Flea Market Montgomery

I really thought the LeBron post would be my last of the day but then this was discovered by Mark Pucci, and the link sent to be from Jay B. Maybe you have seen this, and maybe not, but either way you are going to love it.

Eat your heart out Mark from Norton's furniture.

King for a Day

That was the title of Sasha Pavlovic took on last night scoring a career high 24 points, as the CAVS played without LeBron James, (seen here sitting on the bench last Friday apparently doing a Bill Cosby impression). King James was out with a sprained toe, but after going 2-0 this year without James, (8-2 for his career), the CAVS have some questions to answer.

I am in no way going to suggest the Cavaliers are better without Bron-Bron, but this is not a stat that makes a lot of sense. If his game was similar to Kobe's or A.I.'s then you could understand, but LBJ is supposed to be the ultimate team player. He loves passing and getting his teammates involved, even when it means passing up on a dunk himself. The only explanation I can come up with is that when he is on the floor the other 4 guys are waiting for him to carry them. When he is not suited-up they know that one of them must step up, and they have so far, especially not folding against the 76ers last week when they were down big. I hope he sits a few more games so these guys can build more confidence in themselves, which in turn will only make LeBron better when he returns. Besides he could use the rest.

16 days until pitchers and catchers report!!!

Tonight on the tube: 7pm the Buckeyes take on the Boilermakers on ESPN, then at 10:00 the bittersweet return of LOST. I used to love this show, but I cannot take many more questions being raised without any of them ever being answered, but I have too much time invested to give up now. I just hope they make it interesting again before it gets dropped by the network and I don't get to see how it ends.

(sorry don't know what happened to the picture)

(sorry LOST does not return until next Wednesday, leaving me time to watch more 24 on DVD)

Blizzard of Oz

The "White Stuff" took about a 24 hour break before returning full force yesterday morning. This was a much wetter heavier snow than what fell on Sunday night. This second round gave Mattingly and I our 2nd snow day. I believe this was fascilitated this time by the fact that temperatures were below zero with the wind chill. It appears that we won't see much more accumulation until Friday, so I guess I have to work the last two days of the week. But I am counting on subzero temps on Monday to present me with a day off after the Super Bowl for the 3rd time out of 5 years of teaching.

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Here's a story that I'm pretty sure Gary Larson drew a long time ago.

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****Ammendment to the January 16th post Turn, Turn, Turn. There is actually one thing that makes me angrier than the people who stay in the right hand lane just to go straight, making me wait in the process. These are the drivers that get in the right turn/straight lane and wait the entire red light, THEN TURN RIGHT WHEN THE LIGHT CHANGES!!!!

Friends of P(eay)?

I am slightly upset at my big brother Rob. I can't believe he would only mention Kent's Bracket Buster Game, and leave Action U's out of his post. The Zips will be facing the Governor's of Austin Peay. Robbie's lack of Zips coverage leads me to believe that he will be unable to resist the highy contagious, "Let's go Peay!" chant.

As Rob myopically reported, The Flashes go toe-to-toe with last years Cinderella, George Mason. Both of these games will be broadcast nationally, as will the showdowns of two other MAC teams. Ohio University plays New Mexico State, and Toledo tries to defeat Old Dominion. The more BB games the MAC can win, the better all the teams in the conference appear, increasing the likelihood of more than just the MAC Tourney champ getting an NCAA Tournament invite. Thus far a weak MAC has kept a good Akron team from turning many heads.

Snow (hey Oh)

This may be a bit of an odds and end blog entry.


Today is our first, and hopefully not last snow day of the year. Although it doesn't seem any worse than last Thursday when school should have also been canceled. We had more than 50 students stay home that day anyway, and I heard Superintendent Joe Donatone got some angry messages. Whether that helped or not, who knows? By the way these are the results when it stays above 40 degrees all December and half of January, the lake doesn't freeze and the Lake Effect Snow Machine is turned on "full go". That's two city Plows in the picture, and one personal plow truck. This is nothing compared to last night, I went into a store for 20 minutes and came back to 2" of powder on my windshield.


While the CAVS lost yesterday, they were not my favorite team in hoops action. Mattie's intramural Rockets, coached by Stevie Sav, won 10-6. Mattie, played 3 full quarters and filled up the stat sheet with 1 board.

