On a miserable, rainy Friday night, I trudged out to cover a football game. Schools in our area are notorious for postponing football games in even moderate rainfall, so it was a bit of a surprise that one of the area's biggest games was still going on.
But on it went, and I made the drenching walk from my car to the press box, where I dropped my stuff and made my way to find a program. Because it's helpful to identify those players we write about, and my boss wouldn't much appreciate reading about how punter #26 was tackled in the end zone for a safety.
I struck up a conversation with a guy who had arrived as early as I did - which was early. Said he drove up from King George County, (we're in Prince William County) though I never bothered to ask why he drove up from King George County. He managed to pluck a seat in the front row, and while talking to him, I noticed a strange deal on the field.
I excused myself from the conversation and took a walk onto the field. Sure enough, something I'd never seen before in my life: Black yardlines. It sort of made sense, since the grass on the field was mostly yellow.
The home team's coach told me later that their Bermuda grass goes dormant when it gets cold and turns yellow. It was completely legal, since yardlines aren't required to be white, only contrasting to the field. Plus, this was their way of celebrating Homecoming.
I took a quick photo with my cell phone for posterity, thinking the dude at the Uniwatch blog might be interested in it. Sure enough, he was.
Fast forward a few days later. On Monday night, I'm covering a different game in a different corner of the county. One of our local teams is playing a league opponent from Shenandoah County (wow, I'm helpful with maps today, huh?).
Our local team is up by two touchdowns, and the visiting team's offense is frustrated by a solid performance by the home team's defense, which allowed 102 yards of total offense and forced five three-and-out series.
After one such series, for the second time in four days, I saw (or in this case, heard) something I've never ever seen before at a football game: Cheerleaders talking shit. To their own team.
"We're over here screaming our heads off and you guys aren't doing a thing out there!" one yelled.
A few seconds later after the ball was punted, most of the players on the sideline lingered near the original line of scrimmage.
"Hey guys," another yelled, "the ball's down there!"
Wow.
And the crazy thing about all this? Just last week - before Friday night - I was thinking how it seems I never see anything different at a football game.
Guess I won't be thinking that this Thursday.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Holy crap...it's been a year already?
That's been the reaction when I've told people that today is our one-year anniversary. Come to think of it, that's been my reaction, too.
It went by so quickly. But I couldn't be happier. (Warning: Gooeyness ahead.)
My wife is the yin to my yang, and basically takes care of things for us that I couldn't take care of myself - like having a home-cooked meal each night or making sure our apartment doesn't deteorate into a pigsty. (Don't get me wrong, I help in these areas when I can; but without her, I'd be lost. Like lost in a foreign country on a different continent with no grasp of the language and no map or compass - that kind of lost.)
She's also the more thoughtful, analytical of the two of us, unlike the spur-of-the-moment type that I am. I'm ready to rush into something, and she urges a cautious approach. Or I get pissed off when the Eagles play like crap, and she reminds me of some silver lining I failed to see. She seems to be a lot better at the big-picture stuff than I.
And she's humble. I can guarantee that if I weren't writing this sentence, she'd leave a comment telling everyone that I overexaggerated these claims, that I'm not as helpless as I make it seem.
She'd be wrong.
But most of all, she's the most patient, tolerant person I know. I'm a handful to live with - all the constant farting and burping and harrassing of her cat. And from time to time, I do some dumb, short-sighted things. Like the night when we went out for dinner and I stopped to buy a video game on the way home.
It was her birthday.
What the hell was I thinking? What a complete moron I can be sometimes.
But she brushed it off and seemed only slightly annoyed - which is a lot less than I can say for me, looking back on how idiotic I was.
She puts up with a sportswriter's schedule, meaning that Friday nights and alternating Sundays in the fall are non-existent. And though I try and get home early when I can, there are some nights it can't be helped. And she takes it all in stride. (I think I knew she was a keeper when she accompanied me to a couple of far-away wrestling tournaments only a few weeks after we met.) She also puts up with a sportswriter's pay, and that's not an easy deal.
She's a dream wife, and it's been a dream year.
Here's to many more. Love ya, sweetie.
(And for those of you that came out of the gooeyness a little worse for wear, this should help you out.)
It went by so quickly. But I couldn't be happier. (Warning: Gooeyness ahead.)
