The Tribe won today to get back on track, after dumping three in a row. Here are some things we should be talking about, going into today's game:

Jack Hannahan is hitting .185 in May, with only 2 extra-base hits.

Big hit for Shelley Duncan today. He was hitting .135 in May. But still hits lefties at .303.

Orlando Cabrera has walked only 6 times.

Carlos Santana has knocked in 4 runs in May. Lou Marson has 1. That's 5 RBI from the catcher this month.

Michael Brantley is at .259 before his big triple and single today. Looking good.

Shin-Soo Choo is apparently coming out of it. Last 2 weeks, .353 BA, .439 OBP, .500 Slugging. Those are Choo-like numbers. Has to sustain that to get back to his levels of last 2 years.

No numbers necessary. Asdrubal Cabrera is your All-Star representative.

Matt LaPorta is not really doing anything great. Plugging along at .250, slugging and OBP down in May.

That's why it's not so much the pitching this year. It will be the hitting that takes the Tribe to wherever they wind up this year.

Meal of Links

Commuting. It's killing us.

Cities accept crazy people. Corporations do not.

Ten myths about bedbugs. Beware.

Exercise Yard

The Champions League Final proved one thing. Barcelona is the best club in the world. Complete domination, starting with about 70% possession, of Manchester United. Goals by Messi and Villa offset one by Rooney.

Uh...Messi is Great



Barca wins, 3-1. Crank up the "greatest club ever" talk.

Visitor

48 Down: Willem of "Spider-Man" (5 letters) Answer: Dafoe

Things are looking up. The Cavs got the Number 1 pick in the draft and also got the Number 4 pick, from the Baron Davis trade. So, the NBA lottery goes our way!

The ramifications of that go way beyond just the players acquired. If those two are parlayed into star players, along with the trade exception still lingering, they may be able to get back to respectability quickly. Hence, fewer empty seats, more revenues, and on and on.

Who cares if it was fixed.

Just can't have the world end this Saturday.

Meal of Links

The ESPN book comes out next week and the buzz is really high. GQ has an excerpt. The subject of the excerpt? Why, Keith Olbermann, of course. His reign of terror at ESPN was legendary. "Welcome to the end of my career." still rates as one of the best lines ever uttered on TV.

Jerry Lewis is out as the MDA Telethon host. Probably due to the fact it's only 6 hours this year.

Elaine's in New York is closing. She once threatened this guy.

Dylan and his cult. One man wants it stopped.

According to Peter Griffin on last week's "Family Guy": "1985 brought us the gayest music video of all time":



"This happened and we all let it happen." I was on the floor.

Seth Macfarlane reboots "The Flintstones". That has hit written all over it.

You hit a deer. Now what? I ain't movin' no fuckin' deer.

Earworms? Maybe "Dancin' In The Streets".

The Pearl Jam doc goes to PBS. This is the Cameron Crowe one. Should be appointment TV.

"Wires"/Red Fang



Cuddy leaves. "House" becomes a sausage fest.

Huey Lewis and the News hit Number One with "Sports". Patrick Bateman, in "American Psycho" said this: "Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when "Sports" came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humor." Then he put "Fore" on and killed Paul Allen.

Exercise Yard

Dean Smith vs. segregation. Nice history about Dean-o pushing for his Kansas school to be desegregated on the court in the late '40s.

Visitor

66 Across: Country star Travis (5 letters) Answer: Randy

"Better Class of Losers"/Randy Travis

Look Who's Back...The Rock!!!



Just when you think you're done with wrestling, they pull you back in.

Meal of Links

Chuck Lorre had another funny vanity card after "Two And A Half Men". It was about Charlie Sheen.

Kenneth Mars died. OK, I'll give you his "Young Frankenstein" quote. Complete with eyepatch AND monocle: "To the lumber yard!"

I heard the commercial last week. "This American Life" may have found the formula for Coke.

Bonnaroo releases the 2011 lineup. Buffalo Springfield?

Snowmobiling...in Detroit...on the Lodge!



Did anyone find it, oh, I don't know, oddly karmic that one of the guys who never missed a Super Bowl, actually missed this year's Super Bowl? Now he's dead.

Birthers. Again.

Billy Ray Cyrus is a nutbag. And David Lynch gets some blame.

Exercise Yard

The NFL is now like that Rangefinder on "Price is Right". The price for the Super Bowl fiasco keeps going up.

Visitor

35 Down: Poker Flat creator (5 letters) Answer: Harte

Lots of ugly performances in the NFL today. The Browns obliged by participating and losing in a yawnfest to the Buffalo Bills.

What did we learn today?

Probably the end of the Jake Delhomme Era. Two throws especially hinted at it. The underthrown long ball to Mohammed Massaquoi and the terrible Hail Mary at the end of the first half. Both traveled barely 40 yards. 2 of 10 on third downs won't help and certainly 3.9 yards per attempt is awful.

The Browns still can't stop the fuckin' run. The Bills had 192 yards on the ground. Have you noticed how Rob Ryan's defense has now slid to Number 22 before this game?

Peyton Hillis. Terrible fumble on a play he did not need to jump over a defender. Cost the Browns major momentum and field position.

Other than that, what a boring game.

Browns lose, 13-6.

Meal of Links

The 5 most dangerous foods to eat while driving. I think it was done for the pictures.

Elected Tea Party candidate sees it's not easy. Continues to fuck up one of the nation's wealthiest counties.

Holiday cookies. Yum.

AFI rounds up the usual suspects. It names its Top 10 films.

