112th Edition - 3/09/07

112 - The emergency phone number in Europe. Deal with that! 9-1-1. And also, an R& B group from Atlanta that I have never heard of.

• Bulls - They roller, my coaster

One day after the Bulls got pounded by the Miami Heat, they bounced back and crushed the Orlando Magic, 100-76. They outscored the Magic 49-29 in the first half. Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich went 7-9 from 3pt range. I wish someone on the team would say, "yeah, we decided we probably wouldn't win both games on the road, so we didn't really try against the Heat, saving our strength for the Magic." Please someone, anyone.

• Cubs - who will go 10-10 for the Cubbies?

Carlos Zambrano is the #1. Ted Lilly is the #2 because the Cubs pay him as much as they do. Jason Marquis needs a spot cause otherwise there was no point in getting him from the Cardinals. After that ... who knows... Mark Prior, Sean Marshall, Rich Hill, Wade Miller, Juan Mateo, Carlos Marmol, Angel Guzman and Neal Cotts all have a shot. Marshall pitched great for the Cubs last year and Hill finally turned it on. Miller is having a good spring and Prior is Prior. Clearly, the Cubs should go to a seven-man rotation, with Zambrano and Lilly getting normal rest. And yes, I am being very generous with the #4 and #5 starters going .500 for the Cubs.

• Hockey - yes, Hockey

Good old hockey (I've been to one Blackhawks game in my life). This would be on every front page in America if it was football or basketball, but hockey can't get front page press, even if it is bad press. Damn that's violent.

• Quick Hits

*Willis McGahee is now a Baltimore Raven. But to put it in better terms for most of us ... he's the 4th pick in your fantasy league.

*Prediction for the Iowa vs. Purdue game (now at 1:00 central)... Iowa wins, 62 - 57.

*Doug Gottlieb, a college basketball analyst for ESPN thinks Steve Alford (Iowa's coach) is out for next year and Dana Altman from Creighton is in. Alford disagrees.

• Stuff

The movie reviews for this weekend...

"300"

and

"Gray Matters"

The dark side... When a friend (let's call him B. Albertson ... no that's too obvious, how about Bryan A.) says, "You should put this on your blog." There are some things you should consider...

1. Your friend, do you trust him?
2. Is it something you should look at during work hours?
3. Did your friend seem to snicker a lot while saying you should put this on your blog?
4. Could unseemly pop-ups flash on your screen as a result of said Web site?

Thus, a link rating the toe of a camel will not be making an appearance today. Though if someone was so inclined they could figure out the name of the Web site by using this puzzle -- www dot rate my camel toe dot com -- happy hunting.

22nd Edition - 10/5/06

• My Twins: Dead Twins Walking

A's 5, Twins 2 (A's lead 2-0)
I'm sure there are a million stats going against the Twins and for the A's, but the thing about a baseball game is, there really isn't a reason why one team can't win three in a row. It's unlikely, but baseball has a lot more ups and downs than any other sport. I haven't given up on the Twins yet, and the crowd was still in the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Torii Hunter's misplayed dive, which led to an inside the park home run by Mark Kotsay will be the play everyone remembers, but just before that there was a double play that didn't get turned.
My name of the game yesterday: Morneau, 2-4 with a HR (I'm getting better at this)
The Twins play again on Friday, so it is highly unlikely that they will lose another game before then. Crafty verteran Brad Radke will be pitching on Friday.

• My Mets: Meet my Mets greet my Mets

Dodgers 5, Mets 6 (Mets lead 1-0)
Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew were both called out at home on the same play in the 2nd inning. That's the sort of thing that leads to a loss. The Mets beat the Dodgers 6-5, with Jeff Maine starting for the Mets and giving up 1 ER in 4 1/3 innings.

I even got to speak to a couple of Mets fan at the game yesterday. One of them missed the whole play, the other missed the second out because he was busy cheering from the first. I know the sample size is only two here, but that's a pretty poor showing from Mets fans.

If you want a running journal of the Mets - Dodgers game. Here is it, from ESPN's The Sports Guy.

My name of the game yesterday: Cliff Floyd, 1-3 with a HR (Yes, I'm brilliant)

They play again today with crafty veteran (all veterans are crafty) Tom Glavine going for the Mets.
My name of the game: Glavine, too much has been made about the Mets not having pitching, Glavine goes into the 8th today and the Mets get a second win.

• MLB Playoffs : The Others

The Yankees and Tigers were rained out. The play today, along with the Cardinals vs. Padres.

• NHL

It began. I think. Though I'm not totally sure.

• Stuff

Oh, what's this? A pedestal? All right, maybe I'll stand on it for a litte while... I think the number of times I have now fast-forwarded a DVD and expected the "jump back" feature from Tivo to kick in, is now up to double digits. So the question is, why don't DVD players adopt this feature? The two-second "jump back" is exactly what I want, especially when I am watching a bad movie such as "The Jacket" and I'm just waiting to see if Keira Knightley has a sex scene (the answer is yes). Now, I understand if you are watching "Usual Suspects" and you accidentally see Kevin Spacey lose his limp, but if you were fast-forwarding that part, you couldn't have cared that much anyway, and if I just destroyed "Usual Suspects" for you, fine go ahead and hate me, I already hated you ... Anyway, DVD player makers, give me the option at least of turning on the "jump back." That is all.

7th Edition - 9/13/06

• NHL

This is the first ... and last time that hockey will lead the day. Consider that my stone cold lock of the year. Anyway, Rick DiPietro is now a New York Islanders for the next 1.5 decades. The goalie signed a 15-year deal worth $67.5 million. This means I could root for the same player on the same team until I'm in my mid 40's. I won't, because I don't root for hockey (players or teams) but I could.

• Baseball

Hideki Matsui has been injured since May 11. Last night, in his first game back, he went 4-4. You got to love that, even if you hate the Yankees. But overshadowed by Matsui's performance was his new teammate Bobby Abreu. Abreu had 7 RBI, six in the first inning. Also, he hit it to the warning tracks in the 4th inning, just missing a grand slam.
The Cubs had six of something last night also, but it wasn't RBI in an inning. It was errors in the game. Yet somehow they managed to beat the Dodgers.

• Basketball

Toni Kukoc is probably going to retire. Teams are interested, but he wants to stay close to home, which means Chicago or Milwaukee are his only choices. Neither team has made an offer. When Scottie Pippen would rub me the wrong way, I used to imagine I was a right-handed Kukoc on the court. Tall, skinny, white and a good left hand, Kukoc is often forgotten when you talk about the Bulls dynasty. He shouldn't be. Here's 13 seconds of magic for you kids.

• Football (And self-promotion)

"Gridiron Gang" is a new football film starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I sat down with him to talk about the film and football. Click here -- First link on the top.