Prom-athon

Since I'm having to pick up both Matt's workload and my own for the forseeable future, free time has been cut a little short, so the only Monday show I saw (and may see for several days) was "HIMYM," plus a quick zip through Sunday night's "Grey's."

There's been a lot of discussion lately, both here and elsewhere, about whether "How I Met Your Mother" is the new "Friends," and crashing a prom to hear a wedding band sure seems like the kind of thing Monica and Chandler would have done. (Marian and I once crashed a wedding to hear a potential band and got kicked out, but no vomiting or turtle costumes were involved.)

Despite the premise, the focus on Lily and a marginal role for Ted, this wasn't as funny as I was expecting. A pretty good episode -- frankly, the best joke was the idea that The 88 play proms in New Jersey -- but not up to, say, Game Night, or New Year's Eve or some of the other episodes "HIMYM" has really killed with. I have a tape of the season finale on my desk that I've been sitting on until I see all the episodes leading up to it, but I'm guessing it'll be dealing as much with Lily's cold feet as with Ross 'n Rachel 2.0.

Because some nights I strugggle to have interesting thoughts of my own, I lean on Marian a lot for opinions. When we started watching "Grey's Anatomy" last night, she said, "Do I still care about this show?" I noted that she had still been really into it the last time a new episode aired and asked, "Is it just because you haven't seen it in a while?" She nodded, and she may have been right. Either this was a mediocre episode, or absence made the heart grow bored with this show. Between the reruns and the clip shows, it's been so long since I watched it that whatever spell it had over me feels like it's gone. Or maybe next week's mass-casualty (or whatever the preview was suggesting) will pull me back in. I don't know. Again, this is one of those days where the brain hasn't really turned on yet.

Blog as column idea incubator, take 946: a column about how this season of "American Idol" is still lacking its Moment. And for NY/NJ area "Veronica Mars" fans, third verse, same as the first two: Nets game pre-empting tonight's episode, which will finally be shown on Sunday at 7.

It's the Clip Show!

Maybe it's because of all those years spent watching them embarrass themselves, but it wouldn't be completely shocking to see the new Clippers revert to being the old Clippers once the playoffs start. --local columnist, Steve Bisheff

So much for the thinking that the Clippers were really hurting themselves for tanking its final games in order to arrange a match-up with the Nuggets�the worst playoff team not named the Memphis Grizzlies. So much for thinking the Clippers would revert back to being the same old sorry Clippers. So much for the years of misery.

The Clippers took a big first step in become a legitimate NBA franchise on Monday night.

But if the Clippers are ever going to have any real legitimacy in Los Angeles, they are going to need to root for the Lakers to finish off the Suns, and then dismantle Southern California�s marquee franchise. All the celebration will be rendered meaningless if the Clippers don�t get a chance to hand it to �big brother.�

Nothing else will be acceptable.

This was a great first step for the Clippers and their long-time fans that were saddled with the knowledge that their headliner fan was Billy Crystal. Now the time has come to take the next step.

Biggest Draft Surprise

Forget Reggie Bush or the Titans drafting a fullback with the third overall pick, the biggest shocker of the day was the Jets fans.

When the team selected D�Brickashaw Ferguson, you figured the Jets fans were going to burn down Radio City Music Hall. Instead, a crowd shot of Jets fans showed one dude pointing to his head signifying it was the �smart pick.� This coming from a group of fans who have at times surpassed Raiders fans in stupidity by having booze banned at their stadium like they are Cal State Fullerton.

This was the smart pick like the Raiders passing over Ben Roethlisberger to take Robert Gallery. It may seem like the right thing to do at the time, but then you end up with Aaron Brooks as your quarterback. You don�t get many second chances in New York, Dwight Gooden not withstanding. If the Jets had given Matt Leinart low grades, it would have been understandable. Maybe even smart. But the New York Daily News is reporting that the Jets were furiously trying to acquire the ninth pick from the Lions in order to get a shot at Leinart.

If that is the case, drafting Ferguson over Leinart appears to be a dumb move.