There are so many aspects to the Manti Te’o story that are interesting that this may soon become one of my favorite news events ever. I know that many people are sick of the story already and the fact that it really doesn’t matter but to me that is one of the fascinating parts of this whole thing.
Now I will admit that as a Notre Dame alumni I fall into a slightly different category here but there is a question as to why anybody cared in the first place. We spent months focused on the story of a football player (who we had never met) and his girlfriend (who we, as well as he, had never met) and how she tragically died of leukemia during the season. Sure there is the tragedy of someone dying young but sadly that happens every day. We don’t focus on it for months and then act appalled because the nature of the story changes. But tying it into a sports story completely changes the narrative.
We don’t typically grasp just how much of a story that we add over sports in order to create a better event. In reality all sports is a group of people in one color shirt challenge a group of people in another color shirt and eventually one side wins (or, in the case of soccer, end in a 0 - 0 tie and thus make the entire enterprise completely pointless.) As has often been said, on some level all you are doing is cheering laundry. So we create storylines and plotlines and create heroes and villains and describe long standing rivalries that typically have nothing to do with the competitors. We talk about the long standing rivalries between the Red Sox and the Yankees but do the players from Japan and the Dominican Republic really care about some games played and lopsided trades between these two teams nearly a hundred years ago?
The reason pro wrestling exists is because it allows for the creation of the drama of sports without having to worry about the fact of having random results. Instead of trying to find the plot line or resorting to the dreaded Olympic human interest story you write the story, determine the ending and then just perform it for the crowd, altering it based on the whims of the individuals who actually pay to watch pro wrestling. We scoff at wrestling while Bob Costas did the exact same thing every night in London.
So we have some right to be upset about being lied to in a story by Te’o. I still am in the camp that he was duped into thinking that she was real, decided to embellish the relationship because why let the truth get in the way of a good story and by the time he figured out that she wasn’t real the story had taken off and could not be retrieved. But we are lied to in every story about sports. We use sports to illustrate the human experience. For the allegories to work we have to tweak the game to serve the message. Manti did the exact same thing. It’s not entirely the same as being upset about the last scene of the Soprano’s but it is close.
My Life in Music Part 1 (1973): I’ve decided to start a new feature on the blog in honor of my turning forty this year. I figure that I can trace my entire life, interests and beliefs through the music that was created throughout my lifetime. So I will go year by year picking one song and artist that I feel represents at least some aspect of myself. I promise not to repeat artists and will do everything that I can to insure that I have seen each artist live in concert. That second one may be tougher, especially until I get to the mid-80s or so but I will certainly try my best.
For the start I will go back to an album that was released a month after my birth by a guy who literally lived in the next town over: John Prine with his song “Dear Abby”. This is a nice place to start given that Dear Abby just died even though I must admit I thought that she had died years ago. As a Chicagoan growing up I knew the story of Dear Abby and Ann Landers, twin sisters who wrote dueling advice columns for dueling newspapers and thus taught you that the people who provide advice are the same people who would publicly feud with each other. More importantly this song has the legendary refrain “You are who you are and you ain’t who you ain’t.” It has taken me nearly forty years to figure out who I am and who I am not. Once you get that lesson down life becomes easier. Not necessarily better but easier.
Showing posts with label ND Football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ND Football. Show all posts
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I swear I really did have a Canadian girlfriend
Well I don’t have to look too far for a topic tonight. Here are my thoughts on the Manti Te’o story and what I can make out of it.
The first big question is what Te’o the victim of a hoax or was he behind it? Obviously the first thought that many people would have is that this was a big plan that he developed in order to gain more press. Invent imaginary girlfriend, have imaginary girlfriend die early in the season, gain great press from playing in her memory and use that to improve your draft position. To me that doesn’t make any sense at all. Obviously people could check up on the story and there was no guarantee that Notre Dame was going to have this amazing season and turn Manti into a Heisman candidate. Plus, why include a fake death when his grandmother, who he was incredibly close to, died on the same day? Yes it adds to the story but it wasn’t really necessary. He was already the top prospect and a prospective first rounder on a team that is on television every week.
If Manti was involved in the creation of the imaginary girlfriend and he did it for publicity he would have to be a stone cold person. From every interview and comment that I have seen about him for four years I’ve seen no indication that there would be anything like this in his personality. I’ve never heard anyone say a negative thing about the kid. If he was involved in the setup of the hoax I would be stunned and disappointed beyond belief.
So if he was a victim of the hoax what the hell happened? After thinking about it for a few hours this is my best guess.
Manti gets a message from someone on Twitter and starts a conversation. They tweet and text regularly over time. Maybe they even talk on the phone a few times. Her backstory becomes more convoluted (car accident, cancer, bone marrow transplant) until, on the same day that the news breaks that his grandmother died the person behind the hoax also tells him that the girl has died. In talking to the team and press about it Manti describes her as “his girlfriend”, which leads to the story getting confused in the press.
See, the term girlfriend is what has always bugged me about this from the start. You notice that they never showed pictures of her with him throughout the season, or mentioned him by her bedside, or any other behaviors you would expect out of someone whose girlfriend (in the standard definition of the term) is dying. But I can easily see a guy, even a top football player, refer to someone he only talks to online as his girlfriend because, hell, I’ve been guilty of that one.
Obviously my geekiness and dating challenges are well documented on this blog, which makes the fact that Kim and I are married still the best proof that I have that miracles are still possible. But in college I referred to a girl I met every week for coffee as my girlfriend. We never dated, never even really came close to in fact, but we regularly spent time together and there is no good word for a relationship like that especially when trying to explain that to your buddies who don’t know her. She can’t be your friend because then they would know her so it is just easier to describe her as a girlfriend. I’ve written about relationships where I went on a few dates or one date or never technically been on a date but more like we happened to repeatedly find ourselves in the same bar and described them all in this blog as relationships or girlfriends. It’s a huge lie and I think everyone realizes it but it makes you feel better because as a guy you never want to admit that you can’t get a girlfriend. There is just a part of the evolutionary, lizard like portion of your brain that constantly goes “I would make an especially good mate. My sperm are healthy and plentiful” and you will invent Canadian girlfriends galore to keep that image up.
So Manti talks to a girl online and describes her to a bunch of buddies as a girlfriend. He is duped into thinking she was real and when told that she has died he calls her a girlfriend. When the press calls him out on it he doesn’t want to admit that they had never actually met and they weren’t really dating so he makes up a story about how they met and how they hung out together a few times. The story takes on its own life and once someone looks into it and finds out that she isn’t real the entire thing explodes. That version makes sense to me.
I do also want to add this, though. I want to give huge kudos to my friends at Deadspin for breaking this story and doing the leg work behind it. For those who don’t know, Deadspin was founded by Will Leitch who was a few years behind me at Illinois and if I remember correctly was on the team of Daily Illini writers who beat me in the intramural sports trivia competition my senior year (yes, sports trivia was a legitimate intramural sport at Illinois.) The fact that no one else: ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CNN, every news outlet that you can think of, did the research into this story to find out the truth just shows how great of a job Deadspin does on covering sports and just how bad the mainstream media is. I mean, how can ESPN not send someone to find the girl’s parents to talk about the relationship? How could no one else do the work to find this out? That might be as big of a story as anything else here. The story should be less on the hoax itself but how in the world could the main story of the football season, involving the Heisman runner up, be false and no one notice?
Wednesday Night Music Club: Actually these are really the New Pornographers, right? I mean, I’ve met the band…
The first big question is what Te’o the victim of a hoax or was he behind it? Obviously the first thought that many people would have is that this was a big plan that he developed in order to gain more press. Invent imaginary girlfriend, have imaginary girlfriend die early in the season, gain great press from playing in her memory and use that to improve your draft position. To me that doesn’t make any sense at all. Obviously people could check up on the story and there was no guarantee that Notre Dame was going to have this amazing season and turn Manti into a Heisman candidate. Plus, why include a fake death when his grandmother, who he was incredibly close to, died on the same day? Yes it adds to the story but it wasn’t really necessary. He was already the top prospect and a prospective first rounder on a team that is on television every week.
If Manti was involved in the creation of the imaginary girlfriend and he did it for publicity he would have to be a stone cold person. From every interview and comment that I have seen about him for four years I’ve seen no indication that there would be anything like this in his personality. I’ve never heard anyone say a negative thing about the kid. If he was involved in the setup of the hoax I would be stunned and disappointed beyond belief.
So if he was a victim of the hoax what the hell happened? After thinking about it for a few hours this is my best guess.
Manti gets a message from someone on Twitter and starts a conversation. They tweet and text regularly over time. Maybe they even talk on the phone a few times. Her backstory becomes more convoluted (car accident, cancer, bone marrow transplant) until, on the same day that the news breaks that his grandmother died the person behind the hoax also tells him that the girl has died. In talking to the team and press about it Manti describes her as “his girlfriend”, which leads to the story getting confused in the press.
See, the term girlfriend is what has always bugged me about this from the start. You notice that they never showed pictures of her with him throughout the season, or mentioned him by her bedside, or any other behaviors you would expect out of someone whose girlfriend (in the standard definition of the term) is dying. But I can easily see a guy, even a top football player, refer to someone he only talks to online as his girlfriend because, hell, I’ve been guilty of that one.
Obviously my geekiness and dating challenges are well documented on this blog, which makes the fact that Kim and I are married still the best proof that I have that miracles are still possible. But in college I referred to a girl I met every week for coffee as my girlfriend. We never dated, never even really came close to in fact, but we regularly spent time together and there is no good word for a relationship like that especially when trying to explain that to your buddies who don’t know her. She can’t be your friend because then they would know her so it is just easier to describe her as a girlfriend. I’ve written about relationships where I went on a few dates or one date or never technically been on a date but more like we happened to repeatedly find ourselves in the same bar and described them all in this blog as relationships or girlfriends. It’s a huge lie and I think everyone realizes it but it makes you feel better because as a guy you never want to admit that you can’t get a girlfriend. There is just a part of the evolutionary, lizard like portion of your brain that constantly goes “I would make an especially good mate. My sperm are healthy and plentiful” and you will invent Canadian girlfriends galore to keep that image up.
So Manti talks to a girl online and describes her to a bunch of buddies as a girlfriend. He is duped into thinking she was real and when told that she has died he calls her a girlfriend. When the press calls him out on it he doesn’t want to admit that they had never actually met and they weren’t really dating so he makes up a story about how they met and how they hung out together a few times. The story takes on its own life and once someone looks into it and finds out that she isn’t real the entire thing explodes. That version makes sense to me.
I do also want to add this, though. I want to give huge kudos to my friends at Deadspin for breaking this story and doing the leg work behind it. For those who don’t know, Deadspin was founded by Will Leitch who was a few years behind me at Illinois and if I remember correctly was on the team of Daily Illini writers who beat me in the intramural sports trivia competition my senior year (yes, sports trivia was a legitimate intramural sport at Illinois.) The fact that no one else: ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CNN, every news outlet that you can think of, did the research into this story to find out the truth just shows how great of a job Deadspin does on covering sports and just how bad the mainstream media is. I mean, how can ESPN not send someone to find the girl’s parents to talk about the relationship? How could no one else do the work to find this out? That might be as big of a story as anything else here. The story should be less on the hoax itself but how in the world could the main story of the football season, involving the Heisman runner up, be false and no one notice?
Wednesday Night Music Club: Actually these are really the New Pornographers, right? I mean, I’ve met the band…
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Well, at least we scored 14 points...
My thoughts on last night’s game and a few other things that are floating around my head at the moment…
1) The irony is not lost on me that at one point during the night I switched from the game to watch The Biggest Loser again. Though it is always fun to watch Jillian Michaels swear at overweight people and then act shocked when those same people somehow are not encouraged to lose weight.
2) I had hope for the Irish last night and at least thought that they could keep the game close but they just could not hang with Alabama. My hope was that the game would start like the Oklahoma game where Alabama would put up big drives but get forced into field goals and then ND would get a big play to flip the game around. Instead they just could not make a stop all night and stood no chance at all. I will agree with a few other commentators though, I am not sure if there were many college teams that could have put up a good fight last night.
3) I would say that the biggest problem Notre Dame had was the long break between games. The Irish had been playing on emotion all season and had played well beyond what people had expected. When a team like that faces a long layoff that cohesiveness and spirit falls away and they just come out flat. On the other hand, Bama just rested up and healed and got back on track. Big difference.
4) Flying out of Florida this morning to Chicago I saw a lot of sad looking people in Notre Dame gear and this is from an airport several hours drive away from Miami. What I will say about that is that it must have been an amazing atmosphere there before the game if that is a sign as to how many ND fans traveled to the game. I knew several people who went and Kim and I were debating it over the past few weeks. I bet it was a good time no matter what the outcome.
5) For those wondering, that makes my alma maters 0 for 2 in title games in major sports (and screw you Sean May). I guess I should just be happy that my schools can occasionally compete at that level especially given that I am an Illini. One day we will have a football program in Champaign.
6) My one pop culture note for the night: I really hope that Taylor Swift’s next single is called “I apparently have long unresolved commitment issues.”
1) The irony is not lost on me that at one point during the night I switched from the game to watch The Biggest Loser again. Though it is always fun to watch Jillian Michaels swear at overweight people and then act shocked when those same people somehow are not encouraged to lose weight.
