2012: The Year of Phil

Ok..since the world is going to end sometime this spring according to the Mayans,  I figure I have a better than usual mathematical chance of keeping a resolution in 2012. It’s all about the math…..and besides…chics dig math.

By the way…if the Mayans were so good at predicting things do you think they predicted their own elimination from the face of the earth? Or were they just trying to create a great plot for blockbuster duds at the movie theatre?  Is there some Mayan family hanging around down there still? I picture a stressed out Mayan dad, not unlike myself, going to flip the kitchen calendar later this year to April, seeing that there aren’t any pages left and whispering, “oh sh…………..”

Anyway…my resolution is actually not something I’m going to do…..it’s something I’m NOT going to do.  Living longer is a pretty cool idea.  And I figure all the stress I succumb to on a daily basis subtracts actual days from my life. Sooo these are the people and things I will NOT stress about in 2012 – thus elongating my life:

1.     The Philadelphia Flyers

2.     The Tea Party

3.     Fox News…oh….that was number 2. Sorry.

4.     That lady that won’t open the store at 8:59 even though you’re standing in the cold staring at her through the glass door waiting to get NyQuil... Cuz if she opens the door before 9AM the whole Rite Aid corporation may collapse… and she’d be giving in to a  man and all men are pigs and they can all stand in the cold for one more minute because her life sucks .sorry….had to get that out…Hey it’s still 2011. Give me a break.

5.     Ninth graders

6.     Piece of sh…t pedophile priests that tear down the reputation of 1.2 billion other Roman Catholics.

7.     People that judge 1.2 billion Roman Catholics because of piece of sh..t pedophile priests.

8.   The majority of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics who think they’re golden BECAUSE their Catholic and they hit up church every so often

9.   The Baltimore Ravens.

10. The kid who asks, “are we learning anything important today?” EVERY day.

11. That kid’s parents

12. Politicians who know nothing about education making major decisions about education.

13. Politicians.

14. One issue voters who elect politicians that know nothing about….

15. One issue voters who elect those politicians and then complain about them..

16. The BCS

17. The kid who asks, “Will this be on the test?”  Ya know what? YES it will be on the test. Anything I say could be on the test! If I tell a story about my 10 yr old son it could be on the test. A question about the clothes I wear that week could be on the test. Anything I want could be on the test! And ya know why?? Because I’m the …………g teacher and I’m MAKING the test! So just pay attention, take one or two notes for a change, and shut your 14-year old trash hole. Does that answer your question?

18. Ninth graders

19. Concussion-like symptoms.

20. High ankle sprains.

21. Suspensions

22. Groin pulls

23. Anyone who says, “Put in Charlie Batch”

24. Anyone who says, “Crosby’s a baby”

25. Anyone who mentions the last time the Pirates finished above .500

26. The Pirates

27. The person who doesn’t pull away from the drive-thru ATM until they’ve read their receipt in full, neatly folded the receipt, put their card back in their wallet, put their wallet in their pocket, fastened their seat belt, and changed the radio to a station playing a song they like.

28. Real Housewives of Who the Heck Cares – Season 6

29. The Real Housewives of Who the  Heck Cares – Season 6 Reunion. Let’s rehash that one time you were a bitch in that one episode...oh wait…

30. TV

31. Big ugly women who get into management positions and take out their crappy lives and childhoods on the employees below them and their customers.

32. The people in corporate positions who back those big ugly women who.....oh never mind.

33. Lawyers - ok...not ALL lawyers.

34. People who write numbered lists that are waaayyyy too long.

35. Sorry…thanks for reading to the end.

Good luck with YOUR resolution. I’d love to hear what it (or they) are…mostly so I can make fun of you when you screw up.  I figure this list will come back to bite ME so why not?

Good riddance 2011……you sucked more than most. But I’ve had worse years.

Hope everyone had a great holiday. Here’s to the year of (insert your name here).

Enjoy all three Pittsburgh championships in 2012!

Peace and God Bless,

Phil

Christmas "Carol"

This is going to sound awful but…..Gift giving has ruined Christmas for me.  Not because I’m a selfish heartless jerk.  I’m not selfish.. or heartless.  Jerk? Maybe…..I just hate the pressure. 

Sure, I put it on myself, but I’m so afraid of not getting the perfect gift that it causes me great stress..  And since I now, somehow, have been given the responsibility (by a very humorous God) of raising two children of my own, that pressure has multiplied tenfold. 

