February 08, 2010
Black Monday
Last week, I had planned on writing a long blog that basically predicted every aspect of the Super Bowl and how it would pan out. I was going to talk about the Colts offense destined to absolutely shred the Saints, whose 25th-ranked defense could not possibly stand up to the offensive onslaught that was sure to take place. I was going to talk about how the Colts' underrated defense always seemed to make a big play when the time called for it, and how the Saints' offense had not seen a defense that flies to the ball like the Colts. Most of all, I was going to talk about how Peyton Manning absolutely could not lose - how he was reaching Jordanesque levels, the level that someone reaches once in a generation, the level of play you simply do not bet against. I had heard all week how New Orleans was destined to win the game because of what had happened with Hurricane Katrina four years ago, and how everyone was rooting for them, how the Colts for the first time ever were playing the villains. I didn't buy any of it. 18 just wouldn't let the Colts lose. Colts 38, Saints 34. Wow, glad I got really busy last week.
When Peyton threw the interception that essentially sealed the Colts' fate, I was speechless. I had seen too many Peyton Manning comebacks to believe that anything other than a touchdown to tie the game was possible. As the Colts were driving, my only concern was that they would score too quickly and the Saints would have time to march down and kick the game-winning field goal. I wasn't concerned that we would run out of time, that we would turn it over on downs, and I most definitely wasn't concerned that Peyton would throw a pick. But as the ball was being returned for a touchdown that would lift the spirits of an entire city, all I could do was hang my head. I was so disappointed. Not "walk me down from the ledge" disappointed, and not quite distraught, but disappointed nonetheless. It was the kind of disappointment I felt after the Bell Game my sophomore year - sad, of course, but you realize that you had every opportunity and you just didn't execute. Upset, yes, but you have more to play for, and this won't be your last chance to shine. That's where I am right now.
Isn't it ironic that two guys who went to Indiana and Purdue ended up winning the game for the Saints? Drew Brees was unreal. No one outside of Brady and Manning are capable of having games like that. He completed 18 of his last 19 passes - that just doesn't happen, especially in the Super Bowl. There's your Purdue connection. And an Indiana product, yes, that Indiana, made the play of the game with the game-sealing fourth quarter interception. Talk about a cruel twist of fate. Indiana collegiate products winning the game for another team... sad.
And as much as I hate to see the Colts lose, I would much rather them lose to the Saints than I would have the Bears three years ago. For one thing, the Saints are a classy team, with a classy coach and quarterback, that deserved to win last night. Another thing, I hate the Bears and I couldn't have stood listening to their fans yap for eternity. Even though I turned off the post-game coverage in favor of Titanic (I know, as if I needed to get any sadder) and South Park, I can say today that I've come to peace with the Colts' loss. Although many will say that the season can be seen as nothing less than an utter failure, and although that logic has some credence to it, 16-3 is by no means a failure. I understand that the motto was "Super Bowl or Bust", but come on. Making it to the Super Bowl and losing is far better than losing in the divisional round, or not making the playoffs, or going 1-15. Ask Rams fans how they feel about their team. Ask Lions fans (if you can find any) if they would enjoy a 16-3 season and a loss in the Super Bowl. I understand that the expectations are different, but let's not take for granted the greatness that we have gotten to witness over the past decade.
I'll get to some Wabash stuff later on in this week, but I wanted to wrap up the Super Bowl stuff while the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach was still fresh. What am I going to do now? Do the Pacers still have a shot to make the playoffs? No? Okay, NASCAR it is. In eternally having "There's always next year" to fall back on, I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 05:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 01, 2010
In case you've been wondering where I've been the past week (big assumption on my part that anyone even noticed I haven't written anything), I can sum it up with a little bit of good, and a little bit of bad. First off, my last blog was last Sunday morning, prior to watching my Colts punch their ticket to the Super Bowl, so I've been in the midst of celebrating and preparing myself mentally for this Sunday. Secondly, I started refereeing intramural basketball this week - did I mention this was the bad? I forgot how much everyone hates referees. Even I get caught up in it at Wabash basketball games sometimes, with the typical "Oh, I would have made that call!" or "Call it both ways, ref!" But it is far from an easy job, and I can certainly sympathize with the guys who take the brunt of the heat from fans, players, and coaches. So that's where I'm going with this one...
