Edwin MacPhisto

I went for Oaxaca.

Well, the fun trick is balancing the competitive with the personal. I don't think anyone's actually trying to pick the best overall draft in terms of getting votes in the endgame, but although tastes are separate there's still plenty of crossover and grousing, as you pointed out. I might like what I'm picking at #20 more than what I picked at #3, but I like #3 enough to get it on my board when demand for that particular album seemed high. The write-ups are my favorite part too. For the handful of albums I know nothing about at all, it's a cool introduction.

It really was a priority/gaming issue for me. When two of the albums I would have considered top-5ers disappeared before my first pick, planning became a bigger issue. I didn't want a Beatles album top 2 or 3, and it became pretty clear after those rounds that they were not really on top of too many participants' lists. It gave me a chance to make sure I could grab albums I thought might go more quickly among this group (Blonde on Blonde, Surfer Rosa) or that I figured might be a surprise pick of someone whose taste wasn't that familiar to me (the Can or Neutral Milk Hotel albums would fit here). And I still got bit on some things like Aquemini and Bowie nonetheless as a result of a few reaches. In that sense I'm still having fun with the draft, even if the level of "competition" has thinned as it's progressed. But, I'm quite glad I got one of my top 3 Beatles' albums anyway.

You know, I wouldn't be surprised to see App State/LSU get the Gameday treatment to start the season. Champion vs. champion, obviously the huge storyline of "can the little guys upset another juggernaut in Week 1?", and the fact that people who watch D-I games actually might know Armanti Edwards after last year. The other biggest matchups are Clemson/Auburn (which isn't at a campus site) and USC/Virginia (which will likely be a drubbing and might not be necessary since USC plays Ohio State in probably the year's marquee game a week later). How good's UMass? Can they keep Texas Tech under 70 or is Crabtree going to go for 300 yards against them?

The whole Expelled thing has been such an embarrassment for its director, Stein, and the other people involved. I mean, if anything can be more embarrassing than believing in intelligent design or creationism in the first place, that is.

Bowls, bowls, everywhere! We've got some new ones - the St. Petersburg Bowl and the Congressional Bowl, bringing the total tally to 34. The St. Pete Bowl essentially replaces the PapaJohns.Com bowl as Shitty C-USA team vs. Shitty Big East team, because the Pizza Bowl cut a deal to replace its C-USA team with an SEC team. So, the SEC becomes the first conference to get 9 automatic bowl bids. Were this only in place last year, we could have had the thrill of seeing 6-6 South Carolina vs. 6-6 Louisville! These ESPN-owned bowls are terrible. I actually think the Congressional Bowl in D.C.--a service academy vs. an ACC team for now, ideally a service academy vs. ACC/at-large in the future--is a great idea and would be an awesome replacement for either of the miserable west coast ACC bowls. Given the huge Army/Navy/Air Force presence around DC and the proximity of most of the ACC teams, that would actually be a bottom-tier bowl game that could move 40,000-50,000 tickets a year no problem. Sadly, the Rocky Mountain Bowl in Salt Lake City was vetoed. Another day, Rocky Mountain Bowl. Another day.

Redd was a big recruit to UVA for awhile and set to start at DE his sophomore year, but got bounced from the program for drugs or bad grades, can't remember which. Pretty much all the Virginia washouts either transfer to Liberty or Richmond now, as the head coaches there are Al Groh's former coordinators and the school admission requirements are pretty slack. Redd's measurables are impressive, but he always seemed out of position in the games I saw him play. Certainly might have improved since then. I think he'd be best off as a 3-4 rush LB in the pros, so New England's probably a good fit if he can stick.

It is a little weird. There are 7 or 8 lists so far that I would absolutely never find interesting at all. 20 rounds was a little long--I think it would have ultimately been more cohesive with just 10 picks. Then we'd actually be competing not just among each other, but among our own favorites. With 20, there are always going to be 4-5 albums you really like that no one else is going to pick, and you can just grab them whenever. You'd get a better sense of what really mattered to everyone by cutting things in half, and I think everyone would be a little more satisfied with their lists overall. That said...#11! The Beatles - The Beatles Ah, the White Album. Any collection of mine without something by the Beatles would be pretty nonrepresentative, and MiB basically made my choice between this and Abbey Road for me. The White Album is pretty unique in the Beatles' catalog (and music in general, for that matter). It's the rare album that feels like you're reading a book, or just kind of hanging out for an afternoon while these guys do their thing. It's intensely familiar, but also has their broadest scope and their most experimental tendencies. Some of the stuff falls flat, but in a charming way. All posturing about the album and its atmosphere aside, this also happens to include some of my favorites songs: "Dear Prudence," "Sexy Sadie," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "Mother Nature's Son." Oh, and "Rocky Raccoon" rules almighty, no matter what anyone says.

