Some quick updates for this weekend.

WEATHER The Weather Channel is calling for AM clouds and PM sun. That's a slight change from the partly cloudy that had been predicted for the last 3-4 days, but not much of one.

Temps have taken a quick drop, becoming very fall-like. This is New England, so for Saturday you should expect a high somewhere between 8 and 107. Bring a sweater, and remember that it's best to dress in layers when possible.

FOLIAGE For those of you with an interest in leaf-peeping, even if only vicariously as the day progresses, we're in the early stages of the foliage season. The Weather Channel folks even have this covered, though the map is a couple days old at this point.

Given the recent dip in temps, which will go below 40 in some places, that may accelerate colors. There will still be green, but probably more colors than there are now.

CIVILIZATION If you're staying at the King's Grant or at another location in the Danvers/Peabody area, there are some things to do, but not much. The Liberty Tree Mall and the Northshore Mall offer pretty much anything you need in terms of shopping. The area around the malls also has a number of stores, eateries, etc. Liberty Tree also has a 20 screen movie theater.

If you have a little more time you could look around Salem, which is a neat place. Or you could shoot down 128 and on to Route 1 South and explore the mystery that is Saugus. Going up 128 North, Gloucester has its nautical charm while Rockport is winding down a bit from the summer.

If you have a specific interest in doing something while you're in the area, let me know.

I think that's about it for now. We're actually pretty much done with the planning, so it's hurry up and wait for Saturday.

What with my own impending nuptuals and today being the second anniversary for Scott Monty, we were talking the married life over email recently, and Scott made a very astute observation.

The stages of getting married are a lot like the stages of grief.

Denial We're really getting married? You said yes? Really?

Or, alternately, one that we've been using quite a bit, the denial that getting married will change things too much given that we're already formed as a couple. As much as I've trusted it when I've said it, I know I'll be proven wrong. Often.

Anger or Resentment What do you mean we can't have a band? How could you have picked such ugly china? I don't want your Uncle Earl within a hundred miles of the church!

Bargaining OK, I'll make the groomsmen wear the matching tie and vest that goes with your bridesmaids' dresses, but only if...

Depression I'm so sick of this planning crap. I'm going to take another nap. Turn of the phone.

Acceptance We forgot to coordinate the color of the centerpiece flowers with the frosting of the cake? Oh well.

We didn't have as much anger/resentment, but did have a fair bit of bargaining and a cartful of what passes for depression in this context. Though we're quickly moving into the acceptance stage, and happily so.

For any of you wanting to see a little bit of the church where Sarah and I are getting married as well as a good shot of our soon to be retired priest, take a gander at this. Sean O'Malley, the relatively new archbishop of Boston, was in town to celebrate Mass in honor of our priest's 50th anniversaty of ordination. That O'Malley was passed over for a cardinal's hat probably brought more media out than normal, though I suspect he'd have gotten some anyway, as he's still new and reasonably low-key.

As the sound didn't work when I tried to watch it on the computer I'm using now, I don't know what sort of context NECN put O'Malley's visit in. Father Harrington is the priest in front of O'Malley as they enter the church (O'Malley being the one with the staff and headgear you'd expect of an archbishop).

So in case anyone ever asks, "What were you doing the week before you got married," I can report that at 2 pm today I was sitting in the food area of the Target at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers waiting for Sarah.

I also spent much of the day chasing down things for the wedding favors and helping assemble them. That was all after we went to finish paying for our wedding cake and getting some dessert items for the rehearsal dinner.

Yes, I know how to see my bachelorhood away with a bang.

I am not like Greg Sorenson in that I managed to remember the name of The Rundown.

I am like Greg Sorenson in that I thought it was a solid action/comedy. A little cartoony in a couple of places, but better than the average fare the genre usually cranks out.

We did get to see a preview for The Matrix Revolutions, which was cool. Other previews:

* The new Coen brothers (no relation) film Intolerable Cruelty, starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. I'm finding it odd to use the names "Coen" and "Zeta-Jones" together.

* Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson playing some sort of lech who winds up with Amanda Peet, whose mom (I'm guessing mom) is played by Diane Keaton. Frances McDormand is in it as well, and there's some cognative dissonance going on when I see a Coen brothers movie promo and McDormand shows up elsewhere.

* Haunted Mansion, starring Eddie Murphy, based on the Disney attraction. I am looking forward to Ashton Kutcher playing a plucky bobsledder in Matterhorn, summer 2006.

* The new Farrelly brothers movie, name escapes me (something like Stuck With You) where Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear play Siamese twins.

* Honey, which stars Jessica Alba and a lot of tight clothes. Damn. Oh, the movie, it's about a young woman trying to become a famous dancer/choreographer... while wearing revealing, tight clothes. Damn.

After not hearing anything from Matt Boggie, I've gone ahead and set up a fantasy hockey league on Yahoo.

League ID#: 55575
password: slapshot

12 team max, rotisserie standings. I'm open to suggestions from participating parties as far as that goes. It's an auto-pick draft (live draft times were all in the AM), so take that for what it's worth.

Lest you think I'm too busy thinking about the Red Sox to get work done, note that the last two days have seen afternoons swallowed whole in the name of staff bonding.

