Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Excellent Google maps application with markers for New Orleans information

Very useful for those wondering what's going on in their area.

Nagin's latest - deaths could be in the thousands

1:19 P.M. - (AP) Mayor Ray Nagin says at least hundreds of people are dead -- maybe thousands -- in New Orleans.

LSU to allow Saints home games

According to ESPN, according to Saints fans who saw it. 1st home game will be in San Antonio, the rest in Baton Rouge. (As one poster notes, this means Nick Saban makes a return to BR on 10/30.)

Funny how after 9/11, the Giants' first home game was against the Saints. After Katrina, the Saints' first home game is against the Giants.

LSU players who can't locate family members

Thankfully it's not a huge number, but still awful for the three listed.

Relatively pleasant news

From some New Orleans bloggers discussing the flooding concerns being somewhat overblown, as part of the city is still relatively ok.

2 months till the airport is functioning, according to CNN

Wow, I was thinking it'd be no more than a couple weeks

Looks like the Superdome crowd will be bussed to the Astrodome

At least they'll have power and working bathrooms in Houston.

Morning Notes

Chilling note from this article:
With solid water from the lake to the French Quarter, the inundation and depopulation of an entire American city was at hand.
Further:
The giant new Wal-Mart in the Lower Garden District was looted, after a limited distribution of supplies broke down in chaos. The entire gun collection was taken.

"There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," Ebbert said.
Meanwhile, sharks were spotted swimming the streets of New Orleans

How about some relatively good news?
GM and Ford are allowing customers to defer car payments.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The Children's Hospital is now under siege by looters

God, no. Doors are locked but the crowd is gathering. Staff and 100 kids inside.

So far, police and Nat Guard unable to respond.

I hope these rat bastards get swept away by a surge and rot in hell.

Gotta love Saints fans getting together to help each other out

Kudos to these guys for offering their homes.

Why I am such a big Joe Horn fan

He is as great a human being as he is a football player.

Fox News reporting a shootout between cops and robbers in downtown N.O.

Two assholes with AK-47s tried to shoot up the cops. Cops returned fire, no one was hurt, the dudes escaped. I mean, what the hell is the point of that?

Plea for efficiency?

Since there seems to be so many reporters down in the area who are able to report back to their networks, and so many displaced people in the area who can't reach relatives, wouldn't it be nice to see a CNN or Fox News allow those folks they come across to write down their name and have those networks post a list of those names to their websites to let the world know they're alive? The only reason Harvey Jackson's name is out there is that his story is so gut-wrenching (the man who had to let go of his wife, below).

[Edit: Looks like Nola.com and WWL-TV have forums up with alphabetical registries for people being sought and people announcing they're ok. Would be nice for the national media to do something similar so these sites don't get overwhelmed.]

Link to map of Louisiana parishes

For those of you who want to know exactly where Plaquemines or St. Tammany or Jefferson Parish you keep reading about (or any other parish) is located.

I just saw the video...

...of the man whose wife forced him to let her get swept away in order for him to save their children.

Brace yourself, you may cry.

MS Outlook reminder that just popped up on my computer

"Book New Orleans hotel for LSU/Saints trip in October."

Yeesh.

Red Cross Information

1-800-HELP-NOW

Red Cross rep says it'd be better to go online and do it.

Ivor Van Heerden on Larry King

LSU guy (professor I think), from the Center for Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes. He was quoted in plenty of the pre-landfall articles predicting potential "worst-case scenario" effects of the storm.

"Years and years and years" to rebuild. 1 mm homeless people right now. Foresees a refugee camp being built north of Lake Pontchartrain.

For news on how this affects the college football landscape

CF Resource is on top of it.

More bad news from WWL's blog

"6:41 P.M. - Efforts to stop the levee break at the 17th Street Canal have ended unsuccessfully and the water is expected to soon overwhelm the pumps in that area, allowing water to pour into the east bank of Metairie and Orleans to an expected height of 12-15 feet."

The T-P is back up, it seems

They just added another story to the breaking news section.

Ok, back to work for me.

To the extent football even matters at this time...

...LSU's game this weekend vs North Texas has been postponed.

Twin spans bridges which were destroyed

CNN is showing footage, but online pics are hard to come across. This is the first I've seen.

Pics from south of Belle Chase

Notice the bridges rising out of the water and going right back into it. Ugh.

You'll probably be seeing plenty of before/after pics in a few days similar to those we saw of Banda Aceh in Indonesia post-tsunami.

Schools, etc.

According to the WWL blog, LSU to start classes next Tuesday.

Jefferson Parish schools *could* reopen by Dec 1. Digest that one for a minute.

Meanwhile, CNN viewers on the Saints forum are reporting that they just claimed Plaquemines parish has washed away. Could just be sensationalist reporting, but this is the same big media which intonated that New Orleans was relatively spared yesterday. Today we see that is clearly not the case, as Gov Blanco said this morning, "This is worse than our worst fears."

Sites I'm checking for updates

With the Times Picayune out of commission temporarily, the best updates are coming from:

WWL-TV's blog

Brendan Loy's blog

Saints Super Forum and the Everything Else Board there.

At this point, looting is rampant, flooding continues to get worse (and pumping won't help because the levees have broken so the water pumped out just comes back in), one man has jumped to his death in the Superdome, and the crowd there is generally getting quite restless with people urinating in hallways and chanting for Bush to show up. That situation is going to get out of control sooner or later.

Still waiting for Nola.com to resume reports (that's the Times Picayune).

The Times Pic is officially evacuating their building

God Damnit.

Forget the "New Orleans missed the worst" of it nonsense

When some say "it could have been worse," what do they mean - full-fledged Atlantis? This is still nothing short of catastrophe. I go to sleep, wake up in the morning and it's gotten even worse. I must however give credit to the state for the unbelievable job they did in evacuating the city. Saved thousands of lives no doubt (maybe even tens of thousands).

The latest levee breach now has the French Quarter in at least 4 feet of water - and no one is predicting when the water will stop rising.

The Twin Spans (bridges) are severely damaged. Link is to a thread on the Saints forum with a good explanation of what that bridge is. Right now, the only way out is West.

I hear that The Times Pic did not have a print edition today, it's electronic only. I'm pretty sure the Wall Street Journal had a print edition on Sep 12, 2001 (I believe they were located in the World Financial Center adjacent to WTC.)

This pretty much sums up how I feel when watching coverage. I'm still heading back to the area for LSU-Florida and Saints-Falcons on the October 15th weekend. But it's not entirely certain the New Orleans area will have power by then, and I have no idea if the Saints will even be playing in N.O. Based on reports from ESPN News, it's looking more and more like Baton Rouge for them - and even Dallas(!) and Houston have been mentioned as possibilities.

[Edit: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's comments tell it all.]

Monday, August 29, 2005

Enough hurricane. Some football talk: Herbie awards

His Big 12 South sleeper is Texas. Hah! He needs to learn the concept of "sleeper." Fine if he thinks A&M is going to win. But the sleeper would be someone who is off the radar, and UT certainly isn't. So he'd have to say Texas Tech or OK State(clearly not Baylor), but UT or OU are not sleepers. Perhaps he should have renamed the "Sleeper" column "Serious contender."

Prettiest coeds: 4 SEC schools to lead off the list. Hah. No LSU or Florida though, which is kind of surprising. I would guess both (and FSU and Miami and Texas) are better than South Carolina.

Best game day coach: He has Mack Brown ahead of Kirk Ferentz? Are you kidding me? Chirag, sound off on your boy Mack.

