L.A.Carrie Underwood/Keith Urban Date Announced!

After much anticipation, I can finally tell you when the 2008 Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour is going to hit the Los Angeles area!!! The date is March 13, 2008 at the Honda Center (formerly known as the Pond of Anaheim). Tickets will go on sale to the general public on December 8th at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Those in both Carrie's and Keith's fanclubs will have access to tickets via a pre-sale on Ticketmaster from December 4th, beginning at 10 a.m. through December 6th... What a show this shall be!!!

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Phil Jackson Gets 2 Year Extension!

This is definitely yet another victory for those of us on the anti-T.J. Simers and anti-Bill Plaschke bandwagons... As those of us in the Los Angeles area know very well, these two "sportswriters" for the Los Angeles Times have been trying to run Kobe Bryant out of town for several years now. Guess what "guys," you have failed! The Kobester is going nowhere, and now, neither is his coach! Yesterday, Phil Jackson signed a two year, $24 million dollar extension to remain with the Lakers through the 2009-2010 season. Already the highest paid coach in the league, this marks a $2 million per year annual raise. The Lakers are starting to grow and develop as a team with a 9-6 record so far this year. Young talents such as Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar along with veterans like Bryant, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher have given Jackson reassurance that this team is going in the right direction and have given Lakers fans hope for the future!

For more on this, go to this article on Yahoo's NBA blog

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Cowboys-Packers Tonight!

For those of you that have DirecTV or certain cable providers, you'll be able to watch this battle of 10-1 titans starting at 8:15 ET/5:15 PT. Brett Favre, Donald Driver and the rest of the Packers visit Dallas to take on Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and the Cowboys. The Packers only loss this year came at the hands of the Chicago Bears by a 27-20 score - a game the Packers led 17-7 at halftime. Three costly turnovers - two Favre interceptions and a Charles Woodson fumble on a punt return resulted in 10 Bears points and proved to be the final margin of victory. The Cowboys lone loss this year came at the hands of the undefeated New England Patriots by a 48-27 score. The Cowboys actually led that game 24-21 with five minutes to play in the third quarter, only to see the Patriots score 27 unanswered points in the final 20 minutes of the game on two Tom Brady touchdown passes, a 1-yard Kyle Eckel run and two Stephen Gostkowski field goals. It should be an exciting game as each claim stakes it's claim to who is the best team in the NFC!

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A Sad Wednesday...

During the past week, baseball player Joe Kennedy and football star Sean Taylor both passed away. Although both of these deaths were tragic and sad, they didn't hit me as hard as a couple more passings I found out about yesterday.

Early yesterday afternoon, I found out one of my co-workers, Patricia "Patty" Rubio succumbed to the effects of cancer. She was only 44 years old. Patty had beaten cancer once, and was in remission, but the cancer returned a few years ago. Patty was someone you instantly liked when you met her. Her kind heart, bubbly spirit and wonderful smile would always brighten anyone's day. The last time I saw Patty was about a year ago. She still seemed as cheery and determined as ever to beat the cancer. Sadly, she lost that battle on Monday. Patty, you will be missed!

Later in the afternoon, I received an eMail from my church, Cornerstone Community. A couple of months ago, my pastor, Frances Chan announced to the congregation that his beautiful wife Lisa was expecting another child. I even remember seeing Lisa after that Sunday morning 9 a.m. service and telling her congratulations. They were so full of joy. Sadly, they found out on Monday when she was having an ultrasound that the child had died a couple of weeks ago. Francis and Lisa are two great examples of people of integrity - they truly walk the walk and live the life. They are genuine and authentic. I truly feel for them, because they are family to all of us that are part of the congregation.

Please keep the Rubios and the Chans, their families and friends in your thoughts and prayers...

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Week 12 NFL Rankings

The New England Patriots came thisclose to losing this past week in spite of being 22 point favorites to the Philadelphia Eagles, while the Pittsburgh Steelers nearly lost in the muck at Heinz Field to a winless Miami Dolphins team. A miraculous comeback by the Chicago Bears, and HUGE lost oppotunites by both the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals highlighted week 12's games... Lastly, "Ocho Cinco" was back doing his thing for the Cincinnati Bengals, scoring three TD's and even manning the TV camera after one of his scores. It's nice to see him having fun again! It would be good for the league if the officials let the players be a little more free to celebrate like they used to - the fans both at the game and watching the game on TV usually get a big kick out of the post TD antics as long as they're in good taste...

