UConn James

Sounds like they might have a future with the Chinese prostitutes (in China) who apparently are being taught how to drink responsibly while they are *ahem* "working," for the tidy sum of $2.6 million of our economic stimulus money. Don't know about you, but I can't think of anything worse in this world than a drunk prostitute... in China. The further you dig down into what actually went into this tax-and-spend mega-orgasm, the worse it gets. Links to documentation are included in the expanded description beneath the video. "It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their choice, if the laws are so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; [or] if they... undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow." --- James Madison

RL also had shoulder problems that threw off his form. Yes, you might not think it, but the upper body has a role in kicking. He had surgery the offseason before he magically got better (even tho at that point, he was still one of the most consistent kickers in Bills history, percentage-wise). Lot of people blamed him on some tough kicks in tough conditions (specifically the game against the Steelers 3rd-stringers where a second quarter tying FG got absolutely pummeled by a gust of wind). His kickoffs often go just inside the 5, but you know, Bobby April was quoted in the BN saying that's where he (April) wanted them placed.

Doubt it. That's like a robber going to court and suing a fence for not giving full value for what he steals.

Wouldn't be surprised if the league is noting the numbers that these sites get, for their own research. I wouldn't be surprised if the current DTV deal is the last one given, at least in exclusivity. Lots of other modalities are coming to the fore now, not the least of which is online streaming getting so much better and the NFL network. The links are a small gauge on what Internet viewing might garner.

And yet, over-rated POS QBs have a fairly good track record when they play the Buffalo Bills... (see: Ryan Leaf, Chad Pennington, Jay Fiedler, Brady Quinn, et al) *sigh*

Ever notice how these kinds of topics are only popular among teams which have a pile of warm sh-- for QB?

From worst to first! Maybe the Bills could take a cue. Same situation --- unis that 75% of fans hate and a classic throwback that 90% love. Get 'er done, Russ! (I don't see anyone in their right minds actually buying that 3rd script jersey. That looks terrible.)

IIRC, one of the Texans DE or LB position coach either used to coach for the Bills and/or they run the same system. As for AS, I think he was vastly overpaid and it sucked that he didn't have much for a team around him, but I wish him the best. Lawyer Milloy suited up for us several seasons ago on about 4 days notice. It can be done. This kind of scenario only further cements in most peoples' minds the need to reduce the preseason. So many of these players think they don't need training camp or preseason? OK --- make it so.

Thanks! Especially for the espn3.com games. UConn - Michigan on ABC Saturday afternoon. Gentlemen, last year @ Notre Dame was the real introduction. We're officially in the big-time. There are whispers, too, of UConn joining the "Big 10" which is now unofficially a Big 12. In an outgoing email, the recently-departed UConn president Hogan (went to U Illinois for the $$$, which is all he was about here too for he and his favorites) intimated --- actually, he sent an emoticon wink --- at such a move to the current AD, Jeff Hathaway. Anyway, it would probably be a better option than continuing with the Big East charade that gets raided every time a program improves or a coach gets big. Some go to the ACC, some to the Big 10, etc. to form the 16-team conferences. Ultimately, it's what needs to happen. Let's see how long it takes to get there.

Comodo seriously screwed up my brother's (Vista) laptop Internet connection using both his and ours. The problem started when he installed it, and as soon as he uninstalled it, it connected on the required reboot. From what I saw, it was very much one of the 'The Sky is Falling! every three seconds' kind of AV. I hate the companies that put this kind of crap out there. When I got my new laptop 4 months ago, I wiped out the 12-month free Norton stuff and installed Avast! on the recommendations in the thread in the Consumer Forum here on TBD. It's been great. Updates itself, doesn't hog resources and it does its thing quietly until/unless there's a problem.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson violated rules, steered scholarships to relatives Which begs the question of how well publicized these scholarships were. With so many college kids scouring the earth for scholarships the past 20 years, I'm guessing the notice was posted on the Johnson family fridge. TX Rep. Johnson Gave 23 Scholarships to Relatives and Associates

