There's a story by me today about J.R. Giddens that's worth looking at if you're a fan of the Lobos or sensational writing. (That's a stretch. It's good; not great.) And tomorrow's (Saturday's) final Tribune is absolutely amazing. I've seen it, and the photos are a knockout, so be sure to check it out.

I have some thoughts about leaving...

Adrian tocando Bateria

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That is one cool baby.

This is the second-or-third-to-last Flip Side blog post ever. The Trib's closing on Saturday. Some groups were apparently trying to buy us, but in the business world newspapers are better off folding for nothing than being passed from one company to another in exchange for money.

Tomorrow's post is going to be a mushy, wussy, self-serving rant on what a great two-and-a-half years I've had at The Trib. Make sure you don't read it.

Today, though, I'm hitting you with thoughts on the Lobos.

LeBron's awesome. I wish the playoffs would start.

This is from the AP:

No, wait. Before we get into it, know that this nut was denied his liquor license because neighbors heard he wanted to call his Halloween-themed bar "Drunkenstein's" and didn't like that.

I don't know why. That name's great.

Anyway....

It's national signing day, and something pretty interesting is happening in Pennsylvania. A kid named Terrelle Pryor is deciding between Michigan, Ohio State and Penn St. He was supposed to announce his decision today, but instead decided to put it off. He was down to the Wolverines or Buckeyes, I'm reading, but wants to give Penn St. one more look. (That man-among-munchkins photo is courtesy AP.)

Bandit0-esque fans for all three teams are probably going nuts right now. A lot - potentially - hangs on his choice.

Not necessarily for the Suns, mind you, but for us NBA fans. Shaq's been sitting out games in spurts this season with a bad hip and knees, and Phoenix apparently is banking on the change of scenery rejuvenating the big guy and suddenly making him less prone to injury. (I believe in Phoenix human beings still age at the same rate. Shaq's 35.)

Quite a leap, yes? Still...

We got Super Tuesday fever here at The Trib! Can you believe this wild, wild race? Pick up any newspaper - even today's Tribune - and you can read page after page about how ... wait for it ... it's a close call for the Democratic nomination! It's going to go down to the wire.

Or maybe he's just really intimidating. Maybe he's more intimidating than any human being I've ever been around.

These guys are big, yo. And they can drink.

B-Rich says he thinks the Giants will win 30-7. When I told him how stupid that is, he frowned and said he had a dream about it last night, so I should shut up.

B-Clint's going for the Patriots because Hillary's going for the Giants.

This is a huge nation, bear in mind, where tens of millions of people live on less than $1 a day. Factory workers make about $100 a month.

Why's that darkly funny? Because a huge Chinese character is being carved into the side of a mountain.

Just quit, Congress. Oh my God, you're morons. Who cares anymore? Steroids in baseball is only a big deal right now because idiots like you won't move on. All you're really doing is advertising the stuff you're so cuckoo about wiping out. We get it - guys juiced and they don't want to get caught. Unlike them, you're not professional entertainers; you actually have pretty important jobs. This is a total waste of time and you don't even care. The man was lucky enough to be born with the ability to throw a baseball incredibly hard. That's all he can do. He didn't hurt anyone (well, almost Mike PIazza). Jesus. It's enter-*%()@%ING-tainment! Did you see "Transformers"? Those weren't real transformers. Michael Bay used special effects to improve the quality of his movie so more people would watch and he could make tons of money. Put that cheater on trial!

The steroid problem's been exposed. Rules are in place now. Congress outta just call this whole thing off. They're not helping anyone except Jose Canseco (Free advertising for my book! Maybe I can get on "Dancing With the Stars"!) and the players' lawyers.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!! HaHAAAAA!!!!!!

Now all of a sudden I'm getting pressured to go against other sports blogger heavyweights. Imagine - me, Bill Simmons, Steven A. Smith and Deadspin going blogo-a-blogo in a batter of awesomeness that might cause computers all over the world to friggin' explode.

Thing is, I'm not just a battle blogger, and labeling me like that could cause serious damage to my legacy as one of the net's best. So I was all, "Nah."

In completely unrelated news, check out this year's lineup for the slam dunk contest: Gerald Green (reigning champ), Dwight Howard, Jamario Moon and Rudy Gay.

Click here and scroll to the bottom for highlight packages of each guy's 10 best career dunks. The No. 1's are all crazy, especially Green and Howard's from-three-feet-behind-the-head, one-handed oops. My other favorites are Gay's No. 5 (right in Yi's face) and Green's No. 3 (the definition of dunking "over" someone).

LeBron's gotta get in there. Just once, do a dunk contest. Then you never have to again. There's no good explanation for never doing this when the fans want you to so very badly. He does the skills competition instead, which features bounce passes through hoops two feet off the ground. Why not have a cook-off?

Doctor Faustus on that last night before little devils come to drag his soul to hell. (He may have had it worse. I would've gotten so drunk in that situation.)

We have a little bell in the middle of the news room that Editor in Chief Phill Casaus rings when he's got some sort of announcement. He rings it when it's time to welcome a new employee or say goodbye to someone wise enough to blow this dime store. He rings it when one of us has won an award.

He rings it when he has anything to say about what's going on with the sale of The Tribune.

We're all waiting for this bell to ring and for Phill to say "Alright everyone, we'll be closing on (concrete date)." It's coming. It has to be coming.

Now, the debate has been positively raging around the newsroom (meaning discussed once or twice for a few minutes) over whether Daniel Day-Lewis' work in "Blood" is the best performance of all time. I keep having the conversation with people who haven't seen the movie, so they really don't have much, but when I think about it I don't see who's ever been better. Jack in "Cuckoo's Nest"? No. DeNiro in "Raging Bull"? Maybe. Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane"? No. Sean Penn in "Mystic River"? Brando in "The Godfather"? Jimmy Stewart in "Vertigo"? Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs"? No. No. No. Maybe.

This relates to the Super Bowl thusly: If you're debating whether or not Day-Lewis gave the greatest performance of all time, then he should be the obvious pick for the Best Actor Oscar this year. No one else this year was good enough to have the same debate, so there's your winner.

Right?

It's the same thing with the Patriots. There've been debates all year about whether this team is the greatest of all time. They went undefeated, for Christ's sake. Did the Giants ever draw comparisons to Mantle's Yankees or Jordan's Bulls the way Brady's Pats have?

Anyway...

I think the Packers and Patriots are going to win this Sunday. So does the AP. So do you, probably.

This doesn't mean a thing. We've already seen you can't predict what's going to happen. Eli frigging Manning beat Tony Romo last weekend. Norv Turner beat Tony Dungy. (Hmm, curse of the name "Tony"?) I don't think I read or heard a single sports know-it-all (a la The Flip Side) predict either of those outcomes.

So let's skip all that mean and nasty football talk - you loathsome brutes - and rap on "There Will Be Blood." This is my second go at this entry...