Viewer alert

It's a bit early, but it's a good time for you to at least find it on your dial, but apparently next weekend's Jeopardy! rerun will be my second episode (don't click if you don't want to be spoiled). You'll definitely have to check your local listings if you really care to see me on TV again.

Bronx time machine

It's hard to believe that the Yankees are the only team to still hold an Old Timers Day, especially with teams like the Pirates, Red Sox and Tigers all having lots of tradition to fall back on as well. Then again, when the Yankees first did this day to retire Lou Gehrig's number, you know they can do it right.

(As an aside, what would a Devil Rays or Rockies Old Timers Day look like? I guess you can trot out Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff, Andres Galarraga and Dante Bichette; but then again you'll also see Kevin Stocker and David Nied, I guess.)

The array of Yankees introduced is always intriguing. There are the really old legends like Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford; more recent legends like Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry and Don Mattingly; and notable names from the recent run of World Series titles like Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, Jim Leyritz and even Darryl Strawberry. Bucky Dent's recent firing opened things up for him to show up at the game, and Bobby Murcer's appearance was really nice, given his recent health issues.

But with all the names from the past showing up, what in the world was Homer Bush doing in the ceremonies? Especially since he's 10 years younger than the starting pitcher for the Yankees on Saturday (yes, it seems fitting that Roger Clemens was starting on Old Timers Day).

Karma Ticketmaster

So after the sunburned experience on Saturday, I redeemed myself by going back to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday with the office tickets. However, it was a weird shuffle that saw me and a fellow co-worker giving our original tickets to another one of our cubicle-mates so she could go with her family and then getting another set from someone else. Hard to figure out, but instead of the $10 face value bleacher seats, I had a $125 face value ticket just behind first base.

The game itself was a lot better, and the celebrity factor was also amusing. For the second straight time I've gotten company seats to a game, I've seen this guy at the game, and for added bonus, we got one of his co-stars. But the real star of the night was everyone's favorite former Cincinnati mayor, who was a couple of sections over and was mobbed by people wanting to take pictures with him when he tried to leave in the eighth inning.

And as for July 4th, I got a sort of an obstructed view of the East River fireworks from my friend's place on Roosevelt Island. We could've gotten a better view, but we weren't willing to pay $18 to see it from the park on the south end of the island. Still, I was impressed by the layout of the whole island -- a weird slice of suburbia in between Manhattan and Queens.

Road trip at home

I guess I should fill in whatever leftover blanks from the trip reports from Mike and Craig . They've done a great job of wrapping up their long journey; I was just there for part of it, as well as serving as a home base for a good portion of it.

Wednesday: I actually worked on some housing stuff before a rather uneventful trip up to Hudson Valley. The one thing that struck me was the jersey t-shirt for Evan Longoria. Yes, he was the Devil Rays' top pick last year, and yes his name is that close to Gabrielle's (although they're not related). But as you can see from the stats, Longoria played all of eight games for Hudson Valley (hate that 'Gades stuff) last year. Is that enough for a t-shirt? On the other hand, I'm still interested in getting a Mike Piazza Marlins jersey or a Rasheed Wallace Hawks uni.

Thursday: It was disheartening to see the line for NBA Draft tickets wrap directly around Penn Plaza. Who said the NBA was dead? It was interesting to note that the NBA official who broke the bad news did say they asked to use the actual Garden instead of just using the Theater but were rebuffed. It also sparked one guy near us to ask, "Why did you bother advertising on the radio?" if there were only going to be a few hundred seats available once all the VIPs and entourages were taken care of.

While Mike and Craig were doing their Millionaire audition (oh yeah, I got the thanks but no thanks postcard today), Dwight and I took a quick trip to the Strand Bookstore where somehow I ended up selling out to the WWL by buying a handful of books all related to some of their talent.

We did a good job of ad libbing our way to some entertainment that night. I'd been meaning to go to Caroline's one of these days since it's right down the street from work, so it all turned out for the best, especially as we escaped the thunderstorms we all expected with the insanely hot and humid day in Manhattan (it's less comfortable there than the dry 100 degrees in Las Vegas).

