Week 2 Review
I went to the game. It was sunny. I left my water resistant jacket in the truck as I did not want to lug it around. That was my first mistake. Somewhere in the third quarter and out of nowhere it came a downpour. Huge ice cold rain drops showered me through and through. I shivered, I admit it.
So how was the game? Auburn looked pretty decent minus the red zone turn overs. Auburn left two possibly three touchdowns on the field. It appears that Chris Todd may be the best quarterback for this system right now. I don't think that Todd or Burns look like the future of Auburn quarterbacks though.
The defense was outstanding. I have no worries right now about this team. Do they appear to be a national contender? I'd probably say no, not yet. Could they win the SEC West? We will have to wait and see because LSU has looked much better in their opener than I expected. I also wonder about Ole Miss as they looked pretty good and had every chance to win the game against ACC contender Wake Forest.
Rob, what do you think about Alabama? Well, I think they are ok. I have decided that the same Clemson team that Auburn beat in the Chick-Fil-A bowl, that Alabama demolished two weeks ago just isn't a good team. Bama couldn't get the offense going against Tulane. They really need to be thanking those special teams.
Outside the SEC, I am really impressed with East Carolina. They look like the real deal trumping Va.Tech and West Virginia. It certainly makes me feel better about Auburn's match up come October 25th against the Mountaineers.
On my way home from the game I stopped by to visit with my grandfather, PaPa. His health has been declining and I know he won't be around forever. He looked really good. I think the visit was good for both of us. To sum up, go see your family, give them a hug and tell them you love them. They won't be here forever.
Also, my father in law is in the hospital. He is having triple, maybe quadruple heart bypass surgery tomorrow (Wednesday the 10th). I fully expect him to be fine and pull through like a trooper. He has a strong heart and many people praying for him. I would appreciate your prayers as well. Life is fragile, love your family while you can.
War Eagle,
rw
I LIKE TO TELL STORIES
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Cement Swinger
One hot, sunny, sticky, sweltering Sunday afternoon in the not so distant few weeks past I heard a knock on the door. My neighbor, we shall call him J. came over to see if the kid would like to go swimming at their pool.
DW said sure and took the boy over. I informed her that I needed to work on my fence and didn't plan on making an appearance. As I worked my fence posts in my back yard, I could hear the splashing and the joy coming from my boy as he cooled off in the above ground pond half encircled by a sun weathered deck.
I was noticed and called so I went over to say hello and brag on my "big" little feller in the big boy pool. After listening to a brief but disconcerting discourse on Nascar and Alabama football, I politely excused myself to continue my toils.
No sooner than I had gotten back into the details of my task, I heard J. yelling my name from across the way. So I trekked back over. Apparently J. had been pestering DW to get in the pool so she told him to "tell the boys daddy to come get in the pool" with the kid. She later informed me that J. had to ask what my name was.
Now back over at J.'s I began to notice two things. One, J. was rather rapidly consuming more than his share of adult beverages and two, he would stop asking my wife to get in the pool, clothes and "everything".
I tell "guy" that she isn't going to comply. I remove my shirt (easy ladies) and jump in the pool. I play with Jackson. Its fine, fun even however I was never quite comfortable making this visit. J. goes into depth on an array of pointless topics, constantly repeating himself in his progressive stupor until he makes the oddest of comments. Ol'J. starts telling me what a good woman his wife his and so forth and so on.
Now I am starting to question what the ol'boy's intentions are. If he says the first danged word about being swingers I'd have punched him in the gullet and calmly walked back to the safety of our own domain. Somehow the conversation reverts back to the repetitive jibbersh he spewed earlier.
Once again he mentioned to DW that she needed to just go ahead and get in the pool and at that point we made and executive decision on our end and began to leave. In my haste to leave, J. who was quite drunk by this time made reference to my work ..ing my fence. He pledged right then and there his devotion to help me with my fence if I'd help him with his.
Granted, I am more than happy to help a neighbor, but this son of a gun watched me build the fronts and sides to my privacy fence last summer. He watched and made comments as I hit and dug up boulders in my attempt at setting posts. So my work on the fence at this point in the story was rather minor. It was the last hurrah to tie the back of the fence together as to enclose that baby for future dogs and whatever else you do with a completely closed in back yard. Suffice it to say, I needed zero help. Also dear reader, I am not sure if it's been mentioned but I like things my way. I am quite particular about how tasks get completed, very picky you might say.
I left and told J. that sure, I'd help "him". Next thing I know as I am beginning to set posts is that I see J. sneaking into my back yard, shirtless and shoeless, to help a brother out.
He caught me at a bad time. A few of you may be aware, but I have constant nagging knee problems. I was bent over clutching a knee that appeared to have locked up on me. So J. assumed that I really needed help at that point. He picked up the post hole diggers and started wailing on my previously completed and tamped holes. As he raised the height of the holes and ignored my pleas to stop, his wife came over and scolded him for not wearing shoes. She also asked him to watch their baby.
I tried to convince him that I was at a stopping point but instead I wound up watching a baby and a drunk. He asked if I was going to sink the posts in concrete. Why oh why Lord did I not simply say, "no".
So he walked over to pick up and place an 80 pound sack of concrete in my wheel barrow. My yard has some crown or slope so when he attempted to grab the sack he and the wheel barrow went tumbling. It was pretty funny except that he was mucking up my whole operation.
After I placed the sack in the wheel barrow I watched him try to tear into the bag with his bare hands. It got worse. He started mixing the cement with his bare hands. I could not get a hoe in the wheel barrow to save my life. Wonder what he did next? He started scooping the cement with his hands and dumping it in my holes where the posts sat waiting. Dude's wife came over and said "honey, use a shovel". I informed her that apparently J. didn't believe in shovels.
I think she realized how perturbed ol'RW had become so she scolded J. and made him go home, but not before I hosed concrete off his face, arms, chest and legs.
He came over the next day to apologize, admitting that he didn't really remember what had happened. And praise be to the Lord that he hasn't attempted to assist me in my further tasks even though I caught him watching, longing to help.
DW said sure and took the boy over. I informed her that I needed to work on my fence and didn't plan on making an appearance. As I worked my fence posts in my back yard, I could hear the splashing and the joy coming from my boy as he cooled off in the above ground pond half encircled by a sun weathered deck.
I was noticed and called so I went over to say hello and brag on my "big" little feller in the big boy pool. After listening to a brief but disconcerting discourse on Nascar and Alabama football, I politely excused myself to continue my toils.
No sooner than I had gotten back into the details of my task, I heard J. yelling my name from across the way. So I trekked back over. Apparently J. had been pestering DW to get in the pool so she told him to "tell the boys daddy to come get in the pool" with the kid. She later informed me that J. had to ask what my name was.
Now back over at J.'s I began to notice two things. One, J. was rather rapidly consuming more than his share of adult beverages and two, he would stop asking my wife to get in the pool, clothes and "everything".
I tell "guy" that she isn't going to comply. I remove my shirt (easy ladies) and jump in the pool. I play with Jackson. Its fine, fun even however I was never quite comfortable making this visit. J. goes into depth on an array of pointless topics, constantly repeating himself in his progressive stupor until he makes the oddest of comments. Ol'J. starts telling me what a good woman his wife his and so forth and so on.
Now I am starting to question what the ol'boy's intentions are. If he says the first danged word about being swingers I'd have punched him in the gullet and calmly walked back to the safety of our own domain. Somehow the conversation reverts back to the repetitive jibbersh he spewed earlier.
Once again he mentioned to DW that she needed to just go ahead and get in the pool and at that point we made and executive decision on our end and began to leave. In my haste to leave, J. who was quite drunk by this time made reference to my work ..ing my fence. He pledged right then and there his devotion to help me with my fence if I'd help him with his.
Granted, I am more than happy to help a neighbor, but this son of a gun watched me build the fronts and sides to my privacy fence last summer. He watched and made comments as I hit and dug up boulders in my attempt at setting posts. So my work on the fence at this point in the story was rather minor. It was the last hurrah to tie the back of the fence together as to enclose that baby for future dogs and whatever else you do with a completely closed in back yard. Suffice it to say, I needed zero help. Also dear reader, I am not sure if it's been mentioned but I like things my way. I am quite particular about how tasks get completed, very picky you might say.
I left and told J. that sure, I'd help "him". Next thing I know as I am beginning to set posts is that I see J. sneaking into my back yard, shirtless and shoeless, to help a brother out.
He caught me at a bad time. A few of you may be aware, but I have constant nagging knee problems. I was bent over clutching a knee that appeared to have locked up on me. So J. assumed that I really needed help at that point. He picked up the post hole diggers and started wailing on my previously completed and tamped holes. As he raised the height of the holes and ignored my pleas to stop, his wife came over and scolded him for not wearing shoes. She also asked him to watch their baby.
I tried to convince him that I was at a stopping point but instead I wound up watching a baby and a drunk. He asked if I was going to sink the posts in concrete. Why oh why Lord did I not simply say, "no".
So he walked over to pick up and place an 80 pound sack of concrete in my wheel barrow. My yard has some crown or slope so when he attempted to grab the sack he and the wheel barrow went tumbling. It was pretty funny except that he was mucking up my whole operation.
After I placed the sack in the wheel barrow I watched him try to tear into the bag with his bare hands. It got worse. He started mixing the cement with his bare hands. I could not get a hoe in the wheel barrow to save my life. Wonder what he did next? He started scooping the cement with his hands and dumping it in my holes where the posts sat waiting. Dude's wife came over and said "honey, use a shovel". I informed her that apparently J. didn't believe in shovels.
I think she realized how perturbed ol'RW had become so she scolded J. and made him go home, but not before I hosed concrete off his face, arms, chest and legs.
He came over the next day to apologize, admitting that he didn't really remember what had happened. And praise be to the Lord that he hasn't attempted to assist me in my further tasks even though I caught him watching, longing to help.
Show Me Some of Those Spanish Dances
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
James and I are at a conference down at Orange Beach. Today for lunch we drove to the Crab Trap for a tasty treat.
I wanna give some props to this establishment with excellent food and fantastic service. At first I wasn't sure if we had a waiter or waitress, but that beaming smile and friendly attitude finally won me over.
We enjoyed crab claws and I had my fill of blackened amberjack. James even had a seat with a cushion. Fantastic day!
Seriously, the food was better than excellent. I always leave that place happy. If you know me well, then you know that I have super powerful, yet quite selective taste buds. If I tell you something is delectable, you can count on it one hundred percent. Try the place out sometime and tell them ol robby sent ya (not that it would help you one iota).
In the future, you can expect more reviews of eateries that I have frequented to guide you in all your eating endeavors. James thinks this is best as I have a voice and it needs to be heard.
He also thinks I need a special badge to present to restaurant operators so that when I compliment the establishment, the compliment comes with credentials to be taken very seriously. Maybe we could issue window stickers, "rwylie approved". We will be working on both of the above referenced items. I implore your support to establish my credentials by way of petition, nothing special, just something simple that states "rwylie is the best, he knows good food". Thanks James for the motivation and encouragement, you are a peach of guy.
As far as the conference goes, it was swell. I missed most of it playing and doing "work" work. However, I can vouch for the sun shine and the pretty scenery. It was pleasant indeed.
Tomorrow we head home. James wants to go to the outlet malls and shop til he drops. I concur. I also have mediation tomorrow. Wish me the best.
Why dear friends do I tell you all of this? I do it because I know you care and that you emphatically miss our little chats.
Til next time....
Earnestly yours,
Robby
James and I are at a conference down at Orange Beach. Today for lunch we drove to the Crab Trap for a tasty treat.
I wanna give some props to this establishment with excellent food and fantastic service. At first I wasn't sure if we had a waiter or waitress, but that beaming smile and friendly attitude finally won me over.
We enjoyed crab claws and I had my fill of blackened amberjack. James even had a seat with a cushion. Fantastic day!
Seriously, the food was better than excellent. I always leave that place happy. If you know me well, then you know that I have super powerful, yet quite selective taste buds. If I tell you something is delectable, you can count on it one hundred percent. Try the place out sometime and tell them ol robby sent ya (not that it would help you one iota).
In the future, you can expect more reviews of eateries that I have frequented to guide you in all your eating endeavors. James thinks this is best as I have a voice and it needs to be heard.
He also thinks I need a special badge to present to restaurant operators so that when I compliment the establishment, the compliment comes with credentials to be taken very seriously. Maybe we could issue window stickers, "rwylie approved". We will be working on both of the above referenced items. I implore your support to establish my credentials by way of petition, nothing special, just something simple that states "rwylie is the best, he knows good food". Thanks James for the motivation and encouragement, you are a peach of guy.
As far as the conference goes, it was swell. I missed most of it playing and doing "work" work. However, I can vouch for the sun shine and the pretty scenery. It was pleasant indeed.
Tomorrow we head home. James wants to go to the outlet malls and shop til he drops. I concur. I also have mediation tomorrow. Wish me the best.
Why dear friends do I tell you all of this? I do it because I know you care and that you emphatically miss our little chats.
Til next time....
Earnestly yours,
Robby
I-Pod
Thursday, May 29, 2008
My ipod has died on me after only one year and five months. It will no longer play music. More than a handful of people have told me that they have experienced the same problems only to find Apple unwilling to present any acceptable resolutions.
I have been told that Apple is aware of the problems but has turned a deaf ear to both making a better product and offering decent customer service in regards to problems.
I went to a Apple store and was given a few options. I can trade my ipod in for a refurbished unit. The cost for me would be 120 bucks to do so.
I can simply give Apple my ipod as a part of their "recycling program" and they will grant me 10 percent off for the purchase of a new product.
Or I can send the ipod to someone on the interweb that repairs them. The cost for this could be anywhere from a 100 to 250 dollars.
Its not that 250 bucks is an exhorbitant amount of money, but you'd expect Apple to make products that could reasonably be expected to last longer than a year and a half.
It might be different if I had in some fashion caused damage to the ipod, but alas, I have treated it with kids gloves.
I may trade it in and pony up for the cost of a refurbished ipod, but you can be pretty sure that its the last product from Apple I intend to buy.
I also won't be spending anymore money on itunes.
Rant Over...
My ipod has died on me after only one year and five months. It will no longer play music. More than a handful of people have told me that they have experienced the same problems only to find Apple unwilling to present any acceptable resolutions.
I have been told that Apple is aware of the problems but has turned a deaf ear to both making a better product and offering decent customer service in regards to problems.
I went to a Apple store and was given a few options. I can trade my ipod in for a refurbished unit. The cost for me would be 120 bucks to do so.
I can simply give Apple my ipod as a part of their "recycling program" and they will grant me 10 percent off for the purchase of a new product.
Or I can send the ipod to someone on the interweb that repairs them. The cost for this could be anywhere from a 100 to 250 dollars.
Its not that 250 bucks is an exhorbitant amount of money, but you'd expect Apple to make products that could reasonably be expected to last longer than a year and a half.
It might be different if I had in some fashion caused damage to the ipod, but alas, I have treated it with kids gloves.
I may trade it in and pony up for the cost of a refurbished ipod, but you can be pretty sure that its the last product from Apple I intend to buy.
I also won't be spending anymore money on itunes.
Rant Over...
Why didn’t you get your own fries?
