ELECTIONS BLOG

It's up to you America!!!



Even Sarah Palin is embarrassed to vote for McCain. This morning after she finished voting at a polling place in Wasilla, Alaska a reporter asked her outside who she voted for and she replied, "I am also exercising my right to privacy and I don't have to tell anybody who I voted for and nobody does. And that's really cool about America, also." There were also a lot of Japanese reporters who started asking her about Japan. It was a bit awkward for everyone.



Is CNN really that desperate for advertisers that they're allowing Fox news to advertise on their channel? I seriously thought I accidentally put on FOX News when I heard an ad saying, "The most watched, the most trusted election headquarters ... Fox News!" But nope, I was watching CNN News. CNN must be so confident they're the best, they don't believe any of their viewers will actually change the channel to laughable FOX. Or perhaps they figure any ad is better than Viagra and Diabetes medicine commercials.



Voting booths are very confusing. It looked like I was trying to fly a plane in there with that huge board with 500 nobs and levers. I don't remember it looking like that at my polling place four years ago in Cali. This was so old school! Who came up with this system?! I thought I had to pull the lever after each vote so I pulled it after I voted for President and then couldn't vote for anything else! On top of that, my polling place didn't have the "I voted" stickers! What's up with that? I don't understand how we can have crazy databases, fly to the moon and be so technologically advanced but then have voting booths from the 1960's. Update your shit America! Simplicity + Efficiency = Accuracy.



The robo calls that the Republicans have been doing today are desperate and pathetic. Total lies. They made calls about how Vidal Castro endorses Obama and how voting for Obama will turn the US into a Cuban dictatorship. Give me a break!

Walking the streets of New York I hear everyone talking about the elections. There was a young girl with her mom standing in front of me at the polls and the little girls was telling her mom how in school all the students had to choose who they would vote for. "Every one of the kids picked Obama mom."



In Union Square there are a ton of people selling different Obama t-shirts but I don't see any booths selling McCain shirts. Do McCain voters not represent?



In sports news, today the Cleveland Browns announced they're benching QB Derek Anderson, and will finally be starting Brady Quinn. I've been a Brady Quinn fan since his early days at Notre Dame and I was lucky to meet him at the ESPY's this year. This move is long over due. He already has a million endorsements and he's never even started a game. He'll make his first starting appearance against the Broncos on Thursday night. However, I was disappointed when I discovered this:



...Ok, leaving for an elections viewing party. Peace.

AFTER-AFTER-AFTER PARTIES ESPY MADNESS

I met Brady Quinn.

It's going to be pretty damn hard to top my night at the ESPY's. For starters, I rarely stay out past 1am and I got home, via cab, at 5am.

I was excited all week for the ESPY's. My heiress roommate loaned me her $800 dress and I was ready to go. I arrived to the ESPY's with my friend Arash, barely making the 5:30 "doors closing" cutoff for the 6pm show. One of my amazing mentors at ESPN scored me a ticket. My seat was at Orchestra level, which was better than some of my celeb friends that walked the carpet. Dodgers player Matt Kemp was seriously in the row in front of me. I run into World Series of Poker Champion Jamie Gold as I walk in. He's one of the nicest guy's ever and now I know the night is off to a good start.


Justin Timberlake was the perfect host for the ESPY's. Ridiculously funny, charming, prepared and god damn talented. I had taken all of these notes from the ESPY's but I don't even care about those anymore because you should seriously just watch the show for yourself. What I want to talk about is the after parties.

After-party:

Once inside I saw about 25 friends and colleagues that I knew. I sit down to eat and start chatting with some famous boxer who's name I can't remember when the entire Celtics team walks in. Kendra and the Girls Next Door are eating a few tables next to me, Greg Oden walks in, I'm introduced to Tony Gonzalez, Terrell Owens enters with his entourage and Kate Walsh looks hot in her purple dress as she's chatting up a hot Tom Brady look-a-like by the door. Later, the Tom Brady look-a-like comes over to talk to me and my friend and I find out his name is Ryan and he's not athlete at all. He's an actor on some show called "Chuck" and thinks it's super cool that my friend and I are into sports, specifically that she is into Fantasy sports. After two of my colleagues and I make a few rounds around the party they invite me to the after-after party. They've got the "in." That's how it's done in Hollywood.

