Deranged is more like it.

What is wrong with Mandy Patinkin? Two seasons into one of the most surprising hits on TV, and he bolts citing the dreaded "creative differences." This is the same nonsense he pulled when he was on "Chicago Hope." Look, I like the guy, but he's not Lawrence Oliver, you know? Fifty years from now, no young actor is going to state he wants to be the next "Patinkin." Unless he has a penchant for career suicide. I'm sure the producers will find another quirky, jittery guy to fill that role in the show, and Mandy will be back doing more "Crestor" commercials and singing off broadway.

Hey, if you don't need the money, what the heck. You know?

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Nice weekend in sports, sort of. Besides the Jankies win and my Sox losing, Tony Stewart finally won a race. Though Nascar did everything in their power to help him lose with caution after caution to allow Matt Kenseth to catch up to him.

BTW, I used to bowl with Matt's aunt and uncle some years back. I remember them telling me about their nephew who was starting in stock car racing. Pretty cool.

Anyway, I was stuck by a couple of things. First was the continuing super announcing job by Kyle Petty. And the oral gymnastics as he, Wally Dallenback and Larry McReynolds tried to explain what Dale Jr. was going through when he lost his power steering. Fun. Also, when Tony climbed onto the starters stand, after the track official tried to stop him, here's this guy -- dead tired, hot, sweaty, but when offered a bottle of water, he takes the time to peel the label off so as not to offend his sponsors.

I don't know whether to applaud his alertness in the moment, or shake my head at how they have these drivers trained not to offend the all-mighty dollar.

Still happy he won, though.

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My girl Morgan Pressel came up a couple of shots short behind Se Ri Pak in the Jamie Farr Sunday. After a super hole-in-one at the par 3 sixth put her up a couple of strokes, Morgan could only watch as Se Ri put on a clinic and retook the lead with machine-like efficiency.

I'm hoping my girl took a couple of things out of this loss. First, watching how Se Ri put the hammer down when she needed to was a lesson in how to win at any level. And shows the trememdous talent fans knew Pak had when she burst onto the scene some years back. But also the fact that Se Ri consistantly outdrove Morgan by thirty yards off the tee! Morgan's a scrappy tough player, but she's going to struggle playing that far behind the other girls. I see she's lost some weight, and that could be the natural transition from teen to twenties. But she may want to hit the weights and pilates and yoga to get her strength up or these girls are going to blow right by her on a regular basis.

On a general note about women's golf -- it's nice to see the attitude brought to the sport by this influx of young talent. For years, women in golf have kept themselves drab looking as though they were afraid if they celebrated their femininity they would be marginalized by fans and sportswriters. And that may have been the case. But now it's showtime out on the fairways -- shorts, skirts, and more white belts on hip huggers than I've seen since my sophmore year in high school! How fun! I think it's Paula Creamer (but don't hold me to it) plays Sunday in all pink, including the ball! What a blast! And she also had a Pink Panther (tournament mascot) painted on her cheek! Shades of the Clemson paw print or Gator from college. I thought it added some fun and sass, though I'm sure there's some sour, teeth-clenched activist out there saying she's set women's rights back a hundred years by wearing pink. Whatever!

These gals are talented, they play hard, they have fun and they're fun to watch! Isn't that the point of sports? I say good for them.

Ahh, Sunday, the day of rest. For those of us who work six days a week, it's a chance to sleep in and rest up from a crappy week at work. I know I'm going to hell for not going to church on Sunday. Satan's got a semi-truck full of flaming boulders for me to spend eternity pushing up that hill of razor-sharp rocks for all my sins. I figure what's one more for missing church?

But just snuggling in my comfortable bed, everything nice and quiet . . . but what's that noise?

Oh it's my neighbor's son, mowing their lawn. At 7:00 in the morning! On Sunday! Leaving aside the potential violation of city ordinances, how freekin' inconsiderate can you be?! This kid is out of school, only works part time . . . he couldn't find time during the week to do this, when normal folks are at work?

So I get one hour and thirty five minutes of a blaring riding mower (I guess it's too much for young bubble butt to actually walk behind a mower), then the gas powered edger, then the gas powered weed eater, then the gas powered blower. What a nice way to wake up in the morning.

Of course I don't know why I'm surprised. This is the same family, where the husband, in a fit of drunken rage, decided to flush his outboard boat motor at 12:30am. Or works on his in-law's car with his air-compressor powered tools at 10:00pm. Or young bubbles decides to build a skateboard ramp with a circular saw at 11:30pm on a Friday night. Not to mention the weekly screaming matches between husband and wife, dad and son, mom and son, son and grandma, etc.