I spent a little time yesterday creating a My Space page, http://myspace.com/spungalo, it is set to private, and there isn't much content currently. I am not really sure what I want to do with it other that use it to tell people about this blog. We'll see where it goes.

I spent time Saturday downloading music from my two new favorite bands. Of course the bands aren't new, just me to them. They are Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. I have had Tessie (watch the video on yahoo music), (history of Tessie), you may know this song as the theme of the Red Sox World Series Championship team. It has been on my mp3 player for a while, but hadn't gotten around to downloading more songs. These bands combine 2 of my favorite types of music, Celtic and Punk. A pick to download from Flogging Molly is currently a tie between, What's Left of the Flag, and Devil's Dance Floor. Also try Workers Song from the Murphys.

Walking on the Sun

Just a little Sunday math problem for you all to figure out while watching the CAVS today.

Please submit your answers, and show all work.

Wanna Hurtz Donut?

I am so upset that it took me the 2 weeks to find this since it was posted. Check out the guy about 1:00 in.

Nice job with the ad! Maybe if Rob would have moved here he'd be in his house already.

Celebration

Here's a picture of ASO political pundit, Roni Balogna and I celebrating. This was immediately after Jim Webb (D) Virgina, gave the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union that we had written for him. If you didn't watch this check it out, he is well spoken and quite forceful with his words. As the editorialist on PBS put it, "A star is born."

Most notable was the fact that he, his Grandfather, Father, and son all served in the U.S. Military, (son currently with his "Boots on the ground in Iraq"). Also, pointed out that how Bush described the economy was based on how much the rich have gotten richer. The middle class worker used to make 1/20 of what a company CEO made. Now its 1/400 (no the extra zero is not a typo).

War Pigs

The State of the Union started off well, I even had Mattie stay up just to see new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi introduce President Bush. These types of historic moments become much more important when you have a daughter. It was also nice to be able to tell her about Condoleeza Rice. The President made some heart warming remarks about Speaker Pelosi, then couldn't resist taking a swipe at the "New Democrat majority." I have to admit I didn't know this but this is a Republican/Rush Limbaugh way on degrading the DEMOCRATIC party. While most of America missed it too, those in the know did not.

I really liked what Bush had to say about Health Care, Immigration, and the Environment, (although he couldn't bring himself to say "Global Warming" choosing instead "Global Climate Change"; more political diluting of the language). It seemed early on he was speaking more the Dems, trying to get some things done that he couldn't with a GOP majority. But the Prez also has 6 prior SOTU's where he gives what amounts to a wish list of things that never happen whether it's his fault or the fault of Congress.

Then we got to Iraq, gone was the smirking tough guy. He was begging for support, but again not giving much of a plan, only using scare tactics about what will happen if we don't send more troops. It was really the same old song. Although, we didn't hear how much progress had been made, or how close the end was like last year.

I haven't gotten the polling data from Joey Lucas yet, but early returns do not show the Bush's approval rating moving much.

T.V. Party

As if my TV viewing schedule isn't full enough, (currently in the middle of Season 1 of Sports Night, Season 7 of West Wing, and Season 5 of 24), two of my favorite current shows started back last night, Heroes and Studio 60. I know what you are thinking, "That's a lot of Aaron Sorkin dialogue." Tonight however is comedy night, a show so outrageous, so hysterical all the networks will carry it. You've guessed it, it's time once again for the State of the Union Address.

My favorite part is when the main character, Dubya, gets out a whole sentence without stumbling over a word while managing to make sense. Then he gives that smirk right into the camera to let the audience know none of it's real and it's all just a big joke. Seriously, it's going to be interesting to see how many standing ovations he gets even from his own party. Most of whom have been distancing themselves for some time now.

While I expect much of the same "Stay the course" b.s. I am looking forward to what he plans on saying about alternative fuels. There is a rumor out there that he will request ethanol production be increased to 60 billion gallons. Well, maybe Georgie finally stopped "looking into" Global Warming, and is considering it to be a possibility. Hey he's managed to mess up everything else he has touched, maybe he can actually do some good in his last 2 years. Of course, as ASO's political brain trust, Roni Balogna, put it if there was an '08 Republican candidate out of Michigan, he wouldn't be pushing this. Then again, neither would most Democrats. Besides, F Michigan!

