Irish Trojan in Tennessee

More Halloween fun

By Brendan Loy

Behold the Hogwart-osphere. (Hat tip: Glenn.)

Happy Halloween!

By Brendan Loy

"Trick or treat!"

"Give me some f***ing candy or I'll shoot you in the face!"

UPDATE: Here's a far less scary jack-o-lantern... well, unless you're a Rockies or Yankees fan:

More Red Sox pumpkins here.

By the way, credit for the Cheney pumpkin (Dick-o-Lantern?) goes to Bill Z Bubb. (Hat tip: Phillip Torrone.)

Free tacos: the day after

By Brendan Loy

Jacoby Ellsbury, the Red Sox rookie whose stolen base in Game 2 of the World Series triggered Taco Bell's "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion -- or, as I like to call it, "Free Tacos for Brendan's Birthday" -- got a free taco himself yesterday, with a side order of fan adoration.

The promotion was such a success in Boston that it snarled traffic in some areas; one Taco Bell drive-thru in Quincy had to be shut down by police because the long line was disrupting traffic on nearby streets. (Heh.) There was also a pretty long line at the Taco Bell that I went to in Denver, and according to the Rocky Mountain News, local Taco Bell locations gave away an average of 200 to 500 tacos.

I'm just glad I was able to take part in this transcendent cultural phenomenon. Someday, when my daughter asks me, "Daddy, where were you when Taco Bell gave out free tacos?," I'll be able to tell her that I was in Denver, at the Taco Bell on the 16th Street Mall, and yes, I got a free taco, and yes, it was yummy. Ah yes, many years from now, we'll be recalling the events of 10/30/07, and I'll be able to prove that I was there.   

;)

Actually, though, this article suggests that Free Taco Day wasn't such a big deal outside of Boston and Denver... which makes sense, as Taco Bell really didn't promote it very much -- there weren't even signs in front of the restaurants announcing "free tacos today!" -- outside of Fox's on-air shilling during the World Series. And the Series got dismal ratings nationwide... but the ratings were, of course, much higher in Boston and Denver. So I daresay more people in those cities were aware of their opportunity get free tacos.

P.S. On the other hand, Taco Bell spokesman Will Bortz said "we have seen a huge response in New York and New Jersey," as well as South Carolina, Oregon and California. "A lot of people are jumping to get their tacos," he asserted. "Who doesn't like a free taco?" Or free publicity, for that matter, eh Will? Heh.

How my birthday became unexpectedly awesome

By Brendan Loy

At 10:45 PM last night, I was sitting on an MTA bus in Nashville, brooding silently. My "worst birthday ever" was winding down with a whimper. Oh, I'd had fun counting down to midnight with Kristy the night before (after which she serenaded me with an interpretive dance to the strains of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," played on my iTunes), and of course, I'd gotten my free taco from Taco Bell. But mostly, my 26th birthday had been drudgery: a six-hour mandatory CLE class, a pair of Southwest flights that had gotten me from Denver to Nashville, and now a couple of lonely bus rides. At 10:45, I was en route to the Greyhound station, from which I would depart for Knoxville. It looked like I'd be spending the final 75 minutes of my birthday travelling to, and then waiting around in, a grungy Greyhound station. (My bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:45 AM.) I was cranky, I missed Becky, and I was just generally annoyed about the overall suckiness of my birthday.

When the bus dropped me off at around 11:00, things got even worse, because now I was in the heart of Nashville at 5th and Broadway -- which, for those who don't know, is the home of a whole bunch of great honky-tonk bars. The sound of live music was wafting out into the street, tempting and torturing me.

I would love, I thought, to spend the last hour of my birthday sitting in a bar, listening to some live country music. And with almost two hours until my bus was scheduled to leave, and the bus station only three blocks away, I had time to do just that. But it was (I thought) logistically impossible: I was dragging around a suitcase and a garment bag and hauling a heavy backpack with, among other things, my laptop inside it. With all that luggage, I'd barely have fit through the door of one of the bars. And it's not like I could leave my luggage somewhere. I was traveling alone, so I had nobody to watch my stuff. So I turned away from the awesomeness of Nashville nightlife and resigned myself to the fact that the last hour of my birthday would be just as crappy as the first 23 hours. Up the hill toward the Greyhound station I walked, still brooding.

But then! When I got to the station at around 11:10, I beheld a miracle: it has lockers!!! Okay, maybe not a "miracle," but a possibility I hadn't considered, for sure. Anyway, yeah, the station has lockers -- big ones -- so I didn't hesitate: I picked up my bus ticket at will call, then stuffed all of my bags into a locker, secured it, and headed right back out into the night, back to 5th & Broadway, to finish off my birthday in style.

It was about 11:25 when I got back there, so I figured I had about 35 minutes at the bars before I needed to head back to the station. Naturally, I resolved to make the most of it. So I started out at Second Fiddle, where I listened to a couple of songs; then I headed to Layla's Bluegrass Inn for a couple more songs; then to Tootsies for a couple more (including "Happy Birthday," although they were singing it to an attractive young lady on the dance floor, not to me); and finally (or so I thought) to Legends Corner for yet a couple more. Totally awesome.

