vs

Gmail chat is a glorious thing for discussing the most relevant debates in the history of the world.


In the red corner:
The Wire
Why it should win: it is the greatest police drama ever, and shows a love for the city of Baltimore, scars and all, that no other show would dare touch.

In the blue corner:
Veronica Mars
Why it should win: it is the greatest high school film noir dramedy ever, and fosters an unhealthy crush on a 5 foot blonde pixie.

The character discussion between myself and Mr. Marinara:

__________________________

9:36 AM Matt: Who would win weevil vs marlo?

Mano y mano

9:37 AM me: I think I would have to go with Marlo. Weevil fights dirty, but he never demonstrated that he'd be willing to take a life

Matt: Next question

PCHers vs Marlos Crew

me: same thing

9:38 AM PCHers - they're hoodlums but not murderers. Chris Partlow is one bad mofo

Matt: Marlow vs Logans dad

9:39 AM me: lol

9:40 AM I think I'll go with Aaron Echols' extensive experience on that one. plus he would know how to cover it up and then seduce Snoop.

Matt: Dick Casablancas vs mr pryzbo

me: which Pryzbo? the one in S3, or the one in S5?

9:41 AM Matt: S1

me: Dick would walk all over him

but I bet Pryzbo would like to hang out with Beaver

9:42 AM Matt: Rawls vs sheriff lamb

9:43 AM me: Rawls might try to seduce him too

and Rawls knows how to survive. Lamb got taken out with a baseball bat

Matt: Keema vs veronica

me: don't toy with my emotions like that

9:44 AM Matt: Fine

me: with any luck Keema would try to seduce Veronica. everyone wins.

Matt: Keith mars vs McNulty

9:45 AM me: Keith. McNulty wouldn't be sober enough, and he's never shown a penchant for knuckling up

Matt: Veronica vs freemon

9:46 AM Who is the better detective

me: Freemon. he's the man. but Veronica is on her way.

9:53 AM Pryzbo vs Mac

9:54 AM Matt: Mac she drives a better car

me: yes, this is true. although, now that I think about it, they BOTH got locked out of their cars! Donut sprung Pryzbo, Veronica sprung Mac

Matt: Wallce v Bubbles

me: Wallace. he never lets you down.

Matt: Beaver vs Randy

9:56 AM me: Beaver, pre-S5 Wire

Matt: Vinny Van Low vs Herc

me: oh gosh, 2 loathsome characters

9:57 AM which has seen seedier sights? a private dick, snapping money shots, or Herc, who has seen the Mayor's private dick?

9:58 AM I'll go with Vinny. he's not as dumb.

9:59 AM Matt: logan vs fruit

10:00 AM me: Logan. he knows how to cover his sexual escapades better

10:01 AM Matt: Bunny vs the crafty dean elias

10:02 AM me: Bunny would win on principles, but would get fired in the end

10:05 AM Matt: here is a good one

Pearlman vs Cliff McCormack

10:06 AM me: lol

Cliff would even admit that he's no match for Ronny

10:07 AM Stringer Bell vs Jake Kane

Matt: thats funny

i was just typing it out

me: lol

Matt: this is tough

10:08 AM me: both know how to get things done, are business enterprisers, and have underlings to do the dirty work.

10:09 AM Matt: because season 1, i would have to go with stringer because he has weebay as muscle

10:10 AM but Clarence Wiedman is one tough dude

so here is one

the fighting fitzpatricks vs the Greeks crew

10:12 AM me: lol

I love the fighting Fitzpatricks

10:13 AM but they're no match for the Greeks. they'd get their feet cut off.

10:15 AM Matt: and their heads

and their hands

10:19 AM Cyrus O'Dell vs Valchek

me: Valcheck is a cockroach, he would know how to survive anything

10:20 AM and he might finally get his stained glass window hung in the church as well

10:21 AM Matt: here is a tough one

10:22 AM Baby Mama(De'Londa Brice) vs Mindy O'Dell

10:24 AM me: I'm gonna go with Mindy O'Dell on this one. DeLonda acts tough, but in the end has no real strength and just mooches off of others.