2) I had hope for the Irish last night and at least thought that they could keep the game close but they just could not hang with Alabama. My hope was that the game would start like the Oklahoma game where Alabama would put up big drives but get forced into field goals and then ND would get a big play to flip the game around. Instead they just could not make a stop all night and stood no chance at all. I will agree with a few other commentators though, I am not sure if there were many college teams that could have put up a good fight last night.
3) I would say that the biggest problem Notre Dame had was the long break between games. The Irish had been playing on emotion all season and had played well beyond what people had expected. When a team like that faces a long layoff that cohesiveness and spirit falls away and they just come out flat. On the other hand, Bama just rested up and healed and got back on track. Big difference.
4) Flying out of Florida this morning to Chicago I saw a lot of sad looking people in Notre Dame gear and this is from an airport several hours drive away from Miami. What I will say about that is that it must have been an amazing atmosphere there before the game if that is a sign as to how many ND fans traveled to the game. I knew several people who went and Kim and I were debating it over the past few weeks. I bet it was a good time no matter what the outcome.
5) For those wondering, that makes my alma maters 0 for 2 in title games in major sports (and screw you Sean May). I guess I should just be happy that my schools can occasionally compete at that level especially given that I am an Illini. One day we will have a football program in Champaign.
6) My one pop culture note for the night: I really hope that Taylor Swift’s next single is called “I apparently have long unresolved commitment issues.”
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
2010 Bowl Preview: Part Three
Time for Part Three of the Bowl Preview series where we will examine the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day games. These are the games that you will watch while either a) drunk, b) hungover or c) in a state of complete disbelief that you are going to spend another New Year’s Eve without a girlfriend to the point that the idea of going to a strip club just so you can have some degree of companionship at midnight becomes quite sensible. Not that I have any familiarity with C or anything.
New Year’s Eve
Meineke Car Care Bowl: South Florida vs. Clemson (ESPN): Back when I was a kid we had games like the Blue Bonnet Bowl and the Tangerine Bowl. I still have no idea what the Blue Bonnet Bowl was meant to symbolize other than colored headgear. Then we started appending sponsors name to the front of the game until, starting with the Blockbuster Bowl, the name of the company became the name of the game. Given the financial outlook of Blockbuster maybe we should rethink this use of advertising dollars.
I’ve always liked Clemson and hope that one day they will regain their form as one of the top teams in the nation. They’re just a cool team with orange uniforms, Howard’s Rock and a whole host of traditions. I know nothing of South Florida other than they are in Florida. I think it should be a rule that in order to be in a bowl game I should at least be able to guess what city the school is in.
Hyundai Sun Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Miami (CBS): It is time to replay the legendary Catholics vs. Convicts game! Or, in this case, the “Currently being investigated in the death of two students” vs. Convicts game. (Side note: does anyone have any real info on the story regarding the alleged rape / suicide of the St. Mary’s student? Most of my info has come from blogs and everything sounds all sorts of sketchy. I’d like to have the school come forward with some degree of clarity on the subject.)
Obviously I have a pretty big interest in this game. Notre Dame turned its season around or at least avoided imploding as they had the past few years. The team shows promise but really isn’t that solid of a team. Miami underachieved all year and could easily have made a better bowl game. I’ve watched a lot of both teams and Miami should take this one. Speed kills and Miami just has Notre Dame beat in terms of athletes.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Georgia vs. UCF (ESPN): I’m trying to think if there was a D-1 team from Florida that didn’t make a bowl game this year. I’m pretty sure they all made it in. In fact, all of your New Year’s Eve games involve Florida teams so I’m assuming that this will be declared a holiday in the Sunshine State. Georgia rebounded from being god awful at the start of the year to being good enough to spend New Year’s Eve in Memphis which should at least provide them with a tour of Memphis and some good barbecue. Oh, and just for the record, Illinois went to two bowl games while I was in college. One was the Sun Bowl in El Paso and the other was the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Yeah, and people wonder why I can be a bitter Illini fan.
Chick-fil-A Bowl: South Carolina vs. Florida State (ESPN): While out Christmas shopping on Saturday (in which I was proud of myself for not ripping a toy out of the hands of a small child) I picked up some Chick-fil-A and they screwed up my order. The strange thing is, this made no impact on my meal at all. Chick-fil-A essentially only has one menu item. Instead of having a chicken breast on a bun I had a chicken breast in nugget form. I’m not sure what this says about the company other than they are surprisingly efficient.
I will always cheer for Steve Spurrier no matter where he coaches if just because he is the only person who calls plays like it is a video game. 2nd and 15 from your own 1? Send out five receivers and play from the shotgun. I hate Florida State for reasons that are too numerous to mention and include people I met when I was 16, which is now so far past half a lifetime ago that I am afraid to do the math. And let’s face it, any school that chants “Let’s go Cocks!” is good enough for me.
New Year’s Day
TicketCity Bowl: Northwestern vs. Texas Tech (ESPNU): Your three important notes for this game. 1) This game is being played in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day and features a team from Texas yet is not the Cotton Bowl. I do not quite understand how that is possible. 2) Not surprisingly, tickets for the TicketCity Bowl are available from scalpers. 3) Given that this game is on ESPNU you will have no chance to actually watch the game. Northwestern had a good squad until their quarterback got hurt and Texas Tech is still getting over the fact that they locked up Craig James’ son in a closet last year. Guess that is why they exiled the game to ESPNU. I can’t bring myself to root for Northwestern as an Illini. Luckily we regained the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk, I mean the Land of Lincoln trophy.
Outback Bowl: Florida vs. Penn State (ABC): You know how in baseball they occasionally have Old Timers Games? Where top players from the team’s past come back for an exhibition? Well, this game would be much more interesting as an Old Timer’s Game. Just bring back all the stars from yesteryear and have them suit up. Neither team is very good this year, Urban Meyer is stepping down as Florida’s coach, and Joe Pa is slowly being replaced with robot parts in an attempt to create MechaPaterno. And let’s face it, once MechaPaterno is fully functional we are all doomed to a life of toil in his sunglass factories. Penn State will win because they might as well.
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State (ESPN): How Michigan State didn’t turn into a bigger story this year is beyond me. They beat Notre Dame on the most insane fake field goal ever and it results in their coach having a literal heart attack. He then comes back to coach the team to a top record despite the fact that they were anticipated to be a middling Big Ten team. Why this didn’t get more play is just a sign as to how much interest lies in the SEC. Alabama won the title last year but could never seem to get on track this year. They were one of the best teams of the year but always seemed to be in a fight for their life. I like Michigan State in this one, which is one of the best games of the year.
(Oh, and for all of the Capital One mascot challenge commercials that I have seen over the years I wish I would actually know what the challenge is. I assume it is some sort of online poll but it would be better if they really did have all of the mascots competing in insane reality show challenges.)
Gator Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Michigan (ESPN2): Remember if you are in Jacksonville and they ask you to leave the bar just leave the bar. (Someone will get the reference.) Anyway, how has Gatorade not stepped up to sponsor the Gator Bowl yet? Easiest sponsorship ever. If this game is anything like the Illinois – Michigan game then they might as well just play it under Arena Football rules. Or Electric Football rules. By the way, why don’t kids ask for electric football sets anymore? They will never learn football strategy from Madden. You have to spend hours setting up your players just so and then sit helplessly as they spin in circles. And yes, I would rather watch plastic figures spin in circles than cheer Michigan.
Rose Bowl Game Presented by VIZIO: Wisconsin vs. TCU (ESPN): If there was a playoff system (and there should be) these would be the two teams to benefit most. TCU is the undefeated team that got screwed out of the title game and Wisconsin was playing better than anyone at the end of the year. Why the NCAA won’t break down and have an eight team playoff is one of those unanswered questions of sports. They’ll make the student athlete claim but then add in a twelfth game for every team plus a conference championship. While TCU is good and it will be interesting to see them in the Big East as they are east of, uh, the Rocky Mountains I am really behind Wisconsin. When the season ended I really couldn’t see anyone in the country beating them and I think TCU is due for a letdown.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Connecticut vs. Oklahoma (ESPN): No, I don’t know why Connecticut is in a BCS game and Michigan State isn’t. No, I don’t know why the Big East is incapable of fielding one team, even an All Star team, worthy of this slot. But, hey, free Tostitos for everyone! Each year there is one BCS game that is guaranteed to be horrible and this year this is it. Hey, you’ll need a break from football by this point anyway.
New Year’s Eve
Meineke Car Care Bowl: South Florida vs. Clemson (ESPN): Back when I was a kid we had games like the Blue Bonnet Bowl and the Tangerine Bowl. I still have no idea what the Blue Bonnet Bowl was meant to symbolize other than colored headgear. Then we started appending sponsors name to the front of the game until, starting with the Blockbuster Bowl, the name of the company became the name of the game. Given the financial outlook of Blockbuster maybe we should rethink this use of advertising dollars.
I’ve always liked Clemson and hope that one day they will regain their form as one of the top teams in the nation. They’re just a cool team with orange uniforms, Howard’s Rock and a whole host of traditions. I know nothing of South Florida other than they are in Florida. I think it should be a rule that in order to be in a bowl game I should at least be able to guess what city the school is in.
Hyundai Sun Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Miami (CBS): It is time to replay the legendary Catholics vs. Convicts game! Or, in this case, the “Currently being investigated in the death of two students” vs. Convicts game. (Side note: does anyone have any real info on the story regarding the alleged rape / suicide of the St. Mary’s student? Most of my info has come from blogs and everything sounds all sorts of sketchy. I’d like to have the school come forward with some degree of clarity on the subject.)
Obviously I have a pretty big interest in this game. Notre Dame turned its season around or at least avoided imploding as they had the past few years. The team shows promise but really isn’t that solid of a team. Miami underachieved all year and could easily have made a better bowl game. I’ve watched a lot of both teams and Miami should take this one. Speed kills and Miami just has Notre Dame beat in terms of athletes.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Georgia vs. UCF (ESPN): I’m trying to think if there was a D-1 team from Florida that didn’t make a bowl game this year. I’m pretty sure they all made it in. In fact, all of your New Year’s Eve games involve Florida teams so I’m assuming that this will be declared a holiday in the Sunshine State. Georgia rebounded from being god awful at the start of the year to being good enough to spend New Year’s Eve in Memphis which should at least provide them with a tour of Memphis and some good barbecue. Oh, and just for the record, Illinois went to two bowl games while I was in college. One was the Sun Bowl in El Paso and the other was the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Yeah, and people wonder why I can be a bitter Illini fan.
Chick-fil-A Bowl: South Carolina vs. Florida State (ESPN): While out Christmas shopping on Saturday (in which I was proud of myself for not ripping a toy out of the hands of a small child) I picked up some Chick-fil-A and they screwed up my order. The strange thing is, this made no impact on my meal at all. Chick-fil-A essentially only has one menu item. Instead of having a chicken breast on a bun I had a chicken breast in nugget form. I’m not sure what this says about the company other than they are surprisingly efficient.
I will always cheer for Steve Spurrier no matter where he coaches if just because he is the only person who calls plays like it is a video game. 2nd and 15 from your own 1? Send out five receivers and play from the shotgun. I hate Florida State for reasons that are too numerous to mention and include people I met when I was 16, which is now so far past half a lifetime ago that I am afraid to do the math. And let’s face it, any school that chants “Let’s go Cocks!” is good enough for me.
New Year’s Day
TicketCity Bowl: Northwestern vs. Texas Tech (ESPNU): Your three important notes for this game. 1) This game is being played in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day and features a team from Texas yet is not the Cotton Bowl. I do not quite understand how that is possible. 2) Not surprisingly, tickets for the TicketCity Bowl are available from scalpers. 3) Given that this game is on ESPNU you will have no chance to actually watch the game. Northwestern had a good squad until their quarterback got hurt and Texas Tech is still getting over the fact that they locked up Craig James’ son in a closet last year. Guess that is why they exiled the game to ESPNU. I can’t bring myself to root for Northwestern as an Illini. Luckily we regained the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk, I mean the Land of Lincoln trophy.
Outback Bowl: Florida vs. Penn State (ABC): You know how in baseball they occasionally have Old Timers Games? Where top players from the team’s past come back for an exhibition? Well, this game would be much more interesting as an Old Timer’s Game. Just bring back all the stars from yesteryear and have them suit up. Neither team is very good this year, Urban Meyer is stepping down as Florida’s coach, and Joe Pa is slowly being replaced with robot parts in an attempt to create MechaPaterno. And let’s face it, once MechaPaterno is fully functional we are all doomed to a life of toil in his sunglass factories. Penn State will win because they might as well.
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State (ESPN): How Michigan State didn’t turn into a bigger story this year is beyond me. They beat Notre Dame on the most insane fake field goal ever and it results in their coach having a literal heart attack. He then comes back to coach the team to a top record despite the fact that they were anticipated to be a middling Big Ten team. Why this didn’t get more play is just a sign as to how much interest lies in the SEC. Alabama won the title last year but could never seem to get on track this year. They were one of the best teams of the year but always seemed to be in a fight for their life. I like Michigan State in this one, which is one of the best games of the year.
(Oh, and for all of the Capital One mascot challenge commercials that I have seen over the years I wish I would actually know what the challenge is. I assume it is some sort of online poll but it would be better if they really did have all of the mascots competing in insane reality show challenges.)
