Weekend football report No. 4

EDITED to update.

I'd be remiss if I didn't start out by saying we had a fun but sad Saturday night as we bid our good friends Andrew and Rebecca farewell. They're moving to Phoenix, a place they always figured they'd be moving to (both are Arizona grads and Andrew has extensive ties to the area).

We're both terribly sad to see them go. We had a lot of fun on Saturday nights, sharing friendship and a drink or several. We'll miss you guys - but we'll see you soon. We promise.

Anyway, on with it. A pretty productive weekend for football watching, so here's everyone we saw at least one play of:

Alabama-Birmingham (lost to East Carolina 41-6)
Arizona State (beat Cal 31-20)
Arkansas State (lost to Troy 27-0)
Auburn (beat Ole Miss 17-3)
Boise State (beat Fresno St. 34-21)
Boston College (beat Va. Tech 14-10)
Bowling Green (lost to Ohio 38-27)
California (lost to Arizona St. 31-20)
Central Florida (beat Southern Miss 34-17)
Clemson (beat Maryland 30-17)
Colorado (beat Texas Tech 31-26)
Connecticut (beat USF 22-15)
East Carolina (beat UAB 41-6)
Florida (lost to Georgia 42-30)
Fresno State (lost to Boise St. 34-21)
Georgia (beat Florida 42-30)
Hofstra (lost to Villanova 35-31)
Idaho (lost to Nevada 37-21)
Iowa (beat Michigan St. 34-27)
James Madison (lost to Richmond 17-16)
Kansas (beat Texas A&M 19-11)
Kentucky (lost to Mississippi St. 31-14)
Louisiana Tech (beat Utah St. 31-21)
Louisville (beat Pittsburgh 24-17)
Maryland (lost to Clemson 30-17)
Michigan State (lost to Iowa 34-27)
Mississippi (lost to Auburn 17-3)
Mississippi State (beat Kentucky 31-14)
Nebraska (lost to Texas 28-25)
Nevada (beat Idaho 37-21)
North Carolina (lost to Wake Forest 37-10)
Ohio (beat Bowling Green 38-27)
Ohio State (beat Penn State 37-17)
Oregon (beat USC 24-17)
Penn State (lost to Ohio State 37-17)
Pittsburgh (lost to Louisville 24-17)
Richmond (beat JMU 17-16)
Rutgers (lost to West Virginia 31-3)
South Carolina (lost to Tennessee 27-24)
South Florida (lost to UConn 22-15)
Southern Miss (lost to UCF 34-17)
Tennessee (beat South Carolina 27-24)
Texas (beat Nebraska 28-25)
Texas A&M (lost to Kansas 19-11)
Texas Tech (lost to Colorado 31-26)
Troy (beat Arkansas St. 27-0)
USC (lost to Oregon 24-17)
Utah State (lost to La. Tech 31-21)
Villanova (beat Hofstra 35-31)
Virginia Tech (lost to Boston College 14-10)
Wake Forest (beat North Carolina 37-10)
West Virginia (beat Rutgers 31-3)

RIP Coach Pollard, Part 2

I can't really remember the first time I met Coach Doug Pollard. He was in charge of Moravian's highly-successful track and field teams; he and Mark Will-Weber - the head cross country coach, assistant track coach, marathoner and editor at Runner's World - were the backbone of a very strong Greyhound long-distance program.

It was probably because he was looking for volunteers to help run home track meets. I was happy to pitch in with the field events, since I had thrown javelin and discus in high school with varying levels of failure.

At one invitational meet - my sophomore year, I believe - I was in charge of both events. Since he was essentially running the meet, he had little time to actually coach. He was up in the press box, making sure everything was on schedule.

Once jav was over, we moved almost immediately to discus. Coach Pollard, in the press box, made the first call for men's discus. Eighteen folks made their way to the cage.

"I knew you were going to have a late day," Coach Pollard told me, "when I saw that mass of humanity start moving toward discus."

The days always ran late, it seemed. I'd always end up like a lobster from being in the sun all day, never thinking the days would last as long as they did. Those Saturday nights were spent with lots of aloe.

But I never minded.

Coach Pollard, who died on Monday far too soon, was a man who earned your confidence quickly. Besides the track meets, I knew him from hanging around the athletic department. Though I'd knew I wasn't much good enough to go out for track - and thus, never did - I always knew he would be the second person (behind Scot Dapp, the head football coach) I would go talk to if shit ever really hit the fan.

