Didn't you think I would gloat more?

Picture courtesy of The Boston Dirt Dogs

Thanks for the kind words, Willy. I was waiting for the call after game 7, I must say. What, you only call when your team wins? Anyway, that was quite a series, though I understand the last two games weren't that much fun to watch for Yankee fans. I would be just as pissed if I were you. Apparently, 2 hours after game 7, Steinbrenner assured Cashman that he would not be fired...Here's betting they throw more money than Beltran's ever heard of at the centerfielder. I also wouldn't put it past them to be the suckers who overpay for Pedro (Someone's gonna do it, and the sox, for good or for bad, won't go over a set budget for him). But it's sort of easy to see the Yanks turning into the Knicks over the next couple of years--aging superstars with no farm system to get the homegrown talent, and no political will to 'rebuild'. That said, it is still the Yankees, a team good enough to get within an inning of the World Series. Do we really believe that Vazquez is suddenly not the pitcher everyone thought he was? And who's to say Lieber and Mussina can't pitch like they did during this series, next year? They'll definitely sign another starter (Pavano?). And add Beltran to that lineup? Come on. As bad as they looked these past days, the evil empire ain't quite brought down just yet.

I think this is gonna be a great World Series; knowing the sox, it'll go seven games. I've been up til 5 and 6am for most of the last week. Tonight i resume my artificially jet-lagged schedule. Go Sox! How can you root for a team whose fans produce this? (hint: keep scrolling, read the whole thing)

Has the whole world gone crazy? -- Walter Sobchek

Uh, I just turned on the TV, a break from writing about homosexuality and The Merchant of Venice. And I saw the end of Leno, the musical guests...
And I can't believe I'm typing this (because this record, in a way, works toward making what I just witnessed real; and I'd rather pretend it never happened). I saw a band covering Pulp's "Common People" a song really dear to me -- performed by WILLIAM SHATNER, backed up by Joe Jackson and with Ben Folds playing the keyboard. What is happening to my world?

Um let me try to figure out what the fuck just happened. At the end of the song, every word in the line "watching roaches climb the wall / if you call your Dad he could stop it all" is stressed with cymbal crashes. Taking this to heart, and doing what was probably most obvious (as always) Shatner pumped his fist with each articulation of a word -- not singing but just kind of shouting of course -- and then when he hit the "if you call your Dad..." part, he pointed both hands to his head (denoting the stress of dealing with roaches, we can assume...), and then did some full body explosion with the final word "all". Oh my god. It was so terrible. I really wish I never had to see this. Then, while an old Joe Jackson sang the chorus, terribly I might add, Shatner did some casual shoulder twitching to imply a sense of amusement and rhythm. Holy shit. This must be on video somewhere. I need the machine from Eternal Sunshine to erase the memory of Shatner performing -- eyebrow lifts and wide eyes for the important words. This is my best attempt to capture in words the visual and aural torture I just sat through: "You want TO SLEEP! (big eye moment; eye brow lift; fist pump) with COMMON PEOPLE! (big eyes; eye brows) LIKE ME! (big eyes, big eyebrow lift, halleluja-hands-to-the-heavens body exposion)" Jesus. Pity us all.

UPDATE: Holy shit. I found the MP3. If you can listen to this without feeling like you're listening to the MOST RIDICULOUS thing EVER recorded, if you don't giggle outloud, then much respect to you:
http://www.nme.com/features/110018.htm
There's this absolutely retarded part in the end when Shatner growls "ROACHES CLIMB THE WALL! IF YOU CALLED YOUR DAD! HE COULD STOP IT ALL...YEAH!!!" and when Joe Jackson sings and Shatner talks the same verses at the same time -- it's like listening to a really terrible band in one ear and news radio on full blast in the other. But so much worse. This song is like dying but not knowing if you're in heaven or hell.

Just wondering.

Do you think "world renowned" Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sings anywhere but Yankee Stadium?

Still not ready to talk about baseball.

Maybe all of y'all in the US have seen this already, but if not, wow you're in for a treat. Jon Stewart calls Tucker Carlson a dick! On CNN! Here click now! (you might need to take off your ol' popup blockers, if you've got 'em)