Just call me "Hands of Stone" and other observations

Hi There,
Before we get to the other stuff, I'll start off with what happened Saturday night. Went with Dan and the Ashs' to Joe Bruno Stadium to see the Valley Cats play the Staten Island Yankees. If you've never been to a game at HVCC, go. It's a nice minor league ballpark and the prices are fair. The highlight of the trip was dinner at Ted's Fish Fry, which is one of Miner's favorite places. Now for the low lights. First, I directed the driver to the wrong entrance. Then Yankees got clobbered 11 to 2 and to top it off my mediocre athletic ability got showed off. During the game a foul ball goes over our heads, takes a bounce off the walk way, hits a light pole and comes back our way. It was beggin' for me to catch it and be a hero. But nooooo! I had the ball in my sights, hits my outstretched left hand and I couldn't snag the dang thing. Now you know why I don't play softball or give massages. Hands of Stone. Those who can't play the game either end up broadcasting or keeping score. I do both.
Football and other fall sports get under way and for me the first thing when I go check out practices is always look at the numbers of kids playing. Especially with smaller schools like Warrensburgh and Fort Edward. Two or three key injuries and the season teeters on the brink of extinction. Its harder to get kids to make that kind of commitment to football. With jobs, girlfriends, the so-called extreme sports and computers; the desire to actually do 2 a day practices, hit the weight room, make football not an easy sell. I know kids who play often tell me they'll go knocking on their friends doors begging them to try out and join them on the team. There is something still cool about wearing a varsity jacket right?
How many straight years can Mets fans endure the wheels falling off the bus? A couple of collapses, injuries and now this past week the teams' pitching ace is served a civil lawsuit over rape charges and the closer beats up his girlfriends father in the teams family room in front of children and is charged with assault. Francisco Rodriguez also has had runs ins with a coach, team executive, and a Yankee before a game last year. Anger management classes is just the start K-Rod. I don't think a complete house cleaning is in order. I would love Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to sell to someone who'll first re-establish the Mets history to Mets fans. Next they need to find a team leader who give this team some swagger. The last two guys who took that job and relished it were dumped; and now the guy who should be the leader Jeff Francoeur has been buried in a platoon with the return of Carlos Beltran.
Brandon Phillips just shut up please! That brawl in the first inning of the Cards/Reds game was such a moronic display of idiocy. Hope the foot in mouth disease is being treated. Any simpleton knows you never diss your opponent like that right before you play 'em with first place on the line.
SF Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez also joined Brandon Phillips in the nurses office for foot in mouth disease when he predicted the Giants would sweep the Padres this weekend. Didn't happen now did it John? One more note on the flailing friars of San Diego. Can we just get it over with and hand the NL manager of the year award to Bud Black now please.
I may have hands of stone, but if a foul ball is headed for my girlfriend, unless she was an allstar softball player in high school or college; I'm re-enacting the scene from, "The Bodyguard" where Kevin Costner dives in front of Whitney Houston to save her from getting shot. You've been living in a cave recently if you haven't seen the video of that guy at the Astros game with his hat turned sideways dissing his woman and letting her get plunked. Moron. He was probably worried his beer would be spilled. They interviewed the happy twosome during the game and they later appeared on the CBS Morning Show. CBS really has a morning show? I did not know that.
To quote Bob Uecker from "Major League" in regards to Dustin Johnson and the 2 shot penalty assessed to him for grounding his club on the 18th hole at the PGA championship, "Personally I think he got hosed on that call." That was one mighty small bunker. Looked like trampled ground to me.
I'd rather be strapped to a chair with duct tape and forced to watch "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" or any other movie starring Kevin James and Adam Sandler than watch "Hard Knocks" on HBO.
It must have been one really slow news day for Bill O'Reilly. Why is he dissing Jennifer Aniston for her desire to have a child and raise it as single parent?
Talk about stating the obvious. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi said she is not a role model! No duh!
This weeks sign of the apocalypse. Forgive me, its technically from last week. Kate Gosselin went on a camping trip in Alaska with Sarah Palin. That one made my skin crawl. I'm not making some of this stuff up people.
The age spots have been exploding all over my arms and body with the knowledge that two of my favorite movies "Caddy Shack" is now 30 years old and "Back to the Future" is 25.
Finally, two things to leave you with. The go-cart race is coming up this Wednesday and WCKM is now on Facebook. Check it out and be our friends, please...Leccese out.

