Trick or Treat - Random Friday Thoughts

Some random thoughts on the eve of a semi-mediocre football weekend.


*I wrote a couple of days ago that I wasn't feeling a good Texas showing in Lincoln this weekend. I actually take that back. The more I think about it..the more I'm giving Husker home field WAYYYYYYY to much credit. For one, most of the UT team has played in the National Championship game before. (Including Colt McCoy, who was on the sidelines at the game) Secondly, this is Lincoln we're talking about. You know Lincoln? The place where elderly season ticket holders from the Eisenhower administration like to sit and politely golf clap as another fine upstanding young man helps make their tax write off worth while? Memorial Stadium is about as hostile as Euro Disney in January. And finally, even if it WAS loud, wouldn't the Husker DB's just complain about it anyway?

Like most other games, this match up is going to come down to who has the better athletes and the best coaching. Texas is CLEARLY ahead of Nebraska in that regard. Something tells me Clownahan is going to try and get fancy with the passing game this weekend, which may get Zac Taylor killed. These are exactly the type of games where the NU coaching staff tries to do more than they are capable of, and end up getting burned. Or, it may be like the USC game, and they may just quit during the 1st quarter. We shall see.

*I've bitched about this before...but watching the St. Louis Cardinals last night win the pennant reminded me why I hate modern baseball so much. Much has been said about how steroids are hurting the game. Much has been said about how billionaire owners and millionaire players are ruining the game. However, one thing that has ruined the game that nobody talks about is the three division format with the wildcard. The reason nobody talks about it, is because by the time people realize that some mediocre team is storming through the playoffs (don't get mad Cards fans....it's not your fault the system is flawed), it's too late. The counter argument is that it keeps more team involved in the playoff chase longer.

My argument to that is...the Florida Marlins winning the World Series every other year doesn't do ANYBODY any good...nor does having having a team struggling (such as St. Louis this year) as bad as the Cards have winning the NL pennant. I'll say this again. NOT the Cards or their fans' fault. Once you get into the playoffs, everything is out the window. But the problem I see is that baseball is a marathon. Just because a team is in a shitty division is no reason to reward them by putting them next to the Kenyan runner with 100 feet to go in the race.

See what I mean? Probably not...but I think it sucks.

*Mizzou and K-State this weekend and not much excitement on either side. KSU is coming of a humiliating loss to the Hicks, while Mizzou comes in hurting after pissing away a win at a decent-but-not-great A&M team. Weather is calling for some nasty conditions, which doesn't bode well for either team really. Freeman likes to run around and throw on the run, and the Mizzou offense runs on quick routes and rythem. Looks like it's going to come down to the defenses, which could make this painful to watch. (Luckily, the Big 12 TV contract sucks ass so much, nobody will see it anyway.) I can't see KSU scoring much on the Tiger defense, but I don't see Mizzou putting up huge numbers as well. I'll take Mizzou and 10 points, but wouldn't be suprised if it was a struggle the whole way through.

* Finally, something is really pissing me off. I'm not an overly religious person. I enjoy fall and the cooler temps, the splash of color on the trees and the sound of football 6 nights a week. But can somebody tell me when Halloween became fucking Christmas?

You know what I'm talking about. For some reason, American's today feel that they owe it to their fellow man to show his or her neighbors just how much they LOVE Halloween. Is there some reason why the guy who lives behind me has a 10 foot inflatable ghost on his front patio? Is there some sort of logical reason why the neighbors down the street painted their front door black and orange? Is there some sort of reason every single PTA, neighborhood association, cub scout troop and church club has to have some sort of fall festival? I told you last week how much I hate hayrack rides, but this is quickly becoming far worse.

Who decided Halloween was this big of a deal? Who decided that every bar in town had to have some blowout costume party? Who came up with the idea that in order for you to be "in the spirit", you have to haul 14 bails of hay to your front door, and plaster 42,000 pumpkins around your foundation? Again, this isn't some religious thing. I could care less how people express themselves. But Christmas I can see. Holiday season...birth of Jesus...a new year...festive. But Halloween? What's next? President's day foil along everybody's gutters? Giant pictures and replicas of Christopher Columbus greet you as you and your family get ready for the annual Columbus Day ho-down?

I hated Halloween as a kid...I hate it now. If I wanted to throw on somebody else's clothes and go out in the freezing cold begging for things...I'd quit my job, leave my family, dress up as a hobo and walk up and down the lower east side of Manhattan. Candy is overrated, those little bastard kids tramp through my lawn, and Mangleson's is the worst store on the planet. Let me know when Halloween Claus comes through my oven so I can officially declare this over hyped, over-publicized, overrated holiday to rest.

Trick or fucking treat.