Gary Crowton (former head coach at La Tech) is his 3rd best offensive coordinator. We'll see if he can get the Ducks rolling.

I don't know how Cal's Def Coordinator Bob Gregory got ahead of LSU's own Bo Pelini. Not like Bo didn't pull it off at Nebraska AND Oklahoma.

Am I supposed to be impressed with the on-site reporting?

We all agree they're idiots, but on Fox, they showed Shepard (I think) just standing in the middle of the damn street leaning into the wind, screaming "Whoa! Whoa!"

Where the hell is the value added in that? Go help some homeless people, ass.

With all this focus on New Orleans

You would think reporters like Larry King would learn how to pronounce it.

My God

Account from a woman who just got off the phone with her brother, an officer in Pascagoula, MS. Apparently 500 people were in St. Martin high school and the roof collapsed on them. No idea on survivors.

More New Orleans updates

Link is to an ongoing thread on the Saints forum of happenings down there. Best source for info right now, I think (at least, most regularly updated). Lots of locals and folks who evac'd who are posting remotely and listening to radio/tv reports.

[Edit: The first post on the thread has some good maps of the area. Note how one includes an entire swath of land for which there is zero data.]

Picture of Superdome roof

I was a bit incredulous at first, but then it set in: the roof layer is the white part. As you can see, 3/4 of that layer has been ripped off, and there appears to be an enormous gash in the side of the structure. Hopefully what's underneath can hold firm despite already having cracked two holes.

[Edit: Thankfully, upon closer inspection from pics from other sites, that's just a piece of the roof that's hanging over the side, rather than a tear in the SIDE of the stadium. Everything I read and hear indicates all those people inside will be safe. Whether they'll stay healthy for the next few days, though, is another matter entirely.]

More New Orleans: Video of hole in Superdome roof

Clearly just minor damage, but hopefully the roof doesn't take on the characteristics of an airplane wing and fly off entirely. Regardless, it's got to be a harrowing experience for the 25k still inside - already running on generator power (no a/c) after the power went out at 5am. My prayers are with them.

Live Feed from New Orleans

Feed is WWL-TV in New Orleans, for some reason coming through Houston station KHOU's website. Very choppy for me.

This Saints message board thread has another option and I'm sure people will be adding others to that list. In fact, I'm using the WDSU one now instead.

No TV at work, so I'm trying to find the best option here. MSNBC also has a live feed, but their causeway camera is pretty much a grey blur.

R.I.P., New Orleans!

According to radio reports, it is raining inside the Superdome now, as the roof is getting torn apart. I haven't confirmed this with a link or picture, but will if I find it.

[Edit: Yup, it's on all the news stations now.]

Sunday, August 28, 2005

They are feeding them MREs now in New Orleans

I suppose there's nothing else you could do for 26,000 refugees at the Super Dome.

Houston's light rail logs 100th accident with car

In less than 2 years of service for a 7-mile route. Height of comedy.

[Edit: This article indicates the Houston rail has actually set the record for most collisions in its first year - who knew they kept such records?]

God bless 'em down in New Orleans

Levees 13 feet high to protect a below-sea-level city, versus a Cat 5 with 165 mph winds and 20 foot waves. This is going to be awful.

[Edit: The more I read, the more depressed I get. Apparently, this is "The One." Lots of "absolutely worst-case scenario," or "never before in recorded history" type talk. 1 million homeless? Unreal. My parents just welcomed several family friends and friends-of-friends from N.O. who managed to inch out of the city and make it up to Monroe for the next few days.]

[Edit 2: This is getting difficult to read, and nothing's even happened yet. See here for local commentary over on the Saints message board from folks who are getting ready to leave. Most are essentially giving the city its last rites.]

Saturday, August 27, 2005

My Fantasy team

I had the #5 overall pick in a 10-team league. We start 1 QB, 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 1 WR/RB, 1 K, 1 DEF. 5 pts for TDs across all categories. 30 pass yds per point. 10 rushing or receiving yards per point. Importantly, return yards are 50 per point (credited to defenses, not individual players). This makes Buffalo much more valuable than normal. My team (backups in parentheses):

QB Manning (Carr)
WR Derrick Mason, Deion Branch, Rod Smith (Amani Toomer and Antwaan Randle El)
RB Tiki Barber, Fred Taylor (DeShaun Foster and Chris Brown)
TE Randy McMichael (L.J. Smith)
K Shayne Graham
DEF Buffalo (Philadelphia)

Hopefully Manning can remain sturdy. In his bye week, the Texans host the Browns, which made Carr a worthwhile pick there. I'm hoping Mason comes through for the Ravens this year. With Lewis back at full speed, that should open the passing lanes up some for Mason to get deep. Meanwhile, Deion Branch is locked in at #1 in New England, and while they spread the ball around a lot, I'm hoping Branch can rack up 1000 yards and 7 TDs. Rod Smith, well he's just been consistent. I'm hoping he's not at the end of his career, but we'll see. Randle El seems to be a popular sleeper pick among some, so I figured I'd take a flier and see how he does. If he doesn't produce, I'll look down the Raiders or Vikes depth charts to see.

My RB situation could be stellar. Problem is, Taylor and Brown are injury prone, and Foster may have to split carries later in the season. I haven't taken the dive with Fred much in the past, so I figured what the hell? Maybe Leftwich's development will prevent defenses from stacking the run vs the Jags.

Randy McMichael ought to get tons of opportunities to catch balls down in Miami, and if not, I feel L.J. Smith will light it up big time in Philly in light of the madness in their receiving corps.

Shayne Graham will kick a lot, since Cincy will be lighting up the scoreboard whenever they're not playing Baltimore.

I'm happy, not thrilled, with this team, especially the injury sensitivity of my RBs, but I couldn't pass on Manning at 5. Aside from Peyton, it is definitely a team of under-the-radar type performers.

My roommate tabs LSU #1

Now, why can't he get a vote in the new BCS poll? Seems everyone has one. He actually put his money where his mouth is, though, and had his bro lay money on the Tigers to win it all when he went to Vegas a few weeks ago.

Lately, the discussion has been that the QB race is really tight between the top 3 (Russell, Flynn, Perrilloux). Hopefully a clear starter emerges because, as I think most people would agree, QB uncertainty never helps anyone.

Though I'm not sure what to think of Les Miles just yet, I'm supremely confident in Bo Pelini's ability to run a defense, and I cherish a good defense above all else. Hopefully the talent level alone on offense will help us overcome any early season jitters, and the otherworldly supporting cast of backs, receivers, and the line should allow whomever emerges as our starting QB to have a little bit of time to go through growing pains. (I'd love to think Russell could just pick back up where he left off during the Outback Bowl, but that doesn't look to be entirely the case.)

Offense having problems? Running game going nowhere? Have no fear: the Aints D is here!

Call us up, we'll be glad to let your backup RB roll over us.

I was thrilled to see the Saints put together some good football against the Pats' starters last week after the first few penalty-ridden minutes of the game. The offense really moved the ball well against one of the NFL's premier defenses. Now the offense can't move the ball and the D just got shredded by the Ravens - Chester Taylor for God's sake!

I suppose the lone positive in all of this would be that Jonathan Sullivan - heretofore considered perhaps the biggest bust in Saints history (and we've had plenty) - is playing hard and making a difference.

