Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader watched a fair amount of Olympic Hockey yesterday. (NB to Fishersville Mike: Saw more hockey than expected. Amazing that NBC would actually show the games and not a human interest story…) He watched Russia/Czech Republic, USA/Canada and some of Finland/Sweden. (He stayed up late.)

First off, allow him to say for the record that NBC is not screwing up the hockey broadcasts they are actually showing. Your Maximum Leader is starting to like Jeremy Roenick giving the business to that dillweed Mike Milbury. The color and the call during the broadcasts are good. All in all there is a lot of positive stuff going on when NBC is showing the games.

Sadly, you have to search around and find CNBC or MSNBC to actually see the hockey games… But at least they are on. Your Maximum Leader is also pleased that there don’t seem to be lots of commerical breaks.

Now… On to the re-evaluations…

Team USA is better than he thought. This isn’t just because of their win last night over Canada. It is because they are making the best of their opportunities and are playing smart heads-up hockey. They leave a lot to be desired defensively and got tremendously lucky during the final two minutes of the game last night; but when they are in the offensive zone they move the puck well and play their positions. All in all Team USA is a better TEAM than your Maximum Leader thought they would be. The Americans seem to have some chemistry. They don’t look like a cobbled together superteam. In fact, they aren’t a “superteam.” They are a team of good professional players who are greater than the sum of their parts. Your Maximum Leader isn’t going to declare Team USA a gold medal team; but it seems possible that they could get a medal of some color.

Team Russia is not as good as he thought. Unlike the Americans, the Russians seem to have parts that are greater than the whole. There is probably more talent on Team Russia than any other team in the games; but they don’t seem to have coalesced as a team. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t want to give much creedence to dillweed Mike Milbury’s comments that Ovechkin and Malkin don’t like each other enough to be linemates; but Milbury might have something. Team Russia might need a different centerman on the line with Ovechkin and Semin. Your Maximum Leader thought that an Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line would be right neigh impossible to stop (a 21st Century KLM Line). While the Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line is a great one, they don’t seem to have the chemistry you’d like to see. Perhaps with some practice and a day off they might get a little more chemistry…

Team Canada is just about where your Maximum Leader thought they’d be, but they didn’t perform last night. Your Maximum Leader is ready to chalk up the loss to the USA as being an “off night.” Of course, now Canada has a tougher row to hoe to get to the gold medal game.

Your Maximum Leader has for months thought that the gold medal game would be Canada/Russia. Now he is not so sure. In fact, having seen most of the team play now he thinks that five teams could seriously contend for gold they are: USA, Russia, Czech Republic, Canada and Sweden. The two weak sisters in that pentete of teams are USA and the Czech Republic. The USA needs to work on defence and the Czech Republic needs more explosive scoring. Team Sweden (the defending gold medal winners - if you can actually be said to “defend” a gold) is likely the dark horse now. The Swedes are a strong looking team. They play a smart game on both ends of the ice and Lundqvist seems pretty strong. Your Maximum Leader could see a Sweden/Russia or Canada gold medal game. Your Maximum Leader gets the feeling that if the Swedes make it to the gold medal game they could win it all.

It should be a very exciting few days hockey-wise. Your Maximum Leader will hope to catch as many games as he can over the week.

Carry on.

UPDATE: Your Maximum Leader hasn’t seen a schedule for the medal round yet, so he can’t confirm this but… Apparently a Canada/Russia gold medal game is out of the question as those two teams will likely face each other before the gold medal game. Your Maximum Leader can’t find a schedule worth a damn out there so if you happen to know of one… Please let him know…

UPDATE OF UPDATE: Okay… Here we are:

Winner of Canada/Germany faces Russia.
Winner of Switzerland/Belarus faces USA.
Winner of Czech Republic/Latvia faces Finland.
Winner of Slovakia/Norway faces Sweden.

Predictions from your Maximum Leader go like this. Canada defeats Germany. Switzerland defeats Belarus. Upset: Norway defeats Slovakia. Czech Republic defeats Latvia. Russia defeats Canada. USA defeats Switzerland. Finland defeats Latvia. Sweden defeats Norway. That would leave the teams with the bye all advancing to the medal round. Out of fear that he doesn’t fully understand the seeding for the medal round, your Maximum Leader will avoid predicting more than he has. Although He thinks that if it plays out the way he thinks it will that would result in USA/Finland and Sweden/Russia games. With the winners of those matchups facing each other for the gold. Could we see USA/Sweden in the gold medal game and Finland duking it out (like in the Winter War of 1939) with Russia for the Bronze? Gad… That would be too much to hope for. All your Maximum Leader can say is he hopes the USA keeps wearing those throwback 1960 Sweaters.

