Coming Home

One of the best things about living in New York, is coming home to New York. Nothing beats flying into LaGuardia airport and flying right by Manhattan. I think this is because the best way to view Manhattan is from a distance. It looks majestic, and you pinch yourself and think, "Do I really live there?" You get the same effect coming around the ramp in New Jersey on your approach to the Lincoln Tunnel. I had to take a car service to NJ for work and was coming back and the driver was chatting me up. I wanted to say, "Shhh, look."

Katie's cousin came to visit when we first moved here and was staying in Times Square on a high floor. Katie and I went up to their room and then glued ourselves to the windows looking out. They thought it was funny, "Don't you live here?" they asked. We should have answered, "No, we live underground in the subway tunnels, we live in a cube in the middle of a room, we live in the back apartment, we live in the booth in the back of the bar, we don't live HERE."

New York at street level is hard, a fight everyday, and often you catch yourself with your head down, trudging along. But from afar, up high in an airplane, New York is magic.

SWC Game of the Week: East Carolina at Rice

This week’s SWC Game of the week features the Rice Owls playing host to the East Carolina Pirates. This correspondent knows where South Carolina is located, and knows where North Carolina is located, but not sure about East Carolina. Anyway, this game’s focus will be the Rice Owls, winners of 4 in a row. This is the first time they have won 4 in a row in one season since 1999. They have improved their 2005 record by 4 games, with only SWC foe Arkansas improving their record by more games (5). This season they have won their first two road games as a member of Conference USA, over UCF and last week’s win over Tulsa, a preseason favorite in C-USA. Wide Receiver Jarrett Dillard has been named one of the 14 semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the best receiver in the country. The architect of this Rice Owl explosion, first year head coach Todd Graham. Todd Graham has the best first year turn around of any Rice coach since Jess Neely, back in the days when teams like Alabama had to have subs jump off their bench to tackle streaking Rice ball carriers. Graham comes to Rice from Tulsa, where he coached under Steve Kragthrope and they turned a 1-10 program around to C-USA champions in year 4. This game will be played at Rice Stadium on the Rice campus in Houston. Now, for this writer, no stadium is better than Rice Stadium. Built for the 1950 season to house the large crowds the SWC champion Rice Owls were drawing, it has hosted many memorable events, including Super Bowl VIII. This year Rice Stadium underwent a 6 million dollar renovation, replacing the athletic surface with field turf, installing new bleachers and a new scoreboard. If you have never been to a game at Rice Stadium, you don’t know what you are missing. It is a true masterpiece. The end zone seats have been covered this year to reduce capacity to 47,000, but they can regain the original 70,000 seats.

Other games this week:

Arkansas at Mississippi State

Baylor vs. Oklahoma

Houston at Memphis (To clinch hosting C-USA championship)

SMU vs. Tulsa

TCU vs. San Diego State

Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State

Last week’s game:

U of H came back to beat SMU 37-27 and take one step closer to hosting the C-USA Championship game.

Other games:
Arkansas 31 Tennessee 14

OSU 66 Baylor 24

Houston 37 SMU 27

Rice 41 Tulsa 38

Kansas State 45 Texas 42 (UPSET ALERT)

Nebraska 28 Texas A&M 27 (Nov. woes continue)

TCU 27 New Mexico 21

Oklahoma 34 Texas Tech 24

SWC Game of the Week: Houston at SMU

This week’s SWC Game of the Week is the Houston Cougars traveling to the Hilltop in Dallas to take on the Southern Methodist Mustangs. SMU is one win away from becoming bowl eligible. It would be the first bowl game for the Mustangs since 1984. The road gets tough for SMU starting with this game against Houston, followed by Tulsa and a visit to Rice. Houston on the other hand is setting its self up nicely to host the Conference USA Championship Game. The trip to SMU appears to be the last hurdle, as they finish the season on the road against last place Memphis. U of H is bowl eligible for the 3^rd time in 4 years, the first time that has happened since 1978-1981. If the Coogs win this one, it will be their 8^th victory, the first time that has happened since 1990. Think, the Coogs are winning all these games without splicing porno clips into the game film. The U oh H QB, Kevin Kolb, has been nominated as a finalist for the O’Brien National QB Award. (Of course we all know that Davy O’Brien played QB at TCU (Dallas Woodrow Wilson High School Grad) in the Southwest Conference. Ahh, the glory days. He won the national championship at TCU in 1938 but he might not be the best QB in Horn Frog history. Some could argue those honors should be saved for one Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.) This should be a good match of old SWC foes, and has championship implications.

Other notable games this week:

Arkansas vs. Tennessee

Rice at Tulsa

Texas at K-State (Could wrap up Big 12 South Title)

Texas A&M vs. Nebraska (Fran: Touchdowns = 7 points, Field Goals = 3 points)

TCU at New Mexico

Texas Tech at OU

Last week’s Game of the Week:

Oklahoma defeated Texas A&M before a rowdy crowd at Kyle Field 17-16. OU jumped out to an early 14-3 lead in the first quarter, but would only score a field goal the rest of the way off an A&M turnover. The Aggies tried to catch up in 3’s. After a failed 3^rd and goal pass from the 2, A&M settled for a field goal with 7 minutes to go to cut the lead to 17-13. With 3 minutes to go, A&M again elected to kick a field goal. They would never get the ball back, with OU converting a 4^th and inches on the 29 yard line and sealing the win. After the game the media informed Fran that field goals are worth 3 points, not 4, and touchdowns are worth 6 points with a chance for 1 or 2 more. He’s going to put that in the game plan for Nebraska.

Other scores;

Arkansas 26 S. Carolina 20 (Look out for the Hogs…, how great would an Arkansas vs. Texas game be this year?)

Texas Tech 55 Baylor 21 (Baylor is missing starting QB Bell.)

Houston 27 Tulsa 10

Rice 37 UTEP 31 (Rice has won 3 in a row!)

Texas 36 OSU 10

TCU 25 UNLV 10

One final note:

After Saturday, if you are an Aggie and happen to be married to a longhorn, then you have permission to make fun of the longhorns until THE GAME. This is in the pre-nup, so no back talk.

Texans

The last 6 months I've had the pleasure of sitting next to our exchange engineer from Denmark at work. She worked on our project, and we became friends. (A friend at work I've needed lately.) Anyway, she had to write a report as she is going back to her Denmark firm. In her report she put the following, "I've learned that Texans are Texans before they are Americans." I felt so proud, I did my job!

Overheard on Subway

Little Kid to Dad: What is your job?

Dad: I'm a lawyer.

Little Kid: Gibberish, something like what do you do...

Dad: I'm a partner, I'm a head lawyer.

Little Kid: Why is your head so big?

Little kids sometimes are more aware of things than their parents.

What do you want to be when you grow up.

O.K. thanks for b-day wishes, and part II of turning 30, career. When I was little I really thought I'd be a professional baseball player. I think I knew the odds were slim, but I'd overcome them. Then when that dream kinda ended (I still may be discovered on the Central Park softball fields) I wanted to be an architect. Then I figured I was too good at math, so I chose civil engineering.

Now, back track a bit. I loved Legos growing up and built stadiums out of them. Now I'm a structural engineering working on a baseball stadium. Not bad, huh? But what do I want to be when I grow up?

I like my job o.k. but not the industry, which tends to over work people until they jump off a building. But at 30, and after working for a few years, I feel like I know what I want out of a job more than ever, so I feel good about it. I want to be challenged at work. I want to do meanful work. I'm proud of civil engineering and feel like in a certain way we serve the public. I like to say civil engineers have added more years to your life than doctors have. I don't want to just push money around. It'd pay better, but I don't think I'd have as high of a satisfaction. I'm not putting anyone down, just telling you how I feel. I also want to go home at 5:30 or 6:00 and have the weekends off. I think I'm a motivated and hard worker, but there is a long list of things I like to do outside of work. I enjoy my softball leagues, I like to have time to read books, I like to jog, I like to go to events (performances, sports, etc.), I enjoy teaching Sunday School at Church, and I like to spend time with my wife and soon to be baby. I think this makes me better at my job as well.

So, at 30 I feel like I know what I want out of a career more than I did when I started. And I'm looking for it, and have some nice leads.

Coming up...

Family, Where to Live, Friends ...

