Kinetic

I HAD NEVER SEEN A SHOOTING STAR BEFORE. 25 years of rotations, passes through comets' paths, and travel, and to my memory I had never witnessed burning debris scratch across the night sky. Radiohead were hunched over their instruments. Thom Yorke slowly beat on a grand piano, singing, eyes closed, into his microphone like he was trying to kiss around a big nose. Colin Greenwood tapped patiently on a double bass, waiting for his cue. White pearls of arena light swam over their faces. A lazy disco light spilled artificial constellations inside the aluminum cove of the makeshift stage. The metal skeleton of the stage ate one end of Florence's Piazza Santa Croce, on the steps of the Santa Croce Cathedral. Michelangelo's bones and cobblestone laid beneath. I stared entranced, soaking in Radiohead's new material, chiseling each sound into the best functioning parts of my brain which would be the only sound system for the material for months. The butterscotch lamps along the walls of the tight city square bled upward into the cobalt sky, which seemed as strikingly artificial and perfect as a wizard's cap. The staccato piano chords ascended repeatedly. "Black eyed angels swam at me," Yorke sang like his dying words. "There was nothing to fear, nothing to hide." The trained critical part of me marked the similarity to Coltrane's "Ole." The human part of me wept in awe. I was there. I think I might have met this prick, too. He told us how he didn't own a TV.

Yeah, Sorgi is on the roster because he's a nobody that they can get on the cheap. The Colts suddenly showing interest in upgrading at the backup QB position (Quinn Gray and/or Jared Lorenzon) has fueled a lot of speculation about the status of Manning's ailing sac.

Got away from you, maybe. But, yeah, what do Scientoligists think happens to people when they die? Is Isaac out in that black righteous space now or is he with L. Ron or what?

Man, famous black people are dropping like flies. Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Estelle Getty, Koko B. Ware...the list goes on and on. Wonder what sort of impact this will have on the election. I think things are trending downward for Obama. RIP, Mr. Hayes. I'll be missing you.

The Steelers are apparently going to sign both Byron Leftwich and Daunte Culpepper to back up Roethlisberger, according to PFT.

Yeah, and some of the more optimistic predictions I've seen (other than those coming out of Chicago) have him just missing this season. But if the Bears did their homework, they knew he had a back problem when they drafted him.

"Burnin' for You" I'm with Czech on this one. Due to more than a couple of midnight viewings of The Stoned Age as a teenager, I'm also quite fond of "Don't Fear the Reaper."

Oh. Well, way to make me look stupid, guy.

Different ghost. The Ghost of Harold whatever is the former RedBaron, who's celebrating 23 fabulous years on Earth today.

I heard a guy complaining about a cover band at a nearby restaurant playing "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" the other day at work. He said something along the lines of "You hear that? A white man singing that song? That's an insult and an affront to my people!" I was like, "You gonna pay for that Whatchmacalit or what, Schoolly?"

The Jets would have to give up three first round picks if they trade him. Who the fuck would agree to that? What if they release him...same deal? Not that they would, but, y'know, just wondering. I don't think the Packers would have any recourse there, but the Tangini consortium, already unpopular in some league circles because of last year's Spygate debacle, would have enemies for life in Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy. Plus, it wouldn't make any sense.

Right, and more doctors, lawyers, sanitation experts, maintenance engineers, etc. Did you know that China has as many professional basketball fans as America has Americans? And you want to tell me that we need contraception? If we're going to compete in this changing global economy, we need as many people as we can get. If they're unwanted and unloved, so much the better. They'll have a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.

A couple of points you guys are missing: 1. A child is always a blessing. 2. Sex is a sin. So what's the problem?

Chris Mortensen just said that the Jets will give the Pats a run for their money in the AFC East.

I've always liked Pennington. Yeah, his arm isn't anything special and he's got a long injury history, but he's smart and makes good decisions. I think he'd be an upgrade at starter for a few teams.

DJ Jeff would have been 27 today.

There's apparently some language in the trade that makes it prohibitively costly for the Jets to trade him to the Vikings or anyone else. So Favre is and will continue to be a Jet unless he decides to retire again. Chad Pennington will be cut soon. I'm stunned. I don't know that the difference in wins and losses with Garcia rather than Favre will be that great (the defense and the running game will carry this team anyway) but I had gotten to the point where I was downright excited about the idea of Favre playing in Tampa. And now...nothing.

There's no question about that. I've heard somewhere--ESPN, I think--that Favre would rather go back into retirement than play for the Jets. If he ends up anywhere, it's going to be Tampa. It's basically a matter of them working out trade details. I've heard the names Brian Griese and Ryan Nece thrown around, as well as a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th round draft pick.

Who you crappin'? New England twice a year doesn't equal playing in a hard division. The Dolphins are a mess and the Bills are slightly above average at best. The AFC East might be the weakest division in the league. Jeff Garcia came into camp out of shape and bitching about his contract. I'd take my chances with wishy-washy, over-the-hill Brett Favre before hitching the team's wagon to injury-prone latent homosexual Jeff Garcia.

See? But I guess we should know by tomorrow, as Favre wants to get this over with and get into training camp somewhere. The Jets are apparently offering Green Bay a better deal, but Favre somewhat justifiably doesn't want to play for them. I've been getting somewhat irked by all of the articles referring to the NFC South as "weak" or "diluted" (because the NFC North/West/AFC East/AFC West aren't?) but, yeah, he'd obviously have a better shot at winning the South with Tampa than he would at winning the AFC East with the Jets. So...barring an unexpected defection to the CFL or a decision to pursue Wrangler League tractor racing full-time, I'm guessing Favre will be a Buc sometime prior to our bye week.

You might get a third. Remember Green Bay is coming to Tampa on September 28th. Well, they can only flex the back half of the Sunday night schedule, but I would definitely imagine that the GB-TB game would be in FOX's national 4:15 slot. I might actually be able to watch my team at home more than a few times a year. All hail Lord Favre.

So the trade is likely to be finalized in the next 24 hours, which gives Favre time to change his mind two or three times. I'm not going to get too excited until they put this thing in writing.

Hol-ee shit. I can't believe it's actually happening.

I would imagine that the Bucs or Jets could get him for next to nothing, as the Packers have no leverage in any negotiation. They need to get rid of Favre more than anyone else needs to acquire him. A bonus to the Bucs trading for Favre is that goddamn NBC wouldn't dare flex us out of our (I think) two Sunday nighters this season.

According to Jay Glazer, it now seems very unlikely that Favre will play for the Packers this year. The sticking point is that Favre wants to play in the NFC North, but the Packers would like to trade him to one of the two non-division teams that's shown interest--the Jets or the Bucs. So even though Brett is now in Green Bay and on the active roster, it feels like this story has taken the wayback machine to about two weeks ago. This is all stuff that we already knew. My amended bold prediction, based on nothing, is that Aaron Rodgers will suck a dick this year and the Packers will come to regret jettisoning Favre. Heads will roll come next offseason.