We had a NYE party at our house last night. When we were in the other room, our mutt decided that she needed to be on a table with burning candles. Here’s the result of her near-miss with immolation. This is after the black parts have been removed. Luckily, it didn’t burn down to the skin so the only other evidence of her little mishap is a lingering stink of singed hair. Open thread.
Archives for 2015
New Year’s Day College Football Bowl Games
On paper at least, it looks like we’ve got some great match-ups on tap for the first day of 2015. The bowl schedule and my picks are below with ir-rationales following the image:
First things first — this year, the mighty SEC lost a step. Exhibit A: both Mississippis got torched yesterday. That said, I believe the SEC is still the strongest conference in the nation. My picks represent some SEC homerism, but my uninformed analysis plays a role too.
For example, I don’t think Wisconsin comes back from the ass-kicking delivered by Ohio State. Some teams might be motivated by such a debacle. I think Wisconsin was broken by it, and therefore the Tigers of Auburn will prevail.
I’m going with Mizzou over Minnesota mainly because Mizzou got better as the season went on whereas Minnesota started out strong but faltered. Still, I think it’ll be a good game.
Alabama – Ohio State worries me a bit because the pregame hype reminds me of the Florida – Ohio State matchup back in aught-seven when everyone was saying the Gators didn’t even belong in the championship game, and then they went on to dismantle the Buckeyes. Only this time Ohio State is the underdog. But I don’t think the mostly stalwart Ohio State D has seen anything like ‘Bama’s Sims-Cooper combo this year, so the Tide will roll.
Exactly 15 years ago today, my hungover little brother and I attended the Citrus Bowl hoping to watch our Gators beat Michigan State. But Michigan State embarrassed the Gators that year. The Spartans may do the same to Baylor, but I have a feeling the Bears, still smarting from being left out of the playoffs, will take it out on Michigan State.
And finally, Oregon vs Florida State. I hate the goddamn ‘Noles, and several times this year, egged on by texts from fellow ‘Nole-haters, I’ve been suckered by would-be schaudenfreude into watching them come from behind to win against mediocre ACC opponents. I hope the Ducks expose FSU today. I’m even wearing a green shirt in solidarity with Oregon. I don’t just want an Oregon win; I want a humiliating beat-down of the ‘Noles. But I suspect it’ll be an exciting game that Oregon wins in a squeaker.
What say you, football fans?
New Year’s Day College Football Bowl GamesPost + Comments (140)
And We’re Off With a Bang
Steve bitching for breakfast at 5:45 am. Rosie won’t get out of bed to potty so I am going to have to watch her like a hawk to make sure she doesn’t vengeance shit on the carpet because I didn’t let her out the moment she decided to get out of bed. Damn JRT’s. Lily is hurt because she can’t sit on my lap while I am at the desktop so I am going to have to do some relational maintenance involving belly rubs and lullabies.
2015 seems a helluva lot like 2014- up too early and being bossed around by pets, each in their own special way.
Also, it was one of those super cold cloudless nights. When I woke up, the wind was whipping and you could just feel the cold go straight to your bone, but the sky was almost glowing from the stars. Those were the worst nights in the army- you knew as soon as the clouds dissipated it was just going to get cold as hell. It’s actually worse than being rained on because everything on a tank is cold hard steel.
Thursday Morning / New Year’s Day Open Thread
Wise words from Mr. Charles P. Pierce:
… We are a little lost here in America. Too many of us have tuned out, and too many of us are deeply tuned in to the wrong things. Our eccentricities have curdled into crochets. Our love for the strange and deeply weird has soured into a devotion to the mean and deeply angry. Our renegade national soul has given itself up to petty outlawry. We have tailored the principles of our founding documents — flawed though their authors were — into cheap camouflage for our boring traditional grudges. None of these things are good things. But none of those things is permanent, either. Imagination always has been the way out — a faith in that which seems impossible, a trust that not every mystery is a murder mystery, and that not every mysterious creature is a monster. Imagination is the way out — a belief that safety is not necessarily the primary (or even the secondary) goal of democratic citizenship, and that a self-governing political commonwealth does not always come with a lifetime guarantee. Yes, we are a little lost here in America, but we can find our way, and the best way that we can find is the one that seems like the least secure, the darkest trail, the one with the long, sweeping bend in the road that leads god knows where. We must trust what we can imagine, and we must trust that what we can imagine is the product of what is the best of us. And, whether we imagine it or not, it’s going to happen anyway…
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What’s on the agenda for the start of the new year?
Thursday Morning / New Year’s Day Open ThreadPost + Comments (53)