SWC Game of the Week; OU at Texas A&M

This week’s game of the week is the OU Sooners traveling down to College Station to play the Texas A&M Aggies on prime time ABC. Kickoff will be at 7 PM Eastern, or 8 PM for the East Coast Media outlets, like this one. OU is ranked #18 but is without their star running back, Adrian Peterson. Not to mention they are playing without projected starting QB Rhett Bomar who cheated this summer so they didn’t let him play. But the Sooners only lost is to the Texas Longhorns, who have not had the privilege of beating A&M yet. A&M, ranked 21^st, is a bit of a surprise this year at 8-1, only losing to Texas Tech at the last minute. The Aggies seem to be hanging on by the “skin of their teeth” but come up winners each week. They will be tested this November though, as the schedule gets a big tougher with OU, Nebraska at home, then the annual showdown with texas in Austin. Now, are the Aggies all hat and no cattle, or are they ready to play with the big boys? This game will go a long way to determining that. OU’s defense is coming together and will be the test for QB Steven McGee who has led A&M on several drives late to win games.

Bit of series information, OU leads all time14-10 with the first meeting in 1908. OU was a charter member of the SWC before leaving a few years later. OU has won the last 3 games, but the A&M victory was over a #1 ranked OU squad at Kyle Field. Of course that got a man fired. OU then won the next game 77-0, and it was worse than the score indicated.

Other games this week:

Arkansas at South Carolina

Baylor at Texas Tech (Old SWC foes)

Houston vs. Tulsa (Cue Coog fans, go to a game.)

Rice at UTEP

Texas vs. OK State

TCU at UNLV (see editorial comment about TCU below.)

SMU has a bye after playing on Tuesday, Tuesday?

Last week’s game of week:

A&M defeated Baylor 31-21 and won the Battle of the Brazos for another year. A late 65 yard TD run by Michael Goodson sealed the win for the Aggies.

Texas beat Texas Tech 35-31 at Jones Stadium in Lubboch. Tech lead most of the game. QB Colt McCoy had another solid game and Texas won a game that good teams do.

Other games last week:

Arkansas 44 La Monroe 10

Houston 51 UCF 31 (Where are the Cougar fans? Not at the games.)

SMU 22 UAB 9 (on Halloween, on ESPN2, with the worse commentating ever.)

TCU 26 Wyoming 3

Who else thinks TCU isolated themselves from the rest of the state by joining the Mountain West? 4 of the Texas teams are in the Big 12, the other 3 in CUSA, then TCU. They play no in state rivals for conference play. Not smart in this writer’s opinion.

Lyrics

One of my favorite songs is Guy Clark's Dublin Blues. I like this line, "I'd loved you from the git go, and I'll love you when I die. I loved you on the Spainish Steps the day you said goodbye."

I think that's how Katie and I are, I loved her from the git go, and I'll love her when I die. She did not however say goodbye to me last fall when we were on the Spainish Steps in Rome.

I like the first line too, "I wish I was in Austin, In the Chili Parlour Bar, Drinkin' Mad Dog Margaritas, And not carin' where you are." That's what I want to say to my boss some days.

You know, I turn 30 on Monday. So I thought I should blog on turning 30. This is the first installment. Number one in my life is my love, Katielady. And I loved her from the git go.

Golden Arches

So, there is a new McDonald's in my neighborhood. Now, our neighborhood is rich yuppies with kids in the Upper West Side, so politically they hate big stories like McDonald's and Walmart. After all, those are for the ignorant bunch in "middle America." But, one blog east is a lower income neighborhood, including public housing. These folks eat at McDonald's.

So, today, they had the clown, Ronald, out there talking to the kids. It must have been a nightmare for the yuppie parents with their kids.

Now, we don't eat at McDonald's. It is more because we really don't eat fast food unless we are on a road trip, then you don't really have choices. And we watched "Super Size Me," so now we don't want eat there for health reasons. But, if they want to put a McDonald's on your street, I don't see how it is worth getting upset about. Just don't eat there. And if it's 11 PM and you want tasty fries, you have that option.

Another thing about this that is interesting is to me it relates the growing trend in Manhattan of the dreaded chains moving in. It is ironic, that normal people can't hardly afford to live here, and those that are rich don't like chains, but chains are the only ones that can afford to put a store in. So, Manhattan is turning into a big outdoor mall.

SWC Game of the Week: Texas vs. Texas Tech: A&M vs. Baylor

This week we have a double header featuring the Texas Longhorns traveling to West Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Battle of the Brazos as the Texas Aggies go to Waco to play the Baylor Bears.

First Texas vs. Texas Tech. Texas leads the all time series 40-14 with 3 wins in a row. They first played in 1928 and played 9 times before Texas Tech joined the SWC in 1960. Texas is coming off a big win in Nebraska, but has questions in the secondary. Those questions will be tested against Texas Tech and their circus offense. Texas Tech is not very good this year, remember, I keep saying that. But, never underestimate the power of a drunken rowdy crowd for this night game. Texas is lead by red-shirt freshman Colt McCoy, who proves you don’t have to be outstanding to play QB, just don’t make mistakes.

The Aggies and the Bears will meet for the 103^rd time, the 2^nd longest rivalry in Baylor history. A&M leads the series 63-30-9, but the last two games have gone to overtime, with each side taking home a victory. The first game was in 1899 (WHOOP!), and A&M won 33-0. Now, there was a time when certain folks were in school that a game against Baylor was a time to get out of the big city of BCS, go to the Dr. Pepper Museum, eat at Health Camp, enjoy the Baylor girls (“if you can’t get a wife at Baylor, you can’t get a wife”) and watch a football game. No more, these Bears are getting better under Guy Morris and A&M won last week on two missed extra points to a team that U of H destroyed. Of course I think I remember Baylor being ranked when A&M played them in 1995. Anyway, Baylor is not the doormat of the league anymore and A&M isn’t the power it used to be. Should be a good game.

Other notable games:

Arkansas vs. La Monroe

Houston vs. UCF (18,000 at the last UH home game, come on Houston)

SMU vs. UAB on ESPN on Halloween. Go Ponies!

TCU vs. Wyoming

Rice has a bye, but no “I think they can win this one” jokes, they are on a 2 game win streak

Last Week:

Arkansas 38 Ole Miss 3

Baylor 36 Kansas 35

Houston 34 UTEP 17

Rice 40 UCF 29

East Carolina 38 SMU 21

Texas 22 Nebraska 20

Texas A&M 34 OK State 33

TCU 31 Army 17

Texas Tech 42 Iowa State 27

College Football Fans

This is from Richard Justice's Blog on the Houston Chronicle web site. I couldn't agree more. As I've stepped back now these past few years. What I like to say is how many millions are spent on stadiums, locker rooms, whatever they think of next so I can brag at work on Monday morning that my college team beat your college team.

Don't tell anyone this, but I love poking college football fans. They take themselves so seriously. I just don't get this dressing up in the school colors and going to a college football game 30 years after leaving school. I don't get the whole "Longhorn Bob" and "Cougar Scott" thing. As Russ Springer said last year when Chris Burke was cheering loudly for the University of Tennessee, "Cut the cord.'' I love the University of Texas more than you can imagine. I love Garrison Hall and, uh, Scholz Garten. But writing about the football team is my job. I like to see them do well. I think it would be kind of sick to root for someone to fail. I root for Stoops and Fran and Mike Leach, too. I also occasionally take a few shots because when you criticize a college team, people act as if you've offended a member of the family. It's actually pretty funny if you stop and think how ridiculous it all is. And here's the thing: you're all alike. You'll never admit this, but all of you are alike. Tech fans curse a little more. UH fans have more of a chip on their shoulders. Texas fans are a little more arrogant. Aggie fans are a little more goofy. Before you write in and tell me, I acknowledge that University of Texas fans dress nicer and are better educated (Editor's note: this is a shot at UT; in some of the early posts, many of you have taken it as praise). So cool it. But at the end of the day, there are far more similarities than differences. They all run around screaming like this stuff is important and getting all worked up when they think they've been offended. It's fun.

Now, I like to go to the games, but I think we all need some perspective.

Baby

I felt the baby kick last night. It was cool.

Baseball live blogging:
Do you see how much gum that Detroit player on the bench has in his mouth? Must be like 8 pieces.

