Just a few quick words from a Holiday Inn Express in Dallas, Texas for the night.
A long day of travel but rather relaxing and fun as well.  After running 26.2 miles almost anything is fun including dealing with airlines in the U.S.
Overall I feel pretty good today. I realized this afternoon that my right ankle is sprained pretty good. I think that happened on about mile 16-17.  My knees feel a lot better than they did last night or the last half of the marathon.  They are still weak but better.  The only other injury update is just general muscle fatigue and soreness mostly in the lower legs and shoulder/back of the neck region.
It looks like I will only lose, at most, 1-2 toenails this time.  I lost all 10 toenails after the first marathon I ran back in 2004.  I lost 2-3 from the second marathon. So what can I say? I am improving!
When I get back to the office, probably Wednesday morning, I am going to try to write a bit about the marathon and post some pre-race and post-race photos hopefully.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me kind and thoughtful emails or Facebook messages.
Philippians 4:11-13
PS: Has anyone else come across the cool College Football Pop Tarts?  Well they got me. I didnt even want Pop Tarts but I was at the store and saw that they had College Football logos on them and I had to get them.  So far I have eaten LSU, Georgia, Texas Tech and Texas.

Similar posts: college football

The newly renovated Cotton Bowl's Red River Rivalry is hours away, but did you know the stadium is also starring elsewhere this weekend?
The Express: The Ernie Davis Story opens today in theaters nationwide. It's the story of Ernie Davis, the first black athlete to win college football's Heisman trophy. The Cotton Bowl has a cameo as the film opens up with a football game between Ernie Davis' Syracuse Orangemen against the Texas Longhorns filmed at the actual stadium in Dallas.
The movie goes beyond this single game, chronicling the trials and tribulations of Ernie's quest for the Heisman while dealing with severe racism.
Check out the review and decide for yourself if this movie is worthy of your time and attention.

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States/DC that have more than one team in the tournament.

California: CS Fullerton (Fullerton), San Diego, Stanford (Palo Alto), St. Mary's (Moraga), UCLA, USC (Los Angeles)
DC: American, Georgetown
Indiana: Butler (Indianapolis), Indiana (Bloomington), Notre Dame (South Bend), Purdue (West Lafayette)
Kansas: Kansas (Lawrence), Kansas State (Manhattan)
Kentucky: Kentucky (Lexington), Louisville, Western Kentucky (Bowling Green)
Maryland: Coppin State (Baltimore), Mount St. Mary's (Emmitsburg), UMBC (Baltimore)
Mississippi: Mississippi State (Starkville), Mississippi Valley State (Itta Bena)
New York: Cornell (Ithaca), Siena (Loudonville)
North Carolina: Davidson (Davidson), Duke (Durham), UNC (Chapel Hill)
Ohio: Kent State (Kent), Xavier (Cincinnati)
Oklahoma: Oklahoma (Norman), Oral Roberts (Tulsa)
Oregon: Portland State, Oregon (Eugene)
Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh, Temple (Philadelphia), St. Joseph's (Philadelphia), Villanova (Philadelphia)
South Carolina: Clemson (Clemson), Winthrop (Rock Hill)
Tennessee: Austin Peay (Clarksville), Belmont (Nashville), Memphis, Tennessee (Knoxville), Vanderbilt (Nashville)
Texas: Baylor (Waco), Texas (Austin), Texas AM (College Station), Texas-Arlington
Washington: Gonzaga (Spokane), Washington State (Pullman)
Wisconsin: Marquette (Milwaukee), Wisconsin (Madison)

Cities: Philadelphia has three teams; Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Nashville have two teams each.

