What about Bob?

We all know Neil Best as Newsday's crack sports media columnist/blogger. But in his spare time, Best is one of the world's top rugby players. And a rough-and-tumble one at that.

In this video, he gives burly David Croft a pop and creates a series of melees in a recent game across the pond. At the 2:00 mark, the announcer says of Best, "now that's a man who's 100 percent testosterone."

It was quite an experience for the veteran sportswriter, who has covered football games, baseball games, horse races, golf tournaments, sports media and everything else in between over the years.

But Wednesday night/Thursday morning, Best "live blogged" Mets-Dodgers. An interesting and entertaining read for sure. Here's the full text if you want.

Late in the "broadcast," he mentioned that in the future, he'll leave this assignment to Newsday's live blog expert Katie Strang. Best got a little confused about just how long the live blog was supposed to last. He ended it thusly:

1:13: Am I supposed to stay up to hear Reyes' injury status? Guess not. I'll leave that to Lennon. Thanks to all for participating tonight. These are bizarre, but interesting, times in the sports media business, indeed.

1:18: I don't know how to end this session. No one taught me that!

1:18 Help! Katie?

I'm really at a loss to explain this one, other than to suggest that my longtime Newsday colleague has completely lost his marbles.

Or else he has been spending far too much time blogging in the basement in his jammies.

Or both.

Best is scheduled to have a live chat on Friday, beginning at 11 a.m., and his plan is to go at least 2 hours and 15 minutes. Why so long? Because he is obsessed with me, that's why. It just so happens that I held a live chat for 2 hours and 14 minutes a couple weeks ago, setting a Newsday record.

It isn't enough that Best routinely draws the most page views of all the Newsday bloggers for his always entertaining read. And it isn't enough that he has not only the ENTIRE WORLD OF SPORTS to comment and report about, but also the ENTIRE WORLD OF SPORTS MEDIA, which has become a cottage industry what with fans' obsession with all things Mike Francesa, Chris Russo, Boomer Esiason, Craig Carton and Max Kellerman.

No, Best has to own ALL the Newsday blog records.

To wit: He once owned the Newsday record for most posts in a single day of 32. I broke that record by writing 33. Enraged, Best planned his revenge in nefarious fashion: Several weeks later, he celebrated his one-year blog anniversary by writing 52 posts - one for each week of the year. All this while Charlie Chilkoot was hanging out in the basement.

(I do not plan on breaking this record. Shoot me if I ever try.)

Anyway, we'll be cheering Best on to "victory" on Friday. In fact, we'll even pitch in a question or two, perhaps to see what is at the root of his fascination with one-upping me at every turn. Please be sure to tune in, starting at 11 a.m. Better yet, check back at 1:15 p.m. to see if he made it.

While the sports world is going insane with news of A-Roid, followed by news of Brett Favre, Best has his own demons to fight.

As he sat in his basement yesterday amidst the din of the Favre coverage, there was an on-air skirmish involving Chris Russo, Howard Stern and Mike Francesa.

At one point, Best heard on his transistor radio that Francesa had caught win of the situation and would respond.

Best's line to describe this turn of events:

UPDATE: Mike F. has been addressing all this on his show this afternoon. My life is in ruins.

Poor Best wound up transcribing all the particulars.

Oy.

Checked in with Neil Best this morning to get the pulse of what's happening in the aftermath of Super Bowl XLIII, and he tells me there's a mild buzz about why more wasn't made of the last-second fumble by Kurt Warner on the Cardinals' final drive.

I took a closer look at the play, and it sure did seem like a no-brainer that Warner was indeed sacked and fumbled on the play.

In answer to Best's questions about how the booth review works, here goes:

In the final two minutes of each half, officials in the replay booth have the power to request a referee's review of the play if it is determined that there is sufficient doubt about the call on the field. In the case of Warner, replay officials did look at it, but did not feel there was any debate about the call referee Bill McAulay to review it. The ball was awarded to Pittsburgh, which ran out the final five seconds.

Could there have been a request for a referee's review, in which case McAulay would go to the replay booth on the field and check it? I suppose so. Had the play been overturned, Warner would have had one more shot for a Hail Mary throw into the endzone on the game's final play.

But on this one, the replay officials saw enough evidence to uphold the call on the field that they did not find it necessary to buzz McAulay and have him review it.

