Foot on the pedal never ever false metal. Engine running hotter than a boiling kettle.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--I’m totally fine with trading Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks for a long sneeze and two draft picks. I mean in a crappy draft surely one guy will turn into a gem and now the Rockets have 18 chances (at last count) to pick that gem. This is life when you’re not bad enough to get a top three pick and not good enough to inflict damage in, much less make, the playoffs. It sucks. I remember when collecting expiring contracts was a good thing, but I guess that time is over. I’ll miss watching Shane on and off the court. We’ll always have…

Aaron I don’t know what the hell happened to you. Your game, your attitude. I sincerely hope you find what you’re looking for out there.
Hasheem Thabeet? Eh. Sure, why not? It’ll be nice to once again, at the very least, have an inside defensive presence.
Goran Dragic? He makes some exciting plays and offers a little more size in the backcourt. I just don’t want his playing time to come at the expense of seeing what Terrence Williams can do. Especially now that Terrence tweeted he likes Houston “especially The Breakfast Klub.”
This isn’t news, but it’s just sickening to realize that out of the three major sports franchises in Houston that the Texans are the closest to making the postseason…assuming there is a season. Fu** me, this is why I hardly write about sports anymore.

--I really expected to like Lights Out more than anyone else, but I’m having a difficult time getting past Holt’s annoying family with the exception of his sister and father. I assume Morales took a dive in what was a terribly awkward looking fight that took a lot of liberties. I don’t care how dirty Morales was personified to be, nobody is that dirty especially in the opening round. I know it’s TV and blah, blah, blah, but for a show that strives to be realistic about boxing, well that was a little much. I did like how Lights beat the eye test and anytime Leary and Reynolds have a little chat it plays well. Even if the ratings pick up I can’t imagine a second season that doesn’t focus even more on the family and that just can’t be good. Now if we devoted more of that family camera time to Barry Word, Hal Brennan and the boxing writer then we’ve got a show.

--I haven’t watched Justified this week yet and not because I’ve spent my time looking at Natalie Zea in Esquire.

Well not entirely.

--Alyssa Milano is pregnant with what I assume will be a future 20-game winner.

--Thanks Big Lead, but don’t expect me to click on a headline that reads “Steve Spurrier drinking Coors Light, shirtless.”

--Best GIFs from the 2011 Best Picture Nominees. Finally I category I can be down with.

Yeah, like this GIF would lose to any other non-Black Swan GIF.

--Damn Dale. How does that happen? A team with Dale and Angelo lose? In Dale’s original season he was a very talented but unapologetic a-hole, a “Marcel” if you will. But this time around he’s been Zen Dale and probably had more wins and acknowledgements than any other chef. Then he served uncooked potatoes and mustard croutons. Whoops. I thought Carla would go home because nobody liked anything she did either and if it’s a tie of badness then the judges send home the lesser chef who I believe is Carla. But I think uncooked potatoes did Dale in. Major upset. And now there are five. Isabella? No way. Carla? No way. Tiffany? No way. Gotta be Richard or Antonia, right?
Writing of Carla, here are some of her pictures from her modeling days if you are so inclined…
Or maybe you prefer pictures of Padma in a bikini. Don’t know why I put “maybe” in that last sentence.


--Sylvester Stallone with an art exhibit?! Somebody thinks he’s going to be the next Mr. Brainwash.

--I’m so old I remember celebrating the sesquicentennial of Texas Independence. Now we’re at the terquasquincentennial of Texas Independence. Eat it Santa Anna. And you said Tejas would never see a terquasquincentennial (I assume he said it in Spanish)

--Rihanna is nice and all, but I’m not cheating on Amanda Seyfried for her. Ryan Phillippe apparently thinks otherwise. Justin Timberlake interviews Amanda Seyfried? Sure, why not.

"From the Director of Twilight" - Is that a threat?

--Remember when the Eastern Conference sucked and had little in the way of star power? Now it’s nothing but superstars like LeBron, Wade, Rose, Carmelo, Howard, McGrady, etc.

--Of course VH-1 already has a Carmelo/La La reality show in the works called “La La’s Full Court Life.” The only more expected announcement this week was that Camille Grammer would be part of CNN’s Oscars coverage. Uhhh, okay.

--If it’s Girl Scout cookie time then it’s Girl Scout cookie fight time. You’ll never guess where our cookie fight took place? Of course Florida. Hersha Howard is our crazy in this case. She barged in on her sleeping roommate wondering WTF happened to her thin mints. Her roommate said she gave some to Howard’s hungry children. Oh yeah, fight on. Howard jumped the woman who started running away. Lacking thin mints in her system Howard decided the only way to settle this was with blood so she grabbed a pair of scissors then realized how stupid that was and so instead picked up a board and started smacking the woman all around the house until the woman’s husband finally stepped in and bought enough time for the woman to escape the cookie monster. A box of thin mints = aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The article doesn’t specify, but if these were frozen thin mints then I think cookie monster was justified.

--After watching this ejection I’m in favor of cops enforcing all ejections. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.

As a co-worker pointed out to me it's a shame that East Carolina has Ruffin McNeill working security.

Questions, comments or if that’s your grandfather, Mr. Rudy Vara, in the 3:38 mark of the new JFK in Houston video that came to light this week…