The life of a sports fan band reporter geek guy

This past weekend, I visited Asheville, N.C. to witness the Samford Bulldogs women's basketball team win their second straight Southern Conference championship.  While there, I served a dual role for the team.  In one role, I supported the men's and women's teams both as a member of the Bulldog Pep Band.  In the other, I reported the stories for the school newspaper.  At the victory celebration on Tuesday morning, I was talking to our athletic director, Martin Newton.  He suggested that I write a story about having both of these responsibilities.  Therefore, I come to the source I know will get published no matter what (that's the great thing about a personal blog) so that this idea can become a reality.

The preparation:  Possibly around the end of Jan Term, Dr. Smisek sent out the yearly "join the basketball tournament pep band" email.  My response: an immediate "yes."  I went last year and enjoyed it immensely.  This year, though our women's basketball team was slightly worse than last year's and our men's was slightly better though still not exceptional, I expected the same sort of atmosphere as last year's tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn.

In the week leading up to the SoCon tournament, I became more anticipatory and even less excited about it.  I wasn't expecting as much fun as last year's (a six-plus hour drive to Asheville is not quite the same as three hours to Chattanooga), and I really didn't want to be away from home too long.  After all, I had classes to attend and, more importantly, a girlfriend I didn't really want to be so far away from.  Knowing I had committed to go, and after a talk with one of my friends who was also going, I put aside my negativity and prepared for the journey.

Day 1: Friday, March 2 - Our men's game began at 6 p.m. Eastern time that night; as a result, we - the band and cheerleaders - were scheduled to depart at 8:00 in the morning, Central time.  8 o'clock rolled around and the bus did not.  I, as well as many of my friends, just wanted to get on the bus and go back to sleep.  Finally, the bus arrived and we pulled out at around 8:35.  With the late departure, and having to stop for lunch, we made it to the Asheville Civic Center with about an hour until tip-off.  The game was Furman-Samford.

From the start, our team's fans had four times more spirit than Furman's, even though they outnumbered us at least 2.5:1.  Part of that was because their band was playing across town at their women's game and didn't arrive until halftime.  However, the story was different on the basketball court.  Furman advanced to the quarterfinals with a 75-66 win, and the men's season was over for Samford.  Having hoped the improved Bulldogs would at least win one game in the tournament, I was disappointed.  There was still the women's team, though.

During the game, I texted my editor: "Hey JT, I'm at the tournament this weekend.  Want me to cover it for the Crimson?"  After the affirmative response, I emailed Zac Schreiber from sports information: "Zac, I need to speak to Coach Tillette about the game for the Crimson sometime before the end of Monday.  I'm in Asheville as long as the women's team is, and my computer power cord is on the fritz.  Let me know by phone and email so I'm sure I'm aware."

Yeah, that's an interesting story, too.  For the past week, my laptop charger had been working off and on.  I ordered a new one a day or two before I left, so it had not arrived before the tournament.  Thus, I was writing and reporting two stories, potentially completely away from home, with a computer that had a limited charge. This became quite the problem the longer we were in Asheville.  I also emailed Drew Windler, Tyler Hood and Jeff Merritt before my battery dwindled to a dangerously low point, and got in touch with Joey Mullins for my women's story.

Day Two: Saturday, March 3- This was the team to be excited about.  Our women's basketball team, the defending conference champions.  Their regular season was not as spectacular as last year's; still, a fourth-place seeding in an eleven-team league is nothing to scoff at.  The competition was against the Elon Phoenix at UNC-Asheville's Kimmel Arena, where just moments before leaving the hotel, I saw Asheville claim the Big South title on television.  The expectations in the band and cheerleaders was a win, but we sure wouldn't have minded going home early.  The Bulldogs dominated.  For dinner, the fare was a fantastic Italian panini and the disappointment of having to inform Amy I'd be another day getting home, at least.  Without the use of my computer, I didn't do any reporting.  That role took a night off.

Day Three: Sunday, March 4- Today, we faced the top seed in the conference in Davidson.  The general consensus at the Quality Inn was that we would be going home after the game ended at around 2 p.m.  We didn't let the team know that, and as a result, boy, were we wrong.  With our support, the Dogs bolted to a huge halftime lead, and didn't relent enough to let the Wildcats take the game from them.  I think of all the wins in the tournament, this was the biggest disappointment for the band and cheerleaders.  I had to let Amy know that once again, she'd have to wait another day for my return.

Text from Zac Schrieber: "Clayton, how about 2:00, Eastern time, tomorrow?"  I responded with a yes, knowing that I'd most likely be in a public area with band people.  Of course, I much rather would've been in a hotel room with everything conveniently nearby for me to take notes on the conversation, but I had to do what I had to do.  I stayed up late for no reason, and got rested for the hopefully excited day ahead.

Day Four: Monday, March 5- I had a very quiet and late breakfast at the hotel, joining about four others in the group that were the only ones awake at 10 in the morning.  The anticipation began as the word was passed on that Appalachian State's coach wanted to face the Bulldogs in the final, because she said my school's team didn't deserve it last time. That's motivation if ever there was need to be motivated at all.  I was able to find an outlet to work with my laptop charger, and found a public computer in the hotel.  I was able to write up my men's story, sans Tillette quotes, and talked to Joey Mullins about talking to Mike Morris.

We went to the Asheville mall for lunch and time-killing before the 5 p.m. tip time.  I called and talked to Jimmy Tillette in the middle of the mall and roamed around with my band friends until it was time to go.  We had several signs and t-shirts made up for the game, plus red and yellow cards to display when Mountaineers fouled our Bulldogs.  It was with immense spirit the band and cheerleaders walked into the Civic Center arena  that afternoon, and we passed that spirit on to the team while they were warming up.  We wanted this win.

The team wanted the win, too.  They got off to an 18-8 lead and never really lost control.  In the second half, App fought back for an eventual one-point lead, but the crowd support propelled the Bulldogs to recover.  In the band we were screaming and yelling and having trouble matching up with the cheerleaders because we had that much spirit.  In the end, Samford pulled off the 54-43 victory to claim its second straight SoCon title. We were victorious.  I say "we," because I credit the spirit squad (band and cheerleaders) and fan support for being the deciding factor in the girls' win.  Is it egotistical?  Sure, a little.  Realistic?  Most probably.  When they were taking the picture with the trophy, the team called the cheerleaders and band over to be in the picture with them, something that did not happen last year.  So it's absolutely certain that they appreciated our presence.

Back to the bus.  We had pizza and soda (Pepsi, of course, being in North Carolina) waiting for us so we could get home as soon as possible.  Before the game I talked with Joey Mullins and arranged to call Coach Morris around an hour after the game.  I waited an hour, but we were in the middle of a movie.  I waited for the end of the movie and a gas station stop to call the coach, but there was no response.  I ended up writing about ten questions I could ask when he called back, but he never did.  As a result, I never really got to sleep on the bus, though I tried.  We arrived back in Birmingham at around 12:40 in the morning.

Day Five: Tuesday, March 6- Now, it's time to celebrate.  The victory flag pep rally was at 10:45 a.m. and I was there as a band member and a Crimson reporter.  After several rounds of the fight song, I put my horn away to talk to Coach Morris.  I spoke with him and Paige Anderson, and plugged the quotes I received into my story by that evening.  While at the pep rally, I witnessed crews from several stations, including ABC 33/40 recording the event (You can see my critical review of 33/40's report here - I promise it's a lot shorter than my personal blog posts).  At the pep rally was when I had the discussion with Joey and Mr. Newton that inspired this post.  Mr. Newton told me I could be the only person in the nation to be doing the double-duty thing as a reporter and band member, I doubt it's true though.  If you know of any other instances in which this happened, and are still reading this post, leave me a comment.  Otherwise, come back next post.