In closing, I'd like to offer one piece of advice. After the speech turn on PBS, it truly is the only non-biased news and information source. FOX leans left, everyone else (I'm told), leans right, they are the only network that is going to give it to you straight because they don't have their own agenda.

Championship Sunday Photos

As usual this event was a blast, you couldn't beat the group of guys that were there, or maybe I just like everyone when I'm drunk. This is an overall shot of the gym

Starting in the bottom right corner moving clockwise: Justin, Chris Moore, Kenny Paulchel, Fr. Joe, Donuts, Nardu, Jim Sav, Willie Anderson, Clayton Clay Curtis III. A couple guys at this table were pretty apprehensive about having their picture on this blog, Donuts kind of reassured them about it, so thank you. I figure out the problem was they figured the purpose of the blog was to make fun of people like a guy I know's website. Other than the occasional crack, (like the one I'm going to make about J here in a second), I never want to write something that is going to cake me afraid to leave my house. Besides opportunity is given to respond to each story.

Jay B continued his winning ways splitting the grand prize and walking home with 300.00+ Upon hear that he won Fr. Joe tore off his collar, threw it down, and declared "There is no God!" Alright maybe this didn't happen, but in my head it certainly did. I'm sure this money will come in more handy that that Tressel t-shirt. J left the event before the end and it was reported by a source he was seen on Bridge St. "Partying like a rock star."

Silva finished the night playing Black Jack against Miggo. He was playing 5 hands at a time with a bet of ten on each. He was up a coupla hundy at one point and quit while he was still ahead over a c-note.

I'm the Man(ning)

After the last post I figured I better give you all 3 reasons to pull for the Colts.

3. Peyton Manning. You know if you like 6' 3" quarterbacks with laser rocket arms. Yeah, I know I'm also tired of hearing about how he'll never be great unless he wins the big game. But all this will go away when he wins today, then they can say how he's never won a Super Bowl. Besides, he seems to be a genuinely good person and he has the best commercials for an athlete on television. (Unfortunately he didn't wait until after he retired like Ray believes athletes do).

2. Tony Dungy. Dungy is a good coach, and suffered something as terrible as anyone could imagine last year when his son committed suicide. Last years version of the Horseshoes was unbeatable and kinda fell apart when this tragedy occurred. I see this as a good thing, the team cares enough about their coach that winning a game became less important to them.

1. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS! They aren't the Baltimore Colts, what more reason do you need?

It's Hard to be a Saint (In the City)

Alright I know the Saints have become America's team because of all they and more importantly their fans have overcome. I too will be pulling for the Aints, for not as much for this reason. I have also compiled 3 additional reasons to pull for the Fluer-de-lis:

3. Every time the Bears win a few games we have to hear the comparisons to the Super Bowl Shuffle team. In my mind there is no way this team will ever compare to that team, not just on the field but off. Urlacher seems like a pretty cool guy but you can't match the larger that life persona's of McMahon, Refrigerator Perry, Sweetness, Singletary, Dent, and Ditka.

2. Drew Brees. Maybe this reason isn't for everyone but it's been my main reason for following the Saints all year. This guy should have been the Dolphins QB twice! They should have drafted him out of Purdue to replace Dan Marino. After years of inept passing they had a chance at him again and chose to go after a possibly washed-up Dante Culpepper.

1. Sanity. If I have to hear two more weeks of Chris Berman saying "The Monsters of the Midway" in that terrible NFL Films voice over impression, I am going to drive to Bristol and kick him in the skull repeatedly while yelling "New York Football Giants", The Raidahhs", and "The Frozen Tundra of Labeau Field."

Scott Charles Bigelow (Sept 1, 1962-Jan 19, 2007)

It was reported to me yesterday via text message from sports entertainment corespondent Jay B, that another larger than life wrestler from the mid 80's to mid 90's era had passed away. Scott Charles Bigelow, better known as Bam Bam Bigelow died of unknown causes,(pending autopsy), at the age of 45. This is a terribly sad trend that has seen the passing of way too many talented dedicated men well before their time. These guys work on the road 300 days a year, Bigelow had only officially retired in 2004, giving him 2 years to enjoy his family.

