The Duffster is finally unpregnant

Hilary Duff finally had the baby it seemed like she was carrying for the last year or so. Congrats, by the way. And there was a public sighting of the Duffster the other day, and oh my goodness gracious! Is there a lot more of her to love now:

Yowzers! Talk about chunky goodness! Of course, Hilary's never really been the petite beauty. She's always had some solid hotness to her. And we're liking that:

The way these Hollywood types get back into shape after childbirth, we may get to see if she can be sporting a bikini before summer's over.

Here's to hope.

Late night hotness . . .

Can't decide if it's the faux pearls or the gloves that make this outfit come alive for me . . .

Too tired to blog . . .

Don't know if it's an actual conspiracy, but it feels like the Post Office is trying to kill me prior to my vacation. Sheesh, what a workload this week!

So here's a few pics of Vanessa Hudgens in all her doughy goodness making my workplace and route look so much nicer . . .

And for a bit of reference -- here's one of the party scenes shot at the Coral Reef Hotel. Out of camera range is the old beach bar at the Reef that's been closed for years. Done a ton of partying there:

Tony Stewart wins at Fontana

Tony Stewart won the rain shortened Auto Club 400 at Fontana today.

After Kyle Busch led the first 80 or so laps, Stewart ran him down and blew past to take the lead. Smoke made a couple of hard passes along the way, diving down to the bottom of the track then drifting up to cut off slower drivers such as Kevin Harvick and Busch.

The maneuver, fair but a tad brusk, brought some griping from Harvick and booth announcer Daryl Waltrip, who seems to have forgotten his own ruthless style of driving during his career. Stewart complained over his radio that Harvick was being less than courteous to a faster driver. So make of it what you will, I suppose.

I'm reminded of a comment Stewart made during the early stages of last year's Chase. Tony stated in an interview that he had been overly nice all season, not roughing up other drivers and giving what he felt was more than his share of on track courtesy. Once in the chase, Stewart said he was calling in all the markers owed him and would take what he wanted when he wanted it. That hard driving style won him the season's title. And he seems to be carrying that over into this season as well.

Once in the lead today, Stewart never looked back. As rain approached, the track went under a yellow caution flag. Inexplicably, second place driver Denny Hamlin was brought into the pits by crew chief Darien Grubb. That decision cost Hamlin a finish out of the top ten. Announcers tried to sugar coat the blunder by Grubb, but this is the same sort of miscalculations that cost the affable crew chief his job with Stewart at the end of last season.

Tony is the first multiple race winner this season. This is a hot start for the talented and driven Stewart and could be a harbinger of another serious run at the Sprint Cup title for the three time champion.

Congrats Tony!

Rule 5 Sunday -- Kristy Swanson

Today's Rule 5 posting is Kristy Swanson.

I was watching the NASCAR race today, and the celeb starter was Ms. Swanson. I was struck by how nice she looked since the last time I saw her in anything, it was an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and she was playing this Anna Nicole Smith look-a-like. And sadly, she was so overweight and bloated looking that I did not even recognize her until the credits rolled.

But she looked really good today, even though it was only a short glimpse. Hopefully she's on her way to better, safer health and a return to the beauty that we fell for in the Buffy movie way back when.

A couple of these images are from a Maxim layout a while back and a couple are from Kristy's Playboy appearance and are fully nsfw, so use some discretion.

*click on the thumbnails for full-sized images*

Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.

Hat tips:
Jake Finnegan
The Daley Gator
The Classic Liberal
Say Anything Blog
Proof Positive
Reaganite Republican

The Bolts are making me :-(

After coming to within one game of the Stanley Cup finals last year, the Lightning are languishing at the bottom of the division this season.

Hockey is unlike any other professional team sport. One player can make or break a team, and that player is the goaltender. Problem with the Bolts -- they don't have a stud in net. Last year's feel good story, Dwayne Roloson hit the age wall this season and the 41 year old is playing like a 41 year old. Career back up goalie Mathieu Garon is showing why he's always been a back up and not a starter. He's had flashes of hot play, but nothing steady or reliable. When Garon went down with an injury, the team called up a kid from the minors, Dustin Tokarski, who literally played his guts out. But with, at one point, eight guys on the ir, the team lost something like six of seven games and any chance of salvaging the season.

I thought at one point, the way GM Yzerman was stockpiling draft picks, Stevie Y was going to package the picks and make a blockbuster trade for a money goalie. He did not, apparently content to slog out the rest of this season with the guys we've got.

It's a pity goal scoring machine Steven Stamkos is tearing up the league with 52 goals and 87 points on a last place team. Kid should be wowing the world in the playoffs, not going home and hoping for better next year.

The big guys on this team, Martin St. Louis and Vinnie Lecavalier aren't getting any younger. I think there's only a one or two year window to get these guys back into the finals again. I'm hoping Yzerman has something up his sleeve besides the wart on his elbow, otherwise it could be a long wait until I get to see another Cup final in Tampa.

Bummer.

The Red Sox are making me :-\

After last year's historic collapse, Boston released Terry Francona and allowed GM Theo Epstein to depart. Correctly predicted on this very blog *back pat* the Sox hired Bobby Valentine to be the new skipper.

Valentine's been a breath of fresh air since coming on board with his manic intensity. He's also done some good pr and basic managing stuff that's been a little overdue for the team. Outlawing alcohol in the clubhouse was a simple way to scrub away the taint from last year's faux scandal, and forcing the pitching staff to work on basics like fielding their positions -- I think the Sox have the worst pitcher's fielding percentage in baseball, sends a message to the team that no one playing for Boston will be given elitist status.

Ownership also dropped some coin to bring back David Ortiz for one more season. A good move from both a pr and run production standpoint.

But from there it gets a little muddy. The pitching staff is oddly weak. Daniel Bard is attempting to be a starter for the first time since college. Bard was supposedly the heir apparent to Papelbon, but struggled as a closer. He seemed suited to be a set-up guy well enough, but pushing him into the four slot as a starter? Hmmm . . .

And platooning the five slot? Double hmmm . . .

I get the impression the team is biding its time waiting for Dice-K to come back from Tommy John surgery later this year. But with no one solidly there as an insurance plan, what happens if Dice cannot come back?

The team also released solid shortstop Marco Scutaro and appear to be willing to platoon that position as well. This is the Sox we're talking about here, right?! Not some low income team like the Rays?! What's with all the rotating players bit guys?!

They're hoping that under Valentine's hands-on style of coaching, $140 million man Carl Crawford can actually earn his income this season.

I mean all this finger crossing and what if action is a bit amazing for a team with one of the top payrolls in baseball. I don't know. I'm really on the fence about this team. With the expanded playoffs this year, they have a shot at getting in as a wild card. I'm not optimistic about the Sox challenging for the division, but if everything breaks right . . .

What a wierd way to look at the season for this team.