November 20, 2009
Every time I watched a UGA game, I always mentioned UGA VII. I’m not a UGA fan (or anti-fan), but this news is just Kleenex-inducing.
UGA VII, aka Loran’s Best, breathes no more.
Click here for the CBS report.
Click here for UGA’s article.
Click here to see UGA VII’s official debut.
November 18, 2009
It depends on the task. I can write with both hands (I can write Korean better with my left hand than Chinese; FYI: I’m not Korean, but I can read it, write it, understand a wee bit, and sing-along-in it). I can use knives, spoons, and forks with both hands. I can use chopsticks with my left, but I seldom do. It’d take forever to pick up the drunken chicken and sliced pig ears that I so love to eat.
I can rub my head and pat my tummy. Or rather, pat my head and rub my tummy. Observe:
I’m predominantly right-handed; I tend to mouse and right-click-save-as with my right hand. At work, however, I’ve had to alternate between hands or else my right elbow starts to feel funny. Today, as I was resizing photographs and copying and pasting text, I noticed that I can mouse with the left hand and snap my right hand’s fingers in time with moderately upbeat music, but I have considerably more trouble mousing with the right hand and snapping with my left hand’s fingers. Neuro-muscularly, I’m not sure what accounts for the ease of the former and the awkwardness of the latter. There is the matter of Right-Left Brain dominance, I suppose. There are a couple of things that my left hand can do by itself that my right hand cannot. For instance, when I blow my nose, either I’m using both hands or my left hand. My right hand doesn’t know what to do with the tissue to my nose…it refuses to position itself and hold the tissue the way my left hand does.
My left hand has inexplicable accuracy with throwing wadded up paper into trash cans, whereas, my right hand record is all over the place. When I drive one-handed, my left hand tends to be on the wheel…at nine or ten o’clock. I wonder about ambidexterity and athletes. So, I did what any curious person in the 21st centry would do. I turned to google.
The phrase “ambidextrous athletes” turned up caboodles of finds. My favorites:
Tennis NE1? (could I refer to this site as having a “retro” look?)
Sweet tea bags and NCAA and Motion Theory. Lourdes, how cool!
When I searched the phrase, “I’m ambidextrous except,” the more relevant finds included:
David Finkle thinking deep thoughts about the President’s handedness.
Jenny Doh holds a pen with each hand (check out that keyboard).
And here is what happened with I searched, “ambidextrous NFL” :
Sports Illustrated from 1980–holy smoked salmon; check out that cover.
You can see the rest here.
November 17, 2009
XO, XO – hanguk gosship girls the rainbow.
I guess so.
Punt ming away to the coffin corner. It’s hard to say I’m a query;
the secret is that I want you back. Pretty boy.
November 15, 2009
The Indianapolis Colts remixed with the New England Patriots tonight on NBC. The first quarter started with the Patriots on offense…and not much to say about it. When the Colts took to the ball, quarterback Peyton Manning made a few awesome connections with tight end Dallas Clark and wide receivers Pierre Garcon and Reggie Wayne. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick challenged the catch but lost the challenge. Eight plays + ninety yards + running back Joseph Addai = touchdown. Indianapolis 7 and New England 0. The Patriots answered that taunt with a spectacular Tom Brady fifty-five yard pass to wide receiver Randy Moss, and two steps later, running back Laurence Mulroney squeezed threw amassing players to get into the end zone.
The second quarter began with Colts defensive end Robert Mathis sacking Tom Brady. The Patriots took a thirty-one yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal at the end of their possession. One possession later, Randy Moss made his second TD of the day. Halfway through the second quarter, Tom Brady threw directly into the hands of wide receiver Julian Edelman for a TD. New England 24 and Indianapolis 7. Consistent with how they played two seasons ago, once the Patriots find or make their first offensive impact, there is no going back. It’s zippadeedodah scoring parade for them. The Colts bounced back with a Reggie Wayne TD. New England 24 and Indianapolis 14.
SUPER SEXY GIRL! Colts defensive back Antoine Bathea intercepted Tom Brady’s pass meant for Randy Moss in the Colts end zone at the top of the third quarter. Oh. Lourdes. Peyton Manning was intercepted by cornerback Leigh Bodden a few passes later. The quarter was scoreless but ended in Patriots wide receiver Wesley Welker returning a punt to first-and-goal. A kick-ball-change later, Randy Moss made his, what, third TD of the day? New England 31 and Indianapolis 14 in the top of the fourth quarter.
The Colts offered a retort of a Pierre Garcon TD catch and run into the end zone. New England 31 and Indianapolis 21. Would today’s game be the Colts’ first loss of the season? Probably. When they got the ball, Peyton Manning threw an interception to Patriots cornerback Jonathan Wilhite. The Patriots increased their lead with a field goal in the second half of the fourth quarter…briefly. Joseph Addai made a TD with just under three minutes left to play. New England 34 and Indianapolis 28. I must ask again, would today’s game be the Colts’ first loss of the season? Probably not, as of one minute left in the fourth quarter. SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG! Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne connected for a TD with under twenty seconds left to on the clock. Indianapolis 35 and New England 34. Final score.
I’m not even a Colts fan per se and I’m thrilled. I do like Peyton Manning.
Observations & Miscellania:
1. Tiki Barber was at the Dallas loss to Packers game; he had on a lovely, lilac/violet tie.
2. Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth both wore gray ties of varying hue and accent. Andrea Kramer had on a bright purple leather jacket with zippers.