Just to add... probably the funniest part of the night was when Jorge Garcia joined in on the opening skit. Seemed like the place erupted at that moment. Then, there was Jimmy Fallon's farewell covers, which used "Time of Your Life" the song that I wrote a while back best summed up the LOST experience. There were some good bits on the DarkUFO site, where a few of the best episode commentators were invited to answer some of the most burning "unresolved mystery" items from a poll on that site. I really recommend this. I really dig Robz888's answer on the question of Walt --- that Walt (and, probably all of the Island's protectors) always had certain powers that belong to the Island's protector. Case in point: How it stopped raining almost immediately when Michael said he's try to find Vincent when it stopped raining. And the argument that Walt will likely take over from Hurley. Full agreement here. Also, another note I read last week... The intentions coming into the season apparently had been to reveal Ilana as Jacob's actual daughter. It was deemed that there was not really enough time to make this happen to any degree of satisfaction. So it was left that Ilana described Jacob as being "like a father to me." Picked up the S6 DVDs today. It's probably the last TV show I will ever be doing this for. For me, tho, having this series on the bookshelf is like the need to have Shakespeare and a Merriam-Webster/ Don't know when I'm going to get to it. Still giving it some digestion and separation time. Also trying to work through several seasons of another show via online at the moment. Still awaiting the promised Doc Jensen column....

Well, LOST didn't get any Emmy love last night, besides those in attendance who amped up the cheering during the respective nominee lists. It was #1 in a lot of people's hearts. Apparently not the ones that matter, tho.... as they went toward more conventional drama. And I can at least understand that. Dramas involving the supernatural / sci-fi / spiritual historically don't win many awards from the academy (LOTR only won major categories in its final installment, a deferred testament to the work as a whole). Winning Best Drama for S1 was probably enough in most voters' minds. They'd rather vote for the conventional, where they do their work than usher in more sci-fi to their idiom. There's the adage that "just to be nominated is validation enough." And I think that applies moreso for LOST than just about any other show. To all the people who grumbled about the finale and how it was executed, you can point to 12 nods among people who make TV for a living saying, 'This was one of the best of the year.' I can understand them not winning, tho. It happens. Michael Emerson didn't have much screen-time or as juicy bits and Terry O'Quinn was hard to feel close to as MIB/FLocke. Matthew Fox's acting is a lot like how Theodore Dreiser's novels are described --- that brick by brick it's not really impressive, until the time when you step back a bit and view the completed structure, that's when the 'Wow' moment comes when you think about the totality of the work. Many shows come and go, many are confined to their era and forgotten... LOST will age well. And I hope that those viewers who were disappointed come back in 5 or 6 years and give it another turn.

I may be the last person in CT without a cellphone. Yep, it's inconvenient sometimes but I'll trade it for a little more sanity and not having people calling every 5 minutes just to ask where I am and what I'm doing. I am very much a 'Leave me the ---- alone" person.

I haven't had time to check the auction prices for a few items I had my eye on. Maybe if they're on eBay someday and I've hit the lotto.... I'm going to be making my own wall-worthy ankh and there are a couple of places to get a Swan failsafe key. I read that Daniel Faraday's journal sold for $27,500. Wow. Will be picking up the S6 DVDs next time we get out that way. The complete set looks cool (and I've read that there is a very carefully hidden disc unavailable elsewhere that has some extra featurettes), but having bought the discs all along, it doesn't make sense for me right now. Would love to have them in Blu-ray at some point, tho. I've also read a few things recently. - On Jorge Garcia's final podcast last week, he apparently revealed that it was Hurley's voice saying the numbers that brought the French team to the island c. 1988. I don't remember if they even had a voice saying them in that Jin timeflash, but that's something to go back and listen for in the re-watch. - The Complete Collection includes a page from the Black Rock journal. It reads, "Only one returned alive. He seems in a deep shock, muttering about exchanging musket fire with another vessel which promptly disappeared in a flash of heavenly light." Answer on who Juliet fired at with the M-1 during the time flashes when they were in the outrigger. - Someone had a little too much time on their hands.A complete list of the mysteries --- what was answered (in LOST canon form, including TNMIC) and what remains mystery. - Following from the epilogue "The New Man in Charge" I think this lends even more credence to the idea that Jacob is the one who brought about the DHARMA Initiative. The Island Protector is the ultimate head of DHARMA. Yes, they fought with the Others who followed Jacob. Yes, it seems disingenuous that this would be Jacob's way. But it was also Jacob's way to "push" gently --- to start things w/o getting too involved with the particulars and let things play out as they will through human choice. Therefore, DHARMA was funded by Hanso with the De Groots, the Others consisted of island inhabitants that got periodic messages through Richard, Ilana's group came to protect Jacob and the candidates, and Widmore came after "being shown the error of my ways" by Jacob shortly after the freighter explosion. Point of DHARMA and the Others was to (using MIB's words) push the candidates to the island and produce the experiences on the island that would bring them to where they needed to be. All of these groups were to "fulfill de book" as the Bob Marley song reference went.