Seven days til the start of football practice

Hi there. Ladies and Gentlemen we interrupt the beginning of the latest entry of "The Greenhouse Effect" to inform you after 4 months being late, the State of New York finally has a budget signed, sealed and delivered!!!!! All these years I tought it was Joe Bruno and Sheldon Silver being pigheaded. The truth has come out. It's the entire state legislature that is totally out of touch with reality and plain screwed up.
I would like to formally apologize to LeBron James for my rants about his free agency and drama that concluded with "The Decision" on Bristol Tech. No hard feelings I hope. After the return of that soap opera known to us all,"As the Brett Favre Turns." Compared to that fiasco, "The Wooing of LeBron" and "The Decision" was tame. Brett Favre is as big a drama queen as Ali Fedotowsky from "The Bachelorette."
If I ran my Dads' business into the ground the way Jeff Wilpon and Jim Dolan are doing with the Mets and Knicks, Big Ken Leccese would disown me, have me written out of the will and asked that I change my name.
More on the Knickerbockers. What photos or other incriminating stuff does Isaiah Thomas have on Jim Dolan that would cause him to bring him back as a consultant. After what he did to send the Knicks into a tailspin and on the same level of embarrassment and humiliation to the Association as the Clippers and Nets do, I wouldn't trust Zeke coaching or consulting a team of 5 and 6 year olds.
So A-Rod finally did hit that 600th Home Run. That's nice to hear.
Would someone tell "Fudgy the Football Coach" a.k.a Rex Ryan to shut up his big blowhole. Use number 150 for duct tape. Sticking it on Rex's mouth to silence it!!!! I hope he trips one day and lands on the guy who wears the firemans' hat and Bruce Harper jersey and does the J-E-T-S chant and suffocates him.
Buck Showalter returned to managing with the Orioles. Just remember this fans in Charm City. The guys who replaced him in New York and Arizona won the World Series the year after he was canned. Plan ahead so you can find his successor and the parade route when you end the World Series drought.
Rays manager Joe Maddon complained after a pop fly hit the catwalk in play at Tropicana Field that caused his team to lose. After this horribile occurance that should convince anybody that a new ballpark is needed in the Tampa/St.Pete area. Mr.Maddon if I had the power, I'd send you CitiField with a big red bow on it. Wait a minute. That's not an adequate major league ballpark either. Sorry Joe, you're out of luck.
After the debut Blue Jays rookie catcher J.P.Arencibia had Saturday going 4 for 5 with 2 home runs, I'd quit now and leave while on top.
I love the prep material we use on the air radio and this week I found out a lot about myself from it. I found out that I'll need at least 1.5 million dollars for an attractive woman to go out with and possibly marry me. The other discovery is 3 of the top 4 cars on the least likely to be stolen list I either own or want to own.
To add insult to injury, one my co-workers at the radio station had no idea I was filling in doing the morning show with Pete. Just stab me in the heart with a broken beer or wine bottle please.
If you think Bristol Tech sideline reporter and stalker victim Erin Andrews is attractive, wait til you see her sister! I saw a photo of her with Erin at a premier for a movie she is in and it made me wish I had learn to play a keyboard instrument. Yes my friends the gene pool has been kind to both of the Andrews girls.
Awwww poor Eldrick Woods is in a slump. If I gave the violinist a 20 dollar bill, you think he leave and go over and play for that cute couple canoodling at table 4.
Went to the track Wednesday and although I didn't win on any of the bets I placed, it was great way to spend the afternoon. Next time, I'm getting grandstand reserved seats so I could sit in the shade. Next weekend its off to Troy and a minor league baseball game.
I'm starting to sense it. High School football practice starts in 7 days. Training camp visits, scrimmages and media day in 2 weeks. Those nine months between seasons' somehow fly by real fast...Leccese out.