Best will now continue monitoring the airwaves from his basement in his jammies, and will no doubt weigh in on the matter later.

In the meantime, we've asked the league for an official explanation of that play. Director of officiating Mike Pereira has said he agreed with the call on the field.

Best was probably screaming at the television imploring Kerry Collins to somehow solve the riddle of the Ravens' defense.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

Best was hoping his man-crush on the former Giants' quarterback would be enough to earn him a ticket to Tampa.

Sorry, Neil.

As a consolation prize, how about this.

Warning: Very disturbing material.

Last week, Best put on one of the most shameful performances in sportswriting history.

As soon as we came out with our initial picks for wild card weekend, Best (who is really Uncle Leo from Seinfeld - but don't tell him that because it drives him insane) thought he'd be a wise guy and pick the exact opposite, just for giggles. As it turned out, I went 0-4 with that set of picks and Best went 4-0.

But lo and behold, Best picked the Chargers against the Colts, and then turned around later in the week and predicted that the Colts would go on to play the Giants in the Super Bowl. He was called on the carpet by Charlie Chilkoot, but instead of apologizing, Best rationalized that making picks is akin to getting multiple Bingo cards. In other words, what's the big deal about making one set of picks one place, and another set somewhere else.

Now, it turns out, our good friends at WhereIStand.com (hey, we got an e-mail from thesite's chief cook and bottle washer yesterday, so in the Internet world, that means we're good friends), Best is atop the list of football luminaries that include Cris Collinsworth, Keyshawn Johnson, Mike Golic, Brian Baldinger and Chris Mortensen. The standings show that he's 4-0, the only predictor with a clean slate. (Collinsworth went 3-0, but declined to pick the Cardinals-Falcons game because he worked the broadcast.)

And we're 0-4, tied for the bottom with former Vikings receiver and now ESPN announcer Cris Carter.

In other words, Best declined to correct the mistake and inform WhereIStand.com proprietor Geoff Decker that he should actually be 3-1 and tied with about 30 other guys for second place. Nor does Best point out that my actual pick for the Cardinals-Falcons game was the Cardinals, which made me 1-3. Even Mantz accepted this.

I've included Decker's standings below, so please check them out.

In the meantime, I'll say to Best what I have said to my children shortly after they learned to speak: Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat.

Continue reading "Neil Best cheating scandal takes another bizarre turn" »

... to kick Cornell grad Neil Best's a@s in page views?

We're hoping two.

La Monica hopped aboard the Glauber Nation train last month, offering his inimitable creativity and blog expertise to the program.

And now say hello to Chris Mascaro, who will be contributing his football knowledge and perspective to Glauber Nation.

Chris is that latest Big Red representative to grace Newsday's ever-widening slice of the blogosphere, and you'll see him in a more prominent way right here.

We'll get him the super-duper top-secret password, and off he'll go.

One thing we'd like to do - and this is where Chris comes in - is develop a more news-driven dynamic. What with NFL developments happening at warp speed, sometimes things like covering games, press conferences, and locker room sessions take us away from the computer and leave you looking for news on other sites.

Well, we aim to change all that, and one of the ways is to have the Internet-addicted Mascaro comb the vast regions of cyberspace to bring you up to speed on what's going on.

So please give a hearty Glauber Nation welcome to Mascaro, and enjoy his work.

(Not to worry. We will still indulge in juvenile and sophomoric behavior and material here. Look-a-likes isn't going anywhere. Nor is bathroom humor. Nor is Bob Mantz bashing. Nor is our frequent mocking/adulation of Best. The only fly in the ointment is where to put Mascaro in next year's holiday greeting elves video. It might mean kicking Best to the curb, although it might be tough to pass up the comic relief provided by his head atop a dancing elf.)

Best thought he'd be a smart aleck and pick the opposite of what I picked in Round 1 of the second annual Glauber Nation Playoff Picks Contest. He did so by picking the Chargers, Cardinals, Ravens and Iggles.

Then he made his predictions for 2009, and his first one was a Peyton Manning-Eli Manning Super Bowl in Tampa. That would mean the Colts would have had to beat the Chargers on Saturday night.

BBiB!'s officially sanctioned spread sheet had Best at 4-0. Best demanded that he be 4-0, despite his obvious attempt to cheat.

