Water the Flowers

One of my former co-workers, a girl named Argy, used to say it's important to "water the flowers" whenever she talked about relationships. She's Greek, so it turns out she wasn't actually talking about flowers, apparently it was a metaphor.

As she explained to me, the idea was that relationships (like flowers) need to be attended to from time to time or they risk drying up. Flowers need water...relationships need love.

Here's the really freaky part of the metaphor, it turns out that "watering the flowers" really can mean watering the flowers. My wife Megan LOVES flowers (of course she does...she's a girl) so from time to time I'll surprise her with some and our relationship doesn't dry up...just like Argy said.

You gotta hand it to the Greeks...great food, cool architecture and awesome metaphors.

OK, This is Stupid

I went to Rubio's tonight and ordered a Grande Bowl and a water. That's it.

So why the hell is my receipt 11 inches long?!?! Seriously, who decided that I needed a little "light ready" with my meal? It's a receipt, not a screenplay. List what I ordered, throw in an customer number if you must, and stick the date on there somewhere.

Done and done.

Look, I realize it's very Andy Rooney of me to rant about a receipt...and maybe I'm just mad because I'm supposed to be on a diet and instead I'm ordering something called the "Grande Bowl"...but I don't think so. I can't be all alone on this, can I. It's time to call for the end of the Over-sized Receipt.

Who's coming with me?

Well It's About Time

I've been playing indoor soccer on Sunday's now for about 8 years...all on the same team. Of course the players have changed here and there, but the biggest change is that we are now the "old guy" team. Don't get me wrong, we've got a couple of whipper-snappers out there...but we've got more guys over 30 then under these days.

That means a couple of things...but mostly it means we run out of gas in the 2nd half and end up losing a lot of games. That sucks.

It's very frustrating and lately we have been on a losing streak to end all streaks. In fact we've lost so many games in a row I almost can't remember what it feels like to win. Hell, it's gotten to the point where I don't even care if we win or lose, I just want us to play well enough to be competitive.

That said, for some reason, all day today I had this feeling we were going to win tonight. And hot damn, would you believe it, we did win...and I scored 2 goals. With next week off because of Easter, that means we're going to carry this new streak...the unbeaten one, through the next 2 weeks.

Can you say "on a roll"?

Grade A...Absolutely

So the wife and I headed to LA this weekend for our friend Ingrid's birthday celebration. Awesome time with some great food and great friends...but what made it even better was that my buddy Guido happened to be in LA for the weekend too. He was the best man in my wedding and lives in San Francisco so I don't get to see him all that much. Needless to say I was excited to meet him for lunch in Santa Monica.

Here's the SUPER awesome part, he was there with his new girlfriend Annie who I hadn't meet yet.

(*Authors note: I'm not sure if they have actually defined their relationship as "boyfriend - girlfriend" yet, but they were in town for Annie's brother's engagement party...which means there was family there...which means whether or not they've defined it, they are boyfriend and girlfriend. There you go Guido, I saved you an awkward conversation...or just made it 5X more uncomfortable)

Anyway, the point is, she's absolutely Grade A material. Totally cool, very easy to talk to and super cute...basically a great hang. The thing is, when you like a guy as much as I like Guido, you want to like the girl he's dating a whole bunch too. Maybe more importantly, you want your wife to like her that much as well.

Mission accomplished...and not in the way George Bush said it about the war in Iraq. More like the way George Washington said it about the American Revolution.

Bound For the Big Time

You know you've made it when you're emceeing a raffle in the parking lot of a Cox Customer Service store...right?

God I hope so, because that's exactly what I was doing this afternoon for 2 hours in the middle of the day. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice enough event. We had pizza, popcorn, swag...and of course it was all free. Star 94.1 FM was even out there with there morning show host A.J. It's just that things like that are always so awkward. More often then not the people that show up are only there for the free food, but they always seem to feel the need to justify why you should give them free stuff. If they only knew we don't mind giving them a free water bottle or tot-bag...in fact we want to give it to them.

Instead you end up getting forced to small talk about things like cable boxes and UFC fight packages. Look, I know we don't know each other, that's fine. Just take the free stuff and stop pretending to be interested in the bandwidth capacity difference between satellite and cable...because I don't care about it either.

Now go enjoy a fake tattoo.

So We Meet Again

For two weeks during the winter of 2007 I was a bachelor. My wife (who was my fiance at the time) had gone home to her parents house for Christmas and I stayed home for work and to hang with my folks for one last holiday season. Over the course of that two weeks I ate pizza, drank beer and was generally completely unhealthy. So much so in fact, that I pledged to go on a diet once the holiday season ended.