Matt: fine

10:40 AM Brianna vs Celeste Kane

10:41 AM me: oooh, now that's a good one.

10:42 AM I'm gonna go with Brianna, b/c while Celeste is manipulative and vindictive, it is clear that Brianna serves as half the brains of the original Barksdale operation. She and Stringer were the brains, Avon was the fear, Weebay was the muscle

10:43 AM Matt: Clarence Wiedman vs Omar

10:44 AM me: well, they'd never actually face off against each other. Wiedman would chase Omar, and Omar would pilfer Kane's software and then offer to sell the engineering back to him at a hefty surcharge.

10:47 AM Matt: Here is the absurd

Pizz v Prop Joe

10:49 AM me: I guess that's about as good as any Prop Joe match-up. Pizz would try to whack him with his guitar, but Joe would offer him the proposition to instead go and whack Logan.

10:50 AM Matt: Woody Goldman vs Clay Davis

(this will be the last one)

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit

10:52 AM me: Woody gets about a 9.7 on the creepy factor. Clay would blackmail him on his young boy fetish and milk him for lunch money at Bo Brooks

10:56 AM Matt: that is blog worthy

but it no longer fits on the house of marinara

put it on the sustain

10:58 AM me: fo sho

Darkness and Light

I have reflected on the Amish tragedy for a week now, and it still both shames and encourages me. It shames me b/c my own faith sometimes feels light years apart from their commitment to love their enemies. It is one thing to say that I know I should love those people that I don't like. It's quite another universe, nay, dimension to not say, but love, an enemy at the moment when the pain is most searing and the volcanic desire for retribution at its apex. And yet it is encouraging b/c it reaffirms John 16:33, where Jesus says, "I have told you these things so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

At a time when the darkness is most dense and the ability to forgive is at its foggiest, the piercing light of grace and forgiveness destroys that darkness in a way that darkness cannot comprehend or refute it.

I think this editorial post says it well.

What I most respect though is not for what the writer does say, but what he doesn't say. The writer never makes the mistake of calling the Amish 'passive' or 'pacifists.' And that is right on. There is nothing pacifist about their actions - their actions are the emobiment of Christ's love at its most aggressive.

There may yet be hope for me.

Hi Jeff, thanks for stopping by

Ok, that's enough. Move along now.

A good friend of mine, the author of daily Odes to Mental Midgetry, recently had the pleasure of becoming a father for the first time. In my own joy for his burgeoning adventure into fatherhood, I once again reflect on my own daughter, who is now 21 months old. Though I'm sure that discipline and training will be an issue for many years down the road, I must say that despite these inevitable challenges that there is nothing about her that I do not, or even cannot, enjoy. Typically in this world when someone asks a new parent what they like best about being a new parent, they will say such things as, "it's fun to watch them learn something new each day," or "it's amazing how they're this tiny person and everything is a new adventure to them." While those things are true, when I watch my daughter - just simply watch her - I cannot shake the feeling that the experience is all together much more significant, precious, and even spiritual.

The creating God does not reach the goal of His creation until He has set over agaginst Him His image in man. From this last fact it is plain that the self-revelation of God, the unveiling of His being, is the final end of the creation of the world; or, to express it more generally, that the whole world serves to reveal the divine glory, and is thereby the object of divine joy. -- Gustav Oehler, 1873

Well said, Gustav.

Closing Bell for Trades

I'm wondering (hoping, really) if Isaiah's remaining supporting faction (both of them) were sitting around at 2:55NYT, snickering to themselves, "What a play Mr. Thomas has done! He stockpiled all the shoot-first point guards in the league, and then just sat back and waited for needy teams to come knocking on his door with their gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Shoot, we might wind up with KG AND Kenyon when all is said and done. You gotta hand it to Mr. Thomas - classic brinksmanship!"

"By the way, what time you got???"

Zeke or LB?

