SUBTITLE: Sorry, Mike, No TV For You

Dissed by public television.

WHYY’s Delaware Tonight gave alleged gubernatorial candidate Mike Protack the boot from their Friday night line up because he hasn’t filed the papers or paid the fee to run for the office yet:

“Mr. Protack had assured WHYY he would file the papers before tonight’s interview. However, according to the department of elections, and confirmed by the candidate Mr. Protack has not filed papers making his candidacy bonafide.” ~ WHYY’s Nancy Karibjanian

You can watch the smackdown HERE.

The NFL is allowing the New England Patriots vs. the New York Giants game to be broadcast on CBS and NBC and not just their own, obscure network that 60% of American households don’t have (and let’s face it, they don’t want to get it to watch their team play).

“We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever.”

The game is “potentially historic” because the Patriots will be shooting for a perfect, 16-0 season (but really, how “perfect” can your season be after you were caught cheating?). Unfortunately, there are rumblings that the Giants won’t play their “A” team since they’ve already secured a wild card spot in the playoffs and they won’t get a week off to rest. Wide receiver Plaxico Burress is going to sit out Saturday night’s game to nurse a bad ankle.

Now check this out, were members of Congress a factor in the broadcast change?

Kerry asked football Commissioner Roger Goodell today to move the game to NBC – and threatened Senate hearings if he does not.

“Under the unfortunate circumstance that this matter remains unresolved, leaving 60 percent of households across the country – including thousands in Massachusetts – without access to Saturday’s game, I will ask the Senate Commerce Committee to hold hearings on how the emergence of premium sports channels are impacting the consumer,” he wrote to Goodell today in a letter released by his office.

The Massachusetts Democrat added that he would “consider what legislative measures may be necessary to ensure that consumers are more than bystanders in this process.”

Kerry, who had offered earlier to convene a meeting between the league and cable operators, is only one of several lawmakers attempting to intervene. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have threatened to reconsider the league’s federal antitrust exemption if the sides do not come to an agreement.

And you’d think Congress would be too tired to care about the little guy’s enjoyment of NFL footballl after strapping us with over 9000 earmarks in their $555 billion dollar spending bill.

Thank you, Giorgio Armani.

Let’s start with the most important news, David Beckham has signed a 3 year, $41 million dollar deal to model underwear for Giorgio Armani. Oh, yeah, and Becks is back playing for England’s national team:

Despite only just returning from a long injury layoff himself, Beckham was included in the squad to play Austria in a friendly on Nov. 16 and the potentially decisive Euro qualifier with Croatia five days later.

“He is a big-game player,” McClaren said. “He is an experienced player who has never let England down.”

Meanwhile, striker Wayne Rooney is out for England and for Manchester United with an ankle injury suffered during a game of head tennis. (Apparently “head tennis” is a form of football training on a tennis court where you use your head instead of a racket).

In more England news, national team coach Steve McClaren is one of many Brits concerned that the English Premier League is down to “38%” when it comes to English players:

‘Some reality has to come into it. Of course, the sheer numbers of foreign players in the Premier League cuts down my options.’

Finding a remedy for the problem is not going to be easy.

European employment law prevents the imposition of quotas, which England’s major clubs would forcefully fight the blanket imposition of any way given their need to tackle the biggest sides on the continent.

Some managers have gone so far as to call for minimum numbers of Brits on Premier League teams.

And, of course, ITALY + FOOTBALL = RIOTS. A Lazio football fan was shot and killed last week as police tried to stop fighting between rival football fans:

The police officer who fired the fatal shot is under investigation for manslaughter and has been reassigned to internal duties. Today the officer, who has been named only as Luigi S, said the shooting was a “tragic error”.

“I didn’t point the gun at anything, I didn’t aim at anybody,” he told Corriere della Sera. “The first shot I fired into the air and the second left me while I was running. Now I have destroyed two families, the man’s and mine.”

News of the shooting sparked rioting in Rome where a police station was attacked. You can check out videos of the rioting HERE, and HERE. In response, Italian football has suspended Serie B & C play, and a ruling will be made this week on whether Serie A play will suffer the same fate.

The threat of violence by “Ultras” during a game last Sunday, has AC Milan superstar, Kaka, talking about leaving town:

“Could I leave Italy? Yes, if these violent episodes continue,” Kaka told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I love football because it brings me happiness, but at the moment I can’t enjoy myself.

