Saturday, October 17, 2009

Red River Rivalry 2009

Well, the Texas/ OU game is done for another year. Texas claimed a victory at 16-13.

I'll be curious to review the statistics later, and I am sure fans will have differing opinions as to what the game meant.

In my opinion, the Texas offense played mostly poorly, and it was clear OU's defense had done their homework in preparing for the offense. To compound things:

Passing game:

Whether its due to having an offense that can't run a pass play, or Greg Davis going senile, UT ran play after play aimed at passing for only a few yards. This included when UT would earn yet another penalty or sack and wind up with 20 yards between themselves and a first down.

The issue with running these short routes seemed to be that OU anticipated every route, meaning that our receivers could never truly get open, or do much more than wind right back up at the line of scrimmage.

At any rate, UT's passing game is looking a bit sad compared ot last year.

Running Game

If you give the ball to Fozzy every play, they will figure it out.

The Pitch Play


Greg Davis, it seems you are letting the kids with whom I played backyard football circa 1982 design your "trick" plays. They don't work, they make Colt look unhappy. Stop it.

Penalties

For a game that, at last check, wound up with 215 yards in penalties, I didn't think the refs were particularly whistle-happy. Whatever thought might have once been a part of football that meant "just let them play" has been scrapped, but apparently nobody notified Texas's line, who had multiple holding calls, costing us 5-10 yards on what seemed to be a play per drive (at least), and which injured almost every opportunity Texas had all game to move the ball.

OU was responsible for what had to have been an equal or greater number of penalties, leading to UT's victory, as UT moved the ball almost entirely off of penalties during some drives.

UT's Defense

Played very well. Aside from a few mistakes, which are just inevitable, I don't think I've seen those guys play this well all year. If they can keep that up, its going to help make up for the weak offensive line, and whatever is going on with the 5 yard offense.



Colt

It's hard to tell if Colt McCoy is struggling, or if he simply has no help. In the first half, the line was offering him no time to find a receiver, but whether the receiver was open or not, he wasn't able to make much happen until he decided to start running. Unless he's a threat to do more than pass, it seems like the opposing defense isn't having too hard of a time shutting Colt down and/ or sacking McCoy.

But...

Look, OU didn't look any better than UT. At least not after Bradford went down with an injury early on. I am of the opinion that, had Sam remained healthy, UT would have gone down in flames.

I am happy that UT won. I'm just not impressed at all with how UT's offense played. I like a "W" as much as the next guy, but as this isn't as straightforward playoff situation, and this widely-televised game is going to be considered by voters, how the game was played is an issue.

The bottom line is that UT hasn't had a game where they looked terrific this season, and I remember laughing out loud along with everyone else when I saw the cream-puff schedule Mack brown got for his team.

When UT won the Rose Bowl and took the 2005 Championship, part of what made the year so amazing was that expectations were not for a championship, UT had a rigorous schedule, and right up til the week of the game, ESPN (who is always looking at Pete Carroll with dewy eyes) didn't think UT stood a chance. Getting a soft schedule and looking bad when you win those games doesn't make the ranking feel terribly legit.

There's a lot of season left yet for the Horns to either make it or break it.

UT fans have a reputation, I guess, for being fair weather fans because of the nature of the fan base to be critical. Yes, its easier to be a fan when they are winning and playing well. But find me a UT fan who doesn't find a reason to complain about Greg Davis once per game, and I'll show you someone who doesn't watch the games and care.

A truly great Texas team is still fresh in the minds of many UT fans, and, unfortunately for the team, every play is compared a bit with WWVYD? And, of course, the knowledge that when you're on top and there's this much season left, there's nowhere to go but down.

I, personally, don't want to see UT wind up in another Texas or Alamo Bowl. And certainly don't want to see another team we've beat wind up ahead of us in the rankings once again.

Let's all also hope Sam and other injured players get healthy soon.

Texas Fight!!!






Friday, October 16, 2009

Policy: JimD or Randy?

