Bruiser Chong

I'm starting to think the Cards are destined to defy the odds and win the Central. They should only be 4.5 out by the end of the night. I can just see it now: they'll slip in there and they've even got the built-in "feel good" story. Overcoming losing their ace pitcher the entire season, having one of their pitchers die, all of the player-manager strife.

Carlos Zambrano is getting worisome again. Seven runs last time out and six tonight. And that's with the Reds running themselves into three outs.

The Rockers/Rougeaus match from the 6/89 arena show is fantastic. I'm not sure I've ever seen the face in peril thing go on as long as it did here, but it involved the right teams to keep it from getting to monotonous. Props to Shawn for overselling every above-average spot, too. The Rougeaus were a terribly underrated heel team. Jacques especially was such a natural heel.

I was just at the lone used record shop in town and saw they had an original Fat Boys shirt for 10 bucks. Thing is, it was a sleeveless shirt, otherwise it would've been a no-brainer purchase. Nevertheless, I'm thinking of getting it to sell on eBay. Yay or nay?

I wouldn't mind seeing the M's in the playoffs, even if their GM is awful. Something new.

I went through almost a carbon-copy of that. Was going strong for two years plus two years previous without commitment. We wound up splitting last summer, but remained pretty good friends. Fooled around a bit, but for the most part, could just be around each other and have a good time. Then we went through a stretch of not talking and I sort of pressed the issue, since I wanted exactly what you did: her as a close friend. Well, to take a shortcut, it usually doesn't work like that. We started talking again and I thought we might start back up, but she was seeing someone and led me to believe it was more than it actually wound up being. I didn't talk to her at all for two months and had a very tough time accepting it. Only when I finally talked to her and had her alluding to her sleeping with this guy (who apparently didn't stick around long after I last spoke with her) did I finally begin to see that despite all the pleasant memories I had of us and her, she was doing no good for me now. We wound up not really talking much after that, although I decided that even if we weren't friends or talking, I didn't want there to be animosity between us. I sorta ruined that during a insanely drunken night out this summer when I gave her number to my friend and he called her a couple times. She wound up calling me the next day and ranting on about me being immature (which I agreed with). I cut her off when she said if he ever called her again, she'd have her boyfriend come kill him. As an aside, I know for a fact she's not in a relationship and at best is casually dating someone, so I found that funny. I figured letting her say her piece would appease her, which wasn't the case, as she tried to send me a virus via text message right after. Anyway, I apologized again a week later because of guilt, again citing that I didn't want there to be animosity and blah, blah, blah. She wasn't having it, I accepted it and cut off contact again. She had her friend prank call me and my aforementioned friend a couple weeks later, which I thought was ironic given the whole "immature" thing. That pretty much was my wake-up call that she wasn't worth the hassle of even trying to be civil with. So yeah, hell with her, man. You can't go forcing something like this. And forget the being good friends thing. It takes a strong person to be able to remain friends with a serious ex, especially when they get into the next serious relationship. You're better off not worrying about what she's doing and the best solution to that is to erase her from your life.

I hate reality TV, but these guys are so enthralling to watch. I can't quite place my finger on it, but I can't ever get myself to change the channel if I haven't seen the episode. Plus, I love the usage, and perhaps need, of subtitles here and there.

- You mentioned earlier you lost a lot of respect for girls during college because of your ability to pick them up despite being in such rough shape that the upholstery of your mom's car wasn't safe. Were these girls attractive, traditional or otherwise? Or were they kind who resided among the bottom rungs of the superficial ladder?

Just saw the penis clip and if I wasn't sold before, I am now. Hopefully this doesn't slide under the radar because of such a late summer release.

Hey, has anyone heard if this Joba Chamberlain fellow's supposed to be any good?

I guess it depends where you end up. For me, high school was completely characterized by cliques. Community college doesn't leave much time for cliques, since most are just going to class and then going home. I can see how this wouldn't be the case at a University. After all, I'm still a commuter even though I've since transferred to a University.

I'm obviously not Milky, but as someone whose high school years are getting further back in the rearview mirror, I'll say that it's best to not buy into the belief that high school really is the best time of your life. Yeah, do what you can to embrace the friendships that'll be tested by being split up and things of that sort. But don't go into your senior year thinking you have to make it the most incredible experience you've ever or will ever have. By time I was a senior, it had become painfully clear the school was just babysitting us until graduation rolled around. So when it came time to finally hit the bricks, I was more than happy to oblige. Truth be told, college is where it's at. At that's coming from someone who spent three years in community college, followed by a year of commuting to school. Most of the clique nonsense doesn't it make it past the door and it's as if everyone can just be themselves. Sure, you've still got your popular and not-so-popular folks. But it's a much more laid back atmosphere to the point that I don't think I've ever MISSED high school. As far as your summer goes, don't feel bad. I spent the summer before my senior year in similar fashion. Even time spent with friends led to nothing terribly notable. As it was, most of my summer nights were spent here (and WDI~!), while my best friend and I lamented on AIM how pathetic our summer had been.

Speaking of the Cards, don't look now, but they're only 5.5 games back. Given the ample number of times they meet the Cubs and Brewers, it's not impossible to think Kip Wells may still wind up making a playoff appearance.

I have an interview for a paid internship tomorrow. My sleep schedule has been so out of whack for the past month that it's become common for me to wake up at one in the afternoon. I woke up today at 1:30, but by some stroke of luck, I was not only in bed by 10:30, but in the early stages of sleep before 11. Then the phone rang. It was my friend, who's got an interview for the same internship and had some questions. There are several available, so I didn't mind answering the questions in a non-sabotaging kind of way. Naturally, I couldn't fall back asleep after I got off the phone and find myself close to wide awake nearly three hours later. My question is, do I murder my friend?

Do you consider starting the infamous "Show Your Penis" thread to be one of those "terrible things?"

Juan Encarnacion's the latest Cardinal to be publicly air frustration abotu LaRussa.

Andruw Jones looks terrible at the plate.

I have to admire the allure of Milky. Just about anyone else starts this thread and they get questions like, "What's your favorite color?" With Milky, it's, "What should I do with my life?"

Paragon's right. My fault on the poor wording. I wasn't going to say anything, figure Milky was just being Milky with an odd-ball response that seemingly had nothing to do with the question.

What a downer the last 10 days have been.

Brad Lidge save attempt against the Brewers Take 2.

I believe your signature holds all the answers.

How is it some guys just seem to naturally draw women even with great looks going their favor? I've got a buddy from high school who's like this and subsequently, seems to know every hot-to-attractive girl in the tri-city area. I was chatting with him briefly at the bar tonight and within the span of four or five minutes, no less than three great looking girls were literally throwing themselves into his arms. He knew them all, but you get what I'm saying.

Didn't he have pictures of himself dressed like Freddy Krueger?

Billy Graham and Alfred Hayes were two commentators who regularly had trouble getting through their statements without bumbling a couple words along the way. The irritating part is these comments were never anything original or insightful, which made the clumsy journey to get through them all the more frustrating. Graham's promo abilities are overrated, though, so it's not too shocking he was a terrible commentator. His character influential is why anyone still talks about him now. His promos? Not so much.