I know a lot of you are probably thinking well that's what they get for taking all those steroids. Look at the picture does he look like a steroid addict. "The Beast of the East's" talent was his incredible speed for a man so large, he didn't need bigger muscles. That is not to discount the fact that there was excessive recreational drug usage in these days. These guys put their bodies through decades of torture, finishing matches after concussions, ears being ripped off, ear drums being popped, ACL's torn... And in Bam Bam's day, if you stopped working you stopped getting paid. Again, I am not accusing him of drug usage, I don't know. Hell, you can't discount the fact that he lived his life North of 300 Lbs.

Career highlights include wrestling Lawrence Taylor in Wrestlemania XI, where Bam Bam earned 250,000 while L.T.got 1,000,000. Hardly fair as I'm sure Bigelow had to carry him to make the match at all watchable. Maybe Jay could enlighten us about this match.

I believe he also once flew on a New York Air flight that my sister was a flight attendant on, do you remember this Coll'?

Anyway R.I.P. big guy.

We are the Champions

It's Friday evening and I am already looking forward to Sunday. Why? Because this is Championship Sunday. It has been a few years since I have done this but I am going to the Annual St. John Championship Sunday Reverse Raffle, for the AFC and NFC Championship games. This is probably the best kept secret in the world, and with only 100 tickets that's a good thing. Here is a comparison with the Crow's Nest OSU vs. UF National Championship night. The Crow charged 25.00 for all you could drink from 7:30 until the game ended, (roughly 4 1/2 hours), and put out a decent buffet (Photos Jan 9). The ticket for this event is 30.00, starts at 1 pm and goes until whenever, but at least after the second game, giving at least 8 1/2 hours of boozin' time. The food is brought out in waves throughout the day, including but not limited to pizza, sausage and peppers, sloppy joes, hot dogs, pasta, pasta n beans.... it's pretty much endless, and there's cake. So it's already a steal but then you have to factor in there's a chance at winning a grand or so. There's a bar for drinks but the beer is put out in tubs, so no waiting. And it's a fundraiser for my Alma Mater, How they make money I have no idea.

But wait there's more. You have the choice of additional gambling in the form of sideboards, blackjack, pools, or just a friendly game of Hold 'em at your own roomy round table. The day promises to be a good time I will be going and sitting with Jay B, Steve Perry, Keefer, and Whit. Also in attendanc that I know of will be Kenny Paulchel, Nardu, Silva, Clay, Greg/Jack Ross, Donnie V and probably Donuts.

Tie Me Kangaroo Down

Needed to take a moment to point out to all of my friends who are Kent State Alumni that they should indeed Fear the Roo! As the Zips beat the Golden Showers in MAC Conference action last night. Of course I know a lot of people that attended Can't State, but I think the only one who actually graduated from there was Rob, and he set some sort of land speed record getting that diploma. I think narrowly beating out the Egyptians building of the Great Pyramids in time allotted. I know like I graduated at a Doogie Howser-type pace. Anyway if you love or hate the Fear the Roo ad campaign you will definitely despise the TV ad. I haven't seen it but from what I can gather it's just the logo with this great little jingle.

I'm sure I will regret this post come the MAC Tourney, where I'm sure Dru, Romeo and the rest of the boys can blow another 15 pt lead against the National Guard Targets.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Here is something that drives me nuts just about every day. My hope is by posting this I can alleviate this problem for people everywhere. But there is one place in particular that this offense should be a capital crime. I'm talking about when people at a red light have the choice between the straight only lane or the straight/right turn (ON RED) lane, and they choose to get into the curb lane, causing all traffic, which could flow quite easily, to come to a stand still. The location where this makes me the most insane is at 5 points in Ashtabula, As shown in this photo I pulled off of GoogleEarth. It wasn't very busy when the satellite took this image, but notice the cars waiting are in the lanes I am talking about. Those who aren't familiar with the area, this is a major intersection connecting Rt 20, Lake Ave, Main St, and Park Place. It is also the intersection that I have to go through to go to about 75% of my usual destination, turning right off of 2o heading Northwest on Lake Ave.

