Kinetic

Went bar hopping with the sorta ex-girlfriend and another girl. A lot of the typical bro crowd had departed for Jacksonville for the big game already, so downtown was a little more tolerable than usual. I was relieved to see that most of the costumes were just as half-assed as mine. The most interesting thing to happen was the other girl ended up going home with some guy who was dressed as some sort of goth Max Headroom. I'm sure it's from a movie I haven't seen. This filled me with a really puzzling but nonetheless very real feeling of intense jealousy. I don't quite understand why.

Happy birthday to my fellow Florida Gators fanatic, Urban Warfare. Let's hope things go well tomorrow. Also, happy birthday to everyone's favorite darkly comic song stylist, Digger Smolken!

Czech Agent Milky Incandenza Kinetic Kinetic Vitamin X Kinetic Kotzenjunge Kinetic

The ESPN BottomLine ticker story on this said something like "49ers head coach Mike Singletary pulled down pants during halftime of Sunday's game." Thought that was amusing.

I feel pretty good about the prospect of representing the "Graphics & Testing" folder in the TSM Hall of Fame. I do kind of feel that Czech was right earlier, but just in the sense that no one who isn't either a mod or a DMC guy or a secret board guy or some combination of those things really has much of a chance of getting a 75% approval. But, anyway, this is probably the only chance I'll get to be enshrined in any Hall of Fame, so let's run with it. I'll insist that friends and relatives refer to me as "Hall of Famer Danny Gregory." Edit: That's excluding the Loser Hall of Fame, obviously.

After initially being a little put off by the relatively slick sound, I've really taken a shine to the aforementioned Hitchcock's Fegmania! Also, I've never really cared for Husker Du, but I gave New Day Rising a listen today and really enjoyed it a lot.

My favorite team actually is something of a contender in the NFL this year, but I'll go over what I think they need to do to become an elite team. First and foremost, Tampa absolutely cannot afford to rely on stop-gap journeyman guys at QB. We need to either use an early-round draft pick on a franchise QB or find a proven but young guy in free agency, in the way that New Orleans got Drew Brees. The latter scenario is a rarity, so we're almost certainly going to have to draft someone. We do have Josh Johnson in the pipeline, but I don't know that anyone is convinced that he's a future starter. We also need to get some real receivers in here. Joey Galloway is old and fragile and disinterested. Ike Hilliard is sure-handed but old and slow. Michael Clayton is a great blocker, but has no hands. Maurice Stovall just all-around sucks. The only guy who's really stepped it up on a consistent basis this year is Antonio Bryant. If he can keep his nose clean, he's a guy that we can build around at WR. I'd love to see us get someone like Anquan Boldin in FA, but I doubt that's going to happen. So, again, you have to use the draft. What concerns me is that our track record drafting offensive "skill position" players under Gruden is beyond awful. We really need to get better at both scouting and developing these guys. The o-line is full of talented young guys, but I'd like to seen an upgrade at LT. Donald Penn is a good backup, but merely an adequate starter. Beyond that, the team is right as rain.

I nominate Jung Billz.

N.Y. Jets at Buffalo The Bills are at home and coming off of a loss, so I like them here. Favre throws 3 picks. Detroit at Chicago Should be a cakewalk for the Bears, as Detroit is bad and not getting any better. Chicago's march to a division title and one-and-done playoff appearance begins here. Jacksonville at Cincinnati I don't know what to think of Jacksonville, but I know for a fact that Cincinnati is terrible. Jags win this one. Baltimore at Cleveland Hmmmm. Tough one. I'm thinking that Cleveland is starting to snap out of their early season fog, but I don't know that they'll be able to move the ball on Baltimore's defense. Still, it's in Cleveland, so I'll say Browns. Tampa Bay at Kansas City I think Tampa wins this one, but I pray to god that the good, efficient offense shows up. I'd rather not have to sit through another game like that shitfest in Dallas last weekend. The Bucs need this one to be a respectable 6-3 going into their bye week. Houston at Minnesota Hmmm. Another tough one. Two teams that I have no idea what to make of. Houston is actually playing pretty well right now, but it's in Minnesota and the Vikes are coming off of a bye. I'll have to go Minnesota. Arizona at St. Louis Hmmm. A lot of this depends on the status of Steven Jackson. I don't really like Arizona, but I think I'm going to be forced to pick them anyway. Boldin and Fitzgerald should have big days on that surface in the dome. Green Bay at Tennessee Tennessee is going to have to lose sometime, but I don't know if Green Bay is the team to give them that loss. Although the Pack did look good in dismantling Indy and are coming off of their bye. Still, it's in Tennessee and I can't pick an undefeated team to lose at home. Titans take this one. Miami at Denver Denver is another mystery team. If they can regain their offensive potency from the first couple of weeks, they should roll the Dolphins. But that defense is a concern. I'll have to take the home team, I guess. Denver wins. Dallas at N.Y. Giants The Giants should crush Dallas here. That Dallas offense just isn't clicking at all without Romo and, unlike the Bucs, the Giants have a QB who isn't completely terrified of throwing the ball more than five yards downfield, so their depleted secondary can be exploited. New York wins running away. Atlanta at Oakland Atlanta is actually pretty damn good, all things considered. They've struggled on the road, but Oakland shouldn't present much of a challenge. Roddy White torches DeAngelo Hall repeatedly and the Falcons win by double digits. Philadelphia at Seattle Seattle is total garbage, Philly is starting to get their legs underneath them. No problem for the Eagles here. New England at Indianapolis Hmmmm. Some marquee matchup here. I don't think either team is that great, but Indy is unbelievably mediocre this year. I think the Pats drive the final nail into the coffin this week. Pittsburgh at Washington Interesting game. I think a lot of people are underestimating Washington. Both teams are banged up all over the place. I like Washington in this one.

