You and I both have something more important to be doing.

 
Well, we did interview Calipari before settling on Quin ...
"Show your true colors."
posted by Robert M. LaFollette at 22:16

 
Iron Man: The Movie
Surprisingly, Marching Mizzou does not play a prominent role.

posted by Robert M. LaFollette at 12:51

 
Big Poppa recommends

9. Orbit Mint Mojito gum

I chew gum fairly often, but usually it's only to stave off hunger or halitosis. So I'll just grab whatever flavor is by the cash register, Icy Antarctic Frost Blast or whatever.

But Orbit Mint Mojito — now that's another story. The good folks at Wrigley have gone and upended my gum paradigm: This the first flavor I've had that I'll chew simply because of how delicious it tastes. It's like I can have dessert — for hours at a time!

(Plus, an opened pack will make your whole car smell lime-minty fresh.)

posted by Robert M. LaFollette at 16:02

 
My 20th season begins
I'm a big fan of pro football. (Probably my most cherished family tradition is watching the Packers game together every Sunday.)

I'm a big fan of college football. (Some of my favorite memories are of spending the Saturday at Faurot Field.)

And I'm a big fan of college basketball. (I think the best sports days of the year are the jam-packed first two days of March Madness.)

But there will always be a special place in my heart for baseball. It's the immaculate ballpark vistas, the relaxing pace, the cadence and banter of the radio announcers, the possibility of rallying back from any deficit, the hope that springs anew every spring. It's like seeing an old friend again and feeling like no time has passed.

Happy opening day to you and yours.

posted by Robert M. LaFollette at 12:59

 
Nein, you can't make this stuff up
It's always interesting to me to see how American news is covered around the world. So yesterday I went to see how big of a deal the Spitzer affair had become.

I discovered this at Die Bild. The German is amusing enough on its own ...


... but it's even better when you run it through a translation engine.


Wäh wäh.
posted by Robert M. LaFollette at 17:17

 
A voter's dilemma
Early voting has started for the Texas primaries, and I have a tough decision to make.

No, not whom to vote for — I pretty much have that figured out. No, it's a matter of which primary to vote in. Here, we don't have to be registered party members to vote in a primary (which is good, because I wouldn't want to declare allegiance to either side). So when I go to the polls, I just pick which ballot to fill out.

Usually this is a no-brainer. Every statewide office is held by a Republican, and the local offices are all but assured to go Republican too. So, regardless of how I plan to vote in the general election, I'll vote in the GOP primary since it essentially determines those races (plus, the Dems generally run unopposed anyway).

But this year, we have Obama vs. Hillary. And this is huge. Texans never get to have their vote matter on the presidential scene. It's not like Missouri, where you have big blue cities and vast red countryside — Texas is so red even the big cities vote GOP. So Texas' electoral votes really are a foregone conclusion, and our primaries are so late that the nominees usually are already decided. We never see candidates (unless they're raising money). ... until this year. (Now it's like, what, they have commercials for president? On TV?!) And not only does Texas matter in the Democratic race, it could very well decide the nomination. Huge.

So, on one hand, I could have a presidential vote that means something. But on the other hand, my vote for state representative will mean a lot more as 1 in 15,000 than my vote for president will as 1 in 2 million.

Too bad I can't vote buffet-style.

posted by Robert M. LaFollette at 11:08