College Football Pick'Em
I've started up a league on Yahoo Sports for anyone interested in picking the games for the remainder of the college football season. Go to http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college and search for group id (32839). If you want to join let me know by posting a comment to this blog and I'll send you the password.

iTunes 7.0 Blows!
If any of ya'll have iPods, whatever you do, don't upgrade to the new iTunes 7.0 software. It's got dozens of bugs including freezing every freakin' two seconds...like mine. Apple needs to get their shit together and issue a patch for this quick. Here's more:

iTunes 7 and iPod 1.2 update confound users by ZDNet's Jason D. O'Grady -- When Steve Jobs announced iTunes 7 I couldn't reload the download page fast enough. I was anxious to try out the first whole number upgrade to Apple's venerable jukebox application in almost a year. In the 10 or so days that I've been using the new iTunes I've had little or no problems with it. Unfortunately others haven't been so lucky.

Week 5 Picks

Click here to submit your college football picks for week 5.

Early Winter Dusting?

Let me rephrase that...barfing might be a better word. Are you kidding me? 11 inches at PHQ?

Couldn't have asked for a better snowfall last year. Hell, it broke numerous records allowing Vail to stay open an additional week. But wouldn't you know that the first winter we move away may prove to be the most brutal yet.

Ahhh, Memories

(webcam provided by TOV)

Vail's first dusting of the season.
Ski Swap's in a month or so.

#15 Tennessee 20, #5 Florida 21
Ainge had flashbacks of last year in what I would consider a small bump in the road to the SEC Title.


Other notable scores:
#3 USC 28, #23 Nebraska 10
#2 Auburn 7, #10 LSU 3
Ole Miss 14, Kentucky 31
#6 Michigan 47, #12 Notre Dame 21
Princeton 14, Lehigh 10

#13 Tennessee 31, Air Force 30

In a spectacular game this past Saturday evening, one can't help but give credit to Air Force for an incredible performance and be thankful that UT came away with the win. Neyland hasn't seen crowds this amped up or noise levels this high since '99 or '00. The air in Knoxville is electric heading into the weekend's game against #7 Florida. While UT's offense is running on all cylinders, the defense will certainly need to man up after losing starters "Inky" Johnson (cornerback) and Justin Harrell (tackle). Since having the piss smacked out of him by Cutcliffe, Erik Ainge is looking to be the quarterback everyone was expecting him to be and took SEC Player of the Week.

Other Scores Across the Country:
#19 Nebraska 56, Nicholls St 7
Ole Miss 7, Missouri 34
#25 Penn St 17, #2 Notre Dame 41
#8 Texas 7, #1 Ohio St 24
Lehigh 31, Villanova 28

Three Decades Of Agassi

#23 UT 35, #9 CAL 18

While many may have expected Tennessee to beat Cal in their season opener, very few expected them to do so in such convincing fashion. During the 3rd quarter, Tennessee quickly blew the game wide open jumping to a 35-3 lead before putting in their second team squads in the fourth. UT held the Golden Bears to only 64 yards rushing for the game. Erik Ainge had this to say, "This game tonight wasn't just Tennessee versus California. It was for the South versus the West Coast, the SEC versus the Pac-10."

With only two races left, the Sony 'Zipperhead' 500 at California Speedway and the Chevy 'CSA' 400 in Richmond, the field for the Chase has all but been determined. At 540 points back from Martin, Kasey Kahne's chances are looking pretty slim. On a seperate note, with drivers' wanting to 'play it safe', the race to the Chase has completely wussified the Bristol Sharpie 500 night race.

WEEK 1

Thoughts?

IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!!

