Sports

The Braves recent problems with umpire Bill Hohn remind me of something i saw in Florida. There was an umpire -- John Shulock I believe -- calling a Devil Rays game.
He was pretty obviously squeezing Rays pitcher Wilson Alvarez and they had a history of problems.
Finally, the pitcher fired a high fastball, real high, and the catcher was "unable" to get his glove up in time to get it.
Bam! Right in the masked chops.
Shulock goes down! Shulock goes down!
It was really ugly and obviously intentional and great fun, especially considering how at the time the Rays were the worst frikin' team in MLB.
The Hohn thing is serious. Atlanta is going to need every win to make the playoffs and this jibroney's actions could cost them the post season if they have to play another games(s) with im behind the plate.

Clunker -- I'll say!

Wow! The feds decide to give away cash and seem shocked that a lot of folks grabbed it. Now, let's give 'em healthcare.

Rev. Ike, RIP

This guy was a marvelous huckster and a lot of current religious swindlers were probably inspired by him. He was sure entertaining. I remember him on TV when I was a kid.

They're amongst us!

Robot attacks Swedes. They say it was "malfunctioning."

Chavez

New laws target media.

Stephen King

His Top 10 villians.

Food and frolic

Anthony Bourdain parties with Ted Nugent. And a big honking machine gun! The second half is best but worth watching it all. Why wasn't I invited?

Iran

Mousavi ups the ante. Calls for protests. Is he looking to bring on the fight? Can't see it going any other way. He must have built support in some key places. Or, he's a gambling man.

The war

The Taliban's No. 2. Not a friendly feller, according to Newsweek.

Bob Barr

Bob Barr talks water wars.

The corruption busters

Witness: Dodd and Conrad knew they got special deals.

Sports

The last time I agreed with Terrell Owens was ... heck, I've NEVER agreed with Terrell Owens. Now I have. On this subject, he is correct.

Down South

Why are southerners so fat? Time tells us why. My wife blames Krystal.

Health care

The CBO say it ain't so.

TV Sports

I caught the Rick Reilly Homecoming show with Kurt Warner this morning. It's worth seeing. Check out the ESPN listings for a playback time.

Vernon Forrest, RIP

Killed in Atlanta. Here's the AJC story.

Your free Sunday tune

My old girlfriend Chryssie Hynde. Back on the Chain gang acoustic.