Sunday, April 20, 2008
we trotted over to BK to get a quick bite for din din. my hands were stained from potting soil. i could have cared, but i didnt (and yes i was wearing my shorts).
so i get a burger and some fries. i dont even want a burger and some fries. i really dont want the fries expessially. But when my wife who didnt get any fries starts eating fries off of my laid flat burger wrapper / plate substitute, i friggin lost it.
i didnt really lose it so that you would notice. i cut my eyes and asked why she didnt get her own fries. she acted like i lost it and threw three (count them, one two three) french fries at me. it was priceless. we looked like we belonged, what with me in my shorts, us with landscaping stained hands and throwing fries all willy nilly at each other.
on the inside yes, i was really peeved at her grabbing my fries.
she said that was selfish and rude. i said that it was a normal guy response. guys' minds if not kept in check revert back to teen age fight or flight mentality over food. my mind says " yo rob, you know we need two burgers, not just one burgers and dont forget fries or we will die of starvation, jess saying".
to bring this story to a quick close, i would like to finish by saying that we didnt even finish the fries. we didnt want those nasty things in the first place.
we might even kiss and make up later...hubba hubba.
we trotted over to BK to get a quick bite for din din. my hands were stained from potting soil. i could have cared, but i didnt (and yes i was wearing my shorts).
so i get a burger and some fries. i dont even want a burger and some fries. i really dont want the fries expessially. But when my wife who didnt get any fries starts eating fries off of my laid flat burger wrapper / plate substitute, i friggin lost it.
i didnt really lose it so that you would notice. i cut my eyes and asked why she didnt get her own fries. she acted like i lost it and threw three (count them, one two three) french fries at me. it was priceless. we looked like we belonged, what with me in my shorts, us with landscaping stained hands and throwing fries all willy nilly at each other.
on the inside yes, i was really peeved at her grabbing my fries.
she said that was selfish and rude. i said that it was a normal guy response. guys' minds if not kept in check revert back to teen age fight or flight mentality over food. my mind says " yo rob, you know we need two burgers, not just one burgers and dont forget fries or we will die of starvation, jess saying".
to bring this story to a quick close, i would like to finish by saying that we didnt even finish the fries. we didnt want those nasty things in the first place.
we might even kiss and make up later...hubba hubba.
Spectors in the Morning
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Lots of ppl that i have heard or read that see ghosts, see them in the early morning when the sun is shining through the windows even though the drapes are closed and the ppl are still sleepy.
this morning as i walked from the laundry room back to the bedroom i saw an image slowly turning its head towards me. it was my wife on the potty. i exclaimed in a shriek, "why you gotta sneak up on me in the mornings?".
she had no reply as she was sleep walking and probably didnt even hear me.
a few minutes later, dressed and getting ready to go, i was searching through the very top cabinets for my various vitamins. on my tippy toes reaching for a bottle of vitamin C, i saw something float towards me. again, it was the wife coming around a blind corner.
i yelled at her, "geez, i thought you were a spector! you almost gave me a heart attack woman."
"A spector?", she questioned.
"yeah, like a ghost or a demon or something."
She punched me in the arm.
i left for work.
Lots of ppl that i have heard or read that see ghosts, see them in the early morning when the sun is shining through the windows even though the drapes are closed and the ppl are still sleepy.
this morning as i walked from the laundry room back to the bedroom i saw an image slowly turning its head towards me. it was my wife on the potty. i exclaimed in a shriek, "why you gotta sneak up on me in the mornings?".
she had no reply as she was sleep walking and probably didnt even hear me.
a few minutes later, dressed and getting ready to go, i was searching through the very top cabinets for my various vitamins. on my tippy toes reaching for a bottle of vitamin C, i saw something float towards me. again, it was the wife coming around a blind corner.
i yelled at her, "geez, i thought you were a spector! you almost gave me a heart attack woman."
"A spector?", she questioned.
"yeah, like a ghost or a demon or something."
She punched me in the arm.
i left for work.
Maid Close to Manhattan
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Maid Close To Manhattan? A play on the movie title "Maid in Manhattan"...get it? Yeah, it didn’t really work for me so much either.
I am between NYC and Englewood NJ this week. The maid at my hotel spent time lounging in my room today. How do I know this? Read the following true life story of one Rob Wylie.
I arrived back to my room this evening about 6:30pm. The maid knocked on the door almost as soon as I closed it. She handed me a bottle of Saratoga natural spring water and two chocolates with a smile. This water comes in a fancy blue-ish purple bottle. Its quite stunning for bottled water actually. As I drink it I imagine that I dipped it from an actual natural spring....nah not really, but you get the point.
So the maid gives me the chocolates, winks, says "ok" in the form of a question and walks away. "Ok" I say back in my best spanish accent.
They are supposed to leave the water and sweets in the room when they clean. They usually clean the rooms around midday. I thought that was a tad fishy but whatever, my feet hurt and I wanted to rest.
The night before I had been watching television and turned the closed caption off because it was bothering me. Tonight when I turned the television on, the closed caption was on again, but now in espanol. "Aha!", someone had been watching television in my room. I put two and two together. The maid is hispanic. The television shows were in spanish. Who else could it be?
My room is at the very end of the hall so I imagine that she sat in here, supervisors unaware and watched her spanish soap operas for a while. There are like four spanish channels on this television. Unbelievable.
I feel as though my privacy has been invaded. I unadvisedly left valuables in the room but they appear in order. Who really knows til I discover something missing though.
I leave for Alabama tomorrow, but before I jet out of here, I am going to try and catch her. I will update on how that turns out...maybe.
Maid Close To Manhattan? A play on the movie title "Maid in Manhattan"...get it? Yeah, it didn’t really work for me so much either.
I am between NYC and Englewood NJ this week. The maid at my hotel spent time lounging in my room today. How do I know this? Read the following true life story of one Rob Wylie.
I arrived back to my room this evening about 6:30pm. The maid knocked on the door almost as soon as I closed it. She handed me a bottle of Saratoga natural spring water and two chocolates with a smile. This water comes in a fancy blue-ish purple bottle. Its quite stunning for bottled water actually. As I drink it I imagine that I dipped it from an actual natural spring....nah not really, but you get the point.
So the maid gives me the chocolates, winks, says "ok" in the form of a question and walks away. "Ok" I say back in my best spanish accent.
They are supposed to leave the water and sweets in the room when they clean. They usually clean the rooms around midday. I thought that was a tad fishy but whatever, my feet hurt and I wanted to rest.
The night before I had been watching television and turned the closed caption off because it was bothering me. Tonight when I turned the television on, the closed caption was on again, but now in espanol. "Aha!", someone had been watching television in my room. I put two and two together. The maid is hispanic. The television shows were in spanish. Who else could it be?
My room is at the very end of the hall so I imagine that she sat in here, supervisors unaware and watched her spanish soap operas for a while. There are like four spanish channels on this television. Unbelievable.
I feel as though my privacy has been invaded. I unadvisedly left valuables in the room but they appear in order. Who really knows til I discover something missing though.
I leave for Alabama tomorrow, but before I jet out of here, I am going to try and catch her. I will update on how that turns out...maybe.
Ski Trip
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I am the most humble of persons, but to tell the truth, I am a natural skier. I am being sarcastic (not the good skier part, thats true). That's not very humble is it? Well, you know that old saying, "humble is as humble does". I made that up, I think.
We went to Beech Mountain in North Carolina recently, very recently actually. I had never skied before. My name is Rob. I am 31 years of age and I had never skied. I don't know why. I stand before you, a man, transparent. Go ahead and judge me.
I digress. We get the skiis and lift tickets and with such arrangements taken care of, off we go. I strapped on the skiis and bent over to grab my ski pole. As I did, I started to fall, caught myself and felt like I dislocated my shoulder. No biggie, I am not a girl. "Suck it up Sally", I told myself.
I watched a few people falling on the low grade bunny slope. I shook my head in disapproval. "Losers", I thought.
My turn. I stepped out onto the snow and bam. I fell so fast and hard that I didn't know what happened. I stood up pointing in two different directions screaming, "who hit me?" No one noticed or cared for that matter.
I played around on the bunny slope for a while. I helped kids, showed off my skills and started giving tips on how to slow down and stop. Sure, I'd had absolutely no formal lessons or any lessons at all for that matter, but that didn't stop me from telling people where they zigged when they should have zagged.
Really and truly, I started to get the hang of this "skiing". Another member of our posse finally asked me if was ready to step up my game, to which I said, "Ready? I was born ready!" (yeah, I am that smooth, I know you were thinking it).
Up the chair lift I went. The first slope was a lesser difficult intermediate freestyle slope. It was fairly steep enough grade with one curve. "I got this!" And I did. "Not a bad job sailor", I said to myself.
I went down that slope a few more times and began to manipulate the downhill with the greatest of ease. Back and forth I went. I was infact, King of the Mountain.
Now that I was a professional skiier in just a few short hours, I went down with the posse again and watched Holly pick up too much speed towards the end of the slope. "Slow down Holly", I screamed. "No CRAP", she screamed back (I am fairly certain she didn't say crap, again I digress).
She fell and we were terrified. She laughed after the fact. I didn't see how. It wasn't a graceful tumble. She is a real trooper.
We stood around the entrance area for a few minutes. My poor old left knee started aching so I tried to pop it while standing on the aforementioned skiis. Yeah. I fell. DW's Uncle approached me with a smile. "Rob, they are having tryouts for the Olympic ski team right over there, behind us. They said you shouldn't waste your time thinking about 2010." I gave him the thumbs up.
Larry Paul who had skiied once before asked me if I was ready to take on the big mamma jamma slope, thats right, it had a sign that said "more difficult".
"Sure, (again not tryin to seem redundant) I was born ready!"
As I started to ski over to the chair lift I felt I needed to stretch out my tired bum knee. I fell. I lost a pole. My ski came off. I was embarassed. I ski down the hill so good, but I dont stand around so well. I stood back up, gathered my equipment and slipped into the lost ski. I turned to find Larry Paul and I fell again. Awesome!
As we took the lift to the top of the mountain, I began to entertain thoughts as to how crazy this was. We were skiing at night. It was almost ten p.m. and we started around six p.m. My knee was bothering me. And we could begin to see how high up the mountain we were going. These slopes were steep. People were flying down. They looked experienced enough and BOOM, they would wipe out.
As we hopped off the chair lift and I attempted to clean the icicles and fog away from my goggles, I wondered how I would make it down without dying. What would happen if I did? How long would it take someone to find me? This probably wasnt such a good idea, but it was too late. The only way down was, well, to go down.
I forgot to mention, but my beard was covered by real icicles. Right before I was seated on the chair lift the attendant asked me if I was cold. I replied with a no and asked why? "Because you have icicles all over your face, man" he laughed.
Anyway, as Larry Paul and I headed down the mountain I tried to maintain somewhat of a controlled speed. Unfortunately it didn't work out so well for me. My knee buckled and I came a crashing down.
I found myself alive and stood jubilant that I might not die. Larry Paul would surely be much farther down by now. As I redonned my skiis, I saw someone waving like a madman. I waved back thinking it had to be Larry Paul checking on me. It wasn't.
I started back down. I skied thirty five feet or so and fell again. The snow was really hard at this point and I couldn't slow down. The harder I tried to slow, the more my knee quit. Yeah, I fell again.
A small girl, probably a pre-teen, stopped to help me gather my poles and skiis. I think she had witnessed the back to back wipe outs and was a tad concerned. Almost as though she was a worried parent I pleaded with her to go ahead and not be troubled with me. She finally left. I am sure she sent the rescue team after me on a ski mobile when she arrived at the bottom. I know this because as soon as I actually made it down, I saw them rush off in a fury as though there was a body to recover. Those ski mobiles look like big fun.
Finished for the night, I turned in my equipment. I had stared death in the face. I conquered Ski Beech. I was my hero, surprised?
I have not had so much fun in a long long time. It was the best vacation of late that I can recall. I want to go back and ski once or twice more again this winter so let me know if you would like to come with.
While on the trip Jackson became the champion of sledders like his old man. He gives it that old college try. I couldn't be prouder. Several times he just closed his eyes and yelled at the top of his lungs, "make way!"
DW was so good at the sledding that she bounced right off the sled. I gave her style points for her landing. Ask her about it.
We also had to purchase snow chains. Why you ask? While the main roads were kept in impecible condition, the "other roads" were not. We almost slid off into oblivion. That of course was the first time during the trip that I stared at death and laughed, ha...ha, harumph. I turned my nose at it. I looked the other way and just ignored it. What a snob. Jackson didn't feel the same though. He had decided temporarily that this trip was a bad decision and that we needed to get on home. He did later change his mind.
In all honesty, this trip was a blast, one of the best ever. We really appreciated the invite and the hospitality shown to us. Thanks to Eddie and Sandra and Amber and LP and Lee and Holly and Rick and Jennie and all the kids. We can't wait til next year!
I am the most humble of persons, but to tell the truth, I am a natural skier. I am being sarcastic (not the good skier part, thats true). That's not very humble is it? Well, you know that old saying, "humble is as humble does". I made that up, I think.
We went to Beech Mountain in North Carolina recently, very recently actually. I had never skied before. My name is Rob. I am 31 years of age and I had never skied. I don't know why. I stand before you, a man, transparent. Go ahead and judge me.
I digress. We get the skiis and lift tickets and with such arrangements taken care of, off we go. I strapped on the skiis and bent over to grab my ski pole. As I did, I started to fall, caught myself and felt like I dislocated my shoulder. No biggie, I am not a girl. "Suck it up Sally", I told myself.
I watched a few people falling on the low grade bunny slope. I shook my head in disapproval. "Losers", I thought.
My turn. I stepped out onto the snow and bam. I fell so fast and hard that I didn't know what happened. I stood up pointing in two different directions screaming, "who hit me?" No one noticed or cared for that matter.
I played around on the bunny slope for a while. I helped kids, showed off my skills and started giving tips on how to slow down and stop. Sure, I'd had absolutely no formal lessons or any lessons at all for that matter, but that didn't stop me from telling people where they zigged when they should have zagged.
Really and truly, I started to get the hang of this "skiing". Another member of our posse finally asked me if was ready to step up my game, to which I said, "Ready? I was born ready!" (yeah, I am that smooth, I know you were thinking it).
Up the chair lift I went. The first slope was a lesser difficult intermediate freestyle slope. It was fairly steep enough grade with one curve. "I got this!" And I did. "Not a bad job sailor", I said to myself.
I went down that slope a few more times and began to manipulate the downhill with the greatest of ease. Back and forth I went. I was infact, King of the Mountain.
Now that I was a professional skiier in just a few short hours, I went down with the posse again and watched Holly pick up too much speed towards the end of the slope. "Slow down Holly", I screamed. "No CRAP", she screamed back (I am fairly certain she didn't say crap, again I digress).
She fell and we were terrified. She laughed after the fact. I didn't see how. It wasn't a graceful tumble. She is a real trooper.
We stood around the entrance area for a few minutes. My poor old left knee started aching so I tried to pop it while standing on the aforementioned skiis. Yeah. I fell. DW's Uncle approached me with a smile. "Rob, they are having tryouts for the Olympic ski team right over there, behind us. They said you shouldn't waste your time thinking about 2010." I gave him the thumbs up.
Larry Paul who had skiied once before asked me if I was ready to take on the big mamma jamma slope, thats right, it had a sign that said "more difficult".
"Sure, (again not tryin to seem redundant) I was born ready!"