Until then,
-Clayton

Instant Reaction: VY OUT at Tennessee

Well, this evening, Titans owner Bud Adams announced that Vince Young would not be returning to play quarterback for the Tennessee Titans in 2011, should there be NFL football next year. So, this poses several questions. First, what happens to Vince? Second, what happens to Jeff Fisher? Third, what happens to the Titans QB position? These answers and more, right now.

Now that everyone knows the Titans are getting rid of VY, it really does give Vince a leg up on the so-called "process", in that he more or less will be able to determine his value, and go to the highest bidder, so to speak. This means, if he or his agent think that there's a team willing to spend money, instead of a player or a draft pick or two, for him, it's going to be tough to trade Young away. Something tells me he's going to try to keep the Titans organization from getting anything for him if he sees free agency as a feasible possibility. As a Titans fan, I would enjoy if we could trade him to a team like Denver or Philadelphia for either of their respective backups. I'd even be satisfied if we could get some middle-round draft picks, or even a pick or two for the 2012 draft, from any team interested. As a realist, I don't know if it will work out best for the Titans. I do hold onto the thought, though, that Vince proved himself this year to not be the best leader, and still had to mature a lot. Other teams will look at that one of two ways: either he's not equipped to be on their team, or it was just an environment, and it's worth a player or a couple of draft picks to give Vince a second chance. Here are the top three places I see VY:

1. San Francisco--It seems to me that they have the most to gain from picking up a guy like Vince Young. The Niners will be starting over with coaching, and I daresay they'll be getting rid of both Alex and Troy Smith. At the very least, San Fran will give Vince a shot at earning the starting job. Plus, it wouldn't be a horrible situation if they trade the Titans one of the Smiths (preferably for me, Troy) for Vince.

2. Miami--Maybe Vince can follow the footsteps of LeBron James and take his talents to South Beach. Perhaps he'll be appreciated by a team that has a little bit of a question where the quarterback position is concerned. Hey, I wouldn't complain if I was throwing the ball to Brandon Marshall fifteen times a game...

3. Arizona--Like San Francisco, the 5-11 Cardinals were merely a couple of wins away from earning the NFC West's playoff bid. They drafted Matt Leinart the same year the Titans drafted Young, maybe the Cards were hoping VY would fall in their laps that year...now's a great time to take a chance on him. If Vince was traded, I definitely would rather get draft picks...much better than a guy that takes this s--t too serious.

Next, whatever will happen to Jeff Fisher? I think it is in everyone's best interest that now that Vince is out of the way, Bud Adams lets Coach Fisher run out his contract. He's got one more year; if the Titans have a great season, re-sign the man. If the season's not-so-great, the contract's up, Jeff and the Titans go their separate ways, and there aren't very hard feelings. My only concern is that Fisher will let it get to his head that he's coaching for a new contract, and that has the possibility of more conservative play-calling in certain situations where more aggressive tactics might be needed. But I sincerely think that the Titans should give Fisher at least one more year now that the VY situation is behind us. Quite honestly, I don't know who would be a good replacement should the team get rid of Jeff now, so that's an added incentive to keep him on for another year.

Now the Titans will more than likely be looking for a quarterback going forward. I say, definitely keep Rusty Smith on, and have him work for a possible starting job, but bring in a 5- or 6-year veteran QB that hasn't necessarily started a lot, but is a good talent, to compete with Rusty for the job. I'd like to see either Troy Smith (2006 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State, formerly of Baltimore and currently with San Francisco), Kevin Kolb (benched for Mike Vick in Philadelphia), or Kyle Orton (the seasoned Purdue alum tossed around from Chicago to Denver, most recently benched for Timmy T) brought in for that purpose. I would keep Kerry Collins on in an advisory sort of role, maybe do some player-coaching if he's ok with it. The other option is to use that eighth pick in the draft and try to get another Quarterback of the Future. I've rethought my previous blog, and I'm not so sure the Panthers will want to draft a quarterback with the first pick, as they recently (see, last year) invested a rather high pick on Jimmy Clausen. So, that may open up the Titans (the second through seventh positions, respectively, belong to Denver, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Arizona, Cleveland, and San Francisco) to a good QB pickup (or a trade for the fifth or seventh spot, leading to said QB pickup) such as Ryan Mallett (should Carolina pass him up), Andrew Luck (same), Jake Locker (although, with two PAC-10 QBs in the same draft, one of them's gotta be a bust) or Cam Newton. I'm not a big fan of Newton's NFL prospects, but I've rethought my opinion on Luck after that Orange Bowl.

Of course, I'd rather we spend our high draft pick on a linebacker, but there really aren't that many LBs talented enough to be a top-10 pick. I say that with hesitation, there is almost always a defensive player taken high that no one could see coming (see recently: Jerod Mayo, Tyson Alualu). All I know is it will be an incredibly interesting offseason in Nashville. We'll see what happens.

I feel like I should blog again some more.

I think I need to catch you up on my life, and all its many twists and turns.

Number one: College. Many of my younger viewers may ask, "Why, Clayton, how's college?" Of course, now I think about it, many of my older viewers and viewers within my peer group may be wondering the same thing. And my answer to you is: College is great! Here's a flash of my typical Samford week:

Sunday: Wake up, 8:30ish. Why I am up this early after likely staying up until one or two reading Harry Potter or watching college football highlights is beyond me. There is a knock on the door and there is a friend who I arranged to take me to church. The church in question is massive, as are many of the Baptist churches around Birmingham. The service was nothing remarkable, and then was Sunday School. I have not attended a Sunday School session outside of HFUMC since, oh I don't know, eight or ten years ago, probably. It was a very enjoyable experience, I think I might go back just for the Sunday School hour sometime. Arrive back on campus around 12:30, grab some lunch in the caf, then back to the room for an afternoon of NFL football. That's basically what Sunday consists of every week. Lots of football. Then to sleep for class.

Monday: My first class, JMC 200, begins at 10:30. I wake up at about 9 or 9:15, hop in the shower, head to the food court for a chick-fil-a biscuit breakfast, and head on over to class. Take some notes, fight some sleep, and then to Latin. Much of the same, although instead of the "take some notes" part, it's more "try to figure out what in the heck this thing means". Latin ends at 12:50, and that's class on Monday. After Latin, I hit up the caf for lunch, and head back to the room. Once back in the room, I open facebook (which will remain open long into the night), check emails, and get whatever work I have to get done. Today I'll get all my laundry done. I'm thirsty, so I walk to the mini-fridge and pull out a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale. On this particular Monday afternoon, I pull up the 104.5 The Zone radio broadcast online, because Randy Moss is holding his first media meeting as a Tennessee Titan. I listen to 3hourlunch until 3, and then turn on the TV to NFLNetwork. I throw on my freshly-laundered band t-shirt, a pair of socks, and some tennis shoes, and head over to the band room. I then catch a ride to the gym because I'm playing for the basketball game. I play some music, shout a lot, and eat some pizza. Four hours later, I go back to the room, where I'll play on the computer, watch TV, and do some reading until I fall asleep at about midnight.

