my guess is that he hopes to later grab one of the blanks from the bag - he'd use his backup blanks for an early high-point play, then palm any blank he drew later. Not sure what he'd do about having 8 tiles temporarily...not draw the appropriate number after making a play? palm some low-value tile that he'd bring…

a serious segue... That portion of the ceremony was hideously choreographed. It didn't look like any of the dancers bothered practicing the synchronization of their actions. Just imagine if the Chinese had done that act 4 years ago...it would have been absolutely breathtaking.

what I find most shocking about this news is that the Kinks had songs other than Lola and You've Really Got Me/All Day and All of the Night.

I'm saying you SHOULD be able to stand up for yourself - public job, public means of communication or not. I never claimed that that's allowed by society or the team.

I guess my complaint is with society as a whole. IMHO, the Reds should back their employee and state something to the effect of peoples' lifestyle choices are up to them, private, and they support their employees no matter what the sexual preference, lack thereof, or religion or lack thereof, etc, etc, etc.

sometimes the grownups have to kick someone's ass. I think the only scandal is that he backed down from his DM statement.

Yep. I've noticed that the other parents of the American gymnasts stand and cheer after all their daughters' routines, regardless of the outcome. The Raismans looked more invested in the results than seemed reasonable for parents that are being supportive.

agreed

I'm confused. Is this not a standard seeded single elim tourney where, at the Qfinals stage it's 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5? The next round it would be 1 v 8 winner vs 4 v 5 winner and 2 v 7 winner vs 3 v 6. The finals it would be the two teams that survive. In this case, whether you are 2 or 3 you will not…

The event announcers are taped as the live event unfolds right? Or do they go back, watch the tape and comment on the tape? Does NBC splice some of the audio into inappropriate places? I agree with you that NBC's on-floor announcers were letting the viewer know all of this info and don't understand what all the…

NBC never showed the final score of team USA nor the margin of victory over Russia (at least within the 5-10 minutes of team reaction they showed as/after the final results were given...maybe they did during a medal ceremony or something)

except the US would have the top seed and would therefore play the lowest qualifying seed in the elimination bracket. Oh no! that might encourage teams to win!;)

I recognize your avatar. Hi BtC! You certainly have vitriol to spare.

+1

yes, everyone who walks on the campus showers in the lasch building. I took 3 showers there today alone!

on a serious, non-jokey note - I don't fault the Egyptians for trying to get stuff cheap. But why not go with a distributor that doesn't bother putting either the Nike OR the Addias logo on anything?

If I lay on my side and take off my glasses, the players themselves form a Crystal Pepsi logo.

+1 non-Oxford comma.

Factoryville? Christ...the people who settled Pennsylvania had no creativity. With "Intercourse" the lack of creativity pays off, but it's still a lack of creativity.

I think many of the the prospect athletes would have been offput by a child-rapist regardless of when they came out. However, you're absolutely 100% correct about alumni and public opinion in general. And receiving a scholarship to a Big Ten university and a competitive team within that conference could have…