Lost is pure awesome delivered to your TV screen. Tonight's episode was one of the three best this season. Not that I haven't loved every episode this season already (I most definitely have). Those of you you on the west coast have something great to look forward to.

Konerko re-signs with the defending champs.

Joe's Corner reports that the Angels have offered Paul Konerko something around $65 million for 5 years. Is this even reasonable? I mean, it's completely ridiculous to think that when the "going rate" (read: projected top contract for a player) is around $52 million for four years on a guy that is near his mid-30s would get another year tacked on at the same price per year. If this happens, then the Angels are at least as stupid as the Blue Jays for taking on BJ Ryan at 5 years/$47 million and the White Sox for trading Aaron Rowand for Jim Thome.

(H/T: Rob)

Today, Pat Morita died. He was 73.

Bad news for Angels fans - this takes the White Sox out of the Paul Konerko "sweepstakes", leaving the Angels as Konerko's most likely suitor by far.

The shine is off the Dodgers' jewel, that's for sure:

Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Bud Black told the Dodgers on Tuesday he is not interested in being a candidate for their vacant managerial job.

Angels executive Tim Mead confirmed that new Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti called Angels GM Bill Stoneman to ask permission to interview Black.

"They went through the formality and followed protocol," Mead said. "Ned called and asked for permission and Bill gave it to him."

However, Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said Black declined the opportunity, as he has with other past jobs, because he didn't want to have to move his family from the San Diego area.

Yeah, I hear that commute can be a real bitch.

My first crack at movie making...

Today, I went to a seminar that I was required to go to. It was a seminar taht approximated genetics enough, that I might as well just say for the layperson that it was genetics research. Now, I am a chemist and so I tend to get the generalities of genetics-type research, but often miss in the details not having taking classes where they teach you about every miniscule protein nor having done research on genetics specific projects. I usually understand enough to get by and understand their main points, even if not the details. Anyways, this seminar speaker is apparently a pretty top-of-the field guy from an Ivy League school, and what he was talking about was mostly gibberish to me. Why? Well, he never explained anything at all, including hsi main points.

Of course, I have been to many a seminar where the speaker was just speaking gibberish, but he also said some other things that I felt were worth commenting on. The first thing he said that made me take notice was that "it is unethical for the government to limit funding for human embryonic stem cell research." Now, I understand a scientist being upset with the government's current official position, but where the hell does he get off saying that it is "unethical" to limit funding by taxpayers of a particular research subject when many of said taxpayers find any research on it to be highly unethical. Hell, I could even make a better argument that it is unethical for the government to use taxpayer money for most scientific research, since the Constitution does not indicate that the government is supposed to provide for scientific research. And what is a scientist doing throwing around charges about ethics? Why do scientists and journalists always feel they are superior ethically than other groups? Just because their jobs are to "find truth"? Well, let me tell you, a lot of scientists aren't particularly ethical (although, a lot are) and so there are checks made to keep them from doing unethical things. One of the major concerns about human embryonic stem cell research is that it could lead to cloning or some other severely unethical research. For some reason, many scientists don't see this as a possibility because they would never do such a thing, but here's the thing: scientists try to push the envelope of thinking and in the process often struggle for grant money and prestige...this can lead to unethical science. If just one scientist that is working on human embryonic stem cells is unethical, they could theoretically try to push forward to human cloning using federal money! That's why I, for one, am actually glad that there is a limit on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. At the very least, it will slow things down enough that we can figure out if they are actually useful, before throwing a bunch of money into ethically questionable research.

The next thing he said that was bothersome was about 30 minutes later. He was talking about how he uses mouse embryonic stem cells, but that the National Institute of Health (one of the premier scientific grant organizations along with the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and a few others) only provides money for human studies (ie, things that directly affect humans). Then he talked about how his mouse research was so important and I figured out what his problem was: he wants everyone to give all their money to the research he deems important. This shows stunning ignorance of how scientific policy works for a man that is supposed to be one of the top guys in his field.

The final thing he said after about another five minutes, and was along the lines of "it is completely unethical for the government to spend so much money on a war in Iraq when they could be funding this important research with it" and then he babbled on a bit how the government is keeping the rich rich. Again, this shows that this guy is strikingly naive about how the world works. Does he actually think that if that money hadn't gone in to the war that it would go to scientific research, much less his own research? And why is it always unethical to spend taxpayer money on things that don't go directly to him? Of course, the comment about the war and keeping the rich rich, showed his true colors. He is probably a researcher who had a grant proposal turned away because of not enough funding and became bitter and decided to blame Bush for everything that went wrong in his life. Of course, that is not to say that he didn't blame Bush for everything before he didn't get funded.

The thing is, I am used to the anti-Bush rhetoric occasionally used to get a laugh out of the audience here, but actually calling it "unethical" to spend on something other than your research. It is pretty irresponsible as a scientist to be throwing a word like that around when it pertains to funding your research. Since this is Madison, the professors, of course, ate it all up. I didn't speak up at all (what's the point of arguing that point, he would never listen to reason, anyways), but I did have a comments sheet to write on, and I did rip into the guy there.

