andrejohnson01

No More Non-Cal Predictions

2006-11-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

Not to say that I have been accurate in predicting Cal games, but after that West Virginia - Louisville game I am officially retiring from picking non-Cal games (at least for this week). Final score of the game 44-34, Louisville wins.

Where I was right:
- Louisville was not able to stop West Virginia's running attack. Slaton and White both rushed for over 150 yards and score 5 rushing TD's combined. What did slow down the attack was a weak left arm which caused Slaton to fumble twice.

Where I was wrong:
- Brian Brohm is not playing well and will not play well. He threw for 354 yards and a TD. So I guess that is pretty solid.

Last Thoughts:
It is now a much more interesting BCS race, in my opinion. If West Virginia had won this game, I definitely saw them running the table. But now, Louisville is playing an undefeated Rutgers team next week on Thursday. This is a prime opportunity for an upset of a team coming off a big win. If Rutgers knocks of Louisville, does a possibly undefeated Rutgers team deserve a spot in the national championship. Remember the 1-10 Cal season? The 1 win was against Rutgers. We own Rutgers.

Coming soon, Cal vs UCLA preview, stay tuned.

AMERICAN IDOL Los Angeles Auditions Move To The Rose Bowl Tuesday ...

2006-09-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

Due to a scheduling conflict, AMERICAN IDOL′s Los Angeles auditions have moved to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, on Tuesday, August 8th. Audition dates for the sixth edition of AMERICAN IDOL will continue in six additional cities, including San Antonio, East Rutherford, Birmingham, Memphis, Minneapolis and Seattle. One lucky auditioner will join the prestigious group of singers who have been crowned AMERICAN IDOL - Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood and newest "Idol" Taylor Hicks.

Audition dates for the additional cities are as follows:

San Antonio, TX Friday, August 11 - Alamodome
East Rutherford, NJ Monday, August 14 - Continental Airlines Arena
Birmingham, AL Monday, August 21 - BJCC
Memphis, TN Sunday, September 3 - FedExForum
Minneapolis, MN Friday, September 8 - Target Center
Seattle, WA Tuesday, September 19 - Key Arena

Audition information for these cities will be announced shortly. Season six of AMERICAN IDOL will premiere in January 2007 on FOX.

LOS ANGELES AUDITIONS
WHO: Men and women 16 to 28 years old on August 6, 2006, and eligible to work in the United States. Restrictions apply - please go to www.AmericanIdol.com for specifics.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 8, 2006
LINEUP: Wristbands will be given out from Sunday, August 6 (starting time TBA), until 8:00 AM on Tuesday, August 8. Auditioners will not be permitted to camp out; therefore, once they obtain their wristbands, they will be asked to return to the Rose Bowl on Tuesday, August 8. Additional information is available at www.AmericanIdol.com.

WHERE: Rose Bowl
1001 Rose Bowl Dr.,
Pasadena, CA 91103

Additional audition information, including forms and requirements, is available at: www.AmericanIdol.com

A Rose Bowl by any other name

2006-08-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

In addition to the changes in nomenclature of certain schools with Native American nicknames is coming another change: the BCS national championship game has chosen to become anonymous. Though the game will be played in the metro Phoenix area this year, it will not be the Fiesta Bowl (that bowl will, as JoePa notes below, still be a BCS bowl, and will take place a week before the title game). It will simply be called "the BCS National Championship Game."

In a sport that is so rich in tradition, this change should be very unwelcome. Names like Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Sun, and Gator have long been a part of the college football and New Year's Day lexicon. To make the biggest college game of the year a game without a name is a tragedy of epic proportions. The 2 for 1 in the same city was workable: just let each city come up with a new name for a new bowl. Now, college football is without a moniker even to match "The Final Four" or "The College World Series." The sport that invented tradition has now abandoned it.

If the BCS persists in wanting a single name for its title game regardless of city, then I have a modest proposal: call it "The Orrin Hatch Bowl." As JoePa mentoned below, the primary reason for the creation of the 5th BCS bowl game was the fear of Congressional intervention, and Hatch, the meddlesome Mormon from Utah, was the primary agitator in support thereof. So, if we're going to wreck a century of tradition, let's at least pay homage to the man who made us wreck it.

Best of the MZone - the Follow-Up

2006-07-31T22:47:00.000-07:00

As our regular readers have noticed, we're not afraid to beat a topic to death here on the MZone. Particularly if we feel there's even a drop to be wrung from the comedy rag. And the Matt Leinart pictures were no exception. A little more than a couple of weeks after originally posting about the Leinart pix, we posted about them again. But this time we actually incorporated something about the game on the field, if only indirectly.

