Eric Kay

In my some quarter-century on this planet, I've seen quite a few companies fall to the mercy of the car gods.

I saw AMC bite the dust in 1987. (we miss ya, Gremlin)

I saw Merkur briefly come and go. (Jim Rome misses ya)

I saw Plymouth vanish. (if I had a Hemi Cuda, I'm sure I'd miss it).

And I saw the U.S.'s oldest car company, Oldsmobile call it quits. (I miss my mom's Delta '88).

And I'm sad to report our days with Isuzu are numbered. The Japanese car maker is pulling the plug on U.S. sales of its two remaining vehicles, the Ascender SUV (rebadged Trailblazer) and i-Series pickup trucks (rebadged bad pickup trucks).

Now, I know that news means little to most, but growing up in the late '80s early '90s Isuzu was a pretty sweet truck company. The Trooper was the ultimate box on wheels (who wants to see me tip my dad's car going 25 MPH?). The Rodeo was the Ford Explorer alternative during the mid-'90s SUV boon and the Amigo, well, featured some of the best commercials out there. ("Amigo, Amigo fun for a boy and a girl...").

Speaking of commercials, lest we forget about Joe Isuzu? The man could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves. Who was Joe Isuzu? Why Joe Isuzu was none other than comic actor David Leisure. How you may remember David Leisure? You may remember David Leisure from such movies as Airplane, Airplane II: The Sequel and as Charlie from the popular TV show Empty Nest. But if you're like me, you remember David Leisure as gameshow host Bink Winkleman from an episode of Married from Children.

We'll miss ya, Joe I. and all your SUVs. Oh, what this has to do with sports? Well, Isuzu was actually in the automotive racing arena with its Isuzuperformance Racing Team. The Isuzu I-Mark apparently was at LeMons and various other stuff. So yeah, there's a connection in there somewhere.

And now a quick Blog Day Afternoon Friday Harangue:

Roger Goodell's explanation for destroying the tapes -- "The reason I destroyed the tapes is they were totally consistent with what the team told me," Goodell said during his State of the NFL speech. "It was the appropriate thing to do and I think it sent a message." -- is ludicrous. If they didn't destroy the Ark in the first Indiana Jones after all the madness and death that thing unleashed, you're telling my Roger couldn't find a place in NFL HQ to store this tape? Absolutely insane. My guess is the tape featured 30 seconds of "spying" and four hours of obscene content like the assistants' Belichick shower cam and Mike Vrabel and Junior Seau's take on 2girlsonecup.

On to the best ... blogs around!

If you value what CBSSports.com producers think (we in the newsroom sure don't), check out their predictions for the Super Bowl in Screaming in Digital. My favorite would be the Giants 42, Pats 3 guestimate with Jeff Feagles as the MVP. You see what I have to work with? That's why I'm like this.

Despite a glaring Miami U. (Big Ben, Wally's World, Devin Davis, me) omission, Too Legit To Quit! breaks down the Top 25 all-around programs from 1998 on. Seriously though, where's Michigan on this list?

I feel for My never ending Story......, I really do. I went to every Orioles opening day from about 1990 to 1997 with my father. It was the team I grew up watching. So I feel for this blog. But the question has an easy answer. The O's have an owner unable to instill a baseball management system in an era where good teams are separated from the best by their structures. Not even Rocky Coppinger can fix that.

I've been exposed by The Blog about Nothing. I'm the guy the blog's talking about. Sorry, but I just love a good Sudoku puzzle. However, I'll never admit to surfing around on that "sportsline" site.

I couldn't resist. We had to end the week with the latest and greatest from Volunteer Basketball (I think he means football). The blog's question du jour is: What is the craziest thing you've done at a sporting event? Suffice to say, my greatest hits don't come close to these Redskins jacknobs (bad words warning).

Ever wonder what the man behind The Sports Comedian talks like? The fake-news wizard steps out from behind the curtain today, and today only.

And lastly, I had to end with this one, if only because it's my type of sophomoric humor. Read The Blog about Nothing's quick take on war being the answer to at least one question.