Sticking With Stewart Bradley

So, in the wake of Stewart Bradley's signing with Arizona after the Eagles decided to let all of their own free agents go, I asked a simple question on Twitter...and got an answer from the man himself:

See? We're buds now! Okay, sure, he doesn't follow me back or anything, but still...so, yeah, I'll keep following him. And if he wants to leave me tickets at will call when his Arizona Cardinals come to the Linc that'd be cool. (For some reason I've spent the whole summer thinking that the Eagles were going to Arizona this year, not vice versa. I have no idea why.)

In all seriousness, I'm not quite sure why the Eagles didn't want Bradley back. The linebacker corps is a pretty weak group now. Lots of rookies. One, draft pick Casey Matthews, is listed as the starter on the depth chart over one of the holdovers. Under Andy Reid the Eagles have never given much importance to the LB position and it's cost them at times. Of course, they now have cornerbacks up the wazoo after their surprise signing of Nnamdi Asomugha, the consensus jewel among the free agents, so maybe they're hoping that opposing teams won't be able to take advantage of the linebackers. We shall see.

Long Overdue: My July 4th Post

Before we begin, I think I should get credit for getting this post up while it's still July...

Once again, the Welcome America festival took place in the days leading up to July 4th. It is full of great events, including free concerts and fireworks shows, as well as more fun and Philly-centric things such as Wawa Hoagie Day (which I still haven't gotten to) and one event that I've wanted to attend for years. This year, on the big day itself, I finally made it. Here's a link to all the photos I took that day. I've included a few here.

At Penn's Landing each year, the Super Scooper All-You-Can-Eat Ice Cream Festival raises money to help fight pediatric leukemia. A $7 donation gives you entrance into the big tent, as well as a plastic spoon, so you can go from table to table and get small cups of ice cream (as well as water ice and some other frozen stuff), as much as you want, all day. If you followed my updates on Twitter or Facebook that day, you know that I stopped at each of the almost 20 tables. (A number of the vendors had more than one table.) It was truly ice cream heaven. The picture above shows the size of the cup. (You weren't expecting pints or quarts, were you?) This one had rainbow water ice, not ice cream.

Thanks to a site called TwimeMachine that makes it easy to go back to look at your older tweets, here's the rundown of what I ate, and in order! Good Humor chocolate, Jack & Jill strawberry, ShopRite vanilla/chocolate, Ben & Jerry's French Toast, rainbow water ice, Turkey Hill cookies & cream, Friendly's orange sherbet, Bassetts chocolate, cotton candy water ice, Edy's mint chocolate chip, Icee raspberry frozen pop, Turkey Hill cookies & cream, Breyers cookies & cream, Haagen-Dazs chocolate, cotton candy water ice, Friendly's chocolate, orange Minute Maid juice bar, Ben & Jerry's English something (toffee?), Breyers chocolate peanut butter.

MixBlog 7-27-11: Eagles, Phils, Softball, Etc.

Just a few quick things, since I'm sitting here listening non-stop to a playlist comprised of 70 of Madonna's most famous songs...

Eagles: Now that the lockout is over, putting together the team has begun. Kevin Kolb has finally been traded -- to Arizona for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick in 2012. In other words, for more than they got from Washington for Donovan McNabb (who's now going to Minnesota). And rumor has it that Vince Young might come in to back up Michael Vick at quarterback.  But of all the players who are leaving, the one I think they'll regret losing is kicker David Akers, who's signed with San Francisco. The kicker the Eagles drafted, Alex Henery, might be great someday, but if he starts off poorly he'll cost them some games. By the way, individual game tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 am. (It's so weird to have that happen in August instead of June.)

Phillies: Just lost two in a row to the Giants in the teams' first meeting since the 2010 NL Championship Series. It's the first time the Phils have lost a series since mid-June and the first time they've lost two in a row since early June. Granted, neither Roy Halladay nor Cliff Lee started in this series, but the fact that the offense was nonexistent the last two nights again emphasizes this team's Achilles heel and portends what could happen in October. Memo to GM Ruben Amaro: Go get Hunter Pence from Houston. Now. Whatever it takes.

