Rant #1,992: Bits and Pieces

How was your weekend, and if you are Jewish and fasted for Yom Kippur, how did it go?

My fast was OK.

I had the requisite headache and I was a bit lightheaded, but it all went OK.

Now, for some coverage of a few stories that I don't feel deserve an entire column to cover by themselves ...

Shooting at Country Music Concert in Las Vegas: As I write this, there are few details of what happened last night at a country music concert in Las Vegas, and by the time you read this, there is probably going to be much more information released, but right now, what we do know is that there are at least 20 people dead--one being an off-duty police officer--and probably dozens wounded at this concert.

Officials did acknowledge that there was one shooter "down," and that they believed that this was the lone shooter, but little else had been released about actually what happened.

The who and why will surely come out soon, but at about 4:30 a.m. Eastern Standard time, that is all we know.

The shooter actually did the damage from a perch at the Mandalay Bay hotel, which was right across from where the music festival took place.

Las Vegas was effectively on lockdown, with no flights going out of the airport and streets cleared.

Whatever information is released on what actually took place, it was a frightful situation, and it at least mirrors terrorist shootings that have taken place before.

And moving onto some lighter fare ...

Monty Hall Dies: Venerable TV game how host Monty Hall, one of the last of the classic game show MCs who helmed many such shows, but is primarily remembered as the original host of "Let's Make a Deal," died this passed weekend. He was 96.

Hall was born Monte Halparin in Winnipeg, Canada, into an Orthodox Jewish family. Hall was the son of a kosher butcher, but after acting in several college shows, he developed the acting bug, and went into radio, beginning is career as a radio analyst for the New York Rangers hockey team.

Later, with partner Stefan Hatos, he developed "Let's Make a Deal," where the standard game show was turned topsy turvy: where the audience sat became the main stage for the show, and Hall would move around into the audience, speaking to people and giving them the chance for money and prizes if they did things just right.

The show became known for the crazy costumes people wore to get noticed, but that was not an original design of the show. The show's audience wore the costumes, unprompted, to get noticed, and the show went with it, and is best known for that to this day.

And the show was also known for bringing the word "zonked" into the vernacular, as bad contestants who chose bad prizes were "zonked."

The show has been on the air in one form or another almost continuously since the early 1960s, and is currently hosted by Wayne Brady.

Hall's children are all TV veterans. His daughter Joanna Gleason is a popular actress; his other daughter, Sharon Hall is a top TV executive; and his son Richard Hall is a TV producer who won an Emmy for "The Amazing Race."

Who Wins American League MVP Award?: Now that Major League Baseball's regular season is over, and the playoffs are ready to begin, who is the Most Valuable Player in the American League?

Voted by baseball writers prior to the playoffs, at least three or four solid candidates have emerged, and one of them is a rookie: the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, who put up monster offensive statistics, including hitting 52 home runs, during his first season in the big leagues.

The question has arisen because of Judge's prowess, does a rookie deserve to be the league's Most Valuable Player?

It has happened twice before, with the Boston Red Sox's Fred Lynn and the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki garnering the award in their first seasons, as well as the Rookie of the Year award.

It could happen again this season with Judge's breakout season. Without him, the Yankees would have never gone to the playoffs, albeit as a Wild Card entry.

Judge's story this season is an interesting one. He made the team on the last day of spring training, being named the Yankees's starting rightfielder in a stiff competition with another Aaron on the team, Aaron Hicks.

If he wasn't named a starter, Judge would have probably been sent down to the minor leagues, but that never happened, and the rest is history.

He is almost a lock for the Rookie of the Year award, but as for MVP, only time will tell whether he joins Lynn and Suzuki in the regard, and even if he wins it, it does not guarantee a Hall of Fame career.

Lynn was an excellent player for both the Red Sox and later the then California Angels, but he never again reached the heights that he did as a first-year player.

Suzuki, better known as Ichiro, is another story. Currently toiling as a pinch hitter deluxe for the Miami Marlins, Ichiro, when he is done, will be a first ballot Hall of Famer, a hit machine who, between his career in the Japanese league and in MLB, has amassed more hits than anyone, including Pete Rose.

So Judge has a long road to go, but for this season, he very well could be a dual award winner.

We will have to wait about a month to find out what happens, as these awards are announced after the World Series is concluded.

My Job Situation: No, nothing has changed, nothing at all.

I have not given up hope, but I do have to continually tell myself that things will get better, and that is not an easy task.

"Seek and ye shall find" has become my motto, and I keep plodding along, pretty much convincing myself that employers will want to hire a 60-year-old with my background.

I know better, but what else can I do?

That is it for now. Speak to you again tomorrow.