I. Hate. Gift. Giving. 

Almost as bad as I hate gift RECEIVING.  How do I act when I open it? What if I hate it? Can they tell? Everyone is looking at me!  Is there a giftophobia?

Whatever the reason….it takes away from the holiday …one of the most important of the year for me and my family.

******

I was thinking back today on all of the presents I’ve ever received. Wouldn’t you love to see your lifetime list? Anyway, with all the pressure I now put on myself to make my kids’ Christmas perfect…to be honest? I only really remember a handful of gifts my parents ever gave me..

The red bike under the tree at the age of 6 or so was a biggie….The loud and completely pointless electric football game that just vibrated players all over the place was another.  Or a few years later the Matel football game where you had four buttons and you had to maneuver a blip of red light through 5 other blips on a screen that was one inch by maybe four. I played that for days….and days….and days……

My favorite of all time though? The Bruce Springsteen Live Box Set….that my mom hid until I was done opening gifts because she KNEW that was all I wanted. If you remember my aforementioned gift receiving phobia ….you know that was a tough one to cover up for a cruel minute or so…thanks mom.

Bet really….its NOT the thought of the gifts that I received over the years that get me choked up and teary eyed this time of year,  especially when I remember my mom …..No, it wasn’t the gifts….It WAS my mom that was Christmas to me.

****

Carol Macioce  LIVED for Christmas. If you could only have seen her face when she made hundreds and hundreds of cookies every year (20 – 30 different kinds..EVERY year.)

Or just watched her decorate the house and put up her ancient manger set her own grandmother brought back from Europe decades earlier.

Or heard her excitedly explain EVERY damn gift she ever gave…. “I thought, ya know, since you love the color green…and well….your always complaining about only having the one sweater…”  as I hold up the bright green Cosby sweater complete with patches of leather sewn in very fashionable places on the front…smiling so I accept the gift correctly.  All the while I’m imagining the scores of kids at school in the hall writhing on the ground in laughter as I take off my coat to reveal “my gift”.

My mom even came up with ways to create her own wrapping for us….three different kinds of course for my two brothers and me….One year the presents were wrapped in black or gold with the numbers of our favorite players on them.

My mom WAS Christmas to me.

*****

The first Christmas gift I ever gave was to my mother at the age of five. It was a shark necklace. (I bought it at the school’s Santa Workshop – with money she gave me of course.)  This thing was HUGE. Something Jacques Cousteau might wear.  I was so excited to give it to her…..and she cried like I handed her a diamond ring – blessed by the pope. ….She wore that freakin thing EVERY Christmas for years.  My own kids saw it on her at one of the last family Christmas parties she ever attended before she passed.  She was still so proud of it even then, and loved telling the story of opening it to anyone who would listen.

Not quite a shark necklace but maybe the best gift giving moment ever under the roof of my childhood home (which was sold almost a year ago this month) was when we gave my mother Maggie.

About a month or so before that Christmas our dog of 12 years, Sugar, was put to sleep while I was at college. My father, who had to take her to the vet, vowed never to get another pet.  Experiencing that kind of hurt and emotion was not something my dad wanted to do ever again so we were told not to even think of bringing home another dog.

That Christmas….I did anyway.  My brothers and I presented her the gift on Christmas Eve.  My father didn’t speak to me for a good week.

Without a seconds thought she named the puppy Maggie ….after the “Three Magi” that presented gifts to Jesus at his birth…..Damon, Justin, and I being likened to the three kings of course.

Maggie and my mom were the best of friends for the next seventeen years. Saying good bye to Maggie and then my mom within a few years of each other recently were two of the most difficult moments of my life to date.  Maggie’s stone is next to my mom’s in Mt.Carmel Cemetery

******

Those memories are Christmas.  The pressure I put on myself is the pressure to duplicate the love and joy that giving and receiving gifts brought to my mother.  Now that my mom is gone there is a huge hole in my heart this month…but it is a hole I wouldn’t trade for the world.  It sounds strange but I want my kids to someday feel the same thing. I want to be remembered in the same way…and I constantly feel I fail at achieving this….thus my frustration.

My grandparents named my mom Carol because being born on September 25^th she was probably

 conceived at Christmas (no not something I wanted to think of either…) But a name was never more perfect for a human being ever born on this earth.  Carol Macioce WAS Christmas and personified “gift giving” not just during Christmas but during her entire life.