Is that a #11 bar Frank Thomas is swinging in the on deck circle?

That's all, going to bed while I can still fall asleep listening to the rain against the windows. Quite a day in NY, what with a plane crashing into a building and it turning out to be the Yankees, again dominating the news despite the fact the Mets are in the NLCS. And the Mets got rained out. I'd feel sorry for them, but the Mets are evil.

What age are you too old to dress up for Halloween? I say 12.

SWC Game of the Week: Baylor at Texas

This week’s game is the Baylor at Texas. Baylor is 2-0 in Big 12 play, coming off an overtime win at Colorado. Texas, of course, beat OU last week in last week’s SWC Game of the Week. This is the 96th meeting between the two schools with Texas leading the all time series 69-22-4. The first game was won by Texas 29-0 on October 29, 1901 in Austin. Anyone remember that one? Last year Texas won 62-0. This is the first time since 1963 that the two have met when both were undefeated in conference play. Texas has won 8 in a row against the Bears, the last win by Baylor was 23-21 in 1997. (That was fun, I remember we got a kick out of that in College Station.) The 8 in a row is the second longest win streak by Texas in the series. Texas won 13 in a row before Baylor beat them 34-24 in 1974 in the game dubbed “The Miracle on the Brazos.” The Bears went on to win the SWC that year and play in the Cotton Bowl. Their only conference loss that year was to A&M. (Ahh, the glory days…) Bad news for the Bears, the Longhorns hold a 41-8-2 advantage in Austin. Well, those are the numbers, maybe Baylor can hang in there. The game will be broadcast nationally on TBS, kicking off at 6 PM CST.

Other games this week:
A&M hosts Missouri
Texas Tech travels to Colorado
SMU vs. Marshal
Rice vs. UAB
Houston at Southern Miss.

Last week:Texas defeated the OU Sooners in Dallas 28-10. The Longhorns trailed at the half 10-7 at the half before dominating the second half and sending the Sooner faithful to an early exit. Did everyone see that OU kid crying at the end? Reminds me of Game 6, 1986.

Arkansas 27 Auburn 10 (BIG WIN FOR SWC)
Baylor 34 Colorado 31 (Sic ‘Em Bears!)
La – Laf 31 Houston 28 (Bad loss for Cougs, Miami hangover?)
Tulane 38 Rice 24
UTEP 24 SMU 21 (Mustang rally falls short)
Texas A&M 21 Kansas 18 (Fran escapes, lives to fight another day)
Utah 20 TCU 7 (How fast are folks falling off this bandwagon?)
Missouri 38 Texas Tech 21 (Tech is not very good this year.)

Southwest Conference Game of the Week: Texas vs. OU

This week’s SWC Game of the Week features the Texas Longhorns vs. the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma was a charter member of the SWC before leaving after one year, but this game has been a fixture for the entire history of the conference. Texas leads the all time series 56-39-5 and won last year 45-12. The previous 5 years found OU victorious. This year marks the 101st meeting of the two schools who have met in Dallas since 1912 and have met annually at the Cotton Bowl since 1929. Only the Texas vs. Texas A&M game has a longer tenure on the longhorn schedule. This year the Longhorns enter the game ranked #7 with a 4-1 record, the only loss to #1 Ohio State at home. Oklahoma is ranked #14 with a 3-1 record, with a controversial lose to Oregon. Oklahoma will be without Rhett Bomar, who was expected to lead the Sooners this year, but instead got himself suspended after having a summer job we’d all like to have. Texas will be lead by redshirt freshman Colt McCoy. Adrian Peterson, the OU running back, will be the focus of the OU offense on his way to being passed up by the Houston Texans in the NFL draft. Of course the best thing about this game is the corn dogs and Big Tex. Of course this year at the State Fair, FRIED COKE!!!

Last Week’s Game:
The Texas Tech Red Raiders beat the Texas A&M Aggies with a last minute touchdown. The final score, 31-27. A&M went up 27-24 with 2 minutes to go with a field goal. Tech came back down the field and with a 37 yard touchdown pass went ahead for good with 20 seconds ago. The good news, Fran may be on his way out. The bad news, A&M keeps losing to Tech, 9 out of the last 11 years. It was a great game though.

Around the league:
Baylor 17 KSU 3
Miami 14 Houston 13
Rice 48 Army 14
SMU 33 Tulane 28
Texas 56 Sam Houston 3

This week’s games:
Arkansas at Auburn
Baylor at Colorado (Could the Bears go 2-0 on the Big 12 year?)
Houston vs. UL LA
Rice at Tulane
SMU at UTEP
Texas A&M at Kansas (Will Fran stay in Kansas after the game, for good?)
TCU at Utah State
Texas Tech vs. Missouri

Jesse

Forgot to mention:

We saw Jesse Jackson last Tuesday when we went for the ultrasound. He was outside the fancy hotel at Time Warner Center. Katie was asking, "Don't these people have jobs," as we fought our way through the crowd. Then we saw him and I said, "Jesse Jackson doesn't have a job."

For a man that represents repressed African Americans, he sure stays in nice hotels.

SWC Game of the Week: Texas Tech at Texas A&M

This week’s SWC Game of the week features the Texas Tech Red Raiders traveling to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies. A&M leads the all time series 34-29-1, dating to 1923, but Texas Tech has won 8 of the last 11. Texas A&M has won 8 of the last 10 at Kyle Field though. A&M takes it’s unproven 4-0 record into the contest. Texas Tech’s only loss was at TCU, where they failed to score a touchdown. A&M’s 4-2-5 defense (nickel) will get it’s first real test against Mike Leach’s offense. A&M always seems to bring out the best in Texas Tech, the last 2 games at Kyle Field have gone to overtime. Aggie head coach Dennis Franchione tenure at A&M could also be at stake.

This series has been surrounded by talk lately of moving to a neutral site, Dallas’ Cotton Bowl. This move, if completed, would be a terrible move for the spirit behind the games at both Kyle Field and Jones Stadium. Let’s all voice our displeasure to the respected AD’s.

Other notable games this week:
Houston at Miami (remember 1990? 4-0 Cougs go to Miami…)
Rice at Army

Last week’s results:
Arkansas 24 Alabama 23 (Game of the week delivers an OT classic)
Army 27 Baylor 20 (Another OT game)
Houston 34 OK State 25
FSU 55 Rice 7 (Rice was tied 7-7 at one point)
SMU 55 Arkansas St. 9
Texas 37 Iowa State 14
Texas A&M 45 La Tech 14
Texas Tech 62 SE La 0

Ramblings

So, everyone should know by now if you read Katie's blog, we're having a boy! I'm excited. Lots of ball games in my future! We bought the crib today! The one we had picked out was discontinued, so we had to debate in the store, but we went up in price instead of down. I had the "gun" while we finished our registry, so there's lots of different sports stuff.

I finally found a "Texas Aggies" t-shirt online. I want one that says "Texas Aggies" as our Yankee AD (he's from Idaho, or some yankee state up there) has decided that people in Ohio get Texas Aggies mixed up with texas longhorns, so we must brand Texas A&M. I say, screw people in Ohio. The one problem with my "Texas Aggies" shirt, .... IT'S GREEN! WHY?

Finally, I had to work this morning, after my boss emailed FRIDAY MORNING from CHICAGO, that he wanted everyone to work one day this weekend, then we had to tell him which day. I deleted email, went in Sat. morning for a half day. I could write a book about things I think are wrong with my industry, my boss, and my office atmosphere. I told them all about the baby this week, I'm sure they will soon forget. My boss can't remember where I went to college, even though I've told him 5 times at least. So, that tells me my boss doesn't give a damn about me, just makes small talk when he thinks it's appropriate. Let's just say, there is not a family atmosphere there. But I have prospects elsewhere, as NY with baby is very expensive. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not the Dallas office of my company.

SWC Game of the Week: Alabama at Arkansas

I know, I know, but remember Arkansas was a member of the SWC. Arkansas was a charter member of the SWC before jumping ship and ruining forever what was once great. Arkansas left the SWC in 1992 to join the SEC. It was fun rooting against them that last year though. Arkansas won 7 SWC football titles, including 1988 and 1989. They won one national championship as a SWC member in 1964. Of course the most famous game that Arkansas played was against Texas in Arkansas in 1969. Even Nixon went to the game! Texas won the matchup 15-14 (Don’t they always win?) The game featured two legendary coaches matching up, Texas’ Darrell Royal and Arkansas Frank Broyles. Arkansas has started this year 2-1, losing to USC. Alabama is 3-0 and ranked #22. The game will be broadcast on CBS.

