Archive for November, 2008

Home alone for the week

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Shortly after the game yesterday, Cassie and the boys headed for Belmont, leaving me here all by myself for the week. I’ll miss them, but I plan on catching up on sleep, reading, and getting some things done that have been neglected.

Today I took advantage of the great weather and took a bike ride and played some disc golf. More on both of those later. I’m now officially exhausted and about to hit the sack.

Luke’s first college football game

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Cassie, Luke, and I went to the football game with my parents yesterday. It was Luke’s first college football game, and we had a great time. Several other members of my family were supposed to join us, but they all backed out for one reason or another. As you might expect, I took a lot of pictures, and they can be found here.

Luke and my dad.

Luke and my dad at the game.

Those are 53 out of the 343 I took. Consider yourself spared. I turned up the saturation on a few of the wide shots. It makes them look more like a painting than a photo. Look for the radioactive green grass. I would have loved to have had a longer lens to take pictures of the action on the field. (Christmas present, anyone?) It’s for the best I suppose. I don’t really need pictures of the action on the field. It’d just be something else to process. I spent around two hours processing these pictures. I will have to acquire a long lens before Luke starts playing sports though.

Wide shot with lots o saturation. To me it looks like one of those paintings they sell on the Qquare.

Wide shot with lots 'o saturation. To me it looks like one of those paintings they sell on the Square. Needs a little Gaussian blur I suppose.

Luke didn’t pay much attention to the game itself, but as you can see in the pictures, he loved being around all the people. He took a quick nap during the second quarter and halftime, but woke up for the good part. I was amazed he went to sleep when he did. He normally needs to be at home with nothing going on. He didn’t have a nap the day before, which might help explain it.

Luke resting up for the second half.

Luke resting up for the second half.

As part of the pre-game show there was a demonstration by the Air Force Parachuting team and a fly-by by two F-16s. I’m sure parachuting into a stadium is not terribly safe, but they made it look effortless. The F-16s were impressive as always.

A member of the Air Force Parachuting team prepares to land on the field.

A member of the Air Force Parachuting team prepares to land on the field.

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Ole Miss defeats Auburn 17-7

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Yesterday Ole Miss defeated Auburn 17-7. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect us to win. And we wouldn’t have won without those three interceptions and zero turnovers for our part. On at least two of those turnovers they were driving and looking to score.

A win against Louisiana-Monroe in two weeks would make us bowl eligible. A win against LSU or Mississippi State would nearly guarantee us a bowl game. Wins against both of them might even get us a decent bowl. I feel fairly confident about Mississippi State. Rivalry games are unpredictable, but they’ve had a horrible year. LSU hasn’t had the best of years, but they’re still ranked No. 15 in the country. It’d definitely be a big upset if we beat them, in Baton Rouge no less.

The big news this week is that No. 7 Texas Tech beat No. 1 Texas. Also, No. 8 Florida beat No. 6 Geogia 49-10. I had predicted Florida would beat Georgia, but I would have never suspected such a blowout. The new BCS poll has Alabama at No. 1, Texas Tech at No. 2, and Penn State remaining at No. 3. Texas Tech jumped right over Penn State from the No. 7 spot. Texas is at No. 4 and Florida has moved up to No. 5.

I was glad to see Texas Tech jump past Penn State in the polls. Penn State is undefeated, but their schedule hasn’t been too impressive. Texas Tech’s schedule hasn’t been that impressive either until beating Texas. We’ll see if they’re the real thing in their next two games against No. 9 Oklahoma State and No. 6 Oklahoma. If they continue winning, they’ll have to play Missouri in the Big 12 championship. If they win out, they’re in the national championship.

The same goes for No. 1 Alabama. However, I predict they will lose to Florida in the SEC championship. They have to play No. 16 LSU next Saturday, too. That won’t be a cakewalk. Losses by both Alabama and Texas Tech could allow Florida a shot at the national championship. That’s what I’m hoping for. I don’t think I could put up with Alabama fans if they actually won another national championship. And if they did make it to the big game, I might actually have to pull for them. I’d just prefer Florida beat them so I don’t have to worry about any of that.