Cugalabanza

The guy is too good. It’s scary. He’s a machine. Nadal is a great player and it’s not like he was giving it away. Djokovic just took him a part with his ridiculous freak shot-making, painting the lines, hitting crazy angles...

True. p.s. I love the Eric B & Rakim sig line.

My first guitar was a Yamaha nylon string that I bought used for $20 almost 25 years ago. I still have it. I’ve used it to give some starter lessons to a couple people. It works very well as a starter and sounds very nice. So much easier on the fingers.

Always fun to go back and read (or re-read) some Vonnegut. As far as the thriller stuff, I like George Pelecanos, John Sanford, Robert McCammon (love Swan Song and also his current Mathew Corbett seriesgreat detective action stuff set in colonial America). A couple recent books by David Benioff (25th Hour and City of Thieves) are really fun exciting reads. I love me some Raymond Carver short stories. Jesus Son by Denis Johnson is one of my all time favorites. Heres a recommendation from out of nowhere: The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino (a little Italian kid protests his parents making him eat snails for dinner by climbing up a tree and NEVER coming down). A fun music series is 33 1/3. Each book looks at one classic album. Its worth checking out. I just finished the one on David Bowies Low. Kind of a tangent to the Kindle discussion: I was thinking about a best of among the free (old public domain) books you can get for e-readers. Heres a short list of some stuff that you can get for free that I think stands up really well... Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Theres more to this story than you may think. The richest & best monster tale) Edgar Allen Poe short stories (Hes just so damn good at that creepy atmospheric stuff) Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky Great Expectations by Dickens (Old, yes. But not dry at all. A really fun read.) All the Sherlock Holmes stuff by Arthur Conan Doyle Excerpts from the Diaries of Adam & Eve by Mark Twain The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

So hard to pick. All those guys were outstanding. My vote is for Freddy. His extra effort to get the first down on a couple of those runs...thats what its all about. EDIT: Honorable mention to Byrd. No longer just a cherry picker. He looked very strong cleaning up on tough tackles.

Actually, that guy's site is pretty funny. There's some really cool stuff in there.

I just ordered 18 of the Eric Roberts ones. That's my x-mas shopping for this year done, suckaz!

It was more like a lunckfeast.

Yes, but that was at 2:30am. This time it was me spilling some yogurt on my shirt.

Breakfast is on me!

If? Really well done video though.

Yes. I'm just an impatient SOB. None of my teams ever seem to win anything. We won't really know what we have until WC 2014.

Sometimes you ride the hump and sometimes the hump rides you.

First of all, !@#$ ESPN! Once again, they changed the game to a different channel at the last minute. I come home to a recording of some stupid nascar race. And then they don’t have any replays of the game. WTF? I did watch some highlights and I read summaries and player grades. I guess I’m impatient to see some progress, but this is kind of disappointing. These are some tough growing pains sorting out the talent pool. There’s kind of an awkward disconnect between the older established players and all these young guys who look good briefly and then stink it up for several games in a row (yeah, I’m talking about you, Robbie Rogers, please take a seat). Klinsmann still winless after three games. And only one goal to show for his new attacking style. I’m still hopeful, but this is not pretty right now.

What is, "what Mead isn't and doesn't do," Alex.

I’m recording the Belgium game to watch after work tonight. That 0-1 loss to Costa Rica was pretty ugly. The U.S. played great in the first half, but could not finish. In the second half, they looked like a bunch of Bornsteins. Only a few guys played well: Tores, Shea, Aguedelo, Howard. It’s just a friendly, but I’m feeling some urgency with today’s game. If Klinsmann is still winless after his first three, some ugly old doubt is gonna start creeping in.

I realize that most discerning listeners celebrate her entire catalog. However, some will argue that her earlier albums were superior simply because they were so influential and groundbreaking. On the other hand, many tend to dismiss the early work as too experimental or avant-garde. Personally, I feel that her artistic vision was not fully realized until she developed her signature scent, “Fancy Nights.” Discuss.

Who cares about that nonsense? Let's talk about what really matters, her music!

Unfortunately, they can't read a compass either, so it might as well be all of them.

The boy who tells beetles where to fly. What a beautiful dream.

I just finished re-reading this entire thread from start to finish (as I do every day) and I’ve come to the conclusion that much of what has been posted is less than essential. As a result, I have provided a concise summary below... Summary: I win

The Klinsmann era continues! USA vs Costa Rica Friday Sept. 2 11pm ET on ESPN2 USA vs Belgium Tuesday Sept. 6 2:30pm ET on ESPN

My favorite part...

These kids today! They don't know tough we had it. I had to wear a banana hammock until they won a game. And they went 0-8. I was rocking that !@#$ing tiny little strap well into November!