All Things Are Possible

If the Dems can win the Senate, then who is to say that the Dawgs can't beat Auburn? It's happened before when things looked bleak.

Hopefully UGA VI can channel his daddy tomorrow:


7-28 down to 56-49 up. Damn Good Dawg.

I started UGA in 1992 and this is the first time since then that the game is anything other than the 3.30 or 7.45 game. Weird, but that's what happens when you suck as bad as we have. Weirder still that it's at 9.30 a.m. out here.

Unlikely as it seems, we can beat Auburn if we don't have any turnovers on offense and our defense does some covering, tackling, rushing the QB, hell, anything good at all.

GATA, Dawgs, or at least don't get caught misspelling the name of your school:


Good at cheating, not so much at spelling (or pronouncing
the name of their stadium in a way that makes any sense)

Joe-Mentum: Prettiest Girl ln The Room

Wow, what a wacky night - it's 1 a.m. PST and it looks like Tester is going to do it in Montana, and pending a possible recount in 10 days in Virginia, where Webb won by less than 1%, the Dems did it, getting control of the Senate 50-49-1. Except that Joe Lieberman is technically an independent, making it 49-49-2.

So for all the talk about Nancy Pelosi and a possible recount in VA, the biggest winner tonight was Joe Lieberman. He went from an outcast who couldn't even win his primary to suddenly the prettiest girl in the room. Which is quite a statement, because he is not pretty.


Joe-mentum, bitches. He told you so, just 2 years early.

He is like the #1 high school football recruit, and 2 schools are trying to woo him. Except imagine that there are absolutely no recruting rules or regulations whatsoever. Money, hookers, coke, you name it is on offer. No matter what happens dude is getting some serious power and CT is getting some serious pork. A remarkable change of events for Ol' Joe.

Berkeley beat SF in the battle to see who could vote to impeach Bush & Cheney by the biggest margin: in SF the impeachment proposition passed 60-40 but Bezerkeley came even stronger at 68-32. Righties can take pleasure and relief that these measures are only cosmetic, because if they were real then that would theoretically make Nancy Pelosi Speaker Of The House President.


Could be worse, Red America: if Berkeley had their way, she would be POTUS

I'm tired and can't make it another 2 hours to confirm the MT result, so I'm off to bed, where unlike Karl Rove I will sleep like a baby tonight.

Week 11 Useless Predictions

Wisconsin -1.5 @ Iowa
Win. Iowa 21-24 Wisconsin

Navy -14 @ Eastern Michigan
Win. EMU 21-49 Navy

Arkansas -5.5 v. Tennessee
Win. Arkansas 31-14 Tennessee

Ohio State -23 @ Northwestern
Win. Northwestern 10-54 Ohio State

Cal -13.5 @ Arizona
Loss. Arizona 24-20 Cal

Oregon State -2 @ UCLA
Loss. UCLA 25-7 Oregon State

Totals: 4-2 (67%)
YTD: 34-34-2 (50%)

Voting In California

In most states, people elect legislators who then formulate and pass legislation. In California, we elect legislators who then throw it back on our ass by creating an vast myriad of propositions that we voters then vote on. Hell we even had a special election last year with a bunch of propositions to vote on in a non-election year. Like everything else out here, it's kind of wacky.

On the one hand it's pretty cool, as it makes you feel like you are much more of a participant in the process and that your vote matters even more. On the other hand it's a hell of a lot of work: in addition to learning about the candidates, trying to figure out what either side of all of these propositions means and how you should vote. And as misleading, confusing, and irritating as commercials, mailers, and phone calls are for candidates, they are even more so for propositions. Yes on 1B! No on 83! Yes on 90! No on 1E! Yes on 87! No on 87! Yes on 87 damnit! No on 87 is full of shit! Yes on 87 favors special interests! No on 87 favors special interests!

It's honestly a lot of work; in Georgia there were some elections with a few preps here and there - no big deal. Today we had no less than THIRTEEN statewide propositions: 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 and 90. In addition, we residents of San Francisco had an additional ELEVEN propositions, A-K. That in addition to all of the normal candidate races. This afternoon at work I was cramming like a 10th grader in homeroom before a big 1st period test.

Another funny thing about voting in a big city: my polling place is one block from my house, but it is not a school or church. No, like last year, I voted in a 1 car garage below an apartment building. I wish I had my camera, it was kind of nutty.

Almost as nutty as this senate race is turning out.

Serenity Now

Kentucky 24-20 Georgia.



Not much to say, other than recommending that all Georgia fans immediately adopt Serenity Now as their mantra.

Vandy & UK in the same year - wow. After losing to Navin R. Johnson we turn around and lose to Red Foreman.