On Wednesday, the res life/housing portion of the office went to the local Merino Lookout Farm to do some apple picking. Turns out you can also pick pears, nectarines, peaches, and a variety of berries. It was a great day to be outside - temps in the high 60s, slight breeze, and sun. I could have just hung out in the orchard with a book or napping.

My nose also took me on a journey back in time, as the grape vines used to provide cover for the main walkways reminded me greatly of a similar set-up at a friend's house back in the day. I even went as far as to pick a cluster of grapes (though we were warned no snacking - bad me) and had a few before my boss pointed out the possibility of some sort of pesticide. That's why she's the boss, she thinks of those sorts of things beforehand. Suffice it to say that my typing here now to you nice people means that if I did ingest something, it didn't kill me. It probably just planted the seed for some really horrifying ailment down the road.

As much as I enjoyed the day, I must say that the farm has a nice little racket going. It's $3 to get out to the orchard on a "train" (I suppose you could walk, but I think they'd still whack you for the $3) and $1.50 per pound of fruit. I suppose I should just be happy that I now have apples that weren't artifically ripened and shipped halfway around the world to get to my fridge.

Yesterday saw a staff lunch at the Dolphin in Natick, a seafood restaurant that one of my co-worked pointed out was named for an aquatic animal that wasn't actually on the menu. I noted that lobsters aren't as photogenic. Sadly, there were no tuna steaks on the menu, so the chance for irony couldn't be converted.

Post-lunch saw a return to the laser tag venue I mentioned back in January, where we played mostly everyone for themselves but also a game of men versus women (women won, but did have a numbers advantage for their team). We also participated in skee ball, pop a shot basketball, etc. so we could win enough tickets to get a new office mascot. You'll be glad to know that the Babson College Office of Campus Life now sports a plush stuffed alligator.

After that I had to get over to the Brookline town hall to apply for a marriage licence. Amazingly, for the entire process, we did not have to offer one bit of identification. Shouldn't John Ashcroft be doing something about that?

The one thing we did have to offer were certificates proving that we'd had out blood test. Massachusetts tests for syphillis and rubella (women only), and only requires AIDS education. You'd think maybe they'd check for HIV or hepatitis C or something more, say, dangerous to the public health. Another one of our antiquated laws.

Ortiz Watch David Ortiz was 1 for 2 in tonight's game, driving in a run and walking twice. Now that the Sox have clinched the AL wild card berth, I do wonder how much we'll see of Ortiz outside of keeping him warm for the playoffs.

Then again, what nascent MVP chances he has may find it hard to get past Carlos Delgado's 4 HR performance tonight. Even against the Devil Rays, 4 HR in a game is impressive.

In yesterday's Ortiz Watch I was going to predict a 17-2 Sox win with Ortiz hitting 3 HR and driving in 10. But I thought it was silly. I'm now kicking myself for being in the ballpark with the game score, but happy to say that I avoided making claims for Ortiz that Delgado would eclipse in reality.

Ortiz Watch: 2 HR tonight, providing the bulk of the offense in a 7-3 loss to the Orioles. More MVP talk on Baseball Tonight; Peter Gammons seems to be moving to the Ortiz camp, and there were comparisons with Tejada's run to the title.

An ESPN poll I saw today offered four candidates for AL MVP - Garrett Anderson, Carlos Delgado, A-Rod, and Manny. Of late, there's been talk of an emerging fifth candidate - Red Sox 1B/DH David Ortiz. Looking at the numbers, Ortiz tends to lag behind the four - he's last among the five in batting average and OPS, middle of the road with OBP and slugging percentage. With things like hits, RBI, and home runs, he also lags, but has played in significantly fewer games (124 to a range of 147-157 for the others).

So I decided to do a little mathematical snooping (with apologies to Rob Neyer, SABRmertricians everywhere, and pretty much the entire math-using world). I took the hits, home run, and RBI categories, and worked them out for all five players both per game and per at bat.

Turns out that Ortiz has the lowest average number of hits per game (and per at bat) of the five. What's really interesting, though, is that he is fourth in home runs per game (third in HR per at bat), and yet is second in RBI per game and at bat (lagging behind Carlos Delgado in both cases).

I'm not sure what this says, but it does suggest to me that Ortiz gets more out of his at bats than most folks. I do wonder what his numbers would be like if he didn't start the year platooning with Jeremy Giambi (remember him?), but it may have helped him ease into the situation not being the every day guy (thinking back to Tony Clark).

Ortiz also has the benefit of finishing strong, as he's hit a HR in each of the last two games, and had the sense to hit the game winner last night (and, oddly, trumping the drama of the 3 run job that Todd Walker hit to tie the game, making Ortiz the Fisk to Walker's Bernie Carbo).

So consider this a first, somewhat lame attempt to draft Ortiz for the AL MVP award. Feel free to add to the argument or offer counter arguments, as this whole baseball stat manipulation thing is new to me.

Given what I've read on other blogs, I must hang my head in shame. For on Friday, when I had the freedom from work and the decreased maturity brought on by too much beer, I added nary an "avast," "scurvy dog," or "yaaaarrrr" to Talk Like a Pirate Day.

I did make up for it the next day, as I continued my string of "yaaaarrrr"s at seeing pirate flags and signs for the Penobscot Marine Museum's pirate exhibit. I've been doing this every time we've gone up to Sarah's folks' place since the start of the exhibit (which is only three times), so I suppose I was getting my observation of the day in early.

