Happy Halloween!

Johnny's been so busy today getting the house ready to receive the kids and then get ready to get dressed up for the first time in years and hit a couple parties and the big Newark plaza event tonight. We may check in before the Scoreboard Show with another Halloween fun clip but if not have fun tonight and be safe and fabulously spooky.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with ETTA JAMES!

Johnny's not sure what Etta is singing about here. She sure could do a better job of being direct instead of keeping a fella guessing as to her wants and needs.

Etta James and 'I Just Wanna Make Love to You' getting us started on the Music Series tonight.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE FOUR TOPS

"Sugar pie honey bunch," normally the words of a guy in deep shit with the girlfriend. Not here, the words of Holland Dozier Holland sung by the fabulous Four Tops it's 'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)' make everything alright. Motown batting second tonight......Motown.

How 'bout them Mets?

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with FOO FIGHTERS!

You kids go have fun at all your pre-Halloween parties tonight but save your energy for the big party downtown tomorrow night. We're out the door on the Music Series this week with a great rocker from Foo Fighters and 'Learn to Fly'

Late night open thread

Movie mistake night:

While singing 'If I Were King of the Forest' in the Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion sings the lyrics, "What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder?" Oops, but the Sphinx is not one of the Seven Wonders. The nearby the Great Pyramid of Giza is.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

We could bore you to tears going on about frequency modulation and the 50th Anniversary of the Master FM Antenna

But we're going to let someone else do that.

What Johnny is going to do is tell you there will be an FM themed light show on the Empire State Building tonight at exactly 7pm (At seven in the evening. It was exactly seven in the evening -- The right people will get that) the Steely Dan song "FM" of all things will be broadcast on the radio and YouTube and you can get much more info at the link.

We agree with Gothamist writer John Del Signore about this not being one of Steely Dan's best songs though popular it was, and like him we're going to post a different Steely Dan song to fire you up, the title track from the album Aja.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Tomorrow in Jersey City, Uber is delivering kittens, yes KITTEHS!

In conjunction with the Liberty Humane Society, Uber will, when you press that app tomorrow between 11am and 3pm deliver a kitten looking for a forever home but your $30 will get you 15 minutes with a snuggly little kitteh:

As part of the national "UberKITTENS" day taking place in more than 50 cities across the country, Uber drivers will bring Liberty Humane Society cats to businesses and homes in Jersey City and Hoboken for 15 minute "snuggle sessions." 

Could you die?

Johnny grew up with cats and sometimes those cats had kittens. He's getting all fuzzy thinking about holding kittens again.

We're gonna give the famous jersey City Desk last word to Irene Borngraeber, executive director at Liberty Humane Society

"Our mission is to make sure each and every one of our community animals finds a lifelong, loving home. Uber is helping us fulfill that mission with a fun, easy way to raise awareness about local pet adoption that puts these kittens right in the arms of potential parents."

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

OK Jersey City, the question now goes out

What are you going as for Halloween? Johnny's going to be a character from a 1970's movie.

Late night open thread

Thirty years ago tonight a student at Eastern Michigan University met a student from Michigan State University at a weekend political retreat in Bad Axe Michigan. Thirty years later Johnny and Mrs. Johnny have been together since that night and are doing just fine thank-you and Johnny wanted to take a second to dedicate tonight's open thread to the love of his life, she's just the best.

October 26, 1985, maybe you've seen that date before. Yep, the date has been immortalized in the REAL Back to the Future day, October 26.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Gun violence raises it's ugly head again

You can't say gun violence make a comeback because it never really left. Incidents over the weekend, the latest a shooting at Communipaw and Grand, brings no commentary from our city leader(s). Nothing on Twitter, nothing on Facebook, just kind of a hoping it will go away or you won't notice kind of mode at City Hall today. From the Jersey Journal:

Last night's shooting was the most recent in a string of street violence. 

On Saturday night, two teens were shot in the area of Forrest Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive. One of the victims remained in critical condition as of last night and a 15-year-old Claremont Avenue resident was charged with the shooting.

Last Friday, 21-year-old Donald Marquis Gadson was shot several times and killed on Dales Avenue. His funeral is being held today, a block away from where last night's shooting occurred. 

Gun violence rears it's ugly head while Jersey city leaders hide theirs in the sand. How fitting. But, as we all know, unless it's a new building opening or a a physical fitness challenge on Liberty State Park we're not going to hear from the mayor on this until challenged.

