As Seen on CNN

The Wall Street Journal recently did a great article on one of the newest viral videos. When you drop Mentos into Diet Coke it makes a cool explosion. There are hundreds of these videos on Youtube and some guys who made the most elaborate one (recreating the fountains at Bellagio) may be part of an ad campaign Mentos is considering. This seemed like a good idea for a story.
Yesterday, in my infinite wisdom I thought it wouldn't make too big of an explosion if we only dropped in a couple Mentos. So me and my trusty PA (remember, every bad idea gets started with someone saying "that's a really good idea") went into the breakroom with a bottle of Diet Coke and a roll of Mentos. I placed the bottle in the sink, dropped in three Mentos and jumped back. The explosion was ridiculous. I was covered in soda. Because we did it in the sink the explosion hit the bottom of the cabinet and went everywhere. The entire breakroom was covered in Diet Coke, about 3/4 of the bottle was expelled. So we cleaned the best we could and tried under better circumstances to recreate it.
We waited for this morning and sent our reporter on the roof to do the experiment. With a poncho. We actually did 3 takes and edited them all together into a really cool video. I hope some of you saw it. The problem as I explained before, the more fun something is, the harder it is to pull off. You wouldn't believe the difficulty we had in getting security open the door for us.
Anyway, everyone wants to know why it works and does it work with other sodas and candies.
From the Journal: "What's the chemistry behind the geyser? San Diego chemist Neal Langerman suggests the answer lies in the higher level of carbon dioxide in diet sodas than other sodas and the porous surface area of a Mentos. Mr. Langerman, the past chairman of the division of chemical health and safety at the American Chemical Society, said similar results wouldn't be achieved with an M&M, for instance, "which is really solid." Diet Coke has more carbon dioxide than Diet Pepsi, he says."
So the best combination is Diet Coke and Mentos. Some others might work, but not as well. By the way, the mess we made in the breakroom yesterday was the most fun I've ever had at work. I strongly recommend doing this yourself in your backyard. Beers, I think Evan and Dylan would love it.

Who Needs Beyonce?

You may remember Destiny's Child before Beyonce took over. It was a girl group with four girls. After songs like "No, No, No, No" and "Bills, Bills, Bills" Beyonce and Kelly Rowland made a power play, kicked two girls out of the group and brought in Michelle Williams. One of those girls grew up to be LeToya Luckett. Her new song "Torn" is awesome and I highly recommend it. It samples from the Stylistics' "You Are Everything."
If that doesn't convince you, here's some visual evidence:

Don't Cry Over Spilled Cocktail Sauce

The other night my parents took us to Legal's Sea Foods for Kate's birthday. Kate and I were seated with our backs to the bar. About five minutes after we sit down a tray of ice (that once housed shrimp) with a dish of cocktail sauce in the middle, fell off the bar. Cocktail sauce was everywhere. Kate went to the bathroom to get it out of her shirt. A waitress came by with club soda and wiped it off Kate's purse. The manager and a couple other people came over to apologize. But we didn't make a big deal out of it. A little while later the girl who knocked over the tray came over to apologize and said "I know I startled you more than anything else." We didn't deem it necessary to tell her, actually you got it all over me.
After dinner, I went in the bathroom to wash my hands when I noticed a couple spots on my shoulders. When I returned to the table we discovered that I too, had been hit by the flying cocktail sauce. How could the waiter not have seen this? All the people who walked behind me and none of them saw the little red spots all over my back? Surely the manager would tell the waiter to take something off our bill. He didn't.
The worst part was, an elderly couple was complaining that the sun was shining right in his eyes and could they lower the blinds. They gave them a free dessert.
If you want something free at a restaurant, complain.

