It was the summer of 2002.  A small 2 bedroom, 1 bath, non-air-conditioned house we rented in the north-side ghetto of Knoxville, TN... where we spent our time.  We picked guitars on a $25 sectional we had purchased from the Goodwill down the street and swilled cheap brew on the other couch, on the front porch, most evenings.  We also fought our 56K dial-up modem in the attempt to keep up with our college buddies long since gone home from school, as best we could anyway.

Long, long before Facebook and MySpace were what the "kids did."  It was a special time.  There was no "poking" or "friending."  It was a peaceful time.  It was the time of AIM, when in order to be connected over the ether, you had to wait around to hear the opening door sound of someone's logon and then go see who it was.  It wasn't the easiest, but it was what we had.

Back then, we discovered what would become an enjoyable and repeatable way to waste more time.  It was called "Hot or Not."  You know you remember it, stop lying.  "Hot or Not" was a website for the vainest of people to post pictures of themselves, have it flash up at random on someone else's computer, wherein they had the opportunity to rate you 1-10.  Lovely.  And later, one could log on to see just how Hot one was.  It was not unlike today's chat roulette, just, you know, with less penis.

Oh those were the days, spent gawking and laughing at the pure insanity of it all, and coming to a group conclusion (after the laughter died down), making a few parting shots about your lifestyle decisions, clicking a rate button and moving on.  Rinse and repeat.  And go get a beer every so often.  Good times.

But I digress...  This is a sports blog, no?  I was sitting last night trying to think of a new commentary series to start here on our (not always) College (never) Daily (mostly) Sports Blog, when I remembered those hot afternoons and evenings all those years ago spent making fun of, well, you.  And the SD Hot or Not series was born.  Installment 1, GO!

HOT:  Erin Andrews.  Yeah, yeah.  That's the easy way to get started, I know.  So be it.  Her contract with ESPN is up at the end of this month and she will be able to test the waters of free agency.  You know, Erin, we could use a TV personality here at SD.  What we can't provide in financial compensation could well be made up for in witty banter, perversely insulting third-party dialogue during sporting events, somewhat clean dishes, and Bud Light.  Think about it.

NOT:  Lady Gaga.  Yeah, your music is catchy sometimes, and aside from all the hermaphrodite rumors, I can see where some males would find you attractive.  Pretty much, you can do anything you want and get away with it.  But playing with your boobies and chugging whiskey in a major league locker room after a game, you may not.  Joe Girardi apparently has no issue with it, but as a baseball guy, I do.  Stay in the stands with the rest of the asinine Yankee fans.  It's not cute.  It's sad.  Oh, and Mets... don't encourage her.

HOT: Rosenblatt Stadium.  As I believe I have made abundantly clear over the years, I fancy the stick and ball sport above all else, and as a former college player myself, Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha has always been a dream destination of mine.  Sadly, I will never get to see it with my own eyes.  The 2010 College World Series marks the end of its 61-year storied history as the pinnacle of college baseball.  There's a new stadium under construction downtown and once the currently underway series is complete, Rosenblatt will become a parking lot for the zoo next door.  Here's to you, Johnny.  Thanks for the memories.  Cheers!

NOT:  Barack Obama.  No, despite your most intense wishes, reader(s), I'm not about to get all politico on you.  But come on, Chief, at least do the wave when it comes by!

NOT:  France.  What a week for French "sports."  Not only are your soccer side falling apart in South Africa, basically surrendering to itself (surprise), but you had such an opportunity to steer the spotlight away from your idiocy on Sunday night.  Instead, French qualifier Gregory Havret, summed up what people the world over believe about you.  You are a smug and entitled people with little respect for anyone else.  And your food sucks.  Havret, fresh off a lovely run at the US Open to finish second, spent his entire post match interview whining about missed putts and talking about how good he really was, not once congratulating first-time Major-winner Graeme McDowell.  Yep.  Harry Dunne had it right.

HOT:  NBA Draft Live Blog!  Tomorrow night!  Here!  Stick around, for if nothing else, to see how long we can continue to run this joke into the ground!  Year 4 and counting!

That'll wrap it up for the inaugural edition, folks, except to say that I was recently given the nickname "Augie" and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it just yet.