As I started to ski over to the chair lift I felt I needed to stretch out my tired bum knee. I fell. I lost a pole. My ski came off. I was embarassed. I ski down the hill so good, but I dont stand around so well. I stood back up, gathered my equipment and slipped into the lost ski. I turned to find Larry Paul and I fell again. Awesome!
As we took the lift to the top of the mountain, I began to entertain thoughts as to how crazy this was. We were skiing at night. It was almost ten p.m. and we started around six p.m. My knee was bothering me. And we could begin to see how high up the mountain we were going. These slopes were steep. People were flying down. They looked experienced enough and BOOM, they would wipe out.
As we hopped off the chair lift and I attempted to clean the icicles and fog away from my goggles, I wondered how I would make it down without dying. What would happen if I did? How long would it take someone to find me? This probably wasnt such a good idea, but it was too late. The only way down was, well, to go down.
I forgot to mention, but my beard was covered by real icicles. Right before I was seated on the chair lift the attendant asked me if I was cold. I replied with a no and asked why? "Because you have icicles all over your face, man" he laughed.
Anyway, as Larry Paul and I headed down the mountain I tried to maintain somewhat of a controlled speed. Unfortunately it didn't work out so well for me. My knee buckled and I came a crashing down.
I found myself alive and stood jubilant that I might not die. Larry Paul would surely be much farther down by now. As I redonned my skiis, I saw someone waving like a madman. I waved back thinking it had to be Larry Paul checking on me. It wasn't.
I started back down. I skied thirty five feet or so and fell again. The snow was really hard at this point and I couldn't slow down. The harder I tried to slow, the more my knee quit. Yeah, I fell again.
A small girl, probably a pre-teen, stopped to help me gather my poles and skiis. I think she had witnessed the back to back wipe outs and was a tad concerned. Almost as though she was a worried parent I pleaded with her to go ahead and not be troubled with me. She finally left. I am sure she sent the rescue team after me on a ski mobile when she arrived at the bottom. I know this because as soon as I actually made it down, I saw them rush off in a fury as though there was a body to recover. Those ski mobiles look like big fun.
Finished for the night, I turned in my equipment. I had stared death in the face. I conquered Ski Beech. I was my hero, surprised?
I have not had so much fun in a long long time. It was the best vacation of late that I can recall. I want to go back and ski once or twice more again this winter so let me know if you would like to come with.
While on the trip Jackson became the champion of sledders like his old man. He gives it that old college try. I couldn't be prouder. Several times he just closed his eyes and yelled at the top of his lungs, "make way!"
DW was so good at the sledding that she bounced right off the sled. I gave her style points for her landing. Ask her about it.
We also had to purchase snow chains. Why you ask? While the main roads were kept in impecible condition, the "other roads" were not. We almost slid off into oblivion. That of course was the first time during the trip that I stared at death and laughed, ha...ha, harumph. I turned my nose at it. I looked the other way and just ignored it. What a snob. Jackson didn't feel the same though. He had decided temporarily that this trip was a bad decision and that we needed to get on home. He did later change his mind.
In all honesty, this trip was a blast, one of the best ever. We really appreciated the invite and the hospitality shown to us. Thanks to Eddie and Sandra and Amber and LP and Lee and Holly and Rick and Jennie and all the kids. We can't wait til next year!
Perfectly Fitting
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
I think it is perfectly fitting that dw's new nickname is Judge. Her name is Dana which of course is derived from the name Daniel. It is of Hebrew origin and it's meaning is "God is my judge".
I give my dear heart plenty of flack for an exaggerated legalistic, judgemental worldview. The exaggeration is due on my part; she is infact a sweet and extremely compassionate individual,I digress.
Judge only shows her judge side to me and the family and it has made for lively banter between us. She is very much a stellar conservative. I am a mixture of conservative and libertarian perspectives.
I informed her just last night that I was considering voting for Obama. She hit me square in the mouth. I was in fact joking. You have to love her.
She is as american as apple pie but I am corrupting her, to be sure.
Judge laughs at all of my jokes. Jack is exactly like his daddy, so it seems that all she gets nowadays is funny business.
Judge tells me how to drive and always alerts me as to my speed whilst traveling down the highway. I don't have to worry about whether or not the vehicles in front of me are slowing down, Judge tells me. Sometimes I thinik that I could drive the car with my eyes closed as long as she's in the the passenger seat.
We make a great team.
Judge loves to play games and thinks that the Waltons was the best tv show ever made. I won't disagree.
She is opinionated. She is smart. She is a teacher by trade and a wonderful mother. She is funny. She is beautiful. She is confidence and self doubt all rolled into one. She is mine and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Hey Judge, I love you.
rw
p.s. its Roscoe P. Coletrane, NOT Roscoe Peko Train.
I think it is perfectly fitting that dw's new nickname is Judge. Her name is Dana which of course is derived from the name Daniel. It is of Hebrew origin and it's meaning is "God is my judge".
I give my dear heart plenty of flack for an exaggerated legalistic, judgemental worldview. The exaggeration is due on my part; she is infact a sweet and extremely compassionate individual,I digress.
Judge only shows her judge side to me and the family and it has made for lively banter between us. She is very much a stellar conservative. I am a mixture of conservative and libertarian perspectives.
I informed her just last night that I was considering voting for Obama. She hit me square in the mouth. I was in fact joking. You have to love her.
She is as american as apple pie but I am corrupting her, to be sure.
Judge laughs at all of my jokes. Jack is exactly like his daddy, so it seems that all she gets nowadays is funny business.
Judge tells me how to drive and always alerts me as to my speed whilst traveling down the highway. I don't have to worry about whether or not the vehicles in front of me are slowing down, Judge tells me. Sometimes I thinik that I could drive the car with my eyes closed as long as she's in the the passenger seat.
We make a great team.
Judge loves to play games and thinks that the Waltons was the best tv show ever made. I won't disagree.
She is opinionated. She is smart. She is a teacher by trade and a wonderful mother. She is funny. She is beautiful. She is confidence and self doubt all rolled into one. She is mine and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Hey Judge, I love you.
rw
p.s. its Roscoe P. Coletrane, NOT Roscoe Peko Train.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Interesting Article on Why Muschamp Left
by Will Collier on his From the Bleacher report:
http://fromthebleachersblog.blogspot.com/
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Cause And Effect
"2008 is shaping up to be a pretty interesting year."
--FTB, January 2, 2008
That might be the most inadvertently-accurate prediction I've ever made. Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.
As everybody reading this likely knows by now, Will Muschamp, Auburn's highly-regarded defensive coordinator, resigned from AU yesterday to take basically the same position at the University of Texas (full disclosure: I attended and earned degrees from both Auburn and UT). Thus far, media reports have been more-or-less limited to straight accounts of the story itself, due in no small part to the speed of Muschamp's job change, as well as the official silence coming out of both Auburn and Austin regarding how and why that changed occurred.
The only point everybody agrees on right now is that this all happened very quickly, and it came as a surprise to just about everyone involved. Beyond that, things devolve quickly into the realm of "chatter." The two leading tales right now (and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive) go like this:
Story One: Back in December, Muschamp interviewed for and by most accounts was offered the head coaching job at Southern Miss. At that point, he went to Tommy Tuberville and basically said that while he'd like to stay at Auburn, a head job was something he'd have a hard time turning down. When asked what it would take to get him to stay at AU, Muschamp allegedly asked for a salary over $400,000 and a two-year guaranteed contract. Auburn agreed, proffering a $850,000 two-year deal, and Mushchamp declined USM's offer.
A few weeks later, Larry MacDuff resigned from Texas, and the ever-active Jimmy Sexton started calling Austin to sell Muschamp as a replacement. According to Story One aficionados, Tuberville thought his staff was settled for the year and was not happy when he found out Sexton had made overtures to Texas, either with or without Muschamp's urging. When Muschamp arrived back in Auburn yesterday after interviewing with Texas, he was told bluntly by Tuberville to either honor his agreement with Auburn or hit the road. At that point Muschamp resigned from AU and accepted the job at UT.
Again, this is not a confirmed account. This is Story One, based on underground chatter over the last 18 hours or so.
The other half of the tales making the rounds comprise Story Two: Prior to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia native Muschamp went to Auburn's ticket manger, Tim Jackson, and asked about extra bowl tickets for his friends and family, only to be told that no extra tickets were available. According to the chatter, Muschamp learned after the bowl that a number of extra tickets had in fact been held back by the ticket office and given to others in the athletic department, but Jackson never mentioned them to Muschamp.
According to Story Two, things got worse when athletic director Jay Jacobs handed Muschamp his new contract, which was supposed to meet the agreement (two years guaranteed at $425,000 per year) outlined in Story One. Either Muschamp or Sexton read through the contract and discovered fine print that gave AU the ability to back out of the term and remaining salary at any time, basically negating the "guaranteed" portion of the agreement. Per the chatter, Muschamp went back to Jacobs to have that clause removed, but Jacobs refused, saying basically, "You're going to leave after next season anyway, so what difference does it make?"
It's no particular secret that Muschamp is something of a hothead, and according to Story Two, the alleged administrative shenanigans with the new contract combined with the ticket incident pushed him over the edge. Per the chatter, he called Sexton on Wednesday with the instructions to "get me out of here." By Thursday he was on a plane to Austin, and on Friday he had a new job.
Once again: this is all based on chatter. It is not confirmed fact.
I will say this: Story Two has a lot of adherents, and a lot of them are in positions to know what they're talking about. There are indications--again, unconfirmed--that Story Two is actually Muschamp's own account of what happened in the last week, as told to his friends.
A few notes:
Tim Jackson is, to say the least, not the most popular figure in the Auburn athletic department. In his defense, Jackson is a guy who has to say "no" to an awful lot of people, and that kind of job just doesn't win you a lot of friends, often through no fault of your own. On the other hand, under Jackson the ticket office has developed a reputation for incompetence, and it has a customer service attitude that might as well have been lifted from the old Lily Tomlin routines about the Phone Company, whose motto was, "We don't care. We don't have to."
There are plenty of Auburn people who've encountered Jackson's often high-handed attitude who can easily sympathize with Muschamp's alleged anger. As an aside, Jay Jacobs was promoted to AD in 2005 after working alongside Jackson in Auburn's ticket priority fundraising office for a number of years.
The one thing I'm sure of is that Tuberville certainly had a "short list" of possible replacements in hand long before all this went down. Muschamp had interviewed for at least three head coaching jobs during December, and very likely would be settling into a big office in Fayetteville right now if Bobby Petrino hadn't made his own snap decision to bolt from the NFL. Auburn should have a new defensive coordinator within a few days, and given Tuberville's track record, he'll probably be a very good coach.
The other fallout from Muschamp's sudden departure, either on the field or within the confines of the Auburn athletic department, is yet to be seen.
posted by Will Collier at 1/05/2008
http://fromthebleachersblog.blogspot.com/
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Cause And Effect
"2008 is shaping up to be a pretty interesting year."
--FTB, January 2, 2008
That might be the most inadvertently-accurate prediction I've ever made. Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.
As everybody reading this likely knows by now, Will Muschamp, Auburn's highly-regarded defensive coordinator, resigned from AU yesterday to take basically the same position at the University of Texas (full disclosure: I attended and earned degrees from both Auburn and UT). Thus far, media reports have been more-or-less limited to straight accounts of the story itself, due in no small part to the speed of Muschamp's job change, as well as the official silence coming out of both Auburn and Austin regarding how and why that changed occurred.
The only point everybody agrees on right now is that this all happened very quickly, and it came as a surprise to just about everyone involved. Beyond that, things devolve quickly into the realm of "chatter." The two leading tales right now (and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive) go like this:
Story One: Back in December, Muschamp interviewed for and by most accounts was offered the head coaching job at Southern Miss. At that point, he went to Tommy Tuberville and basically said that while he'd like to stay at Auburn, a head job was something he'd have a hard time turning down. When asked what it would take to get him to stay at AU, Muschamp allegedly asked for a salary over $400,000 and a two-year guaranteed contract. Auburn agreed, proffering a $850,000 two-year deal, and Mushchamp declined USM's offer.
A few weeks later, Larry MacDuff resigned from Texas, and the ever-active Jimmy Sexton started calling Austin to sell Muschamp as a replacement. According to Story One aficionados, Tuberville thought his staff was settled for the year and was not happy when he found out Sexton had made overtures to Texas, either with or without Muschamp's urging. When Muschamp arrived back in Auburn yesterday after interviewing with Texas, he was told bluntly by Tuberville to either honor his agreement with Auburn or hit the road. At that point Muschamp resigned from AU and accepted the job at UT.
Again, this is not a confirmed account. This is Story One, based on underground chatter over the last 18 hours or so.
The other half of the tales making the rounds comprise Story Two: Prior to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia native Muschamp went to Auburn's ticket manger, Tim Jackson, and asked about extra bowl tickets for his friends and family, only to be told that no extra tickets were available. According to the chatter, Muschamp learned after the bowl that a number of extra tickets had in fact been held back by the ticket office and given to others in the athletic department, but Jackson never mentioned them to Muschamp.
According to Story Two, things got worse when athletic director Jay Jacobs handed Muschamp his new contract, which was supposed to meet the agreement (two years guaranteed at $425,000 per year) outlined in Story One. Either Muschamp or Sexton read through the contract and discovered fine print that gave AU the ability to back out of the term and remaining salary at any time, basically negating the "guaranteed" portion of the agreement. Per the chatter, Muschamp went back to Jacobs to have that clause removed, but Jacobs refused, saying basically, "You're going to leave after next season anyway, so what difference does it make?"
It's no particular secret that Muschamp is something of a hothead, and according to Story Two, the alleged administrative shenanigans with the new contract combined with the ticket incident pushed him over the edge. Per the chatter, he called Sexton on Wednesday with the instructions to "get me out of here." By Thursday he was on a plane to Austin, and on Friday he had a new job.
Once again: this is all based on chatter. It is not confirmed fact.
I will say this: Story Two has a lot of adherents, and a lot of them are in positions to know what they're talking about. There are indications--again, unconfirmed--that Story Two is actually Muschamp's own account of what happened in the last week, as told to his friends.
A few notes:
Tim Jackson is, to say the least, not the most popular figure in the Auburn athletic department. In his defense, Jackson is a guy who has to say "no" to an awful lot of people, and that kind of job just doesn't win you a lot of friends, often through no fault of your own. On the other hand, under Jackson the ticket office has developed a reputation for incompetence, and it has a customer service attitude that might as well have been lifted from the old Lily Tomlin routines about the Phone Company, whose motto was, "We don't care. We don't have to."
There are plenty of Auburn people who've encountered Jackson's often high-handed attitude who can easily sympathize with Muschamp's alleged anger. As an aside, Jay Jacobs was promoted to AD in 2005 after working alongside Jackson in Auburn's ticket priority fundraising office for a number of years.
The one thing I'm sure of is that Tuberville certainly had a "short list" of possible replacements in hand long before all this went down. Muschamp had interviewed for at least three head coaching jobs during December, and very likely would be settling into a big office in Fayetteville right now if Bobby Petrino hadn't made his own snap decision to bolt from the NFL. Auburn should have a new defensive coordinator within a few days, and given Tuberville's track record, he'll probably be a very good coach.
The other fallout from Muschamp's sudden departure, either on the field or within the confines of the Auburn athletic department, is yet to be seen.
posted by Will Collier at 1/05/2008
Gone, Long Gone . . .
