Personally, I'll miss Ari Fleischer. An ardent defender of the truth -- at least Dear Leader's view of what truth is, he took the office of the White House press secretary to an entirely new level. While guys like Mike McCurry simply avoided hearing anything that was going on in the West Wing (one pictures him holding his ears and humming throughout the day), Ari simply made up whatever would put Bush in the best light, firmly denying anything that would imply that the President has changed his mind (remember nation-building?), or that the President has acted in anything but the most noble and virtuous way (remember Jim Jeffords?). Timothy Noah shares my pain.

Perhaps it's just May, but the Red Sox/Yankees series in the Fens this week doesn't seem to have that certain bite as in past years. Perhaps there are too many new players on both teams, perhaps it's because the cost of tickets now mean that only corporate-types can get to the game, at least the good seats (violent fans seem to be the province of the Chicago White Sox these days). These days, the only trash-talking you hear on either side is between the owners. We'll see as the season heats up and, assuming the Sox don't swoon in the summer heat, we have a pennant race.