Can we please stop losing to funny entertainers?

As bad as it is it could be way worse - we damn near lost to MSU, Colorado, and Ole Miss - we could really be sitting at 3-7 and lets remember that 1 of our wins is against 1-AA Western Kentucky.

Could we beat Auburn? Sure, if we don't make stupid mistakes and turnovers. Same with Georgia Tech. But from all we have seen this year that sure doesn't look likely. I am not counting on it but I have seen stranger things, so I will believe until the scoreboard and clock tell me to stop. We shall see.

Some are talking about refusing a bowl bid if we go 6-6 and just getting it over it. I disagree, only because the team sure as shit needs the extra 30 days of practice that a bowl game brings, as that will have an effect on the team next year, especially for young Matthew. Additionally, the SEC is looking like they may very well have 9 bowl eligible teams this year, which is more than they are contracted to fill. So it is possible that Georgia could get shipped out to some wacky ass bowl. If that is the San Francisco bowl then I'm all for it, since I could walk to the game - literally. As embarrassing as such a scenario would be, for me personally it would be fun.

That being said, I would much prefer wins over The Cheaters (Auburn) and The Nerds (GT), an 8-4 season, and a Peach Bowl berth for the Dawgs.

Start practicing for Saturday: Serenity Now.

Invasor Es El Campeon Del Mundo

Results versus punditry/hype: Invasor is to Texas as Bernardini is to USC.

So after rambling on and on Friday afternoon, I was talking to a friend after work about the BC Classic, and I said "you know, watch Invasor win tomorrow and show me how stupid I am for knocking him about the 90 day layoff, since just earlier this year Barbaro won the Derby on a 5 week layoff after my dumbass completely threw him out because of it."

And so it came to pass. And amazing performance to run down Bernardini after Bernardini made an amazing move around the 3rd/4th turn.

As Kenny Mayne has been saying all year: "Eeen-vah-zooor. Ee is the best." Congrats to him and his conncetions.

My pick of Premium Tap did in fact run a big race, finishing a solid 3rd. My theoretical across teh board bet on him and 4 horse exacta box would have put me in the black, but barely.

Amazing that Pletcher went 0 for 17.

TV ratings were abysmal - 50% less than last year on NBC, which were the worst ever, but wagering records were set on track and on TVG. Interesting.

Bernardini will be retired to stud.

Barbaro got his cast taken off.

Derby trail starts in January.

Moment Of Truth For Bernardini

Breeders Cup Classic. Saturday November 4th. Churchill Downs.

Post. Horse. Trainer. Jockey. Morning Line Odds

1. Brother Derek. Dan Hendricks. Alex Solis. 30-1
2. Premium Tap. John Kimmel. Edgar Prado. 30-1
3. Bernardini. Tom Albertrani. Javier castellano. Even
4. George Washington. Aidan O'Brien. Michael Kinane. 10-1
5. Lawyer Ron. Todd Pletcher. Pat Valenzuela. 20-1
6. Perfect Drift. Murray Johnson. Garrett Gomez. 20-1
7. David Junior. Brian Meehan. Jamie Spencer. 10-1
8. Lava Man. Doug O'Neill. Corey Nakatani. 6-1
9. Giacomo. John Sherrefs. Mike Smith. 30-1
10. Flower Alley. Todd Pletcher. John Velasquez. 30-1
11. Invasor. Kieran McLaughlin. Fernando Jara. 5-1
12. Suave. Paul McGee. Kent Desormeaux. 30-1
13. Sun King. Nick Zito. Rafael Bajarano. 15-1

All year we have watched Bernardini effortlessly (has he been whipped once since the Preakness? Was he even whipped in the Preakness?) destroy all competition in the East en route to winning 7 in a row and climbing to the top of the Classic division rankings as a 3 year old. Bernardini has been absolutely dominant all year but hasn't faced very stiff competition yet. The question that everyone wants to know will be answered tomorrow: is Bernardini the super horse/freak/best horse in many years that everyone thinks he is? Or is he a really, really good horse that will be found out when he runs against the best of the best? Post time for the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic is 5.20 p.m. EST. Thirteen Grade I winners make up the best BC Classic field in a decade, so it will only take 2 minutes to find out the answer.


"He might be a super freak, super freak, he might be super-freaky, yow."

Out West we have seen Lava Man win 6 in a row (against better competition) while becoming the first horse to ever sweep the "Big 3" races in Southern California in the same year: the Santa Anita Handicap, The Hollywood Gold Cup, and the Pacific Classic.


