Apparently not, but that's a great thing!
It's just been announced that EVERY OU player with remaining eligibility -- including Heisman Trophy winner and possible #1 overall pick Sam Bradford -- is coming back for another run at a championship. 4 players considered bolting for the cash, and all four decided to stay. Don't get me wrong -- there are some losses to graduation (most of the line, the more workmanlike of the receivers, a starting safety), but next year the defense should be monstrous and the best quarterback in the nation will either throw to the best tight end in the nation or hand off to either of the returning 1,000 yard rushers. They would have been good with them gone, but they'll be murder with them back. Boomer.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
O For 09
So I have to be at work in 6 hours, but after coming out on the short end of a National Championship game, sleep isn't likely right now. So here are some thoughts:
1) Congratulations to Florida. I hate them, of course. But they won the game, they get the trophy, and that's really about the size of it.
2) Congratulations also to Utah. Great year and big win over Alabama. In no way, however, is there any kind of national championship. "Claim" whatever you want. "Recognize" whatever you want. I may claim a championship for my 8th grade boys basketball team, but who cares? You can't "win" a championship if you're not playing in the championship game, you see. And if you argue that it isn't "fair," I guess I don't really care. Here's the deal -- the minute you strap on your Utah gear, you basically forfeit any chance to play for the national championship. Play in a BCS conference, and then you'll have your chance.
(Side note -- I happened to listen to far too much sports talk radio this last week, and it's pretty much unanimous that it was an "incredible" win over Alabama. Doesn't that say it all? Was Florida's win "incredible?" Would Oklahoma's have been? No. Of course not. And it just goes to show that even the media members who say that Utah should (or does!) have the championship are implicitly acknowledging that there's a discrepancy between them and the schools that play for the championship for real.)
3) T** T**** (OH MY GOSH!!! Pee Wee Herman was RIGHT to worry, T** T****'s name actually HAS been worn out!) is probably a legitimate good guy. Ok, good. I hope he is. But the taunting as the game wound down sure forfeited any claim to the "high road" that he or the team would have had. Not calling him a bad guy or claiming that OU players are any better -- every team has their quality people and their obnoxious jerks -- just saying that the high road is gone.
4) In what turns out to be a fortuitous twist for me, I'm not the antichrist. After the Celtics and Phillies both take home the hardware in the same year, there had been some questions asked. I can only imagine that that trickle of speculation would have expanded into a hurricane if I were to be ordering another championship dvd instead of writing this post.
5) I'm already dreading the "Bob can't win BCS game" trash talk. I've always thought those were the most ridiculous slams possible. So he's lost 5 straight BCS games. So he's lost his last 3 National Championship games. How about you? Unless you're doing better (anyone? Bueller, anyone?) how are you going to slam the team that makes a splash every single year? It's like making fun of me because I keep getting dumped by supermodel girlfriends after 6 months when you're hoping to take Kathy Bates out for chili-cheese fries. Win a championship (just to get to even!) and be in a BCS game every year, and then talk. Or better yet, be gracious about it and just enjoy your sucess. But of course, you haven't HAD that kind of success, so that doesn't really apply to you, does it? (the chili-cheese fries are EXTRA good dipped in ranch, huh?)
6) I'm coming home from work tomorrow and watching my Celtics and Phillies championship dvd's. It's going to be great. I'm actually wearing a Phillies Championship sweatshirt right now.
1) Congratulations to Florida. I hate them, of course. But they won the game, they get the trophy, and that's really about the size of it.
2) Congratulations also to Utah. Great year and big win over Alabama. In no way, however, is there any kind of national championship. "Claim" whatever you want. "Recognize" whatever you want. I may claim a championship for my 8th grade boys basketball team, but who cares? You can't "win" a championship if you're not playing in the championship game, you see. And if you argue that it isn't "fair," I guess I don't really care. Here's the deal -- the minute you strap on your Utah gear, you basically forfeit any chance to play for the national championship. Play in a BCS conference, and then you'll have your chance.
(Side note -- I happened to listen to far too much sports talk radio this last week, and it's pretty much unanimous that it was an "incredible" win over Alabama. Doesn't that say it all? Was Florida's win "incredible?" Would Oklahoma's have been? No. Of course not. And it just goes to show that even the media members who say that Utah should (or does!) have the championship are implicitly acknowledging that there's a discrepancy between them and the schools that play for the championship for real.)
