Hey, what's up with me?

Not much.

Playing some softball. We lost our first two games, but have stormed back to win 5 straight, including beating both of the teams that beat us. We're currently 3rd of 7, one game back of the leaders. I've been playing very very badly.

Our rotisserie team was horrible this year. 7th of 13. Pitiful. Our widely panned Volquez trade ended up being a net positive for the O'Jimmies, but it wasn't enough.

I'm thinking about doing another "Life Episodes" soon ... if I can think up anything else interesting that's happened to me.

The Reds season is finally over. Anyone who thinks they'll be any better next year than this year needs their optimism levels adjusted.

The beautiful KMD and APD are psyched about the ChiSox.

All this sounds negative but it's not. Things are fine here.

Meet Your 2008 O'Jimmies

Well our softball game for tonight got rained out. Then the Hurricanes lost their regular season finale which likely means they won't make the playoffs (unless the Capitals lose tomorrow night ... and the Caps have won 10 of their last 11). If the Reds don't bounce back from this 5-2 deficit, it's going to be a pretty pitiful sports night.

Speaking of sports and pitiful, wanted to introduce you to the 2008 O'Jimmies.

Decent hitters: Reyes, Kent, Francoeur, Encarnacion, N. Johnson, Laroche, Keppinger
Not-expecting-much: Snyder, Castro, L. Gonzalez, Pagan, Gerut, Gross

Decent pitchers: Webb, Smoltz, Isringhausen, Villenueva, Volquez
Not-expecting-much: Affeldt, Gordon, Moyer, & Turnbow

The O'Jimmies have finished 1st & 2nd (of 13) over the last two years. But, as seen below, we're in 9th thus far ... I'll keep you up to date as the season progresses.

2008 NL Roto Preview: New York Mets

New York Mets: The Mets had a collapse for the ages last year ... one we'll be talking about 20 years from now (assuming we haven't all purchased sports-trash-talking robots by then). On Dolberry Day last year (Sept 10), the Mets were sitting pretty at 82 - 61, six full games clear of the Phillies. Here are some of the quotes from Mets players as their ship slowly took on water.

9/10: "We couldn't have picked a better time than this to peak. This is the best baseball we've played all season." (David Wright)

9/12: "We're obviously in the driver's seat and we want to close it out as soon as we can and focus on the postseason." (Shawn Green)

9/16: "How many errors did we make? Five? Six? You have to play defense, too. They deserved to beat us." (Carlos Beltran)

9/17: "That's not how we play the game. Hopefully we'll get out of it -- the sooner the better." (Omar Minaya)

9/18: "Anybody with half a brain would say we've been horrible." (Tom Glavine)

9/20: "Things are not going our way. It seems like every team comes back on us real easy." (Carlos Beltran)

9/24: "It's embarrassing with the season on the line to go out there and get embarrassed on your own home field." (David Wright)

9/26: "We all feel terrible for ourselves as a team right now that we can't really close the deal." (Willie Randolph)

9/28: "I think it's embarrassing. It's pretty pathetic that we have this division within our grasp with seven home games and we can't find a way to win one of them. It's a bad feeling." (David Wright)

9/30: "The harder we pushed, the worse it got." (Billy Wagner)

The Mets rank 30th on my list of favorite MLB teams, so I can't say I didn't enjoy reliving that experience. Anyway, here's what they look like this year.

C: Mike Schneider / Ramon Castro - Pass on Schneider. Castro is an O'Jimmie and the better fantasy player but he seems to be best suited for about 200-250 ABs per season. We should probably keep him w/ his bargain salary ($1).

1B: Carlos Delgado - He was banged up all last year and hits stats nosedived. Would look like a bounceback candidate but his already getting MRI's down in Florida. Likely pass. AVAIL.

2B: Luis Castillo - 32 years old w/ fading stats over the past 2-3 years. Best case scenario would appear to be above average AVG/OBP & 20 SB. AVAIL.

SS: Jose Reyes - Roto MVP runner-up. (.280/.354/12/57/78) Didn't do anything other then steal bags after coming to the O'Jimmies at the all-start break, but contributed to our 2nd place finish (good and bad). Only 24, expect a better AVG/OBP/HRs in 2008 w/ SBs down slightly (50-60). O'JIMMIES keep despite hefty salary.

3B: David Wright - Great player. Seems like he's been on the Wonderboys since he was 12 years old. WOND keep.