If you look back to last Sunday morning's blog, you'll notice that I predicted a score of 30-10 because I firmly believed that the Colts were 20 points better than the Jets. Had it not been for one fluke touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, I would have been prophetic (anyone interested in my prediction skills can look back to September when I predicted that the Brett Favre experiment would end horribly in Minnesota... can't think of an ending much more horrible than the one 8 days ago). And I know it's hard to believe that I've waited so long to give my Colts thoughts, but as I mentioned, I've been in somewhat of a celebratory stupor. Peyton Manning was unreal, it seriously may have been the best game I've ever seen him play. Pierre Garcon gives every D-3 athlete hope (granted, every D-3 athlete doesn't run a 4.4 forty-yard dash), and played great in the aftermath of the tragedy that occurred in Haiti where many of his relatives live. Ultimately, the Colts were the better team, and no Jets smack talk was going to change that. Now, the question that I leave this game with is, "Is all forgiven in the aftermath of the Colts resting their starters against the Jets in week 16 and the Bills in week 17 all because they reached the Super Bowl?" I would say that 80% of Colts fans would say yes. Because the defense was fresh, they were able to hold their two opponents in the playoffs to an average of 10 points per game. But there is the other school of thought that says, "We made the Super Bowl, but we should be 18-0 and well on our way to being considered the greatest team in NFL history." True. But if we hadn't let the Jets in the playoffs, the Chargers and their mouthy, egotistical, showboating quarterback that I dislike very much may very well have been celebrating on the Colts field. In the grand scheme of things, I would say it worked out pretty well. Put me in the 80% category.
Back to my intramural reffing ability. Apparently I suck. I would like to think that I don't suck and that people just like to give me a hard time (at least that's what I believe), but a guy's confidence gets tested when people argue every call. Truthfully, I think it has more to do with the mouths on these kids (and faculty, mainly consisting of coaches, whose game I reffed the other night) than any wrong call I might make. I reffed two games of the Special Olympics tournament on Saturday - not one complaint. But the very first time I blow my whistle on Tuesday and Thursday, that won't likely be the case. Oh well, suck it up Matt, and take your verbal abuse like a champ.
And now I come to the biggest disappointment that I've had in a long time. As I've mentioned on here many times, I'm a fan of professional wrestling. I know it's childish and most people above the age of 10 aren't into it, but I don't fall into that category. But all my friends have kind of gotten into it as well, since I commandeer the living room every Monday night to indulge in two hours of Monday Night Raw. About once every month, the WWE has a Pay-Per-View which I rarely get to see. Most of the PPVs are shown at the local Buffalo Wild Wings. At the very least, my friends and I attend the big ones of the year - The Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, and this year, we were even able to swing Summerslam on a night during football camp back in August. Last night was the Royal Rumble, something that my friends and I had been looking forward to for weeks on end. I distinctly remember saying to one of them as we prepared to leave last night, "This is my favorite PPV of the year." My anticipation level was at least an 8 - somewhere between a Wednesday night meal at the Sparks Center and the AFC Championship game. Upon arriving at B-Dubs, I'm anxious, because I want to make sure that sometime between August and January, they haven't discontinued ordering the PPVs. I ask the hostess - we're in luck. The 8 o'clock starting time rolls around, and all there is on TV is a promotional ad for it. Troubling, but not quite concerning. 8:30 rolls around, and after seeing the promo run for 30 times, I start to get concerned - I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and my friends are starting to get restless. I continue to eat my nachos. 9:00 - an hour has passed, still no wrestling. "It's okay," I keep telling myself. "The main event won't start until probably 10." My friends start to sweat with each passing minute of intense Pro Bowl action that can be seen on the smaller TVs. 30 minutes later, I've now seen the Royal Rumble promo 90 times. My heart sinks. It's over. Disappointment turns to anger. Anger turns to my friends and I leaving at roughly 9:45, and having wasted 3 hours and $12. As we return home, one of my friends gets a text from another Wabash guy whose friends had gone there to watch it - it came on 5 minutes after we left. I was heartbroken. But on the plus side, I'll never have to spend another dime there. Time for some Applebee's gift cards, mom and dad.