With NY Knicks GM Isaiah Thomas' most recent trade, bringing Stevie "Franchise" Francis in at the cost of losing cheap labor and an expiring contract bargaining chip, the questions I have are these:

1. Who will leave the Knicks organization first- Zeke or Larry Brown?
2. With Zeke flaming out of this job in spectacular fashion, at what point do the people who make Decisions say, Zeke's resume consists of the following:
1. He lmost single-handedly bankrupted the CBA. (CBA is now flourishing again since he's left)
   
2. He practically stole the Indiana head coaching job from Rick Carlisle, took a team that had come within two wins of a championship, and made it a borderline 8th seed for two years before he was fired.
   
3. He hoodwinked the Knicks organization into giving him free reign after the Knicks experienced the Scott Layden debacle. Sort of like breaking up with a girl that has a few too many personality quirks and then immediately hooking up with a hot chick at a bar who immediately moves in with you, and only then do you find out that she's Defcon-5 level crazy.
   
4. He has leveraged his team into a group of guys that consist of no less than 7 (seven!) shooting guards, most of whom need high volume to produce points.
5. He has placed two out of the three most "me-first" shooting guards in the league in the same backcourt together. (I'm sure you can guess who the third is)
6. He traded for a big guy whose downside is that he could potentially die on the court.
7. He traded for another big guy who has parlayed two months of hard work into a $30mm contract, and is now quite content to stop working again.
   
8. He was just slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit.
9. He's a tempermental prima donna who refuses to accept criticism or responsibility.
   
10. Oh, and everybody who has worked for him hates him. Super guy.
3. All this said, wouldn't it be a perverse pleasure to see LB put on the court, all at once, Starbury, Stevie Franchise, Nate "Take 14" Robinson, Jalen Rose, and Jerome "People Love Me" James???

So given the quagmire (gigidy gigidy goo!), who leaves first? Zeke or LB?

Fearless (or maybe fearful) prediction: with this kind of track record, is Zeke violently careening toward an OJ-level meltdown? Let's just say that if this sexual harassment lawsuit doesn't go his way, and I find myself watching TV one night and the network suddenly switches over to a police car chase where Bill Laimbeer is slowly driving a white Bronco down the Detroit freeway, I'll be shaking my head knowingly.

Costas Now

Quote of the day:

''I read somewhere that you said in addition to testing yourself against the best, winning a gold medal and competing in the Olympics would help you get so many babes, which is pretty much what Baron Pierre de Coubertin had in mind when he founded the Olympic Games.''

--BOB COSTAS TO U.S. SNOWBOARDING GOLD MEDALIST SHAUN WHITE

What a wonderful combination of sarcasm, smarminess, and general appreciation for sports history, all directed at the Flying Tomato. If David Stern were to ever run for President, I would truly hope that Costas would be his Dick Cheney.

Missing Ralph Wiley

I was recently reminded of the life and work of one of my favorite writers, Ralph Wiley, the other day. Ralph died of heart failure in 2004, and left a tremendous void in the world of intelligent sports writing. He would frequently visit the Sports Reporters radio show in DC and I was amazed at his rapport with a predominantly white station crew. And I was thinking how Wiley provided an insight to ESPN readers that was so deep, so complex, that I realized that once he had died ESPN went on a hunt to try and fill his void as the one guy writing for ESPN who could truly articulate the complexities of race & sports.

And who did they find? Scoop Jackson and Stephen A. Smith. Scoop's writing has improved over his time with ESPN, though he's still trying to bite off more than he can chew and it leaves the reader with an empty feeling. He's a Beck's Dark to Wiley's Guinness Stout, if you will. Screamin' A. is a waste of space. His lone talent is his ability to secure interviews (and pandering interviews at that) with famous black athletes who may not be as candid with white interviewers. These two guys don't even scratch the surface of what Ralph produced during his lifetime.

Which brings me to my point/question - if Ralph hadn't died and left this huge void, would these two guys even have jobs? Something to think about...

Wiley's ESPN Archives

Predicting the Pistons' upset of the Lakers two years ago

Understanding Kobe years before the rest of us

Shut Down Lines