11/26/06--How was my day? How do you THINK my day was???

44-24, USC over ND.  Well, at least I told my friend Dave to "play the over".  It was pretty obvious that SC had the more talented players---that'll happen when a simple thing like an arrest for assault & battery gets you a few laps around the stadium and not kicked out of school, but I digress.

What really (Edited with knowledge that parental units read this blog).....um, annoys me is that the media's talking heads all get to sit back with a smirk on their faces and tell everyone how overrated ND was this year.  The Notre Dame websites have an expression for the way that ND is talked about in the media.  We call it:

"Embrace the hate".

I decided to write a letter to Tom Dienhart, who has put his degree in journalism to use in writing a column for the Sporting News, where in he spouted this week that Notre Dame is really not that good, etc etc and that Charlie Weis is basically, uh, really overrated.  What a brilliant piece of writing.

Here's my response:

Okay, look....I've sat back all season while you and the talking heads on ESPN talked about how Notre Dame was overrated, and how Charlie Weis is not really a good coach, etc etc etc

I just have a few questions for you.  Do you honestly think this team would be better off with Tyrone "I can't go recruiting I have 18 holes to play" Willingham as their coach?  How come the announcers love to point out whenever the team is well that their "winning because of players that Tyrone Willingham recruited", but whenever the team plays poorly (as they did last night--no question) its because Charlie Weis got outcoached?  How come its not because of the players that Tyrone recruited then?

How come when you point out that Charlie Weis has lost big to Ohio State, Michigan & USC (uh, by the way---I'm not sure if you noticed, but those are the top 3 teams in the nation)
and is like 18-1 against everyone else......well, exactly how did Ty & Bob Davie do in those "other games"???? 

Why don't you look at this season's UW record.  Ty Willingham is a horrible coach.  He was a horrible coach.  Has Charlie Weis established himself as Lou Holtz or Ara Parseighean yet?  No.  But what he has done is establish himself as a coach who wins the games that he is supposed to win (something that Davie or Willingham did not do).  Next season, fans of ND who follow the program are expecting a "down" season with the graduation (and I probably don't need to say "graduation" when talking about Notre Dame players---don't you wish we could say the same about the fine representatives of the community currently playing at Ohio State???) of guys like Quinn, Samardzja & the rest of the senior class.
Ty had ONE (repeat--ONE) good recruiting class and no one is denying him that.  However, did you know that next year's senior class (the one that features RB Darius Walker) has 9 players left in it?  NINE PLAYERS.  Do you know how many of those NINE players are o-linemen?  Zero.  Great job recruiting Ty---why don't you mention that in your next article?

People who go to Notre Dame fan sites like NDNation & IrishEyes have a saying:
"Embrace the hate".  I guess when dealing with writers like yourself, you obviously have some sort of personal issue not only with Notre Dame football, but with Notre Dame itself, we have no other choice.  Will you be having lunch with Mark May this week?

By the way, just in case your wondering.....I did not attend Notre Dame.  Just a fan.


Jeff Bowdren aka DoubleB88@aol.com

10-2....not bad...still not quite good enough for ND fans....or for Charlie Weis.  We'll get there...don't you worry.

Brady Quinn won't win the Heisman this year....they'll give it to Troy Smith, the QB from Ohio State....the guy who was suspended for a couple of games last year for admitting that he TOOK MONEY FROM A BOOSTER.  Wow, I hope the Downtown Athletic Club of NY is proud of their newest member.  Meanwhile, I will remember Brady's career with great fondness.  Thanks to Brady & the Shark for two years worth of great memories.

11/23/06---Movie reviews

So I know its been forever and a day since I mentioned any movies to you.  Over the last week or so I've had the chance to watch about 6 movies that I hadn't seen before and so I wanted to give you an idea of what to look out for when they come out or if you see they're going to be on t.v.