It wasn't long ago that USC seemed to be on the verge of dominating the college football world. They had it all – high-powered offenses, Heisman Trophies, an endless stream of high school All-Americans and a high-energy coach who was rarely seen without a smile on his face. Completing the Hollywood aura that encompassed the program were the celebrities on the sidelines, sunny weather and gorgeous girls in the stands. Depending on who you ask, they visited three straight national title games, winning two of them, and there seemed to be no end in sight to their dominance.

Now? Let's just say things have changed a bit.

Sure, they still have the sunny weather and beaches. I'm sure the girls in the crowd are just as beautiful as ever, and being in Los Angeles, it's a safe bet there will still be some famous faces on their sidelines for games this fall. But beyond that, the current USC football bears little resemblance to that fun loving, care-free bunch that ran roughshod through opponents in the early 2000s.

Now, this program that was once the envy of the college football world is now quickly becoming the punchline of jokes. The confidence they once had has been replaced by whimpering and whining. A once-proud attitude has given way to a defensive mindset, the kind of irrational logic that shows when the bully becomes the bullied.

It's one thing to be handed a severe punishment by the NCAA - more than one program has felt their heavy hand, and USC certainly won't be the last program to be sentenced. So the announcement that USC will be banned from postseason play for two years and have to forfeit scholarships for three years due to “lack of institutional control” relating to benefits received by ex-player Reggie Bush was definitely news-worthy, but not entirely shocking.

No, what's shocking has been the arrogance displayed by the program after the punishment was announced. Instead of accepting the punishment and moving on, USC has behaved like a petulant child who sticks out his tongue at his parents after having his hand caught in the cookie jar.

It's hot outside. You have no friends. If you're reading this, you're obviously bored. Have no fear! I am here to let you know what the world has to offer. Just follow along so you'll know what to do this weekend...

• Watch the World Cup. Sure, we're American, we hate soccer. But, you should watch for two reasons. 1) There's little else on TV. 2) It's the best soccer played in the world, so it's got to be decent. Plus, soccer brings out the best/worst in most countries. There will be hooligans and fans throwing stuff on the field, which is always entertaining. There will also be countless beautiful women at these games. Soccer players always get hot girls. Remember that moron Britt that stole your girlfriend in high school? Yeah, she was hot.
• Don't root for the US Soccer team in the World Cup. I know, right? Listen, the US has ZERO SHOT of winning the World Cup this year. Until we get more world-class athletes on our team, our country should not support this team. The administrators at US Soccer need to get the game into the inner city, integrate the game more and then the US will be a viable soccer country. Until then, I'm not rooting for the US to do well. I don't cheer for second-rate teams. Neither should you.
• Go see Phish in Chicago. I'm the only Phish fan here? Fine, more room for me and my earthy smelling friends.
• Be excited about conference realignment. This is the first step to a college football playoff. Doesn't that excite you? Super conferences are going to be awesome. There are going to be more conference games. Plus, we all get to laugh at Kansas when they are in the Mountain West or the Missouri Valley Conference. HA HA! That is me laughing at Bill Self while he stares dumbly at an Iranian burying a 3.
• Don't call me un-American for not cheering for the US Soccer team. Being un-American is not supporting the troops. Not cheering for a bunch of 5'9 white guys who steal girlfriends is exactly American.
• Bet on the Celtics to win Game 5. Boston is going to win Game 5 Sunday night against the Lakers. Mark it down. Hell, bet your rent check on it.
• Realize I'm right about US Soccer. Yes, we have 4-5 guys who are great players on our team. The great teams in the World Cup have 18-20 great players. If we keep supporting a shitty product, we'll keep getting a shitty product. Refuse average, demand greatness!

Thanks for reading the first (and possibly last) installment of What You Should Do This Weekend.

If you're a regular reader of the site (and we thank the five of you that are), you know we typically try to have a little fun, using offbeat humor, sarcasm and a basic disregard for most journalistic standards to get our points across. We typically don't touch the serious stuff or offer deep, insightful perspectives because, basically, we don't have any.

