I know the other OFFTOP is fairly recent, but I need some help here.  And, besides, the other is at 1420 comments as I type this, so let's bring on the freshness.

With the end of the baseball season nigh, I've decided to try my hand at hockey fandom.  Seeing as how there is a lack of a National Hockey League team in Seattle, or even Washington for that matter, I need to throw my hat in with a team from elsewhere.  I'd like to cheer for a franchise that is well-run, but they don't necessarily have to be a winner right now.  Try to think of a team that you could compare to the 2009 Mariners; good to great front office, promising young talent, and on the upswing from horrible.  Basically, I don't just want to pull for a team just 'cuz they're a winner.  And I don't want to end up rooting for the New York Yankees of the NHL, if there is such a team.

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Glad to see Felix Hernandez is going to this year's All-Star festivities.  He certainly deserves it after the year that he's had so far.  And Ichiro is showing that you just can't logically guess when he might fall off the map.  He is possibly having the best year of his career.

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The U.S. just beat Spain, as I'm sure you all know.  They're currently up 2-0 on Brazil with just about 10 minutes to go in the first half.  Not sure that two goals is a safe enough lead for my taste with so much game left to be played, but damn has this been a good show so far.  Is it possible that we beat Brazil just after beating the world #1?

It's this kind of thinking that drives me crazy.

It's this kind of thinking that brings me back from the brink.

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I just finished, for the second time, a book called Into the Green: A Recon by Fire by Cherokee Paul McDonald.  It's a great book about Paul's experiences in Vietnam, and I would strongly suggest it to anyone interested in that particular war.  Hell, it's a pretty good look into war in general.

I also just finished Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez, a book suggested by someone here at this site.  Thanks for that, whoever it was (sorry for not remembering who pointed me to it).  Good read for anyone interested in seeing a baseball game broken down to the smallest detail.

I'm curious to see what everyone around here reads, as I'm always looking for good books to read.  So, let's have it.  In what books have you guys and gals invested time?  Please feel free to discuss magazines also.

Or maybe you don't read books because books are for fucking nerds, and you wouldn't waste your time with something so non-sportified.  Shit, you're the man/woman and reading is below you.  If you're that person, then please feel free to save your... I was gonna say breath, but you wouldn't be talking, so I'll say fingers.  Save your fingers.

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