Ten Things I Know I Think

1. I know that this post is a blatant rip-off of Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback Peter King's Ten Things I Think I Think. I think my title sounds more definite. I know what I think, Peter only thinks what he thinks. All this thinking is hurting my brain.

2. I know that the funniest part of ESPN's 25th anniversary show was anything having to do with Charlie Steiner. I forgot how funny he was. I do remember that he was great at calling baseball games for ESPN radio. Unfortunately he has now gone over to the dark side, working for the Yankees on the YES Network.

3. I know that that the Anaheim Angels Chone Figgins is just one in a long list of centerfielders whose names you can't say without laughing (joining Milton Bradley, Choo Freeman, Coco Crisp, and Nook Logan).

4. I know that I wanted to add The Graduate to my list of great movies you probably haven't seen, but I wasn't sure how well seen it really was. It's an older movie (older than me) but Bravo has been showing it at odd hours lately, so movie number one on my list of great movies you may have seen is: The Graduate.

Great line: [Buck Henry as the hotel clerk]: "Are you here for an affair, sir?"

5. I know that my son beat me in writing about my debut as his soccer coach. I had a lot of fun doing it (I'm an assistant coach, so there's not a lot of pressure on me on game day). More importantly, my son liked having me there. Somehow being his coach made me less critical of him and made me enjoy watching the game much more. I'm also lucky that the team is made up of well-behaved kids.

6. I know that after watching the Eagles' first game in my neighbor's driveway (yes, there's a TV in his driveway) that Miller Lite is just as bad, if not worse, than Coors Light. I did not think this was possible. Of course, I can't complain unless I'm paying. If I were to pay, I would pick Miller over Coors because Miller only jokes about politics, while Peter Coors is actually running for senator as a Republican (talk about the dark side!).

7. I know that I will unrealistically believe that the Phillies still have a chance to make the playoffs until the day they are officially, mathematically, eliminated. But of course that day will never come, right? Right?

8. I know I'm a little late with this, but the Democrats should have pounced on the fact that the Swift Boat boys all started with Nixon's dislike of the anti-war Kerry, and should have made the main talking point of Schwarzenegger's convention speech the bizarre fact that he said that he became a Republican because of Nixon and the GOP crowd went wild. Democrats have to step carefully around Clinton's legacy but the Republicans can name drop Nixon?!?

9. I know that if the Expos and Marlins were forced to play against each other in Philly, I would want to go to the game. The teams will play two games originally scheduled in Florida in Chicago instead because of Hurricane Ivan. While Major League Baseball has played games in Japan and Puerto Rico, I don't know if there's ever been a "neutral site" game in the U.S. [Update: 4003 fans attended the first NL game played on an AL field since 1946. U.S. Cellular Field holds 40,000.]

10. I know that it's tough to come up with ten items for a list like this. My hat's off to Peter King.