Today’s earlier post contained several errors including in the headline. And it was so stupid beyond belief. I referred to the Swine flu as “H121” instead of the correct “H1N1” virus. Was that stupid or what? And it was throughout the post. A boot up my a** except my feet aren’t working so good. Oh well. I get it.
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I was just watching “Anderson Cooper’s 360” on CNN just now in time to hear the announcement his sidekick Erica Hill is leaving to work for CBS. That doesn’t particularly raise emotions with me one way or the other. I am not particularly an Anderson Cooper fan, nor am I particularly wild about Erica Hill although she is very pretty. Hill has co-hosted the CBS “Early Show” on Saturdays since September 2008. That’s about it.
Perhaps I could write about the upcoming talk Prez Obama will be giving shortly about the suspected terrorist now dubbed “The Underwear Bomber” and how things fell through cracks in our intelligence and security systems. But why bother? I’m sure it’s important and probably well-intentioned and even insightful. However, it’s only going to lead to more screaming and lying, yes lying, by Republicans lawmakers whose jobs are predominantly legislators, but these days we find them mostly in the obstruction and prevarication fields.
So I go with something not important to millions worldwide, but nonetheless important here in the United States — the National Championship.
I say only the national championship because probably more people know what I am talking about with those two words than do not. That is, the four or five people who actually read this blog. The game tonight is formally titled the Citi BCS National Championship. The first two words make me cringe when I say that: “Citi,” as in bank whose tele-support people can give me major pains in the ass, and “BCS” for Bowl Championship Series a.k.a. Big Crappy System. I have a credit card for my job, a requirement of my job actually, through Citi. And, like many others, I think the BCS stinks as a way to pick champions. The simple way to improve picking champions involves playoffs. Thus more games. Thus more TV revenue, one would think. Thus perhaps not as many fans with their noses out of their collective joints over their teams either not making the cut or losing the games.
One also would not have to lose any bowls in such a system although I don’t think it would hurt to cut a few here or there since there are 34 bowls. I think that’s a bit much.
Texas is the underdog in the game, which is good in a way. I like underdogs, mostly. But I am rooting for the Longhorns. I know some of my more rabid Texas A & M friends and family might not like that. Some are so rabid they want to see A & M lose any game, period. That’s kind of how I used to feel about the Dallas Cowboys. I still am not much of a Cowboys fan but under certain situations I like to see them win.
I’m not going to analyze the upcoming game because I only know a little about each team having seen them play a few times and I speak of, mostly, Texas. All I can say is I hope it’s a good, clean contest and perhaps without the insanity some such games, including ones Alabama played, have produced. The 1954 Cotton Bowl comes to mind during which the Crimson Tide’s fullback Tommy Lewis jumped from the bench as he saw Rice halfback Dick Moegle heading up the sidelines toward a score. Lewis then tackled Moegle — keep in mind he had been sitting on the bench — prompting the zebras to give Rice a touchdown and Moegle a 95-yard run. Rice won, maybe for the last time or so it seems, 28-6.
There is a lesson there. Maybe more than one but probably the biggest being don’t go on the field when your butt is supposed to be planted to the bench. See there, it’s pretty simple. Go ‘Horns!
One has to wonder if watching clips of the fireworks marking the celebration of the new world’s tallest building brought to many minds — at least in the U.S. — the horrors of 9/11.
People will work and live and pray in this building and who knows what else. I cannot fathom how anyone can live way up. I’m not talking a few stories, or even 20 or so stories, but perhaps more than 160 stories?
Part of my misgivings come from having worked as a fireman and witnessing for myself that those ladders and snorkles on trucks only reach so far, and not really much at that. Then, of course, there was 9/11. People walking down floor after floor amid an unspeakable tragedy, trudging down stairs, not even running for their lives, in what must have seen a nightmare featuring a living hell in which time ended only by escape or annihilation.
There is no reason for living way up. A pretty woman perhaps? I did stay a week in a 20th floor apartment overlooking the Mississippi River in a certain large, Midwestern city. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
Nevertheless, I took a ride to the top of the then-world’s tallest building. I looked around to see what I could see. Then I rode that speedy elevator down to the bottom.
Even the name of the new tallest building is steeped into the grossest of financial insanity. The backers of the project named the building after the sheik running Abu Dhabi. Sheik Daddy is the fellow who poured in tens of billions into the fiscally challenged fantasy land where megabucks and the right connection could build you an island in the shake of a tail feather.
It’s all about “mine is bigger than yours.” That is why the World’s Third Largest Fire Hydrant in my town is no longer the world’s largest. Things have got to be bigger and, hopefully, better.
At the end of the story last night on CBS about this new high-rise, Katie Couric did mention the structure had these new safety features and could withstand being struck by a plane. She didn’t say how big a plane. I do think, though, that proved at least some of us were on the same page about 9/11 and tall buildings.