My thoughts can pretty much be summed up by this thread on the Saints forum. I've been negative on Haslett since the 2001 season (when we lost our last four games by a combined score of 160-52 or so). The inconsistency, lack of discipline, inability to tackle, and all-around poor execution continues. 7-9 will be an absolute blessing this year. Shame on me for, yet again, getting my hopes up last week after one decent performance.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Sox getting rid of "Yankees Suck" tee shirts

I must say, I've never been a fan of those shirts. Not because it's offensive, because I hate the Yankees. But because it's just plain wrong. One of the most successful franchises in the history of sports certainly doesn't suck - I mean, they've got three times as many World Series titles (26) as the next closest team (9, STL).

Now, I suppose I could concede that the entire concept of the Yankees does indeed suck, much as the team does not. A fan base consisting of New Yorkers, who are mostly assholes in my opinion. An owner with no sense of altruism, who could single handedly even out the competitive dynamics of the game by enabling baseball to negotiate a national television contract. (Don't think it's possible? Think New York's too big a market for that to be economically feasible for a NY team owner to give up? Go learn about Wellington Mara and get back to me.) And on and on and on.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Cedric Benson

From the wire:
Thu Aug 25 2005 - Cedric Benson has reportedly put his Libertyville, IL house up for sale and shipped a pair of cars back to his home state of Texas. The implication, of course, is that Benson is willing to settle in for an indefinite holdout. The Bears have reportedly not spoken with Benson's agent for 10 days.
For all his talk of distancing himself from Ricky Williams (cutting his dreads, etc.), clearly Cedric won't be able to drop one label: he is an asshole. I've got no sympathy for this guy, trying to capitalize on the fact that Philip Rivers got a great deal as the #4 pick last year simply because his agent helped him get closer to #1 pay (since it was a draft-and-trade Eli Manning deal with the Giants).

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Serious time sink

Y'all go download Google Earth. Sat images that you can tilt, rotate, zoom way in on (to the point where you can see the cars). All sorts of stuff. Then plot local bars, crime rates, earthquake history, etc.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Color scheme, need help

I've been lazy, but haven't really been writing about football much till lately now that the season is about to get underway. Someone point me to a place where I can turn this site into black and gold or purple and gold, whichever looks better.

Actually it's purple and yellow. I'd have to agree that the University of Washington is much more Gold than LSU's.

LSU article from my hometown paper

What I like is Bo Pelini's comment about how valuable a great D-Line is because it makes your secondary that much better. On an NFL-note, I keep wishing that would make the Aints pull it all together since they've invested so much on that D-Line (four first round picks, in fact - Charles Grant, Will Smith, and two that were packaged to trade up and take the bust that is Jonathan Sullivan...further, Darren Howard is close, as we picked him early in the 2000 second round and that was the year we didn't have a first rounder b/c we traded 'em all for Ricky in '99).

Anyway, what I don't get - and I have no link here, just going from my TSN preview book - is why The Sporting News didn't list LSU's D-line in its top ten. WTF? 3 SEC teams are listed - Tennessee (4), Florida (6), and Auburn (10). IMHO (In my homer opinion), LSU's is better than Florida's and Auburn's, and arguably superior to UT's as well - though I'd accept second to that unit. Whatever. One thing I do agree with TSN on is that N.C. State is absolutely loaded here. Based on my feeling that a solid D-Line is far more preferable to a solid back 7, I think N.C. State will cause some big problems for teams this year - Va Tech will have to earn the victory when they travel there to kick off the season on Sunday, September 4th. If ole Chuck Amato can keep his head on straight - something I'm never going to be convinced he can do after that absolute DISASTER in overtime vs Ohio State a few years ago - they could put together a pretty decent season (for a team without a decent QB) down in Raleigh.

Gratuitous Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader shot

Yeah, I just scrolled through TMQ's NFC Preview column on NFL.com.

More SEC - Pac 10 type talk from CF News

Stole the link from Tiger Droppings.

In any event, more discussion on what LSU will have achieved if it makes it through the schedule unscathed as opposed to USC. This guy seems to think, and I fully agree, that playing road games in the SEC is just tougher. I am firmly in the camp that ABC's audio is far inferior to CBS', so watching on TV may not give you the best impression of the real crowd noise from the game (my experience here is having watched the LSU - Oklahoma Sugar Bowl recording after actually having attended the ballgame - have I mentioned I was there?). In any event, my experience of SEC stadiums is confined to my couple annual trips down to Baton Rouge, but from everything I've heard (fans, sportscasters, and sportswriters), Neyland and The Swamp give Tiger Stadium a run for its money in terms of intimidation for opposing teams. I've been to the Big House for Michigan - Ohio State (in 2003, so it was, unsurprisingly, a huge game) and to the Rose Bowl to see unranked UCLA top then #3 Alabama in their 2000 home opener. Neither could hold a candle to Death Valley. That said, I concede that any game in a Bowl stadium will just not be that noisy, so I'd have to get up to Oregon to watch a game at Autzen to really hear what frenzied Pac 10 fans have to offer. (In the interest of full disclosure, my other Pac-10 live experiences involve UW Husky games in a season in which they just weren't any good at all (2003) and a trip to the Coliseum for USC's homecoming vs Oregon in 1997, and the Coliseum sucks.) So obviously since I'm missing out on the better venues like Autzen I can't make a completely qualified remark here - it's just that I'm fairly certain that from the few experiences I've had, and from everything I've heard, top to bottom the SEC live game experience is just on another level.

Yes, I am probably a homer. But so are you.

Anyway, even if LSU made it through the season with only one loss and were competing for a Rose Bowl spot with other one-loss teams, I'd be hard-pressed to pick another team in the nation who should get the bid over us (unless that team beat us in the SEC Championship game). Aside from Florida or Tennessee, the only others I think I'd consider would be Iowa, Michigan, or Ohio State (and don't get me started on Purdue with their weak schedule).

Side note: I love how this guy is so worried about the barrage of hate mail he'll get from Tiger faithful if he says anything that could possibly construed as negative that he qualifies himself throughout. Witness:
LSU will struggle a lot more than USC, but only because the Tigers are actually playing some people. Yes, that’s meant as a compliment to the Tigers and their conference. But if Tiger fans insist that their team shouldn’t break a sweat, let’s not be hearing about strength of schedule come the first weekend of December.

More on SEC - Pac 10 talk

More reading From CollegeFootballnews.com (stole the link from Tiger Droppings.

Having been to the Big House for Michigan - Ohio State, and the Rose Bowl for a game in which UCLA tripped up #3 Alabama, and several times down to Baton Rouge for games, I think it's perfectly valid to say that playing on the road in the SEC is a monumental task. Those other stadiums didn't hold a candle to LSU in terms of crowd noise. Now, I haven't been to any other SEC stadiums besides LSU, but frankly, I think it's pretty easy to find a widespread group of people (fans, sportswriters, OR broadcasters) who have been to all the SEC stadiums and will argue about whether LSU or Florida or Neyland (Tennessee) is louder. All are quite similar. I'm a homer and will say I think LSU has to be the toughest; but I haven't been to the others for a big game to really experience it.

Meanwhile, I love how this guy has to qualify his statements because he knows there's a hoard of Tiger fans ready to fillet him for anything he says that can be construed as derogatory towards the Tigers:
LSU will struggle a lot more than USC, but only because the Tigers are actually playing some people. Yes, that’s meant as a compliment to the Tigers and their conference. But if Tiger fans insist that their team shouldn’t break a sweat, let’s not be hearing about strength of schedule come the first weekend of December.