After his incredible Rose Bowl performance in the 2006 Rose Bowl Vince Young was everywhere. He was like Forrest Gump, but more so. He could even run better than Forrest. So when Yost applied Vince's omnipresence to the Leinart pictures, hilarity ensued.

Or maybe the hilarity was Yost's horrendous photo editing skills. Since then I have forbid him from from trying again and have informed Adobe never to allow him to register Photoshop.

Fad TV

2006-07-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

For many of us living in the United States, the good news is that the heat wave of the past week has finally broken. Here in Missouri today has been relatively cool for the season (highs in the eighties). It also has been a bit gloomy, which suits me fine. These days I'd still feel gloomy even if it was sunny. Anyhow, I suppose I should get on with a real blog entry.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word fad as "A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze." Given its ephemeral nature, television may naturally be given to fads. The various cycles, such as the one towards Westerns in the Fifties and the one towards police procedurals in the Naughts could well be considered minor fads in and of themselves (at least within the television industry itself). This having been said, television has produced its own fair share of fads that have extended beyond the small screen. Like any other fad, a "fad show" is one that sparks intense interest for a short time before going out of fashion.

Indeed, regular network broadcasts had only been around for less than ten years when the first, full blown television fad emerged. Many baby boomers may have fond memories of the craze surrounding the five Davy Crockett segments which aired on Disneyland in the mid-Fifties. The first episode, Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter aired on December 15, 1954. Two more epsiodes featuring Fess Parker as the frontier man aired in short order. They proved so successful that Disney produced two more adventures featuring Crockett, the last one airing on December 14, 1955. The episodes were even edited together as a motion picture and released to theatres where the resulting film did very well. But the Davy Crockett segments did something nothing else on television had before--it became an outright craze among youngsters. Merchandise, from coonskin caps to the episodes' theme song ("The Ballad of Davy Crockett") to bath towels, flew off store shelves. In the end $300 million worth of Davy Crockett related merchandise was sold. Despite the intense interest on the behalf of the nation's youth and the incredible sales of its merchandise, the Davy Crockett phenomenon was truly a fad. By 1956 the Davy Crockett had played itself out. Whereas coonskin caps had been in huge demand the previous year, they were just languishing on store shelves by 1956.

Of course, technically the Davy Crockett segments on Disneyland were a mini-series (perhaps the first on American television), not a TV series proper. Most television fads have centred on TV shows. And perhaps the quintessential fad show was the Sixties live action TV series Batman. By the mid-Sixties ABC had consistently been in third place among the networks. Desperate for a hit, they took notice of the renewed interest in comic book superheroes and the current Pop Art fad (in which "serious" artists turned pop culture artefacts, including comic book pictures, into "art") and struck upon the idea of a show centred upon a superhero. The superhero they chose was Batman, a character who had been around for over 25 years and was second in popularity only to Superman. To produce the series they looked to television veteran William Dozier, who had been a programmer at CBS and production head at Screen Gems. Dozier decided the best route to go as afar as a Batman TV show would be comedy. Essentially, the series would work on two levels--as high adventure for children and outright comedy for adults. To this end, the TV show was highly stylised. The show's direction was often unusual, including Dutch tilt angles (a shot in which the horizon of the frame is not parallel with the bottom of the frame--it was often used on the show when the villains were scheming). The fight scenes were littered with animated "Pows" and "Whams." And with the exception of some of the villains, the acting was always played dead serious, no matter how ludicrous the situation. Further setting Batman apart from anything that had gone before it, it was perhaps the only comedy on American television at the time without a laughtrack.

While many ABC executives had little faith in the new show, ABC put a good deal of promotion into Batman. It was advertised on other ABC shows prior to its debut and ABC even went so far as to hire a skywriter to create the words "Batman is coming" above the Rose Bowl. Even so, it was a bit of a shock even to ABC when Batman debuted on Janurary 12, 1966 with almost a 50 percent share of the audience. The ratings for the series continued to be phenomenonal for the rest of the season. In the end, Batman (which aired twice a week) ranked twice in the top ten shows for the 1965-1966 season--the Wednesday night airings ranked #10 and the Thursday night showings ranked #5. Furthermore, there was an incredible demand for Batman merchandise. Everything from toy Batmobiles to toy Batphones to record albums emerged as merchandising for the series. Indeed, as a very young child I can remember that the Montgomery Ward catalogue had around two or three pages dedicated to Batman merchandise. In its first season alone, Batman produced around $75 million in merchandise. Further demonstrating the show's success, in the summer of 1966 a feature film based on the series was released. No surprise, it was a success at the box office. The show was covered in major magazines from Life to The Saturday Evening Post.

