We've got a lot of catching up to do

Can't sleep. Thankfully, C's conked out, but it's been hit and miss for me tonight--mostly miss. But hey, that gives me a chance to blog, which I haven't done in over two weeks. There are a lot of thoughts I've had, and I'll try to share as many as I can before hopefully getting tired enough to fall asleep.

The Kobe Bryant Saga: If Karl Malone had been a white man when making that "I'm hunting little Mexican girls" comment, he'd be strung up by now. But it's been brushed over by the media. Think about if someone like, say, President Bush said something like that they'd be holding a trial for sexual harassment and LULAC would be denouncing him and he would never get a single Hispanic vote again if he ran for public office. I'm surprised there hasn't been much of a fuss. But since it's Kobe, who knows if it's true or not. And that's probably why.

M has been kicking like crazy lately. It's amazing to feel her movements and watch her roll around in C's belly. A lot of folks who know C are making "We've got a gymnast on the way" comments. I'm thinking not so much. I mean sure, if I want her to be less than 5.5 feet tall, have delayed development, spend untold thousands of dollars for lessons, leotards and shipping her around for tournaments and have all sorts of bone problems when she's in her 30s and 40s. If she's tall like her daddy, then I'll teach her to play basketball she'll have it made. And if she makes it to the WNBA, if it still exists, then she can help retire her parents. That my friends is the American Dream.

Parenting, huh. That's gonna be a kick in the pants. But seriously folks tell your child no and stick by it, present a united front for your children and spank 'em every once and a while and the world would be a better place. And if someone tries to tell me it's wrong to spank your child, I'll point them to the Bible (Heb 12:4-11, Prov 13:24, Prov 23:13-14, Prov 29:15, etc) and I'll tell them that they can raise their kids their way and we'll raise 'em ours and I'll see you in 20 years and when mine turn out to be better citizens, then they'll see that spanking ain't so bad after all. Kids crave boundaries. They want to know what's right and wrong, what they can and can't do. Thankfully, God has given me an amazing woman who is going to be a great mother and has helped prepare me to be a good father. I'm excited to be a dad. I'm just wary of raising our children with all the political and social turmoil that awaits them. However, we're not going to try to shield them from everything, because that's impossible. And if we do, when they get to college it'll be total culture shock and there's pretty much two things that will happen: either they will entrench themselves deeper into isolation or they'll go hog wild, neither of which is healthy.

Texas in the Rose Bowl. Now, I do feel sorry for Cal players and coaches and fans, but, one, that's the way the system works, and two, if history is any indicator, they'll be in the BCS next year. Texas got jobbed last year, so it's their turn this Saturday. But they have to beat Michigan. No ifs ands or buts about it. If we--I speak in terms of we due to my alumni status--don't win, and it'll help to win big, then all the naysayers will have fodder for the "Cal is a better team than Texas" debate. Possibly. Possibly not. All I know is, breaking it down, it's gonna be a tough road ahead of our boys come 4pm CST. Let's break it down and give you the stats leaders for skill positions:

PAS	Vince Young-1669 yds	Chad Henne-2516 yds
RSH	Cedric Benson-1764 yds	Mike Hart-1372 yds
REC	Tony Jeffery-399 yds	Braylon Edwards-1221 yds

UT Off vs UM Def: Ernest Shazor & Marlin Jackson versus Vince Young & UT's weak receiving corps is the key matchup here. Cedric will get his yards and a TD or two, but they have a lockdown corner that'll take away one side of the field and a hard-hitting safety waiting for the deep ball. Our only chance is to use our talented tight ends to stretch the field, making the Michigan 'backers have to cover, thus opening up running lanes for Ced. I mean, just look at our receiving "leader" Tony Jeffery: 399 yards is pitiful. But it's not his fault VY can't throw the ball. Edge: Michigan
UT Def vs UM Off: No lockdown corner to put on Braylon Edwards scares me. People will say that Henne & Hart are freshman, but anyone who's not a casual fan of the game understands that by this time they've played in two tough conferences. It's like Diaper Dandies in the NCAAs. Just like Oklahoma's AD, Hart will get his yards, at least a buck fifty. They won't be employing the services of #2 receiver Jason Avant thankfully, but they still have Steve Breaston & Tim Massaquoi to create matchup problems with our defensive backfield. We've got the Dick Butkus and Bronko Nagurski Award-winning Derrick Johnson (DJ) wreaking havoc, but unless we get a decent pass rush and run defense from our front four, it's gonna be a long afternoon and evening. At the end of the day though, it's Braylon Edwards giving the Slight Edge: Michigan
Special Teams: We've got great kickers, but we don't have a return man. I mean, it's been since Eric Metcalf donned the Burnt Orange & White since we've had a game-changing kick returner. The Wolverines only weak link is PK Garret Rivas. However, the hidden yards of a field-position game will be won by Michigan, with a difference of about +14 yards per possession considering punting and return averages. Edge: Push
Coaching: As Bill Simmons would say, I just threw up in my mouth. You've got the Good Ole Boy Mack Brown versus the grating, stodgy Lloyd Carr. You also have Mack's "Stuck on You" partner Greg Davis, he of the "Gee, it's 3rd-7 and we've got Roy, BJ & Sloan, let's go 5-wide and run them on 3- to 5-yard slant and out patterns and let them make up the yardage needed for first down" fame. I mean seriously, if you had on coaching staff to win a game that determined your life or death, who would you pick? Me too. There's a reason a recent ESPN.com Sportsnation poll had the answer of Zero (26%) for the question "If OU & UT played ten times, how many would Texas win?" The kicker? 10 was not an option! Edge: Michigan
Intangibles: Players who grow up wanting to go to Michigan or any other Big10 or Pac10 school dream about playing in the Grandaddy of 'Em All. Texas players? I guess the Sugar Bowl. Here's the deal. Last year, Arkansas players were geared up about renewing the old SWC rivalry with Texas and our boys were ho-hum about it. They were like "Sure...Southwest Conference...makes my blood boil" while stifling yawns. It was just another game. The Hogs had the mental advantage. Fast forward to Jan 1 and you've got Texas with a just-happy-to-be-here we-need-to-beat-them attitude going against a team that understands and enjoys the pomp and circumstance that surround the Rose Bowl. They were bred for this game. Texas not so much. That's why I have to give a Slight Edge: Michigan
My final score prediction: UM 24 - UT 13
As much as it pains me to say that, I'm a realist. If I was just another fringe college football fan, you wouldn't get all that stuff I just said. Now, if you were to ask me about the USC-OU game, I honestly have no clue. They're evenly matched in all facets of the game, although OU got pushed around by balanced offenses late in the season. So maybe a very slight edge to USC. Traditional thinking says this game is gonna be a shootout, but then you have the OU-FSU title game a few years back that ended 13-2. And that, my friends, is why they play the games.
I leave you with a haiku...

