Dear Killoggs,
Please help me decide if this is a good idea or a bad one.

Tonight I took my girlfriend (for our six month anniversary) to the first game of the A's vs. Detroit American League Division Series. It was pretty awesome except for the fact that the A's lost. They lost in true Athletics fashion, though, and kept the game lively with a mix of tight play, foolish mistakes, blown umpire calls, and last minute chances. Blame Zito, or Jiminez and Bradley, or the Oakland zeitgeist of mixed opportunities... but this is not my point.

My point is: people started leaving in the seventh inning. I was mortified.
We were only 5 runs down! Hell, I don't care if we're 20 runs down!
You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't piss into the wind, AND YOU DON'T LEAVE A BALL GAME EARLY. Sorry for shouting.

Especially, you don't leave a nationally televised pennant game. That's just wrong. It's unpatriotic. It's heretical, blasphemous, and unamerican. It's disgraceful.

Would a full stadium crowd at the bottom of the ninth guaranteed a last ditch rally for four runs to win? Maybe not. Would it have weighed on the idiot umpire who called the runner out at first? Probably. Would it have made a small bit of difference in a game measured by small moments? Absolutely.

So I'm thinking that tomorrow night I'm going to stand outside the main exit (I don't have tickets) with a large sign that says:

WHEN YOU LEAVE THE GAME EARLY,
THE TERRORISTS WIN.

Good idea? Bad idea? I'm open for further advice, better slogan suggestions, and yay/nay votes. I just feel that something must be done.

In fact, this year's judges--Marty Grosser, editor of Previews, Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly catalog; Mag Sabo, manager of Atomic Books; and Christopher Skokna, CP's own Comics Issue editor--needed only seconds to pick a winner: Dirt Farm, by Ben Claassen III of Baltimore, which came in second last year, gets a year's run in CP, with pay. Of Dirt Farm, Sabo says, "Yes! It's so funny, yet sometimes just plain wrong--but in a good way."

Making a list of some good things

- dinner last night
- The weather, mostly
- the guys at work who love me
- hanging out with my family this Saturday
- hanging out with my friends this Sunday
- multiple camping trips coming up
- Aquaphor as a skin cure-all
- I think I might buy myself a new pair of jeans this weekend. Probably not, though.

I GOT PAID UP! COMPLETELY! ALL FOUR MONTHS OF BACK WAGES THAT HAVE BEEN OWED TO ME TWO AND A HALF YEARS!!!

i feel like shouting it from the rooftops!!!!! i'm amazed. the only thing that mitigates it is knowledge that i could have been enjoying this feeling ALL ALONG. But, still,

yayyyy!!!!!!!

good times, bros!