Troubles....

I saw where another UT footballer got arrested yesterday, this time for flashing a toy uzi at a police officer. Jim Bob Cooter is still out and will miss the opener. All I hear down here is about LSU, Auburn, a little Florida etc. There is no mention of the Big Orange as a contender. Is it going to be another down year? Are we really that bad?

Floyd Landis looks like he won't be cleared of doping charges and now Justin Gatlin is involved. What is it? Is it the money, or the fame? I have no problem keeping track of what goes into my body why can't they? Are they just cheaters?

As long as Miss Debbies don't start adding testosterone to their recipe I suppose I'll be ok...

More Pics

When I get lazy I post pictures cause I don't have to write anything. I just have to pretend they have "some reason" to be there.

Furry Friends

I took this picture at work the other day...

We'll Be on TV Today

You'll probably see us on tv on the news tonight. It's raining today and will flood. We're expecting about 10 inches today. It doesn't drain fast enough so some homes and a lot of cars will go under water. It'll look like chaos on tv.

Folks will be interviewed who say "I was just driving and saw some cars go in the water and then all of a sudden I stalled out and had to get help from that guy over there to get out. It was scary." Reporters will wade up to people's homes who will say "We've had high water before but never nothing like this. I mean we are still fixin' up after last month's rains but it was never this high. I got water two foot high all thru the house."

You heard it here first. The poor folks who live in low lying areas will get flooded again. They don't have insurance cause nobody will insure those areas. They live there cause the houses are cheaper...cause they flood. And poor folks get knocked back to zero every time they try to get ahead. It's sad.

Cool PIc

Irritating the French, Part Ocho

Eight years in a row now Americans have won the Tour de France. This year they really wanted somebody else to win, but Floyd Landis did the incredible and pulled off the victory. Nice job.

Tiger won the Open yesterday but I didn't watch. Just had other things to do. Somehow I figured he would win. I suppose you don't see him collapse very often.

Wonder how th Big Orange is shaping up? I heard that Florida, Auburn, and LSU are being touted as the SEC's best this year.

Went to a Dog Show on Saturday cause my kids have puppy fever real bad. Please don't encourage them or mention it. It sends them into hour long whines. Saw lots of weirdo dogs, some big enough to ride, some that inspired the phrase "dog ugly", and some that had so much hair they couldn't possibly see where they were walking. All in all, it wasn't nearly as painfully boring as I expected.

Amazing Floyd

Floyd Landis did the impossible yesterday. He made up 8 minutes in the Tour de France. That's the equivalent of lapping the field in the 1600 meters at the Olympics. All anyone can figure is that when he made his move (very early in the race) that no one thought he could do this so they let him go to burn out. But he never burned out. He just kept accelerating and riders kept dropping off.

Does anybody else in the country follow the Tour? In Texas, you are used to watching it because of Lance....

Shivers

You know those little PlayStation Portable game consoles? You know, walk around and play handheld games...

I just figured out they have wireless capability. I mean, you can get them to work through your existing wireless network, just like a computer. You can browse the internet on one of those little suckers. You can go to Starbucks and read the NY Times on your Playstation Portable.

And the graphics are great. Extremely clear resolution on pictures etc. You can watch internet video, very clearly on one of these.

The Nintendo handheld games don't have browser capability yet, but you can connect wirelessly on them too, and play Mario GoCart with anybody else anywhere in the world. Amazing. I got shivers.

Oh, these kids. They're gonna take over the world.

I'm Breathless

Dick Button turns 77 today. Can you say double sow-cow, triple toe loop, double axle? Whoever came up with those names? I mean really? Did Dick and Peggy Fleming sit around and try to think up weird names for skating jumps? What skinny little skater wanted to be called a sow-cow?

How about some new names...."Tara is setting up her next combination..there it is!....a double bloated pig into a triple heel spinner followed by a half circle looper to a double double hooty. Wonderful...."

Whut?

Them NASA people have some weird stuff around....

Feetball "Sheeps"

Torbush Returns

Carl Torbush, former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, was re-hired by Carson-Newman yesterday. Torbush was a CN grad before he landed his first big job....as a Carter Green Hornet. Then he went to CN, Carolina, Bama, and finally became an Aggie. Now he's come full circle. I expect he'll work wonders as assistant coach of the Eagles.

Politics

Way back in 1804, when duels were still fairly common, the Vice President of the U.S. Aaron Burr shot the Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton on this day. Hamilton was mortally wounded. Can you imagine two top cabinet members squaring off today? Ever hear somebody say that civility in politics is at an all time low? I think not. You probably won't see cabinet members pacing off these days...