My Sunday column

Some of my favorite columns are the ones where I ask readers for input.
This is one of those.
At 47, I have become one of those guys who grumbles about the old days. I’m not a full-fledged fuddy duddy — recognizing that in most measurable ways human life is superior to 30 years ago — but there are certain aspects of modern existence I find less fulfilling than “back in the day.”
An obvious example?
Professional wrestling. While I still watch a few minutes of the old grunt and groan show, it just doesn’t cast the same spell. Back in the day — what a handy phrase that is — wrestlers swore a blood oath to pretend the business was real and despite the obvious absurdities that sometimes led to, their earnestness in delivering or receiving a pile driver or brain claw added immeasurably to the drama.
Now wrestlers spend much of their time winking at the fans — letting us know that they know we know.
That fine old-school wrestling bad boy Jim Cornette summed it up well recently when he wrote “Twenty years ago we pretended to hurt each other, and the fans believed it. Today we really do hurt each other, and the fans think it’s fake.”
I liked believing, even if I knew I was choosing to believe.
There are other things from “back in the day” I miss.
Didn’t there used to be more giant flocks of birds flying over? As a kid, I remember my parents pulling over on the side of the road and us getting out of the car and watching these sky-filling herds of birds working their way either north or south. Seemed like billions of ‘em.
I see the occasional big flock, but not nearly as many as before. What do you think?
Remem-ber when TV Guide was the coolest magazine? It would come in the mail on Tuesday and I would immediately check to see what was on Shock Theater that Saturday night.
You got the movie and TV show listings in an easy-to-read and easy-to-highlight format, a funny article abut Doodles Weaver and a crossword puzzle a knucklehead could conquer.
Last time I saw a TV Guide it looked like a People Magazine and didn’t have the first monster movie listing in it.
Whatever happened to summer vacation for kids? When I was a young nipper the first day of summer felt like Page One of “Tom Sawyer.” There were adventures sure to come and time to enjoy them.
Now on the first day of summer “break” most kids have to go to the mall with their moms to buy their back-to-school supplies for the following year.
There’s no time to build a raft, sneak off with the circus or cruise the Spanish Main on a pirate vessel.
And what happened to adult softball?
Men’s softball used to be huge. Church teams, Industrial teams. Renegade teams. It was a vibrant, exciting sub-culture that produced local sports legends (and a good fight or two) in every town where it was played.
Where’d it go?
I went to bed one night, got up and it was gone.
Albums.
I’ve experienced eight track, cassette, CDs and now the Internet as a musical source. But none was better than the good old vinyl album. Not so much for the record itself, but for the cover man, the cover!
Rich Corbin’s fantastic art helped propel Meatloaf on “Bat Out of Hell.” Frank Frazetta did the same for Molly Hatchett. Who can forget the Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” or Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon?”
My personal favorite: the ferocious “London’s Calling” from The Clash.
The covers were great but inside there was often more art, more pictures, lyrics, credits and best of all, inane musings of rock stars.
Many a lonely evening I sat poring over the treasure trove of a Fleetwood Mac album, searching for some proof that Stevie Nicks recognized and returned my love.
What you think?
No, not about my chances with Stevie Nicks. What do you think about my list of things I miss from the good old days?
There’s a lot more.
How about Cokes made with real sugar, Po’ Folks, Vincent Price, chain gangs, Boys Life, playing kick the can, summer reading clubs and Bruce Lee movies. And I’m just getting started.
Now, what do you think?
What do you miss from “back in the day?”
Send your comments to jimmyespy@daltoncitizen.com, or call me at 706-272-7735 and leave a message.
Happy trails.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost.blogspot.com

The bidness

AP goes after .... guys like me.

Harry Patch, RIP

Britain's last WW I vet dies.

Dope

The tide is rising for legalization. Added: From Newsweek.

Bob Barr

Public education.

Dawgs

Too many chefs? Georgia to add more voices to game broadcasts.

The French

As good as Atlas Shrugs is, even Ayn Rand couldn't predict this epic insanity in France. Stunning.

Cars

I'll buy a bike with a banana seat and horn and ride it before I'll drive a piece of crap like this. Now, this sweet baby is what an American man should aspire to driving. Be sure and magnify the picture.

Guns

Dems up in arms over gun bill which would extend right to carry. From Politico.

Traffic

They've talked about installing one of these in Dalton at College and Walnut. I saw them in Ireland and they were fine, then again my wife did all the driving. I just sat in the seat and complained.

De-baptism

Your religion or lack of it is your business, but some atheists go out of their way to demonstrate their jackassery. Read this one.

Robert Samuelson

The man skewers the phony stimulus. It's not that he is opposed to the concept of the stimulus, but Samuelson points put that the Obama package was misconceived and badly times. Politics took the place of good economics. They knew better then and sure enough they will be back for more soon.

Whoopi: No moon landings?

Exactly what a Venusian would say!

Chavez

Venezuela's big brains are fleeing the country. Maybe Obama will loan Geither and Co. to Brother Hugo to help out.

Media

"Cronkite overrated." Of course he was/is. The hero worship for this guy has been absurd for years.

Guns

An interested look at folks who carry guns publicly and legally.

Econ 101

Foreclosure plan a big fat flop. Who will Obama and Co. blame it on?

Your free Sunday tune

"Bobby McGee" by Ol' Waylon, Charley Pride and of course, Janis Joplin.

The real population bomb

Fewer Japanese not a good thing?

Mark Steyn

Welfare state for horses. Apparently there's no problem the feds can't "solve."