Ok, Muschamp is history. He is a great defensive football coach. I imagine he might be the next coach to follow in the steps of Stoops at Oklahoma. Muschamp will become a head coach at a significant football school in the next one to two seasons. Good luck to him.
The rumor about why he left is that the athletic director Jacobs made some changes to Muschamps new contract and wasn't forthcoming in discussing it with him. I heard this from a consistently reliable source that worked and still has relationships in the athletic office in Auburn.
Is it the end of the world that Auburn's great defensive coordinator left? Nah, it stinks, but the defense will be fine. Who ever takes the job will inherit another top ten defense and all this person has to do is to not screw it up.
The biggest worry that this old swashbuckling chap has is in the area of recruiting. I imagine that this probably hurt us with a few uncommitted recruits. Oh well, such is life in major college football. Coaches leave often and players elect to go in to the draft early, so it goes as Vonnegut's tralfamadores say.
Who are these Tralfamadores you ask? Read Slaughterhouse V, the Childrens' Crusade for an explanation. This book by the way is an excellent work and I highly recommend it.
As far as who will fill the shoes left behind by Muschamp, the premium boards are stating that John Tenuta from Georgia Tech is the leading candidate. Yes, I am quite aware that he has supposedly been in negotiations with LSU and I don't care on iota. His defense this past season was ranked 12th and for the last umpteen years he has consistently coached his defenses to final rankings in the top 30.
We shall see, yes we shall see.
Flim flam, bim bam, War Eagle by dang!
rw
The rumor about why he left is that the athletic director Jacobs made some changes to Muschamps new contract and wasn't forthcoming in discussing it with him. I heard this from a consistently reliable source that worked and still has relationships in the athletic office in Auburn.
Is it the end of the world that Auburn's great defensive coordinator left? Nah, it stinks, but the defense will be fine. Who ever takes the job will inherit another top ten defense and all this person has to do is to not screw it up.
The biggest worry that this old swashbuckling chap has is in the area of recruiting. I imagine that this probably hurt us with a few uncommitted recruits. Oh well, such is life in major college football. Coaches leave often and players elect to go in to the draft early, so it goes as Vonnegut's tralfamadores say.
Who are these Tralfamadores you ask? Read Slaughterhouse V, the Childrens' Crusade for an explanation. This book by the way is an excellent work and I highly recommend it.
As far as who will fill the shoes left behind by Muschamp, the premium boards are stating that John Tenuta from Georgia Tech is the leading candidate. Yes, I am quite aware that he has supposedly been in negotiations with LSU and I don't care on iota. His defense this past season was ranked 12th and for the last umpteen years he has consistently coached his defenses to final rankings in the top 30.
We shall see, yes we shall see.
Flim flam, bim bam, War Eagle by dang!
rw
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Where do you want to eat?
We eat out considerably more than I would prefer. It's just so much easier than cooking and cleaning the kitchen, besides it lends itself to socializing. I guess the biggest problem associated with this habitual practice is that you flat wear out every spot and nothing sounds good to eat.
On a balmy Sunday afternoon rw and dw headed to town to meet her sister and husband, "Ross".
The phone rings: "hello"
Sum: "hey its Sum, where do you want to meet for lunch?"
dw: "i dont care, where do you want to go?"
Sum: "It doesnt matter to us, y'all decide."
dw: "ok, how about mexican?"
Sum: "we just had that."
dw: "well, what about that little soup and sandwhich spot?"
Sum: "or we could do seafood."
dw: "ok"
Sum: "it doesnt matter to us, but what about Red Lobster?"
dw: "ok"
Sum: "where would you guys rather go?"
dw: "well, we said mexican, but you apparently would rather go to Red Lobster, so lets do that."
Sum: "are you sure?"
Ross (in the background): "which one has better coke?"
At this point dear reader I must admit that I lost it, whatever "it" is. Which one has better coke? I havent heard anything that funny in the context of such a situation in a long time.
Ross (still in the back ground): "ok, I am about to pass the House of Chen, somebody needs to let me know if thats where we are going or not!!!"
What a kidder he is, the girls hate chinese, especially crappy chinese.
Where do you want to eat? That coupled with the famous "what do you want to eat" seem to be the most complexing question of our time in a world filled with so many choices.
Since I've been married, the "what do you want to eat" question has probably been asked more than other questions. I guess its our final frontier.
What do you want? I dont know.
Where do you want to go? I dont know, what do you want.
The more perplexing detail is that no matter where one suggests, its almost always immediately dismissed, especially if its one of the primary suggestions.
A woman wll look at the menu fifty times and still get the exact same thing. Its quite funny actually and I guess there are worse problems to have.
My time is up and I thank you for yours.
Peace out Monkey Sticks!
rw
On a balmy Sunday afternoon rw and dw headed to town to meet her sister and husband, "Ross".
The phone rings: "hello"
Sum: "hey its Sum, where do you want to meet for lunch?"
dw: "i dont care, where do you want to go?"
Sum: "It doesnt matter to us, y'all decide."
dw: "ok, how about mexican?"
Sum: "we just had that."
dw: "well, what about that little soup and sandwhich spot?"
Sum: "or we could do seafood."
dw: "ok"
Sum: "it doesnt matter to us, but what about Red Lobster?"
dw: "ok"
Sum: "where would you guys rather go?"
dw: "well, we said mexican, but you apparently would rather go to Red Lobster, so lets do that."
Sum: "are you sure?"
Ross (in the background): "which one has better coke?"
At this point dear reader I must admit that I lost it, whatever "it" is. Which one has better coke? I havent heard anything that funny in the context of such a situation in a long time.
Ross (still in the back ground): "ok, I am about to pass the House of Chen, somebody needs to let me know if thats where we are going or not!!!"
What a kidder he is, the girls hate chinese, especially crappy chinese.
Where do you want to eat? That coupled with the famous "what do you want to eat" seem to be the most complexing question of our time in a world filled with so many choices.
Since I've been married, the "what do you want to eat" question has probably been asked more than other questions. I guess its our final frontier.
What do you want? I dont know.
Where do you want to go? I dont know, what do you want.
The more perplexing detail is that no matter where one suggests, its almost always immediately dismissed, especially if its one of the primary suggestions.
A woman wll look at the menu fifty times and still get the exact same thing. Its quite funny actually and I guess there are worse problems to have.
My time is up and I thank you for yours.
Peace out Monkey Sticks!
rw
Hey Recruiting Geniuses
Dont you love this?
West Virginia's Rank in Rivals Recruiting:
23 in 2007
53 in 2006
31 in 2005
47 in 2004
And the total number of 4 stars or higher WVU has had since 2004.:
6 - 4 stars
2 - 5 stars
Steve Slaton was a 3 star prospect. and they said Noel Devine was too small to play Division 1 football.
According to the recruiting geniuses, West Virginia should not be competing as consistently as they are on the national stage. Had Pat White not been hurt for most of the game against Pitt, West Virginia would be most certainly playing for the Mythical National Championship this year. Its amazing really.
I do think they have pulled the trigger and made a bad hire by naming the bowl game's interim head coach as the permanent head coach, but thats fine with me. I expect him to screw this thing up.
Now I am not saying recruiting and recruiting analysis is a total crapshoot, but it is quite speculative at best. However if you have a handful of five star recruits, its more likely that a few will turn out as real gamers than if you have all three stars, but a coach has got to evaluate talent based on the team's needs and how that particular player will fit into their respective system.
Anyway, I found this rather interesting.
War Eagle,
rw
West Virginia's Rank in Rivals Recruiting:
23 in 2007
53 in 2006
31 in 2005
47 in 2004
And the total number of 4 stars or higher WVU has had since 2004.:
6 - 4 stars
2 - 5 stars
Steve Slaton was a 3 star prospect. and they said Noel Devine was too small to play Division 1 football.
According to the recruiting geniuses, West Virginia should not be competing as consistently as they are on the national stage. Had Pat White not been hurt for most of the game against Pitt, West Virginia would be most certainly playing for the Mythical National Championship this year. Its amazing really.
I do think they have pulled the trigger and made a bad hire by naming the bowl game's interim head coach as the permanent head coach, but thats fine with me. I expect him to screw this thing up.
Now I am not saying recruiting and recruiting analysis is a total crapshoot, but it is quite speculative at best. However if you have a handful of five star recruits, its more likely that a few will turn out as real gamers than if you have all three stars, but a coach has got to evaluate talent based on the team's needs and how that particular player will fit into their respective system.
Anyway, I found this rather interesting.
War Eagle,
rw
Auburn Peach Bowl Recap
Auburn played in and won the Peach Bowl on December 31, 2007. Scratch that, Auburn played in and won the Chick-fil-a Bowl, formerly known as the Peach Bowl.
I hate that by the way, the renaming of all those old bowls. Anyway, I digress.
Auburn's brand spanking new offensive coordinator, Spread guru Tony Franklin had 8 days to install his new offense. Were there mistakes? Sure, running backs lined up on the wrong side, offensive linemen blocked the wrong guy, but Auburn still pulled out the overtime victory over the ACC's top offense and the nations number 8 overall defense.
Did Auburn play great? No, but with a minimal 8 days of practice to install a new offensive scheme, they did pretty doggone good in anybody's book.
With the exception of one broken play for an 80yard touch down by CJ Spiller, the Auburn defense held there power running game in check and slowed down their pass happy QB considerably.
I believe Auburn had 10 different receivers with five catches. Thats not too shabby from a team that left it's receivers feeling lost and forgotten during the regular season.
Auburn's Kodi Burns at QB looks to be a gamer and will enter spring practice as the number one guy. I have a feeling like he may not stay there though. Franklin is bringing in a junior college transfer, Chris Todd that has been in the "Tony Franklin" system since high school where he threw for 10,000 yards.
Todd originally signed with Texas Tech and stayed there two year, but wanted to find a new home to contribute too.
My guess is that the 08 QB duties will see a variation of a two QB system, with designed plays for Burns.
The offensive seniors are QB Cox and TE Bennett. The defensive side loses NT/DT Josh Thompson, and CBs Wilhite and Lee. Hopefully Pat Simms will be back for a senior season.
Auburn is very young and with the strong defense and what appears to be a lively, but very balanced offense, Auburn should have a strong showing for 08. I would expect preseason rankings to have Auburn starting the season around 15th. Who knows? Regardless Auburn people have to be excited about this anything but stagnate offense for the future with as many as six scholarship QBs battling it out.
How ever it turns out, it should be fun. War Eagle and happy trails kids.
rw
I hate that by the way, the renaming of all those old bowls. Anyway, I digress.
Auburn's brand spanking new offensive coordinator, Spread guru Tony Franklin had 8 days to install his new offense. Were there mistakes? Sure, running backs lined up on the wrong side, offensive linemen blocked the wrong guy, but Auburn still pulled out the overtime victory over the ACC's top offense and the nations number 8 overall defense.
Did Auburn play great? No, but with a minimal 8 days of practice to install a new offensive scheme, they did pretty doggone good in anybody's book.
With the exception of one broken play for an 80yard touch down by CJ Spiller, the Auburn defense held there power running game in check and slowed down their pass happy QB considerably.
I believe Auburn had 10 different receivers with five catches. Thats not too shabby from a team that left it's receivers feeling lost and forgotten during the regular season.
Auburn's Kodi Burns at QB looks to be a gamer and will enter spring practice as the number one guy. I have a feeling like he may not stay there though. Franklin is bringing in a junior college transfer, Chris Todd that has been in the "Tony Franklin" system since high school where he threw for 10,000 yards.
Todd originally signed with Texas Tech and stayed there two year, but wanted to find a new home to contribute too.
My guess is that the 08 QB duties will see a variation of a two QB system, with designed plays for Burns.
The offensive seniors are QB Cox and TE Bennett. The defensive side loses NT/DT Josh Thompson, and CBs Wilhite and Lee. Hopefully Pat Simms will be back for a senior season.
Auburn is very young and with the strong defense and what appears to be a lively, but very balanced offense, Auburn should have a strong showing for 08. I would expect preseason rankings to have Auburn starting the season around 15th. Who knows? Regardless Auburn people have to be excited about this anything but stagnate offense for the future with as many as six scholarship QBs battling it out.
How ever it turns out, it should be fun. War Eagle and happy trails kids.
rw
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Auburn Bowl Preview
DW and I have been married for six years. It seems like we've always been together though, in a good way obviously.
I couldn't have asked for a better girl, I'll tell you that. Straight up, fool!
Anyway, Auburn plays a little football on New Year's Eve. Who is the opponent? None other than the best offense in the ACC, Clemson.
Clemson is like Auburn in it's tradition. One of Auburn's presidents many moons ago went to Clemson to serve there in their infancy. They adopted many things familiar to Auburn. Examples would be campus layout and architecture, team mascot and colors. Both are land grant schools. The legendary John Heisman coached at both schools. Late author Lewis Grizzard was the first to state that Clemson was Auburn with a lake.
The two schools have met 45 times since 1899. The last regular season meeting was 1971. The two played in the 1997 Peach bowl with Auburn winning 21-17. Incidentally the Chick-Fil-A bowl is the Peach Bowl. I hated that name change.
Auburn leads the series with 32 of those victories. The last time Clemson beat Auburn was way back in 1951, my dad was three years old.
Clemson's current head coach, Tommy Bowden had a stint at Auburn while his old brother Terry was the Tiger's head coach. Terry left Auburn literally in the middle of the night after a 1-5 start to the season.
Auburn's defense is in the top team in the nation. Clemson isn't far behind. They also mirror each other offensively with power running games touting solid running backs. Clemson however has faired much better in the passing game.
I'll compare the two teams stats later.
I do want to discuss how pysched I am over Auburn's new offensive coordinator hire. The new guy is Tony Franklin. He is known as a guru of the spread offense. He has been a consultant to many high school and collegiate teams all over the country. His summer camps bring in tons of kids. Suffice it to say he is well respected.
He came up from the high school ranks to coach running backs at Kentucky rising to their offensive coordinator. He had alot of success there, but there is a back story with Hal Mumme and the NCAA. I am not interesting in going into that right now. Franklin comes to Auburn from Troy. He took the trojans from pitiful to being a down right good offensive Sun Belt team that not many major division 1 schools would want to play.
Auburn and Troy had three opponents in common this year and offensively Troy performed much much much better than Auburn did.
As for Auburn's outgoing offensive coordinator, Al Borges, I think the Auburn nation wishes him well. He was a huge part of Auburns success during the 2004-05 runs. Thanks Coach Borges, good luck in your future endeavors.
Back to Auburn and the new OC. Franklin will implement the spread at Auburn. There are many variations of the spread, most recognizable right now would be West Virginia's version of the spread option.
The spread literally spreads the field, duh, but it doesnt limit what the offense can do. It helps the offense to become more balanced. The running game can succeed with less people stacked in the box defending. It allows the QB to scramble or flat out run and needless to say it allows receivers to make plays out in space.
What is going to be interesting is to see how many wrinkles Auburn will implement for the bowl game. A bowl game is used by the coaches to get ahead for spring ball. I expect to see some of the spread although it will be very very very limited as Franklin has only been at Auburn about two weeks tops.
Franklin is already causing recruits that might not have ever thought of Auburn to take a second glance. Franklin has offered a blue chip california QB a scholarship to play ball at Auburn in 2009. When was the last time Auburn getting kids to look at Auburn like this? I dunno, I was asking you.
