Favorite Comic Book Covers!

Amazing Spiderman #47, nice composition from Jazzy Johnny Romita. On paper, Kraven is no match for Spiderman, but here, Romita has hyped the book by making Kraven the dominant figure. Pretty cool character design with that Lion's head vest...

Knicks Today

At Clippers, 3:30 pm est. They have to win some games on this trip, why not start today?

Giants UP 20-7 at the Half!!!!!!!

Tiki is going off! Go Giants!

More Yanks

Apparently the deal is done and all sorts of rumors are flying. Nippert, Owings and Medders have been most mentioned but there is late word that the Yanks are sending another player, who that is or what that might mean is unknown. A published report speculated we could know tonight. C'mon, Cashmoney Green, impress us!

UPDATE: Latest rumor is Randy Jackson, 6M and a low minor leaguer for Connor Jackson and Micah Owings. We'll see!

Favorite Comic Book Covers!

Creepy #11 sort of Frank Frazetta's take on King Kong or Mighty Joe Young.

More Yanks

Peter Abraham, whose blog is linked here, believes the Yanks will end up with Micah Owings and two other prospects. The quality of the prospects clearly depends on what the Yanks are willing to spend here. Remember they're really saving 22M or so if they trade Randy (16M in salary + 40% tax). In other words, the incentive is clearly there for them to go highish on the prospects.

Giants Today

Giants at Washingto, 8pm est. The big question is: will the Giants show up? Shockey is out. Okay, you can listen to the game here: http://wfan.com/ and you can get all game info here: http://giants.com/. Go Giants!

Knicks Get Blown Out

They looked gassed and the Suns have some homecourt advantage.

Rangers Lose 7th Straight

Booze Not Accountability!

Is This It?

Reports are starting to collect that all Randy Johnson has netted us is overaged pitching prospects Dustin Nippert and Micah Owings. Gee, more right handed power pitchers. Nippert has had Tommy John surgery and has trouble locating his knuckle curve for strikes. Of course Mike Mussina is the master of the knuckle curve and might be able to help him. Part of his age run up is due to the TJ surgery. He's 6' 7" and pitches downhill.

Micah Owings was a two way player in college and features a plus fastball, signs of a plus slider, and a rudimentary change.

If this is really the take, I'd just as soon have kept Randy Johnson. I have no confirmation on this, and I hope I never get it.

NO UPDATES in the New York Times or Newsday who are typically first to publish.

Knicks GameNight

Play hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite Comic Book Covers!

The Sandman #1 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. I think Jack was sole artist on the cover here, but I remember how freaking thrilled I was when I saw this on the newstand! Simon and Kirby had created the Sandman back in the `40's and here they seemed poised to revive him, but it didn't last. This unforgettable cover has, though.

More Yanks

So our source is now saying Randy is gumming things up with his extension demands. This doesn't surprise me, Randy always orchestrates these deals he deeply wants and then play hard to settle with once they are in place. This will probably take the entire 72 hours, but I expect it will get done. Disturbingly, the source is also saying that Cashmoney Green may be balking at the extras that would net Connor Jackson. If all we're being offered here is some of Az's overrated pitching prospects, I'd back away from this deal faster than Carmelo Anthony after a cheapshot! Make us proud , Cash!

There are now some radio reports stating that a deal has been agreed on depending on how Randy's renegotiations go... Stay tuned, we should know the totality of it pretty soon.

So now, apparently the Padres are backing away from whatever they agreed to to get the 72 hours negotiating window and are asking the Yanks to help with the money or something. Meanwhile, the Pads have upped their offer and their might even be a 3rd team in it (Angels?).

Stay tuned.

My Greatest 100 (or so) Albums...

GP/Grievous Angel (Warner 1973 and 1974) Gilded Palace of Sin/Burritos Deluxe (A+M 1969 and 1970) by Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers, respectively. Essentially, these 4 original albums are have been paired up on two different CD's and I think you should have them all (both) anyway. So this is an entry about Gram Parsons, another tortured genius type who checked out way too soon.

After leaving the Sweethearts of the Rodeo era Birds, GP formed The Flying Burrito Brothers with two former Birds (Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke) and pedal steel guitar ace Sneeky Pete Kleinow and starting making achingly beautiful and gritty country rock albums. Their first two are paired here, feature great original songs like Hot Burrito #2 (I'm Your Toy) and rebranded covers like The Dark End of the Street, and the definitive version of the Stones' Wild Horses. Future Eagle Bernie Leadon joined the Brothers on Deluxe. It's amazing how soulful their and really Gram's country rock hybrid was. Every song on this double is sorta perfect.

