B... Y... U....GOOOOOO COUGARS!

It would be an understatement to say that the anticipation of tonight's game between BYU and Florida has me a littl distracted. I have been spending too much (just enough?) time responding to Facebook posts and the latest articles about my beloved Cougars.

This game is a beautiful thing. I live in Gainesville, and have since I was ten years old, with the exception of 2 years as a missionary in Southern California and 4 glorious years in Provo at BYU. I love living here, but when I moved to Gainesville I HATED the Gators. At the time I didn't really care about BYU, loving the Miami Hurricanes more than any other. Having gone to the Y, they now own my ultimate sports loyalty.

I don't hate the Gators (much) anymore, as numerous posts here can attest, but my choice here was never in doubt.

I think BYU is a unique place. There are plenty of haters (Ute fans especially) but their vitriol has no impact on my love for BYU's special nature. Some of them just grew up that way, some couldn't get in, others are just run-of-the-mill godless reprobates. Too harsh?

I loved this article from Ann Killion at SI.com. I love the Cougs, win or lose. They have given us a great season, a successful and thrilling season. I like Billy Donovan and this Gator team is a pretty good, pretty likable team. I can think of worse things than losing to them. I just hope it doesn't happen.

I won't predict a score. That really is a somewhat ridiculous idea. I just want a win.

Go Cougars!

Hire'em up

Andy Staples, of SI.com, explains why Miami and Florida both made good hires, even if one of them doesn't pan out. I'm inclined to agree with him.

Sporting News

Hasta luego

Urban Meyer's departure seemed anticlimactic in light of what happened one year ago. It is interesting to me that Gator fans do not have a bigger sense of disappointment for a coaching tenure that seems short.

I don't know Urban Meyer or his family. I respect his choice to be with his family. I think that is always a good decision. I just expected more prolonged lamentation at his resignation. I suspect it will be difficult to replicate his success, especially winning two national championships over a six year span. In public Meyer was not endearing. In my only interaction with him I found him aloof, almost a little unfriendly. I understand the need to put up boundaries in a place like Gainesville, where every obsessed Gator fan wants to be the coach's friend and give their two cents. I think this may be part of why people are not more devastated at what seemed to be, last year a least, a premature end to his career at Florida. I wish him well, not that he needs my blessing.

PTI

Michael Wilbon is now writing for ESPN.com. I think this is very good for ESPN, and I'm more likely to read his column than when he was writing for The Washington Post. Here is his first column. I like what he has to say about Michael Jordan. I agree that no current player will surpass him, though people like Kobe are, and Lebron may be, very, very good.

Trouble

I was actually a little surprised by this article from the Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley. In the past I have felt he was a little too forgiving of the rather poor law enforcment experience of the Gators in recent years. For some reason the Gators have had a large number of players arrested for felony or misdemeanor crimes. I don't think Urban Meyer is a bad guy, but there may be an institutional failing in the recruiting process employed by the Gators (and other schools with similar issues).

On a separate note, NCAA enforcement (humanized somewhat by Stewart Mandel in this piece) is confronting a challenging environment with agents and the many others who also work in that field. This is not a high point for the sport from this perspective, as many prominent programs have seen their players face eligibility issues.


On a lighter note I really enjoyed this article by Pat Forde about the University of Texas.

Taking a stand! (Go Cougs!)

As for me and my house, we support the Cougars!

.

College Football Roundup

The biggest news for me this weekend was the victory of my BYU Cougars over arch-rival Utah. Before moving to Utah to attend BYU, I had little real idea of how intense this rivalry was. It seemed a little silly to me, having come from Florida, a state where rivalry games routinely decided national champion contenders. As a Cougar, it seemed like vitriol of Utes far outstripped anything from Florida-Georgia or Miami-Florida State.

Things seemed to have reached a new level with BYU's win last Saturday. After the game Max Hall, BYU's quarterback, made some imprudent comments. You can read commentary on them here, from KSL and the Salt Lake Tribune. Utes have responded in kind. It's not a great development in an ugly rivalry.

Still, I'm extremely happy with how things turned out.

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

Miami finished their season well. This was great preparation for next season, and if they have a nice win in their bowl game (probably the Gator Bowl), it may be a good indication of things to come.

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

Andy Staples of SI.com makes a good case for Tim Tebow's greatness as a football player and how he is undeserving of this year's Heisman trophy.

Many commentators are picking Alabama for this weekend's SEC Championship game. I think it will be a close game, one I will be attending, but I don't think I will ever pick against Tim Tebow.

More of the Same

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

I remember when Florida stopped playing Miami starting in the late 1980's. There were a variety of reasons behind this move, but as a Miami fan the most satisfying one was that the Gators were afraid to play us.

It appears that there will be another drought for Miami fans eager for the rivalry games, if this report is correct. Florida can keep playing FIU and Charleston Southern.