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Football season is finally here and now is the time to hop on board for another season of winners from our handicappers. If you are serious about making the most money possible this year, then you need to consider signing up for a season long package. It is the best deal out there as far as price per play is concerned, allowing you to build up your bankroll quickly for less. To help you make a choice on which handicapper to select, we advise you to click on the top cappers link in the top menu. Then you can see who was hot last year or who is hot this year. Our handicappers have nothing to hide so they will show you their records, and just how much money they have already made clients in the early going. It's going to be another great season of winning, so let one of the BetFirms handicappers lead you to profits this year!
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Between September 6-10, 2008 I attended the International Group of ex Libris Users (IGeLU) conference in Madrid, Spain. One thing I really miss about Endeavor Users Group (EndUser) is the international aspects. The Ex Libris Users of North America (ELUNA) conference is mostly attended by librarians from the United States, along with some Canadians. True, there are other international attendees, including some from the Caribbean, but they are very small in number. IGeLU, on the other hand has people from many European countries with a few Aussies, South Africans, Americans, Israelis, etc. thrown in for good measure. I think of IGeLU as mostly an European conference (or at least a “Western-world” conference, if I can use that term) and I really like getting the different view of the library world I get when I go to a conference such as IGeLU. That said, it still doesnt have that same feel as EndUser did to me.
Having just gone to ELUNA a little over a month ago, I wasn’t expecting a lot of new news from Ex Libris management. For the most part this turned out to be true. However, there was one bit of important news for Metalib customers. Metalib 4.3 will be the last version of Metalib as we know it. Metalib 5 (or whatever it will be called) will be a complete re-write. The underlying database and administration portions of the code may be based on Primo but that is still unclear. The user front-end (i.e. discovery layer) will use Primo. Apparently customers of Metalib will not be charged extra for the Primo front-end to Metalib. That is, of course, if they only use the Primo front-end for Metalib. I think using the Primo front end for Metalib like this makes sense for Ex Libris on a couple of accounts. First, they won’t have to develop a new Metalib front end. That means less development is needed and less products to support. Secondly, it will give customers a little taste of Primo. If customers that get this taste decide they like the Primo front end, they may purchase Primo for use with other products. In other words, Ex Libris saves costs and might get a few more sales of Primo out of it.
Most of the user sessions were pretty good. I’m not sure if I got anything specific to bring back home and implement however. One session I enjoyed focused on Metalib. It was interesting to learn about how others are working with Metalib and doing things like creating RSS feeds out of it. However, the approach they used appeared to require a fair bit of work to implement, and with Metalib going away as we know it, I am not sure it would be worth it for us to try to do this now.
I think my presentation on RSS A to V went well. I definitely find it harder to read European audiences than I do American ones. I am not sure if that is because I am from the USA or not, but I think it might not be based on a conversation with a Swede who has presented in the USA a number of times. He said (and I agree) that Americans are more likely to provide visual clues that they are “getting” a presentation by doing things like nodding their head. Overall, Europeans seem to be more reserved in that aspect and seem to more intently focus/concentrate on what you are saying without showing much emotion during a presentation. I am not sure why this is, maybe it is a cultural thing or maybe it is because for most of them, while excellent English speakers, English is not their first language so it takes more focus/concentration for them. For those of you in the Mid-Atlantic states, you can see an encore of my RSS presentation at the Ex Libris Mid-Atlantic Users Group (EMA) meeting in early October.
One topic I found very interesting was the presentation and ensuing discussion abut the future of e-book management. Representatives from ELUNA, IGeLU, and, I believe, Ex Libris created a report about what customers need to manage e-books. As my friend Zoe says the “first you have to acknowledge that an e-book is not always a book in form and then things just go downhill from there. :-)
One of the things they mentioned was the enormous challenges of managing e-books. Some of the challenges include: variety of formats, different purpose and use (textbook, research book), diversity of hardware/software, digital rights management (DRM), pricing models, licensing models (do you lease or have ownership), digital curation, metadata creation, and discovery and accessibility. With all of the different formats, e-versions, and sources of e-books, putting like items together is a problem. One of the recommendations is that libraries need a solution that provides sophisticated de-duplication in a FR
-ized manner. Libraries and library software vendors have there work cut out for them.
Three other things stood out to me about their recommendations. First, the task force felt that the ability to meta-search full content of e-books is not an immediate priority. Secondly they believe browsing is not required for e-book discovery. Thirdly, they recommend that the e-book management system needs to allow libraries to include not just licensed content, but freely available content as well if they wanted to.
Considering the challenges of getting the full-text content into a meta search tool (esp. with all of the possible sources of electronic texts) it would be a daunting task to have full text search in an e-books discovery application. With that in mind, I can understand this one – although I think it will be needed at some point (which the recommendation also implied). We have it for journal articles and patrons will come to expect it in e-books. Also, I just think that it would be really useful if you are looking for information about a specific aspect of a topic.
My initial reaction about the no need for browsing recommendation is that I do not agree. Yes, if students are looking for a specific book (esp. a text book), they don’t need to browse. However, when not having known items, I think a browse is very effective discovery method. The task force pointed out that some ILS don’t currently have a browse function. While this is true, that doesn’t mean it is good. Also, while you might not be able to browse the catalog, you can typically (at least in the USA) browse the shelves. The physical shelf browse-ability is obviously not available for e-books. I think browsing by author, title, subject, classification number, etc is very useful for electronic items. What is great about e-items is that they can be in multiple places at once, so you can assign multiple class numbers, authors, etc. The reasoning the task force provided for not needing browsing is that while it may work for hundreds or a few thousand items, browsing is not so useful for very large collections (which is what the task force expects libraries to be dealing with). I’m not sure if I agree with this logic, I regularly browse shelves of large research libraries with millions of volumes to great effect. Just recently I was looking for a book that was on the shelf about communities of practice and I discovered two other books that were useful to my topic I didn’t find in the catalog. Other occasions you might not know the exact spelling of an author names, so browsing becomes more useful, maybe even necessary. Without full text searching, I think browsing is that much more important. This is amplified if my assumption that our metadata won’t be much better then what we get in a typical full AACR2 MARC record. I’ll have to read the report and think about this some more.
The third recommendation to allow libraries to include freely available materials in the e-book discovery system seemed logical to me. However, it prompted a good deal of discussion. Someone from a national library asked why you would want to include non-licensed (or non-purchased) items that were not selected by her library. The answer from one of the panelists was “Why not?” What you think about it, what are the books that are out there that are freely available. Typically these books are coming from mass-digitization products involving libraries. This means these books were selected at some point by librarians; usually at major research universities. The reason why other libraries wouldn’t have these items is not typically because of the content contained in them, but instead because of costs. This is when the person who posed the question mentioned that they have a very specific collection policy on only collecting items about the history and culture of their country. I can see this is an important distinction. Of course, this is probably one of the reasons why the task force recommended giving the libraries a choice.
Ex Libris did offer the conference attendees a few insights on how they will deal with these issues, but my guess is that is getting closer to proprietary information, so Ill keep it to myself for now.
Overall a good conference and it was nice to see some of the people I used to spend time with at EndUser who because of their location now go to IGeLU instead of ELUNA. I am already looking forward to the next IGeLU conference in Helsinki, Finland next September.

Similar posts: college football

The art of sports hating is a fun one to pick up on – I fully embrace the spirit all of our beloved rivalries and don’t get me started on the Cowboys but sometimes it just becomes stupid.  I’m speaking of course about the blog directly below this one, bashing the USC Trojans for their supposed consistent over-ranking.  To start, I think its fair to state my bias.  I am a USC football fan, always have been and always will be and I have the emotional scars from the disastrous late 90s to prove it.  That being said, I am also a big fan of college football in general and have come to appreciate the distinct dynasties, rituals, rivalries, and streaks which make the sport so great.  I realize the frustration Ray feels and understand that he picked a very easy topic to rant about.  Cheering against USC is a popular position to take outside of Trojan Country. 
What bothers me however is when these rants are based on what seems like little more than pure jealousy.  To list off all of the accomplishments over the decades of USC football would be fairly pointless but let me just name a few: 162 Trojans have gone on to play in NFL pro bowls and 11 have been inducted into the NFL hall of fame, 7 Heisman trophy winners have come from USC, and they have won 11 national championships making USC one of the most distinguished college football programs in the nation.  I dont list this to boast but rather to give perspective.  USC has an excellent track record and ranks up among the top tier of teams in the country: teams that you can expect year in and year out to be ranked and highly competitive with the exception of occasional off years.   
I, like most USC fans and Coach Pete Carroll, dislike phrases such as the best team ever because what do they really mean?  Nothing; and besides they can serve as a terrible jinx.  That being said, the past several seasons USC has fielded exceptional football teams and have lost a handful of close heartbreakers.  Ray and others might have you believe that great teams cant lose.  This is of course absurd.  Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin were all other top 10 ranked teams which fell this week along with SC.  They are all good teams.  Yes USC lost to Oregon State - a team which has struggled against other opponents this season but across the board every year you see conference games being far more competitive than they should be on paper (look at how tough Mississippi State played LSU).  This comes from years of rivalry where teams in the PAC-10 gear their season for the big game against USC.  They throw everything theyve got at the Trojans and leave it all on the field.  Thats why Jaquizz Rodgers played like he was Heisman worthy and why the Beaver defense stood strong against a crew of running backs who have proven themselves time and time again on the national stage. 
Is the ranking system perfect?  Of course not but thats why they play the games so that by the end of the season we will have gotten as close as possible (under the current system) to discovering whos the best team in the nation.  Expecting a team to be perfect day in and day out is hard to do when they have the massive amount of national pressure and scrutiny and an entire conference which is gunning for them like USC does.  Maybe USC isnt #1 material but who knew that before the game in Corvalis?  And if you look at their season so far, at all three of their games and not just the one, they deserve to be highly ranked. 
With all that being said, should USC and Va. Tech ever face off again, my heart and soul will certainly be with the Hokies, let there be no doubt about that.  I just don’t like seeing my other favorite team get bashed for no reason.

