The Circus

Barack Obama should run the Mets.

Happiness is Good Street Food

The take-out food near me is not ideal. There's spots down on Cranston Street and Olneyville Square but they're too far for a quick pick up. But now! I found this taco truck right near me on Dexter Park on Parade and Willow. The food is pretty good, but more importantly it's run by this really nice, friendly family. There were two kids serving customers while their dad cooked in the back. The kids were real sweet and patiently explained what all the dishes were to me. They said they're usually out evenings around 5-9PM.






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Short Money

Giuliani Plans to Aid Hopefuls, for His Share

From the New York Times:

Mr. Giuliani’s aides have told the National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional candidates that if he makes an appearance, he wants the candidates to help him get rid of his presidential campaign debt...“In a year when our candidates are struggling to raise money, this is just another burden,” said a leading Republican Party strategist, who was briefed about the mayor’s request. “This is not about helping the party. This is about helping Rudy Giuliani.”

Wow! What balls!

The fact that Mr. Giuliani — who had an estimated net worth of at least $30 million in 2006, according to financial disclosure forms filed last year — has loaned his campaign money gives the fund-raising a particular urgency. Candidates generally have unlimited time to pay off campaign debt. But if any portion of a personal loan to a campaign is unpaid by the end of an election cycle, the maximum amount that can be repaid with money raised after that is $250,000, according to Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission.

Guess that window is closing fast huh? Favorite part (emphasis mine):

Political analysts say that Mr. Giuliani’s once prolific fund-raising abilities have been hampered by several factors. Perhaps most significant is the fact that Mr. Giuliani neither holds a position in government nor is a candidate for public office. Both qualities are attractive to donors who are looking for access to government.

Beyond that, the reputation of Mr. Giuliani was hurt by the sudden collapse of his presidential campaign, as well as by the allegations of corruption that hung over Bernard B. Kerik, a former police commissioner in the Giuliani administration.

So I can make a donation so that a multi-millionaire not currently working in public life, who ran a deeply-flawed presidential campaign that imploded on itself before it even got started, can pay himself back some money he lent his own campaign? Sign me up!

It sounds almost as compelling as fighting genocide, disease and (shameless plug) youth arts programs in inner-city communities.

Look, I'm no political strategist but my (unsolicited) advice to Rudy would be:

• Just eat the debt! Pay it off with some consulting gigs and corporate speaking events. You're still America's Mayor, even if you won't be our president, you can make that money back pretty easily. Leaning on some emerging Republican candidates just looks bad.
  

• Focus on building goodwill in the Republican party, and more importantly, re-establishing your relevance and credibility as an important national figure. After the way your presidential campaign embarrassingly collapsed (remember when you were the front-runner and John McCain was dead in the water?). If I were you, I'd be fighting for the chance to help lower-rung Republicans get elected and proving that I've still got some sway with voters.

What Price an Executive Director?

I found a price tag tied to my chair at my desk, I assume the product of some rascal New Urban Arts student (when I find you I'm going to....).

ASIAN
$10.00

Can work as a "director"
don't expect much to get done.

P.S. Requires a lot of hair gel.

I think I just found the text I need for a potential match.com profile. Its just missing "tall" and "handsome."

NYC Triathlon Training Schedule

Last year, the night before I ran the NYC marathon, drunk in self-confidence and athletic hubris, I impulsively signed up for the NYC Triathlon thinking I had plenty of time to train for it (the marathon was November 2007 and the Triathlon is July 21, 2008). Well, the sucker is now less than two months away which got me thinking that I should probably start a training schedule a little more systematic than biking, swimming or running when I "feel like it." I found this training schedule courtesy beginner triathlete. It's designed for someone who's goal is to simply finish without dying which is what I'm about shooting for. It's a four-month schedule and I'm jumping in midway because I don't have four months. So here it is, I'll post workouts I complete at some attempt at accountability.

There Goes the Neighborhood

Explaining Willie Randolph's paranoia

When asked about the possibility of race's playing a role in camera shots that show him only in stoic form that makes him appear unemotional and uninvolved, Randolph responded, "It smells a little bit."

The media pounced on his words like they came out of Jeremiah Wright's mouth. The vilification of him, the gall of him. The last thing anyone wants to hear is race and racism injected into the state of affairs of a team with the highest payroll in the National League playing under-.500 baseball months after a season-ending collapse unseen in this generation.

So even the thought that the color of one's skin could play a role – or have any legitimate bearing – on how the performance and passion of a manager is perceived by the public and thus possibly have some weight on the manager's job security is incongruous.

But not inappropriate.

-Scoop Jackson

Interesting article by Scoop Jackson . It's easy to forget how many years I would read about Willie futilely interviewing for manager positions knowing he was the token minority candidate before he got his chance when Minaya hired him. It was like an annual offseason baseball tradition for us in NY.

And you can make the argument that Minaya may have never have gotten his shot (or at least waited much longer) at the Mets GM position if it wasn't for his stint on the then MLB-owned Expos>Nationals where Bud Selig (for all his creepy faults, he sure does seem to love colored folk not named Barry Bonds) made a very public effort to place people of color in leadership roles, manager (Frank Robinson) and general manager. But even the first GM offer that the Mets made Minaya was some ridiculous power-sharing role with Jim Duquette where Duquette would handle administrative functions and Minaya would handle baseball/talent duties, a power split I don't think any MLB team has or had. It was as if they thought having successfully run the show at an underfunded mess of a franchise that the Expos were hadn't prepared him to be a full GM (I think the Expos former owner gutted everything in the offices before he sold the team, taking computers, staff, scouting data with him to the Florida Marlins). Minaya got handed a real wreck. To his credit (and pretty ballsy of him) he turned down the Mets' first watered-down job offer and fought for full autonomy, he even said as a Latino GM, he didn't want to accept anything less than full authority because of the message it might send.

It was only three-some years ago, but it was pretty wild to think that a MLB team, especially one of the richest ones, was handing the reigns of their franchise to a black dude and a Dominican dude. And as much as last season sucked, lets go back a little further to the Steve Phillips/Art Howe era *shudder* and be grateful for what they've done.

Anyway, the point is that while it may be absurd to imply that SNY is being racist in its shot selection of Willie, it's not ludicrous to think both Minaya and Randolph are subject to some extra (un)conscious bias, especially after all the shit they've been through to get where they are now.