Late night open thread

Pray Chris Christie isn't on your train tomorrow morning.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

PSE&G hates us for our freedoms

Though this could be Anywhere USA at this point, Johnny just loved the freedom irony, like all the cameras, gating and warning signs at One EVERTRUST Plaza:

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday Night Scoreboard Show!

It's a lot of entertainment, for free®

Ohio State 49
Rutgers 7
Rutgers, the B1G outpost closest to NYC should best understand what 'Not Ready for Prime Time Players' means

USC 42
Utah 24
Everyone not named Baylor or Ohio State move one spot forward. The Utes take a tumble from #3

Bye Week 6
Michigan 0
Bye Week forced Michigan to fumble a punt snap and ran it back for a late TD. Speaking of which...

Georgia Tech 22
Florida State 16
Florida State has their special teams senior moment in losing on the last play to the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech. Have you ever heard worse announcing on a big play? This guy's call is ass

Michigan State 52

Indiana 26

Connor Cook has a career day and looks like he'll have a career payday come draft day

Oklahoma State 58

Kansas 10

All joking aside, sending best wishes to the families and friends of those impacted by today's senseless DUI at the homecoming parade that has thus far killed 4 and injured dozens more

Toledo 51

Massachusetts 35

The Rockets spent the first half eating those tasty Tony Paco's hot dogs one Corporal Maxwell Klinger talked about on M*A*S*H all the time then they got power up and crushed the Minutemen in the second half outscoring them 41-7, like Rockets do

Northern Illinois 49

Eastern Michigan 21

Eastern Michigan outplayed and outscored the Huskies in the second half 21-14. If only they could find a way to hide those 35 first half points by NIU with some dodgy scoreboard work

Montana State 63

East Tennessee State 7

Instead of making their guests feel welcome in Bozeman, Montana State beat the bejeepers out of their guests, tired from a long trip with their parents and sick kids in the SUV

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®

North Greenville 69

University of God's Chosen 0

Just not chosen to play football. Great effort by North Greenville, for a bunch of guys going to hell and all

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

Good thing MSU is on at 3:30 and Rutgers vs OSU is on at 8, nothing early is gonna happen at Johnny's tomorrow but coffee.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BJORK!

Yep, Johnny is going as Bjork for Halloween. He got fitted for his swan dress today by a gal who lives in his building. So if you see someone on the Grove plaza in a swan dress that'll be Johnny, as far as you know.

Now, let's kick this dump in the pants and go all uptown with 'It's Oh So Quiet' to start things off on the Music Series tonight and a video directed by Spike Jonze.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with ELWOOD!

Ever get into a discussion about cover songs?. Johnny's of two minds. Make it sound average or really just rely too much on the original for the hook and, ewww, so gross. Then sometimes you hit the right amount of originality and freshness to the cover from an oldie but a goodie from Gordon Lightfoot of all people and then add a little Bono in at the end. 'Sundown' by Elwood with a perfect example of a good cover done right.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with KID ROCK!

Ain't no party like a Detroit party 'cause a Detroit party don't stop. 'Bawitdaba' from Kid Rock to get you out the door in a perfect frame of mind for driving and fighting. Tell us about the fights in comments.

Late night open thread

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL ALL CAPS DAY SO THE CAPS LOCK KEY CAN BE SAVED OR SOMETHING! JUST DOING OUR PART TO KEEP THE INTERNET WONDERFUL AND ENTERTAINING.

TIME FOR JERSEY CITY, AFTER DARK

Is Chris Christie a Jersey City Desk reader?

We know from time to time via IP addys someone from Trenton and government related has shown up once in a great while. The reason Johnny asks is the amount of times Johnny has used the term "half measures" to hear the Big CC use it to describe the legislature's attempt at an override of a gun bill, well it makes us go "Hmmmmm." Johnny brought that term back from it's deathbed and now, coincidentally it gets used by the Governor? Pish posh.

