| Football Madness |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|10:38 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Rock Island, IL | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  complacent | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Dialogue Parts 1 & 2" Chicago | ] |
Today, the University of Iowa faces off against Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. It's a sign of how slow sports news is everywhere else that five minutes of the local news is dedicated to how fans are spending their time by the beach in Miami.
Iowa had an impressive 10-2 season, but let's not forget they almost got beat by Northern Iowa in the first game, a team who they could usually beat without a second thought. I erroneously predicted they wouldn't do so well, but they proved me an idiot.
How will Iowa do against Georgia Tech? I'm not dumb enough to try to predict. If they lose, though, man, will the fans ham it up as a tragedy. I almost hope they win just so we don't have to be subjected to an endless pity party of Youtube videos, TV sportscast montages, and editorial columns.
Hey, newsflash, did anyone know that Iowa State beat Minnesota in the Insight Bowl? They won 38-35. If this football season were the 2007 Oscar Race, University of Iowa would be No Country For Old Men, and Iowa State would be Atonement. Atonement couldn't get momentum to save its life, and did anyone notice when it won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Picture Drama? Nope. The headlines went to No Country when it took the Oscar and a bunch of other awards. Defiantly unresolved in plot, it didn't give me any reason to go to bed thinking about the complexities of Anton Chigurgh's character, who never gave any thought to his victims' plans or aspirations.
Okay, okay, maybe University of Iowa football and No Country for Old Men is a bad analogy. No one on their squad ever went after anyone with a cattle stun gun. Although defensive end Adrian Clayborn did punch a cab driver.
I was sorry to see Northwestern lose the Outback Bowl 38-35 to Auburn, especially painful given that the Wildcats got two touchdowns and tied the game with 1:15 to go. For my money, though, it's lame to win a game with a field goal kick in over time anyways. Both teams were well-matched, and I still look upon it as kind of a tie.
Ohio State beat Oregon 26-17 in the Rose Bowl, and their quarterback, Terrell Prior, did so on a torn ligament in his knee.
Penn State beat LSU in the Capital 1 Bowl, 19-17, on a rain-soaked field in Orlando. I like LSU, because I volunteered with the Red Cross in Louisiana right after the Hurricane. Penn State had some terrific games this season though. I remember when they went up against Michigan. Penn's offensive line just formed a beautiful arc around their quarterback as he went for a pass. To quote the sportscaster, "he could have been reading Tolstoy back there."
I think that's it for the games I had interest in. Ian, want to make a bet on tonight's game? |
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| 2009 in road trips |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|09:47 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Rock Island, IL | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  devious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Chicago" Sufjan Stevens | ] |
In a year largely consumed by student teaching, substitute teaching, and personal care to the disabled, I have not had time to travel. Literally, since mid-January, I have not had more than seven days off to myself. This is why 2009 is the land-locked year. While Brent got to go off to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica on a cruise, Sara went with her family to Florida, and Ian went to California for a library sciences conference, I stayed in Illinois.
However, that doesn't mean 2009 has been without the occasional arbitrary road trip.
Here's a look back at where I went and why.
On January 8-9th, I attended the Statewide Conference for Teachers serving Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students at the Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort. I presented a lesson plan I'd written called "Lost in Illinois," geared toward teaching English language learners about different towns and landmarks throughout the state. Half the crowd left, but the half that stayed got really into it. If Sufjan Stevens had been there, he'd have been beaming with pride. SAM came over the evening of the 8th and we watched Pineapple Express on my laptop. I can see why it didn't make as much money as Superbad or Knocked Up, but man, terrific opening with Bill Hader as an army test dummy asked to try a new strain of marijuana.
On March 6, Sara and I had our first road trip together. We went to Iowa City to see Watchmen with Ian and Phil. Actually, I think it was worth it to drive 60 miles to see a movie with friends in a crowded theatre. Though I'm about four months behind on movie going, Watchmen is a worthy best movie of the year candidate for me.
This Iowa City trip came after a February 22nd trip out to the Hawkeye town for the Academy Awards (Benjamin Button was the only movie in my top 3 to win something, and it took three).
In March and April, I made about twenty-one trips to Geneseo for rehearsals and performances of Laughing Stock at Richmond Hill Theatre. That was one of the ten best shows I've done in the history of theatre.
On May 11, I drove Ian to Chicago so he could apply for a work visa at the Chinese Consulate. That's literally all we went for. Speaking of Sufjan Stevens, we listened to his "Illinoise" album on the way up. I also took a walk down State Street to the Border's, where I bought the Gladiator soundtrack.
I returned to Chicago on May 30th to see the Cubs face the Dodgers with my dad. Cubs won! I don't remember the score, but it was 9-2, I think. I had to watch Iron Man twice on the bus ride home. I think it's gotten as good as it's going to get for me.
August 1-3, I go to Minneapolis-St. Paul with Ian and SAM to do research for Stalemates. No other real reason. Well, SAM called our friend Martha, whose son was getting baptised, so we had that excuse. Man, getting pictures in the Mall of America, the Southdale Mall, and the inside of a greater Minneapolis Caribou coffee made the trip worth it even if we didn't have the excuse of an in town acquaintance. The baptism was beautiful, even as Ian started cracking up during a hymn, as he was imagining Phil Kopp dressed in clergy garments and singing on the altar. While in Minnesota, we also got to see 500 Days of Summer, up for two Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor Musical or Comedy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. At that point, it was only in limited release, so that does make seeing a movie sort of a destination.
August 15-16th, Ian, Mike, SAM, Phil, and myself attend another Chicago Cubs game, this time against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cubs would win this too. I actually think back fondly to the humidity and the 85 degree heat of that day. We ate in Chinatown that evening, and took Phil to church the next day.
August 23rd, we went to Rockford to see the Thomas the Train exhibit at the Illinois Railway Museum. Actually, the highlight of the trip was not riding Thomas, but walking through the old sleeper cars of a bygone era. We took Alaina and Mason to the Beef-a-Roo afterwards.
October 1, back to Chicago for a rained out game against the Pirates. Eating at the Full Schilling would be that day's highlight.
October 10th, a trip to Monroe, Wisconsin to buy cheese, only to find a quiet city square with no cheese stops. Good thing I bought some in Schullsburg on the way.
October 23, I go to Chicago with Sara to pick her parents up at O'Hare.
November 2, I go back to Chicago to pick Sara up at the O'Hare Marriott Courtyard on search and rescue. I bought a "Road Trip: Chicago" coffee mug at the O'Hare oasis as a humorous reminder of this trip. Sara couldn't get a rental car back to the Q-C, because the idiots at Budget Host wouldn't accept cash. (?) It's legal tender! Bottom line, Budget Host wants out of the car rental business, and is doing its best to defeat itself in the industry. I happened to have Nov. 2 off from work, so I picked up Mason from school, as well as a sick Kayla, and we took off. That mug suggests a planned vacation, which it was anything but.
Finally, December 14th, Dad and I make a trip to Bloomington, Illinois to buy Frangos mints at the Macy's. I'm still laughing about it. We drove a hundred and thirty miles just to get mints for a Christmas present. Not up there with Jason Reitman, film director who once flew from Los Angeles to Chicago to collect a pizza order and make some frequent flyer miles, but it was a whole day set aside. Actually, driving there was economical. My dad bought twelve boxes. That would have been a monstrous price to ship. I also bought Sara a coat, the kids some Fannie Mays, and my mom some coffee. And we got to go to Avanti's.
I hope to have some actual planned vacations for 2010, maybe even one to a different climate. |
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