Sunday, January 31, 2010

Yahoo Gets it Right


So Bryant McKinnie of the Vikings missed a couple of practices for the Pro Bowl and was kicked off the team. That's the equivalent of getting your participation trophy in youth soccer or baseball taken away . Does he really care? Below is an excerpt from Yahoo that I think sums it up best.

Let's just call it like it is. First of all, McKinnie never should have been voted to the Pro Bowl in the first place. He was an average lineman at best this year, finding himself benched against the Carolina Pantherson December 21 for giving up sacks and pressures without letup. The Vikings got to the NFC Championship despite their line, and everybody knows it. For McKinnie to take an award he doesn't deserve and throw it away is one thing -- but to throw his teammates under the bus and put an already undermanned roster under more pressure is absolutely inexcusable. Diehl is the professional in this scenario, and he's now the one who will be playing more, and possibly subjecting himself to injury. McKinnie needs to figure it out -- and fast. The Pro Bowl may be a joke to him (and many others), but leaving your fellow football players in the lurch is hardly humor fodder.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

This Kills Me.


Football graduation rates in the Big 12. I've been looking for the arrest rates as well, wondering if the chart would be flipped. UT and OU are Nike schools. Just Win Baby. Nothing else matters, period. As a coach how can you live with yourself? Do you tell the kids they can come to Austin and get a degree or do you just tell them to play football? Where's the statements from Stoops and Brown regarding these grad rates? Can't find that either.


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Live From Ralph Strangis

Favre and Vikings Classically Heroic
Ralph Strangis – January 25, 2010

So often it is the outcome that consumes us, that validates our performances and supports our claims and beliefs. We use the scoreboard to tell us if we’re winners and trophies of every kind to proclaim to the world that we are who we say we are.

The problem is – that outcomes are the end product of complex equations. No single factor or person can control an outcome, despite our egocentric notions and grandiose beliefs to the contrary. In a football game the outcome is determined by combining all elements; your team’s players, their team’s players, subjective officiating, booth reviews, opportunities and mistakes, plays made and missed at all junctures, the toss of a coin, and the haphazard bounce of an oblong ball on a synthetic surface. It follows that looking at the scoreboard as the only means to evaluate success or failure is at least simplistic and often off the mark entirely.

In Sunday’s NFC Championship game the outcome, the final score said: New Orleans 31, Minnesota 28. Some will say then that simply the Saints won and the Vikings lost. They will posit that the Vikings are cursed, that Brett Favre choked, that the legacy of Minnesota late-season failures is secure and that New Orleans has finally shed its losing ways and are “AINTS” no more. Yes it is a hard-fought and important victory for New Orleans, and they are more than a deserving team to represent the conference in the big game.

As a lifelong Vikings fan I saw something else too. I saw a classic and epic tale of a group of players that would not shut down or quit. I watched as mistakes that would completely destroy a weaker group embolden them and solidify their intent. I watched as injured players pushed on through unrelenting pain. And I saw a 40 year-old quarterback defiant in the face of one bone-rattling hit after another willing himself and his team to keep battling no matter how many times he or they hit the canvas. Playing it safe, pushing the game down the tracks and hoping for something good to just happen for them is not a part of this group’s DNA.

Twelve months earlier the Vikings limped through a playoff game against the Eagles with all the purpose of a rudderless craft. They had players, but they were hardly a team. That group slipped into the pile with all those other Vikings teams which had teased their fans a bit, only to leave them hollow and waiting for next year.

The franchise is replete with heartbreaking losses and characterized by teams who either would not or could not show up when they were counted on most. Not this group. Not on that Sunday. This team is unlike any Vikings team before it, and it was because of one guy.

Vikings coach Brad Childress knew exactly what he was doing when he pursued Brett Favre and got him to leave his cozy quasi-retirement. And he also knew when to get out of the way after a late-season battle over whose team this would be. Favre’s message at the time - that Childress signed off on and the team took complete ownership of was – this is Brett Favre’s team – and Brett Favre’s team will not quit playing. Not ever. No matter what. In the second half of the Monday night game in Chicago the dye was cast. The Vikings smacked around a disinterested Giants team in the regular season finale and then hammered the Cowboys in the Divisional playoff game that put Dallas on an airplane home crying foul; that the Vikings had the audacity to keep playing – no matter what.

Saints Coach Sean Payton had been paying attention. His game plan was to go after the head of the snake, and that’s what his team did. But Favre and his team would not surrender or succumb, they would not, as many previous editions of the Vikings had, go quietly into the night. Despite Favre and his team’s own transgressions, despite sustaining a torrent of unwelcomed body belts, and despite a solid counter-punching opponent, this Vikings team did anything but go quietly into the night.

It may seem a stretch, but to watch the game I couldn’t help but think that Favre and his teammates more than once said “this game may do me permanent harm, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to keep getting up.” No – this is not your father’s Vikings team.

The most important lesson then is this; how will you acquit yourself at life’s most critical moments? How will you respond when things get “too hard”? Will you continue to battle with every last ounce you have – or will you just – slip quietly away…?

Brett Favre may be the classic literary tragic hero; his greatest strengths will also be his undoing. But he doesn’t know anything else. He is at all times trying to win a game, not trying not to lose it.

To a starving fan base he brought hope and promise and delivered more heroic moments in weeks than they’d seen in years. To a mid-pack team he brought a swagger and confidence and will to fight than they had never known, and those things will stay with this group going forward. And to an audience of millions he showed what true character and real heroism really is, if they were paying attention. That the scoreboard did not validate his actions is hardly the point.