My wife is the yin to my yang, and basically takes care of things for us that I couldn't take care of myself - like having a home-cooked meal each night or making sure our apartment doesn't deteorate into a pigsty. (Don't get me wrong, I help in these areas when I can; but without her, I'd be lost. Like lost in a foreign country on a different continent with no grasp of the language and no map or compass - that kind of lost.)
She's also the more thoughtful, analytical of the two of us, unlike the spur-of-the-moment type that I am. I'm ready to rush into something, and she urges a cautious approach. Or I get pissed off when the Eagles play like crap, and she reminds me of some silver lining I failed to see. She seems to be a lot better at the big-picture stuff than I.
And she's humble. I can guarantee that if I weren't writing this sentence, she'd leave a comment telling everyone that I overexaggerated these claims, that I'm not as helpless as I make it seem.
She'd be wrong.
But most of all, she's the most patient, tolerant person I know. I'm a handful to live with - all the constant farting and burping and harrassing of her cat. And from time to time, I do some dumb, short-sighted things. Like the night when we went out for dinner and I stopped to buy a video game on the way home.
It was her birthday.
What the hell was I thinking? What a complete moron I can be sometimes.
But she brushed it off and seemed only slightly annoyed - which is a lot less than I can say for me, looking back on how idiotic I was.
She puts up with a sportswriter's schedule, meaning that Friday nights and alternating Sundays in the fall are non-existent. And though I try and get home early when I can, there are some nights it can't be helped. And she takes it all in stride. (I think I knew she was a keeper when she accompanied me to a couple of far-away wrestling tournaments only a few weeks after we met.) She also puts up with a sportswriter's pay, and that's not an easy deal.
She's a dream wife, and it's been a dream year.
Here's to many more. Love ya, sweetie.
(And for those of you that came out of the gooeyness a little worse for wear, this should help you out.)
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Video wall: The '90s
Back again, a bank of Brian's favorite songs, courtesy of YouTube. Now with limited commentary!
One of my favorite songs ever. Reminds me of the wintertime, since I think I overplayed it that time of year...
I completely forgot how wonderful this one was. I've been reminded and am having a blast re-discovering it - proves loud doesn't always equal good. (You'll recall I interviewed these guys in DC earlier this year and saw them play a brief set at RIR.)
Another favorite - for its musical quality, not for the story. I like my happy home!
Completely safe for work. Trust me, I previewed it. This is also the first time I ever saw the video.
This is among my very favorite songs of all-time. RIP, Layne.
Very underrated. Might be my No. 1 GNR song. A damn shame Axel lost his mind...
No better song on earth to listen to while driving down the highway.
One of my favorite songs ever. Reminds me of the wintertime, since I think I overplayed it that time of year...
I completely forgot how wonderful this one was. I've been reminded and am having a blast re-discovering it - proves loud doesn't always equal good. (You'll recall I interviewed these guys in DC earlier this year and saw them play a brief set at RIR.)
Another favorite - for its musical quality, not for the story. I like my happy home!
Completely safe for work. Trust me, I previewed it. This is also the first time I ever saw the video.
This is among my very favorite songs of all-time. RIP, Layne.
Very underrated. Might be my No. 1 GNR song. A damn shame Axel lost his mind...
No better song on earth to listen to while driving down the highway.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
My candidate for Virginia's junior Senator is...
I still haven't exactly picked out who I'll vote for in two weeks. Most of our frequent visitors here are from states that aren't the Commonwealth of Virginia, so some quick background:
The incumbent is Sen. George Allen, a Republican, son of the former Redskins coach of the same name. According to thomas.loc.gov, 50 of his colleagues have sponsored as much or more legislation than he has.
Of the bills he has introduced, some look pretty good - like the government providing relief to people taken hostage by terrorists, a bill that prevents Congress from being paid if appropriations acts aren't passed by a certain date - but a lot of them leave me just scratching my head.
Of his 89 pieces of legislation, four are formal congratulations to college teams that won a national championship. I know this is standard procedure - my wife's boss did much the same when Las Vegas native Kurt Busch won the Nextel Cup title a few years back - but four seems like a lot.
