Ooh, shiny red ball!

Miss Teen South Carolina gives her insightful opinions concerning education, Iraq, South Africa, and maps.



To borrow from the classic Billy Madison:
"... What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

UPDATE:
According to South Carolina newspaper The State, the contestant in question (Lauren Caitlin Upton) says that she "completely misunderstood" the question. The same article mentions that she graduated from her high school with a 3.5 GPA. If this is true, what exactly would an answer from a "D" student have been? Unfortunately, he was unavailable for comment...

TWISIB 101

With the dog days of summer in full swing, I thought it might be a good time to cover the basics. Since my good buddy Tim (aka Tman) was kind enough to give a shout-out to TWISIB on his blog, I figured I'd go over a few things for the benefit of his readers who might find their way over-or for anyone else who has ever stumbled upon my blog. So this, dear reader, is TWISIB 101.

A little about me:
I'm a Nashville native. That in itself is a rare enough thing these days-it seems like everyone in Nashville is from somewhere else. Cubs fan. I never made it on the Braves bandwagon-I got hooked on the Cubs watching the great mid-80s teams play on WGN. Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, and of course Harry Caray all had something to do with my baseball addiction.

I'm a bit left of center, but I'm not as much of a lefty nut-job as Tim might have you think. Although we don't agree on everything, some of that is simply me enjoying the role of devil's advocate. I have my own views, but I'm always willing to listen to someone else's. With that in mind-should there ever be some heated debates going on in the comments, let's keep it civil, folks. Treat other people the way you'd want to be treated. Fair enough? I hope so. If you're looking for a place to read (and talk) about sports, politics, and the occasional Frank Zappa record, this is the place for you. Come on in. Make yourselves at home. Post a comment, even. Enjoy.

Things heat up...

Literally and otherwise-the temperature has been north of 100 degrees, and the pennant races have gotten very interesting. The one nearest and dearest to my heart, of course, is the NL Central. The Cubs, now in first place, have finally managed to capitalize on the Brewers' skid, despite being 4-6 in their last 10 games. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have been not-so-quietly gaining ground, going 7-3 in the same stretch. The 4-game homestand that kicked off yesterday at Wrigley is a must-win for the Cubs.

The good news is that the Cubs have finally started to pull it together offensively, even with Soriano out of the lineup and Derrek Lee struggling big-time at the plate. The not-so-good news is that the bullpen is still shaky. Not a good thing, when you look at the big numbers the Cardinals' offense has been putting up lately-a staggering 55 runs in their last 10 games, including three straight thrashings of the Brewers.

That being said, the Cubs did a couple key things in the win yesterday-

• Get a quality start from the pitcher. Rich Hill's numbers from yesterday: 7 IP, 3H, 1R, 2BB, 7K. A very good outing.
  
• Keep it close. Howry and Dempster both did a good job of shutting down the Cards' offense.
• Make things happen offensively. Although the 2-run, 4-hit box score doesn't look that impressive, coming up with an answer to Pujols' homer was key.
  

If the Cubs can make those same sorts of things happen today (and on through the weekend), there's a very real change of pulling out to a fair lead in the division. It's time to start looking towards October.

Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!

Ladies and gentlemen...your NL Central leaders, the Chicago Cubs.

That is all.