tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72078222024-03-13T16:12:08.687-07:00Apropos de NadaWhatever I <i>feel</i> like ... GAH!Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-15924875325691664482007-10-21T12:16:00.001-07:002007-10-21T12:22:02.443-07:00When You Have the Goods, Exploit Them Fully; or, Why Les Miles Travels by BusGiven the considerable brass in Les Miles' trousers, getting through airport security must be a monumental effort for the LSU coach and, consequently, anyone behind him. If you missed it, here's the final minutes of the LSU-Auburn game:<span xmlns=""><p><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/w0RrW9yO_8U"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w0RrW9yO_8U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /></p><p>I don't know what amazes me more, Les going for six when three would've won it, or his<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2007/07/lesmiles.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 161px;" src="http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2007/07/lesmiles.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span> straight-faced "on what?" reply to Holly Rowe's question about the last play. While nursing screeching hangovers, several thousand Cajuns are probably collectively asking themselves, "Is our coach the luckiest moron alive or is it just that his brain is composed entirely of testicular matter?"<br /></p><p>It's a question for the ages. One certainty is that Les Miles must be a hell of a lot of fun to play for. This is a guy who goes for it on five consecutive fourth downs against the number 3 team in the country. Faced with the choice of with a game-ending play call where two of the three possible outcomes are disastrous (going for the TD) or a call where the odds are at least 50% and probably much greater (kicking a field goal), Les opted for the former, because, in his words, "we had the opportunity to kick their asses."<br /></p><p>Contrast that with Miles' mouthy counterpart in Columbia, S.C.<br /></p><p>Several weeks ago, Steve Spurrier, ebullient from a rare, 16-12 win at Georgia got his digs in by quipping, <a href="http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-33/119147950771700.xml&coll=1">"It wasn't like they were some big, powerful team…Vandy beat them last year."</a> Yeah, about that, Steve … <a href="http://www.thestate.com/news/story/206907.html">suck it</a>.<br /></p><p><strong><br /> </strong> </p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-67593858308727101322007-10-18T13:43:00.001-07:002007-10-18T14:14:00.556-07:00Dink NeSmith Has a Hammer and All He Sees are Red and Black Nails.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/05/63/40/image_5940635.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 180px;" src="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/05/63/40/image_5940635.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span xmlns=""><p>It apparently comes as a surprise to Dink NeSmith that the media is a two-way communication device. Which comes as a surprise to the rest of us, since, for nearly two decades, NeSmith has been running a <a href="http://cninewspapers.com/">chain of newspapers</a> throughout Georgia, Florida and North Carolina.<br /></p><p>Although NeSmith claims that 74% of respondents to <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/10/10/bulldogsed_1011.html">this piece</a> "barked 'Amen,'" NeSmith still felt compelled to go after the other 26% with <a href="http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2007/10/17/Opinions/Critic.Responds.To.Barking.Fans-3036075.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab">this piece</a>, which clarified nothing about his original editorial, except that NeSmith believes it's his First Amendment right to not tolerate dissent, or something to that effect.<br /></p><p>Fretting that "Erk is dead … and so is the storied Junkyard Dawg intensity," NeSmith last week proposed a pay-for-performance salary and bonus plan for Georgia coach Mark Richt that works like this:<br /></p><blockquote><p>"Your base salary will be $500,000. Your $800,000 radio/TV and $530,000 Nike deals go to the athletic association. You work for us, not them. You can earn it back and more. Each victory triggers a bonus. The bigger the game, the bigger the bonus. Win the SEC championship, get $1 million. Win the national championship, pocket another $2 million."<br /></p></blockquote><p>Worried, like the rest of us, that Georgia football has fallen off the plateau it reached between 2002 and 2005, NeSmith believes a fire needs to be lit under Richt, who, as a not-so-minor side note, is the winningest coach in Georgia history and one of the most coveted young coaches in college football. Never mind that Richt is only in his sixth season in Athens and perhaps it's a bit premature to draw trendlines.<br /></p><p>What's important is that we all buy NeSmith's underlying assumption that business and athletics have the same dynamics and thus that the University of Georgia should take a business-minded approach to its athletics.<br /></p><p>That three true freshman on the offensive line aren't pancaking people like Max Jean-Gilles did is just details. Details are for little people. And Dink NeSmith, in case you didn't know, is kind of a big deal. He's the president of Community Newspapers, Inc., which operates such media powerhouses as the <em>Dahlonega </em>(Ga.)<em> Nugget</em> and the <em>Palatka </em>(Fla.)<em> Daily News</em>.<br /></p><p>NeSmith views himself as a major Bulldog shareholder trying to drive some upside. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.<br /></p><p>As always, Sen. Blutarsky at <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/">Get the Picture</a> and Groo at <a href="http://www.dawgsonline.com/">DawgsOnline</a> <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/ignorant-hypocrite-absurd-redneck-blowhard-pompous-micromanager-arrogant-traitor/">more</a> <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/ignorant-hypocrite-absurd-redneck-blowhard-pompous-micromanager-arrogant-traitor/">than</a> <a href="http://www.dawgsonline.com/2007/10/11/firing-the-first-salvo-at-richt/">capably</a> <a href="http://www.dawgsonline.com/2007/10/18/giving-you-the-best-that-ive-got/">unwind</a> NeSmith's tangled thread of illogic.<br /></p><p>Groo boils it down to NeSmith wanting more hustle and being willing to pay for it. Richt, like any other coach, already has an incentive-based contract, although apparently it's not incentive-laden enough for NeSmith's tastes. Again, NeSmith assumes everyone thinks like him, except the other 26%, who hate free speech and want the terrorists to win. Blutarsky pokes a gaping hole in that assumption by asking, "Exactly why do you believe that Mark Richt is so crassly motivated by money?"<br /></p><p>Indeed. I reckon $2M/year goes pretty far in Athens, and there are only so many yachts you can ski behind. We're talking about a guy who's adopted two kids from the Ukraine and goes on mission trips to Central America. A guy who, after presiding over the dominant FSU teams of the 1990s and bringing two SEC titles to a Georgia program that had gone through a two-decade drought, never heeded the siren call of a lucrative NFL contract. If Dink is unsure of Richt's desire to win, Dink can have a look at the FSU and Georgia trophy cases.<br /></p><p>But since NeSmith insists on framing this in a business context in which Richt is motivated as much by dollars as by wins, Blutarsky asks why Richt would be willing to exchange his current package for one that carries the risk of a significant pay cut and, in the event that Richt politely declines, what coach would accept such a proposal? I'm left to wonder if NeSmith just assumes that Richt, perhaps like any of NeSmith's managers at CNI, will take any contract shoved in his face.<br /></p><p>What amazes me about NeSmith is the following quote from his original piece:<br /></p><blockquote><p>"We expect victories. Our fans and the University have opened their checkbooks, within NCAA guidelines, to give you, the staff and the team fabulous resources to compete with the nation's best. Thanks to your leadership, we repeatedly recruit rosters of nationally ranked all-stars. It's past time for the investments to pay off."<br /></p></blockquote><p>Having reeled off his bona fides as a Bulldog supporter for nearly four decades, NeSmith claims an long memory of where Bulldog football has been. Trouble is, NeSmith still seems to be there, rather than in the present. College football's arms race – with its private jets for recruiting trips, $4 million annual coaching salaries, 100,000-seat stadia, indoor practice facilities and millionaires' club locker rooms – appears to have gone unnoticed by NeSmith. Florida and LSU, NeSmith must assume, stepped into a power vacuum created by Richt's not hustling hard enough.<br /></p><p>Given all the glad-handing with alums, fans, media and administrators that Richt and other coaches have to do, I'm kind of sympathetic to current and former coaches like Jim Donnan and Nick Saban, who have been pretty surly in response to all duties not related to winning football games. When you add in megalomaniac über-boosters like Bobby Lowder, in whose footsteps NeSmith is dangerously close to treading, it's not much of a mystery why, for example, Steve Spurrier is currently coaching against his alma mater.<br /></p><p>Of course Richt's boss, Georgia athletic director Damon Evans, could address NeSmith's issues far more knowledgeably than I or any other average newspaper reader. I suspect NeSmith knows this, which makes me, along with Groo and Blutarsky, wonder why NeSmith decided to air his grievances in newspapers rather than take it up with Evans directly. Aside from being a multi-millionaire donor, NeSmith is a former president of the Georgia Alumni Association and an emeritus member of the Board of Directors of the UGA Athletic Association.<br /></p><p>Dink, if you want to get on Damon's calendar to tell him what you would do if you had his job, just call him. When he's not preoccupied with running the country's most <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2006/04/come-on-offa-that-cash-pile-damon.html">financially and athletically successful ADs</a>, I'm sure Damon's got all the time in the world to hear how a newspaper boss would run a Division I athletic department.<br /></p><p> </p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-89331802351890428882007-10-15T15:36:00.001-07:002007-10-15T15:38:44.657-07:00Game 7: Stepping away from the light<span xmlns=""><p>Not gonna spend a whole lot of time analyzing the Xs and Os on this one, as this was one of those games where the details, frankly, just weren't important. In the wake of the obliteration in Knoxville, the subsequent <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/10/10/bulldogsed_1011.html">fallout</a>, and the potential for the first losing streak against Vandy in half a century, any kind of win is fine with me.<br /></p><p>And, yes, this was an ugly win. So ugly that we needed a last second field goal to win it. So ugly that our players needed to be reminded that wins over Vandy are supposed to be perfunctory, not something you celebrate with a classless midfield logo stomp (save it for when you get consecutive wins in Jacksonville – hell, do that, I'll go <a href="http://georgiasports.blogspot.com/2006/11/was-it-over-when-germans-bombed-pearl.html">Auburn 1986</a> on that logo). <br /></p><p>So ugly, that, at halftime, with Georgia down 17-7, I was strangely unperturbed, given the pervasive, funereal vibe that has blanketed the Dawg Nation since the bright orange devastation two Saturdays prior. Along with my preseason hopes and expectations, I had soberly laid to rest the hope of Georgia beating anyone else left on the schedule besides, maybe, Troy. Being blown out in Neyland is one thing – unpleasant, but not unprecedented. Consecutive losses to Vandy would settle any debate about whether the program is in decline. Bulldog Coaches have been fired for less and may it always be so.<br /></p><p>As we cross the season's midpoint, the problems with this team are well-documented: youth, shoddy fundamentals and the kind of gunshy gameplanning designed to preserve a struggling team from total self-immolation, but not to snatch wins by the jugular.<br /></p><p>In other words, Chapter 16 in Georgia's Melvillian epic, <em>Limping into Jacksonville</em>, is already being written. All the standard plot elements for the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Wake are there: injuries to key skill players, defense riddled with doubts after early season setback(s) and a consequently dyspeptic fan base whose martini of tears is already in the shaker.<br /></p><p>Which is why I was simply glad to get the win this Saturday and be done with it, style points be damned. As <a href="http://heyjennyslater.blogspot.com/2007/10/we-dont-bring-them-back-to-life-but-we.html">Doug noted</a>, "coming off a 35-14 annihilation by Tennessee and down 17-7 at halftime against [rhymes with 'shucking'] Vanderbilt, the Dawgs were walking toward the light." What we needed was a reprieve, something to head off a schneid similar to last year's bleak October.<br /></p><p>And this could be a particularly auspicious time for a change in momentum, for several reasons.<br /></p><p>For one, Florida (4-2, 2-2) isn't exactly rolling. With two back-to-back losses gnawing at them, on tap next week for the Gators is a trip to Lexington to face Kentucky, who is coming off a huge win against a team responsible for one of the Gators' losses. Sure, they're the best two-loss team in the country and their two losses are a hell of a lot more respectable than our two losses. Regardless, the Gators' losses so far are evidence that someone has figured out how to slow the Tebow/Harvin blitzkrieg. And our bye week means Willie Martinez has two whole weeks to figure out how to work a DVD player, watch those Gator losses and gameplan accordingly while Florida splits its attention between us and a sky-high Kentucky team.<br /></p><p>For another, two weeks from now, 5-2 is 5-2 and how you got there matters far, far less than the fact that you're not 4-3 and Vandy's homecoming bitch. It's the difference between columns, radio shows and message boards discussing the top 10 candidates to replace Willie Martinez and instead discussing "Well, hell, if Stanford can beat USC …" 5-2 means the burden of being on the bubble for an early December trip to Atlanta is probably off your shoulders, so you can roll into Jacksonville with a what-the-hell attitude, ready to see someone <em>else's </em>cornflakes get pissed in for a change.<br /></p><p>For yet another, have I mentioned the bye week? Remember <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2007/10/anything-happen-while-i-was-gone.html">how I said</a> intangibles like bye weeks don't matter? Yeah, about that … turns out they do. At least that was one of my takeaways from the Tennessee thrashing. (Other takeaways include that I should never, ever try to predict a score – the football fates apparently hate it when you try to telegraph their moves and their consequent vengeance is swift, excruciating and replete with flea-flickers.)<br /></p><p>Anyway, since many of our problems are of the fundamentals variety – overthrows, drops, poor tackling, missed blocking assignments, off-sides, false starts, lining up in the neutral zone (the litany is never-ending) – we can use the off-week to rest up, heal, re-learn tackle football and fully repress any memories of Knoxville. Actually, two weeks is probably enough time to merely scratch the surface of what ails us. But it's the most time we'll have all season to work on this stuff, so let's value it appropriately. And, for once, blessedly, the bye week comes midway through the season, as opposed to right before the last game of the season when it's too late for any off-week adjustments to have an impact on the season.<br /></p><p>The bye week is especially salient given who our next opponent is. In the early 1990s, then-Florida coach Steve Spurrier recognized the importance of the Georgia game to the title-starved Gators' SEC title hopes. Noting that the Georgia game typically came a mere week after what was usually a draining slugfest with Auburn, Spurrier lobbied for and won a bye week before the Cocktail Party.<br /></p><p>Of course, it was a lot more than bye weeks that got the Gators to the 15-2 streak they currently enjoy in Jacksonville, but the difference in energy levels between the two teams on game day and the annual late October unveilings of new trick plays in the Gators' arsenal point to Spurrier's bye week productivity.<br /></p><p>In 2007, Georgia finds itself where Florida found itself in 1990: If anything great is going to happen for this program, it must retake Jacksonville. In 2001, Mark Richt spoke often of "lifting the lid" off of the Georgia football program. SEC championships in 2002 and 2005 – our first since 1982 – were thought to be signs that the lid had been lifted.<br /></p><p>Not so. Until we can win consistently in Jacksonville, there will still be a big orange and blue lid on this program. During Georgia's 2001-2005 renaissance, the Bulldogs' 1-4 record against the Gators screamed "Yeah, but…" The careful wording of Mark Richt's 24-4 record in "true road games" has always rankled me, because it sounds like the commenter is going out of his way not to mention the overall record outside of Athens, which becomes a bit less noteworthy when you add in Richt's 1-5 mark on the banks of the St. John's.<br /></p><p>So I'm indifferent about last Saturday's results and I'm neither pessimistic nor optimistic about what lies ahead in Jacksonville. Conventional wisdom says we'll get thrashed. Of course, conventional wisdom said the same about Appalachian State against Michigan, about Colorado against Oklahoma, about Stanford against USC, about us against Auburn last year and on and on and on.<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-1577308847333779362007-10-07T08:32:00.001-07:002007-10-07T10:21:39.958-07:00How Long, Willie?<span xmlns=""><blockquote><p>"We are gathered here today for celebrating this year of bicentenniality, in the hope of freedom and dignity.<br /></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>We are celebrating 200 years … of white folks kicking ass. White folks have had the essence of disunderstanding on their side for quite a while.<br /></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>However, we offer this prayer, and the prayer is – how long will this <em>bullshit</em> go on?<br /></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>How <em>long</em>! <em>How</em> long? How <em>long</em> will this bullshit go on?<br /></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>That is the eternal question man have always asked, 'How long?'<br /></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>When man first got here, he asked, 'How long will these animals kick me in the ass? How long before I discover fire and stop freezing to death?'"<br /></p></blockquote><p> <span style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>Richard Pryor, "Bicentennial Prayer"</blockquote></span>At the end of the third quarter, I'd had enough. Watching a fully prepared Tennessee kick a fully unprepared Georgia's ass all over Neyland Stadium for three quarters had been sucking the life out of me, so I took what little was left and went for a run to shake off the malaise. While on the trail, Richard Pryor's "How long?" refrain was going through my head. This was the second consecutive ass-kicking Georgia had suffered at the hands of Tennessee, which has gone 12-5 against us since Vince Dooley retired in 1988. Tennessee is now 20-15-2 against us overall, so if you do a little math you can see that I've been watching Tennessee kick our ass for most of my life. Between 1975 and 1988, we were 3-0 against them, a tally that mostly occurred on Herschel Walker's watch.<br /></p><p>So, indeed, how long?<br /></p><p>First off, I'd like to take back most of what I wrote on Friday, particularly the part about Georgia having the coaching staff that "inspires more confidence in a big game setting." This is the second time in three years that Willie Martinez's defense has spotted an opponent a four-touchdown lead in the first half, getting gashed up the middle for over 100 rushing yards in the first 30 minutes of play. Given that Tennessee has struggled to run the ball all year and OC David Cutcliffe's bona fides as a passing game mastermind, it might have been fair to expect more of an aerial attack. But no matter: we didn't get a single soul into Tennessee's backfield all day, leaving QB Erik Ainge to do as he chose. And, seeing our confused LBs and DBs out of position for most of the game, Erik did what you'd expect a three-year starter to do: complete 77% of his passes.