Random Thoughts

(I’m sorry, that picture is too ridiculous to not get a second showing. Onto the picks.) 

Frankly I thought this race would be an absolute no-brainer after Street Sense’s trainer announced he wouldn’t run him in the Belmont. But the more I look at it though, the more competitive I see this race shaping up. 

Now I’ve been backing Curlin (6-5) since January after he won the first race of his life by 12 lengths at Gulfstream Park.  He was my Derby pick, but then like an idiot I bet against him in the Preakness.  Clearly he’s the best horse here, but at the same time – the Belmont is a grueling, 1 1/2 mile race.  While Curlin’s been running in the Derby and Preakness, most of these other horses are well rested.  Also, and you have to ask this, is Curlin really good enough to win the final 2/3rds, a.k.a. the “back end” of the Triple Crown?  I mean I like him as much as anybody, but that puts him in the same category as Point Given and Afleet Alex.  I just don’t know about that.

Therefore, I’m taking a stab here with the Todd Pletcher filly Rags to Riches at 3-1.  Sired by ‘92 Belmont winner AP Indy, she’s won each of her 4 starts in 2007, including both the Santa Anita (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1), posting a 104 Beyer in the latter.  Off the 5 week layoff, I like this horse on Saturday with Johnny V aboard to become the first filly to win the Belmont since 1905.   A bit of redemption for Pletcher here who’s had an awful showing thus far in this year’s Triple Crown.

Of the other horses, if I had to pick a longshot it would be Nick Zito’s CP West with Edgar Prado at 12-1.  He’s a closer who ran 4^th in the Preakness and 2^nd over the same Belmont track going 7 furlongs last September. 

Click here for full field and odds.  Post time is Saturday around 6:30 on ABC.  Good luck and enjoy the race.

Official picks: Win – Rags to Riches.  Place – Curlin.  Show – CP West.

If that's not the scariest picture we've ever posted, I don't know what is. Jesus Christ - she's 3 revolutions from The Exorcist. Regardless, today is Bonnie Tyler's 56th birthday, which officially makes her a super coug. Now if I posted this video I'd be fired "faster than the speed of night", but Bonnie Tyler's signature song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was nominated a few weeks ago as a Great Cougar Anthem, and today it's time to rank it.

Remember, it's not how much you love the song, it's how much cougars love the song. For example, I hate this fucking song. But that shouldn't affect my vote. Also keep in mind the point of this whole contest (to paraphrase Roy Hobbs/Teddy Ballgame) is so that people can say to themselves when they hear this song, "There goes the Greatest Cougar Anthem of all time..."

Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane" is our new leader with a solid 8.1. Time to rate Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as a Great Cougar Anthem.

In less than 24 hours now, 7-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens will be capping off the most anticipated comeback since Elvis in ’68 and Jesus in ~33 when he takes the mound tomorrow against the Pirates.  

#1, I think it was the right decision to hold Roger out until after the Sox series.  To quote The Godfather, “It’s the smart move.”  There’s no way you want to risk him getting shelled at Fenway Park in his first start of the season; I don’t care how much money they’re paying him, it doesn’t make any sense.  Risk > reward.  And now that the “fatigued groin” is supposedly healed, home against Pittsburgh sounds like a much better matchup. 

That said, should Yankee fans start punching tickets for October?  Yes, actually.  Despite the majority of Red Sox Nation, once again, holding Yankee elimination parties over Memorial Day weekend, the Yankees aren’t even close to being done.  Not even close.  Not with Arod, Jeter, Posada, Matsui, Rivera, Wang, Mussina, Pettitte and now Clemens – you can’t eliminate a team like that in May.  It just doesn’t happen.

After last night’s win the Yankees are now 5-2 in June and all of a sudden just 6 games back in the Wild Card with 104 games left, which is a freakin eternity to make up 6 games.   As far as the Division, who cares?  Let the Red Sox have the A.L. East.  We all know the history the past 6-7 years, I’m almost rooting for the Wild Card at this point, as un-Yankee-like as that sounds. 

Nobody ever said it was going to be easy.  And it won’t be.  But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the 27^th Championship is always the toughest one to get.

Put this game on your blog   Create your own   More games

The part about calling your boss means whoever invented this game has to be a Stoolie right? I've never been so proud.

Thanks to Big Remy for the link.

LOS ANGELES (AP) Paris Hilton was taken from a courtroom screaming and crying Friday seconds after a judge ordered her returned to jail to serve out her entire 45-day sentence for a parole violation in a reckless driving case.

``It's not right!'' shouted the weeping Hilton. ``Mom!'' she called out to her mother in the audience. Hilton, who was brought to court in handcuffs in a sheriff's car, came into the courtroom disheveled and weeping. Her hair was askew and she wore a gray fuzzy sweatshirt over slacks. She wore no makeup and she cried throughout the hearing. Her body also shook constantly as she dabbed at her eyes. Several times she turned to her parents who were seated behind her in the courtroom and mouthed the words, ``I love you.'' Many of Hilton's several dozen supporters outside the courthouse appeared devastated.

``No! No! No!'' Jake Byrd of Chino screamed as a court spokesman delivered the news to reporters outside court. During the hearing on the issue of her early release, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer was calm but apparently irked by developments of the morning. He said he had left the courthouse Thursday night having signed an order for Hilton to appear for the hearing. When he got in his car early Friday, he said, he heard a radio report that she would not appear and that he had approved a telephonic hearing. He said no such thing had been approved by him.

