Attaboy Clarence! Receiver Earns Angel Wings

NFL Player Chad Ochocinco Johnson and Ruben St. Hilaire on stage during the Children Mending Hearts 3rd Annual "Peace Please" Gala held at The Music Box at the Fonda Hollywood on April 16, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America)

You've gotta give it to Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson for his making a dream come true for nine-year old Ruben St. Hilaire, Jr. of New York City.

This is what the term "Role Model" was meant to be when applied to a sports figure. Chad performed his role admirably at the third annual gala fundraiser for the Children Mending Hearts organization in Hollywood, California.

Ruben, recipient of Chad's angelic role playing, reminded us all that children still dream of heroes and are hoping to grow-up to be heroes themselves someday.

Rueben's letter of thanks to Chad is truly a certificate of achievement for sports. Chad and the NFL nudged a child closer toward a dream and and a continued belief that good people and organizations still exist here in the United States of America.


Ruben and Chad's Story:

Nine-year-old Ruben St. Hilaire, Jr, who lives with his mother in a homeless shelter in New York City, received an autographed jersey from Ochocinco after sending a letter. He then sent a second letter that would have melted the heart of the hardest individual.

Mr. Johnson, you really make me happy. One of my goals in my future life is to be just like you when I grow up. I wonder who was your role model when you were little? I have three role model(s) in my life that's my mom, Mr. President Barack Obama and my favorite football player Mr. Chad Johnson. To me you are the best football player in the NFL. May God bless you and your family happy holidays.

Ruben's dream was to go to a football camp, and that particular prize was donated by Deion Sanders. Presenting the certificate for camp attendance, unbeknownst to Ruben, would be the very same Mr. Ochocinco. Ruben's hero was introduced after the young boy read his letter. Bonus — it was Ruben's birthday! Rich Eisen of the NFL Network set the scene at the podium, and what followed was a pretty great moment.

The Devil's Excrement

A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso, referred to oil as "the devil's excrement." Today we Americans, guilty of greed and corruption, feel the devil's excrement running all down our legs and filling up our shoes.

The largest oil spill in U.S. history, which is filling up the Gulf Coast like a shoe-load of shit, is teaching our country a very valuable lesson. If nothing else we should learn that regulation in businesses that potentially pose disastrous threats to our country, whether it be economic, ecologic, medically or militarily, must be monitored and held accountable by our government.

Anyone found taking bribes or giving preferential treatment to assist a corporation in bypassing set regulations should be heavily penalized and jailed for treason against the U.S..

The threat to our country from this latest disaster will hopefully wake us up to the realities of the cost of doing business with corporations that put profit over protection of people and environment. Countries in South America such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Columbia know the fatal cost of "dancing with the devil" in having corporations drill for oil in their backyards. Some of those greedy corporations drilling without conscience in South America call these liberty-filled shores of North America their home.

So maybe this Gulf oil spill is just another recent example of the "Chickens Coming Home To Roost."

What I find so hard to believe is that our country would allow foreigners and/or multi-national corporations to perform potentially disastrous operations on our soil without us having a back-up plan should things go wrong and the foreigner find themselves incompetent to right the wrong. Talk about being at the mercy of an outsider.

Here's a quote from a newspaper editorial that raised my eyebrow:

Americans should be shocked by all of this. And then they should pressure Congress to do something about it. The government's startling helplessness in the face of unprecedented disaster is the direct result of our decades of deregulation. We can't take over responsibility for this spill from BP because we have allowed the company to own all the technology that's responsible for it.

Yes my fellow citizens, when our government is left "helpless" to resolve a problem on our own shores, something is terribly broken in our way of governing our country. And if we don't fix it soon the world will stand by and watch the scavenging hyenas and vultures picking over the stripped carcass of this once great nation that was America.

A skeleton of a dog lies next to an oil pump in the Susha oil fields in the Sucumbios region of Ecuador. Many animal have died do to the pollution of the water from the oil. Picture taken Saturday, October 25, 2003.

Until now, few people outside of South America have never heard of Lago Agrio, a crime-ridden oil boomtown in Ecuador's Amazon rain forest, near the Colombia border. A trial began that's pits California-base ChevronTexaco against 30,000 rain forest residents who allege that from 1971 to 1992 a subsidiary of Texaco dumped massive amounts of oily wastes in the region. Those wastes, they claim caused illnesses ranging from skin rashes to cancer and contributed to the destruction of land inhabited by indigenous cultures. It is a drama that some say has the potential to recalibrate how major corporations do business throughout the region and world.

