The Cubs need to win tonight.

Not just because it’s high time to end the curse of the billy goat, not just because they need to exorcise the ghosts of 1984, and not just because USC’s Mark Prior deserves a big “fight on” moment under the lights at Wrigley.

The Cubs need to win because I need to do my laundry.

See, the laundry room here in my apartment building “closes” at 8:00 PM each night, which means I have to come straight home from work in order to have any chance of washing and drying my clothes without risking the superintendent’s wrath.

But if tomorrow’s Red Sox-Yankees game is another 4:00 PM start, as originally scheduled, then I’ll want to go straight to the bar after work — otherwise I’ll miss the middle innings on the subway.

The problem is, I desperately need to do laundry before leaving on my trip to Notre Dame, and tomorrow night is my last chance. My train leaves Thursday afternoon at 2:50 PM.

What do the Cubs have to do with this equation? That’s simple: if Chicago wins tonight, there will be no Game 7 in the NLCS tomorrow evening, which means the scheduled Sox-Yanks afternoon game will be switched to an evening game… and I’ll be able to come home and do my laundry!

Therefore, in conclusion… GO CUBS!!! :)

So far, so good: Chicago leads Florida, 1-0 heading into the fourth.

In the words of a passerby talking on his cell phone: “F***ing Yankees, motherf***er.” Oh, well. Go Cubs!

4-2 Yanks going into the ninth. The rally cap is out. But don’t I look spooky in this picture?

Another day, another Red Sox-Yankees game, another huge crowd at the Riviera sports bar. But the Sox are in trouble tonight, down 3-1 in the seventh.

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Greenwich Village: home of New York’s Red Sox-friendly sports bar, and of the theater where high-school friend Angela and I are going to my co-worker Mike’s cabaret show at 9:00 tonight… after which I’ll be sprinting to the bar for the late innings. :)

Is that an angelic halo around George W. Bush’s head… or is he standing in front of a giant condom?

We report, you decide.

The sophomore USC wide receiver, who learned everything he knows from his ex-tutor Rebecca Zak (okay, maybe not), is now a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, according to the Orange County Register.

There are plenty of reasons to believe this won’t happen, at least not this year. He’s a wide receiver, he’s a sophomore, and he plays at a school — a West Coast school, no less — that won the Heisman last year.

But I suspect he’ll get one before he graduates, if he sticks around for four years (which he says he will). The Trojans always win Heismans in pairs. Mike Garrett, 1965; O.J. Simpson, 1968. Charles White, 1979; Marcus Allen, 1981. Carson Palmer, 2003; Mike Williams, 2006? Or 2005? Or… 2004? :)

Check out this awesome Arizona rainbow photo from SpaceWeather.com!

I saw a rainbow like that in Arizona once, above the beautiful Superstition Mountains near Becky’s parents’ house. Alas, even my wide-angle lens wasn’t wide enough to capture the whole thing, like this guy did. But I did get some pretty pictures nonetheless, which I’ll post here later if I get the chance. (I’m at work now, so I don’t have access to my photo archives.)

The University at Buffalo, home to several of Becky’s friends and to the nation’s worst Division I football team, is now also home to a bunch of students who can’t seem to stay in bed. Heh.

Frank Roque, who shot and killed a Sikh immigrant in Mesa, Arizona (where Becky now lives) four days after Sept. 11, has been sentenced to death by an Arizona jury.

Clay Aiken’s new CD, Measure of a Man, debuts today. I wonder if Becky (herself a veritable Clay-maniac) knows about the Clay party in the Phoenix area?

(CORRECTION: The album debuts tomorrow. Sorry. But today — er, tonight — Clay appears on Jay Leno’s show.)

Time Magazine had an interesting article about Clay last week, called “Building a Better Pop Star.” Excerpt:

“I don’t know why people relate to me,” says Aiken, “but my guess is that they’re tired of beautiful, cookie-cutter pop stars. They don’t believe them, and they don’t trust them.”

Can you say Revenge of the Nerds? :)

In other American Idol-related news, Clay, Ruben & company will appear on a Fox Christmas special on Nov. 25. Hmm… perhaps I’ll time my Christmas lighting ceremony (now relocated to Phoenix) to coincide with this? :)