Quote Me

You know, sometimes you forget that the internet is, well, interconnected. Meaning the posts on this blog could potentially be viewed by anyone. Or reposted anywhere. Like here. What the heck? I'm sure AOL Sports uses some blog-crawl program that searches and pulls up quotes pretty much randomly, but it's weird to see your words repeated somewhere, especially on a respectable sports site. So, the moral of the story? Don't suck.

Disappointing the Frog

Michigan State got an early start on it's late-season implosion this afternoon with a 23-20 loss to Illinois. It was the Illini's first conference win since 2004. It was also homecoming for the Spartans. That's right, they lost in front of Kermit. It doesn't get much worse than that folks. Stick a fork in them, this team is DONE. If they're lucky they can go 7-5 the rest of the way and make a bowl game, but they missed an easy one today. It will be tough sledding the next 2 weeks against UM and OSU, leaving the Spartans at 3-4. That would mean they'd have to go 4-1 the rest of the way. Nope. Don't worry Spartan moms and dads, your boys will be home for Christmas.

"I'm Batman."

Ever wanted to be Batman? Now you have a chance, because you buy a Batman Begins mask to complete your Halloween costume. Batmobile not included.

"...this is why you're Michigan State."

"If you've watched Michigan State for the last 50 years, you know that this is why you're Michigan State." That's what Kirk Herbstreit said Saturday night after QB Drew Stanton fumbled the ball in the 4th quarter. You know what? He's right. Kirk and Bob Davie had the Spartans' number last week. They knew just what to expect, just like every Spartan fan that was watching. Stanton's response: "Everybody wants to say they blew a 17-point lead to Notre Dame, they're still the same football team. Luckily, we still have the whole Big Ten schedule to go out there and prove all of our naysayers wrong." I love Stanton as a football player and a team leader, but he's dead wrong. The Spartans had their chance on Saturday night, and they blew it. Big time. It's already too late to prove the naysayers wrong, because they've proven what they're made of. They would have to beat UM and OSU, back to back to prove they're not that team. Win one? Quite possibly, though I doubt it. Win both? Psssh. Yeah, right. Sorry Drew, you couldn't change the Spartans. Good luck in the NFL. Whatever you do STAY AWAY from the Lions.

Send The Pain Below

So you thought you had a hard day? Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms was hit so hard so many times today by the Panthers that he had to have his spleen removed. Yes, you read that right. His spleen. Good thing he doesn't need it. Maybe he can keep it in a jar like Dave Mirra.

The Clincher

The Tigers clinched a playoff berth today with a victory over the Royals, 11-4. This is the first time the Tigers have been in the playoffs since 1987. Yeah, that's a longer drought than even the Lions. The Twins also won today, keeping the battle for the AL Central close.

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Bachelor Chow 2: Asian Pan Fried Catfish

The other day I was in Meijers. Went to get some chicken breast, but it wasn't on sale. Frozen catfish was cheaper. So I'm slowly learning what to do with it. This is my only attempt that has been good enough to recommend to anyone.

1/2 cup rice
handful oriental blend vegetables
serving of catfish strips
flour
Hoisin Sauce
Spices
Cooking oil

Dump the rice, veggies, and water (appropriate to the kind of rice you use, follow the directions) into a large pan. Start that cooking.
Thaw your catfish (I use short spurts in the microwave).
While the fish is thawing, mix a bit of flour with your chosen spices (I used Lowry salt and garlic powder) in a ziplock bag.
Pour some cooking oil in the bottom of a small pan, start that heating (you want it at or close to boiling before the fish goes in)(Boiling oil pops and splatters, don't boil it to far ahead or stand too close in your favorite shirt (I didn't but it could happen)).
When the fish is thawed, either dump it in the bag, or dip it in some milk then dump it in the bag (not sure how much the milk helps, probably more if you use fresh fish). Shake this until the fish is coated, then lay it in the pan of boiling oil. Let it cook till the breading gets a bit brown, then turn it to cook both sides. Don't leave it in for more than a few minutes, fish is more temperature sensitive than terrestrial flesh (the live in colder environments, so their chemistry is optimized for those conditions. Their proteins denature at lower temps as a result. Also why fish oils are liquid at room temp and animal fats are solid.). (Caution to morons, boiling oil is hot. The fish will be too when it comes out.)
Serve the fish on the rice, add Hoisin to taste (works well for dipping the fish and punching up the rice).

