Random blogging...

First and foremost I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to my better half, my wonderful wife T., who turns 29 today. Again.

Hope you had a great birthday honey, and I'm sorry that inflatable Brad Pitt doll never arrived.

In other news I had my first article published on Associated Content. For those of you unfamiliar with AC it is a site that publishes articles from amateur writers like myself as well as from freelancers and professionals. Basically they pay people like me to do what I have been doing for free all this time. Pretty cool.

Anyway, since I have only 1 piece published to date I will give you the link to that and when I build up my home page I will supply that connection.

Some other things that have caught my attention lately....

4 I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl. I am so sick of hearing the same old stories ("will Payton finally win the big one?"; "will Rex Grossman implode like a supernova?"; "how long have Lovie and Tony been black coaches?") that I am completely abstaining from sports talk radio, selectively perusing ESPN.com and have cut Sportscenter completely out of my diet. (Speaking of that Lovie/Tony comment, I read an interesting article by the Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi about the original version of that question, infamously uttered by a reporter to Redskins quarterback Doug Williams before Super Bowl XXII. Only it never happened.)

4The Boston Celtics are a complete disgrace. The once proud team lost its franchise record-tying 13 straight game, 10th in a row at home, to the Lakers the other night as Kobe Bryant blitzkrieged the C's for 43 points, including 7 3-pointers, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. The Shamrocks can set the Green record for futility tonight when the other L.A. team, the Clippers, roll into the TD FleetNorthBank Garden Center.

Long gone are the days of 40-1 home records and towel-waving jubilation. This pitiful edition of the lean, Green sputtering Machine possesses a putrid 4-18 mark at their home arena and the fans have sunk so low as to cheer for members of the other team. Not just any other player & team, but for Kobe the (alleged) Rapist Bryant and the Lakers. That's right as Bryant was nailing threes from improbable angles and generally making the entire Celtics roster look like AAU players the fans at the Whatever They're Calling It Now Arena started to cheer for Bryant and chanted "M-V-P."

Wow. I never thought I'd live to see the day. This behavior coming from fans who not only invented the "Beat L.A." chant but did so to serenade the Philadelphia 76ers after they knocked Boston out of the playoffs and were going on to play the Lakers in the 1982 Finals. The same fans who forced Jack Nicholson to shoot the Garden crowd the moon during the 1984 Finals after his choke sign aimed towards the home team backfired. That's how bad Celtics fans hated the Lakers.

Now they cheer for alleged rapists and, as a bewildered Doug Gottlieb reported on ESPN Radio (I can only listen at night- it's not as bad) that night after the game, were high-fiving Bryant as he left the court at the end of the game.

Thankfully Red was not around to witness this blasphemy.

4It looks like Lane Garrison is going to have a serious case of deja vu pretty soon. According to TMZ it seems as if the artist formerly known as Tweener was high on coke and blasted on Grey Goose when he crashed his SUV and killed a teenage boy a couple of months ago in L.A. It's just another example of how fame can go to a guy's head, even if that guy is a C-lister just coasting on his 15 minutes of TV fame by using it to get into Hyde and charm 17-year-olds with his line-snorting and Goose-chugging abilities.

How sweet would it be to be the judge that brings the hammer down on this guy? I can see it now: "Mr Garrison, you will hereby officially be known as Tweener, and you are sentenced to 10 years at Fox River Penitentiary, where you will share a bunk with the real T-Bag."

Talk about life freakin' imitating art. BTW, what's with the rash of celeb accidents lately? Garrison might want to angle for a coed cell with pop singer/actress Brandy (Moesha), who not only faces vehicular manslaughter charges for an accident that killed a driver back in December, but she is also being sued for $50 million by the victim's family. Yikes.

At least she wasn't snorting blow with the guy beforehand.

4Great installment of the NBC Comedy Block tonight. All-new eps of all four shows including a hilarious edition of The Office, complete with lap dances, Michael unhooking Dwight's bra, and more Jim/Pam intrigue. Sadly my new favorite character Andy was noticeably absent after his meltdown last week, but thankfully there was a great cameo from David Champ Kind Koechner as Michael's buddy Todd Packer.

If Andy's off the show for good I'm putting in my vote for Packer to become a regular. Oh yeah, great subliminal shoutout by Jim to Tampa-based search engine Wikipedia.

Also, the more I watch Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock the more I am thinking that he might be the funniest man on TV, slightly ahead of Steve Carell. The way Baldwin delivers Jack Donaghy's snappy lines, with a hushed confidence and biting wit, the more I am convinced he deserved to win both the Globe and SAG Awards for his portrayal. When Jack clips off lines like "I slay polar bears and bed supermodels" or "I've showered with Greta Van Susteren" you can't help but think "how many takes does these guys have to go through to nail the scene?"

Lastly for all those Duke Haters out there I'm sure last night's last-second overtime loss will warm the cockles of your black hearts. Enjoy!

Starting tomorrow I will do my best OJ imitation, meaning I am going to start my "if I cared about the Big Game, here's what I believe would happen" posts.