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Racism Against Michael Steele is OK, Because He's GOP

After looking over all the racial-themed attacks on Steele by left-leaning pundits and bloggers (Michelle Malkin THE VILE BILE WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH), I can't help but wonder if this means it is no longer considered racist to pass around Obama bucks (Obama Bucks Food Stamps: Diane Fedele Right Pundits) and joke about Watermelon One (Obama's Air Force One: Watermelon One.) Can someone explain why anyone would feel justified in propogating one while condemning the others?

January 09 Demiblog Links

My link log for January. Not as many this month, because I'm putting more of them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/OCLex.

• Congress gives themselves a $93,000 "petty cash" raise (because they've been doing such a good job)
• Shaquille O'Neal says longtime feud with Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson was 'all marketing'. People who've seen Shaq's movies respond: "Your acting isn't that good."
• Al Gore’s Thermometer
• Hope rises in Compton. Maybe we should move back there.
• Two-Buck Chuck might have a name change soon. How does "Two-Buck plus tax Chuck" sound?
• Pastor Ted faces more gay sex accusations
• The tax-dodging tax collector
• He's good enough. He's smart enough. But gosh-darnit, people won't seat him as senator yet.
• From Gitmo prisoner to Al Qaida leader: one man's story
• When your girls lose a game 100-0, it's actually the other team that should be ashamed.
• PSA: Leave your facebook status on "married" until you are sure your ex-husband won't murder you
• PSA: Poisoning rats is OK. Abandoning rats is a crime.
• Former French President Chirac hospitalised "after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle"
• Atheists can't compete without martyrs. Good luck recruiting martyrs to the cause of atheism, boys.
• Bush leaves note for Obama in Oval Office.
• Cool Inaugural Facts
• Lakers defeat Cavaliers
• Former OC Sheriff Mike Carona calls verdict 'absolute miracle' because he was only convicted on one count (words of a guilty man)
• Raccoon: The other dark meat
• Augie Garrido, you'd probably be sober and employed, with pay, if you were still at CSUF
• If you are on facebook, you should be a fan of this man: Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger
• DNA testing in genealogy is revealing some surprises.
• Would you buy a big ticket item at a Circuit City clearance sale? I wouldn't.
• 29 Places to Visit in 2009. We're thinking about going to ## 3, 7, 14, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26 and/or 28. We spend many weekends near #5.
• Top 15 California destinations. I've only seen 6 of the 15.
• When it's Libby, Libby, Libby on the label, label, label, there's no pardon, pardon, pardon, on the table, table, table.
• Cheney will not stand for Obama Inauguration
• Canada's denial of entry to a known former terrorist is an assault on "academic freedom."
• "Catholics For Kerry" - a stepping stone to major pimp status?
• Former Miss Teen USA enters the Porn biz
• Manuel Noriega has paid his debt to society. Now what?
• Adventurer of the Year Killed Climbing Mont Blanc
• Freedom: court rules teachers can have sex with 18-year-old students
• Midwest temps drop to 100 degrees less than L.A.
• Modern dowry: $16K, 100 cases of beer and some meat
• It's cheaper to keep her.
• I was a 48-year-old virgin until I won £8.5m on Lotto. With Pics of Virgin and his golddigging ho
• Text Fiend Sends 14000+ Texts a Month
• Deloitte Tax Lawyer Busted for Sex Blackmail While at Disney World With His Family
• Barack Obama: Ask. Tell.
• ACLU loves God Hates Fags
• Don't waste money on baby toys, just give 'em a spoon or something
• Child pornographer caught while downloading
• U.S. Airways Crash Rescue Picture: Twitter At Work
• NY Times coverage of Flight 1549
• CNN: Flight 1549 crashes into Hudson River. All 153 aboard rescued.
• Hamas Leader Killed in Israeli Air Strike. Remind me to cry later.
• Neoracism: Scots attacking English for being English.
• Why we should let fat people adopt. In related news, they aren't letting fat people adopt anymore.
• Protesters suggest that Robert Redford "relinquish his wealth" and live like a poor person. Good luck with that suggestion.
• Your own personal snowmaker, for less than $1000
• Enjoy Global Warming while it lasts. We're in for an icy ride.
• Man cited in beating of ice-cream-stealing head-crapping birds
• Islamic militants ridicule death of Bush's cat
• BART cops shoot an unarmed handcuffed man with the cameras rolling
• After he gets 90 years for molestation, Pastor clutches Bible, proving what a swell guy he must be.
• New O.C. Bishop has a Law Degree from Stanford. That Could Come in Handy....
• Hamas won't stop rocket attacks on Israel.
• 25 Photographs Taken at the Exact Right Time
• Man dies of heart attack and wins $10 million lotto on same day. Lucky stiff.
• Just how wrong from Al Gore? Here's an analysis from one dissenter.
• Arabs blame Obama for Israel attacks on Hamas.
• Obama's brilliant plan: cut taxes, increase spending.
• Nanny Staters ban artificial flowers from graves, due to health and safety concerns
• You can't have the NBA's best record if you can hang within 10 of the Knicks.
• Boston College stuns No. 1 North Carolina 85-78
• Roland Burris: 'We are the senator' What?
• 114-year-old U.S. woman to be world's oldest. This could end badly.
• Primary drops 'school' from title in favor of "place of learning", because "school" is totally not PC
• Could you live like Jesus for a year? Hell, no.
• If you look like the type of guy who blows up airplanes and stuff, just STFU when getting on the plane
• Suicide bomber feels tricked. Ya think?
• First Christmas = Last Christmas. I'm not crying. I just have a piece of dust in my eyes.
• We have a champion. Don’t U agree?
• Sugar Bowl: Tide get Rolled. Utah 31 Alabama 17.
• Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech exposed again as frauds
• Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech 20 Cincinnati 7, ticket scalpers $27
• Rose Bowl: USC 38, Penn State 24, for the Rose Bowl's First Ever Three-Pete
• The Jets would be totally okay if Favre reretired
• Miley Cyrus gives New Year's concert from Irvine's Beckman High School
• Nancy Pelosi announces her plans to ruin America as quickly as possible
• Obama opposed their marriages, but the buttcheekless leather fetishists are planning to go to DC next month for inauguration week
• New Year's resolution to give up alcohol can be bad for your health
• This shoe-shaped anomaly on Google Maps might be buried treasure. Arg!
• Why woulld you drink and drive? If you're the future governor of Alabama, it's to get as quickly as possible to the chick with the talented mouth
• Scientists discover "Injectable Bone". Teenage boys laugh. They've got your injectable bone right here.
• Army sergeant sets world record for sitting on his ass 40,040 times. Previous record was set at the Rose Bowl.
• Unlike you, I resolve to remain my same old flawed self this New Year's, and I'll be better off for it.

Misleading Advertisement of the Day

Contrary to what the picture suggests, this is not an advertisement by which the woman pictured offers to give you sex on your demand, for free or otherwise. It's just an ad to try to sell you pills if your junk doesn't work in the sack.
.

Tuesday Travel Photo (No. 215)

This is the top of a house in or near the village of Fahan, on the Slea Head Road along the Dingle Peninsula in Southwest Ireland. Here, one can explore the Dunbeg ring fort and a cluster of beehive huts, which look like igloos made of rocks. The structures date back to at least 1200 AD, and possible earlier than 500 BC. The hillside is green with grass, which is grazed by sheep that are spraypainted with blue and red dots. I don't know why. What I do know is that this Jack Russell terrier wanted to be out among them. He looks so bummed out to have to just stand guard from the second story window.

Right after I took this picture, he saw me and started barking.

Leave the Giants ALONE!

I'm not sure why I love this video so much. Maybe because it's because the guy is such a losing loser. Maybe it's because screw the Giants. I hated them for beating the Patriots and denying Junior Seau a Super Bowl ring last year. Maybe it's just because this kind of rant should be limited to screaming crying girlie men whose lives revolve around Britney Spears, and not manly men who follow NFL football 

Whatever it is, this video is one of the funniest things I've ever watched, and I wanted to share it before the guy who put it on YouTube starts to feel sorry for Rob and takes it down.

Overused Word of 2009 - Bailout

I never liked the concept, now I hate the word even more. Popularized in the 4th quarter of 2008, the word bailout has now become omnipresent in nearly every political conversation. According to opponents of various pieces of legislation, it would appear that every law that benefits anyone from here on out is a "bailout."

For example, a bill that helps unions by allowing their to organize through signature-gathering campaigns is suddenly a "union bailout." It doesn't include big fat government checks being written to save unions from their own business decisions, and it won't raise your taxes, but somehow, it's a "bailout."

