Halloween candy
I spent $10 at Costco the other day on a bag of mini-candies (3 Musketeers, Milky Way, Snickers, M&M, Twix) so that I wouldn't be empty-handed tonight if any kids walk by Trick or Treating.
Well, I've eaten like two a day since then and my roommate froze a bunch of the Twixes because apparently that's really good, and I'm getting worried that no one's going to come tonight and I'm gonna end up eating them all.
On the worst-case-scenario side, there are 128 of them inside the bag, and at 80 calories each, that's about 10,250 calories total which is a touch less than 3 lbs. You know, in case I wigged out and ate them all tomorrow. Plus at this point there are probably only about 110 of them left, so I got that going for me.
My Mom is funny
I had an argument with her last night. So she says "You guys are always complaining about 'Mom does this' or 'Mom says that' well MOM IS TIRED OF TAKING SHIT."
That's gotta make a headline somehwere, huh? "Indian matriarch tired of taking shit from ungrateful kids."
Good times, good times. All is well now.
Quick question
Why did Roscoe Parrish look so much faster in a Miami Hurricanes uniform than he does now in the Bills uni? Was it the black shoes? Does everyone just look faster in a Canes outfit?
Courtesy of Doering's got a TD, thru
EDSBS:
Broncos Touchdowns
So Bell scored (twice), and Devoe scored. Don't they have anyone named Biv who could've gotten the ball today?
Bell, Biv, Devoe.
HAHAHAHAH
With the Packers down 7 and the clock running with 26 seconds left, a Bengals fan just ran onto the field and stripped the ball from Brett Favre before being tackled by security.
Edit: Here he is in all his glory!
12 minutes into the day of NFL
We had a score in every game but the Bears-Lions. Lots of scoring today.
I am now on page one of the Google search results for Erin Andrews (current hot-as-hell sideline reporter for ESPN).
So I figure, why not leave you with this, and the link to the Yahoo Group
"Fans of Erin Andrews" where there are plenty more pics to be had:
(Same pic as last time, only BETTER QUALITY.)
Phil Simms, learn English
On a Jason Elam field goal attempt: "He hits it good...he hits it so good the ball decompresses."
He announces real good.
Tomlinson has 9 rushes for -7 yards through about 3 qtrs
Good Lord, wonder what's going on with the Philly D today pulling that off.
I have to say
That despite Peyton Manning and Daunte Culpepper having had miles more fantasy points than anyone last season (in any reasonable scoring system), I'm seriously considering benching Manning for Bledsoe. Whenever the Colts try to throw the ball around the goal line, they fail. Peyton may not throw half as many TDs as he did last. How aggravating.
Gatorade commercial
Anyone seen that Gatorade commercial where they talk about how important a fraction of a second can be? I have to tip my hat to them on that one. They changed the footage of "The Catch" by Dwight Clark to show him missing it, changed Jordan's buzzer-beater shot over the Cavs to have him miss it, changed Jeter's sick cutoff play in the playoffs vs Oakland a couple years ago to have the A's runner be safe at the plate. Pretty impressive work there.
[Edit:
Video here. HT:
Darren Rovell commenter named kazimoto.]
Fox's halftime highlight graphics
I can't imagine who the absolute moron is for Fox who decided it's a good idea to design their score ticker the way it is on the top during halftime highlights. It shows the CURRENT score so you have no idea what the score was when the highlight being shown occurred. Bradshaw's always tripping over his words because he has to go so fast...what a mess. F- for the guys in charge of that, it's pretty much the worst presentation I have ever seen.
Favre's day so far
11/11, 167 yds, 2 TD
The Vikings have very Aintslike qualities this year. What a terrible, terrible team.
A Saints opponent booed by their home fans
This is great!
We just had a FG blocked but for once we're not making a mediocre QB (Jamie Martin) look like a Hall of Famer.
Quick comment on LSU
1) I feel sick about that win, but I'll take it.
2) Our D was playing pretty well until Irons broke 1.5 million tackles on the 75 yard TD run. Irons then became The Incredible Hulk and the Bambino combined (since he called his 200 yard game getting off the bus), and rolled us. He didn't even have the kindness to use astroglide while pounding us.
Kenny Irons in the first half:
Kenny Irons in the 2nd half:
3) We wanted the team to cure penalties and turnovers, and it got traded for WR drops. I hope this doesn't become a weekly juggling act; that perhaps by the Bama game we can have all three cured. But kudos for the discipline on penalties and fumbling.
Rams putting in a real Saints like effort today
TWO penalties on the drive to extend it for us when we otherwise would have had to punt - an idiotic personal foul/ejection on Damione Lewis, and then a defensive holding on 3rd down. We wind up scoring and are now up 14-0.
Honestly, I don't know what to think. It's been years since the Aints have had a start like this.
(In all fairness, the def holding was pretty weak from the look of the replay.)
Good Lord
Damione Lewis just got up and socked LeCharles Bentley in the nuts, and got ejected. Extended the Saints drive in the process too. Good times.
