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.