cleaverbs blog life

I should have wrote some softball story instead, but...

2010-06-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

So many of the expansion 'news' stories are the same story
repeated over and over. The stories are constantly updated,
and evolving like a real time drama , on the internet.

However, the greatest 'untold' story going on here, is reading
hundreds and possibly thousands of college football fans comments.

We are each possesed with the imaginative desire to play 'god' -
re arranging conferences at will. Second, we are each blessed with the
innate ability to trash the 'other' teams. And conferences.
The Texas fans and the Texas bashers are plentiful at leasst online.
The SEC fans are prodigiously at assuming that their conference is
the 'best' . They just need to add Florida State, or whatever...

We are right back where we started, with Nebraska going Big-10,
Colorado joining the Pac-10, and Boise State going to the MWC.
After all the remaining Big-12 schools chose to stay together,
some sense of after-thought and 'sanity' is returning to football.

Like hundreds of people commenting online, it was easy to send
Arkansas to the Big-12, or the Big-12 north to the MWC .
Or to raid Conference USAs' stash of Texas teams to fill up the Big-12.

After the dust has settled, the main topic seems to be ;
who will be the 12th team in the Pac-10 ? Utah is the most common answer.
Delve a little deeper into the subject; and I am faced with reality:
the Mountain West Conference is, and has been superior to the Pac-10
in football and mens basketball athletics for a few years.

I would think that prying Utah from the MWC would be impossible.
They have a good thing going, and there is no incentive that would lead them
to join the Pac-10. Is there ? Immediately after the Big-12 announced an
agreement to stay together, minus CU and NU , I came back to my senses.
The most logical, sensible team to add the Pac-10 is Colorado State.
It is simple: it is 50 miles from Boulder to Fort Collins.
I am hoping to 'dump' this line of expansion posts, and move on.
I will gladly accept any team the Pac-10 adds, just not Texas...thanks!

this is the time ..we will remember

2010-06-11T16:28:00.001-07:00

The news is only beginning to roll out these last two days.
On thursday we learned of Colorado going to the PAC-10.
Today we learned of Nebraska being accepted into the Big-10 .
Boise State has accepted an invite to join the Mountain West .
As an Arizona Wildcat fan, and a fan of pac-10 sports in general,
I would like to welcome Colorado into the conference.

The sad news is that Mizzouri has not been offered the same.
After they had officials speaking publicly about interest in the Big10,
nothing has come from that .

Now, I am stuck with the waiting to see what Texas does.
So many football fans paint them as a coward school, who will go to
where the wins are the easiest. Most think this woud be the pac-10.
I know the traditions of Texas is not cowardice, this is my sincere
apology to the UT crowd. I just prefer to watch pac-10 sports.

My team won the national championship , Arizona 1997 basketball -
I don't care for the talk of playoffs or the need to pick a champion.
I just want to watch a game, even if it's the last place team in the league.

Here is hope against hope; for Texas is better fit to 'slug it out' with
Florida and who ever else has it 'going on' in the SEC, each year.

Fanning the flames, Nebraska has revealed some detail of the Texas
proclamation aimed at its northern counterparts to 'remain true' to the big-12.
So, 'those northern schools' ( Nebrasa,Mizzou) are supposed to be listening, and obedient while Texas is taking
offers from 2 or more 'other' conferences . How childish for such an esteemed school.
Those are grounds for divorce, and no Nebraska isn't snow white.

the picture

2010-06-09T14:35:00.001-07:00

One mans view, because there are no losers in our view.
The Mountain West would be wise to pick up Colorado.
Naturally, they may end up with the Oklahoma and Kansas
schools yet again.

The Chili Conference, part II

2010-06-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

It's kind of a 'north versus south' battle of words in the Big12 .
I was reading a good article, about how everything the Big12 does is
centered around Texas. New stadium in Dallas, and the Big12 football
championship game will be hosted there for a few years.
Kansas City would continue to host the conferences basketball tourney.

The Omaha World-Herald has an article that speculates that
Nebraska is already gone. We will hear by friday if this is true.
article 1
And there is talk that the US Congress could be called on to review the procedings;
article 2

Nebraska didn't go to the Big10 looking for a change.
Nope. The Big10 went to Nebraska with a proposition.

The Big12 'television market' centers around the viewership of Texas TVs.
What i really wonder is, how many television sets - from sports bars
all the way down to your home viewers - how many of those woud tune in
to a Nebraska versus Kansas game ? Do they actually care ?
And conversely, would those Texas TVs tune in for an Oregon versus Cal
shoot-out ? We all have our favorites, but i just wonder about the overall mass effect. My guess would be they are more interested in SEC or top 10 games.
It's not hard to imagine TVs in Texas are tuned into games that involve a texas school. I am relying on that time tested,
unproven theory (we know this is true) that statistics lie.
Hence, trying to 'corral' the texas TVs is not going to change peoples viewing habits.

I still propose a 'Chili Conference' an athletic conference full of Texas universities.
Expanding on my earlier list here are the majors -
Texas,Texas Tech,Texas A&M, Texas Christian, Baylor, Rice, Houston,
UTEP, well that is 8 and that woud be a terrific conference.
You would have to 'beg,borrow,and steal' to get these schools all in one conference,
but it's by far the best idea to get Texas out of the PAC10 and/or Big10 discussions.

In fact, I would split up the Texas schools if i could, and send at least one
to the SEC. and then we could take Arkansas to join with the Kansas,Oklahoma,
and Mizzou to form a new 'MidWest' conference.
So, imagine :
Arkansas,Mizzou,Kansas,Kansas St, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Iowa St,
and either add either 'one' Texas school or Colorado for an eight team conference.

The possibility of adding Creighton,UNO (Nebraska-Omaha) , SWMSU(SW Mizzou),
Northern Iowa, South Dakota State,Wichita State,Oral Roberts,
or some other 'low to mid' majors raises the number of schools and the interest in
the small town midwest markets. The little TVs.

This would put a dent the Missouri Valley Conference, but you need to draw
viewers from the KC,Omaha,and Springfield(MO) markets to create interest.

hey football guys, what about the other sports, a-holes.

2010-06-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

It's pretty dull in the basketball/ football off-seasons .
The olympics and the athletic championships - track and field -
are my only distractions . Well, this year, we have expan$ion.

All these 'football' 'guys' are talking about expanding leagues.
Rubbish. There just aren't enough Oregon players getting arrested and
making headlines this year. Or . Why waste my time ? I am anti-expan$ion.

Like I said, it's all just blowing hot air right now. While all the tuitions and
costs of education go up, somebody decides that athletics - $300 million dollar
stadiums and facilities - is the most important factor.
There doesn't seem to be any money in televising 'eltectric car' races or academic competition.
Yet each year, we have a story about the National Spelling Bee, don't we.

A few years ago we had co-champions in PAC10 football.
Was it Oregon and USC , who did not play each other in the regular season ?
Ah, so we get a 'you must play all 9 other league teams rule' . Suck.
So now we have 10 teams who play a 13 game schedule, in football.
The basketball schedules have worked, yet the teams are approaching 30 games
a season.

Adding Colorado (to the PAC10) would be interesting to me,
because they are one of those innovative schools, and don't forget Ralphie (?).
Nobody wants to play Utah or BYU if they can avoid it.
BYU would give the conference a huge shot of credibility ..
a legacy of great teams from 'out west' .
New Mexico ,the obvious 'other' candidate for pac10 expansion.
I would rather see them add: SDSU , UNLV , Fresno State, than any texas schools.

How do i say it... I hate texas football. i have been 'stuck' watching big12 games
since the league was invented. I much prefer the Big10 and PAC10 games, thanks
to ESPN and Fox Sports.
The competition in Texas is such that they could form their own league:
Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, Baylor, Rice, Texas El Paso,
North Texas (?) , and throw in Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Call it the Chili league . Get out of my face, and off my television.

Alas, expansion is a terrible idea for real competition. Actually, the Big 12 was
deficient in scheduling its' top teams in the regular season.
I wish i could give examples, but anybody who knows big12 knows that schedules are
hit n miss , unless you're oklahoma vs. texas or texas tech vs texas....

The same applies to the South Eastern Conference, the scheduling is such that
if you happen to avoid playing Alabama, it could get you a bowl bid. Not
to bash any particular team. That one missed game,and your team goes from 5-7 to 6-6.

