Word Whimsy

Here's the challenge: See if you can use the following words in the normal flow of conversation this week.

1. Panacea
2. Genesis (just regarding a beginning, not the first book of the Bible. that'd be too easy)

Bubble Watch

Joe Lunardi posted his weekly Bracketology on Monday.

I know I'm going to take some flack from my fellow Texas alumns and diehards, but I don't think we deserve to go dancing this year. If I was on the NCAA Selection Committee, I would pick A&M ahead of UT. We just haven't had that many marquee wins, and those wins are close. We haven't consistently blown people out.

Now, will UT get into the tourney? Probably, assuming they don't get creamed at Kansas on Saturday and win two games in the Big XII tournament. They're the Arizona of the Big XII. Even if they don't have a great record, it's almost as if the selection committee believes they have a birthright to the tournament.

I think yesterday helped clear up the picture.
Minnesota and Wisconsin switch places with the Golden Gophers in and the Badgers out. Either way, the fewer rodents the better.
Say bye-bye to Miami. The ACC is 6-bid conference at best, with BC not helping its cause by gakking at NC State.
The SEC is down this year, as noted by Kentucky losing to an 11-18 Georgia team. It's hard to deny the Wildcats, both the program and Billie Gillespie. I know Pat Forde would have a heart attack.
Same goes for Florida. Not much margin for error.
I think Tulsa played its way in.
A&M is on an absolute tear lately and owns non-conference wins over LSU & Arizona.
San Diego State and UNLV are battling for the 4th MWC bid.

The Big East is a good conference. However, I don't think Providence has done enough to get in. Seven bids is good for this league.

I think URI takes one of the bids from the ACC or Big East.

[Editor's Note: The above portion of the column written at lunchtime on 3/5/09]
Here's last night's scoreboard.

Well, Providence sure spit the bit last night. Thanks for making me look smart. :o)
VMI is the feel-good story of the year, taking out Liberty by 20.
Did Tennessee switch places with South Carolina or just push themselves onto the bubble a little further?
I think Penn State cemented its place in the Field fo 65.
Cal pushed Arizona firmly out of the Dance with a road win last night. If you have 12 losses and you're not from a traditional single-bid conference, you have no place in March.

Tune in these next three days to see what movement happens as the low- and mid-major conferences wrap up their tourneys.

[Editor's Note: The previous two paragraphs were published before Joe's Bracketology update today.]

Joe's new arrivals? Minnesota, Texas A&M.
Joe's first out? Arizona, Kentucky & Providence.
The second out? Miami.

Thanks Joe for confirming my thoughts.

Overheard This Weekend

Tiny One to her doll Emily on the dark car ride home Friday night:
"You can't see Honeybunch!"
"WeeHee Emily!" repeat ad nauseum

Tiny One to me Saturday night during Munchkin's 10-minute resistance to eating her green bean:
"Don't get frustrated Daddy."
When a 2-year-old is calling you out, you know you need to work on tone and body language.

Munchkin when presented with her black shoes to wear with her red dress on Sunday morning:
"Christmas shoes! WooHoo!"

The Good Things

It hasn't been all bad lately.

The girls have been playing very sweetly together a lot, becoming friends in addition to being sisters.

Tiny One has been really affectionate toward me, which revives my soul. There's been lots of Daddy hugs and air kisses. She's also been really into running to a spot and jumping. The gymnastics have been good for her.

Munchkin continues to be our little artist. It's fun to see the creativity she has with her designs and colors. She is very good at coloring inside the lines and cutting things out.

The weather is vacillating between mild winter and mild summer. The weatherpersons and newscasters are so annoying because they're always overly thankful for the warm weather. Alas, our 3-week allotment of winter weather is finished. I wonder what it would be like to live in a place where there's actually four seasons and summer doesn't last from May to October. A man can dream.

Viva Fernando!

What a concert!

I thoroughly enjoy his music and his time with us tonight was no exception. His off-the-wall rabbit-trail humor lends itself to a more familial tone, which is rather endearing.

I was a little bummed he only did one of his funnier songs, but was quite thrilled by the overall experience. The sound was amazing and the cello accompaniment was fabulous.

Thanks to MT for taking care of the girls for us.