Gator Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Michigan (ESPN2): Remember if you are in Jacksonville and they ask you to leave the bar just leave the bar. (Someone will get the reference.) Anyway, how has Gatorade not stepped up to sponsor the Gator Bowl yet? Easiest sponsorship ever. If this game is anything like the Illinois – Michigan game then they might as well just play it under Arena Football rules. Or Electric Football rules. By the way, why don’t kids ask for electric football sets anymore? They will never learn football strategy from Madden. You have to spend hours setting up your players just so and then sit helplessly as they spin in circles. And yes, I would rather watch plastic figures spin in circles than cheer Michigan.
Rose Bowl Game Presented by VIZIO: Wisconsin vs. TCU (ESPN): If there was a playoff system (and there should be) these would be the two teams to benefit most. TCU is the undefeated team that got screwed out of the title game and Wisconsin was playing better than anyone at the end of the year. Why the NCAA won’t break down and have an eight team playoff is one of those unanswered questions of sports. They’ll make the student athlete claim but then add in a twelfth game for every team plus a conference championship. While TCU is good and it will be interesting to see them in the Big East as they are east of, uh, the Rocky Mountains I am really behind Wisconsin. When the season ended I really couldn’t see anyone in the country beating them and I think TCU is due for a letdown.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Connecticut vs. Oklahoma (ESPN): No, I don’t know why Connecticut is in a BCS game and Michigan State isn’t. No, I don’t know why the Big East is incapable of fielding one team, even an All Star team, worthy of this slot. But, hey, free Tostitos for everyone! Each year there is one BCS game that is guaranteed to be horrible and this year this is it. Hey, you’ll need a break from football by this point anyway.
Monday, November 01, 2010
A Big Thing Badly
This has been a rather strange week to be a Notre Dame alumni. It is not because our football team sucks to the point that we boo the coach off the field. As an Illini I am rather used to that. In fact “Booing the team after another heartbreaking defeat due to pure ineptness” is actually listed as one of the traditions of Illini football in Wikipedia. No, this is more of one of shame and outrage and cursing stupidity in the name of sports.
As most people know a Notre Dame student was killed at practice last week when the scissor lift that he was using to film practice was toppled by high winds. The weather in the Midwest was insane last week with the barometric pressure being the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane and numerous tornadoes being spawned across several states. My Facebook page was filled with status updates of people who couldn’t believe the storm. While Notre Dame has a perfectly find indoor practice facility that they used on Tuesday on Wednesday the coach decided to send the team outside to practice with the wind gusting to up to 50 mph. And one of those gusts is what killed a student.
People have called it a tragedy and while that is true it is really a poor use of the word tragic. Whenever any young person dies it is a tragic circumstance but we typically use that in reference to an unknown, unpreventable situation. This was completely preventable. They shouldn’t have been outside, they shouldn’t have used the lifts in that type of wind and the entire situation would have been avoided. Instead a 20 year old was buried today. It is the perfect definition of an avoidable tragedy.
It also bothers me how sportswriters use events like this to talk about how campus communities come together in times like this as a crutch to preview the game. More than a few people wrote about how Notre Dame rallies and bonds together at times of tragedy. That is entirely true and I have witnessed it myself on several occasions. However, none of that has to do with any game being played on Saturday. We comfort each other because that is in our nature. It is not meant to be a show of support so that our inside linebacker can better read a blocking scheme. Some of the articles read as though this would be a benefit to the team in terms of unity going into the game. I can’t even wrap my head around this one.
I’m not sure who should get the blame for this but someone certainly needs to. Whether it is the coach or the AD who has the ultimate responsibility I am not sure but this is certainly not emblematic of the school and the program that I have supported. They practiced outside due to some macho bullshit code of toughing it out under adverse conditions even though nothing useful could be accomplished. How do you practice pass plays with a 50 mph crosswind? No one bothered to look at the kid in the air on the sideline and go, “You know, I really don’t think we need footage of the pass rush today.” That bothers me greatly. Something so simple and so obvious was overlooked at a place where those are the things that should matter most.
I know that the students will cope with this and come out stronger. That is the Notre Dame way. I just hope that somewhere in this a lesson is learned by the people who are placed in the position of leadership to understand what is truly important. This is the darkest moment that I have seen since I’ve been associated with the school. I can only hope that they address this in the most straightforward and honest manner possible because it will be a long time before I can cheer the team on the field in quite the same way again.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Iguanas “If You Should Ever Fall On Hard Times”
2) Jack Ingram “Live at Billy Bob’s Texas”
3) Leonard Cohen “The Essential Leonard Cohen”
4) Cowboy Mouth “Easy”
5) Anders Osborne “Live at Tipitina’s”
As most people know a Notre Dame student was killed at practice last week when the scissor lift that he was using to film practice was toppled by high winds. The weather in the Midwest was insane last week with the barometric pressure being the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane and numerous tornadoes being spawned across several states. My Facebook page was filled with status updates of people who couldn’t believe the storm. While Notre Dame has a perfectly find indoor practice facility that they used on Tuesday on Wednesday the coach decided to send the team outside to practice with the wind gusting to up to 50 mph. And one of those gusts is what killed a student.
People have called it a tragedy and while that is true it is really a poor use of the word tragic. Whenever any young person dies it is a tragic circumstance but we typically use that in reference to an unknown, unpreventable situation. This was completely preventable. They shouldn’t have been outside, they shouldn’t have used the lifts in that type of wind and the entire situation would have been avoided. Instead a 20 year old was buried today. It is the perfect definition of an avoidable tragedy.
It also bothers me how sportswriters use events like this to talk about how campus communities come together in times like this as a crutch to preview the game. More than a few people wrote about how Notre Dame rallies and bonds together at times of tragedy. That is entirely true and I have witnessed it myself on several occasions. However, none of that has to do with any game being played on Saturday. We comfort each other because that is in our nature. It is not meant to be a show of support so that our inside linebacker can better read a blocking scheme. Some of the articles read as though this would be a benefit to the team in terms of unity going into the game. I can’t even wrap my head around this one.
I’m not sure who should get the blame for this but someone certainly needs to. Whether it is the coach or the AD who has the ultimate responsibility I am not sure but this is certainly not emblematic of the school and the program that I have supported. They practiced outside due to some macho bullshit code of toughing it out under adverse conditions even though nothing useful could be accomplished. How do you practice pass plays with a 50 mph crosswind? No one bothered to look at the kid in the air on the sideline and go, “You know, I really don’t think we need footage of the pass rush today.” That bothers me greatly. Something so simple and so obvious was overlooked at a place where those are the things that should matter most.
I know that the students will cope with this and come out stronger. That is the Notre Dame way. I just hope that somewhere in this a lesson is learned by the people who are placed in the position of leadership to understand what is truly important. This is the darkest moment that I have seen since I’ve been associated with the school. I can only hope that they address this in the most straightforward and honest manner possible because it will be a long time before I can cheer the team on the field in quite the same way again.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Iguanas “If You Should Ever Fall On Hard Times”
2) Jack Ingram “Live at Billy Bob’s Texas”
3) Leonard Cohen “The Essential Leonard Cohen”
4) Cowboy Mouth “Easy”
5) Anders Osborne “Live at Tipitina’s”
Sunday, October 24, 2010
A not so long weekend
This might be the best explanation of my current state of football fandom. On Saturday afternoon I had to choose between watching A) Notre Dame vs. Navy on CBS, B) Penn State vs. Minnesota on ESPNU or C) Illinois vs. Indiana on an alternate feed of the Big 10 Network that for the first quarter did not have any sound. I chose C and I was damn glad I did (though when the announcers came back on I kind of questioned it.) Of all my teams Illinois may very well be the best and they are certainly the most fun to watch.
Notre Dame was just pitiful this week. Now Navy is a good squad but we should not lose to them and certainly should not lose to them three out of the past four years. In fact, I shouldn’t be able to say with pride that I was at the game the last time we beat Navy and the last time we beat USC. But it is not just that we lost. We were just pounded and could not stop Navy. Even the two times we forced them to pass they lit us up. That is just depressing. The fact is without joining a conference I don’t see the team getting any better. Right now we are just hoping to be a middling team that will probably be destroyed at home by Utah. You kind of hope for better than that.
Otherwise the most productive thing I did this weekend was put in 4.67 miles on the treadmill in an hour. For those wondering I have gotten my weight down to around 200 pounds for a loss of ten pounds since May. While I wouldn’t say that I am nearing the level of anything called athletic the fact is not that long ago I would have a hard time going at 4.7 miles an hour on the treadmill for more than a few minutes. Now I’m basically averaging that over the course of an hour and I just need to cut one minute off of my time in order to run three miles in under my age. I’m getting fit, which is a pretty sweet accomplishment.
Thinking about that and having read a few more articles on obesity in America it makes me wonder more and more about the Biggest Loser and just how bizarre a program that it is. While the show is inspirational in that you watch extremely obese people overcome myriad challenges and lose an insane amount of weight there are two really disturbing aspects to the show. The first is one that I often discuss which is that since it is a reality show contestants get voted off. Typically these contestants are the worst performers which means that they actually require the most help. So the show kicks to the curb the people who aren’t fit to be role models.
The second point is that in a two hour episode there might be two minutes of actual advice about how to lose weight that isn’t tied to a product endorsement. Sure, we see Bob and Jillian working out the contestants but we aren’t told what exercise routines they are doing, or for how long, or what they feel the best circuit to use is. We get occasional discussions about diet but nothing very concrete. If you want either of those you are encouraged to purchase one of their books or DVDs. On a show that is about fitness with a motto this year of paying it forward watching it actually teaches you nothing about what you need to do. I don’t expect Project Runway to teach me how to sew but the Biggest Loser should give me advice on how to lose weight.
Best of 120 Minutes: There are very few bands that I love more than The Sundays. They are easily in my top ten list of absolute favorite bands that I have ever heard. Life would be so much better if there were more bands like this out there.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Soul Coughing “Lust in Phaze”
2) The Pat McGee Band “Shine”
3) The Mike Plume Band “Fools for the Radio”
4) Old Crow Medicine Show “Tennessee Pusher”
5) Alejandro Escovedo “Street Songs of Love”
Notre Dame was just pitiful this week. Now Navy is a good squad but we should not lose to them and certainly should not lose to them three out of the past four years. In fact, I shouldn’t be able to say with pride that I was at the game the last time we beat Navy and the last time we beat USC. But it is not just that we lost. We were just pounded and could not stop Navy. Even the two times we forced them to pass they lit us up. That is just depressing. The fact is without joining a conference I don’t see the team getting any better. Right now we are just hoping to be a middling team that will probably be destroyed at home by Utah. You kind of hope for better than that.
Otherwise the most productive thing I did this weekend was put in 4.67 miles on the treadmill in an hour. For those wondering I have gotten my weight down to around 200 pounds for a loss of ten pounds since May. While I wouldn’t say that I am nearing the level of anything called athletic the fact is not that long ago I would have a hard time going at 4.7 miles an hour on the treadmill for more than a few minutes. Now I’m basically averaging that over the course of an hour and I just need to cut one minute off of my time in order to run three miles in under my age. I’m getting fit, which is a pretty sweet accomplishment.
Thinking about that and having read a few more articles on obesity in America it makes me wonder more and more about the Biggest Loser and just how bizarre a program that it is. While the show is inspirational in that you watch extremely obese people overcome myriad challenges and lose an insane amount of weight there are two really disturbing aspects to the show. The first is one that I often discuss which is that since it is a reality show contestants get voted off. Typically these contestants are the worst performers which means that they actually require the most help. So the show kicks to the curb the people who aren’t fit to be role models.
The second point is that in a two hour episode there might be two minutes of actual advice about how to lose weight that isn’t tied to a product endorsement. Sure, we see Bob and Jillian working out the contestants but we aren’t told what exercise routines they are doing, or for how long, or what they feel the best circuit to use is. We get occasional discussions about diet but nothing very concrete. If you want either of those you are encouraged to purchase one of their books or DVDs. On a show that is about fitness with a motto this year of paying it forward watching it actually teaches you nothing about what you need to do. I don’t expect Project Runway to teach me how to sew but the Biggest Loser should give me advice on how to lose weight.
Best of 120 Minutes: There are very few bands that I love more than The Sundays. They are easily in my top ten list of absolute favorite bands that I have ever heard. Life would be so much better if there were more bands like this out there.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Soul Coughing “Lust in Phaze”
2) The Pat McGee Band “Shine”
3) The Mike Plume Band “Fools for the Radio”
4) Old Crow Medicine Show “Tennessee Pusher”
5) Alejandro Escovedo “Street Songs of Love”
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I need some Nyquil just to level off...
As most people know I gave up caffeine about a decade ago. Just went from being a six cups of coffee, four sodas a day guy to zero overnight. Doctors using words like “heart” and “explode” tend to result in such actions. That first month or so sucked, pretty much as close to withdrawal as I ever want to get to, but for the most part I survived. Even went through business school without caffeine, which explains why I was always well prepared and never pulled all nighters. I literally couldn’t stay up all night even if I tried.
Well today my coffee shop was out of decaf and I decided that I needed coffee more than grabbing a Gatorade and had a large, regular strength coffee. I’m trying to think about how to describe downing 20 ounces of coffee after having your body spend ten years getting it out of your system. Here is my best attempt. Remember the Beavis and Butthead episode where Beavis went around screaming “I am the Great Cornholio!” I felt like doing that all day in the office. I believe at one point I looked at my monitors were shaking and it took me a while to realize that I was literally bouncing back and forth. For a moment it was cool but then I remembered that this is exactly why I gave it up years ago.