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Andy has already given you some of the information and below is a complete rundown on all of yesterdays college football action involving ACC and area teams.
Maryland 20, #20/19 Clemson 17
Marylands DaRel Scott rushes for one yard to rally Maryland to its second straight Death Valley victory with a 20-17 win over No. 20 Clemson.
North Carolina 28, Miami 24
Cameron Sexton threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Brooks Foster with 46 seconds left, Trimane Goddard had two interceptions in the final minutes, and North Carolina rallied from an early 14-point deficit to beat Miami 28-24 on Saturday.
Duke 31, Virginia 3
Duke took advantage of five second-half turnovers to beat Virginia 31-3 on Saturday and end a 25-game Atlantic Coast Conference losing streak.
Boston College 42, Rhode Island 0
Montel Harris ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns to lead Boston College past Rhode Island 42-0 on Saturday in the schools first meeting since 1917.
Florida State 39, Colorado 21
Antone Smith ran for 154 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as Florida State defeated previously unbeaten Colorado 39-21 in Bobby Bowdens 500th game as a college head coach.
Navy 24, #16/15 Wake Forest 17
The Demon Deacons score late in the fourth, but it was not enough as the Midshipmen earn their first win over a ranked opponent in 23 years.
#13/14 South Florida 41, NC State 10
Matt Grothe threw for 259 yards and a touchdown in No. 13 South Floridas 41-10 win over of NC State on Saturday night.
Virginia Tech 35, Nebraska 30
Darren Evans scored two touchdowns, Dustin Keys kicked four field goals and Virginia Tech held off Nebraskas comeback bid in the second half to win 35-30 Saturday night.
ACC game recaps courtesy of the ACC.com
Houston 41, #23 East Carolina 24
Coastal Carolina 20, North Carolina AT 7
Appalachian St. 48, Presbyterian 14
Elon 23, Samford 17
The Citadel 34, W. Carolina 14
Maryville 17, Greensboro 16
Hampden-Sydney 35, Guilford 14
It was a good weekend for Duke and North Carolina and not so much for East Carolina, State or Wake Forest. The Greensboro-area teams didnt fare well either, going 0 for 3 on the day. Be sure to watch our sites football webcast, Football in Focus, this and every Thursday night, live from Shanes Rib Shack.

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Last week's picks were marginally better from the week before. I went 8-7 so I'm at 15-15 overall, right at .500. I hope to improve on that today.

Miami at New England - CBS, 1 p.m.
The one thing about Joey Porter is that he has a big mouth and doesn't know when to shut his trap. This past week, Porter said the Patriots aren't the same without Tom Brady. While this is true, this is the type of bulletin board material coach Bill Belichick thrives upon. Not only will we see QB Matt Cassell unleashed, but Miami's QB Chad Pennington can't even throw a ball into the ocean even if he's standing in a boat right on the water. Miami is 0-2. The Pats will win this going away, 21-3. Porter should learn to keep his mouth shut.

Oakland at Buffalo - CBS, 1 p.m.
Don't look now, but Buffalo could be 3-0 after this game and do you know what fans will hear on ESPN at 7 p.m.? That's right, the overweight, overrated and overmodulated Chris Berman shouting, "Nobody circles the wagons .... like ... the Buffalo Bills." But the Bills are a good team and I like how Marshawn Lynch is running the ball. For the Raiders, look to see how Darren McFadden is running the ball. He wore a protective boot during the week and is going to have his workload increased with Justin Fargas out. The Raiders are hoping for a second straight win on the road and it's not going to happen. Take the Bills, 19-7.

Kansas City at Atlanta - CBS, 1 p.m.
This game should not be on TV. In fact, Chiefs fans are hoping to be blacked out for this one. Falcons QB Matt Ryan came back to earth last week against the Bucs, failing to throw a TD while giving up two picks. Ryan should be able to rise again against a Chiefs team that it pitiful. Take the Falcons to win to give Atlanta fans false hope, but the ATL will take it. The final will be the ATL 31, KC 15.

Arizona at Washginton - Fox, 1 p.m.
Last week, the Redskins looked horrible for three quarters, then it appeared the light switch clicked on for Jason Campbell as he threw for 321 yards against a decent Saints defense. The Redskins after looking horrible against the Super Bowl champ Giants in Week 1 and turning things around in Week 2 against New Orleans hope to get a complete effort this week against a steadily improving Cardinals team. Kurt Warner has actually looked good in the first two games and I look for him to do well against today. But I think Hail to the Redskins will be sung quite a bit at the Stadium formerly known as Jack Kent Cooke. It won't be FedUp Field today. Washington wins, 35-31 in a shootout.

Tampa Bay at Chicago - Fox, 1 p.m.
A battle of former NFC Central rivals, this is a game of two 1-1 teams hoping to get over .500. Bucs QB Brian Griese knows the Bears defense, but this is a defense that is improved over last year's squad, although you wouldn't know it after Panthers QB Jake Delhomme tore it to shreads in Carolina's comeback over Chicago last week. The Bucs got a nice win over Atlanta. But with Chicago favored by a field goal, I'll take that margin and run with it. I'll pick the Bears to win by a figgy, 23-20.

Cincinnati at New York Giants - Fox, 1 p.m.
I have learned my lesson on the Bungles. I picked them twice this season and they've burned me twice. Giants over a sorry excuse of a team, 38-10.

Carolina at Minnesota - Fox, 1 p.m.
Last week, I told you Tavaris Jackson was not trustworthy to lead a team and against Indianapolis, he could not lead the Vikes into the end zone, mustering five field goals. When playing the Colts, you need TD's, not figgys. And the Colts ended up winning on a last second FG over the Vikings. Adrian Peterson is a great weapon on offense, but because Jackson can't throw the ball down the field, the great RB is rendered useless. And with Carolina flying sky high feeling they can come back on anyone, no Vikings lead is safe. I'll take the Panthers to come into the Sillydome and win, 24-9.

Houston at Tennessee - CBS, 1 p.m.
Titans win, 17-6.

St. Louis at Seattle - Fox, 4:05 p.m.
One of these weeks, Seattle is going to prove me right about being a contender in the NFC West. However, they surprised me again last week by losing in OT to the 49ers. With the Rams in contention for the #1 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, expect the Seahawks to finally get out of the doldrums and win this late afternoon game, 28-17.

