"You say it's your birthday..."

"…WELL IT’S MY BIRTHDAY, TOO, YEAH."
Honest, it really is!  I’m officially halfway to 88 today, as I now travel down Route 44 on the highway of life.  I have mixed feelings about it all, as birthdays to me have become pretty much a non-event anymore, especially when they land on weekdays when I have to work.  Then again, any day above ground is a good one, I suppose…

NICE GOING, JR.!
A belated congrats to Cincinnati Reds slugger Ken Griffey, Jr. for joining the 600 Home Run Club this week.  I know this sounds redundant in light of what all the talking heads on ESPN, et al, have said about him, but it’s kinda nice to not have to mention Griffey’s name and steroids in the same sentence.  Dirty shame that injuries bogged Jr.’s career down over the last few years too, or he might be chasing 800 homers right about now.  Even so, he has once of the sweetest, most fluid swings you’ll ever see, too.  If he remains healthy, he might be able to at least catch Willie Mays for fourth place all-time at 661 in about three years.

YOUR CHEATIN’ HEARTS?
Lots of hubbub during the NBA playoffs about allegations by scalawag former NBA ref Tim Donaghy that refs were told by the higher-ups during the 2002 playoff series between the L.A. Lakers and Sacramento Kings to not give technical fouls to the star players and to basically tilt the series in L.A.’s favor to garner better TV ratings.  Not sure whether to believe this schmuck or not, given the timing of his accusations—right smack-dab in the middle of this year’s NBA Finals—but this does bring up an interesting question:  How come the officials aren’t held more accountable when they screw up?  Why are they shielded from the media after a game (not just by the NBA, but by all the major sports leagues) when there’s a controversial ruling?  Seems to me that if a star quarterback gets grilled for throwing three interceptions in a game, why can’t the refs have their feet held to the fire too?

PUT HER ON THE Z-LIST, ALREADY!
Anyone out there besides me growing tired of irritating "comedienne" Kathy Griffin, yet?  They’ve been hyping yet another new celebrity name-dropping show for her, and her 15 minutes shoulda been up a long time ago.  This unfunny woman is the second-coming of Joan Rivers (minus the ugly-ass daughter), and she's the female equivalent of Gilbert Gottfried on my irritation scale.  What a waste of pretty red hair…

CLASSIC MISHEARD LYRIC #85
"It Don’t Come Easy"—RINGO STARR (1971)  "This love of mine is growing all the time, and you know it just ain’t easy…"  To my 7-year-old ears, I thought Sir Ringo was singing "this rump of mine is growing all the time"!  Can’t knock this song, though—it’s a quintessential three-minute pop single, and one of my all-time favorites.  Not much was expected out of Mr. Starkey after The Beatles broke up, but ironically, he was churning out the hits right and left early on while the other three scuffled a bit before hitting their strides in their solo careers.

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCY DEPT.
I get a chuckle out of my interactive menu on Compost Cablevision in their listings for the "Beverly Hillbillies" on TV Land that are marked "Repeat".  Uhhh, like there are still some first-run episodes lurking around out there?

TOTAL NONSEQUITOR, HERE…
Anyone ever notice this little oddity on the "Muppet Show"?  All the characters that were shown playing the guitar or banjo were left-handed.  A tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi and Paul McCartney, perhaps?  Oh wait, I know—they're all left-leaning bleedin' heart liberals, right, Ms. Malkin?