A great night at the Emmys. And rude service-people do so much damage

Love the Emmy Awards. Always one of my favorite TV nights of the year. And yet I’m always disappointed and angry when my favorite shows don’t win.
Except Sunday night, they almost all did. Stunning to see quality rewarded. Thrilled that “Modern Family” and “Mad Men” both took home the big prize.

A few rambling thoughts from my brain from last night’s show, which I found very entertaining:

**Very nice job by Jimmy Fallon. Surprised at how good he was. The opening sketch was great, and I loved Fallon’s musical tribute to the three shows that went off the air. Brilliant.

**LL Cool J. As my wife said, “Dude, you’re like in your 50s. Time to take off the Kangol hat.”

**Jane Lynch had to win for her role in “Glee.” I only wish she wore the track suit and did a “Sue’s Corner” while she was up there.

**Great speech by Eric Stonestreet, Cameron from “Modern Family.” I loved that he said he’s giving the Emmy to his parents so they can see it every day “and realize what they made possible for me.” Very touching.

**January Jones is beautiful, but that was a pretty awful dress, I think.
**And Lauren Graham, sweetheart, I love you, but what the hell were you wearing? Not good.

**So glad Al Pacino won for the Jack Kevorkian movie “You Don’t Know Jack.” Although that was a rambling, weird speech, Al.

**I’m a huge fan of the death montage every year, and I loved this year’s, with Jewel singing along with it. But Dennis Wolper is the last person we see? He’s the most important death of the last year? And yeah, I moaned a little seeing Boner Stubone and Corey Haim in the montage. So sad.

**I like George Clooney more and more these days, because he can laugh at himself. That’s rare with famous people.

**Guess I should see that “Temple Grandin” HBO movie. I think it won like 412 awards.

**Finally, a long overdue win for Jim Parsons, Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory.” Such a great show, and such a great part. Really, it was a terrific night for people who like good TV.

**So I found myself in a department store in the mall the other day, and I had a pretty crappy experience with a saleslady.
This woman was rude, dismissive of the story I told (that a product I was told was in stock by another employee a short time earlier on the phone, now wasn’t in stock, it appeared), and just extremely off-putting.

And I wonder if she realizes how uncomfortable she made the situation for me. And how I simply won’t shop there again, because of her attitude. And that for all she knows I could be a big spender.  Just like I would patronize a store that gave me great customer service, just because they were nice, customers like me avoid stores because of one bad attitude from one employee.

I know retail work isn’t easy; I’m not saying every person should be as enthusiastic and helpful as Richard Simmons on a case of Jolt cola (do they still make that?).

But the damage one person can do to a store’s reputation is unbelievable.

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Obedience school for women, suggests two South Carolina cops. And “Big Bang” rules again

You know, sometimes these blogs just write themselves. Like tonight. My old friend Mike Voorheis, a damn fine tennis opponent and Boggle player back when I lived in Wilmington, N.C., alerted me to a lovely tale of a North Myrtle Beach, S.C. public safety director who has some newfangled ideas of combating domestic violence.

Yep, Maj. Walt Floyd has all kinds of wonderful ideas and thoughts. For example, when deciding whether a 17-year-old boy should be charged for having sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend, he replied (according to a tape recording made by another office), “Damn if I wouldn’t have screwed her if I was that young.”

But the real class statement comes a little later in the tape, according to this story in the Myrtle Beach Sun-News. A police lieutenant named Don Repec and Maj. Floyd are discussing the rise in domestic violence cases reported.

“All these criminal domestic violences in here, can the victim advocate start enrolling people in, some of these women, in obedience school so they don’t have all these problems with their men,”” Repec said on the recording.

“We probably need to,” Floyd said on the recording, in response to Repec’s repeated request to enroll the victims in obedience school.

Could these two be any more disgusting, backward, or offensive? Not sure. Maybe there are more tape recordings where they advocate children prevent abuse from parents by running away from home. Or where they blame rape victims for being so darn alluring that night at the bar.

I know it’s South Carolina, the state that has given us Mark Sanford and Strom Thurmond, but if these two have their jobs for more than another week, it’s an enormous slap in the face to women, and to the citizens of that town. (UPDATE: They’ve been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. What, exactly needs to be investigated here?)

It’s 2010, for God’s sakes. How much longer does moronic, backward thinking get allowed from those entrusted to lead and protect the public?

**And now, a few more words about “The Big Bang Theory.” What another outstanding episode Monday night. Can’t remember the last show that consistently brought the funny every week. Don’t give me “The Office,” because I never got into it. Maybe “Seinfeld?” Or “Cheers” before that?

They’ve clearly moved the show around Sheldon, which is smart because he’s the best character. But everyone else plays their role so perfectly on that show. The scene with the ball pit Monday night had me in stitches, partly because I remember how damn difficult it is to get out of those things. And Sheldon as a busboy? Genius.