When the band at Legends finished playing "Sweet Home Alabama," which I love, and I saw that it was 11:58, I figured that was my cue to leave. So I tipped the band and headed out, crossing the street with every intention of turning away and trudging back up to the Greyhound station. But then I glanced into the window of the Full Moon Saloon, and found myself drawn inexorably inside by the gravitational pull of the comely female fiddle player in the snug blue jeans. (It was the fiddle that drew me in, of course; I love fiddles. What did you think I meant?) Unfortunately, that band wrapped up their set literally 20 or 30 seconds after I walked in the door, so I headed back out onto the street again... but now my appetite was whetted for one more bar, one more band, one or two more songs. Hey, it's only your 26th birthday once!

It was midnight now, but I reckoned I could afford another 5 or 10 minutes. So I slipped into The Wheel next door. The band there played a couple of nice songs, and then at around 12:07, busted out Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Now that is a thoroughly proper way to end a session of honky-tonk bar-hopping, not to mention a birthday (albeit a few minutes late). I hooted as they started playing it, sang along for the chorus, then walked back out the door (applauding as I went) after they finished. I turned left and headed back toward the Greyhound station. It was 12:11 AM. I got back to the station at 12:19, retrieved my stuff from the locker, and made my 12:45 bus with plenty of time to spare. I even got a good seat.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a crappy birthday turns awesome at (literally) the eleventh hour. In 45 minutes, I went to six bars, listened to six bands, and totally redeemed my birthday. Then I slept like a baby on the bus ride home. And I'm half-consciously humming "Ring of Fire" as I write this.

I love Nashville. :)

The end of an era

By Brendan Loy

I took this picture in Denver. Now I'm in Kansas City, where the plane has a stopover before continuing to Nashville. Sitting near a mother and two little kids, I realized: this is very likely the last time I'll travel when I'm not a dad. Holy cow.

Free taco!

By Brendan Loy

Thanks, Jacoby!

Mmm, tacos

By Brendan Loy

Waiting in line for my free birthday taco, courtesy of Taco Bell and Jacoby Ellsbury.

Tancredo won't seek re-election

By Brendan Loy

What a shame. Who now will call for nuking Mecca? ... Don't get too excited, though. He's still running for president, and "if" he fails to win the nomination, he may run for Senate. Ugh.

Worst birthday ever?

By Brendan Loy

There's nothing like spending your birthday sitting through a boring, six-hour-long mandatory Colorado Bar Association ethics class... ugh.

Baseball's not over. What are you talking about?

By JLR

Here's what's going on as of today in baseball.  If you thought that baseball was going away until spring, you were wrong.  :-) 

Have no fear, I'll be keeping you all updated throughout the "off" season.

Happy Birthday to meeee

By Brendan Loy

According to a survey in Glamour earlier this year, the average person begins to consider him/herself an adult at age 26.

Well, I guess that means I'm officially an adult.

Though I have a feeling the real, undeniable confirmation of my adulthood will arrive in about two months...

P.S. I set this post to publish at 9:22 AM Eastern -- my birth time. :)

Favorite 1960s documentary?

By Brendan Loy

Becky asked me to ask y'all if you have any favorite 1960s documentaries. The reason for her query is super-secret, but she could definitely use some suggestions, so please leave 'em in comments if you've got 'em!

Bambi makes top 25 horror movie list

By David K.

Nosferatu, Frankenstein, Carrie, those are horror movies, but Bambi?!?

Nice horsies

By Brendan Loy

The Budweiser Clydesdales are here for Monday Night Football.

UPDATE: More MNF pregame photos here, including me with the Clydesdales and the Budweiser dalmatian. Oh, and these guys:

I've heard of cheese-heads, but a cheese-ass? Heh.

Soxtober pics

By Brendan Loy

I've posted my photos of last night's Red Sox celebration on Flickr. Some are regular digital photos, some are cell-phone pics, and some are screen grabs from my video of the end of the game. (By the way, I just posted a brighter version of the video. The original version was kinda too dark to see what was going on.)

You can also view the photos in slideshow form if you like. Here's one of 'em:

Getting to watch the Red Sox win the World Series in a bar packed wall-to-wall with Boston fans -- in the heart of enemy territory, downtown Denver, no less -- more than made up for something I've always regretted: when the Sox won the 2004 World Series, I was watching in the rather uninteresting environment of my couch at Fischer Grad Residences, with just one other person (a classmate who wasn't even really a Sox fan), while a bunch of my 1L classmates, who had a paper due the next day and thus had been at the library all evening, were (unbeknownst to me until the next day) gathered in the Law Lounge watching together, and then got to witness Rob from Boston, a lifelong die-hard Sox fan who never thought he'd see them actually win the Series, go completely nuts, jumping up on tables and running out into the night screaming his head off. I always regretted that I missed that. But last night was even better.

GO SAWX!!!

Fresh off the rumor mill

By JLR

With A-Rod probably leaving the Bronx and Torre already gone, the B*stards have reportedly offered Joe Girardi the job as manager.