Nothing Like A Tailgate!

If you've ever tried doing barbecue at a tailgate and found yourself chewing leathery meat then you need to checkout AmazingRibs.com.


AmazingRibs is a site for meat lover's who want to know the where, what and how's of Barbecuing. One look at the delicious meats dripping with barbecue sauce is enough to make you wanna..............Smack Yo Momma!

Barbecue has to be one of the few foods that satisfies the animal appetite as much as sex. Give a man a juicy baby back rib soaked in barbecue sauce and after devouring it he'll want a cigarette and a nap.

Some sauces are known to come with warnings about its spiciness and suggest wearing protection to avoid the messiness. Nothing like a wet, greasy session of doing battle with a rack of ribs.

Barbecue Ribs are Sexy & Seductive!

Bruce Almighty Is Still My Guy

Check out this Raiders 2009 clip highlighting the homecoming game of QB Bruce Gradkowski in Pittsburgh. The clip includes a segment of Bruce getting game tips from his mom, Debbie Gradkowski, on speakerphone while driving in his car.

The game, a 27-24 win over the Steelers, is one of those Raiders victories that gives us Silver & Black fans goosebumps. It was a glorious win!

I never get tired of watching that game and I still believe that Bruce Almighty is a modern version of Stabler 2.0. Year 2010 will be something special to watch in Raider Nation.

Watch on Emmy Award Winning Raiders TV.

Poem by James McNutt

A wise incident during a trialing time in life brought this book of poems to me many years ago.

I post the one poem that "spoke to me" here for two reasons; to keep it close as a reminder of my journeys and to share with other travelers along the road.

A Man


Once I met a man,
Traveling down the road,
He asked me for a hand
to remove his heavy load.

It was quite a weight
He carried in that sack,
It was he said hate
He had upon his back.

Why I questioned
Did he travel alone?
"No one will be my friend
And I have no home."

Hate is an odd thing to carry
For a frail old man,
It seems to make you weary
And blisters your hands.

"Young Man, I carry these belongings
So I won't forget,
The places I've been traveling
And faces I have met.

They give me gladly
All the hate they can,
And I take it sadly
For now I can barely stand.

Young Man, travel with me
For just a little while,
The end is close you see
Just a few more miles.

When it comes to pass
And I lay quite still,
Bury me as I ask
High upon a hill.

Don't open that evil sack
And let the hatred free,
Place it on my back
And bury it with me."

Book Title: "Along The Way"
Author: James McNutt
1972

Coach Cable Speaks on KNBR

Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable gave a loud and proud interview on KNBR's Mac&Murph show.



I still say the local radio stations treat 49er interviewees like saints and Raiders like sinners, its just an accepted fact. It probably has to do more with Al Davis and the secrecy of Raiders on-goings than with hating the Silver & Black. Al feels they can all kiss his Ass.

The interviewer this time got stuck on stupid with his ongoing questions about Jamarcus Russell. Then when coach cable swiped at his persistent Jamarcus questions, suggesting they talk about something else, the wussy tried to hide behind us fans by saying "Raiders fans want to know."

Cable should've pasted him across the lip with a "Dirty Sanchez" then and there.

Listen to Coach Cable on KNBR

Well Mac & Murph let me skool you on Raiders fans; We, like coach cable, are thrilled to be moving on and burying the Jamarcus Russell era. We don't need to hear radio interviewers drill our coach with past, present and future Jamarcus stuff. If you can't respect our coaches wishes at least respect the wishes of Raiders fans and KNBR listeners. Let it Go!!!

Good Job Coach Cable. Good Job!

WR Terrell Owens Still On Free Agent Market

I LIKE ME SOME ME!

That was then, when wide receiver Terrell Owens was a young and brash NFL weapon. In 2010 T.O is past his prime and has toned down his "ME" image. So can he help the Raiders offense this coming season? I believe he can. However, the contract that brings T.O. to Oakland should be packed with performance incentives as well as suspension penalties for conduct detrimental to the team.

I like that in T.O's 14-year career he's been durable and productive on the field. He brings experience and know-how to the Raiders young receiving corps. People ask what'll happen when T.O. doesn't get the ball as much as he likes? Well, winning shuts the mouth of many a ball hog. Sure he's probably lost a step, but experience can make-up for physical attributes in competitive sports.

I want to say the pros outweigh the cons in bringing T.O. to the Raiders. I'm craving to believe that an older, more mature T.O. can handle his business like a professional on and off the field. I pray I'm right, because if Al Davis wants to win as bad as his draft day acquisitions indicate, then its only a matter of time before talks begin with T.O..