Now it is all over the Internet.

Here's more on the controversy.
I expect we'll be seeing Best's resignation within 48 hours.

I expect we'll seeing the news of this on Deadspin in short order. Mantz has already written it.

Meanwhile, the drama will continue with Round 2 of the picks contest. Please don't make your picks yet until the official ballot comes out later in the week. I see that some folks have posted their picks, but I don't want BBiB!'s head to explode trying to find everyone's picks in different posts. So we'll wait until later in the week to post the ballot. Thanks for your patience, and we'll keep you up to speed on Best's status.

Here's his story on the subject.

As always, Best makes it an interesting read.

Then again, Best's annual holiday card is an interesting read, too. In fact, until Best started blogging, his holiday card was the only written evidence of his self-deprecating and highly entertaining wit.

He did not disappoint in this year's missive, which began like this:

"Some journalists adopt a dog, write a best-selling book about the experience, then have it turned into a major studio release starring Jennifer Aniston.

"Some adopt a mostly blind, mostly deaf, mostly toothless 11-year-old poodle, mop up misdirected pee and put several veterinarians' children through private school."

Sigh.

Watchdog readers surely breathed a sigh of relief to see that the blog's founder and writer, Neil Best, has broken one of his New Year's resolutions after just two days. On Dec. 31, he vowed the following:

"Only one reference to page views per month, on the day they officially are released. No whining about the silliness of my job. No more than one mention of Mr. G in any given day or of Cornell or poodle poop in any given week. No more calling Glauber "Mr. G." Fewer exploitive pictures of attractive females, unless I can firmly establish some sort of gossamer-thin connection to the topic at hand."

I suppose you could say that Best didn't technically break his vow, because he said "fewer" pictures, not "no" pictures. So perhaps we should give him a little slack. Then again, I am 100 percent certain it was no accident Mr. B. made this post one of his first of the New Year.

We're glad to see that our own Islander505, who won Best's weekly comment contest, contributed to Best succumbing yet again to temptation. 505 will surely reminisce about his time in the great state of Minnesota when the Vikings take on the Iggles Sunday.

Neil Best - whom I will refer to the rest of the day as Mr. B in honor of Mike Francesa's frequent references to Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum as Mr. T - is having a chat at noon today. It's always an entertaining read, so play along with Newsday's crack Watchdog media columnist.

He has been hard at work chronicling the inner workings of the Jets' firing of Eric Mangini, along with his assorted other media-related obligations.

Newsday's other Mr. B - Erik Boland - is chatting live right here, right now!

And our own Mr. T - T Rock - will chat about all things Giants (yes, they're still playing games, actually) at 2 p.m.

Media alert. Media alert.

Neil Best, founder of Newday's inimitable Watchdog blog, will be leaving his basement to attend an actual sporting event on Sunday.

He will join us for Newsday's comprehensive coverage of Sunday's Jets-Dolphins game at the Meadowlands. Yes, Brett Favre, Chad Pennington and Best will be in the house.

It is difficult to remember when we last communicated with Best when he wasn't in his subterranean blogging headquarters, but it is sure to be a special moment when we do finally see him. Hopefully, the sunlight will not be too much for him.

He's right, of course. And he's not shy about telling the world this is the case.

One of the highlights of Neil's always entertaining "live chat" this morning was a question from our old buddy Ken Fang of Fang's Bites fame:

KF asked: "What did you think of Bob Glauber making you as one of the Football blogging elves?"

Best replied: "I thought it was disturbing. My kids thought it was amusing. Bob's sense of humor is closely aligned with tweens, so that made sense."

In case you missed it, here's the elves video.

Incidentally, we'll have our own "live chat" this Friday at 11 a.m. We'll discuss anything you like. Football. Hockey. Neil Best. Elves. Anything.

And please feel free to write a caption for the picture of Kyle Orton in the previous post. Mark "Daryle" La Monica thanks you in advance.

Nice piece from Best on Dick Vitale in his most recent media column.

Lower down in the column, he has an item on John Madden covering the Giants-Cowboys game at Texas Stadium, the last Jints-Pokes game at the venerable stadium, which will be replaced by a Jerry Jones extravaganza elsewhere in the Dallas Metroplex.