So they fired the always-playoff-ready Torre to replace him with a guy whose only job as manager left the Marlins just shy of the Wild Card?  I may not like Torre as a Yankee, but as a manager, he's solid; I doubt that the Yankees can do much better than him.  I might end up eating my words, but replacing Torre with Girardi doesn't seem right.

(You know what else doesn't seem right?  The fact that the guys I grew up watching play the game are now old and are employed as either commentators or coaches!)

The day after

By Brendan Loy

Rocktober? More like Soxtober. :) But the World Series is so yesterday; Monday Night Football is the new hotness here in Denver. The 16th Street Mall is veritably crawling with Packers fans!

Red Sox Nation's Denver branch celebrates another world championship

By Brendan Loy

Here is the reaction at the Pour House Pub -- a well-known Red Sox bar on Denver's "LoDo" strip, as noted here and here and here -- to the final out of the World Series, as the Boston Red Sox won Game 4 over the local Colorado Rockies to win their second world championship in four years, again in a 4-0 sweep:

The first half of the six-minute clip shows the immediate reaction to the end of the game; the second half of the clip shows the crowd, a few minutes later, singing "Sweet Caroline" -- and then, at the 5:45 mark, breaking out into the obligatory chant of "Yankees suck!" Heh.

GO SAWX!!!

UPDATE: The video clip above is a brighter version, as the earlier one I uploaded was pretty dark and it was kinda hard to see what was going on. The darker version is after the jump, if anyone prefers it.

Audio Moblog

By Brendan Loy

powered by Hipcast.com

SOX WIN! SOX WIN!

By Brendan Loy

The Boston Red Sox are world champions for the second time in four years! The bar is going crazy! Champagne and beer flying everywhere! WOOOO!!!

Audio Moblog

By Brendan Loy

powered by Hipcast.com

Three outs away!

By Brendan Loy

Rockies within 4-3, heading to the ninth. A Sox fan here at the bar just ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate when Boston wins... knock on wood. GO SAWX!!

4-1, six outs away

By Brendan Loy

We're at Pour House Pub, the local Red Sox bar. It's 4-1 Boston in the top of the eighth.

3-1, eight outs away

By Brendan Loy

We just drove past Coors Field -- and as we did, fireworks went off and the crowd went nuts as the Rockies hit a solo home run to cut Boston's lead to 3-1 in the seventh.

15 outs away

By Brendan Loy

I just landed in Denver. The Red Sox lead the Rockies, 2-0 in the top of the fifth.

Better than Cal-Stanford?

By Brendan Loy

I haven't been able to watch this yet (I'm currently at the airport using a very slow cell-phone connection), but people keep sending it to me, so I figure I'd better post it. From what I'm told, it's the ridiculously crazy ending to a Division III conference championship game yesterday, and the only thing missing is the Stanford band. Enjoy:

Buffalo-Miami a crucial MAC East showdown

By Brendan Loy

The Buffalo Bulls, college football's dormat for so many years, continue to have their most successful season since moving to Division I-A in 1999. They beat Akron yesterday to move to 4-5 overall, and they can now almost assure themselves of a division title if they win at Miami of Ohio on Saturday -- or at least reduce the division race to a two-team battle: themselves against Bowling Green.

The Bulls are 4-1 in the MAC, and more importantly, 3-0 in the MAC East. The division title is actually determined by the teams' intradivisional records, and here's how those standings look right now, with each team's remaining divisional schedules listed after their records:

Buffalo 3-0 (@Miami, BG, at Kent)
Miami (OH) 2-1 (Buffalo, Akron, at Ohio)
Temple 2-2 (at Ohio, Kent)
Bowling Green 2-2 (Akron, at Buffalo)
Akron 1-2 (at Bowling Green, Ohio, at Miami)
Ohio 1-2 (Temple, at Akron, Miami)
Kent State 1-3 (Temple, Buffalo)

So, as you can see, if Buffalo beats Miami, they'd be ahead of everyone else in the conference by two games in the loss column -- with two games to go.

Moreover, the Bulls would own the head-to-head tiebreaker against every two-loss team except Bowling Green (who they haven't played yet). I haven't studied the MAC's multi-team tiebreaker rules, but I assume Buffalo's head-to-head success would mean that, if they win Saturday, they'd be assured of a division title by a single UB win or BG loss in those teams' remaining divisional games. (Buffalo hosts Bowling Green on Nov. 17, and then finishes the regular season at Kent State on Nov. 24; Bowling Green hosts Akron on Friday, and finishes with their visit to Buffalo on Nov. 17. So, if Akron beats Bowling Green and then Buffalo beats Miami, I think the Bulls actually would clinch the division title on Saturday, with two games to go.)

Winning the MAC East title would, of course, put Buffalo in the MAC championship game on December 1. However, although the Bulls could potentially get there with a 5-1 or even 4-2 divisional mark, that would mean they'd have a 6-6 or 5-7 record overall, which would mean they'd have to win the MAC title game in order to qualify for a bowl. Normally, the MAC runner-up gets a bowl bid, but a 6-7 or 5-8 runner-up is not bowl-eligible. (A 6-7 champion, on the other hand, is likely to receive an excemption from the NCAA and be allowed to play in a bowl. As I recall, that happened in the Sun Belt sometime recently.)

