Czech please!

Three teams in Greater Los Angeles is too many. If you grew up a fan of the Lakers, why would you give that up for the Kings?

Okay, if somebody walks by smoking a cigarette, I'm not going to fall on the ground and convulse. (Though maybe I should, just as a stunt. I crave attention.) I was referring to being in poorly ventilated apartments or basements, stuff like that where you just can't stop smelling the stuff, and I generally have to excuse myself pretty quickly. Illinois is pleasantly smoke-free, Wisconsin is not due to the lobbying power of the Tavern League, so I hear. Maybe Snuffy can elaborate. Like with marijuana legalization, I'm at odds with myself on the smoking ban, because my heart is saying "let's go!" but my body's saying "no!" Inverse Aguilera Principle. I've been in bars. Sometimes underage! Sometimes playing a trumpet!

God, he's not that good.

Roho hasn't thanked me for my sincere and earnest defense of him in March Badness. Whatta dick.

Dust irritates my nose for long periods of time, but I suppose that's everyone. I don't puff up and turn red or anything too drastic. I'm allergic to acetominophen and so I can't take a lot of over-the-counter medication. Cigarette smoke turns me into a flushed and hacking mess; the social ramifications of this reaction are about what you'd expect. By and large, though, I think I drew a good hand when it comes to allergies. Nothing that really endangers my life or imposes on people around me, like peanuts or penicillin or bee stings or anything like that, so that's a relief. I'd hate to be one of those people who requires all sorts of over-the-top special treatment, like a peanut-free halo on an airplane, or anything like that. I'd rather just die and get out of the way than prevent innocent airline patrons from enjoying their god-given right to eat peanuts on a plane. Hey, how common is an allergy to the red dye in M&Ms and things like that? My friend from high school had that and would occasionally give me her red-colored food, which I appreciated.

Maybe Vinny cancelled practice and took them to Chuck E Cheese's to repair their spirits.

Aw, I totally forgot No Doubt. Well hmph. As for the nostalgia/quality thing, I don't know. With the songs I picked, there's obviously a large nostalgia element involved, but I can still endorse the intrinsic merits of the songs if only on the most rudimentary "infectious hooks"/"it has a good beat and you can dance to it" levels. There are songs that certainly take me back to a certain time and/or place, like "Ironic" or "Satellite" or "Sell Out" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and those are all noteworthy or popular or catchy or zeitgeisty, but I don't think they're very good songs. I'll concede that having been a Top 40 disciple from '94 to 2000, I felt some responsibility to make this about the auditory wallpaper of my youth rather than just Songs From This Decade Which Happened To Be Good, in which case I'd be loading the list with Radiohead, R.E.M., Afghan Whigs, stuff off Violator and Loveless, but those are comparatively recent discoveries; it'd be at the expense of the authenticity that comes with endorsing songs I've been coming back to for, in some cases, 15 years. It's tantamount to turning down a steakhouse for your neighborhood gyros stand, and just as hard to justify. It's all open to individual interpretation, though, which is good, because it'll make for some fascinating collisions and difficult decisions between the critically acclaimed and personal peccadilloes.

I'm having a ball, you balding pissant. Look, I'm sorry that "let's try not to make the problem worse" was such a grievous tactical error on my part, but it seemed like a defensible idea at the time. I love that it took your new childish grudge against me for questioning Pretend Olympic Baseball to finally vote in any sort of best/worst thing, which you said you could never do as an impartial moderator. At least you took the time to pick 15 other people! You're a farce.

Look it up. That's what the search engine is for.

Well yeah sure he's swinging at every pitch he sees but there's still enough good stuff amidst the crap, Mr. Hey-Nothing-Screams-Great-90s-Singles-Like-The-White-Fucking-Stripes.

