Rule 5 Sunday -- Kristy Swanson

Today's Rule 5 posting is Kristy Swanson.

I was watching the NASCAR race today, and the celeb starter was Ms. Swanson. I was struck by how nice she looked since the last time I saw her in anything, it was an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and she was playing this Anna Nicole Smith look-a-like. And sadly, she was so overweight and bloated looking that I did not even recognize her until the credits rolled.

But she looked really good today, even though it was only a short glimpse. Hopefully she's on her way to better, safer health and a return to the beauty that we fell for in the Buffy movie way back when.

A couple of these images are from a Maxim layout a while back and a couple are from Kristy's Playboy appearance and are fully nsfw, so use some discretion.

*click on the thumbnails for full-sized images*

Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.

Hat tips:
Jake Finnegan
The Daley Gator
The Classic Liberal
Say Anything Blog
Proof Positive
Reaganite Republican

The Bolts are making me :-(

After coming to within one game of the Stanley Cup finals last year, the Lightning are languishing at the bottom of the division this season.

Hockey is unlike any other professional team sport. One player can make or break a team, and that player is the goaltender. Problem with the Bolts -- they don't have a stud in net. Last year's feel good story, Dwayne Roloson hit the age wall this season and the 41 year old is playing like a 41 year old. Career back up goalie Mathieu Garon is showing why he's always been a back up and not a starter. He's had flashes of hot play, but nothing steady or reliable. When Garon went down with an injury, the team called up a kid from the minors, Dustin Tokarski, who literally played his guts out. But with, at one point, eight guys on the ir, the team lost something like six of seven games and any chance of salvaging the season.

I thought at one point, the way GM Yzerman was stockpiling draft picks, Stevie Y was going to package the picks and make a blockbuster trade for a money goalie. He did not, apparently content to slog out the rest of this season with the guys we've got.

It's a pity goal scoring machine Steven Stamkos is tearing up the league with 52 goals and 87 points on a last place team. Kid should be wowing the world in the playoffs, not going home and hoping for better next year.

The big guys on this team, Martin St. Louis and Vinnie Lecavalier aren't getting any younger. I think there's only a one or two year window to get these guys back into the finals again. I'm hoping Yzerman has something up his sleeve besides the wart on his elbow, otherwise it could be a long wait until I get to see another Cup final in Tampa.

Bummer.

The Red Sox are making me :-\

After last year's historic collapse, Boston released Terry Francona and allowed GM Theo Epstein to depart. Correctly predicted on this very blog *back pat* the Sox hired Bobby Valentine to be the new skipper.

Valentine's been a breath of fresh air since coming on board with his manic intensity. He's also done some good pr and basic managing stuff that's been a little overdue for the team. Outlawing alcohol in the clubhouse was a simple way to scrub away the taint from last year's faux scandal, and forcing the pitching staff to work on basics like fielding their positions -- I think the Sox have the worst pitcher's fielding percentage in baseball, sends a message to the team that no one playing for Boston will be given elitist status.

Ownership also dropped some coin to bring back David Ortiz for one more season. A good move from both a pr and run production standpoint.

But from there it gets a little muddy. The pitching staff is oddly weak. Daniel Bard is attempting to be a starter for the first time since college. Bard was supposedly the heir apparent to Papelbon, but struggled as a closer. He seemed suited to be a set-up guy well enough, but pushing him into the four slot as a starter? Hmmm . . .

And platooning the five slot? Double hmmm . . .

I get the impression the team is biding its time waiting for Dice-K to come back from Tommy John surgery later this year. But with no one solidly there as an insurance plan, what happens if Dice cannot come back?

The team also released solid shortstop Marco Scutaro and appear to be willing to platoon that position as well. This is the Sox we're talking about here, right?! Not some low income team like the Rays?! What's with all the rotating players bit guys?!

They're hoping that under Valentine's hands-on style of coaching, $140 million man Carl Crawford can actually earn his income this season.