Self-Destructive Athletes for $200, Please Alex

J.J. Redick, a likely first-round pick in this month's NBA draft, was arrested for driving while impaired early Tuesday and was released on $1,000 bond.
According to a police report, Redick was arrested at 1:03 a.m. in Durham, N.C., after the former Duke star made an illegal U-turn to avoid a police checkpoint.
"I regret what happened last night, and want to apologize to my family and the Duke community for the incident," Redick said in a statement.
Redick is scheduled to appear in a Durham court on July 17.
"J.J. knows he made a mistake and regrets it," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. "He represented the very best in college athletics and exhibited outstanding character at Duke the last four years. He is and will continue to be a credit to the Duke Basketball family. As his friend and his coach, he has my total support."
Redick's agent, Arn Tellem, added: "J.J. is an outsanding student athlete of the highest character. He is an exemplary role model and a credit to his family and the entire Duke community. This is nothing more than an isolated incident. Everyone who has come into contact with J.J. as a student and an athlete knows the quality person he is and will continue to be."

Roethlisberger Update

“According to a police source, Roethlisberger suffered a broken jaw, broke his left sinus cavity, suffered a 9-inch laceration to the back of his head, lost many teeth and has severe injuries to his knees from hitting the pavement. A plastic surgeon has been called in, the source said.”)

If I Were a Rapper...

The other day I heard Ice Cube on the radio talking about how he had to fire his bus driver because he was drinking on the job. Angie Martinez asked if the bus driver was a childhood friend. He said no, that he had very few friends on his payroll, only the ones "that got sense." Since all of my friends ain't got no damn sense, I'm going to give most of you a job, anyway.

If I were a rapper...

The Concierge would be Business manager
As crazy as he is, no one is better at organizing the small details and foreseeing problems that no one else would predict. He's the guy that always remembers to bring toilet paper on a camping trip.

jusTON would be Technical coordinator
He's already the technical coordinator for this blog so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to add lights, pyrotechnics and sound to his duties.

SCZA would be DJ
He's the DJ, I'm the rapper. He gets this job on experience alone. I never liked Faegan's but if you did, and wanted to hear Sweet Caroline at 1:30 and thought "New York, New York" was a great way to cap off an evening, then the SCZA is your man.

Mrs. Poop would be Video Ho
A funny video ho.

Josh - Hype man
If I ever needed someone to implore a crowd to get "get on your mutha fuckin feet" or "put your hands together" no one screams louder than Josh.

Jeff - Backup singer
Every rap concert has some unknown guy who hangs out on stage and shouts into the microphone, important phrases like "yeah" and "oh yeah." But mostly this guy has to dance around like a fool, and if you saw Jeff's performance of La Bamba you'd know how well-suited he is for this job.

TallSkott - Tour bus driver
He was my official chaffeur for about 5 years at the end of high school and into college. We even evaded a pinch for speeding thanks to his faux nervousness.

Bill - Backup dancer
He's a little less flexible and a little less willing than he was in his younger days, but the way he moves, without splitting his pants, incredible. And if you've never seen Bill do the Harlem shake shake-it, well, then you haven't lived.

Big Ben Hurt

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been in a motorcycle accident in Pittsburgh this morning.

Witnesses are telling authorities that the player's motorcycle collided with a car near a downtown intersection and that Roethlisberger's head hit the windshield and was bleeding.

Roethlisberger has said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding.

One witness told KDKA television that Roethlisberger was conscious but appeared disoriented before he was taken from the scene to Mercy Hospital. A Steelers spokesman is at the hospital and confirmed Roethlisberger is being treated there, but wouldn't provide additional details.

The Grimsley Details

I'm very late getting to the Jason Grimsley story so I am going to try to provide a unique angle on it, by reading the 23 page document and commenting.

Most of you know the basics: Federal agents searched the house of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley. The feds did not say what they found but it is reported that Grimsley had two Human Growth Hormone "kits" delivered to his house. Originally, he agreed to talk to Feds, and named names, but stopped short of wearing a wire.

On to the affidavit :
Grimsley lives at 10792 East Fanfol Lane in Scottsdale, in a house Zestimated to be worth $1.48m.