Xavier Cromartie: Ortonsault likes to win things, so we shouldn't deny him this. Besides, goldengreek gave us a real cookie with "hot young wang," and I want another. Another cookie, not another hot young wang. theone: Who's that? I like KOAB. YKRG: Jericholic probably has a crappier body of work from registration to present than YKRG does, but Circuit City has already been taken from him; I can't bear to take TSM away from him as well. I suspect this is TheDon, anyway. NoCalMike: tough tough choice, with an outcome I had to arrive at because I've been warned that the "Smarks Wrestling Federation" will lose.its.shit if one of its members is messed with, so I'm going with NoCalMike, whom I never could stand. cabbageboy: JN News is terrible but the net gain of eliminating cabbageboy, or at least threatening him with a strict 100-post allocation, is far higher than ziggying some harmless autistic. EricMM: pbone's my guy. Hey! My friend moved to Oakland. That means I now have four friends, real and Internet, that live in the East Bay! I might go there in June! Anyway yeah Eric is kind of a cunt, isn't he? However, he doesn't post all that much here, so there's no reason to vote him through, especially not in a draw like this. Twisted Intestine: This guy is a joke I'm not in on. bob_barron: gonna make you sweat Oh wait, wrong tournament! HarleyQuinn: We've all been too mean to Roho. I mean, does he suck? Yeah, sure. But in my heart of hearts, I think he's a good kid, and we really came down way too hard on him lately and I think it's really starting to bother him a little. He's not so far gone that he can't come around, given time. TSMers, this is your clarion call: ease up on the Korean. Hey, how do you know a Korean broke in your house? Your dog is missing, but your math homework is done. HAHAHA. Anyway, HarleyQuinn is the more insidious threat. He's a Boston sports fan, which renders him extraneous from the get-go. He talks to himself about Division I-AA college football which is super-annoying, like if I were to give nothing but scintillating updates on the Western Hockey League day after day after day after day. And what's the deal with the Western league, anyway? Just look at some of the names of the cities on that circuit! Red Deer? Medicine Hat? Moose Jaw? Swift Current? All those towns sound like they should be preceded by the words "he was killed at." But anyway my point is vote Harley. Chazz: Matt Young's a TSM institution, if not a particularly great one. Chazz is some meatball from Pennsylvania who likes breaking laws and watching Mama's Family. He can be safely culled from the herd for the greater good. Jingus: I was going to vote for myself, but I think Jingus would want to win this. DarKnight: Marvin quit the board, and votnig him through would be a waste of the One Free Kill that we've given the masses. EHME: Cartman's a knob, but I hope you guys stick it to yourselves by rebanning him after you unbanned him after I first banned him. You cocks. Gary Floyd: Porter quit the board for all intents and purposes, unless someone says "Dan Marino" or "Pete Carroll" three times. I like Gary Floyd, but I'm not wasting votes on no-shows. Y2Jerk: My patience has worn thin with the Internet Minstrel act, but again, it's a larger net gain to eliminate Y2Jerk. Enigma: CWM would fire me for voting for him.

Twiztidmind is breaking unwritten all-you-can-eat-buffet rules. Don't think this won't matter in the other tournament. It is a good list, though, and captures what is, in my view, the spirit of the tournament very well.

Hey Legendary Harry, how much of that indie shit did you actually listen to during the 1990s? Did you really live the decade, or did you just read about it in the history books! Bitch! (not by Meredith Brooks) Sorry I went over, but I can't deny an endorsement to any of these great songs of the '90s. Boyz II Men - "On Bended Knee" Culture Beat - "Mr. Vain" Real McCoy - "Run Away" Cranberries - "Dreams" TLC - "Unpretty" Third Eye Blind - "Semi-Charmed Life" Verve Pipe - "The Freshmen" Jewel - "Foolish Games" Haddaway - "What Is Love?" Gin Blossoms - "Follow You Down" Snap! - "Rhythm Is a Dancer" Ben Folds Five - "Brick" Goo Goo Dolls - "Iris" Goo Goo Dolls - "Black Balloon" Le Click - "Tonight Is The Night" Los Del Rio - "Macarena" K7 - "Come Baby Come" Hootie and the Blowfish - "Only Wanna Be With You" Mariah Carey - "Fantasy" Max-A-Million - "Fat Boy" Li'l Troy - "Wanna Be a Baller" 69 Boyz - "Tootsee Roll" Marcy Playground - "Sex and Candy" Semisonic - "Closing Time" Technotronic - "Pump Up The Jam" (is this '90s or 1989?) blink-182 - "What's My Age Again?" Stroke 9 - "Little Black Backpack" Len - "Steal My Sunshine" Nominations rendered superfluous when I hit F5 and man I'm way over 20 as it is: Warren G & Nate Dogg - "Regulate" Ini Kamoze - "Here Comes the Hotstepper" The New Radicals - "You Get What You Give" Smashing Pumpkins - "1979" Oasis - "Wonderwall"

"Dreams" is the best Cranberries song. I'm gonna nutpunch whoever nominates a track off In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, by the way.

That doesn't make any sense. The standards that measure the success of an NBA team are not the same as those for indoor soccer.

I'm sure they "travel well" or "had quality losses" or some shit. As someone upthread mentioned, why don't the Last Two In get the play-in game? That makes more sense than Historically Black A&M vs. Buttfuck State or whatever it always is.

Did you see how they all went retarded down the stretch vs. Ohio St? I haven't seen a single game all year! That's how you get the runner-up spot in the TSM pool. Western Kentucky is now my second 12-over-5.

Wisconsin is my 12-over-5 for the year.

Oh no, they'll get summarily killed. Does the historically black university ALWAYS get the play-in game?

Don't you have some psycho bitches to lobby reinstatement for? Piss off. Of all the things I could've said. Jesus.

I would certainly hope not. What a dogshit song. Neither '80s nor '90s has taken a convincing lead and nobody has stepped up to coordinate it. I'd been torn (like the Natalie Imbruglia song from the '90s) about which decade would be better, but VX convinced me two nights ago right before the onset of The Situation that the 1990s, for the most part, is Our Music, and should be next in line for discussing and voting and arguing. Kreese also had a good argument that an '80s tournament would be a little more idiotproofed than the '90s, which I suppose is true (like the Spandau Ballet song). So yeah. I'm down for either, would prefer '90s by a hair, but it's up to whoever wants to drive the thing.

Any other tyrants need praising? We could go for four in a row! Say what you will about the land deals, but George W. Bush did a lot of good by building the Ballpark in Arlington.

Maybe you should care about education a little more.