Sound of the drums ... beatin in my heart!

Thunderstorms have a way of shaking loose all the dust bunnies in my head, which is scary to some people. They also have a way of shooting lightning at homes in Mason, which is really scary to me (a house over in Crooked Tree got hit & heavily damaged by fire last night). At least three houses within two miles of my house have been licked by Thor's spark and gone up like tinder in the last couple years. One of those loose dust bunnies has me thinking I should call Jonathan Kent in Smallville and ask him which brand of lightning rod is most effective. Or I could strap Tim Tebow to my roof. I've heard both are equally effective at preventing lightning strikes. Only the Pittsburgh Steelers disagree. What's that ... the NFL draft starts tonight? Oh ... I hadn't heard. Get your ears ready!!! Chris "Boomer" Berman ... back, back, back ... BOOM!!! Are you Team Kiper or Team McShay?

The thundering announcement from ExxonMobil that their net income from the 1st quarter of 2012 fell 11% shook Wall Street yesterday. Their shareholders were crushed to find out the oil giant made only $9.45billion in the first three months of the year, down from $10.7billion in the same period last year. The 1st quarter earnings report puts ExxonMobil on track for net earnings of $37.8billion in 2012 ... just the type of company I think our government should help prop up with tax breaks!!! ExxonMobil pulls in almost $500million a year in tax breaks and credits from our government, or about the same amount of tax money given to the ill-fated Solyndra solar panel company. Question of the day: Of the two examples provided, which use of tax money is supported by Republican Senators? Think very carefully ... both involve using tax money to support businesses. One business is a small American start-up. One is a multi-national, established company. One company spends millions of dollars a year on lobbyists to convince lawmakers to protect their fair advantage. One company applied to use the government's money under a law signed by George W. in 2005. Times up ... Final answer? If you guessed that Republican Senators support tax credits to ExxonMobil, you are correct. The Republican Senators also support another $1.9billion in tax credits to large oil companies like BP, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and Chevron. Together these five companies will earn between $80billion - $100billion this year, and instead of using their profits to further exploration, research, and infrastructure they will use $2.4billion of American tax money to do these things. These same Republicans, and soon Mitt Romney, slam President B-rock Obama for his support of the Solyndra corporation which eventually went bankrupt. Benjamin Franklin, famous for his research into the electrical potential of lightning, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Alexander Tyler all postulated (between 1763 and 1831 I might add) that democracy would come to an end when the public learns it can vote itself a share of the public treasury (I paraphrased a combination of all three guys' ideas). The only difference between Republicans and Democrats in their quest to dismantle democracy in the U.S. is that the Republicans vote the public treasury to corporations and big business (through tax breaks which allow their shareholders - citizens - to make more money), while the Democrats vote the public treasury to the people (through social programs designed for the underprivileged or elderly or unemployed or disabled). Either way democracy in the United States suffers, capitalism in the United States suffers, and freedom and liberty in the United States suffers. A couple hundred years later, all three of these great thinkers have been proven correct. Bravo!!

San Francisco lefthander Barry Zito was motoring along last night at the GABP through six innings, holding the Reds scoreless with only four hits. Then Scott Rolen stepped up to the plate in the 7th inning and thundered a lightning bolt into the leftfield stands for his first homerun of the year. Zito hit the showers and the Reds plated three more runs in the inning to take a 4-2 lead. Aroldis Chapman was electric in the 8th inning and Sean Marshall closed the Giants down in the 9th for his 4th save of the season. It was a gritty performance on a drizzly night, headed up by Bronson Arroyo grinding out innings and keeping the game close with very average stuff. Bronson's pitching performances are about as balanced as Charlie Sheen's behavior. Sheen's liver is accustomed to the type of beating the Giants put on Arroyo last night, but they could only manage two runs against the Reds starter (and to be fair to Bronson, Stubbs should have gunned down Hector Sanchez at the plate in the 4th but he bobbled the ball in the outfield). The win puts the Reds back to .500 at 9-9, and after today's game against the giants they have 9 games against the Lastros, Cubs and Pirates. Anything below 6-4 in these next 10 games is unacceptable, and 7-3 is definitely possible. Dusty Custer needs to lead a charge through the division's Sister's of the Poor if he wants to make his last stand a winning one. Some fans forget that the Reds dominated the Lastros, Cubs and Pirates on the way to the 2010 Central Title to the tune of 32-15 (they were 59-56 against everyone else). Similar domination will be required if the Reds hope to grab a pennant again this season.

Real Madrid was thunderstruck yesterday when Sergio Ramos blazed his shot from the penalty spot into the Bernabeu crowd allowing Bayern Munich to win the Champions League Semi-Final on Bastian Schweinsteiger's (could there be a more Bavarian name than that?) successful penalty kick. Bayern moves on to face Chelsea in the final and puts to rest the myth about La Liga being the best league in the world. Real Madrid is going to win La Liga, and Bayern is eight points behind the Bundesliga's leader Borussia Dortmund. Barcelona is second in La Liga, while Chelsea is in sixth place in the Premier League twenty-five points back of leaders Manchester United. If La Liga was as dominant some Spaniphants like to claim, both Real and Barcelona would be preparing to play in the Champions League final instead of heading back to the Spain with their tails between their legs. Spanish Dogs!!!!

The 1st round of the NFL draft is tonight .. FINALLY!!!! Not because I'm excited about who the Bengals or Cowboys will select, but because the cacophony of talking heads will stop thundering in my ears. I might mention the draft tomorrow .. and then again maybe I won't because one round does not a draft make. You know how I feel about hype ... don't make me repeat myself!!!

And like a flash of lightning ... I'm gone!