Exercise Yard

The Metrodome is falling. Game moved to Detroit, making Brett Favre happy he has another day of rest. Let's go.

Visitor

None, because Armageddon is starting.

Today was Happy Tax Day. That means all of the Tea Partiers proclaimed what a great country we live in and how not angry they are. Oddly enough, Fox News is involved.

And, as far as the New York Times poll about the Tea Party Movement. Quite frankly, it should be renamed The Angry Old White Man Party.

Meal of Links

The lineup at Cannes. Kate Beckinsale on the jury.

An act of "guerilla public service". The LA fake freeway sign.

Worldly pizzas. Everyone is making them now.

100 movies you have to see. A very good list of contemporary films. The one I absolutely hated was "Donnie Darko".

It's the 20th anniversary of "In Living Color". I loved "Handi-Man".

It's National High Five Day



Exercise Yard

An interview with the great Steve James. ESPN debuted "No Crossover: The Trial Of Allen Iverson" on Tuesday and I suggest you watch it.

Visitor

20 Across: Citi Field NLer (5 letters) Answer: NY Met

What do you do when your odometer clicks to 100,000 miles? Well, you try and document the moment.

















I'm actually doing about 80 on I-480 between the State and Brookpark exits right there. And, yes, I wish my camera on my phone was better.

Meal of Links

The math of gambling. yes, you have to work it at.

Good shows, but yet they have terrible episodes once in a while. The one of "the Office" they cited was a strange one.

Mr. Skin says these are the Top 100 Nude Scenes of all time. Covers most of the usual suspects, I imagine.

GEICO bids adieu to to advertising on Glenn Beck. That's now 6 who have jumped ship.

Obama is literally Hitler. Very funny stuff.

Exercise Yard

FIGJAM believes in time travel. Couldn't he go into the future, read a headline about him losing the PGA this week and come back and try and fix it?

Visitor

10 Down: Grammy-winning country singer Ronnie (6 letters) Answer: Milsap

Is it me or does it appear we are suffering through an epidemic of people who don't want to be passed while driving in their cars? When did getting passed become socially unacceptable? I've noticed some folks dawdling in the speed lanes lately and then once you dive over to make a pass, all of a sudden they find the accelerator.

I can't figure out if it's people on the phone, distracted by something else, or if it's a new game played at a higher level. Happens a lot more than it used to, if you ask me. And I'm not sure why if it's a clear lane ahead of them, they would not maintain speed and let me take off in front of them. I mean I'm passing so I can go faster than them. Not to get ahead of them and dawdle. It is making me very angry.

Well, maybe not as angry as when my paper gets stolen. Yesterday, I found the Sunday PD in an odd place and when I dumped the paper out of its bag, it appeared that the current news sections (Front page, Metro, Sports, Forum) weren't there. So I went on a rant to no one there, about how that was a new one, at least they left me the ads, left me the real important news, etc. Only to eventually find those sections about 5 minutes later. All I could muster was a loud "Never mind!".

Meal of Links

Things you should not do on a first date. This made me laugh really hard.

Bush's Brain leaves, I guess his body will be leaving soon, too. W. seemed so sad, like it was all over for him today. It has been for a while, but maybe it sunk in.

I think the Van Halen tour with David Lee Roth has not much potential. I can't think of a more irrelevant comeback of all the comebacks that have comeback recently. If Ed stays clean, it might be OK musically. Roth is not even a cartoon these days and it seems, I don't know, so unnecessary.

Exercise Yard

Allan Houston may be in the Cavs future. Hasn't played in two years, but the guy can shoot.

Visitor

63 Across: '50s VP candidate Kefauver (5 letters) Answer: Estes

It's time for the annual Christmas record, this time "The Peppermint Bark Mix". Some really cool stuff, I think:

"Do You Hear What I Hear?"/Spiraling
"A Great Big Sled"/The Killers
"Little Drummer Boy (Up the Khyber)"/Hoodoo Gurus
"Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas"/Eels
"Oh Come All Ye Faithful"/Twisted Sister
"The Christmas Song"/The Raveonettes
"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow"/Asleep at the Wheel
"Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto"/James Brown
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"/Gene Autry
"I Wish You a Merry Christmas"/Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva
"Mr. Heat Miser"/Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
"Oi to the World"/No Doubt
"(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus"/Harry Connick, Jr.
"Donde Esta Santa Claus?"/Guster
"Christmas All Over Again"/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
"All That I Want"/The Weepies
"Merry Christmas Again..."/The Young Republic
"Holiday in Cambodia 2006"/Richard Cheese
"Mambo, Santa, Mambo"/The Bobs
"It's Christmas Time"/Yo La Tengo
"Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance"/Sufjan Stevens
"Christmas Celebration"/Weezer
"iPod X-Mas"/Hello Saferide
"The Man in the Santa Suit"/Fountains of Wayne
"I'll Be Home for Christmas"/Josh Groban

On the second day of Christmas, it's Frank and Dino:

Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra-"Marshmallow World"



Meal of Links

Many laughs here. It's the Best of Craigslist for the year.

I am an excellent driver. Kmart sucks.

By popular demand, it appears. More commercials from the '80s.

Next Friday is Global Orgasm for Peace Day. We can change the world!

Exercise Yard
















"It's Gore-Tex. You know about Gore-Tex?"

It seems a lot of people lied to the BALCO grand jury. And the court is none too pleased.

Visitor

56 Across: Billie Holiday contemporary (11 letters) Answer: Carmen McRae