No, not JT, the white stuff that comes in flakes. Yes, that's what is in the air and stuck on the ground. Good thing I bought some cold weather boots two weeks ago.

Anaheim Center Sergei Fedorov was traded to the Colombus Blue Jackets for Center Tyler Wright and Defenseman Francois Beauchemin. This appears to be a salary dump to me (Fedorov had played way below expectations since being signed after the 2002 season), but I haven't followed hockey close enough lately to know if either of the two players they picked up are any good.

Domestic double, baby!

Pando, where have you been all season!?

Long, long overdue. Congtats to Joe, and to the DRays, who found the right man to lead them into a new era.

JOSH: I agree, although, with some sadness. Joe Maddon was the last coaching holdover from the almost great 1995 team (which I will always fondly remember). This leaves Garret Anderson as the last guy on the field remaining from that team (although, Salmon could conceivably come back in the right circumstances). Good luck to Joe Maddon on leading Tampa Bay to their first winning season (which would certainly be a huge feat in and of itself).

If you want to get that free-agent wish list into Santa in time, you should head on over to Baseball Analysts where Rich Lederer & Bryan Smith are counting down (up?) this offseason's biggest names. It's a three parter, so start here and work your way forward.

Wally Joyner has told ESPN the magazine that he asked for - and received - steroids from then Padres teammate Ken Caminiti during the 1998 season.

In a 16-page report titled "Who Knew?" ESPN The Magazine chronicles the spread of steroids through the sport of baseball and reports on how executives, players, trainers and the media turned a blind eye to allow it. The report will appear in the November 21 issue.

The report uncovers numerous damaging facts including that Joyner admitted he asked Caminiti to help him get steroids during the 1998 season while they were with the San Diego Padres.

Caminiti, who admitted to using steroids himself in 2002, did honor the request and Joyner ingested pills for some time before throwing them away after regretting what he did.

Not that there's necessarily a correlation, but 1998 was the last time Joyner would hit for anything resembling "power." (Of course, Joyner alternated between "adequate" power seasons and Darin Erstad power seasons throughout his career.)

I wonder what effect - if any - this admission will have on the way the "Wally World" seasons (which were apparently clean, mind you) are remembered by Angels fans. I ask, because having been two at the time of his breakout 1987 season, I don't have any special appreciation for Joyner.

Even though the Cy Young has not been announced yet, Colon has been told to fly to United States by MLB. And so it looks like the Angels' 2004 free agent class will win another major award.

UPDATE: It's official. Colon won (with 17 of 28 first place votes) in a year where there were no real stand out starters (Cy Young voters like ERA and wins) and Colon led the league with 21 wins. Mariano Rivera was considered his closest competition (and, in fact, was 2nd with 8 first place votes) because of his stellar ERA. However, he is just a reliever and it is very difficult to win as a reliever. Congratulations to Bartolo Colon.

RICHARD: More from Rob, BTF (where they're feigning shock that Santana didn't win), and the Angels' website. Chronicles and HaloFan, to.

ESPN.com reports two Carolina Panther cheerleaders were having sex in a nightclub bathroom and were arrested after a run-in with someone else who wanted to use the bathroom. The cheerleaders involved are Angela, a registered nurse, and Renee, a student. The cute blonde, Renee, even gave the police the name of Kristin, a marketing analyst. Expect Angela and Renee to be fired at some point soon, but to become every man's favored cheerleaders.

Hat Tip: SoapBox Joe

The Angels have extended Mike Scioscia's contract through 2009. Scioscia has been the Angels' best manager ever and assuming the success continues reasonably well, Scioscia will be an Angel for at least 10 years. He will be the only manager the next generation of Angels fans will know. Here's hoping he performs well enough that he stays with the Angels for another 10 years beyond this contract.

Rosters for US Baseball's 2008 Olympic qualifying team have been announced, with four Angels uber-prospects featured prominently:

Pitchers -- Stephen Andrade, rhp (Toronto); Jonah Bayliss, rhp (Kansas City); Dave Haehnel, lhp (Baltimore); Chris Lambert, rhp (St. Louis); Jim Miller, rhp (Colorado); Bill Murphy, lhp (Arizona); Clint Nageotte, rhp (Seattle); Brian Sanches, rhp (Philadelphia); Matt Smith, lhp (New York Yankees); Nick Ungs, rhp (Florida); Jered Weaver, rhp (Los Angeles Angels); Stephen White, rhp (Yankees).

Catchers -- Jeff Mathis (Angels); Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Atlanta).

Infielders -- Travis Hanson (St. Louis); Brendan Harris (Washington); Howie Kendrick (Angels), Bryan LaHair (Seattle); Ryan Shealy (Colorado); Brandon Wood (Angels).

Outfielders -- Billy Butler (Kansas City); Lastings Milledge (New York Mets); Brad Snyder (Cleveland); Shane Victorino (Philadelphia).

Note that Steve Andrade would have made a fifth, had the Angels not made the inexplicable decision to hand him to the Blue Jays.

Does anyone know where I can buy a new mute button? Mine is close to giving out.