And this is actually a nice quiet neighborhood. I grew up in this house. It's an old 1950's style neighborhood -- big yards, trees, nice mix of old and young. How did I get lucky enough to get the Bickersons living across from me?

When did civility die? When did consideration for your neighbor become "Hooray for me, screw everyone else?"

Oh well, I'll catch a nap later I suppose.

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Check out my girl Morgan Pressel. She fired eight birdies to move within two strokes of Se Ri Pak at the Jamie Farr Classic (how did Klinger get a golf tournament?).

Go get 'em kid

So I'm going to the other coast for some much needed R&R for about a week. In casual conversation with a friend, she mentions that she will be in the same town for two nights the same week. While talking about her finding accomodations I offer to let her crash at my hotel as my room has two queen beds. I suggest, humorously, that we can string up a clothesline between the beds and hang sheets off it ala Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

This totally hot, single, young woman responds with a kindly smile and a light shove in my shoulder before saying she's not worried about me and she would be totally comfortable sharing a room.

That sound is my ego crashing to the floor in a million pieces.

Geez, am I that unthreatening? I mean, I don't want to be threatening, but maybe a little dangerous. You know, in a good way. Couldn't she have said she sleeps with a taser under her pillow to at least make me feel a little vibrant? I'm reminded of the time I told my best friend that my epitath should read -- "Gee Mike, you're a really sweet guy and I really like you a lot, but . . ." 'cause it seemed every date ended with that line.

And yet at work, we've got a guy who can spend twenty minutes describing the most vulgar disgusting sex act known to man, with language that would make an ob/gyn blush. And the women at work huddle around him, giggling like schoolgirls in the presence of a matinee idol, saying "Ooh me first. . ." "Let's do it now. . ." "Wait, do two of us. . ." and so on. But if I pass one of these gals, some of whom I've known twenty years, and comment on her new hairstyle, they look at me like I'm a child molester. How does that work?

Maybe I'm better off alone. I think women are getting more confusing as I get older. Oh well.

I just saw this video interview and it blew me away!

Some background: Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia as a Muslim. She had to endure genital mutilation and was promised in an arranged marriage to a Somali-Canadian. She broke away from all that and emigrated to the Netherlands where she did the classic immigrant thing -- learning a new language, working low paying jobs, etc., and eventually went into politics. She wrote the movie "Submission" that was filmed by Theo van Gogh. When he was murdered in 2004 by extremists, the note pinned to his body was addressed to Hirsi Ali. She eventually made her way to the U.S., where she published her memoirs, of which I sadly cannot remember the title, and the book became a best seller.

Anyway, she does this interview with a guy named Avi Lewis as part of the CBC's trial of "no rules, full contact" interviewing. This guy trots out every bit of anti-american propaganda he can think of. He tries again and again to convince this woman that America is this evil, repressive country. And showing a grace and poise that is lacking in our own leaders, she crushes every one of his idiotic statements without ever raising her voice. At one point Lewis admits he is so flustered by her statements that he's losing his line of questioning. He then asks if she went to school to learn all her pro-american cliches, if it is part of the citizenship program. Her response was the best line I've heard in years:

"You grew up in freedom, so you can spit on freedom. You don't know what it's like to live without freedom."

Politicians in this country could take lessons from this young lady

Man, I had this really great blog about the scene between the Queen of England and Annie Liebowitz. Except it never happened! Damn BBC! I am astounded that a broadcast network would fabricate a story like that. It would be as if someone rigged some pick-up trucks to explode for an expose. Or do a completely fallacious story about body armor for soldiers. Sheesh! Who would believe anything like that?

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I see that Miss New Jersey has released the "shocking" photos that she was being blackmailed for. yawn That was what all this hub-bub was about? At least the images with Katie Rees were salacious. Are the Miss America people that uptight? I'm still skeptical about the whole thing, but jeez, what a let down.

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The one bright spot of the week was watching Dr. Sanjay Gupta dissect that toad, Michael Moore, on CNN. I'm sure Moore was just playing his "everyman railing against the big, bad government" shtick when he launched that tirade against Wolf Blitzer. But he crossed the line when he disparaged Dr. Gupta. Watching the doc turn Moore into a stammering mute made my day. I should have taped it.