For those that are concerned about the spread and Auburn's power running attack, dont worry, the spread helps RBs cause the defense has to stay true. Franklin was about 50/50 in play calling runs and passes.
The second cause for concern is the utilization of tight ends. The TE's are very well used in Franklin's attack and can be used in the slot more often even lining up a little further outside sometimes.
Now, the thing that excites me is not only Auburn's potential offensively but what we already have in place defensively. This should be a great team to wach next year, especially if Aubun successfully transitions the QB position to which AU will have six scholarship kids that all ran the spread in HS while some ran Franklin's version of the spread.
Its gonna be fun and as always, It's great to be an Auburn Tiger!
War Damn Eagle,
Rob
I couldn't have asked for a better girl, I'll tell you that. Straight up, fool!
Anyway, Auburn plays a little football on New Year's Eve. Who is the opponent? None other than the best offense in the ACC, Clemson.
Clemson is like Auburn in it's tradition. One of Auburn's presidents many moons ago went to Clemson to serve there in their infancy. They adopted many things familiar to Auburn. Examples would be campus layout and architecture, team mascot and colors. Both are land grant schools. The legendary John Heisman coached at both schools. Late author Lewis Grizzard was the first to state that Clemson was Auburn with a lake.
The two schools have met 45 times since 1899. The last regular season meeting was 1971. The two played in the 1997 Peach bowl with Auburn winning 21-17. Incidentally the Chick-Fil-A bowl is the Peach Bowl. I hated that name change.
Auburn leads the series with 32 of those victories. The last time Clemson beat Auburn was way back in 1951, my dad was three years old.
Clemson's current head coach, Tommy Bowden had a stint at Auburn while his old brother Terry was the Tiger's head coach. Terry left Auburn literally in the middle of the night after a 1-5 start to the season.
Auburn's defense is in the top team in the nation. Clemson isn't far behind. They also mirror each other offensively with power running games touting solid running backs. Clemson however has faired much better in the passing game.
I'll compare the two teams stats later.
I do want to discuss how pysched I am over Auburn's new offensive coordinator hire. The new guy is Tony Franklin. He is known as a guru of the spread offense. He has been a consultant to many high school and collegiate teams all over the country. His summer camps bring in tons of kids. Suffice it to say he is well respected.
He came up from the high school ranks to coach running backs at Kentucky rising to their offensive coordinator. He had alot of success there, but there is a back story with Hal Mumme and the NCAA. I am not interesting in going into that right now. Franklin comes to Auburn from Troy. He took the trojans from pitiful to being a down right good offensive Sun Belt team that not many major division 1 schools would want to play.
Auburn and Troy had three opponents in common this year and offensively Troy performed much much much better than Auburn did.
As for Auburn's outgoing offensive coordinator, Al Borges, I think the Auburn nation wishes him well. He was a huge part of Auburns success during the 2004-05 runs. Thanks Coach Borges, good luck in your future endeavors.
Back to Auburn and the new OC. Franklin will implement the spread at Auburn. There are many variations of the spread, most recognizable right now would be West Virginia's version of the spread option.
The spread literally spreads the field, duh, but it doesnt limit what the offense can do. It helps the offense to become more balanced. The running game can succeed with less people stacked in the box defending. It allows the QB to scramble or flat out run and needless to say it allows receivers to make plays out in space.
What is going to be interesting is to see how many wrinkles Auburn will implement for the bowl game. A bowl game is used by the coaches to get ahead for spring ball. I expect to see some of the spread although it will be very very very limited as Franklin has only been at Auburn about two weeks tops.
Franklin is already causing recruits that might not have ever thought of Auburn to take a second glance. Franklin has offered a blue chip california QB a scholarship to play ball at Auburn in 2009. When was the last time Auburn getting kids to look at Auburn like this? I dunno, I was asking you.
For those that are concerned about the spread and Auburn's power running attack, dont worry, the spread helps RBs cause the defense has to stay true. Franklin was about 50/50 in play calling runs and passes.
The second cause for concern is the utilization of tight ends. The TE's are very well used in Franklin's attack and can be used in the slot more often even lining up a little further outside sometimes.
Now, the thing that excites me is not only Auburn's potential offensively but what we already have in place defensively. This should be a great team to wach next year, especially if Aubun successfully transitions the QB position to which AU will have six scholarship kids that all ran the spread in HS while some ran Franklin's version of the spread.
Its gonna be fun and as always, It's great to be an Auburn Tiger!
War Damn Eagle,
Rob
Thursday, November 29, 2007
This Is Why I Can't Take Health Food People Seriously
4 Healthy Foods You Should be Eating Posted Mon, Nov 26, 2007, 5:46 pm PST
-->84% of users found this yahoo article helpful.
Beets
Beets are one of the best sources of folate, a nutrient which lowers your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory amino acid produced by the body.
One cup of beets provides only 60 calories, no fat, about 40 percent of your daily value for folic acid and four grams of fiber. Enjoy beets raw, sliced.... or prepare a delicious beet salad by tossing them with olive oil and a splash of lemon.
Cabbage
Part of the cruciferous vegetable family, one cup of chopped cabbage contains 20 calories, two grams fiber and is loaded with sulforaphane, a cancer fighting chemical that's been shown to decrease cellular damage throughout the body. Add cabbage to your salads, order steamed 'moo shoo vegetables' at your local Chinese restaurant (request sauce on the side and go easy!), or prepare low-calorie coleslaw.
Guava
Guava is a tropical super fruit. One cup provides 110 calories, 376 milligrams Vitamin C (that's more than 300 percent of the daily value), 699 milligrams potassium and nine grams of fiber!Guava also provides a hearty dose of lycopene - an antioxidant that appears to fight prostate cancer (when it comes to lycopene, most people only think about tomatoes). You'll find this exotic fruit in Latin grocery stores and at high end markets.
Swiss Chard
This vegetable's greatest health benefit comes in the form of lutein and zeaxanthin - a matched pair of antioxidants - found in high concentrations in the tissue of the macula.
Because they absorb 40 to 90 percent of blue light intensity, these nutrients act like sunscreen for your eyes. Studies have shown that eating foods rich in lutein and zeaxanthin can increase the pigment density in the macula-and greater pigment density means better retina protection, and a lower risk of macula degeneration. One cup steamed Swiss chard provides only 35 calories.
-------------------------------------------
See here, I do not even know what swiss chard is or where to find it for that matter. These people find validity in saying fancy pants things like this...
"oh Victoria, you simply must try the swiss chard, its simply divine."
To really make an impact, for people to really take notice in this "see how uber cool and hip" health food world of which you and I both reside, they should say things like, "yeah, Broccoli sucks, just put some cheese on it and you'll be fine."
or how about this, "eat what you like, just less of it you pig you."
Then I might say, "there goes a person who knows their stuff. Kudos."
Don't come at me all willy nilly screaming "eat the cabbage, it'll help you poop and it's low in calories." I am not hearing it!
I actually want to read articles about how to eat healthy in an unhealthy fast food society, but telling me about guava is about as good as telling a poor person to make more money so they can pay their bills. It's not really a solution.
It's funny that 84 percent of people who read this article found it helpful or useful. I got a name for those people, "liars", everyone.
So go pat yourself on the back Miss health food article writer, I am sure you think you deserve it.
-->84% of users found this yahoo article helpful.
Beets
Beets are one of the best sources of folate, a nutrient which lowers your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory amino acid produced by the body.
One cup of beets provides only 60 calories, no fat, about 40 percent of your daily value for folic acid and four grams of fiber. Enjoy beets raw, sliced.... or prepare a delicious beet salad by tossing them with olive oil and a splash of lemon.
Cabbage
Part of the cruciferous vegetable family, one cup of chopped cabbage contains 20 calories, two grams fiber and is loaded with sulforaphane, a cancer fighting chemical that's been shown to decrease cellular damage throughout the body. Add cabbage to your salads, order steamed 'moo shoo vegetables' at your local Chinese restaurant (request sauce on the side and go easy!), or prepare low-calorie coleslaw.
Guava
Guava is a tropical super fruit. One cup provides 110 calories, 376 milligrams Vitamin C (that's more than 300 percent of the daily value), 699 milligrams potassium and nine grams of fiber!Guava also provides a hearty dose of lycopene - an antioxidant that appears to fight prostate cancer (when it comes to lycopene, most people only think about tomatoes). You'll find this exotic fruit in Latin grocery stores and at high end markets.
Swiss Chard
This vegetable's greatest health benefit comes in the form of lutein and zeaxanthin - a matched pair of antioxidants - found in high concentrations in the tissue of the macula.
Because they absorb 40 to 90 percent of blue light intensity, these nutrients act like sunscreen for your eyes. Studies have shown that eating foods rich in lutein and zeaxanthin can increase the pigment density in the macula-and greater pigment density means better retina protection, and a lower risk of macula degeneration. One cup steamed Swiss chard provides only 35 calories.
-------------------------------------------
See here, I do not even know what swiss chard is or where to find it for that matter. These people find validity in saying fancy pants things like this...
"oh Victoria, you simply must try the swiss chard, its simply divine."
To really make an impact, for people to really take notice in this "see how uber cool and hip" health food world of which you and I both reside, they should say things like, "yeah, Broccoli sucks, just put some cheese on it and you'll be fine."
or how about this, "eat what you like, just less of it you pig you."
Then I might say, "there goes a person who knows their stuff. Kudos."
Don't come at me all willy nilly screaming "eat the cabbage, it'll help you poop and it's low in calories." I am not hearing it!
I actually want to read articles about how to eat healthy in an unhealthy fast food society, but telling me about guava is about as good as telling a poor person to make more money so they can pay their bills. It's not really a solution.
It's funny that 84 percent of people who read this article found it helpful or useful. I got a name for those people, "liars", everyone.
So go pat yourself on the back Miss health food article writer, I am sure you think you deserve it.
seperation of church and state
I don't normally post other people's articles but I found this one interesting....whatever.
Face it atheists: You are religious
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tristan Emmanual Posted: November 29, 2007
The left has purposefully confused and distorted the debate about the separation of church and state, and it is time they were hauled up on the carpet for it.
Harvard law professor and civil libertarian Alan Dershowitz was interviewed in the Ottawa Citizen this month. Speaking about Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, Dershowitz said the endorsement was "the best thing that's happened in a long time. It exposes the cynicism of both of them. The fact is Robertson is endorsing Giuliani not because of his religion but despite it, so it makes it very clear that Pat Robertson's religion is really politics. His Jesus packs heat, cuts taxes and hates immigrants ."
I almost had to agree with Dershowitz – just a little. The endorsement did smack of cynical politics. But Dershowitz's comment also revealed a staggering level of ignorance and hypocrisy.
For one thing, Dershowitz, who styles himself an expert on Thomas Jefferson, the founding father made famous for the "wall of separation" clause, loves to treat Jefferson as though his were the only voice speaking in the history books.
Dershowitz says that what Robertson has done is violate the very foundation upon which the America was constructed. "Jefferson would be turning over in his grave."
A little background is important here. According to Dershowitz, Jefferson was not favorably disposed toward Christianity. He was a Unitarian. He rejected the divinity of Jesus and the inspiration of the Bible. He even rejected the Ten Commandments because they were vindictive. In fact, Dershowitz says, "Jefferson didn't want Christian religion to influence American politics."
But what about the "being created equal before God" clause?
Dershowitz says that when Jefferson wrote that, he wasn't talking about the "God of the Bible"; he was talking about "nature's god." Jefferson was a deist. He didn't want "monkish interference" in the commerce of the state.
Now, I'm no expert on Jefferson. But it strikes me as peculiar that Dershowitz and his ilk tend to ignore the body of evidence that shows that the majority of the Founding Fathers were Christians with a Christian political ideology.
When the framers of the U.S. Constitution discussed the issue of church vs. state, they were talking about a separation of institutions. To put it plainly, they were saying that "the government of the church should not interfere with the business of civil government," and vice versa. They wanted a separation of the institutions and their structures, because they didn't want a particular church to run the government of the people – just as they didn't want a particular government to run any church. But they patently did not envision a society where Christians had no right to vote according to their convictions, run for office as Christians, or apply their Christian views about civil government to their duties while they were in office.
Is Dershowitz guilty of a little revisionism here?
And another thing. If mixing church and state is really the national kill-joy Dershowitz and his cronies claim it to be, and if it indeed violates the "spirit of Jefferson," then why aren't the Democratic hopefuls being castigated for parading their "piety" on stage in the primaries?
Why are the catcalls about confusing personal faith with politcal leadership not as vitriolic and visceral and shrill when the religious left – in the persons of Al (poverty-pimp) Sharpton and Jessie (pandering-racial-tension-mongerer) Jackson – are glad-handing with Obama, Hillary or Edwards?
Hypocritical? It's even more egregious than that.
There's a blatant contradiction in Dershowitz's excoriation of Pat Robertson. One is led to believe that what he's really upset about is not that Pat Robertson, a "man of the cloth," is involved in politics. Rather, it is that Pat Robertson, a "man of the cloth," is involved in politics with the wrong party. A party that believes in the First Amendment rights of Americans, limited government and border security – all very Jeffersonian in spirit.
The debate about church vs. state has never been about keeping religion out of politics. It has always been about whose religion gets to influence and drive the political agenda. And one thing the left hates is free market competition, especially in the arena of political ideas.
Because whatever you make of Dershowitz's politics, always remember that there simply is no such thing as religious neutrality. Whether or not he professes a belief in God – or goes to a church or synagogue – has nothing to do with it. Alan Dershowitz is not non-religious. Everybody, Jew, Christian and atheist alike – we are all religious in the sense that we all have a set of assumed presuppositions about life and morality. These presuppositions make up our religion. It's called a worldview. And everybody has one.
Unfortunately, when the critics of Christianity argue the "church vs. state" paradigm today, they're trying to eliminate the competition in the political arena. They want Christians to keep their religious worldview in the closet, while they get to parade their secular values in the open for all to see. And Dershowitz provides a good example of this approach.
So next time you hear an opponent tell you to "keep your religion out of it," tell him, "Fine, as long as you keep yours out first." Of course, that's impossible, because there is no such thing as a religious vacuum in politics – so you might as well keep the secularists at bay and push back with Christianity.
Face it atheists: You are religious
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tristan Emmanual Posted: November 29, 2007
The left has purposefully confused and distorted the debate about the separation of church and state, and it is time they were hauled up on the carpet for it.
Harvard law professor and civil libertarian Alan Dershowitz was interviewed in the Ottawa Citizen this month. Speaking about Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, Dershowitz said the endorsement was "the best thing that's happened in a long time. It exposes the cynicism of both of them. The fact is Robertson is endorsing Giuliani not because of his religion but despite it, so it makes it very clear that Pat Robertson's religion is really politics. His Jesus packs heat, cuts taxes and hates immigrants ."
I almost had to agree with Dershowitz – just a little. The endorsement did smack of cynical politics. But Dershowitz's comment also revealed a staggering level of ignorance and hypocrisy.
For one thing, Dershowitz, who styles himself an expert on Thomas Jefferson, the founding father made famous for the "wall of separation" clause, loves to treat Jefferson as though his were the only voice speaking in the history books.
Dershowitz says that what Robertson has done is violate the very foundation upon which the America was constructed. "Jefferson would be turning over in his grave."
