T.D.

Mike Norris Matt Keough Brian Kingman [A's pitchers whose arms blew out under the "Billyball" regimen]

Yeah, I can accept the fact that guaranteed money is unusual, mostly confined to star players, and a matter of individual negotiations (recent QB contracts, eg Tony Romo's, have a goodly amount of guaranteed bucks). However, I've seen plenty of cases where players under nominal (non-guaranteed) multi-year contracts (a) take salary cuts "for the good of the team" or (b) play through debilitating and career-shortening injuries, only to be waived at the end of the season. So why shouldn't loyalty be a two-way street?

Debra Winger Mike Heimerdinger Pudge Heffelfinger

Dwayne Dolphin Country Joe McDonald Mardy Fish

Happy birthday! May you author many more chess brilliancies... If there's any justice in the world, Conn must share a b'day with various NE Patriot notables.

Alfred Dreyfus Emile Zola Gianfranco Zola

Pettitte declined NYY's $16 MM option tender. He had previously (before Torre's axing) said he'd either return to NY or retire. Perhaps he's now re-evaluating.

Interesting. Is PayPal's dispute procedure trustworthy? I know (from experience) that my credit card company's chargeback process is. Once read the details of PayPal's "buyer protection" language, and thought it was bullshit. I've never had a problem with a PayPal transaction, but always assumed I'd go the chargeback route if one arose (that's why I use PayPal w. credit card on eBay). Better go back and read more fine print...

Conn, lighten up, dude...you won the freakin' game! Even if there were dubious calls, I'm not sure you can specifically chalk it up to anti-Patriotism. Over the years, I've read a number of articles claming home-team bias in referees, in various sports including the NFL. Presumably the pressure causing bias would be worse in loud and raucous domes (even if the raucous noise is piped in ). [Disclaimer: I can't recall specific articles, skimmed the ones I saw, and can't claim that their research was convincing.]

Laid the points, missed on the spread, but hit the under.

Andrés Cantor Mike Lum Olivia Gollan

Don't necessarily agree. I've been following some of the cycling doping cases. Those who fought spent millions, and wasted years, fighting bureaucracies that are very unlikely to change their stance, in a juridicial forum quite unlike what we in the US are used to (less responsive to the plaintiff). In the meantime, they're suspended from the sport anyway (usually a two-year suspension).

I got the Blue Note Memorial Album last month (yourmusic queue), and really like it. Thanks to those who recommended it. Would have bought it sooner had I known about the session with Elmo Hope.

I was never good at football betting, but OK... Spread opened Pats -3-1/2 COLTS, has moved out to 5 the last I saw. Over-under is a vertiginous 56-1/2. This is a tough one. I'll say NE, as long as the spread stays under 7. I'd take Indy +7. I'll go out on a limb and say under 56.5, as one team may cross bettors up and try to play ball-control (most likely Indy, as in the last Super Bowl, though the unpredictable BB often goes for an unexpected game plan). If betting real money, I wouldn't put much on this game. Aside from bragging rights, there's really not huge motivation, as both clubs are highly likely to win their respective divisions.

I agree that NFC East is the strongest division, if we go by consistency of team strength. Even though the strongest clubs aren't as good as the AFC's best, there's no doormat, and the current cellar-dweller, Philly, is arguably dangerous. That said, the AFC South isn't too far behind (lag is due mostly to Houston), and the AFC North would be up there if Cincy wasn't having a horrible season (do the Bengals have any chance at turning it around, or is their season a write-off?).

Thanks to the invaluable "ignore list" feature (mine has one member, and it ain't Clem ), I hope to never know...

Hilly Kristal The Fighting Seabees G. B. Shaw

And now it's really over: UConn 22-15 USF.

Not that we should feel compelled to geographically justify our rooting preferences, but I'll note that Conn's avatar was born in Somerville, MA...

I pretty much draw the line at $20. I think I've bid over $20 a couple of times on eBay, but only on discs I expected to trade quite a bit higher (they did, so I didn't win). $25 would be the absolute "line in the sand."

Wow. I just looked up the details on Romo's contract, because I've always been inclined to view (non-guaranteed) football contracts as funny money compared with other sports. But Romo's deal is 6 years, $67 MM, with $30 MM guaranteed money. That seems pretty darn good for Romo. I didn't know football contracts had been including so much in guarantees. However, I also saw some comps: Marc Bulger, Rams, 6 years, $65 MM, $27 MM guaranteed; Matt Schaub, Texans, 6 years, $48 MM, guarantee not disclosed. That looks like a decent deal for the Cowboys, since Schaub had barely played before this season and Romo arguably has a brighter future (much brighter IMO) than Bulger.

The Angels, with an aggressive owner, always seem to come up as a possible destination for A-Rod. I wouldn't completely rule out the Mets, as they'd love to seize back-page tabloid headlines from the Yankees, but the price tag is likely too high. Ron Guidry's contract as pitching coach expired along with Torre's, and he appears unlikely to return, so jettisoning Mattingly would toss two NYY legends on the scrap heap. But I'm not sure that Mattingly's ready to manage yet. I'd be surprised if Torre manages next year. 67 years old, with a price tag of $5 million a year or more. Who are the big free-agent pitchers? Yankees will have to spend big bucks here, with Mussina looking washed-up, Clemens gone, Pettitte a question mark. Will the Cubs make any big moves? It's hard to believe that they spent so much money last off-season, given that the parent (Tribune) company is up for sale, but they could spend more after getting to the playoffs this year.

I got some Amazon gift certificates for recent birthday, and picked up some finance books. Finished the first, have skimmed parts of the others. Nassim N. Taleb, Fooled by Randomness; Taleb, The Black Swan; Richard Bookstaber, A Demon of Our Own Design; Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard Hudson, The (Mis)Behavior of Markets.

Al Haig Trio, Invitation Also, put in a low-ball bid on eBay, and got Dameronia Live at the Theatre Boulogne at a very low price. Awesome! I'm a huge Dameron fan...

Rrose Sélavy Marcel Cerdan Champ Bailey