football Archives - Page 7 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

97 random questions

Go, Indianapolis Colts! I almost gave up on you yesterday. I was going to do a joke about everybody rooting for the team with the black head coach, except that not everyone would know that BOTH teams, the Colts and the Bears, have black head coaches.

101 RANDOM QUESTIONS, cut down for some reason:

0) The Junior Senator from Illinois, who’s black, announced he’s running for President last week. The Junior Senator from New York, who’s female, announced that “I’m in. I’m in to win.” The Governor of New Mexico, who’s Hispanic, throws in his hat today. What’s the chances that none of them will be on the national ticket in November 2008? Pretty poor, though I thought over a year ago that Richardson should be VP, a position he says he does not want.
1) Do you have a crush on somebody?: Thousands, all the time
2) Do you hate more than 3 people?: No
3) How many houses have you lived in?: greater than 20
4) Favorite candy bar?: Mounds
6) Have you ever tripped someone?: Not intentionally, except in play.
7) Least favorite school subject?: calculus
8) How many pairs of shoes do you own?: 4
9)Do you own a Britney Spears CD? No
10) Have you ever thrown up in public?: yeah, a long time ago
11) Name one thing that is always on your mind: music
12) Favorite genre of music?: 1960s Motown
13) What’s your sign?: Pisces
14) What time were you born?: 3:15 pm EST
15) Do you like beer?: no
16) Have you ever made a prank phone call?: no
18) Are you sarcastic?: occasionally
19) What are your favorite colors?: blue, green
20) How many watches do you own?: one, which I got from my parents’ house in Charlotte in late December
21) Summer or winter? Summer
22) Is anyone in love with you?: hope so
23) Favorite color to wear?: wine
24) Pepsi or Sprite?: Pepsi
25) What color is your cell phone?: none
26) Where is your second home?: work
27) Have you ever slapped someone?: no
28) Have you ever had a cavity? More than one
29) How many lamps are in your bedroom?: 2
30) How many video games do you own?: one
31) What was your first pet?: Peter the cat
32) Ever had braces?: nope, never
33) Do looks matter?: more to others than to me
34) Do you use chapstick?: rarely
35) Name 3 teachers from high school: Helen Foley, Joe Maughan, Mrs. Greene
36) American Eagle or Abercrombie?: neither
37) Are you too forgiving?: can one be?
38) How many children do you want?: 1
39) Do you own something from Hot Topic?: apparently not
40) Favorite breakfast meal: a mix of Cheerios and spoon-sized shredded wheat
41) Do you own a gun?: no
42) Ever thought you were in love?: more than once
43) When was the last time you cried?: this week
44) What did you do 3 nights ago?: choir
45) Olive Garden?: very rarely
46) Have you ever called your teacher mommy?: no
47) Have you ever been in a castle?: no
48) Nicknames?: not really
49) Do you know anyone named Bertha?: yes
50) Ever been to Kentucky?: yes, in 1993
51) Do you own something from Banana Republic?: no
52) Are you thinking about somebody right now? Define
53) Ever called somebody Boo?: no
54) Do you smoke?:no way
55) Do you own a diamond ring?: no
56) Are you happy with your life right now?: some days
57) Do you dye your hair?: obviously not
58) Does anyone have a crush on you?: maybe
59) Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Probably DD
60) What were you doing in May of 1994?: probably having a big fight with my estranged wife
62) McDonald’s or Wendy’s?: Wendy’s, definitely
63) Do you like yourself?: most days
64) Are you closer to your mother or father?: even when my father was alive, I’d say my mother
65) Favorite physical feature of the preferred sex?: the mind
66) Are you afraid of the dark?: depends
67) Have you ever eaten paste?: don’t think so
68) Do you own a webcam?: no
69) Have you ever stripped?: not in that way
70) Ever broke a bone?: no
71) Are you religious?: “being religious” has such a bad connotation of “religiosity” – I’m a person of faith
72) Do you chat on AIM often?: never
73) Pringles or Lays?: neither
74) Have you ever broken someone’s heart?: undoubtedly
75) Rugrats or Doug?: neither
76) Full House or The Brady Bunch?: neither
77) Do you like your high school guidance counselor?: he’s deceased, but yeah, he was OK
78) Has anyone ever called you fat?: yeah
79) Do you have a birth mark? No
80) Do you own a car?: well, if my wife’s car counts
81) Can you cook?: minimally
82) 5 things that annoy you: 1.) drivers who ignore emergency vehicles and keep on coming through the intersection 2.) drivers that park their cars so that one can’t access sidewalk cutouts and other accessibility locations 3.) lying politicians 4.) people who never stop talking 5.) litter
83) Do you text message often?: no
84) Money or love?: peace
85) Do you have any scars?: yes, from two bicycle accidents
86) What do you want more than anything right now?: sleep
87) Do you enjoy scary movies?: not so much
88) Relationships or one night stands?: relationships
90) Do you enjoy greasy food?: much less than I used to
91) Have you seen all the Rocky movies?: no, 1, 2 and I think 4
92) Do you own a box of crayons?:yes!
93) Who was the last person that said they loved you?: possibly my daughter
94) Who was the last person that made you cry?: probably my daughter
95) Who was the last person that made you laugh?: probably my daughter
96) Who was the last person that instant messaged you?: it’s been months, but Carla in Oregon
97) Who was the last person that called you? My wife.