I vote Yea in welcoming T.O. to the Raider Nation. The Coliseum might even sell out a few more home games just on the T.O. factor. He, unlike Randy Moss, plays hurt and plays every down. The Oakland Raiders with Owens would definitely make some noise in the NFL. A noise that comes with winning.

Sermon Over.
Let Us Pray!

French Make Gory Horror Movies

I'd heard about this horror movie from one reviewing fan who suggested it was better than "The Collector." When I first read the fan review I thought he had to be joking, something made in France that was better horror than the suspenseful Collector, who ingeniously trapped his victims in a booby-trapped house before killing or "collecting" them? No way.

But then I rented the movie "Inside" and all I can say to that reviewer now is "Oui Oui Monsieur!"

The French are fast becoming in horror film making what the Japanese are known for today in automaking; innovative leaders in their field. And their doing it with budgets that appear to be less than generous.

Simply put, the movie "Inside" hit a fear nerve in me that few movies of late have even come close to. This movie is not a scary movie in the sense of "Scary Movie" Hollywood. This movie...............THIS MOVIE grabs you with its G-O-R-Y intentions and G-R-I-S-S-L-Y assaults.

Unlike the movie "The Collector" where part of the thrilling-suspense was the killer's unknown identity and reason for killing, in "Inside" you are made well aware of who's doing the killing and what they're after. Its the "what they're after" part that makes a grown man like myself jump off the couch and crumble to the floor while watching this movie.

What the movie lacks in cinematography and acting quality it definitely makes up for in raw, in your face horror. The horror becomes even more horrific when you think that the psychotic needs that drive the killer are taken right out of today's news headlines in the real world.

Be warned though, this movie is not for any and everybody. "Inside" should definitely come with a Surgeon General's warning printed on the DVD cartridge. But for us already deranged horror movie lover's, its a movie feast we don't wanna miss.

Bon Appetite!

note: be sure your copy has english audio. sub-titled horror is a no, no.

Other French Made Horror: High Tension

SHARK TERRITORY!

The San Jose Sharks are one series away from advancing and playing for the NHL Stanley Cup. They'll face the Chicago Blackhawks this coming Sunday in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals to be held at HP Pavilion (The Shark Tank) in San Jose, Ca..

I've not been much of a hockey fan in the past. I've attended two games of the Stockton Thunder, an Edmonton Oilers AA minor-league affiliate, in two seasons. The up-close action was awesome. From those two experiences I'm hooked on watching Hockey Live.

So as I type this blog I'm also browsing Craigslist for a ticket to this Sunday's game. Tickets for game 1 are averaging about $225-250 a seat, whew boy! Oh hell, its the playoffs.

Go Sharks!

sidenote: The Philadelphia Flyers have tied up their semi-final series against the Boston Bruins and will play the deciding game 7 Friday in Boston.

I happen to own an orange Flyers cap that I wear to SF Giants games sometimes. Go Giants! I'm putting a blog curse on the Bruins in hopes that the Flyers defeat the Bruins in game seven.

So if you see a Hockey fan walking around with a Flyers cap on his head and wearing a Sharks Jersey please don't taunt. Understand that you can wear another team's gear in support of their upcoming battle against a team you despise. And I have a cold disliking for sports teams from Boston and Los Angeles. Yep, a COLD disliking! As cold as the 'snow-job' my Raiders got in the 2001-02 playoff game against the New England Patriots there at Foxboro.

IT WAS A FUMBLE!

But that's another story for another time. GO FLYERS!

Better Homes?

No, this elegant picture is not a photo from Better Homes magazine. And its not the abode of the late great pianist Liberace either. No,no. This little piece of heaven overlooking a pond with several estate bridges and selling at $2.5 million with the baby grand thrown in for good measure, is the former home of NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb.

The home, located in Moorestown, N.J., an affluent Philadelphia suburb, is one of the many things that McNabb is leaving behind in Philly as he begins anew as quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

If fate has its way this mansion could become the property of former Raiders quarterback Jamarcus Russell. You know how the NFL just loves a good game of musical chairs when it comes to trades and acquisitions. Well, now that the Raiders have former Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell and with McNabb a Redskin, it stands to reason that the Philadelphia Eagles will pick up Jamarcus at a bargain basement price.

There's is one thing that Jamarcus should know about the house. The kitchen cabinets do not come fully stocked with Campbell's Chunky Soup. Though Campbell's would welcome the overweight Jamarcus as a chunky sports figure hawking their product,

Donovan and his mom, Wilma McNabb, aren't ready to deboard from that gravy train just yet.