<br /></p><p>Thing is, we saw this movie last year, when Tennessee torched Georgia in the fourth quarter en route to a 51-33 shelling. At the time, the blame fell on the turnover-prone offense, which gave Tennessee short field to work with for much of the second half. Still, when Fulmer crowed to his charges at halftime last year that "they can't stop our offense," that wasn't some idle boast: The Vols have scored 86 points on Georgia in two games, including 65 in the past five quarters.<br /></p><p>So, Willie, how long? How long will this bullshit go on?<br /></p><p>This isn't like trying to figure out how to stop the spread offense. This is Tennessee, good old meat-and-potatoes Tennessee. They've been running this offense since 1992. And this wasn't a particularly good version of it. Tennessee's running game was ranked 11<sup>th</sup> in the conference going into this game. Gallingly, a ground game that averaged 130.2 yards a game raked us for 190 on Saturday.<br /></p><p>Really, the first drive was all you needed to see to know what was going to happen: Georgia DLs getting blown off the ball as Tennessee RBs Arian Foster, Montario Hardesty and Lamarcus Coker churned through arm tackles to average, respectively, 5.8 and 4.9 yards a carry. That opened up a passing game that left burn marks all over Asher Allen and Bryan Evans.<br /></p><p>On the other side of the ball, Georgia's ground game, which ran for over 300 yards last week and featured a returning Kregg Lumpkin, got swallowed whole in Knoxville, to the tune of 68 total yards at 2.8 yards/carry. Hell, the whole offense had less than 60 yards total at halftime.<br /></p><p>There were a few high points: Tripp Chandler found his hands and led the team in receptions (4) and caught a touchdown that was almost reminiscent of <a href="http://www.onlineathens.com/images/070607/23001_512.jpg">P-44 Haynes</a> in a rare moment of Tennessee's DBs being utterly being out of position. Demiko Goodman's touchdown catch was spectacular. Kregg Lumpkin played with a lot of fire, coming off injury, and had the team's longest run, for 10 yards.<br /></p><p>In hindsight, it seems pretty clear that we ran into a buzzsaw. Tennessee's coaches, fighting for their jobs, had two weeks to watch film and prepare. Georgia's coaches, fat and happy from two straight conference wins, seemed <a href="http://ching-athens.blogspot.com/2007/10/thursday-prepractice-richt-time.html">pretty breezy</a> just before boarding the bus to Knoxville.<br /></p><p>But too much of what happened on Saturday was not an aberration:<br /></p><p>Matthew Stafford's progression has been steady – but slow. The bad mistakes and five-interception games seem to be well behind him, but the timing and quick reads have far from fully arrived.<br /></p><p>The inexperience of our OL really came to the fore today, but it's always been there. Against teams like Oklahoma State, Western Carolina and Ole Miss, you can cover up the shortcomings with screens, draws and misdirection, but the South Carolinas and Tennessees of the world will not be fooled. You can't make your OL bigger, faster, stronger and more experienced in a week.<br /></p><p>But the defense, sheesh. At one point yesterday, the thought crossed my mind, "We can't stop the run, we can't stop the pass, we don't tackle – exactly what is it that we're good at?" I know we're young along the line, but there seems to be a good bit of experience among the LBs and DBs, which are whom you count on for heady play.<br /></p><p>But on Saturday, you saw the full chain reaction that illustrates – for better or worse – the yin and yang of how a defense line and backfield works, or doesn't work, together: As the DL got pancaked, LBs and DBs had to adjust. Instead of stopping plays for no gain, their task was keeping five-yard plays from turning into home runs. And that's the nightmare scenario, because, if you're playing on your heels, eventually the dam will break, as it did on the trick play from Lucas Taylor to Lamarcus Coker.<br /></p><p>Dawg fans will turn their lonely eyes to departed DC Brian Van Gorder, even though the last serious asskicking by an SEC team occurred on his watch. But that was in the SEC Championship game against an LSU team that went on to win the BCS Championship. Whereas Tennessee wasn't thought to be an SEC contender before yesterday and nothing would shock me more than to see Georgia re-enter the race anytime soon.<br /></p><p>On balance, Martinez' defense usually does its job. But it is also given to moments of wild blunder, glaring lack of preparation, poor tackling and a lack of intensity that has been painfully obvious in opening drives, such as<br /></p><ul><li>The 2005 and 2006 Florida games,<br /></li><li>the 2005 West Virginia debacle and<br /></li><li>Saturday's Tennessee wipeout<br /></li></ul><p>And at the end of regulation against<br /></p><ul><li>Auburn in 2005,<br /></li><li>Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky in 2006 and<br /></li><li>Alabama this year<br /></li></ul><p>Van Gorder's defenses were staffed with players like David Pollack, Thomas Davis, Sean Jones and Odell Thurman – disciplined, mostly blue-collar guys who played like every play was the last play of the Super Bowl. Coach Van went 3-1 against Tennessee. With Martinez (1-2 against Tennessee), we're still waiting for plays like this:<br /></p><p> </p></span><p class="MsoNormal"><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zQbFlZJg8lY"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zQbFlZJg8lY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p> <span xmlns=""><p>and this:</p><p><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p2nDpTkJm7k"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p2nDpTkJm7k" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /></p><p>Again, Willie, how long?<br /></p><p><br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-90128877239358905152007-10-05T12:06:00.001-07:002007-10-05T14:18:54.073-07:00Anything happen while I was gone?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/a/a6/300px-The_Scream.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 186px;" src="http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/a/a6/300px-The_Scream.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Well, good Lord. I go on a little business travel, walk away from this thing for a few weeks and <em>this</em> is the world I return to? Kentucky playing South Carolina to decide who's the Beast in the East? A morning after in which half the top ten takes a demotion? In which, via <a href="http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/?p=3891">transitive football herpes</a>, USF looks like the best team in the Sunshine State (USF>Auburn>Florida>Miami & FSU)? In which the bloom is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viSJgjoqLFs">suddenly and emphatically</a> off the Urban Meyer rose?<br /><br />Seriously, I feel like I've returned home to find the kid has turned into Teen Wolf, the wife has run off with a lesbian biker gang and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZUB3eJOTos">Britney Spears' career is fully restored</a>.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.filmski.net/slike/automatika/films/2756d.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.filmski.net/slike/automatika/films/2756d.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br />When we last heard from our humble correspondent, he was enjoying music in the park, Georgia was toodling around with a directional Carolina school in advance of a journey into the jaws of Saban and South Carolina/Kentucky were mostly an amusing aside in an SEC story principally concerned LSU and its <a href="http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/?p=3819">chainsaw genitalia</a>. "When the going gets weird," Raoul Duke famously observed, "the weird turn pro."<br /><br />Today, we find ourselves in a world in which tickets to the Red River Shootout are as easy to find in Dallas as BMWs parked in front of mobile homes. Fortunately, there are <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=F8T6iE75g5s&mode=related&search">familiar sights</a> to sustain us in this brave new world.<br /><br />Still, we find ourselves entering terrain in which nothing is what it seems, even when clad in red and black. In a stark role reversal from most of the Mark Richt era, it's the Georgia <em>defense</em> that seems plenty good on paper and yet still needs the <em>offense</em> to save its ass in critical moments.<br /><br />And while other offenses pack the pews at the Church of the Spread Option, Georgia's contentedly lines up in the I-formation and runs toss sweeps for 300 yards like it's not a day past 1982. Remember all those concerns about the mostly underclassmen offensive line and its new position coach, Stacy Searels? Granted, they're not the '82 Redskins OL, but they have their moments, like this one:<br /><span xmlns=""><p> </p></span><p class="MsoNormal"><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5eaKxgc9xtA"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5eaKxgc9xtA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p> <span xmlns=""><p>That brings us to Knoxville, which in recent years has gone from house of horrors to home away from home for the Bulldogs. For Georgia and Tennessee fans alike, there are some tasty matchups to look forward to: Georgia's prolific running game vs. Tennessee's porous rushing defense, Tennessee's equally prolific passing game against Georgia's interception-allergic secondary, the inevitable Georgia punt return for a touchdown that has been a staple of every Georgia-Tennessee game since 2001, the Jekyll-and-Hyde Georgia passing game against Tennessee's flag-football secondary.<br /></p><p>When I don't know what the hell's going to happen, I look at which team has the more experienced QB (Tennessee), the team that can run the ball (Georgia), the team with the nastier defense (Georgia, with a stack of "ifs" and "buts") and whose coaching staff inspires more confidence in a big game setting (Georgia – and I think there's no shortage of Tennessee fans who would readily 'fess up to that). South Carolina had the same advantages last night that Georgia brings to Knoxville on Saturday and that worked out all right for the Gamecocks.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.larrymunson.com/audio/uga_ut_2003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.larrymunson.com/audio/uga_ut_2003.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span>When those answers are inconclusive, I start looking at intangibles. Tennessee has the home crowd, albeit one that can be quickly silenced for long periods after a big play (the quintessential example being <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2nDpTkJm7k">Sean Jones, 2003</a>). Tennessee has had the all-important immediately preceding bye week (I contend to this day that Ron Zook owes much, if not all, of his 2-1 mark against Richt to preceding bye weeks). Tennessee has also spent the last two weeks hearing about the supposed hot seat under its head coach's considerable can. Of course, that one can go either way: the result could be "Win one for the Pumpkin" or merely self-fulfilling prophecy. Sports psychology is a fascinating, but highly speculative science – or a voodoo designed to enrich bookies.<br /></p><p>The intangibles favoring Georgia are Richt's 22-3 road record (some of which I attribute to the fact that our players can't hear our "fans" booing) and the fact that its defense ought to have one hell of a case of red-ass from last year's 51-33 meltdown in Athens. Then again, Florida expected vengeance against Auburn last week and look how well that worked out. Also, Georgia is an underdog, in spite of being ranked higher, so there's a disrespect factor.</p><p>With all that said, "intangibles" are mostly something for pundits to fill on-air minutes and column inches with. Repeatedly, I've read comments from coaches and players that intangibles impact the first five running minutes of a game and after that, "you're just playing football." When I've coached teams, my advice has typically been to clear all the voices out of your head and just play. Home crowds, off-weeks, pollsters, Vegas oddsmakers and Internet rumors won't make your QB go through his reads better or help your RBs find their holes quicker.<br /></p><p><a href="http://ching-athens.blogspot.com/2007/10/mostly-conversational-postpractice.html">As Richt noted</a>, the off-week is good for shoring up fundamentals that may have eroded during the season and for having a more thorough dress rehearsal for a game. But it's not enough time, say, to install a new offense or re-wire your defense. Tennessee is tweaking its depth chart on defense and I'm sure they're working on their OL blocking schemes.<br /></p><p>But I don't think Phil Fulmer is the kind of tactician to pull of what Urban Meyer did with a week off before Jacksonville in 2005, in which he excised large portions of his playbook to accommodate the fact that QB Chris Leak would never have the mobility and hard-nosed<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.espn.go.com/media/ncf/2005/1122/photo/g_leak_508.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.espn.go.com/media/ncf/2005/1122/photo/g_leak_508.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> attitude to run the spread option. Plus, they switched jerseys to the retina-searingly ugly single orange sleeve, utterly devastating the delicate sensibilities of Georgia fans who seize over fashion faux pas like <a href="http://www.gatorswearjeanshorts.com/">jorts</a>. Instead, Tennessee is going to try to do what they've been doing all season (and, really, for much of Fulmer's and David Cutcliffe's shared tenures), but with better execution.<br /></p><p>It's important (and aggravating to absolutely no end) to note that Tennessee is 2-0 against us with Erik Ainge as its starting QB. Given time in the backfield, he will perform open-heart surgery on our secondary. With Marcus Howard and Jeff Owens dealing with various ailments, the first thing I'll be watching for is how much pressure we're putting on Ainge up front. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tennessee leverage off-week blocking drills into an impressive opening drive. The question is how well and how quickly can Willie Martinez adjust?<br /></p><p>On the other side of the ball, Tennessee will doubtless look better on D than they've looked in weeks past. They've had two weeks to re-learn tackle football and to hear about how soft they are. When they don't look like what we expect them to look like (as they inevitably won't), will it be smarter to start flinging it around or stay hammerhead with the running game until we establish the damned thing?<br /></p><p>Special teams are the real X-factor here. Punt returns, blocked punts, squibbed kick-offs and blocked field goals have defined this series since 2001. There is simply no excuse for either team to discount the importance special teams in this game. If it were Tommy Tuberville at UT's helm with two weeks to prepare, you could bet the mortgage on this being a trickeration fiesta in orange. But, like Lloyd Carr, Fulmer has made his bed on burying opponents on talent alone – to hell with fancy plays.<br /></p><p>So, having laid out my qualifiers, I expect to win, but by no means comfortably and by no means is that a comfortable expectation. Something along the lines of 30-24 or 34-30 seems reasonable.<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-81632972446443549572007-09-16T22:30:00.001-07:002007-09-17T13:43:31.511-07:00Ready, sweat, rock: Austin City Limits 2007<span xmlns=""><p>Returning to Austin has meant a return to the short hiatus from college football I take at the mid-point of September to take in the <a href="http://www.aclfest.com/default.aspx">Austin City Limits music festival</a>. Usually, Georgia is tuning up on a cupcake (like Western Carolina this year) and Florida and Tennessee are tangling in what, to me, amounts, to an annual Blimp Crash Bowl (so dubbed for the best possible outcome of such a retina-searing assembly of orange). So I let the DVR do its thang while I get my rock on.</p><p>Also, as next year's ACL likely will find me either changing diapers or attending to a very pregnant wife (not announcing anything here, just stating what's on the '08 agenda), this year's ACL could be my last for a while. Which is fine. In general, as I move farther from my 20s, I'm less and less enchanted with outdoor music festivals, particularly the variety that involve 65,000 people and late-summer central Texas heat, both of which ACL brings with a fury.<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/01/20/52/image_5852201.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/01/20/52/image_5852201.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>But while those factors have always presented a tolerance hurdle, ACL, now in its sixth year, always rewards your effort. ACL is consistently one of the best-run festivals I've ever attended and there's probably not a better bang for your buck anywhere: a three-day pass costs less than $200 (even less than $100 if you get in on it early) and gets you lineups as outstanding as this year's, which featured Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Arctic Monkeys, Steve Earle, The National, Bloc Party, Spoon, the Killers, Bjork, Stephen Marley, Damien Rice, Muse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Beau Soleil and several dozen others. So impressive was the lineup that cancellations by the White Stripes and Amy Winehouse went practically unnoticed. Past ACLs have featured R.E.M., the Pixies, Al Green, Coldplay, Elvis Costello, Broken Social Scene and much more.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.austincool.com/aerialview.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.austincool.com/aerialview.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></p><p>The festival takes place across seven stages in Zilker Park, which has more than enough acreage to handle the crowds and the ingress and egress is a hell of a lot less painful than some of the cattle drives I've been herded through to see music. There's bus service all over town, an adjacent bike park and throngs of rickshaws, all of which serve to diffuse traffic so effectively that ACL bears no resemblance whatsoever to the endless phalanxes of cars that creep with glacial speed into Manchester, Tenn., for Bonnarroo. With its streams of bicycles, mopeds, rickshaws and pedestrians, Barton Springs Road last night resembled a street in Bangkok or Saigon. But unlike Bangkok, Saigon or Bonnaroo, ACL leaves a considerably narrower carbon footprint, from the biodiesel-powered generators to the recycled toilet paper in the porta-potties.<br /></p><p>Perhaps due to the demographics of the ACL acts' fanbases (and the fact that they're not being treated like livestock), there's a kind of group consideration and respectfulness among ACL festival-goers that seemed remarkable in comparison to some of the chaotic festivals I've read about and participated in. My wife and I strolled easily in and out of ACL on Friday night with tens of thousands of other attendees who, by and large, evidenced none of the irritability that comes with milling about for several hours in 100-degree temps. We remarked that this cooperative atmosphere sadly wouldn't be possible in my wife's hometown of Memphis, where the <a href="http://www.memphisinmay.org/bsmf.htm">Beale Street Music Festival </a>has been marred racial, adolescent and drug/alcohol-fueled shenanigans and the kind of general idiocy that lends steep irony to the book title <a href="http://www.google.com/products?q=%22The+Wisdom+of+Crowds%22&btnG=Search&show=dd"><em>The Wisdom of Crowds</em></a>. As ACL showed, enjoying good music with lots of people who also appreciate music is a practical, simple matter: you don't need to be bought in to some hippie utopian communal dogma to know how not to be a dick at a rock show.