Perhaps someone should mention "De-Lovely" (see paragraph 8) before he wastes too much time

BBC NEWS | England | Jonathan King 'free on Thursday'

Steroids: surely we have better things to talk about

We all know many politicians love the limelight. They crave an opportunity to grandstand. This can be the only logical explanation for the current hearings on steroid use in baseball.
What an unbelievable waste of taxpayer's money and their elected servants' time. Who really cares? Enhancement in sport --say it ain't so! Judging from the wild popularity of WWE a huge number of folks want to watch enhanced freaks perform.
The twittering about protecting "America's Pastime" fails to recognize that the real american pastime is working hard and paying taxes: that's what reallly matters to most people and that's what politicians should be helping with. Asking obvious questions of stonewalling multi-millionaire athletes is not a suitable use of our resources. Let these athletes kill themselves slowly if they wish--thanks to their obscene salaries and myopic union support they will not be a burden on our tax dollars as they end their lives miserably suffering from steroid related problems.
What about the baseball records I hear lots of remarkably boring stat-freaks ask? Again, who cares: baseballs records have been tainted throughout the history of the game --how can any of the Hall of Famers that played when blacks were banned be accurately evaluated? They didn't play against the best of their day.
The bottom line is government is not a game --baseball is and the two should be kept separate.

Enough with the snow tires, people

As the wife and I were straining hamstrings working in the yard yesterday we became aware of the regular sound of studded tires on the very warm asphalt of our street. Keep in mind that it has been in the 70's for a week and a half in Portland and although April can be a little finicky the chances of a late onslaught of snow and ice are, well, zero. So --how about if we pull our collective heads out of our SUV exhausts and lose the road destroying studded tires? What do you say? Also, is anyone else amused by the proliferation of middle-class, middle-aged folks "rockin' the 20"dubs"? Good Lord. Very street. I'm sure the non-hipsters on your suburban cul-de-sac are embarrased at their lack of cred. West Hills in the house.

Sign of The Apocalypse

Yet another mind-bogglingly warm day here in the beautiful pacific Northwest --about 72 (what's that in the other format? I left Blighty before they switched).
How's the weather in London? A light breeze taking the edge off a balmy 80 down Peckham High Street?

Aurevoir Kev 

Our Kev

Once again Kevin Keegan has "resigned" from a managerial position. For those of you unacquainted with the be-permed maestro Keegan was a fantastic footballer for Liverpool in the 70's and 80's who went on to become a really poor but surprisingly often employed manager of several teams that have never recovered. I remember him as a footballer destroying defenses with his ludicrously wide-shouldered side-kick John Toshack.
Below is a re-cap of some of Kev's more mystifying quotes as compiled by the boys at The Fiver (You can subscribe and unsubscribe at http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/fiver):

KEVIN KEEGAN: A CAREER IN QUOTES

After several whole seconds' hard thinking, we concluded there was no better way to celebrate the career of a man who once uttered, "Batistuta is very good at pulling off defenders," than by looking at some of his finest oratories. Enjoy...

"People will say that was typical City, which really annoys me. But that's typical City, I suppose..."

"If I had a blank piece of paper there'd be five names on it."

"England have the best fans in the world and Scotland's fans are second to none."

"By the end Asprilla was knackered-o. I think that's the Spanish for it."

"They're the second best team in the world and there's no higher praise than that."

"He's using his strength and that is his strength, his strength."

"You can't do better than go away from home and get a draw."

"The tide is very much in our court now."

"There'll be no siestas in Madrid tonight."

"It's understandable that people are keeping one eye on the pot and another up the chimney."

"In some ways, cramp is worse than having a broken leg."

"It's like a toaster, the ref's shirt pocket. Every time there's a tackle, up pops a yellow card."

"I'd love to be a mole on the wall in the Liverpool dressing room at half-time."

"The game has gone rather scrappy as both sides realise they could win this match or lose it."

"That would have been a goal if it wasn't saved."

And the single defining moment of his career, complete and uncut in all its glory: "When you do that with footballers, like he said about Leeds... I've kept really quiet, but I'll tell you something, he went down in my estimations when he said that. We have not resorted to that, but I'll tell you, you can tell him now, he'll be watching this, we're still fighting for this title. He's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something. I'll tell you honestly, I would love it if we beat them, love it."

Unbelievable...

My beloved Sunderland (I know, I know--what about Millwall blah, blah, blah --it's a long story) are playing the mighty Timbers here in Portland this summer. Bloody amazing. I will have to don the sacred red and white stripes and represent my clan of twisted Wearsider/South Londoners. May the spirit of Bob Stokoe be praised.

Ladder 49 --Good Grief.

What on earth was the grand palaver whipped up by this piece of dross? Firefighters are, of course, a remarkable and admirable group and these traits immediately set them apart from this movie. A hackneyed script, jaundiced acting from Phoenix and Travolta are the highpoints on this one.
Additionally, you'll get to enjoy some of the weakest CG rats in the annals of filmdom --didn't these boys see "Willard"? Even my wife, who is bored to tears by my regular outbursts regarding visual effects, was giggling at the Jason and the Argonauts level of imcomptence on the rodents.
Spare yourself --re-rent "Backdraft