iron shef freaks out....

ask high life about having an unmotivated iron shef in the lineup. no fun at all. still he is one fearsome looking guy at the plate and could be my favorite american yankee.



Sheffield, the Yankees' right fielder, pushed back hard Wednesday after learning that the Mets had asked about obtaining him for outfielder Mike Cameron. In a blitz of a 10-minute interview before the Yankees' game against the Orioles was rained out, Sheffield repeatedly warned teams about the possible repercussions of acquiring him.

"I would never sit out," Sheffield said. "I would go play for them. It doesn't mean I'm going to be happy playing there. And if I'm unhappy, you don't want me on your team. It's just that simple. I'll make that known to anyone."

On Tuesday, Sheffield said that he would not join another team if he were traded and would forfeit his salary. After the trade discussions between the Mets and the Yankees were reported in The New York Post on Wednesday, Sheffield quickly changed his mind about possibly leaving. But he was adamant about being a divisive influence if the Yankees ever moved him.

this sounds like one bad ass speeded up broad...

LOS ANGELES - Model-turned-bounty hunter Domino Harvey - whose tumultuous life inspired an upcoming film starring Keira Knightley - has been found dead in her bathtub, authorities said yesterday.

An autopsy failed to reveal what killed the 35-year-old troubled beauty, they said.

The daughter of the late British actor Laurence Harvey ("The Manchurian Candidate," "Butterfield 8"), she was on probation for a 2003 methamphetamine conviction and was facing new federal drug charges when she died. But cops said there were no signs of drugs, paraphernalia or criminal activity in her West Hollywood home.

"There was nothing to indicate foul play of any kind. We don't really know anything," L.A. County Sheriff's Lt. Donnie Mauldin said.

Toxicology tests are under way to determine if any drug or substance played a role in her death, said Lt. Cheryl MacWillie, a spokeswoman for the L.A. county coroner. "There were no injuries to the body. She did not drown. She was never under water," she said.

The ex-fashion model, who traded runway glam for a dangerous job hunting bail jumpers, died Monday night.

After an early career as a Ford model, Harvey, whose mother was Vogue model Pauline Stone, decided to strike out on her own, working as a nightclub manager, a ranch hand and for the San Diego Fire Department before joining a bail bonds agency in 1994.

Named after a James Bond movie heroine, Harvey often hunted fugitive drug dealers and would reap 10% of the bail amount on those she captured.

great story and great picture...

I can't stop thinking about that ring. I've tried in vain to concentrate on other more important topics, but it's no use. All I do is wrack my spacious head wondering how Bob Kraft's New England Patriots Super Bowl ring, all five carats of it, wound up in Russian President Vladimir Putin's pocket.

I keep imaging the moment. One minute you're showing off your bauble. And then next minute the president of Russia, a man not to be toyed with, is hinting that he really, really likes it. What do you do?

You make an impromptu international offering of peace, is what you do.

Kraft didn't set out to give the ring away. It's unclear exactly what happened. It was one of those international, lost-in-translation episodes, and the oddest moment in sports this week, an NFL owner giving a Super Bowl ring to a world leader.

"I showed the president my most recent Super Bowl ring," Kraft said in a statement released Wednesday. The Russian president "was clearly taken with its uniqueness," Kraft said. "At that point, I decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people and the leadership of President Putin."

the gambler goes nuts...

ARLINGTON – The bizarre saga of angry Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers turned violent Wednesday at Ameriquest Field in Arlington when he knocked aside one TV camera and kicked another, sending a TV cameraman to the hospital.

Rogers, a left-hander who has a broken bone in his right hand, has been visibly angry for two days since various local TV and radio chatter suggested he backed out of a start against the American League West-leading Los Angeles Angels in a ploy for a contract extension.

"This is not a good thing," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said shortly after the incident but before talking to Rogers. "It's definitely not a good thing. It's not something that will be taken lightly."

a-game's hard core gossip report...

A friend of mine just got back from LA and heard this scoop about Tom & Katie from someone who works at Universal. The source said that they (Tom & Katie) have a 5-year contract and he's paying her $8 million.

The engagement happened so fast because Rob Thomas' (Matchbox 20) wife caught Rob and and Tom in bed together and they rushed the engagement so that it would overshadow that scandal. Obv., take it with a grain of salt.

reggie roby checks in with a couple of gems...