In the item, Madden mentions how he likes the Texas Stadium announcer's booth because the .... uh ... facilities are quite spacious.

As soon as I saw that the Mets had acquired pitcher J.J. Putz, I knew Neil Best would be on the case and put the transaction in terms only he could produce.

Please read.

Best did an interview with a website called fullcountpitch.com, a site I had never heard of until Best mentioned that he was interviewed by the website.

Best offered a glimpse into the life of a blogger who spends most of his days in the basement.

I thought this exchange was the most interesting/disturbing/amusing/entertaining/enlightening:

FCP: You have made frequents comments about how your blogging often irritates your family and takes up much of your time. While it may be tongue in cheek, why do you blog so frequently and how has blogging improved your newspaper writing?

NB: My family actually has been very understanding about my blogging, and Mrs. WatchDog does get the fact that it’s wise for a 48-year-old guy to stay relevant and current in our changing industry. It’s more me who gets bummed out sometimes about how addictive it is and how guilty I feel when I am not blogging. I blog frequently because I enjoy it, and the ego gratification of my page views totals is even more addictive than the actual blogging. How has blogging improved my newspaper writing? Are you kidding? Blogging has damaged my newspaper writing. Right now I am answering your questions, after which I will spend an hour on a live chat, and I have not even remotely begun to compile my Friday newspaper column, something that in the past I would have been well into thoroughly researching by now (Wednesday morning). I appreciate the fact many people enjoy the blog, but whenever they tell me so, I can’t help thinking: If I still were single and living in my apartment in Astoria and thus was able to accept the invitations to events I get every single day and/or attend actual sports events regularly, as opposed to being married with two daughters and two poodles in the suburbs, then I REALLY could do some damage with this friggin’ blog. But the family thing is a net positive, I suppose, so I’m not complaining. It’s important to have balance in life, right? Sometimes when I am on my knees scrubbing in and around the toilet on a Sunday morning while listening to Mike Francesa’s NFL show on the radio, I think to myself: “I have a weird, but balanced, life.”

(Neil, "the family thing is a net positive, I suppose?" ... sheesh.)

The man has a few hours to go before the calendar turns to Nov. 1, and he is close to becoming the reigning monthly blog champ for the month of October. He is obsessed with this, so would you please indulge him and just click the blog and tell your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, to do the same so he - and we - can get on with our lives?

Thank you.

I'm still working on this morning's Monday Memo, which should be up as soon as I finish the egg white omlette I've ordered at my friendly neighborhood IHOP.

In between bites, I've noticed that Best got an early start on blogging this morning. A ridiculouslyly early start. A Jon Gruden-like early start. Which tells me he's up to something strange and wonderful for Tuesday's newspaper. (Settle down, Islander505. I wrote "strange and wonderful" just for you.)

Best's first blog post was at 4:40 a.m., and he wrote a series of them over the next few hours. Maybe he's doing a day in the life of Boomer Esiason or Craig Carton. Or Mike Francesa or Joe Benigno.

Or maybe he's got insomnia thinking about Brett Favre's three interceptions.

Or else he's going to show up at Shea before dawn to steal some memorabilia that will make him weepy in 25 years.

Or maybe his poodles had to go poop earlier than normal today.

Either way, he's an entertaining read - as always.

Best's lead item in today's Newsday suggests the answer to the biggest question in the sports world is Joe Benigno. That's who is expected to become Mike Francesa's WFAN sidekick.

And Best gets into the item in a manner that suggests he has been taking cues from our extensive use of scatalogical humor. He writes that Benigno spends an hour before every show in the third floor men's room "preparing" for the broadcast by ... um ... reading up on the important sports news of the day.

I'm not sure what possessed Best to go in this direction, other than to guess that he thought to himself: "Ok, how would Glauber get into this story?"

Well done, Neil.

The item reminds us of the greatest compliment we've ever received in a career that spans many years. Forget the awards and certificates and all that (although they're great, no doubt). It was from a friend of my older brother Tom's, whom I met several years ago. After shaking hands, he said, "I just want you to know I [take you to the bathroom] every morning."

On Best's live chat this morning, a fellow named Paul asked this question:

"Mike (Francesa) said earlier this year that he and Mike Lupica had a big blowup in front of everyone at the Garden back in 1993, and have not always gottent along. Do you know what that was about?"