So I, along with the rest of the New Year's Resolution workout enthusiast, started back to the gym with the goal to lose 20 lbs. For me that was a first, I had always gone to the gym before to work the beach muscles...pecs, arms, and abs. This time was different though, this time it was all about losing the gut.

Long story short, I pulled it off thanks to an amazing diet/workout plan from Men's Health. It's called the Bell Off! diet and it totally worked. I'll spare you the long testimonial and just say that if you want to lose a few lbs this is a great way to do it. You can do the workout almost anywhere and the diet is not that hard to follow.

Fast forward to mid-March 2010, and after the straw that broke the camels back (i.e. Spring Training in Peoria...land of the chain restaurant), I'm back on the Belly Off! diet. Today was my second trip to the gym for the workout portion of the program, and let's just say I'm a little sore.

Actually that's a complete lie. I feel like I was in a car accident. I can barely lift my arms, my chest is on fire, my neck is tight and my quads burn. Know what else...it feels great!

Baby Boom

A baby boom is generally defined as a time when the number of annual births exceeds 2% of the total population size. From 1946 to 1964, 78.3 million babies were born in the United States...that qualifies as a baby boom.

Apply that same equation to my group of friends and guess what...we've got another baby boom. Maybe it's just because I'm at that age or maybe it's something in the water, but it sure seems like there are a lot of new babies laying around these days.

Ainsley Clarke is one of the newest. My friends Trevor and Kristen welcomed little Ainsley into the world 3 weeks ago today, so naturally we celebrated with some dinner at their house tonight.

I've learned a couple things about newborn babies over the last few months watching my friends with their new kids, but one thing stands out. Apparently newborn's don't sleep all that much...which begs the question, who the hell came up with the saying "I slept like a baby". Obviously it wasn't a parent, because all the parents I've seen look like 3rd year medical students working their residency.

Seriously, they all have that same glazed-over-I-haven't-slept-in-a-month look. It's like they're auditioning for the Thriller video remake or something. And they all say the same thing...they knew they wouldn't get a lot of sleep but non of them thought it would be like this.

Of course they also all say something else as well. They all say it's the most amazing thing ever...then they usually nod off for a second when you're holding the baby.

The Last Honest Pizza

When I was in 5th grade I was in a commercial for a local hospital here in San Diego. I didn't have any lines and all I had to do was walk into a kitchen with a soccer ball under my arm while my "Mom" extolled the virtues of alcohol rehab. I think I got paid around $50 for it and it ended up running during "Days of Our Lives" in the middle of the day...presumably when all the drunk moms were at home.

Today I shot my second commercial. This one was for Round Table Pizza...and they even let talk this time around. It's only a 15 second spot, and to be totally truthful I guess it's more of a promo then a commercial, but whatever, it was fun.

I'm sure you're all dying to see it so I won't spoil it for you, but the gist is I'm a selfish bastard who won't share his pizza with Bob. I guess it's better then having an alcoholic for a mom?

Mica

Funny story.

So I was in Arizona last week covering Spring Training for the Padres. For those that have never heard of it, Arizona is a desert. That means it's hot out there...and dry. So, being the fair-skinned-freckly-guy I am, I decided to upgrade my sunscreen by going to Target and purchasing some Neutrogena Ultimate Sport, SPF 70+.

While I was in the sunscreen isle I couldn't help but notice my lips were a little chapped, so I decided to go ahead and upgrade my lip balm as well. My wife always gets the Burt's Bees brand so I decided, why not. Of course my hands and legs were pretty dry too, and since I was already standing in front of the Burt's Bees stuff I went ahead and picked up some body lotion as well. At this point I was so far gone I went ahead threw in some face wash and facial cream too...I know, totally lame.

When all was said and done I had spent close to $60 on lotions.

Here's the funny part. The next morning after I showered, I put the body lotion on my arms and hands and legs, and headed out to the ballpark. While I was standing around waiting for one of the guys to finish up BP, I glanced at my watch to check the time and nearly went blind.

There were a thousand points of light all glaring back at me. My arm was covered in glitter! I looked like a Laughlin stripper after a night out on the town. Apparently my body lotion had mica in it...and apparently mica in code for glitter. How the hell was I supposed to know that?!?!

Not that you even had to ask, but I'll tell you anyway, the interview that day was a tad uncomfortable.