What about Mike?

Lions WR Mike Williams has played in the same number of NFL games that I have so far this year. Now, if I was 6'5", 228 lbs. (I might be one of those), this would make sense. What does Williams need to do to earn a starting spot? Well, that's the problem: he doesn't know, and the coaches won't tell him. So he's frustrated. That's just a great job at motivation. The more I read about the Lions, the more I doubt the coaches. Here's a prediction (look, I'm Roy Williams!): the Lions win no more than 6 games.

Lumberjack Song

I know this has been posted before, but I can't find it because Blogger search is currently a piece of crap. So, to augment my ripping of Ump on the league message board:



You're welcome.

In Case You Missed It

No pun intended for what you are about to read when it comes to "missing" things.

No, I'm not talking about Instant Replay in Oregon. Those officials were terrible. Off the record...ah heck, let's keep this for the record: You're dang right I'm glad it happened to Oklahoma.

But anyway, speaking of bad calls, and this may be the most obsured you've ever heard happen Adam.

Friday night: USA v CC at USA.

USA just scored a TD and kicked off to CC. The ball banked off the chest of the CC returner harder than Nathan Fritz attempting a layup in Basketball. So the ball bounced in front of the returner and he was going after it, just like the USA kick coverage team was racing to get to the ball before him. Well, like a typical fumble, there was a big pile. It appeared the CC returner got to the ball first, but it also appeared a USA player recovered the ball. But, like I say, it was a typical fumble where you don't really know for sure what happened, plus, we were in the stands on the USA 35 yard line. It happened on our sideline, but at the CC 20 yard line.

So the officals all got together like normal to determine who will get the ball. So, what did the officals decide? I'll give you multiple choice.

A. Cass City ball
B. USA ball

Errrrr (buzzer sound). That is incorrect. The correct answer is neither.

They decided to just kick the ball off again. A freakin' Do-Over? According to the Chronicle, the referees ruled that no team had control of the ball before an inadvertent whistle, which resulted in a do-over. Inadvertent whistle my tail. Personally, I think USA got screwed and this all happened near the USA sideline. (Note: On the do-over kickoff, since USA got screwed, there was a "blocking" penalty against CC. Hmmm. I'll bet.)

Then later in that same 2nd quarter, USA threw a 25 yard TD that appeared to be an incomplete pass. Again, we were 75 yards away, but it sure looked like a drop. In fact, I can't even use the word "drop" because that would mean he actually had the ball in order to drop it. If you never had possession of something, it's impossible to drop it. It basically had just enough time to hit both his hands (without dropping it, mind you) and then FALLING (not dropping) to the ground. The referees ruled he had the ball long enough. Rumor has it the officals didn't actually see what happened and by the time they looked (since he was so wide open and it was a perfect pass) they just assumed he caught the ball. Like I mentioned, it was difficult to see the play because...well, let me set it up for you.

CC just got done punting or whatever and USA got the ball on the CC 25 yard line. There was less than 1 minute in the first half remaining. ON THE VERY FIRST PLAY, Bitzer (Brandon) dropped back to pass and everyone in the stands could see this was going to be a TD. Which is why we didn't see the "drop" very well because EVERYONE in the stands stood up waiting to exploded with gayness. And because the guy was so wide open and it was right to him, everyone knew he was going to catch it. But with everyone standing up and the receiver running to the corner of the endzone, I seen it hit his hands, assumed he caught it, blinked, and then seen it falling to the grass. And then I noticed the referees signaling a TD. I thougth they would at least talk about it to see if he had it long enough. Nope. I still didn't believe my eyes, so I just so happened to turn my head to look at the scoreboard to see how much time was left and I saw the USA score changing...28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33.

I hope that painted a good enough picture for you. But I'll throw this at you. I was at the game with Fritz and the gang as well and after what we all just saw minutes ago with the "do-over" kickoff, we were making fun of the refs on what they would call this time. Fritz thought we were just joking around. After seeing the highlights on TV-5, I called Fritz to see if he saw the "drop."

Quote:
Haag: "Did you see the pass they called a TD on the news?"
Fritz: "What are you talking about?"

Fritz didn't even know they called that a TD. Keep in mind, this was after the game at 11:30 pm and he still thought it was a drop.