Ugh

Miami got worked today. It was a bad loss, and a reminder that 2 wins does not a season make. Virginia Tech's defense was prepared and their offense manhandled the Canes defensive line. It's not the end of the season by any means, but still a bad loss.

Tim Tebow went down hard today. Seems to be a concussion. I hope he's okay.

At least the Cougs won. And A.J. was prophetic in his mention of Cal's traditional meltdown.

Tebow's Problem?

I'm watching the UF-Tennessee game right now. I want Florida to win this game, but I am not sure that I want the Gators to go undefeated this year. What I want may not matter, but it highlights my increasingly complicated relationship with the Gators.

I like Tim Tebow and I like Urban Meyer. They're the hometown team, so most Saturdays I root for their success.

But I grew up a fan of the University of Miami, and continue to be one to this day. I used to HATE the Gators, and took great satisfaction from the difficulties Florida had with Miami during the 3 meetings earlier this decade.

As Florida's success has really blossomed the enjoyment of Gator fans has increased, and in some cases has risen to insufferability. Should the Gators go undefeated this year I think it will rise to such epic proportions that my latent, once-thought-abandoned Gator-hate may re-emerge for good. We'll see what happens.

The game is close at this point, 10-6. We'll see what happens.

For your extra-credit reading, this article about Tebow's NFL prospects is interesting because it focuses on Tebow's left-handedness, and the generally poor fortunes of left-handers in the NFL.

SPOTD #146

I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays. We've been visiting Lacy's family, and having a great time.

Today's phrase:
This is a great time to perform service for people less fortunate. From Dr. Martin Luther King

Actual:
Si ayudaras a una sola persona a tener esperanza, no habrias vivido en vano.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
See ah-yoo-dahs ah oo-nah so-lah pare-sewn-ah ah tain-air ace-pare-ahn-sah, no ahs vee-vee-do enn vah-no.

Translation:
If you help only one person to have hope, you would not have lived in vain

Condi lays it down...
I've made a concerted effort lately to keep the SPOTD e-mails apolitical, but I wanted to share this article. It is drawn from a conversation between a Wall Street Journal writer, Kimberley Strassel, and Condoleeza Rice. Rice challenges the notion that the Bush Administration has left the U.S. in a worse situation in terms of international relations. She draws comparisons between the situation inherited by Bush versus the one being inherited by Obama. You may disagree with the policies of the Bush administration, but I think she makes some valid points.

Tebow
The recent Heisman voting left last year's winner, Tim Tebow, in 3rd place. I am not really a Gator fan, giving my allegiance to BYU and Miami, but Tebow is an outstanding player and individual. This bit from the Wall Street Journal makes a case for why he may be the best player of all time.

Last Minute Shopping
Looking for a way to spend a Christmas gift? Popular Mechanics has a series where they look at various tv-sold products. I wrote about one, the Shamwow, at In Rare Form.

Failed Promise
I love movie trailers. They are so expertly made these days that many very mediocre films look like they're going to be much better. This site looks at some great trailers for mediocre 2008 films.

Link of the Day
This is incredible. In order to maintian New York City's aquifer, divers are living underground in a tank, breathing a mixture of mostly helium.
You must read this fascinating bit.

Today in Sports

Today has been a great day in college football. I've just watched Texas Tech's thrilling win over #1 ranked Texas. I love college football.

We'll start with my alma mater, Brigham Young. All I really know is that they won. Not having the MTN network I'm forced to rely on el Internet. Now, for the second week in a row, the game is much, much closer than I would like. But they won, Dennis Pitta is the man. Now Utah has to beat TCU and we have to beat Utah. Beyond that I don't know how they would break the tie, but Go Cougs!

I was able to watch the Miami Hurricanes play Virginia. This was an exciting game, because despite many, many Miami mistakes they were able to tie the game and win in thrilling fashion. After scoring on their first overtime posession, Lovon Ponder stripped the ball from Virginia's running back and that was the game.

Florida exacted revenge on Georgia, in the only way that really matters, on the field. Tim Tebow is some kind of player. Since losing to Ole Miss Florida has been extremely impressive. This speech, given by Tebow after the loss, was quite the statement and he has backed it up. This is an interesting look at how the game went down. Also, I read this brief preview yesterday about the game and meant to blog about how I thought the guy was wrong. You'll just have to trust me on that one.

Miami v. UF thoughts: 1 Day Later

I'm still okay with yesterday's game. Miami played hard, clean, and came so close. That's the part that gets me a little bit disappointed with the outcome. We were so close to giving the Gators an absolutely soul-crushing upset loss.

This year it was not meant to be. After 6 straight wins previous to yesterday's game I've decided that you can't be greedy.

Some quick hits:

• What does this mean for Miami now?
• The difference maker for the Gators was and is Tim Tebow. Some of the throws he made would not have been possible for 90% (at least) of college quarterbacks. He won that game for them.