(Though the possibility of having someone in my office go “Donde esta hall pass” would totally have made it worth it.)
Switching gears I received my Notre Dame football ticket form for this season. For those of you who don’t know the system ND sends its eligible alumni (meaning those who have donated money) a lottery form in which you pay up front for the games you want and are told three months later whether you get to go to them or not. In essence, you give them an interest free loan for the possibility of tickets. It’s a pretty masterful system when you think of it.
It looks to be an interesting season in South Bend. You start with the traditional Big Ten rivals in Purdue and Michigan. Fun games, classic rivalry and South Bend in early September is warm and sunny. Then you get the rivalry games that are slightly less interesting in Pitt and Stanford. Sure, they are technically rivals but it isn’t as important and the weather has gotten cold. Still, a fair first four home games.
Here are your last three home games from mid October to mid November: Western Michigan, Tulsa and Utah. I am not kidding. I don’t know about you but I have always dreamed of seeing Notre Dame – Tulsa under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus. Or that legendary Fighting Irish – Utes rivalry rekindled. Now I know why we have these games scheduled: it was decided that our schedule was too difficult and we lightened the challenge to better reach bowl games. But this seems to just be a mockery of a schedule. I can accept playing Army and Navy in the same season. Adding these games into the list just seems really weak sauce.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: over the past fifteen years I have probably not gone more than two weeks without listening to some music by Jay Farrar. Whether in Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt or his solo work I’m always replaying one of his songs as part of my standard rotation. The guy never gets the praise for his genius that he deserves. If you ever wonder what is playing underneath my headphones this is it.
Well today my coffee shop was out of decaf and I decided that I needed coffee more than grabbing a Gatorade and had a large, regular strength coffee. I’m trying to think about how to describe downing 20 ounces of coffee after having your body spend ten years getting it out of your system. Here is my best attempt. Remember the Beavis and Butthead episode where Beavis went around screaming “I am the Great Cornholio!” I felt like doing that all day in the office. I believe at one point I looked at my monitors were shaking and it took me a while to realize that I was literally bouncing back and forth. For a moment it was cool but then I remembered that this is exactly why I gave it up years ago.
(Though the possibility of having someone in my office go “Donde esta hall pass” would totally have made it worth it.)
Switching gears I received my Notre Dame football ticket form for this season. For those of you who don’t know the system ND sends its eligible alumni (meaning those who have donated money) a lottery form in which you pay up front for the games you want and are told three months later whether you get to go to them or not. In essence, you give them an interest free loan for the possibility of tickets. It’s a pretty masterful system when you think of it.
It looks to be an interesting season in South Bend. You start with the traditional Big Ten rivals in Purdue and Michigan. Fun games, classic rivalry and South Bend in early September is warm and sunny. Then you get the rivalry games that are slightly less interesting in Pitt and Stanford. Sure, they are technically rivals but it isn’t as important and the weather has gotten cold. Still, a fair first four home games.
Here are your last three home games from mid October to mid November: Western Michigan, Tulsa and Utah. I am not kidding. I don’t know about you but I have always dreamed of seeing Notre Dame – Tulsa under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus. Or that legendary Fighting Irish – Utes rivalry rekindled. Now I know why we have these games scheduled: it was decided that our schedule was too difficult and we lightened the challenge to better reach bowl games. But this seems to just be a mockery of a schedule. I can accept playing Army and Navy in the same season. Adding these games into the list just seems really weak sauce.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: over the past fifteen years I have probably not gone more than two weeks without listening to some music by Jay Farrar. Whether in Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt or his solo work I’m always replaying one of his songs as part of my standard rotation. The guy never gets the praise for his genius that he deserves. If you ever wonder what is playing underneath my headphones this is it.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Will Charlie Junior still get to wear a headset at Arrowhead?
Reason #537 Why I am glad that I no longer live in Kansas City: Charlie Weis is going to be named offensive coordinator of the Chiefs. Well, at least they got the offensive portion right. I don’t think there is enough barbecue in Kansas City to please that man. Plus, at least we now know who is going to be drafting Jimmy Claussen.
Some interesting comments on the resolutions post and one that I want to touch on. I’ve never even thought that it was an option for me to stop improving. Getting married makes me want to be better as there is now someone else in the picture. One of the many things I love about Kim is that she makes me want to be the best person that I could possibly be. I always kind of thought that was the point of relationships: to become better as a couple than you were as individuals.
That said, it is just part of my personality that I must always try to accomplish something. It bothers me that there are books that I haven’t read or skills that I don’t have. I consider myself lucky in that my pursuits have always been intellectual over the athletic. If my life was basketball I would be at the point where every year I would be getting slightly worse at the game I love. Instead I think that my best years are ahead of me. There are so many opportunities out there and so many Shakespeare plays to read and novels to write.
On that note, I am searching for my next January challenge book, which will also be the first book read on my brand new Kindle, and I am opening it up for suggestions. The idea of the challenge book is that in January I read one of the classics (best defined as a book that has Cliff Notes written for it) for the enlightenment, the challenge and the fact that it is too cold to do anything outside so I might as well stay in and read. List some of your favorites in the comments. I’ll probably post the list of books I read in 2009 tomorrow as well as some synopsis. I’ve been keeping track of every book that I have read since 1998 and, wow, that is an awful lot of my life that has been catalogued.
Last bit, congrats to Andre Dawson for making the Hall of Fame. As a kid Andre was my absolute favorite baseball player. Not when he was with the Cubs though. I was a fan from back in the Expos days even getting my parents to take me to a Cubs – Expos game just to see him play. He was just a top of the line outfielder in the field and at the plate and while some of his numbers aren’t as strong when compared to the steroid era he certainly belongs in the Hall. For once they’ve made a good choice.
11th Best Album of the Decade: The Polyphonic Spree “Together We’re Heavy” (2004): In a perfect world The Polyphonic Spree would be the band for my wedding. That said if I had my way we would march down the aisle through an honor guard of Imperial Stormtroopers so I doubt that I will be placed in charge of wedding planning. Still, this is one of the first in a theme on the Top 15 list, which is the band that breaks all the rules. You aren’t supposed to have a twenty plus member band featuring a nine person choir and a harpist. You can’t take the stage in multi-colored choir robes looking like a bizarre cult. You can’t have all your songs about how awesome the sun is. But that is The Polyphonic Spree and I love them for it.
Some interesting comments on the resolutions post and one that I want to touch on. I’ve never even thought that it was an option for me to stop improving. Getting married makes me want to be better as there is now someone else in the picture. One of the many things I love about Kim is that she makes me want to be the best person that I could possibly be. I always kind of thought that was the point of relationships: to become better as a couple than you were as individuals.
That said, it is just part of my personality that I must always try to accomplish something. It bothers me that there are books that I haven’t read or skills that I don’t have. I consider myself lucky in that my pursuits have always been intellectual over the athletic. If my life was basketball I would be at the point where every year I would be getting slightly worse at the game I love. Instead I think that my best years are ahead of me. There are so many opportunities out there and so many Shakespeare plays to read and novels to write.
On that note, I am searching for my next January challenge book, which will also be the first book read on my brand new Kindle, and I am opening it up for suggestions. The idea of the challenge book is that in January I read one of the classics (best defined as a book that has Cliff Notes written for it) for the enlightenment, the challenge and the fact that it is too cold to do anything outside so I might as well stay in and read. List some of your favorites in the comments. I’ll probably post the list of books I read in 2009 tomorrow as well as some synopsis. I’ve been keeping track of every book that I have read since 1998 and, wow, that is an awful lot of my life that has been catalogued.
Last bit, congrats to Andre Dawson for making the Hall of Fame. As a kid Andre was my absolute favorite baseball player. Not when he was with the Cubs though. I was a fan from back in the Expos days even getting my parents to take me to a Cubs – Expos game just to see him play. He was just a top of the line outfielder in the field and at the plate and while some of his numbers aren’t as strong when compared to the steroid era he certainly belongs in the Hall. For once they’ve made a good choice.
11th Best Album of the Decade: The Polyphonic Spree “Together We’re Heavy” (2004): In a perfect world The Polyphonic Spree would be the band for my wedding. That said if I had my way we would march down the aisle through an honor guard of Imperial Stormtroopers so I doubt that I will be placed in charge of wedding planning. Still, this is one of the first in a theme on the Top 15 list, which is the band that breaks all the rules. You aren’t supposed to have a twenty plus member band featuring a nine person choir and a harpist. You can’t take the stage in multi-colored choir robes looking like a bizarre cult. You can’t have all your songs about how awesome the sun is. But that is The Polyphonic Spree and I love them for it.
Monday, December 07, 2009
My kingdom for a coach
For those of you scoring at home, the Tiger Woods Skank-O-Meter is now up to 10 including our first porn star. I’m surprised that it has taken this long for someone from the, uh, “entertainment” industry to appear on the list. This does make it easier to cast the porn version of the story, though.
Also, for those people who are up in arms about the Tiger Wood sketch on Saturday Night Live you are missing the point. If you are going to complain, complain about the fact that given the best setup ever they still wrote an unfunny sketch. People are making a big deal that the sketch made life of spousal abuse (implying that Elin beat up Tiger, which is most likely true.) Ok, in a land of political correctness that is probably not a proper topic but since when is comedy supposed to be politically correct? The vengeful Swedish supermodel wrapping a golf club around his skull isn’t in bad taste; it is freaking hysterical.
What is striking me more now given the fact that Elin is being rumored to be moving out is that this all seems to have come as a complete surprise to her. I find it interesting in that I know that in some celebrity / athlete relationships that there is at least some degree of acceptance that cheating will occur. I in no way condone this but often it is the case. But on this one Tiger seemed to try to have his perfect marriage with everything else on the side and if that is the case I can’t say that I am sorry to see it all blow up in his face.
Random Thought of the Day: Why don’t we see any Gallagher specials anymore? Have we reached the point where destroying watermelons with a hammer is no longer funny? It is a sad day for society if that is the case.
I’ll end it tonight by speaking on some of the Notre Dame rumors. I’m still silently pulling for Bob Stoops though I doubt it will happen. I feel that in order to get a coach from a top program that coach will have to be a big enough prick to want to be able to have “rebuilt Notre Dame” on his resume for pride’s sake alone and Stoops seems to be a big enough douche to want that. Still don’t think it will happen. We might get Kelly from Cincy though I’ve watched that team the last two weeks and haven’t seen anything special yet. I’d rather get Harbaugh just because I like the guy.
Tate and Claussen are going pro and I can’t really blame either of them. After seeing Sam Bradford lose this entire year, and a few million, to injuries I can see why Claussen should get going while the going is good. The biggest knock on Tate’s game is his height and unless the new coach has some way of improving that I would test the draft as well.
Finally, on Weis’ comments on Pete Carroll. I mean, I don’t like the guy but I wouldn’t just toss allegations of him cheating on his wife out there. I mean, you should walk in his shoes first, which Charlie will be able to do once he wins a national championship and coaches a few Heisman winners.
Coming tomorrow: The bowl preview begins!!!
Also, for those people who are up in arms about the Tiger Wood sketch on Saturday Night Live you are missing the point. If you are going to complain, complain about the fact that given the best setup ever they still wrote an unfunny sketch. People are making a big deal that the sketch made life of spousal abuse (implying that Elin beat up Tiger, which is most likely true.) Ok, in a land of political correctness that is probably not a proper topic but since when is comedy supposed to be politically correct? The vengeful Swedish supermodel wrapping a golf club around his skull isn’t in bad taste; it is freaking hysterical.
What is striking me more now given the fact that Elin is being rumored to be moving out is that this all seems to have come as a complete surprise to her. I find it interesting in that I know that in some celebrity / athlete relationships that there is at least some degree of acceptance that cheating will occur. I in no way condone this but often it is the case. But on this one Tiger seemed to try to have his perfect marriage with everything else on the side and if that is the case I can’t say that I am sorry to see it all blow up in his face.
Random Thought of the Day: Why don’t we see any Gallagher specials anymore? Have we reached the point where destroying watermelons with a hammer is no longer funny? It is a sad day for society if that is the case.
I’ll end it tonight by speaking on some of the Notre Dame rumors. I’m still silently pulling for Bob Stoops though I doubt it will happen. I feel that in order to get a coach from a top program that coach will have to be a big enough prick to want to be able to have “rebuilt Notre Dame” on his resume for pride’s sake alone and Stoops seems to be a big enough douche to want that. Still don’t think it will happen. We might get Kelly from Cincy though I’ve watched that team the last two weeks and haven’t seen anything special yet. I’d rather get Harbaugh just because I like the guy.
Tate and Claussen are going pro and I can’t really blame either of them. After seeing Sam Bradford lose this entire year, and a few million, to injuries I can see why Claussen should get going while the going is good. The biggest knock on Tate’s game is his height and unless the new coach has some way of improving that I would test the draft as well.
Finally, on Weis’ comments on Pete Carroll. I mean, I don’t like the guy but I wouldn’t just toss allegations of him cheating on his wife out there. I mean, you should walk in his shoes first, which Charlie will be able to do once he wins a national championship and coaches a few Heisman winners.