After the Brothers split up Gram Parker made two great solo albums (though Emilou Harris played a big part in both) backed up by Elvis Presley's band including legendary guitarist James Burton. These albums carried the Parsons' brand and featured several great duets with Harris. They were the Marvin and Tammi of country rock , and that is no small compliment.

Anyway, this is absolutely crucial music for all of you still in possession of your souls. Check `em out!

Rangers Tonight

at Ottawa, 7:30 pm est. Let's see if they can lose 7 in a row!

Knicks Tonight

At Phoenix, 9pm est. The Knicks start a tough 5 game road trip tonight, and it's important that they keep improving while they're on the road. If they play hard, they'll steal a few.

D-Back Do-Over?

The Daily News reports the Yanks are close on deal that will send Randy Johnson back to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The News speculates that the Yanks will take back two minor league pitchers. I suspect the News is wrong. Why? Cause that would be a salary dump, and I don't see Cashmoney Green settling for a salary dump when at least two teams were bidding for the Unit. Afterall, the Yanks don't have to trade him at all, and he was still slotted for a top 4 spot in their rotation. I think the deal I described yesterday sounded more like what Cash would do. We should know soon.

My Greatest 100 (or so) Albums...

Rocket to Russia (Sire, 1977) Road to Ruin (Sire, 1978) by The Ramones.

Rocket to Russia:
"Cretin Hop" – 1:56
"Rockaway Beach" (Dee Dee Ramone) – 2:06
"Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" (Joey Ramone) – 2:49
"Locket Love" – 2:11
"I Don't Care" (Joey Ramone) – 1:39
"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" (Joey Ramone) – 2:49
"We're a Happy Family" – 2:31
"Teenage Lobotomy" – 2:01
"Do You Wanna Dance?" (Bobby Freeman) – 1:55
"I Wanna Be Well" – 2:28
"I Can't Give You Anything" – 2:01
"Ramona" – 2:37
"Surfin' Bird" (Carl White / Alfred Frazier / John Harris / Turner Wilson) – 2:37
"Why Is It Always This Way?" – 2:15

Road to Ruin:
"I Just Want to Have Something to Do" (Joey Ramone) – 2:42
"I Wanted Everything" (Dee Dee Ramone) – 3:18
"Don't Come Close" – 2:44
"I Don't Want You" – 2:26
"Needles & Pins" (Sonny Bono / Jack Nitzsche) – 2:21
"I'm Against It" – 2:07
"I Wanna Be Sedated" (Joey Ramone) – 2:29
"Go Mental" – 2:42
"Questioningly" (Dee Dee Ramone) – 3:22
"She's the One" – 2:13
"Bad Brain" – 2:25
"It's a Long Way Back" (Dee Dee Ramone) – 2:20

This was the New York Power Trio that changed the world. All those 16th notes added up to brilliance. They never really made anything less than a great album, but these two blam-blammed me early in High School, and I've never gonna a week since without having "Rockaway Beach" pretty close to my consciousness. It's staggering to me that they, and frankly, some others on this list weren't more commercially successful. They are one of the greatest American Rock bands, and I wish they were still around.

Favorite Comic Book Covers!

Fantastic Four #144 by Rich Buckler. Jack Kirby left Marvel and the FF around 1970 and for awhile aftewards, I believe John Buscema handled them, but then Buckler stepped in and brought his strong Kirby instinct back to the book. The mid-seventies were a time of great adjustment at Marvel, but with Buckler handling the 4, they pretty much remained the World's Greatest Comic Mag throughout his term.

More Yanks

Could the Yanks be getting Connor Jackson and Brandon Medders for Randy Johnson and another piece? Well, that's the rumor I'm hearing. Of course this would look like more Jedi Mind Tricks from Cashmoney Green, depending of course on who the other player is. I'd imagine there is money going to AZ, too. Anyway, we'll see if this happens, but it does "feel" like a Cashmoney Green type of deal.

Barry Zito Signs with SF Giants

Jon Heyman and others are reporting that Barry Zito has signed with the SF Giants for 7/126M! Wow! I don't know how serious the Yanks were about Barry, but I can assure you they were not 7/126 interested! For the Yanks, this could mean more teams chasing Johnson and Pavano.

Get Well Soon, Bobby!