Carry on (again).

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been an avid watcher of the Olympics since he was a little kid. He loves watchng the Winter and Summer games almost equally. He has a number of vivid Olympic memories. He actually anticipates watching the games while they are on.

Of course, he hates the absolute morons who run NBC and are doing their best to drive your Maximum Leader away from the Olympics completely.

Allow your Maximum Leader to say a few things about his Olympic viewing. First off, he’s come to the conclusion over the past few years that he isn’t going to actively root for sports where a subjective call by a judge determines the outcome of the event. This conclusion has pretty much eliminated his enjoyment of freestyle ski jumping, figure skating, most snowboarding, and moguls competitions (to name a few). This is not to diminish the athletic accomplishment of the athletes. They are truly world-class phenomina. But your Maximum Leader has grown so weary of judging scandals and the nit-picking that he can’t get himself worked up to view those sports. (He will still watch, except figure skating - he’s had enough of figure skating.)

Your Maximum Leader prefers competitions that are determined by objective measures, like time or distance or a score. He loves hockey, skiing, luge, skeleton, bobsled and the like. He also knows that, with the exception of hockey, he only watches these sports every four years.

So why is NBC doing all it can to completely screw up Olympic coverage? Are they really that friggin stupid? Are they actually retarded?

It was a few Olympics ago when your Maximum Leader really noticed that it was getting bad. Too many human interest stories and interviews that were intermintably long. Too many sports never made it to TV. Too much face time for the anchors. Too much viewing of only Americans.

To paraphrase Ian Fleming, the first time NBC screws up Olympic coverage is bad luck, the second time they screw it up is coincidence, the third time is enemy action. Yes, NBC is the enemy here and they are going their best to piss off your Maximum Leader and diminish his Olympic viewing experience. They have fucked up their late-night lineups, and now they are continuing to do their best to destroy the Olympics. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t need to see one event over and over and over again. There are hours and hours of competitive sport taking place. NBC has at least four (cable) channels on which they can broadcast these events. But we get the same shit hour after hour.

Here is your Maximum Leader’s plea to NBC Sports. Listen. If you insist on having this human interest/light sport Olympic broadcasting on NBC itself, so be it. But at least show other competitions on USA, CNBC and NBC/Universal. You can even show sports where Americans aren’t going to be contenders. These athletes are the best of the best and are worth watching no matter what country they are representing. Show them. Don’t continue to be putzes and limit what we can see to what your sports producers think will draw in the most viewers. Your sports producers aren’t that smart if past history is any indication. NBC Sports coverage generally sucks. The NFL gave you Sunday Night Football to squeeze you for cash (that you were happy to pay since no one was watching NBC Sports). You got the NHL for the game of the week on Sunday because (let’s face it) the NHL did all they could to kill themselves and they desperately needed any big-time teevee outlet to show games. (And as bad as things are at NBC, they are better than the Versus network.) So, your Maximum Leader recommends that you stop relying on your sports producers and start listening to your Maximum Leader. Show more sports and give Bob Costas and Dan Patrick less face time. We’ll all be happier.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been reticent about blogging about hockey of late. His much beloved Capitals were on a real roll until the night before last against the Habs in Montreal. (NB: Is your Maximum Leader the only one that keeps calling the arean the Canadians play in “The Forum?”) Then the Caps fell again to the Senators last night. That is no fun. But, your Maximum Leader is okay with the Caps dropping a few games, if it means they will go further in the playoffs.

After the games on Saturday, the NHL will break for the Olympics. The Olympics are causing your Maximum Leader some heartache. The heartache involves exactly for which team he’ll root in hockey. You see, your Maximum Leader believes that Olympic hockey is the best you’ll see on a quadrennial basis. (Some Stanley Cup finals are better, but oftentimes not.) He enjoys watching all the games he can. It is like watching all-star teams go against each other in every game. The skill level is so high.

