that rosebud girl

usc lost … it’s not the end of the world.

i heard through the grapevine that usc lost … because i actually didn’t see a single minute of the game. not even highlights. i was in SF the whole time at Feria Urbana. what’s worse is that i forgot to charge my phone the night before, so i was living on one bar of power the whole time. i managed to check the score — it was 33-25 with 6 minutes left in the game — and my phone died right there. i found out the final score while driving home and searching for sports radio.

i can’t say i was that surprised. i mean, you try bleeding eight players or so to the nfl draft, not to mention your top QB and top two running backs and going undefeated the next year. look at oklahoma the year after they played usc for the national title. they were all flying high, and then a bunch of those dudes graduated. and the sooners lost three or four games the following year. same thing.

what do we know now? john david booty is no matt leinart. but i hope no one was seriously expecting him to be. the kid hadn’t played college ball ever. in about three years. so give him a break. and don’t go calling for sanchez yet, either. unless booty was going all drew bledsoe on us and throwing an interception every play, there’s no need to make a change. or act like it’s the end of the world.

the other thing is, it’s booty’s first year. he’s reasonably smart, but he hasn’t figured everything out yet. like improvising. and everyone has to start out somewhere. would matt leinart as a sophomore be able to make the same play he did at notre dame last year as a senior? probably not. he probably wouldn’t have been savvy enough to audible and check down to like, his third option and produce the single greatest ending to a game in recent history.

i’m amused by all these super-spoiled usc fans who are all pissed off over the loss and lamenting that this year’s team wasn’t blowing people out. give me a break. it’s a whole new team. be like the true fans and realize that an undefeated season was just a pie-in-the-sky proposition.

i think they’ll lose one more game. that’s not so bad when you look at the whole picture. an la times letter to the editor last expressed these same sentiments, and i agree. and maybe all the bandwagoners will finally jump off so i can get my damn season tickets next year.

by the way, how was feria? i didn’t sell a ton, but it was still a lot of fun and i got a lot of great ideas i’ll have to use at my next show.

you can’t make this up …

seen on the wires … it’s from a notes column from the seattle times.

just ignore the champ bailey reference because it has nothing to do with the real story.

Looks like Champ isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t the only Bailey who packs a shutdown reputation.

Bailey the dog is recovering at home and, like any cornerback who?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s just gotten burned, is no doubt vowing to give quick-strike opponents a little more cushion next time.

alls i gotta say is, that’s gotta suck. at least that poor dog is still alive.

thought of the day …

the human capacity for stupidity is limitless.

think about that one for a while. it’s really true. the dumb factor of society hardly surprises me anymore …

oh man … my first craft fair!!!!

i’m practically hyperventilating with excitement!

today, i found out i got into a show. i’m selling at Feria Urbana in San Francisco!

Feria Urbana is a monthly fair featuring lots of artists/indie-type folks from the bay area. the fair will be on saturday, oct. 28 from noon to 5 p.m. at the canvas cafe and gallery, located on 1200 lincoln way near golden gate park.

the funny thing is, i had applied for this fair a while ago and never heard back. then the folks there cashed one of my checks. i meant to send them an e-mail, but never got to it until now. turns out, i was in the show all along … there was an e-mail mix-up and so i never got the original confirmation e-mail!

at least everything turned out peachy.

on the flip side, i have one week to get everything in gear! yikes! it’s going to be crazy!

if you’re in the bay, do come and check me out! and maybe buy something (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

the wagon weekend.

so my homeboys and i have been tailgating for a few years now, and we’ve got it pretty much down pat. break out the grill, have some good food, maybe some chairs and a couple of tables and copious amounts of alcohol. always a rockin’ time.

but on saturday, edgar came up with the greatest tailgate innovation since … i don’t know, the cooler.

it was the radio flyer wagon.

(i’ll have to put up a photo ’cause it’s the most righteous thing ever.)

sadly, edgar wasn’t around to enjoy his innovation. he had to work. but jorge, javi and javi’s boy j.j. rolled onto campus (literally) and all sorts of hilarity ensued.

and this thing wasn’t filled with beer. oh, no. the rayos are hardcore. we had a couple bottles of vodka (ketel one … i told you these boys don’t mess around), hpnotiq, hennessey and jagermeister. we had to stop by smart & final across campus for ice and some o.j., and man, people were stopping us already. one security guard even offered to pay us five bucks for a shot of hennessey. (we declined to give it to him … i mean, the dude was on duty.)

that was only the beginning.

we had all sorts of offers for cash, and actually took one dude up on his offer to buy about a cup’s worth (one of those big red beer cups) of ketel one for $20.

we had a lady come up to us and say, “i’ve been tailgating at usc for 20 years, and that’s the smartest thing i’ve ever seen.”

we had all sorts of random people roll up to the wagon and compliment us.

jorge sold a dude a mixed drink (seven shots worth of henessey and hpnotiq) for $10. he later sold a shot of hennessey for $5.