Also, while I was impressed by my trip to the Stage Deli, it is notable that more than one person suggested I take them to Katz's, although it was a little out of the way from where we planned on being during the day.

Friday: Citizens Bank Park is a solid stadium, although the stairs to the upper level of seats were a bit interesting. I'm still unsure how I feel about all of the sporting venues located in one area, but there seemed to be adequate parking as well as a SEPTA stop should I need it. We did get cheesesteaks before the game, although at a pizza place down the street from the stadium and not at one of the landmark places. Still, it was a decent sandwich. Plus, it gives me more ideas for my own Philly trip.

I also finally got to a Somerset game, which is notable since the park is only about 25 minutes from my house. I thought I might actually run into people I'd know, especially since my high school did some big alumni gathering there earlier in the week. The funny part of entering the stadium was our assorted oohs and aahs when such former major leaguers as Quinton McCracken, Junior Spivey and Alan Zinter were announced in the starting lineup as we were walking in.

Saturday: I've had better experiences in the Yankee Stadium bleachers, but unfortunately this wasn't it, even if it was a nice sunny day. Then again, with Kei Igawa starting, it was going to be a long day. I just didn't think the Yankees would be one-hit that day. Hopefully I'll get those guy better tickets and a better experience soon enough. Maybe we won't have Carl complaining about the team. I did make a quick return to the Stadium already (more on that later).

Unfortunately, I don't know all of the places actual Rutgers students might go to, but I know enough of some of the areas now (specifically suburban South Plainfield/Piscataway) to find a decent diner experience before the lacrosse game. The Fountainbleau diner had some great meal deals, plus we had the requisite onion rings (no jukebox at the table, though).

Oddly enough, the MLL game had the most expensive tickets of all the games I went to on the tour, and that included two Major League Baseball games. But the entertainment was solid enough. I had no clue it was that close to home.

Now I have to knock a few more local parks off the list like Lakewood, Montclair, Sussex and maybe even Atlantic City and Camden.

It was fun tagging along for a good portion of this trip and at least see a little of the fun that I'd only heard about.

Sunday: While the rest of the traveling quizbowl circus hit Baltimore, I made the requisite trip to see Live Free or Die Hard. It had pieces of the other three movies but it obviously doesn't live up to the original, but much like Rocky Balboa, it was good for what it's worth. Very silly and it was a bit strange seeing Warren Cheswick/Mr. Mac trying to play a hacker. Oh yeah, Maggie Q kicks all sorts of ass as well.

A real U-turn

So the sad Chris Benoit story really took a turn for the worst as the rumblings of a murder-suicide were indeed true and very disturbing. And while the attention now turns to potential "roid rage," it is very interesting to see how the WWE had to switch gears after Monday's tribute show.

As mentioned before, the televised tribute shows for Eddie Guerrero, Owen Hart and Brian Pillman had a slight bit of planning. But more to the point, there wasn't the same mystery over their deaths -- Pillman and Guerrero had heart attacks in their hotel rooms, while Owen had the tragic in-ring accident. At the time the WWE found out about Benoit's death, it was assumed a similar tribute would be in order and could make good use of their extensive tape library. Unfortunately as the evening unfolded, the show turned out to be a bad idea given the news, although in some ways, you did want to have closure on his career.

So the ECW show did go on, with Vince McMahon apologizing once again for how it approached death. But probably once and for all, McMahon's "death" storyline will be trashed for good.

The more interesting aspect of this is how the WWE's Web site has been handling this story. It was obviously the first to the story, although they played it very gingerly for a while, dedicating as much time to tributes and career retrospectives as the news itself. But as the news unfolded, it became a primary go-to source for some of the more grisly details. More telling, all those retrospectives are gone. His WWE.com bio is gone, no merchandise available. The only main reference to him now is the story about his death, although the WWE can't completely delete all history related to him (like it used to do when failing to acknowledge past wrestlers' history in rival promotions for years).

I guess at this point, the show will go on up in Stamford. And unfortunately, Benoit will indeed go down in even worse infamy than almost all the wrestlers who died too soon.