(h/t, Seitz)

• I picked up a TiVo this weekend. I have to say that the automatic recording, the easy-to-use guide (the main reason I had thought of getting digital cable), and the ability to easily fast forward and rewind are awesome. The best part of this is that I can watch sporting events I don't care that much about so much faster. Especially football, where the 30 second skip feature allows you to jump from when the whistle blows to the hike almost every time until the end of the game (when teams are in hurry up offense mode).

• I watched the Laker game tonight (largely on fast forward...I reached the live game with 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter). I have to say, they were gift-wrapped this game. They had no interior defense (there were about 10 alley oops against them and should have been about 10 more), their free throw shooting stinks, and they only appeared to have three guys that can put up a shot: Kobe, Devean George, and some guy named Smush Parker. Smush has a great name and made a great Laker debut. Hopefully he can keep it up. As far as the Nuggets are concerned, they were up a point with 30 seconds left and were called for traveling before they called a timeout (allowing the Lakers to tie with a free throw) and then Anthony threw up a shot with 9 seconds left in the game, the shot clock off, and the score tied, practically guaranteeing another Laker opportunity. Of course, Kwame Brown of the Lakers did the same thing near the end of OT when he took the shot with 12 seconds left, but was able to get the rebound and give it to Kobe, who drained a shot for the win. Oh, and basketball officiating is still atrocious (they should offer Doug Eddings a job), although it was good to see them call traveling a number of times (missing a few obvious ones, still).

• Bill Walton is without a doubt the worst announcer in the history of sport. Part of the joy of having TiVo is that I can now fast forward through his inanity. It's like he collects the brain farts of every single person in the arena and turns them into words that may or may not even resemble logical sentences. In the midst of Lamar Odom going 2-13, Walton constantly said "That's his game; that's his shot" while Odom threw up miss after miss. It was meant as a compliment, not a statement of irony. On the other side, Andre Miller was 3-11, but also had 11 assists, and Walton couldn't keep himself from saying that Miller's play was horrible (11 assists is horrible?). Also, any time someone was playing badly, Walton said that the player must be injured, otherwise they wouldn't be playing this badly. He has already declared a routine dunk by Kenyon Martin and the routine drawing of a charge by Marcus Camby as the Offensive and Defensive Plays of the Year. When a Laker stole the ball out of Camby's hands once, Camby stuck his leg out and tripped that player...upon seeing the replay Walton said that the Laker "tripped over a stationary leg, I can't believe they would call a foul on a guy standing stationary" when it was obvious the guy had stuck his leg out. Also, a couple of seconds before Kobe attempted the game winning shot at the end of regulation (which he missed), Kobe was hit in the eye. Upon seeing the replay, it was obvious that after the hand raked his face, Kobe grimaced and blinked hard a few times before making his move and taking his shot, and then Walton said, "Kobe had no reaction until after he missed the shot." Seriously, Walton could be a Major League playoff umpire.

And the award for 'the best offensive player who can kinda-sorta play defense without embarrassing himself (too much)' goes to...

Mark Teixeira?

Cabrera deserved one as well, but at least there were other shortstops that you could make an argument for (granted, the winner, Derek Jeter, isn't one of them). That is not the case over at firstbase, where Darin Erstad is easily the greatest defensive firstbaseman of his generation (even if he does wield one of the most pitiful bats in the game). Nothing against Mark Teixeira, but there can be no debate on the subject - Darin Erstad is it.

I'm not going to get angry over the snub (but if you're into that kind of thing, Halos Heaven has it), because all it does is confirm that the award is an absolute fucking joke, which we were already well aware.

That unnamed AL playoff outfielder who tested postive for steroids has been named, and no, it's not a name anyone cares about.

Steve Finley is so worthless, he can't even get caught cheating when it would help the team...

It is interesting to note that intersections with red light cameras are causing (hat tip: Instapundit)more accidents than had previously been occurring. This seems to be a common problem among everywhere that has red light cameras.

This is also a common problem with government solutions. They find high profile issues that really are not that bad and do their darnedest to artificially fix them (while collecting money) when the market would naturally do so. The problem the government wanted to solve was crashes in intersections. Their theory was that most crashes occur because of people running red lights...and this may very well have been true. But, at the same time, when people know that there is a dangerous intersection, they will tend to drive more cautiously. If it is a super busy intersection, they will drive aggressively (trying not to get stuck at the light for another red light), but other people are watching out for that and are willing to wait until those red light crossing idiots finish crossing. The real red light issue would probably come from less busy intersections where people are not stopped at the intersection when their light turns green. Because of that, they will not as likely see a red light crosser coming. When red light cameras are put up, the punishment for even safe red light crossing is increased dramatically and so people will do it less. But this also means that people may have to brake harder to keep from crossing on a red...even when they could have made a legal crossing. If there is someone following close behind, this is a rear end accident in the making. I imagine this is a much more likely occurence with a red light camera. The market had already decided on a number of allowable red light crossings and crashes and then the politicians decided to alter that market. This alteration has caused driving styles to change and become more dangerous for the time being.