Detroit at San Francisco - Fox, 4:05 p.m.
The Lions can't afford to fall behind 21-0 again. That's how they started both of their games this season. And while the Lions did make a concerted effort against Green Bay last week, and even led the Packers for a stretch last week, it still wasn't enough as the Pack pulled it out at the end. The 49ers have some confidence winning on the road in the Great Northwest. I'll say Niners win, 28-24.

New Orleans at Denver - Fox, 4:05 p.m.
We all know how Denver got a gift win against the Chargers last week. There's no need to rehash the loss. This game should have a bigger showcase instead of being buried on Fox today. The Saints want to prove last week's loss to Washington was a fluke. I like Denver to win, 23-21.

Jacksonville at Indy - CBS, 4:15 p.m.
These two AFC South rivals always seem to have a knock-em-out drag-em fight. While the Colts won both games last year, Jacksonville finds way to be very physical with the Colts. And with the Bears winning at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, there may be a nice blueprint for the Jags today. For the last two weeks, the Colts have not been able to run the ball and if the Jags can put any pressure on Peyton Manning, then they could have a decent shot to win. I'll say Jacksonville pulls one off today and hopefully, Dick Enberg won't lose track of time when calling the final moments. Jags, 24-20.

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia - CBS, 4:15 p.m.
The battle of PA has the potential to be a classic game. Ben Roethlisbergr is playing despite a sore shoulder. Expect the Steelers to ramp up the running game today. Donovan McNabb has had a good start to the season and I like how he's leading the Eagles. Look for the Iggles to win at home over a very good Steelers team, 34-17.

Cleveland at Baltimore - CBS, 4:15 p.m.
I throw up my hands with my Browns. Our defense is porous. Our offense can't get going. The coaching has been atrocious. With that said, I do feel have the Browns have a decent shot today in Baltimore, but they'll still fall short. Take the Ravens, 17-2.

Dallas at Green Bay - NBC, 8:15 p.m.
Dallas is acknowledged to be the best team in the NFC. Green Bay comes in with Aaron Rodgers playing very well. The Cowboys defense may be the difference although Philadelphia's offense showed there were some cracks especially in the secondary. Coming off a tough win on Monday night and going on the road to Lambeau in another primetime game, it's going to be awfully tough for Dallas to win this one. I'm taking the Packers to squeak out a 27-24 victory.

New York Jets at San Diego - Monday, ESPN, 8:40 p.m.
Brett Favre looked great against Miami in Week 1, but very pedestrian against New England in Week 3. Now he and the Jets go into a hornet's nest in San Diego as the Chargers are quite pissed off after being robbed last week. Plus, the Chargers are desperate for a win, having lost both of their games in the last minute. One can't forget how they lost on the last play of the game to Carolina in the opening week. But at the same time, without Shawne Merriman, the pass rush is not the same and the secondary is getting lit up so look for Favre to try to throw a lot on Monday. I still like the Chargers to finally get their first W, look for them to take this one in a track meet, 41-37.

Enjoy your football.

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His advice to journalists further down in the post to get busy with social media is right on target. So are his thoughts on personal branding. (Amy Gahran offers suggestions on acquiring media career insurance that I highly recommend as well.)
But if youre in mid-career, as I am, and have left a newsroom environment, as I recently did, some of this is hardly realistic. The need to replace that income (while never substantial in the first place) makes the possibility of staying in journalism, even as a dedicated freelancer, out of the question for some. So does college tuition and retirement planning.
I get gutted every time I see mid-career compatriots walk out of newsrooms and the journalism profession altogether, and not because they wanted to (and they werent layoff victims.)
Some highly motivated, determined journalists have done well embarking on entrepreneurial careers, mainly on the Web, after many years in the print world. I want to join their ranks, but I am not optimistic that many journalists like myself will take a stab at it.
If Im upset at anything, its that with the endless speculation about the future of newsrooms, the future of journalists with plenty to offer is treated with a mere shrug of the shoulder.

Similar posts: college football

Each college season, be it football or basketball, I belabor the point that somehow, collegiate athletes allow themselves to fall prey to the glow of the rankings and mostly, the glow of the media. Thursday night the talent-rich #1 USC Trojans were upset 27-21 by a lowly 1-2 - now 2-2 - Oregon State team. Jacquizz Rogers a 5 160 pound true freshman running back led the way for the Beavers and lit up the massive USC defenders rushing for 186 yards on 37 carries.It was an upset that sent shockwaves through the country. Suddenly, Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Missouri, Penn State, Wisconsin, Texas, and even BYU are thinking national championship.
And happily presiding over the unthinkable OSU win?
ESPN, the mythmakers and heartbreakers.
Just recently the Worldwide Leader began running commercials featuring Trojans head coach Pete Carroll. Daily on ESPN talk shows the pundits from the network swore USC would go undefeated in the regular season without so much as a whimper from their opponents.
Yet on Thursday night in Corvallis, Oregon the Trojans failed to play up tpo their potential. Despite the warnings from Carroll, despite having 10 full days to prepare for their Pac 10 conference opener, USC was soundly beaten by a team that will thank its lucky stars if it wins six games this season.

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Theres no doubt about it
If you want to see the best college football game this coming weekend, then you need to dial up the Alabama vs. Georgia game this coming Saturday night.
Last years game went into overtime, with the Dawgs coming out on top 2623 in Tuscaloosa. As much of a barnburner that game turned out to be, this years contest has already been turned up to 11.
Both teamsare unbeaten so far this year.
#8 ranked Alabama is looking to prove that they are truly back, thanks to the stellar coaching of Nick Saban and the Tides freshman phenoms.
Despite being the pre-season #1 ranked team in the nation, Georgia has fallen to #3 and wants to prove to the BCS championship voters that they should move back up in the rankings.
Make no mistake about it, both teams will be ready to rumble. Georgias planning to wear their secret weapon black jerseys, and have called for their fans to execute a in the stands.
Droves of Alabama fans have already stared making the trip to Athens to support the Tide.
This game is the epitome of SEC football.
As Ive said before here at the Funcave, I have an enormous amount of respect for Mark Richt and what hes accomplished in rebuilding the storied Georgia progamback to national prominence. A lot of other people in the Tide Nation feel the same way.
So, win or lose, I expect it will be a game marked by a lot of hard play, but a lot of respect and class at the end.
The only thing that would make this weekend better? If I could score some tickets and attend the game in person.

