The Cubs signed former Cardinals centerfielder Jim Edmonds on Wednesday.

Today marks the beginning of my boycott of my favorite team in all of sports.

My boycott will end when Jim Edmonds is no longer on the Cubs.

You might wonder how simply picking up an awful, washed up center fielder (he was hitting .178 before the Padres let him go this season) is enough to make me give up on a team I have loyally followed since I was five years old. I mean, as a fan I have survived in recent years the Cubs putting an impatient guy that couldn't hit as their leadoff man, a catcher that caused gasps of shock whenever he managed to make contact with the ball, not one, not two, but three abhorrent closers who probably are the cause of my hair falling out, and a manager that relied on such an awful approach to baseball that after leaving the Cubs, he also ruined the Cincinnati Reds in less than half a season. And let's not even talk about how the Cubs poor management destroyed the arms of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.

I even put up with obvious off season crap that the Cubs organization was directly responsible for. Steve Stone, the best color analyst in baseball and as much a Chicago broadcasting legend as Harry Caray, was driven away by Cubs management for simply speaking the truth about a bad team that every Cubs fan knew was bad (and agreed with many of Stone's reasons). In a shameless grab for money, the Cubs put the word "Bud Light" on the famous bleachers even though Budweiser is the official beer of the Cubs's arch-rivals, the Cardinals.

And then there's that little fact that we haven't even been a part of the World Series since 1945.

But the level of patience that is required to put up with all of that is what it means to be a Cubs fan. I still love the Cubs players. There are few places on earth that make me happier than Wrigley Field. And I still love the Cubs. But Jim Hendry, the Cubs General Manager, has crossed the line with Edmonds.

Not only is Edmonds one of the Cardinals that Cubs fans hated the most, but he has no offensive pop left in his game, he flops and he cries like a little baby all the time. In short, he's the last thing the Cubs need on a team that this year has consistently shown the selfless team unity like the Red Sox have shown the past four years.

What probably is the toughest thing for me is that the signing of Fukudome has been so amazing. He, along with Theriot, Reed Johnson and (I can't believe I'm writing this) Ronny Cedeno have been patient and effective. It's made the Cubs everything I've hoped they'd one day be. This is a year where I would watch every single game if I could. Now I won't watch a single one until Edmonds is gone.

I understand that Felix Pie hasn't been performing the way Lou would like and Lou wants another left-handed bat in the lineup. But has Felix really been given the chance? The longest stretch of consecutive games that Pie has started this year is four. It's impossible to think that someone can get their batting average up if they're being yanked around that much.

Back to Edmonds, the level of hate for this guy is parallel to the Bulls signing John Starks (which they did and which made me stop watching the Bulls), or if J.J. Reddick had transferred to UNC, or if Derek Jeter was signed by the Red Sox or if the Democrats put Dick Cheney as their nominee for president in 2008.

Anyway, I could just keep trying to articulate why the signing of a single player has made me shun a team that I still love. But there's no way to say with words how much I hate this decision. If you're a real Cubs fan, you understand exactly what I'm talking about. And if not, sorry for making you read this much.

Someone wake me up when this asshat Edmonds is off the team.

Radiohead was gooooood.

Ironically, I was in that awful town of St. Louis yesterday to see the anything but awful Radiohead. This was my third time seeing what could, and rightly should, be called the most important band of my generation.

Their live show has always been something astounding. I don't know how they do it (or why other bands can't do it), but their sound, their dynamics and the balance is unlike anyone else. Even in an outdoor ampitheater the sound was better than most people's home systems. You could clearly hear every part, and when they rocked out it was studio quality.

But that was part of the interesting thing about the show. It really only had a few true rock out moments (Idiotheque, Paranoid Android, Airbag and Reckoner) and the rest was extremely mellow, mostly composed of tunes from their new album In Rainbows. But even some of the older tracks like You And Who's Army or The Gloaming were of the more subdued nature as well. For the world's biggest rock band playing in front of a sea of people, it felt like the setlist was originally designed a small venue or even a coffee shop. It was a weird dynamic I haven't fully wrapped my head around yet.

Two notes about the crowd: First, there were way too many frat types there. It's shocking how a band that has done so much to purposely try to alienate its fans seems to draw in people that don't listen to similar music with open minds. Second, people in St. Louis smell awful, including the guy standing next to me. He smelled like he had been out drinking Bud Light all day in the sun, but instead of hiding his stench with deodorant or heaven forbid a shower, this guy cleansed himself with a strange combination of vanilla beans and dead fish.

But I paid little attention to the crowd. The stage show was amazing, including a lighting setup that featured these long metal rods that were able to create a whole slew of awesome visuals including an ocean type setting for Weird Fishes, rain for a few songs, and a rainbow psychedelic visual feast during the closing Paranoid Android. Here's a picture that shows what the stage looks like.

Hopefully I'll be able to dig up some video and more pics in the near future. But if you'd like to see the setlist (and another shot of the stage) here is a link to the setlist in some shoddy St. Louis paper (they don't have quality things in St. Louis).

Obviously I'm going to post up a song that Radiohead played, but not the version you think. The studio recording (and subsequently the live version) of The Gloaming is pretty darn boring. It's a song that doesn't seem to do much.

However, in 2004 DJ Shadow remixed The Gloaming, and pressed it to a super cool looking shaped picture vinyl.


Yes, that's what the actual record looks like. DJ Shadow gave this record to anyone that ordered more than $22 from the DJ Shadow store. It was an unannounced give away and there are only 2,000 copies pressed.

The remix is phenomenal, with a hilarious George Bush loop at the start, and Shadow's trademark punchy drums rescuing the dull original.

I've tried six times to get a copy of the vinyl on eBay, but my $99 bids have never been enough. However, I was able to snag an mp3 of the remix, and now you can snag one too:

Radiohead - The Gloaming (DJ Shadow Remix)