DEK's house is 40 minutes from my parents' house. I know this well--I've made the trip many times, and it's very consistent. Tonight, however, after watching the Steelers with Bill and family, followed by a rousing series of Combat games on DEK's new PS2 Atari 2600 emulator (favorites: invisible tanks and the big lumbering jet vs. 3 biplanes), I stumbled outside to find that some nasty weather had snuck up on us. I left at 6:40 so I'd be home for NFL PrimeTime with 10 minutes to spare. I arrived home, in fact, at 8:55, 3 fishtails later. I don't really feel like recounting the horrors; suffice it to say that (somehow) my car and I are both in one piece (you know, each) and my nerves have been soothed with ham and fruitcake.

In substantially cheerier news, the 21st Annual Trite Trophy was handed out today, my favorite annual sports column Hands Down. Without giving too much away, let's just say Mr. Collier probably read many accounts of the rationale of the Champ Bailey trade this off-season.