Special Agent Jeff Novitzky (no relation to Dirk) was also in charge of the BALCO investigation.

The two kits of HGH were delivered on April 19th, by the Postal Service.

The Feds came to his house that day and he agreed to cooperate in exchange for them not searching his house and alarming his family and neighbors.

An HGH kits is 7 vials of powder HGH and 7 vials of sterile water. They need to be mixed together in order to administer the drug.

Each kit cost $1600.

Grimsley said he used steroids, HGH and amphetamines, starting in 2000 after his shoulder surgery, to help him recover.

Since MLB began testing he's only used HGH, no steroids. But he did a fail a drug test in 2003.

Detailed what we have known since "Ball Four" about amphetamines. Baseball players called them "beans" or "greenies." "They work." "Everybody had greenies. That's like aspirin." Every clubhouse has "leaded" and "unleaded" coffee pots, with and without amphetamines.

Latin players are the steroids suppliers. Not surprising since the laws are more lax in those countries, it makes sense that they would be the suppliers.

Grimsley outed several players, and former teammates and one guy as having the worst back acne he's ever seen. Unfortunately, those names have been redacted. They may be leaked eventually but until then we won't know for sure.

The affidavit says nothing about the Feds asking him to wear a wire, or Barry Bonds, as his lawyer alleges. Grimsley also denies having given names of players to the Feds.

The Diamondbacks since released Grimsley (at his request) and don't want to pay him the remaining $825,000 left on his contract.

Bush Loves Soccer

This morning at 9am the President called the United States Soccer team to wish them good luck in their upcoming match. Dana Perino, White House spokeswoman, said "The President wanted to call early so as not to interrupt their pre-game warm up." She added, the President let them know the whole country is pulling for them. "He urged them to play hard, keep their heads up and he can't wait to see their win." she said.

Fair Lawn Street Fair

Sausage & Peppers hero: $6.50
20 oz Coke: $2
Pickle on a stick: $1
Dippin Dots: $5
Funnel cake: $4
Fried Oreos: $4
Lemonade: $3
Matching his and her bellyaches: $26.50
Spending a nice day in the sun with my wife: Priceless

In case you were wondering, Kate had half the hero and half the funnel cake and I ate everything else.

Also, we did try to bring Diesel but he got really spooked by all the people and the loud music. We had to take him home and go back without him.

The pickle on the stick was so good I went back and bought a whole pint of half sours for $3.50.

Mets 15 Diamondbacks 2

A great game to end a great series. I don't know what it is about the Diamondbacks and the desert but I wish the Mets played there more often. They have now won 10 in a row at the old BOB (now Chase Field). After outscoring Arizone 39-7 in a four game series last year, this year the Mets won this series by a score of 37-9.

The 15 runs meant a lot of run support for Pedro. I do agree with Willie's move to take Pedro out after 5 innings with a 13-1 lead. Oliver, Feliciano and Bell combined to pitch the last four innings. That gives Heilman, Sanchez and Wagner three days rest before the big series with Philadelphia.

There really isn't much to say about the offense. Everyone is hitting now.

Reyes had no hits yesterday but he drew 3 walks.

Chavez is a capable fill-in for Floyd, he scored 4 times.

If J-Mac were the Mets announcer he would definitely say that Beltran is "hot as a pistol. On this road trip he hit 14-29 with 3 HR, 12 RBI, 13 runs and 5 steals.

Delgado also seems to be waking up, with 3 homers and 11 RBI over the week.

Willie continues to pull the right strings with Woodward and Valentin. Both had big hits in this series, doubles down the line.

Castro as always is fantastic. He made a great block on a play at the plate. Chavez made an awesome through but Castro folded his leg back so Counsell slid into his shin guard and never reached the plate.

You have to think that the Diamondbacks have been affected by the Jason Grimsley fiasco. They've lost all 6 games they played since then.

