Use the prisoners…

to tear down Detroit. I was in Detroit for a solid happy hour at The Book Cadillac’s Roast restaurant this evening. The 5 oz. burger, which was definitely more than 5 oz., for $3 is a steal, as were the rosemary Roast Fries. Michael Symon is killing it there. But Detroit is not. There are abandoned buildings and piles of rubble mixed among what are some great buildings and they need to go. They need to go FOR FREE. Mayor Bing has already pointed out the financial trouble the city is in, surprise surprise. So how can this be done for free? Well, outside of some truck shipping and security costs, free labor is sitting in cells all over the state. The prisoners of Michigan (and really, it should be wider, but I’ll focus on home first) need to be brought out and put to serious manual labor. Chain them up, and watch them remove a pile of rubble in a day. 12, 14 hours, I really don’t care. Get them out of the cell and get them working. They’re in there because of doing a wrong, so the state should use them to make a right. I hear way too much about prisoner’s rights and the amenities found in prisons. I’ve never been in one so I hope these are exaggerated. One amenity they can be provided for free is fresh air. Actually, sitting behind a desk, I don’t get enough of God’s breath of fresh air enough. Let’s give the prisoners that amenity and get the city cleaned up.

Quick hits of the night:

– Antonio Cromartie – pull out young fella. The soon to be ex-San Diego Charger CB has 7 illegitimate children in 5 states……..AND HE’S 25 YEARS OLD!!!! There was a rumor flying he may get traded to Detroit, but I think Mayor Bing must have told Martin Mayhew that the city did not want to risk having another Deadbeat Dad in town. I’ve been letting this marinate for 3 days. 7? In five states? There’s pre-production protection, there’s in-production protection, there’s post-production protection. My lord. 7? Is he trying to take over the NFL title from Travis Henry and his 9?

– Haeley Vaughan’s time has to be up. I’m picking her as the one BOMB of the night, and not like my boy RJ calls it when he says it was the bomb. A million percent goodbye Haeley. Siobhan – wow. Where did that note come from? Simon called it like I’m seeing it, she’s strange, but good.

– I’m having Olympic withdrawal. Where’s curling? Where’s the half-pipe? Hockey’s on? Oh yeah, but that’s the NHL and I’m not a big Gary Bettman fan right now.

– On the Gary Bettman point, can we agree he gets the moron of the week award? Hi Gary, welcome to the first ever TheLockhart Moron of the Week Winner’s circle. Mr. Bettman decided to take the time during hockey’s biggest moment of the last, oh, ten years (a fantastic Olympic tournament) to suggest that maybe the NHL players will not play in Sochi. Gary, deflect, deflect, deflect. Don’t add fuel to the fire. Your sport has no major network contract (I actually think the NHL pays NBC to get games on TV) and has flopped in so many southern American markets that you cannot afford to throw away free advertising for your stars. Does Ryan Miller get applauded at an opponent’s arena (as he did in Pittsburgh in his team’s first post-Olympic game this week) if not for the Olympics? Does anyone outside of East Lansing and Buffalo know who Ryan Miller is without the Olympics. Geez Gary, you would have thought David Stern taught you something when you worked for the NBA.

– Some say that things get a little backwards in the South sometimes. Looks like UT-Knoxville is trying to prove that correct by awarding former VP Al Gore an honorary doctorate for “visionary leadership”….for talking about something that is under SERIOUS debate. Who wants to pick the next topic? It can be anything, just go crazy about it for awhile, make a movie and UT has a doctorate for you. C’mon, who wants one?

– I bought a pack of Topps 2010 baseball cards today at Target. It is always such a great feeling to open up the pack diving into the unknown of who might be there. The outcome was disappointing today, but I’ll be back for more, albeit it the rare occassion these days, but I will be back.

Goodnight and God Bless,

Scott