Late night open thread

For every band that makes it, hundreds don't. Tonight we celebrate one who didn't with 1970's act Becky and the Toad.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Another brand new building downtown, more slapdash work

Here's a corner of a building, one of those brand spankin' new downtown high rises. Yep, just look at the quality workmanship. Remember this kind of slapdash work when these guys go before city council and think they are worthy of tax abatements. When they go before city council and insult those would introduce financial sanity into the discussion because they, after all are the engine that drives the economy in their minds. Yeah, with work like this why wouldn't you think you're entitled to other people's money? So a corner of a new building downtown looks like an eyesore and exposes the kind of work being done on our dimes. It's one thing to insult the taxpayers with unnecessary giveaways, it's quite another when those giveaways look like ass and constantly mock those paying the note down for the developer. Well done Toll Brothers, who wouldn't want to live in a building with such attention to fit and finish. If a bottom corner of your building already looks like this just imagine the low-budget work inside (and we know the painting was done by non-union workers at The Morgan).

If Johnny was in the mood to pay between $2 large and up a month in RENT, he'd expect more than we see here from The Morgan.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

New poll says Steve Fulop is doing a GREAT job as Mayor, says Steve Fulop

A new poll has great news for the mayor, a full 68% of Jersey City residents think he's doing a great job. Know who says so? Not bloggers or the Star Ledger or North Jersey News, nope a new poll says so. That's right everything is fine with the city, everyone loves the mayor so just shut up already.

What? Who did the polling? Well, it was the Democratic polling outfit The Mellman Group. So there, a real poll by a group who polls Democrats.

What? Who paid for the poll? Um, er, well...

GO AWAY AND COME BACK TOMORROW!! GO GET ME A BROOMSTICK OR SOMETHING!!

No, seriously, who paid for this poll? Well OK if you must know the Fulop Administration paid for the poll that told them they were all that and a bag of chips.

There you have it folks, a new poll that you can pretty dismiss out of hand. Ward C Councilman Cranky McDavenport sure did:

Councilman Rich Boggiano, who represents Ward C and is a frequent Fulop critic, had one word to describe the poll's results: "Baloney." Boggiano told The Jersey Journal that, from talking to voters, he doesn't believe that Fulop's job approval rating is higher than 50 percent.

"I've been here 46 years," he said. "I know practically everybody throughout the city."

Johnny knew the last Ward C councilwoman but alas, he's back to being basically nobody as Rich Boggiano, who knows  practically everybody, has never met Johnny.

Them's the haps from 280 Grove St. for now and if you'll excuse Johnny he's gonna go make a 'baloney' sandwich.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

If you're a photographer who loves old buildings...

One of the Cooke Warehouses at Warren and Bay St. is getting set to be demolished by Toll Brothers as part of their three pronged plan to ruin the downtown skyline. The douchenozzles at Eglentowicz have been brought in to survey and get ready to take it down so if you're a photographer who loves the old buildings, this one won't be there later this week.

Late night open thread

Idea, Jersey City should pump wood smoke into neighborhoods at night in the fall.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday Night Scoreboard Show!

Rutgers 55
Indiana 52
A wonderful comeback from down 26 by the Scarlet Knights. Buckeyes in Piscataway up next

Alabama 41
Texas A&M 23
Alabama ran three interceptions back for TD's

Memphis 37
Ole Miss 24
Tell us again about the all powerful SEC

Oklahoma 55
Kansas State 0
Oklahoma in a show of good sportsmanship allowed Kansas State to keep their pants and belongings

Idaho 19
Troy 16
if this game had gone on two minutes longer -- that would have been against the rules

Army 21
Bucknell 14
Johnny will take Tanks over Bison every time

Fordham 47
Holy Cross 41
The Rams are undefeated after a huge win in overtime

Illinois State 38
Missouri State 2
Oh, good, well Missouri State can hang their hats on the fact they weren't shutout

Grambling Stwte 35
Alcorn State 34
Grambling won when Alcorn botched an extra point in OT. Boy, is there a worse way you can lose at the end of a game..........Speaking of which

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Michigan State 27
Michigan 23
Johnny and Mrs. Johnny were screaming and running around the house. Oh, what's that? You didn't see the Leaders and Best punt the ball to assure victory? Well then you're in for a treat.

Best play ever and now seven out of eight over the skunk family

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Johnny is still laughing too hard to be proud of his undefeated Spartans

They never win easily but if by chance you can take Michigan fans' hearts out like Bruce Lee and show it to them before they die, Johnny is pretty sure it would look like this. Surgery without anesthesia.

Sparty on Wayne! MSU may not win the National title or Rose Bowl or whatever but this play will make Johnny laugh on his deathbed.