3. Why was there fire on the field after Joseph Addai made a TD in the first quarter?
4. Tom Brady still looks really good in a helmet.
5. Pat Chung, strong safety for the Patriots, is a quarter Chinese. His father is Jamaican-Chinese. I googled the phrase “Pat Chung is half Asian” and found this page about Asian NFL players.
6. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire league watched this game and took notes. “You see that? You see what Peyton Manning did there? Yeah, we need some of that.”
7. “They’re not used to playing these balls in the air like that…they’re burned on either side,” either Al Michaels or Cris Collinsworth remarked during the middle of the second quarter.
8. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Why are there so many adverts for The Blind Side? Because, this John Lee Hancock film is going up against a certain Twilight part deux on opening day Friday. This Friday. I shall be watching The Blind Side–not to be confused with Blindside from 1986.
Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.
November 15, 2009
True story. My alarm clock went off at 6:30 in the morning. There were string instruments. I got up, went to the bathroom, started brushing my teeth, and then thought, hey, the Falcons haven’t played yet.
The Atlanta Falcons in Carolina Panthers home turf on Fox. Any predictions? The first heart-thumping play of the first quarter occurred when Falcons running back Michael Turner ran forty yards into Panther territory. Jason Elam went on the field at the end of that possession to make a thirty-five yard field goal. Atlanta 3 and Carolina 0. The Panthers weren’t going to have any Falcons’ scoring first and responded with a mean drive down to the end zone thanks to wide receiver Steve Smith’s catch and run, and running back Jonathan Stewart crossing the goal line (who gave the TD ball to a female fan behind the end zone). Carolina 7 and Atlanta 3.
Sour puss’n boots. How are the Panthers “doing this” offensively? This meaning getting down to the red zone in a matter of breaths in the top of the second quarter. Steve Smith made a pretty awesome TD catch. Carolina 14 and Atlanta 3. Have the Falcons taken a cue from their opponents in getting down the field? Quarterback Matt Ryan made a lovely pass to wide receiver Roddy White to get the birds just shy of the goal line. After two unsuccessful tries (a pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez and a run attempt by running back Jason Snelling), the Falcons finally made it in for a TD with six minutes left in the first half–thanks to Snelling. Carolina 14 and Atlanta 10. Matt Ryan threw an interception in the bottom of the second quarter; Panthers cornerback Sherrod Martin got his bosom to the ball. Steve Smith TD number two but at the expense of his noggin lower back. Replays suggested that Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud’s knee might’ve rammed into Smith’s lower back. Carolina 21 and Atlanta 10.
The third quarter commenced with much potential for a Falcons touchdown. But, there would be a field goal instead. Carolina 21 and Atlanta 13. Nearing the bottom of the third quarter, I was overcome with feelings of “I can’t watch!” et j’ai mal a la tete. What was that? Hope? L’espoir est retourne! Jason Snelling, Michael Jenkins, and Tony Gonzalez made necessary strides to get the Falcons into the red zone.
The fourth quarter began with a Falcons TD catch by tight end Justin Peelle. Peelle was able to get away from the huddled mass at the line of scrimmage. The two-point conversion wasn’t successful. Carolina 21 and Atlanta 19. By the middle of the quarter, the Falcons had summoned up a substantial amount of rhythm and agility to get across the field (Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White made important catches)…and then Mike Smith threw in the red flag to contest the exact location of the ball after the ball was just snapped and a heap of bodies converged on Matt Ryan. Smith lost the challenge and Jason Elam’s field goal was nowhere near the uprights. Wide left. No, not just wide left. The ball appeared to be at least seven to ten feet away from the cross beam. The shadow over innsmouth just got darker. Matt Ryan threw his second interception of the day, over the head of Michael Jenkins and into the hands of Panthers cornerback Richard Marshall. Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart made his second TD of the day just a few plays later. Nearing the two-minute warning, Carolina 28 and Atlanta 19. Final score.
Observations & Miscellania:
1. Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston provided commentary. For the love of the Forbidden City, why is there a yellow handkerchief in Moose Johnston’s breast pocket? C’est moche.
2. The Falcons had a pretty impressive second go “at bat,” but they were unable to get far enough into Panthersville. Seconds before commercial break, the telecast cut to a high-angle medium close-up of a helmet-less, red-faced Matt Ryan walking to the bench on the sidelines. The words, “shite, dayam” could be deciphered from his mouth. He certainly said the latter.
3. Michael Turner’s right ankle was battered a bit late in the second quarter.
4. There was a moment when I started losing faith in a favorable outcome on the score board. Middle of the third quarter when the Panthers were taking the ball down the field. I’m not sure why it happened. It just did. But a sliver of hope re-ignited as the Falcons blocked a fifty-one yard field goal attempt by the Panthers.
5. After the Justin Peelle TD in the top of the fourth quarter and it became apparent that the Falcons would go for two, Daryl Johnston kept expressing his criticism of the decision to go for two. When the Panthers were on offense next, he reprised his thoughts that two-point conversions should be saved for the final six minutes of the fourth quarter. Sure, most teams would probably save it for the last four to six minutes, but psychologically, perhaps the Panthers would see that they still have a lead (even a two-point lead) and let their anxiety down just enough for the Falcons to make another much needed TD.
6. Footage of the Jason Elam missed FG indicated that there was likely some miscommunication between him and holder Michael Koenen.
Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.
