Midweek Time Killers...Stupid and Serious Sports Stuff

Many D.C. area residents have probably heard about the awkward in game interview Senator John Kerry gave MASN's Debbi Taylor during one of the Red Sox-Nationals games at Nationals Park last week. I was at the game, so I didn't have the...uh....pleasure of seeing it, but the bulk of it can be read in this D.C. Sports Bog entry. If you dig a little deeper, it's easy to find more examples of Senator Kerry's stiffness and general lack of knowledge when it comes to sports. This Boston Herald column discusses a few of them.

A few weeks after being let go from Dan Snyder owned WTEM radio, Brian Mitchell speaks out about it to USA Today here. (I think it's time Mitchell and ol' CP, Clinton Portis, have it out in a celebrity boxing match. I know a certain fledgling charity in Arlington that would love to sponsor the match and collect the proceeds.) According to this Washington Post piece from a couple of weeks back, the managment of WJFK is planning a jump into full time sports radio. Maybe Mitchell can catch on there.

For a little lighter fare, that is not stupid, check out this WRC-TV website page which features Sonny Jurgensen's 1994 interview with Sammy Baugh.

And finally, "J.D." forwarded me this Jason Whitlock column about the recent HBO Real Sports piece on Jim Brown and Bill Russell. Seeing that Tiger Woods is in town for the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club, it seems appropriate to post a link to the column because part of the column discusses Jim Brown's feelings toward Tiger Woods. That happens, of course, after Whitlock talks about his fascination with strip clubs. Who else would write "Jesus walked with prostitutes. Jason walks with strippers."?

Quickies

This week's Quickies post will be real quick...

First up this week, talk of porn star Stormy Daniels making a run for the Senate in 2010 has not subsided. According to this London Times piece from last month and this Politico blog entry from last week, Daniels has taken part in a "listening tour" around Louisiana as a first step toward a possible run. Luckily for Daniels, she just turned thirty so the minimum age requirement for the Senate won't be an issue.

And following up on this morning's entry on Thom Loverro's criticism of Rob Dibble, in which I discussed what might have been John Lownstein's greatest moment as a broadcaster, I give you this link to a blog entry by someone named the Urban Shocker that discusses what may have been Brother Lo's finest moment as player. In this time of controversy about how steroids have inflated baseball statistics, the following Lowenstein quote seems to put things in perspective:

Nuclear war would render all baseball statistics meaningless.

Shedd's Spot 100th Post

It's been a little over four months since I set this blog up and posted my first entry. That entry, celebrating the end of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd's tenure as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was inspired by my visit to West Virginia over the holidays. During that trip, it seemed every turn I took led me to something named after Byrd, who is one of the all time kings of pork barrel spending.

Since then, I've tried to be informative and funny while trying not to take myself too seriously. There have been quite a few posts on the Washington Nationals, a few lamenting the days of old here in the D.C. area, and a lot of posts on music.

Not surprisingly, two of the most read posts were ones picked up by other blogs or websites. "Frank Goes Nuts" was picked up the L.A. Angels fan blog Three Days of Cryin' while "Music News from Elvis Costello and Bill Kirchen" was linked to by the website Elvis Costello Fans. Another widely read post was "The Godfather Winds Up the Crowd at Wolf Trap" about Chuck Brown's April appearance at the Barns of Wolf Trap.

A post that has been suprisingly popular is the Friday Frolics post featuring Junior Samples. It has made its way around the world wide web a few times via email. Who knew there were that many Junior Samples fans out there?

One thing I have noticed is that if you mention the NCAA in a post, someone with that organzation is going to read it. Every mention of the NCAA here on Shedd's Spot has garnered at least one hit from a PC (or Blackberry) on the NCAA's network.

I want to thank a few folks for their help so far...Tadcranky for his blogging tips, same for "M.K. in Portand and "J.D." in Richmond for his topic suggestions. Most of all, thanks to all of you for reading, even the reader who called me a "big p*ssy fair weather fan" in an anonymous comment on my post "With Eight Tickets You Get a Haynesworth" that criticized the Washington Redskins for signing Albert Haynesworth. As long as y'all keep reading, I'll keep posting.

Follow Ups: Stormy, Smiley G and Mic Rockin' at the Library

For better or worse, Shedd's Spot has not uncovered any further information in regards to adult film star Stormy Daniels' potential run for the Sentate in 2010. (Please see the Feb. 11th Quickies Post.) But, there are stories circulating she is signing on to direct a horror movie that is to be shot in New Orleans in the near future. Shedd's Spot will also be monitoring that story. In the meantime, all readers are encouraged to post a comment speculating on what the title and premise of the movie might be.

Speaking of a horror in the making, events surrounding the Smiley G incident continue to unfold as the Nationals workout in their first week of spring training. (Please see the original post from Feb. 19.) A couple of days back, SI.com reported Nationals GM Jim Bowden is under investigation by the FBI for his dealings in the Dominican Republic going back to the days when he was GM of the Reds in the 1990s. Of course, Bowden has denied any wrongdoing. Bill Ladson of MLB.com tells the facts here while Mr. Manzier, Thom Loverro of The Washington Times, continues his coverage here. Loverro's piece includes quotes from a phone interview he conducted with Dominican "agent" involved in the controversey, Basillio Vizcaino.