On Tuesday, I have one class. However, I am determined to make Convo this morning, even if I sleep through it. I get a can of lemonade from the room, and a chicken biscuit from the food court (I'm trying hard to cut down on my Bulldog Buck spending, I'm fast running out from my Chick-fil-A consumption), and head over to Reid Chapel for the Convocation. Today's convo speaker was surprisingly interesting, a United Methodist clergywoman and yet another great storyteller. Having not gotten my nap or the last four pages of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in, I go to my Tuesday/Thursday class, CP. I get that essay back that I slaved over on the previous Wednesday night. "This is surprisingly well-written," I find Dr. Putt has written on it. "First semester freshmen usually do not write this well. I even suspected plagiarism at first because it is so clearly written! Excellent work!" This brightens up my day immensely, even more than my first convo credit in two or more weeks did. I take about a page-full of notes about Gothic architecture and culture, and then we get out of class at around noon or 12:15. I head straight to the caf for lunch this day, and then after chilling back in the room for a couple of hours, go to band practice. It's our first Christmas band practice, and as I note to the facebook world, "I am fully aware of the irony of the fact that we're practicing Christmas music, and I'm wearing a tshirt and flip flops." The music is different, and moderately challenging. After dinner, I come back to the room, and Patrick is watching the new 30 for 30 film on ESPN about former superstar running back Marcus Dupree. It's a nice little piece, and I enjoyed it. After that, I make sure everything's ready for my Wednesday classes, read some Harry Potter, and go to sleep.

Wednesday is the day I buy my Harry Potter tickets. There's some finagling with Fandango, but eventually everything works out and I'm ready to go. Both of my Wendesday classes included getting tests back. My JMC grade, though not stellar, is still a solid B, which I will take. In Latin, I was expecting bad things from the test, but I end up earning a similar B. While in Latin, unbeknownst to me, there is a bit of a flash-mob rave dance in the caf in order to advertise tomorrow night's freshman class rave. Sadly, I miss it. After lunch, I head to the library to put in a couple hours of work-study time. In the end, I am not able to continue, and I end up staying for only an hour and a quarter. Dinner is yet another caf affair, and I return to the room with just enough time to watch yesterday's episodes of both Glee and NCIS. After my hour and a half of online TV dosage, I head to my small group meeting. It's a particularly good group meeting for me, and I do a little more reading before I go to sleep.

Thursday is a triumphant morning. For the first time in over a month, I am able to wake up in time to get to the caf for breakfast! I also make it to Convo, which is a very nap-worthy lecture about the church in China. Perhaps it goes too long, for I am still in a lethargic state when CP rolls around. The Renaissance is the topic of this class, and it goes until about 12:10, I think. I go back to the room for a 30-minute power nap (haven't had a good one of those in a while, either...) and then lunch in the caf. An hour and a half after I get done with lunch, and it's band practice time again. I'm not really feeling too well during practice, but I manage, and suffer through a small dinner just to keep my appetite regular. By the time I get ready to go to the aforementioned rave, I'm feeling much better and ready for a fun night of dancing. Well, except for the fact that after about forty-five minutes of constant jumping and moving, etc, I felt like my lungs were about to explode, so I headed back to the dorm for a couple puffs of the asthma inhaler and I was generally back to normal. Great dance, then I feel like staying up even later to get in some Harry Potter reading. I decide that I'm not even going to eat breakfast Friday morning, as I only have one one-hour class that day. I go to sleep, exhausted from an exciting day.

On Friday, I stumble out of bed a little before ten, take a shower, and find my way to my JMC class. It's a nice lesson about cable, I jot down a few key points, and class ends. I head to the caf, and have about an hour-and-a-half long lunch (not so much eating as the social aspect of lunch in the caf). After lunch, I spend a while in the room, before choosing to throw in a little bit of work-study in the library before it closes at 5. After I finish in the library, I run into Corey and Clayton playing frisbee. I play with them for a while, and then we all three head up to the caf for dinner. There we meet the likes of Patrick and Josiah, and after a nice evening meal, we decide to head up to the volleyball game, Senior night, at the gym. We are joined by Jamieson and Red Sea points leader Throck (it's a nickname, his last name's Throckmorton). We watch the volleyball girls fall to Georgia Southern 3 sets to 1, but in a valiant effort nonetheless. Some fingerfoods follow, and then Patrick and I so choose to head back to the room and chill for the rest of the night. I find myself, once again, in the midst of a very good Harry Potter Book (Goblet of Fire, which I've been working on the majority of the week) before going to bed once again.

Saturday gets a late start from me. I wake up shortly before 11, shower, watch some college football, and then head to the caf for brunch. There are some conspiracies regarding a birthday party, and I head back to the room. Corey comes in, I end up taking a run to Taco Bell with him and Zach. After we get back and while we are consuming our Taco Bell, Jamieson enters, detailing us about a certain prank to go down. I spend a large part of my afternoon on that effort after my weekly phone call to the parentals. After dinner, I anxiously await the next step of the prank, but we are foiled by someone close to a victim. I have a nice facebook conversation with this un-named source, and find myself compromised somewhat in the war of pranks that is happening throughout Samford. I suppose it feels a little like when countries entered the World Wars a while after they started. I await my just rewards. Meanwhile, I watch the fourth Harry Potter movie, and end up having to stop after a while, because it is so horrendous. I then watch the South Carolina-Florida and Alabama-Mississippi State games before catching the ridiculously awful ending of the fourth Harry Potter movie. Around this point, Patrick returns from the dorm lobby, and we watch SNL and some football and basketball highlights before he calls it a night and I turn to this, my blog.

Well, that's a sample week. Now that you know that, I'll just go on about some trivial stuff...

1. CUPCAKES. And I'm not talking about that thing that looks like a muffin but is much better. I'm talking about teams, like Louisiana-Monroe, like Georgia State, like the University of freaking Notre Dame, that college football teams play two, three, seven games against each season. Those ones that scream "easy win, let's get in here, play a little ball, throw our bench in, and get the hell out of here" on the schedule. It disgusts me. Every team in the SEC has played at least three, and while I'm a big fan of the SEC, I think they need to play easy-win teams that are a little more competitive by name, like Big Ten and ACC schools. Those of you that have been following all my crazy facebook action know my obsession with cupcakes and their complete lack of benefit.

2. We've got Randy freaking Moss!!!! Thats right, boys and girls, Randy's a Titan. Get excited, it's going to be a great ride in Nashville for the second half of the season, and--dare I say it?--playoffs?!?

3. Oh, I gots me a youtube channel now! You can find me at http://www.youtube.com/user/churdle76. I may or may not eventually be posting videos, but it's really just a thing for me to use for comments or liking videos or stuff like that.

4. And I've also gots me a tweeter!! Although I myself am not a twit, and do not tweet, I felt like I should get a twitty-thing to follow some other twits that like tweeting. So if you want me to add you to my followees, tweet me up @churdle76. If you want to add yourself to my followers (or, as I prefer, twitstalkers), just do whatever you do to follow a twitty type by searching the same tweetie-name.