Let me be on the record here - I think LSU is immensely talented, but in no way do I (or anyone else I know, for that matter) think our schedule is a cakewalk this year. We've got one of the few good teams in the Pac-10 coming in (Arizona State), and then we play the Vols, Gators, Auburn, and travel to 'Bama. IF we make it through that schedule unscathted, there is no question we should be in the Rose Bowl. IF we make it through with only one loss, and are going up against another (or multiple) one-loss team(s), I'd be hard-pressed to find any other team in the nation who'd deserve the bid over us (unless our loss was to Tennessee or even Florida in the SEC Championship game and they had another loss elsewhere, say, to us).

Poll on LSU fan site

Which coach would you like to stuff in a garbage can?

Mack Brown 6%
Tommy Tuberville 43%
Steve Spurrier 7%
Pete Carroll 24%
Bob Stoops 5%
Phil Fulmer 5%
Dennis Franchione 11%

This is interesting. I voted for Spurrier, but can certainly understand the Tuberville vote. At the end of last season while lobbying for his team to have gotten the shot at SC, he claimed that Auburn had rolled its opponents and not a single game had been close. Somehow, he managed to forget that they beat LSU by 1 point (10-9) on a TD with about one minute left in the game, after having accomplished zilch for 59 minutes. Yep, that was aggravating.

Franchione is somewhat confusing to me. I don't think very highly of him at all as a man, though he has proven to be a pretty solid coach. But hell, he burned the 'Bama faithful when he bolted for A&M, so he can't be all THAT bad.

Monday, August 22, 2005

First Broussard, now E.J. Kuale

Linebacker E.J. Kuale has a broken ankle. Shiza. As one on the message board put it, "This is quickly becoming the offseason from hell."

Sunday, August 21, 2005

I think I might go to Austin

Sep 17th to watch the Horns tool on Rice. Free lodging with a friend of a friend at UT, so we'll see.

Football sched so far:
9/17 tentative UT - Rice
10/1 UW - UCLA
10/15 LSU - Florida
10/16 Saints - Falcons
11/5 LSU homecoming vs Appalachian State (oh, joy!)
11/6 Saints - Bears
1/4 Will work for Rose Bowl tix. Even if winds up being schools I don't care about, like USC and Texas.

I need to find a less expensive habit.

Wait, what the hell am I saying???? I just need to get it comped, like my roommate: he is the man. After recently getting promoted to some sort of broadcast associate position that enabled him to be flown out to Boston for the Saints-Patriots game, he's going to be traveling with an NFL broadcast crew each week this year. Current schedule for him is opening weekend in Detroit for the Packers-Lions game, following weekend in Seattle for Hawks-Falcons, and then on to South Beach for Carolina-Miami. How dope is that?

Saints - Patriots game from Thursday

I still can't believe it myself, but the Saints actually looked pretty good against the defending champs last Thursday. Disregarding the 2nd half since it was mostly second teamers playing, the Saints offense looked REALLY good against the league's best defensive mastermind after an initial seven minutes typical of the Haslett regime (undisciplined play accentuated by five penalties). I'm not sure whether I should take hope away from this, but the offense didn't seem to have much trouble at all moving the ball against the Patriots' first teamers and seemed to be in a pretty good rhythm all night. That our passing game was effective on a night in which Joe Horn had the dropsies (one of which led to a Rodney Harrison INT) is even more encouraging.

Let's wait and see if they revert to their old ways this week. In the meantime, I'm quite pleased.

40-year old virgin

One of the funnier movies I have seen. Before watching it I figured we pretty much saw all the funny scenes in the previews, but since I wasn't too inclined to see Red Eye, we went to that one instead and I'm the better for it.

My finding the movie hilarious is on top of the fact that I could hardly concentrate for the last half hour of the movie on account of my having to pee so bad. When we finally got out of the theater and faced the longass line for the bathroom, I came up with the bright idea of timing it. 96 seconds, uninterrputed. 96!!! Continuous stream! It was unreal.

These are the types of events which make me wish the Elias Stats Bureau (sports fans know what I'm talking about) would keep stats on all our lives.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Sense of humor in billing departments

Gotta hand it to the Comcast employees who risked their jobs to change a woman's billing name to "Bitch Dog." The funnier one is the People's Energy guys who added "Scrotum Bag" to the middle of a customer's name.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

CF Resource's attempt to slam the SEC for nonconference scheduling

Look, I'm not going to say that the SEC is a bastion of guts when it comes to nonconference scheduling, but let's be honest here: with the annual USC - ND tradition, when was the last time SC actually trekked out to South Bend in, say, November? When it's not 70 and sunny out?

LSU travelled to Va Tech three seasons ago, Va Tech promptly postponed the return trip which was originally scheduled for last year. THAT's why we had the home-only agreement with Oregon State; we just needed to fill that slot left open by the pansies in Blacksburg.

And the referenced jab from SI's John Walters at the SEC's measly 3-3 bowl record last year is a bit unfounded. Try comparing the bowl records of every conference over the past decade. Then let's see where the SEC falls. (Note, a friend of mine's done this research before, which I don't have the time to do at this moment, but suffice it to say, the SEC turned up golden.)

Incidentally, I absolutely LOVE how the media and Pac-10 fans in general like to make such a huge deal out of Oregon State's near-upset against LSU last year. There is no way we should have won that game. OSU played their hearts out. Alexis Serna had an awful day kicking (and I'm happy to see that he's since convinced The Sporting News to list him among the nation's best clutch kickers). But let's view it in at least a little bit of context (and yes, I know OSU was a huge dog in the game): LSU was the defending national champs, yes, but we lost 1) our starting QB, Matt Mauck, 2) Our two best WRs, Michael Clayton and Devery Henderson, 3) Chad Lavalais and Marquise Hill on the D-Line, both of whom could have started most anywhere in the country, and 4) three out of four starters in the secondary.

If the Pac-10 fans are going to use the "any given Sunday" argument to explain the Cal-Texas Tech bowl game debacle last year, then they should be willing to allow the SEC that excuse on occasion as well.

Follow up on Gang of Six talk

On the discussion part of that topic, the author comes in to describe how defense fits into his analysis:
As for your defense point--if you can actually call it a point--how do you not see that defense is VERY vital to my theory, mainly in the sense that this new level of offense is causing defenses incredible fits right now and will likely foment changes on that side of the ball to counter it. My point has also been that a good defense is irrelevant if it hasn't ever played a truly supercharged offense...to wit, see Oklahoma's great defense against USC last year. Are you telling me that when people recite to you the old cliche 'defense wins championships' that you then respond with 'well, what about offense and special teams?'....I doubt it.

So, taking from this: LSU must have won the title in 03 by not playing any supercharged offenses, so they must have just gotten away lucky, I guess. As you folks can guess, I disagree.

(I have to be careful about not lumping in the NFL with NCAA in my mindset here - I think we have to say it's clear that defense wins championships in the NFL, right? What with the Colts going down in flames every year, and the Chiefs too? And, despite Tom Brady's brilliance, the fact that the Pats essentially had 11 all-stars lining up on defense every snap?)

Meanwhile, exactly what competent defenses have the likes of Utah and Louisville gone up against in recent memory? And Boise State? Until the absolute romp over OU last year, what competent defense had USC played over the course of the prior two seasons? Louisville did give a good Miami team a run for its money last year, and should have won, but I don't think I can buy any of this theory - as eloquent as HP has presented it - until I see any of those Gang of Six teams go up against a solid D.