Let me insert a tad bit of opinion here. Over the past week, it's become apparent to me the coverage of the Nationals in the The Washington Post by beat reporter Chico Harlan has fallen a step behind that of The Washington Times and MLB.com. Combine the slowness with a false report on a Ryan Zimmerman contract hold out and it begins to look as if the coverage is lacking.

Finally, Kevin Crothers posted a comment letting Shedd's Spot know the entire set from Mic Harrison and the High Score's show at the Charleston (S.C.) Public Library is available for viewing on the library's website. You can view it here.

Quickies

This week's Quickies post isn't so quick seeing that it is a couple of days behind its normal Monday schedule. But hopefully, you'll like the item covered later in the post that was provided by Shedd's Spot west coast bureau.

First up, today, Feb. 11th, is Burt Reynolds' 73rd birthday. One of Reynolds' comeback roles in the 1990's was playing Jack Horner, a porn director, in Boogie Nights. That little tidbit is a great segway to this next item....

Porn star Stormy Daniels has been approached in regards to running for the U.S. Senate in 2010. She is now considering a run against Louisiana Senator David Vitters in that state's Republican primary. Daniels is orginally from Louisiana and she has already come up with several catchy campaign slogans, including "Stormy Daniels, screwing people honestly". This is yet another story Shedd's Spot will be following closely in the coming months, and with plenty of commentary. In the meantime, you can learn more about Daniel's possible candidacy in following interview clip and this CNN.com article. Or, you can go directly to DraftStormy.com.




If you would like to learn more about Stormy Daniels' current profession, watch the six part HBO documentary Pornucopia. Honestly, it's not for the faint of heart or those who are easily offended by adult entertainment. But, the series explores the history of the adult (porn) movie industry, the current film and internet market, and fetish & specialty porn, among other topics. Several episodes include interview clips with Daniels where she discusses different aspects of the adult movie industry.

It's a New Day in Washington...and It's Not What You Think

Yes, big changes are coming to our Nation's Capital. Most everyone thinks those changes begin January 20th when Barrack Obama is innaugerated as our country's 44th President. But in fact, the changes begin when the 111th Congress convenes on January 5th.

The 111th Congress will feature a Senate Appropriations Committee chaired by Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and not by Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. After serving on the Committee since 1989, Byrd succumbed to pressure from Democratic leaders this past November and gave up the Committee chairmanship. On the surface, this may not seem much. But, in many ways, it's comparable to taking a child out of a candy store.

Byrd's long record of bringing pork barrel projects to West Virginia has been documented dozens of times over. It seems you can't swing a dead cat or, more appropriately, a dead road kill deer anywhere in West Virginia without hitting something named after Senator Byrd. My favorite Byrd project I've read about is the Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center. If you search the internet for information on the Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center, you'll find dozens of articles on Byrd's long history of pork projects, but very little on what the Center actually does.

Now, I have to admit to being somewhat of a hypocrite in criticizing Byrd's pet projects. My parents moved back to West Virginia twelve years ago and I use the Robert C. Byrd Appalachian Highway System every time I visit them. Byrd's road projects have brought transportation to and from West Virginia light years forward from the awful crooked two lane roads that never failed to make me car sick every time my parents dragged me to West Virginia back when I was a kid.

One of Byrd's latest pork barrel goodies is a road project called Corridor H. Corridor H is will be a four lane divided highway which will run from the West Virginia-Virginia border west of Strasburg, Virginia to Interstate 79 near Weston, West Virginia. Several small sections of Corridor H have been opened, but the entire project won't be completed for years. With Interstate 64 entering West Virginia from Virginia to the south and Interstate 68 entering West Virginia from Maryland to the north, the need for Corridor H is very much in question. In question for everyone, that is, except me. Corridor H would cut the time it takes me to drive to my parents' house by an hour or so.

Although Senator Byrd is best known for his pork barrel projects, he is also known for his ego, his somewhat checkered past and his attempts at fiddle playing. Byrd has been known to refer to himself as "Big Daddy" and, as recently as last summer, was shown on a national news program bragging about the number of pork projects he has brought to West Virginia.

As to his past, prior to his election to the House of Representatives in 1952, Byrd was an active member of the Ku Klux Klan and had been elected Exalted Cyclops of his local chapter. (And all this time, I thought the only Exalted Cyclops in the Klan was John Goodman's character in Oh Brother Where Art Thou.)

Byrd and his fiddle have made numerous appearances throughout the years. He has sawed away on Hee Haw, at the Grand Ole Opry and even at the Kennedy Center, all the while playing up his image as a true West Virginian. My dad recently told me I saw the good senator sitting in with a distant cousin's bluegrass band back in the 70's. I don't remember it, but then again, how many nine year olds would pay attention to a fiddling senator?

Now 91, in poor health, and the longest serving Senator in the country's history, Robert C. Byrd doesn't play his fiddle much anymore. And beginning January 5, 2009, he won't have the country's purse strings to play much with either.