"Ain't nobody dope as Lava Man, he's so fresh so clean"

All year these two have been on a collision course which has finally come to pass. There are lots of angles just with these two:

East vs West
Bernardini represents the East, home of the horse racing establishment, which has always looked down it's nose at horses from the West. As such he has been massively (and deservedly) hyped as the next super horse before really beating any great competition- the fact that he is great is beyond question. Contrast this to a northern Califoirnia horse named Lost In The Fog who just last year dominated the Sprint Division and came in to the Breeders Cup as the favorite. He had won all of his races but not against the greatest competition, so the Breeders Cup Sprint would answer the same question about his greatness. But as a California horse, many in the racing world doubted him as an impostor who would be found out in the Breeders Cup. As it turned out they were right, but I'm just hinting at the perception/attitude in racing when it comes to East v West, where Eastern horses are always hyped and overhyped and Western horses are always doubted, second guessed, and written off (I am NOT saying that Bernardini is overhyped, just trying to point out that his situation this year is almost exactly the same as Lost In The Fog's last year, but they are being covered so very differently). For more background on this rent Seabuscuit, remember the Sunday Silence-Easy Goer rivalry of 1989, or consider that the greatest horse of the 1st half of the 20th century, Man O' War, didn't even run in the 1920 Kentucky Derby partly because his New York blue-blood connections looked down on it as some meaningless "western" race. Lava Man represents the West and his accomplishments are respected but not nearly as hyped as they would be if he was an Eastern horse. Of course, in their defense, he is 0-3 career when he races outside of California.

Class Warfare
Lava Man is a blue collar horse who started out on the fairgrounds of Northern California and then ran in claiming races in Southern California before he became great. He was claimed in 2004 for $50,000 after finishing 2nd in a race at Santa Anita. He is your Joe Six Pack, workingman, every-man horse. Bernardini is a blue-blood horse owned by The Ruler of Dubai.

Age & Sex
Bernardini is a 3 year old colt; Lava Man is a 5 year old gelding.

Style
Bernardini is the uber-talented athlete whose natural ability is usually enough to blow everyone else away. Lava Man is a battler, a grinder who has to fight for everything he wins with grit & determination. In sports cliches, Bernardini is the super gifted athlete who gets by on talent and Lava Man is the not as talented athlete whose success is due to hard work. Or in non-sports cliche, Bernardini is the kid in high school who never studies and doesn't really try but still gets As, while Lava Man is the student who works his ass off to get the same As. This may actually favor Lava Man, as he is battle tested and the Classic will definitely be a battle. Some wonder if Bernardini can buckle down and win a dogfight in the stretch, as he has never been in one.

So finally we get to see them meet, but don't think for a second that this race is just about these two. Invasor is from Argentina and won the Uruaguyan triple crown before coming to America and winning all of his races here. Invasor has been just as dominant as the aforementioned two all year and everyone was looking forward to the 3 way showdown in the Classic, as Invasor won his last 3 starts and is 8 for 9 lifetime. Actually everyone was looking forward to Invasor and Bernardini finally facing off in last month's Jockey Club Gold Cup, but Invasor had a slight injury, missed a few days training, and withdrew from the race, which Bernardini went on to win with minimal effort. So Invasor was forced to train up to the Classic and comes in off a 13 week layoff, which puts him at a major disadvantage. BUt talent and ability wise, he is right there with Bernardini and Lava Man.


Invasor has the talent to win, must overcome bad schedule

Those are definitely the "big 3", but the rest of the race is filled with great horses. Ironically named British invader George Washington is a freak on the grass in Europe and will be running on the dirt for the first time as his owners try to find out if he is such a super horse/freak that he can switch surfaces and distance and beat the best horses in the world. Flower Alley was 2nd in the Classic last year and dominant early this year before 2 poor efforts dropped him off everyone's radar. He then switched to white-hot Todd Pletcher's barn, out of which he will be making his first start. Some think Pletcher can find the magic in Flower Alley and get him to run back to his past greatness. 7 year old Perfect Drift is the Susan Lucci/always a bridesmaid horse that all the locals want to win. Sun King is a very talented horse, and longshots Suave and Premium Tap look very live and could be sitting on a big race. 3 year olds Lawyer Ron and Brother Derek were all the rage going into the Derby, but then fell off and have since come back strong and have a chance to return to greatness. And Giacomo returns to the scene of his shock victory in the 2005 Kentucky Derby- unfortunately for him, Spanish Chestnut isn't in the race to run a murderous pace, wear out all of his challengers, and leave it for him to pick up the pieces.