Let's hope the team can keep up this hot hitting, and continue to get good pitching from the Cubans.

Another Birthday

This one goes out to Mike, brother of The Concierge. Happy Birthday Mike.

Larry Johnson

Some of you may have seen the work of cartoonist Larry Johnson on ESPN.com's Daily Quickie. Where does Johnson get his inspiration? Apparently the same place I do, Google Image Search.

First, check out this recent Sports Illustrated cover:



Now look at a recent drawing of Pujols done by Larry Johnson:



What if you did a Google Images Search for "Diesel Engine", you'd get this picture:



And now Larry Johnson's version:



Now, I don't believe there is anything illegal about artists' recreation or artists' renderings but it just seems a little fishy to me. There are several more, egregious examples here.

Mets 5 Diamondbacks 0

What a performance by Soler! A 2-hit complete game shutout. And that comes after he gave up only one run in 7 innings to the Dodgers on Monday. He seems to be settling in and learning how to pitch in the major leagues. He also was able to throw strikes, which of course is always a key. The Diamondbacks were wondering if this was the same pitcher they knocked around for 7 runs less than 2 weeks ago.

I love the fact that Willie is starting to let these guys pitch. This is the second 9 inning complete game in 3 days, after having none through the first 58 games of the season. Soler threw 108 pitches, and Willie even let him bat for himself in the 9th. In the 5th, 6th and 7th innings he threw exactly 7 pitches in each.




One interesting side note about Soler. Between innings in the dugout he was sitting in some kind of padded chair. Not on the dugout bench, in a chair. Kate suggested that he might have hemorrhoids.



As has become their formula on this road trip the Mets supported their starting pitcher with an early lead. In all 5 victories on this trip the Mets scored in the first inning, a total of 15 runs in all.

Lo Duca hit a grounder right down the third base line that Tracy threw away. Then Beltran golfed a double into the right field corner. Wright singled up the middle and then busted it around third on Valentin's double.



Beltran hit a good sinker, but both Wright and Valentin got pitches that were up in the strike zone. After the first inning Webb was able to get his sinker down and really handcuffed the Mets. Because of Tracy's error and the outs made by Delgado and Reyes the 3 first inning runs off Webb were unearned. He lowered his league leading ERA to 2.06 but the Mets did hand him his first loss of the season, keeping Tom Glavine as the only 9 game winner in the NL.

Oscar Villareal is 7-0 but no other starter in the NL is undefeated with more than 3 wins. In the AL Jose Contreras is 6-0.

During the game an injured bird landed on the field behind the mound. The umpire scooped it up in his mask, but the feisty little guy kept flapping away. Finally the umpire corralled him and it looked like he only had one functioning wing.

Ron Darling and Howie Rose discussed fights (brought on by the fact that the Mets record for most consecutive road wins against one team was against the Reds in 1985 and 1986). Rose said the Mets got into 11(!) melees in 1986. Darling said he liked the brouhahas because when you're not pitching you don't do anything but spit sunflower seeds, the occassional fracas kept things interesting. I couldn't find a way to fit donnybrook, set-to and scuffle into this paragraph.

Before the game Chris Kotter spoke with Eli Marrero. He seems like a good enough guy. He told Willie he could play all outfield positions plus first and catcher. He seemed like catcher would only be in emergencies but he rolled his eyes when he said Willie asked if he could play third base. He also commented on how hard it is to get traded during the season. I could definitely see that. You have to pack all your shit and head to some city, and when you get "home" you don't even live in your new home city. I wonder if he'll have to make this move again and find a place to stay in Norfolk once Nady comes back.

Mets send Pedro to the mound against Russ Ortiz to try to complete the sweep.

Life on "The $treet" and in the "Fast Lane"

Recent conversation has turned to two former Fox shows that were popular with our group, but never gained broad acceptance.

