UConn James

Didn't agree with some of his rulings, but he was a quality justice who adamently argued for what he thought were the proper decisions. How he comported himself through his career and the pride he took in his work is something we're fast losing in America.

Well, we need someone to be offsides on punts like he was last night!!! Don't you understand that lame brain penalties are a crucial part of the strategy of the truly successful backup and ST star? If not our ST master, aka Steve Tasker's heir apparent, aka The One, Coy Wire, who sells really cool Asian text T-shirts to the rest of the team, then who, by Jove, WHO??

There was a piece on PBS late last night in this same vein. Explained a little about the geological history of the delta region. They provided the explanation that when a hurricane hit the marshes/wetlands, that have been eroded by man's tinkering, it would "pulled the rug out" from under it and reduced the strength of the storm before it hit inland. I don't know how much it would take to restore them, but at least ecologically, it would be an ideal thing to set it to rights again.

I suppose the reports of people getting frisked at the Superdome were just people looking for cheap thrills. The National Guard and police were there. Don't give me that. You tell the people to stay back and there will be enough for everyone and once they see the containers coming down, they'll start believing you; draw a perimeter and secure it. Whaddya mean how do you do this? Thing is, it takes someone with leadership to get it done. Mike Brown was too busy staring inside his colon and doing interviews on the networks to be bothered; only when the NG general got there did sh-- start getting done. If you keep the possibility of things going wrong versus the consequences of not doing them, no one would get a flu shot, have bypass surgery or drop humanitarian supplies in Iraq. I sure as hell wouldn't want you in charge when the sh-- hits the fan. "You should've prepared better" isn't a solution to the problem of people dying of thirst. At my job when I run short a half a ton of stone on a wall, standing around for three hours saying I should have gotten more stone isn't an answer. You STFU and go get more stone.

Clemson? No, really. I was impressed on Brady's TD throw to #83 before the half. Weis has done a really good job installing his type of offense. The defense.... mehh!.... if not for Palko's injury it would have been closer. Good things ahead, I think, but it is a tough sched. Why don't you guys join the Big East, even if in name only, as I'm aware that they're ready to make all kinds of concessions? With Lousiville coming in and a few teams on the rise... not to mention that some other strong teams might be enticed to join a conference w/ ND.

And then the video today of a helicopter lowering a case of bottled water to a man. Pretty much spot-on. They had choppers dropping 3,000-lb sandbags into the levee on Thursday, but the leadership (such as it was) there couldn't think to deliver bottled water to the masses that were dying of thirst at the Superdome and elsewhere. Maybe several stupid people will die as they wait under it; better that than several hundred dying of dehydration. For some reason it didn't happen and this will continue to be discussed until some answers better than "Sh-- happens" are gotten. I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept that.

On the kickoffs last night, Lindell put it to the 6 on the first and five yards into the endzone on the second. So far, he's improved on this greatly since last season. Lots of kickers generally get it to about the 15-10 range. As for the Figgies, he doesn't appear to have the consistency. It was my hope that with the newfound power (lack of it was the reason for a lot of his misses last season) he'd handle them better. Here I sit, tho, still hoping....

I could be wrong, but I think that list is down to: Eric Moulds.

Only problem is that they get inundated with donations in events like these and then the rest of the year, it's relatively bare bones. With a hard winter forecasted (and I'm already seeing acorns falling; usually, lots of them means a really bad winter) and prices of everything going up, it's going to be rough.

Rerun on Wed. was the Hurley-centric ep; haven't really felt like posting b/c of everything that was going on. Was good to have a distraction and to see this ep again b/c it is a crucial one. Anyone think that Lenny had played or somehow used the numbers, which caused his mental breakdown to the point they were the only thing he barely audibly said. Rousseau had the curse as well b/c she'd written the numbers on that piece of paper. Then there was Lenny's "You let it out of the box!" quote. Anyone get the thought that Hurley might've been thinking about offing himself to solve the curse, as the woman from Australia had told him? I think he was looking for a final confirmation from Danielle and that's why he seemed so relieved. That it wasn't exclusively his problem/"fault." Loved how it ended with Hurley and Charlie. "Back in the real world, I'm worth 156 million dollars" and Charlie thinks he's pulling his chain. There are some great comedic touches in the show, and they're almost exclusively with these two characters -- probably why we like them so much. Also noticed that in the Locke reason voiceover ad, there's a little whiff of black smoke that lasts a split second but it's there. If they are going to set up this Reason vs. I don't know what to call it... Science(?) who do you think will seperate into the different camps? The only ones I think might go with Locke would be Jin (who thinks this is a punishment; Sun is tight with Jack, tho, and I don't think she buys Jin's logic) and possibly Michael b/c Locke represents the best chance to get Walt back. Charlie and Claire seem in b/w, but I think would ultimately stay with Jack b/c of the baby, and Claire might trust her vision of Locke with that bloody cradle.

From the sounds of it, that field is not going to be very steady to play on. The Giants used the tray system for a few years and replaced it b/c the turf was just loose --- imagine pulling up your yard past the roots with a shovel, laying it back down, tamp it with your foot a couple of times, and then try to play football on it. And they never had the added consideration of the entire field moving in and out. 'Zona talked about this concept several years ago when the design concept planning started and I guess they were married to it. Not enough sun in Arizona? Even through the openings in the sides? Maybe they could go with a sun-shade mix....