NB to hockey fanatics: Your Maximum Leader doesn’t have any intention of using this post to describe the “international” games differences from the “Canadian/North American” game and which is better. They both have a lot going for them…

So here is the heartache… Your Maximum Leader is a proud American. But Team USA isn’t terribly good this year. Actually this Team USA is probably the weakest in recent memory. Normally your Maximum Leader’s pecking order for Olympic Hockey teams is: 1) USA; 2) Canada; 3) Sweden; 4) Czech Republic… Last)Russia/CCCP. This year, however, your Maximum Leader has (like Ted Leonsis) a secret crush on Team Russia.

Yup. Your Maximum Leader has a secret crush on Team Russia. Three Capitals will play for Team Russia. Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Simeon Varlamov. There are no Caps playing for either Team USA or Team Canada. (Sweden has Nicolas Backstrom and Tomas Fleischmann is playing for the Czech Republic.)

Your Maximum Leader expects Team USA to go out pretty quickly. Indeed, he expects the Gold Medal game to be Russia/Canada. (Although he could see the Swedes going to the Gold Medal game over Canada if the stars align.) Your Maximum Leader has trouble rooting for the Russians once the US goes out. For all those years when the Commies put the Red Army team on the ice against our amateur and college boys… It still leaves a sour taste in your Maximum Leader’s mouth. He can’t see himself easily rooting for the Russians when the Canadians are still in it. But the Russians have more players on the team for whom your Maximum Leader actively roots on a regular basis…

See the problem…

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know what he’ll do…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been out there. By “out there” he means “on the interwebs.” Lurking. He’s been reading and ruminating. Occasionally he’ll comment.

All in all he’s not had much that he feels warrants a comment. That is one of the problems of blogging isn’t it. One might read a post (or a tweet or a newspaper/journal article) and say to oneself, “My self, that perfectly encapusates my thoughts on this subject.” But if you don’t actually write a post of your own linking the article/piece in question who the hell knows? Frankly, even if you did write a post and provide a link, who the hell cares?

Meh.

So hows about a post about nothing? Indeed… Lets…

Your Maximum Leader has been spending his free time watching hockey and football. He’s tried reading a few different books to see if something grabs him. He’s been sorely disappointed in his choices. What makes his disappointment more… disappointing is that all the books he’s chosen are recent additions to his library that he’s not gotten around to reading yet. Sadly, your Maximum Leader figures that he’s suffering from some sort of short-attention-span disorder.

Speaking of hockey… This Washington Post piece about the NHL “war room” in Toronto was interesting. The room is much smaller than he imagined. Although he does like the little detail of how the room smells of pepperoni pizza. That makes it all so real. So real. In a way knowing that the room is as small as it is makes your Maximum Leader sort of sad. He was hoping for a “mission control at NASA” feel. Or even better… Dr Strangelove… Alas, it looks like a production room at a secondary studio at a big city TV station…

Anyhooo…

Your Maximum Leader got word from his good friend, Smallholder, to let him know that the hog and steer raised for his consumption have been slaughtered and are going to be butchered this week. Today in fact. Your Maximum Leader has made three calls to the butcher to adjust his cutting instructions. Your Maximum Leader has decided that he needs to get the bacon and one ham fresh from the butcher. (Normally, the cut pieces are frozen for him.) Your Maximum Leader is going to try and make his own bacon and cure a ham this year. He’s got his pink salt in hand and will have to get to curing this weekend if he is going try his hand at ham and bacon. The bacon should be pretty easy to cure. It can be done in a large bag in the fridge. The ham is going to be more of a challenge. He needs more space and time. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how he’s going to manage the ham, but he’s working on it.

Actually, your Maximum Leader trying to figure out the curing of the ham at the Villainschloss has been a mentally taxing exercise.

Moving along…

Your Maximum Leader is disturbed by his use of the DVR. He feels that he is watching more tv as a result of having more control over his viewing choices and times. He records a fair number of programs. By his count he has three shows recorded daily (Pardon the Interruption, The Late Late Show and his guilty pleasure Chelsea Lately). In addition to the dailies, he records only new episodes of 8 other shows. Then there are movies as he finds them on HBO. In his defence, if he doesn’t watch one of the dailies within a day or two of broadcast he deletes them. As they are topical there is nothing like watching old news… But he has a few movies that have been on the DVR for months… Almost half of the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm remains on the DVR. (NB - Your Maximum Leader loves Curb Your Enthusiasm; but finds he can’t watch more than one episode at a time. The humor is uncomfortable at times and has to be doled out in measured doses.)

It would likely do him well to cut down (or out) a significant portion of tv time. Your Maximum Leader supposes that compared to “regular” Americans he might watch less tv than most. But it is starting to feel like too much.

