I(owa) Like Ike!

Apparently, they like Mike too. Both Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Hussein Obama won last night's Iowa Caucases for the Republican and Democrat parties respectively.Frankly, we here at Curbing are flattered that our words carry enough weight to elect Presidents. We do recognize that this was not done alone. We could not have done it without our loyal reading audience. The die - hard fans of ''The Dachs and Elie Show'' did their part as well. What do these wins mean? Is Mitt Romney done? Bye - bye Edwards? Every Pundit has their own take. What is clear is that Hillary is no longer the front runner of her party. What is also clear is that Mike Huckabee's recent surge in the polls was not some passing phase but rather he is a major force to be reckoned with. What our audience must understand is that we have not embraced Mike as the ideal candidate. We have endorsed him with the understanding that he is the best electable candidate running for President of the United States in 2008. Republican? Yes. Conservative? Not purely. Liberal? According to Mitt Romney yes, but that is a little extreme. On issues such as immigration, awarding aliens benefits,and granting criminals clemency, Mike is no conservative.If you are fine with that its great but, comparisons between Huckabee and Ronald Reagen are unwarranteed and are simply laughable.Mike is nevertheless a strong candidate for the Presidency and we believe he may be the best currently running. If Bill Frist and Rick Santorum had remained politically viable it may have been another story, but we'll never know, will we?

End of Year Awards

Radio Broadcast of the Year - "Dachs and Elie Show" (WYUR.org)
Honorable Mention - Rush Limbaugh (WABC), Jim Rome (ESPN)

Album of the Year - "It Just Comes Natural" - George Strait
Honorable Mention - "Everything is Fine" - Josh Turner

Mom of the Year - Lynne Spears

Song of the Year - How 'Bout Them Cowgirls - George Strait

Music Video of the Year - Online - Brad Paisley

NFL - Player of the Year - Tom Brady (Patriots)*
Honorable Mention - Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers)

NHL - Player of the Year - Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
Honorable Mention - Vincent Lecavlier - (Lightning)

MLB Player of the Year - Alex Rodriguez (Yankees)
Honorable Mention - Balco

I'm tired, as I come up with more I'll post them.

Parker - Parked!

The Steelers have finally gotten on the right foot while the NFL's leading rusher got off the wrong one. Willie Parker will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a fractured fibula that he sustained on his first rush of the game. In his absence, the Steelers had, what was in my opinion, their most dominating rushing attack of the season. The injury finally gives the Steelers the big break that they so desperately needed. NFL, watch out.! Were back. Smashmouth football, baby. Pittsburgh style!

Ben Roethlisberger threw the third perfect quaterback - rating game of his short career. That ties an NFL record (Peyton Manning). If not for Tom Brady's ridiculous season, Ben might have (should have) been the league's MVP. Take a look at his stats. They might suprise you.

With a win the Steelers moved to 10 - 5 and a clinched a playoff birth. Should they win next week against the Ravens they will move to 11 - 5 and take the division. In 1992 the Steelers had a rookie coach. His name was Bill Cowher and his team went 11 - 5 taking the division. Good job Tomlin.

Mario Lemieux - Magnificent One

Wayne Who?

New and Notable 2

Since the historic Curbing endorsement of Gov. Mike Huckabee, he has not only risen in the polls but has received a corresponding barrage of derision from the media and other politicians. The forces behind this deluge, however, are primarily Republican politicians and conservative media outlets. Many Democrats feel that Huckabee would be an easy kill in the event he were nominated. They would like to avoid the same mistake Republicans made with Howard Dean in putting the kibosh in for his nomination. Considering that Huckabee is not likely to implode on national television as Dean did, many Republicans are scared that with all his religous baggage and comments, Huckabee is not electable. Therefore, they want his run to end now and not in November. While I understand their concerns, I have little doubt that Mike is the best man for the job. Should he emerge as the Republican candidate, he will with greater exposure win over the American people with his ideas, charisma, and solid character.

