1.  Defensively, Nomar Garciaparra is the best Red Sox shortstop of the last 50 years.

2.  Defensively, we were just so poor today we really did not have a chance to win.

3.  Delightfully, "A Walk in the Woods" (Broadway Books, $25) by renowned journalist and author Bill Bryson isn't one of those.

4.  Curiously, "Spy Game" is the second movie released this season in which Redford has seemed to revisit, and slyly revise, an earlier performance.

5.  Curiously, air support is not part of the game.

6.  Curiously, Charleston's previous record for the date was nearly 5 inches of rain with Hurricane Hugo.

7.  Curiously, Franco and Bambaataa were both guests at an awards ceremony at the Bronx River community center last year, for graffiti painters who had switched to canvas.

8.  Curiously, one Altoid is no longer strong enough _ I must throw back four or five at a time, and do this several times a day.

9.  Curiously, one Georgian known to most Americans and the world is not a part of this affair.

10.  Curiously, the Chargers are the kind of team that should cope reasonably without their starting quarterback.