Best's reply offered a perfect view of how he looks at life ... and why our friendship has spanned 10 NFL seasons plus his three years as Newsday's sports media columnist and quintessential blogger:

"I don't know specifically what happened between them in 1993, but both Mikes certainly have had their share of feuds over the years. I am not currently feuding with anyone that I am aware of. That is why I am sitting in a basement typing and they both are rich and famous. They have spunk."

... he did it himself, so he's clearly not fazed by admitting that he was checking out Jets' hostess Jenn Sterger from the press box. He even noted that Ms. Sterger was wearing "tight jeans with sparkles on her tush."

Evidently, Best has some extremely high-powered binoculars. And I guess this another reason why he is one of the top sports blogs in the country.

Personally, I'm mixed on the issue of the buxom Ms. Sterger's hiring. While it's all well and good that the Jets want to create some pizzazz (or "sass," as Boland likes to say) for their in-game experience, I'm not sure Ms. Sterger was the most appropriate hire.

After all, the Jets are attempting to create a more family friendly atmosphere, especially in the wake of the Gate D fiasco, when many male fans would urge female fans to show their ... um ... yeah.

Well, Playboy once asked Ms. Sterger to show hers ... and she did.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Just not quite sure that appeals to the growing legion of women fans at the ball yard. Or the parents of kids looking to share the experience of what it is to be at a football game.

I guess there's no way to prove anything conclusively, but I can certainly vow for Best's thriftiness.

And Laveranues Coles can speak to Favre's unwillingness to part with a buck.

In fact, Coles said Favre is the cheapest quarterback he's ever been around.

Best seemed a bit crankier than normal early in the week, as evidenced by a few salty comments to readers, and I'd asked him on his blog whether there was anything wrong. He responded that a weekend at the old stomping grounds at Cornell had put him back in touch with real life, and it was taking him a while longer to get back into the self-indulgent world of the blogosphere.

Anyway, I responded with a highly self-indulgent comment on his blog - just to let him know I understood where he was coming from. Evidently, the words hit the mark, because he chose it for his "Comment Contest Winner!" Either that, or he was feeling guilty for throwing me under the bus about some comments we'd shared about what the Newsday back pages would be like now that baseball was over.

Either way, it's nice to end the week with a shoutout from Newsday's premier blogger. Especially knowing that the comment was considered better than anything Islander505, the greatest commenter in the history of the blogosphere, offered up during the week.

... and in case you're wondering, Best has gotten over his weekend getaway and is back in full, self-indulgent throat, especially after winning yet another montly page views war in sports.

And check out Best's column in today's Newsday, because he mentions another intra-office war of sorts, although this one's a bit more serious. Evidently, Mike Francesa took a few shots at Craig Carton.

Curious that our WatchDog would take a weekend off from blogging. Especially after we find out that one Neil Best has been disciplined this weekend for allegedly gouging an opponent's eye during the heat of battle.

Really now. Is there no decency left at all on the blogosphere?

Here I am, getting ready for tonight's Jets-Giants game, and I get an e-mail from Ken Fang - he of Fang's Bites media blog fame. He tells me that Best actually mentions my name in an interview about his big scoop on the Mike & the Mad Dog Show breaking up.

So I link to the post, and not only does Best accuse me of having a man crush on him, but that we once shared a room on a Giants' road trip.

Whaaaaatttt???

Oh, just read it.

Basking in the glow of his scoops on the breakup of Mike & the Mad Dog and Chris Russo going to Sirius (never to be heard from again for those of us too cheap and too lazy to get satellite radio), Best had a live chat this morning that lasted for more than an hour. That's if you count the fire drill that forced the moderator to temporarily skedaddle from the Melville building.

Best offered his usual insightful information on the world of sports media, although he answered nearly every query/comment with an exclamation point. I'm not sure if he's aware of this, but I assume he is.

Honestly, I haven't seen that many exclamation points since checking out my pre-teen daughter's recent "live chat" with her friend from fifth grade!

lol!!

bff!!

ttyl!!!!!

(Speaking of live chats, we'll have one of our very own tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Can't wait!!!!!)

On a day that saw Best swear off blogging for the foreseeable future, it turned out he couldn't avoid the basement for very long.