Wow, glad I got that off my chest. Time to get back to the school thing though. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. GO Colts. DON'T GO to B-Dubs. I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 04:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 24, 2010
Game Day
I don't think I've been this jacked up since the Bell Game. It's only once in a great while that you're favorite team gets to host a game of this magnitude, and I've had the good fortune of attending both AFC Championship games in Indianapolis over the past four years (three years ago, and later this afternoon). You know it's a big day when the Rusty sends you a text (yes, a text; he continues to amaze me) at 9 a.m. simply saying "Game day" (although he does try to keep it under 40 characters for the simple fact that my 6-year old cousin could text quicker). But I digress. I figured since I couldn't sleep this morning, I might as well get up early and give everyone my brief thoughts on what has been a painful weekend (details coming), but is sure to get better this afternoon.
I said this weekend has been painful, and I mean that figuratively. And almost every student on campus will know what I'm talking about. There's typically a length of time during the months of January and February that are somewhat depressing, not only for the fact that the weather is awful (by my estimation, an average of 36 and rainy all week), but that it's these months that you truly realize how little there is to do in this town. During October and April, there is always stuff to do. Weather is good, go outside and play cornhole. Go watch a football game on the weekend and enjoy fellowship with your friends afterwards (if that's what you want to call it). It seems like the only thing there is to do now is watch marathons of "Jersey Shore" and try to memorize the "Pants on the Ground" song from American Idol (although my familiarity with the latter is limited, my "Jersey Shore" knowledge is on point). Yesterday proves my point. I sat around from noon on literally wishing that I had homework to do. "If only I had something extra to do so I could get ahead while I sit here bored out of my mind," was my thought process. But given my strong work ethic (okay, it probably has more to do with it being the first week of classes), none could be found. So I was relegated to scouring every story on ESPN.com, becoming a Facebook stalker (on the 18-25 crowd, of course), and watching re-runs of the aforementioned "Jersey Shore". At one point, and I'm sad to say it, I even watched two consecutive hours of Sci-Fi original movies. Seriously, that right there should indicate how bored to tears I was. But if you haven't seen movies the quality of Lake Placid 2 or Anaconda 3, you may not be able to appreciate it - think an overused concept for a film shot with the video setting of your digital camera - and that's about the quality of films I watched. Far from Oscar-worthy, but entertaining on a dreary Crawfordsville Saturday nonetheless.
But alas, all was saved last night, and in an atypical fashion, I might add. At the start of the week, my good friend Jacob Grow suggested that we have a family game night on Saturday. Knowing that I was going to the Colts game on Sunday and that I would more than likely want a chill weekend, I thought it sounded like a fine idea. So we gathered up some games, and all of the members in my house participated. Again, and atypical evening for a group of college students, but overall, I couldn't believe how much fun we had. I've been to parties (even hosted them) in which I didn't make it to 2 a.m., but somehow, when you're playing "Catchphrase" and dominoes, it's far easier to stay awake (I owned in both of those games, by the way). Sure, not the usual way to spend a Saturday night in college, but it's nice to know that we have those options when we get tired of Snookie (non-Jersey Shore enthusiasts, step your game up).
Which brings me to my final point. The Colts should and likely will win today. I just don't believe that the Jets team that I saw extensively four weeks ago is capable of coming into Lucas Oil Stadium and leaving with the AFC Championship trophy. Although I will say, if they did, it would be one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports, not only because they beat the Colts, but because they beat two other division winners before that, all while coming off a 9-7 season that saw them as extremely one-dimensional. But as I mentioned before, that is not likely to happen. The Colts gained a lot of momentum last week, the defense is fresh, the offense will be sharp, oh, and they have the most intelligent quarterback to ever play the game. Not to mention the fact that when these two teams played each other four weeks ago (before the Colts pulled their starters), I thought we were 20 points better - wins over the overrated Bengals and quick-to-choke Chargers have been nothing to change my opinion. When all is said and done, Colts 30-10, moving on to Miami.
Time to go to Indy. Hope everyone has a great time watching the Colts march on. In coming back to Crawfordsville tonight a very happy young man, I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 09:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 18, 2010
It's been a long two weeks
I've gone back and forth over the past couple of weeks, debating on when I should blog again. I had time, yes, but I didn't want to give the impression that I wasn't studying away for my comps (for those of you who aren't familiar with the most fearful of exams in the life of a Wabash student, every senior comes back early on Christmas break to take oral and written examinations, that encompass everything that we've learned over the past three and a half years. Not exactly standard for every school in the country, but Wabash has never claimed to fall in line with everyone else). So while not wanting to leave people believing that I didn't have my nose in a book for the past two weeks, as well as having a case of creative writers block, I felt it would be best to wait until I had some more Colts-related material, or a synopsis of how my comps went. So here it goes.