Furthermore, there are several bills "to suspend temporarily the duty" on all of the following, word for word from the legislation: handheld electronic can openers, electric knives, toaster ovens with single-slot traditional toaster opening on top of oven, ice shavers, dual-press sandwich makers with floating upper lid and lock, electric drink mixers with tilt mixing heads and two-speed motors, electric juice extractors greater than 300 watts but less than 400 watts, open-top electric indoor grills, electric coffee grinders, electric percolators, automatic drip coffeemakers other than those with clocks, automatic drip coffeemakers with electronic clocks, electronic under-the-cabinet mounting electric can openers and food slicers and shredders with top-mounted motors and replaceable mixing bowls.
What. The. Fuck.
If you have any sort of political inclination, you probably know that Allen was in the middle of the macaca flap, a controversy which has broiled since the temperature was hot. (The U.Va. Center for Politics' Crystal Ball gives good insight into the major moments of the race so far.)
Plus, if you'll recall, you may remember I'm not George Allen's biggest fan in the first place.
So that means I'm voting for Democrat Jim Webb, right?
Nope.
Webb has made several missteps in the past, long before his Senate candidacy. They are now coming back to haunt him. According to several reports, he was pretty hostile towards women during his time in Annapolis at the U.S. Naval Academy.
If Allen's attack ads are to be believed - and I've seen no Webb counterattack to make me think otherwise - Webb was prepared to say that the late Ronald Reagan would have endorsed his candidacy. Webb served as Secretary of Navy under Reagan, but left after 10 months. He later penned a book and referred to Reagan as a fool, or some other moniker that uh, wasn't exactly glowing.
Webb pressed ahead with wanting to use Reagan's name, even after a letter from Nancy Reagan that asked him not to.
So that means I'm going with Gail Parker, the independent choice, representing the Green Party, right?
Nope.
Some of her answers to this Connection Newspapers questionnaire are just baffling.
"... [B]uild[ing] rail now, right now, high-speed rail, beginning in Virginia, is an excellent long term strategy for combating terrorism."
"Voters in Virginia have express [sic] dissatisfaction to me with No Child Left Behind. I strongly support education. Rail can provide rapid transit to choices in education."
Huh? Are you joking?
In that same questionnaire, she did not answer yes/no questions about same-sex marriage, net neutrality, and a guest worker program. At least Allen and Webb answered the questions, though Webb did not answer whether he believed in evolution.
So the point of it all is this:
-- I'm not voting to send someone to the Senate to be a middle-of-the-road member in terms of legislation and influence.
-- I'm not voting to send someone to the Senate who has such a persistent past of intolerance.
-- I'm not voting to send someone to the Senate who has one platform, doesn't conjugate verbs correctly and won't answer tough questions.
As a result, I'll be writing in a candidate: Santa Claus. Or maybe Lewis Black.
The incumbent is Sen. George Allen, a Republican, son of the former Redskins coach of the same name. According to thomas.loc.gov, 50 of his colleagues have sponsored as much or more legislation than he has.
Of the bills he has introduced, some look pretty good - like the government providing relief to people taken hostage by terrorists, a bill that prevents Congress from being paid if appropriations acts aren't passed by a certain date - but a lot of them leave me just scratching my head.
Of his 89 pieces of legislation, four are formal congratulations to college teams that won a national championship. I know this is standard procedure - my wife's boss did much the same when Las Vegas native Kurt Busch won the Nextel Cup title a few years back - but four seems like a lot.
Furthermore, there are several bills "to suspend temporarily the duty" on all of the following, word for word from the legislation: handheld electronic can openers, electric knives, toaster ovens with single-slot traditional toaster opening on top of oven, ice shavers, dual-press sandwich makers with floating upper lid and lock, electric drink mixers with tilt mixing heads and two-speed motors, electric juice extractors greater than 300 watts but less than 400 watts, open-top electric indoor grills, electric coffee grinders, electric percolators, automatic drip coffeemakers other than those with clocks, automatic drip coffeemakers with electronic clocks, electronic under-the-cabinet mounting electric can openers and food slicers and shredders with top-mounted motors and replaceable mixing bowls.
What. The. Fuck.
If you have any sort of political inclination, you probably know that Allen was in the middle of the macaca flap, a controversy which has broiled since the temperature was hot. (The U.Va. Center for Politics' Crystal Ball gives good insight into the major moments of the race so far.)
