Some Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning...

• I am happy to say that I did not waste one single minute of my life by watching any of the NFL Scouting Combine.


• This is the same combine that over the years led NFL teams to make Jeff George and JaMarcus Russell overall #1 draft picks, and made teams agonize over whether Ryan Leaf might be a better pick as overall #1 than Peyton Manning.


• Unlike many, I have always been a fan of Bob Smizik, but his criticism of Frank Coonelly, even before the DUI citation, goes way beyond normal criticism and seems to border on the personal. It's one thing to stick a knife in a guy's back, but it's quite another to to twist the knife while throwing salt on the wound.


• I know that Angelina Jolie is considered by many to be the most beautiful and sexiest woman in the movies today, but she does nothing for me.


• The newest Jonathan Kellerman novel, "Victims", featuring Alex Delaware, was released today. Guess what I'm going to be doing when I sign off of here this morning?


• I watched a movie last night called "A Face in the Crowd" from 1957, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal. Good movie. All about the power of the media and it's cultural and political influence. Still very timely, and, from the viewpoint of 2012, this was one way ahead of its time. Griffith was really good in this dramatic role, but don't expect the folksy, friendly Andy of Mayberry if you watch this. Andy, playing a guy named Lonesome Rhodes, was not a very likable guy in this one. As Robert Osbourne observed on TCM, he never played another character like this again.


• Speaking of movies, it is "Godfather 40th Anniversary Week" on American Movie Classics. As one always does, I got hooked watching for about a half hour last night (saw Jack Woltz wake up with the horse, saw Luca get sent to sleep with the fishes, and heard "leave the gun, take the canollis"), but then shut it off. Since AMC edits for language and throws in lots of commercial breaks, you are better off going to your DVD collection to watch these classics.


• I am late to the party, I know, but I spent a good part of last week watching Season One of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire on DVD. Great series. I'm not yet ready to put it up with The Sopranos, but still a very good show. Can't wait for the DVD release of Season Two. At the risk of sounding like a real geek, I absolutely love the costumes and the period recreation of 1920 Atlantic City. Really good stuff.


• Did you catch any of the Accenture Match Play over the past weekend? I was happy to see American Hunter Mahan win this one. Mahan now moves into the top echelon, if he wasn't already there, of young American pro golfers, and here's one thing to really like about him - he plays fast. When it's his turn to hit, he already has the club in his hand, he walks up to the ball, and he hits it! Very refreshing.