One of the things that I like to do, and try to do, on a daily basis is visit this blogosphere and see who is posting and what they are posting on. Drives my wife crazy but I enjoy it so...I do it anyway. There is the cast of "Usual Suspects" roaming around with Lisa, Rev and BGL, SoCal, Dudski, Flying Pig, Hogfan and...well...you know who they are if you have been around for any period of time. And I am not here to sing their praises although I enjoy what they post for the most part. And I am not here to blast them in any way because neither has done anything to deserve a good blasting andI wouldn't be the guy for that job anyway, despite what the avatar represents. But lately I've come on here and read some very weird posts. I also am not here to deny the authors their right to blog here but with a large portion of them I have to say...ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?

It seems like every day that Barry Bonds sits at 754 homeruns there are at least 2 or 3 posts by new bloggers about Barry Bonds. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? And I'm not asking that of the bashers only. I ask it of the Bonds supporters as well. Where the hell have all of you been for the past year or so? It's like now that he is on the verge of becoming the all time homerun leader in MLB people can't jump on either bandwagon fast enough. Give it a freakin' rest. He will do it eventually. Personally I wish he would do it tomorrow night so we could move on to the next phase of this is why he shouldn't be the all time home run leader. Start throwing him strikes and let's get it done. People p and moan about why he hasn't done it yet. I think it is obvious. Pretty hard to get into any kind of a rythmn when you see 3 strikes and 16 balls a night. I've laughed the past two nights when the Dodgers walked him and it ended up costing them. Tonight in the 8th inning they go 2-0 on him and then walk him intentionally. Whatever. Pitch to him...end it...move on...resume the bashing all over again. And then we don't have to watch Bonds highlights every Sportscenter. It's like the TIGER watch. Then all you last minute bandwagon humpers can scream your disdain or your pleasure all you desire. Until then...ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?

Michael Vick (only accused at this point in time)...PETA...dog fighting and inhumane treatment of animals (dogs in this case)...humane treatment of animals...blah, blah, blah...ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? "Good night and remember to spay and neuter your pets...help control the pet population?" OK, Bob Barker used to end The Price is Right with this plug. I always wondered how I would feel about that if I were an animal? Not popular. Options...PETA...Michael Vick and buddies...hmmmm...neither popular...however, do I want to be abused and mistreated, electrocuted, left laying around with gaping wounds all over my body as I bleed to death, starved to death...or, because my human owner is a human turd who doesn't care for me and lets me run amok and become a stray I fall into the hands of an organization like PETA...or the local Humane Society who, after a certain period of time will euthanize me if I can't be placed with people who will care for me (long sentence...run ons...so what). Neither is popular but given an option...Vick scares the hell out of me. I couldn't care less if he is black...that is not the issue...I couldn't care less if he is a celebrity...that is not the issue...I couldn't care less if the media is making a mountain out of a mole hill because  Vick is black and a celebrity...that is not the issue... I couldn't care less if someone argues that PETA is as bad or worse or better than Michael Vick if they had a legitimate argument. I couldn't care less if Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton spoke out supporting Vick or opposing Vick or just stayed the hell out of it and let it run its course. What bothers me is when someone tries to say that what PETA does is as bad or worse than what Vick and his buddies are accused of and rattles off some kind of statistical rambling that has nothing to do, contextually, with the issue at hand. PETA does some strange things...so does Greenpeace...but they do them in a somewhat controlled situation with some kind of regulation to them. They don't operate a business that is ILLEGAL. They don't mistreat animals before putting them in pits to fight and die for the monetary rewards of people. Well...people hunt and kill animals...where is the sport in that? Personally...there isn't any. Arguments can be made that some areas are hunted for population control. Happens in Minnesota all the time during deer hunting season. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? The argument about PETA vs. Vick is lost in context. PETA isn't perfect but you can't compare them to an ILLEGAL operation. Or justify it by saying, "well I think Michael Vick is guilty of some of the stuff he is accused of" and let that be your justification for a lame argument. What Vick is accused of is morally, ethically and legally...WRONG! Don't even bother trying to make his actions seem more acceptable by saying PETA is as bad or worse. YOU LOSE!