Lena Horne Passes Away

Ask any elderly African-American male their most dreamed about female entertainer of the old days and you'll hear one resounding name; Lena Horne.

Lena Horne was a most talented entertainer, but it was her unmatched beauty and elegance that mesmerized men worldwide. She had a polished smile that glistened white, eyes that sparkled like pearls inlaid in onyx, flawless skin that looked and smelled of butterscotch and a sleekly sumptuous body that put a lump in your throat. She was a cross between an angel and a Greek siren who beckoned the male species to 'come hither' and drown in her delicious treats.


I, a child of the 70's, was first introduced to Lena while watching a skit from the sitcom "Sanford & Son," featuring comedian Redd Foxx. Lena was older then but her beauty was still so apparent. In the sitcom, Fred, played by Foxx, and his side-kick Grady were known for reminiscing about the beauty of Lena. So when Fred stumbles across the chance of a lifetime to get a peek at Lena, he comically takes the plunge.


Sanford and Son: A Visit From Lena Horne



Lena Mary Calhoun Horne
(June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010)

Lena Horne, an acclaimed entertainer and civil rights activist Born in Brooklyn, New York, Horne spent part of her childhood in both Fort Valley and Atlanta before beginning her career in New York at the age of sixteen. In 1984 she received the Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievement in the performing arts.

Goodbye Jamarcus Podcast Party

Click On RaiderNationPodcast for the "Goodbye Jamarcus" Jamboree!

I swear I haven't heard this much happiness from a nation over change in leadership since Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush as President of the United States.

"Change We Can Believe In!"

ERA OF FUTILITY OVER IN OAKTOWN!

Long Overdue Surgical Procedure Successful!

290 lb. Tumor Removed

Annual Healthcare Costs:

2007: $2.976M
2008: $20.27M
2009: $13.105M
2010: $3M*

2010 Savings: $6.45M


Jamarcus Signs With New Team


Doctors reported that once the malignant tumor was extracted from the team it simply crawled off the operating tray, slithered into its team bought mink stole and headed for Oakland International Airport. A recurrence of the illness is unlikely.

Only In Philly!

Yesterday a Philadelphia Phillies fan ran out onto the field during play and was "Tasered" by security. It is said the 17-year old victim called his dad to tell him of his hair brained scheme to storm the field. The quotes I've heard of the dad's advice to his son weren't very fatherly. In fact, it didn't sound as if the father was completely against his son doing the deed.

Maybe the Dad figured his son could learn a lesson from being tased better than any he could give his bonehead son. In either event, the tasing was brutally effective and the bonehead made the news, first running, then flopping, and finally being escorted off the playing field.

Lucky for bonehead the security guard who did the tasing wasn't Johannes Mehserle, the Oakland,Ca. Bart police officer who claims he mistakenly pulled out his revolver instead of his taser and shot unarmed victim Oscar Grant in the back while in custody. Mr. Grant is "Dead."

Mayweather OutBoxes Mosley

The Boxing event of the year turned out to be little more than a good sparring match. Floyd Mayweather dominated ten of the twelve rounds and came away with a convincing unanimous decision over Sugar Shane Mosley.

The fight wasn't a complete waste of of time. In the first two rounds Sugar Shane fought on all cylinders displaying quickness and power that gave appearances of overtaking Mayweather. With a solid punch in the second round Sugar Shane rocked Mayweather as the Pretty Boy's legs slightly buckled on impact. That punch and round was the end of the feeling out phase along with any chance of a Mosley win.

From the third round on it was all Floyd Mayweather with Mosley giving a few sparks of courage but no real offensive threat at all. If anything you were left wondering why Mayweather didn't finish off Mosley after the third round.

Seeing Mosley sitting on his stool between rounds told the story of the night; Shane got the Sugar beaten out of him by a younger, faster and possibly stronger fighter. Maybe Shane was tight, maybe as he stated in the post-fight interview that he mistakenly got caught up in looking for a knockout punch after rocking Floyd in the second round. Or maybe the fix was in and we got exactly what Mugsey and the boys cooked up for us.

Out of all the possibilities behind the ineffectiveness of Shane Mosley after the second round last night, only one can wear the hat of truth. The truth is that Floyd Mayweather out boxed Shane Mosley and showed he's one of today's best fighters. Mayweather didn't dance and run like many, myself included, thought he would. Floyd "Money" Mayweather is a Champion Fighter.