Economics 101

Newsweek offers the top 25 economicblogs.

Ron Paul

Dr. No is in demand. Politico looks at his continuing impact on the national political scene.

Rugby

Wallabies go home crying as All Blacks open Tri Nations with a win on "the killing fields."

Ron Hart

Welcome to the court, Sonya

Dick Yarbrough

Dick Yarbrough.

Kyle Wingfield

The F-22 is still needed.

Cards

Phil Ivey is in the final 9 at the WSOP. Should be fun.

Why can't I have one of these?

I see these things in an old movie and just drool. Beautiful lines. The height of classy.

Chavez

The anti-Chavez. Life ain't easy when the big thug doesn't like you.

TV

A cool memory from the old Turner TV days. I wish the article said how much they paid for those spots.

Reds

Russian activist murdered, but don't worry, the Pretend President is hot on the trail of the perpetrators.

Rugby

Australia heads to "the killing ground." I love it!

It's always Shark Week here

Look what they found on the beach.

Down South

Bikinis and coffee. Now that's a marketing plan. From The Daily Citizen.

Charles Oliver

It couldn't happen here?

Hitchens

Big Chris asks where did the bombers go? From Slate.

Texas Tea

What's going on with the price of oil? From the BBC.

Top Chef

Atlanta will be well represented, but I had hoped Abdullah the Butcher's ribs would earn him a shot on the show. Can you imagine Padma chatting it up with this guy?

Brews

How to make beer at home. Thanks to Instanpundit for the hookup here.

Down South

Tomaso takes charge of little Alligator, Miss.

NFL

The NFL Supplemental Draft is later this week. Jeremy Jarmon, a DE from Kentucky, should be selected. Supposedly several other players have draft-worthy ratings, but the league has shied away from these guys in recent years.

History

The Rolls-Royce goes to war. From History Net.

MMA

He's just too much. Brock Lesnar overwhelms Mir and the crowd. I keep expecting Triple H to get involved in this.

The economy

Depressing news from MSN's MoneyBlog. Housing isn't done tanking. Bad, bad news in a carpet town. Time adds more grim info about the prevalance of price markdowns.

Braves

David O'Brien on the Francouer trade. He likes the deal, citing Church's reliable bat and glove and a similar contract situation.

Honduras

Despite their leader's mad rush to support the would-be Chavez in Honduras, some Democrats are holding back support for Zelaya. Glad to see it, but you know it makes Obama furious.
Right after Zelaya was escorted from the country I talked to a few Latino pals who told me that they thought the people of Honduras would largely support the new government. Zelaya was not popular with many and there was a lot of respect in that society for the military.
So far, their view seems to be correct.
Too bad Obama didn't talk to my sources.

Local Marine buried

From The Daily Citizen.

