Blogs List
TV is the new reading
 Terry J. Aman |
‘The Cleaner’ fits well into A&E’s crime slotWed, August 27, 2008 @ 6:32PM There was a time, long ago, when A&E featured Agatha Christie mysteries and other delightful fluff where an antiques appraiser ran about the countryside peeking into armoires and credenzas and solving mysteries. Oh, sure, at about 9 p.m. it became the Nazi War Atrocities channel and a celebration of all things World War II. But up until then you could see a biography of Grace Kelly or a crime solved by a teacup. There’s still a crime focus on A&E. But now, because everything on cable television is on steroids, it’s crime to the extreme! It’s lantern-jowled Bill Kurtis and “American Justice” or “Dog the Bounty Hunter.” It’s “Intervention,” “Jacked” and “The First 48.” Poor Miss Marple wouldn’t know where to look. And, naturally, in all of this, there is “The Cleaner.
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Sometimes It Rains
 Chris Bieri |
How I learned to stop worrying and love Max ScherzerThu, May 1, 2008 @ 7:02PM My boss at the Minot Daily News, sports editor Michael Linnell, always asks me why I never write about the umpteen million fantasy sports leagues I'm in. I never do because about 99.99 percent of readers don't care about it (although some say you could apply that same percentage to thre rest of my writing). Anyway, I was about to break down a few weeks ago and write about how I had already blown any chance I had to win my MLB roto baseball league. After drafting last in the 16-team league, I was awarded No. 1 waiver priority. That means I have the first chance to claim any player another team drops or a player who moves up from the minors and wasn't draft eligible. After drafting offense in the first 6 rounds, I needed to use that waiver pick on a stud pitcher. Two weeks into the season, it appeared I had missed out on picking up the "Next Big Thing." That "Next Big Thing" would be Cincy Reds starter Johnny Cueto.
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 Dave Caldwell |
A tale of three lawyersMon, July 14, 2008 @ 12:17PM Not everybody can be happy with the results of any criminal trial. Somebody wins, somebody loses, and that's how the cookie crumbles. After spending the better part of the past month covering the Stridiron-Davis trial, however, I think there is a large group of people who should nod their heads with approval of what unfolded in what at times was a bombastic display of courtroom guile: American citizens. Most certainly, there will be detractors of the verdict -- friends are friends, family is family -- as Bob Martin said repeatedly during the trial, "blood is thicker than water." What I walked away with, though, after putting all emotions to the side, is a reconfirmed, pronounced admiration for the jury trial process in our American justice system. On display on a daily basis were the wares of three men -- state's attorney John Van Grinsven (with an assist from Tim Wilhelm) and public defenders Martin and Josh Rustad of Williston.
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