Losing respect, it's as easy as 1...2...3

I guess I need to get this off of my chest. It has been ruminating in my cranium since Monday night and I have been putting it off, maybe thinking the longer I waited the easier this would be. I guess the simple way to put it would be to come up with some sort of excuse, like saying that words fail me, but that isn't quite true, words cannot fail anyone, rather I think I fail words more often than not, I am not sure I put my thoughts to paper in a manner that is befitting the topic at hand.

Maybe the best way to start is a confession for all of you newbies around this joint, and to those of you who aren't newbies but just don't know me all that well. I am one of those wrestling fans that everybody makes fun of. That doesn't mean I don't have a brain in my head, or that I am stupid and can't tell reality from that which is fake, I can and do. But just as someone would be willing to criticize me for watching it, I am sure there are plenty of things they like that they are not hounded over. After all, when was the last time someone said "You know Law and Order isn't real don't you?" Most people would know this without having it reminded to them at every turn, To me, wrestling is much the same thing, you enter with a suspension of belief and you go along with the storylines, and when two really good wrestlers are in the ring, their movements and ability to "sell" (for those in the know, it is the ability to fake that a move hurt more than it did) carries with it much the same appreciation that some would have for the exquisite moves of the ballet. When a storyline is furthered and a series of matches take place between a "face" (good guy) and a "heel" (bad guy) and they work in knowledge of their previous matches such as effective counter moves to moves favored by either the heel or the face, it can for me at least make for some entertaining television.

Having gotten that out of the way, let me make the next confession, if this is in fact a confession, and say one of the best people I have ever seen do this was Chris Benoit. He was not the best wrestler at cutting a promo, but inside the ring, his work was on par with the best the wrestling business has to offer these days. He was not one of guys who got by solely on physique and no talent, rather he was someone that when you watched him, you were seeing a performance from someone who understands the business and can let his actions in the squared circle tell a story far better than I can with a pen and paper.

That being said, unless you live under a rock, and some may provided they find a rock comfortable enough, the story that unfolded Monday about the events in the Benoit household are shocking, saddening and disgusting all at the same time. Shocking simply because one finds it hard to believe that Chris Benoit is capable of the events that transpired. For those that don't know, it is believed that over the course of the weekend, Chris first killed his wife, binding her wrists and ankles, choked his son to death the following day and up to a full day after that, hung himself off of the equipment in his home gym. This was a guy that until the events of this past weekend, pretty much everyone who followed wrestling had a decent amount of respect for, both fans and fellow wrestlers. It is saddening simply because at the end of the day, regardless of what may have happened to precipitate the events, three people are now dead as a result, and it is disgusting, at least for me, because I cannot imagine a scenario where a man would walk into his 7 year old son's room, a room that had posters of his father hanging on the walls, and proceed to choke the very life out of him.

The events of this weekend have changed my opinion of both the man and the wrestling "business" as a whole. It is easy to see why my opinion of Chris Benoit would change, regardless of the hours of enjoyment and entertainment he may have provided, at the end of the day he is just a murderer, mind you one with a talent, but a murderer nonetheless and that fact carries far more weight with me than anything he may have done previously. I am sickened by those that are looking to excuse his behavior simply because of who he was or what he may have done in the past. It is granting him a pass, when one is not called for. If the guy working the local McDonald's was really good about taking care of the fryer, cleaning it every night, making sure the proper oil was in it and made just out of this world french fries, and yet, in a fit of rage killed someone, we wouldn't give him a pass saying "Yeah, but those fries were so good, I am really going to miss him." And to those poeple that would take that approach, I am sorry but the psychological problems from which you suffer can't be remedied in this blog. Chris Benoit, accomplishments aside, will forever be remembered first and foremost as a murderer and that is the way it should be.