As a further example, the Ledbetter Act, allowing women who are discriminated against to sue under the law that prohibits wage discrimination without having to discover the first act of discrimination within their first 180 days of work, is not a bill to allow the Equal Pay Act to actually compel employers to obey it. No. It's a "bailout for trial lawyers."

If those two cases meet the definition of a "bailout," then get ready for more bailouts. We might see several thousand of them across the country this year.

Quick, someone stop the word bailout. Kill it with fire. Bury it. Forget about it. Please.

What is Caroline Kennedy Ready For?

Caroline Kennedy stopped angling for Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat in New York because of a "tax problem" and "potential nanny issue," according to a source close to Governor Paterson. I don't know if it's true, but if it is, she clearly is not qualified to take office as an appointed senator from the great state of New York.

However, she is definitely qualified to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. As long as she says she's sorry and claims that it was all just an incompetent mistake. Honest and complete tax returns not necessary.

Defeat All White Male Construction Workers

Barack Obama's economic advisor, Robert Reich, likes the idea of an Obama stimulus package. An $800 billion stimulus plan might create 3.675 million jobs, including many in the construction sector, which will be called upon to construct great public works of improvement. The important thing, however, is to make sure that the stimulus money goes to create jobs for someone other than white male construction workers. 

Here's the quote in question:

I am concerned, as I’m sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high-skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers. … I have nothing against white male construction workers. I’m just saying that there are a lot of other people who have needs as well. … Criteria can be set so that the money does go to others, the long term unemployed minorities, women, people who are not necessarily construction workers or high-skilled professionals.

We need to spread the wealth. And white male construction workers have way too much of it already, right? After all, white males construction workers are among the most pampered and privileged people in our society. If we decide to make sure that they aren't invited to the big stimulus party, who cares? It's not like they aren't already swimming in cash and laughing at the rest of us saps already. It's time to heal this nation, and the way to do it is to soak the white males construction workers.

Next target: Mexican male construction workers. Those guys have it pretty good, too.

The Enormity of it All

Maya Angelou, former PLOTUS (Poet Laureate of the United States), on Barack Obama taking office:

I cannot describe the enormity of President Obama sitting in the White House with his wife, his two children and his mother-in-law. And the hopes of many millions...."

Could not a PLOTUS find a better word than "enormity?" Here is the Merriam Webster dictionary's definition of "enormity:"

Main Entry: enor·mi·ty 
Pronunciation: \i-ˈnȯr-mə-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural enor·mi·ties
Date: 15th century
 
1: an outrageous, improper, vicious, or immoral act
2: the quality or state of being immoderate, monstrous, or outrageous ; especially : great wickedness
3: the quality or state of being huge : immensity
4: a quality of momentous importance or impact

While her use of the word was not actually incorrect, I would expect better from a former Poet Laureate of the United States. Such a talented wordsmith could certainly come up with a word that does not have, as its primary meaning, such a strong and negative connotation.

Tuesday Travel Photo (No. 214)

This is a view of the Capitol Mall area, as seen from a spot in front of the Capitol not far from where Barack Obama took his oath of office this morning.

There were fewer people there to greet me than were there to greet Barack Obama.

Eye Munchers and Four Other Passing Thoughts

A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and ate it. He's in prison because he stabbed his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter, then ripped out their hearts. Someone should give that prison a sharp knife, a private, locked room, and nothing good to eat for a week. He can cut off and eat chunks of himself until his sentence becomes self-executing.

How come Roland Burris has had such an easy time getting to the U.S. Senate while Caroline Kennedy has had such a hard time? Could it be that the race card trumps the gender card in U.S. politics? Some people think so, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that Burris has held public office, and Kennedy has done nothing of the sort and has only a pedigree and a law degree, which, in and of themselves, do not qualify you to be U.S. Senator.

Joe the Plumber was sent to Israel as a war correspondent. I thought this was an Onion headline, but it's real. The media just keep getting sillier and sillier.

Our corrupt local sheriff was just convicted of a felony charge of witness tampering. However, jurors, who believed he was guilty on all charges, acquitted him of 5 of the remaining 6 counts, because they thought that the prosecution had failed to prove his guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Therefore, the headlines focus on the five acquittals. Had he been charged with just the one count, the reaction would be more like "ZOMG! Corrupt sheriff convicted of felony!!!" Instead, we are treated to articles in which the convicted felon calls the day of his conviction "the best day I have had in the last couple of years," and declares himself "vindicated. Beyond vindicated." This was the best, however:

Q. You were convicted of a felony. Can't that be perceived of as a loss?

A. Yes, I was convicted on one of the charges, and that is a bit of a loss. But there were six charges against me … and the vast majority of the verdicts were not guilty. This was a huge win for us.

Words of a guilty man who just got away with some big time crimes.

Bishop T.D. Jakes to Obama this morning: "You are ready to go. And this nation goes with you. God goes with you. I say to you as my son who is here today, my 14-year-old son – he probably would not quote scripture. He probably would use Star Trek instead, and so I say, ‘May the force be with you.” Yeah, that's just what Captain Kirk would have said.

Go Arizona!

I'll be rooting for the Cardinals, who have more Trojans (2 - Leinart and Lutui) on the roster than Pittsburgh (1 - Polamalu). Here's how I generally decide

to root in the Super Bowl.

1. Is San Diego in the game? If yes, root for the Chargers. If no, move on to #2.
2. Is anyone I consider a friend playing? If yes, root for his team. If no, move on to #3.
3. Is Oakland in the game? If yes, root for the NFC champion. If no, move on to #4.
4. Is St. Louis in the game? If yes, root for the AFC champion (unless Oakland). If no, move on to #5.
5. Which team has the most Trojans? Root for that team. If a tie, proceed to #6.
6. Which team has the fewest Bruins? Root for that team. If a tie, proceed to #7.
7. Which team has the better Trojan? Root for that team. If there is no clear preference, proceed to #8.
8. Which team has the fewest Irish? Root for that team. If a tie, proceed to #9.
9. Does either team suck? If so, root for the other team. If neither team sucks, proceed to #10.
10. Which team is favored? Root for the underdog. If it's a pick-'em, proceed to #11.
11. Flip a coin.

I don't recall ever having to go beyond #6 to find a team to support. This year, I got to #5, which is usually where my decision is made.

1. Is San Diego in the game? No.
2. Is anyone I consider a friend playing? No.
3. Is Oakland in the game? No.
4. Is St. Louis in the game? No.
5. Which team has the most Trojans? Arizona. There you go, I root for the Cardinals.

Arizona also has fewer Bruins and is an underdog, so I'll feel good rooting for the Cardinals. If I was to bet, however, the Steelers -6½ looks really good.

I Can Answer These

An email from a devout colleague poses the following questions. I gave him my honest answers:

Why are we so sleepy in church, but wake right when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up?
Usually, it is the Eucharistic Prayer that puts me to sleep, but if the sermon does, it's usually because the sermon was uninteresting. A good sermon will keep me perfectly attentive.

Why is it so hard to talk about God, but yet so easy to talk about nasty stuff?
At least we understand the nasty stuff. But both run the risk of deeply offending people, and I find both difficult unless I know I'm in the right crowd.

Why is it so boring to look at a Christian magazine, but so easy to look at a nasty one?
It depends on how nasty, but just a guess: perhaps it's because the nasty ones pay better and have better writers? Or maybe it's because Christian magazines censor every last bit of interesting stuff from their pages.

Why is it so easy to delete a Godly e-mail, but we forward all of the nasty ones?
Because the nasty ones are usually funnier, and the Godly ones more often than not contain something that not all of my friends believe.

Why are the churches getting smaller but yet the bars and dance clubs are getting larger?
In my county, they are not. If you're in Alabama, its because the bars and dance clubs were too small to begin with.

USS Stennis

This is the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), departing yesterday from San Diego on its way to join the 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific. The ship left its home port in Bremerton, Washington on January 13, and had a 24 hour stop in San Diego. Stennis will join Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21, to form the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group (JCSCSG), which will support regional stability in the Western Pacific. One of my best friends, whom I've known for 20 years, serves aboard Stennis. We went to Cabrillo National Monument to see the ship leave.

We watched it sail around Point Loma and disappear into the sunset as we watched with about 50 or more families whose loved ones were aboard the ship. Point Loma, by the way, is a great place to spend a couple of hours on a weekend in San Diego. The ship was passing Ballast Point when I took this photo. Ballast Point is believed to be the spot on which Cabrillo landed on September 28, 1542, becoming the first European to set foot in what is now California.