SHE was a “gift”.  Thanks mom for the love you put into this holiday and for the irreplaceable memories I now have. Christmases just aren’t the same….but we try.

Still not a big fan of the Springsteen Box set prank….we’ll have to talk about that someday.  I love you.

My interview with the Savior.

After eating an entire jar of peanut butter with a spoon and washing it down with a Phil-bomb (Jameson’s and Red Bull), I used my “wings” to put up the Christmas lights on the porch (all three white strands).  I then experienced the Phil-bomb crash, passed out, and proceeded to have  the craziest dream.

After the Penguins somehow lost the Stanley Cup to the Denver Broncos coached by Tony LaRussa, I finally jumped of the Roberto Clemente bridge naked as I’ve often threatened to do, and plummeted to my death.  At least I thought it was my death.

 I opened my eyes and found myself in an elevator that stopped at the 87^th and top floor of some building.  I exited the elevator and before me was a trophy case with six Lombardi trophies, three Stanley Cups (yes I know there is just one.) and five World Series trophies.  To my right was a beautiful mahogany desk/counter where Mariah Carey sat in a Santa’s helper outfit complete with hat. She was apparently the information director of the building.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Well, I was wondering what you wanted for Christmas.” Not even a smile. Really? I thought that was funny. I continue, “Do I have an appointment?”

“Yes the Lord will see you now.”

“The L—   What? Is this about –”

“Mr. Macioce, we have a tight schedule here. First door on your left.”

“Ok” I took a step but turned back, “Hey I regularly play your music at bars at awkward moments. You should see –“

“First door on the left.”

Geez…. I entered the first room on the left, a small glaringly white room, with a white desk and chairs.   

I nervously took a seat.  The Musak version of Highway to Hell by AC/DC played quietly from the ceiling speaker.  Moments later Tim Tebow walked in with a file folder under one arm and the Heisman trophy in his hand.

“Good afternoon Phil.”

After a pause I replied, “Woah…are you really--?”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

I laughed nervously. I wasn’t used to meeting celebrities. “Wow. Tim Tebow! This is crazy.”

“Phil. I’m Jesus.”

I laughed.  Tim/Jesus did not. “You were expecting Sidney Crosby perhaps?” he asked.

“Wait. I don’t understand. Am I-? Is this-?”

“Heaven. This is your interview.”

“My - - I don’t just go in?”

“We’ll see…” Tim.. er… Jesus still wasn’t smiling. This wasn’t good. He sat and opened my folder. Various charts, papers, and pictures shuffled out. Was that a picture of….? Oh no……

“Some call me “miraculous”  Some call me a “winner”  Some call me the savior of the NFL. Who do YOU say that I am?”

“Is this a trick question?”

No response.

“Do you have a facebook page…uh….Jesus?”

“You haven’t “friended” me yet Phil. I have 3.5 billion friends. You’re not one. My news feed has you saying –“

“Wait! I only meant…” Did I just interrupt Jesus Christ? This wasn’t going well.

“You said – and I quote: A winner? He’s not even good. He hasn’t beaten anyone”

“Well cmon Jesus….the Chiefs, Vikings….-“

“I beat the Jets.”

“YOU beat the Jets? Wasn’t there a defensive TD in that game?”    SHUT UP PHIL. YOU’RE ARGUING WITH THE LORD FOR TIM’S SAKE!

“This here is a Heisman Trophy,” he patted the award. "How many people can say they won this?"

“Troy Smith. Jason White. Andre Ware. Eric Crouch. Chris Weinke…….”

Awkward silence.

“Look….Jesus…..I’m just saying..someone like Ben is a winner. He’s won Super Bowls. Fought through injury. He just gets it done.”

“Like he did in Georgia last summer?”

“Ok…ya…well…..I’m not condoning…..shit……er…CRAP…..can we start over?”

He looked down at my file. “It says here you’ve sited Crosby as Jesus 74 times.”

“Cmon that’s just a figure of –“

“Ben is God? Really Phil?”

“Well…not with a capital G….”

“And let’s talk about the night Sid Bream scored the game winning run in the 1992 NLCS.”

I nearly choked. “Can we not?......”

“And according to this chart you have the Western Pennsylvania record for uses of the F bomb.”

I put my head in my hands. A big screen TV appeared. Jesus grabbed a remote. “Shall we watch your life?”