3) T** T**** (OH MY GOSH!!! Pee Wee Herman was RIGHT to worry, T** T****'s name actually HAS been worn out!) is probably a legitimate good guy. Ok, good. I hope he is. But the taunting as the game wound down sure forfeited any claim to the "high road" that he or the team would have had. Not calling him a bad guy or claiming that OU players are any better -- every team has their quality people and their obnoxious jerks -- just saying that the high road is gone.
4) In what turns out to be a fortuitous twist for me, I'm not the antichrist. After the Celtics and Phillies both take home the hardware in the same year, there had been some questions asked. I can only imagine that that trickle of speculation would have expanded into a hurricane if I were to be ordering another championship dvd instead of writing this post.
5) I'm already dreading the "Bob can't win BCS game" trash talk. I've always thought those were the most ridiculous slams possible. So he's lost 5 straight BCS games. So he's lost his last 3 National Championship games. How about you? Unless you're doing better (anyone? Bueller, anyone?) how are you going to slam the team that makes a splash every single year? It's like making fun of me because I keep getting dumped by supermodel girlfriends after 6 months when you're hoping to take Kathy Bates out for chili-cheese fries. Win a championship (just to get to even!) and be in a BCS game every year, and then talk. Or better yet, be gracious about it and just enjoy your sucess. But of course, you haven't HAD that kind of success, so that doesn't really apply to you, does it? (the chili-cheese fries are EXTRA good dipped in ranch, huh?)
6) I'm coming home from work tomorrow and watching my Celtics and Phillies championship dvd's. It's going to be great. I'm actually wearing a Phillies Championship sweatshirt right now.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Metal Was Great in 2008!
I think I have one reader who listens to metal. But let's be honest -- this blog isn't really written for readers anyway. So, just because I want to, here's a year-end top 10 from my world of metal (and hardcore).
Of course, I haven't heard every record from 2008, so in fairness to some that I've missed, here are a few who would have been most likely to have made the list but for eluding my grasp:
Azmaveth -- Strong as Death: What I've heard of this has absolutely ripped.
In Exordium -- In Exordium: The new Paramaecium playing death metal? How did I not find a way to get ahold of this? I should be ashamed of myself, and I am.
Mirror of Dead Faces -- Lamentation: Everybody who's heard this raves. But metal raves, not like techno raves.
Synnove -- The Wh0re and the Bride: This band was kind of considered marginal until this effort, which is "supposed" to be fantastic.
One album that I have no idea what to do with:
Frost Like Ashes -- Born to Pieces: On musical merit, this is easily top 10. But they call it an ep, and even though it's 10 tracks, there are only 2 new songs, a couple re-recordings, and a Johnny Cash cover? There's just no category for this.
Finally a couple honorable mention that were good listens but didn't crack the final list:
For Today -- Ekklesia: Why were bands like For Today and Nodes of Ranvier not around when I was growing up in the Midwest? Oh yeah, because the members were probably about 4.
My Silent Wake -- A Garland of Tears: A good album, but not up to snuff with last year's outstanding Anatomy of Melancholy.
Once Nothing -- First Came the Law: More fun "Southern metal." From Pittsburgh?
And finally, the winners:
10. Call to Preserve -- From Isolation: Probably the best tough-guy hardcore band going right now.
9. Austrian Death Machine -- Total Brutal: Easily the best joke band in the history of the world. And while the music is admittedly trite and generic, it's listenable, too.
8. Holy Blood -- The Patriot: It has to be tough to follow up the completely brilliant Waves Are Dancing.
7. Soul Embraced -- Dead Alive: An impressive return. Maybe more bands should take a few years off.
6. The Famine -- The Raven and the Reaping: The embodiment of brutality and chaotic death/metalcore.
5. Once Dead -- Visions of Hell: Depending on your persective, you may have waited 3, 16, or even 18 years for this. Regardless, it proved worthwhile and the best old-school thrash album in what feels like forever.
4. MyChildren MyBride -- Unbreakable: Some people rip on this for not being original. Fair enough, but I'll bet that those people go to Wendy's when MyChildren MyBride are feasting at Fuddruckers.
3. War of Ages -- Arise & Conquer: These cats have it down. A great album that takes the next step forward from Pride of the Wicked.
2. Sympathy -- Anagogic Tyranny: Insanely brutal and professional sounding technical death metal. Blistering blast beats, phenomenal leads, just all around fantasticness.