And while I won't take this opportunity to rehash my day on the Ernestina (it not having been a pirate vessel), I will note that on that trip we did sing several rounds of "What would you do with a drunken sailor," and among our ideas were putting him into bed with the captain's daughter, lashing him to the main mast, and making him drink until he's sick (my idea, no doubt shaped by years as a college administrator).

Without going too deeply into fantasy football talk, the state of my team is such that yesterday's 2.96 point performance by Kyle Boller is almost a full point better than the two week numbers I've gotten from Donovan McNabb. I am living Dwight's fraught watch on the Eagles' passing game, and it's no fun.

I've also missed two roster moves that would have given me either a bigger lead or made the final closer. Santana Moss had 140 yards plus last week - the one week I didn't play him. This week it was Michael Pittman, who is apparently working on a highlight reel for his possible entry into the Florida Correctional Football League. Nothing short of divine intervention would have helped me in week one.

Unlike Jon, I will not post my golfing score from Friday's outing here. Considering I now average one round a year (and that only after a 12 year hiatus broken in 2001), such an informational display would seem futile. Not to mention, NASA hasn't finished computing my round.

Still, for every three-putt and multi-whiff iron shot, I did manage a few of what could be called, with all sincerity, golf shots. I seem to best off the tee, though I do have a tendency to put my drive into the opposing hole's fairway in cases where they run parallel. I also seem attracted to wood (witness my hitting a house in Myrtle Beach last year), though this time around it was mostly trick shooting, including banking a shot off of a willow and into the fairway and running my second shot on one hole through a pair of arbor vitae (much like what I do when trying to pick up a 7-10 split).

I do think that, if I get to a point where I can afford to play more often and have acqaintances who would put up with my muni-hack style of play, I'd like to go out more often.

One notable (but macabre) moment from the day was realizing that I didn't have a putter in the set I've inherited from my dad. It took me a minute to realize we buried it with him.

While on the subject of my dad's clubs, it should be noted that, if you're a real stickler, it's not exactly a regulation set. There are something like five woods, a fairway driving iron, two seven irons (one a leftie in case it's the only way to play the shot), and some sort of putter-looking chipping club whose purpose I have yet to fathom (it turns out I was using it at times I shouldn't have, while Jon pointed out another time when I should have used it and did not).

The rest of the day was the typical debauchery for a bachelor party group (outside of strippers, which aren't my thing and would have gotten the other married men in collective dutch with the wives). The steamers did look mighty tasty, if deadly.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Maine. We delivered Sarah's aunt and uncle to her parents' house, and I spent the vast majority of the weekend in the house watching some form of competition (baseball, football, and the World Pastry Cup that was re-running on the Food Network). It was nice to see the Sox win one today (especially with the Mariners' loss) and for the Pats to win one that maybe they shouldn't have (call it the first annual Bill MacNeal Adequatulance Bowl). I am stymied by the wins put up by Cleveland and Arizona, two events that further suggest why it's best that I stay away from organized football betting.

We've had a lot of construction on campus this year, and as part of returning the campus to its usual verdant splendor, we've recently seen a lot of hyrdroseeding. Including some today.

Normally that would be fine, but you have to think that the day before you get part of a hurricane you'd not want to put down stuff that will easily wash away. I suppose the alligators in the sewers will have some nice faux swamp to root around in soon, given the nutrient-rich matter the grass seed will have to grow on. Not much sun, but perhaps it'll be albino grass to go with albino gators.

So I was feeling pretty smug last night when Bob Lobel, local TV sports hack, referred to Rosevelt Colvin as Shawn Colvin.

That was until just a few minutes ago, when in writing a quizbowl question I mistakenly used a friend from high school's name rather than the appropriate actor's name as the answer. There are some similarities to their names, but not that much.

I suppose I can still gloat, as I don't work off of a teleprompter. How's that for a justification?

With Hurricane Isabel on the way (or should I say the fringe of Hurricane Isabel, given that current plots have it heading well inland), I got to thinking a little bit about the hurricanes that I've been through here. Most didn't amount to too much, other than a lot of hype and increased sales of plywood and duct tape.

The first hurricane I really remember is Belle, which it in August 1976. It set the tone, as with all the warnings the actual effects for my family and town were pretty mild. I remember power going out briefly - I was half-asleep and noticed the fan shut down - but that was about it.

The next one of any memory was Gloria in September 1985. I spent much of the day hunkered down in my friend Sean Townsend's house, as we mocked an incredibly-hyped storm of little consequence. It seems to have done worse in other parts of New England, as we got some wind and very little rain.

Then there was Bob in 1991, which came at the same time I was to start RA training in August. I am fairly sure I caught the last train in to Boston. My mom tried to talk me out of going in, but I was ready to go back after spending the summer at home. In retrospect I should have stayed and enjoyed the time with family, but in the moment... it was time to go.

As it turned out RA training was in fact delayed. I spent the time with the few RAs who had showed up and a hockey camp that couldn't leave. Funny to think that some of those kids may actually be playing for BU now. Anyway, Bob did the best job of living up to the hype, but again did more damage in other parts of the region.

The '90s sent its share of hurricanes - Bertha, Danny, and Floyd come to mind - but for the most part we were most bothered by storms not classified in the hurricane/tropical storm way. The three that stand out the most all happened around holidays - Halloween 1991, Christmas 1994, and April Fools' in 1997.

