College Football Week 5

Today the Aggies start Big XII play against Texas Tech. Tech is an old Southwest Conference foe so there is a lot of history between the two teams. They are not our rivals, but for the past ten years or so, we have been theirs. They really have some of the most obnoxious fans in college football and that is speaking from my own experience including a trip to the '99 game in Lubbock. I really want to beat Tech because I love to see their "fans" cry. Roxi and I are in Houston today for Roxi to go to a Sat Nam Rasayan seminar, so my parents and I are watching the Tech game. So far I have only gotten to see the Aggies play once this season and to get a win today, they will have to play (and be coached) a whole lot better! So without further ado...BTHO Texas Tech!!

UPDATE: Halftime and Tech is up by ten on the Aggies. The thing that I have come to hate about games against Tech in the last few years is how close the game is at halftime and then how far ahead Tech is at the end of the game. We get the ball to start the second half, so hopefully we can do something with it and hold Tech on two series. We shall see...

UPDATE: Ags lose. We had the game in our hands with just over two minutes left, but as any Aggie knows, two minutes is all Tech needs to get a touchdown and that's just what they did. Ultimately, the team looked much better than they did against Army, but there were two exceptionally stupid "roughing the passer" penalties that kept Tech alive on two critical drives. Both drives resulted in touchdowns. So there's the game. I'm not really sure what this means overall. I guess it's possible that we could still win enough regular season games for a bowl game and be competitive, but I actually suspect that the rest of Big XII schedule will not be very pretty. I think that this is the beginning of the end of the Coach Fran era.

Only 10 More Days...

There are only ten more days until the season premiere of the third season of LOST and I am more than ready. I have spent the better part of my spare time during the summer reading various theories and rewatching the previous seasons on DVD in the hopes of gleaning some nugget of information that neither I nor the countless podcasters and webmasters have noticed before. I have a few ideas but I am ready for anything...the inevitable curveball that I know is coming. I'm ready for the ride.

Time.com has a great article about how LOST has saved television. I haven't been this interested in a network drama since the first season of 24 in 2001. As long as there are shows like this, I'll feel like TV is worth saving. Beware: if you haven't seen both seasons of LOST and want to be surprised by all the plot twists, DO NOT read this article. It will spoil some great moments that should be experienced by watching the show. Only ten more days to go!

College Football Week 4

I really haven't been keeping up with a lot of college football so far this year partly because the Aggies have only been on TV once and that non-conference game gave me little to be excited about for the rest of the season. This week's matchup is against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and it should be an easy win, although last week's game against Army should have been an easy win as well. There will be no TV for tonight's game which is for the best. I love to watch Aggie football, but not when it is riddled with avoidable mistakes and terrible coaching decisions. I hope that today's game plays out more like the games against The Citadel and Louisiana-Lafayette, but there is always a chance that the team that showed up against Army will show up against La Tech. So get it together guys and BTHO Louisiana Tech!

UPDATE: It looks like last week's Aggies showed up for the first quarter, but thankfully the Aggies of the first two games took over in the second quarter and never let up. Texas A&M defeated Louisiana Tech by a score of 45-14 giving the Aggies a 4-0 record heading into Big XII Conference play. Next week will be a tough one against Texas Tech. Let's go Ags! BTHO Texas Tech!!

The Fat Police Will Get You Where You Work (The Nanny State Continues)

I've written about personal responsibility a few times and the efforts of many to take care of every little stupid thing that you might do in your life. The latest assault is from our friends the Fat Police. In addition to controlling what your kids eat and drink at school, they are now coming after you in your workplace. But it is for your own good because you can't exercise enough self control to eat healthy snacks instead of junk food. Don't worry, it's not your fault. They will fix everything for you.

"We spend more time at work than at home," said Linda Shak, program coordinator at the Prevention Institute, which advocates healthy workplaces. "We really need to shift away from individual responsibility to corporate and government responsibility for creating an environment for healthy eating and activity."

We don't really need anything of the sort!

Work sucks. No matter how much you might like your job, some days are just no fun. Some people might want to make their days a little less miserable by having a cookie or a bag of salty, greasy potato chips. Of course some of those people might overdo it and gain weight in the process, but that is their business. If they want to be overweight and eat junk food at work, that is not the business of the government. The government is completely incapable of managing its own internal business so how could it ever succeed in managing anything properly in our personal lives?

Up In Smoke

Willie Nelson's tour bus was stopped in Breaux Bridge, LA early this morning and Nelson and four other passengers were ticketed for possession of 1.5 pounds of marijuana and 0.2 pounds of mushrooms. The citing officer claims that he was performing a routine commercial vehicle inspection, but I suspect that it's more likely he thought that the bus was on fire due to the amount of pot smoke streaming out of the windows.

Texas A&M's Pyrrhic Victory

Jesus Christ! A&M won the game tonight, but I think they lost the war! This is the kind of game that some people would say makes a team stronger, but I have very little faith in the coaching staff right now. There was a time that I would have given Coach Fran and company the benefit of the doubt, but that is long gone. I really don't think these guys have any idea what they are doing. They caught a really lucky break at the end of the game after making so many sloppy calls and rookie mistakes. The thing that troubles me the most was calling a time out with 22 seconds left on the clock while Army had possession. The clock was running and Army had no idea what to do so Fran decided to give them a chance to figure it out!?! WTF?