First photo

Here's a shot that shows how close we actually got. I have a zoom lens of course, but we were pretty close.

I'm trying to figure a way to post the other shots so you can look if you want, without it appearing as if I'm showing boring vacation pictures...

In other news...how about that North Korea? Can't feed people, but we can shoot long range missiles, sort of. That Kim Son Il, or whatever his name is, is a real work of art. He's the first dictator I've seen who can rule millions of subjects in a truck mechanic jumpsuit.

Home again, home again

Great to be back home and not eating at Arby's. I'll have some pictures to post in a day or two. This is my first post from a "dashboard widget" on my wife's Mac-Mini. It's amazing to me that you can type in a little box, hit publish, and it goes to the blog seamlessly. Amazing.

Fire works

Yesterday we saw launch of the space shuttle, then went to the beach. Last night we saw fireworks on the beach. It was kind of an all american 4th. It would only have been better if we'd had hot dogs on the beach. We did have pulled pork fron sonny's bar-b-q so that was the next best thing.

Launch

Saw launch today from a fifth floor balcony at the vehicle assembly bldg at the cape. Was nervous til t minus 31 seconds then I knew we were going. It was beautiful.

Try, try again

No launch on saturday. Today we went on the bus but by the time we got to our spot we just turned around and came home. Way too many clouds today. Looks like we'll try on July 4th for the third time. That sounds like a winner. I keep thinking that the odds are getting better and better each attempt. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Launch fever

Spent the day at kennedy space center. Saw STS-121 sitting on the pad. Took a tour etc and I'm getting a little excited about saturdays launch. Weather aint great but we'll see.

USA Today says 177 Tennessee national gaurd have volunteered to help patrol the mexican border in texas. Its a big border and might take a few more than that. This might seem cynical but I'm not that worried about the Mexican border. Its those pesky Canadiens that concern me. I never did like hockey or those mounties hats. Are they British? English? French? Let's watch the northern border, texas can handle our part.

On the road

In new orleans headed towards florida for the launch of the space shuttle on july 1st. Still lots of work going on around here with roofs etc. Iife appears to be returning to normal but the reports we're hearing say the french quarter may be a little sporty these days. The national gaurd has been deployed and there is a lot of stealing, looting etc. Local folks say they aren't real excited about nightime activities there. But businesses are back and quite a few people are around.

Tomorrow we head towards the cape on a long driving day. Hope the nintendos are fully charged.

All my favs are gone...

It was knockout weekend for me in the World Cup. The US, Mexico, and the Netherlands have all gone packing. I still sort of like England, kinda like Argentina, and could always root for Brasil if need be. It appears to me to be a lot like the NCAA basketball tourney. Upsets happen in the early games but the big dogs settle in for the later rounds.

Ghana will exit tomorrow when they play Brasil, which would've been the US's fate anyway. Mexico played great but couldn't win. The Netherlands should've won by 2 or 3 but couldn't keep from hitting the crossbar on open shots.

Flame Out

OK, so Ghana (wherever that is) whupped us in soccer and we're out. Now we just have to cheer for the Orange. Dissappointing game.

The Rocket is back. This is the first step towards this years World Series championship, the first for Houston.

Dallas lost the basketball championship. Sad for them.

El Tri Is In!

Mexico has advanced to the 2nd round! And they lost both games they played! That's what you have to love about futbol. You can never figure out what it takes to advance.

Their coach was pelted with rocks boarding the team bus, after they qualified to advance.

My favorite team is still the Netherlands. All Orange all the time. Even orange socks.

World Cup Madness

Tough Question

Inking the Post

Irony

Paul McCartney turns 64 on Sunday. I wonder if he'll be banging his head with Maxwell's Silver Hammer....

Beware the Couch

We bought a couch about 6 months ago and today I decided to remove the tags. We like to leave them on for a while (a la Minnie Pearl) so the stuff still seems new. One tag I took off was a "Safety Warning".

I thought to myself what dangers are inherent in couches? You might fall off? Get fat watching tv? Muscle atrophy from lying prone? Drown in slobber after falling asleep?

Turns out it's a warning that the couch will burn if you put flame to it. It warns against smoking on the couch, putting it too close to a candle or trying to mend your car fender with a blowtorch while watching the Astros in high def. So I suppose it's a good warning, although I would've figured out that flame to the fabric was probably a bad idea in the first place. Anyway, no smoking on my new couch please....