5. What else, what else? Oh, I'm annoyed by Christmas coming before and above Thanksgiving again, I'm in the middle of a little No-Shave November action, and I get some more money in the bank this week. Also, my midseason NFL Picks are as thus: Titans, Texans, Colts, Jaguars AFC South; Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Bengals AFC North; Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Broncos AFC West; Jets, Patriots, Dolphins, Bills AFC East; Falcons, Saints, Bucs, Panthers NFC South; Packers, Vikings, Bears, Lions NFC North; Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, Niners NFC West; Giants, Eagles, Redskins, Cowboys, NFC East. Playoff seedings will be Jets, Steelers, Titans, Chiefs, Ravens, Texans in the AFC; Giants, Falcons, Packers, Rams, Eagles, Saints in the NFC. Wild Card games: Titans over Texans, Ravens over Chiefs, Packers over Saints, Eagles over Rams. Divisional games: Ravens over Jets, Titans over Steelers, Eagles over Giants, Packers over Falcons. Conference championships: Ravens over Titans (you don't know how much it hurts me to say that), Eagles over Packers. To keep to my original pick of Super Bowl Champion, Ravens over Eagles.

Oh, last but not least, congrats to the San Francisco Giants for bringing home the World Series championship for the first time since your west coast move over fifty years ago.

That's it for now, folks, I'll be back with more action sometime later.

-clayton

"You gotta respect my honesty"

Lyric game points for that. Just leave me a fb message/comment.

There was something I wanted to talk about…oh well. I’ll check the last blog in a minute and see if I can remember from there. Cause it was a good one. A really, really good one. I’m rather upset that I can’t remember it. Oh well. Time to check.

Well, darn, I can’t remember. Might’ve been some sort of music playing in the background.

I remember now! ELECTIONS!

That’s right, it’s that time of year for the Sumner County General election and US midterm primary. My buddy Zach is in full force campaigning for his candidates right now, and if you click on his name, I’m fairly certain his blog (on the inferior Wordpress) probably has some stronger opinions than I; he also regularly updates his Twitter, so if you want to follow him check that out (Be forewarned, he really enjoys your Right-wing “nonsense”---my words, his thought).

Anyway, we’re going to throw my endorsements under three main banners, and maybe use some subheadings if necessary. Hopefully, you’ll follow along.

SUMNER COUNTY GENERAL

School Board

This is an insanely important election for the Sumner County Board of Education. They will be determining the next Director of Schools, as Mr. Benny Bills, the current Director, is retiring from forty-something years of public service effective next summer. Mr. Bills and Mr. (Coach) Merrol Hyde, for whom my glorious Alma Mater is named and a personal mentor and friend of mine, are the only two Directors our county has known for the past thirty-plus years, so the fact that we are going in a completely new direction (there’s that Glee reference again!) is a big issue for the Board.

District One

This is a seat that’s been closely observed by the Hurdle family for some time, as Dad ran for it, albeit unsuccessfully, four years ago. The winner of that election, Mr. Mike Fussell, is a pretty good guy who goes to church with us; however, on the board, it’s apparent that he’s had several ulterior motives over his term, and hasn’t always had the students’ best interests in mind (Let it be known that I still like Mr. Fussell despite his school board endeavors). Mr. Fussell has decided it is no longer his place or desire to serve on the board, and thus is not running for reelection this year. The three candidates vying for his spot are lifetime Sumner resident and longtime attorney John Bradley; educator, husband of a local teacher, and father of an upcoming Kindergarten student, who has also earned a Ph.D., Andy Spears, and PTO president-elect and mother of two, Vanessa Silkwood.

Mr. Bradley, who is endorsed by Mr. Fussell and Nancy Thompson, the widow of late Hendersonville mayor and County executive RJ “Hank” Thompson, grew up in the county school system, and has a daughter who is a 2008 alumna of Hendersonville High School. He has been serving as an attorney for a local clientele for many years, and knows our county well. However, being supported by Mr. Fussell, many of us are concerned, and not without reasonable cause, that he will carry Mr. Fussell’s motives onto the board.

Mrs. Silkwood’s campaign treasurer is the respectable Brian Coulter, who’s been a youth minister for me and my peers for quite a while, as well as a good basketball coach. However, it’s not Brian that’s running for school board, so I’ll focus on Mrs. Silkwood for a minute. She is the president-elect of the Indian Lake PTO, and has two sons enrolled in the school (although one might be at Ellis Middle instead of both at ILE). Her big thing is her Conservative viewpoint, and I feel that implies that she really doesn’t have much else to bring to the table. Added to that the fact that I really have a hard time with radicals and radical-leaning Republicans as Mrs. Silkwood seems to be heading with her excessive touting of her political inclination, I don’t feel that she is a good fit for the board.

Mr. Spears, who is married to Mrs. Courtney Spears, the Theater teacher and (State winning) speech and forensics team coach at MHMS, is by far the most qualified candidate for the District One seat. With a Ph.D. in Education Policy, Mr. Spears has taught at several local universities. He is involved in the community as the President of the Sertoma club, as well as being endorsed by not only the teachers, but also the realtors, of Sumner County. He has served as Policy Director for the Stand for Children advocacy group, and has collaborated with Senator Frist and Governor Bredesen on educational issues. In addition to Mr. Spears’s manifold qualifications, he is also supported by my dad and Mr. Herman Lawson, both of whom ran for the District 1 seat in 2006. For these reasons, and, especially, the fact that he has a wife employed as a teacher and a daughter about to be a student of Sumner County Schools, I personally feel Andy Spears to be the best candidate for the seat. Oh, and did I mention he is a big advocate of communication and government transparency?

District Three

The incumbent of this District, covering the northern part of Hendersonville, Cages Bend, and Station Camp regions, is Assistant Mayor Don Long. He is officially running unopposed, but there is another candidate, Dave Andrews, who is campaigning as a write-in. The reason Mr. Andrews is running as a write-in and not an official balloted candidate is because the man who was running against Mr. Long was pressured, by all inclinations by the incumbent board member, out of the race. Therefore, Mr. Andrews was not able to turn in paperwork in time to be placed on the ballot, but he certainly has been gaining ground since declaring his intent to run. Mr. Andrews’s main priority in running against Mr. Long in District 3 is that he wishes to serve his constituents. He has no other motives than to be a servant to the members of his district and do what is best for them. This also means that, like Mr. Spears, he is for government transparency and communication between the board and the citizens. I feel that his reasons for running, compared with Mr. Long’s track record, make Dave Andrews, the District 3 write-in, the better choice. Because he is a write-in, make sure you correctly enter “DAVE ANDREWS” in the write-in box on your ballot on Thursday. (PS, the links lead to two different sites, Dave’s official campaign webpage, and his Facebook group)

District Five

This is Goodlettsville, Zach’s home, so he’s got a better argument for Shannon Dunn than the fact that Bill Ward is putting his signs outside of his district. That and Zach’s support are the only reasons I would prefer Ms. Dunn on the board. But, check out Zach’s blog and twitter, he’ll have more info for you there.

District Seven

I can’t tell you much about your candidates, Gallatin, but I like Andy Daniels in District 7. He is the father of an autistic child, and wants the special education of Sumner County to be more prevalent and available. He believes that everyone has a dream, and a right to achieve said dream. Furthermore, Mr. Daniels is an alum of the great Samford University. He also seems to have a clear focus of the Board’s focus. He is running against Mr. Jim Huffman—a retired minister who didn’t say anything memorable at a July 22 candidate forum, and who didn’t say hardly anything at all in the Gallatin News Examiner’s July 16 Election Guide—and Mr. Don Sadler, who didn’t even show up at the forum on the 22^nd. I would vote Daniels with my little knowledge of that race.

District Nine

This is blatantly simple, as it has been for the past twenty-two years, Vote Will Duncan for school board. The other guy is older than Rev. Duncan, and his platform? Bringing church and state together. I was least impressed by him at the Forum. So, those of you in the Portland, Castalian Springs, and Bethpage areas, go with the popular candidate.

District Eleven

Mr. David Brown is also an incumbent, and running unopposed for Westmoreland’s district. So, go ahead and vote for him if you’re in that area of the county, I haven’t heard anything about him.

County Commission

Basically, there’s either two candidates up in each district, or both incumbents and a challenger. I don’t really know about any of the district races outside of districts 6-11, and all of those are in my first scenario. So if you’re in Districts 1-5 or 12, find out for yourself what’s going on and who you should vote for. Especially in 1, 2, 3, and 5, in which there are more than two candidates.

Now on to the good stuff, Tennessee.

GUBENATORIAL PRIMARIES

The Democratic Primary is basically set, With Mike McWhorter being the only candidate on the ballot. But the Republicans are where it gets interesting.

Republican Primary

Bill Haslam

I would consider Haslam to be my favorite (I’m lazy so I’m not linking anyone anymore, it should be pretty easy from now on, just www.(insertnamehere).com.) He seems legit, and certainly has a good following across the state. He’s had the experience the state needs right now, so I’d go with him.

Ron Ramsey

As our Lieutenant Governor, Ramsey knows what it takes to get the job done. However, I don’t know if he’s as apt to do it as Haslam seems to be.

Zach Wamp

I don’t know much about Mr. Wamp, but I think he’s probably a little too conservative for my tastes.

Basil Marceaux.com

The video says it all. This guy needs to be our next governor. NOT.

STATE HOUSE PRIMARIES

You pretty much have no choice here, if you’re in Congressional district 45, it’s Maggart if you’re voting Republican, Ihrig if you’re voting Democrat. Moving on, since it’s nearly election day.

STATE SENATE PRIMARIES

Again, in the 18^th Senatorial District, there’s only one choice on each side, in the 17^th, I think there’s three, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Beavers.

US CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARIES

This one’s gotten really fun, especially in the Republican side.

Republican Primary

The one person you DO NOT want to vote for is Lou Ann Zelenik. She’s crazy. So insanely radical it’s not even funny. Plus she’s been mudslinging like it’s her only hope. Which, in all honesty, it probably is. So, in conclusion to that argument, please do not vote for Lou Ann.

Our next candidate is Diane Black, who I’ve grown up with her as an elected official from Sumner County, first as a Representative, then senator in the state of Tennessee. I also know Senator Black personally, she has visited my home before, and is very active in her church, St. Tims Lutheran in Hendersonville, where Troop 157 is based. I have seen her at many a Scout functions—Eagle courts of honor, other special events the troop’s held over the years—and I think that’s very important. I’ve never had much of a problem with her, so that’s got to be good for the amount of time she’s been serving.

Jim Tracy, of Shelbyville, is the other main candidate in the Republican primary. He’s kept his nose out of the Diane-Lou Ann fracas for the most part, so I think that’s good. I think he’d be a good Congressman, but I don’t know a whole bunch about him. My vote, had I voted in this primary, would’ve gone Diane’s way.

Democratic Primary

I can’t even remember the other people in this race, I believe there’s a George Erdel running, and maybe Dave Evans is a Democrat, but if you vote in the Democratic Congressional Primary tomorrow, please vote for Ben Leming. I think he is a very good person for the job, as a recently retired Marine, Leming is no stranger to protecting our rights and liberties. I’ve also agreed with a lot of the stuff he’s been saying regarding issues that have come up in the past half year. So, vote Leming for congress if you’re going Democrat tomorrow.

Well, I think I’ve got everything, and just remember to check out Zach’s Blog and Twitter for the things I didn’t really cover, especially SB District 5 and Ben Leming.

Toodles, -ct

YouTube

So, recently, I’ve been spending ungodly amounts of time (mostly after 10pm) on the famous video sharing website YouTube (you know, Broadcast yourself and all that crap).

Well, I’ve come across some very funny, musical, and otherwise just pretty darn good videos in my recent youtube binges.

Among them would include the absolutely fabulous Meekakitty, whose “I hate sporks!” video appears in the “Clayton striped polo urinal collection” page of http://clayton4ever.tk/. I’m officially a big fan of Tessa (heck, I “like” her on facebook, that’s gotta mean something) and watched all of the 142 videos she’s posted in her time on YouTube. She’s really random, quirky, and fun, something I feel I can relate to. So, check out her channel. She just did a phenomenal music vid for a rather catchy song, that I’ve probably watched five times since she posted it two days ago (yes, I have no life. Ha.)

The next youtube venture I took was exploring mashups of Katy Perry’s California Gurls (great song btw) and Ke$ha’s TiK ToK (another great song). If you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, they’re pretty much exactly the same song, with a couple of tune differences and different lyrics. Anywho, about the second or third vid I came across was a group of six girls doing an acapella mashup. If you know me, you know that I’m a sucker for three- and four- part harmonies (and pretty girls :P), so I was really impressed. Anyway, these are the Cimorelli sisters, and they’ve got a little album out on iTunes and such. Check ‘em out, they’re pretty cool.

Lastly, several several months ago I started watching A Very Potter Musical, and finished up the other night before watching Act One Part One of the Sequel. Last night, I watched the entire rest of AVPS, and I must say, it was quite enjoyable. WARNING: This play would totally be rated PG-13, possibly even R with its language. So you little five year olds trolling the internet, this one isn’t for you. (as an aside, when I was five, I had no peers trolling the internet, much less knowing what it was.)

Anyway, there’s my YouTube ventures recently. Blogs about Michael Crawford, Glee MashUps, and possibly more coming later tonight. Oh, and football. Ha.

NEW WEBSITE!!!

http://clayton4ever.tk

Here’s the coolest website in the history of the world.

Not really, but it is pretty nifty.

It came about as a bit of a joke/competition/etc

One night as we were playing the lyric game I posted a link as a lyric. The link was http://mattl.tk, and created by Merrol Hyde (and fb lyric game)’s own Marton. You’ll have to follow the link to understand what happened as a result, because I’m not telling :P But anyway, Marton, being the nerd and lyric game player he is, then created another site, posting it on my facebook wall with the comment, “Bonus Points?”

I didn’t give him any points, and he has also been outnerded. By the one and only David.

I told David and Andrew all about this story, and David decided, “Hey, I could make a ten million times greater site than that.” So began his task of building an astounding website that would make me sound conceited talking about it. As clayton4ever.tk continued to grow with each Barack Roll, cat, and spork, I became more and more impressed. So, it’s definitely not done improving; like ye olde faceybook, it’ll probably be making constant changes.

If you have any comments about the site, shoot us an email at clayton(at)clayton4ever.tk. Or, if you want to get directly in touch with the wonderful webmaster, he has a separate address which is sitemaster(at)clayton4ever.tk. Or you can always feel welcome to leave a comment on the blog.

Toodles, for now.

-c

Sounds Recap

So, my buddy David demanded that I blog about the game we went to on Saturday. So here it is:

the Sounds won 9-3.

That's about as much sports was included in my Saturday night escapade. But I'll kinda give you the slight play-by-play.

Beginning of the month- Dad: "Hey, Clayton, you want to go to a baseball game?"

Me: "Absolutely!"