Former Yankee Centerfielder and my boyhood idol, Bobby Murcer, is having brain surgery to remove a tumor today. My prayers are with Bobby and his family today and through his recovery. Get well soon, Bobby!

Knicks WIN in TRIPLE OT!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you think last week was exciting this was even better! Marbury fouled out in the second OT, then Craweford too over, but Curry and Frye were also heroes, Lee got another Double-Double, and they overcame 50-something from Rip Hamilton! Here's the boxscore. What a fricking win!
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=261227018

Knicks Heading to OVERTIME

Ugh. Marbury, Curry, Frye and Craw have been great, but Jeffries forgot to foul and allowed a late 3 to tie it up. Refs have swallowed their whistles on the first two Knick possessions of the overtime.

Knicks UP 1 at the Half

Curry has 21, Marbury has 19 and Craw has 7 assists! There's some foul trouble, and the Knicks showed a lack of poise committing 3 late technicals that ate up their lead, but maybe they can pull one out here.

My Greatest 100 (or so) Albums...

ArgyBargy ( A+M, 1980) and East Side Story (A+M, 1981) by Squeeze. People talk about this group or that group being Beatlesesque. Well, what does that mean? Does it mean that a group sounds like the Beatles, or does it mean that a group features brilliant, poppy songwriting? I think it's the latter, and in that sense Squeeze was Beatlesque. I couldn't decide between these two albums, so I threw both on here. Much later they made and album called Play (Reprise, 1991) that's also awesome. Anyway, ArgyBargy features Pulling Mussels (From the Shell), If I Didn't Love You, and Another Nail for My Heart and a bunch of other great popsongs and really opened a lot of ears.

Their next album, East Side Story, was originally envisioned as a uble album with individual sides produced by Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and Paul McCartney. That's not what ended up happening, though Elvis Costello did produce a bunch of the songs (and sing on) Tempted, and Dave Edmunds did produce In Quintessence, the other outstanding songs were produced by Roger Bechirian. This was also the album where Jools Holland was replaced by Paul Carrack, and if you went to see them back then, as I did on the English Mugs and Others tour with Elvis Costello, Squeeze would play Paul's Ace hit: How Long (Has This Been Going On?) .

Over the years they had a lot of personel turnover outside of main songwriters Difford and Tillbrook, and eventually those two called it quits. But Squeeze really was one of the best pop bands ever and you should own these records.

Knicks GameNight

Jeffries is back and starting. What does David Lee have to do?

More Yanks

There is widespread speculation that when and if the Yanks complete a Randy Johnson trade, they could enter the Barry Zito sweepstakes. Though we would prefer a shorter deal with Roger Clemens, if Zito really wants to be a Yankee and is willing to give the Yanks a discount like the one Beltran once offered, he'd be a very nice addition. What he really brings is outstanding durability, and that's something the Yanks could really use.

If a Johnson deal gets done, it will be interesting to see what else might get done, especially if prospects come back.

Knicks Tonight

Two franchises that loathe Larry Brown, the Knicks and the Pistons, will get together tonight at the Garden, 7:30 pm est. Jeffries will be back, and will probably be matched up with Prince, who killed the Knicks in Detroit. Let's hope Lee's still starting!

Rest in Peace, Gerald Ford

He served when called upon to do so and made some tough decisions. Rest in Peace, Mr. President.

Rangers LOSE 6th Straight!

Great efforts by Lundqvist and Pock were not rewarded by the rest of the Rangers. They lost 2-0, and you have to wonder if the clock will ever start ticking on Renney and Sather.

Rangers DOWN 1-0 after 2

Lundqvist was screened on the Islander goal. Let's hope we can change the recent 3rd period script.

Rangers GameNight

Sorry this is late. They jumbled the lines and theyare not losing - yet. Islanders, not surprisingly, are carrying the hitting.

Luke Petitgout to the IR

Looks like Luke won't be available should we back into the playoffs, either. He was having a very good season before he went down.

It's also been announced that Gilbride will take over play calling from the demoted Coach Hufnagel on Saturday. What a fricking joke. He should have been demoted for not calling enough runs against the Colts in week one. Too little too late as it will turn out.

Michael Strahan to the IR

Word just came down. Here's hoping he's back to 100% to start the `07 season. It's clear that we still need him. Get well, 92!