“What!?!!?......ALL of it?? Is there a Scene Selection option…or like Bonus Features? Can I pick?.......”

A still image of me screaming at a TV appeared with PLAY> as the only option.

“Shit.” I muttered. “Sorry.”

Still no smile from Christ. I’m done, I thought.  I made the Florida Gator chomping gesture with my arms….still….no smile. Man…did anyone smile up here?  Jesus Christ pressed PLAY.

Hours later after the show Tim/Jesus arose (well not arose with a capital A…he just got up). He walked around the desk to shake my hand and finally smiled. I had no idea if it was a “you’re in” smile or a “you’re so screwed.” smile.

“You’re transportation is downstairs Mr. Macioce. We’ll be in touch.”
“We..??”

But then he was gone.

I walked out past the desk. Mariah was playing Solitare on the computer. Her song HERO was playing….but the words were, “And then a TEBOW comes along…..”

I walked over the elevator and took it down to the first floor.  A limo was waiting outside. I walked up to it. The driver gently ushered me passed the limo and directed me to a Hundai Elantra… 2002. “This is your ride sir. Raymond will be taking you”

“Taking me where?” I asked. He just walked back to the limo.

I got into the Elantra my stomach in knots. Where was I going? I looked up and saw that the back of my drivers head was rather large. I asked, “Where to boss?”

Ray Lewis slowly turned around and gave his biggest smile. Alexander Ovechkin got into the other side and slid in next to me…..a smile equally wide with one less tooth than Mr. Lewis.

Shit…….Game over. Tebow wins again.

Next Bucket Wins! Sincerely, The BCS

Ok…I know I’m supposed to space these posts out but I can’t have a blog that involves sports without making at least a few comments about the BullShit Championship Series. Well…..anyone who knows me knows I can’t go without making a few comments about ANYTHING…….but there it is.

I did basically nothing BUT play sports during my entire youth…any of the major sports.  I’m imagining back to any number of late afternoons when I was playing some sort of pick up game for hours on end.  Anyone who has done the same has been part of the following scenario: 

My team has had the upper hand most of the afternoon and the score is say 22-15 in a hoops game…and someone looks up and realizes that we’re all in deep shit if we don’t get home to eat. (Back then you WERE in deep shit if you weren’t home on time…or even say….looked at your dad wrong…)

Anyway…some jabroni on the other team says, “next bucket wins!!” and all the rest of the sheep on the court agree!!!! I swallow my tongue, play on, and someone from the other team (probably the same jabroni) throws one in off the glass from 25 feet and claims victory.  Total BS. We all know it.  I hated losing at anything….ANYTHING….so while everyone is joking around it ruins the next 30 minutes of my life.

THIS is what’s happening to LSU.  FORGET that we beat you the first time Alabama….FORGET that the only reason you’re #2 again is because WE beat Arkansas FOR YOU while you were tussling with Georgia Fn Southern ( they changed they're school name)….and (gasp) Ole Miss.  FORGET that after all that we STILL had to go beat a top 10 Georgia team to win OUR CONFERENCE…..FORGET all of that…….next bucket wins……..

Look….if Alabama played their way back in that’s fine…but that’s not what happened.  As much as I loathe Nick Saban he said once, “if you can’t win your own conference you shouldn’t be playing for the National Title.” Amen you turncoat piece of crap. Hey who does he coach now anyway?.........Jackwagon.

I can put my money where my mouth is……A few years back Michigan played OSU in a 1 vs. 2 match  up to end the year and since the curse of Adeline (my daughter ) was still in full effect the Maize and Blue lost….I cried. Broke stuff….moved on. I then AGREED with those who said Michigan should NOT get a 2^nd shot. They HAD their shot.  OSU eventually lost to (Florida was it?) and all was right with the world….but that’s not the point.  You had your shot at the title pal…step aside.

Right now I hate Iowa State….their upset of Oklahoma State ruined what would have been a great matchup between OkState and LSU…..A playoff would eliminate a FLUKE like that ruining a great team’s season. It’s amazing that Ive never met ANYONE who agrees with the BCS yet it’s still out there.

And let me tell you this.  I will stick a college football, complete with the cool white stripes, up the next person’s ass who tells me the DEBATE is what it’s all about……we’re talking around the water cooler about it right?

I’ll drown you in that water cooler you piece of  ----------! What do you think we’d be doing if there was a playoff??? I don’t know about you but I’d still be thirsty, drinking water, and talking trash on anyone who would listen the week leading up to the playoffs!