Other notable games this week:
Baylor vs. Army (Army plays A&M, Baylor, TCU, and SMU this year, making them an honorary member of the SWC)
Houston vs. OK State (C-USA vs. Big 12)

Last week:
Arkansas 21 Vanderbilt 19
Baylor 15 Washington State 17
Houston 42 Grambling 22
Texas 52 Rice 7
SMU 45 Sam Houston 14
Texas A&M 28 Army 24
TCU 12 Texas Tech 3

SWC Game of the Week: Texas Tech at TCU

This week’s game of the week is Texas Tech at TCU. TCU is ranked #20 and Texas Tech in #24 in the AP poll. Both teams enter the contest 2-0. Tech leads the all time series 28-22-3. The first meeting was in 1926 and the last time they played was in 2004. Texas Tech joined the conference in 1960 and has never won an outright title. TCU was a charter member of the SWC.

Tech’s high flying offense this year is led by sophomore Graham Harrell. Yet again Tech has a new quarterback, but this year he is not a senior. TCU finished last season ranked 9 in the USA Today Coaches Bowl and hopes to crash the BCS party. Since 2000 they have had 4 10 win seasons and 3 conference championships.

This matchup of ranked opponents promises to be a great one, so if you’re in the Fort Worth area, you should try to make it out to the game.

In other SWC action, Texas looks to continue it’s domination of Rice.

In last week’s SWC game of the week, Texas lost to Ohio State 24-17. Other games: Arkansas beat Utah State 20-0, Baylor won over NW State 47-10, The U of H Cougars beat Tulane 45-7, Rice gave UCLA a run for their money before losing 26-16, SMU lost a disappointing game to North Texas 24-6, Texas A&M dominated UL at Laf. 51-7, TCU beat UC Davis 46-13, and Texas Tech outlasted UTEP 38-35 in overtime in El Paso.

SWC Game of the Week: Texas vs. Ohio State

This week’s game is the big game in the nation, #1 Ohio State vs. #2 Texas. This game will be the ABC Saturday night game, broadcast nation wide from Austin, TX. Ohio State looks for revenge for last year’s 25-22 loss at the horseshoe in Ohio. Texas will of course be without QB Vince Young, who led the longhorns to victory last year, but redshirt freshman Colt McCoy looked impressive in last weeks blowout win over North Texas. The real question for McCoy will be how he will respond to the pressure against a quality program. The supporting cast around McCoy is as good as ever and the stingy longhorn defense should make it difficult for the Buckeyes to score.

Ohio State is coming off a 35-12 win over Northern Illinois. QB Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr lead OSU on offense, with Ginn a Heisman hopeful. With the arrest of Texas’ Tarell Brown, who was to cover Ginn, it will be interesting if that changes anyone’s game plan. This game, of course, has national championship implications. I hope Brent Mustburger is up for it.

This matchup will of course bring up the rivalry between Ohio HS football vs. Texas HS football. Of course, the Texas talent is spread out a bit more than the Ohio Talent. Consider this fact: 375 Texas high school players signed national letters of intent for D-I schools compared with 131 in Ohio. The 375 Texans is more than any other state. 31 Texans were taken in the NFL draft this year. This total is second only to California (36).

Now let’s look at last week’s scores:

@ Arkansas 14 USC 50
@ Baylor 7 TCU 17 (104th meeting)
Houston 31 @ Rice 30 (Last Week’s Game of the Week, UH scored the last 17 points of the game to pull out victory.)
SMU 3 @ Texas Tech 35
@ Texas 56 North Texas 7
@ Texas A&M 35 Citadel 3

Standings: Overall: Conference:
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Houston 1 0 1 0
TCU 1 0 1 0
Texas Tech 1 0 1 0
Texas 0 0 1 0
Texas A&M 0 0 1 0
Arkansas 0 0 1 0
Baylor 0 1 0 1
Rice 0 1 0 1
SMU 0 1 0 1

SWC Game of the Week: Houston at Rice

Welcome to the 2006 edition of the Southwest Conference Game of the Week! This week’s match-up is the University of Houston Cougars visiting the Rice Owls for the Bayou Bucket.

Rice opens the Todd Graham era after a disappointing 2005 season that ended with head coach Ken Hatfield resigning. Rice finished last year 1-10 and looks to rebound with a new offensive system. Instead of the run oriented wishbone, run by Hatfield, Todd Graham will install a spread offense with lots of passes. The player to watch for Rice will be QB Chase Clement.

Houston meanwhile has high hopes in 2005 and a run at the Conference USA title. Head Coach Art Briles enters his 4th year after leading the Cougars to a 6-6 2005 season, ending in a disappointing loss to Kansas in the Fort Worth Bowl. Senior QB Kevin Kolb, a 4 year starter, is the active NCAA leader in total offense, passing yards, pass completions and total plays.

One interesting note, both coaches have coached Texas High School football, Graham at Allen High Schol and Briles at Stephenville High School.

UH joined the SWC in 1972 while Rice University was a charter member in 1914. UH won the first meeting in 1971 23-21 at Rice Stadium in front on 62,000 fans. UH beat Rice last year 35-13 with Rice last winning in 2004 10-7. On December 1st, 1995, Rice and Houston played the last SWC football game, with Houston winning 18-17. They started playing for the “Bayou Bucket” in 1974 and Houston leads the all time series 21-8. Below is an exert from the Rice Media Guide about the history of the Bayou Bucket.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS...
When Fred Curry, a Rice guard during the Jess Neely era, became president of the Houston Touchdown Club in 1974, the blue blood in his veins began to surface. He wanted to do something to build some interest in the Rice-University of Houston football series.

“We need something to symbolize the rivalry with some kind of object,” he told Phil Gemmer, the immediate past president, “but I
don’t know what it would be.”

“Well,” said the innovative Gemmer, “Purdue and Indiana play for the Old Oaken Bucket. It was a tradition before the Four Horsemen.”

“You got it,” responded Curry triumphantly. “We’ll have a bucket and design a trophy.”

Gemmer agreed that it was a super idea and laid the project in Curry’s lap. Curry’s work was just beginning when he put the package together. First, he got the approval of UH’s Bill Yeoman and Rice’s Al Conover, the head coaches at the time at the two schools. Then it had to be cleared through the club’s board of directors.

“I had a meeting of the board at my home,” recalls Curry, “and we kicked around 60 or 70 names trying to find something that would rhyme with bucket. “Finally Del Womack said, ‘What is Houston noted for?’ I said, ‘Dirty bayous.’ Bayou Bucket, perfect name.”

The scene shifted to New Braunfels in the summer of 1974. The Currys were on vacation and browsing around antique shops. A big, beat-up bucket caught Curry’s eye. At $60, Curry thought he got a bargain. He took it to a local trophy shop, drew a picture of what he wanted, and gave instructions to smooth out some of the creases. Buck Sloan, who owned the business and was himself a Rice man, painstakingly built the Bayou Bucket on an ornate base and threw in some added embellishments. The total cost: $310.


Note: This story on the Bayou Bucket was written by Jack Agness and appeared in the Houston Post . Agness, who covered Rice for the Post until his
retirement in 1984, passed away in 1994. The Post ceased publication in April1995.

Other Notable SWC games this week:
TCU @ Baylor
SMU @ Texas Tech

Rebuild New Orleans??

So, should they rebuild New Orleans? This is another point addressed in the article referenced two blogs ago.

Yes. The fact is the civil engineering of the levees worked, or should have worked. They failed because of faulting design and construction. But the water did not go over them. The residents were right to trust the levees. They should have worked.

Now, why put a city below sea level. Well, not all of New Orleans is below sea level, and some of New Orleans that flooded was above sea level. New Orleans itself is not in swamp country, that is farther south. Now, the levees built upstream and ecological impacts along the Mississippi River (all the way to Minn.) is another debate that doesn't, in my opinion, include having a city where New Orleans is located.

Why build cities in California? The threat of a major earthquake exists everyday, without warning that a hurricane gives. The devastation from "the big one" in a city such as San Francisco or LA is devastating. But yet we trust engineers to design buildings that are safe if an earthquake hits.