The BIG 10 would never be the same, if the expan$ion removed classic games
from the schedule. What if OSU and Michigan didn't play a regular season football game ?
How would you like to see the Cornhuskers at Wisconsin instead ? No history there.
In fact, I'm not sure if the big10 plays a round robin schedule in football.
Notre Dame is a stinker. They would dilute the conference...
Mizzou is a wannabe. Although the games with KU KSU and Arkansas are great for the region.
And if all this eliminates a Nebraska vs Oklahoma yearly football game, it's a
huge sacrifice of quality for dollars.

I pause to think , where exactly do the television networks -
the guys whose money makes talk of expan$ion valid - come from ?

I think of NRK, forced to show Eurovision 2010 because Norway won the
2009 competition. Guess what, they cannot afford to show the soccer
championship series. (yea, i'm an american, what do i know).

I think of NBC , desperately in debt, forced to show the Vancouver
Winter Olympics. They cut corners - the coverage was mostly Bob Cost-us
sitting in a chair talking to people. If you wanted to watch actual
competition, you went to nbc.com and sufferred through the lag, disconnects,
and 100 commercials for a new sitcom named 'bite my dirty finger' or whatever
it was called. The curling and hockey was good, if you had cable channels
CNBC and MSNBC .

People talk about the demise of the networks - nbc,abc, and cbs - yet where
is the talk of where their money goes...into sports. Would TV programming
be any better IF they didn't blow all their money on college sports ?
Yes. just think positive... good or bad doesn't guarantee an audience.

You're drafted. Goodbye (too many i's in this post!)

2010-04-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

I gave up on watchig NFL games years ago. as a youngster, i marveled at those electric football games.
I was too young to play them. But i could watch. Often i wonder if anyone still keeps those electric games.
Nostalgia.
My favorite team was the LA Rams. But in reality, i watched whoever was playing I didn't need a favorite team.
There was a complete tier of teams i liked more than others.. the Vikes over the Cowboys. Anytime.
San Francisco over the Raiders. Denver over Buffalo. The Saints? Hah! Chicago..okay.
I think through the years I watched NFL football, Bill Parcells was my favorite personality.The 'big tuna'.
Bill could entertain a crowd of reporters, and keep everyone guessing. Even when you knew what his answers would be.
There were others - nobody could 'hate' John Elway, or Jerry Rice. Or. ?
All that pretty much changed in the 90s, when UCLAs Troy Aikman(1989) and Floridas Emmit Smith(1990) were drafted
by Dallas. After Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII , I gave up watching. Finally, my favorite team had won.
This year, i have but one thought about the NFL draft; somebody take Tebow. Tim Tebow, of the Gators.
I am so sick of seeing 'news reports' with Tebow in the headline. Nothing personal. Wish you all the best.
I have nothing against Florida, or Tebow. Or , if you don't believe me, i live in arkansas.
Make what you want of that fact. I don't care. I'm not a Hog fan.
I just have become overly sensitive to 'news' headlines with the letters t-e-b-o-w in bold letters.
I ask myself; would it be any different if Tim had played for Notre Dame ? I don't know.
Nebraska ? I could learn to like it. Penn State ? whatever. These are just random thoughts, no connection to Tebow.
Now then, why doesn't the headlines with 'Colt McCoy' from u of Texas bother me, then ?
I think it would, if Tebow wasn't in Florida. Finally, i snicker at my answer.
Go NFL. Draft these guys. Put their names into NFL stories. So I can forget they ever existed. Thank you.

All eyes are on the Oregon head coaching slot..

2010-04-16T20:17:00.001-07:00

Since i am not a baseball fan, the story i keep watching for is 'who will be hired as
Oregons' Mens Basketball coah ?

The Ducks are set to open their new, $200 million dollar facility in January 2011.
They have a new home...so what is a few million for a new coach ?
What exactly does Oregon need ? And what do they want ?
I watched maybe two or three Oregon games this season.
Before last season, the decision was that Oregon needed to play better defense.
They hired assistant Mike Dunlap . I can't say if that helped.
From what i saw, on TV, and very limited, was the players didn't listen to him on the sideline.
To be fair, maybe they didn't need Mike drawing up plays on a chalkboard.
But my overall impression was that the players lacked discipline.
The Ducks went 3-0 before losing to Portland. Next game they lost to Montana.
A win over Montana State, and then they were blown out by Mizzou.
Up next, they lost to St Marys.
Then, the Ducks reeled off 5 straight wins, including opening the PAC10 2-0 with wins over
(at) Washington and Washington State. Things looked 'great' up to this point, since UW was the favorite to win the PAC10.
And then the big crash; losing to OSU, UofA,ASU, Cal and Stanford - five straight losses.
A slight rebound with two wins over USC and UCLA.
And losing 5 more to the same five teams listed above from the pac10.
The Oregon Ducks finished theseason 16-16, with no post season invitations.
It was an improvement over 8-23 the year before.

Oregon will lose senior Tajuan Porter, 13ppg who suffered through shooting 36% in 2010.
(He also made 90% of his freethrows).
I'm not sure if all these players are coming back for next season..
Malcolm Armstead guard had a good year shooting 44% with 10 points per game average .
Michael Dunigan center shot 55% averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds.
Jeremy Jacob forward shooting 50% with 9 points and 5 rebounds average.
LeKendric Longmire a 6' 5" guard 7 points and 4 rebounds.But shot 10% on three pointers.(ouch!)
Teondre Williams guard averaging 6 points per game.
Josh Crittle who averaged about 3 points per game last season.
Freshman E J Singler showed some great play scoring 17 points in their win over WSU March 6th.

As i look at the roster, if it is correct - Oregon has lost only Porter and Catron. Two seniors.
They have some talented sophomores.

The choices for Oregons' new coach are slim to none this year..what they need is someone inpsiring to these players.
I can't find their schedule online. So I cannot imagine the good fortunes (or the horror) they will face early next year.
Tom Izzo is NOT coming to Eugene. There is also mention of Gillespie and Tubby Smith.
Let us put aside the 'usual' suspects.

But take a look at Tom Penders, who resigned from Houston.
Or Jerry Wainwright who was fired from DePaul.
And do not overlook the assistant Mike Dunlap, who won a few JUCO championships.
Mike is too quiet. Maybe humbled. A true coach, who speaks with his work ethics.
He turned down the chance to be head coach at Arizona in 2009-2010.

I would bring in Wainwright and call it done. Just sign right there.

My Finals Opinions. The rules need some fixin' .

2010-04-11T19:56:00.001-07:00

Like I said before, i am not good at predicting tournaments. I had chosen Kansas to defeat Kentucky
in the NCAA championship game. Yea, that illusiion came to an end the first weekend.
Northern Iowa. They must be the third most popular team in Iowa. After Uof I and ISU.
Congratulations to Duke and Butler for reaching the final game. I had Duke going to the final four.
Obviously losing to Kentucky in Indy. And Kansas vs. Syracuse. Now i have confessed...

I saw the same reaction from CBS announcers in two separate games. I can't remember what game
it was in the early rounds. A 'would-be' cinderella was beating up on a BCS school, mostly through
the 3 point shot. In the final minute, the BCS team took the lead by 3. With time running out,
the BCS team fouled the other team before they could attempt a shot. So, the would-be team
goes to the foul line, to shoot 2 free throws. Only they are down 3 points, with 10 seconds left in the game.

Absolute suck way to win. Worse, the CBS play-by-play guy is saying that is the best thing to do.
So much for playing basktball. Let the referees decide it ?
That must be the 'incite fear and riots' approach to the NCAA Final four.

Then, it happened again, in the Mich State vs. Butler game. Only this time, Butler managed to avoid having
an 'obvious' foul at the center court line called. That player passed to a shooter, who then received his chance
to shoot 3 free throws. Uh, yea. Butler won that game.

Somebody needs to change that rule. Watch and listen to the CBS guy saying that fouling in a non-shooting
situation is the correct call. SOLUTION: Make this approach a technical foul. Two free throws and the next posession.
Because, the game shoud not be decided by someone 'hacking' the rules.

Also, the 'continuation' rules need to be eliminated. The calls are very inconsistent, in my opinion.
So the NBA has continuation. The NCAA doesn't need it. If you haven't released a shot before the foul, forget it.
This also eliminates the 'block after a foul' where "smart" players deflect the balls trajectory. Ever see 'goal-tending'
called after a foul ? I haven't. It must be rare. But not impossible. Whistle means stop. Unless you're blocking the shot ?
Technical foul.

