I think Hippi pointed out perfectly the problem with your "always leave them in" mentality. Players who think that they have more fouls than they should at a particular point in the game play tentatively and afraid. Williams was absolutely a non-factor for the rest of the game after picking up that fourth foul. Did you see the way Davis got that rebound with no other players rebounding off the missed free throw? Or the previous rebound off a missed free throw, when Williams didn't even box out? The problem isn't just the player fouling out; the problem is also that the player left in plays at half speed.

And I have to point out, you praised Coach K in this game for leaving Williams in, and you criticized Jim Calhoun for taking Okafor out in the Final Four in 2004. But Duke lost this game and Uconn won that one. Not that that really proves anything, but I think you've got to keep an eye on the end result.

I'll remind you that you picked Duke to win that game in 2004, and then the next day acting as though you knew all along that Connecticut would win.

Just kidding. I just think its bogus for you to dismiss me when I had a perfectly legitimate counterpoint (about players with lots of fouls playing as shells of themselves) and you ignored it for an easy put down. Seems a little "don't mess with teacher" to me.

But how about UCLA instead of Texas? That might be a little more fair.

I love Anthony Lane from the New Yorker. I think he's the greatest. His review of the movie Before Sunrise (another favorite of mine) is the sort of thing that I really wish I could write.

And just as an aside, I've never bought the whole "70's renaissance" thing. I just don't get it.

I was a little thrown by the abrupt ending of the piece. I suspect that the article was already written when word of Hal's death was reported, and the ending had to be tacked on. Im searching for an indication that it is a dramatic or artistic way to end the article, but I can't quite see it.

No matter what else happens, I now know that I can't be the world's worst human being when you're around.

I don't know what happened on Flight 93. I don't think anyone knows, for sure.

What I do know, though, is that dismissing challenges to the conventional story-- the story in this movie-- as conspiracy theories is an impediment to gaining a genuine understanding of what really happened. If alternate theories of the events of Flight 93 are immediately taken as crack-pot, we can't have an effective dialogue about what the truth might be. I personally have little truck with most conspiracy theories. But I have to remember that I live in a world where our government did support the growth of the crack trade in Los Angeles in order to financially benefit the contras. (No, the CIA didn't fly planes filled with cocaine to Compton. What they did do was to pressure police departments to drop investigations against drug lords and force US customs to allow drug shipments to enter the country.) I know because in 1998 the government released files revealing the truth.

And the idea that the American military shot down Flight 93 is not nearly as crazy or convoluted as many other theories. This isn't aliens killing JFK. Three important buildings had been targeted and attacked. A fourth plane was on the way, presumably to another important target filled with civilians. And because of the flight delay we had significantly more time to react to Flight 93 than the others planes. Doesn't it seem likely that the government would shoot down the plane rather than allow it the chance to kill more people? Wouldn't they have to do that?

Like I said, I don't know what happened. But I'm sure that we can't let ourselves believe a certain version of events because it is what makes us happiest, or because it is what we have been told.

That just because you are celebrity obsessed and spend your life watching television, don't put your sad worldview onto me.

Be perfectly nice and mindful of her feelings, but do it soon. Because this is the end of her college experience, and it's the end of her chance to have college sex. And that's important.

Seriously.