The after-after party is at a huge church downtown. I've been to a Snoop Dogg concert and Grammy party there before, which means I know where the bathrooms are. Once inside I see Derek Fisher whom I haven't seen since the NBA playoffs. He introduces me to his wife and we crack up about a certain scandle that happened a month ago he thinks is hilarious. "This is the girl from that story I told you about!" he says to his wife. Nice.

Matt Leinart's also at the party so I briefly chat up my former college classmate. "I like the look," I say eyeing his baby blue sweater. "I think I'm a little too preppy," he says.

Michael Vartan and his friend happen to be at the party as well and at this point we're at the hugging stage. We all hug and chat about the ESPY's which they missed. I fill them in on the det's.

T.O. and pretty much every other A-list athlete from the ESPY's and the first after-party make their way to this one and by 2am it's time for the after-after party. My incredible two friends toss me a wrist band and we cab it over to the Standard hotel. They're amazing and they've also got another "in" to an even more exclusive bash.



I didn't think it was possible to get more athletes into one party but I feel like I'm in some mega-star locker room. There's only one person worth mentioning though and that is Brady Quinn. Say what you will about his football skills, Brady Quinn was my second favorite athlete for the last four years (it was Barry Zito, Brady Quinn, Scott Podsednik and Tom Brady) and I was never able to meet him even at the Notre Dame football game in South Bend. I don't ever get nervous or too excited to see athletes or celebs (I mean I interview them on a daily basis) - but this was Brady Quinn. It'd be like meeting Zack Morris when I was in middle school. I introduced myself, met his gorgeous girlfriend and then sat down on the couch of the hotel room to take a breather, thinking, "Shit, there's no way to top this. Ever. I went to the ESPY's. Best show ever. I met Brady Quinn. I'm at an after-after-after party. And I met Brady Quinn."

By 5am, it was well past my bed time so I jumped in a cab and after the cab driver made a few wrong turns, I eventually ended up at my apartment, where I laid down and thought, "There's no way I'm making my 9am appointment in Orange County tomorrow."

WHY SCOTT PODSEDNIK IS YUMMY

It was perhaps the best surprise of the day when I saw former White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik in the locker room. I had completly forgotten the White Sox let him go and he was here auditioning for the Rockies.

Okay, so he might not be as great as he was when he helped the White Sox win the 05' World Series, but have you seen the man smile? Better yet, have you ever had a conversation with him? I did. And it was by far the most entertaining part of my day. He is third on my list of favorite athletes with Barry Zito and Brady Quinn rounding out the top. They're all unconventional and funny, what can I say?


Podsednik told me how he likes to make blueberry muffin mix with milk and eat it. While my stomach cringes at the thought of eating such a concoction, I am pretty sure that random revelation just bumped him up to my number two spot.

"Pour milk into blueberry muffin mix; mix it around the batter," he explains.

"And eat it?" I ask with a disgusted look on my face. "That's sick."

"No, its so good, it's so good," he promises. "That's the recipe I'm gonna give you. It's just raw blueberry batter mix. I just eat the mix like that."

I'm pretty sure that's not a real recipe and definitely not the answer my editor at ESPN was looking for.

"That's pretty gross," I inform him.

"Yeah, it's not very healthy," he admits. "I used to do crackers in milk. Crushed up crackers and milk mixed up. That's not really a recipe I gave you, I just like eating raw batter blueberry muffin mix. You need to try it sometime."


Podsednik also told me how he finally bought a car. "My teammates over at the White Sox were giving me hell because I didn't own an automobile, because I'd get dealer cars during the season so I finally broke down and bought a car," Podsednik explains. Nothing like freeloading hot rods. What did he get? "A Tahoe!" he tells me proudly.

SIDE NOTE: Oreos and milk are way better than blueberry muffin mix.