The Vig

Arizona Cardinals: They seem to be getting B-pluses for their draft yesterday. I still don’t get the Dominique Rogers-Cromarte thing. The Deion Sanders seal-of-approval is just too much for me to overcome. I wonder if they’ll come to regret not drafting Mendenhall and cutting Edge. We should know around week six or seven. They loaded up on much needed defensive ends in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th rounds. Throw in Tim Hightower and Brandon Keith, and I guess they did alright. Between Thanksgiving night at Philly and December 21 at New England, it’s going to be a tough year for the Cards. It may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise though, as Matt Leinart will stink the joint up, forcing the Cards to go QB in next year’s draft. And won’t that be fun.

Man City: A dumb loss to bottom-dwelling Fulham isn’t going to do anything to quiet the whispers that Sven Goran Eriksson may soon be out of work. Of course the whole of England would welcome his permanent deportation, I suspect, but still. The guy knows his soccer football. And the team is much better off with him running the show than they were with Pearce. As with all sports, you don’t fire the coach you have unless you believe the next one will be better.

Roger Clyne: Rick Emerson has talked me into seeing Clyne three times now in the last probably year-and-a-half. Each time I go and wait for the religious experience to hit me like Jake in the church. But it never does. Is it because I don’t listen to the cd’s I’ve bought? Is it because I’ve never visited Circus Mexicus? Is it because I think the show, especially Saturday night’s, is a little…forgive me Rick…cliché? I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. Clearly I need to see Clyne another three or four times before I form an opinion.

Diamondbacks: I was out with friends this afternoon when I should have been watching Webb vs Peavy. The Diamondbacks’ top-three pitchers (Webb, Haren, and Owings) have been lights out for the first month. Add in the Big Unit as the #4 starter, and visions of October can start dancing in one’s head. It’s way early yet, but who in the West is going to catch them?

Scalia: Say what you will, and you will. I liked the 60 Minutes interview.

You think there ought to be a right to abortion? No problem. The Constitution says nothing about it. Create it the way most rights are created in a democratic society. Pass a law. And that law, unlike a Constitutional right to abortion created by a court can compromise. It can…I was going to say it can split the baby! I should not use… A Constitution is not meant to facilitate change. It is meant to impede change, to make it difficult to change.

Pass a law.  Hmmmmm……

Portland Winter Hawks:  Hypothetical.  Let’s say I’m jazzed about hockey right now.  I watched the Stanley Cup playoffs this weekend and was mesmerized.  And let’s say I decided to pony up and get season tickets for next year.  Leave everything else aside…  Is there anyone in the office who can cash the check and assign me my seats?

The new Vancouver Freddy’s:  Normally I make the drive down to the Hollywood Freddy’s.  I really like that one.  Last night though I tried out the new one off SR-14.  Its nice and all, but they’re going to have a tough time living the whole opening week stabbing thing down.  The lady who checked me out summed it up well when she suggested customers wouldn’t let them live that one down for a while.  And she’s right.  Say what you will about “my” Fred Meyer store up at 79th and Highway 99, I never hear about people getting stabbed there.

So many thoughts tonight as I let the Obama victory sink in.

- Edwards, the great white male Boomer Democratic hope, is done. He spent the last four years pounding every corner of Iowa, shaking every hand, kissing every baby, hoping to use a victory as a springboard to greater things. It didn’t happen. He would have had my vote in the 2004 primaries, but I was still a registered Republican at the time. I never got past his declaring this time around in post-Katrina New Orleans. It seemed opportunistic to me. It just looked dumb. He’s also decided to take matching funds which is suicide in this era. There’s no way he’d make it from March through the conventions without money. I think he can play an important role in helping to shape Obama’s healthcare initiative. I hope he gets that chance.

- Driving home tonight as the caucuses began, I left a message for a friend of mine begging him not to make me vote for Hillary in November. It’s difficult to describe my reasoning other than to say I just don’t want four years of Republican nonsense that would surely accompany a Clinton presidency. We wouldn’t be able to last a week without hearing the words Vince Foster. Watching MSNBC’s coverage tonight, Chris Matthews practically wet himself at the thought of Hillary’s counter-punch, going on and on about how the campaign was strategizing and would find just the right words to air live on the 10pm news. It never happened. While I believe she’s in major trouble, I completely believe what a commenter said here a few weeks ago. They’ve still got some tricks up their sleeves. The question is if she does try to Swiftboat him, or something similar, will it backfire? I believe it will. I also believe the race will be all but decided two weeks from Saturday in Nevada. If she can’t win there, she won’t be able to win anywhere.

- Still until there’s a stake through her heart, I don’t discount Hillary. And neither does Obama.

- The conventional wisdom is finally catching up to something I was saying way back in September. There is no way Hillary and Obama will share a ticket in 2008. My ticket right now is Obama-Webb. I’m not alone.

- Huckabee. Limbaugh Conservatives have been in denial about the role and prominence of Evangelical Christians in their party. They were alright with them as long as they voted the way they wanted. I’m not sure what the Limbaugh wing of the party was thinking the Evangelicals would do this time around. Were they just going to sit on their hands and do nothing? Did the Limbaugh/Rove coalition secretly hope Christians would stay home and let Rudy or Romney skate away with the nomination? I think we found out tonight that’s not going to happen.

