A few more pieces of mental detrius for you.

I want the tote bag with a picture of the umbrella So we're watching what's probably the five millionth broadcast of Fleetwood Mac's "The Dance" reunion concert on one of the PBS stations here (which tells you just how little is on TV tonight), and the shill hosting the pledge drive starts off her patter about giving us the programming we want by saying something along the lines of "we've heard you, and know that you like concerts."

Funny thing is, the only time they show them is during pledge months. Luckily for them, it seems like 10 of the 12 months of the year are pledge periods. Personally, I'm not giving them one thin dime until they fill a pledge month with science and history programs (The American Experience and the like, not Ken Burns' home movies).

Neologians wanted! In an email exchange, I was given a question: shouldn't there be a word for that feeling you get you find out that the woman you're just getting interested in reveals that she's got a boyfriend?

(I assume this works for all the various couplings, but left it in the original phrasing)

My suggestion was "oohh," as in "oh," but it's doubly disappointing. It's not bad, but may be a little on the nose.

So, I'm putting out there to all of you to come up with something. Drop me an email with suggestions, and we'll parade the suggestions out here.

Turn out the lights, the party's over... Roone Arledge, the man who created Monday Night Football, helmed 10 Olympics for ABC, and led their news division to new heights, passed away today at 71. Sports Illustrated once listed him third, behind Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan, in a list of the 40 most important people in sports over the magazine's first 40 years. Life tagged him as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century.

As sad as any one passing is, what makes this even worse is that the type of sports and news coverage he pioneered is out of favor, replaced by shallow commentary, flashy and pointless graphics, and softball, soft-light coverage that sucks drama and emotion out of even the most inspiring story. Just when we needed Roone Arledge the most, he's gone.