LF: Moises Alou - One of the few remaining MLB'ers older than Dolberry. Solid year last year, but 41-yr old quad muscles limited him to just 320 ABs. AVAIL.

CF: Carlos Beltran - One of the more up & down rotisserie superstars. Was a 5-category player last year, but knee surgery in offseason could reduce him to 4 cats. FOWL doubtful keep?

RF: Ryan Church - 29 yrs old. Sustained a Grade 2 concussion in a spectacular collision yesterday. Assuming he recovers from that quickly, he looks to get about 400-500 ABs as Mets primary RF. Solid Roto OF. MOJO keeper.

SP1: Johan Santana - His stats over the last 4 years can cause a Roto managers pulse to quicken. Moving to a very good pitchers park & plays on a team that should win 85-90 games. May set a record for auction price for a starting pitcher. $45 is not out of the question. Hopefully will have a bad spring to scare some NL'ers off. AVAIL.

SP2: Pedro Martinez - Pedro was one of the few Mets that performed well last September, going 3-1 w/ 32Ks in 28IP w/ a 2.57. The only downside was that he was more hittable than he's ever been (33 hits in those 28 IP). I'm chalking that up to small sample size and expect him to have a decent year ... IF his shoulder holds up. Doubtful SQZZ keeper.

SP3: John Maine - Very good, mostly overlooked SP. BARF keeper.

SP4: Oliver Perez - Maybe the least predictable pitcher in the game. Only 26, here are his WHIP in his six MLB seasons (2002-2007): 1.32, 1.63, 1.15, 1.67, 1.76, 1.31. High risk/reward here. Is in his contract year, if you are the cynical type. AVAIL?

SP5: El Duque or Mike Pelfrey - El Duque has only pitched over 200 IP once in his career (1999). He's claiming to be 39, but I'm guessing he's probably not counting years from the 1960s. Having foot issues this spring. Likely SQZZ keeper. Pelfrey is a one-time prospect who had a BB:K ratio near 1 last year. Only 23 but has a long way to go before he's a pitcher worth having on your roto roster. AVAIL.

CLS: Billy Wagner - Not the best closer in the NL like he was from 2001-2005, but he's still in the Top 5. JUST keep?

Alt CLS: Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez: If Heilman compiled the stats he has over the past 3 years on a team that didn't have a closer like Wagner, he'd have been crowned a "closer" and his salary would be about 10x higher than his current setup guy salary. Sanchez will have to show he's over shoulder surgery in Spring Training. AH may be a JUST keeper.

Bench: Damion Easley, Olmedo Saenz, Brady Clark, Endy Chavez: Easley and Saenz can both really torment a portsider. Clark's an OK 4th-5th OF. Chavez is a one-category player (AVG). Probably pass on all these guys, but one of them may get some serious playing time if Delgado is down for a large chunk of the season.

Prospects: Most of them were traded for Johan Santana. Best prospect is Fernando Martinez, but he's only 19 and probably not worth a reserve pick this year.

Injured: The Mets have a whole bunch of injured players right now. Wright, Reyes, and Alou are the only starting lineup guys that are healthy right now. A situation to be monitored.

Dolberry's Musings on the Mets: I do not like the Mets. This antipathy dates back to my days at SLU when I got caught up in that era's tempestuous Mets - Cardinals rivalry. There are too many Mets fans on my various softball teams. This fall I'm capping it at two. And they have to sit at the end of the bench. Out of earshot, if that's even possible for a Mets fan.

What it means for the O'Jimmies: We had too many Mets last year (Glavine, Reyes, Castro, Conine, & Feliciano). Not surprisingly when the Mets tanked in September ... so did the O'Jimmies ... dropping from 1st to 2nd in the last week of the season. I think we should cap them at two this year (Reyes & Castro). Johan would be nice, but he'll be too expensive.

2008 NL Roto Preview: Florida Marlins

Florida Marlins: 71 wins last year and traded their primary offensive threat. (Sniff, sniff, we will miss you Miguel.) Got their new stadium approved this week, so may actually start keeping players past the age of 25 at some point. Will be changing name to Miami Marlins in 2010.

C: Mike Rabelo - 28 & hasn't really hit at any level. Came over in the Detroit trade. Pass. AVAIL (topper).

1B: Mike Jacobs - Should be hitting his prime. HRs are his only above avg category & is unlikely he'll hit more than 20-25. AVAIL.