Plus, if you'll recall, you may remember I'm not George Allen's biggest fan in the first place.
So that means I'm voting for Democrat Jim Webb, right?
Nope.
Webb has made several missteps in the past, long before his Senate candidacy. They are now coming back to haunt him. According to several reports, he was pretty hostile towards women during his time in Annapolis at the U.S. Naval Academy.
If Allen's attack ads are to be believed - and I've seen no Webb counterattack to make me think otherwise - Webb was prepared to say that the late Ronald Reagan would have endorsed his candidacy. Webb served as Secretary of Navy under Reagan, but left after 10 months. He later penned a book and referred to Reagan as a fool, or some other moniker that uh, wasn't exactly glowing.
Webb pressed ahead with wanting to use Reagan's name, even after a letter from Nancy Reagan that asked him not to.
So that means I'm going with Gail Parker, the independent choice, representing the Green Party, right?
Nope.
Some of her answers to this Connection Newspapers questionnaire are just baffling.
"... [B]uild[ing] rail now, right now, high-speed rail, beginning in Virginia, is an excellent long term strategy for combating terrorism."
"Voters in Virginia have express [sic] dissatisfaction to me with No Child Left Behind. I strongly support education. Rail can provide rapid transit to choices in education."
Huh? Are you joking?
In that same questionnaire, she did not answer yes/no questions about same-sex marriage, net neutrality, and a guest worker program. At least Allen and Webb answered the questions, though Webb did not answer whether he believed in evolution.
So the point of it all is this:
-- I'm not voting to send someone to the Senate to be a middle-of-the-road member in terms of legislation and influence.
-- I'm not voting to send someone to the Senate who has such a persistent past of intolerance.
-- I'm not voting to send someone to the Senate who has one platform, doesn't conjugate verbs correctly and won't answer tough questions.
As a result, I'll be writing in a candidate: Santa Claus. Or maybe Lewis Black.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Why is it about me?
Matt made reference to a game review in one of his comments, and I'm happy to oblige. My two latest pickups were both from the sports genre, NASCAR 07 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, both from EA Sports.
Both are OK, but neither is exciting enough for me to be really pumped about them.
I'll start with Tiger, since that's the one I've played most recently - and the one that leads me to the title of this post.
Why does it have to be about me?
I've played several rounds in the PGA Tour season mode, and there are a few things that I don't get - things that don't jive with what happens over the course of a weekend of golf on the Tour.
First, regardless of my score, I always tee off last. This just doesn't happen; on Thursdays and Fridays, there's a draw to see who tees off when. And if I'm not in the lead after Friday's round, then I sure shouldn't be teeing off last.
I'd prefer a little more realism here. If I don't play well enough in the first two rounds, then I should have to sweat a little after the final round. Give me a screen that says, "Waiting for all rounds to be completed..." and let me know how I finished up.
Second, it seems as though the field tends to keep pace with however I'm playing. I played one course well, but it wasn't well enough to beat the final score - 38 under. A week later, on a harder course, I played horribly, yet the leaders hung right around even par.
Again, realism is needed. If I suck on one course, that doesn't mean the rest of the field will. If I don't play well enough, I don't make the cut. That's always how it's been, yet that's not how it is in the game.
Then, of course, there are the myriad problems that this game seems to have every year, particularly with the audio. No matter how you've played, Gary McCord likes to tell you you're tied atop the leaderboard after you hole out on 18 - even if you're not in the same ZIP code as the leaderboard. And, around the third hole of each Tour event I've played, McCord tells me it was a great/poor finish to my tournament.
This game had the same problem in the last version I bought - 2005. Surely two versions later the problem would be corrected, right? Hardly.
I keep looking for other, non-sports games that will hold my attention, but those games are pretty rare. I need something to keep me from buying another half-ass product from EA Sports.
NASCAR 07 isn't as bad on the inside, but the game's release date is. It comes near the end of the season. As a result, Elliott Sadler is on the cover. Not a problem, except Sadler changed teams in the middle of the season. So there we see him, proudly displaying that M&M's uniform when he was driving a Robert Yates Racing Ford.
Except now he's in an Evernham Motorsports Dodge. Oops.