I saw another 'funny' situation. Can't remember what game this was in:
Big forward has the ball in the key. His back to the basket. He tries to make a move to turn and shoot.
He was triple teamed. As he turned, he stepped on a defenders foot. Whistle: Traveling .

Holy cow. I don't like basketball rules any more. And don't get me started on the retardedness of football rules.

Thank you PAC10 for the fun times

2010-03-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

The first time i ever really sat and watched a mens college basketball game was in the 80s.
It was Georgetown coached by John Thompson and North Carolina coached by Dean Smith.
Can't remember who won. i grew up a wrestler, so basketball was something we occasionally
played in PE class. We preferred volleyball, you could have more players on the floor.

But 2010 is a first. Being a Wildcat fan, this is the first time in 25+ years that i haven't had to
'sweat out' a post season tournament. No worries about Miami of Ohio or Middle Tennessee State,
or BYU, Wiscconsin. I can almost say it...Steve Nash played for who ?

Surprising to me, that only ASU received a bid for the NIT.
I think ASU is is way over their heads being chosen as a number 1 seed. Time will tell.
And only Oregon State received the
only PAC10 bid for the CBI. A chance to defend their crown. Awesome. Go Beavs!

To Arizona, and Nic Wise; thank you very much for a great season. I would still take
the UA over Cal any day, in a conferencetourney final. I look forward to seeing Kyle,
and Momo starting next year. I hope Kevin gets healthy, and stays that way.
And Derrick, please go and find the toughest competition you can find to play aginst this
off-season. Other than that, i hope wildcat fans will allow you to grow and mature at your own pace.
Kyril and Alex should be enough to fill the center position. Kyril has such mobility, and i hope
he stays at UA for a few years...

To UCLA; you are fox sports favorite. For pac10 , you guys were always 'the game' to watch.

Wash State; the cougars look to improve next year. Nice young team coming back.

Oregon; if coach Kent is done, thanks coach for being a respectable representative .
I can see your trouble; the players don't listen to the coaches as well as they should.
There is still hope for oregon next year.

To Cal and Stanford, i hope you each lose some of the talent you have. You are too much.

Washington, a great bunch of players return next year. I don't think you'll win your ncaa game tho.

And USC; great job coach O'Niel. I still don't know how to spell your name.
Your team should have been in the post season. I will fear SC next year.

2010 Mens PAC-10 BB tournament: Predictions

2010-03-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

The Mens PAC-10 tournament will begin on wednesday march 10,2010 .
Here are my predictions, and my prediction percentage is bad.
(Plus we have a horrible feeeling of jinxing our picks)

# 8 Oregon vs # 9 Washington State . WE LIKE: WSU
Rumors abound that Oregon coach Ernie Kent has been fired.
He will remain as head coach to finish the season.
While WSU is a dismal 2-7 on the road, they are 3-0 at neutral courts.
Oregon went 4-7 on the road, with no neutral court games.

Thursday March 11

# 4 Arizona vs. # 5 UCLA =WE LIKE: ARIZONA
ucla is banged up. and 3-5 on the road, 0-3 neutral court.
UA is 4-7 on the road, 1-2 on neutral court games.
I am not saying this will be an easy game. This is the
least amount of work to keep the team fresh for a Cal matchup.
That is, if UA can find someone to score consistently.

# 1 California vs. 8-9 winner =WE LIKE: CAL
Cal is 5-6 in road games, 0-2 on neutral court games.
see above for opponents road record..
Arizonas best hope is for WSU's outside shooting to come alive,
and reek havoc on Cals' parade. Just to wear the Golden Bears down a notch.

# 3 Washington vs. # 6 Oregon State =WE LIKE: WASHINGTON
washington is a dismal 2-6 in road games, 0-1 on neutral floor.
oregon state is 4-9 in road games, 1-1 on neutral court games.
@This is the 'one game' that looks like an upset to me. but i am horrible at
predicting upsets.

# 2 ASU vs. # 7 Stanford =WE PICK: ASU
Arizona State is 5-5 on the road, 1-1 on neutral court games.
stanford is 2-10 on the road, 1-1 on neutral court games.
ASU won both regular season games against Stanford..

******PROJECTIONS******
# 4 Arizona vs. # 1 California = CAL . but.....
Both teams have a good bench.Because each team is shooting well from the line,
fouls will be the crucial mistake for the loser.
Another deciding factor may be fatigue from the previous days game.
Throw the RPIs out the window. Cal is a fine NCAA bound team.
But 5 pac10 teams beat them this year. UA and Cal split 1-1 .
If UCLA does get this far, they will not beat Cal this time.

# 3 Washington vs. # 2 ASU =WE PICK: ASU
This is a simple prediction of endurance.
ASU will have an easier game with Stanford than UW will have with OSU.
W has played well at home, but ASU went 500 on the road .

Saturday March 13

Championship game, 4 p.m.

***IF***
# 2 ASU vs. # 1 California =WE PICK: CAL
Cal won both regular season games. Logic may suggest an ASU upset.
I don't think so..ASU doesn't have the bench that Cal has. Or the talent.
If Cal wins by free-throws over UA, ASU will have its hands full with Washington.
Hence, fatigue will wear the sun devils down.
ASU will be a tough draw for any NCAA team seeded higher than them.
So long as it isn't a Big10 or a Big East opponent.

***IF***
# 4 Arizona vs. # 2 ASU =WE PICK: ARIZONA
Arizona has shown that it can win with either their freshmen or upper classmen
on the floor, as of late. It would take a superb effort for UA to beat Cal and ASU
on consecutive days. But, winning the Cal game at the foul line, or purely by
out bombing Cal on 3s, UA will have its' inside game awaiting ASU.
The Cats would have to avoid tacky fouls, and poor shot selection.

The greatest, and not so greatest UofA moments i can remember ..

2010-02-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

i can't tell you how many times, i will think of a university of arizona moment. and i have to google,
or search the internet. and you never seem to find an accounting for history on UA sports.
the greatest resource i have are a set of press guides for UA mens BB from early 1990s to about
2005. Those books contain memories that go all the way back to the first teams.
my memories are much more recent;

on the road,traveling -

climbing in the saguaro monument, finding a rock to perch on, while listening to jud and steve
dooowwwwwn ing the threes. on KNST.

khalid reeves, running the length of the floor with 5 seconds left, to beat Stanford. was it stanford?

i want to look, but this is a memory game. only what is in my memory.

how about that nasty, don mclean bouncing the ball off of bryan williams butt?
it was in mckale, and why was bw tying his shoes just then ? i hated ucla then.
tracy and don really are the only 2 players i can remember on that ucla team.

of course i was in perry oklahoma when the 88 ua team lose to the sooners in the ncaas.
at least i had the chance to watch.

how about, lying in bed at my grandmas, listening to the cats beat michigan in the preseason tournament ?
those are excellent memories!

tom tolbert, lumbering down the floor, late in a game, grabs a rebound, dribbles once, and goes up for the dunk.

chris mills. playing defense. shooting.

and the arizona bank commercials with Freider and Lute. i wish i had them recorded. so funny.

and the harvey mason 'wild about the cats' song . i swear i have that recorded on tape. can't find it.

the 97 championship, i have it on vhs.. the other championship they lost, have it on vhs.

in mckale -
my first game ever in mckale, the ua played cal . cal had a great guard who just came back from a
serious (knee?) injury. he attempted and made a 3 point shot. not thinking were i was, i applauded.
oops. that was some time in 89,90 or 91.

oh who was that big texan center we had? he left early, and he still plays. in russia last i heard.
he dunked the ball, and i am 12 rows behind the basket. i cheered. he looked right at me.

wilbur and wilma tossing t shirts to the crowd.

i was in mckale when undefeated ua lost to syracuse.

i went to see the cats play arkansas in fayetteville. in a preseason tournament. nice place. cats won.

the Olympics on nbc

2010-02-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

I find it hard to agree. But truth be told, NBC is really ruining the olympic coverage this year.
And at the same time, Thank you NBC for allowing americans the privelege of watching the games.

I hate to say negatives . period. The ski jumping went fine. You could see the athletes sitting,
and waiting their turn. Speedskating, well that is one event that needs some breaks in between. Nice.
But the figure skating was all chopped up. And the commentary was , like rehearsed.
There did not seem to be any passion, no spontaneous reactions. It was dull.

