Best Quarterback Name

It looks like Tennessee has another quarterback to recruit to replace Jim Bob Cooter when he graduates. Look at this sentence from the Houston Chronicles coverage of the state football playoffs...

"La Porte quarterback Boogie Anagnostou took the shotgun snap from center, ran 18 yards,...."

That's right, not a nickname, but his real name is Boogie. Unfortunately Boogies team lost last weekend so there won't be a state championship for him.

The purge begins

I see where we are going back to the future with David Cutcliffe. I heard we were also trying to re-sign Peyton Manning.

Next up: asking the Governor for clemency for three wide receivers we lost....

Best Laid Plans

OK, so we didn't get up there for Thanksgiving. Hopefully we will make it for Christmas. My better half fell down the stairs before we left so we had to stay here nursing her bumps and bruises. No stair climbing til after Christmas.

I see the Big Orange purge has begun. I wonder how the quarterback situation will flesh out before next year.

Pilgrim Hats

Looking forward to Thanksgiving and seeing everybody. No hotels at all are available in the New Orleans, Hattiesburg, Laurel Mississppii area. None. So we'll be shacking up with the friends that stayed here after Katrina. That'll work just fine and it'll be great to see them too.

Instead of writing a bunch, I'll just hope to see you next week....

Winter Arrives

I assume everyone has experienced the big cold front that blew thru yesterday and last night. 'Cept here in Texas, it's still blowing. The wind howled all night and continues to blow with great force this morning. We have some bushes outside our bedroom window that slap the window everytime the wind blows hard. Thats all I heard all night, slap, slap, slap. I'll have to find time to take a nap at work today....

And it's cold. Well colder anyway. It sure gets you started into the Holiday mood. Makes me start thinking of all the gifts I want for Christmas. That's the spirit!

Bowling???!!!

Word on the street in Houston is that the Big Orange is going to the Music City Bowl in Nashville to play some Gophers.

Gophers??? We can't find a more ferocious foe than that? No Wolverines? No Gators? No Wildcats????

You know you've sunk real low when you can't even travel out of your own state and you have to play Gophers. Here's hoping they don't beat us....

NIce Job

Way to go Big Orange! Tennessee destroyed Memphis over the weekend. It wasn't on the tube down here but we whupped them bad, right?! Of course we did!

The Texans gave the Colts everything they wanted before succumbing 31-14. The fact that we actually scored twice is amazing. We had one game this year that, when you count lost yards on sacks, we gained a net of 7 yards the whole game. So two touchdowns is a big whoop!

Preparing to head North for Thanksgiving. Searching for heavy sweaters in the closets somewhere. Looking for old snowshoes. Skiis are around here somewhere. Wool, where's my wool???

Thanksgiving

La familia will be coming to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. We would like to see a gorgeous Fall leaf changing. We would also like a foot of snow for one day to play in. It would be nice to hike up House Mountain on a crisp morning. A Thanksgiving hike would also be nice. This year we would like for it not to involve death defying events. Please, no rabid dogs, no 70mph hayride, and no tumbles into abandoned quarries. My wife would like the road up Mount Blanc straightened. And better Blackberry reception at Ma and Pa Kettles house would make my work go easier.

Thanks....

I'm not buying anything there...

Halloween is barely over and already Christmas stuff is up in the stores. I've seen Christmas trees, holly, wreaths, etc. including fake snow. I know it was fake because it was 87 degrees here yesterday. Do you know how frustrating it is to see Santa in the store when I still have skulls and graveyards from Halloween in my front yard?

I've vowed not to shop at stores that put out their Christmas stuff prior to Halloween. Right now it looks like I'll be buying stuff at Walgreens and the used book store.

Met a lady at work yesterday from Knoxville. It was funny cause she was making a pitch to me, describing her company etc etc. I asked her where she went to school and she said Doyle. I told her I grew up in Knoxville on the East Side and she said "I bet you went to Carter". Her buddy with her was from Fountain City. We quit talking about work mostly and just gabbed.

I brought up the Big Orange and was sorry I did. I could tell it was very painful for them both.

Alcoa Struggles but Prevails

Alcoa had to overcome a lot of mental mistakes and miscues but managed to recover from a lackluster start to prevail over Gatlinburg-Pittman 91-7 in the first round of the playoffs. What? 91-7? Yep, that's right, 91-7. Score at halftime was 70-0 Alcoa.

The big question is...how do you manage to be good enough to make the playoffs, yet bad enough to lose by more than 80 points? Parity?

Carter battled hard but lost and their now out. A 9-2 season is something to be proud of.

And I found out Jim Bob Cooter hails from Fayetteville Tennessee. Figures. I want to see him throw a pass. It looks doubtful we'll have a large enough lead on anybody for him to see action.

Go Vols Beat Irish

A win against Notre Dame sure would make everyone feel a ot better. So much better in fact, that I'm predicting it will happen. Watch the Vols grind one out 14-7.

CN closes it's season against Wingate. Will they make the playoffs?

I'm out of pocket in meetings today, they are brutal. Donuts are good though.....

It Could Be Worse

Remember our Cotton Bowl friends from last year? They are at 5-3 and still looking for one more win to be bowl eligible this year. Yep, Texas A&M hasn't had a very good year. But who do we have left? Oh yeah, the green muchkins from Notre Dame, Kentucky and Vandy. Who does Texas A&M have left? Let see...they go to Texas Tech this weekend..ouch.....then travel to Oklahoma next weekend...ouch....then host Texas the following weekend....ouch..ouch.

Here's hoping we get a couple of more wins, then become the last team in the SEC to qualify for a bowl. Then the SEC finally upholds it's committment to send somebody to the Houston Bowl! The Big Orange in the Houston Bowl against anybody!

Halloween Fun

It rained like crazy on our Halloween. Thunder, lightning, hail, everything. Fortunately it passed with about thirty minutes to go so the kids got out a little. But I'm left with the bucket of candy dilema. Eat it all myself? Take it to work? Feed it to my own children?

My wife buys enough candy to feed all of New Zealand. It's good stuff too. Minature candy bars, snickers, M&M's, Bones, Tootsie Pops etc. Can't throw it away.

I suppose it's worth another trip to the dentist or two.....

'Bout Time!

Looks like Randy Sanders will be replaced as offensive coordinator for the Big Orange. I thought it was long overdue. He threw that interception in the LSU game, fumbled the ball into the endzone three times in the last two games, and he couldn't even hit one of his backs on a swing pass against South Carolina. Yep, it's his fault.

Hey, is that Cutcliffe guy still around?