The game included a new tryout mini-game that was supposed to help you advance to the top series, Nextel Cup, more quickly than before. Fair enough...I drove well enough that I earned a ride in the Busch series, the AAA cousin to the major-league Nextel Cup.
Except that I dominated Busch - around 15 wins, 20+ top 10s in 34 races. (Truth be told, I did as well as I did because all of the driving aids were turned on - only becuse I couldn't figure out how to turn them off. That is the absolute truth, I swear.) Cup teams would be lining up to get me in their stable, right?
Nope. I got a bunch of offers from second-tier teams. (Really, about fourth-tier teams, since they were all fictional.)
And the rival system has gotten out of hand. If I accidentally tag someone on the track, they understandably get pissed off at me. But then, if I happen to see them again, they ram into the side of my car.
If a scenario like this were to ever happen in real life, there would at least be a fine involved and many questions to answer later. Think about Tony Stewart's run-in with Clint Bowyer (and, eventually, Carl Edwards) at the July Pocono race this year.
Like Tiger, it's not a whole lot different than the game I purchased two years ago.
So, Matt, to answer your question: Ho-hum.
Both are OK, but neither is exciting enough for me to be really pumped about them.
I'll start with Tiger, since that's the one I've played most recently - and the one that leads me to the title of this post.
Why does it have to be about me?
I've played several rounds in the PGA Tour season mode, and there are a few things that I don't get - things that don't jive with what happens over the course of a weekend of golf on the Tour.
First, regardless of my score, I always tee off last. This just doesn't happen; on Thursdays and Fridays, there's a draw to see who tees off when. And if I'm not in the lead after Friday's round, then I sure shouldn't be teeing off last.
I'd prefer a little more realism here. If I don't play well enough in the first two rounds, then I should have to sweat a little after the final round. Give me a screen that says, "Waiting for all rounds to be completed..." and let me know how I finished up.
Second, it seems as though the field tends to keep pace with however I'm playing. I played one course well, but it wasn't well enough to beat the final score - 38 under. A week later, on a harder course, I played horribly, yet the leaders hung right around even par.
Again, realism is needed. If I suck on one course, that doesn't mean the rest of the field will. If I don't play well enough, I don't make the cut. That's always how it's been, yet that's not how it is in the game.
Then, of course, there are the myriad problems that this game seems to have every year, particularly with the audio. No matter how you've played, Gary McCord likes to tell you you're tied atop the leaderboard after you hole out on 18 - even if you're not in the same ZIP code as the leaderboard. And, around the third hole of each Tour event I've played, McCord tells me it was a great/poor finish to my tournament.
This game had the same problem in the last version I bought - 2005. Surely two versions later the problem would be corrected, right? Hardly.
I keep looking for other, non-sports games that will hold my attention, but those games are pretty rare. I need something to keep me from buying another half-ass product from EA Sports.
NASCAR 07 isn't as bad on the inside, but the game's release date is. It comes near the end of the season. As a result, Elliott Sadler is on the cover. Not a problem, except Sadler changed teams in the middle of the season. So there we see him, proudly displaying that M&M's uniform when he was driving a Robert Yates Racing Ford.
Except now he's in an Evernham Motorsports Dodge. Oops.
The game included a new tryout mini-game that was supposed to help you advance to the top series, Nextel Cup, more quickly than before. Fair enough...I drove well enough that I earned a ride in the Busch series, the AAA cousin to the major-league Nextel Cup.
Except that I dominated Busch - around 15 wins, 20+ top 10s in 34 races. (Truth be told, I did as well as I did because all of the driving aids were turned on - only becuse I couldn't figure out how to turn them off. That is the absolute truth, I swear.) Cup teams would be lining up to get me in their stable, right?
Nope. I got a bunch of offers from second-tier teams. (Really, about fourth-tier teams, since they were all fictional.)
And the rival system has gotten out of hand. If I accidentally tag someone on the track, they understandably get pissed off at me. But then, if I happen to see them again, they ram into the side of my car.
If a scenario like this were to ever happen in real life, there would at least be a fine involved and many questions to answer later. Think about Tony Stewart's run-in with Clint Bowyer (and, eventually, Carl Edwards) at the July Pocono race this year.
Like Tiger, it's not a whole lot different than the game I purchased two years ago.
So, Matt, to answer your question: Ho-hum.
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