My attempts at athleticism yesterday, cycling 10 miles followed by four hours of water volleyball, have left me very sore. I would even say stove up. It is a firm reminder that one must work up to these kinds of things, especially after three years of doing nothing but ranch work. Now, where did I put those Advil?

Craig Henry has the angle on the Kobe Bryant rape case covered cold. He’s dead-on in this post that rips Fox a new one, and he hasn’t posted a thing on the subject I don’t agree with.

Many reporters seem instinctively pro-Kobe. In Jacksonian America we wonder if that is because Bryant is a rich celebrity athlete. We doubt that the average person would receive the same active defense. “Fair and balanced” is for politics. In this case, the coastal elites seem to stick up for their own.

My thoughts are that the whole thing is somewhere in the middle of the poles that have emerged. I know that’s shocking to you. There’s the possiblity of a small speck of gold-digger in the gal from Colorado, and there’s almost definitely a large part of Michael Irvin-style “can I tell you who I am?” in Kobe Bryant.

What I mostly find disgusting is that a rape case can seemingly take over the entire media. That this country is so infatuated with sparkly demi-celebrity. This is a man who plays a kids game in his underwear. But he does it for a team based in the most celebrity-besotted city in the world. So the rest of us are gonna have to hear all 3,000 tons of the bullshit that are already starting to drown us. There’s a problem, a dichotomy there, an extreme clashing of the gears in my brain, that makes me just shake my head and doubt for the future of us.

YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!

Yahoo! News - Strong GDP Lifts Stocks; Dow Closes Up 34

Wall Street advanced Thursday on news that the economy grew at a much stronger than expected pace in the second quarter and that jobless benefits claims fell for a third week in a row. The market also rose for the month of July, with its standout achiever the Nasdaq composite index that climbed for a sixth straight month - a feat not seen in eight years.

Even sitting here jobless for a full frikkin month, this is GREAT NEWS! I’ve probably got enough dry powder to hold out another month or two, as long as we eat bologna and chicken. Based on the calls I’m getting and the people I’m talking to, I’m not suicidal, and as a man who is prone to bungee-jumping highs and lows, that’s almost shocking, in a self-referential, navel-gazing kind of way.

The major problem with me finding a job right now, today is that all of the hiring managers are too busy to get in front of. They’re doing the work of two and sometimes three people, and that’s A Good. My industry is not horribly cyclical, but it does have it’s peaks and troughs…knowing that the Go-To Guys are busy in what is typically the worst quarter (revenue-wise) of the year is heartening. There is hope!

Check back later when I’ve had a couple of beers…I’ll probably be chewing on the barrel of my grandpap’s Police Positive.

I was watching the game the other night when this feat happened, but I couldn’t be shaken out of my ennui long enough to blog about it. I knew Ed would have the best view of it, anyway:

That, my friends, comes the closest to describing the high I have this morning. My reality is warped. I am in a hazy dream state. I feel so good it can’t be legal. Or real.
Only in a drug-induced fantasy can this be true: “[Bill] Mueller belted three home runs, drove in a career-high nine runs and became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in the same game¦” (Horrigan, Herald).

Not just in the same game, but in back-to-back at-bats, as I recall. No fan wants his team to be on the receiving end of such history, but no fan can resist applauding such a crazy feat. I hope everybody there that night realizes what they saw and saved their ticket stubs.

Last night, the little stRangers whipped out the big lumber and beat the BoSox, 9-2. They did it with homers from rookies Lance Nix and Mark Texeira, and 2nd-year man Hank Blalock. While that is truly well and good, we Ranger fans have been here before. Big sticks and longballs. I sure want to see some pitching to go with the thunder and lightning, too. Beginning to doubt it will ever happen.