<br /></p><p>And, yeah, in case I under-emphasized this, it's hot. Real hot. The dearth of trees in Zilker Park makes for great site lines, but, between noon and 6:30 p.m., it also makes you feel like you're an ant under some giant kid's magnifying glass. Based on crowd attire, I'm not sure the average Texan is aware that black attracts light, such as the burning variety beaming down from that fiery orb in the sky known as the sun, or that denim isn't what you'd call "breathable." That said, it's hard work looking cool, especially if you can't leave it at just being a state of mind. Wearing an all-white polypro t-shirt, polypro boxers and linen shorts, I probably dropped close to five pounds in water weight, so I can't imagine what these idiots in black jeans, boots and black shirts were going through. Fortunately, there's a gazillion drink stands, some water misters at the festival; plus the WaMu Tent, aside from some great gospel, blues and zydeco, also features shade, blessed shade.<br /></p><p>Really, the hardest thing about ACL is the musical tradeoffs. Before the White Stripes cancelled, you were going to have to choose between seeing them and Arcade Fire for the Saturday closer. Tonight's show, which I'm missing due to business travel (yeah, but it's to San Francisco, a merciful change of weather), forces you to choose between My Morning Jacket and Wilco. Like South By Southwest, you're dogged by the feeling that, no matter how rockin' the show is you're attending, people are getting their minds blown a few stages over.<br /></p><p>Regardless, you are bound to be treated to some pretty transcendent moments, like last night's Arcade Fire set. Like fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene, the Fire feature roughly a dozen people onstage playing a lot of unconventional instruments for rock 'n' roll, with each band member rocking out so aggressively that it's like watching a band with a dozen frontmen – impossible to fully digest all at once. They can be sublime, but rarely are they subtle.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.austin360.com/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/arcade2blog.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.austin360.com/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/arcade2blog.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>In a smirking reference to the title of their latest long-player, <em>Neon Bible</em>, Arcade Fire took the stage under a widely viewed YouTube clip of the female televangelist notoriously exhorting her audience to take "an enema of the holy spirit … straight up the rear."<br /></p><p>Arcade Fire opened their set with <em>Neon Bible's</em> first track, "Black Mirror," kicking off a stream of swooping, anthemic mini-symphonies arranged with violins, French horn, tuba and church organ along with the traditional guitar, bass, drums, percussion and keyboards. And while the Killers did a compelling job of kicking up vaguely high school drama the night before, it still seemed like adolescent bluster when contrasted with Arcade Fire's soaring hymns to deceased family and friends, existential angst and all the other Big Questions that roil with fear, exaltation, dread, hope, etc. With fraught song titles like "My Body is a Cage" and "Une Année Sans Lumière" ("A Year without Light"), Arcade Fire's music is the kind of big, Gothic sound instantly recognizable as something that demands to be played in arenas but, due to commercial interests, rarely is. Thankfully and as always, ACL delivered the appropriate venue at nightfall Saturday.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-17964697410007699152007-09-09T22:11:00.001-07:002007-09-09T22:13:37.188-07:00Game 2: “Frankly, I don't want to talk about it.”<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://onlineathens.com/images/091007/25105_512.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://onlineathens.com/images/091007/25105_512.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Years ago, in response to a Georgia loss to Georgia Tech, Lewis Grizzard made syndicated newspaper history, publishing a column that was almost empty, save for declaration above.<br /><span xmlns=""><p>When South Carolina intercepted a Matt Stafford pass in the final seconds of Saturday's game, I was tempted to honor Grizzard with a similar post. But doing so would be neither original nor genuine of me, just a cop out. So I'll press on.<br /></p><p>Losing to South Carolina is a rarity, but it's also a very ugly catharsis for Georgia fans. The game is played early in the season, when the possibilities are still at their most expansive and expectations are at their highest. Twenty-three years ago, my father greeted a South Carolina win over Georgia by sending a loafer through the drywall in our kitchen. It landed right below the wall phone and his "Goddamnit, Georgia!" was met by Mom's rejoinder of "Goddamnit, Len!"<br /></p><p>Bulldog historian Dan Magill once said of Georgia Tech words to the effect that, if you don't think Tech is a rival, try losing to them. I think the same can be said of South Carolina or any other foe that you're used to beating. Witness South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier's <a href="http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/09/09/gafoot_0910.html">post-game taunting</a>.<br /></p><p>Georgia's record against South Carolina before Saturday night's contest was 44-13-2. That averages to about one Gamecock win every five years. Given that it had been since 2001 since their last win against the Bulldogs, the Chickens were due – overdue by a year, in fact. I take it as an indicator of the series one-sidedness that, following each of the other five Georgia wins, it never occurred to any Georgia coaches to bother taunting South Carolina.<br /></p><p>One of the weird things about college football, from the perspective of fandom or gambling, is that a team is rarely as good or as bad as its last game. Last year, Georgia shut out Spurrier for only the second time in his career and then went on to give up game-winning drives to Vanderbilt and Kentucky. In 2004, we shelled the defending national champions, LSU, 45-16 and followed that up with a 19-14 loss to two-time Peach Bowl runner-up Tennessee.<br /></p><p>This year, as in 2005, Georgia looked unstoppable against an upstart team widely picked to upset us in our opener. The following week in 2005 and this year, our offense wet the bed against South Carolina.<br /></p><p>This time around, South Carolina eeked out a 16-12 win, the result of equal parts stifling defense on SC's part and dropped or poorly thrown passes and questionable play calls by Georgia. Really, the details are not important. Fans can tear themselves up on message boards, call-in shows and sports blogs about whom to blame, but it's best to step away if you feel that's the direction you're being taken.<br /></p><p>Losses happen. We spend so much time focusing on champions that we lose sight of the infinitesimally small odds that even an outstanding team has of going undefeated, much less winning a national title. Think about it in terms of probabilities: If you had an 80% chance of winning every game on your schedule (and you couldn't even say that about Georgia's 1980 national championship season), you'd have less than a 7% chance of going undefeated in the regular season: 0.80^12 = 0.068719.<br /></p><p>On the subject of fans needing perspective, <a href="http://dodgyatbest.blogspot.com/2007/09/fucking-embarrassing.html">as Kanu noted</a>, those who booed at Saturday night's game should just stay home from here on out. It's deer season, right? I don't care if they are phoning it in; booing a bunch of 18-22-year-olds is never, ever acceptable. We're already doing a <a href="http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/090507/football_20070905068.shtml">bang-up job scaring off recruits</a> as it is.<br /></p><p>Georgia fans love to lecture other rival fans about class. We'll wag our fingers about Florida fans and jean shorts. We'll chide Tennessee fans about their choice of a shade of orange. We'll snort at Auburn fans about their football factory masquerading as a sociology department. Having watched Nebraska fans applaud a rival that just got done beating their team, it occurs to me that we Georgia fans know about as much about class as Paris Hilton does.<br /></p><p>So we lost at home to an opponent we perceived to be inferior. So did Auburn. So did Michigan, whom our fans were busy taunting last week (remember the students with "Ha Ha Michigan" painted on their bodies? Yeah, where are those guys right now?).<br /></p><p>So let's hug it out, get well against Western Carolina and get ready for what looks to be the beginning stages of a monster being built by Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-50059116524408200722007-09-03T07:58:00.001-07:002007-09-03T08:33:53.291-07:00Game 1: Troglodytes 35, Greatest Offense in the Universe 14<span xmlns=""><p>Our long march through the off-season desert is over and, rather than apologize for not having put together any previews of the college football season, I'll just acknowledge the exemplary work of the Dawg blogs on my blog roll: Doug at Hey Jenny Slater, Kyle and MaconDawg at Dawg Sports, David Ching at the Georgia Bulldog Blog, Sen. Blutarsky at Get the Picture and, of course, Paul Westerdawg at the Georgia Sports Blog. At my best, I might only have been rendered redundant. More likely, I would've been outclassed entirely. Frankly, since I'm not at practice everyday, it would have been impossible for me to write anything other than what had already been written: Youth on OL and DL, the impact of losing Paul Oliver on the secondary, depth at RB and WR, yada, yada, etc., etc.<br /></p><p>So, with the season blessedly underway, let's get down to what actually happened and what it means for next week.<br /></p><p>Georgia opened the season with one of its strongest non-conference season openers in years. I think you'd have to go back to 1983, when we opened with UCLA, to find us getting off the blocks against comparable competition. Freshly showered with T. Boone Pickens' millions, Oklahoma State is famously making its Big Move into the Big Boys' Club. These things take time, of course, and the early returns can be ugly. The year before its Fiesta Bowl stunner against Oklahoma, Boise State got its ears boxed in Athens, 48-13.<br /></p><p>As others have noted, Oklahoma State is no Boise State. As a Big XII member, the Pokes regularly square off with Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Nebraska and others. They beat Alabama last year. They've played in big, loud stadiums – although they haven't fared particularly well as the road team – and their marketing department trumpeted the Cowboys as having "The Best Offense on Earth" or some such.</p><p>Anyway, by now, everyone knows how this thing wound up – 35-14, Georgia, in a game that, despite all of the parallels being drawn to the 2005 Boise State opener, was nothing like it. Yes, both BSU and OSU run spread offenses with mobile QBs who were supposed to run rings around<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwkJDuAXXI/AAAAAAAAAAc/R1eWFe6KDf8/s1600-h/2400729_550_art_R0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwkJDuAXXI/AAAAAAAAAAc/R1eWFe6KDf8/s200/2400729_550_art_R0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105995815566990706" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span> our defense and make our offense look prehistoric by comparison. But Boise State was annihilated by halftime, with QB Jared Zabransky getting benched before halftime after throwing about a half-dozen picks. Whereas Oklahoma State was still very much in the game at halftime, down by what Georgia coach Mark Richt readily admitted was a "cheap" touchdown (Thomas Brown's 14-yarder from 1<sup>st</sup> and 10 on the OSU 12) that was largely the result of an OSU special teams gaffe.<br /></p><p>While many teams would have wilted after such a bad start, particularly with nearly 93,000 bourbon-fueled fans suddenly smelling a rout, Okie State clawed their way back into the game, piecing together a four-minute, 11 play, 70-yard (and that doesn't include a sack and a tackle for loss that totaled 11 yards) drive late in the second quarter to bring the game to 21-14. Georgia went three-and-out and, after OSU stalled on its next drive, we went into halftime, only head by that "cheap" touchdown.<br /></p><p>This brings me to the real subtext of this game. Georgia, in 2007, is fielding a relatively young team that is more than a year removed from its last SEC title. We struggled badly with adversity in the middle of the 2006 season. With so many redshirt and true freshmen on the field this year, how would we respond to adversity early?<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/Rtwk5TuAXaI/AAAAAAAAAA0/PIW3DqfOFGo/s1600-h/24854_512.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/Rtwk5TuAXaI/AAAAAAAAAA0/PIW3DqfOFGo/s200/24854_512.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105996644495678882" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>Troubling as OSU's last drive was, there was a pretty undeniable feeling that Georgia was controlling this thing. Concerned that my warm feeling might've come from the whiskey, I went back and watched the replay yesterday morning and checked the stats. Turns out my initial feeling was right. Georgia out-gained the Pokes in the first half 178 yards to 121, in spite of running five fewer plays. Georgia won the time of possession battle 16:25 to 13:35. It wasn't the gaudy domination of the Boise State tilt, but it was solid evidence of Georgia's upper hand.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwkWDuAXYI/AAAAAAAAAAk/K1UHSRdOqtI/s1600-h/2401460_550_art_R0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwkWDuAXYI/AAAAAAAAAAk/K1UHSRdOqtI/s200/2401460_550_art_R0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105996038905290114" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>The visual evidence was pretty compelling as well. Georgia's defense was swarming. Anyone in white with the ball was usually dealing, in very short order, with four or five red jerseys arriving promptly and with ill intentions. Efforts to spread the field east and west mostly left the Cowboys going sideways. Gang tackling abounded. Marcus Howard, Dannell Ellerbe, Rod Battle, Kelin Johnson, Geno Atkins, Jeff Owens and Brandon Miller seemed to be everywhere the ball was and the front four had a very regular presence in Oklahoma State's backfield. Of course, the second half confirmed the defense's dominance, as the self-proclaimed "Greatest Offense on Earth" mustered zero points in the remaining 30 minutes.<br /></p><p>On the other side of the ball, Georgia's supposedly troglodyte offense looked crisp and brutally efficient, amassing 376 yards, no turnovers and a relative minimum of dumb penalties, save for a false start and an illegal formation. Every trip to the red zone (save for the last, when we were running out the clock) netted a touchdown. Aside from two bad passes right before half, when Matt Stafford wasn't planting his feet, the sophomore QB looked outstanding (18/24, 234 yards,<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwknTuAXZI/AAAAAAAAAAs/ifrwHC_J8vU/s1600-h/2401427_320x320_mb_art_R0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwknTuAXZI/AAAAAAAAAAs/ifrwHC_J8vU/s200/2401427_320x320_mb_art_R0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105996335258033554" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> two TDs, 0 INTs) – and so did his receivers. It was a genuine pleasure seeing the once drop-prone Sean Bailey return from ACL surgery to haul in five catches for 87 yards, including a spectacular reaching grab on the sideline and a stop-on-a-dime button-hook that he almost took to the house. Newcomers WR Mike Moore and TE Bruce Figgins caught one apiece – each for touchdowns. Mikey Henderson was his usual lethal self, receiving, returning and running for 103 yards.<br /></p><p>An interesting stat popped up in <a href="http://ching-athens.blogspot.com/2007/09/richt-sunday-presser.html">Richt's Sunday presser</a>: of Georgia's 234 passing yards, roughly 170 were yards after the catch. That may be a commentary on OSU's tackling, but, that was an important number to see, regardless. For years, I have tired of watching Georgia receivers collapse to the ground after catching a ball, either because Shockley or Greene wasn't placing the ball accurately enough or because, upon catching the ball, the typical Georgia WR thinks his job is done. During those same years, I have watched scores of Florida receivers put on track meets after catching a ball. If you watched Florida under Steve Spurrier in the 1990s, sure, they had accurate quarterbacks, but the real fireworks came after the ball was delivered. Why, I wondered, can't we have guys like that? Well, it appears we finally might.<br /></p><p>But the real intrigue, strategically and tactically, lay in the running game. The best way to limit OSU's offense – or any offense, for that matter – is to not let them on the field. Grinding out the clock with screens and rushes for five and 10 yards a pop was the order of the day. But, from a tactical perspective, I think everyone was itching to see the covers come off Knowshon Moreno and whether reports were true of Thomas Brown's return-with-a-vengeance from ACL surgery.<br /></p><p>The differences between the offense under the recently promoted Mike Bobo from when Richt called the plays were pretty subtle for the most part. I think Richt was inaccurately tagged a pass-first offensive coordinator, when, in fact, Georgia almost always rushed more than it passed. My criticism had to do with the timing of the running game, and how it would disappear once we crossed an opponent's 20, or any time it appeared to be having success.<br /></p><p>Bobo seemed to recognize what happens to passing percentages as the field gets shorter and, accordingly, treated old-school Georgia fans to their version of mother's milk, the simple elegance of a toss sweep for a touchdown, one of two from Thomas Brown.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwpGTuAXbI/AAAAAAAAAA8/QqgFZH976sw/s1600-h/Moreno.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/RtwpGTuAXbI/AAAAAAAAAA8/QqgFZH976sw/s200/Moreno.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106001265880489394" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>And while Brown got the touchdowns, Moreno got the yards. Spinning, sprinting, bouncing and battering his way forward, Moreno resembled a healthy Kenny Irons, rushing for 70 yards and receiving for 51. What jumped out at me was both his burst and balance. He was patient with his blocks and, as soon as the holes formed, KnoMo was gonzo. I can't recall him going down on first contact, nor do I remember it taking less than two people to get him on the ground. As long as he's healthy, I expect the kid to treat us to some spectacular runs.<br /></p><p>Lastly, regarding the much fretted-over OL: I think they availed themselves well, but, as Richt noted at halftime, we weren't asking them for much. Mostly, we needed enough protection for Stafford to get a screen off or enough daylight for Brown, Moreno or Lumpkin (whom, sadly, we lost for a few games to a broken thumb) to get three yards. Oklahoma State's defense may be somewhat improved from their bottom-tier status in recent years, but it's safe to assume South Carolina and Jasper Brinkley will pose a much greater challenge up front.<br /></p><p>So, where does that leave us? Well, notwithstanding Reshad Jones' personal foul, I think we've got a very disciplined team on both sides of the ball and one that happily plays smash-mouth. Given that Okie State brought in a new defensive coordinator, Bobo clearly logs his share of hours in the tape room. Rodney Garner, John Fabris and Willie Martinez have taken a young, talented defense and managed to pound some scheme into these Huns' heads.<br /></p><p>I think we can expect more of a slugfest with the "<a href="http://www.thestate.com/sports/story/162005.html">bunch of average stiffs</a>" Steve Spurrier will be bringing from Columbia. The Gamecocks' OL issues mirror ours and I don't expect QB Blake Mitchell to be poised any more than I expect Steve Spurrier to be forgiving when Mitchell makes mistakes under what ought to be pretty regular duress. Stafford will probably experience similar pressure from a reputedly solid South Carolina D, but will probably handle it a bit better than Mitchell, who was suspended in the Chickens' season opener, an uneven 28-14 win against Louisiana-Lafayette (SC was favored by 29). Spurrier is promising some lineup changes (a recurring theme this time of year at South Carolina), but I think we can expect to see many of that offense's mainstays: Mitchell under center, RBs Mike Davis and Cory Boyd and WR Kenny McKinley.