A little background is important here. According to Dershowitz, Jefferson was not favorably disposed toward Christianity. He was a Unitarian. He rejected the divinity of Jesus and the inspiration of the Bible. He even rejected the Ten Commandments because they were vindictive. In fact, Dershowitz says, "Jefferson didn't want Christian religion to influence American politics."
But what about the "being created equal before God" clause?
Dershowitz says that when Jefferson wrote that, he wasn't talking about the "God of the Bible"; he was talking about "nature's god." Jefferson was a deist. He didn't want "monkish interference" in the commerce of the state.
Now, I'm no expert on Jefferson. But it strikes me as peculiar that Dershowitz and his ilk tend to ignore the body of evidence that shows that the majority of the Founding Fathers were Christians with a Christian political ideology.
When the framers of the U.S. Constitution discussed the issue of church vs. state, they were talking about a separation of institutions. To put it plainly, they were saying that "the government of the church should not interfere with the business of civil government," and vice versa. They wanted a separation of the institutions and their structures, because they didn't want a particular church to run the government of the people – just as they didn't want a particular government to run any church. But they patently did not envision a society where Christians had no right to vote according to their convictions, run for office as Christians, or apply their Christian views about civil government to their duties while they were in office.
Is Dershowitz guilty of a little revisionism here?
And another thing. If mixing church and state is really the national kill-joy Dershowitz and his cronies claim it to be, and if it indeed violates the "spirit of Jefferson," then why aren't the Democratic hopefuls being castigated for parading their "piety" on stage in the primaries?
Why are the catcalls about confusing personal faith with politcal leadership not as vitriolic and visceral and shrill when the religious left – in the persons of Al (poverty-pimp) Sharpton and Jessie (pandering-racial-tension-mongerer) Jackson – are glad-handing with Obama, Hillary or Edwards?
Hypocritical? It's even more egregious than that.
There's a blatant contradiction in Dershowitz's excoriation of Pat Robertson. One is led to believe that what he's really upset about is not that Pat Robertson, a "man of the cloth," is involved in politics. Rather, it is that Pat Robertson, a "man of the cloth," is involved in politics with the wrong party. A party that believes in the First Amendment rights of Americans, limited government and border security – all very Jeffersonian in spirit.
The debate about church vs. state has never been about keeping religion out of politics. It has always been about whose religion gets to influence and drive the political agenda. And one thing the left hates is free market competition, especially in the arena of political ideas.
Because whatever you make of Dershowitz's politics, always remember that there simply is no such thing as religious neutrality. Whether or not he professes a belief in God – or goes to a church or synagogue – has nothing to do with it. Alan Dershowitz is not non-religious. Everybody, Jew, Christian and atheist alike – we are all religious in the sense that we all have a set of assumed presuppositions about life and morality. These presuppositions make up our religion. It's called a worldview. And everybody has one.
Unfortunately, when the critics of Christianity argue the "church vs. state" paradigm today, they're trying to eliminate the competition in the political arena. They want Christians to keep their religious worldview in the closet, while they get to parade their secular values in the open for all to see. And Dershowitz provides a good example of this approach.
So next time you hear an opponent tell you to "keep your religion out of it," tell him, "Fine, as long as you keep yours out first." Of course, that's impossible, because there is no such thing as a religious vacuum in politics – so you might as well keep the secularists at bay and push back with Christianity.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
I Didn’t Know You Could Vote on Stuff Like This
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
I wanna vote on my afterlife too!
Let's cut out the middleman and y'all just vote me into heaven, ok?
"Dalai Lama offers his flock a vote on whether he should be reincarnated"
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol...955350.ece Its a 3page read if anyone wants to peruse it further. --> -->
Nov.28, 2007 - Faced with Chinese plans to seize control of his reincarnation, the Dalai Lama has come up with two revolutionary proposals — either to forgo rebirth, or to be reborn while still alive.
The exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader proposed yesterday to hold a referendum among his 13-14 million followers around the world — before his death — on whether he should be reincarnated or not.
If the majority vote against it he said he would simply not be reborn, ending a lineage that tradition dictates dates back to the late 14th century, when a young shepherd was appointed the first Dalai Lama.
If the vote was in favour he said that he might appoint a reincarnation while he was still alive, breaking the 600-year-old tradition of being reborn as a small boy after his death.
His proposals not only raise some mind-bending metaphysical questions: they put China's atheist Communist leaders in the unusual position of claiming to be the protectors of Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
I wanna vote on my afterlife too!
Let's cut out the middleman and y'all just vote me into heaven, ok?
"Dalai Lama offers his flock a vote on whether he should be reincarnated"
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol...955350.ece Its a 3page read if anyone wants to peruse it further. --> -->
Nov.28, 2007 - Faced with Chinese plans to seize control of his reincarnation, the Dalai Lama has come up with two revolutionary proposals — either to forgo rebirth, or to be reborn while still alive.
The exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader proposed yesterday to hold a referendum among his 13-14 million followers around the world — before his death — on whether he should be reincarnated or not.
If the majority vote against it he said he would simply not be reborn, ending a lineage that tradition dictates dates back to the late 14th century, when a young shepherd was appointed the first Dalai Lama.
If the vote was in favour he said that he might appoint a reincarnation while he was still alive, breaking the 600-year-old tradition of being reborn as a small boy after his death.
His proposals not only raise some mind-bending metaphysical questions: they put China's atheist Communist leaders in the unusual position of claiming to be the protectors of Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Should Spanking Be Banned?
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
I am not sure if any of you have noticed but Massachusett's lawmakers are hearing a bill today (wed) that would ban parents from spanking their children.
two links about the story www.boston.com/news/local...hment_ban/
and www.time.com/time/nation/...53,00.html
Summary of both articles
The measure -- being heard Wednesday by a legislative committee -- defines corporal punishment as "the willful infliction of physical pain or injurious or humiliating treatment." Representative Jay Kaufman of Lexington said he submitted the bill at the request of a local nurse.
Several lawmakers said parents are best able to decide on discipline, and point out that state law already bans the physical abuse or neglect of children.
The state's highest court ruled in 1999 that parents could spank their children, so long as it doesn't cause serious bodily harm.
Some lawmakers question how police could possibly enforce such a ban.
The Legislature has ended formal sessions for 2007, so the earliest the bill could be debated would be next year.
---------------------------
Need a lesson in parenting? If you live in California, you may have to take one from the government whether you like it or not. Next week, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber will introduce a bill banning the practice of spanking children younger than four. If passed, the state will become the first to make the corporal punishment of infants and toddlers a misdemeanor — punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine — along with more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, that have laws against the practice. "Young children can't run or speak for themselves. They are sitting ducks for abuse," Lieber said. "And it is just not true that the current law protects children well."
She's not the first American to argue that legislation is the answer. The town of Brookline, Mass., successfully passed a resolution against spanking in 2005, although similar statewide efforts have failed. Last year in Massachusetts and 15 years ago in Wisconsin proposed anti-spanking bills did not get much support in the legislature; critics feared that it would be impossible to enforce a ban against such a common practice.
According to the American Demographics' 2004 data, nearly half of parent-age Americans think it is an appropriate mode of discipline for children 12 and younger. Even more surprising, only 27 states have actually banned corporal punishment from their public school systems.
But new California bill may have a better chance of success. Unlike previous attempts, the age restrictions will make the bill more palatable to many.
While the assemblywoman has outlined a proposed punishment, she has yet to address how the bill would be enforced. In Europe, most countries consider the ban on spanking an educational law, which means that on the first couple of offenses parents receive a fine and attend mandatory parenting classes on discipline. "I don't know how the European laws would really translate in the U.S.," Block said. "But I do think an educational law is a good way to go." Like child abuse, unless the child reports it or the spanking leaves a mark and is reported by a relative or teacher, it will be very difficult to detect when parents are violating the law.
"A hundred years ago it was considered a novel idea for the law to say you couldn't hit your wife," said Block. "Today, we can't hit slaves, wives or military personnel. Children are the only class that is unprotected."
-------------------
There are already laws in effect concerning abuse. The problem is the agencies involved either don't or can't do their jobs properly most of the time.
There is a huge difference in giving your child a swift swat on that fanny and beating the ever loving mess out of them.
I spank. I don't beat. I truly belive that if Jackson didn't get the occasionaly swat on his hineside, he'd be much worse off.
Kids are different. What works for one child may not work for another and parents need to recognize that. We talk to Jackson and explain his behavior and what he did wrong. We warn, but when push comes to shove, sometimes a rowdy little boy needs that pop to keep him in line and let them know that as a parent, you mean business.
Timeout works, but not in every situation. Taking privileges away works, but not all the time just like spanking is not always necessary.
I also worry about the governments ever increasing role in telling citizens what they can and cannot do and governments will always do what the people allow them to.
I would have never imagined a world where I could go to jail or have my kids taken away from me because I chose to punish them accordingly but with love.
Well folks, it looks like it may be coming to that. What say YOU?
I am not sure if any of you have noticed but Massachusett's lawmakers are hearing a bill today (wed) that would ban parents from spanking their children.
two links about the story www.boston.com/news/local...hment_ban/
and www.time.com/time/nation/...53,00.html
Summary of both articles
The measure -- being heard Wednesday by a legislative committee -- defines corporal punishment as "the willful infliction of physical pain or injurious or humiliating treatment." Representative Jay Kaufman of Lexington said he submitted the bill at the request of a local nurse.
Several lawmakers said parents are best able to decide on discipline, and point out that state law already bans the physical abuse or neglect of children.
The state's highest court ruled in 1999 that parents could spank their children, so long as it doesn't cause serious bodily harm.
Some lawmakers question how police could possibly enforce such a ban.
The Legislature has ended formal sessions for 2007, so the earliest the bill could be debated would be next year.
---------------------------
Need a lesson in parenting? If you live in California, you may have to take one from the government whether you like it or not. Next week, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber will introduce a bill banning the practice of spanking children younger than four. If passed, the state will become the first to make the corporal punishment of infants and toddlers a misdemeanor — punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine — along with more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, that have laws against the practice. "Young children can't run or speak for themselves. They are sitting ducks for abuse," Lieber said. "And it is just not true that the current law protects children well."
She's not the first American to argue that legislation is the answer. The town of Brookline, Mass., successfully passed a resolution against spanking in 2005, although similar statewide efforts have failed. Last year in Massachusetts and 15 years ago in Wisconsin proposed anti-spanking bills did not get much support in the legislature; critics feared that it would be impossible to enforce a ban against such a common practice.
According to the American Demographics' 2004 data, nearly half of parent-age Americans think it is an appropriate mode of discipline for children 12 and younger. Even more surprising, only 27 states have actually banned corporal punishment from their public school systems.
But new California bill may have a better chance of success. Unlike previous attempts, the age restrictions will make the bill more palatable to many.
While the assemblywoman has outlined a proposed punishment, she has yet to address how the bill would be enforced. In Europe, most countries consider the ban on spanking an educational law, which means that on the first couple of offenses parents receive a fine and attend mandatory parenting classes on discipline. "I don't know how the European laws would really translate in the U.S.," Block said. "But I do think an educational law is a good way to go." Like child abuse, unless the child reports it or the spanking leaves a mark and is reported by a relative or teacher, it will be very difficult to detect when parents are violating the law.
"A hundred years ago it was considered a novel idea for the law to say you couldn't hit your wife," said Block. "Today, we can't hit slaves, wives or military personnel. Children are the only class that is unprotected."
-------------------
There are already laws in effect concerning abuse. The problem is the agencies involved either don't or can't do their jobs properly most of the time.
There is a huge difference in giving your child a swift swat on that fanny and beating the ever loving mess out of them.
I spank. I don't beat. I truly belive that if Jackson didn't get the occasionaly swat on his hineside, he'd be much worse off.
Kids are different. What works for one child may not work for another and parents need to recognize that. We talk to Jackson and explain his behavior and what he did wrong. We warn, but when push comes to shove, sometimes a rowdy little boy needs that pop to keep him in line and let them know that as a parent, you mean business.
Timeout works, but not in every situation. Taking privileges away works, but not all the time just like spanking is not always necessary.
I also worry about the governments ever increasing role in telling citizens what they can and cannot do and governments will always do what the people allow them to.
I would have never imagined a world where I could go to jail or have my kids taken away from me because I chose to punish them accordingly but with love.
Well folks, it looks like it may be coming to that. What say YOU?
not much has happened
not much has happened in regards to Auburn meeting with Tubs. He and JJ were supposed to meet today (wed) but that didnt happen and Tubs will be in R-Kansas or Ar-Kan-Saw to duck hunt on Thursday.
The timing is pretty coincidental since it is rumored that the hogs would like to throw the house at Tubs. They just paid Nutt his buyout at around 3.5mil and it would take Tubs 6mil buyout plus a 3mil salary to get him. Of course he'd want to pay his assistants top dollar too.
I just can't see Arkansas shelling out that kind of dough for Tubs, but you never know.
Nutt has taken the Ole Miss job where 8-4 seasons would be celebrated as though they were national championships. I don't see the a little above average Tuberville doing much better than Nutt did there. He has the most talent even on the plains coming in for 08 and 09 and would probably retire at Auburn. At Arkansas, they'd be ready to run him off in two years.
If he goes, he goes . . .
I dont think he will though.
The timing is pretty coincidental since it is rumored that the hogs would like to throw the house at Tubs. They just paid Nutt his buyout at around 3.5mil and it would take Tubs 6mil buyout plus a 3mil salary to get him. Of course he'd want to pay his assistants top dollar too.
I just can't see Arkansas shelling out that kind of dough for Tubs, but you never know.
Nutt has taken the Ole Miss job where 8-4 seasons would be celebrated as though they were national championships. I don't see the a little above average Tuberville doing much better than Nutt did there. He has the most talent even on the plains coming in for 08 and 09 and would probably retire at Auburn. At Arkansas, they'd be ready to run him off in two years.
If he goes, he goes . . .
I dont think he will though.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
If Academics Mattered . . .
then this is how the current top 25 would look according to the "Higher Ed Watch Blog".
Put to the task by ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, the Higher Ed Watch developed an alternative BCS formula to draw attention to the academic performance of big-time college football teams and colleges in general. Just like Higher Ed Watch did last year in partnership with another think tank Education Sector for the NCAA college basketball tournament, we set out to see which top-ranked college football teams perform best in the classroom.
Applying the Academic BCS formula to the teams currently ranked in top 25 in the BCS poll produces a very different ranking. Instead of perennially-dominant LSU, Ohio State, and Georgia sitting at the top, Boston College, Cincinnati, and Auburn would be headlining the national championship discussion.
A complete explanation can be found here: http://www.newamerica.net/blogs/education_policy/2007/11/academic_bowl_championship_series
According to ESPN http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/071127&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1
this is how the big bowl pairings would look if academics mattered with the BCS ranking following the school name:
Allstate BCS Championship Game:
Boston College (127.80) vs. Cincinnati (97.25)
Rose Bowl Presented by Citi:
Auburn (73.15) vs. Boise State (68.90)
FedEx Orange Bowl:
Virginia (60.45) vs. Virginia Tech (60.15)
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:
Clemson (59.35) vs. USC (51.65)
Allstate Sugar Bowl:
West Virginia (47.85) vs. Arizona State (46.35)
Exiled to the bottom of the A/BCS and the pre-New-Year's bowls named after lawn equipment and mufflers:
21. LSU (29.95)
22. Ohio State (28.55)
23. Oregon (8.35)
24. Texas (7.85)
25. Hawaii (-2.35)
Note the University of Cincinnati, often derided for low graduation rates in men's basketball, does very well academically with regards to Division I-A football. Note Auburn, subject of a recent scandal regarding some football players passing classes they seem never to have attended, gets the third seed in the A/BCS rankings, quite a respectable academic performance.