Sooo…

What the hell is up with Tiger Woods? Your Maximum Leader doesn’t get it. If you are going to be a world famous personality and you know that you like to mix it up when it comes to female company; then why do you even consider marriage? Your Maximum Leader has a certain amount of regard for George Clooney in this regard. Clooney gives off the vibe that he knows he is going to have trouble in a long-term relationship; so he doesn’t enter into one. That is a good thing in your Maximum Leader’s opinion. Know yourself and save yourself (and others) lots of heartache. Your Maximum Leader is at one level shocked and at another amazed by the scope of Tiger’s affairs. Shocked by the numbers and amazed by the efforts that went into meeting/maintaining/hiding the affairs in his schedule. One wonders if he has an assistant helping him in this… Then again, if he had an assistant to help him with these things he might not be in the mess he’s in now.

Concerning Mrs Woods. She is a very attractive woman. That said… Your Maximum Leader finds something disturbing and off-putting about her eyes in most photos he’s seen of her. He’s not saying she has “crazy eyes” or “googly eyes” or anything. There is just something wrong about her eyes to him.

In real news…

Your Maximum Leader reads that the Senate seems to be stripping the “public option” out of the Heath Care Bill. He hopes that soon the “Health Care” part will also be stripped from the bill…

This bill is a mess and just continues to linger on getting worse. One would hope that at some point the Senate would just throw up their hands and say collectively “Fuck this… Let’s pass some stimulus bills, an anti-flag-burning amendment, and declare it National Cocktail Party Month.” After putting the health care measures out of our national misery they could go home for “Winter” holidays and raise money for their re-election. That’s a good plan right? Of course it is.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is one tired guy. He hasn’t stopped since Friday. He wishes he could have a day just to relax. Let us recap shall we…

On Friday night the formal ball your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain attended was great. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Your Maximum Leader worries a little that Mrs Villain didn’t have the best time. He feels this way because this year (and last) your Maximum Leader was responsible (with another gentleman) for planning and execution of the dance. Your Maximum Leader took this duty really seriously and spent a significant amount of time attending to the smooth operation of the dance. This left his lovely wife alone for some stretches of the night. He feels miserable about this. He will not be planning the dance again for quite a while. He hopes to make next year’s dance more enjoyable for her…

Sadly there will be no picture of your Maximum Leader bedecked in his tux. Alas, Villainette #2’s attempt at taking a photo failed because she had the camera set to some wierd setting that made us all out-of-focus… It is probably better anyway. Your Maximum Leader needs to take the tux to the tailor. He needs it taken in about a half-an-inch around the waist. His pants were drooping all night. Not a good scene.

Then on Saturday there was much yard work done in the morning. Your Maximum Leader’s hands have a blister to show how hard it was to get the leaf mulcher started. Eventually your Maixmum Leader excused himself from yard work and got to putting the finishing touches on his speech to be delivered on Sunday.

Saturday night was fun. Villainette #2 and your Maximum Leader went to Tony Cheng’s for dinner and then the Capitals game. We had shrimp toast and Peking duck for dinner. Your Maximum Leader loves Tony Cheng’s, but he should remember that their Peking duck isn’t the best in town. They put something on the skin that changes the taste. The skin is very crispy and has a sweet taste with an undercurrent of citrus. It is a flavor that is different from the ususal taste of Peking duck with which your Maximum Leader is familiar. In his opinion the best Peking duck in town is to be found at the Peking Gourmet on Route 7 near Bailey’s Crossroads (and across from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church).

The Capitals game was great. The Caps played soft during the first and second periods. They were outshot by the Florida Panthers. The Caps looked tired. Very tired. Then they turned it up in the third period and scored 5 goals in the last frame. They won 7-4. It was lots of fun.

Then yesterday your Maximum Leader went down to Longwood University to deliver a speech to members of the Freshman class who were being recognized for their early contributions to the school. The recognition dinner was being sponsored by a secret society that your Maximum Leader helped to establish 20-odd years ago. He made the 2.5 hr drive down to the school in about 2 hours. Then he had the pleasure of meeting a few of the current members of the society before the speech and dinner. They were gracious hosts who indulged him as he blabbed on about how things were long ago… Your Maximum Leader thinks the speech went off well. The students seated at this table were full of questions. He had to deflect the questions about the secret society; but he was happy to indulge them in reminescences about life at Longwood before they were born…

NB to Robbo: Your Maximum Leader is not your hero for ever. Sadly, he couldn’t figure out how to work in the material from the Market Snodgrass speech. He did try to tell an Irish joke to the students at his table and ramble a little bit. But it didn’t come off as well as it could have.