Of course, the downside of all this is, the more success UB has, the more likely head coach Turner Gill is to attract Nebraska's attention.

But regardless... GO BULLS!!

P.S. Discussion by UB fans here and here.

USC drops to #13, UConn ranked #16

By Brendan Loy

While Ohio State and Michigan continue to tediously steamroll toward their 836th consecutive Big Ten-deciding showdown (if the Wolverines win, can we please declare Appalachian State the Big Ten champ instead, and let them play in the Rose Bowl?), the rest of the nation's conferences are in total disarray. For instance, raise your hand if you thought any of the following games would potentially have massive BCS implications for both teams:

• Arizona State at Oregon, next Saturday
• Kansas at Missouri, November 24
• UConn at West Virginia, November 24

Seriously, WTF? Meanwhile, USC-Cal has been reduced to a battle to stay out of the Las Vegas Bowl. Oh, and defending champ Florida? At 5-3, they're not even bowl-eligible yet.

Good lord. It's a brave new world out there.

That said, the new AP poll is out, and for the first time in forever, there are no major changes at the top. Ohio State is #1, Boston College #2, LSU #3, Oregon #4 and Oklahoma #5. The latter two switched places from last week (OU was idle, Oregon beat USC), but otherwise the Top 5 is unchanged.

Arizona State moves up from #7 to #6 (leapfrogging West Virginia), and is now getting two first-place votes. Too bad for the Sun Devils that Cal lost two straight before last night, otherwise ASU would probably have jumped to #3 or #4 by beating the Bears. Now the question is, if the Sun Devils can beat Oregon in Eugune next Saturday, how high do they rise? If there's any justice in the world, they should certainly jump the one-loss teams and move up to no lower than #3. (That said, I think Oregon will win. Oregon is good.)

Meanwhile, whereas losing games unexpectedly in the Pac-10 means you're overrated, losing games unexpectedly in the SEC means the conference is "deep" and "competitive" and "a war." At least, that's how I interpret the fact that all four of the ranked three-loss teams are from the SEC (#18 Florida, #19 Auburn, #23 South Carolina, #24 Tennessee), while three-loss Cal -- which, um, beat Tennessee -- is unranked. (The Bears lost to UCLA, Oregon State and ASU, which I'd say is certainly no worse than losing to Cal and getting absolutely destroyed by Florida and Alabama.)

Oh, and USC fell from #9 to #13. They're just behind #12 Hawaii (!).

Elsewhere in the rankings, Kansas and Missouri are now both in the Top 10 (at #8 and #9, respectively). Michigan -- which, as you may or may not recall, lost to Appalachian State earlier this year -- is #15. They're one spot ahead of UConn... yes, UConn... which is now #16. In football. (More on the Huskies in a separate post later.) Also, Boise State has rejoined the Top 25, at #21.

I don't understand Craigslist

By Jay Johnson

Apparently, Craigslist flagged my post for removal, and it got gone in a hurry.

I don't understand why.

Link not only probably NSFW, it's just generally in poor taste.  There. You've been warned.

View this photo

Warning: profanity

By Brendan Loy

Every Day Should Be Saturday, whose head blogger is a Florida fan, summarizes yesterday's Georgia game. Prodigious profanity is involved. Heh.

3-0

By Brendan Loy

The Red Sox have taken a 3-0 series lead over the Rockies. Kristy was there to see it. I'm so jealous! She got her money's worth -- it was a 4 hour, 19 minute game, the longest in World Series history.

The first pitch of Game 4 is scheduled for 6:29 PM MDT. My flight to Denver is scheduled to land at 7:50 PM MDT. After getting my luggage and such, I anticipate hurrying to a local bar to watch the final innings of -- if things continue the way they're going -- a Red Sox sweep.

GO SAWX!!

P.S. I'll admit, though, sorta kinda hoping the Rockies win Game 4, just so there'll be a Game 5 while I'm in town (which I would then whole-heartedly root for the Red Sox to win, of course). If that happens, Denver will be the first city ever to host a World Series game and Monday Night Football on the same night. And I'd be there for it. That'd be cool. But again, in the big picture, GO SOX. :)

SHA teacher accused of statutory rape

By Brendan Loy

Becky's junior-year history teacher at her all-girls Catholic high school has been arrested on statutory rape charges. James D. Van Valkinburgh, 42, a teacher for nine years at Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart (better known as Sacred Heart Academy, or "SHA"), allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old SHA student on seven occasions, including in a car at Glen Park and in the Best Buy and Wal-Mart parking lots. WIVB-TV has details:

Becky has been gossiping with her friends about this, of course, and she and Barb were just speculating that countless other SHA girls are having similar conversations. In Becky's words, "There's lots of trauma in the SHA tree tonight."

