Steve J. Rogers

Yeah I know this has been a long time coming, but hey what can you do. First of all, one thing I love about flying, probably the only thing sometimes, is the view from the window seat, and here are some cool pictures from a JetBlue plane outside JFK International airport in New York. and on the runway I just love the view of a blue sky with nothing but the horizon underneath. Anyway, a couple of short hours later, and its time to touchdown in Chi-town! Funny story, my cousin and I left the house at 4:30 to catch a 6:30 flight. We get to the airport, and go under a canopy at the drop off point, then go inside. We walk to the check in, baggage check-in, and security, then to a bus stop (also with a canopy) which took us to the proper terminal. We then get to the terminal, through the tunnel to go on the plane, then the plane. Plane lands at O’Hare, walk through the tunnel to the airport, and walk through baggage claim. Now we got a hotel room at the Hilton at O’Hare, and we find out that you can walk through the airport, underneath the streets, to get to the lobby of the hotel. We get to the lobby and leave our bags at the concierge because we were quite early for check-in. So we go back through the basement level to get on the L to get to downtown Chicago. By the time we get to the Clark Street stop, it is 11:00 local time, and we have yet to actually get a breath of fresh air in pretty much five and a half hours, despite the fact that we went from Westchester County, New York to Chicago, IL! That is pretty remarkable when you think about it. Anyway, we get out right in the middle of the Chicago Theatre District, and my cousin fancying himself as a budding thespian had to get a shot like this: So we walked around a bit, and found the Sears Tower, went up to the 103rd floor for their revolving floor filled with, well some amazing views, and walls lined with interesting facts about Chicago and profiles of famous people and events. Got some nice shots around The Windy City as well; The Sears Tower Hancock Building Chicago Tribune The Chicago River Well, it was now time for lunch and it we noticed a great place to get some food. No one was playing that afternoon, but I got a nice shot of the small stage in the restaurant. Sadly, you can not get a dry piece of white toast or four whole fried chicken with a coke, but I did get this shirt: Right next door was also a pretty nice place to grab a beer and watch the Cubs beat the Phillies. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO The lobby and entrance are filled with famous folks with the pictures taken with this bust Coming soon, Part Two: The Mets invade Wrigley Field!

Yeah I know, shameless plug of my sports blog.

Bet Dickie V got off a few points about how Quinn "gets it" and is a great kid from a great family right? See my post eariler about how its stuff like that from Vitale that gets to me in the whole vein of "should we be looking at athletes as role models?" since Vitale only knows the public Quinn.

Okay Al, or maybe you'll need help from Elias on this one. Clay Buckholz is apparantly being sent to the bullpen for the rest of the year. Even if he doesn't allow a hit in any of his relief apperances the rest of the way, but then throws a no-no in his very first start next season (or if the Sox give him another go later in the month after the division is wrapped up) does that count as tieing Johnny Vander Meer's record of consecutive no-nos?

Really. Is this a new sliding scale or something that increases victories you get as the season draws to an end? So if the Royals were to win out the rest of their games could they finish at .500? Heh, I was really referring to the overreaction by members of the New York City media and fans about the Mets losing early season series to the Braves and the fact that usually the same media members and fans put more emphasis on what happens in September than the early months (which makes their overreaction even more riddiculous). Hence the Mets beat the Braves "when it counts"

Thats why I added that the losses in April and May did hurt. The implication though of the "Ugh, the Braves are STILL in the Mets' heads" crowd would be that they would have no confidence in this weekend's series because the Braves have been beating up the Mets (with the exception of last year) since 1995. So not only did the Mets just take a series against the Braves, they showed those paranoid pessimists that they can beat the Braves when it "matters." Never mind that the Braves aren't the team the Mets should be all that concerned about at this moment (6 and a half out) but somehow they will see this as maybe the biggest series the Mets had all year. Even though the Phillies come to Shea in two weeks. The most absurd notion though about "important regular season games" is a line I read after the interleague series with the Mets and Yanks. I forget which one, but Rivera got out Beltran and one NYC columnist called that at-bat the most important since Beltran's statuesque performance to end the NLCS! Ummm, so did that mean all those ABs against the Phillies and Braves during the spring "didn't count?" Actually that line is made even more absurd because the writer is one of those who often will say the Subway Series is meaningless now for various reasons (2000, where the Yanks and/or Mets are in the current standings, ect)

