Funniest Road Sign Ever, a.k.a. The Name of All of My Fantasy Football Teams This Year

While driving in, around, over, and through Ireland, Melissa and I happened upon this one road sign, which will pretty much be at the top of the "Random Road Signs" Pantheon for the foreseeable future. I give you:

Tribe puts Christmas tree up early; looks under it; finds a Pronk

^{Sports Illustrated}
The Indians bagged themselves four more years of Pronk.

And for less money than most people thought, too. Think his .262/14/57 (as compared to .322/25/74 at the break last season) has anything to do with it? Now, I think two things will happen, one of them good, one of them not so good.

1) Hafner will settle in, no longer worrying about all of this contract pressure crap, and will go on the kind of second half tear we're used to seeing (hopefully without getting hit by a pitch to put him on the DL for a month, unlike the last two years--tangent alert!--for a good time, ask Larz about the 2005 plunking from Mark Buehrle and get out of the way... it's a fun exercise). If he starts hitting like he normally would, the rest of the league should watch out.
Grade: Thumbs Up

And...

^{Sports Illustrated}
2) The Tribe FO will let C.C. Sabathia walk after next season. Come on; the notoriously tight-assed Larry Dolan just committed $90 million to Jake Westbrook and to Pronk. I think deep down, the Tribe Brass know that Sabathia has pitched himself so far out of their mid-market price-range (I'm thinking he's probably going to get Barry Zito/Johan Santana-type money, to compare some young/comparable lefties) that they're going to lock everyone else up (which they've done quite nicely, BTW) and hope and pray that they win a World Series in 2007 or 2008 while they have him. They'll pull a Thome move and offer him something that they know he won't take, and say, "See? We tried."
Grade: Meh/Thumbs Down

I know in my heart they probably can't keep Sabathia, unless Dick Jacobs comes back and starts paying to keep players like he did in the mid- to late-90's. Dolan has always said he'd "spend when the time was right," but given the fact that the fans have not yet come back like they should be doing (the team has 52 wins at the all star break, people!!) he may be hesitant to plunk down $130 million to keep C.C..

But, hey... it's a start. And, if the Tribe somehow were to put it together and win it this year or next, it would certainly soften the blow of losing the Big Lefty.

It's just nice to have Pronk around for a few more years.

Stepping Lightly

I've been wondering what sort of a post can follow up a quasi-eulogy for someone so wonderful, and it's been like on Studio 60 where, during flashbacks, we learned how hard it was to find something to make fun of after 9/11.

However, I went to CNN.com this morning, and found the story that irks me enough to pick up the proverbial pen again.

The President commuted Scooter Libby's prison sentence.

In a written statement commuting the prison sentence, issued hours after Monday's ruling, Bush called the sentence "excessive," and suggested that Libby will pay a big enough price for his conviction.

"The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting," he said.

I'm sure they will. Apparently, perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to investigators IN A CASE OF TREASON isn't really grounds for prison these days. I mean, hasn't poor Scooter suffered enough?? The toll all of that lying and grenade-falling-on must have taken... I mean, I don't know how he made it through!

Seriously, though, what kind of precedent does this set?

Plame had worked in the CIA's counter-proliferation division before the March 2003 invasion. She told a congressional committee in March that her exposure effectively ended her career and endangered "entire networks" of agents overseas.

That's not grounds for going to jail? Two and a half years in prison for *that* is "excessive"? What the fuck??

Nancy Pelosi ain't high on my list right now, but for once I agree with her:

Reaction on Capitol Hill was swift. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said the president had "abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice."

"The president's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people," she said.

Exactly. You know if I leaked a CIA operative's name and/or lied to cover it up, I'd be in freaking maximum security Guantanimo right now. I probably wouldn't even get a trial. If I did, there's no way I could afford any kind of solvent legal representation. Equal justice under the law, indeed. Worse, still, is that Libby is appealing his conviction. If he can drag it out long enough, Bush probably can give him a full pardon when he leaves office next year.

I've never been a big "IMPEACH! IMPEACH!" kind of guy, despite my well-documented distaste for this administration, but for the love of God... it's time.