I'm heading off to Florida for a week of vacation starting tomorrow, and I'm getting antsy. Here's a blogs-worth of random, meaningless observations as I count the hours til I collapse into a beach chair with a cold drink for a week of doing a whole lot of nothing.

• So it turns out Curt Schilling's bloody sock was bogus -- at least that's what broadcaster Gary Thorne claims Red Sox backup catcher Doug Mirabelli said. I knew it. The first thing I said when I was watching that game live? "That's fake." OK, it probably was blood. But would it surprise you if Schilling faked it?

• Other famous athletes who milked injuries for the cameras...Michael Jordan pretending to be near death with the flu during in the 1997 Finals against the Jazz; Kirk Gibson playing it for all it was worth during his home run trot in the 1988 World Series and every "injured" soccer flopper in the history of the sport.

• Never mind the injuries. Joe Torre is killing the Yankees right now. He's burned out the bullpen, and it's not even May yet. He's never been smart with his bullpen maneuvering, but he took it to new heights during the Red Sox series last weekend. Sheesh, I long for the old days when Don Zimmer called all the shots while Joe spent the game picking his nose and snoozing behind his sunglasses.

• Want a "bizzarro world" experience? Walk into any McDonald's in the state of Maine. It's clean, the workers are friendly and happy; it's almost like a real restaurant.

• Three episodes into the final "8" of the Sopranos, and I'm still waiting for things to explode. There's been so much building and scene setting, but nothing's really happened yet. You'd think they would want to make every moment count considering this is it. Did anyone else think Uncle Junior's final appearance was in last week's episode? Just seemed to me they were closing the book on him with that final scene. What a waste, if it is. Uncle June was one of the great characters on the show, and never failed to leave me in stitches. Even the jokes he told last week were killing me (What did the blind man say when he walked past the fish monger?)

• Glad Paulie Walnuts survived last week, too. Another character who cracks me up. I was on the floor when he was packing his suitcase for Miami and opened his closet to reveal about eight pairs of those ridiculous white shoes. If there's ever a Sopranos movie, Paulie simply has to be in it.

• What is a 4-year old doing walking the sidelines during a college football game? Didn't we learn anything from Dusty Baker's kid a couple years ago?

• If you're in the area, go check out the University of New Haven baseball team sometime. Talk about a lethal lineup. The Chargers have scored 61 runs on 57 hits in their last two games. They beat Assumption 35-12 on Monday and followed that up with a 26-3 win over Molloy Wednesday. There are at least three potential draft picks in the batting order with jaw-dropping numbers. One is a former All-Ivy League third baseman at Dartmouth who is hitting .500 (!!!!) this season, another is a former football teammate of Dan Davis' from Plainfield, N.J. who has a school-record 17 home runs and the other is a catcher from my alma mater (Amity) who has 60 RBIs in 38 games. Fun team to watch.

• Finally, this clip of a Japanese baseball "brawl" from You Tube has made the rounds lately, but it's absolutely hysterical. Make sure you have the sound on for the full affect.

Feel free to send any other funny links or leave a comment. See you in South Beach!