a writer's perspective So now that the writers have voted overwhelmingly to end the strike, what next? Well, now we’re in the midst of the contract ratification process. Last week, interested writers were asked to provide the WGA with “camera ready” statements for or against the new contract. Over the next few days, guild members will be receiving ballots along with the pro and con statements, and will have the opportunity to vote as to......

Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Gothamist was amazed after the Giants won the Super Bowl, the city went wild, and it witnessed a ticker-tape parade.Barack Obama drew 20,000+ ahead of Seattle’s Saturday caucus.Londonist had Super Tuesday too.Elusive guerrilla street artist Banksy revisits Los Angeles.After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and came this close to making......

Deadspin's Will Leitch will be signing copies of his new book, God Save the Fan tonight at Book Soup Will Leitch, Deadspin editor, New York Times contributor, and author is in Los Angeles today presenting and signing copies of his new book God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It......

a writer's perspective With rumors flying fast and furious that The End Is Near, picketing resumed this morning with increased media scrutiny, and with healthy skepticism amongst the writers. I know everybody is anxious for this thing to be over, but there’s no point in listening to the rumors before they become a reality. I know Fox CEO Peter Chernin allegedly told his buddies at the Superbowl yesterday that “the strike is over”, but......

I have no balls. After talking about the New England Patriot’s upset win against the St. Louis Rams six years ago, I said in this webspace, “Somehow I get a similar feeling with this Sunday’s game.” But I quickly dismissed it. In the end I picked the Patriots to win the game 34-27, and I was flat wrong and Bill Plaschke was right. And you don’t know how hard it is for me to admit......

Think your Super Bowl Sunday went sour? Try being a resident of Coachella Valley at kickoff time. According to The Desert Sun, Time Warner Cable is reporting a sustained outage in the cities of Twentynine Palms , Yucca Valley, and Barstow. Officials have not said what caused the outages, but according to a recorded message at Time Warner offices, engineers are "aware of the problem" and there is "no estimated time of repair." Super......

Vague language is the name of the (big) game. There's a sports game on right now. The Big Game. You know, the championship game between two conferences of a league that specializes in playing the sport with a football. But hey since I'm not an advertiser, I can call a spade a spade: It's the Super Bowl. Super Bowl Super Bowl. Super Bowl. Between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. See, I......

LAist News Editor Andy Sternberg is inside the Barack Obama rally which is scheduled to kick off at 1:30 this afternoon at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. The event will feature Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Caroline Kennedy, but will be missing Mister Obama himself. In warming up the crowd, California Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero has declared to the gathered supporters: "YOU are the real Giants and Patriots of America today!" (Get......

LAist reader Hope Egan has sent us this pic from inside the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona where Super Bowl XLII is going to get going in just about two hours. In case you're totally oblivious (like I was until I did some internet-scouring) this is the 42nd annual playing of the major NFL match up, and this year's game is between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and......

I have to be very honest with you. I hate this time of the football season. I love the game, don’t get me wrong. I think the NFL has the most dynamic postseason in all of professional sports. I just hate this week of needless hype and other absurdities that would make Eugene Ionesco proud that lead up to the game. One piece that floated into my inbox Saturday morning comes from the folks......

In a post I wrote earlier this week, I talked about the New England Patriots back in 2002. The Patriots squeaked their way into Super Bowl XXXVI with the infamous “tuck rule” game against the Oakland Traitors in the snow of Foxborough and barely surviving the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. First-year starting quarterback Tom Brady was hurt in the game against the Steelers forcing veteran Drew Bledsoe off the bench to lead......

The Super Bowl is the Hajj of the sports world. Held once a year, it's a religious experience for a lot of people. It's also the greatest gathering of sports celebrities, media, executives, and even hookers. Forget the game, it's all about parties hosted by Playboy, Maxim, and about a dozen other major corporate players. With that in mind, this LAister is going to venture into the desert and see what happens. Nope, no tickets.......

I am so sick of this shit. All week long the pervasive analysis on Sunday’s Super Bowl is Tom Brady’s boot and flowers to the owner of the vagina he sticks his dick in from time to time. Ok. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. Does no one realize that this is the same quarterback that has been on the injured list every day since the dawn of time? Of......

We've already told you where the Patriots and Chargers fans will be taking in tomorrow's conference championship games, now we'll let you know where the Cheeseheads and Big Blue will gather to watch their teams fight for a trip to Super Bowl XLII. LA-based Packers fans have had a safe haven in Pickwicks Pub, Woodland Hills (21010 Ventura Blvd.) since 2005 when the bar re-opened after a fire burned down the original bar. Transplant Giants......

Wall-to-Wall Patriots fans pack Sonny McLean's Every Sunday NFL franchise or not, Los Angeles is filled with football fanatics. Many of these fans have relocated to LA from all corners of the country, bringing with them their devotion for the home team of city they left behind. Rather than sitting in the confines of their living room and watching their boys battle it out on the gridiron, many transplants have found a sanctuary in......