But the passing of legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden is time to put all that hold for a moment. Anyone with an interest in college basketball knows what Wooden accomplished on the court...namely ten national titles, including an unthinkable seven straight from 1967-1973, an 88-game winning streak and 620 wins over 27 seasons. His teams were known for their attention to detail, strong fundamentals, and professional approach, and the list of players who played under him reads like a "Who"s who" of some of the best basketball players in history...guys like Sidney Wicks, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton and Gail Goodrich.

Perhaps as impressive as the on-court accomplishments was Wooden's legacy. Known for his blue-collar approach and substance-over-style methods, Wooden is historically regarded as one of the best teachers the game has ever seen. Perhaps my favorite Wooden story was one that Bill Walton often tells, about his first practice at UCLA when Wooden spent the first 15 minutes working with the players on the proper way to tie their shoes. If he was that concerned with the shoelaces of his players, is it any wonder his teams were so successful in every facet of the game once they stepped on the floor?

Now, I'm not planning on writing a detailed timeline on Wooden's life here - you will be able to find plenty of those on ESPN.com, SI.com and others over the next few days, and written by much better writers than myself. But being a sports blog, I felt it was appropriate to recognize the passing of a true sports legend. His on-court accomplishments will likely never be matched, and his legacy as a man is untouchable. I mean, when is the last time you heard a negative word about John Wooden from anyone? The guy was universally respected for how he lived his life and treated others, and we should all aspire to reach that standard.

In short, there's one reason that UCLA basketball is considered an elite program today, and that reason is John Wooden.

Rest in peace Coach.

Although I grew up loving the game, I've fallen out of love with baseball in recent years. I still watch some games, still follow the storylines, still can hold my own in a baseball discussion, but my heart just isn't in it like it used to be. Perhaps I've been jaded by the steroid era, or turned off by the seemingless endless stream of new statistics and metrics that, to me, take away from the pure essence of the game. Let's face it, when we have stats that measure a pitcher's effectiveness on plays that do not involve fielders (known as DIPS), we may be making the game a little too complicated.

 So it may seem odd that the perfect game that wasn't, and the ensuing discussion, struck a cord with me. I didn't see the game live, and I'm not necessarily a fan of either team. Thats not say I have anything against Armando Galarraga. In fact, to be honest, I had never heard of the guy until about 9:30 last night. So  while I didn't exactly lose sleep last night over the abysmal call at first base that cost Galarraga the perfect game, it's not as if I was rooting against him.

But with all that being said, I'm glad the MLB Commissioner Bud Selig decided not to overturn that call and award Galarraga a perfect game. The official record will show that there were zero perfect games thrown on June 2, 2010. And that's exactly how it should be.

This isn't so much an instant replay issue. We can all agree that the call was missed, and perhaps, with the use of instant replay, the crew would have been able to reverse the call on the spot to get it correct. I'm all for anything that helps the umpires or officials to get the call right, and with all of the technology available in sports, there's really no excuse for not taking advantage of every resource to make sure the games are called as fair as possible. While "official reviews" and challenge flags and all of that can be irritating at times, I can't really say the extra minute or two has ever drastically affected my viewing experience. And let's face it - baseball games typically don't hum along at a rapid pace anyway. So if they can enact instant replay in more situations in baseball to add a degree of accuracy to the game, then go for it.

No- this is an issue of integrity. Yes that's right...integrity in baseball. The same sport has spent the better part of the last few seasons under a cloud of steroid allegations, subpoenas and investigations. Yet believe it or not, there's still a sanctity and dignity to the sport. And changing a call the next day in order to preserve an individual accomplishment or to highlight a specific player would just be, for lack of a better word, wrong.

 I understand that perfect games are rare. In fact, rare doesn't even do it justice. In 135 years of Major League Baseball, there have been only 20 perfect games thrown...and that's including two in the first two months of this season. That's an average of one perfect game every 6.75 seasons, or once approximately every 1093 games. Additionally, no player has ever thrown two perfect games, and only six pitchers with a perfect game have ever also thrown a no-hitter. So the chances of Galarraga ever getting the chance to throw a perfect game again are, to say the least, very slim.

