Interesting definition of long haul

Bobby Petrino was hired as the coach of the Atlanta Falcons early in 2007, long before the discovery of Vick's dog-fighting operation. When Petrino was hired, Atlanta was at a crossroads at the QB position - either Vick, or an unproven Matt Schaub who had shown flashes of promise. To clear up any possible controversy, the coaching staff and the Falcons decided to trade away Schaub.

Fast forward 11 months to the Falcons being 3-10 (and lucky to have those 3 wins), the team in complete turmoil, and in need of a complete overhaul. Petrino insisted he was in it for the long haul, and would see this team be rebuilt. Apparently long haul meant a couple of hours after he said those comments, as he took the head coaching job at the University of Arkansas.

I understand the concept of taking a job and immediately realizing you made a mistake. I also understand taking a job and having the situation you were walking into completely change - I just did that 6 months ago.

But he made a commitment. He gave his word. How does he walk away from that?

And just to show the level of cowardice Petrino showed during all of this - he didn't even meet with his players before disappearing into the night.

A coward and a liar. What parent would send their son to go play football and be mentored by this man?

Friday Five

This week had me in Rogers, AR of all places. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It's of course a small town feel, but they've seen a lot of growth, as there's a couple of large corporations that have a pretty sizeable presence here. Across the street from my hotel was a Famous Dave's, which, as most people know, is my favorite BBQ place in the world. Also, it's right next door to Oklahoma, which has Indian casinos, so I was able to go play a little poker on Tuesday night.

Rogers itself happens to be in a "dry county". Their definition of "dry county" simply means there are no liquor stores where I can buy bottles and bring them home. However, I can go into any restaurant or bar and get a drink. I'm not sure that I follow the logic there, but what do I know.

As for the five, I'm just going for odd facts about myself.

1. For years I didn't print with lowercase letters - I would simply use smaller capital letters. This became an issue when I started teaching programming languages that are case sensitive. Having all the letters on the whiteboard capital was a tad confusing for the students. As a result, I had to force myself to relearn how to write with lowercase letters. I still have to sometimes thing about which direction b's and d's go.
2. I try very hard to like all kinds of food. It bugs me that there are a couple of things that I just can't get a taste for, specifically cheeses, olives and oysters.
3. I was 23 when I finally saw my first game on US soil (only saw the Expos at that point). I was 28 when I finally saw a game played outdoors (the only other game I had seen was the Twins).
4. I did Amway for about a month. That is a cult with a fervency on par with Branch-Davidians.
5. Just found this odd - I had a student this week who has 3 sons, with the names of Christopher, Patrick and Harrison.

Happy Chrismahanakwanzaka

I love the holiday season. From about the week before Thanksgiving through the final college football game, it's possibly my favorite time of the year. I find this time of year even more enjoyable knowing I won't have to follow it up with 4 months of winter, but that's another story.

The one thing I don't like one bit is the annual controversies over what to say to someone to wish them a happy whatever. One side complains because this is some vast conspiracy to eliminate Christmas, and in turn Christianity. Others complain about Christmas, and in turn Christianity, being "forced" down their throat. (I find both positions rather ironic since Christmas is a remarkably secular holiday, even banned by the first settlers to what became the United States, with Christian ideals bolted on at a much later date, but that's a subject for another posting.)

Almost every major religion and culture has some form of a holiday around this time of year. Most of them revolve around celebrating the harvest or the solstice, or simply the need to have a holiday to make the harsh winter a little more bearable, even if for just one day. And just about every one is represented in this country by some portion of society.

This has led a lot of society, for whatever reason, to want to avoid offending people by wishing them something that doesn't match the holiday they celebrate. Somehow speaking in generalities has become the way to respect other people's beliefs.

We're supposed to be a melting pot. We're supposed to celebrate each other's beliefs. What better way to celebrate another's beliefs than to find out what it is they actually believe and share that part of ourselves? And a great start is to say "Happy ____" or "Merry ____".

By saying "Happy" whatever, you're doing two things. You're, of course, wishing well upon the person, in a very personal way, and what's better than that? On top of that, you're sharing a bit of yourself by declaring what it is you celebrate.

I would much prefer someone wishing me "Happy Hanukah" when I see them on the street than just "Happy Holidays". Same goes with the employee at JC Penney's. Or my coworker. Or anyone else for that matter.

Rather than everyone hiding what they celebrate, let's celebrate what each individual celebrates. Wish people what you normally would, and graciously thank them when they wish you their normal blessing. And who knows - maybe you'll learn something about a culture you never knew.

So with that, I wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas, and a very enjoyable New Year.

Don't blame the officials

Since the dawn of sports, fans and players alike have criticized the officials. Those with an emotional connection to the game often pinning their losses on a couple of calls that didn't go their way.

For those who don't know, I used to officiate high school football games. As a result, I have kind of a unique perspective on this. I'm here to tell you, it's unbelievably stressful, and an extremely difficult task. Unfortunately, I am in a very small minority; very few fans, and even fewer commentators, have ever grabbed a whistle or thrown a flag.