In this photo released by World Wildlife Fund-National Geographic, two Thai fishermen show a 293-kilogram (646-pound) giant catfish they caught from the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand Saturday, June 11, 2005. Thai fishermen have caught this giant catfish believed to be the world's heaviest living freshwater fish but died and was eaten after environmentalists and officials negotiated for its release to allow it to spawn. (AP Photo/Suthep Kritsanavarin, HO)



The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die
Alan Richman traveled 23,750 miles and consumed more than 150,000 calories while taking the measure of 162 burgers across the country—with one goal: to find you the best damned assemblage of ground beef and buns this country serves up

"i'm doing it for my son"...

SALT LAKE CITY -- For $10,000, Kari Smith has gone ahead and had her forehead tattooed with the Web address of a gambling site.

Bountiful, 30, who sold her unusual advertising space on eBay, said the money will give her 11-year-old son a private education, which she believes he needs after falling behind in school.

"For the all the sacrifices everyone makes, this is a very small one," she said. "It's a small sacrifice to build a better future for my son," she said.

"To everyone else, it seems like a stupid thing to do. To me, $10,000 is like $1 million. I only live once, and I'm doing it for my son," she said.

Tattoo artist Don Brouse said he and his staff spent nearly seven hours Wednesday trying to talk Smith out of putting "GoldenPalace.com" above her face. When he did go through with it, he kept the inch-tall letters close to her hairline, where bangs or a hat could provide some cover.

Smith's eBay auction attracted more than 27,000 hits and 1,000 watchers. Bidding reached $999.99 before Goldenpalace.com, an Internet gambling company in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, Canada, met Smith's $10,000 asking price.

more from a-game...

June 28, 2005 | Shaquille O'Neal once gave a photo to George Mikan, the NBA's first great big man and first great star, inscribed, "Without you, there would be no me." The Miami Heat star repeated the sentiment earlier this month when he publicly offered to pay for Mikan's funeral.

It doesn't appear to be a sentiment widely held by NBA players, or by the league itself. In a little over a half century the NBA has grown from a struggling entity vainly hoping to fill hockey arenas on dark nights to a $3 billion international business that turns young ballplayers into millionaires by the dozen.

Tuesday night 30 such players, the first-round picks in the draft, will find out which teams will sign them to a guaranteed, multimillion-dollar contracts. The average NBA player makes $4.9 million a year. More than 20 players make at least $13 million.

But as the finishing touches are being put on the league's new collective-bargaining agreement with the players union, some of the game's pioneers, men who played in front of small crowds for teams like the Chicago Stags and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks -- but also for the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks -- are hoping for an increase in what they consider an ungenerous NBA pension.

Others are hoping, after two decades of fighting, to be included at all.

The former players in both groups are in their late 70s and 80s mostly, some of them doing fine and others in desperate financial straits. They see the billions being generated by the league they helped build and wonder why today's millionaires won't shake loose what amounts to chump change to help them out.

"We were responsible for starting the league and keeping it going," says John Ezersky, 83, who played in the old Basketball Association of America and then the NBA in a three-year career that ended in 1950. "I think we're entitled to a little bit."

beware the art attack...

Greater New York 2005 at PS1: Through September 26th

Greater NY 2005 is a follow-up to the 2000 Greater NY show that launched the careers of Elizabeth Peyton (see earlier Art Attack on Contemporary Auctions) among others. People don't like this show because it's a desperate attempt to mine art schools and anticipate talent.

Important to note is the lack of female artists in the show that brought back the powerful 1980s Guerilla Girls for some protests when the show opened. Also, there was that hilarious fake press release that you can read here: (link).

Much to complain about, but there's some good art there and here are a few of my highlights:

The theme everyone loves to discuss is the intricate, delicate and modest drawing -- kind of the opposite of the Pollock, Picasso or even Basquiat bravado. Here's an example:



A theme of complex titles that give otherwise simple paintings bizarre meanings is intriguing. An example is Daniel Arsham's "Michael Graves got lost and found himself floating on the sea, affecting salination levels in the North Atlantic", which is a dark painting of an iceberg house. (Disclosure: A Little Birdie has a thing for icebergs.)