I woke up this morning
Entirely expecting a Saints 3 and out and another slow start.
Instead, 7 plays, 72 yards, TD. GEAUX SAINTS!
Wow, what a crazy finish to that drive
Dwayne Bowe dropped a floater literally through his hands, chest, everything, in the back of the endzone with no one within five yards. Brings up fourth down. We miss the FG. We remain up only 4. Ugh.
With 5 min to go in the 2nd quarter
Maurice Drew had 209 total yards (rushing/receiving/returning) and 2 TDs. Dude is very very very very very very very very good.
56-3 at Halftime in Illinois
I suppose Florida fans could have it worse, Ron Zook could still be there.
SKYLER!
Touchdown...he is so damn good
Stanford 45, Arizona State 14
HAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Oh my, how they have fallen.
The defenses came to play today at the Rose Bowl
Within the first 2:41 we have an 80 yard TD drive by the Beavers and an 83 yard TD drive by the Bruins. Good times.
Tim Brando is harping on this and he's right...
It's 45-17 Texas with 9 minutes left, and Vince Young is STILL IN.
WOW...Tennessee fumbles away the game, perhaps?
Tennessee and fumbling! 5 min left, chance to win the ball game with a TD, Corey Anderson rumbling towards the goal line and gets popped, loses the ball THROUGH the end zone and Bama gets the ball back at their own 20. Wow.
2nd fumble inside the 10 this game. They've had trouble holding on to the ball all damn day. If the Vols wind up losing this, they're going to feel absolutely sick. And I love it.
Read the comments...interesting points about Young's ability to read defenses and beat the man-to-man coverages.
Haven't watched the whole UT game today - I actually went out for lunch (*gasp!*) - but from the stats it's tough to say Young is having a great day passing. 8-13-195-2-2 are his stats. Take away the 75-yard TD on their last offensive play, which was all Billy Pittman losing his man, and Young was 7/12 for 120, 1 TD and 2 INT. Stats don't tell it all though, so I'm going to withhold judgment and just watch the rest of this game, and hope that Texas Tech can score a couple quick TDs (down 21 right now).
Couple thoughts
1) Arkansas' QB has to be one of the dumber quarterbacks I've ever seen. He has absolutely zero concept of throwing the ball away. He lost six yards running out of bounds in their two minute offense with PLENTY of time to just throw the ball out. He took a sack earlier in the game on a play in which he could have easily gotten rid of the ball as well. Just not very bright.
2) Just when the year seems to be going just right for the Bulldogs, Shockley goes down and they almost lose to the Hogs. Yeow.
Squirrels in the U.K. are addicted to crack. HAH. I hate those little bastards.
The "Mr Floatie" story about the man dressed as poop running for office in British Columbia, and the story about a Larry Bird fan who requested his 30 year prison term be extended to 33 because that was Bird's number. Enjoy.
Now that I think of it, Jose Canseco was #33 as well. I might have to keep that in mind case I ever stray from the Road I'm S'posed to Taken.
They've declared a "No socks" weekend in Texas to support the Astros against the White Sox.
I continue to be amazed at how little credit LSU is getting among some of the bloggerati (I love that word, if it is one). This quote is telling, though, from Heisman Pundit's weekend preview:
The Tigers have some real problems on defense and still haven't figured out how to be more dynamic on offense.
Oh my.
Clearly, some pundits have not been watching the Tigers at all. It's no wonder we don't appear in his Top Ten. While the offense has a ways to go, our defense is playing some of the best ball in the country right now, and the Florida game only reinforced that point - with an offense turning it over FIVE times, we yielded only 17 points to the former-HP-favorite Gators. But I'm sure as far as he will concede, it's Florida's lack of execution that led to that result, and has nothing to do with LSU's defensive prowess. We'll let him continue to be amazed and leave the one-loss Tigers out of his Top Ten (which, until he proves to me he has actually been WATCHING our games, I will continue to take in with more than a grain of salt).
Bottom line is Bo Pelini has engineered a complete turnaround in the LSU defense that has made huge believers out of Tiger Nation. The fact that some pundits are clueless on this point only serves to detract from their credibility. And as intelligent as HP sounds, I have to admit I am amazed that he allows himself to write this. It's one thing if he just isn't a believer in defense's importance relative to offense; it's another entirely if he ISN'T WATCHING THE DAMN GAMES.
LSU turnovers - aaarrrggghhh!!
--
Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com
On being thankful for what I've got
Kind of a crazy week:
1) Classmate of mine from high school (age 25) passed away suddenly this past weekend. They think it was a heart attack. (FYI, my high school class was 39 people.)
2) Another classmate of mine from high school, a girl I grew up with (carpools and all the holiday parties and the whole shebang), was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis recently.
