Ace & Maverick

ESPN.com has a very good story on Ace Bailey, one of the 9/11 victims and a former Washington Capital. I'll forgive them for not mentioning his Caps days, even though he played with them for 4 seasons (his second-longest tenure right behind his time with the Bruins). He seemed like an all-around good guy, given his philanthropic tendencies and cheerful personality:

Bailey, a bruising forward from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, met his wife in typical Bailey fashion. Katherine was a flight attendant on a flight on which Bailey and the Boston Bruins were traveling. As Katherine finished her final pre-flight preparations, Bailey waved at her. Then, as the plane was taking off, Bailey bolted from his seat and sat next to Katherine in the jump seat. "He actually sort of tumbled onto the seat next to me," she recalls with a laugh. "I said, 'You can't do that.' And he said, 'I just did. I'm Ace, who are you?'" "And that was it," Katherine says. A steadfast personal rule never to give out her number to passengers went right out the window. "For some reason, I couldn't resist the dimples and the blond hair."

Not fair- why do the good ones always leave us so soon?

On a lighter note, I hope Tom Cruise gets booed big time at the Redskins game tonight. Everyone knew he would be in Snyder's box tonight, but it's finally been confirmed. I still don't believe he was tall enough to ride the rides at Six Flags last night.

There was even an informal closing ceremony at end of the night with the park characters and employees, where Cruise and Snyder led the kids in the Electric Slide, Hokey Pokey and limbo in the park's town square.

Tom and Danny Boy doing the Hokey Pokey together? GAH! There is no God!

Cruise isn't the only celeb tonight; also expected in the owners' box are actors Jamie Foxx, Peter Berg and Fred Thompson, new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Peter Pace, Al Hunt and Judy Woodruff, Jack and Joanne Kemp, Darrel and Jewell Green, Jay Carney and Claire Shipman, and Snyder's wife, mother, Arlette, and sister, Michele.

Snyder's box isn't that roomy, as Fred and I found out last December. I mean, anybody who's anybody will be in the box with Snyder as opposed to sitting at the bar in the owner's suite, in another box, or in the nice comfy chairs...and that box is about as big as Danny. Seats 8-10 comfortably, if that. I was surprised it was so small, to be honest. The suites at MCI- er, Verizon Center are bigger than Snyder's domain.

No jumping on the chairs, Tom!