How this show hasn’t won an Emmy yet blows me away.

Ole’ Roy Williams acts like a king, a fave TV show slips, and a Walgreens sign that made me laugh

Well, well, looks like Ole’ Roy Williams has lot his cool yet again, and once again abused his power.

The North Carolina basketball coach, who is as thin-skinned as they come, apparently isn’t satisfied being king of the hoops world these days, and the most popular man in The Tar Heel state.

Nope, now he’s kicking opposing fans out of the Dean Dome for yelling things at his players. Seriously.

Last Saturday against mighty Presbyterian College, the Tar Heels were winning big as expected. Late in the game, with Carolina forward Deon Thompson at the foul line, a Presbyterian fan named Brian King sitting behind the Carolina bench yelled “Hey Deon, don’t miss it!”

So Ole’ Roy turns around and points at the guy, starts yelling at him, and then has security eject him from the arena.

The Carolina spokespeople later claimed that when security got to King’s seat, he seemed intoxicated and that’s why they threw him out. King denies it, and the UNC security people adamantly state that Roy didn’t ask for the guy to be thrown out, only that his tickets be checked.

Please. I believe the guy. What arrogance of Williams, to try to get rid of a guy who’s simply heckling a college basketball player. Disgraceful, but not that unusual for Roy. And sine when can a

And yeah, you all know I’m a Duke fan. But still, this was despicable for any coach.

**So I saw the following sign at Walgreen’s tonight as I drove past and it made me laugh:  “H1N1 vaccine available here.”

followed underneath by:

“Progresso Soup $.99”

Because you know, I expect a typical consumer to be driving by, turn to his wife and say, “You know honey, I think it’s about time we got that swine flu virus we’ve been hearing so dang much about. And hey, how ’bout some soup for dinner?”

**Quick midseason update on my two favorite CBS Monday night shows, the only two shows I watch on the network (I gave “The Good Wife,” a try this year, but after three episodes I just gave up. Couldn’t get into it.)

“The Big Bang Theory” continues to kick major ass; Monday night the brilliant Christine Baranski was back as Leonard’s mom. She ruled.

I’m sad to say, though, that “How I Met Your Mother” is falling faster than Tiger Woods’ reputation. I’m sorry, the show feels forced this season, and the storylines are getting dumber and dumber (the gang all starts smoking, then all tries to quit?). The old “HIMYM” would’ve laughed at this season’s lameness. The characters have grown stale.

Sigh.

Tuesday grab-blog: The media claims nerds are cool, a truly good man doing a good thing, and offensive Halloween costumes

Well, I’m pooped. I just played three hours of tennis tonight in my Monday night league, which under normal conditions in Central Florida in October would just about kill me. However, bless Ma Nature’s little heart, it’s been fantastically cool here and the temperature for my match was like, 65 degrees. It was delightful but exhausting.

Anyway, I tell you this because my blog today may not have the usual gusto (I know what you’re thinking: He usually blogs with gusto? I thought it was the cayenne pepper that made those words sing!).

** A truly inspiring story Monday in the N.Y. Times about a man named Tom Dunn, who left a job as a high-powered attorney representing death-row inmates to teach middle school in Atlanta. So many people talk about one day leaving their jobs and doing truly important work, but how many of us really do it? If you want a pick-me-up today, read this story here.

*** So it’s Halloween season, a season I don’t particularly enjoy because I’m not a big fan of Halloween (duck incoming lightning bolt!). Anyway, apparently some genius thought of making an ilegal alien costume, pictured above.

Now, I think the P.C. police in this country sometimes go too far, but in this case, I can certainly see their point. When I think back to the disgusting stereotypes we dressed up as as kids in the 1980s, I shudder.  This costume certainly seems over the line.

*** Another absolutely fantastic episode of “The Big Bang Theory” Monday night. Man that show constantly brings the goods. Always funny, always sharp, and rarely boring. If you’ve never seen it, here’s a little 2-minute clip that I hope shines a light on the show for you:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

**This is a serious question that I’d love a real answer to: I heard on the news today a story about a soldier who was in the 82nd Airborne Division. And it seems to me that that’s like the only Airborne Division you ever hear about. Isn’t there a 43rd or 59th or something? Is the 82nd like the biggest one there is? Anyone with knowledge of why this is (or maybe it’s just my imagination), I’d love to hear it.

**This would be much better if CBS had put a clip of it up on the web site, but for some stupid reason it didn’t. Mo Rocca, who I find oddly appealing, did a story on how nerds are suddenly “cool.” As one who was formerly called a nerd, I was dubious. But he makes a pretty compelling case here.

***Finally, for a nice smile, a 9-year-old kid channels his inner Alexander Ovechkin: