A bit less of everything...

...is how I would describe the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The acting wasn't as good, the writing wasn't as good, Johnny Depp wasn't as bizarre, Keira Knightley wasn't as pretty, etc. It was okay. I knew it wasn't as good as the first one going in, but that's okay.

When you have a movie with special effects like the first one, it's almost a given that the makers will feel they have a duty to outdo themselves in that regard for the sequel. This is no exception. Undead warriors from the first are replaced by sea creature men in the second. Even when I tried to pay attention to them, I didn't really notice.

Deadwood is on, and it's just so damn good. Last weeks episode had two great speeches. One when Merrick was reading Bullock's letter to the murdered Cornishman's family, and the second when Blazanov raged against Hearst's having his foreign workers murdered. Good stuff.

I recently watched Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, which was the basis for the sitcom Alice, something I hadn't known before. Mostly because I had no idea what the movie was about in the first place. But once I saw Vic Tayback working the kitchen, it flashed into my head. I really liked that TV show.

I also watched A Night at the Opera, a Marx Brothers movie from 1935. Fantastic. The talent that each of those guys possessed is really extraordinary. Chico playing the piano might be my favorite scene.

All My Teams

It's a rare day when my favorite teams in two different sports play on the same day. Cubs, Saints, LSU, USA. Not necessarily in that order. But since the Cubs just ended a weekend series in DC, and the US Women beat Ireland 5-0 this afternoon, it got me to thinking about why I cheer for the teams I do.

The Cubs are in my DNA. They're in my bones and my skin and my hair and all those things. I didn't choose them any more than I chose my fingernails or kneecaps. If I didn't love the Cubs, I wouldn't be me. The fact that they never win is irrelevant.

I did choose LSU and the Saints. It may have been an easy choice based on the fact that they're from Louisiana, but it was still a choice.

"USA" is a rather specific category. My favorite national team is the US Women's soccer team. I started following them umpteen years ago when I read about this 14 year old girl playing at the international level. It was American soccer, and we were actually good. So a championship team in the sport that I played was really appealing. They became my brain and my heart. They play with passion and desire and love for each other. Out of all the teams I call mine, they're the most fun to cheer for.

They say that in "The Tempest", Caliban represents the unconscious mind. The inner anger and uncontrolled passion of men. This is what LSU and the Saints are. The wildest emotions and rages are present, especially at the college level. Getting to scream at the TV when things go well or badly is a great stress reliever. It's also a good way to be pissed off for an entire week if your team loses.

It's a Beautiful Day for Baseball

Here are the good things about going to see the Cubs play the Nationals today:

1) I get to see the Cubs.
2) It's hot outside, but I'm in the shade.
3) Aramis Ramirez hit two more home runs, which gives him four in the last two games. All really hammered.
4) Seeing LSU alum Todd Walker in person. I last saw him hit a grand slam in Alex Box Stadium in the College World Series.
5) Singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the 7th inning stretch and hearing thousands of Cubs fans drown out the Nats fans with "root, root, root for the CUBBIES"

Here are the bad things:

1) Seeing Neifi Perez take the field in person. I'm pretty sure he's the most useless offensive player the Cubs have ever had.
2) Watching Phil Nevin start over Matt Murton.
3) Watching the Cubs lose.
4) Watching Alex Escobar beat the Cubs for the second game in a row. Alex. Escobar.

Just Try to Ignore the Fact That They're Nazis

I watched Cabaret recently, which was okay. I was expecting a bit more. The thing I remember most is the song "Tomorrow Belongs to Me". In the movie, it is sung in a picnic setting, started off by a member of the Hitler Youth and joined in by most of the crowd. At first you just see the kid's face, and he's the picture-perfect young Aryan man. Then you see the brown shirt and the armband and the uniform and get the full picture. But the song is great. It starts out going on about nature and the trees and the rivers and "the blossom embraces the bee". Then it goes into "Arise, arise!" and "Fatherland, fatherland, send us the sign" type stuff. But it sounds fantastic. So if you can ignore the fact that all this is a prelude to the rise of Hitler and everything that came with it*, it's really good.

*Note: You can't really ignore it.

I've gone through a lot of movies recently, probably too many to do a post on each one. So I'll run through some of them real quick.

Tom Jones: boring except for maybe the last twenty minutes.
The Greatest Show on Earth: Not bad. Charlton Heston is good. Shows a lot of the circus acts and what it takes to put the show on.
Out of Africa: Really good. Depressing, but good. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford are good. Streep nominated for Best Actress.
Oliver!: A little dull for me. Picked up towards the end. But the song about buying roses was a great one.
Three Days of the Condor: A good thriller. Redford and Dunaway go well together. I may have mentioned before that I was very pleasantly surprised by Dunaway when I watched Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown. She's good in this one too. And let me just say this about Redford: he's always good. Even if the movie is crap, Redford is good.
Capote: Just finished it tonight. I don't care too much about the story, but if you ever see old footage of Truman Capote and then watch Philip Seymour Hoffman, you'll be mightily impressed (same thing with Denzel Washington in Malcolm X. He was robbed of an Oscar that year by Al Pacino in the utterly wretched Scent of a Woman. Can't stand that movie).

Watching True Grit right now, then it's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. And then the fun begins, with four episodes of MST3K on the way.

To finish, I'll check to see if my good friend Geneva Marney is still paying attention. Hey Neva, if you've got a movie recommendation or two, send them my way.

Paradise Lost

The epic poem by Milton mentions four rivers that flow out of the lake that the fallen angels were cast into after their revolt against Heaven failed. Styx, the river of hate. Acheron, the river of sorrow. Cocytus, the river of lamentation. Phelgethon, the river of rage. I feel like I'm swimming in all four right now.

A few weeks ago I was at Sign of the Whale, and a couple of the patrons told me that the place had been sold. They didn't know when things might start to change, but they guessed around August. Now the Washington Post gives us this story, announcing that the bar has been bought by Mike O'Meara from the Don and Mike Show. "Look for an Irish pub makeover." they say. Because God knows DC doesn't have any of those.

It's almost enough to make me believe in reincarnation, and that I did some pretty terrible things in a past life. However, I've done enough terrible things in this life to believe that God is punishing for my sins by taking away my favorite place within about a thousand miles. Probably not the truth, but I'm not in the mood for reason and clear thinking right now.

Milton also mentions a stream called Lethe, the waters of oblivion. Anyone who enters this stream loses all care for the world or themselves. The concerns of life are no longer theirs. They will go through life uncaring, unfeeling, without opinion or desire for the world around them. I'm hoping that's not on the horizon.

New Orleans at the Folklife Festival

I was glad to learn that musicians from New Orleans would be at the Folklife Festival this year. I was excited to read that one of them would be Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, the leader of the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians. I saw him at the Jazz Fest a few years ago and really liked the show. The best part of it was actually the crowd. He was on a big stage in front of a big open grassy area. The crowd set up reminded me of an army encampment. People staking out spots needed a way to let their friends know where they were, so there were dozens of tall poles with flags and pennants and symbols and colors and all that. It was quite a sight to see.

Also on display last night was a great guitar player. He was pretty incredible.

After the Chief got through with his set, we got to see the Hot 8 Brass Band. They were a lot younger than I thought they'd be. I was expecting older men in their 40s and 50s. The oldest were in their early 40s, and most were mid- or late-20s. However old they were, they were fantastic. They played 7 or 8 songs, had the crowd going, did a second line towards the end, did an encore, sweated up a storm, and were just terrific through and through. I wish they were performing again.

A couple of years ago when Scotland was at the Festival, they had Fiddler's Bid perform on more than one day (if memory serves me correctly).

RAN

Before we get started, let me say that one of the great things about any holiday weekend in America is the Twilight Zone marathon that comes on the SciFi channel. Fan-freaking-tastic. God bless America.

Ran is a movie based on King Lear, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Lord Hidetora Ichimonji decides to bequeath control of his family estate to the eldest of his three sons. Alas, they decide to use their new status to get rid of him (spurred on by the treacherous Lady Kaede, whose family was destroyed by Hidetora. Actors you've heard of: probably none, unless you grew up in Japan.

In basketball and golf, you hear announcers talk about a player's shotmaking ability. That's all I could think about watching Ran. Some of the shots Kurosawa puts together are really terrific. Lord Hidetora sitting alone in a burning castle under siege. The siege itself. Hidetora's face whenever life throws another flaming bag of poo in his lap by having his sons turn against him or another one of his companions murdered in front of his eyes. Every single battle scene. It's all wonderfully put together. Monumentally depressing, but really well done.

Musa the Warrior

I believe that Musa the Warrior is the first Korean movie I've seen.

A group of Korean soldiers have to make their way through dangerous Northern China, catching hell from Chinese armies and Mongol warriors. They pick up a Chinese princess along the way. I'm a big fan of the Mongols, so that part made me happy. Actors you'll recognize: Zhang Ziyi.

I could have lost some in translation, but I got the feeling that this was a movie about courage and cowardice and sacrifice and violence and obstinance, and maybe a few other things thrown in as well. The violence isn't extremely bloody, but it's not bloodless, either. You get stabbed, and blood comes gushing out. It has some really interesting elements, but the one I took most notice of was the attention to detail when dealing with battle tactics. The scene where Korean footsoldiers take on Mongols on horseback in the forest was a darn good one.

One caveat: The Netflix slip says this movie is 2 hours and five minutes long. But I'd swear it seemed like it was pushing three.

I also got to watch Harold and Maude, which I hadn't seen in quite a while. Very funny and enjoyable, and you can be introspective about it if you want. I won't talk about it, because there's really no way to describe Harold and Maude.

Do you like yellow?

Because if you do, then today's Netherlands-Portugal game was made for you. The ref handed out 16 yellow cards and four players got sent off, leaving 9 a side at the end. Let's talk about one in particular, the second one given to Deco. I like Deco. He's fun to watch. He scored a great goal during the group round. He looks like a nice guy. But the act he committed to get his second yellow gets on my nerves so bad I wish he'd also been punched in the face.

He got called for a foul. Instead of heading back on defense, he picks up the ball and starts to carry it off in a time-wasting ploy. This happens rather often, so it was pretty surprising that he got carded for it. But I hate this garbage, so it made me happy. One of the Dutch players grabbed him when he had the ball and basically threw him to the ground. "What about that guy?" the announcers asked. "Give him a medal" I say.

World Cup

This Thursday, the USA will play Ghana in a first-round matchup between two teams that really ought to win if they want to advance. The US need to beat Ghana and hope for Italy to beat Czech Republic. If the confidence the Americans gained from getting a draw with Italy carries over, then we've got a pretty good shot. Now let's get to the important stuff. The favorites Brazil have won their first two matches, though they've looked very vulnerable along the way. As I mentioned here, Brazil have a player boringly named "Fred" in their lineup. I was listening to the radio on Sunday and heard Fred score a goal against Australia. Indeed, beware the dreadful footballing might of FRED. Brazil have now won nine straight World Cup games, which is really remarkable. They won all seven four years ago and two so far this year. When you consider that two teams of greatly unequal talent and/or skill often play to a tie, the fact that they've been able to keep winning in regulation against this level of competition is really impressive. Argentina used a 6-0 beatdown over Serbia & Montenegro to claim the label of most impressive squad so far. With a 3-1 comeback over Tunisia, Spain look like #2. The biggest surprise so far could be Ecuador, who sits atop their group with Germany. They've each scored five, but the Germans have allowed two.

The best part about FIFA's website that I've found is the Flickr Gallery. Fans can email their photos in to the site and give links to more that they've taken at the World Cup. My favorite so far is here.

Back at Last

Deadwood came back for its third season tonight, and not a minute too soon. Where Sopranos is the master of incorporating the small banalities of everyday life into the overall scope of a mob drama, Deadwood is equally adept at asking great philosophical questions about life, the universe, and everything.

"Instead of running for office and tending bar, why don't you tend bar and let people punch you in the face?"

Running up to the season premiere, they showed reruns from the end of last year, and I watched the funeral episode. The ladies of negotiable affection who work at the Gem saloon attended, and were all in tears at the tragic death of young William. Which got me to thinking: "Some of the time, they're prostitutes who sell their bodies for cash, and some of the time, they're just young girls who laugh and fear and love and ache and everything else." In another episode last season, one of Cy Tolliver's girls tells him that she prays for him every night.

Tonight, Joanie Stubbs (a prostitute and aspiring madam herself) asks the Lord who she is. She rents a room for a few hours a day and converses with the Almighty. It's tempting to ask ourselves how such a terrible sinner has the nerve to talk to God. Then I remember a passage I read in a book about four writers: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor. I forget which figure it was about (I think it was Dorothy Day), but there was a passage about how the troubled sinner is closer to God than the saint. They experience struggle and anguish and tribulation, and dealing with all of this exposes them more to the true Christian life than the saint who never doubts and always does everything right. I love that stuff.

And just to review, only one person got killed and there was no sex on screen. I didn't count the number of f-bombs, but you can probably visit this site, which keeps a running tally. A hearty welcome back to Bullock, the angriest man on TV.

A film, a movie, and a flick

Over the weekend I watched one of each. Day of the Jackal, a very good film about a plot to assassinate French president Charled de Gaulle. French terrorists/anarchists/revolutionaries (take your pick) are upset with de Gaulle for giving Algeria independence. So they hire an accomplished assassin with the codename "The Jackal" to eliminate him. The film does a good job of illustrating what the killer goes through to prepare for the hit, and what the police go through to try and stop him.

The movie was X-Men III. Like the mutants, saw the first two, liked this one. That's really all I can say. Except that "The Jackal" sounds like a good name for a mutant. And that I was surprised to see Jubilee listed in the credits, since I tend to regard her as the most useless mutant ever. I guess there are those more educated in the field who could prove me wrong.

The flick was Stick It. My cousin and I went to see it at Kingstowne in Alexandria. I'd never been down there before. They have a Popeyes next door to an ABC store right across from the theater. You can buy liquor and chicken and then go see a movie and enjoy all three. That's a good way to go. Stick It was better than I thought it would be. It was fun and entertaining, and well-done for what it is. (I think that's an overlooked feature when evaluating movies. Not everything has to be high drama to be a good movie). Stephen Hunter from the Post called it a "nubile-o-rama", which is accurate. You've got a bunch of very, very fit girls in leotards erforming outstanding athletic feats. But it's also funny, sometimes emotional, and it sometimes makes you go "Ooh, that's gotta hurt." I liked it. But if you're a guy, don't go see it without a girl. You'll just end up looking creepy.

(speaking of girls performing outstanding feats, the last three standing in the National Spelling Bee are all girls)

Tremble before the awesome footballing power of...FRED?

The story goes that when soccer was first becoming popular in Brazil, it was considering a low-class sport, only for the riff-raff to take part in. So when the papers reported on the results of games, the players would identify themselves with aliases so people wouldn't know who they were. The trend continued after the sport became respectable. Brazil has since turned into the premier soccer nation on the planet, winning five World Cups and spawning great player after great player.

The names these players have taken have often been flashy and catchy, and are usually just one name. We've been graced with Pele, Garrincha, Jairzinho, Zico, Romario, Socrates, Bebeto, Dunga, Leonidas, Tostao, and Zizinho. The current World Cup squad features names such as Cafu, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Adriano, Ze Roberto, Cicinho, Gilberto, and......FRED? How can they let a guy with such a boring name onto the most celebrated squad in the world? Brazilian soccer names are supposed to have pizzazz and set off fireworks in your brain. Fred?

This year's Brazilian team gives us some seriously entertaining players. The most famous are Ronaldo (speed dribbling and quick striking), Ronaldinho (fancy dribbling 1-on-1, 1-on 2, 1-on-3, 1-on-4, etc. and precision passing), Adriano (combining great ball skills with serious power), Roberto Carlos (making runs up the left side and blasting free kicks from who knows how far out), and a personal favorite of mine, Cafu. He's a right fullback trapped in a forward's body, game, personality, you name it. One of the great sights from the last two World Cups is Cafu streaking up the right sideline, taking a long cross right out of the air and taming it with his feet. Should Brazil make the finals, Cafu would have seen the field in four straight final matches.

