WISDOM_MARTIN's Blog

Let the games begin! Madden 09 is released monday at midnight. People are standing in line all over the country just so they can be the first ones to say I got it fist!!!! Word from the players is as soon as they get the new game ,they go home and get online and play all night long with the other madden maniacs. It's cool but I could not do it. Stand in line for hours trying to get a video game so they can go sit at home for hours and play. Now I covered the release in Bowie at the game stop. As an added bonus Redskin Hall of famer Darryl Green wa the guest of honor. A lot of people lined up just to get his autograph!   EA sports says this is the biggest release they have ever had for this game. To date they have sold 70 million copies. I remember back in the day when techmo bowl was the game!!! Wow, look how time changes. 

     A new scam for  people who use ATM's.  Police  have video of 3 guys who put a camera at a machine on rockville pike. The camera recorded the information on the card. They also put a skimmer on the same machine to steal the password on the card. Now bank of america is trying to contact customers who used the machine saturday august 2 between 2pm and 6pm. WATCH OUT. CRIMINALS KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGING TIMES.

For the last 4 years I have covered the DC summer jobs program and how they can't figure out how to pay the students on time or the right amount. This year the drama  is even worse. They increased the amount of students to 18000. It's the highest it's been in decades. In the past they averaged about 14000.

 Well surprise surprise, the problem this year.... they dont have enough money to finish the program. The mayor has sent a letter to the CFO asking them to dip into the city reserve funds for 20 million dollars so that the students can get paid for the remaining pay periods.  In my story tuesday night, I spoke with councilwomen Mary Cheh about the matter. Just like me and a lot of other people she is stunned that there is no money. Her numbers indicate that they have blown through 10 weeks of money in 3 weeks. Meaning students are getting overpaid, people are getting paid who are not working and people who are working are not getting paid. How can this be? Why can't they get this right? Payroll people!!!!  When I did the story 3 years ago, fenty was a councilman. He went looking for answers and said we have go to get this right. Well now he is in charge and the problem has gotten worse.  What a message to send to the children in the district. COME WORK FOR US, EVEN THOUGH WE CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO PAY YOU YEAR AFTER YEAR.

   The city council will be looking into the issue when they  come back september 15th. 

I liked Brette Favre when he played most of the time. I still thought he was overrated. He has not been the best quarterback in the NFL. He hasn't won a superbowl since the late 90's. His last 3 playoff games, he has thrown an interception at the end of the game that caused the packers to get beaten in the playoffs. He always manages to throw bad passes that make you wonder what was he thinking. Yet he is never held to the same standard as other quarterbacks.  He is not better than Brady or Manning.  Having said all that, please just retire already. He had a good year last year. But the 3 before that he should have been gone.cut.released. He was selfish because for the last 3 seasons he has held the packers hostage with his retirement plans. Then this year after that  playoff performance, he had the tearful press confrence. He changed his mind a few months later. Then decided he was going to stay retired. Then he wants to come back after the packers had moved on. Meanwhile he goes on TV talking about he doesn't trust the packers anymore!!!!  Now he is is just being a baby. He got the most out of his playing days and toooooo much credit for what he did so get over it and retire already.  I know all those sports guys who love him and give him a pass everytime he throws a horrific pass that gets run back for a touchdown... really think he gives them the best chance to win. Win what? He has had the last decade to give them the best chance to win , and he has not gone back to the big game. So move on, let Aaron Rogers have his time. He gives the packers the best chance to win without the drama and circus that has become Brett Favre. Peace out number 4. See you in the Hall of fame.

