Archive for November, 2007

So I was talking to Munday coach Patrick Corcoran the other day about his showdown with another unbeaten team in Roscoe.
He said he wanted to avoid a shootout, but then added that doing that might not be a possibility.
Munday-Roscoe headlines a huge week in the high school football playoffs, as teams still alive have started dwindling in our area.

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Don’t tell my wife, but I have a new girlfriend.
Her name is the high school football playoffs. I’m with her constantly.

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Love the band Band of Horses. Something about they way they move me…sorry for the Beatles reference.
Still, I don’t know what it is about the band because the lead singer sounds a little too much like a pansy, but the sound does it for me.
It’s a mixture of solid, soft rock sound and the melody of someone like the 70s Beach Boys. It’s a odd combination, but after a couple of listens you’ll love it even more.
I tried their album, Cease to Begin, out on a flier and I haven’t been disappointed. They have one previous album, and I’m not sure what it’s titled, but I think I’ll take a chance.
I read a story in Rolling Stone, my music guide, about the group and the lead singer’s story is interesting. I know he was a homeless bum for a while in the upper Northwest, and now the band is on the verge of breaking through big time.
Check ‘em out. http://www.bandofhorses.com/

Sean Taylor might have been the best safety in the NFL. Unfortunately he died this morning from a gun shot wound suffered from a robbery at his Miami house.
When I first heard the news yesterday I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I hear gunshot to the groin. Then later in the day I heard the bullet hit a femoral artery. At that point I knew it was serious.
I loved to watch Sean Taylor play. Last night I figured he had to be OK because he was a immortal football player. Someone people discuss for ages.
I can see down the line…my brother, family and me sitting around talking football and trying to determine who was better Roy Williams, Bob Sanders or Sean Taylor.
When I heard the news this morning my feelings drifted towards football fan. I felt like I was robbed of any future Sean Taylor experiences from some greedy guy with a gun.

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I figured it wouldn’t be a good story if I couldn’t tell anyone about it, so here goes nothing. Saturday my brother got hitched. Good wedding- I’m assuming – nice presents and a good reception.
Everything about the wedding went according to plan.
Fortunately for me I was selected to be the best man. What an honor. I’ve never thrown a bachelor party before. I’ve only been to my own, and we just went bar hopping. It was fun, but I didn’t know much different Friday night.
My brother’s father-in-law set us up with a room at the Days Inn… (thank you Days Inn staff for not calling the cops by the way.)
We went to a couple of bars, nothing too crazy. It was my brother, two sibling groomsmen, a guy from the Mississippi, a newly married man and me. We were met up by a few others but the before mentioned group was the life of the party.

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I am totally stuffed. I am sitting on the couch watching my third NFL game of the day (plus Arizona State-Southern Cal) and I do not feel like moving.
I feel like sleeping all the way until Friday afternoon, when I have to get out-and-about to cover the Burkburnett-Abilene Wylie game.
I have basically worthless all day. Gotta love Thanksgiving.
But enough about the holidays. Let’s look at this week’s playoff games:

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Two artists to put on your radar for the rest of the year:
1.) Saul Williams, who has his album “THE INEVITABLE RISE AND LIBERATION OF NIGGY TARDUST”, on the internet for free.
Don’t get offended too quickly people. I don’t know if he’s trying to make a statement out of the title, but it’s clear he’s a fan, of some sort, of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” character.
It’s produced by Trent Reznor, yes that Reznor – the leading cog in the Nine Inch Nails wheel. It’s progressive hip-hop, but a pleasant surprise right out the gate is his U2 cover of “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”
I find it interesting that U2 just released their 20th anniversary edition of “The Joshua Tree,” just in time to coincide with Saul Williams’ cover?.. Odd huh?…
It’s an amazing sound. You don’t know if someone’s playing the drums or laying into a drum machine. I highly recommend it. You can go to his album and elect to “support” the artist, with a optional $5 payment, or you can just get it for free. I recommend paying — it’s that good.
2.) The Cool Kids.

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I thought about blogging about more random Amarillo stories — like how I fell while climbing over a fence trying to get to the Bivins Stadium sidelines and how I am glad only a couple of concerned Canyon fans (and nobody who actually knew me) saw me — but that was last week.
It is the second round of the playoffs, and while I will make my predictions in the next couple of days, I wanted to list in order which teams, in my humble opinion, have the best chance of winning to which ones have the least chance.

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A new product to the DVD market is brought forward by an ex-Texas Police Officer.
This guy — Barry Cooper — might be the life preserver in your sinking marijuana addiction. For $29 his DVD will teach pot heads young and old the basics to keeping people out of marijuana jail.
He’s got tips police use, tips old informants used and just practical knowledge for someone that wants to take their stash from point A to point B. He also makes a point to show his viewers the hidden compartments for weed.
Here are some quick accolades for Mr. Cooper:
“Barry Cooper is a hero because he is standing up and declaring the War on Drugs is not working!” –Tucker Carlson, MSNBC
“Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state.” –USA TODAY
http://www.nevergetbusted.com/
You just have to ask yourself if you think he’s legit and if the $29 is a reasonable price. My advice is to carry less than two ounces if you do decided to go joy riding. The penalty is a misdemeanor, but anymore than that and you’re looking at becoming a felon.