1) The Mortal Storm (1940)--James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan are joined by an amazingly young Robert Stack (good Lord, I didn't recognize him until the end of the movie) & Robert Young--pre Marcus Welby obviously.  The story shows the effect of the rise in power of the Nazi's in Germany and although heavyhanded at times, I thought it was pretty strong stuff considering when it was made we weren't at war with the Germans yet.  Robert Young as a Nazi!!  Who woulda figured?  *** good stuff
2) Click (2006)--okay, here's one thing that I hate.  I hate when comedians decide they want to be "accepted" as serious actors.  Ugh.  Jim Carrey, Bill Murray and others have tried and they almost always fail miserably.  This one was no acception.  Someone please tell Adam Sandler to just do stupid movies like The Waterboy & Big Daddy and leave the serious acting to people who can, ya know....ACT.  If you haven't figured out by now, Sandler essentially plays the EXACT SAME CHARACTER in every one of his movies.  Ya know, the quiet, misunderstood guy who has been kept down his whole life and then eventually explodes in "hilarious" anger at some point.  Yawn.  And you will always see Rob Schneider and Henry Winkler (who has come up with a 2nd career playing a supporting role in Sandler movies).  There were a couple of cute scenes, almost all involving the great Christopher Walken playing a Bed, Bath & Beyond employee (especially the "Beyond").  *1/2
3) Mission Impossible 3--its apparently true.  In real life, Tom Cruise is some kind of a huge weirdo with that religion of his.  Still, the guy can make a good movie, I'll give him that.  I love when you have zero expectations of a film and then get a nice payoff.
That was the case here.  Cruise is ably supported here by Ving Rhames & Laurence Fishburne and also, and this is a key, by Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Nothing makes an action film great like having a superior villian to play off of and PSH gives Cruise just that.  Tons of terrific action scenes and the movie also starts off right in the middle of the action, so there's not a lot of time setting anything up.....big surprise here.  ****
4) Night of the Hunter---oh man, I have wanted to see this movie forever and I finally got a chance the other day.  What a run of movies that Robert Mitchum was having in the mid 50's to the early 60's!  Cape Fear, Night of the Hunter, Thunder Road.
Just some terrific films, and the performance in this one may have been his most memorable.  Here he plays Harry Powell, who travels around small towns as a preacher, which is a way of disguising the fact that he's also a serial killer (Heavy stuff for the mid 50's!).  After a chance meeting in jail with a very young Peter Graves, he seeks out and attempts to become a part of the life of Shelly Winters and her two young children--who he believes know the location of a stash of stolen money.  Watching Mitchum stalk the young children--before America knew what exactly a "stalker" was, is truly creepy stuff.  Also features a memorable role by legendary film star Lillian Gish as a lonely woman who encounters the children.  A terrific film, and American classic.
*****
5) Green Street Hooligans--Elijah Wood continues to move away from the Frodo Baggins-type of roles in this story about the fantaticism of English football (soccer) fans.
Tons of violent images, but a fairly well done movie that keeps you interested, although you might need subtitles to follow some of the English slang.  ***


Later,
Jeff

W11/21/06---So what did I do last night???

So I go to the Bank Atlantic Center where I met Mr. Sexay RPM, he of the supreme scalping skills....and manage to secure a ticket for the evening's show.....$100 face value for $60---and I'm in the 6th row, right next to the stage.  Opening the show?

Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders!!  And that was the opening act!  Top notch, also.
She apparently doesn't like to play "Brass in Pocket" for some reason, but other than that they played all their good songs.  I particularly like that they played one of her songs that I've always liked, "My City Was Gone".
It goes:


I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
Southtown it had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?

I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed

My childhood memories
Saw this world past
Like the wind thorugh the trees
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?

I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Ohio
had been replaced by shopping malls
And Muzak filled the air
From Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls
Said Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio

Needless to say....they were a great opening act......and then, and wouldn't you know it I was getting a soda at the time, the headliner hit the stage....cue the guitar chord:
Wow, what an awesome concert....one of the 2 or 3 best shows I've ever seen!!!
Who are you?.....Indeed.

