Bowl Season and other things

A few thoughts on what's taken place in bowl season so far:

BYU beating Oregon 38-8 was a surprise to me. I think Oregon has a talent advantage over BYU, but it's obviously not as big a gap as I thought. You come out and smack somebody around by 30, and that can't be explained by gameplanning and lack of effort alone. Aside from the margin of victory, I think the fact that Oregon scored only 8 points is the biggest shocker for me. They've got some good players on offense, and they had a month to pick apart the Cougar defense on film. It looks really bad to score only 8 points.

Hawaii beat Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl. It seems that the instant Hawaii becomes bowl eligible, they get an invite from the Hawaii Bowl. I wonder if they'd ever take another bid if somebody else offered. Hawaii is fun to watch, and they hit really hard on defense if nothing else. The crowd is fun to look at. I love those people.

Florida State beat UCLA 44-27 in the Emerald Bowl. That means that even without the blocked punt and interception returns for touchdowns, Florida State still scored 30 points against UCLA's defense, the same unit that held USC's offense to a touchdown. If you ever want to know why people pull their hair out trying to find a bit of predicability in football, that's why.

Oklahoma State beat Alabama in the Independence Bowl. Consider this: with no head coach and a roster that's been depleted by NCAA sanctions, Bama still only lost on a last-second field goal. I'm not saying they deserved to win or are so much better than OSU, but that was still a tad impressive to me.

Cal 45, Texas A&M 10 in the Holiday Bowl. For a long time the Holiday Bowl was the shootout game of the bowl season. Before last year's game, the previous nine winners had averaged 33.7 points a game, and four losers had scored 27 or more. That took a hit last year when Oklahoma beat Oregon 17-14 and this year when A&M got shut out in the second half. The Aggies were 5-2 in their previous seven games and each loss had been by a point, so just looking at the score it's surprising they got hammered the way they did. But watching the game, you could see that Cal clearly had better athletes, better football players, and were the more complete football team. They controlled the line on either side, and smacked the A&M offense around. You're doing pretty well when you have five incompletions the whole game.

The Liberty Bowl may be trying to take the shootout title away from the Holiday:

2005: Tulsa 31, Fresno St. 24

2004: Louisville 44, Boise State 40

This year, South Carolina beat Houston 44-36. You have to feel a little sorry for a defense that Steve Spurrier has a month to prepare for. But Houston used their prep time pretty well, and actually outgained South Carolina. Over 1,000 yards combined between the two. Fun to watch.

I saw the score for the Insight Bowl flash on the bottom of the screen. Minnesota 28, Texas Tech 0. "Don't sleep on Texas Tech," I thought. "That's well within reach of their offense." Final score: Texas Tech 44, Minnesota 41. Hell of a game to watch. Or so I assume, since I wasn't able to watch it. For whatever reason, the NFL Network decided this year to get into the college bowl business. They also televised Thursday night NFL game once the college season, hoping that this would prompt fans to call their cable companies and demand they add NFLN to their listings. I'm glad the Thursday games were stinkers, and I hope the Insight Bowl backfires on them. Thursday night games for the NFL is a dumb idea. Only three days to prepare to face another NFL team is way too little time. I think the games were stinkers because players were tired and coaches didn't have enough time to put in full game plans. For example:

November 26: Cincinnati and Baltimore are both dominant in victory, each shutting out their opponents. 30-0 and 27-0, respectively. November 30: a 13-7 clunker won by Cincinnati. Are you really going to tell me the short week didn't affect the quality of the game?

People should call the bowls and ask that they avoid being broadcast on NFLN until they get a wider audience. You're negotiating from strength, bowl people! Make them become more widespread to accommodate you. Don't let yourself be used as a carrot to attract more viewers to a fledgling operation.

I saw The Good Shepherd over the break. Good movie. I thought the acting was very good. The story is good, and we talked about it a lot afterwards, but I think it could have been put together a little better.

Favorite Christmas present I got: Cubs pullover cap thingy (technical term).

Favorite Christmas present I gave: Light spheres from Pottery Barn.