Stop rambling on and on like John Kerry, I'm almost asleep: just tell me who wins

I have no idea. I was on the Bernardini is a freak wagon very very early (like, right after the Preakness after mentioning the possibility even earlier) but now the rest of the world is too and even money against 12 grade I winners is not for me. Hell, he'll probably go off at 3-5. Then mid to late summer I really liked Invasor and thought that he could beat Bernardini & Lava Man, but the 13 week layoff scares me now. I'd rather have Lava Man at 6-1 than Invasor at 5-1 given the long layoff. I'd love to see Lava Man win it since he is a California horse, and a blue collar one at that, and I think of the big 3 he offers the best value at 6-1 (although I doubt he goes off at that). Of the rest I really like Premium Tap at 30-1; I'm buying the case for him laid out by Steve Haskin. So I guess I would go with a what-the-hell $5 across the board on Premium Tap and maybe an exacta box with Premium Tap + the big three.

No matter who wins, it will be exciting as hell and I can't wait to see it.

I don't have any real strong feelings in the other races, except that Henny Hughes will win the Sprint as the favorite. That horse is one of the best horses I have ever seen race, and one of the most beautiful too. The Turf should be awesome as well, with English Channel (who I cashed a nice ticket with on Derby Day) and Cacique resuming their rivalry, and Hurricane Run in there as well.

Who do you like?

Week 10 Useless Predictions

Air Force -5 @ Army
Win. Army 7-43 Air Force

Kent -15 @ Buffalo
Loss. Buffalo 41-14 Kent

Washington +16.5 @ Oregon
Loss. Oregon 34-14 Washington

Colorado -4 v. Kansas State
Loss. Colorado 21-34 Kansas State

Wazzu -16.5 v. Arizona
Loss. Wazzu 17-27 Arizona

BYU -15 @ Colorado St.
Win. Colorado State 3-24 BYU

Oklahoma State +18 @ Texas
Loss. Texas 36-10 Oklahoma State

Wisconsin -6 v. Penn State
Win. Wisconsin 13-3 Penn State

Totals: 3-5 (38%)
YTD: 30-32-2 (48.4%)

Bizarro CFB Week Continues

So the biggest game of the week is done and dusted before the sun even rises on Saturday, which in and of itself is bizarre simply because I don't think that it has ever happened . More bizarre-ness to ensue tomorrow:


Welcome to College Football Bizarro World

For the 1st time in its 16 year run, ESPN College GameDay will not be hosted by Chris Fowler tomorrow. ESPN won the TV rights to the Breeders Cup from NBC and have strangely chosen Fowler to anchor their coverage from noon-7 on Saturday. Strange because in Kenny Mayne they have a great (albeit quirky) announcer who is very much into horse racing, follows it and broadcasts it all year, and is very knowledgeable (he'll be on the broadcast just not anchoring like he usually does). Fowler not a big horse racing guy so it seems odd. Either way, he won't be on GameDay, which will give LD a different dynamic to analyze in his brilliant way. My guess is that Rece Davis will take Fowler's place, and that Fowler will at some point join in on the phone or something as part of the ESPN cross promotion extravaganza, with painful CFB-horse racing analogies aplenty.

As the Breeders Cup will be on ESPN from noon-7 EST, there will be no CFB games on ESPN until the 7.45 South Carolina-Arkansas matchup. So to get your noontine middle of the road or worse Big 10 matchup you'll have to look elsewhere: Iowa-Northwestern gets moved over to GamePlan.

If at the beginning of the year you were told that Wake Forest-Boston College would be the crucial ACC game that determined which of those 2 schools went to the ACC Championship game, you would have attributed such a statement to a terribly bad acid trip. Again, bizarro.

Georgia is again not on TV in any way, shape or form: the price of mediocrity I suppose. Although certainly the UK-UGA game is a better matchup than Utah State-Hawaii, Troy-UL-Lafayette, or Idaho-Nevada, all of which are on ESPN GamePlan.

And finally, it's November and RUTGERS is 8-0, ranked in the top 15, and will likely be in the national game of the week next week against Louisville. That is QEDMF bizarro.

West Virginia Title Challenge Photo Caption Contest

This picture was taken last night from inside Papa John's Stadium (I hope that it will be the first & last photo of a urine filled toilet to ever appear on this site, by the by).

Get creative.


Louisville pisses on WVU National Title dreams?
WVU title shot goes down the toilet in Louisville?

Louisville 44-34 WVU

First off, Pat White looks just like Mos Def. Not so much when the helmet is off, but with the helmet on he is a dead ringer (same face but different head shape). Can't believe that I haven't noticed this before.


Pat White & Talib Kweli are BlackStar.

Also, did you know that the Breeders Cup was on ESPN tomorrow? Just wanted to remind you in case you missed it.

The city of Louisville wakes up this morning with an enormous hangover after winning the biggest football game in their history and then going on a massive pub crawl all the way down Bardstown Road. Now they have today to sober up and rest before celebrating Breeders Cup tomorrow with copious amounts of Kentucky Bourbon.