Rutgers football gameday!

To see how big an effort RU put in last week vs then #4 Michigan State look to Ann Arbor around 6:45pm. After MSU beat Oregon they got hype. Then Oregon got crushed by Utah who had already beaten Michigan's Wolverines. Suddenly the perception was MSU's win over Oregon wasn't so big after all. Then Sparty had some winning if not winning really ugly games in back to back weeks. A real bad win vs Purdue raised eyebrows around the country. So as far as perception goes, did the Scarlet Knights tussle to the bitter end in Piscataway vs a top flight team or an average team playing a road game. Again, if MSU wins today RU's effort looks bigger than life. If not, well, maybe too much is being read into the Knight's progress.

Perceptions aside, Rutgers plays a must win game today at John Cougar Mellencamp Stadium in Bloomington Indiana. Today is homecoming in Bloomington which means the time honored tradition at IU where every fan on their way in is given a locally grown turnip. Ah, good times in the midwest.

But Johnny digresses...

Must win game yes. Playing Indiana means points are going to be scored. IU scores a lot and gives up even more. First thought, RU can't let this game be played in the 40's. High 20's to mid-30's is plenty of points and gives Rutgers a better chance of winning. The defense slowed down MSU last week and did a very nice job of disrupting first down runs and were great in coverage (and the game was won by MSU receivers holding onto highly contested balls). RU is gonna have to have that same effort for all 60 minutes again today. We think they can. The Hoosiers are last in the B1G at getting their QB sacked which means those close calls vs Connor Cook last week might get home this week. The schemes were good and the players carried them out last week. Just keep doing it.

Offensively the Scarlet Knights did a great job vs Sparty. Leonte Caroo must have another game of his life and give the defense time to catch their breath. Big pickups on third down are needed. RU needs to kill clock so by committee at RB the magic number is 120. Run for 120 and beat IU in time of possession and good things are quite possible.

The coach is back and the team is playing hard right now, unless Bobby Knight shows up and throws a chair and trips an RU running back on his way to the end zone we see an upset.

Fearless Forecast
Rutgers 30
Indiana 27

Late night open thread

A man walks into a library and says, ‘I hope you don’t have a book on reverse psychology.
 --  Henny Youngman

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with HAIRCUT 100!

Because EIGHTIES! That's right, a three song tribute to the eighties tonight. Somehow Johnny was able to haul three songs worthy of the Jersey City Desk Music Series out of his iTunes libarry with the big hair and wine cooler sound. We'll kick things off with a song you've probably long since forgotten but takes you right back to the decade we love to hate, Haircut 100 and 'Love Plus One'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BON JOVI!

Jon Bon Jovi, he's not the rock star we need, he's the rock star we deserve.

No smoking when Aqua Net is in use. Thank you.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with DONNIE IRIS!

You can't have an 80's night without Donnie Iris! Well, you could but the whole randomness of the 80's is lost if you only play hits and famous stars. Here's a rocker from Donnie Iris, the pride of Elwood City Pennsylvania, 'Love is Like a Rock' wrapping up another Music Series.

As the stomach turns; Chico Ramchal charged with theft

Jersey City Ward B Councilman Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal stood mute when hit with theft charges related to an alleged "no show" county job. So a DUI AND a theft charge for a no show job.

Ward B can do better, much better. Let's think on this for a moment. If the charges are true, and Ramchal didn't say boo he merely stood there like the house by the side of the road, Jersey City has a serious issue inwardly and outwardly. This guy votes on bigger tax abatements (and outright loans to developers like Bruce Ratner of all people) all while, allegedly, stealing from all of us. He gives away money to rich developers at the mayor's behest (more on his sad part in this story in a minute) or just of his own lack of research all while getting free money. No wonder Chico doesn't mind paying down the higher taxes, he's paying for abatements he gave out using taxpayer money so in essence he cares so much about you Jersey City resident, he's happy to soak you twice so he can live on Easy St. He votes on city business to this very day.

Following a two-month investigation, Ramchal, 40, was fired June 23 from his job as an enforcement officer at the Hudson County Improvement Authority. 

The HCIA began its probe on April 8 after The Jersey Journal made inquiries into why GPS records from the car the councilman had been driving -- which was registered to the Jersey City Incinerator Authority -- showed him driving around Jersey City when the time sheets he submitted to the HCIA indicated he was working.