Softball: Time goes by so fast. We have just one game left in the season (we're 7-8, so a win would put us right at .500), so you have just one chance to surprise me by showing up. Sunday, 9 am at Dairy Fields #2 in Fairmount Park. Followed by the league's All-Star game. (I'm not in that one.)

Etc.: Still -- still -- need to post about July 4th, plus the long day in East Rutherford while my friend Kurt auditioned for "The Voice." Plus more comics stuff. And I went to see the final Harry Potter movie. Did I like it? You'll find out...hopefully sooner rather than later. Oh, and I really want to head down to Wildwood or somewhere else along the shore. Deep fried Oreos are calling me...

My Week In Comics 7-20-11

With time running out before the big September relaunch/reboot/whatever you want to call what DC Comics is doing, it almost seems like there should be a countdown clock. Since these posts are dated with the day the books were in stores, and the actual relaunch begins August 31st with the final issue of Flashpoint and the 1st issue of the new Justice League series the same day, we'll go with that. As of July 20th it's T-minus 42 days and counting...

Supergirl 66: Second of a three-parter. Of course, since it's the next-to-last issue before September. Supergirl is undercover as another college student goes missing, so she's mostly in civilian garb, secretly using her powers so as to not let the other students in on her identity. And it's not often you have both mechanical rats and a reference to "Bewitched" in the same story.

Superman/Batman 86: Same deal here, next-to-last issue, except this series isn't coming back in September, at least not right away. Clark Kent has a dilemma -- whether or not to finish the article on the Batman/Wayne corporation connection that got the Gotham reporter killed.  (Remember, this story is set in the early days, long before Batman, Incorporated.) Oh, and it turns out the Joker is involved.

Simpsons Comics 180: The Simpsons are going to Canada! Again! Permanently! Illegally! Along with the rest of Springfield! After Mr. Burns shuts down every business in town! Why do I keep talking like this!?!

NFL Lockout Ends And I'm...Disappointed?

Saying goodbye to Stewart?

After months of posturing and disruption, the NFL owners and players finally figured out how to divide the billions and billions of dollars in revenue the league takes in. The lockout is over, and only one exhibition game had to be canceled -- the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, which is normally played in conjunction with the induction ceremonies each year. Now, because no league business (other than the draft) took place for months and months, there's this mad scramble by teams to decide which of their own free agents they might want back, which free agents from other teams they might want to try and sign, and so on, as teams rush to open their training camps.

There are reports that the Eagles have decided they don't want any of their free agents back, including linebacker/Daily News Sexy Single/would-be "Sex and the City" guest star Stewart Bradley. There's also speculation that DeSean Jackson might not report to training camp because he wants a contract extension. Considering what Jackson's been up to recently, I'm not sure I care if he disappears from the face of the earth.

Beyond that, though, I'm actually a little sad that the NFL is back. This is the most popular of the four major pro sports leagues, but also very unlikable in many ways.

Phillies Will Finally Make It Better

In response to my scathing editorial regarding the lack of good news on the local LGBT/pro sports front (while other teams' current and former players support marriage equality and other cities' MLB teams make "It Gets Better" videos, Philly teams have done nothing and DeSean Jackson drops anti-gay slurs on radio), the Phillies have committed to making an "It Gets Better" video to help stop bullying.

Okay, it really had more to do with the "Ask the Phils to make an It Gets Better video" petition gaining publicity via a mass email from Change.org after Jackson's idiocy became known, and Philadelphia Weekly's adding to that publicity by profiling the petition's creator, followed by (I assume) the PW writer asking the Phils for a response, which led to the Phillies finally joining the cause -- as I explained in this blog post on Outsports.com. Still, I'm happy that it's finally going to happen.

Now, can we get the Flyers to do so as well?

