North of the border, up Canada way

This is a good year to be a Yankee fan. Removed from the mundane concerns over winning and losing, we can stand back and objectify our experiences--say what we mean. And even though it hurts to admit that all those drunken fans in Fenway have been right lo these many years, the Yankees do, indeed, suck.

For now.

But teams that suck yet lose with dignity have something to recommend them--a sportsmanlike quality that earns them, if not more wins, at least less disdain. But then there's A-Rod. The other night in Toronto, as he raced behind the third-baseman ready to catch a popup, he yelled something. The third baseman, one John Macdonald, distracted into thinking that someone else was going to catch the ball (and in order to avoid a collision) backed off. Nobody else caught the ball, a run scored, and when Jason Giambi singled to center, two more runs scored.

OK, I understand: baseball is loaded with trick plays. The hidden-ball maneuver is designed to catch an unwary baserunner napping, and a pitchout is designed to...well... to catch an unwary baserunner napping. But the A-Rod move transcends that, not because it was A-Rod who did it, but because the tactic put other players in jeopardy, risked an injury to young men who are, despite the difference in their uniform color, colleagues of A-Rod.

Look I'll live with the Yankees' swoon and suck it up the way Red Sox fans did for the entire twentieth century. But I won't defend embarrassing behavior by high-priced prima donnas who damn well ought to have a little respect for the game itself, if nothing else.

Listing: 5:30 to 10:00. WFAN. Dead Air.

It has been over a month since WFAN in New York suspended morning broadcasts, and I'll have to admit, the days aren't the same. I suppose technically those broadcasts weren't suspended; it's just that they became unbearably hideous. But whatever spin you'd like to attach to it is fine with me. The fact is, the absence of Don Imus (fired by CBS) has critically diminished the quality of that radio station and others which broadcast Imus in the Morning.

I do not wish to be an apologist for Don Imus, and I have never confused him with Gandhi or Mother Teresa. There were times when he became embarrassingly abusive to his staff and his listeners—times he said things that were at best inappropriate. But the measure of a man ought to be taken on his whole life's work, not just three seconds worth of a questionable attempt at humor which, had it not been for a number of publicity hounds with nothing better to do, might have passed unnoticed. The measure of Don Imus must be taken in his fight against SIDS, his attempts to obtain decent care for our veterans, his ranch in New Mexico on which kids with cancer are treated like...well, like kids. His denouncers, beating their breasts over insensitive comments and imagined insults, had little time to note the man's humanitarian efforts, mainly because (1) they didn't know about them and (2) they never listened to him. They certainly never heard his "nappy headed hos" comment until it took on a life of its own, removed from the context of a morning radio show where it might have been absorbed and forgotten. (Yes, hos. I refuse to spell it ho's—it's plural, not possessive!)

And so as Ann Coulter continues to berate people publicly for their sexual orientation (of which, fortunately, she has none), Rush Limbaugh perseveres in his efforts to equate honest criticism with treason, and altruist and all-round good guy R. Kelly drips wisdom like "Ima b pimpin/I dont be slippin/When it come down to these hoez," Don Imus is held up as an example to the rest of us and removed to a place where he can no longer offend us.

Hoez?

a simple request

Yesterday I emailed Nancy Pelosi and asked her to resign. I guess I was angry. Having been a Democrat all my life, I was disappointed that, in six months, that party has not only done nothing to diminish the war effort, but has knuckled under to the most ineffectual president in our history--ineffectual, that is, except when it comes to bullying the Democrats. So it appears that my party wanted to achieve a majority in 2006 not to change anything, but to gain a foothold on 2008, by which time, of course, even their own constituents will be too fed up to vote for a Democrat.

Oh, and Pelosi? Well she said that, even though her party had given in to the Bush non-plan in Iraq, she would make sure the debate continued. Now there's a threat with some teeth in it. Incompetent politicos used to face impeachment and charges of misfeasance; now they face debate? Oooooh, scary.

So I asked Ms. Pelosi to resign and save herself any further embarrassment. So far , nothing.