Happier, trashier thoughts

Sorry for the two straight celebrity death posts. It just happens that way at times. However, I get another trash tournament title, teaming up with J-Kel, Adam Fine and last-second addition Tim Young (thanks to a well-timed phone call Saturday night) to win Maryland's event. If you're looking through stats, I'm Yuniesky.

The questions were relatively solid (must speak in general terms with the material still in play next week), although for an event aimed at a younger crowd, it still seemed to favor our group more than we expected. It did make for a couple of shootouts, and some insane combined total scores (690 out of 800 in one game).

My neg total was a bit high, although at least a couple of times I had the answer in my head but my mouth changed a last name. Given the way things went, I could play a little looser without causing much of a disturbance. But I think I still have the fastball, so I'll really have to find another tournament this summer.

The whole little experience was fun as I got to add yet two more teammates to the growing list of players over the years, plus catching up with some old friends once again along the way.

This is not an angle

Unfortunately for WWE, it has become too used to doing impromptu tribute shows on Raw for its stars who have died while actively with the company. Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and now, sadly, Chris Benoit.

This latest tragic story in the real world of pro wrestling thankfully did away with the silly "Mr. McMahon is dead" storyline that really pushed the limits of what today's wrestling fan will believe. Vince himself was in a middle of an empty ring to tell the viewing public about the death of Benoit and his family. Hopefully he's learned now not to walk too fine a line with angles, especially relating to death -- there is still a dose of reality in wrestling even if we know these guys are playing characters.

This tribute show was different than the other three mentioned above for obvious reasons. The other three wrestlers died the weekend before Monday Night Raw, with Pillman dying the day before a pay-per-view card, Hart killed during a PPV event. That gave the performers a chance to compose themselves and eventually set up some real "tribute" matches. (With that said, Benoit was supposed to be on Sunday's PPV card but no-showed due to a "family emergency.")

In the case of Benoit, the tragic news officially came about midafternoon Monday just hours before the show was to go on. The live show was canceled and a number of old Benoit matches were aired, introduced by the announcing crews for all three WWE shows (having all three brands represented because of the McMahon angle helped here) interspersed with messages from some of the current roster. It is worth noting that at least a couple of matches (ladder vs. Jericho; cage vs. JBL) had him losing. But Benoit was the type of guy who could put someone over without ruining his mojo. However, an old Japanese match in his Pegasus Kid gimmick vs. Jushin Liger was fun to watch. And it was really heartbreaking to see Benoit win the Wrestlemania XX main event and then celebrating with the now deceased Eddie Guerrero.

Unfortunately, Benoit isn't even close to being a rare breed of pro wrestlers to die young, although the circumstances beyond his death are so vastly different than Guerrero or other colleagues that his will really stick out for years to come. Let's hope many people (at least wrestling fans) will remember the Rabid Wolverine for his in-ring prowess than for whatever news will come out of his tragic end.

Truly a reality check

History isn't usually kind to the second or third person in history to do something, and so was the feeling when I saw the news that Frankie from The Real World: San Diego had died (the second former cast member of the show to do so). In many ways, she's very similar to Danitra Vance, the third Saturday Night Live alum to pass away.

Both shows actually now have a long list of alums, given their seemingly unending runs, but with their limited yet rotating casts, any death to a member of the cast is still notable. But obviously, some passings will get more play than others.

In Frankie's case, she passed on a few years after her original run on the show and many years after the well-publicized death of Pedro Zamora just as his San Francisco season had finished airing. In Vance's case, she died in relative anonymity many years after her similarly anonymous SNL run and more than 10 years after John Belushi's highly notable passing and five years after Gilda Radner's similarly tragic end. Frankie's Real World was season 14, Vance's SNL was season 10 -- by then, both shows were just part of the TV world, you know it's on, but it's not making much noise in the general cultural landscape (recent Survivor seasons are getting that way as well). So you had to be a really hard-core fan or a younger viewer picking up on the show late for both people to resonate in people's minds.

Even how they're often remembered on their shows is relatively similar. Vance was the first African-American female cast member, and while she had a couple of relatively notable characters (Cabrini Green Jackson, for instance), she definitely didn't come out of the show a star. Her lone season, 1985-86, was a transition one, but also produced such longtime stalwarts as Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz.

