Zl for 1$, and this was the first of what would be a string of very cheap countries. The beers are good and strong, the main brands being Tyskie and Zywiec. Both good golden lager beers. But if you wanna get hammered in Poland, drink the Vodka, its no joke folks, strong and cheap..

I went to Krakow at almost the end of the World Cup arriving on July 3rd, I took an easyjet flight from Germany that was cheap and quick, well worth the cost. Arrival in Krakow was difficult at first, as the main bus/train station is under construction so since the bus stopped at the back of it, I didn't know we were at it and missed it, took me a while to get back to it on the return bus, but the main old town square was easy to find. I stayed at Mama's Hostel which is like 50 meter from the old town square where all the action is. There are plenty of bars right near the town square, along with places to eat, so as a tourist you don't really need to venture too far from there for fun. Krakow is a city of students, with some 120,000 students of a population of 780,000. In the summer a lot of this population is gone but I'm told during the school year, the party rages on at all times of the day or night.

There are plenty of cool places to go in the daytime in Krakow. They have a castle that is right on the river with some lovely views, along with one of the oldest Jewish quarters in Poland. Daytrips to Auschwitz concentration camps are a popular thing people do. I didn't go as I am sure I didn't have the emotional strength to deal with such a place that just feels of death. The other popular thing to do are goto the Wieliczka Salt mines, this was more up my alley, but my time in Krakow was limited. I wanted to stay longer as the city was great, but the bus to Budapest only runs on Wednesday and Saturday and I had to get there by Thursday as my friend from NYC, Kissy was traveling europe and I wanted to hang out with her there. I'll have to get back to Krakow to see all the things I missed.

This has to be one of the nicest old town squares in all of eastern europe, both in the scope of the size of it, being very large, and the fact that while there are tourist destinations right near the town square, a few blocks off it, the prices drop a bunch, and tourists seem to disappear. Plus you see crazy things like these guys on a moving "boat" playing jazz music in the middle of the day.

Also the main museums of the city are right near or in the old town square. One to visit is Czartoryskich Museum which features Leonardo Da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine painting. Another must visit is a short walk from the old town to the Royal Castle. This is located right on the river, with lovely views of all sides of Krakow along with a museums that houses various paintings, jewels and all those things you normally find in museums! The view is quite lovely and the day I was exploring was a just picture perfect day



Right on the river on a good day, people spread out on the grass and work on their tans, with Krakow not being located close to an ocean, all these students with nothing to do in the summer daytimes get some sun, a few were swimming in the river, but I opted to sit on a boat/restaurant and just enjoy my Beer.



Ahh the nightlife, while I was there in the summer, probably the worst time as most of the hard partying students were back at their family houses, There was a cool group of Irish girls at the hostel, throw in a canadian guy, canadian girl, danish dudes, and me, and you have the makings of a good night out. As the case in most cities with an old town, all the action is right around it, so staying at a hostel close by makes for easy stumbling home. You just kinda walk where the crowds are headed, we tried a few places, but found the most fun at Prozak located on Dominikanski 6, initially a bit of a challenge to find as its located downstairs. In fact most clubs/bars in the old town are located in basements/downstairs, while this makes for cool interiors blending into the 13th century architecture, due to the fact everyone in Europe seems to chain smoke, these places can fill up with cig smoke really easily, and for a soft New Yorker like myself who hates cig smoke it can be tough.. Still the beer was only 8 Zlot (less than $3), and oh so tasty. At the end, the girls naturally gravitated to the local polish guys, but I must say they have a tough, no nonsense look. There were a few cute polish girls, but I've heard Krakow boasts some of the best looking women in Poland, but that must be during the school year as not many sights were on display. These are crazy irish girls here.


The next day after washing some clothes and nursing off a slight hangover, it was time to move on to Budapest, I wanted to stay longer, but the schedules weren't in my favor, so I'll just have to get back to Krakow some other time, preferably during the university year but not in the dead of winter when its COOOOLD!! Its definitely more backpacker friendly than Warsaw.

Get Yourself some Frequent Flyer Miles FREE!!

