Old man at a concert
I'm leaving work shortly to go to a concert in Boston. When I was a kid, I would have been thinking about who is going to buy the beer and where we were going to go after the concert. Now, I'm hoping I can get home and in bed by midnight. I remember going to the Live Aid concert in Philly; I guess the year was 1984. That was the whole "Feed The World" thing organized by Bob Geldof. We weren't thinking about feeding the world. We were thinking about having fun. We piled into a car, drove to the stadium, partied like rock stars and then drove home. I used to go to so many concerts. My first concert? The Bee Gees. I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. In September, I got a call from my old boss who had two free tickets to Springsteen at Fenway Park. I couldn't take them because my wife's birthday was the same day. It kind of killed me, but on the flip side, I got to spend the day with my wife and kid and you know what? That kind of rocked too.

Accidental bad parenting
Two nights ago, I decided to cut my hair at about 10 p.m. I keep my hair really short, about 1/2 inch at the most. I was going into the bathroom with the electric razor and my wife said, "That's not such a good idea. The baby's sleeping." Our five month old son's room is right next to the bathroom. I said, "No problem. It won't wake him up." And the razor didn't wake him up. It was the sound of a small metal wastebasket falling off the sink that woke him up. I put the basket there to catch the hair and it fell from it's four foot perch to land with a crash to rival a small bomb. Of course, it was followed by much screaming from the baby. This morning, I decided to bring a little toy I bought in New Orleans to work with me. It's a small, hand held thing with buttons. When the buttons are pushed, Mr. T's voice come's out. When I picked up the toy, I accidentally hit a button, of course, right when I was walking by my sleeping son. The next thing I knew, Mr. T growled, "QUIT YOUR JIBBER-JABBER!" (There are six different Mr. T sayings on the toy.) That's what a sleeping baby wants to hear, of course. The next thing I knew, "WAAAAAH!" I'm not a bad father, but I guess I am as dopey as most other Dads.

My Republican friends
I was leaving my job yesterday with a friend of mine who is a Republican and I happened to run into another friend of mine who is also a Republican. I introduced them, saying "Just so you don't think I have only one Republican friend." and one of them said, "If you want to keep paying higher taxes, go ahead." It's sad but true, but all these people ever think about is taxes. And the funny thing is since Bush cut so much funding to states, cities, and towns, your local taxes are going up thanks to GW Bush. That is way too complicated for most these people. Oh yeah, enjoy the $222 you got back. Your kids and grandkids don't mind paying for it.

Watching MTV and VH1 is good for you
I have about six tons of brain damage from watching all those reality shows on MTV and the "I Love The 70's...80's" shows on VH1. Last night, I watched "I Love The 80's", "The Real World" and started to watch "Newlyweds" before I realized how brain dead I was becoming. I started to actually care what happened in these shows! That's when I went to bed. I'm all finished with these shows. I will never watch again. (By the way, if you happened to see the end of "Newlyweds", let me know what happened.)

Goodbye, 'Toine. Hello, Raef?
The Boston Celtics are my favorite team. I've stuck with them when they sucked pre-Bird and when they sucked post-Bird. As they've moved into a new era, I've been impressed with the scrappiness of both Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. And as much as he drives me crazy with his shot selection and whining to the refs, Antoine is my favorite player. (It's sort of like favoring a kid who is always in trouble.) Still, I wasn't too crushed when they traded him yesterday. I agree with Danny Ainge's assesment (spoken or unspoken) that the Celtics will never win a championship with Walker as a cornerstone. If they were somehow able to land another All-Star player and Walker was the third wheel, they might have a shot. I think the plan is a long-term one that frees up money for next year and I think they see another player in the deal -- 6-foot-7 guard Jiri Welsch -- as a potential star. Soooo, having said all that, I'll miss Antoine and the wiggle and his oversized head and everything else. But in the end, I think this move will work out for the Green.

Why girls are harder to coach than boys
I'm coaching 4th, 5th, and 6th grade girls basketball again this year. The major difference between coaching boys and girls is that boys don't play with each other's hair when they are in a layup line. That's what my girls did last year. They would reach up for the hair of the girl in front of them and play with it until it was their time to take a layup. I bet Rick Pitino never had to tell his team: "No playing with the hair of the person in front you."

