A Hall of Fame exhibit to keep the kids away from

Huge sporty day for folks so inclined. Big college foohballin' (USC v. Notre Dame AND Minnysoda v. 'Sconi). Big Baseballin' playoffs. And big swimming lesson for Maya. My favorite sports story of the day about the Astros fan who caught not one but two home run balls in their epic victory 18-inning victory over the Braves also features the funniest headline of the day ("Dean, balls to be part of Hall of Fame exhibit"). Can't wait to see the way the HoF displays them.

Most of the early reports from Iraq seem to indicate a smooth Iraqi Constitution vote. The stakes are high and I expect that the Bushies will trumpet the success of whatever comes from the up-or-down vote. Personally, I'm more interested in the NYTimes piece on the border battles with fighters coming from Syria and the comparisons to covert operations into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. As usual, it's almost impossible to get a realistic, objective feel for what's really going on there from our immediate media.

Leave it to Matt Sludge to try spinning Karl Rove's 4 and a half hour testimony before the Grand Jury yesterday with a totally misleading headline. His big banner reads "Rove 'No Charges'" and features a shot of "Too Hot" Karl in his Jaguar. Of course there were no charges brought yesterday. There can't be until after the Grand Jury is done with its bizness (their mandate runs through October 28th). The WashingtonPost has an unnamed source that makes it sound much more pessimistic than Drudge and his favorite slanted pseudo-news-service, Breitbart.com (I keep looking for Jeff Gannon's by-line to show up there). I'd bet a round-trip ticket on Hooters airline that Rove does indeed get charged with something greasy. Conspiracy or obstruction charges, maybe public indecency. Whatever happens, he's still out there on the fundraising trail, believe it or not. "I'm outta here" Novak itemizes that fact in his most recent column. That's Tom "Help Me Defend My Honor with your Dollars" Delay quality audacity, which takes HoF-quality balls. Or Hall of Shame, more accurately. Rock on.