Go Where You Wanna Go?

So who’s in charge of those instant, unscientific polls AOL does? After Denny Doherty of the Mamas & the Papas died a couple days ago at the age of 66, AOL asked for the group’s favorite song among these choices:
* California Dreamin‘ – their first big hit, going to #4, and showing up in so many ’60s compilation albums that I’d grown tired of it, but an obvious choice
* Monday, Monday – #1 for three weeks, features Denny’s lead vocal
* Creeque Alley – this is the song that features “Zal, Denny and Sebastian sat, and after every number they passed the hat”, referring to Doherty and a couple of future members of the Lovin‘ Spoonful. “And no one’s getting fat except Mama Cass.” Top 5 song. I wonder whether voters associated the title with the song?
* Go Where You Wanna Go. Huh?

I mean I know the song. I have five or six M&P LPs. But this was never a hit for them, although it WAS a hit, the first hit, actually, for the 5th Dimension. There were better choice for the Mamas & Papas poll: Words of Love (#5), a cover of the Shirelles‘ Dedicated to the One I Love (#2 for three weeks), or the one I would have chosen, I Saw Her Again, another Top Five song.

Not surprisingly, Dreamin‘ was winnin‘, last I checked, followed by Monday, with Go and Creeque trailing badly.

It’s not, however, that I have anything against Go Where You Wanna Go. In fact, when my father, sister Leslie and I used to sing in public in the late 1960s/early 1970s, the song was part of our repetoire. When Leslie showed up at my 50th birthday party, we sang it again that night.

Coincidentally, for Christmas, Leslie gave me a 2001 album by John Phillips called Phillips 66, so named because John would have been 66 had he lived to see the album released. It features a recast version of California Dreamin‘. My favorite song on the disc, though is Me and My Uncle, quite possibly because of the story behind it. When Judy Collins recorded the song, John started getting royalties. John thought a mistake had been made, since he didn’t write the song. Turns out that, in a tequila-fueled frenzy, he DID write the song, Collins tape-recorded it and got it published. John didn’t remember it at all.

Anyway, with Cass Elliot dead over three decades, that leaves Michelle Phillips, probably better known to some from Knots Landing and Beverly Hills, 90210 – but not by me – as the remaining member of group whose sound I enjoyed immensely.
***
Get to watch football today, I hope. My rooting interests from here out are, in order, the Saints, the Colts, the Bears. This means I root for New Orleans in the Super Bowl, if they beat Chicago. I know it’s become cliche, but the Saints ARE America’s Team – take THAT, Cowboys! Conversely, if the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, I’m pulling for whichever NFC team wins.
***
Cap Rep is showing Take Me Out, the baseball play about a mixed race player who comes out of the closet. The writer of the story in the local paper makes sure you know that some of the players will be au natural. And they say nothing ever happens in Albany.

Arena Football update

Forgot to mention the game we went to Friday between the Albany Conquest and the Green Bay Blizzard.
After the first quarter, it was Conquest 35, Blizzard 21.
At the half, it was Blizzard 55, Conquest 54.
After the third quarter, it was Conquest 75, Blizzard 62.
After the fourth quarter, it was Conquest 82, Blizzard 82.
Almost five and a half minutes into the overtime period, it was finally over: Conquest 88, Blizzard 82.
It was, according to the paper, “the highest-scoring game in arenafootball2’s six-year history.”

We went home at the half.

Unbeknownst to me, Carol had told the babysitter that we’d be home by 9:30, and since it WAS her birthday, who was I to argue?

Weird things about this particular game. Green Bay scored two touchdowns when THEY kicked off. One kick hits this bizarre metal part of the backing net and the ball careens into the field where the Blizzard player just runs it in.

The first 29 minutes of play took about 75 minutes, which I thought was reasonable. The clock doesn’t stop even after the touchdown, only after the point after. The only other times that the clock stopped were on penalties.
But the last minute of the half took 15 minutes! The clock stopped for incomplete passes, first downs, just about everything, including the three touchdowns scored (2 by GB).

I’d go again next season (that was the last home game this year), but I think Carol would prefer that I go with someone else. ANYONE else. But she was a good sport about it.
***
And speaking of last, we watched the final episode of The Scholar, which we really enjoyed. The executive producer of the show, who appeared briefly in last night’s segment, is writer/actor/Tut expert Steve Martin.
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Oh, and this is my 100th post. E-mail me cake.