American Football; English Hotels

The Americans and the English...two people divided by a common language.

Back in 1978, Woody Hayes, Ohio State's legendary football coach, had his career come to a very sad end when he hit a player on the opposing team. Just a few weeks later, Arizona State's football coach, Frank Kush, got fired after it came out that he'd hit one of his own players. While I do not defend their actions (both men quite correctly got sacked) to hear *some* commentators tell it, this was a sure sign that the Apocolypse was upon us.

In the midst of the hulabalo one American football coach decided that he needed to take a nice, restful vacation, and he decided that he wanted to go someplace where nobody knew or cared about American college football, so he got on a flight to London, England. When he got to his hotel, he was positively *aghast* when he saw a huge sign that read "NO FOOTBALL COACHES ALLOWED!

(In the UK, buses are sometimes of refered to as 'coaches', and busloads of English football have a reputation for being quite unruly)

Yay, US Navy!

Captain Richard Phillips is safe, three pirates are dead, and one is in custody. I'd say those SEALS did some really good shooting. Best news I've heard today. I think this piracy on the high seas stuff has got to go.

Louis Eppolito - NOT a Goodfella

Anyone interested in the question of whether art imitates life (Aristotle) or life imitates art (Oscar Wilde) might want to consider the case of Louis Eppolita. He was born in New York in 1943, joined NYPD at the age of 26, served 21 years and won several medals for bravery. In 1990, when Martin Scorcese made the film "Goodfellas," he cast Eppolito in a small role as "Fat Andy"- a New York "wiseguy." If you see the film, there is a scene where Ray Liotta's character of Henry Hill walks through a night club, introducing his girlfriend (and the audience) to the mob guys he hangs out with. So a film 'wiseguy' was actually an NYPD dectective.

But the irony doesn't stop there. It turns out bit movie parks wasn't Eppolito's only extracurricular activity. A couple of years back, Eppolito and his partner were indicted on charges of carrying kidnappings and contract 'hits' for the New York mob. (I must say, that *really* shocked me- I saw 'Serpico' decades ago; I was well aware that some cops take bribes, but being contract hitmen???) Both men were convicted on multiple counts two years ago and sentenced to life in prison with *no* possibility of parole.

I wonder if they'll get to watch 'Goodfellas' where they're serving time. It certainly makes the mob life look glamorous.

Anybody interested how things turned out for the real life characters in "Goodfellas": Paul Vario (Paul Sorvino's character) died in prison; Jimmy Burke (Robert DeNiro's character) died in prison, and Henry Hill is still alive, 29 years after turning state's evidence - and he's living in Malibu.

Ciudad Juarez...be afraid, be VERY AFRAID!

Several years ago, I watched the film "The Battle of Algiers", about the Algerian War of Independence 1954-1962. It depicted the rise of the Algerian National Liberation Front. The first step of any insurrection is to establish your own government infrastructure, and destroy the other guy's infrastructure. In the case of the FLN, this entailed bushwhacking uniformed French police officers in the Casbah. Very soon,things got entirely too dangerous for the police- so the French government sent in the paratroopers- and things got *really* unpleasant in the Casbah.

Down Mexico way, the violence in border cities (especially Ciudad Juarez) has gotten so bad that the local police simply can't deal with it- they are either out-gunned, corrupt, or both. So the Mexican Government has now sent in the Mexican Army. What happens if *they* can't handle the situation- and as long as American demand for illegal drugs stays strong (it will) what happens?

Pat Buchanan recently predicted that in 5 years, we won't have 50,000 troops in Iraq- we'll be MUCH too busy on the Mexican border. I'm afraid he's right.

At the Ohio Supreme Court

The Ohio Supreme Court building is located in downtown Columbus on Front Street. Whenever I go down there, I have to go through what must be the most sensitive metal detector in the state of Ohio. I do not like that BEEEEEEEEEE sound *one* *bit*. One day, I got my photo ID, emptied my change, keys and pens into the tray, and stepped through.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
So I took off my watch and stepped through. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
So I took off my *shoes* and stepped through BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
So I took off my *belt* and stepped through...
*Finally*, no BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

When I was finished re-dressing myself, I said to the female State Highway Patrolman behind the counter, "I do all that and you're not going to even slip *one* dollar bill into my waistband?" That gal had *no* sense of humor- she didn't even crack a smile.

United States of Tara

Recently, I've been watching every episode of "The United States of Tara", a program on Showtime about a woman with DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder). Aside from indulging my cinematic crush on Rosemarie DeWitt, I've found that the storyline has grown on me considerably.

Check it out.

76 Years Ago

At noon eastern time March 4, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt took the oath of office to serve as President of the United States. Just five days before, in Berlin, the burning of the German Reichstag gave Adolf Hitler the pretext he wanted to ask for dictatorial powers- and the rest is a very terrible chapter in history. Just after Roosevelt took office, the humorist Will Rodgers commented, "'bout now, if Roosevelt burned down the Capitol building, a lot of people would say, 'well,...he got a fire started, didn't he?'"

Whatever FDR's failings, he looks like an angel compared to some of his contemporaries.