“If there are big problems in Italian football that prevent me doing my job properly, anything could happen.

“I am worried for my family’s safety as my wife and parents frequently come to watch me, so there is a chance I could move to another country.”

You can check out the “Ultras,” the Italian version of British fooball Hooligans HERE. Oi.

Day One:  The cable goes out in the afternoon during a lightening storm.  I figure it’ll come back on any minute, so I take a nap. When I wake up, there is still no cable.  I call the cable company to report the outage.  I get so bored that I watch old episodes of South Park for hours.  They’re all still funny.  I go to bed secure in the thought that my cable will be back on when I get up.

Day Two:  I wake up, and the cable is still out.  It’s Monday.  I can’t read the news or the blogs.  I decide to go to Ocean City to check out the Christy Freeman story.  While I’m there I notice all of the news vans running for hours, and I start thinking that global warming may have played a part in my cable outage.  I tell a local news anchor guy that my blog angle will be the carbon footprint of the news media while covering stories.  He doesn’t think that’s funny, which makes it even funnier.  The cable is still out so I have to go to the office to write.  When I get home I watch TV fuzz for a little while, then go to bed. 

Day Three:  Still no cable. The boy is sick of playing video games.  I consider this a sign of the apocalypse, but I hold off on making my stockpile list for the grocery store.  I call the cable company and they won’t give me any kind of time line as to when my service will return, even though I explain my apocalypse theory.  We go to the waterpark to kill some time.  I’m starting to forget what Chris Matthews looks like….

UPDATE: My cable is finally back. The repair guys came and got it going around 6:30 p.m., thankfully before anyone resorted to anarchy or cannibalism.

This will no doubt end up on the editing floor for the evening reruns, but tonight on Hardball, Chris Matthews got a little mad at the people in the studio, and entertained us all with a little Tuesday night profanity on his way back from commercial breaks.

Chris Matthews looking guilty after using profanity live on TV

It was something like blah blah blah blah, “S*#*” blah blah blah.

He came back after the next break and apologized, saying he shouldn’t have used “that” word.

UPDATE: I love youtube. It already has the video of Matthews’ slip. But beware the video contains profanity.

On a lighter note:

This is the first time I’ve ever watched “American Idol” and wasn’t too thrilled to be doing so, at that but…compromise is everything! Then I got caught up in it as the weeks went on. To be honest, rocker-Gina was my choice…some bad, some good and when she pulled a Chrissie Hynde, great…not Chrissie but the potential could be there…so when she was voted off that was a big disappointment. In the last several weeks, though, Blake Lewis has been my favorite to win. To be honest, I never thought he’d get through to the final two since Melinda couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong, week after week after week. Great voice but, for me, lacks “fresh” and “interesting”…does the same thing to too many songs that Whitney Houston and her ilk does (the only way I can describe it is ‘adding all the twiddley bits’ many of her song choices didn’t need). Jordan, ditto…although her personality shone, particularly for one so young. Should we mention Sanjaya? Oh, why not! He was cute but, for the most part, ummm…not good shall we say (although having heard the original “Bathwater” song I really did like his rendition much better!) and ultimately I rooted for his “pony-hawk do”.

Last night I really thought Blake would be gone and, that being so, decided this would be my last time viewing a programme I don’t really care for. Not so! Upward and onward to next week…another two nights watching something I really hate to admit to doing. I like his voice, love his panache, most of his song choices…loved his version of the Bee Gee’s “Danger Zone” and Maroon5 “This Love” and decided that, win or lose, when this boy cuts his first CD I’m buying it. He’s fun and fresh to listen to and watch although I’m really not big on beatboxing, (less is more). I’m thinking that if the final of the contest were to be between Melinda and Blake, she would win but I believe…hope…Blake will pull this off. Certainly, I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of Melinda or Jordan and I wish them well but my vote’s for Blake and I’ll be at “Music for a Song” the day his first CD is released!

Still not sure I’ll watch another “idol”, though!

Tonight I watched Planet of the Apes, with Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall, you know, the real one. And I can’t stop wondering how a movie about apes ruling the earth 1,971 years in the future ended up on The History Channel.