There is plenty of video and installation. A standout is David Ellis' "Granny (Drum, Painting Project version 5.0)", which is a sound and visual installation with drums and a sheet of connected pennies (money!$)



If you like kinky art and dirty pictures, certainly seek out Robert McKee's High Life which reminds me of arriving at a wild party at a transvestite stripper's place just after everyone left. Did everyone go to Lipps or Lucky Chengs?

Two of my top picks in sculpture is Courtney Smith's "Psiche Complexo"



a cool re-hinged woredrobe sculpture that can be reconfigured. And Kristen Hassenfeld's "Horn of Plenty Paper" could be my favorite piece in the show.



It's protestable, controversial, there's nudity, drug references, and money -- basically all the reasons you live in New York.

the interpretive dancing report...

a-game loves interpretive dancing. always has, always will. a couple of drinks and she'll interpretive dance to anything anywhere. if you get her sister involved as well, the whole thing turns pretty crazy. here's the first in what we hope to many interpretive dance reports. thanks a-game.



The reason I love the song Cinnamon Lips is because Pilar Kim and I saw Ok Go perform in DC ( at a live reading of This American Life). I don't have sound so I don't know what they're singing, but this should give you an idea of why I think they're so hilarious. This is interpretive dancing at its best.

the jeff ruland report...

anyone remember this guy jeff ruland? i didn't either. he's just a 6'10 honky from bay shore -- strong island -- who averaged 22.2 points and 12.3 rebounds a game for the 1983-84 washington bullets. how come this guy isn't one of my all time favorites? i wish i had known. look at him. he's perfect. socks pulled up to an uncool length? yup. terrible mid-eighties philly uni? check. stashe? you bet. this guy is the total package. i am getting myself a ruland bullets throwback no matter what. he looks like a cross between the falafel guy downstairs from me and the drunken yankee fan that sits a few rows back from me sweating and screaming at top volume. reggie could have sat next to this guy on the l.i.r.r. and just thought to himself, "that is one supersized mustachioed guido. i can't believe he's eating a f'ing mc rib on the train." i imagine ruland to be always snacking on mc ribz and pulling down rebounds like a crazy person. that's just how he does it. mc rib fueled bay shore incredibleness. all this time that i've wasted. i could have been learning about ruland. i can't wait to go to bay shore and pay homage. sorry chris dudley, jon koncak, matt fish, doleac and the rest, but you can all go f yourselves. jeff ruland forever!



he's also the head coach at iona. perfect.

"power alcohol"?....

An illegal brew laced with industrial poisonous alcohol caused the death of 49 people in Kenya, according to medical staff. The police is looking for a woman suspected of distributing the drink to local bars.

The beverage known as "Power Alcohol" contained methanol, a toxic wood alcohol which added to the mixture increase its potency. Apparently, the result was too strong for 174 people, who were hospitalized Saturday and Sunday, and more patients arrive continuously at Machakos General Hospital, some 34 miles out of Nairobi.

According to medical superintendent Simon Mueke, police brought 15 bodies to the hospital Saturday, and another 34 people died while receiving emergency treatment on Sunday.

Illegal improvised drinking dens selling strong homemade brews happen all the time in back streets in Kenya. There are sporadic poisoning accidents, one of the most severe took place in 2000, when 130 people died from one toxic batch.

There is an ongoing investigation being unfolded, and the ones responsable for this tragedy will be charged with murder or manslaughter. The Health Ministry appealed on Sunday for Kenyan drinkers to stop buying illegal brews.

too little, too late...

brutal series over the weekend. yanks look like sh*t. make some freaking plays already.



Somewhere in the middle innings last night, when the Yankees were on the verge of being swept at home by the Mets, the talk in General Manager Brian Cashman's box turned fanciful. Cashman was watching the game with Billy Connors and Bill Emslie, confidants of the team's principal owner, George Steinbrenner, who were up from Tampa, Fla.

"Maybe," someone in the box said, "something like a walk-off win will get us going."

The Yankees got their walk-off victory in the ninth, when Jason Giambi ripped a two-run single off Braden Looper to lift the Yankees to a 5-4 victory. The Yankees' record nudged above .500, to 38-37, the opposite record of the Mets. It was a thrilling victory, and Manager Joe Torre was hopeful of its significance.

