30 years of Law & Order: Part I

In 13 years, Law & Order will have been on the air for 30 years. Here at The Loop And The Lou, we find that accomplishment blogworthy.

Wikipedia provides an excellent history of the show. If you're a fan of the show or you're interested in a career in Law and/or Order, it's worth checking out.

As informative as Wikipedia is, it does lack a certain attitude or boldness to it. It's like, "Here's all this unbiased, objective info. Feel free to draw your own conclusions". I don't know how they like it in Wikipedia, but in America we like our info in the form of product comparisons or subliminal government propoganda. And if you can't turn a conversation into some kind of Top 10 list, then it probably isn't worth conversing about in the first place.

So in this 47 part series, we're going to turn all that info into something every American can use - Coovo and my opinions on the best Law & Order characters. That's right. We'll take each unique paring of Detectives, Captain, ADA's and DA over the show's 17 years, tell you what we think, which scenes Tim and I like to mime in our "Law & Order: Mime Division" street shows (hint: Coov mimes an awesome Ben Stone), and in the end we might even come up with some kind of Law & Order Dream Team.

Peace out,
Robinet

p.s. We won't be reviewing Law & Order S.U.V. or any of the other spinoffs.

Pump up the volume

Interesting stuff Roller. I just mapped out my walk to my mailbox. .02 miles. I feel a lot skinnier.

A couple things caught my eye last week. One, yet another professional athlete denying he did performance enhancing drugs. In this case, it was baseball player Gary Mathews Jr.. Do I use two periods after an abbreviation? Let me know. The second was Pete Rose admitting he bet his team to win every night. A dramatic departure from 15 plus years of denying he ever bet on baseball. Two black eyes for professional sports, yes, but I think one can learn from the other.

A few years back public sentiment was thought to be that if Pete Rose would just tell the truth and admit he bet on baseball, then everyone could begin to move forward. So he did it. He got roasted like a Kenny Roger's chicken. I think the lesson to be learned here is that when it comes to public matters, the truth will almost always come out. I say almost. We might never know who really shot JFK, or if Reagan really "(couldn't) remember", but in the end, the truth is usually revealed.

By a show of sideways smily faces, how many that people think JFK ever thought his extra-marital affairs would be subject of books and min-series. Bill Clinton never thought his indiscretion(s) would go public or he wouldn't have lied about it on National televesion. And even though pretty substantial evidence was out there that Rose bet on baseball games, he continued to deny it for 15 years.

There is probably a name for this cycle, btu I don't know it: Person A becomes very good at Talent B. Person A becomes wealthy at performing Talent B. Person A does things while performing Talent B that could get Person A in trouble. Person A goes public years later admitting indiscretions for the better of the human race. Person A gets pooped on for being a bad person.

A bit random here, but I'll never forget the sickly face of Lyle Alzado on Roy Firestone's Sportslook saying that he was sure his abuse of steroids had caused the cancer he was now suffering from. How about Mickey Mantle telling the world "he's not a hero" because he drank away his liver and now needed a new one. Magic Johnson. If you need a further explanation on this one you should probably stop living in a closet. I cite sports because I know sports but I think it applies elsewhere, i.e. If given the choice I think celebrities would choose rehab over inventing a cure for cancer. "What courage it took for her to go two whole weeks in therapy without any shopping!" And for the pro athlete: "Uh, I'm totally shocked that I tested positive. It must be the new peanut butter I'm using." No, it was the Horse hormone you injected into your backside.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Or innocent until proven guilty in a Law & Order ripped from the headlines. That is why everyone denies, denies, denies. But it is my belief that the longer the charade, the farther the fall.

Thanks for reading. Hey Roller, how can I put a pitcure of that crotchety old DA, Schiff, in this post?

Skip, Skip, Skip through the Lou

But be prepared to run when bullies start chasing you.

For those who enjoy exercise outdoors and would like an easy way to measure distances traversed, check out www.walkjogrun.net. It uses the Google Maps API to allow you to measure distances of any route. You can save the routes for future use, share them with others, and view others' shared routes as well.

Pretty slick!

We Are Whoever We Say We Are

Well, you can't really say that I've improved in post frequency. The outrage over me not posting on Wednesday could be felt in all reaches of the Roller's work desk. I must admit I did have a post worked up about who we are but Roller and I disagreed about the info in it. He said that the info could be used for potential identity theft. I said identity theft was something made up on CSI. Before this thing got scrapped before it started, we arm wrestled for it. I won. Here is the gist of what I was going to post:

Roller and I met in high school. We played lots of basketball together. His mom's maiden name is Ilgauskas. All critical points to understanding The Loop and The Lou dynamic.

Anyway, Roller and I did meet in high school and we gravitated towards the same group of friends. It is those friends that probably get most of the jokes from that very first post. High school for both of us was in The Lou, but my life started in the Loop, or at least a suburb of it. My folks both grew up in the Chicagoland area and on my mom's side my family we can trace our heritage back six generations in Chicago, giving me ample credentials to represent the Loop. I'm not as clear on Roller's Lou credentials. I'm pretty sure his grandfather is Yogi Berra, but I'll let him fill you in on that.

After college, we both came back to The Lou to start our professional careers. While I continue to search for mine, Roller seems content is his life as computer programming bounty hunter. He tracks down fugitives through Google Maps. Unreal. I moved (back) to Chicago in 2001. I have never really lived in the city before, always in the one burb or another.

Roller and I have started this blog pretty much just to write. We have no specific direction for it but we plan to use it as a space for us to record our thoughts whether they be op-ed pieces or fantasies about Ryan Howard actually remembering who my Dad is. I'll give you a take from a single, big-city bachelor. Roller will give you a take from married, suburban proud papa.

You'll also probably see your fair share of sports talk on this site as I endured my years in The Lou and remain a loyal Chicago fan. Roller, true to his roots, joins the rest of our friends in supporting the St. Louis franchises. Any acrimony in our friendships dissipated as we moved into early adulthood. Check that, one Al Moore still reminds me that the Cubs suck. Even though I tell him every time, that I am aware of that point.

So check back once a week or so and we should hopefully have something vaguely interesting/comical/infuriating up here. Feel free to leave comments, as we're attention addicts and will likely respond with flowers and chocolates.

Until then, in the immortal words of Pope John Paul III, "Peace out, y'all."