But is it more rare then some other sports feats? What about a running back rushing for 2,000 yards in a single season? There have been only six backs in history who can claim that distinction, dating back to the formation of the NFL in 1920. Even if we only count records since the NFL/AFL merger in 1966, that's still only six backs in 44 years, or one back every 7.3 seasons. If Tennessee's Chris Johnson ended last season with 1,999 yards, would it be okay to review a spot the next day in order to get him that extra yard? Or let's say an NBA player finishes a game with 98 points, just two short of becoming only the second player ever to score 100 in a single game. Should it be okay for the commissioner announce the next day that, since an official missed a goaltending call, that the player should be awarded two points?

I understand these are extreme examples. But the principle is the same. No matter how egregious the call, or how rare the feat that was denied, you simply can't change things the next day just to secure an individual record or accomplishment. Doing so would open the door for all kinds of loopholes, exceptions and unique cases that could soon mean we would have to wait 24 hours after the outcome of a game to learn if, in fact, that outcome stands, or if any records may have been broken.

Besides, what kind of message does that send about the game? The Tigers won the game last night. That should be the most important thing. It shouldn't be about a player's individual performance. Whether Galarraga threw a perfect game or a one-hitter, whether you believe he got 27 outs or 28 outs, the biggest thing is that his team won. Reversing calls the next day, especially when that call didn't affect the outcome on the scoreboard, sends the message that the player is more important than the game itself.

It also helps that Galarraga has handled the entire ordeal with a great deal of class, never complaining or disparaging umpire Jim Joyce. Joyce also has done his part, owning up to his mistake and apologizing to Galarraga and the Tigers personally. That kind of accountability is all too rare in sports (maybe more rare than a perfect game), so it shouldn't go unnoticed. It doesn't change the fact that he did cost Galarraga a likely once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but he has handled the aftermath as well as could be expected to help make up for it.

It's certainly unfortunate that Galarraga missed a chance at history. And here's hoping he gets another shot someday. But make no mistake - this was the right decision. For once, Selig made the right call.

Perhaps there's hope for baseball after all.

Well, the USA Mens National team headed to the World Cup has finally been named. There were no huge surprises, just a couple small ones. It's a team with a range of styles and backgrounds, and it occurs to me that not everyone is a soccer fanboy like me. So, here's everything you need to know about all 23 guys headed to South Africa. And remember, they have a friendly against Austrailia this Saturday (6/5) and then the first World Cup game vs England is Saturday (6/12). Schedule your lives accordingly.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you your US Mens National Team 2010. (Ordered by their jersey numbers, click on each name for a picture of the player in question)

1- Tim Howard (Goal Keeper) - The undisputed best player on the team. Is it odd to have your best player be the goalie? Not for the US. Howard has been playing for Everton in the EPL for years now and is consistently considered one of the better keepers in England. He's big and athletic, could have played college basketball and has a commanding presence. Oh, and he has a mild form of Tourette syndrome which makes him even more bad ass. There's every reason to believe Timmy will have a massive World Cup, but if he doesn't the US team might have some long American faces at the end of the tournament.

2 - Jonathan Spector (Defender) - One of the other Americans playing in England, Spector plays for West Ham United in London. They're a Premier League club, but they seem to be barely avoiding relegation almost every year. He originally signed with Manchester United, but didn't quite develop into a Man U caliber player. Got a lot of starts this season against top-quality opponents, but it felt like a lot of those were by default. He's still young (24) so he could develop, but this round at the World Cup might just be a little over his head. Also, I've chosen him as "most likely to play Dungeons & Dragons."

(Click Read More. Go ahead. Do it.)

You wouldn't think it, but we get hundreds (if not thousands) of emails a week from StadiumDrives.com readers. Some of them tell us how great we are, others how bad we are. Often, we'll get tips of stories. Sometimes, sites will even let us know that they stole our work, it was a hit on their site and thank us. Others just write in for advice or have questions about their life. I decided to give the old inbox a cleaning again and pick out some of the best (and worst) emails.* If you can't decipher our e-mail address from the sidebar and would like to send something in, send it via Twitter to @JoshCohron.

It's the weekend. I (and probably every other girl in Lexington) would appreciate if you didn't text me, like usual, at some ungodly hour. I'll let you know now, I'm not coming over. - (name withheld)

That was helpful. Will it change anything tonight at midnight? Of course not.

After a stellar week of NBA basketball, what do you think would be the most competitive: an NBA Finals with the Celtics and the Lakers, an NBA Finals with the Celtics and the Suns, or a Rubik’s Cube contest between Dwight Howard and a goat? - @TylerKY

Great question! I will rank these.