Thursday night lights

The ticket fairy did end up making a mid-afternoon visit to Brain, so he was able to join The Hit at the game last night. They sent me a few photos from the evening's festivities.


Brain was hoping that there would be no couchburning

The game was actually very even, the difference being the fumble return for a TD and punt return for a TD early in the 3Q for Louisville. Brohm's TD pass to Urrutia was the prettiest pass I have seen all year. Maybe prettiest isn't the right word, best might be better - perfectly thrown, perfectly timed, no chance for the DB to get it, and put in a place to give his WR a sliver of room to land inbounds. It was just beautiful.


The Hit in street clothes is intimidating enough.
When he goes ninja on your ass, watch out.

As I said yesterday, Louisville is now West Virginia's #1 fan. They will need WVU to win out (in addition to winning out themselves of course) to have a chance to hold off a 1 loss SEC team or SC if they beat Cal & ND.


This dude obviously missed class today (yes it was 25 degrees last night)

OMG Biggest Thursday Night Game EVA!!!

Usually the Thursday night game is something to ease you into the CFB weekend; it is akin to an appetizer which precedes the Saturday 7 course meal to come. Sometimes it is a good game, often it is not all that compelling.

But tonight is different, and makes this week a bizarro one in CFB. Tonight's game is by far THE game of the week, as it pits #3 West Virginia against #5 Louisville and will have a direct effect on the national championship race. It is certainly the biggest Thursday night game that ESPN has ever shown, and it dwarfs anything on offer on Saturday.

I talked to Brain & The Hit while walking to work this morning, and apparently tickets are going for $800. Each. A little birdie has dropped one down to The Hit from ticket heaven above, while Brain awaits a hopefully similar fate.

I don't have a great read on who might win, I only know that The Pizza Box will be insane tonight. I'm sure it will be loud enough to wake up all those Breeders Cup horses, or at least give them a good "what the fuck is going on?" from time to time, as Papa John's Stadium is a well-struck 3-wood from Churchill Downs.


The Pizza Box as seen from Churchill Downs

There are 2 things about this game that I want to mention though. First, the notion that the winner of this game will make it to the national championship game assumes that the team will win out, which would merit a big time NSFMF (not so fast my friends) from Lee Corso. Both teams still have to play Pitt & Rutgers, and all except for WVU-Rutgers will be on the road. The Big East teams may all cannibalize each other, and a 1 loss Big East team will have no shot at the brass ring. This point has actually been brought up a bit here and there.

My second point hasn't been discussed too much: whomever wins tonight immediately becomes the #1 fan of the team they beat for the rest of the year. Say Louisville wins. They not only need to win out to get to the title game, they may very well also need for WVU to win out to help them enough in the computers that they can stave off being overtaken by a 1 loss Florida, Auburn, or even USC/Cal winner. Same thing if WVU wins tonight. If the loser tonight goes in the tank and then loses to Rutgers and/or Pitt, that might be enough to screw the winner. Kind of a sleeping with the enemy dynamic going on there.

Of course the BCS anarchists out there probably want Rutgers to beat them both, run the table, and get shut out of the title game, which is still a possibility at this point.

The Big East this year has finally graduated from the kids table at Thanksgiving to the adults table. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Enjoy, and east coasters be glad that it doesn't start at 4.30 in the afternoon - slipping out of here early today is going to be tricky but I'm up for the challenge.

Brilliant Ineptitude

Arsenal 0-0 CSKA Moscow.

More of the same. I honestly don't know that I have ever seen such a lopsided 0-0 soccer match in my life. You would have to have seen it to believe it, because the 23-5 shot advantage and 64-36 possession don't tell the story. There are shots and then there are scoring chances, and then there are really great scoring chances, the kind that result in a goal 50% of the time. Well Arsenal had about 10 of those, and at least 6 or 7 where they missed the goal by a foot or less. As beautifully as Arsenal played, when it came to finishing they looked like the Kanu that plays for FC Red Stripes of the San Francisco Sport & Social Club Co-ed Rec League (although that joker did score 2 on Sunday in addition to his usual bad miss). Cesc and Rosicky both managed to miss with the wide open goal at their mercy. They really could have been up 5-0 at halftime - I'm not being hyperbolic. Hell, Arsene said that the 1st half was the best that Arsenal have ever played in Europe.

Yet despite all of that they didn't score and split the points. So whereas they really should already be through and the final 2 group matches should be glorified practice sessions, now they must do the business home to Hamburg and must get a result away to Porto on the final day. That disallowed goal that turned a draw in Moscow into a loss now looms large.