Crawling Out From Under The Rock

Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been stupid busy at work. Yes, I just said "stupid busy".

Long story short is that we lost a couple of people in the lab three weeks ago and I've absorbed a lot more responsibilities. And one of my tests hasn't been working, compounding the extra work. There's been a lot of early mornings, late nights and weekend trysts with my GCs.

I am feeling very overwhelmed with everything. My esposa pointed out that I have a smattering of stress on my face, which I've been trying to combat with frequent face washings. So if you think of me, send up a prayer on my behalf, specifically that I'd be efficient with my time and that I'd be humble in my successes, as well as having the energy to be a husband and father when I am home.

Thanks.

Grace Memories

One of the founding couples of our church mentioned some of the memories they had in what will soon be the old sanctuary.

I thought I'd give some of my favorite memories of the old facility.

Got married to my beloved wife.
Dedicated both our children to the LORD.
Played saxophone for the music portion of worship.
Fernando Ortega and Andrew Peterson - Behold the Lamb of God concerts.

I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting; I've been a regular attender since January '98. Leave a comment with your favorite memories.

R

Super Bowl Reaction

So, as a parent, the days of sitting down to watch a full game are well done and gone.

The play that many talking heads are touting as the greatest play in Super Bowl history (probably), and even all of sporting history! is what I'm going to rant on.

Great play by James Harrison, including the high-stepping routine down the sideline. Deion Sanders would be proud.

HOWEVER!!!! that was a poor play call. I put that on the offensive coordinator. Does he have Greg Davis as his special counsel? YOU'VE GOT LARRY FREAKING FITZGERALD! HE LOVES THE BALL AND THE BALL LOVES HIM! HE IS THE JUMP-BALL KING! I throw at least two fades to him. At the very least, vary the snap count! Imagine if they gave the hard count on that ill-fated play? Guess what? Arizona football at the half-yard line. Think about if they started the play with the motion left and Warner swivels around and boots to the right to have a tight end pulling across the grain? So many options. Especially since there's not much room for the defense to patrol, you don't want to have a short pass. Everybody's coming forward.

Oh well.

Great game. Congrats to the Steelers. I know my manager is a happy woman.

New Building

Grace Transforms.

It's a catchy phrase. It was the theme for the campaign to build a new sanctuary. Not only was Grace Covenant Church transforming with the new facility, grace was also supposed to transform our lives in such a way that we'd be willing to give sacrificially to this project. It isn't supposed to be just for us to enjoy. It's for our Creator. And it's for the people of Austin to have a haven in their time of need.

Well, we were treated to a special sneak preview on Christmas Eve. I snagged this short panoramic video during one of the songs. You'll notice how packed the new auditorium is. This is mainly due to all the kids being there as well as the fact that was the only service of the night.

What a special time it was. It was awe-inspiring walking into the new place for the first time that night.

I hope you enjoy. If you can get past the blurry blackness.

Made it Into the Mailbag

Granted, it wasn't the Sports Guy's mailbag, but it'll do.

I'm a loyal reader of Tim Griffin's Big XII blog on ESPN and I sent him a question last week which made it into his mailbag.

Here's the text:

Ryan from Round Rock, Texas, writes: Tim, Why does everyone fawn over Josh Freeman? I know he has prototypical size for a QB, but he's maddeningly inconsistent. He's Chris Simms, except in a purple uniform. If I were Bill Snyder, I'd make him Kerry Meier 2.0 and put in a signal caller that can really read defenses.

Tim Griffin: The scouts I talk to all love Freeman's size and arm and his ability to move in and outside the pocket, but like you aren't enthralled with his consistency. I think he would do better to return to school, but I think some NFL team will make him a first-day selection if he was to declare.

And with all of the talk about the upcoming rookie salary scale, I think we'll probably see more players than ever declare for the draft this season.

Ruined!!

On our way up to visit family this weekend, we spent some time playing the alphabet song game, where you come up with a song that starts with every letter of the alphabet.

You know the song "He's got the whole world in His hands"?

As soon as we started singing it, my mind went to the scene in "Con Air" when they're leaving the old abandoned airport and Steve Buschemi is singing that while clutching the girl's doll. It's forever etched in my brain and I can't hear that song without thinking about that scene.