After all that, I guess I should say something about the USA. I hope we win. Nothing would tick off the rest of the world more than the United States wining the biggest sporting event there is. Especially since they like to take solace in the fact that it's something (often the only thing) they do better than us. We don't have a "Fred", but we do have a DaMarcus and an Oguchi. So there.

Idol Television

I'm sure I've mentioned before that nothing makes me laugh the way American Idol does. It's an extremely well-constructed show that somehow got more popular in its fifth year. It's multifaceted, with the comedy of bad singers to start out with, the emotional drama (which I don't watch) of Hollywood tryouts and interpersonal conflict as contestants must team up and work together, and the tension and "what will happen next?" element of the voting and elimination rounds. You can jump on and off as you wish and not miss anything vital.

So it was with great glee that I watched the 2-hour results show last night. I tried to vote for Taylor Tuesday night but the lines were busy. Based on his performance, just about everybody figured him to win, so I wasn't too upset. The only question was what they would do to lead up to what seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Well, they came up with what I think was the best episode of the year. You can read Lisa de Moraes's column about it here.

Start off with Taylor and the McPheever singing with Carrie Underwood. Good. Katherine singing with Meatloaf: not the greatest combo, but bizarre enough to capture one's attention. The American Idol Awards were a great idea, but I wish the loony they gave Best Male Vocal to had been hit by a bus before he made it to the Kodak Theater.

Elliott's mom winning Best Family Moment was nice, and it was too bad that Elliott had to get big-timed by Mary J. Blige during their duet. She tried to sing right over him at every turn, instead of singing with him. And at the end, the belted out a note and stalked off the stage, leaving him in her dust. Real classy there, Bligey. (though I will admit she's probably good to see in concert)

Solo by Underwood, though my cousin said she'd have preferred a different song.

The ladies' sextet performance was nice, and it was especially pleasing to see Mandisa on stage again. I hope she does well. Girl can sing and perform as well as anybody in the competition, maybe better. And I'm pretty sure you must have been born without a soul if you don't like her.

Puck N Pickler was hilarious. Kellie Pickler just makes me so happy. If she's playing dumb, then she deserves more Oscar nominations than Meryl Streep. If she really is that dumb, then she deserves a dozen guardian angels to watch over her. Spitting escargot into her napkin and running away from live lobsters is great comedy. Wolfgang Puck made for a great straight man, too.

The Randy Jackson Award for Public Speaking went to foul-mouthed trashbag Rhonetta Johnson. This could prompt a lot of people to say they're being too mean. These people can't defend themselves against the titan that is AI. So why should they pick on them? Answer: for our entertainment, of course. And Rhonetta was a thoroughly unlikable character, so we sort of feel like she had it coming. The "Rhonetta" they panned to to receive her award may not have been the real one, as far as I can tell. I could be wrong.

I can't describe the Toni Braxton/Taylor Hicks any better than de Moraes, so I won't try:

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"Braxton is singing -- such as it is -- phonetically and therefore doesn't realize that this is a song about a little child who needs a helping hand because he's living in the ghetto. Instead, she mistakes it for a song about a ho and her pimp, as played by Braxton and Taylor, on whom she tries to perform a standing lap dance, winning her the Golden Idol Award for Most Inappropriate Performance During an "Idol" Finale."

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"In the Ghetto" is a fantastic and moving song, and I don't think Braxton is up to it. Great legs, pretty girl. But spiritual she ain't, at least not when she's singing. I couldn't understand her anyway.