Braves get Smoked

Went to the Astros game yesterday with the Jeff City crowd. It was a perfect game to watch. There were 7 or 8 homers, 27 total hits, and the Astros won 14-4. Balls were flying out all over. Jeff Francouer of the Braves hit two balls over 420 feet and both were caught. The pitcher of the Braves got hit in the head by a line drive (ouch). All in all, it was exciting.

Our guests got to eat a BBQ tater, a Dome Dog, cotton candy, peanuts and more. They got to sing "God Bless America", "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", and "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch.

And we followed it up with a pork-out on fajitas at Pappasito's. A great day......

Seeing as I'm a renaissance man and apprecaite sophisticated, international things.... herewith are my predictions for the premier sporting event in the World. Volunteer fans bear with me, but soccer or "futbol" is important to a lot of folks.

Group A: Poland upsets Germany in the shocker of the tourney. The host country doesn't make it out of round 1.
Group B: England struggles with Trinidad and Tabasco, England advances.
Group C: Visions of Maradonna dance in their head, Argentina advances.
Group D: Angola puts up a great fight but the Tri-Colores advances...Mexico it is.
Group E: Italy is strong but the good Old US of A is stronger. Americans move on.
Group F: They advance cause their fans are the funniest. Brazil.
Group G: What, no France? Switzerland in an upset.
Group H: Underachiever Spain sits again. Ukraine advances.

My favorite team? Besides the US? It's the Netherlands. Go Big Orange. More predictions after Group play concludes.

Today is Princes' 48th birthday and Tom Jones 66th birthday. Now that you mention it, they do sort of look alike...

We have Tennessee guests coming in this weekend so we'll catch up on everybody's personal history. I hope you don't have any secrets cause we'll hear about 'em....

Us in Your Paper

Walters State eliminated San Jac yesterday and is headed to the championship game. Clear Creek's quarterback last year, J.P. Padron, was listed as getting a big hit for San Jac. So one of our local boys made the Knoxville paper.

And Big Orange girls beat UCLA, Fran and Ollie yesterday to advance in the women's softabll series. Nice job.

Coincidence...NOT

On this day...in 1796 Tennessee became the 16th state.

And....today is also Andy Griffith's birthday.

Coincidence. Hardly.

Softball!!!

I heard where the Lady Vols were in the College World Softball Series, or whatever they call it. Congrats.

And in a weird coincidence...San Jacinto College, our local powerhouse JUCO got whupped in the JUCO College World Series by.....Walters State. This is the first time I've seen Walters State in our paper. But don't worry, the Ravens will eventually prevail. Any Team that can boast alumni of Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens can't be all bad.

Here's a sports shot that I "postcarded". It's my favorite photo effect these days.

I'm lazy in the posting department too. It's summer, give me some slack.

Postcard from the edge

A nice shot of the Texas State Capitol, and "stylized" to look like an old postcard. Not bad if I say so myself....

On This Day

In 1813, composer Richard Wagner was born in Germany. Later on in his career he went to work for Sears and invented the electric painting machine.

Would You Have Croaked??

I heard from one of my French friends at work about the Marie Antoinette post. He said back in them days the average life expectancy in France was 30. So the fact they got married at 15 put them smack in middle age. 30. That would make me....well....above average.

I suppose anything out of the ordinary killed you back then. A bad drink of water, a broke toe that gets infected, appendicitis, a beheading, etc...

We forget that modern medicine keeps us going long after normal things would've had us planted in the bone garden. For me, it could've been appendicitis, a broke arm, pnuemonia, and probably a few flu's. Would you have still been around in the 1700's???

On this day....

Way back in 1770, 14 year old Marie Antoinette married the future King Louis who was only 15. Who knew the French Royalty and Tennessee hillbillies had so much in common?

From the "Wow, I'm old" department... Olga Korbut turns 51 today.

And of course, the final three perform on American Idol tonight. Will it be Taylor, Elliot, or Katherine? I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

Whut?

Whew! I ate some really bad anchovy laced pizza late last night. And it didn't sit well. In fact, I woke up in a cold sweat about 3:00am. I had the worst nightmare that really, really scared me.

I dreamed that Chris got voted off American Idol instead of McPheever, Elliot or Taylor. And Reggie Bush was subbing for Ryan Seacrest. The Idol Panel consisited of Charley Casserly, Bob McNair and Vince Young. I bolted up out of bed screaming...

What's up with these choices? Chris was the obvious winner. Obvious. And now he's out? What's the world coming too?

Happy Anniversary

Just the other day (March) I passed a full year of doing this blog. Then it seemed I hit writers block bigtime. I'm doing some self reflection personalization now to see whether I want to continue. A year is a long time but it's become part of my routine.