Are you for real Washington Wizards? You mean to tell me a guy who you made the playoffs without is worth more than 100 million? A guy who complains about playing defense. A guy who 2 years ago hurt his knee and could not finish the season, but managed to go to Berry Farm and play outside in the summer league. Then when the season started up again, his knee was damaged and he missed the entire year. A guy who is clearly not  a leader in the lockerroom. A guy who is coming off a knee injury who really did not have that much value on the open market.  Did Dan Snyder buy the team and sign agent zero? Check that, I mean AGENT ZEROES as in zeroes in that paycheck. That has got to be the case because, this has all the classic signs of a Snyder free agent move. Get someone on the open market, overpay and in return you get someone who is pretty much past his prime and no productive for the money. Sure Gilbert is young. And maybe, just maybe he will grow up one day and evolve into a leader. You could have gotten 2 good players for that amount of money and honestly the team would have been better. Maybe getting that boatload of money will inspire him to be the best he can be. Score more. Pass more. Even play defense!!! Well,  that maybe to much to ask for an employee who is getting 100 million. After all he gave back  a couple of million so they could sign another player to play defense in his place.  If  Gilbert got 100 million, Imagine what LeBron will get when he  goes to New York or New Jersey. Or when my most hated player Kobe Bryant becomes a free agent.   But I guess its all relative.Luke Walton got 30 million and he should not be in the NBA. Eric Dampier got 60 million and he hardly ever plays important minutes. I remember when Juwan Howard got a 100 million dollar contract. Now he is just sitting on the bench or getting traded every other year. Somone thought that was a good investment at one point.  Glad it's not my money.

I have lived long enough and covered enough stories to realize that crime has no boundaries. No restrictions. It can happen anywhere and anytime to anyone. Having said that, I am always surprised when someone has the nerve to go and rob a church at gunpoint.  Thats exactly what happened  Monday morning at a Lanham church. Just as Mt. Calvery Baptist church was starting its summer camp for kids, 2 masked gunman came in with weapons and took money from the staff members. They got away. The good news, the children were outside when it happened and no one was hurt.  The kicker is the pastor says every monday is the day parents pay for childcare. They pay with checks , not with cash. So he seems to think someone knows that monday is payday and decided to  steal from the house of worship. The senior pastor says this is just the times we live in and they will add extra security to make sure everyone is safe. Still, I wonder why people think they can make a quick buck by robbing the house of God. I don't  get it. Then again I never get most crimes we cover. But on a scale of 1-10, this has to be the worst of the worst.

 Once again radio man Don Imus has pulled out the  divisive race card in his show. The last time he called the Rutgers womens basketball players "Nappy Headed Hos". He got fired. He got back on the radio. And now read the comments he has made where he claims he was taken out of context.
The full transcript .

Wolf: "Defensive back Adam 'Pacman' Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys. Here's a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club."

Imus: "Well, stuff happens. You're in a night club, for God's sake. What do you think's gonna happen in a night club? People are drinking and doing drugs, there are women there, and people have guns. So, there, go ahead."

Wolf: "He's also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005."

Imus: "What color is he?"

Wolf: "He's African-American."

Imus: "Well, there you go. Now we know."

  Now how is this taken out of context?  What exactly did he mean?  What does his color have to do with anything. When people make these kind of statements how can it be possibly taken out of context. It is a racist remark. There is no excuse for that  especially when you look at what happened with Rutgers. 

Right in front of Rockville high there are 2 speed cameras. One for southbound, the other for northbound. They have been there for a little more than a year. Guess what, those 2 cameras by themselves have accounted for more than half of all the speed camera tickets in the county. The police have issued  juse over 62 thousand citations from  all 6 cameras. More than 50 thousand have come from this stretch of road. The drivers who have gotten the tickets  tell me its a sneaky  speed trap because the cameras are there just as you come over the hill. They say as soon as you get over the hill , you get a surprise.  But the police say, if they  drive according to the speed limit this would not be an issue. They say the cameras were put there because of speed complaints and there is a lot of foot traffic from Rockville high students. Besides the speed limit has been 25 MPH since the road has been around. The police say it's not about money its about getting people to slow down. Drivers say they are just trying to make money.  Well here is the breakdown on that. $16.25 goes to the vendor who runs the cameras. 25 dollars goes to the city fo fund programs.(street lighting,bike safety,sidewalks,2 new police officers for traffic enforcement, etc.)   So  what's the real motivation? Depends on who you ask.   

