From the Drudge Report: Donald Trump says he knows why his version of "The Apprentice" is hurting in the ratings this year: Martha Stewart. Yeah, it COULD be that Donald, but you're wrong. In week 2 of what has been traditionally a great series on business etiquette and succeeding in the workplace, you chose to play a rather tasteless game. It made no sense to fire a clear leader, a fellow who had a legitimate shot to win your little game because he didn't bring back the guy you WANTED to fire to the boardroom. Instead, you chose to keep a CLEARLY disruptive figure in the game. For ratings? Who knows. This foolish move didn't keep me from tuning in, but The Apprentice is no longer a series I'm too concerned with missing.

After watching the rematches tonight, I'm MUCH less enthused about the new season of The Contender on ESPN. It was painfully obvious the game was rigged, particularly in the last 2 bouts. Anthony Bonsante clearly defeated Jesse Brinkley, yet the judges ruled Brinkley had won unanimously. In the championship rematch, a much better trained and prepared Peter Manfredo Jr. took Sergio Mora apart, yet Mora was the beneficiary of a corrupt split decision. Are these bouts pre-decided by the producers? I hope they can find a way to make this right, as I'd looked forward to the second season with MUCH excitement prior to tonight.

What is there not to love? It's theeeeee perfect time to chill on the porch with a cigar. There's always a slight breeze, it's never really too hot or cold, the leaves are turning cool colors, and FOOTBALLLLLLL! For those who haven't tried them, I'd like to once again suggest Acid brand cigars. Drew Estate doesn't make a bad cigar, but in my opinion these are the best of the lot. They're aromatic (NOT flavored), and actually smell pretty nice when you smoke them. The tobacco is top quality, and they're rolled to perfect. Your orders for the evening are to go get a Def Sea Ltd cigar, mix up a scotch and soda (preferably Dewars), and enjoy the cool evening.

It's a fact! I've got to slow down the food train chugging on down my throat every day. A couple of years ago I lost 60 lbs, and I'll probably be losing about that same amount to get to where I want to be. It's all about discipline, and I'm sure I have some of that somewhere. I've just gotta remember where I put it! I had a LOT of beer over the weekend, which helped numb the OSU loss a little bit. At least Moeller and the Titans won. All I gotta say is, USC/ND in ONE WEEK. GO IRISH!

That's the word of the day following the LaSalle 17 Moeller 14 game. GUH. I think the root of the problem for Big Moe is their sophomore quarterback. I'm sure he's a good kid and very talented, it's just that he's just too young and inexperienced. Instead of putting him at QB for the injured starter who started the season as a reserve, why not switch back to your original starter, currently playing WR? SHEESH. The fella started out as the 3rd string QB and now he's starting in the GCL opener and biggest game of the year so far? Ah well. I feel better now. Of course, it's always easier to be a sideline quarterback, so to speak. C'mon Coach Crable, being a Notre Dame grad with NFL experience I expect more of you! So... that was how the weekend started, and things deteriorated from there. Well, not completely. UND beat the snot out of Purdue which brought some joy into my life for a small period of time. That is, until the Colts came into Tennessee and pummeled the Titans up and down the field for 60 mins. It didn't help that I had picked up the Titans defense in my fantasy league for this week. That on its face was probably not a very smart move, but my starting D was out, and I figured it was at Tennessee. What started out as a beautiful season for football has grown kind of ugly. Hopefully my boys on all squads, UND, Moeller, OSU, and Tennessee will buck up and play like champions in the long run.

...is the word of the day for me. I was sitting in my basement fun bunker listening to 92.5, and all of the classic rock memories it brought to me from college. I'm not THAT old, mind you, I was just heavily into Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who, and many other classic rock groups during that period of my life. Once... or maybe twice... or more, my buddy Brady and I spent an entire night drinking whiskey and listening to Led Zeppelin until we could drink/listen no more. Another time, my buddy Mike and I killed a case of Rainier while playing Madden football on the Super Nintendo. Why is drinking so much fun when you're 18? It was a time when I was either wearing bellbottoms and butterfly collars, or all black with a turtleneck all beatnik style. Road trips to Purdue, Windsor, and Cleveland with no notice were commonplace. I wrote angst-ridden "poetry" which I recited to my girlfriend while we sat in a coffee shop. Late night visits to Kaldis, The Southern Belle, and Walnut Hills Cafe with Chris and pals. Getting stoned out of my gourd and spending entire nights in computer labs writing papers and chatting on old school bulletin board systems. Absolut Peppar and coke, repeatedly. In a gadda da vida baby. I saw many shows as well. Nirvana, Elton John, Live, PJ Harvey, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, a couple of Lollapaloozas ('94 and '95), REM, Page/Plant, and I'm sure many others I can't recall at this time. Many good times were had. I was living. A few names came to mind from that era. I'll toss some names in here in hopes that they'll notice and maybe drop me a line. These are people I've mostly lost contact with, but would most definitely love to hear from again. Chris Lewis, Mike Wasco, Lori Rentham, Mark Evener, Mike Samuels, Paul Niedermeier, Pat McWhorter, Dwight Fry, Jay Mueller, Heather (Hanna) Rhoades, Carolina, Mara, Melissa Estelle, Paul Combs, Tamber Boeddicker, Rachel Wren, Elana Shenton, Wendy Donald, Sherri Brown, John Jones, and many many more who I will list later. Right now I'm so tired I can't even think straight. Also, to Matt Burris *raises glass* because he fell in with the wrong crowd and could not be here today. May he rest in peace, and may he be looking down helping me to be less weak.