Today the KTLA Morning News is celebrating 20 years of giving you the news, weather, traffic and---if we've done our jobs right--putting a smile on your face.

I'm a Johnny-come-lately to the program--joining the team in 2007 after one of the program's original co-anchors Carlos Amezcua left for KTTV Fox 11 and long after the show had become a model for other morning news programs across the U.S. The show has had its ups and downs in the ratings but it has survived and thrived and I'm proud to say that these days we're #1 again in Southern California. I feel honored to be part of this special broadcast and while I often joke on the air that "everything I do is for you, the home viewer," there really is a truth to it. I know it's a privilege to be invited in to your homes every day and I thank you. 

I also want to thank the original on-air team including Carlos and Barbara Beck, Sam Rubin and Mark Kriski, Jennifer York, Michele Ruiz, Eric Spillman, and a couple of years in to it, Gayle Anderson, along with the countless producers, writers, photographers and others who set the tone for a program that at the time was groundbreaking. They took on the network morning news programs like Today and Good Morning America and gave viewers not just the national news but also what was happening down the street. At times, the originals were hard-hitting and tough. At other times, they were downright silly. What you were seeing is what I hope you still see on the broadcast--real people who happen to be news people telling you stories, providing you with information, sharing a laugh with you. This morning, we'll look back at 20 years of news and fun. I promise you some of these clips will bring that smile to your face and maybe even a tear to your eyes.

One of the executive producers of our program once said if we cover the news properly, our viewers will allow us to have fun on the air. I have to admit it didn't come easy to me. When I was asked to anchor the KTLA Morning News, I wondered if I could do it. I had spent a career keeping my personal thoughts to myself and being a "serious" hard-news reporter. At CNN, the motto was: The news is the star. In other words, keep yourself out of it. What I've learned from you and my friends at the KTLA Morning News is that you want us to take the news seriously but not ourselves. You want us to be ourselves and you'll cut us some slack if we say something you don't agree with or if we're having a little too much fun on a given day as long as we hit the news hard when it's appropriate.

As some of you heard me say during our 20th anniversary special last night, I occasionally get asked: "What's the next step in your career? Where do you want to go next?" I don't want to go anywhere. I've arrived at my destination. This is my next. I hope I'm still with you on the KTLA Morning News when we celebrate 40 years of the best local morning news program in America with the best viewers in Southern California. Today, we celebrate 20 years. I hope you'll join us. See you at 7.

Two years ago, my son Ben was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. For days after the diagnosis, I anchored the KTLA Morning News and then retired to my office where I closed the door and wept. I was grieving the loss of the carefree life my son and every 12-year-old boy should enjoy. I was terrified about the life-threatening disease he now faced. I was mad. We were good parents who had done everything we could to make sure our child was healthy and thriving. We made him eat healthy foods. We made sure he exercised and was fit. We took him to the doctor for physicals and other regular check ups. When he was born healthy, the doctor told us he had 10 fingers and 10 toes and everything was where it was supposed to be. How could doctors now come to us and say that our precious son actually faced a life-threatening disease?

Thankfully, our son's type 1 diabetes was discovered during a routine physical and not during an emergency hospitalization. Some families have to rush their children to the hospital in an ambulance when blood sugar levels go so high that their children suffer seizures or fall unconscious. Like many of them, we had no experience with diabetes and didn't know anything about it. We would soon learn that our son's life and our family's life was about to change in a big way.

One day Ben was a healthy, athletic and happy 12-year-old boy. The next day he was learning how to check his blood sugars and how to inject himself with a syringe.  Two years later, Ben is an experienced young man who deals with the challenge of type 1 diabetes with aplomb. Several times a day, Ben has to prick his finger with a needle to make himself bleed. He does this to check his blood sugars. Before he eats or drinks anything, he has to estimate the number of carbohydrate grams in a meal or snack to determine how much insulin he has to either inject through a syringe or put in to his body through an insulin pump. If he does the math correctly and puts in the right amount of insulin, he simply continues about his day. If he gets it wrong and doesn't use enough insulin, his blood sugars can spike to dangerous levels--contributing to the long-term effects of diabetes which include kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke. If he uses too much insulin, he "goes low" and my son feels uncomfortable at best. I don't want to think about the worst case scenario but all of us who have children who are facing type 1 diabetes every day know that extremely low blood sugar levels can also cause seizures, unconsciousness, or even death.

