He’s the guy who’s taken the place of Colonel Mustard in the new version of the classic board game, “CLUE!”  We played it the other night at home–me, the wife, and our three kids.  I had to talk my kids into playing it, the suggestion was met with the typical expected groans and sighs.  But the ultimate gratification came the next morning when one of my daughters–out of the blue–said, “Dad, can we play CLUE again tonight?”  That means she had fun!  We all did!  They’ve made some changes to the game, which makes it even better.  The people now have first names, and their roles are different than in the orginal.  Jack Mustard is a former football star who still thinks he’s got it–so the description says on the back of the rules.  The rules, by the way, are in a slick “magazine” format.  Just one of the nice touches that makes this game very up-to-date and cool.  Each character has a unique “ability” that can be used once per game.  Also, there are “intrigue” cards that are drawn periodically, which add wrinkles and twists to the clue-collecting.  PLUS–best innovation of all–there are “clock cards,” which count off the hours until the murderer strikes AGAIN!! BWAA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAaaaaah!!  When the eighth clock card is drawn, the person who DREW it is out of the game–murdered by the killer!  Pretty neat twist, especially as you get closer to the eighth card!CLUE has always been one of those all-time favorites, like Monopoly or Risk–that’s why people keep playing it.  But I must say the new 2009 version of the game has made a great game even BETTER!

Please feel free to skip this post, as I understand that when we talk politics, unless you’re talking with someone who shares your views, it can get heated.  Not my purpose!  But if you WANT to know… Read the rest of this entry »

If you love pro football, and you’re looking for a distraction from the Broncos current woes, here’s a book I’ll bet you’ll enjoy, “Playing For Pizza.”  My dad turned me on to this one, he’s a big John Grisham fan, as well as being a big football fan.  John Grisham of course is best known for his legal thrillers, but every once in awhile he tries something different.  This is a very entertaining, light-hearted, fun, fast read!  Best of all–for Broncos fans–the story begins with the Broncos going to the Super Bowl!

It’s HOW the Broncos got to the Super Bowl that’s really what the book is about.  A journeyman, third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns is forced into the AFC title game with about ten minutes left to play, with the Browns leading 17-0.  He promptly makes a series of blunders that allows the Broncos to come back and win the game, sending Denver to the Super Bowl against the Minnesota Vikings.  It LOOKS like his career is over–but then…

I’ll leave it at that, along with my hearty recommendation for the story!  I started reading and couldn’t put it down.

Makes me think about OTHER great football books that I’ve read.  George Plimpton’s “Paper Lion,” of course, is a classic.  A little on the dry side, and maybe a little too “deep” for the casual football fan, but enjoyable.  I just finished a book about the XFL–remember that league, Vince McMahon’s football “brand extension” of the WWE?  The book’s called “Long Bomb,” and it’s interesting to read, but you can tell the author has an axe to grid with McMahon.  He goes to great lengths to make the league and just about everybody associated with it look stupid.  Not that they needed a lot of help in that.  Personally, I enjoyed the XFL once they ditched the wrestling-style theatrics half-way through the year and made it all about football. 

I know there’s a couple of other football books that I’ve read, just can’t think of them off-hand…to be continued…

We’re all aware of the bru-ha-ha surrounding Sarah Palin’s wardrobe.  “Fashiongate!”  I find two things about this to be quite interesting…

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Was reading the paper this morning, tracking the various amendments that are up for a vote Tuesday.  They somehow were able to add up the amount of money spent on advertising FOR and AGAINST each amendment.  What was interesting to me was the amendment that would increase the allowable amount of money that can be wagered at the various mountain gambling towns around Colorado.  According to the numbers, $7.6 million has been spent on advertising in SUPPORT of the amendment, while ZERO has been spent advertising AGAINST it!  Not a single dollar!  Makes me wonder–did they really NEED to spend $7.6 million promoting this amendment?  Doesn’t sound like anybody really opposes the idea, maybe that multiple millions of dollars could’ve been spent on something else?

Another thought–where does all this money for political advertising come from?  Millions and millions of dollars.  I know, there are people who donate “nickels and dimes,” but isn’t most of the cash generated from the wealthy?  And, doesn’t that tip the balance in favor of those people, regardless of who’s elected, or what’s passed?

One last thought.  Much of the money spenty on political advertising will be WASTED–I’m talking about all the money that was/will be spent on candidates and issues that are defeated.  Makes me think that maybe we should ban political advertising just like we ban tobacco ads.  More and more, it seems like elections are becoming spend-fests–orgies of negative commercials, where the one with the most cash wins. 

From my east coast pal, JT…

“If you had purchased $1000 of Nortel stock a year ago, it would now be worth $49.”

“With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of your $1000 investment.”

“With WorldCom, you’d have less than $5 left.

“If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock, it would now be worth less than $50.  If you had purchased United Air Lines, it would be worth nothing.”