One of the slight "obsessions" in my life is earning frequent flier miles. They have come in handy in the past as I have saved money going to Jamaica for my sisters wedding back in 1999, and even got bumped from that flight so I got a $700 voucher for future travel. I also went on my recent europe trip using FF miles to book my ticket. While I am not in the same level as obesssion now in 2006 as I was in the past. For example on a trip to MPLS in 2001 I switched hotels twice and rental cars twice in just a 3 day trip in order to take advantage of bonus programs. I will no longer do that as sadly your miles these days aren't worth as much as the past. Its much much harder to book flights using miles for the most popular destinations, such as anywhere outside of the USA. You have to book way way in advance, and be very flexible in your dates. So now the order of business for me is to use up most of my miles, before they become totally worthless or the airlines start dropping out of business one by one. I had predicted a slow death for either Northwest, Delta, or United all airlines that were in bankrupcy, but looks like they were able to screw their employees out of pensions and cut salaries and manage to stay alive..

Anyway there are always a few offers out there for totally free miles, and these are the best. I'm no longer going to sign up for various brokerage accounts, credit cards, staying at only certain hotel chains, using certain rental cars, etc.. But if I can point and click my way to free miles I'm all for it..

So here we go
250 Free Delta Miles, just simply click to this link 250 Sky Miles and tell them what you like to do while flying.. sorry joining the mile high club is not a choice

Use this 1000 Miles for Creating a Profile to create a login profile for OnePass dining. You will need a credit/debit card and email address. You dont have to dine at all, but If you do want to earn a decent amount of miles without much extra effort the dining programs of the airline are good.

They have been watered down in recent years as to how many miles you earn, but if you eat out alot, there are hundreds of resturants and bars that are in the program. You dont have to do anything special other than pay for your bill with the credit/debit card you have on file and the miles post to your account. No need to ask or confuse the staff. At the highest level you can earn 10 miles per dollar spent. In the past they have offered nice bonus programs, these seemingly have died down, but I have been able to earn a little over 22,000 miles on American over the last 3-4 years just usually by drinking beer or eating wings, as I'm not a big dining out person.

The Delta program, I have no idea of an expiration date, they may pull it from their site at anytime. The Continental Program is from October 2nd, to Dec 31st, 2006. Miles can take 6-8 weeks to post, so do it now.

Country by Country: Lithuania

My initial plan was to spend much time in Lithuania, but I enjoyed Estonia and Latvia so much that my trip was cut down to 2 days as I had prebooked a flight to Warsaw for the 9th of June, which was the first day of the world cup. Back at home while planning my trip I came across a deal on WizzAir where tickets were 1 Euro Cent, and then extra taxes and fees. After fees/fuel surcharges and the like the total price came out to be 23 Euros or about $30 Dollars. While at the time this seemed like a great deal, and flying for only 45 minutes versus an 8hr bus/train ride in the end I probably would have chosen to take the train ride. Why? Well intitally at home when booking the trip I didnt think I wanted any bus/train rides over 5hrs, and while this still is a tough amount of time in Eastern Europe, in Western Europe its a breeze. The bus time from Vilnius to Warsaw is listed as 8hrs, and about $30 US. So about the same price as the flight but a much longer trip. I have since learned if there was a nightbus, that 8hr trip is nothing, as you can sleep and save on a night accomidation, have a couple of beers(remember you can drink just about ANYWHERE in europe), put on your MP3 player and the 8hrs is gone quickly. What I opted to do instead was only spend 1 night in Vilnius, which is a wicked party city.. Then spend a whole day wasted by traveling to Kaunas, a city I didnt enjoy, spending the night in Kaunas in a Hotel that was about $25 US per night, as there are not alot of Hostels in that town, spending some $20 US on a Taxi to the Kaunas airport since my flight was at 6am. overall it was much more expensive and time consuming overall to get the WizzAir flight, but I've learned my lesson. 8hrs is not that bad of a trip, and the nightbus/train is your friend to keep your days available for sightseeing when you have short amounts of time in each country. Only use those discount airlines for flights that are much cheaper than the bus/train option, or long long distances like over 12Hrs, especially if those are times in Eastern Europe, where bus/train might be much cheaper but times can be longer than what is listed.