1. Rubik's Cube contest between Dwight Howard and a goat: I'm going to side with the goat on this one in a close match. I'm pretty sure Dwight Howard would find a way to foul out of this.
2. Lakers vs. Celtics in the NBA Finals: A rematch from two years ago is what I'm expecting, and what ABC and NBA executives are praying for. This is probably the last run the Celtics have in their old legs, so they would be playing with a certain sense of urgency (assuming they don't massively choke against the Magic this weekend). I could definitely see this series going seven games.
3. Suns vs. Celtics in the NBA Finals: I'm not sure Phoenix would have it in them to compete at a high level after a seven game series with the Lakers. Plus, I don't see them winning the last two games of this series.

Can someone set the Howad/goat contest up? This could be for charity or something. I would pay good money to see that goat get fouled by Dwight Howard.

Do you think Entourage has run its course as a TV show or that it has a couple good seasons left? - @samx1605

Great question, little brother. I could write a lot about the ups and downs of the show and really break it down, but I won't.

Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) is back. The show has as many seasons left as she does. She'll also be our Hot Female of the Week! Great job, baby! Great job!

Being a father of daughters, I am cheering for Danica on Sunday at the Indianapolis 500.  Do you feel that she is legitimate or are you just watching in hopes that her outfit will deteriorate during the race leaving her naked when she climbs out of the car? - Scott, Georgetown, KY

First of all, I won't be cheering for anyone. Watching people drive around in a circle for hours on end sounds like an awful way to spend a day, let alone a holiday weekend.

If I were to cheer for someone, it certainly wouldn't be Danica Patrick. What a loser she is. She's won one race in 5+ years of racing. Hell, I think I could do better if given the opportunity. I would make a joke about women being bad drivers, but I think Danica is making all them for me.

And as for seeing Danica naked? I'll pass, gladly. She is not attractive. Those GoDaddy commercials always crack me up. They show her in some skimpy outfit and then give some line like, "Go to our website for the UNRATED footage!" Who in their right mind would want to see that? If you saw Danica Patrick walking down the street and didn't know she was famous, she might be a 6. Now, because she's famous, I'm supposed to think that she is some sex symbol? That's disgusting.

There are a lot of women in sports that are attractive, Danica Patrick isn't one of them.

Is it better to recruit a good nucleus that is around 3/4 years with a few blue chips or have to get 4 new blue chips every year? - @bandave

Great question! I assume this was in response to Kentucky signing Terrence Jones last week.

I think a perfect recruiting class would have a couple premier players and a couple players that will be in the program for 3-4 years. A lot of Kentucky fans are freaking out about the loss of four freshmen after the past season. I think that class will be more of the exception than the norm. The cupboard was bare, Calipari brought in freshmen and the freshmen had to play, and play a lot. Kentucky was very successful, so the freshmen were noticed and moved up draft boards.

Think back to when you were a freshman in college; if someone had offered you $10 million to leave school, wouldn't you have done it? Of course.

Kentucky's 2010 class is more balanced than 2009. There are some probable one-and-dones: Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter and (more than likely) Terrence Jones. But, there will be guys that will be around the program for a while as well: Doron Lamb, Stacey Poole and Eloy Vargas.

Over/under 2.5 seasons until Strasburg ends up like Mark Prior, young 'n' busted? (Or was it Kerry Wood? I can never remember.) - @scott_ish

Anyone that makes fun of the Cubs will always get in the mailbag. Who am I kidding? Anyone that sends a question is getting in, but making fun of the Cubs is fun... and easy.

Oh, I'm taking the WAAAAAY under. Can anyone remember the last young pitching phenom that didn't have some sort of flameout? Prior and Wood are two great examples. Francisco Liriano missed two seasons with an injury. Tim Lincecum loves marijuana and it's showing this year. I'm sure Ubaldo Jimenez's arm will fall off before the All-Star break.

If baseball weren't so boring, I would break down more pitchers, but I'm getting tired just talking about it.

By the way, I wasn't prepared to agree with @scott_ish on anything... ever. I mean, the guy likes Dave Matthews!