We haven't even talked about his DUI yet either now have we? So on top of allegedly soaking everyone for his lifestyle he then thought it'd be a good idea to drive drunk and wreck property owned by someone else AND injure innocent people. If you're a regular reader you know Johnny was a victim of a drunk driver at age 17 which altered his life in many ways. He has a very low opinion of people, especially where trains and taxis and Uber and Lyft are the order of the day here, who make this choice.

So yeah, ethically this guy still sitting on Jersey City Council makes the city look a lot like a big ugly Chet from Weird Science.

Resign Mr. Ramchal, for all of us. This is one time to not put yourself first.

As for the mayor on all this, well where IS the mayor in all this? Mr. Virtue and Good Government who has had nothing but nasty things to say when wrongdoing rears it's regularly scheduled ugly head at the Parking Authority or JCMUA has been publicly pretty silent. Like Mayor Goldie Wilson before him he was gonna clean up this town. Except the typical Hudson County pol will always look the other way when someone can do something, ie vote for all their programs and abatements. What does Steve Fulop have to say on this very troubling issue? Well, nothing, he sent Ryan Jacobs out again to deal with the important issues non ribbon cutting related. Jacobs assured us Fulop has privately met with Ramchal and told him if he goes to jail or is indicted he might want to think about stepping down.

Way to lead from the back Mayor. Did you privately meet with Oren Dabney's brother before court too? Oh that's right, he couldn't help you with Bruce Ratner or Lloyd Goldman.

The circus at 280 Grove continues it's amazing open-ended run...

Late night open thread

Jersey City farmers markets, there is no substitute...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Mary Lee is back...

Good thing for Jersey Shore swimmers it's mid October and only the hearty surfers are possibly making themselves a buffet. Mary Lee, a tagged Great White Shark that made New Jersey's shoreline home earlier this year before heading south has had her beacon ping off of Cape May. There's a lot more info in the article but no mention on if Mary Lee could at any point turn into a Land Shark.

Late night open thread

Johnny took some NYC friends to South House tonight and it was a hit in a big way. You remember the sounds Beavis and Butthead used to make eating nachos and Homer Simpson makes with everything? Ribs, get the ribs. Sample anything else you want but the meat is perfect with crispy tips and a sauce that is now 1-A behind Jack's in Nashville. Of course Jack's has cornbread and sweet tea but we're certain those things will come along. The interior is visually interesting both texturally and topically. There's a great energy and right now if Johnny wants ribs he's found a home away from home.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Pull up a chair and learn about Nazi saboteurs coming to Grand Central Station with destruction on their minds

That's right, a secret sub-basement in the bowels of Grand Central Station holds a pretty cool story of German saboteurs trying to disrupt electricity and also the power to build war munitions all throughout the northeast but were tripped up when someone saw them sneaking ashore from a German submarine off the coast of Maine. A true story of spies and spying and wartime paranoia you won't want to miss from Gothamist.

Late night open thread

A good business day for Johnny, gotta lay in that money for the coming winter but not much in the way of getting down to the Jersey City Desk office high atop a building somewhere.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

With Autumn closing in...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Thank goodness for groups like Civic JC to try and stop unnecessary giveaways

The group Civic JC has filed suit, we feel rightly, to halt implementation of a redevelopment plan adopted in July that labeled City Hall and two nearby properties as blighted. Obviously City Hall is not blighted, and thankfully Esther Wintner, president of Civic JC, which filed the suit in August, said the plan is the "first step" toward developing the nearby properties and awarding the selected developer a tax break.

"The idea that City Hall and an adjacent parking lot constitute urban blight is preposterous," said Wintner. "This is prime real estate."

Exactly, sounds like nothing but a giveaway to more Friends of Fulop and possible donors for his run for Governor. This hastily concocted plan of redevelopment is a quick and easy way to give away more of OUR money to developers in the form of MORE unnecessary abatements. Now get this:

The city said it created the plan in hopes of redeveloping a city-owned parking lot on Montgomery Street across the street from City Hall and, in exchange, receive a developer's help to pay for renovations at City Hall and the creation of "green space" in front of and behind the 119-year-old Grove Street municipal building. 

We're tired of being misled by the city when it comes to the final use of land they give our tax dollars for. Sorry Fulop Administration you don't just get to decide who gets a green space out of a parking lot and you can make ZERO guarantees the public would ever get to use it. Sell it and use that money to fix up city hall, that's how a responsible mayor and council would do it.

