And so, another year winds down. This year kind sucked in a lot of ways, though, as most years do, it had a couple of good moments. Mostly, it’s good to get it over with, I guess (other than being that much closer to death, of course – but then I tend to look on the bright side most of time). Yesterday was one of those bright moments. Not only did SU go to a bowl game for the first time since 2004, and win a bowl game (and have a winning season and at least eight wins) for the first time since 2001, but they were actually fun to watch in the most entertaining bowl game of the season so far, racking up almost 500 yards of offense, and scoring 22 points in the second half of a “shootout” type of game to win by two points. This, for an offense that has pretty much sucked and was boring to watch all year, even when it won. So that was a pleasant surprise. Now we can fully devote our attention to basketball. Notre Dame tomorrow in the Dome. And I hate Notre Dame (quite possibly even more than I hate Georgetown, though that’s a tough call).
This is the sixth New Year’s Eve that this place has been around (I know – pretty hard to believe), and if you’ve been around here all that time, you probably know that our family tradition is to watch the Twilight Zone Marathon on what, as part of the dumbing down of America, they now call the SyFy channel. It commences at 8AM eastern with “Perchance To Dream” and wraps up with “The Last Rights Of Jeff Myrtlebank” on Sunday morning at 5:30.
Our little tradition started on New Year’s Eve, 1998, and this year, we’re kind of coming full circle. It was back in August ’98 that I got off dialup, and got RoadRunner. Back then, they didn’t have these cheap SOHO routers for sharing your Internet connection, and I’d been using one of my computers to share my dial-up connection with the other computers in the house (if somebody tried to load a web page, my computer in the basement would automatically dial out). When they installed RoadRunner, my plan was to continue with that – except I’d need to install 2 NICs in the computer. The installation tech assured me that was just not possible, and I said “ok” and then went ahead and did it as soon as he left. It was, of course, quite possible. But anyways…
I’d moved into my wife’s house, and she only had crappy basic cable back then. No Sci Fi channel (very few channels at all, really, and one crappy little TV the size of a postage stamp without surround sound or anything; I shudder to think of those days, though I upgraded the equipment, at least, when I got there). Anyhow, the cable signal was really crappy, and the tech guy (different tech; back then, it took two installers, believe it or not) had to go out on the pole and remove an old trap that was used to limit us to basic cable. He informed me that I’d be getting all the channels for a day or two, until they came out and replaced the trap.
I was sad, of course, but figured I could live with it. That year, by the way, SU finished with eight wins (going 8-4, losing to Florida in the Orange Bowl on Jan 2, 1999).
So, fast forward to the afternoon of New Year’s Eve in the year 2000 (that was the one after the world was gonna come to and end because computers would think it was the year 1900, and when Bill Clinton was quietly keeping America safe from the terrorists, unlike his successor, who, about 9 months later, would sit on his ass in Florida while the Twin Towers fell).
Back on 12/31/2000, I was off from work (things were more civilized back then), and we were watching the TZ Marathon as we had been for the past couple of years, when suddenly the door bell rang. It was a cable dude, informing me that he needed to put a trap on the cable line, because we were getting all the channels.
And so, just like that, no more Twilight Zone. Bummer.
The thought of life w/ basic cable was rather sobering (which is no way to go through New Year’s Eve), so the next day I went to Best Buy and got a DirecTV package, which was installed a couple of days later. So, on New Year’s Eve 2001, the tradition continued.
DirecTV had gotten to kind of suck in a lot of ways over the years, and so, when we moved out here this yesr, I decided to dump them and go with cable again. So, here we are, ready for the Marathon, and with SU winning eight games once again.
In 1998, basic analog cable was about 8 bucks a month. Now, for digital “surf and view” with HBO and DVR, I pay, well, I’d just as soon not think about what I pay. Let’s just say it’s more than $8. But then gas was about a buck a gallon back then, too.
Even worse, I have to go to f*ckin’ work today.
Have a good day, and whatever y’all do to ring in the new year tonight, stay safe and happy.
I don’t know much about the NEPB I yet other than I saw last night that the Orange prevailed and there was a funny penalty on someone for saluting the fans but I think that truth and justice must have prevailed.
Just for the record and not because of any Cali allegiances (any school that would harbor the likes of Condi and Rummy I will not be-fan), the women of Stanford Cardinal basketball ended the the 90 game UConn winning streak last night. The Cardinal was the last team to score a victory against the Huskies in the 2008 Final Four.
