ZITO - THRILLED

BARRY MADNESS continues in San Francisco!
This time it is Barry Zito Not Barry Bonds. Barry, meet Barry. It's madness out there on the left coast, I tell you; madness!
Barry Zito gets $126 million semolians! He joins only two other pitchers in the elite +$100 million moneyball. Who are they, you ask? Mike Hampton & Kevin Brown , Not exactly great company, eh? Both Mike & Kevin are laughing all the way to the bank but no matter how much moolah they have, it won't buy them entrance into the Big House in Cooperstown. I feel the same will happen to Mr Zito. I just hope the Yankees don't get him a few years from now..Ala Kevin Brown...ugh. Big time Kudos to Scott Boras, who is the greatest agent period.; No Doubt. He will get the most possible money for his clients. Good for him & good for the players........but
I would just once like to hear from one players mouth :
" I signed with them because they offered the most money"
Jeez, ARod is looking more & more like a bargain!
Let us see what the baseball gods will bring us in 2007!
Opening Day April 1, 2007!....bbooooyaaa

You don't think I can watch the NY Football Giants tonight do ya?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

INVEST FOR YOUR FUTURE $$$$

Make money , save & invest some money, earn money on your money, pay less taxes, worry less about money
money money money money money....................... OK not selling anything here OK

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough" ...Albert Einstein

Yeah, but you can bet old Albert never had to live on Social Security alone. You can go to the Social Security website and find out approximately how much Uncle Sam will give you back if and when you make it to retirement. I am sure it wont feel anywhere near like what they have been taking out of your checks all these years. Nowadays SS checks will get you some dog/cat food & kool aid to subsist on after you've paid for your meds and your rent. So save some moolah NOW!!

There is no such thing as a sure thing. There is also no (LEGAL) way to get rich quick. If it sounds to good to be true , it damn well sure ain't true! It is tough saving money, whether you make $20k a year or $100k a year or anywhere in between which is most everyone I know. You can save some money but do it the right way. You can build a nest egg! The key word is build, the things that last always take time to build. If you build it they will come....oops no baseball here!!!! This is serious financial stuff.

Some pretty simple yet effective ways to start building include great tax savings benefits as well. If your employer offers a 401k, stop everything & sign up now. YOU get your money before Uncle Sam has a chance to take any taxes out and it goes into your account to build up TAX FREE. Also many employers contribute some money as well. This is EXTRA money that they put in your 401K on your behalf. Sounds to good to be true? Whats the catch? Well the government will take their taxes out when you retire and start taking money out...but that is further on up the road. You can contribute up to $15,500 per year ($20,500 if you are +50 years old). If you start with say 3-5% of your salary, you will barely notice the difference in your take home pay. Invest the money in something safe like a S&P 500 index fund and you are on your way to building your nest egg. If your employer does not offer 401k, quit working for the cheap bastards!!! Just kidding!! , we all need our jobs. You can do it on your own. Take the loose change out of your ash tray, jar, top draw, laundry bag, car , ex-wife or wherever and get started!!



You can open up your own IRA ( which is almost the same concept as a 401k). You can contribute as much as $4000 and may qualify for a tax deduction (depending on how much you make). The IRA is relatively easy to set up with many banks and financial institutions. I would recommend Vanguard & American Funds as they are two of the largest, well manged and low fees to YOU in terms of their fees and costs. They both have good index funds to get you going. You can start in 2007, even 20 bucks a week will get you going ($35-40 if you quit smoking). Hey if you don't take care of your money...other people will take it to do so!

All right enough of this lecturing, proselytizing, teaching, preaching !!!!

Next week we'll talk about easy ways to bathe your cat.................right!

YANKEES.... TWO QUESTIONS FOR 2007


MELKY"THE MILKY WAY" CABRERA .........should he stay or should he go?