I'm listening to that right now!

Jeez, what does it take to keep your job? I guess losing in the 1st round two years running sucks, but but there are oodles of teams out there that would kill to make the finals and get back to the playoffs the next two years. Presumably this is a move to try to find a different coach who can win during the limited timeline they might have given themselves with the Kidd trade, right? I didn't follow the Mavs too closely this year, so I didn't get a sense of whether Johnson had lost the team or something like that. I mean, they canned him after 3 seasons and his brief stint as head guy for the end of 04-05. The team's winning percentage under Johnson was over .700! The hell do you want, Cuban?

Horford was a much better/more consistent/more important contributor all year, but I think everyone who actually follows any basketball beyond the criterion of "who scored the most points?" knows that. Durant's great, but pretty much anyone "lucky" enough to be made the #1 option on a miserably empty Seattle team would put up 18 or 20 merely by process of elimination.

It's just getting the name out there and reinforcing it, which is what most advertising is anyway. Everyone who goes to a game or watches it on TV or reads the game recaps hears the name, sees the banners, etc. No one's going to consciously say or believe "I got my phone because of going to games at AT&T Park," but plenty of people will actually do just that.

Still pretty good, even if I wouldn't make all the same picks at this moment. I could trade "Debaser" for "Where is My Mind?" and probably swap Wu-Tang for "Ain't No Fun (If The Homes Can't Have None)." I originally said that only the Prince and New Order songs were certain permanent fixtures, but two years later it's safe to say that "Downtown Train" and Sam Cooke live aren't going anywhere either. So, I've got 4 favorite songs!

Heh. I wonder if rap battle support is one of Jigga's lynchpin strategies for getting LeBron to Brooklyn in 2010.

beatles r guy

Wait, why haven't you just bought an iPod? If your computer only cost you a few hundred dollars, you can probably afford one. They're optimized for Macs, but work completely fine on PCs.

Cause it's the offseason and it's fun to think about the logistics of goofy things like that?

Tiffany is looking considerably worse for the wear.

I was kidding about Orton. I do actually think it's ridiculous that Chicago hasn't even tried to sign some journeyman guy to at least push their two shitty incumbents. Maybe they can try another one of Tampa's 17 QBs when some inevitably get their walking papers. I loved Grossman's occasional '06 bombs to Berrian, but those perfect passes are few and far between for him.

Hahaha. For what, 15 months, maybe?

I forgot that bit about all the starters being Indy products from the start. On one hand, that seems to kind of neglect the power of free agency, but if you can do it in-house and get 12 wins a year and a Super Bowl, may as well.

Colts picked up my boy Tom Santi, UVA tight end. Solid blocker and fast for a TE. He can sneak a few catches in 3 or 4 receiver sets and would be a great addition to special teams--he made tons of big hits on kickoff returns. The best pick the Colts made had to be Philip Wheeler in the 3rd round. I've watched a lot of his games and he's a very, very good rushing LB. You're gonna love him on blitzing downs. He can probably develop into a starter a bit down the road. I also liked drafting a whole bunch of big boys for the o-line. With three centers, you're sure to find one that sticks, and the other guys can be worked into the guard rotation if they're good enough. The Colts didn't really need much at any of the flashy positions, and I think they did a pretty good job of picking guys who'll give them depth all around the team.

That's disappointing. I have today off and was going to go buy it. I'll probably do that anyway.

I got a pretty nasty tie rack. My roommate keeps a Sig 1911 under his bed, though. His room's closer to the door, so if anyone breaks in, I figure I'll just be using the tie rack for mop-up.

I thought Rexy had pretty well drowned already. Put Ortman in.