Happy Y2KX eve! Check the borders and look for those patches!
The Music They Left Behind
Yes, with 1:13 or something left in the game, Kansas St scored a TD to come within 2 points. The receiver then saluted the crowd, which drew a 15-yard “excessive celebration” penalty, which meant that the ensuing 2-point conversion attempt would be from the 18, and not the 3.
While no doubt technically a penalty, it was a terrible call (it also reminded me of a game between SU and Army in 1996, I think, when Donovan McNabb scored a TD and saluted the crowd; same call, same 15 yard penalty, and a crappy call then, too).
Now, I should note that these referees were terrible all game, for the most part calling bogus penalties on SU that kept K. St. drives alive, and without which, the game would not have been nearly as close (a phantom holding call on an interior defensive lineman who was rushing the passer and go called for holding an offensive lineman, and a “high hit” call on a defensive back for making not terribly hard shoulder to shoulder contact with a receiver are but two), as well as several obvious “no-calls” (an obvious interference call where the receiver looked like Jonah being swallowed by the whale is just one) that should have been called against K. St. that killed SU drives.
But you go to the Pinstripe Bowl with the refs you have, not the refs you might want or wish to have at a later time, and of course the one crappy call everybody remembers is the one at the end of the game.
However, even if that crappy call hadn’t been made, it certainly wasn’t automatic that Kansas St would have made the conversion (in fact, I think an extra 15 yards is an advantage when it comes to a pass play at that part of the field, though, to be fair, a running play is pretty much ruled out at that point).
Even if they had converted, SU would have had plenty of time to move the ball down the field (which they were doing at will), and would only have needed a FG to win.
Had SU failed to score, the game would have gone into OT, and, as I said, SU was moving the ball quite well, and the odd way that OT works in college football at the very least would have given SU an excellent chance at a win.
In short, the refs sucked but screwed us more than them, and “boo-fuckin’-hoo” for Kansas State.
That is my objective opinion.
I don’t begrudge them the win. I’d love to see a loop of the bad calls. I think the ‘demonstration’ penalty started with a little racial bias in the first place. The only salute that they should flag is :fu: and it should probably be with both fists. 15 yards seems like a lot, too.
The ‘good’ refs probably couldn’t get there from the blizzard so they had to get the Bronx’s finest who you know had to have a Southern NY state bias.
15 yards is hugely ridiculous. Typically, it’s assessed on the kickoff (team choice – on the extra point or on the ensuing kickoff), which almost always leads to a score by the other team, and is patently unfair, and maddening when it gets called on your team after a score.
Though I have to admit when McNabb saluted the Army, it was pretty frickin’ funny. But it was hard to ever get mad at Donovan. He was a lot of fun to watch.
The bogus penalty last night hurt SU more than Kansas St. KSU was handed an excuse for losing. As if they wouldn’t have lost anyway. I mean, all SU needed even if they got the 2 points was a FG, and, if I remember correctly, SU scored on every possession in the second half except for the last one when it was over. I could be wrong there (I’d have to check), but I think they only punted the ball twice all game, and were 0-2 on 4th down, with no fumbles lost or INTs.
As for the refs, well, let’s just say I don’t think the Pinstripe Bowl gets the “A” team.
2010 comes to an end but the planet, not understanding this momentous occasion, goes on carrying with it Republicans and the Tea Partiers, a warming globe and all the other reason and decency defying acts and actors. No wonder it’s a night everyone gets drunk.
Here the sink is clogged and the clog is not at the trap requiring further exploration and yet other complications. Having read all about PJ’s interesting adventures with plumbing, I have faith ours will be less amusing in the telling and less horrifying in the doing.
The snow collapsed part of the deck 2 days ago but we did not realize this until last night. Looking out the back door we had devised many other explanations for the odd angle at which the table sat and the reason why the snow was sliding off one side. Unfortunately, a step outside revealed that the board to which the deck was anchored to the house was rotten and, after a closer inspection, I think carpenter ants are probably to blame though I’m going to look for the telltale signs of termites. Seems as if bugs have been having their way with us lately.
Thanks for the music Vern. I read yesterday that Billy Taylor had died. I used to go to a little bar on 57th St where he played piano. Usually music in bars is drowned by clatter and talk. But, when he played the place was pretty quiet.
What’s the big deal about the game last night? Everyone knows the New York team gets all the favorable calls at Yankee Stadium. Just think of it as Steinbrenner’s gift from beyond the grave.
just thinking ahead.