The overwhelming sentiments seem to be: 1) shock that "Mr. Van V" is the one accused, 2) sympathy for his wife and kids, 3) sympathy for SHA over the damage to its reputation, and 4) sympathy for the girl, whose identity, although unknown to the media, is undoubtedly known to countless SHA girls and SHA alums, thus making her the object of massive amounts of gossip all across Buffalo (and the wider SHA universe) right now.

Vols-Cocks game regains SEC significance

By Brendan Loy

Two weeks ago, it looked like this week's Tennessee-South Carolina game (underway now) would potentially decide the SEC East. The Volunteers and Gamecocks were the only teams in the division that controlled their own destinies. Then last week, Tennessee got crushed by Alabama and South Carolina was upset by Vanderbilt, taking all the air out of tonight's matchup.

Or so it seemed. Incredibly, by kickoff time tonight, UT-USC had regained its former significance. Thanks to the latest round of SEC madness -- specifically, Georgia's upset of Florida and Kentucky's loss to Mississippi State -- Tennessee and South Carolina are again the only SEC East teams that control their own destinies. Florida, Kentucky and Vanderbilt have three losses apiece; Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina have just two. And since Georgia's two conferences losses are to the Vols and Cocks, the Bulldogs will have to hope that tonight's winner loses another game at some point.

Whoever comes out on top at Neyland Stadium this evening won't need any (more) help. They'll just need to win their remaining games, and if they do that, they'll be playing in Atlanta for the conference championship on December 1.

Remarkable.

I've had limited blogging time today, which is why I haven't said much about the day's other football developments. But I wanted to get this online while the game is still ongoing. As for the rest, including UConn's win over South Florida (!), I'll blog later. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Speaking of "remarkable"... Tennessee blew a 21-0 halftime lead, fell behind 24-21 with 1:24 left, then sent the game to overtime on a 48-yard field goal (after missing a 43-yarder but getting a second chance because the whistle had already blown on a false start penalty) and won in OT. Tennessee 27, South Carolina 24, final.

I'm exhausted, and about to go to bed. I'll try to do some more football blogging tomorrow, but it may not happen until I'm at the Nashville Airport in the late afternoon, if then. Lots of stuff to do. G'nite all.

Oregon 24, USC 17

By Brendan Loy

Dammit.

But hey, on the bright side, Buffalo won! It's the second time this season Buffalo has won and USC has lost on the same day, and both instances occurred on a weekend when I was going to Denver (although in this case I'm not there yet). Is this a sign of some kind? :) Anyway, the Bulls are now 4-0 in the MAC East, and 4-5 overall -- their most wins in a season since joining Division I-A.

We're baaack (quack quack)

By Brendan Loy

Got back from the Smokies around 4:00, and just finished fast-forwarding through the first half of USC-Oregon, stopping to watch almost every play in real time while skipping all the fluff in between. Based on what I saw, I'm not feeling terribly inspired. USC's offense looked terrible, and the defense is trying hard but just isn't as good as Oregon's offense, seemingly. It strikes me that the Trojans are lucky to be within 10-3. Barring some serious Pete Carroll Second-Half Magic^TM, I foresee an Duck blowout -- which would be the first time since Becky and I were juniors at 'SC (in 2001) that the Trojans have lost a game that wasn't decided on the final play.

UPDATE: Touchdown Trojans! Sanchez to Turner! 10-10.

UPDATE 2: The Ducks do what the Trojans twice failed to do -- taking advantage of a turnover deep in their own territory -- and it's 17-10 Oregon.

UPDATE 3: F**k!

UPDATE 4: 24-10 Ducks with 11:39 left in the game.

In other news, what the hell is wrong with Fox Sports Net?? The camerawork is AWFUL (I keep not being able to see the quarterback, and the ball is invisible half the time on passing plays because they haven't adequately adjusted their cameras to the shadows now covering the field), and they have entirely missed several plays, including Oregon's 2nd-and-goal run just now. WTF???

UPDATE 5: Touchdown! 24-17 with 4:44 to go!

But again, the camerawork! I couldn't even see that there was a receiver in the end zone until he had already caught the ball! It looked like Sanchez was throwing the ball to nobody, and then all of a sudden, the camera panned down and -- what? there's a guy there! TOUCHDOWN! What a wretched, wretched football broadcast this is.

But enough bitching about FSN. FIGHT ON TROJANS!!! Get the ball back!!

UPDATE 6: Aaaaaand Oregon intercepts it. Ducks win.

Well, it wasn't a blowout, at least. Once again, a USC loss comes down to a final drive. But Oregon was clearly the better team.

Congrats, Ducks.

Harumph.

P.S. Why do the FSN announcers keep saying it looks like the Pac-10 won't get two teams into the BCS? I can see no basis for that statement. If either Oregon or Arizona State makes it to the title game, which is entirely possible, the Rose Bowl will certainly try to replace them with another Pac-10 team, and it seems extremely unlikely that there won't be any other Pac-10 teams in the BCS Top 14 and thus eligible for selection. Either Cal or USC could be there if they win out, as could the loser of next week's Oregon-ASU game if they win out after said game. It's possible the Pac-10 will cannibalize itself enough that only the conference champion will reach a BCS bowl, but it's by no means preordained at this point.

