NO WAY

If Texas A&M beats Texas and if Boise State beats Nevada, then Boise State University's football team could wind up in a BCS bowl, probably the Fiesta, probably against Utah. Pretty heady stuff for a small (mid-major) school that wasn't even Division 1 until recently. If they don't get a BCS bid, it looks like the Broncos will get a matchup with Louisville in the Liberty Bowl Dec. 31. The Broncos beat the Cardinals in the 2000 Humanitarian Bowl (now the MPC Computer Bowl) 34-32.

The NBA has some major rehab to do. They embraced the hip-hop thug culture and now it's coming back to bite them.

The defending Kelly Cup champion Idaho Steelheads are playing well again this year. This weekend they host the Alaska Aces who feature locked-out NHL star Scott Gomez.

My new job is taking me to the Bay Area for the next several weeks, for those who read this blog, I'll do my best to provide periodic updates.

A TAWDRY MESS

With the sentencing phase coming later this month, the circus of the Scott Peterson murder trial is finally almost over. I found Peterson to be a most unpleasant human being and apparently he is also a murderous unpleasant human being (how's that for redundancy?).
When the verdict was read on Friday there was widespread celebration. Maybe I've got this wrong, but to me celebration is something we indulge in for the purpose of augmenting the enjoyment of a great event. I equate celebration with fun. Proving in a court of law that a guy is a murderous pig is hardly a fun thing. To me, the verdict just shows that a sick, sad, sorry situation has been punctuated by a guilty verdict. I say good riddance to the murdering creep, however, I find nothing to celebrate in this tawdry mess.

GIMME A BREAK...PLEASE!

I tuned in to SportsCenter yesterday afternoon and had to endure almost 20 minutes of Ron Artest coverage. As a sports fan, I am getting darn tired of having this crappy soap opera stuff clogging up sports shows and sports pages.
Add to that drama, the me-first Terrell Owens coverage and the I can't feed my family on $14 million Latrell Sprewell garbage and it's hard to find any true "balls and strikes" coverage of sports.
It's Kobe and Shaq all day all the time. You hear and read sports analysts with their insights on this stuff sounding like they are covering the Scott Peterson trial. Being a sports fan involves being bombarded by stories about contract holdouts, teams demanding taxpayer financed modern stadiums (stadii?), drug busts, family squabbles, illegitimate children, trash talking and a lot more of what should be ancillary to what happens between the lines. It seems you have to be either a lawyer, a psychiatrist or a financial professional to understand the sports page.
So hey ESPN stop leading your sports coverage with this nonsense. Sports fans want sports coverage not soap opera crap or legal proceedings. News and sports should not come together as one. There is a reason the sports section of the newspaper is seperate from the rest, at least there used to be. Stop the madness and remember the days when sports were considered the 'candy store' of current events. When I want real life I'll watch the news, but when I want a break, please give me one.

OF COURSE I'M RIGHT!

When you are eagerly anticipating an event that’s two weeks away, it’s amazing how long it takes for that time to pass. However, if it’s a two- week vacation that you were waiting for, once that two weeks begin, the time just flies by.
I’m no Einstein, but this is an easier way to visualize his theory of relativity than by the well-known equation e=mc squared. What it means is that time passes more quickly when you would prefer that it not do so than when you prefer that it does.
So, in order to make the theory of relativity work in your favor and to bring yourself maximum enjoyment out of the time you spend doing anything, just remember, time is infinite in its purest sense. Einstein showed us that space is inextricably linked to time, therefore if you are stuck in a small space with annoying relatives, time will seem interminable. However, if you are pounding large mugs of hot-buttered rum, it won’t really matter. Remember that this Thanksgiving which is little more than two weeks away!

IT'S TV TIME!

