I usually do not profess to fandom...I was never one to stand in long lines to see my favorite band, and I hardly ever proselytize about my favorite actors, musicians, or sports teams...

But this week is a remarkable syzygy of the few things I do profess to be a fan of, and boy it couldn't have come at a better time...

• Hem; Funnel Cloud: My darling sweetheart, somehow knowing the release of this album before I did, had it delivered to me (surprise) today...I've only listened to it once, but the early results are promising, and suggest that the satifying but not thrilling b-sides No Word From Tom this past winter wasn't a fluke. Check out the track "Not California" here.
• The U.S. Open: Yesterday may have been the best day of tennis in recent memory, but as a somewhat reticent fan of American head case Andy Roddick, I am really looking forward to the fair likelihood of a Roddick/Federer final. Federer is the obvious favorite, but Roddick actually looks like he ahs a shot the way he's plaing right now. Of course Federer looks pretty invincible himself, so much so that I think tonight's match with James Blake (whom I really like) seems a foregone conclusion. Don't get me talking about about tennis though. I could go on for hours...

  Almost as long as I could go on about

• The Pittsburgh Steelers: With a bit of a rough offseason, and Big Ben out with appendicitis (The motorcycle didn't get him, but the appendix did), The Steelers (though defending Super Bowl Champs) are underdogs to the upstart Dolphins in tonight's NFL kickoff....

So tonight's prospects? Listening to Hem while prepping Wordsworth sonnets, and flipping back and forth between the NFL and the US Open on TV. How can I make this picture a little more incongruous? Maybe I'll drink some port...