Our last storm, what was left of Tropical Storm Gordon, was pretty intense but again, not too bad.

Hurricanes up here are pretty rare, and by the time they get here they've usually been downgraded enough that we get through OK (though Cape Cod is usually a different story, and Maine seems to get whacked pretty well). It seems like 1938 was the last with any serious damage; one story I read noted that in today's dollars the 1938 storm caused upwards of $3.5 billion in damage. I would be very happy to not see that reoccur.

On the downside, it looks like Isabel may scotch the golf day we're having on Friday, as we're due for a fair bit of rain. Not sure what the backup plan is, perhaps it'll involve sandbags and localized flooding.

It will surprise exactly none of you that there is a certain amount of parochialism in local sports coverage here in New England. Take our obsession with the Red Sox or a sports talk radio landscape that seems incapable of discussing a team that doesn't play within shouting distance of Route 95. But one of the odder facets of this is what we get stuck with on Saturday afternoons during football season.

The Big East game of the week, from ESPN Plus.

OK, given that the only two divison 1 teams in New England do or will play in that conference, you'd expect the game to show up somewhere. But consider what transpired yesterday: ABC could offer Ohio State-NC State or Texas-Arkansas, and our local decided to go with West Virginia-Cincinnati. Not only is it the clear loser of that triad, it's not even a true Big East game (nor is next week's Central Florida-Syracuse tilt).

The West Virginia-Cincinnati game, by the way is the one where the winning team scored one more point (15) as the number of fumbles committed by the combined teams (14). There were a couple of picks in the game, too.

I have to assume that WCVB (the local ABC station) has some sort of contractual obligation to show the Big East games. I hope it's not some sort of misplaced sense of nostalgia for eastern collegiate football.

At some point the Big East game of the week will feature two teams playing a conference game. Sadly, it's usually Miami-Rutgers or Virginia Tech-Temple.

The more worthy putative Big East game of the week - BC-UConn - was shown by the local WB station using a Connecticut station's feed. UConn looked pretty good in a losing cause (24-14). If their QB can find the range with any regularity (he overthrew a number of balls yesterday), they have a strong possibility of being bowl eligible, though as an independent stand little chance of going unless they can knock off Virginia Tech or Wake Forest.

FWIW, going back to the Big East game of the week, it ended just in time to go to OSU-NCSU's overtimes. I'm still puzzled by the two QB sneaks called by the Wolfpack in the third OT. That game led to us not joining ND-Michigan until the second quarter, and quite honestly WCVB could have fired up the provincialism and shown Holy Cross-Georgetown instead. Very unpretty.

In the interest of equal time, I passed on the prime time games (seeing just bits of the Nebraska-Penn State tilt) so we could watch the finale of Race to the Altar, a very generic NBC reality offering that pitted 8 couples against each other, with the winner getting a dream wedding.

The show itself was like a combination of Fear Factor and Double Dare, mixing physical challenges with scavenger hunt-type events.

We caught last week's episode and decided to tune back in for the finale, which was, well, perhaps not worth the wait but about as good as anything else on TV at the time. Most interesting moment from last night was during the final event, when both couples couldn't figure out that a clue referring to the City of Light should have sent them to the Paris hotel and casino (the show being set in Vegas). One couple took the part of the clue about going up something to mean the Stratosphere, while the other asked their cabbie and went back to where they started at the Fremont Street Experience. Not surprisingly, both couples asked the elevator attendants at the Paris about a place that might have a genie and a lamp (thankfully, otherwise they'd have wound up in Reno or something).

Seriously, if either couple went to the Paris directly, they'd have won by a mile. Idiots. Then again, on last week's episode none of the couples could pronounce Liberace's name, leading to delays on all sides. So sad.

It will surprise exactly none of you that there is a certain amount of parochialism in local sports coverage here in New England. Take our obsession with the Red Sox or a sports talk radio landscape that seems incapable of discussing a team that doesn't play within shouting distance of Route 95. But one of the odder facets of this is what we get stuck with on Saturday afternoons during football season.

The Big East game of the week, from ESPN Plus.

OK, given that the only two divison 1 teams in New England do or will play in that conference, you'd expect the game to show up somewhere. But consider what transpired yesterday: ABC could offer Ohio State-NC State or Texas-Arkansas, and our local decided to go with West Virginia-Cincinnati. Not only is it the clear loser of that triad, it's not even a true Big East game (nor is next week's Central Florida-Syracuse tilt).

The West Virginia-Cincinnati game, by the way is the one where the winning team scored one more point (15) as the number of fumbles committed by the combined teams (14). There were a couple of picks in the game, too.

I have to assume that WCVB (the local ABC station) has some sort of contractual obligation to show the Big East games. I hope it's not some sort of misplaced sense of nostalgia for eastern collegiate football.

At some point the Big East game of the week will feature two teams playing a conference game. Sadly, it's usually Miami-Rutgers or Virginia Tech-Temple.

The more worth putative Big East game of the week - BC-UConn - was shown by the local WB station using a Connecticut station's feed. UConn looked pretty good in a losing cause (24-14). If their QB can find the range with any regularity (he overthrew a number of balls yesterday). They have a strong possibility of being bowl eligible, though as an independent stand little chance of going unless they can knock off Virginia Tech or Wake Forest.

