Today's Top Five: Etan Thomas Works For Obama?

1) D-Wil Michael "Mizzo" Tillery from the Starting Five published his Q&A with Etan Thomas, which makes Etan look much, much better than his op-ed pieces. He just seems much less strident, and much more like a real (if a bit ardently political) guy, which is an improvement.

But he says that he's finishing his second book, and working on a CD, and that he's thinking about becoming a professor at an HBCU one day, and that he's going to Kenya with a group that includes Ron Artest. It's fun reading. And most importantly, he says that he's doing some work for the Obama presidential campaign, bringing us all one step closer to Dan Shanoff's Obama-Arenas ticket. Can't wait for the inevitable Tom Knott column making fun of Etan. Anyhow, here are some of his thoughts on the campaign, which tend a bit toward the wonky side:

Not to talk bad about Hilary, but I really like what I am seeing from Senator Obama so far. I was just reading about his recent pledge to provide proper assistance for active duty soldiers. He acknowledged that currently we are falling far short in addressing the mental care needs of our heroes and that is inexcusable. I read about his plan for universal health care by eliminating the tax cuts for the wealthy which I am definitely in agreement with especially after reading about Michael Moore's Sicko. Health Care should not be a problem as wealthy and powerful as this country is. Also, he was against the war from the beginning. He didn't vote one way, and later change his position. Also, earlier this summer, Obama called for reforming the student loan program by eliminating the costly subsidies to private lenders in favor of mandating that all federal student loans be provided through the direct loan program. Meaning that the student loan program could no longer be abused. The private banks are the ones who profit off of student loans right now, and this can make college a little more affordable.

2) No local connection just yet, but I simply cannot wait for The Blowtorch's first-round NBA draft caricature party to reach Nick Young. He's already done Jeff Green, although that probably wasn't his best work.

3) Nationals Pride launches the Nationals Progress Index, a bunch of charts and metrics and other words I don't understand that are supposed to help show whether the Nats are getting better or worse over time. The answer thus far: worse.

4) DCist is passing out midseason Nats awards, and somewhat controversially awards the "Best Look" award to Don Sutton, calling his hair a cross between a Bichon Frise and Little Richard. I don't know how Dmitri Young could not win that award, but I guess he already won too much. Personally, I think Stan Kasten has a tremendous hair style.

5) In a new level of Bonds-averseness, The Serious Tip looks not just at Negro League and Japanese players who hit more homers than Aaron, but at Amateur Softball Hall of Famers with handlebar mustaches. I wonder if I've ever seen a handlebar mustache and not wanted to link to it immediately. Speaking of funny look ballplayers, see also: this, about which I'll write more later.

By Dan Steinberg |  July 11, 2007; 1:29 PM ET  | Category:  What You Need to Know
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Posted by: goathair | July 11, 2007 02:25 PM

Posted by: Wilbon | July 11, 2007 03:19 PM

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