Headline: Panda bites man, man bites him back

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060920/D8K8II2G3.html

Headline: Panda bites man, man bites him back

And no, it's not a fake headline.

Adding insult to injury

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2517144

Ha ha ha ha.. Lipscomb we OWN you!

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/murdoch_pr.html

An outstanding article recapping the phenomenon of MySpace and the far-reaching effects that News Corp's purchasing of MySpace will have for their future business model, why Viacom missed out big time, and many other issues relating to MySpace and how it's changing how Big Media is being forced to deal with the times.

And yes, Lefty choked big time.

Lefty eyes third in a row

Even when some shots aren't going right, Phil Mickelson can do no wrong at the U.S. Open.

It was certainly fitting, then, that Lefty's opening tee shot on day three hooked far right of the fairway. What would have been disaster for most players ended up rosey for Phil, as the ball richoched back onto the middle of the fairway 187 yards from the pin.

Mickelson made par on that hole, as he did on so many others in this tournament.

After a so-so 1-over 36 front nine that saw Mickelson birdie 4 and 6 but bogey 3, 8, and 9, Mickelson caught fire on the back nine.

In all but the first hole of the final nine, Mickelson put himself in position where he had at least a putt for birdie, which he successfully converted on 14 and 16 to finish up his round with a dramatic 1-under 69.

If the storyline holds tomorrow afternoon, Lefty will collect his third straight major on a legendarily difficult course by playing it steady.

With Tiger long gone, and with nearly every other contender fading away by adding strokes to their final score, Phil has a chance to put this one away too.

Several of the lesser-known players began to buckle under the pressure yesterday.

The leader at the start of day three, Steve Stricker, by no means eliminated himself from contention, but with a 6-over 76, he erased his 1-under 139 and is now tied for fourth.

Englishman Kenneth Ferrie bogied 18 to drop himself into a tie with Mickelson, but has followed up oustanding front nines (an astounding 4-under 32 in round two, followed by an impressive 2-under 34 in round three) the past two days with weaker back nines (2 over 38 and 1 over 37) the last two rounds. As Mickelson can tell you, it is imperative to finish strong if you want to win.
Aussie Geoff Ogilvy righted what could have been a disasterous back nine by salvaging a 2 over 36, but clearly let a disagreement over shot selection with his caddie affect him. Although he is obviously close at one shot back, in the future he should either overrule his caddie or not let the disagreement bother him as it did.

All of which brings us back to Lefty. There are several reasons why he should be the favorite, but there are really three main ones:

No player is more prepared. Mickelson played nearly a dozen practice rounds at Winged Foot leading up to the Open, and keeps with him a notebook filled with invaluable tidbits on how to approach various situations. Phil's been slightly more aggressive with certain shots than other players, but proved time and time again (especially on the back nine) that he knew where to put the ball, and how to finish off holes the right way.

No other player has the crowd support. From the moment Phil appeared on his way to the opening tee, he was greeted with a roar of approval from the crowd that supported him every step of the way. It takes a special kind of athlete to thrive under that kind of pressure, but Phil seems to have figured out how, seemingly giving nods and tips of his hat to the gallery following every shot. If he is in the lead or close to it heading down the back stretch, the crowd may put him over.

No player has been more consistent. Only one player (4th place Ian Poulter, who is three shots back) has more pars (39) than Phil (38), while Colin Montgomerie (also in 4th place) has 38 as well. Mickelson is also tied for 2nd on putting average, an even 1.50 per hole. But most telling is that despite giving himself some pretty tough lies, Lefty has yet to make worse than bogey on any hole. Given the course conditions, that's pretty remarkable.

The leaderboard may be tied, but this is Phil's Open to lose.

(See? I can write about stuff besides hockey and politics :) )

A great day for freedom

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060608/D8I41K780.html

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is dead.

This is a great day for freedom, a great day for Iraq, and a great day for America.

Consequently, it is a bad day for Democrats.

Don't be fooled into believing anything else.

New Weird Al track

Holy crap!!

www.weirdal.com

Update: Record for college students to shoot for

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/23/D8HPG6OG1.html

This guy apparently had TWICE the amount typically fatal in most humans in his system. I don't think that'll be broken for some time.

Especially funny is this line:

"Sungaila...told police he had been drinking the night before and tried to freshen up by downing a pint of beer for breakfast."