Jams Run Free

Back to work today and it was not easy. Just the whole "first day back from vacation" drag. It was hard just getting out of bed this morning. Whatevah.

So as I was writing in this space on Saturday about going out for a long run, it started raining pretty hard out, so I bagged the run and went to the gym instead. Yesterday, I headed out at noon despite the possibility of rain and managed to finish 15 miles with nary a drop. It was about 75 out and cloudy with a slight breeze the whole time; you won't find much better running conditions this time of year in New England.

Speaking of running, the River to Sea Relay is coming up quick...a week from Saturday. As I've mentioned before, this is a 14-stage, 92-mile relay for seven-person teams that starts in Milford, NJ, and ends in seaside Manasquan, NJ. Each of us will run two of the legs, which vary in distance and difficulty. Each team has two support vehicles. There are 100 teams entered in the event this year. I just got a pile of information on the route and the rules of the race, so I need to boil all that stuff down and get everyone on the team on the same page before we head down there. Should be insane in the membrane, but in a good way.

Step aside, sir:

• While I was down in Jersey last week, I caught some of the World Series of Darts on the TV in the hotel gym. ESPN carried the event, which was held at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. The "athletes" walked in with models on their arms and the announcers got overly excited like they would at any pseudo-sporting event. It was hilarious. ESPN won't air NHL games, but they're all over this? WTF?
• Poor Dick Hatch. He won the first Survivor for being a master tactician, but he has proven himself a serial dumbass for just about everything he's done since. A judge just sentenced him to a year in jail for not paying taxes on his $1 million winnings. Did he think nobody would notice?
• PBS Kids last year rebranded itself as PBS Kids Sprout, airing clips of its kids' shows such as "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and "Dragon Tales" and introducing perky hosts such as Melanie Martinez. Well, it turns out Melanie was a little too perky before she came to PBS Kids, appearing in a series of sex spoof videos, and now she's been fired by PBS. Here's the official statement from the network. The videos were done several years ago for a radio station, spoofing public service announcements urging teens to preserve their virginity; you can watch one here (no nudity, but not safe for work; pretty funny, though). Apparently she found out that it had been posted online and alerted the network, which promptly canned her. PBS officials say Melanie's videos "undermine her character's credibility with our audience," but really, are two-year-olds out there searching Google Video? And as some online have noted, PBS doesn't seem to have a problem with George Carlin and Alec Baldwin narrating episodes of "Thomas the Tank Engine," and they've been in, gosh, R-rated movies! What a bunch of reactionary pinheads.
• Sad to hear Tina Fey is leaving Saturday Night Live, but I have high hopes for her new NBC primetime show, 30 Rock. She'll be writing, producing, and starring in the show, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at a late-night comedy show. Wonder where she'll get her ideas from?
• Found out about some messed-up shiznitt going on at the Santa Barbara (CA) News-Press from a friend of mine who works there. Apparently, several editors have resigned in recent weeks, claiming the paper's owner pushed for favorable coverage for friends and refused to publish certain articles, among other offenses. It has caused quite the controversy in the community. My friend has been looking for a new job for a while, and now I understand why. I worked for some crappy editors in my days in community journalism (as well as some pretty great ones), but I can honestly say I never experienced this level of craptitude. Newspapers have enough working against them these days without resorting to this BS.