3) Freshman and sophomore year roommate from college (Tom, all you Claremont folks) was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and just got out of surgery this morning. Email from his sis just now:
The pathology came back as glioblastoma, which is probably one of the worst possible cancers it could have been. There is no cure, only palliative treatment (make him comfortable). There will be radiation and chemotherapy treatments slated in the future. I am hopeful for the miracle, but the reality is that less than 50% are alive after one year and it drops exponentially thereafter. So we are looking at quality rather than quantity with the remaining time that we have.
Good Lord, and here I was complaining about the sinus problems I've been having lately.
Agreed on Va Tech at 2.
Interesting thing about Texas being potentially left out of the BCS title game picture. I think that would be FANTASTIC. If the BCS managed to piss off a fan base as large as UT's, maybe FINALLY there would be enough momentum to scrap this damn thing and really push for a playoff system in 2127 or whenever the contract ends. And to all the UT fans who are worried about this scenario, I really only have two things to say: 1) You aren't first to this pity party, just ask Auburn; and 2) What goes around (last year's Rose Bowl invite) comes around (you get screwed this year). Just call yourselves national champs if you're undefeated. I'm sure most of the 20 million people in the state of Texas won't argue with that anyway.
One note: I am still puzzled that he continues to be so damn negative towards one-loss LSU and so damn forgiving of three-loss ASU. Yep, we played like crap at Tempe. But we won. And we played like crap at Tennessee and gave that one away. Sam Keller looked awful in the 2nd half against USC in a game ASU had a very real chance of winning after leading 21-3 at the half. Then vs Oregon, they just flopped. Anyone considering them for the Top 10 may as well have Michigan up there as well; right now it's all about "potential," and that doesn't win ballgames.
But here's why I think anyone who actually watched LSU's game agaist Vandy shouldn't be too quick to write us off: We moved the ball damn well all game, from start to finish. We didn't exactly struggle to accomplish our game plans on offense or defense. The first half was plagued by two things which must be corrected ASAP: 1) penalties; 2) turnovers. No good team should have those flaws and LSU shouldn't get any credit until they get over those. But if I may take one minute to 'splain: one of the turnovers (Russell's INT) was a fluke pass deflection at the 5 that landed in the arms of a Vandy defender. The fumbles, though inexcusable, were just plain bad breaks. Don't get me wrong - these NEED to be corrected - but given that the defense was playing so damn well against an offensive scheme that had worked pretty damn effectively to that point in the season, I was patient enough to know that the offense would put up the points eventually, and they did. Including a defensive TD, it was 25 unanswered in the 3rd and 4th quarters to seal the deal. Credit them for remaining patient that it would all come together eventually and not pressing towards the end of the ballgame. The Commodores were playing their butts off, and were just around the ball whenever we put it on the ground. They wound up with it when it happened. Credit to them for staying in it for so long against a massively more talented squad.
Now, the timeout episode in the Tennessee game having given Les a clear credibility gap in my (and everyone else's) mind, I just think that we need to be a bit more patient and give the coaching staff some time to work out the kinks. As in, three more days. If we come out and turn it over and commit stupid penalties against Florida this Saturday, it will be one pissed off Tiger Nation all over again. If we lose, at least do it without the sloppiness. The way UF has been playing, though, if we hold up our end of the bargain there should be no reason we don't win this game going away. Bo Pelini has engineered a complete 180 in the minds of Tiger fans in the past two weeks with his defense's performance against perennial cellar dwellers Mississippi State and Vandy; but if the world is going to give Va Tech credit for pasting Duke and Ohio, then it had damn well better give LSU credit for the same sort of wins
in conference play (and Vandy is much better than any of the above). If Bo can pull it off against a team that the nation will really use as a measuring stick in the Florida Gators, you bet your ass the Tigers are firmly back in the national title hunt as real contenders.
Every conference is overrated
Until this past weekend, I was firmly in the camp that the Pac 10 would undoubtedly be considered the best conference in the country by year end. SC is on another level, Cal looked like a clear contender, ASU was playing great football despite the brain fart vs my Tigers, and UCLA was playing much better than anyone thought (despite Drew Olson's absolutely awful display against the Huskies the previous weekend).
Meanwhile, the Big 10 had proven itself to be well below average, with Michigan perhaps the most disappointing team in the country, Purdue not far behind, and Iowa massively underachieving as well. When the Michigan State charge was set back by aforementioned poor Michigan team, all that seems left of that conference is Penn State (though Michigan State and Ohio State can be counted on to do some more damage before the year is done).
The Big 12 aside from UT and Texas Tech is pretty much empty. The North is a joke.
The SEC - where do we begin? My Tigers looked terrible at Arizona State and were lucky to come out with a win, then completely bombed at home vs Tennessee, which had looked just terrible the week before in Florida. Florida, meanwhile, hasn't yet come close to meeting the revolutionary spread offense expectations of so many, and got annihilated by resurgent Bama. With Auburn having lost to Georgia Tech, the only other "power" team in the conference, Georgia, even seemed to struggle against Mississippi State (though in all fairness I did not watch that game) - though we can let them off the hook for that.