Unfortunately for ABC and William Dozier, the craze soon ended. The show's ratings declined in the second season to the point that ABC seriously considered cancelling the show. It was saved only by the addition of Batgirl. This was not enough, however, as the show's ratings continued to fall in the third season. In its first season Batman attracted 55 percent of the audience, with about 66 percent of the viewers being adults. By the third season, only ten percent of Batman's audience were adults. As a very expensive show with dwindling ratings, ABC chose to cancel the series. It left the air on March 14, 1968. It almost received a reprieve when NBC expressed interest in picking up the show provided the sets were still standing. Unfortunately, they weren't. Only a little over two years after its debut, Batman had left network airwaves.

Of course, Batman was not the first fad show of the Sixties. Before Batman, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. were the men of the hour. Unlike many fad shows, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was not a hit from the very beginning. Debuting in the fall of 1964, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. suffered from such poor ratings that it was not even on NBC's tenetative 1965-1966 schedule as of December 1966. In an effort to turn the show's fortunes around, its producers launched a publicity campaign. At the same time there was a lot of good word of mouth on the part of the show's loyal viewers. By May 1965, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. had become an outright fad. In its second season The Man From U.N.C.L.E. hit its peak, regularly ranking in the weekly top ten TV series. It produced a lot of merchandising, from games to toy U.N.C.L.E. guns to clothing. At its peak, the show received 10,000 fan letters a week. Like Batman later, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. would be covered by many major magazines.

Unfortunately, the success of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was not to last. While its ratings had been phenomenal in its second season, they plummeted in the third season. Much of this may well have been due to the dramatic shift in the series from tongue in cheek adventure to outright comedy in its third season, but much of it might also have been due to the fad simply having run its course. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. returned for a fourth season, when it once more returned to serious spy drama, but it only lasted until mid-season. It last aired on any network on January 15, 1968.

If the rises and falls of Batman and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. seem dramatic, they are perhaps nowhere as dramatic as that of Twin Peaks. Created by famous director David Lynch, Twin Peaks was hyped heavily by ABC prior to its debut. And while it rarely beat its rival on NBC (the classic Cheers), Twin Peaks did very well in the ratings in its first season. It was also the most talked about show on American television at the time. Twin Peaks was covered in many major magazines, from People to Newsweek. Unfortunately, its success would not last. In its second season, ratings for Twin Peaks fell dramatically. In February of 1991, it ranked 85th out of the 89 shows then on the air in primetime. That April Twin Peaks was placed on an indefinite hiatus. Its final episodes would not air until that June. Twin Peaks, the most talked about series of the 1989-1990 season, had left the air after only a little over a year. It only lasted from April 1990 to June 1991.

Of course, there have been other "fad shows" than these. The Monkees, Charlie's Angels, and many reality shows could be argued to have been fad shows. Fad shows usually have a good deal in common. In most cases (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is an exception), fad shows are hits from the beginning. Batman, Charlie's Angels, Twin Peaks, and many other fad shows received phenomenal ratings upon their debut. Many fad shows (Twin Peaks was an exception to this rule) also to tend to appeal to both children and adults. This was particularly true of Batman and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. Another thing phenomenon seen with many fad shows is that eventually they become cult shows as well. Both The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Batman had relatively short network runs, but they lasted in syndication and developed strong cult followings. Unlike the pet rock or mood rings, most fad shows seem to survive cancellation (that is, the official end of the fad) to become lasting parts of pop culture.

Beyond anything else, the one thing that nearly all of them have in common is that they lasted only briefly, achieving phenomenal ratings in a relatively short time before dropping in the ratings to the point that they are cancelled. It is true that there are other factors that probably played a role in the cancellation of most fad shows. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. took a turn towards comedy in its third season, as well as an overall drop in the quality of its episodes, that probably shortened its run. In its second season Batman fell into a formula in which one episode differed very little from another. In its third season it was cut back to one night a week. Both of these things were probably factors in their demise. As to Twin Peaks, it was a serial when serialised dramas were not popular, it mixed genres (everything from comedy to science fiction) to a degree unseen in most shows before, and ABC moved the show all over its schedule. What was probably the major contributing factor in the demise of these and other fad shows, however, is simply that people tired of them. All fads have a limited lifespan, generally of about a year or less. Furthermore, the lifespan of any fad is usually related to the intensity with which that fad is taken up. At its peak, over one hundred million hula hoops were sold, yet the fad lasted less than a year. That the intensity of any given fad usually reflects the brevity of its lifespan is shown in how short the runs of many fad shows are. Batman lasted only a little over two years. Twin Peaks only lasted a little over a year. Quite simply, like any other fad, people eventually became burned out on them.

