UConn James

The disclaimer is the key to my thinking. Fast-forward to the run-up to the next Jets-Dolphins game. No doubt it will be a featured item, at least in My-ami. Not for nothing that The Herald columnist's name literally translates to "The Bastard." I normally try to be courteous to those in the profession and follow my mother's advice for when there's nothing nice to say, but this guy is a complete *. Fans tend to take things personally when birds and insults are thrown their way.... Whereas for players & coaches in the league, this drop of water has already rolled off their backs. As I wrote, it's pretty lame at this point. Nowhere near the Bills-Dolphins '90s rivalry at this stage. But it's got potential, especially if the first game b/w the teams next year is @ the Phins' stadium, and their fans take it to the next level.

Well, here we go with the guide listing...

Hmm. You should send that memo to Titans owner Bud Adams and his double-bird (with thumb emphasis, also). Adams was fined, and it was forgotten in about two days. The Johnsons knew what Ryan was when they hired him. He's a guy who says things like this and does things like this. Complaining about it would be like Ralph complaining a year from now that Buddy Nix has a strong Southern accent. I don't think they have a problem with it. This is the stuff that breeds rivalry, which breeds higher ticket prices. This is a media-generated controversy. And a pretty lame controversy at that.

19 1/2 hours! Didn't realize that the premiere party was so well-attended. Quite a few who flew especially for it. Hawai'i is really going to miss the show, economically. The millions spent on production, etc. You'd be surprised how many tourists it helps attract, or at least puts people over the tipping point of deciding on it over, say, Florida. Also, the Top 25 "LOST" quotes, according to some dude. My personal favorite?

There is now a fuller S6 preview video available. This was released by ABC yesterday, but it's located on a spoiler site, so don't say I didn't warn you. I would expect that it will be the after-ep 'next week' preview. After hearing so long that no one was going to see a bit of the premiere until 2/2, this is a bit discombobulating. There's now a big part of me that's saying not to snoop around any more, and enjoy each bite we've got left w/o getting a look at it being made in the kitchen. But then, there's the part of me that figures I'm already 'LOST Impure' so I might as well go for broke. I'm pretty sure I'm going to avoid the Web stuff from this point on. It just makes discussion easier not to be full of spoiler material that I'd have to hold back on.

Ehhh. I wouldn't wade into the water too far, Simon. Parody does provide a protection, but it has its limits. Using an original Kane artwork cell in its entirety, then followed by a cell that's still ~90 percent the same drawing, then changes the underscript to play off of the original script.... I just don't think there's enough changed material for the parody-er to claim the work as substantively his/her own.

Just caught ~ the last 15 minutes of the season 6 premiere. Yeah, you read that right. Someone put up a crappy internet feed of the "Sunset on the Beach" LOST premiere party in Hawai'i. A big screen was set up. 'Course, somebody had to keep revving up their friggin' motorcycle during a 5-minute span. Probably Lindelof! It was kind of what I expected, and then again, it wasn't. W/o giving away its context, the highlight quote of this ep: "I'm sorry you had to see that."

Early adopters usually wind up getting royally screwed.

Awesome. Yeah, without question, that's a MAJOR spoiler. But I want as many freakin' spoilers as I can get. Spoiler-y discussion yellow-fonted: This was something I've read about for a while now --- that the explosion resets the timeline. As Faraday explained in the DVD bonus 'extended scene,' all of the Left Behinders are variables. Anything they do affects the future (and with that, Sayid shooting Ben, etc. didn't happen originally)... But most of the things they do aren't big/important enough to change the course of events. As Faraday draws the metaphor, it's like throwing a pebble in the stream --- its effect is minimal. But destroying the Swan site/energy is like dropping a huge boulder in the stream --- it's effect on the course of events is a major "course correction." This clip still introduces some questions in the meantime. 1) Why did the plane still shake at that moment? 2) Do Jack et al remember what happened in the alternate timeline? I believe the answer to #2 is yes... for those Losties whom Jacob touched, if only b/c a blank slate at this point in the series is a total cop-out. I would also guess that Juliet's prolonged absence (in the real world, for her new show, "V") will be explained by her being transported akin to when Ben and Locke moved the "frozen donkey wheel." Altho her exit point will not be Tunisia, like it was for the Orchid's energy. In one way, Juliet's story might be similar to Desmond's when he turned the Swan key (since Juliet is over the Swan's energy). The "exit" for the Swan appears to be the island. When she will show up is the question.

Having been subjected to ~ 4 months of TV ads, and watching the debate, I can attest to this. As much as the Brown win was about the health care bill, there were significant side issues as well. Not the least of which was Independents' resentment of giving full constitutional rights to foreign terrorists, and bringing them to our shores. As much as Obama got the Indie vote in '08, his policy direction lost them in a short timespan.

Apparently, the originator of the thread believes that having one common ancestor from 400 years ago makes two people 'close family'... to the extent that the Brown win is likened to English lines of royalty / War of the Roses. Biologically (mitochondrial DNA, to be exact), over 90% of European-heritage people can be traced back to one of 7 women who lived roughly 40,000 years ago. As the tree of human fecundity branches wider and wider, there's a lot of intersecting points. This is a trivial factoid, and really has next to no meaning.

God, I hope so.

Replaying of last season's finale "The Incident" tonight at 9 on ABC, ahead of next week's season premiere. Refresher time, everybody!