A thinly disguised Leaguer recently asked the policy question:

JimD or Randy?
Well, this question is obviously tough to answer, and will change from scenario to scenario.  But I think a few illustrative examples might be useful:
  • Trapped on an island with?  JimD (wouldn't feel as guilty about eventually killing and eating JimD)
  • Produce my folk/rap album?  JimD
  • Choreograph my videos?  Randy
  • Screen and hire the skanks for my videos?  Randy
  • Write the NDA's for the skanks in my videos?  JimD
  • Would win in a duel (foil)?  Randy
  • Would win in a duel (pistols)?  JimD
  • Would win in a lightsaber duel?  JimD
  • Used to bullseye womp rats in his T-16 back home.  They're not much bigger than two meters?  Randy
  • Is a loose cannon?  JimD
  • Is getting too old for this shit?  Randy
  • Executor of my will?  Randy
  • Will be asked to take on my debts?  JimD
  • Looks great in a thong?  TIE
  • Sends me a constant stream of stuff via email which leads me to wonder what, if anything, he does for a living?  Randy
  • No longer actually reads LoM?  JimD
  • Would want as my backup when we're going to have to shoot our way out?  Neither.  Maybe Emily.
  • I would gladly hand over to the police?  Randy
  • Whom I would gladly trust to start a new government, and then immediately exploit the very loopholes he'd created?  JimD
  • Jazzy Jeff to my Fresh Prince?  Randy
  • Carlton to my Fresh Prince?  JimD*

*Yes, summer of 1997, I watched a lot of Fresh Prince and drank cheap beer.  I was also only partially employed.

    Wednesday, October 14, 2009

    NTT asks... POLICY

    NTT asks:



    1. Why does this blog use a length of measure not officially recognized by any nation?

    I think the Yurgh will really catch on as measure of both definitions of volume.


    2. Did you order the Code Red?

    Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be protected by men with guns...


    3. What does Didio have on you to give Final Crisis a good review?

    Nothing. Any story that ends with Superman eliminating the threat of an arch villain by singing the song of the vibrational frequency of the multi-verse is just going to find a warm place in my heart.

    I still sort of feel that if readers could not find a bit of love for "Final Crisis",  they're not seeing the meta-story of the DCU as put down since Barry met Jay and Jimmy Olsen met the Newsboys.

    4. Would you rather have a bottle in front of you or a frontal lobotomy?

    The Ketel One drip.



    5. If the League has an arch-villain, what are the rules of engagement?


    The League is usually a bit dim and does not realize that anyone considers him "The Cursed League".  Somehow, as far as I know, I've made it this far without anyone setting out to destroy me.

    However, the number of people who find me annoying knows no bounds.


    Because its likely sooner or later my madcap ways will, indeed, draw the ire of someone who seeks to destroy me, I would do the following:

    1)  be down about it for a while
    2)  try to sort out what I did
    3)  be down some more
    4)  pledge to change
    5)  utterly fail to improve any behavior
    6)  kind of forget about it
    7)  be passive aggresive
    8)  get drunk and call the arch-villain and try to see what's up
    9)  wait until an awkward social moment with lots of witnesses, and then insist "you never liked me, anyway"
    10)  eat a lot out of stress

    No.



    America,

    I saw this ad in my Facebook sidebar (why American Apparel thought I was buying "Disco Pants" should make the evangelists of targeted advertising weep).

    There is a slim 4-5% of the age-appropriate demographic that will make these pants work. The same population that almost made Uggs work (they don't, they're dumb), and who can generally pull off any trend to come down the pike, good idea or no.

    Much like the muffin-top and whale-tail looks of circa 2004, these pants are going to inflict us with a generation of people in clothing which they will attempt to adopt as its in all the magazines, but which will end in failure once worn out to the Red Box DVD rental outside Walgreens.

    I now know I'm going to walk across campus with sad looking undergrads squeezed into these monstrosities on a pedestal of those rain-slicker boots that have to be giving our nation's young women the worst case of athlete's foot since the trench war of 1917.

    Stop the disco pants madness.

    Tuesday, October 13, 2009

    Enemy Ace Says Nuts to Your Aerial Superiority


    Child-Free American cont'd

    actually a lot closer to what I assumed was going on in the endless sea of DVD-outfitted SUV's in Chandler.





    Stolen from Calvin

    Monday, October 12, 2009

    sometimes its time for Enemy Ace


    JackBart in Baltimore: Poe at Geppi Entertainment Museum

    This is an official press release from Boom! Studios


    October 12, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA - Come meet BOOM! Studios writer J. Barton Mitchell and artist Dean Kotz, of the horror/detective thriller POE, as they appear at Geppi's Entertainment Museum for a one-day-only signing!