Beat the Ducks!!!

By Brendan Loy

Becky and I plan to drive up into the Smokies in the morning to check out some of the fall foliage. It's really our last chance to see the high-elevation colors near their peak, since I fly out to Denver on Sunday and next weekend the mountains will presumably be past peak. So I'm sacrificing ESPN GameDay and the Rutgers-West Virginia game for the sake of a pretty drive. I know, I'm such a martyr. :)

I hope to be back by 3:00 PM for the USC-Oregon game, but I don't have too much confidence that that will happen; I imagine traffic in the Smokies will be heavy, as I doubt we're the only people with this idea for a Saturday morning/afternoon activity. Anyway, we're TiVoing the game, and if we get back late, I'll be taking a pre-Deathly Hallows-esque vow of Internet avoidance from 3:00 on, in order to maintain the suspense when I fire up the TiVo and pretend I'm watching the game live. So, if I don't blog anything for a while, that's why.

FIGHT ON TROJANS! BEAT THE DUCKS!

A new species of dumb, ugly humans?

By Brendan Loy

No, I'm not talking about FEMA again. I'm talking about evolution, baby:

The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.

100,000 years into the future, sexual selection could mean that two distinct breeds of human will have developed. ...

"[T]hings could get ugly, with the possible emergence of genetic 'haves' and 'have-nots'."

So basically, it'll be Eloi and Morlocks, as the linked article photographically suggests.

Of course, the odds are we'll have blown ourselves to radioactive smithereens -- or destroyed ourselves in some other creative way, or fallen victim to some cosmic calamity -- long before then, so I'm not sure what the big deal is.

FEMA, providing comedy in troubled times

By Brendan Loy

FEMA: the federal agency so ridicluous, you can't really satirize it. Their latest stunt? A fake news conference:

The U.S. government's main disaster-response agency apologized on Friday for having its employees pose as reporters in a hastily called news conference on California's wildfires that no news organizations attended.

Heh!

FEMA "issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing." Shocking! Somebody noticed! Who'd have thunk it? Jeez, these people can't even be incompetent competently.

"We can and must do better, and apologize for this error in judgment," FEMA deputy administrator Harvey Johnson, who conducted the briefing, said in a statement. "Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received."

"Error in judgment"? LOL! In what conceivable universe could anyone have thought that this was the correct judgment, so as to make such an "error" possible?

No actual reporter attended the news conference in person, agency spokesman Aaron Walker said.

A spokeswoman for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who has authority over FEMA, called the incident "inexcusable and offensive to the secretary."

"We have made it clear that stunts such as this will not be tolerated or repeated," spokeswoman Laura Keehner said. She said the department was looking at the possibility of reprimanding those responsible.

Oh, that's good. Better yet, why don't you set up a committee to study the issue of whether a reprimand would be appropriate. And then create a panel to read that committee's report. And then ignore it and give the offending parties the Congressional Medal of Freedom instead.

God bless America.

Say hello to Leopard

By Brendan Loy

I totally forgot this was today. I came to CompUSA for something else entirely (and, despite the temptation, did NOT walk away with a copy of Leopard).

Red headed Neanderthals

By JLR

Scientists are now saying that there were some Neanderthals that were probably redheads.  Some have even claimed that those redheads have begot today's redheads.

We post, you decide.

Justice in Georgia, finally

By Brendan Loy

Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, he is free at last:

The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of Genarlow Wilson, the Douglas County teenager who has been serving a controversial 10-year sentence for consensual oral sex.

The court's 4-3 decision upholds a Monroe County judge's ruling that the sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under both the Georgia and U.S. constitutions.

The majority opinion said the sentence appeared to be "grossly disproportionate" to the teenager's crime and noted that it was out of step with current law.

Wilson was convicted in 2005 of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year's Eve party in a hotel room. He was 17 at the time.

At the time the law the crime carried a mandatory 10-year sentence with no parole. However, the law was changed in 2006 to make Wilson's crime a misdemeanor with a maximum 1-year sentence.

"Although society has a significant interest in protecting children from premature sexual activity, we must acknowledge that Wilson's crime does not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children ..." wrote Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears in the majority opinion.

She said that "for the law to punish Wilson as it would an adult, with the extraordinarily harsh punishment of 10 years in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, appears to be grossly disproportionate to his crime."

Justice George Carley, in the dissent, said the 2006 change in the law was specifically written so it would not be retroactive. The sentence is not cruel and unusual because "the General Assembly made the express decision that he cannot benefit from the subsequent legislative determination to reduce the sentence for commission of that crime from felony to misdemeanor status."

Carley said the majority opinion showed "unprecedented disregard" for the legislative intent of the law change and creates the potential for similar releases of "any and all defendants who were ever convicted of aggravated child molestation and sentenced" under circumstances similar to Wilson's.