"If this doesn't build our character, what will?" Torre said.

Even in saying that, Torre was wary. He has seen enough inconsistency from his team not to let one meltdown by the Mets' bullpen obscure all the troubling signs the Yankees have shown. There is still plenty to deal with, Torre said, and the players agreed.

"We'll see," Derek Jeter said. "Every time we win now, people are saying, 'Is this the turning point?' You decide that when the season's over."

nba draft fashions...

courtesy of our own clothes horse andre the giant. if these aren't enough here's more. sad to note that there are two current knickerbockers on the list.

i like this guy stan...

Seattle relievers were dismayed to find out when they got here that the beautiful, still-new Petco Park does not have a bathroom in the visitors' bullpen, which is down the right-field line, on the opposite side of the field from the visitors' bench.

No one was more dismayed than lefty Matt Thornton, who had go to the bathroom during the game Friday night. To do so, he had to climb over a fence to reach a public restroom, where he had to stand in line.

"I met a guy named Stan, who invented a baseball cap with a handle so you can take it off fast to catch foul balls," Thornton said. "He said he tested it at a batting cage on pitches at 75 mph and caught five before the seams started to give out."

Closer Eddie Guardado said that the visitors' bullpen in San Francisco doesn't have a bathroom, either. "It's not that bad there; the dugout is closer and you can run back," Guardado said. "Maybe it's just they didn't think of it, or maybe they're trying to be cute. It could be tough to pitch well if you gotta go, you know?"

titties pop popping at the great hall...

WASHINGTON (AP) — With barely a word about it, workers at the Justice Department Friday removed the blue drapes that have famously covered two scantily clad statues for the past 3 1/2 years.

Spirit of Justice, with her one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male Majesty of Law basked in the late afternoon light of Justice's ceremonial Great Hall.

The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about and criticism of the deeply religious Ashcroft.

The 12-foot, 6-inch aluminum statues were installed shortly after the building opened in the 1930s. With a change in leadership at Justice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced the question: Would they stay or would they go?


He regularly deflected the question, saying he had weightier issues before him. Paul Corts, the assistant attorney general for administration, recommended the drapes be removed and Gonzales signed off on it, spokesman Kevin Madden said, while refusing to allow The Associated Press to photograph the statues Friday.

transvestite beauty pageant + hardline islamic group = lots of laughs...

A transvestite beauty pageant in Indonesia was the scene of an unusual clash on Sunday when it was interrupted by a hardline Islamic group.

Members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) barged into a club where the Miss Waria 2005 contest was taking place.

FPI leader Soleh Mahmud said: "Before Allah punishes us with a second tsunami here in Jakarta, let us ask the police to disperse this event."

After a delay the contest continued, and was won by PR worker Olivia.

He won $250 and a return air ticket to Thailand, where he will compete in an international transvestite contest next year.

great story...

stu ungar was the man. saw a big feature on him last year on espn, but here's something from this weekend's times:



IN Las Vegas terms, it's almost a rite of spring: a talented newcomer plants his elbows on the cash-green felt of a big-money table at the World Series of Poker. He gets on a roll, starts talking some trash, and inevitably, the murmurs start. "He's the next Stuey," somebody will say. "He's another Kid."

But anyone who has actually played against Stu Ungar will disagree.

"He'd kill these guys," said Bobby Baldwin, a champion of the late 70's, referring to the new generation of players who are expected to swell this year's World Series of Poker to more than 6,000 contestants for its main events, more than twice the number of contestants as last year's series, which drew about three times the number of the year before. "It wouldn't even be close."

Stu, or Stuey the Kid, Ungar was the swashbuckling enfant terrible of poker before it blew up into a mainstream obsession in the 1990's. The diminutive son of a Lower East Side bookmaker, he won his back-to-back World Series of Poker titles by the unheard of age of 27 and went on to win, and lose, $30 million by one estimate before his epic taste for excess left him dead, in a cheap Las Vegas motel on Nov. 22, 1998, at 45.

hippy obit...

cause my readers love hippies



SAN FRANCISCO - Chet Helms, the revered father of the 1967 Summer of Love and a music promoter who launched the career of singer Janis Joplin, has died of complications from a stroke. He was 62.

