Congrats to my boy Tony Stewart on his win in Indy today. What a thrilling race to watch those last 18 laps! Initially almost lost in the broadcast was Tony radioing to his crew while chasing Kevin Harvick, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty." Phenomenal confidence or arrogance depending on your view. I choose the former. And the clinching scene from inside the car as Tony takes his hands off the wheel at 200 mph to get a drink of water from the bottle in the car! It was funny to hear former driver Rusty Wallace and current driver Dale Jarrett go on about never being that comfortable behind the wheel in a race in their lives.

I'm sure that papers and magazines tomorrow and next week will be chastising Tony for casual haughtiness or chutzpa or some other nonsense. I'm reminded of Michael Jordan shooting free throws during a game with his eyes closed, just to stick it to an opposing player.

Perhaps because I'm a Stewart fan, I like it. If it had been Jimmie Johnson I'd probably being giving my TV the finger. But isn't that what makes it fun to be a fan?

Don't forget that when Tony won his last championship he started the second half of the season with something like five wins in a row. Go Tony!

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A word about the race broadcast. ESPN did a decent job. Rusty Wallace is more at home doing NASCAR than he was doing the IndyCar stuff. I don't even know who some of those other guys were, but they weren't too bad. I did like the virtual engine with animation of several breakdowns, pretty cool. Spotty track coverage of the accidents. ABC (who owns ESPN) has covered the Indy 500 more than a couple of times, they should have known where to place cameras in advance and had a director/video editor who could have been a little more "Johnny on the spot" with their coverages. They could toss Brent Musberger, his Jim McKay thing is overdone. And someone tell Suzie Kolber to watch a few more races to get a better feel for what she is covering.

Overall a "B"

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Rays beat the Sox to avoid the sweep today. I'm always torn when these two teams meet as the Sox are my life-long favorite team, and naturally the Rays are my hometown team. Pity the Rays cannot muster the same full-bore effort every game that they show when Boston comes to town. They'd have a much better record.

Britney, Britney, Britney

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha . . . oops, sorry about that. I got carried away.

This latest mess with Lindsay Lohan is really something. Setting aside everything that may or may not have happened -- though I do love the "Wait, these aren't my pants!" defense, there is a bigger issue at stake here. And that is -- what is wrong with Lindsay Lohan?

Here's my thing -- she's an addict. I don't believe she is addicted to a specific drug or alcohol, I believe she is addicted to getting high or stoned or blasted or whatever you want to call it. I'm sure there is a clinical name for it and I won't insult your intellegence by pretending to know what it is. But I am certain of my belief. And here's why.

I've seen addiction up close and personal. Way more up close than I ever want to again in this lifetime. And what I've found is that addicts have an arrogance to them. We like to portray addicts as these fragile, pathetic creatures desperately reaching out for salvation. And that perception only exists to please our psyches, we need to feel superior, we need to feel needed, it makes us feel good to save someone, especially from themselves.

But true addicts don't believe they have a problem. They have a glint to them. An aura of arrogance that says that they don't have a problem, they can quit whenever they like. Oh sure, they say, there are others with "real" problems, but not them. They are in complete control. And as such, they have the best of both worlds. They live in our mundane world with all its rules, and they can escape at will to a more exciting world, with sensations and experiences the ordinary among us will never know.

Remember in high school, when your friends first started experimenting with drugs and alcohol? Remember how they felt all superior to the "straights?" They had that knowing look about them. That sense that they were onto something special that the rest were clueless about. That's the look I'm talking about.

And I see it in Lindsay. In the more private images of her. In what pass for unguarded moments, she has that sort of smug glimmer in her eye that I've seen so many times before. Granted this is a pretty superficial diagnosis. Laughable, really. But it's what I think.

And here's my solution -- she needs to find her version of JLo's Marc Anthony. A guy who loves her truely, madly, deeply. That will step into her life and say, "Okay, no more of this. No more of that. Here's what you won't wear. Here's where you won't go. Here's who you won't hang out with." And so on. Normally, I'm not one for this type of oversight in a person's life, but this girl simply can't run her own life. And being locked up in an institution as I heard one doctor suggest, is too severe. And look at the turn around in Jennifer Lopez after she married Anthony. She is now popping up on all the "Most Beautiful" lists again, she's getting some nice critical acclaim and more. Remember, just a few years ago, she was a bisquit away from serious trouble as she hung with all those thug rappers trying to look all down and street and all.

Here's another idea that just came to me. That sound in the background is me patting myself on the back. Perhaps a mentor of some type would help. Someone who's been there, done that, you know?

How about Drew Barrymore?

She was a full tilt boogie alcoholic at 12 years old. In full blown alcohol and drug rehab at 13. At the time, there were those who didn't think she'd make her sixteenth birthday. Look at how she's remade herself. No one will confuse her with Merrill Streep (sp?), but she's a servicable actor. And an excellent business woman with a solid production company and good instincts for projects -- you know, that little "Charlie's Angels" movie? Made a few bucks I think. This is someone who grew up in the industry with a f**ked up family and experienced all the turmoil that could come from it. It might help for Lindsay to have someone to speak to that understands what she's going through, who's fought the same demons.

It would be nice to see a good resolution to all of this for her.

Now Britney, that's a whole different thing. I alluded to this before, but I'll just say it out loud here -- she's just Lousiana white trash! I'm sorry, but it's true. They used to have a saying way back when, someone in the noblesse, in their Thurston Howell III accent would say, "Breeding will out." Yup, you can take the girl out of the trailer park but you can't take the trailer park out of the girl.