Then on the drive home he missed a turn that he has been making for decades and wound up in Goochland (rather than Richmond) before he knew it. So that added about 25 mins to his return trip that he’d not bargained for…

All in all, it was a good weekend. A bit on the tiring side… But very good.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that even President Obama’s presence and charm offensive (coupled with Oprah and others) couldn’t bring the Olypmics to Chicago.

Your Maximum Leader is a patriot. He feels pride in our nation and believes that the Olypmics brings honor and some pride to a nation. It is a time and place to showcase what is best about your nation. So your Maximum Leader is saddened by losing out on this chance to put on a big show.

That said, your Maximum Leader wonders why the President would invest himself so much in this. It seems like a waste of time and (surprisingly) political capital. When you are President everything to which you commit yourself stands to either increase or diminish your political capital. This whole endeavor seems to have been a calculated risk of political capital by a man (and his advisors) who might have a somewhat enlarged view of themselves. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe that by losing the Olypmics after personal lobbying the President has emperilled all of his other (many others - too many others in fact) initiatives too much. But every setback weakens you. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t understand why you would do anything to weaken yourself when you are having a hard enough time getting done what you want to get done.

Anyhooo…

Sorry Chicago. You’re still my kinda town.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader loves his Washington Nationals (as readers of this site already know). He tries to get to a half-dozen or so games a year. He also watches many games on TV. For those of you not in the area or who are in the area but do not watch the Nationals, the Nats have an ad campaign this year with the theme of “Natstown.” The ad campaign can be summarized that DC is a baseball town (a debatable premise) and that the center of the DC baseball universe is “Natstown” which is pretty much centered at the stadium on South Capitol Street. The Nationals have “Natstown” T-shirts, commericals on TV, radio ads… It is a pretty comprehensive advertising campaign…

Now the story…

So, about a week before Labor Day your Maximum Leader and the Wee Villain (aged 5) were watching the Nats on TV. One of the Natstown ads came on the TV. The conversation went like this:

Wee Villain: Dad, can we go to Natstown soon?

Maximum Leader: Sure buddy. We’ll go over Labor Day weekend.

WV: Really? That sounds like fun.

ML: Oh yeah. Lots of fun. Baseball. Sunshine. Ben’s Half Smokes. Cheer babes. Racing Presidents. It will be fun.

WV: Great. We need to go.

Well… The whole Villainous Family did go to the game on Sunday before Labor Day. It was a good time (and the Nats pulled out a win in the 9th on the backs of a Willie Harris solo homer and a 2-run Ryan Zimmerman homer). Then after the game we all went out for a huge feast of chinese food. Good times were had by all.

So yesterday night your Maximum Leader and the Wee Villain are watching the Nats/Phillies contest on TV for a few minutes before the Wee Villain had to go to bed. At the mid-inning commerical break the Wee Villain turned to your Maximum Leader and said the unexpected.

WV: Dad. When can we go back to Natstown?

ML: I’m not sure. There aren’t many games left this year.

WV: Dad. Will we go to Natstown next year?

ML: I’m sure we will.

WV: Natstown is the greatest place ever.

ML: Really? Why do you say that?

WV: You can do whatever you want in Natstown. You can eat popcorn and hot dogs. You can play on the playset. And you never go to school.

ML: Is that what Natstown is all about?

WV: Yup. Natstown is great. I wish we could move there. I love it there.

So Stan Kasten and the Nationals marketing staff… Your Natstown ad campaign has worked on at least one fan. Your Maximum Leader hopes you’re happy. (And if you happen to read this, a free Natstown t-shirt would be a great Christmas gift for a 5 year old fan.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report that it appears as though the various renovations to the Villainschloss are completed. It is now just a question of moving some stuff around and getting everything back to normal. The renovations have caused the summer to be a bit tense among the whole family. So we are looking forward to a quiet long weekend to get our wa back.

Your Maximum Leader has, for the past few weeks, been storing up items upon which he wanted to comment at length. Alas, he couldn’t find time to do so. Rather than just discarding these items he’s decided to just dump some ideas in one post.