He was always quick with a smile, but didn't hesitate to tell you what he saw as the truth.

When our offensive line coach, Gary Williams, left the program after my junior year, we found out that Coach Pollard would be serving as our position coach. That really had me looking forward to my senior season; I knew we were getting a known commodity. Even better, I knew we were getting someone we could trust.

Our pregame ritual was always the same and not unlike most college teams. Specialists - punters, kickers, holders, returners - went out first, followed by backs and receivers. Then the big guys came out. As a team, we all went through warm-up drills from sideline to sideline, stretched, and did some positional warm-ups.

The last game I ever played was at home against Muhlenberg on a crisp, sunny October day. It also provides me with my lasting memory of Coach Pollard.

After those positional warm-ups, we all gathered into a huddle for some inspirational words.

"For some of you guys," he started, "today will be the last time you'll ever put on pads. And that's a tough thing to deal with."

Hearing those words, it hit home. It was my last game. It was the last time I'd ever put on pads.

Still, I was on a football field. As overcome with emotion as I was, I held back the tears.

Kind of like I am now.

Thank you, Coach, for all you've done for our school. We'll all miss you terribly.

RIP, Coach Pollard

More on this a little later, but my offensive line coach during my senior year in college died suddenly on Monday.

A story in the Allentown Morning Call is here.

I'll be back later with some thoughts. A very, very sad day.

Weekend football report

Before I get into that, a few notes on Saturday night's Catsino Night: As cool as I could have hoped. We were in the historic lobby, which gave us a grand view of a few planes (Alaska 737, Continental Express RJ, Delta MD-88, and what I believe to be a United 757) and the front end of the runway. So we saw planes just after touchdown, likely as they were just deploying reversers.

Just for showing up, we were given $10,000 in chips (play money, of course), except that most minimum bets were $1,000. Roulette was $500. I immediately gravitated toward the poker table which had two other folks. My first hand, I was dealt K-9 offsuit, big enough to play since there were only two others. Flop includes a nine and two undercards, so I've got top pair and top kicker. Dude keeps betting out at every opportunity and soon I've invested my whole stack. He flips over 3-5 offsuit.

And he wins with two pair.

I flashed my wife a look of anger she rarely sees. She implored me to calm down.

"The dealer was giving him instructions on how to play," she said. "What do you expect?"

I did buy back in and skipped poker for a while. Instead we had a grand time playing blackjack; I about broke even. So at least that part went well.

Anyway, on with the football. A fairly large list, I'd say, since we weren't even home on Saturday night...

Alabama (beat Tennessee 41-17)
Appalachian St. (lost to Georgia Southern 38-35)
Army (lost to Georgia Tech 34-10)
Baylor (lost to Texas 31-10)
California (lost to UCLA 30-21)
Cincinnati (lost to Pittsburgh 24-17)
Colorado (lost to Kansas 19-14)
Delaware St. (beat Morgan St. 25-17)
Florida (beat Kentucky 45-37)
Florida Atlantic (beat La.-Lafayette 39-32, OT)
Florida State (lost to Miami, Fla. 37-29)
Fresno St. (beat San Jose St. 30-0)
Georgia Southern (beat Appalachian St. 38-35)
Georgia Tech (beat Army 34-10)
Grambling (beat Jackson St. 30-20)
Howard (beat North Carolina A&T 35-27)
Indiana (lost to Penn State (36-31)
Iowa (lost to Purdue 31-6)
Iowa State (lost to Oklahoma 17-7)
Jackson St. (lost to Grambling 30-20)
Kansas (beat Colorado 19-14)
Kentucky (lost to Florida 45-37)
Louisiana-Lafayette (lost to Fla. Atlantic 39-32, OT)
Marshall (lost to Southern Miss 33-24)
Maryland (lost to Virginia 18-17)
UMass (beat Northeastern 24-7)
Miami, Fla. (beat Florida St. 37-29)
Miami, Ohio (lost to Temple 24-17)
Michigan St. (lost to Ohio St. 24-17)
Mississippi St. (lost to West Virginia 38-13)
Missouri (beat Texas Tech 41-10)
Morgan St. (lost to Delaware St. 25-17)
North Carolina A&T (lost to Howard 35-27)
Northeastern (lost to UMass 24-7)
Notre Dame (lost to USC 38-0)
Ohio St. (beat Michigan St. 24-17)
Oklahoma (beat Iowa State 17-7)
Penn State (beat Indiana 36-31)
Pittsburgh (beat Cincinnati 24-17)
Purdue (beat Iowa 31-6)
Rutgers (beat South Florida 30-27)
San Jose St. (lost to Fresno St. 30-0)
South Carolina (lost to Vanderbilt 17-6)
South Florida (lost to Rutgers 30-27)
Southern Miss (beat Marshall 33-24)
TCU (lost to Utah 27-20)
Temple (beat Miami, Ohio 24-17)
Tennessee (lost to Alabama 41-17)
Texas (beat Baylor 31-10)
Texas Tech (lost to Missouri 41-10)
UCLA (beat California 30-21)
USC (beat Notre Dame 38-0)
Utah (beat TCU 27-20)
Vanderbilt (beat South Carolina 17-6)
Virginia (beat Maryland 18-17)
West Virginia (beat Mississippi St. 38-13)

