that rosebud girl

why gambling is hazardous …

Seen on the wire last night …

LEXINGTON, S.C. ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù A man fatally shot his friend with a high-powered rifle in a dispute over a $20 bet on the South Carolina-Clemson football game, authorities said Sunday.

Metts said Quick went to his car, got the rifle he normally uses for hunting and fired one shot, hitting Johnson in the chest. Deputies arrested Quick.

note to self: don’t make a bet with someone who has a gun.

we’re no. 2?

as someone in my office put it:

everything in the world is right because notre dame lost in college football.

ha!

just ucla and then, hopefully, the big ol’ date with ohio state. it’s mind-boggling to think that the alma mater would have ever had a run like this.

i almost wish i could go to la on jan. 8 and join what will undoubtedly be the biggest party that the rayos will throw for the new year!

history … and a heartless alma mater?

bill plaschke had a great column in friday’s la times about the usc-notre dame rivalry:

behind this great game is a great woman

it was quite interesting, as i personally didn’t know the history behind the game, and it was a charming little story.

but what really chafed me was the part where usc demanded a huge donation so the family could keep their lifetime season tickets at the coliseum.

um, yeah, your dad is in our hall of fame, and your mom only created one of the greatest college football traditions on the planet, but yeah, that’s not enough for you to keep your season tickets, so hand over wads and wads of cash.

are you kidding me? yeah, i’d feel insulted too.

this is usc-notre dame! come on! only one of the most unique rivalries in college football.

think of all the other traditional rivalries in the game. most of them are within a state. the apple cup (washington-washington state). the civil war (oregon-oregon state). florida vs. miami vs. florida state. the egg bowl (mississippi-mississippi state). the iron bowl (alabama-auburn).

many other rivalries involve neighboring states. ohio state-michigan. the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party (florida-georgia). harvard-yale (connecticut and massachusetts border, don’t they?). the red river shootout (texas-oklahoma).

the only one i can think of that does not fit that category is army-navy. but at least they’re in the same time zone. it’s maybe a 6-8 hour drive between the two.

but usc and notre dame aren’t even in the same damn time zone! think about it: there is no logical reason for the schools to keep playing each other every year. it would be like texas playing ohio state every year. or penn state playing usc every year. or oklahoma playing oregon every year (something i’m sure most sooners fans would rather not have). the domers and the trojans are not regional rivals. there are no conference obligations. it’s probably the most expensive trip the schools have to make every year (if they’re not going to say, hawaii or something). the only thing that connects them is they are pretty brand-name schools as far as college football goes.

i know i am an alum. but i have other people tell me that usc was pretty brand name when they were growing up. a former co-worker of mine in delaware (who’s about as old as my dad) said that he heard plenty about usc and o.j. (non-homicidal o.j., that is) and anthony davis and john mckay and john robinson while growing up east.

and notre dame? i need not say more. it’s notre dame.

so here you have a rivalry that’s like no other. and an enduring college tradition. i guarantee that the 100th playing of the rivalry will be a big friggin’ deal. they might dust keith jackson off for the game if he’s still around.

so your family does all this, and the school still can’t let you keep your season tickets?!

shame, shame, shame!

happy turkey day!

hope yours was full of good food. mine involved a lot of pork. and football.

and don’t forget to thank your lucky stars that you are a live, breathing human being.

of (football) epics and such …

(can you tell that i was at a loss as to what to title this post?)

it’s getting to be crunch time and usc is still holding steady. at least they smacked around those arrogant cal sumbiatches.

seriously, cal folk rank amongst the biggest trash-talkers out there. i’ve been around very many brands of trash-talkers. iowa folk (horrible). virginia tech folk (horrible, and they’ve got nasaly twangs). lsu folk (there are many unprintable things i can say about those people.)

but in the grand scheme of things, at least virginia tech and lsu have been legit before. you know, michael vick and a couple of ass-kickings in a couple of national title games. no titles, but at least they were good enough to win a bunch of stuff and get some national recognition along the way. i can respect that (grudgingly).

cal? they get good for a few years and suddenly, they think they own the world. yo, how about getting to a rose bowl a little sooner than 1959, homes? coupla of bcs bowls, maybe?