Coming tomorrow: The bowl preview begins!!!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Life's little annoyances
When you have the same commute every day little things take on a great deal of significance and annoyance. I had a great example of one of these today. I found myself behind a loaner Lexus on a two lane road. This isn’t too big of a deal, it’s nice to know that a dealership will still lend out loaner vehicles, but I noticed that the car had its window wipers on when it wasn’t raining. And continued to have the window wipers on for the entire fifteen minutes that I followed it.
You would not believe how much this upset me. It was even worse than when you follow someone with their turn signal on. Sure, that drives you up the wall but at least you understand how it could happen. We all have left a turn signal on only to notice twenty or thirty seconds later. It is easy to miss. But how the hell can you not notice that your windshield wipers are on? Even in an unfamiliar car it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out how to turn them off. Given that it is a loaner car it is not as though it should be in bad condition. I just got more pissed off every time I looked through the windshield and saw those blades flip across. Made me wonder how they got their hands on a Lexus in the first place.
Anyway, so we fired Charlie Weis today. That means we won’t have him to kick around anymore, which is kind of a shame since he was a rather large target. My choice to fill his sweatshirt is Mark Mangino. I think we can all agree that our hope of having a talented, inspiring coach on the Notre Dame sideline is pretty much a pipe dream. Instead I think we should just focus on hiring fatter and fatter coaches until TLC dedicates a camera crew to the team to film their “800 pound coach” special. If anyone can explain to me what those shows on hyper-obese people have to do with learning I am all ears. All it teaches me to do is put down the sandwich.
Tiger Woods Update: He will not play in his own tournament and is likely out until the start of next year. Also, one of his friends has stated that he is in the market for a “Kobe special.” I’m guessing that he is going to go shopping at Jared’s. Because what is the 13 letter answer to “What does a guy do after hooking up with a skank in Australia who then brags about it to all of her friends in New York?”
It is interesting to see that other people are picking up on whether or not this should be a story or not. If this is indicative of an affair or spousal abuse does not at the moment impact whether he makes a 20 foot putt. But since Tiger Woods is a billion dollar brand built upon being a squeaky clean image this is a huge story. If John Mallinger had this happen to him it would not even have made the ESPN ticker. Who is John Mallinger? He was the 50th best golfer in the world last year bringing in $1.7 million. Tiger Woods is paid for being a celebrity that is what endorsement dollars are for. In return for those payments you lose the right to privacy. Yes, in a perfect world we would let Tiger sort this out on his own but we all want to see our heroes get dirty. It makes them human.
You would not believe how much this upset me. It was even worse than when you follow someone with their turn signal on. Sure, that drives you up the wall but at least you understand how it could happen. We all have left a turn signal on only to notice twenty or thirty seconds later. It is easy to miss. But how the hell can you not notice that your windshield wipers are on? Even in an unfamiliar car it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out how to turn them off. Given that it is a loaner car it is not as though it should be in bad condition. I just got more pissed off every time I looked through the windshield and saw those blades flip across. Made me wonder how they got their hands on a Lexus in the first place.
Anyway, so we fired Charlie Weis today. That means we won’t have him to kick around anymore, which is kind of a shame since he was a rather large target. My choice to fill his sweatshirt is Mark Mangino. I think we can all agree that our hope of having a talented, inspiring coach on the Notre Dame sideline is pretty much a pipe dream. Instead I think we should just focus on hiring fatter and fatter coaches until TLC dedicates a camera crew to the team to film their “800 pound coach” special. If anyone can explain to me what those shows on hyper-obese people have to do with learning I am all ears. All it teaches me to do is put down the sandwich.
Tiger Woods Update: He will not play in his own tournament and is likely out until the start of next year. Also, one of his friends has stated that he is in the market for a “Kobe special.” I’m guessing that he is going to go shopping at Jared’s. Because what is the 13 letter answer to “What does a guy do after hooking up with a skank in Australia who then brags about it to all of her friends in New York?”
It is interesting to see that other people are picking up on whether or not this should be a story or not. If this is indicative of an affair or spousal abuse does not at the moment impact whether he makes a 20 foot putt. But since Tiger Woods is a billion dollar brand built upon being a squeaky clean image this is a huge story. If John Mallinger had this happen to him it would not even have made the ESPN ticker. Who is John Mallinger? He was the 50th best golfer in the world last year bringing in $1.7 million. Tiger Woods is paid for being a celebrity that is what endorsement dollars are for. In return for those payments you lose the right to privacy. Yes, in a perfect world we would let Tiger sort this out on his own but we all want to see our heroes get dirty. It makes them human.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Encouragement: South Bend Style
It only took three years but someone finally punched Jimmy Claussen in the face. It creates a nice bookend for his Notre Dame career. He starts it by getting out of a stretch limo in front of the College Football Hall of Fame and ends it by getting sucker punched at CJs.
For those who haven’t heard the story or are unfamiliar with the details of the South Bend bar scene I’ll try to fill you in. Jimmy Claussen, the 22 year old true junior quarterback…let me go off on that point for a moment. When I was 22 I had already graduated and was well into the first year of my job. Claussen is just starting his junior year. Does that strike anyone else as really, really bad? No wonder he looks like a stud compared to 18 year old defensive backs. Anyway, after the horrendous loss to UConn Jimmy was with his family at CJs having a nice dinner at two in the morning when he was assaulted by a disgruntled fan.
Now to put CJs in perspective the only times in my two years in South Bend that I can recall going there involve either a) Erik playing a gig there or b) bar golf and to be honest I can’t actually recall the night of bar golf. I just assume I was there. Basically it is a dive bar amongst dive bars only known for having a decent burger and being conveniently located next to the hospital. So you are there only if you feel like getting completely trashed. So it is at least a little odd that this is where we find young Jimmy.
Did he deserve to get punched in the face? Discounting the fact that every picture of him makes him look like a smug jerk and I would love to see the injury report read Claussen: Out (Douchebag) I really can’t blame the crappy season on him. It’s not his fault that the defense can’t tackle anybody. Or that the redzone offense consists of randomly throwing the ball in the air and hoping that someone tall catches it. Still, if you want a good understanding of the level of discontent in South Bend we are starting to beat up the players on our team who are actually good. Imagine what we are doing to the linebacking corps.
Remember everyone this is the time of year where we give thanks. As in “Thank God this season is over” and “Thankfully I will have an excuse to watch the Little Caesars’ Pizza Bowl this year.”
For those who haven’t heard the story or are unfamiliar with the details of the South Bend bar scene I’ll try to fill you in. Jimmy Claussen, the 22 year old true junior quarterback…let me go off on that point for a moment. When I was 22 I had already graduated and was well into the first year of my job. Claussen is just starting his junior year. Does that strike anyone else as really, really bad? No wonder he looks like a stud compared to 18 year old defensive backs. Anyway, after the horrendous loss to UConn Jimmy was with his family at CJs having a nice dinner at two in the morning when he was assaulted by a disgruntled fan.
Now to put CJs in perspective the only times in my two years in South Bend that I can recall going there involve either a) Erik playing a gig there or b) bar golf and to be honest I can’t actually recall the night of bar golf. I just assume I was there. Basically it is a dive bar amongst dive bars only known for having a decent burger and being conveniently located next to the hospital. So you are there only if you feel like getting completely trashed. So it is at least a little odd that this is where we find young Jimmy.
Did he deserve to get punched in the face? Discounting the fact that every picture of him makes him look like a smug jerk and I would love to see the injury report read Claussen: Out (Douchebag) I really can’t blame the crappy season on him. It’s not his fault that the defense can’t tackle anybody. Or that the redzone offense consists of randomly throwing the ball in the air and hoping that someone tall catches it. Still, if you want a good understanding of the level of discontent in South Bend we are starting to beat up the players on our team who are actually good. Imagine what we are doing to the linebacking corps.
Remember everyone this is the time of year where we give thanks. As in “Thank God this season is over” and “Thankfully I will have an excuse to watch the Little Caesars’ Pizza Bowl this year.”
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Werewolves AND vampires?
Wasn’t New Moon amazing? I mean, I knew I was going to have to wait out in the cold Thursday night for the midnight showing but it was so worth it….
(While driving around this weekend I saw a minivan with “Honk if you are a New Moon fan” painted on the window. What a bunch of nerds and this is coming from a guy with his own stormtrooper costume. I’ll leave it with this: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; never underestimate the purchasing power of teenage girls.)
Glad to see that people enjoyed the Bon Jovi post. I hoped that it would go over well especially given that I have had to spend the past several days with that song running through my head. You can only hear yourself go “Oh ho!” so many times before you want to push a pencil in your ear to make it stop. Next one will most likely be either Poison or Whitesnake as hair metal seems to be an endless source of material.
Well I did force myself to watch the Notre Dame game over the weekend and I have to say that this has to be the end for Charlie Weis. He may have done a good job as a recruiter, particularly on offense, but I have never seen a coach lose so many winnable games. This isn’t a case of the team having .500 talent. There is no reason why this shouldn’t be a 9-3 team playing in the Gator Bowl based on talent alone. At some point you have to look at the head coach and go something is wrong.
Yes, it would help if we had anyone coaching or possibly even playing defense. I was thinking, have we had an NFL caliber linebacker since Rocky Boivan? Or an NFL cornerback since…since…I can’t even name the last one. You would think that defense would be our strong suit but outside of linemen like Justin Tuck we really haven’t been producing top talent on that side of the ball.
The good news is that Weis pretty much knows that he is done so there will not be much drama on that end. Plus, the ND job will be the highest profile job opening so we should be able to get the best of the possible candidates. I’m not sold on the Cincinnati coach, mainly because I can’t remember his name and being able to win in the Big East is not exactly something I consider to be that challenging. I would like Gruden but that is probably not going to happen. I’ll take a guy who gets the players to live up to their talent. That would be a good start.
Best of 120 Minutes: Keeping on the Notre Dame front, this was like one of the five good songs one could choose from the Backer jukebox back in my day. Which was 2002.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Polyphonic Spree “Together We’re heavy”
2) De La Soul “3 Feet High and Rising”
3) Harry Connick Jr. “We are in Love”
4) Caitlin Cary “While You Weren’t Looking”
5) Caitlin Cary “I’m Staying Out”
(While driving around this weekend I saw a minivan with “Honk if you are a New Moon fan” painted on the window. What a bunch of nerds and this is coming from a guy with his own stormtrooper costume. I’ll leave it with this: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; never underestimate the purchasing power of teenage girls.)
Glad to see that people enjoyed the Bon Jovi post. I hoped that it would go over well especially given that I have had to spend the past several days with that song running through my head. You can only hear yourself go “Oh ho!” so many times before you want to push a pencil in your ear to make it stop. Next one will most likely be either Poison or Whitesnake as hair metal seems to be an endless source of material.
Well I did force myself to watch the Notre Dame game over the weekend and I have to say that this has to be the end for Charlie Weis. He may have done a good job as a recruiter, particularly on offense, but I have never seen a coach lose so many winnable games. This isn’t a case of the team having .500 talent. There is no reason why this shouldn’t be a 9-3 team playing in the Gator Bowl based on talent alone. At some point you have to look at the head coach and go something is wrong.
Yes, it would help if we had anyone coaching or possibly even playing defense. I was thinking, have we had an NFL caliber linebacker since Rocky Boivan? Or an NFL cornerback since…since…I can’t even name the last one. You would think that defense would be our strong suit but outside of linemen like Justin Tuck we really haven’t been producing top talent on that side of the ball.
The good news is that Weis pretty much knows that he is done so there will not be much drama on that end. Plus, the ND job will be the highest profile job opening so we should be able to get the best of the possible candidates. I’m not sold on the Cincinnati coach, mainly because I can’t remember his name and being able to win in the Big East is not exactly something I consider to be that challenging. I would like Gruden but that is probably not going to happen. I’ll take a guy who gets the players to live up to their talent. That would be a good start.
Best of 120 Minutes: Keeping on the Notre Dame front, this was like one of the five good songs one could choose from the Backer jukebox back in my day. Which was 2002.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Polyphonic Spree “Together We’re heavy”
2) De La Soul “3 Feet High and Rising”
3) Harry Connick Jr. “We are in Love”
4) Caitlin Cary “While You Weren’t Looking”
5) Caitlin Cary “I’m Staying Out”
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Hoping for a bid in the Brut (by Faberge) Sun Bowl
I get the most wonderful things in the mail. Earlier this week due to my status as a regular donor I received my Notre Dame Football Bowl Game ticket application in which I could request tickets for Notre Dame’s appearance in either the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta or BCS Championship Game. I am not making this up. Apparently the Notre Dame athletic department is holding on to the hope that all twenty five teams ranked in front of us lose all of their remaining games by fifty points apiece.
(In fact my only options for games that ND could possibly attend are the Cotton Bowl, the Gator Bowl (free DeBolt!), or the fabled “Any bowl not listed on this application, even if said bowl might be held in Detroit.”)
Let’s face it, like most Notre Dame fans I am rather dispirited after having to watch a second defeat to Navy in three years. It is great that we admire the students of the Naval Academy for their hard work and dedication and devotion to our country. That doesn’t mean that we should lose to them, though. And the fact is, though Notre Dame blew about a half dozen scoring opportunities in the game I can’t sit here and say that Notre Dame was the best team on the field. At some point you have to start looking at the coach.
I’m not going to get into the fundamentals here. The defense was horrible to the point of being non-existent and it has been that way for years. I don’t know why that is the case, if it is coaching or recruiting, but you would think that defense would be the hallmark of an ND team. It ties into the type of athlete we recruit. Smart, hardworking, tenacious, all of the qualities that make up a great defensive player. We might not get the best athletes but the ones that we do get should be the smartest and most dedicated guys that you could find.