Along with Coach/Mike, I loved "The $treet". It premiered at the peak of the stock market bubble and focused on a bunch of stock traders at a brokerage firm. Sort of like a legitimate version of "Boiler Room" only without the evil Giovanni Ribisi. The show had a great cast, it starred Tom Everett Scott and Adam Goldberg, and an unknown actor played Freddy Sacker, a completely obnoxious boor who said the most inappropriate, politically incorrect things. He was awesome.


It also had a hot group of females too. Jennifer Connelly, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras-VeronicaVaughn, Nina Garbiras (the flat-chested reporter from "Boomtown") and as Mike correctly points out, Jennie Garth was in a few episodes. Only 7 episodes of this show ever aired.

"Fastlane" was also aired (briefly) on Fox. It wasn't quite as high brow, Bill Bellamy, Peter Facianelli (Mike Dexter) and Tiffani Thiessen were cops and the show was just explosions gunfights and hot chicks in sexual situations. Here's an sample plot: "Billie (Thiessen) has to go undercover to stop a gang of lesbian car theives. How far will she go, not to blow her cover?" Or "Van and Deaq investigate the murder of a stripper, and get drawn into their world." It was basically, mindless titilating entertainment. Which explains why Leary's brother liked it so much, young boys are curious. Fastlane actually lasted a full season of 22 episodes.

Ok, I just checked and there was an episode called "Strap On" which I got pretty close to. Here is the actual description: "Van and Deaq are hot on the trail of a pair of home invasion robbers who use an all-girl valet service to target rich homeowners. But their case hits a wall when they learn the targets are lesbians. Billie has to step in, go undercover and solve this one herself—going up against a hot and dangerous Sara."

Here's another episode, titled "Asslane", "Murdoch, a crazy crystal meth manufacturer, Lena, a porn producer who is his distributor. But when the Candy Store goes undercover to bust up the partnership, Billie and Van are horrified to be paired for porn, while Deaq rides solo with a strung-out Murdoch."

After 60 Games

The Mets have played 60 games so far this season.

They got off to a hot start, racing to a 21-9 record after winning the first two games of an early May series against Atlanta (the 14 inning game, and the save by Julio). Since then the team hit a mini-tailspin goin 16-14 over the next 30, needing several miracle comebacks to do it.

So are the Mets a .700 team or a just over .500 team?

Sad to say, but with the starting pitching the way it is and the inexplicable inability to win games for Pedro (though that is probably only temporary) the Mets will be hard pressed to consistently win 3 games or more each time through the rotation. But right now the Mets have a 5 1/2 game lead on Philadelphia and a 9 game lead on the Braves and Nationals (yes, they are tied for third), so hopefully they can find a middle ground and play .550 to .600 ball the rest of the way through.

Mets 10 Diamondbacks 6

The Mets bats are starting to come alive. They've now scored 26 runs in the last 3 games, all of which were victories for the starting pitchers.

The Mets love hitting in Arizona evidently. You might remember the series in late August last year when the Mets swept four games (4-1, 14-1, 18-4 and 3-1). That series was the brief emergence of Mike Jacobs, which allowed us to trade him for Carlos Delgado.

Delgado seems to be breaking out of his slump. His average is still around .250 but his two home runs give him 18, barring injury he should hit 30 again.



Carlos Beltran is also on pace to hit 30 homers. He also hit two last night giving him 17, one more than he had last year. I think having Delgado behind him, instead of Piazza, and being in his second season with the team are contributing factors to his resurgence this year.



David Wright also homered.

Jose Reyes stole his league leading 24th base last night. It was the 116th of his career, tying him with Len Dykstra for fifth on the Mets' all-time list.

Steve Trachsel actually pitched well enough to win (not lose) for once. Though he gave up 6 walks in 5 1/3 innings the Mets had jumped out to such a big early lead he was able to win anyway. I wish that Willie hadn't used Heilman, Sanchez and Wagner. The closest the game got was 3 runs, he could have afforded to give at least one of them 2 days off in a row.