Whaddya know, Sony is still stupid

The Associated Press is reporting that Sony will drop prices on its PlayStation3 and introduce a third model, considerably cheaper than its other two.

Sony has slashed $100 off its top-end model, which will now cost $499 - still the most expensive game console out there. It comes with an 80-gig hard drive.

What was formerly the lower-end model has all but been eliminated. The new low-end model will cost $399 - still the second-most expensive game console out there. And here's the rub: The low-end model won't be compatible with any PS2 games.

So let me make sure I'm understanding Sony correctly.

They still want me to pay way to pay way too much - exorbitant, really - for their best console. They want me to pay $150 more than what I could get for a comparable XBox 360, and they want me to spend twice as much as I would for a Wii, which has gotten considerably better reviews.

Or I could opt for the less-expensive version. Which would be of no use to my old PS2 games whatsoever and, frankly, the only real reason I'd consider buying a PS3 in the first freaking place.

I've said in the past that PS3 will have to come way down for me to consider it. PS3 is down (in more ways than one), but not down far enough.

Stuff it, Sony.

-- IF YOU CHECKED HERE Thursday afternoon, you no doubt noticed that this post was not up yet. Yet the timestamp says 1:35 p.m.

Here's what happened: I started typing this post when I saw the Yahoo story on its front page. Since Bloogle (my new name for Blogger/Google) records the time as when the post was started, that explains the discrepancy.

I got about 2/3 of the way through during some down time at Redskin Park (the arrival schedule at Dulles was virtually the same as Wednesdays, so even that didn't really enthrall me). Then, rather unexpectedly, one of the PR folks came in and announced practice was over - meaning we were free to head down and conduct interviews. So I had to cut the post short - duty called.

-- JUST LIKE OLD TIMES? Occasionally, our regional sports network, Comcast SportsNet, has multiple programs they'd like to broadcast but only one channel to broadcast on. Instead, they hijack C-SPAN2 and put sports programming on there. This is shown on our lineup as CSN+.

So I cruised past CSN+ tonight and caught an unusual sight: The broadcast of the Devils-Flyers game from Philadelphia. See, there's a CSN there too; the Philly version is actually the original, celebrating its 10-year anniversary soon.

We somehow got the feed from CSN-Philly. Sweet, I thought. I'd get to watch the Flyers, re-connect with some of the on-air personalities I haven't seen in seven years, like Michael Barkann, and see those random, incessant commercials from places in Philly like Forman Mills and car dealers like Gary Barbera.

But that didn't happen.

The Devils-Flyers game didn't have any commercial breaks.

Well, they did. I just didn't see any of the commercials. Instead, we were treated to all the stuff they're doing while everyone else sees commercials - rewinding tape, moving the camera around, preparing graphics, announcers chatting with each other.

They were discussing NHL scores and one didn't seem surprised to learn the Rangers were trailing in Atlanta - even though the Thrashers started the season 0-6 and had just fired coach Bob Hartley.

The Rangers, he said, are "just brutal this year." Nothing, however, came anything close to scandalous.

Still, it was interesting hearing things that we're not supposed to hear...

The din of a city

I've given some thought lately to what other kinds of cities I'd want to live in (or near).