Nobody asked, but while my television viewing choices are almost exclusively news and sports, there are a couple of "entertainment" shows that I really enjoy. Here they are in no particular order.
SCRUBS: This innovative show often uses the drift off into the twilight realm of a character's thoughts method first used on Ally McBeal. It's very clever and well-written with likeable characters and lots of subtle humor as well as in-your-face slapstick.
AMERICAN DREAMS: This chronicles the life of a family in late 60's Philadelphia and it is perhaps the best show on TV. The oldest daughter (Meg Pryor) is one of the dancers on American Bandstand. When they show "Bandstand," the scene we the viewer sees through the TV camera's monitor is the actual footage of a young Dick Clark and the bands and singers from the actual black and white show in the 60's. Then they pan out and show the in-color performers who are often portrayed by noted musicians of today.
The issues of drug use (marijuana), divorce, racism, the Vietnam war and many others are all incorporated into the show. In fact, the current storyline has the Pryor's oldest son (J.J.) listed as MIA in the war and of course the family is devastated. This is the kind of show you would think might promote an agenda of some kind but it does not. It is very powerful and emotional and truly a terrific program.
Without a Trace: The CSI shows are okay, but I'm not a devotee. However, this crime-solving drama has me hooked. It chronicles the investigations of an FBI office in NYC as they piece together evidence in order to solve cases involving missing persons. The four main characters are extremely good at finding and interpreting evidence and the writers (this is another Jerry Bruckheimer show) know how to keep the viewers rivited.
CBS SUNDAY MORNING with Charles Osgood: Okay, this might qualify as a news show, but really it's much more than that. It is 90 minutes of features covering personalities, the arts, and americana in general. Any news items would generally be considered "news light." The show is extremely well done and whenever I can't catch it live I tape it (I don't yet have TEVO...damn!)
Other shows I enjoy are The Simpsons (still a classic), The Apprentice (actually I just tune in for the the boardroom scenes), Red Green ( innovative uses for duct tape, and more! Saturday nights on PBS) and Reno 911 on the Comedy Channel (the concept of this show is incredibly funny, but it could be better written. Some shows are pretty lame.).

Questions From A Football Fan

Why is it that every time a defender gets even a fingertip on a passed pall the announcer excitedly claims that it was "ALMOST INTERCEPTED"?

Why is it that a receiver shows "veteran skills" or is a "wily veteran" or is "smart for a rookie" when he knows enough to run a pass route past the first down marker on a 3rd down play? It seems like a pretty basic skill to me. The same goes for a player who "knows enough" to run out of bounds to stop the clock when time is running out.

Why is it that so many successful plays are dubbed "unbelievable"? There are lots of other words that can be used. Whatever happened to "terrific" or "excellent" or "superb" or "outstanding"? And can it really be called unbelievable when we all just saw what happened? After all "seeing is believing."

And please, stop saying "they would like to get a touchdown here, they don't want to have to settle for three!" Really? Doesn't common sense tell us that it's always better to score more points?

RUMINATIONS

The Utah Jazz are off to a terrific start. Sure it's WAY early, but they are 2-0. How
about starting with a 26-point win over the Lakers in SLC followed up by a 22 point win last night at Golden State? Carlos Boozer (a Boozer in Utah?) is awesome and so is Andrei Kirelenko. A surprise has been Keith McCloud who is only getting playing time because Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez are starting the season on the injured list.

Those VEHIX.COM television commercials are omnipresent. They have not yet persuaded me to visit the web site, but they have my attention. And no, I don't know who their "dressed up like a computer mascot" guy is, but I like him!

Those on the left have been quick to respond to Tuesday's election. Web postings, letters to the editor and talking heads on television are attempting to pigeon hole Bush supporters as religious fanatics who were mobilized by the gay marriage issue. Get a clue guys. Anyone who thinks that a significant number of Americans would cast a vote based on such a non-issue are really reaching. I understand their attempts to marginalize the Bush win, but gay marriage was hardly the hot-button topic that mobilized some 59 million voters.

To continue with my commentary on mascots, I really, really dislike the Arby's mascot/spokesman Oven Mitt, and you should too. I'd like to see the Hamburger Helper "Helping Hand" mascot kick his, er palm.

I think a television show called Menachem in the Middle East would be a big hit in that part of the world. Another one; Ali Baba Blacksheep. Okay one more; Everybody Loves Abdul.

Am I watching too much TV?
NAAAH!

Fact or Fiction?

The Boise State University football team has been getting a lot of attention lately and why not? They finished in the top 15 in the polls in each of the last 2 years and this year they are one of only 6 unbeaten teams in the country! The Broncos are the top scoring team in the country and they are again ranked in the top 15 at 8-0 with 3 seemingly easy games on the schedule to wrap up the season. However, they have a week off this week after whipping Hawaii last Friday on ESPN 69-3!
Over the last few years, BSU is undefeated --13-0-- on ESPN and ESPN 2 and their home field which is a deep, rich blue in color --the only non-green artificial surface in the country-- is getting almost as much attention as the team. Check out what Gab and Michael say about it www.usa-c2c.com. The legend about confused ducks mistaking the field for water and crash landing much like a kamikaze pilot into a battleship has found a national stage. When asked about it on a national radio show, the coach of the Broncos --Dan Hawkins-- rather than answering, instead asked a rather prescient question, "How many ponds have you seen where there are white lines?"
Myth busted!