My Sunday column

Back before I was hauled kicking and screaming into the adult world, my summers were about one thing — fun.
Except for the one summer when I was in junior high and my mom decided summer was going to be about something entirely different — work.
Through some conniving on her part I got a job with the local CETA program. CETA stood for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. It was a mid-1970s federal jobs program designed to boost employment during the recession and get some politicians re-elected.
CETA was supposed to target the chronically unemployed — young, black males for instance. To some extent this was how it worked. But in the case of my hometown, the young black males in the CETA program were coincidentally almost all high school football players and mostly starters.
I was not a young, black male who played football. I was a young, white male with connections. My parents were friendly with the powers-that-be who decided who got the CETA jobs so I was moved to the top of the list with several other young. white males with similar connections (or who played football).
This, by the way, is how government programs REALLY work.
The CETA job I worked that summer was a real job. I wish we had just sat around drinking chocolate milk and reading dirty magazines, but we did actually work.
Each day we met at the county work camp, which was known far and wide in Chattooga County as “the chain gang” because for years that’s where the county prisoners who worked on road crews were housed.
On the first day all the CETA workers gathered and were read the riot act by our bosses, one of whom was former Phoenix High principal and then Chattooga County assistant football coach (surprise!) Fred Toney.
We were then told to pick out our work tools. Most of my fellow workers bolted to the tool shed and snatched up the big, red, macho-looking axes. Being lazier than I was macho, I selected a much less fearsome looking blue sling blade.
Immediately I was ridiculed for not using an axe. The joshing went on until my fellow workers realized how much effort it took to swing an axe in the hot summer sun. On the second day of work, the “pick up your tools” stampede was directed at the sling blades.
As I said earlier, the CETA program may have been a scam in many ways, but we did work. The bosses took us all over the county. We cleaned roadsides, trimmed limbs, cut brush, hauled off junk and debris and did just about any hard work needed to spruce up Ol’ Chattooga.
As hard as the work was, there were some good things about it.
Best of all was we got paid. Money from that job supported my comic book addiction, put gas in my motorcycle and eventually allowed me to purchase my very own eight-track tape player. I even saved a few bucks.
Riding around in the back of the big work truck was also very cool. There would be a dozen or so of us on the back of the truck whooping and hollering at girls in blue jean shorts as we sped down the backwoods byways.
I learned a very important lesson that summer.
Our work crew was about half white and half black. Everyone got along fine, but every day the crew split up along racial lines.
One day the bosses took us to a particularly nasty looking field next to a creek. They told us to split into two groups and clear off the land on both sides of the creek. When a group finished its field, it could go swimming.
Well the black guys started walking across to the other field while the white guys stayed together on the near side — the usual defacto segregation.
Having seen the work habits of both groups for several weeks I made my choice. I picked up my sissy blue sling blade and walked over to the field with the black kids.
One of them looked at me quizzically and said “Why are you over here?” I pointed at the big, lazy, slow moving creek and said, “That’s why.”
Ninety minutes later my dark-hued co-workers and I were lounging in that chilly water while those hapless honkies were still hacking away at briar bushes and cussing mosquitoes.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost.blogspot.com

Your free Sunday tune

The Mavericks should have been much bigger. What a fun band!

NBA

Check out this list. There are some good FAs still out there. Looks like Jarrett Jack is headed elsewhere for better money. The Hawks haven't signed Flip Murray. Chris Wilcox always looks interesting.

Movies

The Blair Witch at 10. A good story from the LA Times. However,they don't mention Eduardo Sanchez's nasty little horror picture, Altered. It's definitely worth seeing.

Books

Paul Hemphill, RIP. I read his Hank William biography last summer and enjoyed it very much.

Books

Alexander Waugh on Christopher Buckley's new book.

MMA

TJ Simers on Brock Lesnar.

World's worst travelers

I'm not surprised.On my trip Ireland a few years ago the only people who were anything less than warm and friendly were the damned French. Everywhere we crossed paths with them they were louts. I spoke with a flight attendant who told me she despised flying to Paris because she had to deal with so many French. I met several Irish people who echoed the sentiment.

The corruption busters

Senator Dan loves TARP.

Charles Oliver

It couldn't happen here?

Ron Hart's column

On Michael Jackson.

Movies

The trailer for Clive Barker's Book of Blood. I love Barker's stories but how many have been turned into good movies besides Hellraiser.

All Blacks

Graham Henry signed through World Cup. This won't make a lot of fans happy.

On the border

The Mexican drug war turns nastier. From the Washington Post.

Dalton's Kyle Wingfield

A real change in health care.

Food

I love red velvet cake.

Warren's World

The Sage loves a good stimulus.

NFL

My column on the Falcons' offseason moves.

Why can't I have one of these?

A 1953 Alfa Romeo.

NFL

Three high number 1s are being asked to play new positions. The Bengals want Andre Smith to play RT and that well be the best for him. The Rams are asking Jason Smith to do the same thing to give Alex Barron a shot at LT. That's the same Alex Barron who has sucked for four years. Making the biggest move is Brian Orakpo. The Texas DE is being asked to play OLB for the Redskins, which strikes me as a really stupid move. Read on.The story is from SI

MMA

SI names the 10 Best UFC Fights. Lots of video.

