Oh God, My Chance Has Come At Last

I'm very happy to announce that Gothamist Sports Editor Tien Mao has agreed to bring me on as a sports writer. Details and contract terms are still being worked out, but look for my first piece on their bandwidth at some point in the near future. Until then...

Yesterday it was KG, today it is Kobe bowing out of his Olympic commitment. You see, he has this pesky rape trial hanging over his head.
As of now, the Olympic team stands at 6 players: Jermaine O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Mike Bibby and Richard Jefferson. We need at least 6 more players to fill out the squad. If yours truly was on the USA Basketball Board of Directors, I would add the following players to the squad (assuming Shaq won't make the trip either): Brad Miller (big, tough player down low with excellent passing skills), Antawn Jamison(can score from inside and out plus rebound), Michael Redd(lights out long range shooter), Carmelo Anthony(all everything and this helps make up for getting robbed on ROY), Ron Artest(lock down defender), Stephon Marbury(guard depth at both the PG and SG slots) and then maybe someone like Kwame Brown(played well this season and might inspire him to be included in this bunch) or Carlos Boozer(will do all the dirty work on the boards and finish down low).

The other big NBA news of the day was Jayson Williams only getting convicted on 4 of the 8 counts against him, and those four happened to be the ones that carried the least jail time. He was acquitted on aggravated manslaughter and the jury could not come to a decision on his reckless manslaughter charge, leaving open the possibility of a retrial for that charge. As shitty as I think that decision is, you have to hand it to Williams high priced defense team, who outclassed their prosecution counterparts. (Side note: doesn't this ALWAYS seem to happen?) The jurors said it best, "I never looked over there and saw a cold-blooded killer". If you can't look at a man with a history of playing recklessly with guns while being drunk and see a 'cold blooded killer', then you most likely never will. *sigh*

Pedro says "No contract negotiations for you!" to the Red Sizzle. Dude just has to stir up trouble whenever he can. I say let him finish the year and resign him after the season. There are too many valuable free agents on this team (hello Nomah) to go and break the bank on you star pitcher who may or may not have a bad shoulder.

Andy Roddick, volunteer firefighter.

After sales of over 300,000 units of the old version with the movie tie-in cover, Fight Club has just been re-released as a trade paperback with a new cover and a new foreword by Chucky P.

This has been floating around a bit, but here is the info for NC's own Merge Records 15th Anniversary Concerts. 4 days worth of music! I think I'm going to have to go see Spoon.

Thanks to Lindsay for pointing out The Rasterbator. I have to start picking out an image to use if and when I get a job and new apartment.

New Christian Bale as Batman photos. Personally, I'm not loving it. The built in muscles in his costume have to go. I don't picture Batman as this big muscular, burly dude. Superman, yes. Batman, no. Still, I'm very excited to see the finished product.

New tour diary by Ted Leo!

The good life is out there somewhere
so stay on my arm you little charmer