And this is completely off-topic. Yet why... in this day and age of 'big screen' TVs,
and everybody has one (except me) , why in the hell do they zoom in on peoples
faces for close-ups ? Bob Costas face 4 foot wide on a tv screen is excessive torture.
Didn't they get the memo ? Torture is illegal.

You want ratings ? Dump your veteran crews, and give us 21 year old fresh out of
competition commentators. Hey, you could save a ton on benefits and pensions , too.

I am very sensitive about what i watch. NBC has turned the olympics into a false dream of profit.
How many billions will they lose, due to bidding on the rights to broadcast the games ?

Your viewers didn't place the bid. Why make them suffer .

Over the summer, i watched the IIAF world track championships on universal.com.
They showed the competitions, and never had a commercial break. It was great.
I thought I would record some on a dvdr for posterity. Something to watch on a rainy day.
So i set the recorder for a 1 hour show on Versus. It was horrible. They cut up the performances
and added commentary in between commercials.
That is how it felt: a little sports with your commercials.

And now, NBC has done the same with the olympics. Who cares ?
The same people who will watch nbc go down the tubes of bankruptcy, as say I told you so.

Arizona 20 - ASU 17 final

2009-11-29T10:30:00.000-08:00

The Territorial Cup week started sometime late monday night or early tuesday morning,
as the Arizona State Universities' "A" mountain received a fresh coat of red paint,
courtesy of some anonymous University of Arizona fans.
Thanks to Fox Sports, I have had the chance to watch a few ASU games this year,
so i have seen how great the Sundevils defense plays, including a recent loss to UCLA.
On offense, the have a good running back, but seemingly only one great receiver.
Consequently, they have been 'close' in some low scoring games.
The Arizona Wildcats, on the other hand, have been flying high on the shoulders of
talented Nick Foles since an incredible (upset) win in Corvallis over Oregon State back in
October. The Cats also have a great defense, which has been troubled by spending too
much time on the field this year, and a few games have been lost in the final few minutes.
So it was great to hear (no tv, i listened in on the KCUB radio broadcast) they finally
caught a break. an ASU punt returner fumbled the ball, and Arizona recovered the fumble
deep in ASU s end of the field. The game was won by Zendejas', kicking a field goal as time
expired.
Later, I watched the UCLA USC game on Fox. The USC defense was impressive;
they filled every gap on nearly every play. Zona is going to have to be perfect to
win next weeks game versus SC, in LA. Let's hope they can stay healthy for
any bowl game they may be invited to. And keep the score close...
=====================
After hearing about the UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball win over Louisville on
Saturday night, I realized how challenging their December schedule is going to be.
The trip to Maui must have been stressful, playing 3 games in 3 days.
I just hope they can keep the score close, while the defense improves, and the home
crowd learns their part of the game.
In all my years of being an Arizona fan, we have always had the 'fatherly' Lute O
to look up to. I am slowly getting used to having a younger coach. He reminds me of
a teacher i had in high school, but of course that teacher didn't have near the salary
of today's college coaches. Probably his biggest challenge will be to 'aclimate'
from the 'Rust Belt' to the southern Arizona desert. While this young team gains experience.

Day One: Maui Invitational

2009-11-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last night was my first look at the 2009-10 team. The Sean Miller coached Arizona
Wildcats mens Basketball team appears to have several play makers .
Judging from the early games, I was most interested in viewing the play of
Solomon Hill and Derek Williams. Naturally i expected Nic Wise to continue his
great free throw shooting and occasional 3 point baskets. One of my favorite
freshmen from last year, Garland Judkins saw limited action. 2 minutes worth.
I was on the computer, winning a game of Scrabble, so the first 5 minutes of the
game is a blur in my memory. After that time, I watched on my 'big screen'
and the energy of the Arizona players was impressive. Especially on defense.
Un fortunatley, Nic had some early foul trouble, and frankly he at times is a sloppy
ball handler. So the trade-offs of his great vision and leadership is offset .
I would not trade him for anyone in the world. Nic wise is a keeper.
The biggest positive i saw in the game, was defensive rebounding by arizona.
Granted, Wisconsin was playing a small line up, due to foul troubles of their own.
Impressive was MoMo Jones slashing to the basket, throu out the game.
Unfortunatley, the shots were not falling for him, he finished 2 out of 10 .
Kyle Fogg seemed to work his tail off on defense. No points, and fouled out.
Derrick Williams was a huge presence for the Cats. No arguments about it.
Kyryl Nat surprised me with his defensive energy and experience.
I was expecting a "George Zydek" type of player; a large and lumbering
presence with no real offensive value(as a freshman).
Kyryl was much better than expected, but still only 2 points. and 4 fouls.
Jamelle Horne was impressive, both rebounding and defending.
a late 3 pointer brought arizona within 1 basket of tying the game. Top notch talent.
Lavender played 19 minutes but missed all his shots. Not much stats to show for the effort.
I was surprised to see Alex Jacobsen play, but his time on court was so brief
that i can;t say anything about his play, yet.
Solomon Hill seems very intelligent, and he grabbed rebounds and scored well.
At least once, his defense was lacking under the basket.

All in all, the young Wildcats played a senior oriented wisconsin team for
the full 40 minutes. the defense was good, the shooting was horrible.
As for an Zona fan, the team rates about like the early teams of
Sean Rooks and Ed Stokes of the early 1990s.
Maybe a middle of the PAC-10 finish this year.
Time to watch the second days action. Ciao!

The PAC-10 heats up, 2009

2009-11-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

I knew this would happen..living in Big-12 territory is predictalbe, at least. Here i was, stuck with
Kansas at Texas ,, when Oregon at Arizona should have been on my TV.
The saturday 'football day' started with of course ESPNs gameday from Tucson. Nothing more heart
warming than to hear all those U of A chants ; something so distant that at times there is nothing in
my life to bear witness to my faithful support of Arizona athletics.
Next up came Iowa vs Minnesota , standard Big-10 fare. Iowa is my homeland, after all.
Next up, we had ASU at UCLA , and the SunDevils proceeded to be inept on offense..
i am left wondering why they started a different quarterback against the Bruins stout defense.
The show started with a great look at coaches Dennis Erickson (ASU) in his nice shades,
and chatting (posing more like it) with UCLAs Rick Neuheisel (spelling?) .
The downfall of ASU has been painful, and i pretty much hate those guys.But no pity.
Once again, they failed to score more than 17 points, losing 13-23.
UCLA, on the other hand, has pulled together 6 wins, and are 'bowl eligible' . WTG!

The Stanford vs Cal game was on Versus , and I watched while keeping an eye on the
Oregon Arizona game stats on Yahoo! sports..
Even when Texas had a big lead, ABC did not change games.
What was weird was, the 'Cats held the lead over Oregon all through the Cal Stanford game I was watching.
No sooner was the game over, and Oregon started coming back. Laughably i thought to myself,
'what can i do to appease the PAC-10 gods, and have 'Zona win ? I turned to Fox Sports, and yes.
The Cats answered the Oregon score with one of their own. It happened so fast, the 'Play by Play'
didn't even register the 71 yard Criner TD reception.
And then,, the all too familiar happened:
Arizona could NOT run out the clock. Faced with a third and long, Foles threw an interception
with 3 minutes to play. And Oregon marched down the field and tied the score at 31-31 .
To overtime, and the first period went well for Arizona,after Oregon had scored.
Second overtime, I knew it was over when the first play was a rush for 1 yard(seems it was first play).
Possibly one of the greatest Arizona Wildcat football games was on the line, the game on
National television, and some vindication for the loss at Cal lst week when Cal won its game with Stanford.
Alas, the 'Cats were one play short on D .
The Cats have lost 2 games in a row, with ASU and USC left to play . The Cats are down to their
third, fourth, and fifth string runningbacks. And these next two defenses are going to be ready.
But I am thankful that the Wilcats had a 'great game' against Oregon. No UofO blow outs.
No major upsets. The Cats hung tough.
Good luck, and beat the SunDevils next week.