You may find it odd that I think it selfish of me that I want him to retire. I’m a Vikings fan, yet I want to remember Sunday as his finest hour and can’t imagine anything ahead that will match this season or his performance against New Orleans. At 40 years old - he took their best shots and kept coming back at them. This was his opus, his master work. Favre put everything together for one day – all of it – every representation of his body of work. His young warriors alongside him followed his lead. And he and his team just flat out refused to stop playing.

I think about the interception; the decision and the throw. Is there any doubt that they would have been in that spot in the first place without him? And at the end of the day, it’s just one play in a game that had many that conspired to form the outcome.

But honestly - that’s the Brett Favre I saw in Green Bay, that’s the Brett Favre I saw all season, and that’s the Brett Favre I want. And Sunday gave us every indication that as long as his body is able to do what his spirit commands, he’ll stay with it. Someday, and perhaps sooner rather than later, the body will fade, even though the fire still burns, and he’ll know it, and that will be that.

I know, if you’re a Vikings fan you really wanted the Super Bowl champion sweatshirt. But on Sunday, Favre and the Vikings gave you a much more valuable souvenir.


Ralph Strangis is a Minnesota native, lifelong Vikings fan, and is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Dallas Stars hockey team, currently in his 20th season with the club.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Released By Tech

http://www.texastech.edu/headcoachtuberville/index.php

Monday, January 18, 2010

Credit to Boston's Legal Ass

These are actual comments made on students' report cards by teachers in the New York City public school system. All teachers were reprimanded, but boy are these funny and likely appropriate.

1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.

2. I would not allow this student to breed.

3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.

4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.

5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.

6. The student has a 'full six-pack' but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.

7. This child has been working with glue too much.

8. When your daughter's IQ reaches 50, she should sell.

9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.

10. If this student were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.

11. It's impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out 1,000,000 others.

12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Stuff and Whatnot ***Edited


  • Fixed the PS3 today, completely tore it apart and put back together after applying heat to the CPU and GPU. Only had 4 screws left over but I know where they go so that's okay.
  • Kinda boring football today. Hope the Vikings game is boring too...in our favor.***Not even close to boring. Absolutely loved the entire game, couldn't stop watching.
  • Stars played their best game of the year today. Intensity was at a high level.
  • I'm tired of using a tank of gas per week. Mostly picking up kids and dropping them off.
  • I think the fireplace needs to be cleaned, it smells like I made ribs in the living room. I didn't.
  • Ever get tired of technology? Me too. Real tired.
  • I'd love to take a trip to somewhere sunny with a beach. And it needs to be warm.
  • Just love those cupcakes up top.

Says He's a Salesman

I believe him after listening to this. He just talks very smoothly and has a soothing voice. Let's just hope that translates to WINS! (sorry, embed didn't work)


Thursday, January 14, 2010

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Had to try this

You should see an emoticon above. It's become very easy to do this, I remember the good old days where you had to write so much code to make it happen. I have no idea how I learned that much less taught it.







Sunday, January 10, 2010

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Gotta Watch Cowboys now


Team Leach is going to show some Mike Leach advertisements during the game. Not sure what they are but you can read more here.

One More Quote

QUOTE FROM BUTCH FORD

"When Adam went to high school here, there were two coaches, me and Craig James, Craig James coached Adam and I coached the rest of the team. I was NEVER so happy to see one boy graduate!"

Butch Ford
Athletic director/Head coach
Celina Bobcats
Celina Texas

Friday, January 8, 2010

Last Year's Darwin Awards

Here is the glorious winner:

1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his
intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach , California
would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only
inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the
trigger again. This time it worked.

And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a
meat cutting machine and after a little shopping around,
submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company
expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look
for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger.
The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for
his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his
vehicle to find a woman had taken the space.. Understandably,
he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a
Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he
was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had
escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver
went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there
a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental
hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very
excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception
wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from
serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When
asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that
he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head
to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill
on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened
the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the
cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The
man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20
bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from
the drawer... $15. [If someone points a gun at you and gives
you money, is a crime committed?]

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He
decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a
liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted
the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window.
The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on
the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window
was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on
videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store,
a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911
immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed
description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police
apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove
back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car
and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he
replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the
lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man
walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan at 5 A.M.,
flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him
down because he said he couldn't open the cash register
without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the
clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The
man, frustrated, walked away.


10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor
home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he
bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very
sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage.
A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to
steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the
motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the
vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the
best laugh he'd ever had.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The wife says...

CandyHaven makes a great cake.

"I'd like a strawberry M&M cake with Mars bars icing and could you use gummy bears for the candles?"


Day off today

Didn't do much today although I had plans to work on the house a little bit. Some of the more exhaustive events today?
  • Played the Wii with wife and Ben for about and hour
  • Watch "Enemy at the Gate". Saw it in the theatre several years ago and didn't like it much at the time. It was much better in the confines of the living room.
  • Snuck out to the store to get a new electric razor. The foil on my old one has a cut in it and last time that happened I got a nice cut on my face.
  • Brought the trash bin to the back yard. Harder than it sounds since it's about 10 degree wind chill outside.
  • Unpacked the razor and plugged it in.
Whew, time for a nap.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Pictures

I came across these from the 3p Challenge 2009. This year's event will be held on March 27, 2010. Not sure if I'll undertake the adventure again this year, depends on how deep the water is.

Another Funny

Watch some of the language in this one but there's some great stuff in here.


Best Sign?

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Please answer the question

Not sure he answered a single one.

More Tech dribble

Is this a good video or not? Fubar could put together a pretty good one too, just a few more curse words.

Anybody believe this?

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4783342&bn_req=RelatedVideos&bn_guide=AlsoUsed&bn_bnrank=2&

Here's a thought, answer the question. All he's got is the sympathy card and he's playing the heck out of it. He should have taken his child out of the situation if he was so concerned, especially since he's not going to play.

But this song is genius.