A few months ago, I posted about a story from Atlanta in which a woman had received a temporary restraining order against basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. I noted that if the order became a permanent restraining order after a hearing, then federal law would prohibit O'Neal from possessing a gun. Given O'Neal's longstanding interest in police work (he's an honorary member of several law enforcement agencies, has participated in SWAT raids, and often speaks about his desire to become a full-time officer upon retirement), a ban on possessing a gun would be a big deal for him.

Having noted the story and mused on this possibility, I thought it was appropriate to mention the news that the woman has now dropped her request for a permanent restraining order. So Shaquille O'Neal's right to have a gun doesn't appear to be in any danger. No word on whether a monetary settlement was involved.

So I was drinking a McDonald's beverage the other day, and noticed that affixed to the side of the cup was a game piece for the restaurant's "Monopoly" contest. If you're not familiar, there are stickers on various food items, a few of which offer instant prizes, but most of which correspond to aspects of the classic Monopoly board game. There are streets, utilities, and railroads. If you collect all of a set, you win a prize. Naturally, at least one member of each set is rare, so, for example, if you find a "Pennsylvania Avenue" sticker, hang on to it.

Anyway, I don't save up a stack of stickers or anything, but I usually peel them off out of curiosity. This time, though, I got something that didn't have anything to do with the Monopoly game I knew: "Arches Avenue."

Arches Avenue? WTF?!

As we all know, the streets in the original Monopoly game were taken from Atlantic City. I've never been there, but I'm pretty sure they don't have an Arches Avenue (or its companion, "Golden Avenue"). Google Maps tells me there are a handful of Golden Avenues, mostly in California, but the only Arches Avenue it found was in El Dorado Hills, California, near Sacramento.

Are Boardwalk and Park Place not good enough for you, McDonald's? What's next, Oriental Chicken Salad Avenue? If McDonald's wants to give out more prizes, it can just print more winning game pieces, or have fewer "free small fries" stickers, or make the Water Works worth more than $50. But it shouldn't be able to just add streets willy-nilly. I hope the folks at the Atlantic City Division of Planning and Development at least had their say about it.

As you can tell, I'm kind of steamed about this. Long-time reader might recall that four years ago (almost to the day), I wrote about another McDonald's Monopoly fraud scam. I pledge to remain vigilant. Or at least troll for internet searches for McDonald's lame-ass Arches Avenue.