Places like Portland and Seattle and even San Jose or San Diego might sound cool. But I've had to separate my vision of a city from what it actually operates like. I think of the touristy, cool places, but that's different from what I really need to know: how a city operates.

How's traffic? Unless it's Los Angeles, it really can't be worse than DC. So that's a positive.

But what is nice about DC - or Northern Virginia really - is that if you know seven roads, you can get damn near anywhere you need to be: I-495 (Capital Beltway), I-95, I-66, US-1, US-50, US-29, VA-7.

What are the seven roads you need to know to get around Denver? What's the drive like on each?

These things intrigue me because on my drive, I see a lot of out-of-state plates (and no, Maryland doesn't count in this instance). I'd say damn near all those drivers fall into one of four categories: they're military (which explains the occasional Alaska or Hawaii plate), they're tourists, they're just driving through or they've just moved to the area and haven't changed their plates yet.

I know they probably don't look at any drive in DC the same way I do.

If we do move at some point, I'll probably be that same way for a bit. I just hope it's not that long.

-- THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS on Saturday night. Tomorrow, I'm planning on popping by the Arlington Animal Welfare Night to plunk down some cash for a fundraiser they're having. It's called Catsino Night.

Let's examine how awesome this will be.

1. As its name implies, there will be casino games. Including Texas Hold 'Em.

2. Free drinks.

3. It's in the lobby of Terminal A at National Airport.

Recounting: Poker, booze, planes.

The mind reels with how sweet this will be. "Why yes, I'll have a beer. Oh look, a US Air A319 from Dallas! Oh look, a flush draw!"

Fun, fun, fun

A gorgeous view, no?

Nothing quite like hitting traffic when you least expect it.

This is my view on I-395 northbound just after the Duke St. exit.

You'll notice the thick stream of white headlights in the center. That's I-395 southbound, still very much in the thick of rush hour.

Just to the right, you'll see another string of white headlights running a parallel course. That's part of the reason you see so many red brake lights.

OK, it's not the reason. Here's the reason. At the bottom of the hill, I-395 passes right over Sanger Ave., near where all of this was going on.

That same station is now reporting that the situation has ended peacefully, which didn't much help me.

I made my way down the hill and up to my normal exit, Seminary Rd., which was backlogged; the back end of the line of cars was actually still on the highway. I gave it the old college try, but gave up after a few minutes and not a whole lot of movement.

When an open spot came, I accelerated back onto the freeway with the idea of taking the next exit at King St. That went smoothly until I got off the freeway.

I meandered west on King St. hitting every traffic and nearly every red light. At the second red light, I heard an approaching siren and saw a fire truck come by and turn left, just as everyone had vacated their lane to make way.

I got back into the left of the two lanes with the intention of turning left onto Beauregard St. - which was still another three lights away. I think I hit two reds and had some yahoo decide that he needed to get in the left lane RIGHT THIS FREAKING INSTANT.

Finally, I made it to the turn lane to go left on Beauregard. But the green arrow is notoriously short; thanks to the numbnuts who wasn't paying attention and sat there for 10 seconds during the green arrow, I had to wait through a second cycle before proceeding.

Whew, I'm finally on Beauregard. Out of the woods? Hardly.

I approach the intersection with Seminary - my normal drive makes a giant hook-shape, this was just extending the hook - and it's all backed up because, whaddya know, Seminary connects with Sanger Ave., which is still closed.

It took me three cycles to get south of Seminary on Beauregard, all in traffic like I've never seen on that road. Fortunately, a series of parking lots runs parallel, so I was able to sneak through those. But that was about the only good thing.

A normally 20-minute drive that was about double that.

I'm reminded of an e-mail I received from Mark, my brother-in-law, a few weeks ago. Driving to work, he spotted a couple of moose roaming around a field near the road.

"Man, I live in the country," he wrote.

At this point, I'd take the country.

Saturday football report No. 2

I really did plan on writing this last night. But then after some drinks, typing became painfully slow. (And I'm doing all right - not great, but all right - this morning, thanks.)

I did learn, however, that I don't think mixing beer and wine is a great idea for me. I started off fine with my standard Yuengling. Once the Evolution was opened, well, what's a man to do? That's now become my favorite wine, though I regret its mention caused such consternation in the Zimmerman household (seventh graf).