So, looking forward to the Golden Globes tomorrow night? If you like lists being read aloud (and, really, who doesn't?) then NBC has a show for you. But, wait, there's more! Since the news conference announcing the winners will take one hour, NBC is filling the other two hours originally scheduled for the Globes with a "Dateline" special, including interviews to be conducted by Matt Lauer with some actors that are up for some......

With the regular season of the NFL coming to an end, what have we truly learned? 1. Perfection is Possible! The New England Patriots join the ranks of the 1972 Miami Dolphins and the 1942 and 1934 Chicago Bears teams. However they are the first to do this with a 16 game schedule (the other teams did it on a 14, 11 and 13 game schedules respectively). It may be tempting to call this......

In a press release yesterday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that Saturday night's potentially historic game featuring the New England Patriots visiting the New York Football Giants will be simulcast on the NFL Network, CBS and NBC. Yes, everyone will be able to watch this game now. This is the first time an NFL game will be simulcast since Super Bowl I. Now isn't that magnanimous of good ole Roger? Seriously if it wasn't......

I know I’m about as consistent as the Lakers in doing these things. So here are my quick takes of all of the Sunday games. There’s a quarterback who breaks records, a team that finally does something with a kick off, a team that will not live in infamy and a bunch of ugly games that made me really happy to be huddled in my bed with the heater on. Cleveland Browns over Buffalo......

One of the things that sports fans in Southern California should be grateful for as they warm up last night's left overs is the fact that ESPN.com's Eric Neel moved to LA this year from Northern Cal because now his excellent writing is being more focused on our teams. Yesterday he posted a glowing feature on the USC football head coach who appears every bit the Golden Boy that he looks in photos. In......

Fires raged across Southern California for the second day in a row. Helicopters joined the effort as did a Boeing 747, according to NBC TV. Also, 250,000 San Diegans were told to evacuate their homes. LAist is on top of recent developments. Fires in the region always make me think of when NBC newscaster Chuck Henry reported on the forest fires in 2003. His news van caught on fire and he and his crew had......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

The big story this past week was New England Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick. After having one of his coaches illegally videotape the New York Jets’ defensive coaches giving signals, he tried his best to sidestep the issue. We all know that as great of a coach as he is, Belichick is an asshole. In a written statement apologizing for the incident on Wednesday, he said the he misinterpreted the rule. The rule clearly......

The Dodgers are winning. They’ve won nine of their last 13 games crawling back to 4 ½ games within the NL West lead. It looks like a rosy picture, but I’m still not buying into it. The problem is the Dodgers are merely a singles-hitting team that can only run station-to-station. Of their 1,232 hits 225 are doubles (ranked 13th in the NL), 27 are triples (tied for 8th) and 96 are home runs......

- Hey hippies, the world’s largest wind energy conference and trade show ever is happening here in town - All American Patriots - LAPD accused of beating up homeless - LAT - Random two sentences out of today's LA Daily News: The 23-year-old star of "Teeny Tarts 4" and president of Hollywood-based Nautica Thorn Productions made a name for herself getting naked on camera. That name pushed her into mainstream consciousness recently as she......

- National Spelling Bee is down to just 15 adorable nerds - LA Times (spoilers if you are going to watch it tonight) - Headline of the day: Lady Who Fucked Up Iraq to Fix It - Wonkette - Gang crimes down 32%, slackers - LAT - Tommy Lasorda, representing the LA Dodgers, acquired a 40-foot bus from the MTA with help from Tom LaBonge and donated it to some underprivileged sports writers in......

It was a tough afternoon in San Diego as the Chargers watched their lead dissipate late in the fourth quarter to a relentless Patriot offense. The Chargers opened up the fourth quarter with a second touchdown from LaDainian Tomlinson, putting them up 21-13. It looked bleak for New England as they trailed by 8 points with 5 minutes to go. With 41 yards to go, Brady threw a short pass that was intercepted by McRee.......

Hope for DVDs in your stockings and lots of trips to your cinema center - this weekend and next week will be reruns of just about everything including late night programming. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to be spending time with people you love or like or something. Today - Saturday College Basketball is scattered all over the tube from morning 'til night. "A Christmas Carol" (TCM, 11:00 a.m.) This is......

Weekend Edition Friday - Today "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) An evening of stop-action animation starts with this one followed by "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Mysterious Island" "NHL Hockey" (5:30 p.m.) Kings @ Stars "NBA Basketball" (KCAL, 6:00 p.m.) Lakers @ Jazz "College Football" (ESPN2, 6:00 p.m.) Fresno State @ Louisiana Tech "College Basketball" (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Long Beach State @ USC "Ghost Whisperer/Close To Home/NUMB3RS" (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) All......

Weekend Edition OK, so the TV Junkie completely missed Friday, this was because of a 50 mile backup on the MassPike so that's unlikely to happen in the near future. Now the TV Junkie is quite drunk in San Francisco which doesn't mean he doesn't want to be drunk in LA with you wonderful people. This doesn't mean it won't happen again, we're only somewhat human. College Football (ABC, ESPN and wherever else, at......