“BUT, if you had purchased $1000 worth of beer a year ago, drank all the beer, and then turned the cans in for recycling, you would have $214.”

“Based on this analysis, the best investment advice is to drink a lot of beer, and recycle. This is called the 401-Keg plan.” 

Amen, JT!  It’s funny, but me and my wife were–basically–making the same point the other night at the dinner table.   What’s the incentive for the average person to even BOTHER trying to save for the future anymore?  If you put your money into money market savings or CDs for safety, inflation will out-pace it and you’ll retire with less than what you saved in real dollars.  If you try to get ahead of inflation and invest in mutual funds, you get what we have NOW–you get taken to the cleaners by speculators skimming your dollars for themselves, and CEOs with “golden parachutes” paid for with our money, their reward for mismanaging their companies finances, and ours along with it. 

So–with that in mind, why not just spend your money NOW?  You can’t beat the system, unless you’re in the top five per cent of income-earners who can afford to pay someone to watch their money FOR them–taking yours and mine in the process.  Trips, cars, big screen TVs, restaurants–why not blow your cash NOW?  At least you’ll get some enjoyment out of it.

Of course, I’m being toungue-in-cheek here.  Sort of.

Mentioned this on my show today, a 56 year-old woman in Cleveland who gave birth to her own grandchildren!  Apparently, the woman’s daugher and son-in-law were waiting through the adoptoin process when grandma got the idea, why not try in-vitro fertilization?–and SHE volunteered to carry the babies! 

I’ve heard of women anxious to be grandparents–”when are you going to give me grandchildren!?”–but this woman surely took that idea to all-time new heights!

Anyway, I mentioned on the air about what a messed-up family tree this family now has, and promptly got an e-mail from Chuck, who had some excellent observations.  Among other things, Chuck pointed out that–technically–the mom is now both mother and older sister to the kids(all girls, BTW), since they were all birthed by the same woman.  The father could technically be considered both the father and grandfather. 

Incidentally, the babies were born a couple months premature, but it appears that they’re healthy and stand an excellent chance of making it.  Amazing, huh?!

I was talking today about watcing field hockey up at Shea Stadium in Highlands Ranch, mentioned the strange cane-like sticks they use to bat the ball around with.  Seems like a fun sport, both to play and to watch.  Hope my daughters consider playing when they get to high school, I’ll be there to watch!

Being a big sports fan with rather eclectic interests, it got me thinking of other, lesser-known team sports that I’m familiar with.  So here it is, my very first top-ten list of Under-appreciated team sports.  Yes, field hockey is on the list…

10) VOLLEYBALL: With the Olympics and beach volleyball, this sport got a bit of a “spike” in interest–[”HA!  I got a million of ‘em!”].  Anybody besides me remember the professional volleyball league back in the 1970s?  Wilt Chamberlain played it in, after his NBA career was over.  Would work better, I think with a time clock rather than a point limit.  Run the clock when the ball is in play, maybe four eight minute periods?

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The cast of the TV show “Dallas” is reuniting–no, not for a TV show, they’re going to do an in-person meet-and-greet with fans!  It’ll be at the original Southfork Ranch in Dallas on November 8th.  You have to buy tickets for this, anywhere from $100 to $1000.  GENIUS!  For the stars of the show, I mean.  No lines to memorize, no make-up sessions or day-long film shoots like they’d have to do for a reunion show.  You just show up, shake hands, sign autographs, maybe do a little Q&A session for 45 minutes.  I bet they roll in a pretty good take, too. 

I wonder why other shows don’t do this?  I’ll bet a M*A*S*H reunion event would do similarly well, maybe even “Happy Days.”

CBS has announced that they’re going to start allowing people to play a special home version of “The Price Is Right” using your CELL phone!  They’ll show a “showcase” item on the TV program, and give a special phone number to call.  When you call the number, you’ll get three different prices, you’ll have to guess which is the RIGHT price.  If you’re right, you’ll be entered into a drawing with all the OTHER correct guessers to actually WIN the prize.

Pardon me if I am underwhelmed.

First of all, what’s to keep someone from making three calls, one call for each guess, thereby guaranteeing that you’ll be in the drawing?

Second, even if you GET the price right, you don’t necessarily win anything–in fact, you probably WON’T win.

Third, you’ll probably have to PAY for the call.  I don’t KNOW this, but I’m guessing the opportunity to generate cash would be too great for a corporation to pass up these days.  After all, people pay to vote for “American Idol” and they don’t get anything out of THAT do they?

They might be able to win me over, though, if they increased the number of choices on the phone-in.  Maybe have seven, or even TEN choices.  That would narrow the number of people in the “correct” pool.   Also, they could limit the time for the call to be placed to maybe sixty seconds.  That way, you COULDN’T make more than one guess.  Now see, THAT would make it exciting–even if you DID have to pay for the call!