Here is the Low Down from last week:

Awesome Wild Card games! The Indy/San Diego game was
amazing. The punting was the best part of the game. How often do you say that?
Scifres was definitely spared the customary stuffing of the kicker into the
locker after he nailed 5 punts inside the 10. Unbelievable! Interestingly,
Scifres is the only player in the NFL with braces on his teeth.

I hate, hate, hate the fact that the game ended up being
decided by a coin flip. It is bad enough during the regular season, but for a
playoff game to be decided by the flip of a coin is just inexcusable. I really
hope they change that rule. But if they insist on keeping with the coin flip,
can they at least insist that the refs know how to flip a coin? Jeez! My dog
who lacks opposable thumbs could do a better job flipping the coin.

Speaking of Indy, did you know that Adam Vinatieri is the
great-great-grandson of an Italian immigrant who served as General Custer’s
bandleader? How cool is that? Custer told the elder Vinatieri to head back to
camp rather than going to Little Big Horn. That decision spared his life. Had
Vinatieri not gone back to camp, he would have had his ass kicked sideways
like Custer and we would not have had one of the most prolific kickers of our
generation. Thank God Custer could make at least one good decision. Oh, and
Vinatieri is also Evel Knievel’s 3rd cousin. Very cool family tree! 

How asinine is it that Marinelli is being interviewed for
multiple positions?? Seattle and Chicago have both expressed interest in Rod as
their Defensive Coordinator. Did the a-hole who ran Lehman Brothers have a line
of companies beating down his door after he ran his company into the ground?
No. So why would anyone bother showing interest in Marinelli? Ridiculous!! "Oh,
you finished 0fer16 (or over defeated)?? Super! We would love for you to be our
Defensive Coordinator!! Perhaps you learned a thing or 2 from the defenses you
faced during 16 weeks of getting your ass handed to you." I just hope they
post the interview transcripts. That’s what I’m going to miss about Rod. His
post-game interviews had some great quotes! Such as, "I believe in the
invisible." Classic!!

Speaking of irritating interviews that are occurring
right now? Mr. Jason Garret is in Denver
today, interviewing for the position of Head Coach for the Denver Broncos. I’m
frustrated with this for a number of reasons. First of all, as much as I would
love for him to leave Dallas,
I don’t want him to ruin the Broncos. The fact that he is the highest paid
assistant coach in the league is a joke. How can you even consider elevating
this guy to Head Coach level when the offense that he coached this year, the
offense with arguably the most talent and highest expectations, went a paltry
9-7 and failed to make the playoffs after being hyped in the pre-season to win
the Super Bowl. Seriously, the fact that anyone is considering giving him the
reins after the Eagles game is shocking to me. Also, the Broncos do not (I
repeat DO NOT!) need to look at anyone to improve their offense. Statistically
speaking, the Broncos offense performed much better than the Cowboys offense.
The Broncos issue is in their Defense. Their D couldn’t stop my grandmother on
her way to her canasta tournament. 

I was in Dallas
last week. I was there for the Cotton Bowl with John and my family. Very
disappointing ending to a great season for my Red Raiders. It was still a great
week and we had a wonderful time. I was so happy that we were all there
together. I just can’t seem to get the Ole Miss cheer out of my head. It went
something like this: "Are you ready? Hell yes. Damn right. Hottie tottie.
Gosh almighty. Who the hell are we. Ole
Miss. Tiddly Winks. Give the dog
a bone. Piddly widdly." I might have missed some of that. It was hard to
get all the words in the Mississippi
accent. But they gave us plenty of opportunities to catch on. They did this
little cheer approximately every 5 minutes - on the street whenever they saw
another person from Ole Miss, if they had to go to the bathroom, if they needed
another drink, if they were afraid they left the oven on, if they were
experiencing numbness in their extremities, whatever.

Including the BCS Championship game on Thursday, only 8
games left this season. So sad!! I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.
I put together a list of non-football related things to look forward to:

- Prince is releasing THREE albums this year!

- Scrubs new season starts tonight on ABC

- Season 5 of LOST is premiering on January 21st

- Battlestar Galactica is back for it’s final season on
January 16th (there is a 10 part online series you can find here before the season starts)

- Fool: A Novel by Christopher Moore comes out on
February 10th

- U2 is dropping a new album on March 2nd

- B is for Beer by Tom Robbins comes out on April 21st

Speaking of BCS games, how about that Fiesta Bowl??? Holy
Bevo! That was such an awesome game. I was torn. I needed a win for the Big
XII. After our loss, it was kind of redeeming to see the team that we beat win
a big BCS game. But at the same time, I can’t stand Mack Brown. I threw up in
my mouth a little bit every time the camera was on him. So I found myself
inadvertently cheering for the Buckeyes a few times. I really like Tressel. I
think he is classy. And I’m a sucker for a man in a sweater vest. I feel so bad
for him that he has had such bum luck in the BCS bowls. Either way, it was an
amazing game.

I was so jazzed after the game, I couldn’t sleep. It was
a good thing because I was able to finish the book I was reading - Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Such an
incredible book. Absolutely life changing. The book is the first-person account
from a young boy, only 12 years old at the time, whose entire world was
gruesomely stripped from him in Sierra
Leone. The stories that he tells are heart
wrenching and you have to keep reminding yourself that this is real. His
writing is so eloquent that he weaves in imagery and visualization in a very
effortless way. You can picture every step of his journey. You can smell the
food and you can hear the guns. It really was the most touching book I have
ever read. What is amazing is that this boy has grown into an extraordinary
young man (the author, Ismael Beah, is now 26 years old), who sees beauty and
love and happiness in the world. He is now a young man with a glowing smile. As
horrible as the events of his life were, the story is uplifting and really
makes you realize how much we take for granted in our lives and how precious
each day is. If I haven’t sold you on the book yet, watch this interview with
Jon Stewart on the Daily Show.

Keep it real!

Juicy