Football Season is Over

That was an awful game- I never expected the Colts to lose. And while I have to give credit to San Diego's defense, that was mostly a crappy effort by the Colts all around. All the bizarre tipped passes that went right into the Charger's hands didn't help matters, either. That one-handed catch by the Charger's lineman was pretty sweet, though.

The thing that stunned me this morning while watching Sportscenter was Mark Schlereth's (who I usually agree with) comments. He kept saying things like "It was a big win for the Chargers, considering everything was against them" and he continued to talk about how the referees were picking on them. He showed a few plays in particular- one was what he called a "phantom interference" penalty, called on the Chargers. This was one of those technicality penalties, where they did it, but it wasn't that bad, you know? Plus, during the game the showed two replay angles- one where you couldn't see the penalty, and a second one where you could (which made the announcers say "Oh, there it is"). But this morning, they only showed the angle where you couldn't see it over and over while calling it a bogus call. Why do that? Why pick a penalty that was a good call, then try to make it look bad and only show the inconclusive evidence? It felt like a political ad.

The other one was when San Diego returned an interception 80-some yards for a touchdown, then it was called back due to a holding penalty on the Chargers. All the replays showed it. He did it, it was wrong, end of story, right? But Schlereth said it was a bad call, not because the refs called it incorrectly, but because it was a big play. I believe the quote was "C'mon, you just can't call that on a big play like this!" He added "I got away with way worse than that when I played." So let me get this straight: the penalty shouldn't have been called because it enabled San Diego to make a devastating play? Isn't that the best reason to call a penalty? I don't get it. All in all, I thought the officiating was pretty fair.

The fun part of the game for me was that it was the first Colts game I've watched with Ramya (some others had been on in the background). She doesn't watch football, but she's really been a trooper about it! She made a few comments like "This is hard!" and "My pulse is going up." After the Colts lost she was like "Man, I'm all bummed out, and I don't even care about this game!" I told her that's the life of a football fan- the lows are worth it because of the highs.

Since we're talking about Ramya and football, it's also worth mentioning that she did come to the Motor City Bowl over Christmas, and she cheered her heart out for the Boilermakers. And one point I said something footbally to her, like "See that gain? The keep pulling in the linebackers then throwing to the tight end in the slot." She responded with "Look at the cheerleaders: the first cheer girl and cheer man are in love and nobody knows." She added "Watch: he always drops her then catches her and they hold on to each other a little too long and smile." I'll be danged, she was right.

So back to the NFL, who do I root for now? The short answer is "Whoever is playing the Patriots." I've had it with them.

Totally unrelated:

Today I checked my sitemeter (which tells me about visitors to this site) and someone in Pune, Maharashtra, India found my blog by searching for "Cool ans sex." What the heck is that, and why did it lead them to this page?

Someone also got to this page by searching for "what is brown sauce." Now that someone has found their way here by searching for actual information and found it, I feel this puts me in league with Wikipedia.

One Time, at Alumni Band

Last weekend I once again subjected myself to the two days of physical punishment known as "Alumni Band." I used to think that they only brought the gang back together once every two years because it just isn't practical for everyone to make the trip any more than that. Now I'm starting to think that two years is the perfect interval for everyone to remember how much fun it is, yet forget how sore they were when it's all said and done. I was sitting at my desk today thinking "Man! I am sore! It wasn't this bad last year" but a quick blog check of my Alumni Band post from two years ago seems to confirm that it was. I guess wearing the tenors must really work your back and shoulders, because my arm was shaking as I poured the milk on my cereal this morning.

Speaking of which, I once again ended up marching tenors (even though I'm a bass drummer at heart). The way Pam (Purdue's drum instructor) put it was "I need you on tenors," and how can I say no to that? What she means is that this year the alumni tenor line was me, Eric (who did pretty well this year but still doesn't know all the intricacies because he marched bass in college), and a guy named Chris who marched toms (not tenors, not quads- tri-toms) in the mid-1980s and didn't know any of the modern cadences or school song arrangements. So, even though everyone had the newest music, you need at least one guy who knows what's going on to hold it all together. And for once in my life, that guy was me.

As always, activities started with a music rehearsal on Friday night. It's amazing how many memories are triggered just by the smell of a room with 500 some bandos in it- you get that certain combination of brass, musty old music sheets, sweat, and God knows what that made the guy next to me say "Smells like band in here!" It puts you back in the mode. But whereas last year I felt like everything instantly came back to me, this year it was a little slower. I'm sure it's just 2 more years of rust, but I kept thinking "Wow, I used to be so much better than this!" During the rehearsal they gave out awards for things like "furthest traveled" (a tie between two members from Honolulu). When they asked for the oldest marcher, that was also a tie between two 80 year-olds- which prompted the room to start chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" I'll tell you what though- the one guy graduated in 1948, and I wouldn't have guessed him to be older than about 60. If I look that good and am still marching around in 2058, I'll be doing alright. No way I'll be on tenors though.

