News that the federal government seems interested in transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Thomson Correctional Center was greeted warmly in this small, rural farm town along the Iowa border.

After holding out hope that the sprawling $145 million prison might improve the economic conditions in this remote area of the state, residents say any prisoners would be a welcomed sight.

"It would help the businesses here, and God knows we could use that," said Kay Lawton, 59, a Thomson resident. "It doesn't matter to me who they bring here."

It is safe to say Joshua Basso is a moron of epic width. The 29-year-old Tampa man was jonesing for an amorous romp, but he apparently couldn't get a woman the usual way -- you know, by being generally decent and kind. And since he couldn't call the sex lines because his phone was out of minutes, he called the only line he could afford. That would be 911.

Among his classier pickup lines: "Are you gonna pull down your pants?" "You got a nice butt?" He also asked the officer is she had nice boobs. (We're giving you the cleaned-up version here.)

Big?  No.  Something that needs more development and help in the form of supporting players than we thought?

Yes.

I think watching this game gave me football cancer.

Other than the son being a huge weiner (and flashing that horrid smile every time he was on camera.  Seroiusly, that kid has issues), what was wrong with it?

But if the Tigers really are willing to trade the 28-year-old Granderson, a guy with old-school baseball skills and leadership traits off the charts, then the Cubs must do everything possible to get him.

As a left-handed hitter, he is a very nice fit for the Cubs. He has a very reasonable contract that, not including a 2013 option, is $23.75 million for three years. And as an intelligent, uncannily cool presence, he's the next best thing to Derek Jeter.

If Dombrowski wants to talk about Carlos Marmol, potentially a closer for the next two or three years, and Starlin Castro, who could have a Shawon Dunston impact and tenure at shortstop, Hendry should be willing.

For a Chicago team, he's a unique commodity, as anyone who has spent 15 minutes with him would know. He's the perfect piece to have in place as Derrek Lee sails toward free agency.

Harden is more or less a two-pitch guy now, though he seems to mix in a changeup. His real killer pitch isn't the change, however.

The second graph is Mariano Rivera's cutter, a pitch that's I've heard is kind of good. It's lot faster than Harden's slider-thing, but the movement chart just struck me. I'm calling it a slider, though FG calls it a changeup. At any rate, it's a pitch that almost no one else is throwing, which is probably the reason Harden gets so many empty swings on it. Harden's only real problem is that he's been a fly ball pitcher since he cut down to two pitches, and he's been lowering his velocity while still pitching up in the zone. Wrigley Field also did him no favors, contributing to a career-high 15.1% HR/FB in 2009.

Was there a new one on last night? I didn't see it on my TiVo this morning.

I thought 0.3 was the number they'd set. I guess I could google it. Nah.

The Trent Tucker rule:

"NO LESS THAN :00.3 must expire on the game clock when a player secures possession of an inbounds pass and then attempts a field goal. If less than :00.3 expires in such a situation, the timer will be instructed to deduct AT LEAST :00.3 from the game clock. If less than :00.3 remain on the game clock when this situation occurs, the period is over, and the field goal attempt will be disallowed immediately whether successful or unsuccessful."

There were .3 seconds left, the minimum allowed time to pull off a shot.

And of course:

Rule 13 Section III - Replay Review Process
- Reviews would be conducted as a crew. The Crew Chief will make the final decision.
- Maximum of two minutes to review the video and make a ruling. Reasonable amount of additional time beyond two minutes for review of Flagrant Fouls/Penalty 2 and Player Altercations.
- Calls made on the court will be overturned only with "clear and conclusive" visual evidence.

It took them ten freaking minutes to review the shot. The rules clearly state that a maximum of only two minutes can be used, except in the cases of flagrant fouls and player altercations.

I normally don't complain about the officials because they are all so bad it's just
part of the game.  But that was a complete raping.