Random Thoughts

Missed the Illinois game last night. I really have no explanation for this, other than it was Northwestern at home, and I forgot all about it. I was watching my recorded copy of our (the U.S.'s) crappy tie with Latvia. But we won, so yay!

Speaking of the U.S. hockey team, good lord, what an awful second period that was. Not that I've played after flying from one continent to another, but I got a little worried when Emrick and Davidson praised the U.S. for their great first period. Even when you're tired, it's not unusual to start fast. It ALWAYS catches up to you in the second period, though. But they salvaged the point, and they looked great in the first period tonight against Kazakhstan. Still, we've lacked real good finishing so far. The playmaking has been fine, and the defense has been solid outside of the middle 20 minutes last night. Slovakia is going to be tough, though. I don't know how they beat Russia. Just going down Russia's lineup, man, they're stacked.

Speaking of Latvia, I still fucking hate Arturs Irbe.

And one last bit on hockey, but with only one or two NHLers on their roster, how the hell did Konstantine Pushkarev not make their roster? They can't have that many guys better than he is.

I haven't commented on the Jeff Weaver signing because I'm not really sure there's any more that can be said. Others have more or less covered it, but he adds depth to the rotation. Barring multiple injuries, I think they'll be just as strong as they were last year. The numbers will come down a bit just due to regression to the mean, but that's not unexpected. I see Colon being worse by a bit, Lackey and Santana being better, Escobar being better than Washburn was last year, and I'll call Weaver and Byrd a draw. Plus, Carrasco strengthens the pen, albeit for a lot of money.

Started playing floor hockey again recently. A lot easier at 25 than it is at 32. People who know me relatively well will be surprised to learn that I've only been in one almost-fight so far. That's way below my average. But the season is only half over, so I expect that number to climb. And I've lost some of my cheap-shotting touch. I used to be able to rake a guy's foot without bringing him down and drawing a penalty, but no such luck this week. The good news is that I've only knocked down one girl. I've been the very model of restraint.

I don't weigh in on politics very often, mostly because there are a lot of people already doing it, and they all do it a lot better than I possibly could, or at least half of them do. The other half all suck. Regardless, one glance at the sidebar will give you a quick glimpse of my political persuasion. Just wanted to comment quickly on this whole "Cheney shot an elderly man in the face" thing. Ultimately, outside of the comedic value, along with the unintentional comedy being provided by the completely whacked administration response, something's bothering me. Well, actually, lots of things are bothering me, like the whole canned hunting thing, which sounds pretty pathetic when you think about it. And frankly, I don't know if he was drunk, but he was probably drinking a lot more than they let on. Hell, I know I would be if I were out there, but that's probably why I'm not a hunter. Anyway, what's bothering me is this idea that Whittington was "peppered" with birdshot. My Montana cousins hunt, so I'm not anti-hunter or anything. But I can't imagine how the term "peppered" could possibly refer to being pierced by up to 200 lead balls, many of which remain inside the pepperee. Like I said, I don't have a lot of experience with shotguns, but I do have a lot of experience with pepper. Pepper doesn't really bore its way into your food. It sort of rests on top. I'm guessing "getting peppered" probably refers more to something like birdshot that falls out of the air and hits you on the way down after just about all of its energy is spent.

One thing about this incident that I *do* know is that I'm putting my money on Whittington to win the 2008 Tour de France.