I mean all this finger crossing and what if action is a bit amazing for a team with one of the top payrolls in baseball. I don't know. I'm really on the fence about this team. With the expanded playoffs this year, they have a shot at getting in as a wild card. I'm not optimistic about the Sox challenging for the division, but if everything breaks right . . .

What a wierd way to look at the season for this team.

The Bucs are making me :-)

Sometime after the end of last year's disastrous season, the Glazers must have looked up from their fish and chips at Wembley Stadium and realized that their American football team had become a laughingstock once again.

Releasing the horribly incompetent Raheem Morris, the team went out and hired Greg Schiano away from Rutgers. Personally, I would have been happy if the Glazers had backed a dumptruck full of money, with "We're Sorry :-(" hand written on each bill, to Monte Kiffin's door, but this hire appears to have been a good one.

Schiano has assembled a stout collection of coaches, including the qb coach from the Giants, Mike Sullivan, to be the offensive coordinator. After working with Eli Manning in NY, Sullivan's got the pedigree to determine if the Bucs Freeman truly is the next big thing or simply the next Vinnie Testaverde -- a big kid with a big arm, but missing that "it" factor.

Also picking up Bill Sheridan formerly of both the Dolphins and the Giants, Schiano's shown the savvy to pick up coaches who know and are used to being champions. But I believe the best hire was former Browns head coach Butch Davis.

Davis was brought on board to be Schiano's special assistant, along with a defensive coach. With a background in both the pros and college -- Davis was at Miami, and recently UNC, Schiano has someone close to him to give advice on the nuance of pro football from a head coach's viewpoint. Which is quite different from college. And it shows that while Schiano is confident in his own abilities to be a head coach, he realizes he's got some unfamiliar territory ahead of him and is willing to listen to someone who's already been there.

That's a plus in my book.

The Bucs went into the free agency period a whopping $68 million under the salary cap and got their Yankees on as they bought every top free agent on the market. Stud receiver Vincent Jackson, o-line guard Carl Nicks, ball hog cornerback Eric Wright, and experienced back up qb Dan Orlovsky.

With the death penalty punishment levied against the Saints recently, the Bucs just became a serious threat in the NFC south this upcoming season. There's a lot of what ifs of course -- the d-line has to remain healthy, for one, but this is the first time I've looked forward to the start of a Buccaneer season since Jon Gruden left.

Nice.

Dark Shadows trailer

Back in the early 70s, there was a soap opera on television called Dark Shadows. It was a lurid, slow paced vampire saga about Barnabas Collins (think I spelled that right), and his return to life and his beloved home -- Collinwood.

With soaps back then being pretty horrible, and something that we kids laughed at the adults for watching, this DS was right up our alley.

Well, with Hollywood running out of original material these days, they've turned to comic books and re-inventing old television shows. So much for all the so-called talent out there today, eh? And now it's DS's turn:

That Tim Burton is helming it, and from the trailer, it looks a bit campy, it's hard to say whether it will be delicious fun or a swing and miss for us old folks who were fans of the original. But it may be worth a look when it comes out.

And because I saw her in the trailer and happened to have a few pics, here's the very yummy Eva Green:

Can't get good help of the day

President Barack Obama's re-election site has a bracket challenge feature for the NCAA Tournament.

My alma mater, University of South Florida, has made the tourney this year.

Yay

Unfortunately, whoever did the webpage work for the prez, did as little research as possible into the teams this year, as when you mouse over "USF" on the bracket, you get University of San Francisco!!

Why am I not surprised at such a display of incompetence by this bunch?

Hey, they're shooting a movie down my way

That movie Spring Breakers is being shot down where I work.

Heh

Got my first brush with a Hollywood production today, as they had the road blocked off next to the Post Office, and I got to see the four girls fly up and down the street on their mopeds while I waited to turn in.

Not exactly a world changing moment, but something different in my banal life.

I'll take it :-)