The Vig

It’s all well and good that you want to advertise to we unfortunate souls waiting o get inside the Rose Garden for the Springsteen show. And your video truck is really cool. But could you please put something other than your 30-second ad on the continuous loop? We don’t really enjoy hearing the chorus to […]

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I’ll be on Rick Emerson’s show this afternoon sometime between 1:30 and 2 discussing the top-five Bruce Springsteen songs you’re not likely to hear on the radio.  Rick can be heard on AM 970.  Or, if, God forbid, you’re stuck in Astoria, Queens, you can listen to the live stream here.

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I was a month out of jail in May of 2000. Still scared and still under surveillance, I did my best to move on with my life. There was no telling when or if the bullet I’d dodged would boomerang and I’d end right back in the pokey. My brother came down […]

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Nice little interview with baseball author and columnist Rob Neyer in this morning’s Trib. His observation about the “end” of the steroid era is dead-on, I think.
I don’t know that the steroid era has ended yet. I’m not willing to call it something because it’s not over. No question (drugs are being used), I’d […]

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It was there just last week, but driving by on Tuesday the whole lot was empty.  Just a few years after Dick Hannah bought the place, they’ve folded up the dealership.  That loss isn’t nearly as tragic as the loss of St. Johns Honda, the best damn car dealership in Portland.  Current owner Larry Miller […]

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Steve, proprietor of the excellent More Hockey, Less War, gives us another perspective on the battle between the Winter Hawks and the Blazers. This time from the perspective of Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard:
I do not believe the issue of re-negotiating a lease with the Trailblazers is exclusively because of the Trailblazers conduct. I […]

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An interesting thought:
Are health insurance mandates constitutional? They are certainly unprecedented. The federal government does not ordinarily require Americans to purchase particular goods or services from private parties.
The closest we come is when government imposes a condition on the grant of discretionary benefit or permit. For instance, in most states, you must have auto insurance […]

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King County Executive Ron Sims declared today he’s standing by Hillary.
And I think more of the superdelegates are beginning to say, “Stop it.” And that’s being heard by the campaigns and the candidates, because they’ve got to stop this madness.
Ummmm…Who among the superdelegates is saying “stop it.” The next one will be the first, […]

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Should we have boycotted in 1936?  I mean take Jesse Owens out of the equation, should we have put our foot down in 1936 and told Hitler we weren’t coming?  At the time, I’m sure going was a no brainer.  But looking back…
I wonder if we’re going to look back on the 2008 games in […]

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From the excellent Irvine housing blog:
We generally profile 4 or 5 properties a week, and lately the average loss has been $200,000 to $250,000. We are documenting $1,000,000 a week in lender losses. It it any wonder the banks are in trouble?
That’s in one city in California.  We can lie to ourselves and say […]

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