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As of earlier today the University of Southern Cal has requested and been approved to join the Mountain West Conference mid season.  The Trojans will replace San Diego State who moves to the Pac-10 with both schools taking over the others conference schedule.  San Diego State seems like the logical move so the Pac-10 can still have a two school presence in southern California.
Southern Cals Athletic Director Don Winston was quoted as We feel the move to the Mountain West Conference will allow our athletic programs to compete at the high level we expect here at USC, and we feel the Pac-10 can no longer offer us that anymore.
This move was shocking to those of the Pac-10 who currently have only one football team ranked in #17 Oregon.
Coach Pete Carroll said, We feel this unusual move to the Mountain Weset will vastly improve our strength of schedule with teams like BYU, Utah, and TCU, and by playing this more difficult schedule we will not take a hit in the computer polls for the BCS if we are able to continue winning games.
With this move of USC going to the Mountain West the Rose Bowl committee does not want to have a subpar conference representing their prestigious bowl, so they quickly enforce a little known clause that allows the Rose Bowl to change their conference representative as long as a team in that conference is in Los Angeles.  This gives the Mountain West the automatic bid and face the Big 10 champion in the Rose Bowl.
This move by the Rose Bowl means the Pac-10 no longer qualifies for an automatic BCS birth, and must not follow the provisions of being in the top 12 of the final rankings or be in the top 16 and ahead of any other conference champion from the automatic qualifier leagues.
A person can dream right.

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While the weather beckoned people outside, there was a lot going on over the weekend to keep sports fans watching TV instead.
If the usual lineup of Saturday college football wasnt enough (LSU-Auburn turned out to be the game of the day), the Sunday fare included the final day of the Ryder Cup, some riveting NFL action and the closing of Yankee Stadium.
NBC earned a 3.3 overnight Nielsen rating for the Ryder Cup final round, up 22 percent from the Sunday telecast in 06 (which was in Europe and thus much earlier in the day). The golf riveting but faced tough competition from football.
The same network got a 14.4 overnight rating on the Sunday night Dallas-Green Bay NFL game, 52 percent higher than the prime-time Emmy Awards on ABC (9.5). It was NBCs best overnight rating for Sunday Night Football since Week 12 last year (Cowboys-Bears).
CBS reported ratings increases for both games of its NFL doubleheader. The early game got a 10.3 overnight, up 26 percent from last years 8.2, and the late game a 13.5, an 8 percent rise from Week 4 a year ago.
No rating has been received yet for the closing of Yankee Stadium on ESPN, but the YES Network reports its pregame special (6-8:30 p.m.) had a 5.27 household rating in New York.
It blew away the previous record for a YES pregame show, a 3.01 in 2004 before a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game.surpassed the previous records for a Yankees pre-game show on YES, the 3.01 rating and 279,000 total viewers attracted for the October 12, 2004 pre-game show in advance of the Yankees-Red Sox playoffs (Game 1).

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West Virginia defensive back Sidney Glover, right, and defensive lineman Scooter Berry react after Colorado's 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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West Virginia quarterback Pat White, right, rushes past Colorado linebacker Shaun Mohler for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of Colorado's 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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West Virginia kicker Pat McAfee reacts after missing a field goal against Colorado in over time of Colorado's 17-14 victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado tailback Rodney Stewart, front, is tripped up by West Virginia defenders after a long carry in the fourth quarter of Colorado's 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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West Virginia wide receiver Jock Sanders drops a pass against Colorado in the fourth quarter of Colorado's 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart reacts after his team failed to convert against Colorado late in the fourth quarter of Colorado's 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado kicker Aric Goodman turns to his bench and celebrates after kicking the winning field goal against West Virginia in Colorado's 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Colorado kicker Aric Goodman, left, reacts as he makes a field goal against West Virginia to give Colorado a 17-14 overtime victory in an NCAA college football game in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. Holder Scotty McKinght, right, looks on. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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BOULDER, CO - SEPTEMBER 18: Linbacker Reed Williams #47 of the West Virginia Mountaineers returns an interception of a pass by Cody Hawkins #7 of the Colorado Buffaloes in the second quarter at Folsom Field on September 18, 2008 in Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) Local Caption Reed Williams
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BOULDER, CO - SEPTEMBER 18: Fans of the Colorado Buffaloes support thieir team as they face the West Virginia Mountaineers at Folsom Field on September 18, 2008 in Boulder, Colorado.