The announcement that the Mike & the Mad Dog show was kaput after nearly two decades as a New York sports radio institution put him back the laptop for hours of fine reporting and columnizing. He also did some Olympic stuff.

I will reach out to him later to see what his day was like, although my guess is it was the equivalent of covering a Super Bowl or Game 7 of a World Series.

It does strike me as odd that, on a day when Best swore of blogging to clear his head, the biggest New York sports media story of the year came to its conclusion. Is there some supreme blog being out there who knew in advance that Best needed all his energies late in the day and into the night, and thus his morning post about going into blog detox?

Hmmm.

A troubling post from my man Best, who has - at least temporarily - thrown in the towel on blogging. Evidently, trying to balance work, a family, two new dogs and the popular WatchDog blog has come crashing down on my buddy, who used a picture of burned toast with his announcement of walking away from the blogosphere.

Fortunately for Best-o-philes, he did not mention the word retirement. And, given his penchant for allowing the world to see read about his every waking thought, we suspect he will be back at the typewriter before long.

If you'd care to hazard a guess, go ahead.

My prediction: His next post will be published tomorrow at 9:32 a.m. with a request for forgiveness from his readers.

PS: I have spoken to Best, and he seems fine. I trust he will figure out the Cablevision system of expense filing and fill me in on how to do it. When it comes to complicated stuff like this, I always call on Mr. Minutiae to translate.

In the meantime, Best, enjoy a blog-free life for however long it lasts. He might want to take a drive out to Hofstra and consult with Brett F. for some advice on what he'll do if he gets "the itch" to come back.

Not really. Just some early-week self-deprecating thoughts, which always lead to good blog-post one-liners.

He had a beauty today.

Best also revealed that Will Allen, who is scuffling a bit these days what with an investigation into gambling debts he may or may not have, advised him to stop wearing tube socks in order to stop looking like such a dork.

He made it through a 52-post day. Not only that, but he wrote AND re-wrote his Friday column for the newspaper.

I called today just to make sure his head had not exploded, and he seemed no less wacky than normal. I also got to speak to none other than Charlie Chilkoot, Best's now famous friend from San Diego and an occasional reader of our blog, especially during football season when his beloved Chargers are playing.

Best has recaptured Newsday's single-day post record from yours truly, who made it to 32 posts several weeks ago, just to say I beat his 31. I can safely say that I will not be attempting to scale the heights of a 53-post day for quite some time.

In fact, as I sit here at an IHOP enjoying an egg-white omlette (or omelet, as NKR prefers), I will enjoy the simple pleasures of regular blogging and communicating with the fine people who drop by the Newsday website and its bloggers.

Enjoy the day.

Best has just written his 31st post, which is still one short of my record of 32 set a few weeks ago. (The experience remains a blur, so I don't remember the date, only that it was a Friday night, that Best was in the office, and that Jeff W. had my record-setting blog entry performance on screen and pointed Best toward it.)

Best insists that his previous record was 30, but I could swear it was 31 and mine was 32. I don't care. I'm still champion. There are only minutes to go before my reign ends.

Again, the only way I hold onto the title is if Best's head explodes.

I hope that does not happen. After all, he has proven to be a valuable subject for this blog. I don't know there is anything quite like it to take its place.

(I put a picture of the Stanley Cup on this blog post as a reminder of one of the greatest championship trophies in the history of pro sports. I have watched many, many Stanley Cup playoff games in my lifetime, although I will not watch the one tonight between the Rangers and Penguins because the NHL has taken my sport away from me. The game is on Versus, and, like millions of other devoted hockey fans, I don't have it on my cable system.)

As of 12:02 p.m., Best had 24 posts on his way to a record-setting 52 - one for each week he has been a member of the blogosphere.

As of now, I am still currently the single-day record-holder at Newsday with 32 posts, which beat Best's old record of 31.

I would guess Best will hit 33 by around 3 p.m.

Unless his fingers fall off sometime before then.

Or he "goes Abramson."

Or his head explodes.

As Best himself would say at a time like this: oh, my goodness gracious.

My good buddy, former Newsday Giants' beat writer and now the most obsessed blogger I know personally, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the start of WatchDog by embarking on a day of intense blogging.

He initially had the idea of blogging 24 straight hours, but apparently Mrs. WatchDog talked him off the ledge on that one. So he has decided to write one post for every week of the existence of his blog. That's right, 52 posts by midnight tonight.