"...city spokesman Ryan Jacobs said. "The city wouldn't be able incorporate parks, open space, or restaurants into an auction. The redevelopment plan allows for more public amenities for residents."

Two new "green spaces" created by developers, the big empty field with grass seed planted by Lloyd Goldman's BLDG group at Washington and First St. is off limits to the public. Another green space the city counts is the little green patch behind the Toll Brothers development at Marin and Morgan, again, off limits to the public. So Ryan Jacobs, mayoral spokesperson, when you cry about what may happen if the city doesn't control every aspect, you're dismissed out of hand when it comes to green spaces. Try again. You're writing checks on this topic with your mouth your body can't cash.

So, business as usual, or it may have been business as usual with unnecessary abatements and special deals that look and smell like more patronage if it weren't for the GREAT work by Esther Winter and Civic JC.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Johnny has seen the newest hot look in Jersey City awesome eye fashion

Johnny had heard about a line of sunglasses designed and produced in Jersey City a while back but today quite by chance he got a look (and was blown away enough to make a purchase) at something really cool. The name of the line is MZ Atelier and it's hot hot hot. They were on display at the Warehouse Cafe as Johnny was walking the dog and stopped in for a drink. It was a madhouse as people were going through and trying on all these different styles, Some made from old skateboard wood, some in some of the most visually interesting colors for sunglasses Johnny has seen. Word around the Cafe was that they'll be available on AHAlife.com very soon and if you'd like a look Johnny has a good idea who you'd want to talk to. First the pair Johnny bought then three pairs on display. Good stuff, Jersey City made.

Late night open thread

Just rolling in from Piscataway it's the Saturday Night Scoreboard Show!

Michigan State 31
Rutgers 24
Rutgers gave it their all and played very well but yeah you don't spike the ball on 4th down. Victory for MSU!

Michigan 38
Northwestern 0
Captain Discount Pants has his club playing very well and host, would you look at that, Sparty next Saturday

Baylor 66
Kansas 3
Kansas may well be the worst team ever in Division 1-A

Texas 24
Oklahoma 17
Speaking of rancid teams, no YOU Oklahoma, for losing to stinky smelly farty Texas

LSU 45
South Carolina 24
Watch highlights of this game, Carolina coach Steve Spurrier almost hung himself in broad daylight with his headset cord

Western Michigan 41
Central Michigan 39
The drinks will flow and blood will spill in Kalamazoo tonight

Northern Illinois 59
Ball State 41
This game was 3-0 Ball State at the end of the first quarter, then, MAGIC

BYU 45
East Carolina 38
Say that and don't laugh at the absurdity, East Carolina and BYU played a conference game today as that nasty North Carolina vs Utah border war got stoked even higher

North Carolina Central 27
Florida A&M 24
Wither the Rattlers

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Virginia State 24
Elizabeth City State 23
The Trojans over the Vikings in a game between colleges that sound more like prisons

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Just one more round of the Michigan State fight song before heading out

Rutgers Football Gameday!

Now, you all know Johnny tries to be a fair arbiter of local sports teams he doesn't cheer for. He tries to explain the good and bad of the teams. Today's RU coverage is gonna be a little (ok a LOT) slanted, because today Johnny's Michigan State Spartans return to Piscataway ad Johnny WILL BE THERE.

Pretty cool thing, Rutgers joining the B1G so Johnny can see his Spartans somewhat locally again. Funny thing, Johnny moves to Jersey City and his beloved Red Wings are in the Eastern Conference of the NHL and make those regular trips to MSG, The Rock and Now the Barclay's Center. Johnny comes east and Rutgers joins the great midwestern bastion of football. Pretty cool deal.

OK, gameday. It's all going to boil down to RU's offensive line vs MSU's front seven. The Scarlet Knights do have a stable of talented running backs but that line is going to have to pave the way for those runners, something hard to do against Athalon's #2 defensive line in America. Lawrence Thomas and Malik McDowell are utter men against boys in a lot of cases. Bounce your run outside and there's All-American DE Shilique Calhoun. The RU line is young. The MSU line is awesome. How will the Knights line hold up? There's your key. Passing may be a better way for Rutgers to move the ball today but it's not a strength.