Fast forward to Friday Night. Storms. Flash Flood warnings (yet again). We're not sure if we're going to end up going. (in the middle of this, we had a fried laptop hard drive, and the Lyric Game start was being postponed). Saturday morning, working on flood relief, the sun began to shine. However, it was short-lived; The rain and thunder started coming at around 3 in the afternoon. So, it was decided that I'd take Christopher to go see Iron man 2 (big whoop). We get back from dinner at Which Wich (good sandwiches), sun's back up. We're going to the baseball game! Mother and Christopher don't come, two extra tickets. We take Todd and David. Which is where the story really begins.

You have to get to know my buddy David a little better. David's like my little brother. Basically, he is. We go to church together, and our families used to carpool to and from school. David's a pretty intelligent and funny guy, although he's got a naturally loud voice and is often incapable of letting things go. David's the type of guy that has a problem with something, and makes sure everyone knows it. His big thing right now is against texting. Anyway, now that you David, let's continue on with the story

We get to the general area of Greer Stadium, have to park all the way at the science center. That's fine, long walk was good for us. Many laughs were had, Gingerbread men were quoted, and we might've started Rick Rolling by that time. Oh well, we get to the gate at the start of the second, GA was right there. so didn't have to go far at all once we got there. got a Sounds hat to show some Nashville pride, and also to add to my growing collection of ballcaps. The park played good music (except for once when they went off track and played Party in the USA, which by the way brings Marshall Brewer to mind every time I hear it now...beware, don't click on the link unless you want to be mentally scarred), some songs many more times than once.

Yours truly decided he'd start being a real creeper/jerk/loser/smart alec/loudmouth/idiot/etc about the second he got out of the car. Therefore, I think I might have worried David slightly. Anyway, the reading club thing that I used to do was there; they had a shirt that read "got books?" eventually I got to responding to each shirt, saying "Yeah, I got books." This quickly turned into an impromptu lame pickup line---"I got books, you wanna come to my place and see 'em?" There was a memorable moment, possibly in the sixth or seventh inning, in which I saw a trio of teenaged girls, shouted, "Look, it's Justin Beiber!" and they looked. That quite possibly made our night right there. Another time I made a complete fool of myself was jumpin' on it to Apache. If you've never seen me dance, be glad. It was atrocious. "Sweet Caroline" was a sweet moment, it's not everyday you get to scream "bum, bum, bum" and "so good, so good, so good" with 9,000 of your closest friends, especially at a baseball game. David's and my themes throughout the night were Ludacris' part in Beiber's "Baby" ("When I was thirteen, I had my first love..") and Rick Astley (never gonna give you up, etc). Knowing what we know about David from earlier in the blog, you can only imagine how many times the two came up in a 4-hour stretch. Speaking of stretch, we sang a particularly nasty rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the Stretch.

There was a fireworks show, in which there were many pop songs played. After the show, the car ride home was filled with quotes from the greatest kid's cartoon television show of all time, more rickrolling, and one more Ludacris reference. David trying to call his mom about a gazillion times, and her finally calling his dad. Great memories; hopefully we'll get a chance to get to another one before i leave in the fall.

Let's completely change the pace...

Thanks to the immortal General Larry Platt, I became a fan and follower of American Idol, Season 9. Now that we're down to the top 8...I mean...9 (again)...here's the rundown

Aaron- His performance of "Long and Winding Road" last week was, as Ellen said, a "long and winding song". He didn't sound great and the song was quite dull, so I was for sure that he would be gone last week. I haven't seen a really great performance from Aaron yet, so if he doesn't step it up, he doesn't have a chance of winning

Andrew- He's got a unique voice and style...I question him sometimes, but I do think Garcia's got what it takes. He's a fan favorite in Hollywood, and although he's not the best in this competition, he'll stick around at least for another couple of weeks. His performance of "Can't Buy Me Love" was definitely unique, and fun.

Casey- What many people raved as the best performance of the night was by far my least favorite. I was cringing the entire time, he was completely off key the whole song. I don't know what kind of charm he has that he can be horrible and still be loved, but it needs to stop.

Crystal- She should change her last name to Bowersux, because that is exactly what she did Tuesday night. Not only was she nowhere near perfect where key is concerned, she was the only contestant in the group to botch her lyrics. However, she also seems to cast a spell on everyone else, because the judges and fans loved her. I don't see how it's possible, but I definitely see how many people don't think this is a very good season. If two people with horrible performances can be the best two contestants on the show, there's something going on here.

Katie- The only thing wrong with Katie at this point is that, according to her Idol profile, she cites Taylor Swift as one of her musical influences. But she is my favorite of season 9 despite this. She can sing, and sings well. Her performance of "Let It Be" (btw, my favorite Lennon/McCartney song) was absolutely astonishing. And the fact that she's my age but has that kind of voice just makes me love her more.

Lee- That bagpipe was cool. How it fit in to "Hey Jude" was anyone's guess, but it worked. It was original, and Lee did a great job with the song. Plus, just his name...it's got this roll-off-the-tongue quality to it. Just try saying "Lee DeWyze" once. You'll have to say it a couple of times, because it is such a flowing name, and you're going to have to try to figure out how it flows so well. He's been a wild card for me before Tuesday; he needs one more good performance to hit my good list.

Big Mike- He's one of my favorites too, and he deserved to be saved, but his performance of "Eleanor Rigby" was shaky at first, and never really recovered, so I understand why he was in danger of going home. He rocked it near the end, which is normally what he does, and his save performance won everybody over. He needs a great performance tomorrow night to stay in the competition.

Siobhan- Another cool name, Siobhan Magnus really, really, impressed me with her performance of "Across The Universe". Siobhan has a great voice, and she's a really unique personality. I look forward to her covering Elvis tomorrow.

Tim- This guy's got some talent. Quite possibly the best guy performance of the night was his interpretation of "All My Loving". It was fun, upbeat, and he sang very well. His everpresent smile is contagious, and I think he'll fit right in to this week's theme.

Going into the next round, in which two people will be voted off, here's my favorites in order
1. Katie Stevens
2. Siobhan Magnus
3. Tim Urban
4. Lee DeWyze
5. Michael Lynche
6. Andrew Garcia
7. Crystal Bowersux
8. Aaron Kelly
9. Casey James

So, there's the Top 9 recap. Until next time...

-cth

Five Reasons Why....

With all the hype surrounding next week's SEC title game, I thought I'd offer my reasons why Alabama is going to defeat Florida.





It's big, there's no denying that. The biggest Conference championship game since before 2003 (that's how far back ESPN.com goes, and I don't feel like going any farther) features 1 vs. 2/3 (depending on the polls). Tim Tebow's last SEC football game. The Alabama-Florida game, televised live at 4 eastern on CBS Saturday, is a match of Olympian proportions. These are my "Five Reasons Why...." Alabama will be the next SEC champion.





1. Alabama can play close, and come from behind to win. As evidenced by Friday night's Auburn game, the Tide knows how to come back from behind. In Florida's closest game (23-20 over Arkansas), they needed the help of some poor officiating calls to win.



2. Speaking of officiating...After getting that help against Arkansas, Urban Meyer decided that the refs weren't performing up to par. He criticized them. And got punished by the SEC. If the game is at all close, which it most likely will be, look for the refs to punish Urban too. There could be a controversial call or two going in Alabama's favor.

