The passing of an era/This one's for you, Josh...

Back when DVD was new and Josh and I shared a soundproofed apartment (thanks, proximity to National Airport!), I purchased the components for a home theater. Josh and I (and some of you faithful readers) spent many hours with the sound cranked up to "earth-shaking", munching bad pizza from Domino's and watching Gladiator or the Matrix or Heat or Fight Club, or some other testosterone-infused moving picture containing lots of ass-kicking, gunfire, explosions, roaring tigers, or other such manly goodness.

Today, the DVD player component of that rig, the venerable Sony DVP-S530D, finally bit the dust. It was 10 years old or more, and it finally succumbed to the infamous Sony "C 13 00" error, refusing to play discs of any kind.

So, I went to Best Buy and snagged a new Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-Ray player, which will nicely complement the flat screen HDTV I intend to purchase in the next week or two. I'm currently back and forth between a 46"/47" LCD TV (either Samsung, Sony, or LG) or a 50"/52" plasma (same brands). Anyone have any experience with these that they'd like to share?

The Voop's Enduring Power of Inspiration...

The American University Eagles won their third straight and fourth in five games, taking down the first-place Lafayette Leopards with an impressive 10-point road win, 76-66. The Eagles are now only 1 game behind Lafayette for leadership of the Patriot Conference. Could the young Eagles be peaking at the right time, laying the groundwork for a run at the Patriot League title and a 3rd straight berth in the Big Dance?

Stay tuned...

Furrow in the melting snow leads Eagles to victory...

The AU Eagles men's basketball team has been WOEFUL this season. Prior to today, they were 3-14, and had losses to Mount St. Mary's, Md. Eastern Shore, Fairfield, and UMBC among others.

Today, I stepped in to right the ship. Wielding the BFD, twirling it to engage that hypnotic "VOOP" sound, I guided the young Eagles to a state of self-confidence.

"Listen to the VOOP," I told them in a pre-game speech in the bowels of Bender Arena. "The VOOP wants to be victorious. The VOOP wants to you to dunk, to drain the 3, to rebound without mercy -- to excite the chubby, mediocre AU Spirit Dancers in their whorish red dresses that don't cover their too-big, too many late night chicken patty with french fries asses. It wants them to follow YOUR furrows in the snow. Now get out there and make it happen!"

The outcome: a 73-63 victory over the skinnier, white kids from Colgate.

I rest my case.

PS Stephen Lumpkins is the next Brian Gilmore. You heard it here first.