I came back last Saturday night, spent all day Sunday studying every rhetorical theory I could dig up, and took my written exam Monday afternoon. Follow that with a 20 minute speech on Tuesday, and an hour of being grilled by professors on Thursday, and it was a pretty busy week. Busy, yes. Stressful... eh. I'm not a Biology or Econ major so it's hard for me to say that I was about to go over the deep end. But am I glad it's over? Absolutely. And it being over is contingent upon me having passed (fingers crossed). But school started to day (gotta love that four-week long Christmas break), and I'm finding it increasingly harder to believe that I'm in semester 8 of 8 at Wabash College. I know it's cliched and people use it all the time, but seriously, where did the time go? You mean I have to get a job now? I'll take 6 a.m. workouts and Accounting 202 before I'll take no class before 11:20 and the job search. Okay, I'm obviously just kidding (given my affinity for sleeping in), but I will feel much better once I have this whole job thing figured out. So if anyone has any hookups they want to let me know about, get at me.
Isn't it interesting how when you get older, your perception of what a "Good Christmas" necessarily entails completely changes? Back in the day, if I had gotten six shirts and some gift cards, I would have been cursing Santa Claus and questioning where I went wrong throughout the course of the year. After all, Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers were undoubtedly cooler. Yet now, it amazes me at how much of an old man I have turned into. Seriously. What does it say about me that my two favorite gifts courtesy of Santa this year are a pair of 4XL Crocs and a tie clip? Does it mean that I'm becoming my grandpa at an alarming rate? Or does it just mean that I'm beginning to value practicality over style? I'll go with the latter. I'm already an old man, I'll admit it. My mom continually tries to get me to expand my horizons when it comes to my style choices, but the fact is, what fits and looks good on the 5"10, 19-year old, bleached blonde skateboarder may not look as ravishing on the 6"5, 22-year old whose favorite store is Kohls (don't hate, their prices are selection are awesome). But I digress.
I can't believe it's been almost four weeks since I've blogged about the Colts. The last time I did, they were 14-0, and my exact quote was, "All of this talk about whether or not the Colts are going to rest their starters this week is just a ploy - they are going to play, I promise you." And to some degree, I was correct. But viewing the larger spectrum, I couldn't have been any more wrong. Like most Colts fans, I wanted to show my displeasure in the quickest, most practical way possible - by taking to the Internet. But after my mom talked me down from the ledge and suggested that I don't want to risk future employment with them, I concluded that maybe cooling down was the best idea. And it worked. After all, I didn't jeopardize my future GM position with them, and it all seems to have worked out in the Colts favor. The defense was fresh, the offense was fairly sharp, and the Colts pretty much dominated the Ravens on Saturday. But all is not forgiven, however. The win was undoubtedly a good one, don't get me wrong. But a loss to the Jets this weekend, the same Jets team that the Colts let into the playoffs by pulling their starters against them in week 16, would be devastating to this organization. The entire NFL would be laughing in our faces, losing to a team that we essentially gift-wrapped a post-season appearance for. Bob Kravitz compared the Colts letting the Jets win to Frankenstein creating his monster. And I can't disagree. Come this weekend, if the Colts don't kill this monster, there is going to be some serious explaining to do.
Okay, I feel like that was a good blog to get back into the swing of things. Can't wait to write next week about the Colts going to the Super Bowl... because if I'm not, it's not going to be uplifting, I can assure you of that. Everyone enjoy your week and be safe. In rocking my Crocs 7 days a week, I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 05:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 05, 2010
Gone Far Too Soon...
There are moments in your life that will stick with you forever. You all know what I'm talking about. Witnessing the events of 9/11 as an 8th grader and this year's Bell Game are moments that I will undoubtedly remember for the rest of my life (although on complete opposite ends of the spectrum). But for some reason it always seems like it's the bad events that stick in your mind the most. Ask me down the road about the 2009 Monon Bell Classic and I'm sure I'll be able to give you a detailed description of the game. But ask me about my memories of 9/11, and I can offer you the distinct emotions that I felt that horrifying day, the emotions of being scared, angry, and hopeless. Yesterday, I, along with the Wabash Community suffered such a moment, a moment that will stick with me for a long time - a moment that I will be able to tell you 20 years down the road, left me feeling like I'd been punched in the gut. As I'm sure most of you have heard by now, the Wabash Community lost another promising young man yesterday.
