Only in Hoboken

And only on Halloween:

HOBOKEN – A woman told police she was attacked by women dressed as French maids during a bar fight that spilled into the street, reports said.
Police were called Sunday at 12:48 a.m. on a report of women fighting in the street outside the Lana Lounge, at the corner of Newark and River streets, where they found a group of women fighting and screaming.

Sounds pretty representative of my experience living in the ‘boken. Lana Lounge, by the way, used to be called River Street. That’s the bar where, in 2000, Penn State quarterback Rashard Casey was arrested for beating up an off-duty police officer.

In Defense of Crazy Attack Ads

I praise the biannual October tradition in this week’s North Star column.

Well, That Sucked

Just when I was getting some optimism about this year’s Vikings, they go and get crushed by the Patriots, at home, on Monday Night Football. Just a debacle from beginning to end, which upset me almost as much as Paris Hilton’s cameo at the beginning of the broadcast.
I did love that halftime mascot race, however. Hilarious stuff.

Political Headline of the Week

Star Tribune: Antichrist buzz brings Bachmann camp denials
Now, I’m not the expert on Minnesota politics that I once was. But I don’t believe it’s a good sign for a political campaign to have “Antichrist buzz.”

“If We’ve Lost Eskin…”

Want an indication of how awry things have gone for the Eagles, after losing three games in a row? Even WIP’s Howard Eskin, the most blatant Eagles/Andy Reid sycophant in town, now admits that he doesn’t believe the Eagles are a playoff team. And this when they’re 4-4 after eight weeks, and still have McNabb and Westbrook healthy…
Things looked so good for the Eagles after the Dallas victory. I’m not ready to give up on them yet, but then I haven’t been through the decades-long self-flaggelation that is Philly fandom, so perhaps I’m not one to talk.

The Last Days of Kirby

The Star Tribune is running a fascinating, multi-part series on the direction Kirby Puckett’s life took in the years between his retirement from baseball in 1996 and his death earlier this year. It’s worth checking out here.

Eckstein Awarded

If this doesn’t get him the Eckstein Award, nothing will…
David Eckstein was named World Series MVP, when the Cardinals beat the Tigers on Friday to win the World Series in five games. And here we thought Rex Grossman was a shoo-in…
I admit, I was wrong about the Cards. Then again, so was most of baseball. They’ve been a good team for a very long time, pretty much continuously in contention for as long as Tony LaRussa has been their manager. Raise your hand if you guessed before the series that it would end with a montage of Jeff Weaver highlights, scored to “Ain’t No Other Man.”
Now, the Hot Stove League begins. It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Red Dead

Legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach died on Saturday at the age of 89. He won 988 games as Celtics coach and was team president for many years after that. When the Celtics practiced at Brandeis, I remember him puffing away on a cigar at the Gosman Sports complex, right in front of the “no smoking” sign.

RIP, Joe Niekro

Former major league pitcher Joe Niekro, who was on the Twins’ 1987 championship team, died Friday of a brain aneurysm at age 61. Niekro had a long and distinguished career, but he might be best known for the incident in 1987 in which a piece of sandpaper fell out of his pocket, and he was suspended for 10 games.
It’s sort of like Gerry Studds: Niekro got back in the news because of a similar transgression (by Kenny Rogers), and then died about a week later.
Not a good year for the ’87 Twins: Puckett and Niekro die, Jeff Reardon gets arrested for robbery, Gary Gaetti gets fired from the Astros, and Bert Blyleven gets suspended for cursing on the air.

No, I’m Not Kidding…

Stephen A. Smith actually wrote a good column the other day. Of course, that may be because about 80% of it is quotes by NFL legend Jim Brown. In it, Brown assesses the high level of damage done to Donovan McNabb’s psyche as a result of last year’s T.O. debacle.
There’s no question that damage has been done, although I suppose the last three consecutive losses, including today’s to Jacksonville, are on him.