Now, after Cal's sick collapse at UCLA and ASU's dud at home versus Oregon, and the fact that USC can't seem to play four quarters of football against anyone other than Hawaii and the worst team in the SEC (Arkansas), it appears that it's just a very very ordinary year for college football overall. (And before you go off telling me that it has to be abundantly clear that USC is among the greatest teams of all time, have a gander at the start from the
2003 Sooners and the
1995 Huskers). There IS precedent here, and note that the Sooners clearly did not live up to it in the end.
Chirag and I had this discussion the other day - in trying to think of teams that have put a really SOLID game together from start to finish, not much comes to mind other than Virginia Tech. Texas' win at Ohio State, as Chirag notes, was in large part because Jim Tressel somehow managed to let himself get outcoached by Mack Brown at the end. Their win over OU - redeeming and relieving as it may have been - was still plagued with the type of errors the Horns just can't continue to make, as
Ivan Maisel of ESPN accurately pointed out.
Tech, meanwhile, is just firing on all cylinders. Vick is as good as advertised (with a 177 rating - he doesn't just run the ball), that D is STOUT, and they generally have been playing mistake-free ball. The one close call, the opener at NC State, can be chalked up to first-game jitters and the fact that they were playing a pretty damn good defense on the road. But a month and change into the season, we really aren't seeing anyone else just dominate from start to finish.
USC is #1 till they lose in my book, but Va Tech is definitely #2 for now.
Ticket: $47. Parking: $10. Hot dog and root beer: $10
Witnessing the Yankees get kicked out of the playoffs live: PRICELESS.
God I hate the Yankees.
Honestly, I don't know how this season could get any worse for us.
Even worse, Katrina and losing Deuce will both be used as excuses for Haslett's regime to get another crack at mediocrity next year. Ugh.
A sound I hate
You guys know how that sound of nails screeching against a chalkboard generally makes you feel?
That's how I feel whenever I hear a Yankee Stadium crowd cheering. *shudder*
GIGGITY GIGGITY GIGGITY GIGGITY
2 QUICK RUNS FOR THE ANGELS!!!
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIBA!!!!
I hate the Yankees.
Hail to the Redskins
Earned more respect in my book with today's loss than they have thus far in any of their three wins (and to be fair, I didn't watch the win over the Bears, but did watch part of the Cowboys Monday Nighter and last week's Seahawks game).
Helluva lot more fight than I thought they had.
And of course, we had Denver in our suicide pool today so the Skins' little comeback attempt made for some heart-thumping almost-throw-remote-at-wall moments.
She's hot, but she's an idiot
Alex Smith is getting destroyed on every play
This is tough to watch.
You've gotta put Mercury on your list
[Edit: Mercury spokeswoman is attractive.]
Hilarious sequence of events
Sunil: "COME ON! I actually want to see Alex Smith complete a pass."
Alex Smith, drops back, complete to Colts LB Cato June, returned 20 yds for a TD. BRILLIANT!
Update
God, please quit [edit: messing] with me.
Now let us hold them to under 60?
Please God
Just let us hold them under fifty.
The Aints' first half
We are down 35-3. This will be the Pack's first win of the season. They got their first rushing TD of the season against us. This is the first time since 1992 (Favre's first season) that the Pack has put up 35 pts in a half.
10 penalties
3 turnovers
2 missed FGs
We are a joke.
The Saints are unbelievably bad
28-3 now. Penalties, turnovers, a comical effort at defense.
Forget youse people, USC would DEFINITELY light us up.
Daniel Graham, Pats TE
Just ran a 4 yard screen pass 45 yards into the endzone.
Looking like his old Colorado days.
Quick comment on UCLA
That was one of the more amazing finishes I've ever seen. OK - I officially can't believe this is the team that nearly lost to UW last week.
Anyway, will love to hear the HP's of the world discuss the importance (or lack thereof) of defense when it comes to these Big Six offenses like Cal's.
Meanwhile, Janani says hello, errone.
I don't think a Vandy crowd has ever been this loud in the 3rd quarter
I don't really know what to chalk up our ineffectiveness to. Couple fumbles really cost us, and we fumbled to start the second half. But their six points came on two fumbles in our own territory after which they Vandy hardly moved the ball before kicking.
We just have to hold on to the damn ball.
Outgained them 303-41 in the first half. 18 to 12 advantage in T.O.P. But 3 turnovers to their zero, and we went in with only a six point lead. And now that lead is down to three.
This first half is very USC like
We're outgaining them something like 260-18, and we're up only 6 points.
Mike Gottfried (ESPN color guy) is speaking like he's had a couple
It's funny listening to his attempts at enunciation.
The intelligentsia who slammed LSU after the ASU game
Maybe they're watching tonight, and maybe after watching how much Dwayne Bowe does for this offense, they'll give us a little bit of credit for having played at ASU without him.
Baylor?
Anyone else notice they're 4-1? Good Lord. Nice win over Iowa State.