IAAF Worlds Day 6

2009-08-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

I can't say how much I appreciate the commentary of Peter Matthews,
one of the 3 announcers. The guy is a wiz with statistics, and his laid back style
is very enjoyable. Without meaning to slight Rob Walker and I forgot the other
announcers name , sometimes when there is NO announcers, just video of the competition
and the 'crowd noise' in the background. I wish we had that option on ESPN;
get rid of those jabber-mouthed fucks and let us watch the games!
As for off-beat, well I found a new personal favorite in the Mens Decathlon -
Attila Szabó from Hungary. The only "left-hander" that I 've noticed thus far.
He is pretty low in the overall standings, but just try to remember lefties are
not so common in sports other than baseball(in america)!
I managed to track down the theme song they are using for the 'end of day' highlights,
it is The Whole Story by Sunrise Avenue. Good band from Finland, who performed
live to start off the IAAF festivities in Berlin 2009 .

universal sports webcasts

2009-08-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Saw some great coverage of the 2009 IAAF events in Berlin on line.
This station has all the quality of television without the commercials.
Or the delay ! No, I'm not paid to promote this , it's just awesome -
http://www.universalsports.tv/ .

They also had the US gym championships on, and will replay early morning.

Before I forget, the 2009 World Championships in London schedule:
(not saying this is on universalsports.tv , but probably NBC)

Competition Schedule

Tuesday 13th October
Men's Qualifying Competition
10am - 10pm

Wednesday 14th October
Women's Qualifying Competition
10am - 10pm

Thursday 15th October
Men's All Round Final
6.30pm - 9pm

Friday 16th October
Women's All Round Final
6.30pm - 9pm

Saturday 17th October
Apparatus Finals
Men's Floor, Pommel Horse & Rings
Women's Vault & Uneven Bars
1pm - 4.30pm

Sunday 18th October
Apparatus Finals
Men's Vault, Parallel Bars & High Bar
Women's Balance Beam & Floor
1pm - 4.30pm

Remember Athens 2004 ?

2009-08-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

We are just a few weeks away from the 2009 NCAA college football season. Early August ,
and i get primed for some college ball. I really don't watch pro football, since the Rams moved to
St Louis...so its safe to say that the NFL is non-addictive ?
As for major league baseball, i can't watch a game on tv without falling asleep. Too boring.
I remember tuning into some Cubs games, just to hear Harry . Harry was good.
For all the years since, I used to listen to the World Series on AM radio , back when i carried
a radio. But i cannot watch the games on television...
August 2008 we had the Beijing Olympics , and that was my daily and nightly fill of sports.
I do listen to the Wildcats and other PAC-10 games on yahoo sports, when possible....
and several Big-12 games, which are the regional option for the networks.
So my last really big sports program was Le Tour De France ..it was on Versus
tv network daily, and repeated 2-3 per day. I hardly missed any repeats...
Last night, i'm sitting here, and i really want to watch some sports =
and i realized i have several Olympic games on VHS. You remember tapes ?
My tapes are labeled rather generic, and i just grabbed one that the title
'2004 olympics' , and it was the first day of competition from Athens .
It started off with a swim , and then some extensive womens gymnastics..
and apart from Svetlana Horkina, none of the names were familiar to me ?
None of the american gymnasts stood out in my memory. Nothing like
Atlanta or Beijing.. 2004 my biggest fascination was the US womens softball team.
After nearly 1 hour of gym, we finally got into some other sports;
Michael Phelps ,,well that name is pretty high-profile these days.
How about Misty May-Treanor, and Kerri Walsh ? They were there also.
The Athens games were super,,but mostly i remember the news stories about
Greece, spending billions of dollars, and what about if the venues would be ready in time.
Thank you, BBC. I did hear Despina Vandis Gia in one gymnast routine, and the crowd
clapped along with the music. The gymnast was Ukrainian, and they had a great team in 2004.
Through day 1, the Romanian women ruled the gymnastics world. The americans were
making mistakes on each aparatus, it was an amazing stroke of bad luck for those women.
But was so real to me, was the 'old' 10 point system of judging. The new system is still
a grand mystery, and probably will ruin my interest in the sport.

Somewhere in there, i decided to take a nap, and let the tape run through the 6 full hours
i had recorded. I awoke to the Netherlands Mens Volleyball team 'upsetting' the Russians.
Tonight, the US Gymnastics Championships 2009 will start their third day;
and the action is on a cable tv channel called 'Universal Sports' or something.
It's not on my cable line-up, but it is available through a webcast on their site.

Incidently, the Wildcats will play Central Michigan on September 5th.
Can't wait.

The PAC-10 2009 Football Conference Match ups

2009-08-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

I like to view the Yahoo/Rivals sports team pages for any sports.
The worst problem has always been, that you cannot view
conference games by week. Well, only for the up coming week.
And the demise of Yahoo360 blogs, this is temporarily (??) my new sports blog.
So...We present what has taken me personally 20 minutes to type =
The Conference game schedule by week!

Sep 5 - Stanford at Washington State

Sept 26 - Arizona at Oregon State
ASU at (Georgia)
Cal at Oregon
Washington at Stanford
UCLA bye week
Washington State at USC

Oct 3 - Arizona bye week
Oregon State at ASU
USC at Cal
Washington State at Oregon
UCLA at Stanford
Washington at (Notre Dame)

Oct 10 - Arizona at Washington
ASU at Washington State
Cal bye week
Stanford at Oregon State
Oregon at UCLA
USC bye week

Oct 17 - Stanford at Arizona
Washington at ASU
Cal at UCLA
Oregon bye week
Oregon State bye week
USC at Notre Dame
Washington State bye week

Oct 24 - UCLA at Arizona
ASU at Stanford
Washington State at Cal
Oregon at Washington
Oregon State at USC

Oct 31 - Arizona bye week
Cal at ASU
USC at Oregon
UCLA at Oregon State
Stanford bye week
Washington bye week
Washington State at (Notre Dame)

Nov 7 - Washington State at Arizona
USC at ASU
Oregon at Stanford
Oregon State at Cal
Washington at UCLA

Nov 14 - Arizona at Cal
ASU at Oregon
Washington at Oregon State
Stanford at USC
UCLA at Washington State

Nov 21 - Oregon at Arizona
ASU at UCLA
Cal at Stanford
Oregon State at Washington State
USC bye week
Washington bye week

Nov 28 - Arizona at ASU
Cal bye week
Oregon bye week
Oregon State bye week
(Notre Dame) at Stanford
UCLA at USC
Washington State at Washington

Dec 3 - Oregon State at Oregon =Thursday

Dec 5 - Arizona at USC
ASU regular season over
Cal at Washington
Stanford regular season over
UCLA regular season over
Washington State regular season over

This blog is rated R for thinking aloud ...

2009-07-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

The reality is amazing: Windows 7 is available for pre-purchase.
I do not plan to buy it, unless MS has a solid gold performance record with it.
I'm still an XP Home user. One of these days, Microsoft is going to discontinue
the support.Then i will have to rely on some one else for security updates .
Almost 1 year ago, my sister was having a problem installing a new printer driver
onto her less than 1 year old laptop, which runs Windows Vista . Being the
computer 'whiz' I am, she asked me to take a look at it:
The computer would 'auto-run' the setup disk, but it couldn't find the driver.
Odd. I minimized the install, and went to find windows Explorer to seek out the
files location...and suceeded pretty quickly. I pointed the program in the proper direction
and it seemed to load up and finish its tasks.
No printer. Yes, it was attached, or No, I can't remember the directions at the moment.
I rebooted the laptop,and still no printer 'attached', according to Vista.
Okay, so 'we' did an uninstall of the drivers, and then rebooted again.
Before the reboot, I wanted to terminate any programs associated with the install...
So I pressed alt-ctrl-del keys, and nothing happened.
"You have to..." my sis told me, but I really didn't get over the lack of Alt-Ctrl-Del.
Reboot...
Put the install disk in, and let the autoplay do its thing.
Once again, I had to manually browse to the driver file location.
But it was worth the effort, as now Vista found the printer, and the test page was good.

Windows 7? I already have a Win 98 disk, so is that about 10 times better ?

When I first ran my 'new' P4 system, i was still using Win98SE. It booted in about
25 seconds... XP gets to the desktop in around the same 25 seconds, but it continues to load
files into memory ( the hard disk busy light is flashing) for another 45 seconds.
I wait for 'the burst' ; the HD light stays on for 3-4 seconds, and then it goes off.
After that, programs load a little faster,it seems.
Vista...well. In the few minutes i had with Vista on my sisters laptop, there were at least
5 unnecesarry popup warnings. It was insane, the stupid crap.
I'm not buying it. Every other program has gone to idiot mode, so why not Windows ?
Obviously, it was at the forefront of the MS engineers plans. Cynical, yes. I am.