"Gang of Six" college football teams moving to the next level

Got this link through the CF Resource, which I stumbled across as it showed up as a referrer site the other day. Anyway, the guys over at this blog called Heisman Pundit - maybe it's famous, I have no idea, I'm new to reading college football blogs - have come up with this concept that there is a group of six college football teams which are "moving out of the stone age" (to quote the CF Resource guys on another post) to establish some of the most elite systems in the land, on offense, defense, or both. Pretty interesting reading, but it seems to me that the list is entirely offense-oriented, though SC certainly lays the hammer down on D as well.

Anyway, to me, this is ridiculously fun reading. I'm not through it all yet, I'll be back with more comments later.

Cover of my TSN College Football Preview

Sub headline reads:
TEXAS vs OKLAHOMA
Whose streak ends?

Ahm, if I'm not mistaken, the two streaks are in tandem. That is, OU wins, and Texas loses. If OU wins again (likely), both streaks continue. If UT wins, both streaks end. How difficult is that? Am I missing something?

Brothers from Iraq blog a message to Cindy Sheehan

Great read.

Telling moments in liberal headline writing

Headline: "Roberts scoffed at equal pay theory"
Context:
Roberts said the women's letter "contends that more is required because women still earn only $0.60 for every $1 earned by men, ignoring the factors that explain that apparent disparity, such as seniority, the fact that many women frequently leave the work force for extended periods of time. ... I honestly find it troubling that three Republican representatives are so quick to embrace such a radical redistributive concept. Their slogan may as well be, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.' "
So, since he feels like pay should be based on ability, he's oppressing women's rights. What a crock of shit. Not till the end of the article do we learn that other documents were unearthed which clearly portray Roberts as the opposite of what the now-pulled NARAL ad made him out to be.

This is the type of "news" story we are accustomed to seeing in the NY Times; I didn't realize the USA Today passes this tripe off in the news section as well.

Monday, August 15, 2005

I like my whiskey, but I'll pass on this

$180k for a bottle of single malt? (100k pounds.)

Reaction from Tiger fans...

On the Broussard loss. Course, there were plenty of speculation threads earlier than this one, which is the 'nail-in-the-coffin' news thread.

With Broussard out, hope it doesn't mean Russell [or insert-starting-QB-here] defaults to dump off passes to Addai because of inexperience, since he's a better receiver out of the backfield than Alley. And if you don't believe me, just check your NCAA 06 ratings. Whatever EA Sports says, it must be! [/sarcasm]

Sunday, August 14, 2005

LSU starting RB out for the season

Broussard is done. Wow. I suppose now we'll really find out if we have the best RB depth in the country. Shit shit shit.

Cerritos

Went to Cerritos with Mom and my roommate's family yesterday. Cerritos is basically Bombay transplanted into America, minus the cows, auto rikshaws, and BO (though it is still detectable).

They even have movie theaters specifically dedicated to Bollywood, so of course we hit that up for 3 hours, after a ridiculous lunch.

We also went to this upscale jeweler called Bhindi Jewelers, one of the more famous Indian jewelry stores in the country (I'm sure they have many locations in all the big Indian hotspots - Jersey, Houston, etc.). We walk back to the watches to have a gander, and they're selling $40,000 Rolexes. Shady twentysomething overweight Indian sales dude with goatee (the kind who probably gets his jollies on the weekends by starting fights with Punjabi dudes at Indian parties) approaches us while we're gawking at the prices and mentions that a watch is a better investment than a house right now. "You buy this watch now, turn around and make several G's on it in a week." "Really?" I say. "Yeah, just put an ad in the newspaper and within six months you'll have made $10,000." Yep, because Jay Z be readin the LA Times classifieds every day just HOPING to find that $40,000 Rolex that he'll pay you a 25% premium on. But only if you take it in unmarked hundos. Idiot.

The simplification of the New Orleans Saints offense

Well, we got to see it in action on Friday, and I forgot to mention one more thing: apparently the offense is now SO simple, that the coaches forgot to tell draftee Adrian McPherson that the QB is supposed to line up under center, not guard.

Fine, I'm not holding coaching accountable for that one. Ugh.

Friday, August 12, 2005

The Sheehan nonsense

Link is to an article describing her meeting with Bush LAST YEAR after her son died.
But in the end, the family decided against such talk, deferring to how they believed Casey would have wanted them to act. In addition, Pat noted that Bush wasn't stumping for votes or trying to gain a political edge for the upcoming election.

"We have a lot of respect for the office of the president, and I have a new respect for him because he was sincere and he didn't have to take the time to meet with us," Pat said.

Sincerity was something Cindy had hoped to find in the meeting. Shortly after Casey died, Bush sent the family a form letter expressing his condolences, and Cindy said she felt it was an impersonal gesture.

"I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

Looks like Roy Williams (the WR) is back at it

Sick sideline catch, no link to video.

Yes, I'm blogging on a Friday night again. Mom's still in town.

Saints homers

Always fun to watch the guys talk about how great our starting defense is when we went into the half down 24-3 in our first preseason game. Oh, and of course the starting offense was great. We're all psyched based on having accomplished absolutely NOTHING.

I know stats don't say everything, but the bottom line is, any way you look at it, the Saints got tooled on. Preseason is a time to grow, though, so I'll save my real rants when we turn in these same performances during the year.

The Haslett regime beats on...

Downtown L.A. suuuuuuuucks

So bad. So boring. Dearth of good restaurants, hopefully the movie theater is decent (gonna go watch the Penguins with Mom later). Much cleaner than I thought, though I may have mentioned that last time around.

Finally figured out the whole BofA building issue. Google maps is just outdated. Beware the goog for downtown areas. Even in the satellite pic you can tell the Bank of America tower has the BofA symbol on it, so that's old too. It is now City National Bank.

I should note, today the Manhattan Beach sidewalk sale started, and they bussed in all the hotties for it. Dunno if there's anything worth buying but the ladies seem to love it, and who am I to complain with all of them walking around wearing next to nothing?

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Gratuitous Saints message board Simpsons quote thread

Randoms:

Homer: I'm not normally a religious man, but if you're up there, save
me, Superman!

Chief Wiggum: [watching lottery drawing, phone rings] No... sorry, you
have the wrong number, this is 912.

[Bart and Homer are about to race their horse]
Homer: Don't worry. I've seen enough of the "Horse Whisperer" to know
how to win a race.
Homer: [whispers to horse] When you're on the race track, run really
fast.

Mr. Burns: You see me as a God, right, Smithers?
Smithers: Absolutely, sir.
Mr. Burns: You'd kneel before me, wouldn't you?
Smithers: Boy, would I.

Sunday School teacher to Ralph Wiggum, who is drawing a picture: "Ralph, Jesus doesn't have wheels."

Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

Investment idea: Real estate in Romania?

I hear the coastline along the Black Sea is really beautiful; the only reason I've heard about it is from a girl I went out with once upon a time who is from an upper class family in the Ukraine and used to vacation down there. Even prices in Romania doubled over a couple year span recently though.

Damn, by the time I get old enough to afford anything, the only waterfront property that will be available on this planet will be on the bayou back in Monroe, LA.

The new "Survivor" is in Guatemala?

Maybe they could just make the show into one episode where the contestants get really tan, and then all sixteen cast members go running for the US border so we can find out which of them can make it.

I kid, I kid.