The Arizona Wildcats
I am stunned at their resilience. Down 28-21 now.
Tim Brando on the USC game
"Who do you think is watching this game more closely, Charlie Weis or the members of the Harris poll who FAILED to submit their ballots last week?"
Good. Bag on that retarded poll. As if the BCS couldn't have made itself any more of a joke after the past few years, just incorporate a poll with a bunch of mostly irrelevant idiots voting.
Fox Sports' TV coverage
Their inability to show us an angle which shows why a coverage broke down really ticks me off.
By the way, someone teach Arizona players to fall on the damn ball next time Reggie Bush fumbles.
Just want to reiterate
How much I absolutely LOVE CBS' college football music.
321 yds in the 1st half for USC
To 99 for Arizona. Yet they're only up 14-7.
1st half done in Tennessee
Vols down 10-0 to UGA.
Hope LSU paid attention to how UGA got the offense off the field with 10 seconds left and ran the last-second field goal attempt.
Anyway, I continue to be amazed that Tennessee gets so much respect. Clausen hasn't been throwing the ball well at all. In fact, he overthrew a wide open receiver in the endzone and naturally followed that up by throwing a pick in the endzone. Instead of a 7-7 tie, we now have 10-0 game at the half (though that particular INT didn't result in a score for the Dawgs).
I wasn't particularly impressed with Clausen's work against LSU. He was the quarterback who had the presence of mind to be able to complete a bunch of 4 yard quick screens to nickel his way down the field against us (I won't even give him credit for the "dime" part of the analogy).
The Big 10 belooooooows.
So Michigan can win some against everyone's favorite Michigan State, lose some. Minnesota can win some, get blown out some, win in the Big House some. Iowa can get blown out some, and get blown out some more.
[Edit: and Wisconsin too.]
We'll see how this Ohio State-Penn State game looks later today.
The stupidity of DirecTV and local restrictions
Because ABC is playing the OU-Texas game, it's blacked out on the Game Plan channel. ABC has now switched to Michigan-Minnesota, and the game plan channel for Texas-OU is still blacked out. If I'm a UT fan, I'm pissed because I want to enjoy every minute of this ass-kicking that I've been waiting five years for.
To hell with Florida-MSU
I've got the Wiconsin-Northwestern game on now. 51-48 Northwestern with 2:48 to go. What the hell is up with Wisconsin scoring all these points this year??? We're early in October and they may have scored more points by now than they have in any entire season in the past decade.
There's not a single non-white gal on the squad! Couple Garcias and such but that doesn't count.
LSU's might be the same way.
Ramonce Taylor
Why is Ramonce pronounced Ruh-monce, while Beyonce is pronounced Bee-yon-say? Is there an accent over her second 'e'? (I'm not up to date on my Us Weekly.) I keep wanting to call him Ruh-mon-say Taylor.
Now that they're up 35-9
These Florida players are absolutely teeing off on the poor Mississippi State guys. Some halfback just got drilled by Siler on a screen and Henig got destroyed on 3rd down as he threw it.
UT's cheerleader gals are hot
It's too bad the chaps they are wearing today aren't of the West Hollywood buttless variety.
1st half stats from the Cotton Bowl
Total Yards:
OU 68
UT 299
HAHHAHHAHAH.
MSU QB (Henig) is a moron
Wow, he tried to take on a tackler while on the run five yards deep in his own endzone, way out of the pocket, could have easily thrown it away and resulted in the 2nd UF safety of the game. That was hilarious.
Bomar is throwing the ball terribly today
I cringe watching this OU offense.
We're in October, and yet..
...the number of flags on punt returns this year (college AND pro) is unbelievable.
Every time there is a decent return, you can bet there's a flag.
Weak 1st half by the Gators
12-3 at the half on a FG, safety, and TD. 2 turnovers. I just hate that they're looking this sloppy in advance of coming to Baton Rouge next week (where yours truly will be). We're going to be getting their A-game, which I have no logical reason to believe other than it's because they'll be playing against my team.
Jamaal Charles' 80 yd TD run
Terrible tackling by OU. Getting greedy to try to get another fumble. Got what they deserved.
Heather Mitts on the sidelines!! God Bless ESPN!
She's the sideline reporter in this Virginia Tech - Marshall game.
Sexiest woman alive
Jessica Biel?
Over. Rated.
They asked a couple CF Bloggers out there (including Heisman Pundit and EDSBS linked on the right) to name their dream team. Best entry goes to
All Things Longhorn on the best Defensive backs:
All Things Longhorn: Miami -- I am sure they've got someone named Moss or Rolle back there with gold teeth running 4.1 40s. They always do.
HAH! Kudos.