Saturday began as any good band day does- we met at the hall at 6:45 a.m. to make our way to the practice field for the marching rehearsal. This is when things got a little dicey: it was pouring rain all Friday, and Saturday morning the skies looked menacing. Since the weather channel called for rain all day, I opted not to lug my camera around. And moreso, the practice field was a giant mud pit. Granted, the alumni band isn't expected to replicate the quick turns and crisp movements of today's whipper-snappers, but I saw several people bite it just marching around. I personally stayed clean (even wearing the 75-pound drums) but I was fairly certain we were going to see a broken hip by the end of the day! Thankfully, there were no casualties.This is a good time to mention that there was an alum there who takes lots of pictures and posts them to PurdueBandFan.com (be warned- it's one of thoase annoying webpages that blasts music at you). As I write this, he doesn't have all the pictures up yet, but you can see me in this one (watching the conductor like a good drummer), Eric's all burry in this one, and this gives you a good feel for the weather that morning. Keep checking back for more! I'm glad I can steal action pics from him since I didn't get any.

The game was the same barrel of laughs I remember- the drum cheers, the school songs, the crazy hijinks. And hey, Purdue even won! I forgot what it was like to be right on the field in the endzone during a game. It's a mixed bag- when the action is in the close endzone you can hear the hits, and see exactly what the players are seeing. When they're on the other side, you have to turn around and watch the jumbotron to know what's going on. During the halftime show the current band formed the famous Block P, and the alumni band joined in to form the biggest Block P ever. I'm a big enough dork that I thought that was cool, but not big enough to know it was in commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the Block P (which was, of course, the first marching band formation). I hope to get a good picture of that sometime, because we are all witnesses to history, people. Of course, as soon as the game was over the clouds parted and the sun was shining bright.

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day, so Eric and I decided to walk around and check out some new campus additions, as well as some old favorites. This weekend was also the grand opening of the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. I mean, we never thought the ME building was all that great, but this place really puts it to shame. The man himself was even on hand for the ceremony, as were 15 other Purdue astronauts. Armstrong also attended the football game, and gave a pep talk on the jumbotron that he clearly should've practiced saying out loud first. But let's face it, he could've said "How about that war on terror!" and still received thunderous applause. He's Neil freaking Armstrong.

We also got to visit another giant of our time, the Boilermaker statue that was unveiled last year. I give it a thumbs up- it's a much more realistic representation than you usually see with Purdue Pete, and gives a little credence to our nickname. I wanted Eric to take some pictures of me sitting on the anvil, but he was pretty sure the police were already after us for climbing all over young Neil Armstrong. Plus, it was really high up there. Don't be fooled by the picture- remember: Eric's like eight feet tall.

Sunday was also our chance to embark on the mother of all Purdue schwag hunts, and believe me, I seized the day. I was almost paralyzed by all the choices, but I came away with a couple great hats, several excellent t-shirts, and a zip-up hoodie (which I understand all the kids are wearing these days). It was an excellent weekend, and I returned to work Monday dead-tired and in need of a vacation.

By the way, more pictures here.

Good vs Evil

It was an all-around great football weekend, with Purdue thumping Iowa (which I was able to hear in the car, courtesy of XM), the Colts taking out the Jaguars (as Ramya said "Poor Jacksonville- they have so little else going for them"), and of course, Notre Dame's continuing humiliation.

But earlier today at lunch, we were discussing how golden boy Tom Brady is on pace to shatter my boy Payton Manning's single-season touchdown record. I commented that while in 2005 Payton was throwing a ridiculous number of touchdowns because the defense stunk and the Colts needed 48 points to win games, this year the Patriots are mercilessly running up the score an crappy teams. Dana (who is a Pats fan by marriage) continued to defend them, but I know what I've seen.
Then, look what the lead story on ESPN.com was: Good vs. Evil, which opens with the tagline: "Patriots at Colts has a powerful, compelling narrative. Namely -- Good vs. Evil. The fact that I don't even need to tell you which team represents Good and which stands for Evil says a lot about how low New England has sunk." So there- I'm not the only one who's noticed. I was as much of a Pats fan as anyone back in the day, when they were the scrappy band of good-guy unknowns, but the fact is that after years of constant praise and string of championships, they've become just another arrogant juggernaut. Don't get me wrong, if the roles were flipped and the Colts won a string of Superbowls and became big jerks, I'd defend them just like Pats fans are doing now. But for the time being, I'm tired of New England's attitude.

Seriously though, check out the column. As usual, he discusses several other topics, including college athlete graduation rates (this report seems to indicate that Purdue athletes are more likely to graduate than the average student- though the football team's rate is pretty sad) and the way movies have dangerous objects exclusively for the purpose of staging a fight scene (like the magic gate of death in Harry Potter (which I, immediately after reading, proclaimed to be the dumbest death scene ever because the stupid gate had no possible purpose) or the office tank of sharks in Dr. No).