That's it for this week's version of the mailbag. Enjoy your holiday weekend with your favorite beverage, your favorite pool and your favorite people that supply the first two things. Thanks for reading, thanks for submitting.

Hello there my fairweather friends!  I'm safely back home from my annual Maycation, and perhaps even more impressive, spent two nights in downtown Detroit without witnessing a single stabbing, robbery, or exploding salt shaker.

I attended this year's Tigers/Yankees series, as I did last year, with a long-time friend, fellow baseball guy and (cough) Yankee fan... let's call him Fuzzy.  As always, the real kickoff to the trip happens when you pass Big Butter Jesus, just south of Dayton, OH.  We pitched around different slogans, or mottos if you will, for this dairy encased savior and I must say, the cake goes to Fuzz, with "I can't believe it's not Jesus!"

Despite an hour long delay south of Toledo, we finally reached the Michigan state line 2 hours before first pitch of the ESPN Wednesday night game.  Incidentally, Michigan, changing your welcome sign from "Welcome to Michigan" to "PURE MICHIGAN" doesn't really do anything other than highlight the fact that you're spending tax dollars on image, rather than job creation.  Good work.  At least your most prominent mayor wasn't recently indicted... oh what's that?  Woops.

During this part of the trip, we were able to catch Game 1 of the Day/Night doubleheader (dubbed 'the Nooner' by Fuzz).  NOTE: Do not, under any circumstances, set yourself up in a car, listening to a Yankees game, with a Yankees fan, while they are losing.

Once in Detroit, we check into our way-too-nice-for-these-assholes-but-purchased-on-Expedia-for-dirt-cheap hotel, The Greektown Hotel and Casino, broke into the moderately priced mini-bar, and started the 3 block walk to Cheli's Rooftop, which provides a pretty amazing view of the ballpark, Ford Field, and the downtown Detroit skyline.  Having traveled in the post-May-1 era, there is no longer smoking allowed at a bar... outside.  Thanks for that, assholes.

Pure Michigan.  Someone tell that to the drunk homeless man in a wheelchair that was just tossed out into the street by a huge-boobed Cheli's waitress, all of 5'4", 110 lbs.  Now that, my friends, is Pure Entertainment anywhere you go.

After Cheli's we make it down the 45 flights of stairs to the ballpark, scavange up some $9 ballpark burritos (Note: Do Not Attempt) and find our 7th row seats.  Luckily we made it in time for what would turn out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

As with any red-blooded and beer-enjoying American ballpark going fan, with field level seats, the priorities are simple.

1. Get on TV
2. Catch a foul ball
3. Get an opposing players attention and disparage his baseball abilities

We were able to accomplish #1 in the midst of enjoying one of the more awesome sights I've ever seen at a ballgame, in a near #2.  In the bottom of the first, with Tiger rookie Brennon Boesch up to bat, here was my opportunity.

A screaming line drive down the 1B line one-hops up into the seats, coming right for me.  I rise to my feet and reach out my hand for the ball.  It caroms off a lady in the second row's head, just past my outreached fingers... and square into the nose of the gentleman seated in front of me.  Blood.  Pouring.  Everywhere.

It was awesome.

Nice hands, brah.

As a fellow concerned Tiger fan, I did what any of us would do.  Flailed my hands and arms to make sure I was broadcast nationally... then gave the dude my extra burrito napkins.  Maybe you'll want to consider sitting upstairs next time.

The game itself was a pretty solid pitchers duel until the 9th, when the Yanks poured on the runs against a rookie day-of call-up and made the score look ugly.  Fuzzy and I were long gone by that point... had to get back to Greektown.

As a recommendation for future Detroit travels, check out these places:

Well Bar on Randolph Street. Cheapest post-game beer, $2.

The Old Shillelagh on Monroe. Good music, perfect dive-iness, and, apparently, the best spot to witness public drug use.

Coach's Corner. Nicest bartenders and a delicious fried anything sandwich.

Do not visit: Drunk Puffy Jacket Guy.  He will interrupt you constantly while you are trying to make friends with the birthday girl.  Right, Fuzzy?  Best part of that story?  Fuzzy calling him Puffy Jacket Guy during the below conversation.

Maycation Day 2 recap at some point in the future.

