Rant #2,160: The Name Game

Happy Monday.

Not really, because Monday signifies that the work week has started.

Yes, "I Don't Like Mondays," and it is sure to be a "Manic Monday" for all of us.

"Monday, Monday" ... you bet that it's my least favorite day of the week.

"I'm more a "Saturday's Child," but honestly, "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" since it leads right into Monday.

Now that I got that out of my system, maybe actors will learn that award shows are not pulpits for their political views, especially when they have absolutely nothing to do with the proceedings.

Nathan Lane and, in particular, Robert DeNiro, should know this by now, but they keep going on and on and on and on some more like a broken record.

Get with the program, guys. That's why viewership is plunging on these types of shows, because people have had enough of the rhetoric, they simply want to be entertained.

And when you take the entertainment factor out of these brown-nosing, self-congratulatory love fests, well, there is simply no reason to watch them.

And then you have horse racing's Triple Crown, which may be the last vestige of entertainment in America, where absolutely no politics are involved, even though animal rights activists are even trying to thumb their noses into this business, too.

I am not a horse racing fan by any measure of the imagination, but this weekend, when Justify became only the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown, Belmont Park here on Long Island became the sporting focus of the world, at least very briefly.

Nearly 100,000 came to Belmont to see Justify go for the Triple Crown, the horse won the coveted Belmont Stakes, and the sporting world had a new champion to froth over.

Then, I heard the jockey's name, and I had to laugh, or at least smirk at little bit.

The jockey's name is Mike Smith--at age 52, now the oldest jockey to ever win the Triple Crown--and I was probably the only person laughing at his name, because I thought to myself, "Where have I heard that name before?"

I guess any name with "Smith" in it is going to be one that is used over and over and over again, and the name "Mike Smith" has come into my life, and the lives of many of us, quite a few times over the past 50 years or so.

Although I have never known a "Mike Smith" personally, I can name two "Mike Smiths" right off the top of my head.

The first Mike Smith that I am going to talk about was the drummer, one of the main songwriters, and lead voice for Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the Dave Clark Five. His full-throated vocals propelled songs like "Do You Love Me" and "Any Way You Want It" to the top of the charts, and solidified the DC5 as one of the most popular acts of the 1960s.

And then we have another Mike Smith, the drummer of another popular band from that decade.

This Mike Smith was the drummer for Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Pacific Northwest band that catapulted to stardom and had a number of gritty hits like "Hungry" and "Kicks" in the mid to late 1960s. Although he wasn't the sole drummer of this band--there were others, as personnel changed frequently in this act--Smith was on and off their most remembered drummer.

After thinking of these two "Mike Smiths," I decided to look to see if any other guys by the name of "Mike Smith" have gained any notoriety over time, and yes, there have been some others.

One is Canadian actor Mike Smith, an actor, comedian and singer who created the role of "Bubbles" in "Trailer Park Boys" and is in the rock band Sandbox.

Michael W. Smith is a popular Christian music singer and songwriter, known as much for his good looks as for his musicianship, as he was named one of People Magazine's "Most Beautiful People" at one time.

And there was Valentine Michael Smith, a fictional character in the classic sci-fi tale "Stranger in a Strange Land," written by Robert A. Heinlein. This "Michael Smith" was a human who comes to earth in early adulthood after being born on Mars and raised by Martians.

Yes, I know, that is stretching it a bit, but I guess that character is sort of an honorary "Mike Smith."

And no, you won't find anyone else with my name anywhere but me.

I am pretty unique.

And let me add, in something that has to do with nothing that we have spoken about here, when I wake up at 3:30 a.m. and prepare for my "Monday Monday" or any other workday of the week, it is refreshing to see Hena Doba as temporary anchor of the "CBS Early Morning News" the past two weeks.

She is talented and very, very nice to look at when I can barely see in the morning, perfect eye candy for the work week.

And you can bet that Doba, formerly Hena Daniels, has a name that is unique and one of a kind too.

Certainly not like Mike Smith, that's for sure.