Having said all that -- I don't buy this whole scenario with OK Magazine. Brit may be many things, but I don't think she is grotesquely stupid. No one in their right mind wipes grease on a $4000 dress or cleans up puppy mess with another designer gown. Plus there's OK's whole hand-wringing over the photos. First they're concerned about ruining Brit's career. Then after bowing to their journalistic integrity . . .

. . . hang on a sec . . .

. . . okay, sorry about that. I fell off the chair laughing after that OK Magazine - journalistic integrity line. Ooh, my sides still hurt. Anyway, my thinking here is that this whole story was a set up. Brit gets to punk the tabloids and blogs that hyper-analyze everything she does, and OK gets a massive sales day they desperately need.

Bottom line, Britney's been shown to be a less than average talent. She's this generation's Paula Abdul - "for a singer, she's a good dancer." Her best bet would be to hook up with Timbaland for her next CD, tone down her image a bit, and toss that stupid weave. I mean who believes that's her hair anyway? What's the point?! Just let it grow back naturally.

Let's get back to worrying about serious stuff again. You know, like how are my Sox doing?

Michael Vick is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Do I think he is innocent? Hell no! If you follow sports closely, this story has been percolating for some time. The main stream media has only just now caught on to it. Vick's casual dismissal in the early reporting of these suspicions further my belief that he simply doesn't believe this is a serious affair. Only now that PETA and major news outlets have become involved, do I believe that he realizes the seriousness of the allegations.

A couple of thoughts --

I love it when either those who report the story or Vick's apologists mention that dogfighting is a "southern" thing. I'm from the south. I don't like this stuff and I don't know anyone who does. Writers from up north tend to look at everyone below the Mason-Dixon line as inbred hicks. We're not. This is a sick, twisted bloodsport. It's not regional, it's psychopathic.

That the commissioner of football hasn't immediately suspended Michael Vick is quite telling. Vick has showcased an escalating series of incidents of bad behavior that have culminated in these shocking allegations. Goodell has pulled the trigger on other players who had not been convicted of a crime, but had embarrassed the league. That seems to be the case here. What is he waiting for? Perhaps it is because Vick is a super-high profile player. If that's the case, how hypocritical is the commissioner's policy?

With the non-stop coverage of this horrific crime, could we plese stop the never ending videos of the dogfights? I don't think we need full-screen, hi-def images of these brutal fights to get the point across. I don't think there are too many people left in this country who watch TV that haven't seen these shocking images. So can we give them a rest? I'm getting tired of having to block the screen with my hand while listening to the reports.

As I mentioned above, Vick's casual dismissal of these allegations and the response of other players speaks volumes. These guys simply don't see this a viciously illegal crime. To them it's like shooting dice in an alley -- no big deal. The fact that these men can show such callous disregard for the life of another living creature demonstrates an underlying sociopathic tendancy that is a bit frightening. This isn't like the slaughter of cows or pigs or fish for food. This is taking your son or daughter's pet out into the yard and killing it for pleasure. Is it any wonder these guys get into fights and shootings and rapes on an increasing basis?

Athletics in its purest form is sublime. Watching the things a motivated, trained person can do with their body can be thrilling beyond words. But playing sports for profit is not a right. It is not a constitutional right. These athletes make obscene amounts of money. They are adored and lionized by legions of fans. Their lives can become legend and they can become more well known than historical figures of substantially more significance. They should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us. My neighbor's kid isn't going to be putting posters of me on his wall and trying to model his life after mine. But somewhere, someone's child has a Michael Vick poster on his wall. And that kid dreams of being Michael Vick. All too often we hear these athletes whine about the pressure that is on them to be perfect. Well guess what? You asked for it. You knew what the upside to being great at your job was. Well, there is some cost associated with the wealth and fame, it's called responsibility. So be a man and deal with it with some class and honor. Otherwise shut up and get out. No one owes you anything.

And as for Michael Vick -- if you are innocent, I hope it is proven so and wish you a happy and successful career. But it you are guilty of these heinous crimes, then you should be punished to the extent the law allows -- without regard to your celebrity status.

. . . unless it that cost is a couple of hours of sleep!

What a bunch of pantywaists! All that noise about how Sen. Reid was going to "keep 'em up" all night in order to get his "surrender" vote passed. This was the most important piece of legislation ever, if you believed the hype. And what? A few hours into mid-morning and the dems call it quits. Have to rush home to their comfy beds. Pathetic! And this is the resolve we ordinary citizens are supposed to admire? These soft, pampered, lived their entire lives on the public dole bureaucrats couldn't hang in there for one evening to stop this war they say is destroying this country and the lives of our young soldiers? Pitiful!

What has become of the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy?! These guys are all talk and no action. Or spine. Can you see the terrorists and Islamofascists laughing their butts off when this gets on Al Jazeera(sp?) today? This is the America they're supposed to be afraid of? This will be fodder for their campaigns for months to come -- the lazy and weak Americans who can't stay up and fight for what they believe in.

It doesn't make me ashamed to be an American, just ashamed to be stuck with these losers in the capital.

Oh and the topper -- Democratic leaders refuse to meet with Vets for Freedom, a non-partisan group of veterans of the Afghan and Iraq wars that are pushing for congress to give the "surge" a chance to work. Yep, I guess the dems ARE concerned about out soldiers, they just don't want to hear anything "real" soldiers have to say.