About face and other crap
It's no secret that I'm a supporter of General Wesley Clark, Democratic candidate for President. I even met him about a month ago in Dover, New Hampshire. (See www.clarkri.com for a picture.) What kills me is the willingness of mainstream media outlets (I'm not talking about Fox here, folks...) to spread the propaganda being put out there. General Hugh Shelton told a crowd that he wouldn't vote for Clark, saying he lacked the honor or integrity to be President, but wouldn't say why he felt that way. Gee, General, that's so honorable to impugn someone's character and then not have the balls to say why. How much was that check from Karl Rove for anyway? Maybe Shelton was pissed because he wasn't paid by CNN to be a military analyst and instead had to stay home and play with his toy tanks and soldiers like John Laroquette in the movie "Stripes". Kaboom! This week's Time magazine has something about Clark being on videotape in January 2002 praising the Administration's efforts in Afghanistan. Holy controversy! Even Ghandi would have supported the attack on the Taliban, but because Clark said such things publicly, he is questioned. Man, this Administration hates the idea of a real American hero who actually has thoughts of his own. Your choice for President: cheerleader or real leader. Not too tough, huh

Esquire magazine's big fake out
I bought the recent issue of Esquire magazine for the plane ride to New Orleans. There was some good stuff in it, but there was this article about an heiress who was supposedly on the run and her father was trying to kill her and she had bodyguards and she was posting to a blog to update people on her status. The author tried to do this whole intrigue thing that he was going to meet her, etc. Honestly, I think he made up the whole thing. Not joking. I used to work as a reporter and you get a weird feeling when someone writes something that isn't true. I think he pulled the whole thing out of his ass. Paging Jayson Blair! Paging Jayson Blair!

Eating like Rush (pre-pill popping Rush, that is.)
Ok, I've been eating like an unchained pig lately. Yesterday I had pizza for lunch, pizza for dinner (it was a different pizza, not leftovers) and then my mother-in-law made calzones, Pepperoni! Cheese! Dough! That is what my ass is made of.

Heroes and villains of the week
Hero: Randi Rhodes.
She's a Florida-based radio host who kicks conservative ass. Her show blows Rush out of the water in the ratings and word is the pill-poppin', thrice married, Howard Cosell wannabe prevented Clear Channel from syndicating her show. Check her out at www.therandirhodesshow.com.

Villain: Bill O'Reilly
The famous Fox crybaby threw a snitfit on NPR's show "Fresh Air" when host Terry Gross dared to ask him some tough questions. You've got to listen to the interview to realize what a wuss big, bad Bill is. If he can't cut off someone's mike, he runs like a scared rabbitt when challenged. Sort of like his idol GW Bush.

Hero: Sonny Chiba
No, I haven't seen "Kill Bill" yet, but I have a bunch of Sonny Chiba movies on DVD. If you've never seen "The Streetfighter", you've missed some of the best ass-kicking ever filmed. The best thing about Chiba is the way he pauses in the middle of fighting to make this really disturbing noise like he's about to hock up a loogie. Get the DVD that includes the trailers for the movie, where the narrator intones: "You beat a man they call you tough. You beat an army, they call you "Streetfighter".

Villain: Dennis Miller
Miller gets my vote for most washed-up SNL cast member who once was funny. How can anyone beat out Chevy Chase you ask? At least Chase hasn't turned into a right-wing whore like Miller. Dennis was Rush before Rush -- he tried to make it as a football announcer, but came across as too high brow for football fans and too low brow for anyone with an education above a GED. Memo to Den: if you were that desperate to be on television, you probably could have done an infomercial for mattresses or Viagra. Either way, you would have had more dignity than you do now picking the toe cheese out of the feet of cement head Sean Hannity. (Just to get off the subject for a minute, have you seen the commercials for mattresses with Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) acting as spokesperson? Is she being held at gunpoint during this commercial? She looks alternately frightened and mortified. I know being a mattress salesperson isn't like doing Shakespeare, but since you're an actor, try this: act like you're happy!)