Month: October 2008

As a longtime Maryland football fan — going back to the glory days when the team’s punter was considered one of the team’s “most potent defensive weapons” — I can tell you that Terps fans have long hated the team’s weak scheduling. In the last two years, when the Terps added Rutgers and Cal to the schedule, it seemed like a rare breath of legitimacy for the team.

And then head coach Ralph Friedgen has to go and say something like this:

Terps coach Ralph Friedgen said today that ACC coaches had discussed the possibility during spring meetings of adding a ninth conference game to the schedule and dropping one of the four non-conference games.

But the coach said the proposal was unpopular. ACC coaches like the flexibility of scheduling winnable non-conference opponents so they get enough wins to be bowl-eligible.

“Coaches were not for that because it would knock a lot of us out of bowl games,” Friedgen said.

Among recent Maryland cupcakes on the schedule: Delaware, William & Mary and Middle Tennessee State, who the Terps actually lost to this year. And around the ACC in 2008: Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern, James Madison, the Citadel, Rhode Island and Duke.

Tough to get any national respect with opponents like that. But when the goal is the blue turf of Boise’s Humanitarian Bowl^1., all that matters is the W and not the score or opponent (say, Georgia Tech over Gardner Webb, 10-7).

1. Post-season footnote: Funny how it ended up playing out exactly like that.

I can’t wait for McCain’s Spanish response ad:

To experience life on the campaign trail, it doesn’t get much better than this David Foster Wallace piece about the 2000 campaign. (This, however, is on my to-read list for holidays.)

But for a good look on the unending campaign — plus insights into how the Clinton campaign turned urinals into a press work room, the analogous nature of porn and presidential nominees and how Chuck Norris fit into the ’08 election — this mini-memoir from Newsweek‘s Michael Hastings is a pretty impressive read.

I suppose we now know how the Obama-Biden administration will react when Michelangelo’s David stops by 1600 Pennsylvania.

This quote isn’t from a journalist or about newspapers. But it might as well be:

“You cannot afford to say, ‘I don’t have the time to get out of my little circle here to understand what’s going on,’ ” Mr. Kimel said. “You can’t make the mistake of thinking the only place you’ll learn is from colleagues who are doing exactly what you’re doing.”

Will newspapers come around and figure this out before it’s too late?

A thought, watching the Backstreet Boys sing tonight’s national anthem before Game 1 of the World Series:

The national anthem should take no longer than 90 seconds, unless your name is Marvin Gaye or Bleeding Gums Murphy. Tonight’s anthem clocked in at 1 minute and 58 seconds. Future anthem singers: take note, please.

That being said, I’m not sure how to proceed with the acapella version that was presented to America tonight. I guess I really should leave the obvious Backstreet Boys puns to the experts.

Portraits of Cabinet officials: $50,000.

New wardrobe for VP candidate: $150,000.

Private makeup artists hired from TV dance show: $20,000 per month.

Extreme makeover, RNC edition, using public money: priceless.

A remarkable passage from Maureen Dowd’s column today about Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama:

He [Powell] got a mass e-mail from a man wanting to spread the word that Obama was reading a book about the end of America written by a fellow Muslim.

“Holy cow!” Powell thought. Upon checking Amazon.com, he saw that it was a reference to Fareed Zakaria, a Muslim who writes a Newsweek column and hosts a CNN foreign affairs show. His latest book is “The Post-American World.”

And you wonder why the truth seems to be such an elusive element in today’s society. How long before we start including lessons on “how to Google” for kids in grades K to 5?

I do not know how much change one man — or blogger — can bring to this world. But I do know that when there is wrong in the world, the least I can do is to try to fix it. Here’s my mitzvah of the day:

The Situation: Tonight, at approximately 10:30 p.m., I’m driving home while talking on the phone. My cell loses reception. The call ends mid-sentence. So I call my friend back. He calls me. Simultaneously. We both get each other’s voicemail. It takes five minutes of dialing to get him back on the line.

The Dilemma: Who makes the initial callback after a dropped call?

The solution: He who dialed first must re-dial.

Stick to this simple rule, people, and we can avoid the dreaded post-dropped call phone tag.

One small step for cell phone users at a time, I suppose.

You would think that in the 123 year history of the University of New Mexico, the Albuquerque police would have dealt with this situation at least once. But apparently, police had never responded to a Voting Under the Influence case before Friday.

Of note: the woman was taken to the hospital, and her vote was counted.

One small step for college students, I suppose.