3. Tide wins with turnovers. Unless you're the New Orleans Saints, a positive turnover margin is a must-have for winning a football game. Bama's is a +15, while the gators have a margin of only +8 for the season. I'll take the Crimson Crusaders on the turnover battle. Their +15 is even more impressive when they're doing it in a close-game situation. I would expect the team that dominates its opponents more to have a better turnover margin.

4. Florida has a bad character record. from Brandon Spikes' on-field incident (look at the link, in the first line of the fourth paragraph, horrible grammatical error) to the most recent off-field driving violation, the Gators don't seem to be dedicated to playing clean ball. Sure, Bama has recently been on probation, but their offenses were seemingly minor compared to eye-gouging and drunk driving. The affect on the Championship will be merely through the media, but I still have a problem thinking that the arrest of a starting D-lineman will not help the Gators on the field at all.



5. Bama has more names. Sure, Superman wears Florida blue, but he's one person. And last time I checked, there's no I in team. Nope, still none. Sure Brandon Spikes is a force on defense, but the gators at this moment are out of big game receivers. If Percy Harvin hadn't gone pro, this argument would be a moot point. When I think the Crimson Tide, I think McElroy, Ingram, Julio Jones, Leigh Tiffin (he's the kicker, and he's pretty dang good if you don't follow them), Rolando McClain, more athletes. And the fact that Bama can convert these superstars to play together as a team, that means a lot. And as I mentioned here, when a team doesn't revolve around one (or two) players, they win.



Because I've been thinking....Random Ruminations:



>Were Colts coach Jim Caldwell to retire today, he would be the winningest coach to go undefeated with one team (Wally Lemm went 10-0 with the Oilers after they fired Lou Rymkus in 1961).



>I'm worrying about the WTA. It took them two and a half months to fine Serena Williams for her September 12 tirade. Perhaps it's the worst-run professional organization other than the NBA (with dress code Nazi David Stern) or MLB (are steriods really against the rules? are you sure? because everyone's still doing them).



>Is this the end for Tiger "Count Olaf" Woods? A series of unfortunate events seems to have descended upon the great golfer. Maybe it's Jack "Don't call me Nicholson" Nicklaus's way of telling Tiger, "I'm the best. you won't beat my records. If you try, I will beat you. Or your knee. Or your car."



>The Titans aren't going to the playoffs. Until they are in contention in week 17, I won't say that they will.


>As if anyone was in doubt that this would happen ten weeks ago, Charlie Weis is officially no longer the coach at The Dame of Notres. Shocker. As soon as they started discussing potential candidates to replace his job (about three weeks ago) I knew he was done.


>In other no-longer-coaching news, Bobby Bowden retired two days ago. This officially makes JoePa the greatest old man in football.


>And I'm not done yet! Bill Walsh made it to the Hall of Fame with a 102-63-1 record coaching the 49ers (including 3 Super Bowl victories). His successor, George Seifert, coached the Niners to two more championships, more career wins, and a better winning percentage for the seven years he was the coach in the Bay Area. He is not in the Hall. This needs to be amended.


>I'm surprised Dennis Dixon kept the Steelers in the game against Baltimore. It impressed me that the Oregon product wasn't phased throwing to people wearing the same jersey they wore when he completed his first NFL pass.

As we get nearer the playoffs, I will post all you possibly need to know about them.

-cth

it's been a while...

happy march everyone! there's some stuff I want to talk about today...mainly sports, but hopefully some more important stuff too...

firstly, congratulations, william hayes, you're the titans' new starting defensive tackle! i think he'll do fine filling the hole left by albert haynesworth, who i'm still having trouble seeing in a redskins uni. cutlers mad at the broncos for trying to trade him for cassel, who the pats franchised away to the chiefs. speaking of franchised, the titans are still waiting to sign bo scaife, but as we all know by now, "wait" is mike riendfelt's favorite word during free agency.



in my top five list, we've resigned collins but lost haynesworth and brandon jones. we have not got anyone from anywhere else. so we're just losing players. what is mike riendfelts problem!?!?!?



so anyway, what else was i gonna talk about?



my life is pretty crazy right now...school, church, scouts, you know, the normal times about four. i actually have homework now, and i'm getting more piled on every night. it's not really good, especially since i enjoy putting stuff off as long as i can. latin and precalc are the big ones. hopefully i'll get it all taken care of soon.

just finished the latin outline...waiting for the printer to work...and for itunes genius to update...

so i should talk about all the stuff going on at church...everyone's getting excited about safe sanctuaries...well...mostly everyone. drive group's dwindling at best and once the policy's in place we will be in jeopardy of not existing at all. choir's getting to be easier than it's been in a while because we're just singing songs from five and six years ago which i already know for the most part, and because i'm getting alot better at reading, that helps too.

speaking of reading, i'm doing the pit orchestra for hello dolly @ jpII. the music is really easy, once i figured out, "hey, i'm playing in like six songs. and they're all in C# so i'm basically playing everything sharp. wow this is lame. but fun!" i did all county last weekend (was it really just last weekend?) and i'm ready for more extracurricular sax!

i alluded to something i did recently in the last paragraph, and practically alluded to another. the first would be all county the second (though not chronilogically) is bye bye birdie.

all county was extremely fun. there was alot of inside jokes that me christopher and brionna allude to twice or three times daily during band class. andrea also went, but she skipped out of band this semester to take accounting. swagger was a big inside joke, and so was the first chair tuba/downbeat/etc. oh and justin.

secondly, christopher and dad were in bye bye birdie last month and i was at six of the thirteen showings of it, i think most of any non-cast member, musician or director, other than mother. it was a really good show everyone who missed it missed a good one.

i don't think i've had a post yet this year...i lost my job and dad is officially unemployed as of last night so the economy's hitting us hard.

other than that, life's pretty much the same...

well consider this blog over.

later,

-cth

well...not much...but...here it is in all its shining glory...blog number 23

i take time out of my busy schedule to honor all the great number 23's:

Michael Jordan (started the number's status as that of superstars)
LeBron James
Don Mattingly
Ryne Sandberg
David Beckham
Devin Hester
Marshawn Lynch
Ronnie Brown
Cadillac Williams
Erin Malone
Julio Lugo

i probably have missed many...but these are some notables....however, there is one more:

THIS BLOG!!!

so anyway, just got through espn's lastest tmq and found it an enjoyable read...lots of good stuff in it...also the new mayne street...not as good as some others but it's okay...it's got some pg-13 moments, but overall as long as you are mature enough to handle it...it's good.

go titans! i was thoroughly upset by the loss to the texans, and then by pittsburgh winning. my pick is still titans over panthers in the super bowl. we'll see...but i repeat GO TITANS!!!! AFC SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPS, BABY!!!!!!

how bout them celtics! i think that's all i have to say about that

baseball winter meetings...hope sox get away with texeira...that would be awesome.

my new favorite song: live your life by rhianna and t.i.

that's it for now

-cth

So…random nfl stuff

To start out, i discovered this video today of al davis discussing lane kiffin’s firing. Kinda redundant, kinda redundant (oh did i mention it was redundant?), kinda funny. It was interesting…al davis has def lost his brain

Also…how bout them titans! An amazingly hilarious yet pitiful 47-10 domination of Detroit was just the start of the routs to see that weekend, dallas 34-9 over seattle, philly 48-20 over Arizona, ole miss and Alabama shutting out msu 45-0 and auburn 36-0, respectfully in the egg and iron bowls. Texas ran over a&m and the gay-tors beat fsu 38-15 i believe…other nfl creaming were Baltimore 34-3 over Cincinnati giants 23-7 vs Washington, Pittsburgh beating the pats 33-10, and minnesota’s 34-14 defeat of Chicago.

