Announcers generally suck.  Nothing brings that home more than the Bowl season when you listen to lots and lot's of "B" and even "C" teams.  Shawn King was a good college QB and had a nice cup of coffee with the Bucs, but should never be allowed near a microphone.  I actually heard one ex-jock (Brock Huard perhaps?) aver that in his particular Bowl game "points would count".

But the one that JUST got me was in the AFC Title game.  Jim Nance called a double reverse.  I clicked back on the TIVO - Flacco took the snap and dropped straight back, handed the ball to McGahee running r to l, who then handed to Clayton moving l to r.  That's a reverse, NOT a double reverse.  Had Clayton handed to Heap running back r to l THAT woulda been a double reverse.  Changing directions ONCE (which is what happened) is a reverse. 

I shall now dismount the soapbox/

Dinner last night ......

Started off with Champaign and an artisanal cheese and meat selection. Salad was simple: a feta, cucumber and cherry tomato with balsamic vinaigrette. The main course featured a sea food gratin with crab, shrimp and halibut <wow!> On the side - roasted green beans with garlic and a hint of red pepper. Dessert was a pomegranate panicotta with candied orange peel, served with a crisp pear cider.

all served at our dining room table with The Boy home from college and the warm glow of family. 

over at clubcgn.com....I'm in a free roll.....$500 top prize .....took 2nd two weeks ago.....21 other players

10d 5h, small blind, fold .... 3 good players at this table and 3 unknows

7s6h, button, fold

blinds are 20/40, we start with 10k, 10 minutes levels

folded to me with KcQh on the cutoff, raise 100, both blinds fold

4sQh, make it $80 to be a little aggressive...button calls, BB calls, limper calls 8h2dJs - I bet $40 with nothing, button calls ...Qc!  top pair, button calls, 10c, $500, he folds

7cAc, $100 bet, all fold

6hKs, I make it $80 UTG, all fold to me

Jc2s in BB, 1 limper, sb folds, 4c, 7d10h, all check, 3d check, 10d check, other player has better 4th card

Jh5d, fold sb

Jc2s, fold on the button

6s10c fold, still #1 on the leaderboard

Level 2:

Qd2d, 2 limpers, I fold

9dKh, fold

7dKd UTG, call, both blinds limp, 9h7hKc, checked to me I check, 4d, BB makes it 60, I make it 120, sb folds, bb calls, 2s, BB checks, I make it $400, he folds

3hQh BB, button limp, sb folds5cKd10d, I check, 7d, check, Ah, button makes it $150 and I fold to him

15 minutes in and haven't shown a hand

sb: 8hAd, button makes it 150, I call6dAc2h, b goes 60, I go 120 he calls, 4s, I check, he checks, Kh, I check, he bets 600, I double it, he calls and beats me with QA - again, the 4th card

Kh7c fold

ok, 20 minutes of this is enough...

LVL 3: that weak Ace dropped me to LAST! but it's early

LVL 4: had an "I gotta leave so I'll just go all in every hand" - I HATE that...but there's 1 gone and I'm up to 16th

LVL 5: 2 out, I'm at 17th...about 20 rounds in my stack so I'm still fine for another level or two

LVL 6: 14th out of 19 .... 14 rounds in my stack......starting to catch a few more cards but the big stacks are getting more aggressive

LVL 7: 15 rounds left, nut flush takes me to 5th of 19.......now playing JJ

(red) jacks hit A-2-5 all clubs on the flop and folded.....a dozen hands latter I'm UTG with AdKh.....all in.....sb calls, BB folds, sb has QQ....flop gives her trips and I'm out......from 7th to 18th with the turn of a card.......now on with my evening

Mood:  cool

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113627/

Was an iffy proposition to begin with. Not a fan of the neveau noir – the drug/alcohol self destructive movie. But as some of you know, I LOVE Vegas.

So for starters: Vegas was nice. She looked good. There was the HFC (Hiedeous F***ing Clown) as D calls it. Prime rib special for $2.99 @ the Barbary Coast. The Fremont. The Stardust. No fancy schmancy Lamborgini dealerships. No high end shopping malls. Real Vegas, not the one on The travel Chanel.  Grity Vegas at her best.

Elisabeth Shue. Where did the babysitter learn to do THAT? And she looked hot. I kept seeing a little Jessica Simpson (one of the ten most gorgeous women on the planet IMHO)! Didn't need to see her in the john, though. The awards and nominations were well-warrented. Did I mention she was hot?

