Steak 38 at 3700 Brigantine Blvd in Brigantine, is having a fundraiser for their bartender (and former local 54 official) James “Humphrey” Allen on Monday, April 2nd in the bar from 7pm to 11pm. He suffered a stroke last week. All bar proceeds will go to Humphry. For additional info on the event call 609 266-4400.
Comedians who make popular, funny movies always seem to reach a point where they want to do something with more depth. It is part of growing up and being an adult, even if their audience consists of teenage boys and twenty-something party dudes.
Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey and Chris Rock have all tried a change of pace the last few weeks. Sandler has the toughest transition to make. He is the ultimate “boys night out” star, a man who has done a lot of movies that make the female population recoil in horror, like Little Nicky, Anger Management and Happy Gilmore.
It may be a cruel April Fool’s joke, but hopefully not. Donald Trump, who has been in the news of late in connection to the potential selling off of his Atlantic City casino empire, will be featured in an upcoming WWE wrestling event — that’s right, wrestling event— on April 1. Wrestlemania 23 — that’s right, 23 — to be broadcast live on Pay-Per-View Sunday, April 1, will apparently include the Battle of the Billionaires featuring The Donald squaring off against legendary wrestling impresario Vince McMahon. Unfortunately, wrestlers have been picked to represent the two in the ring (Bobby Lashley for Trump, Umaga for McMahon). However, the losing billionaire of the match is to have his head shaved — that’s right, head shaved — by the winner. Please, please win Mr. Umaga.
Watching the A-10 tournament live made me appreciate the atmosphere created when you have college students cheering for their teams, with pep bands, cheerleaders and mascots keeping the fans riled up and rooting hard. Having felt that excitement made me feel especially sad that with all the fun and great basketball generated by the NCAA tournament, tragedy has struck. Jason Ray, the 21-year-old student who was Rameses, the University of North Carolina’s ram mascot, has died from injuries sustained after being stuck by a car three days ago in Ft. Lee, N.J. The mascots are part of the atmosphere on the court and my heart goes out to the students, players and fans from North Carolina who now have more than a lost basketball game to mourn over.
Cinderella stories are fun during the excitement of March Madness, but this year’s tournament has showed us that the best basketball takes place when the favorites keep winning. That was some amazing basketball that took place this week as the Elite 8 was winnowed down to the Final Four. My top pick on three of my five brackets, Georgetown, had the most amazing victory. UNC had the game won when they went on one of the coldest streaks a major program has ever had, making only 2 of their last 24 shots. Georgetown was partly responsible for their lack of success with their defense, but a lot of it was also North Carolina losing their poise and launching quick, ill-advised shots, handing Georgetown the comeback opportunity. And damn, they did take it.
With props to my pal and Atlantic City Weekly colleague Chuck Betson, the Gators are looking good too. Their game with UCLA is going to be amazing. Chuck, no more betting against the Gators. I’m picking them to beat UCLA for a second year in a row, although this game will be much closer than last year’s championship blowout. UCLA plays some serious defense. Even though UCLA allowed Kansas a lot of inside looks, they were often contested looks, and the Jayhawks couldn’t convert. I had Kansas winning in several of my brackets.
At least my CBS Bracket challenge has the Final Four intact. Again with apologies to Gator grad Betson, after seeing that game vs. UNC, I’m picking Georgetown to defeat Ohio State, then beat Florida for the national championship. Greg Olden might be the best big man in the country, but his freshmen mistakes lead to too many fouls and too much time on the pine. Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert, with the help of Jeff Green, will keep him in check in the final.
March Madness has lived up the hype. It always does. Check out this great column by my favorite basketball scribe Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News.
It can be a scary thing when a doctor looks you in the eye and tells you that you have Type 2 diabetes. Four years ago, I was given that news. Naturally I was upset and scared, but I learned all I could about the disease, got my diabetes under control and have kept it under control.
Pitcher David Wells of the San Diego Padres recently learned he has diabetes. He is in the process of learning what that means. However, in an interview, a quote credited to him made me wonder if his doctors are explaining the disease properly.
A story in the San Diego Union Tribute quoted Wells as saying, “This is a major lifestyle change. I don’t want this going to Type 1 diabetes.”
Let’s hope his doctor explained to him the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 is adult onset diabetes and that Type 1 is juvenile diabetes. Wells was probably referring to the idea that right now his diabetes is being treated with pills, exercise and dietary changes, not insulin. Type 2 is very different from Type 1. Some Type 2 diabetics need insulin; some don’t. I’ve found the Diabetes Self-Management website very helpful with updated info on the disease.
I am annoyed at CBS for their choice of games for March Madness coverage.
The Pitt-UCLA game was relatively close, but it was ugly basketball. Meanwhile, Ohio State, down 20 points to Tennessee, was staging an incredible comeback. All I got to see was the score changing in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I was concentrating on that more than the shots cutting to Bill Walton in the stands as UCLA took command of their game as expected. I thought Tennessee would be a tough match-up for Ohio St. and they were. Finally, I was able to see the last four minutes of a remarkable game when the UCLA-Pitt slugfest was over and CBS switched to the Ohio-Tenn. showdown.
Please CBS, switch to the most compelling game tonight, or at least cut back and forth more often.
I thought I had done pretty well with my brackets. I picked a couple of upsets (VCU over Duke; Winthrop beating Notre Dame) but I underestimated Tennessee. I also went with my heart and had 1-10 champ George Washington winning two games. Silly me, but my niece is going to school at GW next year. I also knew that the Xavier would give Ohio State a tough battle. The X-men had the win, but let Ohio State tie it by not fouling with a three-point lead. Anyway, my final total in Week One was 36-12. Not bad but in checking on-line I saw I was pretty pathetic compared to a dude that went 45-3. At least my final four are still in play: Oregon, Kansas, Georgetown and Ohio State.
The major disappointment was Texas losing to USC and eliminating Kevin Durant.
After seeing George Washington play such great defense here in AC at the A-10 tournament while winning it, it was a shock that they were ousted by Vanderbilt in the worst Day 1 blow-out, 77-44. What happened? Who knows, because we didn’t actually get to see the game. GW had the “dinner game,” the game that gets no coverage because CBS takes its dinner break and hands off to local and national news.
Perhaps it was for the best. Xavier, on the other hand, came from behind to beat BYU in a thrilling 79-77 game of which we got to see about four minutes. Four minutes of Drew Lavender was enough, however. He bested Austin Ainge, as daddy Danny Ainge looked on. As a Sixers fan, I still take great satisfaction in seeing an Ainge get beat.
The death of Richard Jeni was a shock. He took his own life, and according to a statement by his family on his Website, he was diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia.
Over the years I had a chance to interview him several times for stories, the last in 2005. As with most comedians, he was intense and deadly serious when talking about his career.
I always liked his intelligent style of humor. While doing an interview is not like talking with somebody you really know, because that person is selling himself and is therefore on his best behavior, some nuggets of truth can be found in the answers.
Here, for example, is what Jeni said about what he does to relax when he’s not working:
I don’t go out a lot at all. I don’t go out after the show to bars, and during the day I do a lot of this [interviews]. It’s ironic. Most people who become comedians do so because they don’t really work well and play well with others. They are loners and a little quirky most of them. Then if you are successful, you wind up running a corporation with managers, lawyers, agents and a publicity department. To keep the whole Richard Jeni circus going you are on the phone all day.
He was a talented man who was struggling with a serious illness, and my heart goes out to his family. Here’s a link to my 2005 interview with Jeni.