First up… Have any of you been following the abomination that has become the America’s Cup? Your Maximum Leader had some links that he’d planned on sharing. Alas, many of them are no longer functioning as the pieces have moved or changed or expired. To hit the high points… Basically the America’s Cup will be held in the Persian Gulf. The yachts will be trimarans. TRIMARANS! They will also allow motorized winches to be used on board. WTF? Really now… WTF? Your Maximum Leader thought that the requirements for the boats were determined a long time ago - and called for monhulled boats. Your Maximum Leader has only been marginally interested in the America’s Cup at best… And now all these changes have just set him off. It is crap.

Did you happen to notice this bit on the Washington Post concerning the possible discovery of a portrait of William Shakespeare done during the Bard’s lifetime? Fascinating stuff. Your Maximum Leader has seen the “forgery” portrait at the Folger Shakespeare Library and knew about it’s history. That said, these new researches and attempts to establish that the portrait actually shows Shakespeare are pretty interesting. Your Maximum Leader imagines that there is a National Geographic special in this story… Your Maximum Leader’s favorite passage from the article:

The hunt for a likeness of the bard in his heyday has turned up various candidates over the centuries, almost all of them illegitimate. Up to now, the painting with the most credible claim as a life image is the Chandos portrait, the star of London’s National Portrait Gallery. It shows a dusky, writerly-seeming man with receding hair and an earring. But its provenance is unclear. The search is complicated by the fact that a 1770s mania for Shakespeare souvenirs resulted in a spate of good forgeries. The Janssen portrait held by the Folger was thought to be one of those. The “Searching for Shakespeare” exhibit was therefore really a show about likely and, mostly, unlikely contenders. Cobbe and Laing wandered through the viewing, looking at bogus bards, until they arrived at a far wall, on which the Janssen portrait hung, on loan from the Folger. The oil-on-wood is legitimately dated to 1610, but it was discredited in 1937 when new X-ray technology showed the brow had been over-painted to make the sitter bald. It fell from grace under the supposition that it was altered to look more like the Droeshout. In 1988, the Folger restored the original hairline and exhibited it as an interesting mistake.

The Janssen showed a close-bearded man in a scallop-edged lace collar — in almost every detail, a replica of the unnamed courtier on the Cobbe family’s wall. The one who was not Sir Walter Raleigh.

After a moment, Laing said, “Don’t you have one of those?”

“Yes,” Cobbe said, nonplussed. “Rather a better one, actually.”

Your Maximum Leader will have to get to the Folger and see what he can. Of course it would be better to travel to Stratford upon Avon and see the whole exhibit…

Did you see the piece on Yahoo news about more people making their own bacon? Nope? Your Maximum Leader saw it. You can clicky here to get it yourself. The money quote:

“There is nothing bacon does not improve. Bacon is the new black,” says [San Francisco Chef Ryan] Farr, whose charcuterie company produces 4505 Chicharrones, the pork snacks favored by several San Francisco bars and restaurants. “I have five vegan friends who close their eyes when they eat them and pretend they are potato chips,” Farr says. “Bacon is the gateway meat.”

Bacon is a gateway meat… Wonderful! From experience your Maximum Leader can assure you that it leads to ham. If the Lord hadn’t wanted us to eat pork he wouldn’t have made the pig so darned tasty and easy to domesticate…

Your Maximum Leader is growing more and more tired of the “health care debate.” He should put extra emphasis on the quotes around the word “debate.” As your Maximum Leader mused earlier, there is no debate. There is only shouting. There is no meaningful discussion. Normally at this point the ossified battle lines either decide to actually battle or just decided to forget to fight. Your Maximum Leader hopes that the battle will not be joined at all in Congress and the bills will just die off until some other time. Republicans could show some real leadership in promoting a market based solutions along with legal reforms. Tort reform for malpractice and allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines would be a nice start. Also, one might as well consider the plan that your Maximum Leader blogged about in June of 2004.

Those are the big items on your Maximum Leader’s mind right now. Alas, there were some other bits he thought might make interesting posts, but they were too topical and their time is past…

More later.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is just letting you all know that he and his villainous progeny will be attending the Washington Nationals vs. Milwaukee Brewers contest tomorrow night. We’ll be down in Section 127 if you happen to be nearby.

This post is for informational purposes only and is not in any way attempting to predict or influence any outcome in the contest. Your Maximum Leader and his family are looking forward to a good contest in which we can admire the performance of great professional ball players like Ryan Zimmerman and Prince Fielder.