I share these things with you because my job is to inform and my son has allowed me to share our story with hopes it might help you.  Researchers don't yet know why some people are stricken with type 1 diabetes. They believe there's a genetic component to it and that environmental triggers cause some people to get it. But we had no family history and to this day we don't know what triggered Ben's onset of the disease. And yet, our son has type 1 diabetes.

These are the kinds of stories being told this week in Washington DC at the Children's Congress--a project of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. A delegation of 150 young people, 4-17 years old, will be led by International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore as they meet with lawmakers to tell them their stories and to encourage them to continue funding research. Among the delegates are seven-year-old Jonathan Richard Platt and Michelle Smolarski, 17, who are representing the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the JDRF. Here are a couple of links to videos so you can see these wonderful kids:

http://cc.jdrf.org/delegates-2011/ca/jonathan-1.php

http://cc.jdrf.org/delegates-2011/ca/michelle.php

All of this is to say: It can happen to you too. Three million Americans are living with type 1 diabetes and 80 new patients are diagnosed every day. That's why it's important for everyone to recognize the symptoms of type 1 diabetes so that if it does, you won't find yourself in a hospital emergency room. According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the warning signs that you or your child may have type 1 diabetes are extreme thirst, frequent urination, sudden vision changes, sugar in urine, fruity, sweet or wine-like breath odor, increased appetite, sudden weight loss, drowsiness and lethargy and heavy labored breathing.  If you or your child are experiencing any of these symptoms, you should call a doctor. If you want more information, you can go to JDRF's website at jdrf.org or jdrfla.org.

On Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Olympic gold medalist and swimmer Gary Hall Jr., NFL football player Kendall Simmons, recording artist Crystal Bowersox and others who have type 1 diabetes will participate in a Town Hall panel "Role Models with Type 1 Diabetes" at 10:30 a.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. our time). If you'd like to watch or participate, go to www.cc.jdrf.org/LIVE. You can also join the conversation at @JDRFAdvocacy on Twitter and add the hashtag #JDRFcc11.

I took the Buckley boys to Dodger Stadium last night and...had a good time. It's true. The British Mrs. Buckley still doesn't get the poetry of baseball so we took along my pal from my days as an intern at the Los Angeles Times, Jesse Katz, who absolutely does get the poetry of the game (if you want proof check out his book The Opposite Field) and we met up with another friend and die hard Dodgers fan Billy Ray and his son. Sure, we spent some time talking about the McCourts and payroll and all of the stuff that's making the headlines these days. But it turns out Dodgers baseball is bigger than all of that. Dodger Stadium is still standing and welcoming fans and families and is still a great night out in LA.

We watched a star in the making--23-year-old Dee Gordon (whose uniform looked a size too big on a kid who looks like he weighs 110 pounds) make three huge defensive plays right in front of us. We enjoyed a beautiful evening at Chavez Ravine. We felt safe thanks to the presence of the other boys in blue--the LAPD. And it was easy to get in and out of the parking lot because well, the place was only about a third full (the announced attendance of 31,372 was not even close to the number of folks actually in the stadium). 

Maybe it's time for you to get back to the stadium?

I know what some of you are saying--I'm not going to give another dime to Frank McCourt. I want him to fall short of payroll so he has to give up the team. I'm not taking my family to the stadium because it encourages a thug element and isn't safe. You're certainly entitled to your take on McCourt and I was with you on the security aspect of things in the wake of the Bryan Stow beating. But after taking in our first game of the season, I have to say it was great to be back at Dodger Stadium. The Dodger Dogs (and I took one for the team and had TWO--one all beef AND one Dodger Dog for "research purposes" for you, the home viewer) still taste mighty fine. The peanuts still go perfectly with that beer they serve. The folks who work at Dodger Stadium are still as friendly and inviting as they've always been. The fans we encountered were still happy to be enjoying a major league baseball game.

No, it's not perfect. Parking is still too expensive and so is the beer. I had to reach back in to my pocket when the $20 I pulled out for a couple of beers was a couple of bucks short. The Dodgers are down in the standings and they're plagued with injuries. The McCourt drama is still a huge distraction. But the kids are out of school. The Dodgers are doing their best on the field. And Dodger Stadium is still a place where memories are made. The smiles on our faces last night--especially the ones on my sons' faces--are ones I'll keep in my memories as they and I grow older.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's admission that yes, it was indeed his crotch in the photo and yes, he indeed tweeted that photo to a young woman despite his lies to the contrary is just the latest pathetic admission from an elected official about his secret sex life.

