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Have you watched television news lately? You've probably been catching up on all the episodes of Rob & Big you missed. Understandable. But I, a patriotic and slothful American, have found myself periodically enthralled by sporadic segments of election coverage. Tonight, for example, as CNN has just declared John McCain the winner of the Republican primary in Florida, there is one element of the broadcast to which my attention repeatedly and inexorably returns. Anderson Cooper's inspiring silver dome? (N.B. Sleepy Pete is currently a premature salt 'n' peppa, trending toward premature gray.) No, but that was a nicely conceived guess. I can't seem to focus on anything other than the set. The futuristic graphics, the simulations, the models -- it's really just getting out of hand. Honestly it looks like they're just using the American Gladiators set, only instead of 'Wolfman' they're using 'Wolf Blitzer.'

It's just kind of insulting. This whole concept that in the 'internet age' no one can pay attention to anything for more than two minutes, while perhaps not so far from the truth, is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy with no signs of hope for a reversal. That said, I've had to pee for forty five minutes, but the laser-light show/exit poll reporting has kept me glued to the couch.

On a different note, today could go down as one of those historically great days for Sleepy Pete, right ahead of the day I graduated from college, and right behind all the days before I graduated from college. Pending a physical and a contract extension, the New York Mets have traded for Johan Santana. Santana's being traded has been so remarkably understated this off-season; the fact that he has been the best pitcher in this decade, that he has been a Koufax-style unstoppable force in the middle of the steroid era has somehow flown under the radar. And he did it in the American League. If this deal goes through, the Mets are definitely the odds on favorites to win the National League. Plus, in a Sports Illustrated interview a few years ago, Santana said that he prepares for a game by playing as himself against the team he's facing that day...in the newest MLB game on his PSP. Fact is always funnier than fiction.