2B: Dan Uggla - Very similar to Jacobs. Stats should be pretty predictable. Will hurt you in AVG/OBP, but give you ~ 25 HRs. GOODF keep.

SS: Hanley Ramirez - 2007 Roto MVP. (.332/.390/29/88/51) Wow! Only 25, but expect stats to regress slightly just 'cause they can't get much better. HAZE keep.

3B: Jose Castillo, Dallas McPherson, Jorge Cantu - Likely to be decided during spring training. Not much here. Castillo probably has the edge and had a decent winter league, but he's been a big zero through 4 MLB years. McPherson's got power but K's a ton & missed all last year. Cantu is ok, but his "D" at 3B is suspect. Pass on all 3. AVAIL (Castillo - JUST keeper?).

LF: Josh Willingham - Reasonable roto OF. RBI's dampened by rest of Marlins. AVAIL.

CF: Cameron Maybin, Cody Ross - Maybin is one of the best prospects in the game. A true 5-category stud. But he's only 20 and he did struggle in 50 MLB ABs last year. By 23, he will probably be an all-star, but how much you want to pay for him now is unclear. Cody Ross had a great two months last year, but they look out of place w/ the rest of his career. AVAIL (Ross - BSOX keeper?).

RF: Jeremy Hermida - Still only 24. Seemed to figure it out after the all-star break last year (.230 pre-, .340 -post). Look for breakout year here. BSOX keeper.

SP1: Scott Olsen - Was awful last year on all counts. He especially seemed to give up after the all-star break. Unclear how much of the deterioration was his attitude (which appears to be even worse than his stats). Either way, not much point drafting him or any other Marlin starter. AVAIL.

SP2: Sergio Mitre - Gets by on guile. Shortest Marlin starter at 6'3". (The Marlins probably would have the best basketball team rotation.) Not much to recommend here. AVAIL.

SP3: Andrew Miller - Was pitching for Tar Heels just two years ago. Big time prospect who struggled in 60 IP in Detroit last year. The Marlins can let him learn the ropes for a few years & hope he's ready by 2010 when they're ready to contend. AVAIL.

SP4: Mark Hendrickson - T.J. Simers (funny columnist from L.A. Times) calls him "The Big Stiff" which pretty much describes his 6-year MLB career (career ERA > 5.00) AVAIL.

SP5: Rick VandenHurk, Ricky Nolasco - VandenHurk K's about a guy an inning, but is hit hard otherwise. Only 22 and from the Netherlands, so still could develop. Probably should be coverted to a reliever, though. Nolasco doesn't look draftable. AVAIL (RVH BARF keep?).

CLS: Kevin Gregg - Solid closer. Nice K-rate. Highest paid Marlin (2.5 mil) BSOX keep.

Alt CLS: Justin Miller: Miller came back from Japan w/ a new propensity for K's. His K rate last year was equal to Billy Wagner & Derrick Turnbow. Pitched well for O'Jimmies at end of year. K:BB is around 3. Matt Lindstrom also had a decent year for a 'pen that was surprisingly good (Gardner, Tankersley, etc.). Hard to say which one would step up if Gregg went down or was traded.

Bench: Alfredo Amezaga, Jorge Piedra - Amezaga is cheap speed at best. Piedra probably will only get 150 ABs, mostly as a PH, but they should be decent ABs.

Prospects: Chris Volstad - SP, another tall Marlin SP (6'7"), probably arriving in late 2008. Great control for a young pitcher, but didn't K that many last year and was hittable.

Injured: Anibel Sanchez - SP, - Already had a setback w/ his return from shoulder surgery. Not expected to return until July and maybe later than that.

Dolberry's Musings on the Marlins: APD once got to run out to right field w/ Marlins RF Jeremy Hermida when he played for the Carolina Mudcats (Marlins AA club). That was one of Dolberry's better efforts as a youth leader getting that set up. Carolina Mudcats games are fun to attend. In my mind, they are way better than Durham Bulls games.

To me, D-Bulls games diminish the baseball w/ all the between-inning entertainment and other distractions. I realize how snobbish this sounds by the way. But it just seems especially incongruent at the DBAP. You're in this increasingly cool, revitalized Durham environment, but inside the stadium has a very Cary/Apex feel. I'm all for family-friendly ... it just seems forced somehow w/ the Bulls. Plus, I hate/loath/despise Y-M-C-A. It's probably just me, because their attendance is solid every year.