WHY BUSH WON

Senator Kerry, in fact pretty much everyone associated with his campaign has shown grace and dignity in defeat. The bombast of the campaign has turned into a welcome calm. I just hope that will be the case for the nation as a whole. It probably will be the case for a day or so but that will change...soon.
Kerry didn't lose because he is a bad guy, he lost because the nation is mostly conservative. No matter how often the Hollywood elites try to tell us that it is square to oppose gay marraige, partial birth abortion or the recognition of God as a driving force in our daily lives, they are wrong. Our founding fathers knew that a nation without a moral compass is like a house built on sand. If you have no firm basis by which to gauge right from wrong, then theoretically, any behavior can be justified. The moral relativism that is being espoused by those who want a secular society has been rejected by the vast majority of the United States. Just look at the amount of red on the electoral map compared to the amount of blue. Aside from the east and the west coast and a pocket that's pretty much confined to the upper midwest, the country went with the party that best embraces their core values. America is steeped in morality, patriotism and a belief in equality sans affirmative action programs. The Democrat party had better recognize that fact if it wants to remain a viable force in this country.

WE DON"T WANT TO HEAR IT!

To the elitist crowd who spent the last so many months fomenting vile hatred toward President Bush, I hope you will humbly accept the will of the people and try again in four years. When Hillary runs, I'm sure that same level of disdain will be directed toward your candidate so get ready. In the meantime, stop with the anger, the disrespect and the oh-so-juvenile "stupid" jokes and support our President.
Of course that won't happen. lawyers will assemble, vote totals will be challenged, hanging chads will again be in the news and Michael Moore will get started on a new "documentary" about how the republicans stole the election. No doubt he'll figure out a way to to script it so as to convince his followers that Osama bin Laden's family was in on the whole deal.
And oh yes, here's a memo to Babs and Bruce and Matt and Susan and Tim and Ed and Alec and Cher and Martin and Rosie and Dustin and Jon Bon Jovi; you did not help your guy one bit. So next time, to quote Laura Ingraham; Shut Up And Sing (and act or whatever) because America simply doesn't care what you think about politics or anything else for that matter. You may have talents in the field of creative arts, but that does not give you any great insight into how to run this country. If you were as smart as you think you are you would know that you hindered your candidate more than you helped him. Be really smart and creative next time and stay out of the news when the next political cycle rolls around. Of course, you are not that smart so I suppose we'll be hearing your political prattle again all too soon.

BE A GOOD AMERICAN AND SUPPORT TODAY'S WINNER

Today is the day. Be sure to vote, but if your guy does not win you need to support the guy that does. We are all Americans first and we need to unite around the President no matter who it is. I remember in November of 1992 only days after Bill Clinton became our President-elect I saw a bumper sticker that said IMPEACH CLINTON. I was amused and distressed all at once. I did not support Clinton, but I was willing to give him a chance. As far I was concerned he had a free pass at least until he was inaugurated!
I worry about the hatred I see toward President Bush. If he wins there will be many many people who will not rally behind him. My buddy Jack Sunday http://nodakjack.blogspot.com/ is not one of those people. He will grudgingly support Bush until he pisses him off (that won't take long!). So many people are supporting Kerry just because they loathe President Bush rather than because they thing Kerry is a terrific guy. Many Kerry supporters would, I think, vote for a Disney character for Pres if that were the only name on the ballot opposite George W. Bush.
I really don't see the same hatred or even a fraction of that hatred from Bush supporters toward Kerry. If Kerry wins, I think that many (but probably not most) Bush supporters will support our new President. I know I will. In fact, I almost think a Kerry win would be best for the electorate, but not for our government. If Kerry does NOT win there will be so many new voters who will somehow feel cheated, robbed or otherwise disenfranchised they may never vote again. That would be a bad thing for our republic.

VOTE FOR THE RIGHT GUY!

I'm pretty sure that every Presidential election is dubbed "the most important election in our lifetime" and this one is no exception. Tomorrow's outcome will come down to three states; Florida (again!), Ohio and Pennsylvania.
I can't imagine anyone still being undecided, but the one thing that should stand out in importance for all voters is the answer to the question: "Who would the terrorists want to see in the White House?" Answer that question and then vote for the other guy.
It seems that WAY too many Americans have forgotten or compartmentalized or somehow deemphasized the horror of 9/11. They seem to think that this war on terror thing is overblown and they go nuts when things don't go perfectly well in Iraq. WE ARE AT WAR! War by nature is mayhem and mistakes will be made.
It is too bad that our enemy is so wacked out that hatred toward America is their life blood. It's too bad that they are not all tucked neatly within the borders of one country with clear-thinking diplomats who can sit down with our guys and iron things out peacefully. The situation is what it is and we must continue to take the battle to them rather than wait here for another possible attack on our turf. We did not start this conflict, but I am proud of all American and our allies who are sacrificing so much to end it.