GOD DO I HATE FOX!!!!! Walter Jacobson particularly. "Major story for Chicago sports" my ass, Walter. They just broke into the Simpsons for Sammy "Cheater" Sosa's life-changing postgame press conference on his freakin' corked bat. (When I say life-changing, I'm being facetious.) For freakin' Christ's Sake! Yes, it's a story, but it's NOT WORTH BREAKING INTO PROGRAMMING FOR THIS CRAP! It's not like Sosa was shot or punched somebody or came barreling out of the dugout like a madman ready to kill anyone in the way a la George Brett here...he admitted to picking the wrong damn bat. Jesus I hate this town's media outlets, TV especially. I'm soooooo glad I didn't go into broadcast journalism. I expect this from ESPN, and they're SUPPOSED to do that, sure. But not the freakin' networks. God DAMN! Oh God, the asshole reporter who is at Bears games all the time and asks the stupidest questions just asked a question...I recognized his voice--it's very distinguishable. He's also in the PFWA (Professional Football Writers of America) and was a complete and total prick at the annual PFWA meeting at the Super Bowl. Jackass. Sadly, I forget his name or even where he works, exactly. But I missed his question...it probably was stupid and worthless...he asked Baker a stupid question too. God. Oh, brainiac Telander just asked Dusty Baker if he believes Sosa that none of his other bats are corked. Please, please, please make it stop. What's Dusty going to say? "No, Rick, I don't believe my superstar player, let's go check his bats now. In fact, I'm benching him for the rest of the season for being stupid." And don't give me the "they were fishing for quotes to use in their story" excuse. Do reporters have brains anymore? Ugh. Here's another winner: "Dusty, is it common for players to use corked bats?" Please...I'm sure Dusty's ready to start the expose right here and right now. While he's at it, here's another cheapy quote that every ballplayer uses steroids...man. Now the freakin' analysis from Corey McPherrin, who usually is pretty good...but he just said, "I want to believe him, but we HAVE TO be cynical." Ahhhh...I hate these people. Oh thank God, Walter just told us they're going to "stay on top of this story." Damn good thing...phew...I was worried.

Anyway, happier news. So how does a 17-6 five-inning slaughter rule win sound for ya? The PFW Maulers are rolling right now, and hopefully it continues. We've now won three straight games and have looked better every time out. How does a six-strikeout performance in my first real start sound? For softball? Pretty damned good. I pitched lights out today. I didn't hit all that well, but I got on base twice and scored both times. I'm now 3-0 as a pitcher, by the way, but who's counting? :) I flat-out dominated on the mound tonight, and I'm thrilled to death about it. I hope it continues. This league is so much better than the previous leagues we were in, and not because the teams are better, per se, but more so that they're worse, and thus we're competitive. There are no undefeated teams or winless teams, and we're 3-2 now. This is great. :)

Let's see if beach volleyball tomorrow goes as well as softball did today.

I finally got the new "Weird" Al Yankovic album. Overall, on the first couple listens, it's average (compared to previous albums) at best. However, there's a good style parody of Bob Dylan called, simply, "Bob," that uses ALL palindromes. I find it quite funny and damn intelligent. There's also a parody of the Backstreet Boys (ick) "I want it that way" called "Ebay" that's pretty damned witty. He even has a song that has some moral message to it, which is pretty damned unusual for him. It's not bad, just kind of unexpected. But overall, it's about average at this point. Even the polka compilation he does isn't up to snuff, really...there's some weird trumpeting in there instead of accordian playing...it's odd. But, hey, I'll still buy his albums, no doubt. :)