One of the biggest things most fans don't seem to understand is the officials get just one shot at making the call. There is no replay available for the vast majority of calls (all of those that fall under the "judgement" heading are not reviewable). Within a split second, you must decide if the defender did something to impact the receiver when the receiver tried to catch the ball. You don't get to rewind it. You don't get to zoom in. You don't get another angle. You get one shot. And quite often, you're the only official that is looking at that section of the field, so if you boot the call you won't get any help later. Certainly, mistakes happen. But considering the percentage of correct calls under these circumstances, I think we can all agree a little leeway is in order. I challenge anyone who thinks they can do better to find out where their local football officials association gathers and volunteer.

The next thing to keep in mind, is that the majority of the time the official has the best angle on the play. Cameras are in place to give the fan the best overall view of the game, not positioned to make calls. There are times when a camera particular angle won't be correct, and commentators will start complaining about the call. They don't understand what the official saw because they didn't have the same angle. I can tell you at least 9 times out of 10, the official has the better angle.

And then there's the self-proclaimed experts commentators who think they know everything. I always get a kick out of someone criticizing a call when they don't understand the rule in the first place. I like to think I have a decent grasp of the rules, but I also understand I know less than most NFL officials have forgotten. They've been doing this for years, often decades; I did a couple of years at the high school level, and most everyone on TV has never read the rules. Just because Al Michaels (who I respect a lot) says something doesn't make him right and the official wrong.

At the end of the day, the officials are right almost all of the time. The couple of times they are wrong isn't what costs one team the game. Take last night's game as a perfect example. If the Ravens gain one yard on their possession before the Patriots score, they can effectively run the clock out. If Boller doesn't throw to an area of the field with 3 Patriots and 0 Ravens, they at least add 3 more points to the board, which would have meant the Patriots final TD tied the game rather than winning it. In both of those situations, the calls the officials made (correctly, mind you) don't matter one bit.

Friday Five

Feels good to be back in my chair at home, even if it is short lived. I was up in Irvine this week (about 80 miles north), which was tantalizingly close to home, but still not quite San Diego. It did work well on Tuesday, as I got to meet up with Karin and a couple very good friends for dinner at Pizza Port in Solana Beach (about 2/3 of the way from Irvine, 1/3 from San Diego).

I also lucked out this week to be at the Wyndham (got the room through Priceline), which is a very nice place to stay (although their cable/satellite system needs upgrading). I was also blessed to have a trainer friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a few months teaching at the same location; we were able to go out to lunch every day and did dinner on Thursday evening. The drive home took about 3 hours due to rain (which does to SoCal freeways what snow does to most others). Fortunately, podcasts are a great way to pass the time.

While I was typing this out, I got a call from Green Mountain Energy, which features renewable energy. Since I was struggling for a Five, it now seems appropriate that I do Five things on the environment.

1. I don't know how I feel about global warming. I simply don't have enough time to sit down, actually READ and STUDY the findings and come up with my own opinion.
2. With that said, I don't see anything wrong with trying to focus on reducing use of fossil fuels and limiting emissions. Even if this isn't needed to stem global warming, it can't do any harm to work on cleaning things up.
3. There are still several things I can improve in my own life when it comes to the environment. For starters, I'd like to start switching over to CFL lights.
4. I do wish businesses would start doing little things to help with the problem. At the hotel this week I got a copy of the McPaper every morning. Not once did I actually read any of it. How about simply asking at check-in if I want one.
5. It would be nice to see cities come together and make it easier to recycle batteries and other toxic items. How many batteries are thrown away simply because of the inconvenience of properly disposing of them?

Happy Birthday to me

35.

Seems strange.

If you don't mind my waxing philosophic for a moment, being an adult still seems strange to me. I always expected as a kid that there would be some switch, some event, something, that would mark the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. I don't know what that would be, I just expected it. Instead, it's simply one continuous experience where one day you wake up and you're 35.

There's still a part of me that's the scrawny, maladjusted, self-esteem challenged 14 year old. There's still a part of my brain that will kick in when having a serious conversation with someone saying, "Wow, this is an adult conversation." There's still a part of me that wonders how my parents always seemed to have it so together, or at least able to handle what came at them.

I still can't figure out what being an adult is about. Obviously, I'm doing something right. I've been married to the greatest woman on the planet for just over 12 years. I'm very successful in my career.

But the fact still remains that I'm still waiting for the day when someone calls me out for being a fake and I find myself back in high school.

Friday Five

Just a tad delayed... Karin and I got back from Upstate New York/Vermont yesterday, and I was sans Internet access the entire trip (which was strange for me).

With this being 3 days after Thanksgiving, I figured the five things I'm thankful about this year sounds good:

1. My family and friends. This is something I'm thankful for every year. From a great wife, to my family, my in-laws and our friends, I (and Karin) have been surrounded by great people.
2. The chance to be a contractor again. Since I had to abandon being a contractor in the past, I've always yearned to get back to. It's certainly a lot of travel, but it's a great time.
3. The adventure that 2007 was. The move to Houston, and subsequent move back, caught not only our friends but Karin and I off-guard. But in the end, we learned a lot about ourselves, a lot about each other, and left Houston wiser and stronger.
4. Turning 35 soon. My 30's have been a blast thus far, and I'm ready to see what the 36th year of my life has to offer.
5. Being back in San Diego. Moving back to San Diego certainly made the best "Plan B" ever.