Here are this week’s rankings with last weeks rank in (). Record is only one consideration. I also take into account strength of schedule, strength of victory (or loss) and other intangibles…

1.(1) New England Patriots (11-0)
2.(2) Indianapolis Colts (9-2)
3.(3) Dallas Cowboys (10-1)
4.(4) Green Bay Packers (10-1)
5.(5) Jacksonville Jaguars (8-3)
6.(6) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3)
7.(8) Cleveland Browns (7-4)
8.(9) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-4)
9.(11) San Diego Chargers (6-5)
10.(7) New York Giants (7-4)
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11.(15) Philadelphia Eagles (5-6)
12.(16) New Orleans Saints (5-6)
13.(12) Washington Redskins (5-6)
14.(13) Seattle Seahawks (7-4)
15.(14) Arizona Cardinals (5-6)
16.(10) Tennessee Titans (6-5)
17.(18) Buffalo Bills (5-6)
18.(17) Houston Texans (5-6)
19.(21) Chicago Bears (5-6)
20.(19) Detroit Lions (6-5)
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21.(20) Denver Broncos (5-6)
22.(26) Cincinnati Bengals (4-7)
23.(25) Minnesota Vikings (5-6)
24.(23) Kansas City Chiefs (4-7)
25.(24) Baltimore Ravens (4-7)
26.(22) Carolina Panthers (4-7)
27.(27) St. Louis Rams (2-9)
28.(28) Atlanta Falcons (3-8)
29.(30) Oakland Raiders (3-8)
30.(31) San Francisco 49ers (3-8)
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31.(29) New York Jets (2-9)
32.(32) Miami Dolphins (0-11)
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Sean Taylor & Joe Kennedy R.I.P.

... after watching perhaps the ugliest football game ever Monday night - a 3-0 win by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the still winless Miami Dolphins - my thoughts quickly returned to Washington Redskin safety Sean Taylor who had been critically injured by a gunshot wound earlier yesterday evening at his home in Miami. When I woke up this morning a little after 4:15 am, and put on Fox News Channel, I saw the news of Taylor's passing come across the newsscroll on the bottom of my TV screen. So sad, and so tragic. Why??? He was only 24 years old... his whole life was still ahead of him. His 1 1/2 year old daughter is now fatherless... He also left a girlfriend behind. Taylor had just made his first Pro Bowl last year. This year he was tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with five despite missing the past two games due to a knee injury. He was one of the NFL's brightest young stars and now he's gone...

Just four days ago, pitcher Joe Kennedy of the Toronto Blue Jays died suddenly. He was actually to be going to a wedding and serving as best man the following day. Unlike Taylor, Kennedy was more of a journeyman, pitching for three teams last year after compiling a nifty 2.31 ERA in 2006. Like Taylor, he died way too young - he was only 28 years of age... His wife and young son are now left to mourn and wonder why... The cause of death is still not known, though reportedly he may have had an enlarged heart.

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A lot of times, athletes feel like family. You almost feel like you personally know them. You watch them play, you cheer for them, you cheer against them... they entertain and bring emotions to those watching... They almost seem like they are bigger than life when you watch them perform. In just five days, two of those who were living out every American kid's dream of becoming a professional athlete are now no longer with us. Think a moment about the families and friends of the late Sean Taylor and Joe Kennedy. Keep them in thought and prayer... they say everything happens for a reason. Often times though, you really wonder what that reason is, especially when it involves professional athletes who seem to have everything going for them... Yes, athletes are human too - as mortal as the rest of us.

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Kate Michael Shines at Miss DC USA!

All I can say is what a GREAT Thanksgiving weekend I had! Personally, it really could not have gone better... Then again, what could be better than watching my friend, Kate Michael, compete in a beauty pageant? Not too many things.

A little after 1 p.m. on Saturday, I made my way from my hotel to the Foggy Bottom Metro station en route to the Federal Triangle station. A short walk up Pennsylvania Avenue took me to my destination at the JW Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom where the 2008 Miss DC USA and Miss Teen DC USA pageant was to take place. I arrived a little after 1:30 p.m. At first I didn't see anyone I really knew, but that soon would change as Kate's parents and brother came down from their hotel room - they were very smart to stay at the same hotel as where the pageant was being held. Kate's Mom gave me a wave and I was soon chatting away with them.