It seems to me that since the Sixties there have been fewer and fewer shows which have become fads. I suspect most of this is due to the fact that network television's influence had delined in the intervening decades, largely due to competition from cable television, video games, personal computers, DVDs, and other technological developments. Obviously people still take an intense interest in TV shows, as the success of both Lost and Desperate Housewives demonstrate. That having been said, it remains to be seen if Lost and Desperate Housewives are simply fad shows that last only a few seasons or shows that will have long network runs.

Address at TLA General Assembly II, 26 April 2006 and a Library ...

2006-07-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Address at TLA General Assembly II, 26 April 2006 and a Library Visit

I. Here's a copy of my (very burnt orange!) four minute address at the Texas Library Association general assembly, 26 April 2006, 3:30 p.m.

Voting in the American Library Association election ended three days ago. And on this coming Monday, May first, Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director of ALA, will call the two candidates for ALA President 2007-2008 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with the election results. I hope that you were among the record number of ALA members who voted.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to address you, members of TLA, at this, my 20th TLA conference. I was invited to speak to you as a candidate for ALA President about my campaign priorities. I have identified three platform issues that, I believe, impact all of our working lives, our libraries, and the people we serve.

My first platform issue is including all in the circle of literacy. We now know that one in 20 adults in the United States is not literate in English. That’s about 11 million individuals. Libraries should be at the frontline in efforts to increase literacy and promote reading. In these efforts we need to make sure that we extend our services to all members of our communities, especially young and emerging readers, elders, immigrants, and those in our jails and prison systems.

My second platform issue is a workplace wellness campaign called Healthy ALA, a new venture for ALA. My interest in wellness and health care stems from my prior career working as an X-ray tech in community hospitals and also through the personal experience of having a son with special needs and a sister and father with disabilities. I know how health concerns impact families and affect our work lives. As employers we are concerned with providing library workers with adequate health coverage and workplace support through times of physical challenges. As workers, we want to follow healthy lifeways that help us perform our best and lead fulfilled lives.

My third platform issue is supporting librarian education through practice. As a Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, a top ten school of library and information science, I am fortunate to be involved in the daily education of next-generation librarians. Librarian education, though, is the responsibility of all of us and I invite the larger community to become involved in preparing new librarians.

I cannot fully address these platform issues on my own. I have gathered an Envisioning Circle of individuals to help me in this task. I will also need your help.

I am proud to be an Anishinabe, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, enrolled on the White Earth Reservation in western Minnesota. I am also proud to be an Honorary Texan. Like many of you, I watched an important sports event on television this past January. Y’all know the outcome of that Rose Bowl game and the final score: UT 41 points, USC 38. At the end of the first half of the game, we heard Walter Cronkite’s voice proclaim the new promotional campaign for the University of Texas: “We’re Texas. What starts here changes the world.” TLA has always known and lived their interpretation of “We’re TLA. What Start here changes the world?” Let’s go forward in changing the world. Hook ‘em horns.

Library Visit #3: Liberty Hill (Texas) Public Library

This afternoon I drove an hour north of Austin to the town of Liberty Hill (population approx. 1400) to observe the work of Capstone student, Delia Fantova. She did a wonderful job of providing introductory TexShare training to the library staff. She had a prepared outline, outlining key examples and urls that the staff can refer to after her visit. She encouraged the staff to explore common usage of the database, including use for genealogy and health/wellness. The staff were very receptive, grateful, and enthusiastic! They work in a lovely four-year building resembling a typical Texas homestead including a residential style bathroom and ceiling fans. Their building has a ramada style porch, a tin-roof, and is surfaced with Texas limestone. The grounds feature a live oak and Texas native plants. Lovely place to work; felt like home!

Live blogging the ESPY Awards--

2006-07-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

(Note: I am an awards show and sports junkie. So I just had to!)

Wow, I didn't know Lance Armstrong was a comedian. But it seems he has a gay crush on Jake Gyllenhaal. He sure is paying him lots of attention.

Ms. Jackson is still Nasty and looking fabulous. Congrats to Vince Young for winning that award.