The second part is I ramble a lot and I just don't think it's that interesting. We'll see.

Summer Coming

Baseball is winding down and we are headed for our full blown summertime here very soon. We had some hail yesterday and thunderstorms today. You can tell it's a slow day when I'm talking about the weather.

The lightning bugs haven't returned.

Amazing Lightning Bugs

Saw the oddest thing last night. According to my neighbors, we don't have many lightning bugs here because the fire ants eat the eggs that are layed on the ground. I have seen a lightning bug only once in Texas.

Last night my better half was headed to the store late and she hollered for us to come outside. There were two lightning bugs that we watched for about 15 minutes. But they were definetly different than the Tennessee version. In Big Orange Country they blink slowly and dimly. They sort of glow.

These two buggers blinked very brightly and fast. It looked more like one of those LED bicycle lights. You could see them a long way off and they looked much bigger than the Tennessee version. It would've been breathtaking had there been a field full of them instead of just two. Anybody ever heard about fast blinking, very bright bugs? They were the standard amber green. Anybody who ever lived down here seen lightning bugs at their place?

Sinus Surgery

Ok,....so the actual surgery didn't really hurt that much. Just uncomfortable. The nightmare part came yesterday during the followup visit. The Doc stuck the 7 foot probe up there and cleaned out all the packing and dried stuff. You know, cleaning the wound.

Sometimes he had a camera and tongs up there, sometimes a camera and vacumn cleaner, once he even inserted a small elf to pick up some pieces. The probe was approximately 7 feet long, it could've been a foot or two longer I'm not sure. Once I felt it bang into the back of my head when he pushed it a little too hard.

He'd do it for 30 minutes or so until I passed out. Then he'd let me rest a few minutes and start again. In the doctors office at 9:30. Out of the office at 1:30. Rod stuck up my nostril in between.

All in all...just like a couple of root canals with no anesthesia. And the best part???? He has to finish it up next week.

North Carolina Whut?

If'n you had told me 6 weeks ago that the Texans wouldn't get Bush or Young I would've been upset that they traded away the number 1 pick. But I was blown away that they actually decided not to take either one and took some guy from NC State. A nice fella mind you, but I hadn't heard of him 6 weeks ago. And he plays defense for goodness sakes.

It feels like we frittered away our pick. Like we really got the number 4 pick or something. I'm in shock and I don't really like pro football that much myself. Wow, this is going to be interesting to see how it works out. It will be painful every time Bush or Vince scores.

And nothing personal, but he made highlight reels in the ACC. Not the Big 12, SEC or even the Big 10. The ACC basketball conference. He sacked Maryland's quarterback. He sacked Wake Forest's quarterback. He might've been able to sack Vanderbilt's quarterback, or maybe one of the Kansas's quarterbacks. He would've been awesome in the Mountain West I bet.

I told you I was in shock....

Strange Weather

Two weeks ago it was 108 degress in Laredo. A cold front? blew thrugh yesterday and the high was 75 here. Is this possible?

It seems like summer has come and gone, winter has come and gone, and now summer is headed back. Weird.

I'm Back

Have been out of pocket for a few days but now I'm baaaaa-aaack. Had minor nose surgery and am feeling ok. Didn't get a new nose, just got the old one roto-rootered. Hope this helps me breath better.

Yesterday was the un-fun day. Go downtown to the horsepital by 5:30am, reemed out by noon, hang out til 5 or so before coming home. Boy, that knockout medicine can sure make your stomach naseous.

Now I am just hanging out and letting my nose bleed.

A few more days watching Oprah and then back to work...

Out of Pocket

I won't be able to post for the rest of the week (most likely). But I was wondering what happened to UT baseball? Seems like I remember they were in the top ten early and now they are nowehere to be found. How's our women's softball doing? Is the big left-hander still around?

Famous Day Here

Eighteen thirty-six,
Sam Houston, San Jacinto,
Twenty minutes done.
Remembered the Alamo.
On this day Texas was born.

It's Earth Thursday

Somethings Wrong

It's an old song, but somethings wrong...

"Daddy played first base, momma played second. Brother and sister were the pitcher and catcher. Shortstop was a good old boy named Sue. Three big homerun hittin' guys, out in the outfield shaggin' flies, brothers Art and Bart and cousin Fargo too."

What's wrong?

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY HATCHET!!

Perfect Bluebonnets

Two for you, Nineteen for me

That's right, today is get your taxes in day. We got a couple of extry days due to Easter but the deadline is finally upon us.

