Origins of the Irish Flag, CNN, and the Buffalo Bills

Not that long ago, a buddy of mine asked me about the colors of the Italian Flag and if they are similar to the Irish Flag. My buddy's wife is very proud of her Irish heritage (why I don't know), and while they were out one time they drove by Delmonico's restaurant here in Rochester and the flag out in front was red, white, and "orange" instead of red (which is the color of the motherland's flag). I've spent a lot of time making fun of Kathy's Irish heritage over the years, so the fact the Iti flag in front of an Iti restaurant was looking like an Irish flag because a great source of amusement for her and a topic for my buddy to make fun of me over. It was at that point I shared the history of the Irish flag with them and I will do the same with you good people. You see, the Irish people are not the most creative people around. I mean no disrespect (well maybe a little), but when the Irish cuisine revolves around boiling everything...creativity just isn't in abundance. Because of this, Ireland was without an actual flag for quite sometime. It wasn't until Shamus Patrick McO'Malley (a direct descendent of St. Patrick) was traveling Europe and found himself in Italy that he was struck with the idea for an Irish flag. See, he happened upon a proud, hard working Italian who was replacing his Italian flag outside his humble home. Shamus asked the man what he was doing. The Italian showed shamus that his red, white, and green flag that had been hanging for a few years now was faded from its time in the hot sun. The red had been faded as such that it looked like it was a red, green, and orange flag. Shamus asked what the Italian was going to do with the spent flag. The Italian mentioned that was going to properly dispose of the flag after he hung up his new one. Shamus seeing an opportunity here, asked the Italian if he would be willing to give him the flag as he liked the faded color look and would like to bring it back to his own country to display. (Its too bad that Shamus didn't also ask for the Italian's book of recipes here too). The Italian thought about it, and in a good faith gesture offered Shamus the flag as long as he took care of it. Shamus promised and was on his way. When Shamus returned to Ireland he present "his" flag to the King and to the people. He said he had a "flash" of brilliance and that these 3 colors represented Ireland to its fullest. The King and the people were dazzled by Shamus' bullshit and the flag was incorporated and became the national flag and still stands today. So, whenever you see a faded Italian flag, just know there is some Mick around the corner just waiting for it to be replaced so he can have his "own" Irish Flag. So, every time you see an Irish flag hanging, just know that it was a recycled Italian Flag. Oh, and contrary to the rumors, Italians throw out their trash in clear plastic bags so the Puerto Ricans can window shop, not the Irish.



Now that I have the humor out of the way, lets get down to my bitter rants. First off, CNN . I get a lot of my news from CNN.com. I check other news sites, but spend most of my news related time on CNN. For the most part, CNN is a decent place for news. Its not perfect, but its not Fox news and its not NPR news either. However, going beyond their regular section for entertainment news, CNN has been putting direct links on the main page for people like Paris Hilton and Clay Aiken. Are you fucking kidding me? Look, everyone knows that Paris was in jail, that she is a skank, that she is a bitch, and that she is fake. I don't need a direct link that is placed next to the dow jones report to continually tell me that. I don't need a direct link to Clay Aiken letting me know he limp wristed some loser on an airplane placed right next to a link talking about global warming. Look, lets keep the news real and leave stories like this for the National Enquirer. You wanna put some direct links to people, how about some politicians like HRC , Rudy G , J McCain , Obama ? God knows the voting public can all use some edumacation when it comes to this subject! How about some links to people who do lots of charity work, or who donate time and money to good causes? To people who are supporting America's Veterans ? Would that be too much to ask for instead of Paris Hilton? If I want my fill of skanks and sex I'll pop in a porn where I can handle my business as well.

Buffalo Bills . I was reading in the Rochester D and C the other day that the Buffalo Bills are going to raise the price of parking in their stadium lots. Currently it is $15. While exorbitant, its not bad comparatively. However for this upcoming season they are raising the price by 60% to $25, well above the league average. You cannot tell me that the Bills are hurting so bad for money that they have to soak fans for that much money just to park a game. I know there are other parking options there that cost less, however lets face it...if we buy a couple tickets for the game for a hundy and a half we want the convenience of being able to actually park at the stadium and not have to walk a half mile each way. All sports are fleecing fans. MLB, NBA, NCAA, NHL. However the NFL is a fucking juggernaut that is making money like the Gambino Crime Family in the '70's and '80's. Surely they could do something to help make the game more cost effective to the fans! Surely the league could kick a few extra dollars back to the teams to help keep something like parking a bit more affordable. The NFL needs to be careful because they will eventually start pricing out fans of the product then the good times will no longer roll! In the meantime, between this, the threats of the Bills moving, Ralph Wilson's apparent lack of concern of the future of the team after he kicks all has me pretty down on the Bills currently. Since Ralph seemingly doesn't care about the fans that are supporting his team, I'm less inclined to give him my hard earned dollars as well. Guess I'll just keep hoping that Bills games aren't blacked out on Sunday's.