Difficulties with YES

The YES Network had some technical difficulties with its picture as the Yankees closed out the Rangers tonight.

It kind of brought me back to the days when it was commonplace to see a still picture on TV and every 30 seconds or so hear that guy's voice:

"We are experiencing operating difficulties. Please stand by."

The Yankees' victory moved them into first place, alone, for the first time since the very beginning of the season. It's amazing how many pitching injuries and overall underperformances they have needed to make themselves and underdog. But they are.

In a completely unrelated subject, I think the only reason I am posting was because I wanted to type Claude Lemieux's name. Claude Lemieux. There, I did it.

I thought about making his name a single post. But I got a little excited with the Yankees and the YES operating difficulties and I just caught up on Vanishing James and the wife sacked out and I just started typing.

Speaking of Vanishing James, the dude can really write. Like all of us -- but in a unique way -- he has a lot on his mind. VJ is mad (miffed?) at me right now because I have gone hiking with my brother-in-law without telling him. What he does not know is that I actually went three times over the last two weekends. It's a secret. SHHHHH!!!

Frank Viola. *17. If the Monarch is reading this, he is laughing hysterically right now.

Speaking of the whole hiking thing, I have been using it as part of the regimen en route to getting back into some kind of shape. I hiked the "Tiki Run" on Sunday in the rain and heat. The "Tiki Run" is this run in the mountains that Tiki Barber does to increase his fitness level. While I did not run it, I made it through with no problem, save for the mosquitos that literally swarmed me numberous times.

The hike we did goes from about 200 feet elevation to over 1,100 feet, which is not bad for New Jersey. Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback clocks in at around 1,043 feet, and I climbed (hiked) that in 1996. This was a lot different.

YES, I did not experience any operating difficulties. I'mOut.