Weren't we done with this?

I guess not.

Remember O.J. Simpson?  He used to be a football hero, movie star (yeah I'm fudging on that one a bit), overall good guy.

Until Nicole and Ron.

I'm sure you have your opinion on the outcome of that first trial.

I'm sure you also felt somewhat happy for the Goldman family when the second trial reached a verdict.

A hollow victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Then a few years ago, the whole "memorablia" case that put him in the "big house" for a number of years.

OK, have a good life, what's left of it, don't get in fights in the yard, watch your back (and backside).

Then a couple of days ago, look who is back on my television?

Yup, back at it again.

To coin a phrase, b*tch please!

He's now saying his last lawyer did a bad job.

Four years later?

Maybe he was distracted by still looking for the real killer.

Come on!  Are you JUST finding out about this?

What have you been doing the last four years?

Looking at the pictures from court, I'd say (at least) three REALLY BIG square meals a day...snacks included.

David Letterman had a great line the other night, to paraphrase...

"Now the only knife he's holding is a butter knife."

Now I'm the last one to mock a person for their size, but Good God, does the prison not have at least a treadmill?

His hair is also changing color, I guess the prison won't allow to to use "Just For Men Convicts".

If he gets a retrial, I'll eat an entire cow...

unless he gets to it first.

Don't forget the Gas X.

Mike Patrick

mike@wgy.com

Despite many questions in regard to what happened, the fact that three women are safe and back with their families is simply amazing.

Going forward, there's going to be a lot we hope to learn about their ordeal.

Unfortunately, more horrible facts may be found out as the investigation continues.

Here's a few things going though my mind.

Point 1- In my opinion, the 911 operator should NOT be simply disciplined, but fired!

True, more times than we want to admit, too many idiots will place prank phone calls to 911.

But whether the operator thought this MAY have been the case, the fact that they were willing to cut off the call, tell Amanda Berry to wait for the police to show up and NOT stay on the line is just inexcusable.

Point 2-I don't think we're getting all of the facts from Cleveland police.

There's still a lot of disputes about how many calls were made to police, what those calls said, and how they responded.

Why did police never attempt to go inside?

If this had happend in say the Cleveland SUBURBS would the response be different?

Let's localize it, would/should there be a difference in resonse time/action taken if a 911 call came from say Clifton Park or maybe Bethlehem as opposed to downtown Albany, Schenectady or Troy?

Absolutely not, but is there?  Not for me to say.

Having lived in Ohio for many years, and being quite familiar with much of Cleveland, I can tell you if you think overall things are rough in some sections of local cities, it pales in comparison to a city the size of Cleveland; New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit etc, the same goes for those folks.

Point 3-What would have been unthinkable years ago is not the case today, with some exceptions, we don't know our neighbors, we don't talk to our neighbors, we don't care about our neighbors.

We don't have the time.

Think about it for a minute.  When I was growing up (initially around downtown Albany, including on the edge of Arbor Hill, and later in the "non rich" section of Loudonville), you couldn't make a move without almost everyone in the neighborhood being aware of it.

In 2013, it's rare to have a "one job family", today, Mom and Dad have full time jobs, kids come home to empty houses.

By the time everyone gets home, we're much too busy with our lives to get involved with the rest of the neighborhood.

For example, my landlord lives next store to us; I know the name of the woman who lives on the other side of us, and I know the woman across the street (but not her name), we recognize people, but we know nothing of them, and they nothing of us.

So perhaps that's why this abomination lasted as many years as it did.  We're just to busy to care let alone bother.

Doesn't make it right, but I fear those circumstances won't change as time goes on.

Point 4- A ray of hope comes out for the countless families, including so many familiar names around here, that maybe, just maybe, their loved ones will return one day.

Final point-Unless I can be totally convinced otherwise, "Old Sparky" has three new customers.

That may be the "humane way" to do it, but I'm certainly open to many other "suggestions".

Mike Patrick

mike@wgy.com

The B stands for big;

The D stands for deal;

You can probably guess what the F stands for.

I'm talking about the Jason Collins "story" that's been going on for a couple of days.

In 2013, to many straight people, this is not a news story, and probably not worth the attention it's been getting.

