T.D.

So what do you think abou it? Now, I haven't heard the Bakery album, but I know that Lundgren can play, if given the right setting. It seems that he is rather conventional when he's calling the shots himself, but can be forced into a more adventurous mode if the setting asks for it. I just ordered it, will post some impressions when it arrives. This session may fall on the conventional side, but it's repertory I really enjoy (bop standards, incl. tunes by Dameron, Gryce, Bird, Silver, Bud et al.), so I'll surely have an opinion.

Interesting article. I had already read it, because the link had been posted on various chess sites. I like chess a lot. Played as a kid/teen, then picked it up again just before age of 40. But it's a tough game in the sense that mastery requires a great deal of obsession, and many chess players are rather, er, unbalanced...I haven't been playing as much, or keeping up with "theory" (studying openings is really boring), the past couple of years.

I haven't bet on football (aside from Super Bowl pool squares) for quite a few years, and my former betting was never successful. But I pay attention to point spreads and over-unders (nothing more exotic). For instance, the football pools on this forum only require picking outright winners, so taking the biggest favorites (as measured by point spread) is almost a no-brainer. I won the playoff pool last year by going almost totally by point spread. Granted, there were very few participants, and my picks only differed from Conn's by one game...

Jan Lundgren Trio, Cooking at the Jazz Bakery. This is somewhat of a gamble, as I've never heard anything by Lundgren, but I recently read some good writeups on Doug Ramsay's blog and elsewhere.

Enter my vote in the "Who f***ing cares?" category...

-Yawn- This s**t happens every year that NYY don't win it all. Steinbrenner lets Torre and Cashman twist in the wind. Granted, firings become more likely each year that NYY don't win it all, but by this time the Boss's antics are just tiresome. There's some media dynamic of trying to get more attention than the Mets, and to distract attention from the teams still playing, but IMO Steinbrenner can go shove it...

Juan Antonio Flecha Lew Archer Scotty Bowman

several months ago, several writers, considering the state of the illini facilities, couldnt imagine how they managed to get such an awesome recruiting class. .......scandal just over the horizon? http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/stor...&id=3051881 You never know, but Coach Ron Zook has always been known as an exceptional recruiter; he brought a whole bunch of talent to Florida, but got fired due to win-loss record (his coaching has been regarded as less exceptional ). [Added: The past couple of years, it's become apparent that Big Ten football is rather over-rated. Perhaps Zook doesn't have to resort to recruiting chicanery to win in that league. ] If the Illini keep winning, he'll get plenty of money for better facilities...

I still think this argues for some flaws in organization for such a mega-event. For instance, the NYC Marathon gets massive support from the NY police and fire departments. If there was any hint of water running out, fire hydrants would have been cracked open to make up for shortage. OTOH, the NYC event brings so much money into city coffers (thousands and thousands of European entrants stay in hotels and eat in restaurants for the better part of a week) that the city can justify support expenses. This may not be the case in Chicago. [Disclaimer: I'm by no means biased toward the NYC Marathon; the race was not at all to my taste, and I preferred to run in much smaller marathons...]

Interesting. I thought this must have been some kind of mistake, and that the offer would disappear...Probably too late to order now. I recall the early days of e-commerce, when there were huge numbers of fly-by-night Internet CD vendors. Pricing mistakes were fairly common, with multiple-CD sets being offered at single-CD prices. I made one memorable haul, buying a premium 8-CD imported classical box for around $15. I didn't feel any guilt, as the dopey vendors were hoping to go public and rip off potential equity investors. Over time, the surviving vendors tended to cancel such erroneous "sales," though.

I'm not too surprised by the turnovers. A big key to the Pack's 4-0 start was Favre's disciplined play. I felt that, with a cushion in the standings and the TD pass record in hand, he might revert to the wild gun-slinging, pass-forcing Favre of the past few years. That seemed to happen in the second half.

Shag Crawford Joey Crawford Tim Donaghy

I used to run a lot of marathons, though none since '94... Actually, anything over 70 degrees gets uncomfortably warm for a marathon; you're already pushing your body to the limit, so incremental heat has a big effect. I ran one in 88 degree weather, Grandma's Marathon 1988 in Minnesota, and it was a really ugly experience, especially since it was early June and nobody was yet acclimated to the heat. The NYC Marathon had a terribly hot 1984 (iirc, even hotter than yesterday's Chicago), and several hot ones thereafter, and wound up rescheduling the race from October to November. Can't speak for the LaSalle sponsorship, but I expect the Chicago event to continue, though perhaps moved to later in October. It's too bad about the death, but those things happen from time to time in distance events, regardless of the weather. I agree that the planning was horrible. As urban marathons expand to almost unthinkable size (35,000+ starters?), there will be untold numbers of marginally fit (euphemism) participants, and organizers should provide for their safety. The number of water/aid stations seemed irrationally small for such a huge event. I think NYC has aid stations every mile, and this was the case even when the race was less mega-sized (I ran it in 1985, when there were "only" about 17,000 runners).

Ray LaMontagne La Monte Young Jeff "Tain" Watts

Can't feel any sympathy about the lying. And the doping revelations are no surprise, as athletics cognoscenti have felt for many years that she was dirty. Further, I believe that athletics (track and field) is so dope-ridden that busts have lost their capacity for surprise. There's something a little strange about Jones's compulsion to dope, though. I recall when she was a sensational high school athlete (track and basketball), and this carried over into college (UNC, iirc). She seemed to have incredible talent. Either: (a) she took drugs because she lacked confidence in her ability; or (b) international athletics is so dirty that it's impossible to win without drugs. If (a), I'd feel this is a tragedy, but I'm more inclined to (b). [Disclaimer: I used to be a big track and field enthusiast, but have gradually drifted away since the age of EPO, which wreaked havoc on the record books of the distance events I followed.]

In hindsight (after the Stanford loss), that appears to have been an excellent call.

Nicolas Rossolimo Giovanni Sollima Solly Hemus

Michael Dibdin, End Games. Jacket says it's the last Aurelio Zen novel. Quite good, too. Bill James, Easy Streets and Wolves of Memory. Recent installments in the Harpur and Iles series, continuing the pattern of not being as strong as earlier installments. Streets was more enjoyable, Wolves perhaps overly psychological (little explicit action).

Jesus. I never thought of reading it backwards until just now! And I'm usually good at picking up that sort of thing...honest.

Thanks. Didn't mean to bitch; I was just really curious about where the article came from.

Interesting, thanks for posting. But you've clearly cut and pasted it from somewhere; could you please provide a citation or a link?...In other words, where did it come from?

I recently placed an order for 6 OJCs (to cop the free shipping). Noticed something interesting. When I purchased (a s**load of, in 2 orders) CDs from the Concord Blow-Out Sale last summer, the merchandise shipped from California. The current order shipped (yesterday) from Mansfield, Ohio. So the location of the corporate warehouse seems to have changed; good for me, as Fedex Ground to the East Coast is a lot faster. I never spoke with Jackson, but wonder if he's still the action guy...

Tristan Tzara Mike Fratello Larry Mondello

I just ordered some OJCs from the Concord sale (not a bad deal if you get over the free shipping threshold): Art Farmer, Farmer's Market Hampton Hawes, Bird Song Clifford Jordan, Bearcat Clifford Jordan, Spellbound Blue Mitchell, Out of the Blue Bobby Timmons, Soul Time

Euge Groove Iggy Stooge Ignatius J. Reilly