The Voice May Wear Me Out

My friend Kurt is auditioning for season two of "The Voice" tomorrow. The New York auditions (those closest to here) are being held in East Rutherford, New Jersey, at the Izod Center, formerly the Continental Airlines Arena, and originally the Brendan Byrne Arena. (And if you know who Brendan Byrne is, you win...nothing. At least nothing from me.) This place is in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, where the New York Giants and Jets of the NFL will play once the lockout is finally over, and the Izod Center is where the New Jersey Devils and Nets used to play before both teams moved on to the new Prudential Center in Newark.

So, logistically speaking, it's in the middle of nowhere in northern New Jersey.

Kurt had a friend who was driving him tomorrow, until said friend had to cancel because of unexpected work commitments.

Have I mentioned that the Izod Center is in the middle of nowhere?

He has been instructed to arrive at 7 am. The plan is to take a Greyhound bus to New York City and then a New Jersey Transit bus that goes to the Meadowlands. To get there at 7 am or so requires taking the 3:20 am bus from Philadelphia to the Port Authority terminal, and then the first NJT bus on the Meadowlands route, which leaves at 6:50 am. This basically means it is impossible to get any sleep before going on this trip, and my guess is that with the number of people attending, it will be an all-day affair.

And, out of concern for his well-being and because this is a big deal to him, I am going along for the ride.

(Have I mentioned that the Izod Center is in the middle of nowhere? And that today's high temperature was 98, and tomorrow it's expected to hit or go past 100? And that none of the coaches/judges shown above are actually going to be there, I assume, since these are the very first rounds of auditions?)

The next 24 hours or so are going to be interesting, if not torturous. My cell phone is fully charged. Expect Facebook and Twitter updates.

Quick Review: Horrible Bosses

For the first movie I've seen in a couple of weeks, I ended up at "Horrible Bosses." I worked for a couple of truly bad bosses in the past, although when you work for the Social Security Administration that's almost a given. But none of my bosses were quite as bad as those that the three friends in this movie suffer with. Nick (Jason Bateman) works for a guy (Kevin Spacey) who treats him like crap and then doesn't give him an expected promotion. Dale (Charlie Day) is being sexually harassed by his dentist boss (Jennifer Aniston). And Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), well, his boss (Donald Sutherland) is awesome, until he suddenly dies and his son (Colin Farrell, wearing a comb-over and given a pot belly), a cokeheaded, womanizing, obnoxious creep, takes over. The three friends joke about killing their bosses, and then decide to actually do it. And that's where the movie, which had me in stitches to this point, went south for a while. There was a decent gag at the end, but for some reason the humor began to fall flat once they tried to hire an ex-con (Jamie Foxx) to commit the murders. Aniston is great playing against her usual good-girl type, though. I will say that although I laughed much less as the film went on, the rest of the audience enjoyed the second half of the film much more. My grade: B.

If You Don't Know Sports...

Before I started this blog, I used to write a lot of blog posts for the gay sports website Outsports.com's Jock Talk Blog. I'm not sure my posts were all that popular with the site's readers because they more often focused on actual sports (with a particular slant towards Philly teams) rather than any gay angle. (To a great extent that's because Outsports co-founders Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler Jr. are on top of any such stories very quickly and a post from me would be redundant.) But now and then I found something more Outsports-centric to write about.

Not long after I first began to blog for Outsports, I wrote a post titled "Should some gays not talk sports?" To summarize: as part of a special NFL section in the Philadelphia Daily News, locally and/or nationally famous people with Philly ties were asked whom they thought was the best Eagles quarterback ever. While many named names -- Donovan McNabb, Ron Jaworski -- Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, replied that "My favorite QB will be the first QB to publicly come out…that person will become a hero/role model to many when it happens. Till then any QB that gets the Eagles to the Super Bowl is my favorite." I was mildly critical because I felt that not every question or topic needs a "gay" reply, and besides, there's a big difference between one's favorite quarterback and the best quarterback.

