My favorite headline

September 29, 2006
Pamela Anderson's nipples look depressed

Read it for yourself:
http://thesuperficial.com/2006/09/pamela_andersons_nipples_look_depressed.html

See? And you thought I made it up, didn't you?

He did it, he did it, he did it!

Two runs, three hits, seven innings. And now the Dodgers are in the play-offs. Nicely done! I love you, Greg Maddux.

It's 9-6 Colorado at my beloved Wrigley Field. I haven't forgotten them. They're still my guys, even after this heartbreaking, disastrous season. It's my loyalty to the Cubs that makes cheering for the Dodgers so easy. Kenny Lofton, Nomar Garciaparra and old what's his name are all very familiar to me, and they all look good in blue.

One who isn't my guy, though, is Dusty Baker. At the end of tomorrow's game, don't let the door hit ya on the way out, Dusty.

Come on, Professor …

"Greg Maddux, who's pitched in 11 postseasons, can seal a spot for LA." So reads the headline on MLB.com.

It's cloudy and 62º at AT&T Park in San Fran. And the tenth winningest pitcher in baseball history is trying to turn the heat up on the home team. If he can make fast work of the Giants today, the Dodgers will clinch a spot in the playoffs.

The game's not televised nationally, so I cannot watch him pitch in real-time. Instead I'm trying to follow it on Gameday. Which is OK, but I can't see his face. For me, that's the best part of watching the Professor perform. The completely expressionless baby face, with the gears grinding inexorably and inscrutably behind his eyes. Watching him pace away from the mound a moment, lick his fingers, and return, ready to "paint the corners" again. Always the same, whether is 1-1 (as it is now) or 6-1 (makes no difference in his demeanor whether he's on the winning or losing end).

I know he's pitching on only four days' rest. I know he can't do it alone, that he needs all the Dodger offense behind him. I know the SF/Dodger rivalry is almost as virulent as the Cub/Cards rivalry, and the Giants and their fans would undoubtedly love to sock it to the Dodgers. I know this game isn't a sure thing (I haven't forgotten that I thought 9/20 against the Pirates -- when I was in the stands -- was gonna be a cakewalk for him).

But I want this so. For him. This last time around with the Cubs didn't go as well as he (or we) had hoped. I want him to go out a winner. I want it to be clear to anyone and everyone that Greg Maddux is the real deal, and that silly Roger Clemens has no reason to come back in 2007. In 20 years, when kids not even born yet visit Cooperstown, I want them to read a plaque that Greg Maddux pitched in the post-season 12 times. He deserves it so.

Please let him be a hero once again today. Please.

Sincere tribute or nasty slap? You decide.

Sir Paul has dedicated his new album to his first wife Linda. This latest musical creation is an orchestral work in four movements called "Ecce Cor Meum" (Behold My Heart). He explains that this was what he was working on, with Linda's help, at the time of her death. Finishing this "emotional" work helped him work through his grief at losing her.

Now all of that is probably true. The world was moved by the longevity of Paul and Linda's marriage, as well as how deep his agony was when she died.

But I also think that releasing this piece now (I believe I read that the first public performance was to honor Linda's birthday) was done to minimize Heather Mills and the role she has played in Sir Paul's life.

I was happy when Paul married Heather Mills, though her young age disturbed me.* I was thrilled when Baby Bea was born. I was so glad that he was among us again, working on music, performing … and no longer looking like an open wound.

That's why the ugliness of this divorce bothers me. Whatever may have happened between them, Heather did help him turn his life around and give him a baby. I wish that when a relationship ends, the couple could honor what they each brought to it and just move on. No recrimination, no blame, no ugliness. I guess that's unrealistic, though. As someone once said, "If relationships didn't end badly, they wouldn't end at all."

I realize Sir Paul is a billionaire, but I don't believe that money is the root of all this nastiness. I think it's just the nature of the what happens when love ends. I have a friend who has been divorced for four years, with a new man for almost three, and yet she and her ex can't stop picking and slicing away at each other. And trust me, these two are not rich.

I've never been married but I've suffered through the end of three serious relationships. I can honestly say that two of the men were lovely people, good and decent, and that quite a bit of the blame for those break ups was mine. I'm glad I don't hate them, glad I never did, and I'm grateful I can easily recall happy moments with each of them. I hope that when they think of me, if they think of me, they can do the same.

*My issue with her age wasn't in relation to his age, it was in relation to my own. I was too young for Paul the first time he married, and apparently too old for Paul the second time he married. How did that happen?