1. Becoming the Archetype -- Dichotomy: Last year's Physics of Fire was good but still somewhat disappointing for such a leading band. This one, however, is only disappointing if you were hoping that they'd suck. Brutal, catchy, memorable, progressive, technical, atmospheric, and dare I say worshipful? What more could anybody possibly imagine could come from an audio compact disc? Truly a masterpiece, and if you only buy 1 album from 2008, I'd suggest that you reconsider your record buying policy and then pick this one up.
On the whole, at this point '08 doesn't quite have the depth of '07 which had a tremendous number of great releases, but if some of those that I missed come through it could be as good yet. But for the moment I'm more looking ahead to what promises to be an excellent '09, with albums from A Plea for Purging, Living Sacrifice, Deus Invictus, Impending Doom, Monotheist, Dagon, Believer, and Divine Symphony to name a few. Wohoo!
Of course, I haven't heard every record from 2008, so in fairness to some that I've missed, here are a few who would have been most likely to have made the list but for eluding my grasp:
Azmaveth -- Strong as Death: What I've heard of this has absolutely ripped.
In Exordium -- In Exordium: The new Paramaecium playing death metal? How did I not find a way to get ahold of this? I should be ashamed of myself, and I am.
Mirror of Dead Faces -- Lamentation: Everybody who's heard this raves. But metal raves, not like techno raves.
Synnove -- The Wh0re and the Bride: This band was kind of considered marginal until this effort, which is "supposed" to be fantastic.
One album that I have no idea what to do with:
Frost Like Ashes -- Born to Pieces: On musical merit, this is easily top 10. But they call it an ep, and even though it's 10 tracks, there are only 2 new songs, a couple re-recordings, and a Johnny Cash cover? There's just no category for this.
Finally a couple honorable mention that were good listens but didn't crack the final list:
For Today -- Ekklesia: Why were bands like For Today and Nodes of Ranvier not around when I was growing up in the Midwest? Oh yeah, because the members were probably about 4.
My Silent Wake -- A Garland of Tears: A good album, but not up to snuff with last year's outstanding Anatomy of Melancholy.
Once Nothing -- First Came the Law: More fun "Southern metal." From Pittsburgh?
And finally, the winners:
10. Call to Preserve -- From Isolation: Probably the best tough-guy hardcore band going right now.
9. Austrian Death Machine -- Total Brutal: Easily the best joke band in the history of the world. And while the music is admittedly trite and generic, it's listenable, too.
8. Holy Blood -- The Patriot: It has to be tough to follow up the completely brilliant Waves Are Dancing.
7. Soul Embraced -- Dead Alive: An impressive return. Maybe more bands should take a few years off.
6. The Famine -- The Raven and the Reaping: The embodiment of brutality and chaotic death/metalcore.
5. Once Dead -- Visions of Hell: Depending on your persective, you may have waited 3, 16, or even 18 years for this. Regardless, it proved worthwhile and the best old-school thrash album in what feels like forever.
4. MyChildren MyBride -- Unbreakable: Some people rip on this for not being original. Fair enough, but I'll bet that those people go to Wendy's when MyChildren MyBride are feasting at Fuddruckers.
3. War of Ages -- Arise & Conquer: These cats have it down. A great album that takes the next step forward from Pride of the Wicked.
2. Sympathy -- Anagogic Tyranny: Insanely brutal and professional sounding technical death metal. Blistering blast beats, phenomenal leads, just all around fantasticness.
1. Becoming the Archetype -- Dichotomy: Last year's Physics of Fire was good but still somewhat disappointing for such a leading band. This one, however, is only disappointing if you were hoping that they'd suck. Brutal, catchy, memorable, progressive, technical, atmospheric, and dare I say worshipful? What more could anybody possibly imagine could come from an audio compact disc? Truly a masterpiece, and if you only buy 1 album from 2008, I'd suggest that you reconsider your record buying policy and then pick this one up.
On the whole, at this point '08 doesn't quite have the depth of '07 which had a tremendous number of great releases, but if some of those that I missed come through it could be as good yet. But for the moment I'm more looking ahead to what promises to be an excellent '09, with albums from A Plea for Purging, Living Sacrifice, Deus Invictus, Impending Doom, Monotheist, Dagon, Believer, and Divine Symphony to name a few. Wohoo!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Equal Opportunity, You Know?
