Last time there were none. This time, I lost my last burst of work on all files. But at least there was something. The builds on these boxes are hella locked down, and hella buggy. I actually had the whole box blue screen of death with system dump on me a few days ago. Wouldn't restart until I popped out the laptop battery and put it back in.

After me just saying here that I was too new to gossip, one of my co-workers stopped by and had a tete-a-tete with me that was very collegial and nigh-gossipy. I may be IMing dish in no time.

Let me introduce you to Jerry Jones and his Death Star.

Tea. Up. The. Nose.

And P-C, even back in the day, players for a city's team were rarely from that city. If they were, then it was the "Hometown Boy Makes Good" story. For example, Walter Johnson, who was one of the earliest celebrated players in Major League Baseball was born in Kansas, grew up in California, but spent the entirety of his career with the Washington Senators. (1907-27)

One of Ty Cobb's nicknames was The Georgia Peach because that's where he was from, but he played with the Detroit Tigers.

I think what you're doing is confusing what the modern era of sports has become since the advent of free agency. Before that, it was very common for players to spend the majority, if not the entirety of their careers with the same team, which accorded them almost hometown status. Or at the very least, a proprietary sense amongst the fans.

For a modern example, Brett Favre until he lost his mind.

I still find it kind of weird that neither of Archie Manning's sons are playing in New Orleans, but I suppose we couldn't afford them. (Go Brees!)

I don't see how one could comfortably ride this bike: Minimalistic City Bike Doesn’t Use A Chain

See, this is why I like the Olympics, where the players on the team you root for are at least usually from that place.

What used to be true about Chicago Bears players (and still is for some) is that they might have come from different parts of the country before they started playing here, but a lot of them stuck around after they retired and became city residents.

I think what you're doing is confusing what the modern era of sports has become since the advent of free agency. Before that, it was very common for players to spend the majority, if not the entirety of their careers with the same team, which accorded them almost hometown status. Or at the very least, a proprietary sense amongst the fans.

Yeah, I guess even if you weren't from the city to begin with, if you play with a team for long enough, you might as well be from it. I totally get rooting for a team because of a particular player or players.

I still maintain that it's odd to compare teams from different eras that have no team members in common.

Laughing my ass off at Ellen on the cover of O (Oprah) magazine: [link]

I have big team loyalty even when I hate star players and owners. And I get people hating the Cowboys, I just don't, and I will take the mocking and harassment when they are losing and will taunt like a giant taunter when they are winning. It's not like they are the most dominant sports team in American sports history.

this is why I like the Olympics, where the players on the team you root for are at least usually from that place

There's too much training abroad and wangling citizenship in a country with a smaller talent pool I like to root for Jamaicans in general, but I have a softer spot for Jamaicans that live and train in Jamaica (uh, says the woman who hasn't lived there in a gazillion years).

On the flip side, I have to admit, I was claiming Ben Johnson for a while. But I'd have tossed him if he'd been running under my flag anyway.

Jamaicans will claim their own far and wide. We're grabby like that. But Usain Bolt will be closer to the nation's heart.