Gotta admit.  Seattle's doing their best to cheer us up right now.  They lost AND these uniforms are pretty funny.

Who wants to bet they glow in the dark?

No wonder Jay Cutler and Chicago had a rough start to the game.  They couldn't actually see anything.  It took their eyes a full two quarters to adjust.

Wide receiver Earl Bennett #80 of the Chicago Bears rushes against Kelly Jennings #21 of the Seattle Seahawks on September 27, 2009 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington.  Of course Bennett can't see anything right now.  He's looking blindly straight ahead because a bright neon green flash is searing it's way through his skull.

Thankfully the radioactive uniforms started to slow the Seahawks as the game progressed.

... or is time actually coming to a complete and utter standstill now that the NFL season is so close?  I think it was just last weekend on Saturday, July 18th (about 53 years ago) when I looked at the preseason schedule and thought "Oh boy! The NFL preseason starts in the second week of August.  That's soon!  Thank God it's finally almost here!

 Boy was I wrong.

 It was not soon, and it feels like we've got a couple more centuries to go before we even get to watch the Niners play their first preseason game, let alone the actual real season.

Seriously, I've been watching the clock the whole time I've been typing this and that stupid second hand hasn't even moved.  Move!  Tick just one second gaddamnit.

Would old father time please get a (expletive-deleted) move on??!!

Where's that universal remote that works on time that Adam Sandler didn't want to use anymore?  I'll fastforward to the beginning of August gladly and the consequences be damned.

So now that the all-star ballots are out, I guess I haven't asked you guys how you usually vote.  Or if you even do, if you think it even matters, etc.  I'm not convinced that our votes really matter, but I still fill out like 5 ballots each year.

Some Giants fans that I know don't bother voting American League, and just vote Giants up and down the National League ticket every year.  (This is what I used to do myself - easy, no thought whatsoever involved).

But I eventually I stopped that.  Basically, as a San Francisco fan, I root for the National League to win.  The all-star game is one day, that I try and forget all my prejudices about other teams in the NL, and cheer them on (except hoping that each Dodger player tears his ACL or something at the end of the game).  I'm sick and tired of hearing how the American League is always better than us.  And I'm still pissed off at how we lost the last '08 all-star game (a bullshit call in a game where the bullshit commissioner wanted to end the game as early as possible - they were going to call him safe no matter what).

So my voting philosophy now is -  (a) I try and vote the NL players in who I think would most help the National League to win, AND (b) I vote for the suckiest possible American League players (who knows maybe just one of those guys will get in).  What do you think - is this too much thought put into something that doesn't matter?  I'm not convinced this would ever matter - but I do it anyway as a baseball fan.

A National League fan's voting guide -

1) vote for these AL guys

C - Jason Varitek BOS (batting .225 right now, shit, even Miguel Olivo is playing better than Varitek is right now - but I think I'm voting along with a lot of blindly prejudiced AL fans here)

1B - Mark Teixeira NYY (if you don't play fantasy baseball, you might not realize how badly Teixeira is sucking right now, and he's a Yankee, so your vote could help give him that little edge)

2B - Placido Polanco DET

3B - Eric Chavez OAK (A-Rod will get it, but I'm voting Chavez as a matter of principle)

SS - Mike Aviles KC

OF - Ken Griffey Jr. SEA

OF - David DeJesus KC

OF - J.D. Drew BOS

2) vote for these NL guys

C - Bengie Molina SF

1B - Albert Pujols STL (although Adrian Gonzalez is smashing homers out the wazoo right now, and the guy plays in Petco Park, so he'd be excellent too)

2B - Chase Utley PHI (yeah, you heard me, screw Orlando Hudson)

3B - David Wright NYM

SS - Hanley Ramirez FLA

OF - Carlos Beltran NYM

OF - Ryan J. Braun MIL

OF - Manny Ramirez LAD (under any other circumstances I'd vote for Alfonso Soriano or maybe even Raul Ibanez here because Manny's a Dodger, but I have to vote for Manny this year, because (1) there is a good chance fans really will vote him in as a F--K You to Selig, the MLB management, and their ridiculous banned substances list ... (2) besides, how many Boston players you think will be on the AL team? would it be great if Manny could tell them all to screw themselves by hitting a home run? ... and (3) how cool would it be if the only Dodger on the NL all-star team is their one player who is suspended right now?)

