It's a Girl!!!

I'm so excited to have a Daddy's Little Girl. I've already got my eye on these two troublemakers.

My night is ruined!!

Courtney is watching the Miss America pageant and Oklahoma just won over Texas. This is an outrage!!

Texas - Basketball Hotbed?

I watched the Texas/Baylor game on Sat. and I wasn't prepared for that close of game. Luckily I didn't see most of the first half. The Horns played hard the second half and stormed back by hitting their 3's. I really enjoy watching this young team play, but it kills me that we are pretty much a live by the 3, die by the 3 team. I was also surprised by the crowd at the Erwin Center. The announced crowd was 15,000 plus, and reports say that their was a solid 14,000 in attendance. During the Horns comeback in the second half, the crowd was fantastic. Its great to see how far the program has come since Rick Barnes took over. A few years ago I would expect a crowd of 6-8,000 for a Baylor game. The Dallas Morning News is found of making little remarks about the crowds at the beginning of the year, but they don't consider that these games are against teams like Alcorn State. The program is not at a point yet where they will attract over 5,000 for a game like that, but I didn't see any mention of the great crowd this weekend.

Texas, A&M, and Tech are having solid seasons and fans are coming out in droves for the games. It not exactly Tobacco Road, but I believe basketball is becoming more than a break between football and spring football. Throw in the three pro teams and one might even consider the state a basketball hotbed.

Cal's Memorial Stadium Expansion on Hold

I enjoy keep track of stadium expansions, so I thought I would share this recent news. The ESPN story and response from a Cal blog. I'll provide updates on the Texas stadium construction soon.

I was curious....

How long do flags stay at half-staff after a former president's death? I've noticed over the past couple of days that some have already went up, while others are still in mourning. U.S. Code calls for flags to be flown at half-staff for thirty days after the death of a current or former president. Now we know.

Let the record show that I would like flags to be flown at half-staff for 45 min. after my death, thanks.

Random Five: TV Shows

1. The Office - Simply the best show on TV

2. Friday Night Lights - If you didn't watch this show because you know it couldn't live up to the name, give it a chance. The drama is compelling, its more about small town life than football. Buddy Garrity is one of the best characters on TV.

3. How I Met Your Mother - Hard to describe, but pretty funny.

4. Law & Order:SVU - Courtney's favorite show, lots of re-runs, most of the time you can pick it up in the middle of the show and still watch

5. Seasonal - American Idol, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, The Hills, Laguna Beach, One Tree Hill, Two-A-Days, HGTV, The History Channel, and of course sports.

Go Horns....Step on Enemy's Territory

There was a good article in last Friday's Wall Street Journal about the NFL extending their global reach to China. "The NFL has supported the efforts of 11 academics who have create a 300-page American Football Encyclopedia. Here is how some key terms are rendered into Chinese in the Encyclopedia."

Term - Chinese Equivalent

Blitz - Lightning war against the QB
Hail Mary Pass - Miracle Long Pass
Onside Kick - Gambling kickoff
Play Action - Pass after fake run
Pocket - Protection arc
Punt - Give up and kick it back
Sack - Capture the commander in chief
Touchdown - Step on enemy's territory

A few old quickhits

-With the Florida win I finished in a four-way tie for first in our work bowl pool. The tie-breaker was the total combined score and unfortunately I thought it would be a low scoring game. My reward, 4th place and zero money.

-I'm not on board with bringing in Sammy "I don't speak English" Sosa. Even though it is only a minor league contract and there is a fair chance he won't make the team, I just don't think he has anything to offer the Rangers. We have plenty of outfielders and we need to get Botts and some of the other young guys as many spring training at-bats as possible. I believe he is only 12 homeruns shy of reaching 600, but I don't think thousands of fans will flock to the temple to see this drug-induced history. The Rangers had their chance with Sammy 17 or so years ago and trading him for nothing.

Weekend Round-up

-I watched most of the Texas game this weekend. For such a young team I feel they can compete with most any team, but they just can't seem to get over the hump. Against Tennessee they couldn't hold a big lead and this weekend at Villinova they threw up way to many 3's. I don't think many teams will want to play the Horns in the tournament, but I will have to see the bracket before I project the Horns into the round of 16.

-I'm reading Civil War and Baseball books right now, so let me know if you have any recommendations.

-I was happy with the Parcels news. I hate how he acts like he is God's gift to coaching and if the team plays bad it all falls on the players. I do hope that Jerry doesn't start running the whole show again, because we all have seen where that gets us. I wouldn't mind see, one, Bob Stoops take over the show at Valley Ranch especially if it throws the Sooner program in disarray for a few years.

-Head over to Courtney's blog and get your vote in for a Boy/Girl.

I'm Back

Sorry about the long layoff, but I'm rested and ready to go. We are entering what I refer to as the "dark period" of the year. That is the end of college football season until the first college football preview magazine hits the stands. The NFL playoffs, March Madness, Baseball, and the Mavs help fill the time, but nothing can replace the void of Saturdays without the Horns and college football. During this time I tend to get a lot of things done that I have put off all football season, and I'm sure Courtney enjoys doing something besides spending Saturdays glued to the T.V. I try to get a lot of reading done during this time so I thought I would share the books I read last year. I thought all of them were great, but I would highly recommend "Blue Like Jazz" and "Feeding the Monster".

Books of 2006:

-Absolutely American: Four years at West Point by David Lipsky
-Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
-The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference by Malcolm Gladwell
-The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke by Suze Orman
-Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The true, unvarnished story of the Texas-Oklahoma football wars by Mike Shropshire
-Coach Royal: Conversations with a Texas football legend by Darrell Royal with John Wheat
-A Fire to Win: The life and times of Woody Hayes by John Lombardo
-The Lion in Autumn: A season with Joe Paterno and Penn State Football by Frank Fitzpatrick
-Touchdown Jesus: Faith and fandom at Notre Dame by Scott Eden
-For Texas I Will: The History of Memorial Stadium by Richard Pennington
-Feeding the Monster: How money, smarts, and nerve took a team to the top (Red Sox) by Seth Mnookin

Cotton Bowl: Auburn vs Nebraska

Mavericks vs Hornets Dec. 30, 2006

Sec. 117
Row BB
Seat 1