Venusbeams

Moonlight shining like a beam across the water I've seen before. Starlight reflecting across the surface of the ocean, that I've never seen until tonight. Venus was so bright and low in the sky, and the Pacific Ocean was so calm, that you could see the light from Venus shining in the water.

I've never seen anything quite like it.

Not Ready for Prime Time and Four Other Passing Thoughts

From the state that elected Jesse The Body Ventura as governor, we now have Senator Second-Tier SNL Comedian. Still not ready for prime time. Being from California, perhaps I lack the moral authority to poke fun at this, but I didn't vote for Arnold, so I'm not going to worry about it.

You had to know Barack Obama was full of crap when he announced in the debates that "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority." But deep down, didn't you expect him to at least take office before announcing that killing Bin Laden wasn't really going to be a priority of his administration?

The Lakers' Sasha Vujacic complained to the media that Chris Paul called him a "bitch." I'm a little embarrassed that one of my beloved Lakers would be whining about that. If you are going to complain about someone calling you a bitch, it should be in the context of you calling him something worse, as in "Hey, that asshole just called me a bitch." The full version of mofo would worked equally well in the same context. However, if all you are doing is whining about someone calling you a bitch, you might actually be a little bitch. If your name is Sasha, you really shouldn't go around acting like a little bitch.

The Vatican has a list of serious sins and more serious sins that you might find disturbing. For example, "priests and bishops can deal with confessions of sins as grave as murder or even genocide," but a special tribunal is reserved for "crimes which are viewed by the Church as even more serious." Such as?

• attempting to assassinate the Pope,
• a priest abusing the confidentiality of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who admitted to it, 
• a priest who has sex with someone and then offers forgiveness for the act
• a man directly participating in an abortion (i.e., by paying for it), then seeking to become a priest or deacon, or
• defiling the Eucharist.

Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin? They are bad dudes, but fortunately for their immortal souls, none of them ever defiled the Eucharist or tried to shoot the Pope.

Finally, how bad is the economy in the UK? Even the debt-management gurus are going bankrupt.

Tuesday Travel Photo (No. 213)

To catch this view, we had to be on the beach in Maui before 6:00 a.m. This is sunrise over Molokini Island, a crescent-shaped island about 2.5 miles off the southwest coast of Maui. It is formed from the top of a volcanic crater that is only partially above sea level. We were out there for a sunrise snorkel on our last day in the islands. I had wanted to snorkel there since the first time I went to Maui in 1983. Once, I even booked a trip, but high winds forced us to snorkel in some crappy other spot.

Few things are worth getting up for at 5:30 a.m. With rare exceptions, unless it's for my kids or to make money, I'd rather sleep. This was one of the few worthy exceptions. It was the only thing in 2008 that I crossed off my list of things to do before I die.

Ranking ten movies I recently watched on DVD (No. 18)

Here are another ten recent pulls from the Netflix queue, with my one-to-five plus rating, and the IMDB users' score.

1. Run Fatboy Run (6.9) +++++ I loved it. My favorite English movie since the Full Monty.
2. The X-Files: I Want to Believe (6.1) ++++ Not at all what I expected, but I loved it.
3. The Dark Knight (9.0) ++++ It had too many endings. Aside from that, awesome.
4. Disturbia (7.0) ++++ A few plot holes, but tense and awesome.
5. Tropic Thunder (7.4) +++ Funny, but stupid.
6. Step Brothers (6.8) +++ Stupid, but funny.
7. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (5.2) +++ Less lame than I thought it might be. Almost ... good
8. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. (5.2) ++ The cliches wore thin.
9. You Don't Mess with the Zohan (5.7) + It was far more stupid than funny.
10. Mamma Mia! (6.9) + I hated it. 2 hours too long. Pointless ending. Sucked, sucked, sucked.

Did I mention that Mamma Mia! sucked? Aside from the clever gimmick of working every ABBA song into the plot, it was worthless, and since the songs were all ABBA songs, even the gimmick sucked. A waste of great acting talent and almost two hours of my life.

If the NFL was like College Football

The final BCS standings would have looked something like this:

1. Titans (13-3)
2. Giants (12-4)
3. Steelers (12-4)
4. Panthers (12-4)
5. Colts (12-4)
6. Dolphins (11-5)
7. Falcons (11-5)
8. Ravens (11-5)
9. Patriots (11-5)
10. Vikings (10-6)

The Titans would have played the Giants (the defending champ and top NFC team, who beat Carolina) for the title, while the Steelers, Colts and Panthers would be griping about being left out.

The Steelers, who lost to the Titans, Giants and Colts, are the only team left in the playoffs. The NFC representative will be either the Eagles or the Cardinals, neither of whom would have cracked the top 10 in any BCS rankings.

Colts, Steelers and Bolts

I like the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I'll be rooting against them today, because they are playing the closest thing I have to a home team, the San Diego Chargers. The game is in Pittsburgh at 1:45 p.m.

I took the train down to San Diego last Saturday to watch the 8-8 Chargers knock off the mighty Indianapolis Colts in the opening round of the NFL Playoffs, in overtime, by a score of 23-17. I've been to some great NFL games before, including an overtime game between the Broncos and Raiders back in the 1980s, some great Rams games at the Coliseum and the Big A, and several great Chargers games in the last few years. This was the best one ever. If you don't know how it went down and want to find out, here's the ESPN article. Here's the MSNBC article. Here's the San Diego Tribune coverage:

Sproles helps Chargers roll

Instead of ending season in another close loss, the Chargers pulled out a big win against the Colts.
– Rivers is last QB standing
– Gates guts it out on bum ankle
– Dungy: Scifres was difference
– INTERACTIVE: Chargers report card
– PHOTOS: Colts-Chargers gallery
– CHART: Sproles' big night
– Voice of the fans: Colts-Chargers
– By the numbers: Colts-Chargers
– The winning drive: Colts-Chargers

I'll probably forget the Darren Sproles fumble at the 2, the Phillip Rivers interception into the end zone, and the cold misty weather last night. I'll remember the game tying field goal, the punting (with 5 of 6 punts at or inside the Colts 10-yard line) and the sack of MVP Peyton Manning on a critical third-and-two in the 4th quarter. I'll remember the Colts calling heads, and the officials declaring tails, and I'll remember the Chargers' overtime drive, capped by Sproles sweeping left to the end zone from 22 yards out.

I took a few pictures, just in case I forget the night.

This is my train to San Diego. If you are wondering how I got the shot, it's because I missed the train in Irvine, and decided to catch it in Oceanside and get the family there for the rest of the weekend. We got to San Juan Capistrano eight minutes after the train left, so it was pretty tight. However, once we passed the train going south along the 5 (where it was stopped, waiting for the northbound train to pass), we knew we might make the Oceanside train station by 2:12 p.m. We did, and I got dropped off at the station literally as the train was pulling up. I had to run to catch it.

Arriving at Qualcomm via the Trolley. Amtrak and San Diego Metropolitan Transit set up riders to take the train to Old Town, and then catch one of many trolleys over to the stadium, and back after the game.

This is the view from our club level seats.

Here, Peyton Manning gets ready to lead Indianapolis to a go-ahead score.

Touchdown, Colts.

Look how tiny Darren Sproles looks in that backfield.

This sack of Peyton Manning on 3rd-and-2 forced the Colts to punt late in the game, allowing San Diego to put together a game-tying or winning drive.

The drive fell just short of winning the game in regulation. Here, with just seconds left on the clock, the Chargers set up for the game-tying field goal.

There is it, the game-tying 26-yard field goal to send the game into overtime 17-17.

The Chargers won the coin toss when Indianapolis called heads and it came up tails, and San Diego marched down the field to the 22-yard line. I was expecting them to run Sproles up the middle to set up a 35-40 yard game-winning kick. I think the Colts were expecting the same thing, so when they ran Sproles to the left, he got past everyone for a touchdown. I didn't get a picture of that. I was too busy jumping up and down and high-fiving everyone. As you can see, I tried, and failed.

Some Colts fans gave us crap before that game about the Chargers being 8-8. In the end, San Diego fans had the retort: "Scoreboard!" There it is.

OC Half-Marathon

I am way out of my league here at the start of the Orange County Half-Marathon. I can tell just by looking that almost everyone here is more fit than I, but they give you four hours to finish. Barring a sprain or bad muscle pull, I should be able to do that.

Update: I finished it in time, with a little bit to spare, actually. No sprains, no pulls, just a plodding pace and an eventual finish.