FWIW, going back to the Big East game of the week, it ended just in time to go to OSU-NCSU's overtimes. I'm still puzzled by the two QB sneaks called by the Wolfpack in the third OT. That game led to us not joining ND-Michigan until the second quarter, and quite honestly they could have fired up the provincialism and shown Holy Cross-Georgetown instead. Very unpretty.

In the interest of equal time, I passed on the prime time games (seeing just bits of the Nebraska-Penn State tilt) so we could watch the finale of Race to the Altar, a very generic NBC reality offering that pitted 8 couples against each other, with the winner getting a dream wedding.

The show itself was like a combination of Fear Factor and Double Dare, mixing physical challenges with scavenger hunt-type events.

We caught last week's episode and decided to tune back in for the finale, which was, well, perhaps not worth the wait but about as good as anything else on TV at the time. Most interesting moment from last night was during the final event, when both couples couldn't figure out that a clue referring to the City of Light should have sent them to the Paris hotel and casino (the show being set in Vegas). One couple took the part of the clue about going up something to mean the Stratosphere, while the other asked their cabbie and went back to where they started at the Fremont Street Experience. Not surprisingly, both couples asked the elevator attendants at the Paris about a place that might have a genie and a lamp (thankfully, otherwise they'd have wound up in Reno or something).

Seriously, if either couple went to the Paris directly, they'd have won by a mile. Idiots. Then again, on last week's episode none of the couples could pronounce Liberace's name, leading to delays on all sides. So sad.

For the first time since August 21, I spent a night where I wasn't either working or on call. How did I celebrate? Let's call it the Nerd's Night Out.

First stop was the Natick Mall, where Sarah and I got to weigh candy in preparation for making wedding favors. We could save ourselves a lot of trouble by going the charitable donation route, but given some of the "outside influences" on the wedding we'd probably still wind up with baggies of Jordan almonds on the tables.

We stopped into a Hallmark store to get a couple of cards, and while I am still livid that they already have their Christmas stuff out, I did find my favorite new tree ornament - Kobe Bryant. Apparently he's part of their Keepsake ornament line. They still wanted the $14.95 retail price, which was too much for a possible TRASH prize (at least for regionals, where sometimes all of the prizes didn't cost that much).

Not surprisingly, the only other sports-themed ornament left besides Bryant was Jason Giambi.

We then went over to Owen O'Leary's, an eating and drinking establishment that also happens to have NTN. We joined the first couple of BU college bowl, Matt and Allyson Harper-Nixon, for some catching up and interactive trivia.

I actually did really well on two games, finishing 8th nationally during a Topix game where all the questions were about movies with swimming pools (go figure) and fifth nationally in a Retroactive TV game. Sometimes, it's good to be old.

And no, there were no questions on John Ritter. In a later game, when we were talking about Johnny Cash, a question came up involving "Ring of Fire." The music games tend to favor Mrs. Harper-Nixon, though between her and Sarah I think they know all the lyrics to any song released in the United States over the last 50 years.

After that we headed homeward, stopping at the event I mentioned yesterday - Late Night Bingo! Our campus center director was looking to do some late night programming, and her research over the summer found that late night bingo was becoming really popular on the college level- nearby Assumption College, for example, had over 500 people for their first bingo night this year.

We didn't do quite so well, but we did have over 200 show up, which is amazing for a late night program without alcohol.

We played 10 games over two hours, and go figure that Sarah would win the last game of the night. There was a catch, of course; one of my colleagues had won a DVD player earlier in the night to some grumbling, so having the fiancee of another staffer win would have been worse. So to defuse things it was announced that Sarah messed up, and a student wound up winning on the next ball (perhaps not that big a deal, considering we would have won a digital camera, one not as good as the one I have to boot).

We got home a little after 1 am, our latest night in some time. Who says dorks can't have fun?

With all the death this week, there is a bit of life-affirming news to report.

David Letterman is apparently going to be a dad.

Dave and long-time girlfriend Regina Lasko are expecting a child by the end of the year (the story I read said she's 6 months along). Dave's going to "announce" it tonight on his show (I use quotes because the show was taped last night). Dave is 56, which doesn't put him in Tony Randall/Anthony Quinn territory, but is still pretty studly (if I can use the word in this context).

I'm trying to figure out what an appropriate themed shower gift would be in this case. I'm thinking either a box of pencils or a onesie with a clip-on tie so the baby can do that shifting tie thing that Dave does when he pulls on his jacket lapels. If nothing else, this is going to give Dave years of Top 10 material.

Make sure you tune in tonight to see this (unless you're a Babson College person; you should tape it an come on down to the campus center for late night bingo!).

While reading the news and mulling the juxtaposition of Johnny Cash and John Ritter dying on more or less the same day, I was surprised to learn that Ritter is the son of singing cowboy Tex Ritter (how did I not know this?), who worked with Cash from time to time.

I suppose I could quote "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" or something here.

Taking a page from last September 11, herein is a list of my top 11 recurring characters on Sports Night. OK, they don't all recur. Anyway:

11. Louise Goodwin. She never appeared on screen, but her presence allowed for one of the more interesting episodes of season one (even if it was ripped off from the various MASH episodes where Hawkeye writes his dad). She also crops up in the second season when Jeremy learns she's communicating with Natalie, and it freaks him out a bit. I can understand that now, as I worry every time Sarah says she's talked with my sister without me being present.