Keifer sure is short standing next to Venus Williams. Maybe she is wearing 6 inch heels! Congrats to Saun Alexander for winning (even though he is an ex-Bama player and us Auburn fans hate them so much).

There are lots of Hollywood Hunks in the audience, so I guess everyone now knows my true motive for watching, huh?

Matthew McConaughey is there looking fine. He and Lance are good friends and I heard he was hanging out in Lance's dressing room making margaritas. I would so love to "hang out" with him.

Damn, the flying tomato, Sean White got cheated out of his award.

Matthew came out for a Katrina tribute looking fine in his jeans and open collared shirt. He made me cry with the story of the New Orleans high school basketball team that won the state tournament. I'm a wimp for a feel good story.

Dammit! Another Bama player won another damn award. Tyrone Prothro with his g;ynastic touchdown catch. Can you tell how much I despise Bama? Yeah, it was a pretty good catch so I will give him that.

Rumor has it that Auburn's Coach Tub is in the audience but I haven't seen him yet.

Sean White had an erection standing next to Carmen Electra giving out the award for best female athlete. He was beside himself. Hell, if I were straight I would have been the same way. She is on my top 5 female list. Yeah, I do have one!

Boy are they promoting that silly new Will Farrell movie, Talladega Nights: The legend of Ricky Bobby. They filmed that at Talladega Speedway which was only 15 miles from where I grew up.

Ashley Judd looked like a desperate housewife in that ugly blue dress. She usually looks fabulous. But I did hear that she is recovering from depression so maybe she didn't feel like dressing up tonight. I am so bad.

Now I feel bad! Ashley is giving a presentation about women's rights under the Taliban.

Okay, I cried again when the two Afghani girls accepted the Arthur Ashe award. Seems they play soccer and they have to play behind an army base fence for their own safety.

Yay, Mariah is going to give the Best Male Athlete award. She looks great in that hot pink dress. Congrats Lance for winning for the 4th time.

Danica Patrick looked like a girly girl in that hot dress. Best game was the Rose Bowl. Yay for College Football. Matt Leinart looked hot tonight!

Jake G is giving away one of the last awards for Best Moment. I would have to nominate his kiss with Heath, but that's not a sport. OR IS IT? He is still smokin' HOT! And he sounded so soft spoken and sensitive. I want him to be my new boyfriend now. Sigh!

And guess what, I am crying again because the autistic kid won for shooting those baskets to win his junior high basketball game. Yeah, that was Best Moment.

Why am I so sensitive tonight. Must be my period!!

What a finish! Greg Kinnear and Mark Wahlberg giving away the award for best team. The Pittsburgh Steelers and they were reunited with Big Ben who just recovered from his motorcycle accident. That was a show, kids! And that is why I watch every year. It's better entertainment than most all other awards shows........

Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then...

2006-07-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

Not satisfied with the pairing of Bama and Iowa in the title game to finish out my revenge dynasty, I opted instead to take on Leinart, Bush and company and used the "play now" function to pit Bama vs. Southern Cal at the Rose Bowl.

Southern Cal won the toss and elected to receive, which was fine by me. Being the SEC neandrathal that I am, playing defense and sitting on a lead pretty well sums up my coaching strategy, and getting the ball to start the second half typically plays into that. The Trojans came out to start their first drive in an I formation as I called a reasonably safe Cover 2 Man out of my base 4-3. Their first play was a play action pass to a streaking Jarrett, but it was successfully batted away by Ramzee Robinson. The rest of the drive stalled as Bush is dropped for a 2 yard loss by DeMeco Ryans on a lead toss and Leinart completes a short pass to his Tight End for a 7 yard gain.

Reggie Bush, meet DeMeco Ryans.

Tyrone Prothro's return capabilites were completely nullified throughout the game as the SoCal special teams routinely forced me to call fair catch deep in my own territory. My own opening drive stalled as Ken Darby was stopped in the backfield on 1st down and DJ Hall dropped a pass on a wheel route to bring up 3rd and 12. I lined up in a shotgun spread formation as the Trojans looked to play a deep zone, but instead of trying to pass for the yardage I called a HB Direct Snap and picked up the first on the ground, but just barely. I came out to start the next series in an I formation and ran a triple option, handing the ball off to FB Tim Castille when the linebackers dropped back into coverage and plowed ahead for another first. Lining up again in the same I formation, I called a play action bootleg, but sailed the pass out of bounds to bring up 2nd and 10. Determined to burn the SoCal secondary, I lined up in a shotgun spread formation with Ken Darby lining up in the slot position in place of Zeke Knight. Both outside receivers were covered, but DJ Hall came free in the middle and caught a 22 yard pass at the Trojan 37. From there, Darby and Castille each ran the ball for modest gains, until on 3rd and 3 at the Trojan 11 Castille broke free for a TD. The point after is good, Bama 7, Southern Cal 0.