One advantage RU will have vs the #4 team in the land is special teams. Michigan State is normally has one of the better special team squads but that has not been the case this year. They have given up a kickoff return for a TD vs Western Michigan and a punt return vs Oregon. Rutgers gets a big edge here today.

We can look at this a million different ways and it all comes up the same on paper. Michigan State should win handily behind LJ Scott and the ground game and Connor Cook's arm. The MSU defense should stifle the RU running attack. Should, but that's why games are played.

Still with no Kyle Flood as head coach and MSU looking to lock in before visiting Khaki University next weekend this one seems to be telling Johnny something:

Fearless Forecast:
Michigan State 31
Rutgers 17

Late night open thread

Tomorrow is gonna be such a fun day. More on that in the morning.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with YES!

Tonight we're touching on the nominees for this year's class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Johny is going to pick three bands/acts from this list and say he thinks not only will they get in, they deserve to be in. First the list:

Cheap Trick
Deep Purple
The Cars
Janet Jackson
N.W.A
Nine Inch Nails
The Smiths
Yes
Chaka Khan
Chic
The J.B.'s
Los Lobos
Steve Miller
The Spinners

A quick note, The Smiths were on the Music Series last week and would have made Johnny's cut along with The Cars and Detroit's Spinners.

Yes, while not always a favorite of Johnny's have done enough interesting things and were the only band that ever sounded like Yes (Asia doesn't count because that was Yes lite) and that has to count for something. 'Change' leading off this evening. This is a very good sounding version and headphone friendly.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with N.W.A.!

Johnny grew up poor in an upper middle class neighborhood in the hard scrabble streets of Ortonville Michigan where life (and eggs and other farm fresh foods) was CHEAP. A disaffected kid who knew the smell of the gun blast (small game season with proper state licensing) and running from the cops (no really, you mess up and accidentally hit an Oakland County cruiser with eggs you're running through the thistle and woods), N.W.A. has always reminded Johnny of his own young tough years.

Well ok, not so much but for the same reason you voted the Sex Pistols in, you put N.W.A. in because they changed how the format was gonna sound. N.W.A. and the classic 'Straight Outta Compton'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE STEVE MILLER BAND!

Putting the finishing touches on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee Music Series is an old Johnny favorite, Mr. Stevie "Guitar" Miller. Johnny fell in love with the Steve Miller Band listening to the Fly Like and Eagle mega-smash in his friend's car on an 8-Track people, and 8-Track! A cherry 1977 Buick Regal with a sunroof and an 8-Track player! It's easy to get to know all the songs on a doctoral level when you only have two to listen to driving back and forth to school all freshman year, Fly Like and Eagle and Changes One Bowie. Both tip top albums but yeah, two.

From the aforementioned two times already about to be three, 'Serenade' from Fly Like an Eagle.

Because Comic Con

He is Ram Man, he is not to be trifled with. So what if his Ewe of Justice is bigger than Ram Man.

Late night open thread

Johnny's feeling his Irish tonight friends. This evening in Dublin, Ireland's national team tossed the European qualifiers for the World Cup on their heads with a shocking, utterly shocking 1-0 win over Wold Cup champions Germany. With this earth-shaker Ireland may win their group and Germany could finish second or third. Yikes. It would have been a great night to be sitting in a pub in Dublin to be certain. Raise a pint of Guinness to Shane Long.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Imagine of you will, a pedestrian bridge linking Jersey City to lower Manhattan

Now, make it cool. Make it start at the 6th Street Embankment and slowly rise up and make the Hudson River walkable with elevator access and stunning views all the way into lower Manhattan.

Wanna see it put into action? Sure it's a pipe dream right now but Jersey City resident Kevin Shane and Jersey City architect Jeff Jordan the drawing and concept are VERY real. Head on over to Jersey City Digs and read the rest of the idea and see the amazing images of what could be.

Never hurts to dream big Jersey City, Chris Christie and Steve Fulop aren't gonna be around to hold us back forever.

Late night open thread

So disturbing. So very, very disturbing.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Incredible sky show tonight!

Man made to boot.

NASA will be releasing colorful vapor tracers 130 miles above the Earth tonight and if you live on the east coast, and you do, look into the eastern sky between 7-9pm tonight for what could be some of the most amazing photo opportunities in quite some time for sky photogs.

Why they are doing it is to see if “the naturally occurring flows of ionized and neutral particles” and to see if the rocket releasing the tracers is worth a damn.