There is no doubt that fan favorite Melky Cabrera was one of the best surprises for Yankee fans in 2006. Every Yankee fan will remember the great catch that Melky made robbing Manny "The Skank" Ramirez in the 8th inning on June 6. The Milky Way performed admirably filling in the outfield for the injured Yankees becoming a fan fave for his hustle, enthusiasm and the above aforementioned great catch. Will this be enough to keep the greatest general manager in baseball Brian Cashman from trading him for some always needed pitching? Let's face it Melky will not get much playing time behind Matsui, Damon & Abreu. WOW, do I like the way that sounds; Matsui, Damon & Abreu. What a great outfield but I digress. Will Melky be the 4th outfielder, giving Matsui, Damon & Abreu (I really like this trio) some needed rest and or DH duties?
OR will this duty go to future Yankee Hall of Famer Bernie Williams? Bernie is beloved by all Yankee fans (justly so) and will get his plaque in centerfield and his day in Yankee Stadium. So does the Great Cashman go with the young Milky Way or will he go with the clutch hitting but diminishing Bernie? As the brilliant Albert Einstein once said...that is the question? I am sure the Cashman will do what's best for the team on this one.

RANDY "THE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT" JOHNSON.......should he stay or go?



He has won 34 games over the last 2 years with the Yankees. He has 5 Cy Young awards and will be a first ballot hall of famer. His statistics are incredible , one of the best pitchers in his generation and one of the best lefty's of all time but.......he is NOT a Yankee dammit and he is NOT a New York or any other BIG city kind of guy. I don't know why and I cannot explain it but I hated watching him pitch in Yankee uniform.
I do not know Mr Johnson and he is probably a nice decent guy BUT I just cringed when he pitched and had that miserable look on his face. His uniform just did not look right! He almost made me miss Javier Vazquez. Lets us not even mention his playoff performance's with the Yankees as he make A-Rod look clutch in the playoffs( OK I am still bitter the Yankees not having won it all since 2000). I know that "The Big Unit" was brought to NYC to become "The Big Disappointment" at the behest and insistence of the Tampa NoBraintrust. The great Cashman did not really want him. Please oh great Cashman trade him, especially now that he wants to go back home.
Please tell him to click his heels and say there's no place like Arizona 3 times and use that money to bring The Zito to the correct NY team...... ah to dream the impossible dream

SAM MOORE - OVERNIGHT SENSATIONAL

What a great album. This CD has 12 darn tootin soulful tunes with guest musicians galore. It's Sam of the original Sam and Dave ( Dave Prater). He was always a smooth soul singer up there with Al Green, Wilson Pickett, Smokey Wilson, Lou Rawls and the like. This is one of those rare albums that does NOT have a bad track on it.
All the tunes are at least good to listen too. My personal faves are "BETTER TO HAVE AND NOT NEED" with Bruce Springstein & "I CANT STAND THE RAIN" with Wynonna, Bekka Bramlett, Bebe Winians & Billy Preston.
The other 10 tracks are pretty darn good as well. They include guests such as Sting, Fantasia , Paul Rodgers, and the Late Great Billy Preston to name a few. This is one of the few CD's I have actually bought in a long time. ENJOY!!!

SWINGBELLY'S BEACH SIDE BBQ

Me & the boys are always on the quest for good BBQ , especially on Long Island





I was very excited when Swingbelly's Beachside Barbecue in Long Beach finally opened their doors last month. It seemed like they were opening soon for about forever!! Since Pearsons BBQ moved to Manhattan and faded, we have pretty much makin the trek to Bayshore to chow down at Smokin Al's which has the best BBQ in L.I. ...no doubt. It is just that by the time we get there eat and get back , it consumes about 3 1/2 - 4 hours and there aint much elsle to do there!

Now we have Swingbellys, mere minutes away. The first visit was with my two beef chomping, pig eating boys. Must be an odd sight us three, a tall bald biker looking due, a big ol kim chee boy, and the balding jr middleweight. Well this is NY so nothing is really odd looking. We go there just about 5:00pm. The place was still unfinished needing some paint on the doors, trim and other minor finishing touches. We wasn't going for the decor and ambiance as they say , its about the BBQ, all about the BBQ...the meat that is.

So anyways we get seated, scope the place out. Seems like all young kids working the place which is no biggy. The locale is West End in Long Beach and we go right at the menu. The pleasant waitress goes into some of the details about no liquor license but you can bring your own booze, but we are still scoping the menu and order some ice teas. We go right for The Swing Sampler ($38.95) which consists of 1/2 slab of St. Louis Ribs, 1/2 lb pulled pork, 1/2 lb beef brisket, 1/2 whole chicken (oxymoron alert), 6 rib tips, with 3 sides & cornbread. We ordered the sweet potato fries (extra$1), smokehouse beans & mac n cheese as sides. Oh and we ordered 1/2 slab of babyback ($10.95) ribs just in case we didn't have enough food. Ya always gotta order the ribs dry ( no sauce) to really get the flavor of the meat. There was a sweet and a smoky sauce on the table. We ask and received a hot sauce from the kitchen. OK so the service was a little slow, but it is to be expected with a new restaurant and you can't rush BBQ anyway. The waitress was actually pretty attentive and nice without being too buzzy around us and brought us some peanuts to munch on.
At first I thought they might be those tasty southern boiled peanuts but the were regular roasted peanuts in the shell which were OK anyway. Then the real food came.