the la daily news talked about the smack desean jackson was laying on some usc guy (whose name i can’t remember), and i had to think to myself, um, scoreboard?

anyway.

i have no problem with being no. 3 in the polls. michigan was pretty danged impressive, though i still don’t think that game quite lived up to its hype. i mean, it was a good game and all, and the whole bo schembechler thing lent quite an air to it, but it didn’t have that tautness and super-charged drama of the other “games of the century” that have had that billing the last couple of years.

to wit:

usc vs. notre dame, 2005: classic rivalry, ridiculously hyped. in the end, it didn’t have quite the national implications that michigan-ohio state did. but you can’t tell me that the last two minutes plus of that game were not the most ridiculous two minutes of college football you’ve ever seen. that really was the game of the century, and it delivered on many, many fronts. the indelible image of an exhausted matt leinart and a begrudging charlie weis pretty much said it all.

usc vs. texas, 2006 rose bowl: not a classic rivalry, but still ridiculously hyped. and this one did have the national implications. so the result was crappy, and i still wish bad karma upon vince young (’cause he’s a tool and you know it), but this was also a classic game. and that it came in a national title situation made it better. ’cause how many times has a championship game been snooze city? a fantastic game for all the marbles, and pretty entertaining at that (except the end result, of course).

michigan-ohio state had plenty surrounding it, but again, it lacked a little drama. had michigan been able to drive for a tying field goal, it would have been a different story. but it couldn’t. the outcome was pretty much decided with about two minutes left or so, and when a game ends with the QB kneeling a boatload of times, that’s just no fun.

that being said, i would hate to see an ohio state-michigan rematch in the title game. not because of the implications that would have for usc, but because the idea of a rematch just cheapens both games. it will never have the same feel or the same hype as the first game. do-overs happen almost never in college football. it should stay that way.

now i’m all hyped up for usc-notre dame. tim sent me a message saying it would be epic. maybe not epic like 2005 epic, but epic enough for me. too bad i’ll be watching while at work.

and btw, the sort-of final report from the cal tailgate: no arrests. but someone edgar knew got mugged. got his ticket and cash jacked. that poor sap.

i have an addiction …

hi, my name is jenn and i am addicted to yarn.

damn yarn.

i (tried) to vow not to buy more yarn or roving or yarn-related things the rest of the year. unless i really needed it for any current projects, you know? not for new projects.

so lisa and i went to a yarn shop in elk grove today. i was on this epic search for one frigging skein of yarn in a specific color and weight and brand — i need it to finish off a scarf — and i was hopeful that i would find it at said yarn shop.

we walk in, they have the right brand and weight, but alas, they don’t have my color.

instead of looking at all the pretty yarn and not picking up anything, i wind up buying three skeins. for a scarf, i say. sheesh.

again, danged yarn.

i will have to buy more yarn before the end of the year to finish current projects, but how can i finish those projects when i keep getting new ideas?!

must … stop … yarn … addiction …

on another note, i have already started thinking about holiday stuff.

damn holidays, what with the gifts and such. at least i already finished some christmas presents. yes, you heard that right.

yay for nice people!

last night, as ed and i were driving home from work (we were in his car), we had a flat on the freeway. so we pull over, pull out the jack and start trying to fix the problem.

it’s close to 1 a.m., it’s cold, it sucks, and traffic is whizzing by pretty much right in front of us.

we get the jack down, but the lugnuts are a gigantic bitch and we can’t get them off. so i call AAA and wait.

as i’m calling AAA, someone pulls over and turns on his brights (’cause all we were working with was a flashlight). a lanky kid gets out of the car and walks over to ed.

now, at first, we’re wondering if this is some dude who’s going to rob us or something like that. because you never know. but he looked like a high school or college kid and turned out to be harmless. and he and ed managed to cajole those lugnuts out of place. and they changed the tire. and the dude got back in his car — after we thanked him profusely — refused any of our offers of dinner and left.

he managed to get us going even before AAA would have gotten there.

that kid was clutch, i tell ya. thank goodness he was a kind soul who helped us out.

late-night entertainment …

there’s a reason why i love going to a greasy spoon at 1 in the morning … it’s the people-watching.

last night, a bunch of us — ed, katie, lisa, jake and myself — decided we’d go get some greasy food after work. instead of our usual spot — lyon’s — we went to denny’s. we had coupons (though we forgot to use them). and i wanted a burger with lots of lard.