Last week, it was former U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate John Edwards who lied about having an affair with a woman and impregnating her while his wife was dying of cancer. The week before it was former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who had an affair with his housekeeper and impregnated her. Go back a bit further and we had former president Bill Clinton who had an affair with an intern. And then, it turned out his chief critic,  then House speaker Newt Gingrich, was having his own secret affairs. There was moral crusader and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer who claimed to be a "George Fox" when he was "Client Number 9" when he was using the services and the prostitutes of the "Emperors Club VIP." 

And now we have Rep. Weiner--the guy with the unfortunate name who wasn't a very convincing liar when he couldn't confirm or deny that the photo of a guy's crotch was a photo of  his crotch. Ask a Hollywood writer if you could submit a script with a storyline as dumb as this one. You wouldn't get it past a development assistant. I can just see the note to the writer: "Would a powerful congressman really be that stupid? Of course not. Thank you but we'll take a pass on this one."

What's wrong with these guys?

Look, the truth is I'm not a prude and I'm not judgmental about people when it comes to matters of the heart. People--even elected officials--have a right to a private life. The problem though is when their weird private lives become public through scandal. That's when they begin to lie. And if they're such good liars about their private lives, one begins to wonder what else they're lying about.

Even worse, is the distraction that comes with the scandal. How many hours of cable news and how many inches of the nation's newspapers will now be spent talking about something as stupid and embarrassing as Anthony Weiner's crotch?  People wonder why nothing gets done in Washington and Sacramento? Sounds like there's actually alot of action going on behind closed doors. But we want action on unemployment, budgets, school funding, health care policy and a million other issues. We have so many problems in this country that need the attention of serious lawmakers who want to make a difference. Those folks still exist, right?

I'm back at work Monday and I wanted to thank all of you for your prayers, your thoughts and your special wishes in the wake of the passing of my father, Bill Buckley. I remain overwhelmed.

We had a wonderful memorial service Saturday in Twentynine Palms at the church he helped to build as a trustee (Desert Congregational Church) that was attended by friends and family and just a few of the people dad touched over a lifetime of service to his nation and his community. We laughed and we cried and we celebrated a humble man who looked for the good in people, who led by example, who provided for and loved his family.

Dad was born the son of a coal miner (and local union president) who was determined not to work in the mines of West Virginia. He had eight brothers and sisters and 16 nephews and nieces. He was a strong man with a gentle soul. He joined the Navy and got to see the world. He became a hospital corpsman whose mission over 30 years was to provide the best medical care possible for sailors and Marines. He retired as Command Master Chief at the Navy hospital in Twentynine Palms. He then worked for a few years running the golf course at the Marine Corps base before retiring for good in 1991. My dad was a good man and we were close. I will miss him tremendously.

I wanted to share a couple of stories emailed to me during the past week that give you a brief glimpse into the man who was my father. The first comes from a retired rear admiral in the Navy and family friend. 

Even before I returned to Los Angeles from Japan, I began receiving emails from friends telling me about various efforts to help the people affected by the earthquake, tsunami and radiation. It has been a life-affirming experience to know that so many people--many of whom have no personal connection to Japan--are taking time out of their lives and/or are donating money to help people half way around the globe.

I know firsthand that the need in Japan is great and every bit of assistance will be appreciated. While Japan is a relatively affluent society and has the third largest economy in the world, no one could be prepared for what Japan and the Japanese have experienced. What I saw in Sendai and Natori was unlike anything I've ever seen. Entire communities aren't just heavily damaged--they're gone.

What can you do to help?

I'm a member of the US-Japan Council (USJC), a people to people diplomacy organization that advances the US-Japan relationship, so I've made a donation to the fund the USJC has organized. As of today, the US-Japan Council has raised $1,463,441. All of it (100%) will go to Japanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help the Japanese people to recover. If you're interested in the USJC's fund, go to usjapancouncil.org/fund.

But there are many organizations and people doing their part to help.

A viewer got in touch to tell me about a non-profit in Orange County called Team Kids that has mobilized children to raise money for Japan by setting up lemonade stands. They've registered 75 stands and they're calling it the Team Kids LemonAID Japan project. Their website is teamkids.org. You can also make a donation at their Team Kids LemonAID Store at The Orange County Great Park Farmer's Market in Irvine on Sunday, March 27 between 10 am and 2 pm. Monies raised will go to the American Red Cross' Japan Earthquake/Pacific Tsunami Relief Fund.