That will shatter my personal Newsday record of 32 posts, which had beaten his previous record of 31 posts.

I'm sure Best has been plotting ever since to come up with a good excuse to pound me into submission, and he has done just that.

As of 8:58 a.m., Best had written 13 posts, and even included a picture of himself at the Best Blog headquarters. He did dress for the occasion, because he is not in his jammies. And the picture was taken by none other than Charlie Chilkoot, who goes back to Best's days in Alaska and has become a frequent commenter. CC has even dabbled a time or two with our blog.

Anyway, enjoy the day, Neil. May you get many, many, many page views, my friend.

Best was feeling guilty about not blogging much the last couple days, due to various commitments that included work and jury duty. So he promised to remain in his basement - in his pajamas - all day long today.

What's it all mean? That he will probably threaten our record of 32 posts in a single day, but, more importantly, that he will provide highly interesting material throughout the day. So I suggest you check in with the WatchDog periodically, because we have a feeling it will be one of those special, inimitable Best days of the year. He even has a reference to Spiro T. Agnew in one of his entries.

(If you do not know who Spiro T. Agnew is, the education system in this country has completely failed us.)

As Best would say at a time like this: Oh my goodness gracious.

I guess it's a measure of Best's wildly popular blog, which is one of Newsday's top reads, that some dude out in the blogosphere has created a parody of Best's blog with a blog of Best's blog. Or, as Tom Rock would call it, Best's blog blog.

Take a look. (We were tipped off to the presence of the blog by someone who identified himself as "Doug."

Memo to Best: Yes, your life is officially creepy now that someone besides me is blogging about you.

Memo to Best blog blogger: You capture the essence of Best's slightly whiney self indulgence quite well.

(UPDATE: Best is aware of the situation. And yes, he is indeed creeped out.)

I know, it's a disturbing visual for sure, but it's something our buddy Ken Fang opined about in his own blog post, referring to a blog post from Best about his jubilation at Cornell qualifying for the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Hmmm. Wonder if any of our Internet gurus want to do a little Photoshop work and put Best's head on a naked man's body.

Ok, we move on.

Neil Best noticed our prolific effort yesterday that resulted in a rare victory over him for blog props. We made it to 32 blog posts, which broke his record by one. He duly noted that accomplishment on his blog ... and then proceeded to post like a maniac.

It's 10:15 a.m., and he's already up to 11 posts. I hadn't written my first post yesterday until shortly before noon. So we suspect that he will set another record by the end of today. But at least we had a day to bask in the glow. And if Best does break the record today, he'll have to wait four years to celebrate the first anniversary. Feb. 29 doesn't come around again until 2012.

On to free agency.

I know, I said I'd leave Neil Best alone for the rest of the day. But he did have an interesting blog item earlier on a unique marketing event to be held at Friday night's Harvard-Columbia basketball game and then at Saturday night's Quinnipiac-Wagner game. Fans entering the arenas will be given a free box of TicTacs.

I just thought it was cute. I very much enjoy Best's work. He motivates me as a blogger. I hope I can do half the things he's done in his career. If I'm not mistaken, I believe he once wrote 31 blog posts in a single day. Man, I don't think I'd have a brain left if I did that.

Ok, I'm outta here.

Enjoy American Idol.

Go David Archuleta.

Enjoy free agency.

Cheers.

Ok, this is going to do it for my Neil Best Obsession postings for the day.

But it appears he is getting desperate as the page views battle for February is in its final stages.

First of all, I've noticed that Best is posting like a maniac, which tells me he is indeed troubled by the fact that I am nipping at his heels in terms of page views. (NKR, Charlie Chilkoot, Black N Gold, Hookslide, BBiB!, get busy clicking!!)

Second, it took several days' worth of begging from a couple of his regular readers before he agreed to post a picture of former supermodel Cheryl Tiegs. And when he did post one, it was Tiegs on the cover of Time in a modest pose.

Dude, if you're gonna post, then post what your readers want to see!

Ok, I'm back to football and urinal etiquette for the rest of the day.