Reggie Bush returns the ensuing kick off to his 37 yard line, but the Trojans again stall as Bush is nullified by the linebacking corp and the secondary keeps Leinart in check as the 1st quarter ends.

Reggie Bush, meet DeMeco Ryans. Oh, you two have already met?

Prothro again calls fair catch, starting the next Bama drive on the 26 yard line. A deep pass to Matt Caddell places us on the Trojan 34, but this drive stalls as well as neither Darby or Castille is able to break free for a first down. I briefly consider going for it on 4th and 3 but instead opt for the field goal, Bama 10, SoCal 0.

The Trojans begin their next drive with only 2:27 left on the clock, and quickly score their first touchdown. Feeling a little full of myself, I call an "all out blitz" from a 3-3-5 formation and get burned big time as Reggie Bush breaks into the flat and jukes Roman Harper out of his cleats on his way to a 73 yard touchdown run. Bama 10, SoCal 7.

The ensuing kickoff results in a touchback, and I start my next drive from my own 20 in an I formation. Again I call a play action bootleg and look to Caddell but the ball is tipped to bring up 2nd and 10. Darby breaks free on counter for 17 yards to get the first. Determined to score before the half, I go against everything I hold dear and begin passing on each down. Quick out routes and slants allow the Bama offense to move to the Trojan 30, but then disaster strikes as a touchdown pass to Prothro is tipped and subsequently intercepted near the goal line. The Trojans put together an impressive drive, including several circus catches and a miraculously accurate Leinart pass as he's engulfed by Freddie Roach, resulting in a Dwayne Jarrett 37 yard touchdown catch to make the score Bama 10, SoCal 14.

Again, a touchback, and I attempt to drive at least into field goal range before the half but the Trojan defense has effectively limited my rushing attack and each receiver lives up to his real life counterpart's dropped pass potential. I punt with only :27 left on the clock as SoCal is content to call a few run plays and head into the locker room with a 4 point lead.

Glad to get the ball back at the start of the third quarter, I manage a good return with DJ Hall to my own 39. Calling a play action pass, I hit Prothro for a 31 yard gain, followed by a HB Slam that sees Darby break loose for a 32 yard touchdown run, putting the good guys up by 3.

SoCal's next drive stalls, and I get the ball back on my own 29. While sitting on a 3 point lead against a team that's proven it can strike quickly isn't exactly wise, I opt to begin pounding the ball and running the clock out. Darby, Castille, and Coffee all contribute as I drive into the Trojan red zone, only to see their defense stiffen and bring up 3rd and 14. I line up in my now familiar I formation, and hit Caddell for the touchdown to make the score Bama 24, SoCal 14.

End Zone, meet Matt Caddell

Again, SoCal seems eerily reluctant to cut Bush loose and the Bama secondary holds firm and forces a three and out to end the third quarter.

Confident that the 4th quarter will be more of the same, I settle in to play defense and work the clock. Alas, I get greedy in the Trojan red zone, calling a play action pass to Prothro for a touchdown strike on 3rd and 3 instead of bulldozing ahead with a seemingly unstoppable Tim Castille. Again, disaster strikes as a Trojan CB intercepts the pass and returns it untouched to bring Southern Cal back within one score of winning.

After the kick off and return to my own 22, I can't get anything going. On 3rd and 11, I toss a desperation pass to a streaking Prothro who has a few steps on the CB covering him. He makes the catch and heads downfield, but a safety appears as if from nowhere and lays a monster hit on him, forcing a fumble that the CB immediately falls on. It's now the Trojans' ball on their own 28, and my blood pressure rises to dangerous levels.

Leinart moves into a hurry up offense as I stay in my base 4-3 and begin giving up yardage to Reggie Bush as he jukes and spins around anything lucky enough to get within an inch. Finally I halt the drive at my own 40 and sack Leinart on 3rd and long. Forced to go for it on 4th and 19, Leinart is unable to hook up with his Tight End and they turn the ball over on downs. I have the ball back on the Trojan 49, and immediately break loose with Darby on a HB direct to their 3, where I let Castille take the ball in to make the score Bama 31, SoCal 21, with 2:39 remaining.