Did you ever just have one of those days?

Hi there. There's nothing better after a nice quiet weekend of just relaxing at home then to kick off a new work week than to have a couple of things happen to you and it feels like you've been hit by lightning not once, but twice within the same 4 hour period. So, I'm driving into the radio station Monday morning at 4:30 when I got pulled over by one of Warren County's finest for speeding. Me of all people. I was lucky to get off with a nice warning to be more careful. Thanks officer, and I promise to be less of lead foot. There was strike one. The second strike came when I was told that a co-worker was leaving and her last day was Friday. I was totally caught off guard by that hit and I'm having a real hard time accepting it. It's really depressing me. She's an amazing person and I let her know my feelings in a text. It will be even harder for me to say goodbye in person and I'm dreading that moment. It's been that strange of a day.
On to other things.
Chelsea Clinton got married over the weekend and I have wonder how her husband Mark is addressing her parents? This is not your typical in-law situation. Her dad is a former two term U.S. President and Mom is the current Secretary of State. Calling them Mom and Dad just doesn't seem very copacetic now does it?. Plus you have secret service people everywhere. Don't want to screw anything up or big brother will be watching and all over you like white on bread.
Normally this blog is an "American Idol" free zone. But not today. First Simon leaves the show, and now Kara has been fired. All that is left is Randy and that guy who seems to be hosting everything on TV and radio. As for Ellen, don't let the door hit you on the way out. I make no apologies by saying I find Ms.DeGeneres void of any talent and just plain annoying. Go back to doing Very Fine juice commercials.
You make the call. Who's more screwed up. Lindsey Lohan or Mel Gibson.
How come every team who wanted to make a trade for a big time player did so but the Mets. You even had the Padres and Rangers (who are technically bankrupt) making deals and all they parted with were a couple of low minor leaguers and some bats and balls thrown in to help sell souvenirs.
Football training camps have opened and you want to why there is a need for a new collective bargaining agreement in the NFL. Sam Bradford the number 1 pick in the draft who hasn't played a down for the Rams will get 50 ma-ma-million dollars guaranteed. That's why.
VH1 must be real happy that Terrell Owens signed with the Bengals. I'm still trying to figure out that one.
Hard to believe that the NHL actually used some common sense and voided the 17 year deal the Devils offered Ilya Kovalchuk. Bad news guys. Heeeee's back. Donald Fehr formally the head of the Major League Baseball Players Union is helping the NHLPA and contract negotiations on their new CBA is coming up faster than you think.
Why do they call it a lockout when a sports league and its players don't have a collective bargaining agreement? Wouldn't a true lock out be when there is an agreement in place and the owners decide not play?
The zucchini harvest has begun and also the first yellow pear tomatoes are being picked for those needing a garden update.
Finally, this weeks sign of the apocalypse. I saw a commercial advertising a snuggie in athletic department t-shirt grey that reads, "Property of Snuggies Athletic Department XXL." We're talking about a stinking bathroom that's been turned around so you wear it with the back in front!..Leccese out.

Is summer really half over already?