Later,
Jeff

Submit New LyriAAnd I gottaWhat an amazing show




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11/18/06--Yours truly on a plethora of subjects

I know, I know...it has been awhile.  I could offer the usual myriad of excuses, but I won't.  Hey, I've been busy, you know?

The kids football season ended last night.  Thank God.  As much as I love high school football.....its a real hassle to have to rearrange anything we might want to do in order to go to one of their games.  Geez, how would I feel about it if I didn't like football?

We went out to the Panthers hockey game the other night....absolutely killer seats.
2nd row right behind the visiting team's (Washington Capitals) bench.  Just an unbelievable view of the action.  So naturally the Panthers played one of their worst games of the season...45 shots....1 goal.  Ugh.

Kellie got tonsillitis this week.  A pretty nasty case too.  She missed a couple of days of school while the anti-biotics took effect.  We thought she might have to miss last night's game because of it.  The band director told her that if she missed the game....she would have to write an essay on "respect" and "responsibility".  Mind you, this is for someone with a doctor's note.  Now, if she just skipped the game, or even if she was out of town for whatever reason....that's one thing.  But she had a freakin doctor's note!  So she showed up at the game, sat with the band but didn't participate--and I called the wife of the school's owner today and complained.  Squeaky wheel gets the grease people.
By the way, she appears on the road to recovery since she didn't start crying when I told her that her room was a pigsty.  What is it about teenagers being slobs?

So yesterday we had an office luncheon--ya know, for Thanksgiving and all.  We had it catered by Boston Market and it was actually quite good.  So why do I mention this?
Because we have around 90 to 100 people in our office.  30 people showed.
Why so low?  Some people felt the price was "too high".  Now the $12 got you 3 pieces of sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, a corn muffin, drink and desserts...all delivered to our door.  I find it amazing, yet not totally surprising that those same people that didn't want to spend the $12 (cough, cough...cheap bastards!...cough)
for the lunch were the first ones to come and grab some of the leftover desserts that we brought back to the office.  I mean, people....work with me here.  We have maybe one or two luncheons per year.  Live a little.
And don't even get me started on the group in the office that didn't participate because, as near as I can figure, the "usual" party planner wasn't involved in planning this one.
We felt oh so spurned by your failure to attend.  What a bunch of idiots.

Do I seem crabby?

I guess its a week worth of venting being let go.  Some of you sports fans may have read that former Michigan head coach and (cough) "icon" Bo Schembechler died yesterday....the talking heads at ESPN have been laying it on a little thick in their praise for the old Wolverine coach.....Okay, first of all...I'm sorry the guy died, feel bad for his family and all....

But....

I hate to speak ill of the dead...but I'm sorry, this guy in death has suddenly become this "loveable, but crusty" old coach. Nope.
He was a huge a-hole. I mean...HUGE. I'm not even talking about his stint with the Tigers either...

As some of you may know, I'm a big Notre Dame fan.
Bo hated Notre Dame. I mean, as in....a vile, low, snake in the grass kind of a hate. When the ND-Michigan series started up again in 1978, Bo was (needless to say) not in favor of it. He used to say things like....that Michigan didn't need Notre Dame, ND needed them. I guess Bo was only up on Michigan & Ohio State football history, and hadn't read up on Notre Dame's exploits on the gridiron. Whenever the subject of Notre Dame joining the Big Ten would come up, Bo would lead the Michigan brigade in spouting the anti-Notre Dame venom--much of it bordering on anti-Catholic rhetoric. So you might say that I had a good chuckle when I heard the p.a. announcer at Notre Dame stadium exhort the fans at the Notre Dame-Army game this afternoon to:

"Observe a moment of silence for Notre Dame's friend Bo Schembechler."

I almost choked on my lunch at that comment.

Bo Schembechler was a lot of things....but a friend of Notre Dame's was not one of them.
Fortunately, the administration had more class in his death announcement towards Bo than he ever showed towards the Irish.