Soler vs. Brandon Webb, this is gonna be a tough one. I can guarantee they won't hit five home runs off Webb's deadly sinker. But hopefully another good outing from Soler can extend the game into the bullpens.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife Kate who was crazy enough to marry me and patient enough not to kill me. The idea for this blog started because I'd be sending her several e-mails a day with funny stories so I figured I could just as easily share them with everyone. Then I added posts about hot girls, then baseball season started, and that's how Paul's Poop came to be.

Addition By Subtraction

The Mets have dumped Kaz Matsui on the Colorado Rockies. The Mets get Eli Marrero who is nothing more than a warm body off the bench.
The Mets will pick up the remaining $500,000 or so on Marrero's contract plus send about $4.6m in cash to cover Matsui for this year, the last year of his 3 year, $20.3 million dollar contract.
The Rockies want Matsui to waive the clause in his contract which prevents a team from sending him to the minors, thinking that he needs a few-weeks tuneup. Colorado also would like to him to forego the clauses calling for eight round-trip flights from Tokyo, a car and $25,000 housing and relocation payments. They aren't as concerned with the $125,000 MVP or $50,000 Silver Slugger bonuses.

I'm glad Omar is willing to eat money and admit mistakes. This team is built to win now, we can't be carrying players like Matsui who don't contribute.
I wonder if the Mets will send Marrero down when Nady comes back, probably.
Also, if Valentin settles into the role of starting second baseman and continues his hot hitting will Anderson Hernandez be recalled to serve as a late inning defensive replacement?

World Cup Preview

After the United States' historic run to the 2002 quarterfinals big things are expected for the Uncle Sams this year. I don't see it. The team was unlucky enough to draw Group E one of the two Groups of Death in this year's draw. I expected the U.S. to lose to Italy, tie with Czech and beat Ghana. That won't be enough to advance if Italy and Czech both beat Ghana and tie against each other. Enjoy watching our best defender Gooch, tangle with Czech's 6'8" dude who only scores with his head. Enjoy watching Kasey Keller throw up a blank sheet against Ghana. Enjoy watching the Ivory Coast and Togo. Miss Togo already won the pre-tournament Miss World Cup pageant. Maybe the team will keep that streak going.

Everyone seems to be picking Brazil, but not me.
Paul's Poop World Cup prediction is France. They may have no guts on the battlefield but on the soccer field or pitch, those boys can play. They have Zinedine Zidane, one of the best players ever.

They also have a great goal scorer in Theirry Henry (On-ree). He hasn't done too well in previous international competitions but he is anxious to prove his doubters wrong. He also is the frequent target of thrown bananas and "monkey" chants. German police promise to arrest any fans goose stepping at the games, which should help his concentration.

France also has a solid goal keeper in Fabien Barthez.

France will defeat Germany in a crazy semifinal match that has the crowd at a fever pitch, while Germans fans threaten to take over France again. Then in an epic final Ronaldinho cannot break through the suffocating French defense and Les Bleus will be victorious for the second time in the last three World Cups.

I hope you will enjoy the World Cup as I know I will. For two weeks every four years I give myself to swimming and badminton and snowboarding and of course curling. So for these two weeks (ok, a month) I'll get into the world cup. 5.7 billion people can't be wrong. I do like the fact that soccer has no commercials, continuous action is foreign to American sports. Also the fan involvement does make it more exciting. They say every person has two favorite teams in the World Cup, their own, and Brazil. I think it's true, because everyone loves Brazil's fans.

Mets 7 Diamondbacks 1

The story of this game was all El Duque. He pitched great. He pitched the second complete game of the season for the Mets. The first one was when Trachsel pitched 4 innings in that rain shortened game against the Phillies. It was only 4 innings, but it was complete, so it counted. Anyway, El Duque allowed only three hits to his former team. And Willie kept him in the game to throw 114 pitches. He would have had a shutout, but gave up a meaningless run in the 9th.