This Paris Hilton saga has gone from bizarre to fucking hilarious. After getting out of "jail" three days into her sentence, she is forced to home imprisonment, and reportedly had planned a party as some kind of welcome home thing. Now, this morning, she gets pulled back into court and thrown back into jail, reportedly screaming and crying, yelling "MOM!!!!" It's just really strange. She never should have been allowed to go home but now, the way all the media outlets and officials appear to be laughing and joking it's like some kind of weird revenge because she's rich and they'll never get to fuck her...

Prime Paris Here...

Is their a weirder profession in the entire world than Faneuil Hall Street Performer?   I mean these guys are the crème de le crème of wack jobs.   Wouldn’t you just love to follow one of these clowns (no pun intended) around for a week and see what they do when they’re not performing?  I bet it’s some pretty wild and freaky stuff.    I mean look at the picture of this kid that was performing today.  He can’t be more than 15 years old.   Why isn’t he in school?   It’s not summer vacation yet right?   He must be home schooled which would make perfect sense.   After all it’s a scientific fact that 87% all street performers and spelling bee champions are home schooled.   Anyway, I swear to god before his last trick he said he hoped everybody liked it because he had been working on it for 6 years.   Huh?  Six years!   As far as I could tell all the trick consisted of was him standing on one leg.   Regardless the little kids and the old people loved him.  And that’s another thing that I never understand.  Why do old people love street performers?   Is it because they’re all disoriented and just happy to be outside?   Regardless, if I ever hit an age where I suddenly start enjoying Faneuil Hall Street Performers, I’d hope that somebody would shoot me in the brain immediately.    

Vote 1 for it sucks and 10 for El Pres Rules

Holly crap that was funny...It's always a riot when these reporters put themselves into the story and then become the story. Prime example is NECN's Billy Costa injuring his arm over at the Children's Museum doing a spot for Diner TV (KISS 108 FM - - Click on the picture for the video...)

A few quick hits from the dozen or so recaps I've seen from Patriots' mini-camp. (And yes, the picture has nothing at all to do with the subject matter, and everything to do with the fact that I just realized that Alicia and I had met before last night's State of the Barstool meeting.)

• Apparently, the Patriots have upgraded their receiver corps, in case you didn't hear. The most underrated part of the upgrade though is that last year, no one outside of Troy Brown had any experience in this offense. But right now, Reche Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney are running with first team while Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth learn the system with the second team...a luxury they didn't have last year.
• Observers say Wes Welker is going to be a force. He had 67 friggin' catches in an anonymous Dolphins unit, and the Pats put him in motion a lot to give him a release off the line and get him open underneath. And Garrett Mills has been making some filthy catches.
• The annual HoldOutaPalooza featuring Asante Samuel is getting uglier. Unlike Deion Branch at this time last year, Samuel is free to work out other deals, and he's found teams willing to pay him. But the Pats have excercised their leverage as well, so right now for a team to sign him, they'll have to cough up two first round picks. Still I don't anyone who's watched the Pats closely the last four years who thinks Samuel is worth elite CB money. He put up good numbers last year, in a contract year, but wasn't he the most questionable of question marks going into 2006? The problem with the secondary the last three years in a row has been the fact that the bodies have dropped like Droid Troopers. If Randall Gay, Ellis Hobbs, Tory James and Chad Scott can stay on the field, Samuel is expendable.
• And don't count out the possibility of Brandon Merriweather on the corner. At Miami he did a respectable job one-on-one against Calvin Johnson. The fact that Merriweather sat out this camp with a hamstring shows how much the Pats are counting on him. They don't want a repeat of Chad Jackson's lost rookie year.
• As I told Alicia last night: I once flew a helicopter through the Grand Canyon, the most spectacular sight I'd ever witnessed. Until she and Tracy started rummaging through her dress to find that tongue ring. That now takes the top spot.
• Adalius Thomas is a beast. Every report says his athleticism jumps out at you. While we knew he was versatile, I don't think we were prepared for how much he'll be lining up in the Mike spot. Apparently the Pats feel that putting him in the middle makes Bruschi and Vrabel both better players. The only drawback is it will cut down on Thomas' big play ability.
• Sign that being a first ballot Hall of Fame lock doesn't mean dick on this team: Junior Seau running a lap for jumping offsides.
• Albert Breer of Metrowest Daily News says that at times Moss has been "uncoverable." That he's beaten one-on-one, double-teams and zones.
• They babied Laurence Maroney.
• And Sammy Morris = Patrick Pass, not the poor man's Corey Dillon some have made him out to be. But Mike Reiss says he looks "smooth in the passing game."
• Breer also says "The Patriots seem to be very, very focused. To be honest, they look more zoned in now than they did even in September of last year."

That is the only thing I can think of more exciting than a business meeting with Alicia and Tracy. How soon until September?

You gotta love a girl like the UK's Michelle Marsh. She's not like some people who claim to wear their country on their sleeve, she wears her country on her tits and nuzzles it up right next to her crotch...God save the Queen!

Come on Cindy. You're 41. You're not supposed to be hot anymore...Especally not this hot...And did you get new boobs? UB doesn't recall you having those bombs back in the day (NSFW)...First Heather Locklear comes out of retirement...now this...

Vintage:

I don't have too much to say about this photo except that it's pretty cool. And on a slow blog day pretty cool will have to cut it.

P.S - If the blog is slow today it's because the Stool had a company meeting last night that ran into the wee hours of the morning with hot Barstool chicks grinding all over each other as people wondered why they were hanging out with the five ugly dudes in the corner.

Do they have money? Are they famous? No, they're just the bloggers of the Stool.

View the complete NSFW gallery here...

Who do you want to wake up with? Ub@barstoolsports.com