To Jason Collins, however, it's an important part of not only his life, and to the lives of openly gay people around the world, but especially to the millions who have remained "hidden" for any reason.

To heterosexuals such as myself, I believe we don't know what it's like to live your life forced/afraid to be who you truly are.

In 2013, let's face it, there's still lots of people who think homosexuality is wrong.

Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion, and it's not my job to attempt to change or agree with your opinion.

Consider this; someone has been hiding who they really are for years; one day they finally get the courage to say "Screw this, why continue this charade?"

So, though, actions, words, or "announcements", they finally "free" themselves.

Now they can live a normal life without fear.

And, maybe there's another person who has also been hiding their true selves due to the same fear; when they see how the now open person handled the situation, that action will initiate another action, words, or "announcement" in them.

And so on and so on.

It's not meant as a platform, an agenda, or a movement.

It's one individual just wanting to be like everyone else;

a human being.

We don't need a press conference, we don't need a breaking news story, we certainly don't need a "very special" issue of a weekly magazine.

We just need acceptance, if it doesn't affect you directly, it's not for you to judge.

I'll leave you with this; the next time this happens (and yes it WILL happen), let's just all move on with the program.

The world will not crumble.

It actually will get a little bit better.

If we let it.

Mike Patrick

mike@wgy.com

I'm gonna vent, and it may come over as sounding like a grumpy old man....and you'd be right.

By now you've probably heard of the "MENSA student" who, in his first time as a Weekend TV Anchor in Bismark, North Dakota, did a major no no for the broadcast industry by saying the F word on live TV, which SORT of sounds like fudge.

"Only he didn't say fudge";

"He said THE word";

"The BIG one";

"The Queen Mother Of All Dirty Words";

"The F--- word!" (Thanks to "A Christmas Story") Here's the Holiday Classic clip, click on the movie title to view.

No, he said THIS! (Warning, dirty words, click on the capital letters)

Now, he's not the first broadcaster to accidentally say nasty words.

I myself have been caught before, and it's a black mark on my career....funny as it sounded when it happened.

I was fortunate to keep my job after the incident.

What's irritating me?

Sitting in the News Room today, and seeing this fine example of one of the things wrong with broadcasting SHILLING HIMSELF on National TV!

He was on the Today Show.

He was on the Kelly and What's His Name Show.

He'll probably be on The View!

With luck he'll replace John King on CNN!

Somewhere, George Carlin is smiling...

And probably thinking; he's got five more words to go.

Mike Patrick

mike@wgy.com

Not to be gushing or a suck up, but I am VERY proud to be a part of the WGY News Team.

To be associated with a heritage radio station still doing business after 91 years is an amazing highlight to my resume.

When you combine everyone in the News Department, you're looking at a staff with close to 150 YEARS of experience, you're just NOT going to find that in many places today (Another point of pride for all of us).

I'm especially proud when the team springs into action during times of "crisis" (a harsh word that's not used in every instance but you get the point).

The minutes/hours following the bombings at the Boston Marathon is such an example.

Whether it's a local story, national, or international, our priority is to get the information to listeners, as well as our web page, Facebook, and Twitter, fast.

Additionally, and especially in this case, we are charged with providing assistance to quite a number of affiliates, including New York State, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode island, and New Hampshire.

We're quite the busy News Room.

Once the story broke, all of us hit the ground running.

Coverage on WGY - always Priority One; covered.

Updating the affiliates with what they need, as quickly as possible, and as many times as needed; covered.

We were even tasked with assisting affiliates in Boston itself, as we have in the past; covered.

(To put it in perspective, we've done the same at times for our affiliates in New York City when asked for help.)

During the first 3-4 hours of the explosions, there was something new breaking every time you blinked, and THAT information had to be gathered and delivered in all ways and to all over.

It's since slowed down, but as I write this, the story continues to come up with new information, so it's far from "back to normal".

Eventually, in the days and weeks to come, the focus (at least pertaining to this story) will leave Boston.

And where it next hits, again be it local, national, or international, we're ready.

After all, you're depending on us.

That's what we do.

Mike Patrick

mike@wgy.com