football redux

lemming: I mean, I'm pretty clueless and all, but I think the Colts stand a good chance of not totally blowing the Super Bowl.

fellow academic: Right. I mean, it's not as though the Pariots have won the Super Bowl lately.

Yours in having done her Super Bowl pop culture research,
l

Colts Post III

In Sign #6.5 of the impending apacolypse (sorry, John B. but it's true!) I purchased a newspaper yesterday for the express purpose of reading the sports section, or at least as much of it as pertains to the Colts. What did I find? A quote from the coach aboutManning. (rolls eyes)

I think I have all of my pop culture bits down now, thanks to my assiduous cram session. If in line at the grocery store or standing around the coffee pot, I have enough trivia so that I can blend in. (We have a new second departmental coffee pot! Two of 'em! Such luxury!)

another Colts post - from me, no less!

I've been actively looking for more on Coach Dungy (thanks, Nomo, I did see that piece, but you're sweet to mention it) but still think that more should be said (or at least sound-bitten) about him. There's an old trope even I know about which says that when a team loses, it is the fault of the coach, but when they win, the players should get the congratulations. I guess I'm looking for more of a city-wide "hurrah!" toward the coach (coaches, trainers, physical therapists, support staff, etc.) rather than the latest update on Peyton Manning's thumb.

Long-time - heck, even short-time - visitors to this blog know that my interest in football is casual at best, though I am very pleased and proud of the Colts (hey! and the Pacers! they had a good game!) With all of the blue flags, window hangings, t-shirts, and whatnot that I see around here, I am surprised that so few places seem to have them for sale. I'd don a t-shirt or wave a flag if I had one, yet the local grocery stores and ye audle bigge boxxe storees do not seem to have anything other than Colts-emblazoned beer. Whiel it might be fun to walk about all day with a Colts beer can in my hand, it doe stend to cut down on that appearance of professionalism...

a potentially heretical statement

Ok, OK, yes, I'm happy for the Colts. Yes, the comeback was quite impressive. Believe it or not, I even watched part of the game and understood it. (No, it wasn't the commercials, thank-you very much.) Peyton Manning seems like a great guy and, to my delight, even speaks in complete sentences when interviewed.

Why (and I am serious in this question) is it that none of the commentators I've heard/ read/ seen have commented upon the Colts coach? I assume he is at least partially responsible for this season's achievements, but I couldn't give his you his name if my life depended upon it. Apart from his race, I know nothing about the coach, no one ever seems to mention him - ???

the rule of dogs

Hey there.
I'm busy, Sam.

Hey.
What is it, dog?
Oh, nothing....

Hey.
Sam - out?
Oh, don't mind me.

Hey.
Sam, I love you deeply, but I'm busy. What is it that you want>
Oh, well, if you're busy...

Hey.
Sam, you are supposed to be my canine companion, not some sort of mind-game generative (insert several other multi-syllabic words only suitable for such occasions as these)
Well, if you're going to be like that, all right, I think I'd like to go outside and bark at the squirrels for a while.

Yeah, thought so.

Who, me?

if we took the bones out...

I'm working on some upcoming homework assignments.

They need enough leeway for the frightened freshmen, hiding in the middle row, but also for the bright ones to have fun and that I can catch the cheaters without too much searching.

At the same time, I like slightly quirky assignments, ones that might inspire a few extra jokes from the students or at least keep me amused. I'm thinking of something having to do with time travel or fairylands.

I suspect that this flight of fancy has something to do with my residual feelings about Helen Hill, but the greyness of Indiana winter doesn't help much. There's no harm in a little escapism, is there? (I hope)

Helen Hill

One of the blogs to which I link is written by Editor B. B and his wife, Xy, were flooded out by Hurricane Katrina, but returned to New Orleans as soon as they could.

If you've listened to NPR in the last few days, you've heard about the latest round of murder in the city, and about the rallies being held. Helen Hill sounds like the kind of woman I wish I could have known; her husband survived the attack, while wrapping his body around their toddler, a literal human sheild.

B and XY knew Helen Hill; he's written several entries in the last week. They're not easy reads, but probably some of the most important pieces I will read all year. His memories of Hill and observations on the city and her problems should be required reading for - well, fill in the blank with a good long list.

RIP.

Historian Arrested for jay-walking

I grant you that the article does show a bit of bias in favor of the professor in question. Nonetheless, it's an interesting insight into the Atlanta legal system through the eyes of a foreign scholar.

You've Got to Start Somewhere

A Public Service Announcement:

it's = it is

its = ownership.

This is probably the most common mistake writers of English (be it student papers, blogs or what have you) make in their everyday prose.

Now, for those of us who are simply chattering away and get it wrong, all right. We should (and do) know better, but OK. However I expect better things from publishing. In rereading Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz last night, I observed that it's was always used to show ownership, even though it is wrong, wrong, wrong. L.Frank Baum didn't do this - it's some (insert swear word) editor who figured that this author person has been dead for 90 years and didn't know what he was doing at the time.

"It's a lovely day." = It is a lovely day.

"The Colts are getting a new stadium and it's terrific." = The Colts are getting a new stadium and it is terrific (meanwhile I use the pile of dirt as a navigational landmark.)

"I have a new calendar. Its pictures are all funny." = I have a new calendar. The pictures which belong to it (ITS, people, no apostrophe!) are reasonably amusing.