The doors to the Grand Ballroom opened just before the scheduled 2 p.m. start time and we found some seats in the second row on the right side of the stage. Kate's boyfriend, Bill Dean, soon joined us and then we waited... and waited. This turned out to be the theme for the day... A little after 2:30 p.m. the preliminary portion of the pageant started... Kate looked beautiful as always in her swimsuit and self-designed evening gown... I soon would find the lighting was not nearly as good as at the Miss DC (America) pageant four months ago. Also, microphones and balloons were in the way practically every shot it seemed, so getting good pictures would prove to be a HUGE challenge all afternoon and evening...


Over 20 girls were competing for the Miss DC crown along with Kate, while six girls were competing for the Teen crown. The prelimaries lasted only an hour and a half, so by 4 p.m. we were all outside the ballroom making plans for the finals, and also making sure we would have enough seats for "Team Kate."

Originally, I had thought about heading back to my hotel between the prelims and the finals and posting some pictures from the event, but that didn't end up happening. Instead, I ended up getting to hang out with Kate and her family. Not at all surprisingly, that was a lot of fun - we ended up in the food court area of the hotel, chatting about just about everything you could think of and, of course, eating.

Around 5:30 p.m., we made our way back down to the area in front of the ballroom. We chatted some more and then another of Kate's biggest fans made his way - photographer Joe Whiteko from the Pageant.com website! Though I had never met Joe before, I was very familiar with his outstanding work. Kate had to make her way backstage and her parents had to change into their night attire, so left me and Joe to talk. It was fun getting to talk about some of his work, most especially the photo shoot and the props for the outstanding Kate's New Clout article he did earlier this year.

By 6:30, we were all back in line and ready for the finals. Joe was there with us, waiting to get his photographer's seat. In the meantime, 2006 Miss Virginia (America), Adrianna Sgarlata - Kate's friend and travel companion for the 2007 Miss America pageant - came over to Kate's family and reacquantied herself. Adriana was very gracious and friendly. Joe then got his credential and front-row seat. The doors opened for the rest of us about 15 minutes later. Kate's family and I quickly grabbed seats in a couple of rows just behind the judges in front of the stage... Bill and several of Kate's other friends would be arriving there right around 7 p.m...

The finals began a little before 7:30 p.m. Although we were all pretty certain Kate would make the final 10, we didn't want to just assume anything. We were all relieved when Kate's name was called for the final 10, and again when she had made the final five.

A little before 9:30 p.m., the finalists finished up with the question of why each of them should be the new Miss DC USA. Quite honestly, I really thought Kate won the pageant with her answer as it was easily the best, and most original one. The other four contestants all gave pretty similiar, almost rehearsed answers, mostly talking about how they deserved to be the winner based on the person that they were, not really elaborating on what they would do as Miss DC USA. Kate talked about making DC a "sexy, sophisticated city" and what she would do to make it just that.

So then we waited for the judges final decisions... we were all pretty nervous at that point, and as the first two names were called, we collectively breathed sighs of relief. We were now down to just three finalists. And then it happened - Kate's name got called. Bill and I especially were both a little shocked - we REALLY thought Kate had it won, but it just wasn't meant to be. Still, 2nd runner-up at the Miss DC USA pageant - in a completely new format and system - is something to be VERY proud of. Kate did her absolute best and looked simply incredible - that's all we could ask for.


After the pageant, I reacquainted with 1988 Miss DC (America), Tricia Morrin-Lloyd, who was quick to put things in perspective. Kate will always be number one in our eyes, and that's all that really matters... She still is Miss District of Columbia 2006, and got to be in the Miss America pageant this year. How many people can say that???

I was actually planning on heading to my hotel after it was all over, but instead Kate invited me up to spend some time celebrating with Bill and her friends Tony, Mike and his girlfriend Colleen. Mike is better known to those in DC as Michael Kosmides, the owner of the very hip and happening Play Lounge. I had a fun time with them, telling stories, watching football and, of course, having some drinks.

A little before midnight, it was time for all of us to go - Colleen offered me some "must see" places and things for future trips to DC... we said our goodbyes, and then I headed back to my hotel. It was just a terrific and priceless experience getting to hang out at the pageant and spend time with Kate's family and friends... I very look forward to my next trip out to DC, whenever that may be.

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