———-
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, and if faced With courage, need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon The day breaking for you.
Give birth again To the dream.
Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands.
Mold it into the shape of your most Private need. Sculpt it into The image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts Each new hour holds new chances For new beginnings.
Do not be wedded forever To fear, yoked eternally To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward, Offering you space to place new steps of change. Here, on the pulse of this fine day You may have the courage To look up and out upon me, the Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.
…
-Inaugural Poem Maya Angelou 20 January 1993
http://eserver.org/poetry/angelou.html
Good stuff up there ^ – thanks much. Good luck with the plumbing, sp. That’s hilarious you didn’t realize you’d lost the deck. It’s not hilarious that you lost part of the deck, however.
Doesn’t anyone know about reverse osmosis systems? After this came out, it seems our charcoal filter won’t cut it ’round these parts. Aqua-pure is rated well from consumer reports. I’m thinking of putting one under the kitchen sink. We don’t have the chromium6 in OKC (at the moment), but have high concentrations of arsenic and other lovely crap. Jiminey Christmas. I can’t believe this friggin’ country…..
Oh, nice, Kev. Not like I shit all over Akron’s soccer national championship, and you have to go and diss SU’s Pinstripe Bowl win? :tap:
Like people in NYC actually even consider Syracuse a New York team (or give a crap about college football, for that matter). Hell, we might as well be in Gananoque for all they care (without the universal health care, of course).
Which explains why the team from Manhattan (Kansas) got 99% of the calls.
And, and just for the record, the officiating crew was from the Big Ten.
Probably all from Ohio. :nana:
Wow, 12.9 ppb in Norman? Man. Here, they say it’s about .1 ppb.
Used to work on an RO system a little bit. Not a whole lot. Just remember it didn’t work most of the time, and was pretty expensive to maintain (be we’re talking about a huge system with a tank that was about 30 feet tall by probably 10 feet in diameter). Provided RO water for the labs.
OKat, I know someone who is in that bidness in VA. Maybe you could talk to her. Otherwise, I recommend some old lace.
Slipped right by me.
i’ve been listening to the New Years Best of 2004 MRR Show.
http://samsedershow.tv/Archives/majorityreport/archives/Podcast/2004/The%20Majority%20Report%20Dec%2031.mp3
Sam And Janeane in some of the best interviews of the first year MRR shows.
a delightful listen.
Holy Shit! SyFy has two hours of f*cking wrestling on, interrupting the TZ marathon. In the words of Vizzini from Princess Bride: “Unacceptable! Unacceptable!”
Yeah, un-freaking-unacceptable (yes, I watch, too.)
Mr. Fk said it was a bad bad day in Afghanistan….. not only do I worry about his safety, but what he witnesses. Thankfully, Carlos had to go renew his visa in a different country and wasn’t there.
At least there’s a Dr. Who marathon on BBCA to fall back on.
Best of wishes to Mr. and Carlos. Nobody should have to be over there.
Turns out, when you haven’t had one for four or five months, two beers can give you a pretty decent buzz. Who knew?
Guess we’ll have to see what three does. Or would that be, “do”?
Maybe a couple more :40: and PJ can join the folks at the Krazy Kraut Bus Stop — actually quite a clever idea.
Wish you all a much better 2011! You’re a great Blog Family!
:jesus: :love: :yinyang: :fist:
I’ll defer to sp for #17. I live in okie land and struggle to maintain the King’s English. Speaking of which,
:alc:
:love: :gate: To All Youse Guys For 2011
I’m pretty sure that in Oklahoma, they both amount to the same thing (more or less).
The dogs have no idea whatsoever what we’re doing up this late. In fact, Siggy just said “f*ck this, I’m goin’ to bed.”
Christy Lane is advertising pretty heavily on the Dr. Who marathon. Seems a bit incongruous.
TZ is back on here.
:jason: i gotta cut out the fat next year
30 minutes to go.
I’ve managed to stay awake ’til midnight and give hubby a kiss.
Happy 2011 to all of you. May it be healthy and happy.
HNY Eastcoasters!
love y’all!
Happy to Y2KXI, y’all, as it creeps across the world! Be careful out there.
:alc:
Oh my god, I just looked- 28 entries today. Just got home.
Happy New Year to all seditionistas and their loved ones. Hope this is a better year for all of us.
Happy Festivus to vernon :dancers:
HNY left coast!
lots of people celebrating with firecrackers, poor Ruzz is in her crate shivering.