I KNOW, I KNOW, IT'S NOT THE 15TH

You probably had 2/15 circled in your calendar in anticipation of receiving these words.  But, alas and alack, here I am in all my written glory and 3 days early.  Seems I am going to be in Rick Perry's neck of the woods for a few days making sure all is well in the South.

Now, one of my favorite whiniest/complainingest  readers has insisted I lead with the following.  A Rod is an asshole and that is not a sports story.  He deserves the suspension and I deserve (as do most of you) not to hear his name for another year.  So the squeakiest wheel did get the grease.

Another item which seems like sports but which is really a spectacle is Sochi.  Can we stop raggin on the Russians and how they did or did not prepare for this?  While, meanwhile, down there in Brazil, entire favelas are being plowed under as they prepare for the World Cup.  So Sochi has palm trees and is a winter venue on the shores of a gigantic salt water sea.  And the water is orange and cannot be drunk nor can you use it on your face.  And the locks do not work.  But, as far as I know, unlike Salt Lake City, there are no Mormons--pick your poison, I say.

And yet a third sports item but not really.  Michael Sam has come out of the closet though in fact he outed himself to his Missouri coaches and teammates last summer.  He wanted  to "own" his own narrative.  Good for him. Now enter the clowns especially the anonymous ones.  Attributable quotes have all been positive except for one (more on that later).  Anonymous ones all  involve men showering--hello I thought it was about football.  These are the same guys who drive drunk, use guns, and sometimes are charged with murder.  The one attributable quote (unfortunately) belongs to the kid's father who decided he would not want to play football with his son. Terrific support there, pop.

Three experiences/observations from the hood (that would be Centre Street):  In a second hand store waiting patiently.  A guy rushes up to the corner holding a book with stains on it he calls blood.  He wants verification because he does not want to catch hepatitis.  The book has probably been there for 50 years and the clerk does not look to me like an epidemiologist--and for sure she has no microscope or white coat; she does have a mess of piercings and tattoos.  Second, again very patiently, I wait in line at a bakery while the guy in front of me and the clerk discuss flushing out your colon which this guy has just done and together they are deciding which bread would be best now that he is "cleansed".  And, finally, never get behind a person sending some nasty looking vial to some nasty third world country who is trying (again patiently) to explain its properties to clerks who actually look like they would like to run and hide.  All true, I swear.

Our great Congress people cannot pass an immigration but did pass a farm bill which cuts food stamps and it gets signed.  Eric Cantor (he who is a member of my tribe) broke his silence with an attack on Obamacare which he claims will cost us 2 million jobs.  He apparently skimmed a gigantic analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.  Obviously he skipped the good parts because Paul Krugman in the Times did not skim and promptly ran over Eric.  The good news is that Doonesbury has one of his characters working for Elizabeth Warren.

Saw a picture of some Ultra Orthodox black hatted men (of course, not a woman among them) fighting with Israeli soldiers (who do include women).  Not over some more settlements they would like to build in some Palestinian's back yard but because they do not want to serve in the Army and Israel is going to make them do just that.  Love to see them in helmets and flak jackets.

Spectacular Chevy ads during what little I have seen of the Olympics.  Referring to their cars as "family" cars, they proceed to show us families.  Guess what--some are White, some Hispanic, some African American, some with a single parent and (TA Da) some with two male parents and some with two female parents.  My mouth fell open.

Dogs with sweaters and feet pads have to go. Maybe they could be sent to Miami Beach.

SPORTS TALK
Seguin has 24 goals, Kessel has 31 goals, and Thornton has 48 assists.  Balanced scoring is wonderful unless you need a really big goal and Chris Kelly is out there patrolling the wing.

Very powerful message for the Bruins allowing Chara to miss two games so he could carry his country's flag in Sochi.  Bruins said he has done a lot for the team and this was important.  Whoa. Sends a great message to free agents and those now on the team.

Did not watch one play of the super bowl.  I hear smilin Pete and his boys won.  Too bad Wes

Sayonara