Pet Peeves

At work, there are windows along the hallway and on the door.
Why is it that people don't knock?
They just stand there at the door or the window and stare at you.
I guess they just expect me to sense they are there.
Do they think I am Darth Vader? (I can feel him)
Do they think I have eyes in the side or back of my head? (Ever see that episode of Outer Limits with the nanobots? Creepy!)
It bugs me to death.
I think I'll just start ignoring those people.

And another thing...
There is a guy at work that texts while he's on the pot.
I'm in there doing my business and I here this clicking in the stall next to me.
Does that person know they're being texted to from the john?
ICK!

And while we're here...
I'm beginning to be that old guy. You know the type.
Just a few short years ago I was that young punk weaving in and out of traffic, nearly causing a wreck every ten miles.
Tonight there was some jerk in a Spider that would tool around for a bit and just for fun start dartin in and out just because he could with his little sports car.
The best part? We stopped in Hillsboro and the doofus was wearing a Santa hat with a sly grin on his mug.
You know what happened next...he has to prove he's cool by blowing us off the line. Yeah, dude. You're cool. You just whupped a dude in the family car. Here's your sign.

Well, that about does it. Time to get these tired old bones to bed.

The Gory Details

Caution: If you've eaten recently or are not sitting down, come back when you're ready.

To get my beloved's take, click here.

These pictures are at the behest of the Zookeeper.

These are directly after the accident and before I cleaned up.

Please note: I understand that hairy legs aren't necessarily attractive, so adding the blood and subtracting some skin does not help at all.

Scraped nose and a bloody, but not busted, lip

Bloody elbow

Road rash on the right shoulder

Back of the left leg. I don't know where the flesh went. But I do miss it.

Front of left leg. The darker spots are some loose gravel from where the city has been repaving perfectly fine roads around our neighborhood. Something about beautification/upkeep.

All in all, not too bad. A lot of people have asked how my bike fared. The bike shop said it'd be about $65 to fix it. That sounds pretty cheap right? THAT'S BECAUSE MY LEFT LEG CUSHIONED THE BLOW!

The wheels looked okay. The only things that needed replaced were the quick-release mechanism and chain assembly on the back wheel. And the handlebars needed a little tweaking.

Yeah. But you should see the truck. Totalled the poor guy's Ram.

In all seriousness, though, I am very blessed to have walked away from this accident with what looks like only a sprained left knee and some road rash. PRAISE THE LORD!

Week 14 Rankings and the BCS

After last week saw no change in the top 6 spots in my rankings, it's time to publish my final rankings of the year. Again, I apologize for the formatting.


RC1 RC2 BCS
1 Oklahoma 12-1 0.9526 1 Texas 0.9583 1 Oklahoma 0.9757
2 Florida 12-1 0.9444 2 Oklahoma 0.9508 2 Florida 0.9479
3 Texas 11-1 0.9407 3 Florida 0.9427 3 Texas 0.9298
4 Texas Tech 11-1 0.9296 4 Utah 0.9240 4 Alabama 0.8443
5 Utah 12-0 0.9253 5 Alabama 0.9198 5 USC 0.8208
6 Alabama 12-1 0.9036 6 Texas Tech 0.9075 6 Utah 0.7846
7 Boise State 12-0 0.8953 7 Boise State 0.8931 7 Texas Tech 0.7840
8 Penn State 11-1 0.8943 8 Penn State 0.8929 8 Penn State 0.7384
9 Ohio State 10-2 0.8928 9 Ohio State 0.8894 9 Boise State 0.6980
10 Cincinnati 11-2 0.8741 10 Cincinnati 0.8738 10 Ohio State 0.6354
11 Georgia 9-3 0.8632 11 USC 0.8669 11 TCU 0.5848
12 TCU 10-2 0.8577 12 Pittsburgh 0.8661 12 Cincinnati 0.5384
13 USC 11-1 0.8524 13 Georgia 0.8597 13 Oklahoma State 0.4866
14 Georgia Tech 9-3 0.8487 14 TCU 0.8556 14 Georgia Tech 0.4516
14 Pittsburgh 9-3 0.8487 15 Michigan State 0.8477 15 Georgia 0.3775
16 Oklahoma State 9-3 0.8446 16 Oklahoma State 0.8422 16 BYU 0.3580
17 Florida State 8-4 0.8312 17 Ball State 0.8261 17 Oregon 0.3395
18 Michigan State 9-3 0.8310 18 BYU 0.8260 18 Michigan State 0.2866
19 BYU 10-2 0.8265 19 Georgia Tech 0.8258 19 Virginia Tech 0.2440
20 Ball State 12-1 0.8264 20 Nebraska 0.8195 20 Pittsburgh 0.2377
21 Virginia Tech 9-4 0.8216 21 Boston College 0.8194 21 Missouri 0.1627
22 Boston College 9-4 0.8207 22 Missouri 0.8192 22 Ball State 0.1464
23 Missouri 9-4 0.8202 23 Virginia Tech 0.8187 23 Northwestern 0.1377
24 North Carolina 8-4 0.8044 24 Florida State 0.8049 24 Boston College 0.1046
25 Nebraska 8-4 0.8024 25 North Carolina 0.8017 25 Ole Miss 0.0837
26 Ole Miss 8-4 0.7999 26 Ole Miss 0.7974
27 Northwestern 9-3 0.7955 27 Northwestern 0.7948