I give that place 5 years before it's a total sh--hole. It's the same story, repeated. A high school in Lynn, Mass., last night had every window smashed and every room get trashed. Tell me this won't happen in LA. And the tax-and-spend crowd will never figure it out because they're too busy coming up with excuses for why kids are failing. It's not the lack of a "beautiful learning environment," it's not b/c the auditorium isn't themed like the "Cocoanut Club." It's parents who treat schools like free daycare, lack of expectations, lack of enforced repercussions when they fail. This was for 4,000 students. Even allowing for some splurges, anything beyond $200M was a waste of good money.

Perhaps there should be a poll to determine the movie order? Gather several recommendations every so often and let percentages determine the order? I don't know tho. A month is quite a long time to keep up interest.

I loved Alan Alda's character of Arnold Vinick in those last two seasons. Didn't agree with most of the politics, but it was a really well-written (minus some Laurence O'Donnell scripts), well-done show.

I'm also currently starting to re-watch "The West Wing" online one-a-day. Really appreciating it more, 10 years on. Not to totally hijack this into an "I miss LOST" thread (we may be there already, tho) but I think that if people who were pissed at S6 just give it a little time and then revisit it, it will have aged well --- like Widmore's 60-year McCutcheon scotch. That last season was a lot to digest, and it happened very quickly, and in the last half, w/o the repeats. Most people bitched about the hiatuses, but I'm one who thought they helped. Didn't have your coffee yet, Jokeman?

If it's confined to what's available on Netflix instant-watch, I'd be in. First movie choice would be the one to the left of this sentence. Classic. Is Gene Wilder still kicking? Second would be "Rachel Getting Married" which really surprised me at how invested I became in it. There's no one I know who's seen it. And you're right. OTW doesn't have the same draw for me anymore w/o the LOST thread.... and given the state of the Bills, TSW doesn't either. (I was actually going to start a LOST re-watch this weekend ahead of the S6 DVD release).

If sitting out of training camp is the main reason for it, I don't get why he doesn't just say a clean variant of the above. People would respect an approach that lets him save a little wear and tear on his body while letting the backups get the playing time in camp. Lord knows Bruuuuce was the master at timing "minor knee surgeries" just so he would miss camp. Favre should just say flat out, "I will not be at training camp. I'll show up in time to get ready for when the games count." Guys like them have paid their dues. In all of the retirement drama, a deal of it is on Favre... but it's amplified 2,000 times by the new 24/7 media hype. I'm sure older guys back in the day (Y.A. Tittle, George Blanda, etc.) wavered on retirement year-to-year depending on how their body felt, but they didn't have E$PN, FOX, Yahoo! Sports, etc. etc. crawling up their snizzle at every turn. And at least Favre has the ability to mock the media-created perception of him.

I distinguish b/w movies that tell a sad story, real-life or not ("Schindler's List") with movies that are nothing more than exercises in wallowing and depressing just to be depressing. My vote in this regard goes to "Far Harbor" with pre-Oscar Jennifer Connelly. Just a bunch of whiny/mopey, self-involved NYC yuppies who you just want to punch in the solar plexi and yell "Cowboy up!" at. I get enough of that in real life that I don't need to go seeking out and paying to watch these same kind of conversations, thank you very much. Seriously, I'd write that whoever wrote that screenplay ought to be shot, but w/o looking it up, I'd say the odds are 9 out of 10 that they've already done that deed themselves. I almost wrote "Rachel Getting Married" too, but there were at least parts of it that I rather enjoyed, with characters who were humans trying to move on with their lives after an event that defined their family.

I'm a rightie.

And at least they didn't come downstairs and steal his teevee while he was busy retching/yarking.

Can we call in any debt-forgiveness favors like most/all of the African countries do every so often? Oh, wait. This is America. We're supposed to put the meal tab on our credit card. My bad.