In contrast, the Mudcats play out in the middle of nowhere (Zebulon NC, actually) & there's generally no more than 3K in attendance, but you can hear the crack of the bat & you can sit in the first row & some people can yell out at the players (We Love You Teddy Bear!) loud enough to irritate everyone in a 20-mile radius. Despite the last item, I just like Mudcat games better.

What it means for the O'Jimmies: Not much given that Ramirez, Gregg, and Hermida likely won't be available. Any team leaving the draft counting on more than 2 Marlins is probably in trouble. Maybin and Miller are attractive as prospects, esp. Maybin. Justin Miller is probably worth a buck as an O'Jimmy keeper, but presumably you could get him for a buck again in the draft, so what's the point?

2008 NL roto preview: Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves: Finished 3rd last year. 5 games back of the Phillies. Have a good young core of position players entering their prime. Many question marks in the starting rotation. Should contend in the NL East.

C: Brian McCann - Only 24. Stats took a tumble last year, but still was a top 3 catcher in the NL. Only 24. Should improve. AVAIL (topper).

1B: Mark Texiera - Dependable middle-of-the-order run producer. Hit an otherwordly .509 w/ runners in scoring position last year. AVAIL.

2B: Kelly Johnson - Former O'Jimmy who blossomed last year. Wore down a little in Sept. which depressed his final stats. BARF keep.

SS: Yunel Escobar - Exceptional rookie season. Improved as year went along. Not much pop now, but could come. EMPIRE keep.

3B: Chipper Jones - Still one of the best players in baseball when healthy. At 36, durability not likely to improve, but 350-400 exceptional AB are guaranteed. JUST keeper.

LF: Matt Diaz - Some uncertainty here. May platoon Diaz w/ Brandon Jones or Josh Anderson. Diaz pounds LHP, mediocre vs RHP. JUST keep?

CF: Mark Kotsay - Coming off back surgery. Reportedly healthy. 32 years old. Last good fantasy season was 2004. Don't see much here. AVAIL.

RF: Jeff Francouer - Only 24. Good power, OBP liability. Expect his HRs to increase and should have RBI opps aplenty. AVAIL (topper).

SP1: Tim Hudson - 3rd season in ATL was best by far. Good bet to win 15 games w/ above average ERA/WHIP. GOODF keep?

SP2: John Smoltz - Future Hall-of-Famer, Lifetime WHIP ~ 1.15. Still K's 6-7 per game. How long can he keep it up? O'JIMMIES keep.

SP3: Tom Glavine - Watched him alot last year as an O'Jimmy. If he can't get batters to chase offspeed/away, he has nothing else. May get wins but will hurt your WHIP/ERA. AVAIL.

SP4: Mike Hampton - Missed 2.5 seasons w/ elbow problems. Then hurt his hammy during 1st inning of winter ball. Reportedly healthy now. Never a big K guy & always walks too many. Intriguing though for $1 on this team. O'JIMMIES keep?

SP5: Jo-Jo Reyes, Chuck James, Jair Jurrjens, Jeff Bennett - The Braves think all 4 of these guys are MLB pitchers. James may not be ready on Opening Day. Jurrjens is the big time prospect but needs development (only 21). Bennett will probably end up in the pen. Reyes then should get a shot. Didn't impress last year in limited duty, but minor league success and Bobby Cox are in his corner. Reyes & James are possible HAZE keepers.

CLS: Rafael Soriano - VERY solid closer. BSOX keep.

Alt CLS: Peter Moylan, Mike Gonzalez: Gonzalez is a stud when healthy. Looking good in ST but not expected back until June. Moylan's a decent set up guy.

Bench: Brandon Jones - 24 year old. Athletic w/ power/speed. Solid stats in AA/AAA. Improving. Longshot to be a breakout fantasy pick in 2008.

Bench: Josh Anderson - Cheap speed. 40 SB in AAA. Not much else.

Prospects: Jordan Schaefer - CF, probably in 2009. 20/20 potential. Profiles similar to Kotsay, IMO.