In honor of today's brilliant display but miraculous lack of a goal, Arsenal Joga Bonito Wednesday's features this vid of lots of tricks, flicks, and pretty play, but you will notice that, like today, not once does a ball actually go into the net.


Is dude really rapping about myspace? Weak.

ManUtd lost but are still in the driver's seat to go through, and AC Milan cruised. I still think that they are going to win the whole thing which will be the cherry on top of the Italian football joke sundae this year, since they should not be in the competition at all to begin with.

Here are the standings after 4 of the 6 group stage matches. Holders Barcelona, finalists Arsenal, and Italian power Inter Milan still have lots of work to do to qualify for the knockout stage. Can anybody beat (or even score on) Lyon?

The Week That Was

Georgia's loss to Florida is tricky. On the one hand, you can rationalize that if not for all the turnovers and mistakes we easily could have won. On the other hand, one could rationalize that if not for all the Gator mistakes they would have blown us out. It was nice to see us look like we were playing to win rather than not to lose; first time I've seen this since the South Carolina game really. And it's pretty obvious that Stafford is going to be very special once he gets some experience. I commented somewhere that it already feels that Georgia's notoriously unrealistic fanbase is expecting MS7 to be John Elway from the start of next year just because he is getting the reps this year. I think it will be a more gradual process than that, so I won't expect him to be John Elway until his Jr/Sr years. At this point the team looks like they could win out, could lose out, or could do anything in between. Kentucky is definitely not an easy, automatic win- hopefully we can beat them and then take our chances against The Cheaters and The Nerds.

Watching, or more accurately listening, to a college football game being called by Gary Thorne is a bizarre experience. The dude's voice IS the NHL playoffs, so it's weird to hear him call football. You expect at any minute to hear "Kovalenko SCORES!!!"

Arsenal drew 1-1 with Everton which is mildly disappointing until you realize that Arsenal had 29 shots to Everton's 2, 16 corner kicks to Everton's 3, and an amazing 70% of the possession; then it is massively disappointing. Just like the beginning of the season all over again. I guess not getting results but completely dominating is better than not getting results and getting outplayed, but it is frustrating nonetheless.

The complete and utter joke that is Italian football just keeps getting more joke-y. At this rate Juventus will be back in Serie A by Christmas and by March will be awarded a 10 point bonus as compensation for all the hard times that they have been forced to endure over the last year. What an embarrassment.

Too bad that ESPN didn't show Barcelona-Chel$ea yesterday; from the highlights I saw and from what I read it was a very good and intense match. Lampard's cheeky goal reminded me a little of Kanu's 3rd at Stamford bridge when he single handedly brought Arsenal from 0-2 down to 3-2 up in the last 15 minutes against the best D in the Prem at the time. Mourinho is bitching and whining again like a 4 year old girl. I'm about as moved as I am by Charie Weis claiming that ND don't get enough respect from the national media.

Cocktail Party 2006: Same Old Story

Week 9 Useless Predictions

Clemson -4 @ Virginia Tech
Loss. Va. Tech 24-7 Clemson

Wake Forest -9 @ North Carolina
Loss. North Carolina 17-24 Wake Forest

BYU -9 @ Air Force
Win. Air Force 14-33 BYU

Tennessee -3.5 @ South Carolina
Win. South Carolina 24-31 Tennessee

Fuck it: Florida -13.5 v. Georgia - if we do get rolled, then this will be one good thing. If we win, then I'll happily take the loss.
Loss. Florida 21-14 Georgia. Of course.

Totals: 2-3 (40%) Pas Bon
YTD: 27-27-2 (50%) Pas Bon aussi

A Rose Cocktail Party By Any Other Name

Mike Adams can crusade all he wants (and create giant family tailgating zones while taking massive contributions from and publicly honoring alcohol distributors).

CBS & ESPN can accede to their request.

Others can come up with clever substitute names.

But Georgia-Florida is The Cocktail Party and will always be referred to here as such. Actually, it's The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party but I have always called it simply The Cocktail Party and will continue to do so.


When this game becomes a contest between Liberty
& Oral Roberts then I'll stop calling it the Cocktail Party.

Oh, and if Mikey Adams or anyone else thinks that daring not to speak the name of the event is in any way going to reduce the amount of drunkenness/level of partying than he, like me last night, is clearly baked. Will this phrase be uttered once in Jacksonville this weekend?

Person 1: "Damn, Phil, you are fucked up. You better cut back/stop drinking because Mike Adams is 'trying to preach realistic moderation' and disassociate this weekend from drunkenness."
Person 2: "Damn, you're right Steve. Give me an O'Douls and a Poland Spring 1 liter"

Not calling it The Cocktail Party will do about as much to curb drinking this weekend as the using term "collateral damage" will to bringing murdered innocent civilians back to life. In other words: not a damn thing.