Miami sits, waiting for a destruction of a hurricane. A hurricane could hit Houston and knock out oil and gas production that fuels much of this country.

The debate reminds me of a time in college when they were going to build a tunnel under a road and railroad track to ease the walk from one side of campus to the other. The thought was it would fill up with water when it rains. We laughed, thinking, umm, we can design tunnels to drain. Engineering can protect cities to a certain extent. The tragedy of New Orleans is the protection system was not overcome by mother nature, but failed due to faulty engineering.

Crescent City Update

Since there is some debate about race in New Orleans and Katrina, here is the quote from the article referenced...

You may also think that poor, black New Orleanians constituted the majority of victims killed by the Corps’ incompetence. In fact, white and black, rich and poor, New Orleanians shared equally in the suffering and death. The last published tally I saw showed that whites and blacks died in roughly the same proportion. If that is accurate, given that the population of the city in the last census was only 28-percent white, white New Orleanians died in proportionately higher numbers.

Hope that clears it up.

Crescent City

You probably can't read this as it is a Times Select article, but John Biguenet is doing a blog of sorts. He is writing articles about moving back into his home in New Orleans after the flood. He has it right when he says that what destroyed New Orleans wasn't a hurricane, but the US Army Corp of Engineers.

The flood waters did not come over the levees, the levees failed. As a civil engineer I think this is deplorable. A failure of a civil engineering structure has destroyed a city and countless lives. Why isn't ASCE or other national civil engineering organizations speaking out on this? How was the Corp allowed to make a mistake? What part of their mistake was bad engineering, bad management, or bad construction? What part of the design was subbed out to other firms? What part did budget play in design decisions?

Will we have these answers? If a building fell down would there be more outrage of the failure of the engineering?

SWC

Remember the Southwest Conference? For 81 years (1914-1996) it was the conference for most of the major colleges in Texas. Members included Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Rice, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, and Texas Tech. The league started to break apart when Arkansas left for the SEC in 1992, then disbanded completely in 1996 when Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech joined the Big 8 to become the Big 12.

I grew up watching the SWC Game of the Week on Raycom Sports. Of course the season was highlighted on Jan. 1st and the Cotton Bowl game featuring the league champion. I'll honestly say that I'd rather watch a match up of former SWC foes than Kansas vs. Nebraska. I have no connection to the old Big 8 teams in the Big 12. (even though Oklahoma and Oklahoma St were charter members of the SWC before leaving just a few years later.)

Well, this year, I plan on having a SWC Game of the Week, hosted here on this blog. Look next week for the first matchup. Just one more weekend without football!

Thoughts from Vacation

I'll share some thoughts from our vacation while they are still fresh. We were two nights in Boston, 3 nights in Southwest Harbor in Acadia, Maine, and 3 nights in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Acadia National Park is awesome, Boothbay Harbor is a tourist trap. Anyway, I didn't think of any of y'all for a week, so HA!

• The girl in the room next to us in Boston, nice performance. We could still hear you down the hall at the elevator.
• The North End of Boston sucks. Apparently Italian food is a new thing in Boston. We didn't eat any as we got fed up and walked back to McCormick and Schmidt.
• Boston is small.
• There are alot of fat people out there traveling the roads.
• The Atlantic Ocean in Maine is like ice water. It hurts your feet. That's all that got in.
• I really enjoy hiking. (No one else in my family does, but I do.)
• There is no end to the amount of crap people will buy because they are on vacation.
• There is one store in Maine that repeats itself in every Maine town.
• Dinner reservations should not be required when dining in Boothbay Harbor.
• If you want a lobster, go to a lobster pound, cheap and relaxed.
• Lobster is over-rated. (They used to feed it to prisoners and only poor people ate it.)
• Lesbians enjoy Maine. (I'm guessing, but there's lots of them up there.)
• People at B&B's will talk to you to hear themselves talk at breakfast. Best to eat isolated, outside.
• I think our innkeeper killed his first wife and stuffed her somewhere. (I've seen Misery.)
• The Mass. Turnpike sucks. SUCKS! 45 minutes to go 15 miles westbound today when we bailed out. In the middle of no where. SUCKS! We were o.k. coming into Boston on Friday afternoon, but not going west on Sat. afternoon. I hate the Red Sox now because of the Mass. Turnpike.
• Tolls really slow down interstate traffic. Something should be done about this. Why does it work in NJ but not elsewhere in the NE?
• Texans, get ready for toll roads.
• The Mass. Turnpike is ridiculous stretch of road. Do people do that every weekend?
• We are learning our way around NYC, which is pretty remarkable considering we've driven in the city like 5 times. We took a detour today, in the Bronx! It was like Bonefire of the Vanities.
• Friday quitting time at the Bath Iron Works is quite the site.
• Cool things people in Maine say, "wicked for very", "Bah Hahbah for Bar Harbor"
• Maine people really aren't that friendly.

It was a nice trip. If you are going to Maine and you want my opinion, feel free to drop me a line. I'd avoid I-90, i.e. Mass Turnpike, westbound if you can.

Heat Wave, NYC Style

So, as I'm sure y'all have heard, we have had a "heat wave" here in NY. We did not get over 100, despite forecasts for 104 some days. Tuesday we were 95, Wednesday 97 and today 98. Hot, but for someone from Texas, not that hot.

I've made some observations about this heat wave from the perspective of someone that grew up in an area that is this hot for 3 months, not 3 days. First, power shortages. I can't believe that when it gets above 95 Coned can't keep the power on. Ridiculous. I worked this afternoon in the dark. The turned off the lights at work to conserve energy. Ridiculous. At the Yankee game they turned off the out of town scoreboard, and they haven't been lighting up the Empire State Building. Second, this demonstrates that it is not news, until it happens in NY. We watch Good Morning America while we get ready in the morning. California has had terrible heat for about a month now. They would mention this on GMA. But 3 days of hot in NY brings out the doctors with tips to stay cool, anchors on the sidewalks confirming that it is indeed hot, sympathy for workers that work outside, and no other news, such as the wars in the Middle East.

That being said, nothing is like NYC when it is close to 100. It is miserable. You see in Dallas when it was hot, we just didn't go outside except to go to the pool. But when you live in the city, you walk everywhere, outside. The subway stations are like ovens. (Over used analogy I know, but they are extremely hot and uncomfortable.) On our way to and from the Yankee game last night we walked through the "lower income" neighborhood that is two blocks over and they had a hydrant open and were playing in it. Before and after the game. It looked like fun. Everyone was sitting on their steps at 10 PM. That's another difference, window a/c and some folks have no a/c.

So, a NYC heat wave is ridiculous and yet unique. I guess that describes all of NYC.

Church Person

Today at Church was one pastors last sermon. Mrs. Bubba and I are glad this person is leaving, we don't care for this person. Does that make us bad Christians? I tend to disagree with this person's, shall we say, Biblical interpretations and I'm not too keen on this person's politics. But I also think I should have no clue about this person's politics by just listening to this person from the pulpit. I don't want to be preached to about political things. Just the Bible. I'm old fashioned.

Aggie Baseball

One more sports, o.k. two if you count the soccer update, but that is more about racism and how people react to things than sports.

Former Aggie Baseball Coach Mark Johnson has a new job. He has been named the head coach at Sam Houston State University. While at A&M his won / loss record was 876-433. Of the 272 players that went through the A&M baseball program while he was head coach, 227 of them graduated. That's 84%. If you count the 25 more that are on their way to their degree, the percentage climbs to 93%.

Man, I'm glad A&M got rid of that guy...

Sports World

First soccer. So the French dude, Zidane, head butts his way out of the World Cup Final. Why? Well, it appears the Italian dude, Materazzi, called him a name. What is funny about this story is the media spin, it is apparently o.k. to head butt your way out of the World Cup Final if provoked by name calling. What happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?"

Next baseball. So, Bud Selig (baseball devil) decides that the All-Star game should be important and it will determine home field advantage for the World Series. We won't go into how the All-Star game is not decided by the best All-Stars, who have started and have been pulled by the late innings. So, in said really important All-Star game they take a break so baseball devil can stand at a podium at home plate and talk about Roberto Clemente. Nothing against Clemente, but is this really the place for that, in the middle of a really important game for two teams in that will play a little thing called the World Series in October? Is this an exibition or is it an important game? Come on baseball devil, make up your mind.