News 5 was there and showed it on TV but the sports guys did the highlight reel like it was no big deal. If I was the Sports Anchor (since the USA/CC game was the lead highlight) I think I'd question what I just saw. He blew over it like someone in his earpiece threated his wife and kids. News 5 used to keep the video on the net so you could watch from your computer, but they don't do that anymore, or else I'd suggest you watch it on video for yourself.

Colorado Dodgeball

Heads up...

...comin' at ya. Fastball high and tight.

You Want Some More of This?

Heidi Klum, eat your heart out! Oh yeah, that's snow you see on your left.

Just Hangin' Around

Calculus....or....Colorado?

Yup, climbed that. Mt. Belford. 14,197 ft...0% Oxygen

Sick Man

Want to read a concise description of Michigan's economic woes? Check out this article from Rich Lowry at NRO. A quote:

According to the free-market Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s analysis of United Van Lines data, Michigan is now the No. 1 state in the continental United States for outbound traffic. An estimated 65 percent of the moving company’s Michigan interstate traffic is families moving out of the state, headed to more economically open and vital destinations. As an official in Wyoming put it, "Michigan has been very good for us."

Ouch.

CBS Sucks

I'm a little peeved at CBS. You want to know why? Well, I'll tell you anyway. It's about football. There's not enough of it on. There is absolutely no reason why on Saturday or Sunday at 1pm that CBS isn't showing a football game. I don't care about golf, tennis, or infomercials. It's especially bad on Sunday, when I'm otherwise stuck watching the Vikings in their awful new uniforms. It would have been nice to watch the Bengals roll up the Browns for a while. Or the offensive show put on by Manning's Colts. Nope, infomercials and the Vikings. Grrrr...

Jedi Squirrels

I think the title pretty much explains the link. (Hat tip: The Corner)

Money, Money, Money

At the beginning of the week, Reggie Bush was being talked about because of his performance is his first regular season NFL game. By the end of the week he was being talked about for allegedly accepting more than $100,000 in improper benefits while at USC. Here is the story you've heard so much about.

If Bush is guilty he'll have his Heisman trophy taken away. Does that mean they give it to Vince Young? Would he really want it? USC could also lose its 2004 national championship. I know those are the rules, but I don't know that it's right. If USC knew, then sure. But it's taken this long to find compelling evidence that Bush might have been ineligible. Is USC really responsible for that?

Launching the Wii

Nintendo announced yesterday some vital stats for its new system. The most important one: $249. The second most important: Nov. 19th, the release date. I hope you like white (I don't), because that's the only color available at launch. Games should run you about $50. Prices for the controller: remote $40, nunchuck $20, classic controller $20. That's a lot of money you'll have to put into controllers if you want to play with friends. The Virtual Console games, which are (were) a big selling point to me will be priced as follows: $5 NES, $8 SNES, and $10 N64. That's a little steep. I mean, I love Tecmo, but I'm not sure I want to pay $5 for it, especially when I think about the other games I'd like to have available. Finally, Nintendo promised more than 25 unique games for the new console yet this year.

"big man" On Campus

Adam,

When you went back to MSU for more classes after you had your degree, did you feel like you walked with a little different...swagger on campus? More like a..."I've got a college degree" swagger? Or maybe it's the fact my pocket book is lighter because I just shelled out $500 for a class, thus causing an imbalance in the weight applied to my lower body from what I'm normally used to?

Guza-isms

At Ump's request, a list of our favorite phrases from Mr. Guza.

Mr. Guza: "What do you do when you see one like #26?"
Adam: "Close the book."
(I think we should really credit Steve with this one.)

Mr. Guza: (in scary voice) "Story problems."

Mr. Guza: (clears throat 3 times) "Be reasonable."

Mr. Guza:(disgusted) "Freshmen orangutangs."

Mr. Guza: "Tricky, tricky textbook people."

More to come.

Back in Black

I'm going to geek out for a minute. Since just before Marvel Comics began its "Civil War" event, which I mentioned here, Spider-man has been wearing a costume that looks like this:


Not bad, and is makes sense in context, but it's not classic. Well, Marvel has just announced that once "Civil War" is over Spider-man will wear his black costume, which I've posted about before, and is one of my favorites. The cover of the issue where Spider-man will return to classic duds:


Of course it's just a fortuitous coincidence that a black costume will be featured in Spider-man 3.