Now I have to be critical again (but this time it's not about Mark Segal).

A Phillies So-Right-Yet-So-Wrong Stat

This stat was just tweeted by MLB.com Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki. Here are the Phillies leaders in runs batted in for the month of July:

Raul Ibanez - 14
John Mayberry Jr. - 12
Michael Martinez - 11

Ibanez -- I didn't think he was having such a big month. Mayberry -- great news if he can keep it going. They need a righthanded bat, and since the Phils are unlikely to bring back Ibanez in 2012 there's a job for Mayberry if he can prove he can hit major league pitching. Martinez -- well, that's just ridiculous.

What's really ridiculous is: where's Ryan Howard on this list? Where's Chase Utley? Are you kidding me? These are supposed to be the biggest run producers. (Granted, Utley got a huge game-tying two-run double tonight in the 8th, which set up Martinez to do the same in the 9th to win the game.)

It still amazes me that the Phillies are winning so many games -- tonight's was win number  60 -- with their offense continuing to be so inconsistent. And what could potentially happen in October still scares me. As we head towards the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline, it's going to be really, really interesting to see what, if anything, the Phils do.

My Week In Comics 7-13-11

Since I have only two books I might as well knock this out so that next week, when I'll hopefully see a movie or two, I'll have one less post overdue. And since I have softball tomorrow I don't know that I'll get to it then. Plus there's nothing really new to complain about regarding DC's revamp in September, soooooooo...

Superman 713: Next-to-last chapter of the Superman-walking-across-America tour. I don't usually do this, but I'm going to summarize the whole issue for you. (Spoiler Alert! if you really care.) After skipping Los Angeles entirely (instead of for the reasons cited in this post, perhaps it was really due to Carmageddon?) the story picks up in Oregon, where Superman has summoned Supergirl and Superboy to inform them that he's abandoning his costume and his public identity as Superman. He'll just help people secretly from now on. They don't take the news well. Later, Clark Kent is in Portland, at a coffee shop, working on a Daily Planet article titled "Must There Be A Superman?" when a barista points out a guy wearing the "S" on his sweatshirt who knows more about Superman than anybody. The guy peeks at Clark's laptop and is appalled. So he takes Clark to the streets and solicits testimonials from regular people about how great Superman really is. Then, suddenly, a TV report from Seattle: Lois Lane has been taken hostage by a superpowered woman, demanding that Superman appear or she'll kill Lois. "It's got to be the one who's been following me!" Clark thinks as he watches the report. Yeah, maybe you should have checked her out one of those other times you saw her along the way! "To be concluded." Although I thought it started well (again, maybe the fact that he started his walk in Philadelphia swayed me), and a couple of times it briefly seemed like it might recover, this whole storyline has been lame. No, trite. No, both lame and trite. I'd more easily accept this whole DC reboot idea if it had canceled this tale early.

Sherlock Holmes Year One 5 (of 6): The "Twelve Caeasars" killer has not only struck again, claiming his 9th victim, but also has managed to capture Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Irene Adler. I don't know if I'm disappointed or not that I formulated a guess early on about one of Holmes's teachers in his university days, and my guess was confirmed in this issue. I guess if you're telling a "Year One" story, it's got to include the beginnings of the subject's greatest enemy as well...

Summer Playlist Update

For reference, here's a link with links to the other posts on the topic. I've made a few more additions to my big ol' summer playlist, including "I Wish" by Skee-Lo that I previously mentioned. In addition I added James Brown's "Living In America," which is really more of a July 4th song. (Which reminds me, I'm overdue for a post with some pics I took on the 4th during my ice cream dream day.) And I suddenly remembered Erasure's version of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot" from the "Red Hot + Blue" Porter tribute, so that's on the list.

Finally, it seems that a Kelly Rowland song is becoming a tradition. Instead of David Guetta, this year she collaborated with another DJ/producer, Alex Gaudino, for "What a Feeling" (not the "Flashdance" song), which was released in the spring but I somehow neglected to hear until recently...