Frankie was most known for having cystic fibrosis, which likely was the cause of her death, but also had her share of drama (a cutting incident, strife with her boyfriend, fear of working on a boat) and left the show before the end of the season. Like Vance, she had her moments, but in the long run, didn't necessarily seem to fit in with the cast -- especially physically While Frankie did have the cute alternative thing going, her other three female roommates from the show (Cameran, Robin, Jamie) were just off the charts -- all have done Maxim/calendar/bikini modeling gigs since the show's original run in 2003-04.

So rest in peace, Frankie, as you now become a notable footnote in TV history.

Vegas, baby, hoo-hah!

So I did catch my first real sequel of the summer season by watching Ocean's Thirteen, and it was definitely fun to watch, especially after coming back from Vegas. All of the actors seemed to have fun pretending to be suave as well as doing the basic comic capering. And guys like Andy Garcia and Al Pacino chewed up the scenery as usual, and Ellen Barkin was actually usefully hot; but I was also amused to see Super Dave Osborne show up again in a secondary role. Also, I guess the Pacino casino would be where that huge Coke bottle is on the Strip -- at least they picked out an area that's sorta in need of a mega-huge resort.

Throwing off the curve

Forgot to mention that I easily passed my Millionaire audition on Monday. The whole process surprisingly only took about 25 minutes, not including waiting outside the ABC cafeteria door. While I had some nice people at my table, including one of the eight or so people of the 60 who passed, I had a good feeling that I could've easily went on to the next round if the Scantron-scored tests were graded on a curve. Still, I had to hold my breath as I was the last of eight or so called out of the 60 taking the test to pass.

(Oh yeah, the test was 30 multiple-choice questions that seemed to ask more pop cultural stuff than academic stuff. I felt it was a breeze, but that's just me, obviously. After hanging around with a bunch of trivia and game show junkies, this was just a perfunctory part of getting to the second level of the quiz show casting process.)

Afterward was a quick Polaroid session followed by what seemed to be a version of speed dating as I talked with one of the young and relatively attractive PAs who at least was energetic enough to make me feel like I've got a shot at being in the audience pool. It definitely is a different experience compared to Jeopardy!, especially with the fact that you can try out multiple times in a year. Who knows what will happen.

Rockets and Bears

-- I did get to the Roger Clemens relaunch in the Bronx on Saturday, and it was a pretty fun atmosphere, although I was sorta surprised I could still walk up to get tickets just minutes before the game, especially with it being Cap Day, but I guess playing the Pirates didn't goose up the attendance (but there were decent smatterings of fans there.

-- And for a change of pace, I ended up at the Newark Bears game on Sunday, where there was about 1% of the attendance of the Yankees game the day before. It was "Women in Sports" Day at the park, which I guess is a nice idea, but the first promotion tied to it was a Brandi Chastain contest where a couple of guys wore sports bras and had to do their best post-goal celebration. So I guess we weren't serious about the concept, eh?

-- Finally caught my first movie of the summer movie season, and it wasn't a sequel in the exact sense of the term, but given the mix of Freaks and Geeks/Undeclared/40-Year-Old Virgin alums, it might as well be a Judd Apatow sequel. And everything really did seem like those projects mashed together. The celebrity cameos were fun -- including completing the "Freaks" reunion by adding James Franco to the mix. Plus, who knew Bill Haverchuck could look like Jesus?

-- Just watched the most recent incarnation of Last Comic Standing, and I was underwhelmed with the talent, although it was a good touch to replace the Tonight Show folks with LCS alums. So would Kathleen Madigan be Paula, Alonzo Bodden be Randy and Ant (plus toupee) be Simon?

-- While watching LCS, though, I got bombarded with the Mark Philippoussis reality show ads that were surprisingly kept to a minimum during French Open coverage. The one thing that kept sticking at me the entire time is what's wrong with women our age (Mark is a year and a half younger than me)?

-- I don't have HBO here at the house, so I didn't get to see "The Sopranos" finale, although I think I've pretty much watched it by reading the reviews. But after reading that only one network show beat the final in the ratings for the entire week, at least I can feel comfortable with the attention given to a show on pay cable.