I arrived in the capital of Lithuania which is Vilnius by bus from Riga. It was an easy 5hr ride, on again a modern full sized bus that only cost $12 one-way. Again in Eastern Europe dont buy rail/bus passes for unlimited travel as point to point tickets are almost always cheaper. In fact forget rail travel totally in the Baltics as is the case of most of the "less developed Europe" bus travel is much more efficient than train travel. Vilnius is a city of some 600,000 people and unlike Riga or Tallinn does not really have the same sort of centralized old town with windy/twisty streets. It does have plenty of nice old architecture, rich cultural centers, a very important old jewish ghetto/quarter and most importantly a rockin nightlife. Here is a picture of a church I found lovely


The center of town is a bit difficult to navigate as again streets are not in a grid, but with a decent map you should be able to get around fairly easily. I stayed at the Vilnius Backpackers Hostel which was in a great location, not too far from the bus station, and right off a main pedestrian street filled with Cafes and Resturants. The cost was about $13 US per night, a good deal, the only problem was slight lack of bathrooms, one on each floor, and each floor housed about 12-15 people if full. I only spent one night here, and then traveled to Kaunas for one night there. Vilnius is by far a more exciting city, I found Kaunas to be rather dead and dreary, yet Kaunas is suppose to have more students so during the university year it could be very active, in the summer I found it dead.

Vilnius has some great club/resturants, I was there on a Wednesday night, so it was in a way the start of the party week. Like most of europe things dont get started till much later. I sat at a really colorful nice resturant called Dienos Naktys(no idea what it means) at about 6pm and it was empty, but I was able to enjoy my lunch/happy hour beer. The main beer is choice seemed to be Kalnapilis, a very tasty golden beer, cheap at only 7 Litas(about $2.50 US).
I also found my first microbrew and one of the few in the Baltic at this place named Avilys, I enjyoed their half liter of the Honey Lager, yet I couldnt taste much of a honey taste. This was a nice basement cosy place with supposed great food, it was 11pm at night or else I would have sat outside as it was a bit chilly at night, but the basement was cozy and comfortable for a quick brew.

Only having one night in town, I wanted to try to find cool places, but I was struggling as my guide book has very little info on Lithuania. After I left the microbrew, I found a place called Pablo Latino on Turku St, It is a very very nice joint, with a big upstairs room and then a deck that overlooks an inside Patio. It was closing at 1am, so I only had a bit of time there, but it was funny to see that Salsa dancing is the rage everywhere in the world, even where there aren't too many Latino people as in Lithuania. In fact I only saw one minority other than me, and he was this tall lanky brother, like over 6"5 walking down the street, and looked like he was African. I figure he must be an import on a local basketball team, as Lithuania is HUGE on basketball. Winning the Bronze medals in the summer olympics in 1992, 1996, and 200. They also won the European Championship in 2003, and there are several good/high paid Lithuanians in the NBA including Žydrūnas Ilgauskas for the Cavs, partnering with LeBron James for a solid pairing for the future. Don't be shocked the next time the USA Basketball team disappoints at a world event, it loses to Lithuania and people are like who? where?

Ok back to hanging out, first thing I realize at Pablo Latino that will be a theme for the rest of the night, Lithuanians LIKE TO DRINK, and the women especially can DRINK. At the bar a man/woman couple were doing flaming shots of something, so you know it was strong stuff, she was downing them with no problem.. I leave that place at 1am and head back a few blocks to the hostel, ready to call it a boring night, there are some people there staging to go out to this bar/pub open to 6am. I'm like what the heck, only got 1 night here. We posse up and head out to Prospekto pub right up the street to this big church.

Its good the church is there as after a night of what is going on in the Pub, you might need to run to church when the pub closes at 6am. This is an awesome bar, with multiple floors, there are 2 stripper poles attached to the top of the bar, and these get a good workout, as in Lithuania being a stripper is a job you can make alot of money at, and there are PLENTY of establishments to show your skills you have learned here.
The cover was 10 Litas($3.50 US) for any male foreigners, but seemed to be free if you could speak soem Lithuanian. Beer was well priced, if you could get to the bartender as the place was PACKED this night, I guess being the only place open so late its the spot to goto. The night seemed to start off slow, but when Usher came on, the folks all jammed the dance floor, if Usher only knew he was a big thing in Lithuania he would go there and might not come home. I gotta say not many brothas hanging in Lithuania so you are a HOT commodity, people seem to like what is different from them. And considering they are mostly young, tall, skinny and blond, I was rather different.. I had the skinny and hopefully young part down tho..