Josh Linthicum was a member of the Wabash football team, and was a good friend of mine. Over the course of my life, I've been so fortunate not to have been faced with situations like this. When I've lost loved ones, it's been due to long battles with cancer, and I've had time to make peace with the situation before it happened. Even the past couple of years when the Wabash community has lost young men, and as tragic as those events were, they haven't hit home like this. Although it makes their losses no less tragic, I was not acquaintances with Johnny Smith or Patrick Woehnker, though I did feel their losses within the Wabash community. Josh's death hits me hard. Josh was someone that I had a hand in getting to come to Wabash. Every time Josh came on a recruiting visit (and our coaches told us to do everything we could to get this kid), he stayed with me and Skip Tokar, one of my best friends. We could tell from the start that besides anything he was able to do on the field, he was a great guy. He shared my sense of humor, and we hit it off from the start. I distinctly remember him giving me a hard time when he visited about being the pansy quarterback. And I'm sure I gave it right back to him in some way or another. When he got to Wabash, Josh was liked by everyone. He was a tremendous competitor on the field, and someone that I always looked forward to talking to off it. Quarterbacks tend to have special relationships with their offensive linemen, and my relationship with Josh was no exception.
My junior year when Josh was a freshman, we traveled to Wittenberg which is located in his hometown of Springfield, OH. We typically stop and eat dinner prior to arriving to the hotel, but this night was different. We stopped at the hotel, and upon rummaging through my travel bag, I realized that I had forgotten my dress pants for the following morning's breakfast. Now, Josh hadn't traveled with the team, but had headed home so he could support us the next day. Knowing that Josh was from Springfield, I gave him a call to see if he had any pants I could borrow so that I wouldn't have to run for not bringing them. As I'm sitting at the Golden Corral amongst my teammates, I see a smiling face come in through the door carrying not one, but two pairs of dress pants. That is probably my fondest memory of Josh - going out of his way to help me, just as he would have anyone. I failed to get the pants back to him once we got back to school, and tried to give them back later on. He kept telling me that they didn't fit him anymore and that I could keep them. I don't know if I ever told him, but they didn't fit me either... but I did keep them. And now I'm glad. Because they will be a keepsake that will always remind me of the character and personality that this young man had.
When I got the call from Coach Raeburn yesterday around noon, I was stunned to silence. I simply could not believe that this could have happened. You hear about things like this occasionally, but you never think that it can happen so close to home with a routine operation. As I talked to people throughout the day, I could sense the impact that his loss was having on everyone. One of the first guys I talked to was so overcome by emotion that he had to get off the phone before breaking down. Other's had the emotions of sadness, some even anger over how this could have happened to such a promising young man with so much to live for. As I went to Josh's Facebook page throughout the course of the day, hundreds of people had written on his wall, sharing memories and favorite stories from their time spent with him. Although I knew that he was a well-liked guy, it became so much more apparent to me yesterday.
His loss is felt throughout the Wabash community, not only because of the contributions that he had already made, but because another bright young future has been taken from us. Nowhere will his loss be felt more dramatically than the Wabash football team. We (and I say "we", even though I'm not a member of the team anymore) are such a tight knit group that I guarantee every person that has ever played football for us is saying prayers for the Linthicum Family. I know I am. And I know that moving forward, this is going to be an obstacle for the men on the team, an obstacle that they will undoubtedly conquer. Because that's what they do. The team has fought through adversity before, and they will continue to. They will honor #70 in everything they do, and will make him proud, I can assure you of that.
In closing, I would like to encourage everyone to pray for the Linthicum family. Although we feel this loss within our tight-knit community, we cannot begin to comprehend what they are feeling at the moment. Josh meant so many things to so many people, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to know him for two years. You will be missed, #70. I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 03:53 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
December 24, 2009
Where have I been?