Hi there. I'm finding it hard to believe that Saratoga is open. July went by like a blur. Here I am writing this entry and watching TVG at the same time. I've got to get to the track this year on a day where there is no giveaways and I can get kind of dressed up, actually sit inside, and watch the races with binoculars. I don't get the tailgating/picnic, watching on tv screens thing. Every year I say I plan on going to the track and I end up not going at all. The other thing I promise to do every year is go check out the Valley Cats play either Brooklyn or Staten Island. Doesn't happen either.
A couple of weeks ago Sly Stallone regretted making Rocky V, now he said the worst movie he ever made was "Stop, or my Mom will Shoot." I feel vindicated. However Dan in his infinite wisdom said that "Rhinestone" was the worst. He may be and probably is right.
First it was LeBron James and now it is Chris Paul wanting to play for a winner and uber star loaded team. CP3 (what's with that?) has asked to be traded. By the way, the price tag on the Golden State Warriors sale was 450 million dollars. My mouth is still not off the ground with that price. When the Warriors sell for that high an amount, how much does that make the Lakers or Celtics worth?
Every once in a while a puff of white smoke comes from the Civic Center and the Phantoms announce a signing. The parent club recently makes a deal with Tampa and Stevie Y and all they get in return is another defenseman and a 4th round pick for Simon Gagne?
If you've never seen "Man versus Food" on the Travel Channel and you want to know what its like, come to the radio station and see Mike Dubray eat. He puts hot sauce and spicy stuff on everything. The other day he ordered a package of these dried ghost chilis that are the hottest pepper on earth. He then proceeded to sprinkle them on a sub sandwich. Seeing him eat this lethal concoction and writhe in pain as his stomach and digestive systems were being disintegrated from the inside out was priceless. His facial expressions are even better and worth the price of admission alone. I wonder if he does it just to get sympathy from the female constituency who works at the radio station?
Wasn't there any way for the Mets to keep Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and Ollie Perez on the disabled list and away from the team? They were doing well without them and since their return, the bats have taken the gas pipe and the life of the team has been taken out of it like the air being released from a balloon. If it weren't for Mariano Rivera closing games in the Bronx, I think Mets fans would like Francisco Rodriquez a lot more.
Read something in Pete Tobey's most recent football column that made me kind of depressed. Saratoga Catholic isn't fielding a football team this year. They only had 12 kids sign up. Hopefully next year the Saints will be back.
Remember if you do head to the track and bet, stay away from Steeplechase races and those first time 2 year old starter races. Hope you're cashin' em and not trashin' em...Leccese out.

First harvest has occured and other notes of interest

Hi there. Well, how was your weekend? The only thing I didn't do this weekend was type this entry. Spend the weekend cleaning, doing a remote, weeding the garden, baking, watching the British Open, creating questions for the contest I do in the afternoon, and I also managed to play 18 holes of golf.
Since it hasn't been mentioned in a while, first you get a garden update. We had some carnage. Bambi paid a visit and decided to eat the green beans and impatiens that run along one side of my home. I could tell, because the hoof prints were in the soil. He just walked along and feasted.
Somehow out of the remnants there is hope. The mentally challenged venison ate the leaves and not the buds and flowers, so beans are actually growing. We also had first harvest. The mystery peppers turned out to be jalapenos and this is the earliest I've harvested peppers ever. I use them make a really good vodka sauce that I serve over pasta. The rest of the stuff is coming along nicely, although I would like to see some eggplant.
To quote Bryant Gumbel, on to other things. The British Open. It's my favorite of the majors. Watching American PGA tour pros play courses that don't come close to what they are used to at home is a joy. Instead of going over there to practice beforehand, they should head to a under maintained muni or public course and play 18 to work on their shot making. I've written this many times, but at the top of any bucket or if I had 24 hours to live list, I want to play a British Open course. The winner Louis Oosthuizen looked unflappable. After hearing how his name is pronounced, it sounded like some style of Belgian or other imported beer I might want to try.
Is it that much of a slow sports day when Joe Girardi gets second guessed for how he managed in the All Star game?
The Golden State Warriors just sold for how much? Are you sure it was the Warriors? What are the Lakers or Celtics really worth then?
I sort of owe LeBron James an apology. I've been raking him through the coals for his reality tv drama that eventually became his decision to sign with the Heat. I forgot that for the last 3 or 4 years we've been treated to, "As the Brett Favre Turns." That saga hasn't ended yet.
NBA owners are crying poverty as the upcoming collective bargaining agreement is about to expire but how can we believe them with all the max contracts they've passed out like PEZ and the Warriors sold for how much again.
Note to Erin Andrews. Your "feel sorry for me for my privacy was violated" act is starting to run thin. She was on Dancing with the Stars. She was manning the red carpet at the Bristol Techie Awards and did you she how she was attired? It wasn't a conservative pant suit. Now she is suing the hotel chains where the perv did the filming. Enough already. Maybe we should cancel the entire college football season so we don't have so see her sideline eye candy act.
One of the things I take great pride and joy laughing at is going to a bar or wedding and watching people dance. It can be as humorous as a good HBO or Comedy Channel stand up special. You find a nice quiet place to take your beverage and observe, get a chuckle, and just shake your head in bewilderment.
I'm becoming a fan of McDonalds new Smoothies.
Why did Disney make a sequel to Tron 28 years after it originally came out?
More and more I'm starting to believe that Dan Miner and Mike Dubray know everybody and everyone...Leccese out.