Some brief thoughts:
1. Except for USC & Oregen being too low and Florida State too high, RC1 was pretty close to the BCS, even jumping Florida over Texas this week. Last year RC2 was closer. That's the fun part.
2. Word to Nate Davis: The ball is not a live ferret. (More props to TMQ). Do not drop it or give it to the other team. (I know one wasn't your fault).

Now, onto the BCS.
You may or may not remember this post back on November 23rd. Let's just say that so far I am two for two. OU did jump Texas for the Big XII South title and the BCS Championship Game is Florida versus Oklahoma. Overall, I'm not too upset. After expecting four losses and only getting tagged with one (a game which we had no business winning), I'm good with how things broke.
Now, youz guyz wit da Burnt Ornge flowing tru dose veins, don't get too upset. I'm flummoxed by the BC-Mess just like everyone else is, but there's not going to be a playoff any time soon, no matter what the President-elect says. I urge Mr. Obama to focus on much more important things like Social Security, Wall Street and the like. With any format you look at with 4, 8 or 16 teams, we still have to go through Florida and OU again. With the 8-team format we'd beat USC fairly easily and then meet Florida. With a 16-team format, we'd take care of Georgia Tech (not without a good fight), then cruise past Utah before meeting Florida. Do we beat Florda? It's not outside the realm of possibility. Our D-line would cause some havoc, which is what Ole Miss used to defeat the Gators at The Swamp. Offensively, we've got more weapons than the Crimson Tide team that fizzled out in the SEC Championship Game. Beat them and we have a rematch with OU that we win or lose by a slim margin.

As far as The Ohio State University making it into the BCS, I think it's a sham. I'd much rather see Boise State in there.

Well, that's it for now. I'll check back later when bowl season starts.

What a Woman!

I know that you know that my Bride is a wonderful woman. Not only is she a godly woman, but she is a great wife to me, an awesome mother to my children and a super friend and family member.

I also know that you know that, like most men, I married up.

And while that corny line "You complete me" remains as corny as ever, it also has quite a bit of truth in it. See, I've historically been a bad finisher. And although last year was "The Year of Follow-through" for me, I still have leaps and bounds to go. But as we heard this past Sunday, I'm not going to get fixed, I'm just going to get better. That's where my Bride comes in.

This weekend brought the enormous task of leaf-gathering at our house. You know that it can be a rather back-breaking go of it after a while. And it was. I was ready to throw in the towel, but my Babe just kept raking. This lesson isn't just for me anymore. It's for my girls. They need not just a Mommy, but a Daddy as well, that knows how to follow through and finish a task, no matter what the cost.

So thanks Babe for being God's instrument for change in my life and instruction for our girls.

I love you.

:o*

Week 12 BCS Rankings

You, my friends, get the rankings that you want and deserve. I'll post them and give some feedback.

For those of you not familiar with my rankings, I have two formulae and the BCS results side by side for comparison. Last year, I liked the way RC2 ended versus the BCS rather than RC1. Maybe next year I won't even fiddle with RC1.

Here is a link to the expanded BCS Standings.