Oh, and one more thing. Bo was a highly successful coach at Michigan. I don't deny that, although I would point out that the majority of his tenure in Ann Arbor was during a period when he could phone in at least a 9-2 or 10-1 record.
There were no limits on scholarships, so he could load up on kids who might play at another school but would basically ride the bench for 4 years at Michigan. The reason the Bo-Woody series was so memorable was that essentially it the only game that either of them really cared about. I always found it hilarious that when the Wolverines might lose an early game, maybe out of conference, and essentially cost themselves a realistic shot at the NATIONAL title, Bo would remind the media that all he really cared about was winning the Big Ten title and going to the Rose Bowl. Yeah, sure.

And finally, let me remind you that the guy NEVER won a national title. Geez, even Lloyd Carr has done that. And yet, there on ESPN last night, I sat there and listened to John Cooper try and tell the audience that....get this one....that Bo was one of the top 5 coaches of alltime.

Say what?????? Top 5 of alltime? He's not even the best Michigan coach of alltime (Ya might want to look into the names Fielding Yost & Fritz Crisler). I mean, c'mon...that's just embarassing. The guy was a fine coach, with an impressive (if slightly inflated) coaching record.
Its a sad day for Michigan fans. But let's not make like Bo was Bear Bryant.

There, now that I've vented, my sympathies to his family and Michigan fans.

--------------------

I'm done being crabby for now.....although, I might point out that Notre Dame, despite winning today by 41-9, allowed a pathetic Army team to score on the last play of the freaking game.  Can't we put anyone away???  I can't help but think that some stupid voter who only listens to ESPN will find 41-9 to be different than 41-3.  Just my opinion though.

There, now I'm done.

Later,
Jeff

PS...next time?  Movie reviews!!!!   Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!!!!

11/07/06---Sometimes I'm not proud of myself

Last week was not a good week.  And for a very weird reason.  Here's your gateway to my innermost thoughts of the previous week.

I came back to my desk mid-afternoon on Monday and saw a gaggle of women standing around, yapping like a bunch of washerwomen--and I say that with all due deference, mind you.  Anyway, as I walk past the group I hear someone say:

"Does he know?  Did anyone tell him?"

The group of women were surrounding my friend Ceci, who stood beaming.  I was asked what news could Ceci have which would be the biggest possible news I could think of.

"You're getting divorced?"  I said, half sarcastically, as I think I knew the answer.

I made eye contact with Ceci, who truly is one of the nicest people currently walking Earth.....and gave her a hug and congratulations on her pregnancy.  I knew that she and her husband Jorge were both elated at the news and I was happy that she was happy.

And then...I dunno.  Something happened.  I was sitting there, listening to the women in our office ask for every detail, every minute moment, every iota of what happened when the news was delivered to this person and that person.....and all of a sudden I just couldn't listen anymore.  It just became so much noise.  I walked out of the office and towards the empty courtroom that I usually work in.  I stood there for a moment......

and I screamed.

And I wasn't sure why.  I wasn't upset at Ceci.  She had wanted to get pregnant for a long time....her wish had finally come true.  So why was I unhappy.  I ended up leaving work early, still not sure why I was feeling what I was feeling.

Thank God I have a wife that I can talk too.  We're very open with each other.  I was worried at first that I couldn't talk to her about this one...unsure if she would understand, or help me understand, the source of my unhappiness.  I tread very carefully....cautiously seeing if this was a subject I could broach with her.

"I don't understand why I'm so unhappy about this," I told her.
"Well," she replied, "have you considered that maybe what this is about is that she's going to experience something you never have.  She & Jorge are going to be able to experience the birth of their child.  You've never had that experience before."
"Hey, I don't want you to think that I don't regard Andy & Kellie as my own.  I do."
"I understand that.  But the truth is that they're not your biological children.....its something that you didn't experience."

We sort of had a moment of silence and then she spoke again.

"You're not rethinking the whole 'having a baby together' thing are you?"