Put to the task by ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, the Higher Ed Watch developed an alternative BCS formula to draw attention to the academic performance of big-time college football teams and colleges in general. Just like Higher Ed Watch did last year in partnership with another think tank Education Sector for the NCAA college basketball tournament, we set out to see which top-ranked college football teams perform best in the classroom.
Applying the Academic BCS formula to the teams currently ranked in top 25 in the BCS poll produces a very different ranking. Instead of perennially-dominant LSU, Ohio State, and Georgia sitting at the top, Boston College, Cincinnati, and Auburn would be headlining the national championship discussion.
A complete explanation can be found here: http://www.newamerica.net/blogs/education_policy/2007/11/academic_bowl_championship_series
According to ESPN http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/071127&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1
this is how the big bowl pairings would look if academics mattered with the BCS ranking following the school name:
Allstate BCS Championship Game:
Boston College (127.80) vs. Cincinnati (97.25)
Rose Bowl Presented by Citi:
Auburn (73.15) vs. Boise State (68.90)
FedEx Orange Bowl:
Virginia (60.45) vs. Virginia Tech (60.15)
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:
Clemson (59.35) vs. USC (51.65)
Allstate Sugar Bowl:
West Virginia (47.85) vs. Arizona State (46.35)
Exiled to the bottom of the A/BCS and the pre-New-Year's bowls named after lawn equipment and mufflers:
21. LSU (29.95)
22. Ohio State (28.55)
23. Oregon (8.35)
24. Texas (7.85)
25. Hawaii (-2.35)
Note the University of Cincinnati, often derided for low graduation rates in men's basketball, does very well academically with regards to Division I-A football. Note Auburn, subject of a recent scandal regarding some football players passing classes they seem never to have attended, gets the third seed in the A/BCS rankings, quite a respectable academic performance.
Monday, November 26, 2007
New Wrinkle in Coaching Carousel
Monday, November 26, 2007
reports just released that were slated for a 6:30 pm announcement state that Houston Nutt will not be back for the 2008 season.
Its not a great concern because of how I view the situation already stated in the previous blog about Tubs, but I will now be curious to see if Arkansas comes after Tubs.
He wanted to be there before taking the Ole Miss job but the timing did not work out. He is an Arkansas native.
I am not sure if Arky could fork out the 6 million dollar payout that Tubs has left on his contract.
A supposed inside source with a brother who is an OC for a big east or acc school was pretty sure that Butch Davis might be headed to Arky, but that was before the LSU loss....
this will definitely be an interesting ride.
reports just released that were slated for a 6:30 pm announcement state that Houston Nutt will not be back for the 2008 season.
Its not a great concern because of how I view the situation already stated in the previous blog about Tubs, but I will now be curious to see if Arkansas comes after Tubs.
He wanted to be there before taking the Ole Miss job but the timing did not work out. He is an Arkansas native.
I am not sure if Arky could fork out the 6 million dollar payout that Tubs has left on his contract.
A supposed inside source with a brother who is an OC for a big east or acc school was pretty sure that Butch Davis might be headed to Arky, but that was before the LSU loss....
this will definitely be an interesting ride.
Tuberville Meeting with Administration
Tuberville is in the 2.8 million dollar a year range. Does he deserve more?
I don't really think he deserves a bump in salary. I don't care what the West Vance Red Elephants are currently paying their coach. For that matter, Saban shouldnt be making any where close to the 4 million a year he is banking. UAT is the only school I know that brags about how much they pay a coach.
All this and you have to consider their loss to ULM and their bottom of the barrel coach who is paid a mere 130K a year. Wow, right? Yeah, thats what I thought.
But anyway, this is about Tuberville. He has done good things at Auburn.
His record against top ten teams is better than any other current coach.
He can boast of one of the few SEC coaches to have an undefeated season in the toughest conference. Without a doubt Auburn should have played for all the marbles in 2004 but that was out of his control.
He has one SEC championship. I dont really care about co west champion status.
He has beaten his arch rival 6 straight times.
But he loses games he shouldn't lose.
Let's see what he does with the 2008 and 2009 talent before he gets a pay hike. Help him out with some facility upgrades and throw a few bucks at his assistants. If that's not good enough so be it. He simply isn't worth more in my opinion right now.
We will find out sometime today, tomorrow or as late as Wednesday the results of these meetings with the AU President and Athletic Director.
I don't think that Auburn should allow Tuberville's agent Jimmy Sexton to hold them over a barrel any more.
I don't really think he deserves a bump in salary. I don't care what the West Vance Red Elephants are currently paying their coach. For that matter, Saban shouldnt be making any where close to the 4 million a year he is banking. UAT is the only school I know that brags about how much they pay a coach.
All this and you have to consider their loss to ULM and their bottom of the barrel coach who is paid a mere 130K a year. Wow, right? Yeah, thats what I thought.
But anyway, this is about Tuberville. He has done good things at Auburn.
His record against top ten teams is better than any other current coach.
He can boast of one of the few SEC coaches to have an undefeated season in the toughest conference. Without a doubt Auburn should have played for all the marbles in 2004 but that was out of his control.
He has one SEC championship. I dont really care about co west champion status.
He has beaten his arch rival 6 straight times.
But he loses games he shouldn't lose.
Let's see what he does with the 2008 and 2009 talent before he gets a pay hike. Help him out with some facility upgrades and throw a few bucks at his assistants. If that's not good enough so be it. He simply isn't worth more in my opinion right now.
We will find out sometime today, tomorrow or as late as Wednesday the results of these meetings with the AU President and Athletic Director.
I don't think that Auburn should allow Tuberville's agent Jimmy Sexton to hold them over a barrel any more.
Freshman All American Honors Five Tigers
Ryan Pugh - 1st Team Freshman AA
Wes Byrum - 2nd Team Freshman AA
Ryan Pugh - Honorable Mention
Chaz Ramsey - Honorable Mention
Zac Ethridge - Honorable Mention
First-Team All-Americans
Offense
QB Sam Bradford Oklahoma
RB Knowshon Moreno Georgia
RB LeSean McCoy Pittsburgh
WR Michael Crabtree Texas Tech
WR Jeremy Maclin Missouri
TE Rob Gronkowski Arizona
OT Trinton Sturdivant Georgia
OT Lee Ziemba Auburn
OG Kai Maiava Colorado
OG Clint Boling Georgia
C Kristofer O'Dowd USC
K Thomas Weber Arizona State
KR Antonio Brown Central Michigan
Defense
DE Everson Griffin USC
DE Cameron Heyward Ohio State
DT Marvin Austin North Carolina
DT Colby Whitlock Texas Tech
LB Greg Jones Michigan State
LB Lawrence Wilson Connecticut
LB Scott Lutrus Connecticut
S Eric Berry Tennessee
S Davonte Shannon Buffalo
CB Donovan Warren Michigan
CB Omar Bolden Arizona State
P Keenyn Crier Arizona
PR David Gilreath Wisconsin
Second-Team All-Americans
Offense
QB Jake Locker Washington RS Freshman
RB DeMarco Murray Oklahoma RS Freshman
RB Harvey Unga BYU RS Freshman
WR Arrelious Benn Illinois Freshman
WR Marcus Barnett Cincinnati RS Freshman
TE Wesley Saunders South Carolina Freshman
OL Ryan Miller Colorado Freshman
OL Maurkice Pouncey Florida Freshman
OL Anthony Davis Rutgers Freshman
OL Anthony Castonzo Boston College Freshman
OL Steve Schilling Michigan RS Freshman
K Wes Bynum Auburn Freshman
KR Max Suter Syracuse Freshman
Defense
DE Paul Kruger Utah RS Freshman
DE Greg Romeus Pittsburgh RS Freshman
DT Ladi Ajiobye South Carolina RS Freshman
DT Brian Price UCLA Freshman
LB Rennie Curren Georgia Freshman
LB Obi Ezeh Michigan RS Freshman
LB Rolando McClain Alabama Freshman
S Morgan Burnett Georgia Tech Freshman
S Chad Jones LSU Freshman
CB Kareem Jackson Alabama Freshman
CB Tavious Polo Florida Atlantic RS Freshman
P Rob Long Syracuse Freshman
PR Dominique Franks Oklahoma RS Freshman
Honorable Mention:
QB Trevor Vittatoe (UTEP), QB Giovanni Vizza (North Texas), RB Nick Grigsby (Arizona), RB Terry Grant (Alabama), RB Josh Adams (Wake Forest), RB Graig Cooper (Miami), WR Dezmon Briscoe (Kansas), WR Trae Johnson (Tulsa), OL Ryan Pugh (Auburn), OL Chaz Ramsey (Auburn), OL Colin Baxter (Arizona), OL Chris Davis (Georgia), OL Rodney Hudson (FSU), K Kai Forbath (UCLA), K Daniel Lincoln (Tennessee), DE Kirk DeCremer (Wisconsin), DE Martez Wilson (Illinois), DE Cameron Jordan (Cal.), DE Kirk DeCremer, DT Gerald McCoy (Oklahoma), DT Ian Williams (Notre Dame), DT Ollie Ogbu (Penn State), DT Dexter Larimore (Ohio State), DT Malo Taumua (UNLV), DT Derrick Hill (Cal.), DE Almando Sewell (Akron), LB Mike Tashman (UAB), LB Craig Robertson (North Texas), LB Quan Sturdivant (North Carolina), CB Joe Haden (Florida), CB C.J. Bailey (Southern Miss), CB Ras-I Dowling (Virginia), CB Chima Nwakchukwu (Washington State), CB Chris Conte (Cal.), S Zac Etheridge (Auburn), S Ryan Downard (Eastern Michigan), S Major Wright (Florida), S Joseph Lefeged (Rutgers), S Alex Kube (Northern Illinois), S Deunta Williams (North Carolina).
Wes Byrum - 2nd Team Freshman AA
Ryan Pugh - Honorable Mention
Chaz Ramsey - Honorable Mention
Zac Ethridge - Honorable Mention
First-Team All-Americans
Offense
QB Sam Bradford Oklahoma
RB Knowshon Moreno Georgia
RB LeSean McCoy Pittsburgh
WR Michael Crabtree Texas Tech
WR Jeremy Maclin Missouri
TE Rob Gronkowski Arizona
OT Trinton Sturdivant Georgia
OT Lee Ziemba Auburn
OG Kai Maiava Colorado
OG Clint Boling Georgia
C Kristofer O'Dowd USC
K Thomas Weber Arizona State
KR Antonio Brown Central Michigan
Defense
DE Everson Griffin USC
DE Cameron Heyward Ohio State
DT Marvin Austin North Carolina
DT Colby Whitlock Texas Tech
LB Greg Jones Michigan State
LB Lawrence Wilson Connecticut
LB Scott Lutrus Connecticut
S Eric Berry Tennessee
S Davonte Shannon Buffalo
CB Donovan Warren Michigan
CB Omar Bolden Arizona State
P Keenyn Crier Arizona
PR David Gilreath Wisconsin
Second-Team All-Americans
Offense
QB Jake Locker Washington RS Freshman
RB DeMarco Murray Oklahoma RS Freshman
RB Harvey Unga BYU RS Freshman
WR Arrelious Benn Illinois Freshman
WR Marcus Barnett Cincinnati RS Freshman
TE Wesley Saunders South Carolina Freshman
OL Ryan Miller Colorado Freshman
OL Maurkice Pouncey Florida Freshman
OL Anthony Davis Rutgers Freshman
OL Anthony Castonzo Boston College Freshman
OL Steve Schilling Michigan RS Freshman
K Wes Bynum Auburn Freshman
KR Max Suter Syracuse Freshman
Defense
DE Paul Kruger Utah RS Freshman
DE Greg Romeus Pittsburgh RS Freshman
DT Ladi Ajiobye South Carolina RS Freshman
DT Brian Price UCLA Freshman
LB Rennie Curren Georgia Freshman
LB Obi Ezeh Michigan RS Freshman
LB Rolando McClain Alabama Freshman
S Morgan Burnett Georgia Tech Freshman
S Chad Jones LSU Freshman
CB Kareem Jackson Alabama Freshman
CB Tavious Polo Florida Atlantic RS Freshman
P Rob Long Syracuse Freshman
PR Dominique Franks Oklahoma RS Freshman
Honorable Mention:
QB Trevor Vittatoe (UTEP), QB Giovanni Vizza (North Texas), RB Nick Grigsby (Arizona), RB Terry Grant (Alabama), RB Josh Adams (Wake Forest), RB Graig Cooper (Miami), WR Dezmon Briscoe (Kansas), WR Trae Johnson (Tulsa), OL Ryan Pugh (Auburn), OL Chaz Ramsey (Auburn), OL Colin Baxter (Arizona), OL Chris Davis (Georgia), OL Rodney Hudson (FSU), K Kai Forbath (UCLA), K Daniel Lincoln (Tennessee), DE Kirk DeCremer (Wisconsin), DE Martez Wilson (Illinois), DE Cameron Jordan (Cal.), DE Kirk DeCremer, DT Gerald McCoy (Oklahoma), DT Ian Williams (Notre Dame), DT Ollie Ogbu (Penn State), DT Dexter Larimore (Ohio State), DT Malo Taumua (UNLV), DT Derrick Hill (Cal.), DE Almando Sewell (Akron), LB Mike Tashman (UAB), LB Craig Robertson (North Texas), LB Quan Sturdivant (North Carolina), CB Joe Haden (Florida), CB C.J. Bailey (Southern Miss), CB Ras-I Dowling (Virginia), CB Chima Nwakchukwu (Washington State), CB Chris Conte (Cal.), S Zac Etheridge (Auburn), S Ryan Downard (Eastern Michigan), S Major Wright (Florida), S Joseph Lefeged (Rutgers), S Alex Kube (Northern Illinois), S Deunta Williams (North Carolina).
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Comments on todays Notebook from the Huntsville Times
Auburn notebook
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Huntsville Times
Don't expect Tigersto open up offense
AUBURN - Don't look for Auburn passes to rain down on Alabama in Saturday's Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
So said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.
"You do what you think your players can do," Tuberville
said. "We haven't opened it up too often since I've been here.
You have to coach your team with what you think they can
handle and can't handle and give yourself a chance to win.
That's what it's all about.
Ok, we all know how conservative Tubs is on offense, but this underhanded remark blames the lack of offense on personnel . . . SINCE HE HAS BEEN HERE.
READ IT AGAIN, SINCE HE HAS BEEN HERE Auburn hasnt opened it up much on offense because of [implied] personnel not being able to handled it or being capable..
Since he has been here?
If its a personnel problem, then its a recruiting problem. I know some recruits dont pan out, but to imply that the skill players havent been up to par since he has been here is absurd and its a poor reflection on this current staff. Tubs has been here 9 years. Thats enough time to build a team that can handle passing and catching and even running the occassional reverse.
Its a crappy comment and I dont believe theres much truth too it.
Sounds like a coaching problem to me.