USC's Returning Defense

USC is losing most of its amazing defense after this season, including 7 all-conference first or second team starters and 4 solid senior starters. Assuming Josh Pinkard does not get a 6th year of eligibility and Taylor Mays departs for the NFL, here are the Trojans' top returning defensive players.

DE — 96 Wes Horton (6-5, 245, Fr.)

NT – 44 Christian Tupou (6-2, 280, So.)
99 Averell Spicer (6-2, 295, Jr.*)
91 Jurrell Casey (6-1, 280, Fr.)
98 DaJohn Harris (6-4, 285, Fr.*)

DT — 94 Armond Armstead (6-5, 290, Fr.)

DE — 93 Everson Griffen (6-3, 265, So.)
97 Malik Jackson (6-5, 230, Fr.)

SLB — 17 Michael Morgan (6-4, 220, So.*)
37 Jordan Campbell (5-11, 230, Fr.*)
57 Nick Garratt (6-1, 235, Jr.*)
8 Nick Perry (6-3, 240, Fr.)

MLB — 54 Chris Galippo (6-2, 255, Fr.*)
35 Uona Kaveinga (6-1, 235, Fr.) OR
52 Luthur Brown (6-2, 235, Jr.*)

WLB — 6 Malcolm Smith (6-1, 225, So.)

CB — 15 Kevin Thomas (6-1, 185, Jr.*)
30 Brian Baucham (5-11, 190, Fr.)

FS — 27 Marshall Jones (6-0, 185, So.)

SS — 26 Will Harris (6-1, 200, Jr.*)
19 Drew McAllister (6-1, 200, Fr.)

CB — 1 T.J. Bryant (6-1, 190, Fr.)
25 Daniel Harper (5-11, 185, Fr.*)

A lot of those names will be unfamiliar to those outside the Pac-10, but it's a talented bunch, and there are some amazing freshmen who say they are coming, some of whom could step in and compete immediately.

USC's Returning Offense

USC is keeping most of its offense next year, including after this season. Assuming C.J. Cable and Mark Sanchez do not leave for the NFL, here's a list of top returners on offense:

SE — 9 David Ausberry (6-4, 235, So.*)
80 Brandon Carswell (6-1, 185, Fr.*)
23 Jordan Cameron (6-5, 220, So.*)

LT — 71 Charles Brown (6-6, 295, Jr.*)
70 Tyron Smith (6-6, 270, Fr.)
73 Steve Gatena (6-5, 290, Jr.*)

LG — 53 Jeff Byers (6-4, 285, Sr.**)
56 Alex Parsons (6-4, 300, Jr.)
78 Khaled Holmes (6-4, 305, Fr.)

C — 61 Kristofer O’Dowd (6-5, 300, So.)
64 Garrett Nolan (6-4, 280, Jr.*)

RG – 56 Alex Parsons (6-4, 300, Jr.)
74 Zack Heberer (6-5, 300, So.*)
65 Derek Simmons (6-4, 285, So.*)
77 Thomas Herring (6-6, 330, Jr.*)

RT — 76 Nick Howell (6-5, 280, Jr.*)
68 Butch Lewis (6-5, 300, So.*)
75 Matt Kalil (6-6, 290, Fr.)

TE — 86 Anthony McCoy (6-5, 255, Jr.)
40 Rhett Ellison (6-5, 250, Fr.*)
89 Blake Ayles (6-5, 255, Fr.)

FL — 18 Damian Williams (6-1, 190, So.*)
8 Ronald Johnson (6-1, 185, So.)
17 Travon Patterson (5-10, 175, So.*)
83 Brice Butler (6-3, 215, Fr.)

QB — 6 Mark Sanchez (6-3, 225, Jr.*)
16 Mitch Mustain (6-3, 210, So.*)
15 Aaron Corp (6-4, 195, Fr.*)
14 Garrett Green (6-2, 210, Jr.)

FB — 31 Stanley Havili (6-0, 225, So.*)
45 Adam Goodman (6-1, 240, Jr.*)
10 D.J. Shoemate (6-0, 220, Fr.)
41 Matt Hillier (6-2, 210, Sr.*)

TB — 2 C.J. Gable (6-0, 200, So.*)
13 Stafon Johnson (5-11, 215, Jr.)
4 Joe McKnight (6-0, 200, So.)
26 Marc Tyler (6-0, 220, Fr.*)
22 Curtis McNeal (5-8, 180, Fr.)

* = redshirt season used

That is a smoking load of talent right there.

Football Schools and Cities

With the exception of the 14-year Los Angeles NFL anomaly, there is a correlation between city size and NFL football. The same correlation does not apply to college football, though, again, there is a Los Angeles anomaly. Barely half have a university with a FBS football program, and six of the twenty-five largest cities don't even have major college football within commuting distance.

1 New York City - None.
2 Los Angeles - UCLA, USC
3 Chicago - None [Northwestern is close]
4 Houston - Houston, Rice
5 Phoenix - Arizona State [Tempe is very close]
6 Philadelphia - Temple
7 San Antonio - None
8 San Diego - San Diego State
9 Dallas - Southern Methodist [University Park]
10 San Jose - San Jose State
11 Detroit - None [Eastern Michigan and Michigan are close]
12 Jacksonville - None
13 Indianapolis - None
14 San Francisco - None [Stanford and Cal are close]
15 Columbus - Ohio State
16 Austin - Texas
17 Fort Worth - Texas Christian
18 Memphis - Memphis
19 Charlotte - None
20 Baltimore - None [Maryland is close]
21 El Paso - Texas El Paso
22 Milwaukee - None
23 Boston - Boston College
24 Seattle - Washington
25 Nashville - Vanderbilt

Last night's championship game, if stated in terms of cities, would have been be Norman v. Gainesville. Neither is in the top 200 in population. Rancho Cucamonga v. Mesquite would have been much bigger.

USC's 2009 Schedule

Here's the USC football schedule for 2009:

Sept. 5 San Jose State
Sept. 12 @ Ohio State
Sept. 19 @ Washington
Sept. 26 Washington State
Oct. 3 @ California
Oct. 10 Arizona
Oct. 17 @ Notre Dame
Oct. 24 Oregon State
Oct. 31 @ Oregon
Nov. 7 @ Arizona State
Nov. 14 Stanford
Nov. 28 UCLA

The home schedule is not very compelling. San Jose State, Washington State and Stanford will sell below face. Oregon State and Arizona will not be tough tickets. UCLA might be a cheap ticket if the Bruins are as bad in 2009 as they were in 2008.

The road schedule is far more interesting. Ohio State will be huge. Cal and Notre Dame will be great weekenders. Oregon will be a tough game.

My Final 2008 Football Season Rankings

Here's how I would ranked the Top 25 this season. My pre-bowl rankings are to the right.

1. Utah - 7
2. Florida - 2
3. USC - 3
4. Texas - 4
5. Oklahoma - 1
6. TCU - 12
7. Penn State - 6
8. Alabama - 5
9. Ohio State - 10
10. Oregon - 13
11. Boise St. - 8
12. Texas Tech - 9
13. Ole Miss - 24
14. Oregon State - 20
15. Virginia Tech - 19
16. Oklahoma State - 11
17. Georgia - 18
18. Cincinnati - 14  
19. Missouri - 25
20. Florida State - NR
21. Iowa - NR 
22. West Virginia - NR
23. Cal - NR
24. BYU
25. Georgia Tech - 15

I dropped Pitt, Boston College, Michigan State and Northwestern.

The actual polls can be found here.

