Popsicles, The O.C., and Manny Being Manny

So I had to get the ol' tonsils taken out a couple of days ago, which has eliminated things such as golf, noonball, eating solids, and just moving in general from my life. On the plus side, it has helped reintroduce me to some old friends, like popsicles, Playstation, and my O.C. dvds. I watched all 27 episodes of season 1 in just 35 hours, which broke my (soon to be ex) roommate Nate's record, which had stood at 39 hours. It would've been even quicker, if not for the Sox-Yanks game on TV last night. I feel a little like I just broke Dimaggio's hit streak or something, 39 had seemed like an impossible number to reach. Nate is already claiming that the record should get an asterik, since I was sick and had an advantage. I am on the phone with ESPN to start my reality show "Hammen on Hammen" to show the people that my record shouldn't get an asterik. It's all about race with you damn media. Season 2 is on the way next, but I am starting to get a little burned out. Even with my man-crush on Seth Cohen, there is only so much you can take.

In anticipation of the tonsils coming out, I instructed mom, friends, and well-wishers to load me up with as many different flavors of popsicles as I could, so I could settle once and for all the great debate of what my favorite popsicle is. We ended up with 12 flavors, and after a preliminary taste test to determine seeding; the bracket looked a little something like this:

1 Red, White and Blue aka Bomb Pops: 1st round bye
2 Banana: 1st round bye
3 Pina Colada: 1st round bye
4 Island Berry: 1st round bye
5 Strawberry Kiwi vs. 12 Cherry
6 Root Beer vs. 11 Grape
7 Lime vs. 10 Orange
8 Tropical Punch vs. 9 Mango Tango

The first round held pretty true to the seeds, with the exception of 11 Grape knocking off 6 Root Beer. Root Beer was unquestionably the disappointment of the tourney, as it also lost its loser out game vs. Orange. 12 seed Cherry turned a few heads by winning the losers' bracket, outlasting Orange in the consolation final. Over on the winners' side, Bomb Pops (the overwhelming favorite) destroyed 8 seed Tropical Punch, 2 seed Banana cruised by 7 seed Lime, 3 seed Pina Colada ended 11 seed Grape's short Cinderalla run, and in a matchup where it was a shame that someone had to lose, 5 seed Strawberry Kiwi knocked off 4 seed Island Berry on a buzzer-beater. The final four of Bomb Pops vs. Strawberry Kiwi and Banana vs. Pina Colada takes place tonight, proably somewhere between the 7th or 8th episode of season 2 of O.C.

Even though the Sox lost last night, dropping their record to 3-7 this year when I watch them on TV, I thoroughly enjoyed watching my boy Manny Ramirez hit two homers, run through the third base coach's stop sign on a single to right, and capture a butterfly in a jar out in left field. Keep up the good work Manny.