There will be no television coverage for next week's game against Louisiana Tech and I am fine with that! I don't know if I am ready to sit for four hours and watch the players shoot themselves in the foot play after play. I know that Roxi will prefer having my attention next Saturday rather than listen to me curse every time the Aggies make a stupid mistake. I think I cursed more than cheered and my cheers usually contained some sort of profanity anyway. I'm ready to move on, to what kind of season, I'm not sure, but I hope for now that the better part of it is untelevised.

College Football Week 3

It's a big day in the world of college football because there are seven games being played between teams ranked in the top 25. After today's games are over, there will be a lot of movement in the rankings even if all of the higher ranked teams beat the lower ranked teams. Of course, I expect one or two upsets, but then again, I'm always rooting for the upsets as long as the Aggies aren't the ones being upset.

Today's action for the Aggies finds Texas A&M taking on the Black Knights of West Point. A&M has a very long and storied military tradition in it's own right. Now that the school is co-ed and the military service is non-compulsory, the old, all-male military days are referred to as Old Army. Many of the yells that the fans use during football games involve rooting for Army. Today's game against West Point, aka Army, will be interesting in that respect. My dad already told me that the traditional "Beat The Hell Outta (opponent)" yell has been changed from "Beat The Hell Outta Army!" to "Beat The Hell Outta The Black Knights!" In any event, prior to the game, the cadets of both schools will be marching in a traditional military parade. I've seen the Aggie Corps of Cadets march in San Antonio before and it was very impressive. Adding in the Cadets of West Point should make the parade even more inspiring.

Also today, Roxi's LSU Tigers will be taking on their hated rival, the Tigers of Auburn. Of course this is another case of what I mentioned above. In this case, both teams yell for their Tigers, but the differentiation is how the fans spell what they yell. Auburn fans will be yelling "Go Tigers," while the LSU fans will be yelling "Geaux Tigers." It's very subtle, but when you hear it, the difference is clear!

Bring on the football!!!

Not the best way to get playing time

Mitch Cozad, the reserve punter for the University of Northern Colorado has been arrested for allegedly stabbing Rafael Mendoza, the starting punter, in his kicking leg. Who'd ever suspect the backup kicker?

Kazakhstan still doesn't think Borat is very funny

With the upcoming release of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has called for talks with President Bush to improve the image of Kazakhstan in the US.

Borat creator Sacha Baron Cohen is officially the most powerful man in the world. Two presidents are meeting to discuss a comedian! How ridiculous is that?

Here's the trailer for the movie that has renewed Kazakhstan's anger:



I love Borat!

Enough Said

Kittens Sure Grow Fast!

Percy's kittens have sure grown up quickly. At six weeks old, they are pretty much getting around on their own. They're still a little shaky on their legs, but they sure try and they love to play!

Aggie Football Update

My mom just called from College Station with a score update. The Aggies were up 14-0 against the Ragin' Cajuns at the end of the first quarter. Since then, Texas A&M has scored again giving them a 21 point lead on Louisiana-Lafayette. According to my mom, the Aggies are in complete control of the game thus far and don't look to be giving that up any time soon.

UPDATE: While I was writing this post, the Aggies scored again making it 28-0 with just over ten minutes left in the first half. I don't like it when teams run up the score, but I have a feeling that this one is going to get really ugly even with the third string playing by the end of the game. Gig 'Em Ags and enjoy these easier games...we have some hard ones coming right around the corner.

UPDATE: Ags win with a final score of 51-7!

College Football Week 2

Gig 'Em Aggies! BTHO Louisiana-Lafayette!

Sorry About The Flowers

Pitchfork online music magazine has reviewed my friend Steve's band Venice Is Sinking. Check out the review and the album, Sorry About The Flowers. If you like mellow indie rock, you'll love the album.

RIP Steve Irwin

I was somewhat shocked to see a headline this morning about the death of Steve Irwin, better known as the Crocodile Hunter. I say somewhat shocked because I have always thought that some of his antics with very dangerous animals looked like they were a little out of control. But having seen him wrestle with crocodiles and handle some of the most poisonous snakes in the world, I guess I began to feel like he was a little crazy but knew what he was doing. It's as if I thought of him as invincible. Sadly, he was not invincible. While filming an underwater segment for a new show over the weekend, he was stung in the heart by a stingray and died as a result of cardiac arrest. I feel saddest for his two very young children who will never really get to experience their father's love of animals. They will always have recordings of his programs, but it's just not the same. RIP Steve Irwin.

A Quick Football Update

Roxi and I are in Houston today and have been too busy to really watch any football but I am sitting in front of the TV right and saw that my undergrad Aggies are beating The Citadel 21-3 at halftime, but more excitingly, my grad school, Georgia Tech, is really pushing around the number 2 ranked Notre Dame. The Yellow Jackets just scored first but the Irish are looking to get even with Tech now that they have possession of the ball. I'm definitely no football expert, but it sort of looks to me like Notre Dame is a little nervous about their ranking and are underperforming. Stay tuned to see if the Yellow Jackets can pull off the upset. I always like to see Notre Dame lose, but it would be especially nice to see it happen at the hands of one of my schools!

UPDATE: Georgia Tech couldn't hang on to upset the number 2 ranked Notre Dame, but the Aggies were able to handily defeat The Citadel 35-3. I got to see some of the rest of the Tech game and they put up a heck of a fight but Notre Dame shouldn't be excited about their win other than that they stayed undefeated. My guess is that they won't remain that way for long. They are extremely overrated at this point, but then again what else is new about bogus preseason rankings?

College Football!

It's officially time for some college football (although the season technically kicked off on Thursday but that Mississippi State/South Carolina game was pretty damned boring). Here's to a great season. Gig 'Em Aggies! BTHO Citadel!