I'm just sitting here trying to do my job and write a few blog posts, when all of a sudden a reader tips me off to the fact that Best has written a post announcing that he is 28,000 page views ahead of me for the month of February. Now, I'm not sure if this might seem like a lot or a little to you. But given the fact that Best had previously sent me an e-mail about this situation, it leads me to believe that he is getting a little nervous about this situation.

He even mentions that if I do beat him, then he can simply blame it on the fact that there is an extra day in February this year.

"If he passes me on Feb. 29 thanks to NFL free agency stuff," he writes, "it does not count, as my contract clearly states "28 days hath February."

Memo to Best: I'm over you, dude. You can have the page views title every month, for all I care. I choose not to live my life in the basement in my pajamas, but rather to get out and mix with real life athletes, general managers and the other folks I deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Besides, when the day comes when I do beat you in the page views, just remember this: I have promised to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge alongside WFAN's Craig Carton wearing a Speedo.

Come to think of it, you seem to get along with Carton. You might want to tell him of my blog promise here and get him ready.

In the meantime, Best, let me know if there are any cool discounts with the AARP card you just got.

A few days ago, we ran a contest allowing readers to predict when Neil Best would crack and break his promise to stop posting pictures of attractive young women on his blog.

We got a few predictions, but lo and behold, Best lasted a mere two hours before posting another.

He has since promised again not to post a picture of an attractive young woman until March 1, although on his VERY NEXT POST put up a picture of Christy Brinkley in an Islanders jersey. His excuse was that Ms. Brinkley is now 54, although we're certain the picture was taken long before.

Best also teetered on the edge by posting a pic of a young Marlo Thomas.

So, let's get another contest started to see when Best will crack.

I say - again - that it is inconceivable that he will hold out until March 1.

I will give it until this Thursday, Feb. 21, at 3 p.m.

(I would suggest to Best that he post this contest on his own blog, because the readers here might be sick and tired of his antics and not post many votes.)

Best has just posted yet another in a long line of pics of attractive young women.

The difference with this one, though, is that he vows not to post another one for the rest of the month. To which we say: impossible.

So, without further ado, please submit a date when you think Best will post his next swimsuit model or runway beauty. Include a time, too. That will serve as the tiebreaker in case two folks nail the date correctly.

And remember, it's a Leap Year, so we've got 29 days in February.

I'll start it off: Feb. 21, 3 p.m.

We were treated to a week's worth of Best's company in Phoenix, as he had a chance to leave the basement for a trip to the Super Bowl.

But he's back in the dungeon today, and who knows when he'll emerge again. We're frankly a bit worried that breathing fresh air and seeing people might leave him a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of returning to his solitary existence.

So visit his site often, help him get re-acclimated and give him a bunch of page views so he can endlessly obsess over his immense popularity.

Incidentally, we should be getting the January page views numbers any day now, and we're fairly certain Best cleaned our clock yet again. But the more important news, sources have told us: We set a Glauber Nation record for page views for the third consecutive month.

We're also told that we actually kicked Best's booty in page views over the weekend. That's a career first, too.

So, it looks as if we won't be walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in a Speedo alongside WFAN's Craig Carton just yet. But if and when we ever do beat Best in the monthly page views, we'll keep our promise.

You think I'm kidding?

I vowed in a previous blog post that I would walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in a speedo alongside WFAN morning talk show host Craig Carton if I beat Neil Best in this month's page views.

Best threw down the gauntlet after we relayed a look-a-like of him and Uncle Leo of Seinfeld fame, saying that the gloves are off and he's looking to crush me like a bug in the January page views.

Well, Best, my gloves are off, too, and I will do everything in my power to kick your ever-loving tush. Again, the world is your oyster when it comes to blog post material, so I cannot weigh in on such controversies as Imus or Roger Clemens or whatever the hot news of the day is.

I have football, and I dabble in look-a-likes, and that's about it. You want to gloat over beating an NFL guy in page views when you've got TV producers falling all over themselves to get you to write their tidbits in your blog? Fine. Go right ahead.

You may beat me in January yet again, Best, and if you do, I'm sure you'll try and humiliate me with some more blog smack talk.

But if I do somehow pull this off, Newsday will enjoy the greatest public relations stunt in the paper's glorious history, and you will be left to wallow in your own misery in the basement.

Bring it on.

NKR, BBiB! you are my official co-campaign managers. I will hold you personally responsible for making this thing work.