Newspaperin'

Newsweek on Russian journalists in the crosshairs -- literally.

Hitchens

Big Chris on Iran and Iraq.

Mugabe Watch

Bad Bob not happy with U.S official. You gotta love his candor.

Rugby

The All Blacks begin training for the Tri-Nations later this month. Here's a good article and roster. Up first, Australia.

Movies

The myth of "boxoffice records. Turns out Rhett Butler still whups Batman's butt. From our pals at Slate.

Health care

The LA Times notices the emperor's health care plan is scantily attired. Rationing in our near future? This story will scare the hell out of the AARP crowd.

Espionage

This never happened to M.

Dalton's Kyle Wingfield

On race. Hey, you can't work at the AJC and not write about it.

My Sunday column

My Uncle David retired last week.
After more than 50 years in the newspaper business, he is walking away from his job at the Summerville News, the weekly newspaper my family has owned for a century or so.
To say David is one of a kind is to trot out an exhausted cliche. It also greatly understates his uniqueness.
David is a philosopher-malcontent-iconoclast-jackass-genius-newspaperman — with the emphasis on NEWSPAPERMAN.
David is so old school he thinks the Linotype is a “newfangled invention.” For years I taunted him about the inevitability of using a computer. He told me it would never happen.
That time I was right.
The Summerville News, as traditional a newspaper as you are likely to find these days, finally made the move to computers a few years back. David started laying out the paper on a computer screen. He even got pretty good at it but don’t dare tell him I said so.
I grew up in that newspaper plant and one of my fondest memories was “stuffing” papers with inserts on a Wednesday night. The work was monotonous and Lord knows the pay was lousy, but it was worth it to listen to my daddy, uncles, brothers, cousins and assorted other employees/pickle barrel Platos weigh in on a wide variety of issues.
The list of topics was wide open but most of the subjects were not the kind that could be addressed in polite company. Of course, to be a youngster and privy to this kind of man talk was a thrill.
Uncle David was often at the center of the more outlandish stories, either as the spinner of the tale or the star of the story being told.
David was and is a wiseguy — that’s putting it nicely — which is something I usually don’t do because I am a wiseguy, too.
Charles Darwin would probably disagree, but I swear I inherited my smaraleck genes from David (as did my older brother Greg).
David is a born rebel. Tell him everybody else is headed one way and you can bet he’ll be the guy going against the crowd. Sometimes that makes you want to beat him with an ax handle. More often it makes you laugh. Heck, sometimes he’s even right.
David is also a semi-official Rebel. Until recently he served as a Brigade Commander for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He did a bang-up job at that for years — winning many awards — at which point he did the natural thing for him which was to get in a spat and resign.
Uncle David’s not much for retreating or even flank attacks. He’s all up-the-middle CHARGE!
Despite his obtuseness and aversion to any technology created after the 1841 Mississippi Rifle, David is a quality newspaperman.
In an industry dominated by bean counters, mooncalfs and degreed dilettantes who’ve never had to clean printer’s ink from under their nails, my Uncle David has helped publish a family newspaper in the best sense of the concept.
The Summerville News may not look like the L.A. Times, but the people who pay for it every week want their new baby’s pictures in there and it’s the place they expect their own obituary to run when the time comes.
THAT’S a community newspaper and my uncle has been a huge part of just that kind of operation for a very long time.
David didn’t want anyone to write about his retirement and said so in that lovely, demure way he has of making a point.
But he doesn’t sign my checks and I live far enough away that I don’t have to worry about running into him often, so I’m writing this column anyway.
Besides, as HIS nephew I find the idea of honoring his wishes absurd, just as he has always scoffed at mine.
Somebody will surely shove this column in front of him, if only to hack him off, so I’ll take the opportunity to say, I love you David, every cantankerous inch of you. Thanks for all those Wednesday nights.
You’re one of the main reasons I’m in this business ... but I promise not to hold that against you.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost.blogspot.com

Your Sunday free tune

Dylan and Cash Girl from the North Country.