Dolberry's Musings on the Braves: I've always liked Chipper Jones. He was one of the first players ever drafted by the short-lived Candolwick Clarks (Stephen & my roto team in Chicago). As many of you know, APD was called Lil' Chipper when he was in his fetal stage. His career has followed the typical 5-stage superstar arc:

1) highly hyped as a young player "the next Ernie Banks" (92-94),
2) highly praised in first few years (95-98),
3) period of "being taken down a few notches" due to just-noticed defiencies (e.g., infidelity, attitude) in his prime years (99-03),
4) a period of generally unnoticed excellence (04-07) ... since June 2006 Chipper leads the MLB w/ a .350 avg and a 653 slugging percentage which is amazing.
5) this year or next, he will be entering into the "glorified elder statesman" stage (aka "the Favreal stage"). This is usually marked by a decline in statistical performance, but an odd increase in favorable attention.

What it means for the O'Jimmies: The Braves should easily win 80 games, which makes players in their lineup attractive for the team-based stats (wins, saves, RBI) as well as whatever they might do individually. McCann will likely be overpriced due to position scarcity. Teixeira is a reasonable power pick. Francouer is less reasonable. I'd pass on Kotsay, Glavine, and whoever gets the 5th starter job. Just have to hope Smoltzie stays a productive O'Jimmy yet again and that Hampton stays healthy and can fill the $1 SP who doesn't hurt you too bad slot (see Moyer, Jamie). Gonzalez would be a good reserve pick.

Baseball thoughts

O'Jimmies came in 2nd this year. We went into the last week w/ a tenuous lead & our guys proceeded to toss out their worst week of the year. Glavine & Reyes hurt the O'Jimmies at least as much as they did the Mets. Oh well, 2nd of 13 is pretty darn good. Not sure if anyone has ever repeated in the league. Kudos to the Senor GM.

APD's last baseball game of the year was tonight. They were the #8 seed playing the #1 seed. He came up in the 1st w/ no one on and 2 out and worked a walk (fouling off two 2-strike pitches). He stole 2nd & then the cleanup hitter got a single. APD tried to score & was called out on a bogus call at the plate. His team gave up 4 in the bottom of the first. It was 6-1 after the 2nd. In the third his team got 3 runs, including one on an APD bases loaded single. APD pitched the bottom of the third and gave up 1 run. His "D" made a great OF catch & DP to keep the damage to a minimum. Nobody scored in the 4th as the "D" & APD worked a 1-2-3 inning w/ a 6-3, K, 6-3. The last inning (time) was the fifth. The other team got 2 outs quick, but two walks and an HBP later, APD was up w/ bases loaded. (Really didn't want to see him make the last out of the game.) The pitcher blew two swinging strikes by him, but APD smacked a line drive single up the middle on an 0-2 count to make it 7-5. He went to 2nd on the throw home. Then our cleanup hitter got on on a catchers interference, but the rally ended there and it was a 7-5 loss. It was his team's best game & APD's best game. Very cool. I was so proud of him ... APD is clutch.

We won the big softball game last week ... to bring our magic number to 1, but then we played pitifully last night to fall to 11-2. Should clinch tomorrow as we play the winless team.

My MLB playoff picks:

Phillies over Rox in 5; D'Backs over Cubs in 3;
Indians over Yanks in 4; and Angels over RedSox in 5.
--
Phillies over D'Backs in 5;
Angels over Indians in 7.
--
Angels over Phils in 6.

Early 2008 predictions: Reds in MLB; O'Jimmies in LCL.

Heydilly-ho bloggerinos!

Not much up here.

Softball team is 10-1 (w/ 5 to go). If we win tomorrow, we all but clinch the regular season title. This would be the first Law Office title in 8 years of trying. Yay for us.

APD's team broke a 5 game losing streak w/ a tie tonight. APD gave up 2 runs in 2 IP, but actually pitched really well striking out 4 w/ no walks. The other team had some good hitters. He also played some good defense at 3B. He walked all three times up.

Work is ok.

Not much is up in Apex either. There was a flasher who got arrested. That's been the oddest thing lately. Let me know how many "Keep Apex odd!" t-shirts you want. $14.99 per shirt.

We're sweating out the last week of rotisserie baseball. Currently, the glorious O'Jimmies hold a beyond tenuous 0.5 pt lead. If we were to hold on, it would mark back-2-back championships. Our geezer brigade of Glavine and Moyer let us down tonight. Ideally, MLB would decide that the season should be cut short by 5 days.

Worst. Entry. Ever.