My mom and I drove down to New Orleans last Friday. This was the first time I'd ridden around since Katrina. I wasn't surprised at the devastation in Gentilly and the Ninth Ward, but I was struck at how it just went on and on, block after block after block. Sixteen months later, there are still intersections without working street lights. One we saw still had a fridge on the roof. A more pleasant surprise was the number of homes in Lakeview that have been rebuilt, or ones that have been razed and the property been rebuilt on.

For the first time in a long time, I sat down with my whole family to watch a Saints game. Each team tried to hand it to the other, but the Saints cut it out in the second half and the Giants kept on going. 30-7 Saints.

Interesting college football recruiting note: Of the top 30 QB's as rated by espn.com, 29 have already given verbal commitments to a school. It's not uncommon for many players to wait till the last minute to declare, so this seems noteworthy to me. I don't know what it means, though.

"Jesus is not a zombie"

Another great line from Bones. Love that show.

But let's talk about Casino Royale. SPOILERS. MAJOR SPOILERS.

Now and then I take notes in a movie for things I want to think about later. Here's some of the stuff I took down.

CHASE: There's a really great chase scene at the beginning of the movie. One of the best I've seen recently. Daniel Craig pursues Sebastien Foucan all over the place, with Foucan apparently doing free running to try and get away. It's really good stuff.

More ads for American Idol. 1/16/07 boys and girls.

EG: Eva Green is a good actress. Maybe very good. But I'm not sure she's right for a Bond girl. I just didn't get the energy from her that I felt I should. There's not enough pizzazz for her to hold up her half of the conversation when she and Bond are doing their witty repartee. She fixes up pretty good, though.

DEALER: At the beginning of the big poker game, the dealer flips out cards to each of the players, often tossing them several feet across the table. Looks really smooth, really cool. If it's real, then that's a helluva dealer. I like watching stuff like that, hard stuff that looks easy when done by somebody who really knows what they're doing.

WARLORD: There's something in this movie that I really appreciate. Our first glimpse of the villain Le Chiffre shows him in Africa, getting money from an African warlord-type character. Later on, the warlord wants his money. What's a warlord to do?

I think there's a tendency to make assumptions about people who live in non-technological areas. Assumptions about lower intelligence or cleverness, for example. That they can't be as smart or as the slick numbers guy from France. That if you swindle them, they won't be able to make you pay. Which is why I'd like to pay my respects to Steven Obanno, played by Isaach De Bankolé. Mr. Warlord tracks Le Chiffre to the poker game in Montenegro, breaks into his room, and threatens to kill him and/or chop off his hand if he doesn't get the money. I was pretty impressed.

STRAIGHT DRINK: After a harrowing adventure, Bond goes to his room and has a drink. About 2/3 of a glass full of whiskey or scotch or something. Just chugs it right down. It probably wasn't really alcohol, but stop and think about it for a second. How tough a drinker do you have to be to drink that much liquor that fast? I might be able to do it with Crown Royal, but I wouldn't go play poker afterwards.

That's it for now. Donald O'Connor is doing the "make 'em laugh" routine in Singin' in the Rain.

TZ Reunion

Many moons ago, back when the world was young, the Twilight Zone had an episode named "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". It's one of the more notable episodes, with William Shatner playing a man who sees a creature on the wing damaging the plane (the only passenger to see it). Nervous breakdown, monster, airplane, good stuff. Twenty years later, the episode was redone in Twilight Zone: The Movie. John Lithgow played the main role.

Why do I mention this? As you know, I've been going through all the Third Rock From the Sun episodes, and I'd never noticed the quick exchange between Dick and the Big Giant Head (Lithgow and Shatner). BGH mentions that during his flight he looked out the window and saw something on the wing. Dick says, "The same thing happened to me!" Nice add-in with two men who have played the same character.

What else is going on? LSU is in the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame. I never thought I'd see the day when there were LSU fans out there who were disappointed to be in the Sugar Bowl. Tons of anticipation had been building about going to the Rose Bowl against Michigan, but then USC lost to UCLA and that was the end of that. Here's a brief analysis of the matchup between the two teams:

ND Offense: Good
LSU Defense: Very Good
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LSU Offense: Good
ND Defense: Bad (sometimes very)

General consensus from what I've read is that LSU is faster on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense versus the Irish defense. I think Notre Dame certainly has a shot because of Brady Quinn and Charlie Weis, but I'm in agreement with the people who list LSU as the clear favorite. I could list important factors like pressuring the QB, running the ball, turnovers, etc., but you can get that anywhere. So I'll just say this:

LSU's defensive line is one of the elite units in the entire country. Fast, mean, deep, smart. Notre Dame's offensive line has not been as good as many people expected it to be, and that's held them back on offense, in my opinion. If these two things hold true in the Sugar Bowl, LSU should really like their chances.