UPDATE ON SOCCER:
Kevin Blackistone, of the Dallas Morning News writes:

If soccer believes, as do many of its fans, that Zidane's expulsion from the biggest game cost France the 2006 World Cup trophy, the game should even consider stripping Italy of the golden award.

In fact, if fair play is as integral to soccer as the corner kick – what with the traditions such as a team voluntarily stopping play when an opponent goes down in pain – Italy should even consider surrendering the most coveted award.

But he has a history of "playing the race card." I still think that the only reason it was said was to bait someone into doing something stupid that would get them red carded. It worked. What happened to rising above someone calling you a "dirty" name? I don't think you should have to forfeit a game because one of your players called someone else a dirty name. Aren't we all adults?

Still the Land of Opportunity...

Mrs. Bubba and I were flying back from Dallas on Sunday and took a cab home from LGA. Our Cabbie was from Bangladesh and had been in the US for 25 years and was a citzen. He lived with his wife and two school aged kids in a studio apartment, that's one room. He knew our flight was from Dallas and was quizing us on Dallas. How much was rent there? Was it 110 degrees everyday? What do you pay for electricity running your a/c all the time? What would a factory job pay there? What was the cabbie business like there? He had two friends that moved from NY, one to Dallas, one to Atlanta that were telling him how easier life was down south.

This made both of us thankful for what we have. But it also reinforced that despite what the doomsday folks say, this is still a country of opportunity. He said that he wished he had a college degree but it was tough for first generation immigrants to get a degree. He was sending money home when he first moved here.

We also found it interesting that he felt that he could have an easier life for hime and his family by moving to Texas, our home state. We hear so much about how NY is the melting pot and people move here from all over to live the American dream. But just like us, they are finding a city that is too expensive to live in and real opportunity lies elsewhere in this country. This man was also not concerned with racism in the South or not being welcomed.

So, on this July 4th lets celebrate our Independence and celebrate the fact that America is still a place where people come to make life better for them and their families. Not just in NY, but over the entire country.

World Cup

If the US wins the World Cup, fat chance, the whole world should have to call the sport "soccer" for 4 years.

Thanksgiving Night

ESPN is reporting that ABC will telecast a prime time college football game every Saturday night. ABC also controls the annual A&M vs. t.u. football game, as they want to broadcast it nationally Friday after Thanksgiving in the afternoon. This is a perfect time to move the game back to Thanksgiving Night, the way it should be played, and ABC can telecast it. You will never convince me that they can sell a Friday after Thanksgiving afternoon telecast over a Thanksgiving night telecast.

Cello's and Hot Dogs

One of the great things about living in New York is the different things you can do. Wednesday night we went to the Yankees vs. Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium and last night we went to Yo Yo Ma at the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. Both events were fun, although different. No one got thrown out of the symphony.

Yo Yo Ma plays a cello from the 1700's. I was thinking it would be cool if his cello was like Willie Nelson's guitar. For instance it had a hole in it and everyone he had played with signed it. That'd be cool.

Back to baseball, I can't decide if the fans care more about the game or about being obnoxious.

Jarrin' John

John Kimbrough passed away this week in Haskel, TX, his hometown. Mrs. Bubba's graddadder, who passed away in Feb. was also from Haskel and he knew John, but wasn't running buddies with him.

Anyway, he was an Aggie legend and played on A&M's only national championship team in 1939. Mickey Herskowitz has a great column in the Houston Chronicle about Jarrin' John and SWC football back in the 1930's.

"Yankees"

So, Mrs. Bubba and I went to our first Yankee game of the season last night. We get an 8 game mini pack for weeknights. Last night we remembered how much fun April baseball is in NY, cold and rainy. We snuck down to covered seats when it started raining. But before we went we witnessed what is sad about "yankee" "fans." A group of "cool" guys in front of us starting chanting, "Boston Sucks" to another fan with a Red Sox hat. This is all pretty typical. Then they started chanting "Asshole" when the fan with the Red Sox hat held it back for them to see. Also, I've seen it before. But, in this case, the Red Sox fan was 10 years old. Pretty sad. The ushers did come and say something to them.

On the way home we saw a rat in the subway, not uncommon either. Then we walked down our new street in the UWS (we've moved since last season.) On our way home we saw maybe 10 street rats, most of them running across our paths just before us. We don't see many so called street rats. So that was fun.

Terrorist

From the John Irving novel, Hotel New Hampshire, "The terrorist and the pornographer are in it for the means. The means is everything for them."

Texas Independence, Screw Mexico

Thursday, March 2nd, was Texas Independence Day. This date in 1836 the Texans at Washington on the Brazos signed the Declaration of independence from Mexico. Recently Houston got an MLS soccer team and they named it 1836, the year Houston was founded. This is also the year of Texas Independence. But, it depends that the "Hispanics" are upset by that name.

Last month, the team decided to drop 1836 because its connection to the year Texas gained independence from Mexico offended some Hispanics.

I don't know why anyone from Central American would be offended by Texas winning independence from Mexico, so let's just call them Mexicans.

Let me list the ways this upsets me:

1. Can you imagine the British being "offended" by 1776?
2. If it wasn't for Texas Independence and joining the United States 9 years later, do you think there would be a steady stream of Mexicans crossing the border to live in Texas because it offers them and their families a better opportunity in life?
3. Did they forget the "Hispanics" or Tejanos that fought along side the Anglos in 1836?
4. Why aren't they offended that Santa Anna, a ruthless dictator who ended his life in jail in Mexico, killed everyone at the Alamo and then burned the bodies?
5. Why aren't the offended that Santa Anna was with a whore when Sam Houston attacked at San Jacinto on April 21st, 1836?

This is ridiculous and it has been going on for a while now. Look, Texans are proud people and like it or not these events shaped Texas and made it what it is today. They have a place being celebrated. I would accuse them of being sore losers, except no one was born when this happened and they are benefiting from the result.

Johnny Cash

Katie and I finally saw "Walk the Line" last night. It was great. The performances were great as well. I also received from Katie for my Valentine a new Johnny Cash CD, "My Mother's Hymn Book." It is Johnny Cash and a guitar singing old hymns and gospel songs. I love these old hymns and have decided I want only old Southern Hymns and Spirituals sung at my funeral. (Katie doesn't want to talk about my funeral.)

Anyway, I'm a big Cash fan and wanted to be Johnny Cash when I was growing up. No joke. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it.

Cooler Head's

Sorry for more of the same, but this story just keeps getting more and more ridiculous.

A Pakistani cleric announced a $1 million bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew the Prophet Muhammad as thousands joined street protests after Friday prayers.

High Life

One of the interesting if not cool things about living 13 floors above the ground is that when it is really windy outside the toilet water is sloshed around.

More Cartoons...

Were you aware that these cartoons were published in September? Also, several of the cartoons being distributed were never published in the Danish paper. Read this from the Wall Street Journal.

Under pressure from young radicals for results, Mr. Abu-Laban, the Copenhagen cleric at the forefront of the campaign, and several others formed the "European Committee for Honoring the Prophet," an umbrella group that now claims to represent 27 organizations across a wide spectrum of the Islamic community. (Moderate Muslims dispute this and say the group has been hijacked by radicals.)

Frustrated by the Danish government's response, the committee decided after a series of meetings in October and November that "our only option was take our case outside Denmark," Mr. Abu-Laban says. There was growing interest from Muslim ambassadors in Copenhagen and their home governments, including Egypt.

Seems some are using this to spread their hate.

Cartoons

Why is a cartoon depicting Muhammad in a negative if not tasteless way bad but killing people, destroying property and rioting o.k.? When will Muslim leaders step forward, stand up for what is right by their religion, and condemn this reaction? Should I riot at the next anti-Christian art exhibit? Has the thought occurred to these people that by rioting over an image of Muhammad as a suicide bomber only confirms that stereotype?

Subway

Last night on the way home from work, the guy across from me took a big swig out of a bottle in a plastic bag. Then he took a beer out, one of those big cans, and poped it and drank it out of a brown paper bag. He was dressed in a business suit and trench coat, so not a bum. I thought it was funny. Guess he couldn't wait to get home, or to the bar.

