For what I think is the first time this season, my pick for who'd be kicked off of American Idol was the actual victim.

Damn.

We were SO CLOSE to ending the national nightmare that is Carmen Rasmussen. It was down to her and Kimberly Caldwell, the final two. But, as past experience has taught, Carmen just won't go down. Which means yet another week of listening to her butcher music. Ugh.

To this end, I am announcing a service. Every week, after the show airs, I am going to post the phone numbers here of the contestant who, in my estimation, could use a few extra votes to avoid coming in last. Vote, don't vote, it's your decision. But remember that you are commiting a crime against the arts if you don't do your part to silence Carmen as soon as possible. Don't think I won't call The Hague on you.

Not much else to note about the show, other than the expected mention of Kelly Clarkson's album not appearing. Could it be that someone at the show finally fears overkill? And if so, what the hell took them so long?

In other news, I got to see the end bit of Michael Jordan's final (well, third final) NBA contest, a lame affair that saw the Sixers drop the Wizards by something like 20 points. If that's not a metaphor for His Airness's final go-round in the league I don't know what is. He made a crappy team barely mediocre, adding a largely forgettable coda to his career along the way. I suppose I'd be more laudatory if he weren't the Ross Perot of hoops, coming and going as the whim strikes.

If nothing else, Mike can now focus on what I've always believed to be the next step: the Senior PGA Tour. He'll just have to lay off the high-stakes Nassau (well, during tournaments at least).

I also got around to watching the season ending episode of Ed, and will be pissed if it winds up being the series finale. It wraps up a lot of things nicely, but also suggests promise for the future. The show's apparently doing well on Fridays, so perhaps NBC will stay the executioner's hand. I mean, what the hell else are they going to show on Friday nights? More Dateline?

Interesting sports and TV note - saw on Yahoo! earlier today the results of a study saying that heart attack deaths seem to lessen in countries just after they win soccer's World Cup. You'd think the stress of the game would thin the herd, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I suppose that's another argument for further work on developing the US side.