I have a sentimental reason for wanting LSU to win (a great friend of mine passed away 2yrs ago who was from Louisiana and lived LSU football….), but even if I didn’t I hope they win because I couldn’t stomach Nick Saban winning the national championship without winning his conference.

Even better than a playoff….they should just make the SEC Division I as I said yesterday….and Alabama STILL wouldn’t have played for the national title!!!! AAAAAAAAhhhh!!!!

Go Blue! Tell me what a Hokie is again? No..on 2^nd thought……don’t.

Cure for Sadness

I love the musical "Camelot" with Richard Harris (God rest his soul.) Yes I admitted that. Shut up.

Anyway, in one scence Merlin tells Arthur that the cure for feeling sad is to LEARN something.

Today when I was feeling sad, learning that the Steelers were still miles better than the Cincinnati Bengals was cure enough for me but I'd like to share some other things I learned watching the butt-kicking.

I'll give the first few in quiz form to see if you learned the same things.

1.      The Bengals are:

a.      Better but not quite good enough

b.      Not even close to being good enough

c.       Never were and never will be good enough

d.      Suck.

2.      The value of a new cell phone lies in its:

a.      Thickness (or lack of..)

b.      The amount of lightning in its commercial

c.       The number of G’s

d.      The ability of the music you play on it to do serious damage to your surroundings

3.      True or False.   A commercial aired today that actually said that the now available DVD “Cowboys and Aliens” was the PERFECT gift.

4.      A Craftsman Drill is something that would be:

a.      At the top of my Christmas List

b.      In the top 5 of my list

c.       In the top top 100

d.      Never do I EVER nor have I EVER wanted a drill for Chirstmas..or anything from Craftsman.

5.      How many of the people I know have ever bought or received a car or truck as a Christmas gift?

a.      Just me

b.      A few

c.       At least five a year

d.      I don’t live in that world.  I’m not even sure it exists.

Other random Sunday thoughts:

*I hate Tim Tebow.

*When Troy Aikman said today that there are too many awards shows he became my favorite color commentator

*Microbeers give me a nasty headache

*Congratulations to my amazing 13-yr old daughter who had 12 rebounds in her first basketball game, took out a row of bleachers going for a loose ball, and put up our Christmas tree, all in a five hour period.

*Congratulations to my amazing 10-yr old son for killing thousands and thousands of his foes in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and for our 4-0 start playing NHL 2K11 as the Penguins.

*I am so happy we will be the first team to beat Green Bay this year in our Super Bowl rematch!

*Did I mention the Penguins have the most points in the NHL??

*Anyone else think the truck commercial where Santa is the salesman talking to the hunter in the showroom is funny? "sooo what do you hunt?"........"Deer.....FISH!......." (looks sidelong at Santa after correcting himself.)

*well...I thought it was funny

*I'm not a fan of either school but why is Syracuse getting the pass that Penn State never even came close to getting in nearly identical scandals?

*I hate Tim Tebow.

*How are the Texans still winning with Tyler Yates at QB?? .......exactly. I dont know who he is either.

*Can we just call the SEC Division I in football?

*Tomorrow nights showdown between the Pens and the red hot Bruins will be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals. You should tune in.

*Don Henley's Christmas song "Please Come Home for Christmas" is very underrated. Maybe the best Christmas song not done by Springsteen, Mariah Carey, or U2.......or the Pretenders.......or Wham.......

oh well....I began this post by sounding like I'd lost my man card......may as well end there.

Have a great week folks.
WE DEY!!!!!

Answers to quiz: 1.c  2. a. 3. true  4. d  5. d

Ray Lewis for President

My hard core conservative friends just don’t get it.  It’s not their politics or philosophy I hate so much as WHO they become when they put on their party hats (which I imagine to be large tea bags with bills and the little steeping string hanging down like some who leave the tags on their hats because it’s..well….cool).

Look, no one can hate like I do.  Give me an Alexander Ovechkin or a Ray Lewis to root against at a sporting event and I’ll out-hate anyone on the planet.  Have I ever imagined those two along with any Philadelphia Flyer sitting on a plane that collides with another carrying the entire New York Yankee organization?  Maybe I have.

It’s that image (albeit a joke – I swear!) that leads me to my point.  Politics is NOT sports and this country is rotting from the inside because many extremists (and sometimes not so extremists) have made supporting their party a blood thirsty past time, not unlike that of being a member of the “Steeler Nation” we witness no matter where the Steelers play every weekend.