That is really my biggest problem with the team. They do so many things that are the antithesis of what Notre Dame football should be about. Offensive lineman (and Jimmy Claussen) pick up stupid personal fouls. The snap count seems to be forgotten once a series. Coverages are blown and composure is lost. All of these are things that ND players should never do. We are really meant to be Navy with better athletes. We may not have the sheer talent of an Alabama but in a perfect world we would beat them through intelligence and discipline. Right now that thought seems rather laughable.
Basically I am done with the Charlie Weis experiment or as I like to call it “Life with Chaz.” He has never shown that he can beat a team that he isn’t expected to beat or consistently beat the opponent in an even match up. Sure he can develop offensive talent for the pros but they do not achieve what they are capable of in college. I just don’t see the leadership or even the creation of a team in his image. Maybe Gruden can come in and turn things around. I just hope that I don’t have to watch us lose to a team coached by Dave Freaking Waanstadt for a second year in a row.
(In fact my only options for games that ND could possibly attend are the Cotton Bowl, the Gator Bowl (free DeBolt!), or the fabled “Any bowl not listed on this application, even if said bowl might be held in Detroit.”)
Let’s face it, like most Notre Dame fans I am rather dispirited after having to watch a second defeat to Navy in three years. It is great that we admire the students of the Naval Academy for their hard work and dedication and devotion to our country. That doesn’t mean that we should lose to them, though. And the fact is, though Notre Dame blew about a half dozen scoring opportunities in the game I can’t sit here and say that Notre Dame was the best team on the field. At some point you have to start looking at the coach.
I’m not going to get into the fundamentals here. The defense was horrible to the point of being non-existent and it has been that way for years. I don’t know why that is the case, if it is coaching or recruiting, but you would think that defense would be the hallmark of an ND team. It ties into the type of athlete we recruit. Smart, hardworking, tenacious, all of the qualities that make up a great defensive player. We might not get the best athletes but the ones that we do get should be the smartest and most dedicated guys that you could find.
That is really my biggest problem with the team. They do so many things that are the antithesis of what Notre Dame football should be about. Offensive lineman (and Jimmy Claussen) pick up stupid personal fouls. The snap count seems to be forgotten once a series. Coverages are blown and composure is lost. All of these are things that ND players should never do. We are really meant to be Navy with better athletes. We may not have the sheer talent of an Alabama but in a perfect world we would beat them through intelligence and discipline. Right now that thought seems rather laughable.
Basically I am done with the Charlie Weis experiment or as I like to call it “Life with Chaz.” He has never shown that he can beat a team that he isn’t expected to beat or consistently beat the opponent in an even match up. Sure he can develop offensive talent for the pros but they do not achieve what they are capable of in college. I just don’t see the leadership or even the creation of a team in his image. Maybe Gruden can come in and turn things around. I just hope that I don’t have to watch us lose to a team coached by Dave Freaking Waanstadt for a second year in a row.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
We are...oh why bother
Fandom is a rather strange thing. It is not something you can casually acquire. Several people have asked if I was really into the Phillies World Series run given how I now live here. I mean, this was the first time in my life that I actually lived within an hour of a city that won a World Series. You would think that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to spend my evenings in bars and celebrate with absolute strangers. But I didn’t because all I would be doing is going “Go team from my vague geographic location!” It’s one thing to cheer a team because you follow and believe in them. It is another to cheer for a team because you drive to their city to catch a flight out of town.
As a result, something like the Eagles loss today doesn’t bother me at all. In fact I can laugh at the entire comical nature of it. Donovan McNabb being benched for either poor play or the fact that he was wearing either hand warmers or those huge Hulk fists on the sidelines. A guy named Kevin Kolb being brought on to quarterback an NFL team. The Eagles giving up a 108 yard interception return in which the entire team, and several guys on the bench, missed opportunities to make a tackle. I can watch all this with a sense of bemusement much in the same way I look at the Chiefs and wonder what it must be like in Kansas City now that they have no professional sports.
But Notre Dame football is a different matter. Now I did not grow up a Notre Dame fan. In fact, I was pretty anti-Notre Dame as a kid. I know that that is a little shocking to most people, especially given that I’m an Irish Catholic kid from the South Side of Chicago, but it is true. My mom went to DePaul and I grew up watching and cheering for DePaul basketball and that meant booing Notre Dame. Then as I got older I couldn’t get myself behind a school that always seemed to arrogantly pride itself on being better than everyone else. So I became a fan of Duke indicating that I did not truly understand the concept of irony until I was well into my twenties.
But I did have a change of heart when I went to ND for business school and after two years there I truly became a fan. My fall is scheduled around Notre Dame games. I’ll sit on my couch and watch and cheer and I’ll make my way to a game or two every season. I even went to a road game this year as the Navy game was a short drive from me. It is what a fan is supposed to do. You support your team at all times.
But man, did yesterday’s game disappoint me in ways I never thought I could experience (and this is coming from someone who has been dumped in more cruel and diabolical ways than anyone else known to man.) We were up against Syracuse, which just has a horrible team. They were ranked in the 100ths in both offense and defense with a coach that had been fired and is now simply serving out his contract. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was looking for their seventh win and an opportunity to go to a bowl game that pays more than what the team deserves to receive.
So what happens? They play horribly. When turnovers give them the ball on the opponents twenty they have to settle for field goals. Their lone touchdown of the first half should have been called back for pass interference. They build a lead in the third quarter so I decide to watch the remainder of the game while on the treadmill. Thus I got to watch the team squander possession after possession until Syracuse wins it in the final minute. I’m happy that I was putting in three miles because that at least made the afternoon somewhat worthwhile. At least I accomplished something, which is more than the team did.
I’ll still support the team and cheer and do all the things that fans do. We are fans, all we know how to do is follow our team. But that was just a sad, lifeless showing by the team. It is not in the least the way Notre Dame is supposed to play or represent themselves. I’m really hoping that things can turn around but this is the first time in a while that I wanted to turn the television off in disgust.
Best of 120 Minutes: It is the holiday season and no better way to start off the week of Thanksgiving than a video by The Cranberries. Yes, I’m forced to continue with musical puns. I’m not sure if this band lived up to their potential or not other than at one point in time I think every guy on the planet had a crush on Dolores O’Rioreden. Watching this video again reminds me why.
As a result, something like the Eagles loss today doesn’t bother me at all. In fact I can laugh at the entire comical nature of it. Donovan McNabb being benched for either poor play or the fact that he was wearing either hand warmers or those huge Hulk fists on the sidelines. A guy named Kevin Kolb being brought on to quarterback an NFL team. The Eagles giving up a 108 yard interception return in which the entire team, and several guys on the bench, missed opportunities to make a tackle. I can watch all this with a sense of bemusement much in the same way I look at the Chiefs and wonder what it must be like in Kansas City now that they have no professional sports.
But Notre Dame football is a different matter. Now I did not grow up a Notre Dame fan. In fact, I was pretty anti-Notre Dame as a kid. I know that that is a little shocking to most people, especially given that I’m an Irish Catholic kid from the South Side of Chicago, but it is true. My mom went to DePaul and I grew up watching and cheering for DePaul basketball and that meant booing Notre Dame. Then as I got older I couldn’t get myself behind a school that always seemed to arrogantly pride itself on being better than everyone else. So I became a fan of Duke indicating that I did not truly understand the concept of irony until I was well into my twenties.
But I did have a change of heart when I went to ND for business school and after two years there I truly became a fan. My fall is scheduled around Notre Dame games. I’ll sit on my couch and watch and cheer and I’ll make my way to a game or two every season. I even went to a road game this year as the Navy game was a short drive from me. It is what a fan is supposed to do. You support your team at all times.
But man, did yesterday’s game disappoint me in ways I never thought I could experience (and this is coming from someone who has been dumped in more cruel and diabolical ways than anyone else known to man.) We were up against Syracuse, which just has a horrible team. They were ranked in the 100ths in both offense and defense with a coach that had been fired and is now simply serving out his contract. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was looking for their seventh win and an opportunity to go to a bowl game that pays more than what the team deserves to receive.
So what happens? They play horribly. When turnovers give them the ball on the opponents twenty they have to settle for field goals. Their lone touchdown of the first half should have been called back for pass interference. They build a lead in the third quarter so I decide to watch the remainder of the game while on the treadmill. Thus I got to watch the team squander possession after possession until Syracuse wins it in the final minute. I’m happy that I was putting in three miles because that at least made the afternoon somewhat worthwhile. At least I accomplished something, which is more than the team did.
I’ll still support the team and cheer and do all the things that fans do. We are fans, all we know how to do is follow our team. But that was just a sad, lifeless showing by the team. It is not in the least the way Notre Dame is supposed to play or represent themselves. I’m really hoping that things can turn around but this is the first time in a while that I wanted to turn the television off in disgust.
Best of 120 Minutes: It is the holiday season and no better way to start off the week of Thanksgiving than a video by The Cranberries. Yes, I’m forced to continue with musical puns. I’m not sure if this band lived up to their potential or not other than at one point in time I think every guy on the planet had a crush on Dolores O’Rioreden. Watching this video again reminds me why.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The water provided Navy with a natural advantage
It was an interesting weekend on my end. Maybe not in terms of long lasting meaningful events but in terms of just some strange occurrences and minor grievances.
I went to the Notre Dame – Navy game in Baltimore on Saturday. To those who might be reading this who were at the game, sorry I didn’t make an attempt to meet up with you but this was a real last minute decision on my part. I did not get my ticket and parking pass until Friday night. Now while I had never driven to Baltimore I looked up the drive and ended up timing the trip so that I would get there an hour and a half before kickoff. Plenty of time to walk around the tailgates and see if I could find anyone I know.
Or so was the plan. Apparently the fine people of Baltimore have no idea as to how to design a road system that allows people to actually get to the stadium. Seriously, I just made it in before kickoff due to how horrible the traffic was on all of the ramps with absolutely no signs or indications as to how to speed up the trip. Now on some levels it was cool. I did get to see the midshipmen march into the stadium from the comfort of my car on an off-ramp. That is a very inspiring sight. However, when those same midshipmen are marching down the road you need to cross you suddenly begin to wish that we had downsized our military.
But I did get in and after taking the stairs to the upper most level of the stadium (which I considered my workout for the game) I sat down with a beer in my hand for the game. Yes, I finally got to watch Jimmy Claussen quarterback while drinking without the fear of being ejected from the stadium. Trust me, it is the only way that makes his play even remotely tolerable. While ND-Navy is a historic rivalry it is probably the most congenial rivalry in all of football. I just sat there joking with the Navy fans behind me. There is no ill will between the two schools. We just play each other every year.
The weather was really nice for three and a half quarters. Sun was out, wasn’t too cold, and after a horrible first half Notre Dame finally decided to play some offense and take a 27-7 lead. Then we started feeling a few drops of rain. I put up the hood on my sweatshirt thinking that this would protect me enough from the rain to last the rest of the game. Sadly, I did not account for the monsoon that hit at that point. At the ripe old age of 35, being in the exposed upper deck of a football stadium while blinding rain and 30 mile an hour wind gusts are going on is not exactly what I am up for on my day off. So once I reached the point where every single part of me was completely drenched I fled for safety and concluding that the game was well within reach I made my way to my car.
Got to my car with two minutes to go and after an incredibly smooth exit (seriously, Baltimore is bizarro stadium, can’t get in but easy to leave) I got to listen on the radio as Navy scores twice, converts two onside kicks and almost pulls out a victory. While I’m bummed I missed all the excitement I am happy that I left. Being wet, miserable and watching Notre Dame lose to Navy for two years in a row is not something I wanted to be a part of.
Oh, and how wet did I get? My shoes still haven’t dried. I just did laundry and I think my sweatshirt was less wet after being in the washing machine. Don’t think I’ve ever gotten that fully soaked.
I made it home in one piece but spent the entire night trying to warm up. Never quite could so I called it an early night and didn’t hit the bars as I initially planned. I really haven’t been going out much since I moved out here to the point that it is becoming a bit of an issue. I know that I’ve only been here two and a half months (and I’ve been out of town for a bit of that) but I’ve realized that I have not had a single conversation with someone that I do not work with since I’ve been here. Sure, I’ve talked to people but I haven’t had an honest to goodness conversation. It’s just been words exchanged out of politeness. That makes for a trying existence.
I have an electronic social life now. Chats online with jokes passed along Facebook posts. The occasional voice across a cell phone, just digital signals recombined into something resembling a human voice but without any of the soul. It is not the life I want to lead but for the moment it will have to do.
Best of 120 Minutes: It’s been gray and dreary all weekend. I’m still in a dark mood. That can mean only one thing: Joy Division. If I knew what Goths were in high school I would have been one.
The Five Random CDs for the week: As the notes of Death Cab for Cutie’s “Narrow Stairs” faded from my stereo it marked the completion of the nearly three year project to listen to every CD that I own in random order. Quite the accomplishment and I enjoyed every moment of it even if there are some of the 700+ CDs that I really wish I hadn’t purchased. I could live without having to listen to Paula Cole again. But now that the project is over I would like to pose a question to my readers: Should I restart it? I need to listen to something while driving: music, NPR, books on tape. What should I do next? Suggestions are welcome in the comments.