Alice in Wonderland

I've seen three 3-D movies in my life...and two of them came in the last month. I'll just say this, 3-D technology has come a long way since Captain Eo.

The effects are better, the experience is better and the glasses are better. I can understand the first two, I mean my laptop has more computing power and a better graphics card then the entire special effects team had for Captain Eo. But what the hell took everybody so long to improve upon the 3-D glasses?

Not only did the old ones look terrible, but they gave me a migraine headache. That's a real bummer for a 10 year old kid at Disneyland, believe me.

So kudos to the post-production team that improved upon the 3-D effects of movies like "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland", but if I ever meet the guy who got rid of the Blue and Red cardboard glasses...I'm buying him a beer.

Floatopia

You tell a bunch of 20-somethings that the Medicare system in the United States is in dire need of reform...no one bats an eye. You tell them there's an alcohol ban at the beach..you get a revolution.

In 2008 San Diego City voters passed a law that effectively made the city's beaches dry. It was a pretty simple rule that basically stated there was no drinking alcohol on the beach at any time. It didn't however make any mention of not being able to drink while being out ON the water in a boat...or a floaty.

By 2009 thousands of people had discovered the loop hole and decided to exploit it with a mass rally of sorts...and giant floating party if you will. The first one was called "intertubepalooza"...now it's called "Floatopia" and it's spread all the way to Santa Barbara.

Today's event in San Diego attracted an estimated 6,000 people to Mission Bay, all in the name of getting drunk and peeing in your bathing suit. Now I'm not old enough yet to say that I don't understand the allure of an event like this. I definitely get it. I am too old though to go traipsing all over town looking for a raft just so that I can drink crappy luke-warm beer in the bay. I'd rather just drive by and take a picture of it. So that's what I did.

As far as I'm concerned though, God bless the little buggers for getting motivated and mobile...now if we could just get that fired up for Health Care reform.

Just One of Those Nights

I own a real bow tie for one reason and one reason only...so that I can unfurl it at some point in the night and pretend like I'm the 6th member of the Rat Pack. Tonight however, the tie was unfurled for reasons other then fashion...tonight it was out of necessity.

From time to time I get asked to emcee different events...usually charities. Most of the events are pretty similar. People get dressed up, they eat, they drink, there's usually an auction and we end up raising a bunch of money for a good cause.

Tonight's event was different.

Don't get me wrong, we still raised a bunch of money and there was definitely copious amounts of food and alcohol, but the feel of the event was..how should I put it...unique. The crowd was less "Hey we're going to the theater" and more "I hope Stone Cold Steve Austin puts the Undertaker in a sleeper hold". To put it simply...they were a ROWDY bunch.

I kind of felt like the piano player in some old Western during a bar room shootout...I was just up there doing my thing while bullets flew and glasses broke. The good news is, no one got shot and everybody had a blast. That's usually my goal when I emcee an event, nobody dies and everyone has a good time.

Hey, any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

Matty V

Today was my last full day in the desert covering Spring Training for the Padres, and we saved the best for last. Today my camera man (actually my photo-journalist, they hate when we call them camera men) and I headed to Maryvale, AZ to meet up with our old friend Matt Vasgersian.

He was there covering the Brewers for MLB TV's 30 in 30 and was nice enough to talk about the N.L. West with us for Channel 4. That was the good news, the bad news is where he picked the Padres to finish. If you didn't see it on Channel 4, here's how Matty sees the division shaping up.

1st Giants
2nd Rockies
3rd Dodgers
4th Diamondbacks
5th Padres

After we stopped taping Matty looked at me and said, "Did I really just pick the Padres to finish last?" Ummmm...yeah you did. See the problem for Matty is not so much the Padres (he actually thinks they are going to be better this year then they were last), the problem is everyone else.

Let's not forget that the wild card came out of the N.L. West last year. That means it was a pretty good division...and he obviously thinks the Giants are improved, so that doesn't leave much room for the Friars.

There is a real tendency to get tunnel vision when you're around just one team as much as I am. I understand that, but I'm still going to choose to be a bit more optimistic. I'll pick the Padres to finish 4th, with a chance to challenge for 3rd place in the division.

Just one man's opinion.

Everybodies Irish Today

You know how we always hear that St. Patrick's Day in Ireland is kind of like Cinco de Mayo in Mexico...no one really celebrates it in those countries and we Americans just use it as an excuse to drink in the middle of the week? According to my research (thanks Wikipedia) that's not necessarily the case with St. Patrick's day.

