Sounds like an asshole, right? Oh, you don't know the half of it. This guy's got such a history of douchebaggery that there's a whole Web site devoted to him, appropriately titled BadDentist.com. What's his history? Here's a paragraph that pretty much sums him up:

"Celebrity" dentist Dr. Larry Rosenthal has been sued at least five times for malpractice. Dr. Rosenthal has had his professional license suspended after he admitted to illegally purchasing and distributing hundreds of grams of cocaine and many other illegal drugs. Dr. Rosenthal got caught lying about all of this under oath, thereby committing perjury, a felony punishable by five years imprisonment. Dr. Rosenthal has been sued by a competitor for stealing client records. Right now, Dr. Rosenthal is being sued by his own associate dentist. In the filings of that case, Dr. Rosenthal's associate claims that Dr. Rosenthal is both a liar and a criminal. Additionally, a receptionist where Dr. Rosenthal used to work claims under oath that Dr. Rosenthal sexually harassed her and other co-workers. Dr. Rosenthal has also lied to the press many times in order to promote himself. Additionally, Dr. Rosenthal has now admitted that providing a list of patients who traded sex for free dental work would violate doctor-patient confidentiality.

Well, yeah, you hate to see that. Apparently, BadDentist has been up for a while and has documented so many of Rosenthal's missteps that it has caused considerable damage to his business, which might be why he's suing the Lidle family for $7 million. Hey, anybody out there who might happen to have an appointment with Dr. Rosenthal today ... when he has your fingers in his mouth, go ahead and bite them off. It would be a public service.

Apartment Owner Sues Lidle Kin For $7 Million [New York Post]
BadDentist.com

And sure, why wouldn't they? I can't say I'm personally offended, but I'm not a member of Cory Lidle's family. I'm not someone who cared about him on a personal level. Those people are out there, however, and they probably could've waited until Monday for this. Or perhaps, and I know this sounds crazy, done without it all together.

But who knows, by Monday, there could be a whole new tragedy at which to poke fun, and this one would have gone to waste.

Delonas for Friday, October 13, 2006 [New York Post]

Rodney Culver, a Detroit native who was Jerome Bettis' teammate at Notre Dame, was the Chargers' RB who, a year and a half after his Chargers were routed in the Super Bowl, died in that ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades. Everybody forgot everything about Rodney Culver — but, that's what ya get for crashing into a swamp. ESPN educated us on the glory of flamboyantly crashing a plane into somebody's 40th-floor apartment in Manhattan. Swamps are filled with gators n' snakes n' slimey matter. NYC is full of pretty people with pretty apartments. Which is why there was a National Cory Lidle Day of Mourning.

We're not sure that we agree — we can assure them that New York is certainly not full of pretty people, and definitely not full of pretty apartments — but certainly worth a mention.

UnexPLANEable [Planet Haystack]

We enjoyed both Gawker and Defamer's takes on this.

And to Alarming News, for this amusing yet wise postscript: "At least Sean Penn had a life raft."

Alec Baldwin Is An Insufferable Prick, Even When A Plane's Crashed [Citizen Journal]
Uh-Oh [Alarming News]

For example: He suddenly becomes an extremely hot eBay item.

Cory Lidle never matched their popularity, and not even close. Nonetheless, eBay action on Lidle items went crazy on Wednesday. Before his name popped into the news, an autographed ball of his sold for $15. Not more than a minute after that auction closed, another ball began its climb to selling for $318. That item's bidding history shows a very interesting timeline.

The details on Lidle's crash appear to be official now, though they won't be able to determine a "cause," per se, for a matter of months. We are still waiting comment from Arthur Rhodes, by the way.

Cory Lidle Memorabilia Spikes Dramatically On eBay [Paukl Katcher.com]
Plane That Crashed Into NYC Building Flown By Yanks' Cory Lidle [Deadspin]

(By the way, the best thing we've read — pretty much the only worthwhile thing we've read — about the Lidle situation was The Dugout this morning.)

Turns out, according to the FAA, it was licensed to, of all people, Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle.

(UPDATE: An aviation source, according to CNN, says "he believes Lidle was the man piloting the plane." But that's unconfirmed.)

(SECOND UPDATE: Here's the FAA report on Lidle's plane.)

(THIRD UPDATE: On CNN, SI's Tom Verducci says the Yankees had talked to Lidle about his love of planes.)

(FOURTH UPDATE: The FBI has confirmed that Lidle was indeed on the plane, by himself. His passport was found on the street.)

(FIFTH UPDATE: The New York medical examiner's office has confirmed that Lidle was killed in the crash.)

(SIXTH UPDATE: Here's a story from Delaware Online specifically addressing Lidle's disagreements with Yankees' brass about flying. To quote:

"The Phillies weren't enamored of pitcher Cory Lidle's hobby of flying a four-seat airplane.

But now that Lidle is with the Yankees, it's an especially sensitive topic.

In 1979, Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died when a plane he was piloting crashed near his home in Canton, Ohio. Lidle earned his pilot's license last offseason, and has insisted his plane is safe.

"The whole plane has a parachute on it," he told The New York Times. "Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land.

"But, if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly.")

(SEVENTH UPDATE: "Mike And The Mad Dog" are reporting that that Lidle had just told the team he was flying home to California. Here's that interview.)

(EIGHTH UPDATE: Here's the recent New York Times article on Lidle's obsession with planes.)

(NINTH UPDATE: Here's a picture of Lidle and his plane, which is not the one that crashed, by the way.)

(TENTH UPDATE: You might remember this quote from Arthur Rhodes' tirade against Lidle after he was traded in July:

"The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble. He doesn't have a work ethic.")

(ELEVENTH UPDATE: Mayor Bloomberg is saying that there was a passenger with Lidle on the plane.)

"He is a scab," Rhodes said. "When he started, he would go 51/3 innings and (the bullpen) would have to win the game for him. The only thing Cory Lidle wants to do is fly around in his airplane and gamble. He doesn't have a work ethic. After every start, he didn't run or lift weights. He would sit in the clubhouse and eat ice cream. ... He shouldn't say that, he shouldn't say anything like that because he is a scab. He crossed the line when guys like me, Flash (Tom Gordon) and (Mike) Lieberthal were playing. He is a replacement player."

We love it when players get pissed at other players for being replacements; it's always beautiful to see an aged middle reliever get in touch with his inner Norma Rae. Lidle is listed on Wikipedia's roundup of replacement players who made the majors, and his pitching in a spring training game in 1995 has been confirmed. There aren't many players still around who were replacement players; the highest profile are Kevin Millar, Damian Miller and, uh, Lidle, we guess. Our own views on labor vs. management aside, it's funny that people like Rhodes — who made nearly $4 million for his 5.12 ERA a couple of years ago — are still fired up about this.

Baseball Replacement Players [Wikipedia]
Brian Cashes In Yet Again [New York Post]
Old Wounds [St. Petersburg Times]