That's... not what happened at all. Greer developed for a few years in spot duty and when pressed into it, arguably was a better cover CB than McGee. For the life of me, I don't get how you can write that Greer "didn't fit" the D. Then, the FO let him sign elsewhere w/o making a serious enough offer. Not saying this was the wrong move. Indeed, the Bills' cup runneth over in the secondary --- to the detriment of just about every other position. And yet, Jauron et al kept drafting CBs/Ss with shocking regularity.

The Lowe's 10% coupons are in change-of-address packets at any post office.

+1 Modrak is and wants to be a chief college scout. He can detail college players' strengths and weaknesses, their fit to certain schemes, their mentality, etc. That's basically what the scout has to do. He defines the players and make recommendations. With the seven-headed hydra that was the FO hierarchy, there must've naturally been confusion as to what was being built (too many cooks in the kitchen doing their own damn thing with the soup) rather than a single vision. I think they far too often deferred to Jauron's input on the draft and roster management. The single vision is now put in place, for better or worse, with Nix. Succeed or fail, we'll know exactly who to cheer or blame. As has been well-chronicled on this site, Guy's performance has been, well... ****ty. Outside of Spikes and Sam Adams and perhaps Hangartner (maybe I'm overestimating him b/c he doesn't get pushed back into the QB's face w/in 2 seconds), it's hard for me to think of a real impact FA signing, and we can all recite a litany of complete duds. I am less filled with venom for Modrak than most here. Last year's draft looks pretty damn good, post-Maybin (who knows, maybe the kid pans out. Way too early). For sure, Modrak's on a short leash. Now that the panel's off and some known bad circuit breakers have been removed, let's see if the one marked TM is still good before throwing it out. Pretty far into the draft process, anyway.

Dude, this is a state that regularly elected Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Looks and good teeth play little to no part in deciding who to vote for here. Maybe it's a big deal where you're from --- I don't know.

Actually, as someone who was barraged by the ads for the last few months, it was more a scare campaign than hate. Probably the main item was Coakley trying to distort Brown's record on "denying abortion rights to rape victims" that had an air of truth, but not the fullness of truth. Brown sponsored legislation that would allow medical/pharm personnel to not prescribe abortion drugs, etc. I believe it also required someone who would to be on duty. This has been a hot-button in many races. To be fair, Coakley's "negative" ads were about trying to scare voters away, not personal attacks, as such. The level of acrimony b/w them was pretty damn low as Senate races go. Brown won on the issues. That fact should scare the pants off of the DC Dems. Unless by "hate campaign," you mean Coakley calling Curt 'Bloody Sock' Schilling a Yankees fan on live radio. In Boston, that's nigh unforgivable.

Articles titled, "Week after Quake, Aid Elusive" Where are all the threads saying, "Obama hates black people!"

Fixed. It shows the depth of your cluelessness if you think this was about hairstyles and good teeth.

Ayla is "available." (victory speech video)

Well, yes and no. Many in the state do want national health care reform. Just, not the reform as the language now stands, how it was conducted in the backrooms, the pols' elitism on the subject (the Barney Frank 'Shut up. I know more than you do, you filthy pigs' attitude on full display this summer didn't endear anyone but the left wingnuts), and the process of how the Landrieu and Nelson votes were out-and-out purchased for $400M, among other sweetheart earmarks. As I wrote in the other thread about this race, Brown said that he would welcome continued debate. Like many Republicans, he's in favor of many of the aims of the bill, it's a relatively small percentage of the bill that is a dealbreaker; and the Dems would hold fast trying to get all or nothing... well, with the way Pelosi et al. are leading on this issue, it looks like they're going to get nothing. No one to blame but themselves. Brown said during the campaign that one idea may be for individual states to follow the Mass. example and come up with their own state plans. With Congress run the way it is (I put this to the system, rather than any one party), that may be the best course for health care reform, in reality.

Is that Chad Kelly, the one who's won all those Pass, Punt & Kick contests (he was on the field Sunday). And is he the same one who was kicked off of his hs football team this past season? We never heard why.

Me too. But as I wrote yesterday, they're getting a much shorter leash. I want demonstrative proof that they're moving in a better direction. I want to see the fuggin compass readings! My bull **** meter has been dialed down 6 notches. First whiff I get, I am spending my weekends outside like I did most of this past season, and I'll wait for Ralph's dirt nap.

Actually, it's been more substantial than that. There's at least 2 commercials from the race during every station break in the Boston and Providence (their DMA reaches SE Mass., the islands, and parts of the Cape) markets. Brown has run ads highlighting his military service and supporting Pres. Obama's Afghanistan surge, ads calling for tax cuts, and, yes, ads that the health care bill as it currently stands needs to go back to the drawing board, and it needs to be done out in the open rather than Democrat back rooms. Brown didn't say he would kill it; he is for much of it including the pre-existing conditions clauses. Like other Repubs, he's for ~80% of the stuff, but the other 20% of it is a deal-breaker. (Plus the skeevy-ness of the outright purchase of Landrieu(?)'s and Nelson's votes, along with other choice earmarks.) Coakley has gone very populist. Centered mostly on health care and incurring the Kennedy image (tho some of her ads proclaim it is "not the Kennedy seat"). She's said she'll "go after" Wall Street bankers. I figured out what's up with her weird speech style. I thought it was an accent at first, but it's mostly from the fact that she doesn't move her upper lip much at all (Maybe she can't. Certainly looks like a botox job, if I've ever seen one).