TURN OUT THE LIGHTS, THE PARTY'S OVER
P+J mourn the death of Don Meredith, football star with the Dallas Cowboys and joker-in-residence with the original Monday Night Football broadcast team, which turned the show into an American institution. You will read all the praise for his exceptional football and announcer talents elsewhere. But P+J most enjoyed him as Peter Gent's thinly-disguised party-hearty proxy, Seth Maxwell, in his wonderful book, North Dallas Forty, which was a roman a clef about pro football and the Dallas Cowboys in particular.
We believe Meredith's most auspicious moment came when his partner on the MNF team, Howard Cosell — claiming to be suffering from the flu but also, as later revealed by his wife, having been overserved prior to the game — parked the tiger on Meredith's cowboy boots in the announcer's booth. Telling it (to the floor and Dandy Don's footwear) as it is, indeed, Howard.
It was a long, strange trip, right, Danderoo?
HOLY CYBER-FRAUD, BATMAN!
While Craigslist has achieved a certain degree of infamy for once being a great place to find a prostitute and attract murderers, it looks like the web site has added a new weapon to its illicit arsenal: fake real estate listings.
Seems scam artists are copying legitimate listings from reputable firms and then shopping them on Craigslist to unsuspecting buyers. Besides the obvious fraud involved — which it appears Craigslist is doing nothing to police — the scams undermine the credibility of the honest agent from whom the listings are lifted.
Friends we know who have been burned by this tactic are pursuing some sort of justice. We say report it to the state police, who should track the criminals and bring the hammer down on Craigs-list for allowing these shady scams. That or simply go to the Craigslist headquarters, drag the CEO and top execs out on to the street, and beat them to within an inch of their lives with realtors' "For Sale" signs.
Craigslist has now made your superior correspondents' own Craplist. Caveat emptor, kiddies.
WELL-DESERVED HONORS
We're sure that you all saw the (at this point) none too surprising news that the great Bill Harley has once again been nominated for a Grammy (the category: Best Spoken Word Album for Children). Unlike Roomful of Blues who have also been nominated for a jillion Grammys, Bill frequently gets to take the trophy home.
That Roomful has become the music world's Susan Lucci probably has something to do with the fact that being nominated in the "traditional blues" category means competing with household names like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Albert King, and James Cotton.
This year Bill has some competition from the likes of Julie Andrews and Emma Thompson. We still like our guy's chances.
One other note on Bill: Amy Dickinson's advice column in the LifeBleat section of the December 1 BeloJo featured a letter concerning what is apparently a fairly common challenge for school teachers — how to handle "the near-constant e-mail contact from parents demanding instant responses." Amy recommended "an informative (and very sweet) book detailing the sometimes tricky relationship between parents and a child's teacher, Between Home and School: Letters, Notes and Emails by Bill Harley (2010, Round River Productions)" and adds "this might be a good holiday gift for a special teacher in your child's life." We second that motion.