It's like the whole world has gone into "Rated PG-13" mode, and it's just plain retarded.
Remember when you had to read a manual, or press F1 to get help with a program ?
Not now; some 'idiot genius' figured out how to put a puppy dog into the search pregram,
just to help your sorry a$$. By default, you 'take the tour' before you use a program.

Movies, music,it's all tainted with statistics which tell the marketing people that
13 year-olds buy more stuff than adults.
And its a 'catch-22 ' , because how many adults want to then buy into the
PG-13 movies and music these 'entertainment' companies shovel at the public ?

I guess that is why, when i look at the TV Guide, the schedules are loaded with
relics of the movie history; Jaws. Apocalypse Now!. Alien. And tons of really,
honestly, pretty bad flicks from the 1970s and 1980s. Way back when we still had
"R-rated" material. The kind that 13 year olds were dying to see .
Oh. Well that was me, growing up. Our local theatre edited the films themselves.
No nudity, so nearly anyone could go and see the weeks feature.
Nudity was so common, you never even thought about it, until you see them again, in 2009.
A skinny dipper gets eaten by a shark. Classic Jaws, was rated R.
Wish that shark would eat PG-13 movies...every last one of them.
And the companies that made them...
If civilization could find its way back to the 'adult' R-rated world, maybe .Just maybe.

Life is good, just not as cheap as it was,yesterday.

2009-04-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

I must be getting old. I will not argue with that point.
For the last few weeks , I have , occasionally been trying to 'point a finger'
at exactly what is going 'wrong' in america. The thoughts of 'big' corporations
has been haunting me. Big business has taken over the news media.
Hey. They pay for the advertising. If they don't like your news/product.
No advertising money. No money, no news show. or so my theory goes.
You are saying to yourself,"I have known that for years.way to go , bright-eyes."
But what i have been noticing lately is that consumer prices are rising
at a steep upward surge. i want to give some specific examples.
Life is the USA, today. April 17,2009. But first, I need to reminisce of old days:
(A)
Remember a 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola, for 50 cents ? Yes, I do.
These days, instead you pay $1 plus tax for a 20 ounce bottle.
(B
)How about macaroni n cheese, 6 boxes for a dollar ? Generic brands,yes.
I'll have to check,but my local store now charges $1.50 for 1 box of Kraft mac n cheese.
Over the winter, I was happy to pay $3 for a four pack of Kraft M n C.
Because, well, that is a months supply.No more than I eat the stuff.

(C)
I noticed the new taxes on cigarettes the other day.
It seems like a few years ago, you could buy generic cigs for $1 a pack.
I was kind of shocked, that a carton NOW goes for $50 . Where have I been ?
Did the prices rise slowly, or all at once ? Three years ago, my buddy in Washington
state told me 'horror stories' about the prices there: $5 a pack for cigs, and $3 a beer.
(D)
And getting back to 'junk' food, and my personal favorite, Doritos .
I paid $3.99 for a bag of chips. Seems like last year, they were $3 . I would never buy them
for over $3, but now we do not have a choice. If you want them.
(E)
One of my favorite meals is Tyson Buffalo Chicken breast strips.
Just last year, we paid $9 for a 34 ounce bag. Now, we pay $10 for a 28 ounce bag.
===
So my thinking is, all these 'national' companies - the ones who bought out their competitors
with billions of dollars, they are the ones who are having the rough times in 2009.
But just as importantly, these corporations are the reasons 'people' are seeing rough times.
So, forget(A) Cokes, and you can still buy a generic 2 liter bottle of Cola for under $1.
Walmart doesn't price groceries online,but i'm guessing 3 (B)mac n cheese for a dollar is a good bargain.
But Walmart, aren't they one of those corporations ? Not really. They didn't buy up the K-Marts and Sears.
They just plain ran them out of business.At least in this area,where shopping malls are scarce.
I see online, where you can still buy a generic carton of (C) cigs for $10 .
And(D) chips, you can still find good deals on generic brands and store brands.
Then, we have the other side of the National companies,the ones who are not (yet) raising prices.
But most of these are service industries, such as AT&T telephone.
They will need to stay competetive with their pricing, or they will lose customers.
So anyway, when you hear reports of how good it is, or how bad it is, you can look back here,
and see where it was in April 2009. Take care.

The Arizona Wildcats 25th consecutive NCAA tournament

2009-03-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

The University of Arizona (19-13) seems to be a controversial NCAA tournament selection.
As a 12 seed in the West Region, they will play Utah in Miami on Friday March 20,2009.
Six of Arizonas opponents are not playing in the post-season tournaments(all UofA wins).
Every team that Arizona lost to is in a post-season tournament -
Fourteen games against NCAA tournament teams winning 5 losing 9.
Six games against NIT tournament teams won 3 losing 3.
Five games against CBI tournament teams won 4 losing 1 .
Here is a look at their opponents post-season schedule .
[Arizona win/loss] opponent record post-season

[W] Florida Atlantic 6-26 - season over.
[L] UAB 22-11 - NIT vs Notre Dame
[W] Mississippi Valley State 7-25 - season over.
[W] Santa Clara 16-17 - season over.
[W] Northern Arizona 8-19 - season over.
[W] Loyola Marymount 3-28 - season over.
[L] Texas A&M 23-9 - NCAA 9th seed vs. BYU
[W] San Diego State 23-9 - NIT vs. Weber State
[W] Gonzaga 26-5 - NCAA 4th seed vs Akron
[L] UNLV 21-10 - NIT vs Kentucky
[W] Kansas 25-7 - NCAA 3rd seed vs North Dakota State
[W] Weber State 21-9 - NIT vs San Diego State
[L] California 22-10 - NCAA 7th seed vs Maryland
[L] Stanford 18-13 - CBI vs Boise State
[W] Oregon 8-23 - season over.
[W] Oregon State 13-17 - CBI vs Houston
[L] UCLA 25-8 - NCAA 6th seed vs Virginia Commonwealth
[L] USC 21-12 - NCAA 10th seed vs Boston College
[L] Arizona State 24-9 - NCAA 6th seed vs Temple
[W] Houston 21-11 - CBI vs Oregon State
[W] Washington 25-8 - NCAA 4th seed vs Mississippi State
[W] Washington State 17-15 - NIT vs St. Marys

--- Repeat 9 PAC-10 opponents ---

[W] Oregon State 13-17 - CBI vs Houston
[W] Oregon 8-23 - season over.
[W] USC 21-12 - NCAA 10th seed vs Boston College
[W] UCLA 25-8 - NCAA 6th seed vs Virginia Commonwealth
[L] Arizona State 24-9 - NCAA 6th seed vs Temple
[L] Washington State 17-15 - NIT vs St. Marys
[L] Washington 25-8 - NCAA 4th seed vs Mississippi State
[L] California 22-10 - NCAA 7th seed vs Maryland
[W] Stanford 18-13 - CBI vs Boise State