I have always tried to be conscientious of other drivers in this respect. If I am going straight, I will get out of the curb lane so a car behind me does not have to wait. Now I can understand if the middle lane is also a left turn lane, (which this isn't), or if there is a huge line of cars, one really slow car, or a big truck. However, more and more frequently I seem to be the second car at this stop light and the 1st car is in front of me and not turning. At one point, not too long ago this was changed to a right turn only lane, (this didn't always keep the same thing from happening), but then changed back for whatever reason. I assume the one lane couldn't hold the Rt 20 traffic at 5:00, note to Ashtabula City Transportation Department: They make lights that dictate what is allowed in an individual lane at different times of the day.

Anyway, if you are currently tired of this problem too, I sympathize. If you are part of the problem, get the Hell outta the way! If you also try to avoid holding up your right turn road mates, allow me to paraphrase the great band Geggy Tah, "All I wanna do is to thank you, even though I don't know who you are. You let me turn right, when I was driving in my car."

You Learn V

It's not that I haven't learned much lately, I have, just didn't seem to be able to string 3 together at the same time, so I guess I can no longer promise this on Mondays since it's only happened twice. Anyhow here are 3 things I have learned in the last week.

1. I was right. I love Jim Tressel, I love him for being from Mentor, I love him for being the son of a Baldwin-Wallace coach, I love him for winning 6 National Championships at Youngstown State, I love his recruiting, I love that he "gets" the Michigan rivalry, I love that he respects tradition, I love that team rolled their eyes when he began making them stand in front of the band and sing Carmen Ohio at the end of every game, and I love even more how much singing the Alma Matter meant to those same players after beating Miami to win a National Championship. BUT, I was right last year sitting on Rob's futon watching OSU narrowly lose to future champs Texas, I said, "He is not that good of a coach." I watched every game by both teams and I will never believe that Florida was better than the Buckeyes, at least not by that much. What I do believe is what was way too obvious, Tressel had no idea how change his Offensive game plan, or stop Florida on D. I don't know if he was looking at plays or hiding behind them all game.

2. I was right. Urban Meyer's ultimate goal appears to be the NFL. While the Jerk, Kovacs, Mead and Orlando were in PHX they did get to hang out with Urban a little bit and he was asked about coaching the Browns or the Dolphins. Both questions were met with chuckling from the coach, certainly not the, "No I love Florida, I'm committed to winning here, blah, blah, blah..." that we expect from typical college and NFL coaches, (see Nick Saban), right before they jump ship.

3. Herald Pride is much quieter than it was once. We went to the SSJP v. Cornerstone Christian Friday night. The elementary kids cheered at halftime, unfortunately I only got video of Mattie, so no pictures to post. The game was close and very physical, The Heralds were down by more than 10 at one point but led late in the 2nd and almost for the rest of the game. Through all of this the SSJP student section made barely a peep, and never stood-up, until the very end of the game. I don't know when this happened but all I know in my time there, the bleachers were only for standing. This went for Boys B-ball, Girls B-ball, and Volleyball. We were loud and obnoxious, and sometimes spilled out onto the floor, it was not an easy place to come into and win. Steve Severino who was sitting in the student section told me, "These kids are awfully tame, it was never like that."The amount of students there would suggest a road game in Sebring in a snowstorm on a Tuesday night. Rather than a home Friday night match up against a beatable team on a relatively warm January night. It would suggest it, except I've been to a game at Sebring on a Tuesday in a snow storm. It was a double OT win for the Heralds and Sebring's first home loss in years and the Visitor's student section was packed. A bunch of us had caught a ride from Fr. Nuzzi, and he was given the finger by a Sebring mother in the parking lot. Classic! This generation of Heralds rose and got loud just in time for CCA to in bound the ball down 2 with 7.7 left, dribble it just across half court and launch a one handed, running 3 that went bank before going through at the buzzer for a 1 point Cornerstone Christian victory. Maybe, just maybe if the gym had been that loud the whole time it would have had a negative effect on the visiting team, but the students were okay with the St. John parents being louder than they were.

***Premiere Fitness update. I have now been going to the gym for two weeks, I am almost back to my full workout, and I have so far been able to lose -1 Lbs. Meaning my weight has increased 16oz. this is not the kind of thing that is going to get me to renew my membership on Feb. 1st.

