Quick Wednesday Update

Quick links while I marvel at the continued idiocy (and mad IT skillz)of Yankees fans...

Goose's Roost has a preview of tonight's Sabres-Lightning slobberknocker. Serves me right to go and blog about how great the Sabres are playing and then watch them get pegged by the Pens and Rangers.

A couple of the Deadspin guys have a new baseball blog - Walk off walk. Looks good so far.

What the hell is it with movie stars who cheat on their taxes? First it was Wesley Snipes. Now good ol' locust-eating, molar-extracting-with-no-novacaine Nic[k] Cage?

Hey, if the Wicker Man can't get away with cheating on his taxes, what hope is there for the rest of us?

GOOSE!!!

Yep, Gaustad put home a sweet pass from Daniel Paille last night for the Sabres' only goal in a 1-0 win over the Leafs (watched in beautiful hi-def on the HHL network).

Figured the boys over at The Goose's Roost would be happy about this one.

Oh yeah, Miller was a stud too. Suck on it Wilmer Valderrama.

Odd's 'n' Ends

Getting back into this "blogging" thing -- thought I'd fill out a few odds and ends I noticed the past few days...

Thoughts and prayers go out to Joe Ferguson and his family (Joe is battling complications from Leukemia). Joe was the first QB I remember for the Bills, and I distinctly remember that while he was generally mediocre, he had some great hook-ups with Frank Lewis and Jerry Butler (and, IIRC, set a record for most attempts without an interception). Best wishes Joe.

Derek Jeter apparently has settled his tax dispute with New York state on undisclosed terms. He clearly agreed to pay something - wonder if we will notice that Derek will be less of a presence in NYC (see this post for some background on the case)

Shhh - the Buffalo Sabres are coming. Look out NHL. I've been saying all season that they have had a positive goal differential and just a matter of time before they would creep back into the playoff hunt. Haven't lost since the AS break.

Tax news -- Sen. Grassley said in an interview with Reuters that the Blackstone Bill is essentially dead, but that he thought the deferred comp bill introduced by Rahm EMmanuel last year has some legs.

That's all for now - the Beatles' yogi passed away - I guess that's the big obit for the day. Still having dreams about dad, although not that often.

Always Bet on Black!

Yes, that's my main man Wesley Snipes' line from Passenger 57. Apropos given the recent news of his exoneration of some nasty felony tax fraud charges (his bankroll will still take a dent - he's not off the hook for paying taxes).



Essentially Wesley had been filing returns and paying with bogus checks (so not paying at all), basing his argument that he is not subject to tax on what is called the "861 position", named after a provision of the Code that deals with sourcing of income. The argument is that Section 861 and its regulations define "taxable income" in such a way as to exclude most income from being subject to tax. See the Wikipedia entry.

This is an extraordinarily oft-promoted position that has been repeatedly shot down in the courts. So why did Snipes win?

For a typically arcane reason. In order for Snipes to be convicted for criminal tax fraud, it had to be proven that he did not believe that he was acting in good faith in avoiding paying taxes. Essentially, the jury believed that he was a victim of "bad advice".

Lots of commentary on this at the TaxProf Blog.

Still, it's not all roses for Wesley - he still owes 8 figures in back taxes and penalties and interest stands to serve some jail time for the misdemeanors that he was convicted of - failure to file returns (up to 3 years).

And Always Bet on Black? Seems to be true given that Richard Hatch was not as successful.

Peter King is an idiot

I usually try to refrain from criticizing prominent "MSM" sports journalists. Awful Announcing and Fire Joe Morgan (not to mention Bruce Allen at Boston Sports Media Watch) do a tremendous job already. But I couldn't let this statement by Peter King go by without comment:

"1. I think this was about the dumbest thing I've heard this week so far. When ESPN's Emmitt Smith was asked on TV about Plaxico Burress' prediction of a 23-17 Giants victory, Smith said: "His prediction will get him double-coverage.'' I can only hope Smith either mis-spoke or was somehow exaggerating, because to imagine that the Patriots would be moved to change their defensive plan against Burress because of something he said prior to the game is ridiculous."

Short memory Peter?

"Goat of the Week
Pittsburgh FS Anthony Smith. After his ill-timed guarantee (is there ever a good time to inflame the overwhelming favorites to win the Super Bowl?), Smith got beat for two long Brady touchdowns. I'm not sure anyone cared much about his statements, but why antagonize a great team?"

And from Jackie McMullan's game day story:

The latest victim of their motivational frenzy is [Anthony] Smith, the former Syracuse star whose aggressive defensive style was expertly exploited by the Patriots.

"We knew he plays that way, so we put some stuff to take advantage of that," said receiver Jabar Gaffney (seven catches, 122 yards).

"Lesson learned," said Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs. "A hard lesson learned."

Nah... The Patriots would never target a single player on the opposing team. They'd never design plays specifically to embarrass a player who called them out. Never happen, eh Peter? I mean, seriously, has he not watched Belichick, Brady, et al go for the jugular every possible opportunity? Now obviously the Pats won't triple team Burress out of spite, but you can be sure that they'll be all over him all game. What an idiot.