so we head to denny’s, which is kind of on the edge of downtown, right next to old sac and the freeway.

first sign it’s going to be an interesting night: we pull up to denny’s and it is surrounded by cop cars, all their lights flashing. i mean, if you didn’t know better, you’d think some hoodlums went and held up the joint. but that wasn’t the case. there were just lots of cops. maybe busting drunk folk, you know?

anyway, we all get to denny’s and get seated near the front. i have my back to all the action, but lisa, katie and jake have a full view.

at some point, early on, they start talking about this obviously drunk chick who barely manages to stumble to the bathroom so she can puke. according to them, she’s a wobbler.

the above scene happens again, maybe 15 minutes later. and now we’re talking about how crappy it is that none of her friends have gone to check on her (or you know, at least make sure she gets to the bathroom). i can’t see this chick stumbling around, but it’s pretty high comedy for those who can see.

a little while later, drunk chick stumbles again to the restroom (barely) and chucks it up a third time.

we happen to be seated next to the cash register, where the manager was, and we could hear him talking about said chick.

manager: “is she okay? is she sick? is she intoxicated?”

(unintelligble response from someone)

manager: “the sink is backed up? in the bathroom? is it because of her?”

(silence. i presume someone is nodding.)

manager: “well, we gotta get that girl a cab, you know? because we’ve gotta get her home or something. this isn’t good for her. (more unintelligble garble.) well, if she doesn’t get in a cab, you all should take her home.”

and with that, i guess the box up the food of her friends, and they drag her out of the denny’s. the party walks right by our table, with drunk gal in front, and she says, “i didn’t even get to order any food.”

i think we were going to die laughing at our table. holy crap.

oh, and at some point, jake poses a question: “just how many prostitutes have you seen in this place so far?”

it was that kind of night.

the denny’s crowd is definitely more entertaining than the lyon’s crowd. we may have to go back just for the entertainment value.

ah, election day.

only the biggest food day at any newspaper in this country. it is one of my favorite days because we get free food and lots of it. the alert goes out, and all the sports folks flock over. it’s a beautiful thing.

this year’s menu was lasagna. and caesar salad. yum.

i also like election day because i like to watch the returns come in. (i’m a nerd like that). and watch all the news-side people run around like crazy while we in sports chill. ’cause as we always say …

… every day is election day in sports.

i also hope you did your civic duty and voted.

(unfortunately, i couldn’t this year … i never got my absentee ballot. stupid election folks. my fault, too, for not making sure i got one. but i can’t believe the fact that there are not enough people in my area for us to have an actual, physical polling place. what’s up with that?)

i wanted to vote so i could vote “no” on the arena measures. damn.

edgar = psychic genius?

so last night, i’m talking to edgar about the sorry state of my fantasy football team. i’m losing to ed and only have one player left in the monday night game. it’s a bunch of lament, lament, lament from me.

then edgar says, “look. i bet maurice morris will pull a javon walker. he will have 500 points for you.”

i’m a little dubious because quite frankly, mo morris hasn’t done jackshit for my fantasy squad since i acquired him in a trade. and i mean jackshit. he’s maybe run for 150 yards total in three games or something like that. it it not the stuff 500-point games are made of, let me tell you. and i’m trailing by something like 400 points, which in lay-speak translates to roughly 135 yards.

so he says, “they’re playing the raiders. come on, you gotta believe.”

and i reluctantly agree.

and lo and behold, mo morris somehow finds his legs, has a 100-plus-yard game and produces 414 points. and i beat ed by nine measly points. nine points. that is three measly rushing yards. that is carrying a pile of raiders up the middle. that could have been lost on a bad pitch to the outside or a bad run, period.

holy crap.

now i want edgar to feed me some lottery numbers, stat!

(okay, so technically edgar wasn’t on the number, but he did predict a victory! good enough for me.)

(edit: so ed actually did give me a chance as well. but he wasn’t all forceful about it. he didn’t flat out predict victory. probably because you know, that would have meant a loss for him. but he did give me a chance.)

now, if cbs sportsline goes back and changes some stats and i end up losing, i will be very pissed. there is precedent for stats changing. i will cross my fingers because i need the victory.