Now I'll have to listen to the fans here until 2013. Hopefully we can add another ring before then.

Quake (AweVidSat bonus)

Lacy and I are always talking about which state is more dangerous to live in- Florida or California? Obviously I point to earthquakes and she to hurricanes. Since there was recently a quake in Southern Cal I thought I would post some funny videos (one new, one old) of what happens when a quake hits).

This was during a taping of Judge Judy:



This is a hilarious bit from an old episode of David Letterman. That second anchor clearly is the inspiration for Ron Burgundy:

Family

I put some pics of family time at the beach over at Lacy's blog.

Castillos (Castles)

I have a habit of building sand castles whenever I am in Marco Island, FL. The sand there is perfect. I blogged about last year's effort, and this year I have had two that I am pleased with.

This one was made my first stretch here. A simpler design. I favor a deep moat.

It's fun to build a tunnel into the large center mass.

This is #2. Wall on the inside of the moat (more logical). You can't see in the pic, but there is a dead crab on top. We had a huge storm, he didn't make it, so now he adorns the top (or did until it rained today).

The above castle actually survived overnight, so I added the taller "keep" and connected castle in front. Overnight someone had ringed it with shells. It was a nice touch and may have kept it from being destroyed by passersby.
Joseph and Millie are playing in a ramp I dug out for Joseph's monster trucks.

I dug out this bridge for the forward part. I was inspired by some stuff Walmir and I did for Joseph's trucks last week. I don't have a good pic of it though. I had a much bigger sand bridge for the first castle, but went too deep and the sinkhole effect claimed it.

This is a view of the village I added to the side of the castle. Many castles had villages surrounded by a smaller city wall. If trouble came people would flee to the more secure castle.

This is a closer view of the village. There is a road, a stream with a small brige over it, and a portcullis of sorts to protect the town.

A different view of the same.

Perhaps when I get back next week I will better the design. I wanted to add a port to it, but an early afternoon rainstorm has reclaimed it (I think).

Yes, I am a sand castle nerd.

The Beast Gets His Bite Back

I was at my Rotary Club meeting last week and our speaker was Dr. Don Goodman, the director of Gainesville's Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. Several years ago he lost his right arm to MoJo, a massive American alligator that made its home there. As is the practice when an alligator attacks a human, MoJo was killed, not only as a protective measure but also to see if Dr. Goodman's arm was salvageable. Unfortunately it was not.

Now that several years have passed Dr. Goodman has come to the conclusion that MoJo's behavior is part of a trend that began when animals like the alligator fell under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Alligators had learned to fear humans because an encounter with a human meant a very real chance of death. After years of protection, alligators don't really have to fear humans for their survival. They know most of us are unarmed and more aggressive behavior seems one likely by-product of that, even as endangered status no longer applies.

A few days later I saw this post at Instapundit. Glen Reynolds highlighted some cases of coyotes acting more aggressive in L.A. suburbs and elsewhere. This seems to be supportive anecdotal evidence of what I learned last week.

Just something interesting to think about.

Don't Taze me Bro!

This happened right here in my hometown, Gainesville, FL. I think it is pretty darn funny.

During a town hall meeting with John Kerry an idiot student was tazed by police. I'm not sure that he deserved to be tazed. I am sure that he is an idiot, and that if he had calmly walked away he would have been fine. Here is some video of the incident:



For additional information here is more from The Gainesville Sun. I thought that John Kerry's statement on the incident was quite appropriate.

Some people have reacted to the incident by saying that this is evidence that we live in a police state. Those people fail to understand that the reaction of the UPD, the University, and the State Attorney's office are just what I would hope for under the circumstances.

The Big 2

Joseph turned 2 years old today. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed since he was born. His start was a tricky one, but as you can see he is doing great

Here he is with his namesake and Grandpa.

Looking handsome on his birthday.

The whole family on the beach.

We had a nice birthday party last Saturday with my parents and Ross, Lillie, & Sophia who were visiting us from California. They have some pictures of their visit on Lillie's blog.

Beards & Shoes

I'm back in Gainesville for the week. There are a few things I want to blog about but may not have much time. Thus, I blog about two fun but trivial things.

While at the beach I grew a beard. I still have it right now.


I bought these Nike Shox through Nike ID.



Nothing like running with the Lowdogg.

Vacation

I thought I'd post some pics from our vacation There's nothing like a sunset on the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is a photo of the family on a balmy 4th of July.

I don't remember having much interest in sand castles as a child, but I sure enjoy building them now. This is one I worked on the other day. I went for one with a gatehouse like Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

Millie is getting bigger and stronger all the time. She's a little beauty.

Here is Joseph with his uncle Chris, having a great time.

An image of the 4th of July fireworks from the view of our building.

All in all, not a bad place to be.