Anyhow, without further ado...

RC1 RC2 BCS
1 Oklahoma 10-1 0.9313 1 Texas 0.9518 1 Alabama 0.9872
2 Texas 10-1 0.9302 2 Alabama 0.9431 2 Texas 0.9209
3 Florida 10- 1 0.9262 3 Oklahoma 0.9322 3 Oklahoma 0.9125
4 Alabama 11- 0 0.9239 4 Florida 0.9274 4 Florida 0.8755
5 Texas Tech 10-1 0.9149 5 Utah 0.9141 5 USC 0.7974
6 Utah 12-0 0.9118 6 Georgia 0.8989 6 Utah 0.7858
7 Georgia 9-2 0.8984 7 Texas Tech 0.8973 7 Texas Tech 0.7789
8 Penn State 11- 1 0.8818 8 Penn State 0.8840 8 Penn State 0.7520
9 Boise State 11- 0 0.8799 9 Boise State 0.8810 9 Boise State 0.6581
10 Okla. State 9- 2 0.8758 10 Okla. State 0.8771 10 Ohio State 0.6210
11 Ohio State 10-2 0.8741 11 Ohio State 0.8749 11 Georgia 0.6020
12 Missouri 9-2 0.8605 12 Missouri 0.8625 12 Okla. State 0.5705
13 Cincinnati 9-2 0.8563 13 Cincinnati 0.8595 13 Missouri 0.5589
14 Ball State 11- 0 0.8493 14 USC 0.8526 14 TCU 0.4702
15 FSU 8- 3 0.8453 15 Ball State 0.8511 15 Ball State 0.4379
16 TCU 10- 2 0.8437 16 TCU 0.8453 16 Cincinnati 0.3971
17 USC 9- 1 0.8351 17 Pittsburgh 0.8370 17 Oregon St. 0.3131
18 GT 8- 3 0.8310 18 Mich. State 0.8335 18 BYU 0.2625
19 BC 8-3 0.8163 19 FSU 0.8240 19 Mich. State 0.2218
20 Pittsburgh 7-3 0.8158 20 BC 0.8177 20 FSU 0.1882
21 BYU 10-2 0.8137 21 BYU 0.8166 21 BC 0.1862
22 Mich. State 9-3 0.8136 22 GT 0.8114 22 GT 0.1812
23 WVU 7- 3 0.8011 23 WVU 0.8027 23 Oregon 0.1551
24 UCONN 7- 3 0.7978 24 Nebraska 0.8027 24 Northwestern 0.1130
25 WMU 9-2 0.7848 25 UCONN 0.7996 25 Pitt 0.0413

I've tried several ways to fiddle with this, but for some reason the formatting simply won't work. Sorry it's such a jumble.

Some thoughts:
1. My formulae have never been friendly to USC. It's the overall weakness of their conference, couple with the fact they've played two fewer games than most of the top teams. From a non-formulaic standpoint, their offense just isn't putting up the points it needs to. They'd get destroyed by a Big XII or SEC team.
2. Other than USC being lower and Georgia being higher, everything jells fairly well with the BCS rankings until you get to the very bottom. Note that Georgia's average computer ranking is 9 and they're not too far away from being #7.
3. In addition to USC, Alabama is being held back by its opponents. The only two teams with a tougher schedule than Texas are Arkansas and Utah State.

Child's Play

So, twice a month or so, my dear wife takes the girls to the Family Connections Library and they bring home fun things to play with. I think this time Daddy had as much, or more, fun than the girls.

There was one more of a giant triangle that I made, but I couldn't find it. Oh well.

Crimson and Creamed

That game was competitive for all of a nanosecond. Oklahoma asserted its dominance on both sides of the ball and it was a rout like none I've seen in a long time.

I loved the decision by Stoops to go for the onside kick after being up 28-0 in the second quarter. He went for the jugular. You get it back and most likely score another TD and it's 35-0. If not, your D holds them and gets the ball back. Our neighbors were here and I said "I'm calling it. Time of death: Second quarter, 7:45 remaining."

What does this mean for the Longhorns? In the words of the immortal Jim Mora, Sr.: "Diddly-poo". Here's how it was going to play out:
1. Tech wins and goes to the Big XII Championship Game.
2. OU wins, but loses to OSU in the Bedlam Game next week, giving Tech the Big XII South title, assuming they beat Baylor.
3. OU wins against both Tech and OSU and jumps us in the BCS rankings to claim the Big XII South.