More Yanks

With as many as five teams calling (Az, SD, SF, LA, LAA) Cashmoney Green could be on the verge of dealing Randy Johnson. With a market like this I expect to be impressed with the haul. The rumors have us looking for young pitchers for Az or a Linebrink based deal from SD. I don't know what the Giants, Dodgers or Angels are offering, but I do expect all of this interest to amount to something. Depending on what we get this could lead to even more deals.

Rangers Tonight

at the Islanders, 7:30 pm est. They can't possibly lose 6 in a row... can they?

My Greatest 100 (or so) Albums...

Star Time (1991) James Brown. This box set presents a wonderfully comprehensive record of Soul Brother #1's career from 1956-1984. From Please,Please, Please, to Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, to Get on the Goodfoot, Sex Machine and beyond, the hardest working man in showbiz gave it up and turned it loose. This is a must own set for anyone who's got a soul. Get on it.

More Yanks

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2708203 This will be interesting to follow. A Johnson deal might put the Yanks in the Zito market, but hopefully would just create a spot for Roger Clemens.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Here's a 4th and constantly emerging Holiday Classic. The ideas aren't as big as they are in the other three I talked about, but the truths in this little flick from the maker of Porky's (yikes) are abundant, as I hope all of your good feelings and futures are today. Merry Christmas, All! And God bless us, every one.

Rest in Peace, Godfather

I've just gotten the sad, sad news that James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, Butane James has passed on. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061225/ap_on_en_mu/obit_brown I can't begin to tell you what JB meant to me. He was a giant in music, and not only the Godfather of soul, but the prime mover of funk. It's late and I don't really know what else to say. I'll definitely write more on him when he joins my list of top 100 or so, but right now, I must say I'm pretty shocked. This may have been the greatest live performer ever, and I was lucky enough to see him several times. God bless him.

Giants Get BLOWN OUT on Tiki Barber Day

Not a lot one can say after his team has been so thoroughly embarrassed at home. The only questions that remain have to do with ownership and what they will or won't tolerate. The coach has not lived up to the promises he made when hired, and there has to be accountability.

Giants DOWN 13-7 at the Half

It only took the Giants four plays to score on their first drive, but it's been all Saints since then. Once again, playcalling and shoddy offensive execution have bitten the Giants in the ass. For all the talent Eli has shown, all the missed passes are getting OLD. He's had a terrible time hooking up with Shockey today, and he hasn't found Burress since the TD pass on the 4th play of the game. The Giants were not able to stop Reggie Bush as the Saints drove 89 yards into the wind and ate up most of the 2nd quarter to take the lead. It's going to be tough to come back, even though we're at home and the Saints don't have a great D. We fail on O too often.

Giants Today

Gotta beat the Saints. This is yet another team you can run on, so we'll probably be clever and pass too much. Strahan is back, and that should give them a lift, but will that lift last for 4 quarters? It's Tiki's last home game, and I really hope they don't let him down. Howie Long just said Eli Manning isn't a leader. Well, Howie, glasses don't make you smart. You can listen to the game here:http://wfan.com/ and you can follow all postgame stuff here:http://giants.com/.

The 3 Greatest Christmas Movies of All Time!

It's a Wonderful Life (Liberty Films, 1946-released 1947) Directed by Frank Capra. Starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Frank Faylen among others. Not much I can tell you about this one. There are times when I wonder if this is in fact the best movie ever made. I've never understood why a flick that considers such dark possibilities and starkly displays a very American type of evil, could be considered Capra-corn. Some people just don't get the things they're meant to. Anyway, this rocks, keep watching it!

A Miracle on 34th Street (20th Century Fox, 1947) Directed by George Seaton. Starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood and a truly amazing supporting cast. This movie is really, really funny. Not just funny for a holiday flick, but really funny. Seaton cast great comic actors in all of the non-leading rolls, and it worked wonders. How funny is William Frawley in this flick? Everything he does is awesome. Never miss this, and never watch a remake or the colorized original. Santa finds any of those actions totally naughty.

Scrooge (also called A Christmas Carol) (1951) Directed by Brian Desmond-Hearst and Produced by Carol Reed. Starring Alaister Sim as Scrooge. A lot of people get confused about which filmed version of A Christmas Carol to watch. This is the one. Alaister Sim is literally phenomenal as Scrooge. You know the story. Sim's transformation from a miserable shark of a man into the finest man in town is something to behold. Incidentally, I have always thought that Gene Wilder studied this movie before becoming Willie Wonka. Anyway, this is the one you want. Don't watch that 1938 Reginald Owen nonsense. Merry Christmas!