10. Jenny, played by Paula Marshall. You might think a rebound girlfriend who is also a porn star would be just the ticket, but in this case it doesn't work out so well for Jeremy. I do find these episodes fairly entertaining, though I am often distracted by the heavy make-up on Jenny. I guess it's some sort of visual cue.

9. Chris, Will, Dave, Elliot, and Kim played by Timothy Davis-Reed, Ron Ostrow, Jeff Mooring, Greg Baker, and Kayla Blake. Yes, they all kind of run together (except for Kim, being the only woman), but you'd usually get one good comic relief moment out of the group. Any more would have been too much.

8. Gordon Gage, played by Ted McGinley. The man who could have taken the show down in season one but didn't, part of me thinks I should have rated him higher, especially for the scene where Casey tries to one-up Gordon and gets smacked down. I suppose I don't rate him as highly because, as much of a part of the plot as he was in season one, I never felt like he was there to do more than underscore the Dana and Casey thing. Had Gordon been more sympathetic I think it would have made the tension more interesting. As it was Gordon was so visibly wrong for Dana that you wound up focusing more on how it was going to end rather than whether it would end.

7. Abby Jacobs, played by Jayne Brooks. When Dan thinks he's picked her up at a bar, he's surprised to learn that his charm and candor have only landed him a therapist. The tension from that confusion plays out during their sessions, which Abby plays off for maximum value.

6. Rebecca Wells, played by Teri Polo. Probably the best thing to happen to Dan during the course of the show, but also probably the worst thing given that their split likely accelerated his breakdown in season two. One wonders what her return would have meant for season three.

I've never been a huge Teri Polo fan, but I thought she played Rebecca well, smart enough to keep up with Dan but still not so smart that she could sort her own life out.

5. Jay Rydell, played by Peter Riegert. He's on one episode, and even then for a very short time, but the feeling of dread and discomfort is palpable. Even hearing Dan talk about his dad later in the episode, you get the sense that they weren't the type to go out in the yard and play catch.

Riegert is best known for playing Boon in Animal House and the detective on the trail of Jim Carrey in The Mask. I imagine this turn helped him prepare for his recurring role as Assemblyman Zellman in The Sopranos.

4. JJ, played by Robert Mailhouse. The Continental Corp suit that rides herd on the Sports Night crew, JJ is played as a sugar-coated menace, someone who says he wants what's best for the development of the show, but is clearly interested in using the show to best promote his career with the parent company. One has to wonder how closely drawn JJ is to network types that Sorkin et. al. had to deal with, especially during the second season, when JJ is more clearly threatening the survival of the show.

3. Bobbi Bernstein, played by Lisa Edelstein. More of Dan's past comes to light when he has to work with Bobbi, who claims they slept together in Spain and he never called her afterwards. Dan is convinced she's nuts, and at first Bobbi's is played in such a way that it seems like Dan's right.

Edelstein went on to play the call girl law student who gets mixed up with Sam Seaborn on The West Wing, keeping things in the Sorkin family.

2. Sally Sasser, played by Brenda Strong. Sally was perhaps the most threatening character to Sports Night; she clearly wanted Dana's job, and seemed to think that having Dana's men was an acceptable substitute. Dan classified her with vampires, Stepford producers and other things that go bump in the night.

But what made her threat seem so unusual were the times when she showed vulnerability and self-loathing. Consider how she lost it during Isaac's stroke when Dan just said hi to her. Also consider the soul-sucking emptiness of her brief time with Casey, when neither seemed particularly interested in being there other than to just be with someone.

1. Sam Donovan, played by William H. Macy. Sam Donovan was a ratings expert, brought in by CSC to shake things up and make changes that would increase viewership. And while this didn't happen for the real show, the brief tenure of Sam Donovan as a Sports Night character did shake things up and bring new energy to a show that was suffering from both a tenuous spot on air and from a lengthy plot line that was beginning to show some wear (Casey and Dana).

Donovan was a big-mouth and highly egocentric, beautifully played by Macy (who, for those who don't know, is the real-life husband of Felicity Huffman, who played Dana). I've mentioned my Macy fandom before, and it has no better vehicle than this role.

So I'm in the office this afternoon working on something, when the RD I share the office with asks me if the college is doing anything special to mark tomorrow.

My response? Tomorrow?

Yes, I have become what I've bemoaned here before, the idiot American who has put September 11 into their mental attic.

In my own defense, I've been having a lot of trouble keeping day and date straight the last couple of weeks. My post-RA training mental fog has run right through the first week of classes, abetted by a very busy time of things. I've had facility issues up the wazoo, while my officemate has had some hellacious roommate conflicts to sort out.

In any case, I looked back to last year to see how I marked things, and it turns out I ran my top 11 Sports Night moments, with coverage recap on the 12th. I may do something similar, depending on how much coverage I actually watch. My goal is to avoid most of it.

(Oh, and to answer the question that started this off, the college is lighting a candle in the chapel and putting out a book for rememberances, etc. They'll also be playing Mozart's Requiem from noon to 1 pm, not sure if they mean live or CD.)

So I was happy to see that the RIAA is targeting the real criminals in this file-trading thing. In the batch of lawsuits recently filed against "major traders" was a 12 year old Manhattan girl who downloaded such royalty-thieving songs as "If You're Happy and You Know It." I suppose she's not clapping her hands anymore.

