Chug every time Scott McClellan says “ongoing investigation” and, like Amanda Congdon you too will become very drunk.

QuickTime, sound

Why a Steelpan Tribute to the Ramones? Why not?

Imagine 14 punk rock classics ripping through your speakers at warped speed, complete with 1-2-3-4 count offs, chants and shout outs in pure punk, fist raising abandon, all performed on the steelpans (or steel drums) strait from the islands!

Beating out speedy Ramones’ anthems like “Blitzkrieg Bop”, “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” and “Rockaway Beach”, to the tender love song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and one dropping “Pinhead” in true reggae fashion on the island style steelpan, “Pan For Punks” takes you on a punk rock journey like never before.

Samples and clips on the site.

I don’t care what they got in return, the A’s should never have traded Eric Byrnes!

The A’s acquired a right-handed power threat, but they lost one of their most popular players.

Eric Byrnes, who spent much of the season’s first half wondering if he’d be traded, finally received notice on Wednesday. He was sent to the Colorado Rockies in a deal consummated hours after the A’s picked up outfielder Jay Payton from the Boston Red Sox.

Surely they could have completed a deal for additional pitching, if that’s what they think they need, without trading away one of their two or three best players. I know I’ll miss seeing Byrnes’ energetic fielding and baserunning–and I bet the A’s will, too.

From The Register: Fox deceives millions during national pastime

As Fox came back from a commercial break in the bottom half of the third inning, many viewers caught sight of a very long, flashy banner draped over an equally ostentatious advertisement picturing a yellow Corvette. The banner read HHRYA.com with the letters done in pseudo Asian design – clearly the work of professionals. However, the Fox Sports broadcasters Joe Buck and Tim McCarver played off the ad like it was the work of a goofy sports fan, dangling his banner in the hopes of securing a moment of TV glory.

Here’s the chatter as Fox panned across the outfield and then held on the supposed fan’s sign for between 10 and 20 seconds.

“Welcome back to Detroit,” Buck said. “A lot of banners and signs around the ballpark. No surprise there. Somebody just unfurled a big banner behind left field.”

You’ll love the next bit, as Buck devolves into a second grader.

Read the rest; it’s just disgusting. Buck and McCarver are already among the absolute worst baseball telecasters, and now they’ve abandoned any semblance of dignity or allegiance to the game. I’ve come to dread Giants Saturday day games, because one or two out of four they are part of the “Fox Sports Saturday baseball package”… which means, usually, Buck and McCarver instead of Kruk and Kuip or Jon Miller or Greg Papa or even Dave Fleming. Most of the time I end up turning off the TV and listening to the radio instead, since I never did solve the DirecTV-vs-radio delay problem.

It wasn’t until I bit into the first rubbery
chunk of Larry Wilcox that I realized I
had purchased CHiPs Ahoy cookies by mistake.

(Matt Maynard via TopFive.com)