Gasping sound

Do you hear that? That wheezing. The gasping. That's the sound of John McCain's Presidential campaign struggling for life.

This Saturday night, John McCain will be on Saturday Night Live.

Winners and Losers

The Winner of the Week goes to country music superstar Tim McGraw. Tim threw out the first pitch for Game 3 of the World Series a few days back. Tim's late father, Tug McGraw was a star pitcher on the last Phillies squad to win it all. Tim took some of his Dad's ashed and spread them on the mound mound. What an interesting and touching way to honor Dad.

I remember I used to have several baseball cards from that 1980 Phillies team, including Tug McGraw.

Loser(s) of the Week
Joe the Plumber. I am so tired of this clown. As we all know by now, he owes back taxes and isn't a licensed plumber. He now has a "publicity team" from Nashville on payroll. Supposedly, a book deal is in the works.

Sarah Palin.
Read this short little portion of a recent A.P. article about the Governor.

Palin says Obama infomercial short on specifics
ERIE, Pa. – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Thursday that Democrat Barack Obama offered few national security specifics in the infomercial he broadcast the night before, accusing him of trying to "soften the focus" in the campaign's final days.

*******Back to my commentary.
PALIN is accusing Obama of being short on specifics?????!!!!!!!!! Wait, the same Sarah Palin who couldn't name a magazine or newspaper she's read? The same Sarah Palin who couldn't name a Supreme Court case to Katie Couric? The same Sarah Palin who still doesn't know the role of the Vice President?

I can't wait for this election to be over so the governor can go back to moosehunting.

Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a guy who has fallen on shaky ground with me. I used to like this guy tremendously because he is charismatic and is a breath of fresh air among the traditional and stiff fraternity of Catholic priests. Father Corapi is on the Catholic cable channel EWTN every Saturday night at 10 p.m. He sounds like Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

Anyway, the reason why Father Corapi is a Loser of the Week is for an e-mail sent to my Mom by him. It wasn't personally from him although it very well could have been. My Mom got on his e-mail address list when she ordered a cd from his website awhile ago. Today, my Mom said she got an e-mail from Father Corapi asking her to make the right choice and vote for the pro-life candidate in this election, John McCain. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The abortion issue to my Mom, who is in retirement age but still works, has no relevance. Also, it incenses me that a priest is coming out and endorsing a candidate and pushing that on people. Keep in mind that with a conservative in the White House the last eight years, the number of abortions hasn't gone down. Also, the conservative currently in the White House, put to death quite a few folks when he was governor of Texas. So much for being pro-life.

There are a lot more issues to this election than just Roe v. Wade.

Surrender?

The reports from the McCain camp get more mysterious by the day. There have been reports from McCain aides calling Sarah Palin a "whack job" and a "diva." Do you get the feeling that the unnamed McCain aides are starting to work on the post-election spin already.

And then comes the article below about Sarah Palin saying she wants to run in the 2012 election. That's an interesting statement considering this election is not over yet and also, it sounds like she's assuming that McCain is done and she is already focusing on making her own name known down the road. Wait...isn't this the same person who criticized Barack Obama for "measuring the drapes" for the White House? Nice early concession speech, Sarah.

Here's the article off Yahoo News.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hinted in an interview with ABC News to be broadcast Thursday that she will remain a key player in US politics regardless of who gets elected president next week, and may even run in the 2012 election.

A transcript of the interview was made public late Wednesday.

"I'm not doing this for naught," Palin said, when asked if all the mudslinging in the current campaign made her long for a return to the politics of Alaska, where she is governor.

"I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that would bring this whole" endeavor to nothing, she said.

Funny sports moment

It's not often that we see a funny side in the serious world of sports competition. In the season opener for the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns, the Spurs intentionally fouled Suns center Shaquille O'Neal 5 seconds into the game. Intentionally fouling Shaq has become known as the "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy as teams foul the big man late in the game, knowing that he is a poor foul shooter. Watch Shaq's reaction in the clip. Very funny stuff.

The "L" word

According to Yahoo News and their "electoral map," Barack Obama would win with 355 electoral votes to 156 for John McCain. This would be a landslide.

While the idea of an Obama win is a good thing, the premature idea that an Obama landslide is possible is not good. To me, I don't want people to think that this is a done deal. It is not. We all need to get out and vote and finish this.

Hometown Pride

I haven't lived in Massillon for an extended length of time for several years. However, I still feel a lot of pride when the Massillon Tigers beat their rivals, the Canton McKinley Bulldogs. Massillon needed a win to get into the playoffs. The Tigers won, 17-0. Pictured above are the Tigers with the victory bell. Thanks to the Massillon Independent for this photo.

Massillon hasn't won a state championship since 1970. They haven't been to a state title game in over 25 years. Massillon is itching for a state title. I hope to see the Tigers win a state title in my lifetime. This year's playoff hunt starts this weekend with a road playoff game at North Canton Hoover. GO TIGERS!

Fellow readers, relating your hometown, what are some things that you are especially proud of?

Grandma

Hearing about Barack Obama seeing his seriously ill grandma and her influence on him got me to thinking about the grandma on my Dad's side, Agnes Strukel.

Growing up in Massillon, once a month, my family would drive either early Saturday or Sunday to Warren, Ohio to see Grandma. On the way there, we would always listen to polka shows on staticky AM radio.

Some background on Grandma Strukel. She spoke broken English but well enough to understand. For example, for my birthday, she would say, "Happy Bird-day!" instead of Happy Birthday. I looked forward to hearing that every year. I still use that "happy bird-day" everytime I wish my Mom or Dad a happy birthday on their day. When I was younger, I remember Grandma always saying, "You're breakin' my bones...you're breakin' my bones" when I would hug her.

Grandma Strukel worked I believe 40 years (at least) for Packard Electric in Warren. After retiring from Packard Electric, she then worked for the local Catholic church, cleaning pews and other parts of the building.

She was what we would say is "old country." Very ethnic. Very religious. Very good work ethic.

Regarding her ethnicity, when we would visit her, she would give us these long rolls of aluminum foil wrapped nut bread called potica or patitsa. I never cared for it but Grandma was so happy and proud to give us those homemade treats. She always gave me and my brother money too. When she got to be in her older years, the local priest would visit and give her Communion.

Going into my senior year at BG, Grandma passed away. When our family went to the funeral, the priest who went to her apartment so many times to give her Communion, presided over the funeral. Father Spiszak talked about how when he would go visit Agnes, she would talk so much about her grandsons (me and my older brother Dan). The priest said she was always so proud of her grandsons. That has always stayed with me.

What fond memories do you have of your grandma?