And while I am on this rant about Bonds and Vick...ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? Michael Vick's bestest lifelong friend is getting ready to sing like the birds in the sky (how is that for poetic) against his lifelong bestest buddy to make things easier on him. Plea bargaining at its finest. Grand Jury jumped all over that. So if this is how Grand Jury's are supposed to work ( and I'm obviously no attorney)...what the hell is wrong with the one working on Bonds. Its been a couple of years at least and they still haven't done anything on anything. We've had ex-lovers testify against him (and apparently getting ready to do it again...naked)...we've had books citing him as the all evil one...we've had one guy go to jail, still in jail, instead of testifying against Bonds. Chemists from BALCO are giving him up while the owner of BALCO says the chemist doesn't know what he is talking about. Vicks bestest buddy is giving him up, more than that have tried to give up Bonds and yet...NOTHING has happened after all this time. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? Charge him with something or let it go...this farce is costing people money.

The Minnesota Timberwolves traded Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics. Or did the Boston Celtics trade a bunch of kids and a problem child to the Wolves for Kevin Garnett. Boston becomes immediate contenders and the Wolves...will have to wait a while to see how this plays out. There are those who don't like it here in Minnesota.  ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? All you had to do to be convinced this was a good move was listen to Garnett at the press conference announcing his arrival in Boston. It's hard to go the arena every night knowing there is a greater than 50% chance you were going to lose. That was the gist of KG's comments. IT IS TIME FOR HIM TO MOVE ON. The Wolves get youth (Al Jefferson and Gerald Green) and draft picks and a better salary cap situation. So they suck for a couple of years...big deal...they do that now with no direction as a franchise. The down side...they also get Sebastian Telfair...Stephon Marbury's cousin who has been arrested twice since on gun charges since 2005. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? He averages 6 points a game and roughly (benefit of a few % points) 3 assists a year. Good enough reason to pay him 2.56 million this year! Can you say...MAYDAY!

Duante Culpepper signed with the Oakland Raiders today after a couple of weeks without a team. Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and a couple others were mentioned in the past couple of weeks since Miami released him but nothing came up. Until now. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? All this does is show you that Al Davis is still in need of analysis. He sees no problem. Why not...look at what he has seen for years now. Culpepper can't wait to silence his critics. Duante that means you'll have to play. As soon as Russell signs the only playing time Culpepper will see is as the other team's QB in practice...if his knee holds up. Culpepper is a season late. Randy Moss is a Patriot now (how scary does that sound) so his meal ticket left before he got there!!! It's good to see his timing hasn't changed.

In all reality I probably shouldn't have written this tonight but I'm struggling with something. And that something makes all of this fairly meaningless. But I had to do something.  ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? Nope! A bridge going over the Mississippi River collapsed tonight in Minneapolis. As I write this 7 are confirmed dead and 38 are injured...some critically. Some were children. It happened at about 6:05 in the evening...during rush hour. An estimated 50 cars fell when the bridge collapsed as the bridge is also a section of 35W. I'm struggling because of the catastrophe and the effect it will have on so many families. Frantic phone calls to siblings and from siblings and parents confirmed that I wouldn't be sharing in the grief of a loved one lost or injured in this horrible situation. And I will pray for those who will be feeling those things tonight. And I'm feeling weird about this. Like I dodged something. One of my kids had a soccer game roughly 30 minutes north of this accident. Her game was at 5:00 pm. We drove through there about 4:30. A few days ago this game was changed from a 7:00 pm start to a 5:00 pm start. If the game had been at 7:00 there is a pretty good chance that some of my family and I would have been in that area at the time the bridge collapsed. So...do I feel lucky tonight? Nope...just kind of weird and sad.

And that's the bottom line...