Write In Candidate

After this news from South Carolina last week, I now know who I am voting for today. For what office? All of them of course. I will enter Colbert as my write in vote for all offices I can. Keep this in mind when you go out and vote!

John Russell now at Bucs helm

Maybe Russell is the right hire. Maye his job last year keeping the Ottawa Lynx playing hard despite going 55-88 is a positive sign that he can manage. To me, it sounds a lot like what he'll be trying to do with the Bucs over the next few years: keeping a team that is clearly lacking the talent that others have playing hard even after their season has been decided. Sadly, after the players quitting on Lamont and Tracy, playing hard in August and September when they're 20+ games out of first is more than we've become accustomed to.

But that is obviously not the goal. The goal is to win. And the interesting, perplexing thing, is that there were candidates available to at least talk to who have won and who have ties to the Pirates and as Bob Smizik points out, weren't even in the conversation. Why not? Why not talk to Pena, Garner, Macha or Howe, all of whom have had success on the major league level in similar situations as the Bucs?!?!

And with an apparent renewed focus on re-establishing the Pirates tradition and identity, bringing back Chuck Tanner was the first step, why not think about Tony Pena, maybe the greatest catcher in Pirate history and a former manager of the year?

Why? Probably because Frank Coonelly is doing his job, which can be described as nothing more complicated than guarding the Nutting's bank accounts. And until that changes, having a team play hard in September is about all we can expect.

Couple Quick Pens Notes

The Doctor will make another house call. His acquisition was a sign that the Pens were serious about getting good and his debut on a Weds game the night before Thanksgiving against Quebec was a stirring intro for one of the all time smoothest.

Evgeni Malkin reached 100 career points faster than all but Sid and Ovie. Faster than Kariya and Fedorov . Don't overlook his greatness. I'll say it again: it is foolish for hockey pundits to look at the Pens Young 3 (Sid, Geno, Staal) and surmise that Malkin will be the one they decide is expendable in a trade or if they can't sign all three. I don't see Staal in Geno's class and it would be foolish to keep him to be a third line checking center, even if he's the best in the league, over someone who may lead the league in scoring.

It's fun to read all the articles in the Northwest division cities heralding the arrival of Sid and the Pens for the first time. Now it's Denver's turn. They all stick to the same angle though. Maybe the Pens PR dept is doing too good a job, give us some new info or perspective please.

Enjoy the Extra Hour

Love it when good ol politics and lobbyists actually gets something right; in this case extending daylight savings time. Just one question: there was an energy policy act passed in 2005? What has this accomplished? Were OPEC lobbyists in cahoots with the candy guys?

The lobbying effort, which was allied with the retail and sports industries, was unsuccessful that year and every year until 2005, when it piggybacked on the Energy Policy Act and managed to get daylight saving time extended by a month.

But the candy makers’ impact can be seen in the odd way the month is broken up: three extra weeks in the spring and one in the fall, just enough to cover Halloween. “That one week is a simple concession to the long-suffering candy makers and chocolate manufacturers,” he said.

Halloween

About a year and a half too late for this. Wonder if Cowher will defend himself this Sunday.

Happy Valley? Nice to see the PSU fans taking their lead from the irate JoePa after his traffic incident.

Are the Pirates still around? And no, interviewing this guy is not proof of life on the North Shore. While the baseball world frenzies itself with Torre drama, our nine continues to sit quietly by giving local baseball media types something to do instead of sparing us and going on vacation.

Open up Sunday Ticket for everyone, go for it on fourth down, teams with coaches and cheer babes that wear less will win, blitz and you will give up touchdowns. Yep, another TMQ that sounds an awful lot like all the others. I used to like him but no find myself about a paragraph in thinking "COLUMN OVER".

Sports Contraption fans can listen to Popeye describe the salad days of the show...