Yes, Mom people do actually read "The Greenhouse Effect."

Hi there. Hope you survived the sauna like weather we've had the past week. I actually went swimming not once, but twice in the lake I live on and it was great. Its one of those cold spring fed lakes so you'd be enjoying the bath like warm temps then WHAM! Get hit one of those springs bubbling up and get shocked back into reality. Remember all you gardeners out there, when you have temps like we've had, really soak your plants in the morning. Don't water them at night.
The way Bristol Tech hyped the LeBron James affair was a total joke and an embarrassment. We're talking about a 25 year old basketball player picking what team he is going to play for! "The Decision." Sounds like what we should call the coverage of the upcoming mid term elections in November, not a hoops players telling us whose 9 figure salary offer he's accepting. The only real winner in this whole calamity was the Miami Heat. Not only did LeBron come across class less in his handling of this, but Dan Gilbert owner of the Cavs really improved his chances of joining Mensa with his crybaby, sour grapes, calling LeBron out letter to fans. You think they also could have chosen a better place to hold the announcement than community gym in Connecticut?
Didn't Knicks management learn their lesson the first time? They asked Isaiah Thomas for help in convincing LeBron to play for them You think Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Bill Bradley or Patrick Ewing would have been better choices? But noooo, they chose the guy who made them awful and irrelevant to start. Isaiah must have some serious dirt on James Dolan. One other thing on the Knickerbockers. David Lee plays with his heart on a sleeve for the team for 5 years and then gets shipped off to Golden State in a sign and trade? Red Holtzman must be turning in his grave.
Is there anyway the Mets and Pirates could make a deal in which the Mets trade CitiField for PNC Park straight up so they'd be playing their home games in a real nice ballpark?
Here's this weeks sign of the apocalypse and we have two. Up first T.O. and Chad 85 each have their own tv shows on VH1; and batting second it must be a real slow news day when some annoying American Idol runner up who won't go away like Carrie Underwood makes the front page of the paper for getting married to some hockey player from the Ottawa Senators. We are truly becoming a country of obese, stupid people.
Have you seen clips from the animated feature, "Despicable Me?" Those yellow things look like someone somehow managed to bring Twinkies to life. And we all know Twinkies have a life of their own.
Sylvester Stallone said he regretting making Rocky V. He felt fans of the Rocky films didn't want to see Rocky on the downside like that. No duh! What he should have admitted regretting was making such fine cinematic tour de forces like, "Over the Top," "Oscar," and "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot."
NBC should re-title "America's Got Talent," to "America's Got Way Too Much Time on its Hands"
Now that the World Cup is over, I'm going to miss those vuvuzelas. I would love to see and hear those annoying horns blare during golf tournaments or tennis matches.
I didn't want to bring up the passing of a legend, but Bob Sheppard was the epitome of eloquence and class the way he manned the Public Address system for the Yankees and Giants. My favorite Bob Sheppard moment was a tv commercial he did a few years ago for NFL.com. He's sitting poolside with a laptop explaining that he can follow his favorite team anywhere. He sees a play on the screen and then grabs a microphone and announces, "Ball carried by Barber" which went over the Giants Stadium speakers...Leccese out.