That is a great question. I really don't have a reason why I haven't written a blog in two weeks. Truthfully, I meant to write one last week, and I just kept putting it off again and again, and it never came to fruition. Between taking my grandma shopping and celebrating Christmas with numerous friends/family, I guess the past week just hasn't been conducive to blog writing. Also, I wrote an article that will be featured in the next Wabash magazine about my injury and this year's Monon Bell game, so the time that I spent on that would have been ideal blogging time. But honestly, when I'm away from school, it's hard to find motivation to do anything related to school - therefore, the blog is put on the backburner. But here is the Christmas Eve version of the blog anyway.
I love Christmas break, it's probably my favorite time of the year. Summer break is long, and I occasionally get bored. But the four weeks the I get at Christmas break is filled with copious quantities of food, and even more sleep, so much so that I feel like half the day is wasted by the time I wake up. But this year is different, because I have the added worry of comps to stress about. Not that I'm stressing, quite the opposite in fact. I'm going to study my behind off at some point, but probably not until at least 85% of the college football bowl games have wrapped up... then I'll get on it. So roughly two weeks from now, I'll be all over it.
Remember about six weeks ago, when I talked about my mother getting me a Snuggie for my birthday, and my friend and housemate Denver Wade also received one for his birthday? Well, it seems that this gift has really caught on at Wabash (at the very least, in my immediate circle). Case in point; my friend, the All-American Evan Isaacs, apparently bought his entire family Snuggies for Christmas (not sure they know this yet, but I don't think they are avid blog followers, so it shouldn't be a problem). He even bought a Colts Snuggie for his girlfriend, who happens to be a close personal friend of mine (in fact, I introduced them, but that story is for another time). And she loves it. Here's the kicker - she got him one, but it's a leopard print one. I would say it is quite likely that Evan is the only All-American to have a leopard-print Snuggie - at least one that he will actually wear. So by my count, that is now 3/6 of my house that have acquired Snuggies over the course of the last two months, and I wouldn't be shocked if that number grew, especially since Valentine's Day is coming up, and people will certainly be in the market for them.
Without a doubt, the thing that I'm looking most forward to this weekend (beyond spending Christmas with my wonderful family, of course) is watching the Colts try to move to 15-0. I know it's been a couple weeks since I've given my NFL thoughts, but I really don't have many beyond believing that the Colts are much better off by playing their starters that are not injured. Of course I have thoughts about this whole Brett Favre thing, but I'm not going to waste my time and energy rehashing everything that people have been saying for the past five days. The Colts though, as history has shown, are far better off going for undefeated than they are resting the team. People don't realize that the Colts have never been in this situation before - not that they've never clinched home field with three games left, because they have. But they have never been undefeated this late in the season, and left with the dilemma of resting or playing their main guys. Two years ago, the Colts rested their guys, but they had wrapped up the second seed, and could not move up or down in the playoff standings. Up to that point, however, they played everyone. Four years ago, when the Colts were 13-0, they didn't rest their players until after their first loss against San Diego in week 15. In the San Diego game, everyone played. All of this talk about whether or not the Colts are going to rest their starters this week is just a ploy - they are going to play, I promise you. Point 1) The Colts are undefeated, and are playing at home. They certainly don't want to give the impression that they don't care about the home fans, fans that they realize care more about being undefeated than the Colts themselves do. 2) Peyton Manning wants to be undefeated. He can say all he wants that it's up to the coaching staff - whatever. He runs that show, and his opinion will often outweigh anyone else's. 3) Only two other teams in NFL history have started the season 14-0... why not try to go undefeated? I understand that winning the Super Bowl is the ultimate goal, but why not chase the title of "Best team in NFL history" to go along with it? 4) It probably doesn't matter anyway, because as long as Peyton plays the first half of the next two games (and he will), the Colts will win anyway.
Okay, I hope that made sense, and I hope my opinion means something to the people in charge. Time to go though, need a nap before I can sit around and do nothing tonight. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. In wishing I were 15 years younger so tonight would be awesome... I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 02:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 09, 2009
Winding down
For the first time all year, I'm writing my blog from the comfort of my family room, not my normal cave in which creative (at least in my opinion) thoughts come to my head. So if this blog is sub-par (like Tiger Woods' decision making; get it, golf joke?), that's why. I simply couldn't process my thoughts with the incessant cursing and violent back-and-forth that develop out of a mid-December dead week game of Madden '10. So here I sit, wondering what to talk about. I'm sure none of you are too terribly interested in my studies, but I'll go ahead and hit you with my schedule anyway.
