Not a bad interview, all things considered, although I’m not sure how she figures on meeting the Vikings in the Super Bowl.

While you’re over at Esquire — so this post isn’t complete fluff — I highly recommend Why President Obama Will Never Be Barack Obama Again, by Tom Junod. It’s a fascinating piece that sidesteps traditional political analysis to make a very interesting point about this particular cultural moment.

This is the kind of thing I hope to get around to more often. One thing that should help is the new site design. If it ever goes live, it will have space for posting links and comments outside of the normal posting structure. That way I — and hopefully community members as well — will be able to mention things that don’t merit an entire main page post.

In the meantime, here are some news items/thoughts to mull over and, if you so desire, comment on.

– MASN has announced that Jim Hunter, Roch Kubatko, and Phil Wood will be anchoring a Hot Stove show starting on December 12th. It’ll run on the network every Friday until the start of spring training. It should be a good show, but if MASN had their wits they would simply pay all of the charter members of the Loss Column Community (LCC) to sit around and talk baseball once a week. That would be a show.

– I meant to announce this a few weeks ago: I’m one of ninety-or-so voters in the weekly DC Sports Bog Atlantic 11 Basketball Poll. For those of you who don’t know it, that’s a poll Dan Steinberg set up to rank all of the mid-Atlantic area men’s basketball programs. Check out the latest installment here.

If, in any given week, you want to help me vote, just fire off an email with your thoughts.

– I may have traded in my sports hat over at the Examiner, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still sneak it in. Like, for example, today’s post about NFL cheerleader calendars. Fun stuff.

– Speaking of college basketball, I’m impressed with the Terps so far. The struggles against Georgetown and Gonzaga were to be expected, and those wins against Michigan and Michigan State could serve them very well in March if they can manage eight or nine ACC wins.

They figure to be a deeply frustrating team again this year, and they will struggle mightily down low. But, I never count a Gary Williams team out.

– Speaking more of college basketball, what has happened to Loyola? Anyone out there following them closely who can tell me why they’re struggling so badly?

– Wizards bad, Capitals good.

I know I’m forgetting something, but this seems like a sufficient brain dump for now.

– This one comes from the “this is what the Internet is really for” files: NumerOlogy, a site dedicated to Orioles uniform numbers.

It’s an absolutely amazing piece of work, chock full of both interesting information and incredible photos. I can’t imagine the effort it took to put this thing together, but I’m grateful. Plan on wasting a good chunk of your day upon clicking the link.

– A site called Hardball Scouts sent me an email a few days back with their list of the Orioles’ top 20 prospects. Check it out here. You have to figure it’ll change if/when the Erik Bedard deal goes through, but it’s a decent list.

For my part, though, no rundown of O’s prospects means much until we’ve seen some of these guys sort it out at Spring Training and then in the minors this year. Who can really say what the difference is — right now — between Adam Loewen and Troy Patton? 2008 is going to go a long way to establishing just what we have on the farm, and to what extent we can count on it in the next few years.

– Admit it: you’re dying to know what’s up with Jay Payton. Well, wonder no more.

– You might not realize it, but Baltimore has a new indoor football team, the Baltimore Mariners. They’ve taken the place of the short-lived Baltimore Blackbirds, who were around for one useless season. They’ve also got cheerleaders.

– I’m officially in “no idea why it’s taking so long” territory with the Bedard trade. As of tonight, he’s still not in Seattle. Also as of tonight, it still looks like the trade will happen. At some point. Eventually. Soon.

That’s about it for now. Posting might be light over the next couple of weeks, depending on what happens with trades and such. This is The Great Lull for sports fans, as we wait between the end of football and the beginning of Spring Training. As always, though, seize the day in the comments if something strikes your fancy that I haven’t covered in a post.

Also, feel free to take this time to send me any suggestions you have about the site. Want something changed? Have a comment on the layout or design? Want to write a guest post? Want more coverage of something? Send me an email and I’ll do what I can. Thanks for all of your support.

(that bad-ass photo of Eddie Murray, by the way, comes from Robert K. Hamilton at the Sun)

At least the Caps-Penguins matchup was fully awesome. Moving on to today’s slate:

It’s an eight-something first pitch in the deciding game of the ALCS, with Jake Westbrook taking the hill against Dice-K. When the Indians lose this one you can all go ahead and blame me. I jinxed the hell out of the Tribe when I put up that stupid post about how this Red Sox squad wasn’t a memorable one. Idiot.

The Ravens are in Buffalo with their b-squad looking to step up on the road. The Bengals host the Jets, while Pittsburgh travels out to Denver for Sunday Night Football. Down I-95 in Raljohn the Redskins host Arizona.

Should you find yourself in need of any context for that Bills-Ravens game, I present you willisistrash.com. Awesome.

And in case you need a break from football, Baltimore’s own Bucky Lasek and the rest of the world’s top skaters will wrap up the AST Dew Tour season today in Orlando. Lasek, alas, will not win his third consecutive Dew Cup — that honor has already been wrapped up by carrot top Shaun White.

– Sports by Brooks is one of the best daily sources out there for news, links, analysis, etc. I read the site anyway, but as it happens Brooks has been very kind to us with links of his own. Support him.

– Babes Love Baseball gave us a shout-out not too long ago and I felt humbled. They’re babes, they love baseball, and they know what they’re talking about. What’s not to love?

– Uni Watch, of course. One of my favorites since pretty much the day it went up.

– What Would Tyler Hansbrough Do? linked us up, as well. It’s a Tar Heels blog and that’s kind of a problem, but I figure a mutual hatred of all things Duke can be the tie that binds.

And since there’s more to life than sports, and it’s my prerogative to link as I please, give these sites a look as well:

– The guys at Tomorrow’s Brightest Minds are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. Those Slim Jim “Snapalope” commercials? That’s them. The site hasn’t been updated in awhile but don’t let that scare you off. I’m privileged to call these dudes friends.

– The Girl Skateboards Art Dump houses a collection of some of the most inspiring, creative individuals alive today. Bookmark it and be happy you did.

And finally, don’t forget to periodically stop by our fellow “Behind Enemy Lines” alliance sites.

Enjoy your Wednesday.