Similar posts: college football

It turns out that Gregg Doyel does churn out the occasional college football column for CBS Sportsline. And, well, henot good. The best I can say about him is that hes better than Dodd, which is damning him with the faintest of praise. I dont really have anything else to add to that, so lets get started.
N.C. State will rue the day the Pack passed on Johnson
Okay, its not a terrible headline, but why create the Pack-passed alliteration? Alliterations are not required in all headlnes. Rue the day seems a little overdramatic too. Oh well, at least there arent any puns.
Some mistakes, you get away with. Not because youre good, but because youre lucky.
Alright, Im with you so far. Though Im unclear on how goodness can compensate for mistakes.
Switch lanes on the interstate without looking first: Thats a mistake. If theres not a car next to you, congratulations. You just got away with it.
Particularly a mistake like this, but sure, weve all done this at one time or another. Though Im fairly certain my goodness rating got me out of it the times I did so.
Some mistakes, you dont get away with. And not because youre bad. But because youre unlucky.
Au contraire. Badness is the driving force behind traffic accidents.
Dont hire Navys Paul Johnson, when you had the chance, as your football coach. Thats a mistake.
Well, it might be. Depending on who you hire in his place. Passing on him for, say, Bobby Bowden in his prime would be a good decision.
That was North Carolina States mistake 21 months ago, and for 21 months, the Wolfpack have gotten away with it.
Wha-huh? You have confused me Gregg Doyel. If it was a mistake to pass on Johnson, how did they get away with it for 21 months and why is it now going to all come crashing down? I think you may have chosen poorly with this whole mistake/consequences angle.
They hired Tom OBrien from Boston College in December 2006, and theres nothing wrong with hiring Tom OBrien. His first year was a 5-7 struggle, but in the long run hell win more than he loses, and hell do it the right way. Nothing about him foretells a BCS bowl bid, but this is North Carolina State, not Florida State. And for North Carolina State, hiring Tom OBrien wasnt a mistake.
All true, which begs the question: Why are you writing this?
As long as Paul Johnson is still stuck at Navy.
Oh. thats right. Youre saying that passing on Johnson wasnt a mistake if he were coaching at Navy forever, but that it becomes a mistake when he leaves, because..[head explodes]
But some mistakes, you dont get away with. Not because youre bad. But because youre unlucky.
Reiterate much?
And North Carolina State was unlucky that Paul Johnson, just one year after being passed over by the Wolfpack in December 2006, left Navy for a new coaching job. And not just any job, but a job in a BCS league.
And not just any BCS league, but in the ACC. At Georgia Tech.
And not just any Georgia Tech, but the one in Atlanta. And not just any Atlanta, but the one in Georgia. And not just any Georgia, but the one not being overrun by Russian troops. And not just any Russian troops, butDear God, I beat this and beat this! Why wont it die?!
He really is padding this mother fucker. Im guessing he gets paid by the letter.
Paul Johnson just moved in down the street.
North Carolina State couldnt be more unlucky.
Pad. Ding.
Games start later this month, and Paul Johnson is going to win at Georgia Tech.
This year? Thats not very likely, unless you mean, like, Gaileyan levels of mediocrity.
Eventually hes going to win big, because thats what he does.
Big is a relative term I suppose, but its not as if hes going to create a perrenial national title contender at Georgia Tech.
Lots of people will have their doubts about Johnson in the ACC, just as they had their doubts about him at Navy in 2002 when he inherited the worst program in Division I.
And he took them to a respectable 45-29 record over six years. Another gentleman spent nine years at Navy from 73 to 81, and led them to a 55-46-1 record. That mans name was Bear Bryant. Just kidding. It was George Welsh, best known for spending nineteen years coaching good, but not great Virginia teams.
Also, I have yet to read a single column doubting Johnson. Where is this cacophony of nay-sayers?
See, Johnson comes from the Division I-AA ranks,
Like the perenially maligned Jim Tressel.
 and he runs a form of the triple-option.
Like the oft-mocked Tom Osborne.
Lots of fullback dives up the middle. Quarterback keepers around the outside. Pitches to a trailing halfback. Check out the terminology. Dives. Keepers. Halfback.
Dives, keepers and halfback? Welcome back to theum, 2000s if your team runs a variation of a pro-style offense?
Thats old school,
Those terms are not old school. The option kind of is, but lets remember that the second winningest program of the 90s ran the option and didnt scrap it until they unfairly (okay, it was arguably fair) fired their coach in 2003.
and most people are skeptical of old school.
Some people are. Many, many more people are/were skeptical of new school, like the spread option.
They want their coaches to have a BCS or an NFL pedigree, and they want newfangled offenses with no fullbacks and four receivers and lots of vertical, vertical, vertical.
Im sure he conducted a very scientific survey to determine that most people feel this way.
The only thing vertical about Paul Johnson is his winning percentage.
Ugh.
In that way, hes a lot like Jim Grobe at Wake Forest.
Hes like the guy with the 78-72-1 career record? Really? Johnsons career winning percentage is .729 by the way.
People think Johnson wont be able to recruit NFL athletes to operate his small-college system?
Well, probably not at receiver or QB probably (at least no someone who will play QB in the NFL). Does anyone think hell have any trouble finding a fast guy to run the option? That hell not attract top-notch running backs? Linemen? I mean, hell have the normal issues of recruiting at Georgia Tech, but his system isnt going to be the problem. And who the fuck thinks that it will? Show me that man, so I can pummel him (metaphorically).
That hasnt stopped Grobe from dominating in the ACC and it wont stop Johnson, either.
Look, I like Grobe. He has turned a doormat into a competitive program and even managed to win the conference title one year when the ACC was down. But: He has dominated to the tune of a 24-32 ACC record. I predict that Johnson will have won more than 24 conference games by the end of his fifth season.
North Carolina State didnt see it that way, though to pin the Paul Johnson oversight on North Carolina State is unfair to the school at large.
You mean there wasnt a referendum to decide who would be the new coach? What kind of fascists run that University.
Passing over Paul Johnson after he had interviewed for the position in late 2006 wasnt a North Carolina State decision.
Youre getting confusing again.
This one is completely on athletic director Lee Fowler.
Oh, but it was the decision of the guy who was given the responsibility for making these kinds of decisions by the people who run North Carolina State. Jesus Christ, Gregg. Youre fucking killing me.
Sources high up the Wolfpack food chain tell me the headhunter hired by the school, and the board of trustees who oversee the school, wanted Johnson.
Good for him?
Wolfpack fans wanted Johnson, too.
Evidence please? I didnt follow the hiring of OBrien, because I find nothing so boring in college football as middling ACC teams, but does he have any reason to just throw out this statement as if it is fact? Im going to assume no, because this is column is way too long to bother with more research.
Fowler wanted OBrien.
For claritys sake, I broke down the paragraph preceding this one sentence paragraph in the sections above. So, you had all of those people who wanted Johnson, then dramatic pause. And BOOM! that one sentence piece of dramatic tripe follows. Its downright Plaschkean.
Fowler also wanted Sidney Lowe. We know how thats working out.
BUUURRRN!!!!11!!!1!1!!!
OK, thats not fair.
At least youre self-aware enough to recognize that, if also enough of a dickhead to write it in the first place.
OBrien wont be the colossal failure that Lowe has become.
Probably not.
And since were already meshing Wolfpack basketball and football, lets mesh some more and acknowledge that OBrien has much in common with former Wolfpack basketball coach Herb Sendek.
Yeah, lets mesh this shit all up. Lay these similarities on me.
Sendek won more than he lost, won the right way, graduated players and declined to reveal too much of himself to the media. OBrien is a lot like that.
Cool. Sounds like my kinda guy.
Which is ominous for OBrien, when you think about it.
Hows that?
Sendek won 105 games and went to five NCAA tournaments in his final five seasons at North Carolina State, and fans made his life so miserable that he left for Arizona State, one of the hardest jobs in the Pac-10.
Again, didnt follow the whole Sendek thing at NC State, but is this actually so? Also, they tend to take their basketball a little more seriously at NC State than their football. As you said, its not like its FSU. But wait, its about to get huggy up in this bitch.
But I understand Wolfpack fans. I really do.
I tend to not believe you.
They want to win, but they want to be able to embrace their coach like they could embrace former basketball coach Jim Valvano and, until his 3-9 season in 2006, former football coach Chuck Amato.
Im just guessing here, but I think would embrace anyone who took them to a national title in basketball. And are you really holding up the fact that they liked Amato until he started losing as some sort of sign that they really liked his personality or something?
Im just not sure they can embrace Tom OBrien. Hes a good man, but hes not embraceable.
Its true. He scored a mere 56!!!  on the Holtzman Embracability Profile.
Paul Johnson, though, would have been perfect.
Seriously, he scored a remarkable 231 on Holtzman.
Hes a winner, and hes a good ol boy from North Carolina. To make the perfect hire in college sports, you have to know who you are.
Jim Valvano: Good ol boy.
Kentucky basketball, for example, knew itself when it hired a drawling workaholic named Billy Gillispie to run its basketball program.
Rick Pitino: Drawling workaholic.
Southern California knew itself when it hired a laid-back dude named Pete Carroll to run its football program.
I cant really argue with the fact that Pete Carroll personifies the whole LA thing pretty well, but John Robinson enjoyed both success and failure at USC. Was he a laid-back dude the first go round and a hardassed shitkicker when he came back? (Answer: No)
North Carolina State didnt know who it was when it hired a former U.S. Marine from the Midwest named Tom OBrien. Hell win more than he loses, and hell do it the right way, but Tom OBrien isnt North Carolina State.
A campus-wide identity crisis is truly tragic.
Paul Johnson is. Or was. But now hes at Georgia Tech, and while the fit there isnt perfect a physical education major from Western Carolina at an academically elite institution Johnson will win enough to make it work.
Fucking Fuckabees, the logic is all over the Allah cursed place in this column. OBrien is fucked because he isnt NC State (whatever the fuck that means) and Johnson will be fine despite not being Georgia Tech (however one might define that nebulous trait). Fuck!
Because thats what he does. At Georgia Southern he inherited a program coming off a 4-7 season, and within four years had won two national championships. At Navy he inherited a program that had been 1-20 over the previous two seasons and within three years was 10-2.
Impressive, though he wasnt going up against the toughest competition on the planet at either location. (And the ACC will provide that?) Shut up voice in my head.
Imagine what hell do now that he can recruit Division I athletes to a BCS school. For 21 months, North Carolina State has only been able to imagine. For North Carolina State, it was probably better that way.
Probably pretty well, but hell also consistently be playing BCS competition, so it will balance out to some degree. I cant comment any more. This column has sapped my brain-power.

