So, last night I'm driving to see my friend in Georgia and it's about 1:30 a.m. and you know when you can tell it's a cop on your behind late at night -- you know, just the general jerk that speeds up and then stays right on you without passing? Yeah, that.

Well, I'm not sure what the speed limit is, but I'm guessing it's either 45 or 55, so I'm staying pretty steady at 45. The guy keeps with me for six or seven miles, but then as I'm getting close to the Union County/Towns County border, the blue flashers go up.

Now, I'm pretty sure I wasn't speeding. I have no idea what he's going to say.

He comes up to my window and says, "We're looking for someone from Ohio, and I wanted to make sure it's not you."

"Ummmmmm...."

See, here's where I've got to mention that although I've lived in the south for most of my life, I still don't sound like a Southerner and I share a surname with a Yankee general. I've lived in South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and Texas, but I was still born in Rhode Island and have a Yankee name -- and trust me, that matters. Because of this, I've had a fear of small-town Southern cops. It could just be silly movies stereotypes, but let's just say I felt safer when I had Georgia or Alabama plates. I've always been careful with the Ohio plates -- and here it's just been confirmed.

I give Sheriff Buford my licence and he goes back to his car and runs it.

I'm sitting in my car praying he's not into bears, 'cause I got a pretty mouth.

Luckily, he comes back and I wasn't the droid he was looking for.

But yeah, I got pulled over for being from Ohio.

* Interesting comment from a scout concerning the Volquez-Hamilton deal from ESPN's Jayson Stark: "I'm not sure how to rate this one. It's a high-impact trade that hasn't impacted either team."

* I love this comic strip, thanks to ImaRedsfan for posting it...

 

* I've said it before, but Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports is one of the best sportswriters out there today. What I hate is he's younger than me and better than I'll ever be. I'm not sure if everyone's interested in these kind of things, but I find it fascinating -- Passan writes about maple bats and wonders if MLB can do anything about them. As Jeff writes, ash bats crack, maple bats shatter. You can tell the difference on the fielf while watching games. Someone could get hurt soon. Unfortunately, it may take that for anything to change.

* So, I came to Georgia and my friend bought some Michael Jackson greatest hits kinda thing and it doesn't have PYT. What kind of crap is that?

* As I was driving last night, XM is just awesome. I listened mostly to the Royals-Orioles, but also the Rays-Jays and Mariners-Rangers. It was good to hear Steve Stewart on the Royals game. Heard the grand slam in the Rays-Jays and a fight in Mariners-Rangers. All in all, a good night. During the Jays-Rays game (it was the Jays broadcast) they mentioned Joey Votto and his three homers. They stated he was the third Canadian to hit three homers in a major league game -- Larry Walker and Justin Morneau are the others. That's good company.

And here's the fight! God bless Al Gore for the Internets, I wanted to see it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, let's just say it's different seeing it than hearing the Mariners' radio description.

How about Tom Grieve of the Rangers' TV crew -- "That is a gutless 6-foot-7, .200-hitting, formerly good player. That's a joke." Perfect description. The ball was nowhere near close to Richie Sexson.

* The Onion is just awesome.

"The Pirates have promised to chip in $5, claiming that is all they have right now."

* Buy Andy Bernard's XTerra!

* This is reason enough to watch the NBA playoffs...

 

 

* If I were in town, I'd be at US Bank Arena tonight to see Cincinnati's winning team.

* Finally, happy birthday dad!