Note: Last year, I thought LSU's offensive line underperformed the same way ND's did this year. But they really pulled it together for the Peach Bowl stomping of Miami. There's certainly the possibility that ND could do the same thing and get it together. As good as LSU's back four are, there's not a secondary in the country that can't be had if you give the QB time to throw. And that's all I have to say about that.

The Sky Is Falling!

Or at least that's what you'd have to believe from the reaction by some people that Congressman-elect Keith Ellison would take the oath of office by taking the oath of office with the Koran instead of the Bible. Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress. Let's see what some concerned citizens are saying to Congress:

A "...in effect he would be swearing to represent Islam, not United States citizens."

I don't see how he would be swearing to Islam any more than people swearing on the Bible pledge allegiance to Christianity or Rome or Martin Luther.

"When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization"

Congressmen don't put their hands on the Bible or any book. They raise their hands and recite the oath mandated by the Constitution. The "underlying value system" is that very Constitution, not Protestantism or Catholicism or [INSERT BRANCH OF CHRISTIANITY HERE]

"We have done quite well without Allah up to now, and I believe we can continue to struggle along without him in the future."

We have done well with Allah till now? No we haven't. Allah is the same God by a different name. Jews, Christians and Muslims are all "people of the book". They just believe different things about the same God.

B "I am considered a senior citizen and in all my 65 years I have never seen the Bible or the Christian religion put down so bad."

If you've never seen the Bible put down so bad, then you really need to get out more. There's a lot worse stuff going on every single day.

"When we let the immigrants that our service men are protecting tell us how and what they are going to do or not do."

We are not letting immigrants make the rules for at least two reasons: There is no rule that says the Bible must be used in the swearing in process, and Keith Ellison was born in Detroit.

"In particular, Keith Ellison a Democrate from Minnesota, newly elected to the U. S. Congress is not going to take the oath of office on the Biblle. He will only take the oath on the Koran. If this is so, then he needs to go to where the people believe in the Koran and use it as their Bible."

You mean someplace like, say, America? There's millions of Muslims living here. Hello?

C "The King James Bible is the Word of God."

Don't get me started. This is a version that worries more about sounding good than putting forth the most accurate translation. It's laughable to think that it reflects the true meaning of the writers responsible for the original.

D "If we stop honouring the One Who has helped us win so may battles and wars in the past, He will lift His Hand of protection and blessing off of our country and allow our enemies to come in upon us."

You'd better be from England or one of the former Commonwealth countries. Even so, you can't go blathering about Americans fighting wars and then spell "honoring" with a "u".

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Several people are writing messages to Congress that include an essay by Dennis Prager about this. You can read the essay here. You can read a very good refutation of it here.

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Some of my comments:

He uses the word "America" like we're some homogenous, single-minded organism instead of a collection of (at least) a thousand different ways of thinking and acting.

He uses "political correctness" as a scare term to describe what is really a man asking to use the book that his religion holds dear.

Here's a good one: "Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?"

Maybe on the grounds that MK isn't held dear by the world's second largest freaking religion. Or that Nazism is a political ideology and not a religion at all. Or what would be my favorite: BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN BY A NAZI.

"But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon."

If Jews haven't asked to be excused from using the Bible, that's on them. It's got nothing to do with Keith Ellison. Just because others opted for the Bible doesn't mean the US House should force it on Ellison.

He's also a bit off on the Mormons, who say they use the Bible in addition to the Book of Mormon.

I'm inclined to say that people are making a big deal out of something that really isn't. But maybe it's a big deal to them, which is fine. It's a free country. However, I think a lot of people take the "America is a Christian nation" ideal for granted, and have a hard time dealing with the "America is a secular country" reality.