This is the worst Bill Simmons column I've ever seen. Awful.

I am on an orientation panel today. Topic: Intentional Spiritual Formation. It's me, another (supremely great) student, and the dean of the school. This oughta be good.

A's / O's, coming up. We've got tickets for the Friday and Saturday games. The A's are coming off of a sweep of Pawtucket, so they're feeling good.

Cheese

The Little League World Series...

...is not very good baseball. The fact that ESPN is airing games played by middle school kids and upping the pressure of the situation is one thing. The fact that, thanks to a foul-mouthed player and the coach who slapped him, they have to do it on a 5-second delay is just silly. Not silly like showing dominoes, darts, poker, aerobics, cheerleading, or the X Games on a sports channel, but silly.
Thanks go to my brother for alerting me to the existence of www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com
That's all. Life starts getting more interesting next week.

Daniel Cabrera pitched a complete-game shutout against Toronto; God be praised. If the O's are to avoid a 9th straight losing season next year, he will have to be a key player. The offense also scored 15 runs, which is always nice.
Ben Harper tonight at the Greek. I'm more excited about the venue (4 blocks from the apartment) than the performer, but it should be a good show.
I picked up the new-ish Coltrane set from the Half Note in 1965, and it's very, very good. The Half Note is now a convenience store. The idea of seing Trane's quartet (Elvin Bishop, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison) in a venue the size of a convenience store, especially in '65, when you can hear him trying to reach a higher plane through his playing, is something I can't comprehend.
Since I'm an Orioles fan, I'm getting excited for UNC Basketball this year. In the new landscape of college basketball, we have a legitimate shot at greatness. That game against Florida Atlantic will be a lot less awkward now that Matt Doherty is at SMU. Seeing him coaching the opposing team in the Dean Dome would be a very conflicting situation for me and most other Tar Heel fans.
Hooray for no more German classes!

There will be nearly 1700 players on the rosters of NFL teams this year. A particular one of them went to practice today under the supervision of his blowhard coach, who works for a blowhard owner whose face looks more than a little bit like that of Joan Rivers. Apparently this is a big deal. I could not care less, and I think the voluminous coverage of T.O.'s hamstring is a key indication that simply too much air time and too many column inches must be filled every day with sports news. Any field in which Skip Bayless becomes a noted figure is clearly oversaturated.

K and I watched "Little Miss Sunshine" the other night, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Very few movies manage to be both funny and good. I thought this one did.

My seminary buddy S and I went and hiked 11 miles along the Marin County coast today, which was a great change of pace and a nice way to spend a day. I'll miss that when I move.

I am dissappointed that I was not a Gomez fan during the last few years. My good friend K sent me an mp3 of "Revolutionary Kind" back when we were both exploiting the glories of university internet connections with pre-Napster litigation innocence. I liked the song a lot then, and for no good reason at all, never even bought an album. Now I am making up for lost time. "How We Operate" is a fine collection of pop songs by a band that can really play their instruments and harmonize. Good stuff.

The German language has permeated my brain. I now dream in German, which would be something if I spoke it fluently, or even competently. I really can only read German. As it stands now though, I say something I don't understand in my German dreams, and then people reply with more German that I don't understand. Maybe I should watch some foreign films, so I can dream in subtitles. Then again, maybe I'll just go see Talladega Nights, the cinematic equivalent of drinking a beer.

Random notes:

Jerry Garcia died 11 years ago yesterday.

I translated a german text last night detailing the role of "The Matrix" in propogating a feminist theological formulation of the Trinity. In English, of course, nouns don't have genders, so it matters less.

I was hoping that this would happen.

This may be my favorite standup bit ever.