The highlight of the night for me was the American Idol Award for Best Impersonation. It went to the guy who auditioned dressed and styled as Clay Aiken. He stunk, and he said he was nervous and had to pee. So they told him to go to the bathroom and come back. He still stunk. So it was quite surprising when Seacrest asked him if he would sing for them. He starts in on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", when the stage opens up behind him, and Clay Aiken, the Dorky White Boy himself, walks out. He sneaks up on the guy and starts to sing, rendering the impostor speechless and looking like he was about to cry and wet his pants. As Clay keeps on singing--well, of course--Seacrest asks the kid if he's okay. I think he was in love, to be honest. That's good television, boys and girls.

So there you go. Congratulations to Soul Patrol for winning. Congratulations to the McPheever for making the finals and discovering that people like gazing upon huge tracts of land. And congratulations to Fox for taking the freight train that is American Idol and keeping it running at full speed. Well done all around.

That's the point, Congresswoman

"Eliminating an earmark for $500,000 to fund a program to combat drug-use locally only means that $500,000 will be funded and some bureaucrat in a federal agency will use it as he decides, rather than as the elected representative decides."

A couple of weeks ago, Kay Granger sent out a press release defending her overseas travel to Malta, Greece, Kosovo, and wherever the IAEA is located. Some of it made sense. But she couldn't escape the fact that half the trips still seemed completely unnecessary, or the recently reported theory that the soldiers abroad don't really give a rat's fat fart when MoCs come to visit. I'm waiting for her to start talking about gas prices and totally ignore the fact that all the fuel she spent globetrotting was a big waste.

The beginning quote is from a recent press release about the earmarking process. And yes, she's okay making points about what earmarks are and where they come from. However, it would be nice if she could explain why that 500 grand isn't taken out of the overall budget. And referring to the person in the federal agency as "some bureaucrat" is rather insulting. Why couldn't the bureaucrat turn it around and say "It's better for someone who actually works with these issues on a daily basis for a living to make the decision how the money gets spent than some fat-cat Congresswoman who has to please a horde of special interests and fickle voters every two years."

The argument "Well, if we don't earmark it, someone else will just spend it anyway" isn't the strongest one to take a stand with.

American Graffiti

A long time ago, in a screenplay far, far away, George Lucas made a movie that wasn't called "Star Wars". And yet, it was still good enough to make the AFI list at #77. American Graffiti comes to us from 1973, the same year that brought us The Sting, The Exorcist, and another movie currently in my Netflix queue, Day of the Jackal.

Actors you'll know: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams (assuming you ever saw "Laverne and Shirley")

Actors you may recognize but not know: Charles Martin Smith, Bo Hopkins, Wolfman Jack (actually, it's sort of the other way around with Wolfman). My favorite listing in the credits is for Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. His father was an Olympic swimmer and went on to star as Tarzan in a dozen movies and Jungle Jim in 15 more.

For about the first 30 minutes, I couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. Not really the kind of movie I enjoy, the teen coming-of-age drama type thing. Then it started to grow on me. The scenes are well-constructed. It manages to get funnier and more meaningful as it goes along. I mostly enjoyed the misadventures of Terry "The Toad" and the girl he said looks like Connie Stevens. Milner having to hang around with the bratty Carol was good, too.

I'd give it a recommendation, but mostly to see the main characters interacting with the lesser ones. The main storylines don't really do it for me.

Up next: Laugh In, and I can't tell you how excited I am.

Platoon

Platoon comes in at #83 on the AFI list. Made in 1986, the same year that gave us Children of a Lesser God, Aliens, and The Color of Money.

Actors you'll recognize: Tom Berenger, Willem Defoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, Johnny Depp.

Actors you may recognize but not know: Keith David, Oliver Stone (cameo).

It's very well-acted, well-written, and well-made through and through. It's also really depressing. I don't see myself tuning in again anytime soon. Charlie Sheen is good, though it's tough to watch him now 20 years later and not think about the celebrity instead of the actor. Berenger and Defoe are pretty good, and it makes me wonder what else he's done really well in that I'm missing. "Entourage" fans will be happy to see Kevin Dillon, who plays a thoroughly unlikable Bunny in the movie. Now he's playing a slacker brother on HBO.

I'd recommend it if you're into Vietnam movies or if you're an Oliver Stone or anti-war fan. Other than that, you just have to like to be depressed.

Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!

According to the Patron Saints Index, there is no Saint Reggie. There's a Regina, and a few from Reggio, but no Reggie. So it might be a bit of a stretch to expect Reggie Bush to be the Savior of New Orleans, much less the savior of the Saints. But that hasn't stopped Saints fans from gushing about our new running back. When the Texans selected Mario Williams at #1, it opened the door for a lousy team to get an electrifying player on the field, and an energizing figure off it. Jersey sales are going fast, even though they don't know what number he'll wear. Season ticket sales are doing well, and Bush is getting a standing ovation wherever he goes.



I would have understood if the Saints had traded down for more picks. A 3-13 team has lots of holes, and probably needs more than one guy to turn things around. So going for more picks would have been understandable. But it wouldn't have been exciting. It makes me want to watch every game. I'd even like to go to the first home game on Monday night in Week 3. The Saints offense next year could feature some pretty talented skill players, and let's hope that they've got some guys who can block and/or tackle.

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

A line in Isaiah referring to John the Baptist. These days it's a line from the media referring to Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma. Coburn was last seen (or likely first seen, by most people) on TV doing a crossword puzzle in the John Roberts confirmation hearings.

Well, he can do all the crosswords he wants as long as he keeps doing what he's doing now. He invoked some obscure procedural rule that requires a yes or no vote on each of 19 appropriations earmarks. This means that each Senator who inserted the earmark has to get up and defend it, which will undoubtedly make some of them look stupid. Today Coburn won a small victory by getting a seafood promotion program removed. Kudos for at least trying to hold people accountable for runaway spending.

The Futurama episode "Hell is Other Robots" is on right now, one of my favorites. It's up there with "Amazon Women in the Mood" and "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings". Not surprisingly, the first and third feature the Robot Devil, who's probably my favorite ancillary character on the show. Voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the same guy who does Homer Simpson, he's got style and personality out the wazoo. If we could combine the tenacity and devil-may-care attitude of Coburn and the evil cunning and devil-doesn't-care attitude of Robot Devil, we may actually get things done around here.

Alle Menschen Werden Bruder

A line from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony version of Schiller's An die Freude, known in English as the Ode to Joy. "All men become brothers." But it's the Ode to Joy part that's important. That's what I felt when I logged on to espn.com today and saw that TMQ was back on Page 2. This means that espn is once again home to both the best online baseball column (Jayson Stark's Useless Info) and the best online football column (Tuesday Morning Quarterback, by Gregg Easterbrook. TMQ opens up strong, with over 8,200 words in today's column.

Plus, there was a Rob Neyer baseball chat to be had, and the firejoemorgan blog picked apart a chat with the Hall of Famer. I great online sports day. I really like Rob Neyer because he's smart and unemotional in his analysis, but can be witty and/or spiky when he wants to. I don't know if "spiky" is a correct word to use here, but I like it anyway. Consider this Q&A from 4/18 between Rob and emailer Chris:
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Chris (Oxford, UK): You wrote in your column that there's no way that Wily Mo's offense can ever make up for his shoddy defense. For years now, the Red Sox have put up with Manny Ramirez's glove in left - if Wily Mo develops into a serious offensive threat (and he's still young), could the same not be true of him?

Rob Neyer: One: Pena's a lot, lot worse than Ramirez. Two: It's a lot easier to play left field in Fenway than center or right. Three: You don't mind one butcher so much, but two is too many. And no (answering a question somebody e-mailed yesterday), we should not expect Pena to get any better. He was terrible with the Reds, he's terrible now, and he'll probably always be terrible.
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Rob was even kind enough to give some ideas on how my beloved Cubs could go about trying to replace Derrek Lee in the lineup after the 6 foot, 7 inch 1B got his wrist broken by a player nine inches shorter and fifty pounds lighter than he is, Rafael Furcal. I shoudl also add that I've twice emailed him through his website, and he's answered each time. Very high on Rob Neyer.

This fact should tell you how great the reunion weekend was for me: I had a blast and didn't talk sports for any significant period of time whatsover. That don't happen too often, boys and girls.