The Mets got an early 1-0 lead, I'd like to see a stat, with the record of teams that score in the top of the first inning.

Then Beltran hit another home run in the third. He has driven in 18 runs in the last 19 games he's played. And he is one shy of matching his home run mark for all of last year.

Endy Chavez continues to play well, driving in three runs. Valentin also had an RBI.

Lastings Milledge got another hit, and made SportsCenter's Top Plays with his ridiculous catch after the ball bounced off his glove. So it was actually a bad play, that he saved and made look good.

The last time through the rotation Pedro and Glavine got killed (12 runs in 10 1/3 innings, 10.45 ERA) but El Duque, Soler and Trachsel gave up 3 runs in 23 innings for a 1.17 ERA.

Xenophobes at Geno's

English Only at Philly Cheesesteak Joint

By PATRICK WALTERS
Associated Press Writer

June 8, 2006, 1:00 PM CDT

PHILADELPHIA -- Bistec con queso? Not at Geno's Steaks.

An English-only ordering policy has thrust one of Philadelphia's best-known cheesesteak joints into the national immigration debate.

Situated in a South Philadelphia immigrant neighborhood, Geno's -- which together with its chief rival, Pat's King of Steaks, forms the epicenter of an area described as "ground zero for cheesesteaks" -- has posted small signs telling customers, "This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING `SPEAK ENGLISH.'"

"They don't know how lucky they are. All we're asking them to do is learn the English language," said Geno's owner Joseph Vento, 66. "We're out to help these people, but they've got to help themselves, too."

Vento, whose grandparents struggled to learn English after immigrating from Sicily in the 1920s, said he posted the sign about six months ago amid concerns over immigration reform and the increasing number of customers who could not order in English when they wanted Philly's gooey, greasy specialty -- fried steak, sliced or chopped, in a long roll, with cheese and fried onions.

Of course, it's not as if native Philadelphians speak the King's English either. A Philadelphian might order a cheesesteak by saying something like, "Yo, gimme a cheesesteak wit, will youse?" ("Wit," or "with," means with fried onions.) To which the counterman might reply: "Youse want fries widdat?"

The traditionally Italian community near Geno's has become more diverse over the decades. Immigrants from Asia and Latin America have moved in, joining longtime residents and young professionals seeking reasonably priced rowhouses. In the past 10 years, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Mexican immigrants -- many of them here illegally, community leaders say -- have settled in South Philly.

Vento said his staff is glad to help non-native speakers order in English and has never turned someone away because of a language barrier.

But the policy has "really upset a lot of a people," said Brad Baldia of Day Without An Immigrant, a coalition of immigrant groups. "For some people, I think we're just going to say, `Le gusta Pat's.'"

Juntos, a Hispanic neighborhood organization, said it plans to send people to Geno's to try to order in Spanish and may pursue court action, depending on what happens.

"His grandparents encountered the same racism and the same xenophobia," said Peter Bloom, the group's director. "Why would he begin that process over again?"

Vento said he has gotten plenty of criticism and threats. One person told him they hoped one his many neon signs flames out and burns the place down, he said. But he said he plans to hold his ground.

Customers placing orders on a recent morning seemed unfazed.

Angelica Marquez, 22 and originally from Puerto Rico, ordered in well-spoken English, but said some of her relatives struggle with the language. "They always come and just say `cheesesteak,'" Marquez said, adding that the policy "bothers her some" but not enough to keep her away.

When a non-English speaking customer showed up at the window a short time later, a clerk patiently coached him through the process. Eventually, both said "cheesesteak."

Vento, a short, fiery man with a ninth-grade education, arms covered in tattoos and a large diamond ring in his ear, also sells "freedom fries" to protest France's opposition to the Iraq war. He rails against Mumia Abu-Jamal, the black man who was convicted of killing police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 and has become a cause celebre among some death penalty opponents. Memorials to Faulkner are posted at his shop.

