TEN RANDOM THOUGHTS #12?

(I think this is #12 in the series . . . who can tell any more?)

1. Yesterday Nebraska voters sent Dr. Tom Osborne off into the political sunset by fairly decisively voting for incumbent governor Dave Heineman in a primary election. It may seem a little amazing to outsiders (I lived in Nebraska for a few years during the Frank Solich Era) that somebody with Osborne’s profile would go down in defeat. That’s not what’s most shocking to me, however. What is surprising is that Osborne ran well in Lincoln and Omaha but failed to win the primary, which must make this the first time that Lincoln and Omaha didn’t get what they wanted politically.
2. Despite all our best efforts, we’ve only managed to move up one slot in the Phil the Showkiller derby. I got all excited at my church’s brat fry on Saturday because, just as we were shutting it down, a guy who looked an awful lot like Mike Bibby pulled up. For one shining moment I thought maybe Phil had come to either encourage me or hand-deliver a cease-and-desist notice. But once the guy saw that we were closing up, he took off. Drat the luck.
3. Changes in state laws have mandated that we have to buy a minivan. There just isn’t a car that can hold three child seats. Any recommendations from all three of you who read this?
4. Along the same lines, this post over at Jalopnik touched on the idea that the late 80s and early 90s were kind of a golden time for automobiles–maybe not like now when even humble econosleds can outrun many performance machines of bygone eras, but still, a time when you could see passion and quality returning to cars all across the board. I still plan on getting the Runs Good site up and running (I’m nearly finished with the introductory feature, a review of the history of personal luxury coupes), and I’ll certainly expound at length about this later, but they’re right. That was a magical time for cars. Today’s cars are really good and do things we never imagined our cars would ever do (like running 100,000 miles without a tuneup), but they’re soulless and plasticky. Those cars weren’t, and it’s about time people gave them their due.
5. I’m sure I’m alone in this, but I am so anxious for Barry Bonds to pass Babe Ruth. I simply refuse to believe that the vaunted Babe wouldn’t have done steroids if they’d been available. I wouldn’t want Bonds as my next-door neighbor, but his perpetual under-the-bussing is growing tedious. One of the reasons I hate baseball is precisely because I’m always being told that I’m 50 years too young to have seen its best player. If baseball can’t be as good as it was then, why care about it now?
6. No, Barry doesn’t yet qualify as a sports villain in my book, for reasons I’ve expressed earlier. Kobe Bryant is starting to get there, though. He’s either vastly overrated or downright evil for his non-appearance in Game 7 of the Lakers-Suns series. A guy who would semi-deliberately tank a game just to prove the point that his team is nothing without him? Eeeeevillll. Or else he’s overrated. Or else Phil Jackson is overrated. Or maybe all three.
7. Sooner or later, every caffeine fanatic must reach the point where they start to wonder if the ‘feine is doing them more harm than good. When I crash like a stolen Mustang every evening at 9, I start to wonder if maybe I’m reaching that point.
8. Seriously, what is the deal with gas grills? Why would you spend 50% more money for something that doesn’t work as well? Is it just because a gas grill looks cooler? Or have giant gas grills with side burners and smoker boxes and garbage disposals and foyers and seating for six become the new sports cars? If you buy one, should we just assume you’re having a mid-life crisis?
9. My wife asked for flower pots and dirt for Mother’s Day. I’m pretty lucky/blessed, aren’t I?
10. There’s nothing quite like getting ravenously hungry when you just don’t have enough time to eat before your next commitment. And that’s exactly where I find myself now.