I didn't watch, but just looking at the box score, I'm absolutely stunned that Tech didn't win this:
First downs: State 14, Ga Tech 29
Total Yards: State 285, Tech 443
Penalties: State 10-98, Tech 3-30
Turnovers: State 2, Tech 2
Time of Possession: State 25:48, Tech 34:12
On a much lower level, this is reminiscent of the
2002 Texans-Steelers game in which the Steelers outgained the Texans 422 - 47 (not a typo), yet lost 24-6.
From the dudes at the Tiger Droppings Message Board
Perhaps I'm way behind on the Onion, but they have a sports page now. Youse guys give this a read. Hilarious. Sample headlines:
Notre Dame unveils new "Holding Jesus"
Joe Namath Guarantees He'll Lose Battle with Alcoholism
Jew-Sponsored Stock Car Booed Off Track
Pro Athlete Lauded for Being Decent Human Being
It's so funny how many people scoff at the idea of the nation's top college team competing with the worst NFL team. Back in the old days, a team of College All Stars would meet the defending NFL champions each preseason, and in 1937,
the college team beat the Packers 6-0. (Sorry, that's the only legit link I can find with a mention of it.) Yes, it was seventy years ago, but frankly I don't know if it can really be argued that the gap between college players and NFL players has changed dramatically over time. NFL players and schemes have gotten better and more complex, and college players and schemes have as well (see, one BECOMES the other, typically after four years). So then WHY is it that here we are, looking at arguably one of the greatest college football teams of all time, and most people just laugh at the notion that they could compete with the worst NFL team?
I'd argue that USC would in fact be better than a team of college all-stars simply because they have the chemistry together that an all-star team just wouldn't. And they wouldn't be playing the defending NFL champs, but the worst team in the NFL. Big difference between the Patriots and the Texans or 49ers, folks.
Damn. Oh well, can't say I'm all that surprised. Not enough hotel rooms in BR. I'm having all kinds of trouble finding lodging for the LSU homecoming weekend Nov 5. I can't imagine it'll be a whole lot better 2 months later.
From the comrades at Tiger Smack. I haven't listened to any of the press conferences yet, mostly because I live in L.A. and just haven't had time to track down the dates and times online...but I'm guessing I'd echo his sentiments with this. I love it when coaches dodge the bullet. To be fair, like any other fan base many of us certainly overreacted to the Tennessee loss, but that doesn't absolve Miles of having to answer the tough questions.
Couple quick notes on LSU, since I'm behind on that
1)
Florida game next week moved to 2:30 on CBS. I'll be there, probably sans sunblock, sweating my ass off and screaming as loud as damn well can. Louder than I did at ASU, I imagine (though who knows if I can manage to get as loud as I did after Doucet caught the game winner).
2) Note from link above that ESPN2 is televising LSU-Vandy. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd get the chance to see an LSU-Vandy game on a non-Gameplan channel.
He made sweet love to her and presumably billed Medicaid. Now she's suing. Don't get me wrong, dude is the lowest of the low, a classless bastard and all that, but wow is this woman an idiot.
This is pretty dope. I think if FSU is forced to eventually drop the Noles nickname, it should go with the Pythons, since Gators and Canes are already taken.
Ode to the U-Haul hitch
One thing I haven't bitched about in awhile is Asian women drivers. I'm afraid that trend isn't going to stop now, but fear not, I'm sure I'll have something to say eventually. Meanwhile, onto the U-Haul hitch.
When packing up and moving down to Seattle, I bought a trailer ball hitch from U-Haul so I could connect the trailer which would house my mattress and TV, and other sundry items like clothes and shit which weren't nearly as important as mattress and TV. After I moved down and returned the trailer, I never got around to removing the actual ball hitch from the back of my truck. This is important, because I've gotten very accustomed to my truck's dimensions, and I make a habit of backing into parking spots. The hitch adds an extra 6 or 7 inches to the span of my truck so I get worried I'll back into a car eventually. Anyway, I've been lazy and haven't removed it. Lo and behold, last week in the parking lot at 24 hour fitness, stupid ugly fat Latina woman rams into my truck as I'm waiting for the line at the exit. I get out to inspect, and she has the nerve to tell me that she only hit me really lightly on the bumper - as if I didn't feel her dumpass minivan shove my truck THREE FEET FORWARD because she was probably busy digging under her seat for a stray french fry. Dumb bitch. Anyway, I notice there's no damage (thanks to U-HAUL HITCH!) so I just look at her and politely tell her to watch the damn road, and drive off.
Then a couple days later, coming back from work, I stop to let a pedestrian go through the crosswalk and get rather lightly rear ended in Manhattan Beach by a guy in a drive-by-shooting sort of van. It's a relatively busy two-lane road, so I don't want to clog it up by stopping to inspect right there. I pull through the intersection and pull over to go out and take a look. The asshole behind me just turns into the intersection and floors it up the hill, never to be seen again. Thankfully, no damage (thanks to U-HAUL HITCH!) so I can't complain. I just ask Shiva to make sure drive off fool burns in Hindu hell if all of us Hindus be wrong about the afterlife and shit.
God bless you, U-Haul hitch.
I wonder...