On a more serious note, I hate reality TV, and I've never watched Survivor. While I used to feel like I was seriously better off for this, now I'm beginning to feel like we have an entire nation of individuals who could pull some serious Robinson Crusoe-type shit if ever needed, and I'd just be SOL since I can't even make fire with sticks. I'll just have to make sure if I'm ever stranded on a desert island, I'm stranded with an insanely hot chick who knows how to build rafts out of bamboo trees. Giddyup.

Rebuttals to "Super Size Me"

Article discusses people who actually ate at McDonalds nonstop and lost boatloads of weight.

I was stunned at the commercial success of Super Size Me, though I shouldn't have been - people are ALWAYS looking for someone else to blame for their own problems. Hell I do it myself, we all do. But the blame game has gotten to be the warm blanket for weak-willed individuals everywhere (and commercially successful too in spurring an entire industry to exploit those weak-willed types, namely class action lawyers). When an overweight individual can't realize that the double cheeseburger is going to be B-A-D for the waistline, for his heart, and for the comfort of his shoulder since he's going to be taking insulin shots for his diabetes in no time at all, that's his own damn problem, not Mickey D's. There's literature everywhere warning him about that. There is no way on God's green earth anyone with even an ounce of common sense should believe that most of the things at McDonald's are actually good for you. I'll be a bad Hindu and have a burger every once in awhile, but by no means do I make it a habit, because unlike the fools who seem to have been surprised by the results in Super Size Me, I actually have common sense. And I don't want the ability to have a good burger taken away from me once in awhile because a nation of fatsos can't figure out that it should be pointing the finger at itself.

Jason White quits the NFL

Who know he was actually still in camp?

Maybe not the worst Heisman trophy winner ever, but as my Tigers proved in 2003, he had NO business winning the trophy that year. Many QBs could have put up his Tecmo Bowl stats with that team and that schedule that year. And then he was garbage against Kansas State and us.

T.O. quote from the interview

"He told me to shut up, and I'm a grown man, so I told HIM to shut up."

HAHAHAHAHHAHAAH, cause that's what grown men do.

Inside the New Orleans Saints huddle, play 2

More of my thoughts on the supposed simplification of the Aints' playcalling scheme on offense:

Aaron Brooks: I'm thinking Down + A from the Niners Tecmo Bowl playbook. Guys?
LeCharles Bentley: What if the defense picks it?
Aaron Brooks: Then the tight end will be open on the slant route for 9 yards. Works every time. Ready, BREAK!

Rickey Henderson interview on ESPN News

Dammit! ESPN News just did a 50/50 (50 states in 50 days) special on Arizona and profiled the Golden Baseball League, the league in which Rickey Henderson plays. That whole time, they only got one five second quote from Rickey, in which he pretty much didn't say anything at all. If you're going to have Rickey on TV, you've got to allot the man at least five minutes. You know, cause Rickey be Rickey.

More

Nothing amuses me more than Chinese English. The website linked in the title is all you ever need.

Check out this Elmo doll.

Oh sweet Jesus, hilarious Chinese translation of Revenge of the Sith

You guys will thank me for this. Give it time to load all the screenshots.

Best part so far (I'm only 1/4 of the way through): "Jedi council" translates into Chinese as "Presbyterian Church."

Read what Kimora Lee Simmons did while driving

"Driving erratically and ignoring a police car's flashing lights and wailing siren for several miles."

Am I surprised? No.

Should you be? No.

Why? BECAUSE SHE'S AN ASIAN WOMAN DRIVER.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Rude women

I thought my recent experience took the cake as far as rude women are concerned, but I have to say my roommate's trumps that. Scroll down midway through his random ramblings to check it out.

One more note from the T.O. thing

If you watched the news footage that caught him in his backyard shooting hoops, did you notice that apparently he plays ball with a WNBA rainbow ball? TO, WTF?

Gas headline on Drudge

Reminds me that I hit another gas station with a credit card limit today, and it was $60. Yes, my fillup of $2.94 89-octane hit the electronic high-water mark before it was finished. Bastards. Why would they curtail their own business?

I've bitched about this before, only it was a different gas station, and it only had a $50 limit.

Mark Grace in trouble for cussing on air

My vote is that we petition HBO (no holding back on the language) to somehow get simulcast rights for all kinds of different sporting events, where Mark Grace, Bob Uecker, Bill Simmons, and say, Chris Rock take it from the broadcast booth for us. That could make me watch even a Pirates-Brewers game. As the SG himself would say, could somebody please look into this?

Inside the New Orleans Saints' offense

With the Saints' first preseason game coming up this week against the Seattle Seahawks, I must admit I'm a bit skeptical, as always, on the brand spankin new changes brought about in the Big Easy. Our old offensive coordinator, Mike McCarthy, is gone to the Niners, so we promoted our QB coach Mike Sheppard to fill the position. SUPPOSEDLY, things are a lot easier for Aaron Brooks now since the playcalling isn't as complicated. Why is it that I imagine the inside of the New Orleans Saints huddle going exactly like this:
Aaron Brooks: Ahmm Joe, you go deep, and I'll get it to you. If you're covered, I'll just turn around and hand it to Deuce. You other eight dudes just try to distract the other team long enough for me not to throw it backwards.
Joe Horn: This ain't the play where I run around downfield and act like I'm lost is it?
Deuce: Fuck Kilmer. I'm just his black workhorse.
AB: Ready, break!

Cindy Brunson

The ESPN News co-anchor just referred to Richie Sexson as "sexy." Wonder if she's hit that.

Hidden ball trick?

The Marlins pulled it off against the D-Backs today. I can't believe that still works.

What's even more hilarious is that Bob Melvin actually tried to DISPUTE the call. How much more clarity do you need? Lowell has ball in hand. Player is off bag, STANDING. Not moving. Lowell tags player. Shows ball to ump. Ump calls him out. Play over.

The newest Terrell Owens madness

Ok, let's leave aside the actual story here and focus on Joe Theismann's commentary on the right. Anyone want to lay odds that Jeff Lurie doesn't go straight from this analysis to the phone lines and take Joe's advice to scour the Packers, Hawks, and Bucs' rosters to find wideouts? I'm probably making something out of nothing here, but bottom line is you can just FEEL Joe's arrogance coming through in that tidbit. What a moron.

I hate Joe Theismann. His having gainful employment is one of the biggest jokes in all of sports. He does no homework for his broadcast coverage OR his columns (all he has to do every week is study a couple films on the teams he's about to broadcast; is that too damn much to ask, Joe??), he has way too much pride to ever change his mind on a call after replays CLEARLY prove him wrong (though I'll admit several announcers do this), and he's just an awful commentator in general. He is, unquestionably to me, the WORST on-air personality I've come across in my lifetime of watching sports.

At least Stu Scott's idiocy is harmless, though grating. Theismann has a tendency to just get his facts wrong. I think the only thing he ever knows about any team is based entirely on what they did the last time they played the Redskins - because you know damn well he watched that game anyway, being the ex-Skin QB.

Is ESPN in trouble for lack of diversity or something?

Go to ESPN and scroll to the bottom of the left hand toolbar (with MLB, NFL, etc. links). The last link is "Join Our Team." Note that every picture is a black, Hispanic, or Asian (my type included). After the Intro, there's a big link on the left to "Diversity."

There's some guy named Ramirez or something anchoring ESPN News right now. On his right is one Cindy Brunson. I'm trying to find her bio (to figure out if she's from the South or something based on her slight accent change during Rangers-Red Sox highlights), and mostly porn links come up. Is she a former porn star or something? Surely this isn't the type of "Diversity" they're going for. Hmm.