Helms, who once stood at the center of the 1960s Bay Area music scene, died Saturday surrounded by friends and family at San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center.

“It was a beautiful death,” said his wife Judy Davis. “It was a goodbye party. We all sang to him and told stories. He died as he lived — surrounded by love.”

a lot of brotherly love to millard fillmore and his wifey, who hosted me and a-game in philly over the weekend to see the hated sawx take on the phillies. the new stadium was hot, lots of open air and nice and breezy. the only problem was that red sowx nation's over inflated bandwagon was out in full uninformed force. lots of idiots with pink sawx hats on cheering for johnny damon. needless to say the sawx triumphed easily and philly's weak fans were outnumbered at least six to four. still, fun was had. also ate very well in philly. best mexican food i've had in a long time and a cheese steak that changed my world view for ever. also i would like to thank luttrell spreewell, who hosted me and a game for a swim in the pool as well as a delish usingers brat from milwaukee. luttrell has his hands full with his three daughters, their friends and the in-laws, but still graciously fed us with brats and beers and allowed us to get off the turnpike on a nasty hot day.

nice job by duncan and ginobli...

just a sidenote, in the back of the duncan photo, is that an israeli flag? are the jews of san antonio throwing down at the alamodome? i hope so. mazel!


SAN ANTONIO, June 23 - When the defending champion Detroit Pistons were storming toward a repeat and critics' whispers were growing louder, Tim Duncan grew more determined to take over Game 7 of the N.B.A. finals.

After struggling to score 8 points in the first half, Duncan popped in 17 points in the final 18 minutes, leading the Spurs to an 81-74 victory Thursday night at the S.B.C. Center.

The Pistons, a resilient and unselfish group of players, forced the N.B.A. finals into a Game 7 for the first time in 11 years, but it was Duncan, who had led the Spurs to their first two titles in 1999 and 2003, who proved he was worthy of superstar status. He collected his third Most Valuable Player award, joining Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal as players who had won three or more of them.

"I got on a roll there for a little while, my shot felt good, things started to go down for me," said Duncan, who added 11 rebounds, giving him an average of 20.5 points and 14.1 rebounds for the series.

There were times - especially when he was shooting 4 of 15 midway through the third quarter - when Duncan knew he was not playing well.

"I felt the game was going bad for me, but it was about pushing through and persevering," he said. "My teammates continued to throw the ball in to me. They were more confident in me than I was. I got one to fall, two to fall and things started happening."

hurricanes report: qb edition...

here's part one of mac fu's miami hurricanes preview. the guy went basically apesh*t and gave me so much awesome canes info that i can barely stand it. for the rest of you, however, i will break it up into bite sized pieces that you can deal with.

QB: Especially after Brock Berlin and all the frustration associated with him, Kyle Wright will be a revelation. The kid can make every throw in the playbook and now has the confidence of his teammates. Think Jim Kelly

Great spring, leading the team through off season workouts, made the honor roll, the nicest guy you could ever want to meet…almost makes you want to throw up. The major concern is his first start will be at FSU, on Labor Day—its going to be hot and nasty. We’ll see what he’s made of then.

andre probably has this...

A 13-year-old girl has become the youngest author to be published in South Africa's main medical journal for her research on "PlayStation thumb".

Safura Abdool Karim interviewed 120 of her former schoolmates for a science project about whether they suffered problems after playing computer games.

Symptoms of "PlayStation Thumb" include blisters numbness and tingling, mainly in the thumb, she wrote.

She said the condition is similar to Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

"Although RSI is not new, in the past it occurred mainly among adults," she said.

"Today computers and computer games are creating new medical problems, such as PlayStation thumb, which are becoming common in children."

and here's a photo of the cabbage leaf in the hat...

in case you forgot:

"Is it against the rules to pitch wearing a cabbage leaf?"

Doosan pitcher Park Myung-hwan is on the hot seat for pitching on June 19 at Jamsil Stadium against Hanhwa wearing a frozen cabbage leaf inside his hat to cool off from the heat.

The KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) decided to hold a rules committee meeting on June 21 to rule whether the “cabbage pitch” was a violation and to set specific limits on pitchers’ forbidden items stipulated by baseball rules.