Matt Leinart, meet Jeremy Clark

SoCal comes out passing again, but this time my secondary slips as Leinart drives the Trojans downfield and then delivers a long touchdown pass into double coverage, bringing them once again within three and me once again to my feet as I screamed a long string of profanities and felt my left arm go all tingly.

The Trojans line up for an onside kick, but Glenn Coffee makes the catch and I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I've never seen an onside kick actually work in NCAA 2006, but I wouldn't put it past the computer in a close game to cheat up a little and recover it.

With 1:56 to go the Trojans begin calling timeout after each run, but I keep getting first downs on my way to the Trojan 5 yard line. While I could have taken a knee and wrapped the game up, I instead channeled my inner Spurrier, sending Darby into the end zone one more time to make the final 38-28.

Unnecessary, but fun.

Back On My Feet

2006-07-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

Today's almost three months since I rolled my foot during a 5K. That was the last time I ran until this afternoon. Logged three miles around the Rose Bowl. (Broiling in the late afternoon.) I'd run for a minute, then walk for two. No pain.

My orthopedist said I'm 95 percent healed. In six months, I'll be 99 percent. But that last little bit of new bone filling in will take almost a year.

Despite cross-training the last six weeks, there's soreness in my calves and quads.

But it's good to begin again.

Back On My Feet

2006-07-10T17:55:00.001-07:00

Back On My Feet

2006-07-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

Back On My Feet

2006-07-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Back On My Feet

2006-07-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

Mount Hollywood on the 4th of July

2006-07-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

I took the Sierra Club hike up to Mount Hollywood to see the fireworks last night. It's a 1600 foot climb and took about an hour and a half. When we got to the top there were already about 30 horses, and of course, the people that rode up on them. The peak is about 500 feet above the Observatory and gives a 360 degree view of Los Angeles. When the fireworks started I didn't know where to look, there were bursts of color and light in every direction. I finally settled on watching a display that was probably in Burbank or Studio City until the elaborate Rose Bowl pyrotechnics started. Then they turned off the lights at Dodger Stadium and those explosions looked pretty good too. Then it was time to hike back down and quickly (what, me move quickly?) because they close the park at 10pm. I didn't make it in time, the north gate was closed, but luckily they left the south gate ajar.

Rose Bowl

2006-05-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Rose Bowl at West End, Southampton, has been chosen to stage five matches, including a semi-final, in the forthcoming season’s ICC Champions Trophy, to be played in September. And England’s mouth-watering clash with Sri Lanka is one of the four qualifying matches booked for the county’s headquarters.

2006-04-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

andrejohnson01 new articles for Sunday, April 16, 2006ROSEBOWL RD. BETWEEN McKEE RD & US 13
DUE TO RAILROAD CROSSING REPAIRS THERE WILL BE INTERMITTENT LANE CLOSURES ON 2/2/06, RAIN DATE IS 2/3/06.

Rosebowl in NYC
Jan 4 is also the date of the Rosebowl. This means that I will immediately proceed to a bar (tbd) following work and watch the showdown between UT and USC. i guess i’ll have to crash in the city that night, b/ci’m not trudging back to ...

ROSEBOWL!!

Rosebowl Parking Lot
today's painting was in the Rosebowl Parking lot, section K to be exact. a typical hazy, SoCal morning.

Tough Rosebowl last night…
to kick off the season. No reason to duplicate the report, so here is Aram’s take on it. The mystery dude he refers to Christian Valenzuela is a pro for Monex and used to ride in Europe for Mercury-Viatel. ...

Questions
On the bus today, I saw a boy wearing a UT Rosebowl cap. ... If we didn’t win the Rosebowl, the boy wouldn’t have been wearing the cap, the Texas shops wouldn’t have the business that they did, and I wouldn’t be using all this as an ...

Rosebowl Tickets Anyone?
Texas Lizzy is in town and looking to buy Rosebowl Tickets. If anyone out there has some, please email me. She's willing to pay up to 500 bucks/ticket. Thanks!

Rosebowl
Hello. I have been watching American Idol as usual. My question/ When is the football player going to be eliminated? He is wretched. I would like to have a party when he gets the boot. I hate him. This fat tub of lard is dying to get ...

USC & rosebowl
oh mine! they lost! i've so much faith in them, but they failed me. it cost $ to have faith in USC. so 70 (over) & USC to win is not a good choice.

ROSEBOWL!!

definitely a hit at the rosebowl!
Just came from the live episode of ASAP '05 at the Rosebowl Stadium in Pasadena, California! Whoa! I can't believe my eyes as I see people filling up the greens and spilling into the bleachers of the stadium! We were really afraid that ...