(Check that, there is one white girl's picture on that Intro page. If they hire so many minorities, why the hell does Stuart Scott still have a job?)

Mom's perpetual beer goggles

The sheer number of women my mom describes as "stunning" or "drop dead gorgeous" as they walk by is amazing. I don't at all want to be mean or anything, but there are some bounds for those words, and Mom just erases those. Maybe she just sees their spiritual aura or something (she's real advanced like that). I don't know. I mean, bottom line, I think most everyone can agree that certain people are attractive (see Priyanka Chopra, below), and certain others are not (say, Roseanne, or the Colmes part of Hannity and Colmes). But I don't think Mom is just trying to be nice, I think she honestly believes that.

I think that'd be a blessing.

Hot Indian girl to come to L.A.

Also known as Priyanka Chopra, Miss World 2000.

Damn straight I'm going to the event.

(Link is to random poorly-designed Indian website with pictures of her.)

[Edit: Mute your computer, poorly-designed site also has poorly-conceived sound on the intro.]

The NCAA ban on American Indian nicknames

This is one of the more retarded decisions the NCAA has handed down. The Seminole nation, as noted in this article (admittedly without any direct quotes from Seminole leaders), actually SUPPORTS Florida State's use of the nickname.

I suppose "Redskins" could be considered derogatory, like the n-word or something similar, but simple tribe names? Which are actually supported by those in question?

Political correctness and the business of instructing individuals how they should feel really pisses me off. Maybe I should protest the University of Texas mascot since it's a cow and I'm Hindu? And you know, we worship that shit.

Or maybe we could round up some descendants of Sparta to protest USC's use of Trojans?

Idiots.

L.A. traffic

I haven't had it bad too far, but just mentioning that this morning at 5:30 - FIVE FRICKIN THIRTY - the meter was on on the 105 onramp from the 110. I've almost never driven these two freeways, and am just doing it this week that I'm staying with mom, but dayumn.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

It's Madden release day

I'd have more to say but, well, I'm not playing it yet because I'm in downtown L.A. keeping Mom company, which I'm grateful to have. But soon, it's lockdown time at the apartment. Meanwhile, articles like the one linked above provide much amusement.

It's also amusing how it's Madden which gets all the attention and not NCAA, even though it's got to be nearly as popular. Right? Maybe even half the sales?

"Texas" man attempts to visit every Starbucks

Reading the article, we find he's actually a Nebraska man. Hell, it says "OMAHA" in big letters in the first line, whatever you call that.

Figures, I guess. To the media, Texas and Nebraska are the same thing. Both red states that the US would be better off without. And to those guys on the sports page, they're both teams who aren't going to win the Big 12 (I lie, somewhat: everyone seems to think Texas is going to win this year, 'cept me; though I will be rooting for them to finally beat OU).

Monday, August 08, 2005

Wedding Crashers memorable quotes are up on IMDB

My favorites:
John Beckwith: Don't waste your time on girls with hats. They're all very prim and proper.
Jeremy Klein: Yeah? Well, the proper girl in the hat just eye-fucked the shit out of me.
John Beckwith: You look beat. Soft mattress?
Jeremy Klein: Soft mattress? Yeah, it could have been the soft mattress. Or the midnight rape. Or the nude gay art show that took place in my room last night. One of those three probably contributed to the lack of sleep.
Jeremy Grey: I got a stage five. Virgin. Clinger.
Jeremy Grey: Wow. Mr. Environmental is also a hunter. That's an interesting combination.
Sack Lodge: I hunt quail, Jeremy. They're overpopulated in this region and they're decimating the grubworm population. You got a fucking problem with that?
Jeremy Grey: Not as much as I do with your attire, or just your general point of view toward everybody here. But hey, lets go kill some birds. I'm psyched.

Secretary Cleary: It wouldn't kill you to play some competitive sports, once in a while.
Todd Cleary: Would that make you love me?

Most idiotic story I've read in awhile

You're telling me, that on this bus full of cheerleaders, not one of them had a pen with which to write down the license plate number? Or a cellphone that could've saved the license plate in text? No, the cheerleaders actually CHANTED the license plate number to remember it.

Unintentional comedy rating: 10.

[Edit: and highly reminiscent of the following line from Not Another Teen Movie:
Priscilla: This is not a cheer-ocracy, I am the cheer-tator, I will make the cheer-isions around here, and I will deal with the cheer-onsequences.

Also, Jamie Pressly is HOT. How did she never get more popular than she was? Was it the pouty bitch lips and the hot voice? How could anything be wrong with that?

Also, just read the quotes from the movie link there if you want some amusement. I always forget how funny that movie was. I'm very forgetful lately.]

Is it just me...

...or did Peter Jennings look a helluva lot less than 67 years old?

Hilarious lines on the Simpsons last night

Don't know if it was a rerun since I can't remember what time it was exactly when I was watching that episode (since they played 2 in a row), but it was the one in which Marge and Homer are having the argument and nearly get divorced.
Bart: Do you think they'll get divorced?
Lisa: No, I don't see Dad going through all the paperwork

Hah!!
Also:
Ship Captain: I'm takin' yer kids with me [or something like that]
Homer, exasperated: WILL YOU RAISE THEM CHRISTIAN????
Ship Captain: Er, Coptic Christian, perhaps
Homer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Ricky's interview with Michelle Tafoya right now

Yoga has given him the power to control the urge to smoke the hash.

His beard grows very oddly. What's up with the random bald patch on his cheek?

Tafoya asked good questions, and delivered them well. Chirag, I have to agree that she's going to be a great sideline reporter. Was she there last year? I didn't watch much football since I was in NY for the fall so I feel so behind. Sonofabitch.

Downtown L.A.

Is dead, but it's a helluva lot cleaner than I thought it would be. Who knew? I don't think I know a single person who knows anything about downtown L.A. despite my having attended a school that churns out employees for the financial firms in the area. I guess they all go to Century City.

Oh, our waiter at the CPK sucked. But I had forgotten how insanely good their Key Lime Pie is. Two nights in a row. Like two straight months of 5x a week in the gym, and now that Mom is here, two straight nights of pizza and key lime pie after a weekend of Indian food and good pancakes (separate meals though, promise). And no gym. ALL downhill when I'm with the fam.

The secret life of GW

This weekend was some sort of volleyball tournament here in MB. One of G's friends who is on the national team crashed at his pad. Apparently, he awoke on Sunday morning to find three blonde females sleeping in the living room.

I wanna party with this guy more often.

The absolute joke that is the Canadian healthcare system

Yes, our system has plenty of inefficiencies and is by no means a model for the world, but those who want nationalized healthcare ought to at least understand the implications of such a scheme, quite visible up in Canada.

Yearlong waits for granny to get her hip replacement. Six month waits for a cat scan. (Sinusitis? Yeah, just wait till next allergy season for your meds.)

As the article points out, the probability gets higher every day that a parallel private system will be implemented up north. Good for them. At least they'll have CHOICE.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Downtown L.A. is confusing

I'm staying at the Wilshire Grand this week with my mom, who's in town for a conference. According to 24 hour fitness and Google maps, there is a gym right nearby that I could just walk over to. However, Google maps tells me the Bank of America building is a block up the street (this is important because that's the block of the building 24 hour fitness is supposedly in - there's no signage outside apparently). In any event, I am staring up at all sorts of skyscrapers, there's Paul Hastings, there's Citigroup, there's Wells Fargo, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, and...oh, about a mile way the hell out of any distance I want to walk in downtown L.A., is a big building with "Bank of America" on it. Could there be two BofA buildings in the same downtown, but the one recognized as such on the map actually doesn't SAY B of A? I'm confused as hell. Downtown L.A. sucks.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Gratuitous link to quotes about Tiger Stadium

I've been fired up about football all day since I booked the BR trip this AM.