Back Door Man

Jay don't get nervous Rick Rude did not come out of the closet, he is only here to represent the family I encountered tonight. Mattie made her First Reconciliation this evening at St. Joseph's Church. It was a combination of children from all 3 city Catholoic churches. I was in a good mood going there, and then a funny thing happened on the way in. I've dealt with some pretty inconsiderate people today, but I couldn't take anymore after this. As I walked up the front steps behind my family I saw a woman I know with her husband and three children. Now, if there is one manner I have it is taking the time to open doors for people especially women, even if I'm dying inside because it's going to put me further back in line at the bank, restaurant, what have you. I opened the door for Mattingly and Karen then stayed there, in the cold mind you, for this family to enter the church, half expecting to have the uncomfortable, go ahead, no you go, with the father. Instead all 5 walk right by me, heads down, without as much as a nod of thanks. Remember this is going into church so one of their children can receive a holy sacrament. This behavior usually elicits a sarcastic and loud, "Oh, you're welcome," from me, but didn't feel it was appropriate for the setting.

I was however put in a better mood after seeing all of the families come forward. I was able to validate a theory of mine by proving that I am the best looking Catholic father of a 2nd grader within the Tri-Parish Community.

***I'm sure a lot of you know by now today is the Anniversary of "The Drive." Another great day as a Cleveland sports fanatic. My question is this: Is this really still the best game winning drive ever? I'm not sure it ever has been, but certainly there has been something in the past 20 years that has topped it.

Politics of Dancing

One story I failed to report was an update on our esteemed City Manager, anthony Cantagallo. You may remember him from the January 2nd post Local Hero, as having no idea who Urban Meyer was. Well apparently that changed as he took the opportunity Monday night to show up at the Crows Nest, in a fedora and full length coat, to glad hand and mug in front of local television and newspaper cameras. As my Hero Bugs would say, "What a Maroon!"

At least this activity kept him from ruining the career and name of a good police for the night.

Doctor Doctor

Last night I was really hoping for a huge UF basketball upset and for the OSU men's team to edge out Wisconsin. Instead the Gators won and from what I saw on the highlights the Badgers got a lot of lucky bounces, or at least just enough to win by 3. I spent the evening watching Talledega Nights again with Karen. When she fell asleep I turned on the Cavs game. I saw pretty much what I expected, another team getting ready to let me down, they have been reeling off wins but were playing their first game in a long West Coast road trip.

It was about 3 minutes into the 3rd quarter and LBJ and the boys were down by 17. I got up took Mattie to the bathroom then took my contacts out. I decided I was still a little dehydrated form the previous nights activities, so I got a glass of *****ade, and checked the score: Cavs trailing by 6. I sat down and ended up watching the best half of Cavalier basketball played all season. Between Varejao's taking offensive fouls, Gooden turning the heat up at both ends, and King James about as hot as he's been all year. It was nearly a blowout by the Cavs but this is the NBA and the Sacs made a late run to cut their deficit to 4, but never got closer than that as the boys in wine and gold made their free throws and closed out the game.

Finally, something to cheer about,. A big come from behind win to start off a West Coast swing was just what the doctor ordered. Especially since this little hot streak is bound to end ugly in PHX Thursday night against Jay B's Suns.

Photos

The sign that greeted us outside the Crow Nest

Jay B won a door prize, seen here with Steve Perry, it's a Jim Tressel Gator hunter T-shirt, which he will have an opportunity to use for Armoral-ing his dash come Spring.

The best part of the night was this plate of food, bread, roasted potatoes, jalapeno poppers, macaroni salad, pizza, corn dog bites, and a nice slice of Italian bread to go with the Pasta n Beans in the side car.

The worst part of the night was getting home and having to wake Mattie up to tell her they lost. She actually hit her head jumping around after Ginn scored, she was sending me O-H txt messages, and was worried about me and how upset I was on her way to school this morning.