Checks the calendar. Yup. That should shut all those bridge jumpers early in the season complaining about how "The Braves are STILL in the Mets heads cause they haven't won a series all year against them!" Last time I checked games in September are weighted more than games in April and May. Not to mention history is filled with pennant and championship clubs who had a losing record during the year to one or more particular clubs. Not something to think less of your team over. Don't get me wrong, those losses hurt, but only media members interesting in generating talk and feeding the paranoia of some fans would suggest that losing series to the Braves in the early months of the season was indictive of the Braves being "in the Mets heads" even though no one on the Mets was a Met the last time it mattered the the Mets couldn't beat the Braves, and only the manager, GM and three players (the Joneses and Smoltz) are left from those Brave squads.

Its time for the Mets offense to do their best imitations of General Sherman! BURN DOWN ATLANTA! Well, at least our bats are showing up. Can someone tell me why its 7:33 on 8/30 and the entire Met pen is still in tact? IF the Mets make it to the playoffs (and that has now gone from when to if) it does not look pretty with Sele, Sosa, Schoenweis, Mota and Erin Heilwoman (Feelings! Nothing more than FEELINGS...) as your bridge to Wagner. A new reliever had better be in Atlanta by the time the postseason rosters are frozen, and I'm not talking Humber and Pelfrey either.

[Jim Ross Voice]DAMN YOU ALKEIPER! DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO THE DEPHTS OF HEEEEEEEEEEEEE LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/Jim Ross Voice]

I was going for sarcasim bud

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR The Mets play vs the Phils and Braves this week. Its on your head Al if the race is tight or if the Mets are not in first come September 2nd!

What if Triple H didn't injure himself at SummerSlam 98. Would he have been hot shotted into the Main Even mix the way Rocky was that fall/winter as well? Would he have turned on DX prior to WM? Would he hold a transitional title during the Mankind-Rock-Mankind-Rock hot potato?

Years ago I tried to start a fan fict on a site of such a seniaro, only with JJ & Barry alongside, in effect The Horsemen would do what The Outsiders did in the late spring/summer of 1996. I don't think I got much past the Horsemen wreaking havoc on a SNME at MSG in their debut with Flair cutting a promo about finally making it to the big time

I think they really wanted to sell the start of an new era with Benoit as champ. My guess as a final attempt to keep him from jumping.

I guess its to avoid the stupid questions and the "Don't cha know its fake" comments, or people trying to prove that they are smarks to you by saying stupid things like "You know Ultimate Warrior died right?" or blantantly obvious ones like "Undertaker isn't his real name" Sometimes it is best to keep fringe stuff on the fringe. Look, would you wear a Jenna Jameson or a Ron Jeremy shirt?

Should have seen AOL's headline tease. Not only did they say it was on the set of Tom Cruise's new movie, but they made it seem that Cruise or a big name star (I believe their word was high paid or something to that effect) could have been injured. I swear AOL can be worse than those wrestling "news" sites who made (or still do who knows) headlines like "EDDIE [misspelled intentionally by me as that is what some of those dorks do] GUERRERO TO WIN TITLE ON THUNDER [Thunder was pre-recorded right?] CLICK FOR SPOILERS" and you click to find out if WCW actually did book Eddy to win the big gold belt, only to find out its the TV title or the crusier. When the actor Richard Bright died, their headline correctly mentioned Godfather star, but also said "Soprano star" so my first thought (and I'm sure many, many did the same) was "Oh my God, Dominic Chianese (Johnny Ola in II)!" Well, Bright played one of the DiMaggio brothers' crew in the episode where the hit on Johnny Sac is planned. A very brief cameo, and certaintly nothing to get the tag "starred in The Sopranos."