it was awesome. those rayo kids are my heroes.

and oh yeah, there was a game. it was a’ight. closer than it should have been, but a’ight.

i also flew jetblue for the first time ever this weekend, and i gotta say, that directv is wicked sweet. i think i’ll have to fly jetblue to long beach every time i roll down there for a weekend.

i hope to make it to at least one more game, like the cal game, but that may require some subterfuge … it’ll be worth it though, for the wagon.

r.i.p, cory lidle.

i’m going up on an airplane,
nearer my God to thee.
– Indigo Girls, “Airplane”

today, new york yankees pitcher (and former phillie) cory lidle died when a plane he was piloting crashed into a high-rise building in manhattan. he was 34.

i didn’t know cory lidle, but all the philly scribes (and you know i have very good sources in that department) said he was a nice guy. ed has talked to him before. apparently, he liked to play poker, and he’d play poker with some scribes in spring training. he was from socal, so i could dig that. i saw him pitch a few times for the phillies. nothing spectacular. but at least he was a decent guy in a clubhouse that didn’t always have a lot of nice people.

this is marcus hayes’ poignant column about the crash for the philadelphia daily news.

it’s all very sad. and bizarre. it’s not often an athlete — or anyone else — falls out of the sky and dies like that.

just a reminder that life is awfully fleeting.

flashback weekend …

it was a pretty rad weekend in L.A. … and yeah, there was lots of flashbacking …

flashback incident no. 1:

ed and i got to campus early, so we wound up kickin’ it at annenberg … there was some sort of reception because it was parents’ weekend. we were standing near the entrance, and i happened to say out loud, “dude, where’s jabari?” some guy heard me and said, “you wanna go and see jabari? come right in!”

pretty rad. i guess jabari is the magic word.

anyway, we went in and said hi to jb … and i said i wanted to say hi to debra ono, my old j-school advisor. we happened upon her, started chatting, and i said, “i bet debra doesn’t remember me.”

she looks at me and says, “jennifer?”

man, was i impressed. i hadn’t seen her in about six years.

then ed says, “i bet you don’t remember me.” (keep in mind that ed graduated a whole two years earlier than i did.)

and debra says, “de la fuente?”

holy crap, again.

it’s amazing who remembers you. seriously.

flashback incident no. 2:

so of course we were at the usc-washington game. why is this a flashback moment?

’cause i’ve never been so scared shitless at the end of a game since … oh, i don’t know … maybe 1999?

wazzu, last-drive play last week? … i wasn’t so scared. unless you’re doug flutie or kordell stewart, the chances of a hail mary being executed properly happen about every six or seven years or so.

fresno state, last season? reggie bush had that shit under control. kind of. but i wasn’t that scared.

uw, though … two seconds and they drive all the way to the 15 or something like that with a chance to win? now i was scared shitless. that was scary.

and untimely (and stupid) penalties killing big plays … and a general lack of offense … i felt like i was watching a paul hackett-era game again!

but i gots two words for you, huskies: clock management.

the refs didn’t screw this one up for you, your own damn center did. the refs even dawdled around before the final snap, giving you folks enough time to perhaps get your act together and get ready to run one final play. but you weren’t ready when the ball was set.

and that was a big sigh of relief.

we’ve been spoiled as usc fans for a long, long time. they won’t go undefeated. they won’t blow people out anymore. so some of this near heart-attack stuff is probably to be expected. but still … it was crazy.

by the way, the last time i was that scared at a game? notre dame-usc, 1999 in south bend. usc blew a 21-0 halftime lead and wound up losing 25-24. the trojans drove down field and tried to get in position for the tying field goal, but r.j. soward (r.j. soward! now that’s a flashback!) caught a pass and subsequently fumbled the ball while trying to gain some extra yardage. and that was pretty much the end of the game. i was a reporter then at the DT, on the sideline. and the student fan in me was scared shitless.

oh, and who could forget david “i swear, i’ll try not to miss a field goal this time” newbury and the usc-colorado game at the coliseum in 2000? kid misses two other field goals in the game (i think) and winds up making the game-winner at the last second. everyone in the student section was scared. the women’s track team that was seated behind maureen and i couldn’t even look. neither could i.

those were the bad old days.

flashback incident no. 3:

edgar, unfortunately, couldn’t go to the game because he had to work … but a bunch of us went back to his place afterward. we walk in, and lo and behold, josue is there.

i haven’t seen josue in about … oh, seven years, maybe? seriously. probably not since ‘99. so that was cool, chillin’ with him.

the rayo clan, josue, ed and i also ended up eating dinner at versailles. good stuff. mmm.

flashback incident no. 4:

after dinner, we wound up watching “house party” and “the wedding singer” at edgar’s. hightop hair and rad 80s music and old-school hip-hop and dance moves … great way to end a retro kinda night.

unfortunately, i was sick on sunday. it sucks to be sick on your birthday. at least i got a lot of messages from people. yay!