Music

A terrific article on Freebird from the Chicago Tribune.

Chavez

The beast consumes more.

Eats

I love a low country boil. If you have a better recipe, send it in. My old boss, Ruth Bryant, was the best I've seen at making this. She put together a boil one night in Gautier, Mississippi that remains one of my all time favorite meals.

NBA

A very, very smart move by the Lakers. Ron Artest's defense should be huge for LA. Plus, he can help the offense. Ariza is gone and it looks like Odom will follow, so LA needs a rebounder, but Artest is a very smart acquisition. By the way, the Hawks Zaza Pachulia would make a nice pickup for L.A. He's the banger-off-the-bench they need inside. Then again I'm a Zaza fan and think he can help a lot o teams. The Hawks will miss him more than they realize if they let him depart.

Iran

Retribution nears in this thug state. How will Obama react?

Newspaperin'

Are we all the Washington Post? A good, if depressing, piece.

Don't look down

My brother-in-law forced me to go up in the Sears Tower several years ago. I spent the entire time pressed against the inner wall. I hate heights. That's why this innovation looks like a little piece of hell to me.
I wasn't scared of high places as a kid, at least not unreasonably so. I swear I think the fear kicked in suddenly while I was watching a James Bond movie in the 1980s. I remember shuddering at some roof top scene and never being comfortable in high places since.
While in the series tower I was crowded up next to a big picture of Oprah. That would seem to explain my fear of her as well.

Dawgs

Big money means more Georgia on game day and beyond.

Movies

The Chainsaw Awards. Hellboy 2 racks up, but it's overrated by the fans and that's coming from an admirer of Big Red.

It's always Shark Week here!

Swamp sharks?

Movies

Friday the 13th
I rarely like much about horror movie remakes and this one reminded me why.
Nothing about it matches what made the original picture a thrill show. The acting and effects are technically better in the remake, but FT13 was never about slickness. It was just a gruesome, loony, fun, totally whacked way to spend 90 minutes with your girl or your buds. The remake has no sense of that fun. It's just a by-the-book stalker film.
The Jason mythology is trotted out but any cache it might have with the the audience is quickly wasted as the story becmes a routine one-after-another murder show. And, the killings aren't even that well done or original.
By-the-book drivel.

Cards

A good interview with Doyle Brunson.

Misc.

What's in a name?

Chavez

John Galt, Venezuelan style. "I was living in the most beautiful, wonderful, funny country in the world. Now a third of my friends are gone. In another ten years, Venezuela is going to be a crippled country."

Words

A review of Ezra Levant's book.

Politics

President Obama was afraid to fart when it came to Iran, but jumped hard on the military action in Honduras. Not everyone agrees, although the president has the support of Castro and Chavez. I guess this is what Obama means by working better with the international community.Hondurans speak out.

Misc.

Will only one be left standing after museum shootout? From the LA Times.

Economy

Thank goodness we have the stimulus. Otherwise we might have job losses. Hey, wait a minute!

Sports

Steve Francis, who was once a pretty good basketball player, was paid $20,000,000 last season and didn't take a shot in earnest. Here's SI's list of the 50 best paid American athletes.

Iran

The ramifications of these comments could be enormous. Is the government being baited into making a heavy handed move which will set off the demonstrations again? Or is Mousavi gambling that a better deal can be cut with the powers that be? The lid is going to blow very soon I suspect, maybe even this weekend. Here's a roundup of interest.

Dalton's Kyle Wingfield

Cap and trade a shuck and jive.

Movies

From Slate. Good stuff on the new Dillinger movie. Did the facts get in the way?

Alexis Arguello, RIP

A wonderful fighter dies at 57 after an incredibly colorful life.