We're up to 105 songs total, and I still want to add more. Suggestions welcome, particularly for 2011 music. And do I add Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" or some other song from her album?

I Want To Marry You

On this blog a while back I mentioned that, once upon a time, I became an ordained minister online, but never did anything with it. I suggested that, as marriage equality continues on its inevitable path to becoming the law of the land, I could begin marrying same-sex couples to relieve other ministers of some of their workload. (This isn't to say I wouldn't marry straight couples, of course.) As it turned out, after I posted that I went to their website and couldn't log on. I sent an email and got a reply that said their databases have been moved and updated over the years and, long story short, they couldn't find any record of me. I was told I'd have to go through the process again.

So I did, and I'm once again an ordained minister, with a church whose beliefs on same-sex marriage widely diverge from many other religions.

Today I was talking with my friend Kurt and he suggested that, since I need money, I should start advertising my ministerial services and begin marrying people. Of course, there's a little bit more I have to do to even begin to perform weddings or other ceremonies. For one, I'd need some credentials to prove that I'm ordained, credentials that they'll happily provide...for a price, of course. And seeing as how money is not falling from any trees around my house, I'm not going to pay for such credentials unless I actually need to use them.

Besides, I have no idea what the going rates are, although I will say that I'm happy to undercut the competition, within reason. ;-)

So, while I'm not going to post an ad on Craigslist or anything, I'll just say that if you need any services performed and don't mind hiring someone who's never performed any services before, and if you're not in a real hurry or you don't need to see actual credentials (so if we're talking weddings, plan ahead), keep me in mind. Remember, I'll undercut the competition's rates.

And if you read the title of this post and thought I was proposing to you, and you're a man, and you're interested, well, you should get in touch with me right away.

My Week In Comics 7-6-11

Let's get right to this...

Flashpoint 3 (of 5): DC Comics continues to hype their coming final blow to their business reboot as well as selling "Flashpoint" and its tie-ins. One thing they're saying is that some of the changes occurring in September are being hinted at or previewed in "Flashpoint." A badly-hurt Barry Allen makes that point early on in the 3rd issue of the main series: "If we don't fix this soon...I won't even realize it's wrong." Yes, but we will. Anyway, Barry makes a speedy recovery and finally convinces Batman to help him get as much of the old gang -- the Justice League -- together again. So much has changed, but since Barry learns that a rocket ship crashed from outer space years ago, he knows that somewhere out there, there's a Superman. We knew that because of the "Project Superman" tie-in book that came out a week earlier. And since events in that book take place in flashbacks and the first issue ended with the arrival of the rocket from Krypton, this book lets us see what Superman is like now (and, gruesomely, the status of Krypto).

Flashpoint: Batman Knight of Vengeance 2 (of 3): Meanwhile, in the Batman tie-in, we learn that in the Flashpoint universe there is an Oracle in Gotham, but it's not Barbara Gordon. And in a stunning and tragic sequence, we learn the identity of this world's Joker. And that is one of the most surprising and entertaining reveals I've read in a book in a while.

Superboy 9: Again, not that it matters, since everything changes in a couple of months, Superboy faces off against the Hollow Men and learns that his ally is not who he appears to be. And we learn the true mission of the from-the-near-future Psionic Lad...I mean, Psion. He changed his name. But it doesn't matter since he probably won't exist in the new DC universe.

Moriarty 3 (of 4): The "to be concluded" note on the last page solves the mystery of how long this series will last. The mystery of exactly what the threat to London (and/or the world) entails is a bit clearer, I think. Took me two reads to come up with a guess. Moriarty also "catches up" with Inspector Lestrade, using him to deliver a message to Dr. Watson. With one issue left, it remains to be seen whether or not Moriarty's presumed-dead nemesis will make an appearance. My money's still on "yes."

