Cripes

My worst professional job was as a copy editor for a small Central Texas paper. I was earning $6.50 an hour and getting reamed out daily by a 300-pound, insecure managing editor we staffers dubbed (pre-austin powers, mind you) "fat bastard." If he didn't yell at you by the end of the day, you could count on getting a call the next morning before your shift began so he could make up for lost gripe time. In one instance, he called me into his cubicle to discuss a parade photo I had laid out for that morning's paper -- a group of Clydesdales I described in the caption, "Ready to Trot." I thought he was going to ream me out for the banal headline, but that wasn't it: "[CRIPES] -- CLYDESDALES DON'T FU**ING TROT!" We spent the next half hour arguing about how you classify the gait of a 2,000-pound horse with frying-pan sized feet.

There's no argument to absolutely prove Florida does or doesn't deserve it. But I think it's fair to say the conference title requirement is a good minimum standard. Yeah, it may not be fair that a great conference can't get a wild card, but it's the closest thing we have to on-field merit. If you're not the best team in your group of 10 or 12 regional counterparts, then you can't be the best in the whole country. It doesn't matter if you're No.2 or No.3 or No.4 -- Michigan can't be No.1, unless you want to argue now that what we saw in November was moot. If somebody wants to make Michigan's case because of strength of schedule or quality wins, then they need to argue to return to the rock-paper-scissor formula that handed OU a free pass in 2003.

I really did get ants in my pants when I was four years old (playing in our unpaved driveway). I haven't worn any since.

She porked anything with a pulse for 10 years in Van Nuys, and NOW her insurance company is worried about her health?

No arm sling...no hazy concussive stare...yep, that's Losman.

Pardon?

I've gone to the financial district on business a few times since 2004, without much time to sightsee, so my experience is limited...WTC site, Battery Park, Staten Ferry, Brooklyn Bridge. My wife took one of the boat tours from the Fulton Street area and enjoyed it. It was under $20 (October 2005), and I think it took her to the Statue, Ellis and Governor's Island. Going up town, Times Square is just a big well-lit mall these days. Go to the Empire State Building to say you've been there, and so you don't have to go again (too long a wait, too crowded). If somebody recommends a restaurant, make sure it's still open. My boss recommended her favorite East Village hole, The Miracle Grille (you can see it in "My Date with Drew"), but we found it it was shut down by the time we got there. Lot of skyrocketing rents are driving out some familiar sites (i.e., CBGB's). At least you're coming and going on Jet Blue.

Shipoopi! Having a Ball! Can I get still get it at Blockbuster!

Couldn't finish "9 to 5" Maybe if they'd given her a stripper pole, she might have been able to concentrate?

"Don't Stop me Now" by Queen. I've become a lot less guilty about it since it was the focal point of a major fight scene in Shawn of the Dead.

I could never make it through Act 2 of the Music Man because of the Shipoopi break. Act 1 is hilarious as hell, but thanks to Buddy, I can never stick around long enough to see if Robert Preston ever learns his lesson enough to tap that Mrs. Partridge.

Oh, they did more than that. They also massacred passersby. I guess I was thinking more about the term influence. I think of them mostly as the winning horse from the Great Apostasy movement , not the source of great ideas that changed the American current.

Wouldn't it be funny if he's just waiting for Mack Brown to take an NFL job?

Maybe a few to nitpick over, but none moreso than both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. What influence has the Morman Church really had in changing or shifting the U.S., or Catholic and Protestant theology? If anything, the Morman church has only changed itself over the years to buy mainstream acceptability (whatever happed to the irrefutable divine word of God on the matter of polygamy through the Golden Plates? God had a "do-over" at some point?).

Jim Tressell didn't vote because of the conflict of interest in choosing his opponent. 'Bout time somebody at Harris Interactive noticed the problem. So, ya think Lloyd Carr with his bitter ass is going to be voting honestly next year when it comes to Florida and OSU? On another note: Why did Jim Walden (former Iowa State and Washington State coach not listed in Ed's link) vote Florida No.1 over Ohio State? He called the Big Ten a "joke."

I think this post was made during a brain surgery. Nurse, up the gas -- stat.

I like that JP Losman was 3 for 3 in the red zone today.

Was it Tasker's clear explanation of the toe-heel rule as it was eventually followed by the refs? Was it his comment on the poor Antonio Gates-London Fletcher matchup on a critical third down in the clinching drive? Was it the "slow-going" comment on Willis McGahee's running lanes? Or was it that his nipples didn't explode with delight on the mirage onside kick recovery? Yup, Tasker=Bills hater. Case closed.

Please don't forward him a job application to Big Red Sports Cars, OK, Blue?

Big (and bad) recruiting news for MSU: The Spartans have lost a two-year-old commitment from Elite 11 quarterback Keith Nichol from Lowell, Mich. Nichol is instead going to Oklahoma, after a visit to Norman. It seems a very surprising decision, since he had maintained his commitment after John Smith's firing and was recruiting other players to MSU...but opportunity knocks. Sooners forum OU Insider Nichol will be enrolling early to take part in spring football.

I never said most of the things I said. . - Yogi Berra

Maybe the writer does have a point --the Bills only had 4 touchdown passes that year? Didn't even complete 100 passes?

Since they're being pegged for the Fiesta Bowl against OU perhaps, well...maybe it's an experiment that can wait for next year. :

I thought of the NFL analogy, but the problem there is that there's no seeding like there would be with a real bowl championship series (the '89 Broncos would have been a fifth or sixth seed, for instance). My point wasn't to underline the obvious playoff need, but that the BCS controversy is always about who is and is not getting a fair shake for the title game from voters and computers...while I don't hear enough questions to the presidents and the BCS apologists (Kirk Heibstreit) about how they continue to believe a regular season schedule is enough to decipher who's most deserving of a shot. I just think it would be a new tactic to use by having them explain how a No.1-No.2 matchup like USC-OU can turn into a 36-point clunker...and that it's happened so often.

Yeah, I forgot the game was close heading into the fourth...but I think Vick & Co. collapsed very badly at that point (when was his fumble, and the blocked punt?). Kind of like the '93 Bills after halftime in XXVIII.