Well this isn't yet Real World in a double-wide, but on the heels of a Beverly Hillbillies reality show, Fox is planning a Green Acres reality show! They're going to take weathy people (possibly celebs) and transplant them to the rural south, without their cash, cars or jobs.

Now I am curious who would volunteer for such a show? They've already got money, and you'd hope that along with that come some dignity. I just can't imagine some Manhattan socialite wanting to work the night shift at some Alabama Wal-Mart just to get on TV. And Anna Nicole's already got her show...

ESPN's Joe Morgan responds to the increased criticism today's major league baseball players face. I realize he's probably biased being a former player himself, but his arguments do not add up!

He basically defends the players' high salaries by saying that we don't criticize entertainers for making big bucks like we do athletes, that athletes need to make what they can when they can because their careers are so short, and that they big money is the reward for years of dedication to practice and training.

Actors, however often have their final pay directly tied to the box office returns for the movie. Tom Hanks may make $50 from a film, but a huge part of that is a percent of receipts. When do you think we'll see A-Rod take $5 million plus a cut of gate receipts? Plus, Hanks is also pulling double duty as producer often times, putting his own money on the line to finance the film. Invest your cash, take more risk, and you're intitled to a bigger payoff if successful!

Athletes take no risk with their big guaranteed contracts. Only the team owners take the risk in the deal. The player could get injured and not play, you might not draw enough fans to make money. So the owners, who invest the money and take all the risk are the ones losing while the players who take no risk reap in more and more cash!

And the players look greedy when somebody like Jason Giambi has a great, young team full of potential to play for but jumps ship because the Yankees offer $120 million rather than the $91 million the A's offer. Guess he's no longer forced to feed his family Kraft Mac & Cheese anymore! Really, what can one do with that additional $29 million that one couldn't do with the first $91 mil?

The players who I do have some sympathy for are the 36% of players, journeymen and young players, who are making less than $300,000. That doesn't go that far if you only play a couple of seasons, and yet the major sticking points in the labor talks greatly benefit those already making more than entire 3rd world countries.

As for the whole payoff for their hard work through the years, I'd bet than anyone with a college degree has spent more time in school and studying than any baseball player has spent playing and training. So do all college grads deserve those big contracts, too?

If the players do end up striking, they're really going to be in for a big surprise! Teams will go bust, fans won't return, and the players are going to make a whole lot less than today! They may get more of the pie, but it's going to be a tiny little pie! Oh, the folly of ego!

As if we aren't already sick of stupid reality shows, now Beverly Hillbillies will become a reality show. CBS plans to take a rural, lower-middle class family and transplant them to Beverly Hills, granny and all. Is this really any different from the Anna Nicole Show?

The only reality show I'd want to see that's never been done would be for MTV to have the next Real World take place in a double-wide trailer in rural Mississippi. Maybe with a foster child thrown in, for good measure.

As had been widely suspected if one reads as many car mags as I do, VW annouced that the Microbus is coming back. I think it's pretty cool VW finally annouced they are putting the new bus into production, but I'd still never driving a minivan, even if it's a neo-hippie van.

I'm really waiting for a new Karmann-Ghia! How cool would that be! I'd trade in my Jetta in an instant for one if they ever made one. or what about a neo-Thing!

Anthony comments on the continuing trend in the auto industry of relying on retro designs to sell cars (but fails to mention the new Mini). I like the retro cars in general but think that it only works in small doses, ie. the new T-Bird is one, fairly limited production car within the Ford line.

There does seem to be a real lack of good new design in the car industry. I mean, the Aztek somehow passed a design review! And the others I can think of might look ok now but could quickly look dated as design tastes change, such as the Cadillac CTS. How long can the hard-edged designs stay fresh?

CNNmoney reports that a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Martha Stewart and other Omnimedia insiders for selling shares ahead of the ImClone investigation. Some things never change, I guess.

BTW, just want to point out how I mentioned her little legal troubles way back on June 14, a full 10 days before the story really picked up steam!

Berlin playboy offers jackpot to final bedmate. He plans to leave his $244,000 to the lucky lady he last sleeps with. Too bad for Anna Nicole, he prefers his partner to be under 30.

According to a team of British scientists, alcohol makes others better-looking. Uh, thanks for the tip.

And in order to study British pub culture, the Social Issues Research Center "embarked on yet another six-month anthropological pub-crawl".

Exactly who's handing out the grant money in England and where can I get some?

Princeton Review named Indiana Universitythe Top Party School in its latest edition of Party School rankings. Not surprisingly, the administration is upset.

Princeton Review probably hired former Florida dept. of children and family services employees to do the assessments, which means they probably throw darts at a map and choose the closest schools to the darts to add to the list, then fudge the reports of their visit.

Same thing happened a couple years ago, when my alma mater, Emory university placed on the list while I was there. That was a joke, because there were virtually no parties on campus and the biggest complaint by students was the lack of on-campus social life. Of course the administration chose to use that as a reason to crack down further on the campus social scene.

This Slate article discussed the confusing state of United Airlines, which seems poised to be the next bankruptcy in the airline industry.

What makes United's situation so interesting is that the company is majority-owned by the employees! While I'd have to think that union members would rather give wage concessions then see the company go out of business in any case, the United employees not only stand to lose their wages but also see their stock holdings drop to nothing as well. And yet the classic labor-management battle continues.

My only thought is that the unions think the government wouldn't possibly let United fail. I sense this might be true, given the company's size and the fact they two of their planes were used in the Sep. 11 attacks.

So the Osbournes are taking in a teenager whose mother died of the same cancer that afflicts Ozzy's wife Sharon. He'll continue his eductation and be a part of the "Osbournes" show next season.

Gosh, only the second season and they're already resorting to taking in troubled youth? Kind of like when Leonardo played homeless youth Luke Brower on "Growing Pain" or when the Cosby's took in cousin Pam, or The Brady's took in cousin Oliver.

Now you can have Tony Soprano's house! The house that play's Tony Soprano's on TV is owned by Victor and Patti Recchia, and they are offering up a CD-ROM with full blueprints for only $699 so that you, too, can have Tony's house. Meadow and Anthony Jr. sold seperately.

Dominoes Pizza, which has used Free Delivery as one of their key marketing messages since they began, is now testing a delivery fee in some of their locations. Dominoes cites rising costs as the reason, but it seems to me that this would be just about the worst way to make money. You got something for free before, but now you have to pay for it! Who would even notice if they were to raise pizza prices 50 or 75 cents, or even just cut down on the number of coupons they distribute! I'd have to think that they must discount an average of $1 an order because of all their promos. And these changes wouldn't even get any notice or press.

According to this ESPN article, Major League baseball players finally agreed to steroid testing, as part of the ongoing labor negotiations. Sammy Sosa, in an interview with Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly, said he'd be the first in line if they required testing. I'm very curious to see whether there's any way that the same scrawny guy who hit 15 homers when with the White Sox could turn into the only slugger to hit 60+ homers three times.