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-63407866053432794542007-08-08T09:16:00.001-07:002007-08-08T15:18:35.830-07:00If we must jump the gun (we must! we must!), or What Braves & Birds said<span xmlns=""><p>In accordance with this country's due process tradition, the accused are innocent until proven guilty (except when residing in Guantanamo, but I digress …). Still it's hard to attach the "innocent until proven guilty" phrase to sentences involving O.J. Simpson and now Mike Vick without making those silly quote signs with your fingers or using some other annoying disclaimer like "theoretically," "technically," or "quote-unquote." Because there's Guilty in a Court of Law and then there's "C'mon, even his mother knows he did it." Given the specificity of the feds' 18-page indictment and the fact that one of Vick's alleged co-conspirators literally told the feds where the bodies were buried, Vick appears to have fallen so squarely in the latter category as to render the former almost a formality.<br /></p><p>Among the many things that can be said about the feds is that, when they get around to indicting the rich, powerful and heavily lawyered, the feds usually come correct. A recurring statistic in this Vick story is the feds' 95% conviction rate. That 5% is an exclusive club that rejected the likes of Martha Stewart, Jeff Skilling, Lord Conrad Black and many others. For that and many other reasons, it ought to be shitting-bricks time for Michael Vick, Purnell Peace, Quanis L. Phillips and Tony Taylor.<br /></p><p>That brings us to the mealy-mouthed attempts at excuses coming from various quarters – such as the fact that the victims weren't humans (neither were Jeffrey Dahmer's first victims), that Vick is from a historically disenfranchised socio-economic stratum that views dog fighting more sympathetically, and more equivocations that, at their most cogent, merely serve to insult even the slightest of intellects.<br /></p><p>As an ex-pat Georgian forced to view my birthplace through a national lens, I was nervous about how Atlanta would come out looking in this. Like many major metro areas in the South, Atlanta is a rapidly growing, majority-minority city in a largely rural state and, accordingly, reflects all of the contradictions implied by such a setting. Yet Atlanta's Jim Crow legacy is considerably less burdensome than that of its neighbors, a point upon which <span><span xmlns="">Michael at <a href="http://bravesandbirds.blogspot.com/">Braves & Birds</a> does a superb job expanding upon <a href="http://bravesandbirds.blogspot.com/2007/08/atlanta-and-race.html">here</a> and which ESPN utterly ignores </span></span><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=vicksatlanta">here</a>. A<span><span xmlns="">s televisions exploded with images of church burnings, fire hoses, police dogs and race riots in places like Birmingham, Memphis and Little Rock,</span></span> Atlanta was busy dubbing itself "The City Too Busy To Hate."<br /></p><p>White Southerners are more than a little prickly when it comes to the topic of race in the South, principally because racism didn't begin in the South and, given recent events as recent as those in <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/07/24/bc.fbc.boisestate.johns.ap/">Idaho</a>, it isn't likely to end there. And yet, to be in such a reputed hotbed of racial hostility, the South's economic nexus, Atlanta, has shown itself to be remarkably inclusive. As Michael notes: "Atlanta's mayors have been African-American since 1974. The district attorney in Atlanta is African-American, as is the chief of police. These seem like fairly relevant facts to me in describing the question of race in Atlanta."<br /></p><p>When the Southern Christian Leadership Council initially jumped to the defense of Vick, saying that it would "honor" Vick at its national convention, it was a surreal moment. Had, as <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/thinkingright/entries/2007/08/06/leaders_silence_is_a_dodge_tha.html">Jim Wooten wondered on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Atlanta Journal-Constitution</span>'s editorial pages</a>, Black America progressed so much since Jim Crow that the biggest problem facing African Americans in 2007 was that a federal dog fighting indictment had been served on a multi-millionaire athlete? Surely not, as State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) counseled SCLC President Charles Steele:<br /></p><p>"What has he ever done except throw a football, run a football?" Brooks <a href="http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/08/06/vickhonor_0807.html">told the <span style="font-style: italic;">AJ-C</span></a>. "I don't think he has done anything to deserve any special recognition."<br /></p><p>There's a refreshing sobriety in Brooks' comment. Maybe, just this once, we can deviate from the standard reflex of foisting the standard storyline of the Plight of Blacks in the South on anything involving blacks and crime. This is, first and foremost (and, I'd argue, exclusively), a story about a multi-millionaire athlete possibly doing something that's a felony in 48 states and at the federal level. As Brooks observed, Vick never carried the flag for the SCLC, so why should the SCLC carry water for Vick? Michael at Braves & Birds is even more direct: "there is a subtle paternalistic prejudice in arguing that African-Americans shouldn't be expected to view the charges against Vick in an analytical manner."</p><p>When blacks celebrated O.J. Simpson's "not guilty" verdict, comedian Chris Rock asked with characteristic exasperation, "Why? What did we get?" Similarly, if Vick is exonerated, it won't be a victory for Black America, it'll be yet another victory for the rich, famous and well-lawyered.<br /></p><p><br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-50580340495000833522007-07-18T08:17:00.000-07:002007-07-18T09:27:26.840-07:00What, exactly, is it that you, uh ... do here?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sportsburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/poindexter-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.sportsburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/poindexter-2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gerald Poindexter</span>. I’m naturally suspicious of people named “Poindexter.” Ditto people in bow ties, which, in Gerald’s case, would be an improvement as there can’t be many DAs outside of Hawaii who grace the cameras in Hawaiian shirts. Then again, there can’t be many DAs who can watch agents clear a property of five dozen scarred pit bulls, bloody carpets, modified doggie treadmills, performance-enhancing drugs, something call a “rape stand” and then, when reporters ask whether somebody should be held accountable, reply “<a href="http://www.wavy.com/Global/Video/WorldnowASX.asp?os=&vt=v&clipid=1432778">For what?</a>”<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.russbaker.com/The%20Real%20News%20Project%20-%20Unholy%20Trinity%20Katrina,%20Allbaugh%20and%20Brown_files/katrina.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.russbaker.com/The%20Real%20News%20Project%20-%20Unholy%20Trinity%20Katrina,%20Allbaugh%20and%20Brown_files/katrina.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Michael “Heckuva job, Brownie”</b><b style=""> Brown</b>. Sure, this is an oldie, but when your name shows up in <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1230-01.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> top Bushism</a><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1230-01.htm"> of 2005</a>, immortality is yours. Consider the runners-up:</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," Bush said in explaining his communications strategy in May 2005.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->"I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?" Bush asked in a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a U.N. Security Council meeting in September 2005.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table," Bush said in Brussels last February 2005.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·</span></span><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""><span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->"In terms of timetables, as quickly as possible - whatever that means," the president said of his timeframe for passing Social Security legislation in March 2005.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style="">·<span style=""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law," Bush said in describing illegal immigrants in Tucson, Arizona, in November 2005</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/00/68/27/image_4627680.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/00/68/27/image_4627680.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><b style="">John Mackey</b>. Like many people, John Mackey likes to post on message boards, blog and generally fart around on the Internet on company time. Unlike many people, John’s day job is chairman and CEO of a publicly traded company. Mackey confirmed last week that <a href="http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/07/18/0718wholefoods.html">he spent <b style="">eight years</b> posting on Yahoo's financial message boards</a> under the name Rahodeb, an anagram of his wife's name, Deborah. Many of his entries praised his company, Whole Foods, while blasting rivals such as Wild Oats Markets Inc., a company Whole Foods is trying to buy. So, after doing his damnedest screw Wild Oats investors and push down Wild Oats’ stock price in order to make them a more digestible acquisition target, Mackey wound up screwing his own investors by causing Whole Foods' shares to crater as a result.<br /></p>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-73120071474323143062007-06-17T09:10:00.001-07:002007-06-18T12:42:03.383-07:00Texas Barbecue Trail, Dispatch #2: Taylor (Father's Day Edition)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.texasbbqtrail.com/images/header.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.texasbbqtrail.com/images/header.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />"Now you're about to see something <em>really</em> special."<br /><br />Sometimes I make this declaration to anyone sharing the table with me right before I dive into an obscenely overloaded plate of barbecue. It's not that I mean disrespect to what's on my plate by wolfing it down. Rather, I'm describing the exquisite pleasure I'm about to derive from that plate. On some occasions, my ecstasy borders on the pornographic but, if you get too close, you could lose a limb.<br /><span xmlns=""><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/07/25/25/image_3725257.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/07/25/25/image_3725257.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Yesterday, I uttered these words while standing in line at <a href="http://www.louiemuellerbarbeque.com/">Louie</a><a href="http://www.louiemuellerbarbeque.com/"> Mueller BBQ</a> in Taylor, Texas, well before my plate was even prepared. One of the true Texas barbecue shrines, Louie's was founded in 1946 as a grocery, Louie Mueller's Complete Food Store. After opening a barbecue shed to feed workers from a nearby railroad yard and from area cotton fields, Louie Mueller's opened in its present location at 206 W. 2<sup>nd</sup> Street in 1959 in what had been a ladies' basketball court in 1923. The walls and ceiling of the cavernous, dimly lit temple are darkened by years of oak smoke that emanates from the<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.roadfood.com/photos/1614.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.roadfood.com/photos/1614.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span> brick oven in the center of the building. There's a corkboard full of business cards that, having never been removed, range from tanned to blackened from the years of smoke. Added in 1999, the screened-in dining area brings some air circulation to the proceedings.<br /></p><p>So, indeed, at Louie's, "atmosphere" isn't some frou-frou, ephemeral term with which to describe the indescribable. At Louie's, like Kreuz's Market in Lockhart, you literally breathe it.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1164665522/gallery_36558_3077_80481.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1164665522/gallery_36558_3077_80481.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span>Naturally, there's history to along with that atmosphere. Louie's son, Bobby, bought the place out in 1974 and began serving cole slaw and potato salad, which were his mother-in-law's recipes. Bobby has made the hot sausage from scratch since the '60s. Bobby's son, Johnny, brought a taste of Taylor to Austin at the now-closed Johnny Mueller's on Manor Road. From what I've been able to gather, there's been years of bad blood between father and son. While I can't confirm the nature of the dispute, the bottom line has been that loyalty to Bobby versus the convenience of Johnny being in Austin has been a conundrum for barbecue aficionados in Austin. It was bittersweet to discover upon <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2007/01/well-its-been-rough-and-rocky-travelin.html">our return to Austin</a> that the issue was rendered moot last year when Johnny's sadly closed.<br /></p><p>But back to Louie's. Right out of the gate, I've got a lot of use for a barbecue joint that pours draught Shiner Bock in chilled Mason jars. When I was growing up in Columbus, Ga., on Sundays after church I drank gallons of IBC root beer that <a href="http://www.countrysbarbecue.com/">Country's Barbecue</a> served in Mason jars. Nostalgia goes well with barbecue.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/29/55051060_0e2b8a6b01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/29/55051060_0e2b8a6b01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>It should come as no surprise that Louie's serves its meat on butcher paper in the old-school Texas tradition. As was with the case with Johnny, Bobby makes a point of cutting off a piece of brisket for you to sample while he gets your meal ready. As was not the case with Johnny, Bobby spares you the splash of surliness often dished out to unwitting customers on Manor Road.<br /></p><p>The clear musts on the menu are the moist brisket and the jalapeno sausage. They've introduced chipotle sausage as well, but I saved that for a return trip. The brisket comes in slices nearly three-quarters of inch thick, featured nearly centimeter-thick smoke rings and, as was the case with Johnny's, practically melted in my mouth, such was the slow-cooked consistency.<br /></p><p>Similarly, the tender, fine-ground sausage fell apart as soon as I cut into it. Like the brisket, the sausage was well-marbled and thus drenched in moist, fatty goodness. Per personal custom, I skipped the white bread, which might've been a misstep this time. Owing to the cayenne and jalapeno, Louie's sausage has a long-lasting piquancy that can overshadow your appreciation of the other items on your plate. A splash of iced tea or beer can put some of the fire out, but a little white bread might make a more effective sorbet with which to cleanse the palate. I'm just offering this as a caveat to the taster, not as a criticism of the meat, which, as <em>Gourmet</em> and the James Beard Foundation and others have noted, is exceptional.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.roadfood.com/photos/1619.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.roadfood.com/photos/1619.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>I also tried the pork ribs, which, like the brisket, feature Louie's signature rub, a delicious cracked pepper blend that accents the flavor of the meat without overpowering it and seems to hold in the moisture as well. This may be my regional bias rearing its head again, but it seems an unfortunate fact of life with Texas barbecue that, when you order pork ribs, you can expect spare ribs, rather than the loin back ribs, which are prized in Memphis for their fall-off-the-bone tenderness. Spare ribs have more meat per rib, but, in spite of being a fattier cut, lack loin back ribs' tenderness. Additionally, there's a bit more effort required to get all of the meat off. Still, Louie's does a fine job here and the smoky oak flavor, combined with the delicious rub, does plenty to balance any criticisms of texture.<br /></p><p>It should be noted that Taylor is also home to the Taylor Café, another historic barbecue establishment, which I'll have to cover in a later dispatch.</p><p>By the way, Happy Father's Day. If you live in the same town as your dad, take the ol' man out for some 'cue.<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-54382031616192916242007-06-11T17:44:00.001-07:002007-06-15T11:26:39.846-07:00Pit Bull Owners: Off the Chain, Out of the Closet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/football/nfl/05/29/vick0604/p1_dog.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/football/nfl/05/29/vick0604/p1_dog.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As a pit bull owner, I've been watching the <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/05/29/vick0604/index.html">Michael Vick pit bull</a><a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/05/29/vick0604/index.html"> story</a> with great interest, in spite of the utter revulsion I feel towards the alleged activities (I refuse to use the term "sport" to describe dog fighting and defy anyone to justify doing otherwise). Regardless of whether Vick's direct participation is proven, as the owner of the literal killing fields upon which the gruesome felonies apparently were perpetrated, he ought to bear some responsibility. Indeed, according to the article linked above, even the surviving dogs taken from Vick's property on Moonlight Road will have to be euthanized, as animal control officers have determined that these dogs cannot be adopted. If it is proven that Vick actively participated in dog fighting (be it through betting, organizing, financing, training, etc.), I expect to see him in prison stripes before I ever see him in a Falcons jersey. Any other outcome would be a gross miscarriage of justice.<br /><br />Of course, I realize that coming out against dog fighting is about as bold a stance as opposing child molestation. If the heinousness of such a pursuit isn't immediately obvious to you, your sociopathic tendencies require far more help than this blog can possibly offer. That said, it's probably worth calling out apologists such as ESPN's Scoop Jackson who, on <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2884063"><span style="font-style: italic;">Outside the Lines</span></a>, attempted to excuse pit bull fighting as "a cultural thing" among blacks. I understand suicide bombing is a cultural thing as well, although I've never heard anyone attempt to justify it along those lines. "Cultural thing" or not, dog fighting is a felony in 48 states and a misdemeanor in the other two and, to my knowledge, it isn't any more legal if the perpetrators happen to be black.<br /><span xmlns=""><p>Moving along though ... In part as a result of stories such as this one, the act of coming out in support of pit bulls requires an increasing amount of nerve. Try renting an apartment in any major metro area as a pit bull owner. Picture the change in a co-worker's face during the following exchange:<br /></p><p> </p></span><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Co-worker:</b> Hey, what’d you do this weekend?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">You:</b> Took the dog for a hike and swim along the Greenbelt.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Co-worker:</b> Ah, cool. What kind of dog do you have?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">You:</b> A pit bull.</p></blockquote><br /><span xmlns=""><p>Granted, owning a pit bull is a lifestyle choice you make knowing the good and bad that comes with it. It's not like pit bull owners were born a disenfranchised minority with no say in the matter, like, say, blacks in the Jim Crow South. We could've saved ourselves some headaches by being golden retriever owners.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/Rm6sa_dZdvI/AAAAAAAAAAU/BXh3wvFRjnI/s1600-h/Goya.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 242px; height: 160px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_ZF8aq6qooek/Rm6sa_dZdvI/AAAAAAAAAAU/BXh3wvFRjnI/s200/Goya.