One little-noticed move in this whole fight was the reduction in CD prices by Universal Music Group. Consider that for years we've been paying up to $20 for a CD, more than we paid for vinyl or cassettes, which kind of goes against the idea that CDs are supposed to be cheaper and easier to make than those other media. Interestingly, other labels haven't done the same, perhaps banking on the idea that the RIAA's bully tactics will drive people back to CDs.

Personally, I think they'll drive people to smarter file-sharing habits. Or to SBC Communications, who seems to be the only ISP willing to fight the RIAA on this.

In football news, my fantasy team is 0-1 and looking like crap. I kind of knew this was coming given my lack of focus at the draft, but I was also not helped by Philly getting shut out at home. I now have to hope the Eagles have the sort of day against the Pats that the Bills did. Ah, the sweet taste of fantasy-reality conflict.

Earlier in the week, Jerry Remy predicted that the Patriots would win 11 games this season. He'd made similar predictions the previous two seasons, and was dead on for both.

If yesterday was any indication, three will not be the charm for the Rem-Dog.

For those lucky bastards who missed it, the Pats went down in flames to the Buffalo Bills 31-0. There was no facet of the Patriots' game that worked as it should have yesterday. Heck, the team bus probably got lost going back to the airport. It was that sort of game.

Buffalo should worry people, especially in the AFC East, which is looking pretty lackluster. I wonder why the Pats can't get players like Drew Bledsoe and Lawyer Milloy?

The Sox game was only a minor irritant in comparison, as I'd already written it off based on Jeff Suppan being the starter. I'd have been much happier if they got blown out, to be honest. It was awful nice of the A's and Mariners to lose as well, though.

A quick correction - I mistakenly noted that Washington State lost to Idaho last week. They didn't. Thank Yahoo's college football section for the mistake. Not that it helped the Cougars today, as they dropped an OT decision to Notre Dame. Though it raises the question if they'd have rather lost to Idaho and then beaten ND in South Bend.

You'll excuse the confusion, especially after today's run of upsets. Most notable for me:

* Bowling Green beats Purdue. Nice news for the MAC, even if they didn't get Marshall beating Tennessee at home.

* Wake Forest beats NC State. Break up the Demon Deacons! Moment of synergy: their next opponent it Purdue.

* Villanova beats Temple. OK, Temple, let's just drop down to 1-AA and join your A-10 colleagues before someone gets hurt.

Locally, Northeastern bushwhacked Albany 51-0. In two games, the Huskies have scored 129 points, though 78 of those came against Stonehill College, a local D2 school. Stonehill at least managed to score 6 points, though I think it was against Brookline High School's defense.

In non-football news, spent a fair bit of the day doing wedding prep stuff. Got to visit the florist, which was very exciting (does sarcasm survive the typing phase?).

I also went to confession (now called reconciliation) for the first time since I was confirmed - 18 to 20 years ago. It should tell you something that I don't even quite remember how old I was when I was confirmed (I believe it was during 10th grade, so more likely 18 or 19 than 20 years). Regardless, it's been a while.

The problem that raises is that you don't have a very easy starting point for the process. I did start with more recent events, but at some point I realized that I was trying to recap roughly two decades and went into vapor lock. The priest was very helpful, and I think went easy on me as far as penance was concerned.

Outside of the new name, the other major change with confession is that it is increasingly done face to face. Now, when I was a kid, that was the last thing you wanted. You didn't want to have to look at the priest and either (a) be recognized, or (b) feel like you were being judged. Today I went the anonymous route, and I have to say that I think it was harder than if I got to look at their priest. Not sure why that is. Could be greater maturity (well, not much greater), could be an increased knowledge of the breadth of human failings making me less worried about my own. Could be I just want to see the other guy's face and look for signs of reassurance.

I'm not sure I could go every week - not without having a chance to build some sort of relationship with the priest, at any rate.

The only other thing of note at this point is that today was my first "day off" in 19 days. I celebrated by being on call (which is why day off is in quotes) and getting up at 5:30 this morning. I'm still trying to figure out which day I'll take off from work in the coming week.

So the last 15 minutes of TV watching has been odd. Let me count the ways.

1. One of the moderators of the Democratic presidential candidate debate is asking questions in Spanish. No one is answering in that language. I have to imagine there are some very confused Hispanics right now trying to figure out what John Kerry thinks about sending more troops to Iraq.

1a. I think I have a fair command of English, and I'm still trying to figure out what John Kerry thinks about sending more troops to Iraq. He spent most of his answer time criticizing W and talking about his Vietnam experience. My guess is that'll be a fairly common approach for Kerry regardless of the question.

(FWIW, I think Kerry did note at the end that sending more troops was wrong and that we should look for international help)

2. I'm unclear on the concept of Dick Clark's Rockin' NFL Kickoff Eve. I'm also similarly unclear on Britney Spears' hair as JQ is. Then again, when you have a new album in the works, anything goes.

2a. And when did we start auctioning off parts of our national heritage for things like a pre-game concert? Sarah caught this one, as the Mall's been tarted up to help with this venture in product placement that apparently has national security implications.

I suppose I should start looking forward to watching Hillary Duff, Ashanti, Sean Paul, and 3 Doors Down rock in the 2004 NFL season on board Old Ironsides.