...if the chemical composition of my head changes during football season. Honestly, I have almost nothing else to talk about. Wedding Crashers and 40 year old Virgin are behind us, no new decent flicks on the horizon, I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for the new Scrubs season to start (though I suppose I could keep quoting the Family Guy episodes as they come), and meanwhile I'm spending my free time (by free time I mean "ex football on weekends free time") reading up on new stocks for work. No recent music to discuss, I'm too uncultured to read a book during football season, I've stopped paying attention to politics though I gather I'm supposed to be pissed off about this new judge that W chose who's never been a judge before (honestly, I could give a rat's ass, give the Democrats a bone just so they STFU...not that they ever will). I'm even behind on Showbiz India. *GASP*
Roommate, get thee Yankee game finished, biatch, so I can have my TV back. I also have Sunday's episode of American Dad to watch (incidentally, that show has REALLY grown on me since the awful inaugural episode after the Super Bowl). Lots of Jeopardy and PTI.
Incidentally, roommate (Chirag) has noted my penchant for bitching that the Saints ALWAYS seem to give opposing teams their first win of the season. As he works for Fox Sports and is assigned to the Saints game this week (they're playing the 0-4 Packers), he mentioned that to his boss, who told him it'd be a great idea to research. So he did, and voila - since 1995, the Aints have lost TWELVE games to winless teams (who have at least two losses going in). Seriously folks, we are the epitomy of downtrodden franchises. So much so that we don't even get remembered on lists of worst franchises (ESPN2 did a thing on this sometime back and omitted us).
What else. Oh - lean cuisine pizzas are 5 for $10 at Ralph's today. I bought four. Never have tried one, but gonna give it a go tonight. I will let y'all know if I've found another food group to add to the repertoire. Current dinner food groups rotation: Turkey Burgers, Grilled Chicken with A1 sauce, scrambled eggs, PB&J, roommate's cheese sticks from Papa John's (which are fantastic, seriously - try them), and ahmm.....eating out. I got nothin. I'm even out of Yoplait. And I can only handle one protein shake a day, and oatmeal for breakfast.
Speaking of PB&J, my pops always used to refer to them as "P&BJ." I'd get a good laugh every time he said it, so much so that after awhile I started saying it without noticing.
I have lots of tuna cans from Costco. How do I employ them tuna tastily? Pickles or some shit? Every time I get fired up about learning how to cook, even the goddamn intro recipes are full of ingredients I either don't own or don't have the wherewithal to find within a reasonable span of time at Whole Foods.
Speaking of Whole Foods, got some chicken sausages there the other day which rock the casbah.
See? I do have stuff other than football to discuss.
One more thing...
I always slam the Saints for sloppy play. For one day, the turnovers were eliminated and penalties were minimized. Hats off to the team for pulling through.
One game is nice but certainly not a trend.
UW-UCLA game seat view
View from our 2nd half seats at the UCLA-UW game (we left the $15 general admission seats, which had the same view, for the UW section). Cellphone pic so poor quality, but note the opposite endzone's emptiness. Ours was similar.
Espanol
"Otro TOUCHDOWN del defensivo de los Forty-Niners!!!!"
Awesome, I didn't realize that "49ers" en espanol is not "Cuarenta y nueves."
Here is a very interesting thread on the Saints Forum. The thread was started by a writer for the San Antonio Express-News who registered on the Saints forum earlier (without initially identifying himself as said reporter) and is trying to allay Saints fans' concerns that the city is trying to steal the team, as the city and its people in general have been absolutely filleted on said forum.
Doesn't change my opinion a bit: San Antonio is clearly trying to steal our team in the wake of Katrina. It's despicable and I hate their guts. So my new favorite NBA team is "any team playing San Antonio."
More NFL Notes
1) Colts have given up 27 points through 4 games, and the offense is working now. Granted, the Browns, Jags, Titans, and Ravens aren't going to score a lot of points on anyone, but still an accomplishment for THAT defense, given its history.
2) Ed Hoculi just announced the penalty in this Cards-Niners game EN ESPANOL!!! "Segunda down!" hahahha. Incidentally, the green "Futbol Americano" stickers on the back of all NFL players' helmets today seemed somewhat pointless, though we did pause the Tivo so we could figure out what they said. So I guess they did get their point across. Hmm. Whatever. Not like I'm tuning in because of that sticker (or anyone else, for that matter). Though I suppose that wasn't the point. But I'm not sure what it was.
NFL Notes
Very little live blogging the past two days as Jamie & co were over for the weekend for the UW-UCLA game. Anyway, on to my notes:
1) I can't believe the Saints gave up only 7 points. Offhand can't remember the last time it's happened, but it's been awhile. Defense looked pretty solid today. I was hugely disappointed with our runninng game for about 57 minutes. Then on the last drive Deuce had 4 carries for 63 yards or something to that effect (half his total for the day). I'm not going to allow that one drive to say that our running game is out of the woods yet, but it was great to see them pull that out when everyone knew they were ready to start running out the clock.
