So much blogging. So little time.

I'm leaving town again this weekend so I'm going to cram several things into one post here to appease all the masses who can't start their day without a look at my blog.

Let's start with farts:
First, there's this. I have to say, I read several paragraphs on different pages of this site and found no jokes. I hate to be a dupe, but I think these people might be serious.







Don't be alarmed:
But there's a leprechaun on the loose in Mobile, Alabama. And yes, this is a real report from a real news station (see leprechaun link in left column).

Madness:
Let's talk b-ball. What a couple of great games yesterday! I'm not a Duke-hater, but it was kind-of gratifying to see them lose to a team that barely squeeked by the Ags. I know that "we- beat- them- and- they- beat- them- so- we- can- beat- them" argument is dumb, but it still makes me feel good. As for the other game. What a shot! What a bunch of shots! The one that tied it for the Zags, the one before that for the Zags (I don't know who shot any of these), and the game-winner. All incredible shots. The sips deserve that win. That was clutch.

That brings to mind this bit of sports musing: is it easier to feel good about a loss in basketball than in football? I mean, when a guy hits a shot like that one last night - off-balance, from beyond NBA 3-point range, with no time on the clock - you can't blame it on your defense. The guys just made a great play. It seems to me that in basketball, you can have an extraordinary offsensive play that there's just no answer for (see Kareem's sky hook, Bird's jumper, Jordan's first step, Shaq's smelly armpits). It's almost like golf. I remember last year's Master's tournament (because, ahem, I was there) when Tiger made 6 or 7 birdies in a row on Sunday to catch Chris DiMarco and eventually beat him in a playoff. After the tournament, DiMarco said something like: Hey, I shot 17 under par at Augusta. That's usually good enough to win any tournament. When a guy shoots 10 under on one round, there's just no way to compete with that. On the other hand, in football or hockey, there's always some defensive slip or something a defender could have done. At least it seems that way. Just a thought.

No more band-aided Bevos!:
Now, back to the t.u./West Virginia game (and this is where all the pansies who cheer for their rivals should pay attention) the above comments do NOT mean that I'm happy that t.u. won. For the record, I am never happy when t.u. wins a sporting event. That's because I went to their RIVAL school. Rivals don't cheer for each other. That's what makes them rivals. If they cheered for each other then they would be buddies, or acquaintences, or "professionals". I can be happy for t.u. that they have a successful academic program, that they generate great minds and bring prestige to the state. I can be sympathetic and supportive to sips when circumstances beyond athletics warrant it. When the Bonfire tragedy happened in 1999, Texas students showed a lot of class in their support of Aggies, and even the tradition that is aimed at rallying our team to beat theirs. I would do the same if the tragedy had occured in Austin rather than College Station. But the following week at Kyle Field, the sips didn't take it easy on us because they felt sorry for us. Because even the sips (the good ones, at least) understand that football (or any other sport) is not life. In life, we can support each other. In football, not so much. Not only that, to take it easy on us would only have been an insult. We needed to win that game fair and square. And, finally, if there were some t.u. players who, in the back of their minds, thought they should let up a little because of the Bonfire thing, they were classy enough never to say that in public which would have, of course, only made things worse. Again, the issue is this: it's only football. It is not classless to wish failure on your rivals. It's loyalty. I have a lot of friends who went to t.u. and we get along fine. We tease each other and gloat when we get a chance, but if Sandy or Sharon or Bob or any of my sipper friends ever needed anything, they know they could call me. But if they ever want someone to cheer for the longhorns, they know they can't. That's the way it is. We're rivals. How many Cowboys fans do you know who cheer for the Redskins in the playoffs? When the Packers' season ended with the regular season this year, do you think everyone in Green Bay pulled out their purple and gold to cheer on their second-best-loved-team, the Vikings, because they're "in the same conference?" You gotta be kidding me! They're RIVALS! I can possibly see rooting for a team to win if it would have a direct effect on your team's rank or postseason (as in a playoff seed) but I'm not even for that in college football because there is seldom any direct effect. That thing about "well, we lost to Texas so we should hope they win out" is a crock. If we lose to texas, we lost. There's not make-good for that. I want our team to live with it and work their butt off so it doesn't happen again next year. I want to beat our opponents head-to-head on the field, not by weaseling into a rankings tie by virtue of RPI or average margin of victory or any of that.

Whew! Ok, if you read all of that, thank you for your patience. Now go get a job because you have way too much time on your hands.

ESPNU:
And finally, along those same lines, I bring you this bit of genius.