--- PAC-10 Tournament ---

[L] Arizona State 24-9 - NCAA 6th seed vs Temple

The soda(pop) wars / continue

2009-02-16T08:17:00.001-08:00

My earliest experience with 'pop' was the heavy,12 ounce glass bottles.. forty cents,
fifty cents a bottle. The choices were usually along the lines of -
1.Pepsi,( or Coke, depending on which logo was on the machine .)
2.flavors - strawberry,orange,grape,
3.Root Beer - Frostys was my favorite,with A&W, and Hires not far behind.
During my adolescent years, my friends and I preferred Mountain Dew.
It was rumored to have more sugar. And it tasted like it did have more sweetness.
Dr Pepper was also big, but everyone knew it 'contained prune juice' . Remember ?
And Squirt. After you got 'used to' the flavor, it is unique.
You can not forget Kool-Aid,when you talk about flavored drinks...yet 2 cups of sugar?
I could never get my Kool-aid mixtures correct.
Instant tea was my favorite, by adding sugar, you could achieve the perfect balance of
sweet/bitter. For my tastes.
And finally, by my mid-teens, there was a Coca-Cola machine placed outside a local business.
You could have a 'pop' anytime; 50 cents a can .
There were those adventurous individuals, who could tell you of their experiences with
Coke. The theory goes - place a few standard 16 penny nails in a bottle of Coke.
Let sit over night. Or a few days, and the nails would dissolve in the bottle. I never tried it.
There was also the 'do-it-yourself' crowd, who made their own 'pop' with tap water,
flavor packets, and a carbonation inducer. Usually a hand pump that gave your pop a fizz.
As far as I can remember , 'New' Coke was the biggest innovation in the 'pop' industry.
I liked it, and exchanged my slang term usage. Now we went for a Coke. No more 'pop' .
The soda wars continued on to its next phase, where the Big Gulp and similar sized cups
became the regular standard. The cups replaced the typical aluminum can .
Much the same way cans replaced bottles decades ago.
Along with the innovation, came the changing of nearly 'century' old recipes.
The addition of 'corn syrup' allowed for better 'mixture' and thus became the standard
sugar in carbonated beverages.
Through the 1980s and 90s, lesser brands like Mt. Dew and Dr Pepper, among others, were
sold to their industry leaders, Coke and Pepsi.
The Pepsi challenge commercials on television were kind of misleading. Because , maybe the
first 'sip' of Pepsi was enticing, yet Cokes were 'good-to-the-last-drop' flavor.
All in all, what is the difference ? Add a touch of lemon or lime, and you could make your own
cola from the national brands.
There is a time for each,kind of like 'red or white' wine.
One of the greatest jobs, in terms of 'fun' appeal,was when I worked at a 'soda' factory.
Minimum wage, placing emtpy bottles on a conveyor belt. But, I learned where sodas came from,
and how they were made. Never thought about that before. Oh, the best benefit was the free
beverages in the break room. Thus, RC(Royal Crown) Cola was an easy choice for a guy who
worked for RC. Typically, it was the 'bargain' soda in convenience stores.
Ten cents cheaper than a coke or pepsi.
Through the years, sodas have always been cheap.
The occasional 'bad' soda - one that may have the flavor of soap or feel heavy like oil,
is a reality with american soft drinks. How many times, I have 'sworn off' Coke for getting an
unsavory flavored bottle of 'goo' is purely a matter of chance. Not enough Pepsis in my days,
to say whether they have similar results.
The experience of a 'bad' soda, is why I would describe the HFCS as oil.
Would you drink a bottle of vegetable oil, with your lunch ?
What are these 'american companies' selling to the rest of the world ?
Sodas - with cane sugar. But not in america. No, somebody decided that 'corn' subsidies
were more important than what most people would describe as a 'natural' sugar base.
Read the labels on anything sweet, and it almost always has High-Fructose Corn Syrup
listed in the ingredients.
In my opinion, not based on science-just a 'gut feeling' american sodas went from a
'water-based,sugar sweetened' beverage into an 'oil-based,corn sweetened' epidemic.
we loved it. But now, the 'big guys' Coke and Pepsi, are taking notice of peoples dislike
of the oil-based products. I hear that Pepsi will 'return to sugar' in 2009.
Although my current favorite is root beer, anything without HFCS is easily the next choice.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

2009-01-31T01:50:00.000-08:00

It's reality in this era, that government is off chasing figments of their imagination,
while reality is ignored. I point to the fact that, no one had heard of al-kaeda before
government invented the term. Not that terrorists didn't exist;you have to wonder how far
the acronym clubs went to make the term apply to middle-eastern renegades.
And then, somehow their little conflict ended up being a weapon of mass distraction...

But the greatest horrors of the 21st century go ignored, while our media outlets impress
upon the social climate their worthless bile. Their latest BS: the financial meltdown.
Somewhere in the rush to become corporations 'too big to fail' , business found that it
was much easier to lie, than to admit that they had no intention of policing themselves.
And government was right at their side, willing to do anything to 'help'.
You, me ,anyone can read the stories: the authorities knew how corrupt the system was,
and they stood by and let it happen. In this day, there is no association of 'heroism' with
prevention.No. These 'leaders' have discovered that its better to sweep the garbage under the rug, and then produce massive bureaucracy to 'clean-up' the problems.

I have no problem with being 'enviromentally concious' ,yet once government gets involved,
reality gets left behind. Littering is ugly,imposing fines is merely a quick buck and a
job performance (ticket quota) enhancement for a peace officer. Just pick it up, and put the
garbage where it belongs.
I scoff at the Europeans, who have been sold this "Carbon Trading" legislation.
Buying and selling pollution rights; all in the good name of 'saving the planet'.
I have not heard of any country on earth, where littering is not a crime.
Imagine if you were 'permitted to litter' say 3 times each year. On your 4th time,
you went and 'bought' the rights to litter from some person named Joe.
Oh, then it's "okay" to litter. Sorry, but no, it is not 'okay' then.Or ever.
All the time, consumption was rising, and this 'man-made' island of debri started to form in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Every person on earth should take the time to read about, and "think" about the
The Great Garbage Patches floating in 'the earths' oceans.
What entity will there be in the future, to deal with the massive wastes floating there?
Forget the blame, and plain, simple, clean it up.
But you know reality, it will become some economic boon to whomever allows the
garbage to be disposed of in their locale. Science will study where 'it' came from.

It will become the 'latest' weapon of mass distraction for our media outlets.
Some politician will have their 15 minutes of fame bragging up their social conciousness,
and don't forget all those profits going to the company who does the work.
I'm envisioning massive cost over-runs, as they pile gets bigger after a typhoon.
Good day!

digital TV (DTV) transition

2009-01-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

One of the worst ideas out of Washington in the last few years is the Digital Television Act.
The government wants to use those signal frequencies for other communication,
like fire/rescue and police. And sell the rights to some others . Everybody panic.
My neighbor worries that their CRT TV will not work after the transition. They suscribe to cable.
But they still worry. Despite the advertising, despite the news,lots of rural folks are going
to lose some viewing options. But not a cable suscriber.
I know that sounds half-baked, even loonie. That is not where I wanted to go.
I can remember saturday nights, when Dr Who was on channel 6 at 10:30 .
If I wasn't home, I could listen to the broadcast on my walkman; the channel 6 frequency
was 88 MHz . In fact, often I would watch the show on television while listening on my headphones.
It didn't disturb my sleeping family members... and the mono broadcast was quite clear.
I have pages from days when, I could find odd channels on my television.
With a basic antennae, you could get channels 120 miles away.
an airplane might fly over, and for a brief 10 seconds, I could watch broadcast television
from channel 5 in Helena, Montana . Whoopie. But think about it; that's over 1,000 miles from here.
It was common to receive Dallas, or Oklahoma City channels right in my living room.
And not for 10 seconds, you could tune in and watch a game, with occasional dropout.
Things that weren't available locally. Some dipshit decided that you can't watch a
Kansas City Chiefs game, here unless the stadium sells out. The 'stadium' , Arrowhead in
KC, Missouri, is 350 miles away. Pure genius . Our American Congress at work .
At least we will still have analog radio frequencies. Maybe somewhere out there,
channel 6 is showing Dr Who again...

Greed:
CTIA, a wireless trade association, contends a delay could hurt confidence in the FCC's auctions to allocate spectrum. AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications paid a collective $16 billion at an FCC auction for spectrum used by television broadcasters that is scheduled to be vacated by February 17.