Rosebowl
generally awesome. even if we lost-- i learned that if you lose surrounded by fun people, dont even worry about it. it was still a great time. ...that's all i feel like writing, for now. tonight is salsa dancing at Avant Garde, ...

UT won the rosebowl. That's amazing, and my histo...
UT won the rosebowl. That's amazing, and my history teacher isn't going to hear the end of it. I have nearly fifty entries in this blog; and it hasn't been a month. Does that make me addicted? Oh, and I got a video of the winning ...

Rosebowl Bound
I'm happy for my USC Trojan football team because they will be playing for the BCS National Championship on January 4th, 2006, at the Rosebowl in Pasadena. For anyone following college football, this is not big news, but for me and any ...

Best game EVER. Rosebowl '05.
Now, I'm not much of a football fan. I used to not mind playing, but I imagine I'll be a little skiddish on that particular sport, seeing as that's what I broke my collarbone playing. But usually I don't watch it. Football, that is. ...

Breaking News: Rosebowl gets re-vamped
I went to the Rose Bowl pizza shop (on 117th street, just north of Jasper) last night with Ad-Roc and Hoogs (Old high-school friends) for the best pizza in Edmonton and man was I impressed. The place used to be a dingy little bar for ...

rosebowl shirts
my roommate made these awesome rosebowl shirts. theyre only 15.99! http://www.cafepress.com/scmesswithtexa s.

Chess
WHILE Glasgow Polytechnic captured the Richardson Cup at the weekend, two other titles were also up for grabs at the finals of the Chess Scotland team completions, namely the Spens Cup and the Jack Campbell Rosebowl.

Chess
LAST Saturday was finals day of the Chess Scotland team competitions. The Richardson Cup, Spens Cup and Jack Campbell Rosebowl titles were all up for grabs at Grangemouth Sports Centre.

ROSEBOWL PIGSKIN
ROSEBOWL PIGSKIN. Thursday, January 05, 2006. Texas Versus California. Those Texas boys are accustomed to wide open spaces without much Smog. The game began with considerable smog resulting from the Fireworks. ...

2006-04-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

andrejohnson01 new articles for Monday, April 10, 2006Grim Reaper visits Addison (Daily Telegram)
Tthe Addison Chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions has the Grim Reaper help them demonstrate the possible consequences of drunk driving.

Edmonds handles conditions best (Wairarapa Times-Age)
Saturday's competition was a par round, and the weather appeared to have an effect on the standard of scoring, as the best score for the day was only 2 up.

ANOKA COUNTY (Pioneer Press)
ANOKA COUNTY • Admissions representatives from more than 100 two- and four-year colleges and universities across the Midwest will be on hand to meet with prospective students and their parents at the Minnesota Education Fair, set for 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Anoka-Ramsey Community College gymnasium, 11200 Mississippi Blvd. N.W., Coon Rapids. Information on admissions and transfer requirements

Northern's pain is Oram's gain (Stuff)
While there wasn't much to cheer about for Northern Districts in Hamilton yesterday, one sight would have brought a smile to the faces of the national cricket selectors.

Golf: Rejoin Alliance is plea from top duo (Huddersfield Daily Examiner)
ONE pair of golfers looking forward to Tuesday's next Alliance meeting at Bradley Park are Peter Newey and Mick Dempsey, who won this week's event at Crosland Heath.

2006-04-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

andrejohnson01 new articles for Sunday, April 02, 2006Grim Reaper visits Addison (Daily Telegram)
Tthe Addison Chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions has the Grim Reaper help them demonstrate the possible consequences of drunk driving.

Gibbs leads way in medal round (Wairarapa Times-Age)
The weather saw only a few hardy souls take to the course on Saturday, and there was no competition for the day. While the Marquis Shield team were playing at Eketahuna, it was still a good sized field that played in Sunday's medal round.

Couper and Kyme hit form ahead of trip Down Under (The Royal Gazette)
Two Melbourne-bound Bermuda athletes enjoyed perfect pre-Commonwealth Games weekends, Ashley Couper breaking her national Mile record once again and Nick Kyme climbing back to the top of the squash tree.

rose bowl

2006-02-02T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Rose Bowl is a stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. Its current official capacity is 92,542. The stadium is a National Historic Landmark.The Rose Bowl was designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1921. His design was influenced by the Yale Bowl (New Haven, Connecticut, built 1914). The Rose Bowl was under construction from 1921-1922. The stadium was dedicated on January 1, 1923 when Penn State played USC.