Overture

Greetings and salutations, folks! There's a lot to cover as always so I'll get right to it.

CHRIS BENOIT

As I pen this post, the toxicology report on Chris Benoit has been released. This basically is all about how you look at things. Anabolic steroids were not found in Benoit, yet testosterone was. This is what Benoit was getting from his doctor. Having low testosterone levels is consistent with someone who has abused steroids for years. The media and the talking heads are jumping all over this, of course, and saying that Benoit had 'roid rage. For more on the story click me.

The bottom line is that this is a tragedy and that more should be done to rid pro wrestling of illegal drug use. But there is a great deal of sloppy reporting going on, which makes me ask why should I trust these media folks with anything if they are so careless with this story? Are you listening Nancy Grace? Geraldo Rivera?

Meanwhile, Monday Night Raw did a 3.4 rating last night, which is the lowest summertime rating in nine years according to 1wrestling.com. I'm not entirely 100% sure that the low rating is all about the Benoit situation. The storylines have been really boring the last couple of weeks, which is not surprising since Dusty Rhodes is now part of the creative team for the W.W.E. Dusty was a great wrestler, but is and has always been a horrible booker. Rhodes has even thrown himself into the ring at this Sunday's Great American Bash pay-per-view against Randy Orton in a bull rope match. Dusty, by the way, is 62. I get that he's trying to push his son, Cody, but the "American Dream" should stay out of the "squared circle." Randy Orton's nickname, "Legend Killer," has been dropped since the Benoit tragedy.

ENTERTAINMENT

Art Bell announced his retirement recently from radio and the Coast To Coast AM Show. Bell, however, has retired more times than Barbara Steisand, so I doubt this is permanent. Meanwhile, regular C2C Host, George Noory, did a nice job when he went on with Larry King. L.K. had a panel of guys on to discuss the 60th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident, including Buzz Aldrin and former Arizona Governor Fife Symington, who is most infamously known for the "Phoenix Lights" sighting, which took place in 1997. I've posted a pic above.

I got to see Colin Hay from Men At Work perform in downtown Stamford, CT. Overall, I would say it was pretty good.

SPORTS

The Rangers may have made a big mistake today in dealing Matt Cullen to the Carolina Hurricanes for d-man Andrew Hutchinson, a pick, and a prospect. The Blueshirts are poised to make a run at the Stanley Cup and need a guy like Cullen who has tremendous speed, decent hands, and superb penalty killing skills. Cullen also gelled quite nicely with youngsters Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha. This move was all about dumping salary due to the fact that the Rangers need to sign Sean Avery and Marcel Hossa; while allowing wiggle room for a possible additional defenseman. Apparently, the Rangers are going to give Brandon Dubinsky and Artem "From Russia With Love"Anisimov a long look in camp. Some of you have told me that you really like when I preview line combos, so why not do a mid-summer looksie:

Forwards

Martin Straka-Scott Gomez-Jaromir Jagr

Sean Avery-Chris Drury-Brendan Shanahan

Ryan Callahan-Brandon Dubinsky-Petr Prucha

Marcel Hossa-Blair Betts-Ryan Hollweg

Extras: Colton Orr, Nigel Dawes.

D-Men

Marek Malik-Michael Rozsival

Fedor Tyutin-Dan Girardi

Paul Mara-Marc Staal

Extras: Jason Strudwick, Thomas Pock

Goal

Henrik Lundqvist

Stephen Valiquette

Moving right along...Just when many folks thought the Devils were dead, they go out and hire Brent Sutter. My friends, with that move they are one of the best in the East.

Can Gary Sheffield please shut the **** up?

OBSCURE and GUARANTEED TO IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS

Everyone likes to refer to George W. Bush as 'Bush 43,' while his father is referred to as 'Bush 41.' However, only 42 men have been President of the United States. Huh? Well, Grover Cleveland served two terms; from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897, in the middle of that Presidential sandwich was Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893). Cleveland led in the popular vote, but lost to Harrison in the electoral college. Sound familiar?

Tell 'em where you got it!