My 2008-2009 Bowl Pick Results

Here's how I see the bowl games against the spread. Overall, I was 17-17, but 3-6 in the money games:

W EagleBank Bowl - Wake Forest vs. Navy +3
L New Mexico Bowl - Colorado State vs. Fresno State -3
L St. Petersburg Bowl - Memphis vs. South Florida -11½
W Las Vegas Bowl - #17 BYU vs. Arizona -3½
L New Orleans Bowl - Southern Miss vs. Troy -4½
L Poinsettia Bowl - #9 Boise State vs. #11 TCU -2½
L Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii vs. Notre Dame -1½  **
L Motor City Bowl - Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan -6
W Meineke Car Care - West Virginia vs. North Carolina +1½
W Champs Sports - Wisconsin vs. Florida State -6
L Emerald Bowl - Miami (Fla.) vs. California -8 **
L Independence - Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech +1
W Papajohns.com Bowl - NC State vs. Rutgers -7
L Valero Alamo Bowl - #25 Missouri vs. #22 Northwestern +12½
W Roady's Humanitarian Bowl - Maryland vs. Nevada -2 **
W Texas Bowl - Western Michigan vs. Rice -3
W Holiday Bowl - Oklahoma State vs. Oregon +3 **
L Bell Helicopter Armed Forces - Houston vs. Air Force +3½
W Sun Bowl - Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh +2½
L Music City Bowl - Boston College vs. Vanderbilt +3½ **
W Insight Bowl - Kansas vs. Minnesota +10
L Chick-fil-A Bowl - LSU vs. Georgia Tech -3½ **
W Outback Bowl - South Carolina vs. Iowa -3½
L Capital One Bowl - Georgia vs. Michigan State +7½
W Gator Bowl - Nebraska vs. Clemson -2½
W Rose Bowl - Penn State vs. USC -10 **
W Orange Bowl - Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech +2½
L Cotton Bowl - Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech -5½ **
L Liberty Bowl - Kentucky vs. East Carolina -3
W Sugar Bowl - Utah vs. Alabama -10
L International Bowl - Buffalo vs. Connecticut -4½
W Fiesta Bowl - Ohio State vs. Texas -9
W GMAC Bowl - Ball State vs. Tulsa +2½
L BCS National Championship - Florida vs. Oklahoma +3 **

Pretty dismal. I was 4-1 in the BCS bowls, however.

Lex TV 197

Here are another dozen videos:

The 1983 California Bowl. Bring back Fullerton Titan Football!

The world's baddest ass dog ever.  

Twilight in three minutes, with puppets.

Dolphin stampede.

Bears suck.

Why it isn't so great to be one of the popular girls.

It's not his wife, so you can be completely frank.

PSA: When jumping the tracks right in front of the train, don't trip.

Officer Adam Henry messing with a reporter.

Drowning as performance art.

An amusing dogfight.

Why it isn't so great to be one of the popular girls.

Lift Mishap Leaves Skier Cold-Cocked

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0106091vail1.html

Ouch.

Tuesday Travel Photo (No. 212)

My favorite Caribbean island so far has been St. Maarten. This was taken just past the border, after we entered the side of the island belonging to the French West Indies. There were many roadside vendors offering produce out of their trucks for very reasonable prices.

This was my favorite from among the pictures I took along that road, because I caught one of the helpers eating the ptofits.

I had the same thing happen to me

The IRS seems to be sending out refunds, and then demanding back taxes in roughly the same amount. This guy got one for five cents and four cents. Mine was for a bit over $200. WTF?

Wisconsin Market

I love to get coffee here on Sunday mornings.

Looking Through My Old Programs

I found a USC game program from 1977. It was fun to flip through the pages and look at the ads, the hair styles, and of course, the old Trojan names. The coaches were great: John Robinson and his assistant head coach Marv Goux. Don Lindsey (who ended up coaching all over) as defensive coordinator. The quarterbacks coach was future USC head coach Paul Hackett. Cowboys OL coach Hudson Houck as OL coach. Brown's LB coach Mike Haluchak coaching the linebackers. Another linebacker coach was John Marshall, the current defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks. Future UCLA head coach Bob Toledo as secondary coach. Chargers head coach Norv Turner as the receivers coach. Arizona State offensive coordinator Rich Olson coaching the offensive line. And John Jackson, who coached two Heisman Trophy winners, was running backs coach. That was a great coaching staff. I learned this bit of trivia. Robinson was a grammar school classmate of John Madden. And I found out the Norv Turner's full first name is Norval.

The players included Clay Matthews, the father of USC LB/DE Clay Matthews. The O-Line had studs like Brad Budde and Anthony Munoz. Mosi Tatupu, father of Lofa Tatupu, was the fullback. Charles White was the new tailback. Current USC announcer Paul McDonald, father of last year's backup quarterback Mike McDonald, was then Rob Hertel's backup QB. Ronnie Lott was backing up Dennis Thurman. Also on the roster: Titan's head coach Jeff Fisher, then a backup wide receiver.

That team didn't win the Pac-8, but they knocked the Bruins out of the Rose Bowl on the final day of the season, and went on to defeat Texas A&M in the Bluebonnet Bowl. The next season, the Trojans split the national championship with Alabama.

This particular program was for the game against Stanford, which the program calls "The Cardinals." The only Cardinal I remembered was James Lofton. Their coaches, however, included Bill Walsh, George Seifert, Denny Green and Tom Lovat. The program also had features on Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White, the Trojan baseball team (with a picture of Tom Seaver and Fred Lynn from the Alumni game),  and the Trojan basketball team.

"KFI 64" covered the Trojans when they weren't playing "Today's Hit Parade" (I shudder to guess what the playlist was in November 1977). The ads were of the same sort of quality that you see in high school programs today (at the less sophisticated high schools). None of the ads had telephone numbers with area codes. We were all (213) back then.

USC won the game 49-0.

Utah and the AP Poll

Utah will finish the 2008 college football season as the only undefeated team, having beaten Alabama in the Sugar Bowl by a solid margin of 31-17. The Utes finish the season 13-0, with wins over Michigan, Oregon State, Texas Christian, BYU and Alabama. That's a good resume.

The justification for Florida deserving the BCS championship game bid was just exposed as a great error in judgment. Beginning with a big win over a Clemson team that turned out to be no good, continuing with an exciting victory in overtime against the defending national champs, who also turned out to be mediocre, everyone thought Alabama was much better than they were. So much so, that when Florida knocked them off in the SEC championship game, we all looked past that home loss to Mississippi, and assumed that Florida really must be mighty. We disregarded the fact that

The readily apparent fact now is that we have no way of knowing who the proper champion should be. Bt if we are going on resumes, there is no one with a better season than Utah. The BCS system has been exposed more thoroughly than ever as a fraud. Today, one of the Big Three of the Big XII fell to pieces to that same Ole Miss team that lost to Wake Forest, Vanderbilt and South Carolina (which itself got blown by Iowa yesterday). That other "almost as great" Big XII team, Oklahoma State, was beaten blow-for-blow by Oregon. You know, Oregon, that team from the Pac-10 that obviously must have been no good because USC beat them 44-10. USC was out of the discussion of one-loss teams in December, because the Pac-10 was thought to be so inferior to the Big XII and SEC. The Pac-10 went 5-0 against a bowl lineup that included four teams ranked between 6th and 18th.

We had round robin bowl results that would make your head spin. After the same sort of 1-1-1 splits in the ACC and the Big XII South, we saw how Georgia Tech whupped Georgia, which whupped LSU, then in the bowl, LSU stomped Georgia Tech. Penn State killed Oregon State, which beat USC. In the bowl, USC killed Penn State. In the end, we need to see these teams face off in a multi-game playoff.

In the NFL, this sort of bullshit would never be tolerated. Could you imagine a BCS system deciding the Super Bowl matchup? We'd have seen Dallas-New England last year. The Super Bowl Champion NY Giants would have been the last team picked for one of the lesser BCS games. Even in the FCS, they play for a real championship. If they brought the BCS down a division, James Madison would have played Appalachian State for the championship. Instead, both got beat, and #7 Richmond defeated #4 Montana for the title. No controversy. Richmond deserves to be called champions.

There are still two more BCS Bowls left to be played [sigh], but what would it mean if Ohio State beat Texas and Oklahoma beat Florida? Here's what it would mean to me: the two teams playing for the BCS Championship aren't in the top two teams in the country, and one might not be in the top five. My AP vote, if I had one, would look like this:

1. Utah
2. USC
3. Oklahoma
4. Penn State
5. Ohio State

If Florida wins, and Ohio State wins, I'd vote:

1. Utah
2. USC
3. Florida
4. Oklahoma
5. Penn State

If Texas wins and plays a solid game, I'd vote:

1. Utah
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Florida/Oklahoma winner
5. Oklahoma/Florida loser

Regardless, there is one true champion, deserving of the title for the 2008 season, and that team is the Utah Utes.

USC 38, Penn State 24

USC had another strong showing in another big BCS bowl, winning its 4th Rose Bowl in 6 years, 38-24 over the Penn State Nittany Lions. We were there. I left Orange County about 10:30 and by 11:30, we were in Arroyo Seco Canyon, parking our car in Lot D. I took a few pictures:

Rarely, if ever, have I taken a picture of the parking spot, but this was choice. Mark Sanchez could have launched a long pass from my car to someone inside the gates. The coolest part was that we drove right in, through roads that were closed to general admission parkers; the second coolest part was that it only took three minutes to get from the parking space to the freeway; but almost as cool as all that was the ability to go do whatever, and then come back to the car to refill the drinks, drop off the Rose Bowl crap that we bought, etc. We were quite close to where the Spirit of Troy unloaded their stuff and began performing.