Urban Cowboy

I have no idea where to begin this post, it's roughly 12 hours since the end of the game and I am completely dumbfounded and a little drunk still, not totally unlike how the Buckeyes looked on both sides of the ball last night. Unlike a lot of people I never thought OSU was going to run away with this game, I even thought Florida could win it, but I assumed this would take some sort of last second heroics. There is only one explanation for what happened last night Urban Meyer completely outcoached Jim Tressel in every part of the game. Tressel even under-coached if such a thing is possible. I know Florida is fast, so does everyone else, but so were the Hurricanes in '03. The difference was OSU used its power to take that speed away, why they didn't play their game and hammer the ball wth their RBs I will never understand. Then on 4th and inches you run a play that instead of hitting a hole fast and hard, gives the Florida D-line time to move the line back 2 yards before the RB gets to it???? I guess the Buckeye season realy did end after the Michigan game, that was the National Championship game, as Tony Kornheiser said on PTI before the game, "This game is like the beginning of the '07 season. " And yes after he said this, and Michael Wilbon agreed, they both said Florida would win because they were so fired about about how everyone had counted them out, which appears to be exactly what happened.

Thank you Ted Ginn Jr. for giving me something to cheer about for 14 seconds.

Now if I can get past how terrible OSU looked, I had no problem standing up and clapping when Coach Meyer was presented the Waterford Crystal football. This is my scond favorite team and at that point I wasn't going to rob myself of the opportunity to be proud of Urban. Just a reminder to everyone at St. John, especially the Mt. Carmel people, who are claiming him, he was a Mother of Sorrows boy first. MOS SHINES!!!

The next question is where does Urban go from here? I'd assume his ultimate goal is the NFL, besides why would he want to stay at Florida? He will never be a legend in Gainseville, not with Redneck err Gatornation. He could win 5 championships in a row, and compared to Spurrier and his one title, he'll still just be a "Good coach for a Yankee."

Anyway, Congrats Urban!!!

Cavs and Buckeye B-ball tonight, man the NCAA tournament and baseball season are a long way away.

Buckeye Battle Cry!!

How proud was I of Mattie when she came home and told me Friday about how she asked her teacher if the Saints John and Paul could dress down Monday in Scarlet & Gray? Her teacher ran to the office and told the secretary, who asked the principal, who said "Yes". It was quickly added to the news letter that was about to go home. I used to do the same thing in High School when the Browns were in the playoffs, and I also cleared a teacher jeans, Scarlet & Gray, day at my school. So we decided to take a picture tonight with what we are going to wear (Mattie's wearing her pink Buckeyes jersey and I chose my "I've got Laurinaitis" t-shirt).


While many who traveled to Ohiozona are still scrambling for tickets, Jay B and I secured ours last night. Of course ours are for the Crows Nest. For a $25.00 "donation", there is an Open Bar and Buffet until the game ends. Betcha I get my money's worth outta that!



This will probably be my last post until Tuesday, when you can find out what I've learned this weekend. Not to give it away but it certainly won't have anything to do with gambling.

O-H...

Almost Famous

I got my first drunken update from the guys in Ohiozona. I called to find out if the Jerk had brought back a rental to Blockbuster that I had let him borrow because I was on my way there. He replied, "You called me in Arizona to ask me about Clerks II, I'm busy hobnobbing."
The guys had been drinking in the bar at the Gators Hotel, and made fast friends with Sunshine's father. Sunshine, from what I gather is the 3rd string QB, behind Leak and Tebow, who has been playing Troy Smith on the scout team. From what I can gather they call him sunshine because he has long hair like Ronnie Bass, the QB from Remember the Titans.

Apparently, as can almost be seen in this crudely taken cell phone picture I was sent from Ray Kovacs, the Jerk or Bigfoot, snuck into a players only gathering sponsored by Xbox that players families couldn't get into. He left with a stomach full of Pizza and a handful of NCAA Football 07 copies.



Craig Mead, obviously having NEVER met my brother, took his Grimms brethren to an Oxygen bar. The limitless opportunities for cracking on him for this has me looking right pass the National Championship, and the Super Bowl right to Big Friends Weekend, when he'll be in Ashtabula to receive the abuse he so deserves for this lapse in judgement.

Before Jerk the last person to receive as much publicity for doing absolutely nothing was Laura Quinn. You may remember her from last years OSU vs. Notre Dame Fiesta Bowl. She is the sister of ND QB Brady Quinn, and also the Girlfriend of then Buckeye linebacking great AJ Hawk. She was on TV constantly during the week before and after the game, and was shown more during than any commercials. She wore this half n half jersey for the game and I am curious as to whether or not Jerk has sewn one up for himself.