Today is a weird day in history for you numerology fans. On this day in 1790, Ben Franklin passed away. On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 splashed down safely.

And it appears everyone is lining up behind Reggie Bush. The smart money says he's the guy. But will the Texans owner look at season ticket sales numbers and the impact Vince Young would have?

Vince or Reggie

Should the Texans take Vince Young or Reggie Bush as the first pick in the NFL draft? That's the overwhelming debate down here these days. As uninterested observers, what do you think fron the Tennessee perspective?

25th Anniversary of First Shuttle Launch

A quarter of a century ago I stood at the Public Affairs Press Site on Kennedy Space Center and waited for launch. I was worn out, exhausted and anxious. Press from all over the world wandered around. Folks tied up all of the phones as they scrambled to read their story back to their office. A few folks banged away on Radio Shack TRS-80's and plugged them into phones to send their reports in at a screaming 1200 baud rate. How cool. It was a clear, warm Florida morning.

Launch went on time and the Shuttle era was born.

BasketVols???

I see where Knoxville just received an ABA basketball franchise. They are hoping to play there first season next year at Catholic gym. What's next, women's pro football?? (We have it here and have been National Champs three years in a row).

KnoxVegas is becoming quite the sports mecca. Now if you could only get a quality COLLEGE football program you would have something.....

Orange and White

Anybody go to the Orange and White game? I heard we won. I didn't get to see much about it down here. Texas A&M was bragging about 30,000 at there Maroon and White game. How'd we do?

KnoxNews expects you to pay to be able to read interesting stuff about the Vols. I guess everything can't be free.

Yikes

Tony Dorsett turns 52 today. Yikes, I'm old.

1621 Again

On this day in 1621, the Mayflower turned around and came back to Plymouth Rock to check to make sure they didn't leave the stove on. Then they left again for England. Two days later, Jacob Marker was the first to ask "Are we there yet?".

On this day in 1621, the Mayflower left the United States on it's return trip to England. I never thought about it going back but I suppose it did. I wonder what it felt like standing on the shore watching it head back to England. Must have been a queasy feeling.

And odder yet, Howard Hughes died in Houston on this day way back in 1976.

And faithful reader "anonymous" asks "how about in 2106" in response to yesterdays post on 1,2,3,4,5,6. So ok, in 2106 the clock will strike 01:02:03, 04/05/06.....hmmmmm. I think he/she may be right. However, perhaps I should've said it will never happen again in my history. I doubt I see 2106. I suppose it keeps happening in 06 years????

Odd Time

Tomorrow, shortly after 1:00 am, the clock will strike 1:02:03, 04/05/06. This will never, ever happen ever again in history. I don't know if that makes this historic, or just odd. I stayed up for the turn of the century, but I'll probably pass on 1,2,3,4,5,6.

Thanks to one of my faithful readers for pointing this out to me.

Go Big Orange

Seen the inaugural MLS soccer game with the Houston Dynamo beating the Colorado Somethings 5-2 this weekend. What a game. Three headers for a goal, and the game ended on a bicycle kick for a goal. That's the baseball equivalent of Lance Berkman batting backwards and hitting one out. Brian Ching (Ca-Ching!) scored 4 goals, one short of a record. And the best part???? The official colors of the new Houston Dynamos are Black, White and Tennessee Vol Orange. My whole family was able to Orange out for the game.

The Fan Club for the Dynamos are called the Texians and they wave Orange flags that look very similar to the orange checkerboard flags I see at HoundDogs. Everything about them screamed UT Alumni. I think they just grabbed the most rabid, half lit Tennesseans to be Texians. Just like the original 1836 Texians I suppose.

The kids especially liked the confetti canon that fired with every goal. They "collected" confetti and I now have confetti wars at the house. Great Opener Dynamos!!!!

Weekly Tanks Wrapup

It's now down to four.
Can LSU make the two?
Big Baby says yes.
Moses may say otherwise.
Wait, it's Noah not Moses.

Straw Plains Battle?

Sometime today I'm going to try and look up the battle and see what the earthworks looked like. Maybe a metal detector would find an old cannon or bullets. More likely it would discover old Pabst cans.

Still don't know who won....

New Tourist Attraction

We just learned (as did the property owners) that the Strawberry Plains battlefield at the river bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was actually listed in 1999 but it takes a while for news to get to Straw Plains. Now that it's listed, you can apply for grants to restore it. I can see a glass encased visitor center, trams taking tourists on tours, lots of souvenirs, commerative coins, opening day with poiticians, those little confederate hats and wooden rifles, re-enactments of the battle, and definitely a festival.