Also, while everyone is going gaga for the use of Journey in the final scene, just remember that "Don't Stop Believing" generated even better iTunes numbers when it appeared on Laguna Beach and Family Guy. However, Craig had a good retort in saying that the fact that it was in the 20s just showed that most people already had the song by the time the finale rolled around.

Viva lost wages

So part two of the vacation had me in Vegas with family for a week or so. Finally did a few shows that I never get a chance to see in my previous trips, and I kept the gaming to an odd minimum -- assorted stops at a video poker or slot machines, a short venture into the world of Sic-Bo and a couple of poker tournaments, including just missing cashing out at a late-night one at Harrah's, where I busted out a woman who would be spending the next month and a half as a dealer at the World Series of Poker.

And speaking of the World Series, I actually got a chance to check out the opening of this year's festivities at the Rio, and it definitely was a hoot. First off, there were ridiculously long lines for people to register for all of the tournaments and satellites, but since I was just a spectator, no lines for me. Also notable is that it wasn't just WSOP events taking place in the gigantic ballroom used for the tournament, there were also random cash games going on.

But the big thing was actually being around for the cards going in the air for the first tournament of the WSOP, a $5,000 mixed limit/no-limit hold 'em event. With such a big buy-in, plus being the opening event, you couldn't help but stumble across all the notable names. I saw a few guys like Phil Gordon and Doyle Brunson just before everything started, and then when I got into the room, I spent my time just noting all the big names playing -- Gordon, Brunson (older and younger), Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu at the same table, Jesus Ferguson not too far away, an early table with Greg Raymer, John Hennigan and Andrew Black, Norman Chad wandering around the tables, Celine's husband at a table just below a small lounge area next to the ESPN table, Gabe Kaplan passing by me in front of that lounge, and Mike Matusow screaming within seconds after the first hand was dealt because of how awful the new cards were.

Surprisingly with all of the top players there, I wasn't paying that much attention to the actual poker being played. After stopping by a WPT event at Mandalay Bay the day before, I realized that watching poker played without the hole cameras and usually without a real clean look at the board can be a real bore. In a way, watching poker like this is similar to golf since it has a rail/gallery, but you can get a better look at a player actually hitting the ball. Just trying to pick out all the big names as well as matching names with faces became the most interesting part of watching the tournament.

Actually, another way to compare watching this event to golf is like my trips to the Tour Championship while I still lived in Atlanta. The nature of the event guaranteed a ton of the biggest names playing, and I was very star-struck to see all of these notable players all at once. And yet I had to tell myself that these people are just doing their jobs -- although the WSOP is a whole different monster altogether. While it was great to see a bunch of people I've only seen on TV in person, most of them really did just look and dress like the rest of us schlubs in the crowd. And of course, all they're doing is sitting down and playing cards, so the "action" shots (including my really crappy ones I may eventually upload) never look all that compelling, compared to even golfers making their shots.

So I finally have my first WSOP experience, albeit as a spectator. After seeing the mass of humanity all around me, I can definitely see why you're usually better off watching the chopped up highlights after the fact.

Radio songs

If there's one thing you can count on during Memorial Day weekend is a decent countdown-esque gimmick from some radio stations. New York's Jack FM station is rolling out their entire playlist in alphabetical order, as you might see here. From the small sliver I tuned into, I ended with three "It's My Life" songs.

Over on the Web, WOXY.com is doing their 18th annual Modern Rock 500, and this year they moved it to their main audio stream, which is a nice touch. If you have iTunes, you can find the radio stream with the added bonus of getting title and artist info as the song plays. I'll probably miss the end of the countdown since I'm off to Vegas later this evening, but I'll post a link to the list when it's ready and then adjust my playlists accordingly.

In the meantime, I've got the two things going on simultaneously, and having Greg Kihn's "Jeopardy" and Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" playing at the same time is messing with my head.

The Windy Apple

Back from a quick trip to Chicago for the NAQT High School NCT, which is just another good excuse to see some old quizbowl friends and faces from years past while also reading rounds in cramped hotel rooms (although I did get a nice suite for day 2). I'm always impressed by the level of play here, especially since I'd be toast on a lot of the stuff although there's always a few non-trash questions here and there that I know that the others don't. It's also fun being recognized by some of the teams as one guy said, "the awesome reader." I just do what I do, but then again I guess I just take my job for granted.