I think the dissent has a point. I also don't care. Sometimes an injustice is so grave that it must be reversed even at the risk of setting problematic precedents. Yes, I know: "hard cases make for bad law." But this wasn't a hard case. It was an easy case, on its own merits, in terms of fundamental principles of justice. Only when considering its potential implications for other cases does it become remotely "hard." I say, let the courts and the legislature work out those implications in future cases. In this case, there was only one possible just result, and it was achieved, at long last, today. Finally, someone in the Georgia justice system should be able to sleep at night, and it's the four Supreme Court justices who reversed this abhorrent abuse of prosecutoral discretion. Good for them.

(Hat tip: JT. Previous posts here, here, here and, somewhat related, here.)

CAVEAT: I haven't actually read the opinion yet. Here it is.

Brady Quinn, USC Trojan

By Brendan Loy

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:

There you have it: the photo evidence of Brady Quinn's lost bet with Rodney Peete on last Saturday's USC-Notre Dame game.

But it gets even better. There's video evidence, too:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

(NOTE: The video clip has changed since I originally uploaded it Thursday night. Among other things, I've added a little musical coda at the end that my Trojan readers will enjoy...)

Thanks to the anonymous commenter who pointed me to the photo. And thanks to Brady-Quinn.org, a fan site, for linking to the video clips on the Browns site and YouTube that allowed me to mash up the above clip.

Of course, even as I glory in it, I can sympathize with Brady's plight. As can Mike Tran. Sometimes friendly bets are a b**ch. :) But kudos to Brady for upholding his end of the deal.

Now then... BEAT THE DUCKS!!!

Woohoo! It's Sanchez against Oregon

By Brendan Loy

Sorry, John David, but I'm happy about this: "Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback Saturday against Oregon, Coach Pete Carroll announced Thursday afternoon."

Meanwhile, Oregon has yet to announce which uniforms it will wear. There are so many choices: the hideous ones, the butt-ugly ones, the gouge-your-eyes-out-with-their-sheer-repulsiveness ones...

Incredible pictures of SoCal wildfires

By David K.

Network World has an article with pictures from NASA highlighting the California wildfires (in red) and the immense smoke plumes.

Thanks, Jacoby

By Brendan Loy

Thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury's stolen base tonight, Taco Bell will be giving away free tacos on my birthday. Heh.

Anyway, it's 2-1 Sox in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Boston College is staging a late rally after trailing Virginia Tech 10-0 for most of the game. It's 10-7 Hokies with 36 seconds left, and the Eagles are deep in Tech territory.

UPDATE: Touchdown Boston College!! Holy crap!! I think Matt Ryan just won the Heisman... and BC has broken the #2 curse! (Dammit.)

UPDATE 2: ...aaaaand Matt Ryan barfs on live TV.

UPDATE 3: "Ryan for Heismann!" Heh.

Okay, back to the World Series...

UPDATE 4: JACK BAUER IS ON HIS OWN!!!!!

UPDATE 5: Sox win!! 2-1, final. It's a 2-0 series lead for Boston, heading out to Denver.

Ann Coulter comes to USC

By Brendan Loy

Shockingly, she criticized liberals.

Cultural imperialism, or just plain dumb?

By JLR

So I can't figure it out: is NFL commish Roger Goodell a cultural imperialist, or is he just missing the point?  Says Goodell:

Our goal is to translate America's obsession to the world's passion," he told reporters on Friday, two days before the Miami Dolphins face the New York Giants at a sold-out Wembley Stadium. "This Sunday is clearly just the beginning."

This is after the NFL's expansion league, NFL Europa (formerly known as NFL Europe) folded in June. With an average attendance of just over 20,000 per game in 2007 and only 6 teams, this translates into about 60,000 people per week who were actually interested in going to these events ... for the entire continent of Europe.  And the lowest attendance was held by the Amsterdam Admirals--the only team outside of Germany.  Maybe if Goodell had arranged for this game on Sunday between Miami and New York to take place in Germany, I wouldn't feel this way... But why continue to try to get the rest of Europe to go along with this sport?

Maybe they could have sold out the stadium 10 times over, but extended American Football experiments in Europe have failed.  And I don't know why Goodell seems to think that this is the best way to keep cramming American football down the throats of the rest of the world.

Free fallin'

By Brendan Loy

The Blue-Gray Sky has an awesome aerial photo of the Army parachuters beginning their jump down to Notre Dame Stadium before Saturday's game against USC. Definitely check it out.

Comet goes boom

By Sean Sullivan

Something happened yesterday on Comet Holmes, an obscure comet fainter than Pluto.  Until yesterday.  From Space Weather:

Whatever is happening to Comet 17P/Holmes, it's weird. "I've never seen anything like it! It almost looks like a planet," says Eric Allen ...The comet has no tail, a remarkable golden color, and yesterday it shocked astronomers with a spectacular eruption, brightening almost a million-fold from 17th to 2.5th magnitude in a matter of hours.

To put that in perspective, this is similar to the brightness of stars in the Big Dipper or Orion's Belt, easily visible to the unaided eye from within major light-polluted cities.

Unlike the traditional notion of a comet's appearance, this comet has no visible tail.  It's just a small bright sphere, even in a telescope.  To the eye, it's more starlike in appearance than cometlike.