Before I head back with Jason Palmer (a TRN photographer) to Wichita Falls tomorrow, I thought I would share some things football and non-football related I witnessed here in Amarillo the past two days.

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Santas in Australia — the outback country — are being told by the government to stop using the Ho, Ho, Ho and move to a more friendly Ha, Ha, Ha.
What a crock of crap! Something about the children being able to confuse the Americanized slang word “ho” for a prostitute…or something like that.
At my age I tend to think of Santa saying ho, ringing a bell at the mall, as a calling to all prostitutes, but that’s because I’m an immature 25-year old man.
If a chick gets offended by a Santa Claus calling out “Ho, Ho, Ho” then she’s got some bigger problems. Time to hit the Xanax is all I’m saying.
I like to find the oddities in society and run, run with them. It’s fun. I do it all the time.
Anyways, as a kid I didn’t even think twice. That was just Santa’s calling card. How else was a child supposed to know Santa was coming or going? “Ho, Ho, Ho” is a part of the entire St. Nicholas charm.

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Just because the playoffs have started, don’t be surprised if you see a few blowouts this week.
But for the most part, I expect there to be some pretty tight, competitive matchups on Friday and Saturday.
Here are my thoughts on the playoff games involving area teams:

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20 years ago last month Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out turned 20 years old. The days of dodging and weaving don’t feel that long ago for Nintendo’s A,B buttons.
I’d have to say that Mike Tyson’s game might be the greatest game ever made – next to Contra – for any video game system.
I would trade Halo 3 for Mike Tyson’s any day. The game held the key to ultimate bragging rights. I’ve only heard the lore of someone actually beating Mike Tyson during the final bout of the game. I got to him once, on a cheat code no less (007 373 5963 for anyone interested), and I could never make it out of the first round.
Everything about the game was and still seems perfect. The characters and their little moves. Remember that silly – dun, dun….dun, dunna – music that would play right before the attack approached.

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After I cover Holliday-Boyd Thursday night in Graham, I will be headed to Amarillo Friday for Burkburnett, Vernon and Graham’s games against Panhandle teams.
This is the fourth year I have covered high school football full-time at the paper, and the third time I have made the trip to Amarillo.
It is one I usually like making because I get to see 2-3 games in a 24-hour span. And I will never forget the first time I made the trip back in 2004.

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Now is about the time I sit down and start penciling a rough draft of the Red River Small School 22 team.
To those who’ve been living in a cave (or just not in the area) the past few years, that’s our all-star team that comes out on Christmas Day.
The reason why it comes out so late is because the playoffs are factored into the equation. I may know of some shoe-ins now, but some more guys will emerge once the postseason starts.
I don’t want to throw out any names who I think will be on the team right now (just in case I change my mind. Wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings), but I will tell you a story that happened a couple of years ago.

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Mailer died at 84 this weekend. He was a great mind and from what I remember, due to to the move “When we were Kings,” was a boxing fan and historian of one fight.
I read an article/interview about Mailer in Rolling Stone about 3 months ago and its interesting to go back and read what the guy had to say.
He was an important journalist and author. Here’s a small sample size of what kind of person and the type of thinker Mailer was….
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/11/10/remembering-norman-mailer-audio-from-his-last-rolling-stone-interview/

The recent release of music has been promising. I’m waiting, not so patiently, on Alicia Keys’ new album tomorrow, but I’ve like the fall end of the music business this year.
I’ll start with two tried and true vets – Radiohead and Jay-Z, released their albums in completely different manners and both are solid.
Since I learned that I could get the Radiohead album for free, I’ve never intentionally listened to a Radiohead song before. I took a shot, again mainly because I could get it for free, and I’m slowly becoming infatuated with Radiohead.
I had a buddy let me listen to Bends and still impressed. Check out In Rainbows. The deluxe album, going for like $80, is supposed to be a Radiohead fan’s wet dream and will be released in December-ish.

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*That there is Rider, and that there is everybody else.
Imagine this: You are playing your bitter rival, who is also good enough to be a playoff team. And you are up by 50 points late in the third quarter. Simple incredible. Stephenville and Everman, the two toughest teams in the region, better watch out.

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I don’t know what it is, but I have a passion for NBC’s Friday Night Lights. Something about the show gets me going when I watch.
Is it the characters, is it the story? I don’t know. But it might be the best show on television right now.
Instead of going to the game Friday nights, I turn on the tube and watch the action unfold on the little screen.
I would like to go to the games, but I have to work at the paper come kickoff time. I still live in the atmosphere of high school football.
I didn’t play Texas high school football. Don’t really regret it, but I like sports and I like Texas. I guess my interested in the show can be attributed to H.B. Bissinger’s book.
Odessa Permian was something else. They won. Simple as that.
I can see the show getting a little O.C. (Orange County for non TV heads) in the upcoming season or so.
I’ll just enjoy for the time being. Go to NBC.com to catch up with a few episodes. They have “limited” commercial interruptions, but its worth it in the end.