I went to the Notre Dame – Navy game in Baltimore on Saturday. To those who might be reading this who were at the game, sorry I didn’t make an attempt to meet up with you but this was a real last minute decision on my part. I did not get my ticket and parking pass until Friday night. Now while I had never driven to Baltimore I looked up the drive and ended up timing the trip so that I would get there an hour and a half before kickoff. Plenty of time to walk around the tailgates and see if I could find anyone I know.
Or so was the plan. Apparently the fine people of Baltimore have no idea as to how to design a road system that allows people to actually get to the stadium. Seriously, I just made it in before kickoff due to how horrible the traffic was on all of the ramps with absolutely no signs or indications as to how to speed up the trip. Now on some levels it was cool. I did get to see the midshipmen march into the stadium from the comfort of my car on an off-ramp. That is a very inspiring sight. However, when those same midshipmen are marching down the road you need to cross you suddenly begin to wish that we had downsized our military.
But I did get in and after taking the stairs to the upper most level of the stadium (which I considered my workout for the game) I sat down with a beer in my hand for the game. Yes, I finally got to watch Jimmy Claussen quarterback while drinking without the fear of being ejected from the stadium. Trust me, it is the only way that makes his play even remotely tolerable. While ND-Navy is a historic rivalry it is probably the most congenial rivalry in all of football. I just sat there joking with the Navy fans behind me. There is no ill will between the two schools. We just play each other every year.
The weather was really nice for three and a half quarters. Sun was out, wasn’t too cold, and after a horrible first half Notre Dame finally decided to play some offense and take a 27-7 lead. Then we started feeling a few drops of rain. I put up the hood on my sweatshirt thinking that this would protect me enough from the rain to last the rest of the game. Sadly, I did not account for the monsoon that hit at that point. At the ripe old age of 35, being in the exposed upper deck of a football stadium while blinding rain and 30 mile an hour wind gusts are going on is not exactly what I am up for on my day off. So once I reached the point where every single part of me was completely drenched I fled for safety and concluding that the game was well within reach I made my way to my car.
Got to my car with two minutes to go and after an incredibly smooth exit (seriously, Baltimore is bizarro stadium, can’t get in but easy to leave) I got to listen on the radio as Navy scores twice, converts two onside kicks and almost pulls out a victory. While I’m bummed I missed all the excitement I am happy that I left. Being wet, miserable and watching Notre Dame lose to Navy for two years in a row is not something I wanted to be a part of.
Oh, and how wet did I get? My shoes still haven’t dried. I just did laundry and I think my sweatshirt was less wet after being in the washing machine. Don’t think I’ve ever gotten that fully soaked.
I made it home in one piece but spent the entire night trying to warm up. Never quite could so I called it an early night and didn’t hit the bars as I initially planned. I really haven’t been going out much since I moved out here to the point that it is becoming a bit of an issue. I know that I’ve only been here two and a half months (and I’ve been out of town for a bit of that) but I’ve realized that I have not had a single conversation with someone that I do not work with since I’ve been here. Sure, I’ve talked to people but I haven’t had an honest to goodness conversation. It’s just been words exchanged out of politeness. That makes for a trying existence.
I have an electronic social life now. Chats online with jokes passed along Facebook posts. The occasional voice across a cell phone, just digital signals recombined into something resembling a human voice but without any of the soul. It is not the life I want to lead but for the moment it will have to do.
Best of 120 Minutes: It’s been gray and dreary all weekend. I’m still in a dark mood. That can mean only one thing: Joy Division. If I knew what Goths were in high school I would have been one.
The Five Random CDs for the week: As the notes of Death Cab for Cutie’s “Narrow Stairs” faded from my stereo it marked the completion of the nearly three year project to listen to every CD that I own in random order. Quite the accomplishment and I enjoyed every moment of it even if there are some of the 700+ CDs that I really wish I hadn’t purchased. I could live without having to listen to Paula Cole again. But now that the project is over I would like to pose a question to my readers: Should I restart it? I need to listen to something while driving: music, NPR, books on tape. What should I do next? Suggestions are welcome in the comments.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sports Night everynight...
Wednesday Night Music Club: I know that when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of covers of old Dolly Parton songs. Ok, maybe not quite that but it is really tough to make a segue into this one. I'm not even sure why this came to mind other than I think I was talking about Mindy Smith to someone a few weeks ago and I figured that she was someone I should promote in this space. If anything, she has a new Christmas album out that is supposed to be really good so if you like this song and want to get in the holiday spirit, there's the first item on your shopping list. After, of course, stopping by Kohl's at four in the morning.
Seriously, Kohl's is having a 4 AM sale on Friday. To anyone who is shopping for me, I am nowhere near important enough to shop for at four in the morning. Unless you are actually coming back from a bar there is no legitimate reason to be awake at four in the morning.
Ok, in lieu of actual topics tonight I'm going to respond to some of the comments on the last few posts...
On the play of Jimmy Claussen, I have seen a few comparisons of Claussen's numbers to Quinn's and yes, numerically speaking they look the same. But, and it really pains me to imply that this could ever be the case, numbers aren't the whole story. While Brady Quinn was not a good quarterback as a freshman at least I was confident that he was, in fact, a quarterback. There was promise there and while he was getting his ass kicked you at least saw a glimmer of hope.
I don't see that with Claussen even though I was one of his biggest backers coming into the season. The guy has a great arm (better than his brothers) and was raised to be a quarterback. The thing is he just doesn't seem to be smart back there. While at the game Saturday there were plays where I knew precisely who he was throwing to because as soon as the ball was snapped that is all he looked at and was oblivious to other receivers or defensive lineman. When the guy who never played football in his life can read your eyes something is horribly wrong.
And the other thing that really bothers me is that while he is officially a true freshman the dude is 20 years old. His birthday is a few weeks after mine. Do you know what I was doing when I was 20? I was a junior in electrical engineering at Illinois, not taking intro to everything classes at Notre Dame. That just really bothers me. Physically you are pretty much what you are going to be at 20 and sure, he can get smarter at football but it's a lot different than if he was an 18 year old freshman. Maybe it's just me but that really bugs me in terms of his development.
I did decide not to live blog the Duke-Illinois game last night mainly because I didn't feel like subjecting everyone to a post consisting of "Brian Randle just fouled someone", "For crying out loud, can we hit a freaking jumper" and "It's nice to know that I have more athletic ability than Jordan's kid." I'll start on the Illinois side. The team looked better than I had imagined but even that wasn't very good. They are fifteen deep except that there really isn't any difference between the best guy and the fifteenth guy. That's not a good thing. They showed promise and played good defense most of the night but there isn't a superstar on that team. I'm hoping that they find a flow and sneak into the tournament but that might not happen. Heck, it's never a good sign when the coach's dog needs knee surgery.
As for Duke they definitely look like a better team than last year. That's not saying much as last year's squad was not the worst Duke team I ever saw but definitely the most painful to watch. They just played ugly basketball with none of the style that made me follow the team in the first place. It was hacking defense and slow, ponderous offense. This year's squad shows more promise and athleticism with additions of some freshmen who appear to be both talented and already hated. Cheering for Duke is kind of like cheering for Microsoft in that regard. Greg Paulus still plays point guard like he is running a wishbone offense and he really makes me miss the days of Bobby Hurley running the offense while simultaneously smoking a cigarette.
Speaking of wishbones, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Monday, November 19, 2007
A win for the ages...
(I know that for most of the people who read this blog the following information is neither useful nor sensible but Chris Jericho is back! The Lionheart has returned and now I have something to live for on Monday nights. Why yes, my life is rather sad and pathetic. Why do you ask?
Seriously though, he’s pretty much the only guy in wrestling that I like who isn’t either retired or, uh, dead. Man has it been a depressing year in that regard.)
Ok, back last spring when I filled out my ND ticket lottery forms I was hopeful that I was going to get a good game. Maybe USC or Boston College if I was lucky or a nice September game with great weather. Instead I got tickets to the Duke game in the middle of November. I usually don’t even apply for those games but it is Duke and what can I say, my Duke fandom runs pretty deep. But when I won the lottery I sure didn’t expect to experience what I experienced on Saturday.
I went to the game with my brother and drove in from Chicago on gameday. Got there a few hours before kickoff and noticed something before we even got off the toll road: there was no traffic. Seriously, we made better time than I did on most of my trips to school. Pulling into the White Field lot and walking through the parking lot gave you a weird vibe that just got worse the closer you got to the stadium. The entire campus seemed entirely dead. Not much of a crowd and certainly no sense of enjoyment.
This is tough to explain if you have never experienced an ND game before. It didn’t make sense to me coming from Illinois. As Illini we didn’t really tailgate. We just kind of showed up at the game and hoped beyond hope that we wouldn’t suck as badly as we did the week before and could somehow find a way to make the Liberty Bowl. It wasn’t an event, hell I went on a date that consisted of going shopping at the mall instead of attending a game one week. But at ND the entire point of the fall is going to football games and even when the weather is bad for the last home game you celebrate knowing that this is going to be your last chance.
But that just did not seem to be the case. This season had just sucked the life out of everyone. You just didn’t hear people playing the fight song or laughing about or even being there at all. The lots were pretty empty and sure, the weather had something to do with it but that wasn’t it. I even stopped by the Backer in the hopes of seeing Donna and Joey (sorry I missed you guys) and even it didn’t feel right. Hell, even the guy who took my ticket and said “Welcome to Notre Dame” didn’t seem to mean it.
The game itself was nothing to write home about. It was two bad teams playing in rainy, cold weather. ND had the much better squad and won out eventually. After seeing him in person I am really not sold on Jimmy Claussen. I’ve never seen a quarterback outside of high school just lock on to his primary receiver and never even think about the other guys. They might as well not even be running their routes. The running game came together but they still don’t have a breakaway runner. Basically this entire season could be described by the dumb penalties in the first quarter. First down at the four brought back due to an unsportsmanlike conduct. Punt downed inside the ten cancelled out by a late hit. Just the sort of stupid errors that an ND team are not supposed to make.
(Other notes that I don’t think I can fit in elsewhere. There were pretty visible empty seats in the student section. Looks like where the sophomore and grad students sections met but I wasn’t sure. Also, I happened to have the most cynical season ticket holder fans behind me who spent the entire game ripping on the team and then leaving in the third quarter. That was actually embarrassing. I’ll make fun of Claussen but I do cheer the guy on. And as always, the band and the leprechaun were cool.)
But here is the thing, going to see a game at Notre Dame, even in these conditions, is still one of the coolest things in the world. There’s the fact that while walking around campus in the morning we stumbled across a rugby game and were able to watch that for a while. Or the fact that I was once again able to hang out at PODs tailgate (not affiliated with Legends as the sign so eloquently stated). It’s still one of the best stadiums I’ve ever been in and even though I was in the end zone I still felt like I was right on top of the field. It really is what college football is supposed to be about. I know a lot of people view statements like that as par for the course for obnoxious Notre Dame fans but I really think it is true. It isn’t fancy, it isn’t corporate, it is just about the game and the students and the community.
I just hope that next year the team has improved. I’m not sure if I could take another season like this one.
Seriously though, he’s pretty much the only guy in wrestling that I like who isn’t either retired or, uh, dead. Man has it been a depressing year in that regard.)
Ok, back last spring when I filled out my ND ticket lottery forms I was hopeful that I was going to get a good game. Maybe USC or Boston College if I was lucky or a nice September game with great weather. Instead I got tickets to the Duke game in the middle of November. I usually don’t even apply for those games but it is Duke and what can I say, my Duke fandom runs pretty deep. But when I won the lottery I sure didn’t expect to experience what I experienced on Saturday.
I went to the game with my brother and drove in from Chicago on gameday. Got there a few hours before kickoff and noticed something before we even got off the toll road: there was no traffic. Seriously, we made better time than I did on most of my trips to school. Pulling into the White Field lot and walking through the parking lot gave you a weird vibe that just got worse the closer you got to the stadium. The entire campus seemed entirely dead. Not much of a crowd and certainly no sense of enjoyment.
This is tough to explain if you have never experienced an ND game before. It didn’t make sense to me coming from Illinois. As Illini we didn’t really tailgate. We just kind of showed up at the game and hoped beyond hope that we wouldn’t suck as badly as we did the week before and could somehow find a way to make the Liberty Bowl. It wasn’t an event, hell I went on a date that consisted of going shopping at the mall instead of attending a game one week. But at ND the entire point of the fall is going to football games and even when the weather is bad for the last home game you celebrate knowing that this is going to be your last chance.
But that just did not seem to be the case. This season had just sucked the life out of everyone. You just didn’t hear people playing the fight song or laughing about or even being there at all. The lots were pretty empty and sure, the weather had something to do with it but that wasn’t it. I even stopped by the Backer in the hopes of seeing Donna and Joey (sorry I missed you guys) and even it didn’t feel right. Hell, even the guy who took my ticket and said “Welcome to Notre Dame” didn’t seem to mean it.
The game itself was nothing to write home about. It was two bad teams playing in rainy, cold weather. ND had the much better squad and won out eventually. After seeing him in person I am really not sold on Jimmy Claussen. I’ve never seen a quarterback outside of high school just lock on to his primary receiver and never even think about the other guys. They might as well not even be running their routes. The running game came together but they still don’t have a breakaway runner. Basically this entire season could be described by the dumb penalties in the first quarter. First down at the four brought back due to an unsportsmanlike conduct. Punt downed inside the ten cancelled out by a late hit. Just the sort of stupid errors that an ND team are not supposed to make.