6 days until home is the way I'm looking at it. That would be the "glass half-full" approach. The "glass half-empty" approach would have a 10-page research paper, take home exam, and one final on the agenda. And then I look back at what I have to accomplish over the next six days and realize that my schedule doesn't look bad at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure that 90% of the campus would love to be "burdened" with the list that I just named off. It's been a very productive week though. I started the week with the task of finishing a 30-page paper, giving 30 minutes worth of speeches in a 2-day span, and finishing the majority of my group's Physics video. Now that all that stuff is taken care of, we're getting to the point where I can almost consider myself home free.
Okay, at the end of my last blog, I gave a little teaser for this one, saying that I was going to rail on something about Wabash that has been driving me nuts. And it's probably not going to be nearly as spicy as what everyone is thinking. As I said last week, I'm not going after the administration, trying to get coaches fired, or anything of that nature. But there is something that has occurred since last school year that continues to be an absolute mystery to me. For my first three years at Wabash, there has been a computer lab in the basement of our library, one that was nearly full every time I would go down there to type away for hours. Unlike the computers upstairs, this lab provided a good studying environment, one in which people understood that excessive talking was not appropriate, one where people simply went to get stuff done. At some point over the summer, this lab was eliminated in favor of a new room for the "archives". There were several new computers that were put up on the first floor (where there is no such policy regarding excessive talking, and it is a generally loud place, especially for a library). At first, I'm telling myself, it's okay, I'll just really have to concentrate and hope that it's not very crowded when I'm in there. But then, as I begin to be forced into using these new computers due to lack of older ones that actually work, I realize that I can't even log on to these new computers. Or maybe I can. But the fact is, I have tried numerous times, and I'll sit there for 5 minutes while it apparently carefully examines every character in my password, until I get so fed up that I leave. So here is my point. 1) Why was the downstairs computer lab eliminated in favor of a new section of archives? Seriously. And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to hate on or be disrespectful to the archives. Quite honestly, I've never been down there so I don't know whether I should like that place or not. But that's just my point. No one that I've talked to has been down there either. Yet we used that computer lab all the time, and now are relegated to the armory, or simply finding a quiet spot and using our laptops. For those of you who can't understand my frustration because you aren't here, I'll try to offer up a couple of analogies. This is like taking the Colts out of Lucas Oil Stadium so that a high school team can come in and play their games there, forcing the Colts to play at a local park. This is like kicking Wal-Mart out of their building so that Radio Shack can move in. It's kind of like taking the killer whales at Sea World and putting them in someone's backyard pool, and replacing them with goldfish; but the backyard pool doesn't have any grandstands so the adoring spectators can't see the show. It makes absolutely ZERO sense. 2) Why won't the computers work? If you're going to replace a beloved computer lab, at least replace it with computers that are actually functional. Again, I'm not trying to hate on the archives, but this makes no logical sense, and whoever made this decision needs to seriously rethink it before subjecting my fellow students to it for another year.
Okay, glad I got that out. Can this Tiger Woods thing get any worse? I was just looking at Fox News and they have released text message conversations between Woods and one of his mistresses that explicitly detail their affair. Mr. Woods might want to take some time off. And I think he will. It's ironic, this whole semester, I've been focusing my final paper for my Senior Rhetoric Seminar on NFL quarterback Michael Vick and his image restoration following his release from prison for a dogfighting conviction. And just as I'm about to wrap it up, all of this Tiger Woods stuff comes out, and I'm wondering why it couldn't have come out sooner so I could take a look at it. On the surface though, I don't think his PR people have done a very good job advising him. Our society will only accept the "run away and hide" approach for so long. He's going to have to answer for his "transgressions" at some point, and he might want to take some time off and think long and hard about how he's going to approach it. Because whether he wants to admit it or not, his personal cloak of secrecy has been taken off and thrown out, and his spotless image will never be the same.
I can't believe I've wanted to talk more about this Tiger Woods situation than the NFL lately, but that will be my replacement for my NFL thoughts this week. I'm sure I'll have more after the Colts break the record for longest regular season win streak this weekend. Hope everyone has a great end to the week. In having six days until I can start worrying about comps... I'm out.
Posted by hudsonma at 08:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