What do you think the current property owners ought to do with this historic property? I'll pass along your ideas in a master plan I'm developing for them. An IMAX theatre with a Disney produced anthology of the battlefield. How about some statues? Anybody have any idea who actually won the battle???

I searched the world over...

I failed to mention yesterday, the passing this weekend of one of the greatest country music stars of all time. Buck Owens of "Buck Owens and the Buckaroos" passed away. Buck was a legitimate country star who became most famous for his production and acting in the popular "HeeHaw" show. He was "pickin'" and Roy Clark was "grinnin'". Who could forget the small town salutes. The crows in the corn field "caw-caw". And the most famous song of all, "Where or where, are you tonight...". "What's for supper?" with LuLu and Grandpa Jones. And my personal favorite, Junior Samples and his telephone number "BR-549". We'll miss you Buck.

Gloom, despair and agony on me. Deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on me.

Congrats

All the accomplishments were by women this weekend. Lady Vols are alive in the elite eight ater an awesome performance against Rutgut.

And the best performance of the weekend??? My sister-in-law, the Clear Springs Antelope, finished the half marathon on Sunday. She did it by "Nordic walking", which, as I understand it, is walking real fast with poles. No word on what her partner Lech Walesa's time was....

NCAA Poetry

Blue Devils are out,
Cajuns delivered the blow.
Deedle lost his pool.
Texas is still in the hunt,
Gonzaga just plain blew it.

West Yellowstone Crime News

I haven't reported on crime in the wild west lately so here goes on some news from West Yellowstone....

-- Both ambulances went to the old airport for two people who had been injured. Later one of the ambulances was released in order to be in the parade. (Sorry, you'll have to wait on that ride to the hospital, I'm scheduled to be the grand marshall...)

-- A resident of the Lower Beartrap subdivision called to report that a pair of bison were in her driveway. One of the animals had a long string of Christmas lights draped over its head. (Even the Bison drink too much...)

-- At 11:30 a.m. a "possibly intoxicated" male was seen attempting to walk, but falling down and lying in the street instead. An officer took him to his residence. (He could have been "possibly stupid" also...)

25th Anniversary?

The Lady Vols reached the sweet sixteen for the 25th year in a row. Wowee. That's a long run of greatness. I'm not overly enamored by the dunk thing, cause that's not why I watch women's hoops. I watch cause they still play real basketball.

Go get 'em girls...

Wow, That's a Lot

Did you know that this is the 265th post on this blog? Man, that seems like a lot. It sure doesn't feel like I've been doing it that long. I'm glad I've stuck with it though. It's a great stress reliever for me. Except for the pressure to having to post every day. That's a stress adder.

So today's trivia...what percentage of Americans drink coffee every day????

54%. That's why Starbucks is rich. 54% of Americans are addicted and Starbucks has the drug.

Close

Good season for the Vols. They could've won that game. And their bracket turned out to be easy. Oh well, there's always the Lady Vols and the dunkathons. Unbelieveable still that there is so much dis-parity in the womens game when you can make the tourney and still get beat by 60.

The only question now? Can the Horns win the tourney and simultaneously hold the baseball, football, and basketball championships? That would be something.

Weekly Tanka

Kinnick and Will off,
Gone Gedeon and Ayla Brown.
March Madness begins.
Is life on Enceladus?,
Spring Break is finally here!.

Due to foreseen circumstances there will be no postings for the next entire week most probably. I will be taking a short break. Enjoy your spring break and be safe. Tenga Cuidado.

It's Thursday and time for "Sheeps"...

Bonds???

So what do you do with poor Barry? Let his records stand? How about McGwire? Let his records stand? What a mess baseball has created.

Vols

So we're fixin' to have both the boys and girls basketball teams in the NCAA's. Wouldn't it be great to win both? You won't be happy with the girls unless they win. But the boys? Would you be happy if we make it out of the first round? All the way to the sweet sixteen? Elite eight?

What if we lose in round one? Would he season have been a bust? Isn't it nice to be pondering this than wondering in if the NIT still exists?????

Oscar Fix???

Reese Witherspoon won best actress just like I predicted. The rest of my predictions were pretty much a bust. Who would've thunk that a picture nobody has heard of would win best picture??? Really now, nobody has seen "Crash" I bet you more folks have seen "Chicken Little" than have seen "Crash". Quick, what's it about? See, nobody knows. Crash winning Best Picture is the equivalent of UT Chattanooga winning the NCAA's. And thankfully, the selection program's are this weekend and we can get on with more important stuff.

By the way, Reese is from Nashville.