National Champions

The worst part of the national championship in football for the longhorns is that people at work keep coming up to me asking if I'm excited about it. They can't seem to get it into their Yankee peanut brains that I went to Texas A&M University. Our chief rival are the longhorns. We don't really root for them. We kinda root against them. The big problem is they don't seem to even know about Texas A&M. How can you follow college sports and not know about the Aggies and longhorns?

There's a place in France...

As I read the newspaper accounts and watch the news from a burning Paris I remember our summer trip to Italy. There, in Murano where we bought our stem wear (wine glasses) the Italian man explained to me that Europians don't understand Americans and how violent they are. Citing the looting in New Orleans at the time he said things like that would never happen in Europe.

Maybe France doesn't count. Of course there were riots in Northern Ireland while we were there as well.

He was a nice man, married to a girl from Brooklyn. The glasses are beautiful. If you come and visit you can drink out of them.

World Series

1984 I went to my first Astros game and we sat behind home plate. I remember the net in the Astrodome at the time didn't go straight up, it went back over your head. I was disappointed because I wanted to get a foul ball. I don't remember if the Astros won, I think they did, but there was an Oiler football game afterwards so we stayed and watched them change the field over for awhile. I remember looking at the roof and hoping for a homerun so I could see the scoreboard go off.

1985 I was an Astros Buddy for the first time and we went to the 6 Astro Buddy games in the Dome. Mostly we sat in the Upper Deck. I went with a friend once and came back with buttons and a wooden bat.

1986 was the first time Dad and I went to opening day. Will Clark hit a homerun off Nolan Ryan and a guy with an arm cast caught it in the outfield. The '86 team will always be special because they won the pennant. Of course we all know the Game 6 of the NLCS story, the only game that has made me cry. I was young though, and I honestly thought they would be right back in the hunt of things. Game 6 still haunts me. God Bless Glenn Davis, Bill Doran, Craig Reynolds, Phil Garner, Denny Walling, Jose Cruz, Billy Hatcher, Kevin Bass, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Dave Smith, Charlie Kerfield, Bob Kneeper, Larry Anderson.

1987 - Mom utters after a little league game, "Don't worry Joel, even Jose Cruz stikes out."

1988 - the last year of Nolan Ryan as an Astro. I was so mad at our Yankee owner for letting my hero go to the ... Rangers?? Another note, a catcher made his major league debut, his name, Craig Biggio.

1989 - The Astros were in 1st place in August, but this was the last competitive team for awhile.

1991 - The Astros finished in last place this year and I must have gone to 15 games. We're in the bleachers now mostly, as I've out grown the Astros buddies. Lots of young guys on this team, Steve Finley, Luis Gonzalez, and a guy we got from Boston, Jeff Bagwell.

1992 - The Astros are on the road for a month to accomodate the Republican Convention in the Dome. The team responds well and finish strong. My friend Brad and I try to raise money to buy the Astros by standing on the street corner with a sign that says, "Help us buy the Astros" and a bucket. We get enough for 2 slurpees and 2 candy bars.

1993 - The Astros finish ahead of the Cubs winning a $5 bet I made with a friend at the beginning of the season. Dad and I see Darrlye Kile's 1st career no hitter. I also set the record for eating 6 $1 hotdogs.

1994 - Sad season, no World Series as the Astros were on their way to a division title. Will we be back in this position again?

1997 - For the first time since 1986 the Astros are back in the playoffs. They aren't the best team, but making it to the playoffs is good enough. I remember Dad calling me at college after the clinching game.

1998 - Astros make deadline deal for Randy Johnson and win 100 games. The best Astros team? They fall to the Padres in the divisional series. I went to the first game the Big Unit pitched in the Dome and that place was rocking. He looks terrible as a batter.

1999 - The last year of the 'Dome. Astros again face playoff disappointment.

2000 - Enron Field is awesome. The Astros aren't.

2001 - I met my wife and took her to her first Astros game. She realizes that she must embrace this Astros obsession if this is going to work.

2004 - I miss the first Opening Day with Dad since 1986 because of my move to New York. The Astros are back in the playoffs again as the wildcard for the first time since 2001. The beat the Braves in the divisional round for the first playoff series win for the franchise. The go back to St. Louis with a 3-2 lead in the NLCS only to lose the next two games.

2005 - WORLD SERIES!!!

Tonight I finally get to see my team in the World Series, a moment I thought would never happen. I love it. I love this team.

Astros

I'd cry, but when you get punched in the stomach you don't have the breath to cry. This is about as hard as I've taken any loss, ever. That and I get to work and have a Yankee fan tell me he understands losing because when he was growing up in the 80's the Yankees were below .500. I tried to explain that rooting for a team with rainbow uniforms that have never made the World Series and a team with (at the time) 22 World Series Championships is a bit different. Plus the Yankees have won 4 since.

But we've got Roy O going on Wed. and if any team in the world can come back, it's this one. But that is about as close as you can get and not make it.

I just want them to make it to the World Series, if they win, that would just be gravy. I just want to see them play in the Series, once.

ASTROS!

So the Astros beat the Cubs today and won the National League Wild Card for the second straight year. They will play the Braves in the NLDS starting on Wednesday. It was a big win for the Bubba Household. Now that we can relax for a few days and breath, lets revisit the biggest transacation of the Astros offseason, i.e. Carlos Beltran signing with the NY Mets instead of the Houston Astros.

Beltran: Salary-$11.5 million, Avg-.266, HR-16, RBI-78, SB-17, SLG-.414, OBP-.330, OPS-.744

Now the Astros who played the outfield for the Astros this year, Jason Lane, RF and Willie Taveras, CF.

Lane: Salary-$345 thousand, Avg-.267, HR-26, RBI-78, SB-6, SLG-.499, OBP-.316, OPS-.805

Taveras: Salary-$316 thousand, Avg-.291, HR-3, RBI-29, SB-34, SLG-.341, OBP-.325, OPS-.665

You do the math.

Running From Rita (Bubba's Sister in Houston):

I do not have a Blog, however my brother was kind enough to let me do a "guest appearance" on his.....

Sunday morning, September 25

Our story is not a storm story - it is an evacuation story. I pondered just what to title this - several ideas came to mind: Running from Rita, How Rita Ruined My Week, Rita is a Bitch......but decided to just call it Reflections on Rita. Mine is certainly not the worst evacuation story by any means; it is only one story of millions. But I experienced and witnessed so much in the past few days and there are so many thoughts and images running around in my brain that I felt like I needed to somehow express them. So here is my story.

On Monday and Tuesday we did not know what to do; our theme song could have been "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?". We live about half-way between Houston and Galveston, so we were concerned with the weather forecasts. We went back and forth, but on Tuesday night decided (along with my parents) that we should go. We have family in Dallas who wanted to see us anyway, so we decided to load up and leave on Wednesday. The sooner the better, we thought. So we packed, we prepared our homes, we brought along our treasures and tried to secure the rest. We couldn't board up our windows because plywood was already sold out. Grocery stores were quickly selling out of water, batteries, the hurricane essentials. There was a sort of public frenzy - probably a combination of media hype and Katrina still fresh on our minds. Fortunately we did have the foresight to fill our cars up with gas on Tuesday night. We knew the traffic would be bad getting out of town, but what else could we do? By the time we left it was a Category 4 storm headed straight at Galveston. We had to leave. We had no idea what we were about to go through.