It actually wouldn't look that bad if they didn't insist on keeping that roll-out grass tray field. Someone got that in their brain and no matter how ugly, stupid (their security costs go up 200%) or unecessary (it's an open-top roof!) it is, they just don't want to let it go.

Told by whom? I'd want that person's head on a stick.

It was over $4,000 for the work, he offered $1500. When the mechanic showed up at his door looking for his money, Deion said he was taking a "Praise Jesus discount." I wonder if Jesus gave him some kind of redeemable coupon....

Well said. In essence, it's a nationalized version of mutual aid agreements b/w fire departments. The city can do certain things, such as gathering people en masse and doing the S&R they shouldn't have had to do b/c of the mandatory evacuation, but they had to do it. Combine the fact that police officers walked off the job and a thousand other little things that all collect to form a Big Problem.... As the saying goes, When you're up to your ass in alligators it's sometimes easy to forget that your primary objective was to drain the swamp. Expecting N.O. to have had a plan to deal with all of that and a lack of outside help is like asking the Podunk PD to evacuate the WTC, and it's pretty sh--ty. (As far as not being able to find a plan online, a lot of large cities have clammed up on providing info like that.) And, since when does "having a plan" equate to greatness and sure success, CTM? Similar to the NFL, there are coaches who script an entire game, and w/in the first minute, it's crumpled and laying on the AstroTurf. I would guess from all of the unexpected stuff, the same thing would have happened in N.O. What this does teach us all is for municipalities and states not to entirely depend on a fast (w/in 3 days) govt response, and realize that in a dire emergency, it might be self-help for quite a while. This is a good thing, I suppose. The "Lessons Learned" reading on this will rival the Federal Tax Code in addition to War and Peace in length. But I can fully imagine that when these states start stockpiling food and bottled water in public venues and the expiration dates pass, those same people who say they needed to prepare better will be complaining about wasted tax dollars.

Something tells me that the guy who, after 4 weeks on the job, got all kinds of heat from the owner to change his game plan and basically said, "Respectfully, Mr. Wilson, STFU b/c I'm staying the course" won't be screaming and running around like a chicken with its head cut off. We'll save that job for you and Rudy.

So oxidizing on the bench will somehow make him better? Newsflash: Every quarterback of the future has to make their first start eventually. Or did Jim Kelly show up in the USFL and then the NFL and throw a touchdown every pass? It's gonna be a loooong year for you, and if you don't want to witness the growing pains that we all hope will eventually lead to a top QB and a Super Bowl, maybe you shouldn't watch this season. I don't have a pipe, but I think you've been smoking something.

Don't see why a new stadium would be necessary or how it would magically bring in more revenue. They had a tough time selling the luxury boxes they added in as it was; the WNY region isn't exactly booming with businesses that might buy a suite. The revenues have always come mostly from regular ticket sales; which is why it was/is one of the larger-capacity stadiums, especially for having been built in the '70s.

Watch out for Dan Orlovsky. He's UConn alum, and he was a great one. Given some time and Harrington's progressively worse play, and Garcia's injury, Dan could see some time this year. He's already got an NFL-worthy cadence.

How do you reconcile Pres. Bush, fresh from the Situation Room, sounding a little angry when saying that the reponse has been "unacceptable"? I prefer to think he has a better grasp on the overall situation than most anyone. (That depends on whether you think he has a clue. Opinions vary on that.)

He just said the response has been "unacceptable," and he stressed that word. For the about the 12th time in his entire presidency, I agree with him. The FEMA director should start the first draft of his letter of resignation --- in fact, that's probably is what he's doing. Not much leadership down there.

President Bush just commented that the response to the situation is "unacceptable" and he stressed this word hard. For once, I agree with him. The FEMA director not only has his head up his ass, he's got his tongue sticking out. This happens when you appoint someone there who has zero experience. To all of those people saying that airlifts are impossible b/c there's nowhere to land... When did dropping supplies with parachutes become impossible? Wastage, for sure, but 30% of bottled water and MREs being usable is better than 0%. There's a time when, absent direct access, you need to do something, and with bottled water supplies, that was 2 days ago. Someone's sure to respond that the people aren't supposed to be there; well, they are there, and just like the people inside of the WTC, you can't just leave them. I know it's a rough situation, and nobody is asking for perfection. Problem solving skills went out the window in how to deal with this. A reporter on NBC said when he went to the outskirts of the city to resupply, the bus drivers were waiting there in empty buses saying they were afraid to go in. There was a friggin' 14-year-old kid yesterday who commandeered a bus and drove 7 hours to Houston. Christ! Bested by a 14-y.o.!!

It's not a bad job when you're dealing with conventional stuff and waving at the pretty girls but when the going gets tough.... My brother's a cop up here. If he did that, I wouldn't ever speak to him again. It has to do with those big words like oaths, duty and honor that are sometimes the only things that keep you going when the sh-- hits the fan.

I think the point is that the administration didn't heed some red flags, diverted the resources elsewhere, gambling that nothing would happen. Once again it came up snake eyes. Not the first ones nor will they be the last ones to do a cost-benefit analysis and come out on the losing end.

I watched MNF to see Dan Orlovsky, their #3 QB, who now owns most of the UConn passing records. I find myself rooting for him to do well, and the Lions' brass is impressed with him. With Harrington just stinking up the joint, and Garcia getting grays in his sideburns, I think Dan-O's in a nice spot.