3. During a break in MTV's Phat Football Jam Session I caught an ad for a drug called Levitra. In it a man was having trouble throwing a football through a tire swing, trouble that apparently ended when he started on the drug. This not-so-subtle message, as you may have guessed, is for the newest drug for erectile dysfunction.

3a. The ad was done up in purple text boxes and fonts that reminded me of ads for Nexium and omeprizole. It even uses a lit match as a symbol. I'm a little worried where the guy's burning sensation is located. He may need a different drug.

4. The debate, as you might imagine, is a bore. The only thing that snaps me back to reality are the recurring references to Ambassador Moseley Braun. Thankfully she was ambassador to New Zealand, where outside of knocking Steinlager it's hard to screw things up.

The other thing that surprises me is how poor all of these folks are on the stump. Oddly enough, Dennis Kucinich has probably been the most articulate. I suppose he's gotten a lot of one-on-one speaking practice at campaign stops.

A few TV notes to share.

Tonight's episode of The West Wing was the one where the vice president resigns. I hadn't seen it before, and having missed a few of the late episodes it cleared up a great deal of confusion. I will say that I will miss Tim Matheson's occasional performances, as Hoynes was a nice change of pace from the usual pattern of dialogue.

The episode also featured Matthew Perry as Joe Quincy, the new deputy counsel that made the connections that led to the VP's resignation. It was refreshing to see Perry play something non-comedic.

Of course, we'll get to see more of Quincy when Leo becomes VP, Josh moves up to chief of staff, and Quincy moves in to Josh's position. Then we'll get the tension of Josh having to work with the guy who brought down his mentor. And who knows, maybe Donna finds Quincy attractive.

Sticking with this show, the folks at TeeVee recently gave it their worst hour-long show Vidiot award. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I do agree with their rationale. The show does try to showcase actors too much, enjoys verbal games more than developing a sensible story, and season ending episodes are just getting worse each year (next year: Abby Bartlett is stuck on the International Space Station!).

I wonder if Aaron Sorkin has David E. Kelley's problem where there is only a finite number of episodes he can write before the wheels come off the cart. The TeeVee folks point to the election and how it became almost a non-story. For a show often credited for its verisimilitude, you'd think a sitting President who lied about his health and seems to draw crisis like a lightning rod would have had a tougher time, even with the buffoon that was running against him. Instead the election plot line was hijacked as a way to get rid of Rob Lowe.

In any case, I do have hope for the new season. Just one question: when did Dan Connor become Speaker of the House?

On Monday, I have the relative misfortune to catch Trivia Unwrapped, the new Food Network game show based on the Marc Summers-hosted Unwrapped. It's not very good. If you've watched the parent show at all, you'll be a leg up on the competition. In fact, many of the past episodes are worked into the game play, which seems downright idiotic. Then again, it cuts down on the amount of new material you need to write.

It makes one long for the days of Pressure Cooker and its replacement, Taste Test, hosted by David Rosengarten. I used to really dislike Rosengarten - too much like a cross between Felix Unger and Gene the Anal Retentive Chef - but I think I'd prefer him to Summers or Top 5 host Bobby Rivers. In fact, Food Network could do with more actual cooking in prime time that's not done by Emeril.

I had something else in my head, but it's gone now. Perhaps I'll bore you with it later.

Kudos to the Champion of the West for coming up with a "cowboy up" sighting outside of Kevin Millar. Apparently, Vincent D'Onofrio's character used the phrase in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent from last season. Millar should send him a signed baseball.

On his blog, the Champ then asked if Manny Ramirez was giving new meaning to the term, and I think he is. Clearly, the only way Manny is cowboying up right now is by heading to the barn dance for some refreshments.

(For those of you who have not heard, Manny was apparently too sick to play this weekend, but was healthy enough to engage in some level of social interaction with some friends on the Yankees - a team he apparently would like to play for after he's done with the Sox.)

I'm not sure about the latter part, but I do wonder if Manny will get the first part of things sooner than he thinks. It doesn't take an English lit grad student to read between the lines of the comments coming from Manny's teammates, all of which suggest they'd prefer a teammate who was willing to put it on the line as crunch time starts.

Manny had the same thing as Pedro, but not as bad. Pedro tried to pitch this weekend and was clearly not fully recovered, as the Yankees hit him pretty good. Pedro went to Chicago early to get some rest before his planned start against the White Sox. Manny, meanwhile, has been with the team but apparently needs to gargle more or something before his throat problem allows him to play again. For what it's worth, he may be back in the lineup today.

Expect Theo Epstein to work out some sort of SABR-infused trade over the winter meetings.

I've made some updates to Mark Across America (linked at left), mostly to include state capital information and some other stuff. Under New Hampshire you'll also find a link to a short report on a recent trip to Hampton Beach. The story is notable for its use of digital images I took my very own self using the new camera. So far so good.

And now that things are quieting down, one more ESPN.com fantasy group for Gridiron Challenge:

Group: Tungsten For Lisa
password: sideline

I was reading earlier that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had to apologize for putting a small (described as "postage stamp-sized") photo of the oddly infamous Madonna-Britney kiss on their front page. Apparently you can show formerly whole bodies on the front page (there was a comparison to the paper's printing of war photos on the front page), but not 8 microns of tongue.

Apparently there are still some Atlantans who aren't too busy to hate. We should find them a hobby. I'm thinking they could write Queer Eye for the Straight Guy recaps for TV Without Pity.