During the game, Park had his hat fall off twice during pitches, which revealed a cabbage leaf, but the umpire did not call it. Park pitched for seven scoreless innings and earned his ninth win of this season. However, a day after the game, some argued that Park violated baseball rule article 8.02(b) stipulating: “a pitcher is immediately ejected from the game if he wears or carries a foreign substance.”

for reggie...

also, don't we all agree that reggie should be rocking this jers for $80?

love that 'sheed rocks a championship belt...

as well as the earl campbell throwback

fredeeky meets the terminator...

so i was outside enjoying my union mandated smoke break when one of the building custodians asked me if there was a yankee store on 42nd st. he was asking for a group of tourists that was standing behind him. i replied that there was one on 42nd street and explained where it was. he relayed the info to the tourists as i looked at his i.d. card that was hanging from his neck. according to the card his first name was "terminator". by the time this registered in my brain he was halfway down the block sweeping up. i followed him and asked if that was his real name. "changed it around '85," he said. "i was an amateur fighter and that's what they called me. just stuck. fought golden gloves. lot of fun. lot of fun."

one of the great stories in major league history...

dock ellis only threw a no-no on acid (despite walking eight batters) AND often wore hair curlers. that's a double threat right there.



Thirty-five years ago, on June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh Pirate and future Texas Rangers pitcher Dock Ellis found himself in the Los Angeles home of a childhood friend named Al Rambo. Two days earlier, he'd flown with the Pirates to San Diego for a four-game series with the Padres. He immediately rented a car and drove to L.A. to see Rambo and his girlfriend Mitzi. The next 12 hours were a fog of conversation, screwdrivers, marijuana, and, for Ellis, amphetamines. He went to sleep in the early morning, woke up sometime after noon and immediately took a dose of Purple Haze acid. Ellis would frequently drop acid on off days and weekends; he had a room in his basement christened "The Dungeon," in which he'd lock himself and listen to Jimi Hendrix or Iron Butterfly "for days."

A bit later, how long exactly he can't recall, he came across Mitzi flipping through a newspaper. She scanned for a moment, then noticed something.

"Dock," she said. "You're supposed to pitch today."

Ellis focused his mind. No. Friday. He wasn't pitching until Friday. He was sure.

"Baby," she replied. "It is Friday. You slept through Thursday."

Ellis remained calm. The game would start late. Ample time for the acid to wear off. Then it struck him: doubleheader. The Pirates had a doubleheader. And he was pitching the first game. He had four hours to get to San Diego, warm up and pitch. If something didn't happen in the interim, Dock Philip Ellis, age 25, was about to enter a 50,000-seat stadium and throw a very small ball, very hard, for a very long time, without the benefit of being able to, you know, feel the thing.

Which, it turns out, was one of the least crazy things that happened to him on that particular day.

gary pettus is angry with the knicks...

don't think gary reads the blizzy, but i'm watching game 7 with him tonite and he sent me an e mail that i wanted to share.



The Knicks break my heart. Here I am, in the prime of my life, and they are in the prime of an extra special shit sandwhich, with seemingly no end in sight. In 40 years time, am I going to feel like a Cubs fan who was born in 1909, the year AFTER they won the shit for the last time? Is there any irony in the fact that I was conceived during the same week the Knicks won their last championship? I enter the world 9 months later and they're 0-31 since.

Big Fuckin Prickage.

But win or lose, I'll wear my Starks jersey to the grave.

from the files of barry beck...

who secretly wants to move to upper east side to be nearer reggie roby and the swinging singles scene at dorrians



June 23, 2005 -- IN the same way that something tragically uncool often becomes kind of cool (like tunics, or Justin Timberlake) the staid, charmless Upper East Side is becoming the neighborhood of choice for those New Yorkers who would consider themselves avant-garde, anti-establishment and ahead of the curve: namely, downtowners.

"In my neighborhood, there are a couple of really funny Williamsburg-type kids who are up there and loving it," says Upper East Sider Will Hooks, a 27-year-old assistant art director at Entertainment Weekly who himself moved from Williamsburg two years ago. Hooks finds his new neighborhood cleaner, calmer, cheaper and less sartorially stressful.