After watching the Lakers, in particular Kobe Bryant get slaughtered by 40 in game 6, I thought to myself it could not have happened to a more overated player. Let me get this clear.... He runs out and scores 15 in the first half , o in the third...then finishes the game with 22 points in a game they had to win to stay alive. He vanished. The previous game even though they won, he did the same thing, then dunked the ball on a lucky steal (or foul). The game before that he came out and did nothing, i mean 2 points in the first half while his team mounted a 24 point lead. Then as they blow the lead, he tries to all of a sudden show up by shooting long jump shots. That turned out to be the biggest comeback for Boston in NBA finals history. He vanished 2 years ago when they had a 3-1 lead on the Phoenix suns (who didnt have amare stoudimare). They needed one game to advance and he didn't produce. He vanished the last time the Lakers were in the championship against Detroit and  they got swept.  YET ALL THE KOBE APOLOGIST WILL SAY ITS NOT HIS FAULT. HE DIDNT HAVE ANY HELP. Funny how that wasn't an issue when they were cruising through the weak western confrence. THEY ALSO SAY BOSTON PLAYED GREAT DEFENSE.  Well here is a news flash, great players are not bothered by defense.Great players dictate what they are going to do and when they are going to do it. Great players don't get shutdown on the big stage when everything counts. Great players dont score 15 in one half the disappear the rest of the game. Great players don't allow their teams to blow historic leads. SO PLEASE KOBE LOVERS, STOP WITH THE COMPARISONS TO JORDAN. THERE IS NO COMPARISON. Jordan was  a 6 time finals MVP.Kobe has never been a finals MVP. He was  a  player who would not be denied under any circumstances. He was a leader. Any on those Chicago teams would have wasted either one of these teams. DONT TALK ABOUT DEFENSE BECAUSE JORDAN KNEW THE DOUBLE TEAM WAS COMING AND STILL COULD NOT BE STOPPED. Remember the bad boy Detroit Pistons? They played defense. But every team Jordan faced in the finals , he was clearly the best player on the floor.  THE KOBE FANS WERE AT THE GYM  CRYING ABOUT   HOW  JORDAN HAD  HELP. NO JORDAN MADE HIS TEAM BETTER. KOBE DOES NOT. HE NEVER HAS AND NEVER WILL BECAUSE HE DOES NOT GET IT.  And no matter what anyone says, he did run  Shaq out of town because he was jelous.  So KOBE fans if your out there before you start trying to make those silly comparisons to the great # 23, go back and watch Jordan dismantle the Pistons, Sonics,Jazz,Blazers and Lakers.  Kobe wasnt even the MVP or leading scorer when the Lakers had the 3 championship run with Shaq. Find me a 40 point game where Jordan came up short and didn't produce in the playoffs.  He always knew how to go get the ball and score when he needed to. He didnt pass it and stand in the corner like Kobe.  So stop it. Stop it. Stop the madness  that is the sports media's love with  the most selfish basketball player I have ever seen.

You can't tell me that the Patriots illegally taping all those games is not an issue. If they did not get an advantage, why did they go through the trouble of breaking the rules? Have you ever known anyone to cheat and break rules just for kicks? Do you really think that those handfull of tapes  the league has are the only examples of them cheating? Why did the Commish destroy evidence in the cheating scandal?  If there was nothing to hide or worry about,  why did this investigation go in this direction?  It looks like they are trying to make this go away so they can keep the money coming in. AND BY THE WAY, THOSE CHEATING PATRIOTS SHOULDN'T SAY A WORD ABOUT THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF SPYGATE. IF YOU DONT CHEAT, THERE IS NO STORY. So Tom Brady , stop with the crying ,blaming the media. Are they going to blame the media for getting a beatdown in the Super Bowl?