Anyway, without further ado, here's who we saw yesterday:

Alabama (beat Ole Miss 27-24)
Arizona (lost to USC 20-13)
Arkansas (lost to Auburn 9-7)
Auburn (beat Arkansas 9-7)
Boston College (beat Notre Dame 27-14)
Bowling Green (lost to Miami-Ohio 47-14)
Colorado (lost to Kansas State 47-20)
Columbia (lost to Penn 59-28)
Duke (lost to Va. Tech 43-14)
East Carolina (beat UTEP 45-42, OT)
Eastern Michigan (lost to Ohio 48-42)
Fresno State (beat Idaho 37-24)
Georgia (beat Vanderbilt 20-17)
Georgia Tech (beat Miami, Fla. 17-14)
Hofstra (beat Towson 20-3)
Idaho (lost to Fresno State 37-24)
Illinois (lost to Iowa 10-6)
Iowa (beat Illinois 10-6)
Kansas State (beat Colorado 47-20)
Kentucky (beat LSU 43-37, 3OT)
LSU (lost to Kentucky 43-37, 3OT)
Miami, Fla. (lost to Ga. Tech 17-14)
Miami, Ohio (beat Bowling Green 47-14)
Mississippi State (lost to Tennessee 33-21)
North Carolina (lost to South Carolina 21-15)
Notre Dame (lost to BC 27-14)
Ohio (beat EMU 48-42)
Ole Miss (lost to Alabama 27-24)
Penn (beat Columbia 59-28)
Penn State (beat Wisconsin 38-7)
Rutgers (beat Syracuse 38-14)
South Carolina (beat North Carolina 21-15)
Southern Cal (beat Arizona 20-13)
Syracuse (lost to Rutgers 38-14)
Tennessee (beat Mississippi State 33-21)
Texas A&M (lost to Texas Tech 35-7)
Texas-El Paso (lost to East Carolina 45-42, OT)
Texas Tech (beat Texas A&M 35-7)
Towson (lost to Hofstra 20-3)
Wisconsin (lost to Penn State 38-7)
Vanderbilt (lost to Georgia 20-17)
Virginia Tech (beat Duke 43-14)

Saturday football roll call

As much as I complain about ESPN, their GamePlan package is pretty sweet.

Why watch that Fresno State-Nevada game? Because I can. (And also because I'd move to Reno a split second, so I guess I'd have to become a Wolfpack fan. Long live the pistol!)

Anyway, I saw at least one scrimmage play from each of the following:

Alabama (beat Houston 30-24)
Auburn (beat Vanderbilt 35-7)
Ball State (lost to Central Michigan 58-38)
Central Michigan (beat Ball State 58-38)
Cincinnati (beat Rutgers 28-23)
Clemson (lost to Virginia Tech 41-23)
Florida (lost to LSU 28-24)
Florida State (beat N.C. State 27-10)
Fresno State (beat Nevada 49-41)
Georgia (lost to Tennessee 35-14)
Georgia Tech (lost to Maryland 28-26)
Houston (lost to Alabama 30-24)
Illinois (beat Wisconsin 31-26)
Iowa (lost to Penn State 27-7)
Kent State (lost to Miami, Ohio 20-13)
Louisiana-Lafayette (beat North Texas 38-29)
LSU (beat Florida 28-24)
Maryland (beat Georgia Tech 28-26)
Miami, Fla. (lost to North Carolina 33-27)
Miami, Ohio (beat Kent State 20-13)
Middle Tennessee State (lost to Virginia 23-21)
Missouri (beat Nebraska 41-6)
Nebraska (lost to Missouri 41-6)
Nevada (lost to Fresno State 49-41)
North Carolina (beat Miami, Fla. 33-27)
North Carolina State (lost to Florida State 27-10)
North Texas (lost to La.-Lafayette 38-29)
Notre Dame (beat UCLA 20-6)
Ohio State (beat Purdue 23-7)
Oklahoma (beat Texas 28-21)
Penn State (beat Iowa 27-7)
Purdue (lost to Ohio State 23-7)
Richmond (lost to Towson 23-21)
Rutgers (lost to Cincinnati 28-23)
Stanford (beat USC 24-23)
Syracuse (lost to West Virginia 55-14)
Tennessee (beat Georgia 35-14)
Texas (lost to Oklahoma 28-21)
Towson (beat Richmond 23-21)
UCLA (lost to Notre Dame 20-6)
USC (lost to Stanford 24-23)
West Virginia (beat Syracuse 55-14)
Wisconsin (lost to Illinois 31-26)
Vanderbilt (lost to Auburn 35-7)
Virginia (beat MITSU 23-21)
Virginia Tech (beat Clemson 41-23)

I know it's Week 5, kinda late in the game, but hopefully I can remember to keep a running log of this. At the end of the season, we'll tally how many teams we managed to check out.