That being said, his actions were his alone, and it shouldn't tarnish wrestling in general, and as far as I am concerened it doesn't. The actions of the WWE following the double murder suicide however are inexcuseable as well. From the way the timeline unfolds, apparently Chris Benoit was to take part in a live event in Beaumont Texas on Saturday, and event that he asked his employer if he could miss due to a family situation. The WWE granted him the day off, thinking that he would be arround for the pay per view event on Sunday. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Chris made a series of strange text messages to some fellow wrestlers, the messages stating his home address and that a door would be open or the garage was open and that the dogs (he had two german shepards I believe) would be in the yard. When Chris failed to show for the pay per view event on Sunday and the WWE was made aware of the text mesages sent, they asked the local police department to do a drive by and check up on the Benoit residence Monday. The police of Fayetteville, Georgia did that and upon arriving at the house they found three dead bodies, the Benoit family, with cause of death to be determined, yet they labeled it as a major crime scene. The WWE carries a live show on TV Monday nights. "Raw", and were wondering what they should do with the scheduled broadcast. They could have done a number of things, they could have opted to run a tape, they could have just cancelled and let the network instead run a movie or some alternate programming in the shows place. Instead, they chose to do a tribute show to Chris Benoit, knowing that the police were treating the scene as a crime and that the fact of what happened were still unfolding and it is plausible that Chris could have had a role in what unfolded there. Don't get me wrong, I am all for tribute shows to guys who gave their lives for a profession that they love and that allowed them the chance to entertain millions of fans, myself included, provided we know what happened that brought about their deaths to begin with. WWE could easily have waited a week to do a Chris Benoit tribute show, provided that facts had unfolded in such a way as he deserved one, but instead they went ahead with a three hour show, showing how great a wrestler Chris was, recapping his career highlights, having fellow wrestlers come on and talk about their interactions with Chris through the years and what he meant to their careers, some of them near tears with the news of his passing, meanwhile in Fayetteville, the police are doing a press conference that took place at 10pm, in the middle of that live tribute show, to say Chris Benoit killed his family. So, while the police are saying that Chris Benoit killed three people, his wife, his son and himself, WWE is running a show saying how great he was. It is grotesque in its timing and sensitivity.

The following night, WWE came on TV for their ECW show and opened with Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWE, saying that other than his opening remarks, they would not mention Chris Benoit again and proceeded to talk about the events that happened regarding the deaths of Chris Benoit and his family, yet he failed to do the one decent thing he needed to do, which was apologize for having a tribute for a murderer the night before. Myabe some people can get passed that, and they will tune in their TVs to watch wrestling either later this week, or early next week, I can just say that after this week, I will not be one of them.

The change meter is back!!!!!!!

I haven't talked about the change meter in a while, so I might as well start off with that particular piece of info, where we have added another 30 cents to the ongoing total. I believe that brings us to $15.86 now. The theory that by working in a fast food establishment woul;d help in my chnage seekign efforts have paid off, as most of that addition to the total came straight from the floor at work.

I have completed my first full week at Subway, it seems like it will be easy enough, I just have to get a better grasp on what all needs done when it comes to closing the store. Uusally I close with one other person, but that person is mostly in the back getting the dishes caught up and doing the cleaning that needs done in the back of the shop, leaving the front to me, and given after this week I have done it twice, I think it is just a matter of getting a timing schedule down for myself and I will be fine. I was supposed to have someone close the front of the store with me on Friday, but he called in sick, and as is the case in fast food places, amples replacements usually aren't to bew had, especially on a Friday night in a college section of town. The allure of alcohol to the yopungsters is too much and so the chance they will want to work past midnight on a Friday is pretty much nonexistent. I did get my first check however. Funny thing is, we get paid every other Wednesday, and my first day was teh Saturday of teh second week of a pay period. Since I am trapped in the radio studio on Sundays, that meant my first paycheck consisted of all of 6 hrs. Go me, woohoo. I did pick up an extra shift this past week, so my check shouldn't be too bad coming up, it will close in on the 40 hr plateau, which fits my radio schedule just fine.

As for radio, it is still disenchanting these days, I am just doing my best to put on ye olde happy face. I didn't even bother suggesting I sit in for one of Lynn's days off this week. She is taking time off for vacation, and I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with it. I even told management as much. It is too much of a pain with little return for the investment of effor, let alone to be questioned about it after the fact again. Instead I put in for vacation time later in July, I am taking 4 days off, and I know that they are going to want me to find a replacement for my days off, but the fact of the matter is, nobody else is required to find their own replacement, and I am not going to kill myself to find one for me. I put a note in the booth for the days I will be off, beyond that I just don't care. Even this evening, while I would normally be sitting at home after getting my studio work done, I am stuck here running another stupid Nascar race, one which we didn't sell a single spot for. Management will be happy to know that I am billing them for wasting my time this evening, I have filled out a time sheet for the time I am sitting here. Normally I don't have to do time sheets, being salaried and all, I just have to show up and do my job, but if they are going to pull extra time from my schedule for stupid crap like this,. then they are going to pay me extra money. I could just as easily worked my part time job and made money, if that opprtunity is off the table, then I will take money from here.

It's bitterness kids, enjoy it, I do.