Everyone knows that UGA is 2-14 against The Gators in the last 16 years, which pretty much coincides with my time as a Dawg (freshman class of 92). I was there in 92 for the heartbreak. I was there in the rain in 93 for the Anthone Lott soul crusher. I was there in the swamp in 94 for the start-to-finish asskicking. I was there in Sanford in 95 for the only first time an opponent hung half a hundred on a Georgia team between the hedges. I was there countless other times for depressing beatings, and of course I was not there in 97 thanks to my employment in another school's athletic department and in 2004 when I was in Vegas. So like many post-1990 Dawgs I damn near expect for Georgia to find a way to lose to Florida every year, and realistically accept when others refer to them as our "big brother" who regularly doles out beatings to our little punk ass, especially in a year when we barely sneak past Colorado, Ole Miss, and Miss. State and lose at home to Vandy. For shit's sake we went 1-2 against the fucking Zooker.


This pretty much encapsulates The Cocktail Party
since I became a Bulldog. Lucy is even in blue and
Charlie Brown is in (almost) red & black.

The one point of pride that we can hold on to is that we are still 36-26-2 all time against those damn Gators. So amazingly enough, although they have picked up a net 12 games on us in the last 16 years, the would still need to win the next 10 games against us in a row just to draw level in the series. That really shows how much they were our bitches pre-1990, when we batted .739 (34-12-2) against them over an 86 year span before they turned the tide and batted .875 on us over the last 16 years. So keep it up Gators, you are still 10 wins in a row shy of being our historical equal.

That being said, I haven't written much about it this week because I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that we are staring at yet another loss. If 92-93 and 2002-2005 were the "I really think we will win because we are better" years and 94-2001 were the "yes we are massive underdogs but my youthful exuberance and slight myopia make me believe that we can beat the Evil Gators" years, then this year is the "this one has been chalked up as an L for a long while, I'm OK with it, and anything better than a fairly substantial loss will be gravy" year.

I'll still watch, root, and hope for the upset but it's hard to see us playing them close. Their D is nasty; our O is not very good and turnover-y as well. Their O is not great but fairly good; our D is very poor. I would think that Georgia would need to be +2 or 3 in turnovers and maybe have some other fluky shit happen like a KR or PR TD or a pick 6 or whatnot in order to have a chance to win at the end.

If we win then I'll be as happy as anyone, but a loss won't be the soul-crushing depression-fest of Auburn 05, Florida 02, or the like.

I get the sense that most of the Dawg Nation feels the same way. But let's be honest - after 2 beers on Saturday all that realism will go out the window and we'll all be believers again.

Prediction: Georgia 13-38 Florida

Am I baked?

Clemson is only -4 at Va Tech tomorrow night? Did Spiller and Davis both break legs? Is Mike Vick playing for VT? WTF?

Seems like the taking-candy-from-a-baby bet of the year.

The craziest thing is that it opened at -5 and has gone DOWN since Sunday night.

Forget the transitive property (Clem rolled GT, GT rolled VT at VT), because CFB isn't quite that simple. But if you have watched these two teams play this year one thing is clear: Clemson is very good, and VT is not; VT has played 2 teams this year with a pulse (GT, BC) and hot drilled by both. My man Ron Burgundy would say "it's science".

So yeah, I am to Clemson -4 what the housewife in Napoleon Dynamite is to the ship-in-a -bottle that comes with the 32 piece set: "I want that".

The rest of the Week 9 Useless Picks later.


***Update***



What. The. Fuck?

(now formerly) #1 offense in the country: NINE 3 & outs, SEVEN 1st downs, 166 total yards?

This isn't the pre-November meltdown VT D of years gone by, but apparently last night it was.

Apparently I wasn't the only one baked out of my tree - the Clemson offense and coaching staff appeared to be as well. I imagine their bus up to Blacksburg resembled a Cheech & Chong or Dazed & Confused van - clouded out.

Whatever, dude. Shut up and puff, puff, pass...

Arsenal Joga Bonito Wednesday: Current Events Edition

I did miss a good weekend of proper footy while on my weekend excursion. Sunday alone had Reading-Arsenal, Manchester United-Liverpool, and El Classico over in Spain: Real Madrid-Barcelona.

Arsenal destroyed Reading by 4 goals to nil while (apparently from all that I have read and seen) playing their best Arsenal Joga Bonito since the golden years of 2002-2004. In honor of this new team full of kids playing flawless beautiful Wengerball, the highlights of this match will serve as this week's AJBW. Enjoy.