Farewell, Vail

"Well this life that Ive lead has took me everywhere
There aint no place I aint never gone
But its kind of like the saying that you heard so many times
Well there just aint no place like home...
Did you ever see the beauty of the hills of carolina
Or the sweetness of the grass in tennessee...
Well you can take a boy out of ol dixieland
But youll never take ol dixie from a boy"

Holy Smokes!
Are you kidding me with this? Who would've thought that a month after Roland Garros we would have the treat of seeing a Federer-Nadal rematch in the final of Wimbledon? The same finalists haven't met back to back at the French and Wimbledon since 1952.
All the pieces are in place to make this an epic match. Should Federer win it will be his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title in a row and he will be one closer to tieing Borg's record of five. He will prove that, although Nadal has a winning record over him, he truly is the king of grass.
On the other hand, a Nadal victory would turn the tennis world upside down. It's been thirty years since a Spanish player has won Wimbledon and over twenty years since Borg won the French Open and Wimbledon back to back. Rafa's transition to grass in so short a time and relentless pursuit for #1 is nothing short of unbelievable. A month ago, the talk of the town was that if Federer won the French he may just be the best ever. Now, a month later, Rafa has a chance to take over the top spot.
Ever since Federer showed up on the radar in 2001 by ending Sampras' streak at Wimbledon, I've been a fan of his flawless style of classic tennis...but I can't help but pull for Nadal. Perhaps it's because he's considered the "underdog" (despite owning Roger so far) or perhaps its because it would cement these two champions into true rivalry status. Either way, "Vamos, Rafa!"

The End of an Era Vs. The Beginning of a New One
"The Punisher" Vs. "The Raging Bull"
Agassi Vs. Nadal

With this being Andre's last Wimbledon and Rafa striving to break free from being known only as a dirt baller, tomorrow morning's match should be nothing short of epic. In order for Andre to stand a chance, he needs to close the match out early. If it turns into a 4 to 5 setter, Agassi will have a hell of a time physically and mentally, as it seems Rafa's intensity usually goes into overdrive during late sets. Rafael was the victor in their only previous meeting.

Wimbledon: June 26 - July 9
With the 120th Championships at Wimbledon only a couple weeks away, I'm happy to see that the All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) has announced it will be providing free audio feeds of live action from three different courts. In addition, it appears wimbledon.org will also be carrying live video coverage throughout the tournament as a subscription service. This is great news because if NBC's coverage of Wimbledon is anything like their coverage of Roland Garros, it'll be crap.
Where to begin? Let me start by saying I thought ESPN2's coverage of the French Open was excellent and to go from ESPN during the week to NBC on weekends was gut-wrenching. First off, NBC only has a narrow time slot for their coverage which, for a good deal of the time, over-lapped with live coverage. Why then, would anybody want to watch a replay of a Federer/Nalbandian when Nadal is playing Ljubicic live? Show the live action first, then if there's time, come back to the replay. What does NBC do? They switch to the Nadal match eventually (not live) and then cut away for 'Day's Of Our Lives.' Reeediculous. Their selection of matches to replay during down times was horrible and I don't even want to get started on Mary Carillo as I'm off-topic enough as it is. The only good thing NBC has going for them is John McEnroe.
Oh yeah, James Blake moved up a spot in the rankings to #7.

Rafa rolls through Roland Garros
Federer's hopes of a Grand Slam were once again dashed within the walls of Roland Garros by none other than Rafael Nadal. Nadal won the French Open title in the fourth set at 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4). On paper it would seem Nadal's victory came fairly easily, however there were several key instances during the match where the momentum stood on razor's edge. After splitting sets, Nadal's first test came at 2-1 in the third set. Down 0-40 and facing triple break-point, Nadal showed incredible fortitude by battling back to level the set at 2 all. After winning out the 3rd, Nadal's second test came after Federer broke the young 20 year old's serve to even the fourth set at 5-5. The crowd was chanting "Roger, Roger" and it seemed Federer had found the window he was searching for to push this thing into a fifth...but Rafa wasn't having it. Both players held serve forcing the set into a tie-breaker and as quickly as Federer's window had appeared, Nadal slammed it shut. The Raging Bull has come a long way since last year and I think this shows that not only is he talented enough, but he has the mental toughness to start winning major tournaments on other surfaces.

Roland Garros
As we're nearing the semifinals it appears there could be a meeting of all top four seeds which hasn't happened since 1985. Federer (1), Nadal (2), and Nalbandian (3) are already in. Currently Ljubicic (4) is up a double-break, 5-2, in the first set and appears to be rolling.

Alex Honks Kate's Hooters

Arctic Jack?
The credits say otherwise, but it sure as hell looks like Jack.

EDIT: In the post-finale Official Lost Podcast, Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse put this one to rest...but he still could be kin to Jack. I doubt it though.