We were a little disappointed with the plastic basket that the food came in as well as the cheapo paper plates to put your food on BUT it is about the BBQ! We all agreed that the meats were all very good. Tops was the St Louis Ribs, but the baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, rib tips and chicken were all tasty and flavorful. The ribs were nice and tender with enough dry rub flavor to 'em that they really did not even require any sauce. All the meats were thumbs up and were laid on top of thick toasted bread. The sweet sauce was a little too sweet, but the smoky was quite good. We all really like the hot sauce which had a vinegary tilt with a medium kick to it. As for the sides BIG kudos to the sweet potato fries . Very nicey nice , light, crispy, seasoned, and not too greasy. The beans got thumbs down for being pretty ordinary having that kinda canned flavor to em. The mac n cheese also got thumbs down for being watery & lackluster. The sweet cornbread, was as advertised...sweet cornbread! We all thought that it was quite a treat. It was very moist and sweet, almost desert like, kinda like a corn pudding, cornbread sweet corn cake. Well you get we liked it and enjoyed the meal. It came out to about $80 with tip.

Second meal was me n me daughter, who has somehow developed a taste for BBQ. We got to the restaurant the joint the Friday eve after Thanksgiving. ( A good test of a restaurant's mettle). Now I hadn't noticed that on the menu there is an appetizer call that goes by the name "Pickle Chips". Of course my recently graduated Hofstra University daughter pegged that right away and insisted that we must try it. I was so happy to see that college education at work that I agreed we must immediately. Now since it was post-Thanksgiving and we were still a little food hungover, we were gonna order light. We ordered the pickle chips ($4.95) and six of the whole dry chicken wings called swingz ($6.95) and for dessert we had the brisket sandwich($10.95) with sweet potato fries($2.00 xtra). Now I gotta tell ya them pickle chips are a dang tasty & savory treat. They are lightly battered and fried just right with a nice tart taste, you don't even need the globby ranch dressing that comes with it. The chicken wing were also quite delicious and must have come from the LARGE chicken tribes as they were XXL size wings. We did not bother eating the bread and ate the moist succulent brisket along with them tasty sweet potato fries. I did get a little annoyed at the extra charge for the sweet potato fries. I don't think that sweet potatoes cost much more that regular Idahos do they? The service was as good as the first time. My daughter did point out that the music playing was darn good too. She also ranked that some of the young workers kinda had that stoner look, I explained it was from the bbq smoke in the kitchen.....hmmm. The were open for lunch the next week , so I hadda go.

Surprise surprise, the lunch menu was the exact same as the dinner menu ..prices and all. So I figured, let me bring my Dad for the true test. Now Pops is legally blind so he does not care how the place looks , only how the food tastes and the price. We were a gang of four ready to eat. We started out with my new favorite snack foo "Pickle Chips" and we all ordered the chili to start. The "Pickle Chips" were outstanding and the chili was just OK. We all thought the chili was OK cause it was kinda bland, not enough kick and the portion seemed small for a $6.95. The chili was serviceable( as they say in baseball). We all ordered sandwiches, pulled pork, brisket, Carolina pulled pork & cheesesteak with 2 orders of them tatsy seasoned sweet potato fries and two orders of regular fries. Now the sandwiches were good BUT the meat portion seemed a little skimpy compared to the last time or was the bread thicker. The sweet potato fries again brought raves, they regular fries were you normal run of the mill fries. All liked the meat quality but were disappointed with the portion size, the price (Approx $100 for 4 for lunch) and the slightly off service. Was this the lunch style....hmm, NO because these were dinner prices. We will give them the benefit of the doubt since they are new and still woikin out the kinks. Pops liked the food but was upset about the price. Well that's due to the fact he still wistfully remembers the Nathans $0.05 Hot Dog with a free root beer.

