Hey ref!

Original weight: 237

Current weight: 227

  Three weeks ago, I had to buy shorts with a 40" waist.  This weekend, I found an old pair of shorts with a 34" waist and I fit into them.  One of those pants must be mismarked because I don't think I look any different.  I won't consider any weight loss an accomplishment until it's noticeable.  If you went to the supermarket and bought ten pounds of meat, and when you got home, it wasn't in the bag, you would notice, right?  So how come you can't tell that I've lost ten pounds of meat?

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  I'm really, really getting frustrated with my hands.  Last therapy session I told Kate that I wasn't feeling any better and she said:  Think positive.

That's what it's come down to.  My therapist has been reduced to thinking my pain is psychological.  Well, it's not!

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  I know we live in a world where the internet and thousands of cable channels make coverage of things much more extensive, so maybe it's just become more noticeable as of late, but it seems to me that we have an epidemic of bad officiating in sports. 

  To any non-Steelers fan, the story of the Super Bowl was how badly the refs screwed the Seahawks.  In the NBA Finals, all anyone could talk about was the preferential treatment Wade and the Heat were getting from the refs.  And in more than one World Cup match, the refs have been the story by handing out too many yellow cards and kicking too many people out of the game.  Refs are always under a lot of pressure and scrutiny, but I've watched sports for twenty years, and I can't ever remember a time where the officiating has been so bad that the integrity of the leagues have come into question.  Ten years ago, would it have been anything other than sour grapes for a Seattle fan to say that the NFL wanted the Steelers to win?   Or that the refs fixed the NBA Finals because David Stern doesn't like Mark Cuban?  These are questions that are actually being raised and it just shouldn't be that way. 

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  I took a week off from the top ten because I got tired of putting Gnarls Barkley into the top spot.  For only the second time in VCH history, I am retiring a song as a Number 1.  It's time to move on.  Here's what I've been listening to this week:

1. Connecticut's For F*cking- Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse 

2. Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken- Camera Obscura

3. Miss Murder- AFI

4. Cheated Hearts- Yeah Yeah Yeahs

5. How We Operate- Gomez

6. Paralyzed- Rock Kills Kid

7. Gone Daddy Gone- Gnarls Barkley

8. Hard To Beat- Hard-Fi

9. Elevate Myself- Grandaddy

10. Your Eyes- Aloha