For a recent event, this makes sense, because a comet's tail is formed by  loose material with low mass and high surface area being blown away from the sun by the pressure of sunlight.  Whatever broke free from Comet Holmes hasn't had time to get affected by sunlight to form a tail.

The comet is favorably placed for observers in the northern hemisphere.  It's in the constellation Perseus, which is up all night at this time of year.  Here's a star map from Space Weather.  I don't know if the comet will stay bright or fade quickly, but it's worth watching to see what happens next.

In other celestial news, the space shuttle was launched Tuesday.  The orbital alignment isn't favorable for visual observers in the United States, but there are a few passes that can be seen at southern latitudes (e.g. Florida, southern California).  Predictions can be made at Heavens Above.   I think there may be some better visual passes near the very end of the mission.

It's been a crazy season...

By Brendan Loy

...but road-tripping USC alum Jonathan Tu has the scoop on the biggest upset of all.

Heh.

Brady Quinn loses bet, wears USC jersey

By Brendan Loy

Heh:

Browns rookie quarterback Brady Quinn reached into the back of his locker, pulled out the cardinal-and-gold No. 10 jersey and gritted his teeth.

"This," he said, "is going to hurt."

Quinn, the former Notre Dame star, then slipped the Southern California jersey over his head and felt his skin crawl.

"That's why I've got extra layers on," he said. "So it doesn't actually touch any part of my body."

Quinn had to wear USC's colors on Wednesday after losing a bet with former Trojans quarterback Rodney Peete over last week's game between Notre Dame and Southern Cal. ...

Surely, Quinn got some points in the wager. After all, Notre Dame is 1-7 and USC is 6-1.

"It's a pride bet," Quinn said. "C'mon now. You don't bet points. I got faith in my guys." ...

When he finished with his interview, Quinn quickly ripped off the jersey and slam dunked it into a nearby garbage can.

Mike Tran should sent Brady a sympathy card. :)

(Hat tip: Scott Wolf.)

The rout is on

By Brendan Loy

The Red Sox lead the Rockies 10-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Jeez, couldn't we have saved Josh Beckett for a night when we weren't going to score a zillion runs?

Anyway, it looks like Colorado's incredible 21-of-22 streak is about to end. (Knock on wood.) Now the question will be whether the Rockies can catch their breath and make this a series, or if they'll become demoralized and fold. Obviously I want the Red Sox to win the series, but I hope the Rockies win at least one game, because I want there to be a Game 5 -- Monday is my one full day and night in Denver. (My flight out is scheduled to land during Game 4, probably in the fourth inning or thereabouts.)

UPDATE: Sox 13, Rox 1, final.

"Fresh" milk

By Brendan Loy

I just submitted this to The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks:

Heh.

Happy (early) Birthday to me!

By Brendan Loy

I'm going to be in Denver on Tuesday, so Becky made me a cake early, and we're about to start eating it. Mmm, cake. :)

Fantastic 5, Edgy 11 and Threadbare 3

By Brendan Loy

This weekend promises to be a pivotal one in the race for college football's mythical national championship. In all but two of the eleven games featuring at least one undefeated or one-loss team, the point spread is less than a touchdown. Homestanding Hawaii and Missouri are favored by 27 and 29 points over New Mexico State and Iowa State, respectively, but aside from them -- and idle LSU and Oklahoma -- every other team with a zero or a one in the loss column is potentially vulnerable, at least on paper. Could this be the week when the ranks of the unbeaten and once-beaten become so thin that we begin seriously discussing the possibility of a two-loss team reaching the BCS title game?

Certainly, there will be at least three losses this weekend among the sixteen teams on our radar: the Fantastic Five unbeatens and the Edgy Eleven once-beatens ("edgy," in the sense of "on edge," because one more loss would well and truly eliminate them from the title race... probably). That's because, of course, #8 Virginia Tech (6-1) hosts #2 Boston College (7-0) in this week's edition of the ESPN Family Of Networks Thursday Night Game Of The Century Week; #5 Oregon (6-1) hosts #12 USC (6-1) in a battle for Pac-10 supremacy on Fox Sports Net (pay no attention to the Bruins and Sun Devils behind the curtain!); and #23 UConn (6-1) hosts #10 South Florida (6-1) in a major Big East showdown that, of course, everyone has had circled on their calendars all season long... right?

So, yeah, three of those six teams have to lose. But lots of other teams from the Fantastic Five and the Edgy Eleven face tough battles this weekend, too. For instance: Arizona State finally puts its undefeated record to the test, albeit at home against a suddenly reeling Cal team. Kansas travels to Texas A&M. West Virginia visits revenge-minded Rutgers. And of course, #1 Ohio State visits #25 Penn State in the OMG Buckeyes If You Win This Game Then All You Have To Do Is Beat A Bunch Of Midgets And Those Guys Who Lost To Appalachian State And You'll Make It To The Title Game Again And Then Lose By Eight Thousand Points To Another One-Loss Team Bowl.

Oh, and lest I neglect the flip side of the college-football coin, let's not forget the BrendanLoy.com winless watch. Colorado State finally won a game last week, breaking an 13-game losing streak. S