+ So, did you all register to vote? Please tell me you did...

+ Another debate, another draw. To nobody's surprise, Senators Obama and McCain stuck with their guns, but at least they didn't recycle key points word for word like they did two weeks ago. That's what I enjoy about the townhall format- it encourages spontaneity. The two candidates traded barbs and bounced ideas off each other, which made for an animated and involving discussion. McCain's performance, for better or worse, was the more polarizing; he didn't have the game-changing effort that he would've helped him close in on Obama in the polls. McCain emphasized that the system in Washington is broken, but he never quite explained how he would fix it. Where McCain nailed a question on spending, he suggested that Obama voted for higher taxes but failed to run away with that point. The inevitable questions on foriegn policy created the biggest deadlock; where Obama pointed out again that we should fight Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, McCain argued for staying in Iraq to hold off threats from Iran. Conservative pundits will argue that McCain should've emphasized Obama's connection to Weather Underground organizer Bill Ayers, but it's a moot point. Their association is casual at best and nothing more than partisan fodder for right-wing pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, so kudos to McCain for taking the high road.

+ Daniel Solzman (see WU #151) is still looking for a job. Just thought I'd mention that.

+ Well, so much for that All-Chicago World Series (or for that matter, the Cubs-Halos Fall Claszic that I predicted in the Sports Forum). Where the White Sox were simply mismatched by an insurgent Rays ballclub, the Cubs folded like origami. Good luck to the four remaining teams.

+ After daliances with baseball and football, I've decided to give fantasy hockey a shot. I'll keep you posted as to how it goes.

+ One more thought- if Senator McCain appoints former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as his Secretary of the Treasury, does that mean she can manage the public debt with Paypal?

Am I the only person that thought Friday's debate was a draw? To the surprise of few, Obama edged McCain on the economy, but the senator from Arizona had the upper hand on foreign policy. I was most disappointed by the lack of spark in both candidates' performances; they basically just reheated the same rhetoric that they've been exchanging for the last year or so. It was hard to find an angle that would've made either candidate look superior to the other; where McCain seemingly refused to make eye contact with his opponent, Obama kept agreeing in principle with several of McCain's arguments. Overall, I don't think this debate will make much of an impact with swing voters, but we can only hope that the next two will have a bit more sway.

Elsewhere, who would've thought Chicago would be the center of the baseball world this October? I'm clearly not a Cubs or Sox fan, but as a local I have a weird, perverse desire to see a crosstown claszic. (At the time I wrote this, the Sox-Twins tiebreaker was scoreless in the 7th inning.) The purists (i.e. mp34mp) will argue that such a matchup has been ruined by interleague play and would be bad for baseball in general, but it would certainly be a morale booster in a region marred by economic uncertainty and some of the most ineffectual state and local governments in the country. Cubs and Sox fans are some of the most loyal ballers I've ever seen, and as a Royals fan I've gotten my fair share of flack from both of them. Why not let them have their moment in the sun?

On a related note, for the sake of closure my "good" fantasy team finished in second place but my "below average" team collapsed in the playoffs and limped into sixth place out of eight. My first real taste of fantasy baseball was fun, but I could use a breather...

Politics is starting to burn me out- let's change the pace this week:

I have a weird fascination with the number 17. It's like the movie "The Number 23," except I'm not Jim Carrey and I can write a way better screenplay. As far as I can remember, that particular number has always followed me. There are 17 days in the Winter and Summer Olympics, 17 is the mininum age to donate blood, and Michael Myers always killed 17-year-olds in the "Halloween" movies. Mathematicians have proven that 17 is the least random number, or the most chosen random number. My 17th birthday (August 18th, 2001) landed on the same day of the week as the day I was born (Saturday), and my mom went into labor on August 17th. That age also holds a personal signifigance, as that was when I had my first kiss and my first alcoholic beverage (both on a cruise ship). Though I'm not a Cubs fan, one of my all-time favorite ballplayers is Mark Grace, who wore 17 for the North Siders, much like Ken Griffey Jr. does now for the White Sox. "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," a song from Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell, features the infamous lyric "we were barely 17 and we were barely dressed." Another favorite album, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, has 17 tracks. Do you see how all of this goes beyond coincidence?

That's all I've got this week. So, do any of you have a magic number?