I'll admit it -- in all the championship excitement, I wasn't quite sure what to do with the color scheme on here. And then I forgot about it for a bit. So today is the day to take down the Phillies colors and replace them with the OU Crimson and Cream in celebration of their Big 12 Championship and upcoming National Championship game. It truly has been a great year!
But first, in fairness, I suppose I can't just gloss over the NFL season entirely. So here you go, it's one full month of Lions colors for each of their wins.
But first, in fairness, I suppose I can't just gloss over the NFL season entirely. So here you go, it's one full month of Lions colors for each of their wins.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
That Ain't Celcius, Kids
Tomorrow after church Laura and I are packing up the dog and going "home" for Christmas. We're from the same town and so we can go to one place and both sets of parents are there. There's no "this year we'll go to your family, and next to mine" or anything like that, and so that's nice. What's not so nice, though, is that they're all in South Dakota. There's basically no opportunity, nothing going on, and the high tomorrow is 4. (Yep, the HIGH. As in, if you go outside at just the right time, you can think to yourself, "Wow, I could NOT have picked a better moment all day long to be out in the weather. At least for today, this is truly as good as it gets!" And it will be 4.)
Sometimes I talk to friends or whatever who still live where they grew up, and their family and extended family and all of them are there, and I feel a little bit guilty that I left my hometown literally the day after I graduated from high school. Are my own personal preferences and ambitions more important than family? And it's not like my parents are terrible to be around, they're genuinely wonderful people.
You just don't ever have complete control over if your children will leave. What you DO have some control over, however, is where you give them the chance to stay. And if you want them to stick around, my strong recommendation is to not make it South Dakota.
Sometimes I talk to friends or whatever who still live where they grew up, and their family and extended family and all of them are there, and I feel a little bit guilty that I left my hometown literally the day after I graduated from high school. Are my own personal preferences and ambitions more important than family? And it's not like my parents are terrible to be around, they're genuinely wonderful people.
You just don't ever have complete control over if your children will leave. What you DO have some control over, however, is where you give them the chance to stay. And if you want them to stick around, my strong recommendation is to not make it South Dakota.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
This Post Is Not Mass-Produced In 800 Identical Locations
I see commercials or what not for restaurants that advertise this or that as "homemade." Am I wrong, or doesn't the very fact that you're getting something from a restaurant by definition mean that it is not homemade? Seriously, can anybody explain this to me and have it make sense?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Actually, Mack, Blame Me
In all the excitement I temporarily forgot about this, but in the interest of full disclosure I would like to use this forum to tell the world -- I'm the reason that OU is going to the Big 12 Championship Game over Texas and Texas Tech. No, I didn't hack into the computers to boost OU (their non-conference wins against TCU and Cincinnati did that). I didn't falsify votes in either of the pertinent polls. I didn't even text message voters reminding them of seemingly forgotten games, go on tv during major football games to argue for OU, or hire a plane to fly a banner bearing a point in OUr favor. It was far more subversive than any of those would have been.
Several weeks back, I was looking for a Christmas time outreach event for Life Pointe. The best event that I could find for a hand-out service type project was a thing called Bardstown Road Aglow on the evening of December 6th. I looked ahead a couple weeks on the college football schedule and my fears were confirmed -- that was the date of the Big 12 Championship game, and if I scheduled the event and OU was playing, I would have to miss (part, at least, of) the game. But there simply was no other remotely workable event that I could find. So I pulled the trigger on Bardstown Road Aglow. Knowing full well that surely the final improbable events would fall into place and that I -- the guy without tivo, by the way -- would take myself away from the epic dual.
So blame me, Mack Brown. Point your fingers, members of the media. I signed a deal with the devil (otherwise known as Murphy's Law) to make it happen, and it's only fair that I take the heat for it.
Several weeks back, I was looking for a Christmas time outreach event for Life Pointe. The best event that I could find for a hand-out service type project was a thing called Bardstown Road Aglow on the evening of December 6th. I looked ahead a couple weeks on the college football schedule and my fears were confirmed -- that was the date of the Big 12 Championship game, and if I scheduled the event and OU was playing, I would have to miss (part, at least, of) the game. But there simply was no other remotely workable event that I could find. So I pulled the trigger on Bardstown Road Aglow. Knowing full well that surely the final improbable events would fall into place and that I -- the guy without tivo, by the way -- would take myself away from the epic dual.
So blame me, Mack Brown. Point your fingers, members of the media. I signed a deal with the devil (otherwise known as Murphy's Law) to make it happen, and it's only fair that I take the heat for it.
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