Nicolas Cage. Not his best work. That was probably “Matchstick Men.” But it was MUCH better than his next trip to Vegas.

Supporting cast. Some interesting “cameos.” Mariska Hargitay, R Lee Earney, Laurie Metcalf, Shawnee Smith, Julian Lennon, Lou Rawls.

Very good soundtrack. Some interesting versions of solid songs – Sting doing “Angel Eyes,” Don Henley's “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

Did I mention Elisabeth Shue is hot!

Not a date flick. But watchable. Which surprised me. I was prepared not to like it. Didn't WANNA like it. But I liked it.

And Elisabeth Shue was hot.

Making my picks now so I can brag if I win or open myself up to scorn and ridicule otherwise

Eagles at Cardinals ..... Eagles get a little healthy, D McNabb won't have as bad a game as Jake "The Man" had........ Eagles -3+, -200, O/U 47.  I'll probably take the Iggles on the money line.  The 3+ isn't bad and the over is probably the optimum play here. 

Ravens at Steelers ..... this is a "blimp crash" game -  that's what I'm cheering for.  Throw in the Cowboys and...be still my heart.  But somebody's gotta win and it'll be the Steelers.  Young Mr. Flacco's dram season will come to an abrupt end against the Steel Curtain.  Steelers -6, -250, O/U 33+.  That's an awful low number for the low and a lot for the Steelers to lay.  The 250 money line is probably playable.

So I like the Eagles and the Steelers for a PA SB.  I'll handicap that one when the time comes....right now it'd be a darned  close call.

Mood:  surprised

Thea, over at I'm a Drama Mama has posted a "petition" to request that The Chosen One create a new cabinet position for the Arts.  Thea and I know each other from community theater, so we're coming at this from KIND of the same side.  IMHO this is an AWEFUL suggestion.

No.

Not aweful. Bad. Stupid.  And harmful.

1.  We do NOT need another gov't bureaucracy.  In fact we need to get rid of about 1/4 of the ones we have.  My fave first to go would be the Federal Dept of Education....which has never educated ANYONE!

2.  The left thinks this is a GREAT idea with The Chosen One overseeing an enlightened cultural rebirth.  Sadly, they've never been subject to Soviet art.  Perhaps they should be.  Nothing but State supported movies, television, books and stories for a month - THEN tell me you wannna give the Fed's control over the arts.

3.  Where's the money coming from?  Short answer from the left: from "The Rich" (c).  Who are supporting much of the big dollar art in this country ANNYWAY.  But instead of being able to pick and choose  which groups to support (my in-laws have been very generous to the Columbus Jazz Arts Group and donated lesser sums to certain other performing and cultural groups they enjoy) you'll have no say about who gets your tax dollars.  And charitable donations will dry up quickly.  Just like they did in the area of social services.  Seventy five year ago in this country "social services" were provided by churches and other charties who depended on the largess of donors and volunteers for thier programs.  As soon as the Gov't intervened (qua New Deal) the donations got smaller.  "I gave at the office" wasn't just an excuse, it was a reason.  If the Feds are taking an additonal $25 from my pocket to fund the Dept of Arts, that's $25 less I can donate to the local theater group.  And since $20 of that $25 will never GET to the local theater group, they loose quite a bit in the transaction.  Want people to give more to the arts?  Let em keep more of what they make.  Give bigger deductions for artistic contributions.  But DON'T put the Feds in charge.

4.  Experiment: whichever side of the "v" you're on (Donk or Elph). envision your most reviled, mistrusted, just plan bad President from the other side.  Do you REALLY want them (and thier appointees) in charge of "Arts" in this country?  I'm a hack actor/director.  My wife is a good actress and a GREAT henna artest.  The Boy is in theater school.  I do not EVER want a gov't official telling me what show we can't do - or must do, etc.  Can't imagine Obama restricting anti-Obama theater? I can.  Can't imagine "W" doing it?  I can.  And it frightens me.

5.  Finally, as currently Constitutionally constructed the Federal Government should defend the shores, deliver the mail and leave me the hell alone.  Go read the 10th Amendment again.

Think it can't happen?  Look around.  Look at other gov't programs which started as nice little things with positive aspirations and became a hideaous monstrosity.  Think Social Securty.  

Mood:  down

Interesting project. Twenty four hour theater. Actors, writers and directors get together Friday night at 8pm to discuss procedures, themes, etc. Subject matter drawn from a hat, directors and actors adjourn to drinking and bitch about writers and scripts.....writers adjourn to bitch about actors and directors and write a script, due at 8am.