There were many blue and white crazies. There were a small number of Penn State fans who didn't get the memo about whiting out the Rose Bowl, but most were wearing the white shirts with blue only in the bit parts. Here, in the golf course area, the food booths were sold out of everything but alcohol, and all the souvenir stands were sold out of the best stuff, including the souvenir I HAD to have - the full sized commemorative Rose Bowl football. I got one for the 2003 Orange Bowl, the 2004 Rose Bowl, the 2005 Orange Bowl, the 2007 Rose Bowl and the 2008 Rose Bowl. Call me superstitious, but I only struck out trying to get the 2006 Rose Bowl ball, and the Trojans lost that one.

To the north of the Rose Bowl, it was all golf course, parking and tailgating. To the south, it was all fan fest stuff. There were fair-style food booths (pastrami, dogs, brats, wings, kettle corn and long lines for Tommy Burgers), a beer garden, and odd promotions, like a Taco Bell obstacle course and this one, in which armchair quarterbacks could throw for a "touchdown" and win lame prizes. I threw for a touchdown and got a can holder. A DJ was spinning tunes and there were people everywhere.

A Penn State fan took this picture for me. Having scored some good t-shirts for the girls, a full-sized Rose Bowl souvenir ball (I passed on the $45 wool pennants), and a couple of game ticket lanyards, we then made our way back to the car, past the Jesus freaks, painted bodies, desperate ticket scalpers, and other attention whores. And we headed into the game. On my way in, I caught some grief for having a nice camera, and the gate lady tried to make me take it back to the car. She called the supervisor over, and the supervisor said that camera was fine. Luckily, no one asked me about the telephoto lens in my bag.

I bought two beers for the sole purpose of getting a couple of these souvenir cups. They were $8.50 each. I can afford that, but it still annoyed me, not just because they were so small, but because they were a third full of foam. This is my beer after the foam settled, and before I took my first drink. About three swigs later, we were off to our tunnel, where a massive crowd had gathered to slowly inch their way into the bowl.

Once inside, other than the slight haze from the morning fog, and our mediocre USC season-ticket holder corner end zone seats, it was perfect. You could really see the dividing lines between the Penn State sections and the USC sections. They were almost all white. We were almost all cardinal. I know it's silly, but I get completely thrilled every time I go to a bowl game and watch our Trojan stabbing the logo at midfield before the game. A lot of people think that the guy who stabs the field and leads the band is the same guy who rides Traveler.

It's not the same guy. Both of them have very cool outfits, though. I almost never covet another guy's duds, but I want one or both of these costumes. Christmas? Birthday?

The Penn State band played first, then USC's band took the field. After the Spirit of Troy played the national anthem, which they played in their traditionally soft manner that encourages the crowd to sing along, we were treated to a flyover by a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. We saw one of the ground crew outside before the game, and he quite patiently interacted with some of the fools who came up to talk to them. Worst question: (right outside the stadium, about an hour before game time) "Are you one of the pilots who'll be doing the pregame flyover?" No, the guys inside the facility were not going to be in the planes, beer drinking guy.

After the B-@ flew over, they shot off fireworks, almost as if they were trying to shoot him down, but too late. The Nittany Lions came out. The Trojans came out. Some of the more devout Trojans knelt down in the Penn State end zone for a quick prayer.

Cloris Leachman, the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade was introduced at midfield. I best remember her as Mrs. Fremont from that Twilight Zone episode with the kid who wished everyone into the corn field. Most of the people there associate her with one of those dancing reality shows. Anyhow, USC won the toss and elected to defer. USC fans cheered as if the game had just been decided. David Buehler kicked off for the Trojans.

Penn State's first drive stalled. Three and out. And they got away with some penalties, too. Can you spot the illegal block in the back on this play? Kaluka Maiava almost broke the game open immediately with a pick. Missed it by a tiny bit.

USC did a 3-and-out, and then Penn State got a first down, then punted. Finally, someone got a little offense. After getting bailed out on a sack-and-fumble, due to a defensive offsides penalty, USC got going. Starting tailback Stafon Johnson got USC down to the 27 yard line to set up this:

Mark Sanchez to Damian Williams for 27 yards for a touchdown.

At the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter, the quarterbacks exchanged rushing touchdowns on quarterback draws, and then USC extended its lead to 10 with a 30-yard field goal, which it settled for after an incomplete pass to the tight end that could have been a rushing or passing touchdown for Sanchez. I loved this shot of everyone looking up to see if the kick was clean.

This is Ronald Johnson, catching on of the best touchdown throws I've seen all year, a hard, frozen rope throw from 19 yards out.

The play of the game followed. On first and ten from the 20, Daryll Clark passed to Stephfon Green for 30 yards, but he fumbled, and Will Harris, playing for the injured Kevin Ellison, recovered at USC's 42 yard line. Less than a minute later, with the first half winding down, the Trojans ran a screen pass to CJ Gable, who then scampered 20 yards up the middle for the touchdown.

Gable's touchdown reception made it USC 31, Penn State 7. The rout was on.

USC could sense it, and they danced and hooted and hollered. Some were probably already starting to think about NFL combines and draft days.

USC's band came out first at halftime and played some Wolfmother, Avenged Sevenfold and Nine Inch Nails songs from "Guitar Hero." Penn State's Blue Marching Band then played a selection of Queen songs, including Bohemian Rhapsody and We Are The Champions. The second half started with USC on offense. Mark Sanchez was getting a lot of protection.

The Nittany Lion (filling in for the regular mascot, who was suspended for alleged DUI) tried to rally the Penn Stte fans, but there was little to get excited about.

Then, ten plays into USC's first drive of the second half, CJ Gable coughed up the ball at the 46. Off to the doghouse he went.

This was going to hurt. Mays later got a drilling in on one of theirs and one of ours at the same time, and got a 15-yard penalty for it, leading to a Penn State touchdown. A couple of plays after this one, however, USC took over on downs.

It looks like the Penn State band was in section 13. Unlucky. The third quarter ended with the score still 31-7. Before the 4th quarter, Virgil Lubberden, Chuck Ortmann and Keyshawn Johnson were honored on the field as the new inductees in the Rose Bowl Hall Of Fame.

This one was going to hurt, too.

And this one was goint to hurt even more.

The 4th quarter was a fiasco for USC. Penn State had a nice drive (saved by a replay reversal of a Darryl Clark fumbled that USC recovered - he was down) to cut the lead to 17, but USC answered back with a three-play 88 yard drive to go up 38-14. The 45 yard touchdown reception by Ronald Johnson was awesome. I got a photo of it, but it was getting dark and the shot's a blur. Penn State's band played and the fans sang "Heeeeeyyyyy baby, I want to know, if you'll be my girl ..." Penn State came back and kicked a field goal at the end of a 4:40 drive (the scoreboard briefly showed the score as Penn State 417 USC 38, but it was 38-17), then held USC and scored again to cut the lead to 14 with 4:24 to play. The Lions kept kicking deep, rather than trying the onside kick. Some fans started streaming out. What appeared to be Penn State's last shot ended came on first down, when Clark was picked off by Will Harris with 2:59 to play. Amazingly enough, the Trojans could only kill 2:14 off the clock before snapping the ball over punter Greg Woidneck's neck.

Penn State had a 1st and ten at the USC 14 yard line, but there were only 45 seconds left. We got this picture as the Nittany Lions lined up for the final play of the game, an end zone interception by Cary Harris on 4th and 8. USC won it 38-24, and we enjoyed our team's sixth major bowl victory in seven years.

