I'M WAITING FOR MITT ROMNEY'S VIEWS ON "DANCING WITH THE STARS:" It's unclear whether Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is a regular viewer of American Idol, but she apparently knows who Sanjaya Malakar is. No word on her husband's thoughts on Haley Scarnato, though.

JORGE POSADA MIGHT HAVE A DIFFERENT REACTION: I keep a 2004 baseball card of Dave Roberts on my desk. From time to time it gets buried under the other papers. Then on days when I sort all the papers on my desk (such as today), I glance at the card and two thoughts immediately come to mind. First, I recall that amazing stolen base of his during Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. That was perhaps the most important moment during the championship run of the Red Sox that year.

The second thought, though, is the one really makes me reflect. I am inspired by people who rise to the occasion when the stakes are high. There comes a time in all of our lives when we are on the spot and there is no gray area. A time when the outcome is binary: succeed and you are a hero; fail and your hopes are vanquished. A time when a true professional simply gets it done. With everyone in the world expecting him to steal, Dave Roberts pulled it off on the big stage. That stolen base is more or less the distilled essence of our lives. Dave Roberts is a hero of mine. As I gaze at his card, I remind myself that when such a moment comes in my life I want to be sure to do what Dave Roberts did.

{credit for part of this post belongs to one who prefers to remain anonymous}

YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE COMPETING FOR? A LITTLE BIT OF MONEY AND A FEW EXTRA WEEKS BEFORE YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO PUNCHING A REGISTER AT ABERCROMBIE: Maggie reminded me -- before it's too stale I need to post about the most underrated show on television: Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I am irrationally excited about this, the third season of the Inferno (to go along with several seasons of the Duel, Battle of the Sexes, and just general Challenges). This is a show that gets it right -- well-constructed, well-staged, difficult, telegenic challenges (both of this week's tasks -- the dangling-untangling and the Donkey-Kong-esque ladder thing -- were great); great cast (I'm a big Derrick fan, I prefer Abe to his doppelganger Wes, Alton is a complete challenge destroyer, and I am fond of Susie, Tyrie, Cara, Tonya (if only for drama purposes), and the absence of Tina); reliably excellent drunken sex and violence to bookend the episodes.

As an example of how these kids and not-so-much kids (Timmy must be 40 years old by now) just get loopier and loopier, where previously it took at least a few episodes for Tina and Brad to get thrown out for punching people, this time sociopath CT did it -- totally unprovoked, except maybe by his own homophobia -- before the first challenge. Just great TV. Wish they made it in HD.

LET'S PLAY 81: After the awesomeness of King Felix over Matsuzaka on Wednesday, MLB decided to cancel the rest of the Red Sox-Mariners series (yeah, yeah, rain, whatever). So now, what was supposed to be 10 games into the season, the Mariners already have missed 5, which they'll have to make up -- including in trips to Cleveland, where the Mariners aren't even scheduled to play again -- on off-days when other teams are resting and doing their laundry. They've played two games in eight days. I realize that they're not going to be in a pennant race, but this is at least hypothetically ridiculous.

WRITER, FIGHTER, JUNGLE FEVER-HAVER: As a counterpoint to Adam's "scary how much we love this show" comment about The Office, witness last night's 30 Rock, an episode that I think has helped the show just about sew up this season's triple-crown of televised comedy: jokes-per-minute; laugh-out-loud jokes-per-minute; and "did they really make that joke on national television?" jokes-per-episode. Let's recap: more Thomas Jefferson racial satire, some horse-masturbation, and a little September 11 riffing. Top that edgy stuff off with some self-deprecating Uno jokes, brilliant use and invention of the fictitious avian bone syndrome (but I had to look it up, and I consider myself an exotic medical ailment enthusiast), the actual highbrow use of a George Stubbs painting (a particularly odd choice, since I think of 18th-century American painting lovers as particularly, and necessarily, humorless), and rewards aplenty to continuity fans. It's scary how much I love this show.

And yet: did they think I wasn't going to notice the hamhandedly plotty placement of the Fat Bitch poster where Who Dat Ninja? previously hung?

INSULTS HAVE REPERCUSSIONS: The ripple effect from this Don Imus thing is getting pretty crazy. Now we've got New Jersey gazillionaire governor Corzine in critical condition after a car crash en route to mediate between Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Meanwhile, the guy driving the pickup truck that ran Corzine off the road should really just step forward posthaste. Between the Jersey state troopers and the not-exactly-meager resources available to Corzine personally, it's not like he's not going to be found.

SHUN. UNSHUN: Every once in a while, we peer into the dark, cynical heart of The Office, and "Safety Training" tonight followed through with its premise so well that this episode moves immediately near the top tier of episodes, and the James P. Albini reference may push it towards Yankee Swap territory. I liked it so much, I'm bringing my parents back for the matinee tomorrow. And a long-sleeved t-shirt, in case there's a draft.

As one TWoPer put it tonight, I'm afraid of how much I love this show.