Losing My Religion (DeSean Jackson Edition)

If you have some working knowledge of Philadelphia's pro sports teams and their fans, you're aware that there are certain teams that we Just. Don't. Like. And there are players on those teams that we Just. Don't. Like. So a comparison of recent events involving Philly players and those from the Do Not Like category is distressing.

In the last couple of months we've had the New York Rangers' Sean Avery speaking out and even lobbying state legislators to get the same-sex marriage bill passed in New York. He's spoken on gay issues in the past and continues to do so even after the marriage victory in New York. Avery is one of those obnoxious, edgy, nasty hockey players that everyone hates, unless he's on their team. And the fact that he plays for the Rangers, still a major rival of the Flyers even though they haven't been all that successful since their last Stanley Cup win in 1994, makes it worse. But in the world of pro sports, speaking out on LGBT equality is, while not as rare as it used to be, still rather controversial.

This week, our attention focuses on NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, who played his entire career with the NFL's Evil Empire, the Dallas Cowboys. Obviously he was a talented player, but also unlikable, a loudmouth who got into trouble off the field (suspended after arrested on drug charges, both by the NFL during his playing career and by ESPN after he became a broadcaster). But he, too, has spoken out on LGBT issues recently, and now he's on the cover of Out magazine. In the accompanying story (written by Cyd Zeigler of Outsports), he speaks about his late brother, who was gay, and how he also supports full marriage equality and wants the NFL to be supportive when the day arrives that an active player comes out.

Two disliked players from hated rivals, now doing great stuff to help gay people. As you can imagine, I'm a little conflicted. I'm not comfortable with Sean Avery and Michael Irvin giving me reasons to actually, you know, like them.

But I'm also disappointed, because while these opponents are doing these things, what do I have, representing my teams, the teams I love and passionately root for?

DeSean Jackson. And silence.

The Eagles' wide receiver

New/Old Summer Playlist Addition?

Feels like a summer song, and Wikipedia says it was big in the summer...going back to 1995, here's "I Wish" by Skee-Lo:


Skee-Lo - I Wish by christ88

Still looking for more songs to add. I have a couple in mind, one from the 1980s and one from this year sometime. I'd love to hear your input. Check out this post, which has links to my previous summer playlist posts.

Worrying About The Phils?

It's been a while since I've said a whole lot in depth about the Phillies, so let's do so now, in a point-counterpoint deal as my mind just goes back and forth with their issues...

Point: The Phils are 55-33, the best record in the majors.
Counterpoint: They had the best record last season, and look where it got them.

Point: The offense continues to struggle way too often. Of their 88 games going into this weekend's series with Atlanta, the last three games before the All-Star break, they've scored fewer than four runs in 46 of them. That's over half, if you're math-challenged.
Counterpoint: In those 46 games they're 18-28. That's a .391 win percentage, which is much better than most, if not all, teams. That's a testament to the performances of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. In their other 42 games, the ones where they've hit the magic four-run target, they're 37-5 (with two of those losses coming this week, oddly enough).

Point: That rotation is so formidable.
Counterpoint: If the offense continues to put pressure on them to be excellent instead of merely good so often, might they not weaken just enough so that, come October, they're not quite as excellent as they need to be? And with Roy Oswalt out with his back problem and Joe Blanton (remember him?) not yet ready to return, the Phils have to keep Kyle Kendrick in the rotation along with youngster Vance Worley. (By the way, with all the praise of Worley, how do we know that Worley 2011 isn't Kendrick 2007 -- promising now but ultimately not all that great?)

Point: The hitters who have been slumping so much will come around. And they'll get a big right-handed bat at the trade deadline to help protect Ryan Howard.

My Week In Comics 6-29-11

I haven't posted anything in a few days. I find myself once again in a bit of a rut with this whole blogging thing -- but at least I'm not backed up with movies to write about. (What, you think I'm going to see that Transformers crap?) I do plan to post about how I spent the 4th of July. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you already have an idea. For now, though...