A team that scrapes by barely winning with all the burden on the defense will never get a chance to compete for the Mythical National Championship.
This is what kept Auburn out of the Orange Bowl for the MNC in 2004. The conservative approach, not the excuse of playing The Citadel. If Tubs in 2004 had beaten teams the way that squad was capable of doing, Auburn would have played Southern Cal for all the marbles that year.
I am beginning to lose all faith in Tuberville and I dont like the games he and his agent Sexton are playing with Auburn.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Huntsville Times
Don't expect Tigersto open up offense
AUBURN - Don't look for Auburn passes to rain down on Alabama in Saturday's Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
So said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.
"You do what you think your players can do," Tuberville
said. "We haven't opened it up too often since I've been here.
You have to coach your team with what you think they can
handle and can't handle and give yourself a chance to win.
That's what it's all about.
Ok, we all know how conservative Tubs is on offense, but this underhanded remark blames the lack of offense on personnel . . . SINCE HE HAS BEEN HERE.
READ IT AGAIN, SINCE HE HAS BEEN HERE Auburn hasnt opened it up much on offense because of [implied] personnel not being able to handled it or being capable..
Since he has been here?
If its a personnel problem, then its a recruiting problem. I know some recruits dont pan out, but to imply that the skill players havent been up to par since he has been here is absurd and its a poor reflection on this current staff. Tubs has been here 9 years. Thats enough time to build a team that can handle passing and catching and even running the occassional reverse.
Its a crappy comment and I dont believe theres much truth too it.
Sounds like a coaching problem to me.
A team that scrapes by barely winning with all the burden on the defense will never get a chance to compete for the Mythical National Championship.
This is what kept Auburn out of the Orange Bowl for the MNC in 2004. The conservative approach, not the excuse of playing The Citadel. If Tubs in 2004 had beaten teams the way that squad was capable of doing, Auburn would have played Southern Cal for all the marbles that year.
I am beginning to lose all faith in Tuberville and I dont like the games he and his agent Sexton are playing with Auburn.
Tuberville Speaks
I open up the Birmingham News and on the front page of the sports section you will find Tuberville proclaiming his love for all things Auburn and shouting from the roof tops that he will infact be at Auburn until they run him off.
Tuberville, you could have said this the week before the Georgia game. I know you have said in the past that you love Auburn, but you failed to adequately address these rumors weeks ago. I don't like it . . . shifty?
What spurned him to finally make this statement when asked by a journalist after practice yesterday? Its not like they havent been asking him repeatedly for weeks now.
I imagine that the scenario played out in one of the following fashions. Texas A&M decided that the 6 million dollar payout was too much for Tuberville after watching his team crumble against Georgia OR Auburn decided to anty up and made Tuberville an offer he could refuse to get this issue out of the way a week early.
I don't like the way this was handled. I guess Jimmy Sexton got a nice christmas bonus for all his hard work. We will find out the details after the Iron Bowl but I think this was a slimy deal. I am not sure Tuberville deserved a raise right now and if he loses the Iron Bowl, people are going to be real unhappy.
Now next year, if Tubs can use the talent and make a run at the top, then no one will remember this crap.
What did all this do for motivation? It didnt appear to help against UGA. It remains to be seen how this will play out against Bama.
Pat Dye reminded everyone listening to his interview on Paul Finebaum's radio program yesterday that this Alabama team is the same one that clobbered Tennessee.
Fortunately for Auburn, the Red Elephants haven't resembled that team in a month. It seems they forget any identity they scrounged up and with the way Nick Saban is verbally bashing his players, one would reasonably expect this team to really fall apart.
But not in the first quarter, in the first quarter of the Iron Bowl, methinks the Roll Tides will look pretty decent and play with some attitude. I suspect based on this past month of football and Bama's pension for closing out games that the emotional roller coaster that is college football and Auburn's front four on the defense will get enough pressure on Parker Wilson to watch the boys in Crimson fold like a lawn chair.
Tuberville has alot of pride and this Bama games means alot to him. It saved him in years past. Can it do it again? I certainly hope so...
Tuberville, you could have said this the week before the Georgia game. I know you have said in the past that you love Auburn, but you failed to adequately address these rumors weeks ago. I don't like it . . . shifty?
What spurned him to finally make this statement when asked by a journalist after practice yesterday? Its not like they havent been asking him repeatedly for weeks now.
I imagine that the scenario played out in one of the following fashions. Texas A&M decided that the 6 million dollar payout was too much for Tuberville after watching his team crumble against Georgia OR Auburn decided to anty up and made Tuberville an offer he could refuse to get this issue out of the way a week early.
I don't like the way this was handled. I guess Jimmy Sexton got a nice christmas bonus for all his hard work. We will find out the details after the Iron Bowl but I think this was a slimy deal. I am not sure Tuberville deserved a raise right now and if he loses the Iron Bowl, people are going to be real unhappy.
Now next year, if Tubs can use the talent and make a run at the top, then no one will remember this crap.
What did all this do for motivation? It didnt appear to help against UGA. It remains to be seen how this will play out against Bama.
Pat Dye reminded everyone listening to his interview on Paul Finebaum's radio program yesterday that this Alabama team is the same one that clobbered Tennessee.
Fortunately for Auburn, the Red Elephants haven't resembled that team in a month. It seems they forget any identity they scrounged up and with the way Nick Saban is verbally bashing his players, one would reasonably expect this team to really fall apart.
But not in the first quarter, in the first quarter of the Iron Bowl, methinks the Roll Tides will look pretty decent and play with some attitude. I suspect based on this past month of football and Bama's pension for closing out games that the emotional roller coaster that is college football and Auburn's front four on the defense will get enough pressure on Parker Wilson to watch the boys in Crimson fold like a lawn chair.
Tuberville has alot of pride and this Bama games means alot to him. It saved him in years past. Can it do it again? I certainly hope so...
Monday, November 19, 2007
Iron Bowl Monday
Saturday afternoon while napping:
(phone rings): rinnnnggg
Rdub: "Hello."
Mdub: "Are you keeping up with the the Alabama game?"
Rdub: "No. Whats going on?"
Mdub: "Theres two minutes left and LaMonroe is up 21-14 in the fourth quarter."
Rdub: "What? No kidding?"
So I turned on the antiquated invention that is called the radio and tuned in. Sure enough, the red elephants were losing, even after letting DJ Hall back on the field after a supposed full game suspension.
I didn't listen to the post game comments then, but all day Monday on Finebaum's radio broadcast, Nick Saban has taken a beating.
I find it unbelievably ironic that the NCAA's highest paid coach (Saban - 4 million a year) was beaten by the lowest paid coach (ULM coach Weatherbie - 130,000 a year).
Thats results in a costly loss to the tune of 333,000 dollars a game and UAT has had three in a row.
I don't care if these are Shula's players or not, you don't lose to ULM, period.
With that said, as an Auburn person, you almost wish Bama hadn't lost. I expect the Roll Tide's to play lights out ball come 7pm Saturday night on the ESPN.
Auburn's offense hasnt been much better than a train wreck all year either. There is no consistency from either team and both had quarterback problems.
I would say that the positive for Auburn is that Bama's players seem to have lost heart, but if you watched the Auburn vs. Georgia game, it appeared that Tubervilles boy's quit too.
I've said it a million times, if Auburn doesnt get constant pressure on Wilson, then DJ Hall will beat Auburn deep several times.
Still, you dont lose to ULM, you just don't.
(phone rings): rinnnnggg
Rdub: "Hello."
Mdub: "Are you keeping up with the the Alabama game?"
Rdub: "No. Whats going on?"
Mdub: "Theres two minutes left and LaMonroe is up 21-14 in the fourth quarter."
Rdub: "What? No kidding?"
So I turned on the antiquated invention that is called the radio and tuned in. Sure enough, the red elephants were losing, even after letting DJ Hall back on the field after a supposed full game suspension.
I didn't listen to the post game comments then, but all day Monday on Finebaum's radio broadcast, Nick Saban has taken a beating.
I find it unbelievably ironic that the NCAA's highest paid coach (Saban - 4 million a year) was beaten by the lowest paid coach (ULM coach Weatherbie - 130,000 a year).
Thats results in a costly loss to the tune of 333,000 dollars a game and UAT has had three in a row.
I don't care if these are Shula's players or not, you don't lose to ULM, period.
With that said, as an Auburn person, you almost wish Bama hadn't lost. I expect the Roll Tide's to play lights out ball come 7pm Saturday night on the ESPN.
Auburn's offense hasnt been much better than a train wreck all year either. There is no consistency from either team and both had quarterback problems.
I would say that the positive for Auburn is that Bama's players seem to have lost heart, but if you watched the Auburn vs. Georgia game, it appeared that Tubervilles boy's quit too.
I've said it a million times, if Auburn doesnt get constant pressure on Wilson, then DJ Hall will beat Auburn deep several times.
Still, you dont lose to ULM, you just don't.
Tuberville Rumors
Friday, November 16, 2007
Tuberville Rumors
Matt asked: "I've heard rumors of Tubby leaving for Texas A&M. Is this a possibility? If it is, do you think it might have an affect on the team?"
These rumors have been swirling for a couple of weeks now. I am an insider on several of the football services/message boards, but no one in the know has really even addressed this rumor as of yet. As far as that goes, Coach Tuberville has not adequately addressed the situation either.
His public statement is that he will not speak to the university regarding this issue until after the Iron Bowl.
Has his refusal to confirm his allegiance to Auburn had any impact on the team? How about recruiting?
Its hard to say right now and one would want to say nay, but after reading one of Auburn's beat writers columns yesterday where three offensive players kind of threw the play calling under the bus, I'd almost be more willing now to say the writing is on the wall.
I don't think those young men would bespeak their frustrations to the media unless they had reason to think he, Tuberville wouldn't be there after this season.
One student who has some ties to the athletic department told me that he heard from a reliable source that Texas A&M had already put an offer on the table to snatch CTT for a mere 3.5 million smackers. Thats alot of money for coach, but the coffers run deep in oil money at TAMU.
The same source stated that Tuberville wanted to see how the Georgia and Alabama games played out before making his decision. The logic implies that with the already in place bias in the state media, an Auburn loss to Alabama this next week could be tramatic or at least perceived that way from the Auburn Board of Trustees.
If you remember all the way back to 2003, you will also recall the disdain that the BOT and CTT have for each. That was a black eye to the school and now, the BOT may have found a way to let Tubs leave and get his 6 million buyout from TAMU to use for a new coach, one who doesnt flop winnable games every year.
Regardless of the outcome, Auburn will be ok. Auburn is bigger than the coach and for all the good Tuberville has done at Auburn, I think there is another coach that could step in and make good use of the talent slated for 2008 and 2009.
2008 and 2009 have a good chance to be the most talented teams that Auburn has ever had on the plains, but it appears with the current staff in place that all that talent might be wasted because they have failed to adequately develop a quarterback to take over next season with a huge game in the two spot against West Virgina.
So while I try and keep a positive out look if CTT were to leave, I would have to admit that I would be a little worried about the inevitable fracture that would take place and the difficulty that always ensues after a transition. Tuberville's staff are excellent recruiter and those pipelines might have to be reestablish if he left.
With that said, regarding the take on talent in the next two years, would be the main reason that I would think Tuberville stays at Auburn. It'll be his best chance to win a national championship since he's been here, some say. At TAMU, you gotta rebuild from the ground up and TAMU's BOT is pretty cut throat itself.
TAMU's BOT got rid of fan favorite Slocum for Franchione. Then the requested/required Fran to write a special insiders/Alum football news letter for a grand a pop. That wound up to be a mere 10 grand supplement to Fran. I dont think he took that risk for the money. It was the pressure from the BOT and now that they have decided they dont want him, they are using this scandal to force him out. I don't think the BOT situation there is any more desirable, but I digress.
So yes Matt, I think there is a strong chance that Tuberville will leave. He and the BOT dont get along. Even though Auburn has had consecutive victories over their rival in Alabama, a loss to the roll tide this season would send some Auburn faithful in panic mode. Tuberville had already made comments after his 1-2 start that he was worried about getting fired so it's gotta be on his mind. I think its definitely on the players minds'.
Tuberville Rumors
Matt asked: "I've heard rumors of Tubby leaving for Texas A&M. Is this a possibility? If it is, do you think it might have an affect on the team?"
These rumors have been swirling for a couple of weeks now. I am an insider on several of the football services/message boards, but no one in the know has really even addressed this rumor as of yet. As far as that goes, Coach Tuberville has not adequately addressed the situation either.
His public statement is that he will not speak to the university regarding this issue until after the Iron Bowl.
Has his refusal to confirm his allegiance to Auburn had any impact on the team? How about recruiting?
Its hard to say right now and one would want to say nay, but after reading one of Auburn's beat writers columns yesterday where three offensive players kind of threw the play calling under the bus, I'd almost be more willing now to say the writing is on the wall.
I don't think those young men would bespeak their frustrations to the media unless they had reason to think he, Tuberville wouldn't be there after this season.
One student who has some ties to the athletic department told me that he heard from a reliable source that Texas A&M had already put an offer on the table to snatch CTT for a mere 3.5 million smackers. Thats alot of money for coach, but the coffers run deep in oil money at TAMU.
The same source stated that Tuberville wanted to see how the Georgia and Alabama games played out before making his decision. The logic implies that with the already in place bias in the state media, an Auburn loss to Alabama this next week could be tramatic or at least perceived that way from the Auburn Board of Trustees.
If you remember all the way back to 2003, you will also recall the disdain that the BOT and CTT have for each. That was a black eye to the school and now, the BOT may have found a way to let Tubs leave and get his 6 million buyout from TAMU to use for a new coach, one who doesnt flop winnable games every year.
Regardless of the outcome, Auburn will be ok. Auburn is bigger than the coach and for all the good Tuberville has done at Auburn, I think there is another coach that could step in and make good use of the talent slated for 2008 and 2009.
2008 and 2009 have a good chance to be the most talented teams that Auburn has ever had on the plains, but it appears with the current staff in place that all that talent might be wasted because they have failed to adequately develop a quarterback to take over next season with a huge game in the two spot against West Virgina.
So while I try and keep a positive out look if CTT were to leave, I would have to admit that I would be a little worried about the inevitable fracture that would take place and the difficulty that always ensues after a transition. Tuberville's staff are excellent recruiter and those pipelines might have to be reestablish if he left.
With that said, regarding the take on talent in the next two years, would be the main reason that I would think Tuberville stays at Auburn. It'll be his best chance to win a national championship since he's been here, some say. At TAMU, you gotta rebuild from the ground up and TAMU's BOT is pretty cut throat itself.
TAMU's BOT got rid of fan favorite Slocum for Franchione. Then the requested/required Fran to write a special insiders/Alum football news letter for a grand a pop. That wound up to be a mere 10 grand supplement to Fran. I dont think he took that risk for the money. It was the pressure from the BOT and now that they have decided they dont want him, they are using this scandal to force him out. I don't think the BOT situation there is any more desirable, but I digress.
So yes Matt, I think there is a strong chance that Tuberville will leave. He and the BOT dont get along. Even though Auburn has had consecutive victories over their rival in Alabama, a loss to the roll tide this season would send some Auburn faithful in panic mode. Tuberville had already made comments after his 1-2 start that he was worried about getting fired so it's gotta be on his mind. I think its definitely on the players minds'.
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