It is SOOO not June, is it?  It seems like last week that it was late February.  The Mo children are coming up on their respective birthdays: 4 and 14.  I still remember taking the 14-year old home from the hospital, and she'll now be a freshman in high school.  Time waits for no Mo.. Bdub nailed it yesterday, but the only reason I don't think there's a weeks worth of Fridays for which I need to write a roundtable is because the next day never seems to be a Saturday.

 

The tavern is pretty empty tonight, but not as empty as my conscience seems to be.  There must be 57 flat panel televisions - courtesy my "arrangement" with You Gab - spread out all over the place.  We have the Bass Angler channel, The Pens/Red Wings series, the Magic/Lakers series, the Giants/Nationals game...and yet there's no one here.  I can't figure out if they're still stuffing their face with funyuns over at B-Dubs couch, or if everyone is off at Dunkin Donuts' National Free Donut Day.  Or maybe the tavern crowd is mourning the loss of Kwai Chang Caine.  The Grasshopper is no more.

 

Mrs. Mo is off to get stitches out today....and the hard cast that goes on for a goodly period of time goes on.  It's been an interesting week - she's fallen down the stairs a few times and likely pulled a staple or two out.  Added to that, she was told that her job was being eliminated...BUT they'd have a position for her.  So, I'm not sure I know what to make of that, but apparently while they don't know what to call her, she'll still make the same money and have a job.  So...what's being eliminated again? 

 

But speaking of time passing so quickly, 20-years ago, I had just finished my freshman year of college and was working in the maintenance shop of my buddy's dad's company.  For a few weeks, we read in the paper of the building tension of the democracy movement in China's Tiananmen Square.  And then to pick up the paper the morning of June 4 and read of the government crackdown...it was an interesting time.  Of course, I was far more invested in baseball than I was in the Chinese government cracking down.  What I wouldn't do to be back in that maintenance shop in June 1989.

 

Anyway, what's not showing on the television screens is that the NFLPA has reached an agreement with its retired players on a settlement of lawsuit brought against Players, Inc. because the retirees had been cut out of deals in order that active players receive a higher percentage of payments.  The players association settled at $26-Million of a $28-Million award for 2000 retired players.  Yeah, I did the same thing: That's about $13,000 per each plaintiff.  Minus fees, etc.  Now, the NFLPA thinks this might mend some fences with the retirees who have been banging on them, but...gotta say, while $13-large would do me pretty well, it just doesn't seem to be that big a deal.  Particularly when the plaintiffs were looking for $21-Million in punitive damages, meaning that they asked for that money to punish the union and not because they actuallly lost that money.

 

Randy Johnson, pitching for the Giants - when did THAT happen - won his 300th game Thursday against the Nationals.  The Giants won 5-1.  Okay, I consider myself an astute watcher of the game, but I had no idea Johnson wasn't still with the Diamondbacks.  So, congratulations to Mr. Unit, but it has to be the least ceremonious 300th victory in the history of major league baseball.

 

King James WILL be fined after all for failing to shake hands or speak to the media after the Cavs bailed out of the playoffs.  David Stern pulled a Bud Selig yesterday and announced the King would be fined $25k.  Now, I don't much care one way or the other, but it just seems to me that you kill your credibility when you pull a flip-flop like that.  Now, LeBron is a competitive guy and he was probably ape they just lost, but you gotta behave.  And the Commish has to come down on you.  And not flip flop like John Kerry.

 

The Lakers, meanwhile, just completely destroyed the Magic in game one.  Heh.  Destroyed the Magic.  As a boy who grew up in Boston during the 1980's, the thought of Los Angeles as NBA Champion really kills me.  After watching the Magic dispatch the Cavs, it is pretty clear to me that with Kevin Garnett, the C's would be right back in the finals with a shot to repeat.  And that cheeses me off.  You know, I love Jack Nicholson, but seeing that smirking bastard rooting on the Lakers really cheeses me off.  To make matters worse, Tiger Woods - oh ye of the Orlando Season ticket - is rooting for the Lakers.  So, their highest profile guy bails on them.  Sweet.  I'm betting the NBA gestapo got to him.

 

THe Penguins tied up the series with the Red Wings 2-games all Thursday, winning 4-2.  Now, I really enjoy a hockey game that finishes, say 2-1.  6-goals?  I guess I'm just a little too old school for the "new" NHL...

 

And, so ends another edition of the Friday Roundtable...have a wonderful weekend.