Summer delivers thoughts of quiet days and easygoing weather, but there is another side to this season...the hot, steamy side, and the stormy side, too. June and July are our severe weather months when thunderstorms can go to the extreme, and tornadoes can even appear. Then, there are those tropical wonders which can bring havoc to the east coast. This summer could have it all....

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I've got a confession to make, I watched the U-S versus England World Cup soccer game on Saturday. What's more I enjoyed it, actually riveted to the television set for the entire game. This will all come as news to my family and friends, since I've spent a good part of my adult life explaining to them that American sports fans will never sit through a two hour game in which only a handful of goals are scored. Never mind that soccer, or futbol as it's called everywhere else, is the most popular sport in the world. This is the USA and we like to see action. Basketball fans like me feel cheated if a team doesn't score one hundred points in a game. At least in football even in a low scoring game there are at least a lot of hard hits to get excited about. In any event, I decided to watch the USA-Britain game on Saturday at the urging of my youngest daughter and my great friend Kristina, one of our fine producers here at News 8. They both told me I was all wrong about soccer, that if I really ever sat down and watched a game I'd understand the athleticism and subtleties of the game. Well, after all of these years, I'm a biggest enough man to admit that I was wrong about soccer being boring. I'm not saying the World Cup will be replacing the Super Bowl as America's top sporting event anytime soon, but if the US becomes a serious threat to win this year's World Cup, who knows what could happen. What do you think?

After 14 years of fighting, Stew Leonard's has decided to walk away from their attempts to build a store off I-95 in Orange. The proposed store had been met with resistance from local citizens and politicians, and they can finally rest knowing they have kept another evil business out of town and that Orange is safe from throngs of robotic singing dairy products and vegetables.

Really, Orange? This is what you wanted to keep out of town?

For those of you who may not be familiar with Stew Leonard's, let me help paint the picture. It is a magical place, where smiling associates hand out free food samples at every turn. Throughout the store, employees make fresh items, from bagels to lobster rolls, and orange juice is sold fresh squeezed. Produce sits piled high, and they actually tell you what farm it came from! And yes, there are the robotic singing dairy products, vegetables, and even farm animals. It's like the Disney of food.

Stew Leonard's is also known for supporting local businesses, and being one of the best companies to work for. Yet, apparently people have no need for new jobs in Orange.

The people from "Save Our Neighborhoods" will point out the strain on the town's infrastructure. Extra cops will be needed, and traffic will be a nightmare. Last I checked, the exit ramp off I-95 had been widened, and traffic was probably not as bad as they claimed since the Orange Showcase Cinemas went out of business. And as for cops, I know Stew's has some pretty good sales, but I don't recall any stories of riots caused by people racing for the last lobster.

Stew Leonard's would have created tax dollars and jobs that would have more than offset the minor traffic issues. Chances are these tax dollars could have also been used to make improvements to the town, and citizens would have reaped the benefits.

Who's side are you on?

There is a whole lotta moving and shaking and rumbling going on in college sports, and it has nothing to do with who's throwing, catching or kicking a ball. Schools are changing conferences and some of the moves could be dramatic. Consider the Pac 10. Or as it is right now the Pac 11.

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BP is learning the hard way that being a party to the worst environmental disaster in American history is bad for business. How bad. Real bad. The company's stock price plunged by ten percent today alone, dropping to its lowest point in fourteen years.

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When I was a graduate student, more than 40 years ago, I set up a model of a tornado. It consisted of a chimney-like structure which would provide for a circular inflow of air while an exhaust fan would keep the motion going. The exhaust would allow the air to exit the top while the curvature of the pipe would help deliver a circulation. I have been working on these in many different forms since then. But it worked!

Storm cloud in North Haven on June 3, 2010.

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In the history of Major League Baseball, there have only been 20 perfect games thrown. That number should be 21.

Last night, Detroit Tiger's pitcher Armando Galarraga stood on the mound in the top of the ninth, having retired 26 of 26 batters. Indians short stop Jason Donald stepped up to the plate, and hit a ground ball between 1st and 2nd. Galarraga sprinted over to 1st to cover the bag, caught the ball, stepped on the base, and was shocked to find out Donald was safe, thus ruining the perfect game.

At the time of the play, Galaragga just smiled. He thought Donald was safe too. Only after the close play was replayed, did everyone find out the truth. Jason Donald was out. Umpire Jim Joyce blew the call, and robbed Galarraga of his moment at immortality.

Joyce has apologized, and spoken to Galaragga, who is surprisingly calm about the incident. He understands mistakes happen, and Major League Baseball is going to review the play further. However, many people are using this case to make a bigger push for instant replay in baseball.

Baseball has long wrestled with the concept of instant replay. Only a couple of years ago was it permitted on home run calls, and a lot of people feel it should be expanded upon to include close calls on the base paths.

I am of the opinion that instant replay has no business in baseball. Players make mistakes, umpires make mistakes, managers make mistakes. It's a part of the game. To try and take the element of human error out of the game is an impossible task, and replay will do nothing more than slow down the games even further.

At the end of the game last night, the Tigers still won, and Galaragga got the next batter out for the win. The Tigers managed to gain a game on the first place Twins.

The ONLY reason this blown call is being such a big deal is because a perfect game was on the line. If this play happened during any other game last night, we wouldn't have known about it. But the circumstances are allowing for analysts, fans, and players to use this play as the perfect excuse to bring in full blown instant replay.

So, should there be replay in baseball?

The couple that gave us perhaps the best known kiss in recent American political history is splitting up. The couple is Al and Tipper Gore, and the kiss in question was the show of affection when Gore captured the presidential nomination at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

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