(Other notes that I don’t think I can fit in elsewhere. There were pretty visible empty seats in the student section. Looks like where the sophomore and grad students sections met but I wasn’t sure. Also, I happened to have the most cynical season ticket holder fans behind me who spent the entire game ripping on the team and then leaving in the third quarter. That was actually embarrassing. I’ll make fun of Claussen but I do cheer the guy on. And as always, the band and the leprechaun were cool.)
But here is the thing, going to see a game at Notre Dame, even in these conditions, is still one of the coolest things in the world. There’s the fact that while walking around campus in the morning we stumbled across a rugby game and were able to watch that for a while. Or the fact that I was once again able to hang out at PODs tailgate (not affiliated with Legends as the sign so eloquently stated). It’s still one of the best stadiums I’ve ever been in and even though I was in the end zone I still felt like I was right on top of the field. It really is what college football is supposed to be about. I know a lot of people view statements like that as par for the course for obnoxious Notre Dame fans but I really think it is true. It isn’t fancy, it isn’t corporate, it is just about the game and the students and the community.
I just hope that next year the team has improved. I’m not sure if I could take another season like this one.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
One win from a bowl game...
Best of 120 Minutes: Figured that since I featured videos from Veruca Salt and Liz Phair over the past two weeks I might as well complete the Wicker Park triumvirate and play Urge Overkill. There was a brief moment in the early 90’s when Chicago was considered to be a hip music town. It really just consisted of these three bands and the Smashing Pumpkins (sometimes people would stretch and include Hum and Poster Children but in all honesty, I’m the only person on the planet who still remembers those bands.) It’s strange as to how few good rock bands came from Chicago. Until the early 90’s the best group was Styx as Cheap Trick is technically from Rockford. Anyway, at one point in my life I recommended Urge Overkill (and Sister Havana in particular) as proof of my awesome taste in music. Yeah, that didn’t really work out for me.
I find it incredibly funny that the first game that Notre Dame wins is the one that I don’t watch. If I watch every down they play horribly. If I avoid the game completely they pull off a big road upset. In the words of that wonderful poet Alanis Morisette, “Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think.” Well, at least I now don’t have to worry about a winless season. It’s still going to be a brutal season but that and a loss by USC makes life more bearable.
Plus, I did get to watch my Illini pull off one of their biggest wins ever. Ok, so it was a completely overranked Wisconsin team and I think that a few people had us as the favorites but damnit, we officially beat the number five team in the nation and that’s all I’m going to focus on. Do you know how long it has been since we beat a top five team? Hell, do you know how long it has been since we’ve won three conference games in a season? As always, I’m impressed by the current generation of Illini fans, who always wear orange and are loud and rambunctious. This is counter to when I was a student where we made up the most cynical fanbase ever. We booed our own team on homecoming. Admittedly, anyone who gives up a 17 point lead to Northwestern on homecoming deserves to be booed.
I’m just happy that my school is actually respectable in football again. Illinois is a school that never gets the respect it deserves. It’s one of the top schools in the country but no one ever realizes it. I was in a EE program that is equivalent to that at MIT, Stanford and Berkley but it’s tough to get anyone to admit it. Though I was happy to see that Dr. Holonyak got mentioned in the publicity commercial for the school at halftime. I met him a couple of times and the guy only invented the LED. Not a minor accomplishment.
Ok, there is one big music story that I need to touch on. As I mentioned last week, when I saw Arcade Fire with a three quarters filled Starlight I had my faith in humanity restored. Then I remembered that Garth Brooks was playing the Sprint Center in KC and I lost it again. Well, the tickets went on sale on Saturday and not only did that show sell out but they added eight additional shows. I’m not making this up. There is so much demand for Garth Brooks tickets in KC that he can sell out a basketball arena for nine consecutive nights. I’m not sure if this is a good sign for Kansas City or humanity in general.
Seriously, do you have any desire to see Garth Brooks? Even in a post-ironic “let’s make fun of the crowd” sense of the term? We’re talking about someone who hasn’t been relevant for a decade. Given that there are roughly 18,000 seats this means that nearly 150,000 people in this region want to see him play. That’s frightening. There is no other way to put it. I was one of like forty people seeing Mark Olson play. I doubt that Polyphonic Spree will sell out a small venue. But enough people for a sizable city want to see Garth. Just bizarre.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Belly “Star”
2) Cowboy Junkies “The Trinity Sessions”
3) Bob Dylan “The Essential Bob Dylan”
4) Jack Ingram “Jack Ingram”
5) The Gourds “Shinebox”
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Still wish Lia had lasted longer...
Medical update for anyone who is wondering. It looks like today will be my first day in weeks that I will make it through on just two Advil. This is down from the ten or so I was taking a day two weeks ago. And trust me, I could have chewed Advil like they were M&M’s when all of this started. My back is still sore and mornings are more than a bit of a pain but I have now progressed to the point where it no longer hurts when I breathe. So, I’m making progress. Given that I was able to stand for three hours at the Arcade Fire show I have to say that I am basically back to normal.
News item of the day that doesn’t really surprise me: Australian customs officials seized a drug shipment that was hidden inside a Mr. Potato Head doll. Outside of an AT-AT, a Mr. Potato Head is probably the most obvious place to hide drugs. Sometimes people just deserve to be caught.
So I found out today that the Notre Dame game is not going to be televised in KC on Saturday night. On one hand, this means that maybe we should have held the Home Away From Home game this weekend as at least I would have been able to see the game. On the other hand, it will be nice to have one Saturday that is not spent hurling obscenities at a television screen. Technically I can watch a game at a bar but it is one of those strip mall bars and just going into the place will make me depressed. Watching the game will just make things worse.
Heck, I can’t even win with the team in PS2. I lost to Penn State and Michigan, though I had chances to win both games. I’m just happy that I got Doctor Wang to be named players of the game. That and getting to hear “Wang unloads” and “Wang down with a sack” from the announcers. I think that it is entirely possible that I am still in the sixth grade.
Yeah, it’s just been that type of week. Not much has been going on and I’m kind of low on topics. I did watch the Top Chef finale last night and I have to say that I can’t argue with Hung winning. Some people online don’t like him because he was edited to be a villain but in reality the guy is just competitive. I completely understand why he would not help out some of the other chefs when he is competing against them. It is a competition after all. Technically, Hung is a brilliant chef. The one critique is that his food doesn’t always show the originality you would hope for and can be almost mechanical in a sense. That said, he’d be the first person I’d hire to work in my kitchen.
However, of all the contestants the one whose restaurant I would want to eat in is Dale’s. He lost because of inconsistency and a tendency to go all out and put everything on the line. But that is someone who you can tell cooks with heart and soul and his dishes seem to be flavorful and unpretentious. It’s the type of food that you know you would have a great time eating. Part of this is my standing up for a fellow Chicagoan but the dude can flat out cook. I’m happy he made it to the end.
And like most guys, I’d be more than willing to date Casey. There were some rumblings online that she only made it to the end because she was attractive but she is a really talented chef. When she was on she was dead on. I just think she needs another year or two before she really takes off. That’s what I like about Top Chef. Of all the reality competition shows this is the one where you realize that a) these people are really talented and b) they may end up with top careers as a result of it. Unlike American Idol, Top Chef will never result in anything as horrible as a Daughtry CD.
Have a great weekend everyone.
News item of the day that doesn’t really surprise me: Australian customs officials seized a drug shipment that was hidden inside a Mr. Potato Head doll. Outside of an AT-AT, a Mr. Potato Head is probably the most obvious place to hide drugs. Sometimes people just deserve to be caught.
So I found out today that the Notre Dame game is not going to be televised in KC on Saturday night. On one hand, this means that maybe we should have held the Home Away From Home game this weekend as at least I would have been able to see the game. On the other hand, it will be nice to have one Saturday that is not spent hurling obscenities at a television screen. Technically I can watch a game at a bar but it is one of those strip mall bars and just going into the place will make me depressed. Watching the game will just make things worse.
Heck, I can’t even win with the team in PS2. I lost to Penn State and Michigan, though I had chances to win both games. I’m just happy that I got Doctor Wang to be named players of the game. That and getting to hear “Wang unloads” and “Wang down with a sack” from the announcers. I think that it is entirely possible that I am still in the sixth grade.
Yeah, it’s just been that type of week. Not much has been going on and I’m kind of low on topics. I did watch the Top Chef finale last night and I have to say that I can’t argue with Hung winning. Some people online don’t like him because he was edited to be a villain but in reality the guy is just competitive. I completely understand why he would not help out some of the other chefs when he is competing against them. It is a competition after all. Technically, Hung is a brilliant chef. The one critique is that his food doesn’t always show the originality you would hope for and can be almost mechanical in a sense. That said, he’d be the first person I’d hire to work in my kitchen.
However, of all the contestants the one whose restaurant I would want to eat in is Dale’s. He lost because of inconsistency and a tendency to go all out and put everything on the line. But that is someone who you can tell cooks with heart and soul and his dishes seem to be flavorful and unpretentious. It’s the type of food that you know you would have a great time eating. Part of this is my standing up for a fellow Chicagoan but the dude can flat out cook. I’m happy he made it to the end.
And like most guys, I’d be more than willing to date Casey. There were some rumblings online that she only made it to the end because she was attractive but she is a really talented chef. When she was on she was dead on. I just think she needs another year or two before she really takes off. That’s what I like about Top Chef. Of all the reality competition shows this is the one where you realize that a) these people are really talented and b) they may end up with top careers as a result of it. Unlike American Idol, Top Chef will never result in anything as horrible as a Daughtry CD.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Fever In, Fever Out
Best of 120 Minutes: It surprises me that I can remember anything from the 1993/1994 time range. I’m not talking about the fact that there has been a lot of Jager under the bridge between now and then. It’s not because pretty much my entire life focused on incomprehensible circuit diagrams and things being measured in nanometers. It wasn’t even my attempt to date one girl, then abandoning that plan to date her roommate and then nicely blowing the entire thing. No, the main reason is that due to the hundreds of CDs that I’ve bought since then I can’t figure out how I can recall videos from bands I never even really listened to.
Like Jawbox for example. Here is what I know about Jawbox. They had a female bass player like every other band in 1993. I think they were from Washington D.C. That’s it. Oh, and this video about the freakiest children’s birthday party ever. For some reason I always forget the present of the stuffed dog (not stuffed as in the carnival prize meaning of the term) but always remember the bass player looking up at the camera at the end of the song. Still dig the song though.
I wish I had a whole bunch of stories about my sordid life to share from this weekend but sadly this entire weekend was basically spent lying on the couch sick. I started feeling it Friday night. I went out to see Mark Olson (formerly of The Jayhawks) in concert and had a good time. Even as the show was coming to an end I could feel my body trying to shut down. Got home and pretty much went straight to bed. Got up on Saturday and was feeling pretty decent. Did some shopping, had breakfast, started laundry and was all set to attack a pretty large to do list. Then, I discovered that I have ESPNU and could actually watch Illinois-Syracuse and decided to lie down on the couch and watch the first half. That may have been a bad choice.
Basically my body decided to complain about the fact that I have been going full throttle for a good month now with no break. Not even on the weekends where I have had some late Saturday nights on top of long weeks in the office. So while watching my Illini play really good ball I could start feeling myself get the chills. And then I started to sweat. Then every joint in my body, including a few I didn’t think I have, started to ache. It was at that point I realized that I probably wasn’t going to be able to go barhopping last night.
This happens to me once or twice a year where I just get worn down to the point where my body forces me to stop. Fever, aches, headaches, general overall feelings of crappines. Not something that typically hits me in September but there is always a week in January or February that follows this exact same pattern. My treatment is the same, sit on the couch and watch television, Advil for the pain, soup for my meals, and a lot of whining in general. It’ll break in a day or two and I’ll be fine, though I should probably take a day off in the near term so that I can get back on track.
(At some point in the next few days I should write about the fact that I could probably take Advil every day and be perfectly justified (other than it would create absolute havoc on my body). It’s been ten years since I had my first injury that has resulted in constant pain and I really should tell that story. It explains why I stand with a noticeable tilt and why I no longer golf.)
Anyway, I have one football story I need to post here. Obviously, Notre Dame was pitiful and even I turned it off at halftime. I played as ND on PS2 and I couldn’t score there either. Here is what bothers me. Charlie Weis is in his third year. Ron Zook at Illinois is also in his third year. After watching both teams on Saturday there is no doubt in my mind that Illinois has a better team. True, Syracuse is bad but this Illini squad really should have beat Missouri and almost did with a backup quarterback. Notre Dame just looks pitiful out there. The defense is slightly ok but the offense honestly looks like it has no weapons. The fact that the Illini are better than the Irish really bothers me. Ron Zook had a hell of a lot less to work with than Charlie Weis in terms of players and attention for recruits. After two straight two win seasons I can see Illinois going six and six and making a bowl game, which would be a huge accomplishment. I can even see an upset of Michigan due to the spread offense. For ND to go from BCS bowls to a team that seemingly can’t run any offense and doesn’t seem to have any talent is really frightening.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Buddy Miller “Midnight and Lonesome”
2) Lyle Lovett “My Baby Don’t Tolerate”
3) Various Artists “Down From the Mountain”
4) Kelly Willis “Easy”
5) Kelly Willis “Translated From Love”
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