I attended Jimmy Buffett's show in Portland last night, having the good fortune to be up close to the "Son of a Sailor" himself. A full report must await another time, but the strong suggestion I sensed as I stood there in the largely drunk and delirious Parrot Head crowd was an analogy: Buffett is to Bruce Springsteen as Jay Leno is to David Letterman.

The analogy doesn't completely hold up: Buffett is completely original, whereas a good deal of Leno's shtick seems derivative. I like Jimmy a lot more than I like Jay. But in terms of the conflict between smilingly putting butts in the seats vs. struggling intensely for perfection, I think the parallel is there.

Next, we buck the hurricane on our way to stormy Georgia. Have a great weekend. And as Bob Borden says every night, God bless America.

...Oh, yeah, and please light a candle for: Miami -3.5 @ K.C.; Detroit + 7.5 vs. N.O.; Dallas + 11.5 @ St. L.; Cleve. + 6.5 @ Pitt.; Tampa -8.5 @ Cinn.; N.E. - 3.5 @ S.D. Peace, out!