Billy's Going Back To School

Well, I'm back in school. Big ol' Delta College. I enrolled in Calculus, after disappearing from math since I graduated high school (7 years?). Keep in mind, that was my senior year, and Guza didn't push us too much. So, mentally I've been away from Math more like 8 years 'cuz Guza didn't teach. In fact, every day was "group work" and I never really caught on to Calc anyway. So, it's no surprise that I'm a little behind, not to mention I missed my first two calc classes while in Colorado camping/hiking. After attending my first class (3rd class scheduled), I dropped it like a bad habit...then quickly transfered to Pre-Calc which is the exact same nights and times as the Calc class. Go figure. Now I've only missed 3 pre-calc classes and behind on a few assignments. But I made it to the 4th schedule pre-calc class last night and I'm doing alright I think. Maybe it helps that I have a calculator that I can follow along in class with. You see, my superior Ti-86 is apparently inferior to the Ti-83, Ti-83 Plus, and Ti-84. Well, it's really not inferior, they just choose to use those ones instead. The 86 would work just fine, but I have barely used my calculator that it takes me forever to figure out how to do what the instructor did on his 83 because I've barely used my 86. It can do the same stuff, but you have different setting and buttons to push to accomplish it. I don't have time to not only learn freakin' pre-Calc, but a 300 page manual on how to use my 86. So what did I do? Called Kevin, of course, and stole his Ti-83 Plus. Actually I traded my 86 for his 83.

It's hard for me to sit in class and not think "what would Guza say." I think I'll like my instructor. We were using the calulators last night and going back and forth from the "y=" screen to the main screen. He told us to press "2nd", "Quit" to clear the screen and get back to the main screen. However, a collegue had difficulty with that:

Classmate: "My screen didn't clear when you told me to do that."
Instructor: "We can use a hammer."

(I think when he said that I was the only one paying attention or heard him, because no one else chuckled.)

Oh, if only I could remember more Guza-isms. If anyone would like to help build a library of Guza-isms so I can shout them out in class at random times, I'd appreciate it. Or, if we could build a list of the inverse of Guza-isms, that'd be great too. For example:

Mr. Guza: "What do you do when you see one like #26?
Adam: "Close the book."

Let's start a list.

Remembering 9/11

I don't have much to say today. NRO has all sorts of good articles up, both from today and from five years ago. This picture, from the Wisconsin State Journal, was posted at Blackfive:


I think it's very fitting.

The Protector

The Protector rocks. Need proof? Here's some proof. We'll start with a small fraction of a scene filmed all in one take:



Here's Tony Jaa fighting a guy using what Andy thinks is "southern monkey style" kung-fu:



Finally, here's Jaa kicking a guy out of a helicopter:



Convinced?

Joe Duuuuuuuumars...

...was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last night. There's lots of coverage at the Pistons website. Check it out.

James Bond will return...

...in Casino Royale. You can check out the trailer here. This looks to be a new direction for the Bond franchise. No invisible cars in this one, though the Aston Martin is still present. Daniel Craig looks hardcore. I'm definitely going to have to check this one out.

Fallacious

Here's a fun list of fallacies. Here is a more serious one. If you don't find the first one humorous, than you need to study more philosophy, rhetoric, etc. From Jonah Goldberg via the Corner.

I want one...

Equalizer T-shirt. Functional.

More Crystal Ball Time '06

My picks for the '06 NFL season. You can compare with ESPN's experts here.

AFC East: Dolphins
AFC North: Bengals
AFC South: Colts
AFC West: Broncos
AFC Wild Cards: Ravens, Jaguars

NFC East: Giants
NFC North: Bears
NFC South: Panthers
NFC West: Seattle
NFC Wild Cards: Bucs, Eagles

AFC Champ: Colts
NFC Champ: Panthers

Super Bowl Champ: Colts

Coach: T. Dungy
MVP: P. Manning
Def. POY: E. Reed
Off. POY: L. Johnson
Def. rookie: A.J. Hawk
Off. rookie: M. Bell
Comeback POY: D. McAllister

I reserve the right to change any of these up until kickoff of the first game. Here are my picks from '05, updated to show the correct picks in parentheses where they were wrong. Not too awful:

AFC East: Patriots
AFC North: Ravens (Bengals)
AFC South: Colts
AFC West: Chiefs (Denver)
AFC Wild Cards: Chargers, Jaguars (Steelers, Jaguars)

NFC East: Eagles (Giants)
NFC North: Vikings (Bears)
NFC South: Panthers (Bucs)
NFC West: Seahawks
NFC Wild Cards: Rams, Lions (Panthers, Redskins)

AFC Champ: Colts (Steelers)
NFC Champ: Panthers (Seahawks)

Super Bowl Champ: Colts (Steelers)

Coach: T. Dungy (Lovie Smith)
MVP: P. Manning (Shaun Alexander)
Def. POY: J. Peppers (Brian Urlacher)
Off. POY: P. Manning (Shaun Alexander)
Def. rookie: D. Ware (Shawne Merriman)
Off. rookie: C. Williams
Comeback POY: S. Smith (Tied with Tedy Bruschi)

Stupid Appendix

Ben Roethlisberger just can't stay out of the hospital. He underwent an emergency appendectomy today. The surgery went well, but it is uncertain when Ben will return. The recovery time from an appendectomy is a couple of weeks. Roethlisberger will not play in the season opener; Charlie Batch will start in his place. This also leaves the Steelers in a bit of a bind a QB: they only had 2 on the roster. Maybe they'll try and acquire disgruntled Billy Volek?

It's Not Easy Being Green

I've thought the above statement many, many times while watching Spartan football, as I'm sure many Spartan fans have. So it's strangely appropriate that the Grand Marshal of the Michigan State University Homecoming parade will be none other than Kermit the Frog. Said Kermit: "I’m thrilled that Michigan State University asked me to be Grand Marshal of this year’s Homecoming parade, and I promise to continue to wear the school colors year round in honor of this momentous event! Thank you, Spartans!"

A Question

What happened to Ohio State's jerseys? They used to look like this:


Now they look like this:


Why did they mess with a classic uniform?

Show Your Colors

Home Depot is doing something pretty cool: they're offering paint in your favorite teams' colors. Want to paint your den just the right shade of honolulu blue? Home Depot has it. Here's an example. It should be noted though that if anyone paints a room maize and blue, I might have to hurt them. At least a little.

Man on a Mission

Drew Stanton has just one mission this year: put Michigan State football on the map. A quote from Stanton:

"It's a piece of me. If I left without doing everything in my powers, I think I would have regretted it down the road. The more I started to think about it, I've invested a lot in the program. I'm a Spartan fan at heart. I grew up a Spartan fan."

Stanton is the kind of guy you love to have on your team. He's not just passionate about his play, or his team's play, he's passionate about his school. You might say he's fighting with a vim. Though he's a Heisman candidate, Stanton only has one measure of success this year: wins. He gets his chance to start at noon.

Time for Cuts

Today is the day NFL teams will make final cuts to get their 53-man rosters. The biggest name who might be cut is Charles Rogers. The Detroit News has a look at the salary cap ramifications of cutting Rogers. It seems a foregone conclusion that Chuck will be gone by the end of the day. Marinelli made up his mind very early about him, and from the fan's perspective, never gave him a real chance. He didn't even play in the last preseason game. I've already wrote what I think about cutting Rogers. I'm sticking with that prediction. Here's another: Marinelli will be another in a long line of failed Lions' coaches. He wants the Lions to be a tough team, which is great. But you have to coach the whole team differently than just the defensive line. An NFL coach isn't just a drill sergeant, he's got to be a bit of a politician. A head coach is a general, not a grunt. Marinelli seems to be coaching as a grunt. This team will look different, but not better.

UPDATE: It's official, Rogers in no longer a Lion.

NBC Football...

...has new theme music, which you can listen to here. If you're a fan of film scores, you can guess who wrote this one. I'll give you one clue if you can't figure it out: it sounds an awful lot like battle droids are invading an NFL stadium.

Crystal Ball Time '06

Every year just before the season begins, ESPN like to post its experts picks for the upcoming NFL season. So here they are. You can also check out the picks from 2005. Joe Theismann was the only one to correctly predict the Super Bowl winner last year; this year he picks the Colts. I had meant to go back and score the rest of these predictions at the end of the season, but never got around to it. To be fair, I should also post my picks from last year. I can't promise I'll try to get my '06 picks up before the season starts, but I'll try to try.