What’s best for this nation (the U.S.) has fallen behind “My party winning at any cost!”  I see a bigger hatred in the eyes of some of my conservative friends when discussing our current president than when they discuss our enemies in the Middle East.  Unfortunately that is no joke.

 I truly believe that if President Obama somehow cured cancer and rid the world of an invading force of violent aliens, within two days there would be a story on FOX News that he falsely took credit for the cure and was in league with the aliens just to improve his approval ratings.  Then they would sweep a story under the rug about Michelle Bachman STILL denying that it’s possible to have life on other planets after her husband was killed by one of the aliens.

I don’t want to appear like I’m on a high horse (I’ve never ridden one actually) because I’m politically in the middle.  I’ve been called a p-ssy by one conservative friend because she felt my moderate viewpoint was me not taking a stand or believing in something.  Though I am registered as a democrat, I have voted an equal number of times for either side during my voting life.  Does that make me better than those at whom this article is directed? Absolutely not.  But if you’ve never even considered the other side on ANY issue and you feel you’re conservative or liberal on EVERY issue, then I’m not sure I’m inclined to ever discuss politics with you. 

Chris Rock (and unfortunately comedians seem to get it right most often) says it so well.  I’ll include the one minute link, and sorry for the offensive language, but if you can get past this he hits this point on the head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOvPBfMzKjE

He claims that anyone who makes up their mind before they hear the issue is an idiot.  “Forget being conservative, or being liberal….be a PERSON. Let the issue swirl around your mind before you form an opinion” he says.

Back to Ray Lewis and Alexander Ovechkin, the banes of my existence as a Pittsburgh sports fan.  The sight of them makes me sick.  (I’m watching the Pens and Caps as I write this as a matter of fact – in Washington D.C. ironically - and I’m sick with hatred for the opponent and their fans).  The minute Ray Lewis got traded to the Steelers, however,  I’d be the first in line to get a #52 Steeler jersey.  What a great line backer and competitor.  Also, if the NHL draft lottery went the other way a few years back the Penguins would have Ovechkin and not Malkin playing beside Sidney Crosby….If you don’t think Ovie would be a Pittsburgh hero today you are a blind fool.

Politics is not sports.  Fox News is not right in the middle of all the sports stations on my TV channel list for a reason. But maybe that is where politics SHOULD be like sports.  No matter who is wearing the black and gold I root for them (see one of the bigger jerks in sports history, Barry Bonds).  In a similar vein no matter who is sworn in as president on January 20^th every four years, he (or she) should be looked upon with respect and we should hope they SUCCEED as our leader.  I’ve heard many a conservative pull for Obama’s failure.  Incredible.

I didn’t vote for George W.Bush the second time around and I’m not a big fan…at all.  If I had to rank all the presidents he’d be in the bottom third. But when he faced the nation during the 9/11 tragedy I was proud and looked to him as my leader and the representative of my country to the rest of the world.  He was MY president. His father was MY president.  Ronald Reagan was MY president.  They had my respect once they took office.

I don’t think that is the case for many Americans of this generation.  The DAY AFTER Bill Clinton was elected the first time around Rush Limbaugh led a crusade to vilify Clinton on a daily basis until he was out of office.  That mentality has ballooned into the FOX News-led head hunting that goes on today.  The polarization that has resulted is tearing the country apart and it makes me want to bury my head in the sand and disregard and ignore ANY news.  (Maybe this IS why I’m such a huge sports fan.

Is there a similar problem on the liberal side? Some will claim CNN is the liberal version of FOX News.  Maybe I’m oblivious but I don’t see it.  If I’m wrong then sure, I’d feel the same way about their coverage.  I may have a liberal view on a few issues but I am certainly NOT a liberal. 

I want the Republicans to come up with a viable candidate as much as anyone.  I can’t believe that Bachman and Palin were ever even considerations.  I want to have to make a touch choice.  If they were the only Democratic candidates, though, I wouldn’t hesitate to cast my vote against them.  Unfortunately, I don’t believe many of my conservative friends feel the same.

I am a Steeler, Pirate, and Penguin fan no matter who is wearing the uniforms.  The same, however, is NOT true of my party affiliation.  Democrat or Republican I want the best of BOTH parties to fill the Senate as well as represent me as president.