Local Hero

I heard a pretty ridiculous story this weekend from sources close to Urban Meyer (left top). Over the last few weeks there have been a number of reporters in town, from Gainesville Sun, Orlando Sentinel, Columbus Dispatch, Channel 5 WEWS of Cleveland, and who knows who else, to get back ground information on the Ashtabula born and raised Florida Gator Coach. Apparently, one of these "investigative" reporters decided to stop by City Hall to get some comments from City Manager Anthony Cantagalo (left below). Cantagalo had no idea who Urban Meyer was!!! This would have been understandable if he was still at BGSU or Utah, but he is at a top tier school currently preparing to play Ohio State for a National Championship. He may be the most famous Ashtabulan since Jefferson Lawyer Joshua Giddings almost became president and was instrumental in the Abolitionist movement. Sure there are a few who have succeeded in sport: Don King, Jared Bunch, Brian Anderson, Mark Wagner, Matt Hatchette are the ones that come to mind. Not to mention Harbor High Graduates Jim Bollman (OSU Offensive Coordinator) and Dean Hood (Wake Forest Defensive Coordinator). You'd think that the head of the city would know two local boys are coaching against each other for a National Championship, this is more than just a sports story.

Some blame can be placed on the Star Beacon since today was the first time in quite a while a story was published about any of these three guys. The article about Urban was picked up from the Columbus Dispatch, and it wasn't even the best one they had written. It wasn't even about Urban, it was about Ashtabula, and how Cantagalo has cleaned-up the city by removing 350 tons of garbage and 250 junk cars. While it has improved the aesthetics of the city a little, if this is all he can hang his hat on for an out of town newspaper, he hasn't done too much. Not to mention it doesn't cause a C-bus reader to create a real positive mental image of 'Bula, which is a real problem since the piece was basically about increasing tourism dollars. "Hey honey, lets drive 3 hours to see some covered bridges, drink some wine, and look at where cars used to sit on blocks." Anyway, since I'm sure both Urban and Mr. Cantagalo are loyal A Spence Odyssey readers, I thought I could introduce them. Urban, Tony. Tony, Urban.

***Thanks to my childlike inability to fall asleep the night before going back to school, I stayed up until 1am watching Boise St. beat Oklahoma in OT on a 2 pt conversion by running a Statue of Liberty play. This game was incredible, probably the best non-BCS championship bowl game ever played. More importantly it was one more ringing endorsement for a NCAA Div 1 playoff system, the announcer mentioned this too, meaning it's probably his last BCS telecast). Boise St. finished 13-0 without any hope of playing the undefeated Buckeyes for the Crown. They aren't even eligible for it because they aren't from a BCS conference. That's like the Royals, D-Rays, or any of the NL West not being able to play in the World Series.

You Learn IV

First let me wish you a better new year than the last. With Karen Graduating in May and hopefully getting her RT license in July I am counting on a good year for the Spence's. Without further ado here are the 3 things I learned this weekend.

1. We go back to school tomorrow. I luckily ran into Miss Anderson, one of the teachers from work this morning and as I said goodbye I told her, "Well, see you in a coupla days." She looked at me like the idiot I am and said, "couple days? You mean tomorrow right?" Of course I was wrong and pretty pissed off. I'm blaming St. John since they don't go back until Wednesday.

2. Michigan does not deserve to be #2. In a sub category Lloyd Carr owes me $15.00. I took scUM and the over and the game didn't even hold my interest. I thought for sure they would beat this USC team but as the joke goes, "How do you make Michigan cookies? Put them in a big Bowl and beat 'em." This should quiet the Gator haters...for now.

3. Kamerion Wimbley was an excellent draft pick for the Browns last year. He finished the season with 11 sacks, I had not realized he was playing this well. Especially since he has somewhat limited playing time while he learned to play in the 3-4 defense. If he was on any number of other teams he would have been talked about non stop. He was a Rookie ranked 3rd amongst Linebackers. It didn't help that there was so much attention paid to Bush, Young, Williams, and Lienart. I hope he is the beginning of some good picks for Savage. As a sub note for some reason the Browns have to win a coin toss for the #3 over all selection in the '07 NFL draft. This wouldn't be a big deal but the team, the Buccaneers, that they flip against beat the Browns Xmas Eve, so the Browns should be ahead of them.