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5075183409804441330" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span>So why do we bother? In part, <em>because</em> of stories such as Vick's, not in spite of them. With every story of dog fighting or of a pit bull attack, a negative stereotype is further cemented in the public's mind about the breed. But to punish the breed would be to treat the symptom rather than address the cause, like banning the Internet because it's been a tool for identity theft. In this case, the cause is, invariably, cruel and/or neglectful owners. There is a place in this world for pit bulls: in the care of committed, loving pet owners. So being a responsible pit bull owner is a lifestyle choice, yes, but, with <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=pit+bull+legislation&btnG=Search+News">politicians clamoring for outright bans of the breed</a> and the media <a href="http://www.savannahnow.com/node/297412">using the acts of an irresponsible few to demonize the rest of us</a>, it's increasingly a cause.<br /></p><p>While I'm not starting any rallies for pit bulls, I am being more open about my dog's breed in hopes of broadening people's perspective on the subject. In the past, when a child at the park was playing with my dog, I was inclined to fib a little to the parents, not wanting to cause concern or spoil the goodwill that Goya was building with their child. I'd explain that my dog was a "terrier mix," a "Staffordshire terrier," or a "bull terrier – you know, like Spuds McKenzie, the Bud Light dog."<br /></p><p>But I realized that I'm not doing anyone any favors – not to Goya, to pit bulls or to a potential voter. It's good for all three if I'm honest: Goya gets to be the ambassador that she ought to be (and that pit bulls and their owners need her to be), the breed gets some much-needed positive exposure and the parents get to see why pit bulls were once called "nurse maid dogs," due to their unusual tolerance around even the most rambunctious children. Over half a century ago, the pit bull was the RCA/Victor mascot, "Petey" from the Little Rascals, and the Buster Brown mascot. Today, sadly, the only thing you can sell with a pit bull is gangsta rap.<br /></p><p>Anecdotally, the pit bull breed is rapidly increasing in popularity and, unfortunately, you can confirm this in part by visiting any animal shelter and noting the number of pit bull mixes hoping for adoption and likely facing euthanasia. For many pit bull owners, that tragic fact alone more than justifies any societal hassles. It's a breed that requires and rewards an extraordinary amount of care and training. Unfortunately, the market for pit bulls includes an inordinate percentage of would-be owners incapable of such attention, which is why so many pit bulls find themselves languishing in shelters. First-time dog owners would be well-advised to consider a less demanding breed. If you've got some feelings of inadequacy that you hope to rectify by acquiring an aggressive dog, do us all a favor and spend the money on a therapist instead.<br /></p><p>It's true that, over the years, pit bulls were bred for aggressive activities such as boar-hunting and, yes, dog-fighting. But aggression is not their only trait. They are remarkably playful, loyal, intelligent and dedicated. If there's one thing they all can be counted on to be aggressive about, it's their affection towards humans. The greeting I get when I come home from work is a 15-minute onslaught of kisses. Contrary to the ticking time bomb reputation with which stories such as the Vick case have saddled them, they are renowned for their friendly temperament. The American Temperament Test Society provides temperament testing around the country for dog breeds, and gives a passing score for the entire breed based on the percentage of passed over failed within total number of the particular breed tested. As of December 2003, the American Pit Bull Terrier has a current passing rate of 83.9%, and the American Staffordshire Terrier passes at 83.2%. In comparison, the Golden Retriever passing rate is 83.2%.<br /></p><p>The preceding statistics come courtesy of <a href="http://www.atlkingpits.com/">ATL King Pits</a>, a breeder operated by senior University of Georgia wide receiver Sean Bailey, who appears to be bucking another ugly stereotype: the disturbing trend of athlete involvement in pit bull fighting. Bailey claims to have bred out of his blue pit bulls the "gameness" that dog fighters prize. ATL King Pits' <a href="http://www.atlkingpits.com/html/articles.html">articles section</a> is full of useful tips, facts and suggestions about the breed and does much to dispel some unfortunate myths that burden so many pit bull owners.</p>EDIT: Hat tip to <a href="http://casadenicki.blogspot.com">Nicki</a> over in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens,_Georgia">God's Country</a>. <a href="http://casadenicki.blogspot.com/2007/06/pit-bulls-and-press.html">We got a posse</a>!<br /></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-220796571656831072007-06-08T08:32:00.000-07:002007-06-08T08:59:29.864-07:00While I Was Away, or A Time to Hustle and A Time to FlowBlogging, like most addictions, doesn't pay for itself. It's hard work keeping that monkey fed. And for "between jobs," "independent consultant" types such as yours truly, occasional desperate measures -- such as a temporary shelving of The Habit -- are necessary.<br /><br />That said, having resumed full-time employment and already returned from vacation, I'm pleased to report that, gentlemen, the bar is officially open!<br /><br />I expect to make up for lost time shortly, although likely this means more hustling and less flowing, as the summer doesn't offer a wealth of material for college football blogging, other than snarkitude regarding the crimes and misdemeanors our team's 18-22-year-old indentured mercenaries, a topic more than capably documented on Orson Swindle's <a href="http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/?cat=97">Fulmer Cup</a>.<br /><br />Also, a word about the Hoooka player below: Much to my irritation, there is no auto-disable function on the player, which means the preview for Before the Music Dies launches every time you load this page. And it means every time I post, that player goes further down the page and thus gets incrementally harder to find and pause. I've been exchanging e-mails with Indie911 about this and they haven't evidenced much of a sense of urgency on the matter. Likely what I'll do is move the player to my old blog, <a href="http://tommy-perkins.blogspot.com">http://tommy-perkins.blogspot.com</a>, and link it from here. Any other suggestions are welcome.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for your patience.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />TommyTommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-56038591006704278462007-04-05T09:21:00.000-07:002007-06-12T14:29:55.732-07:00What's (really) Killing MusicAs with most things, I'm a little overdue on this, but I'd like to spotlight Austin filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen, whose film <a href="http://www.beforethemusicdies.com/">Before the Music Dies</a> goes beyond facile demonization of downloaders to explore the real sources of malaise in the music industry, which include radio consolidation, mass popstar production, the death-by-Wal-Mart of the traditional record store and more. Today, courtesy of online social network and music store indie911 and B-Side Entertainment, the film's distributor, the full movie is available for download, blessedly sans DRM for $9.99 in hi-res or $3.99 in lo-res. Thanks to the viral marketing efforts of B-Side and indie911, I'm hosting it right here on <span style="font-style: italic;">Apropos de Nada</span> and if you're interested in doing something similar on your site, go <a href="http://www.indie911.com/b4md">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Edit: I had to move the player </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://tommy-perkins.blogspot.com/2007/06/b4md.html">here</a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">, as I have no way of keeping it from automatically launching every time you load this page.</span><br /><br />Courtesy of some clips that the filmmakers have shared on YouTube, here's a taste of their excellent work:<br /><br />First, the teaser:<br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JwIiYvLVyZU"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JwIiYvLVyZU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Second, the Clear Channel effect:<br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/crwQJQDfrzE"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/crwQJQDfrzE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Third, how to create a sexy popstar:<br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/irk3_p15RJY"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/irk3_p15RJY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />There are a few more clips <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22before+the+music+dies%22&search=Search">here</a>, but film is well worth seeing in its entirety.Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-3166373716167829312007-04-04T10:05:00.001-07:002007-04-04T14:36:42.298-07:00News and Notes150 days until football season. Basically, we have the spring games and then things get really bleak. To tide us over in advance of some final football thoughts, here's a few random thoughts on the week's events so far:<br /><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_hostages5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 144px;" src="http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_hostages5.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span><br />Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will release the 15 detained British sailors and marines "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117567666517759515.html?mod=djemalert">as a gift to the British</a><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117567666517759515.html?mod=djemalert"> people</a>." In other news, I'm off to rob Goodwill, but rest assured I'll return the loot in a few weeks as a gift and, yes, I will be seeking a deduction next April 15. While the U.S. is not yet at war with Iran, apparently the race is on between our leaders to who can be the smuggest SOB alive not named Trump. Ahmadeinejad jumped out to a big lead this week, magnanimously asking British PM Tony Blair not to "punish" the crew for confessing they had been in Iranian waters when they were seized by Iranian coast guard. To make sure its stick landed squarely in Britain's eye, Iran broadcast videotaped confessions by crew members. (<span style="font-style: italic;">Image at right: </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Ahmadinejad, apparently in his hostage-taking salad days during the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.</span>)<br /><br /><span xmlns=""><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.craveonline.com/article_imgs/Image/UseKEEF.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 203px;" src="http://images.craveonline.com/article_imgs/Image/UseKEEF.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span>Keith Richards <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=keith+richards+ashes&btnG=Search+News">may or may not</a> have snorted his dad's ashes. If it's true, the only thing surprising about this is that it wasn't Ozzy Osbourne. But Keef has gotta make anyone's short list of people who would do this kind of thing. That list would also include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmy">Lemmy Kilmister</a>.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/writers/ethan_trex/03/08/left.field/tx_packer.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 102px; height: 102px;" src="http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/writers/ethan_trex/03/08/left.field/tx_packer.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>The NCAAs are over, but <a href="http://deadspin.com/sports/college-basketball/billy-packers-curious-choice-of-words-249496.php">Billy Packer won't go quietly</a>. Appearing on the Charlie Rose Show, CBS men's hoops color man/lightning rod for scorn, ridicule and <span style="font-style: italic;">hate! hate! hate!</span>, Billy Packer, whose name is Packer, tells Rose, "you always fag out," in response to Rose's mock offer to help him out during the tournament. Consensus is that Packer was not using British slang for cigarettes, because a) Packer is not British and b) "you always cigarette out" makes absolutely no sense. Really, I thought the "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH9gnyosh_w">Henderson was not looking for a cheap shot</a>" call of the Tyler Hansbrough mugging was going to be Packer's nadir this season, although his insistence on mispronouncing Florida coach Billy Donovan's name ("Dunnavan") during the entire NCAA championship game has to make the season's top 10. Damn you, Packer, the whole point of this post was to see if I could make it through the day without mentioning the Gators.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/4354-10001322.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 179px; height: 134px;" src="http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/4354-10001322.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span>EMI will be selling high-bitrate, DRM-free downloads through iTunes for $1.30 apiece. The chorus of DRM haters ought to include anyone with more than a two-digit IQ, which apparently excludes most major label executives. EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli, <a href="http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/25/eric-nicoli-at-midemnet-has-this-guy-considered-standup/">whom I took to task</a> over a year ago, has finally acknowledged a least a small portion of the insanity that is Digital Rights Management. To recap, the lack of interoperability has inhibited digital music sales growth while CD sales continue to falter and placed content owners (the labels) squarely under the thumb of Apple's near-monopoly. Moreover, DRM means limiting consumer options, as in the number of devices on which a consumer can play a track and how many times he/she can copy it. Options have value, which is why we have the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-Scholes_Model">Black-Scholes Model</a>. Apparently, EMI and Apple think options in the digital music realm are worth 30 cents a track, as the DRM-free tracks will be priced at $1.30. Lifting DRM restrictions eases some of the pains I mentioned, although these tracks, which are encoded at 256 kbps, will be initially available exclusively though … iTunes. EMI stressed that DRM would remain on music bought under monthly flat-fee-based services such as Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo Music Unlimited. Oh, well. Baby steps.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-43960526045601018312007-04-03T08:59:00.001-07:002007-04-03T09:49:34.891-07:00The Morning After<span xmlns=""><p>It wasn't the end of the world and while I don't feel fine, God knows I've felt worse (see Auburn in Athens, 1999). Such is fandom that the arbitrary outcome of a ballgame can serve as empirical evidence that God is still very much the wrathful Jehovah of the Old Testament with a specific mad-on for your team and its followers. Sometimes, I swear that I peaked emotionally at age 12.<br /></p><p>Obviously, last night has little to nothing to do with my team, so best to let the Gators have their day. In an era in which the NBA scoops up so many freshmen and high school seniors, it's a pretty special moment in college hoops when that the same starting five can repeat as champs. Pity that it was the Gators who delivered this piece of history, but a begrudging "congratulations" to them all the same.<br /></p><p>Anyway, given the <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2007/4/2/22445/60799">generous</a> <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/his-hair-was-perfect/">attention</a> given to <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2007/04/gathering-gator-storm.html">yesterday's post</a> by Kyle at <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/">Dawgsports</a> and Blutarsky at <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/">Get the Picture</a>, and in <a href="https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7207822&postID=2137018649486322879">the comments</a> from Paul Westerdawg of the <a href="http://georgiasports.blogspot.com/">Georgia Sports Blog</a>, I probably should clarify my stance on the Gators.<br /></p><p>I don't think the Gators <em>are</em> the USC of the SEC or its "undisputed alpha." At least, not yet. Given the momentum and resources they've amassed and their investment going forward, I think they're a <em>threat</em> to take that mantle. That's why I used terms like "menace" and "danger," as in, the Germans were a "threat," "menace" and "danger" to placing Europe under their collective boot heel, although history records a different outcome. I hope that those who made it to the bottom of yesterday's admittedly long-winded fretting found evidence that Georgia (and several other SEC teams, for that matter) are eminently capable of blunting Florida's advance.<br /></p><p>Also, I should probably clarify the comparison with USC. In terms of athletic tradition, USC towers over Florida like a skyscraper over an ant. I don't mean this as a dig at Florida, but as an only slightly hyperbolic statement of what even many Florida fans would concede. That said, I think tradition is grossly overrated. It helps up to a point, and then, as fan expectations become a program's albatross, it hurts. Tradition is why Alabama is paying $4M a year for a football coach and why Kentucky will probably pay something similar for a basketball coach.<br /></p><p>Rather, my comparison has to do with the here and now. There is an undeniable aura of success around USC and Florida, although as Kyle notes, "the Big Lizards' multi-sport dominance over division rival Georgia generally has been by the slimmest of margins, coming <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2007/4/1/21353/03236">in extra innings</a>, <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2007/3/31/22348/6349">by decimal places</a>, and <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2006/10/28/232710/70">on fortuitous fumbles</a>." Regarding football specifically, I share Blutarsky's belief that too much is being made of Florida's offensive scheme, which scored an average of 22.25 points a game against an SEC slate and which needed a defensive touchdown and a dubious facemask penalty to hold off the worst Georgia squad in perhaps a decade. Yet winning ugly is still winning.<br /></p><p>Kyle also notes how the pendulum swings in any competitive rivalry and how, in sports, today's genius is tomorrow's knuckle-dragger and vice-versa. Prior to running roughshod over the SEC in 2004, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville was an illicit plane ride away from being dumped for then-Louisville coach (and former Tuberville assistant) Bobby Petrino. When Ron Zook was the Gators' football coach, the second least popular person in Gainesville was the man who hired him, UF AD Jeremy Foley, whom ESPN's Pat Forde anointed on Sunday "<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&amp;amp;amp;amp;id=2821623&sportCat=ncb">the hottest athletic director in history</a>." In Oklahoma, Bob Stoops regularly crossed the Red River to hang as much as 65 points on Texas in Dallas. In the past three Red River Shootouts, the Sooners' combined offensive output is slightly more than half 2003's grim total.<br /></p><p>Personally, I don't think either Tuberville or Foley are idiots or savants. They're smart guys who survived some bad decisions. Foley's athletic department has won 16 of 19 SEC All-Sports trophies and has finished in the top 10 nationally every year since 1984. Lucky, he is not. If he ever leaves Gainesville, I will be shocked if it is on anything but his own accord. But as long as Bobby Lowder draws breath, I'll make no predictions for Tuberville.<br /></p><p>Regardless, Foley's achievement did not occur overnight. He began as an intern in the UF AD in 1976 and took over as director exactly 15 years ago, when current Georgia AD Damon Evans, now 36, was still getting his bachelor's in finance. Foley had the incredibly good fortune of taking the reigns after Steve Spurrier lead the Gators to their first SEC championship, which revived a long-dormant program and presumably made Foley's job as a fund-raiser considerably easier. And, after losing Spurrier to the NFL in 2001, Foley nearly squandered all of that momentum with the near-disastrous hiring of Ron Zook and his failure to bring Spurrier back to Gainesville when The Visor came calling. Ok, so maybe he's a little lucky.