RuntheDamnBall

He's not breaking any law, but he and his 'organization' should be monitored closely.

You know how I know you're gay?

I think MT is the best change-of-pace back in the league. It doesn't mean I want him to shoulder the load of a starting RB, which leads me to my concluding thought. If MT is that good, we could probably have him next year for pretty much the same money and no draft picks, assuming no one caves in to the silly idea of trading a #1 for him. I say shoot for Adrian Peterson if you're going to trade picks to get a RB.

Picking up hoes? People stuck in college life? Enough with the !@#$ing McGahee threads, already.

I don't know about the other things people accuse Rove of, but dancing like that in public should be a federal offense.

No, the salary cap is the limit, and you'll be right up against it before you can even think of adding anybody. All those young stars are going to want to get PAID, and around the same time.

The best I've heard is an office manager friend of mine stayed late the night before and switched a whole bunch of people's computer connections so that the guy in Cubicle A's mouse was attached to the CPU of the guy in Cubicle B and so on. It took them forever to figure it out. I'm not sure how much productivity was lost.

Therein lie the legacies of Rush and Yes.

I can only tell you that enough time working in studios has taught me that refinement to the point that SD take it sucks the life out of all that is interesting in music -- for me. It negates the listener for the cult of the genius. The lyrics, for me, smack of "oh, aren't we clever," rather than just being clever. I know I like material that, for others, is probably the same way. While I like some art-rock (I am a devout fan of Brian Eno's solo records), I generally need some kind of rough edge to like it 'as' rock. Otherwise, if I want masterful proficiency, I'll listen to some Schoenberg or Kurt Weill (Brecht and Weill were the real best songwriting duo of the 20th century, btw just razzing ya). What musicians think really doesn't matter, because musicians have built up a canon for themselves to recognize Steely Dan for one thing and the Clash for another, while at the end it's all really a sliding scale of subjectivity. You can recognize the complexity and craft in something but that doesn't necessarily make it better -- better for you, perhaps, and that's the cool thing about music. No one here is being forced to write songs for the glory of God or nation. Who's more subversive? I don't know. SD can get played in shopping malls, and that means they become 'mall music,' their intent be damned. And drugs and sex with young women are 'safe' taboos if you ask me. They're the things the world is begging for but which are constantly dangled and denied. I have little interest in either. Back to the mall: it's the same with the Clash in Hot Topic -- now, they are mall music, too, irony of ironies. With the luxury of being around when something 'happens,' like the punk moment or Steely Dan, you probably get a much better perspective on it. But I think you can divorce the no-talent bands of today from the punk bands of early on who were, at least, talented for having a real idea beyond making money -- an idea that rock and roll was only ever about taking the safe thing and appropriating it for unintended, and hopefully unsafe, use.

What's your point? They're going to be replaced by entry level personnel at entry-level wages, hence not the millionaire teachers you and others are decrying. And from a pool of over 40 times as many applicants as available positions, they should have the opportunity to make good hires.

I do think that's part of it. I just wouldn't choose to call it liberal in nature. Maybe neo-liberal or neo-conservative, neither of which can I discern the difference between, nor which is worse these days. I would also argue that these play a major role: - the fact that it is difficult for a family to have a stay-at-home parent these days due to cost of living - that we're deeply suckered into the idea that products and wealth play more of a role in making life better than the simple dedication of time - the litigious nature of our society -- implying that responsibilities lie elsewhere most of the time, for all people. You see it in bad parenting, you see it in poor stewardship of the environment, it's everywhere.

Agreed.

Elitist!

Unreal. I know you don't like the talents they had, just as I don't care for the talents I will admit Steely Dan has, but come on. Let's compare, shall we? Great voices? Neither band has traditionally 'good' voices. Great musicians? The Clash weren't, really, but then again, Steely Dan relied on a heavy dose of studio musicians and overdubbing. Songwriting? I'll take the Clash's immediacy, and if four chords never=genius, then Chuck Berry sucks, too. The Clash might not have been good at much more than writing and playing great songs that spoke to people upon impact (and I'll beg to differ as they brought a lot of different styles to punk rock, and were in fact great fans of the whole canon of American music), but even if that's it, to deny they had any talent is pretty ridiculous.

Fixed.

AD, just curious. Do you know how many roster spots we get in the playoffs? Is it a big increase as it is for baseball?

Few here have said that's a poor pay scale. They'e just pointing out that teachers don't average $70-80K as some clueless hack posted here, without facts to back it up, of course. It's this kind of garbage that spreads poor attitudes nationwide. You're a real piece of work, man. Glorified babysitter? A babysitter is someone who nukes soup in the microwave and plops the kid in front of the TV. The minds of the future and our country depend on teachers -- and good parenting. And good parents treat teachers with respect and teach their kids to do the same. I hope to God you don't have any kids with an attitude like this. It's the whole "my kid can do no wrong" idea that's ruining education these days. I've seen it firsthand, where my mother-in-law, well-regarded as a teacher by her colleagues in every position she held, didn't receive tenure after going back to work because she was unafraid to flunk a school board member's daughter. And Darin, I really wish you'd spare us the idea that good parenting is a liberal / conservative issue. It's a laziness issue, it's a material issue, it's an issue of people who don't have a clue, whatever they believe. I know plenty of so-called conservatives who spoil their kids to no end with new cars, etc, that they haven't earned. And I know plenty of liberals who teach their kids to approach the world with an equal sense of wonder and respect, and they are well-disciplined. Of course, it cuts both ways. But either liberals are ruining everything with too many laws and regulations, or letting too many kids have free reign with not enough rules. Choose one. What really needs to be expressed are the ideas that loving your kid can include not giving them everything they want, not buying them off with material things, and discipline whenever necessary.

My best guess is that it's a location devoid of sunshine.

I was, and am, right there with you. I seem to feel this way towards the end of every season. Bamboozled. But then I watch the excellent four hour premiere the next season and I'm hooked again. Not 'riveted,' but hooked like a fish. Fooled every time into thinking the rest of the season might be as good. I know it's not supposed to be anything like '24' but I've been hearing great things about The Wire. That might be my next Netflix marathon.

I'd like to know where you get your data. NYS Ed Dept says average is in the $53K range. That means that at a starting teacher salary of $35K that the longest tenured teachers MIGHT be making around $70K. MIGHT.

Thanks for the diagnosis, Dr. Cadets.

Yeah... I paid for Center Ice, though. Wish you could choose which feed you get... Considering this is a home game it should be fair to get RJ and JL.

Laaaame. Please send a note to self that you might require your own services.

Living in NYC sucks at this moment. Forced by the blackout rules to deal with FSNY. NJ Devils announcers = biggest homers of all time. I hate these guys.

attn: 24 fans If you're really sick of settling for the tired antics of this show but still watch it weekly as I do, I suggest you whet your appetite with "The State Within," a nice 6-hour miniseries on int'l relations and terrorism from the BBC. Just Netflixed it and its production value pretty much straddles film and good tv the way a lot of the HBO shows do, and it's a little better at not spelling everything out.