So I wasn't really rooting for either team. I just think OU will give the Florida-'Bama winner a better game. The way I see it playing out is Florida-OU in the BCS Championship Game with Florida winning their second title in three years, with the score roughly 55-35. There's gonna be a lot of points on the board. What OU will need to do is run straight at the Gators. There's just too much speed to try to bounce it outside. And on D, they need to hold contain, which will be hard to do with the track team that disguises itself as the Florida offense.

You heard it here first.

Oh, and maybe I'll put the time in to post my Rankings. The past few weeks at work haven't been conducive to the Rankings, let alone the consistent Monday-Wednesday night commitments.

Longhorn Football

You knew it was coming. Perhaps you've even pined for it, yearning for my take on that fateful autumn night two weeks ago in Lubbock, Texas.

I'm not going to go into the whole 4th game in a row against a Top 11 team or trying to get up emotionally for the 4th game in a row. I'll just talk exes and ohs.

If you were to tell me that we'd go into Lubbock after that gauntlet and hold Tech to just 30 offensive points, I would've bet the house! And the car. And what's left of my 401K. That is if I was allowed to gamble.

1. This is the biggest game in the history of your opponent's athletic department, not just football. Students had camped out starting on Tuesday for tickets. You know it's going to be loud.
2. You are pinned on your own 2-yard line with said home crowd roaring at military afterburner levels (props to TMQ).
3. Yes, you average better than 4 yards per carry, but you average 12 yards per reception--your bread and butter--and you've almost double passing yards versus rushing yards. If you're as intelligent as a cucumber, you decide a quick slant or at the very least an option to the wide side of the field. Apparently, if you're Greg !%*&^ Davis, you call a slow-developing run into the teeth of a defense just itching to give their crowd one more reason to ratchet up the noise. If A=B and B=C, then Greg Davis is less intelligent than a cucumber.
4. It took 3.5 quarters to figure out what to do on offense after losing Quan Cosby to injury.
5. That pick-six that Colt threw to Charbonnet has been itching to happen for several weeks now. You've seen the Brett Favre coming out where Colt forgets to just throw the ball away. But give credit for Ruffin McNeal having his defense prepared and a few wrinkles to throw McCoy off his game.
6. Tech dominated, flat dominated, the line of scrimmage for 55 minutes of that game.
7. With UT driving for the game-winning touchdown, a smart player falls down at the 1-inch line to take some more time off the clock. If you're the #1 team in the nation and you can't gain 1 inch in two attempts, you don't deserve to be #1.
8. Everybody talks about Blake Gideon's dropped INT, but nobody talks about Earl Thomas taking himself out of the final play. If you watch the replay (by the way, you couldn't miss it because it was all over ESPN.com), you'll see that Thomas (#12) runs slick smooth past Crabtree and onto the sideline. You're a safety. Your job is to hit people and hit people hard. Crabtree's momma should still be feeling that hit. Why didn't you hit anybody? Take a page from the Rodney Harrison playbook and do everything but commit a felony to prevent him from either catching the ball, landing in bounds or making any progress toward the goal-line or sideline.

So our only chance to make the Big XII title game and National Championship game rest on OU and Baylor's porous defenses to shut down The Fighting Mike Leaches? Good luck with that. By the way, this is the best use of the "The Fighting Coaches Name Plural" of any I've seen. The Jeff Tedfords, et cetera just don't have the catchet of the Leaches. Sounds like a CFL summer league team name.

Congrats to Tech on a whale of a game and a downright demolition of the OSU Pokes. See you in Miami.

Finally, it's odd that I am able to have perspective on this sort of thing. But when my preseason expectation was four losses, three at best, I'm excited to see what next year holds. Now if we can just not play down to A&M in a few weeks.

Has it really been that long?

The last post was October 20th. At that time, gas was somewhere in the $2.90 range. Tonight I filled up at the BP on 620 & I35 for $1.99.

It hasn't been in the ones since what, 9-11?

Now if only the cost of everything else starts to come down. I'd like to see milk back in the twos again.