In the interest of brevity I'll spare you all the historical details of the actual St. Patrick and get right to the modern day celebration of Ireland's most recognized patron saint.

In 1903 St. Patrick's day became an official public holiday in Ireland, full of feast and merriment. So much merriment in fact that there was a law passed that required pubs to be CLOSED on March 17 because things were getting a little out of hand. That law wasn't repealed until the 1970's...to much merriment I'm sure. Still, even with the pints flowing, St. Patrick's day in Ireland is much less a secular holiday and much more a religious observation.

The same can most definitely NOT be said about our observation of March 17th. So every March we put on our green hat and go streaking through the quad to the gymnasium, all in the name of the man who helped bring Christianity to Ireland.

Make perfect sense to me.

A Bicycle Built for Four

I don't travel very much for my job...only a couple of weeks out of the year at most. As a result, I'm not all that used to being on the road and the havoc it can play on your system. I don't know why but whenever I come to spring training my fried food intake (and alcohol for that matter) increase by a generous amount.

That's one of the reasons I was really looking forward to having dinner at my friends Bryce and Melissa's house tonight. I needed a home cooked meal, some good conversation and a night off from the sauce. 2 out of 3 isn't bad I guess.

Aside from being one of the best looking couples I know, Bryce and Melissa are also one of the funniest. Turns out they are pretty pushy too. The menu tonight consisted of Mexican food, an episode of Lost and some heavy handed rum and Coke's...the latter of which I was hoping to avoid. Like I said though, the Kartler's can be pretty persuasive.

Well it turns out, if you have enough rum and Coke's, quadrupling up on a dirt bike seems like a hilarious proposition...not to mention a great photo op. Whether or not I'll feel the same way in the morning is up for debate, but what the hell, we're not curing cancer here. Just trying to have a good time.

I Love Spring Training

I tell every baseball fan I know, "Go to Spring Training!" Even if you're only kind of a baseball fan...spring training is the best.

Now there are a lot of reasons to love Spring Training...the weather, accessibility, day baseball, the night life, chain restaurants...but for me the number one thing is getting together with the boys after a Channel 4 spring game. The reason it's great is because this is the only time of the year it happens...it's the only time it CAN happen. We get everybody there...Padres PR staff, the writers, the broadcasters and the crew. This year Matty V even made it out to the Fox and the Hound for a couple of pops.

It's great camaraderie for sure, but the stories are what make it awesome. You get that many guys with that much baseball experience in one room together and you hear some whoppers. Unfortunately I can't get into the details here, but like I said, that's why you need to come to Spring Training.

Playball!

We televised our first spring training game today on Channel 4, a 5-3 Padres victory over the Cleveland Indians. As part of the broadcast I watched the game from the dugout and interviewed players and coaches and front office types in between innings.

It has got to be the sweetest gig in Arizona.

Watching a big league game (even a spring training game) in a big league dugout is incredible. You hear all the conversations, all the cussing and all the jokes. It is the ultimate "fly on the wall" experience.

The really special part though was hanging with the Sonic Dog and Tatter Tot. Just a couple every day guys dressed like giant pieces fast food. There was a Shake too but he was a total prima donna so I made him take the photo.

In actuality these guys were part of the grounds crew and had to put down their rakes and wire mesh thingies for a half inning in the name of branding. Hey, I get it, it was a TV game...gotta pull out all the stops.

That's Aggressive

There are days when I struggle to come up with a good picture of the day...today was not one of them. In fact, considering that I went to my first Pro Bull Riding event tonight, the question was not if I could come up with a good picture today...but which awesome pic I would end up using.

After some careful thought...and to be honest a little soul searching...I landed on this beauty. I mean it's not everyday you come across a couple wearing floor length Chinchilla coats in San Diego.

When I saw these guys in the airport my first thought was New York...these two had to be from New York. Man was I wrong. Turns out they are from Houston on their way to Tahoe, via San Diego.

I have no idea if the coats were real or not, but it was pretty obvious that they were real aggressive. I just kept hearing the "Bud Light Real Men of Genius: Mr. Male Fur Coat Wearer" song echoing through my head.

For a look that's half street pimp, half Aunt Esther, and full of furtastic...I salute you sir.

Bald People Are Funny

Take my producer Jason for instance. He's bald...that's why this picture is funny. If you put a beanbag on my head and some chick glasses on my face, I'd just look like an A-hole. Jason does it and he looks like Mr. T...that's funny.