Celebrating the 4th of July typing away on the laptop

Hi there. So here I am relaxing on this day that our country's founding fathers signed its Declaration of Independence some 234 years ago getting caught up with views and observations of the world.

That photo you see is the progress on the "Fortress of Solitude" being built in South Carolina.

I love the fact people have these crazy ideas on how to punish BP for the disaster, catastrophe, whatever you want to call it in the Gulf of Mexico. One mensa member actually called the radio station Friday and wanted us to support his idea of a, "No Drive Day." The day he chose was September 3rd. The start of the Labor Day Weekend. Not gonna happen. BP is punishing itself enough without our help. It's stock is dropping like a lead balloon in shallow water (the stockholders must be giddy over that one) and the PR nightmare of everyday seeing footage on tv or reports from the other media is punishment enough. What would and will drive me nuts is if the CEO and other execs get huge performance bonuses after all this mess does finally end.

I wonder though when does the resiliency of the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama finally run out? Just when they thought they were on the upswing after Hurricane Katrina hit, they get punched in the gut again. Those are people to admire.

Sometimes I wonder what women see in certain men. Like David Spade for example. He's kind of funny at times, but what's his secret? Heather Locklear, Pamela Anderson, Julie Bowen, and last week I saw a photo of him out with Padma Lakshmi from "Top Chef." I don't get it.

Now onto sports. So John Isner wins this tennis match that takes like 11 hours to play and then goes out in straight sets in his next match? It doesn't seem fair now does it.

The U.S. loses to Ghana in the World Cup and the reaction from the majority of people here is, "Nice try. Good news, only 30 days til the starting of football training camps." Speaking of football, only 2 months til "The Jug Game."

Is it just me or are soccer goalies totally clueless on how to stop a penalty kick? The most visually impaired people on the planet can score on one. I love watching these guys dive before or just after the ball barely is off the shooters foot. They go one way and the ball ends up going the other way. I think they need lessons from hockey goalies on how to stop them. Its very comical.

I have to ask. If you were a betting person, what would place a 10 spot on happening first. Yours truly getting married or the US winning the World Cup? And no you can't choose the third option of neither happening in your lifetime!

If you had Brazil or England in your World Cup office pool...You Lost!!!!

With all the talk of LeBron James and what team he'll eventually sign with, when it does finally happen are we gonna see white smoke coming out of a chimney somewhere in Akron Ohio like we do in Vatican City when the College of Cardinals chooses a new pope? You get the feeling it will happen that way. Black smoke, hasn't made up his mind. White smoke, he's signing and then a 2nd story balcony door will open up and here comes LeBron wearing that teams jersey.

I watched the NHL draft last week and a couple of observations came to mind. Steve Yzerman, general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Just doesn't sound right. How nervous were the kids who got drafted by Tampa, Carolina and Rangers feeling. You go up on stage and waiting are legends like Yzerman, Ron Francis, and Mark Messier to shake your hand? Did the Flyers actually have picks in this years' draft? It's starting to remind me of the last few years the Redwings were in town. Two words: Bare cupboard. Philly better have some diamonds in the rough that we've never heard of coming to the Phantoms or this is going to be a long, rough year for Greg Gilbert and us fans.

Between the World Cup and Wimbledon, Bristol Tech exiled the College World Series to ESPN 8 or whatever. It was kind of sad, because it was being played for the last time in one the great venues in college sports. Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. The Series is staying in Omaha Nebraska, but moving to a new ballpark in the downtown area.

Finally, take a moment on this July 4th to think about how fortunate we are to be living here in the U.S. We're not perfect. Many have sacrificed their lives to defend it. Many have come here to make a better life from themselves and made our country a better place at the same time. We're still growing and learning who we are as a nation after all these years after the initial fight for independence. Let's just keep learning and appreciate what we've got and not let it slip away...Leccese out.