Yes, Necrobucket! My proudest TSM moment.

Yeah, that was me. Back to Basics lacks some of the visceral punch of BUTT's eponymous debut, but the improved songcraft more than makes up for it. If you can forgive the slick bells-and-whistles 80s production, I think you'll find Back to Basics to be a more than adequate soundtrack to your next cookout, tailgate, or bowel movement.

My campaign has never denied that KOAB and I posted on the same board in the 2002-2008 period. So did a lot of people--Secretary of State Marney, Rappin' Ronnie Reagan, George W. Smitty. This was not a partisan board. It was originally established to give a quality education to kids with cancer or some kind of shit, I don't remember.

What's puzzling is that I got almost no response when I initially posted that video. Thanks, KOAB, for bringing it to everyone's attention.

Tampa Bay at Dallas L Washington at Detroit W Buffalo at Miami L St. Louis at New England W San Diego at New Orleans @ Wembley Stadium L Kansas City at NY Jets W Atlanta at Philadelphia W Oakland at Baltimore W Arizona at Carolina W Cleveland at Jacksonville L Cincinnati at Houston W NY Giants at Pittsburgh W Seattle at San Francisco L Indianapolis at Tennessee L Week: 8-6 Overall: 73-43

1. How often do you visit TSM? How long are you here on a typical visit? How many minutes, or hours, do you spend here daily? A few times a day. I probably spend an hour or an hour and a half here every day. 2. Which folders do you spend the most time in? Why? Which ones do you skip over? Sports, Chocolate Negro, and my beloved Graphics Testing. I don't spend a lot of time anywhere else. 3. Who are your favorite posters? What makes a poster "good"? There's probably about 30 guys here that I like, so I'm not going to get into listing names. Good posters are generally insightful or funny or both. 4. Who are your least favorite? Why? Most of the genuinely bad posters are confined to the wrestling part of the board, fortunately. The worst I can say about any of the posters who frequent my e-stomping grounds is that they're bland. Except for Marvin, I guess, but he's sort of in a category all his own. 5. Who is your favorite mod? Can you actually name the mods we have? I love them all! I have their posters on my walls. If pressed, I could probably name the majority of them. 6. What brought you to TSM in the first place? Do you still come for the same reasons? Do you still watch wrestling? I don't even remember. I've been around since one of the very early incarnations of this board. I used to come to discuss wrestling and other areas of interest, now I just come because I know everyone here. I haven't watched wrestling with any sort of regularity since early 2003. 7. When was the board at its best? All I can really vouch for is 2002 and the last year, as I was barely active for the period in between. I can't say that one was really better than the other. 8. What is the one thing, above all else, that keeps you coming back here? I'd hate to have to establish myself elsewhere. Plus, I like this board. 9. If you could change one thing about TSM, what would it be? I have no idea. 10. How much longer will TSM be around? Until the last of us dies. Someone will always be there to keep it going.

I always just kind of assumed that the black athletes eventually converted to conservatism once they got used to being rich and started paying attention to their finances. Could be wrong on that one.

*bump* It's as true now as it ever was. Oh, and we should start doing those "what do you think of me?" threads again. They were always good for a laugh, as I recall.

Hey, Special K is from Seattle. I'm just about to move up there. I propose a drinking contest. Winner gets the car.

As predicted, I lost by 30+ points. Funny that in what would likely have been the only game where I would have considered starting him had I held onto the guy, I lost to a Flacco-led team. And the guy I ultimately replaced him with netted me -0.02 fantasy points. Ugh.

Why is it that athletes and almost everyone associated with athletics at the professional level is conservative? I'm guessing it's their millions and millions of dollars of personal wealth.

So Tampa's offensive woes on the road continued yesterday. There were several dropped passes, some overthrows by Garcia, and no running game to speak of. The defense--despite their almost complete inability to tackle Marion Barber--played pretty well, other than on the last drive of the first half when they gave up about 40 yards in penalties and Dallas scored the game's only touchdown. When you only give up 13 points to Dallas's offense, you kinda expect to win the game. But for whatever reason, we can't score points on the road right now. Very frustrating.

Oh my god, yes. The only thing that made going to work after that wretched Bucs-Cowboys game tolerable was hearing Singletary fucking lace into Vernon Davis's worthless, lazy ass.

No Steven Jackson today for the Rams, so there's one game to move from "Mildly Interesting" to "Totally Uncompetitive." Joey Galloway is active for Tampa for the first time in about a month. Inactive is horrible rookie kick returner Dexter "Slip'n Slide" Jackson, thank god.

I'm totally in love with Robyn Hitchcock's I Often Dream of Trains. Such a perfect autumn album. Definitely one of my two or three favorite "it's new to me" discoveries this year.

And then they inexplicably put Hartline back in to start the 2nd half. His first pass is intercepted and returned for a TD.