BCS: Texas
At number four? Methinks Cal
Doeth protest too much.

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

Love:
Quiet car running on smooth pavement with no radio. Makes the long ride go along so much smoother and quicker.

Hate:
Austin meteorologists bemoaning the cold weather coming...in December! They say "Enjoy these 70s while you can because there's a cold front moving in on Monday."

Love:
College football bowl season. Nothing beats sitting on the couch and watching 12 straight hours of football.

I leave you with a haiku:
Texas Longhorns in
BCS. Didn't get gypped
Two years in a row.

More on the BCS later.

Truth and Consequences (not the New Mexico town)

The following from the MSNBC.com blog pages:

	
NEW YORK - We have been inviting Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell to

appear on Countdown since we began to cover the voting irregularities story on November

8th. It struck me as not quite coincidental that he finally joined us the same day the

Ohio GOP issued what might be the first Republican recognition of any kind that there

are questions about the vote - a news release with the gaudy headline “Democrats

Struggle to Justify Unnecessary Recount / (Jesse) Jackson swoops in to fuel conspiracy

theories even Kerry lawyers admit are baseless.” While it was the Greens and Libertarians

filing for the recount, the Republicans seemed to prefer silence. But after Jackson spoke

in Columbus Sunday and Cincinnati Monday, suddenly Mr. Blackwell was available. “I think

what happened,” he said, “is that Jesse Jackson ran around the block and tried to get

out in front of a parade that was already on the march.”




Jesse Jackson has done some great things for the Civil Rights movement; the

Rainbow/PUSH coalition comes to mind.  However, in recent decades he has done more to

set it back by making himself a media circus.  He did the same thing back when I was

at The University of Texas.  I can't remember what exactly had happened, I think

something about race and SAT scores, but he indeed swooped in to fuel the fire.  He

made it about his face time rather than the comments made by the UT professor.  But

don't think this is racism.  Many white folk in Hollywood have boarded bandwagons as

though they are the engineers, and, while it's good they can put their money and their

faces toward campaigns against human suffering, it can quickly become about them.

So, I salute Mr. Blackwell for having the guts to say something like he did.  I know

he'll get a lot of flack for it, with many pundits labeling him a racist.  My hope is

that he won't back down and retract his statement.  That's a pet peeve of mine.

People say something that is both harsh and truthful, but when someone gets offended

they tuck tail and run and hide behind their PR people.  They said they didn't mean

what they said, blah blah blah.  Sure you meant it or it wouldn't have come out of your

mouth.  Now you just lost your integrity.  I told someone recently that you can't

please 100% of the people 100% of the time or you'll die of a heart attack by the time

you're 30.  Sure I want people to like me, but I'm going to say something that's going

to get under someone's skin.  You know why it gets under your skin so much?  Because

it's possibly true and you don't like that you could have a weakness.  I know I don't

like to think I have a problem or weakness.  And I feel hurt and angry when someone

points it out to me.  But it's up to me to react in the correct way; to look at myself

and figure out if what's said is true.  If so, then I should thank the person who

pointed it out to me and work on it.  I've said things in the recent past that,

although I'm sorry I hurt feelings, I absolutely meant.  I could have done it in a

different way and perhaps not had such a hard time.  And hey, I could be wrong;

perception isn't always reality.  I deserved the consequences of my actions.  But I

take responsibility, apologize for the way I went about it and try to learn from it.



Until next time, Hook 'em Horns, go Southern Miss.  I'll be posting my fix to the

BC-Mess.