So everything’s going great…just finished duty roster for room in the inn and final English paper…about the bcs and a possible playoff situation…cloning paper got a 100 so i was pretty pumped about that. Christmas tree’s up…not ornamented or anything…gonna wait til after Saturday (12/13) to do that. My schedule’s pretty much booked up til then.

Other than that i’m takin it easy not stressin to much…well, that’s a blatant lie. I’m totally worried about midstate Sunday…my sax teacher randomly decides he has something to do on the day of my lesson three days before auditions…so i’m freakin out about that…and practice didn’t go to well yesterday…so yeah…

Guess that’s it for now…

Until later

-cth

how bout them (wyoming) cowboys!

so, i was at black eyed peas, when a newspaper article in The Tennessean caught my attention: Vols sink to new low, fall 13-7 to Wyoming

wyoming? seriously? no way.

i read on.

"In a season full of Big Orange surprises, UT unveiled an absolute stunner. Playing one of the worst teams in all of college football, the Volunteers stumbled, bumbled and fumbled their way to one of the program's worst losses ever."

wow...that's rough...

continuing my read, i saw:

"Wyoming entered Neyland Stadium as a 26-point underdog and a perceived homecoming doormat, but exited victorious with a 13-7 win front of an embarrassed crowd of 99,489.
It was the first game for UT since Monday's announcement that Coach Phillip Fulmer would not return next season. The Vols were attempting to ride a wave of emotion entering the game, but instead left riding a three-game losing streak.
"Obviously it's been a really hard week on everybody," Fulmer said. "(The players) don't owe me any kind of apology. If anything, I owe it to them and to the fans for this whole week coming about."

well, i needed read no further. it was all in front of me, wyoming. wyoming? beating ut? dang...i began to laugh.

"ha! that's great. i need to remind all my ut crazy fans whenever i see them!"

i guess it was my way of dealing with a tennessee tragedy. i really am supporting of the vols, though, as i mentioned here, i'm not as big a fan as i used to be. other people will treat the game differently, but i think ridicule will be the way i handle it.

oh well, there's another vandy win...so we'll at least be bowl eligible...

stuff

titans are 8-0!!!!!! i'm super pumped and ready to see the bears get destroyed. it's gonna be no contest...grossman won the game for chicago last week, so naturally he's gonna suck this week. he's consistently inconsistent! so anyway, it's great...election's coming up today and i don't have a favorite i'm gonna go along with what everyone here says...mccain wins tennessee, obama wins the nation. i'll be playin around w/ the magic map on cnn.com...here's the link: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/calculator/. we'll see what happens...blog to come probably thursday on the result...all i know is that whoever wins, he's my president, and i will support him. so that's the long and the short of it.

iverson traded to the pistons, billups goes to denver...really i don't care about the nba until the playoffs...and then only with mild interest...so it's really no big deal to me.

otherwise, guess everything else is going just fine, visited tech on thursday and wasn't all that impressed...but i got out of school, so it was worth it! saw several mhms grads and that was nice. halloween was fun and so was this weekend....but now that i'm thinking saturday, i'm thinking college football, which reminds me...

FULMER'S LEAVING UT!!!!!! that was very shocking. that man has been the face of tennessee football for two decades now, and his leaving means that that will no longer be the case. i'm more of a vandy fan now, but it still hurts. firing a coach with several conference championships and two national championship appearances after one bad season...even though they tentatively have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation for next year...doesn't make sense...next thing you know they'll fire bruce pearl for not making it to the final four. oh, well, stuff happens...

vandy plays florida next week...make it four losses in a row...after a 5-0 start...classic vandy football in the second half of the season. until next time, i'll be rejoicing, comiserating, and remembering some more stuff to write about...

-cth

nfl mixups

so...the titans are one of three undefeated teams...and one of two that are 4-0.

they've also moved up to number two on espn's power rankings which is sweet http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/powerranking?season=2008&week=5

also vandy's number 19 in both new polls...and bama's 2...oklahoma's 1...no brainer...what i don't get is why lsu is above texas...ut creamed arkansas while lsu only won by 10 against miss st.

back to the nfl, i'm looking forward to next week...the ravens game...should be a good one. i predict 5-0 titans and bills, 4-0 giants....ravens are going to falter like last year.

big news stories. rams fire coach scott linehan, who went 11-25 in just over 2 seasons. also, raiders finally fire head coach lane kiffin after a 1-3 start, and a 5-15 career for kiffin. i don't think al davis had any class in his firing...it's kinda the opposite of last year, when a coach just walked out on a team w/ four weeks left, whereas coaches are getting fired four weeks into this season. this'll be a fun season...i can tell it already...more later...

-c

spanning the globe in five minutes

the top news story of today is of course brett favre being traded from the packers to the new york jets for a conditional draft pick. i'm glad that after today the nfl will be back to normal as far as favre talk is concerned. as soon as he reports to jets camp in a couple of days and falls into normal practice time, it will all be in the past.

next we have a report, as found on http://www.nfl.com/news/story;jsessionid=51CBB4A5D656E8D1B95B8AA8E5AEA4B0?id=09000d5d809c28f9&template=without-video&confirm=true, that all 32 NFL teams have agreed on a fan conduct policy. in my opinion, this is a stupid move on the NFL's part. Fans will start saying, "hey, they say i can't drink excessively...well there's so many people here there's no chance i'll get caught anyway...so i'm gonna get absolutely wasted tonight!" or stuff along those lines. i've had enough experience of "don't do that" situations, where "that" is exactly what people proceed to do, just because they're not supposed to. so all in all i'm not sure about this conduct policy...maybe if it turns out to work for the nfl, i can be more accepting.

next, another report, this one from the bengals: http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=6928. The story talks about first-round draft pick keith rivers, a linebacker selected out of USC with the ninth overall pick, signing with the team. however, i don't care about rivers as much as the other name mentioned on the first line of the article. Jordan Palmer, a QB out of UTEP was selected in the sixth round of last year's draft by Washington (pick #205). if you look at his picture on http://www.nfl.com/players/jordanpalmer/profile?id=PAL445384, it's easy to tell that he's carson's little bro. i don't think that he'll make the cut for the bengals (he's their fourth-string qb currently), but if he does, it might be the first time two brothers played quarterback for the same team at the same time in nfl history. So, while cincinnati is hyped about keith rivers, i'll be keeping my eye on the palmers.

Last football note, i finished Quiet Strength by tony dungy today...it's really a good read. i recommend it for everyone, if you are a football fan or not a fan of sports at all. Because it's not just about football, it's about life. i'll wrap up my blog with a quote from his book that i found really pertinent to my summer, especially the choir tour experience.

but first, got to say something about the olympics!

olympic soccer's already begun with a 1-0 win for the US over japan. ceremonies begin tomorrow night, so i'm looking forward to that!

Also, here's hoping for a seattle win over tampa tonight!

And as we begin the nfl preseason tonight, i shall leave you with this from Quiet Strength:

"Jamie's death [Coach Dungy's oldest son, James, committed suicide in 2005 at the age of 18] will never make sense to me, and the pain of losing him will never go away. But in the midst of it all, I truly believe that hope is available to all of us--for joy in today and peace in the certainty that heaven's glory awaits us."

-cth