A few more months untill I can start to enjoy some of these while watching some darn good postseason baseball and the start of the football season Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! But got some time left to enjoy these guys, and make me forget how cruddy it is here in the Northeast right now

John Lennon, while not out there like others on this list, was pretty out there though alot of it is based on all the LSD, heroin and God knows whatelse he had. Had a Jesus complex going on during the latter days of The Beatles, had a legendary Lost Weekend in LA during the 70s (rumor has he even jammed with Paul McCartney but it has not been substantiated) Not to mention before the drugs he was a bit of a chip on the shoulder guy about everything.

A lot of Metsies on the national scope this week. Just an observation.

Moving right along Your National Showcase games of the week: Monday Yankees at The Los Angeles Orange County of Anaheim in Southern California Angels on The Duce 10:05 EST Wednesday Padres at Mets, also on ESPN 2 7:10 EST Saturday Battle of The Sox in Chicago and Dodgers at Mets, both 3:55 on FOX Sunday night Dodgers vs Mets get the call on ESPN.

I believe D'Lo and Henry turned on Rocky, in effect turning him into a de facto face for about a couple of months before turning heel at Survivor Series. Interestingly enough, Mark Henry won the "blow off" at Judgment Day that October. Then again, this was all done under Vince Russo's booking so there you go. Henry and D'Lo would stick together for a while (Henry's date with Chyna for example) but the Nation gimmick was dropped as soon as Rocky was kicked out.

After reading how Crush's history with Demolition was ignored when he re-debuted as Kona Crush had me wondering, who was the first wrestler to have his previous gimmick(s) kayfabed into the current gimmick he had? I've seen footage of promos featuring The Hulkster early on in his return where his heel persona was brought up, but that probably was because he came back still using the name "Hulk Hogan" but on the flip side, when The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase debuted his late 70s run was ignored. Ditto with "The Dragon" who was never called "Ricky Steamboat" despite being a huge fan favorite back in the early days of the "Wrestlemania Era." Course politics of burying someone were probably in play with the Dragon/Steamboat issue but it does seem now that even when a guy will make a complete transformation, like Big Daddy V, his past gimmicks follow him around, even if they should be forgotten.

Well I am taking a bold step back into the freelancing journalism world with a query letter sent out to a business market. The article is on an interesting startup investment venture by the outgoing head of the hedge fund arm for the investment firm that I work for. What he is doing, is going to be setting up a hedge fund, where 100% of the profits generated by the fund will be funneled into a charitable foundation, which would then use the fund to help various causes. They have a website, well a blog actually, hopefully I will link it here, but I'm not comfortable with linking to the blog or official corporate website until they are up and running. In any event, hopefully this publication will see this audacious venture as something that should appear in their publication! Well the article is actually written, which is considered a “no-no” in the world of freelance journalism, but it was for a course that I am taking. It has been quite a while since I’ve done something like this, probably not since 2001. Lets hope this works.

-Chicago post will be up soon; just getting all the pictures organized, resized and uploaded is taking a while. -Not much to add right now. Going to a Beach Party put on by a NYC radio show on Friday in New Jersey, WFAN’s Mike & The Mad Dog at Bar-A in Bellmar. Also heading to a Saturday afternoon minor league game in Bridgeport, CT for a bachelor party.

Edited for accuracy. He still has a job for the same reason Screaming A. Smith has a job -- they're very loud and very opinionated. Never mind whether their opinions are worth anything or not. [Dukie V]Well you can say "Oh that Vitale, he's such a Duke homer" all you want. But let me tell you something, NOBODY runs a program that produces so many shinning examples of how an athlete SHOULD be than Coach K and Duke Basketball. They are trained to do things the right way, the say the right things, and act like professional men. Hey if every program was run as well as Coach K's, then the NBA wouldn't be in the mess they are in with the gangster rap lifestyle and all the other nonsense. Duke produces not just athletes, but men! [/Dukie V]