2009 Rose Bowl Game Notes

It's time for the 95th game of the famous crosstown rivalry. We're heading to the Rose Bowl early. In honor of the 180 bones I dropped on my ticket, here are 180 Rose Bowl Talking Points, some of the curious facts and figures you might see pop up on the screen during the broadcast:

• This is the 95th Rose Bowl.
• Kickoff:  2:10 p.m. PST, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
• Attendance: 88,500+ (sold out)
• National TV broadcast on ABC-TV (Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters)
• Live national radio: ESPN Radio (Mike Tirico, David Norrie, Erin Andrews)
• Local radio: 6 a.m. 710 ESPN Radio (KSPN-AM), Pete Arbogast, Paul McDonald, John Jackson
• ESPN Game Day will broadcast from the Rose Bowl
• Fans also can hear a live broadcast on www.kshp.com.
• USC finished 11-1, 8-1 in conference play (Pac-10, 1st place)
• Penn State finished 11-1, 7-1 in conference play (Big Ten, 1st place - T)
• USC is ranked #5 in every major poll except the ESPN/Coaches (Tied for 4th)
• Penn State is ranked #6 in every major poll except BCS rankings (8th)
• USC will wear home uniforms because it is ranked higher in the BCS rankings.
• The Rose Bowl used to alternate home team designations between the Big Ten and Pacific-10
• The Nittany Lions and the Trojans are meeting for the 9th time.
• They split their first 8 meetings.
• In preseason Kickoff Classics, they are 1-1.
• Each team won their two home games in the series.
• In bowl games, they are 1-1.
• USC won the Rose Bowl; Penn State won the Fiesta Bowl.
• The teams played 5 times in the 1990s.
• Last matchup: USC 29 Penn State 5 (2000 Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, N.J.)
• Last game at the Rose Bowl: USC 14, Penn State 3 (1923)
• Penn State arrived at that game 45 minutes late after being caught in a traffic.
• USC coach Elmer “Gloomy Gus” Henderson confronted Penn State coach Hugo Bezdek outside the locker room and argued about Penn State's late arrival.
• The game concluded in moonlight.
• That was the first Rose Bowl played in the current stadium.
• It wasn't the first game played in the stadium. That was USC's 12-0 loss to California in 1922.
• The 1923 Rose Bowl was the first bowl game for both USC and Penn State.
• USC played Penn State before they ever played UCLA or Notre Dame.
• In the 1923 Rose Bowl, USC was a substitute for Cal, which declined the invitation.
• USC and Penn State didn’t meet again until the 1982 Fiesta Bowl, won by Penn St. 26-10.
• This will be Penn State's third Rose Bowl.
• The other was the 1995, which capped Penn State's perfect season.
• Coach Joe Paterno is 23-10-1 in bowl games.
• This is his 23rd New Year's Day game. He was 16-6 in the first 22.
• Paterno's 35 bowl appearances and 23 bowl wins are the most of any head coach.
• The Nittany Lions lead all Big Ten teams in bowl appearances, wins and winning percentage.
• Joe Paterno is second-best all-time among coaches with at least 12 bowl appearances.
• Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd is first at 69.2 (9-4).
• Paterno is the only coach to win the Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls.
• Paterno is 4-1 in bowl games against Pac- 10 teams
• Penn State all-time against Pac-10 Teams: 23-11 (67.6)
• Penn State all-time in bowls against Pac-10 Teams: 5-2
• USC is the highest ranked team Penn State has played in a bowl game since No. 1 Miami in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.
• Since 2005, USC is the winningest school in the FBS (45-6, .882).
• Penn State is 7th (40-10, .800), behind Texas, Boise State, Ohio State, Florida and West Virginia.
• This will be USC’s 33rd Rose Bowl
• USC has a 23-9 record in Rose Bowls (.719).
• That’s the most Rose Bowl wins of any team
• It's also the most wins by any school in a single bowl.
• USC has won 10 of its last 13 Rose Bowls.
• Since 1929, USC has played in the Rose Bowl during the term of every U.S. President.
• This is USC's 4th straight Rose Bowl (and 5th in 6 years)
• USC also went to Pasadena 4 times in a row from 1967 to 1970
• Ohio State (1973-76) is the only other team to appear in 4 straight Rose Bowls.
• USC LB Brian Cushing is set to start in his 4th Rose Bowl.
• Only Ohio State TB Archie Griffith has done that.
• This will be USC's 50th game at Rose Bowl stadium
• USC is 31-18 in the Rose Bowl stadium, including 23-9 in the Rose Bowl Game
• Their other games: 6-8 as the road team against UCLA, and 2-1 as the home team in 1922.
• This will be the third time USC has played back-to-back games at the Rose Bowl.
• Last time: 2006 (UCLA) and the 2007 Rose Bowl.
• The other time: wins in 1922 over Idaho, Washington State and Penn State
• USC has a 23-9 record in games on New Year’s Day
• In January 1 Rose Bowls, USC is 21- 6
• USC has a 32-12 (.727) all-time record in January games
• USC is 63-41-11 (.596) in all season finales.
• USC’s overall post-season record is 30-16.
• USC's 30 bowl victories is just 1 win behind Alabama
• USC's 46 bowl appearances rank 4th, behind Alabama (55), Tennessee (47) and Texas (47).
• The Trojans have the nation’s sixth highest bowl winning percentage (.652) among the 70 schools that have made at least 10 bowl appearances (behind Utah’s .769, Toledo’s .700, Boston College’s .684, Penn State’s .675 and Oklahoma State’s .667).
• USC has appeared in 12 different bowls—the Rose Bowl, the Christmas Festival, Liberty Bowl, Bluebonnet Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Aloha Bowl, Florida Citrus Bowl, Sun (John Hancock) Bowl (twice), Freedom Bowl (twice), Cotton Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl and Orange Bowl (twice).
• Penn State has appeared in 40 post-season bowls, sporting a 26-12-2 record (its .675 winning percentage is fourth highest among the 70 schools that have made at least 10 bowl appearances).
• PSU has appeared in 14 different bowls: Rose, Cotton, Liberty, Gator, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Aloha, Citrus, Holiday, Blockbuster, Outback, Alamo and Capital One. Penn State has posted a victory in every BCS bowl (Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar).
• USC has won the league title 38 times, more than twice as much as any other school.
• The Big Ten is 8-9 in BCS games since 1998.
• The last Big Ten team to win the Rose Bowl: Wisconsin (2000)
• Penn State has won its last three bowl games, and 9 of its last 11.
• Penn State is 56-11 (83.6) in nonconference games since joining the Big Ten in 1993
• Pete Carroll will be coaching his 103rd game.
• Pete Carroll's record in January games: 5-1.
• He is 87-15 (85.3%) in 8 years (2001-2008) as a college head coach
• That is the best winning percentage of any current Division I coach with at least 5 years
• Joe Paterno is 6th, at 383-126-3 (.751)
• Among active Division I-A coaches with at least 10 years, Paterno's is second in win percentage.
• Paterno's 383 wins are the most of any Division I coach ever.
• He lost that record to Bobby Bowden, then regained it with his 376th victory on September 20, 2008.
• Penn State became the sixth school in the nation to win 800 games with its win over Michigan State, after: Michigan (872), Texas (831), Notre Dame (830), Nebraska (816) and Ohio St. (808).
• With 34 more wins, Paterno would have half of the program's all-time victories.
• Penn State is playing its 122nd season of intercollegiate football
• Joe Paterno has been on the coaching staff at Penn State for 59 of the 122 seasons.
• Pete Carroll wasn't born yet when Paterno joined the Nittany Lion coaching staff.
• Paterno's 43 years as head coach is the most ever by a major college coach at one school.
• Paterno has been on the sideline for 665 Penn State games.
• Since Joe Paterno became head coach in 1966, there have been 834 head coaching changes in Division I-A, an average of more than six changes per institution. USC has had 6.
• Penn State has earned its 14th season with at least 11 wins under Coach Joe Paterno.
• With a win in the Rose Bowl, the Nittany Lions would post their fourth season with 12 wins.
• The 1994 Nittany Lions were the first Big Ten team to earn a 12-0 record.
• The three Penn State teams that won 12 games were: 1973 (12-0), 1986 (12-0) and 1994 (12-0).
• Only the ‘86 team won the National Championship.
• Paterno has had 7 unbeaten seasons.
• Three times, his teams were unbeaten and untied butwere not named national champions.
• Paterno is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame
• Paterno is also the 2008 Big Ten Coach of the Year.
• All-time against USC, Paterno is 4-3.
• Carroll has never coached against Penn State as a head coach.
• Fourteen of the 15 losses in the Pete Carroll era at USC were by a touchdown or less.
• Carroll's worst loss: to Notre Dame by 11 in 2001.
• Five of Pete Carroll's assistants at USC have gone on to college head coaching positions: DeWayne Walker (NM State), Lane Kiffin (Tennessee), Nick Holt (Idaho), Ed Orgeron (Mississippi) and Steve Sarkisian (Washington)
• Five of Penn State’s 2008 opponents are playing in bowl games.
• Six of USC's 2008 opponents are playing in bowl games.
• They are 5-0 so far, with Ohio State yet to play.
• Common 2008 opponents: Ohio State (USC W 35-3, PSU W 13-6)
• Common 2008 opponents: Oregon State (USC L 21-27, PSU W 45-14)
• USC has won 7 consecutive Pac- 10 crowns (a league record)
• USC has been to 7 consecutive BCS bowls (an NCAA record)
• USC has earned 7 consecutive 11-win seasons (also an NCAA record)
• USC’s 7 overall BCS bowl trips is tied for most with Ohio State and Oklahoma.
• USC’s 5 BCS bowl wins is a record.
• USC has won its last 9 games
• USC has won its last 11 non-conference games
• USC has won its last 8 games against Big Ten opponents (by an average margin of 28.4 points)
• USC is 66-27-2 against the Big Ten, including 17-9 in bowls.
• USC is in the Top 20 in almost every national offensive and defensive statistical category
• USC's offense is ranked 12th nationally in passing efficiency (157.7, first in Pac-10), 14th in scoring offense (37.5, second in Pac-10) and total offense (453.1, second in Pac-10) and 17th in rushing offense (206.0, second in Pac-10) in 2008.
• USC is ranked first nationally in total defense (206.1, first in Pac-10), scoring defense (7.8, first in Pac-10), pass efficiency defense (81.5, first in Pac-10) and pass defense (122.8, first in Pac-10) and fifth in rushing defense (83.3, first in Pac-10) and tackles for a loss (8.1, first in Pac-10) in 2008.
• USC’s defense put up its best scoring defense numbers in 56 years, its best total defense in 41 years and its best pass defense in 34 years.
• USC’s scoring defense is the lowest in the nation since Auburn’s 7.2 in 1988.
• USC has allowed just 22 second-half points in 2008 (and posted 8 second-half shutouts).
• USC has allowed only 93 points in its 12 games in 2008 (and just 56 points in its last 9 games).
• USC scored 138 unanswered points at one point in 2008
• In the second half in 2008, USC is outscoring its foes, 191-22 (including 94-7 in the third quarter).
• USC has surrendered just 11 touchdowns in 2008.
• USC's opponents have scored just 5 touchdowns and 7 field goals in the last 8 games.
• USC has held its last four opponents to less than 200 total yards.
• USC has 2 touchdowns on interception returns in 2008.
• USC has blocked 3 field goals and 1 punt in 2008.
• USC is allowing opponents to convert just 26.6% of third downs (46-of-173) in 2008
• USC is first nationally in kickoff returns (27.6, first in Pac-10).
• Penn State ranks 11th nationally in scoring offense (40.2, first in Big Ten), 15th in both total offense (452.2, first in Big Ten) and rushing offense (211.6, second in Big Ten) and 19th in passing efficiency (147.5, first in Big Ten).
• Nittany Lions are fourth nationally in scoring defense (12.4, first in Big Ten), fifth in total defense (263.9, first in Pac-10), sixth in pass efficiency defense (97.3, first in Big Ten), eighth in rushing defense (95.9, first in Big Ten), 12th in pass defense (168.0, second in Big Ten) and 19th in turnover margin (+-.8, third in Big Ten).
• The Trojans claim 154 All- American first teamers, while the Nittany Lions have 78.
• USC LB Rey Maualuga (AP, Football Coaches, Football Writers, Walter Camp, Sporting News, ESPN.com, CBSSports.com, Rivals.com, Phil Steele’s), S Taylor Mays (AP, Football Writers, Walter Camp, Sporting News, ESPN.com, SI.com, CBSSports.com, Phil Steele’s) and LB Brian Cushing (SI.com) were named 2008 All-American first teamers.
• Maualuga was USC’s first winner of the Bednarik Award.
• Penn State center A.Q. Shipley won the Rimington Award.
• Penn State senior PK Kevin Kelly (419 points) is fifth on the NCAA all-time scoring list.
• Penn State WR Derrick Williams is the only player in the nation to return 3 kicks for scores.
• He is also the only player with touchdowns via rush, reception, kick return and punt return.
• USC’s top 9 rushers of 2008 are all averaging over 4 yards per carry.
• Four USC tailbacks have rushed for more than 100 yards in a game this season.
• The four are Broderick Green, Stafon Johnson, CJ Gable and Joe McKnight
• Since the start of the season, USC has lost: WR Vidal Hazelton (transferring), TB Broderick Green (transferring), Christian Putnam (quit), David Clinco (quit), Jonathan DeAmaral (quit), OG Daniel Campbell (did not qualify) and LB Maurice Simmons (did not qualify).
• FB Adam Goodman is USC’s only married player.
• USC S Taylor Mays has USC’s fastest time in the 40, with a 4.25 mark
• USC PK Jordan Congdon wears a size 10.5 shoe, but squeezes into a 7.5 size cleat on his kicking foot.
• USC had only 4 starters returning on offense in 2008: WRs Patrick Turner and Vidal Hazelton, FB Stanley Havili and OL Jeff Byers.
• Hazelton just left the team and will transfer
• USC returns seven defensive starters from 2007: linebackers Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, safeties Taylor Mays and Kevin Ellison, cornerback Cary Harris, tackle Fili Moala and end Kyle Moore.
• This is the 91st straight game that USC has been in the AP Top 25
• USC has had former players in all but three Super Bowls.
• USC has been known as “Tailback U.” and Penn State as “Linebacker U.”
• USC has won 11 national championships, Penn State 2.
• Both schools have produced Heisman Trophy winners (USC has 7, Penn State 1).
• Both teams rank among the Top 10 in wins (Penn State is 6th with 800, USC is 10th with 765)
• The same goes for winning percentage (USC is 7th at .706, Penn State is 10th at .690).
• The Rose Bowl is a "dry" stadium during the regular season.
• They'll sell beer at the Rose Bowl Game
• Two former Trojans — WR Keyshawn Johnson and athletic business manager Virgil Lubberden —will be honored on the field as two of the newest members of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
• USC now has 20 members in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
• Penn State WR Tyrell Sales turns 23 today.
• USC WR/TB/FB D.J. Shoemate turns 19.
• Thirteen USC football lettermen in history came from Pennsylvania
• None of the current Trojans are from Pennsylvania.
• Two Nittany Lions hail from California (OT Ako Poti and CB Lydell Sargeant)
• Former USC WR Rod Perry once played for Penn State against the Trojans.
• USC injury report (probable): WR Damian Williams (shoulder), TB Stafon Johnson (knee), OT Nick Howell (ankle), DT Armond Armstead (hand), FB Adam Goodman (knee)
• USC injury report (questionable): S Kevin Ellison (knee), TE Blake Ayles (knee), LB Luthur Brown (back)
• USC injury report (out): OL/TE Thomas Herring (achilles), TB Allen Bradford (hip), WR Scott Stephens (knee), CB Shareece Wright (neck), OG-OT Martin Coleman (ankle), OT-C Michael Reardon (hip), OG Matt Meyer (foot), DE-DT Trey Henderson (knee), FB Stanley Havili (grades)
• Penn State injury report:  TB Brent Carter (knee) - out DE Jerome Hayes (knee) - out C Doug Klopacz (knee) - out LB Sean Lee (knee) - out Saf Nick Sukay (foot) - out

