I'm up early this morning for a full day of lawyering (as opposed to lawya'-ing, a nighttime activity except for the rare practitioner who does it 24-7). So Free Form Friday will be a bit shorter this week than some entries. But, oh holy crap, is it packed with some random goodness this week. Feel free to discuss the below amongst yourselves, or ignore it all in favor of a debate about the best Drivin' N Cryin' songs ever. (Answer: Honeysuckle Blue. It's social commentary. It's hair rock. It has a guitar solo that's equal parts southern rock and early 90's gratuitous shredding. This ends the debate for me.)
Of all the things I don't care about, where Lebron James is playing basketball next season is one of them. That's all of I've got. Seriously, I didn't watch BronBron's made-for-television self-aggrandizement special, and managed to avoid discovering its outcome until this morning when it showed up on the CBS news. Really, with all the hat ceremonies and t-shirt ceremonies and other assorted stuff that high school recruits have been doing for years, the only thing surprising is that another self-aggrandizer hasn't beaten him to the punch. James is a phenomenally gifted basketball player, a combination of size and athleticism that only comes along rarely. But right now he's still a phenomenally gifted basketball player with no championships and a reputation as a bit of a cry baby, at least from where I'm sitting. This fiasco also provided an excuse for Stephen A. Smith to open his trap again, which is never a positive. Lebron and Nike also appropriated one of my favorite Cornershop songs for a commercial, and I'll never forgive him for that.
Try the schadenfreude. It's delicious. First let me say that I hope to goodness that Officer Robert Capouelle of the Knoxville Police Department makes a full and speedy recovery. Law enforcement officers by and large do not get enough pay or respect for the risks they take. One of those risks is apparently getting, as Smokey would say, "knocked the frick out" by 7-10 University of Tennessee football players, including incoming freshman Da'Rick Rogers, already charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. I've already said that I don't really bear Da'Rick Rogers any ill will. An 18 year old kid has a right to go to college wherever he wants to, and assuming he meets the NCAA's requirements (including the draconian and just plain silly ones) should be able to play football there too. That doesn't mean I wasn't hoping for Bacarri Rambo to lay one on him that soap and water won't wash off, but still, no real ill will.
That being said, assuming that the Officer in question is OK and all of the young men in question go on to become productive members of society, the Fulmer Cup and possible NCAA inquiry aspects of this thing are just pure hilarity. Take heart Bulldog fans, the Athens bar scene will be open from now through the beginning of August. There's still time for the worm to jump right out of that tequila bottle and start turning.
The Braves are in first place as we near the All-Star Break. I just wanted to write that sentence because I don't know when I'll get my next chance to. This Braves team has been doing it the old-fashioned way, too. Good pitching and gutty late inning hitting that just crushes the soul of opponents. More of this, please.
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. But everyone of you who did a guest post in Kyle's non-absence have done great work. You should consider the purchase of a fine, established URL on which to post your thoughts regularly. Bids starting in the low 7 figures may be submitted to T. Kyle King, Esq. Seriously folks, great job.
And if, like RedCrake, you want a good cover of Cinnamon Girl, you get a good cover of Cinnamon Girl:
Matthew Sweet has always been one of my favorite artists who nobody seems to know,and I'm fairly certain no one is ever going to complain about Susanna Hoffs's FFF inclusion, either.
Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!