Those who market the city, often using images of Geno's and other famous steak shops, are watching with concern.

"I certainly wouldn't want a national audience to think it represented all of the wonderful cheesesteak makers in the whole city," said Meryl Levitz, president and chief executive of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. "This isn't representative of the Philadelphia attitude."

Competitors are seizing on the controversy.

Tony Luke's issued a statement saying it welcomes all customers "whether or not they speak a `wit' of English."

And a manager at Pat's, Kathy Smith, said of Geno's English-only policy: "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. I'd rather listen to the Spanish than the foul language of the college students."

Braddy's Little Girl

People Magazine paid $4.1 million dollars for this photo. I am only charging $1. Please send me your checks before viewing this picture.

Mets 9 Dodgers 7

This game got started on the right foot. When Kate woke me up to say goodbye the Mets were already winning 4-1. With two outs, the Mets got five straight hits. After the usual guys (Beltran and Wright), bench players Franco (in for Delgado) and Valentin (I guess he should be considered a starter now, got run scoring hits.

Watching Franco bust it from first base to scored on the double by Valentin was a lot of fun. Now you know why 74 (I mean 47) year olds don't play baseball. After he got back to the dugout trainer Ray Ramirez had to give him a rubdown.




After that Milledge drove home Valentin with a triple of his own. He also hit his second major league home run in the 7th inning to stretch a 7-6 lead to 9-6.
After starting off 1-11 he 7-15 since with 2 homers and 8 RBI. I definitely think the Mets are going to have to keep him in the lineup even after Nady returns from appendicitis.




Milledge also made another fantastic throw, from left field to nail Nomar trying to stretch a single into a double.

Glavine got his league leading 9th win despite pitching poorly. He allowed two homers to Rafael Furcal. He's pitched well and lost or got a no decision plenty of times. He deserved this victory.



Pedro wishes he could get Glavine's run support.



Good work from the bullpen allowed the runs to stand up.

Two out of three from the Dodgers, who are actually the best offensive team in the NL by runs scored, is not a bad series. Now we head to Arizona where El Duque will take on his former mates.

Blogspot Sucks

The site is experiencing major difficulties, for the past few days I've been basically unable to upload pictures, or it would take forever. At other times the site has not been accessible. So I'll try to get my Mets posts out, without photos. But WYB? cannot stand without visual support, so those posts will be put on hold for the time being.

Luck is the Residue of Design

MTV wants you to Spend the Night with Jessica Alba. Sounds good to me. But they actually want you to watch the MTV Movie Awards. Her boyfriend, Cash Warren, gets to spend every night with her. Really.
He's been called the luckiest man alive. But in fact Jessica didn't just pluck some dude of the street, Cash has at least some serious credentials that make his dating one of the hottest women on the planet understandable.

First of all, Cash's dad is Michael Warren. Michael Warren played on two NCAA basketball champions with Lew Alcindor at UCLA. After that he went into a career in acting where he played Bobby Hill on Hill Street Blues.



Warriors point guard Baron Davis was a high school phenom at Crossroads, a swanky arts and sciences school where Hollywood celebrities send their kids. While Davis was getting recruiting attention from all the big schools (he eventually chose UCLA) and leading Crossroads to a state title his backcourt mate was none other than Cash Warren. By the way, Kate Hudson was a high school classmate and friend of Cash and Baron.



Cash used his Hollywood connections to land a job at the William Morris agency. There he met director, Tim Story, the man behind Barbershop. Tim Story also directed Fantastic Four. Director's assistant for that movie? Cash Warren.




Since meeting on that set Alba and Cash have attended awards shows and basketball games together and have been photographed numerous time frolicking on the beach.

Hollywood rumor is that Cash is getting ready to propose. Should they someday get married the newspapers and bloggers will rush to call Cash the luckiest man alive. But we know that luck has little to do with it.