<br /></p><p>Evans, on the other hand, all he's done since taking over in 2004 is preside over a dozen SEC championships and seven national championships. He has also brought Georgia athletics into the modern age of sports business, setting fund-raising and logo licensing revenue records, doubling sponsorship revenue and breaking ground on a $30M gymnastics practice facility and a $30M basketball practice facility. And, yes, it helped that Mark Richt had revived Georgia football, whose profits fund half of Evans' budget. Still, if someone is going to take Foley's mantle, my money's on Evans.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-21370186494863228792007-04-02T11:09:00.001-07:002007-04-04T14:25:20.354-07:00The Gathering Gator Storm<span xmlns=""><p>Largely on the strength of his six-volume account of World War II, Winston Churchill won the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature. The first volume of his account, <em>The Gathering Storm</em>, is a day-to-day account of Hitler's unfolding menace and the failures of appeasement attempts by European leaders. In no way do I liken the University of Florida or athletic teams to the Nazis (but to the Taliban? Sure, <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2007/01/all-over-on-to-shoutin.html">why not</a>.). Nevertheless, as a fan of a rival program, I am alarmed at the Gators' sudden dominance of the major revenue and non-revenue varsity sports and I consider their sweep of the SEC landscape analogous to Germany's steamrolling of Europe in the 1930s.<br /></p><p>Some will argue that Florida's emergence will benefit the entire SEC, as the national exposure and television and bowl riches will trickle down to the rest of us. It's true that, over the past two decades of Gator dominance, the SEC has run circles around the rest of the country in the race for bowl and television revenue. Roughly half of the conference finished in the <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex">AP final top 25 football rankings</a>. Competition breeds competition and the Gators' rising tide has lifted the rest of the SEC's boats. But, rest assured, that wealth will hardly be spread evenly.<br /></p><p>I contend that the SEC is in danger of becoming the Pac-10, with Florida playing the role of USC as the conference's undisputed alpha. If you're an SEC fan (or, heaven forbid, an SEC athletics administrator) untroubled by Florida's rise, you're not paying attention. More troubling to me is that Georgia, which is well-equipped to turn back this tide, has instead allowed it to gather volume. For evidence, look no further than this season, when the Gators completed a sweep of Georgia in football, men's basketball, baseball and freaking gymnastics, which, during my time as a student during the Ray Goff era, was the only source of consolation for Bulldogs sports fans.<br /></p><p>Today, the Florida men's basketball team stands on the cusp of repeating as NCAA champs. If they do so, they will become the first team to do so since Duke did it in 1991 and 1992. This marks a major change in the landscape. If we were talking about UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, UNC or any other traditional basketball heavyweight, we could remain content that the status quo remains unchecked. But this Florida. Prior to losing in the second round of the 1987 NCAAs, Florida had never been to the Big Dance. Of Florida's 10 NCAA tournament appearances and two final four appearances, half occurred under current coach Bill Donovan, who is in his 10<sup>th</sup> season in Gainesville. Florida's emergence as a basketball power is as sudden and out-of-nowhere as was Miami's arrival as a football power in 1983.<br /></p><p>While we're on the subject of football, consider that prior to Steve Spurrier's arrival in 1990, Florida went some six decades without a football title of any kind – conference or national. Since then, they've amassed seven SEC titles and two national championships.<br /></p><p>As <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2821623&sportCat=ncb">Pat Forde notes</a>, we have entered the mega-program era, in which the demarcation between "football school" and "basketball school" is being replaced by the simple distinction of "haves" and "have-nots." Per the Indianapolis Star's <a href="http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/">NCAA Financial Reports Database</a>, the University of Florida's athletic department operates on a $77.7M budget and spends all but $3.8M of that. Ohio State's AD budget is $89.7M (Forde says it's $102M, but he doesn't cite a source), with but $120,674 unallocated. Georgia's AD budget is comparable, sporting $68.8M in revenues and, <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html">much to my consternation</a>, leading the country with nearly $24 million in unallocated funds. So while Georgia's budget is comparable to Florida's, our spending is not.<br /></p><p>"Advertising and sponsorships," which includes merchandise royalties, brings in $6.7M to UF's AD, which is a little over 60% of what a season's worth of ticket sales at 88,548-seat <a href="http://www.gatorzone.com/facilities/?venue=swamp&sport=footb">Ben Hill Griffin Stadium</a>. Given the glut of Gator gear that presumably would fly off the racks with another Gator championship, we can safely assume that Florida, which leads the SEC in royalties, will extend its lead significantly.<br /></p><p>As Forde notes, "Six members of this year's Sweet 16 traditionally have been football-first schools: Florida, Ohio State, USC, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Oregon. Thirteen schools that advanced to the round of 32 in this tournament have played in at least one BCS bowl game this century."<br /></p><p>Florida and Ohio State, as you will recall, just finished competing for a BCS championship in football. The cash flow that leads to this kind of preeminence is not hard to diagram. Football produced over $26M in profits for Ohio State and $27.1M for Florida. Men's basketball delivered $7.4M for Ohio State and nearly $1.9M for Florida. If football profits are driving the bus – and it appears abundantly clear that they do – then this is clearly a game Georgia can play. Football profits at Georgia totaled $38.4M, nearly $10M more than the SEC's second-most profitable team, Alabama.<br /></p><div><table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="0"><colgroup><col style="width: 238px;"><col style="width: 89px;"><col style="width: 27px;"><col style="width: 238px;"><col style="width: 89px;"></colgroup><tbody valign="top"><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border: medium none ; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" colspan="2" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Most Profitable Football Programs - SEC</strong></span></p></td><td style="border: medium none ; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border: medium none ; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" colspan="2" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Most Profitable Football Programs - National</strong></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"> 1. University of Georgia </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$38,363,343 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"> 1. University of Texas </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$39,294,908 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">2. University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$28,803,845 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">2. University of Georgia </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$38,363,343 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">3. Louisiana State University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$27,932,154 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">3. University of Michigan </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$35,705,233 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">4. University of Florida </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$27,172,983 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">4. University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$28,803,845 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">5. Auburn University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$24,184,850 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">5. Louisiana State University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$27,932,154 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">6. University of Arkansas </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$16,088,700 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">6. University of Florida </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$27,172,983 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">7. University of Tennessee </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$15,739,864 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">7. Ohio State University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$26,099,129 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">8. University of Kentucky </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$12,161,465 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">8. Texas A&M University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$24,975,623 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">9. University of Mississippi </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$8,693,607 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">9. Auburn University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$24,184,850 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">10. University of South Carolina </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$7,120,545 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">10. University of Arkansas </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$16,088,700 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">11. Mississippi State University </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$2,694,966 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid none none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-width: medium 0.5pt medium medium; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><br /></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">11. University of Tennessee </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$15,739,864 </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><br /></p><p>As I have said before it is time for Georgia's athletic director Damon Evans to spend. Spend wisely, but spend. When it comes to total facilities and maintenance spending, Georgia ranks 48<sup>th</sup> nationally and last in the SEC. Aside from the nation's loveliest football setting, an excellent baseball park and a new basketball practice facility, Georgia has very little to show in facilities spending. Nowhere is this negligence more glaring than at Georgia's basketball facility, Stegeman Coliseum, dubbed "the Stegasaurus," for its Jurassic-era design. (<span style="font-style: italic;">EDIT: Per Paul Westerdawg's comments below, the Georgia AD carries roughly $100M in debt related to facilities upgrades. It's an accounting issue, but apparently, the Indy Star's database doesn't count debt service towards facilities and maintenance spending.</span>)<br /></p><p>We've held our own in salaries, ranking 13<sup>th</sup> nationally and 4<sup>th</sup> in the SEC. And I'm on board with the recent decision to extend men's basketball coach Dennis Felton's contract. As Paul Westerdawg <a href="http://georgiasports.blogspot.com/2007/03/sun-rises-in-west-i-agree-with-terrence.html">notes</a>, there's been <a href="http://georgiasports.blogspot.com/2007/03/blog-post.html">noticeable progress</a> from the crater in which the Harricks left Georgia men's hoops and we need stability in the program for recruiting reasons and for a host of other reasons as well. The loss of Tubby Smith to Kentucky, coupled with the subsequent Harrick era, set Georgia men's hoops back well over a decade. A decade ago, Georgia men were in the Sweet 16. This year, we were routed in the second round of the NIT. I strongly encourage Evans to not allow the new practice facility to be the end of Georgia's hoops commitment.<br /></p><p>If there's a positive in all of this, it's that Florida has proven conclusively that, with the right funding and management, a Johnny-come-lately can come in and dominate any sport in this new era of mega-programs. But soon, as the rich continue to get richer, that won't always be the case. Right now, Florida may resemble USC. Left unchecked for another couple of years, they'll resemble a better-managed version of the New York Yankees. Regardless of whether Florida wins or loses tonight – but particularly if they win – I hope someone in the Butts-Mehre building responds with a Churchillian sense of urgency.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-15396009134462807332007-03-29T09:54:00.001-07:002007-03-29T10:11:38.942-07:00Hybrids Approach Parity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_diag.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 156px;" src="http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_diag.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span xmlns=""><p>John Gartner <a href="http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/03/hybrid_premium_.html">reports in today's "Autopia" blog</a> on <a href="http://www.wired.com/">Wired</a> that hybrids could become a good buy for consumers in the next two years, thanks to innovations in lithium ion batteries. These batteries are 35 percent lighter and 55 percent smaller than nickel metal hydride batteries, and enable vehicle manufacturers to cut the price delta by half. Granted, this post was prompted by a bit of shilling on the part of Charles Gassenheimer, the Vice Chairman of Ener1 Inc., which develops lithium ion batteries.<br /></p><p>Even still, this topic has been of immense interest to me and anyone else who'd like to see consumers, the economy and the environment all get out from under the thumb of Big Oil. In business school, we spent a lot of time on cases involving alternative energy startups and the product roadmap for hybrid and other low-consumption vehicles. While many of us argued the point that we'd rather pay a premium to Toyota or Honda than to Exxon, ultimately, we came back to the sad conclusion that consumers will always vote with their wallets.<br /></p><p>After grinding a few of the data points in Gartner's post, I've found there's reason to be more optimistic. Currently, car buyers pay a $4,000 premium for a hybrid car over the equivalent gas car. Assuming the average motorist drives 12,000 miles a year and pays <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-03-26-gas-prices_N.htm">the current average fuel cost</a> of $2.581 a gallon, it would take nearly six and a half years for the fuel savings to catch up with the premium one pays for a hybrid car. Given that most people sell their cars after five years, there's not a strong financial value proposition for hybrid cars currently. These are my calcs:<br /></p><div><table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="0"><colgroup><col style="width: 171px;"><col style="width: 75px;"><col style="width: 75px;"></colgroup><tbody valign="top"><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="border-style: solid solid double; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"> </span> </p><br /></td><td style="border-style: solid solid double none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Hybrid</strong></span></p></td><td style="border-style: solid solid double none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Regular</strong></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Mileage</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">50</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">25</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Premium</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$4,000.00 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$0.00 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Miles/Year</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">12,000 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">12,000 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Gallons purchased</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">240</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">480</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Fuel cost</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$2.58 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$2.58 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Annual fuel cost</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$619.44 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$1,238.88 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 50%; height: 20px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Years to break even</strong></span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;"><strong>6.46 </strong></span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;"><strong>6.46 </strong></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Total Fuel Cost + Premium</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$8,000.00 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$8,000.00 </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><br /></p><p>But, if Gassenheimer's prediction holds true, hybrid car buyers would need less than three years and three months to break even. That's well within the five-year window in which most people keep new cars and thus shows a very reasonable financial value prop. Of course, true finance geeks will haggle about time value of money, but since you'd have to apply that to both the up-front cost of a hybrid and the added fuel costs of a gas car, I think it comes close to being a wash.<br /></p><div><table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="0"><colgroup><col style="width: 171px;"><col style="width: 75px;"><col style="width: 75px;"></colgroup><tbody valign="top"><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="border-style: solid solid double; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"> </span> </p><br /></td><td style="border-style: solid solid double none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Hybrid</strong></span></p></td><td style="border-style: solid solid double none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Regular</strong></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Mileage</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">50</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">25</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Premium</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$2,000.00 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$0.00 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Miles/Year</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">12,000 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">12,000 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Gallons purchased</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">240</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">480</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Fuel cost</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$2.58 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$2.58 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Annual fuel cost</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$619.44 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$1,238.88 </span></p></td></tr><tr style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 50%; height: 20px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;"><strong>Years to break even</strong></span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;"><strong>3.23 </strong></span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;"><strong>3.23 </strong></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="border-style: none solid solid; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p><span style="color:black;">Total Fuel Cost + Premium</span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$4,000.00 </span></p></td><td style="border-style: none solid solid none; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px;" valign="bottom"><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="color:black;">$4,000.00 </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-14437244407009656472007-03-23T09:22:00.001-07:002007-03-29T09:59:47.936-07:00Friday Breakfast Taco<span xmlns=""><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Today's breakfast taco</span> is brought to you by Juanita's, the little red caboose on 5<sup>th</sup>. The egg and chorizo is solid and the salsa verde is among my favorites in Austin.