I did get a couple of birthday cards last week, from my grandmother and my aunt, and my mom called to say she had one for me but they want to come visit rather than just mail it. That's cool with me, we usually end up going out to dinner and I really need to spend some time with my family, I don't see them nearly enough. That is one of the reasons I am taking time off in July, a family picnicat my aunt and uncles house. Knowing my luck it will rain, which is why I am taking extra time off, it case the day is a wash out, I will still have time to go visiting and just get away from everything Pittsburgh for a few days. You don't know how refreshing it is to spends days not reading the paper, or if I am reading the paper, it is ober breakfast with coffee and eggs or a bagel and just pacing my entry into the day, rather than being out the door and at work by 5am. In those instances, coffee and cigarettes are a diet to wake me up, there is no enjoyment in taking coffee that early in the morning.

My fantasy baseball team continues to languish near the bottom of the league, I am 9th out of 11 teams, though I do lead two categories, strikeouts and stolen bases, so I may recoup some of my 55 dollar entry fee. There are 10 categories and the leader in each gets $10, so I could get $20 back if all hold at the current pace, though we haven't even reached the midpoint of the season yet, so there is still plenty of time for things to go haywire, though I can't fall much further, a slight bonus to being near the bottom, there is only one way to go, up.

My Joe Random character is continuing to do well. I did simualte the games he was on the DL, and I brought him back and managed to gte the average somwhere around .430 or so, and upped the HR total to 4 in just 19 games played, with 13 runs scored and 10 RBIs. I went ahead and requested a call up, just to see what would happen and it let me go back to the major league team. I have just one start since being called up, I am not good enough to start everyday though I can spell people when they need a day off. In my only game I went 1 for 5 with a double and run scored. Not a great effort, but hey, I won the game and it was against Tom Glavine and the Mets, so I can't complain too much, after all Tampa bay does suck, so if I get a chance to lead the team to a few victories against superior competition, all the better.

No one asked me about it, but I did change the background on the page for a reason. I needed a new Pittsburgh pic since I had tired of the fireworks photo over the Point, so I figured what better photo than one of the most famous Pittsburgh photos ever. For those unfamiliar with the picture, which I imagine is most of you, since it was taken in 1960, the picture appeared in Life Magazine in the fall of 1960 and it is taken from the top of the Cathedral of Learning, shot from behind some onlookers down into Forbes Field, where the Pirates used to play. What made the photo so memorable was that it was taken as Bill Mazeroski hit his walkoff homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 7 of the World Series to beat the New York Yankees 4 games to 3. Forbes Field has long since been taken down, and I don't even think you can get out on the ledges of the Cathedral of Learning anymore, and least not without sneaking, and the photo wasn't taken by a sports photographer if memory serves me correctly. Just someone who happened to be in the right place at the right time back in the day where everybody wasn't walking around with a cell phone camera. Ah, the good old days.

An Asshat update from last week, the two moms are facing 5 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 2 counts of reckless endangerment, 3 to 4 counts of child endangerment and filing false reports for lying about the presence of a babysitter that evening. I really am trying to temper my rage regarding the matter, which is quite hard to do. Ther are times where passion overtakes reason, and it while it is easy to say that they should just be locked up and throw away the key, I think that might be a bit much in this instance. I am not saying the mothers shouldn't be punished, only that the punishment should fit the crime. In that regard I think the DA Stephen Zappalla is probably right in saying the crime is involuntary manslaughter, the tragedy certainly fits the description where negligent behavior results in someone's death. I don't think anyone would say that going to the bar and leavine 7 kids home alone constitutes a behavior that is even remotely responsible.

I should set up for tomorrow morning while I am here, it will be less to do when I get in in the morning, considering I still have to do laundry when I get home. I am such the procrastinator that I am just letting life woverwhelm me. Maybe the motivation of going on vacation will be the kick in the ass I need, I hope so, not much else has worked to this point.

I still haven't had my meeting at the station about how much I make, though I am starting to think they assumed that by saying we would sit down and talk about it, it would be the same as actually sitting down and talking about it. They are sadly mistaken. The advantage of being with only one job for the last month or so was I was able to update the resume and get some newer refernces added to it and as a result, I am able to send out applications at my leisure to stations all across the country. One of the cool things about my part time job, besides the fact that I get free food, is that they are willing to work around my schjedule, almost too willing. Makes me think they are desparate for help, though if they keep hiring help as cute as the last girl they hired on Saturday, then I am all for desparation. Not that I would ask her out mind you, she is much too young andf i have learned you never date people you work with, the Animal Planet Rule of dating is in effect there "Don't Shit Where You Eat".