People, men mostly, will keep building ’em taller and taller. Dubai can have it’s old World’s tallest because one will emerge from somewhere even higher some days. Perhaps as the ‘scraper shoots ever taller, through the clouds to where the top of the building can’t even be seen, someday a great giant will emerge. The giant will throw a super-duty bean stalk over the side of the structure and he will take perhaps but a minute before he rappels to the street level. What the giant does then is better left to the imagination.
Does this sound a bit farfetched? You tell me. The sky no longer seems the limit.
Certainly no shortage of football existed over the Christmas weekend. There were more bowls than one could shake a plate of hot wings at and still have room left for a heap of nachos.
Unofortunately for me, there were really no bowls I cared to watch although I did catch most of theAlamo Bowlto see if any kind of soccer-hooligan violence broke out amidst the Texas Tech fans over Tech Coach Mike Leach’s sacking. I felt sorry for the Tech players, including the player centered in the controversy Adam James. I am glad the Red Raiders pulled off the win in spite of all the idiots who booed and threatened James and his family. Those Leach fans ought to follow the ex-coach off into the Grand Canyon, if he happens to go that way.
Houston fans got a trip to the edge Sunday afternoon and evening with the slight hope that they might win a wildcard berth. They made the first hurdle by beating the New England Patriots which was mostly led by QB Tom Brady of the Brady Bunch. Fate then was left to decide the Texans playoff future and sorry to say leaving things to fate when it comes to Houston sports is like leaving a tiger inside a butcher shop.
Two of three teams had to lose Sunday for Houston to get the wild card slot. It didn’t seem like that would be possible with Baltimore and the Raiders and sure enough, the Raiders lost once again. Then our (Texans fans’) hopes were built up just a bit more when Kansas City beat Denver. That was one of the three that needed beating. All we had left was for Cincinatti to beat the Jets. Now that was entirely possible. It just turned out extremely improbable and ultimately more like no way in hell. So instead of Houston winning a playoff berth, they’ll just have to settle for their first winning season (9-7) ever. And guess what, we get to watch the Jets and Bengals in the wildcard game next week. Which is also, in my case, no way in hell that will happen.
I still have hopes for the Saints, but the whole operation looks as if it’s turning to gumbo. Oh and also the BCS National Championship is coming up. I think the Longhorns can win, the question is, will they?
Texas Tech fired Mike Leach as head coach today, just before the Red Raiders take on Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl. Leach was accused of mistreating wide receiver Adam James by ordering the player into small, dark rooms after James suffered a concussion. James is the son of ESPN analyst and former SMU and NFL player Craig James.
One can only wonder if the allegations are true. Especially in light of other Texas Tech hires including retired basketball coach Bobby Knight, and the pro-torture former U.S. Attorney General in the Gee Dubya Bush administration, Alberto Gonzales.
Did Gonzales order Mike Leach to torture Adam James at Texas Tech?
Gonzales is a visiting professor at Texas Techand is a diversity recruiter. No figures have yet been released as to how many Muslim students Professor Gonzales has managed to sign at Texas Tech, located in Lubbock. That is, with or without torture.
The Houston Texans held on for a second straight week to beat Miami and to escape once again with more Ws than Ls. Now, the entire AFC will not have to fall into a fresh opening in the ground and disappear in order for the Texans to capture a wild card playoff spot. Perhaps, just the equivalent of an AFC conference will have to be kidnapped.
With the Texans facing New England for their last game, Patriots coach Bill Belechick is reportedly playing coy to questions as to whether hotshot QB Tom Brady will play since the Pats are assured the AFC East title. That’s fine with me (see INDIANAPOLIS). It doesn’t matter to New England whether Houston wins. It does to Houston, but the Texans need a various combination of planet alignment and voodoo for the team to head towards its first playoff game ever.
Jim Caldwell, a name which will live in infamy
And what is up with Indianapolis Colts coach taking out his stars including QB Peyton Manning with a slight lead and an ultimate loss to the New York Jets? That was, of course, the end to a possible perfect season for the Colts. Caldwell, the coach, didn’t want Manning and other stars to hurt a pinky or something. Team president Bill Polian is now wondering why most of Indianapolis wants to mount his coach on a fiery stick. Hmm. That’s a tough one Billy Boy.
And finallllllllllllllllllllllllllly I’m hidden inside this bowl
Not too many days longer until the national college title game between Texas and Alabama. It seems many who know what they are talking about when it comes to football pick the Crimson Tide. Sorry, I have to go with Mack Brown and his boys, not to be confused with Johnny Mack Brown.
But before the BCS championship, we’ve got the Tampa Tampax Bowl, the Preparation H Herbert Hoover Bowl, the Snap-on-Tools Idaho Bowl, the Watts 40-Oz. Bull Bowl, the Smith and Wesson Cut and Shoot, Texas, Bowl, the Flaming Gay Bowl at San Francisco, the I-Shot-the-Sheriff-Rastafarian Bowl in Kingston, Jamaica and so forth …
