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that is not what i've been told. jw

there is a debate on that, and even the official/unofficial lyrics site hedges on it by referring to the line as: "Unwillingness to claim us, ya got no word (war? no one?) to name us." i think it's "war" because many generations last decade were defined by wars, and Westerberg refers to a war in at least one other 'Mats song: "Someone Take the Wheel." and he at 50, like i at 47, are generally considered to be on the latter cusp of the boomer generation, though i prefer to be considered what's awkwardly referred to as a Gen-Xer (really hated that book), which is a group not of Boomer movement because i was not old enough to appreciate the 1960s and all the love/psychodelic baloney. my formative years, like the 'Mats, were that of the mid-1970s and their musical excesses. so in making my point and sticking to the theme of this thread, The 'Mats spoke for me in their disenfranchized anthem. 'Mats Lyrics site jw

not exactly: not on vacation: drinking followed by hangover. go to work. rinse and repeat. on vacation: drinking followed by hangover. rinse and repeat. ... golf perhaps. jw

drinking followed by hangover. rinse and repeat. nothing out of the ordinary. jw

last day before vacation. jw

just got back from standing in the drizzle monitoring the Obama rally/protest crowd. all that happened is got rained on and stood in the cold for 5 hours. jw

my theme song: Bastards of Young by The Replacements. it was and remains the anthem of my youth, which still hasn't ended. and one of the better lyrics penned that drives the whole discontented with society and the establishment theme home is this: The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest and visit their graves on holidays at best. The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please. If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them We are the sons of no one bastards of young. -- Paul Westerberg and the 'Mats.

Thanks, Lori. one point of clarification. all member papers that cover a Division I team are eligible to vote. however, they all do not get a vote. to keep it fair for all teams, votes are split up between each state based on population and number of Division I teams they have. i don't have the list in front of me, but i do know that Upstate NY has two voters, including the Olean Times-Herald. jw

yeah, he did. i thought it was quite funny. jw

wow. i'm honored. (truly am). will definitely take you up on that. jw

this one's a little tough to explain, but let me give it my best shot: 1. we cover the news and don't try to make it (though it can be said we did here). 2. as we at the AP have a wide breadth of resources, members, we have the capability of drawing upon them when it comes to issuing these awards or coming up with, say, top 25 polls. by being an unbiased news source with a national reach, the AP has traditionally been entrusted to be above board on this. 3. except for our national football writers (it's currently down to Barry Wilner), AP writers such as i have the responsibility of covering many beats, from hockey, basketball, baseball, colleges to the NFL etc. beat writers at other publications such as Mark Gaughan cover the NFL for a majority of the year. there could be a case made that they see more NFL games and follow the league more than many of us AP sports writers do. jw

don't fret, i was part of the first 7 pages before taking a break, having dinner and catching the Habs beat the Pens (i know 2 Canadiens' fans that are happy, my brother and Ms. Lori ... ). i just decided to check in on what's going on and am absolutely laughing my behind off at what went on. that was some good stuff. to one point that was raised, and i'm not saying this because i'm a company man: i thoroughly agreed with the decision to allow all eligible candidates to be considered, from Cushing on down to all the undrafted rookies who played in the NFL last season. it allowed the voters to make their own choices given the information that was available -- and obviously, some of that information had changed when the first vote was made in January. it was a fair and honest vote, and it was left to the people -- highly respected journalists all -- to make their respective choices. the fact the vote came up the way it did is curious, telling, debatable and open to criticism. so? that's what happens sometimes. sometimes life is a square peg fitting into a round hole. (i know at least one colleague who suggested that the baseball hall of fame vote should be open to all players, including Pete Rose. at least then, the endless debate over Rose could begin moving forward, rather than being stuck in neutral. there's merits to that argument.) what happened here happened. debate it, discuss it, write letters, whatever. guess my point is ... no AP writer was involved in casting a ballot ... oh, did i say that already? thanks to most of you. jw

whatever. ... why not bring up your Ponteus Pilate point again to see if that one flies? jw

there is no actual ballot. the vote is open to all rookies as it was originally in January, when there was no knowledge of Cushing's positive test, and well before the appeal process was exhausted. as my good friend Kelly the Fair and Balanced Dog has pointed out on several occasions, to bar Cushing would have influenced the voting by not allowing the actual voters make up their own minds. those voters -- none of them AP writers, i might add -- made up their own minds, and this was the result. jw

when dealing with grade schoolers, sometimes you've gotta plunge to their level. any meaningful conversation you or billsfan=pain were attempting to have was missing the pertinent point that no AP writer was involved in the vote. however you attempt to backpedal from your original stances which are well-documented, and after billsfan=pain suggested i pump something up someone's behind is interpreted as adult dialogue and/or meaningful is quite beyond me. jw

there, fixed it for you. i couldn't agree with you more. jw

like your suggestion i'm good at pumping something up ... well, you know what you wrote. nice. jw and, while you're at it, why not provide an answer to my post in regards to what publications you will or won't follow now. please, will you not follow those publications for the same reason you won't read the AP. and please, since integrity's on the line here, explain if you'll limit it to the AP.

nice. i'm sure you're daughter's proud of that remark. jw sorry MODs, i caught it before it was deleted. i'm fine.

but Pilate didn't offer his vote to sports writers. ... and now that you're backpedaling, why not fully come clean that you were mistaken when making this big high-and-mighty proclamation that you and your daughter will never read an AP story again. will you do the same with the likes of Sports Illustrated, ESPN, CBS, Sporting News and Sirius, plus a number of other publications? and why stop there: except for the voters who abstained, aren't they all tainted under your AP brush for having involved themselves in this process? that, i think, is the position you have put yourself in, so keep digging, i'm sure you'll get out of this somewhere. jw

now that made me laugh (sorry all, in joke). jw

you're kidding right? unless of course you're actually suggesting that Brian Cushing is a religious figure, with the potential of establishing a new religion because he will soon by physically crucified in order to fulfill his destiny here on earth. ... so no, if that's what you're asking. but then i thought Leonidas "Gallileo" defense was amusing. thanks for topping it. jw

that is an interesting point, which never occurred to me. nice. jw

right, you'd never want to admit to being wrong, would you? better to take the Leonidas way out ... what was that defer and defend or something, and bring up Gallileo? jw

I can't speak for my bosses, who made this unprecedented choice of having a revote in the first place. I still can't see how the AP is to blame for Cushing retaining this award in the black-and-white world you live in. Wouldn't be better for you to question those who actually voted for the candidate you have issue with? Cushing being on or not on the ballot is relatively immaterial. Somone still had to vote for him, right? Nice, though, to see that after three or four tries, that you are finally be up to speed on the topic at hand. ... That's a start. jw

to you and to billsfan=pain, read the list of voters and who they voted for for yourselves, and explain to me where the Associated Press "voted" for Cushing. AP NFL Defensive Rookie Voter Breakdown jw