So what was the inspiration? Not exactly sure, but Jason did go to SDSU, and the Aztecs beat 8th ranked New Mexico tonight to all but guarantee their entrance into the NCAA Tournament. That means Jason was a little giddy...and that means we got pictures like this one.

We've got to do something to fill the time.

If It's Free, I'll Take 3

So I went to the opening round of the PASL-Pro North American Championships tonight at the Del Mar Arena. Anyone have any clue what I'm talking about? Didn't think so. It's indoor soccer...as in the 10 time world champion San Diego Sockers.

Well the Sockers are up to their old tricks, earning the number one seed and a first round bye in the tournament that will eventually crown a North American Champion. The tournament kicked off today in Del Mar and I went out to cover it for Channel 4, but I forgot to take a picture, which is stupid.

I'm 70 days into this blog, you'd think I could remember to take a picture when I'm actually doing something of interest, right? Well, wrong. Hey nobody ever accused me of being a Rhodes Scholar. But it wasn't a total loss, I didn't forget everything...I remembered to grab the free swag.

Now I realize everybody loves free stuff (especially T-shirts and floppy hats) but sports reporters and newspaper types seem to take it to another level. It's like a drug. I've got more free T-shirts then I know what to do with, but I can't say no when someone offers another one up.

By the time I left the Del Mar Arena this is what I looked like. Free shirt, free scarf (love it by the way) and bag of kettle corn. Sure some people use their celebrity status to jump the line at a trendy restaurant or a hot nightclub. Me, I use it for T-shirts and scarfs.

For the record, the kettle corn cost me $7. I just got one of those.

What's Your Sign?

We live in a world filled with signs. It's really kind of ridiculous when you stop and think about it. Sure not all signs are bad...Stop, Warning, Hey I'm a Taurus. In fact, you could probably argue that most signs are pretty okay...the problem is in the volume.

It's like Susan Sarandon's character Annie Savoy says in Bull Durham, "You get three ants together, they can't do dick. You get 300 million of them, they can build a cathedral." There is power in numbers...unfortunately that's not always a good thing.

I'm not trying to be all "anti-establishment" here and say we shouldn't have rules...or even that those rules shouldn't be posted for everyone to see. I'm just saying that there are a lot of signs out there and they're not the most interesting things to look at. When you're walking today, look around, you'll be amazed at how many signs you see and how ugly they are.

It's like the Five Man Electric Band said back in 1970, "Sign Sign everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind. Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?"

Say Ahhhh

Raise your hand if you love the dentist. Anyone??? You in the back...no? Oh just stretching, okay.

Well I get it...and for the record, I'm not one of those weird people that loves the dentist either, but I don't hate it. Not anymore.

For that I have Jason Bott to thank, he's the one that turned me on to Dr. Gagliani. Dr. G to you and me. Not only are his offices about 4 blocks away from my house, but they are also super modern and very comfortable. But really, there's nothing special about that. The special part is who works there. They really are all very nice people. I'm talking about the kind of people that you would ask to take care of your dog when you went on vacation and make sure your mail didn't pile up.

So when those kind of people shove cardboard in your mouth and ask you to remain still while they take x-rays...it's not that bad. And really, what more could ask for?

Why?!

Notice anything a little..."off" about this picture? Me too. So I did a little research online.

Turns out it would cost you anywhere from $26 (shipping included) for you to outfit your truck with the standard flesh colored Truck Nutz...and up to $48 (again, shipping included) for the more exotic Titanium Blue Plated Nutz.

In the interest of consumer awareness, neither of those prices include what it would cost you in terms of your dignity.

Still, that's a lot of money to spend just to tell everyone you have a small dinkus.

What I really have trouble wrapping my head around is why any women, anywhere, would ever ride in a truck with that kind of decoration. It happens all the time too, just spend a week in Arizona if you don't believe me.

So in the interest of open mindedness and acceptance, I would ask anyone reading this to please re-post it to your blog, or facebook page, or twitter account, or whatever it is you have...and keep posting it until it lands in front of someone who can answer the very complicated question of why.

Remember, this is for posterity, so try to be honest.

The Perfect Sunday?

I realize there are a lot of different variations of the perfect Sunday, allow me to submit my version. I call it "Lazy Sunday" and it helps if it's raining outside like it was today.

Ready? Couch, Snuggie, Ugg boots, Pizza from Woodstock's, Vitamin Water, Computer, and Band of Brothers on the TV.

Of course nothing is truly perfect, there are always trade offs, like my car still being parked in Golden Hills, a mild hangover and the inevitable weight gain.

Still pretty good though, right?