Another song that seemed to get the crowd going much to my shock was Tina Turner's "Simply the Best". Maybe its a motivational thing..The music was varied including some Lithuanian pop songs, Lithuanian hip hop and Euro techno trash. Now the drinking, I was sticking with my normal beer, but after noticing people were buying bottles of vodka and drinking it straight. Unlike clubs here in the states with Bottle service that after you get ripped off for a $300 dollar bottle of Vodka, at least they give you free juice and keep it on ice, not so here. You paid only about $20 for the bottle of vodka, but got it warm, like straight out of the case. You had to buy your own OJ, or Cranberry.. so what did the locals do, DRINK IT STRAIGHT WHILE WARM.. I must say I tried as the locals, and couldnt get a sip of this cheap vodka down, without the thought of throwing up all over my new friends and causing an international incident. So in this picture below, that is the bottle of VOdka I am holding up, but no way was I drinking it all night, I stuck with the cold beer.
Oh and for those wondering her name is Jurgo, and like most everyone there they speak PERFECT english, almost rivaling the Dutch. Finally left at closing time, at 5:40am with the sun up high in the summer Baltic sky, the DJ played "One" first the U2 version and then the Johnny Cash version and then it was time to go home and pretend to get some sleep. The next day sucked for a variety of reasons, and while I am sure Kaunas is a nice place, I'm going to skip writing about it, as its a day I want to try to put in my past forever.

As for getting to Lithuania, first off get a good guide book specific to at least the 3 Baltic Countries, Lonely Planet does a good job as someone at the Hostel had this, and while I was leaving the Baltics I spent some time looking thru his book. There are no direct flights from the USA, but check out Air Baltic, who I flew and has flights from London, Germany, Ireland, even Austria to get you to Vilnius. I would say for partying this along with Riga are great.. and oh yeah there is some culture in the daytime, including a statue of Frank Zappa's head on a tall stick.. yeah its strange I saw it, didnt understand it, but oh well..

You Don't Need a Spleen to Play

But you do need a heart to live.. Wow after a weekend of watching sports this weekend and some great games, gutsy performances and bad injuries. Like any red-blooded American man, I went out on Sunday to watch some NFL football games. Only watched the end of 2nd half of the early games, but there were some great finishes. Watching the Bucs vs Panthers game, I saw Chris Simms run in a touchdown and take a massive hit, and said to myself wow that kid got some guts, he learned well from his dad. Then later in the 4th quarter he was being pounded like a rag doll. Later we would learn he played for some of the game with a ruptured spleen and after the game had emergency operation to take it out. He will most likely be gone from this whole season, and with the Bucs 0-3 no point in him rushing back. The kid has heart for playing the rest of the game in obvious pain, and I hope a full recovery for him, as he is playing on a 1yr 2.1 million dollar contract and was going to be an unrestricted free agent next year waiting for the big payday. Thankfully its not an arm injury so if Drew Brees could get a mega-contract coming off a shoulder injury, Chris Simms should be able to set himself financially for life this off-season. One of the possible side effects of not having a spleen I read was possible Erectile Dysfunction, so glad to read his wife gave birth to their daughter this past off season..

The other world class athlete I know to have his spleen removed was Peter Forsberg who in the 2001 playoffs had it taken out after Game 7 of a series. He missed the whole next regular season but returned for the 2002 playoffs and led all players in scoring, and the following full season had his 2nd best season in his career. So for world class athletes is seems losing a spleen does not end a career.

It reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon moments from a simpsons episode over 10 years ago, as I was in college when watching it. In fact now looking it up, its from Season 4 of the Simpsons, the Episode titled "I Love Lisa". Simpsons 4th Season DVDDuring the cartoon Itchy & Scratchy that is within the Simpsons, it was a valentines day episode where Itchy gives Scratchy his own heart as a valentine. Scratchy learns later he needs a heart to live, and dies before he can reach it. Well any athelete who plays a game or career after losing a major body organ deserves props. Check out the clip of Scratchy's ultimate demise. Warning might not be for kids, but then what the hell kids should be reading this blog anyway??

Also in baseball this weekend, Nick Johnson of the Washington Nationals had a horrible outfield collision with his teammate and broke his Femur in his leg, I hope Nick can come back from this injury, but in todays age of mega-contracts that 3yr, 16.5million dollar deal he signed in spring training is looking really good right now. I Hope the Nationals have not missed an insurance payment on that contract, or else OUCH.. These 2 injuries had me thinking what are the most memorable performances in sports for a player after sufferring a horrible injury, either playing in that game or later in their career. While I am not a list person, i'll leave that to buddies like PaulKatcher who writes some amazing lists for his blog, among my favs are What Your Yankees Jersey says about you I am here writing my first list, not even sure what to call it

Top 10 Gutsy Performances by Sports Athletes

10. Kirk Gibson. Game 1, 1988 World Series. Yes the home run was legendary and will be replayed forever. Yes it was off Dennis Eckersley.. Yes it was his only At-bat of the series.. But it was GAME 1 of the series and also I dont think it was ever revealed what his injury was. He has soem pain in his leg and a bum knee, he had been diving all around the field during the earlier series vs the Mets but what was the injury?? True he was gimpy around the bases, but in baseball you swing with the BAT, only players like Rickey Henderson use their legs to win games.

9. Willis Reed. Game 7, 1970 NBA Finals. Ok even in NY lore this moment of the captain coming out of the lockeroom all gimpy can bring tears to grown men's eyes. I wasnt alive in 1970, so I have no memory of it and my dad was probably playing a concert somewhere that day, and not watching the game so I have no reference point from him. True Reed won the MVP of the tournament, true the Knicks won the NBA championship that season(probably the only one they will win for a while, lets see how long before Isiah is fired), but lets remember folks Reed scored the first 4 points of the game and that is IT. Nothing else after those first 2 basekets. True it was a huge lift for his team, but it was Walt "Clyde" Frazier who led the team that game with 36 points and 19 assists.

8. Clint Malarchuk. March 22, 1989. Just a regular hockey game, but anyone who has seen the video clip(search on youtube i am not going to post here and be responsible for people losing their lunch) with a puddle of blood on the ice after a skate blade from a player accidently cut his Juglar Vein. He would return to play 3 more seasons and have a .500 record, which for a career .500 goalie beforehand meant he was always an average goalie his whole career.

7. Ronnie Lott. 1986 Off-season. One of the hardest hitting football players ever, had many injuries over his career. After multiple injuries to his left pinkie finger and the bone refusing to heal, he opted to have the tip of his pinkie cut off DURING THE OFF-SEASON to prevent any further injury. Now the legend of this story has grown to the point, where people think he came out of the game for a play, went over grabbed a chain saw, hacked the finger off, taped it up and went back out and tackled some players. Not the case at all. Still yet he would go on and play many more seasons, and today if you meet him and shake his hand, part of the man's pinkie is gone.. Still doesnt compare to that rock-climber who cut off his whole damn arm cause it was trapped under a rock, so he could free himself and get to safety..

6. Alex Zanardi. F1 Race Car Driver, Sept 2001. On the weekend after the 9/11 attack when almost all sports around the globe were canceled, there was a F1 race in Germany. During this race a horrific crash happened, where Zanardi was T-boned at 200 mph by another car. His car shattered in half, his body cut in half and he lost something crazy like 70% of his blood. He was given last rites on the track, and rushed by helicopter to a hospital. Somehow they managed to save his life, but not his lefs. Both legs were amputated above the knee, but yet this man continued to have a positive spirit. In one of the best interviews Bryant Gumble has ever done for Real Sports, he visits Zanardi as his zest for life is shown and is amazing. Zanardi drives his boat, swims, plays with his kid and yes even DRIVES. In would later have special legs fitted, special brake/gas controls on his race car and in 2005 he won a race in the European Tour Car Series, more than U or I would be able to do with both our legs. Yes he wrote a book and its pretty damn inspiring. Alex Zanardi