On Friday, March 25th from noon to 7pm, the Bandai Foundation is holding a drive thru drop off event with the proceeds going to the same Red Cross fund. Bandai is a Japanese toy manufacturer known for its Power Ranger, Ben 10 and Tamagotchi toys. Folks who stop by their offices at 5551 Katella Avenue in Cypress on Friday will be treated to character appearances from the Power Rangers and others. 

The Cherry Blossom Festival Southern California (CBFSC) is also teaming up with the Red Cross to raise money for earthquake relief. On April 2nd and 3rd, visitors to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Little Tokyo who donate at least a dollar can make or select an origami paper crane, sign it and place it on an "Origami Tree" as a symbol of hope. The Cherry Blossom Festival is still looking for folks who can help offset the costs involved in this effort. If you're interested, the website is cherryblossomfestivalsocal.org.

Those are just a few of the ways you can help. If you know of others, feel free to post your organization's information on the blog to get the word out.

I returned home from Japan last night and wanted to share a few thoughts, a few behind-the-scene moments and a link to a way you can help the Japanese people.

This assignment began a week ago Thursday night when the magnitude 9 earthquake hit. Morning News Executive Producer Tim Scowden called me at home to wake me and let me know we'd be going on early--at 4AM. He also knows that as an American with a Japanese mother, I have friends and family in Japan and that I'm involved in the Japanese American community here in the States. Tim asked me to think about how we might include some of their voices in our live coverage the next day.

After working on that, I slept for an hour and came in to KTLA. I then anchored six hours of our live coverage before heading over to Pacoima to meet up with LA County Fire's Task Force Two which was gathering its troops to deploy. I joined up with producer Toni Molle and photographer Mike McGregor and we tried to hitch a ride with them as embeds but they didn't have any room. So we booked flights for the next flight out which turned out to be 6AM Saturday. We had to take a 27-hour-long circuitous route from Los Angeles to Chicago to Detroit to Tokyo. This was the team as we flew to Tokyo. 

We're smiling in the photo and in light of the events--I hope it doesn't appear insensitive or inappropriate. But at this point in our journey, we're pumped with adrenaline in anticipation of the story ahead, we're already exhausted, we're anxious about what we'll find when we land, and we're wondering how we'll cover this huge story with so many moving parts. These are the nervous smiles of a news team that doesn't know what to expect.

Upon landing, we had to sleep. We did for a few hours. Japanese authorities weren't allowing news media without Japanese government-issued special credentials to get to the scene in northeastern Japan so we decided to report on our first day from the CNN Tokyo bureau. It was a way to get the most up-to-the-minute information while providing you with live coverage from Japan. After doing live shots for the Sunday night 6 and 10PM programs and for Monday's KTLA Morning News programs, it was 1AM in Tokyo, Tuesday.

By this time, we had hired a "fixer" (a Japanese person who could make local arrangements and translate as needed) and a driver. With CNN's help, we obtained the proper credentials and began a journey to Sendai, a city of a million people closest to the epicenter of the quake which was 230 miles northeast of Tokyo.

We brought along a CNN producer (who'd just flown in from Libya) and we drove through the night in a van packed with TV gear, luggage, food and water. We expected to sleep in the van and to provide for ourselves while covering the quake. We arrived in Sendai at first light and were surprised to find...a city seemingly undamaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Turns out the city center was far enough away from the ocean that it wasn't reached by the tsunami. The quake damage, at least on the outside of the buildings was superficial. We dropped off the producer at CNN's workspace and headed toward the ocean. That's when we began to see things like this. 

 
We're standing in front of what was once a gas station. It's piled high with the debris from homes, cars and businesses. By this time, we'd already seen a body being recovered by Japanese Self Defense Force soldiers. We'd also seen eight bodies wrapped and placed along the side of the road. We'd seen miles and miles of flattened countryside near the ocean with cars smashed and piled up, buildings reduced to their foundations. It became obvious to me the death toll--around 1,400 at this point--was going to rise. There were simply so many areas yet to be searched. It was bitterly cold and snowing at times. I wondered how the rescuers and workers were going to sustain themselves in the weeks and months ahead. I felt for the families of those missing who may never know what happened to their loved ones.