Similar posts: college football

Coaches Hot Seat dinner last night on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, after all of the plates had been cleared away and the cigars had been passed around the conversation did not turn to the debacle that is the Ohio State Buckeye football team, but rather if Ohio State will be playing USC in the national title game in January.  Yes, Ohio State in the national title game, because whether the press wants to deal with or not, when something as fraudulent as the BCS is being run to determine national titles, the possibility that the Buckeyes will be seeing the Trojans again is not that far-fetched of an idea.  Yes, the BCS is that F…….. up!
 
We just love these “carney barkers,” including Jim Tressel, who say that the “the playoff starts from the first game” or “we already have a playoff with the regular season,” because they live in an alternative universe from what is actually happening in the game of college football.  If anyone believes that Ohio State doesn’t have a chance to play for the national title this year, we only need to return to the 2007 season, when the two teams that did end up playing in the bogus BCS national title game both lost games in November, forget about the middle of September!  (Ohio State lost to Illinois on November 10 and LSU lost to Arkansas on November 23 in ‘07)  No, we do not already have a “playoff in the regular season,” but rather the BCS is nothing less than a beauty pageant that includes big-time college head football coaches going on national TV and groveling in hope that their team will be ranked higher in a final poll.  What all the national media folks forget is that Ohio State has a better than a 50% chance of winning all of their remaining games and then just from a process of elimination, and that they don’t have a conference championship game, the Buckeyes could very easily be back in the top 3 teams in the fraudulent Harris Poll come late November.  Also, don’t forget the BCS Boys use of computers, yes those damn computers that did not sit in the Coliseum with us last night and watch the Trojans destroy the Buckeyes.  Those blasted computers will just make Ohio State’s strength of schedule that much stronger as USC continues to win games, and by the middle of November the computers will be “telling us” (just that the BCS uses computers to rank teams should tell everyone the whole thing is bogus) that the Buckeyes are a good football team, when all of us know that they would only get destroyed again in a national title rematch game.
 
Yes, the media folks forget that the BCS system that many of them defend does not give a shit what they think about how teams should be ranked, with the BCS Boys relying on the Harris Poll voters that is filled with people that know less about the game of football and watch less football than anyone’s great-aunt Edna.  Then the BCS Boys combine the Harris Poll with the very shaky Coaches Poll, which is actually the assistant athletic director’s poll, because college head football coaches do not have the time nor the interest in really watching lots of games that would allow them to cast a legitimate ranking of the top teams in the country.  Yes, throw those two polls into a pot and throw the bogus computer polls in there as well and you have nothing less than “Bullshit Stew,” which kicks out bogus national title games like we have seen for the past two years.  Of course, if the Buckeyes can get off the mat and teams begin fall away in the coming weeks, and Ohio State rolls up some wins the boobs in the Harris Poll will forget the 35-3 beatdown that we all witnessed in the Coliseum, and the computer polls will “Moving on up, to the sky” the Buckeyes as well as long as they keep winning football games.  Yes, the BCS Boys have created such a fraudulent system, such an embarrassment to the great game of college football, that the worst nightmare scenario of a rematch of USC and Ohio State is a real possibility!  Yes, the team that got their ass handed to them the last 3 times they have played legitimate football teams, could BE PLAYING FOR THE NATIONAL TITLE IN JANUARY!  We would say this BCS was created by morons, but that would be a terrible insult to morons everywhere. 
 
The issue with the BCS is very simple.  It is an impossibility that a “set of 120 college football teams” that play in separate conferences will ever be able to play each other enough in a 12 game regular season to choose 2 teams that should play for a national title.  Only under very lucky circumstances will only 2 teams be left standing above the other 118 at the end of the regular season, and anyone that would dare take away the rights of college football players, their coaches, and their fans to have an opportunity to play for a championship when they have earned it, are nothing less than people that care more about money and greed than about the great game of college football.  Yes, the BCS Boys are evil, because they demean the efforts of the teams that bust their asses to put themselves in a position to play for a championship, but then are told that they are not one of the “chosen” ones.  Yes, things like that go on in the world, but only in fascist or communist countries that care little for individuals and also put the “elites” above the people.  Yes indeed, after seeing two football teams settle a question on the field of play at the Coliseum it is easy to say that these BCS Boys are evil, as evil as one can be in a civilized society, because their love for power and money exceeds everything else.  Put any of these BCS Boys on the field of the Coliseum last night at the height of their physical powers and they would have been hiding beneath the stands.  How pitiful these BCS Boys are, and they are defined by a system that is as un-American as anything in this country.  If there are teams again this year that are left out of the BCS Boys’ precious little exhibition games system, then we will all know who to hold responsible.  One really wonders how any of these men could have been raised in the United States of America, because they certainly have no understanding of things that make our country great.  Championships in America at every level of sport are earned and won on the field of play, not determined by polls and computers put together by a group of elitists that love to get together at swanky resorts and beat their chests about their unchallenged position in the game.  No, Americans do not act with such arrogance and foolishness as these BCS Boys do towards the very people that pay their salaries and every nickel they put into their pockets.  What arrogance these elitists have within themselves and how little they care for the players, the coaches, the fans, and the game of college football itself.