Your Maximum Leader might buy a half-smoke for himself as well. He might also attempt to stimulate the local economy by buying a souvenir (or two) as a means to remember the game.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was watching Apocolypse Now Redux over the weekend so he’s had that wonderful line on the mind. Now he has occasion to use it.

Your Maximum Leader would like to publically ask Brett Favre to just fucking hang up the cleats and call it a career. The Vikings now Brett? Is it just to get the chance to “stick it to the Packers” twice this year and show them what a big mistake they made? Your Maximum Leader thinks that the only thing keeping Favre in the game now is bitterness towards the Packers. The first time we went through this your Maximum Leader thought Favre had some gas in the tank. But after looking at him with the Jets last year… Well… After Week 3 it wasn’t all moonlight and magnolias (if you catch your Maximum Leader’s meaning).

You should have stayed in Hattiesburg and lived out your life coaching high school ball and coming back to Wisconsin for Packers reunions…

But no…

Does no one have the sense to gracefully bow out?

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader happened to see little pieces of Michael Vick’s press conference today. Here are some thoughts your Maximum Leader had while watching…

He is happy with Michael Vick being allowed back into the NFL. He’s done his time and come close to ruination by his own actions. Although many people apparently don’t agree with him, your Maximum Leader believes that the brutal killing of dogs is not as bad a crime as killing another man. (There doesn’t seem to be much outrage at the actions of Donte Stallworth for example.)

Your Maximum Leader believes that the Eagles are a bad fit for Vick. More precisely, he doesn’t see what Vick brings to the Eagles. They would have been better served getting a wide receiver or two for McNabb. Vick brings distractions to the QB position that neither the team nor their fans need or deserve.

Your Maximum Leader wonders what brought Tony Dungy and Mike Vick together? The religious zeal for redemption and helping the fallen find redemption must drive Dungy in a very profound way. Your Maximum Leader has mused to himself in the past about the connection between religious zeal and good players/coaches in sports (football in particular). Many very sucessful and well-regarded coaches and players have been devout Christians. Dungy, Reggie White and Joe Gibbs leap to mind. Your Maximum Leader has mused that the same single-mindedness exhibited in their faith helps them be better at their sport. He suspects it does. The single-mindedness trait is strong in so many players and coaches. Where the single-mindedness doesn’t manifest itself in religion off the field it often manifests itself as tremendous egoism. At least that is the jist of the musing your Maximum Leader has done on this subject.

Your Maximum Leader wishes Mike Vick well. That said… Your Maximum Leader can’t abide by any Philadelphia sports team. So he suposes his well-wishes to Mike Vick are limited.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader notes with bit of suspicion that the Washington “Natinals” have not won a single game since your Maximum Leader noted (below) that they had won 8 games in a row.

Now… Your Maximum Leader started off his last Nationals post by stating that he did indulge himself in some silly sports superstitions. He debated then if he should write about the win streak. He didn’t come out and say that if he wrote the post the win streak would end… But… He wrote the post and behold the streak ended.

So this post is going to try and provide a little karmic energy to break the cycle of obviously bad juju that has been in the air since the last post.

The Nationals are beginning to look hapless again. They have lost their last 3. They were shut out last night. This is not to say that the Nationals are back to the way they looked a few months back. Nope. They haven’t regressed that much. But they aren’t scoring. They aren’t hitting too well. They aren’t pitching well… They are looking more like the 40-75 team they are.

The Nats go again against the Reds in Cincinnati tonight. There is no telling how the game will go… But the spectre of the 1962 Mets still hangs (tenuously) over the Nats.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader debated if he should write this post. While not a supersitious fellow, your Maximum Leader does indulge in some childish sports-related supersititions… So he debated with himself if he should write anything taking note of the Washington Nationals current win streak.

Yup. You read that correctly… The hapless “Natinals” have been winning lately. In fact they’ve won their last 8 games. In a few cases the Nats have even come from behind and prevailed.

It is pretty neat to say that you can watch some pretty good ball in Washington. The Nats haven’t been defensively inept. Their bats have been working. And their terrible bullpen has noticeably improving with each game.

To what can we attribute this turn-about?

Is it Jim Wriggleman as manager? That is likely part of it. Wirggleman has required more batting and fielding practice. He has also been more keen to stick with a “hot hand” in the bullpen rather than mix it up. Probably just as much as anything Wriggleman has done it is likely that the players themselves have also gotten tired of being losers. Regardless of their record, these players are pros. They are playing professional ball and thousands of others aren’t. These guys have to be motivated and proud to get to the bigs. It is possible that they collectively woke up and realized that if they want to stay in the the big leagues they need to cowboy up (as it were).