When I asked this worker who was attempting to clear debris whether there was any chance someone was alive beneath it, he said it was highly unlikely. But he did believe there were bodies buried within it.

While reporting in Sendai, we met up again with some of my former colleagues from CNN including correspondents Gary Tuchman and Anderson Cooper. We planned to use their satellite dish for transmission of our material and for our live shots. But they'd just received word from CNN headquarters that CNN was pulling out of Sendai because the nuclear power facility in Fukushima was emitting radiation and the prevailing winds would push it in our direction. Most of the CNN team was heading to Akita, about 150 miles north where there is an airport and hotels. We moved in that direction as well. 

We arrived in Akita about four hours later and after checking in to a Comfort Hotel (yes, a Japanese version of the U.S. Comfort Inn), we prepared our stories. We did a series of live shots from this location and others on an iPhone 4. We didn't have access to a satellite dish and for a variety of technical reasons, a phone was our best chance to get the story out live. So Mike McGregor and I were attached to each other with a standard iPhone 4 earpiece and mic to do our liveshots via Skype. It wasn't the best quality in the world, but it allowed us to speak with you directly.

We were finished in Akita broadcasting at 1AM local time and we finally had a chance to sleep for a few hours. Upon waking, we did some more reporting for the evening news broadcasts and then it was time to fly to Tokyo.  We had planned to continue reporting from Tokyo on the radiation story but after arriving in Tokyo, it became clear the radiation was prompting an exodus out of Japan. The governments of Australia and France were telling its citizens to leave Japan and expats of various nations decided it was now time to leave. I realized if we didn't change our arrangements immediately, we were probably there for the duration. At another time in my life, I would have hunkered down and prepared to cover the story. But without the medical expertise to make an informed decision about our personal safety, with a family urging me to come home, and with tickets selling out on flights to California, I decided to talk to the team. We decided together that we should head home.

Our news director Jason Ball was fully supportive. He too was concerned about our safety and wanted us out. He told me not to worry about leaving the story--that we could continue to cover it with CNN and our other resources--and not to worry about the costs of buying new tickets no matter how expensive. Fortunately, Delta Airlines, with whom we'd flown to Tokyo, had a flight leaving in just a few hours at 12:30AM on March 17th. (Japan is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles). The telephone agent rebooked us on the flight. It was leaving from a different airport than the one we were scheduled to use on a different day on a non-refundable coach ticket. But the agent didn't require us to buy new tickets and also waived all fees because of the circumstances. The agent told me we got the last three available seats on the plane.

A few hours later, we were at Haneda International Airport where we interviewed fellow passengers who were headed to Los Angeles. We did our last series of live reports for the KTLA Morning News and then we were headed home. Was it the right decision to leave when we did? My friends and family tell me it was. But the reporter in me is troubled that I abandoned the story. The Japanese American in me feels guilty that I left Japan when I was covering such an important story for the Japanese.

Last night, we arrived back in Los Angeles. As we stepped off an escalator, a U.S. Customs agent wanded each of the passenger with a device of some sort. They didn't tell us what they were doing and when one of us asked, he said: "Just keep moving." The other agent then answered: "We're checking for isotopes." I welcomed the inspection but I didn't appreciate the approach. Passengers deserve to be treated like adults. Just tell people what you're doing. 

While I was in Japan, I appreciated your thoughts and prayers--for me and my team and for the Japanese people. Many of you have asked what you can do to help the Japanese. I'm a member of the US-Japan Council, an organization dedicated to promoting relations between Japan and the U.S. through people-to-people diplomacy. The USJC has organized a relief fund of which 100% will go to Japanese NGOs and non-profits. If you'd like to contribute, here's a link.

http://usjapancouncil.org/fund

I'm off for the next few days and I know that as I get back in to the rhythm of life here in LA, my thoughts will drift back to Japan. I'll reflect upon what I've experienced and I'll appreciate every moment I have with friends and family.

It's been said that 90-percent of journalism is logistics and that's more true than ever when you're covering an international story and especially one that you haven't had time to prepare for. We couldn't catch a quick flight on Friday--a non stop or a west coast hop to Japan. So we just arrived after 27 hours of travel--hopping from Los Angeles to Chicago to Detroit and then to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. But we're here. We (producer Toni Molle, photographer Michael McGregor and myself) were held up at the airport where we were technically denied entry because we didn't have a visa to work as reporters but they understand why we're here and they quickly typed up an "appeal" and we were sent on our way.