MLB Standings

It's just comical that the first-place team in the NL West has a worse record than the last-place team in the NL East.

In case you don't know who Teddy Ginn is

Watch him in this UT-Ohio State preview clip. Unreal.

Also

What with my LSU-Florida weekend officially having been booked as of this morning, I'm officially pumped as hell for this season. Also note Thunderstruck video before for additional juice. Watched some of that Bills-Packers scrimmage that's been on NFL Network nonstop for the last day or so, and then some of that Colts-Falcons game today.

FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is God's game.

Sweet LSU preseason video

Click on "Free" download at the bottom and then wait twenty seconds, and a link will show up at the bottom of the screen so you can download the kickass LSU preseason video, set to Thunderstruck. My goosebumps started at 2:35 in or so when they show Justin Vincent's 65 yard game-opening run in the Sugar Bowl vs OU. You know, cause in case I haven't mentioned it before, I was there. And we won the national championship.

Also check out the sweet shadow editing on a Skyler Green cut at around 3:35 in, and then Alley Broussard abusing some dude not long afterwards.

Curiously, they actually included a play from the bowl game against Texas that shall not be discussed any further here. Mauck was injured, Chris Simms blows.

Blogging on a Saturday night

Mommy came today. She's in town for a week. That means I get free food. But it also means I blog on Saturday night.

Friday, August 05, 2005

HAHAHAH - Pomona student who's had enough of "liberal hippie douchebags"

The guy emailed Tucker Max about his issues with the school, somewhat of a long read. The Student Life at Pomona has an unintentionally hilarious article with generous quotation of the group this guy formed. Good, 100%, high-quality hippie-haters.

Newest Tucker Max story

This dude never fails to entertain:
Tucker “What is a Tonk?”
Agent Jones “Oh--that’s what Border Patrol calls illegal immigrants who have made it into the US. They can’t call them ‘wetbacks’ or ‘spicks’ because obviously those are racially charged names, and ‘Mexican’ isn’t accurate since a lot of illegals are not from Mexico, so they say ‘Tonk.’ They call them that because it’s the sound made when you hit them on the head with a Mag-Lite.”
Tucker “HOE-LEE-SHIT.”
More? Tucker ventures to a Harry Potter release party at midnight in Nantucket, and is approached by an 8-year old girl.
Kid “Over there talking to the man dressed as Snape. Are you excited about the book?”
Tucker “Beyond ecstatic. I can barely keep myself contained.”
Kid “I can’t wait to find out what happens! They say someone dies, I wonder who it’ll be.”
Tucker “Didn’t you hear? It’s Ron that dies in this one.”

She gets a look of complete horror on her face and her eyes start welling up with tears.

“NO NO NO—I’m just kidding. Totally kidding, please don’t cry, Ron doesn’t die, I’m just kidding,” she stops her tears and her face goes back to normal, “It’s actually Hermione that dies.”

She turn and runs off. Oh well, she has to learn at some point that guys are assholes.

Question for country music fans

Who is the gal in Kenny Chesney's "Big Star" video? I know the video's old, but she's hot. And I'm having trouble googling it.

I haven't watched CMT in forever...need to get back on that wagon.

Blogging b/c I'm cooped up with allergies at the apt on a Friday night

Good times, good times. Oh well, best I not be hung over when Mom arrives out here tomorrow.

LeCharles Bentley, New Orleans Saints center

I'm so glad we have this guy:
"When you take a man, a grown man, put your hands in the middle of his chest and bend him back to a point that you hear him scream, when he starts screaming like a little girl, you put his head in the dirt. And then you look up and you see Deuce, all you see is McALLISTER 26, stiff-arming somebody 20 yards down the field and breaking a 40-yard run and scoring. Then you get up and you just look at (the blocked defender), and you know damn well when he gets to the sideline, he's getting cussed out. And you know his mama, his wife and his kids were watching him on that play, and you just manhandled him. That's the best feeling."

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Vince Young is overrated (Reggie McNeal is far better)

From Matt Hayes at The Sporting News.

I think even Texas fans acknowledge that Vince can't throw for shit, but I think most people have to think that the hype surrounding this guy is insane. He is nowhere near as good as Michael Vick in 1999, but is getting all the same comparisons. Recall: in college, Vick could throw. Accurately. Sidearm throws across his body to hit a receiver in stride 60 yards down the field? No problem. Vince? Not a chance.

I haven't played with UT yet in NCAA 06, but I'm guessing video Vince is unstoppable on the ground AND through the air. Silly EA Sports.

Old men at the gym

What is it about old men that makes them feel they have the right to not just walk around ass naked in the locker room, since lots of dudes do that, but to actually SIT ass naked on the benches, with no towel underneath? One of them left a skid mark today. Absolutely disgusting. Ugh.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

The NFL Network

The entire concept, one whole channel devoted entirely to the NFL, is just brilliant. It's nothing new, but God I love that channel.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Newest Mexican attempt to spell my name

Today at Wahoo's, I became Jojan. Just keeping you updated.

Monday, August 01, 2005

My roommate's insane college football preview

Of interest: he thinks Mack Brown is the 9th best coach in the Big 12 (agree), and Tiger Stadium is 2nd to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville as the best stadium in the SEC (bullshit!).

You folks back home in Kirkland can rest easy

Koren Robinson has checked into rehab, so there's one less drunk driver to watch out for every night of the week...for now, at least.

Pasquarelli heaps praise on Peppers

Apparently, Julius Peppers looks "scary good" in camp. This does not bode well for my New Orleans Aints.

On the flip side, given that for some inexplicable reason Len Pasquarelli has mounds of respect for one Jim Haslett, head coach of the New Orleans Saints, I'm inclined not to take anything he says at face value. Honestly, Len, WATCH the Saints sometime. Watch their lack of emotion. Watch their lack of discipline. Watch their lack of execution. And THEN tell me the Saints are a well-coached ball club. As long as you stay on Haslett's side (though I know Morning After got off the team's bandwagon after we were shellacked by the AZ Cards last year - you still seem to have respect for Haslett's coaching ability), you will fail to convince me every time.

The Palmeiro-steroids nonsense

Ugh, Palmeiro was the one guy I actually believed. While I want to hold out hope that he's telling the truth still, I get the feeling he must have gotten his trainer to give him whatever is humanly possible that is short of steroids, and whatever he got actually triggered the positive test. Clearly, he'd be a moron to have had anything close to steroids intentionally in his system at the beginning of the year (when he supposedly actually failed the test). Given that the allegations have been in the news for months, players have had ample time to get the juice out of their systems.

In any event, for Palmeiro to REALLY clear himself, he needs to give a rundown of exactly what supplements he takes, how much he takes, and let the public figure out what it was that caused his positive test. Honestly, if he didn't take steroids intentionally, what the hell does he have to hide? The whole world already knows he's on Viagra (he was their spokesman a year or two ago, if you recall). Just come out with it, dude.

John Daly suing Florida paper for defamation

No offense, John Daly, but there are few sports fans in America who aren't already convinced of all this.