Props, too, to the traveling Gooners for being so loud

Hopefully they can keep it going this weekend against Everton. In those other matches ManUtd beat The Pool 2-0 and Real Madrid gave European Champion and 2 time defending La Liga champion Barcelona a 2-0 thumping, their 2nd loss in 5 days. When is the last time Barcelona lost 2 matches in a row? Methinks they miss Eto'o alot more than they thought they would - just goes to show how special a striker he is, and I for one just hope that he can come back and play at that level again, as he is only 24 years old and should have the 4 best years of his career ahead of him if he can get his knee back to 100%.

Lake Tahoe Griswold Family Weekend

Weekend at Lake Tahoe was great, save for the 5 hours it took to get up there on Friday afternoon even though I left the city at 2 p.m. (the Bay area can go toe-to-toe with any US city when it comes to traffic, especially on I-80 between SF & Sac). The frustration that abounds when it takes 5 hours to go 185 miles was abated by the sheer joy of late-afternoon Chick-Fil-A. Things got better, as I arrived just in time to see my niece & nephew before they went to bed (everyone else went up earlier on Friday).


Note the 10ft tall PVC poles to help you find & shovel/plow
your driveway in the winter. Yeah, it snows that much.

We stayed at a great cabin in Truckee, which is just east of the famed Donner Pass near the northwest corner of the lake (Lake Tahoe map). Saturday morning Dad made breakfast, and then we all piled in a Dodge Durango and went for a drive. We went to Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics, to scope it out, stopped off at a playground for some fun time, then cruised down the west side of the lake to Emerald Bay, where we got out, walked around, and took some photos. Beautiful day, perfect weather, amazing views.


Emerald Bay, Southwest corner of the lake

Video of view from Emerald Bay.

There is already snow on the top of Heavenly Mtn. which immediately triggered the skiing synapses in the old brain; it will be upon us soon enough. FYI the top of Heavenly is 10,000 feet while the lake level is about 6,000 feet.


As Uncle Luke would say: "Ski season comin', ski season comin'..."

Back home for kiddie nap time, caught the 2nd half of UT-Bama, ND-UCLA, Michigan-Iowa, and Cal-UW, and learned that UGA had barely escaped against Mighty Mississippi State. Then "dinner" (will I eat dinner at the insanely early time of 5.45 when I have small kids? Probably I suppose. Will my sister laugh her ass off? Most definitely), the 2nd half of the C.J. Spiller show, then off to bed.

Sunday Mom, Dad & I went exploring again while my sister & her family stayed closer to home due to nap scheduling. We went and checked out Northstar at Tahoe, then cruised over to Incline Village, parked at the Hyatt casino and did some exploring on foot: casino, restaurants, beach, dock, etc.


End of dock at Incline Village. Stress must
be checked in the coat room before entering.

Video of view from Incline Village.

Incline Village is the most upscale town up at Lake Tahoe that I have seen; a place to drop the extra cash to take your special someone on a special occasion. Perfect weather again, and the views are such that you could sit all day just looking at the lake & mountains while pondering life.


Self-portrait in 12 feet of water. Kanu. 2006.

We cruised back and stopped at a place called Gar Woods to eat lunch on their back deck, which is literally right on the lake. This restaurant is home of the heretofore unheard of but apparently world famous "Wet Woody", of which we did not partake but sounded totally hardcore - I lost track after the waitress rattled off the first 10 ingredients, but apparently it tastes "just like tropical fruit punch, only better". The views were again stunning and soothing, and the food and beer was excellent - could have sat there all day.


A happy hour, indeed.

Video of view from Gar Woods deck.

Back to the pad, then we all went to a rec center and went swimming and partook of 3 different outdoor jacuzzi's that resembled the porridge of the 3 little bears: warm, warmer, and warmest. Returned home, family dinner, then I left for SF at 8.30 p.m. hoping to make it back in 3.5 hours. For once there was no traffic and I cruised home in 2.45, which made me ecstatic as well as retroactively frustrated that it took 5 to get up there on Friday. It's a much easier drive in the mountains without snow and ice and chains on your tires that limit you to 30 mph as well.

This summer was the 2nd in a row that I kicked myself for not getting up to Tahoe to explore. Thanks to Mom & Dad's visit and the family weekend, I finally got to experience it outside of winter. This was actually a great time to go, because the summer crowds were gone, the winter crowds have yet to arrive and the weather was still excellent: 60s and sunny during the day and 30s at night. I will definitely be back up there next summer more than once, and I've already found about 5 specific things that I want to do or check out. If you haven't been, I highly recommend that you add it to your list. This place, Yosemite, and Big Sur are 3 of the prettiest places you will ever see.