Saturday morning at 7am (!) Breakfast. I (a director in this little project) didn't attend. No self respecting theater person WOULD unless they'd been up all night. At 8 am scripts were matched with directors and actors were matched with parts. I'd say 95% of the participating actors in this project were among the top 10-15% of the field in Columbus community theater. Several have done substantial equity work. So there's no “speak carriers” in the bunch. And I got two of the best. I mean no disrespect to the three other fine actors in my cast but let me just say that getting to spend 4 hours or so developing characters and blocking a script with Joyce Leahy and Jane Mowder was well worth getting up early on a cold freezing rainy January Ohio morning. We spent about 2 hours reading the script, making some changes (with the author's approval) and discussing all those “theatrical” things like character development and motivation. This is WAY out of my realm. In a “normal” main stage production I rely on my actors to do their own homework and then fir the pieces together. I deal a LOT more in pictures, rhythm, pace and tempo. What a dream it was doing the nuts and bolts work with Jane and Joyce. The effort, skill and attention to detail they brought to this little 15 minute piece was phenominal, and I KNEW the work being done in the other rooms by the other cast was equally impressive.

4:00: Tech/run. Spike the sets, run light cues and run the show. I wasn't happy. We didn't have the set pieces we thought we'd have, I spiked two pieces “wrong” and the run of the show seemed clunky. Timing issues...blocking “changes”....just enough to weaken it a little. I made notes to “adjust” the spikes when I got the chance, and to address the other issues with the actors involved individually. At this stage I don't like making anybody “look bad” in front of the others. Plus I got to see the other three shows. Being VERY familiar with the playwrights I was used to their bag of tricks and saw them on display. IMHO we might have had the weakest script. Perhaps it was just the nature of the project....the 12 hour immersion and line by line sped up analysis that's done, but I just wasn't happy.

8:00 Curtain. We went up first. The changed spiked were an improvement. A couple set pieces had arrived and been added. Nice. The “acting” issues of the dry run had been fixed. My cast did exactly what we had agreed they should do. Did we reach the audience. I don't think so. The three other pices were a little more entertaining, a little more “gotcha.” A second act was added: the producer doing a staged reading of a script written by his grad school professor about the pains of being an Indians fan. Well presented and entertaining. Act III was a combination of four stories by these same playwrights, all set in the same restaurant and going on at once. Nice story ideas, well acted, but it made for a VERY late evening after a VERY long day.

I left the theater about 11:15 and didn't go to the party. I'm one of the Grand Old Men of the group so “the kids” won't really miss me. They say you're only as good as your next show. Hope my next show comes soon because this wasn't my best work. In this community if the masses get a sniff that you might be loosing your game it is VERY hard to turn that around. Actors won't audition for you....tech people have “conflicts” when you call on them. Your product suffers from the self fulfilling prophecy and in a few years you're a reminiscence at the party – “Remember old what's his name? I worked with him when he was GOOD.”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404163/

A pleasant surprise ......GREAT cast used pretty well, especially Kelsey Grammer.  I'm seeing Nick Cannon pop up in a lot of places but I'm still not convinced.  And of course we ALL love to hate Tim Roth (I may never get over Rob Roy, but maybe "Lie to Me" will do it.)

This is one of those "unrelated stories that all come together" movies.  Not much of a happy ending.  Several twists.  Gritty.  NOT a date flick.  Not up-lifting.  Recommended.

didn't change much after the bowls. 

#1.  Florida.  I had them in the top 3 most of the year and ahead of Alabama  ALL year.

#2.  USC.  Had them in the top 2 all season.  Biggest loser of the BCS procedure, but if Pete "Lewis" Carrol could get his team to focus for a whole season these things wouldn't happen.

#3.  Oklahoma.  Dallas is NOT a neutral field when playing Texas.

#4.  Texas.  I blame the 2 DB's who tried to keep TT inbounds after time had already espired.  Bonehead play.  Push him out of bounds, stay undefeated, quit whining.  BTW, they won the way they lost .....closing second TD resulting from a blown tackle.

#5.  Penn State.  I rate thier schedule difficulty the same as Utah.  So why isn't undefeated Utah here?  PSU's top was tougher but the bottom was weaker.  The AVG is about the same.  Look at it this way: think of Utah as playing #10, #20, and #50-60......while PSU plays #2, #8, #100, and #50-58.  The avg would be about the same, but that would explain the 2 losses a little better.

OSU is my #9.....Utah is #10 at best.  But bless 'em for beating the SEC in the Sugar Bowl.