The Value of an Extra Hour of Sleep

Everything these days is gauged by its monetary value. For instance, at work, we promulgate rules only if we can prove the rule will save more money (e.g., reduced health care costs) than it will cost. Obviously, some things are harder to quantify (e.g., the value of a pristine bright blue sky). I'm not sure if anyone has quantified the value of an extra hour of sleep ... but we can attest that it's at least $6 ... which was the cost we gladly agreed to swallow this morning in order to return our rental car an hour late.

If there are any UK fans who read this blog ... go away! No, I'm just kidding. I thought UK played an exceptional game. This morning ... after a rough night of sports ... and thinking about the value of time ... and pondering two funerals ... and wondering what people'll say about me when I pass on ... I decided I was giving up sports. BUT that was before the O'Jimmies pulled to w/in 1.5 points of first place, so I'm sticking around for another 2 weeks. After that, I'm finding something else to do.

Interestingly, as I'm writing this, we're watching the Emmys and they just had a classic line from Michael Scott: "A boss’s salary isn’t just about money. It’s about perks. For example, every year I get a $100 gas card. Can’t put a price on that." Oh here's an even funnier one from the same episode ... "Negotiations are all about controlling things; about being in the driver’s seat. And, you make one tiny mistake and you’re dead. I made one tiny mistake, I wore woman’s clothes."

You know what bothers me?

The 'Just For Men' commercial where they say "Let the real you come through", then encourage you to hide the real you by coloring your hair.

That's just stupid.

All of the other commercials irritate me just slightly less. Not enough monkeys in commercials anymore.

What doesn't bother me? The O'Jimmies are in 2nd place ... our high-water mark for season. (Of course, Josh Hamilton strained his wrist tonight swinging @ the on-deck circle. ?!?)

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #5

#5. John Mellencamp

As Etienne noted earlier, he & Dolberry and the Dolberry Sisters once made a pilgrimmage to Indianapolis to see Mellencamp on his home turf. As I recall, the concert was at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, which I interpreted to mean that the fair was going on and we should arrive really early. Which we did, but there was no fair. Instead we sat/stood in line for most of the day & still had "seats" (it was a huge lawn) about 50 yards back from the stage. I recall there being a really cool sunset that night.

Anyway, Mellencamp was obviously a big deal to us Midwesterners in the 80's. "Scarecrow" and "The Lonesome Jubilee" dealt w/ issues that meant something to people outside of LA and NYC. Lyrics like "I'll probably die in a small town", "It's a lonely ol' night", and "his dream burned up like paper in fire" resonated back in the day.

JM was famously from Seymour, Indiana. Seymour was one of the many southern Indiana towns I visited during the summers of 1987 and 1988 working for Nabisco. Thanks to Mr. Jim Allen, I had one of the best summer jobs imaginable. Let me highlight the perks:

1) You made like $7 bucks per hour which was pretty sweet.

2) Every Friday you could fill a box w/ all the Nabisco products you wanted (e.g., Oreos) from their snack closet.

3) They let me take Fig Newton end stands to SLU after they were done w/ them. We used them as bookshelves and they were surprisingly dorm-durable.

4) The job was really easy. All you had to do was take the cookies/crackers from the back room where the trucks dropped them off and stock the shelves.

5) On really long trips (e.g., Washington IN), Nabisco would put me up for the night in a hotel, w/ a per diem. Other than when APD was really young & we all went to San Diego for a conference, this was probably my favorite business trip of all time. Got to watch a movie and eat at Ponderosa on Nabisco's tab. Wow.

6) Most of my summer was spent driving around southern IN farmlands listening to music in the old Datsun. Except for those times when the Datsun expired, then I spent my time in repair shops in southern IN.

Anyway, that was a great job & Mr. Allen was a great guy. This year's version of the O'Jimmies (my Dad & my roto baseball team) is an obscene offense to his memory. Ah, now I'm in a bad mood, just thinking about it.

I was tempted to dock Mellencamp a spot in the ranking for every thousand times I heard his "Our Country" song in that Chevy commercial. If you're so inclined, move him down to 19th.

Best Songs: Paper in Fire, Small Town, Minutes to Memories, Human Wheels, Rain on the Scarecrow, Hand to Hold Onto, Pink Houses, Pop Singer.

Worst Song: "This is our countreeeee. From the East Coast ... to the West Coast ... to the Dixie Highway ... back home. This is our countreeeeee." And this is our truck.