the 1995-96 Arizona mens basketball team

2008-12-24T02:25:00.000-08:00

I was attempting to think back to when Reggie Geary was playing basketball for
the University of Arizona. The 1995-96 team started out its' season with a win over Long Beach State in the Pre-Season NIT by 91-57.
Arizonas' next opponent was Arkansas, in a game played in Fayetteville.Wow. It was a dream
come true for me. I'm still trying to piece the memories together:
I drove to Fayetteville on my lunch hour. Was late getting back, but no one seemed to mind.
It was $15 for a ticket. All seats cost $15,each. I remember asking for an Arizona/visiting team
ticket. Now that got me a strange look from the lady at the ticket window.
I had never been to Bud Walton arena before.After buying my ticket, I tried to map out the
area in my mind, for when I came to the game. I walked across the street from the ticket office,
and approached the arena. The first person I came across was a young woman carrying her
books.
"Where are the entrance doors ?"
The pleasant response made my day; "Any door you want to go in" she said.
Thinking back, I should of bought two tickets, but I was in 'enemy' territory.
What 'hog fan' would want to go to a game with a fan of the opposing team ?
This was at the height of the Nolan Richardson era, when Arkansas played a trapping style of
defense. a few years after their National Championship.
Arizona had just lost their Mighty Mouse, Damon Stoudamire in the NBA draft of 1995.
So who were these Cats I was going to see playing ?
Names like Corey Williams, Ben Davis-a transfer from Kansas (?) , Michael Dickerson,
Kelvin Eafon-just before he became better known for being a football Wildcat,
I think Miles Simon played as freshman(?) , and Reggie Geary was the best defender on
Arizonas team. He would have been the best on almost any team,that year.
Rounding out the names I recall, at center, Joseph Blair .
Strange, but I found that Joseph Blair is still playing professional ball in Russia.
There is a video on YouTube of him punching a player for the other team.
The game ended up with 16 players ejected, mysteriously, Joe Blair was not one of them.
The game continued with 4 on 4 players for Spartak St.Petersburg-Joes team,
who eventually lost to Lokomotiv Rostov.That game ended with only 3 players on the court for each team.
Back to 1995, my first problem was finding a place to park. I stopped about 10 blocks from the stadium, near a convenience store. There was no traffic in the area,it was a residential street.
I parked in front of the store,but on the street.Not in their parking lot.
Within 2-3 blocks, I was part of a mass of people moving toward Bud Walton arena.
There was about 20 people in line, to get in the door. This was one of the side doors;I just followed
the crowd I was with. Lucky, I only missed my seat by a few sections.
Twenty people ahead of me was in the door in less than 2 minutes,just enough time to
halve their ticket, and receive the stub back from the gate attendant.
The arena is fairly spacious inside,and it was easy to mill about. My first order of business was to find a mens room!
Eventually I found my seat; there was a television right above it. I could look up, and watch the replays fairly easily. Sweet. It was a spacious arena,the best I have been in.
The teams were shooting, and doing their warm-up drills on the floor.
Soon, the teams disappeared, and the Arkansas cheerleaders started the crowd to
'call the hogs' . Woo-pig. Sooey. Everyone around me is cheering along, but at least we didn't have to stand for their arrival.
Soon, the 'Cats came out, and started the layup drill.
I just kept shouting, "Let's go,U of A!" Which, both teams were the U of A . So , deep in enemy
territory, I had found my place among the hog faithful. I'm sure they knew it was my first time in Bud Walton, because I didn't do any of the Arkansas cheers. Blah.
I kept whispering, out loud, Don't look back. Take this win, and move on.
Arizona did win, 83-73 . The next round was in New York ,against Michigan.
We went to grandmas house in Iowa for Thanksgiving. Grandma never had cable TV,
so I laid on my bed, listened to the game on a walkman .
The Cats won 86-79,and then went on to beat Georgetown 91-81 in the final.
Three weeks later, I was in Tucson for Christmas. My brother inlaw , had two tickets to
the Syracuse game on December 23,1995. It was a company perk, he could take a client to the
game if there was a client interested. But since he had family in town, he was't going.
The ticket was in row 29, which was fairly close to the floor.
The 'Cuse gave Arizona its first loss of the season, 79-70 .
On December 28th, I paid $23 for one ticket in row 15. It was close enough to the floor,
that the players could hear me cheering. I might have been the only one who was clapping my hands when Joseph Blair made an easy dunk; I swear he looked right at me.Raising his hands,
asking for more applause! Not too long after, he blew a dunk, and Lute benched him.
Joseph was a little too energetic that game against Texas A&M . But the Cats won, 88-44.
It was the Fiesta Bowl Classic. Up next was Rutgers in the final.
My brother inlaw took me to this game, and we rode with his good friend Paul.
It was funny because, they liked to sit in the upper decks. So there I was, down in row 21,
and these guys went and sat in the 'nosebleed seats' . Right next to an iron girder.
The Cats won,79-70. That was the last of their games I attended that season.
During the season, coach Lute Olson reached a pair of head coaching milestones, as he won his 300th game as the UA mentor and attained his 500th career victory as a college head coach.
That was the year the Cats made the sweet sixteen, where they lost to Kansas , in Denver.
Reggie Geary was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ben Davis was drafted by the Phoenix Suns.
Joseph Blair was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics.
I haven't been to Bud Walton arena since.

70 days, Pres. Bush !

2008-11-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

We read all the conspiracy stories, themes like, "Bush to declare marshall law,
remain as dictator' and all that sheet.
But, honestly, the guy has to be counting down the days until he can
get the fcuk out of Washington. Seriously. If Bush cured cancer, all by himself,
the headline would be, "Hospitals losing money" or to that effect.
I am definitely one of the 75% of americans who disapprove of his actions.
Today, we found something about Bush that was cool:
George W Bush likes to mountain bike !
You are wondering, where have I been ? I don't watch news...
To the man who did so much fighting disease and poverty in Africa -
To the man who gave up golf because people thought it was insensitive,
To the man who makes babies cry for their mother (sorry) ...
Here is hoping that you have many good days ahead of you.

Thank you commander in chief !
I always think to myself, any politician who goes along with 'what is popular'
is only serving their own interests. Obviously, you have the best of intentions,
although maybe the results are tainted. We,the american people will never know
exactly what another man would have done in your shoes .
If only americans would have had the courage to ask, 'how can we help ?'
instead of leaving you to dictate the future, we might have avoided this shit altogether.
My apologies, and warmest regards.
I think your greatest mistake, after 9-11 , was labeling ANY country as an enemy.
You should have rallied the entire world to your side. You could have been great.
For that would be no small achievement . You could have invited the Koreans, and the Iranians
and the 'Axis of Evil' to assist in our fight against terror.
And you should have done this.
That, President Bush, was your greatest failure.
Looking back, it's easy to judge your actions. Looking ahead, is not so clear.
Take pride in your service of your country.
sincerely,
an american
And well, I voted for Obama . Hopefully 'my' generation will bring the world together.

crossing alvernon,at night

2008-11-06T02:21:00.000-08:00

I had spent the weekend at my sisters house, in midtown Tucson. She was working at
as a waitress . The amazing part; her tips could easily break $300 a weekend. Not bad.
For me, I sat at her home, and watched the kids; for a pack of smokes, and good home cooking.
My sister liked to cook. From scratch. I had no complaints.
It was my usual arrangement: ride my bicycle from the apartment on Harrison over
to her place. Typically on friday night. Right down Speedway to Craycroft, then left onto
Pima at the hospital. The bike lanes - Tucson had great bike lanes.
After the primetime tv was over, I gave my oldest neice a kiss. And I rode out on my
bike into the sunday evening. Wearing my ever-present headphones, and using my
generator headlight, I trekked through the residential streets between Glenn and Fort Lowell.
Less traffic. I avoided the major intersections at night, riding down Monte Vista over to
Swan Road, then 1 block up to Fort Lowell to get across Craycroft at the light.
While riding through the neighborhoods, there are few streetlights. For those not acustomed
to Tucson, they have a policy of cutting down the glare for the telescopes in the area.
Less city glow, or light pollution.
As you get to Alvernon, on Monte Vista, you are suddenly faced with streetlighting that
is typical for any US city. Those pinkish, sodium lamps, perched atop 25 foot poles.
I would wait for traffic to clear. If it took 5 whole minutes, who cares ?
The intersection is square, and very flat in terrain. You can see for miles, it seems.
It takes about 20 seconds to get across . So, you look for 'no headlights' in the northbound
lanes within..say 200 hundred yards.
The traffic is clear, and I am pushing off with my foot to cross Alvernon .
SOMETHING I didn't see is moving parallel to me . Coming at me, and it is dark and solid.
Alarms go off in your head.
It's the size of a medium dog. But there are no 'legs' . It's rolling along, crossing the
avenue. There are apartment buildings on that corner, and I am thinking - kids.
Caution. There is no traffic , so i'm not worried about the 'swerved to miss it' cars
endangering my life. But WTF is it ?
My god. It's a small child, sitting on a skateboard. Crossing Alvernon, in the dark.
As i get closer, it gets weirder. To me, anyway.
The 'kid' has no legs. Nothing below the knees.
I waved, he waved back. He is latino, and horrible visions of
landmines exploding are creeping into my mind. some of those civil wars in
central america were not so 'civilized' . I will never know.
Maybe he lost his legs crossing streets after dark.
I rode off into the darkness, my generator headlight shining the way, home.