I finished reading "Infamous Scribblers", which was an okay book, I really didn't learn much. I'll admit it was interesting to get to know some of the players in early journalism in the colonies and eventually, the states, but I knew enough about the era that journalism was at best a lossely defined term and those that think today's journalism is skewed really need to go back and check their history. I'll admit that I have problems with the media today, but these terms of liberal or conservative bias are pale comparisons to how slanted journalism was when our nation was first founded. That being said, if I have finished readingf a book, that means I am reading another and I am, as I have started into "Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" by Ilario Pantano. So far it is a good read, but I have barely scratched the surface of it. I will get into more details about it in a later blog, but for now I will just leave it to you, the investigative blog reader that you are, to do your own homework on this one.

Well, I think I have said enough for one day, you can talk for a while if you wish, or you can't just discount this to the idle ramblings of someone who is incredibly bored at work listening to a bunch of fools drive around in circles on the radio.

Unpleasant Asshat edition

Dezekiah Holyfield - age 3

Cedano Holyfield - age 4

Daekia Holyfield - age 7

Azquel Rankin - age 5

Andre Rankin - age 6

Those names shouldn't appear on this page, nor should the names of the older siblings, Jevon Irwin, 8 and Huedon Chambliss, also 8, whose fate may be more fortunate, but equally frightening given the events of the morning of June 12th.

Some of you probably saw the AP story, one of the less than positive things coming out of Pittsburgh during the same week that saw us host the US Open golf tournament. True to reporting on a national scale, the headline barely scratched the surface of the horror that was to unfold. It is easy enough for a national news service to simply print "5 Children Killed in a Pittsburgh Fire" to get the requisite shock and awe from the reading or viewing public, damn the details that may be further troubling, we don't have time for those. Even our local media has been tepid in broaching the subject, reminding us constantly that family was grieving and thereby giving them a pass on the hard questions that needed to follow. Even the police department would suspend their investigation into the events of the 12th, pending the funerals replete with caskets far too small, lives lost prematurely with little thought to the potential that was lost with them.

Let us go back to the early hours of that dreaded Tuesday morning. Most of us had retired for the evening, having survived another day in what has been determined to be "America's Most Livable City" by people who probably haven't spent 2 seconds here their entire lives. Roughly 1:30am that morning, the fire department received a call of a fire at 6429 Winslow Street, a residence in the city's Larimar section. It isn't the most well to do neighborhood in Pittsburgh, yet by most accounts the fire department responded with due diligence, arriving somewhere in the ballpark of about 8 minutes after receiving the call. Their efforts, while often heroic in nature, on this particular evening would leave them wondering what else they might have done, not that anything else was humanly possible. On the second floor of the residence, in a bedroom, the five names found at the beginning of this saga were found, having died in a fire that was tragic in its cost and horrific in the negligence involved.

For those that have paid close attention to what I have written so far, the question most surely had crossed your mind, for those a little more in and out on my scribblings, the obvious question has to yet to be asked or answered, that being "Where were the parents?" It is a question that people on the scene looking for who to ask about what happened I am sure asked themselves as well, as no parent or adult connected to the residence was to be found at the scene.

Shortly it would be determined who the mothers of the children were, Shakita Mangham, who lived at the residence, and her friend, Fuhara Love who dropped her children off there.

The police would bring the two mothers and the two surviving children in for questioning to determine what happened. During the questioning, Ms. Mangham said that while they weren't at home, the children were left in the custody of a babysitter, one Lashawn Smith or Smithfield. Police asked for help in locating the babysitter and through the interviews and an investigation by the fire department, the cause of the fire was determined. It appears that one of or both of the boys were playing with matches and it was this that started the fire on the second floor of the home.

An initial search for the babysitter proved fruitless, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review went as far as to print that no one in either of the families had even heard of the babysitter before the name cropped up in the investigation.

Ms. Mangham went and did what all good parents would do, she lawyered up, grabbing attorney James Ecker. For those not familiar with the local scene, Ecker is famous for taking the more high profile criminal defendants around these parts. It is akin to casting suspicion on the mothers story and begs again to question, well if no one was in the home, where were the mothers? That suspicion would become confirmed today, as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that the police investigation determined that no babysitter was present at the home that evening.

That question about the whereabouts of the mothers would be answered in a not to pleasant fashion, when a local pub owner said he knew where they were, because they were in his bar that night. So the mothers weren't at work, there was no pressing event that drew the mothers away from the house, rather they were out drinking, leaving 7 children no older than 8 years old to be left home completely unattended and the result of their neglect is that 5 of them are now dead. I warned you last week, that this would be pleasant, but your Asshats of the Week are Shakita Mangham and Fuhara Love.