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance 1 (of 3)
Flashpoint: Project Superman 1 (of 3): The Lois Lane book was actually released a week earlier but I skipped it. After taking another glance at it I decided to try it. Since everything in this Flashpoint universe is changed, these two books aren't actually related. Lois is still a Daily Planet reporter, but to her disgust she's stuck covering Fashion Week in Paris instead of hard news (along with Jimmy Olsen). Then fate intervenes, in the form of Emperor Aquaman's flooding of western Europe as part of the Atlantean hostilities against Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Olsen is killed but Lois survives and is taken by the Amazons to New Themyscira (the former Great Britain), where she ends up (thanks to her possession of Jimmy's camera) joining the resistance movement. Meanwhile, the Project Superman book takes place in flashbacks, starting 30 years ago, when a U.S. soldier arrives at a secret underground facility in Metropolis (with a certain General Sam Lane in charge), having volunteered to undergo treatments that would give him superpowers. Ummmm...isn't this more of a Marvel thing? Anyway, the goal is to have a powerful hero who can also present himself as normal-looking to the world -- all the better for the good old USA. But things don't quite go as planned, and a few years later our super-soldier is kept locked up in the facility, until meteors crash into Metropolis, and on the last page we see that one of the meteors is actually...you guessed it...a rocket carrying a baby. Which brings up a question: how would the changes in Earth's timeline caused by the Reverse-Flash cause the ship from Krypton to crash-land in Metropolis instead of on the Kent farm in Smallville? This seems more like a random change done for plot purposes, unless the coming DC Universe reboot in September is even more drastic than I imagine.

Batman, Incorporated 7:  Meanwhile, in the unchanged (for now) DC universe, we have a story that doesn't have a lot of Batman. It centers around one of those he inspired, Man-of-Bats, who fights crime on his reservation along with his son, who's called Raven. But unlike Bruce Wayne, Man-of-Bats doesn't have unlimited resources, and the Leviathan criminal outfit is making things on the reservation much tougher.

Flyers: Back To The Drawing Board?

So last week I was talking to my friend Kurt on the phone as I had just begun checking out my usual online haunts. My browser's home page is Yahoo.com, and it was there I saw a headline. "The Flyers traded Jeff Carter," I said to Kurt rather nonchalantly. I was sort of expecting it. Carter has scored a lot of goals but isn't quite as strong defensively as he could or should be, and seems to disappear at times, particularly in the playoffs. With the Flyers needing to clear salary in order to sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, having acquired his rights in a trade in order to have exclusive negotiating rights before free agency (which begins at noon today), Carter was the most obvious candidate. His salary is high but he's got enough talent that teams would want him, and Columbus was the team that ended up getting him.

Kurt and I kept talking, and I moved on from the Yahoo article, and clicked on Philly.com. There, I saw something that made me yell into the phone.

"OH MY GOD!"
"What is it?"
"THEY TRADED MIKE RICHARDS TOO!!!"

Quick Review: Bad Teacher

I was sort of looking forward to "Bad Teacher," starring Cameron Diaz in the title role. It begins on the last day of the previous school year, when Diaz's Elizabeth Halsey -- foulmouthed, drinking, drug-using teacher that she is -- is leaving her job because she's getting married to her wealthy boyfriend. His mother helps put a stop to it, so Elizabeth is back in school in September, and so is a new substitute, Scott, (Justin Timberlake) who is earnest and squeaky clean. In the same way she rebuffs the gym teacher's (Jason Segel) interest, Elizabeth isn't interested in Scott, until she notices his expensive watch and learns his family owns the company. Elizabeth is interested. Very interested. (Now I ain't saying she a gold digger, but...okay, Kanye, take it from here.) There are lots of individual funny lines and scenes, and Elizabeth's turn from showing movies all day to taskmaster (taskmistress?) -- when she learns of a cash prize awarded to the teacher whose students score highest in the state's standardized testing -- is played for comedy and not serious, personal-improvement inspiration. It falls short of "Bridesmaids" in the R-rated comedy department, but it's not bad. My grade: B.