You wouldn't think it, but we get hundreds (if not thousands) of emails a week from StadiumDrives.com readers. Some of them tell us how great we are, others how bad we are. Often, we'll get tips of stories. Sometimes, sites will even let us know that they stole our work, it was a hit on their site and thank us. Others just write in for advice or have questions about their life. I decided to give the old inbox a cleaning again and pick out some of the best (and worst) emails.* If you can't decipher our e-mail address from the sidebar and would like to send something in, send it via Twitter to @JoshCohron.

Hey, go (expletive) yourself. - (Name withheld)

I really appreciate this. A girl took the time to write in, but also kept it short and sweet so as not to take up too much space in this week's version of "Girl Who Writes To Mock Me In The Mailbag." It's amazing how many women I've scorned in such a short life.

Ha! Have you seen these Reds fans walking around lately? They act as if they won the pennant and it's not even June. What a bunch of clowns. You know a little something about teams being in first place for a long time and not making the playoffs, don't you, Met fan? - RG, Lexington, KY

First off, I gave up baseball so I'm not a fan of the Mets anymore. Baseball games are boring.

But, I can appreciate the humor of watching Reds fans act as if this is 1990. Twitter and Facebook about had to shut down over the weekend when the Reds took over first place from all the, "1st place, baby!" and "This is the Reds year!!!" posts. I had to take some Pepto it was so nauseating.

I will give every cent I make writing for this blog to Gage if the Reds win the Central Division.

Terrence Jones just signed with Kentucky last night. Will he be a Lamar Odom type player for the Cats or Alex Legion Version 2.0? - Ian (actual submission!)

In case you didn't see, Scout's #2 PF, Terrence Jones committed to play for the Wildcats last night. He had previously committed to Washington, less than a month ago. This is what gets some people all riled up. I don't think it's a big deal. Jones announced at a press conference at his school (where four other players announced their college choices) that he was going to Washington. Jones admitted he had no idea where he was going when he got on the stage. He had a change of heart, and chose to come to the greatest program in the history of college basketball. Who can blame him (besides you, Washington Husky fan)?

Arguably, before signing Jones, Kentucky had the #1 recruiting class in the country. 5-star players Brandon Knight and Enes Kanter, 4-star players Doron Lamb and Stacey Poole and JUCO stud Eloy Vargas were already in the fold. Jones takes this class to another level. Kentucky has, far and away, the best recruiting class in the country (again).

As for a Jones comparison, I will give him the nod towards Lamar Odom. They are both skilled big men who can shoot it pretty well and put it on the floor. Plus, they're both left-handed. Here's hoping Terrence Jones isn't addicted to Skittles like Lamar is. Here's also hoping Jones gets a Kardashian and brings her to games like Lamar does.

Unless I really hated a kid, I would never compare a player to Alex Legion. No one's mom is that crazy. I hope.

Click Read More, it's for the kids.

Are you in shock? I am.

Three days ago I was stewing on some post ideas thinking about what I had to say about the Reds. I was going to say how nice it was to see them hovering around .500 and how it would be a welcome change to have a team in the race at the All-Star break. I wanted to tell you how their run differential indicated a much worse team. I wanted to tell you how they had managed to win the type close of games that would inevitably get away from them as the season dragged on.

And then, the baseball gods mercifully sent the team a round trip ticket to Pittsburgh and blessed the arms of Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto and the enigma that is Homer Bailey.  Combined pitching numbers over the three days: 25 IP, 1R, 10 H, including complete game shut outs from Cueto and Bailey. How either pitcher - both of whom have struggled to get into the 6th inning - was able to go the full nine boggles the mind. Not to mention Cueto's outing being a one-hitter. Unbelievable.

Well, maybe "boggles the mind" is a bit too strong. They were playing the Pirates, after all. The one MLB franchise that Reds fans could point at and laugh for the past two decades really came through for us this series. Thanks Pittsburgh! Between this, Ben "the Big Indictment" and the Penguins collapse tonight it's truly becoming Golden Age for Pittsburgh haters.

Meanwhile, the Reds in three days improved their run differential from -21 to -6 (yes, still minus) and are a single game behind St. Louis with the Dirty Cards coming to town this weekend and a chance to make some noise. Hope springs eternal!

(Note to potential commenters: Yes, I know it's only May. Just give me this, alright?)