Oskars

Best Picture: Should be "I walk the line", but will be "broke mountain"
Best Director: The dude who did "Capote"
Best Actor: Heath Bar Ledger for Broke hill
Best Actress: Reese Bar Witherspoon I walk the line

Why are best actor and best actress both named after candy bars??????

Oh well

So much for beatin' Kentucky. Let's not flame out in the SEC tourney. And please don't lose in the first round of the NCAA's...

Please

C'mon. We gotta beat Kentucky at home and clinch the SEC title. What better way to top off our season. And my wife claims Kentucky as her homeland and has always loved Wildcat basketball to boot. So it would really help me too. Please...

Feels Like Home

This past weekend we had a major building outage where we cut power to it and go in and do some major work. We found something interesting in the electrical switchgear that reminded me of home.

There was a possum that had made a nest in the high voltage electrical gear. Later, he accidently brushed up against two hot wires. He was instantly cooked. Unfortunately we didn't find him until much later, and to top it off, the voltage was so high that he was well overdone.

Oh well, almost supper.

It's Over

The flag has been lowered and the flame extinguished and now we can get back to watching mindless tv. There was Bode and Apolo, Sasha and Sabrina, Chad and Shani, and Drew and Cheryl.

Which just goes to show...if your going to make it in this world you've got to be recognizable by one name. Mick, Madonnna, Ali, Elvis, Jordan, Hakeem, Wilt, Kareem, JohnWayne. So start working on your one name moniker or you'll never make the Olympic team.

Round Ball Fever

I know everybody is excited about the BasketVols. But here, I don't get to see them. In fact, I don't get to see anybody interesting. So it's hard for me to get worked up over them or talk about them intelligently.

But I do understand that a coach can make a difference. These are the same players the other guy had and look at the difference. I don't remember hearing of a Bernard King addition either. So when somebody tells you it's all about the players show them this team.

That Pearl dude is sure paying for himself.

Thursday's Sheeps

Sow Cows and All That

Tonight's the biggest night of the Olympics. The skating divas take center-stage. It's the women's figure skating free skate final. Can Sasha Cohen finally pull together the solid finish she so desperatley needs? Will Irini Slutskya nail her difficult triple sow cow? Or will perky Sara Hughes sneak in and steal the show?

I can't wait to see the triple toe loop, double toe loop, triple over and under with a half double twist combination jump. Wow. It should be a night to remember.

Wore Out

I'm kinda tired of watching the Olympics so I took last night off. I know the girl skaters did good and Chad and Shani didn't win. I'm tired of their fueding too. The Austrians are way deep involved in a doping scandal, which is very tiring. And those cross country skiers look, well, tired.

C'mon, USA. Somebody wake us out of this slump.

Olympic Moments

Overall, I'd say we aren't doing the greatest this year. I'd give us a solid "B" so far. We did do whiz bang yesterday at ice dancing though. The semifinals featured ice dancers falling all over themselves, but in the final the US pair of Agostino/Babel grabbed the silver with gusto. Costumes were the highlight. I saw "Pirates of the Carribean", "Deadwood", "Anthony and Cleopatra", "Florence Nightingale", "Snow Dogs" and "Star Tek" themed costumes.
Tonight features some big stuff.

The womens compulsory program for ice skating. The "Divas" competition as Dick Button calls it. Also, the big showdown in the mens 1500 meter speed skating event. Shani versus Chad.

But alas, the most Olympic achievement this weekend belongs to the 62 year old great-grandmother from Redding California who just gave birth to her 12th child. Her oldest son is 40.
And sadly, Curt Gowdy passed away this weekend. I can't watch Elk hunting in Wyoming on tv without hearing him whisper "we're about 200 yards downwind".

Olympics Tanka

Olympics started,
Chad won a speed skating gold!
Flying tomato.
I know what skeleton is,
I never want to do it.

Sheeps

Oke Rij

I was talking business with a feller from Oak Ridge yesterday. At the end of the conversation I aske dif he was from Tennessee and he said yes. He asked me if I follow Tennessee basketball. I replied "yes, when I can".

He then proceeded to praise Bruce Pearl for about 45 minutes straight without catching his breath. You would've thought Bruce had caught saddam Hussein and Osama with his bare hands. His enthusiasm for UT basketball was overwhelming.

I suppose that Pearl guy is doing a decent job....

Snow???

Let me see if I get this right...you get 41 inches of snow on Mt LeConte so you cancel school in Cedar Bluff? You guys are panicking way too early. Back when I was a kid it actually had to snow before school was cancelled. And if they didn't make the call in time, you just didn't go anyway cause you knew they would cancel it eventually when nobody showed up.