- Six weeks ago I figured Huckabee would be the #2 on any Republican ticket. This morning I figured Romney would win and Huckabee would be the Republican Howard Dean. Tonight I think Huckabee could well be the nominee.

- Rudy is sliding into irrelevance. Watching him on MSNBC was painful. The words 9/11 never left his lips, but he spoke about it in a ton of code. He kept referring to his experience handling crises. Well hes got one now. His strategy was to be the white knight candidate, lying in wait as Romney and McCain beat each other to a pulp up north. It’s falling apart in front of him. Hillary actually tried to run a similar strategy in 2006, figuring there would be no front runner by the Fall and she would just slide into the race around Thanksgiving. She was forced into the race way earlier than she wanted. Right now, every time you see Huckabee on the front page, consider it another opportunity lost for Mayor 9/11.

- I had much bigger hopes for Ron Paul.

- Kos can kiss my butt.

You know, I was going to vote for Obama and even announced that a week or so ago. But this is a great example of why it’s best to wait and see how things shake out. Not being blinded by candidate worship, it’s easier to sniff out the bullshit. And you have to have your head stuck deep in the sand to deny that Obama is trying to close the deal by running to the Right of his opponents. And call me crazy, but that’s not a trait I generally appreciate in Democrats, no matter how much it might set the punditocracy’s hearts a flutter.

Keith “If you take away the Independent vote, Obama only wins 32-31″ Olbermann can too. Obama has an opportunity to unite like no candidate in my lifetime. And that means heading toward the middle to pick up independents and even *gasp* Republicans. He’s right in step with a ton of Americans who are fed up with our political inertia. I know I’m gushing like a schoolgirl, but I honestly don’t care.

So that’s that. At this point, I’m focusing on Nevada two weeks from Saturday. If Obama wins there, it’s Katie, bar the door.

Sorry for the late post today. I worked late last night then was up early this morning. I had to set my alarm! The weekend overall was relaxing. I didn’t eat nearly as much as some would have liked, but whatever. I watched some football and made a couple of magnificent discoveries on Turner Classic Movies, of all places.

Arizona State: To be honest with you, I harbor no ill will toward Dennis Erickson. I was one of those who buried my head in the sand when the talk of him leaving Oregon State sprouted up a few years ago. I thought he’d be here forever. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Yet I didn’t feel burned by his leaving. I still feel blessed for what we had. I think I’m one of the few. So I’ve been cheering on the Sun Devils all season. I thought they’d get by Oregon and USC and contend. I was wrong. But Erickson is close. The rematch with the Trojans next season will be fantastic.

Oregon Ducks: I texted my buddy Doug a few minutes into the fourth quarter on Saturday when UCLA was up 9-0. “This is the equivalent of watching a grown man drown in an inch of water.” I get that Leaf, Stewart, and Dixon were all on the sidelines. I get it. But the Ducks can’t even get a field goal on the board? Wow. Forget this season (how in the world do they stay in the top-20?), it’s next season Duck fans should be worried about. Their top-three offensive players will all be gone and there was no one Saturday to pick up that slack. Yikes.

6A Playoffs: This made me very happy. I don’t know anything from anything when it comes to high school football these days. I’m taking Tualatin. Like I said, I know nothing.

Man City: I’m never going to figure the schedule out over there. They had a break before Thanksgiving for something called Euro 2008. Again, I’ve no idea what it is or why. I do know England lost to Croatia and immediately fired their coach so the whole nation is in a tizzy right now. Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson just chuckled as he guided the Blues to three more points with a thrilling win in stoppage on Saturday.  They need to make hay in the next four matches (Wigan, Bolton, and two against Tottenham) because the last two of 2007 against Blackburn and Liverpool will be huge and go a long way toward solidifying their position in the table.

Underdog Pool: I had the Jets last week and the Niners this week, which means I’ve rocketed up the standings and now stand withing shouting distance of the leaders.  It’s a long shout, but I’ll take what I can get.

Arizona Cardinals:  I received text messages yesterday from all four corners of the country within minutes of the Cardinals loss yesterday.  I guess this means I’ve arrived as a Cardinals blogger.  I can’t say I was shocked by the loss.  The fact I had the Niners in the underdog pool should say everything you need to know.  Everything was set-up perfectly yesterday for heartbreak.  The Seahawks looked terrible in the morning game and the Niners have been dead most of the season.  A Cards win would keep them statistically tied for first place (remember “we” have the tie-break against Seattle right now) and in the hunt for the playoffs.  But success and the Cards are like oil and water.  It’s just not meant to be.  I’m planning a full post on the Cards for sometime this week.

Winter Hawks: I didn’t make it to the game on Saturday, I was working the day job instead.  I’d scheduled it way back before the trades and honestly thought there would be no reason to show up.  By the time I decided to go, it was too late.  Alas.  I’m planning to do a full post on the Hawks at some point down the line as well.

Turner Classic Movies: If you don’t have the digital cable, you missed out on two treats this weekend.  First they showed all the Andy Hardy films back-to-back.  I never knew they existed until Saturday.  Watching the Chinese doctor, played by Keye Luke, who went on to a spectacular career, treat the paternal yet xenophobic Judge Hardy was a sight.  The other find was How to Murder Your Wife.  I only caught the first half hour or so, but it’s got me running down to Fry’s this afternoon to pick it up on DVD.  It’s that good.  It’s like one of those movies Channel 12 used to show on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  I wish they’d do that again.