Now, when those facts come onto your TV screen, you can now lean over and say "I knew that." I'll probably twitter away the entire game.

Fight On! Beat the Nittany Lions!

Obvious Dementia and Four Other Passing Thoughts

San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos has announced that he is suffering from dementia. Chargers fans, of course, have known this since Spanos announced that he was hiring Norv Turner to replace a coach who led the Bolts to a 14-2 record in 2007.

If you are the sort of idiot to name your kids Bear and Sage, you might also be the sort of idiot who tells his 11-year-old daughter to walk home ten miles in below-freezing temperatures with her 12-year-old brother. And you might be charged with second-degree murder.

Ellie Nesler is dead. At the time she shot the man who molested he kid, I thought she was a hero. It turns out, she was not a good person. After serving her time, she was sent back to prison on drug charges, and her kid grew up to be a guy who stomps you to death if he thinks you might be taking some of his stuff. After she murdered the pedo, Daniel Driver, she declared, "I may not be God, but I tell you what, I'm the closest damn thing to it." In hindsight, I don't think she was all that close to God, and I doubt she's all that close to God now.

That crazy Santa who shot up and burned down the house where his ex-wife's family was celebrating Christmas apparently was planning to shoot up the ex-wife's lawyer next. That's another reason why I'm not that kind of lawyer.

Remember all those whackjobs who said they would move to Canada if Bush got elected, and the Republicans accused them of hating America? Well, some of them really did move to Canada, and they really did hate America, and now that Bush is leaving office, they're staying in America's hat.