Now when Kim and I first began to get serious, we each decided that our days of having children were past......that a child was not something that was going to be part of our future.  I say that, and yet I believe that Kim is an absolutely awesome mother.
I remember when I was younger....and I was with my first wife.  I wanted a large family.
Five kids....maybe more.  Then I met my 2nd wife, and after a year or so together, I felt that I did not want to have children with her--that emotionally it was something that she would not be able to deal with---that she had other concerns that needed to be dealt with.  By the time I met Kim, kids were not something that I still considered an option.
Andy & Kellie are great kids....I'm very lucky. 

And yet somehow, my friend's happy news dug up something inside me....way deep down there.  Something that I thought was way past gone.  I talked to Kim and my sister (blessed mother counselor) and I finally understood my initial reaction. 

And I felt beyond embarrassed by it.  I felt ashamed of how I had reacted.  The rest of the week came and went and I went out of my way to avoid talking to Ceci.  I tried to be polite, but I suppose it came off as being distant or aloof.  I got to the point where I was worried about how I would broach my next conversation with Ceci.  My sister, quite correctly, told me not to tell Ceci what I had been thinking, because it wouldn't be fair for her to feel guilt at my unhappiness---afterall, she didn't do anything wrong.
It just so happened I was in court with the one person in my office who could understand (maybe) what I had been thinking.  I told my friend Cathy (aka Momo) what I had been going through.  She told me that she could tell that something had been troubling me.  She & her husband Scott don't have children.  I told her what had been going on inside the vast wilderness known as my mind and she made an interesting revelation to me.  She told me that the day that Ceci made her announcement, she went home and later that evening she was ironing some clothes.

And then she suddenly began crying. 

And she didn't understand why either.  Maybe, I told her, we both looked at it as sort of an "end of the road" for our own prospects for children of our own.  Ceci is the youngest person in our group of friends and work, and within the circle of friends that Kim and I have she's also probably the youngest person also.  Maybe I realized that this was the last person I really am close with that is going to be experiencing the birth of their own child....and maybe it made me feel just a little bit older.

And then yesterday, a week since the news came out, and right after my conversation with Cathy......Ceci came over to my desk.  And she told me that she couldn't help noticing that I hadn't been talking to her.  I was a little flabbergasted.....I figured that she hadn't even noticed.  I asked her to do me a favor and speak to Cathy---not because I was a coward, but because, true to my sister's advice, I didn't want her to feel some sort of guilt over the way I had been feeling.

This morning I walked out into the hallway at work and saw Ceci coming towards me.
She told me that she had talked to Cathy....I felt myself shuffling my feet....almost as an awkward high school kid would. 

"What I am about to say," she began, "I want you to know that I say very selectively.
I really love you very much."

We hugged and I told her that I loved her very much too.  Later I called Cathy to find out what their conversation had been about.  She told me that Ceci had been very concerned about my silence to her and that she had cried when discussing it.  After she had explained everything to her Ceci understood and wanted to say she was sorry.
Cathy told her that she was absolutley NOT to do that.  She had no reason to be.
And she didn't.  The problem had been mine....not hers.

I'm really very lucky.  I have a terrific wife and two great kids.....most of the time they call me "Jeff".  But when my daughter introduces me to her friends, she says:

"This is my Dad."

And that sounds pretty good.

Later,
Jeff

Quick Notre Dame thoughts as the season nears an end....

Troy Smith Vs. Illinois (2-8): 13/23, 108 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

Brady Quinn Vs. UNC (1-8): 23/35, 346 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT

FACT: Brady is on pace to throw for over 1,000 more yards than Smith.

FACT: Troy Smith has not thrown for 300 yards in a single game all season. Quinn averages just under 300 yards per game.

FACT: In order for Troy Smith to catch up to Brady Quinn against common opponents, Smith will have to pass for 491 yards and 8 touchdowns against Michigan's top-ranked defense.

FACT: Smith has thrown for less than 200 yards in 5 of his last 7 games.

FACT: Troy Smith was suspended for taking money from a booster.

Food for thought.
Later,
Jeff