Check this out NBA HEADS. The lottery stinks!!!! Whats the point of being the worst team in the league if you are not going to improve  by getting the top pick in the draft. Thats what they do in the other sports. Why is it not good enough for David Sterns NBA? To me it's just another misstep he has taken when it comes to running this league.   The draft is jacked up. The bulls were a playoff team last year and now they get the top pick? Granted I don't want to see the LA Clippers get the top pick every year... but picking fixed ping pong balls or envelopes is not the answer. If it's legit, how did LeBron end up the top pick in Cleveland? How is it Derrick Rose from Chicago may end up in Chicago? Speaking of conspiracy... how is it that Pauo Gasol was given to the Lakers for Kwame Brown when other teams were offering real players for 2 years and Memphis said no deal. PLEASE!!!! Where is the congressional hearing????????????

Normally when you get ready to pick a hospital , several things come into play. Location, urgency,type of care and a lot of times word of mouth(reputation). Now  the department of health and human services has created a website where patients can log on and leave their comments about their experiences at the hospital. Anyone can go to the site and check different areas, make comparisons  based on care. It's an interesting idea. But some hospital experts are concerned that it will not rate them correctly. For example some of the hospitals in the area known as the best, may not be number 1 in a specific catagory. I spoke with the govenrment agency and they tell me, all they are trying to do is give people information so they can make an informed decision. They also want to encourage hospitals to improve service. Would you go to a website to get hospital information or would you just ask someone and go based on reputation?

 Starting june 1, anyone under the age of 16 at the Blvd at the Cap Center after 9pm must have an adult with them. If not, mall security will ask them to take a hike. The board chair told me there was growing concern from residents,shoppers and store managers that there were too many of teens hanging out there and  running off customers. Shoppers also told me one of the reasons they avoid the area is because of the large number of teens loitering.  The question is will this really work? Will the security have the manpower to runoff unsupervised teens? If they are successful, will this change the mall for the better? Several malls all across the country have this same policy.

Each year we go through  the excitement of march madness where any team left in the 65 team tournament has a chance to pull off a major upset.  It's the best tournament in all of sports.  So why on earth do we have to listen each year to all those coaches who did not make the tournament complain about expanding it? I heard mean old Bobby Knight suggest let all  the teams in. Are you kidding me? All the teams are already in. It''s called confrence tournament. If you are a 17 win team and you get beat down in the first round of the confrence tournament, why should you be rewarded for being bad?  I heard a new argument the other day from one coach who did not make it saying "its about enhancing the college experience for the student athlete, why should they not get in the tournament." The real fact is, with 65 selected teams, someone will get left out. Someone will complain. If you have 80 teams, someone will get left out and complain. If you have 120 teams someone willget left out and complain. If you let everybody in, then some will complain about where they are playing and the seeding process. HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE.....IF IT'S NOT BROKEN, DONT FIX IT. The NCAA tournament is the best sporting event. If all those crying coaches who don't make it want to do something about it, TRY WINNING  DURING THE REGULAR SEASON OR WINNING IN THE CONFRENCE TOURNAMENT. Win the conference tournament and you are automatically in. Problem solved. Please stop with the crying and complaining and pretending like its all about the kids and not a big PHAT finanical bonus for coaches and schools who make the NCAA tournament. STOP IT , I SAY!!!!!

Let me get this straight. Senator Waxman who ran the congressional hearing about Roger Clemens and his steroid use is now saying he didn't want the hearing in the first place, he regrets it, and that the entire dog and pony show was Clemens attorney's idea!!!!  Clemen's attorney fired back saying it was all Senator Waxman.  Are you serious? Our elected leaders are telling the public a baseball players lawyers caused them to have a congressional hearing? This is amazing. How would the public feel about their taxpayers money being wasted like this.