Last week, I gave locals a reason to feel they're better than the fried-vegetable diet we Southerners normally stick to.

And, no, while a look at the premium beer market in Myrtle Beach might not make the Grand Strand Napa Valley East, we do have options.

Take a look, and let me know what you think.

To the random peeps attempting to push their retail Web sites through the comments on this one, you better hope people see your comments right away.

They won't be up long.

Carry on.

That's right, kids.

It's that time of year again. Time when I push my top-25 rankings to the national media. Welll, ok, I won't really do that. I'm not that full of myself. Nor am I that smart.

But what I will do is talk about the best football in the country (psst... it starts in Texas). Along the way, I'm going to tell you which coach smells the worst. [Cough, JoePa, cough.]

Take note, and enjoy.

I normally stay away from the drama associated with the music industry.

That's just me -- I'm a sports guy first, I guess.

But I'd like to officially congratulate Kanye West for his actions Sunday night at the MTV VMA's.

Either later today or tomorrow, I'll post my first installment of my college football top 25 poll.

How is it different than than the AP's? Well, I include mocking. Lots of mocking.

***

Also, if you feel like seeing some of the stories I've written in the past week, hit up the Links tab at the top of the page. I've including a few football stories, as well as a longer feature on what Coastal Carolina University is doing to combat illegal music downloads.

What is it about South Carolina politicians?

Are they that desperate to be noticed among their national comrades that they need to heckle? Apparently so.

From Politico's coverage of Big Daddy Barack's speech to Congress:

Remember when I said this?

"I think Florida State. I think Florida State is going to come on to that field with everyone in their state telling them they're probably not one of the best two teams in that state."

I was talking about which team on Florida's schedule had the best chance to take down the Gators' predetermined route to another national title game. The guys kind of laughed at the time.

Fellow South Carolina adoptee JJ brought up a good point yesterday after I posted something on Facebook about Amani Toomer somehow getting cut from the Chiefs' roster.

Essentially, he admitted he was looking for a surrogate team to root for this season, knowing full well this could turn into the longest year in Chiefs history -- and not because there are any illusions of a Super Bowl run.

In the past few days:

Few things were going to drag me out of my "vacation" from blogging.

Enter Tyler Thigpen's Facebook status message from tonight:

TYLER THIGPEN: "Putting his life in the good Lords (sic) hands and is trusting that no matter what happens, it's the right thing for me. GOD BLESS"

***

Had a somewhat emotional talk with a man last weekend.

Long story short, the work for a story on the Guy Daniels Memorial Surf-Off included a 30-minute conversation with Guy's father, Jim. Guy died in June of 1999 at the age of 19.

At the time, he was just about two months younger than me. It's a scary thought, for sure, knowing that someone who was physically active and an all-around good person can pass away so young from a heart defect.