My parents left their house at about 1:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon; we were not able to leave until a couple of hours later. It was 103 degrees outside when we left home. We kept in touch as best as we could by cell phone - but the circuits were so busy that many times we were unable to connect. Mom and Dad ran into heavy traffic, but assured us that once we got past The Woodlands we'd be OK. The traffic was literally bumper-to-bumper from the minute we pulled out of our League City neighborhood with our 2 kids, our 2 dogs, and our van packed to the gills with all that we could get in there. And thus began the creep northward. From home to Centerville we averaged about 5-10 mph. I have never seen so many people and cars trying to go the same direction. Cars were overheating; people were running out of gas; some people pushed their cars along in the traffic to save what gas they had. The gas stations ran out of gas. They ran out of food. The restrooms were disgusting. No stores or restaurants were open. Large groups of people would pull over to the shoulder together and sleep in/on their cars. Ambulances frequently passed us on the shoulder; I assume they were transporting hospital patients to safer ground. At midnight we were just getting to the Woodlands, and there was no relief in sight. Rita was now a Category 5 - the 3rd strongest storm in recorded history. I finally got thru to Mom on her cell phone and they were already at our Dallas destination. Thinking we were not far behind, Mom asked how close we were - when I told her we were only at The Woodlands she couldn't believe it. It had taken us 9 hours to get only to the other side of Houston, and they were already there! What a difference leaving a couple of hours later made! Friends of ours that left after we did took 12 hours to get that far - they ended up turning around and going back home for fear of running out of gas and being stranded. I wish we had done the same, but the reports on the radio told of a "mammoth storm" headed straight at us! I began to worry we would ride out the storm in our van on I-45. My husband got tired (imagine that!) so I took over the driving for a while and let him sleep - neither of us wanted to stop moving - but I could only drive for about an hour before my eyes wouldn't stay focused and I had to pull over. That was at Centerville. After a short rest in the van, my husband took back over and we forged on, still seeing so many people by the side of the road either out of gas or sleeping, so many ambulances, so many tail lights ahead of us! We kept hearing on the radio that they were going to open the southbound lanes of I-45 to head north as well, but we never saw it. We drove (inched along) all night. At dawn on Thursday we were in Buffalo; we again had to pull over to a gas station parking lot (no gas there) and sleep for about 45 minutes. Finally at Ennis we decided we HAD to get off of 45 so we cut over to 35 and got into Dallas that way. We arrived at our final destination at 10:00 Thursday morning - a 19 hour drive. We were worn out, hungry, grungy - hadn't eaten anything decent or gotten any real sleep in over 24 hours - hadn't brushed our teeth, showered.....you get the picture. But we made it. And I have to say that I have THE BEST kids in the world - never a complaint, never a problem - they either played with their Gameboys or watched a movie or slept - real troopers! The dogs were good, too - they slept a lot - but I think that was the Benadryl I gave them......the puppy (6 months old) pooped in van at about Waxahatchie - at that point we were up to 55 mph so I just tossed it out the window. We were physically and emotionally exhausted.

Of course, the "mammoth storm" did NOT come to our homes - it instead weakened and went inland well northeast of where we live. My mother-in-law lives in Orange and we know she evacuated but we don't know where she is or if she has a home to come back to. Our hearts are with all the residents of the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. We decided as soon as we knew it was safe, we were headed home to check on our own houses. Perhaps we could beat the crowds back into town.....

Other people thought that, too; it still took us 8 hours to get home. That is much better than the 19 hours it took to get there, but still a long day - a long hot day with no place to stop for gas, food, drinks, restrooms; we had brought some things to snack on and drink in the car and we had water for the dogs; we found one rest stop that had a rather clean bathroom (thank goodness!); my son had to tinkle by the side of the road at one point. But we made it home. We have power and phones and water, but our cable is still out. We haven't had mail or newspaper delivery since last Wednesday. Now the clean-up begins - mainly we have limbs and branches in the yard to pick up, and from looking at the size of some of them I think we are lucky they didn't break out the front windows of the house (they were certainly slamming into them). We found a couple of shingles, too - not sure if they are from our roof or if they blew over from someone else's. There are ants everywhere - outside and inside. But we are VERY lucky. We have limited food in the house - we stocked up on non-perishables and water before the storm, but we have no bread or milk or meat - no stores are open. It is like a ghost town around here. I guess we'll be eating a lot of canned ravioli and ramen noodles for a few days. The kids don't go back to school until Thursday. We don't know when my husband will need to be back at work (probably Monday). We have learned a lot of lessons for "next time" - Rita Lessons as the press is calling them. For one thing we will buy plywood as soon as it becomes available next week and have it pre-cut and ready. We now have a plan for packing/protecting our things. We know that if we ever have to evacuate again we will leave earlier and not try to go as far. I don't like to ever say "never", but at this point I am saying "never again" - it'll have to be pretty darn bad for us to evacuate again. Next time this family will most likely hunker down and ride it out.....

Give to Hurricane Funds

Red Cross

Go to Instapudnit for other charities.

Hurricane News

From the Houston Chronicle...

People donate money for disasters half a world away, but when it happens so close to home, the reaction is more intimate. Houston shares more than geography with New Orleans and Mississippi — family and religious ties, a love of Cajun cuisine and music and, for many people, personal memories.
"So many people here have been on Bourbon Street, so many people have been to the casinos on the Mississippi coast," said Ryan. "People can relate, because they've been there." And because we could be next.

Growing up in Houston on the Texas Gulf Coast, (only a couple of miles from Galveston Bay) this has hit home for me. If you've riden one of these things out and if you live or have family along the Gulf Coast, you really feel for these people. I think the yankees up here are rather blase about the whole affair, if it doesn't happen in NY it doesn't happen. But let me encourage everyone to give to the Red Cross, or another organization giving aid.

6 Man Football

Saw this in the NY Times:

Jack Pardee, a former N.F.L. linebacker and Washington Redskins coach, was a member of the Christoval, Tex., six-man team in the early 1950's, once scoring nine touchdowns in a game that was played in the town's rodeo arena. "Six-man football is what small-town life in Texas is all about," he told me. "It provides kids with the wonderful experience of being part of a team and an important part of the community."

Of course Jack Pardee is also a Fightin' Texas Aggie, a Junction boy who played for the Bear. I have two friends that played 6 man football in the Texas Panhandle, the famous Tim Smith and Jody Copp.

Reporters in the Locker Room

From ESPN's Jason Whitlock...

Going into the men's bathroom following a practice or a game, and conducting interviews while athletes undress and shower, is not a gender rights issue. It is not a sign of equality. It's a stupid, disrespectful, antiquated tradition started by men, and it really needs to stop -- especially now with the explosion of new media and the full-blown gender integration of sports reporting.

When did they say anything worthwhile anyway?

Shakespeare in the Park

From my daily Playbill email, more info here...

When you become a Summer Sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park, you'll do much more than receive one reserved seat to TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. You'll help keep a New York tradition - FREE Shakespeare in the Park - alive! Your $100 donation reserves ONE seat to ONE production and is 100% tax-deductible.

Only in NY does buying a $100 seat to a play keep it free. That doesn't make sense to me. The more people buy seats, the less free it is, and the more it forces the general public out. Free Shakespeare is going corporate, just like everything else.

NCAA is a Monopoly

Of course the NCAA is a monopoly anyway. They can do whatever they want.

"I have felt as long as I have been in coaching that the NCAA has wanted to eliminate the NIT," Knight said in a deposition played in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Thursday. As for the NCAA, he added, "it's a monopoly."

Indian nicknames

Can't say I agree with this. What about the Fightin' Irish? Or the Aggies (demeans farmers)?

The NCAA banned the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams during its postseason tournaments, but will not prohibit them otherwise.

Baseball

Which would you want?

Outfield A: Avg: .256 HR: 16 RBI: 46 SB: 6 OBP: .302 SLG: .488
Outfield B: Avg: .263 HR: 12 RBI: 56 SB: 7 OBP: .313 SLB: .429


Outfielder A is Jason Lane for the Astros, Outfielder B is Carlos Beltran for the Mets.

Roid Rage

Well, seems that steroids has it's first big time victim in Rafael Palmerio. The sad part is that he testified before Congress where he, in a rather Bill Clinton moment, shook his finger at the camera and declared he had never taken steroids, never. Now it seems he has, but not willingly, as he says. I don't understand the way he is spinning this. If he took something that had a banned substance in it and was unaware, as he claims, why would he not just come out and tell everyone what he took and how he didn't know. But instead he is losing because everyone is assuming the worst. ESPN is reporting he did in fact test positive for steroids.

I also don't understand how he people like Jason Stark and say they will still vote for him for the Hall because it was baseball's fault for not enforcing no steroids. When are people responsible for their own decisions? When is it the players themselves and the players association which fought steroid testing on all fronts fault for not protecting themselves (players) against suspicion of steroid use?

Astros

They're back.... 22-7 in July and back in first place for the wild card. The buzz is back. I would say I'm back to reading the Astros report in the Houston Chronicle every morning, but I never stopped. With Clemens, Oswalt, Pettitte on the mound I think they are the favorites for the last playoff spot.

I'm back as well, a little blog nap.