MANNY - WHY? WHY? WHY?

Well in case you haven't heard, Manny Ramirez of the L.A. Dodgers has been suspended by the league for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance. What is the matter with all of these players? Do the benefits of millions of dollars in salary and the shattering of long standing baseball records entice players to use these banned substances? Well I guess it does as so many players have been caught cheating. What is interesting is that most of the top name players in the game are getting caught so it makes you wonder about all of the other, younger players looking to establish a name for themselves.

I feel Manny should come clean and explain what he did and why he did it! Instead he has a statement issued that was no doubt written by an agent or publicist or who knows who. Manny, Manny, Manny..........I was looking forward to going to Dodger Stadium this year, buying me a Manny wig and sitting in the Mannywood section of the stadium.

Now? I just don't know........I am deeply disappointed in you Manny.

REGGAE PICK OF THE WEEK - WHAT'S UP?

Some of you may have noticed that it's been a while since my last Reggae Pick Of The Week. All I can tell my many readers is to be patient as a review will be coming shortly. In the meantime I felt a compelling need to post this pic of Rasta Homer. HAHA!

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - THE TEMPTATIONS

When I was a young teenager my favorite group was without a doubt, The Temptations. I thought the Temptations were the coolest thing on earth with their dance steps, fancy threads, and five part harmony. The Temps were just too cool! So because of this I am picking the DVD titled: The Temptations Definitive Performances 1965 - 1972 (see photo) as my DVD Pick Of The Week. This is a great DVD that contains the following performances:

1. The Way You Do The Things You Do (1965)

2. My Girl (1966)

3. My Baby (1965)

4. Don’t Look Back (1965)

5. Get Ready (1966)

6. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg (1967)

7. I Know I’m Losing You (1967)

8. Sorry Is A Sorry Word (1967)

9. You’re My Everything (1967)

10. I Wish It Would Rain – (1968)

11. Cloud Nine (1969)

12. Runaway Child, Running Wild (1969)

13. I Can’t Get Next To You (1969)

14. Ball Of Confusion (1970)

15. Just My Imagination (1971)

16. Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (1972)

One of the great things on this DVD is that you can listen to 15 of these songs acapella with no music backing track at all! Here you can just sit back and enjoy the true singing and harmony of this great vocal group! Here are The Temptations singing their hit I Can't Get Next To you! Dig it!

GOOFBALLS

I don't know what it is but for some reason I get a kick out of these two really goofy guys from the Carl's Jr. Milkshake commercial. Check it out! HAHA!

LAKERS VS ROCKETS - GAME 2 - LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

Well in Game 2 of the Lakers playoff series with Houston a lot of things occurred. There were several technical fouls called and two players were ejected (Fisher and Artest) from the game. The Houston coach also sent one of his players to the locker room for arguing with the coach. I look for things to heat up as the Lakers head to Houston for the next two games. I am hoping that Laker Derek Fisher is not suspended for popping Scola (see photo) but I think he will be. So now the Lakers who were criticized and called soft come out with some fire and win game 2. I look forward to the rest of this series. It should be real interesting!

YARD WORK

Because I have unlimited time on my hands (still) I have been spending a lot of time working in my yard. I have been trimming and cutting and planting a variety of things. What's bothersome is how I can work for hours and hours in the yard, fill up a jumbo size container with yard clippings and it still looks like I didn't do anything when you look at the yard. Very frustrating! After I have spent several hours working in the yard I am then dead to the world (see photo) for the rest of the day. All I can say is yard work is hard work and is definitely not my favorite pastime!

MY VERY FIRST JOB -THE PASADENA STAR NEWS

I had my very first job when I was in the 6th grade. I think that would make me about 12 years old. Now I don't know if there were any child labor laws at that time but all I can tell you is there should have been! What was this job you ask? Why I was delivering newspapers for the Pasadena Star News on my Stingray bicycle.
I'm not sure how I got into this job but it was either because my older brother started doing it and I thought I would make some money or it was because my Mom worked at the Orange Julius right in front of the newspaper drop off spot. Either way, it was a job that was definitely no fun at all!
Nowadays your paper is delivered by people in cars and you get a bill in the mail. Back when I delivered the paper you had to do the following:

1. Stuff the newspaper with any advertisements
2. Fold the newspapers and secure with rubber bands
3. Load up the newspapers on the handlebars of your bike
4. And off you went.........pedaling away on your route to deliver all of your papers to your customers.