We are getting way too conservative as a nation. Part of the fun is overcoming the obstacles to becoming a winner. How's that for a jump from local snow to national malaise???

Blizzards

I understand Knoxville was besieged with one or two inches of snow yesterday. I think DC had some too, I'm not sure.

Sadly, I don't believe we are going to get a freeze this year. Last week there was a threat of it dipping below freezing one night for about an hour. But alas, it didn't quite make it. So we are going to go a whole winter without the temperature hitting 32. A whole winter.

The amazing part is the newspeople were warning us to bring our pets in, wrap our pipes, and cover our plants because of the (their words) "bitter" cold coming our way. Since when is near freezing "bitter" cold??? When's the last time that your pipes busted when the thermometer hit 40 degrees?

Flying tomater

The red headed snowboarder won, as did the Texan who ice skates. And now that Kwan has bowed out, another Texan steps up as first alternate in womens ice skating.

She has an odd name though. She is Katy Taylor. She lives in Katy Texas, and goes to Taylor high school. Just like you say "Knoxville Carter" we say "Katy Taylor". So Katy Taylor hails from Katy Taylor. Weird.

Olympics Is Near

My prediction for the Friday opening ceremonies....

Skaters in flowing outfits looking all artistic. You scratching your head saying "what are they supposed to be?" Your wife chiming in with "They represent world kindness and the need for cooperation among humanity." You replying "When does downhill start?"

I'm out tomorrow so no more posts (most likely) til Monday. Go USA.

My Unique Qualifications as a reporter

People have asked me numerous times...what makes me qualified to report on these Winter Olympics? Let me tell you, I have a unique and longstanding tie with the Games hometown of Turin (or Torino) Italy.

When I was in high school, I bought a ten speed bike that I road all the way through college and still ride today. In fact, I recently pumped up the tires and put significant miles on it during a recent athletics challenge. What is the brand name of this bike? It is a "Gios Torino".

Interesting you say, but it get's more freaky. In high school I ached to have my own car. My dad finally took me to look at a used car which had the definite potential to be my first car ever. Freedom, popularity all rode with convincing him this was the perfect fit for me. His interest of course, was much more along the "Does it run good and is it cheap" line of thinking. When we arrived at the sellers house I peered out into the driveway. There sat this orange behemoth of a vehicle. Not regular orange, not burnt orange, not even bright Tennessee orange. This was orange of seven shades brighter than traffic cone orange. And what kind of vehicle was to become my first ever car? What make and brand was to forever be my "first vehicle"?

A screaming orange Ford Gran Torino.

Freaky, huh? Don't you think these early character imprinters with Torino Italy make me uniquely qualified????

Ice Dancing and Skeleton, Yin and Yang

The two oddest events at the winter olympics? No, not curling. It's strange yet understandable. Ice dancing is one. I can appreciate it's a fun thing to do if your into that sort of thing....but an olympic event?

My favorite odd event has to be skeleton. That's right...skeleton. What a cool name for a sport. Do they fly pirate flags at the event? Do participants have to pledge to the pirate code? Instead of the national anthem when you win, do they play Alice in Chains "Dem Bones" as you stand on the podium with your gold medal? Is it a gold medal or gold dubloon? I want to do skeleton, whatever it is.

Forget The Super Bowl

Something much more entertaining is happening this week. The opening of the Winter Olympics! Ice Dancing, skeleton, half-pipe to just name a few of my favorite events. The games are smaller than the summer version, the stars are smaller, and everything is just a little more fun.

Look for complete coverage here. Especially for the 4 man bobsled team led by a Houstonian. Don't ask me how.

Super Bowl Tanka

Super Bowl Sunday,
Seattle versus Pittsburgh,
What a great matchup.
Will it be a bus or bird?
Seahawks thirty-one to 7.

Look for Big Ben to blowup and litter the field with interceptions. It was a good run Steelers. Shame it ends this way.

Groundhogs Day Sheeps

Anonymous Reply

"Anonymous" recently submitted this entry "Nickname for Pearl should be Mosses - he is leading this program out of the wilderness. " and then asked when his prize would be forthcoming.

First, he (or she) oughta make a few more Sunday School classes cause I think the fella's name was "Moses" not "Mosses". Perhaps he was thinking of Randy Moss?

And I'm proud to report that his prize was mailed yesterday. It was addressed to "Anonymous, USA". I'm sorry I didn't know a zip code so it may take a few extra days to arrive.

Today is Groundhog Days' Eve. Have you got your presents bought?