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drh200/h273/h27353uetqz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 180px;" src="http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drh200/h273/h27353uetqz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Soundtrack:</span> <em>I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll</em>, by Mississippi Fred McDowell. North Mississippi Hill Country Blues earliest exponent plugs in electric for the first time and features a rhythm section comprising more than his foot and right hand (it's some dude with brushes barely audible in the background). As the title indicates, this ain't no sell-out. Aside from a little amplification, it's the same straight, rhythmic, droning deep blues McDowell had been playing since the '20s (although that's a matter of faith, as it wasn't until 1959 when folklorist Alan Lomax became the first to capture McDowell on tape). The Stones turned in very faithful cover of "You Got to Move" on <em>Sticky Fingers</em>. The album also features a rollicking "Jesus is on the Mainline" and a jagged, slashing "61 Highway." McDowell died two years after this album's release (1969) of cancer.<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/hillaryyoutube.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 132px;" src="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/hillaryyoutube.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vote Different:</span> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vote+different&search=Search">Several versions</a> of the mash-up of Apple's 1984 Super Bowl ad attacking Hilary Clinton are circulating on YouTube. Per <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,73069-0.html">Wired</a>, the original is the product of Phillip de Vellis, an employee of Blue State Digital, a political technology consulting firm whose clients include Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Tom Vilsack. De Vellis <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-de-vellis-aka-parkridge/i-made-the-vote-differen_b_43989.html">revealed himself</a> in the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/">Huffington Post</a>, noting that he supports Obama's presidential candidacy, but that he made the video independent of his employer, "on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment (a Mac and some software)" and then uploaded it to YouTube and e-mailed links to blogs. Accounts differ whether de Vellis was fired or resigned, but, either way, he's no longer with Blue State Digital.<br /></p><p>The message was brilliantly executed: Clinton gives her candidacy speech from a giant telescreen from George Orwell's novel <em>1984</em>, promising to "let the conversation begin," a conversation that de Vellis apparently believes is really a monologue.<br /></p><p>At issue is whether the Federal Election Commission should be monitoring this kind of activity, to see whether large corporations, unions and other groups are unfairly influencing elections by bankrolling viral Internet campaigns – basically, creating an online wave of Swiftboat-esque campaigns. When you think ahead to what well-funded ad agencies, cashing checks from the RNC or DNC, could do with this medium, I suppose regulation of the public airwaves could resemble deck chair arrangement on the Titanic. That said, the Internet is not a public commons, like the airways, so you have to factor in free speech considerations.<br /></p><p>Still, I think the other takeaway here is how easy this apparently was and what a landmark moment this may well have been for social media and user generated content. I'm guessing de Vellis didn't get any clearances from Apple to use the original <em>1984</em>-themed Super Bowl ad. He just grabbed some content that was freely available on YouTube and spliced it up to suit his own purposes. Clearly, he didn't need a Madison Avenue budget and Big Oil dollars to pull this off; all it cost him was a few hours of his weekend. Contrast that with Swiftboat, which was a massively coordinated campaign that entailed a lot of pricey media buying.<br /></p><p>Granted, this wasn't a true populist uprising, as de Vellis is – or <em>was</em> – a part of the political machine when he produced "Vote Different." But this could have just as easily been done by someone outside of the political machine. De Vellis made an eloquent statement about how, using a few free online tools (and with a cavalier attitude about copyright), anyone – not just a Karl Rove-esque <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svengali">Svengali</a> – can reshape the "conversation" Ms. Clinton, like everyone else in our two-party charade of a democracy, had expected to control.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh, yeah:</span> I'm way, way, <span style="font-style: italic;">waaaay</span> overdue on this, but I want to share my appreciation for some recent <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2007/02/17/envy-and-jealousy-from-the-i-wish-id-written-that-department/">hat</a> <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2007/2/18/23230/8188">tips</a> from T. Kyle King at <a href="http://www.dawgsports.com/">Dawgsports</a> and Senator Blutarsky at <a href="http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/">Get the Picture</a>. Both of these guys do phenomenal jobs covering college sports from a Dawg's-eye view, delivering thoughtful analysis wrapped in clever, incisive writing that invariably rewards a visit several times over. And, particularly with the addition of <a href="http://macondawg.blogspot.com/index.html">MaconDawg</a> over at Dawgsports, they're prolific enough to keep your RSS reader busy all day. Gents, if you want to use that as testimonial, have at it -- it applies equally and fully to all parties. Thanks again for directing a portion of your well-deserved traffic to my dark corner.<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-63481846577739260332007-03-19T14:54:00.001-07:002007-03-19T20:23:52.373-07:00Texas Barbecue Trail, Dispatch #1: Elgin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.texasbbqtrail.com/images/index/texas_05.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 360px;" src="http://www.texasbbqtrail.com/images/index/texas_05.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span xmlns=""><p>As part of <span style="font-style: italic;">Apropos de Nada</span>'s continuing efforts to defy categorization, to mess with and, ultimately, <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2007/01/well-its-been-rough-and-rocky-travelin.html">re-embrace</a> Texas, to stave off the imminent post-March Madness and pre-kickoff doldrums and, lastly, to undo whatever good is being done with the new gym membership, the crack staff at <span style="font-style: italic;">AdN</span> has endeavored to canvass the <a href="http://www.texasbbqtrail.com/">Texas Barbecue Trail</a>. Slow-cooked meat is one of the few subjects about which we're qualified to comment at length, having resided in barbecue Meccas such as Memphis, Georgia and both Carolinas and having competed in the <a href="http://www.memphisinmay.org/wbcc.htm">Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest</a>.<br /></p><p>It's only fair at this, the outset, to warn our readership across the Mississippi River: <em>this will involve beef</em>. The Southeastern visitor will note with a mixture of derision, befuddlement and sadness that Texans include beef in their otherwise delicious barbecue cornucopia, which also features chicken and turkey. In the South, inviting someone to barbecue that includes any kind of meet besides pork is akin to inviting them to a satanic orgy. As for Texas' take, well, beef comes from cows, which are, um, plentiful in Texas. Dance with them what brung ya.<br /></p><p>Having previewed Lockhart rather aggressively before our departure to barbecue oblivion, aka California, <span style="font-style: italic;">AdN</span> pre-loosened its belt and picked as its first stop Elgin, home to the Southside Market & BBQ Inc. and to Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse. Famous for its hot sausage, Elgin is a tiny hamlet roughly 30 miles northeast of Austin on Highway 290.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dallasfood.org/photos/elgintaylorwest/southsideexterior.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 104px;" src="http://www.dallasfood.org/photos/elgintaylorwest/southsideexterior.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span>The first stop was the Southside Market, which was founded in 1882 and has been in the same hands since Ernest Bracewell took over in 1968 after moving from San Antonio. As with most Texas barbecue establishments, you can buy your meal buy the pound and eat it off of butcher paper. For the dandies among us, you can also order a plate for lunch.<br /></p><p>Oscar Wilde, clearly with barbecue on the brain, famously averred that "Nothing exceeds like excess." Thus, we ordered up the four-meat combo, which featured sausage, brisket and ribs of the pork and beef variety.<br /></p><p>As a native Georgian, I share my home region's wariness of brisket, a lower-quality cut of beef. And bad brisket is about as appealing as shoe leather. Fortunately, Southside shares the conviction held by the sorely missed John Mueller, who smoked his brisket until it was of near-liquid consistency. The same could be said of Southside's cuts, which, as tired as I am of this cliché, melted in my mouth. The all-beef sausage, too, was superb. While it lacked the almost explosive juiciness of Smitty's in Lockhart, the hallmark piquancy more than compensated.<br /></p><p>I am always frustrated by the beef rib. Sure, it's huge. It's also a lot of work and it rewards that work with poor-quality meet and relatively little of it. I dunno, maybe I'm getting bad cuts, but my Southside experience was no different. You spend a lot of time gnawing off small chunks of meat off this Flintstones-sized bone and get very little out of it, besides a lot of grease on your face. Contrast that with the Memphis-style baby back pork rib, which is of manageable size and the sheath of meat slides off the bone like silk. Southside's pork rib was a better experience, primarily because it's pork and pork ribs are proof that our God is a loving one. The fat seems to be marbled better on pork ribs than on beef ribs and the meat is much more tender, so you get a much more buttery experience.</p><p>Sauce, in my experience, seems to be something of an afterthought in Texas. Primarily, this is because the effort is directed towards the rub and the smoking. If you've done that part right, the logic goes, why cover it up with sauce? Fair enough. Also, unlike the Southeast, there's not a real regional bias toward vinegar, tomato or mustard. At the Salt Lick and at County Line, you get a viscous, sweet syrup that I recommend avoiding. Southside serves a peppery vinegar sauce that aficionados of South Georgia and Eastern North Carolina barbecue would feel right at home with.<br /></p><p>Southside's sides – cole slaw and beans – were serviceable. Sides aren't what I come for, but these didn't detract and that's the most verbose you can expect me to be on this matter.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.odograph.com/data/2006/01/25/meyers.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 153px;" src="http://www.odograph.com/data/2006/01/25/meyers.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>The next stop was Meyer's, founded in 1949 by R.G. Meyer and, before you consider me inhuman, this was a "to go" purchase. I finished this meal today for lunch at my desk and, due to having had to re-heat the meal in an oven, I'm can't claim to having been equitable to Meyer's, where I ordered a three-meat combo. That said, perhaps due to the extra baking, I found their pork ribs to be exceptionally tender, whereas the sausage, a pork and beef combo, was perhaps toughened by the baking. The brisket was a little tougher, too. Some of that can be blamed on re-heating, but I just didn't see the balanced fat distribution in their brisket that Southside's well-marbled cuts had. The sauce seemed a little sweeter, but featured the same vinegar base as Southside.<br /></p><p>At first blush, I have to give the edge to Southside over Meyer's, but I say that with the caveat that I owe Meyer's a fresh shot at a later date. </p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-31173061887663665472007-03-18T09:37:00.001-07:002007-03-20T08:22:15.004-07:00Iraq War, Year Four<span xmlns=""><p>So this morning I got up to watch Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on CBS' <em>Face the Nation</em> with Bob Schieffer. Not having seen Gates discuss the war before, I found him to be a refreshing about-face from Donald Rumsfeld. In place of Rumsfeld's confrontational tone and Clintonian parsing, Gates offered a thoughtful, quiet directness in discussing the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion and the addition of nearly 30,000 new US troops in Iraq.<br /></p><p>Schieffer asked Gates about President Bush's observation that withdrawing from Iraq would only motivate Al Qaeda to follow the troops elsewhere, i.e., advance on a retreating enemy. Schieffer's point was that Iraq is a civil war and why would a civil war leave the country in which it is being waged? Gates response (and I'm paraphrasing) was that "this isn't a bunch of Sunnis and Shi'a falling in on one another," but rather a bunch of organized hit squads hitting targeted spots. In other words, there is still a method to this madness, a centralized source orchestrating this chaos for its own purposes. For once, the debate of whether what's going on in Iraq is a civil war seemed like something other than a semantic debate to me.<br /></p><p>It's a fair question: Would withdrawal be construed by Al Qaeda and its affiliated militias as retreat and, more importantly, would they follow us to another theatre, such as Iran, Indonesia, Afghanistan or the US? If I recall Sun Tzu's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Art of War</span> correctly, it seems that you'd want to direct your attacks where your enemy's troops are the least concentrated, as Al Qaeda did on 9/11. It doesn't seem likely that Al Qaeda would allow US, through its troop movements, dictate where and when the war will be fought.<br /></p><p>As this war has rolled on, I admit to having rationalized it a number of ways. Not because I'm any kind of Bush apologist, but merely because it's happening regardless and to counter a few of my countless criticisms of it. When it was first launched, I didn't have high hopes that we would find WMDs and wasn't particularly concerned about that issue, since 250,000 dead Kurds sure sounded like mass destruction to me. Mostly, I looked at it as unfinished business from the first Persian Gulf War, which I believed should have been concluded with a US push to Baghdad and the removal of Saddam then. I realize that, given Bush 41's affinity for international consensus, why he eschewed that option and I also know now that such a move would have put us in the same situation then that we're in now.<br /></p><p>Since then, I've thought that, if we must be at war with Al Qaeda, and, given Al Qaeda's unambiguous insistence that we must, I'd rather stage that war anywhere – Iraq, Iran … hell, Antarctica – than on US soil.<br /></p><p>The flipside of that perspective has to do with the nature of this war, specifically, measuring success. For the moment, forget "winning" in the traditional sense. It's not as if Al Qaeda and its affiliated militias in Iraq are nation-states with civilians who have an exhaustible appetite for war. Al Qaeda is a relatively decentralized terrorist network of disaffected Muslim extremists who became sufficiently disgusted with US hegemony in their homeland to be willing to complete kamikaze missions at Al Qaeda's behest. By its very constitution, all of Al Qaeda's members can bear the cost of war. So the question becomes: Is our work in Iraq blunting Al Qaeda's ability and willingness to wage war? If anything, it seems clear that our actions in Iraq are having a multiplier effect on those sympathetic to Al Qaeda and its affiliated militias.<br /></p><p>What's also troubling is the possibility that we've created a welfare state in Iraq. The US has spent countless man-hours training hundreds of thousands of Iraqi security personnel and yet we're doubling down on our presence in Iraq. In business terms, this resembles chasing good money with bad. It's hard not to conclude that we're playing into our enemy's hands by being a full-time nanny (and inadvertent Al Qaeda recruiter) in Iraq while Al Qaeda regroups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and while it opens up a new theatre of war in Southeast Asia.<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-68569500250643773162007-03-16T10:35:00.001-07:002007-03-16T12:58:23.485-07:00Friday Breakfast Taco<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://aroundaustin.typepad.com/photos/austin_everyday/maria_tacoxpress.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://aroundaustin.typepad.com/photos/austin_everyday/maria_tacoxpress.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span xmlns=""><p>Today's breakfast taco is brought to you by Maria's Taco X-Press, where the migas chorizo taco ought to come with a lifetime supply of Metamucil and a coupon for a colonoscopy, but doesn't.<br /></p><p>So it is a sunny Friday in March and anyone in Austin not playing hooky is presumably already unemployed. During Lent season, March Madness, SXSW and St. Patty's Day preparation are the March trinity of slackerdom in a city that, having been where the original <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102943/">Slacker</a> was filmed, is a qualified expert on the matter.<br /></p><p>So, with my apologies for being so late in posting, here is today's guide on where to get your slack on in the ATX. Those chained to their cubicles probably already know about this, but if not, CBS is streaming March Madness live <a href="http://www.ncaasports.com/mmod">here</a>. I found out about this late and am currently #8,753 in waiting to get admission. Yay, streaming video!<br /></p><p>Regardless, your SXSW plat du jour:<br /></p><p>For my money, which is couch change, the <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/parties/">parties</a> are the way to rock econo. Pretty much any band you'd want to see in the evening is playing for free during the day and, as often as not, you don't need a pass, RSVP or anything else to get in on some free beer and music. This tidbit was not lost on a few homeless types, who made it into the IODA showcase and helped themselves to some free tamales, quesadillas and Tecate.<br /></p><p>Of the parties, my recommendations are:<br /></p><p>The Jane Magazine party on 401 Guadalupe, which will feature Sloan, who are great, have been around forever and yet never get their due, which may or may not have something to do with the fact that they're from someplace like Labrador or Newfoundland. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Edit</span>:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Dang! Just noticed that this is invite only</span>.<br /></p><p>Sinister Records, The TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls and OmniRox Entertainment are throwing down at Momo's on 6<sup>th</sup>. On tap are several bands I've never heard of and, more importantly, the chance to "meet and hang out with your favorite TXRD Lonestar Rollergirl." Sold!<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.txrd.com/images/photospic4full.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.txrd.com/images/photospic4full.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span> </p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong><br /></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);font-size:9;" ><strong>Texas Roller Derby: Feel the love.