    "We're very pleased to host writer J. Barton Mitchell and artist Dean Kotz, creators of Boom! Studios' exciting mini-series POE, one of the most insightful and interesting takes we've ever seen on one of Baltimore's most famous residents. With Halloween fast approaching and with our city's year-long celebration of POE, it's the perfect time for our friends and patrons to come meet this talented team," said Melissa Bowersox, Executive Vice-President of GEM.



    Many know Edgar Allen Poe as not only the father of modern horror, but also the creator of the detective genre. But did you know he was a detective himself? Enter the world of POE and follow the famous author of darkness as he tracks a supernatural killer ravaging the streets of Baltimore!


    Where:
    Geppi's Entertainment Museum
    301 W. Camden Street
    Baltimore, MD 21201
    (410) 625-7060
    www.geppismuseum.com


    When:
    Saturday, October 17th, 2009 from 12pm - 4pm



    Map: Google Maps 

    Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day!/ Columbus Day


    Do you guys get some sort of default Holiday in November that we don't get? I don't know how this works.


    It's not actually a "New World" if people are already living there. Here's to 500 years of poor decision making and syphilis. Don't go to the post office.

    Sunday, October 11, 2009

    Light Monday

    Item #1:

    Randy sent this item:

    Apparently somebody (possibly the California Dairy Council?) put together a Rock Opera about... a sci-fi future in which milk has made everything better. Look, I can't explain it. But if you've got 20 minutes or so, be prepared to have your world rocked.

    Milkquarius

    Seriously, you need to watch this thing. Its mind boggling.


    Item #2:


    I think the McBride siblings will appreciate this most of all:

    Bacon Narwhal

    Stolen from Calvin

    Item #3:

    Apparently, Dr. Robert Bakker, one of the most famous of paleontologists, is now at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I have no idea how long he's been there, but I just saw him on a NatGeo documentary, and that's where he's at. Who knew?

    I read Bakker's book "The Dinosaur Heresies" partially in high school and then all the way through in college. He's an interesting guy, and I'd be curious to know what's going on at that museum that they landed Bakker. Sounds like they've upped the ante since I used to go there in high school every few months.

    here

    I'm not sure about Bakker's reputation these days, but the way I was told in college (back in the mid-90's): he was not loved by the dino-community as he had sort of by-passed the usual route of scientific research, publishing and debate via journals and conferences, and instead went straight to a publisher and got his book out there to the public. "The Dinosaur Heresies" title was a reference to Bakker acknowledging that his hypotheses weren't accepted by the dino-community, but he wasn't letting that slow him down. And in the end, some of what he proposed is now widely accepted as theory.

    More milege may vary.

    I don't have an opinion on the whole thing, and I don't even know if my facts are correct.

    I really, really hope a mention of Bakker doesn't accidentally draw a bunch of angry paleontologists in the comments section.


    Item 4:



    I'm going to get an Aye-Aye, and I'm going to put it in your kitchen.

    When Jamie is Gone

    This weekend I:
    • hung out with Jason, ate dinner, sort of watched TV
    • went to a midnight movie, "Paranormal Activity"
    • watched the last half of "Evil Dead 2"
    • watched the last half of "Reality Bites"
    • slept 4 hours
    • watched "The Longest Day" (which was really very good, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Glad I finally saw it.)
    • wrote official "nakedness" policy for League of Melbotis
    • Went to post office - learned you can do all your postal stuff online these days and there's no reason to go to the post office
    • Backed up line at post office talking to clerk about "Death of Superman" and various Justice Leaguers and DC Animated cartoons
    • Went to: Target, Spirit: The Halloween Store, Home Depot, Lowe's (neither had what I was looking for), HEB (a local grocery)
    • Watched the UT/ Colorado game with Matt and Nicole
    • Hung out
    • Re-did shelves
    • Slept 7.5 hours
    • am drinking coffee and considering more sleep
    • Scout is asleep and laying on her back. She's dreaming she's running, so her feet and tail are moving. Its hilarious.
    • am going to go into my office and do some comic-collecting-related activity