Bodies / This Weekend

First things first: Spectacular football weekend. The Colts absolutely took apart the Saints, Purdue had a convincing win over the Eastern Illinois School for Wayward Girls, and Notre Dame was humiliated by Penn State. The only game I was able to watch was Indy Thursday night, and though I always enjoy a Colts victory, I hate for it to come at the expense of my boy Drew Brees. What I did like was seeing former Colt Jason David get burned repeatedly- just like he did when he played for Indy!

As for Purdue, I'm not sure how I feel about scheduling games against Football Championship Subdivision (the artist formerly know as Division II) schools. I hate to see Purdue paying the little guys to come in and taking a beating in the name of helping their stats, but on the other hand, everybody does it. Why not take an easy win early in the season? Of course, it doesn't always go as planned.

I spent the weekend in Arlington, and our main activity on Friday was checking out the Bodies exhibit. Ramya had actually suggested it for our second date, but I had put it off, feeling that it was too early to pass out in front of a girl I was trying to impress. But you know what? It was awesome! They really blurred the line between science and art, with all sorts of different specimens opened up to show different aspects. There were many entire bodies, but also smaller things like just an arm or a leg, with enough information for a non-medical type like me to understand without being overwhelmed. My only comment/complaint was that they didn't leave the fat on any of the bodies, which made it look like they were all the remains of triathletes. Because if you think about it, is there really any difference between a fat guy and a buff dude once you remove that layer (remember: non-medical type)? Plus, the image of all that fat clinging to everything could be an effective diet aid.

There was a lady at the end who was answering questions, and since she was wearing white coat I figured she must be some sort of doctor (because they don't just give those things away). When we walked up she let us handle an actual heart and brain. It wasn't gross, because they just felt like the polymer they use to harden the samples. Anyway, I asked her what it would look like if they left the fat on the bodies and if there was anyway to tell how heavy they were during their better days. She sputtered out some nonsense that instantly let us know that for this job you didn't so much need to "be a doctor" as you did "memorize some factoids." Ramya asked if all the bodies were Chinese, and she confirmed that they were. And as we walked away she added "But it is true though- we all look the same on the inside!" Except that we don't...and they actually had an exhibit about how various muscle structures tell you what ethnicity the bodies were. But we knew what she meant.

After obtaining this new found wisdom, we did what anyone would do after examining a bunch of dead bodies: Head across the street for some Chipotle. Halfway through my burrito I realized that I hadn't washed my hands since handling an actual human heart. I said "I hope there's no residue that's going to harden my heart. Or gonna swallow my tears." At this point Ramya looked at me quizzically until I added "Or gonna turn...and...le-heave yooooou heeeeeeeeeere!" at which point she started to realized what she's signed up for. Actually, I was probably in more danger from whatever the kids in front of us had on their grubby little mits when they touched the heart than from the organ itself.

That night we watched a documentary called This Film is Not Yet Rated, which explores the MPAA and how they assign ratings to movies. I liked it, because they really break down how arbitrary and inconsistent the ratings are, and they have decent commentary from several frustrated filmmakers (including Kevin Smith and Matt Stone). They also examine how any hint of sexuality gets you an R or NC-17, but you can skate with as much gratuitous violence as you can cram in (which is exactly the opposite in Europe). Then it derails a little when the director is enraged that the MPAA will not disclose the identities of their raters, so he hires private detectives to stake out the building and follow them. Then they make a big production out of it by saying "The MPAA raters are:" and splaying their names and personal information up on the screen. They do it with a grand sense of self-righteousness, like they've found escaped convicts, and they're doing a great service to all of mankind by bringing them to justice. Which is really the problem with this movie: It thinks it is a very important documentary that should be required watching for all Americans. What's more is that people on Facebook give it five stars and say things like "OUTSTANDING! Everyone should watch this! People need to know what's going on behind closed doors!" Okay, yes. The MPAA is a little sketchy, and studios won't release pictures that have NC-17 ratings, so in turn filmmakers feel censored. But come on- it's not like we're talking about global warming or political corruption. Still, it's interesting if you're a movie buff.

We rounded out the weekend with a ride on the Mt. Vernon trail, which was really, really nice. We thought maybe we'd go all the way from Ramya's place to the end, but that quickly proved to be way to ambitious. We did make it to old town though, and all in all it was a nice ride. Ramya's doing really well for a newbie! We'll definitely be doing it again.

There's more, but this is getting long. I'll finish with my favorite quote of the weekend:
Marc: "How many feet are in a mile?"
Ramya (instantly): "Three. Wait...that's a yard. "
This is a good time to point out that Ramya is perfectly smart- I just like that for a split second, her brain thought perhaps three feet being a mile was reasonable. By the way, 5280 Feet= 1 Mile.

For the rest of this week I'm off to New Orleans, where I'm going to try to not touch anything and get out of there as soon as possible. Then this weekend: Rehoboth Beach!