Auto baron parks ugly SUV in my spot and lives to slime another day

I worked a rare Sunday, so I have off today (Friday) as a result. I got home from grocery shopping and a bright-white Cadillac Escalade with a handicapped tag but no residential parking pass was in my spot, and a decent portion of the adjacent spot, too.

I was pissed. I asked the landlord to call the tow company or figure out whose it was. He did the latter, and it turned out it was Sam Swope's car. Sam Swope owns a bunch of auto dealerships in Louisville, and he was apparently next door at the school giving a speech or something and thought he could park in our lot.

I told the landlord, "It's a good thing I didn't key Sam Swope's car, you'd've found me in the river tomorrow." He laughed heartily but then walked briskly away.

Sam Swope, here's a thought: For somebody who owns car dealerships, where you have hundreds of vehicles PARKED in a specific pattern EVERY DAY, perhaps you could learn how and where to park your goddamn car.

Oh yea I forgot, the Red Sox used to be good

What a weird ending to Lost tonight. Does Ben have season tickets for Jack?

Quick thoughts:

• I wasn't buying Sayid's plan. He should have known the Others were smarter than to just see some smoke and blunder toward it. Not that he should have known they'd sneak to the boat, but Sayid's sharper than he displayed tonight.
• I wasn't buying the bald Korean dude jumping. Shame? Heartache? Knowledge that he'd gotten Sun pregnant?
  
• Sawyer was right; Juliet would've shot Kate if she wanted to. I noticed Juliet's body language when she was holding the gun. She didn't have the barrel shoved against Kate's head, she was just pointing it casually at her. She wasn't the least bit nervous.
• Hurray for a smarmy blonde Other getting a bullet in the gut.
  

Rest in peace, Cory Lidle

I won't bother posting a link, because the story is everywhere. Cory Lidle used to pitch for the Phillies, and today his small plane crashed into a Manhattan apartment building and he died. It's so sad.

It's one of those tragedies where I'm affected very little emotionally -- I cheered and booed him once every five days for two years, but I wouldn't say I ever got to know much about him -- but I find myself canvassing the Internet to read more, more, more about why he flew, how well he flew, how this could have happened.

There's a big gap in time between when he was sitting in the Yankees locker room less than a week ago and when something went wrong with a plane he was flying, and it may be awhile before that gap is filled. Some of it may never be filled. But I keep trying to piece together friends' and teammates' comments anyway.

All that selfish investigation by me aside, I'm sorry he's dead. I'm sorry he was shunned as a scab by some players during his entire career. I hope his wife and son are taken care of as well as possible.

Bwaha

Some people are saying that Philadelphia's win yesterday erases any doubt about Donovan McNabb's ability to win a big game. And I'm one of those people, because it just doesn't get any more clutch than guiding a favored team to a home victory in Week 5. The "negative nellies" out there may want to talk about conference championship games and Super Bowls, but I say show me a quarterback who can beat a Drew Bledsoe-led team in early October, and I'll show you a champion.

... So says D.J. Gallo w/ ESPN.com. His stuff doesn't always resonate with me, but I wish I'd written that. Even though I think McNabb was stellar and the game was very important, it wasn't Armageddon.

Big win: Eagles 38, Cowboys 24

The Eagles smacked down the Cowboys nicely, battering Drew Bledsoe all day. Terrell Owens didn't make much of a dent, catching 3 for 45 yards but dropping a couple others and befuddling Bledsoe into underthrowing him for a second-half interception.

Donovan McNabb was very good, and the defense was very, very good, and that's pretty much a recipe to beat any team in the NFL. The only glitch happened with about 45 seconds left, when Bledsoe fired a 57-yard pass to Terry Glenn on 4th and 18 to put Dallas five yards away from a game-tying touchdown. Hard to figure you put single-coverage on the other team's best receiver on 4th and 18, but there you go.

Didn't matter, as Bledsoe threw a baffling end-zone pick to Lito Sheppard, who ran 82 yards the other way toward paydirt and a game-sealing touchdown. And then Sheppard started hot-dogging.

Quick question, Lito: How long does it take you to cover 20 yards, even in full pads and after 82 yards of sprinting? Five seconds? I think five seconds, maximum.

So here's another quick question: Is it impossible for you to wait FIVE MORE SECONDS to start celebrating your great play? A Dallas dude got pretty close to you at the 20, man, have you really never heard The Ballad of Leon Lett and Don Beebe?

Of course, Lito heard someone alert him to the Dallas dude's presence -- "Lito, get your ass in the end zone pronto, man!" -- and he revved back up to second gear and made it in with a dive.

So you may say, "What a crotchety whiner," about me. You would not be incorrect. But it's a ridiculous example to set. That's all.

Overall, awesome game that the Eagles pretty much had to win to keep recovering momentum after a brutal choke job against the Giants three weeks ago. Nicely done, everyone.

Just wondering...

Who are all the people out there apparently demanding all this nonsense and attention paid to Terrell Owens?

Whose fixation can I blame for one non-story dominating all sports media?

What a worthless week of coverage. I could not give less of a shit about this Terrell Owens character. I swear I am going to watch the Eagles game with the sound off, I simply will not be able to stand listening to Joe Buck carry on about it.

Do yourself a favor

Go see The Departed.

Quick thoughts on Lost premiere

• Juliet is good. That's some nice work by Elizabeth Mitchell.
• I think Sarah's pregnancy test from last season was actually positive, but she told Jack it was negative and left him because she wanted to raise the baby with a man who would put his work second.
• "You're not my type." Are we supposed to deduce that Tom is gay? Because Evangeline Lilly is every straight man's type.
  
• I think the producers have to be careful not to make the psychological experimenting too overbearing. Viewers will feel uncomfortable and drop out. Not me -- I'm a glutton for punishment -- but watching torture and mindgames can be emotionally draining, and people get enough of that in real life. Watch Donald Rumsfeld try to put together a ten-word sentence without some false spark of folksiness and I'm sure you'll agree.
• What happened to whatever skinned the Oceanic skipper in the show's pilot? Did we forget that there were loud, deadly things on this island?
• Not nearly enough commercials between segments. I think I forgot what show I was watching at one point. Solid profit margin, ABC.
  

Doubleplusungood

-GWB is days away from outlawing U.S. bank transactions for online gambling purposes, and many sites have indicated they'll suspend activity for U.S. customers the moment he finishes scrawling his name on the bill.

So I've removed my money from the one account I have, and I sincerely doubt I'll reload, even if the law's effect becomes a bit clearer. I simply wouldn't feel safe with my money in a foreign escrow account that I can't access. Call me a control freak.

-Since I don't have a dog in the MLB playoff race, I'm pulling for my brother-in-law's dog, the Mets. But they've blown a three-run lead in the seventh inning, although it could be worse -- they tagged out two runners at home on the same play earlier in the game, three seconds apart. Jeff Kent ran too slowly, while J.D. Drew ran too fast behind him and thought the third-base coach was sending him home as well when he gave Kent the ol' windmill arm motion. High comedy.

-On a brighter note, the Lost premiere is tonight. I'll post a review afterwards, and I invite discussion from those of you who will be wrong.