We'll grab a few hours of sleep (it's just after 2:30 in the morning-we're 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles) and then begin our coverage on the ground here in Japan. As some of you know, my mother is Japanese and I lived here for a number of years as a boy. I speak Japanese well enough to get us from here to there. I feel close to Japan and the Japanese people so this story has meaning to me. In fact, I have family here and friends. Fortunately, they're all OK. That's obviously not the case for thousands of others and we'll do our best to tell their stories.

This will be the second time I've come to Japan to cover a major earthquake. I was here in 1995 for the Kobe quake that killed 6,400 people. The memories and emotions from that assignment are still with me. I don't know what we'll find as we begin this assignment but I will do my best to convey all of it on KTLA 5, here on my blog and on also on my Facebook page and on my Twitter account ktlafbuckley.

If you've worked in the news business for as many years as I have, you've heard more than one person in a newsroom say: "We're in the communications business but we don't communicate very well." It's true. It's easy to forget that our viewers, our listeners and our readers don't always "get the memo" as it were when big changes come to our television and radio stations, to our websites and to our newspapers. We move people around. People come and go. And you're left wondering: Where is so-and-so? What happened to what's-his-name?

This time, you get the memo. Starting next Monday, I'll no longer be anchoring the 5-7am hours of the KTLA Morning News and a new guy will be in the anchor chair. I was asked to fill in on the 5 and 6am broadcasts on a temporary basis after the departure of our friend Emmett Miller in October. We thought it would last a month or two. It's now March. No doubt some of you got used to seeing my mug as you were getting ready in the mornings. I enjoyed being there for you, "the home viewer" (inside joke to those of you who watch the show) and I'll continue to be there for you between 7 and 10am. I love our team from 430am to 10am and the good news is that team will remain in place. 

The new guy is someone you may know from KNBC Channel 4. His name is Chris Schauble. He's a veteran newsman, a dad, and a person we will all get to know well in the months and years ahead. I hope you'll welcome him with open arms to the KTLA Morning News family. 

My friend John Ireland is the brilliant sideline reporter you've probably seen on the Lakers broadcasts. He's also the co-host of the Mason and Ireland program on 710 ESPN Radio. His usually astute analysis of the state of the Lakers missed the mark a bit before the stunning Lakers loss to the Cavaliers this week and now he's paying the price. Check out the email he sent to me and other pals explaining how he wants to make good on a flip remark made without considering the consequences. I think the way he's dealing with his embarrassing gaffe speaks to what a great broadcaster and good man John is. I made a donation and if you want to help him out, there's a link in his note.

All....
 
To those of you who know me, this story will not come as a huge surprise.
 
At the start of the recently concluded 13 day, seven game, Lakers road trip I said something that turned out to be pretty stupid.  Dave Miller, the coach who works on our pre and post game shows, said:
 
"I'm worried about the Lakers on the last game of this trip, in Cleveland--they could lose."
  
Me:  "Dave, are you crazy, it's Cleveland.  They've won eight games all year and is the worst collection of players in the NBA.  You sound like an idiot.  I would quit my job and walk home from Cleveland if they lost that game."
 
Last night in Cleveland, the Cavs beat the Lakers, 104-99.
 
Now I don't really think anybody expected me to walk home from Cleveland (although many would be happy if I quit my job), but I shouldn't get off the hook with nothing either.  So I've reached a "settlement" with Dave.  I've agreed to walk in the Autism Speaks walk at the Rose Bowl on 4/23, and to try and raise money to fight Autism.  Those of you who know my family know that this is a cause that means a lot.  So with that in mind, I'm going to help Autism Speaks raise some money off of my big mouth.  
 
I've set up a "donor page" for my walk.  You can sponsor me, and when I finish, all of the money goes to Autism Speaks.  To get things started, I donated $1000 in the name of Dave Miller (least I could do).  
 
Here's where you come in:
 
Go to this link:  http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=442586&lis=0&kntae442586=175887835725444FB109EBF46C13FA12&supId=321410639
 
You can donate $5, or much more--whatever you feel comfortable with.  I symbolically set up a goal of $2344, which is the exact amount of miles from Cleveland to LA.  I hope to raise much more, but that's the minimum.
 
Can you help an obnoxious, know-it-all, loudmouth sports guy out?
 
Many thanks,
 
JI