<br /></strong></span></p><p>Four blocks west on 6<sup>th</sup>, at Friends, the <a target="0" href="http://www.berklee.edu/">Berklee College of Music</a> presents Heavy Rotation Records release party for Dorm Sessions IV with Kid:Nap:Kin and Madi Diaz (as seen in the film Rock School) and the Pete Townshend Rewind, which features "rock, rap, folk, and jazz alumni re-arranging and windmilling through Townsend and Who album cuts and classics." Performers include Melissa Ferrick, the Scot Amendola Band, Amanda Mosher, Cassavettes, Death Ships, Steve Dawson, When Girls Collide, Stephanie Delk, Sarah Sharp, Audible Mainframe, and more.<br /></p><p>The Aussies usually thrown a quality SXSW and this year's edition sounds promising: at Brush Square Park, the <a target="0" href="http://www.australianmusiccollective.com/">Australian Music Collective</a> ("the engine driving Australian music to the world") will feature I Heart Hiroshima, Panda Band, Dallas Crane, Children Collide, Expatriate, Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, Airbourne, Wolf & Cub, Spod, and Beasts Of Bourbon. Dallas Crane cameo'd Wednesday at a party at the Scoot Inn on the east side and, in spite of it being an impromptu performance with someone else's instruments, they killed. Hoodoo Gurus are a sentimental favorite from my days as a junior-high alt-rock geek in the late '80s. Show me some emotion, bitches!<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-6040172451107839532007-03-13T12:32:00.001-07:002007-03-31T16:18:40.164-07:00A Clueless Outsider’s Guide to SXSW, pt. duh<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/plat.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 151px; height: 133px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/plat.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span xmlns=""><p>Zounds! Two days, two posts. I'm bordering on the prolific here, although that border is still an ocean. Anyway, rock 'n' roll and a ravenous – albeit minute – readership demand more guidance on where to its wrists stamped at South By Southwest. With <a href="http://aproposdenada.blogspot.com/2007/03/iggy-lurks-champeen-roars-and-charlie.html">Wednesday's SXSW installment</a> in the can, onward to Thursday's meager-by-comparison South By shenanigans.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.moonstruckrecords.com/img/artist/alejandro_escovedo_full.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 217px;" src="http://www.moonstruckrecords.com/img/artist/alejandro_escovedo_full.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span>The Austin Music Hall brings a triple dose of Alejandro Escovedo – quadruple when you count Buick MacKane, which you should. The AE String Quartet starts things off at 7 p.m., followed by Jon Langford and Sally Timms "recalling the Mekons" (no indication of whether that means a live dose of Fear and Whiskey or just some fond remembrances). Al retakes the stage at 8:15 for what looks like a 15-minute solo set, followed by Future Clouds & Radar (again, no description given). At 9:30 Al takes the stage again, this time with his acoustic band, for 30 minutes. Poi Dog Pondering plays an hour set at 10 p.m. And then we get our rock on, as Buick MacKane, Al's erstwhile glam-punk project, gets on at 11 p.m. I missed Escovedo's set with Ian Hunter at SXSW '05 or '06, which I'm sure was epic. But this might be the next best thing for those of us who love Al's Stooges-Velvets-Mott side.</p><p>The Blender Bar at the Ritz features The Sights, Robbers on High Street and Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. I've heard good things about <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/49558.html">VietNam</a>, who are playing as part of the Kemado showcase at Bourbon Rocks on 6<sup>th</sup>.<br /></p><p>Buffalo Billiards is noteworthy for featuring '80s indie vet and '90s alt-rock casualty Bob Mould, who will go on at 9 p.m. Following him is a showcase for Barsuk Records, who gave the world Death Cab for Cutie. I don't know any of the bands playing this time around, but that's nothing new. Chances are, if they're on Barsuk, they'll be a good name to be dropping six months from now, or sooner.<br /></p><p>Yep Roc will bring their customary dose of Americana thunder to the Continental Club, with Jim Lauderdale, John Doe and Los Straitjackets closing things up in that order, starting at 11 p.m.<br /></p><p>Thomas Dolby, of "She Blinded Me With Science" fame, will be at the Elysium on Red River at 9 p.m. Sheesh … did I mention that the new season of <em>The Office</em> starts on Thursday night? I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin' …</p><p>There are signs of life at La Zona Rosa, where Architecture in Helsinki and What Made Milwaukee Famous are playing. Also, someone who took a sensational name from right under my nose – Elvis Perkins – is playing as well.<br /></p><p>The Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar and Dead Oceans labels are hosting an interesting showcase at Mohawk Patio on Red River at 9<sup>th</sup>, featuring I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness and Okkervil River.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/49527.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 150px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/49527.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>Ah, here's something worth coming out for: The Norton Records showcase at Red 7 on East 7<sup>th</sup>. I want to give special mention to the Reigning Sound, gods of the Memphis garage rock scene who apparently relocated to Asheville, NC, in 2004. Given Asheville's hippie leanings, I'm a little mystified by the move, but, judging from <a href="http://myspace.com/reigningsoundfans">the band's MySpace page</a>, the granola doesn't seemed to have dulled the band's edge. Frontman Greg Cartwright also founded Memphis legends the Oblivians and the Compulsive Gamblers. Fans of Mitch Ryder-style blue-eyed soul and Nuggets-style garage-psych will anoint the Reigning Sound the best thing that's ever happened to them. Also on the bill is the Dexter Romweber Duo, which I would expect doesn't venture too far from the footprint of Romweber's old band, Athens stalwarts the Flat Duo Jets. And then there's Sam the Sham of "Woolly Bully" fame and The Alarm Clocks, who you've probably never heard of but who gave us "No Reason to Complain" in 1966. Seems like a can't-miss show all around.<br /></p><p>Bloc Party are at Stubb's. I'm kinda over these guys, not that I'd be able to get in there anyway.</p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-45768621105592401702007-03-12T10:39:00.001-07:002007-03-16T12:59:11.103-07:00Iggy lurks, Champeen roars and Charlie Louvin is among us. Are You? A Clueless Outsider’s Guide to SXSW ’07, pt. 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/music.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 142px; height: 127px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/music.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span xmlns=""><p>It's March in the 512, which means Austin is fully in the throes of the glorious schmoozing orgy of indie rock-film-interactive goodness that are the South By Southwest Festivals. I haven't been since 2004, when, under the pretense of being a "consultant" (I use that word loosely, but, then again, doesn't everyone?), I had a platinum pass and thus carte blanche to pretty much everything, unless Modest Mouse was playing at La Zona Rosa and the other thousand people in line also had the same carte blanche.<br /></p><p>Regardless, I'm rolling proletariat-style for this year's SXSW, mostly trying to scam my way into a few parties, hitting a few free events and generally looking from the outside in. Which is fine, because, when you're in your 30s and employed full-time in something besides the music industry, most of what goes down at SXSW will fly right over your head.</p><p>Take the lineup for <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/date/2007-03-14.html">Wednesday</a>, when things really get going: The Merge showcase at Antone's will get its share of the hipoisie and I've heard of Ladybug Transistor and Imperial Teen. I'm guessing the "Special Guests from Austin TX" playing at 1 a.m. are Spoon. It's probably worth gambling on a day pass to find out, but, then again, if I'm right, no one with a day pass is getting in there.<br /></p><p>The Austin Music Awards is solid and old-school. I only know Bobby Whitlock from Derek and the Dominoes, but the Tex Mex Experience with the Texas Tornadoes and Sam the Sham sounds too cool to miss. That's at 10:05 p.m. at the Austin Music Hall. Also noteworthy are Ian McLagan and the Bump Band. As a big Faces fan, I'm ashamed to admit I haven't seen McLagan yet during my time in Austin.</p><p>As per usual, the Emo's will be cooler than Lou Reed stranded on Pluto. I might skip the Victory<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/49671.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 211px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/49671.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> Records showcase Wednesday evening at the Annex (<a href="http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/05/tony-brummel-on-itunes-often-wrong-never-in-doubt/">but that's a personal preference</a>), but the Annex will be rocking in the afternoon thanks to <a href="http://www.iodalliance.com/sxsw2007/">IODA's opening day bash</a>. Yes, I'm shilling for a client, <a href="http://www.iodalliance.com/">IODA</a>, but the event is also a great cross-section of IODA's considerable roster and is not limited to a single label. Do it. Also within the Emo's footprint is the Sub Pop showcase at Emo's IV Lounge, the Beggar's Banquet showcase at Emo's Jr., and the 4AD showcase at Emo's Main Room, which will feature the only band I've heard of at Emo's: <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/49671.html">The Mountain Goats</a>. As this will be the Goats' only set at SXSW (although they might play some satellite parties that I'm not cool enough to know about), I doubt many day pass holders will bear witness to their spectral majesty. Or see their set.<br /></p><p>Hollywood Indie Dim Mak, which broke Bloc Party, will be kickin' it at Flamingo Cantina. I've never heard of any of their acts, but label honcho Steve Aoki will be spinning between sets as <a title="view page for DJ Steve Aoki Kid Millionare" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/50363.html">DJ Steve Aoki Kid Millionare</a>, so there's <span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/37480.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 123px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/37480.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>that.<br /></p><p><a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/37480.html">The White Ghost Shivers</a> are playing Molotov Lounge and I can recommend them pretty heartily, especially to anyone who's a fan of any combination of Depression-era jazz, honky-tonk and burlesque.<span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/48011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 201px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/48011.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p>And then there's <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/48011.html">Charlie Louvin</a>, who's playing the Parish at 8 p.m. If you haven't heard of him, you've probably heard his songs performed by Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Uncle Tupelo and all of their alt-country progeny. I don't have the space to do justice to the Louvin Brothers' legacy and their impact on country music, but I'll note what a colossal blessing it is that Charlie, who pre-dates Johnny Cash and who will turn 80 in July, will be with us in Austin this year. Definitely a must-see. Also on tap at the Parish is the Wylie Lama himself and author of the immortal "Redneck Mother," <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/52614.html">Ray Wylie Hubbard</a>, who takes the stage at midnight.<br /></p><p><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><span><span xmlns=""><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/41725.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 144px;" src="http://2007.sxsw.com/img/bands/41725.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Tearing it up at Room 710 on Red River will be the In Music We Trust showcase, which I recommend principally for <a href="http://2007.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/41725.html">Grand Champeen</a>, former high school classmates of mine who carry the flag high for Bob Stinson-era Replacements, cheap beer, dive bars and sweaty riff-rock. <em>Battle Cry for Help</em> and <em>The One That Brought You</em> are the kinds of offhand classics you wish Paul Westerberg remembered how to make. Check out their performance from last year's SXSW at the Red Eyed Fly in my VodPod section along the left of this blog.<br /></p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207822.post-18190953771606732612007-03-07T16:09:00.001-08:002007-03-07T19:58:46.252-08:00“The tar baby, he don’t say nothin’.”<span xmlns=""><p>Since selling my car to fund an excursion in Southeast Asia two years ago, I've been a public transportation denizen in California and Austin. I'd intended to have a car by now, but several things have stopped me (in no particular order):<br /></p><ul><li>First, the expense. One month's worth of commuting can cost you either a $10 bus pass or $600 in car payments, fuel costs, maintenance and car insurance. I like having that extra $590 in my pocket every month, particularly as I gear up for home ownership.<br /></li><li>Second, the productivity. I read more now as a rider than I ever did as a driver. And if I need to bust out the laptop, sure it's a little awkward, but it's not impossible.<br /></li><li>Third, the traffic and its attendant aggravation. I remember riding the train out to Intel's campus, whizzing past all those cars that were practically parked on I-80 during rush hour and thanking God I wasn't one of those saps about to blow a vein in his forehead.<br /></li><li>Fourth, safety. There are no Type A riders. There are millions of Type A drivers. Again on I-80, I've seen several such drivers (or their victims) carted off in body bags.<br /></li><li>Fifth, the environment. Nitpick all you want about the mounting evidence of global warming. But you're not going to point to those millions of cars on the freeways chugging fossil fuel from Global Jihad's ground zero and flooding the air with carbon monoxide and then tell me that nothing bad is happening there.<br /></li></ul><p>Still, I get a little burned out on public transportation. It's public. Meaning, you have to share it with obese people, smelly people, crazy people and lots of people. You sacrifice some autonomy, in that you go when and where the bus goes, as opposed to precisely whenever and wherever you feel like going.<br /></p><p>But the egalitarian element of riding has its rewards as well, because you do get to see those snatches of people's humanity against which, for the most part, we desperately try to insulate ourselves. Today was a perfect example. A homeless-looking fellow got on the bus and, while I can't verify that he stunk, I wouldn't be surprised by it. He was missing his left arm below the elbow and the scars are there for the entire world to see. He had docile eyes, the eyes of someone who's been tossed around long enough by life's vicissitudes that he wasn't about to put up a fight about anything now. He was just trying to get where he's going.<br /></p><p>As I said, I couldn't attest to his odor. But a middle-aged man sitting across the aisle from him certainly could. And did. First, it started off moderately:<br /></p><p>"Whew! You need a bath, brother!"<br /></p><p>The homeless man, wearing a New Orleans Saints cap, stared ahead, vaguely apologetic, but mostly vacant. About a minute later:<br /></p><p>"Look, if you want to be in Austin, fine," the offended man said, possibly interpreting the Saints cap as a sign that this man was a Katrina refugee. "But you <em>stink</em>. You owe it to yourself and everyone here to take a bath. You ride this line every day. If you don't take a bath, we're going to get the authorities to keep you from getting on the bus."<br /></p><p>It should be noted that the bus was completely full of riders and equally full of awkward silence. Like the homeless man, we're all just trying to get where we're going without any conflicts. But some opinions likely were beginning to form. At this point, a superficial reading of the situation would have been that, of the two, the offended man, while hostile, was still in no danger of being presumed a social miscreant … yet. The homeless guy – well, he was homeless, right? Sitting there in silence, he could be just waiting to go off. Tick, tick, tick …<br /></p><p>Yet, like so many of us, the offended man couldn't leave well enough alone and began to squander the last of his goodwill. He'd tilt his head away from the offender, cover his face and let out a deliberately audible "<em>whew</em>!" Then, becoming increasingly obsessed, he'd look back at the blankly staring rider, curve his mouth to form another insult, briefly suspend the next round of hostilities, and then come out with it anyway, as though he had no choice:<br /></p><p>"You need to get a job," he said. "You smell awful. We're going to put you to work."<br /></p><p>Perhaps in response, a female commuter in her 30s – white, professional – got up, stood between the two men and grabbed the ceiling rails as though bracing to get off at the next stop. But she never got off while I was on the bus.<br /></p><p>Undeterred, the vocal man craned around behind the commuter to say something, caught himself and then muttered something inaudible. It was something about dying and the drag queen seated to the quiet man cocked his eyebrow, looked at me and smirked. Sitting there like Gandhi, the homeless man gave no evidence of having heard anything. At this point, a black woman missing her top front teeth and her preschool-aged son or grandson got on the bus and the vocal man got up to offer his seat. The mother thanked him and sat down with her son and the man backed up several feet.<br /></p><p>That should've been the end of it, but by then the bullying became compulsive. He muttered one insult I couldn't make out and then this:<br /></p><p>"Hey man, you're gonna die."<br /></p><p>And that was it. Instantly, collective awkwardness gave way to collective outrage. The mother lit into him first:<br /></p><p>"Nobody needs to be talking to anybody that way," she said matter-of-factly while rifling through her pocket book. "That ain't right."<br /></p><p>The drag queen was next:<br /></p><p>"Just because he's different doesn't give you the right to talk to him that way. He's better off than you, anyway."<br /></p><p>"Shut up, you faggot," the angry man said.<br /></p><p>A woman standing in the front of the bus chimed in:<br /></p><p>"You don't talk to people that way," she said. "I've got family members who are different from me, but I still have to love them."<br /></p><p>"That ain't no way to treat another human being," the mother added.<br /></p><p>"Ma'am, I respect you," the now attacked man said. "I love you."<br /></p><p>"You don't <em>know</em> me!" she shot back, prompting laughter from the queen.<br /></p><p>"Shut up, faggot!"<br /></p><p>"You don't know me, either," the queen replied, laughing.<br /></p><p>And so on. All the while, the homeless man kept his blank expression, occasionally lolling his eyes toward the sources of the attacks that rained down on his accuser. If his non-aggression was a deliberate tactic – something out of MLK Jr.'s and Gandhi's playbook – he'd executed it brilliantly. It was a singular moment in public transportation history: a bus full of commuters had been motivated to do something besides avoid eye contact. And yet, by doing and saying absolutely nothing, the homeless man had the mob right where he needed them. Whatever goodwill his accuser had squandered had flowed to him, and then some.<br /></p><p>Of course, he gave no evidence of anything premeditated or even of being aware of the situation. The tar baby, he don't say nothin'.<br /></p><p>At this point, we arrived at my stop, although, for once, I would have liked to have ridden further. Getting up, I smiled at the queen.<br /></p><p>"Never a dull moment on the bus," I said. He nodded, grinning. </p></span>Tommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15209673809885376664noreply@blogger.com1