The Day After

I might actually be somewhat prolific on FH today, depending on if I can seamlessly fit in a workout, a much-needed scrubdown of my apartment and about 90 minutes of book-learnin.

Anyhoo, here's a few things to get my mind and fingers warmed up for the ride:

1. This happened to Barack Obama during his visit to the Tampa Bay area earlier this morning. I'll have more complete thoughts on this later today but, for now, I'll just say that those protesters must not realize that Barack is running for the president of the United States of America. Not Black America. And that's an important distinction.

2. The Rays, the Yankees and the Angels are among a handful of AL teams that have to be breathing a sigh of relief this morning. I don't know what the long-term implications of yesterday's Red Sox-Dodgers-Pirates trade might be, but I can assure you that sending Manny Ramirez to L.A. knocks Boston from the ranks of World Series contenders in 2008. Unless I'm seriously mistaken, Jason Bay has never played in a game that matters to the pennant chase in his career.

3. NASA has finally enjoyed the sweet, sweet taste of Martian water. This is a big deal, right? Or do we not really care until there's definitive proof of life on Mars?

4. I'm not one for predictions but it looks good for the U.S. men's basketball team and its aspirations of bringing home the gold for the first time since 2000. Kobe, as I've always thought, will be the difference. He sure did take a lot of pleasure in shutting down Lithuania sharpshooter Sarunas Jasikevicius.

5. Few things can beat the company of an alluring woman, a 16 oz. Delmonico, a few cocktails and the dessert room at Bern's Steak House in south Tampa. Thursday, folks, was a good day. Too bad it had to end.

Let's get into this.

UPDATE: I forgot to give a belated props to Sugardaddy's in Columbus, Ohio. They made a great day even better.