Well anyways Swingbellys has the best BBQ in Nassau County for now. There is a new BBQ place opening up also in Long Beach on the East End in a couple of weeks or so. Also there is supposed to be another BBQ restaurant opening up in Oceanside near the railroad station in another month or so.

We rate it AAA - Always Above Average, worth a regular visit....... tell em jimithe greek sent you

Swingbellys Beach Side BBQ
909 West Beech St.
Long Beach, NY 11561
516-431-3464


Ratings Guide: UGH = Ugh avoid or go to Burger King
AWT = Aaaawwwight, ok in a pinch, serviceable or go to a diner
AAA = Always Above Average, worth a regular visit, certain food is always very good
OMG = Oh my god go early and often, food is heavenly

MIRANDA vs GIBBS .........BAMM


I was looking forward HBO's final B.A.D. ( Boxing After Dark ) fight card Saturday Night. The main event was a pair of tough hard hitting what me worry about defense middleweights. Willie "The Gladiator" Gibbs (20-2, 16KOs) vs Edison "El Pantero" Miranda (27-1, 24KOs.) Both men looked in great physical shape. Gibbs a philly fighter who is somehow related to another great philly fighter Bernard Hopkins is a tough, gritty fighter. His only loss in an exciting fight against a vicious Daniel Edourd on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights a couple of years ago. Miranda came in also with only one loss and 23 kos. Miranda is the Colombian Kid abandoned by his mother and basically raised himself on the streets before finding boxing and then just about started knockin every one out. His only loss was a robbery in Germany this past September. Anyways after a couple of minute of feeling each other BINGOBAMMMO!!! Miranda clocks Gibbs with an overhand right to the TOP of the head. Willie was seeing tweety birds circle his head and that was all. One round , one devastating shot and it was over!. I'm teekling you this Colombian can hit and will be a force in the middleweight division. I would love to see him fight Jermain Taylor or Ronald Winky Wright.........oh yeah now you teekling

On the under card was a scheduled 10 rounder between Featherweights Jason "The American Boy" Litzau (20 - 1, 18KOs) vs Jose Andres Hernandez (22-3, 14KO's). Litzau was another ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Fave . This turned out be a pretty good fight and an upset. Both these guys also are tough full of heart hard hitting what me worry about defense fighters. Hernandez decked Litzao wit a hard right and took the first round. Over the next six round Hernandez sustained quite a beating but gave some back and showed a lotta guts hangin in there. Litzao took those rounds on the scorecards and didn't listen to his manager who told him to box. He came out and started banging with Hernandez in the 8th round. Hernandez caught him with a BIG overhand right and knocked him loopy & out!

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR ALL YE FAITHFULL YANKEE FANS

The clutch lefty (NOT Randy Johnson) will be back in pinstripes as the Yankees drive for their next WORLD championship in 2007. Many a Yankee fan still believes that Andy Pettitte should have never been allowed to go to play in the barren baseball lands of Texas. Thankfully the best GM in baseball Brian Cashman is back steering the ship and has brought Andy back while dispatching the always unhappy Gary Sheffield to his 7th team in his 19 year career. No doubt Gary is a fearsome hitter and future hall of famer, but seems to be always unhappy with his contract. This is even more mind boggling, since he negotiates his own deals!!! I will miss his angry swing but not his lame defense and lack of hustle. Also by the way he did not show any "clutchness" in the playoffs, did he? Let us not forget that Cashman/Torre wanted Vladamir Guerrero whilst the Tampa Nobraintrust wanted Gary!

No Texas team has ever won the world series and it took Andy & Roger Clemens to get the Astros to one. Texas has produced great players but for some strange reason no baseball world champs. I think they are cursed due to the Bush (George) involvement. He should have stayed and taken his rightful place as the 2nd best Yankee lefty of all time ( next to hall of famer Whitey Ford). The starting rotation will be Wang, Pettitte, Musina, Johnson & Carl "The Milkman" Pavano. I call him the Milkman because he has milked his injuries & Yankee contract like no other. We have an office pool to determine his next major league start. I have July 1, as I figure he will get injured in spring training. It does not matter as we will have lefty Kei Igawa soon and Humberto Sanchez as back up starters. You can read here, no doubt, write it down, the Yankees will win the 2007 World Series and Joe Torre will retire!!! Yes folks, only 109 days till opening day. What you think I can watch the Knicks?