Your Maximum Leader believes that Mike Rizzo’s trade for Nyjer Morgan has been a real catylist for change on the team as well. With Morgan you have a baseball-smart high-energy guy who seems to have improved the lineup.

Your Maximum Leader should note that the Nationals’ record is 40-72. That means that it impossible for the 2009 Washington Nationals to finish the season with a worse record than the 1962 New York Mets (40-120). In order to retire the “gremlin bogey” number the Nats need to win one more game.

Today is a day off for the Nationals… On Tuesday the Nats face off against the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta… Here is hoping that the “gremlin bogey” is retired on Tuesday.

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that his beloved Washington Nationals have just completed a sweep of the Florida Marlins! Not only did they pull off their fifth win in a row - they came from a 6 run deficit to do it!

Bravo boys! Good job.

The Nats pulled out a 12-8 victory over the Fish. Each victory was sweet. Made especially good in the knowledge that the Marlins were leading the season series 9-0 before coming to DC this week.

Now before your Maximum Leader gets too carried away… He remembers that the Nats are still 37-72 on the season. That puts the gremlin bogey number at 49. The Nats only need to win three to avoid the ignominy of breaking the ‘62 Mets’ record as the worst team in history… Your Maximum Leader is even beginning to think his predicition of the beginning of the season that the Nats would lose fewer than 100 games might come true…

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s upgrades to the Villainschloss continue to eat into computer time. Alas, they also eat into his TV viewing time. If this keeps up your Maximum Leader will be burning candles and reading old dusty tomes in a wingback chair and going to bed shortly after dark… Hey… That doesn’t seem like too bad a plan…

Your Maximum Leader feels that a day without reading Fear and Loathing in Georgetown is a day intellectually wasted. To wit this post that directs us to 3 page piece in the New Republic by Sean Wilentz in which Wilentz smacksdown of some of his critics. You know, every once and a while your Maximum Leader remembers why he wanted to be a history professor once upon a time. Reading this exchange between Wilentz and his critics is one of those times. He enjoyed the historical aspects of discussion itself, but also the cattiness of the exchange. Few things amuse your Maximum Leader as much as a bunch of distinguished professors arguing with each other. On the one hand it is so intellectual; and on the other it is so petty and personal. It brings a grin to your Maximum Leader’s visage.

Of course, FLG isn’t always intellectual on his blog… To wit: he link to portraits of a naked President Obama and his unicorn. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know what to think of that upon which he just cast his gaze… It is disturbing…

In other news…

The Nationals have not been sucking recently. Indeed they have pulled off a few wins recently. It looks like the gremlin bogey number remains 53. Of course there are only 62 games remaining on the schedule. So it is quite possible that the gremlin bogey number will soon be unattainable. If your Maximum Leader were more statistically inclined he’d tell you what the chances of losing 53 of 62 games would be. So he’s hoping that the Nationals continue to not suck so badly.

Continuing in the baseball theme… Which is more impressive? A perfect game (such as the one pitched recently by Mark Buehrle of the White Sox) or hitting two grand slams in a single game (like the National’s own Josh Willingham). Your Maximum Leader is inclined to say that even though two grand slams seems to be more rare (in terms of instances of occurance) the perfect game is harder. He’d like to see the statistical breakdown of the chances of each. He imagines that building a statistical model to set up the odds of pitching a perfect game would be crazy… Of course the odds of hitting two grand slams in a game would be crazy too.

After Willingham hit his two slams on Monday, your Maximum Leader read somewhere that Frank Robinson (one of the greatest hitters ever) only hit two grand slams in his whole career - and those two were in the same game. Your Maximum Leader found it hard to believe that Frank Robinson could have only hit two grand slams out of the 586 home runs he hit during his career. So he looked up the stats and found that Robinson only hit two grand slams with the Orioles. He hit a total of 8 grand slams in his 21 year career. To be honest that seemed a bit low to your Maximum Leader. So your Maximum Leader looked up some other player stats… After a few looks that total of 8 doesn’t seem too low… Hank Aaron only hit 16 slams out of 755 total home runs. Barry Bonds hit 11 slams out of 762 homers…

Anyhoo…

Massive thunderstorms are upon the Villainschloss and your Maximum Leader thinks he’d better sign off now…

Carry on.