2) Typical Rams. Down 27-17 and with the ball inside the Giants' 10, they run a reverse and the Stephen Jackson handoff to the wideout gets garbled, they fumble, Giants ball, Giants move on to roll 44-24. BTW, Bulger threw another 62 passes today.
3) The Eli - Plaxico connection is looking better than the Peyton - Marvin one so far this year. As great as Eli looked today, I don't expect that to last the whole season, though Chirag may disagree.
4) The Vikings just look awful. Last week was just the typical "season-redeeming game against the New Orleans Saints" that at least 3-4 teams a year get. They're back to their garbage ways. The Falcon defensive line just blew up that O line all day, but even when he DID have time, Culpepper took way too long and had balls batted out of his hand or fell victim to the proverbial coverage sack. He was terrible today. The entire team was. The penalties and general stupid play make one wonder just how long Mike Tice really can keep his job. Will be interesting to see the Sports Guy's update on the "Mike odds" - odds on the various NFL head coaches named Mike to lose their job first.
5) How many people are going to try to pick up Dwayne Carswell for their fantasy teams without realizing that he is actually a tackle (#77)? Lined up at TE for those TD plays, but I'm guessing he's not going to be available, nor will he score much more if at all this year. He's fat now!
5b) How quickly has Denver gone from garbage team, one of the worst in the league, to solid team which can put together quality wins?
6) Anyone notice that the Chargers rolled up 24 unanswered points in the final 22 minutes on the Patriots to close out the game? It was actually a game for quite awhile there...in any event, I am finally conceding that the Pats are not the favorites to win the Super Bowl. They have just looked really sketchy for the most part this year. (Although that said, I'm sure they'll find a way to ruin the Colts' season should they get in their way in the playoffs regardless of how the regular season meeting turns out.)
7) While I was off thinking "The AFC is SOOOOOO much better than the NFC," there go the Chiefs blowing a huge lead at home vs the Eagles. Hats off to Philly for rallying after what seemed like a nail-in-the-coffin Dante Hall kick return for a TD in response to their first TD of the day (on which the Eagles even missed the XP). What a difference between Trent Green for the first 16 minutes and Trent Green in the last 44. Yuck.
7b) How quickly have the Chiefs gone from "for real this year, one of the best teams in the NFL" to "Here we go again - donde esta el defense?"
7c) Anyone who can explain T.O.'s touchdown celebration there, let me know. As Jamie said, "I got nothin'."
8) Dunno what to say about Mike Holmgren. He played that final possession in regulation not to lose, even leaving a timeout on the board. And expectedly, trusting your kicker to nail a 47 yarder on the road to win it as time expires isn't the best idea. And they lost.
9) I still can't believe Terrence Newman caught Randy Moss from behind.
9b) I also can't believe how awful the Raidah tackling is.
Sam Keller
Needs to stop this Jekyll and Hyde stuff. He was so good under pressure against us a few weeks ago, but he is completely breaking down this half against USC.
Only a matter of time before USC is ahead for good.
I think I'm going to puke
[Edit: That picture is GRAPHIC. I'm just warning you. It's the actual shot of the lower part of his leg snapping 90 degrees as he came down on it.]
Tradesports odds for USC game
Contracts pay $10. Beginning of the day, a contract betting on USC to win cost $8.75. Now, the asking price is $3.
Very fun to watch these.
Jamie was all over the Michigan State - Michigan odds, which took a huge turn when big Samoan dude on MSU took the fumble back 80 yards for the game-tying TD.
31-3 Bama
Brodie Croyle is having one of the best days ever.
Herbie, you could be right on that Bama SEC West call - thing is, it might be Bama SEC Champs.
Sun Devils on fire, and LSU looks better
My day just turned around completely
37-7 LSU
21-3 ASU
Fun times
Ooo! Defensive breakdown for LSU on the first drive
67 yard TD for Mississippi State...I'm going to have to severely downshift the expectations for this year. You know, and begin to expect this crap every week.
Erin Andrews' interview with Robert Redford at last night's Yanks-Sox game
This was a hilarious exchange, and one of the funnier interviews I've ever seen. Not quite on Joe Namath/Suzy Kolber level but still quality entertainment.
Dave O'Brien giving the segue to Erin Andrews as introducing one of the biggest stars of all time, says "They don't get much bigger than this, Erin?"
Erin: "They sure do! The INFAMOUS Robert Redford..."
With the newfound knowledge that he's infamous, I think Redford just decided to mess around with her for the rest of the interview. Very cranky. One word answers with awkward pauses and then a bit of elaboration. Hilarious.
Erin, you've got a long way to go.
I am alive
I just died a little bit inside on Monday night.
I have no confidence in our coaching staff now. All the naysayers have all the credit right now. We have the talent, but certainly not the coaching.
And while Jimbo Fisher is taking some heat right now for the playcalling against the Vols, I'm guessing he was under strict orders from Les Miles to play it safe. Jimbo's earned the benefit of the doubt in my mind; Les has not.
Too many games on right now! Not sure what to watch!