"In Williamsburg, I had to wear my corduroy pants or my tight jeans, and I was very emo-ish - even though I didn't listen to emo," he says, laughing. "I had mohawks. I had a mullet - and I'm black! That totally worked there, but it wouldn't work uptown."

any thing chi-chi related will be blogged about....

CONCORD -- Amid a gathering of 78 distinguished gentlemen, an absentee remains among the most noticeable. Chi Chi Rodriguez will not be participating in the Bank of America Championship at Nashawtuc Country Club this weekend. Depending on one's perspective, he is a victim either of injustice or of pride.

Or, perhaps, of both.

``It's unfortunate because that was my favorite tournament on tour,'' Rodriguez said yesterday by phone from El Legado, his home golf club in his native Puerto Rico.

``I miss my friends, I miss the course and I miss the fans,'' Rodriguez continued. ``They should have had me there under the terms that I earned, which they've taken away from me.''

While the PGA essentially has created special rules that will allow Nicklaus and Palmer to play competitive golf for as long as they like - that standard is based on career victories - Rodriguez has fallen victim to other standards. While his play has suffered in recent years, Rodriguez in 2004 saw his tour ranking dip to 183rd. And because his scoring average was more than 5 strokes higher than the field average in the seven tournaments he entered, he lost the exempt status that allowed him to play wherever and whenever he liked.

i like 'troit...

and i like chauncy

get your tivo ready....

On the first episode of his new reality series, the beleaguered R&B singer Bobby Brown pokes fun at his extensive rap sheet and his bad boy reputation. "Maybe you don't recognize me because I'm not in an orange jumpsuit," he tells two middle-aged men dining in a fashionable restaurant. Mr. Brown then turns around and places his hands behind his back as if he's being handcuffed. (It is a stance that he has become quite accustomed to over the years.) "Recognize me now, don't you?"

The series, which begins next Thursday night at 10 on the cable channel Bravo, chronicles Mr. Brown's exploits over the last six months. Watch Bobby Brown narrowly avoid prison, party in the Bahamas and pose for pictures with adoring fans. Watch him dance a jig at a local Chinese eatery and pick the lock on his hotel room mini bar.

Among the many things viewers learn about the couple: Ms. Houston snores loudly, Mr. Brown uses Preparation H to treat bags under his eyes and the two enjoy a very active sex life. In a voice that is meant to be sultry, Mr. Brown asks his wife, "Can I impregnate you?" To which she quickly responds, "You tried to impregnate me all last week." In one of the show's more uncomfortable moments, Mr. Brown freely discusses how he helped relieve his constipated wife.

some hockey for barry and reggie...



Imagine you’re at a hockey game, the exhilaration of the crowd skyrockets every time two players square off, drop the gloves and go at it ...

Welcome to a world premere event, welcome to HOCKEY ENFORCERS!

A pay-per-view (PPV) sports spectacular, the likes of which has never seen before featuring players from all genres; former professionals, current professionals, and the toughest players that semi-pro and junior hockey has ever produced.

Watch 16 of the world’s toughest best hockey fighters throw down in a series of battles, presented in tournament style, to be crowed the champion. To advance, players will meet at center ice, when the puck drops, the gloves are off! Each on-ice fight will last a maximum of 60 seconds as part of a minimum “two fight knock-out” style tournament format.

Winners continue to advance and losers must not lose again in order to stay in the tournament.

loved this one...

Here’s one for the record books.

The first two innings of the July 16th game between the Kansas City T-Bones and the Schaumburg Flyers will be played virtually.

Equipped with Microsoft Xbox game controllers instead of baseball gloves and bats, two video gamers will climb into recliner chairs around home plate at CommunityAmerica Ballpark and slug it out on the park’s 16- by 24-foot video screen.

Their scores from playing two innings of MVP Baseball 2005 on an Xbox will stand when the T-Bones and Flyers take the field to finish the last seven innings of the game.

Mike Stone, commissioner of the minor-league baseball Northern League, said the idea “brings new meaning to the term ‘fan involvement.’ ”

The idea for the promotion came from the 6-year-old niece of Bryan Williams, director of community relations for the T-Bones.

a great photo of one of the greatest hitters of the 80's...