Unfortunately the rain washed out any chance of going to Dillo Day, but I did get out to Evanston on Friday afternoon and forgot exactly how long it takes to get from the O'Hare area to the campus via the El. The two-hour ride each way was about as long as my flight. Still, I did get to see a downtown Evanston that looks so much different from the last time I was there about 3-4 years ago -- yet I did stop by a couple of the few businesses that were around when I was there, Clarke's and Campus Gear. Hopefully I'll get more time to see the campus later this year.

A couple of additional travel notes: United is the latest to jump on the XM bandwagon, although it's a very limited selection and you don't get the program info like AirTran's fuller version of the service. But there were current season episodes of 30 Rock and The Office, so that was fine.

Summer of George

So if we plopped George Constanza into Las Vegas, would we get something like this? I actually use my trips to Vegas for some good exercise trying to go up and down the Strip. These people, not so much

And here's a version of anti-Coverville, thanks to folks at Retrocrush -- complete with many video links.

And if you haven't been fast-forwarding through commercials, let's just say that this is a perfect fit (pun intended), and that this where are they now ad is cute because she is.

Star struck

A few bullet points before my double vacation (Chicago/Vegas) this weekend:

-- I made my "Broadway debut" (so to speak) over the weekend as one of the audience spellers at The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I pretty much thought I'd be a lock as a ringer for that part of the show, and I was the last audience member eliminated. It was weird watching half the play from the inside, but it was cool having Mo Rocca asking me to spell stuff. And there wasn't as much nervousness spelling on stage, given that I could barely see into the audience with the way the lights were and that if I wanted to take a dive on a word, I could.

-- If you're looking for content I wrote for work that isn't related to your fantasy team, here's my list of bizarre athlete product endorsements.

-- I'm not sure what it says about the NBA that I'm more excited by the draft lottery than the playoffs. And almost according to form, the Hawks keep the top three pick, but don't get one of the top two. But maybe they'll actually get a point guard this time.

-- I just got Guitar Hero 2, and let's just say that I can see how its most famous casualty could get injured playing it.

Nth degrees of separation

Obviously, I've come across all sorts of people of varying degrees of success in my business, considering how long I've actually been working, but there are things that still surprise me when I see it, especially when it comes to my time when the Web was such an experimental medium.

For instance, one of the few writers at the Trib's Web site during my time as an intern winning a Pulitzer. And now after catching a little CNN this afternoon, I just realized I interned with the anchor working the main desk. Just weird, although we had completely different responsibilities on the still nascent operations, so it's not really surprising our career paths went in different directions.

Fight night

While the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight was entertaining but a couple of steps below the spectacle everyone wanted it to be, I will say the best part was trying to find celebrities in direct view of the main ring camera. I spent much of the time seeing John McCain catching the fight, and later on, someone else at the party where I was watching it pointed out J-Lo -- and you can tell she was interested in the action, at least compared to Marc Anthony.

Party like it's 1959

So the top two sporting events this weekend are the Kentucky Derby and a boxing match. It's definitely an old-school weekend, and you don't even have to buy anything "retro" to celebrate.

Fitting into the puzzle

As much as I hate to admit, I'm very clingy to my past, and staying true/close to the alma mater is one major aspect of that. I've gone to my fair share of alumni events both in Atlanta and New York, and even represented the school at a college fair the other day. (By the way, thanks to the high school who put us next to another purple-clad college. And if this school that fit alphabetically were there, it would've been chaos.)

Anyways, so I ended up at a young alumni function in the city and realized just exactly so large a base the New York area has. People were impressed with the 200-plus folks there, and yet I only recognized about 10-15 faces, and half of them were from people I've met long after I left school. I know there are tons of people in the area, yet none were there. Strange, but not surprising.

But as these things usually go, I found someone I hadn't seen in 10-plus years and reconnected very well -- having some unique connections beyond just the typical school stuff will do that. Of course, stumbling our way to some tangential Cinco de Mayo celebrations helped make the evening.