5. Shun Fujimoto. 1976 Summer Olympics. Who?? This male gymnist on the Japan olympic team at the '76 games in Montreal broke his kneecap during the floor excerise. With his team in a virtual tie with the Russians, he went on to compete in the Rings event and on a triple somersault dismount, maintaining perfect posture he earned a 9.7 and the Japan team went on to win gold. During that dismount, he further injured his leg, and years later asked by ESPN if he would do it again, his answer "No, I would not!"

4. Jack Youngblood. 1979 NFL Playoffs. Argubly one of the toughest SOBs to ever line up on defense, this NFL hall of Famer, played in 201 straight games, only missing 1 game in his 14 year career. So would a broken Fibula in his leg keep him out of the whole 1979-80 Playoffs, HELL NO. He played all the games, including the superbowl with a fractured left fibula. Sadly the Rams didnt win the game, he never won a superbowl. While I am not sure how well he is walking today after 14 years in the NFL, you would hope with that courage he would at least have a superbowl ring to attest for his gutsy performance during those playoffs

3. Donovan McNabb. 2002 NFL Week 11. The Eagles were as they always seem to be late in the season thinking SuperBowl before injury diaster sets in. On like the 3rd play of this game, McNabb goes down hard. Test show a sprained ankle and he comes back in the game with it taped up and goes on to throw for 4 TD passes, 250yards, and goes 20 for 25. After the game x-rays reveal a broken ankle that sidelines him for 6 weeks, he comes back for the playoffs but the Eagles cant get it done and lose before making the superbowl. Ahhh despite the pain I'm sure Donovan longs for these easy days, the days before a certain Rush "oxycoton" Limbaugh and T.O came into his life. As brave as his performance was, I am sure while on the table for his operation, he was thinking it was a good thing he signed that 12yr, 115million dollar contract before the 2002 season, and hoping his 13.5million signing bonus check had cleared. His career might have been in jeopardy, but financially he was set.. this makes the last 2 performances on this list even more amazing

2. Byron Leftwich, Marshall University 2002 MAC championship game. In his last game of his college career at Marshall University, Leftwich was trying to lead his team to the MAC championship. He helped his team win 49-45 with a last minute 40TD pass. Now what makes this performance so damn incredible was the fact he played with a broken leg for most of the 2nd half of this game. At some points, he had to have is offensive line carry him down the field. Leftwich would later say, "my leg was broke, my arm was fine.." As a college player making ZERO dollars(at least legally), the fact he would continue to play and possibly jeopardize a future NFL Career is pure guts, pure love of the game, love of his team and school colors. His guts paid off, making him the Number 7 pick in the NFL Draft the following year and signed a nice little 7yr, 30million(or so) contract.

1. Bob Baun. 1964 NHL Stanley Cup Finals. The most coveted trophy in sports, players say they will do anything to win it, play with any injury. Well Mr. Baun showed everyone just how tough hockey players are. After breaking his ankle in the 3rd period of Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Finals, he would i guess tape it up, shoot it up or whatever and come out and play in the overtime. He scored the game winning OT goal. While I have never seen video of this, so I dont know if it was a Jagresque end to end rush, or just an Esposito like tap in fron of the net. Still he won the game, kept Toronto alive in the series. He would go on to play in Game 7, and the Toronto Maple Leafs won the cup and his name will forever be inscribed on the best trophy in all of team sports. Why a guy would play with a broken ankle, well rememebr in 1964, before the age of guaranteed contracts, many players had off-season jobs to put food on the plate. These guys at these times were playing for their future a spot on the roster next year. Unlike in modern times, when Scottie Pippen can have a migrane and not want to play in a game, or Carl Pavano can in one year deal with injuries to his shoulder, back, buttocks, elbow and ribs.. oh and being a horrible driver. But then I guess Pavano wanted to be known for something other than giving up McGwire's 70th home run ball, stealing $10 million from George Stienbrenner this year and most importantly banging Alyssa Milano