So, look up and look east and tell 'em Johnny sent ya!

Late night open thread

Meanwhile, in Berwyn...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Some days are songs

This is one of them.

Late night open thread

If your birthday is today you share it with Larry Fine of the Three Stooges. He was born in 1902. We're guessing you were born after that.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Steve Fulop the reformer, watch him reform!

We've said it before, we'll say it again; Councilman Fulop would have kicked Mayor Fulop's ass.

Here's how you reform our fair city kids. Pay close attention, it's how business gets done in Joysey.

Late night open thread

The Browns, counting today, have now lost 41 games in the last minute since returning to the league in 1999.  Sunday is misery defined in the fall.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Jets and Giants football gameday!

Gotta start early old chaps, with the Jets playing in London this morning, in fifteen minutes in fact. We like the Jets in this one. Despite the fact they laid an egg last week we think the Dolphins just aren't right. The stories pouring out of South Beach are that new mega feee agent signee Ndamukong Suh is already tuning out the coaches and freelancing. That can't be good three games into a season. So yes, we like the Jets and we like that they took their own toilet paper which for some reason has pissed off all of Britain. When you gotta go you gotta go.

The Giants have a tougher matchup today traveling to Buffalo for a meeting with Sexy Rexy and the new-look Bills. Johnny's really of one mind in this game. The Bills love to blitz. They live and die by it. If Eli can stay upright they have a chance. We don't think Eli can stay upright and may well be taking an ambulance back from Orchard Park today. Also, it hasn't yet started snowing in Buffalo. Just thought we'd put that out there.

Fearless forecasts:

New Jersey Jets 23 but w metric system 28
Miami 17 but w metric system 20

Buffalo 24
New Jersey Giants 21

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday night Scoreboard Show!

Welcome to Slaughterhouse Saturday, let's get right to the body count.

1 Ohio State 34
Indiana 27
Maybe time to start calling them the Luckeyes

2 Michigan State 24
Purdue 21
Three point wins over the Boilermakers are no way to get into a playoff for elite teams. Maybe that's the thing this year, plenty of very good teams but no elite ones

Florida 38
3 Ole Miss 10
Ole Mess

Clemson 24
6 Notre Dame 22
Hey Johnny, can we see the failed two-point conversion that cost ND dearly? Of course friends, Notre Dame fans' tears are so very very tasty

Arizona State 38
7 UCLA 23
If you are UCLA you will NEVER live down this late Arizona State TD to put it away. Never

Alabama 38
8 Georgia 10
Alabama was the underdog for the first time since 2009. Let that sink in. Johnny thinks it only made them angry

Northern Michigan 36
Saginaw Valley 34
Johnny can talk shit to his godson for another year

Pittsburgh 17
Virginia Tech 13
New coach Pat Narduzzi is breathing life into the Panthers

Princeton 10
Columbia 5
If you had a lot of zeros and fives in your squares on this game you were golden

Houston Baptist 65
College of Faith 0
You really gotta have faith things are gonna get better for CoF

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Shippensburg 69
East Stroudsberg 67 4OT
We have no video nor a scoresheet with stats but look at that score. LOOK AT IT. Since a team must go for two after the second OT we can surmise East Stroudsburg missed their two-point conversion in the 4th OT. Johnny hates East Stroudsburg and how that dump slows down his drives in and out of NJ so this score made him smile

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

This weather is a sign to stay inside and watch football all weekend. And drink cider.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE SMITHS!

The Pope of Mope singing the praises of Sheila. You know, Sheila.

Anyway, 'Sheila Take a Bow' as the Morrissey croons. That interlude around the !:26 mark has always been a Johnny musical favorite.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with SPOON!

The only way to get this wet-ass chill out of your bones is to hop around like Patty's Prancing Poodles to some good music. To that end, Spoon and 'New York Kiss'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE THE!

Sending you on your way tonight with a wonderful song and vastly underrated if you're one who observes such things. From the album Soul Mining it's The The and 'Uncertain Smile' wrapping up the Music Series this week.

Late night open thread

Feels so good to have the windows open and feel fall blown in tonight. Something renewing about it. As you get older you understand you only get so many nights like this with that first chilly breeze really making itself known as nature's air conditioner returns as it has for thousands of years. Enjoy the ones you get.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It's downright logical when you think about it