What's going on?

The world, or segments of same - as we know it in this country- continues to become "curiouser" and "curiouser", to possibly misquote "Alice In The Looking Glass".

A guy who has Pittsburgh ties - Mike Rice - now Rutgers formerbasketball  coach -is caught on camera kicking, punching, striking with balls, and using racial slurs against his players. His university's initial response?:  a fine, suspension of three games, and a mandate to attend anger management classes.

Finally, the tape of his innovative coaching techniques makes it into the office of NJ Governor Christy, who apparently had run out of reruns of the The West Wing TV show.

The Gov. declares Rice's behavior to be a disaster - a favorite term (his handling of a recent weather "disaster" allegedly increasing his chances of being our next Republican President) and the university promptly decides to fire the coach.

It is alleged that  Christy immediately becomes a darkhorse candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize - which doesn't  have the same respect it once did since it became a political plumb instead of a well deserved honor.

The press loves it and complements Christy for his involvement. Even Christine Brennan, a sports reporter from USA Today, who abhors anything that has to do with colleges and universities and their involvement with sports, writes about the Gov's reaction in what some of her critics might conclude is really a thinly disguised effort to provide the first salvo in a bid for her to become a future Secretary of State in Christy's administration.

The Governor of Pennsylvania decides to sue the NCAA because of the lack of due process in penalyzing Penn State and he is made out to be a fool by the same members of the press who are outraged and suggest he supports child molestation.

So, what's going on?

Chipper Jones, a much respected athlete, notes what happened at Rutgers and writes a twitter announcing that he was insulted and berated by many coaches during his career and suggests it's time for today's modern athletes to man up.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the Rutger's ballplayers had a father who was a bigwhig in TV sports entertainment coverage powerful enough to get their coach fired nor  rendered even one little whimper about Mike Rice's unconscionable actions.

Again, what's going on?

The Carnival cruise line continues to have a string of bad luck involving their ships and the safety of same - you know the same cruise line whose ads suggest - unlike some of their competition  - that they can't wait to get all the kiddies on board for their cruises - one reason Seniors look elsewhere for the most part.

The latest mishap was weather related when a very strong storm took the same ship that was once filled with feces and other non-advertised germs and pulled it away from it's moorings to crash into something strong enough to leave a 20 foot hole in it's hull.

We will give you that it's not always possible to be 100% cautious about anything that could lead to bad publicity - especially when it comes from bad weather. But, doesn't a recent history that suggests Carnival was bought out by McHales's Navy suggest that there is a strong need to fire their entire Risk Management team?

And yeah, any chance someone will ask, "What's going on?"

NBC is about to "fire" Jay Leno  - you say replace - I say fire - "you say 'neether' I say 'nyther' - suggesting a possible fire sale of vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles down the road .

They then hire a nice guy, Jimmy Fallon of SNL fame, who has yet to prove he can do anything to renew NBC's proud image of  great Tonight show hosts and a show that proudly resembled adult entertainment with a proven goal of challenging our minds and testing our sense of humor - plus launching the careers of many in the process..

Now, the fact that everybody had already heard the rumors for over a week (and perhaps only Wolf Blitzer was ignorant of this change) - did not seem to bother the folks over at NBC - once a great network that seemed to know what they were doing.

Yet, at some point when NBC also eventually fires a guy named Burke (who we believe is currently in charge of their entertainment division) it will  take him "maybe" the time required for you to brew a cup of coffee on your Keurig to start fielding multiple job offers - possibly with a higher salary attached.

And, how did a guy with an Irish sounding name like Burke rise to this position?

NBC's not the only one to get it wrong. HBO & Cinemax, a required pairing in our area, once led the country with it's collection of choice movies - often viewed for the first time by it's customers. Both now show flicks that struggle to get a rating higher than two stars unless it's something that was made about the same time as the same McHale's Navy mentioned above.

Instead, it goes into the movie producing business. It makes a movie portraying  a fascinating time in modern music entertainment history and the criminal accusation against Phil Spector, hires two of our greatest actors, Al Pacino and Helen Mirren - to capture this but results in a presentation that resembles a three day old fish sandwich for our viewing delight - in a misthought out attempt to replicate "The Gin Game." - a serious dialogue between two great character actors.

I'm sure somebody over at HBO will blame the review of same on those critics (not on their payroll) and suggest we need to put all entertainment critics on a term limit hiring policy.

Hell, we can't even do that with our politicians for the most part.

Seriously, what's going on and where do we  -who crave good entertainment and still have an ounce of common sense - go to hide?

Finally, the big news is that Lindsay Lohan - on tour in Brazil - one suspects somewhere out of house arrest limits - almost exposes a breast - and her embarassment (yeah, right) is rescued by her rather long and somewhat unkempt mane of hair - an event that sets the Huffington Post all a titter (pun intended).

Folks, is there a possibility that maybe we're being over informed just so a desperate media can write things and hold on to their jobs?

You say, "that includes you too!"

Heck I do this for nothing - probably what it's worth and I readily admit I can't figure out what's going on.

Enjoy this rainy day.