Don't Call Me

Went out last night for Big John's birthday celebration. Needless to say their was some booze consumed...no surprise there. I was surprised however when I showed up and saw the hat Big John was wearing. It read:

"If found lost, drunk, naked or asleep, Call John Weisbarth". Then it listed my phone number.

Pretty classic if you ask me...and I'm happy to report my phone didn't ring.

I'll Have the #6, Hold the Sleeping Pills

Miguel's Cocina (Micheal's Kitchen to you and me) is easily one of my favorite restaurants in Coronado...hell anywhere. I went there today with my Mom, and as usual, it was awesome. The only thing is, seemingly every meal comes with a side of sleeping pills...I know mine did today.

Maybe it's the 4,000 calorie white sauce or the ridiculously high number of carbs, but keeping your eyes open after a meal at Miguel's is like trying to convince me to see a Celine Dion concert in Vegas. Sure I'd love to, but it's not going to happen.

Today was no different. After lunch I went to my parents house to help my Mom with a couple of things before settling down into my Dad's recliner for a minute. One minute however turned into an hour and twenty-five minutes of opened mouth snoring with a touch of drool for good measure.

Lucky for all of us my Mom couldn't find my camera because she insisted that should have been the picture of the day. Who needs enemies with family like that?

This is Not Good

You know how they say TV puts 10 lbs on you...I have no idea if that's true. I do know this however, my favorite new snack could do that in a three day weekend.

Peanut butter filled pretzels dipped in honey. I know right?

Like a lot of great discovers (America, plastic, Carrie Underwood) this one happened by accident. I literally dropped a peanut butter filled pretzel into a tub of Henry's brand "Prue Clove Honey" and the magic was born. To be fair I'm not sure how "magic" it really is. I think I could drop a pair of old socks in a tub of honey and I'd probably end up asking for seconds.

But screw it, who says this had to be complicated. All the really great ideas are simple ones anyway.

Can anyone say the internet? I totally could have invented that.

Bon Voyage

You work some place long enough, you get used to seeing people come and go. Every once in awhile though, you can't help but sit up and take notice. That was the case today as my buddy Brian Jouan walked out of Channel 4 for the last time as an employee.

Happily he wasn't fired or laid off or anything like that, he's leaving on his recognizance. Which means he's either a total idiot, or an "F"ing genius...I guess time will tell. Either way I was sad to see him go.

I say was because as soon as I heard there was going to be a happy hour send off and the bosses were buying a round, all of a sudden it didn't seem that sad. In fact I started a subtle campaign to push a few more co-workers out the door. Just have to make sure I stutter the resignations a bit to make sure we hit our happy hour quota.

To that point, keep next Thursday open. I'm not saying...I'm just saying.

The Team Behind the Team

Back in 2002 when I first started at Channel 4, that was our slogan..."The team behind the Team". Not bad as far as slogans go, I mean it's no "Little, Yellow, Different"...but it gets the point across.

Well now that our slogan is "It's Time for Baseball", I figured I could re-purpose the old one. So that's what I did, meet the new Team behind the Team...our production staff. To be fair that's not the whole group, but it practically is. It really is amazing how much work this little crew does every night to get a 30 minute show on the air 5 days a week.

Obviously without them, there is no Postgame, and they hardly ever get any public recognition. Sure, I'll throw them a bone every once in awhile and let one of them pick up my dry cleaning, but as a whole they rarely get a public thank you.

So I figured now was as good as anytime to put it out there for everyone to hear...I like light starch on my collar.

I am on Local Cable You Know.

Ding, ding, ding, ding...we have a winner! Whoever took March 1st in the "Johnny Midnight's first autograph of 2010" pool, congratulations you nailed it.

So what if the kid thought I was Bob Scanlan, I still signed my name...and that makes it official.

So just to clear up any misconception that I cruise elementary schools trying to dupe kids into believing I'm Scan, let me give you some background. The Padres dedicated their 41st Little Padres Park this afternoon in Santee and I was there covering the event. Padres Owner Jeff Moorad, the President Tom Garfinkel, Randy Jones and the Friar were all there. After the ceremony (and a lot of sugar) the kids ran the bases and then worked themselves into an autograph frenzy.

It really reminded me of something out of Shark Week. There was blood in the water and if something moved, the kids were biting. Randy Jones must have signed 100 autographs. The Swinging Friar, 30 or so. I even saw one kid ask another little leaguer for his autograph. I'm telling you it was intense.

For the record...I signed 7.

***Special thanks to Shana Siler for snapping this photo