-- AND, ON ANOTHER NOTE, I see Colorado swept the Phillies. No, I didn't watch.

It's typical. Those teams build you up; you think you're finally getting a payoff and wham, nothing. And that's what kills you about each of the Philly teams: They all suck at varying times to varying degrees, but they're never bad enough for long enough to make you give up altogether.

They suck you back in, setting you up for another heartbreak.

Putting that glass pane to good use

I sat, as I always do, looking out the media center window at Redskin Park today. How convienent, it also provides a wonderful glimpse onto the approach path for runway 19R at Dulles International.

To get an idea of where I'm looking from, watch this video and pause it at 6:31.



In the lower right quadrant (an inch or so from the bottom and right), you'll see a patch of green that's more green than everything around it. That's the Redskins' artificial turf practice field. That building in front is their headquarters; the main entrance is in the middle, the media center just to the right.

So that's what it looks like from the sky.

Among the aircraft I had the pleasure of seeing:

-- British Airways 747

-- Saudi Arabian Airlines 747

-- United 747, 777 and 767

-- Air France 777

-- Virgin Atlantic A340

-- Scandinavian Airlines A330

-- KLM 777

And, on top of that, I sat in that same spot a few weeks ago and saw something I honestly never thought I'd see in my lifetime: A Korean Air 747.

God, I really am hopeless, aren't I?

NOTE: Links to pictures will be added as soon as I can. Airliners.net is undergoing a server change; it recommended I check out MyAviation.net, but frankly the photos I saw there were of poor quality. (EDIT: Done.)

Son of a gun, they did it

Throughout the entire baseball season, I doubted the Phillies. Who wouldn't? Each of the past two years they were good enough to be in contention in the final days of September, only to be eliminated from the postseason with mere hours remaining in the season.

In June, when they were playing well: "Don't worry, they'll find a way to piss it like they always do."

In September: "Seven games back? With this team and those pitchers? Are you out of your damn mind?"

Last Sunday: "Don't worry. The Nationals will find God in that final series and become the reincarnation of the Big Red Machine."

Well, it's Monday morning, and I was wrong on all counts. The Phillies are NL East champions and going to the playoffs.

The only thing I'm really rooting for now is a Phillies-Cubs NLCS - a battle of the sorriest franchises for the right to go to the World Series. Wouldn't that be a great story? You have the 'woe is us' Cubs fans and the 'woe is us, and we'll kick your ass' Phillies fans.

But I do tread lightly on the subject; I know longtime readers Matt and Donna are both huge, huge Mets fans, and they have my greatest sympathies.

You invest your faith for six straight months, and just when it seems you've got a tangible reward in hand, the rug is ripped from under you. That's a shitty, shitty feeling, and I hate that it's two of my good friends that are dealing with that this morning. Keep the faith, guys. You've got a damn good team up there, and you'll be back next year - there can be no question about that.

As for the Phils, they'll find out their NLDS opponent this afternoon, when San Diego and Colorado have a one-game playoff to determine the wild card winner. Obviously, the way the Phils are constructed, I'd think they'll be pulling for the Rockies.

The Phillies aren't going to win 1-0, 2-0, 2-1; they have to score - usually a lot - to have a chance. Now look at the two teams that play today: The Padres play in Petco Field, where offense goes to die. The Rockies play in Coors Field, which is along the lines of MLB's own pinball machine.

Even if San Diego does win, the Phillies dodge a bullet. Ace (and NL Cy Young candidate) Jake Peavy will go for the Padres today, meaning the Phils get the rest of a staff that, aside from Peavy, has stumbled down the stretch.

All we can do now is wait.

Which ought to give me plenty of time to realize just how wrong I was - not that I really mind.

(Photo by Reuters)