You may ask that this job doesn't seem so bad. What is SAXOMAN complaining about? Well I can tell you that the Sunday paper was pretty thick and heavy and trying to carry all of that on your handlebars was a real challenge. I remember tipping over and all my papers falling out. No fun at all! Occasionally it would rain as well and there I was pedaling my bicycle in the rain. I remember throwing a heavy Sunday paper to an upstairs apartment only to see the rubber band break in mid-flight and the paper flying everywhere. I remember throwing the paper on someones porch and hearing the breaking of glass milk bottles or throwing the paper only to see it land on the roof of the house but wait, there's more!

Collecting? There was no mailing of bills back then! We had to knock on the doors and do the collecting as well. Several people would tell you that they didn't have the money or come back on Friday or any number of excuses. If you didn't collect the money from them (which happened several times!) our boss would deduct what they owed from our pay! What? Are you kidding me? Could he do that? Well all I can tell you that this is what he did. I don't know how long I stuck it out and did this horrible job but I can guarantee you I made absolutely no money doing this job! So there you go, the story of my very first job.

LAKERS VS ROCKETS - GAME 1

OK, after having received several e-mails, phone calls and verbal abuse from even my own wife on the Lakers loss last night I felt compelled to address this subject.
Yes, my beloved Purple & Gold lost last night but I have several theories about all of this that I'm sure my fellow Laker fans will agree with.
1. Kobe had a sore throat and the chills. This is why he played so bad plain and simple. His off game had nothing to do with Ron Artest. Hopefully its not the swine flu or anything serious.
2. My Lakers had a whole week off so they were very rusty and because of this played a sloppy game.
3. And finally..........I feel that Yao Ming was genetically created in a test tube and has an unfair advantage. I think Yao should be banned from the league. I mean come on, when have you ever seen a Chinese person that is 7' 6" tall? Just look at Yao's big square Frankenstein head (see photo) and you can see what I'm talking about. There, I said it but I know you all had the same thoughts as me on this subject. It's kind of like the steroid pumped Russian boxer in Rocky IV and we all know that Rocky prevailed just as my Lakers will.
P.S. I see where Sasha cracked Shane Battier's head (see photo). Good man Sasha!
Anyway, if you think this is all sour grapes then you are absolutely right! I am not happy with the Lakers loss and I look for them to bounce back in game 2. I believe....oh yes, I still believe!

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN

This weeks dvd pick of the week is The One Armed Swordsman starring my man, Jimmy Wang Yu. This is classic 1967 swordplay from the Shaw Brothers studio and is of course a must see (that's why it's my pick of the week). This classic movie spawned two additional sequels (Return of The One Armed Swordsman and The New One Armed Swordsman) and yes, of course I have all of them. Jimmy Wang Yu is one of my favorite Shaw Brothers actors and put out many other fine films including: The Assassin, The Chinese Boxer, Magnificent Trio, Golden Swallow, The Sword of Swords and many, many more. You can even rent this one from your local video store so what are you waiting for? Go check it out! Still not convinced? Check out the trailer for this fine film. Enjoy!

LAKER OR "FAKER" FANS

I know a lot of people that call themselves Laker fans but they are really not true die hard Laker fans (like me). These people I commonly refer to as "Faker fans" because they don't watch the games all season long (like I do), don't know who all the players are (like I do) and didn't even follow the team when they weren't winning. But now? Well suddenly it's playoff time and all these Faker fans are driving around town with their Laker flags (see photo) proudly flying on their cars. For all you so called Laker/Faker fans, don't just hop on the band wagon when it's playoff time but stick with your team through the good and the bad (like me!). Sorry, I just had to vent after seeing so many Laker flags on cars around town this past week. GO LAKERS!