The Mitchell Report along with its media coverage has been from its inception laughable.
1) For months now we have been hearing nothing but hype regarding the Mitchell Report - ''the names that we will hear are going to shake the game of baseball to its core!''. Not only have there not been many suprising names, there has not in fact been even one. Roger Clemens, who has become the poster boy for the report- is an old name. There has been much speculation about the Rocket for years, not to mention the Jason Grimsley bust along with good pal Andy Pettite. After these Roid heads and HGH heroes the most original name invoked in the Report was Barry Bonds.

2) After months of hype the media has been unwilling to admit that the report was a major letdown. Screaming headlines punctuate every newscast, newspaper, and website as if 97% of the league had been implicated in the scandal. Prepared headlines are ubiquitous even though they are inappropriate to the reality of what has occured. One headline in particular - "Guess Who's Smiling?" depicts Clemens scowling and Bonds laughing. The implication was that Bonds was happy that others are now under scrutiny. The article fails to mention that Bonds should be furious that while he's facing federal prosecution simply for being obnoxious, 92.6% of baseball players (most of whom are juiced) were not implicated in the steroid scandal which leads to my next point.

3) There is no way that this Report is comprehensive. Getting one New York Mets club house boy to squeal hardly constitutes a thorough and comprehensive investigation. Mitchell should have made no pretense that he even scratched the surface or that he was even moderately successfull in his probe. For goodness sakes, he did not even have any subpoeana power! No wonder no one spoke to him other than The Giambino.

4) Mitchell recommended that the Commissioner not take punitive measures against players named unless he deems the conduct so egregious that he must do so in order to preserve the integrity of the game. (As if there is any left.) What does this mean? That the player injected both cheeks?

Thursday's Top Five 1 - All time Albums That Have Not Gained Proper Recognition - Untill Now

In what will be a weekly feature, Curbing will announce the top five in whatever category we happen to choose. We may be open to requests.

1)All Things Must Pass - George Harrison (1970)

Although George has passed, this masterpeice lives on to the delight of all things that have not. The unique musical sound produced on this album has not come close to being duplicatd since. The sitar solo on "Isn't it a Pity?" is absolutely heart - stirring. "My Sweet Lord", "Wah Wah", ''Beware of Darkness" - these are just a few of the precious gems that are on this album. The truth is, every song on "All Things Must Pass" is a jewel.

2) White Trash With Money - Toby Keith (2006)

Altough this album won't necessaraly contribute a disproportionately large number of songs to Toby Keith's next greatest hits album, it
assumes a prominent position on this list because of the consistent quality of each song. Standout songs include "A Little Too Late", "Can't Buy You Money'', "Crash Here Tonight" and of course "Get Drunk and Be Somebody".

3)Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles (1967)

Any legitimate greatest album ranking already grants this work a slot in the top twenty, but not until a good few Beatles albums have been listed. "Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Rubber Soul", and "Abbey Road" are always listed before this masterpiece. While those masterpieces have their rightful spots among the greatest of all time, MMT deserves even more recognition. Aside from the super smash hits "Hello Goodbye" "Strawberry Fields Forever""All You Need Is Love" and the magesterial "Penny Lane, " this album also contains underrated treasures such as "Fool on the Hill", "I am the Walrus ", and "Baby You're a Rich Man". This just might be the Fab Four's greatest masterpiece.

4) Haneshama Lach - Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1959)

As the seminal album of all modern jewish music, this abum deserves more recognition than it receives. Sure, Carlebach himself is a celebrated musician, composer, and vocalist, but this album particularly is deserving of more credit. If "Haneshama Lach'', "Mimkoimcha" and "Ki Lishuascha" do nothing for you then you just might not have a heart. Additionally, the vocal performance on this album is Carlebach's best.

5)Hillbilly Deluxe - Brooks and Dunn

The featured song alone would make this a great album. Toss in ''Believe'', ''Building Bridges'', and '' Play Something Country'' and this album's selection is a no - brainer

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Best performance of a song not by the original artist. Notice the young Dhani who is a ringer for his father George Harrison.