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So Wednesday night was my parents 25th wedding anniversary. They just returned from Roma Tuesday night, and, this coupled along with my brothers return from Jamaica, I wanted to make a large dinner to celebrate both occasions. I looked up some things last night, and, in a little over 2 hours, prepared a full 5-course meal. It seemed to be well-received by all, and I know that there were things I could have done better, but I felt that this was a good step for me into my realm of cooking.
So, here was the menu for Wednesday evening there was an Italian theme to it all.
Bruschetta with Cuban bread
Linguine with a Vegetable Medley
Cabernet-Marinated Sirloin Steak
Duchess potato mounds
Tiramisu
 
The bruschetta wasnt too hard to prepare all it really involved was putting in the right amount of basil and oregano to match the tomatoes and onions. No cheese in this dish (or, for that matter, any dish, as one of the five eating was lactose-intolerant) but some Parmesan could be added for a little extra taste.
The linguine was a homemade dish for me the website for which I found a 3-course steak dinner called for just baby carrots, but I felt that the evening needed some pasta. I originally thought of having 6 courses, with the pasta being separate, but I decided to conjoin the linguine (again, very easy to prepare) and the vegetables. I threw together some spinach, mushrooms, baby carrots, onion, and garlic into a bowl, and mixed that with some lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Once that was well-mixed, I put that into a pan on medium heat with some olive oil and butter, and cooked it for about 5 minutes, until the liquid began to boil. Serve that directly on top of the hot pasta. It almost functioned like a linguine with clam sauce, except I didnt have any clams. And I was rather pleased with this dish it came out well, and was well-received by everyone.
The steak was marinated in a cabernet wine, with some garlic salt, pepper, and water. That sat for about an hour before putting on the grill. Quite a simple dish, as long as you know how to prepare steak.
The Duchess potatoes were the dish that caused me the most grief. I made the critical mistake of underestimating the time on potatoes. Cooking 5 medium-sized potatoes gave me plenty of mounds for 5 people. Once cooking these, combine with a butter, cream, and egg yolk mixture, along with salt and pepper. In another bowl, combine a whole egg with a tablespoon of water; baste this on to your mounds after they take shape. Then, its in the oven for 10 minutes. This dish came out extremely bland I should have added some parsley, garlic salt, anything to make the potatoes not as bland. Thats what happens when you pick an English recipe
The tiramisu proved to be most challenging out of all 5 dishes. It required things that the grocery store didnt have (Mascarpone cheese? Someone please tell me where to find it) and also took the most time to form. When making tiramisu, make sure that one uses espresso coffee, rather than espresso granules. The tiramisu came out slightly dry, and also slighly sour due to the fact that cream cheese was used instead of mascarpone, a creamier (and sweeter) cheese. Still, all was well, Jen did a nice job, and the dish was loved by my parents.
So, there you have it. It took me 2 hours, with some mistakes, and I cook fairly slowly. Those last 20 minutes can be very hectic steak on the grill, pasta and vegetables cooking, potatoes in the oven but most of the things in this 5-course dinner can be prepared ahead of time, and put out when ready to use them.
Enjoy.

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Bowler Hall is the home of the Bowler First Fridays program, which is planned around the College’s diversity core values and mission statement. So, what is the program, and why is Bowler involved?
Bowler is Hiram’s international-themed housing. Students apply to live here, and one of the requirements is that they are traveling, or have traveled, while at Hiram. Also, all foreign language teaching assistants live in Bowler.
To celebrate the cultural diversity we have on campus, and to introduce some of these elements to the greater College community, the first Friday of every month brings Bowler’s First Friday program. Typically there’s food from the country presenting; a 30-minute presentation of some sort about the country and its culture; and various activities from the country.
This celebration is open to the entire campus community, and all are welcome.
Friday, September 12, at 4:30 p.m. in Bowler Hall first floor, is this fall’s inaugural First Friday. Come learn about Ecuador, eat some tasty food and have fun with Ronaldo Chavez ’10 – who might also just give a salsa dancing lesson.
Watch for the upcoming First Friday celebrations on October 3, November 7, and December 5, too.

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The 2008 Wolverines, under Coach Rod, on 8/30/08 doing the inaugural Victors Walk on the way to the stadium.


The initial Victors Walk was a huge success as fans lined the path to The Big House. However, I noticed that Coach Rod relaxed the dress code. Whereas Coach Carr often made his players wear a coat and tie (see top picture), Coach Rod allowed his players to dress casual. I think the relaxation of the dress protocol is too lenient. Although the players looked fine in their team issued casual duds, I liked that under Coach Carr the players would sport more professional attire. It gave the team an air of discipline and orderliness.

Coach Carr's practice of requiring the players to wear a coat and tie was a continuation of the policy set by Coach Schembechler. In his book, Bo's Lasting Lessons: The legendary coach teaches the timeless fundamentals of leadership, Coach Schembechler recounted what he told the players about dressing up. At page 70, Bo wrote, "When we travel, we represent the University of Michigan and Michigan Football. That's why all of you have been issued a tailored blue suit coat with a Michigan patch on the breast pocket and a maize-and-blue tie, with dark pants." Bo recounted that a player inquired, "Why do we need to wear a coat and a tie just to get on a bus?" Bo wrote that he responded, "I'll tell you why. For one thing, you're going to act better, and you're going to feel better about yourself, when you're dressed properly. You have less chance of acting like a fool, and doing something you'll regret later, when you dress properly. If you're a sloppy-looking guy, then you're probably going to act that way, too. But if you're a class act, then you've got to dress like one and you've got to act like one. That's just part of the discipline of a good program."

Is it a coincidence that the 2008 Wolverines looked like they lacked discipline as they continually failed to execute versus Utah? Maybe the Wolverines should go to a coat-and-tie for the next Victors Walk. Go Blue.

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Baltimore Sun
A 14-hour standoff ended peacefully this evening when an Overlea man gave himself up to Baltimore County police, several hours after releasing three unharmed hostages, authorities said.
A tactical police unit coaxed him out voluntarily about 6:30 p.m. today, said Cpl. Ben Yohe. Charges have not been determined at this point, he said. The mans name will be released today, he said.
The man entered the home in the first block of Walnut Ave. about 4 a.m. looking for his girlfriend but didnt find her, said Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman. Officers responded to the scene and spotted a man inside the home carrying a long gun, Toohey said.
One of the three people held hostage in the home the owner, Bruce Connelly Smith, 62 was released about 9:25 a.m., Toohey said. The other two resident Danille Renee Erhardt, 31, and visitor Kenneth Lewis Collins, 26 were released about 11:45 a.m., police said, but the suspect remained inside.
Officers set up a perimeter outside the house, which is on a side street near Belair Road. Police also shut down Belair Road between Taylor Avenue and East Northern Parkway, diverted traffic and told residents in the area to stay inside their homes.
A Catholic school near the scene, St. Michael the Archangel, did not open today because of the incident, police said. Toohey said there were no reports of injuries or shots fired.
[]
Baltimore City police assisted in the incident because it occurred near the city-county line, Toohey said.

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