So there they are - my voting picks for the all-star game.  Thoughts?

So I was asked to move these to a separate thread away from the "Official Graphics Fanpost" - that's cool.  Although, I'd argue that using these images is perfectly appropriate during a Game Time thread, for oh say ... after a touchdown, rallying during a from behind up-the-field drive, etc.

Apparently Niners Nation does NOT have a Gold Rush thread yet - I guess that is pretty pathetic.  So here it finally is - add favorites to this whenever you happen to see them, there's no rush, I wouldn't be in a hurry to close the comments for this one.  And really, these seem to be much more rare than the billions of Tampa Bay, Washington, or Dallas cheerleader pics online.  Personally, I think the Gold Rush can outmatch Dallas cheerleaders any day.  So let's treasure what we have.

I actually think a good TV show is hard to find, and after seeing the finale of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, and jponry bringing up Pushing Daisies yesterday, I thought I'd try to resurrect homerdrew's old thread from last year.

(I also didn't realize they cancelled Pushing Daisies.  I'm sorry about that, jponry, it did look worth giving a try, in fact - one of the things that made the few episodes I saw good/weird is it was completely different from anything else I'd seen before.  They shouldn't have cancelled it.)  Also, I don't mean to offend anyone.  I admit it - I'm biased and prejudiced, and have a pretty stereotypical guy's viewpoint about practically everything.  Sometimes I have to remember that McCovey Chronicles isn't quite the same sports website as http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/ is (I pretty much spend all my sports reading online time there, here, at Niners Nation and Deadspin).  Anyway, here goes, add to the list if you know stuff I don't -

Potential New Shows That Should Actually Be Good -

Treme - HBO - (David Simon is making it, about the city of New Orleans?  Lester and Bunk from the Wire are in it, and I think Steve Zahn will be too)

Game of Thrones - HBO - (David Benioff, I haven't read the books, but I've heard they could make for an actually gritty as opposed to campy fantasy show - I personally hate the SciFi channel)

Boardwalk Empire - HBO - (Martin Scorsese directing, so far with Steve Buscemi & Kelly Macdonald)

The Pacific - HBO Miniseries - (a Band of Brothers version, except about the Pacific theater of World War II instead of in Europe)

Currently Running (or not cancelled yet) -

Dollhouse - Fox - (Joss Whedon's latest - ok, it started out slow, but then it really started to get pretty damn good, if Fox doesn't cancel it, I personally think it could become one of the most popular shows on television if they take it out of the Friday timeslot (always busy Friday, I'd just see it online later).  If you haven't seen it, the first season is available for now at Fox's website and on Hulu.  Alan Tudyk from Firefly eventually shows up and acts the shit out of his character - great stuff)

Lie to Me - Fox - (has potential, I'm a Tim Roth fan, so I've enjoyed it so far, could get better though, or could get worse)

True Blood - HBO - (damn, I really have to get HBO again, saw the first season though, and it was better than any other vampire shit recently - I'm talking to you, Twilight, which I haven't seen and never will)

24 - Fox - (what can I say, Jack Bauer made me a fan, might be predictable by now, but how could it not be, bascially Jack is just going to kick some terrorist ass at some point, with minor variations in the plot)

South Park and The Simpsons go without saying.  And sorry, but Heroes jumped the shark for me.

On (or soon to be) DVD -

Eastbound & Down - HBO Miniseries - (Danny McBride & Will Ferrell's comedy about baseball & steroids, I haven't seen this yet, but my friends have really lauded it with praise)

Generation Kill - HBO Miniseries - (I was in Iraq for a year, and this show gets pretty much everything right, it's almost too realistic, but I think that not only did it accurately portray how things work with the chain of command, etc., but I also agreed with some the morals to the story as well)

Life on Mars - ABC - (entertaining, but too entertaining for ABC to keep it running)

Pushing Daisies - ABC - (already gave my personal opinion earlier, I'll probably give the show a try, it's probably better than I thought it was because ABC cancelled it - just freakin' wierd though, think Dr. Seus, Tim Burton & Dick Tracy)

Already agreed upon kick-ass classics, pretty much generally accepted from the last TV Show thread, that you should buy and watch, no questions asked -

The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos, Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Band of Brothers, and etc. to which I would personally add Carnivale, Freaks and Geeks, and Moonlighting from the 80s

anything else coming out that's supposed to be good?